Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050403.htm

LAMENTATIONS: EFFECTIVELY FACING SINFUL FAILURE
Part III: God's Route Of Victory AFTER Sinful Failure
(Lamentations 3:1-66; 5:1-22)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Finding God's forgiveness after we have decidedly failed the Lord and we have come to recognize it can be a very daunting trial!

(1) I recently had a believer come up to me to request that I pray for that one because of an admitted sinful failure in the party's life.

I tried to explain that perhaps the party had not understood the Lord's working, that they might not have sinned, but were possibly confused on the issue, but the party would not hear of it. The party said they KNEW they had sinned, and needed to find God's forgiveness and restoration. I could tell the party was very troubled!

(2) I have been there as a pastor!

After leaving a pastorate where I had served the Lord for a few years I suddenly realized something was very wrong in my ministry, but that I couldn't tell what it was. I only knew the Lord was not blessing me in my life!

I read in Revelation 3:17 how the messenger of the Church of Laodicea was spiritually "blind" like I knew I was, and that the solution for him in Revelation 3:18 was to pray to Christ that He might offer him "gold tried in the fire" and "white garments" and "eyesalve" for that spiritual insight! Desperate for God's blessing, I prayed for God to apply Revelation 3:18 in my life and ministry, realizing it undoubtedly meant trials were ahead since the "gold" would come by "fire"!

And did the "fire" ever come! The day I prayed that prayer I lost my job in that Church! For years after that, the Lord allowed trials to come that continually exposed errant views and practices I had held and practiced in my life and ministry -- what a shock! Many times I felt like giving up on myself!



So, WHAT IF God has allowed His discipline to FALL on us in our lives and we REALIZE we have lost His blessing for undoubtedly DISOBEYING His Word -- IS there any HOPE for forgiveness and restoration?

IF we CAN receive God's forgiveness and restoration, HOW is it POSSIBLE, and on what GROUNDS?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "I or a friend has faced the hard truth that he has miserably failed God. Yet, he truly seeks God's forgiveness and restoration, so ARE these blessings available for him, and IF so, HOW?!"
  1. God's prophet, Jeremiah reported how Jerusalem had so badly sinned that God's wrath had fallen on the city, Lam. 3:1-20, 43-54:
    1. Identifying himself with his fallen people in Jerusalem, Jeremiah claimed the invading Babylonians had been used as a rod of God's wrath to discipline His people for their sin, Lamentations 3:1.
    2. That punishment's effects are described in "a long list of metaphors" in Lamentations 3:2-20, 43-54; The Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 1217.
  2. Yet, in accord with God's WORD at the Mosaic Covenant, Jeremiah EMPHASIZED his HOPE in God's PROMISE of RESTORATION were His people to REPENT, Lam. 3:21-42:
    1. Lamentations is arranged to emphasize this 3rd chapter of the book:
      1. The book is arranged in 5 chapters with each one being a funeral dirge, the subject matter of the dirges being arranged in a literary chiasmus; chapters 1 and 5 match in theme and chapters 2 and 4 match in theme, leaving chapter 3 the main focus where Jeremiah responds to his pain the most productively, Ibid., p. 1208, 1211.
      2. Each chapter except chapter 3 has 22 verses with chapters 1, 2 and 4 being arranged so that each verse starts with a different letter of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Ibid., p. 1210.
      3. Chapter 3 is arranged with a like focus on the alphabetic, but it has 3 verses per Hebrew letter as the chapter of greatest importance.
      4. Chapter 5 returns to the 22 verse format but without the special alphabetical arrangement to show emotional urgency where Jeremiah pleads for God's help with great urgency, Ibid.
    2. Well, Lamentations 3 HIGHLIGHTS Jeremiah's HOPE of God's forgiveness and restoration of His people following their confession of sin IN ACCORD WITH SCRIPTURE as follows:
      1. The book of Lamentations at 15 points compares the tragic consequences that actually occurred to God's people with 15 warnings in Deuteronomy 28 of the Mosaic Covenant re: what would occur were God's people to SIN against Him, Ibid., p. 1209; this comparison shows the warnings of Scripture had come true!
      2. That being so, Jeremiah took HOPE in God's PROMISE of RESTORATION in Deuteronomy were His people to REPENT:
        1. In the midst of his overwhelming grief at Jerusalem's having felt the brunt of God's wrath for her sin, Jeremiah recalled a great truth that gave him hope in his sorrow, Lamentations 3:21: he
        2. recalled God's "steadfast love," His GRACE "never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your [God's] faithfulness," Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV.
        3. So, as SURE as God's WRATH had fallen in 15 WAYS for sin as SCRIPTURE had predicted in Deuteronomy 28, Jeremiah knew God's PLEDGE of FORGIVENESS and RENEWAL in Deuteronomy 30:1-10 was EQUALLY, MARVELOUSLY true!
  3. Based on this blessed HOPE of forgiveness and renewal, Jeremiah pleaded with God to forgive and restore his people, 3:43-66; 5:1-22:
    1. Jeremiah lamented the fact that God's wrath and not His mercy had fallen on unrepentant Jerusalem, Lamentations 3:43-48, 52-54.
    2. Accordingly, he wept and pleaded with God to forgive and restore His people to their former position of blessing, Lamentations 3:49-51.
    3. Abruptly shifting in grammar at Lamentations 3:48 from the plural to the singular person (Ibid., p. 1218), Jeremiah recalled his personal example of finding God's help as the pattern for others in Jerusalem to heed to gain God's blessing after confessing their sin; he told of God's help in his own trials when he had asked God for help. (Ibid.)
    4. Thus, Jeremiah looked to God to continue to minister out vengeance for personal wrongs done unto him by evil people, Lam. 3:59-66.
    5. Finally, to sum up his book, not restricting himself to use the Hebrew alphabet in his lament so that his feelings might flow forcefully, Jeremiah closed with a moving call for God to show mercy, 5:1-22.
Application: As SURELY as TROUBLE from GOD has come for what DISOBEDIENCE to SCRIPTURE we have done, God's MERCY mentioned IN HIS WORD is available to SAVE and to BLESS us! (1) Thus, if we need to do so, may we RESPOND to trials of God's discipline by (a) trusting in Christ for salvation from sin as John 3:16 in the BIBLE promises or (b) confessing our sin to God for cleansing to find His forgiveness and restoration as is PROMISED in 1 John 1:9 of GOD'S WORD.

Lesson: As SURELY as God's WRATH had fallen on Jerusalem for DISOBEYING His WORD, His WORD told of His MERCY being available to FORGIVE and RESTORE His own IF they REPENTED. Thus, Jeremiah called for repentance, encouraging others that God WOULD restore them based on his OWN experience with God's goodness, and so he powerfully pleaded with God to forgive His people!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Two schools I attended where I received the vast majority of my formal Bible training were the (former) Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon and the Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas.

Fitting to this message's burden, I must report that BOTH institutions were very influenced in their ORIGINS and FOCUS to present Bible truth by men who had been guilty of the social evil and SIN (as the Bible calls it, cf. Galatians 5:19-21) ALCOHOLICS:

(1) Multnomah School of the Bible, which is now called Multnomah Bible College, started under the significant influence of Dr. B. B. Sutcliffe, an alcoholic who came to faith in Jesus Christ and who overcame alcoholism's grip to study the Scriptures and become very proficient in them!

(2) Dallas Theological Seminary was started under the watchful eye and great encouragement of ANOTHER alcoholic who became a believer, C. I. Schofield. You perhaps know him as the author of the Schofield Reference Bible. For years he pastored the Schofield Bible Church in Dallas, Texas just a few blocks north of Dallas Seminary.

Thank God for the FORGIVENESS and RESTORATION of ALCOHOLICS that is available in the cross of Jesus Christ -- I owe MOST of my formal Bible training that blessed HOPE!

Yes, there IS FORGIVENESS from even MAJOR sinful defeat and failure available in the CROSS of Christ because the BIBLE OFFERS as much in John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5:17. Yes, there IS RESTITUTION available in the CROSS of Christ because the BIBLE offers as much in 1 John 1:9 for BELIEVERS.



May we take HOPE in the FORGIVENESS offered in Jesus Christ in accord with what the BIBLE teaches, and (1) believe in Christ for forgiveness if we have not known Him. (2) May we as BELIEVERS confess our sins done after salvation to the Lord for cleansing so we can live for Christ and do His will.

Then, God can use US in His GRACE as He used Doctors B. B. Sutcliffe and C. I. Schofield to impact others for His glory!