Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would come and help us as we read your word.
And Father, we don't want to just read your word as an academic exercise,
but we ask, Father, that you would help us to understand who we really are,
come to a better self-knowledge of who we are in light of you,
and come to a better knowledge of you in light of who we are.
And we ask that the Holy Spirit would do this this morning,
and we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
One of the questions which I have not talked about throughout these five,
this is the fifth week, so the four previous weeks, is a big one.
Does God punish people today?
We've been looking at the Book of Lamentations.
Our Jewish friends would say that it's part of the Tanakh or the Torah.
We as Christians say that it's part of the Old Testament.
And the Book of Lamentations, it's these five linked poems.
Each poem, in a sense, is a separate poem or a class group of poems.
And now we're coming to the fifth one, and it's all dealing with the fact
that it very clearly says that God has punished the people,
that he has punished them because, in fact, they deserve to be punished.
And the punishment is very harsh.
And we've been looking at that, and if you're curious about some of the aspects of that,
and this is the first time you're watching, you can look at the other sermons.
I will retouch a little bit on some of these issues again, but it will be fresh.
But I haven't actually addressed a very important question that many of you probably have,
and I've been wondering if I was going to address it.
Does God still punish today?
Is it just something he did in the past?
Is it changed now that, you know, there was the Old Testament, God is very angry,
but now we have Jesus, it's very different.
Is punishment purely in the future?
Does God punish today?
So we're going to walk towards that question today as we look through.
And the fifth and final poem of the Book of Lamentations will help us to ask that question.
So just before we get to it, hopefully there'll be an image.
You're going to not see me for a second, and you're going to see an image.
And one of the things which is important to understand about reading the Book of Lamentations
is the context, so to speak, of it.
You know, there's a very, very famous part of the Book of Lamentations,
the steadfast love of the Lord never faileth, his mercies never come to an end,
they are new every morning, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.
And that's from the Book of Lamentations, it's in Chapter 3,
and usually when that quote is seen, you see something very bucolic,
you see a beautiful village or a beautiful farm and full fields or a beautiful cottage,
and everything looks just very, very, very, very prosperous.
But to understand that these five poems were written amidst the ruins of a city,
that's the way to understand it.
So even in Chapter 3, when you have this very, very powerful thing of, you know,
great is your faithfulness, the steadfast love of the Lord never fails,
that's in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, the person's still wrestling with the devastation in the poems
and their pain.
Because, and one of the things is, on one level, we might think this is disappointing,
that the really good part should be the ending,
but it actually is very, very psychologically and emotionally true.
Some of you are dealing with very, very hard things.
Some of us are dealing with very, very hard things this morning.
And it's the ruin of our health, the ruin of our finances,
the ruin of our family, the ruin of our business, whatever it is.
And having, in a sense, a better sense of who God is doesn't necessarily take away the pain.
And that's one of the things which is very rich about this text.
So you see in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, there's movement.
And at the end here, we're going to see this heartfelt prayer for restoration.
But you need to understand that it's almost as if you're sitting amidst the rubble
in the ruins of the city
and continuing to address these things, pouring out your heart to God.
And one of the things which is different about this chapter is this chapter,
all the other chapters are, in a sense,
poems all grouped together around a poetic structure called an acrostic,
which is a geeky type of thing to even say,
and I hope I didn't lose you when I said it.
This is just a prayer.
And it's not an acrostic, but it keeps the same number of verses.
And it's just a prayer.
And so let's see how this book ends, how, in a sense, they pray at the end,
how they pray amidst the ruins.
And it begins like this.
Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us.
Look and see our disgrace.
And just sort of going to pause.
The way this poem is organized, there's this opening plea, threefold plea.
And then there's, from verses 2 to 18, there's just an unpacking of the heart
and an unpacking of the concerns that bother them.
The looking around, the poet looking around at the city
and looking around at the people who are still left in the city
and just pouring out what's actually going on.
And then verses 19 to 22 are sort of the actual final request.
And in the original language, there's these three imperatives.
So it's a very, very intense prayer, which is hard to capture in English.
It says, you know, remember, look, see.
And these are all, it's very, very intense.
And so this person is, the poet is asking this intense thing for God
to just look at what's going on around them.
The poet is going to make his final request at the end,
but this initial request is just see what's going on.
Just look.
We know that these things matter to you,
and we know that it's, I know that it's valid and fair
for me to bring these to your attention.
Just remember is a way, it always implies that God is going to act, by the way,
not that he's forgotten.
It's sort of a formulaic word in the Tanakh,
the Old Testament of calling God to act
based on his character, look and see.
And it's all about the disgrace.
And what does that disgrace mean?
Well, verses 2 to 18 are going to sort of,
rather than trying to describe it by giving a definition of disgrace,
it's going to describe the disgrace within a series of images.
Very powerful image after image after image after image.
It's like a heart dump.
And it goes like this.
Verse 2.
We have become orphans, fatherless.
Our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink.
The wood we get must be bought.
Our pursuers are at our necks.
We are weary.
We are given no rest.
At our necks is an image as if there's a,
it's as if somebody's unleashed dogs on them.
And these are attacked dogs that go for the arms or go for the neck,
go for the kill.
And they're at our necks.
They're on us all the time.
The people who are our overlords are very attentive
and very attentive to keeping them under,
keeping us under their heel.
We have given the hand to Egypt and to Assyria to get bread enough.
This is all part of the earlier poem,
how they've gone to these other powers.
And these other powers, which they at first thought would help them,
well, on one level they are sort of helping them,
but they're not really helping them.
They've come in.
You know, it would be a little bit as if you're watching a movie
and an area has been devastated
and some powerful business people come in from, you know,
an area that hasn't been afflicted.
And they come with their arms.
They come with their guards to make sure that nobody can get their bread,
the grain, the staples that we need.
They charge exorbitant prices.
And they use their, they're not so much guards as thugs.
And wherever they go, they keep people down
and they keep themselves rich.
Now, another important thing here, just as a bit of an aside,
before we go any further in reading this.
And I don't know where you are with the Lord when you're watching this,
but this is a very important thing for Christians to notice.
And for those of you who are trying to figure out whether,
what this Christian thing is, it's important for you to notice
that this is something which Christians are called to.
Christians aren't called to be an elite.
We are not called to be over society.
We are not called to be sort of separate
from what happens to the community in the city.
It's not as if God says, listen, you join the church,
you become a Christian, a true Christian,
and you're going to sort of enter a little bubble.
And bad things will happen to Ottawa,
and bad things will happen to Canada,
but bad things won't happen to you.
The economy of Canada can go down the tubes,
but you will still have a good job and be making good money.
The safety of the city can deteriorate,
but you will be safe.
That's not what the Bible says.
The person who's praying here,
and there's lots of our conservative Jewish friends
would say that Jeremiah is the author,
a famous prophet of the Old Testament,
the weeping prophet.
Many Christians would believe,
and I think there's actually a good case
that Jeremiah is the author of this.
But if it is Jeremiah,
he himself wasn't a bad,
I mean, he didn't do all of these things
that brought judgment upon the city,
but he shares in the judgment of the city.
See, it's part of the way that the Bible
slowly but powerfully forms us to understand
that we are to have a heart for our city,
that we are to have a heart for our nation,
that it's a good and proper thing
for Christians to seek public office
and to seek the good of the city,
the good of the province, the good of the land.
It's good for a person to enter into the civil service
or to enter into business,
to seek the good of the city,
the good of the country,
the good of the province.
It is a good thing to do,
that we should have a heart for our city.
The things in our city which are evil
should break our heart.
We should speak against it.
We should pray against it.
The things in our city which are good,
we should celebrate.
But in all things,
we should see that, in a sense,
our final and true home is in heaven,
the new heaven and the new earth.
But our earthly home matters very, very much.
There is no holy land for us.
There is no place that we should go
and let the whole world go to hell, so to speak,
that we are to put down roots where we live
and seek the good of our city.
And it's captured here very powerfully
in all of the our praying,
the us praying throughout the poem.
Verse 7.
Now in verse 7 here,
all of a sudden it's going to sound a little bit
as if it's a very, very Canadian,
contemporary Canadian and North American prayer.
Because one of the things that's kept,
that's very, very true of modern Canada
is virtue signaling repentance.
And by that I mean, you know,
we confess all the terrible things
done to First Nations in the past.
We confess all the terrible things
done to this group or that group
or the racism, et cetera,
all in the past.
And we can look very virtuous.
We can look very pious.
And if I'm offending some of you,
it's the Bible.
I'm not going to apologize for it.
It's just virtue signaling.
There's no real repentance there,
no real accepting of any type of responsibility.
So look what happens in verse 7.
Our fathers sinned and are no more,
and we bear their iniquities.
And we bear their iniquities.
And so this sounds as if
it's just talking about this modern,
it's as if they're now,
has it,
if you've been reading all the way through,
one of the things which is very telling
throughout chapters 1 through 4
is that the poet
is accepting responsibility
for what's happened,
that they themselves have done something
that means that God's punishment
is deserved.
But what,
well, actually,
we're just going to hold this.
This isn't virtue signaling.
It's actually talking about something
very, very important to understand
about the nature of being human
and when human beings do something wrong.
And it's the opposite
of what Canadians do
with virtue signaling.
But we'll come to that
when we get to verse 16.
Verse 8.
Slaves rule over us.
There is none to deliver us
from their hand.
We get our bread
at the peril of our lives
because of the sword
in the wilderness.
Our skin is as hot
as an oven
with the burning heat
of famine.
Women are raped in Zion,
young women
in the towns of Judah.
Princes are hung up
by their hands.
No respect
is shown to the elders.
Young men are compelled
to grind at the mill
and boys stagger
under the loads of wood.
The old men have left
the city gate,
the young men their music.
The joy of our hearts
has ceased,
our dancing
has been turned to mourning.
The crown has fallen
from our head.
Woe to us
for we have sinned.
Now just sort of pause here.
You'll see here once again
the very, very clear recognition
on the poet
that they as a people,
including himself
and him in his own ways,
have sinned
and God's punishment
is just.
Now there's two things
about here to notice
before we go anything further
in the psalm.
The first thing is this.
If I do something
which is very wrong,
in fact does have
repercussions
to my children,
and it might even have
repercussions
to my grandchildren
or my great-grandchildren,
that in fact
we often think of sin
or doing wrong
as a very, very
individualistic act.
But the fact is
that it's never
an individualistic act.
We, you might
or might not accept this,
you might not accept this
if you're not a Christian,
it, everything
which we do
which is wrong
is something
which is in a sense
an offense
or an attack
against God.
But because we human beings
are inextricably
part of the created order
and inextricably
part of a social order,
whenever we do wrong,
the whole utilitarian,
consequentialist,
relativistic understanding
of doing wrong
is just not humanly true
and we see that.
Many of us struggle
with, in fact,
the repercussions
of what our parents
or our grandparents
have done.
We're dealing with a dad
maybe who was
a terrible alcoholic
or who was
exceptionally violent
and broke up the family
that was violent
towards you
and you still bear
the scars of that.
You still hear his voice
in your head
and it's hard
to get over that,
to get around that.
That there was
some type of
maybe terrible
financial ruin
that completely
and utterly affected
your family
and still continues
to affect you
and your grandchildren.
I know that
if I was to have
an affair
and to break up
our marriage
it would have repercussions
not just to myself
and my wife
but to my kids
and to the grandkids.
It would be devastating
to a large number
of people.
It would be devastating
to the congregation.
And so what we see
in chapter,
in verse 7
isn't virtue signaling
saying,
oh yeah,
you know,
our parents
stole this land
and we're really sad
for it.
We continue to live
in the land
which is one of the reasons
why you will never see
in Church of the Messiah
us beginning a service
about how we're on land
that belongs to other people
because,
and if I offend you,
maybe this will cause
a Twitter storm.
People who say that
don't believe it.
They don't give up
their house.
It's virtue signaling.
And it's virtue signaling
with no type of cost.
And what we see here
is this very,
very powerful
empirically true
understanding
of the consequence
of evil.
that the wrong done
in an earlier generation
or generations
continues to have
a consequence
that barrels
for several generations
and that we often experience.
But at the same time,
and they're now,
and they're living with this.
And they're acknowledging this.
And at the same time,
though,
they themselves
have done something wrong.
And the punishment
that they bear
is not just part
of the consequences
of that
which was done
in an earlier generation
by forebearers,
but also something
which they themselves
are responsible for.
In fact,
actually,
one of the things
which is very hard
in this book,
the book of Lamentations,
for us as Canadians
to get our mind around,
and I'm definitely
including myself in this,
is it's very,
very hard
for modern Canadians
to actually confess
wrongdoing.
I find this all the time.
I get validly called out
maybe that I haven't
answered an email
or something like that.
And I start to answer
and in my reflex motion,
I want to start saying,
I want to do this.
I want to say,
I'm really sorry
for not responding
to your email
that came two weeks ago.
I apologize for it.
And then as soon as I say
I apologize for it,
without even having to do it,
I can say,
you know,
but I've been really busy.
But I've been really busy.
I have lots of emails.
I've been dealing
with these really important things.
There was this crisis.
You see what I've done?
I haven't actually apologized.
And the fact of the matter is,
is that one of the things
which is so hard for us
when we read this book
is this,
he acknowledges
and accepts
that he has done wrong.
And at no point in time
in any of the five chapters
is there anything
like what you and I do
all of the time
that's part of the air
that we breathe?
There's no blame shifting.
There's no face-saving stories.
There's no excuses.
There's no smoke being blown
to try to distract you
from what the real issue is.
There's no distracting.
There's no dissembling.
There's no cloaking.
Cloaking means,
well,
I was really doing this
for this very,
very good reason
and I'm really sorry
that you are upset.
Well, once again,
one moment,
I'm doing this
for a good reason.
I'm sorry you're upset.
That's a very common thing as well.
No, no, no,
you lied.
No, you stole.
No, you cheated.
Not, I was intending
something really good
and I really, really,
really mean well
and I'm sorry you're upset.
No, you abused your power.
Don't give me this thing
that you have good motives
that somehow cloaks
what you did
and you're just bothered
that I'm bothered.
No, you abused your power.
There's no cloaking.
There's no whining.
There's no virtue signaling.
And I would like to suggest,
that's one of the reasons
we have a hard time
reading the book,
by the way,
is that none of this happens
and we're not quite sure
what to do with somebody
who just says,
we did wrong.
I did wrong.
Stop.
I mean, period.
No good motives.
Well, we're just,
yeah, yeah, okay,
I know that we were worshipping
all these other gods.
Yeah, I know that we were
sacrificing babies.
Yeah, I know that we practiced
infanticide.
Yeah, I know that we sold
our boys and girls
to be prostitutes.
Yeah, but I was really trying
to find myself
and find God
and I'm really bothered
that you're upset.
that's what we expect
because that's what we do.
And you see,
it might be one of the reasons
why we have so much problems
with relationships,
that so many marriages
end in divorce,
that so many common law partnerships
end in separation
and divorce,
that so many friendships end,
is you see,
we're just so deeply addicted
to not accepting responsibility.
responsibility.
But if you'd actually
have a good relation,
you can't have a good relationship
without accepting responsibility
for the bad that you did.
You see,
the other person
will put up for it
for a while,
but at some point in time
they don't.
Because you see,
when we just use excuses,
when we just use blame shifting,
when we do this
virtue signaling,
when we do all of this stuff,
we're really just trying
to manipulate the other person.
And at some point in time,
the person being manipulated
says,
you know what?
I don't like being manipulated.
I want to have
a good relationship with you.
And I can have
a good relationship with you
if you're always manipulating me.
You know,
you can't actually extend
grace or mercy
if there's no acknowledgement
of wrong.
And that is so much
a part of what it means
to be Canadians today
that is part of the problem
we have
with the Book of Lamentations.
See,
time and time and time
and time again,
the problems we have
with the Book of Lamentations,
if you sit and think about it
for a while,
actually shows
there's a problem in us.
We think
that the Book of Lamentations,
in a sense,
is ammunition
against God
who's on trial.
But if you think about it,
if you really think
about what's going on,
you start to realize
that it's revealing us.
And
if we,
if I,
if I spend
all of my time
trying to manipulate
my kids,
manipulate my wife,
manipulate my grandkids,
never accepting
responsibility,
never accepting
any type of blame,
and it,
it wrecks the relationship.
And if I,
if I do that
with my wife,
how can that ever,
how can I ever possibly do,
how can I ever possibly
be right
if there really is a God
that does exist?
Now,
we've read up until
verse 16.
the last two verses
are very important
to bring this,
the long list
of the disgrace
to a completion,
the pouring out
of their heart
to God.
And then we see
how they pray
in light of all of this.
Verse 17,
for this,
okay,
look at verse 16 again,
the crown has fallen
from our head,
woe to us,
for we have sinned.
For this,
our heart has become sick.
For these things,
our eyes have grown dim.
In other words,
our heart has become sick
because of their sin
and because of their disgrace.
It's both.
It's not an either or.
It's both the disgrace,
which carries its own weight,
and the sin,
which troubles them.
You see,
this is a whole other sermon,
but it's actually part
of the profound wisdom.
I think only,
no system of thought
is as wise as the Bible.
If you actually compare it,
if you look at the options,
because the fact of the matter is,
there is something in us.
There is something in you,
and there is something in me
that does wrong.
Like,
it's just there.
Not all the time,
obviously.
Like,
not all the time.
But,
you know,
but why is it that,
you know,
you have a whole day,
maybe,
you know,
with your best friend
or something like that,
and they've been really kind,
they've been really generous to you,
and then at the end,
I don't know,
maybe it's like washing dishes,
or maybe it's doing some
of their little simple chore,
and you know you should get up
and do something,
but you just sit and be selfish.
Like,
why is it you do that?
Like,
why do I do that?
Like,
there's a type of mystery
to why,
anybody ever chooses evil,
because it's just,
it's just there.
And as that becomes clear to us,
and that's what's going on here,
it's just there.
The sin is just there.
And you've seen that
in the previous weeks,
that even after they've been judged,
there's still these terrible things
that people are doing.
It's just there.
Well,
the Bible describes
why that happens
very powerfully.
It not only describes it
in poems like that,
but it actually,
we'll see in a moment,
gives a bit of a,
of a way to dealing
with the fact
that this makes our hearts sick
when we realize it.
Verse 18,
for Mount Zion,
which lies desolate,
jackals prowl over it.
And it's a very,
very powerful closing image.
Just think,
those of you who watch movies,
if you,
maybe it's an adventure movie
or a fantasy movie
or something like that,
and you have the,
the hero or the heroine
and,
or the group,
and they're,
they're walking along
and off in the distance
they see some ruins
and in the ruins
they see some jackals.
What does that always mean?
It means that if there are
human beings there,
they're hiding.
It means it's a place
of devastation
that might once have been great,
but now is not.
To see the couple of jackals
wandering around
amidst the ruins
creates a very type of
emotional type of response,
a place of danger,
a place of some great evil
that had befallen that place
and those are the final words
of the pouring out
of their hearts.
It begins with,
see our disgrace
and from verses 2 to 18
the disgrace is loaded
with pictures,
powerful images
and this is the final image
of the jackals
amidst the ruins,
which is where the poet lives.
So how does the poet
now turn to talk to God?
Verse 19 through 22
or maybe I'll just,
well, I'll read all four verses
and I'll sort of loop back
and talk about it
and then we'll try to unpack
a little bit about
this particular question
which started the whole sermon,
does God still punish people today?
It goes like this,
verse 19,
but you, O Lord,
reign forever.
Your throne endures
to all generations.
It's very powerful, right?
You have the,
you go from verse 18,
the jackals amidst the ruins,
the ruins where the poet lives.
Verse 19,
the Lord reigns.
Despite the circumstances
that he sees around him,
the Lord reigns.
The Lord has reigned in the past.
He reigns today.
He will reign forever.
But you, O Lord,
reign forever.
Your throne endures
to all generations.
You know,
one of the things
which I often pray about
in my own personal prayers,
especially this last couple of years,
it's been a very important thing
for me to pray
that the Lord continues to reign
in our world.
That the Lord reigns in Canada.
The Lord is sovereign,
maybe is a better way to put it.
And that he only works on his plan A.
He doesn't need plan B,
he doesn't need plan C,
he doesn't need plan D.
Not surprised by what happens
and thinks,
oh dang,
I hadn't taken that into account,
I better change.
He's always only working on plan A.
And so they're often asking,
so Lord,
hold me in the hollow of your hand
and help me to walk with you.
But verse 20,
and here one of the things
you're going to see at the end,
and one of the things to notice
in verses 19, 20, 21, 22,
you're going to see this claim,
the doubt,
the claim, the doubt.
And it's,
to be in doubt is,
to have doubt is to be in two minds,
or at least two minds.
In a sense,
a mind about who God is
and what he's like,
and have some other doubts
about whether he's really like that,
or in this case,
the emotions and the images
are driving the fact
that maybe,
just maybe,
this time has come
that their evil has been so bad
that in fact,
it's irredeemable.
That the evil that they have done,
the evil that he has done,
is so bad that it is irredeemable.
And the Lord is still on his throne,
he does show mercy,
but they have done something
ten steps beyond
which mercy can be shown.
So you go to verse 19 again,
but you, O Lord, reign forever,
your throne endures to all generations.
Why do you forget us forever?
Why do you forsake us
for so many days?
Restore us to yourself, O Lord,
that we may be restored.
Renew our days as of old,
unless you have utterly rejected us
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.
You'll notice here
that it's restore us not to riches,
restore us not to power,
restore us not to perfect health,
but restore us, O Lord, to yourself.
Last week I gave you a bit of an analogy,
and this is something
which you need to also take into account
when you read the book of Lamentations.
It's asking a deeply personal question.
It would be as if, you know,
some evil person came up and said,
George, I'm going to give you an option.
You can, I'm going to take away your house.
I'm going to take away your car.
I'm going to take away your job,
but your marriage will be intact.
Or I'm going to give you a bigger house,
a better car, way more money,
but you're going to lose your marriage.
You're going to lose Louise.
What do you choose?
And if I even pause about that,
then there's a problem.
I mean, I know I would choose my wife.
I would choose the poverty and have my wife.
And we all know that if, in fact,
we could listen in on other people's minds,
another couple,
and, in fact, the woman was thinking,
okay, I think I would take the house and the car,
while the husband's saying,
I think I'd take my wife,
and that became public,
we'd all be on one person's side
and not the other, right?
Because we understand the deep importance
that human beings have
to be with another person,
to be with a person in the covenant of love.
And throughout the entire bigger story of the Bible,
the bigger story of the Bible is a love story,
that God, the triune God,
made human beings not because he had any particular needs
or because he was lonely,
because only Christianity accounts for the fact
that there's not a lonely God,
that we're not a God that's sort of above or below love
and good and evil,
that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
three persons, yet one God,
from all eternity there has been love,
there's been goodness,
there's been beauty,
there's been exchange,
there's been interactions.
And out of the fullness of love,
God creates human beings.
Out of the fullness of God's being,
he creates contingent human beings
made in his own image
who can not only learn to amongst themselves
in some small way model
the eternal love of the Father for the Son
and the Son for the Father
and the Holy Spirit and all,
but also be able to love him.
And that's how God made the entire world.
And then we human beings broke that.
We decided that we would be God.
We wanted to be like God.
We wanted to take God off of his throne
and we wanted to be on that throne.
And in doing that,
we broke our relationship with the source of love,
the source of goodness,
the source of truth,
the source of beauty.
And as soon as we did that,
not only did we break our relationship with God,
but if you go back and you read Genesis 3,
we instantly broke our relationship with ourselves,
our relationship with others,
and our relationship with the creation.
And that's, you see,
why there's just something within us that does wrong,
and yet we are not completely wrong.
Because the image of God
and God's creation within us
was bent but not broken, not effaced.
And God never gave up on his created order.
And even in that early story,
he promises that there will be a day
when he will restore human beings to himself.
He will renew by bringing a way
to have people in him to come back into him,
and that that will come in the future.
And this book of Lamentations is part of that,
setting the riddle, so to speak,
of how could human beings who continue to sin
possibly be restored?
How can God show mercy,
which is not just privilege?
And the Bible as a whole
is part of this larger love story
about how God redeems and restores
people to himself purely and utterly
out of the beauty of grace,
the beauty of mercy.
The beauty of justice is not broken
by the beauty of mercy and of grace,
but that the grace of God illuminates his justice,
and the justice of God illuminates his grace,
and it all becomes real in flesh.
Because, you see, here's the question.
Which I started with.
Does God still punish today?
Well, what we see here is an account
of God having punished in history.
And if you read the New Testament,
if you read the story of Ananias and Sapphira,
it is obvious that even after the death
and resurrection of Jesus,
that God still actually does punish in history.
So is it possible that what's happening to you
might be God's punishment?
Well, I think we can't know for certain.
It might be.
And that's not the answer most of you are wanting to hear.
In fact, it probably creates fears within you.
But it might be.
I mean, I can share with you,
when we walked away from our property
because we wanted to be loyal to Jesus,
and we moved to the Ottawa Little Theatre,
we had to leave our denomination
because our denomination had left the gospel
and was following a false gospel.
And so we, to be true to Jesus,
had to separate from our denomination,
and they came after us,
and eventually we settled out of court
and we walked away from our property.
And for the first two years,
the congregation declined almost by,
well, declined by 40% over the first two years.
Not at first, but over the first two,
two and a half years.
It was a very, very, very hard time
of leadership for me.
And I will confess,
one of the things I kept pointing out in my heart to God
is, God, is it because of some sin in my life
or is it because of some sin in the congregation?
You know, have I stopped preaching your word?
Have I stopped praying?
Are there things which I have done
for which this is coming?
Now, I didn't come to a particular,
I mean, you can never,
you can't, people who go and say,
you know, this is God's judgment,
COVID's God's judgment on Canada,
you can't make those claims.
You're not God, I'm not God.
But on the other hand,
people who say that it definitely isn't,
they're not God either.
It might be.
And in fact, it's a valid type of thing
for a Christian to ask.
Is this because of some sin
that we have been doing,
that I have been doing,
that this is happening to me?
And if it is, Lord,
my cry of my heart was to show me
if this was the case,
that I might repent
and be restored to him.
But while this troubles us a little bit,
it actually points us to something
which is of great hope.
You see, if I tell you
that there's the,
all of the history of the world
is captured in the Bible
and that it's ultimately a love story,
that human beings were made by a God
and then we fell
and then God promised
that he would send a redeemer
and he sends a redeemer
and he makes us right with himself
and we're going to go to a better place
when we die if we're in him.
And you might say,
George, well, that's just a good story,
but it's just a story.
It's just one of many stories.
But the fact of the matter is,
is we have no grounds
to believe that story
or any story.
The fact of the matter is,
is the hard-headed amongst us say,
you try to get as many toys
as you can while you live,
you get sick
and then you die
and that sucks,
but so be it.
At least I'm alive right now
and I'm going to eat
and I'm going to drink
and I'm going to party,
I'm going to consume,
I'm going to try to get as much as I am,
I'm going to forget about the fact
that at the end of the day
it's just the grave.
I'm going to do whatever I can
to have a good time right now
because, you see,
all you are presenting
is a story to comfort people,
a story of a God
that actually isn't there,
there really is a world,
it's just a story, George,
and there's lots of stories.
And if you know what, George,
if that story gives meaning to your life,
that's fine.
For me, a trip to a bar,
a couple of Jack Daniels
with my friends,
that gives me the meaning,
and why should I pick yours over mine?
One of the things
which is so powerful
about the book of Lamentations,
the fact that God's judgment
actually happens in history,
is it points to
the true and greater judgment
that will fall to each human being,
that if, in fact,
God has judged in history,
is judging in history,
and will judge in history,
it points to the true
and greater judgment
that any human being,
every human being,
will be under.
But it also points
to the true and greater
restoration and renewal.
When the book of Lamentations
was written,
the person could just look back
on the Exodus,
he could just look back
on how God used Gideon
to defeat Midian.
He could just look back
at these times
of great things in the past
and wonder if it's going
to happen today.
But what we Christians understand,
and this is why that thing
which sounds so odd to people,
George, why should you
be so concerned
about whether you can actually
know whether Jesus exists?
Why are you so concerned
whether he actually died
on the cross
and rose from the dead?
Well, it's because
it changes the Christian story
from just being one story
amongst many,
the great pumpkin,
the tooth fairy,
Santa Claus, and Jesus.
And it's just one fanciful story
and Santa Claus
and the tooth fairy
please two-year-olds
and for some odd reason
Jesus pleases 22-year-olds
and 52-year-olds
and 62-year-olds.
It changes it from being
just another story
to saying it's not
just another story.
The mercy of God took flesh.
The justice of God
took flesh.
The judgment of God
took flesh.
That in my place
condemned
he stood.
That
the judgment and lamentations
happen in history.
The judgment
that I deserve
which I will only know
in the future
when I die impure before God.
that that judgment
was laid on Jesus.
And my hope
is the real defeat
of death
by Jesus.
This actually happened
in history.
Santa Claus
not in history.
Easter Bunny
not in history.
Tooth Fairy
not in history.
This happens.
Jesus.
And it's only
from that place
to understand
that the doom
that I deserve
fell on him
and the grace
and the love
and the mercy
that I do not deserve
is offered to me.
That the
brokenness
of my relationship
with God
was laid on him
and the purity
of his relationship
with God
was offered to me.
And when I put my hands
in the hands of Jesus
that's what I receive
in this profound exchange
that happened in history
and is available
at every moment
in history.
And that once you put
your hands
in the hands of Jesus
it is the beginning
of a completely
different
eternal destiny.
So you see
it is from that point of view
that I can begin
to try to learn
to acknowledge
that I have done wrong.
Because no amount
of recognizing wrong
in my life
is something
that is going to
shock Jesus.
And it is from that
point of view
of the cross
that I can begin
to understand
that there is
no degree of wrong
that I could ever
possibly do
that was too big
for Jesus to deal with
when he died
upon the cross.
And that's true
of you as well.
And it's from that
particular place
of security
that even if
there are things
by which we are
being punished
that we can call
out to God
that he would restore
that relationship
to us
and calling out
to him
won't take it away
instantly
because our emotions
don't usually
change that quickly
but that he in fact
will hear our prayer
and the longing
of his heart
that all that he is doing
is preparing you
and I for an eternal
weight of glory
and that we can
pour out our heart
to him
that we can pour
out our heart
to him
and that we don't
have to worry
that you know
if anything
particular thing
has happened to us
or it's not
it's
that the final word
about you and me
in Christ
we already know
about the final word
for you and me
when we are
in Christ
because
in my place
condemned
he stood
from there
I can pray
for there
I can look
at the city
and bless it
from there
I can look
at the city
and know
that the city
doesn't get
the final word
about right
and wrong
the city
isn't
if the city
ends
the city
of God
continues
and endures
because God
is still
on his throne
I can pray
for the city
I can pray
for myself
I can pray
for you
I can look
at my sin
I can seek
the true good
of the city
and the true good
for you
anyway
we're coming
to a close
I just want
to encourage you
if you have
never given
your life
to Jesus
there's no better
time than today
to call out to him
to be your savior
and your lord
and to know
that he will
accept it
and receive it
and for all of us
we need to pray
for our city
we need to pray
for our land
is God wanting
to teach us something
and even if it's
completely unrecognized
and unrepentant of
can we at least
for those of us
who are in church
of the Messiah
begin to maybe
see and understand
and pray into it
and continue to seek
the blessing of our city
the blessing of our province
and the blessing of our land
and the blessing of the earth
let's pray
Father we thank you
for the hard truths
that you introduced to us
through the book of Lamentations
the hard truths
about ourselves
and Father
we give you thanks
and praise
that not only do you reveal
the hard truths
about ourselves to us
but because this is
setting forth
or preparing us
to know about Jesus
it's also preparing us
for the beautifully
rock hard
rock solid truths
about your grace
your mercy
your justice
your peace
your truth
your grace
offered to us
in the person of your son
we ask Father
that you would make us
disciples of Jesus
who are gripped by the gospel
learning to live for your glory
and this we ask
in the name of Jesus
Amen