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Lamentations chapter 3 is a long chapter. I had too much material for one sermon, unless you wanted to sit here for two hours. But I've had to basically cut it in half, not exactly half, but almost half. And I'll be doing part one this week, and next week I'll be doing part two, the rest of Lamentations chapter 3. But let's start there in verse number 3. Lamentations 3, 3. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me all the day. The title for the sermon this morning is His Hand Against Me. So once again this is Jeremiah, now we're after chapter 3. Chapter 1 was, basically it's all about the perspective of the Babylonian takeover of Judah. And so chapter 1 was about Jerusalem, how Jerusalem was feeling about the Lord. Chapter 2 was more about how the Lord would see Jerusalem. Chapter 3 is more about Jeremiah expressing his feelings and his motions about what he's observing. And he says his hand is against me. For a time period here, he looks at the judgment that's falling upon Judah, and he says, surely the Lord is angry at me. Surely God's hand is against me. And sometimes I hear this from people who are going through hardship, who are going through problems, or who are suffering during COVID-19, lockdowns, and all these kinds of things. And they think, maybe God's angry at me. Maybe I'm the target. And you know, when people react this way, I realize, number one, they're wrong sometimes. But number two, it's a normal human emotion. Because even Jeremiah, as God was judging Judah, he started to say, it must be me. I must be the one that God is angry at. And so we'll see how Jeremiah goes through these emotional feelings, and what his conclusion is, as he explains it to us through this chapter. But let's start there in verse number one. Jeremiah says, I am the man that have seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. So Jeremiah, yes, this is the wrath of God. We're being taken over by the Babylonians. And I've come here and I've witnessed this. I've seen this affliction. I'm the man that God is using to witness this. And so not only did he see the desolation that Babylon caused Jerusalem, but also he was a preacher. He was a preacher that God used to warn the nations for many decades that this judgment would come. Now this judgment did not only come upon the wicked. It did not only just come upon, you know, the people that God was angry at. But just like any time God brings down his wrath and his judgment and his anger upon the earth, even the righteous are going to feel the consequences. All right? So notice verse number two. It says, he have led me to Jeremiah saying, the Lord has led me, look at this, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. So he's starting to see, you know, the judgment on Israel and saying, well, this is happening to me. I'm being affected by God's judgment. Even though Jeremiah, we know very clearly that Jeremiah is not the person nor the object of God's wrath. Nevertheless, he's feeling the consequences that are falling upon the earth. Within himself. Okay? And, you know, in our current world situation, I do believe we're seeing God's judgment upon this earth, upon Australia. All right? And, you know, again, I've seen people sort of speak about, oh, man, you know, why is it, you know, we've not been at church, we're not having church, the way, is God angry at us? And I realize when people say that, it's like, well, you know, you feel like Jeremiah. You know God's hand of judgment is falling upon this earth. But then you start to think it must be us. We could be the target. Maybe we're the ones that's wrong, Pastor Kevin. But then I remind people, yeah, but it's every church. And it's not just God's churches. It's also false religions that weren't able to meet, et cetera, et cetera. But I understand where you're coming from. And let me just quickly remind you a very familiar passage in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 9, which says, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Look, we are not the objects of God's wrath in that sense. Okay? Yes, God will chastise us when we're wrong, when we've sinned against the Lord, when we've been rebellious. God will chastise, but he chastises us, brethren, not as a cursing, but a blessing to profit us, to make us better people. In the times of the old covenant, if God's people were contrary to his word, yes, he would be full of wrath, and he would curse the nation. And part of the curses is that the people of God will be scattered throughout the whole world. Okay? And so this is definitely a curse that God has put upon Jude at this time in time. Okay? Look at verse number 3. Surely against me he is turned. So Jeremiah, it must be me. All right? He turneth his hand against me all the day. And this is why it's so important that we look at the Book of Lamentations in its proper lens. Okay? We have the Book of Jeremiah, which is just clear prophecies. And yes, there is poetic language, don't get me wrong, in the Book of Jeremiah, but the Book of Lamentations is very poetic. Okay? And so generally in poetry, the person that's putting the poetry together, they're expressing feelings, they're expressing emotions. And so we see another side of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, the Book of Jeremiah, we see him as a hard preacher, as someone that serves the Lord faithfully. We get to the Book of Lamentations, we just see how much, you know, the effects of God's judgment upon Judah affected him personally. And his weeping and his sorrowing. And he believes God's hand is against him. But once again, you look at the Book of Jeremiah, no, God is using Jeremiah for his purposes to preach this wicked generation. And Jeremiah is doing everything that is right in the eyes of God. Okay? He's a faithful man. He's a good preacher. But again, Jeremiah is being caught up in the judgment. And he thinks God must be angry at me because he's feeling the consequences. And once again, brethren, I do believe God is judging this earth. God is judging Australia. But as God's people, as blessed about this church, we are going to feel the consequences. Okay? Then that's just part of it. That's just something we need to learn as we go through Lamentations, that we are going to feel the consequences, even feel like maybe we're the ones that God is angry at. It can happen. And so, you know, even if the whole world is being turned upside down, please understand that it's unlikely your fault. You as God's children, so long as you remain faithful in serving the Lord, you're doing everything that the Lord requires from you, you know, you have nothing to be concerned about. Look at verse number four. He says, My flesh and my skin have he made old. He have broken my bones. Yeah, you know, I'm starting to get a few more white hairs. Every time I cut my hair, I realized, oh, there's more white hairs than there were, you know, last time. And, you know, what's happening here is Jeremiah is feeling older. As this time goes on, yes, he is getting older, but he's aging. He's aging faster than the normal pace. And this is something that is well known in the science realm about our bodies, health. Okay? I'll just quickly read to an article that I looked up. It says stress, stress doesn't just make a person feel older, but in a very real sense, it can speed up aging. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that stress can add years to the age of an individual immune system cells. Okay? So yes, stress, worry, concerns, frustrations can cause your body to age faster than it would normally do. Okay? And so Jeremiah is finding this. He's being worried that there's all this struggle going on, the Babylonians, the struggles in Jerusalem, the lack of food. We know what he went through, being thrown in a dungeon, etc. And he's starting to age. He's starting to realize his body is aging during this process. Verse number five. He has built it against me and compassed me with gold and travail. Now, God has obviously not built it against Jeremiah. God is allowing the Babylonians to build their armies around Jerusalem. Okay? Once again, Jeremiah is thinking it must be me. Okay? This is happening to me. He's feeling the consequences of everything that's falling upon him. And in the early stages of the lockdowns, remember when we had just certain suburbs that were locked out? And Fairfield, where we meet for church, is one of them. It's like, well, maybe Fairfield is being locked down because of Blessed or Baptist Church. Maybe we're the ones, Pastor Kevin. Maybe the border's closed. You can't go to Queensland because of New Life Baptist Church. It's like some people have this victim mentality. It must be us. We're the reason. We're the victim. We're the target of this. It's really an immature thought though. It's an emotional reaction. It's not wicked, but it's just an immature reaction. You know, when the whole world is basically being judged, the whole world has been affected by what's going on to just single it and say, well, it must be me or our church or whatever it is. You know, but again, it's part of that human nature. And we see that again happening with Jeremiah. Verse number six. He has set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He have hedged me about that I cannot get out. He have made my chain heavy. So Jeremiah's feeling restricted. Remember the city of Jerusalem is under siege. They can't go out. They go out. They're going to maybe lose their lives or they're definitely going to be captured and taken into captivity. And so he's feeling like he's in a grave. He's like he's been buried alive, right? He has hedged me. I cannot get out. That was like many of us for a period of time. We just couldn't get out. Couldn't get out of Sydney. Couldn't get out of your LGA, right? And that's how, you know, the feeling of restriction is upon Jeremiah. Verse number eight. Jeremiah saying, even when I go and pray to the Lord, he's not hearing me. Now, this is something that we did definitely learn in the book of Jeremiah. So let's just remind ourselves, keep your finger there and go to Jeremiah chapter seven, please. Go to Jeremiah chapter seven. Say, Pastor Kevin, are there times that God does not hear our prayers? Yes, there are times that God does not hear your prayers. And it's not that he doesn't hear them. It's not like God doesn't know you're praying. It's not like God doesn't know what you're asking for. But he chooses to ignore it or he chooses to not answer it, okay? The answer to your prayer might be no answer. Okay, but all prayers are answered. Even if the answer is there's no answer to that prayer, okay? Because just as a reminder, there are certain things that we ought not to be praying for, all right? Jeremiah was getting to a point where he started to pray for wicked people. He says, God, can you be merciful to these wicked people? And God's judgment is falling. God says, look, stop praying for them. Jeremiah chapter seven, verse number 16. Jeremiah chapter seven, verse number 16 says, Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor pray for them, neither make intercession to them, for I will not hear thee. Okay, so we see that's happening. Jeremiah's trying to pray for his wicked nation. God says, stop praying for them. I'm going to judge them. It's time for them to be destroyed. Go to Jeremiah 11, please. Jeremiah chapter 11, verse number 14. Jeremiah chapter 11 and verse number 14. Jeremiah 11, 14. The Bible reads, Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry nor pray for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. Now go to Jeremiah 14, please. Jeremiah chapter 14 and verse number 11. Jeremiah chapter 14 and verse number 11. The Bible says, Then said the Lord unto me, pray not for this people for their good. Stop praying that things will go well for them. It's time for them to be judged. It's time for me to bring down my anger, my wrath, my right of correction upon this nation. And when that happens, brethren, we need to stop praying for the wicked. Okay? So there comes a time in Jeremiah's life, he realizes God does not want me praying for this people. And we see here in the book of Lamentations, once again, Jeremiah's crying out, he's shouting to the Lord in prayer. But the Lord is shouting out his prayer. All right? So Jeremiah is feeling like, you know, the Lord's far. You know, the Lord is bringing me to this hardship and anguish. And Jeremiah's focused upon the turmoil. He's focused on the takeover of Babylon. And he's been cast down, he's depressed. Right? He thinks he's the object of God's punishment. Verse number nine, back to Lamentations chapter three. Lamentations chapter three, verse number nine. It says, He have enclosed my ways with hewn stone. So Jeremiah wanted to walk a certain way, but that way has been closed up. Okay? He have made my paths crooked. What is Jeremiah saying? He says, look, all my plans, all my desires, they've been messed up. And that's what I've been feeling for the last two years now. All my plans, brethren, have been messed up. All my plans. I'm sure you too. I'm sure you guys had plans for certain things, to go to certain places, to do certain things. And we find ourselves in this restricted world, this COVID world that we live in, that our plans have been messed up. Not only my return to Queensland, which was meant to take place last month, that got messed up. But also, you know, my family, even before COVID, was it last year or this year? I can't remember. Maybe it was this year. We were planning a holiday trip to Europe. We were saving up to get up to Europe because my wife's from Portugal, or her background is Portuguese. We wanted to go Portugal, maybe England, right? All those plans, brethren, guess what? It's in the rubbish bin right now. We don't know when we'll be able to do something like that, okay? But that's what Jeremiah's feeling. I've got my plans. I've got my ways. I've got these ideas, but it's shut up. The Lord doesn't allow me. My paths are crooked. I can't walk in the paths that I want to walk. Maybe you feel that way. And again, you know, we have these emotions. We have these feelings from Jeremiah, so we can relate to it. You know, sometimes we may look at great men of God in the Bible, and we just think, how did God use such a great man, you know? He's such far above me. These men are so much better than me, but really, they're just like you and I. They feel the same emotions. That's why I love a book like Lamentations, because you see the real feelings. You know, yeah, you see a powerful preacher in Jeremiah, but then you see his heart. You see his heart is broken and torn, and he's confused, and he feels like his plans are not working out. And brethren, you may feel that way. And if you feel that way, then you can relate to the Word of God. You can relate to Jeremiah. Let's keep going. Verse number 10. He was unto me, that's like God. God was unto me as a bear, lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He have turned aside my ways and poured me in pieces. He have made me desolate. So Jeremiah feels like he's been hunted by wild animals, that the Lord is like this lion. The Lord is this bear. As soon as, you know, Jeremiah is in a weak place, the Lord's going to come in and tear him to pieces. So he's been concerned about being caught in this trap, being caught by these wild animals, which he uses as an illustration for the Lord God. And I remember feeling that way. For those of you that came here and helped me out with the live streaming, the live stream dream team, and we had our curfew at nine o'clock. Remember guys, it's like, all right, guys, it's nine o'clock. Let's go home. Let's get out there. We don't want to be caught. You know, there are wild animals, and we get caught by the police. Let's get home before the curfew, because we might get captured. Yeah, you know, we've gone through these things, right? I mean, I had a much lesser significance than what Jeremiah went through. You know, I'm not enjoying the world as it is right now, okay? I've lived in a better time, but I appreciate that God has allowed us to go through this, okay? Imagine us going through what Jeremiah actually went through. Like literally, you know, an army surrounding all of Sydney. You know, people fight, losing their lives, war, famines, pestilences, the loss of food, you know, children going hungry, people dying on the streets. Brethren, then we complain about COVID. We complain about not being able to travel past five kilometers during that time. Yes, it's frustrating, but Brethren, you know, it's so small. It's so insignificant, you know, compared to what other people have gone through throughout history. You know, and I think the Lord's allowing us to go through all this so we can just have thicker skin, you know? So we can just, you know, understand some amounts of suffering, because we've never really suffered in Australia. We're too spoiled on this land. So I'm thankful every time we get to go through some struggles, because it makes us better people. It helps us learn the lessons that we've been forgetting in the past. Let's keep going, verse number 12. He have bent his bow. He have set me as a mark for the arrow. So he's saying God's got me marked out with his arrow right now. He have caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. So he's been shot by God in the arrow. And we covered last week, I won't repeat it all, but we covered last week how emotions, feelings, and stress, and worries can affect your stomach. You know, you can have those knots in your stomach, and you're excited, you have the butterflies in your stomach. We've looked at it before, and that's how Jeremiah is. He's, you know, he's just not feeling good, right? His body's aging. He's focused on the turmoil inside of him. His reins, his stomach is like it's all turned in a knot. He's not confident. He doesn't know what the future holds. Look at verse number 14. I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He have filled me with bitterness. He have made me drunken with wormwood. So Jeremiah, yeah, he's feeling like he's the target right now of God's judgment, but he's also saying that all the people here in Jeremiah, I'm a derision to my people. They hate me. I'm the outcast. They don't like, no one likes me here in Jerusalem, God. We have enemies outside, but even inside this place where these people are meant to be my friends, meant to be my people, I'm a derision to them. He says, and their song all the day, like they not necessarily sing about him, but they're mocking him. They're teasing him. They're laughing at him, right? Why? Because Jeremiah's preaching God's word. Because Jeremiah's saying this is God's judgment. Because Jeremiah's just faithfully serving the Lord. Because Jeremiah's telling people, let's just surrender to the Babylonians, and they're just laughing at him. They're just mocking him. What's this crazy guy, you know? I mean, you got a feel for Jeremiah. He's just trying to do the best to serve the Lord, but he's hated. Look, and it's like, oh, but Jeremiah, man, he just had thick skin, and he just didn't care. No, he did care. Because he says in verse 15, he had filled me with bitterness. So the fact that I am derision, I'm being mocked, people are laughing at me, people hate me, they hate my preaching, it's causing bitterness in me, he says. I'm getting angry, Lord. I'm getting frustrated and bitter about all this stuff. I'm drunken with wormwood. Wormwood is our herb. It's a very bitter herb. It's like I become drunk, not an alcohol, but drunk on bitterness. He's full of it, right? He can't handle it. This is why there's a period of time, we read in the book of Jeremiah, where he actually quits. He quits the ministry for about five minutes, and then he's back on, okay? Because there's a fire in his bones, and he had to preach God's word. Verse number 16. He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones. He has covered me with ashes, and thou has removed my soul far off from peace. I forget prosperity. So it says, peace and prosperity is something of the past. We used to live a peaceful life. We used to live a prosperous life, but now it's all in the past. And right now, there's a lot of talk about inflation in Australia. There's lots of talk about interest rates increasing, people starting to get worried from an economy, economical position of our nation. Speaking to a construction guy yesterday, he says, look, there's no materials. Everything's grinding down to a halt, and I don't know how long this construction industry is going to continue. People have concerns, people have worries. The peace and prosperity that we had has really been shaken up with current world events. And we may feel that. We may feel that we've lost the peace, and we may feel that we've lost prosperity. He says, I forgot prosperity. I forgot what it's like to have everything I need. Because the people of Jerusalem, they're hungry. Just the very bare minimum, they can't take care of the very bare minimum needs. And so prosperity means nothing when you can't even feed yourself. Now, he says, and thou hast removed my soul far from peace. Now, God wants us to live a life of peace, even if we live in a wicked world. And I'll just quickly read to you from 1 Timothy 2, and I really want you to pay attention. Just listen to my reading, okay? Don't turn there. 1 Timothy 2, verse number 1. Because I have said many times that I don't like our politicians. And you guys have said many times to me that you don't like our politicians. And fine, I agree, okay? But 1 Timothy 2, verse 1 says, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made of all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Brevin, how much do you pray for our politicians? How much have you prayed for Scott Morrison this week? How much have you, never, there you go. How much have you prayed for our premiers? How much have you prayed that, you know, Palajay in Queensland allows me to get back into Queensland? Okay, how often have we really prayed for these? And then our peace has been removed. But what have you prayed? This is what God commands, all right? I exhort therefore. You know, Paul is saying to Timothy, look, I exhort you. I'm encouraging you. I'm trying to motivate you. You know why he's trying to motivate you? Because we don't want to pray for them. Because we know how wicked they are. We know how untrustworthy they are. We know how much they are liars. But you know what, Brevin, we're still commanded, first of all, to pray for our kings and all those that are in authority. Why? So they can be wonderful and God will bless them. So we can live quiet and peaceable lives. All right? So, you know, I don't know how, okay, we still have peace. We still have prosperity to some extent. People have been concerned about losing these things. We might lose them. I don't know, okay? But how about we just get down in prayer? We pray for our politicians. Ask that they would have a fear of God. Ask that they would overturn plans and bills that are ungodly. I mean, just this week, we've heard that in the New South Wales Parliament, I think it's either passed or close to being passed. What do they call it? Assisted suicide. Euthanasia. So what? Our state's even getting worse. They're learning nothing from COVID. Okay, during COVID, they're worried about all the deaths. Oh yeah, this many people died. You know, we need to inject ourselves and, you know, we're trying to stop death, but at the same time, Parliament's trying to pass a bill of death. I mean, how, you know, how contradictive are these people? Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's why I don't like them. That's why you don't like them. But you know what? We're still commanded to pray for them. We're commanded to pray for them for our peace. And so I don't want to end up like Jeremiah, where we lose all our peace, where we lose all our prosperity. Look, I'm happy with the 40 years of life that I live, but I have 11 kids. I want my kids to grow up in a nation that is prosperous, a nation that has peace, a nation where they can make something of themselves easily without too many struggles in life. I want that. I want that for the next generation. I want Blessed Up Baptist Church to continue strong, all the families that make up this church until Jesus Christ comes back. You know, but we need to be praying for our politicians. As much as you don't like them, brethren, just humble yourself and say, well, God, you want me to pray for them. You know how I feel, Lord. Jeremiah feels certain ways. You know how I feel, Lord, but I'm going to pray for them anyway because I want to have a quiet and peaceable life. Verse number 18, Lamentations chapter 3, verse 18. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord because that's it. I'm done. Okay. I mean, you know, any strength, any hope I had, it's been completely, it's perished. It's gone. Okay. Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood of the gull. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. Now, this is a part of the chapter that it starts to change. All right. I want you to notice what Jeremiah is looking at here in verse number 19. He says, remembering my affliction and my misery. So Jeremiah is just, his focus is just how miserable he is. His focus is just how bad it is with the Babylonians here. His focus is, man, we're hungry, we're poor, you know, God must hate me because I'm experiencing the hardships of God's judgment here. But it's interesting what he says. He actually, he learns the lesson. In verse number 20, he says, my soul hath them in remembrance. I'm remembering how weak we are now. But then he says, and is humbled in me. He goes, I've learned humility. He says, God's allowed me to go through this trial because now I've learned humility. I've learned to love myself. Maybe even as God's preacher, even though I could see the weakness of the nation, even I was caught up. Maybe I wasn't humble enough. Maybe God's allowing me to go through all this, suffering the consequences of the judgment on this nation just to humble me. And I believe that Australians need to be humbled. I believe all Australians and even God's people, even God's people here at Blessed Baptist Church need to be humbled. And I believe COVID has given us that opportunity to humble us, to lower us, to become needy, to get to that point of anguish and frustration and anger, maybe even. But just to say, well, Lord, you're humbling me. Maybe I've been too lifted up. I've taken too many things for granted. Too many advantages, Lord. I've taken church for granted. I've taken soul winning for granted. I've taken just being, living a quiet and peaceful life for granted. I've taken the ability to travel between Queensland and New South Wales for granted. I've never been thankful to you, Lord. I just took it as a given. And it says these things have humbled me. And that's what I want for us to think about as we go through this chapter is what lessons, Lord, have you taught us during this process? I hope you can all admit that you've been humbled. I hope you can all say that, you know what, I refused my pride. You know, Pastor Kevin, I did have pride at the beginning, maybe. You know, I was ready to just take on this wicked world and wicked government. I realized, no, actually, the Lord's trying to humble me, to appreciate what he's given me. And then look at what he says in verse number 21. These are profound words. So he's poor and needy, struggling, right? Verse number 21, he says, This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. Okay? So notice that the change that's taken place from verse number 18 to verse number 21. Let's look at verse 18 again. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Because that's it, it's all over. God had to get to a point where Jeremiah was just so low, so cast down, so humbled. And then at that state, where he finally realizes, well, actually God's eye has been upon me this whole time. God has been teaching me humility. Now, when he recalls to mind all the misery and all the struggles, he says, Therefore have I hope. Now it says, Now I have hope. How did it go from being miserable, thinking that God hated him? How did it go from there to now I have hope? I'll tell you why. Because he's learned that God's eye has been upon him his whole time. He's learned that God was teaching him a lesson of humility this whole time, and that Jeremiah was focused on the wrong things. Okay? Let me just show you this. Look at verse number 22. His attitude changes completely. Verse number 22. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion fails not. So instead of saying, Oh Lord, it's miserable. It's hard. I'm Babylonian. It's, I'm struggling, Lord. Now it says, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. He said, Praise God that I'm not dead. Praise God that I'm still alive. Praise God that I can still preach God's word. Praise God, even though I'm restricted, even though we're limited in what I can do, Lord, I'm still going to praise you because I've not been destroyed, I've not been consumed. Lord, it's because of your mercies, because his compassion fails not. You see, you can either look at it glass that's half empty or half full. And you can say, Well, this glass is half empty and be miserable, complaining. Where's the rest of it? Or you can look at the glass that's half full and say, Praise God that it's half full. Praise God that I can drink half a cup of water. You see, that's exactly what Jeremiah did. Instead of looking at that glass half empty, he looked at the same glass. He says, No, it's half full. I'm going to praise God for the half that I do have. I'm going to praise God for the freedoms that I still have. I'm not consumed. I'm not destroyed. I'm still alive. I'm still kicking. I can still serve God, because God's compassion fails not. He says, God's been compassionate upon me, even in this misery and struggles. Isn't that amazing? How he just changed his focus. Instead of being focused on Babylon and the misery, now he says, No, I'm going to change my focus on God. God, your eyes upon me. You're compassionate. Lord, you're merciful. You've helped me along so far and you're going to get me through this. That's it. That's all that changed. His focus and his attitude completely changed by looking at different things. And let's keep going. Verse number 23. And verse number 22 and verse number 23, I often say where certain verses are like my favorites. And if you want to highlight them, you know, I love them. How many times have I turned to Lamentations 3 verses 22 and 23? Let me just read them together. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion fails not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord's compassion, his mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And so we need his mercies to be new every morning because we sin every day. And I guess, yeah, if God never refreshed and renewed his mercies, we might get to a point where he's done with us, right? But, you know, we may feel that way. We may feel, boy, God, I've sinned. I've let you down again, Lord. And then, I mean, I'm sure some of you have felt this way. Maybe all of you. They say, I can't even go to God anymore because I've failed him again. I've sinned against him again. How can you forgive me again? But just remind yourselves they're new every morning. Every day, God is ready to forgive you all over again for the sins that you struggle with, the weaknesses that you have. And Jeremiah started to see this. Started to see, well, every morning, every day I go through, instead of waking up, oh, miserable world, oh, the Babylonians, oh, new variants. What's a new variant? What's a court again? Anyone remember? Omnicron. What is it? Omnicron. Oh, omnicron. It's not on the news. It's not now. I'm going to focus on God's mercies every morning. I'm going to spend my time with the Lord. I'm going to see what God is using in my life to get me through this time, to teach me humility, whatever else that God needs to teach me along the way. Praise God for him. This is in verse number 24. The Lord is my portion. Save my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. So if you haven't gone through this shift already, you might be like Jeremiah is for the first half of this chapter. You might still be there right now. You still might be miserable, anguish, stress, aging, frustrated. What's happening on the news? What's the next thing that's happening on? You know, that still might be you. You need to go for the shift. Shift your mind on Christ. Shift your mind on the Lord. Just say, Lord, thank you, Lord. I'm still alive. Thank you, Lord. I'm at Blessed Up Baptist Church this morning. Praise God. All right. I wasn't expecting to see our brethren from out of state. Praise God. I walk in. I'm so encouraged just to see them. You know, praise God for just what we have. You know, we still haven't got all our families back in church. Well, it doesn't matter. You know what? Instead of being focused on who's not back in church, I'm focused about who is in church. I'm thankful for who's in church. I'm thankful that we can still preach God's word. Amen. And so it's all about our focus. You know, stop focusing on the misery and focus upon the Lord who's getting you through the misery. Okay. Verse number 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him. That's the hardest thing. Patience. Waiting for him. To the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Jeremiah's saying, yeah, the Lord's going to save me from Babylon. You know, and we know the story of Jeremiah. Babylon came. People take him to captivity. But then Babylon was let free. Okay. Sorry, Jeremiah. They don't have Babylon. Jeremiah was let free. He was let go. Okay. And so, yeah, he did experience the salvation of the Lord. Now, keep your finger there and please go to Luke chapter 21. Go to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. There is a parallel with the end times that I want to show you. Okay. Now, I don't believe we're in the end times. I don't believe we're even close to the end times. I could be wrong. Okay. But I don't believe it. But we might live through the end times. It could be us. It could be our kids' generation. We don't know. We don't know how far off the end times are. But I just want to show you the parallel here. And if we are a generation that goes through the end times, then I'm going to tell you that our experiences through COVID are just going to help us, strengthen us to be better prepared for that time to come. All right. Luke 21 verse 20. Now, this is about the future events. It says, these are the words of Jesus. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with enemies, sorry, armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. So in the end times, Jerusalem is going to be once again surrounded by armies. Now in Jeremiah's time, Jerusalem was surrounded by Babylon. All right. So there is a parallel here. Verse number 21. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains and let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. For these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. For there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. So little children are going to struggle during these times, these future times to come. Just like we're seeing the book of Jeremiah, little children starving, going without, okay. Verse number 24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations. So that's like Jerusalem being taken, the captivity of Babylon being taken away into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth, distress of nations and perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. So there's going to be changes in the weather, okay. There's going to be signs of the waves, there's going to be I guess tidal waves, there's going to be unrest in the world, even in God's creation in the nature of the world. Look at verse number 26. Man's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. So it's going to be a very fearful time, okay, these end times, this tribulation to come. But I want you to notice verse number 27. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh, okay. So when things appear to get the worst, that's when redemption comes. When things appear so fearful and so afraid, you know, Reverend, there's coming this time in the future, again, I don't know if it's us, but I should prepare this church just in case it is us or our children. But I want us to take the experiences that we're going through in this COVID world and that you may have experienced fear, okay, you may experience anguish and concerns and worries. And I want you to be able to say, you know, I'm going to take these worries and fears, I'm going to give them to the Lord. I'm going to leave it in God's hands because your redemption draweth nigh, your salvation draweth nigh. But if you go back to Lamentations chapter three, once again, Lamentations chapter three, and this is why it's so hard, verses 25 and 26, it says the Lord is good unto them that waits for him, to the soul that seeketh him. And if we're in those end times, those end time tribulations, we're going to have to wait patiently for the Lord. You know, there's going to be the tribulations against God's people, and we need to just be waiting and say, God, your timing is right, you, Lord Jesus Christ, he's coming back and just wait patiently for him. Verse 26, it is good that a man should both hope and waits, quietly waits for the salvation of the Lord. And so, brethren, even in this COVID world, let's apply it now, let's just bring it here. You know, God's going to see us through, okay, he's going to get us through the other side. And I don't know if it's December 15th, supposed to be, restrictions lifted. I wouldn't be surprised if next year we go through this all over again. Okay, I hope not, I don't expect it to be, but it could happen, you know, and then it's just these games over and over again. Northern Hemisphere is going through its flu season, now it's got the Omicron, whatever it is, all right. I mean, this is just going to happen every six months, some part of the world is going to go through winter, every six months there's going to be new variation, there's going to be fears that's driving you, misery and woe and restrictions and lockdowns. I don't know how long, brethren, but instead of being focused on the misery and woe, you say no, I learned from Lamentations 3, I want to put my focus on Jesus Christ. I'm going to be thankful for just the small things that he's given me. I'm not dead, I'm not consumed, I'm still powering along, I'm still living, I can still serve Christ. It's about having the right attitude, brethren. Verse number 27, Lamentations 3, sorry, Lamentations 3, verse number 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. So, going through Jeremiah, we know what that yoke is. It's the yoke of, if we want to just take the direct application here, okay? It's the yoke of Babylon. They're going to be taken into servitude, into captivity. Jeremiah is saying it's good for the young people to experience this. It's better to experience this while you're young than older, okay? Now, we can take a secondary application. You know, I do believe our children need to learn how to work, okay? Bear the yoke, the yoke of work and servitude in their youth. You know, the longer they wait to get to work, the more lazy they're going to become, okay? The more they're not going to take advantage. You know, when I started to work, I started to value money. I started to realize, oh, so that costs this much. And no longer was it about the value of the dollar. It was like, okay, it costs that much. That means it means, you know, for me, that means that's like half a day's labor. Is that item worth half a day's labor? No, it's not. Now I can understand. Now I appreciate the value of money because I understand what effort, what labor was put into that, right? And now you're no longer just spending like an idiot, okay? You're being more careful because you're laboring. You're working for it. And it's good that a young man bears that yoke in his youth, that he learns how to be a servant, that he learns to be humble, that he learns to be down and obedient and following some authority. It was good for the youth of this time to be taken into captivity by Babylon because they were growing up in a generation of wickedness, a generation that even their own parents hated the Lord. They were worshiping false gods. And so the best thing for this youth, instead of growing up and continuing down this cycle, the best thing for them was to have the yoke of the Babylonians put upon them and to go without. And so they would then have dependency upon the Lord. And at the end of the 70 years, they would be able to return back into the land with their hearts refined, refreshed, with pure hearts serving the Lord. And so when you start to bear the yoke in your youth, you learn how to appreciate the provisions that the Lord has given you rather than taking them for granted. Verse number 28. He siteth alone and keepeth silence. This is the youth with the yoke upon him. He siteth alone and keepeth silence because he have borne it upon him. So a young person that starts to work at an early age, they start to take responsibility for themselves. They take that upon themselves. They don't no longer expect the handouts. They don't just expect, oh, mom and dad will take care of that. I'll crash my dad's car. Who cares? It's not mine. My dad will take care of it. I had friends that grew up with money and they just didn't care. They didn't care about anything. I mean, something would, would they destroy something? Hey, not that I haven't got my parents or anything like that, but they'd give me like two or three dollars. That's all that was needed back then a day to buy food in the canteen for school. These guys would come to school with $20 or $30. It's like, what do you need so much money for? And they're buying food and then they're going out afterwards and spending all money on kind of nonsense. They don't care. You know, one of my friends had a nice, was driving his dad's nice car. And like, he's like, let me show you. And then, you know, he's just driving down the streets in Chippenalton and then like, and then he ends up, you know, crashing. And it's like, oh, I'm like, oh no, he's finally going to learn a lesson. He's like, oh no, it's covered by, it's my dad's company's business car. And so the company is going to take care of it. It's like, you don't learn nothing because you don't bear any yolk in your youth, you know? And so anyway, the boy was saying, look, you know, for my kids, obviously they don't have jobs, but you know, we get them to do chores around the house. And I think that's important. Get them to take care of their rooms, of their beds, make their beds, take care of their things, take care of their books, take care of their toys, do the chores, get the dishes done. You know, all these kinds of things are good. Like, you know, my kids sometimes might think, oh dad, mom, you must be lazy. Why don't you guys do it? Why are you always getting us to do the work? It's because the Bible says it is good for a man that he bear the yolk in his youth, that's why. Because we're trying to make our kids better people. They're going to be more responsible adults. They're going to do better in life if they can bear the yolk in their youth, rather than just giving them everything in life, you know? Then they're not going to appreciate what they've received. And so it was better. It was better for this young generation to go on the servitude by Babylon, okay? Learn some humility. In fact, it keeps going, that humility continues there in verse number 29. He put off his mouth in the dust. If so, be there, maybe hope. So they're just a bit like, they're being lowered, they're being humbled down to the dust because they're being, again, taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Now, verse number 30 is really interesting. Again, it's about the young man and the burdens, but it's also about Jesus Christ. And then we can take this application for ourselves. Because in verse number 30, it says, he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him, he is filled full with reproach. So yeah, these people taking captivity, they're going to be smitten. They're going to be beaten. I mean, they've been defeated. They've been conquered, but they need it. They actually need it. Jesus Christ is on every page in your Bible, okay? And when we see this, say, well, that's not fair, Lord, that's the Jews, they're your people. How would you allow them to be smitten on the cheek? But then when we read about Jesus Christ and maybe you want to turn there, go to Isaiah chapter 50. Go to Isaiah chapter 50 for me, please, again, Stained Lamentations chapter three. Go to Isaiah chapter 50 and verse number six. Isaiah chapter 50 verse number six. And of course, this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, which says, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. We get some extra information about Christ's arrest and suffering that he went through from the prophecies of the Old Testament. And you see here, his back was given to the smiters, how he was beaten. Yes, he was whipped. And then when it comes to his cheeks, to them that plucked off the hair, we know that Jesus Christ had a beard because of this reason. We don't know any reason in the New Testament that Christ had a beard, but we know he had a beard because of the Old Testament here. His cheeks, the hair, they grabbed his beard and they ripped it off, okay? So not only was Christ bleeding from the crown of thorns, but he was bleeding on his cheeks, just the ripping off of his beard like that, all right? He said, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. They'd go and they'd just spit in Christ's face. But notice that Christ went through this, this humility, humiliation, really, this torture for you and I, for you and I. And that's what we should appreciate. You know, always appreciate the Lord God. Whatever suffering we go through, we're never going to suffer like Christ. You know, our sins, the consequences, you know, the pain of our sins, we've given them to Christ. He took them upon his body. He paid for them. God's wrath fell upon Jesus Christ. Sometimes we think, God's forgiven us for our sins, so it's wiped clean, but not really. Yes, from your perspective it has, but rather your sins were put on Christ and the punishment that you deserved was put on Christ. That's really where it was paid for, in the body of Christ. And so be mindful that, you know, even Christ was willing to humble himself for our sakes. And I'm going to quickly read to you from Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 39. And this is so hard, I don't know. Matthew 5, 39, the words of Jesus Christ. He's teaching his people. He says, But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. I mean, we read these verses, we know Jesus Christ teaches this, turn the other cheek, we know, but can you do it? If someone came and just smite you, slap you across the face, just punched you on your face, would you be willing to go, all right, the other one too? I mean, how many of you, honestly, if someone even tried that, I think the majority of us would fight back. I think the majority of us would be, no, you know what? You can't do that to me. You know, I'm too important, right? Our government taking away our liberties and taking our rights. You can't do this to us, government. But really, what we should be saying is, all right, take the other one. Take my other rights away. But this is the lesson of the Bible, Reverend. I know it's contrary. I know it's unpopular. I know we don't like it. I mean, do you really think that Jesus Christ enjoyed being beaten and spit in his face, having his beard plucked off, being whipped? Do you think, oh yeah, that's a great time, wonderful, okay? But Christ did it, you know, showing his humility. And you know what? We need to just, we need to be humbled. The lesson of Lamentation Chapter 3 is, we need to be humbled, okay? We need to cast down that pride, that ego, you know, that flesh that gets in the way. And understand, this is not our world, brethren. We're sojourners. We're just traveling through. Don't have your heart set upon this world. Have your hearts on the world to come. Have your heart upon Jesus Christ. Forget the misery in the world. There's always misery in the world. There's always pain and suffering. There's always death. There's always the poor. There's always hunger. There's always cancer. I don't care what time of the world you live in, brethren, there's always sadness and misery. Hey, how about you stop focusing upon that and just set your eyes on Jesus Christ? And then look at how much he's suffered for you. And then you realize, man, I don't suffer anything like Christ suffered for me. Verse number 31, Lamentations 3, 31. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, so yeah, cause allows us to go for grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. You know, the Lord allows us to go through grief. It's not like, okay, Lord, remove the grief from me. No, God wants you to go through grief so you can rely upon his compassion, upon his mercies, so we can be strengthened by the Lord. Brethren, you're going to be stronger if you go through grief, but your dependency is upon the Lord than just having no grief in life, okay? Grief, sorrows, tribulations, it helps us grow, helps us mature, helps us appreciate life, helps us appreciate peace and prosperity when we have it. Sometimes we need to lose these things because we haven't learned our lessons. And so when Jeremiah says in verse number 31, for the Lord will not cast off forever, obviously the nation will not be forever cast off. We know at the end of 70 years they would return back to the land, and this allowance that God gives the Jews to return back, rebuild Jerusalem, rebuild the temple, is God's demonstration of compassion and mercies toward the people there. Verse number 33. Now this is important, just in case you get the wrong impression about God. It says in verse number 33, for he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. So it's saying we don't serve a sadistic God. Like God does not, you know, get a kick out of causing pain in our lives. It's not like, yeah, I just want to see how much people can suffer in life. That's not God's will, okay? He's not willing to really afflict us. You know, little Adrian needed a few smacks this week, and he said to me, I don't want to smack. And like, yeah, I don't want to smack you either. It's not like we want this, Adrian. I know you don't want to be smacked. I don't want to have to smack you, but you need it, okay? You need it because if you don't get corrected, then you're going to continue doing wrong. You're going to continue disobeying. You'll never learn the lessons. You're going to grow up being miserable and full of problems and rebellious and stubborn. Hey, we need the correction. We need the affliction from time to time. It's for our profit, okay? But it's not like God just, yeah, I can't wait to afflict my people. I can't wait to bring anger and hurt. Upon people. That's not how God is. God does it because either, there must be just no other way to fix this. You know, there's no, the wicked will never learn. It's time for them to be punished. Or God's people, this is a way to chastise them. So they learn, they grow, and they profit from this affliction. Verse number 34, to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. This goes into verse, verse number 33, the thought continues all the way to the end of verse number 36. So these are things that God does not really want to do, okay? He doesn't want to crush people under his feet, all right? He doesn't enjoy it. To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High. Let's look at verse number 35 again. To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High. To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. You know what it's saying there? God does not enjoy taking away our rights. Isn't that what we're fighting for? These are our rights. How dare the government infringe upon our rights as an Australian citizen? Well, sometimes God takes it away to teach us. But it's not, he's not sadistic. It's not like I just, I need to take these rights, I just want to cause them pain and anguish and frustration. You know, people, and look, again, I'm not against the protests, brethren. I hope they succeed. But their mindsets, their hearts are in the wrong place, brethren. It's in the wrong fling. You know, I demand my rights. God says, all right, I'm going to turn aside the right of a man. I'm going to take away their rights. If this is what's going to help them learn, if they're going to learn how to appreciate the rights that they did have, you know, instead of just taking it for granted, instead of taking all the freedoms and prosperity that I've given them for granted, maybe I need to take them away. But again, it's not like God really wants to do it. But if this is the way that our nation or ourselves as individuals learn the lessons, then that's what God has to do. Take the rights, Lord. Take our freedoms, Lord. If that's what you need to do, are you willing to pray for that, though? Is that in your heart? You know, Lord, just help us learn our lessons. Take away whatever it is that you need to take away. So brethren, in conclusion, we're going to do part two next week. But you know, everything that we've gone through and everything that we will continue to go through in this COVID world or any other stress, tribulations, trials that you've gone through, brethren, it's necessary. It's necessary for you. It serves a purpose. For Jeremiah, it was a learning curve of humility for him. That was something you had to learn. We all have to learn certain things. We can all assess ourselves and realize we come short in different areas for the Lord. Secondly, don't give your attention to the method of judgment that God is using. Don't spend all your time on the media. Don't spend all your time on the vaccines, brethren. Don't spend all your time on the misery of this world, all right? Instead, be like Jeremiah, because what happens when you have your focus on that? You become miserable. You think God hates you. You think it's all over and your hope is all finished. Rather, learn from Jeremiah, change your attention, put your focus upon the Lord, and appreciate what you still have. And finally, just remain hopeful by setting your focus upon the Lord, that his promises of his mercies, his compassion, they're new every morning. He's ready to give you his compassionate heart. He's ready to hear your burdens, your trials, your sins. The Lord wants to speak to you. The Lord wants to forgive you. The Lord wants to help you through this time of grief. Turn your focus upon him, okay? And remember, his mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. Okay, let's pray.