The sermon by Steve Hopkins delves into the Book of Lamentations, focusing on the theme of Jerusalem's fall and the resulting grief and desolation. The speaker highlights the unique structure of Lamentations, noting its acrostic form and the significance of its 22-verse chapters, with chapter three having 66 verses. This book, authored by Jeremiah, captures the pain, sadness, and acknowledgment of rebellion against God resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem. The sermon discusses the historical context, including the good and evil kings of Judah and the Northern Kingdom's fall to Assyria. Emphasizing the consequences of disobedience as described in Deuteronomy 28, the sermon draws parallels to modern Christian life, urging believers to live in obedience with a joyful heart. The comprehensive exploration of chapters one to five of Lamentations reveals themes of solitude, captivity, and the call for repentance, providing a rich source of lessons for today's believers.

Thanks for joining us at Barnet Bible Church. This week Mr. Beckler continues his teaching series in the Book of Lamentations. If you would please stand and we'll read together the first 11 verses of Lamentations chapter 1. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people?

How is she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations? In princes among the provinces, how is she become tributary? She weeps as sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.

They are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest, all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The waves of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feast. All her gates are desolate.

Her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper, for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy, and from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed. Her princes are become like hearts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old.

When her people fell into the hand of the enemy and none did help her, the adversaries saw her and did mock at her Sabbath. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. All that honored her despised her, because they hath seen her nakedness, yea, she sigheth and turneth backward. Her filthiness is in her skirts. She remembereth not her last end.

Therefore she came down wonderfully. She had no comforter, O Lord. Behold my affliction, For the enemy hath magnified himself. The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. For she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary.

Whom thou didst command, that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh. They seek bread. They have given their pleasant things for me to relieve the soul. See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile." Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day and we thank you for your word.

We thank you Lord for this gathering and we pray Lord that your spirit would be among us Lord that you would speak through me today. Pray that you would prepare hearts to receive your word and I pray Lord that you would be glorified and honored through our time here today. All these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen. In my last sermon, in the book of Lamentations, it was more an overview.

We looked at some interesting details surrounding this book which included the significance of the date, the night day of the Hebrew month of Av, and the unique literary structure of Lamentations. Just as a reminder, in chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5, they each have 22 verses. In chapter three, it has 66 verses, so groups of three there. In chapters one, two, three and four, we see an acrostic where the beginning of each verse is taking a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, 22 verses in these chapters. Chapter five, a little bit different, but it still has, let's say a little mini acrostic in it.

A lot of, a lot of details here that we talked about last time. Some we didn't. It's really amazing book. And if you have time on your own, it's I think worthwhile to kind of dig into it and see how amazing not only the structure, but what is here in this book. I think it's unfortunate that it's mostly overlooked by Christians today, but there's a lot there for us to take a look at and a lot that we can learn and be edified by.

The book of Jeremiah prophesies the fall of Jerusalem. The book of Lamentations, which immediately follows it, expresses the pain and grief, the sadness related to this fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and the exile of the people of Judah out of the land. Jeremiah is its author. He was a prophet in the years leading up to the exile and he was a witness firsthand for the fall of the destruction. Jeremiah's ministry began in the 13th year of King Josiah of Judah and lasted until the exile in 586 BC.

Josiah was the very last of the good kings. All the good kings were in Judah. There were four kings that followed and all of those were wicked in the sight of the Lord. If you'll remember back in Deuteronomy chapter 28, it's too long to read here, but you may want to look at it yourselves. There was a covenant ritual at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim where Moses calls the people to obey God's command.

He lists out the blessings to expect if they obey and he lists out the curses to expect if the people disobey God's commands. These are, as I said, they're too many to read through right now. But if you have time this week, I would encourage you to read through them and just get a sense of those blessings and curses. I think they serve as reminders to us today that we also will experience what we sow. Do we obey God's commands?

Even more do you take delight in obeying God's commands? Something to think about also to meditate maybe in the coming week. Despite the many calls to fear the Lord and to serve him with all their heart, The history of Israel is one of rebellion. The Northern Kingdom Israel had 19 Kings, spanned 200 years. All of them are evil.

Assyria conquered them and exiled the whole kingdom never to return. Judah, the southern kingdom also had 19 Kings with a queen to eight of these 19 Kings were good and its kingdom lasted 340 years, quite a bit longer. And this proved what God promised in first Kings 314 to Solomon. If thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as I father David did walk, then I will lengthen my days. Yet with 12 evil kings, some Samuel's warning came to pass as Babylon came and consumed them.

They destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and carried away all the people into exile. God didn't step in as he had done many times before. This time the cup of wrath was finally filled and poured out on the people of Israel. Jeremiah was there and he was our eyewitness reporter on the scene. Lamentations is his report of what he saw.

It captures his grief and his sadness. It also records acknowledgments of rebellion. We deserve this. It's a call for repentance and a plea for mercy. It's a wonderful progression to study, ripe with many lessons.

Here's a quick summary of each of the chapters we'll be covering, not today, but over time. Chapter one, Jerusalem once great, now devastated. Chapter two, the Lord's anger with Judah. Chapter three, the community's grief. Chapter four, Zion's degradation.

And chapter five, disaster and petition for restoration. Today we'll start with chapter one and we'll see how far we go. Chapter one, verse one, how does the city sit solitary that was full of people? How has she become as a widow? She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces.

How has she become a tributary? I want to pause here to explain a little bit about how scriptures were copied onto scrolls back long ago. There were no punctuations. There were no verses. There were no chapters.

It just was a continuous string of words. Before the development of titles for our chapters and books, Typically the first word or words of the text were used to describe what that chapter was. So this is called insipid and in some documents the insipid was decorated much more than the other text that followed. If you've seen any really old books, maybe from the middle ages, you might have seen this where you get a real decorated beginning of the book. That's called the insipid and used as a title.

In Lamentations, the first word is how. In Hebrew, it's echach, which of course means how. So we asked the question, well, why, why the word how? How is used to express Jeremiah's, his lament, his grief, his observation and what has happened. Jeremiah had started his ministry 40 years before he saw Jerusalem in his glory and it's bustle.

He saw that Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life. It was a center of Jewish religion. Everything Jewish was centered around Jerusalem. It was not just his city. It was God's chosen place.

God had chosen Jerusalem from second Chronicles six six, but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. Well, God had given instructions to David in first Chronicles 28 to build the temple here in Jerusalem. Solomon was the one to carry out those instructions and build the temple. It was an awesome sight. Now, after years of rebellion against God, his perfect judgment, the cup of wrath has been poured out.

The once bustling city is now destroyed. Its people have been collected and exiled into Babylon. The city is empty. A quiet stillness reigns in the hills of Jerusalem. Loneliness.

How could this happen? How? Again, in verse one, chapter one, how does the city sit solitary that was full of people? How is she become a widow? She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces.

How is she become a tributary? The city of course is Jerusalem in our verse here. It's now solitary. It's now lonely. The people are gone, taken away to exile.

You can kind of feel a sigh here. How could this happen? Jeremiah is trying to absorb the impact of this tremendous change that has taken place. First in terms of the loneliness, the emptiness, the quietness of a once great populous city now empty with no one there. Secondly in this verse we see in terms of a married woman who no longer has a husband.

He's died. She's alone, no protector, no provider, no companion alone. But we remember here that Israel's husband is the Lord and the Lord didn't go away and die and disappear. Israel is a widow due to her unfaithfulness to God, disobeying his commands and seeking out pagan gods. And lastly in the first verse here Jeremiah describes the change as a dramatic demotion from a great nation as a princess becoming a slave or as a strong independent nation a tributary to a conquered subject.

What has happened? Is this real? The sense of wake me up from this nightmare. Someone pinched me. How do you come to grips with such a change?

And how does this happen? Jeremiah asks how three different times in this first verse, setting the tone for this lament. Matthew Henry comments at this point in his commentary that sin brings the people not only into solitude, but into slavery. Moving on to verse two, she weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she hath none to comfort her.

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They are become her enemies. Jeremiah continues his metaphor of Judah as a widow. In the first word, she, this is Judah, the people of Judah, filled with grief and sadness. She can't sleep.

There's no rest. There's no peace, only crying and tears. A pain and sadness that is not quickly overcome or passed. So akin to losing a loved one, the giant hole left in your life, a grief expressed and weeping not just at the moment, but over time, in the days and the nights. It's so much to bear.

What a blessing it is to be surrounded by family and friends to pray for you, to comfort you, to sit by you, to hug you, to hold. We recently experienced this firsthand in our own family and we are so thankful for all the love and support we receive from you, our friends and our relatives. We can attest to such blessing. But for Israel, none of her lovers comfort her. Her friends have become her enemies.

Is there any pain worse than this kind of betrayal? Who are these lovers and friends? Her pagan idolatrous neighbors, her neighbors, God commanded to be destroyed when entering the promised land, her neighbors who worship pagan gods and sacrifice their children. Israel first took God to pursue idolatry and to pursue these friends and lovers. And so what end?

Destruction. What good are they now? As we read that, we can think, be careful of who you choose to be close friends with. Do they love the Lord? Will they stand closer than a brother?

Will they abandon you in a time of need? Will they answer the call? As in Verse one, verse two shows a sad picture of loneliness. Moving on to verse three, Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no risk.

All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. Here in verse three, we see the first glimpse of some sort of cause and effect. Judah has gone into captivity and here is part of the reason. There was great affliction and servitude by the Jewish leaders upon its own people as described in Jeremiah 34. The leaders angered God by their refusal to release their servants and slaves after seven years of servitude as required by Exodus 21 verse two, If they'll buy a Hebrew servant six years, he shall serve you.

And in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. We also for their affliction upon the widows and fatherless and general oppression over the people. And we see in Leviticus 25 43, thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God." We see punishment as part of the reason of this punishment. We see some of its effect from Jeremiah 3417, and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdom of the earth. In the English standard version, it's a little bit different.

It concludes, I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Gives a little different impression there of that. So pretty strong punishment. Now Judas among the heathen. They've been exiled away.

They're among nations that don't follow the Lord. They're away from their own oppression and by their own leaders. Yet they find no rest, no relief and no escape where they are in their exile. It ends here, her persecutors or pursuers overtake her. They trap her in the straights, just as you would see a hunter stalking its prey.

In verse four, the ways or roads of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feast. All her gates are desolate, her priests shy, her versions are afflicted and she is in bitterness. Here in verse four, the theme of loneliness, solitude continue The ways or roads to Zion do mourn. The roads are empty. The people are gone.

There is no bustle. There is no crowd. No activity. No one traveling to or from Jerusalem. Because none come to the solemn feast or festivals.

Wherever Jews live, the males were required to go to Jerusalem for the three great feasts Passover, Pentecost and the feast of tabernacles. Now, however, Jude is gone. All the festivals have been canceled. Kind of have some of that feeling over the last couple of years, everything being canceled. All our gates are desolate.

Even today when visiting Jerusalem, there's tremendous activity at the gates. What Jeremiah saw was a lot of nothing deserted. He probably never could have imagined such a site for us. It'd be going sitting on the upper deck on 35 and it just being empty, knowing moving up or down 35 or being near the football stadium when there's a game scheduled, but no one comes. It's dramatic, has a big impact and again in the book of Lamentations, we get to read through the expressions of grief that Jeremiah records for us.

Her priest groan, the virgins afflicted in grief and mourning, a sign of defeat. Virgins afflicted that was used literally to be a sign of defeat. And then Jerusalem suffers bitterly, deep sadness and shock lost. There's no temple because it was destroyed. There is no altars and no more sacrifices to be offered.

For the priest, no livelihood. In verse 5, which is as far as we are going to get today, her adversaries are the chief and the foes become the head. Her enemies prosper, for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. Judah's enemies have conquered them.

They rule over them now. They've taken the spoils of war and have prospered. Who did this? Well, we know the Babylonians came and conquered them and took the people away, certainly, but I think they were more used as a tool by God. God ordained this.

Why? For the multitude of her transgressions. I read an alternate translation for the word transgressions there. It is translated as rebellion, which would end up for the multitudes of her rebellion. And maybe that captures better the sense of what has happened here.

Judah has constantly rebelled, disobeyed God turned away from him. Not just a few times, but constantly over hundreds of years. It took a long time for the cup of wrath to be filled up. We remember the curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28, 15 through 68 as we read these verses. There also it gives the reasons in Deuteronomy 28, 45.

Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee." And in Deuteronomy 28 47, because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. How are you living today? What is the picture of your life? Are your actions filling up God's wrath? His cup of wrath or do you obey his voice?

Do you serve with joyfulness? Do you obey with a happy heart? I used to say that to my kids growing up. I just wasn't looking for obedience. I wanted obedience with a happy heart.

God wants that from us as well. Obedience with a happy heart. Or do you grumble? Do you complain? Do you talk back?

Are you loving your neighbors? Are you forgiving those who wronged you? Sometimes that's hard. Sometimes that's really, really hard. Are you living in humility?

Are you dwelling on the speck in your neighbor's eyes instead of the plank in your own eye? One last comment on verse five. It ends with her children are gone with the children. So the future, the land will remain desolate without the children. There's no one left to repopulate Jerusalem.

This is a long lasting punishment for Judah we see from the prophecies that it will last 70 years. We see a picture of this today in our own churches. Not that some nation is taking physically away our children, but we see throughout the land when kids grow up, they're leaving the church. I'm sure there's many, many reasons for this. I believe one of the reasons is due to the sincerity of the faith in the parents.

For many churches, just an event on Sundays. And if so, probably the kids will find something else to do on Sundays when they grow up. Certainly our culture offers many alternatives to draw them away. However, if the parents truly live out their faith, making decisions that put them at odds with our culture, decisions that could cost them hard decisions, ones that bring conflict with the world, our kids notice they know it's real. They know your faith is real.

If worshiping God is a priority, if serving joyfully is evident, the kids notice they're drawn to this. I believe, I believe they want what is real. I believe in what truth painfully. They also noticed the hypocrisy in our behaviors. Do we have a different face on at church than the rest of the week?

Our kids watch this closely And it's pretty intimidating and very humbling. In the book of Lamentations here we're reading the expressions of Jeremiah's great grief as God punishes justly the people of Judah. There are many reminders here for us to apply in our own lives today. One of them is the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. What path are you on?

Are you working on that super big gulp of wrath or are you obeying with a cheerful heart? Are you choosing the lies of our culture or clinging to the truths of Jesus Christ? We often choose or can choose lies because the pressure put on us in the moment. If we invest our time in worship, prayer, study, we'll find it much easier to be strong in these defining moments of our lives. Amen.