Eric Bechler's sermon 'Pour out Thine Heart' at Barnet Bible Church delves into the Book of Lamentations, specifically focusing on Chapter 2:11-22. The sermon highlights the profound grief and devastation felt by Jeremiah as he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of its people, including the starvation and death of children. Bechler emphasizes the historical and literary significance of Lamentations, noting its acrostic structure and its reading during the Jewish fast Tisha B'Av. The sermon also critiques the false prophets who misled the people of Jerusalem, contributing to their downfall. Bechler calls for a response of heartfelt prayer and repentance in times of suffering, reminding believers of the importance of trusting in God’s sovereignty and justice. He concludes with a prayer for humility, repentance, and love for neighbors.

Thanks for joining us at Barnet Bible Church. This week Mr. Beckler continues his teaching series on the Book of Lamentations. Please stand for the reading of the Lord. We'll be reading chapter 2, verses 11 through 22.

My knives do fail with tears. My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured upon the earth. For the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city, they say to their mothers, where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mother's bosom? What thing shall I take to witness for thee?

What things shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea. Who can heal thee? Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee, and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity, but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.

All that pass by clap their hands at thee, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, we have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for.

We have found. We have seen it. The Lord had done that which he had devised. He has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old. He hath thrown down and hath not pitied.

And he hath caused thy enemy to rejoice over thee. He hath set up the horn of thy adversaries. Their heart cried unto the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no rest.

Let not the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night. In the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street. Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou has done this.

Shall the women eat their fruit and the children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? The young and old lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger.

Thou hast killed and pitied and not pitied. Thou hast called as in a solemn day of my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained. Those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed." Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for this day. We thank you for your holy word.

We thank you Lord that there's such treasure in each of the books of the Bible that you've given us. And we thank you for the time that we have today to dig in a little bit of a book, the Book of Lamentations, that really doesn't get a lot of attention. But we know, Lord, that this is your holy word, and it has a purpose for us. And we thank you for your giving it to us, and pray that We would learn more about you through this time. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

You may be seated. It's been about three months or so since we've looked at the Book of Lamentations, the Lamentations of Jeremiah. So I'd like to spend a few minutes reminding you of some of the special details associated with the Book of Lamentations. And we'll read through a short overview of each of the chapters and finally give a brief summary of what we've already covered in the first chapter and a half. Some background.

Jeremiah is recognized as the author of the Book of Lamentations. These are his lamentations, his expressions of grief, written in the form of five poems. As he watched firsthand the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, and his people of Judah as they were exiled to a far distant land. It actually used to be considered or included as part of the book of Jeremiah being placed at its end. The book of Lamentations, the whole book of Lamentations, is read publicly once a year by the Jewish people throughout the world on the Jewish Day of Mourning.

This is called Tisha Ba Av. It's a fast commemorating the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that happened in 586 BC and 70 AD. Tisha Ba'av means the ninth of Av. Ninth in Hebrew is Tisha and Av is the fifth month of the Jewish calendar. Their calendar and our calendar is a little bit different, so the month of Av falls in the area of late July, early August.

What makes the 9th of Av unique or special? The multitude of tragedies experienced by the Jewish people across the history on that specific date is astounding. I won't review them here, but if you're interested, look it up. You might be surprised at all the bad things that have happened to the Jewish people on that particular date. It's amazing.

It really is very singular. Another point of interest on the book of Lamentations, most people are aware of Psalm 119 how it's an acrostic, meaning in Psalm 119 they have eight verses for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Lamentations is similar. In chapters 1, 2, and 4, there are 22 verses each corresponding to the Hebrew alphabet. It's also an acrostic.

Chapter 3, also being an acrostic, but having three verses per letter. Chapter five, although not an acrostic, has 22 verses. So it gives us a hint that the literary skill that was used in actually writing these poems was pretty advanced. And we'll come through some of those as we go through the talk today. The question would be why even use an acrostic?

You know, we take for granted that we have our Bibles that we take with us. Back long ago there were scrolls of these, but they were in the synagogue. So nobody had scrolls typically in their own home. So they had to memorize passages. So having an acrostic helps you in memorizing books of the Bible in this way.

It also is a way to indicate the completeness of each of the poems, if you have such a structure or framework. Looking now at the overview of the five chapters or five poems in the Book of Lamentations. In chapter one, Jerusalem's misery and desolation. Chapter two, The Lord's anger against his people. 3.

Judah's complaint and basis for consolation. 4. The contrast between Zion's past and present. 5. Judah's appeal for God's forgiveness.

Finally here, let's do a quick overview or review of what we covered in the past here, in the last chapter and a half. In chapter one, The main points we discussed were the great suffering of God's people through the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the exile of her people. Through the abandonment of her friends and allies not only offering neither comfort nor support in her time of distress, but actually becoming her enemies, helping out the Chaldeans. Through this great suffering, Judah acknowledged her great rebellion against God, that she deserved the punishment God afflicted her with. Note that their sin against God was not singular.

It was not a one-time event. Judah had rebelled against God and his commands for centuries. One of the applications we touched on was on the futility of putting trust in earthly alliances for security. It does not yield security and it never has. We've seen that recently played out in our world today in many ways.

We should put our trust in God and in God alone. Another application was related to the reaction of the people of Judah. Jeremiah used a very emotional language and imagery in describing how shocked and in disbelief the people of Judah were at the devastation that took place. Jeremiah himself and many others had prophesied God's coming punishment on his rebellious people. They had been told that this was about to happen, and it should not have been a surprise.

Furthermore, we looked At the first half of chapter two, we broke it into three parts. God's fierce anger, the destruction of the temple, and the destruction of Jerusalem. In chapter one, it begins with the word how, as in How could this happen? Jeremiah's lament was focused on the devastation of all that was holy and precious to Judah in the state of her people. How could this happen?

In chapter two, it also begins with the word how, But it's used in a different way. It's used in the sense of look how the Lord is punishing his people and in the first half of chapter 2 Jeremiah focused on 26 actions that the Lord undertook against Judah 26 actions that came from God's fierce anger. For hundreds of years, God waited patiently for the cup of wrath to be full. The time had finally come. The cup was full, and it was time to pour out that cup, the cup of God's wrath.

It was time for Judah to experience God's chastisement and to experience God's fierce anger. That brings us to our passage today, the second half of chapter two, and we'll break it again into three sections. Verses 11 through 14, Jeremiah is anguished over its destruction. Verses 15 through 17, enemies rejoice at Jerusalem's ruin. And verses 18 through 22, pour out thine heart.

In the first few verses, many of the verses of lamentation are very descriptive, very emotional, filled with grief. This continues here in verse 11. Jeremiah expresses his deep sorrow. Verse 11, My knives do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, My liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the suckling swoon are faint in the streets of the city." Wow, to cry so hard you can't even see for the tears that you're shedding. With respect to the bowels and liver phrases, some translations say that my spirit is greatly troubled.

My heart is poured out. For me, that helps since nowhere else in the Bible can we find the phrase, my livers poured upon the earth. The sense here is a deep sorrow, a sorrow that shakes him to the core. Why the tremendous grief? What has happened to cause this?

Jeremiah laments for the destruction of the daughter of my people, that is Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life, the religious center, the political center, the financial center, the center for everything Jewish. Now, it's utterly destroyed, including the temple, God's temple. It was gone. This, for them, was catastrophic.

Are there other sources to explain this level of grief? Yes, our verse mentions the children and nursing infants fainting in the streets. And verse 12 continues along this thread saying, they say to their mothers, where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mother's bosom. There are many tragedies of a war. Violence and death everywhere.

One of the most difficult parts of war is the collateral damage, the impact on the women and children. It's devastating. We see here what Jeremiah witnesses firsthand. Children, even infants wanting food and drink. But there was none.

They were fainting like wounded soldiers from a battle. In the ESV it says, as their life is poured out in their mother's bosom. The starving children were dying in their mother's arms. How horrific. How would you feel if your little ones died in your arms because there was no food or drink for them?

I can't imagine it. I just, It's beyond what I can even understand. But this is what Jeremiah witnessed in Jerusalem. It's, to me, unbelievable. Is there anything we can compare to this tragedy in the past or somewhere else?

Jeremiah asks this in verse 13 with the idea that if there was an event comparable, maybe that would give some comfort, knowing that someone else had experienced similar tragedies. In verse 13, what can I say for you? To what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as a sea.

Who can heal you? Jeremiah finishes here expressing how mince her troubles were, as deep and wide as the sea. Who can heal you? Not herself, not her neighbors. They are beyond the help of man.

Only God, the great physician, can bring healing to the daughters of Zion. In verse 14, thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee. They have not discovered thine iniquity to turn away thy captivity, but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment." So what does this mean? Thy prophets. Well, thy prophets doesn't mean God's prophets.

These prophets were the prophets of the people. They were approved and accepted by the people. They told them what they wanted to hear. They told them what would please them. They weren't truthful in exposing the people's sin.

We read, they have not discovered thine iniquity. How could the people repent if they weren't told of their sin, of their rebellion? Perhaps if the people repented, their captivity or the exile would not have happened or been delayed. Remember the story of Jonah calling the people of Nineveh to repent. And they did.

Their destruction was set aside. Even the king put on ashes and sackcloth. Instead, thy prophets prophesied to the people false predictions, promises of peace, covered them with flattering words. These false burdens helped to lead to the exile, to the banishment. So we have here in the first section very expressive language describing the tragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the people.

Your ruin is vast as the sea." In our next section about enemies rejoicing at Jerusalem's ruin, we've read about Jeremiah's observations. Now, what about the reactions of others, their neighbors, and their enemies? In verse 15, all that pass by clap their hands at thee. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? We see from other places in scripture similar responses by people with respect to the afflicted.

In Job 27-23, Job is talking about the portion of a wicked man. He says, men shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss him out of his place. And from the Psalm of the Cross, Psalm 22, verse 7, all who see me, mock me, they sneer and shake their heads. It seems there was much rejoicing by Israel's enemies. They clap, they mock, they taunt.

They remind Israel of their own words describing their precious city Jerusalem. We read from Psalms 48 to beautiful and loftiness the joy of all the earth like the peaks of Zephan is Mount Zion the city of the great king in Psalm 50 verse 2 from Zion perfect in beauty God shines forth they offer no compassion no comfort rather they pile on even more bitterness I'll take verses 16 and 17 together. 16 and 17. All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee. They hiss and gnash the teeth.

They say we have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found, we have seen it. The Lord had done that which he had devised. He has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old.

He has thrown down and hath not pity, and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries. In verse 16, they, thine enemies, have opened their mouth against thee. They have mocked, they have sneered, they have hissed, they have insulted, they have blasphemed the Jews. They have expressed fully, opened their mouth, their hatred of the Jews and rejoiced greatly at their ruin. They have swallowed her up.

They have plundered Jerusalem. They have taken her wealth from the city. They have taken the wealth from the temple and from the people. They dreamed of this day and now it was here. They boasted by their arms, By their strength and by their might, they accomplished this great feat.

In verse 17, Jeremiah clarifies quickly who actually did this. It was not the greatness of the armies of the Chaldeans. It was the Lord. He accomplished that which he had decreed. The Chaldeans were only his tool.

In our verse it says, he had commanded in the days of old. This is a reminder of the passages we have read previously in Deuteronomy 28 from verse 15, but it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. And then it continues on from verse 16 to verse 68. It's a whole lot of, what is that, 52 verses of curses. I won't read through them all, but it's a lot.

And we can notice in reading through them that there are a number of them that line up precisely with what happened here to Jerusalem and her people. One of the reasons why I wanted to group 16 and 17 together was to highlight their order. Remember, chapters one, two, three, and four are acrostics, meaning that each verse follows along with the Hebrew alphabet. In chapter two, however, the two Hebrew letters, pe and ayn, are actually switched. So Verse 16 starts with the letter pay and verse 17 starts with the letter aein.

So normally in the alphabet pay would be, aein would be first. So I'd like to read an excerpt from John Gill's commentary where he actually touches on this. In this verse the order of the alphabet is not observed. The letter pay being set before the letter aein which should be first. According to the constant order of the alphabet, and which was so before the times of Jeremiah, even in David's time, and as appears by the 99th Psalm, I would say 119, it shows, and others.

Grotius thinks it is after the manner of the Chaldeans, but the order of the Hebrew and Chaldean alphabets is the same. Dr. Lightfoot thinks the prophet by this change hints at the 70 years that Jerusalem should be desolate, which were now begun. The letter Ayn in numbers, each Hebrew letter in the alphabet, there's 22 of them, not only is it a letter to form words, but each letter has a corresponding number. So in this case, Ayn, the number it represents is 70.

So Mr. Bedford, who observes that the transposition of these letters seems to show the confusion in which the prophet was when he considered that this captivity should last 70 years. Jarkey says, one is put before the other because they spoke with their mouths what they saw, not with their eyes. Pei signifying the mouth, and I in and I. So here's a number of different explanations why they've particularly swapped these two verses.

We don't see that in chapter one. We don't see that in chapter three. We don't see that in chapter four. We don't see that in Psalm 119. So, I thought it was interesting and I kind of liked the idea that Jeremiah was trying to emphasize to the people that this was going to be an exile for 70 years.

Who knows exactly? Like I mentioned, there's a lot of literary skill that Lamentations was written with, a lot of intention. I'm not an English major, but it's pretty neat. So I thought this was interesting. I tend to prefer the idea that Jeremiah was emphasizing the 70 years now beginning.

It started because the Jews not obeying or hearkening to the Lord their God. So God poured out his wrath and their enemies rejoiced. In the final section, pour out thine heart. We've looked at Jeremiah's observations and Israel's enemies reactions. In this last section of chapter two, we'll read about Israel's response.

Starting with verse 18, their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night, O give thyself no rest, let not the apple of thine eye cease. The people who survived the destruction of Jerusalem were taken into captivity. They were led away. These were who weeped, whose heart cried unto the Lord. With such a calamity, Jeremiah calls out even the walls of Jerusalem to weep, a city with no more buildings, a city with no more gates, no more people, no temple, only the remnants of the walls surrounding the city.

Weep without ceasing day and night like a river. Where he says, the apple of thine eye here, I believe, is the tears coming from the eye, tears not ceasing. Verse 19, arise, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thine hands toward him, for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street." The theme of tears here continues in verse 19. Typically there were three or four watches covering the night time beginning at sunset.

Jeremiah calls them to pour out thine heart. He's calling them to confess, to hold nothing back, to share all of their thoughts, all of their complaints, all of their concerns. Pour it out like water before the face of the Lord. Jeremiah calls them to turn to God, to lift up thy hands towards him, to turn to the only one who can save, to only one who can protect and save their children. If he will not save us, perhaps he will show mercy on the little children and save them.

Jeremiah in his lament calls out to God to look here and to see what the Chaldeans have done and to whom he has done it in verses 20 and 21. Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom Thou has done this. Shall the women eat their fruit and children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? The young and old lie on the ground in the streets.

My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. Thou has slain them in a day of thine anger. Thou has killed and not pitied. The people are starving. Shall the women eat their children?

It's a pretty horrible thing even to consider, but this actually has happened throughout history and sieges of cities. The priests and prophets have been killed. The temple has been destroyed. The weak and vulnerable, young and old, dead on the streets. The virgins and young men, which we consider the future of the nation of Israel have been slain by the sword.

Who's left? God's cup of wrath has been poured out fully. He's shown no restraint. He's shown no pity. There has been no part of Israel that has not been punished.

The people, the city, the temple, the land, all because Israel sinned would not repent and turn back to God. Every adult Jewish man was required to come to Jerusalem, specifically to the temple, for three main feasts throughout the year, Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This calling to a symbol for all Jews, no matter where they lived, was the picture Jeremiah uses to visualize Israel's enemies coming from all directions to destroy Jerusalem and Israel, a complete destruction. We see that in verse 22. Thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my tears round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained.

Those that I have swaddled and brought up hath my enemy consumed." Our poem here, our chapter, ends with bitterness and deep sorrow just as it had begun. When I look over this poem, I think Jeremiah brings this lament to a main point in verse 19, where he calls Israel to pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Do you recognize what this is? This is called prayer. When we feel we have been destroyed or conquered by the wicked or even just attacked, what is our best response?

To cry out to the Lord, to pray. Pour it out like water, like a river, and don't hold back. God hears our prayers. Even when the grief is so hard, we can't express what we feel, and the best we can do is groan. I don't know if you've ever been there where you just can't even express your pain, but just groan.

It's a hard place to be in, but God hears it. God understands what it means, and God is sovereign. His will is perfect, and his ways are perfect. We need to be in a place to accept that. Thy will be done, as our Lord Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We need to humble ourselves and fear the Lord. We need to trust him. We need to trust that he will work it out for his glory and for our good. Amen. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, you are a righteous and just God. Lord, we praise you for your sovereignty. We praise you for being the all wise and knowing God. We thank you Lord, even for those painful times that we experienced when you're chastising us. We pray Lord that you would help us to get to a place where we can repent and we can turn back to you.

Lord, help us get back on the track. Lord, help us in times where we need to be restored in fellowship with you and your people. I pray, Lord, that you would help us, Lord, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Lord, to see opportunities that we could comfort them in times when they need comforting and to help them when they need help. Lord, I pray that you would help us be more humble and I pray, Lord, that you would fill our hearts with a spirit of thankfulness and thanksgiving, full to overflowing.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.