We're asking you please to turn to Lamentations and the chapter number one. Lamentations chapter one. I'm sure that the date, the 26th of December 2004 will not immediately ring a bell with you. But I'm sure when I tell you what happened on that day, You will probably remember it all right. On the 26th of December 2004, as a result of one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded, huge tsunami waves up to 100 feet high swept into 14 different countries around the Indian Ocean. The outcome, which you may remember, was death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. As the waters swept the shore, carrying everything and everybody before them. You know, I just noticed this week that the Bible likens an invading army to an overwhelming flood. Jeremiah chapter 47 in verse 2 says, behold, waters rise up out of the north and shall be an overflowing flood and shall overflow the land and all that is there in the city and them that dwell therein. Then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. Jeremiah is not talking about a literal flood, of course. He's talking in that particular instance about the army of the Egyptians, but they're flowing over the land like an overflowing flood, like a tsunami, if you like, sweeping everything before them. And that's what's happened here in Lamentations chapter 1. It's not the army of Egypt in this particular instance. It's the army of the Babylonians. They have swept through the land of Judah and swept through the cities of Judah and swept through the city of Jerusalem like a mighty flood. And there's nothing but death. and devastation everywhere you look. Now, when we come to this passage, to Jeremiah, Jerusalem is not just a city. It's not just a place that had walls and had houses. To Jeremiah, Jerusalem is a person, a woman, And that woman cries out in anguish and despair because of all that has happened to her. Because of this mighty flood that has overflowed the land and the city of Jerusalem. This Babylonian army that has swept through, destroying everything in its path. And here's what this woman as Jeremiah sees Jerusalem. Here's what this woman says in verse number twelve. There are some passages in the Bible I'm sure. Some people I know. Some people perhaps in my own family. When the the scripture is read, they're trying to figure out maybe what the message might be about, what the the verse maybe that the message will be based upon. Well, you'll have no difficulty I 12, this woman that is Jerusalem cries out, is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Let's take a moment or two today and think about her sorrow. Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow? This woman, as Jerusalem is depicted here, laments her great and severe sorrow. She feels that nobody has ever experienced anything like what she is going through. And when we see in this passage how she describes herself, and what has happened to her, we begin to understand. And no doubt, if we experienced all the things that she experienced, we would likely also say, is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow? We can but quickly look through the passage, jumping from verse to verse. Verse one, she suffered the loss of her husband. She's a widow. Verse five tells us that she has lost her children. This verse one again says that she's suffering terrible loneliness. She sits solitary. She's all alone. According to verse 21, there's nobody to sympathize with her. There's none to comfort that verse reads. According to this passage, Jerusalem, and we know this of course, was once very important. So this woman looks upon herself in the high positions that once she had. Now, she's in the very dust. Now she's counted as nothing. According to verse 2, there's bitterness. We read at the beginning of verse 2, she weepeth sore. in the night. And her tears are on her cheeks. She's badly treated. Everybody has turned against her. All her friends, verse 2 says at the end, have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. She's suffering pain. There's fire in her bones. There's total exhaustion. Her strength has failed. She's not even able to rise up. She's facing starvation. All of these things are in this passage. We encourage you to maybe read through it again this afternoon. She's not able to worship. The temple that was so important to her is desecrated, ransacked. Her Sabbaths are mocked and nobody comes to worship anymore. Instead of sympathy, what does she receive? The people gloat over her and they mock her and they hiss at her. Look for a moment there if you just turn over to chapter 2. Chapter 2 and 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? Instead of helping and comforting, they mock and they jeer. And so she says, is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow? Well, it didn't appear so to Jerusalem. But the answer to that question is, yes, there is. Yes, there is. We are well acquainted, I'm sure, with the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke seven different times as he hung upon the cross. We read one of them at the beginning of our service today. Father, forgive them, for they know not what the they they know not what they do. And then he went on to say, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Of course, that we sang in the Psalm twenty-two. I thirst. It is finished. So, we know what the Lord Jesus Christ said as he hung upon the cross and we know what he did not say but he could have said the words of Lamentations one verse twelve. Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow? Because there never the cross. Isaiah chapter fifty-three, a very familiar passage to us, said he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I'm sure we thought about those words of the Psalm twenty-two as we sang them together earlier in our service. Here's one or two of the verses as we read them in the scriptures. Verse seven of Psalm twenty-two, all they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head saying he trusted on the lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him saying he delighteth in him. Many bulls have compassed me strong bulls of bashing. They gaped upon me they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." These are certainly words that the Lord Jesus Christ might have spoken. Echoes in Psalm 22, and in fact everywhere when we read about the crucifixion, there are echoes of the situation that we find in Lamentations chapter 1, they all forsook them and fled. He trod the winepress alone, But a little while ago, they hailed him. I didn't know that this was the day they called Palm Sunday, but I'm told that so it is, when they hailed him as a great king. Now, but a short time later, he's utterly despised. He's suffering excruciating pain. He's being mocked, the chief priest we read. mocking said among themselves with the scribes he saved others himself he cannot save is there any sorrow greater than my sorrow surely that's what the lord jesus christ could have said the writer to the hebrews draws a very practical lesson from all this wonder could it be today that you're finding it a struggle. Maybe we won't admit that or acknowledge it to anybody but ourselves, but maybe it's true nevertheless. Maybe we're finding it a struggle today to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe we're finding it difficult to stand up for him. and to follow him. Maybe it's easy enough when we're among God's people but we're not always among them of course. Our Christian faith is much spoken against today. Maybe there's few in school or in college or maybe our place of work. There's maybe very few, maybe nobody at Maybe there's those who are quick to laugh and to mock and it's not easy, it's not easy to stand up and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and do the things that we know that we ought to do. Well, here's what the writer to the Hebrew says, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. If the way is tough, then think about what he had to endure and think about what he was willing to endure for us. So we think first of all about her sorrow and then we think about the sovereign. If the word sorrow and associated words like weeping and so on. If we think about how prominent those are in Lamentations chapter one, then there's another word that's even more prominent, and that's the word Lord. And notice when we look at chapter 12 in this passage, is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my soul and then notice the next statement that is done unto me wherewith the lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger the reason for jerusalem's God visited upon her because of it. Jerusalem sees beyond the Babylonian army. Now she talks about the Babylonian army, of course, calls them the heathen that have come, the adversary, the enemy. But she sees beyond the army of Babylon. She sees It's the Lord's hand that has been upon her. It's not the Babylonian army that has trampled her down. Verse 15, the Lord hath trodden underfoot all my mighty men. We know literally it was the Babylonians that did it, but she sees it was the Lord that did it. It was because, it was because of her sin. Jerusalem, verse 8 says, hath grievously sinned. The Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his great wrath. Doesn't that bring us to the very heart of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Don't we read in the Bible, it pleased the Lord to bruise him? We look beyond Judas who betrayed him. We look beyond the religious leaders who clamored for his death. It was the Lord that was pleased to bruise him. It was the Lord who put him to grief. As it were, a mighty tsunami flowed over him. But it was from the Lord, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. But here's the big difference. Here's the big difference. Jerusalem suffered because of our own sin, but Jesus had no sin. Though Pilate condemned him, he had to say, I find no fault in this man. He was suffering for the sins of others. If you look at chapter 2 and verse 7, you'll discover that we read that the Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of our palaces. You see, it was God who gave Jerusalem into the hands of our enemies and it was the Lord who gave Jesus his own son over to cruel and wicked men. It was God who forsook Jerusalem because of her sin. And it was God who forsook his son as he hung upon the cross because the sins of men and women were laid upon him. You know, there's a couple of things that we can learn from that, and here's the first. How serious a thing is that sin is in the sight of God. How serious a thing sin is in the sight of God. You know, men treat sin today as if it's nothing, just a trifle. But when you read Lamentations chapter one, and when you stand at Calvary, You see how awful and terrible a thing sin is. According to this passage, it leaves men and women unclean. Her filthiness is in her skirts, we read. It will surely bring the unrepentant down to judgment. And the answer lies alone in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary. It's only through him there's deliverance. salvation from sin. His blood alone can cleanse from sin. So, the first lesson that we're taught here is this, how serious a thing sin is and it needs to be repented of. And the savior needs to be sought in order that it's cleansed. But the second thing is this. Now is the time to give How did Jerusalem end up the way it did? Well, if you look at chapter one in verse 18, you'll find one of the answers. Chapter 18, it says, the Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his commandment. They would not listen to God's word. And if you go to chapter one in verse nine, you have an even more telling statement. When it says at the beginning, her filthiness is in her skirts, it then says this, she remembered not her last end. So what did the people in Jerusalem do? They ignored the message that was preached by Jeremiah and so many others. And they took no thought what the future may bring. Does that not describe so many today? They pay no heed to God's word. and they have no thought for eternity. Isn't that a very, very sad came to the place where she acknowledged her sin, but it was too late. Too late. And the time to think about what God's word says and to think about the future and to think about eternity is not some time in the future, but it may be too late. The time to dwell and think upon these things is today. And that's why the Bible says, behold, now is the accepted time. behold, now is the day of salvation. A word or two finally upon the spectators. You see, it says, is it nothing to you or you who pass? Bible speaks in a number of places. about people passing by Jerusalem and and looking at the And what a remarkable similarity there is between some of the things that were said. If you look at chapter 2, verse 15, you'll find, and we've read this verse, that they hissed, and they clapped their hands, and they mocked, and they said, oh, this great city. What a tremendous parallel there is, because the Bible talks about those who pass by the cross. It says they that pass by reeled on him, they wagged their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Mockery. But you know, if you, if you look through all the passages in the Bible where it talks about those who pass by the cross, there's one most outstanding one. I finish with this today. If you turn to Mark's Gospel chapter 15 and mark it in red writing because here's what it says in Mark 15 verse 21. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by coming out of the country the father of Alexander and Rufus to bear cross. They compelled a man called Simon to bear the cross. We know that story well. He wasn't one of the callous soldiers of whom we later read that they would sit down and watch the Savior as he hung on the cross. He wasn't one of the crowd that were mocking and jeering. He was just an individual going about his business. He was coming out of the country. In other words, he was going to Jerusalem. When the hands of the soldiers fell upon him and they forced him, compelled him, strong word, they compelled him to carry the cross for the rest of the way to Golgotha for the Lord Jesus Christ. The most striking thing, I think, It's not only that his name is given, but the name of his sons are given. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. And it's quite possible that the Rufus who's mentioned in the book of Romans is the same person. And of course, his mother is mentioned there. Paul says, she's his mother and mine. There's a great deal of speculation about Simon the Cyrenian. The Bible doesn't really say very much about him. But I think it says enough to tell us this, that these names are mentioned because they were well known among the believers. Alexander and Rufus were well known among the believers. and that's for sure. And I think we can safely assume that that day as Simon the Cyrenian passed by minding his own business, he wasn't interested. He wasn't involved. He met this crowd and he was forced to do something that he really didn't want to do. He didn't volunteer, he was made to do it. But I think from that we can certainly say that his contact with Christ not only made him turn back and retrace his steps, turn his back on Jerusalem and go out to the place of execution at Golgotha. I think we can be fairly sure that that day had a mighty impact upon him and upon all his family. Because that experience led to the conversion of his whole family. I think we can safely assume that from what we read in the Bible. You know, in a sense, we are all spectators. When we read about the cross or when somebody preaches about the cross, in a sense, we are all spectators. We see it in our mind's eye. It's as if we're actually there looking at it passing by. Now, here's the question. Is it nothing to us? Because that's how it is with so many people today. It has nothing, it's nothing to them. But to many of us, it's everything to us. Because we've had a life changing experience of meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ.