The book of Lamentations, we're in the third chapter. Look at Lamentations, and I just want you to have all there's five chapters. Just have it open. We'll give you just a gist of how the book is divided up. Now, if you'll notice in the first chapter, just look at the first chapter, glance at it and you'll see there's 22 verses. OK, glance at the second chapter and notice there's 22 verses in the second chapter. We'll answer the third chapter, and you'll notice there are 66 verses. That's the 3 times the 22. The fourth chapter, you come back and you have 22 verses. And the fifth chapter, you come back and you have 22 verses. Now, then, it's written in an acrostic form, a poem or series of lines, in which certain letters, usually the first letter in each line, form a name or a motto or a message. And this actually follows, and when it's read in sequence, this actually follows the Hebrew alphabet. So there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and so like in the first chapter, you have We'll use ABCs, or it's Alph and Beth in sequence, right on through the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 letters. But for us, it'd be like ABCDEF, right on through our alphabet. In this case, it's the Hebrew alphabet. And in the second chapter, it follows the same order. Beginning with verse 1, you have Alph and Beth, and right on through the Hebrew alphabet, 22. But now in the third chapter, since there's 66 verses in this chapter, you'll find that it goes, instead of Alph and Beth and so on, it goes Alph, Alph, Alph, Beth, Beth, Beth. So you have the first three verses are the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The second three verses are the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so on in sequence throughout the Hebrew alphabet. The fourth chapter does exactly the same thing. It comes back. Like the first and second chapter, it comes back to each verse is alphabet and so on through the Hebrew alphabet. I hope all of you are following me. And then the fifth chapter actually has 22 verses, but there is no particular form in the 22 verses in the fifth chapter. It's just that there doesn't seem to be the following this order of the Hebrew alphabet. For what reason, we do not know. Let me give you quickly at a glance also, if you look at the first chapter again and the second chapter, notice how long the verses are. You see how long each verse is, and they're about equal length. See how equal in length each verse is throughout the 22 verses? The second chapter, you'll also notice that equal length of verses. Now then, if you'll notice, In the third chapter, how short the verses are, though you have 66 verses, it's of great interest that in the third chapter that these 66 verses have only one-third as many poetic measures as the other verses in the first and second and the fourth chapter. Thus making the same number of measures, whether you have 22 verses or 66 verses, like 22 in the first chapter, 22 in the second chapter, 22 in the 4th chapter, 22 in the 5th, which has no sequence in order of the Hebrew alphabet. But whether you have the 66 verses or the 22 verses, there is the same amount of measures in each one in poetic form. So that might give you a little insight as to how this book is formed. We've been studying it. We gave you an overall view of the 1st and 2nd chapter, and also we gave verse by verse in the 3rd chapter. And we got down in the 3rd chapter. Now, for our lesson tonight, since I gave you that kind of order of how the book is written, in the 3rd chapter, we left off with verse 27. So look at verse 27 again. And we'll pick up with a verse-by-verse study in the third chapter and go on in the fourth chapter if we get that far. Now then, in the third chapter of Lamentations, you have the book, you have it open, verse 27. It says, and we'll get to our verse-by-verse commentary on it. It says, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Now, we said in our last lesson that this means also not only to serve, but to be submissive to service. We talked about submission to discipline. We believe that young people and children should be disciplined. We believe that the Bible teaches that they should be taught and disciplined by fathers and mothers so that they will grow up to be good young men and women. I was telling my son today, that I'm so proud of him, the way he listens to me. And in spite of all the things that we had of trials growing up and lack of finances and whatever, you know, our domestic needs and economical needs, our children learn to be obedient. They learn to obey and trust the Lord. I really am proud of him. But I think all children ought to be taught to be disciplined and to understand. In verse 28, it says, He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He does not fight against discipline. He sits alone and keeps in silence because he hath borne it upon him, to be obedient. to bear the yoke in his youth. Now then, in verse 29, it says, He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Bearing his face to the ground, showing a sign of submission. Now then, not only do children do this if they are taught right, but we find, and it doesn't mean literally putting his face in the dust, but it's a The point is that we are to bow before the Lord and show submission to the Lord, just as children show submission in their families, and should. Then you and I, we're God's children, and we should show submission to God. Now, verse 30, we'll just take a few verses of a comment as we go along. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. He is filled full with reproach. He can stand and reproach, and he gives his cheek to the smiter. You know, Christ is the best example of this. We've been told to turn the other cheek. But by the way, it doesn't tell you to keep on turning it after that. There's a time if you're just going to keep being smitten on the cheek. I think the best thing would be if you're not to smite back, at least get out of the way and leave the situation. Dr. Oldham used to tell me when you go by, You get hurt by someone, or if you ride in the fence, you know how the old cowboys used to ride the fence line, and you go by a fence post and get off there and a rattlesnake bites you, he says, good advice is not to go by that post again. And so that's good advice for you and I. If we run across trouble, it doesn't mean that we're running from it, but just don't put yourself in the position to get smitten again or bitten again. And there is a lot of common sense to that, isn't there? But Jesus was submissive, and he was submissive to the Father, and he's submissive to man, and he taught us to be submissive to one another. And we take a lot of abuse sometimes. He putteth his mouth in the dust if there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. He is filled with reproach. In that 29th verse it says, if there may be hope. You're willing to bear a lot of things if there's hope. You and I can put up with a great deal if there is hope. Now verse 31. For the Lord will not cast off forever. What does it mean here? For the Lord will not cast off forever." If we seem to be forsaken or cast off, Israel was cast off. They were in Babylon in captivity, if you remember. But the prophet Jeremiah says the Lord will not cast off forever. It means simply this, that God's judgment is not permanent. He's not going to make this a permanent situation. Israel was in captivity, but they were promised deliverance. You and I may be in captivity in many ways, in the bondage of sin or with the world and be held captive by the world due to financial circumstances, due to the justice system or whatever. We may be in captivity or in bondage, but he will not cast us off forever. Always remember, and Randy told me this one time that someone had told him, He says that things are never as bad as they seem. And, you know, it's really true. We may be in a situation one day in which this is the worst situation I can be in. And lo and behold, this too will pass. And we find that sometimes something comes up a little worse and we say that wasn't the worst one this is. So we start talking about the present one, don't we? But regardless of that, even how bad that one is, we still get through that, too, don't we? We still get through that. And that's life, really, that's life. And if we learn to deal with it, we'll come out all right. Now then, look at verse 32. It says, But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. The punishment of a godly man will not last forever. It will last only for a short time. Why? Look at this verse. Because of God's compassion, which stems from his covenant love. Notice this. Yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies." That's God's nature, God's promise, God's covenant that he loves us so much that he will have mercy upon us in the midst of our trials. That's why they will not be permanent, and they will be short-lived. Remember David, when David wrote the 51st Psalm, it was after his great fall with Bathsheba. He had sinned tremendously. Kings and leaders do sin, don't they? And David had sinned, and he had taken another man's wife. He had stolen her. He had committed adultery. And at the same time, after he repented, you know, he met Nathan. Nathan, the prophet, says, God has forgiven your sin. He says, yet the sword will never depart from your house. And David had to suffer for it. And we all have to pay the consequences of what we do. But at the same time, when David repented, what did he say? He said, have mercy upon me, O God. Listen, he knew God. And he says, according to thy loving kindness, According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." And he says, "...against thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest." He says, "...purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." And David repented of his sins. And all of us should, when we sin, repent, turn to God for His compassion and the multitude of His tender mercies. Verse 33, For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. He doth not afflict willingly. That means from his heart. God does not afflict from his heart, nor grieve the children of men. You know, the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." That's in Hebrews chapter 12. And it says, if we be without chastisement, then we're not sons, we're bastards. And it says that no chastening for the present seemed to be joyous, but grievous. But it says, after that chastening, after, God yieldeth that peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. And I've told you time and again, it's just like when you correct a child, a son or a daughter. Fathers and mothers should correct. And when you correct them, say you have to give one of them a little spanking. And you give them a spanking and they go off over there and they cry a little bit and they come back and they'll hug you around the neck and say, Mama, Daddy, I'm not going to do that anymore. I know you were right in telling me not to do that. It's harmful to myself and others and it's wrong and so on. OK, if that child obeys, then they're exercised by that chastening. But if you have another child and you correct him and then they go off and and they become more mean spirited and they say, I'm going to get even with mom and daddy and I'm not going to do this. I told him I would, but I'm not going to anyway. And they rebel against it. Then they're not not exercised thereby by that chastening. It didn't do them the proper good that it should have done. And it will not bring the peaceable fruits of righteousness. That's the way our father, our heavenly father chastens us. And if we rebel against that chastening, we have to suffer the consequences of it. And we lead and get into more trouble than before. But if we are corrected by God's chastening, my how we need to be. And I found in my life when I listen to God and I find out he's chastening me and I listen to him, I'm far better off than if I go off in the corner and pout a little bit and say, well, you know, I did the best I could and the Lord shouldn't have treated me that way. It's better to accept the fact that God knows best for us. And sometimes it's better for children to accept the fact that maybe father does know best. Remember that old program, Father Knows Best? Well, sometimes they do. Now, Job had a problem too with age. He says, Job, you ought to be wiser than you are. He says, age should teach wisdom. Now then, in every case it does not. We find some older people that are still kiddos in their thinking and they do not learn along life's way. And we have to learn and we have to grow up, don't we? And Paul says, when I was a child, I would speak as a child, I talked as a child, I lived as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. And so we begin to learn and grow. And we have to learn in the things of God. All right, let's get back to this next verse. Verse 33 and 34, For he doth not afflict willingly, that means from his heart, nor grieve the children of men. God does not want to grieve us. But look at verse 34, To crush under his feet all the prisoners of earth. Now, of course, those in captivity were mentioned. They were crushed. They were prisoners in the earth. But what about also all those who do groan under the burden of sin? God does not want to crush us just because we are under the burden of sin. He wants us to repent and turn and find relief. Now, verse 35, 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. to subvert a man in his cause, perverseness in judgment God does not approve of. God does not approve of this kind of treatment to men. Verse 37, Who is he that saith, And it cometh to pass, when the Lord commanded it not, out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good? See, who is a man that says, well, if it comes to pass, the Lord did not command it. But the scripture teaches that out of the mouth of the Most High, there proceeds evil and good. There proceeds judgment. There proceeds blessings. All things in life are divinely ordered. We might think this day and hour that things are out of control worldwide, internationally. But they're not. God has a purpose in all of these Even looking back into World War II, God had a purpose in bringing down those that thought that they were going to rule the world. Hitler wanted to rule the world, didn't he? He thought he actually could do that. But God says, OK, I'll let you just go so far. And there were wars, and there were deaths, and there were battles, and there were allies against him. And finally, he met his match, didn't he? Same way with the Japanese when they attacked Pearl Harbor. In fact, I was in World War II when I was 17. If you'll remember, they were in fear out on the west coast that they would be invaded actually. I mean, we were not so secure that we thought at that time we were weak militarily. And we thought we would be invaded. And we had to really get ready quick, didn't we? So, but regardless of that, what we're talking about, all the good and all the evil is ordered of the Most High. What I'm trying to say is this, that God still has everything under control. We fear so many things. We think everything's going wrong. But God is in control. And He can make the wrath of man to praise Him. He can turn the tide when no one else can. He can change situations. We have leaders, and all men have feet of clay. We're going to see them pass off the scene. If they're wicked leaders, like over in Russia, poor guys over there, from time to time we've had good guys trying to do better. We've had some evil ones and wicked ones, and things turn around. And God is able to make things turn around to where it will be for His glory and for our good. But we need to pray as Christians that God's will will be done in all things. And we need to pray fervently about those things. All is divinely ordered. The Bible says in the Proverbs, the King's heart, now listen carefully, is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever He will. The King's heart. I believe that's chapter 20, maybe 20 verse 1. You might check it. Now then, if it's not, we'll get another one. It's verse one, so you can just flip through there and find them. Now, I'm curious, I got to turn and find out. Let's see where I am. Proverbs, let's look at it and see. I hate to quote a scripture I'm not sure of. It's not, it's 21 verse one. That's what I wanted to check out. 21 verse one. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will. That God is sovereign in the affairs of government, providences of life. OK, let's get back now. Lamentations 3. Look at verse 39, now we talked about 38. Verse 39, it says, Wherefore does a living man complain? a man for the punishment of his sins. Why do men complain about the punishment of our sins when sin deserves judgment and even death? The Bible says the wages of sin is death. So why should we complain when God corrects us when sin is deserving of far more than God brings? You see, the Bible says the wages of sin is death. That's Romans 6, verse 23. I believe I got that one right. But anyway, The wages of sin is death. But it says, But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But here it says, Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man, for the punishment of his sins? Look at verse 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us what? Let us. We're permitted to. We ought to. Let us search and try our ways. That means self-examination. You know, a lot of times we examine other people and everyone else but ourselves. Isn't that right? We say, well, so-and-so shouldn't have done this. So-and-so shouldn't have done that. But what about me? I have to begin to look inward and see if I'm doing the right thing. And that behooves all of us to do that. So it says, let us search and try our ways. And then what does it say? It says, and turn again to the Lord. That means accept his correction. When God corrects us, we ought to listen and turn again unto the Lord. Look at verse 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. This was the Jews especially prayed with their hands raised to God. in various ways. Sometimes they would pray to God and lift up their hands because God is holy. And sometimes they would pray when they were in need and stretch out their hands thusly for a blessing that God would give them something that they might pull into themselves. But it says, let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. That means that God is not interested in a mere gesture associated with prayer without a contrition of the heart. You can have all kinds of gestures in prayer. People can even kneel in prayer, and if they're not kneeling in their heart or not submitting and being humble in their heart, the gesture means nothing. The gesture goes along with the heart. And when old Elijah was serious about things, brother, he fell on his face. And if you read the position that he was in with his head between his knees, and it told how he fell flat on the ground with his head between his knees. He was in a very awkward posture, but yet he was showing extreme humiliation before God. And so all of these things have a meaning, but it means simply this, that the gesture without the heartfelt Situation means nothing to God. You can pray standing on top of your head, but if your heart is not in the whole situation to show complete humiliation to God or on your knees or with your hands raised or whatever, there has to be the heart situation that follows. Very important. On the day of Pentecost, the Bible says the Holy Spirit filled all the place where they were sitting. They were all seated. together in that upper room, and they were waiting for the promise of the Father. And the Holy Ghost came and filled all them then, but they were not kneeling and they were not standing. They were not lifting up their hands and they were not down on their face with their down on their stomachs with their face between their knees, but they were sitting, but they were in, they were waiting, they were praying and they were waiting for the promise of the Father. And the Holy Spirit came and filled all that room where they were sitting, filling all that room. They were baptized in the Holy Ghost on that day. That means they were immersed. All right, let's get back to this. Verse 42, it says, We have transgressed and have rebelled. Thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger and persecuted us. Thou hast slain. Thou hast not pitied. All this is the effect of sin, the effect of sin upon an individual and upon nations. It was not only the effect of Israel and Judah, but it was the effect that Jeremiah felt for them. You see, all the prophets of old and all the great leaders of old identified themselves with the people. And if you remember, in the book of Nehemiah, when all the walls were burned down, and the city was destroyed, and Jerusalem was lying in waste, and the Jews were counted as nothing, he said, We and our fathers have sinned. He didn't say our fathers have sinned, but he says, We and our fathers have sinned. And Daniel included himself. And Jeremiah says, We have sinned. And Moses says, We have sinned. All the great leaders of old didn't say, you know, the people have sinned, but I'm OK. They didn't say that. Remember, even the prophet Isaiah in the sixth chapter of Isaiah says in the year that King Uzziah died, they all had their eyes on King Uzziah. And so did Isaiah. He says in the year that King Uzziah died, his idol had died. He says, I saw also, also the Lord. high and lifted up, and his train filled his temple. And he saw the seraphims, and each one had six wings, and with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And they were crying out, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with thy glory. And Isaiah, after that vision, said, Woe is Israel. No, he said, Woe is me, for I am undone. He said, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king. Let's never get so holy that we think we're without sin. Boy, there's a lot of folks like that. There are some guys I just hate to be around. I feel like they're just so holy they're about to sprout wings and go to heaven. I really do. I don't like to be around that kind of people. I like to be around people that I know that are sinners saved by grace, just like I am. And I don't mean that we shouldn't try to live a godly life and a holy life. But I do mean that I don't want people to always act like they have that pious attitude. And I just, I don't like that at all. I like for us all to realize we're only here by the grace of God. And you know, we all have our ups and downs in lives. You have yours and I have mine. Some days are better than others, aren't they? Woke up this morning and something was leaking in there around my water heater. And man, that ain't fun either. And I mopped up water for about 30 minutes in my housecoat. And I don't mean with my housecoat, in my housecoat. I use the sponge to get it up. But anyway, I think it's above the where you turn the water on and off. So it's not worse yet. But anyway. Yes. So I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from. But anyway, I'll get to that later. That's not your problem. That's mine. But we all have good days and we all have bad days, don't we? But in the midst of all of it, we have to learn to trust God and go right on and realize that sin does have consequences. All right, let's look at this. Verse 44, it says you have the third chapter, Lamentations, chapter three, verse 44, thou has covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass. Look back in verse eight, just turn back the page, verse eight. It says this, also when I cry and shout, he shut out my prayer. Do you ever feel like your prayer is not heard? That God has a cloud between you and heaven and that your prayer won't go beyond that cloud? Thou has covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass through. In other words, your prayer can't get higher than than the sky can't go up on up to God's presence. Sometimes we feel like the heavens are brass, don't we? But nevertheless, God hears. This is all our imagination. God is still listening. It says in verse 45, Thou hast made us an offscoring and refuge in the midst of the people. An offscoring. The word there offscoring means worthless or unfit for use in the midst of the people. embarrassed in the midst of the people. And then it says in verse 46, All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Fear and a snare has come upon us, desolation and destruction, like animals fleeing in fear from their enemies. Fear and a snare, snare is used to catch or trap to catch animals, has come upon us, desolation and destruction. Verse 48, Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Rivers of water like they are never ending. Rivers just keep on flowing, don't they? And it says, mine eyes runneth down with rivers of water. Remember in chapter 9, Jeremiah said, Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. So Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Verse 49, Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not without any intermission. Look at that, without any intermission. The weeping will persist until God intervenes without any stopping. Look at verse 50. Till the Lord looked down and behold from heaven, the weeping will persist until God intervenes. And by the way, the weeping should persist till God intervenes. We ought to be truly in a state of repentance, in a state of prayer, in the state of asking God until he does look down from heaven. And when he looks down from heaven, things will begin to change. Verse 51, he says, Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city, or the daughters of Jerusalem. His tears are a token of brokenheartedness because of Judah's destruction. Mine eye affecteth my heart. My heart, if you have a marginal reference, it says my soul. See, man is made up of body, soul, and spirit. And by the way, when we're not deeply moved inside about things that we do physically and in action, it's just from the outside. The Bible says, listen carefully to this. Keep thy heart with all diligence. We have to guard it, keep it, keep it a garrison, our heart. Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, everything of life. Mine heart, see? He says, mine eye affecteth my heart. We don't just have eyes that have tears coming out, but we have emotions and inmost being. And it all ought to work in harmony so that if we're crying, we ought to really be feeling a need for someone, or feeling the sorrow that we feel. That's why some of these TV evangelists, they get up there and boy, they know just which button to punch to turn on tears. You know, actors do that. Actors can do that. Well, they can turn on the tears. Now, if you shed tears, that's fine and dandy with me, but I want you to shed them because you feel that. Because you feel that. I don't care if you cry a bucket full if you feel it. But the thing about it is, you've got to really feel what you have. And don't tell me to smile all the time. I like to smile when I feel like it, but sometimes I'm not so happy. And I didn't mean to start trying to be a comic or anything. There's just so much here, wonderful things. Look at verse 7. Look at verse 52, it says, mine enemies chased me sore like a bird without cause. See, it says, you know, God had snared Judah like a fowler traps birds in a trap. It says, they have cut off my life in the dungeon and cast a stone upon me. Remember, even Jeremiah, he was thrown in a dungeon and they usually put a stone over the face of the hole to seal a prisoner in. And you remember when Lazarus died and the sepulcher was sealed with a stone. And so when Jesus died, the sepulcher was sealed with a stone. But in the case of Lazarus, Jesus said to those round about, He says, take ye away the stone. And then He says, Lazarus, come forth. Jesus didn't have to have the stone removed for Lazarus to come forth, but He gave the people something to do. And then he says, Lazarus, come forth. And the Bible says, he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot in grave clothes. And when he came forth, now then, he was in grave clothes. Jesus had renerected Lazarus from the dead. He had been dead four days already. And the Bible says, the people said, by this time he stinked. They didn't embalm folks like that. They put them in the grave. Sometimes they didn't. And they wound him in grave clothes and buried him to get him out of sight. And he was resurrected. And yet Jesus resurrected him from the dead, and he was standing there, hand and foot in grave clothes. And Jesus said to the people, loose him and let him go. He didn't have to have them to loose him, did he? If he could loose him from death, certainly he could loose him from clothes, but he didn't do that. And he had them to move the stone? But anyway, the stone is sometimes put on the sepulcher, or in this case, they imprisoned Jeremiah with a stone over the dungeon. All right, look in verse 54. Waters flowed over mine head. Then I said, I'm cut off. This is the overwhelming calamities both for Jeremiah and the people. The waters are symbolical of that because actually they put him in a place where there was no water in the dungeon. Now, in verse 55, he says, I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. He's calling upon God to hear him. He did call, and he did hear. He was saying, hear my voice. Do not close your ears to my cry. Look in verse 56. Thou hast heard my voice. Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Have you ever come to a place you really want God to hear? Let's hurry along now. Look at verse 57. It says, Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee. Thou drewest near. The Bible says called upon the Lord while he is near, doesn't it? Seek the Lord while he may be found. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee. Thou saidest. What does God say when he draws near? Fear not. Didn't Jesus do the same thing? He drew near. He drew near to the disciples time and time again after the resurrection. He said, Fear thou not. God said in the Old Testament, Fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will uphold thee. I think Randy used it in his message Sunday night. I will strengthen thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Now then, 58, O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul. Thou hast redeemed my life. Look at all this ray of hope. This is comfort and hope. From verse 55 on down, we have comfort and hope. Verse 59 says, O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong. Judge thou my cause. Who do you want to judge your cause more than God? He's the only one that can really know the full story. He says, O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong. Judge thou who? Judge thou my cause. He wanted God and God only to judge his cause. Verse 60, Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me, their plots and their devices against me. Verse 61, Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginations against me, the lips of those that rose up against me and their device against me all the day. Jeremiah was subject to their mockery, but he says in verse 63, Behold, they're sitting down and they're rising up. I am their music. I'm the one that they mock. I'm the one they talk about all the day. And so Jeremiah says, look, render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. He says, God, I'm not going to try to do anything. I'm going to turn this situation over to you. The Bible says vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Jeremiah knew where it came from. He says, if they get any payback, it's going to come from God, not me. Have you ever heard folks say, I'm going to get even? Don't get even. You'll never get even. Because when you get even, you think you're even. He's not even, and he'll try to get something back. So don't try that. It doesn't work. It says in verse 65, Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse upon them, persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens, O Lord, because the heavens, God sits as righteous judge in the heavens. And God will judge from the heavens. The Bible says he has set his throne in judgment. Well, we've covered some that we will not get into the fourth chapter. Our time is gone. It's time to close. We'll stand and we'll be dismissed in prayer. Let's stand. Thank you for your patience, your kind attention.