Well, this afternoon we'll be looking at the book of Lamentations, so you may want to turn there to Lamentations. It's after, first comes Isaiah, then Jeremiah, then Lamentations. And we'll be focusing on verses 38 through 40, and the goal is to learn some lessons related to calamity. And calamity, when I say calamity, the definition of calamity is disaster or an event or events causing great damage or distress. So that's what we mean by calamity. And then with God's help, we'll apply these principles to us so that when calamity comes into our lives and impacts our lives, we'll know how to respond properly. But before we begin, let's ask God to help us as we teach and preach and listen to his holy word. Our Father in heaven, This is your word, and we heard even this morning about words and how they are used by you to save our souls, and they are used by you to sanctify our lives, to change us to be more like Jesus Christ. And so we pray that you might take these words, that you would speak through your servant, and that you might cause great change in our lives, that we might be more like our Savior and give you more glory as we live through this world. Please help us. Help us to know how to respond to calamity. Help us to know what to expect when calamity comes, and pray that you would be with us now. In Jesus' name, amen. Now before we get into our text, I thought we'd look at the book of Lamentations to get the context of these verses. And the name Lamentations, by the way, comes from the Greek title above the subtuagent, which is threomai, which means to lament. And to lament means to sorrow or to grieve over something. And so that's the basic title of Lamentations, to lament, Lamentations, sorrowing. Now, who is the author of Lamentations? Well, most scholars believe it's Jeremiah, but Jeremiah is not mentioned in the book of Lamentations. So if he's not mentioned in the book of Lamentations, why do we think it's Jeremiah? Or why do the scholars think it's Jeremiah? Well, it just so happens that the Subtuagint has a line before the first chapter that says, Jeremiah weeping and lamenting over Jerusalem after the city was laid waste. The Septuagint also, by the way, the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So that's been mentioned before. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew. So in, I think it was the second century or so, there was a Greek translation of that Old Testament Hebrew. So the Septuagint, in any case, places lamentations in Jeremiah's prophecy. So that, amongst other things, has us to understand that Jeremiah is the author of this book, Lamentations. Now, what is the theme of Lamentations? Well, it's that title that is above the Septuagint, Jeremiah weeping and lamenting over Jerusalem after the city was laid waste. In Jeremiah 3.48, it says, my eyes, this is Jeremiah speaking, my eyes run down with streams of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. So this is one reason why Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet, reflective of what he's, how he's weeping in the book of Lamentations. And this kind of reminds us of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? Weeping over Jerusalem, despite the ill treatment that he received from the Jews. And Jeremiah had the same thing happen to him. He got ill treated by those Jews that were in the city as he was preaching to them, warning them about the destruction coming to Jerusalem. And so they threw him in a pit and they left him there. And in another instance, they locked him up in some room because they just didn't want to hear what he had to say. So that in itself should be a lesson to us, right? That we shouldn't stiff arm the people that don't have necessarily a positive message. Maybe it's God speaking through them and there was a lot of evidence that Jeremiah fit that bill. In any case, The theme of Lamentations is Jeremiah weeping over the destruction. Now the context of all that is that Babylon, this great powerful nation, had come and had started besieging Jerusalem. So besiege or siege means that he surrounded Jerusalem with a wall. And that wall was put there. Now this is in addition to the wall that was made by the Jews to protect themselves. This is another wall that prevented food covering and everything else to get into Jerusalem. So basically it cut off all the supplies that the Jews needed to live. So people were starving in the midst of this siege by Babylon. And they did that for two years. And then at the end of two years, they came into Jerusalem and they tore down the walls. And of course, the military men of the Jews were at that time, they were They were weak, they were starving in some cases, and so they didn't have much energy to fight back. And of course they were overwhelmed by the troops of Babylon. They came in, tore down the walls, set the city on fire, burned down the temple, and did all kinds of nasty stuff. Burned down the houses and everything in Jerusalem. It was a total disaster. In fact, this was a calamity in every sense of the word. So Jeremiah in Lamentations tells us who was behind this destruction, ultimately, and then he tells us the reason for the destruction, and then he pleads with God for help and deliverance. Now, with that background, let's look at Lamentations 3.38. Verse 38, is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? And why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways and let us return to the Lord. Well, our outline for this afternoon is threefold, actually fourfold, if you include applications at the end. First of all, that God is the ultimate cause of both good and calamity. Second, the improper response to calamity, and that's in verse 39. And then thirdly, the proper response to calamity in verse 40. And then again, as I mentioned, some applications at the end. And we'll also have applications as we move along and so forth, but we'll have final applications at the end. Well, let's look at the first point, that God is the ultimate cause of good and calamity. Verse 38, is it not from the mouth of the most high that both good and ill go forth? Well, what does it mean from through the mouth of the Most High? Well, the Lord reveals his purposes through his prophets. Amos 3.7 says the Lord does nothing unless he reveals his secret plan to his servants, the prophets. So in other words, God speaks to the prophet his word and then they speak on his behalf to the people. That's what goes on. That's the whole, much of the Old Testament and the New Testament are that. God speaking to his prophets and they convey his message to them. Verse 37 says, who is there who speaks and it comes to pass unless the Lord has commanded it? So I think when it says there who speaks and it comes to pass, he's speaking about the prophets most likely, at least most of them. And it's the Lord who commanded. In other words, he's letting them know what's gonna happen and they tell the people of God. But then also, God speaks his word and it's done. Just like in creation, he speaks and it's done. He commands and it's stood fast, Psalm 33, regarding the creation. And the Lord does that with all his purposes. He speaks and it's done. He speaks and he sends that message to the prophets to tell them what he's gonna do, and then he speaks and it's done. That's how God works. So in summary, God declares his purposes and then enacts them by his word. Now here's a summary verse. You don't have to turn there, but just listen carefully from Isaiah 48 in verse three. A marvelous verse summarizing what I've been trying to say. It says, and this is the Lord speaking, I declared the former things from long ago, and they went forth from my mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted and they came to pass. Suddenly I acted and they came to pass. So one thing's for sure, you know, if you get anything out of this, one thing's for sure, the Lord will accomplish his purpose. Every single one of his purposes will be accomplished. Now, according to verse 38, God is the ultimate cause of good. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High? In other words, whatever the Lord does, is it not from the Most High that both good and ill go forth? He's causing the good and the ill. So, let's focus on the good. Now, this Book of Lamentations, these particular verses, they're not exactly something we get super joyful about as we read. Jeremiah is not a book of joy, necessarily. I mean, it has joyful things in it, but it's not primarily a book of joy. But so here's something we can focus on that's encouraging is that the mouth from the mouth of the most high comes good He causes good So as we've heard before, every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights. Chris preached on this not too long ago, right? Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above. Every good thing is from above. Now this includes unconverted folks. They enjoy God's goodness. We were once unconverted and we had homes, we had clothing, we had transportation, we had things to drink, we enjoyed family. There's all kinds of good things that we had when we were unconverted. The Lord's good. He's just good to all mankind. He causes his son, as we heard last week from Joe Dunlap, he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5. And then furthermore, the Lord sends the gospel to all men. Every single man has the gospel. available to him. And most of this world has the gospel preached to them. Every country has a gospel witness somewhere. So the Lord is good to even the unconverted. But God is especially good to his people, to believers. As was quoted earlier, God causes all things to work together for good. to him who loves God and to him who are called, those who are called according to his purpose. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84. How great is your goodness which you have stored up towards those who fear you. That's the Lord. Now turn to, hold your place, we're gonna come right back to Lamentations 3, but I'd like you to turn, if you would, to Ephesians 1. Again, emphasizing God's goodness to his people. The Lord, from the mouth of the Most High, come good. Okay? So that's where we're at. Ephesians chapter 1. I couldn't pass this up as I was thinking about how good God is to us, his people. Ephesians 1 in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now notice, he didn't just bless us with one or two things that are blessed. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Every single one are ours. Isn't that exciting? I'm excited. And it's in Christ. Christ is the source of all these blessings. Christ is the embodiment, we're in him. And so Christ is the center focus of all these blessings. And then verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, right? So this goes all the way back to eternity. Can you imagine if you think about it, how the Lord has determined Thousands and thousands and thousands of years before we're even born, that we're going to be recipients of all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, that we're going to be chosen to be one of his people. Us, of all people, can you imagine that? It just blows my mind. that we should be holy and blameless before him. So this was also mentioned this morning earlier, that this is one of God's purposes for us, that we should live holy, blameless lives. So it's not that we make our decision for Christ and then we can just live the way we want. No, it's that we are saved by his grace and then we live for his grace and his glory. And then in verse five, in love he predestined us to adoption as sons. Now notice it's in love. In other words, you know what that means? That means that God loves us. Can you imagine the Lord loves us? Now why does he love that? Because we're a little better than our neighbor? No, it's because he loved us. That's the Bible's answer. There's no reason, realm, or sense that would say, yeah, the Lord has to love me. No, it's only because he just decided. That's why he loves us. It's amazing. In love, he predestined us. As adoption, as sons, we become his children. That is something that is exceptional. We become his children. In verse six, to the praise, oh, well, to the kind, in verse five, to the good pleasure of his will. That's it. In verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. Again, it's his grace. It's all of grace. It's all God's purpose. It's all God's plan for us, the likes of us. and it's for His glory. That's our purpose in life. If you look up Isaiah 43, 7, you'll see that we are made for His glory. You know, I was always thinking in the catechism, you know, what's the chief end of man to glorify God? Is there a Bible verse for that? Isaiah 43, 7, there it is. You just look that up. I should have quoted it, but I didn't. In any case, God is good to His people. Amen, amen. Well, God was also good to national Israel. We don't wanna get away from our context and lamentations. Lamentations chapter three is that we're talking about national Israel and God was good to national Israel throughout their history. He delivered them from Egypt with miraculous miracles, right? Miraculous things that he did. He provided for them miraculously in the wilderness. He sent manna, this food that was just out of thin air, and it came down with the dew of the nighttime. And in some cases, he opened a rock and there was water flowing out of it, and he gave them shoes that never wore out. This was God miraculously providing for his people to cross the wilderness to get to the promised land. And then when they get to the promised land and they're off to war against Canaan, you know what happened? Sometimes the Lord sent hailstones to attack the enemy like he did those five kings and more were killed by God's hailstones than by the sword. That's what we're told in Joshua. And then the walls of Jericho just tumble down. That's what the Lord did. They didn't have to lift a hand in one sense against those walls. The walls just fell down on their own. It's amazing. This verse also teaches us, back to Lamentations 3, is it not from the mouth of the most high that both good and ill go forth? So this teaches us that God causes not only the good, and we've focused on that, but now we have to focus on the other side, the ill. Now that word that I'm quoting out of the NAS, ill, also means woe or evil or bad, depending on the translation. And it brings to mind the calamity that the Jews experienced in Jerusalem. And surrounding cities, by the way, the Babylonians took care of them too. Well, the Lord purposed calamity on Jerusalem and what I'd like you to do is again keep something there in Lamentations 3 and turn with me to Deuteronomy 28. This is a eye-opening passage if you've never read it or if you don't remember reading it. It's Deuteronomy 28 in verse 47. So the Lord has warned that this calamity on Jerusalem is going to happen if they disobeyed. And of course he knew they were going to disobey, and the language of this text sounds like it's something that's going to happen. Verse 47, because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things, and he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Now this is, remember, this is Moses writing this. We're talking like something around 1500 BC, hundreds of years before Babylon attacked Jerusalem. Verse 49, the Lord will bring a nation against you from afar. from the end of the earth as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who shall have no respect for the old nor favor for the young. And then in verse 52, and it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land. And it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land, which the Lord your God has given you. Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body and the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you. And if you've read Lamentations recently, you'll know that Lamentations describes the women eating their children. I hate to, it's kind of gross, but I mean, this is what happened. They were starving to death. I can't picture, envision myself eating my son or daughter, but this is what was happening in Jerusalem. That siege lasted two years. In any case, amazing. Amazing. Well, there's also another passage that's in Jeremiah 25. You may be more familiar with this one. It says, thus says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words, I will send Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants, and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation. So Jeremiah gets a little more detailed now in predicting what's gonna happen. So this has been predicted since 1500 BC, and now it's being re-emphasized by Jeremiah in the days that it happened. Jeremiah was still alive when Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem. Well, let's turn back to Lamentations and we're going to find here that indeed the Lord did exactly as he predicted. Chapter 2 and verse 1. Now just listen and look at the language that is used here. In verse one, how the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger. He has cast from heaven to earth the glory of Israel. And then in verse two, chapter two of Lamentations, the Lord has swallowed up. He has not spared all the inhabitants of Jacob. In his wrath, he has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. Verse five, the Lord has become like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all its palaces. He has destroyed its strongholds and multiplied in the daughter of Judah, mourning and moaning. Now as we read that, the first thing that should come to your mind is, now wait a minute, I thought it was Babylon that attacked Jerusalem. Wasn't it Babylon that attacked Jerusalem? It was Babylon. But it says in every single one of these passages, and I could multiply passages from Lamentations and in other places, he says the Lord did it. Every single one, the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger. So it's very clear that Jeremiah is attributing what happened to Jerusalem to the Lord. Doesn't even mention Babylon in here. The Lord did it, the Lord did this, the Lord did that, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. It's unmistakable. Now the next question is, why did God bring calamity on Jerusalem? Why did God bring calamity on Jerusalem? Well, in chapter 1, in verse 5, we have our answer. It says in the middle of the verse, verse 5, Lamentations 1, for the Lord has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions. Her little ones have gone away as captives before the adversary. And as you might know, I haven't mentioned this, but when they besieged and attacked Jerusalem, they took many of the people of the land and brought them to Babylon. So that's the exile. So this is what happened to their children, as well as to the women, as well as to the warriors and the men, took them to Babylon and they left a few poor people back to mend the land and whatever. So, it was because of the multitude of her transgressions. In verse 8, it says, So, what can we conclude? We conclude that the Lord was the one that brought the destruction on Jerusalem. He used Babylon to do it. He called Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, his servant. And he directed them to Jerusalem. Now they thought they were doing it, but they were all under the Lord's control, right? And he brought them there. That's what the text tells us. By the way, let's quick turn to 2 Lamentations 2 and verse 17. Here's a great text that says, the Lord has done what he purposed. He has accomplished his word, which he commanded from days of old. From days of old, the Deuteronomy passage should come right to mind. He has thrown down without sparing. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the might of your adversaries. Do you see? The Lord not only brought them, he caused it to happen. That's what the text says. He caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He exalted the strength of the enemy. Well, the scriptures elsewhere confirm that the Lord causes calamity. Isaiah 45, 7 says, I am the Lord causing well-being and creating calamity. That's what it says. And it says in Amos 3, 6, if calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it? And it's a rhetorical question that's the answer is yes, the Lord has done it. If calamity comes to a city, the Lord's done it. So he's not just talking about Jerusalem, he's talking about any city. So that answers the question. Well, like Chris asked that question, you know, is it just specific things with Israel that he's concerned about and that he, no, it's everything that happens. In Isaiah 31, it says, he is also wise and will bring disaster and does not retract his words. He brings disaster. That's what it says. So does God do it for everyone? Yes. Recall that he destroyed Canaan. And why did he destroy Canaan? Because they were idolaters. And he will arise against the house of evildoers, it says in Isaiah 31. And recall that Canaan were ungodly, and he just came in with the Jews and used the Jews to punish them for their idolatry and rebellion. Well, just a few applications at this point in our message. This raises the age-old question, how can a God of love cause calamity or evil? Everybody always asks that question, and in any case, let's address it. Well, we must start out first, something again Chris has mentioned, the Lord cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone, right? So with that said, love is only one of God's many attributes. He's not all love as if he's nothing else. But he also defines justice and righteousness and is justice and righteousness just as he is love. Psalm 117 says the Lord is righteous. You could look it up if you want to see it with your own eyes. The Lord is a God of justice, Isaiah 30, 18. So it's not one or the other. He's both love and just or righteous. He's both. So is God doing evil when bringing calamity on Jerusalem? It's a good question. Well, from the Jews' perspective, it was terrible evil. It was a horrific evil. But from God's perspective, he used an evil nation to satisfy his good and perfect justice. Remember, the reason why Jerusalem got destroyed, it was because they sinned. They sinned grievously. And it wasn't just a few sins just in the recent past. They'd been sinning for hundreds of years. They'd been rebelling against God. And God was so patient, sending prophet after prophet after prophet, warning them about what was coming if they didn't repent. But they just... stuffed their ears and refused to listen. And then God eventually had to send Babylon to destroy them. Well, what can we conclude regarding God causing calamity, God causing good? Well, I've got a quote from John Calvin here in his commentaries on this passage. And this is what he says, nothing is done except by God's command and ordination, and we regard with abhorrence those profane men who imagine that God sits idly, as it were, on his watch tower, and takes no notice of what is done in the world, and that human affairs are random. Nothing is more diabolical. That means devilish. than this delirious impiety. He's pretty blunt. Nothing happens except through his certain and unchangeable decree. And I might add, including what we call calamity or evil on Jerusalem. Well, that brings us to the second main point. We've seen first of all that the Lord directs good, he causes good and calamity. Now secondly, the improper response to calamity, verse 39. So let's turn back to chapter three, verse 39. And it says, why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins? So what is the improper response to calamity, complaining, complaining. So reading between the lines, I would suggest that some of the Jews are already complaining or that in their thoughts they're complaining. or that they're about to complain about what's happening. And this is why the Lord has to say this. And of course, he's speaking to all mankind who would read this afterwards. But this is what the media context would suggest, that there's complaining of some sort on the part of the Jews. And it's not surprising. The Jews had a history of complaining. We can turn to Numbers chapter 11. I'm having you turn to this. I know it's after lunch and we need to keep the blood flowing, right? So we want to turn to passages and listen to various parts of God's word and read it for ourselves so it sticks in our memory. Numbers 11 in verse 1. Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. So right away we can see that the Lord isn't excited about when we complain. It's not a good idea for us to complain when even calamity happens in our lives. And then in verse four, we read about the situation with the manna. And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires, and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our appetite is gone and there's nothing at all to look at except this manna. Can you imagine? This manna, as I mentioned before, is miraculously produced. They were gonna starve to death, and the Lord produced a manna that came down every single night, except the Sabbath day, and was there on the ground. All they had to do was collect it and eat it, and apparently he'd had enough nutrition to keep them nourished throughout their journey through the wilderness. And they're complaining? Are you kidding me? It's the way we are sometimes. So in any case, it says, verse 10, Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was greatly kindled. And Moses was displeased. Well, again, God not excited about complaining. So the Jews had a history of complaining. Now, why would the Jews complain about calamity suffered in Jerusalem? Just speculating for a few minutes that it might have application to us. Well, simply because they were God's people, it could be. I mean, they would think that, hey, we're God's people. God would never bring such a great calamity on Jerusalem, wouldn't, would he, right? Or perhaps it's because they thought they were righteous. They were known for being self-righteous. We read in Romans 10 about the Jews for not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. They stumbled over the stumbling block. The very thing that kept them from Christ was they were self-righteous. And they thought that they were good enough to get into heaven, they didn't need Christ. They didn't need any sacrifice for sin. They didn't need anything except their own goodness, which they thought they had. Well, that could be why they figured that they wouldn't get destroyed in Jerusalem, because they're righteous. We're righteous people. The God wouldn't do this to us, right? Now, why did they think they were righteous? Well, I'm going to throw some of this out. Perhaps these Jews were blind to their sins. That's very possible. Perhaps they justified their sins by highlighting their many good works. Like Jesus accused them of, rightly, you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb and yet disregard justice and the love of God. They were experts at doing the little things, but when it came to the big things like justice and the love of God, they just, they were absent in their lives, many of them. Or perhaps they were too busy condemning others. Maybe they were self-righteous. Remember the Pharisee when he was in the temple with the tax collector? Do you remember what he said? I thank God I'm not like these other people. You know, swindlers, unjust, adulterers. I'm glad I'm not like those. Right? That's the Pharisees. Right? They were self-righteous. Condemning others made them feel good about themselves. Thus, God would never destroy us. Now just a side note, there may be just and biblical cause to admonish our brethren, as long as it's with humility, and we do need to make honest judgments about people, right? I mean, we're talking about dating this morning, Pastor Hill, right? Or not dating, but you know, courtship and then marriage, right? Well, you know, when we're talking about courtship and marriage, we have to make judgments about that guy we're gonna marry or that girl that we're gonna marry if we're single. We have to make a judgment. We have to figure out if he's a true Christian or not. So judgments have to be made, but There's no place for being critical with a condemning spirit as if we were more righteous than they. That's the Pharisee perspective. As if we could never do or say what they've done. Now it may be true that on a particular sin we wouldn't do that, but there's probably other sins that we would do that they didn't. So we have to be careful. about complaining, and certainly the Jews were guilty of complaining. And it's a most grievous sin, by the way. It's sin against God directly complaining. God is the ultimate cause of all of our circumstances. As it says in Job, getting down to the nearest person, like Chris brought out earlier, Job said, and you remember the calamity that he suffered, right? His family destroyed, his possessions destroyed, his houses destroyed, everything was destroyed. And what did he say? He, God, has performed what is appointed for me. That's what Job said. God has performed what is appointed for me. Job 14.9. So God is the ultimate cause of our circumstances. So if we're complaining about our circumstances, we're complaining against God. And complaining, therefore, is prideful. We think we're wiser than God. If we were God, we would never bring such a calamity into our lives. That's the way we think. And God commands us not to complain. Philippians 2.14, do all things without grumbling. In 1 Corinthians 10, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Referring to Korah and company, again, the Jews complaining. Now why shouldn't we complain? Well, verse 39, back to lamentations again. Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins? The Jews shouldn't be complaining, we shouldn't be complaining. No matter how severe the trial, we have sins a mile high. So what right do we have to complain against him? Whatever we're getting, it's better than we deserve. And I understand it's very difficult sometimes when terrible things happen in our lives. And we're gonna come to that terrible thing in our life sooner or later. It's going to happen. We're going to have terrible things coming into our lives. But in view of our sins, we ought not complain. Don't complain. It will not help. It doesn't make matters better. It only causes us more distress, more heartache, more tension, and it sets God against us in that sense. Well, as Christians, God has forgiven us a mountain of sins as we've seen in Ephesians 1, right? He delivered us from the dreadful consequences of our sins. He's carried out a plan where he views us as clean and righteous. He guarantees us eternal bliss and eternal life. And in light of all this, should we complain against him? I think not. Well, that brings us to our final Part of our message this afternoon, this is more brief, the proper response to calamity. So we've seen that God causes good and ill. We've seen the improper response to calamity, namely complaining. And now we see and look at the proper response to calamity. So instead of grumbling or complaining or asking how God could do such a thing to me, we should say in verse 40, let us examine and probe our ways and let us return to the Lord. So we should examine and probe our ways. Now, the Hebrew word for examine and probe are two different Hebrew words, but they can mean in the context, they can be translated the same way to search out, to search out. So the Jews should focus on searching out their conduct. What did they do to incite God's anger? That should be the question they ask. Not how could God do this to a people called God's people, but what did I do to incite God's anger? What sins required God to send such a calamity on us? Now there may be other reasons why God sends calamity, true, but a lot of times it's for sins we've committed. I'm number one example. I can say in my Christian life there have been many times in which terrible things have happened in my life and I know it's because, I would strongly suggest that it was because of sins I committed. In any case, we should be examining our ways. Now, the Jews should have compared themselves and their conduct to God's word. And Paul does this in the New Testament regarding the Jews, because they seem to be oblivious to their sins. And so we read in Romans chapter two, Paul asks the Jews these questions. You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who are poor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. The Jews had a mountain of sin throughout their history. They were idol worshipers, many of them, sacrificing children to their false gods in fire. They would burn their children to the false gods. Can you imagine that? Refusing to hear the word of God like they did against Jeremiah. They didn't want to hear what Jeremiah threw them in a pit. They were bent on listening their false prophets. They had hundreds of these false prophets in Jeremiah's day, and they listened to them, but refused to listen to the true prophet of God. That's the Jews. Well, in terms of examining and probing our ways, we should plead with God to reveal the sin within us. Search me, O God. And this is what the Jews and what we should do. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me. And then, as it says in verse 40, let us examine and probe our ways and let us return to the Lord. Now, this returning to the Lord, As it is for unconverted folks who aren't Christians, that means that we come back to the Lord in repentance, confessing our sins before Him. In faith, prepared to follow Him wholly. Lead me in the way everlasting, Psalm 139, David cries out. So for the unconverted, the message is not, as one person once told me years ago, The message that we give to unbelievers is not, let's do better and we're okay. No, that's not the message they need to hear. It's that all of us are full of sin. We are rotten sinners who desperately need to be forgiven. It's looking to Christ for forgiveness by faith alone, then to give our lives to him and return to him as first priority. This is what it means to return to the Lord. Well, as we close here in applications, I have four of them very quickly. The first one is sort of a summary, is that all that happens in our lives is directed by God. The Lord didn't merely allow these things to happen. Now sometimes we use that language and that's fine, but sometimes Christians in our day will use that language to try to keep God from being the ultimate cause of what happens. But that is what he is. He's the ultimate cause of all things. So he didn't merely allow things to happen. but he's the one that did it. As Matthew Henry says, whatever man's lot is, it is God that orders it. Secondly, there may be other reasons, as I've mentioned before, a little bit ago, there may be other reasons besides a specific sin committed that God brings calamity. For unbelievers, it may be a wake-up call to get them to take Christ seriously. For Christians, it may be to get us to pray more earnestly, because when calamity comes our way, we're praying really seriously, right? So sometimes if we get slack in our praying, the Lord will send something and tell us, look, we need to pray more earnestly. It may be to seek His comfort, and that certainly is needed in times of calamity. It may be to seek his strength to be able to bear up under the calamity. It may be to test us to see if we're for real. Yeah, when things are going great, we're all happy in the Lord. But what about when calamity comes? Are we still going to confess him? That's a test that we all have to examine ourselves. Or maybe just to wake us up spiritually, to return to the Lord, to trust Him more, and to serve Him as first priority. You know, there's this question that people ask, you know, in their private, they say, am I really a Christian? Well, here's one test. Are we making Christ the first priority in our lives? And His church, which is His body. And I would suggest that if, If that's something, if the Lord and his church are like third, fourth, fifth, sixth on your list of priorities, I would suggest there's serious question about your Christianity. And I say that very humbly and soberly. In any case, whatever God has in his purposes for us by sending calamity, His calamity is meant for our spiritual good, which is his greatest concern for us. That's his main concern. It's not what color kitchen we're going to have. Now, we can pray for what color kitchen to have. We ought to pray for everything. But that's not his primary concern. His primary concern is with our holiness, is with our commitment to Him. It's our love for Christ and His Word and His people and His things in heaven and all the spiritual things in the heavenly places. Thirdly, though we may pour out our complaints, and this is Matthew Henry, though we may pour out our complaints before God, we must never exhibit any complaints against God. Now there are legitimate complaints we can lay before the Lord. Some young mothers can say, Lord, I'm trying to raise my children in a home that's cheerful, loving, characterized by selfish patience, but it's hard. Please help me, Lord, right? Please help me. That's a good prayer. That's a good complaint we can make before the Lord. But that's a whole different attitude than, I can't believe you gave me these selfish brats. And you can't expect me to be cheerful and patient under these conditions, right? Well, that's accusing the Lord. The Lord is not pleased with that kind of attitude, no. So we can complain, but we have to be careful about the type of attitude we have when we complain. And then finally, as we close, God's promises of final judgment will come to pass. This is kind of like the elephant in the room. God for centuries spoke of this coming judgment on Jerusalem. And he sent many of his prophets and said that it was coming. Destruction is on the brink. We're on the brink of destruction. And then it came to pass. Well, God in his goodness has given us Jerusalem as a example as we think about the second coming of Christ. In the same way, the Lord for centuries has said that the Lord is coming back. The Lord has coming back. The Lord is coming back. He's coming a second time. He's going to come and judge the world. And we need to be prepared. It's not if he's coming, it's when he's coming. That is the question. The Jews paid a steep price for clogging their ears and refusing to hear the prophets warn them about the coming judgment on Jerusalem. So in the same way, we have to be careful about clogging our ears. Anyway, yeah, we have to be careful. We have to be prepared. For those who haven't closed with Christ, we have to repent now and turn to Christ for forgiveness that we might be led in the everlasting way. And for Christians, we must have our hearts and priorities fixed on Christ and his church, busy serving him, living the Christian life at home, and bringing the word and prayer into it, waiting for that glorious day when we shall see him as he is and be with him forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you might take these feeble words and that you might Use them to the betterment of your people and to those who know not Christ, and we pray that you would use your powerful word to accomplish all that you would have, even in this very room, this very afternoon. Please bless us, we ask, and be upon each one of us who have heard the message, and that we might respond in a way that would magnify your grace and glorify your name. In his name we pray, amen.