Amen. Lamentations, chapter number four. Again, just a quick overview of the book.
Lamentations is written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as the weeping
prophet partially because of things he says in the book of Jeremiah and
partially for having written this book on Lamentations. This is a poetic
book and the type of poetry that this is, it's an acrostic poem which
means that each verse starts with a different letter of the alphabet. So
you'll notice that in chapter four here we have 22 verses. There are 22 letters in the
Hebrew alphabet. Verse one starts with aleph, verse two starts with bet, etc. So we
continue on in chapter four here, verse number one. How is the gold become dim?
How is the most fine gold changed? The stones of the sanctuary are poured out
in the top of every street. Now remember in the book of Lamentations
one of the things that Jeremiah is lamenting is the destruction of the
temple. Remember at the end of Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies from
Babylon, they end up invading, destroying Jerusalem, taking those of
Judah captive, and part of that is obviously the destruction of the temple.
And what's the temple made out of? You know the temple was completely
overlaid with gold and the Bible, when it says here how is the gold
become dim, that's a reference to the temple. And then he talks about the
stones of the sanctuary being poured out in the top of every street. So it's just
referring to the fact that the temple has been reduced to rubble. It's been
completely wiped out. It says in verse number two, the precious sons of Zion
comparable to fine gold. How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of
the hands of the potter. So in verse number one we're talking about the
temple being destroyed and he brings up the gold of the temple, but then in
verse number two he's comparing something to the gold. He's comparing the
precious sons of Zion, they're comparable to fine gold, and they're
become like you know a potter's broken vessel. So what we get from
this is that basically the physical condition of the temple and their city
and their nation is actually a representation of the spiritual
condition. It's a picture of the spiritual condition. Now if you would
flip over to 2 Timothy chapter number 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 in the
New Testament. 2 Timothy chapter 2 in the New Testament. So he's looking at a
physical building, you know, or the lack of a physical building, the destroyed
rubble from a physical building. He's lamenting the building being destroyed,
but then he switches to talking about the people, okay. Now this is all
gonna come together in a moment. Look if you would at 2 Timothy chapter
number 2. He talked about the gold being destroyed and that it was like
unto now broken potsherds or pieces of pottery. Well look what the
Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter number 2 beginning in verse number 20. It says,
actually let's start in verse 19, nevertheless the foundation of God
standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his and let
everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a
great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood
and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore
purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet
for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work flee also youthful
lusts etc. He goes on. So we see here that Christians, God's people, are vessels
for God's use and some of them are vessels unto honor which are the
vessels of gold and silver and precious materials. But then there are
also the earthen vessels or the wooden vessels. These are the vessels
that are not unto honor but rather unto dishonor. Now how can we make sure to
be a vessel unto honor? He said we need to depart from iniquity, right. If we
purge ourselves from these things we'll be a vessel unto honor. We'll be ready
for the Masters use, we'll be set apart for him. Now stop and think about this.
What is the comparison he's making in Lamentations? Back in Lamentations he's
saying the gold has become dim. You know the the stones of the temple
they're poured out in every street. You know he's not just lamenting the
destruction of a physical building. That is symbolic of the destruction of the
nation spiritually. That's what led to that physical destruction where the gold
becoming dim it's not just a building being destroyed but rather it's God's
people living a life of sin and now instead of being like gold instead of
being like vessels of gold now that their lives are filled with sin and
iniquity they've become like earthen pitchers. They've become like those
vessels unto dishonor. Look at Lamentations chapter 4 verse 2 it says
the precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold how are they esteemed as
earthen pitchers the work of the hands of the potter. So what we have
to understand is that what we see when we see a nation being judged or
God's wrath being poured out or the destruction of physical buildings
that's just a reflection of what's going on spiritually. You know if they
would have been right spiritually if they hadn't been living sinful lives if
they would have been living for God then they wouldn't have been
experiencing this judgment and what we're seeing outwardly is a reflection
of what's on the inside. Now go to verse number 3 and this is going to
continue as we go through this chapter. It says in verse 3 even the sea
monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones. Now
this is a reference to whales because we know of course that whales are
mammals so they are the most gigantic creatures of the sea. In fact they're
the most gigantic creatures on this planet. You know the largest animal on
this planet is a blue whale and a blue whale would literally be like basically
more than the way it would be as long as this building is wide if you
can imagine that. So I mean blue whales are just an incredible size it
would be as wide as this building is that's how long a blue whale can be.
Also you have gigantic sperm whales, humpback whales, etc. So the great whales
that God created are mammals and mammal refers to the fact that they
actually breastfeed okay like you've probably heard the word mammary or
mammogram or mammal right? Mammal means that they breastfeed like mama
right? So basically they draw out the breast and give suck to their young
ones. Okay the Bible is just referring to these giant fearsome scary beasts
because you know if you're out at sea and you were confronted with it you
know they're not they're not watching this thing at SeaWorld. I mean
you know back then if you run into one of these things you're out at sea
this isn't something that you want to run into because it could wipe you out
okay? Just read Moby Dick if you have any question about that. But anyway the
point is that even the sea monsters which are considered scary fearsome
beasts these gigantic whales even they draw out the breast and give suck to
their young ones the daughter of my people has become cruel like the
ostriches in the wilderness. Now keep your finger in Lamentations 4 flip
back to Job chapter 39. Job chapter 39 and I tell you what whenever I go to
any kind of a zoo or a petting zoo or any kind of a place where they
have animals ostriches are one of my favorite animals alright? I don't I
don't know why I just love ostriches. I always spend a lot of time at the
ostrich exhibit and you know just looking at their eyes and just they have
the weirdest eyes and they're just really interesting animals if you
actually get up close and look at an ostrich it's really a fascinating
animal but it's actually known in the Bible for being a stupid animal and
for being an animal that doesn't care about its children. Look down if you
would at Job chapter 39 verse 13 gave us thou the goodly wings verse 13 unto
the peacocks or wings and feathers under the ostrich which leaveth her eggs
in the earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the foot may
crush them or that the wild beasts may break them. She is hardened
against her young ones as though they were not hers. Her labor is in vain
without fear watch this because God had deprived her of wisdom neither hath
he imparted to her understanding. So basically you know when God's sitting
down and creating the animals he decides hey this animal no wisdom
right this animal is going to be a foolish animal it's going to neglect
its young it's gonna bury the eggs in the earth and just allow whatever to
happen to them it's gonna be hardened against its young ones as though they
were not hers. And you know there are animals in the wild to go back to
Lamentations 4 that are hardened against their young ones. They're
animals that will rip up and eat their own children in the right
circumstances. So the wild beasts do all these kind of things that human
beings should never do or would never do under normal circumstances. So the
Bible says even the sea monsters draw out the breast they give suck to
their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the
ostriches in the wilderness hardened against their own children cruel. Now
stop and think about this. The daughter of my people has become
cruel. The Bible says in Matthew 24 that when iniquity abounds love will
grow cold. You know the Bible says because iniquity shall abound the love
of many shall wax cold. So in verses 1 and 2 we see how God's people have
become filled with iniquity. You know we did a little cross referencing with
2nd Timothy 2 because it's symbolic you know we see the gold young men that
were like gold now they're like pottery. You could say well he's just
talking about you know they've been brought down physically but why why
because it's a reflection of their spiritual condition. And then we see
that when people start living a life of sin when people are no longer
servants of God when they're no longer vessels unto honor for the Lord
ready and prepared unto every good work and when they're living a life of
iniquity you know what they start to have a lack of love in their heart
right they their their love waxes cold just like it says in Matthew 24.
Now what could be a greater indication of that than someone even being
hardened against their own children. Even people who don't have a lot of
love even people that aren't that loving they would at least love their
own child. You'd think that a mother would love its own child seems like
one of the most pure forms of love that you can imagine right woman
gives birth to a child that should just be automatic just natural love
and affection for her children. You've heard the saying a face that
only a mother could love and the idea behind that saying is that you
know mothers are pretty much going to love their children no matter
what matter how ugly they are. No I'm just kidding. But anyway so
we see that they're becoming cruel and as a result verse 4 the
tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for
thirst. The young children ask bread and no man breaketh it
unto them. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the
streets. They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dung hills.
Now again let's look at this spiritually right because this is this
is poetry and it's a metaphor for what has happened spiritually
because it's the spiritual decay that led to the physical destruction
that we can see with our eyes. And so we see that they're living
in sin. They're living in iniquity and as a result they've
become cruel. They lack love even for their own children and
the food here what represents food spiritually. The food is the
word of God right over and over again in the Bible. Our
daily bread is the word of God. You know the Bible says man
does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. Job said I've esteemed the words of
thy mouth more than my necessary food. And so we see
here a famine where people are starving but spiritually this
represents a famine for the word of God a famine for God's
word. So imagine this a once Christian nation saved
individuals people who know the Lord. They start to get
away from God live a sinful life. They're no longer vessels
of gold. Now they're vessels of earth. They are backslidden
and so forth. They don't love their children the way that
they used to. And the next thing you know basically their
children are not being fed. And imagine this you know let's
say you get backslidden. Let's say you stop going to
church you stop listening to the word of God or reading
your Bible and serving God. What's going to happen to
your children. Well we know the answer to that question
because all we have to do is read all the stories in
the Bible where you have a generation that gets away from
the Lord and then their children grow up and they're
just complete Baal worshiping heathens. Because think
about how in the book of Judges and in the books of
the kings you go through these cycles where you have a
generation that loves the Lord but then when they
start getting backslidden and they start getting away
from God they'll raise children that aren't even
saved. So a lot of here here's the thing you know
you'll go from people who are saved but just
backslidden the kids that they raise will often
not even get saved. You know think about it. Let's
say you're going to a fundamentalist Baptist church
and the gospel is being clearly preached. There's a
lot of soul winning going on. Church is a big part
of your lives. Everybody's reading their Bible.
Everybody loves the things of God and cares about
what's going on and then you know you start getting
backslidden and next thing you know you want to go
to the liberal fund center and you want to go to
a church that's not going to make you feel guilty
about the sins that you're doing. They don't really
ask you to do anything and you can just kind of
go there Sunday morning only rock out a little bit
for an hour. You know a little soft sell sermon for
20 minutes makes you feel good and then you can go
to the lake and go party and go do you know
live your life and you know forget about it till
next week. Folks this is not a theory. This is
something that is happening all over America today
because how many times do we knock on somebody's
door that goes to a fund center but they know
for sure they're going to have and they're
saved. Oh how'd you get. Oh I got saved in a
Baptist church you know back in the day and
they start quoting your verses from the King
James. But here's the thing. What about their
children when they're taking their children to
that liberal fund center. There's a pretty good
chance that their children are not going to get
the right gospel. They're not going to get the
right preaching. They're not even going to end up
getting saved. Otherwise explain to me how we got
where we are and explain to me how the nation
of Israel could go from one generation serving
God to the next generation not serving God. A
big part of that is the parents becoming
backslidden. The parents quit serving God. They
quit going to church. They quit going to the
right kind of church. They quit listening to the
preaching and they just get into worldly
things. Then they raise children that are
worldly and then those children you know are
even more distant and eventually you get to a
generation where they're not even getting the
gospel. They're not even saved and it doesn't
take very long at all for that to happen. So
you see the children. What are they doing.
Their parents aren't feeding them. So what do
they end up doing. Embracing dung hills. All
right. Imagine embracing a dung hill. You know
those who were brought up in scarlet. He's
talking about you know fancy clothing. Imagine
someone that you know who's always very well put
together. You know someone who wears really
nice clothes. Maybe get someone in your mind who
always really cares about how they look and
they always have the nicest newest clothes and
everything is all polished and nice. You know
and then now imagine that person just embracing
a dung hill. Just a big pile of manure and
they just jump in. And you know that's what we
see the children of those who are backslidden.
The children of those who get away from the
Lord. You know they just jump into the dung hill
of basically you know thinking that sodomites are
OK. I mean that's the most dung thing you can
imagine. But yet you see the children of
liberal backslidden Christians just embracing
their music embracing their entertainment saying
hey it's OK. It's not a big deal. They're
just like everybody else. You see them
embracing that dung. You see them embracing dung
of doctrine. Just stupid doctrines stupid
philosophies of this world. You see them just
embracing all the junk all the excrement that
this world puts out there and they just eat
it up with fork and spoon. You know they
just eat up all the dung. They're not getting
right nourishment. They're getting dung. OK. The
dung that's being served up teaching them
evolution teaching them atheism teaching them
you know diversity means sodomites and weirdos
and everything else and that whole music and
entertainment industry. That's what they end
up embracing total dung. They used to feed
delicately. You know they used to eat from
the manna of God's word. Now they're eating
literal feces is what we see in this and
other stories in the Bible are like this too
where people are just trying to get their
hands on some bird poop to eat. You remember
that Bible story where they're selling dove's
dung as food to eat. OK. And here's what
God's saying. You know if you don't want to
eat the food that I give you when things are
going well for you. God's blessing you and
you've got access to the word of God and
you've got access to preaching and you've got
access to the wisdom that comes from God. If
you turn your nose up at that meal I'll put
you in a position where you can eat
literally dung and that's what this world has
to offer dung. That's what Paul said. Paul
said I count everything dung. You know if
it's not of Christ you know this stuff in
comparison is dung. And so we see those that
were brought up delicately embracing dung hills
they used to eat so well they used to feed
delicately. Go to Amos keep your finger in
Lamentations but go to Amos in the minor
prophets toward the end of the Old Testament
there Hosea Joel Amos look at Amos chapter
number eight and the Bible says in verse number
eleven behold the days come sayeth the Lord God
that I will send a famine in the land not a
famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of
hearing the words of the Lord and they shall
wander from sea to sea and from the north
even to the east they shall run to and fro
to seek the word of the Lord and shall not
find it. And that day shall the fair virgins
and the young men faint for thirst. They that
swear by the sin of Samaria and it just goes
on to talk about their false gods and their bad
religion how they're going to be destroyed.
Jump up to verse ten it says I will turn
your feast into morning and all your songs into
what? Lamentation and I'll bring up sackcloth
upon all loins and baldness upon every head
and I will make it as the morning of an only
sun and end thereof as a bitter day. So we see
a lot of parallels here with what's going on
in the book of Lamentations. We even have
the word Lamentation and then we have the
talk about people starving and thirsty but it's
not physical food that they're hungering and
thirsting for it's actually for the word of
God. Now you may not understand this because
the word of God is so readily available to
you. You know we can go into any bookstore or
any Walmart or whatever and the Bible is going
to be there. The Bible is going to be at the
Dollar Tree for crying out loud. You can go
online and just read it for free online. Not
only that you can hear God's word. You can
listen to the audio. You can go to just all
kinds of churches and hear God's word being
preached in America today. You know you can find
churches where God's word is being faithfully
preached. But let me tell you something a
famine of hearing God's word would be a
terrible famine to go through. You know
imagine being deprived of the Bible deprived
of hearing preaching deprived of reading your
Bible. That would be a horrible thing that you
know you might know what's the big deal. Well
you know what if you don't appreciate it then
maybe God's going to put you there so that you
can understand what that means because God said
that he's going to send them a famine of
hearing God's word. Now look are they going
through a famine of hearing God's word right
now. No because he's saying I'm going to send
it. It's going to happen. The moral of the
story is when everything's prevalent when
everything's available when everything's going
well we need to serve God during that time and
not make God bring these judgments before we
appreciate what we have when it's taken away
from us. Right. So look when we have food and
drink we ought to thank God for every meal.
And when we have God's word being preached we
ought to thank God for every spiritual meal.
You know we ought to thank God that we have
a Bible. Thank God that we have a church to go
to because it's such a privilege to be able to
go to church. It's such a privilege. You know
you have to win a lottery to be here. No I'm
just kidding. But you know it is a privilege to
be in church. It's a privilege to have the
entire Bible 66 books at our fingertips. It's a
privilege to listen to preaching and it's a
privilege to have the opportunity to be an
ambassador for Christ and to go soul winning.
You know these are all blessed things that we
should rejoice in and be excited about. But you
know what we start taking it for granted. We
take God for granted. We take the Bible for
granted. We start to just go the way of this
world get back sledding start to do whatever
the world says life is about. Next thing you
know we're no longer as shiny gold as we used to
be as a vessel of the Lord. The gold starts
to become dim. And then next thing you know
we're more like a just a piece of pottery.
Right. No there's no more shine. There's no
more glory no more brightness. We're not we're
not being the light of the world anymore and
reflecting God's light to a lost and dying
world. And then next thing you know we're not
the loving person that we used to be. We've
lost the first love. And then next thing you
know you know we don't even love our children.
We don't even care about our children to the
point where basically you know yeah we take
them to the fun center because what we want.
But let me ask you this is the fun center
what your children need to help them to
actually get saved and to actually not
fornicate not get drunk right actually because
look I'll tell you this. The reason that I
didn't fornicate and that I didn't get drunk
as a young person is one reason because I feared
the Lord. And you know where I got that fear of
the Lord. I didn't get it at the liberal
church. I'll tell you where I got it. I got it
from the Hellfire and Damnation churches
that I grew up in as a kid. See from the time
I was born to the time that I was around.
How old 13 years old somewhere around there.
You know I went to independent fundamental
leather lung type churches with the hard
preaching. And so that stuff was drilled into
me. But when I was a teenager I was in
churches where they wouldn't even get up and
even say that fornication is even wrong.
They would even doubt that even in the youth
group they would doubt that they were acting
like well maybe it's OK to have premarital
relations as long as you love each other. And
that's the kind of garbage. These are
Baptist churches but it's the NIV church where
nobody gets baptized and all and so forth.
It's just you wouldn't believe the ideas that
these young people. Folks what if I would have
grown up in that church from birth until that
time or from a younger age until that time.
You know what would have stopped me from just
going out and just doing all these sinful
things because look the sins of this world
they look appealing. They're alluring to the
lust of the flesh and it's easy to get
sucked into those things. It's the preaching
that keeps us right. And look in our day
there's a lot of bad influence out there.
There's a lot of pressure to go the wrong
way. Folks I want my teenagers hearing some
hard preaching against sin. And sometimes I just
marvel when I look at a family that has
teenagers and they get offended by just some
dumb little thing or something you know they
just get offended and then they take their
teenagers to some watered down Calvinistic
whatever first church of the deep freeze. And
I'm just thinking to myself look so what if
you got a little offended. You know I don't
even care if I'm offended or not. I would just
want my kids to get their faces ripped week
after week because it's the only thing it's the
only way they have a chance. You know let
them learn the fear of the Lord so that they
can be blessed their whole life because
they're in this difficult stage. You know we
got to get them through this difficult stage so
they can be blessed for the rest of their
life. You know and it's easy for the parents
think well I'll be OK spiritually you know I
don't need to go I can go to the liberal
church and I'll be fine because you're
already grounded in the faith. But why don't you
care about your children. Why don't you love
them enough to take them to the church that's
going to be the best church for them. You
know and I thank God that you know around the
time I turned 17 we got back into a
fundamental Baptist church and got back under
the hard preaching and stuff. But folks that
being in the liberal church for five years
definitely took its toll on our lives. And you
know getting back into the fundamental
Baptist church really brought us revival
spiritually and helped us out. But it's always
going to take its toll especially on young
people. And so we need to understand that you
know for our children's sake we need to stay
polished up and bright for the Lord and we
need to remain the gold for their sake. We
need to love them. Why? Because I don't want
my kids to grow up and embrace Dunghill's. I
don't want to be ashamed of my children
when they grow up because of the dung that
they're embracing. You know I don't want my
children to grow up and they're into Bernie
Sanders or something you know what I mean. It's
just like where did I go wrong. What have I
done. What did I rate. You know right. I mean
stranger things have happened to folks. You
know I've known godly men and women whose
children have grown up to just become just
these total liberals just total commies just
total non-believers and weirdos. And so God
forbid that that would happen right. So we
don't want our children embrace Dunghill's. You
know we need to make sure that we feed them and
we need to feed them with God's word. We need
to take them to the feeding trough here at
Faith Forward Baptist Church. Get them fed
right. Get them under the preaching of God's
word. Read the Bible with them. Read the Bible
to them. Get them reading their Bibles and so
that they can also have the foundation that
we were privileged to have. So he says they
that did feed delicately verse 5 are desolate
in the streets. They that were brought up in
scarlet embrace Dunghill's for the punishment
of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is
greater than the punishment of the sin of
Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and
no hand stayed on her. He's saying like in a
way this is worse than Sodom's punishment
because at least God just rained fire and
brimstone down on Sodom and it was over
pretty fast. Whereas these people are just
slowly dying a painful death of starvation.
Verse 7 her Nazarites were purer than
snow. They were whiter than milk. They were
more ruddy in body than rubies. Their
polishing was of sapphire. Now Nazarites
what are they? Well if you remember the
Nazarite vow is a vow of someone who's
dedicating themselves to God in a special
way. It was for a short period of time. No
razor would come upon their head. They would
not eat any grapes or drink of any fruit
juice or any wine or strong drink or
anything like that. And they couldn't touch
any dead bodies and they were separated
under the Lord and they were following a
stricter code of cleanness than what was
prescribed for the general population. Now
obviously for someone to go through that
they must care about the things of God or at
least they seem like they care about the
things of God right because this is
something that's optional. So it's not like
everybody's doing it. So if someone is going
to be a Nazarite if someone's going to take
the Nazarite vow this is somebody who's
taking their religion pretty seriously in order
to do this extracurricular optional step
of being a Nazarite. And he's talking about
the Nazarites physically because again
remember this is a poem where the physical
things that we see represent what's going on
spiritually it's metaphor. So basically the
Nazarites were purer than snow. He's
basically just talking about them being
good looking right. Just they're they're
purer than snow whiter than milk more
ruddy. What does ruddy mean ruddy comes
from the same root as our word red.
Right so ruddy in by then rubies what
color rubies right red and their
polishing was of sapphire so basically
you're just picturing basically fair
you know blushed cheeks and just
attractive good-looking people here
and now what do they look like their
visage meaning their face is blacker
than a coal. Now look these people it's
not that they switched race here okay
these people their skin is becoming
darker part of it is because of
starvation and malnutrition that they're
going through. Also they're just
outside they're exposed the elements
there could be dirty and there could
be all kinds of reasons why they're
not so shiny and polished and
good-looking as their ones now they're
starting to look pretty rough they're
looking pretty gnarly. Their visage is
blacker than a coal they're not known
in the streets he's saying like you
couldn't even recognize these people
like if you knew them you would just
think you're looking at a stranger
because they're so unrecognizable.
Their skin cleaveth to their bones
it is withered it has become like a
stick so they're so starved that
basically they're just skin and bones
emaciated. They that be slain with
the sword are better than these that
be slain with hunger for these pine
away stricken through for want of the
fruits of the field the hands of the
pitiful women have sodden that means
boiled their own children they were
their meat in the destruction of the
daughter of my people the Lord have
accomplished his fury he had poured
out his fierce anger and had kindled
a fire in Zion and it devoured the
foundations thereof the kings of the
earth and all the inhabitants of the
world would not have believed that the
adversary and the enemy should have
entered into the gates of Jerusalem
for the sins of her prophets and the
iniquities of her priests that have
shed the blood of the just in the
midst of her they have wandered as
blind men in the streets they
polluted themselves with blood so that
the men could not touch their
garments they cried to them depart
ye it's unclean depart depart touch
not when they fled away and wandered
they said among the heathen they
shall sojourn no more there now
what's he saying here when he says you
know the the women have sodden their
own children and they that that's what
was their meat that was their food
obviously that's a disgusting thought
obviously this is pretty much as low
as you go but go if you were to
Psalm 106 Psalm 106 we're continuing
with the the symbolism here or the
illustration that we're getting from
Lamentations chapter 4 about the
spiritual condition okay look at Psalm
106 the Bible says in verse 34 they
did not destroy the nations concerning
whom the Lord commanded them but were
mingled among the heathen and learn
their work so so remember picture this
as Christians getting backslidden right
you know here you are you're saved
you're in church but you decide to
mingle among the heathen and learn
their works right you're gonna start
becoming worldly you're not gonna live
the Christian life you're gonna live
the way of this world and they serve
their idols verse 36 which were a snare
unto them and then what's the next
step when you start mingling among the
heathen learning their work serving
their idols they sacrificed their sons
and their daughters unto devils and
shed innocent blood even the blood
of their sons and of their daughters
whom they sacrificed unto the idols
of Canaan and the land was polluted
with blood thus were they defiled
with their own works and went to
whoring with their own inventions
therefore was the wrath of the Lord
kindled against his people in so much
that he abhorred his own inheritance
and he gave them into the hand of the
heathen and they that hated them
ruled over them this is exactly what's
happening at the time of lamentations
am I right you know this is what's
happening they've been given over to
the heathen but they sacrificed their
sons and daughters again the same
pattern right people get away from God
they get worldly they mingle among the
heathen pretty soon you know who gets
sacrificed the kids and again what is
this this is when instead of caring
about our children's spiritual
well-being and making sure that
they're learning about God make sure
we're feeding them spiritually that
they're getting the word that they're
going to church that they're hearing
the preaching instead we just say you
know what I'd rather just live a fun
life and you know we just get busy
just having fun and not caring about the
things of God and then our children
grow up not caring about things of God
except what the children what the
parents do in moderation the children
will do in excess you know we
basically slack on the things of God
they're going to slack even more
they're going to care even less in
many cases and it becomes a downward
spiral and so that's what we see in
lamentations for where they get to
the point where they don't love their
kids they're willing to sacrifice
their kids they're not putting their
kids first they're putting themselves
first and saying well I need to eat
so I'm going to kill my child and eat
it that's I mean you know I hate to
be so blunt but that's what the
Bible is teaching here that's what
happened in this story and it yes
it's grotesque yes it's horrific and
this should show us the dangers of
going down this dark path and why we
need to make sure never to be in
this boat go back to Lamentations
chapter 4 it says in verse 16 the
anger of the Lord had divided them he
will no more regard them they respected
not the persons of the priests they
favored not the elders he's saying
look no one's exempt from God's
punishment no one's exempt from God's
wrath just because you're a pastor or
a deacon or you know you're you're
some kind of a person who has done
great things for God in the past that
doesn't mean that you're exempt from
going down a dark path and getting
backslidden and getting away from the
Lord so the Bible says in verse 17 as
for us our eyes as yet failed for our
vain help in our watching we've
watched for a nation that could not
save us see the world can't provide
what God can provide the world
provides emptiness they hunt our steps
that we cannot go in our streets our
end is near our days are fulfilled
for our end is come our persecutors
are swifter than the eagles of the
heaven they pursued us upon the
mountains they laid wait for us in the
wilderness the breath of our nostrils
the anointed of the Lord was taken
in their pits of whom we said under
his shadow we shall live among the
heathen and look here's the thing
this this is what we desire to do in
2020 America we desire to live under
God's shadow among the heathen right
I mean look we live among the heathen
the Bible tells us that it's not God's
will for us to be taken out of the
world but that we should just be kept
from the evil and so we're to be in
the world but not of the world and
so basically we want to be under God's
shadow under the Lord's shadow as we
live among the heathen but these
people that privilege is being taken
away from them God shadow is removed
they're no longer under his protection
they're exposed and the enemy is going
to just chew them up and spit them
out then verse 21 and 22 it kind of
changes gears and we kind of see that
the the heathen are going to get
what's coming to them you know
obviously verse 21 rejoice and be glad
O daughter of Edom that dwellest in
the land of us the cup also shall
pass through unto thee thou shalt be
drunken and shall make thyself naked
the punishment of thine iniquity is
accomplished O daughter of Zion he will
no more carry thee away into captivity
he will visit thine iniquity O
daughter of Edom he will discover thy
sins so he's basically saying hey
laugh it up Edom you know Edom's
happy to see Judah getting wiped out
but he's saying hey your turns coming
you're gonna go through this as well
there's hope for us if we get right
with God but you guys are gonna get
smoked and so that's what's coming for
you guys so as we look at this
chapter we see that there's a physical
condition of the land where the temples
destroyed people are starving and people
have become just cruel and and so
self-serving that they're literally to
the point where they'll eat their own
children just the the one person
you'd expect them to love they don't
even love that one person they don't
love anybody they are just a complete
miserable wreck and this is a physical
thing but it's a picture of something
spiritually because remember it's the
spiritual condition that gets reflected
in the outward condition you know if
you think about it this way you know
if I see somebody walking down the
street and they're just covered in
in meth sores all over them they're
they're filthy they're dirty and
they're just covered in sores from
meth isn't that a picture of something
that went wrong spiritually in that
person long ago when that person
didn't have any sores back when that
person was good-looking back when
their clothes were clean back when on
the outside they looked totally normal
something started to rot spiritually
inside whether that person saved or
unsaved because don't make any
mistake about it saved people can go
down that route you think that
there's never been a saved person who
became a drug addict it's out there
believe me it's out there I've known
those who were saved who got into
drugs and became drug addicts and so
forth and that's where drugs are
gonna take you every single time
drugs are gonna take you down a dark
path like that if you follow the
end of that path that's where you end
up and you know unrecognizable in the
streets you know my dad talked about a
friend of his that he hadn't seen
in like a decade or something he
couldn't even recognize he was
supposed to pick the guy up he
couldn't even recognize him because the
guy had become a total alcoholic gotten
into drugs and he was literally
physically unrecognizable my dad brought
him over to his house they hung out
the guy went into my dad's bathroom
peed all over the floor I mean the
guy was just like a homeless bum this
guy used to be one of his cool
friends and this and look I remember
this guy he was wealthy he drove a lot
of cool classic cars he would restore
and sell classic cars so he had all
these beautiful you know 1960s era
cars he'd be cruising around and he was
making money he was successful he had a
lot going for him but you know what
he didn't have going for him he had
no walk with God he was totally
unspiritual at that time so when
you looked at him and he had the
fancy cars and he's doing great he's
married he's making money he's got a
fun hobby he's going to car shows
he's having a good time you know
you would have looked at it and
thought hey why not live this guy's
life you know why do I need to be
in church what do I need to be doing
serving God I mean this guy is living a
cool life but you know what there was
something wrong inside him spiritually
though he had no walk with God he
didn't love Lord I I don't even think
he was saved I don't remember that
part of the story but I'm pretty sure
he's just an unsaved guy okay but
even if he was saved he wasn't that
into it but I don't even think he was
even saved but either way something was
wrong spiritually on the inside and it
might take some time but over time
you know what that just started
destroying his life from the inside as
alcohol took over drugs took over to
the point where he becomes a dirty
homeless bum that you bring over to
your house and he pees on the
bathroom floor in your house is that
what you want to be when you grow
up kids you know you want to be
somebody who goes over to your
friend's house and just urinates on
the floor because you're just like an
animal now this buds for you that's
what being an alcoholic can do to you
and so we see here that the gold
represents not just the physical
building that was made out of gold but
what is the building the building the
temple is the house of God and what's
the house of God in the New Testament
is it a building or is it people
it's people so if you think about it
when it talks about how the stones of
the sanctuary are poured out on the
top of every street you know what
those stones of the sanctuary that's us
we're the stones of the sanctuary
because we're the building blocks the
Bible says you are God's building you
are God's workmanship we are the
building blocks of the church we are
those stones we're the gold of the
temple we're the golden vessels of the
temple or we can degenerate into being
a pile of rubble on the corner of
every street or we can degenerate to
becoming a piece of pottery that just
breaks and shatters and goes in the
trash has no value like the gold and
silver has value so we see that God's
people the members of the church right
because we're talking about the the
temple being destroyed it's it's the
church being destroyed the house of
God being destroyed God's people who
start out as gold so you can have a
person who is level gold in their
Christianity right there a golden
vessel are they immune from ever going
down this path absolutely not let him
that thinketh he standeth take he
lest he fall those who are gold the
gold becomes dim those who are one of
the building blocks of the church one
of the foundation members of the church
a founding member you know I've been
in the church for years one of the
key players down at faith forward
Baptist Church you know you can
become rubble you can become pottery
you can become waste and you know
what you can get to the point where
you're you you you don't have the
love that you used to have look if
the church at Ephesus lost its first
love you know what we could lose our
love too and then you get to the point
where when you don't have love you
know what then you don't love your
spouse the way that you should you
don't love your kids the way that
you should and the next thing you
know you start making decisions not
based on what's right for your family
not not based on you know well
what's gonna result in my kids being
saved what's gonna result in them
getting the right preaching and and
what's gonna result in them doing
right you start making decisions just
based on what you want to do what you
want to enjoy for your own selfish
pleasure you're not feeding them
you're feeding yourself the wrong
things your children do what they
embrace dung hills they embrace the
dung of this world next thing you
know they've got a Bernie Sanders
stickers on the on the on the back
of the car they've got a love your
mother sticker but it's not about
their mother it's a picture of the
planet love your mother it's the
earth and then they have a coexist
sticker and it's got a symbol of Islam
and Hinduism and Buddhism and all
these different they write hey
coexist next thing you know they've
got the Darwin fish on the back of
the car the fish with legs Darwin
blaspheming Jesus Christ making a
mockery of Christ worshipping the
creature more than the Creator
believing in this fairy tale of
evolution they're just embracing dung
hills next thing you know their
favorite show is Ellen DeGeneres you
know their favorite music is is what's
the most queer loving music now these
days help me out carnal ones not
scared come on young people what you
too that's like 40 years ago you too
came out 40 years ago but hey Bono
Bono's a reprobate but that's a whole
another sermon I did a whole sermon on
him back in 2011 called the gospel
according to Bono and that guy you
can literally you can literally trace
that guy becoming a reprobate but
you're getting me off topic here
alright that's a sermon though I need
to do I didn't we need another Bono
sermon alright but anyway you know
they're just embracing the done I
don't know you know I don't know
the current music but every once in
a while you get a little glimpses of it
and that's pretty much how you react to
it you know because it's one thing to
hear the music it's nothing to see the
musicians I don't remember what it was
like a couple you yeah that's it yeah
we were in meds yeah you just read my
mind sign I perceive that the art of
profit yeah we went to we were a Magic
Mountain which is the Six Flags
rollercoaster park this is like a
year or two ago or I don't know
when it was well how long was that year
ago two years who knows a couple years
ago we were we were out at Magic
Mountain in LA you know the roller
coaster park and we were in line for
a roller coaster and they had like TV
screens playing while we're in line
and I was like what was that band
what's it called lovely the band and
it's all dudes all right that's what
he said it wasn't it was not lovely
okay it was wasn't it just some super
queer looking yeah I was just like it
was just the most weirdo queer
looking thing I was like what in the
world but look can you imagine your
kids just like this is my favorite
music now dad and you're just like get
out so you know embracing Dunghill's you
know a famine of God's Word folks are
our country is in a bad place right
now spiritually and look just just take
it to the bank whatever you see
happening in this world is an outward
reflection of what's going on
spiritually if you see a country that
is just self-destructing imploding just
all kinds of plagues or punishments
or just I mean there's something wrong
spiritually I mean I don't think anyone
would disagree that there's a lot of
things wrong with our country right now
you say well you know financially we're
25 trillion dollars in debt I think I
think our leaders are trying to like
have some kind of a contest for like
how fast they can double that or
something because I mean how many
trillions are they gonna add by the
time this coronavirus thing is over
you know they're already 25 trillion
dollars in debt and then they're like
hey let's just send everybody you
know two thousand dollars a month
whether they need it or not I mean
it's just like where's this money
coming from you know the Federal
Reserve is just printing money out of
thin air quantitative easing and just
all kinds of financial shenanigans are
going on right now all kinds of
bizarre legislation is being passed
right now I mean the the finances in
our country are in a really weird place
politically strange things are
happening obviously you've got the
sickness ravaging through New York and
look let's face it you know if you
look at where the corona virus has
hit the most I mean not nowhere is
getting hit like New York I mean New
York City and look just look how many
cases there are in in New York City
and look at my deaths are on New York
City and then compared to the
population of New York City and it's a
high percentage of the people out there
that are that are suffering you know
it's it's it's pretty intense what's
happening over there but I don't
think that's a coincidence because
that's probably one of the most wicked
cities in America I mean New York is a
super wicked place there's a lot of
sin going on over there you know the
just the statistics on I've preached in
the past statistics about the STDs in
New York it's like one out of three
people or one out of four people are
infected or something it's just like
crazy amounts of just STDs and then my
wife was looking at some of the the
the counties and the states that have
been hit the hardest by coronavirus
it's the same ones that have the worst
laws on abortion the ones that are just
the most pro-abortion are the ones
that are getting hit the most you
know well it's just a coincidence yeah
you know you're right it's probably
just a coincidence just just nothing to
see here folks and just keep on going
all the way to hell because I'm telling
you it's not a coincidence when you
see bad things happening it's either one
of two things when bad things happen
either you're being tried and tested
by the Lord and he's gonna bring you
out better like job he's gonna make you
better he's gonna bring you through
stronger it's gonna bless your
ladder end twice as much as he blessed
you in the beginning or he's
punishing you and what determines that
is whether you're righteous or not and
so we know that our country's doing a
lot of wickedness right now and then
we see all these bad things
happening the solution though I mean
what's the what's the solution for the
children of Judah is it to just you
know spoon malt oatmeal into all of
their emaciated mouths is that gonna
fix everything and it's just like you
know like like we just need to
sponsor these these uh these people in
Judah you know for the price of a
cup of coffee you could save this
child's life is that what the answer
no the answer is spiritually because you
know what if these people would seek the
Lord God's going to provide their needs
because I've never seen the righteous
forsaken and I've never seen his
seed begging bread you know my God shall
supply all your need according to his
riches and glory by Christ Jesus God
clothes the grass of the field God
feeds the animals and you know what
God will feed you unless you rebel
against God because the Bible says if
we seek first the kingdom of God all
these things will be added unto us
food clothing will have what we need
not say we're gonna be rich but
we'll have what we need to survive
these people don't have what they need
to survive the people in this story are
dying why because they're not seeking
first the kingdom of God okay and so
we need to understand that the outward
tragedies that we see are a reflection
of what's going in on inside
spiritually and there's a delayed
reaction so if you start going down
the dark path spiritually right now
and you know maybe you're just a
teenager maybe you're in your 20s or
whatever you know and you're young and
you start going down that dark path and
you're like you know Pastor Anderson
he said that this was gonna be a
miserable life and I'm having that I'm
having the best time ever you know
you're at the you're at the party
college and the frat house and the
sorority and you're doing the beer
pong and you're partying and whoo look
Pastor Anderson what Pastor Anderson
said this wasn't gonna be cool hey
you know what Pastor Anderson never said
that there wasn't gonna be any fun in
that because the Bible says that sin
has pleasure for a season so just
remember if you decide to go down that
route just remember you are here on
the map of your life spiritually the
pleasures of sin for a season just
remember like you're right here on
that map when you're saying oh you
know Pastor Anderson said it was gonna
be bad but it's not that bad we
you know folks it's just because you
haven't gotten to that point yet
because look you when the Bible says
you reap what you sow have you ever
just planted a seed and then the next
day it was just a full-grown plant
you're just picking vegetables picking
fruit if gardening worked that way
it'd be cool and I'd do it I don't
know you know that's why I don't have
the patience for gardening because it's
not like you don't just put it in
just like you know you know you
plant it and for weeks it might seem
like nothing's happening and then
something little happens and you're like
oh wow you know that's just that's
nothing you know but then you know
what over time though you're not
paying attention not paying attention
next thing you know that little
mustard seed becomes a great herb you
know it becomes a giant plant and the
fowl of the air lodge and the
branches thereof and that's how it is
you know you sow sin and you're just
thinking getting away with it getting
away with it I'm getting away with
it getting away with it no consequences
no consequences and then you're just
like you just get busy in life and the
next thing you know all of a sudden
it's like whoa everything catches up to
you and people all the people can
tell you the stories you don't just go
from collecting classic cars one day
going to car shows and be in the
life of the party to to you know
defiling your friends guest bathroom
overnight you know there are a lot of
there's a lot of stopping along the way
and it's a gradual process so don't let
the gold even become here's here's what
I want to do I don't want the gold
to become dim so I want to keep my
spiritual life polished up and stay
sharp stay bright stay shining keep let
my light so shine I don't even want
to get the gold dim so it's a big
deal still gold don't even let it get
them because then you know you just
keep going down down down and and this
is an extreme chapter but I'm telling
you people have got people have
actually gotten to this exact point
this is not fiction and so even if
you don't go all the way to this
point I don't even want to go halfway
to this story people eating their
children and all I mean it's horrific
right I wouldn't even want to get one
tenth of the way down this road let's
buy rides and have a word of prayer
father we thank you so much for your
word and the warnings that you give us
Lord and Lord thank you for all the
blessings that we have and and the
the nice clothes and the good food
and the good friends and the church
and the the preaching and the Bibles
that we have Lord we have so many
blessings help us not to take them
for granted and and get to the point
where they have to be taken away
from us before we appreciate them Lord
help us to stay sharp stay bright and
and stay tuned up for you Lord and not
to get slack and Lord help us to love
our children and and and and care
about their spiritual welfare and in
Jesus name we pray amen