so so see you an an an an an an an an an an an an you so so an an an an You. You. Good morning and welcome. Welcome to all. It is good to be in God's house. I know we are now at the beginnings of the flu season and for that and some other health reasons, we don't have our, we might say our full body of faith here this morning, but we still have many here. And so welcome to all here in person and joining us by other means as well. It is good to come before the Lord, to hear his word, to worship him, to hear what he has to say to us and to sing praises back. to him. Indeed, let us begin with a moment of silent and reverent prayer before him. Let us pray. Amen. If you would stand now, our call to worship coming from Psalm 100. Psalm 100. Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name for the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever. and His faithfulness to all generations. Indeed, directing your attention to the bulletin, I ask, congregation, where does your help come from? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Let us receive then God's greeting this morning. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us, people of God, open in song from that 100th Psalm, 100B. 100B, let's sing the stanzas together. on earth to dwell. Sing to the Lord in cheerful voice. Serve Him with joy, His praises tell. Come now before Him and greet Him The Lord is God indeed He formed us all without our aid We are the flock He surely feeds The sheep who by His hand were raised With in his voice his praise proclaim, Let faithful songs your tongues employ, O blessed beckon by his name. Amen. It is good to sing praise to our God to hear his word to us. And so we turn to Exodus chapter 20. Let us hear God's will for our lives. And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbors. And surely in summarizing the law, our Lord and Savior said that the first and greatest commandment is this, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And surely the law holds for us both a both is useful for rebuke and for prevention, for keeping us on the right path. And so we think as we're going through the law once again, in our evening catechism sermons, now up to the seventh commandment, we think of how we could turn to our passage tonight, could have been 1 Corinthians 5, where there's a very direct and specific rebuke of sins and that commandment. going on in Corinth. Or we could turn to what is our passage tonight, 1 Thessalonians 4, and there it's more general. In fact, we get the idea that the Christians there are being faithful, but the apostle wants to speak something preventative, wants to speak another reminder, wants to speak about these things again. which they've already heard. And so it is good to hear this week by week to both be corrected and reminded, to both be rebuked and to hear again that we might keep in the Lord's way. Even so, we know also that we cannot completely keep in the way. And so scripture again and again will tell us this. And so people of God, let us come. Let us come before the Lord our God in a prayer of confession this morning. Lord God Almighty, we give thanks for the evidence of your spirit at work when what we might call externally obvious and gross sins are not a part of your people, when your people are kept from a lifestyle of sin. And so the apostles speak. And so we hear today, Lord, keep us from these gross sins. Keep us from living in sin. And yet, Lord God, We know that we will struggle with sin every day. That even as your redeemed people, we yet have a body which is dying and is by nature a body of spiritual death apart from your work in changing the hearts of your people. Lord God, forgive us of our sins. Keep us from sin and forgive us of the sins we commit against you each and every day. Lord, our Lord, upon you and you alone, we rely for all things, including the very salvation of our souls. And so we pray in our Savior's name, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Let us, people of God, turn to 94B. Note that we are not starting with the first stanza. We're gonna return and sing the first half of 94B after Congregational Prayer, but now we'll sing stanzas six through nine, the second page of 94B. You may remain seated as we sing six through nine of 94B. The future lies in mighty old land, And to its mighty old land certainly bend. I'm I know that you care But I should care about me now I'm with you The Lord is thy rock, invincible, strong. He punishes all who perpetrate wrong. Our God will repay the mercies they have sown. But we will have mercy and love for His own. Amen, people of God, even as we are sinners, how strong is the love of our Savior. And so for our assurance of pardon, we turn to Song of Solomon, Chapter 8. So we work through the Old Testament, and we'll read a few verses from Ephesians as well. But here are these two verses from Song of Solomon, Chapter 8, verses 6 and 7. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm for love, is strong as death. Jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised." People of God, it is possible to read song of songs and to think that it speaks only about spiritual things, this would be an error. It's possible to read Song of Songs and think that it speaks only about marriage, that marriage should be one man and one woman, and indeed Song of Songs is very clear on that. But that also would be an error, to go too far in either way. And so even as it does speak really about what marriage between one man and one woman should be, it also in doing so does picture for us the beautiful love of our Savior. And so Ephesians 5 speaks of this. And so we read in Ephesians 5 verses 25 to 27, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." People of God, the strong love of our Savior. Love which did not offer up wealth, but offered up Himself. That's the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's the love which sets souls free from sin. That is Christ, the perfect husband of his church, his bride, which he loves. People of God, as we think about the church, the bride of Christ, also pictured as A fold of sheep with many sheep in the fold, also pictured as a body with many members. I am going to ask now Joseph and Lindsey Vandenberg with Watson to stand. as we now have new members as a part of our body, and we rejoice in that. We rejoice to officially welcome you this day. Your membership received very well from our sister church. where you were faithful members in South Dakota. And now we rejoice to have you here with us. And we pray that you will be a blessing here to us and that we would be a blessing to you. And we give thanks for the fellowship which you've already shown and the love which you've already shown to us. And so may the Lord continue to build us up together in love in these things. Thank you. So as we come before the Lord in our congregational prayer, we'll be keeping Joseph and Lindsay in prayer. Also, we have a Vandenberg who is officially transferred to a sister church far away from us. And that is Megan Vandenberg's membership release request was received, well received by Covenant City Church in Jakarta, Indonesia. So we also have a member who is going to a sister church far away. And so we'll be in prayer for Megan this morning and other matters of prayer in the life of our congregation. People of God, let's come now before our God in that time of prayer. Lord, our Lord, we give thanks for the strong love, the jealous love, the perfect love, the self-sacrificial love which you have for your people. Lord, though we are prone to wander, though we are quick to look away from you and to the comforts of the world, yet you bring us to yourself. Yet you are ever faithful and you are strong to deliver us, to hold on to us, to carry us, to sanctify us. Lord, we rejoice in who you are and what you have done. We rejoice in the clear images by which you describe your love to us and the relationship which we ought to have with one another and before you. We give thanks that you are the head of the body that you are the husband of the bride, that you are the great shepherd of the sheep. You are each and every one of these things. You are over us in every way, Lord God. We always stand in need of your leadership, of your love. We pray that you would build us up As your people, we are not called to be individuals before you. We are called as a community of faith, again, members of the body, as sheep within the fold. And Lord, we give thanks that you have provided for one who is on the other side of the world with a faithful sister church so many miles away. We pray that you would be with Megan Vandenberg and that you would bless her time in Indonesia and her time as a member of the local church in Jakarta, Indonesia. Lord God bless that work which is being done. Bless the work of Covenant City Church and we pray that you would hold Megan now there and that you would bless her in her individual labors, in teaching in the Christian school, and strengthen her as a part of that body of believers so far away, and yet one in which we have real fellowship with, in the truth of your word, in the gospel, in the good news, in our leader who is one and the same, Jesus Christ. And Lord, we think not only of one who is now in a sister church far away, but we think of three who you have now brought to us. And Lord God, we pray that you would be with Joseph and Lindsay and also their baptized son, Watson. Lord, we give thanks that you have brought them here to us. We give thanks for the love for you, which they have already shown, and for the love for your people here, which they have already shown. And we pray that we would indeed be built up in mutual encouragement and love centered upon you, our God and Savior. Lord, we think also of members of our body who are far from us and yet still a part of us. We think of those who labor, whether it's seasonal work or military service, such as the work of Thomas and the service of Andre. We think of one who is on a lengthy vacation, seeing family and friends all throughout Europe. We pray that you would be with Francois, that you would give him measures of Christian fellowship as he is traveling country by country and give him also safety and Lord bring him safely back here to us when the time is right. Lord, we think of those who stand in special need of you. You know, Lord God, the chronic pains which your people endure and we pray that you would uphold them and carry them. We think also of of acute pains. We think of things which are more immediate. We think of one which is both ongoing and needs constant specific treatment. We think of Keith and we give thanks that the immunotherapy was able to begin again. That colon surgery was so successful and yet he still must battle with the lymphoma. So Lord, you have brought him out of one trial and yet he must continue in another. continue to give him strength and D by his side and We give thanks for for their maturity in you and that you have brought them through that that surgery and now that the What we might call the regular treatments can continue, but Lord we know this is a trial as well continue continue to uphold them on that long road and we think of Amy and Vandenberg in surgeries upcoming, including her upcoming knee surgery. We pray that all would go well. We pray that she would have quick recovery and that all would be done safely, that she would be spared from infections and that she would be relieved of pain through these surgeries. Lord, our Lord indeed, we pray your protection upon upon all of your people. We think also of those who are yet in the womb, and we give thanks for many safe weeks in the womb for three different babies in our congregation. For the Karsten baby, for the Palsma baby, for the Freswick baby, we pray that you would continue to hold these little ones and continue to give them strength We give thanks for good reports all around and pray that you would indeed bring them to a safe day of delivery for mothers and children. Lord, our Lord, these things we do bring before your throne, rejoicing to bring all things great and small, all members of our body older and younger. So we think then also of burning in Cal, once again, uphold them, Lord God, uphold each of your people, young, old, and in between, suffering and through seasons of blessing, whatever it is, hold your people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us, people of God, stand now to sing the other half of 94B, The first page, the first five stanzas, let's sing together, singing once again from that 94th Psalm. God who judges the earth. Arise, give a proud just what they deserve. How long will they boast and in arrogance mock? Procrastinate the people you take as your pawn. That we will not see the sins they pursue, The widows they murder, the fatherless stare, And strangers they will meet, and God does not care. Those thousands which you are, are He whom they all can see near and far? His body has flashed in your eye and your ear, unable to see you, unable to hear. Though you teach and disobey, Lord, are happy and glad to learn from your Word. For you can't be weak to all those who dare, although you can be still the weak that are scared. Amen. People of God, let us turn now to the Word of God, our text for this morning, Lamentations chapter 4. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, page 874 in most of the Pew Bibles. Lord willing, we will finish our walk through this book in God's word next week, Lamentations 5, bringing the book to a close. Here we are at Lamentations 4, and we will read the entire chapter. Let us hear, people of God, the word of God. How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed. The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands. Even jackals offer the breast, they nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst. The children beg for food, but no one gives to them. Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps. For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her. Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than coral. The beauty of their form was like sapphire. Now their face is blacker than soot. They are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as wood. Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath. He poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. They wandered blind through the streets. They were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments. Away, unclean, people cried at them. Away, away, do not touch. So they became fugitives and wanderers. People said among the nations, they shall not stay with us no longer. The Lord himself has scattered them. He will regard them no more. No honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help. In our watching, we watched for a nation which could not save. They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near. Our days were numbered, for the end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens. They chased us on the mountains. They lay in wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Oz. But to you also the cup shall pass. You shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished. He will keep you in exile no longer, but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, He will punish. He will uncover your sins. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are some lion prides now in the world which are very well documented, very closely followed, a number of biologists, all kinds of cameras. The whole life of a lion is now known in some cases. One of the lion prides which was followed very closely and then there was a documentary made was a lion pride in the Masai Mara in Kenya. And there was a almost or mostly bloodless documentary of these lions and a couple of cheetahs made by Disney Nature called African Cats. But there are other documentaries made about other lions and lion's prides which are not so tame. The wildness of these wild animals is not as toned down. For example, there have been a number of documentaries made about the Mopogo lion coalition in the savvy sands of Africa. A coalition of six male lions which together was followed by cameras every month of their lives, well-documented, numerous documentaries, videos on YouTube. And what are these lions? What have they been called? Well, they've been called things like notorious, sadistic, and other names. Six brutal male lions. One of them was nicknamed Mr. T because it's like he had a mohawk in his mane and then later he had the nickname Satan with a capital T because of the way he acted. Now, I don't really blame Disney Nature for making a tamer version of things. They made the tamer, family-friendly version. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's not difficult to highlight tamer and beautiful things about the lion, right? They're majestic, just standing there. They're beautiful. At the same time, you can also document the lion cubs tumbling together and wrestling playfully in the tall grass. There's playful, majestic elements that it's not wrong to highlight these things. In fact, we all long for the day when, what? The lion will eat grass. We all long for the picture of peace such as Isaiah 11 or Isaiah 65. But, while majestic, These are wild beasts. They are also a terrible creature. And we do live in a sin-cursed world. So while there is great tenderness among the animals, sometimes there is great carnage, great havoc. And always, whether it's the tenderest moment of the tenderest animal, or the most cruel moment of the most powerful animal, always they are animals. Never do they worship God, do they? That's something animals don't do. Animals don't worship God. So we can say it this way, to sink down to the level of the gentler animals is already a great sin. to go through life simply looking for food and pleasure, to go through life in a instinct-like way, even with what we might call outward tenderness, but without giving honor to God, this is all ready to be like an animal and to commit sin. To sink down, to sink down to the level of the wild beasts is merely another level of visible depravity and wickedness. And in our text this morning, we see both of these things. We see both of these kinds of wickedness. We see both of these animal-like behaviors which are not fitting for those made in the image of God. And that's our theme this morning, that those made in the image of God must not behave like animals. They must not behave like animals in any way. And so our first point is cruelty. like animals. Our second point is indifference like animals. Well first let us look, people of God, there are a number of verses in the first half of the chapter dedicated to picturing the fall of Jerusalem. And even as we've already walked through this in a number of different images, we'll go through this a little more quickly. We'll still look briefly at verses 1, 2, 5, 7, and 8. And what we see there is this complete loss of wealth, this loss of luster, this loss of beauty. And it applies to the buildings themselves. Verse 1 almost certainly referring to the temple itself which was overlaid with gold and now the holy stones lie scattered on every street. But more often in verses 2 and 5 and 7 and 8, it's the people themselves. who have lost their luster. The people themselves were the precious sons of Zion. They were my covenant people, my covenant children. They had a real beauty to them, and they did have many external blessings. They were blessed and beautiful in every sense, and yet all of this is now lost. All of their spiritual beauty is gone. They are now regarded as earthen pots. They are being cast out. They are being judged for their rebellion against the covenant. They're no longer my beautiful covenant people. Verse 2. And they once had all these external blessings. Verse 5. They once had wonderful food. Now they go through the garbage dump. Verse 5. The ash heap. You read ash heap, just think garbage dump. They've gone from feasting on delicacies to eating scraps out of the dumpster to speak in 21st century language. They have lost their external beauty. In verses seven and eight, we see that. They once had a beautifulness and a ruddiness, but now their face is blacker than soot. We can't even recognize them, we might say. such as happened with Job. Job 2 verse 12, when his friends saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him. And also it's the image of losing things which were considered beautiful in the culture at this time. Simply stated, there were no tanning beds. It was considered beautiful to be not in the sun, to have white skin. And so, for example, in Song of Songs, which we read for our part of our assurance of pardon, which we almost never do. What does it say in the beginning of Song of Songs? That I'm dark, I'm in the sun, I'm not considered beautiful. And then the shepherd boy says, no, no, no, you are beautiful to me, basically, the movement. And what's going on there? Well, there were no tanning beds, and it was not considered beautiful to be tan in ancient Israel. And all of that going on here, except to the extreme. They were purer than snow. They were externally beautiful in every way, but now we cannot even recognize them. All of their beauty is gone. Falling from great wealth, falling from their luster, falling from their beauty, and of course the city itself. The gold of the temple is now on the streets, verse one. But it's not only a fall, from external things and a fall from their covenant relationship in verse 2. It's a fall. How deep? How deep is the fall? It's a fall into terrible sins and cruelty. We see that in verses 3 and 4 and 10. And as we spoke of in our introduction, we can think of the cruelty of the animal kingdom to express that. And indeed, that's the illustration used in verse three. Even the jackals offer the breasts. They nurse their young. What's a jackal? It's basically a coyote, except sometimes jackals will operate in small packs. So in that sense, socially, they're between coyotes and wolves, and they care for their young. The jackals will care for their pups. There is a, think of like a family wolf pack, right? Well again, jackals, they're very much like coyotes, but socially they're a little bit more like wolves. They're kind of in between, they have smaller packs. And they care for their young. There's a real tenderness that can be seen in jackals. They care for their pups. But, there's also things in nature which are not as they should be. All right, Dr. Gordon Wilson, the Christian biologist, he uses this illustration all the time. He uses the language of riot and dance. And so that was the name of his textbooks that he wrote, and then it became the title for a two-part documentary later. And what's he getting at with that language? He's like, when we look into nature, when we see God's creation, we see beautiful dance. We see wonderful, beautiful, amazing things in great harmony, yet in in creation. And so a jackal taking care of her pups is that image, right? There's dance there. There's something beautiful there. We also see riot. We also see terrible things. And so in that illustration going on in verse three, the ostrich is highlighted as one which is cruel, does not show love to their young. And Job 39 expands on this for us, highlighting the ostrich. And so we read this in Job chapter 39, verses 13 through 18. Job chapter 39. And there's some almost like backhanded compliments to the ostrich. And so it begins and ends with some words about the ostrich. The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth. She gets them warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and a wild beast may trample them. There's a carelessness in the ostrich in that it will leave its eggs. And even though they are usually hidden, they're abandoned there in the ground, and sometimes a larger animal can crush it. And so it says in Job 39 verse 16, speaking about the ostrich, she deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers, though her labor be in vain. Yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding. When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider. So it begins with, yeah, okay, the ostrich has some plumage. It ends with, wow, the ostrich can actually outpace a horse over a short distance, and those things are true. But all the verses in the middle are talking about what? Look, the ostrich is cruel. It's not an animal that cares for its young. And so that's what's going on in shorter form in Lamentations 4. There are some creatures where there is great care for the young. There are other creatures where there is great cruelty. Now perhaps the ostrich is highlighted because there it's the mother which is being cruel. And actually for ostriches even when Even when there is one of the parents caring for the eggs, it's usually the cock, it's usually the male ostrich. And so the ostrich is highlighted here because specifically the mother does not care for the young. Now, if we were to expand that to the male parent, then we see cruelty in nature all the time, don't we? We can think of the picture of the mother bear, but what's one of the greatest threats to a bear cub? It's the male bears. We can think of lions tussling and playing in the grass, but the reality is that male lions are a great danger to lion cubs. Infanticide is a real problem in the animal world. Craig Packer, one of the leading biologists lion behavior in the world. He summarized the overall situation this way, the number one cause of death for lions in an undisturbed environment is other lions. Now what is the greatest threat to human life in our world right now? What is the greatest threat to human life today? And Decision Magazine put together the statistics. They took the statistics from Life News on abortions in 2019 and the statistics from Worldometers on deaths from violence, illness, and natural causes put together. Estimated abortions in 2019, 42.3 million. Estimated death by violence, illness, natural causes put together 58.6 million. Are we so different from lions? What's the leading cause of death amongst humans? Other humans. We have become cruel like animals. We do not care for those who most need care. And that's, of course, the image in verse 10, isn't it? A revolting image because it's outside the womb. But though usually less visible, abortion is a similar picture of evil. Poverty, famine is no excuse. The word compassion in verse 10 refers to how they used to be. And that's the context of these 11 verses, right? They used to have all this, and now they have become all this. They used to have compassion. now they have become this picture of great cruelty. Verse 10 is not hyperbolic, people of God. In 2 Kings 6, such an event is recorded happening in an earlier siege upon Jerusalem. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, such action is specifically described as part of the curses which will come against the rebellious people of God. As it says in verse four, no one is feeding the hungry children. As it says in verse three, the people of God have become cruel. Like the lions, humans are the greatest threat to humans. And let this be known, people of God, There is judgment for wickedness. It's no accident that verse 11 comes directly after verse 10. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath, his just wrath. Just wrath against rebellious covenant people such that it's worse than what happened to Sodom. verses six and nine. It's not saying the sins are exactly the same. Actually, the thought that we get is that it's a worse sin because they're the covenant people of God. There's also horrific sins described as going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, isn't there? Here, there's other horrific sins and they're actually worse because these ought to have been the covenant people of God. They should have known better. And now what about the judgment? The judgment is worse for God's covenant people because it is dragged out. It is not swift fire from the sky destroying in a moment. It is a lengthy siege and a lengthy, a lengthy discipline and venting of the wrath of God in His anger, righteously kindled in Zion, verse 11. Now, perhaps you remember a couple of weeks ago, Lamentations 3, verse 10 and 11, we spoke about how God was, in those verses, the bear. God was the powerful predator. Now what's going on here, children? What does all of this mean? When we talk about God, and his strength. He is like a lion or a bear in his wrath or in his control. We're talking about God's sovereign control over things. And we're talking again about God's powerful judgment, just judgment against sin. And so in these cases, the power of the great predators of the world is used to describe the strength of God. the strength of God in being in control, and the strength of God in bringing just judgment. But then there are also times when we have the image of the cruelty of wild animals, which is used to describe not something which God is justified in doing, but is used to describe people, and it's used to describe our brutal sinfulness. See, there's a vast difference. It's the same kind of illustration in that it's using the power of predators, but it's being used in very, very different ways. God is powerful in his control and in his justice. We are brutal in our sinfulness. This is humankind, sinful by nature, its own greatest threat to itself. Even the innocent in the sense of young and not yet having the same moral culpability are destroyed. Now, there's one, there's a couple other ways that wild animals are used in scripture. Wild animals are used for all kinds of illustrations. Do you remember one that's a little bit different? In Mark chapter one. Now this is more than a year ago that we were in Mark chapter one as a congregation. But you remember that there are only two verses in Mark about the wilderness temptation. As Matthew, of course, gives us a much longer account. There's only two verses in Mark, and there's really only one detail that we're given. Jesus was among the wild animals in his temptation. What's the image of wild animals being used for there? It's the image that Jesus incarnate, in the flesh, a real man, underwent every kind of temptation, including the temptation of being exposed to great dangers. Now, in Mark, they use that image because, first of all, that's what Jesus did, and second of all, because the wild animals were being used to kill the Christians in Rome at that time. It's a reminder that Jesus underwent every temptation. He as man upon earth, not physically as powerful as the wild animals that surrounded him, was not only tempted by Satan, but was also tempted in the fact that he was weak and surrounded by wild animals. You see, wild animals are used in a whole host of ways to teach us truth, including the truth of what Jesus Christ endured for his people. He was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him as he was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days. Now let's move to our second point. We move from, if you wanted to add a word to each point, we're moving from ruthless cruelty like animals to spiritual indifference like animals. This is an image which has often been used It's something which John Calvin uses in his institutes often, that we must not become like beasts. And how he's often using that is, we should not be those who are not seeking to honor and glorify and worship God. Luther uses this in his commentary on Genesis. He often uses the phrase, animal nature of man. And when he speaks about the animal nature of man, He's speaking about that which is our physical activity, our physically doing things. But we shouldn't ever merely be our animal nature. We must be those who know that we are made in the image of God. We must be those who know that we are made not merely to do things with our hands, not merely to eat food, to seek pleasure, to act by instinct. We are those who have a spiritual nature. We are those who have a soul. We are made in God's image. We are those who must worship him. But of course it's not only Calvin and Luther, it's Isaiah and Jeremiah. And so a picture of being more foolish than animals is a picture which the prophets use to speak of a great spiritual deadness and so we read in Isaiah 1 verse 3 the ox knows its master the donkey its own manager but Israel does not know my people do not understand or Jeremiah 8 verse 7 Jeremiah 8 verse 7 where we read even the stork in the heaven knows her times and the turtle dove swallow and crane keep the time of their coming but my people know not the rules of the Lord we must not be spiritually indifferent people, or those who would allow great spiritual sins. And so in the end of Lamentations 4, the spiritual deadness of the spiritual leaders, the priests, and the prophets is highlighted. The prophets in verses 11, especially 12 through 14 and then into 15, they committed sins of omission and sins of commission. Because when it speaks about how blood was, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous, verse 13, did they actually shed blood? Yes, they did. And so for example, we could turn to Jeremiah 26 and read about how they sought the life of Jeremiah, how Jeremiah was spared But then at the end of the chapter, they got their hands on Uriah, who was another faithful prophet, and they did kill him. So they have committed sins of commission. They have actually actively shed blood. But they've also committed sins of omission. What's the repeated refrain, especially in the book of Jeremiah, that they say, peace, peace, when there is no peace? And so you see the blood of the people of God is upon the hands of the leaders who would not speak the truth about the coming judgment. And so they've not only had the sin of commission by actively spilling the blood of true prophets, they have the sin of omission and that those people in Jerusalem who have been killed, that is on That is blood on the hands of the leaders who said that there was peace when there was no peace, who pretended that the judgment was not coming, who would not speak the truth about God's just judgment against sin. Now, of course, the people loved to be misled. The people didn't want their sins exposed. So Lamentations 2 verse 14 hints at that. Or we might think of Jeremiah 5 verse 31 where it says, my people loved it this way. But even as we can read Jeremiah 5 verse 31, even as we can read about the cruelty of the people as a whole in verses 1 through 11, It is true that the leaders are very often single out for their responsibility and that judgment will be upon the false teachers in a specific way. Why is that? Why is that so often the case in Lamentations, in Jeremiah, in Isaiah? Well, ultimately all the people do bear responsibility, those who would love to have it this way, but leaders are held to a stricter judgment. We can think of it simply this way, James 3 verse 1, not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. It's true. Now, what are some practical outflowing applications of this? If a teacher is saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace, if a teacher is failing to teach faithfully, if a teacher is failing to say all that which is in accordance with the whole counsel of God's word, should that teacher be open to correction? Should that teacher want to be corrected by Bereans who are opening up God's word? Absolutely. Absolutely. Teachers who have this awful responsibility should love to have a congregation which is holding that teacher accountable. I don't want all the weight on myself. I'm an imperfect teacher. I want faithful correction. I hope I can say that. It's very hard to put that into practice, right? It's very hard to appreciate even faithful criticism. But all faithful teachers should welcome faithful correction. And it's my prayer as a teacher that I would be. Now, let's speak for a little bit about what this looks like for you. So teachers should be open to correction, but what does that look like? Here's three things, what it looks like and what it shouldn't look like. First of all, realize there's a difference between correction and criticism. That's pretty simple. But there's a difference between correction and criticism. So that's one. We must keep that distinction in mind. There's also a distinction between correcting something which is unfaithful and something which is just not your favorite. Okay, so you hear that difference? So you're correcting your pastor, make sure you're correcting something which is unfaithful. Make sure you're doing it like a barin, testing it with the word of God, not merely saying, this isn't my favorite. Actually, I think we have a real temptation to do that. It's something I call the gips. I don't think I've, use this from the pulpit here before, but what are the gifts? G.I.P.S. Good Internet Preaching Syndrome. So we have access to so many good sermons, and that's a real blessing. But we have access to so many good sermons, it could be tempting to say, wow, you know, I want my pastor to be like Sproul or MacArthur. But the reality is most preachers, almost every preacher, is not as gifted as a Whitefield, a Spurgeon, a Sproul, a MacArthur. And so when you have access to all this wonderful, good, free stuff on the internet, all kinds of bad stuff too, but all kinds of really good stuff, don't get the gifts. Don't think that your local pastor has to be just as good as wonderfully gifted pastors. So make sure you're focusing on something which is unfaithful, not merely not your favorite like the good internet preachers. Also, there's a distinction between, and this is related to correction versus criticism, but there's a difference between helpful discussion and grumpy gossip, right? And so related to this, when there's correction of something in a sermon, that should ultimately come to the pastor, right? So it shouldn't just be something that stays within a group of fellow members that you're talking to. It should come to the pastor either directly, or through the elders, or perhaps if you're maybe an older child, it comes through your parents, and then maybe from the parent to the pastor, or from the parent to the elders to the pastor. But either way, it should end in the pastor. It shouldn't just be grumbling gossip in this circle over here. If it's going to be correction, it has to ultimately end up with the pastor, right? So these are some, it's a real truth that teachers are going to be judged more strictly. And there are practical truths which should flow out from that. The teachers should be open to faithful correction. And then there's ways that that faithful correction should look like. Now there's verses 12 through 22. They're not merely focused upon leaders. We see in verse 15 the people show some level of discernment, but it's really pretty bad. They only say as much as what foreign nations would say. Do you see that in verse 15? When the blood is upon the prophets, upon the false prophets, then finally the people say, oh, we don't want to be part of this. Basically, stop trying to kill Jeremiah and Uriah. And so then they finally say, get away from us. And then these false teachers start wandering, and they look among the nations, and what? The nations say the same thing. We don't want you either. So when the people of God finally showed discernment, how much discernment was it? It was only as much discernment as the foreign nations could tell. That's how bad the priests and prophets of Israel have been. So they're basically not showing any discernment. There's spiritual indifference here. They don't care about the false teaching of their prophets and teachers. In fact, the context of scripture tells us they loved it that way. There's spiritual indifference. They're like animals. They don't want to worship God. They don't want to hear what God has really commanded and what God really desires and what God really says. Then there's some specifics. They're looking for help from afar, verse 17. We'll get into that, Lord willing, next week when the Egyptians are finally mentioned by name in verse 6 of chapter 5. They were destroyed by a mighty military nation that was also ruthless, verses 18 and 19. We've discussed that already in chapters 1 and 2 especially. Their very king was captured, verse 20. That's something specific. Second Kings chapter 25 verses 3 to 6 records that. Verse 5 of Second Kings 25 says, The Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. And so verse 20 is speaking about a very specific thing, that they captured the king, the Lord's anointed, and they took him. We thought we had hope in him, but no, they took our king. They took everything away from us. And what about our cousins, the Edomites, who were also descendants of Abraham? Did they help us? No, they did not help us at all. They had their own iniquity. And rejoice now, Edom, it's said sarcastically, because judgment is going to come upon you. And we might think of Obadiah, which we read not too long ago, for what's going on there. But it's basically their cousins, right? They're Edomite cousins who are actually helping the Babylonians destroy them. And so verse 21 says, be glad, be glad for now, but the judgment is going to come upon you. And actually such that, then we have verse 22, such that Edom, you will be punished. Your sins will be uncovered. But our punishment is now accomplished. And so in the middle of verse 22, there will be exile no longer. Pastor, we just worked through some really awful sins in verses 1 through 21. You're saying there's a possibility of being delivered from exile? There's a possibility of being delivered from spiritual judgment for these people? Yes there is. Yes there is. To put it in 21st century terms, have you participated in an abortion? That is a terrible and cruel sin. Is there forgiveness for such a one? Is it possible to have healing? When I really understand that, yes, this really was a life, this really was cruel, is it possible to have healing from such a thing? Absolutely. And scripture says so directly. Because we can make a direct parallel between what's going on in this chapter and something like abortion, can't we? Even for these people, God is going to delight to deliver them from their exile, to deliver them from their judgment, if you turn to Him. And so as we come to our conclusion, who is it that we're turning to? Scripture uses wild animals in all these ways, but what's the predominant? What's the major? What's the first picture of animals in Scripture? It's the picture of sacrifice. It's this picture of blood being spilled for sins and yes, it's true that God is the lion in his power and in his just judgment and even in Isaiah, God as a lion is a picture of how he takes hold of us for salvation. But what's the predominant image in scripture? What's the dominating one? What's the first animal we think of when we think of Jesus? Isn't it the spotless lamb? Isn't that the first image that comes to our minds? Isn't Jesus the lamb who will take away the sins of the world? That most vulnerable, weak, little creature who also has a white coat? Isn't that even intentional on God's behalf? Picturing something spotless, the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb who goes willingly and dies for sin. And in His blood takes away your sins. This is our Savior. Let us never be indifferent. Let us never be indifferent to the power of God's just judgment against sin. Let us never be indifferent to the blood of the Lamb shed for sinners like me and like you. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, We do pray indeed that you would deliver your people from exile, from sin, from rebellion. And Lord, that in your perfect sacrifice. That you would make us to be your sanctified church. even until finally you present us without stain, without wrinkle, without any blame, without any blemish as the bride to come to the wedding feast of the lamb and the new heavens and the new earth, where there is no more cruelty, no more cruelty of lion against lion, no more cruelty of those made in the image of God against those made in the image of God, but where every sin, every tear is wiped away. Lord God, this we long for. Bring us, deliver us from all our cruelty and all our sin, from all our indifference towards you, and make us rejoice to worship and praise you alone. So in the name of the spotless lamb Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. People of God, let's stand and sing number 435. Number 435, all the stanzas together. Now that my hands have gone, can you see my guilty soul? The work I do, in flesh and soul, can make my spirit whole. The thought I feel for you, and give me peace, dear God, that all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my offload. Thy Word, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. I'm. I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love divine, And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call this Savior mine. His cross dispels each doubt. I bury in His tomb each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom. ♪ I trust in you and I ♪ ♪ In all things I know and I ♪ ♪ I have my joy on earth ♪ ♪ It seems very clear ♪ ♪ And waiting I am here to stay ♪ It is time now, the deacons coming forward for our morning gifts and offerings this morning for the building fund. Following this, our parting blessing. and then Doxology 571. you you If you would stand, the parting blessing of our God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. world without end You. so so so I wonder if we should maybe cancel our TV show this evening. It's a small party. Well, it would be all right if we do, because it's a little selfish, but I want to reach out to these women and see how they're going to react to each other. th th th