We're turning today to the book of Lamentations. You'll find it just after the prophecy of Jeremiah. So if you can find the large book of Jeremiah there, you'll find Lamentations just there afterwards. Lamentations chapter one. Let's read from the opening verse. Lamentations chapter one, and it is the verse number one. The Word of God says, hide off the city, said Solitary, that was full of people. How has she become as a widow? She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how has she become tributary? She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks among all her lovers. She hath none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feast. all her gates are desolate her priests sigh her virgins are afflicted she is in bitterness her adversaries are the chief are the chief her enemies prosper for the lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions her children are gone into captivity before the enemy and from the daughter of zion all her beauty is departed her princes are become like hearts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy and none did help her, the adversaries saw her and did mock at her sabbaths. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. All that honoured her despised her, because they have seen her nakedness. Yea, she sighed and turneth backward. Her filthiness is in her skirt. She remembereth not her last end. Therefore she came down wonderfully. She hath no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction. For the enemy hath magnified himself, the adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. For she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people sigh, they seek bread, they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul. Say, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. We'll end our reading at the verse 12, and let's just briefly pray. Loving Father, bless now these our weary souls as we come around the Word, Fill the preacher with the Holy Ghost, we pray. May, dear God, our hearts be taken off to Calvary, the place of suffering and sacrifice. And grant, dear God, even the message to be preparatory for that act that we will contribute and involve ourselves in around the table of remembrance. O God, the message be that which will melt These souls of ours, as we remember dark Calvary, answer prayer and be with, O God, this preacher now, I ask these petitions in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. The name of the book from which we have read from today gives you a sense of what we are about to encounter as we make our way through the inspired account from the pen of Jeremiah the prophet as a book The book of Lamentations contains the prophet's mournful account of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The five laments that contain and make up the book they expressed anguish over Zion's destruction and Israel's exile. The book is a mournful account of the sorry plight of now those that are left in that now dangerous and desolate city. According to the historical account of Jerusalem's demise, the city has been now under siege for two years. Within her walls are tens of thousands of individuals hoping and praying that Jehovah, someway, somehow, would divinely intervene. However, the amassed armies outside of the Babylonian Empire would soon breach her walls. They would then abuse her woman and they would slaughter many of her inhabitants. Jerusalem the great had fallen as the Babylonians breached Jerusalem's walls. We now come to see the lament that Jeremiah will take up concerning this great city. The city of God with her temple now lies waste, and her people have been taken into captivity. Listen to Jeremiah's mournful ode in the opening chapter's verse, chapter 1, verse number 1. It says, How doth the city set solitary that was full of people? How is she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations, the princess among the province? How is she become tributary? Those who remain now within her city walls are left in dire streets. Verse number four tells us about the priests and how they sigh. The virgins were told are afflicted and she is in bitterness. From verse number nine we find Jerusalem taking up her own lament. O Lord, behold my affliction, for mine enemy hath magnified himself. She prays that God will look upon her in mercy. Her affliction has come about because she has refused to turn from her sin, refused to acknowledge her sin and to turn from her sin. Verse number 5, it tells us, The Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. What a pitiful and what a depressing sight. we find in this opening chapter. It is part of Jerusalem's lament that I want us to consider today, and that part we find in the verse number 12 of the opening chapter, where Jerusalem asks the question, is it nothing to you, O ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Passerbys are asked to consider what is now befallen the holy city. You are to ponder the sorrow of her citizens and the divine judgment that has befallen her. However, I want us to consider these words In light of what we will remember when we gather around the table of remembrance in a few moments' time, these words, whilst they contextually speak of all that had befallen the city of Jerusalem, could easily be applied to what befell the Son of God when He came to suffer for sin upon the cross of Calvary. And so today I want us to pause, to stop, and to behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto Christ's sorrow." Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto Christ's sorrow. The focus of this message then is upon the Christ of God and upon the sorrows that He endured for us as the God-man. I want us to think in the first place about the nature of Christ's sorrows, the nature of Christ's sorrows. Now before we consider the nature of Christ's sorrows, let me firstly say that this word sorrow here in the verse number 12 has a thought behind it of deep anguish, physical and mental pain. It means affliction. It means great grief. This is the word that is used by the Holy Spirit here in the verse number 12. And as a word, it then aptly expresses the emotions that Christ felt when he came into this world to fulfill all the terms of the covenant of redemption. Sorrow would hound and hunt, and hunt his every move. It would climax when he came to die for sin upon Calvary's tree. I want us to consider then about the nature of Christ's sorrows. I think about the sorrows that he felt during his life and then we think about the sorrows that he would feel in his death. In the first sentence, think about the sorrows that he bore in his life. The sorrows that Christ bore in his life to take into union with his deity, our humanity, meant that the Son of God was going to enter a life that was going to be marked by sorrow. I say that because sorrow is the lot of every human being in this world. None escape sorrow, but all will experience at some time sorrow because of disappointment or death, abandonment, times of illness. If you hold your hand there in Lamentations 1 and turn to Genesis chapter 3, I want you to show you that sorrow is part of the curse. Now remember Christ became a curse for us. He would endure the curse. And in Genesis chapter three, such a familiar chapter, we find that the Lord speaks to the serpent in verse number 14. And then we have that great proto-evangel, the first gospel, in the words of verse 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thy shall bruise his heel. And now he speaks now to the woman, to Eve. Unto the woman, he said, will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be unto thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And so we find the introduction of sorrow with regard to the woman because of the curse. But then look at verse 17, because now he turns to Adam. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of my life. And thereby the entrance of sin brought sorrow. Now Christ did not endure sorrow because he was a sinner, but he became a curse for us and part of the curse would become, it would be this particular emotion of deep sorrow. He who was perfectly holy. He who was perfectly harmless, he who was perfectly undefiled during the whole period of his residence on earth was continually surrounded by sin and wickedness. And that caused him great grief and deep sorrow. Think of it. He witnessed the devastating results of sin firsthand. on the homes and on the bodies and in the mind and in the hearts of those that he came into contact with. Christ's sorrow over the depravity of fallen humanity was heightened by the fact that he not only saw sin's depravity outwardly manifesting in itself with broken homes and broken bodies and broken lives, but he was also as the omniscient one, one who possessed all knowledge, he was acutely aware of the inward depravity of the human soul that was concealed and was hidden in the secret places of the heart and mind that no other human being was able to witness, no other human being was able to see, yet Christ was able to look into the hearts of depraved men and women. As Edward Pyson put it, he saw all the hidden wickedness of the heart, the depths of the fountain of iniquity from which all the better streams of vice and misery flow, the whole aggregate of human guilt, the total sum of righteousness and sin was known by Christ, and how that must have brought him great sorrow, to give him a sorrow like no other's sorrow, and then to see him despised and rejected and slandered and persecuted with merciless malice by the very beings that he had created, by the very beings that he was coming to save from their sin, that would have filled his soul with much sorrow to come on to his own and his own receive him not. What sorrow it must have brought. Sorrows and bittered every moment of Christ's earthly existence. It is no wonder then, what does Isaiah call him? He calls him a man of sorrows. Isaiah chapter 53, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is the son of God in life. But think about his sorrows and death. Those sorrows would commence in Gethsemane's garden. There the Son of God would remark to his three closest friends, my soul is exceeding what? Sorrowful, even on to death. Matthew 26 verse 38. The sorrows that he felt in Gethsemane's garden. To think of the cup that was now placed into his hand and the sin of the world, or the sin of his elect, his people, would be soon placed upon him, the weight of those sorrows began to press heavily, not only on his physical body with the pushing out of blood, out of his very sweat pores, but into his very soul, the crushing of his soul there in Gethsemane's garden, the weight of it, the burden that's coming down upon him, even there, prior to his death upon the cross, He begins in his death to feel these sorrows in the darkness of Gethsemane's garden. I and those sorrows, they will continue. They'll continue in both his Jewish trial and in his Gentile trial. There he would be beaten, and scourged, and spat upon, and vilified by his enemies. And all the sorrows that begin to fill his soul, they continue to be poured in to his very soul and heart and life. And then they come to the crescendo, as it were, the place called Calvary. Stand there, brother. Stand there, sister. stand beneath the tree. Behold the sufferings that led to the Savior's sorrow. Behold his head, once crowned with a royal diadem, now crowned with thorns. Behold his eyes, those eyes purer than the sun, now put out by the darkness of death. Behold his ears which heard nothing in eternity past but the hallelujahs, and now they hear the blasphemies of the multitude. Behold his lovely face, gloriously beautiful, now spat upon by sinful wretches. Behold his mouth and his tongue, a tongue which which speak such gracious words, from which would proceed words that never man spoke before, now accused of uttering blasphemy. Behold his hands, which held the scepter of the universe, now kneeled to the cross. Behold his feet, those beautiful feet that brought good tidings, that published peace, that brought and published salvation now kneeled to the tree for man's sin. What sorrows he felt even by his physical sufferings, but a greater sorrow came upon his soul. There in the darkness the Father forsakes His Son. He will become sin for us who knew no sin. The sorrows of that bitter cup were there in all of its concentrated form when Christ was stricken, smitten of God, afflicted by God, as the cup of God's wrath is poured upon the Son. But love drank it up, every last drop. He drunk it up for us. Behold the man of sorrows upon the cross. And as you behold him, are you not struck with wonderment? Are you not struck with astonishment? Are you not of me is that the sorrows of your Redeemer, the physical sorrows, the mental sorrows, the emotional sorrows, the sorrows of his soul, as we survey all of the accumulated sorrows that the Son of God bore as he lived for us and as he died for us, are we not forced to say in the words here of Lamentations 1 in the verse 12, that there was no sorrow like unto his sorrow. the nature of them. But in the second place, I want you to think about the uniqueness of his sorrows, the uniqueness of his sorrows. All who died on a Roman cross experienced the same physical pain, and it's associated sorrow produced by the kneeling of hands and feet. They would have all suffered sorrow as a result of this instrument of torture. And so on a physical level, the Savior's sorrow was similar to those dying thieves who hung either side of Him. However, I do need to say that the Son of God was treated more brutally, in a more brutal way than the others that suffered death alongside Him on that particular day. We do not read of them being crowned with thorns. We do not read of them being smitten by the Jewish council consisting of 70 men, probably minus two, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. At least 68 men buffeting the Savior. We don't read of those men being spat upon like the Son of God was spat upon. We don't read of their sides being pierced through with the spear. And so the Savior, even in the physical sense, he did suffer a greater suffering upon the cross of Calvary that if we could compare his sufferings to the sufferings of the two dying thieves, we would have to say that the Savior's sufferings were greater even than their sufferings on a physical level. And yet I want to say that there was a uniqueness to the sorrows of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's sorrow was a unique sorrow, a sorrow unequaled, a sorrow unrivaled by any other sorrow felt by any other human being. Now that is an astonishing statement. That is an astonishing statement whenever you consider the deep sorrows that people go through in this life. You think of the sorrow of a mother who gives birth to a stillborn child. I tell you, that's a deep sorrow. You think of a widower that stands at the grief of his wife of some 50, 60, maybe even 70 years. I say that is a deep sorrow. You think of the sorrow that is experienced by a wife or by a husband whenever they're told by their marriage partner that they have been unfaithful and that they're leaving them and that the marriage is over. You think of the sorrow that is felt whenever that news comes to you. I tell you these are deep sorrows, but they are nothing. compared to the sorrows of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why were his sorrows so unique then? Well, in the first place, they were so unique because of who he was. Who he was. Brethren and sisters, this is the eternal Son of God. This is God manifest in flesh. This is God girded around with our humanity who experienced sorrow like no other had experienced. Every day the infinitely sinless one had to witness the outworking of sin in the lives that he came into contact with. Every day the infinitely holy one had to listen to the crude and the hard speeches of wicked men. Every day the infinitely just one had to watch the injustices carried out upon the innocent. His sorrow was heightened by the fact that he who was innocent of all charges brought against him at his trial was now made to suffer like a common criminal. He was the only innocent man, the innocent one, and now he's treated like a criminal. the pure one, the holy one, the sinless one. Think of who he is, how his sorrows must have been heightened because this is God. This is God dying for sinners. The injustice meted out against the just one gave a uniqueness to sorrow, but his sorrow was unique for another reason. It was unique because of what he was doing. No other person who hung upon a cross this day, a day before, or any day after, no other individual was dying as Christ was dying. Christ was dying as the innocent for the guilty. He was dying as the just for the unjust. He was dying the holy for the unholy. He was dying for sin on behalf of sinners. The deepest sorrow of Christ was this travail of soul when he came to bear the burden of sin. He was made sin for us who knew no sin. He reached the climax of his unparalleled sorrow in the darkness, a darkness that was blacker than the midnight when he cried out, my God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me, the Redeemer, for a season, had to endure the awful sense of the Father's rejection and desertion, in order that he might reconcile to God us, and we might become partakers of eternal life? He was doing what no other man was doing. The other thieves weren't dying for sinners. They were dying for their own crimes. but he was dying for the crimes of his people. One individual said, for the innocent Christ to be made sin for us, and for the wrath of God to roll over him instead of us, must have caused within his spirit a deep of anguish, or a depth of anguish, which the tender's heart cannot fathom. Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow. Beloved, What other person could you think of that comes near to the dignity of the God-man? And what other individual could you bring forth as one who accomplished a work greater than the work of God that the Son of God undertook on behalf of his people upon the cross? There is none. And therefore His person and His work combine to add to the uniqueness of the bitter sorrows that the man of sorrows bore for us. Are we not humbled by that? The Son of God would be inflicted with sorrows like no other because of our sins. Are we not even ashamed to mention our sorrows? When we compare our sorrows with His, weighing our sorrows in the balance of sorrow, and placing on the other side His sorrows, we would have to say, there is no sorrow like unto my Redeemer's sorrow. In the third place we behold Christ's sorrows. I want you to think about the duration of his sorrows. The sorrows of Christ began at his birth. They continued throughout his entire earthly ministry and then they would come to their completion at the cross of Calvary. 33 years. 33 years of sorrow. But having having assigned death to the scrap heap, as it were, by his own death, Christ was raised from the dead never to sorrow again. The cross would be the end of the Savior's sorrow. The cross was the cessation of His sorrowing. The writer to the Hebrews wrote the following about the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what he says. Hebrews 12 verse 2 who for the joy not the sorrow but for the joy that was set before him and thus he endures the sorrows of this life and thereby and thereafter he enters heaven the place where there is no sorrow the place where there is no Sorrows sitting or sorrows furrows sitting upon the brow of those who dwell there He entered in to the Father's presence. For him the days of sorrow, they had an end. And brethren and sisters, so will our days of sorrows. They too will end for every child of God. Maybe not in this life, but certainly in the life that is to come. because in his presence is fullness of joy. And at his right hand, there are joys forever and pleasures forevermore. Someday we'll enter into the joy of our Lord. In heaven we're told that God will wipe away all tears from our eyes because, Revelation 21, verse four, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow. Neither sorrow. Brother and sister, you might be mourning today, might be deep sorrow in your heart, but soon morning's day will come to an end. And then there will be no more sighs, but instead ecstatic songs. No more sorrows, but everlasting joys. No more sadness. but enduring satisfaction. This is the future for the child of God. Our earthly pilgrimage has its many sorrows, but in heaven, all sorrow is gone. What a difference. How different the Christian's future is from the future of the ungodly. Whereas the Christian will enjoy the place where sorrow is banished forevermore, the sinner will enter the place where sorrows beyond imagination will inflict the body, the heart, the mind, and the soul of the individual that is cast into hell, the place of unending sorrow. What a difference! What a contrast! And sinner, can I say that your sorrow in hell will be heightened by the fact that you could have escaped it all. You could have trusted in Christ. You could have repented of your sin. You could have received Jesus Christ as your Savior. You could have escaped it all. but in your stubbornness, you remained in your sin, in your unwillfulness, you decided to reject Jesus Christ in the gospel. If we could today peer into hell's abyss and gaze upon the damned and the sorrow that they endure, if we could do that, And if we could consider their immeasurable sorrow, we would have to say there is no sorrow like their sorrow. No sorrow like their sorrow. To be in hell, to be shut out from God's presence, to have missed the day of opportunity, to have rejected the God of mercy and grace in the gospel, And if we could gaze today into the very abyss of hell and we could see the sorrow that they're enduring, we would have to say, there's no sorrow like their sorrow. One, see a friend, do not let their end be your end, but come to Christ. Think finally with me the fruits of Christ's sorrows. In Isaiah 53 verse 11 we read, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Trivial, trivial. The sorrow, the pain, the anguish, the soul of Christ He now sees all that he has accomplished and those that he has redeemed and justified, and as a result, his soul is satisfied. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and now he's satisfied. His sorrows are ended. Oh, the joy that comes to the heart of God. In this we see the fruit of Christ's sorrows, the very fruit of Christ's sorrow. Having passed through the sorrows of this life, having passed through the sorrows of death, having magnified the law, having satisfied God's justice, having paid the debt of sin by the Son of God, Christ has secured salvation for His people. And we are the fruit of His sorrow. The travail of Christ's soul is now satisfied as through the acceptance of the gospel many sons and daughters are being brought on to glory. Now in his exalted state, his glorified state, the Son of God, he sees the fruit of his labors, he sees the fruit of his sorrows in the redemption of his people and such is to be found to be ample recompense for all the sufferings that he had to endure, all the sorrows that he had to go through to secure salvation for all that would believe. Think of it, child of God. Think of this truth today. Your salvation is the joy of your Redeemer. Your salvation is the joy of your Redeemer. His labor, His toil, His work, His sorrow, His suffering, has produced a glorious harvest. He is the seed that fell into the ground, and that seed has brought forth the harvest. And we are but part of that harvest. Christ's sorrows were not in vain. Eternity will reveal the extent of the fruit of his sorrow. Let us then rejoice today, those who savingly know and love the Lord. Let us rejoice that the sorrowful path that the Savior trod has brought our souls innumerable joys. The joy of sins forgiven and pardon and peace with God, a home in heaven, adoption into the family of God. His sorrow brought my joy and brought your joy. The question was asked, who can tell how fruitful of the blessing of the Redeemer's sorrows has been to his people? Jesus wept. that he might one day wipe away all tears from the eyes of millions. He sorrowed that multitudes might rejoice. He shed his blood that many a bleeding heart might be healed. He tasted death that a new life might be breathed into the souls of men. He was made perfect through sufferings that he might bring many sons to glory. His sorrow. The sorrows of Christ. And as we stand beneath the shadow of the cross, let me ask you, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Are you indifferent? Are you unaffected? Are you uninterested in the sorrows of the Son of God? I say, cast away your apathy. Have done with your carelessness, Behold the sorrowing Savior, and instead of passing him by, stop. Stop, and bow the knee, and receive him as Lord and Savior. As Charles Wesley put it in his hymn, All ye that pass by, to Jesus draw nigh. To you is it nothing that Jesus should die, your ransom and peace, your surety is, come, see, if there ever was sorrow like his. Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. May we behold again the sorrowing Savior, and may our hearts be melted in love for Him. May the Lord bless the preaching of His Word. Let's unite, please, in prayer. And in the stillness, child of God, Just lift your heart to God now and say, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you for going through all those sorrows for me. And there is no sorrow like his sorrow. Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Our Father, we are before Thee. We thank Thee for Thy dear Son. We can say that there is no sorrow like unto His sorrow. We sit down, Lord, and we think of our sorrows, and we place them in the balance alongside Christ's sorrow, His sorrows on the other side of the balance. And Father, we must confess, every time His sorrow is greater, heavier than my sorrows. And we blessed see that He became the sorrowing one for us, But in eternity we will sorrow no more. We bless thee for the hope that is before us. We shall go to that place where all sorrows are vanquished. All sorrows are vanquished. All sorrows are expelled. We will enter into the joy of our Lord. We pray, O God, that those who listen in unsaved will behold the Savior in his sorrows, look upon him as he suffers for their sin upon the tree, and they will bow the knee, and they will crown him King and Lord of their lives. Bless us as we continue on in this service. We offer prayer in Jesus' precious name. Amen. The hymn 91, 91, two verses, the first and last, tell me the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard. The hymn number 91, verse one and three, please remain seated. If you are leaving, then please do that safely. Hymn number 91, just verses one and three, Franny Crosby's hymn, tell me the story of Jesus.