children this morning. Horraces I haven't heard for quite a few years. I certainly appreciate them. We're in the book of lamentations. And I'm going to ask you to do something different this morning. When you find the book of lamentations, I want you to keep your finger there and then go back to Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight and keep your finger there. And for a little while this morning, we're going to be flipping from the book of Lamentations back to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight. Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible. And we'll notice that chapter twenty eight are the closing words of Moses to Israel before they entered. the land of Canaan. God brought them out of Egypt for the purpose of taking them into the land of Canaan. God brought them out that he might bring them in. And the book of lamentations is a book written after God took them out of the land again. And the book of lamentations is a difficult book. But before we do anything else, let's ask God's help and His blessings. O God our Father, we would open thy sacred scriptures. We would behold in them that which can cause us to fear before thee, that which can cause our hearts to turn in love and affection unto thee, and that which can enable us to really want to be born of thee. And therefore our Father, We earnestly pray that thy name will be exalted as we open the scriptures together, that our Lord Jesus will be magnified and adored, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week we examined those very familiar words from Lamentations, the third chapter, concerning the faithfulness of God. God is faithful. But Lamentations also is a book wherein God desires his people to repent. He's calling his people to repentance. Let us turn from our wicked ways we read in the third chapter. Even though we have the faithfulness of God in one hand, great is thy faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. He is the faithful God. but a few verses done in chapter three. We learn not only that he wants us to repent and that he's faithful, we learn that we should turn to him. But I have a few questions that I want to cause you to consider as we think this morning concerning Deuteronomy twenty eight and the whole of the book of Lamentations. Question number one. Does God really mean what he says? This underlines our thinking, does God really mean what He says? Question number two. How do you know that the Bible is the mind of God and that His Word is authority? How do you know that it is? Question number three. Do you have any presuppositions when you come to the Word of God? that maybe God doesn't mean what it says, what he says. Or do you have that presupposition, God means business. His Word is inspired, and His Word is authoritative. The thing that really blessed me in my early years as a child of God, when I learned of the authority and the inspiration of the scriptures was a way in which God spoke and in the way in which God fulfilled what he had spoken. And that is a wonderful truth. And one of the things we're going to notice from the book of Deuteronomy this morning and from the book of Lamentations is that God has spoken and God has fulfilled His words. The book of Lamentations is not an easy book. The book of Lamentations is a difficult book. And it's not one that people really enjoy like you would enjoy, say, First Kings chapter eighteen, Elijah on Mount Carmel confronting the prophets of Baal, where we see God working in a mighty way through his servants. But the book of lamentations is divinely inspired. It has a message for us. It is God's call to repentance. And we want to notice that today. And we want to see how the faithful God that we studied last week. You know, great is his faithfulness. How the faithful God fulfills his word. And even in the midst of chastisement, God ever remains faithful and God accomplishes His purpose and His will. I want you to keep your Bible open at Lamentations and your finger at Deuteronomy and we're going to be going back and forth just like that. And you'll see how important it is. We're only going to do it fifteen times. So it won't be too often. If you get tired and you have a pencil and a paper, you can write the references done and do it at home as homework, because it is important. Lamentations chapter one, verses one through three, where we read, how does the city sit solitary? That was full of people. How is she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces. How is she become tributary? She weep a sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the nations. She feedeth. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. What have you learned from these three verses? She dwells among the nations, and she doesn't have any resting place. Look back for a moment at verse fifty or sixty-five of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. Deuteronomy twenty-eight, verse sixty-five, we read this. And among these nations thou shalt find no ease, neither shall the salt of thy foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing of eyes and sorrow of mind. In other words, what God told Israel before they entered into the land, it came to pass. Now I want you to keep in Deuteronomy for just a moment, and I want you to notice why. Why is there a book of lamentations. Why is there a book of five funeral dirgins or funeral psalms? For that's what lamentations is. Why is it? Deuteronomy twenty eight verse forty seven. I want you to notice this. Because thou serviced not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. So I want to ask you a question. How do you serve the Lord? Do you serve the Lord with a joyful heart? Or do you serve the Lord because you think you have to? Israel went through the motion. And that's what the book of Isaiah is all about. This people draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. That we read in the prophecy of Isaiah. Here in this passage, God tells them why they didn't serve the Lord with a joyful heart. Verse forty-eight. Therefore, shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send among thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed thee. So, that's the first. of the reason God predicts God fulfills. Notice the second. Levitations chapter one, verse five. Her adversaries are the chief. Her enemies prosper. For the Lord has afflicted her. For the multitude of her transgressions. Her children are gone in the captivity before the enemy. In other words, the foes of Israel have become the masters. Notice Deuteronomy, chapter twenty-eight, verse forty-four, where we read, He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. If you studied the earlier part of Deuteronomy, God said to Israel, because they were his people, if they loved him and obeyed him, they would be the head and not the tail. They would lend unto others, but never borrow from others. But now it has reversed. Notice the third. Lamentations again, chapter one and verse five. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foal. Notice twenty-eight and verse thirty-two, where we read, Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people. And thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long, and there shall be no might in thine hand. In other words, what God predicted happened. Notice, again, Lamentations chapter one in verse six. 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. Notice in weakness they are fled before the pursuer. Lamentations one says. Notice verse twenty-five of chapter eight. It says, The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them and shall be removed unto all the kingdoms of the world. verse eighteen elementations chapter one here's number five for the Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his commandment here I pray you all people and behold my sorrow my virgins and my young men are gone in the captivity in other words I learned from that verse that Israel is gone into exile notice verse forty one of chapter twenty eight In verse forty-one, I read, Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity. Number six, chapter two, in verse fifteen of lamentations. It says, All that pass by clap their hands at thee. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty? The joy of the whole earth. Oh my, all who pass by clap their hands at you. They scoff and shake their heads. Notice verse thirty-seven of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. Verse thirty-seven we read, And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead you. Now notice chapter two, verse twenty, for number seven. Chapter two, verse twenty. Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the woman eat her fruit? The children of a span long. Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? What an awful cry was made. Notice verse fifty-three, verse fifty-three, where we read, And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which, Lord, thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee. Jeremiah, in the passage we read from Lamentations, he's crying out unto the Lord. And there in verse twenty that we read together, he says, Behold, O Lord, Lord, take a look at what's going on. The Lord told them it would happen. Notice number eight, verse twenty one of chapter two. The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. Notice verse fifty of chapter twenty eight. In verse fifty we read this. A nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. Lamentations chapter four, verse ten. The hands of the pitiful woman have sodden their own children. They were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. Now notice verses fifty-six and fifty-seven. of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. Fifty-six and fifty-seven, where we read, The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the soul of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness. Her eyes shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children, which he shall bear, for she shall eat them. For one of all things secretly, in the siege and straightness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. Oh, what a horrible thing to think about. And I'm going to just give you the verses for the rest. And then if you jot them down, you can study on your own. Because I want to get to something else. We find that God Keeps his word. When you take chapter five and verse two, and then compare it with Deuteronomy twenty eight and verse thirty. And then when you take chapter five and verse five, you can compare it with Deuteronomy twenty eight and verse forty eight. And when you take verse ten of chapter five, you can compare it with verse forty eight. of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. And then verse eleven of chapter five, Deuteronomy twenty-eight and verse thirty. And the twelfth verse of chapter five, with a fiftieth verse of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. And finally, the eighteenth verse of chapter five, with a twenty-sixth verse of Deuteronomy twenty-eight. Fifteen expressions. from Deuteronomy twenty-eight are fulfilled here in the Book of Lamentations. What do we say to all this? Three simple words. Four. God keeps his word. God keeps his word. There's a hymn that we love to sing here. standing on the promises of Christ my king through eternal ages let his praises ring glory in the highest I will shout and sing standing on the promises of God God has not only promised us and we sing of it in that hymn standing on the promises to bless our souls and to confer salvation upon those who believe the gospel But he also keeps his word to those who rebel and do not obey the truth. And we must keep that before us. We can speak of the faithfulness of God to his people. And God has been faithful. God was faithful to Israel. He sent them prophet after prophet after prophet and warned them of what's coming. He told Moses when he went into the land. If you study the previous chapters of all the blessings that God is going to pour out upon them, if they will just obey His voice. But they were determined to have their own way. And being determined to have their own way. This morning, even before God told them everything, I was going to happen. But they didn't believe God. They believed the false prophet. They believed those who were saying nice things. They believed those who were telling them what they wanted to hear. And when we have itching ears and want to hear a certain thing, I'll guarantee you, you can find someone who will tell it to you. When we come to the God of the Bible, beloved, the book of Lamentations teaches us a lesson. And the lesson is this, that God is not like the idols of the nation, nor is he like us. He speaks. He talks. He sends messages. And Isaiah fifty-five verse eleven says, The word that is gone out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me, boy. But it shall accomplish that. For unto I have sent it. And it will prosper in the thing which I decree. God keeps his word. And God gives threat. And God makes promises. We like the promises of God. We like the twenty-third Psalm. But the same God who says, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The same God who says, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. The same God makes threats. And he keeps his word. David Livingston said, God is an honorable gentleman. He always keeps his word. So very quickly this morning, that brings us to application number one. And applying these things to our own souls. Application number one is very simple. You cannot evade the word of God. You cannot evade it. Now, there are some people in the Bible who thought they could. Ahab thought so. Ahab thought he could evade the word of God. Through the prophet Micaiah, God said to him, Ahab, if you go up to Ramaphiliad, you're going to be killed. But Ahab did something that a lot of people do. He disguised himself. He... went up there as a chariot warrior. He was in his, a chariot was a primitive tank. There was a driver, a man with a shield, and of course, and the spearman. And Elijah, he was covered with a coat of mail from the top to the bottom. But you see, God said he's going to fall up there. First Chronicles, eighteen thirty-three says, And a certain man threw a bow at a venture. And he shot the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. And they carried him up. And he died according to the word of the Lord. In other words, I want you to imagine the coat of mail. The arrow hitting where, between the joints of the harness, a space of about three quarters of an inch. The only place the arrow could enter. Who did it? We don't know. A certain man. He was an Assyrian soldier. He just threw a ball shot. He didn't know what he did. He didn't know if he hit anything. He couldn't do it again if he tried. But God keeps His word, friends. And no one can evade the word of God. Now what do I learn from Deuteronomy twenty-eight and the book of Lamentations as we've gone over it this morning? I learned that if I get away with evasion, if I bypass the word of God, I'm just giving my children the problem. I'm giving my grandchildren the problem. Am I preparing my children and my grandchildren in the things of God? Well, we may think it's more important that they become something great in this life. But the most important thing that we can give our children is a future in the kingdom of God. The language of Zephaniah chapter two verses nine and ten are so important. Lot went to Sodom to make money. It was a well-watered plain. You see, when Lot and Abraham separated, Lot looked toward Sodom because it was like the land of Egypt. What do you compare things to? Lot came out of Egypt with Abraham when God graciously brought them out. It's one thing to come out of Egypt. It's another thing to get Egypt out of you. Abraham got Lot out of Egypt, but he never got Egypt out of Lot. Everything Lot did, he compared to the land of Egypt, and he went to Sodom because it was a land for cattle, and his children ended living like cattle. You cannot evade the word of God. You see, we have a way in our minds of thinking that the law of sowing and reaping don't matter to us. That's only for other people. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And in the book of Deuteronomy twenty-eight this morning we read, God told them why. There was a book of lamentations. And the reason there was is because they didn't serve the Lord with a joyful heart. It was only lip service they gave to God. Their heart wasn't in it. Let us not imagine, beloved, that we can escape. We cannot evade the word of the Lord for Peter when he wrote his first epistle. Chapter four. Verse seventeen says, The time has come that judgment begins at the heart of God. And if it begins with us, what shall the envy of those who know not God and obey not the gospel? See, Israel were the people of God and the godly people among Israel. They suffered the same as those who worships Asteroth and the Queen of Heaven and worship the idols. You see, we have a job to do. God left us on planet Earth in order that we proclaim the gospel. God saved us. As the chorus goes, we're saved, saved to tell others of the Christ of Calvary. God keeps in life. God keeps his word. You cannot evade the word of God. The saddest thing about Lot in Sodom. He didn't take the gospel to Sodom, but he brought Sodom out, friends, to afflict his children and his grandchildren. You can't evade the word of God. Application number two. What is God really saying to us in the book of Lamentations? I'll tell you what he's doing. He's calling us to repent him. He's calling us to humble ourselves before him. You see, men are in two classes. Men are in two classes that saved and lost. First John five, verse twelve. He that hath the Son hath life. and he that hath not the Son of God hath not a life. Now everyone here this morning is in that verse. We're either in the first part of the verse, he that hath the Son hath life, or we're in the last part of the verse, he that hath not the Son of God hath not a life. I'll never forget being in the home of a car dealer in the city. And I had him read that verse to me. I said to him, in what part of that verse are you? Honestly, which part of the verse are you in? He said, I'm in the second part. I said, don't you want to be in the first part? He said, yes, but not tonight. Two nights later I met him. And I'll tell you, he had a smile that brought. He said, I'm in the first part. I've in the first part. I've trusted the Lord. You see, friends, there's where we are. There's where we are. And what does God have to say? Men are in two classes. You're either in because you have life. Or you're out because you don't have life. He that has the Son has life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not lied. Now we all know John three sixteen, don't we? John three seventeen. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world to him might be saved. He that believeth is not condemned John three eighteen, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. As our Lord came to the close of that great sermon he preached in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters five, six, and seven, the Sermon on the Mount, he said, Who's whoever, therefore, heareth these things of mine, and doeth them? I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock. And whosoever heareth these things of mine, and doeth them not shall be likened to a foolish man who built his heart on the sand. And you see, what's the difference? The foundation. The foundation between a rock and the sand. And the storm declared what the foundation was. And you see, beloved, the people in Israel could go through all the motions. They were in the land of Israel. They were enjoying the blessings of the Lord in Israel. But the storm came. And God warned them it was coming. Captivity is coming. And when the Babylonian army swept down upon Jerusalem and sacked the city, carried them away in the captivity, Jeremiah is crying out. Hardless city lies solitary, which was once the joy of the Holy. Beloved, God keeps his word. We cannot evade the word of God, and God is saying something to us in the book of Lamentations. What is he saying? Very simple. I announce judgment. that it will never, in order that you will never experience it. God announces judgment that it will never be experienced. And a good illustration of this is the book of Jonah. In the book of Jonah, Jonah went to Nineveh and he announced judgment. Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be destroyed. But what happens? Nineveh repents. And God calls men to repentance. You know, believers need to repent too. I did far more repenting since I'm saved than I ever did before. Oh my. And beloved, God's calling men to repentance. And he says, Turn ye, turn ye. Why will you die? That's what God says. We have the evidence God has spoken. God keeps His word. We have the evidence of that. And God not says, come unto me and I'll give you rest. Trust in me and I'll save you from your sins. I'll give you eternal life. And then you can sing with the rest of the saints. Standing on the promises. I'm standing on the promises of God. Why? Because God has spoken. And God keeps his word. Do you believe it? God keeps his word. Lord, you're here this morning when the Spirit of God is speaking to you and you realize you're really not in the first part of that verse. He that has the Son has eyes. Why not settle it this morning and stop trusting in your own goodness? in your own activity and sweetly turn to the Savior and trust him. If I can help anyone, I'll be glad to do. I don't mind how long it takes. Trust the Savior. Let's pray together. And now our Father, in the precious name of thy dear Son, we bow before you. We want to thank you and praise you for your grace. We thank you for the revelation you've given us. Thank you, O Father, that we can say you keep your word. You are honorable and righteous in every detail. And now we commend this company to thee and to the word of thy grace, blessed to each heart. Build up your people. May we respond to thee with a glad heart. May we serve thee with a glad and a full heart, because thou art worthy. Hear us in these things. Speak to us in this hour. Search us. As the book of Lamentation says, let us search and try our ways and return unto thy heart. Father, we commend this company to thee. And we pray that this company may know thy grace, thy mercy, and thy peace, thy love and the communion of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and the sweetness of being in Christ, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name.