Unique Freedom

Lamentations 1:1 | July 4, 2021

Where is the best place you’ve ever watched fireworks on the 4th of July?

Mine was in Washington, D.C. at the Washington Monument the summer before my senior year in high school.  

It was extremely cool and extremely crowded and extremely smoky. 

AAA is estimating that 50 million people will be traveling this weekend – and some of those 50 million will head to our nation’s capital. 

What would you do if you were in Washington, D.C. this holiday weekend?

Probably watch the fireworks?

If I were there, I feel like it would be my duty as an American citizen to eat dinner at the Founding Farmers restaurant – where I would patriotically order the following two appetizers first: the Glazed Bacon Lollipops and the Blue Cheese Bacon Dates – now I have no idea what those are, but I have no problem going on dates with bacon. 

Most of us would also visit some of the more than 160 monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital.  

Why?

Because they help us remember – they help us learn – they humble us – and they stir us to be thankful.

Someone said we visit memorials because they honor history, and they send a message. 

This morning I want to invite you to visit a memorial with me – a memorial that has a unique message about freedom and independence. 

A message that impacts our entire nation – but perhaps more importantly it deeply impacts your life right now.  

What is this memorial – and what is its message? 

Let’s find out.  

Listen to Lamentations 1, verse 1…

1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people!

Where did all the people go?

Was it a hurricane evacuation? 

Was it a holiday – did they all take off for the 4th of July?

No, their city was destroyed.

Someone may be thinking…

• “Well, that already doesn’t sound like freedom.”
• “That sounds depressing.”
• “Now, I wish I was at the lake.”
• “Or maybe on a date at Founding Farmers in DC.”

As C3PO said to R2-D2, “Stay with me.”

The lonely city is Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem, the strong, Holy City was invaded and laid to waste – houses, restaurants, government buildings, even the churches – the temple of God’s people – the whole city in rubble and ruins.

Jerusalem being destroyed – it was the kind of thing that people believed could never actually happen – but it did.

Some of our “utes” have attended or do attend White Knoll High School. 

On a clear day, if you are standing on the sidewalk out by the road in front of White Knoll High School and you look back this way, you can see a beautiful panoramic view of downtown Columbia.

I see that beauty every morning on my drive to work. 

But imagine looking from that sidewalk one morning and the panoramic view is gone – none of the tall buildings are left and all you see is dark smoke where the city once stood. 

That’s the kind of the sad, depressing scene we find in the book of Lamentations.  

We don’t know for sure, but it seems pretty likely that this book was written by the prophet Jeremiah.  

Sometime in late 586 BC or early 585 BC Jeremiah was standing on that sidewalk looking out on the pain and suffering and destruction of the city and he began to lament.  

What does it mean to lament? 

10 days ago, my nephew and his wife welcomed their first child – it’s the third great-grand-baby for my parents.  

And you know how Baby Lee Craig greeted the world? 

The same way every baby does – he cried. 

When we enter this world, we cry – all of us. 

Some macho guy might say, “I ain’t never cried a day in my life.”

Yeah, you did, cupcake – we all did. 

Lamenting is kind of like crying, but it’s different.

In his book, “Dark Clouds-Deep Mercy”, Mark Vroegop says this…

Mark Vroegop

To cry is human, to lament is Christian. 

What makes lamenting uniquely Christian?

Because you aren’t just slobbering all over your sleeve while you eat a whole package of Oreos.  

And you aren’t just working in your shop or doing yard work or shooting a gun at the range trying to work through your sadness or your anger.  

No, to lament means you turn to God.  

Vroegop goes on to give the four key characteristics of lamenting that we see in the Bible...

• Turn
• Complain
• Ask
• Trust

• You turn to God
• You complain to God
• You ask God
• You trust God

For the good of your soul, grab those four things…

• Turn to God
• Complain to God
• Ask God
• Trust God

Lamenting is uniquely Christian which makes lamenting a unique kind of freedom that we have.

• You are free to lament
• You are free to turn to God

Jeremiah is lamenting – he is turning to God. 

The book of Lamentations is a book of 5 lamenting poems. 

And the first poem begins with these words…

1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people!

Are you in a moment like that right now in your life?

Is there something in your life that is making you feel lonely or discouraged or defeated?

Is there something in your life that is creating stress or strain or anger or fear or worry?

What about the state of things in our country and in the world – are those things causing trouble in your mind?

I came across this in my reading a few weeks ago…

Wilfred Peterson 

Our world today is the most unpredictable, turbulent, changeable and dangerous world in which man has ever lived. 

Do you agree with that statement? 

Those words were written in 1969. 

They were part of the introduction to Wilfred A. Peterson’s book “The Art of Living in the World Today.” 

So, what is the art of living in the world today? 

How can we do life in 2021?

Well, we can spend lots of time on social media or listening to talk radio or watching the news on TV or reading conspiracy books we pick up at the store and we can obsess about things in the world and…

• Keep being angry
• Keep being afraid

Or we can spend lots of time on social media or listening to podcasts or playing video games or watching sports or home or garden or cooking or history on TV and we can blow things off in the world and just…

• Keep running errands
• Keep shopping
• Keep working in the yard
• Keep hunting and fishing and playing golf
• Keep going on holidays
• Keep crushing candy on our phones

Or we could do life different. 

We could lament.  

Someone might say…

• “Well, that sounds depressing.”
• “Why did I show up or tune in for this?”
• “I really wish I was at the lake now.”
• “I wish I was already eating ribs in the backyard.”

R2, stay with me. 

You see, here’s the thing about lamenting – it forces you to turn to God – and God is the greatest good in the universe.  

Is the world full of sin and evil and pain and suffering?

Yes. 

Does it sometimes feel like our country is spinning out of control?

Yes. 

I was reading the other day about a mob that surrounded some law enforcement officers and things got out of control fast and the officers fired into the mob and 5 people were killed – that happened on March 5, 1770 – it’s known as the Boston Massacre. 

In other words, before our country officially gained her independence things were spinning out of control.

And from Concord, Massachusetts, to Ninety-Six, South Carolina, to lots of other battles and skirmishes, during the war for our independence things were spinning out of control.  

And over the last 245 years of independence, through many wars and many pandemics and many political battles and many cultural battles and many religious battles, there have been plenty of times where things were spinning out of control. 

But there has been one constant, one thing that has remained through all of those moments in history and it is this – God is God and there is no other.  

The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel is a mighty fortress – he is a never-failing helper and his kingdom and only his kingdom is forever.

And that God loves you!

And that God sent his Son to deal with the problem of sin and evil and pain and suffering in your life and to deal with it once and for all.

In his unique, sovereign design, God has purposed that the problem of sin would be dealt with through Jesus.

God so loved the world – God so loved you – that he gave Jesus to be the propitiation – the substitute for sin – a substitute for the one thing that kills your soul forever. 

And God’s promise is that for every person who believes in and keeps believing in and relying on and trusting in and clinging to Jesus – that person – though all hell and all politics and all social injustice and all health issues and all stress and all anxiety and all fear and all anger should endeavor to shake that person that person will not die forever and be destroyed, but that person will receive and keep receiving eternal, everlasting life – that person will be saved from the on-going, eternal consequences of sin and pain and suffering and evil.

The ultimate problem in the world is sin – the root of every moment of pain and suffering and injustice in the world is not on the outside, but on the inside.  

Christians and non-Christians fight against that truth – we try and convince ourselves it is something else or someone else that is responsible for our sin and all the sin that’s in the world, but this is what Jesus said…

Mark 7:21-23

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within…

That’s why we lament – because our hearts are always prone to wander.  

Jeremiah is looking out over a destroyed city. 

It was once full of people and life, but now it is empty and marked with pain and suffering and death. 

C.S. Lewis

Pain insists upon being attended to.

We can’t ignore pain.  

• It may be the pain of change in your church
• It may be the pain of change in your country
• It may be the pain of change at your house
• It may be the pain of an impossible spouse
• It may be the pain of an indifferent child
• It may be the pain of a sciatic nerve 
• It may be the pain of chemo 
• It may be the pain of death in your family

Pain demands attention.

C.S. Lewis

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain:

C.S. Lewis

it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Deaf meaning the world is not listening.

That’s why Jerusalem was in rubble and ruin – they refused to listen.  

Jeremiah had been preaching for 40 years. 

For 40 years he had been telling the people that they were living in the power of pride.  

They were living outside of their human identity, and they were living outside of their spiritual identity. 

They were living in the identity of their pride and their preferences – they were ignoring that they had been fearfully and wonderfully made by God. 

They were living in pride – they were living in sin – and they refused to admit it. 

They refused to admit that they were really doing anything wrong. 

They were obsessed with school and work. 

They were obsessed with sports and holidays and social events.

They were obsessed with life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness – all super fantastic things – unless you pursue them first and most outside of God.  

What we will find as we walk through the book of Lamentations is what pride can do to your life.

And we will also find the ultimate answer to the problems in this world and the problems in this country and the problems in this church and the problems in your life. 

We will find the ultimate answer to sin and pain. 

And what is that answer?

Turn to God.  

Instead of getting bitter or angry or hopelessly depressed, lamenting teaches us to keep…

• Turning to God
• Complaining to God
• Asking God
• Trusting God

Mark Vroegop

We believe in God’s power to deliver. We know the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive.

And that is where lamenting comes in.  

Lamenting is a way for us to turn to God in humility and pray in such a way that we remember this one promise from God – Jesus will return and make everything right. 

Mark Vroegop

Christians don’t just mourn; we long for God to end the pain.

Only God can end the pain and only God will end the pain – your favorite politician or your favorite pastor or your favorite parent or your favorite weekend pal will not end the pain. 

But God will and in the deepest sense he already has through salvation in Jesus Christ.

I was reading a story recently about a teacher who was taking a group of teachers on a tour around the state of New York. 

More specifically they were touring important Revolutionary War sites.  

At every tour stop whoever the local guide was for that area would at some point say something like, “This battle was the turning point in the war.”

Well, of course, every one of those battles couldn’t be the turning point in the war, but I appreciated what the teacher said…

Peter Friedman

The observable phenomena is that the American Revolution is the foundational event for the creation of this country and everyone wanted to connect their community to that event. By claiming to be the turning point…these people were proudly declaring and affirming their identity as Americans.

You know why Jerusalem fell?

Because God’s people quit declaring and affirming their identity in God. 

God’s people would not turn and pray.  

God’s people – not the worldly, secular, non-church-going people – but God’s people would not turn and pray and truly seek God and quit their wicked ways.  

If we were to modernize that we might ask, “How are we doing in July of 2021 at declaring and affirming our identity as Christians?”

And if we are failing to do that, what can we do to change that pattern?

What can we do to change things in our homes and in our schools and in our communities and our churches and our country?

Lament. 

Dear Christian, you have been uniquely saved, therefore, you are uniquely free to lament.

Crying is human, lamenting is Christian. 

And lamenting is one of the boldest and most exciting ways for us to use our freedom as Americans to say, “We believe in God’s power to deliver.”

We believe.

Message by Dow Welsh |

July 4, 2021 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.9marks.org/article/lamentations/

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dare-to-hope-in-god

So where's the best place you've ever watched fireworks on the 4th of July? Like actually on the day, where is the best moment, best place you've ever done? Mine was the Washington monument in dc. I was in Washington july 4th, it was the summer before my senior year in high school and I got to watch fireworks out by the Washington monument. It was extremely cool. It was extremely loud. It was extremely crowded and it was extremely smoky. I mean really, I couldn't even see when it came time to leave, I couldn't see to get back to my hotel. There was so much smoke. That was super fun. It's estimated that 50 million people are traveling this weekend. Okay, that would be like emptying out every single person from Florida and Texas and sending them out on the road. That's that's a lot of people. 50 million people. Some of those 50 million more than likely went to Washington D. C. There in our nation's capital. Now if you were in D. C. Today, what would you do if you were in D. C. What would you do? Probably watch the fireworks. I'm thinking you know I would if I were in D. C. I I feel like that on this holiday weekend it would be my patriotic duty as an american to go eat at founder. Found like I said this right? Founding farmers restaurant, the founding farmers restaurant. Okay. And I do think it would be my patriotic duty to sit down and order two appetizers before I order the rest of my meal. And those two appetizers would be and I quote glazed bacon lollipops and blue Jesus. Bacon dates. I have no idea what those are but I have no problem going on dates with bacon. Not a problem at all. I can do that. That's fine. I feel like it was my civic duty to participate in that bacon in that restaurant right there. I think on pennsylvania street in D. C. Also, most of us if we were in D. C. This weekend we would go visit the more than 160 monuments and memorials that are there in our nation's capital. We would go visit these things because these places and these moments these monuments, these memorials, they help us remember, they help us remember to learn they help us to be humble and they usually stir us to be thankful. They stir us to give things. Someone said this memorials we visit memorials because they honor history and they send a message. They send a message. What I'd like to do is to invite you with me to visit a memorial. It's a memorial. A unique memorial with a unique message, a unique message of freedom, a unique message of independence, a unique message about freedom for our nation. A timely message, a timely memorial for us as a nation. But maybe more importantly a memorial and a message that would greatly impact your life right now. So what is this memorial? And what is its message? Well, let's find out together. Listen to lamentations. Chapter one verse one. How Lonely sits the city that was full of people? Why was the city lonely? Why was it empty? Was four July weekend. Everybody left went off on the holiday. Was there a hurricane evacuation? And everybody had to leave? No, the city was empty because the city was destroyed. Mhm. You may be thinking, well this doesn't sound like a message of freedom already. Sounds pretty depressing to me. Lonely City, nobody there said he was destroyed while I'm here. Which I was at the lake. Which I was a founder, founding farmers restaurant, having a date, having food. Don't want to be here for all this depressing stuff. C. Threepio said to R two D. Two, please just stay with me, Stay with me, We'll get there. The lonely city here in verse one is Jerusalem and the whole book of lamentations is the memorial that were visiting and the message that we're receiving through the lonely city of Jerusalem. Is this that Jerusalem? The mighty city famous city. The holy city Jerusalem was invaded. The whole city late to west laid to waste, houses, restaurants, government buildings, even churches, the Temple of God and ruin and rubble, Jerusalem being destroyed. It was the kind of thing that people would say, well that could never happen. There's no way that Jerusalem could ever be destroyed. But it did, it did happen and history tells us that happened little more than once. Some of our Utes have attended or are attending White No high school. I guess we've got at least one here. If you are on the sidewalk out by the road in front of White no high school and you turn and you look back this way, you'll see an amazing panoramic view of downtown Columbia. I mean it's breathtaking. I see it every morning on my way to work. It's it's fantastic. But imagine you're standing on that sidewalk, you're looking at that panoramic view and it's a different view. You don't see the skyline, you don't see the tall buildings, they're all gone and all you see on the horizon is thick, dark smoke. That's the kind of sad, depressing picture we have here in Jerusalem in this moment. And lamentations. That's why we go to Holland Avenue. It's so depressing. Can't wait. Stay with me. We don't know for sure, but pretty likely that this book was written by the prophet Jeremiah and sometime around 5 86. Bc maybe 5 85. Bc Jeremiah's standing out on the sidewalk and he's looking at the city and he's seen destruction. He's seen that has been laid to waste. He sees pain and suffering and destruction and he begins to lament. The book of lamentations is five poems of lamenting and the first point begins with these words that we see here, How lonely is the city? So what does it mean to lament? Well, 10 days ago, my nephew and his wife had their first child. That's the third great grand baby for my parents. And how did little baby lee craig enter into this world? Well he entered the world like every single one of us enters the world. He entered the world crying. Yeah, we all cry right somewhere. There's some big macho guy maybe watching or here going on. My man ain't never cried a day in my life. Yeah, you did cupcake. We all did. All right, we all cry. That's how we begin. We all start off crying and his book dark clouds. Deep. Mercy Mark bro. Gap says this to cry is human to lament. It's christian. So lamenting is a little different than crying. It's kind of like crying but it's a little different and it's uniquely christian. Why? What makes it uniquely christian? Well because we're not just slobbering all over the place, you know, we're not sitting on the sofa crying and scarfing down a whole package of Oreos, we're not out working in the shop or we're not out playing golf or working in the yard or shooting a gun at the range or doing whatever we do to try to blow off anger and blow off sadness. Now lament means that you turn to God, you turn together, it's not just crying, it's turning to God, it's grieving and mourning toward God. Programme says there's four key characteristics we see in the bible when it comes to lamenting here they are, turn complain, ask and trust. You turn to God, you complain to God, you ask God, and you trust in God. If there's four things we really need to tattoo on our brain for things that we need for our souls, it's these four things now, more than ever we need them for the rest of our lives, but we need them today, Turn to God, complain to God, ask God trust in God. The theme is God God God, you keep turning to God. That doesn't mean we can't turn to other people, doesn't mean you don't find advice from other places, it just means that first and most you take your turning to God, you take your complaints to God, you take your questions to God and then you trust him and you trust him and you trust lamenting is uniquely christian, which makes lamenting a unique freedom that we have as christians. You are free to lament, you are free to turn to God, Jeremiah is lamenting, he's turning to God, he's looking for help from God, he's complaining, he's asking he's trusting and he's taking these poems and he's writing them to the Lord as laments. And again he begins by saying, how lonely sits the city that was full of people. You having a moment like that right now in your life? Are you feeling lonely? Are you feeling discouraged? Are you feeling defeated about something? Is there something happening in life right now that's creating fear or worry or stress or anger? Is it overwhelming you? What about things in our country? Is the state of things in our country? Is it creating some trouble for your mind? I came across this in my reading a few weeks ago. Our world today is the most unpredictable, turbulent, changeable and dangerous world in which man has ever lived. Do you agree with that statement? That statement was written in 1969. It was an intro to a book that a friend gave me the name of the book Is The Art of Living in the World today. Bye Wilfred Peterson. So if that was 1969, we're kind of still there. Right. So what about the art of living in the world today? What about the art of living in July 2021? How can we do life today? How can we live in this world today? Well, there's a few ways we can spend lots of times on social media. We can spend a lot of time listen to talk radio, a lot of time watching news on the tv. We can pick up a lot of books from the store on every conspiracy theory that's out there. And we can keep being angry and we can keep being afraid. Or we can spend a lot of time on social media and spend a lot of time listening to podcasts and spend a lot of time playing video games, spend a lot of time watching sports and home and garden and history and cooking shows on tv and and we can just kind of blow off things in the world and we just keep running errands and keep shopping, keep playing golf and keep hunting and keep fishing, keep going on holidays, keep crushing candy on our phone, we can just keep doing stuff and we can kind of blow off what's happening in the world or or we could do something different, we could lament, we could look at everything that's happened in the world and and we can begin to lament and grieve and mourn again, somebody might say gosh, things getting more depressing the longer you talked al I really wish I was at the lake now, I wish I was in the backyard eating ribs already, I wish I wasn't here, stay with me, just stay with me. We're getting there. The great thing about lamenting is, it forces us to turn to God. That's what does lamenting forces us to turn to God and God is the greatest good in the universe. He's the greatest good in the universe. So is there pain and evil and sin and suffering in the world? Yes, there is. Does it seem like our country is spinning out of control? Sure, I was reading something recently about a mob that surrounded some law enforcement officers and things got out of hand really fast And the law enforcement officer ended up shooting into this crowd and five people died. What I was reading about occurred on March five, It's known as the boston massacre. In other words, before our nation had independence. Things in our country many times we're spinning out of control And then from concord massachusetts to 96 South Carolina to lots of battles and skirmishes all over the place. While the war for our independence was going on, things were spinning out of control in our country. And over the last 245 years through many wars and many battles, many political battles and social battles, many pandemics, many health issues, many lots of things. Our country has had times where it felt like it was spinning out of control. King Solomon would say there's nothing new under the sun, but throughout history, especially our history as a nation, one thing has not been spinning out of control. One thing has been constant, one thing has been sure, one thing has been real. One thing has not changed. One thing will never changed and that is this God is God and there is no other For 245 years. That statement has never not been true. God is God and there is no other. The lord of hosts. The God of Israel is a mighty fortress. He is a never failing help in his kingdom and only his kingdom lasts forever and ever and ever. And that guy that Godloves yeah that God loves you and he sent his son for you. God by his sovereign design has chosen to deal with sin and evil and pain and suffering once and for all and he's chosen to do all of that through jesus, God sent jesus to be the perpetuation. The substitute for sin. The substitute for the one thing that will kill your soul over and over and over again to infinity and beyond. God sent jesus to deal with sin once and for all. And God has promised that every person that believes in jesus, the story of jesus the person of jesus. I was watching something recently on T. V. And there was a moment in the show where they had visited a church and they came out and the comment was made. I can't believe these people are acting like this. They're supposed to be christians, they're not thinking normal. And the other character said Christians have not fought anything normal for 2000 years. That's true at least to the world's us. What we believe is not normal but it's true by the grace and mercy and power and love of God. It is true and which truth is that God has promised in jesus through jesus that everyone who believes in and keeps believing in keeps trusting keeps relying on keeps clinging to jesus. That person though all hell should endeavour to shape though All political battles shall endeavour to shape. though all social injustice and stress and strain and fear and health issues. Though everything in the world should endeavour to shake that person that person will not die forever. They will not be destroyed forever. Rather through jesus, that person will gain eternal everlasting life and they'll keep gaining it and keep gaining it and keep gaining it in and through christ that person will be saved and the effects and the impact of sin and evil and pain and suffering will not visit them forever. You see the ultimate problem in the world is sin. The ultimate problem in the world is the root of all sin and evil and social injustice and suffering and pain all of it. The root of it is only inside, not the outside. The christians and non christians we fight against that were convinced that our sin is our spouses fault. We're convinced that our sin is our parents, father. Our kids fall were convinced that the sin in the world is all the president's fault. All the politicians fault were convinced that sin in the world has nothing to do with us. It always is someone else. It's always something else now, more than ever, that seems to be our mantra. But this is what jesus said Mark Chapter seven for from within out of the heart of men and women and boys and girls proceed the evil thoughts. The fornication is the thefts, the murders, the adulteries, the deeds of coveting and wickedness as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. Guess what? We were all on that list, All of us, we were all on that list somewhere. And then Jesus said this all these evil things proceed from within. That's why we look at, we lament, We mourn, we we grieve. We we do a unique type of christian crime because we know that our hearts are prone to wander, our hearts are prone to wander, Jeremiah is looking out over a destroyed city. It was a city that was once full of life and people, and now it's full of pain and suffering and death. Yes, Lewis said this pain insist upon being attended to. We can't ignore pain. We can, it might be the pain of changes at work or changes at school or changes at church or changes in your community or changes in your country. It could cause pain in your life. The pain could be caused by a irresponsible spouse, are an impossible spouse, or an indifferent child, or rebellious child. The pain it could be caused by a psychotic nerve. It could be caused by chemo. It could be caused by a death in your family. But pain insists on attention, paying demands, attention. We cannot escape pain, louis goes on to say this. God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks in our conscience, but he shouts in our pain. See God wants us to hear him most in our pain. See when things are comfortable, when things are good, Guess what? We just go to the beach and we just go to the lake and we just hang out. We don't feel this pressing need for God, but when everything is falling apart, people reach out for God. I heard someone who, this week who's who claims to be an Atheist said, I don't know if there's going to be a line in heaven, but if there is going to be a line, this guy's going to jump ahead. And I was like, well, if you don't believe in God, why is it that you're speaking of heaven? You know why? Because we do believe in God, we do The strongest. Atheists has been created for one purpose to worship and enjoy God. If they're not worshipping and enjoying God, they'll be worshipping something, but they've been created to enjoy God. Pain calls his God to shout, he gets louder, you know? And then Lewis says, this pain is his megaphone to rouse a death world, deaf world, meaning the world is not listening, deaf world, meaning the world is not paying attention. Why is Jeremiah standing on the sidewalk, looking at the city destroyed, full of rubble and ruin. It's because they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't respond, Jeremiah at this point, had been preaching for 40 years, okay, I've been here six. All right, Jeremiah had been preaching for 40 years and the people were not listening. They weren't responding. He had been telling them over and over again. Guys were living in the power of pride. This is how we're functioning. Were functioning in the power of pride. They were living outside of their human identity. They were living outside of their spiritual. I did it. They were living in the identity of their pride. They were living in the identity of their personal preferences. They were ignoring that. They had been fearfully and wonderfully made by God. They were living in pride. They were living in sin and they didn't think they were do anything wrong. Like they wouldn't admit it, but they thought everything was fine. They didn't think anything was wrong. They were obsessed with work. They were obsessed with school. They were obsessed with sports and entertainment and leisure and vacations and holidays. They were obsessed with life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and all of those things are great. They're fantastic unless you're pursuing them outside of God, If you're pursuing any of those things first or most, they're not great. They're dangerous. But if you're pursuing those things from an overflow of pursuing God first, and most all of those things become fantastic. But the dangerous when we pursue them instead of God, when they become our worship instead of reflections of blessings from God, What we see as we walk through the book of lamentations is what pride can duty. But we will also see as we journey through lamentations, the ultimate answers for the problems in our country, the ultimate answers for the problems in our community, the ultimate answers for the problems in our church. The ultimate answers for the problems in our life and all of those ultimate answers come down to one answer. One answer that becomes the answer to all of the sin and the pain and the evil and the suffering in the world and here's the answer turned to God. Turn to God is the answer. We'll see over and over and over again. It's the only answer that has been ringing since the garden till now turn to God. Instead of getting bitter with anger and bitter with fear instead of being hopelessly depressed, turn to God, we will see that lamenting keeps teaching us to turn to God, to complain to God, to ask God and to trust in God. Mark Bergen says this, we believe in God's power to deliver. We know the tomb is empty and jesus is alive. That's where lamenting comes in sea, lamenting is a way for us to turn to God and to pray and to remember as we pray this one truth that will remember just a moment through the bread and the cup, this truth and here's the truth jesus is returning and he will make all things right. That's the promise that lamenting helps us see, lamenting helps us remember who jesus is, what Jesus has done and if someone says well how do we know if jesus is coming back in this all a fairy tale where everything about the first arrival of jesus came true, just like it said, it would so have every reason to believe that his second arrival will be just as true, Jesus is returning. He will make all things right, very good. Goes on to say this, christians don't just mourn, we long for God to end the pain, that's what we do right? We long for God to end the paint, whatever that pain is, we long for God to end that and God can in that pain and only God will in that. Listen, your favorite politician, your favorite pastor, your favorite parent, your favorite weekend pal will not end your pain, your favorite position will not end your pain. They can't, only God will ultimately, and finally, in sin and pain and evil and suffering. He's the only one that can do that and in a sense, he's already done it through salvation in Jesus Christ, he's already done it. I was reading a story this week about a teacher who has taken a group of other teachers on a tour of new york state. Specifically, they were touring Revolutionary War sites, battle sites and every stop along their tour. In other words, they get to a new battle site and whoever their tour guide was at the new site, inevitably somewhere in their presentation, they would say, and this was the turning point in the war. So it got kind of funny after a while, because every single battle was a turning point in the war, but that can't be possible. It's only one turning point. Sure, all of those battles were significant. Everybody can't be a turning point, but I love what this lead teacher said about it. The observable phenomena is that the american revolution is the foundational event for the creation of this country and everyone wanted to connect their community to that event. He is what he said by claiming to be the turning point. These people were proudly declaring and affirming their identity as americans. You know why Jerusalem fell because they quit, affirming their identity. Thank God, they quit declaring that their identity was in God God's people. They wouldn't turn and pray God's people, not not the non churchgoing people, not the liberal crazy, it's not the conservative psychopaths know God's people, God's people, They refused to turn to God, they refused to seek God, they refused to change their wicked ways, It was God's people. So if we were to modernize that, we might ask the question this way in July of 2021, how are we doing? That's Christians with our identity? Are we declaring and affirming that we are christians is our identity in christ first, and most are we lost in every other definition of identity that's out there in the world, from sexual orientation to political orientation to your favorite sports team, We're losing our identity in christ because we are finding our identity all over the place. And the reality is that is at least one of the major reasons why Jerusalem fell while the city was alone by the full city went empty. So can we do anything about that? Is there anything we can do anything we can change. Is there something we can do beginning right now that can change things at home, that can change things church and school and work, that can change things in our community, that can change things in our country and dare I say change things in the world. Is there anything we can do? Yes there is, and here it is laments, so we can do, we can lament, we can turn to God, we can complain to God, we can ask God, we can trust God and that math is the math that God has called us to and when God's people ignore that math, the city is lonely and discouraged and defeated, Dear christian, you have been uniquely saved, therefore you are uniquely free to lament, crying is human but lamenting this christian and as believers lamenting is one of the boldest, most exciting ways that we can live out our freedom as americans. Say that again, lamenting is one of the boldest most exciting ways that we can live out our freedom as americans. Why? Because lamenting is our way of saying to the world, we believe in God's power to deliver, lamenting is our way to take our freedom and say to the world, we believe in God's power to deliver, we believe in God's power to deliver, Do you believe, do you believe jesus died to satisfy and he died so that every day, all day, no matter what comes our way we can lament and in freedom say we believe in God's power to deliver. We believe.