Grieve our Sin & Then Repent

Lamentations 3:40-47, Psalm 139:23-24

Thus far, in our lamenting with Jeremiah, we have seen deep sorrow, crying out, and hopefulness. All that leads us to these seven verses, which are ones of repentance.

To truly understand grace and we must first understand our sin. God does not accept empty apologies or calloused hearts. He wants a heart full of genuine grief over our sin, and we see Jeremiah call the people to recognize what they have done and that it is this that causes the just wrath of God.

We must understand that our sin is a big deal and take it seriously. This is why Jeremiah is lamenting - his people did not take their sin seriously, and it has now invited death and destruction through the Babylonian takeover of Jerusalem.

Yet, Jeremiah still has hope because he knows his God. His hope is not destroyed, but he calls the people of Israel to return to the Lord. He calls them to repent.

I think we can get into a repentance rut. “God, I'm sorry,” then we return to playing with our dead things, saturating ourselves in our sins.

God doesn’t mess around with sin.

So neither should we.

Church, would we honestly examine our hearts this morning? Would we lift our spirits and hands and repent taking every bit of our sin seriously? Would we grieve with hope and assurance that, unlike Israel at the time of this lament, we now know that Jesus interceded on our behalf? We repent confidently and know our God leads us to repentance because it is for our good and his glory.