Living Faith · PM Sermon · 04-26-26
Learn
from the
Ashes
Lamentations 3:31–33 · Ed Rangel · Waupaca, WI
Opening Warning
“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction...”
1 Corinthians 10:11–12 · NASB 1995
Main Text
“For the Lord will not reject forever...”
Lamentations 3:31 · NASB 1995
Main Text
“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion...”
Lamentations 3:32 · NASB 1995
Main Text
“For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men.”
Lamentations 3:33 · NASB 1995
Thesis
God’s discipline is real and painful.
But it is not cruelty, and not final when His people humble themselves.
Point 1
Israel’s Rebellion
Was Written
for Our Warning
They had privilege
- Deliverance
- Signs
- Food from heaven
- Water from the rock
Warning
Spiritual privilege does not make rebellion safe.
How rebellion grows
- The heart wants
- The mind defends
- The mouth explains
- The feet walk
That is not harmless
That is idolatry
with a Bible nearby.
Testing the Lord
That is not faith. That is testing the Lord.
Gem
Do not read the ashes like tourists.
Read them like warned men.
Application
Church
Do not dull the warning.
Point 2
Judah’s Ashes
Show Discipline
Is Real
Do not soften the text
The Lord did not say
He never rejected.
He said He will not reject forever.
Jerusalem fell
The right conclusion was not, “God failed.”
The right conclusion was, “God told the truth.”
Two errors
Error 1
God would never discipline.
Error 2
God is finished forever.
Gem
The ashes tell the truth about sin.
They do not get the final word over mercy.
Application
Do not wait until
the walls come down.
Repent before the ashes.
Point 3
God’s Grief
Is Holy Correction,
Not Random Pain
Do not soften the phrase
He causes grief.
That does not make Him cruel. It makes Him God.
Not contradiction
Holy
Too holy to ignore rebellion.
Merciful
Too merciful to flatter ruin.
Hebrews 12
“Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines...”
Hebrews 12:6 · NASB 1995
Application
Stop wasting
the discipline.
- What is God exposing?
- What must be confessed?
- What must be cut off?
Point 4
God’s Heart
Is Mercy,
Not Cruelty
Severity is not cruelty
A murderer cuts
to destroy.
Christ to His Church
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
Revelation 3:19 · NASB 1995
Invitation
Do not stand outside mercy
and call it safety.
- Believe the gospel
- Repent of your sins
- Be baptized into Christ
Final Call
Return while
mercy still calls.
The ashes warn. The rod corrects. The Lord’s heart is not cruelty.