Learn from the Ashes
Text: Lamentations 3:31–33 Opening Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1–12
Lamentations 3:31–33 (NASB 1995)
“For the Lord will not reject forever,
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.”
1 Corinthians 10:11–12 (NASB 1995)
“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
Learning Objectives
- Show why Paul used Israel’s history as a warning for Christians.
- Explain how Judah’s ashes reveal the seriousness of rebellion against God.
- Distinguish between God’s discipline and divine cruelty.
- Show how Lamentations 3:31–33 gives hope without softening judgment.
- Call sinners and wandering Christians to repent while mercy still calls.
Paul did not treat Israel’s history like dead history.
He looked back at the wilderness generation — people who had seen deliverance, passed through the sea, eaten spiritual food, and drunk spiritual drink — and he still said, “Most of them God was not well-pleased.”
That is a hard sentence.
They had privilege. Signs. Deliverance. Moses. (Angel Food Cake) Food from heaven. Water from the rock. And still their hearts went crooked.
Then Paul turns to Christians and says, “These things happened as examples for us.” So we do not read Israel’s failures like tourists walking through a museum. We read them like warned men.
Lamentations is one of those warnings written in ashes.
- Jerusalem fell. The walls came down. The temple burned. The people were carried away. The prophets had warned them, but they would not listen.
- Paul said, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Judah did not take heed. That is why Lamentations was written in ashes.
- And right in the middle of that wreckage, Lamentations says: the Lord will not reject forever. If He causes grief, He will have compassion. He does not afflict from a heart of cruelty.
That is the burden tonight.
Do not repeat the rebellion. Do not despise the rod. Do not accuse the Lord. Return while mercy still calls.
Thesis: Lamentations 3:31–33 teaches that God’s discipline against rebellion is real and painful, but it is not cruelty and not final when His people humble themselves under His hand.
I. Israel’s Rebellion Was Written for Our Warning
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that Israel’s history was written for us. Not for entertainment. Not for Bible trivia. And not so we can sit safely above Israel like we would have done better.
It was written for our instruction.
- Paul reaches back to the wilderness generation. These were not outsiders. These were the people brought out of Egypt by the power of God. They had seen the plagues. They had walked through the sea. They had followed the cloud. They had received manna. They had drunk water from the rock.
- And yet Paul says, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased.”
That should sober every Christian in the room.
[!NOTE]
Spiritual privilege does not make rebellion safe. Being near holy things does not make sin harmless. Being part of God’s people does not give anyone permission to test the Lord. Israel had privileges, but privilege did not protect them when they hardened themselves against God.
1. Their appetite turned against God
Paul says, “Do not crave evil things as they also craved.”
- That is where rebellion often begins. Not always with a loud declaration against God. Not always with a formal denial of faith. It begins with appetite.
- The heart wants what God forbids. Then the mind starts defending it. The mouth starts explaining it. The feet start walking toward it. And the conscience gets quieter.
That is how rebellion grows.
- It usually does not begin with, “I hate God.” It begins with, “I know what God says, but I want this.”
- That is enough to damn a soul if it is not brought to repentance.
Paul also says, “Do not be idolaters,” and he warns about immorality. Those are not random sins thrown into the paragraph. They show what happens when appetite is allowed to rule.
[!NOTE]
The heart wants something. Then it bows. Then it acts. Then it calls the whole thing freedom. But God calls it rebellion.
Israel did not stop being religious. That is the strange part. They still had language about God. They still had memories of deliverance. They still had Moses. But their hearts wandered.
- That is the danger.
- A person can keep religious language while giving the heart to something else. A church can keep the order of worship and still lose the fear of God. A Christian can keep showing up while secretly bowing to another master.
That is not harmless. That is idolatry with a Bible nearby.
And Paul’s warning about immorality needs to land too. Modern religion wants to treat sexual sin like a personality struggle, a private weakness, or a small mistake.
God does not.
[!NOTE]
The body belongs to the Lord. Marriage belongs to the Lord. Purity belongs to the Lord. The Christian does not have permission to drag Christ’s name into the mud and then say, “Grace covers it,” while refusing to repent.
Grace forgives the penitent. It does not excuse the hardened.
2. Their presumption tested the Lord
Paul says, “Nor let us try the Lord.”
To test the Lord is to push against His patience as if He will never act.
That is dangerous.
[!NOTE]
Common Excuse: People do it all the time. “How far can I go?” “How long can I keep this hidden?” “How much can I neglect and still be fine?” “How much truth can I ignore before anything happens?”
That is not faith. That is testing the Lord.
Israel tested Him in the wilderness. Judah tested Him before the exile. Christians can test Him today when they hear His word and keep acting like He will never call the matter due.
Then Paul says, “Nor grumble, as some of them did.”
- Grumbling sounds small to us. God did not treat it as small.
- Why?
- Because grumbling is not merely complaint about circumstances. It is accusation against God’s care, God’s wisdom, and God’s rule. Grumbling says, “God has not done right by me.”
- That spirit destroyed many in Israel.
- And Paul says to the church, “Learn from them.”
3. The warning lands on Christians
Paul does not say, “Those things happened to them because they were under the Old Testament, so none of this matters now.”
No.
He says:
“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction.”
Then he says:
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”
That is not written to atheists. That is not written to pagans. That is written to the church.
The warning is plain: do not use your connection to God as protection while you rebel against God.
That is what Israel did. That is what Judah did. That is what churches can do. That is what Christians can do.
Romans 15:4 says whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction. That means Lamentations is not background material. It is instruction for the church’s conscience.
The wilderness matters. The prophets matter. The exile matters. Lamentations matters.
Jerusalem’s ashes preach. They tell us sin is not a game. They tell us warnings are not empty. They tell us God’s patience must not be mistaken for approval. They tell us judgment may be slow, but it is not imaginary.
Gem: Lamentations shows what rebellion brought upon Judah; Paul tells the church not to look at that history like tourists, but like warned men.
Application
| Audience | Warning | Point |
|---|---|---|
| The Christian who thinks he is fine because he is still religious | Take heed. | Israel had signs and still fell. Judah had the temple and still burned. Sitting near holy things while resisting God is not safety. It is danger. |
| The church | Do not preach grace in a way that dulls warning. | Paul did not. He preached Christ, and he still said, “Take heed.” |
| Parents, teachers, and future leaders | Do not raise children on soft Bible stories with the warnings removed. | The wilderness matters. The exile matters. Judgment matters. If they never learn holy fear, they will confuse God’s patience with weakness. |
II. Judah’s Ashes Show That God’s Discipline Is Real
Lamentations 3:31 says:
“For the Lord will not reject forever.”
That sentence is full of hope, but do not rush past what it assumes. If the Lord will not reject forever, then there was a real rejection in discipline.
The poet is not pretending nothing happened.
Jerusalem was in ashes. The walls were broken. The city was humiliated. The sanctuary had been defiled. The people had been carried away.
This was not merely national sadness. This was covenant judgment.
Judah did not stumble into exile by accident. The people had rebelled. God had warned them through the prophets. They hardened their necks. They trusted in the temple while they ignored the God of the temple.
They wanted religious identity without covenant obedience. So the ashes came.
1. Jerusalem’s fall was deserved discipline
Lamentations is not random tragedy. That matters.
This is not Job’s ash heap, and it is not the prophets’ persecution. Lamentations is deserved judgment.
Judah had sinned. Judah had ignored warning. Judah had polluted worship. Judah had oppressed. Judah had trusted lies. Judah had refused correction.
So when Jerusalem fell, the right conclusion was not, “God has failed.” The right conclusion was, “God told the truth.”
That is hard. But it is necessary.
A generation that cannot say “God disciplines rebellion” will always accuse Him when consequences arrive.
2. The rejection was real
The text does not say, “The Lord never rejected.” It says, “The Lord will not reject forever.”
That means the rejection was real, but temporary. The discipline was real, but not ultimate. The grief was real, but not final.
This is where people make two opposite mistakes.
Some people soften God’s discipline until it means almost nothing. They act like God would never bring His people low, never remove peace, never expose sin, never let consequences fall.
That is false.
Others feel the rod and assume God is finished with them forever. They think the pain means there is no road back.
That is also false.
Lamentations refuses both errors.
The Lord rejected in discipline. The Lord would not reject forever.
Both are true.
3. The ashes correct shallow religion
Jerusalem had temple language. Jerusalem had covenant history. Jerusalem had religious confidence. But none of that protected them while they rebelled.
That is a warning for us.
A church building cannot protect rebellion. Neither can family name, old obedience, or a Bible in the house. Baptism is not a license to harden your neck afterward.
If the heart is hard, judgment is not made harmless by religious surroundings.
Jerusalem’s ashes stand as a rebuke against shallow confidence. The people thought they were safe because of what they had. But God was looking at what they had become.
4. The rejection was not final
Now hear the hope.
“The Lord will not reject forever.”
That sentence is mercy in the smoke.
God’s discipline may be severe, but for the repentant it is not final abandonment. The Lord may bring His people low without casting them away forever. He may expose sin without destroying hope. He may wound pride without taking away mercy. He may strip false confidence so that real repentance can begin.
That is why the ashes still have hope.
Not because Judah deserved it. Not because the sin was small. Not because the judgment was mild. But because God’s covenant mercy is deeper than the wreckage.
Gem: The ashes tell the truth about sin, but they do not get the final word over the mercy of God.
Application
| Audience | Warning | Point |
|---|---|---|
| The person under consequences | Stop acting shocked that rebellion hurts. | Sin burns. Pride costs. Neglect has a harvest. The question is not whether God has been unfair. The question is whether you will finally humble yourself. |
| The Christian under correction | Do not confuse discipline with desertion. | If God is pressing on your conscience, exposing your sin, and making your rebellion bitter, that is mercy calling you back. |
| The church and the next generation | Never measure spiritual safety by outward appearance. | Jerusalem had religious history and still fell. If we hand the next generation a God who never disciplines, they will call Him cruel the first time consequences come. |
| Anyone hearing warning tonight | Do not wait until the walls come down. | Repent before the ashes. |
III. God’s Grief Is Holy Correction, Not Random Pain
Lamentations 3:32 says:
“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.”
Do not soften the first phrase.
“He causes grief.”
That is Bible language.
The text does not say grief merely happened and God later found a way to use it. It does not say Babylon acted and God was surprised. It does not say Jerusalem fell while God stood helplessly nearby.
It says He causes grief.
That does not make Him cruel. It makes Him God.
The Lord rules even over discipline. He governs judgment. He uses means. He brings consequences. He humbles the proud. He chastens His people.
That is not random pain. That is holy correction.
1. God causes grief through holy judgment
In Lamentations, the grief came because God judged rebellion.
Babylon was the instrument, but Babylon was not ultimate. The armies were real. The siege was real. The famine was real. The exile was real.
But behind all of it stood the holy God who had warned Judah and now brought His word to pass.
That is what men hate to admit.
They want a God who comforts consequences but never sends them. They want a God who heals wounds but never exposes the rebellion that caused them. They want a God who says “peace, peace” when there is no peace.
That is not the God of Lamentations.
The Lord causes grief when rebellion must be confronted.
2. God causes grief to humble pride
The purpose of discipline is not pain for pain’s sake.
God was not playing with Jerusalem. He was humbling a rebellious people. Pride had to be broken. False security had to be torn down. Lying religion had to be exposed. The people had to learn that God’s warnings were not decorations.
That is still true.
Sometimes the Lord lets a man taste the bitterness of his own way so he will stop calling it freedom. Sometimes the Lord lets a family feel the cost of spiritual neglect so they will stop pretending everything is fine. Sometimes the Lord lets a church feel weakness so it will stop trusting numbers, money, memories, or reputation.
That grief is not random. It is correction.
3. God’s correction is not contradiction
Verse 32 holds two truths together:
“If He causes grief, then He will have compassion.”
People want to split those apart.
One crowd makes Him a tyrant. Another crowd makes Him harmless.
Lamentations gives us neither.
The same God who causes grief also has compassion. His holiness and His mercy are not enemies. His discipline and His love do not contradict each other.
The Lord may grieve His people because He is too holy to ignore rebellion and too merciful to let them make peace with ruin.
That is the whole point.
4. Hebrews 12 brings this into the New Testament
Hebrews 12 says:
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”
The New Testament does not erase discipline. It clarifies it.
God’s people are not illegitimate children left alone in rebellion. The Father disciplines His children for their good, so that they may share His holiness.
That means Christians must avoid two errors.
First, do not despise discipline. Do not shrug it off. Do not call it nothing. Do not explain it away. Do not keep defending what God is exposing.
Second, do not faint under discipline. Do not say, “God must hate me.” Do not say, “There is no way back.” Do not say, “The Lord is done with me.” Do not confuse the rod with rejection forever.
Hebrews says discipline is painful. It does not pretend otherwise. But it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those trained by it.
That phrase matters: “trained by it.”
Not just hurt by it. Not just embarrassed. Not mad and unchanged.
Trained.
Discipline is wasted when the sinner only complains about the pain but never learns the lesson.
5. Compassion is according to abundant lovingkindness
Lamentations does not merely say God will have compassion. It says He will have compassion “according to His abundant lovingkindness.”
That is not thin mercy. That is not reluctant pity. That is covenant mercy. Steadfast love. Loyal compassion. Mercy that rises from God’s own character.
Judah’s sin was real. Jerusalem’s fall was deserved. The grief was caused by God. And still the text says abundant lovingkindness.
That means mercy is not fragile.
God’s mercy is not smaller than the wreckage. God’s compassion is not exhausted by the severity of His discipline.
The rod is real, but mercy governs the rod.
Application
| Audience | Warning | Point |
|---|---|---|
| The Christian being corrected | Stop wasting the discipline. | Ask what God is exposing. Ask what must be confessed. Ask what must be cut off. Ask where pride has been resisting Him. |
| The person who has sinned and now feels grief | Do not numb the grief. | Not all grief is bad. Some grief is mercy. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Do not drink it away. Do not entertain it away. Let it bring you back. |
| The church | Preach discipline without becoming harsh and preach mercy without becoming soft. | Hebrews 12 does both. Lamentations 3 does both. |
| Parents, teachers, and future leaders | Teach the next generation that love and correction belong together. | If they only hear comfort, they will treat discipline like abuse. If they only hear wrath, they will not know how to return. Give them the whole truth. |
IV. God’s Heart Is Mercy, Not Cruelty
Lamentations 3:33 says:
“For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men.”
That verse does not deny verse 32.
Verse 32 says He causes grief. Verse 33 says He does not afflict willingly — not from His heart.
The point is not that God lacks authority. The point is not that something forced His hand. The point is not that He afflicts by accident.
The point is that affliction is not His malicious delight.
God judges because He is holy. God disciplines because He loves. God humbles because pride destroys. God wounds in order to heal.
But He is not cruel.
1. God does not enjoy ruin as ruin
Sufferers often accuse God in their hearts without the courage to speak it aloud:
“God must enjoy this.” “God must be against me.” “God must be cruel.” “God must like watching people hurt.”
Lamentations says no.
God does not afflict from a heart of cruelty. He takes no pleasure in wickedness. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He is not savage. He is not malicious. He is not unstable.
He may bring severe discipline, but severity is not the same as cruelty.
That distinction matters.
A surgeon cuts. A murderer cuts. The act may look severe, but the heart and purpose are not the same.
God’s discipline cuts to heal. Cruelty cuts to destroy.
2. God’s discipline must be interpreted by His revealed character
Do not interpret God by the ashes alone. Interpret the ashes by what God has revealed about Himself.
The same passage says He will not reject forever. He will have compassion. His lovingkindness is abundant. He does not afflict from His heart.
That is God interpreting His own discipline.
Let Him define Himself.
Pain is loud, but pain is not Lord. Consequences are real, but consequences are not the full revelation of God’s heart.
The ashes tell us sin is serious. The text tells us mercy is deeper.
3. Revelation 3:19 gives the same warning to the church
Jesus says in Revelation 3:19:
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
That is the voice of Christ to His church.
Not to Babylon. Not to Egypt. Not to atheists.
To His church.
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.”
Then He says, “Repent.”
There it is again.
Love does not remove correction. Love brings correction.
The Lord does not say, “Because I love you, I will ignore your lukewarmness.”
No.
He says, “Because I love you, I will reprove you. Because I love you, I will discipline you. Therefore, repent.”
That fits Lamentations perfectly.
The Lord’s heart is mercy, not cruelty. But mercy does not flatter rebellion. Mercy calls rebellion home.
4. The cross proves God’s mercy without denying His severity
The New Testament brings us to the deepest proof of God’s mercy: the cross of Christ.
God did not answer sin by pretending it did not matter. He answered sin by giving His Son.
The cross proves two things at the same time: sin is worse than men think, and God’s mercy is greater than men deserve.
If anyone wants to know whether God is cruel, look at the cross.
Romans 8:32 says God “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.”
That is not cruelty. That is holy love. That is mercy with blood on it. That is grace that did not lie about sin.
So no Christian has the right to say, “God must be cruel because His discipline hurts.”
Look at the cross.
God is holy enough to judge sin. God is merciful enough to save sinners. God is loving enough to discipline His children. God is faithful enough not to reject forever those who humble themselves under His hand.
5. The call is repentance
So the text does not leave us with vague comfort.
Lamentations is not vague. Paul is not vague. Hebrews is not vague. Jesus in Revelation is not vague.
The call is repentance.
Learn from them. Take heed. Do not fall. Do not despise discipline. Do not faint under discipline. Be zealous and repent.
Some people want comfort while keeping the sin.
No.
That is not the comfort of Scripture.
God’s comfort belongs to the humbled, the repentant, the returning, the one who stops defending the rebellion and comes back under the hand of God.
Gem: The rod is not proof that God hates His people. It is proof that He refuses to let rebellion have the final word.
Application
| Audience | Warning | Point |
|---|---|---|
| The one accusing God | Be careful. | Lament, yes. Cry, yes. Confess pain, yes. But do not call God cruel because He is correcting what would destroy you. |
| The one hiding sin | Repent now. | Revelation 3:19 still speaks: “Be zealous and repent.” Not later. Not after the consequences get worse. Now. |
| The one ashamed and afraid to return | Do not let shame write the final page. | Lamentations says He will not reject forever. If you will humble yourself, the ashes are not the final page. |
| The church | Love must include reproof. | A church that never corrects is not compassionate. It is negligent. Christ reproves those He loves. |
| The next generation | Do not give them a God made out of sentimental fog. | Give them the God of Scripture: holy enough to discipline, merciful enough to restore, faithful enough to keep calling sinners home. |
Conclusion
Paul says Israel’s history was written for our instruction. So learn from them.
Learn from the wilderness generation. They had privilege and still fell. Learn from Judah. They had warning and still hardened themselves. Learn from Jerusalem’s ashes. Religious identity does not make rebellion safe. Learn from Lamentations. God’s discipline is real, but it is not cruelty.
The Lord will not reject forever. If He causes grief, He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. He does not afflict from a heart of cruelty.
So do not repeat the rebellion.
Do not crave evil things. Do not bow to idols. Do not act immorally. Do not test the Lord. Do not grumble against His rule. Do not think you stand so firmly that you cannot fall.
Take heed.
And if the rod of God is already heavy on you, do not waste it. Do not despise it. Do not faint under it. Do not accuse the Lord. Do not defend the sin He is exposing.
Return while mercy still calls.
The ashes are warning. The rod is correction. The grief is not random. The Lord’s heart is not cruelty.
His mercy is still calling humbled sinners home.
Invitation
If you are outside of Christ, do not mistake God’s patience for approval.
The same God who judged rebellion then still judges sin now, and He will judge the world through Christ. But the same God who had compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness now calls sinners through Christ.
Believe the gospel. Repent of your sins. Confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Rise to walk in newness of life.
Do not stand outside mercy and call it safety.
And if you are a Christian under correction, stop arguing with the rod. Stop defending the sin. Stop explaining away the compromise. Stop calling discipline cruelty. Stop confusing shame with hopelessness.
The Lord wounds to heal. He humbles to restore. He exposes to cleanse. He causes grief, but He also has compassion.
Come back clean. Come back humble. Come back before the yoke grows heavier.
Come if you need prayers. Come if you need restoration. Come if you need to obey the gospel.
But come.
Word Study
| Term | Original Language / Textual Idea | Meaning | Sermon Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example | Greek: typos / typikōs | Pattern, example, warning form | Paul says Israel’s history is not dead history; it is written to warn Christians |
| Instruction | Greek: nouthesia | Admonition, warning, corrective instruction | The Old Testament warns and corrects God’s people today |
| Reject | Textual idea in Lamentations 3:31 | To cast off, reject, or put away | God’s discipline may involve real rejection, but not permanent abandonment for the repentant |
| Forever | Hebrew: ʿôlām | Long duration, perpetuity, forever | The verse limits the rejection; discipline is real but not final |
| Causes grief | Textual idea in Lamentations 3:32 | To grieve, bring sorrow, cause pain | God is not absent from discipline; He governs it with holy purpose |
| Compassion | Hebrew: rāḥam | Tender mercy, compassion, pity | God’s response to humbled people is not coldness but mercy |
| Lovingkindness | Hebrew: ḥesed | Covenant loyalty, steadfast love, loyal mercy | God’s abundant covenant mercy governs the grief He causes |
| Afflict willingly | Hebrew phrase: not “from His heart” | Not from malicious delight or cruelty | God disciplines severely, but His heart is not savage or cruel |
| Discipline | Greek: paideia | Training, correction, fatherly discipline | Hebrews 12 shows New Testament believers must still receive God’s correction |
| Reprove | Greek: elenchō | Expose, convict, correct | Revelation 3:19 shows Christ corrects those He loves |
Scripture Interlock
| Passage | Immediate Meaning | Connection to Sermon |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Corinthians 10:1–12 | Israel’s wilderness rebellion was written as warning for Christians | Opens the sermon by showing that Old Testament rebellion must instruct the church |
| Romans 15:4 | Former Scriptures were written for our instruction | Confirms that Lamentations is not dead history but living warning |
| Lamentations 3:31 | The Lord will not reject forever | Shows discipline is real but not final for the humbled |
| Lamentations 3:32 | If He causes grief, He will have compassion | Shows God’s grief is holy correction governed by mercy |
| Lamentations 3:33 | God does not afflict from His heart | Shows divine discipline is not cruelty |
| Hebrews 12:5–11 | The Father disciplines His children for their good | Brings Lamentations’ doctrine of discipline into New Testament application |
| Revelation 3:19 | Christ reproves and disciplines those He loves | Shows Jesus calls His church to repent under loving correction |
| Galatians 6:7–8 | God is not mocked; sowing and reaping remain | Warns that grace does not cancel the harvest of rebellion |
| 2 Corinthians 7:10 | Godly sorrow produces repentance | Shows grief can become mercy when it leads the sinner home |
| Romans 8:32 | God did not spare His own Son but delivered Him over for us all | Shows the cross proves mercy without denying divine severity |
| Romans 11:22 | Behold the kindness and severity of God | Holds together mercy and judgment without softening either |
