The Devastation of Separation
Biblical Text: Lamentations 1:1-6

1 How doth 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! 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. 3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. 4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. 5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts (deer) that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Judah is in captivity and Jerusalem lay desolate and violated. The weeping prophet Jeremiah is surveying the landscape and has a lot to cry about. The picture he paints in the first six verses is just a sampling of his pain; read on if you can bear it!

The ruined condition of Jerusalem turned Jeremiah's thoughts to the misery and suffering of the entire nation of Judah and all its citizens.

• He saw Judah exiled.
• It's citizens were scattered, swallowed up by the Babylonian Empire.
• Affliction and hard labor were their only friends.
• No land of their own.
• No rest for the weary.

Jeremiah saw the pain of the conquered. All the roads leading to the temple in Zion (Jerusalem) were deserted. Worship of the One True and Living God had come to a halt.
· All the gates of Jerusalem were desolate.
· All the priests were mourning
· All the young women were grieving.
· All Judah and Jerusalem were in deep anguish, weeping bitterly.
The great nation of Judah had become the servants of her enemies and her enemies' gods.

I'm sure there were many who asked the question, "Why did God do this to us?" That's usually the first thing that comes out of our mouth when we suffer.
Why did God let this happen to me?
What did I do to deserve this?
How can God say He loves me and then let this happen?

Seldom do we point our fingers in the right direction. For Judah, the finger should have been pointed at SELF. The people had sinned. They had turned away from God. They had separated themselves from their Creator, preferring instead to pander to the sin all around them. So God withdrew His hand of protection, and the nation of Judah was soon destroyed, its capital lay desolate, its' citizens were enslaved, not just by Babylon, but also by sin.
· All the splendor and glory of Jerusalem was lost.
· All the leaders had fled like cowards.
· All of King Zedekiah's royal court had turned chicken and run when the Babylonian army broke through the wall of Jerusalem.
· Judah found out that when you hit rock bottom, there are seldom any friends around to throw you a rope.

When we take our eyes off the Savior, and prefer to play with the bottled up baubles and bangles of Beelzebub, we deserve the devastation of separation. For the prophet Jeremiah, the anguish was almost unbearable. He couldn't help but think back to the good ole days, when they worshipped God and enjoyed the fruit that came with living a life of obedience.

That's what happens when you find yourself being crushed by the devastation of separation from God. Your mind instinctively thinks back...back to a time when things were better...a time when you knew who you were and WHOSE you were...a time when you lived within the framework of fellowship with the Father.
A time when you put God first.
A time when you knew better than to disobey God.
A time when your life centered around the One who KEPT you centered.

Jeremiah and all Judah wailed in anguished perpetuity. There was no end in sight to their pain, as they remembered the past. Jeremiah knew that wherever the surviving exiles were scattered, they would remember the past and all the pleasant things that had been theirs before their nation collapsed.
· They would remember the freedom they once had.
· They would remember their families, in particular the husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers who had been killed during the war with Babylon.
· They would remember their homes, jobs, farms, gardens, and all the festive occasions they had celebrated with their communities.
But memories would be hard-pressed to sustain them through the pain of their current situation. The enemy who conquered their nation was now holding them in bondage and laughing at them.

How can a city or a nation become so lost? The answer is simple...they succumbed to the sin of disobedience. They had turned away from God and decided to do things THEIR WAY. And the result of their sin was the devastation of separation from God. Sin was the culprit then, and it's still the culprit now. So let's take a look at three aspects of sin: the description of sin, the disgrace of sin, and the destitution of sin.

The Description of Sin: How would you describe sin? After all, you can't avoid it unless you first know how to recognize it! Too many get caught up in sin because they never took the time to define it, call it what it is, and then stay away from it. So let's define it. Sin is any act, habit, practice, idea or thought...ANYTHING that separates you from God...because you do know that God is holy, and He cannot dwell in an unholy place.

A mother dressed her son in his Sunday suit for a family gathering. "Go outside and wait at the car" she said. "But don't get dirty." The little boy went out, saw his toy truck in the middle of last night's rain puddle, and decided to retrieve it. The mud splashed all over his suit. When his mother came out she said, "Didn't I tell you not to get dirty?" "But mommy" he said, "I didn't think the mud would get me."

That little boy is us. We dabble in sin, toy with it, experiment with it...because we figure we won't get dirty. But you can't play with fire and not get burned. If you get dirty, and there is no Christ in you to wash you up and bring you back into submission, God has no choice but to remove Himself from your presence.

Sin is like a chameleon, very adaptable. Satan can shape sin it into a myriad of enticements to suit your fancy. He can make it can taste good if that's your weakness. He'll move it from the top shelf to the middle, right where you can reach it, and he'll make sure you have enough money to pay for it. He can make it feel good too! He packages it in just the right amount of drug to keep you coming back for more. He can even make sin LOOK good! He'll put her in a cute little mini-skirt, and place her right next to your office. And sin can tug so hard at you that you get tired of fight back.

That's what happened to Jeremiah's constituents. They got tired of fighting sin. So they got dirty, and there was not enough God left in them to clean them up. They had abandoned their first love in favor of Satan's snares.

The Disgrace of Sin: The worst part of sin is the hell it causes. Yes, I said HELL. Sin strips a person of dignity, wraps him in self-righteousness, and sends him out into the world a fool. And that's still not the worst of it. The worst is that he doesn't even KNOW hes a fool.

Sin will ruin your reputation and corrupt your character faster than lightening.
· Because of sin, men's consciences have been hardened, calloused, corrupt and condemned.
· Because of sin, their eyes have become shifty and bloodshot, devilish and tear-ridden.
· Because of sin, men's hands have become bloodied, greedy and thievish.
· Their tongues have become slanderous, filthy, unbridled, and critical.
· Their bodies have become diseased, feeble, indecent, and immoral.
· Their minds have become frustrated and perplexed, terrified and troubled.
· Their attitudes have become proud, rebellious, childish, and stubborn.
· Their desires have become beastly, brutal, lustful, excessive and unsatisfied.
· Their feelings have become insensitive, carnal, resentful and jealous.
· And worst of all, their souls have become burdened and joyless.
Sin is a loathsome and despicable partner. It's punishments are worst than poison. You can color it, classify it, camouflage it, conceal it, or cover it up, but it is still corrupt. You can disguise it, decorate it, defend it, define it, and design it, but it is still disgraceful. You can laugh at it, lament it, love it, laud it, and legalize it, but it is still life devouring. And regardless of how you savor it or soften it, it is still sin&and it is senseless.

The Destitution of Sin: Romans 2:2 says, "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." It also says in Romans 14:12 that everyone of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God. There will be a lot of fumbling as sinners stand before God. It will be too late for prayer, too late for confession, too late for repentance, too late to plead for mercy. All the sins of our lives will have to be judged, or else where would the justice be?

What will judgment look like? How will God weed out the sinners? How will He separate the wheat from the tares, the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, the holy from the horrible, the pure from the profane, and the saved from the lost? He will do it with His omniscient power. God knows the difference between jewels and junk, hot and cold, fire and fumes, sacred and secular, humble and hypocrite, true and false! He alone is the source of all wisdom and knowledge, and He can surely tell the difference between sheep and goats!

And what will the rendering be? If "Christ hath regarded our helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for our souls", what will be God's justifiable response be to those who rejected His only Son? He has a home prepared, where NO SAINTS ABIDE...and its not in "glory land". It is a place of eternal torment, torture and terror.
· It is a place of suffering, sorrow and shame.
· It is a place of fire, fear, and frustration.
· It is a place of pain, pressure and perishing.
· It is a place of worry, weeping and wailing!
This is the warning of Lamentations&that those who refuse to accept God's mercy now without judgment, will one day face Gods judgment without mercy, and those who refuse to benefit from God's grace now, will one day come face to face with Gods wrath. One day...those who rejected Christ will stand before a rejecting Christ, and hear Him say, "Depart from Me, I know you not!"

But there is hope. There is hope still for Israel, and there is hope for all mankind. Jesus is that hope.
He is the hope of the world;
He is the head of the church;
He is peace for your mind,
Joy for your heart,
And rest for the weary.

Sin makes us ugly, but Christ can make us beautiful.
Sin makes us greedy, but Christ can make us generous.
Sin makes us selfish, but Christ can make us sacrificial.
Sin makes us fearful, but Christ can give us peace.
Are you ready to reject sin and accept your Savior?