The Hows of Horror I. How to become a widow A. Flirt with Idolatry B. Flirt with Immodesty C. Flirt with Intoxication II. How to become wretched Companions- among the Gentiles Commandments- (law is no more) Counselors- blind (no vision from the LORD) III. How to become worthless IV. How to Return

1. 8/19/17
THE HOWS OF HORROR
Lam 2:15
…Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call
The perfection of beauty, The joy of the
whole earth?
Lam 1:1
As Jerusalem looks into her mirror to admire her
vain glory, she is unprepared for the image that
stares back;
A ghastly old wrinkled woman, in a long black
widows vail, is the image she sees.
Her mind must reel in bewilderment searching for
answers but the only thing that comes to mind is
the first word of our verse- How-
and without waiting for an answer “How” is echoed
twice more before the first verse is finished.
I. HOW TO BECOME A WIDOW
Lam 1:1

2. 2
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!
The answer is found in verse eight.
Lam 1:8
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she is removed: all that honoured
her despise her, because they have seen
her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and
turneth backward.
How to become a widow…
A.Flirt with Idolatry
Lam 1:18
The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against
his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and
behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men
are gone into captivity.

3. 3
1Sam 15:23
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the
LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being
king.
Isa 57:3-6
3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the
sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the
whore.
4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves?
against whom make ye a wide mouth, and
draw out the tongue? are ye not children of
transgression, a seed of falsehood,
5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under
every green tree, slaying the children in the
valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is
thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to
them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou
hast offered a meat offering. Should I
receive comfort in these?

4. 4
Exod 20:4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth:
Exod 32:16
And the tables were the work of God, and
the writing was the writing of God, graven
upon the tables.
2Cor 3:3
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to
be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of
the living God; not in tables of stone, but in
fleshy tables of the heart.
How to become a widow…
B.Flirt with Immodesty
Lam 1:8

5. 5
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she is removed: all that honoured
her despise her, because they have seen
her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and
turneth backward.
Exod 28:42
And thou shalt make them linen breeches to
cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto
the thighs they shall reach:
Rev 3:18
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and
anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see.
Rev 19:8
And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the
fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

6. 6
How to become a widow…
C. Flirt with Intoxication
Hab 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to
him, and makest him drunken also, that thou
mayest look on their nakedness!
Deut 29:19-20
19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words
of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart,
saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the
imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness
to thirst:
20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the
anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke
against that man, and all the curses that are
written in this book shall lie upon him, and the
LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
“Loose lips sink ships.”
Don't talk carelessly because you don't know who is
listening. (From wartime. Literally, "Don't reveal

7. 7
even the location of a loved one on a ship, because
the location could be communicated to the enemy
by a spy.") You never know who is going to hear
what you say and how they will use what they
hear. Remember, loose lips sink ships.
1Tim 4:12
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an
example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Loose lips sink more than naval ships. They can
sink friendships, relationships, fellowship and your
worship.
Alcohol is a Poison lubricant to remove clothing and to
corrupt conversation.
Widowhood is only the first cause that begs the
question HOW?
II. HOW TO BECOME WRETCHED
(Ezek 16:10,13)

8. 8
God clothed Jerusalem with broidered work, and
shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee
about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
13
Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and
thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and
broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and
honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful,
and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Now as Jerusalem proceeds down the hall of horror
the next mirror reveals, the royal God given
garments of a queen have been replace…
Lam 2:1
1)How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion
with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from
heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and
remembered not his footstool in the day of his
anger!
Lam 2:9
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath
destroyed and broken her bars: her king
and her princes are among the Gentiles: the

9. 9
law is no more; her prophets also find no
vision from the LORD.
Companions- among the Gentiles (friendship w/the
world)
Commandments- (law is no more)
Counselors- blind (no visionfrom the LORD)
There is still one mirror Jerusalem must face; As if
widowhood, and a cloak of anger from the Lord
were not enough, as Jerusalem looks in this final
mirror she discovers all her resources of wealth
have vanished.
III. HOW TO BECOME WORTHLESS
Ezek 16:11-12
11
I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put
bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
12
And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings
in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine
head.

10. 10
Lam 4:1
1)How is the gold become dim! how is the most
fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary
are poured out in the top of every street.
Lam 4:2
The precious sons of Zion, comparable to
fine gold, how are they esteemed as
earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of
the potter!
Lam 5:16
The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto
us, that we have sinned!
Rom 9:21-23
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of
the same lump to make one vessel unto honour,
and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to
make his power known, endured with much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction:

11. 11
23 And that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
afore prepared unto glory,
Deut 28:47
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God
with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for
the abundance of all things;
Jas 1:23-24
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a
doer, he is like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was.
IV. HOW TO RETURN
Quit looking in the mirror and look through the
window at something great.

12. 12
Lam 5:21
Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be
turned; renew our days as of old.
2Cor 3:16-18
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord,
the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the Lord.
Acts 11:18
When they heard these things, they held their
peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life.
2Tim 2:25

13. 13
In meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
Deut 30:6
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine
heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, that thou mayest live.
1Cor 8:3
But if any man love God, the same is known of
him.
Zech 8:3-6
3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion,
and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and
Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the
mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy
mountain.
4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet
old men and old women dwell in the streets of
Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his

14. 14
hand for very age. 5 And the streets of the city
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof.
6 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be
marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this
people in these days, should it also be marvellous
in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts.
The Hows of Horror
I. Howto becomea widow
A. Flirt withIdolatry
B. Flirt withImmodesty
C. Flirt withIntoxication
II. Howto becomewretched
Companions-amongtheGentiles
Commandments-(lawisno more)
Counselors-blind(no visionfromtheLORD)
III. Howto becomeworthless
IV. Howto Return