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Reading Lamentations 3:22-27, the heart of this mournful song, and its deepest reminder that God's mercies are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
One of the most famous hymns is great is thy faithfulness morning by morning new mercies I see. And that line comes from the center part of the book of Lamentations when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. We feature New Testament study an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.
Now, here's your teacher pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study in the book of Lamentations. And here we have arrived at the very heart of this particular book and by the heart of it I mean right there in the center of chapter 3 that the rest of the book revolves around.
This is the most hopeful section of the book of Lamentations and where we find the most familiar Phrase that you've certainly heard from this book where it says that the loving kindnesses of Yahweh never ceased.
His compassions never fail. His mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness? That is certainly the most recognizable line from Lamentations. It is of course the title of one of the most famous hymns great is thy faithfulness one of my favorites certainly and.
And it is no doubt. The verse you would have known most coming into the book of Lamentations if there was anything from this book That was most familiar to you. You would have recognized that I've known many pastors many teachers many Encouragers who have used that phrase again and again.
His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. Now we've intended to keep that in mind as we've been going through the book of Lamentations because like I've said This is a book of lament as the title would suggest and therefore not very Not very cheerful through most of it especially considering that Israel and Judah are being punished because of their sin against God and they've come to really like the lowest point that they could possibly come.
Everything has been snatched by them. They are alone in the dirt. They have whored themselves out with false gods and the pagans that are around them. And now they feel as though they have been abandoned by God himself.
But as we had read last in the lesson that we had looked at for this first half of chapter 3. It was said in verses 19 to 21. Let me recap this and then I'll do our reading for today and go through verses 22 to 27.
So 19 to 21 says. Remember my affliction and my homelessness the wormwood and the gall. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me this I will return to my heart. Therefore I will wait in hope and that was where we ended and so far.
This is like the most hopeful declaration that has been made in the book of Lamentations thus far. So here is that most hopeful portion that the rest of this book revolves around and again we want to keep these things in mind even as we read the rest because all of the rest even the sorrow and The grief over one sin is meant to draw a person's attention back to God.
So let me start here verses 22 to 27. Hear the word of the Lord. Het the loving kindnesses of Yahweh indeed. Never cease for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness?
Yahweh is my portion says my soul. Therefore I will wait for him tat Yahweh is good to those who hope in him to the soul who seeks him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of Yahweh. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
And we'll stop there now going on from there which we'll finish up well at least attempt to this is actually a long chapter it's 66 verses, but as we go on from there into the next portion of. Or the latter half I guess you could say of chapter 3 it follows along with exactly that statement.
It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. And then we read let him sit alone and be silent verse 29. Let him put his mouth in the dust verse 30. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him.
So it's kind of like we turn back into sorrow there at that point. But remembering that it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. It is good for those who have sinned that they should have to deal with the consequences of their sin.
But those consequences are meant to lead them back to the loving kindnesses of God. It's like what we read in Romans chapter 2 where it says that God's Kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. This is Romans 2 for or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and page and patience?
Not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. So why has God not struck you down in his judgment now? Well, he's being kind to you. So that you would be convicted in heart and turn from your sin back to the Lord.
But as Paul goes on there in Romans 2 5 to say but because of your hard and impenitent heart. You are storing up a wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
So if a person does not learn from their circumstances if they don't feel that conviction over their sin and they persist To walk in a way that leads to judgment then God's Hand of judgment will eventually come upon that person because they would not turn from their sin back to Christ.
I think there are many things friends that we can try to excuse as being okay and we think it's fine and we hold on to these things and we value this sin and and we will indulge in it and Suck on it. Like it's a mint under our tongue.
It's like we we Enjoy it. Maybe it doesn't go to such extremes that somebody sees the way that we sin and and therefore Judgment is passed on us by those who are around us. We don't feel any judgment by anybody because they don't know the way that I'm sinning or we find a way to excuse it somehow and we'll continue on in that and think that there's no harm being done when it is eating away at our very souls and If we do not turn from this sin that we very clearly idolize and cling to thinking that our life wouldn't even be complete unless I can have the satisfaction in this thing if we don't turn from it God will turn from us and His judgment will pour out on.
Those who are wicked those who loved their sin more than they loved God and it's very important it is very important that we feel conviction over our sin and We listen to that conviction not just wallow in it like oh, what was me?
I'm a worm in the dirt and I'm just gonna keep doing this for the rest of my life. Now we have to put to death. What is earthly in us as said in Colossians 3 5. We have to turn to Christ and be crucified with him as Paul says in Galatians 2 20.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me and the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
We read about that here as we look at these six verses. Remembering the loving kindness and the compassions of God verse 22 once again. The loving kindnesses of Yahweh never cease for his compassions.
Never fail. Now, of course the way that you know This verse the way that you've heard it most often is his mercies are new every morning. So, where do we get that from? Well consider in verse 22. This is reading out of the English Standard Version.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end. I've been reading from the legacy standard. It says for his compassions Never fail and they are the same. The same thing is being said here.
Let me go to the King James because this is probably The most well-known version since this is the phrase that has been repeated for centuries now. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not.
That's the line in the hymn greatest I faithfulness that compassions fail not they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. So taking mercies from the first part. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed and combining that with verse 23.
They are new every morning great is thy faithfulness. God's mercy is new for us every morning. You woke up today in the goodness of God because he was merciful to you today you had sinned yesterday in ways that you probably had not sinned the day before and.
So God's mercy is upon you today new and afresh. Thank God. Because how long does it take before God is? Finally fed up with me and he's just gonna know what is wrong with this guy. Why does he keep going back to this stuff again and again?
Why does he keep sinning? Why does he not seem to be able to kick this? I'm just gonna let him go if it were not for God's mercies. Then I would not be waking up at the love of God tomorrow. But he loves me today because his mercy is new for me today.
Mercy remember is God not giving us what we deserve. What do we deserve judgment because of our sin and God doesn't judge us because his mercy is new for us. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve which is the The favor of God upon us through Christ our Savior.
That is God's grace. So he gives us what we don't deserve. Unmerited favor mercy is him not giving us what we do deserve. We deserve judgment and he doesn't pour it out on us. So where we read in verse 22 the loving-kindness is of Yahweh indeed never cease.
It would be the same as if saying his mercies never cease his Compassions never fail verse 23. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness? Now one of the things about the morning. I think this would have said something different to a Hebrew.
Then we probably think of it in our lives and in our context today. The Hebrews had morning sacrifices. Remember, so the day would start with a sacrifice. Let me read Psalm 5 3 Oh Lord in the morning.
You hear my voice in the morning. I Prepare a sacrifice for you and watch as we understand that to be a Psalm of David He begins his day Offering the morning sacrifice. So as we read here in Lamentations 3 that his mercies are new every morning great is your faithfulness?
This is as if to say God would receive my sacrifice from me in the morning now at this time. There is no temple anymore remember. Yeah the Babylonians came in and wiped the temple out and Had carried away so many of the Israelites and the Jews and they've been exiled into Babylonian captivity.
So there is no place to offer a sacrifice. Since sacrifices were supposed to be offered in the temple. That was the place where God dwelled. So there is not a place of morning sacrifice and Yet the singer here saying they are new your mercies are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness as though to say I offer myself and by the mercy of God I will be received by God because God's faithfulness is great. Though the children of Israel the people of Judah had been ridiculously unfaithful God has been faithful to his people and to his promises and he will deliver them up out of this and back into his favor and The fruitfulness of his promise which as you know eventually leads to the coming of the Messiah several hundred years after this.
We go on in verse 24 to read Yahweh is my portion says my soul therefore I wait for him and This is to say that I am fully satisfied in my God who saves me. Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not.
What I? Shall not want. I am fully satisfied in God. I have everything That I need in God and this is quite a wake-up. This is quite a wake-up for this person who is singing this song of lament even this high praise portion that comes in the midst of a Lamenting mournful song you have this statement in verse 23.
They are new every morning. This is a statement of the person singing is waking up. They are coming out of their spirit of stupor. They are seeing how good God has been to them and really all of this has happened my sin.
I went after my sin because God was not enough for me and I felt like I needed to have something else and So this person who is waking up Having an awareness of their sin coming back to the Lord Recognizing his goodness to them.
They are now able to confess Yahweh is my portion. God has given all good things to me. I have everything I could ever want. Says my soul. Therefore I wait for him. So remember we left off last time in verse in verses 20 and 21.
Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me this I will return to my heart. Therefore I will wait in hope. So this person is bowed down into the dirt. They are as low as they can get but they are waiting.
They are not despairing. This is not the end I have. I have come to the end of me here. I will wait in hope that the Lord will lift me up again because his loving kindnesses. Never cease his mercies never cease his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning and Great is the faithfulness of God. When Israel failed they failed again and again and again, they were ridiculously unfaithful. What they deserve is judgment. But God has been faithful and it's remembering that faithfulness.
That the singer here is not in despair but knows they will be restored again and is now able to confess. Yahweh is my portion says my soul. Therefore I wait for him. Let's go on to the next phrase that we have in verses 25 to 27.
Yahweh is good to those who hope in him. To the soul who seeks him. So we have again in verse 24. Yahweh is my portion says my soul. So this is not just an utterance of the mouth. I Say the magic words again and God will come to my aid.
It is a knowing in the very deepest part of the person that God is with me and What I have deserved which is the judgment of God. He has not completely annihilated me. The judgment of God has come upon Israel here.
I mean make no mistake. We've been talking about that as we've been going through lamentations. Israel and Judah are under judgment. They're under judgment even as this song is being lifted up. But they haven't been completely destroyed condemned in that judgment.
So my soul knows and will hope in God that he is he is gonna come to me again and lift me up. Yahweh is good to those who hope in him. To the soul who seeks him, you know that that word for soul also means an appetite.
So you think of when you're hungry for something? Where does that hunger come from? Well, it's it's down in your gut, right? It's in the it's in the center of the pit of yourself when you haven't had food.
You are hungering and you are longing. Well that word there for soul also means to hunger and. So when talking here about the soul that longs to the soul who seeks him. This is speaking of a soul that hungers for God.
We hear that in the Psalms as well. One of the most famous verses being Psalm 42 to my soul thirsts for God. For the Living God. When shall I come and appear before God. And there you're even using the word soul my soul thirst the very center of me.
Everything that is to me that that hunger that longing. When will I get more of God? Matthew chapter 5 in the Beatitudes Jesus said. Blessed are those who? Hunger and thirst for righteousness. For they shall be satisfied.
And the one who hopes in him the soul that seeks him longs for the righteousness of God. This is the turning point of the soul here that we read about in lamentations. This person who is mourning over their sin and now seeking him who will satisfy.
Verse 26 it is good that he waits silently for the salvation of Yahweh. Not lifting up a complaint. Lifting up a lament certainly but not complaining against God. How long is gonna take you. When are you gonna come to me?
It is good to wait silently. To accept that God has not destroyed me and he is going to restore me. It's good to wait for the salvation of Yahweh for the soul to be still and know that he is God. Verse 27 it is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
I Think I had read it earlier as the yoke of his youth. It's the it's the yoke in his youth. You know, it's when you are in your youth that your passions are the strongest, right? You probably could look back on that person that you were years ago and wondered and that person was so Ahead of themselves.
They were so worked up about all these things that it didn't have a clue. They were so green and If I could go back and slap some sense into that guy or gal from so many years ago. No, no to have those passions in your youth if you are passionate about good things in your youth.
Then you will remain on good paths. For most of your life, at least that's what you would expect. Right what you long for in your youth if you exercise those passions. Those longings in your youth and it's easier to go after those things as you get older.
So if you yearn for righteousness in your youth and that becomes your passion then as you get older when your passions are not as as Fiery, but it's just become like the way of your life because you were passionate about it in your youth.
It is easier to go this way in your age and so it seems to be the case for the singer here looking back on his youth and Saying if that young man had been on fire For the Lord the commands of God. Walking the way of righteousness in his youth, then I would not be in the place that I'm in right now.
So it is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth that he should learn from his mistakes and come back to the right way to live bearing those consequences when you're young then it's a lot easier to handle them when you are older and So this is Demonstrating a learning that's happening here.
I have learned from my errors and I am coming back to the way of God. That he would ignite the fire in me again and that my passion would be for him. Yahweh is my portion says my soul therefore I will wait for him and my friends.
These are good words for us to sing every day. That we would continually be reminded of the loving kindnesses of God that they never cease that his compassions never fail they are new every morning and Great is his faithfulness.
Those who know their salvation is secure in Christ. Will sing this to the uttermost and how sad it is for those who do not have the comfort of salvation. They are left wondering if God still loves me is he still here for me?
Where is God in the midst of this circumstance? It's good for us. Even when we have done wrong and are coming back to God to be cleansed of all unrighteousness again. First first John 1 9 it is good for us that we may be able to sing.
That his compassions never fail his mercies are new every morning and great is his faithfulness. Heavenly Father we are so thankful to you. For your kindness to us and as we had heard earlier from Romans chapter 2 your kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.
The greatest way you have demonstrated how your mercies are new every morning and your Compassions never fail is in the cross of Christ. Sending your son to die on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sin.
Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life and We come back to Christ. To be washed as Jesus said to his own disciples he who has been washed once needs not be washed again except for his feet.
Yeah, we will still be kicking up dirt in this world and we'll need to confess our sins and be cleansed of all unrighteousness. Lord set us on paths of righteousness for your name's sake lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus all our days and Bring us into glory to be with you.
It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.
This has been when we understand the text of pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts episodes videos books and more visit our website at www .tt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email when we understand the text at gmail .com.
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