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So, if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to this little book of Lamentations, as we will focus on the great mercy and faithfulness of God. I would consider this a New Year's message for each and every one of us in here in this little room, and something to kick the New Year off.
We will return, Lord willing, to the book of James, at our study in the book of James next week, next Lord's Day. But this little book of Lamentations is a beautiful book. As you turn there to chapter 3, just hold your finger there.
We're going to read verses 18 -26, and we're going to cover a lot of territory very quickly. But let me just, as a footnote here, give a little overview about Lamentations, if you don't know a lot about it.
Lamentations was originally part of the book of Jeremiah. They go together, hand in glove. The reason it was isolated from Jeremiah was it was read publicly at one of the feasts of Israel. So, they decided to separate it and read it separate.
But it does go right along with the book of Jeremiah. After all, Jeremiah is the weeping prophet, the prophet that wrote Lamentations. It's actually included in what is called five scrolls. Lamentations was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate, a translation of the Greek Old Testament.
The Septuagint is known as the LXX. These are very important scrolls. It conveys the idea of loud cries. That's what Lamentations is speaking of. He's crying aloud. There's a reason we're going to look at today.
There's a reason why this prophet is crying aloud with tears. He's weeping. He's broken. So, the style and the content leave no doubt that Jeremiah, the prophet, the weeping prophet, as I said, is the author of this book.
This is verified in Jeremiah. It's backed up in Jeremiah 37 -39 in the book of Jeremiah itself, which speaks about this book and the history of what has taken place. Jeremiah alternates between horrible accounts of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, which is what is going on, to the confessions of the people's deep sins, and he includes himself.
This is a man of God, so he's right there in the midst of God's people that has sinned and rebelled against God. And yet the prophet is including himself and confessing his sins right along with the God's people's sins, and then to his appeals to God for mercy.
He cries out for God's mercy. God have mercy, and he cries out. So, each of these five chapters of the book is a separate poem of mourning. That's what it's talking about. It's mourning and weeping, lamenting.
The first four are acrostics, each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and are used to begin each stanza of the poem. And the acrostics is a literary device that makes it easier to remember and abstractly suggests, I would say, that the author has covered his subject from beginning to end.
In other words, there's an organization here, there's an order, there's a divine order. Now, you may ask, why? Well, it may be, I don't know, I'm guessing on this, that Jeremiah, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, made himself conformed to this method of acrostics to keep his grief from literally overwhelming him.
You've got to think of it. This is a man of God, and he's literally overwhelmed by the destruction of Jerusalem. And lamentations, or loud cries, I like to say with tears, that's actually what it means, is a valuable commentary on sin and its consequences of sin.
It would make a great study. Lord willing, you never know, we might be able to do the book of Lamentations. This is five chapters after we cover James. And it's also about the return to God for mercy.
So, we're going to just be reading this morning from Lamentations 3. It hits about right in the middle of it, and this is the heart of the book. It's almost like you have the skeleton, you have the muscles, you have the building up of this book in five chapters, but the very heart and core of it is chapter 3.
We're looking at the heart and core of it today. So, that brings us to our text. And let me read the text to you. And I like to start with verse 18 and read the 26, and we'll stop right there, and we're going to cover some other territory as fast as I can without going into too much detail, but to cover enough of history from the word of God that we'll know what's actually taking place.
So, verse 18 of chapter 3, and hear the word of the living God. And God's word says this. Verse 18. And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Verse 19. Remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
Great verse.
They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. And we'll stop right there and let's pray. Our Father in heaven, our heart cry this morning is oh that we may see Jesus. Oh that we would see Jesus.
Him alone crucified, buried, His life, His perfect life, resurrected, Your beloved Son in whom You have glorified. It is Him we look to and we would ask this in His holy name and for Your glory and honor.
In Jesus name, amen.
Amen.
Well our focus this morning is on the two attributes of God I mentioned and you see it in our text. Mainly God's mercy and God's faithfulness. You can run that all the way through Scripture and Genesis to Revelation.
I don't have enough time. We can do a whole series on it, it wouldn't be enough time. Eternity wouldn't give it enough time, would it? Because great is His faithfulness. But mainly His mercy and His faithfulness.
It's amazing, isn't it? His mercy is rich. His compassions do not fail. They never fail and His unfailing faithfulness. God always keeps His promises and always keeps His word. Now with that view in mind, I would like to set before you an outline and I've kind of kept it simple.
We're going to cover some tracks here and in our introduction first I would like to just quickly I'm going to read through verses 1 -21 to see the background of what is taking place here. That would be pretty much the introduction.
It would be simple. Just pretty much the word of God. And I think that says enough. That's commentary enough of what is happening. But we will see a faithful prophet bewail his misery and contempt. A faithful prophet bewail his misery and contempt.
Second, I would like for us to look at verses 22 -23. Those two verses. And see God we see God is faithful in His grace and His gifts. God is faithful in His grace and His gifts. And third, in verses 24 -26 we see God is faithful in His goodness.
God is faithful in His goodness. So He's faithful in all that in who He is. He could be no other. He is unchanging. We're going to look at that. He's immutable. He changes not. We sung it actually. And it comes right out of the pages of Scripture.
And then last, we will look at some applications for us in everyday living. Well, let's begin. Let's look at the introduction very quickly. Let's see this faithful prophet that bewails His misery and His contempt.
He bewails His misery and His contempt. And that's pretty much given to us in verses 1 -21. Let me read it very quickly. And this will be pretty much the introduction. And I'll say a little bit here about it.
But notice what it says in verse 1. Jeremiah the prophet says, I am the man that has seen affliction. Notice that word affliction. That's a big word. Affliction by the rod of His wrath. He hath led me and brought me into darkness but not into light.
Surely against me He turned and turneth His hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath He made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall, that means poison in a sense, and travail.
He has set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. The picture is pretty bleak looking, isn't it? He hath hinged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout He shutteth me out my prayer.
He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places. You get the picture here. He hath turned aside my ways. He pulled me into pieces.
He hath made me desolate. He hath bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins. That's pretty much the innermost being. I was in derision to all my people and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes. And Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace.
I forgot prosperity. And then he says in verse 18 and I'll stop right there. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. Now, what are we getting here? We see a faithful prophet bewailing his misery and contempt.
And I think of it as we focus on these verses 22 to 24 that there's a break and in the heart of the message there is good news and hope comes to us. But I want to say this. It is of the Lord's mercies as Scripture says, the steadfast love of the Lord that never ceases.
And that's the heart of it. That we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. We cannot hear this enough, right? They never come to an end. They are new every single morning. They are fresh. There's a new start for each and every one of us as long as we have breath and our body in the morning.
Because God is good to give us this life and to live for Him. That should be our choice. Great is our faithfulness. Great is God's faithfulness because of it. And the Lord is my portion, He says, saith my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.
Now, I want you to think for a second. This is no doubt one of the most promising and most encouraging verses that you will find in the pages of Holy Writ. Isn't it encouraging to hear these words this morning?
That God's mercies are new every single morning. They do not fail. And the writer is conveying something. And Jeremiah, the prophet, is telling us of meeting God's never-ending and unchanging mercies.
We can do that by His grace. Now, he says they're fresh. They're new every morning. And I set this before you. And they're as fresh as the morning sun in the air each day. God reveals Himself and His attributes through creation.
See?
And that's His general revelation. Then the special revelation is what we read this morning. He reveals Himself even more.
In the pages of Scripture.
So, I want you to think about this. Now, why am I saying this? But have you ever really read the whole book of Revelation? Yeah, we need to read Revelation.
Lamentations.
Have you really read it? I encourage you to read it. Now, why am I saying this?
Why I ask that.
If we pluck this verse out of context, as a lot of people do, it'd be like watching a movie without sound to it. That's the best illustration I can think of. A silent picture. You ever watch a silent picture?
They're the old years ago in the early 1900s. You don't have sound, you just got movement and, you know, of course you got the words you can read. But now we got sound. We can hear the movie. That's the way it would be.
It would be like seeing part of the story, but we would miss the true meaning. That's my point. Lamentations is a collection of songs and poems of lament. Now, let me stop right there. I just mentioned a word that you don't hear much.
Actually, you don't hear a lot of sermons preached from lamentations. It means lament. Now, there's a reason I'm pointing this out. Because America's in trouble today. As we mentioned this morning, you know, we've killed for over 40 years, literally billions of unborn babies.
America's a sinking ship. But she sinks for one of the reasons.
Because the churches.
Has failed to be the church. The church should have the influence, but what's happened, the churches has become like the world. The church has been influenced by the world. I'm pretty much getting to the point of the matter here.
Rather, the church having an effect on the world and the church has lost its saltiness. This word lament is a big reason why she's lost her saltiness. It's a word that is almost lost among the evangelical churches of our day.
You don't hear it much today, do you? It means to mourn. It means to be well. It means to express deep sorrow. It means to grieve. It means to weep. That's what it means. And by the way, we're studying the book of James.
And the apostle James speaks of this in James 4, verse 9.
Listen to what he says.
He says, lament, get that, lament and mourn and weep, all clustered together. And then he says, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. There's a reason why he's saying that. It's a cure for worldliness, actually, what he's referring to into the context.
So in other words, be afflicted, be wretched, be miserable. Oh, you don't hear that much today. But that's what we need to hear. We need to hear the church needs to be broken over its sins before God.
This is the state of those who are truly broken over their sin. That's what lamenting means. Now, I want you to think of this. Jesus, our Lord, spoke on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verse 4. What did He say?
Blessed are those who mourn. Now, I want you to think of that. Jesus said He's speaking as a prophet. A prophet, Jeremiah, here, he would know this. He would know if the prophet Jeremiah could be transported to Jesus' day and hear the Master Himself speak.
And if he was in the audience, he would know exactly what Jesus was doing. He was taking the role as a prophet. We say it was sung at this morning, prophet, priest, and king. He took the role as a prophet.
And we know He was greater than a prophet, right? Because He was God in the flesh. But as a man, He was preaching on the Sermon on the Mount as a prophet. And as a prophet, He was going blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.
He was giving good news. He was saying, blessed, extremely happy are you if you're poor in spirit. That's what He's saying.
You are blessed. It could be a woe,.
A curse,.
Or a blessing.
And I heard this from R .C. Sproul.
He said,.
He spoke it as a will. It was a will of woes or blessing. It depended on the situation of God's people. If they were in rebellion against God, breaking His commands, in idolatry, hey, bad news was coming.
I'm telling you, the prophet was not going to speak. Hey, God's all proud of you.
For doing that.
No, sir.
You are,.
A curse is on you.
You've disobeyed God.
So,.
He put woes on them. He was God's mouthpiece. He spoke for God.
Jesus is speaking,.
Blessed, blessed.
You're extremely happy if you're born. And what does He say?
Well,.
They shall be comforted.
Comfort is going to come to you.
If you mourn. Scripture says, you sow in tears, you reap in joy. That's the way it works. And there's a reverse effect too.
Again, this speaks of mourning over sin in the context and lamentations. The godly sorrow that produces repentance Paul says, leading to salvation without regret. That's what Paul said. Jesus, even though He was without sin, He was the sinless, spotless Son of God, He did not have to mourn over His sin or He didn't have sin.
So, He didn't mourn over any sin in Him because there was no sin in Him. But He did mourn and weep, didn't He? Over the sins of Jerusalem.
Where we read that?
Well, He's lamenting. And it's found in Matthew 23, verse 37.
Listen to this.
Jesus cries out,.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,.
The one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. And then what does He say? How often I would wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Listen to the compassion there.
But you were not willing. That's a powerful verse. Now again, we see our Lord and Master, Jesus, He's weeping over Jerusalem. He cries out. And He gives us a beautiful picture of like a hen taking care of her chicks.
Now, there's another time we see Jesus weeping. He's weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. He's weeping at the graveside of Lazarus. Shortest verse in the whole Bible. Here's one you can memorize. John 11 .35.
Jesus wept.
Two words.
Now, if someone cannot memorize that, they're in bad shape. But you can memorize that one, right? Hey, think of it.
You can go and say,.
John 11 .35.
Great verse. Great verse. What's it saying? Well, did you know the Greek word here has the culmination of the Jesus? This is what it means. That verse is packed. You know what it's meaning? It means that He is silently bursting into tears in contrast to the loud lament of the group that's around Him.
Jesus is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. But here in this verse, the tears of Jesus were not generated out of mourning, not in the sense of Jeremiah. Since He raised Lazarus from the dead, He knew that Lazarus was going to be risen from the dead.
He knew that.
He wasn't lamenting over that necessarily. What was He crying over?
What was He weeping over?
His tears were out of deep grief for a fallen world. A world that was fallen and entangled in sin that has caused sorrow and death. Jesus was weeping because of death. It's almost as if He hated death so much He was broken over it.
And folks, it took Him to the cross. He was willingly and gladly, He went all the way to the cross of Calvary to bear our sins and the sins of the world. But it caused deep sorrow in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So truly Jesus, as Isaiah says, was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He's acquainted with grief. But what about the weeping prophet back in Lamentations, Jeremiah? Well, we just saw his home city fall in what we partially read.
There's more to read. You can read chapters 1 and chapter 2. It's an invading army that comes in and literally wrecks and causes havoc and tears down Jerusalem. People were killed. It was violent.
I'm trying to give you a picture here.
He watched its gates burned. He watched his neighbors and friends and family were killed and massacred. That's what happened. Jeremiah's entire world was falling apart and yet these great words of hope in verses 22 -26 come to us through the many bitter tears.
And that's why I wanted to give you a little background here. Because to appreciate these verses and what is given to us, you have to get the story behind it, right? You have to get the history. So it comes to us through bitter tears.
And Jeremiah's weeping. And he wrote words of hope through bitter tears. Actually, he speaks about these things, these awful things, non-stop in verses 1 -19 in which we read. But he's repenting as well.
He's including himself because he knows that's the way. He knows God is pouring His wrath out and he's angry against sin. And Jeremiah is representing the people of God, see? And he's including his own self.
That's a godly man. A godly man like this said, I'm the one... Notice, all those verses, it's him. It's him that he's repeating. But he's representing God's people too. So we see this. But despite all those afflictions that the faithful prophet bewails, they lead to something good.
They lead to nourishment. They give hope by consideration of the justice and the providence and the mercies of God. Jeremiah knew that whether things went well or whether they fell apart, God was sovereign and God was unfailing in His unchanging love, His unchanging tender mercies and His faithfulness.
And God would still be God and God would be eternally faithful to His people. Jeremiah was still able to find hope in a hopeless situation because his faith was anchored in the character of God. That's where his anchor was.
He knew that. That he was resting in who God is. And Jeremiah, we all go through times of trials, don't we? We have seasons of afflictions, don't we? And some of you could testify of those afflictions.
It hurts.
Trials are hard. Life seems to fall apart. Things seem to be dark. There's devastation.
There seems to be hopelessness.
But we know better. There is hope. But when times like this come by God's permission, we also need to be blessed, have the blessed assurance that God is faithful. God is faithful. Well, you see this in verses 22 -23.
Let's go right to it. So we look at God's faithful in His graces and gifts. He's faithful to us in His graces and gifts. Let me read verses 20 -21 again. My soul hath them still in remembrance.
Now He's speaking.
What is He talking about? Go back to verse 19. Remembering. Notice. He's remembering. He's bringing something. He's remembering. Verse 19 says it in a nutshell. Mine affliction. The Bible says a lot about affliction.
Affliction hurts.
He's afflicted.
And my misery. He's literally miserable. And He mentions about the wormwood and the gall. It's painful. It's almost poisonous. That's what gall is.
It's bitter.
And He hurts.
And then He says,.
My soul hath them still in remembrance. That's what He's talking about. And has humbled me. It's humbled me. That's a good word. It's bowed Him down.
This I recall to mind. Therefore have I hope. Do you get that? Have I hope. Let me stop right there.
What's He saying?
He's essentially saying that I can't get these images out of my mind. But He's recalling something to mind. And even though they're crushing Him to death,.
Literally,.
He probably felt like He was dying. But even in His deep despair, His memory sparks like a flare in the night dark sky. You ever see a flare go up?
Shoot the flare up.
And then it lights up the whole dark sky. A flare is a burst in huge light. Now that's paraphrased, in essence, that what Jeremiah is essentially saying. So literally, He's saying, My soul still remembers.
And sinks within me. The word sinks is also translated, like I said, bowed down. Or the old King James says, humbled in me. I'm humbled. He's brought down. And He knew there was purpose in this. You see, God uses these afflictions.
I mean, the most hardest things in life. But He knew God was doing something. He knew God's sovereignty. He knew God's character. We're going to see that in a minute. And then verse 21, He says, I recall to mind, therefore I have hope.
What a beautiful scripture. He recalls it to mind. I have hope.
Take away hope.
You've taken away everything. But He knew that there was hope.
There was a purpose.
There was a reason that God allowed this.
He knew it.
He knew.
Jeremiah's remembrance of God's faithfulness brought about a change in His very being and His very soul. Now what can we learn from this passage, personally? As long as we contemplate our troubles, folks, and look at our troubles, the more consumed, you know what I'm talking about, the more consumed we will become of our hopelessness, and it will bring us down into despair.
If we constantly look at those situations and it looks like it's impossible, it looks like hell is before us, it paralyzes you, doesn't it? Our inability to get ourselves out of that present trouble. But when we focus on God and who He is, now hear me out, in His faithfulness, in His mercy, in His grace,.
And we look to Him.
And your faith is strengthened. And we're able to rise above it. Not because of us, but because of who God is. You see what I'm saying? Rather than to suffer under the defeat of our troubles, and folks, I have to remind myself this is a distraction in my mind all the time.
We see these things, but we cannot, that's why Paul says we do not live by sight, we live by faith. We believe that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We see the unseeing.
You see, everybody else can't see it, but God has given us His Word that there is the eternal heaven, there is the eternal hope, there is the eternal inheritance, that there is a better day coming. In this life, Jesus says you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.
He says I have overcome the world.
You see, beloved,.
There's a difference here. We can choose to live in fear that will lead to torment, that will bring us down to a hopeless state, or we can choose by God's grace to live in faith that leads to victory, for faith is the victory.
Can you give me some illustrations and chapters and verses in Scripture? Sisters and brothers, I wish I had all day to tell you. I have so many stories. I'm just going to give you two. I have to keep it short if I can because I know I can get carried away.
I think about Joshua and Caleb. What about that situation? Isn't that a great story? Read it in the book of Joshua. Joshua takes up the torch after Moses dies. He goes to the land of Canaan. Oh, they find this land flowing with milk and honey.
What's the majority saying? The majority said we can't take it. We can't take that land. God's promised that land.
Now listen to this.
God gives His word. That's your land. That land belongs to you. You can take it. And the majority, the majority sees these giants in the land. These people are too big. They're overwhelmed.
They get fearful.
Right?
They get fearful. You know why they were fearful? They were looking at the giants but not Caleb and Joshua. They didn't see giants. They saw God. You see what I'm saying? And by the way, people got so upset and mad at them too because they were in the minority.
You see what I'm saying?
But they had the faith.
They had the faith that can go in and take that land and take them giants because they knew God would fight for them. You see what I'm saying? It's fear or faith, folks. And I'm telling you, that's the opposite of faith.
It's not doubt. Even though there is a sin of unbelief and that's basically it. But really, the opposite of fear is faith. The opposite of faith is fear. Why do you think God says so many times in Scripture, Fear not.
Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Because He doesn't want us to be fearful. Fear has torment. So in the case of Joshua and Caleb, that's a great story. You need to read that in your devotional time. There's another one that comes to mind in the New Testament.
I think about old blind Bartimaeus. This is a great story. Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. You can read the story. He's a beggar. He's along the rogue side. He's a blind man. He has no hope within him.
And the only hope to receive his sight.
Is to get to Jesus.
You know the story. He starts crying out loud. And the people try to shut him up. Shut up, beggar. And he's crying. What is he crying? Son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus, thou son of David.
Listen to what he's saying.
Son of David. When he's saying son of David, Jesus knew exactly what he was saying. He was calling Christ the Messiah. The Messiah. The son of David. Jesus is the promised Messiah. And this beggar along the roadside.
Was crying.
He said, I've got to press my way in and get to Jesus. And everybody said, shut up, beggar. But he pressed his way in. That's faith, folks. Faith doesn't quit. Faith doesn't stop. He cried out to the one who can give sight to the blind.
He knew he had to get to Jesus. And faith did not allow him to stop. He pressed his way in. This beggar, this blind beggar, cries out. And faith pressed in. And faith did not quit. That's what faith is, folks.
Faith is moved forward. It presses onward. It goes toward God. Faith is keeping our eyes on God, on Christ. And then he got to Jesus and he got his sight.
Praise God.
That's just an example. So many others. But what about Jeremiah? Let's get back to Jeremiah. His faith was resting in the very faithfulness of God. That's why he could say he had hope. He had this hope.
In his moment of dread and defeat, the hopelessness and despair, truth has stepped in. Faith has intervened. God's grace intervenes. And he holds on to it. And let me tell you, he holds on to it tight.
He takes it like a bull to the horns. He doesn't turn it loose. Even though things are terrible, the circumstances and everything is falling apart, his world's falling apart, everything's havoc, everything is devastated, he declares that God's goodness is all the time the steadfast rock for him, that God's mercies are like a relentless flood and nothing can hold back.
I want you to think of this. And most of all, Jeremiah the prophet, he's focusing on God himself and he says that God is his portion. We'll see this in just a minute. And he's the only one whom you can place your hope in.
Nothing else is going to work, folks. He is Jesus Christ, is the living hope. And he's the one that is risen from the dead. That is, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no Christianity.
You see, you can read 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter. Paul goes through that whole chapter, proven of faith. He said, in other words, if Jesus is not risen from the dead, your faith is vain.
My preaching would be nothing. It would be vain. Missionaries, preachers, pastors that are out in this world, everywhere right this very minute, preaching the gospel, it would be vain if Jesus was not risen from the dead,.
But we serve a resurrected Christ.
He is risen from the dead. He's at the right hand of the Father. And I'm just not saying that as a fairy tale.
He literally is alive.
You cannot find His bones, His remains. They're not there. Well, it's because of the Lord's mercies that you and I are not consumed. Because His compassions do not fail. Let's look at the word mercies.
Let's look at God's mercies. This is a beautiful Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is chesed. Chesed, 250 times in the Old Testament, refers to God's gracious love. It's an important word in Hebrew. It's translated also, the loving kindness of God.
It is a very expressive word and it conveys all the ideas of grace, love, mercy, faithfulness, goodness. It's all packed together in that one word. You see what I'm saying? All in one, like a cluster of grapes.
It's a comprehensive word. It's a comprehensive term that sweeps all together God's compassion, God's forgiveness, God's truth, God's mercy, God's grace,.
God's love,.
God's faithfulness.
Think of that, what I just said.
And all that is unchanging. It never changes. That's the way God is. And you can count on it, it would never change. Because God doesn't change.
And get this,.
There's no limitation to it.
That's how deep it is.
It's infinite. You know what infinite means? Without end. It's eternal. There's no end to it. We think of beginning and ending because we're creatures of time. We have a birth, we have a death, then our soul goes on to live forever.
But we think in terminologies of beginnings and origins and beginning and end. God has no ending.
No beginning.
He is the beginning.
He is the ending.
That's what Jesus said. He says,.
I am the Alpha and Omega. That's the Greek alphabet. The beginning and the end. Jeremiah seems to be remembering that this was amazing grace of God, His tender mercies that brought Israel out of slavery from Egypt.
It was also grace and mercy that had kept them a redeemed people in spite of their many failures and times they wandered in rebellion and they hardened their heart against God in the desert. There was a word for us in this thought.
What is it called that kept these people? It's called grace. God's grace. I want to just focus a little bit. God's grace secures us. God's grace saves us. God's grace keeps us.
What is grace?
Let's look at grace just real quickly. I could preach a whole sermon on this, but A .W. Pink says this from his book, Gleanings from the Godhead. This is a perfection of the divine character exercised only toward the elect, by the way, God's favor to the undeserving, to those who God has appointed to believe in eternal life.
It is distinguished from mercy, by the way,.
Is different.
We're going to look at that real quickly. For the mercy of God is over all His works, according to Psalm 145 .9. But grace is a long... This is what A .W. Pink says. It is the long source from which flows the goodwill, love, and salvation of God unto His chosen people.
This attribute, Pink says, of the divine character was defined by Abraham Booth in his helpful book, The Reign of Grace, and he quotes him. It is the eternal...
It is the eternal and absolute free favor of God.
Perfect.
You've got God's favor. And he goes on to say this. Manifested in the vots safemen. In other words, it's locked in. It's locked in.
Nothing can change it.
That's what he's talking about.
Of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and the unworthy. End quote. That is beautiful. We are guilty. We are unworthy. We are undeserving of God's favor. But yet God graces us in Jesus.
Isn't that beautiful?
Pink goes on to say this. Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in bestowing blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded. Listen to that.
So, in other words, grace cannot be bought. Grace cannot be earned. Grace cannot be won by the creature. If it could, it would cease to be grace.
You see?
It wouldn't be grace. So in God's grace, which we don't deserve, He has given us salvation, full and free, in Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sin, and inheritance in Christ, a home in heaven, and His righteousness, and the list goes on and on and on.
He has given us so much.
Because He's shown favor to those who is appointed to eternal life. What about His mercy? Well, God has shown compassion. That's mercy. It's compassion. And He's not given us eternal damnation, wrath, justice, fairness.
People better not...
God is fair. Why? Because if we got what is fair, we would get eternal damnation, what we deserve, and hell. That's right.
Forever.
Oh, beloved,.
We have much to give God praise and thanks this morning.
Because grace,.
And I saw this at Ms. Linda's and Sherry's home, grace is when, and a little sign, grace is when God gives us what we don't deserve. Mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve. That is a good definition.
Well, that's just scratching the surface. Let's look at this faithfulness and grace next. God is faithful in His gifts. Verse 22. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. We looked at His mercies.
We are not consumed because His compassions fail not. Loving kindness. Because of God's mercies and His tender mercies, we do not perish. We do not get what we deserve. If it did, it would be eternal hell and fire, brimstone for all eternity, God's wrath.
The Puritan John Flavel said this, Every man loves the mercies of God, but a saint loves the God of his mercies. That says it. You see what he's saying? Everybody loves the mercies of God,.
But a saint loves the God of the mercies. He loves God.
You see, that's the key. This is where the prophet Jeremiah goes with this passage. See, his focus is not just on the mercies of God. Yes, he speaks of the Lord's mercies, but his focal point is on God's character.
This is why this man can endure all this, folks. Because he was anchored in God's... His faith was anchored in the character of God. He was resting in who God is.
You see that?
This verse seems to contradict... You would think of it. Now, I put this down because a lot of people think, well, there's a contradiction here about being consumed. Doesn't it say in chapter 2, verses 1 -5, if you turn back, look at this.
Look at chapter 2, verses 1 -5. Let's see this.
He says,.
God is pouring out His punishment and His wrath, and how hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud, and His anger cast down from heaven into the earth the beauty of Israel and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger.
Notice what it says in verse 2. The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations. Now, you see that constantly. He mentions that word. The Lord has swallowed up. There's devastation. People are consumed.
People are dying. Now, is there a contradiction? I put this down. There's never a contradiction in the Word of God, beloved. The contradiction is never in God's Word. The contradiction is in you and me when we lack the light of discernment.
You see it. A lot of people think, oh, it's a contradiction. No, no, no.
No.
It's me and you. The lack of our light to see the truth in the Word. That's it. You see, the very fact that there was a prophet left to write these words, there was a remnant left, that it shows that everyone was not consumed.
It shows not every person in Jerusalem was perishing. There was a remnant.
You see.
See, there's justice.
And God is punishing the people for their sin and what they rightly deserved. But yet God shows some mercy. You can read more about this.
In Romans 10, 11, and 12. 9, 10, and 11. Another word for that. Like I said, we looked at swallowed up. But just the fact that there was a remnant of all that was due of the mercies and compassions of God, even in God's wrath, God remembers His mercy.
As bleak as the situation of judgment had become, God's covenant loving kindness was always present. God remembered mercy, even in wrath. You see, this is unfailing, incredible faithfulness of God's enduring love.
To Judah, they would not be destroyed because his compassions fell not. You see, we've got to have a right concept of God. We've got to see Scripture as Scripture presents it. And read the whole of Scripture.
You see, that's where people get in trouble, folks. They pick out what they want. You know, I saw this, somebody posted on Facebook about the most misinterpreted verse, Judge not lest ye be judged. And that's all people think of and they don't read the rest of it.
Right? That's all people see is that one line and they pick out and then they misinterpret it. But to get the right interpretation, you've got to read those verses before and after. And that's why we looked at the whole verses before we got to verses 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.
What was going on? You see?
And that's why I love that Bible exposition, don't you? Because you get the right picture. You get the right interpretation. And by the way, I don't know if you notice, I try to quote as much Scripture as I can because Scripture speaks better than I can speak.
Matthew Henry says, the greatest interpretation and commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. And through the new year, beloved, I challenge you, dig in this Word, read it, consume it, eat it, meditate on it.
You will grow and your faith will be strengthened. Oh, hallelujah. Well, compassion is there.
It's a great Word.
What does compassion mean? It means womb. It means bowels, in a sense, of compassion, the innermost being. It means to be moved in the heart of love for another. This Word is a picture of the grace of God moving in the life of a believer.
You see, God never promises an easy road for us, does He? But He did promise His grace would be sufficient for our need. You see this about Paul, his battle with the thorn in the flesh. Also, I think about the presence of God in battle.
Isaiah 43, 1 -4. You're going to go through the fire,.
You're going to go through the waters.
You're not going to be burned. The water is not going to overcome you. You see, that's a great promise in the Miscellaneum because, you see, what's the promise? God promises, He says, I'm with you. God promises His presence in the midst of the hardest times.
I'm telling you, that fire is hot. But God says you're not going to be burned. There's a purpose for the fire. He'll purge you and cleanse you, and that sin and that dross will come up. Hey, God has a purpose for the fire.
He has a purpose for the waters. But He says the fire is not going to overcome you and send you up and burn you. And then He says the water is not going to overflow. You're not going to drown. Why? Because God's with you.
You can read those verses in your devotional time, but I don't have time to go there, but our time is about gone.
But listen to this.
So God's grace and gifts are faithful, right? Romans 11, 29. This fits right here. For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. Now, what does that mean? What is that word he's talking about?
They are irrevocable. Now, you've got to study the language here. What does irrevocable mean? In other words, God's sovereign election. This is what he's saying, okay? Listen to me closely. God's sovereign election of Israel, like that of the individual believers, is always unconditional and unchangeable.
Unchangeable because it is rooted and grounded in the immutable nature and expressed in the unilateral, eternal, Abrahamic covenant that God made. You understand what I'm saying? God gave His word in covenant with Abraham.
That was the everlasting Abrahamic covenant. Now, you can read about this. I got a verse for that in a few minutes. But all this flows from God's loving kindness, His nature. That's the way God is. It's impossible.
There's some things God cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot go against His word.
Because He's God.
He cannot break His word. And then He says, God's loving kindness are new every morning, every day presents with us a new opportunity, a freshness to repent, a freshness to find forgiveness in Christ, a freshness to go forward.
Isn't that great?
You can't do nothing about yesterday, can you?
It's over with.
But we sure can do something about right now. And if God's willing, if He gives us another morning, a sunshine to see, we can do something about then too. But God doesn't promise that either. But it's now.
Now.
That's why the Scripture says, now is the day of salvation. So, we go deeper and deeper. It was an old hymn. We never sing anymore. We sing some of Charles Wesley's songs. We did sing his great Christmas song, didn't we?
And Hark the Herald Angels Sing. That's a great, great... Here's another one. Have you ever heard of Depth of Mercy? Can there be? Have you ever heard that one? I've never heard it sung. But I've got the words to it right here.
Depth of Mercy, can there be? Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath prepare? Me the chief of sinners spare? Boy, I love that. That's great.
Stanza 2. I have long withstood His grace, long provoked Him to His face, would hearken to His calls, grieved Him by a thousand falls. Verse 3. Lord, incline me to repent. Let me now my fall lament. Deeply my revolt deplore, weep, believe, and sin no more.
Verse 4. Still for me the Savior stands, shows His wounds and spreads His hands. God is love, I know I feel. Jesus weeps and loves me still. That's good theology, beloved. There is some sound theology in that and we should sing it.
Maybe we can learn that song, Ben. Well, great is God's faithfulness, God's greatness unsearchable, beyond understanding. It means, that's what great and good means. Actually, the word great and good only belong to God.
No one else. That's why Jesus said there's nothing good but God. Belong only to God. God's greatness is greater than anything we can grasp or take a hold of. Well, they're incomprehensible.
It's beautiful.
A. W. Tozer says this,.
God has no degrees, He has no limitations, He cannot be contained by anyone. Don't you love that? If He could be contained, He would cease to be God. So God is great. He's beyond us. He has no bounds, no limitations, without end, no boundaries.
And what Jeremiah says of God's attributes is faithfulness is like that. There's no limitations to it. How refreshing, how blessed it is that God gives to us another fresh day. God cannot lie. Deuteronomy 7 .9 Who is faithful and true in all things at all times?
Deuteronomy 7 .9 says this, Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God. God cannot be unfaithful to His Word, to Himself or God. To be unfaithful would be an act contrary to His holy nature, which would be impossible.
2 Timothy 2 .13 backs this up. Paul says, If we believe not, yet He abides faithful, He cannot deny Himself. Faithfulness is one of the glorious perfections of the very being of God Himself. God is clothed with it.
It says in Psalm 89 .8, O Lord God of hosts, who is strong, Lord, likened to Thee? Or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? So when God becomes incarnate, it says in Scripture in Isaiah 11 .5, Thy righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.
Psalm 36 .5 is one of my favorites. Thy mercy, O Lord, is to the heavens, and Thy faithfulness unto the clouds. In other words, they are infinite. There is no end to it. God's compassions do not fail.
Psalm 89 .33, Nevertheless, my lovingkindness I will not utterly take from Him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail, God says. Well, now we come to the conclusion. Faithfulness in His goodness. His goodness is faithful.
He refers to the pleasant excellence of God. Script, His perfection. It says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. God wants you to taste and see. And you taste Him through His Word.
His Word.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You taste Him through His Word. This Word reminds us that God is ever engaged to the welfare of His beloved children. Romans 8 .28. And we know that all things work together for the good.
Right? To those who love God. It's not to everybody, it's to those who love God. And to those who are called according to His purpose. In other words, it's to God's people, to God's elect. Now, then He says, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
That is God's purpose, is to conform us into the image of His Son. And beloved, He will go through any lengths to do that. Lamentations. Back to Lamentations. He says this, verse 24. Look at verse 24.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. God is described here as the soul's portion. I love that. It refers to spoils of war. That's a portion. The gathering up of jewels.
Jeremiah is saying, in the battle of life, God is my reward, and He's my share, my portion. So when God made the everlasting covenant with Abraham, what did He say in Genesis 15 -1?
After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham.
In a vision.
God's word came to him. And He said this, Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward. God Himself was his great reward. Only God through Jesus Christ can satisfy us.
God is a satisfier. He is also a sustainer. Let me run through this real quickly. He's a satisfier. He's a sustainer.
And He keeps you.
Psalm 41.
David says,.
I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me and He heard my cry. He cried out to God. And He waited. But what did He do? He brought him up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set His feet upon a rock and established His steps.
God establishes us.
And what does He do?
Verse 3, He puts a new song in my mouth. That's what He did. Praise to our God, many shall see it and fear and will trust in the Lord.
Let me give some quick applications.
Very quickly.
One application is in this blessed truth of the faithfulness of God, it will preserve us from worry. It will preserve us from worry. From all insanity. I thought about this being one of the first things.
You know, we worry too much. We're too anxious, aren't we? That's why Scripture says a lot we're not to do this. But here is the answer. No matter how dark our situation may be, what you're going through right now, how bleak it may be, how heavy the burden may be, you are carrying, God's grace is sufficient, beloved.
Faith, with the gaze of our soul upon God and His faithfulness, He will lift you up out of the shadows, out of the miry clay. He will establish your going and put you on a rock who is Christ. He did that for His saints.
He never fails. And amidst the hardships, the trials,.
The afflictions,.
The sufferings, grace is sufficient.
And He who has cared.
For His own children, His own child through the years, He will not forsake them.
In His old age.
God promises that all the way to the very end. So if you get weary and tired, rest in God. Rest in His sovereignty. He's in control. He who has heard your prayers in the past will not refuse to supply your need in the present, beloved.
There's another application to this great truth is God's faithfulness is assured to reflect upon. It will check our murmurings. It will check our murmurings. I don't know about you, but the Lord knows what's best for us and each of us.
And if we walk with Him, one effect of resting of this truth will be to silence our complainings. God hates complaining, and I'm bad about it. May God have mercy upon us and forgive us for our many complainings, but we've got a lot to be thankful for.
We've got a lot to be thankful for for His faithfulness and His greatness and His goodness. May we count our blessings, not our troubles. God is greatly honored when we're under trial and chastening and have good thoughts of Him to vindicate His wisdom and justice and also recognize His love and His rebukes.
Last, as we reflect upon this truth of God's faithfulness, it will breed and build up into every increase in confidence in God Himself. It will build your confidence in God, and that's faith taking root.
We must charge up our faith, and the only way we can charge up our faith is through prayer and the Word of God. Those two things we cannot get away from. 1 Peter 4, 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according.
To the will of God.
Commit to the keeping of their souls to Him who is well doing as a faithful Creator. So the sooner we trustfully resign ourselves by faith and trusting all of our affairs into God's hands fully persuaded of His never failing love and His faithfulness, the sooner we will be satisfied in His providence,.
Beloved,.
And realize that Jesus doeth all things well.
Amen? Amen.
Let's pray. Our Father, as we thank You, Lord of Your greatness,.
Lord, there's so much.
We have to be thankful for. Number one, that we're thankful for Your mercies, Your compassions. Lord, without that, we would all be consumed. We would all perish in a moment. Because of Your compassions, we're not consumed.
They do not fail. And we thank You for the Word today, Lord. This is new every morning. Every single morning, great is Thy faithfulness. So Father, grace us as we've studied Your Word in this. It's a good thing to give thanks unto You and to sing praises unto You, the Most High, and to show forth Your loving kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night.
And as Your Son, Jesus, while on this earth, was loyal to You, His heavenly Father, so now in heaven, Jesus is faithful to us and always, ever making intercession for His people. May we not forget this for His people.
And this knowledge, we press on with every confident hope, a living hope, for all the years and the centuries to come. And we pray this in Jesus' name.