Great Is Your Faithfulness

 

Welcome to the house of the Lord. It fills my heart with joy to see the Lord’s own so eager to receive His Word. We are blessed in that way, that we are able to come together and celebrate Jesus Christ our Saviour; our One and All.

We are His bride getting prepared, for the day our bridegroom will come to pick us up. Halleluiah. Amen.

Great Is Your Faithfulness

Today we are reading some assorted verses in Lamentations

Lam 3:1  I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 

Lam 3:2  He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. 

Lam 3:8  Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 

Lam 3:12  He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 

Lam 3:15  He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 

Lam 3:17  And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. 

Lam 3:20  My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 

Lam 3:21  This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

Let’s pray together.

Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to come together to celebrate You.

We ask you to soften our hearts so that we may receive your Word and your blessings.

The compassion you show to us is too big to put into proper words.

Language surely fails to describe the way how I feel.

To have You in our life is so wonderful, beyond imaginations.

We cherish your presence, being overwhelmed by the love, you lavish upon us.

Sinners by nature, you redeemed us, to call us your own. 

I thank you Lord, we thank you Lord.

In Jesus wonderful name, AMEN.

The book of Lamentations conveys the idea about “loud cries”.

No other book of the OT contains only laments as does this book marking the funeral of the once beautiful city of Jerusalem. This book keeps alive Jerusalem’s fall in 586 B.C. and teaches all believers how to deal with suffering. The authorship is not directly named in the book but there are internal and historical indications that it was Jeremiah.

Lamentations is read by the Jews in the synagogues on the ninth of Ab (July/August, our calendar year) to remember the date of Jerusalem’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar.

The focus of Lamentations is the judgement of God in response to Judah’s sin. Much of Lamentations is written in a mode of prayer. Jeremiah is wailing, crying out to God. He is confessing Judah’s sin.

Another important idea to take home by reading Lamentations is, God poured out his wrath on his “chosen” people. He judged them according to their works.

It also gives us an inclination that we as believers will be judged too, if we do not repent of our sins. We as believers in Christ are commanded to confess our sins daily.

And to take the thought further, imagine, what He will do to the nations or people that reject His Word, and reject Jesus Christ.

How great it is to be saved. Thank you, Lord, thank you! Amen.

Lam 3:1  I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 

You most certainly can enter your name in there. At some stage in your life God afflicted you in one way or another. That affliction may has helped you along to give your heart to the Lord in the first place.

And now, being a born again Christian, you still and surely will encounter God’s judgment, if you walk not in the light but rather choose darkness.

If we, as Christians, willingly engage in sinful conduct, God will judge you. Take head of that, you will not get away with murder as so to speak.

But important to remember here is, you are not losing your salvation ever. God keeps His promise. He paid your price once and for all eternity, assuming though, you are a true believer in Jesus Christ your King, your saviour.

Not the idea of a Jesus person, but that you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, believing He is fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, lived a sinless live, died on the cross for your sins and rose again three days later.

He is God, that walked among us. Currently He is seated on the right hand of the Father in Heaven and watching over us.

To outline what I mean by living a sinful life. Here are some examples.

If you choose for whatever reason to lie or massage numbers on your tax return; or assume you stole money from your employer, eventually you will be found out. How you get found out doesn’t’ matter. What matters is, you will be found out, if you are a true child of God.

There will be different forms of punishment based on the law of the land. Lying on your tax return and getting caught is a sure way of receiving a mark on your back. The ATO will have a very close eye on you from that point on.

Stealing money from your business/employer could lead to jail. The minimum repercussions you will encounter is the loss of your job and maybe difficulty in finding further employment elsewhere. No one wants to have a thief in their midst.

Traffic offences, like drink driving or driving under the influence, speeding, if you get caught, you will receive a fine or may encounter the loss of your licence.

God will not allow his children to make mockery of Christ by sinful behaviour. He, as a loving Father will chastise you by whatever means necessary.

You can wonder why some people seem to be getting away with things like that and others don’t. But you wonder?

Same applies to your lifestyle choices. The food you chose to eat, the drinks you consume, exercise, amount of sleep. You get the gist. A life spent drinking and indulging in unhealthy food will lead to disease sooner or later.

And the same applies here too, some people can indulge and feast like the devil himself and rarely have to spend a minute in a doctor’s office.

The point is, God is all-knowing, He has a plan for you, and you better learn to stick to it, otherwise you encounter the chastising hand of your Father in heaven.

It is God’s will; and we better not argue with that.

He is our creator.

He created us in His image and God is Holy.

His will goes and His’ only

Lam 3:2  He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. 

Jeremiah is pointing out that the sinful behaviour of the nation of Judah and his own angered God so much, that He himself banned them into darkness with no access to the light.

For us today that means, if your sin is that bad, God will take away the light from you, too.

If you as a believer in Christ live continually in sin and reject the promptings of the Holy Spirit, He will remove Himself from you.

You may have experienced it yourself.

You sinned and then you felt the emptiness within. You could literally hear the door close and the Spirit leaving you.

What an awful place to be. And rest assured, it will take a lot of praying, confessing and lamenting to recover. You have to bow down low, very low, drop your arrogance and God will hear you.

If that ever happened to you, it would have played on your conscience continually until you cried out to God. You pleaded for the return of the Comforter, faced up to the sin that was in your life and promised to never do it again. A true repenting heart.

Let’s face it folks, life can turn into darkness, the moment the Holy Ghost goes walk-about or switches to radio silence.

You know exactly the difference in your heart, as soon as you are walking with God “in-step” versus “out-of-step”.

Hebrews gives us an outlook on how severe the punishment can be, if you are unaccepting of the blood sacrifice offered.

Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 

You are happy to walk with Christ as long as everything is fine, then disaster strikes and out the door you go. Turning your back on Jesus. Never fully accepting the Gospel, never have given your heart, truly and in all earnest to the Lord. You will be condemned.

Don’ t be fooled. It is of uttermost importance that you know Jesus. And that you accept God’s will in your life. By Faith alone you are saved.

And you will know that you are saved, because you have a repenting heart due to the nudging of the Holy Ghost who resides in you. He will make sure you stay on track.

You on your own accord are not able to do so. Through His mercy and grace, you receive guidance. Let that sink in.

There is nothing on your own accord, that allows you closeness with God.

Everything hinges on the work; Jesus Christ has done on the cross; and your acceptance thereof. Even the faith that you have in salvation through Christ, is of God. He controls it all.

If you are a true born again Christian, you have nothing to worry about. How great is God’s faithfulness! Indeed.

Lamentations continue with Jeremiah pouring his heart out to God, lamenting the afflictions Judah and He himself are suffering.

Judah is in a dark place; it has no way to escape. They reached a stage where even their prayer isn’t heard anymore as we read in Lam 3:8.

Lam 3:8  Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. 

The sinful state that Judah is in, leads to God not listening to Judah’s prayer. We receive further information in verse:

Lam 3:15  He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. 

In this verse we hear about the bitter and unrepentant attitude of the people in Judah. They blamed God for their situation, not their own sin. Passing the buck so to speak. They took no accountability for their behaviour. Remember, they lived in open rebellion, taking on the customs of the nations around them, instead of walking with God. Further on we can read:

Lam 3:17  And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

The people had forgotten how blessed they were. They are God’s chosen people. They had prosperity, God walked with them, provided for them and protected them. They had it all. Unfortunately, Judah became so sinful and rejected God openly, worshipping other Gods etc., that forced God to withdraw himself. Never forget, God is a holy God, who cannot accept sin.

There was no peace to be found in Jerusalem. The people relied on themselves and cursed God for their calamities. They mourned the good times and were angry that the blessings stopped. Refusing to look inwards and realize the state they were in.

But then we can observe a change in Jeremiah’s writing:

Lam 3:19  Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

Lam 3:20  My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 

Lam 3:21  This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

In verse 20 his tone changes dramatically.

The sorrows Judah felt, drove Jeremiah to consider the grace, mercy and compassion of God.

God’s covenant lovingkindness was always present. Judah would not be destroyed forever. Because in verse 22 and 23 we read:

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness

The bedrock of faith is the reality that God keeps his Word. He keeps all His promises in accordance with His truthful, faithful character. What a great God we have.

How does this apply to your life right now?

You may experience hardship. Problems in your family or at your workplace, maybe financial burdens keep you awake at night.

The list can go on and on.

You may encounter trouble in walking with the Lord. The world can be very tempting and you are unable to see a way out of it.

Addictions of any kind control your life. Failure to read and study the Word

Omitting prayer, because you think God doesn’t hear me at all or He is not listening, or busy elsewhere.

Quite literally you are possibly angry with God.

Things don’t make sense. Everything goes wrong, life is turned upside down. You are wondering, why are these things happening to me, what have I done wrong. Why am I afflicted so much?

Then on the other hand, you could be at a very good place with God by thinking to yourself: hey, I am reading the Word, I pray, I go to church, I feel like I am close with the Lord, but still there are all these obstacles and attacks happening in my life right now. What is happening?

The point is, you may have done nothing wrong. You confessed your sins, took accountability and looked inward. You did all the things that Judah refused to do.

The point is, as a Christian you will almost always face trials and tribulations.

Remember Job.! A righteous man, loving the Lord with all his heart. Never giving up on God.

You may have that Job-experience in your life. God granted the devil to sift you like weed. God is refining you.

God could be trialling your faith. He is proving a point.

Isa_48:10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

You are as valuable as gold. You are even of higher value than gold to God.

To purify gold, it needs to go through fire. The dross will be cast off.

The circumstances, trials, hardships, you are facing right now; are the purifying fire. God is testing your faith.

Do you call out to him, or do you choose to become bitter and lament?

Are you humble enough, to accept what is happening in your life right now, to take it as a token of God’s promise to sanctify you?

Be glad in the trials. Don’t bash me. I know, this idea doesn’t go down well, but bear with me.

Why should I rejoice in hardship? May be your life is difficult at the moment, you may have uncomfortable experiences like:

Can’t pay the rent.

My car broke down.

Someone called me an awful name.

Someone accused me of something wrong, that I haven’t done.

My children ignore me.

And if it goes really bad, all these things in one day.

You get the gist.

Romans gives you an answer how to deal with things like that.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

Whatever we experience right now in this life, will fade away. The glory we receive in Christ and being in the presence of our Lord and Saviour to all eternity is so worth it!

Paul is writing to the Philippians, in one of his prison epistles:

Php 1:21  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

Paul had the attitude, whatever happens to him, it is okay, even to the extent of death, because He will be with the Lord.

If we can get our head around that, that the trials in this world are minor. It puts things into perspective.

I know, that is a rough bit to swallow, because we still have to be in this world and feel all these emotions and pains.

But if you can accept, that this life, you are living right now on earth is not eternity, it is timed.

Compared to eternity it is like a flicker. Therefore, the trials you encounter won’t be forever, they just happen here on earth. They are timed, they are limited.

God will not trial you forever. Gold is purified a certain number of times, but when it has reached its final stage, it is poured into the mould to cool.

The same goes for you. You enter heaven. Amen.

You will encounter trials every day in your life. Things will go inherently wrong. One mistake though; you should never make.

Blame God.

Do not become a bitter person. God is working His purpose out.

The moment life’s challenges take over and you are down trodden, remember God’s promises.

You are saved. You will enter the kingdom, and yes, during the time on earth He will do a work in you, to become his masterpiece. As we can read in:

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 

He is making you a new person. For new to be made, old has to be thrown out, or refurbished. Change will and has to occur.

What do we get out of the book of Lamentations?

To summarize: God will judge sin. If you get bitter and sour, He will not incline His ear to you.

If you can humble yourself and remember the promise, He has given you, you will cry out to Him with the right intent. Then He will hear you.

And as Jeremiah says in verse 22 and 23

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 

Every day is a brand-new day with the Lord. You can start out fresh. Whatever happened yesterday, does not need to happen today. The trials; hardship you felt are for a moment in time. Yes, some things can impact us for quite some time. But they never last forever.

Let’s say, you got a bad result from your doctor. But if you wake up the next morning, God has blessed you with another day to live.

It gives you another opportunity to try again and do better. Listen more to God. Rely more on God. Love Him more.

Be obedient. Life is like school.

We are trained to be ready for heaven.

You, surely didn’t think, that you would have been ready to enter heaven as a sinner, do you? No need of repentance, no calling out to Jesus. Just living life, the way how the world tells you to do.

No, you are set apart.

The moment you accepted Jesus Christ into your life, the real deal kicks off.

And yes, you will be facing troubles. Walking in Christ is not easy, it is a rough road. John tells us exactly why that is:

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

We should take honour in wearing the badge of:

You are being hated.

If the world hates you, you know the fruits of your sanctification are showing and that will offend the unbelievers around you.

If you can easily mingle in the world and people fully accept you, you may need to check how close your walk with Jesus is.

Let’s face a reality here, if the world loves you, you are of the world.

But if you are a true believer in Christ, He has taken you out of the world and it will show in your conduct.

Family, friends, colleagues will have less and less to do with you. They remove themselves from you, or you are removing yourself from their life-style choices. You will have less and less in common with worldly people and unfortunately that could include your family. You have a new family in Christ. The worst that can happen to you in cushy Australia is, that you are considered a fruit loop.

What in itself is not really a bad experience. It could be worse. The early Christians were heavily persecuted, stoned to death, sawn apart, nailed to the cross.

Our trials are easy compared to theirs. Carry your head high. Keep your eyes upon Jesus.

The moment you accept Jesus’ work on the cross, you will enter into His rest. You have gained access to God.

The people in the OT never had Jesus, they relied on the law. And knowing they failed every time. They had hope for a future Messiah. Unfortunately, they were unaccepting. Great for us gentiles though. We were allowed to enter the kingdom.

But God had planned this all out. But this is not the topic of todays message. We talk about that another time.

We, gentiles, have Jesus. Amen.

Have faith in Christ and keep your eyes on the price, heaven!

Being in the presence of the Lord our saviour. How wonderful that thought is. Every tear will be wiped away, all hardship forgotten. You can physically talk to Jesus. You can shake his hand. You are face to face with your Saviour. The first thing that should proceed out of your mouth is: Thank you.

It doesn’t matter how bad life treats us sometimes, God’s faithfulness is my refuge, he is my cleft in which I can hide when the going gets tough. And it does.

I concur with Paul: for me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain.

Because I know where I am going. And so should you.

That alone should bring things into perspective. And Lord, I pray thee, don’t make me eat my own words. Have mercy on me a sinner. Give me the aptitude to remember your faithfulness in times of need. Not mine, but yours. Everything hinges on you.

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness

Amen