Great is thy faithfulness!

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 24 APRIL 2021 am

LAMENTATIONS 3 VERSES 18 - 25

There is not very much in Lamentations that you might remember after you read it.  It is a sad book made up of 5 funeral messages.  Jeremiah its writer had lived to see his kinsfolk being taken into Babylon.  On 3 occasions Nebuchadnezzar took the people captive - 604 and 586 BC.  Jeremiah did not go with them.  Ezekiel was carried into captivity as well as Daniel and his 3 friends.  They all shared in the ministry to captives. Lamentations is a book of sorrow.  Jeremiah is referred to as the weeping prophet.  A man with a broken heart who seen people turning from God, disobeyng God's commands, rebelled against the Lord.  They lost all sense of distinction between good and evil.  Jeremiah had a difficult ministry because of his faithfulness to God.  This book expressed his heart's sorrow.  He lived to see the dreadful destruction of the city he loved so much.  The walls and temple were all broken down .  The sorrow upon sorrow of God's servant is recorded in this book.  The country men of captivity would not see this place again.  They died in Babylon.  Generations would come back years later.  The introduction to the book of Lamentations - it opens with the word "how".  Jeremiah asks "how did this happen?"  He was full of questions because of the sorrow and destruction he had seen.  When we go through difficult times we sometimes ask 'how has this happened to me?'  The question might be asked "why not me?"  Over the past year there have been a lot of questions when we have followed the government rules.  There are other situations in life when we might question the providence of God.  The Lord's ways are over all his works.  It might seem to be an unjust thing.  God was working on his covenant people because he loved them. God never does anything in spite of or out of wrathful vengence.  "He whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." (Hebrews 12 verse 6)  The very proof of that relationship to him in even taking them away - he was teaching them not to destroy them.  When difficulties come our way God is working out his purposes in our lives.  "Every branch that bears not fruit he taketh it away." (John 15 verse 2)  The branch that is purged is to bring forth more fruit.  Rembrant painted a great masterpiece of Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem.  It shows an old man set on a rock with a copy of the scriptures in his left hand.  In the right hand is a scene of flames and destruction.  He is weeping over what has happened.  When the prophet had reached the depths of despair, when he thought everything would be removed - verse 17 "And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace."  Then in verse 18 he says "And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord." There was nothing to rejoice in.  The darkest hour is just before the dawn.  We read here in the centre of this book 66 verses that lead back to the Hebrew alphabet.  Every verse starts with one letter of the alphabet.  We read in the depths of his sadness he says "God is my hope."  At his lowest point God begins to show him that a new dawn is about to dawn.  Verse 21 "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning great is thy faithfulness."  He recognised God's action in judgment yes but he also recognised it in mercy.  Mercy was most evident at Calvary's cross.  What a change in one man's perspective when he begins to see what God is like.  In the Old Testament some would depict God as God of anger but he is one of tender compassion.  Even though for Jeremiah he could see the destruction God was still the God of mercies.  If God had dealt with us after our sin we wouldn't be here today.  Over 300 times in the Old Testament scriptures the longsuffering, mercy, kindness and faithfulness of God is revealed.

Even in Old Testament times he said "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."  Whatever they had been through one thing remains - they have not been consumed.  God spared them because he is a God of mercy, a God of compassion.  What does the mercy and compassion of God mean to you?  Has it become personal, a reality to you?  Maybe like that man in the New Testament as Jesus passed by and cried "God be merciful to me a sinner."  Did he show mercy?  Of course he did.  God is always willing to reach the one seeking the Lord.  Yes he can show mercy to you and his compassions fail not.  The are new every morning.  In Psalm 136 over 26 times we read the mercy of the Lord endureth forever.  Who he is determines how he acts because he is merciful.  God demonstrates mercy.  He is moved with compassion.  When Jesus saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion because he saw them as people without a shepherd.  Today it would be wonderful if someone could find and come to know the shepherd.  The present consolation of our lives today is that his faithfulness is like a great mountain.  Jeremiah is sitting in the debris of a destroyed city, there was nothing left but charred remains.  Only a remnant remained in the city.  Everything seems dark but there comes light and hope.  Even in these days there is light and life and joy and peace and love.  It all comes in the passage of the Saviour's gift to a lost mankind.  "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift."  The promised gift of a glory land after this life.  How is it today for you?  Maybe you are a stranger to that gift today.  It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion fails not.  They are new every morning.  Great is thy faithfulnss.  The Lord is my portion therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is the portion of his people.  When we have nothing else to hold onto we have him.  He is my portion for ever.