Find the book of Isaiah, next
book is Jeremiah, and then Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 3 will be
my text. Let me say while you're turning
that the book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah is often referred to
as the weeping prophet. The book of Lamentations is the
lamenting of Jeremiah the weeping prophet. Now what is it to lament?
To lament is an audible expression of an extreme sorrow. It's a
passionate expression of grief or sorrow. To lament is to mourn
the result of the outcome of something. Before I get into
the heart of this text, I want to first establish one thing
right from the beginning. Some apply the words of our text
before us to be the words of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look back to Lamentations
1, verse 12, we read those familiar words, Is it nothing to you,
all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger." And there's
no doubt that these are the prophetic words of our Savior's suffering
on the cross of Calvary. And many of the passages found
in the book of Lamentations, especially in our text, can be
understood to be the words of Christ, our Savior. Secondly,
these are the words of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. He's lamenting. After all, Jeremiah did write. these words of lamenting. He
said in Jeremiah chapter nine, verse one, he said, oh, that
my head were waters in my eyes, a fountain of tears that I might
weep day and night for my people. Jeremiah was lamenting, expressing
great sorrow and grief for those whom he loved, those who would
perish without hope of redemption in Christ. I lament often for
my loved ones who do not know the Lord Jesus. And then thirdly,
these are also the words of all God's elect. all who are in the
end found to be in Christ. As we will see, the words found
in our text are the very foundation of the believer's eternal hope
of glory in Christ. And that's what I'll title this
message, The Believer's Eternal Hope of Glory. The believer's
eternal hope of salvation, of redemption, eternal life in glory
with Christ. That's something that I have
a great interest in. I was thinking this morning,
that was your mama's hope. That was Clarice Coleman's hope. She told me many times that she
was tired and ready to depart to be with the Lord. That was
Betty Kavanaugh's hope. That was your mama's hope. That
was your grandma's hope. I'll never forget one time while
in the hospital, Betty asked me to pray that the Lord would
take her. Well, I'd never had anyone ask
me something like that before. Would you pray that the Lord
would just take me and take me home? No one had ever asked me
such a thing. But you see, she had great hope
that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Do you? Have that kind of hope? You see,
the true child of God has a hope that this world and the people
that are in it don't have. Do you have a hope of being forever
with Christ in glory? Now, hope is defined as an expectation
of something that is greatly desired. Hope is an expectancy,
confidence, faith, trust and assurance that something greatly
desired will come to pass. In Lamentations chapter 3, I
want you to look first at verse 21 with me. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. Now in my marginal Bible, the
word recall here means to make, to return to my heart. This I
recall, these thoughts I make my heart to consider. That's
what Jeremiah is saying. These things I ponder. That's a good Southern word,
isn't it? Ponder. These things I consider. These
are the things that I think about. These are the things that I meditate
on. The things that I dwell on, the
things that I reflect on, the things that I mull over. And in recalling these things
and considering them in my heart and thinking on them, turning
them over in my mind, therefore have I hope. There are some things
that we can bring to mind that will give us great hope. There
are some things that I can ponder in my heart that gives me great
hope. And that's what we're talking
about this morning. We're talking about having hope. Hope. Hope of eternal life in Christ. And what a subject. Are you interested? Are you interested? If you're
not, I pray that God will give you an interest. The child of
God is made by God to know some things. Jeremiah knew some things
concerning the hope that is found in Christ alone. Our hope of
redemption is found in recalling some things to our minds and
to our hearts. And the first thing that a believer,
that gives a believer hope of eternal redemption is this, the
Lord is merciful. Look at verse 22. It is of the
Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. It is the mercy of
the Lord that we're not destroyed. Child of God, we have hope because
the Lord is merciful. We have hope because the Lord
is merciful to sinners. Not because we're faithful churchgoers. Not because we've made a profession
of faith. Not because we've been baptized.
Not because we give tithes and offerings. We have hope because
the Lord is merciful. We're not destroyed because of
the Lord's mercies. Today, in religion, we see so
much presumption. Today, religion is filled with
much false familiarity with God. Seems like everybody knows God.
Everybody loves Jesus. But the God they know and the
Jesus they love doesn't even resemble the God of the Bible. What we have in most religious
circles, sadly, today is nothing less than just a proud presumption,
just a misguided familiarity with God. Men and women talk
and act as if God is their childhood buddy. Folks carry on like they
have some special and private communication with God. To many,
God is like a co-worker, a friendly neighbor who offers good advice
for them to accept or reject. And I'm telling you that that
is no more than just a false and fleshly familiarity with
a God that they don't really know. They say that their God
offers financial advice like a stockbroker. They say their
God offers marital advice like a marriage counselor. And God
to most is a politically correct friend who never intrudes upon
man's will, work, or way. But hear me, you cannot deal
with the God of the Bible that way. True worshipers can only
worship God in spirit and in truth. And salvation is not found
in such presumption. Hope in Christ is not found in
such fleshly familiarity with the Savior. Where's our hope
found? Our hope is found in the Lord's
mercy to us. The Lord's mercy to us. David
said, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous
in mercy. That's the only hope that I have.
That's the reason that we have a good and eternal hope. It's
found in Him, not in us. Gracious is the Lord and righteous
because yes, yay, our God is merciful. Psalm 116.5. Peter said in his first epistle,
chapter three, verse 15, he said, be ready, be ready always to
give a reason for the hope that is in you. to anyone that asks
you and do it with meekness and humility and reverence. Jeremiah is saying the same thing
here. Jeremiah is saying, I'm ready
to give you some good reasons why I have a good hope of eternal
life and salvation. He said, I call these things
to mind and to my heart and therefore I have hope. Now, let me give
you the second reason. His compassions fail not. God's love for His people never
fails. Do you see that there in our
verse? God's love for His people never
fails. He is not only merciful, but
He loves us. He loves His people. One old
writer said it best when he said, love is not something that God
does. Love is what God is. There's no love outside of God.
Naturally speaking, we have no life or love. We're dead in trespasses
and sin. There's no love in us because
there's no life in us. God has no love for sinners outside
and apart from his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves
his beloved son and God loves his people in his son. God's
love for Christ and His love for us in Christ is everlasting. He is love, present tense. 1 John 4 verse 8, he that knoweth,
he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God and God in him. You see, God has always
been love because God is always presently love. He will always
be love. Love is always his present state. And that's why his love is everlasting
because he is everlasting. Do you remember what Jeremiah
said in another place? He said, the Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Never forget that God before
time gave us to Christ, whom he always loved. And outside
of Christ, dear sinner, God is angry with the wicked every day.
But in Christ, God has always, everlastingly, I don't know if
that's a word, but I'm going to make it one. He has everlastingly
loved His elect. Why? Because His compassions
fail not. His compassions fail not. What
a thought. Jeremiah is speaking here of
hope. The hope of eternal life. Jeremiah's hope of life eternal
is based on God's mercy. Jeremiah's hope is based on God's
love and his compassion for his own. Now look back at verse 19. Look at what Jeremiah said in
verse 19. He said, I remember my affliction. He said, I remember my misery.
I remember the wormwood and the gall, and both wormwood and gall
are figurative of poison. Both are expressions of bitterness
and grief. Jeremiah knew himself to be a
sinner in need of God's mercy. Look at what he said in verse
20. He said, my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humble
in me. What did his soul still have
in remembrance? Well, his affliction of sin, his feeling of guilt,
his bitterness and grief due to both sin and guilt. And Jeremiah
was made to know what every chosen child of God is going to be made
to know. They're going to be made to know
that they're sinners. But that's not all. They're going
to be made to know that Christ came into the world to save sinners.
That's right. Jesus Christ shall save His people
from their sins. He's going to save us from something.
What is it? It's our sins. Christ came to
seek and to save that which was lost. Are you lost? If you're
lost, I've got a message for you. Do you desire mercy? Oh, if you do, I've got good
news. God delights to show mercy. God is plenteous in mercy. Do
you remember that publican that prayed in the temple? I'm talking
about that publican that the scripture says he went down to
his house justified. He went down to his house right
with God. Do you remember what he prayed?
Do you remember how he prayed? Oh, he was too ashamed to lift
up his eyes unto heaven. He stood there in the back of
the temple, not at the front. Not to be seen of others. His
desire was to be seen of God. And as he stood there in the
back of the temple, his head bowed, ashamed of who and what
he was. He beat on his chest as if to
point to what he needed most, a new heart. Lord, be merciful
to me. A sinner was his prayer. And
do you know what? God was merciful to him. He went
down to his house justified. Friends, God commendeth His love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ had died
for us. Christ didn't come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I'm telling you with full
confidence this morning that my hope of life eternal is in
the Lord's mercies. My hope of eternal life is that
His compassions fail not. If He ever loved me, He loves
me still. In spite of me. And what a relief
that is. You know, if my salvation was
dependent on me, I would always fear that I wasn't doing enough. And I would always fear that
I wasn't doing good enough. Hear me, I mean to be repetitive. My eternal hope for redemption
is the Lord's mercies. God not giving me what I deserve. And God giving me what I don't
deserve. That's what mercy and grace is. And that's the only
reason that I'm not consumed in God's holy wrath. My eternal
hope of salvation is that His compassions fail not. That's
the only reason that I'm not destroyed by the holy justice
of God. Now let me give you the third
reason that the child of God has hope of eternal life. And
that as great as God's faithfulness. Look at verse 23. Jeremiah says,
the compassions of God are new every morning. Aren't you glad?
I sin every day, but His compassions are new every morning. Boy, that'll
put a step in your walk, won't it? I'm telling you it will. Jeremiah didn't say, he said
the compassions of God are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Jeremiah didn't say great is
my faithfulness. He said great is thy faithfulness.
Jeremiah didn't say I've been faithful. He said God's been
faithful. Do you know what our testimony
in the end will be? The true child of God? Great
is thy faithfulness. David said, God hath made with
me an everlasting covenant. We looked at it a couple weeks
ago. He said, it's ordered in all things. And sure, well, that's
a good word. Sure. David said, this is all
my salvation. What is? God's faithfulness.
He said, this is all my desire. What's all your desire, David?
God's faithfulness. His faithfulness to me. Oh, I'm
glad that my salvation does not depend upon my faithfulness to
Him. Now, I desire to be faithful.
I want to be faithful. All God's people do. But my salvation,
my redemption doesn't depend on that. It depends on His faithfulness
to me. The Lord is merciful. His compassions fail not. Great
is His faithfulness. Does it sound to you like salvation
is of the Lord? The covenant of grace that God
faithfully ordered. The covenant of grace that God
faithfully made sure my salvation rests in His faithfulness. My
surety made that covenant of mercy and grace sure. That's
why He's my surety. That's not hard to understand,
is it? It's impossible to believe apart from God's work of grace
in your heart. I hear men and women talk about
their great faithfulness. I hear folks brag about what
they're doing for God. But I don't read anywhere in
the scripture where God's people brag and talk about their faithfulness. Noah didn't. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. Abraham didn't, while he was
an idolater in the Ur of Chaldees, until God called him and told
him to leave. And he believed God and it was accounted unto
him for righteousness. That's how we receive the righteousness
of God, by believing and trusting in Christ. Isaac didn't talk
about what he'd done for God. Jacob didn't. Joseph didn't.
We've been studying the book of Genesis now for over four
years. Joseph didn't say, look at me,
you know, I've got a bum rap. from my brothers who threw me
in a pit and sold me into slavery, and then I wound up in prison.
But you know what I did? I pulled myself up by the bootstraps
and made something of myself. And look at me now. I'm over
all the affairs of Egypt. No, sir. Joseph knew that the
Lord was with him. When he finally revealed himself
to his brothers who had dealt with him so treacherously, he
simply said, you thought evil against me, but God meant it
for good. God allowed all this to happen
to me, to bring to pass all it is this day to save much people
alive. God was behind it all. And he
is everything. All things work together for
the good of them who love the Lord, who are they called according
to his purpose. Great is God's faithfulness. Child of God, the old hymn we
sing, standing on the promises of God, says, when the howling
storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God we
shall prevail. I'm going to stand on the promises
of God. That's exactly what we do. Paul
told Titus, he said, if we believe not, yet he about is faithful.
Did you hear that? If we believe not, If the howling
storms of doubt and fear assail in our life, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. We stand
on that great promise. When our faith seems to be overthrown
in unbelief, we're told, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth
sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. We stand on that promise. The Lord knows those that are
His. He's not going to let you go. No man can pluck you out
of His hand. God is faithful to His Son. Christ
said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, for I
came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing. I stand on that promise. I stand
on that. He'll lose nothing. that God
gave Him before the foundation of the world. God's faithful
to Himself. God's faithful to His purpose.
God's faithful to His Son. God's faithful to His people.
His gifts and calling are without change, Paul said in Romans 11
verse 29. So let's reiterate. When a believer
calls certain things to mind, they'll have hope. Hope of eternal
life. Hope of being with Christ forever
and ever. What are those things? Well,
Christ is merciful to sinners. God's love and compassion never
fails. Great is God's faithfulness to
His people. Then we come to the fourth thing.
The Lord is our portion. Verse 24. The Lord is my portion,
saith my soul. Therefore will I what? Hope. Where are you going to hope?
In Him. That's where all my hope is. It's in Him. If you look
up that word portion in the dictionary, you'll find that it means a part
of the whole, a piece or a section, a share, a slice, like a slice
of pie or a slice of pizza. Oh my, I'm getting hungry. A
percentage, a ration. A ration is a portion that we
set aside for later. But here the word portion, as
it refers to the Lord, it takes on a much, much bigger meaning
than those things. Here it means inheritance. The Lord is my inheritance. An
inheritance from the Lord. Now let me tell you why that's
such a big deal. In an earthly inheritance, the
heirs split what's left of them. If there are ten heirs, the inheritance
of the deceased is split ten ways. But in the inheritance
of the Lord, every heir gets it all. Isn't that right? Our benefactor who is God is
still alive. His wealth like Himself is everlasting. He gave and He keeps on giving. It never exhausts itself. Not
God's wealth. He gave everything He has to
Christ. And being a joint heir with Christ,
He gave all things to us. The forgiveness of sin. Christ's
perfect righteousness. Christ's perfect holiness is
ours. Eternal redemption is mine. Everlasting
life. Every heir gets it all. Gets
it all. And the word portion here, being
the Lord's portion, also means reward. The Lord is my reward. Not a reward for something that
we've done, no. That goes against all teaching
of Scripture. But a reward given because of
something done for us. God told Abraham in Genesis chapter
15, He said, I'm your shield, I'm your protection, and I'm
your exceeding and great reward. Oh, is Christ not a great and
exceeding reward? In other words, I'm everything
to you. Is He your everything? Is He
everything to you? Our inheritance is not a what.
Our inheritance is a who. Christ is our inheritance and
He's our reward. And I remember Brother Mahan
saying that salvation is not the pardon, but the person who
pardons. Salvation is in a person. It's
not the benefits, it's the being. It's not the gift, it's the giver.
It's not the place called heaven, it's the person called Christ.
That's what makes heaven heavenly, that Christ will be there and
that I'll be with Him forever. That's heavenly to me. The Lord
is my portion. He's my life. He's my provider. He's my nourishment. He's everything. Is He your everything? I found
it interesting that the Hebrew word for portion means smoothness. And I thought about that and
I thought, yeah, spiritually speaking, everything goes smooth
when Christ is my portion. Trials, temptations, rough times
in this life bring smoothness in the next. Roughness in this
natural realm brings smoothness in the spiritual. Isn't that
what James said? James said, knowing this, that
the trying of your faith works patience. And let patience have
her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting
nothing. Why, if I have Christ, what else
could I want? I have it all. He is my inheritance. He is my reward. Oh my. Now let me give you one more
thing that the child of God calls to mind, calls to remembrance,
that gives them eternal hope. That's what we're talking about
this morning. The believer's eternal hope of salvation. And that fifth thing is the Lord
is good. Look at verse 25. The Lord is
good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh
Him. Now let me read you the words
of David in Psalm 27. Verse 13 said, I had fainted
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say. on the Lord. Now listen friends,
the Lord is good to them that wait on Him. What does it mean
to wait on the Lord? Well it means to endure to the
end. That's exactly what it means. Those that endure to the end
shall be saved. That's waiting on the Lord. It
means to trust the Lord until the day you die. It means to
put all hope and confidence in Christ every day. That's waiting
on the Lord. God is good to the soul that
seeks Him. By nature, there's none that
seeks God. We know that. But the believing
child of God constantly seeks the Lord. We look for Him in
everything. We seek Him and see Him in daily
providence. We see the Lord's behind that.
Whatever it may be. And He's somehow, someway going
to work that together for my good. We seek and see Him in
our troubles. We see that He's working all
things together for our good. We seek Him continually. We seek
Him sincerely. And what is our conclusion to
it all? The Lord is good. He's good. Whatever He does is good. There's
none else unto whom we can turn. Sadly, I often forget these things. And I look within me. Oh, that's
such a bad thing to do. Sometimes I lose track and I
look at this world. Look back at verse 1. When I
look within, I see that I'm a man who is afflicted by the rod of
God's wrath. Lamentations 1. In verse 2, I
see that God has brought me into darkness and despair because
of my sin. In verse 3, I see that I am at
odds with God, an alien and a stranger from Him and His promises. In
verse 4, when I look within, I see that I am wounded and I'm
broken, dead, and trespasses in sin. In verse five, I see
that God has compassed me with bitterness and travail. Verse
six, I see that God has set me in a dark, dark place. I see
that by nature, I love darkness rather than light. In verse seven,
when I look within, I see that I'm hedged in by God and wrath,
imprisoned by and held captive by the heavy chains of bondage
through sin. In verse eight, I see that my
prayers are shut out from his hearing. Verse nine, I see that
my ears are made hewn in stone, deaf to his glorious word. In
verse 10, I see that I'm in danger of being devoured by sin, self,
and Satan. Verse 11, when I look within,
I see that I'm pulled in pieces, made to be desolate. Verses 12
and 13, I see that I'm an enemy of the Most High. I see that
He's bent His bow. He's aimed His arrow toward me
and against me. In verse 14, when I look to this
world, I see that I am in derision. I'm mocked and I'm scorned and
I'm ridiculed by all those that are around me. Verse 15, when
I looked to my will working way, I see that I'm filled with bitterness,
drunk with cursedness and the poison of wormwood. In verse
16, I see that I'm broken in affliction and covered with the
ashes of mourning. Verse 17, when I look to my soul,
my heart, my existence, I see that I'm far off from peace and
made to forget any spiritual prosperity. In verse 18, I'm
made to confess that I have no hope, and it's perished from
the Lord. See, in verse 19, I remember
my affliction. I remember my misery, the poison
of my sin and my fallen flesh in which dwells no good thing.
And then again comes God's grace in verse 20. And my soul is reminded
of some glorious truths that God has taught me. And again
I'm humbled. And these things I call to mind
and I remember that I have great hope. I remember that the Lord
is merciful. I remember that the Lord is compassionate. I remember that the Lord is faithful.
I remember that the Lord is my portion. He's my inheritance,
He's my reward. I remember how good my Savior
was and is to me. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good. His mercy endureth forever. It's only because of Christ that
this sinner has an eternal hope of redemption. It's the only
hope I have. Why? Because my hope is in the
Eternal One. Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh,
may God enable you to trust in Him. That's the only hope you
have of eternal life. May God make it so. Shelly, would you come? Let's
sing Amazing Grace. I think that's a very appropriate
song. 236, I believe. Keep that.