Let's turn back to Lamentations
chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. We ended
the scripture reading by reading verse 21. And it says, This I
recall to my mind Therefore have I hope. Verse 22 says, It is
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. That feeds my soul. I was looking
over this again last night and as soon as I read it again, I
thought that feeds my soul. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not concerned. We do not enter into that. I can read that and hear that
and think, yeah. But I cannot come close to entering
into the depth of that statement. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. I should have been sent to hell
a thousand times already this morning for the sin that's inside
me. The thoughts that are inside
me. But here I stand. Here I am. Why? The Lord's mercy. Mercy. Everything I do in my flesh is
wrong. It's wrong. I have an opinion
about things. They're wrong. They're wrong. I'm convinced I'm right. I'm
wrong. If it is not in agreement with
this word, it's wrong. This is the only truth. We're about to see in a minute
it's best that I do nothing at all, don't do anything at all,
but just sit up under the Lord's mercy. Just sit there, stay there,
rest there. That sinner cried, God be merciful
to me. Why would God be merciful to
me? The Apostle Paul said, In my
flesh. My flesh. What does he mean by
my flesh? He's not just talking about his
skin. He's not just talking about the fibers of his skin. My flesh is my thoughts. In my thoughts. You mean the
thoughts you had before you were saved? Nope. Right now. In my thoughts dwelleth no good
thing. The things I'm thinking, my rationale,
right now, it's not good. My flesh is my heart. In my heart
dwelleth no good thing. I know what's in my mind. Do
you know what's in your mind? We all are thinking right now,
aren't we? And we all know right now what's
in our minds, don't we? Right? How can you tell what's in your
heart? How can you tell what is in your
heart? It's going to come out of my
mouth. That's how you can know what's
in my heart. It's going to come out of my mouth. Out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. My flesh is my action. The things I do. It is of the
Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Our text, verse 22 says, because
His compassions fail not. They fail not. They fail not. They fail not. They absolutely
fail not. I wish I could enter into that
right now. I'm trying to right now. They fail not. His compassions fail not. He shall not fail. Everything He has done for me
and to me shall fail not. It's going to fail not. If He
did it, it's going to fail not. Turn with me over to Mark chapter
8. Mark chapter 8, look at verse
27. And Jesus went out and His disciples
into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And by the way, He asked His
disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And
they answered, John the Baptist, but some say Elias, and others
one of the prophets. And He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith
unto him, Thou art the Christ." Oh, the strong faith of Peter. The strong faith, Thou art the
Christ. Verse 30 says, And he charged
them that they should tell no man of him. Why? It's because He didn't need the
recognition of anybody. Nobody. He came to do the work
and He shall not fail, whether anybody knows about it or not.
I don't need you to go tell anybody. The work is going to be done.
Verse 31 says, And He began to teach them that the Son of Man
must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and
of the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after
three days rise again." He must. He must. Why? Why? I thought he was the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He is. Then why must it happen? It's because God purposed before
time for it to happen in time. That's why. And if God purposes
something, it must happen. It must happen. Verse 32. And he spake that saying openly,
and Peter, bless his faithful heart, took him and began to
rebuke him. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Peter told God, Now God just said, now I'm going
to teach you something. The son of man must suffer many
things. He's going to be killed and he's going to rise after
three days. He must. And Peter took him to the side
and said, uh, you don't have to do that. You don't have to do that. Verse 33 says, But when he had
turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter,
saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter was an apostle, an apostle
standing right next to God. And Satan was inside him. If that can happen to Peter,
don't you think that can happen to me? Oh man, it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. Consumed. Devoured. Devoured. Why are we not consumed? How are we not consumed? I'll
show you. Go to Luke 22. Luke 22, verse 31 says, So likewise ye, when ye see these
things come to pass. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm in the wrong
chapter. Luke 22, 31 says, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat. And the Lord gave Peter to Satan.
He denied the Lord. But verse 32 says, I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not. Fail not. Fail not. What God does is forever. It is forever. Faith is not of
yourself, it's the gift of God. And the gift of God shall not
fail. Now listen to this. Even while Peter was denying
the Lord, this is that same account where he said, get behind me
Satan. Right after that he said, Rooster's not going to crow three
before you hear that you're going to deny me three times. Even while Peter was denying
the Lord, his faith never failed. Is that amazing? Why? Because God said it wouldn't. Now, would you think about this?
If Christ said, I have prayed for you to the father specifically
on your behalf, we know what's about to happen to you. And I
have prayed for you that your faith, that little mustard seed
I put inside you is not going to fail. Do you think there's
a chance it could have failed? Not a chance. It's because God was the author
of that faith. God was the finisher of it. Well,
I don't understand that at all. He was denying the Lord, right?
How could his faith fail not when he was standing there denying
the Lord? I don't understand that either.
I really don't. I thought about that a lot. I don't understand it. But if I don't believe it, then
I don't believe God's Word. Because God said, I've prayed
for you that your faith fail not. I've already admitted to you
that my fleshly rationale is all wrong. It's all wrong. I just can't make any sense of
that. You know why? It's because God is higher than
the heavens and I'm lower than the dirt. That's why. I don't
need to make sense of it. I don't need to. People say God
said it. I believe it. That settles it.
No. God said it. That settles it. That settles it. God said it.
It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. They fail not. They fail not. Go back over to our text, Lamentations
3. Verse 23 says, They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Aren't you glad for that? God's mercies start fresh every
single morning. Every single morning. Yesterday's finished. It's over. It's gone. It really is. God didn't put me in hell yesterday. He didn't put me in hell yesterday.
He poured mercies on me yesterday for all the sin that I committed
yesterday. And He started them all over
again today. They started brand new this morning. Today is the day of salvation. You know what our salvation is?
Great is thy faithfulness. That's our salvation. Go with me to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3 verse 15 says, "...and
account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation." Account
that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. The longsuffering. What's He
putting up with? Me. He's putting up with me. He's putting up with this mouth. He's putting up with these thoughts. He's putting up with this hard
heart. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Back
over to our text in Lamentations 3. Do you know what entering
into the truth of this causes a believer to say when a believer
gets a hold of this? Verse 24 says, the Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. Therefore, will I hope in him? The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. The Lord is going to allow us
to see our weaknesses. He is going to allow us to see
our frailties. I have weaknesses. I have frailties. The Lord is going to allow us
to see our insufficiencies. Paul said, who is sufficient
for these things? I promise you, I am not. I am
not. My old man, my old way, haunts
me. It's on my tails. And I'm trying
as hard as I can to just get one step ahead of Him. I am not
sufficient for these things. The Lord is going to allow us
to see our weaknesses, our frailties, our insufficiencies, so that
we're going to be confirmed. It's going to be confirmed. Confirmed. In the hearts of all of His people,
the Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope
in Him. He's all I need. He is able to
deal with this old man. He's all I need. When my flesh
creeps in, and my flesh brings my soul down, Have you ever had
your soul brought down? Down. Down. To the point where I feel like
I'm about to be consumed. I'm about to be consumed. It's
too heavy and I cannot handle it and I cannot bear it. It's
the Lord's faithful mercy to remind my heart The Lord is my
portion. I am not left alone. The Lord is my portion. I am not destitute. The Lord
is my portion. I'm not broke. The Lord is my
portion. And if I have Him, I have everything. I have everything. Therefore,
will I hope in Him. Therefore, because the Lord is
my portion, I'm going to hope in Him. My body says, my flesh says,
I need more, I need more. My soul says, I'm satisfied. Can you say that? My body says, I need more, but
my soul says, I'm satisfied. The Lord is my portion, and if
I have Him, I have everything. I have everything. Matter of
fact, my cup runneth over. Come stand next to me. There's
plenty. Plenteous grace! Satisfied. Verse 25 says, The
Lord is good unto them that wait for Him to the soul that seeketh
him. Wait, wait for everything. Wait, just wait, just wait. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter five. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 1 says, Keep thy foot when thou goest
to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the
sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil.
Be not rash with thy mouth, And let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou
upon earth, therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the
multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by a multitude
of words. Let not thy heart be hasty, just
wait, Just wait. Wait on the Lord. Pray about
it. Seek him about it, whatever it
is. Listen to Isaiah chapter 30.
You don't have to turn there. You can listen to Isaiah 30.
This is verse 18. And therefore will the Lord wait
that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore will He be
exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God
of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for Him." Wait. Our text back in Lamentations
3 verse 25 says, 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. Let's
go to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 7 says, Rest
in the Lord. I want to do that. I want to
do that. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospereth in His way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. Cease from anger. I don't care
what it is. Heart, cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Fret not thyself
in any wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that
wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. That's speaking
to me. Do it. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Our text in Lamentations 3 says,
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. How does
a person bear the yoke? I want to obey God and bear the
yoke. I really do. I really do. I know you do, too. How does a person bear the yoke?
What does that mean? What does that look like? Verse
28, He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because He hath borne
it upon Him. Bearing the yoke means we realize
and rest in the truth that whatever happens, God did it. Whatever
happens, God did it. Whatever is happening to me,
God did it. God is doing it. And it's for
the purpose of the good of every believer. Verse 28 says, He sitteth
alone and keepeth silence, because He hath borne it upon Him. He
putteth His mouth in the dust. If so be, there may be hope. Well, I've got something to say
about it. You're not going to tame my opinion. Oh, it's good for a man that
he bear the yoke. The sooner the better. Verse
30 says he giveth his cheek to them that to him that smite of
him, he is filled full with reproach. That means surrender. He is filled full with surrender,
the yoke surrender. Why is it good that a man or
a woman bear this yoke? Verse 31 says, For the Lord will
not cast off forever. But though he cause grief, yet
will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. Everything that happens to us,
we deserve it. Everything. And our Lord allows
some light afflictions, very, very light afflictions to come
to us in order to remind us of the multitude of His mercies. That's when we're reminded. When
everything's going good and going great, our thoughts and our heart
are nowhere near God. And it is of the Lord's mercies
that he brings just a little bit of light affliction. Where
are you? It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Afflicted, afflicted, yes. But in Christ, never consumed,
never consumed. Why? It's because he was consumed. Chris read verse 1, I am the
man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. That
made me want to cry when he read that. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, but not into light. God is light. He was separated
from God, from me. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. Oh, man. That's Christ, our Lord. He suffered wrath, so we might
receive mercy. Mercy. Mercy. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not concerned. That's the gospel. Let's stand
together.