Turn in your Bibles to Lamentations
chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. The title
of the message tonight is suffering that leads to hope. Suffering
that leads to hope. We normally don't think of suffering
and hope being in in concordance with each other, but here it
is. We begin this, as you know, Lamentations. Lamentations, the
whole book, just five chapters, is mainly a chronicle of Jeremiah
the prophet's suffering and his sorrow over the fall of Judah
and Jerusalem. And I want to just read the first
few verses here of chapter 3. Let's start. Jeremiah is speaking.
He says, I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of
his wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me as he turned,
he 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 and travail, trouble. He hath set me in dark places
as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that
I cannot get out. That's the, you know, we talk
about God hedging us about to protect us, but here he's talking
about being trapped. Trapped in his suffering. He
hath made my chain heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, he
shutteth 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, as a lion in secret
places. He hath turned aside my ways
and pulled me in 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. I was
a 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 I said, my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord, remembering mine afflictions
and my misery, the wormwood and the gall." Now, as I read through
that, did it remind you of anyone else in the scripture? Certainly
reminded me of Job, didn't it? Job in his sorrow and suffering.
When we speak of suffering, we can talk about it in many different
forms, facets, contexts. For example, there is suffering
that is common to all human beings here on this earth. I mean, think
about it. All people suffer at some time
in some way. All people get sick, all people
lose things, lose loved ones. That's common to all human beings.
That kind of suffering is the consequence of sin. That's what
it is. It's the infirmities of the flesh,
the weaknesses of the flesh. We live in a fallen world, a
sinful world. And though there may be times
of prosperity and times of joy and peace, you know as well as
I do, they do not last. I tell our young people all the
time that you're in the prime of life, and you pretty much
enjoy life, but it doesn't last. And I don't want to be just a
naysayer, and I don't want them to be, as Tim James would say,
negative nabobs or anything like that, but it's just so. We live,
we're sinful people in a sinful, fallen world, and there's suffering. But then there's suffering that
is common and unique only to believers, the people of God. We can describe that in many
ways. It's called suffering for Christ's sake. The Lord spoke
of it with his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount when he said,
blessed are you when men persecute you for righteousness sake, when
they revile you and say all manner of evil against you. Remember
he said they killed the prophets. Think about Jeremiah himself
personally as he went through his lifetime of ministry. He
dealt with it again. The Lord did in John chapter
15 beginning at verse 18 there. He said marvel not if the world
hates you. It hated me before it hated you.
He concluded that segment by saying they'll throw you out
of their worship services, they'll put you out of the synagogues,
and those who kill you with it think they're doing God service.
So that's suffering that is common to all believers in some stage,
in some way, to some degree. And it's unique to believers.
The world doesn't suffer for Christ's sake. They suffer because
of sin, as we all do. But they suffer for, the believers
suffer for Christ's sake. That's unique. And then we can
talk about the chastisements of the Lord in the realm of suffering.
Sometimes God chastises his people, all his people, for correction. Now we cannot always trace that
chastisement back to some specific sin. There are some times we
can. We can't always because we're not that wise and that
knowledgeable. The book of Hebrews chapter 12, I believe is the
best commentary and teaching on that subject. You remember
it says there that if you don't suffer the chastisements of the
Lord, which are the chastisements of a loving father to his children,
because those whom he loves, he chastens. He says, if you
don't suffer that, then you're bastards and not children. The
difference between suffering that is common to all human beings
because of sin and the suffering that's unique to believers is
this. For the unrighteous, the unregenerate, those who will
die in unbelief, let's put it that way, they'll go through
their lives as unbelievers and they'll die in unbelief. For
those, the unrighteous, Suffering here on earth is really a foretaste
of eternal damnation. And that's sad. But that's what
it is. Over in the book of John, you
don't have to turn there, in John chapter 3, In verse 36 it
says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Now
that's true no matter what we're going through here on this earth.
If we have the Son, we have everlasting life. Now you may be sick as
a dog tonight, but if you have Christ, you have everlasting
life. Now that life will not be realized
on this earth, but it will be realized when you go to be with
the Lord. But listen on, he says, and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life. Now that's talking
about the non-elect. That's talking about an unbeliever
who goes through this life and dies in unbelief. It says, but
the wrath of God abideth on him. Now, he may not feel like the
wrath of God's on him. He may be rich, he may be healthy,
he may live to be like Methuselah, 969 years old, but the wrath
of God abides on those who die without Christ. So the suffering
that an unregenerate unbeliever goes through in this life, one
who dies in unbelief, is a foretaste of eternal damnation. But not
so for the child of God, not so for the child of God, for
the righteous, those who are recipients of the grace of God. those who are washed in the blood
of Christ and clothed in his righteousness, those who at some
time in their lifetime by the power of God will be brought
to faith in Christ, their suffering is always for correction or to
wean us away from this world and mainly to do what? To drive
us to Christ more and more. Keep us focused on him coming
to him to whom coming Peter wrote coming to him all the time Not
just one time not just when you were 12 when you walked in our
whatever, but I mean every day For the hope of salvation now
and forever is in Christ The hope of sight the assurance of
salvation now and forever is based on his righteousness alone
imputed to us in which we receive by faith. Now, our prayer and
desire is this. Now, this is where we come to
lamentations. Our prayer and desire is this,
that our suffering here on this earth, and we do and we'll suffer
in whatever capacity it comes in, but all our suffering here
on earth, our prayer is that that God will use that suffering
to lead us to and make plain the hope that we have personally
in Christ. Now look at verse 21. Now you
remember what Jeremiah said there in all of his suffering, sorrow. But look at verse 21. This I
recall. Now look at, if you've got a
concordance, look at what it says. He says, make to return
to my heart. Is that what it says in your
concordance? You know what he's saying there? Now I'm suffering. And I've suffered, you've suffered.
And what do we do when we complain? I do. I gripe. I get mad. I get angry. I get
angry at God. I mean, that's awful now. But,
here's really the state of my heart. Look here, verse 20. This
I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Now, he's talking
about what he's going to say in the next verses. All right? But before I get to those, now
listen, I want you to see something here. This will help you. Now,
Jeremiah, he says, verse one, I am the man that has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath. And he complains all the way
through that. He sorrows, he pours out his heart. And he says,
in verse 20, this I recall to my mind. This is the real state
of my heart. Therefore, I have hope. Hope? Well, we've considered the suffering
and sorrow of Jeremiah. Listen to this secondly. Consider
that this hope that he's going to be talking about and that
he really spoke of in his prophecy throughout his lifetime can only
be realized in the glorious person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only way that hope can be realized.
It cannot be realized here on this earth. Because, listen, I mean, you
may have, generally speaking, a joyous life, but it's going
to end in death, the death of this body. This body is dead
because of sin. And we've seen firsthand, and
some of us know firsthand, the consequences of sin upon this
physical body. So how is this hope going to
be realized? Only through the Lord Jesus Christ. When God brings
us through suffering to find that our only hope of salvation
is in Christ Jesus, we find out, or at least we're continually
reminded, that it's not our suffering that saves us. It's the suffering of Christ
that saves us. You may have heard like I've
heard so many times about people who get sick, especially with
the dreaded disease like cancer or Parkinson's disease or something
like that, and they suffer. And their life is concluded either
in the hospital or at home or in hospice, administering drugs
to relieve their pain until they die. And I've heard people make
this statement. I heard it when I was a boy.
In fact, I believe either the first or second funeral I ever
attended as a boy, I heard somebody make this statement about a lady
who'd passed away And the fella said, I know she's in heaven
because she suffered so much here on earth. Well, here's the
point. You know this is true. There's
no amount of suffering that a sinner can go through here on earth
that will open the gates of heaven for them. And you know as well
as I do, there have been some people who suffered greatly here
in this life. And I, listen, I hate to see
people suffer. Especially children. Don't you? I hate to see people suffer.
But we have to understand, there is no amount of suffering on
this earth that a human being can go through that will earn
them a place in glory. The only suffering that will
bring us hope is the suffering of Christ. And look at it this
way, when you read through, I'm not going to re-read the first
20 verses of this. But you do that. And when you
do, consider Christ making these statements that Jeremiah, consider
this, consider Jeremiah as a type of Christ here. As our substitute
and our surety, being made sin for us, being made a curse for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Let's read a few. He says, I am the man that has
seen affliction by the rod of Israel. That's Christ under the
judgment of his father. It pleased the Father to bruise
him. He is the man, isn't he? He's
the God-man. He has led me and brought me
into darkness but not into light. I think about our Lord hanging
on that cross saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? What suffering? There's another
thing to understand that there's no amount of suffering that any
human being can go through on this earth that would even compare
to the suffering of our savior on the cross for our sins imputed
to him. Surely against me, as he turned,
the father turned against the son. How can that be? Well, there's only one explanation.
The scripture gives is because of sin charge to him. He turneth
His hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath He
made old. He hath broken my bones. Now
we know that in prophecy there was no bone of Christ broken.
But what Jeremiah is not saying, his bones were literally broken.
What he is talking about, it is kind of like the saying that
we have, that goes all the way to the bone. In other words,
this sorrow is not just surface here. This sorrow is not just
on the outside. This sorrow reaches all the way
to the marrow. That's how rough it is. But you
think about our Savior going through what he went through
in his suffering unto death for our sins accounted to him in
order that we might have hope, the hope of righteousness through
faith. And with that in mind, let's
consider In this message, beginning here at verse 21, the hope that
we have in Christ. Now, listen to this. These right
here are some of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. And listen to what he says. Now
verse 21, remember what he said there. He says, this I recall
to my mind. Here's the state of my heart.
Here's really what's on my heart. Therefore, I have I hope. Well,
what is it? Number one, verse 22, it is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. That word consumed, you know
what it means. It means that we're not obliterated.
We're not stamped out. We're not totally cut off and
alienated from God. Remember Isaiah? Woe unto me,
for I'm undone, I'm cut off. Why? Why, how in the world could
a sinner who deserves nothing but being consumed claim, that
I'm not consumed? I'll tell you how, it's of the
Lord's mercy. That's covenant mercy. That's the mercy of God
in Jesus Christ. Just like the mercy seat covered
with the blood of the Lamb. That's how it is. I'm the Lord,
I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not, what? You're
not consumed. And I want you to notice here
it says, because his compassions fail not. It has, listen, it's
not, it doesn't have anything to do with our works or our suffering
or our sorrow. It's one, you can trace it to
one thing, his love, his mercy, which is totally undeserved,
totally unearned, his sovereign love, his sovereign mercy, mercy
in Christ. Because in ourselves, we deserve
condemnation. In Christ, there's mercy. And
there's no mercy outside of Christ. Our hope is that God will be
merciful to us in Christ. And it's not because we fail
not, we fail all the time. I fail all the time, don't you?
It's because His compassions fail not. It's all conditioned
on Christ. And then look at verse 23. His compassions fail not, they
are new every morning. That's the second thing. They
are new every morning. You see that? In other words,
we don't need his mercy just one time. If he just gave it
to us one time, we'd be consumed the next time. But they're new every morning.
I need his mercy every day. I need his grace every day. I'm
telling you, I say this all the time. I don't know if you get
tired of hearing it or not, but it's just so. This is the way
it is. When God first brought me into
his kingdom and showed me the glory of Christ, I needed his
mercy then. I've been preaching this gospel
for over 30 years. I need it just as much. I think
even more today, tonight, standing behind this pulpit. I need it
right now more than I've ever needed it. And His covenant mercy in Christ
is new every day. It's there for each day. His
grace, like that manna that came every day. We need it. His love, His grace,
His mercy are given every day and needed by us every day. What
this is saying is this. Child of God, there's not one
second of your life that you can be left on your own. or to
yourself. That's right. You're in need,
I'm in need every day. If we're left to ourselves at
any day, at any time, we'll perish. Won't we? We'll perish. God saves us by his grace and
God keeps us by his grace. My righteousness today is the
righteousness of Christ imputed to me and that'll be my righteousness
tomorrow, that'll be my, and listen, though I'll be righteous
in myself in glory, I will still proclaim worthy as the lamb.
That was sloth. You see, these compassions, this
love, it begins with God. We didn't love God, but we hated
God. When we were enemies of God,
Christ died for the ungodly. Yet He loved us. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us. And His love is unchanging. Our
love changes. That does. If it didn't change,
you wouldn't have to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ.
You wouldn't have to grow in love. Our love changes. It's
up one day, down the next. But His love never changes. His
love is infinite, has no beginning, no end, no depth, no height.
And nothing I've done calls God to love me. Nothing I try to
do, nothing I ever will do will cause Him to love me. He loves
me freely, unconditionally, in Christ. And nothing we do will
ever make that love to cease. That's our hope, even when we
suffer. Here is the third thing. Look
back at verse 23. Great is thy faithfulness. We hear a lot of preaching that
exhorts us to be faithful. We are to be faithful. Be faithful. We are not to faint. We are to
continue. We are to be faithful stewards
of the grace of God. We are to be faithful worshipers.
were to be faithful students of the word, faithful witnesses,
faithful givers, were to be faithful in prayer. But our hope and our
assurance of life and glory is never at any time based on or
conditioned on our faithfulness because it's always based on
His faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. I'm
glad and thankful and overwhelmed that God has given me faith to
believe. And I'm glad and I'm thankful
and overwhelmed that he keeps me faithful. But I'm more glad
and more thankful and more overwhelmed at his faithfulness. Great is
thy faithfulness. That's that hymn, we sing it.
Great is thy faithfulness. You see, we'll be faithful by
his grace because he's given us a new heart. And we desire
to walk with him. And I'll tell you something about
that now. We do desire, if you're a child of God, you desire to
walk with him, but you don't desire, even that desire is not
perfect in you or in me. But even when we fail, we fall,
we falter, He is faithful. He will not hold back. He will
not take back. We have Christ. My friend, He
is the author and finisher of our faith. His blood never loses
its power to wash away our sins. His righteousness is never corrupted. It is never contaminated. And
it will never be taken away. It is ours forever and ever.
He is faithful. God's faithful to Himself and
to His Word. You know, if God was not faithful,
He'd have more to lose than we would. He'd lose His honor. He'd
lose His reputation. He'd lose His glory. He's faithful
to His covenant promises. He said all the promises of God
are in Christ, in Him. Amen. And He's faithful to His
Son. Let me show you that over in
John 17. Listen to the high priestly prayer
of our Savior. Verse one, he says, these words
spake Jesus, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come, the hour of his death, his suffering. Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. He's asking for
the fulfillment of the covenant promises. And he says, as thou
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. When were they given
him? Before the foundation of the
world. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou sent. And here's the
basis and the foundation and the condition of it all. Verse
four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. And based upon that, the
father is faithful to his son. Now, this was David's comfort
when he lay dying. And he expressed it in 2 Samuel
23 when he said, this is all my hope, this is all my salvation,
all my desire. What? That God has made a covenant
with me, ordered in all things insure. Why? Well, it wasn't
David's faithfulness that made it sure. It wasn't David's works
that made it sure. It wasn't David's service that
made it sure. It wasn't even the fact that
David penned Psalm 23 that made it sure. You know what made it
sure? Christ did. He's the surety. And behind him is the faithfulness
of God. Great is thy faithfulness. And
Christ himself was faithful. To do what? To do all that was
required of him to save his people from their sins. He did all the
doing, all the dying, and all the suffering in between. And
what came out of that? Righteousness. And that's what
we must have in order to stand before God and have hope. Look at the fourth thing here
in Lamentations 3. Number four, verse 24. This,
the Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope
in him. Christ as our father, our husband, our brother, our
friend, has put upon him, in his responsibility, the total
care of his people, spiritually and physically. It's all in his
hands. And he is our portion. He's our
inheritance. And if the Lord indeed by his
own choice and by God given faith is my portion, I'll hope in him.
What he's saying there when he says the Lord is our portion
is this, we have Christ. And if we have Christ, we have
what? Everything that we need, everything God requires, everything
we could desire. He that spared not his own son,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We may
be suffering on this earth because of want and lack, but in Christ
we have everything. He's our portion. He's our portion. And that's not just poetry. That's
reality. And then here's the fifth thing.
Look at verse 25, Lamentations 3. The Lord is good unto them
that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Now to wait
for him is to believe in him. And to believe in him is to seek
him. And all who seek him shall find
him. For the desire of him is of the
Lord. That's what it's saying. We have
the goodness of God, no matter what we're going through here
on earth or no matter what we're suffering, whether it's the consequences
of sin or it's the hatred of the world or it's the infirmities
of the flesh, We have the goodness of God because we're assured
that in Christ, and because of Christ, and because of our right
standing in Christ, all things will work together for good to
them that love God, who are the called according to his purpose.
What is his purpose? Well, it's his glory. Why'd God
do all this? Just because he felt sorry for
us? No. No. Why did God do all this? Because
He had to, because there wasn't any other way out? No. Why did
God do all this? To glorify Himself in the salvation
of His people by His grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's
why. To honor Himself. And then sixthly, look here at
verse 26. He says, It is good that a man
should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. We hope We quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. Now, that doesn't always mean
we're quiet, because we're not always quiet. In these first
19 verses, Jeremiah wasn't being quiet, was he? He's crying out. We saw in the book of Job, Job
shouting out of his sorrow many times. I'm not always quiet. I express my sin quite often,
my complaints, even my unbelief. I get mad, I complain, all that. But what does it mean he quietly
waits? What he's talking about here is a rest. It's a rest,
a rested peace that comes as we look to Christ, the author
and finisher of our faith. And basically what I think it's
more like on this line, and when we go through these times of
our loud complaining and our expressing our sin and our unbelief
and we're wrestling and the state of our heart comes out by the
power of the Holy Spirit. The only thing that's going to
quiet us down is what? A fresh look at our Savior and
our Lord. The only thing that really shut
me up. How about you? And then that's what, what do
we do? We become ashamed of ourselves. That godly sorrow. And it brings
us back to this line here in verse 26, salvation of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in its
planning, in its execution, in its application, in its sustaining,
and ultimate perfection. It's all of the Lord. Oh Jonah,
he saw that, didn't he? But where'd he have to go to
to learn it? Inside the belly of a whale. Running from the
Lord. And he was a prophet of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is totally by grace. Salvation is based on righteousness
established. Therefore, our hope is where? Our hope is in Christ. It's in
Christ. And again, I'll never get tired
of quoting it. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
And listen, even the good times, or the joyous times, or the times
of prosperity and comfort, do you know something? They're also
sinking sand in light of what we have in Christ. All right.