Now, our text today is taken
from Lamentations 3, at verse 22, and he said, It
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
His love does not fail. Over here in 1 Peter 3, you don't
need to turn there, but let me just read it to you again. In
1 Peter 3.15, it says, To sanctify the Lord God in your heart, And
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of hope, of your hope, the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. Now, if someone asked you personally,
asked you the reason of your hope of pardon, forgiveness of
sin and salvation, what would you personally answer? What would
you say if someone asked you point blank, what is the reason
of your hope? Why would God forgive you? Why
would God forgive me? Is it because I'm a special person
that I've done the best that I can do? That I've merited somehow
God's favor or earned God's favor to look upon me? Would that be
our answer? Well, it'd be a poor answer,
wouldn't it? We don't look to ourselves for the reason of our
hope. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Lord,
our hope. What is the reason of our hope?
It's Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
want you to use your Bible and find Romans 15. The foundation
of the believer's hope. What is the foundation of our
hope? Feelings. Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God.
Turn to Romans 15, 4. My warrant is the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Romans 15, 4. The foundation
of the believer's hope is based upon the Word. Whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. The reason of
our hope is based upon the Word of God. Thus saith the Lord.
The source of our hope That is also from the Lord. Turn, if
you will, to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Look at verse 16. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, who had loved us and had given us
an everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. Now, where does our hope come
from? From the Lord, and it's by His grace. It's a good hope
based upon His grace. Now, what is the object of our
hope? The foundation of our hope is
the Word. The source of our hope is from the Lord, from His grace. The object of our hope, you have
it right there in front of you. 1 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ, our
hope. You see that? The two words,
which is, they've been added. The Lord God our Savior, and
I leave out that conjunction, Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Our hope. Christ is our hope.
So the foundation of hope is a word. The source of our hope
is from the Lord. The object of our hope is the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christ Himself. Christ in you
is the hope of glory. Now, turn just a few pages over
to the book of Titus. Right after 2 Timothy, we see
Titus. Titus chapter 2, look at verse
11. Titus 2, 11. For the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, that is,
all sorts of men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and glorious
appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify unto Himself the peculiar people zealous of good work. We have a blessed hope. In Christ
Jesus. And you know what? It's not a
temporary hope. It's an eternal hope. Back to
Titus chapter 1. Titus 1. Look at verse 1. Paul, a servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and
the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, in
hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised. When
did he promise this? It says there, before the world
began. So a hope we have is a blessed hope. It's a real hope. It's an eternal hope. Now turn
over to 1 John 3. And it is a present hope. It
is a present hope we have. A present hope. 1 John 3, look
at verse 1. Beloved, 1 John 3, 1. Beloved,
behold, What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons of God?
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now, right now, are we sons of God? And it doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,
every man that hath this hope in him. purifies himself even
as he is pure. He is the Lord, our righteousness. You see, we have a good hope
in Christ Jesus. Now back to Romans chapter 15
for just a minute before we turn to Lamentation 3. Back to Romans
15, and look at this scripture here. The believer's hope is
all wrapped up in the gospel itself. The sum and subject And
summation of that gospel is all wrapped up in Christ Himself.
Romans 15, again, verse 13 now. Romans 15, 13. Now the God of
hope, who is He? He's the God of hope. Fill you
with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through
the power of God. What is the power of God? Well,
it's the gospel. Turn to Romans 1, 16. Romans
chapter 1. You see, it's all wrapped up
in Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Romans
1, 16. For as much as in me is, I'm
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome. Romans
1, 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believeth. To the Jew and also to the Greek,
Gentile, for there is a righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just or the justified live by
faith. Christ is our hope. The gospel
is our total hope. A pardon? What's your hope of
pardon? Well, it's the gospel. The gospel of Christ. What's
our hope of forgiveness? Well, it's all wrapped up in
Christ. Through His blood, we have the forgiveness of sin.
Now, turn back to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentation chapter
3. All of God's elect, from Abraham,
Adam, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, they all have the same gospel
hope that we have today. God saves sinners just one way. And that one way is through Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says of Abraham, he
rejoiced to see my day. He saw and was glad. Our Lord
said of Moses, Moses wrote about me, wrote about the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's our hope in Christ. That
was Abraham's hope. That is Moses. If you'd ask any
of them the reason of their hope, what would they say? Not the
law. Christ. the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all their hope. All believers
have the same hope. Specifically, in Lamentations
chapter 3, if we would ask this faithful believer, Jeremiah,
Jeremiah, what's your hope? Here's his confession right here.
Lamentations 3, verse 22. He says, "...remembering my sin
and my misery, my wormwood and my gall, He knows that he's a
sinner. He knows in himself that he can't
merit God's favor, can't merit God's grace. He says with the
Apostle Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? But he doesn't stop there, does
he? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This, he said,
remembering my sin and my misery, when I called them to mine, he
said, there, that's when I have hope, when I consider I'm nothing,
when I consider I'm a sinner. Christ died for the ungodly,
therefore I have hope. You see what he's saying here?
And that's our confession. Now, he mentions six things here.
The first one is this. He says, Jeremiah, if we'd asked
Brother Jeremiah today, Brother Jeremiah, what's your hope? The
first thing he starts with is, well, you know, it's all of mercy. You see, it's the Lord's mercy
that we are not totally consumed by God's holy wrath and judgment
against our sin. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. Our hope of salvation, like brother
Jeremiah, is based upon God's mercy. His mercy alone. We deserve
nothing but condemnation. That's right. The wages of sin
is death. Our hope is that God is merciful to sinners in Christ. In Christ. Hold your place there
and find Psalm 51. Psalm 51. David had the same
hope as Brother Jeremiah. King David and Brother Jeremiah
and every believer had the same hope. It is of the Lord's mercy
that we are not consumed. Psalm 51, Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to my goodness. That's not what he said. According
to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me truly
by my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. And he says the same
thing as Jeremiah said, I'm a sinner. I acknowledge my transgression
and my sin as ever before me. Boy, when I think of my sin and
my guilt and my total depravity, that's when I have hope. It's
of the Lord's mercy that I'm not consumed. You see that? Now,
back to Lamentation chapter 3. Now, notice, if you will, verse
31. Lamentation 3, 31. For the Lord will not pass off
forever, but though He causes grief, yet will He have compassion
according to the multitude of His Mercy is mercy. God is determined to show mercy
to sinners in Christ Jesus. I'm sure of it. He will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy. But my friend, he will show mercy. He will show mercy. His grace
will just saying about that, we believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. How would you
describe the difference between God's grace and his mercy? Is grace and His mercy. Someone
said, His grace is giving me what I do not deserve. It is
free favor of all spiritual blessing that He freely gives us. Well,
His mercy is not giving me what I do deserve. I don't deserve. Oh, I tell you, His mercy is
not giving me what I do deserve. I deserve His judgment, His wrath,
His condemnation. That's what I've got coming.
But it's His mercy that He's pleased to save us by His grace. Mercy, we know, according to
the Scripture, is totally undeserved. Can you merit God's favor? Can
you merit God's mercy? Can you earn His favor? Well,
if you can, it's not mercy. Mercy is totally undeserved.
Not by works of righteousness, Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. He saved us according to His
pure, sovereign mercy. Mercy is totally undeserved.
Mercy is also totally sovereign. Totally sovereign. He said, I
will be merciful to whom I will. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that will show mercy
to whom He will. But, my friend, He will show
mercy. And mercy is totally in Christ. Totally undeserved, totally
sovereign, and totally in Christ. God's going to show mercy to
sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he can be a just God
and Savior in Christ. That's how he can be just and
the justifier of the ungodly. So that's Brother Jeremiah's
hope. Next time someone asks you, what's
the reason of your hope? What would you say? It's of the
Lord's mercy. Use this outline. Use the words
of Jeremiah. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed. Secondly, he says this. Brother
Jeremiah, what's your hope of salvation? Well, it's based upon
His love does not fail. His compassion. His compassion
does not fail. Our hope of salvation is based
upon His unfailing love for us. Now listen to me. Not our love
for Him. Our hope is not how much I love
Him. Our hope is how much He loves
us. His love is sacrificial love. Here is love, not that we love
God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for
our sin. We love Him. Oh, yes. You know
why? He first loved us. 1 John 4, 19. His love is sacrificial
love. His love is saving love. I want
you to find Romans chapter 5. Turn over there. Romans chapter
5. His love is saving love. It's saving love. It's sacrificial
love and it's saving love. Romans 5. Look at verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength in due time... See these five words? This is
our hope. Christ died for the ungodly. Charles Spurgeon said if he had
five words, if he could preach and preach and preach and just
preach five words, You know what he said? I choose these five
words. Christ died for the ungodly. Look at this, Romans 5, verse
8. But God commended His love toward
us. This is God commended love toward us. In that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son. Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved
by His life. Not only so, but we join God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom we have now received
the atonement. Reconciliation. Propitiation.
That's our hope. His sacrificial love, His saving
love. You know, His love is endless
love. The love of God is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it says of this love, He's
loved His covenant people with an everlasting love. When you
read 1 Corinthians chapter 13, that whole chapter deals with
love. And you know what it says about
love? It says it never fails. You can put in that Christ never
fails and His love for His people never fails. That's our hope. That's our hope. You see, that's
Brother Jeremiah's hope. Turn back to Lamentation 3. He
lights up the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Secondly,
he says, his compassion, they fail not. His love does not fail. It cannot fail because God does
not fail. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. And then it says they're new.
His love of God is new every day. It's ever new, ever new.
This is our hope of salvation. It's new each morning. Here's
the third reason of our hope. He says in verse 23, Brother
Jeremiah, what is your hope? Well, I've been a faithful prophet.
That's not what he says. Look what he says. Great is thy
faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Our great hope of salvation is
based upon the faithful obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He said,
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish
His work. It's based upon His great faithfulness. Obeying God's law on every jot
and till and every precept and every penalty. It's His great
faithfulness. Now, God's people are faithful.
But our salvation is not based upon our faithfulness. It's based
upon the faithfulness of Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Now, notice
what he says right here. Galatians 2. The obedience of
Christ in his life. The obedience of Christ in his
death. No one took his life from him. He laid it down of his own
loving will. He desired. He said, I'm the
good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Now look at Galatians 2 verse 16. Galatians 2 verse 16. That
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. By the faithful obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of... Who? By the faithfulness of Christ.
And not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. You see, our hope of salvation
is based upon His faithfulness, His mercy, His love, it's all
vested and summed up in Christ. Christ and Him crucified for
us. That's the believer's hope. David's
last words on his deathbed, recorded in 2 Samuel 23, this is all God
had made with me an everlasting covenant, ordering all things
that is sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. That was David's hope. what God
had done for him in Christ. Now, back to Lamentations 3.
Brother Jeremiah, what's your hope? Brother Jeremiah, do you
have a good hope? Oh, yes! God's faithfulness. His mercy. His love for me. His
great faithfulness. Then he says in verse 24, here's
the fourth thing. He says, the Lord is our portion. He's our portion. He's our portion. He's our inheritance. The Lord
is my portion. He's my Savior. He's my God,
sayeth my soul. Therefore will I hope in Him. That's our hope. The Lord is
our portion. This is every believer's hope.
Christ is all our inheritance. He is our portion. Find Psalm
16. Look at this. Psalm 16. Look at verse 5. Psalm 16, 5. The Lord is a portion of my inheritance. I have an inheritance. I'm an
heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Christ is my reward. I'm not looking for rewards,
plural, in glory. You know, when you look at the
Scripture, you'll never find the word rewards, plural, in
reference to a believer. It's always singular. Christ
is our exceeding great reward He's our portion. He is our inheritance. The Lord is a portion of my inheritance
and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are falling out unto
me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage."
It's all of God. The giving of God. God who spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Freely. He's our portion. Brother Jeremiah,
boy, you have a good hope. Lord, would you make that my
hope? Make that your hope. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. Now, back to Lamentations chapter
3. Fifthly, Jeremiah says this of
his hope. In verse 25, the Lord is good. The Lord is good. I like that.
I like the way that sounds. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is good. The Lord is
gracious. This is a hope of our salvation.
The Lord is good unto His people. They wait for Him. Boy, His salvation
is worth waiting for, isn't it? To the soul that seeketh Him.
All that the Father hath given to me, they shall come to me,
and those that come to me I will in no wise cast out. We seek
Him. You know why? Turn to Psalm 27. Look at this. This will bless
you. Turn over there and look at this.
I saw this years ago, and it stuck with me. Psalm 27. Look at verse 7. Psalm 27, 7. Here, O Lord, when
I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When thou saidest, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek. When he said, Seek me? I say, well, that's what I want
to do. You see, we seek Him because He's seeking us. We love Him
because He first loved us. The Lord is good. The Lord is
gracious. Our hope of salvation is not
upon our goodness, upon our works, but His goodness. His goodness. The Gospel is good news to sinners. To sinners. To sinners. It's
grace for the guilty. It's mercy for the miserable.
Salvation for sinners. Why does your master eat with
publicans and sinners? The Pharisees accused him that
day. And our Lord said, those who are well don't need a position,
but those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. We are made willing to wait upon
Him and seek Him by His grace. Blessed is the man. Psalm 65
verse 4 says, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest
to approach unto him. That's all of God's doing. To
those who seek Him, the Lord is good. The Lord is gracious.
The Lord is good. I want you to turn and look at
this. Exodus 33. His goodness. The Lord is good. The Lord is gracious. You know
what he's talking about here? Talking about God's goodness
in the Gospel. Exodus 33, when God was pleased
to reveal unto Moses the glory of God, when Moses said, Lord,
show me Your glory. Exodus 33, verse 18. Show me
Your glory. Look what he says in verse 19.
This is after all that Moses had seen. All the plagues in
Egypt. The sea dividing. The pillar
of light, the cloud, the bread, all those things. And he said,
the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
I'll make all my goodness. Where's his goodness seen? Where's
his goodness personified in Christ? You write right in there where
it says, goodness I'll make Christ pass before you. That's where
the goodness of God is revealed. The mercy of God is revealed
in Christ Jesus. All of His goodness. The Lord
is good. Turn over to Psalm 136. Look at this. Psalm 136. Oh, give thanks, verse 1. Psalm 136. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord. He is good. He is good. For His mercy endureth
forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of God. His mercy endureth forever. Oh,
give thanks to the Lord of Lords. For His mercy endureth forever. The Lord is good. He is gracious. That's our hope. How about you? Brother Jeremiah, what's your
hope? What? The Lord's mercy. Can't you say
these things in your heart before God? If someone would ask you
the reason of your hope, what would you say? Well, I've been
a good boy. I've joined a church. I've been baptized. Those are
sorry hopes. Those are no hopes. Our hope
is in Christ, in the Gospel. Now, here's the last thing, and
here's the sum of it right here. Verse 26, Lamentation 3. It is
good. It is good. It's right. It is good that a man, a sinner,
should both hope, quietly wait, for the salvation of the Lord. Salvation of Him. This is the
sum of the whole matter. This is the sum of our hope.
Salvation of the Lord. If I'm saved, He did it. If I'm saved, it's by His purpose. God never saved the sinner by
accident. Always on purpose. Always on
purpose. Salvation of the Lord. One, two,
three, four, five things. Salvation of the Lord in its
planning. He planned my salvation from
all eternity. That's my hope. Salvation is
of the Lord and it's purchased. He bought me with His own blood. You reckon He's going to have
that for which He bought? For which He shed His blood?
You reckon He's going to lose that which He bought? When you
buy something precious, you go to the jewelry store, and you
buy a gift for your wife or your husband, an expensive gift, they
give it to you in a special box. Boy, you've got to make sure
you don't lose that. You've got to put it someplace
safe and secure, so you don't lose it, so one day you can pull
it out and present it as a gift. You think the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to lose that for which He gave such a great price? He bought a... He says, you no
more your own, you're bought with a price. His blood. You see, salvation is of the
Lord in its planning, in its purchase. That's our hope. He
bought me. He owns me. I'm His. And He is
mine. Salvation is of the Lord in its
performance. In its performance. Salvation is not something I
perform. Turn to Psalm 57. Look at this. Psalm 57. Salvation is something that He
performed for us. God who hath begun a good work
in you, He will perform it. You see, salvation is of the
Lord in its doing. This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. You remember that Psalm? What
is that, Psalm 118? It's of the Lord's doing. Look at Psalm 57, verse 2. I
will cry unto God most high, and to God that performeth all
things for me. All things. all things. He shall send from heaven the
highest resources possible and shall save me from the reproach
of him that will swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. I tell you, the ovation of the
Lord in his planning, his purchase, his performance, he performs
all things for us. The first words that he He spoke
as recorded words as a young child. He said, I must be about
my father's business. You remember his last words?
He says, finished. He performed all things for us.
John 17 talks about, Father, I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I finished the work. You see, it's His work given
by the Father. He finished the work for us.
So salvation of the Lord in its planning, its purchase, its performance. Salvation of the Lord in its
preservation. In its preservation. We're kept by the power of God.
That's Jeremiah's hope. That's every believer's hope.
Kept by His power. We read in the book of Jude,
chapter 1, verse 24, He's able to keep us from falling. And to present us before God's
glory thoughtless, with exceeding joy. He says, I give my sheep
eternal life and they'll never perish. Neither can any man pluck
them out of my hand. My Father which gave to me is
greater than all. No one can pluck them out of
my hand, my Father's hand. I am my Father, our one. Our
life is hid with Christ in God. I used to give my children this
illustration. Our life, the believer's life,
is hid in Christ. Here we are in Christ. with God. Now come up here and take that
away from me. You children, could you do it? You couldn't do it,
could you? The believer is eternally secure
in Christ Jesus, kept by the power of God. That's our hope.
Salvation is of the Lord. Brother Jeremiah, what's your
hope? With salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. And lastly, in its ultimate perfection,
in its ultimate perfection, salvation is of the Lord. Turn to Romans
8.28. It's ultimate perfection. It
talks about being predestinated, being conformed to the image
of Christ. I like that. I want to be just
like Him. Romans 8.28 says, "...and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to His purpose." That's our hope.
God's purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." That's
our hope. Christ in us. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He called. And whom He called, them He justified.
And whom He justified, them He also glorified. Notice those
are all past tense. Salvation of the Lord in His
ultimate perfection. He's going to change His bowed
body and fashioned it like unto His glorious body." Now, this
is a true confession of every believer. The first sinner ever
saved to the last redeemed of God's elect, their song is one
thing unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His
own blood. To Him be all the honor and glory
both now and forever. I used to close my radio program
with this statement. With the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is endless hope. Endless hope. Eternal hope. It's
a good hope. Without Him, hopeless end. That's a hopeless end. There's
no condemnation of those who are in Christ. He that believeth
on the Son hath life. But those who do not believe,
the wrath of God abides on them. Is that your hope? Can you agree
with Brother Jeremiah? Jeremiah, what's your hope? Well,
it's his mercy, his love, his faithfulness, his grace, his
salvation. Well, God bless you. Bless that
word to your heart.