Over in the Old Testament, there's
a book called Lamentations. Lamentations. I'm going to be
speaking from that passage of Scripture in Lamentations chapter
3. I'd like for you to open your
Bibles because I'm going to go verse by verse through several
verses, and the points I'll be making are found in the verses.
And I'd like for you to open your Bibles to the book of Lamentations,
chapter 3. Now, these are the writings of
Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. And he's called the Weeping Prophet.
He said in Jeremiah 9, Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes
a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for my people. Jeremiah. These are the lamentations
of Jeremiah. Now, some people apply these
lamentations to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they may well be applied to the Messiah, because if you look
in Lamentations chapter 1, verse 12, these words, listen, "'Is
it nothing to you, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?'
You remember talking about the cross. They passed by wagging
their heads, wagging their heads while Christ was dying on the
cross. They passed by wagging their
heads and saying, He trusted in God. Let's see if God will
have him now. They passed by wagging their
heads. They said, If you be the Christ,
come down and we'll believe on you. He saved others himself
He cannot save. And that's Jeremiah's taking
up the cry of our Lord right here. Is it nothing to you, all
ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like my sorrow, the man of sorrows. Is there any sorrow
like my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me? The Lord hath afflicted me in
the day of his fierce anger, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when
he made his soul an offering for sin. All ye that pass by,
is it nothing to you? And behold, is any sorrow like
my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger?" Yes, these are the lamentations
of our Messiah. But the lamentations and the
comfort belong to the Lord's people, to the believers in Christ. For what is said of Him is said
of us. What is true of Him is true of
them. For He's not ashamed to call
them brethren. He's not ashamed to be numbered
with them even in their transgressions. And they are one. Listen, in
John 17, when he prayed to the Father for his people, all of
that 17th chapter of John is the great high priest interceding,
praying for his people. And in verse 23, he said, Father,
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be one, even as we are
one. and the glory which thou hast
given me, I have given them." Yes, lamentations of Jeremiah
the prophet, lamentations of Christ the Messiah, and the lamentations
and the end results, the comfort for all of his people who are
in him. And these words that I've chosen
here in Lamentations chapter 3, would you turn to it? beginning
with verse 21. And these words in my text are
the very foundation of the believer's comfort. That's right, the very
foundation of the believer's hope. Our hope of life, our hope
of heaven, our hope of salvation, our hope of glory is found right
here, the very foundation. I call this message, Five Reasons
We Have a Good Hope. I find five reasons in this text
in these few verses in Lamentation 3, I find five reasons why we
have a good hope of life, of glory, of salvation, of heaven,
forgiveness of sin. Verse 21, look at it. You have
it there, Lamentation 3, verse 21. He said, This I call to mind,
this I call to mind, I remember. Therefore, I have hope." In other
words, what I'm about to relate to you is the reason I have hope. This, I call all this to mind,
and therefore I have hope. I reach back and get all of this
that God has taught me and revealed to me, and this is the reason
I have hope. I call this to mind, therefore
I have hope. You know, Peter said we ought
to be able to give a reason for the hope that's in us. We ought
to be able to. We must be able to. Be always
ready. Listen, I Peter 3, 15. Be ready
always to give a reason for the hope that's in you to anyone
that asks you. And do it with meekness, humility,
and reverence. And Jeremiah is saying that very
same thing. I'm ready. I'm ready to give
you a reason. In fact, five of them. Five reasons
why I have a good hope of eternal life and salvation. Five reasons. All right? This I call to mind,
therefore I have hope. Here's the first one, verse 22.
Listen to it. It's the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. It's the Lord's mercies that
we're not condemned. It's the Lord's mercies that
we're not destroyed. We have a hope because He is
merciful, not because we're preachers or deacons or elders or Sunday
school teachers or church members. We have a good hope because the
Lord's merciful to sinners. He's merciful to sinners. Psalm
103, verse 8 said, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, plenteous in mercy. God is plenteous in mercy. That's
the reason we have a good hope. It's found in Him, not in us.
It's found in the fact that He delights to show mercy. Listen
to Psalm 116. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.
Yes, our God is merciful. Merciful. Oh, you know, one time
John Wesley was crossing the Atlantic Ocean coming to America
from England. This was way back in the colonial
days, 1700 and something. Westland Whitfield preached all
up and down the eastern coast, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina. He was coming back to America
from England and on board the ship was the governor of Georgia. The king had appointed this man
governor of Georgia and he had all of his servants with him
and people waiting on him. He had a special cabin on the
ship. One of his men, one of his servants had stolen some
of his wine. And the governor of Georgia was
going to have him whipped, have him stripped and beaten out on
the deck of the ship in front of all the people. And when they
brought him out there to whip him, Wesley went to the governor
of Georgia and pleaded with him to show mercy and to forgive. And the governor of Georgia replied
to Mr. Wesley's plea to show mercy to
this unfortunate man. The governor replied, I never
forgive. I never forgive. I never show
mercy. And Mr. Wesley said, well, sir,
I hope you never sin because if you will, if you do, you will
never be forgiven and never have mercy. Our God is merciful. He's plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy. That's the reason this center,
as a hope. God is merciful. Micah 7, verse
18 says, Who is a god like unto thee? Who is a god like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity? He retaineth not his anger, because
he delights to show mercy. Who is a god like unto thee?
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever noticed that all
of the so-called gods of the are strict, mean, hard, unforgiving,
demanding type of gods, keeping people in fear and bondage and
slavery, afraid all the ways, always afraid. That's the gods
of this world. But who is a god like unto thee,
O Lord, who forgives iniquity, who delights in mercy? Oh, that's
right. He's not only able to save, but
willing to save. The greatest sinner who'll come
to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for
them. That's why He came to save sinners, of whom I'm the chief. People say, well, I'm such a
great sinner. He's a great Savior. Oh, but I'm so weak, but He's
so strong. And when I'm weak, then am I
strong. And I'm afraid I'll fail again.
You will, and He'll forgive again, and again, and again, and again,
and again. He delights to show mercy. But
I've been so wicked. My past is just one of the worst
stories that can be told. He delights to show mercy. He's
able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him.
That's the reason He says, Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come
to the water. You that labor and are heavy laden, come. I'll
give you rest. I'll give you rest." Why do we have a good hope? Because
He's merciful, ever merciful, ever merciful. Here's the second
reason. Verse 22, same verse, gives us
a second reason for good hope. His compassions fail not. He's
not only merciful, He loves us. He loves us. My friend, listen
to me a moment. Will you listen a moment? Love
is not something that God does. Love is what God is. The Scripture
doesn't say God is a God of love. The Scripture says God is love. There is no love outside of God.
God is love. That's His nature. His love for
Christ and for us in Christ is everlasting. He's always been
love. He is love. It's everlasting,
both ways. He said, I'm alpha, beginning,
and omega, the end. I'm the beginning and the end.
He said, I've drawn you with an everlasting love. I've loved
you with an everlasting love. He's always loved us. Not only
is His love everlasting, it's unchanging. He said, I'm the
Lord, I change not. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His love never altered. The love
of people changes, but not His. It's always the same. I never change. His love is infinite. Our Lord prayed in John 17. He
said, Thou hast loved them as you love me. Can you imagine
that? How much does God love His children? As much as He loves
His only begotten Son. Thou hast loved them even as
you love me." His love is free. Herein is love, not that we love
God. Our love so often is in response. Someone loves us, we love them.
Someone does things for us, we do something for them. Someone
forgives us, we forgive them. It's usually a response. Isn't
it most of the time? His love is not a responsive
love. Herein is love, not that we love God at all. He loved
us. We love Him because He loved
us. But His love initially came to
us. It's free, sovereign. And His
love is for sinners, great sinners, great sinners. Don't worry about the depth of
your sin. You can never bring a sinner
to Christ whom He cannot cleanse. He's able to save all sinners. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He said, I didn't come to call the righteous, I came to call
sinners. And His love's in Christ. That's
where it is. Don't look for it anywhere else.
It's in Christ. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, the Lord." That's
Romans 8, 39. Oh, love of God, how rich, how
pure, how measureless, how strong, everlasting, infinite, free,
sovereign, infinite in Christ, everlasting. How rich, how strong,
how measureless, how strong. It shall forevermore endure,
the saints' and angels' song. Could we with ink the ocean fill? Were the skies of parchment made? every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above
a drain that ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." You schoolteachers
will appreciate this. A little fella came to the teacher
and said, can I have a clean paper? I've messed up mine. She
said, anytime, anytime. And this schoolboy has to forever
go before my merciful, gracious Lord, whose compassions fail
not, and say to Him, could I have a clean piece of paper? Could
I start over? I've sure messed up this one,
huh? That's right. He's faithful. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and He's just and He's compassionate and He's merciful
to forgive us of all our sins. I like that. Yes, I do. poor
and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, full of pity. Love and power. Pity, mercy, love, power. All right, here's the third reason
why we have a good hope, verse 23. The third reason for a good
hope is, great is His faithfulness. It's not because we're that we're
saved and we have a good hope, it's because He is. Somebody
said, are you going to heaven? Somebody else replies, yes, I'm
holding on, I'm keeping on, I'm doing it. No, that's not the
reason I'm going to heaven. That's not the reason I'm saved.
I'm saved because He holds me. I'm kept by the power of God
through faith. He that hath begun a good work
is able to finish it in the day of Christ. He's faithful. He's
merciful, He's loved, and He's faithful. He's faithful. God is faithful to Himself. Numbers
23 says, God's not a man that He should lie. You can bank on
it. God, who cannot lie, promised
eternal life before the world began. God's not a man that He
should lie, neither the Son of man that He should change or
repent. Hath He said, shall He not do it? Hath He spoken, shall
He not make it good? That's my reason. He said. and He'll do it. He's spoken,
and He'll make it good. God's faithful. He's faithful
to Himself. He's faithful to His purpose.
Whom He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And whom He predestinated, He
called. And whom He called, He justified. And whom He justified,
He glorified. What shall we say to these things?
I say, if God be for me, who can be against me? God is faithful
to His Son. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven, he said,
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. This is
the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given
me, I'll lose nothing." He's faithful to himself, to his purpose,
to his Son. He's faithful to his people.
His gifts and calling are without change. Question. Question. Do you expect to see the thief
on the cross, the man that died on the cross, the thief? We call
him the thief on the crop. Do you expect to see him in heaven?
Well, yes, preacher, I do. Why? He never preached. He never witnessed. He never
worked. He never washed. He never walked a step for Jesus.
He never won a soul. What did he do? Nothing. Nothing
but believe on Christ. Well, how do you know he'll be
in heaven? Christ said so. Christ said so. Today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. And if he said it, you can bank
on it. He's faithful, and no other reason. That's the reason for a good
hope. God is merciful. God is love, and God is faithful. God is faithful. My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them
eternal life, and they'll never, never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father gave them to me. And
no one's greater than my father. No one can pluck him out of my
father's hand, and I and my father are one. And they're secure. You have my word on that. The
fourth reason why we have a good hope, God is merciful, God is
love, God is faithful. And listen, verse 24, the Lord
is my portion. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in Him." The Lord is my portion,
and therefore I hope in Him, in Him, not in me, not in my
church, not in my priest, not in my pastor, in Him. I hope
in Him. He's my portion. Now, when we
think of the word portion, if you were to ask some boy or girl,
what is a portion? They'd say an allotment. They'd say a part. A portion is an allotment, a
portion of something, portion of a pie, a portion. But that's
not what the Word is here. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, my soul. Therefore will I hope in him.
The Word here, the Lord is my inheritance. The Lord is my reward. That's what God said to Abraham
in Genesis 15. Abraham, I am your shield, your
protection. and I am your exceeding great
reward. I'm everything to you, everything,
in whom we have an inheritance, in whom we have an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you." This inheritance is not a what, it's a whom. Christ
is our inheritance. It's not the pardon, it's the
person, I see. 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.
You see, your children, they feel secure
in your home. They have food, they have clothing,
they have shelter. But my friends, Their confidence
and trust is not in the food or in the clothing or in the
shelter. Their confidence and trust and hope is in the parent. As long as the parent is there,
they have all these things. Take the parent away, these things
are gone. And that's the reason I say,
the Lord is my portion. He is my inheritance. He is my
life. He is my hope of glory. You see
that? Our hope is in Him who is our
inheritance. Once it was the blessing, now
it's the Lord. Once it was the feeling, and
now it's His Word. Once it's the gifts I wanted,
and now the giver I own. Once I sought for healing, and
now for Him alone. The Lord is my expectation. He is my inheritance. He's my
portion. He's all and in all. Now, the
fifth reason, and I'll close. Look at verse 25. What are the
five reasons? You remember them? First, we
have a hope. When I call this to mind, all
of this, who He is, who I am, what salvation is, what the law
requires, what justice demands, I have a good hope because He's
merciful to sinners, because He loves His people in Christ.
because He's faithful, faithful to His Word, faithful to His
purpose, and faithful to His Son, faithful to His people whom
He called. And I'll tell you this, He's my portion. He's my
inheritance. He's my heaven. And then the
fifth reason, the Lord is good. He's good. He's good unto them
that wait for Him. He's good to the soul that seeks
Him. He's good to them. Our God has
a time for all things. for all that he does and for
every purpose unto heaven, and he'll bless those that wait for
him. The Lord is good to them that wait for him. What David
said in Psalm 27, I had fainted unless I had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I wait for
the Lord. Be of good courage, and he'll
strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. He's
good to them that wait for him. Him. Wait for Him. Just wait. Wait. In His own time, in the
fullness of time, in His own time, He'll bless. He's good
to those that are patiently waiting, waiting on Him. He's good to
them that seek Him. They seek Him in His Word. They
seek Him sincerely, and they seek Him continually. There was
a woman who came to Him one day, a Canaanite woman. She said, Lord, have mercy on
me. And He didn't answer her word, but she didn't leave. She
said, Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter's grievously ill.
He said, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
She still didn't leave. She said, Lord, have mercy on
me. He said, it's not right to give the children's bread to
dogs. She said, Lord, that's true. And I'm a dog and I'm unworthy,
but I'm your dog. And dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their master's table. I'm staying here till you give
me some crumbs. Oh, He said, Woman, great is
thy faith. Be it unto thee as you desire. Thy faith hath made
thee whole. Oh, I tell you, the Lord is good. He's good. He's good to them
that wait, that wait. They know there's no one else
to whom they can turn. There's nowhere else they can
go. There's no other fountain. They must have Christ. They must
have Him. So they wait. They wait. And
they seek Him. Seek Him in His Word. Seek Him
sincerely. Seek Him continually. And wait
upon Him. The Lord's good to them that
wait on Him. That's my message. Five reasons for good hope. I
have a good hope. Why? Because of what you've done? Because of who you are? No, no,
not at all. Because of who He is. He's merciful. He's love. He's faithful. Yes, He's so faithful. And He's
my portion, my hope. And the Lord I have found is
good to them that seek Him and them that wait. Would you like
to have this message on a cassette tape? If you would, write for
it. It's called Five Reasons for a Good Hope. And on the other
side, I have a message that I brought last week on the King of Glory,
Psalm 24. Until next week, God bless you,
everyone.