[0:00] Now, as the Lord enables us, let us turn again and consider words we have in this portion of Scripture we've read. The Book of Lamentations, John chapter 3, reading at verse 21.
[0:24] But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
[0:35] His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul.
[0:49] Therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
[1:06] The title of the book reveals to us, at least in our measure, the background to what the man here is saying.
[1:32] Believe that it is written by Jeremiah, and that the Book of Lamentations was written after the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah had preached for an excess of 40 years to these people.
[2:07] warning them that they were in love with idolatry. That they had sidelined the Lord from their lives.
[2:20] And he warned them that the Lord was going to bring disaster upon them. But they refused to listen. But the disaster came just as the Lord had threatened.
[2:35] And now it is after the fall of Jerusalem that we find Jeremiah mourning in this way.
[2:45] The city of Jerusalem, as a center of worship was, in the words of Psalm 48, beautiful in elevation, and the joy of the whole earth, Mount Zion, in the north, the city of the great king.
[3:09] It was the city to which all the tribes ascended when they went to observe the Passover feast and other feasts appointed by the Lord.
[3:21] People used to congregate from various parts. It was the spiritual hub of the nation. But what happens?
[3:34] The Lord, because of the people's sin, destroyed that city. And we see that in Psalm 79, the psalmist mourning like Jeremiah here, says, O God, the nations have come into your inheritance.
[3:53] They have defiled your holy temple. And they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They set your sanctuary on fire.
[4:04] It says also in Psalm 74. And they profaned the dwelling place of your name. That happened to Jerusalem.
[4:17] And we see in chapter 4 here, at the very beginning, part of this man's dirge and mourning, how the gold has grown dim.
[4:31] How the pure gold has changed. The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. That's what happened to Jerusalem.
[4:43] And now in chapter 3 here, we have a record of the feelings of Jeremiah himself. The way this has impacted his mind and his soul and his body and his life.
[4:59] You see what it says, for example, in chapter 2 at verse 11. I'm just going to mention one or two things here, the way he expresses his sorrow in view of what's happened.
[5:13] Chapter 2, verse 11. And then, of course, further on in chapter 3, verses 15 to 17.
[5:39] A reflection of what this man really feels.
[6:08] He loved Jerusalem. He loved the city. He loved the people. He loved it as a center of worship. Now the place has been completely destroyed.
[6:25] And, of course, that can happen in the experience of many still. The things that they hold dear. The people they hold dear.
[6:37] The Lord causes anguish and pain to come into their experience at the loss of a loved one. At the loss of many things that are precious to them.
[6:51] And they reflect their sorrow in words such as these. But although he says in verse 18 of chapter 3, My hope has gone from the Lord or perished from the Lord.
[7:08] He nevertheless, in verse 21, comes and he says, But this I call to mind. Therefore, I have hope.
[7:20] It's as if his faith is rising. It's as if he's rising above the calamity that has taken place in Jerusalem.
[7:31] And he says, I am able to grasp onto something. And what does he grasp onto? Well, he grasps onto this.
[7:43] First of all, As a basis of his hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
[7:55] His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. And so on. I'd like to say one or two words.
[8:06] First of all, On these words, The basis of hope That this man has In the midst of tragedy. He has a hope.
[8:17] Secondly, Issuing from that hope And emerging out of that hope, He makes a confession. In verse 24, The Lord is my portion, Says my soul.
[8:33] Therefore, I will hope in him. That's his personal hope expressed. The Lord himself is my portion.
[8:46] And thirdly and finally, It looks to me as if he is making a resolution. In verse 25, The Lord is good to those who wait for him, To the soul who seeks him.
[9:00] It is good that one should wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. So these three points.
[9:10] First of all, His hope. Then his confession. Then his resolution. To wait upon the Lord. Firstly, The substance of his hope.
[9:27] The steadfast love of the Lord Never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
[9:39] Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing? This man, Through grace, Rises above the most awful situation And lays hold upon The unseen God.
[9:57] God whose love is a covenant love And whose commitment to his people Is a covenant commitment.
[10:08] This is what he is saying. He says, The steadfast love of the Lord Never ceases. Wonderful word you find Throughout the Old Testament.
[10:20] The love that describes God's covenant Unflinching, Unfading commitment To his people. And this is the love That he holds on to.
[10:35] And you say, Well, how is it If God loves these people That this awful situation Has come their way? How is it If he truly loves them That the temple is destroyed And that people have been slain And people have been taken Into captivity In Babylon How is that An expression of love?
[11:03] Well, it's difficult From one point of view To explain How it can be An expression of love. But from another point of view It's very, very easy.
[11:14] Because God is the father Of his people. And he is the God Of his people. And if his people Rebel against him And sin against him Repeatedly He chastens them.
[11:28] He brings chastisement Into their life. And chastisement Or chastening Is an aspect Of the love Of any father To his child.
[11:40] And this God here The God of his people He has chastened them. And he has brought Anguish into their experience. And he has brought Anguish into their experience.
[11:51] But the anguish That they feel And the awfulness Of their situation Hasn't Alienated this man In his heart From the Lord.
[12:02] No, he says The steadfast love Of the Lord Never ceases. God has given himself To us As a covenant God And he has given Us promises Just as he gave Promises To Abraham Of old When he made A covenant With him And he spoke To him About The land Of Canaan There was going To be a land Appointed For the people Of Israel Nevertheless Between the giving Of that promise To Abraham And their actually Entering into The land Of Canaan They had to Go via Egypt And they knew What slavery was In Egypt And they knew The hard taskmasters In Egypt And their cry Rose up to the Lord In heaven To be relieved Of this awful Anguish That they were Going through And the Lord Sent Moses And Moses
[13:03] Brought them forth Through the power Of God And they were led Through the wilderness For forty years And the Lord Repeatedly revealed His love to them Repeatedly revealed His care of them Sending manna From heaven And opening A rock And water Gushing forth And the scripture Says that that rock Or the water From that rock Followed them And that rock Was Christ Christ was with them The Lord was with them Although it was A wilderness journey They were on And at last They went into The land of Canaan According to the promise Of God Because he keeps His promises And this is now The God That Jeremiah Looks to And he says The steadfast love Of the Lord Never ceases And issuing From that His mercies Never come To an end
[14:04] Or in Other translations That second phrase Of verse 22 Therefore we are not Consumed The steadfast love Of the Lord Never ceases Therefore we are not Completely destroyed We are not Completely consumed The Lord Sofit To have A remnant And that remnant Will continue To enjoy The blessings Of the covenant When you think Of your own situation From time to time How difficult Life might be How Hard Your providence Might be And you say Can it get Any worse?
[14:58] Well It could possibly Become much worse But you see The Lord In his covenant Love to his people He ensures That you are not Completely Consumed Because His mercies Never Come to an end He gives grace In the face Of the most Difficult situations My grace As I give Unto you He says And My grace Is sufficient For you My strength Is made Perfect In weakness In the Epistle To the Hebrews We have here In chapter 6 Verses 17 To 19 A reference To something Like this And it says When God God desired To show
[15:58] More convincingly To the heirs Of the promise The unchangeable Character Of his purpose He guaranteed It with an oath So that by Two unchangeable Things In which it is Impossible For God To lie We who have Fled for refuge Might have Strong encouragement To hold fast To the hope Set before us We have We have this As a sure And steadfast Anchor Of the soul A hope That enters Into the inner Place Beyond the curtain Where Jesus Has gone As a forerunner On our behalf Having become A high priest Forever After the order Of Melchizedek This hope The steadfast Anchor Cast within The veil It's as if This man Is saying I am casting All my hope In God
[16:58] I am trusting In him alone Leaning upon Him alone In this situation Because I know That his love Never ceases And his Mercies Never Come to an end It was a 70 Year Captivity For The people Of Jerusalem In Babylon But that Came to an end The 70 Years of Captivity Came to an end And the people Were brought Again back To Jerusalem And they Reestablished The temple And the worship Of God There And so It is With the people Of God Still There may Be trials And afflictions There may Be a feeling Of captivity There may Be difficult Times And dark Days But the Lord Is in Control
[17:58] And his Love Is constantly Exercised Towards his People And he Says I will Never Leave You I will Never Ever Forsake You And Jesus Sending The disciples Forth To the Ends Of the Earth To make Disciples Of all Nations He gives Them this Promise Lo I am With you Always Even to The end Of the World Sometimes You may Feel he's Not with You Sometimes You may Feel like Jacob of Old When Joseph Had been Sold down To Egypt And the Brethren Had come Back And they Said The man We met In Egypt He desires To have Benjamin As proof That we Are not Spies And you Remember Jacob said So famously Joseph Is not And Benjamin You will Take away Against
[18:59] Me All these Things Are against Me They Weren't Against Him They Were very Much For him And the Lord Proved So As time Went on The Lord Proved That all Things Work Together For those Who love The Lord And who Are the Called According To his Purpose So that's The first Thing Hope In the Midst Of Anguish And Seeming Distraction This Man With the Arm of Faith Lays Hold Upon God And the Covenant Of God And he Says I am Going to Hope In him Secondly He makes A particular Confession And the Confession Is wonderful Isn't it We see it In Verse 24
[20:00] The Lord Is my Portion Says my Soul Therefore I will Hope In him The Lord Is my Portion My Portion What does Portion Mean Well He Is My All Just like The Apostle Paul Said Of old For For To me To live Is Christ And to Die Is gain And in The circumstances In which This man Finds Himself He sees That Jerusalem Has been Raised to The ground It's as if He's got no Portion In Jerusalem No Portion Really In this World But he Says Despite Everything I have A portion And the Portion Is untouchable By the Disasters Of this Life Of the Disappointments Of this Life
[21:00] He is The Lord Himself I claim Him As my Own Isn't It Wonderful That we Are able To do This Remember What Isaiah Says Elsewhere Speaking The words Of God And he Says Look Unto Me All the Ends Of the Earth And be Ye Saved For I Am God And there Is none Else What is That It's as If the Lord Is saying Take me As your Portion Receive Me As your Saviour What's John the Baptist Saying That day When he Saw Jesus Christ Walking And he Said Behold The Lamb Of God Who is Taking away The sin Of the World What is He saying Behold Him Look At him
[22:01] Look To him And trust In him As your Own Lord And Saviour And what Does Jesus Himself Say In these Marvelous Words Of Matthew 11 And 28 Come Unto Me All you Who Labor And are Heavy Laden And I Will Give You Rest Take My Yoke Upon You And learn Of Me I Am Meek And Lowly In Heart You Shall Find Rest Unto Your Souls My Yoga Is Easy And my Burden Is Light He Is Saying I Am A Suitable Portion For You I Am The All Sufficient Portion For You In Life And in Its Most Difficult Circumstances In Death Which Must Invariably Come And Throughout Eternity The Lord Is My
[23:01] Portion Can I Ask What Kind Of Portion You Delight In Yourself Is It A Portion A Delighting In The Things Of This Life Only Is Your Portion Made Up Of Bricks And Mortar In Your Home Is Your Portion A Bank Balance That You Reflect On And Delight In Is Your Portion That You Are Strong And Healthy And Have A Happy Family Is That Just What You Are Looking For And Looking To Well Praise God That You Are Strong And Healthy And That You Have A Happy Family And That You Have Money Behind You And A Roof Over Your Head Wonderful But These Portions Are For Time Only When
[24:01] Jeremiah Here Says The Lord Is My Portion Saith My Soul He Is Looking To A Portion That He Will Have Not Only In Life But In Death And Throughout The Great Eternity Into Which He Is Going Christ Jesus Is The Portion Of His People They Are His And He Is There They Have Taken Him To Themselves They Have Committed Themselves To Him They Have Fled To Him With Their Feelings Of Lostness And Their Feelings Of Guilt And Inadequacy And Emptiness And Sin And They Have Come And Have Been Embraced By Him When They Have Committed Themselves To Him In Faith I'm Sure Most Of You Have Access To C.H.
[25:01] Spurgeon's Daily Readings I read One A couple Of Days Ago And He's Talking About The Cities Of Refuge In Israel Cities Of Refuge Were Appointed For Somebody Who May Have Accidentally Killed Somebody Else Unintentionally Killed Somebody And The City Of Refuge Was There For The Person Who Had Killed Unintentionally Somebody Else To Flee To The City Of Refuge And He Would Be Safe There And Spurgeon Was Talking About This Being A Picture Of The Lord Jesus Christ And He Was Saying That The Roads Had To Be Kept Clear Of Any Debris So That Those Who Are Running To The City Of Refuge In Fear Of Their Lives Would Have No Impediment And Nothing To Hold Them Back From Making For This City And So It Is He Says With
[26:02] The Gospel The Gospel Is So Marvellous In Its Invitation The Lord Jesus Is Come And You Will Have Eternal life Believe On Me And You Will Have Everlasting Life And Maybe Your But If You Have Faith As A Grain Of Mustard Seed That Is Enough To Save You If Your Hand Merely Touches The Hem Of His Garment You Are Safe For Eternity All Claim Him As Your Portion Claim Him As Your All In All Whom Have I In The Heavens High But The Lord Alone And In The Earth Whom I Desire Besides Thee There Is None My Flesh And Heart Doth Faint And Fail But God Will Fail Me Never For Of My Heart God Is The Strength And Portion Forever
[27:03] This Man Despite The Fact That The Whole Nation Has Become Spiritually Bankrupt Around Him And Everything Seems To Have Just Gone Out Of Joint He Nevertheless Says The Lord Is My Portion And He's Not Just Saying It With His Mouth He's Saying It With His Heart Because He Has Had Heart Satisfaction With The Lord Jesus Christ He Is Satisfied With God's Way Of Salvation In Jesus He Delights In God's Love And In God's Grace And He Delights In The Way God Reconciles Sinners To Himself And He Says It's Enough For Me I Seek Nothing Else For Time And For Eternity For Peace Of Conscience And For Security I Have It All In Christ Jesus My Lord The
[28:07] Lord Is My Potion Says My Soul What What A Change In This Man's Expression You See What It Says In Verse Seven For Example He Has Walled Me About So That I Cannot Escape And He Has Made My Chains Heavy And Though I Call And Cry For Help He Shuts Out My Prayer And So On It Says He Feels Trapped And Imprisoned By His Circumstances But His Hope Rises And His Faith Rises Beyond The Prison Barge He Sees The Glory Of God And He Says He Is My Portion Come What May I Commit Myself To Him Through Thick And Thin In Night And Day In Adversity And In Days Of Joy He Is The One I Want To Follow He Is The One I Seek To Serve Therefore He Says
[29:07] Will I Hope In Him Hope Is A Wonderful Grace Isn't It Looking Forward To The One Who Has Promised Wonderful Things Looking To His Promises To Be Be Fulfilled And Sometimes We Long To See More Of His Promises Being Fulfilled Don't We We Long To See An Outpouring Of His Spirit Long To See Young And Old Turning To The Lord And You We Long To See The Church Prospering In The World And It Will Prosper We Long To See The Persecution Of Christians Stopped In Various Parts Of The World And We Sometimes Tremble When We See How Seemingly
[30:08] Fragile The Christian Cause Is In Parts Of The World Even In Parts Of Our Own Nation But Remember What Jesus Says On This Rock I Will Build My Church And The Gates Of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against It That's The God To Whom Jeremiah Is Looking Sitting In The Ruins Of Jerusalem Sitting There Deprived Of Comfort From The Outside But He Has Peace Within Because He Looks Unto His God And He Continues To Resolve To Hope And Trust In Him This Is The Language Of An Eager And Bright Spirit Isn't It A Man Whose Soul The Lord Has Blessed Despite
[31:08] The Circumstances In Which He Finds Himself But Then Thirdly We See The Resolution That Jeremiah Has The Lord Is Good To Those Who Wait For Him To The Soul Who Seeks Him It's Good That One Should Wait Quietly For The Salvation Of The Lord Both Things Waiting And Seeking Waiting And Seeking I Don't Think They Are Mutually Exclusive The Person Who Is Waiting For The Lord He Isn't Idle The Person Who Is Waiting For The Lord He Is Very Very Active Active In Prayer Active In Meditation Active In
[32:09] Church Attendance Active In Every Aspect Of Christian Service That Is Able To Engage With The Person Who Is Waiting For The Lord Waiting Quietly For The Lord Is Very Active Isaiah Says In Chapter 8 Verse 17 I Will Wait For The Lord Who Is Hiding His Face From The House Of Jacob And I Will Hope In Him Waiting And Seeking I Believe Go Together Or You Say When I Turn To Prayer And Secret I Find It So Hard When I Read My Bible
[33:09] On My Own I Find It Doesn't Really Meet Up With The Deep Desires Of My Heart As I Would Like When I Come To The House Of God I Sometimes Feel Unmoved Under The Preaching When I Meet With The People Of God Don't Find That The Fellowship Is What I Would Like It To Be All More Reason To Engage Like This Man Engages With The Lord As He Seeks Him And As He Waits Upon Him Both Together They Have Taken Away My Lord Mary Magdalene Said And I Know Not Where They Have Laid
[34:09] Him An Old Minister Once Said Where Is Yeshua To Find Him She May Not Find Him In The Gatherings Of God's People She May Not Find Him In The Reading Of God's Word She May Not Find Him In The Place Of Worship Under The Preaching But Where Can She For Sure Find Him She Finds Him He Said In The Covenant Of Grace And In The Free Offer Of The Gospel And That's Why We Have To Meditate Upon The Things Of God That's Why We Have To Be Active Seeking His Face In Prayer And Seeking His Face In The Meetings Of God's People And He Honors Those Who Wait Upon Him
[35:09] Faithfully And And Quietly Like That This Man He Had A Hope Despite A Seeming Hopeless Situation Because He Looked Above The Situation To The God Who Was Able To Help Him The God Who Doesn't Turn Away From His Cause At Any Time God Is A God Of Covenant He Has Bound Himself To His People And He Will Not Break His Word He Will Not Break His Covenant Praise Him For This This Man He Hopes In That God Despite The Circumstances Seeming So Discouraging And
[36:10] He Continues To Make This Confession The Lord Is My Portion He Didn't Find Fault With The Lord At This Point Despite The Feelings And The Anguish He Had In Himself He Said He Is My Portion He Is The One To Whom I Look In Whom I Trust He Is The One Alone Who Can Take Me Out Of This Situation And Give Me More And More To Know Himself As My Lord And My God And He Resolves To Continue To Seek Him And To Wait Upon Him I Pray That That May Be True Of Your Own Selves In This Lovely Congregation That You Would Continue To Seek Him And To Wait Upon Him Unitedly As
[37:10] You Are Here And Individually When You Go Home Continue To Make It A Matter Of Prayer That The Lord Would Pour His Spirit Upon You As A People And May You Be Able More And More To Say With Jeremiah The Lord Is My Portion And May You Be Able To Hope In Him Through Thick And Thin Every Day Of Life May God Bless These Thoughts Toć›´ Shout Tooko intuit favour ir To You Bow To You Know sweating
[38:13] Rule At