Our Reason for Hope

Transcript

Rob McFarlane 0:59

Today the title of my message is Our Reason for Hope. Please turn with me in your Bible to Lamentations chapter 3, verse 21 to 26. It says, But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. 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. A lament is defined as an expression of sorrow, mourning, or regret. And we see even in the context of this lament, there is reason for hope. In chapter 1, 2, and most of chapter 3, we see Jeremiah lamenting, expressing his sorrow, mourning or regret. He continues with this in chapter 4 and chapter 5 of Lamentations. But right at the heart of this book, we see these verses, Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 21 to 26, where he proclaims God's goodness, God's steadfastness, God's love, God's mercy, and God's faithfulness for him and for his people. We see our reason for hope in verse 24. It says, The Lord is my portion, therefore I will hope in him. Our hope is in the Lord. He is our portion. John Gill in his Bible commentary on verse 24 said this. They are heirs of him, and shall enjoy him for ever, and therefore shall not be consumed. He is a portion, large and full, inexpressibly rich and great, a soul satisfying one, and will last forever. We can cultivate our hope by what we think and what we say. Notice in verse 21, he says, Yet this I call to mind, therefore I have hope. He cultivated his hope because of what he dwelled on in his mind, what he called to mind, what he thought about. First of all, we need to think in order to cultivate our hope. Secondly, we need to talk. And it's what we say to ourselves that really counts. In verse 24, in the English Standard Version, it says, The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. If we read that verse in the New International Version, it says, I say this to myself, the Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him. Now I want you to notice the two things we need to do there. We need to think and we need to talk. And it's what we say to ourselves, what comes out of our mouths concerning ourselves, that has great consequence in our lives. It can give us hope or it can cause a sense of hopelessness in our lives. God is our reason for hope. We can have hope because the Lord is our portion. So today I'd like to share five things about God that we should think and talk about. Things that we should reflect upon and repeat to ourselves. Number one, God is love. In verse 22, we see this phrase: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. God's love for us is steadfast, it's unchanging. God doesn't just love, God is love. And his love is a sure foundation that we can build our lives upon. God is holy, and yes, he cannot not judge sin in the world. But God is love. He sent his love in the form of Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Someone once said it wasn't the nails that held Jesus to the cross, it was his love for humanity. Jesus said, I've come to give you life and life more abundantly, and we can receive this as an act of God's love by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. God is love and he wants us to walk in his love. We need to think and talk about God's steadfast love. Number two, God's mercy. It says in verse 22b and 23a, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Don't you just think that's wonderful? That his mercies never come to an end and they are new every morning? With every rising sun, God gives us a clean slate. He gives us a new opportunity to live for him. Thank God his mercies never come to an end. We don't come to a point where God says, I've just had a guts full of all the mistakes you make and all the things you get wrong. I've just had enough of you. No, his mercies on you every morning, they never come to an end. Thank God we can walk and experience his wonderful mercies. Number three, we see in verse 23, be great is your faithfulness. God is great in his faithfulness. When we are unfaithful to him, he remains faithful to us. He is a faithful God. He's faithful to who he is and his dealings with us. He is faithful to his word and his promises in our lives. He is faithful to finish the work that he has started in you and I. Our God is faithful. Number four, we need to think and talk to ourselves about God's goodness. It says in verse 25, the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the soul who seeks Him. Today I want to encourage you to reflect and remember and recall and repeat God's goodness in your life. Remember, friends, it's not trying to make people feel guilty about their sin that causes them to repent. It's not telling people that they are sinners, it's telling people about the goodness of God. Throughout the scriptures, we see when Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6 the Lord high and lifted up, he saw his glory. He said, I am a sinful man. It's when people are exposed to the goodness of God that they make a decision to turn from their sin and to follow him. In Luke chapter 5, with the great catch of fish, we saw the disciples turn to Jesus and say, We are sinful men and worship him. And we need to tell people about God's goodness and his love. Like it says in Romans chapter 2, it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. And finally, number five, God's timing. Verse 26 says, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. We can trust God and His timing in our lives. Someone once said God is never late and He's never early, He's always right on time. It might not fit in with our schedule and what we would prefer, but we need to learn to trust Him that He has our times in His hands. God is always right on time. God's timing is when you're ready, when everybody else involved is ready, and when it fits into God's master plan. We should learn to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. I'd like to pray now, and as I do, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Father God, thank you for your steadfast love. Thank you that you love us because of who you are, not because of what we've done. There's nothing we can do to earn your love. We simply need to receive it. Thank you for your mercies that are new every morning and your great faithfulness to us. Thank you for your goodness and your grace shown so powerfully in our lives. Thank you that we did not earn or deserve our salvation. It's a gift of your grace and your goodness in our lives. Lord, help us to trust your timing. That you know best. And that when it fits into your master plan, when we're ready, when everyone else is ready, that we will step into what you have for us. Help us to be patient and to trust your timing. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.