Great is Thy Faithfulnes

If you like titles, let me give you the title of today's sermon. I've titled it, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Great is Thy Faithfulness. And if you have a Bible, I invite you to open your Bibles once again. And let's turn to this time to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3, we're going to begin in verse 1, and we're actually going to read down to verse 23, where the title, those words are actually found. And today, we continue in our sermon series on the fruit of the Spirit, and we come to this part of the fruit, faithfulness.

And we find ourselves here in Lamentations 3, because what we find here is that Jeremiah, in a remarkable way, teaches us about God's faithfulness. And we're going to see that he makes, then, a proclamation here at the end of just how great it is.

So let's read this together. Lamentations 3, beginning in verse 1, we'll read down to verse 23. I am the man, Jeremiah writes, who has seen affliction by the rod of his God's wrath. Verse 2, He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light.

Surely He has turned His hand against me, time and time again throughout the day. He has aged my flesh in my skin and broken my bones. He, God, has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and woe. He has set me in dark places like the dead of long ago. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out.

He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked. He has been to me a bear lying in wait, like a lion in ambush. He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces. He has made me desolate. He has bent his bow and set me up as a target for his arrow. He has caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my loins. I have become the ridicule of all the people, their taunting song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness. He has made me drink wormwood. He has also broken my teeth with gravel and covered me with ashes.

You have moved my soul far from peace. I have forgotten prosperity, and I have said my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. Verse 21, This I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because as compassion fell not, they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

Let's stop there. Whoo! What a passage, isn't it? And as we come to this next part of the fruit of the Spirit, faithfulness, we'll do well to remind ourselves that faithfulness, as it is with every part of the fruit of the Spirit, it is produced in our lives as a result of the work of God. It is God doing the work in us. So God takes us through life. It's ups and downs, and He cultivates this fruit in us.

He does this. This fruit is produced by God, because we know that by nature, by and large, we have no desire, we have no ability, really, in these things. It's only by His grace that He plants these, the seeds of His fruit in us. And while that is true, that's a true statement that God produces the fruitful qualities in our lives, it is also true that we've been given the privilege and the responsibility of watering and of working these characteristics into our lives. We are to grow in godliness. And often we grow in godliness through our decisions.

Often it's through our responses or our reactions to all that this physical life brings us. But through it all, we are to grow in the likeness of God's character and to produce this fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness. Today is faithfulness. We'll get to gentleness and self-control. We are to water and cultivate and grow these things. And so that this fruit of His character will be grown in us.

That is the ultimate goal. And the fruit of His character that we now consider, this fruit of faithfulness, let me just begin by stating a fact, and we will see this today, that the fruit of faithfulness is absolutely grounded in the character of God. The word faithfulness for us in the fruit of the Spirit, as it's found in Galatians 5, as it's here in Lamentations, it's essentially an expression of trustworthiness. He is trustworthy. We can rely upon Him. It is the fruit of reliability in that way. And it's the part of God's character which makes Him absolutely faithful. It's no exaggeration to say that the Bible supports this.

In fact, the whole of the Bible just pulsates with the drum of God's faithfulness. And if you want to practice or exercise to do, perhaps on a rainy day, you can just simply take a concordance, look up faithfulness, and you'll just be able to spend hours upon hours. And you'll never quite be able to fully unearth all the amazing places in the Bible that speak about God's faithfulness. So, before we dig into Lamentations 3 here, I want to give you four quick Scripture references in a concordance type of way, three from the Psalms and one from the book of James, to help establish the fact that the Bible does absolutely inform us that faithfulness is grounded in the very character of God.

So, keep your marker here in Lamentations, but just for a few references to set our foundation here on this topic, let's turn over to Psalm 36 and verse 5. We're just going to look at four quick Scripture references. The first one being here, Psalm 36 and verse 5.

We're going to come back to Lamentations in just a moment, but let's look at three places in the Psalms which speak to the absolute faithfulness of God. And this is a good one here to begin with. Psalm 36 verse 5. Look at what the Psalmist says about God's faithfulness. The Psalmist says, Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

So, it's this idea of looking up into the clouds and saying, How faithful is God? And the Psalmist says, He's so faithful that His faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Psalm 89 verse 8. Let's turn there next. The Psalmist paints another picture for us regarding the faithfulness of God. I like this one as well. Psalm 89 verse 8. Look at this other picture that the Psalmist paints for us here. Psalm 89 verse 8. O Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds you. So, that's another picture here. It's this idea that you can't encounter God without also encountering His faithfulness. If you draw near to God at all, you're just going to be engulfed. You're going to be absolutely surrounded by it. And so, God's faithfulness, it reaches to the clouds. God's faithfulness, it just surrounds Him.

So, in other words, this is a central part of who He is. It's a part of His very essence. He is trustworthy. You can rely upon Him. He's faithful to you. One more here in the Psalms. Psalm 119. And let's read verses 89 and 90. Let's turn there next. One more psalm to consider before we get to Lamentations. Psalm 119 verses 89 and 90. Look here what the Psalmist's third picture here says. I like this one. It's very impactful. He says Psalm 119 verse 89.

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You establish the earth and it abides. So, it's this wonderful picture of God's faithfulness as it's seen in the very fact that He established the earth and it abides.

So, why haven't we all burned up by the sun? Why aren't we all in a... why isn't earth in a permanent ice age, let's say? You know, why is the earth on its particular specific perfect axis? You know, scientists do confirm that if we were just a tiny bit closer to the sun, we'd burn up in an instant, a tiny bit further away, permanent ice age. The scientists say happenstance. The Bible says faithfulness. God is faithful to His creation. He sustains it. He's faithful in that way. So, there's many more, but throughout all of this, you just see this wonderful picture of how God makes Himself known and He makes Himself known through His faithfulness. It's an expression of His whole being. One more found in James chapter 1 and verse 17. If you'll turn there with me, one more from this time from the book of James, James 1 and verse 17, just to punctuate the faithfulness of God here. Look at this. I love this one as well. James 1 verse 17. James writes, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of light, now notice, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Okay, let's stop there. So James says, He is one with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. God does not change with the shifting of shadows, you know, caused by the passage of the Son. That's not God. And of course, the hymn writer gives it to us, there is no shadow of turning with thee. And James says, He doesn't change like shifting shadows. You know, so you don't find Him one morning one way, the next morning another way, you know, the Son shifted, there's a shadow. No, He's absolutely consistent in Himself, with Himself, reliable, abiding by His promises. God is utterly faithful. You know, eventually language just fails us in describing the immensity of it all. It's impossible to express how great His faithfulness is. God keeps His promises.

And as we go through this, it might be helpful to remind, to ask yourself, what promise is God faithful to that you need to remind yourself of this afternoon?

That's an important question. What promise of God do you need to be reminded of that He's faithful to?

God cannot be anything other than faithful. It's who He is. And again, we want to start in this way, because you may be here this afternoon, and in some measure, you're in doubt to the faithfulness of God. You are going through a circumstance in your life currently. Maybe you're coming out of it, and it's been particularly depressing and difficult. Maybe there's something in your past, and you've decided that there was just an exception there. That thing that happened in my past, that was just a moment in which God stepped outside of His nature and wasn't faithful to me. He skipped the faithful part of His nature at that time. Well, I'm here to remind you today that God is faithful in all of His dealings all of the time. And that's what we're going to get to today, because reminding Himself of that is exactly what Jeremiah needed to do in order to go on. And there are no shadows due to turning, the turning of God. And just so I'm not at risk of stating this, let me state it now. He, God, is sweeping it all, the good and the bad, into the unfolding drama of His purposes for you. All of it. And He's working in and through it all for the purpose of making you faithful to Him and to His Son. But in order for Him to grow this fruit in you, you need to have faith that He's faithful. That's what it is. He's faithful.

We won't continue to turn around in Scripture. It is a good exercise, but I thought it would be beneficial for us to just anchor ourselves in one particular passage. And so we have begun with the classic passage here in Lamentations. So if you'll turn back there now, Lamentations 3, this is the classic passage with regards to God's faithfulness. Classic, I say that because really even a man or a woman who don't have a particular amount of exposure to the Bible, many will know this either through in passing or just even through the singing of hymns and the great hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, it comes here from Lamentations 3. And there are many, again, who might not know any other passage about faithfulness in the Bible except for this one. It may be because of the fact, and I tested this recently, if you go into the Christian bookstore, every so often you'll find something worth reading. But most of the time you go in to find a gift for Aunt Sally, you know, some kind of scripture. They have all the beautiful scriptures inscribed on plates and pens and whatever you want. Dog collars, whatever it might be, and you can test me on this. The verse, which you will find the most, is this one, Great is Thy Faithfulness. It is there. It's at the top verses you'll find.

But even with its familiarity, I think that many have no notion, perhaps, of the place in which this phrase emerges. Because it's quite startling to be reminded of the context through which this comes. Quite startling. I think quite helpful. So I first want to notice here, context. So let's dig into the context here. The context in which Jeremiah's expression comes from, it is phenomenally dark, horribly bleak. It's found right in the middle of a lament.

And Jeremiah is expressing here, he is in it. He is in the pits of the pits, you know. And presumably, he's reflecting upon the time in 586 BC. 586 BC is when Nebuchadnezzar came and did his evil work, cruel oppression to God's people. 586 BC was probably the place in which Jeremiah is now. And Nebuchadnezzar had taken the lives of many of God's people, taken their lives physically, taken their lives emotionally, taken their lives spiritually. This is the context. If you turn back one chapter to chapter two, let's just dig into the context here a little bit. It's quite, again, it's quite startling. Look at chapter two in verse eight, back one chapter. Let's just see what Jeremiah writes here. This is all leading up to that great proclamation of God's faithfulness. Chapter two, verse eight, Jeremiah writes, The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. Therefore, he has caused the rampart and the wall to lament. They languish together. Stop there. So the LORD purposed this, it says. The LORD stretched out a measuring line. The LORD did not withdraw his hand from destroying, it says.

So who is responsible for all this? This is what God has done and what God has done in the context of his people. But I thought Nebuchadnezzar did it. Nebuchadnezzar did do it. But Jeremiah writes, The LORD did this. Yes, he did. But Nebuchadnezzar did it. Was Nebuchadnezzar a pawn? No. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar did what Nebuchadnezzar wanted to do. Now, in doing so, he actually fulfilled the eternal purposes of God. It's remarkable. It's mysterious. So how did Nebuchadnezzar fulfill the eternal purposes of God? How is that so? Well, you remember, God is working the fruit of faithfulness into our lives. God is doing that. And he takes us through the ups and downs. God wants to cultivate this fruit of faithfulness into our lives. He is in the business of cultivating every part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, every one of them, including faithfulness. But in order for him to do that, we must have faith that he's faithful. That's the only way he can do it. Nebuchadnezzar was responsible. God was ultimately sovereign over it all to accomplish his purposes.

And I think one of the things we need to acknowledge this afternoon is that this fruit of faithfulness in particular, it most often emerges in the lament. So most often, this fruit of faithfulness most often emerges in the life of an individual in the lament. This is what we need to acknowledge today. See if you agree with that. In other words, it's truth to say that this fruit, in particular, the fruit of faithfulness is cultivated in God's people in times of hopelessness. Why? Well, because it's in dark times that we're going to have to decide whether God is reliable or not. You know, you don't really make that decision in sunny days. So this particular fruit, you're going to have to decide. It's in the lament that we're going to have to decide whether God is trustworthy or not. This was the decision before Jeremiah. So I want you to be thinking about that. Let's continue with the context here. Staying in chapter 2 verse 9, the next verse here, verse 9, her gates, speaking of the city, have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations. The law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord. So no gates, no walls, no king, no law, all of it gone. If you think that's bad, go down to verse 20. The community is reduced to cannibalism. Verse 20 here in chapter 2. See, O Lord, and consider to whom have you done this? Should the women eat their offspring, the children they have cuddled? Should the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?

And just turn back one more chapter to chapter 1 here in verse 1. Look at how Jeremiah starts this whole thing here, this whole lament. And again, I'll remind you, this is leading up to the proclamation of God's great faithfulness. So chapter 1 verse 1, Jeremiah begins the whole lament in this way. How lonely sits the city that was full of people. How like a widow is she. Who was great among the nations, the princes among the provinces, have become a slave. And he goes on to say, she weeps bitterly in the night and tears on her cheeks, the personification of the city itself. Verse 12, chapter 1 verse 12.

Is it nothing to you, Jeremiah writes, all you who pass by, behold, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of his fierce anger? So Jeremiah is suffering here, but he's representative of the whole nation. And he says, my sorrow, but he's not saying it's only my sorrow. In a sense, he's saying, I am every man. You know, I am representative of every man and woman who's been enduring these things under God's affliction. Back to chapter 3. We're just going to scan this again. Chapter 3.

We just want to get this context. It's very important to understand this fruit. Chapter 3 verse 1, I am the man who's seen affliction in the rod of his wrath. Chapter 3 verse 2, God has led me to walk in darkness and not in light. Surely he's turned his hand against me time and time again throughout the day. Verse 4, he has aged my flesh and my skin, aging away here, broken my bones. Verse 5, besieged me, surrounded me with bitterness and woe. Verse 6 and 7, set me in dark places like the dead of long ago. He's hedged me in so I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy. And just so you know, these aren't just colorful words. They're not just symbolism. There's a very real aspect to all of this lament. One of the history records that the Syrians who were responsible for this devastation, one of the ways they would torture the people is they would put them in very small enclosed cylinder type spaces in the ground where you couldn't move. You couldn't turn left or right. You might be able to move your head slightly, but that's it. Horrible! So when he says, you have set me in dark places like the dead of long ago and hedged me in, that's real. That's real. The verse changes here, the metaphor changes in verse 10.

The figure of speech is like that of a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding. That kind of speaks to me about the emotional state, just the fear of not knowing what's going to happen next, what's hiding in the darkness. Imagery again changes, verse 12. He has bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow.

You know, the unexpected, not knowing if tomorrow will come. Taunting me, verse 14, they ridiculed. I've become the ridicule of all my people. Emotional distress, verse 15, I'm filled with bitterness. Verse 16, you know, the eating of gravel. There's all kinds of torture things that I won't go into. This is real. Cover me in ashes. Verse 17 through 20, you have moved my soul, verse 17, far from peace. I have forgotten prosperity. I have said my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. Remember my affliction in roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and sinks within me. Again, what's most remarkable about this is the faithfulness of God emerges from this context, from Jeremiah's lips. You go through all of this, the waste in the way in all of it. And you know, I can imagine someone saying at this point, well, does anyone want to sing a song? You know, and someone says, yeah, let's sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness. And the crowd would go, are you kidding me? Great is Thy Faithfulness? Well, in actuality, we could sing this song. We should sing this song.

Because it's in this context that the words from that hymn come, where Jeremiah has moved from the hopelessness of it all to incredible confidence. So he moves from hopelessness to confidence there in verse 21, 22 and 23. So Jeremiah says, my soul sinks within me. And then verse 21, he says, But I call this to mind, therefore I have hope. Which is it? You say you have no hope, your endurance is gone. Now you say that you have hope. How does that happen? How is that possible? Same predicament, same hopeless situation. Nothing's worthwhile. Nothing's worth living.

But this I call to mind.

In other words, I'm starting to think about something here, you know. This I call to mind. And what did he recall? What did he recall to his mind? Well, he recalled verse 22 and 23.

Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed. Because his compassion fails not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

So here I want us to really think about this because Jeremiah is revealing something, I think, absolutely incredible. And he's revealing something that could change our lives. It could help us to really start to grow this fruit in us today. Because what he does now is he deliberately begins to reflect upon what he knows of God. And specifically, he begins to reflect upon right there in the lament what he knows about God's faithfulness. Quite a technique. So we want to get this. And so let me explain this, perhaps, to you in aeronautical terms. Because what he's doing, if you like, is he begins to fly by the instruments. Okay? He's flying by the instruments beginning here in verse 21. And that's an incredibly important aspect in growing this fruit of faithfulness in our lives. Often when a pilot gets to a certain level, those of you who've flown know this, you get to an area, a level, where cloud cover then engulfs you. And I know I've been on flights where it's been this way, but maybe you have two, where you're in that cloud cover the entire trip. Okay? The entire journey, you're in cloud cover. And sometimes the clouds are so deep, you can't get out of it, no matter how high you go. You're engulfed in cloud cover the whole way. And the only way for the pilot to navigate is to not rely upon looking out the window at the clouds. Because all I can see is cloud cover there. And if you continue to just solely look out the window, he's going to jeopardize his life. And he's going to jeopardize the life of his passengers as well. Because merely looking at the clouds, how are you going to have any kind of equilibrium? You know, how are you going to know which way is up or down? How are you going to know where you are spatially in the fog there? Is there a way to know? No. The only answer is you have to fly by the instruments. And the Christian life of faith is actually about flying by the instruments. Again, it's flying by the instruments of faith in God. Not necessarily getting your emotions in line, your emotions in the lament are going to be all over the place. This is something different. It's about whether we're prepared to trust our faith, trust God, trust the instruments. Because what do we know? God's faithfulness reaches the clouds, doesn't it? It's in the clouds.

This is what the Christian pilot must do. When you're in deep, deep cloud cover, you can't see anything. You don't know which way is up or down. Some of you know what I'm talking about. You've been there. You're there today. You feel this way, you feel that way. The feelings of stress, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, they're all beginning to converge. Cloud your thinking. What's absolutely essential at that point is that the man or the woman is able to bring their feelings under the objective facts that they know is true. God is faithful. It's exactly what Jeremiah does here.

And so where's the hope? It's in the steadfast faithfulness of God.

If you have entered into that covenant with God, or you're in the process of entering into that covenant, God has reached out to you and he will fulfill his part of the relationship. He is faithful to you without a shout of a doubt. You've entered into a covenant with him. It's an unbreakable relationship. It's an unbreakable bond. So, Jeremiah is bringing all that he knows into this understanding. And Jeremiah says, Lord, I know by you allowing or even bringing these circumstances into our life, you are showing yourself in a devastating way. It's absolutely a fact in all of this. But at the same time, I call to mind the steadfast faithfulness, Lord, it never ceases. And on the account of that, I'm able to say, while although this whole lament is true, it's true, it's also true that the steadfast faithfulness of God never ceases. And I want you to know just how striking, absolute striking, verse 22 is with regards to us growing this fruit in our lives. Look at verse 22 again. This is critical in all of this. Verse 22, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassion fails not. That's striking. What's so striking about verse 22? It's so striking because verse 22 here states that the evidence, the proof that God still loves his people, the evidence or the proof that God is still faithful to them, the proof of that is seen in the fact that they are not consumed. Okay? So how do I know you, God, are faithful to me? It's because I'm not consumed.

That is the proof of God's faithfulness.

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

That's John 11.25 for your notes. John 11.25. Listen to these words. Just listen to this. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. They will never be consumed.

So the proof that God is faithful to his people is seen in the fact that they will never, ultimately, be consumed. I wonder if you knew that.

That the ultimate proof of God's faithfulness to his people is that they will not be consumed. Now, this physical body is consumed. There's no doubt about that. We're being consumed every day. Jeremiah and the people of God at that time were most certainly being consumed. But what Jeremiah recalls is the fact that you, the you who will be raised at the return of Jesus Christ, that you will never be consumed. You're going to be raised to life, spiritual life, everlasting life. Why? God is faithful. And this is what we call to mind. Our flesh may fail, but God is faithful. Therefore, I have hope. Therefore, I have hope. So, Jeremiah is speaking about certainty here. It's the certainty of God's future provision, a provision based upon the truth that God is faithful. So, why do you have hope, even when you're being consumed physically in so many ways? It is the certainty of the future provision that one day you will be raised to an existence that will never be consumed. Through His mercies, we are not consumed. So, along with Jeremiah, in and through all of this, we say, I feel this, I feel that, but I have hope.

Again, it's in the lament where this fruit in particular is most cultivated. It is in the loss of a loved one. It's in the blood test report. It's in the pink slip. It's in the child who's incarcerated, you know, you name it. When you face the reality of life, the real opportunity for this fruit to grow is when you're being consumed in every way, physically, but this you call to mind. And it's then when if you're able to say in the middle of all this, but this I call to mind, you know, God is faithful, great is I faithfulness. That's the moment when these little bitty, just little green shoots of faithful fruit will begin to grow in your heart. That's when it happens and it's beautiful. And this promise of not being consumed, it's an opportunity one day for everyone. That's awesome. God is faithful in that not one parish. So you begin to think about God's promises and remind yourself of that, of which promises today will mean the most to you and to remember he's faithful to those. This I call to mind. So perhaps of all the fruit, this fruit of faithfulness, it's a cognitive thing.

Because your emotions are going to be all over the place. If the lament is where this fruit is most cultivated, get ready. You're going to be up and down all the way. But one way to settle those things is a cognitive approach. Call this to mind. Bring your life fully, all of it, the good, the bad, under the nature of God's character so that he can grow this fruit in you. When nothing seems worthwhile, when nothing seems worth living, I call this to mind. His love never ceases, he is faithful. Let me begin to draw this to a conclusion. It may go without saying, but what we're ultimately saying is the faithfulness of God here and throughout Scripture. It is manifest and revealed most clearly in God's Son. So if you needed a tangible, manifest way in which God's faithfulness could be known to you, it's in His Son Jesus Christ who was faithful even to death, faithful to the point of death, faithful in order that you and I might not be consumed. It's wonderful. That's why we won't turn there, but in Revelation 19, you have this triumphant picture there in Revelation 19 of the heavens open. There he is on a white horse and he who set upon him Jesus Christ and it says he was called faithful and true. Faithful and true. So how do you believe that you're going to make it to the end? How do you know that even death won't hold you? What gives you the confidence that you're going to break that tape after running this race and make it to the end? What is it? It's the faithfulness of God manifest through His Son Jesus Christ.

How about this promise? I'll remind you of this promise. God has promised to bring to completion the good work He has begun in you. Just remind yourself of that this morning. He's faithful to that promise. God has promised to bring to completion the good work He's begun in you. And it's on the account of His faithfulness. So this is our prayer. Our prayer is, you, God, have promised to save me if I come to you and I've taken you at your word, Father, and you've promised to raise me up in the last day, and therefore, O God, I have promised to serve you and I promise to have faith in you. Maybe make that prayer tonight. Because what matters in the end is well done, you good and faithful servant. That's the end of it all, isn't it?

So we're about to sing these words today. Let's sing them from the heart with our concluding hymn, and be reminded that in the darkest of times, in the deepest of cloud cover, there He is. He cares, He understands, and He is the one who's faithful. Great is His faithfulness.