Great Is Your Faithfulness

The title of our main message today is, Great is Your Faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Let's find where those words are written. If you'll turn with me to Lamentations chapter 3. We're going to begin in verse 1. That's where these words are found. Lamentations 3, beginning in verse 1. And we're going to read in just a moment down to verse 23. And as we begin today, we'll do ourselves to remind us where we are at this period of time. We are at a period of time after our observance of Pentecost, but yet before the day of trumpets.

So after the initial outpouring of God's Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, for the people at that time, this marked a beginning of a prolonged summer harvest with a period of preparation of the soil. Plowing, tending the fields, threshing, winnowing, sifting the fields, all for the purpose of the next harvest. Often, this would be a period of time that would be very purposeful, extremely important, so that the ground could produce what it needed to produce in preparation for that larger harvest to come. Likewise, this period of time before Pentecost and trumpets spiritually represents a preparation for God's people, attending to the soul of our hearts, if you will, attending to God's people before the trumpet sound, signaling the return of Jesus Christ.

And many of us during this period of time will find ourselves in those threshing type of trials to determine whether we have what it takes to persevere to the end. So that's the period of time we are in, and with this period then, we understand of how important it is, crucial, that we come to not only an understanding, but a deep belief in the faithfulness of God.

Brethren, we are going to have to grow in the depth and hope in the faithfulness of God to a level greater than we've ever reached before. We are going to need to be so strong during this period of time as we look to the return of Jesus Christ so that we can persevere until those trumpet sound. And until that time, we are going to be asked for a great amount of faithfulness in God. That will be demanded of us during this period of testing and trial. And it makes sense to reach for and receive the gift of eternal life.

It's going to take everything we have in this physical life. You know, the Apostle Paul put it this way at the end of his life. He said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

So finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. For your notes, that's 2 Timothy 4, verse 7 and 8. 2 Timothy 4, verse 7 and 8. So, it is with that deep level of faithfulness in God that we want to look to observe today, and to learn from today, from one of the greatest prophets, the Old Testament prophets, the prophet Jeremiah, where we see here in verse 1, very quickly, that Jeremiah is in one of those winnowing and threshing trials.

And he's going to have to find the hope and the faithfulness of God. And remarkably, what we find in the end is that he did. He found that. Jeremiah then proclaims just that, the great faithfulness of God. So, let's begin here in Lamentations, chapter 3. Let's begin in verse 1. Jeremiah speaking here, he says, I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He, God, 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 and my skin, broken my bones, 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 I cannot get out. He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer, blocked my ways with hewn stone, and made my paths crooked. He has been to me a bear lying in weight, like a lion in ambush. He has turned aside my ways, torn me to pieces, and made me desolate.

He has bent his bow and set me up a target for the arrow, caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my loins. I have become the ridicule of all my people, the taunting song all the day.

He has filled me with bitterness, made me drink wormwood, has also broken my teeth with gravel, covered me in 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 in roaming the wormwood in 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 his compassion fails not. In fact, they're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, he concludes there to God. What a passage. You know, let me start by just saying the faithfulness of God, as we consider this today. It is, in fact, grounded in the very character of God. Okay? God is faithful. The word faithful, that is essentially an expression of trustworthiness. God is trustworthy.

We can rely upon him. He is reliable. It is part of the very essence of God's character, which makes him absolutely dependable, always and in every way. So, if we ask, is he faithful to his word? The answer from Scripture responds with a resounding, yes he is. He is faithful to his word. Is he faithful to me in his dealings with us? His people? Yes, he is. You know, there's no exaggeration to say that the Bible pulsates with the drumbeat of God's faithfulness. If you want an encouragement on some rainy day, pull up a concordance and just explore the faithfulness of God and all that Scripture says about it. You'll spend hours upon hours focused on the amazing faithfulness of God. Just to help demonstrate this, let me just turn to you to three quick references. They're all found in the Psalms with regards to the faithfulness of God. So, keep your marker here in Lamentations. We're going to come back. Let's turn over to Psalm 36 verse 5. Psalm 36 verse 5. I just want to take the briefest of moments to dip into the remarkable faithfulness of God. Just reveal to us in a few of the Psalms. Look at Psalm 36 verse 5. The psalmist writes with regards to God's faithfulness and he says Psalm 36 verse 5, Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Let's stop there. So, it's this idea where you're looking up into the clouds and you're asking yourself, how faithful is God? Well, the psalmist says he's so faithful. His faith reaches the clouds. He says. Psalm 89.8. Turn over there. Psalm 89 verse 8. Here's another one from the psalmist.

The psalmist continues this drumbeat and says Psalm 89 verse 8. O Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty like you, O Lord, your faithfulness also surrounds you. Let's stop there. So, what about this picture? You know, you cannot encounter God without also encountering and being engulfed by his faithfulness. God's faithfulness extends to the cloud. It surrounds him. It's who he is. One more. Psalm 119 verse 89 and 90. Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 verses 89 and 90. Look what he says here. 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. Let's stop there. Let's stop there. So, you begin to build this picture of God himself and how he makes himself known. And his faithfulness is all-encompassing here. It's an expression of his whole being. His faithfulness is settled in heaven, established throughout all generations. None is left out. And it's here on earth, the psalmist says. It abides here on earth.

Let's do one more. Just one more before we return to Lamentations. Turn over to James chapter 1 verse 16 through 18. I just want to show you this one extra passage here as we establish the absolute faithfulness of God. James 1 verse 16 through 18. There's a great turn of phrase here with regards to God's faithfulness.

James 1. Let's begin in verse 16. James writes here in the New Testament, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. So he's speaking to us. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights. And here it is. With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Let's stop there. So if you look at the book of James, he's speaking to the beloved brethren who are going through times of threshing, these trials of God's people. And he's speaking here. This is how you need to view these trials and difficulties in light of the father of lights. With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. What a phrase. No variation or shadow of turning. So God doesn't change like the shifting of shadows caused by the movement of the moon or the sun. No, that's not God. The hymn writer gives it to us. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh God, my father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassion's they fail not, as thou has been, thou forever will be.

We're going to sing that hymn at the conclusion of our services today. But this is amazing. James says he doesn't change like the shifting shadows. God is not one way one morning and another way the other. No. He is absolutely consistent in himself and with himself, abiding in all of his promises he has made to you. Utterly faithful, absolutely faithful, language fails us to try to encapsulate amongst the immensity of his faith. God keeps his promises. He preserves his people. He sustains his creation.

In preparation for this, I was reminded that, you know, this thought of why aren't we all just burned up by now? Or frozen. Some of the scientists proclaimed that if the earth was just a fraction closer to the sun, we would all be burned up in instant. If the earth was just a fraction further away, we would live in a perpetual ice age. The scientists say that's happenstance. The Bible says God is faithful to his creation. He created and he sustains us. Can God be anything other than himself? No, he is faithful.

And I want to begin in that way just because here we are. And in living here on earth, in the ebb and flow of life, these doubts in the faithfulness of God can come into our experience. You look at what you're going through now, perhaps, what you went through in the past. I can't tell you how many people I speak to that say, you know, they'll be describing an occurrence in their past, a threshing trial, and they put forth the notion that somehow or another, perhaps God just was removed from them at that time. No, not at all. God never skips out on the faithfulness part. And if you're ever feeling that way, I want to lovingly proclaim to you that he is faithful in all of his dealings. There are no shadows due to turning. And just know he is sweeping everything the good and the bad into the unfolding plan of his purposes for you. And he is faithful in that all things are working together for good. I hope you believe that. That's the God we meet in the Bible. And we could turn around and turn throughout all scriptures topically and look at all different kinds of areas, but I thought it would be most beneficial for us to anchor ourselves in this passage of scripture, which is the classic passage, we could say, regarding the faithfulness of God. So if you kept your marker there, let's turn back to Lamentations 3. With that as our foundation, give ourselves to the greatness of God's faithfulness here.

You know, when you think about that phrase, great is your faithfulness, or great is thy faithfulness, probably, I think I can confidently say, it's probably at the top of all the phrases used at your local Christian bookstore. If it's not at the top, it has to be at the top three for sure. Just about every third mug you will see that phrase displayed there. Or some pictures. So many have so much familiarity with it. That phrase, great is your faithfulness, God. But I think there are so many who have no notion of where that phrase emerges from. This faithfulness of God and its statement where the context by which this phrase emerges, it is striking, absolutely striking. But it's so remarkable, and this is what you and I need to get. Look at the context here. With just a brief reading that we began, we see right off the bat that this is a phenomenally dark and horribly bleak context by which Jeremiah finds himself in. And he's putting forth this lament, and that phrase of God's faithfulness emerges right from the middle of this incredible lament. A lament is just a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Jeremiah has now expressed he's in the pit, he's in the darkness, the bleakness of all these things. Presumably, this is 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar had come and done his evil deeds to God's people. So much oppression, so much loss, so much trial.

This is the context where Jeremiah is, and it's devastating. If you just allow yourself to turn back a chapter, look at chapter 2, verse 8. Jeremiah is expressing this lament. Look at chapter 2, verse 8. He says, the Lord has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, and he has stretched out a line, Jeremiah says. Chapter 2, verse 8, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. Therefore, he has caused the rampart and the wall to lament. In fact, they languished together, he says. Let's stop there. So, stretched out this measuring line, not constrained his hand from destroying the rampart. That's just a structure and the wall.

There's so much trial that symbolically, even the structures themselves are lamenting, he says. There. They languished together in this symbolic way. And notice who's responsible for this. Well, Jeremiah says, look what God has done. And we might say, but, well, Nebuchadnezzar did this, right? Well, yes, Nebuchadnezzar absolutely did this. Nebuchadnezzar, with an evil hand, did all that he wanted. But Jeremiah understands that God holds judgment and mercy together. Jeremiah is seeing the absolute destruction that is before him. He is acknowledging God's discipline, but also the place where hope will still rise. It's important to understand that in lament tradition, lament tradition allows for raw grief to be expressed toward God. In the Jewish culture, lament, it wasn't a sign of a weak faith. It was actually a part of faithful process and worship. Proper lament says, I still believe you're here, God. And I believe you're sovereign, God. But I need to tell you how awful this feels. Staying here in chapter 2, verse 9, the gates, verse 9, 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. Nebuchadnezzar did away with that. Her prophets find no vision from the Lord there. So the gates and the walls and the king, all of it is all gone. If you look at how this lament begins, look back at chapter 1 and verse 1. Here in chapter 1, verse 1, Jeremiah personifies the city. Here, chapter 1, verse 1, this is how the whole book begins, how lonely sits the city that was full of people. How like a widow is she, speaking of the city, who was great among the nations. The princes and the provinces have become a slave. Verse 2, she, the city, weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks. Let's stop there. So this is the personification of the city itself there. There. Verse 12, Jeremiah expresses his sorrow is like no other. Chapter 1, verse 12, Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold, and see if there's any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of his fierce anger. Jeremiah is suffering here.

Turning back to chapter 3.

Chapter 3, it's all here. I am a man who's seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Again, verse 4, he's aged my flesh. Chapter 3, verse 5, I'm besieged. Verses 6 and 7, I'm in a dark place. I've been hedged in. Verse 10, as we read, the metaphor changes to like a bear lying in wait there. Verse 12, the bow is set upon me, is bent his bow, and set me as a target. Verse 12. Verse 14, ridicule. Verse 15, bitterness. Verse 16, the eating of gravel. Verse 17 and 18, covered in ashes. Verse 17 and 18, you have moved my soul from peace, and I have forgotten prosperity. Verse 18 of chapter 3, and my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. I got to tell you, while the circumstances are different, I know God's people feel the depth of this kind of sorrow. There are times now, there are times in the past where you can connect with this. I know you can connect with this. It brings me sorrow to try even think of some of the the loss and the threshing trial that many of you have been through. So how is it, how is it, that out of this, this proclamation of the faithfulness of God comes to the lips of Jeremiah?

How do you go through all of this and then be prepared to sing, great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness. How could we sing that?

Well, in fact, we could sing this, and we should. Because again, it's within this context that Jeremiah proclaims to God, great is your faithfulness. How is Jeremiah able to move to this? How can we move to this? From hopelessness of verse 18 to the expression of confidence and hope in verse 22 and 22, verse 22 and 23, within a matter of just a few verses. My endurance is perished from the Lord, but this I call to mind, and I have hope. Which is it? You said your endurance is gone, but now you say you have hope. Which is it? Well, for God's people, it's both. It's both. For Jeremiah, it was both. Again, we're not called to live some kind of, to acknowledge some kind of superficial, griefless existence.

But we're called to place that grief in hope. In hope. So how is Jeremiah's hope revived in this way? How is his hope reborn out of such grief where he's able to remind himself who God is and what he's ultimately doing in his life? Jeremiah is still in the same predicament. None of his circumstances have changed. It's still unmistakably and remarkably bleak. Nothing seems possible. Nothing seems worth living for, but he says, this I call to mind. In other words, Jeremiah needed to get his mind straight. He needed to get his thoughts in line here. I need to call this to mind. Life is hard, but also I need to bring this to mind. I know life is hard, but what else do I know? God is faithful. So Jeremiah begins to deliberately, intentionally reflect on what he knows of God. And by doing this, he's going to now begin to navigate back toward hope.

You know, in aeronautical terms, we could refer to this for our help to kind of understand. It's like flying by the instruments. There are times if you talk to a pilot where they know or they're taken by cloud cover, immense cloud cover enveloped in it, and the pilot knows he's in trouble in that way. And if he looks out the window, there is no way he's going to be able to pull through it. How could he maintain a kind of equilibrium? How could he know which way was up or down? How could he know where he is in such cloud cover? And the answer is you fly by the instruments. That's the answer. In the Christian life, in times of threshing trial, we must fly by the instruments. It's not about ignoring the reality. It's not about pumping up your emotions.

It's about being prepared to trust that God is faithful. We know God's faithfulness. What do we know about God's faithfulness? It reaches to the clouds. The psalmist told us. And that's what the pilot, the Christian pilot, must do, if you will. When you're deep in the clouds, you can't see anything. You don't know which way is up or down. You feel this. You feel that. It's absolutely essential for you to bring that and those emotions to bear upon who God is. And it's exactly what Jeremiah does. And therefore, hope begins to shine in. Where is our hope? Sometimes in trial, it is the only thing you can be sure of. It's the only thing to grab onto. The steadfast faithfulness of God. The covenant faithfulness of God. God entered into this covenant relationship with you. And it's an unbreakable bond. So Jeremiah says, God, I know you've shown yourself in this devastating way, regardless. At the same time, I'm going to call to mind the love, the faithfulness of you, God, that never ceases. And it's on account of that that I'm able to say to myself, although everything that I've written in this lament is true, it's also true the steadfast faithfulness of God never ceases.

Look at how striking this is. Verse 22, where Jeremiah puts forth this incredible, incredible statement. Verse 22, through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassion fails not. That's striking. So, I'll have you know that the ultimate evidence, if you want to strip everything away in this physical life, the ultimate evidence that God is still faithful to his people is seen in the fact that in the end, ultimately, we are not consumed. If you want to strip everything away, that's what it is. How do I know that you, God, are faithful to me? Well, it's because ultimately we are not consumed because in Jesus Christ, we will never be consumed, ultimately. Jesus said, I am the resurrection of life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. What is the proof of God's faithfulness to his people? The ultimate proof is seen in the fact that they will not ultimately be consumed. I hope you know that. Now, the physical body is consumed, yes, but you, the you that is raised at Christ's return, that you will never be consumed. Why? God is faithful. And this we call to mind today and therefore have hope. It's a process. It's a process.

So, when you are face to face with the laments of life, it is at that moment that you will call this to mind. And thank God for the evidence of that faithfulness, the sending of his Son, the giving of his life, so that we might have life, eternal life. And I'm going to bring my whole life under the nature and essence of his character, God's character. I know who he is. And even though life may completely overwhelm me, this I'm going to call to mind and therefore have hope. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassion fails not. In fact, they're new every morning. Oh God, great is your faithfulness.

Well, let me draw a conclusion. Brethren, I want you to know that you can put all of your hope in the faithfulness of God. God evidenced that faith through the giving of his Son on the cross. Faithfully, he took it all upon himself so that you may live and not ultimately be consumed. And when you get to the end of the story, the heavens open up and behold, there's this white horse, Revelation tells us. And there is Christ on this horse. And you know what he's called. And you know what he's called. You know what his name is. Well, Revelation reveals his name is faithful and true. That's his name. Faithful and true, that's his name because that's his character. And that's who he is. So despite all that we may endure, despite it all, and through it all, may we all sing to God great is your faithfulness.