God’s Mercies New Every Morning

GOD’S MERCIES NEW EVERY MORNING

Lam. 3:22-23

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: THE GERIATRIC DATE

1. Did you hear about the 85 year-old woman who went out on a blind date with a 92 year-old man?

2. She came home very frustrated. Her daughter said, “Mom, what’s wrong?” She said, “I had to slap him three times.” Her daughter was shocked. She said, “Mom! You mean he tried to get fresh?”

3. Her Mom said, “No! I thought he was dead!”

4. I wonder if sometimes the Lord needs to give us a slap because we look like we’re dead?

B. TEXT

1. Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lam. 3:22-23, NIV

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! Message

22 It is of the Lord's mercies [2617, che-sed, kindness] that we are not consumed, because his compassions [7355, raw-kham, compassions] fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness [530, em-oo-naw, firmness]. KJV

C. THESIS

1. We’re going to look tonight at the when, what, why and the foundation of God’s wonderful love for us.

2. The title of tonight’s message is “God’s Mercies New Every Morning.”

I. FAITH IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE

A. THE UNUSUAL PRAISE OF JEREMIAH

1. The fact that this statement appears in the Book of Lamentations is one of the most remarkable things in the Bible. Jeremiah had just witnessed the wrath of God poured out in undiluted concentration upon his nation.

2. Their armies had been defeated, their defenses overwhelmed, their riches pillaged. All their cities were looted and burned; their men killed, their women and children taken captive and enslaved. Most of those who remained alive had suffered mass resettlement with forced marches for 1,000s of miles to a foreign country where they were settled among people who hated them.

3. But here Jeremiah, still in the midst of weeping over the national calamity, begins to praise God that His mercies are new every morning! How remarkable!

B. ARE YOU EXPERIENCING TOUGH TIMES?

1. Have you ever felt like there would be no tomorrow? Or that life is as bad as it can get. There are too many bills to pay and not enough money. You may have sicknesses and diseases that you can’t get healed from and life is just too weary to go on another day.

2. God’s word sends a note of encouragement to look up and find hope. No matter how bad it may seem, God is still on the throne and we can find comfort and hope in that fact.

II. THE DOUBLE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S LOVE

Jeremiah used two different words for God’s feelings for you, based on two different premises, as proof that God will never stop loving you. First is Chesed (mercies); the second, Raw-kham (compassions).

A. “CHESED” – GOD’S SWORN LOVE

1. The Hebrew word chesed means a love or affection that is steadfast based on a loyalty or devotion, especially in relationship to a covenant.

2. In Deut. 7:9, God coupled this word with ‘berith,’ covenant; “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” NKJV. Deut. 7:8 says, “because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers…”

3. As part of God’s covenant in Christ, God has sworn His love for you. You’ve been sprinkled with the blood of the Covenant (Heb. 12:24; Jer. 31:31-34). It’s not something He can randomly abandon. His love is unshakeable because it’s based on His oath. Praise God!

4. COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD: THE BLOOD STAINED BOOK

a. One evangelist spoke to Christians in the military. During his message, he displayed his own copy of a white Pacific Fleet New Testament. They are rare/valuable.

b. Following the meeting, a member of the audience showed him another white Pacific Fleet New Testament, one given to his son prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, one stained with blood.

c. The man said, “Sir, this little book is very precious; all the more because it’s stained with the blood of my son!”

d. God feels the same way about this Book, the Bible, and about the New Covenant God established through the blood of His Son. He loves it too. Its pages are stained with the blood of His Son. God will never let that blood be in vain!

4. Praise God! Our salvation can’t ever change!

B. “RAW-KHAM” – GOD’S MOTHER-LIKE TENDERNESS

1. Secondly, the other Hebrew word, raw-kham, is related to the Hebrew word for “stork “or “womb,” suggesting a mother’s love and faithfulness.