********Lamentation 3:22-26 Thank God for second chances

Great is Thy Faithfulness

(Lamentations 3:22–26

Lamentations 3:22–26 (ESV)

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

26 It is good that one should wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

SECOND CHANCES

IN FOOTBALL, basketball, and most sports, there is a halftime. Halftime is an extended break in the middle of a game so that the players can get themselves together. This is also a time for a coach to call in a struggling team, acknowledge the team’s performance, and encourage them to do a better job in the second half. The beauty of halftime, is that there is a whole second half in which a team can turn things around. Halftime acts as a grace period. No matter how messed up the first half might have been, the second half provides an opportunity to make things right. For many Christians, they have had a bad first half of play in the Christian life. But The good news is that God gives halftimes where He calls our attention to our struggles and then sends encouragement to do a good job in the second half. He gives us an opportunity to get ourselves together, to focus, and to do a better job than we did on the front end.819

In 586 B.C, the Babylonian army made its way through the fortified walls of Jerusalem. The Babylonian army burned the temple, the king’s palace, and all the other major buildings in Jerusalem. They tore down the walls of the city, which signified that the city was rendered useless and helpless. Jeremiah witnessed the desecration of the temple and the destruction of the city.

Jeremiah the prophet and Isaiah the prophet had warned the people that their rebellion would send them into exile.

On the hills of the destruction and dismantling of his homeland, Jeremiah was compelled by God to weep and write about the calamity.

God’s people were confused and concerned. They were beaten and battered. They had been defeated and discouraged. They had been plummeted and persecuted. Their freedom and fortunes had been taken. Their future and families had been shaken. Their land had been confiscated.

Their lives had been devastated. Their temple had been destroyed. Their tears had been deployed. Their hope had been futile. Their help had been faulty. Their faith had been erased. Their focus had been misplaced. To say the least, the people of Judah were in a mess.

God always has a voice. He had raised Jeremiah up to warn the people, and now to encourage the people.

Do you hate it when someone tells you something, it comes to pass, and then they come and say, “I told you so?”

Lamentations is an “I told you so” book. Jeremiah had warned the people, and the people refused to obey the voice of the Lord.

After the smoke had cleared Jeremiah was still standing for the Lord. Jeremiah reminded the people that it was their disobedience and rebellion that caused the fall and destruction of their homeland. Jeremiah was broken and was weeping over the circumstances that they were in, but in the midst of his mourning, he encouraged the people to return to the Lord. Jeremiah proclaimed God’s faithfulness.

God’s faithfulness and compassion comforts us in our greatest time of need. We are to trust in God’s faithfulness, thank Him for His compassion, praise Him for His mercy and rejoice in His deliverance.

These verses give some great truths about God’s faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness!

I. God’s faithfulness sustains us. (vs. 22–23)

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”

Jeremiah gives the people an astonishing reminder. To get the impact of the instruction we must understand the context. The people of Jerusalem had lost homes, jobs, security, and loved ones. The people were dying of starvation. They had no food and no freedom. Many had been taken into captivity. They were oppressed and made slaves of the Babylonians.

Jeremiah reminded the people that God was a faithful covenant-keeping God that was merciful. Jeremiah had a godly perspective about the circumstances.

A poem states,

Look at yourself and you’ll be depressed.

Look at circumstances and you’ll be distressed.

Look at the Lord and you’ll be blessed.

When many would have lashed out and given up on the Lord, Jeremiah reminded the people that God did what He said He would do because they didn’t do what they said they would do. The people were not a faithful, covenant-keeping people, and God used the Babylonians to bring judgment on His people. Jeremiah said it is all because of the Lord that we are alive today.

God sustains His people. When things are going well we don’t seem to realize that, but when the bottom falls out we quickly see that it is God who sustains us.

When we get a heavenly perspective about our circumstances, we open our hearts to God so that He can mold us and minister to us. Whatever we face in life we know that God is the One who sustains us. God sustains us because He is faithful and merciful.

Verse 22 states, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed.” Mercies (chesed) means loving-kindness, steadfast love, grace, goodness and devotion.

Jeremiah was telling the people that they deserved to be consumed, but they were not consumed because God is merciful. It is because God is merciful today that we are His children. Because of God’s goodness and devotion to His people, we are not destroyed.

Consumed (tamam) means to be complete, finished, spent, or used up. It is all because God is merciful that we are not brought to an end. People today are living on the edge of hell. People are one breath away from spending eternity in hell separated forever from God. They are not consumed yet because of God’s great love. Jesus died for them and longs to save them. His mercies prevent their immediate destruction.

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

James Dobson once saw a sign on a convent in Southern California that read: “Absolutely No Trespassing -Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the Law.” It was signed, “The Sisters of Mercy.”

Thank God that when we broke His law that He had mercy on us, and when He brought judgment on us, He did not utterly and totally consume us.

The people needed to understand that it was God that sustained them. They didn’t need to rebel further but to realize that it was because of the Lord’s mercies that they lived.

Jeremiah tells the people that God’s compassions fail not. God’s love is unflinching and unfaltering. God’s love for His people sustains us and upholds us at all times.

Thank God for His mercy and love. Time after time, through trial after trial, through pain after pain, through fear and heartache, through trouble and despair, God has sustained us in life and will sustain us for all eternity.

I heard about a pastor who was preaching on the sufficiency of God’s grace when a man stood up and shouted, “You can talk like that about Jesus—that He is dear to you and that He helps you -but if your wife were dead as my wife is, and you had some babies crying for their mother who would never come back, you could not say what you are saying.”

A little later the preacher lost his wife in a car accident. The man heard about the accident and went to the funeral.

At the funeral the preacher stood by his wife’s casket and said, “A couple of months ago when I was preaching, a man said I could not say that Jesus Christ was sufficient if my wife were dead and my children were crying for their mother. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, my heart is bleeding, but there is a song in my heart, and Christ put it there. And if that man is here, I tell him though my wife is gone and my children are motherless, Jesus Christ comforts me today.”

The man came down the aisle and stood by the pastor, hugged him and said, “If Jesus can help in a time like this, then I give Him my life and surrender to Him.”

A poem declares,

His grace is sufficient. Then why I need fear,

Though the testing be hard, and the trial severe?

He tempers each wind that upon me doth blow,

And tenderly whispers, ‘Thy Father doth know!’

His pow’r is sufficient. Then why should I quail,

Though the storm clouds hang low,

And though wild is the gale?

His strength will not falter, whatever betide,

And safe on His bosom He bids me to hide.

His love is sufficient -Yea boundless and free;

As high as the mountains, as deep as the sea.

Ah, there I will rest till the darkness is o’er,

And wake in His likeness to dwell forevermore.

Verse 23 says, “They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” God’s mercy and compassion are new every morning. That should encourage the people of God to trust in the Lord all the more.

Thomas Chisholm, a Methodist minister, wrote this hymn. Because of poor health, Chisholm had to resign as pastor and he spent his latter days in a Methodist home for the aged. It was during this time that Mr. Chisholm wrote, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me until now, although I must not fail to record the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant keeping God, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”

God does indeed sustain His people. Chisholm wrote in this great hymn,

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not: As

Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”

The Bible teaches us in verses 22–23 that God’s faithfulness sustains us. Next, we see:

II. God’s faithfulness satisfies us. (vs. 24)

“The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore, I hope in Him!”

Jeremiah tells the people that the Lord is his portion. Portion (cheleq) is used 40 times in the Old Testament. It means a portion or territory.

Only when the Lord is our portion can God’s faithfulness satisfy us. When we are self-seeking, self-serving and self-centered, we cannot understand or comprehend the faithfulness of God. When we are seeking to be satisfied with the things of the world we will always come up short. When we live life apart from God we will never be satisfied. When the troubles of life come, and they will come, we tend to turn to God for help in time of need.

When a faithful child of God faces calamity and trouble in life, they are sustained and satisfied by God’s faithfulness even in the midst of trouble. Jeremiah was calling the people back to faithful living to God.

Michael Combs’ song Faithful and True states, “I’ve got a friend who’s more than a friend, He’s somebody that’s faithful and true. He’s always there. He always cares. ‘Cause He’s somebody who’s faithful and true. And no matter in this world where life’s road may lead, My Lord, He’ll be there taking good care of me. ‘Cause He said in His word He would never leave me, forsake me, and His word is true.”

Is the Lord your portion today? Are we satisfied with Jesus?

Great Biblical Truth: When you have nothing left but Jesus, you become aware that He is enough.

Jeremiah says, “The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul.” Jeremiah was saying that though he may be wasting away outwardly, beaten and battered, ragged and worn, cast out and enslaved on the outward, his soul inwardly trusts in the Lord. Our inward trust in the Lord Jesus will give us resolve to respond in a godly manner to whatever circumstances we may face. Jeremiah’s inward hope in the Lord helped him understand and see the outward circumstances from a godly perspective.

There was a time when we trusted in Jesus this way. Tracy and I had been married about 4 months. She was working, I was in school and things were very tight. I was out of school for J-term. Tracy totaled up the bills and said that if we tithed that week, we would be short and not be able to pay our other bills. I told her that we would trust the Lord to provide. We made the tithe check out and sent it to my home church. That same evening, my friend that I had worked with previously called and asked me if I would like to work for a couple of weeks. I started work with him the next day and worked for two weeks. God provided for our needs and we made it through.

When the Lord is our portion we can be satisfied at all times. Paul had been arrested for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was shackled in a Roman jail cell and with no prospect of getting released. In that context he wrote to the church in Philippi: “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

We can only say that when the Lord is our portion and we hope in Him. Are you trusting in Jesus daily?

God’s great faithfulness sustains us, satisfies us, and next we see:

III. God’s faithfulness saves us. (vs. 25–26)

(A.) Favor from God. (vs. 25)

“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”

Jeremiah reminded the people that God is indeed good to all those who wait for Him and who seek after Him. Many of you have walked years with the Lord. There have been good times and bad times, times of plenty and times of poverty. Many of you can testify today that God is good.

Warren Wiersbe said, “God is gracious, God is great in faithfulness, and God is good—no matter how we feel or what we see.” Amen! Praise the Lord!

Nahum proclaimed the same. Nahum 1:7 declares, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.”

God’s favor is on those who trust in the Lord. God is good to those who wait for Him. He is a gracious, merciful and kind heavenly Father.

Not only is the Lord good to those who wait for Him, but also, “To the soul who seeks Him.” We are to seek the Lord while He may be found.

Seek (darash) means to seek, inquire, consult, ask or require.

God is good to those who seek after Him. He will not refuse or reject those who seek Him. Jeremiah 29:11–13 states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” God’s favor is bestowed on those who seek after Him.

There is a legend told of an ancient kingdom whose king had just died, and whose ambassadors were sent to choose a successor from twin infants.

They found the little fellows fast asleep, and looking at them carefully, agreed that it was difficult to decide, until they happened to notice one curious small difference between them.

As they lay, one infant had his tiny fists closed tight; the other slept with his little hands wide open. Instantly, they made their selection of the latter.

The legend very properly concludes with the record that, as he grew up in his station, he came to be known as the King with the Open hand.

We could say the same thing about God. His hand is always open to receive us, protect us, comfort us, and care for us.

In verse 25, we’ve seen favor from God. Lastly, we see:

(B.) Focus on God. (vs. 26)

“It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Jeremiah calls the people to focus on God. Obviously, their focus had not been on God. That is why they were cast into exile and the city of Jerusalem destroyed.

God has a way of using disaster and destruction to draw His people back to Himself.

Charles Dyer, from Dallas Seminary, wrote, “The afflictions came from a compassionate God who was being faithful to His covenant. He did not enjoy making others suffer, but He allowed the afflictions as temporary means to force Judah back to Himself.”

Jeremiah was instructing the people to wait on the Lord and not to get angry with God, rebel further against God, and turn completely away from God. Jeremiah was telling the people to turn their eyes upon Jehovah.

Philip Ryken wrote, “This is not the passive waiting of stoic endurance. It is rather an active resting in the goodness of God, with the hopeful expectation that someday one’s trials will come to an end.”

How’s your focus on God? Do trials in life drive you to Jesus or away from Him?

Within the first month that I came to Happy Home Baptist Church, I went to visit Kenneth Higgins in the hospital. I didn’t know them well at the time, but I’ll never forget what he told me as we were talking about the pending tests and possible surgery. Brother Kenneth said, “One way or the other the Lord will take care of it. If the Lord leaves me down here, it’s because He’s not through with me.”

That is great faith in a great God that is always faithful. Jesus is faithful!

Jeremiah told the people, “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Salvation means deliverance. God saves and delivers His people because He is a faithful, covenant-keeping God. Do you need to be delivered today? Are you in need of God’s compassion, mercy, and goodness? Do you need to be set free from your sins today?

Jesus has already paid the price on the cross! Jesus has finished the work! He died and rose again so that all who would ever call upon Him, trust in Him, and hope in Him would be saved. His faithfulness sustains us, satisfies us and saves us.

If you’ve never been saved and you want to trust Jesus today, you can ask Him to save you and He will.

Lamentations 3:21-26 THE FAITHFUL GOD Intro: The book of Lamentations is a series of dirges, or songs of mourning, that were written against the backdrop of the Babylonian invasion and destruction of Jerusalem. In the verses of this book, we can see the awful sufferings endured by the people of that city at the hand of their enemies. Still, even in the midst of all the pain and the turmoil, God had His man in Jerusalem to record the events and to bring honor to His Name. The writer of the book of Lamentations is believed to be Jeremiah. He was known as the Weeping Prophet. A study of Jeremiah’s life reveals a portrait of unending sadness and deep depression. Allow me to give you some of the background for this precious man of God. 1. Received an unwanted call to minister - Jer. 1:5-6. 2. Called to a ministry of preaching nothing but judgment - Jer. 1:9-10. 3. He was forbidden to marry so that he might give himself more fully to his ministry of proclaiming the impending judgment of God - Jer. 16:1-13. As a result he was very familiar with loneliness. 4. He was a man of deep sadness and he wept openly about the sins of his people - Jer. 9:1. 5. He endured depression as the result of his message going unheeded for so long. He even came to the point where he tried to get out of the ministry, Jer. 20:9. His pain is understandable, because in a ministry that spanned some 50 years, there is no record of even one convert. 6. He suffered imprisonment by King Zedekiah because the king did not approve of Jeremiah’s preaching - Jer. 32:5. Even while the Babylonians are invading the city in fulfillment of his prophet declarations, Jeremiah is sitting in the dungeon - Jer. 32:2. 7. After Jerusalem falls and many have been killed or taken captive, the prophet does not gloat or take an “I told you so” mentality. Instead, he becomes broken with the remnant and enters into suffering with them - Lamentations 1-5. After enduring a life like this; after being rejected, hated, mocked, imprisoned, ignored; after seeing his beloved Jerusalem ransacked, desecrated and destroyed; after experiencing the horror of war, the brutality of the enemy and the pangs of hunger, Jeremiah was still able to stand forth amid the rubble of the city and the bodies of the dead and lift his voice in praise to God for His great, unfailing faithfulness to His people. How was this possible? Despite his trials and his troubles, Jeremiah had gotten a good grasp on the reality of just Who God is! Jeremiah knew that whether things went well, or whether everything fell apart, God would still be God and that God would be eternally faithful to His people, Ill. Lam. 3:21! Jeremiah was still able to find hope in a hopeless situation because he believed in the faithfulness of His great God. Like Jeremiah, we all go through times when life seems to fall apart at the seams. When these times come we also need the blessed assurance that God is faithful! Thankfully the Bible gives overwhelming evidence of the unchanging faithfulness of our great God. Ill. The word “Faithfulness” in verse 23. This word means “firmness, fidelity, steadiness, steadfastness.” This word pictures God as One upon Whom we can depend. We can be sure that as we face the storms, trials and valleys of life, God will ever prove Himself to be steadfast and faithful to you and me. To put it very simply, you can count on the Lord! I would like to take this passage and point out three precious words in these verses that tell us why Jeremiah was able to proclaim the glories of: The Faithful God. Notice what these words teach us about the great, unfailing faithfulness of the God of the believer.

I. v. 22a GOD IS FAITHFUL IN HIS GRACE (Mercies - This word is translated “loving-kindness” over 30 times in the Old Testament. It is a very expressive word that conveys all the ideas of “love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness and devotion.” This word pictures God as the Divine lover of men. It finds its New Testament equivalent in the idea of God’s love and grace. Notice a couple of quick thoughts about the amazing grace of God. Jeremiah seems to be remembering that it was the pure grace of God that brought Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. It was also grace that had kept them a redeemed people in spite of their failures and wanderings. There is a word for us in this thought today.) A. His Grace Saves Us – Only grace could have reached us in our lost, doomed condition, Ill. Eph. 2:1-4. We could not get to God, so God came to us! He came in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins, Phil. 2:5-8. He came in the Person of the Holy Spirit to draw us to God so that we might be saved, John 16:7-11; John 6:44. B. His Grace Secures Us – Grace not only sought us out when we were lost in sin; grace keeps us in our saved condition. We are prone to failure. We are prone to spiritual wandering. If our salvation resented upon our ability to be faithful to the Lord, none of us would ever be saved. Thankfully, salvation is the Lord’s arena and not ours! We are saved by His grace and we are kept by that same grace, 1 Pet. 1:5; Psa. 37:23-24, 28; John 4:13-14. Thank God for His unfailing, unchanging, faithful grace.

I. God Is Faithful In His Grace II. v. 22b-23 GOD IS FAITHFUL IN HIS GIFTS (Compassion - This is a word that literally means “womb”. It means “to be moved in the heart out of love for another.” This word is a picture of the grace of God actively moving in the life of the believer. You see, as we pass through our storms and our valleys, we do no do so alone! God observes our path and His grace gives us all we need for our journey. Notice two thoughts here about the great gifts of God.) A. V. 23b God’s Gifts Are Faithful - (Ill. God did not promise an easier road, but He promised that His grace would be sufficient for the need - 2 Cor. 12:9. Think about Paul and his battle with that thorn in the flesh.) Grace is usually defined as “The unmerited love and favor of God toward sinners.” It carries that idea, but this is a word that has come to mean so much more than that. It has come to refer to “the strength of God to face battles and to bear up under times of difficulty.” With this in mind, we should always remember that regardless of what life sends our way, we can be confident of the fact that the Lord will give us the necessary strength to face the trying times of life. You’ll never face a situation as a believer that God will not give grace to help you make it through. Notice the promise given in Isa. 43:1-2. 1. The Gift Of His Presence - Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20. These verses, along with others reveal the great truth that God is always present with His children. Even when He cannot be seen, He is there. When you cannot trace God in your life, I challenge you to come to the place where you can trust Him. 2. The Gift Of His Performance - Eph. 3:20 - Focus on the word “able”! If this verse is to be taken at face value, and I am certain that it is, then it becomes plain that our God is greater, by far, than any problem we have, or will ever face. God is an awesome God and His children need to be remembering that great truth. God will take care of you! 3. The Gift Of His Provision - Phil. 4:19; Matt. 6:25-33; Psalm 37:25 - These verses teach us the great truth that God is interested in meeting our needs. Please hear what the Lord said: Needs not Greed’s! God has promised to take care of His children, and He will! It may be that His idea of taking care is different than yours, but that is where faith in the trustworthiness of God comes in. We must come to the place where we are willing to trust the Lord to take care of us in any way that He sees fit. Notice the trust that Job had in the Lord - Job 13:15. I am sure that Job would have chosen another alternative than losing his children, his health and his wealth, but he is willing to trust the Lord through times that cannot be understood and that make no sense. What about you and me? Do we really believe that the Lord is absolutely faithful? Do we believe that He has our best interests at heart? Are we confident of the fact that God will indeed provide for our needs? 4. The Gift Of His Person - Heb. 13:8; Mal. 3:6. These verses reveal the truth about God nature that makes Him reliable at all times. That is simply the fact that He does not change! God is the same today as He has been forever, and the same as He will be forever. He was faithful in the beginning and He will be faithful in the end. He was steadfast in the lives of the Bible characters that placed their faith in Him and He will be steadfast in the life of ever believer who will trust Him in these days. God is a steadfast and trustworthy God! (Ill. These great gifts of our faithful God are unchanging and unfailing.) B. v. 23a God’s Gifts Are Fresh - According to this verse, the grace of God is as fresh as the new day. We do not have to worry about there not being enough for us to make it through, for God’s grace in our lives is as fresh as the new day. Ill. Matt. 6:34, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Just as every new day brings with it its own set of burdens and problems, so each day witnesses a new, unfailing, all-sufficient, supply of God’s marvelous, matchless, wonderful, amazing grace. (Ill. God’s faithfulness is seen in the fact that we woke up today, in our right minds and in reasonable health. We woke up with air to breath, food to eat, people we love around us, etc. God is a faithful, wonderful Lord.)

I. God Is Faithful In His Grace II. God Is Faithful In His Gifts III. v. 24-26 GOD IS FAITHFUL IN HIS GOODNESS (Ill. The word “good” has the idea of “pleasant, agreeable and excellent.” It refers to the character of God. This word reminds us that God is ever engaged in that which is best in the lives of His children.) A. v. 24a He Is A Satisfier – God is described as the soul’s “portion.” This word means “share or booty.” It refers to “the spoils of war.” Jeremiah is saying, “In the battle of life, God is my reward, my share, and my portion.” When the Lord is viewed in this light, He will be all that a person needs to be satisfied in their soul, Psa. 103:5; Psa. 107:9. God may not give you and me the things we desire in life; but He will always give us that which is best, and He will give us that which will satisfy the soul, Rom. 8:28. B. v. 24b-25 He Is A Sustainer – God will never fail those who place their trust in Him, Isa. 49:23; Rom. 10:11. Not a single Word of any of His precious promises will ever fail to be honored by Him, Matt. 5:18; Psa. 119:89-90; Isa. 40:8. If you come to Him for salvation, He will not send you away lost, John 6:37. If you trust Him for salvation, He will never send you away into Hell, John 10:28. If you look to Him for the needs in your life, you will never be disappointed, Luke 12:32. He will sustain you through this life and into eternity. C. v. 26 He Is A Savior - In this context Jeremiah is saying, “Those who wait upon the Lord will see Him bring them out of their troubles and trials. He will not fail His children, but, in His time, He will deliver them from all their valleys.” We need to remember today that God is able to deliver both saint and sinner. My fellow saints, I would like to remind you that God knows where you are today. He knows what you are going through, Job 23:10. He will not forsake you, but He will faithfully keep you and bring you out, in His time, Psa. 34:15-22. My lost friend, it may look like you are doomed, with no hope. I would just like to tell you that God can save your soul by His marvelous grace, if you will but look to Him by faith. If you will stop trusting yourself, your religion and your own goodness; and if you will come to God confessing your sins and calling on Jesus for salvation, God will save your soul, Rom. 10:9, 13; Rev. 22:17.

Conc: Great is the faith that can stand amid the wreckage of life and declare the praises of God. Jeremiah was that kind of a believer. Are you? During the early years of missionary activity in China, four members of one family accepted Christ as Savior, but the youngest, a little boy, did not. Later he came to his father and said he wanted to confess publicly that he had received the Savior. The father felt he was not old enough, so he explained to the lad that he might fall back if he made a profession when he was so young. To his well-meaning, concerned father, the boy gave this touching reply: “Jesus has promised to carry the lambs in His arms. I am only a little boy. It will be easier for Jesus to carry me.” The simplicity and genuineness of the boy's faith made a profound impression on the father, and he quickly sensed that his son knew what he was doing. Soon the youngster made known his faith in Christ and followed the Lord in believer's baptism. As you and I face the battles, burdens, valleys, storms and trials of life, we must always remember that we are His little lambs and that He is well able to carry us safely through. So, what kind of battles are you fighting today? Bring them to the Father and trust in His unchanging, unfailing faithfulness. If you are lost and need to be saved, you can come to Jesus today and He will save your soul. If you are walking through a hard place in life and need help; God will provide the help you need. If you are struggling with the flesh and some besetting sin; there is help for that as well. I hope that you can say, like Jeremiah did, “Great is Thy faithfulness.” Do you need to experience that faithfulness today?