Great is Your Faithfulness
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
Contrary to the way neighboring peoples viewed their gods, the Jews now understood their God to be faithful to them, and there is no greater hope than knowing that God is totally reliable. God had always been faithful (), but the point here is that the people finally realized it.
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Background
Background
The book of Lamentations is made up of five poems, each an expression of grief over the fall of Jerusalem so we should view this passage a Song/Poetry or also known as a Psalm. This is why it is so similar to the roller-coaster ride of emotions found in David's writings in the Psalms. Even in the same Psalm you will hear David crying out to God for help, complaining of his situation and then, without warning, sings of the Lord's praises and his confidence in the Lord. We see the same with the book of Lamentations, written by Jeremiah who was known as the weeping prophet.
Jeremiah is in a state of sorrow over the recent destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. since he loved God's people and their country. In modern America, where the secular world is going further away from God, we can relate to Jeremiah’s morning of watching the fall of a great country that once had such high values for the Lord.
Despite this sorrow, Jeremiah reminds us to have hope and to focus on God’s “Steadfast Love” and “Great Faithfulness.” This should be our focus too when we are in the midst of any sorrow.
Contrary to the way neighboring peoples viewed their gods, the Jews now understood their God to be faithful to them, and there is no greater hope than knowing that God is totally reliable. God had always been faithful (), but the point here is that the people finally realized it.
In the midst of chaos and depression, the poet revealed a deep faith (vv. 22–24) in the trustworthiness of God: “Great is your faithfulness” (ʿěmûnâ)
Author: Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
Genre: Song/Poetry/Psalm
Setting: Written recently after 587 B. C.
After the destruction of the first Temple
After the fall of Jerusalem
Turning Away from God
Turning Away from God
Leading up to Israel's downfall
Chosen to be a nation of Priests to the world ()
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Prospered (with God) over enemies ()
After the fall of Jerusalem
and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
God’s commands and promises
Broke His commands and open rebellion
Open rebellion against God
God’s Wrath - Destruction and Exile ()
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Similarities to our current age (Isreal turning from God and America turning from God)
Similarities to America
The fall of Jerusalem represents the spiritual falling away of Isreal from God. In out current age, America, a modern day Isreal in a lot of ways due to it's origin on being built on a biblical foundation, is now also going through a time of falling away from God. Despite this great sorrow, we still have hope in our God's past acts of love and mercy.
Genre: Song/Poetry/Psalm
America turning from God)
Built on Judeo-Christian Foundation
Prospered (with God) over enemies
Showed the world Freedom and Liberty
Broke His commands and open rebellion
God’s Wrath???
Hope in Time of Sorrow
Hope in Time of Sorrow
Often in life people do not realize the faithfulness of God until the “bottom has fallen out” of their lives.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
The unbroken mood of despair was displaced by a beautiful affirmation of hope in spite of suffering (cf. ; ; ).
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
God’s Love
God’s Mercy
God’s Greatness
God’s Love
God’s Love
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
“Steadfast Love” - In Hebrew it is pronounced: "He-Sed"
It also means: loyalty, joint obligation, faithfulness, goodness, graciousness, and godly action.
"Steadfast love" in the ESV is translated in many other ways in various Bible translations. Some of these terms are: lovingkindness (NASB), faithful love (CSB/NLT), and great love (NIV). Additionally, regarding His mercies, in the ESV the passage is read as "his mercies never come to an end" but another way for translating this statement is " For His compassions never fail" as rendered by the NASB and NIV.
God is Love ()
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
God’s past acts of love (Joseph and Exodus)
God’s love has no end ()
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
God's Mercy
God's Mercy
His mercies never come to an end
“Mercy” can also be translated as “compassions” which in the Hebrew is raḥămîm. This is from a word related to the womb, it describes the tender, caring love of a mother.
We don't realize how sinful we are or how merciful God is to us. His patience with us is a reflection of His great mercy that has no end. Regardless of one's past sinful life, there is no limit to what God will forgive. We just need to accept His free gift of grace. We just need to surrender to God and make Jesus the Lord of our life.
God is Patient (Jonah and people of Nineveh)
God is willing to begin anew with those who repent.
God’s wrath toward His people must come to an end because His compassion cannot end ().
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
God’s mercy never fails ()
For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
God has not made a complete end to his people (the plural we is used), despite their terrible plight, because he is still a God of compassion and ‘loving kindness’ ( ).
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
They are new every morning
Every day presents a new opportunity to experience a fresh outpouring of God’s great love and compassion, as well as his faithfulness, his steadfast consistent loyalty ()
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
God’s love will bring the morning of salvation (; ; ; ).
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
God's Greatness
God's Greatness
God's Greatness
God's Greatness
Great is your faithfulness
This quality of Yahweh’s character is cause for praise (; . ).
For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
God’s is Sovereign () so He can keep His promises
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
God’s past acts of faithfulness (Abraham’s promise)
Past acts of faithfulness
Waiting upon God’s will was as important for the Old Covenant (; ; ) as the New (; ).
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
“So you, by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.”
“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,
“for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy
all the earth shall be consumed.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
God’s greatest act of faithfulness: Jesus
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
The ultimate example of God the Father's faithfulness to His people was displayed in the offering up of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the ultimate and final sacrifice that washes our sins so we can have a restored relationship again with our Heavenly Father.
Jesus is the answer to all God’s promises ()
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
Greatest act of sacrifice, mercy, love and faithfulness ()
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The will of the Father to have Jesus be the atoning sacrifice for His people is the greatest act of steadfast love and faithfulness.
God the Father’s will included His wrath falling on Christ instead of us ()
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Jesus’ willingness to lay down His life for us ()
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
Great
Closing Thoughts
Closing Thoughts
God's faithfulness and steadfast love can conquer any anxiety and fear that the world presents us.
Despite our sorrows, we must remember the loyalty and faithfulness of the Lord, especially when the Father gave us Jesus to pay our insurmountable debt.
Jesus is the hope an answer to a life distant from God, which without a doubt will be filled with great sorrow.
Debt is now paid, but when the debt collector comes, will you have cash the free check offered?
Debt is now paid, but when the debt collector comes, will you have cash the free check offered?
will you cash the free check?
Each day presents another opportunity to experience God’s grace. Have you experienced God’s grace?
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer