Title: His Uninterrupted Mercy (Lent Day 27 Sermon)
His Unfailing Compassion
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 For the mercy and mercy of the LORD are endless; we are not destroyed. 23 It is new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (NKJV)
Starting today, there will be six talks on the topic of “More Than WE Deserve”. The most amazing truth about God revealed in the Old Testament is that God is love and merciful. Come to think of it, this is more than we expected. We are all sinners and we deserve to be punished. Do you know Paul's proclamation on man in Romans 3:9-12? “Then what should I say? Are we Jews better than Gentiles? Not at all. Jews and Greeks alike are under sin. It is written this way in the Bible. ‘There is no righteous. there is no one No one understands, no one seeks God. Everyone has gone astray, making it useless. No one does good deeds. There is no one."
So, what happened to the truth of the Bible? The Bible says that as long as we realize our sins and repent, a God of love and mercy will forgive and accept us. There was a time when Moses wanted to see the face of God. He wanted to know God closer and deeper. Do you know what God did at that time? God promised to show his back instead of his face. He did not show the glory of God directly, but indirectly. As God passed Moses, he said, “I, the Lord, am a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and truth.” (Exodus 34:6)
Jesus also showed us that God is like a merciful and gracious Father who accepts sinners. Jesus taught and showed this God. God Himself loves us so much that “while we were still sinners, Christ demonstrated his love for us in dying for us” (Romans 5:8). The word “confirmed” here uses the words “demonstrate” or “show” or “prove”.
This kind of God's forgiving love is the key to understanding God's nature. That is why John declared, “God is live” (1 John 4:8). It doesn't matter how long we have been Christians. God's love continues to surprise and thrill us. Why? Because we don't deserve that kind of love. And that is the reason why we continue to praise God's wonderful love and wonderful grace.
Now listen to the words of Lamentations today. “It is only because of the mercy of God that we have not perished.” Do you know what the real meaning of mercy is? It is “withholding what we deserve.” It is withholding what we deserve. These words show that we deserve the punishment. Because we have broken God's law, because we have rejected God's love, because we have not respected God, we deserve God's judgment. “We must be destroyed by the justice of God. We should be consumed by His justice, but His justice is tempered by His mercy. God's mercy is based on God's mercy toward us. His compassion never fails.
I was surprised while meditating and preparing for today's Word. Do you know what kind of Bible the Lamentations of Jeremiah are? Doesn't that mean Jeremiah's song of sorrow? Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of his homeland under the Babylonian invasion. For a long time, I watched the vivid scene of the father's return in the city of Jerusalem, where drinking water and food had run out from the Babylonian siege. The king and the people were taken captive and watched the devastation of the ruined country. The song of sorrow he left behind is Lamentations of Jeremiah.
What is surprising is that he sings of God's mercy and mercy in the midst of such despair. He says that he is not giving up on God's mercy and mercy, even though he despairs and weeps together like everyone else. “If it were not for God’s mercy and mercy, we would have already perished even if we were destroyed.” However, it is because of God's mercy and compassion that he has protected this nation so far. In the meantime, he sings a new God's mercy and mercy every morning. He remembers God's faithfulness even in such circumstances.
I've been thinking about it. "like that. There is no despair for those who can sing of God’s mercy and mercy in any desperate circumstances, who never forgets and remembers God’s faithfulness!” I thought like this. God will surely raise such a person again. Jeremiah laid down his dying country before God, and today is despair, but he sings of God's mercy and mercy that will come to this nation anew tomorrow morning. We are singing a song of sorrow, putting the future of this nation on the altar of God's faithfulness. Jeremiah's breasts are large. Even in such a situation, Jeremiah's praise and Jeremiah's prayer, who sinned against God and did not give up on their own people who were not loyal to God, who put their nation's future in a song of sorrow, or even a prayer of sorrow, were great. Will a faithful God not hear the prayers of such people? Will not the faithful God raise up the nation again as he wishes?
God speaks to us. I'm different from you. My mercy never ceases. When Paul said in Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds”, and indeed it is. We continued to sin against God, but God's grace toward us was so full that He forgave us all our sins.
This act of mercy toward us is said to be new every morning. The reservoir of God's mercy never dries up. Every day is a new day for God. Start your day with this thought in mind. “The mercy of God is new every morning! Today is a new day. Today will overflow with God's mercy and mercy, which is different from yesterday.” How exciting would your day be if you start your day with this thought in mind?
“Every morning is fresh” means “every morning a fresh start” or “every morning a fresh start”. God's mercy and mercy are new every day. It's not the same as yesterday. It's new every morning, so I'm looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to and excited about what kind of mercy and compassion God will show me today. How blessed would your life be if you could start and live each day with God who treats us with mercy and compassion every morning like this?
According to the English Bible, “They are new every morning.” Another Bible says, “His mercies and compassions begin afresh each morning.” God's mercy and mercy are new every morning. Rather than feeling and experiencing a new God every morning in the middle of the day, rather than experiencing God's new mercy and mercy in the late evening, how natural would it be to come before the Lord early in the morning and experience it?
Why is God so full of mercy and compassion? Why is there a new supply of God's mercy and mercy? Yesterday was a very bad day. Something very disappointing happened. But, again today, God's mercy and mercy are supplied anew this morning. Why? Because God is faithful. In today's sermon, he said, "Great is Your faithfulness."
God's mercy and compassion are based on God's covenant. Once God makes a promise, he faithfully keeps that promise. Just like the time when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, the Bible all tells us that God promises us mercy and mercy as long as we trust Him. And God is faithful to what He says. God cannot lie, and God cannot break the promises He has made to Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13 says: “Even when we are unfaithful, the Lord is faithful to us. for he cannot deny himself.”
Today is a new morning. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday. Your mercy and mercy are new every morning. Although we may not be sincere, I pray that God's mercy and mercy, who faithfully keep his covenant, will overflow to each of you today.