THANKS TO GOD WE ARE NOT CONSUMED
THANKS TO GOD WE ARE NOT CONSUMED.
Lamentations 3: 21, 22
A New Year’s Eve Sermon by:
Rev. H.A. Bergsma
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(November 2006)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 247
Scripture Reading: Lamentations 3: 1 - 22
Hebrews 4: 11 – 16
Text: Lamentations 3: 21, 22
Psalter 29
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 212 (2nd tune)
Sermon
Psalter 362
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 28
Doxology: Psalter 408: 3
Congregation of the Lord,
At this late hour of the year, with so many tragedies happening in the world of late … it is almost an embarrassment of circumstances that nothing has happened to us.
This leads me to say, short and to the point, “Thanks be to God that we are not consumed!”
This takes me to our text in which we hear the prophet Jeremiah say, in Lamentations 3:21,22 … “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
Let us consider this matter by the following theme and division …
THANKS TO GOD WE ARE NOT CONSUMED
1. My Memory Tells Me So
2. God’s Mercies Make It So
3. His Compassions Assure Me So
Congregation,
On a day like this, the faculty of our memory is very active.
Without purposely trying, our memories scan back over the year that is almost done.
But how does our memory serve us?
Where does our memory lead us?
Will it leave us hopeless and force us to ask “What next?”
Or will our memory lead us back to God?
In other words, are our thoughts open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
The prophet Jeremiah came to a stage in his life, which could very well have been at some New Year’s Eve, or some other remarkable mile-stone in his life, during which his memory was stirred to greater activity than usual.
In the verse before our text he tells us that his memory had brought him close to despair … “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled, (or: is bowed down) in me.” (19-20)
But then with our text words, he could say, “This I recall to my mind” that is, “This I bring to memory” … “therefore have I hope.”
Jeremiah’s memory did not stop at all the misery he has seen and experienced.
And he had seen and experienced much.
If anyone had reason to lament, it was this prophet of Judah.
The times he lived in were dark.
The ten tribes of Israel had long been taken into captivity already.
A similar thing had now also befallen Judah, the kingdom in which Jeremiah lived and worked.
Most of the Israelites no longer lived in their own land.
Jerusalem was destroyed; the temple was a fire-blackened heap of ruins; and the roads towards Zion were empty and torn up.
Those Israelites who were allowed to remain in the land (Jeremiah being one of them) lived in the most squalid conditions.
They were plagued with famine; and were abused by foreign oppressors who had settled in the land.
Jeremiah himself was in a pitiful state.
He has been firsthand witness to all this misery and experienced it himself, and so he says, “I am a man that has seen affliction.”
Jeremiah therefore did not exaggerate things when he lamented, “He” (God) “has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drunken with wormwood.”
Humanly speaking, the situation could not be worse!
But still, Jeremiah could explain by the words of our text, that it could have been worse.
God would not have been unjust if He would have abandoned them.
God would have been in His full right if He had consumed them in His wrath.
But God did not do so; He spared them.
Though He afflicted them, He has not consumed them.
For this reason Jeremiah could also make such an astonishing confession … “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
We are not consumed!
Dear people! This is what our memory should tell us as well.
This year again, we could live in peace, although terrorism exists in many lands, and many people live amongst the ravages of war.
Also this year deaths through acts of violence has mounted high, and deaths through calamities had mounted sky-high.
But we have enjoyed peace and safety; our houses and lands and workplaces and places of worship have not been destroyed.
We could live and work and worship as we wished.
We are not consumed as so many others.
But this is not because we have been such a great and peace-loving and obedient people necessarily!
Do not let our memory stop short here.
Jeremiah has seen the sins of his people; and those sins were terrible.
He acknowledged that God had every reason to afflict them.
And God Himself had reminded them continuously of their sin.
But what would God have to say of our land and people?
Our eyes have already seen a great deal of evil.
Our ears have already heard much wickedness.
But what must God’s eyes and ears have observed and heard?
His eyes, after all, penetrate the darkest corners of the human heart, and His ears can hear the slightest thought of the human soul.
And yet, our land and people are not consumed.
This could also be said personally.
We have often enough been reminded of our sins.
But how have we reacted to those reminders?
If my memory serves me correct I would have to confess with the Psalmist, “My sins rise up against Thee, Prevailing day by day.”
Has our condition changed since this year began?
Can you remember how you were then, and how you felt then?
Must it be said by some of us perhaps, what the prophet said in Jeremiah 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”?
And then, remember the Gospel messages that have come to you this year?
As consistory and congregation, we have labored and struggled to explore God’s Word for another year.
By God’s Word sin and guilt has been set before us with no reservations.
But we have also had Christ set before us in His great and marvelous saving powers by this same Word of God.
Those who have spoken from the pulpit here may rejoice at the memory of it, because it remains a privilege for anyone to present a rich Christ for poor sinners … and no doubts, those who spoke wish they could do so far more persuasively.
But what impact has the Word of God had on you this year?
Perhaps for some of you the ministry of the Word this year has increased your sin and guilt, because, if you have not openly rejected it, you have been careless about it.
Remember! Hearing the Gospel Word with no positive response increases your guilt before God.
Therefore, let me jog your memory a bit …
If you are presently still an unbeliever, your guilt is greater now than it was at the beginning of the year.
And yet, you are not consumed!
This gives us hope.
Jeremiah could come to this astonishing thought, and which gave him hope … that, although there was this accumulation of sin and guilt, through continuous carelessness and unbelief among them, he could declare a gracious memo that they were not consumed.
What was the reason for this?
We will have to consider this in the second place by the heading, God’s Mercies Make It So.
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed” so says Jeremiah in our text.
Dear people! Jeremiah could say this, because he had learned to humble himself under the afflicting hand of the Lord.
And if you and I should want to speak as Jeremiah once did, then we shall have to learn, even in these last hours of the year, to bow ourselves under the Word, and humble ourselves under the hand of the Lord, even as Jeremiah did.
You see, it does not carry much weight to lament that our nation and our people have slipped deeper into wickedness, if we ourselves, do not confess our slips and our stumblings.
It does not carry much weight if we complain that the government behaves ungodly, if we ourselves do not acknowledge our guilt to God.
This is what is necessary even during these last hours of the year … humility of heart, and confession of sin and guilt, even as the Psalmist verbalizes it, “If Thou shouldest mark our sins, who then could stand!”
Such an attitude alone puts us next the prophet Jeremiah of our text.
And then we can begin to speak as he once did.
Then we may legitimately lament the misery that we see all around us, and sincerely pity those who are in such dreadful situations, as we hear of in the news.
But then we will not point our finger at God but at ourselves.
We will then not blame God for all the misery this year; we will not charge Him with injustice or cruelty; or even complain for what has happened, but we will humble ourselves, and say with Jeremiah, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed.”
Dear people! We are in better circumstances than other people in this world, not because we are a better people and more deserving, but because of the Lord’s mercies.
If it weren’t for His mercies towards us, we would be in the same distress as others.
Let this humble us, and make us compassionate towards those in need.
And speaking about compassion, let me turn to my last heading, thanks to God that we are not consumed, because His Compassions Assure Me So.
If you have learned to read the mercies of God in the privileges of your life, you may also be assured of His compassions.
Jeremiah tells us by way of our text, “His compassions fail not.”
Literally translated, you could also say that God’s compassions have no end, or that they will not exhaust themselves.
The compassions of God have a history.
They have appeared time and again this year, in various circumstances and situations, personally, and in the congregation.
We may believe that those compassions of God are with us this hour.
Our text intimates that God’s compassions will have no end.
Now, this year is quickly coming to an end.
The years of our life will soon come to an end as well.
But the compassions of God do not come to an end.
And again, I must remind you … and put the faculty of your memory to task: … was it not God who also this year has favored you with His grace?
This can be said also to you who cannot yet confess Christ as your personal Savior.
You too have benefited from those compassions.
You too, who perhaps at this moment are sitting in Church with careless thoughts, … you too had the privilege of the Gospel this year to instruct you.
You have heard it in Word, and have seen it by example that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and which left you with the message … “This is the way; walk ye in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)
My friend! Please realize that you are once more being evangelized by way of the last Gospel message of the year.
It is evidence of God’s compassions towards you; … compassions, which should compel you towards repentance and conversion, as it is said so poignantly in Roman 2:4 …
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God (… the compassions of God) …leadeth thee to repentance?
Still, even during this late hour of the year, the Lord is busy reaching out to you.
Still, even now, you are in the time of grace.
God has not yet desired to consume you, or to put you away from His favoring presence.
But He will not wait forever.
The moment will arrive, and who knows how soon, that He will say, “Now it is enough; now I will no longer look on you in compassion anymore.”
Therefore, do not harden your heart.
Resolve, before the year’s end, to rise with the Prodigal son, with the words in your heart, “I will arise and go to my Father.”
How wonderful would this year’s end be, congregation, if we could united-ly confess, “God’s compassions have not failed us!”
How wonderful it would be if there would even be one who would be able to confess, “The mercies and compassions of the Lord have not only kept me from being consumed, but have persuaded me to turn to Him in repentance of sin and faith in Christ!”
There is where the words of our text lead us this late hour of the year.
And this is because God in Christ is worthy to receive such a response from us.
We are not consumed because the compassions of God are not yet at an end, and this may assure us.
But assure us of what?
They may assure us that we may place our full trust in Him … also as this year closes off for us.
No doubts there are some of you who have been severely tried.
There are some of you who are mourning the loss of loved ones.
There are some of you who have been afflicted, and have met up with disappointments.
And to be honest, who of us has not met up with worry-some and sorrowful matters this year?
It is fairly simple to speak about the mercies and the compassions of the Lord for any without worries or sorrows.
It is fairly simple to be assured of the Lord’s compassions and to resolve to continue trusting in Him, when it has gone well with us.
But if, in this hour, a heavy burden bows you down, or you can remember more shadowy days than bright days, or you feel that you are close to being consumed … then it becomes a natural challenge not to give up hope.
You may be inclined to turn away from the Word of God that comes this hour, and for you to say, “The mercies and the compassions of God? But what about my sorrows, and my loss, and the troubles I’m facing? What can the compassions of God still assure me now?”
Dear brother or sister! If your thoughts lead you in this direction, and you see more of your miseries than the mercies and compassions of God, may I just once more point you this year yet to the great reason why you are not consumed, and why you may hear about the mercies and unfailing compassions of God?
This great reason is Christ Himself.
And then please consider Him as the great High Priest.
Why?
Because He can sympathize … and this means literally, that He can suffer along with you as you cope with your troubles.
Your troubles are not so much that you have been afflicted.
Your troubles at this moment are that you find it difficult to see comfort in the mercies of God.
Your troubles are not so much that you are mourning a loss, but that you find it difficult to be assured of the compassions of God.
Your troubles are that you are finding it difficult to believe that the mercies of God are still there and that the compassions of God do not fail.
But Christ is preached to you especially this late hour of the year.
He is the sympathetic High Priest.
He understands your difficulty, also your difficulty in believing that the mercies of God are in your favor and that the compassions of God have never yet failed you.
Christ understands that you, this late hour of the year, have such difficulty confessing what Jeremiah confessed.
You might be inclined to lament as a well-known Negro spiritual says it, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.”
But then also follow it up with the words that our colored brothers and sisters can sing with such moving emotions … “But Jesus!”
“But Jesus!”
Jesus understands your troubles.
He sympathizes with your difficulties.
This is because Jesus is the Sympathizing High Priest, acquainted with sorrow and grief; experienced in losses and disappointments; familiar with rejection and loneliness; knowledgeable in pain and suffering and abuse and affliction.
As High Priest, He has voluntarily taken all this upon Himself, and sacrificed himself for people such as you who have such difficulty believing in the mercies and compassions of God.
He gives you at this late hour of the year to understand by His Word and Spirit that you have a
great High Priest, that is passed into the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
He is a compassionate High Priest; One who can be touched and affected and moved with the feelings of your infirmities.
He was once in all points tempted just like you are right now.
Yet He remained without sin.
What then is the message for you this late hour of the year?
Hold fast your profession! Have good hope! Confess it …
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Come (therefore) boldly unto the throne of grace, that (you) may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of (your) need.
Congregation! As this year draws to a close, remember, some day your life will also draw to a close.
Be sure then to know this Compassionate and Sympathizing High Priest, as your only comfort in life and in death, and in so doing, you’ll be able to sing …
Hope in the Lord ye waiting saints and He, will well provide,
For mercy and redemption full and free, with Him abide.
Amen
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