New Mercies in the Ruins of Life — Pastor Daniel Everhart

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

25 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #10

"Applies the doctrine of divine sovereignty to contemporary suffering. If God is the agent rather than Babylon being autonomous, then evil has boundaries and God rules over all affliction. Catalogs modern griefs (cancer, job loss, infertility, wayward children) and applies the comfort that God has not lost control."

Doctrinal loci· 7 surfaced

Pastoral Theology · 10 Christology · 4 Providence / Sovereignty · 4 Covenant Theology · 3 Ethics / Moral Theology · 1 Sanctification · 1 Spiritual Warfare · 1

Bible citations· 19

Illustrations· 2

personal story · unit #4 — Personal story of the pastor and his wife losing their first child to stillbirth in 2019. The narrative builds from anticipation and excitement through the horror of discovery to the depths of grief, establishing visceral connection to the ruins of suffering theme.
personal story · unit #22 — Returns to the personal story from the introduction, now showing how Lamentations 3:21-24 became the means by which the pastor and his wife moved from the ruins of grief to renewed hope. The illustration demonstrates the sermon's thesis in real life — hope came through actively calling God's faithfulness to mind. Acknowledges ongoing grief while testifying to God's sustaining mercies.

Theological claims· 6

Jeremiah's lament acknowledges that God's judgment on Jerusalem is just, deserved, and consistent with His covenant promises — not a complaint against divine injustice. unit #7
God Himself is the agent of this affliction, acting in covenant faithfulness by executing the just judgment He promised when His people violated their covenant obligations. unit #9
God's steadfast love never ceases and His mercies never end — they were newly present even during the worst horrors of Jerusalem's destruction, and they persist through His discipline like a loving father. unit #13
Because God's love never ceases and His mercies never end, He has proven faithful even in judgment and will continue to be faithful through all suffering. unit #15
Jesus Christ rose from the grave as a valiant warrior, defeating sin and death and securing eternal life for all who believe — He is our hope in life and death because He bore God's wrath for our sins. unit #19
Christ will return to wipe away every tear and end all death, mourning, and pain, making all things new — this is the hope for those in Christ even as we endure the full range of suffering in this present life. unit #20

Quotations· 4

"They then who fix their minds too much on the remembrance of their evils by degrees open the door to Satan who may fill their hearts and all their thoughts with despair." — John Calvin (unit #11)

"To remember my affliction and wanderings is wormwood and gall." — Jonathan Gibson (unit #11)

"This is the same author that has said that the worst horrors imaginable in Jerusalem are owing ultimately to the way God has dealt with His people. And here he is saying that not a day has gone by but that God's steadfast love and mercy have been newly present. During the worst horrors, God's mercies were newly present." — John Piper (unit #13)

"One of the stunning realities of the Christian life is that in a world where everything is in some state of decay, God's mercies never grow old. They never run out. They never are ill-timed. They never dry up. They never grow weak. They never get weary. They never fail to meet the need. They never disappoint. They never ever fail because they really are new every morning, form-fitted for the challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations, and struggles with sin within and without are the mercies of our Lord." — Paul David Tripp (unit #14)

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0 · Establishes anticipation and personal connection to the text while the congregation turns to Lamentations 3

And while you're turning there, I will take this chance with your heads down to do that struggle. I am excited to preach this text to you. I am— it's always a joy and an honor, humbling to preach God's Word. But I'm excited to preach this text because Lamentations isn't always a book you hear a ton of sermons from. I'm excited to preach this text because it's a text that's very near and dear to me. And as I've thought about it, it's a text that probably is near and dear to this church as we think about the years of God's faithfulness through highs and lows and everything in between. To this church. And probably more than any of these reasons, I'm excited to preach this text because it is God's Word for us today.

1 · Brief transitional prayer framing the public reading of Scripture as an act of recognizing divine authority

And so, with that, Lamentations chapter 3 beginning in verse 1, let's remind ourselves of that truth that this is God's Word.

2 · Full reading of Lamentations 3:1-24, the primary text

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath. He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and skin waste away. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation. He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape. He has made my chains heavy. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding. He turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces. He has made me desolate. He bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver. I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness. He has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes. My soul is broken. I am bereft of peace. I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say, my endurance has perished, so has my hope from the Lord. Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness." The Lord 'Is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.'

3 · Opening prayer asking God to reveal His steadfast love and new mercies to those experiencing sorrow, that they would see His faithfulness and find hope

Lord, I pray now over the preaching and the hearing of Your Word today, God, I pray for those who can relate to the words of the poet here in his lament, who feel his sorrow, who feel this bitterness. God, I pray that today they would see Your steadfast love. They would see Your mercies afresh. They would see that even now You are faithful and that they can hope and have hope in You. This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

4 · Personal story of the pastor and his wife losing their first child to stillbirth in 2019

2019. 2019 began as an exciting year for my wife and I. Though I'd been a youth pastor for a few years at this point in life, the Lord had opened a door for me to begin doing that vocationally. And so, with this change, we would move to a new city along the Gulf Coast, which we thought was pretty cool because we like the beach. We'd be close to the beach. We never went to the beach, by the way, when we lived there. Didn't happen. Doesn't happen. So if you go to the vacation at the beach and like, "I should move here," probably not. Don't do it. My wife had just started her teaching career and she was moving to a bigger school in a bigger school district. Some exciting things happening in life, but one of the most exciting things to the top of the list, if you will, of exciting things coming in 2019 was the arrival of our first child. Aw man, I remember the excitement of becoming first-time parents. I remember our evenings were spent decorating the nursery, organizing baby clothes, reading all of the trendy books first-time parents read about babies. Okay, my wife read all the trendy books that parents read. About babies, I'll confess. And on a Friday, as we're getting close to the due date, my wife was going in for her routine 38-week checkup. This was just a normal appointment. Quite frankly, it's an appointment I wouldn't have gone to just because of how routine it was. But for some reason, I was particularly excited to go to this appointment. I wanted to be at this appointment, and I didn't know why. This was a providential kindness of the Lord that we would soon find out. At the appointment, the doctor pulled out the small ultrasound machine that provides audio of the baby's heart, and for several minutes we just heard the static of the ultrasound machine as the doctor probed around my wife's stomach looking for where the baby might be positioned. This went on for some time. And eventually, the doctor informed us that she was going to grab another machine so that we can look at the baby. The doctor assured us that perhaps the baby was just hiding today. So they bring in the new machine, and as the doctor probed around my wife's stomach again, There was again nothing but the static of the machine. Concern began to overwhelm us in that moment as they took us then to a private room with the big, fancy, ultra-detailed ultrasound machine, and again, Nothing. Our baby boy that we were so full of excitement waiting for his arrival was gone. And we would return to the hospital the next day to induce labor. And our son, Ryan Cole Everhart, would be stillborn May 5th, 2019. As you can imagine, these young parents were devastated. Time stood still. We were frozen in grief and agony Tears became our food, like the psalmist. Words were insufficient to describe the pain that we felt. It was as if our lives were falling apart. Everything was falling apart around us. Like we were there and someone lit a match and set everything ablaze, and here we were, sitting in the ashes of despair.

5 · Bridges from personal illustration to congregational identification and sermon structure

Perhaps you can relate to this feeling. Maybe you haven't lost a child like we have, but you know the feeling of grief. You know the pain of this suffering. You've felt as if everything was falling apart. Around you. You've stood in the ruins of despair yourself. Perhaps, maybe you find yourself there today. If so, friend, you're not alone. You are not alone. Today we are going to go on a journey together, not alone, but together, as we look at Lamentations chapter 3. We will journey through the ruins of suffering and find hope springing up from the ashes. And my hope for you today, friend, my prayer for you today is that when you find yourself In the ruins of life, you will lift your eyes to the God whose mercies are new every morning. So, let us together begin our journey by standing in the ruins of suffering.

6 · Establishes the historical-literary context of Lamentations: a collection of dirges over Jerusalem's destruction by Babylon in 587 BC, with chapter 3's first-person voice positioning Jeremiah as representative of the people's suffering

This book, the book of Lamentations, is a collection of laments or melancholy dirges. They are are sad songs, if you will, or sad poems. These laments describe the horrors of Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC, and they express grief over the ruined city. In chapters 1 and 2, the author Jeremiah describes the destruction of Jerusalem and all its atrocities from the third person. But here in chapter 3, he describes it in the first person as if what has happened to Jerusalem and the subsequent grief that it caused people is happening to himself. He is, if you will, a representative of Jerusalem's suffering.

7 · Establishes the theological framework for interpreting the lament: Jeremiah is not accusing God of injustice but acknowledging that God's judgment is just, deserved, and promised — the people's covenant violation met with God's covenant faithfulness

Now, on the outset, there's something important that we need to know. About Jeremiah's heart here. Jeremiah is not complaining to the Lord in disbelief for such seemingly cruel punishment. He is not blaming God for their suffering, nor is he accusing God of injustice. God is a just God. He has acted justly toward His people. He has been so patient with His people through their faithless rebellion, and He's a man of His word because He promised through the prophets that this would be their punishment if they didn't repent and turn back to the Lord. Even in his lament, Jeremiah is clear, the people sinned and God has justly judged the people for their sins.

8 · Close exegesis of Lamentations 3:1-18 focusing on word studies (the Hebrew for 'man' as warrior/strongman) and the poetic imagery (shepherd's rod, bear/lion, hunter's arrow)

So, with that context in mind, he begins his lament in chapter 3 saying, "I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath. He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long." Now, the Hebrew word here man is used to describe a valiant warrior of a man. The original language gives the impression that this man of affliction is a strongman. He is a warrior champion, a man in the arena, if you will. But this strongman has been stricken by the Lord through the Babylonians. What irony we will see that this strongman is pummeled under the wrath of the Sovereign Lord. The irony in this text continues as it's the rod of the Lord's wrath that has afflicted this strongman. Here we begin to get sheep-shepherd imagery. This strongman is now depicted as a feeble sheep. The rod is a weapon that the shepherd would use to defend his sheep from predatory attacks. In this instance, however, the shepherd has turned on his own sheep and inflicted injury upon it from the same tool that he used to protect it once before. The shepherd who normally leads his sheep to good places, to green pastures and beside still waters, has driven this sheep into darkness. And in poetic language in the following verses, Jeremiah will go on to say that God has broken his bones and beaten him to the point of death. He will describe God as a jailer who has locked him in an inescapable prison, that he is a bear and a lion that has torn him to pieces. That he is a hunter who has shot his arrow and hit his target successfully. Jeremiah has become the laughingstock of all people, including his own people who taunt him all day long. And because of all of this, he is filled with bitterness. And then he says in verse 16, "He has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes. My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say, 'My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.'"

9 · Doctrinal assertion derived from the exposition: God Himself — not merely the Babylonians — is the agent of this affliction, acting in covenant faithfulness by executing the judgment He promised

The LORD has taken this strongman from verse 1, forced his head into the ground, grinding his teeth on the gravel. And this valiant warrior, this man of courage, this strong champion now cowers in the ashes of God's judgment. He has no peace because of this. He's forgotten the feeling of happiness. He has grown weak in his grief. And it's at the end of verse 18 that it seems for the poet that all hope has been lost. Standing here with Jeremiah in the ruins of suffering, though, there is something here to be seen about the Lord. Jeremiah makes clear in these verses that it's not the Babylonians who have brought this affliction on them, but God himself. Repeated throughout the lament, "He, the Almighty, has done this. He has driven and brought me into darkness. He has broken my bones. He has walled me about. He bent his bow." and set me as a target for His arrow. He has brought this affliction upon the people according to His just judgment. He has been just in it all. He has done what He promised to do if they failed to repent. The people had violated their end of their covenant with God, but God was faithful to keep His end. And so, in keeping His end of the covenant, He has handed them over to the Babylonians in an act of just judgment.

10 · Applies the doctrine of divine sovereignty to contemporary suffering

While this may seem ominous to you, I think there is great comfort here in this, because think with me, if this were simply an act of Babylon, there would be no hope. Evil and wickedness would just rule with no bounds. But what Jeremiah communicates here is that there is a God who is much greater than these Babylonians. There is a God over these Babylonians. There is a God who has allowed these Babylonians to touch His people, and had He not allowed them to do this, they would be incapable of touching His people. People, in the ruins of their suffering, there is a God who is bigger than the ones who have committed such violent atrocities against them. And friends, in the ruins of our lives, there is a God who is far bigger than the evils that seem to run rampant in our world. He is ruling and reigning above all our pain and suffering. He is bringing order to the chaos of human sin and evil. He is drawing boundary lines to our affliction saying, "This far and no more." In moments where we are stricken with grief, it may feel like the world is spinning out of control, but there is one over it all and He has not for one moment lost control. This is comforting, friends, because when the cancer diagnosis comes, when you're faced with job loss and financial hardship, when grieving the loss of loved ones, when we've been wounded by others, when we lament broken relationships, when we face struggles in our marriages, when we cry over wayward children who've gone astray, when the pain of infertility is just too much to bear, in sickness or in health, in life or in death, we can trust the God who is bigger than these atrocities. The God who is ruling and reigning over it all, who holds it in the palm of His hand. The one who's bringing order in the chaos of our lives, who's working all things together, all things, for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

11 · Exegesis of Lamentations 3:19-20 drawing on Gibson's commentary to explain the bitterness imagery, then introduces Calvin's warning about the spiritual danger of fixating on suffering

Jeremiah, standing in the ruins of suffering, grieving the deserved punishment, seems to have lost all hope, but then hope springs forth from the ashes. Verse 19, "Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me." Now, I love Jonathan Gibson suggests in his commentary that verse 19 could be read, "To remember my affliction and wanderings is wormwood." gall. Those two words are words that represent bitter substances. So, really what Jeremiah is saying here, remembering the horrors of this event and the grief that it causes him is bitter to the taste. It is a bitter cup, and while it is a bitter cup, he continues to remember it and it causes him despair. Now, there's a temptation within all of us in grief, in sorrow, in heartache, in the worst pains of our lives, in our lowest moments, there's a temptation in all of us to allow ourselves to get stuck in the grief, to linger in our suffering, to circle the drain in pity, to live our lives perpetually in darkness. John Calvin gives caution to this saying, "They then who fix their minds too much on the remembrance of their evils by degrees open the door to Satan who may fill their hearts and all their thoughts with despair." Friends, in In our grief and in our sorrow, be careful not to allow yourself to get stuck in grief and heartache, lest Satan fill your heart with despair.

12 · Exegesis of Lamentations 3:21-24, the turning point of the passage

Jeremiah's faced with this temptation, but he fights through this temptation to get stuck in his grief and instead now turns to the only place that any of us, anyone can truly find hope. Verse 21, "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new 'Every morning great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' Jeremiah may be tempted to wallow in his sorrows, but instead he calls to mind something that causes hope to spring forth from the ashes. And this calling to mind or recalling, it's an active pursuit on Jeremiah's behalf. This is no passive thing. Hope will not be found by accident here. It comes through actively remembering.

13 · Unpacks the theological content of what Jeremiah calls to mind: God's steadfast love that never ceases and His mercies that are new every morning

And what exactly does Jeremiah remember? The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness! Despite their faithlessness and even in God punishing His people for their sins, God's love for them is steadfast. It is persistent. He has not stopped loving His people. It has never ceased. He may be disciplining them like a loving father disciplines his children, but even in His discipline He loves them with a steadfast, never-ceasing, unfailing love. And in the same way that His love will never end, neither will His mercies toward His people come to an end. John Piper comments on these verses saying, "This is the same author that has said that the worst whores imaginable in Jerusalem are owing ultimately to the way God has dealt with His people." And here he is saying that not a day has gone by but that God's steadfast love and mercy have been newly present. During the worst horrors, God's mercies were newly present.

14 · Applies the doctrine of God's new mercies to contemporary Christian life

God's steadfast love and never-ending mercies were newly present during the worst horrors of Jerusalem's destruction, and His steadfast love and mercies are newly present in the worst horrors of our lives as well. Friends, His compassions fail not. He has an endless supply of mercy that He showers on us each day at the breaking of dawn. It never fails. It will never run out. Paul David Tripp writes, "One of the stunning realities of the Christian life is that in a world where everything is in some state of decay," God's mercies never grow old. They never run out. They never are ill-timed. They never dry up. They never grow weak. They never get weary. They never fail to meet the need. They never disappoint. They never ever fail because they really are new every morning, form-fitted for the challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations, and struggles with sin Within and without are the mercies of our Lord. Friends, in the lowest moments of your life, in grief, in heartache, in despair, in painful suffering, in sickness and ailment, God has new mercy for you, friend. Mercy that will never fail you. Mercy that will never cease or run out. Mercy that will sustain you and keep you. Mercy that will lift you from the ashes of your life.

15 · Doctrinal assertion linking God's steadfast love and endless mercies to His faithfulness

His steadfast love never ceases, and His mercies never come to an end. And because of these two truths, Jeremiah can say, "Great is Your faithfulness." Even in His judgment, God has been faithful to His people, and in their suffering He will continue to be faithful. He will never stop being faithful.

16 · Applies God's faithfulness to specific contemporary life situations (grief, parenting, caring for aging parents, broken hearts)

And He will be faithful to you in the storms of your life as well. He will be faithful to carry you through your grief. He will be faithful to lead you through challenging parenting situations. He will be He will be faithful to strengthen you as you care for your aging parents. He will be faithful to heal your broken heart. He will be faithful to sustain you and lift your weary head. In this life, come what may, we can have confidence in our suffering because great is His faithfulness.

17 · Exegesis of 'The LORD is my portion' combined with applicatory reflection

Jeremiah, having reminded himself of God's faithful character, now can confidently say, "The LORD is my portion; therefore, I will hope in Him." Springing forth from the ashes of despair, is newfound hope for Jeremiah because he recognizes that even in his sorrow, the LORD is his portion. The LORD is enough for Jeremiah. He is enough. Jeremiah does not need material possessions or financial security or the comforts he once possessed. Those things didn't truly satisfy him, and now All of that has been stripped away, yet in his lowly state he realizes, "The Lord is all I have and He is all I need." This is so true in our lives. So often the Lord allows us to walk through life's trials so that we come to the end of ourselves and realize that the Lord is all I have. The Lord is all I need. He is enough for me. He is my portion. His steadfast love for me will never, ever end. It will never run out. His mercies will be new each and every morning, tailor-made for whatever challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations, and struggles I may face. He has been faithful all my life and he will be faithful in this because great is his faithfulness. I am satisfied in him. We can be satisfied in the Lord. Through our lowest moments. And as we call these things to mind, as we actively work to remember the character and faithfulness of God, God's hope will spring eternal from the ashes of our lives. There's comfort in that, friends.

18 · Redemptive-historical turn identifying Jesus as the ultimate 'man of affliction' to whom Lamentations 3:1 points forward

Now, I want to return for a moment to verse 1 together to look one more time at the afflicted man. Let's look closely together. "I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath. Now, it's important to understand in prophetic literature like Lamentations that there tend to be two or multiple trajectories to the text. It tends to be multiple layers to the text at times. There is a real sense in which this man of affliction in its original context is Jeremiah speaking individually as a representative taking on the suffering God's people have experienced in Jerusalem's demise. But there is also a sense in which this text points forward to a better representative who would suffer on behalf of God's people. There is a man who has seen affliction, and great was his affliction. Far greater was his affliction than the affliction of this man in Lamentations 3. This man experienced his affliction under the rod of God's wrath. On the cross of Calvary, He was driven and brought into the darkness of Gethsemane without any light. God turned His hand against Him and handed Him over to cruel men like the Babylonians. And in their hands, in the hands of these cruel and wicked men, His flesh was mutilated. He wasted away. His bones were broken. And as He hung on a wooden cross, He became the object of scorn, a laughingstock for all people, including His own people who said, "He saved others, let Him save Himself." From that cross, this Man of Affliction would cry out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" But God shut out His prayer. Oh, this Man of Affliction, His soul was bereft of peace. He forgot what happiness was. This man, his soul was bowed down within him, and after breathing his last, he would dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago as he lay in death's dark shadow for 3 days. Oh! What affliction this man suffered!

19 · Doctrinal climax: Christ's resurrection as the turning point from despair to hope

And as He lay in that cold tomb, it seemed to all those who had been with Him that all hope was lost. There was no hope to be found. This man was our hope and now He's gone? Surely there's nothing we can hope in. Now, but then, just then, as all hope seemed lost, this Man of great affliction, Jesus Christ, would rise from the ashes and ruins of the grave as a valiant warrior defeating sin and death and securing eternal life for all who would believe in Him. Him. This Man of Affliction would bear the full wrath of God upon the cross for our sins so that we wouldn't have to bear His wrath for our sins. This Man of Affliction, He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and He will comfort us in our sorrows. He is our hope in life and death.

20 · Eschatological claim grounded in Revelation 21: Christ will return to consummate redemption by wiping away all tears and ending death, mourning, crying, and pain

And I love, I love this because one day He promised to return for those who have trusted in Him as Lord and Savior. And for His people, for His bride, on that day Revelation 21 says, "He will wipe away 'Every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And then He goes on to say, 'I am making all things new.' This life will be full of grief and trials and suffering of all kinds. There will be miscarriages and stillbirths. We will sit at hospital beds and in hospice rooms and grieve the loss of our loved ones who are going to be with the Lord. We will face sickness and ailment. And suffering. There will be surgeries on shoulders, and there will be crippling pain in our backs, and yet the hope for those who are in Christ is that He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. There will be no more mourning or crying or pain. It's going to be gone, friends, because these things have passed away as He makes all things new.

21 · Summarizes the sermon's movement from ruins to hope, calling the congregation to lift their eyes to Jesus Christ in their lowest moments

This life will be full of tears and sadness and heartache and disappointment, but even in our lowest moments, even when we find ourselves in the ruins of life, we can lift our eyes to Jesus Christ who is our hope in life and death. Amen. Amen.

22 · Returns to the personal story from the introduction, now showing how Lamentations 3:21-24 became the means by which the pastor and his wife moved from the ruins of grief to renewed hope

Now, in the wake of losing our child, the days and weeks, months, even years following this loss would be some of the most painful days of our lives, but in the ruins of our suffering, the Lord kindly brought us to this text that says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore, I will hope in Him." Slowly, But surely, as we called to mind the faithfulness of God and we trusted the Lord to carry us through our grief, He renewed our hope and restored our joy. He pulled us out of the ruins of our grief. And there are still days when there are tears, shed. There are days we reflect on our sorrow and remember the child we lost. Though not perfectly, this terrible and tragic event in our lives, through it the Lord showered us with His never-ending mercies and helped us, again, not perfectly, but helped us understand in greater measure His steadfast love for us. And in all seasons of life, in much pain and heartache that has come since that day with other seasons and situations in life, no matter how painful and difficult, we have learned to say, "The Lord is my portion, therefore I will hope in Him."

23 · Final charge to the congregation

Friends, lift your eyes from the ruins of life today and see the God whose steadfast love never ceases and whose mercies are new every morning.

24 · Closing prayer addressing God directly

Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that this is in our Bibles to give us hope in the lowest moments of our lives. We thank you for your steadfast love and your never-ending mercies, your great faithfulness toward us. Lord, I pray for people in this room who may be walking through the darkest moments of their life, for people who may be walking through terrible grief, having experienced horrific horrors in this fallen world that we live in, people who may be struggling with the bitterness of unforgiveness, maybe hurting over words that people have said to them. God, for people who feel far from You, like there is no hope. God, I pray for these people today. That they would see in the ruins of their suffering the steadfast love of the Lord that is still with them, never ceasing in this moment, and they would experience Your mercy afresh today, that they would remind themselves of times in their life where they have seen Your faithfulness and remember that even now You are faithful. God, may these people be comforted by You as they share in Your sufferings. May they be able to say, "The Lord is my portion. I will hope in Him." I pray this for our friends in Jesus' name. Amen.

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6 discussion questions

In Lamentations 3:1-3, Jeremiah describes himself as 'the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.' What does the sermon help…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through God's covenant faithfulness in judgment and mercy, tracing how Christ's resurrection secures our hope even in life's deepest ruins.

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New Mercies Every Morning

This prompt invites your family to think about a time when things felt really broken or sad — and to notice that God's help showed up in sma…

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New Mercies in the Ruins

What moment in the sermon most stirred your heart—where did you feel God's faithfulness speaking directly to you, and what ruins or sorrows…

Memorize

Lamentations 3:22-23

This verse is the theological heart of the sermon — the turning point where Jeremiah moves from despair to hope by calling to mind God's faithful character. Memorizing it anchors believers in the essential truth that even in life's deepest ruins, God's mercies are inexhaustible and perfectly renewed for each new day.

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we walk through God's covenant faithfulness in judgment and mercy, tracing how Christ's resurrection secures our hope even in life's deepest ruins.

Monday Romans 8:28

Paul's declaration that God works all things together for good to those who love Him echoes the theology Jeremiah discovered in lament: our suffering is not meaningless chaos but falls within the sovereign rule of a covenant God. When we grasp that the God who permitted Jerusalem's devastation is the same God orchestrating all our griefs toward our ultimate good, we find the courage to lift our eyes in the midst of ruin.

Tuesday Psalm 23

David's shepherd psalm teaches us what Jeremiah learned in the rubble: even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Shepherd's rod and staff comfort us, and His table of mercy is prepared before us in the presence of enemies. God's loving provision is not absent from our darkest valleys but is precisely there, renewed each morning, meeting us in our specific affliction with the exact grace we need.

Wednesday Isaiah 53:3

Isaiah's portrait of the suffering Servant — despised, rejected, acquainted with grief — gives us the face of Christ as the One who descended deeper into affliction than any of us ever will. He did not lament from a distance but entered into our pain as the God-Man, bearing God's judgment against our sin so that our suffering need never separate us from His love or prove that He has abandoned us.

Thursday Matthew 27:46

When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was experiencing what Jerusalem experienced in exile — the real abandonment that comes with bearing God's wrath for covenant breach. Yet Christ's cry was not the end of the story; it was the necessary prelude to resurrection, proving that even in the depths of God's judgment, the faithful God remains faithful to complete redemption and restore His people.

Friday Revelation 21:4-5

John's vision of all things made new is the culmination of the hope Jeremiah began to grasp in lament: God's mercies do not merely sustain us through ruin; they are moving toward the day when ruin itself is undone forever. We can have confidence in suffering because Christ's resurrection guarantees that He will return, that our tears are numbered and treasured by Him, and that every loss we mourn will be redeemed in the restoration of all things — making our present endurance not meaningless but purposeful.

Sunday-evening family table

New Mercies Every Morning

For the parent

This prompt invites your family to think about a time when things felt really broken or sad — and to notice that God's help showed up in small, unexpected ways. The goal is to help them see that even in hard seasons, God is faithful and His kindness doesn't run out.

Can you think of a time when something really hard happened — maybe you were sad, scared, or things felt messy — and then you noticed God caring for you in a small way? What was that like? (It could be a person He sent to help, a verse someone shared, something in nature, or just a moment when you felt less alone.)

Works for ages 7+ — younger children can share simple examples with parent help; teens and adults can reflect on deeper seasons of suffering and God's provision

Couples · three questions over coffee

New Mercies in the Ruins

What moment in the sermon most stirred your heart—where did you feel God's faithfulness speaking directly to you, and what ruins or sorrows came to mind?
How do we tend to respond to each other differently when we're both in seasons of suffering, and where might we need to call to mind God's mercies together rather than despair alone?
What specific grief or trial is God inviting us to bring before Him this week, and how can we pray for each other's faith to hold fast to His steadfast love?

Memory verse this week

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Why this verse: This verse is the theological heart of the sermon — the turning point where Jeremiah moves from despair to hope by calling to mind God's faithful character. Memorizing it anchors believers in the essential truth that even in life's deepest ruins, God's mercies are inexhaustible and perfectly renewed for each new day.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In Lamentations 3:1-3, Jeremiah describes himself as 'the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.' What does the sermon help us understand about why Jeremiah frames his suffering this way—that is, why does he acknowledge God as the agent of his affliction rather than complaining against God's injustice?

Lamentations 3:1-3

→ How does recognizing God's sovereignty over our suffering—even suffering that feels unjust—change the way we might process our own difficult seasons?
Walk us through Jeremiah's movement from despair to hope in verses 19-24. What shifts in his thinking, and what does he actively choose to do to move from 'my soul is bereft of peace' (v. 17) to 'the Lord is my portion' (v. 24)?

Lamentations 3:19-24
The sermon emphasizes that God's steadfast love 'never ceases' and His mercies are 'new every morning' (v. 22-23)—even during Jerusalem's worst horrors. What does it mean practically for God's mercies to be 'new' each morning, and how might that truth reshape the way we face tomorrow if today has been devastatingly difficult?

Lamentations 3:22-23

→ Can you think of a specific way God's mercies have been newly present for you in a moment of real pain?
The sermon traces Jeremiah's lament forward to Christ as 'the true Man of Affliction who bore God's wrath on our behalf.' How does understanding that Jesus experienced the fullest measure of God's judgment and affliction change the way we read Jeremiah's cry, and what does it promise us about our own suffering?

Isaiah 53:3
The sermon points out that God's sovereignty over suffering is comforting precisely because 'evil does not rule with no bounds'—there is a God bigger than our atrocities. How does this differ from the way culture typically tries to comfort people who are hurting, and why is God's rulership over pain more stabilizing than other kinds of comfort?

Romans 8:28

→ What area of suffering in your life or in our world needs this reminder that God is sovereign and His purposes will not be thwarted?
If 'great is his faithfulness' and we can 'have confidence in suffering because' of this (as the sermon applies unit #16), what specific act of faith or trust is the Lord inviting you to take this week—whether in grief, caregiving, parenting, or another storm you're walking through?

Lamentations 3:22-24

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [New Mercies in the Ruins of Life (Lamentations 3:1-24, 2026-06-28)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/new-mercies-in-the-ruins-of-life-2026-06-28)

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