Confessing Sin and Banking on God's Mercy

June 30, 2013
Confessing Sin and Banking on God's Mercy
Text: Lamentations
Scott Howard

The Crisis in Lamentations:

• Sin brought about suffering in Jerusalem that was:

1. Tragic -- Lam 1:1 "How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave."
2. Just -- Lam 1:8 " Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away."
3. Severe -- Lam 4:1-10 "How the gold has lost its luster...the children beg for bread...the punishment of my people is greater than that of Sodom...with their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed."

• Their suffering brought about questions:

1. Profoundly Intense: "Are we forsaken?"
2. Eternally Significant: "Can we be forgiven?"

• We must find comfort in the fresh mercies of God

"There is far more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us." --Richard Sibbs

How can we be certain that God is going to be Merciful toward us?

• These mercies are rooted in the unfailing Love of God. --Lam 3:22 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail."
• These mercies are rooted in the unceasing faithfulness of God. --Lam 3:23 "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
• These bring about an urgent desire to repent before God. --Lam 3:39-41 "Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven."

How do we know that when we come to God, God will certainly forgive us?  We look to the cross.

• Because Christ has entered the presence of God on behalf of His people.
• Would you trust the character of God? --1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
• Would you confess the depths of your sins? --Prov 28:13 "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy."
• Bank on the mercies of Christ. --1 Pet 1:3-4 "Praise be to God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never parish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you."

The book of Lamentations shows us that even though we may become consumed with the ruins left behind by our sins, God is always there to give us new mercy and to forgive us and make all things new again!  Through the sacrifice of Christ we have eternal hope and joy!