Today is the first Sunday in the season of advent; a celebration of Christmas. We begin to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s birth; and we do this through the Word of God.

But think about this: how can we look forward to Christmas by looking back? The natural question is: How can a message from 2000 years ago help us celebrate Christmas in the 21^st century? In other words, is the Bible relevant? Does it speak to us today? 

What most people mean by “relevant” is “is it what I want to hear”; but our wants and our needs often differ. What we want is not always what we need, especially when determined by our deceitful hearts. God’s Word, thankfully, gives us what we need to hear. 

The Bible speaks to us: where we are, who we are – to our very condition. It is the living and active Word of God; illuminated to us by the Holy Spirit. In His sovereign wisdom, God preserves and protects that Word for His Church through ages. It is written to us in the same way it was written to them, for instruction and encouragement: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” [Romans 15:4] The instructions, the commands, the promises – all truths of Scripture are for all of God’s people. 

This is because the Bible is universal; it speaks of all humanity being in the same condition. It explains why we are way we are; why the world is way it is: we are sinful people living in a cursed world, sinners who live in world of consequences: suffering, tragedy, disease, death, persecution, etc. 

The Bible does not ignore this reality; it explains it, acknowledges it, and confronts it. Is your life hard? Yes. Do you have moments of despair and heartache? Of course you do. Instead of ignoring it or glossing over it, the Bible tells us why this happens. 

One such example is found in the book of Lamentations. The entire book is a lament, a poetic song of mourning and grief. The once-mighty city of Jerusalem has fallen, its people carried away as slaves to foreign lands. The willful disobedience of God’s people has brought down judgment on their own heads. That’s where we find ourselves as we begin in Lamentations 3:1-18. (Please pause and read the text at this point.) 

There is some debate about whether this book was written by the unknown author of Lamentations speaking of his own personal suffering, or if he is expressing lament over Israel’s condition in a first-person voice. Either way, the suffering is real. The pain is devastating.  

So whether a man or a nation, the person in Lamentations 3 is dealing with sin and the effects of sin. This includes the effects of Adam’s sin and world under curse, and our own personal disobedience. We find ourselves in the same situation as this man. We are part of Adam’s line, so we share in his curse. And as individual sinners, we testify to our own guiltiness before God.

See, this is how the Bible explains our condition: there is right and good in the universe, but it is not us, nor is it within us. All that is good is God and we as a human race have rebelled (and continue to rebel) against Him.

This is the same spot that the writer of Lamentations is in. So let’s examine it: what has happened to this man? Feels like he is in “darkness without any light” [3:3], like he is “walled about so that he cannot escape” [3:7], has had “arrows driven into his kidney” [3:13], he is the “laughingstock of all people” [3:14], his teeth are kicked in; he’s eating dust [3:16], he has lost “peace” and forgotten “happiness” [3:17].

Does that sound familiar to you? Is that something you can relate to?  Have you had moments of despair? No peace? No happiness? They are real. They happen. See, this is the relevance of the Bible. This is the relevance of Scripture. It not only acknowledges the pain of this world, it explains it; it tells universal human condition.

But that is not all: the Bible also tells us what God has done to fix what we have broken. The Bible tells us that God knows all about our condition; He knows our suffering. God does not leave us under judgment forever; as we see in Lamentations 3:19-24 (Please read text.)

And what is His message to us? There is hope. He is the God of hope. When this man’s very soul is “bowed down within him” [3:20], God brings hope to his mind. We’ll explain the reasons for our hope in more detail in just a few moments but first we must make a few things clear:

First, this hope is not some sort of wishful thinking or “ignorance is bliss” attitude. Hope is confident expectation grounded in God, the bringer of hope. Hope does not avoid reality or ask you to pretend as if things aren’t as bad as they are. Hope matters because hope tells us that things ARE bad now, but won’t be that way forever. It doesn’t ask us to minimize our pain and suffering, but it brings eternal perspective to it.

Secondly, be careful to understand what we are saying: hope is not a feeling. There may be hopeful feelings associated with genuine hope, but they are not substance of it. Feelings are irrelevant unless they are grounded in objective reality. What good is there to try and conjure up hope-like feelings if it is merely self-deception? Why lie to yourself? What good will that do? Maybe it will offer you some short-term escapism, but deception can give you no real help. Why not face reality? Hope does that, and hope does not disappoint. Why doesn’t it disappoint? Because it is from God and it is rooted in His promises

God is the objective reality that gives credibility to our hope. He says that He gives us hope. But who is this God? Can he be trusted? Yes. He is trustworthy. All has come to pass, just as He said (not predicted, but foretold). God has established Himself as the One True God: Creator, Sustainer, Provider, Almighty, and Lord. He has demonstrated His power and fulfilled His promises, time and time again. For the rest of our time this morning, we’ll see exactly why God is a God we can hope in.

But this leaves one other question unanswered; our very first question: Why do we speak of hope in connection with Christmas? How does Christ’s birth tie in with hope? Because genuine hope—the hope God offers—is always centered around Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, hope is in the Messiah, the one to come. In the New Testament, hope is in His finished atoning work & His return and full restoration of His kingdom.

From cover to cover, Scripture is about Christ. From creation to judgment, humanity is about Christ. Friends, the celebration of Christ isn’t a once-or-twice-a-year event; it is everywhen; all time. This universe was created to glorify God; you and I were created to glorify God. The very thread that weaves together the fabric of creation is Christ, as Colossians 1 reveals. Everything is made by Him, sustained by Him, and exists for Him. So it only makes sense to understand that any genuine hope we have is in Him as well.

So what do we learn about hope from Christ? The life and work of Christ reveals to us three things that give us the foundation for true hope:

1. God is merciful, even to sinners who deserve His wrath.

Notice that man in Lamentations says much, but never says “I don’t deserve this” or “it’s not fair.” Earlier in this same book, he goes as far as to say: “The Lord is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word…” [Lamentations 1:18] He knows that the wages of sin is death; that consequences come in a sinful world under curse. Any judgment or consequences we receive as a result of sin is rightfully deserved.

Think of the story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to go because he saw the Ninevites as sinners, too far gone to receive mercy. And they were brutal, barbaric, horrifically cruel; that was their reputation, and it was well-earned. From a human perspective, they were beyond mercy—but God sees differently.

Maybe the main lesson for Jonah, the man of God who expected God to act like a man, was this: Jonah was just as guilty as Nineveh in God’s eyes; he was just as undeserving of mercy. Jonah directly disobeyed God and fled, and his life could have been demanded from him. But God spared Jonah. And in the belly of the fish, Jonah cried for mercy—which God granted. Jonah didn’t want mercy for the Ninevites but he wanted it for himself; neither deserved it. Jonah was just as much a sinner under God’s wrath as the worst among the Ninevites.

Can we not see the parallels to this in our own lives? Do we not think of ourselves more highly than we ought? We approach God with an expectation of mercy, convinced we have somehow merited it. We see selves better than others, yet we are all sinners before God: both because we are in Adam and because we have sinned on our own.

Another lesson we learn from Jonah (and from Job and many others) is: Who are we to question God? We are creation, He is creator. He is King, we are subjects. We have no inherent right to address omnipotence. Not only that, we are treasonous rebels, enemies. This is where God’s mercy is on full display: in the postponement of judgment. Think of it: Why didn’t Adam and Eve die at once? Why aren’t we all sent to hell immediately? It’s certainly not because we don’t deserve it. It’s God’s mercy.

This remains true for us today, even those in Christ. We live in a world ruled by sin. We remain in this world after being saved, so there are consequences of sin We must endure hardship and persecution along with tragedy and heartache.

Some people have a problem seeing both judgment and mercy from the same God. But this is how God revealed Himself in Exodus 34:5-7: 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 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, 7 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.”

Iniquity is judged: fully, completely, totally, and rightfully so. But mercy is greater. As James says in his letter: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” [James 2:13] How does God’s mercy triumph over God’s judgment? Because God’s mercy allows time for our sin to be dealt with in this life.

Expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden was an act of supreme mercy. Had they eaten from the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever in sinful condition. There would have been no hope. Hope promised in Genesis 3…and hope realized in Matthew 1. When the angel announced Jesus’ birth, it was because “he will save His people from their sins” [Matthew 1:21]

Listen to how Paul explains this in Ephesians 4:4-9: 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— …8 and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Our sin has earned us death. Christ offers life. How? First, by taking our sin from us: the sin of Adam and the sin of each individual. And then by taking God’s just and holy wrath against that sin upon Himself. Christ takes the death that we earned and gives us the life that He earned

And keep in mind that this is not our own doing; we did not deserve or merit this. So why did God do it? Because He is rich in mercy. Let that sink in: He is rich in mercy.

This means two things for us today:

(1) In midst of pain and suffering, do not forget or doubt God’s mercy. We are sinners who deserve His wrath. We live in a fallen world that is still under the curse of sin until Christ returns and restores the cosmos to Himself.

(2) Because you have been shown such a great mercy, be merciful to others [Luke 6:36] If you are in Christ now, you no longer live under fear of God’s wrath. But do not let that go to your head. You did not escape God’s wrath because of yourself or anything you did. Show the same mercy to others that God has shown to you.

We have hope because God is merciful, even to sinners who deserve His wrath. We also have hope because…

2. God is faithful, and will keep His covenant no matter what.

Jesus will never leave His bride. Ever. This is hard for us to imagine at times, with a divorce rate of nearly 50% among professing Christians, with parents who abandon their children on a whim; with church-swapping over trivial concerns an all-too common occurrence, and with millions of Christians who pledge to be faithful members of their church and they never show up again.

Where is the faithfulness? Where is the loyalty? This matters because God is faithful; God is loyal. He keeps His promises. So when God takes hold of you, and saves you from His wrath through Christ, it is forever. God holds on to you much stronger than you hold on to Him; your strength does not save you. It is God’s loving-kindness, or as the man in Lamentations puts it: ”the steadfast love of the Lord never changes.” [Lamentations 3:23]

Again, this is a hard concept for us to fully grasp. We are so used to a worldly kind of love that seems to change on a whim: “I am no longer happy, therefore I no longer love.” This is not the love of God; this is not love at all! God doesn’t just speak of love—He shows it. God demonstrates His love in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. [see Romans 5:8]

And this love of God, this true love, never changes. But why? Why not be done with us? Why doesn’t He grow tired of our backsliding? It is for God’s name that He acts, as we see in Ezekiel 36:22-32:

22 …thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name…25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God…32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you.”

God saves His people for the sake of His name; He keeps His covenant because He is holy. It is not for our sake that God acts, as if He owed us His mercy or faithfulness; He acts because He is God, and He is faithful to His covenant.

We see this also in Psalm 51: It’s God’s faithfulness, not David’s (for he has none), that is his appeal in asking for forgiveness. It’s what God says in Hosea 6:6: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Of course, God did require both sacrifice and burnt offerings in the Old Covenant. The point is there is something greater than ritual obligation; it is steadfast love and faithfulness.

This is what we must remember in the midst of our despair. Remember how horrible the man from Lamentations was? Remember his heartache? And yet, in the very center of his troubles, hope comes to mind It is God’s faithfulness, not his own, that makes the author of Lamentations have hope.

Things are difficult in this life, but they can not defeat those in Christ. Listen to how 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 explains it: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” We will be afflicted, perplexed, and struck down…but not crushed or destroyed. How can we be sure of this? Because God is faithful. He will keep His covenant.

What is this new covenant? It is explained in Hebrews 9:15-28: 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance…28…Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Jesus is our mediator – our go-between. Remember, He took our sin, and He took God’s wrath against that sin. So Jesus stands between us and God, interceding on our behalf, serving as our Priest, and it is a role He will fulfill for the rest of this age. That’s why the author of Hebrews goes on to say: Heb 10:23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

Romans 15:13 tells us: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

We abound in hope because God is merciful, even to sinners who deserve His wrath.

We abound in hope because God is faithful, and will keep His covenant no matter what.

And we abound in hope because…

3. God will deliver His people, though not necessarily in this life.

Christians die. Christians have loved ones die. They experience the same tragedies, heartaches, and pain as those apart from Christ. Christian families die in car accidents. Christian women miscarry babies. Christian men get cancer. Christians in a plane crash die just the same as others.

For every story of God miraculously intervening and saving a life – and this does happen – there are many more where He does not. Was Lazarus the only friend of Jesus that died during His life? Certainly not. But he was the only one resurrected. So being in Christ is not a guarantee of deliverance from pain, suffering, and tragedy

Not only that: Christians have another kind of pain and suffering because they are in Christ

They are imprisoned, tortured, and killed for their faith. Christians are beaten, raped, blinded, castrated, stabbed, beheaded, shot, etc. simply for refusing to renounce Christ. And this is not a 1^st century thing; this goes on now. Persecution is a reality for those in Christ. As Jesus Himself told us in John 12, no servant is greater than his master. Since Christ suffered, so shall we.

Have you thought of that yet? During all this talk of suffering, have you stopped to consider that Christ suffered more than any of us? Even more than the man in Lamentations!  Jesus endured the betrayal of a close friend, a false trial with false charges against Him, beating, humiliation, torture, mocking, crucifixion, death, and God’s wrath. Jesus is the only Son of God and He did not escape; He was not delivered. Following God is not a promise of escapism or avoidance of trouble; quite the opposite.

Paul says as much in 2 Timothy: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And even as Paul himself stands on trial, he says “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God…” [Acts 26:6]

So what good is hope then? Why make these claims of hope in God if they do not deliver? Because God DOES deliver his people…but not necessarily in this life. We have no promise of being spared a painful, horrible physical death, but we have every promise of being spared eternal death. And that is true deliverance.

So, for those in Christ, sufferings do not diminish hope—they magnify it. This man in Lamentations, like so many of us, only realizes this truth when he hits the bottom. In midst of worst despair, when he has nothing else, he says “The Lord is my portion.” A portion is something that belongs to someone; in effect he is saying: “God is all I have”

It’s the same words Asaph used in Psalm 73:25-26: 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever

It’s also what the three young men said in Daniel 3. When asked to bow down to the golden statues of the Babylonian king, they refused. When threatened with being burned to death, they said this: “16 O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

That is the essence of Christian hope: God can save us now, but He will save us forever. This life is a vapor, a mist, here and then gone; we are safe for eternity, therefore we have hope. Through Jesus Christ, we can be saved.

Jesus has taken our sin upon Himself, and then taken God’s wrath against that sin upon Himself. All those who place their faith in Him are therefore made right with God. They become part of His new covenant people; their hope is in Christ. And just as Christ died, He was then raised to life, resurrected. Therefore, we have the same hope: we too will be resurrected. This life is not the end. If this is all there is, then we have no real hope.

Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 our hope is not in this life only: 17…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

So hope is real because hope looks beyond this world. It does not ignore this reality, but it points us to a reality that is more real than this one. Hope outweighs suffering. This is why hope is referred to as an anchor for the soul [Hebrews 6:19]; we don’t need an anchor if there aren’t any storms; life is storm-filled, but everlasting peace is possible through Christ. Christ is our blessed hope, and we wait for Him to return [Titus 2:13]

We wait in hope because God is merciful, even to sinners who deserve His wrath.

We wait in hope because God is faithful, and will keep His covenant no matter what.

And we wait in hope because God will deliver His people, though not necessarily in this life.

Where are you today? Perhaps you are in the middle of the heartache found in Lamentations. Or maybe you have been there, but thought there were not answers for you. Maybe you have given up on the idea of hope. Friend, Christ offers hope. Christ is hope. The celebration of His birth is a celebration of God’s mercy, faithfulness, and deliverance.

Christ being born is proof of God’s mercy to sinners. Christ being born is proof that God keeps His covenant. Christ being born is proof that God will deliver those who are His. I wonder if that’s what Christ’s birth means to you? Is Christ your hope? He is a living hope, and He’s the only hope any of us have.

Our closing words today come from Jeremiah 14:20-22. They will serve as our prayer, and it is my prayer that your heart can echo these words truthfully and without hesitation: 20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. 21 Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God?  We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.