Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Notes from Jack Cain's sermon on Sunday, Decmeber 28, 2025.
Sermon text: Lamentations 3:21–24
What Do We Hope In?
1. God’s Love is Steadfast
Verse 22 says: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…”
That word—steadfast love—is covenant love. It is a love that binds God to His people – not
because they deserve it, but because he has promised it.
It is a love that is rooted in promise, not performance. A love that survives Isarel’s betrayal and
walking away from God. It’s a love that disciplines, but never abandons.
This love isn’t moody or circumstantial. It is covenantal and sure. It means God’s love doesn’t
quit when circumstances fall apart.
We see this to be true in other areas of the Bible like Romans 8:38-39 where Paul is talking about God’s everlasting love and he says this, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything elsein all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jerusalem fell.
The people sinned and failed.
But God’s steadfast love never fails.
2. God Is Merciful
And then Jeremiah says something staggering in verse 22:
“His mercies never come to an end.”
We see here that God is merciful. His mercies never come to an end!
Not “they pause when life gets hard.”
Not “they thin out over time.”
They never end.
He also says that God’s mercies “are new every morning.”
Now don’t misunderstand that. This does not mean every morning feels good.
But, it does mean that no morning arrives without mercy attached to it.
Some mornings come with tears.
Some mornings come with grief.
Some mornings come with unanswered prayers from the night.
But every single morning comes with mercy that is sufficient for that day. It’s not a promise to
remove the trial from you and make things easy. It is a promise that God will meet you and walk with you through it.
Go back to the Exodus and God providing for His people. He didn’t give them a mountain of
meat for them to tote around and survive on. No, every day in the wilderness, the Israelites woke up hungry and they had to trust that God was going to put that manna on the ground again and provide just what they needed. God didn’t just transport them to the Promise Land immediately – he walked with them and provided for them every step of the way. God wasn’t holding back from them, He gave them exactly what they needed for their good - their daily mercy to get through the day.
So here Jeremiah has been making some theological statements about who God is. He is faithful in his love and merciful towards his people. And after he says this, it’s like he can’t help but respond to these truths in a worshipful praise. He turns to God in the middle of ash and ruins and says, “Great is your faithfulness.”
Here, Jeremiah makes a hope-filled proclamation and says that God, is, faithful. He keeps his
promises – right? We just saw that over the las several weeks how God fulfilled his promises
through Jesus! God has stayed true to all of His promises, and He is not stopping now – and the prophet Jeremiah knows this is true.
God’s faithfulness is not proven by your comfort.
It is proven by His consistency.
And ultimately, it is proven in Christ.
Because when God’s people deserved judgment,God sent His Son.
Jesus stepped into suffering deeper than ours.
He carried grief heavier than ours.
He endured judgment so mercy could be ours.
If you ever wonder whether God is faithful—look at Jesus on the cross, look to our savior.
But Jeremiah doesn’t stop with God’s mercy.
He goes even deeper. The next thing we will see is how we can have hope because God is
enough.
3. God is Enough
In verse 24 Jeremiah says, “’The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in
him.”
Now that, is radical.
Jeremiah doesn’t say,
“Ah, The Lord will fix this real quick.”
“The Lord will restore everything immediately.”
Or “Let me just regroup and I’ll figure it out.”
No, He says,
“The Lord is enough and that is who my hope is in.”
In other words: Even if everything else is taken, even if we have nothing left - God remains.
Church, this is not shallow optimism. And it’s not “speaking good vibes” into existence.
This is faith. This is a deep and anchored faith in God that gives hope. And it’s what prepares us for the coming year. Because, none of us knows what this year holds. But, we know the One who holds us.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
There is a famous hymn that was born out of this passage that I’m sure almost all of us know. It is called Great Is Thy Faithfulness and it was written by a man named Thomas Chisholm.
And I don’t know about you, but I remember thinking hymns were just written by the sweet old
piano player in the Baptist church I grew up in. Or maybe it was some old rich musician who just got a bunch of money-making music. But in reality, so many of our hymns today have powerful backstories.
Tomas was born in Kentucky, right after the civil war in America and had a very unstable
upbringing. But despite this, he worked very hard and became a successful educator. Later, He became a Christian after attending a revival and then soon left everything and devoted himself to ministry. And just a few years after starting ministry, Thomas got sick – like really sick. Chronic illness would follow him most of his adult life. He had to step down from pastoral ministry after giving up everything to serve. Medical bills began stacking up and his family would go on to have prolonged serve finical issues. There were seasons when he could barely provide for his family.
This is not a man who wrote from the comfort of stability but lived a life of suffering.
And yet, in the middle of that life—not after the pain was resolved or after he got paychecks—
he sat down with Lamentations 3 open in front of him and wrote these words:
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”
Do you hear Lamentations in that?
“There is no shadow of turning with Thee.”
That’s “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”
“Thy compassions, they fail not.”
That’s “His mercies never come to an end.”
And then he writes:
“Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.”
That is not poetic exaggeration.
That is a man saying,
“I didn’t get the life I planned—but I got the God who keeps His promises.” enough
And listen to how he ends it:
“Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.”
Church, that is not the song of someone whose circumstances worked out.
That is the song of someone who could say with Jeremiah:
“The Lord is my portion.”
Thomas had the same hope as the prophet Jeremiah.
Not hope that suffering will disappear or that things would get better. No, a hope that God is
faithful and unchanging.
As Thou hast been, thou forever will be.
Yesterday, today, and forever.
Application/Close
And so this morning, as we stand on the edge of a new year, this text reminds us:
Our hope is not in resolutions.
Our hope is not in circumstances.
Our hope is not in control.
Our hope is in a faithful God.
I want to leave us this morning with some application points to walk away with. First, answer
this question.
1. Consider Whether You Have This Hope
When life hits hard, where do you run to? Where does your hope lie? Are you consumed by youranxiety or stress? Are you running away from God and to something else to fix your
circumstances today? My plea to you this morning is to stop running. Jesus stepped down from his throne in heaven and took on flesh. Hebrews 4:15-16 says this about Jesus: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence (Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross) draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.”
Have you received this mercy? If not, come talk to me or someone around you because this hope is here waiting for you today.
2. Preach the Gospel to Yourself
Jeremiah didn’t wait until he felt hopeful. He calls truth to mind.
You see, hope is not a bootstrap effort. We don’t white-knuckle our way into peace. Rather,
because we belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit enables us to talk to ourselves instead of just
listening to ourselves. We preach the Gospel to our souls because the Gospel is the only truth big enough to silence and conquer our fears.
The Gospel doesn’t just tell us how to be saved, it daily reminds us that God didn’t abandon
when we were dead in our sin and he’s not going to abandon us now.
Some of us are walking into this new year with anxious thoughts already running the show.
Decide now what voice you are going to trust and listen to. When suffering comes – and it will – remember that God’s steadfast love that never ceases.
3. Anchor Your Hope in God
Health will fail. Jobs and disappear. Plans can completely fall apart. But if the Lord is your portion, there is still hope. You might lose everything this year, but you will not lose Him.
We will end with this: As we face trials and suffering, Crosspoint family, I pray it is this truth
that we will call to mind.
Discipleship Questions:
Sermon text: Lamentations 3:21–24
What Do We Hope In?
1. God’s Love is Steadfast
Verse 22 says: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…”
That word—steadfast love—is covenant love. It is a love that binds God to His people – not
because they deserve it, but because he has promised it.
It is a love that is rooted in promise, not performance. A love that survives Isarel’s betrayal and
walking away from God. It’s a love that disciplines, but never abandons.
This love isn’t moody or circumstantial. It is covenantal and sure. It means God’s love doesn’t
quit when circumstances fall apart.
We see this to be true in other areas of the Bible like Romans 8:38-39 where Paul is talking about God’s everlasting love and he says this, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything elsein all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jerusalem fell.
The people sinned and failed.
But God’s steadfast love never fails.
2. God Is Merciful
And then Jeremiah says something staggering in verse 22:
“His mercies never come to an end.”
We see here that God is merciful. His mercies never come to an end!
Not “they pause when life gets hard.”
Not “they thin out over time.”
They never end.
He also says that God’s mercies “are new every morning.”
Now don’t misunderstand that. This does not mean every morning feels good.
But, it does mean that no morning arrives without mercy attached to it.
Some mornings come with tears.
Some mornings come with grief.
Some mornings come with unanswered prayers from the night.
But every single morning comes with mercy that is sufficient for that day. It’s not a promise to
remove the trial from you and make things easy. It is a promise that God will meet you and walk with you through it.
Go back to the Exodus and God providing for His people. He didn’t give them a mountain of
meat for them to tote around and survive on. No, every day in the wilderness, the Israelites woke up hungry and they had to trust that God was going to put that manna on the ground again and provide just what they needed. God didn’t just transport them to the Promise Land immediately – he walked with them and provided for them every step of the way. God wasn’t holding back from them, He gave them exactly what they needed for their good - their daily mercy to get through the day.
So here Jeremiah has been making some theological statements about who God is. He is faithful in his love and merciful towards his people. And after he says this, it’s like he can’t help but respond to these truths in a worshipful praise. He turns to God in the middle of ash and ruins and says, “Great is your faithfulness.”
Here, Jeremiah makes a hope-filled proclamation and says that God, is, faithful. He keeps his
promises – right? We just saw that over the las several weeks how God fulfilled his promises
through Jesus! God has stayed true to all of His promises, and He is not stopping now – and the prophet Jeremiah knows this is true.
God’s faithfulness is not proven by your comfort.
It is proven by His consistency.
And ultimately, it is proven in Christ.
Because when God’s people deserved judgment,God sent His Son.
Jesus stepped into suffering deeper than ours.
He carried grief heavier than ours.
He endured judgment so mercy could be ours.
If you ever wonder whether God is faithful—look at Jesus on the cross, look to our savior.
But Jeremiah doesn’t stop with God’s mercy.
He goes even deeper. The next thing we will see is how we can have hope because God is
enough.
3. God is Enough
In verse 24 Jeremiah says, “’The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in
him.”
Now that, is radical.
Jeremiah doesn’t say,
“Ah, The Lord will fix this real quick.”
“The Lord will restore everything immediately.”
Or “Let me just regroup and I’ll figure it out.”
No, He says,
“The Lord is enough and that is who my hope is in.”
In other words: Even if everything else is taken, even if we have nothing left - God remains.
Church, this is not shallow optimism. And it’s not “speaking good vibes” into existence.
This is faith. This is a deep and anchored faith in God that gives hope. And it’s what prepares us for the coming year. Because, none of us knows what this year holds. But, we know the One who holds us.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
There is a famous hymn that was born out of this passage that I’m sure almost all of us know. It is called Great Is Thy Faithfulness and it was written by a man named Thomas Chisholm.
And I don’t know about you, but I remember thinking hymns were just written by the sweet old
piano player in the Baptist church I grew up in. Or maybe it was some old rich musician who just got a bunch of money-making music. But in reality, so many of our hymns today have powerful backstories.
Tomas was born in Kentucky, right after the civil war in America and had a very unstable
upbringing. But despite this, he worked very hard and became a successful educator. Later, He became a Christian after attending a revival and then soon left everything and devoted himself to ministry. And just a few years after starting ministry, Thomas got sick – like really sick. Chronic illness would follow him most of his adult life. He had to step down from pastoral ministry after giving up everything to serve. Medical bills began stacking up and his family would go on to have prolonged serve finical issues. There were seasons when he could barely provide for his family.
This is not a man who wrote from the comfort of stability but lived a life of suffering.
And yet, in the middle of that life—not after the pain was resolved or after he got paychecks—
he sat down with Lamentations 3 open in front of him and wrote these words:
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”
Do you hear Lamentations in that?
“There is no shadow of turning with Thee.”
That’s “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”
“Thy compassions, they fail not.”
That’s “His mercies never come to an end.”
And then he writes:
“Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.”
That is not poetic exaggeration.
That is a man saying,
“I didn’t get the life I planned—but I got the God who keeps His promises.” enough
And listen to how he ends it:
“Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.”
Church, that is not the song of someone whose circumstances worked out.
That is the song of someone who could say with Jeremiah:
“The Lord is my portion.”
Thomas had the same hope as the prophet Jeremiah.
Not hope that suffering will disappear or that things would get better. No, a hope that God is
faithful and unchanging.
As Thou hast been, thou forever will be.
Yesterday, today, and forever.
Application/Close
And so this morning, as we stand on the edge of a new year, this text reminds us:
Our hope is not in resolutions.
Our hope is not in circumstances.
Our hope is not in control.
Our hope is in a faithful God.
I want to leave us this morning with some application points to walk away with. First, answer
this question.
1. Consider Whether You Have This Hope
When life hits hard, where do you run to? Where does your hope lie? Are you consumed by youranxiety or stress? Are you running away from God and to something else to fix your
circumstances today? My plea to you this morning is to stop running. Jesus stepped down from his throne in heaven and took on flesh. Hebrews 4:15-16 says this about Jesus: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence (Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross) draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.”
Have you received this mercy? If not, come talk to me or someone around you because this hope is here waiting for you today.
2. Preach the Gospel to Yourself
Jeremiah didn’t wait until he felt hopeful. He calls truth to mind.
You see, hope is not a bootstrap effort. We don’t white-knuckle our way into peace. Rather,
because we belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit enables us to talk to ourselves instead of just
listening to ourselves. We preach the Gospel to our souls because the Gospel is the only truth big enough to silence and conquer our fears.
The Gospel doesn’t just tell us how to be saved, it daily reminds us that God didn’t abandon
when we were dead in our sin and he’s not going to abandon us now.
Some of us are walking into this new year with anxious thoughts already running the show.
Decide now what voice you are going to trust and listen to. When suffering comes – and it will – remember that God’s steadfast love that never ceases.
3. Anchor Your Hope in God
Health will fail. Jobs and disappear. Plans can completely fall apart. But if the Lord is your portion, there is still hope. You might lose everything this year, but you will not lose Him.
We will end with this: As we face trials and suffering, Crosspoint family, I pray it is this truth
that we will call to mind.
Discipleship Questions:
- What stood out to you about the idea that hope is not automatic, but something we
actively remember and rehearse? Where do you see this playing out in your own life? - Can you think of a season or time when your feelings and faith were not aligned? What
could have helped you anchor yourself in truth during that time? - Why might it be difficult to believe God’s love is unchanging when circumstance fall
apart? How does understanding God’s covenantal love shape the way we should think
about suffering? - What does it look like for us to depend on daily mercy rather than hoping for instant
deliverance from trials? What are other outlets that you run to for strength, instead of
God, when life feels overwhelming? - In what ways does the gospel speak directly to your current fears or uncertainties?
- What are some practical ways that you can “call truth to mind” this year? How can you
help one another, as a community, remember God’s faithfulness when hope feels thin?
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