A New Dawn

"A New Dawn" – Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." The message comes out of something the expositor experienced days earlier on waking: an inward new dawn so strong that she felt the weight lift off her body. From it comes the thesis: God does not leave processes half done —we do— and every morning He brings out fresh mercies, never recycled ones. The study carefully distinguishes mercy, which reaches the whole earth, from grace, which belongs to the righteous; and it closes with Psalm 30:5: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

I. The experience the message comes from

A. A new dawn is something we ought to ask God for every day, and we ought to have that ambition.

B. The day we came to the feet of Jesus there was a new dawn that is still felt today: we stopped being the old creature and began a new life.

C. And days ago, on opening her eyes in the morning, her whole being —mind, heart, the whole system of her existence— began to feel a new dawn.

D. It is not a common experience nor an everyday one: it shook the heart, the mind and the will.

E. And to be affected is not necessarily bad: what affects you is what comes on your life out of the ordinary, and it makes an impact.

F. It was so strong that she felt, literally, the whole weight of her body lift, as though she had been carrying a thousand pounds.

II. God leaves no process half done

A. If God began a process the day we were converted, we must understand that God never leaves it half done. The ones who leave things half done are us.

B. God works with each one just as he is, according to the need each one has. That is why there are processes in our lives every day.

C. What He began, He completes. And who stops or walks that process? You do: however many sermons are preached, only you do it.

D. And it is easy to leave things half done: "I cannot pray today; if I start praying I will nod off."

E. Let us take out a moment, some hours, a day to be with God: that He may speak to me, lead me, make me understand, make me knowing.

F. From here you see as far as the clouds and no further. How far off is God's throne? And are we able to cross that space and carry Him a single prayer?

G. Do you have more wisdom than when you were converted? Do you have more prayer? For wisdom can end up being used to show off; prayer goes straight to God.

III. How it began

A. She was converted at fourteen. Someone from abroad told, out in the countryside, of an experience with God, in very simple words. That is why it reached her.

B. Afterwards a brother took it on himself to bring her to the congregation. The church was just rising: it was a handful of people.

C. But the person who first brought her did not persevere: his family rose against it and there was no agreement; and with no unity, they could not go on.

D. And if the first one who brought her did not go on believing, it is a grief to wonder where he is now. Some situations turn into sorrow.

E. And what does one understand on the day of conversion? Not much. One comes to know as one reads the word and as the one teaching leads.

F. At her conversion she did not know what a Bible was, nor what prayer was. But God leads a person by His mighty hand and forms him for His purposes.

IV. What a new dawn is

A. When a person is converted there is a new dawn: he no longer wants to be the old creature nor to live as before.

B. There is a day when everything will be clear; a day when God can say to you: a new dawn.

C. When that is experienced, a person turns right around: something within becomes peace, a breathing, a joy no one takes from you.

D. Those who sing will change their voice; not the pitch —pitch is pitch and the instruments keep the same time— but a sweet melody to the Father begins.

E. And that effect will be at the centre of your body, the passion in your mind, and your hands ready to worship Him in spirit.

F. One would have to say to God: I want to begin today; I need to come out of the stagnation, out of my own thinking, out of what is in my heart that does not please God.

G. For until today you have been living with the struggle of your flesh. And this is inward, where no one sees.

H. The night is not the end. The dawn is not instant. The light always increases, and our light is Christ. God is working, though you do not see it clearly yet.

V. "His compassions fail not" (Lamentations 3:22)

A. God's mercies never fail. If they failed, do you think we would be well? If we are standing, it is because of them.

B. The passage was written in a very hard time for God's people, and even so it declares a powerful truth: God has not destroyed us, because His mercy sustains us.

C. And it does not depend on our state, but on His character. If we think the church is held up by us, no: what holds it up is the character of God.

D. All His attributes —holy, holy, holy—, His mercy, His goodness, and His eyes, which are always watching; and the LORD rides over a space whose measure we cannot know.

E. "Consumed" means burned up; by His mercies we have not been. Are you alive today? Give God thanks.

F. We are not here by luck. If you think you are standing because of how clever you are, no: it is by mercy and by the time God gives.

G. But a distinction must be made: mercy is over the whole earth, and people live on mercy.

H. The righteous, by contrast, lives on grace: everything God gives without our lifting a finger. Did we do anything to be converted? Do we hold any good work in our hands? No.

I. The righteous does not hold things by mercy: he holds them by grace. And a righteous man with grace lives like Abraham, who was an ordinary man and raised a nation.

VI. "They are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23)

A. Every day is a fresh opportunity God gives. Do we use it?

B. We must lay a new spiritual dawn in our hearts, because we have grown used to living carnal, common, worldly: we walk out these doors and start the same thing over.

C. Things are said and thrown about as though nothing happened. But it does happen: the angels write it down every day, and that is constant work.

D. We never tire of being carnal; and the trouble with that is it goes nowhere. Life is a spiritual fight.

E. If yesterday was hard, today God gives you a new beginning. If you failed, His mercy is available again. If you are tired, God is not tired of you.

F. God's mercy does not wear out, has no limit, has no expiry date. It does not depend on how you are: it depends on who He is.

G. A person may have failed many times —failing, which is not the same as sinning. But if you are here today, it is because God has not finished with you.

H. God does not recycle mercy: He brings out new ones every morning. If you woke up, it is because God still believes in you.

I. Every day God begins with you again: He does not recall yesterday to condemn you, He gives you today to get up. If you drag yesterday along, it is because you choose to.

J. And why does He give that opportunity? So that we improve and are sanctified, and so that we show by deeds the same marks the disciples had.

VII. "Great is thy faithfulness"

A. Everything changes: emotions, people, circumstances. But God remains faithful.

B. You live according to your emotions: you are angry and you quarrel; you want to hate humanity and you hate it. Each brings out what he has.

C. And there are circumstances a person lives only if he wants to: if you know a thing will harm you, you do not take it up. Circumstances are taken up by us.

D. Your way of living, what you opined, what you said: you take it on, with liberties that make us forget we grow old and that things are paid for.

E. You can trust God even when you do not understand what you are living through.

F. The night may be long, but it is not eternal. The pain may be strong, but it is not the end. God always has the last word: a new dawn.

G. And that new dawn God put in your hands. How many times have you used it? Or do you carry on the same?

H. If someone feels he has failed, today there is new mercy. If someone is tired, today there is new strength. If someone lost hope, today God is dawning on his life.

VIII. Serving, not showing off

A. We were born to be servants, and we come to the Lord to set our existence right: one must be useful on the earth.

B. On this earth you are not commanded to be the most boastful. What did Jesus do with the disciples? He washed their feet. And the one who washed feet was the servant.

C. God visited the earth in Christ: the Godhead joins to come, and washes us with His blood so the Holy Spirit may be in our lives.

D. There is nothing better than sleeping in peace, rising in peace, and seeking to do good; otherwise we wreck our existence and a poor testimony is left.

E. If you do not guard your life, who will point things out to you? If you read nothing, nothing points at you; if you read nothing, you do not pray; and praying less, you fast less.

F. Every righteous person is supposed to know the Scriptures. And if what is taught is not understood, it is because it is not read, not sought, and not attended to.

G. What a great good it is when a household reads the Bible at night and discusses together what was read: that is how they become knowers of Scripture.

H. And at the altar: you may have the best voice in the church, but if you sing and do not love the brethren, you are going nowhere.

I. It is not the music nor the lyrics: it is when the hands are lifted. And there you reach heaven. Who blesses you? The LORD God. And who upholds you? The Holy Spirit.

IX. "Joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5)

A. The verse shows a powerful contrast: God's anger is but for a moment.

B. But take care: brief as it is, there is no turning back God's anger. It rained and rained and no one was left on the earth, after years of warning.

C. His discipline is not to destroy, but to correct. And His favour is lasting: His grace and love outlast any difficulty.

D. Weeping is temporary. Night stands for pain, trials or sadness; and joy comes with the morning: God changes the scene.

E. The night is real: there is weeping, pain, uncertainty. Being a believer does not remove trials; God allows nights with purpose.

F. Do not be surprised by the night, but do not go on living in it either: in its anguish, its flesh, its rebellion.

G. "I am ill, I am not going to church." Even crawling we should get to where God is. And what for? So that God may lift us up.

H. What you are living is not forever. God allows processes, but His favour is greater than the trial: the night is not your destiny, it is the road to your dawn.

X. Application

A. Ask God today for a new dawn, in those words; and do not declare final what God called a process.

B. Do not leave your own process half done: God does not leave it, we do.

C. Stop dragging yesterday along: today is not a repetition of yesterday.

D. Seek grace, not only mercy: mercy reaches the whole earth, but grace belongs to the righteous.

E. Be a servant and not a boaster, for the one who washed feet was the servant, and Jesus made Himself servant.

F. And do not settle down to live in the night: even crawling, get to where God is.