Let's open this morning's service
with hymn number 23, your hardback hymn number 23. Chum we that
love the Lord, number 23. Let's all stand together. Come, we that love the Lord,
and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord,
and thus surround the throne. Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God. The children of the Heavenly
King may speak their joys abroad. The hill of Zion yields a thousand
sacred sweet For we've reached the heavenly fields, or walked
the golden streets. Then let our songs abound, and
every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's
crown to better worlds on high. Please be seated. Good morning. We'll figure out the volume on
this new speaker, so just bear with us. Jeff's in there adjusting
it. Is it too loud? There seems to be some feedback
from me right now. Maybe we could turn it down just
a hair, Jeff. All right. Let's open our Bibles
together to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We'll continue. our study of
this wonderful epistle. I've titled this study, Christ
Himself. Christ Himself. Notice in verse
16, Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Not the thought of Christ,
not the doctrine of Christ, but Christ himself comforts you and
establishes you. We only hope that we're going
to have any comfort The only hope that we will be established
in all the things that would disrupt our hope is the Lord
Jesus Christ, God, even our Father, and the Comforter. So we'll look
at those three persons of the Trinity and ask the Lord to be
pleased to comfort our hearts. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful that once again you've given
us this blessed opportunity to come here and to join our hearts
together in worship, in praise, in study of thy word. Lord, we
confess to you our total dependence on your Holy Spirit to open the
eyes of our understanding We thank you that what you open,
no man can shut. And so Father, we pray that you'd
be pleased now to open our hearts, open your word to reveal to us
the glory of thy dear son. Lord, we know that our hearts
are deceitful and we cannot know ourselves. And so we pray that
you would speak truth to our hearts give us hope and comfort
in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. How do I know that I haven't
replaced the person of the Lord Jesus Christ with just an idea
of the Lord Jesus Christ or with an accurate doctrine of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, the simple answer to that
is that accurate doctrine and ideas don't really give comfort
to the heart. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the only one that can speak peace to our hearts. Notice what
the Lord says, now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even
our Father, It's not just the idea of God,
this is not the doctrine of God, this is God who is our Father. Paul speaks about that in Romans
chapter 8 when he talks about the Holy Spirit coming and what
does the Holy Spirit do? He causes us to cry, Abba, Father. So, knowing God as our Father
and knowing the Lord Jesus Christ himself, notice what he says,
which hath loved us and had given us everlasting consolation and
good hope. Good hope. Now there's folks
that have false hope. Some of us had false hope for
a long time. But in that false hope there
was no comfort. There was no assurance. So he says in verse 17, comfort
your hearts. Who's the one who can comfort
your heart and establish you? In all the things that would
disquiet our hearts in all the things that would disrupt the
establishment. All the things that would disrupt
the establishment. Of. this life, who is it that
speaks peace? Who is it that gives comfort?
I had someone tell me one time, Pastor, you need to speak peace
to my children's hearts. They're beginning to doubt their
salvation. Well, I can't speak peace to your heart. God's got
to do that. He's got to do that. What did
the Lord say in John chapter 17? He said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. So Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I am persuaded, I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him. I've entrusted my soul
to him and I'm trusting him to keep that to that day. So there's our hope. Our hope
is in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. When the Lord instructed the
prophet Isaiah to comfort the people of God, he said, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem
and tell them what? Tell them their warfare is accomplished. Tell them their warfare is accomplished.
It's finished. Redemption is secure, how? In
the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Might the Lord
Jesus Christ himself and God our Father speak comfort and
peace, establishing our hearts in the truth in him. Turn with me to that passage
in Romans chapter eight. The only good hope is to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in God as our Father, and in the consolation and comfort
that's given to us by the Holy Spirit. That's the only good
hope. If our hope is built on anything less, than Jesus' blood
and His righteousness. If our hope is built on anything
less than God the Father choosing a particular people according
to His own will and purpose, adopting us into His family,
making us accepted in the Beloved. If our hope is built on anything
less than the Holy Spirit pointing us to Christ, then it's not a
good hope. It's a false hope. It's a false
hope. Lord, I don't want to be deceived.
I don't want to have a false hope. Lord, I need for you, yourself,
to speak comfort and peace to my heart. Look what the Lord
said in Romans chapter 8, and we'll begin reading at verse
14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. Now in our
text, the word consolation, is the word parakletos. It's the same word used for Holy
Spirit. It means one who comes along
beside you and upholds you and comforts you. And so he's saying
that when the Spirit of God comes, he speaks comfort. How does he
do that? He points us to Christ. That's
what he does. Look at verse 15. For you have
not received again the spirit of bondage to fear. If my salvation is based on anything
that I do, I've got reason to be afraid. I know myself. I know I'm not able to do anything
that's going to be that's going to measure up to God's standard
of righteousness. And so the Lord says, if you
have the Holy Spirit, you're not brought under the bondage
of fear. You're not brought under the
condemnation of the law. Paul said it like this in Galatians
chapter five. He said, stand fast in the liberty
where with Christ has made you free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Don't
go back to Egypt. Don't put your hope in something
that you have done. The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
God who is our father, who has loved us with an everlasting
love, he's the only one. that can give consolation, comfort,
and establishment in our hearts, in the midst of all the things
that would cause us to be disquieted. Look at verse 16, I'm sorry,
verse 15. For you have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit
of adoption. The Lord has adopted us into
his family, made us his children. People say to me, they always
say, well, isn't everybody a child of God? No. No. He came into his own, his own
received him, not to as many as received him. To them gave
he the power to become the children, the sons of God. Only those who
are found in Christ are the children of God. And so he says, we've
He's given us His Spirit, which causes us to cry, Abba, Father,
the Spirit itself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. So here's the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in the heart, speaking peace, speaking comfort. as he
points us to Christ. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon
that the sufferings of this life, this world cannot be compared,
cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.
So that the circumstances that God sends into our lives, that
cause us to be unstable, cause us to be disquieted, cause us
to be discomforted. He said these things are for
the purpose of causing you to look to Christ because He Himself,
He Himself is the only one that can do that. Notice I want to look at some
passages of scripture where the Lord speaks about the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. And the first one we'll look
at is in John. Well, turn with me to 1 John
chapter 4. It's your 1 John chapter 4. And we look at verse 18. In our text, the Lord assures
us that He has loved us. The Father has loved us. There's
never been a time in eternity past where God did not love those
whom he chose and placed in Christ. He's always viewed his elect
in Christ. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. He said, I change not. I'm the
same yesterday, today, and forever. I change not, and therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. This love that God has for his
people is an everlasting love. Everlasting in the scripture
means something that never had a beginning and never had an
end. So there's never been a time
when God did not love his people. That's our comfort. The first
cause of our salvation is the everlasting love of God. Not
only is his love everlasting, but his love is particular. It's
particular. And what if you said to your
wife, honey, I love you. And I love all the other women
in the world the same way. That wouldn't mean very much,
would it? Love in order to be loved has to be particular. The
Lord said, Jacob, I have loved, Esau, I have hated. God can't
love anything that's not in Christ. And so His love is very particular
in those that He has placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And His
love is effectual. It's particular, it's eternal,
and it's effectual in that we love Him because He first loved
us. Now look what the Lord said in
1 John 4 beginning at verse 18. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment, and
he that feareth is not made perfect in love." Herein is love. Not that we love
God. but that he loved us and gave
his son to be the propitiation of our sins. Here's our comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
satisfied the demands of God's law. Put away all the sins of
God's people. God, who is our father, has given
us a consolation. He's given us the Holy Spirit,
causing us to cry, Abba, Father. It's the Holy Spirit that points
us to Christ. The Lord said, it's expedient
to you. It's necessary for you that I
go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But when he comes, he's gonna
lead you into all truth. He's gonna point you to me. He's
gonna convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,
of sin. Why? Because you believe not
on me. There's the root cause of all of our problems, isn't
it? It's unbelief. of righteousness because I go
to my father. I have a righteous advocate.
I have a substitute. I've got the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. What did John say? I write these
things unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We have a righteous advocate
standing in our behalf interceding on us and presenting Himself
to the Father for all our righteousness. There's no fear in that. If our
comfort, if our being established is based on anything that we
do, we have reason to be afraid. But if it's based on the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself, then we have a good hope. We have a good
hope. We have a good consolation. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 says,
I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. There's no fear in this for God
has not given us the spirit of fear but of love and of power
and of a saved sound mind. All right. May the Lord himself comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good work. in every
good word and work by grace. All right, let's take a break.