All right, brethren, 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. The Apostle Paul suffered greatly. He was taken because of he He
preached the Gospel. He was taken to the middle of
town and beaten, stripped and beaten, because he preached the
Gospel in front of the whole town, beaten. He was unjustly
charged and thrown in prison. He had to suffer shipwreck. He had to go without food. He had to go without clothing.
These things were in the cause of Christ. These were for preaching
Christ. And rejected by men, despised
and rejected by men like our Savior was. Hated and despised. And these are the things that
the Apostle Paul is speaking about in the first chapter when
he talks about The sufferings of Christ. Suffering for Christ. Suffering in the cause of Christ.
This is what he is talking about when he talks about God comforting
us. After all He endured, these are
the things Paul called our light affliction. Because they are
very light compared to what Christ endured for His people. And whenever
we suffer, Satan would love for us to do as Job's wife told him
to do, just curse God and die. But the Apostle Paul, after all
his sufferings, did not do that. He praised God. He said in verse
3, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. And then Paul proceeds to do
for us what he is teaching us to do in this passage. That is,
he began to comfort us with the comfort wherewith he was comforted. Now, great meaning is given to
our suffering in the cause of Christ when we know that all
trouble that we encounter for the gospel sake. In all of it,
God comforts us so that we are able to comfort our brethren
with the same comfort where we are comforted. That gives meaning
to our suffering. Meaning to our suffering. Now
first of all, here is the good news. God comforts His children
in all our trouble. He says there in verse 3, the
God of all comfort, verse 4, who comforteth us in all our
tribulation. One sure certain thing that is
common among all God's people is this, we are going to suffer
trouble. We are going to suffer trouble.
Christ said in the world you shall have tribulation. He said we must through much
tribulation enter the kingdom of God. Now everybody in the
world suffers because we're all born of Adam in sin. And everybody comes into this
world children of wrath. So everybody in this world suffers.
Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. And therefore
God's saints suffer just like everybody else in the world suffers.
We suffer family troubles, we suffer sickness, we suffer loss
of every kind, just like everybody in the world suffers. But God's
saints suffer a trouble that none but God's elect suffer.
We suffer a trouble that none but God's people suffer. It's
what Paul speaks of here in verse 5 where he calls the sufferings
of Christ. The sufferings of Christ are
the sufferings that His people endure because we identify with
Christ. It's the sufferings we endure
because we stand for Christ and spread His gospel. It's the suffering
and trouble we encounter because we don't live and give ourselves
the things that the world lives for. We do without things so
that we can have a place to worship God and so that we can send forth
the gospel and those things. There is a lot of trouble that
comes with believing Christ and walking with Christ and serving
Christ. And these are the troubles he's
speaking of here. It says in Philippians 1.29,
it's given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His sake. That's what the sufferings of
Christ mean. To suffer for His sake. And that's given to us.
That's why we must do it. We are not above our Lord. Our
Lord suffered. He is a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And everybody He saves shall
be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief for His sake. Not in any way compared to what
He suffered, in a much lesser degree, but we shall be sufferers
of all sorts of trouble for His sake. They are called the sufferings
of Christ because they are similar to what He suffered. No, in a
much lesser degree. They are similar to what he suffered.
Hebrews 13, 13 says, we go forth unto him without the camp. We
leave the camp of religion. We leave the camp of this world
and we go to Christ outside of that camp. And as we do, we bear
Christ's reproach. We are going to bear the reproach
Christ bore. In a lesser degree, we're going
to bear the kinds of things Christ bore. That's the suffering we're
talking about here. Our Lord Jesus suffered persecution. He was oppressed. He was scorned
by men who hated Him because that's the natural carnal heart. And brethren, we shall too. We
must. We must, in the cause of Christ,
we shall suffer these things. Paul said, yes, and all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You won't suffer any persecution
if you walk into a room full of people that are walking contrary
to God. You walk with them. But if you
don't walk with them, you will be. And all that will live godly
in this world will suffer persecution for Christ's sake. Christ endured
tribulation because of His lost sheep. He endured trouble from
His erring disciples. And at last, He laid down His
life for His church. We are going to suffer those
things in a lesser degree. We suffer over lost loved ones.
We break our hearts. We want them to know the Gospel
and they just don't. They don't have any interest and it breaks
our hearts. That's trouble. That's the sufferings
of Christ. We suffer over fellow brethren
who have fallen into error. That's trouble. Christ suffered that. We suffer
over other churches who are divided and having trouble and we want
to care for them and help them any way we can and Christ suffered
that. We're going to suffer that. For
His people, because our Savior bore our sins in His body on
the tree, then it says the chastisement of our peace, the chastening
required to give us peace was laid on Him. Stripes it is talking
about. Chastening stripes were laid
on Him when He bore our sins. And with His stripes we are healed.
And now, because He has given us a new heart and regenerated
us in our hearts, now we want to honor Him and glorify Him.
And therefore, we often have to endure chastening stripes
because of the sin that yet dwells in us. And that old man in us
causes us so much tribulation and so much trouble because we
don't like sin anymore. We hate it and we want to honor
Christ. That's trouble. We have our thorns
in the flesh, the messengers of Satan to buffet us. Some of
us do. And we'll probably have to live with them all our life.
God gave them to keep you always at His feet, begging His mercy
and begging Him to keep you by grace. They're painful. For whatever
reason, to keep you trusting His grace alone. God's given
them to you, but those are tribulations you must bear. So this is the
kind of suffering we're talking about. Now brethren, Paul lived
to minister to the saints. I mean above anybody else in
his day, Paul lived to minister to the saints. He said to the
Corinthians, to live and we'll live and die with you. That was
his life. His life was not about, it wasn't
divided between his pleasure and the church. It was all the
church. And because of that, he suffered
more than anybody else in his day. Above all his fellow apostles,
he suffered more than all of them. And yet, he said this,
I'm filled with comfort and I'm exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. He said, I'm filled with comfort
and exceeding joyful in all our tribulation while I'm suffering
the trouble. He said, I am exceeding joyful
and comforted. How? He said later, God that
comforted those that are cast down comforteth us. That's why. He didn't say God
took the suffering away. God didn't take the thorn away.
He didn't say God took him out of the heat of the battle and
out of the fight of faith or anything like that. The trouble
was still going on. But he said, in all of it, I'm
comforted and I'm exceeding joyful. Why? Because no matter our trouble,
anything we suffer for Christ, the God of our comfort comforted
us in all our trouble. in all our trouble. That's good
news, isn't it? God shall comfort His people.
Now secondly, God comforts us for a reason. God comforts us
to make us comforters. God comforts us to make us comforters. Look at verse 4. 2 Corinthians
1 verse 4. He says, "...who comforteth us
in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them."
which are in any trouble, with the comfort wherewith we are
comforted." Now when God comforts us in our trouble, now even though
that comfort is sent for our good, that comfort is not sent
only for our personal benefit. God never comforts His child
for just our personal benefit. That's not what the comfort is
for. It's to make us able comforters to others who suffer. That's why He comforts us. God
does call us to live in this world publicly. That's right. He doesn't call His servants
to live privately to ourselves. He calls us to live publicly
to others. Christ's life was a public ministry.
His life was as a servant of God serving others, ministering
to others. And that's what His people are. We're servants of God. That means
we're sent forth to minister to His people. That's what His
saints are. We're not called to preach, not
all of us, but we are all called to comfort those who mourn. We
are all called to do that. Understand this, this is very
important to understand. We do not have to suffer the
exact circumstances that our brethren suffer to be able to
give them comfort. You know, we tend to look at
this verse and think that when He says there, let me read it
again, He says there, God comforted us in all our tribulation that
we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. And
we tend to look at that and think, well, He comforts us so that
when others are going through the exact trouble that we've
already been through, we can comfort them because we can come
to them and tell them how, you know, we've been there, we've
been in it, we've been through that. That's an earthy type comfort. You know, if that's the comfort
He was talking about, anybody can do that. You know, misery
loves company. And you go to somebody and tell
them, I've suffered, I've been there with you. That's just a
natural comfort. That's not the comfort he's talking
about here. If that were the case, brethren, in order for
me to comfort those in any trouble, I'm going to have to suffer every
kind of trouble. You understand? If I have to
have suffered exactly the circumstances you suffered in order to minister
the comfort he's talking about, I'm going to have to suffer every
kind of trouble that God's people suffer in order to be able to
do that. And that's not what he's talking about. But he says
here, he comforts us so we can comfort those who are in any
kind of trouble. Even trouble that we haven't
even suffered yet. How can we do that? Well, remember, he's talking
about the sufferings of Christ. He's talking about tribulation
that believers suffer as we live for Christ's honor and His glory.
He's not talking about suffering we endure because we brought
it on ourselves. He's talking about suffering
we endure living for Christ and honoring Christ and furthering
His Gospel for the sake of Him and His Word. And each of God's
saints can say this, every time you've ever suffered tribulation
for the cause of Christ, you can say this without any reservation,
God has comforted you. Can you say that, brethren? That's
so. I know it's so because it's been so with me. Everything I've
ever suffered for Christ's sake, God's comforted me. I don't have
any doubt. That's so with you that are His. I know it's so. And brethren,
that's the comfort. Even though I've not suffered
the exact thing my brother suffered, I can tell my brother this. Everybody,
all God's saints who suffer in any kind of trouble we suffer,
God shall comfort you. In all the trouble, whatever
the kind of trouble it is, whatever the circumstances of the trouble
is, anything that God's saints suffer in this world, the sufferings
of Christ that we endure in this world, God shall comfort you. And that's comfort. Look down
at verse 7 and tell me if that's not what He's saying. He says,
"...our hope of you." Myself as an apostle and all
the other apostles, our hope of you Corinthians receiving
the comfort from God is steadfast. We have a hope you are going
to receive comfort from God. It is steadfast knowing that
as you are partakers of these sufferings, the sufferings of
Christ, so shall you be also of the consolation. I know that
is going to happen. Everybody who is a saint of God
who suffers the sufferings of Christ shall be a partaker of
the consolation. I know it. And that is comfort
to me. Is that comfort to you? My brethren,
my suffering brother, my suffering sister, you listen to me. I have suffered in the cause
of Christ. I have suffered trouble. And
every single time I have suffered trouble in the cause of Christ,
The God of all comfort has comforted me in all my trouble. It doesn't matter what kind it
is or what the circumstances are, He's comforted me. And I
have a steadfast hope from experience that God will do the same for
you who are His saints. I know He will. And He comforted
me for that purpose to tell you, I know He will. I know He will. We shall suffer, yes, but we
shall be comforted by God, absolutely. Now, God has worked this hope
of comfort in our hearts through past trouble. That's how He worked
it in our hearts. It was through experiencing trouble
and patiently bearing that trouble that God worked this good hope
of knowing He will comfort His people. You learn it by experience. Look down at verse 6. He says,
he is talking here now about, this applies to everybody, no
doubt, and we can read this as applying to us all, but he is
speaking here specifically of him and the other apostles. He
is saying, we apostles, whether we be afflicted, it is for your
consolation and salvation. And he says, now watch this,
which is effectual, which is wrought in you, in the enduring,
in the patient bearing of the same sufferings which we also
suffer. You see, what we are afflicted
with, it is so that we can console you. It is for your salvation.
And this is going to be worked, this is worked by us enduring
the same sufferings you see us suffer. And if it is going to
be worked in you to where you know this is why God is afflicting
you, then you are going to be, it is going to be worked in you
through this suffering too. patiently bearing the suffering. That's how you're going to know
this. And he says, or whether we be comforted is for your consolation
and salvation. Turn over to Romans 5. Let me
show you where he says this in another place. Romans 5. Now listen to this. He told there how that we glory
in God, in our Lord Jesus Christ because we've been justified.
We've been justified by Christ. Now look what he says this too,
Romans 5 and verse 3. And not only so, we glory in
tribulations also. We rejoice in trouble also. That's not just Paul using hyperbole
and exaggerating. God's saints do rejoice in tribulations
also. We do. And watch what he said. He said,
the more you suffer tribulations and seek God's faithfulness,
the more you will rejoice when you come into trouble. Because
this is what you know. This is what God has wrought
in you by it. Watch this. We glory in tribulations
also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Now that word
patience is that same word Paul said over there when he said
endurance, endure. It means We have the hope that
we should be comforted, worked in us, through patiently enduring
past tribulations. That's how we have this hope
of being comforted, worked in us, because we've patiently endured
tribulations. I like this illustration. I can't
remember where I read it, but it's talking about, you know,
a horse. You take a horse that's never
been ridden. And if you put any weight on that horse, that horse
is going to buck and he's going to carry on because he don't
want it. He's not accustomed to it. And so, like folks who
break horses, a lot of times what they'll do is they'll just
put, not something as heavy as a person, they'll put just a
lighter weight on it, like a saddle. They'll put the saddle on the
horse. And he'll carry on with it, but they just let him walk
around with it. Leave it on him for a couple of days. And he
learns to endure it. He learns to bear up under that
weight. And he can handle it now. And then they put a little
heavier weight on him. He bucks and kicks because he
doesn't like that new weight on him. But after a little while
walking around, he doesn't even realize it's there. He can bear
it. And after a while, a man can
get on that horse, and he may buck and kick a little bit, but
he'll bear it. Because he's gradually worked
up to where he can handle it. And that's what he's talking
about here. He sends you a trial, and through it, he works endurance. I've been, me and Will's been
going to the gym lately. And we didn't go in that gym
and start lifting. There's a fella in there that
just got drafted by the New York Giants we talked to the other
day. And that fella don't have a, he don't have anything but
muscle on his body. And we were talking to him, he
bench presses 455 pounds. 455 pounds. He didn't start doing that the
first day he went in there. He had to learn to endure that
weight and build up to that weight and gradually build up to that
weight. And thatís what weíre doing. We didnít go in there
and start throwing around heavy weight. We went in there and
weíre building up to that weight. And thatís what heís talking
about here. He sends you trials so that through that he works
endurance, patient endurance. The trials arenít going to be
real. Theyíll be the biggest trial you thought you ever faced
in your life at first. But ten years down the road you
look back on it and think, that was nothing. How come I thought
that was so bad? And he keeps putting a little
more weight on you with these trials and they just, so you
learn to endure. One day we're going to come to
that river of death. My grandmother is right at 90
years old. Do you think she is ready to
cross that river? She wants to cross that river.
Do you think she could have done that back when God first saved
her? No way. But she is born trial after trial
after trial and had to wait and to wait and to wait. She is just
patiently enduring all the broken down bodies she has got looking
for the time when she can cross that river and be with God and
wants to. You see what I am saying? He
is preparing us for that. Look here. Tribulation works
patience and patience, experience. Maturity. You experience it. You learn it. And experience.
What does it work? Hope. Hope. And what's this hope? That's the hope he's talking
about in our text. We have this steadfast hope that you're going
to be comforted. How do you know that? Because
through all these trials, They've taught me to endure. They've
taught me experience. They've taught me hope. And hope
is never made to be ashamed. Why? Here's the comfort. The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. And that's what Paul is saying.
I know whatever you're suffering. I have this steadfast hope because
I've suffered in a lot of trials. And I know I have this steadfast
hope that as you are a partaker of the suffering, you're going
to also be a partaker of the comfort. You are going to be
a partaker of God shedding His love abroad in your heart in
this trial. Because that is what God sends it for. To comfort. And so, when you have endured
these past trials and the Holy Spirit has flooded your heart
with it, now you can go to your suffering brother and tell them,
our hope of you is steadfast. I know that as you are partakers
of the suffering, so you shall be also of the consolation. You
can tell them from experience. I know it. Because this is so. And that's why He does it for
us. Not just to comfort us and make it all about us. It's to
comfort us to be comforters to others. Now, let's go to this
last point. What is our consolation? It is
the consolation of Israel. Do you know what the consolation
of Israel is? The consolation of Israel is a name given to
Christ. Christ is our consolation. Consolation
here and comfort here mean the exact same word all through this
passage. They mean Christ. It's Christ.
Christ is our consolation. He's our comfort. Look at verse
5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ. He's the comfort. The Son of
God, how does He know to comfort us? Go to Hebrews 5. How does
He know to comfort us? Now, you know, before He came
to this earth, He is the Son of God. He is the Spirit. And He knows all things, but
has He ever really walked in our shoes prior to Him coming
here? No. So why did He take flesh? Go over there with me to Hebrews
5. He was made like His brethren that He might experience our
trouble for the same reason. Look at Hebrews 5 verse 1. Every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God that He may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins. That's the first work of the
high priest, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin for the people.
And look here at verse 2. Here's the second work of the
high priest. And here's what I want you to see. Who can have
compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way,
for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. He knows what
it is. That's why God chose high priests
from among His brethren. Look at Hebrews 2.17. Hebrews
2.17. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
Christ to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's the first
word. And verse 18, here's the second word. For in that he himself
hath suffered, being tempted. He is able to succor, that word
is comfort and console in strength, them that are tempted. That is why He came, to suffer. Look at Hebrews 5 and verse 8. I'm sorry, let's look at verse
7. In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that
was able to save Him from death. That strong crying and tears
means He suffered. In the Garden of Gethsemane,
He suffered so much under the weight of our sin that His capillaries
burst. He shed blood. He sweat blood. That's suffering. And he cried
out with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save
him from dying. I don't at all believe that our
Lord Jesus Christ was crying out, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. I don't believe He was saying
that He didn't want to go to the cross. I believe He was praying,
Father, don't let me die right here in this garden. Because He wanted to go to that
cross. And he prayed to God and God
sent a comforter and comforted him. Remember that in the Garden
of Gethsemane? And it says here, he prayed to
Him that was able to save him from death and he was heard in
that he feared. He reverenced God. God comforted
him. God comforted him. Now what was the point of all
that? Though he were a son, the son of God, God the Son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. being made
perfect, having perfected obedience, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them now that obey Him. And that's what He's
doing here. Though He were a Son, brethren,
get this now, He came down to where we are. Though He were
a Son, He came and took flesh of His brethren to suffer like
we suffer. He did that in order that he
would suffer like we suffer. He did that in order that he
would be comforted of God. In order that he might be able, as a man, to
comfort his people. He learned it. He experienced
obedience. He experienced what it is to
walk in our shoes. Remember when He came after the
Garden of Gethsemane and He sweat blood and He comes and His apostles
are there and they're sleeping. Not just because they're lazy,
they're sleeping because of sorrow. They couldn't bear up under the
sorrow that He was bearing up under. And they went to sleep.
It was a supernatural sleep. They were just put out because
of it. And you remember what Christ
said to him? And he spoke this from experience. He spoke this
because he had experienced it himself. He said, the Spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now he knows that. As a man, he experienced that.
The flesh is weak. And he knows it. And he experienced
what it is to cry out to God. And he experienced what it is
for God to be faithful and comfort him. And so now, how thankful
we are, brethren, that He made reconciliation for us. Above
everything else, we are thankful He made reconciliation for all
that the Father gave Him. He is the spotless Lamb of God. who was made sin for us. He is
the scapegoat who took all the sins of His people away. We're
made the righteousness of God in this one offering. And He
is the great high priest who went into the holiest with His
own blood and having obtained eternal redemption for His people.
And we're thankful He ever lives to make intercession for us.
I'm not making light of His work on Calvary's cross at all. But
I will tell you something else we are thankful for. We are thankful
that He has walked where we walk as a man. We are thankful that
He has suffered as we suffer. We are thankful that He has been
comforted when He cried to God. Because now brethren, when you
and I suffer and you and I cry unto Him in all the sufferings
of Christ brethren, He will comfort His people. As the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so Our consolation abounds by Christ. He doesn't give you a little
comfort. What's the word I'm looking for? In the same amount
that the suffering abounds, His comfort abounds. If you suffer
a lot, He's going to comfort you a lot. Because He's been
there. And He knows what it is to need
it. And not only has He been there, He's God too so He can
give it. He can give it. Nobody can stop
Him. That's why that scripture Brother Art read tells us, now
come to His throne of grace. He's willing, He's able to give
grace to His people in every time of need. All those other
lesser things we suffer, like the world suffers, He'll comfort
us in those too. But I guarantee you this, I'm
talking here now about true suffering. I'm not talking about suffering
for Christ, the sufferings of Christ. And I guarantee you,
everything He suffered, He suffered for God the Father to declare
Him just and justify. And therefore, God the Father
comforted Him in everything He suffered. And when you and I
suffer, we are going to receive comforting from Him in what we
suffer. The only time He couldn't suffer, He couldn't have comfort,
was when He hung there in that darkness on the cross. And He
cried out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? But because,
as we saw Thursday night, because He bore that, now all He gives
us is comfort. He won't forsake us. He'll give
us comfort. The sufferings of Christ, brethren, not only means
the sufferings we endure in His cause. Don't forget this too.
This is important. It also means that He's touched
with all our sufferings. They're the sufferings of Christ
because we're suffering for the cause of Christ. But they're
the sufferings of Christ because we're one with Him. You get that
brethren? Whenever Christ is one with those
God put in Him by divine election, we've been one in Him from the
eternity. That's why God didn't roll it
all up and throw us all into hell when we sinned in Adam.
Because He had a mediator, He had a surety and we were in Him.
And He's in all those in whom He's redeemed and regenerated
and He's the head and we're His body. And when you suffer as
a member of His body, it's Christ's suffering. He said, in that you've
done it to the least of these My brethren, you have done it
unto Me. And so it is His body that suffers,
and so He will comfort His people. As the sufferings of Christ abound
in you, so also shall the consolation abound by Christ. Now, let me
end with this. I'm going to say it again. My suffering brother, my suffering
sister, I've suffered nothing in comparison to Christ, nothing
in comparison to what God's most eminent saints in the past have
suffered. Nothing like what they've suffered. Light affliction. If Paul called his light affliction,
I call mine just minuscule affliction. It's just even a blip on the
radar of affliction. But I know this, in the things
I suffered, when I suffered them, they were the worst thing that
ever happened. But I know this, God came and
comforted me in every one of them. And He is the God of all
comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation. It doesn't matter
what it is, what kind it is. The sufferings of Christ and
all His saints suffer the sufferings of Christ because we are saints,
we are His. We're his body. And so we're part of him. And
when we suffer, he's going to comfort his people. What happens
when you slam a hammer down on your thumb? You tend to that
thumb like it's the only member of your body, don't you? You see me and Martha walking
around here, I act like my wrist is the only member on my body.
She acted like her knee was the only member on her body. Because
we suffered. So we tend to that member. Well,
guess what? When one member of his body suffers,
he tends to it like it's the only member of his body he's
got. And he does that for all his people without slighting
one that he's not comforting at the time. So know this, the
God of all comfort comforted us in all our tribulation and
He does it that we might be able to comfort them that are in any
trouble with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted. So
brethren, now listen, you might be suffering right now after
God has comforted you, after you've gone through this trouble.
Let me tell you what you do. You find somebody that's suffering.
I don't mean getting their business in metal, but I mean you find
somebody suffering. It ain't hard to find somebody
suffering, a believer that's suffering. You find somebody
that's suffering and you comfort them with the comfort wherewith
God comforted you. You may not be able to make them
affectionately have comfort. You may not be able to take their
tears away from their eyes and make them stop crying. You may
not be able to do anything like that. Here's what you can do.
You can tell them. I am confident of this by experience. As you have been a partaker of
the sufferings of Christ, you shall be a partaker of the comfort
by Christ. I know that. And when He is pleased,
He will apply that to their heart. That will be a comfort to them.
Just naturally speaking to hear that, to know that, that will
be some comfort to them. But when He comes and applies
it then, they will know it so. They'll know it's so. We can't
apply it affectionately. All we can do is just say, I
know He's going to comfort you. I know He's going to comfort
you. Only He can work it affectionately. But when He does, they'll know
it. So what I'm saying is now, you're going to find out when
you're suffering now. You're going to find out it's
so. He's going to comfort you after He's done it. Now, find
a brother or sister suffering and comfort them. Comfort them
with what Christ does. Just go tell them what Christ
has done. One of the things that comforts us more than anything
is just hearing the gospel. It takes our eyes off of us.
It takes our eyes off and puts eyes on Him and what He has accomplished
for us. We see ourselves complete in Christ at His right hand.
And you have no bad news when you have that good news. And
He comes and applies it and it comforts you. Alright brethren. We will have a closing hymn and
then Brother Kevin, will you come dismiss Mrs. in prayer?
Y'all be sure now to look at my pulpit back there Brother
Adam built. I still got some We're going
to stain it, what have you. But I thought he did an excellent
job on it. And Brother Kevin, thank you
for putting in the thermostats for us, the new thermostats too.
Maybe we'll have better results with our heater now. We'll see.
All right, Brother Art.