Turn with me to 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians. We have several here who are
and have suffered trials. And I know that often we ask
the question about ourselves when we're in the trial, why
am I suffering this trial? Sometimes we may ask it about
our brethren, why are they suffering through this trial? And that's
what I want to answer today according to God's Word. I want to talk
to you this morning for just a little while concerning the
God of all comfort, the God of all comfort. Paul begins here
in verse 1. He says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God. This is how you made a servant
of God. It's by the will of God. It's
by God's will. He chose whom He would. It's
by the will of His Son that those whom God chose are perfected
forever. It's by the irresistible will
of God that they're born of God, created anew in spirit and in
truth, and made willing to come to God in the day of His power.
It's by the will of God. If we see that anywhere, we see
it in Paul. And Timothy, our brother. Timothy was a young
preacher. He traveled with Paul, learned
from Paul. Paul always includes him in his letters. Unto the
church of God, This is who He's writing to. This is God's church
He's writing to. The church God purchased with
His own blood in the person of His dear Son. The church of God
which is at Corinth with all the saints, which are in all
of Canaan. Notice that word, saints. That's
what God's children are. Those who have been called by
His grace are saints. They are sanctified. They are
holy in Christ. They are complete in Christ.
They're saints. Saints. And he says, Grace be
to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is where all grace and peace
comes from. God the Father is the giver,
Christ the Son is the fountain. And he says here in verse 3,
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Blessed means
for all blessings, all praises, all glory, all of the highest
adoration to be given to this one. Blessed be God. God, he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, this is through whom all these blessings come. Paul
wrote to the Ephesians a similar thing in verse 3 of Ephesians
1, and he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according
as He chose us in Christ Jesus. The Father of mercies, it means
He's the beginning. This is where they originate.
All mercies originate with Him. And He gives these mercies as
a faithful Father to His sons and daughters. And you and I
who are mercy beggars by His grace, we're thankful that this
word, mercies, is in the plural. It's mercies. Mercies. Oh, remember, O Lord, Thy tender
mercies, David said, and Thy loving kindnesses, David said. For they have been ever of old. As old as the Father. That's
how old his mercies are toward his sons and daughters. And he
says here, and the God of all comfort. Now you remember this. I know we live in a world where
the purpose of everybody seems to be to seek comfort. Seek some rest, seek some ease
for yourself. God is the God of all comfort. And there is no comfort but in
God. Whatever you think you found
that is comforting to you is a delusion. It's a mirage that
will be here in a moment and in a moment it will be gone.
All comforts of God. He's the God of all comfort.
There's no rest except from God our Father. There's no comfort
except in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no comforter
but by the Holy Spirit who is called the Comforter. He's the
God of all comfort. And catch this next word, verse
4, who comforteth us in all our tribulations. Some of it, in all of it, in
all of it. Why? that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. Trials keep the believer ever
mindful that God is the God of all comfort. Trials keep us ever
mindful that we need God to supply us with all comfort. Why does
he do that? He does it that we might be able
to comfort our fellow brothers and sisters with that same comfort
wherewith God comforts us. Verse 5, he says, for as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth
by Christ. The sufferings of Christ. I want
to show you a couple of things about this. Look over at 2 Corinthians
11. Paul suffered for Christ in doing
the work which Christ had given him to do. He left his former company. He
left the Pharisee. He was called out of religion
and into the presence of God, and he became a minister of God,
and he served God. And because of these things,
he endured many, many trials of suffering. Look at 2 Corinthians
11, verse 24. He said, Of the Jews, these were
the religious folks, five times received I forty stripes, save
one. Thrice I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day I've been in the deep, in journeyings often,
in perils, in waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine
own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren. In weariness, in painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
and went without food often, in cold and nakedness. Beside
those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches." But notice what he said, who's
weak and I'm not weak? Who's offended and I burn not? Standing for the truth of the
gospel of Christ, Paul suffered in many, many, many ways. This
was the suffering of Christ, endured the reproach, of Christ
He bore for preaching this gospel. There's something else here in
this word, sufferings of Christ. It declares the oneness of Christ
with you who believe Him. Paul's sufferings were the sufferings
of Christ. Paul's sufferings were personal
to Christ because Paul was a member of that body of which Christ
is the head. Before Christ called Paul on
the road to Damascus, he was going about Saul of Tarsus and
he was persecuting Christ's brethren. That's who he was injuring. That's
who he was beating and giving his voice against and having
put into the prisons and those things. That's what he was doing.
to them. But when Christ arrested him
on the road to Damascus, he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Their sufferings that Paul inflicted
upon them were the sufferings of Christ. You understand that? You know, I want you to know
that. I want you to enter into this and really think on this
thought. When one member of Christ's body suffers, it is as personal to Christ Jesus
as it is when one bodily member of your body suffers, and it's
personal to you. And what do you do when that
bodily member in your own fleshly body suffers? What do you do
with it? You comfort it. You comfort it. You give your, Scott right now's
got a ear problem, Lynn's got a problem with her eye. And you
know what they're doing with those bodily members? Being very
careful with them. Trying to comfort them in every
way they can. Well Christ is the comfort. And when the suffering abounds,
His comfort abounds more. He is the consolation. And He is the comfort. And this
comfort that Paul is speaking of is by Jesus Christ. I want you to look at 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. It's the last... Last book there to the churches. Last letter to the churches.
Just always remember where Thessalonians is because it was the first church
where God wrought such power and grace, and it's the last.
Sometimes the first shall be last. The last shall be first.
Here it is. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which
hath loved us, hath given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace." And he's saying, now the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and God, even our Father, verse 17, comfort your hearts
and establish you in every good word and work. If you and I are
going to be established, you see, there's no permanent establishing
in us. There's no steadfastness in us
of ourselves. When we died in Adam, we died.
When we died in Adam, we lost that strength. We lost that power,
the powers of God. He said, you can do nothing without
me. Nothing. That's nothing. But the consolation, the comfort
is by Him. It behooved Him in all points
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
to God for His people. It was by Jesus Christ that grace
and peace came to you, because He came. And in doing for His
children what we couldn't do, He reconciled us to God. He made us perfect with God.
He justified us of all our sin and reconciled us to God. And
He's also a faithful high priest unto us personally, as members
of His own body of which He is the head. And He's able to succor. That means to help, to comfort,
to give rest to all them that come to Him, that are tempted.
You know, turn over to Colossians. There's a good article in the
back of our bulletin that Paul Mahan wrote, Not Holding the
Head. And I want to read this to you. The difference between
true comfort and comfort that doesn't last is when men, most places, folks want to talk
more about the body and not the head. But if we're going to find
comfort in Rest, we've got to behold the head. Why is that? In the midst of telling these
saints to trust Christ and not be turned back again to looking
to their service or these works and thinking that they would
somehow be made righteous or perfected by those things. He
said, here's the reason that men are puffed up in their fleshly
mind. Verse 19, not holding the head. You're not beholding the head,
Christ Jesus the Lord. That's who I'm talking to you
about this morning. I want you to know why this affliction
comes, why this suffering comes, and where the comfort comes from.
It's the sufferings of Christ. But you hold the head, why? Because
it's from Him that all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment
ministered unto them. You get that? That's where the
ministering's coming from. From Christ the head. And not
only that, but they're knit together by Him. Not only that, but they
increase us with the increase of God by Him. That's why we
want to behold Him this morning and see Him. Look over at 2 Corinthians
4 in verse 10. Paul said he was troubled on
every side, he was distressed, but he was not distressed. He
was perplexed, but he wasn't in despair. He was persecuted,
but he wasn't forsaken. He was cast down, but he wasn't
destroyed. Man, how could all that happen and yet none of those
things happened? He said back up there, he had
this treasure in an earthen vessel. How could an earthen vessel withstand? How could an earthen vessel hold
up under all these sufferings that Paul endured? How could
that possibly be? Verse 10, always bearing about
in the body, in his physical body, the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. It was by Christ, the life of
Christ in His body. Look at verse 11. For we which
live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the
life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Why did the Lord choose to do
it that way? Look back at verse 7 at the end. That the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. That's why. That's why. Why is the trial
needful? Why is the trial needful? Why
is the comfort needful? Do you ever wonder why your brother
or sister is going through the trials that they're going through
right now? We have a tendency, and Paul's
writing this to the Corinthians because the Corinthians had this
fleshly tendency in them to trying to say it was because you've
done something bad. Have you ever thought that it's
because it's for your future good that they're suffering what
they're suffering now? Well, how in the world could
it be for my future good? Back in our text, 2 Corinthians
1-6, Paul said, whether we be afflicted, it's for your consolation. and salvation, which is effectual,
which is worked in the enduring of the same sufferings which
we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it's for your consolation
and salvation. Whether we suffer or whether
we're comforted, it's for your consolation and salvation. There's
something so incomprehensibly profound at how one the believer
is with God in Christ. We don't enter into it in this
life like we should. We're growing, we're increasing
in this understanding more and more. But we're one in Him and
we're utterly, totally dependent upon one another in this world. Not dependent upon one another
to that the powers of us, but depended upon one another to
continually remind each other that the excellency of the powers
of God and not of us. That's what a good brother and
a good sister will continually remind you of. And therein is
how the believer is comforted by a brother and a sister. And
how Christ Jesus himself brings us to be comforted by him. Look
at verse 7. He says, and our hope of you
is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings,
these same sufferings Paul endured, he said, as you're partaking
of these same sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. you, you who are suffering trials,
we've talked some we've, we've corresponded through emails and
some by phone and and what have you. And I've tried my best to
comfort you with this word that the strengths not of us, it's
of him. And then he'll he'll as the sufferings increase, this
comfort increases. And yet, then I get, I get the
emails of you all corresponding with each other. And somebody
will send them to me. Chris sent me one just this week. And it had all the correspondence
between me and her. And Patty had emailed her. And
she had emailed Patty. And it came back to me. And I
just started at the bottom, at the very first one. And I just
read through all of them, all this back and forth exchange
and everything. In absolutely everything, the
word that was being constantly reaffirmed was this, God will comfort you. His comfort shall abound. What
he's doing is right. What he's doing is perfect. What
he's doing is in just the right time and just the right way.
And his comfort shall abound. And you know what God did through
that word to me? Comforted me. Made me to realize
the work's not in vain. Made me to see that this work's
not in vain. God is working. He is doing something. And he said this, Paul said,
and I know, I'm sure our hope of you is steadfast. I know, Paul said, I know. That as you suffer, as you're
partakers of this suffering, I know, Paul said, that you'll
be partakers of this consolation. How could you know something
so surely? This is why the trial's needful. Because experience grows
Hope. Look at Romans 5. Romans 5, 3. Experience grows hope. Look at the last part there.
This is why we're glorying in tribulations this morning. That's
what we're doing. We're finding out where's the
glory in tribulation. What's so good about being in
a trial and suffering? Knowing, the last part of verse
3, that the tribulation worketh patience. And patience, experience. and experience hope. And hope
maketh not ashamed. It doesn't ever bring you to
be ashamed for trusting the Lord. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
That's how this hope is grown. That's how this hope is made
steadfast. It's through experiencing these trials and His love is
shed abroad in our hearts, comforting us continually so that we're
constantly reminded. He'll do just what He said He'll
do. As the sufferings increase, His comfort shall increase. When we experience a trial, the
God of all comfort by Jesus Christ through the Spirit comforts us
over and over by shedding his love abroad in our hearts. And
our heart grows so that we have this knowledge by experience. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. Just won't do it. He will not
do it. So we can say with a blessed
assurance to our brethren when they suffer, What Paul said here,
our hope of you is steadfast, knowing. I know this by experience,
Paul said. That's what he said. I've been
there and I know this by experience that as you suffer and you're
partakers of this same suffering that I suffer, I know this, you
shall also be a partaker of Christ Jesus, the consolation. I know
it. What did he say in Romans? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? To those who have been chosen,
redeemed, and called by the will of God. To those who are the
church of God. To those who are the saints of
God. I ask you this. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation do it? That's
the first thing he said. Shall tribulation? Shall distress? Shall persecution? Shall famine? Shall nakedness?
Or peril? Or sword? We're sheep. We're just sheep for the slaughter.
That's all we are. We've got no strength in ourselves.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. How then are we going
to survive? How then are we going to be kept?
How then are we going to persevere? Did you hear Brother Paul talking
about Brother Bruce Crabtree He was here, he was talking about
this. I don't know if he said it from the pulpit or when we
were just together, but 10 or 15 years ago, Brother Bruce was
preaching, and he was preaching about perseverance of the saints,
and he kept mispronouncing the word, and he kept saying, perseverance,
perseverance, perseverance. And Paul said, that's a better
word. It's a better word than perseverance, because that's
what it is. It's the preservation whereby
we persevere. It's the perseverance of the
saints. It really is. And that's what he, nay, in all
these things, no matter what it is, we're more than conquerors
through whom? Through Him that loved us. Neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Jesus Christ." Nothing. Man! That's good news if you're
a sheep. That's good news if you're a
helpless sheep. If you're just a clay pot that's
been filled with the excellency of the power, this is with its
treasure. That's good news. That's good
news. Oh, look, when you see His name,
God, joined with this word, God of all comfort, you think of
two things. You think of sovereignty and
you think of covenant. He's sovereign to bring about
everything. And in His unchanging, unchangeable,
everlasting covenant, He will not fail to comfort you. That gets me to stepping it up. Oh, now He gives us an example
back in our text. For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble. Verse 8, 2 Corinthians 1. We
would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which
came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above
strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life." Now, what did Paul learn from
that? Why was this trial coming to him? But we had the sentence
of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raiseth the dead. That's what he learned. We had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a
death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us. Past, present, and future. He
has, he is, and he shall deliver. Now who was in control of every
aspect of that trial that Paul endured at Asia? Who was in control
of every aspect of it? God was. God was. The wrath of man shall praise
God and the remainder of it He restrains it. And He brought
this wrath about, He allowed it to go unrestrained and His
men compassed Paul about so that he spared even of death to glorify
God for this purpose to cause Paul to understand he shouldn't
trust himself but trust God. who has, is, and shall deliver
us from death. God was in control of all of
that. And God controlled everything and brought it to pass as He
did to teach Paul that lesson. And when He had taught Paul that
lesson, He was the one who comforted Paul and delivered him. Now, who's in control of every
aspect of the trial you're in right now? Same God. Same God. The God of all comfort. The sovereign
God and the God of everlasting covenant is in control of it. Why did He bring that to Paul?
So that he would despair of life. He would see that he was pressed
out of measure. He had no strength in himself. Do you feel that
way? Do you feel that way? I know, if, Lynn, I know right
now that if you could, you'd make your eye just be well, wouldn't
you? And you would your ear. And, Patty, you'd go out and
just, you'd have a job tomorrow. You'd have two, that's right.
Well, but it's out of, you're pressed out of measure. You can't
do it. You can't will it to be better.
You can't will your salvation. You can't by your fickle will
do anything from the first hour to the last. If it's your will,
if your will is that powerful, then Scott, just will your ear
to quit hurting and it'll be done. You can't. You're pressed
out of measure and you have no strength in you so that you despair
to teach you. You don't trust yourself. Trust
God. Trust God. And why does He do
that to us? He does it to you, Patty, right
now. And you, Lynn, and you, Scott,
and he did it for you, Pete, with your job. He done it for
us in all our various trials for this purpose. So that next
time when it's me that's suffering and me going through the trial,
you can come to me and you can say, let me tell you by experience.
I know this by experience. My hope for you is steadfast,
knowing that as you are partakers of the suffering, you shall be
a partaker of the consolation. You know it by experience. That's
the sovereign God. That's the God of covenant, who
will not allow His children to be turned from Him, who will
keep them ever at His feet, ever seeking His face, ever trusting
Him. And He's able to work everything
together, even in the midst of the storm. to walk upon the storm,
to bring it about, to teach us these things and make it effectual
in our hearts. And He does it for another reason.
He does something else by these trials. Look at verse 11. Ye
also helping together by prayer for us. Now through these trials,
when I'm in a trial, He not only uses my brethren to comfort me
and to say, I know you're going to be a partaker of the consolation,
but He also makes my brethren who are comforting me to come
to His feet and bow and ask Him, Lord, send us comfort. Send us this comfort. Send us
this consolation. Make this word effectual in us. Make us to see
that You indeed shall comfort Your people. You see how needful
the trial is? You see how needful it is? Okay,
I'm suffering. You're not suffering. But he
takes my suffering and he uses you. to see Him and behold Him
and to be at His feet by coming and comforting me with these
words that you know from experience. And by your very comforting me,
you're reminded of Him yourself and your heart is cheered yourself.
And then at the same time, He brings you to the feet of Christ
to ask Him, Lord, send forth this comfort for me. See, it's good for those who
are suffering, and it's good for those that aren't going through
the trial, too. Because we're one with each other,
and when one member suffers, they all suffer. And Christ ahead,
it's personal to Him, and He's going to see to it. Everybody's
brought to His feet where the comfort is. And there's another
reason He does all this. Look at verse 11, the end of
it there. That for the gift bestowed upon us, this gift of Christ,
this comfort that comes through, this consolation. He is the consolation
of Israel. And by this gift that's bestowed
upon us, by the means of many persons, many people were praying
for them, many people were comforting, many people were speaking these
words. And by the means of many persons, thanks may be given
by many on our behalf. He causes everybody involved
to thank Him. to turn around and stand at his
feet thanking him for what he's done. You know, oh boy, that
will, that will, we boast of that will. If we just consider
our prayers. You know, there's two parts to
all our prayers, two things we pray for constantly. One is,
for God to give something to us freely. And the other aspect
of our prayer is thanking Him for what He's given to us. It's
all by His will. It's all from Him, the source
and fountain, the giver of all good and perfect gifts. All right. Now, what do we see
in this? Here was the first thing. By
sending the trial and the comfort The God of all comfort abounds
toward us in Christ and keeps his children, not trusting in
ourselves, but trusting in him. He grows us in hope of our everlasting
security in Christ Jesus the Lord. You know why we have security
in Christ Jesus. When He sent Isaiah forth, He
said, Comfort ye, comfort ye My people. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. Tell her that her warfare is
accomplished, and I've rewarded her double for all her iniquity. That's why this comfort is sure. He said, I've graven you on the
palms of My hands. Thy walls, Your protection is
of me, and it's ever before me continually. And through these
trials, when he draws us to himself, he does for us in spirit, in
truth, in the heart, just what he did for Thomas. He says, reach
forth your hand. Handle me. Touch my hands. And I'll tell you, if you don't
know him, never been brought to believe on him, That just
sounds like a bunch of mysticism to you. But I'm telling you the
truth. For the believer, we don't actually
get to touch his hand. But faith is the evidence of
things not seen, and it's just that real in the heart of the
believer. The comfort's just that real. The peace is just
that real. The assurance is just that real. Just that real. And thirdly, He keeps us ever
at His feet in prayer and thanksgiving to Him. And here's the fourth
thing, in all of this, in all of this, He makes us to know
how one we are with God in Christ Jesus and how dependent we are
upon Him and how we need our brethren. He does that. He does that so
that we don't get too stout and strong and self-willed and think
we can just stand on our own. We can't. King. Sheep need sheep. Sheep need
a shepherd. And by God's grace, He's gonna
keep it that way. He'll keep it that way. And when
it's all said and done, this is what He brings us to say with
just overflowing joy and gratitude. Verse 3. Blessing. All honor and glory and highest
praise and adoration. Be the God. even the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all
comfort. Bless Him in the highest. That's
what He does. Amen.