Let's go back to the second chapter
of John, the scripture that our brother read to us. In the first eleven verses, we
looked at those last week, our Lord had been in Canaan of Galilee
where he performed his first miracle, the changing of water
to wine at a wedding feast. Well, that reminds us that He's
the Bridegroom. We're the Bride, all of His people. Our Lord loved His Bride. He
loved His Church with an everlasting love and He came into this world
and He went through the wine press of God's wrath. The Scripture says He faced it
by Himself. He endured the wrath that was
due all of our sins. The wrath of God just squeezed
Him. It pressed Him. It got everything it demanded
from Him. It exacted from the Savior every
debt that we owed. And then He said, it's finished.
As the Savior endured the winepress of God's wrath, we therefore
drink the wine of the gospel. Oh, how rich it is. Oh, how very
sweet it is. We have the Lord's Supper, as
we did a couple of Sundays ago. We drink that very sweet wine. It's delicious. It's so delightful. And what it does, it reminds
us of the greatness of our Savior and how sweet this gospel is. Has there ever been a sweeter
message than the message of the Lord Jesus and His everlasting
love for His people, redeeming grace, redeemed by the blood? robed in the righteousness of
the Savior. And this is a sweet wine that
we can drink again and again and again. And indeed, every
time we gather together, we gather together to drink the wine of
the Gospel. And this is a provision of our
Savior, just as He provided at this wedding feast the very best
wine that they had ever tasted. Even so, the gospel of His saving
grace, it's the best, the very best wine that any soul has ever
tasted. And once you taste it, you'll
want to taste it again and again. And you'll find your soul enraptured
with this gospel. And you'll find that your soul
is enriched with this gospel. And you'll find that your soul
is encouraged by this gospel, this rich wine of the gospel
of God's grace. Our Lord Jesus, He changed the
water into wine merely by the exercise of His will. This is another evidence now
of His deity. We know that this is one of the
reasons, this is the reason that John writes this epistle is to
set before us the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Well, now we come
to verse 12. After this, after the wedding, The Savior went down to Capernaum. He went, He and His mother and
His brethren and His disciples. And they continued there not
many days because they had to go from there to Jerusalem to
the Passover feast. Now, I got to looking at this
location here where He went. He went to Capernaum. What does
that mean? Well, first of all, I will tell
you this, in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 1, it's referred
to as his own city. He spent so much of his days
there, so many weeks, so many months there, in this city of
Capernaum, that it became known as his own city. His own city. And this is what it means. Village
of comfort. or consolation. Here's a village
of comfort. How fitting. Oh, how fitting
that this is where our Lord spent so much of His time. For He is
the God of comfort. He is the God of consolation.
And He spent lots of time, so much time, in the city of Capernaum
that they called it His own city. Go over to John chapter number
14. John chapter 14. A little further
in the book. So this is a very important definition. This is the village of comfort.
The village of comfort or consolation. And what a very fitting name
for the city where our Lord spent so much of His time. In John
chapter 14 in verse 16. He says, and I will pray the
Father, and He will give you, He shall give you another comforter
that He may abide with you forever. He says, I will pray the Father.
He's an example of somebody who prays to the Father. What does
the word pray mean? It means beseech. It means to
petition. It means to entreat. Here's our
Savior, He is praying to the Father. And you'll notice this
is what He petitions the Father about. Another comforter. Another comforter. Now the word
another doesn't mean another of a different kind, but one
of the same kind. In other words, He says, I'm
going to ask the Father on your behalf, that He send to you one
of the same kind of Comforter as you already have. He's the
Comforter. We know He's speaking about the
Holy Ghost. Well, since we know He's speaking
about the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit, then we ought to ask
this question, well, who was the first Comforter? If He says,
I'm going to send you another comforter, or I'm going to ask
the Father to send you another comforter, one of the exact same
kind, of the exact same nature. If He's asking the Father for
another comforter, well, who's the first comforter? Well, the
Savior is. He is Himself the comforter.
And oh, how fitting then that he lived in Capernaum, the village
of comfort. Our Lord is the great comforter. He's the one who brings great
consolation to his people. And I got to looking at this.
In my mind and in my heart, it blessed me to think of our Savior
being a great comforter. And so I just ran some references
in the scripture that I'd like you to go with me. First of all,
go to the 23rd Psalm. Go to Psalm 23. He is the comforter. He lived in the village of comfort. And He is the original Comforter. Our brother read to us to begin
with of the God of all comfort. The God of consolation. And the
Savior, He is the Comforter. And He says, I'm going to send
you another Comforter. Or I'm going to ask the Father
to send you another Comforter. One who is like the Comforter
that you've already got. Not one who is different. But
one who is of the same essence, one who is the same sort of comforter. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. And we're going to be, the last
song this evening, we're going to be singing this psalm, so
I thought I would read part of this to you. Psalm 23, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. What is the reason why the people
of God don't want for anything? That is, we don't lack for anything. We don't lack for anything we
need. We don't lack for anything spiritually. We don't lack for
anything eternally. And really, we don't lack for
anything of this life. And what is the reason for that?
It's because the Lord is our Shepherd. It's because of who
the Shepherd is. The reason we don't lack for
forgiveness, the reason we don't lack for righteousness, the reason
we don't lack for salvation, the reason we don't lack for
life that doesn't ever end is because of the One who is our
Shepherd. The Lord is Jehovah. the unchanging God. He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Then He says,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Now listen to this.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. He's the comforter. And His rod
and His staff comforts His sheep. Listen, our shepherd provides
everything we need. He comforts us. What a consolation
that is to our souls. Everything that we need before
God, everything that we need as we face eternity, everything
we need spiritually, everything we need in this life, The Lord
will see to it, the Lord who is our shepherd, He will see
to it that all of His sheep are abundantly supplied. We may not
have all that we desire to have, but we have all that we need
in Christ Jesus. And He is our comforter. His
rod and His staff, they comfort me. That's what David says. The
rod and the staff, that protects the sheep. that fights off the
wolves, that guards these little lambs. David says, these are
my comfort. I have someone watching over
me. I have someone on the guard. I have someone who neither slumbers
nor sleeps. Well, who is that? He's the Lord. Who is He to you? He's my shepherd. He's my shepherd and He is my
comforter. The Lord says, I will ask the
Father, He'll send you another comforter, one likened to the
one that you've got right now. Well, who did they have right
then, those disciples? They had the same one that David
had. And guess what? The same one
that you have tonight. Because He's Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He'll never change. And as he
comforted his people thousands of years ago, so he's our comforter
today. You look around the world, there's
so much to make you anxious. And you look within, there's
nothing within you to make you happy. You say, how can I get
any comfort in this sinful world when I'm in it and there's evil
all around me? Where is comfort to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ? And if you can't be comforted
in Him, in His person, and in His work, and in His worth, and
in His blood, and in His righteousness, if you can't find comfort for
your poor soul in the Son of God, you just can't be comforted. Oh, He's the Comforter. How fitting
then that He grew up in Capernaum. That's the village of comfort.
the village of comfort. David said again, Psalm, you
don't have to turn to this, Psalm 119.50. This is my comfort in
my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me. When I'm afflicted,
when I'm afflicted, when I'm afflicted physically, when I'm
afflicted mentally, when I'm afflicted emotionally, Where
shall I get any comfort in this poor world? In remembering that
He has quickened me by His grace. He's made me alive. He didn't
leave me to myself. The Lord God of glory didn't
leave you in your deadness. He didn't leave you in your spiritual
lifeless state. He didn't leave you in the mire
and the muck of sin. He didn't leave you in the grave
of iniquity. He quickened you by His Spirit,
by His own grace. David said, that's my comfort.
When I'm afflicted, I'm comforted in knowing I'm a child of God. And nothing can change that.
No circumstance can alter that. And no matter how bleak things
may appear in this world, no matter how awful things may appear
to be in your own life, no matter how sick you may be, how low
you may be physically, listen, this ought to comfort you what
God in Christ Jesus has done for you. It made you alive. Hey, you're one of His Lazaruses.
David says, this is my comfort. You quicken me by Your Word.
You're one of His Lazaruses. He said to you, Lazarus, come
forth. And you came forth. You're alive
unto God today. It ought to comfort you. It ought
to comfort you. In Isaiah chapter 12 and verse
1, And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Isaiah 49,
13, Sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth, Break forth into singing,
O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted His people, and He
will have mercy on His afflicted. Isaiah 51 verse 3, For the Lord
shall comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places. He will
make her wilderness to be like Eden, and her desert like the
garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Oh, He gives
comfort. Isaiah 51 verse 12, I, even I,
God said, am He that comforteth you? He said, who art thou that
thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die? And of the Son
of Man that shall be as grass? No wonder He says in Isaiah 52
and verse 9, Break forth into joy, sing together. Ye waste
places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people.
He hath redeemed Jerusalem. He's redeemed you. He bought
you. God's law held you for ransom,
and justly so, because you were a sinner. But He has redeemed
you. Be comforted, O Zion. Be comforted! You're the Lord's. And He is
yours. Forever and forever. In Isaiah 61, 1-3, Messiah is
set forth. And this is fulfilled in Luke
chapter 4. But it says there in Isaiah 61
verse 2, He will come to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
the day of vengeance of our God, and He'll comfort all that mourn. He'll comfort you. He binds up the wounds. He pours
in the oil and the wine of the gospel. Oh, this is most fitting
that He came from Capernaum. The village of comfort. Go to
John chapter 14. John chapter 14 again. Look what
he says here in John 14, 18. John 14, 18. He says to his own,
I will not leave you comfortless. You know what that means? Fatherless. Literally, that's what it means.
I won't leave you as orphans. I'm not going to abandon you.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I will come
to you. I will come to you through my
Spirit. He gives comfort. Another reference. Look at Luke chapter 2. And I
just so enjoyed looking at this this morning. Again, Luke chapter
2. It's helped my poor soul and
I figured if that which helps my soul, it will help yours too. You are the people of God. Look
at Luke chapter 2 and you know this story of Simeon. Luke chapter
2 and verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
and he's waiting. What's he waiting for? He's waiting
for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death, Before he had seen the Lord's Christ, he came
by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then took he him up in his arms and he blessed God and said,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."
But the verse I want to point out to you is back up in verse
25. What's he waiting for? He's waiting
for the consolation of Israel. Literally, he's waiting for the
comforter. That's who he's waiting for.
He's waiting for the comforter. He's waiting for the same one
that Anna was looking for. Go look over in verse 38. This
is about Anna. Verse 38, when she came into
the temple in that instant, she gave thanks likewise unto the
Lord. She spake of Him to all them
that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And I've made mention
of this before and probably you've marked this, but the word waiting
in verse 25 and the word looked in verse 38 They are virtually
identical. I just drew a circle around both
of them and drew a line. It connects because the one that
Simeon is waiting for is the same one that Anna is looking
for. And Simeon is looking for him and Anna, she is waiting
for him. They are waiting and looking. They are waiting and
looking. Who are they waiting and looking for? They are waiting
for the comforter. They're waiting for the Comforter
to come. They're waiting for the consolation of Israel. And
the consolation of Israel is not something, it's somebody. Just like salvation is not something,
salvation is somebody. He took that little infant in
His arms, Simeon did, and he said, Lord, now I'm ready to
die. Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. I've seen Thy comforter. You've
sent Your comforter. You've sent the salvation of
sinners. And here He is in my arms. I've
seen Him. I rest in Him. I believe Him. I'm ready to go. And if you've
seen the Comforter, if you've seen Christ Jesus, if you've
looked to Him like Anna, and you've waited for Him like Simeon,
and you've seen Him with the eye of faith, now you're ready
to go. But if you hadn't seen Him, you're
not ready to go. You're not ready to see the Lord.
You're not ready to meet God unless you've seen Jesus Christ. Oh, Simeon, who are you waiting
for? Oh, I'm waiting for the consolation of Israel. Well,
what's that? He says, it's not a what, it's
a who. I'm waiting for somebody to console
me, to give me comfort, to give me comfort regarding my spiritual
condition before God. Somebody who will do something
about my sin problem. Somebody who will settle this
justice issue. I'm waiting for him. And here
he is. Here he is. He's the comforter. Oh, he waited and he waited,
but he didn't wait in vain. And Anna looked and she looked,
but she didn't look in vain. And I tell you, those who wait
for Christ Jesus, those who look for Christ Jesus, those who are
seeking Him in their souls, they're not going to be disappointed.
He says, I'll be found of those that seek Me. You search for
Me with all your heart, you'll find Me. That's what He said. Oh, He's the Comforter. We just
sang this past Sunday night and I had somebody send me an email
on this. Mentioned this song that we sang
Sunday evening. Who can cheer the heart like
Jesus? By His presence all divine, He's
true and tender, pure and precious. Oh, how blessed to call Him mine. That's comfort. That's comfort. Doctor comes to you and tells
you, you've got cancer and you've got 30 days to live. Or he tells you, you've got heart
disease and you better get your affairs in order. Where are you
going to get your comfort from? Well, there is an element of
comfort you get from having your family around you, but that's
not soul comfort. That's not soul comfort. Oh, to know that the Savior is
with you. That He abides with you always. To know that everything is right
between you and a holy God through the doing and the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And to bring you comfort in the
time of death. Go back over here to John chapter
14. I may not even get out of this.
But in John chapter 14, you know, our Lord, He is going to give
comfort to His disciples. In fact, a lot of people have
named John 14 as the chapter of consolation. It is the consolation
chapter. He says, don't let your heart
be troubled. Don't be agitated. You believe
in God, believe also in Me. These men, they were a troubled
group of men. They're troubled because the
Savior said, one of you is going to betray me. They're troubled
because the Savior said that the one that dips the sock with
me, dips the crust of bread in these bitter herbs and oil, that's
the one that's going to betray me. That just troubled them.
Look at verses 18 and 19 of chapter 13. Chapter 13, verse 18, I speak
not of you all. I know whom I've chosen, but
that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it
come that when it is come to pass, you'll believe that I am.
I remind you this, John is teaching us that Jesus of Nazareth is
God. And our Lord Jesus says, now
this is how it's going to happen. This is the way it's going to
go down. Somebody is going to dip, sop with me in the bowl
at the same time. That's when it's going to betray
me. I'm telling you ahead of time so that you'll know that
I am. I am. Notice that last word of
verse 19, he, that's italicized. He's saying, so that you'll know
that I am, that I'm Jehovah, that I'm God, that I know all
things. Well, they're troubled over this.
They're troubled because He said, one of them is going to betray
Him. This man will betray Him. And
then another disciple, He's going to deny Him. That's Simon Peter. Third reason they're troubled
is because He said, I'm going away. I'm going away. And that bothered them. So he
assures him in chapter 14, I'm going to send you another comforter.
Another comforter. Now I want you to go to another
reference with me, 1 John chapter 2. The book 1 John chapter 2. And I'll
tell you this, the word that we read in John 14 that he's
the great comforter. And he said, I'm going to send
another comforter. identical word as this word advocate. In fact, if you'll look at it
and you can read Strong's Concordance as good as I can, it's the same
word. He's a comforter, he's an advocate.
Look here in 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, My little children, these
things write I in you, that ye sin not, and if any man sin,
we have an advocate, we have a comforter. with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. He's still our comforter. You
see, oh, there's another comforter. That's the Holy Spirit. But our
Lord Jesus, He's still our comforter. And He comforts us from glory. In what way? As our advocate. As our go-between. As our lawyer. as one who presents the wounds
of His hands and His feet before the Father, and those wounds
themselves are sufficient evidence that He has paid the price for
our redemption and settled forevermore the sin question. He's our Advocate. His very presence before the
Father. It isn't as though He has to
argue the case. We know that's not the way it
is. And I've heard preachers say,
He's our advocate. He's petitioning the Father.
He's presenting the case before the Father as to why we shouldn't
be damned because of our sins. No, that's all been settled at
the cross. It's just His very presence in
glory. There's His advocacy. That's
all that's required. The resurrected Christ. He's
our advocate. And I will tell you this, within
this word advocate and also within the word comforter is the idea
of one who strengthens us. He strengthens us. Look up the
word and study it. He not only kind of calms the
anxious soul, He strengthens us. He builds us up. He helps us. We'll go back to
our text in John chapter 2. So here he is. He's in the village
of comfort. Here's the comforter. He's in
the village of comfort. And then he leaves there and
he goes to Jerusalem. Now, as you look through the
Gospel of John, you'll find that our Lord Jesus, during His public
ministry, He made four visits to Jerusalem to the Passover.
Four different separate... I can't get it out. Let me get
a drink of water. My throat gets dry. He went to
four different Passover's in Jerusalem during his public ministry. This is about six months after
his baptism. Which means, then he goes to
a Passover, a year goes by, another Passover, a year goes by, another
Passover, four of them, that means his ministry lasted about
three and a half years. That's how long his public ministry
lasted. So he goes to Jerusalem, And
he goes into, look at verse 14, he goes to the temple. Now you've
got to remember, this temple, it's an elaborate structure. It's not just a holy place and
a holy of holies. But there's also the inner court,
there's the outer court, there's the court of the women, there's
the court of the Gentiles, there's the buildings of the palace.
So this is a great big place. And it's got to be a great big
place because it's estimated that there were about a couple
of million Jews who came to Jerusalem for Passover time. There are
two million people that flooded into Jerusalem. That's what the
estimates are. Some estimates go as high as
a million and a half people. So there are lots, or two and
a half million people, so there are lots and lots of people filling
the streets of Jerusalem and crowding into the temple. They're
everywhere. They're there for the Passover.
They take an animal, they put it up on the tenth day of the
month, fourteenth day of the month, they kill it, they eat
the Passover lamb, Passover feast at night. So they're all there
for the Passover, commemorating the Passover. When God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And our Lord goes into the temple.
Hey, this is a fulfillment of the Malachi's prophecy in Malachi
chapter 3. That one you suddenly seek, he
shall suddenly come into the temple. This is our Lord Jesus. He goes in there, and here's
what he finds. Those that sold oxen and sheep
and doves and changers of money sitting. It's like a stockyard. It's like a stockyard. And there
are people exchanging money. First of all, they got foreign
currency. Those are from other nations,
Jews that are coming in. They got foreign currency. They've
got to get Jewish currency because every man's got to pay half a
shekel in Jewish money, right? So you've got to pay. That's
a tribute to the temple. So they're exchanging money and
then they've got all of these animals and they're stinking. You know what animals do. It's
like a barnyard. It's like a stockyard. Just thousands
and thousands and here are all these vendors. And these vendors,
they have their positions, you see, because they have been assured,
or they have assured the high priest that they will give him
a bigger cut of their profits. And the more that they guarantee
to the high priest, the better their vending position will be,
so that they can sell animals. We say, well, people can bring
their own animals, but you can read back what the historians
say, that because the high priest was so very, very corrupt, he
would tell the priest, that animal is not acceptable, you've got
to buy one of ours. So this is a big scheme, it's
a big profit-making thing. They're a bunch of religious
hucksters here. And they're all gathered in the
temple. And our Lord sees it. He sees all this merchandising
of things going on, exchanging of money. Those that changed
money, they of course got a fee for that. And they were charging
outrageous prices for sacrifices. In verse 15, he made a scourge
of small cords. Well, with all these animals,
there's going to be little cords all over the place. And he just
started picking them up and weaving them together deliberately. And he makes a whip. And then he drives them out of
the temple. the sheep and the oxen too. Then
he overturns the money changers' tables. He drove them out. I tell you, this is quite astounding
because there would have been thousands and thousands of people
here, and here's one man. This is not weak Sissy Jesus,
as he's set forth today. This is the man Christ Jesus. This is the God-man. And he makes
his whip. And he drives him out. Get out
of here! Get out of here, he says in verse
16. He says, you take these things
hence. Make not my father's house an
house of merchandise. And nobody else ever said my
father's house, except Christ Jesus. You won't read of any
apostle or any evangelist or any prophet ever saying, this
is my Father's house. No, these were the words of the
Savior Himself. And when He said, My Father's
house, they knew exactly what He meant. He's claiming to be
God. He said, you've made it a house
of merchandise. And He drove them out. He put
an end to it. And it's interesting, I'll give
you a couple more things and I'll quit, but this happened
at the beginning of his public ministry, virtually at the beginning
of his public ministry, and guess what, he cleansed the temple
again toward the end of his public ministry, two times, two times. But at the end, he says, This
is your house. Your house has become desolate.
He doesn't even call it the father's house anymore at the end. Do
you remember that passage? He didn't even call it the father's
house. He says your house has become desolate. Your house has
become empty. It's just nothing going on. It's
just your house. My father's gone. Father has
departed from this. So he drove them out. And then
verse 17. His disciples remember that it was written, the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. The zeal of thine house. I wish that we could be zealous for
God's glory and for the very cause of God and truth. We're zealous for so many things. We can get enthused. I thought about this today and
I just asked the Lord, Lord, make me zealous, zealous about
the things of God. I see our Savior. You talk about
an example of one who is zealous for God's glory. I want to be
like this. Don't you? I want to be like
this. I want the things of my God,
the things that magnify the Lord, the things that are vital, the
things that are really important. I want my life to be wrapped
up in these things and to work so much so that I wish there
was nothing else I could think about and nobody else I could
think about but Christ Jesus. That's impossible, you say. I
know it is in this life, but in the next life, that's exactly
the way it's going to be. We'll be zealous only for the
Lord, for His glory, for the things that magnify Him. May we have a righteous indignation
toward the religious hucksters of our day. There is a lot of
merchandising of men's souls going on all around us. To anybody that understands the
gospel, it just sickens you, doesn't it? It breaks your heart. Thank God His truth will prevail. It will continue. Let's be zealous
about this gospel and setting it forth. Alright, let's sing,
what is it? Number 293. And we'll sing Psalm
23.