Alright, let's go to Job chapter
21. Job chapter 21. There are 34
verses in this chapter. Much of it, well all of it is
Job's answer to this man named Zophar who had just spoken in
chapter 20. This man who had spoken very
harshly, very judgmentally, very legalistically to Job. This man
who, like his two friends, sought to comfort Job, but ended up
being a miserable comforter. And actually, in their efforts
to comfort Job, all three of them became a burden to Job.
They hurt him, hurt him deeply. And that's why I want to talk
about this issue of comfort. In fact, if you'll look at the
very last verse of chapter 21, Job concludes his answer by posing
this question to Zophar and to the other two, actually. And
he says this, he says, How then comfort ye me in vain? You're
seeking to comfort me, but it's vanity. Seeing in your answers,
that is, your advice, your surmisings, your opinions, your take on things,
there remaineth falsehood. and that means transgression
if you've got that in your concordance. It's a lie. And so what I want
to conclude tonight's message with, mainly talking about, is
that the comfort that only God can give. And we have it through
God's word. Now Job knows his friends have
not offered him any real substantial explanations for his suffering. This man who's suffering like
no other mere human being that I've ever read about. Instead,
his friends have really denied the mystery of suffering and
affliction. You know, we all wrestle with
that in our lives sometime or another. Why is there so much
suffering and affliction? Job's friends, their view of
justice. And they talk a lot about justice.
And that's okay. God is a just God. And when we
preach the gospel of God's grace in Christ, we preach the justice
of God. That's what that is. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. So we don't deny God's justice.
We're right with them on the fact that God is a just God. He always does right. His judgments
are always true. Never unfair. he never he never
uh... treats anyone in an unfair way
but their view of god's justice as they stated and as they apply
it really doesn't fit reality they speak about how every everyone
who is wicked is immediately and that's the implication they
give and that everyone who is wicked is immediately visited
with judgment here on this earth and everyone who is righteous
is immediately visited with blessing here on earth. And the point
is, number one, that's not true. And number two, they really don't
know the difference between the wicked and the righteous. What
is a wicked man in Scripture? What is a wicked person? In the
Bible, it's anybody who stands on their own without Christ.
That's a wicked person. Anyone who's ignorant of or not
submitted to Christ and his righteousness alone as the only ground of salvation
and and blessing and forgiveness and reward Who are the who are
the righteous in the script sinners saved by the grace of God that's
the righteous in the Word of God Those who stand in Christ
who rest in him and believe in him And Job's point here is there
are wicked people who flourish and righteous people who suffer
in this life, on this earth. Ultimately, that's not going
to be the case. Job's going to mention that. But in Job's answer
here in chapter 21, you can tell he's really tired of their accusations. It's almost like he's just flat
saying, I'm tired of it. So what he does, he appeals to
a higher court. He said, I'm not coming to man's
court on this issue. It's God that justifies. It's
God who tells the truth. And as I said, his friends, they're
right about God will punish all sin. He will reward good. But
they don't know the true standard, the reality of it. They don't
understand how God deals with the wicked and the righteous
in this life. Job sees that punishment for all sin For the righteous
will take place in the person of his Redeemer. And he expresses
his hope in his Redeemer, the coming Christ. And all who are
in him will be rewarded, not according to their works, but
according to his work, according to his grace. And Job knows the
real punishment of the wicked will come at the end of time,
in judgment, when men stand before God And what a horrible state
to be in, to stand before a holy and just God without Christ.
To stand there on your own, no matter who you are, no matter
what you've accomplished, no matter what you've done on this
earth, no matter how religious you've been, to stand before
a holy and just God without Christ. There's nothing more terrible
than that. Well, let's look at Job's answer
here. Verse 1, Job answered. He said, Hear diligently my speech,
and let this be your consolation. Let me comfort you. That's what
he said, turning the tables on him. You're trying to comfort
me, and you're doing nothing but making me miserable. Well,
let me speak, and I'll comfort you. And then he says, Verse
3, Suffer me that I may speak. Allow me to talk a little bit.
After that, I have spoken. Then mock on. Now, if you want
to mock after I've talked, then go ahead, mock on. That's what
they're doing, they mocked Job. Listen carefully, he said, bear
with me. And then if you want to mock,
then mock on. And then he says in verse 4, as for me is my complaint
to man. Now the complaint there, now
we know Job did complain, but the complaint in the scripture,
a lot of times the word complaint simply means I'm stating my case. I'm presenting my case or my
cause, like in a courtroom. But he said, as for me, is my
complaint to man? Am I trying to justify myself
before you? And he says, and if it were so,
why should not my spirit be troubled? In other words, if that were
the case, if that were the case, then I'd be up the creek without
a path. Verse 5, mark me. That means listen to me and be
astonished. Lay your hand upon your mouth.
Be silent. Even when I remember I'm afraid
and trembling takes hold on my flesh, when Job looks back on
what he has gone through, he says, I'm afraid. I don't know
what's coming next. Can it get any worse? Well, the
answer to that question is always, yes, it can. Isn't that right? I've heard people say that to
me. You know, they say, boy, it can't get any worse than my
life. Oh, yes, it can. We don't know how far down it
can go. But he says, look at verse 7
here. Here he starts making this case. And he says, now listen,
what you're saying is not true. The wicked do prosper in this
life. Not all of them, not all the
time, but they do prosper in this life. And the righteous,
God's people, God's elect people, His church, the redeemed ones,
the called out ones, they do suffer in this life. Not all
the time and not always, but they do. So listen to what He
says here. He says, Wherefore do the wicked
live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Doesn't that happen? Verse 8, Their seed is established
in their sight with them, that's their children. Their offspring
before their eyes, their houses are safe from fear, neither is
the rod of God upon them. There's no visible manifestation
of God's punishing them immediately. Why do the heathen prosper? Why
do the wicked prosper? We see that. Verse 10, their
bull gendereth and faileth none, and the cow cabbeth and casteth
not her calf. They've got plenty of livestock.
That was a great sign of wealth back then. You remember when
we opened up how many cattle and how many donkeys and things
that Job had? Verse 11, he says, they send
forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance.
They're having a party. They take the timbrel and the
harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Now that's not
a literal organ like David and Marty play over here. That's
a musical instrument. And he says in verse 13, they
spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave.
And what he's saying is that sometimes they go down easy.
In a moment. In other words, they don't linger
and suffer all the time. Now the way these three miserable
comforters have portrayed things, it's just the opposite. But that's
not so. Look at verse 14. And what he says here, the wicked...
Now think about this. Here's the point he's going to
make. And this is something we need to take notice of here.
The wicked sometimes prosper even though they deny God. And here we have one of the,
in these verses here, these next two verses, we have what I think
is one of the most vivid descriptions in the Bible of an unregenerate
heart. Listen to what he says here,
verse 14. Therefore they say unto God, depart from us. What's that mean? That means
they're saying to God, we don't want anything to do with you. Now that kind of, you know, somebody
might say that and we might make a statement and say, oh, you
better don't go near him, the ground may open up and swallow
him. Job's point is that doesn't happen. It may happen sometimes. I can take you to the book of
Acts and tell you about a husband and wife, Ananias and Sapphira,
who tried to cheat and lie their way into the church and God struck
them both dead. But that doesn't always happen.
In fact, from what I can see and from what I read in the scripture,
that's a rare thing. But here's what he's saying.
Depart from us. He says, listen to this verse 14. For we desire
not the knowledge of thy ways. We don't want anything to do
with God's ways. God's way of holiness. God's way of justice. God's way of right. God's way
of mercy. God's way of grace. God's way
of salvation. Remember in Romans chapter 3
it says they've all gone their own way. They're out of the way.
Isaiah 53 says that. We've all gone our own way. Don't
want anything to do with God's way. And he says in verse 15,
what is the Almighty that we should serve Him? Who is God
that we should serve Him? Somebody said, well, He's the
one who gave you the next breath you take. Who is God that we
may serve Him? And what profit should we have
if we pray unto Him? Now, isn't that something? What
am I going to get out of it? That's the legalistic, self-righteous
nature of fallen, unregenerate man, right there. State it out. And you know, the thing about
this is sometimes this is stated in words by people, but more
often than not, it's stated in their attitude. People who go
about this life, living their daily lives, and just not even
giving God a thought. That happens, doesn't it? Should
I worship God? Who is God that I should worship
Him? He's the Creator. He's the one
that put you on this earth. He's the one that gave you the
mind, the brain that you've got, the muscles that you've got,
He's the one who put you where you are. If you've got a good
job, He's the one who gave it to you. Oh, I know you worked
hard for it, and that's fine, but you wouldn't have been able
to work hard for it if He hadn't given you life and power to do
so. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from God, cometh down from the Father of lives. And as I said,
the next breath we take. And look at verse 16, Job says,
Lo, their good is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked
is far from me. You know what he's saying there?
He's saying the good that they have did not come to them by
their own goodness or their own power or their own works. It's
still a gift from God. That's the way it is, folks. You work hard to earn that paycheck. You work hard to take care of
your family. And there's a sense from your
employers and from people you work for, you earn it. But I
want to tell you something. Ultimately, it's still a gift
from God. Because He can take it away just
like that. Every opportunity you've had... And here's what
Job is saying. He said, the counsel of the wicked
is far from me. He said, this is not the way
I'm talking. Job is saying, this is not the way I think. You see,
and even God said that. Job's no hypocrite there. God
said it. Remember how God described Job at the first of the book?
He's an upright man. He's a righteous man. He's a
just man. He fears God, and he escheweth evil. That is, he runs
from evil, fights evil. So Job is just simply saying
that the way that they go, that's not the way I go. And we know
that's by the grace of God that Job doesn't go. Listen, if we
don't go this way here that's described in verses 14 and 15,
it's all owing to the grace and mercy of God. By the grace of
God, we are what we are. But look at verse 17. Now from
here, Oh, and he accuses them of trying to tell God how things
are, how He's got to do things. Look at verse 17. He said, How
oft is the candle the wicked put out? How oft cometh their
destruction upon them? God distributeth sorrows in His
anger. That's His wrath. They are as
stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carryeth
away. God layeth up His iniquity for
His children. And that means the punishment
that He dishes out for their iniquity. He rewardeth him, and
he shall know it. He said, His eyes shall see his
destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
It was common for many of them to conjure up these notions. Well, if you were a wicked man,
if God doesn't get you, He's going to get your kids. They'd
say that. And what Job is saying here,
you don't know that. You don't have the wisdom to
make such a judgment like that. Look at verse 21, he says, For
what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number
of his month is cut off in the midst? So you see the wicked,
they come, they go. But look at verse 22, Shall any
teach God knowledge? He's asking these three men,
Are you trying to tell God how it is? Are you trying to teach
God the way it is, seeing He judges those that are high? Literally,
what that means is God, in His judgments, they're always high
above us. They're always high above us.
We can't explain it all. We can't wrap our minds around
it all. God is God. And I've told you
a story about the fellow who spent his lifetime studying religion. And the only thing he come to,
he come to, he said, of all my studies and all my pilgrimages
and all my prayers and all my attempts to get to know God,
he said, I only know two things. And he said, here they are. There
is a God and I ain't him. That's pitiful, isn't it? Well,
there is a God. And what a God he is. And we
ain't him. And my friend, he has his way.
Look at verse 23. And what Job is saying from here
now, he says, the things that befall the wicked are not exclusive
to them alone, it happens to all alike. He says, one dieth
in his full strength, being holy at ease and quiet, even the wicked. They don't always die in agony
and shame and, you know, many of the wicked lay down their
heads to die saying this, I know I'll wake up in heaven. They'll
save that. He says, verse 24, his breasts
are full of milk, his bones are moistened with marrow. 25, he says, and another dieth
in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure.
Now here's another one who dies in bitterness. They shall lie
down alike in the dust and the worm shall cover them, both.
Here's one who dies quietly in peace. Here's one who dies in
agony. They're all both alike. They're
going to lie down, and the worms are going to destroy them. Verse
27, Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully
imagine against me. There are accusations against
Job. For you say, Where is the house of the prince, and where
are the dwelling places of the wicked? And what they're saying
there is this. Look at Job. Now let's look at
Job. Where's the house of the prince there? You know, the greatest
man of the East. Where's his house now? It's gone.
Where's he live now? On the dunghill. on the rubbish
heap outside the city of us. And then where is the dwelling
places of the wicked? Verse 29, have you not asked
them that go by the way? And do you not know their tokens?
You know what he's referring to? There's people who travel
a lot. What do they see when they go out and see the world?
Now they don't see what these three miserable comforting friends
had described. He says in verse 30, here's what
they see, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction,
they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. When will the
wicked get their just desserts? At the end, in judgment day. And that's true for any sinner.
who is not found at the judgment in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness." That's right. No matter who they
are, what they've done. Verse 31, "...who shall declare
His way to His face, and who shall repay Him what He hath
done?" Who's going to exact this justice? Well, God is. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord. Verse 32, Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and
shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall
be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as
there are innumerable before him. It's the same way with all
the wicked. That's the way it is. So he concludes
in verse 34, How then, comforting me in vain. Everything you say,
It's vanity. Seeing in your answers there
remaineth falsehood. It's a lie. It's a lie. The true
and just punishment of the wicked will take place at judgment.
And here's Job, suffering like he's suffering. And yet God says
he's a justified sinner. A sinner saved by grace. God
says he's a righteous man. And yet still he suffers. And
the words of his friends don't help. They hurt. They don't heal.
They bring about more hurt. They cannot explain God's dealings
with men on this earth and they cannot comfort Job because their
comfort is nothing but vanity and lies. You know, we talk about
this word comfort. And so much can be discovered
of our own hearts. when we consider what brings
us comfort? What brings us peace? What brings
us assurance? What brings us a real sense of
security? We need to ask those questions
when we do our self-examination. You know, the Bible says, examine
yourself, see whether you be in the faith. The first thing
I want you to notice, there is the comfort of the wicked. Job
had talked about that. He said that some of them are
laid down in quietness. They're laid down in security.
But their comfort, where is their comfort? Where is their peace? Where is their salvation? Where
is my salvation? Their comfort is in themselves. Their comfort is in a refuge
of lies that gives them false hopes and false peace. turn to
the book of isaiah chapter twenty eight we show you an example
of it and let me show you how in this in this chapter how that
how the lord is going to deal with that isaiah twenty eight
you see salvation by the works and wills of men can only comfort
and unregenerate self-righteous person that's right Look at verse
14 of Isaiah 28. He says, Wherefore, hear the
word of the Lord, you scornful men. Now, what were they scorning?
They were scorning the worship of God, the way that God had
prescribed around the temple. He says, That rule this people
which is in Jerusalem, because you've said, We've made a covenant
with death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge, that is the wrath of God, shall pass through, It shall
not come unto us, for we have made lies our refuge." Now they're
not openly saying we've made lies our refuge, but he's exposing
them through the prophet. This is what they're really doing.
And he says, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now that's
what Job is telling his three friends. Now look at verse...
In other words, their peace and their safety and their comfort
was a refuge, a security of lies and vanity. Now, when God sweeps
all that away, how does He do it? Look at verse 16. He says,
Therefore thus saith the Lord, Go behold, I lay in Zion. Zion is an Old Testament picture
symbol of the church. For a foundation, a stone, a
tested stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. You all recognize that language?
It's quoted in the New Testament several times, specifically Romans
chapter 9. It says, He that believeth shall
not make haste. Who is this foundation stone? Who is this tested stone? Who is this chief cornerstone?
That's Christ. And look at what he says in verse
17. Judgment also will I lay to the line. God's judgment.
I'm going to drop it like a plumb line. And righteousness to the
plummet. What Paul write in Acts 17 and
verse 31, that God has appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
and that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead. This righteousness, this righteous
standard is Christ. And he says, and the hail shall
sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters shall overflow
the hiding place. God's going to judge them in
righteousness by Christ. And if you don't measure up to
Christ, what's going to happen? The waters shall overflow the
hiding place. Your refuge of lies will be taken
away. Verse 18, your covenant with
death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall
not stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then shall you be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth,
it shall take you that's defeat you for morning by morning shall
it pass over by day and by night and it shall be a vexation only
to understand the report it'll be a trouble just to understand
what's going on but look at verse 20 he says for the bed is shorter
than a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrow
and he can wrap himself in it you know what that's saying he
won't be comforted You ever try to sleep on a bed that's too
small for you? You ever try to cover yourself
up with a cover that's too short and won't cover you? It's not
very comfortable, is it? Not very peaceful sleep. And that's what he's saying.
The only way that a sinner can escape the overflowing scourge
of the wrath of God is to be found in Christ, not having mine
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith Christ the faith the righteousness of God which is
by faith look over a few pages at Isaiah chapter 30 Look at verse 8 here again the
Prophet speaks to the same people and he says now go write it before
them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the
time to come forever and ever that this is a rebellious people,
lying children, children that will not hear the law of the
Lord. Now, you remember what Job said
about the wicked. He said, well, we don't want
to hear God's ways. We don't want to hear God's Word. He says
in verse 10 of Isaiah 30, we say to the seers, that's their
prophets, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us
right things, speak unto us smooth things. prophesied to say, tell
us what we want to hear. Now isn't that what most preachers
are doing today? Now you think about it. Not telling
people what they need to hear concerning God who is holy and
just, concerning the sinfulness of man, concerning the one way
of salvation. Preachers are engaged in the
power of positive thinking, moralistic preaching, illustrations, entertainment. But anything about telling the
one way of salvation for sinners by in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what people want to
hear. Speak unto us smooth things. Things that make us comfortable
in our refuge of lies. Prophesy deceits. Get you out
of the way. Turn us out of the path. Cause
the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Same thing that
Job described over here. They said, depart from us, God,
for we desire not the knowledge of God. You see, the wicked find
no comfort in the true Word of God. Look over at John chapter
3. There's no comfort for the wicked
in the true preaching of the Word of God, the Gospel. of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. The preaching of Christ and Him
crucified. Oh, I know. They'll find some
comfort in this false Christ, this sentimental Jesus, who's
trying to save everybody if they'll just let Him. No, no, but the
true Christ of the Bible listen to John chapter 3 in verse 19
Christ said this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men loved darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil You see their deeds there refers to their works
aimed at saving themselves aimed at making themselves righteous
aimed at earning the favor of God the blessings of God the
preaching of the gospel of christ and salvation conditioned on
him alone salvation by his blood and righteousness alone will
not make a way for man's works to enter the picture in order
to gain or maintain salvation it totally excludes the works
of man as earning anything from god by way of salvation and blessings
it in other words it leaves you with no hope But Christ and him
crucified, nothing added, nothing taken away. The God-man mediator
and his righteousness alone or nothing else. If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ died in vain. That's what the
scripture says. And so their deeds are evil.
And he says in verse 20, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth
the light. In other words, he's not comforted
by the light. The light is Christ. The light is the gospel. Neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved, that
is, exposed for what they are. But he says in verse 21, but
he that doeth truth. What is it to do truth? I like
that phrase. It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and follow Him. It's to feed upon Him. It's to
rest in Him. It's to plead His blood in righteousness.
It's to see Him as your surety, as your mediator, as your high
priest, the Lamb of God. So all he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. They're the work of God. Fruit
unto God. These are the issues. that God's
people find comfort in. And the comfort of the wicked,
let me just read you some scripture, you don't have to turn to all
these, I just want to show you a few. The comfort that the wicked
find will not last. Jeremiah had to deal so many
times with false preachers in his day, false prophets. And
here's what he said about them, Jeremiah 5 31, the prophets prophesy
falsely, just like Job's three friends. And the priests bear
rule by their means. In other words, they go their
way, not God's way. And my people love to have it so, he said.
And what will you do in the end thereof? That's going to be a
short-lived peace. Jeremiah 6 13 he says for from
the least of them even to the greatest of them one is given
to covetousness and from the prophet even unto the priest
everyone dealeth falsely and listen to this in verse 14 Jeremiah
6 14 he says they have healed also the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly and how did they do it saying peace peace
when there is no peace now everybody wants to hear peace peace But
the worst thing that can happen to any of us is to hear peace,
peace, when there is no peace. Where do I find peace with God?
Through the blood of the crucified God-man. That's it. Well, what
comforts you? What comforts me? Some people
are like the five foolish virgins. Remember the parable of the five
foolish virgins? They're comforted, they're satisfied
with a nominal Christianity. Some are satisfied with their
experiences, their works, their dreams, their visions, even the
opinions of men. They don't care what the Word
of God says, it's what some preacher says, or what mama and daddy
says. What comforts you? Well, there is the comfort of
the righteous. Where did Job find his comfort? when he spoke
to these men, he said, How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing
in your answers there remaineth falsehood? You're not telling
the truth. Where did Job find his comfort?
Well, he said it back in Job 19 and verse 25. Here's Job's comfort. He said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the... Job had no comfort in this life.
This righteous man This sinner saved by God's grace. This one
who is totally washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, slain
before the foundation of the world. This one who stands in
the righteousness of God in Christ, imputed to him. Whose record
is clear in heaven. Remember he mentioned that earlier?
My record is in heaven. And what does that record say?
Justified in Christ. Justified by His blood. This
child of God This one whom God loves, he said, I have no comfort
on this earth. And he didn't. He literally did
have no comfort on this earth. You know, today, we have some
comforts, don't we, that we enjoy. What if they were all gone? Where
would we find our comfort? Job had all his comforts in this
life, physically, even emotionally, maybe even mentally, They were
gone! But where did he find hope? I
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. That's where his comfort was.
Job knew that he would see that Redeemer with the eyes of a resurrected
body. Where do we find comfort? Only
in Christ. by the gospel, by the word of
God. You know, when God brings a sinner to conviction, when
the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner, and I've heard people say this,
you know, they'll look at people and they'll say, I used to have
a fellow down in Albany who'd do this all the time. Somebody'd
come in and they'd look kind of downcast a little bit and
he'd say, I believe the Holy Spirit's dealing with that fellow.
And I would always say, well, I hope he is. I hope he is. Well, how do you know if the
Holy Spirit brings a sinner to conviction? I'll tell you how. It was stated over in Proverbs
chapter 30 that I read at the opening. And you heard, you remember
what he said there. When he's talking about how he
did a lot of searching, this man named Agar, We don't know
who he is. You know what the word Agur,
the name Agur means is inquirer. He's like a seeker. Some say
that's just Solomon giving himself another name there. Maybe. He called himself the preacher
in Ecclesiastes, didn't he? He sought. He said, in all his
seeking, here's how he found it out. He says in verse 2 of
chapter 30, I'm more brutish than any man. I'm the worst of
the worst. He's like a publican. God be merciful to me, the sinner.
I'm not even the understanding of a man. I neither learn wisdom
nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended to heaven? Who has descended? You remember
Paul quotes that in Romans chapter 10. Well, here's the answer. Here's
the answer. When God brings a sinner to conviction,
here's what that sinner learns, verse 5. Every word of God is
pure. It's not vain. It's not a lie.
God is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. There it is. Now, that's what
Job's doing by the grace of God. And he said, Add thou not unto
his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians
1 and verse 3. He said, Blessed be the God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,
and the God of all comfort. Where are you going to get your
comfort from? Where are you going to find salvation? Where are
you going to find peace? Where are you going to find assurance
and security? If you've been convicted by the
power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth you won't be able to
find any of those things in yourself in your works in your activities
in your baptism in whatever happened to you when you were twelve or
whatever you'll only be able to find those things in Christ
and Him crucified God who comfort us in our tribulation, that we
may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by
Christ. I'm consoled by Christ and what
he accomplished for me on Calvary to put away my sins and make
me righteous. Isaiah 32, 17, listen to this,
the work of righteousness shall be peace. Well, where are we
going to find the work of righteousness? Is it in our attempts to obey
God? Is that where we find the work
of righteousness? Oh, no. The work of righteousness
can only be found at the cross. The obedience unto death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the work of righteousness
shall be peace. Peace is made by the blood of
the cross. Colossians chapter 1. And the
effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever. And he
says, And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and
in sure dwellings, and in quiet places. And you know that famous
passage in Isaiah chapter 40. In verse 1 it says, Comfort ye.
Comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably. Literally,
that means speak to their hearts. Because that's the peace of God
which passes understanding. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received double of the Lord's hand, double
for all her sins. How's that happen? By the grace
of God in Christ. To the convicted sinner who knows
the holiness of God as God has revealed it, like Isaiah, holy,
holy, holy, high and lifted up. To the convicted sinner who knows
his sin and his depravity and his impotence, Christ's death
is the only thing that can conquer our death. He who arose from
the dead and justified His people. My sin and my filth can only
be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. The waters of baptism won't
do it. The tears of remorse won't do
it. The prayers of the greatest of God's saints won't do it.
Only the blood of Christ will give me comfort to wash away
my sins. My nakedness before a holy God
I cannot find any comfort in fig leaf aprons of religion,
of man's best efforts. My nakedness can only be covered
by the righteousness of Christ imputed, accounted, charged to
me. That's where I find my comfort.
My thirst, my soul thirst, my thirst for knowledge, my thirst
for understanding, my thirst for rest can only be quenched
by the water of life. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
My hunger can only be filled by the bread of life. No other
filling anywhere. My sorrow can only be relieved
by the joy of Christ. My despair can only be tempered
by the hope that I find in Christ. Nowhere else. Nothing else added. Nothing taken away. My comfort
is in Him. That's the convicted sinner.
David wrote, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death." Here's Job. He's walking through the valley
of the shadow of death, isn't he? He's walking so far into
the valley of the shadow of death, he prays for death. But he says,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy
staff, that's the shepherd's tools that guides and keeps and
protects his sheep. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me." Nothing else will do. All right. We're going to sing
number 355 as our closing hymn.