Now, let's open our Bibles to
the book of Ecclesiastes chapter four. Ecclesiastes chapter four. Now, the title of the message
is in the form of a question. A question that many of you already
know the answer to, but I want us to study it in God's word.
And really, it's shown by the process of elimination in Ecclesiastes
chapter 4. And that question, which entitles
this message, is this, where can we find comfort? Where can we find comfort? We're all looking for comfort.
And the wise man, the preacher, Solomon, he begins in chapter
4 and verse 1, By continuing his thought that he began in
chapter 3 about the oppression and injustices that are done
in this world, especially to God's people. Suffering, persecution,
we don't know a whole lot about that today. We know something
about it because every child of God suffers trouble, trials,
persecutions in some form to some degree or another. When
we identify with Christ and his people and his truth, the light
of the gospel that exposes us for what we are and exposes all
false refuges and leaves us with no hope of salvation, and eternal
glory, but in Christ and Him crucified and risen again, that's
the light that men by nature hate. Read about that in John
chapter 3, verses 19 and 20. It exposes that our deeds are
evil. Our best efforts to save ourselves
are evil. Salvation is by grace, through
the deeds of another, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
death on the cross, His burial and resurrection, His blood and
righteousness, that's our only hope. And the gospel excludes
every other hope, every other foundation, every other ground.
And if you have any other hope, any other ground, then the gospel
exposes you to be lost. And that's what men and women
by nature don't want. That's why it was so offensive
when the Lord stood in the Sermon on the Mount and He said, Accept
your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, the best, most religious, most moral men
and women on earth. The most sincere, he says, you
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. And so that message
and that testimony and that identification brings persecution in some form.
And as I said, we don't know a whole lot about that in our
day because we were blessed now. I mean, we are blessed to live
in this country in this day. I know people long for the I've
heard people say, well, I wish I could live back in Moses's
day. You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking
about. I'm telling you now, I mean, or I wish I lived back in Paul's
day. Paul spent a lot of time on the
run from people who were trying to kill him. Spent a lot of time
in jail, didn't he, brother? Wrote the prison epistles, which
are full of comfort, because it points us to Christ from jail.
He was in bonds. He was whipped. He was threatened.
You want to live like that? Man, we complain if we stump
our big toe. You want to be on the run from
the law? You want a law to be passed in our land right now
that outlaws us meeting together here and worshiping God as He,
by His Spirit, leads us? Is that what you want? I don't
want that. The Lord delivers from that. I thank God we live in a free
country where right now we're enabled to worship God. without
the hindrance of the civil authorities, and that kind of opposition.
But it wasn't always so. The wise man Solomon, he spoke
about this, about the seat of judgment, when he spoke in chapter
3 there, in verse 17, look at it, he said, I sent in my heart
God shall, or verse 16 rather, moreover I saw under the sun
the place of judgment. The wickedness was there in the
place of righteousness, that iniquity was there in the place
where men ought to get justice. That's what he's talking about.
And certainly that was true of God's people in the days of great
persecution. And as I said, we don't know
much about that, but we know something. We know there is a
persecution. And so he continues, listen to
verse one, I want to read through this and then I want to come
back and major on these first three verses. He says in verse
one of chapter four, he says, so I returned and considered
all the oppressions that are done under the sun. Think about
all the injustices, all the oppression, that word oppression. It means
trouble. It means affliction. It means
persecution, all the trouble done under the sun, all oppressions.
And again, especially to God's people. Now, everybody suffers
oppression in some form or another, every person who's downtrodden,
but especially to God's people, sinners saved by the grace of
God. And he said, and behold, the tears of such as were oppressed. And here's the key that he says,
he says, and they had no comforter. They had no comforter. What a
miserable, miserable state to be in. To be oppressed is bad
enough. But to be oppressed and have
no comforter, that's double damn, didn't it? And notice here now,
he says, under the sun. You know that phrase, under the
sun, in the book of Ecclesiastes, what he's doing is he's giving
us a view of reality here on this earth, this fallen, sin-cursed,
ruined earth. Fallen humanity. Humanity without
God, without Christ. Under the sun, you say. There's
no comfort here on this earth. And I want to show you something
now. Somebody says, well, I see a lot of people. They look very
comfortable for a little while, but it won't last. They really
don't have any comforter. They may have moments of some
physical and even mental comfort, emotional, but it will not last. So in reality, they have no comforter.
He goes on, he says, and they had no comforter. And on the
side of their oppressor, there was power. that they had no comforter. The oppressors seem to have it
all in control now. They're winning. And we have
no comforter. Verse 2, wherefore I praise the
dead which were already dead more than the living which are
yet alive. We'll see two applications of that one. But I think about,
when I read this, I know Solomon, what he's doing in giving us
a view of this sin, curse, fallen earth. What he's showing here
is this. He said, without a comforter,
without Christ, we're better off dead. And he goes further,
verse 3, Yea, better is he than both they which have not yet
been. who have not seen the evil work
that is done under the sun. In fact, it would have been even
better if we had never been born. That's what he's saying. What
a sad, sad, pessimistic outlook on life. But you see, without
a comforter, that's all there is. But I'll tell you what I
thought of when I read that verse, too. The first thing I thought
of is those who are dead in Christ, those who died in the Lord. And
I'll tell you what, they are better off, aren't they? And
even we here on earth who have the Comforter, Christ Jesus.
But now what he does here, now that's the misery of oppression
and the need of a Comforter. Then he goes on, now in the rest
of this chapter, he's going to show that there's really no comfort
in our labors. Now when you think about oppression,
you know, people People, you know, you look at the news, you
read the newspapers, and you see all kinds of bad news. I
mean, you know, somebody said, what's that song they sing on
Hee Haw? If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
Well, we don't believe in luck, obviously. But it's like if there
weren't no bad news, there'd be no news at all, and that's
all they they report. And so, somebody's answer may
be, well, I'll tell you what I'll do about all that. I'll
just click off the TV and I won't take the newspaper and I won't
have to think about it. And I'll be busy just doing my
thing. And what Solomon, I believe,
is showing here by the process of elimination is really, you
may be able to put it out of your mind for a while, but you're
going to come face to face with it sooner or later. There's no
comfort in our labors You can work yourself to death and not
even think about the injustices and the oppressions that happen
on this earth. Put it out of your mind until
you have to face them personally. But there's no real comfort.
There may be some kind of a temporary span of time there where you
can just go on about your business. And that's what most people today.
You think about a lot of people today. They don't go around thinking
about heaven or hell or judgment. They've got things to do. They've
got families to raise. They've got jobs to go to. They've
got money to make. And really, that's their temporary
comfort, see? It's just the busyness. And that's
what he's saying here. Look at verse 4. He says again.
And what he's saying is there's no comfort in our labors. There's
only, in reality, only sin. And he says in verse 4, he says,
again, I consider it all travail. That's hard work. Hard labor. And every right work, rightness
of work, not necessarily working in the sense that you're doing
something wrong. You take a man who goes out and works the job
all week to support his family, that's a right work now. In fact,
the Bible says that the man who's able but won't work and feed
his family is worse than the infidel. So he's not promoting
laziness here and throwing up your hands, you see. In fact,
the Bible says it again. He says those who don't work,
that are able, they don't eat. There's no welfare system here. He says every right work. He
says that for this, a man is envied of his neighbor. And this
is also vanity and vexation of spirit. Now, what's he talking
about? Well, why are you working? Somebody says, well, if we don't
work, we don't eat. But I guarantee you, And we know
something about this here in this country now. Everybody that
works and works hard, you're not just working just for meager
subsistence. Isn't that right? We want better. We want more. More and more and
more and more and more. And where does it end? It really
doesn't have much of an end, does it? And when he says, what
he's saying here is that for this a man is envied of his neighbor.
You know what that's talking about still? Keeping up with
the Joneses theory. Oh, Jones over there has two
cars, I've got to have two. He's got a boat, I've got to
have a boat. He's got a big house, I've got to have, that's the
kind. And what he's showing here is the motive that natural man
has to work and to labor. It's because he envies his neighbor.
And really what it is, is greed. It's great. In other words, we
just can't be content. It's like the reporter that was
interviewing Howard Hughes one time, because Mr. Hughes was
buying up everything he could buy in Las Vegas. And he asked
him, he said, Mr. Hughes, why do you want so much?
And Mr. Hughes said, I don't want that
much, just what's next to mine. If it's next to mine, I got to
buy it. Well, that goes on and on and on. He envied his neighbor. He wanted to be known as the
richest man in the world. And you think about his state
when he died. A recluse. Long hair, long fingernails,
half out of his mind. There's no comfort in all that.
You can have all you want. The biggest bank account. It's
just envy. Envy your neighbor. And he says,
now look here, he says in verse 5, the fool foldeth his hands
together and eateth his own flesh. Now he's talking about the person
who says, well then I just won't work at all. No. All you're going
to do is consume yourself. No labor. He says in verse 6,
better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full with
travail and vexation of spirit. What he's talking about here
is we need to learn to be content. And I want to tell you something,
now that takes the work of God's grace. The Bible talks about
godliness with contentment. Well, there's no godliness apart
from the grace of God in Christ. All there is is ungodliness,
from the best to the worst. And we need to learn to be content
with what we have. But you know, I thought about
this too. This is something, you know. You know this motive
here, to get more. This envy, that's what that is.
You know, that's what most people equate with Christianity. I mean,
why would you obey? I heard a fellow on TV say this
one time. He said, he said, now, if you can't get more rewards
in heaven than somebody else, then why work harder than them?
Why obey more than them? Right here, that is. Man's envy. You mean I'm to obey God better
than you because I want more than you in heaven? I want a
bigger mansion than you have in heaven, James. So I'm going
to work harder. I'm going to worship more. I'm
going to be here every time the doors open so I can get more
than you all in heaven. I'm going to preach more sermons.
Well, my friend, that's the motive under the sun. That's the evil,
wicked, envious, greedy motive under the sun. Turn over to Romans
chapter 7. I want to show you something here. Is there any comfort in that? You mean you're serving God,
trying to see what you can get out of Him? Now that's not a child of God. You know what that is? That's
a hireling. That's a mercenary. I think about in John chapter
10 when he talks about the false shepherd as hirelings. They flee.
Is there comfort in that? Do you find comfort in that?
I'll tell you if you do. I'm going to tell you, if you
find any comfort there, you don't find it in Christ, you find it
in yourself. You find it in your works. Look
at what I've done. Look at what I've earned. Look
at what I deserve. That's not Christianity. That's
not the Gospel. That's not grace. You're working
a job. You're not serving your Heavenly
Father. Isn't that right? Look here at Romans chapter 7
and look at verse 4. He says, wherefore, my brethren,
you are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now,
to be dead to the law is to be justified before God. It means
to be not guilty according to the law. It means that you no
longer owe a debt to God's law and justice. Your debt's paid.
It means the law has nothing against you by way of condemnation
and sentencing. The law exonerates you. It means
you're righteous before God. Now, how did you become so if
you are? Look here. By your works and
your labors or working harder? No. By the body of Christ. What is that body of Christ?
That's His humanity given in death on behalf of His sheep. That's the death of Christ. This
is my body which is broken for you. This is my blood which is
shed for you, He said. How did I become dead to the
law? How was my debt to the law paid? It didn't have anything
to do with my works, my efforts. It didn't have anything to do
with the fact that I want more than you in heaven. It had to
do with the work, the finished work of Christ on the cross.
That's what it had to do with. Alone. My efforts have nothing
to do with this. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in His sight. What's the result of that? So
that you can work harder and get more than me in heaven? Or
I can work harder and get more? No, he says, in order that you
should be married to another, married to Christ, even him who
is raised from the dead. Now listen to this, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Now that's the obedience of a
sinner saved by grace. It's not out of envy or greed
or selfishness. Not trying to earn God's favor
and blessings. It's because of God's free, sovereign
mercy and grace in Christ. We're not fruit producers, we're
fruit bearers. Christ is the vine, we're the
branches. The life's in the vine and it comes from the vine through
the branches and we bear fruit, the fruit of grace. We serve
God. Look in verse 5. Now look here.
He says, "...for when we were in the flesh," now that means
before we were born again, when we were unbelievers, ungodly. He says, "...the motions," literally
the passions, "...of sins, which were by the law, did work in
our members to bring forth fruit unto death." Now, there's two
ways that you can see an unbeliever in the passions of sins bringing
forth this fruit unto death, that's by the law. In other words,
and it's one of two ways, it's either an abject rebellion against
God's law. In other words, here's a person
who is just so rebellious that when you say no, he has to say
yes. When you say yes, he has to say
no. In other words, it's like those
who just have to break the law. They don't have no respect to
God's law or the laws of society. They're just out and out rebels.
That's one way. They bring forth fruit unto death
because all sin deserves death. But there's another way. That
the motions of sins, the passions of sins which are by the law
bring forth fruit unto death. And I want you to think about
somebody, Saul of Tarsus. You know who Saul of Tarsus was?
That's who Paul the Apostle was before God saved him. What was
he? He was a religious man. He was a moral man. He was one
who was sincerely trying to do his best to worship and serve
the living God, trying to establish a righteousness of his own, trying
to earn God's favor. That's fruit unto death too.
You see what I'm saying? And so he goes on, verse 6, look
at this, but now we're delivered from the law. We don't owe that
debt anymore. We owe no legal debt to the law.
That being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve, serve
God. Now listen, in newness of spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter. The oldness of the letter
is a sinner trying to be religious and moral, seeking to earn God's
favor and blessings. The newness of spirit is the
spirit of grace and love and gratitude. It's the service of
a willing, loving bond slave. You see that? Now go back to
Ecclesiastes, chapter 4. You see, Christianity is not
serving God for pay. Christianity is serving God because
the price has already been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so what the wise man is showing here is, look, you see people
working hard here in this life, what's it for? For pay. Now,
there's nothing wrong with that in this life. I mean, you go
out and work a job, you deserve to be paid. But my friend, your
relationship with God is a different matter altogether. And you know
why? Because God is holy and we're sinners. And God never
puts Himself in a place where He owes a debt to His people. The debt's been paid by Christ.
That's the Gospel. The Gospel is not do and live. The gospel is live by the power
and grace of God and do in grace and gratitude and love. Somebody
said, well, why do you serve God then if you're not going
to get paid for it? Well, how about this? Because
it's right to serve God. Because he deserves to be served.
Because he's God. Now, there's a concept that you
don't find under the sun. You only find it in the sun.
S-O-N. Now look at verse 7. He goes
on, he speaks of greed for self. He says in verse 7, then I returned
and I saw vanity under the sun. There's one alone. Somebody says,
well, you know, I can't get along with anybody. They all disappoint
me. They're all oppressors. I'll just work for myself. I'll
just be alone. I'll be an island. Used to hear
a song back in the, I think it was in the 60s, where the fella,
he got up at a concert and they booed him off the stage because
he wanted to play his music, not what the people wanted. And
he said, well, here's a line in the song, he says, you can't
please everyone, so what do you do? You please yourself. And
that's the way most people think by nature. I'll just please myself."
Well, there's no real contentment, there's no real comfort there
now. It may be for a little while, but he says there's one alone
and there's not a second. This is a one alone person. Yea, he hath neither child nor
brother, yet is there no end of all his labor. He's still
working, but he's working for self. He says neither is his
eye satisfied with riches, he's got to have more too. In other
words, he don't have any family, nobody else to share it with,
he's working for self, but that doesn't quench that greed that's
in us by nature. You see, there's still no comfort
there. You'd think a fellow who lived alone, by himself, working
for himself, you'd think he'd come to a point in his life where
he'd say, well, I finally have enough. No, that's not the way
it is. He says, neither saith he for whom I do labor and bereave
my soul of good. Who am I working for? Who am
I trying to help? What good am I? He says, this
is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. No comfort there. No
comfort there. And then he gives us some good
instruction, verse 9. And believers, I think that we
can all take a good lesson from this. He says, two are better
than one. It's not good for us to be alone. It's not good for
a man to be alone. Or a woman. That's why God gave
woman to be the help mate. And as brethren, it's not good
for us to be alone. We need each other. The Bible
says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity. It's like precious ointment upon
the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that
went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon,
and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For
there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. That's Psalm 133. We need the
fellowship of each other. We need the unity
of the spirit. He goes on, he says in verse
10, that one who's alone, if they fall, that one who has a
companion, he says, if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.
That's why we're here for each other. We're here to worship
Christ, to lift him up in honor and glory in the preaching of
the gospel, and to lift up one another with encouragement and
comfort. He says, But woe to him that
is alone, when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him
up. Again, he said, If two lie together, then they have heat,
but how can one be warm alone? Verse 12, And if one prevail
against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is
not quickly broken. Literally, he's saying there's
safety in numbers in this thing. And then the last verses, he
talks about the desire for position and power and prestige. There's
no comfort there. The Bible speaks of that. Our
Lord spoke to the religious Pharisees as those who seek the honor of
men, the prestige of men, more power, more position. And He
said there's no comfort there. He said, how can you seek the
honor which comes from God alone when you seek the honor of men?
If you're trying to please... Paul said, if I please men, I'm
not the servant of God. We're not here to please men.
We comfort one another with love and the truth and worship, help
each other, pray for one another, but we're not here to honor each
other. We're not here to seek a following.
The preacher who seeks a following for himself, the most dangerous
thing that preacher can do is get a following for himself.
That's right. You see, don't follow the signs. Follow where the sign points
to, and we point to Christ. That's why John the Baptist continually
told his disciples, his father, he said, I'm not the Savior.
I'm not the light. I'm not that prophet that Moses
spoke of. I'm not the Redeemer. Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. He's
the Comforter. He's the Savior. He said, I'm
not even worthy to untie shoes. He said, He must increase. Christ must increase. I've got
to decrease. Brother Mahan used to tell us
in the preacher school, the best thing that we can do when we
get behind this pulpit is to preach Christ and then get out
of the way. Get out of the way. Don't let
me hinder you in any way. That's why Isaiah, when he prophesied
of the Baptist, he said, he said, the one that prepares the way.
Who is the way? Christ is the way. He's the way,
the truth, and the life. But look at what he says here
in verse 13. He says, better is a poor and
a wise child than an old and foolish king, one who has position
and power and wealth, who will no more be admonished. He can't
be corrected. You can't talk to him. He's got
the world by the tail on the downhill slide. In his mind,
he needs no comfort. Verse 14, for out of prison he
cometh to reign, whereas also he that is born in his kingdom
becometh poor. That's the prison of his own
greed that he's talking about there. He says, I considered
all the living which walk under the sun. Verse 15, with the second
child that shall stand up in his stead. That king has his
descendants. He says in verse 16, there is
no end of all the people. even of all that have been before
them, they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely
this also is vanity and vexation of spirit." When he's dead, oh,
you may build a statue and give him a little homage, but there's
no comfort there. Where can we find comfort? Let me just say a few words about
that. Now, we know that all comfort is in Christ, and I want you
to look at Lamentations. Now, this word comfort is an
interesting word because it's more than making
you feel good. You know, a person can feel comfortable
and really have no real comfort. It's not a feeling. It's not
just some kind of passing fancy. And I want you to look at this
in Lamentations 1, verse 16. Now Jeremiah, who is the author
of Lamentations, he is speaking of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is
a picture of the church. And he says in verse 16, For
these things I weep, mine eye runneth down with water, because
the comforter that should, now listen to this, relieve my soul. Or it could be said, the comforter
which restores. or brings back my soul is far
from me. My children are desolate because
the enemy prevailed." Now this comfort, this word comfort, it
means a restoration. In other words, like I said,
it's not a feeling, it's not an emotion, it's not just sitting
in a nice recliner and going to sleep. But it is an actual
setting things right, bringing things back. Restoring. That's what he's talking about.
This is the comfort that we need. This is the comfort that Isaiah
spoke of. Look at Isaiah 40 that I read
at the beginning of the service. He tells the prophet of God.
God tells His prophet in verse 1, Comfort ye, comfort ye My
people. Now, how am I going to comfort
you tonight? Talk about psychology, a lot
of preachers do. I could talk about how you can
send me your money and get a return on your investment. Watching a movie the other day
and they asked a fellow, they said, do you believe in God?
He said, no, I believe in a reasonable return of investment. And I thought, you know, that's
a lot of preachers today. They'll say they believe in God,
but their religion is a reasonable return on your investment. They
talk about giving and tithing. It's really not giving. It's
investing. That's what they're doing. I
mean, look, if you're not going to get back tenfold, why give
ten? I mean, the fact that God owns the cattle on a thousand
hills and the next breath that I take and you take, what does
that mean? Oh, no. No. How am I going to comfort
you? How am I going to comfort myself? Look at verse 2. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Now, what kind of warfare is
he talking about here? Well, look at the next line.
Her iniquity is pardoned. Now, we have a warfare between
the flesh and the spirit to fight. But here's the thing. The victory
has already been won. The victory has been won for
us by the grace of God on the cross of Calvary. That's where
Christ defeated sin, death, and hell, when he gave himself a
ransom for his people. That's when the Son of God in
human flesh died in payment, full payment of the debt that
we, his people, owe to his justice. And it says, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all our sins. Not only have we
who believe in Christ and trust in Him, not only have we been
washed clean from all our sins, we in Him and by Him have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. We stand complete
in Christ. That's the comfort. of God's
people. And then turn over to 2 Corinthians
1, the passage that Brother Stan read. And we could go on and
on about that. He says, I, even I, am he that
comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of Man which
will be made as grass? Oh, we know that men can inflict
a lot of pain, but they can't kill us unless God allows them
to. The Lord giveth and the Lord
maketh alive. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's the
issue. We're in Christ. If I die tonight,
I die in the Lord. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His Son. What is that? You know what that
is? That's eternal comfort because of eternal deliverance from all
the oppressions, all the battles that we fight here on earth.
I'm not going to find that in a job. I'm not going to find
that even in earthly companions, even though I thank God for my
brethren. I'm only going to find that in
Christ. Where are we going to find comfort? A restorer. The Bible says in
Psalm 23, He restoreth my soul. That's right. Christ does. Well, look at this in 2 Corinthians
1. He speaks of God as the God of
all comfort. Look at verse 4. He's the God
of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, all
our troubles. How does He do that? With His
power and His sovereignty. God's in control. No matter what
I go through, God's in control. I believe that. I know most people
don't. But I know you who know Christ do. He's in control. He's
not the author of sin. But my friend, He's in control
of all things. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. He does it by assuring me of
His sovereign goodwill and pleasure. All things work together for
good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. No
tribulation, no trouble, no nothing. I know that's a bad grammar,
but that's the way it is. No nothing can do it. He does it by the comforts of
the salvation that he freely gives us in Christ. Saved to
the uttermost. That's what he said. Committing
our souls unto him. I've quoted this more. I know
whom I have believed in and persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. You know, Paul, the
apostle, was just as saved when he was in bonds, in jail, as
he was when he was taken into the third heaven and given that
vision. He was just as righteous, just as forgiven when he was
being whipped with a cat and ninetail as he was when he stood
and preached the gospel on Mars Hill. You know why? Because all
his comfort is in Christ. That's right. And look what he
says here, verse 4, "...who comforted us in all our tribulation, for
this reason, that we may be able to comfort them which are in
any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God." That's right. We're to comfort one another.
How? Let's point each other to Christ. Let's speak a word of
encouragement and love. That's what he's talking about.
Let's worship God together. And he goes on. Then one more
scripture. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. This word comfort now, this
comforter. is found right here in Jesus
Christ. And it's the same word here in
the New Testament that speaks of Christ as our advocate. Look
at chapter 2 and verse 1 of 1 John. He says, My little children,
these things write I unto you, that you sin not. That's our
goal. And if any man sins, and we all do, we have an advocate
that's a comforter, but more than just someone who makes us
feel good, because like I said, it's not a feeling, but he's
one who has restored us unto God. He's one who stands in our
place as our substitute, and he's one who pleads the cause
on our behalf. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's our advocate. He speaks
for us. He's our defense attorney, you
might say. And He's the propitiation, the
satisfaction for all our sins. Remember what Isaiah said, the
Lord hath delivered double, given them double for all their sins.
He's the satisfaction, and not for ours only, not just for the
Jews, but for God's elect all over the world, but also for
the sins of the whole world. And then look at John 14. Christ
has ascended unto the Father. He's ascended unto the Father.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father as our comforter,
as our advocate, but He's not left us alone. He said, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. And it doesn't matter what we're
going through at a given time. We may be on the mountaintop,
everything may be looking rosy this week, or we may get some
news that just devastates us. You've been through that, haven't
you? You may get some news tomorrow, tonight, before you lay down
your head and sleep that's just utterly devilish. You wonder,
oh my soul, how am I going to get through this? Well, listen,
Christ hasn't left us comfortless. He's still our Savior. He's still
our Lord. He's still on the throne. He's
still our Advocate and our Comforter. And He's left us His Spirit as
our Comforter. Look at John 14. Look at verse
16. He says, and I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter. Now, in the
original language of the New Testament, there's two words
for another. One is another of a different
kind. This one is another of the same
kind. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the Holy Spirit, Comforter, the Advocate. The
third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit. That third person.
He's not, listen, the Holy Spirit is not just an influence or presence.
He's not a white dove. He's not a bolt of lightning.
He's a person. And He lives within every child
of God. He's the Spirit that lusts against
the flesh. That's what He is. And He's the
Spirit that comforts us by pointing us continually to Christ and
our dependence on Him and to His Word. And He says, He shall
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive. That's
under the sun, see. They have no Comforter. Because
it's He of Him not, neither know of Him, but you know Him, for
He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you
comfortless. Literally, if you've got a concordance
there, if you look at that in your Bible, it says, I won't
leave you orphans. I'm not going to leave you an
orphan without a father, without a Savior, without a comforter. He says, I will come to you. And yet a little while, and the
world seeth me no more, but you see me, because I live, you shall
live also. That's our comfort. Now, without
Christ, you can certainly see the viewpoint that Solomon gives
under the sun, and what it means. But where can we find comfort?
Only in Christ, the crucified, risen Lord, who is our advocate,
our comforter.