I want you to turn with me this evening, this afternoon, to Isaiah chapter 66. Isaiah chapter 66. Just hold your hands there or put a Bible mark there and listen for just a minute.

The Apostle Paul tells us that all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus. And that in Christ Jesus, in Him, They are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. All the promises of God are in him. And in him, they are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Now this is what that means. Every promise God ever made to fallen men is in Christ. Every promise God ever made to fallen men is in Christ. God promises nothing to men except his wrath outside Christ. God promises nothing to men except judgment apart from Christ, and even that judgment and wrath will be executed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

This also means that all the promises of God, all the promises of God to men, in Christ belong to us who believe on Christ. All of them. All of them.

I've told you the story many times about the old lady. Her pastor was visiting with her. He started to leave after visiting a little bit. He picked up the Bible and started to read a passage to her. As he went through the Bible looking for a text to read, he noticed that just every little bit, every page, she had marked on there T.P. T.P. T.P. And his curiosity got the best of him. He said, he said, Sister, I noticed that your Bible just got full of marks beside these verses that says T.P. What does that stand for? She said, well, Brother Pastor, that means tried and proved. Tried and proved.

Every promise, every promise God has given to men, he's given to Bobby Estes in Christ. Every promise. There are no exceptions to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And thirdly, Paul's statement means that the very glory of God is wrapped up in the fulfillment and accomplishment of those promises in us for Christ's sake. God's glory is at stake. Either he will fulfill his promises and accomplish his promises in us for Christ's sake, or he loses his glory. That's a tremendous statement.

Every promise of God in Holy Scripture then, when properly understood, is in some way or other applicable to every child of God in this world. That means the promises that God made to Adam and Eve are applicable to Sally Ponson, just as much as they were to Adam and Eve. When God promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Redeemer into the world, that Redeemer was promised to you. When he promised Abraham that he would establish his seed and his covenant forever and ever, Paul tells us that seed is us. For we are the seed of Abraham in Christ. And the promise was made to Christ, the seed of Abraham. The blessings and promises that God gave to David concerning his kingdom and the establishment of his kingdom and the ordering of his kingdom and a man to sit on his throne forever and ever are the promises of God given to you and I in Christ.

So that wherever you find God's promises, Whenever you find a word of promise in this book, whatever it is, read it as being specifically addressed to you and reap the benefit of it.

Now, with those things in mind, I want you to look with me at Isaiah 66 and verse 13. This is God's promise to you and me, the Lord God makes this gracious, gracious promise. As one whom his mother comforted, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. What a word of grace. So will I comfort you. That's the title of my message this afternoon.

While we live here in this present world of woe and sorrow, while we live here in this present world of trial, adversity, and difficulty, the Lord God promises that he will comfort us and comfort us with the tenderness of a loving mother. That means my brothers and sisters, right now, right where we live, though there is for the present time a needs be, for the heavinesses we experience in this world. Yet, though our hearts break within us, divine comfort is as sure as the very being and glory of God.

As a mother comforteth her child, so will I comfort you, the Lord God says. I may not be able to comfort you. I recognize that. When trouble comes, When heartache comes, family and friends may not be able to comfort you. We are frequently useless in doing so. Our poor attempts at comfort may even add to heaviness and trouble. I know when Doris and Henry Mahan were experiencing the terrible ordeal of watching their daughter die, Bob watching his wife, those kids watching their mother. Every word I said, I was fearful I'd do more harm than good. Every word I'd speak to them, whether writing or calling them or stopping by, because I recognized that our comfort is miserable comfort. Our comfort, our attempts at comfort, often only add to the trouble and to the pain.

But this is God's promise to you. Now listen to me. As one whom his mother comforted, So will I comfort you. The Lord God will never leave his people. The Lord God will never leave his people in this world without comfort. Our Savior says, I will not leave you comfortless.

Now, let's look at this text of scripture for a few minutes. I trust God, the Holy Spirit will give me your attention. And I will try to raise and answer three questions from it. First, who is our comforter? Our text speaks of God himself speaking to us, so that this work of comforting is a work which God himself takes into his own hands. He may use many instruments, he may use many secondary means, but the comforter is the Lord God himself. He takes it upon himself and says, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. So when your soul is heavy laden, when your heart is utterly broken, shattered within you, and cutting you from within, God says, I will comfort you.

Understand this then first. God Almighty, in the trinity of his sacred persons, comforts his saints. Our God in Romans 15.5 is called the God and Father who comforts us. He is called the God of consolation. the very privilege of calling God our Father. Oh, how that ought to bring cheer to our souls. Here we are, sinful men and women, who can look God in heaven, swear in the face of his glory, my Father, my Father. My Father is he who sits upon the throne My father is he who created rules and disposes of all things. My father, they don't comfort us. Spurgeon said concerning this text of scripture, as long as I can call God my father, I shall not be without a star in my sky. So that we find comfort in God's person, in his salvation, in his grace, in his covenant, in his mercy that's given us in Christ.

David did. God's servant, that man after God's own heart. God promised him a kingdom and a throne and a house and a family that would live forever to his praise. And David looked at his family and he didn't see it. All he saw was directly contrary to God's promise. He had a house full of rebels. And this is what he said when he lay dying. Although my house be not so with God, I don't yet see God fulfilling his purpose and his Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

God the Son is called the consolation of Israel, so that we find comfort as we stand before Him who died in our stead and see our sin and our guilt rolled away by His blood, death put to death by His death, and there our trouble at least pauses while we're here, and soon it shall be done forever.

God the Holy Spirit is given expressly for the work of giving comfort to His saints. He is called the Comforter. so that the Holy Spirit comes and brings to our remembrance the things that Christ has taught, explains them to us, applies them to our hearts, and gives us grace to believe them, and thereby He comforts our souls.

So that whenever trouble comes, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son together give comfort to His people.

Now God has many ways of comforting us. The whole book of God is given for our consolation. so that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Look over in Isaiah chapter 40, this very familiar text of scripture. The scriptures themselves, the whole volume being understood as they're written for us, for our learning, give us comfort. And the preaching of the gospel is designed of God, especially the comforting saints. This is my task as a preacher. This is the task of those who preach the gospel.

Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. He doesn't say, speak peace, peace, when there is no peace. But for those who have peace, he says, speak peace. Declare to my people, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

More than that, all the wheels of God's providence, as they turn in their courses, are moving and working together for us, to comfort us. All of them. The wheels of providence. You remember the vision Ezekiel had of wheels inside wheels. Those wheels never stand still. Never. We look at them as though they're standing still. But the wheels of providence are in constant motion. Constant motion. and constantly turning, turning in predestined courses to do us good and to comfort us so that the very thing that now brings trouble will soon give comfort.

He said, Pastor, I don't understand that. The very thing that now rings your heart, the very thing that now breaks your heart, causes your soul to be heavy, brings Terrible, terrible distress to you. The very thing for which you most murmur and grumble, the very thing which you, which you most wish, oh, oh, that which I feared most has happened to me. Oh no, no, no, no. Don't ever, don't ever imagine such a thing. That which most causes you trouble will be the very thing by which God will minister comfort to you. The very thing. It'll prove to be your comfort, I promise you.

Give you an illustration. I have a friend, gospel preacher, faithful preacher. I remember when he was a young man who had left home, his mom and dad hadn't heard from him in a year. Hadn't heard from him in a year. He got into all kinds of stuff. And I remember when he came home, And I remember when God saved him. And those difficulties, troubles, his rebellion and his sin, it's his fault, Larry. He chose the path, but it's the path God was pleased to use to bring him to faith in Christ. And it would have been impossible. Suppositions are so silly, but just for the sake of you understand what I'm saying? It would have been impossible for that man to come to know God any other way. You understand what I'm saying?

God has not only ordained the salvation of his people and the place of their salvation and the time of it, but the means of it by which it would be accomplished and them prepared for it. For the glory of his name. And in no other way for it to be done. So that which caused his parents to paste the floor and wring their hands with broken hearts, crying out to God, became the very means by which God most ministered comfort to them.

I tell you frequently, when I talk to you individually, when I preach to you, you go through difficulties. Don't judge God's grace and mercy. Don't judge God's favor by what you presently see. Don't ever do it. Don't ever do it. We're so short-sighted. Oh, God has a purpose. And His purpose is good. He won't lie to you. He won't lie to you. His purpose is good. And He will bring it to pass to comfort your soul.

I was talking to some friends recently, have a severely retarded child, and someone suggested that, you know, maybe they should have had the child aborted. They were chatting with me, and I said to them, listen, that child may demand lots of care, lots of special attention, but what on this earth could be a greater joy than the privilege of raising a child, bearing a son, bearing a daughter, raising a son, raising a daughter, whom you know is one of God's elect. while you nurse and wait on and care for and nurse and wait on and care for and you got to explain to people why your boy does what he does and why he acts like he acts and you have to constantly watch after him when he's gone. He's gone to glory and he'll be a source of comfort to you. Comfort to you.

Frequently, God ministers comfort to us by secretly working in our hearts with his omnipotent grace. I'm sure you found it to be so. And what I'm telling you this afternoon is just what you've experienced. I'm just trying to help you understand what you've experienced.

Have you not gone to bed many times greatly burdened, overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, vexed to your very soul with what you've experienced? You just don't know what to do. You're at your wit's end. And you lay down and cry yourself to sleep, and you go to sleep with your cheeks burning with tears. And then when you wake up in the morning, everything's different. Everything's different. It's not just you slept on it and happened to get better. That's not what it's all about. But everything's different. Now you wake up and somehow, though the trouble is still there. Though the difficulty's still there, though the pain is still there, your rebellion's gone. Your murmuring is gone. And a blessed calm and peace has engulfed you so that you can lift your heart to God and say, not my will. I will be done. It'll be alright. I will be done.

And when you can surrender to God's will, I mean really, surrender to God's will, you'll find comfort.

to sweet to lie passive in thy hands, and know no will but thine.

You take a skilled watchmaker, he knows just exactly how to touch the wheels and regulate the watch. And God who made Merle Hart knows just exactly how to touch your heart and regulate it. And sometimes he ministers comfort by putting his finger right on your heart to give you calm. Well, how does the Lord comfort his people? What manner does he comfort them? He says here in our text, as one whom his mother comforted, so will I comfort you. As a tender-hearted mother comforts her child, so the Lord comforts us.

Now this is peculiarly delightful. A father can comfort, I reckon. I reckon my daughter had better not tend. A father can comfort, but it's kind of awkward at it. Fathers are good at talking. Fathers are good at instruction. Fathers are good at, I hope we're good at regulating the house and ordering the affairs in the house. But by and large, fathers are not much comforters. They're just not good at it. Mothers, however, oh, mothers just instinctively know how to comfort, and seem to be good at it. And so the Lord speaks, when he speaks of pity, he says, as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. But when he speaks of comfort, he says, as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.

You see, a mother comforts a child with great fondness. I never thought about it. Never thought about doing it. When Faith would be with me and she'll be not present, she'd have a cold or something, have to take medicine, I'd just give her the medicine. Take the medicine, child. Open up. Here it comes. Not mama. No. Mama picks the baby up, sets her in her lap, holds her close to her breast, just as close to her heart as she can get her. She kisses her a little bit. She takes the medicine, tastes it. All the difference in the world. Usually there's comfort and then there's comfort. And God Almighty comforts with the fondness of a mother.

A mother's comfort is very sympathizing comfort. She seems always to feel the pain of her child. She feels the throbbing headache. She feels the scratched hands and knees when a child's fallen. She washes the wounds and kisses them. And she does so with such sympathy that it seems she feels what the child feels. I read last week of a little girl who visited an old widow lady on her street frequently. And her mama was a little concerned she was harassing the lady, not giving her any peace, you know. And she reprimanded her for going so often. And the little girl said to her mother, but she likes for me to come. She said so. When she cries, I lay my head on her lap and cry with her, and she says, that comforts her.

Now listen to this. This is what God Almighty says to you and me. In all their afflictions, He was afflicted. That's more than I can hold up. So that whatever touches you, Whatever burdens you, whatever afflicts you, whatever troubles you, in all your afflictions, God says, I am afflicted. A mother comforts her child assiduously. That's a big word. If they can just put down there constantly. That means she keeps comforting until there's no more need for comfort. and she seems to do it untiringly. Mothers are unharably kind and comforting to their children. And not only that, they do it all their lives. All their lives. I get a little humored. I watch Shelby and Faith's married now. She's got another man. He's number one. That's all right. That's what I wanted. But with Mama, she, Faith doesn't know it. God, she might know it. Whatever Faith wants, that's it. Doesn't matter how tired Shelby is. Doesn't matter what, doesn't matter what, what it is that's demanded. If Faith needs it, talks everything, she goes after it. And I suspect, honey, to be that way till your mama is gone. Mama's doing it. Our God does. With all his being, in all his eternal, infinite life, he never ceases to comfort his children till they need no more comfort.

When a mother has one child more afflicted than others, Maybe she has four or five kids, but she's got one child needs a lot of help. One child needs a lot of attention. Her heart seems always to be on that one child. Her heart seems always focused on that one child and the other children don't resent it. They understand that child needs a little more care. That child needs a little more attention. And so she does everything she can for that child.

So it is that God seems especially with his afflicted children, to give them special care and make them the special objects of his consolation and his presence. And he supplies them with his grace. He holds them in his everlasting arms, and he makes their beds in their affliction.

When a mother has a child that's fallen, she runs to it, picks it up, brushes it off, kisses it, and speaks comfortably. So too, when we fall into sin and hurt ourselves by our fault, the Lord runs to his people with his grace, restores them with the right hand of his righteousness, speaks forgiveness to our hearts, and bids us be of good cheer and comfort, assuring us that our sins are forgiven.

You know, I've never seen a mother take the child, when that child had done some foolish thing, just some foolish thing, and hurt himself. I've never seen that mother run, grab that child and say, you idiot, I told you. I've never seen that. Now, afterwards, hang on, you're in for a blistering. Afterwards, hang on, because you're going to understand, I told you not to do that. But while that child's hurting, while that child's in trouble, mama just runs to take care of the child. and then corrects, and so it is with our God.

When David was made to feel and acknowledge his sin, and he said, I've sinned. The first words from God to David were these, the Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die. Now the next words, something else, The boy's gonna die. And the storm's not gonna depart from your house. You're gonna understand that what you did has displeased me. The whole world's gonna understand what you did has displeased me. But first, God runs to his fallen child, falls on his neck, and kisses away his tears and forgives his sin.

God comforts his people in another way. Look at the next line of our text. Our text says, and you shall be comforted. Now a mother's comfort, precious as it is, is sometimes useless. She can't kiss away the tears. She can't take away the pain. She can't take away the heartache. But God's comfort is always in action. He says, you shall be comforted. That means you should be comforted. John Gill wrote, nothing shall hinder comfort when God is resolved to give it. Nothing shall hinder comfort when God's resolved to give it.

Now, one last thing. Where does the Lord comfort his people? This is what God says in our text. You shall be comforted in Jerusalem. That is to say, you shall be comforted in the church of God. There is in all of us a morbid tendency to self-destruction when we're heavily laden, when our hearts are troubled. We have a tendency, when we most need comfort, to neglect the very thing whereby God has promised to comfort us. And that is the worship of his name in his house with his people. Now you can mark this down as a matter of absolute certainty. Those who absent themselves from the house of God, absent themselves from the comfort of God. I promise you, when most you need God's comfort, You will find it in the place where first God spoke peace and comfort to your soul, right here in his house, in his family, hearing his word. So whenever you need comfort, come to the house of God, that you may suck.

He says over here in verse 11, that you may suck and be satisfied with the breast of her consolations, that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

I can speak a little bit from my experience here. But my soul has been troubled. And honestly, insofar as affliction and outward difficulty and troubles concern, I haven't had any. I haven't had any. My light affliction. I see what some of my brethren go through, what some of you go through. When I start thinking about my difficulties, I think, well, just shut up. Just shut up. You haven't had any trouble. You haven't had any.

But when my soul is troubled, either by reason of my own sin or by reason of other trials and adversities and afflictions, right here is where I find comfort more than anywhere else. Right here. Right in this place. In the reading of the word, you men I can't tell you how many times I've come here with a heavy heart. It's just heavy heart. Not necessarily for things that have to be preached. When you got bad news, hang on till I get done anyway. Just keep it until after I get done preaching.

But when my heart's heavy and I just feel like there's no way on this earth I've got to preach. One of you men will read a text of Scripture. It is just what I need. Or you'll mention something in your prayers as you address God, either back there or out here. Oh, God, thank you for that. That's just what I needed to give me a little comfort and encouragement.

The preaching of the gospel. Oh, how it ministers comfort to God's saints. I recall several years ago, Brother Mahan and I were preaching up north and We were going through some difficulties, some conflicts that you just hate. Oh, you hate conflict. Hate conflict. Stuff going on, just no need to reiterate. He came into services that night, and I could see it all over him. He was just down. Just down. And he sat right down in front, and I started preaching Ephesians 1. And God gave me a little liberty to preach about his grace. And I could see Henry's weight lift a little bit. After the service was over, he said to me, he said, Don, I came in here so down and so tired and so weary, and I needed that so much. I feel so good.

The preaching of the words designed to comfort us. The prayers and care of God's saints. I recall one thing. I'll slip this in to encourage you to take care of people. Take care and let folks know you think about them when they're in trouble. When I was taking chemotherapy in Cobalt, I forgot which it was I was taking at the time, but I was weak as a whip, but now I'm kinda down. I tried not to show it. I expected I'd show it more than I realized, but I tried not to show it. I just bang on. Tired. Tired of being sick, tired of being weak, tired of Just doing nothing but being sick. And I got a card from a fellow. I used to attend church with him once in Salem. You know, I've never gotten cards from him of any other kind. Never heard from him. He's never called or written me, but that one time. I haven't seen him now. I haven't seen him in 25 years now. At that time, I hadn't seen him in six, seven years. And this is what he said. He just signed his name at the bottom of the card, wrote Romans 16, 20. And I thought, I don't know anything. What's that say? And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your heels shortly. Oh, I dig it then.

What comfort we get for one another. We need each other. We need one another's strength. We need one another's encouragement. We just need each other.

We observed the ordinances. Baptized Jen a few weeks ago. That's the nearest thing I know to being baptized yourself. I had the blessed privilege of performing this delightful ordinance. And you entering into this ordinance is one of our own, one of our sisters, one of our blood-bought sisters. She's buried with Christ.

This is Christ. He says to the world, I want to walk with him, God help me. I want to walk with him. Oh, what a blessed consolation.

We're going to take the bread and wine of the Lord's table. I fear too often, far, far too often we do so sort of mundanely. And I realize that we're just eating bread and drinking wine. There's nothing mysterious or magical that happens here when you take the bread and still be bread and you take the wine and still be wine. But I'll tell you what, Mark, if you eat this bread in faith and drink this wine in faith, as you do, you're eating and drinking the body and blood of the Son of God all over again. Participating in his sacrifice. Participating in his death. Participating in his obedience as you take that which he has done for you symbolically and remember it.

We find consolation singing God's praise. Lindsay, let us install a little bit of gold. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, great things he hath done. I remember what one of the preachers said this week. He doesn't say praise the Lord, praise the Lord, great things he hath tried. But praise the Lord, praise the Lord, great things he hath done. That's all that gives him praise, gives him consolation. He's done it. He's done it.

We find consolation. Oh, what consolation. He meets with us. He's always with us, sometimes He's with us. Shows Himself to us, makes Himself known to us. Oh, what a joy, what a comfort in the midst of difficulty to walk into the house of God with God's saints and meet Christ in His Word, in His people. at his table in his grace. As one is comforted of his mother, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Let me wrap this up with the words of our Lord. No matter what your soul's trouble is, no matter what you need, this is his word to you. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You need rest for yourself? Come on, come to me. Come to me, look to me, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

Tomorrow we got two choices. Always got two choices. Here's the yoke of Christ. His providence for you right now, whatever it is. Now, either we can buck it and fight it and rebel against it and create more and more misery for ourselves, or we can bow down And when you slip under his yoke, you'll learn of him. His yoke is easy. They seem awful heavy when first you slip under. You'll learn of him. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. And you'll find rest unto your soul. Rest. Only way to find it is take my yoke upon you and

Now you who are the Lord's, I urge you now as we eat this bread and drink this wine at the Lord's table to suck and be satisfied in the blessed celebration of redemption, remembering Christ and what he's done for us.