And I sure am thankful for that. Romans 12, the fourth gift Paul
mentions given to the church is that of exhortation. He that exhorteth, that's the
verb form of the word on exhortation, and that's called a gift of grace
to the church. Now, what in the world does that
mean? This is a very Bible term. As a matter of fact, it's used
109 times in the New Testament. So that gives us some idea of
the significance of this term. What does it mean? The word means
literally to call to one's side. It is also translated to beseech,
to comfort, to console or consolation and entreaty. Now would you turn
with me for a moment to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Now the writer
to the Hebrews is ending this glorious letter that he'd written,
and he said in verse 22 of Hebrews chapter 13, and I beseech you,
brethren, And that's the word exhort. I beseech you, I exhort
you brethren, suffer the word of exhortation. For I've written
a letter unto you in a few words. Now he's saying this entire epistle
is a word of exhortation. And actually every epistle is
a word of exhortation. An appeal To pursue a certain
course of action. That's what an exhortation is.
It's an appeal. To pursue a certain course of
action. To believe. To rest. To cease from your own works.
To repent. to change. That's an exhortation. That's what's going on when an
exhortation takes place. And I think it's interesting,
the word is most often translated to comfort. And you see what
a precious gift this is. I want to be comforted, don't
you? I want to have the comfort of the gospel, whatever that
means. Now, when the writer wrote of this exhortation, it was with
divine authority, yet the manner of delivery of that message was
one of exhortation and beseeching, not one of speaking down. No
calling to the side. And that's what true preaching
is. It's not speaking down. We all know what it is to be
spoke down to, or to have the preacher speaking down. We don't
want that. I don't want to be spoken down
to by anybody. It's just not what, it gets on
your nerves. You want the speaker to exhort
you, to exhort you, a word of exhortation. Now, in this exhortation
to Hebrews, I'm going to get back to Romans 12 in just a moment. I think because he said this
entire epistle is a word of exhortation, he's exhorting us to believe
something. And if you would read the epistle to the Hebrews, there's
one word in that epistle that's key to understanding the whole
epistle, and it's the word better. Better. Hebrews 1, 4, we read where Christ
is better than the angels. Infinitely so. And then in Hebrews
chapter 7, verse 7, His priesthood is better than the Levitical
priesthood. You see, His priesthood works. It works. If He, if He represents you,
you're saved. It's better than the Levitical
priesthood. And then in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6 we read of
better promises. The better promises of the gospel.
Promises of grace rather than promises of conditioned upon
your works. What would you rather have? A
promise of sheer free grace? I'm going to do this? Or this
promise? I will do this if you do that.
Which promise is better? Oh, I don't want to have anything
to do with something that's dependent upon me to make it work, do you?
Oh, the better promises of grace. And then, in Hebrews 9, verse
23, we read of better sacrifices. Those animal sacrifices could
never take away sin, but His sacrifice actually put away sin. It's better. And He's appealing
to the Hebrews, Christ is better. That's the one thing I want you
to see. Christ is better than anything
else. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse
34, he talked about how after their goods were confiscated,
you took it with joy, knowing that in heaven you have a better
and more enduring substance. If you lost everything for Christ,
you'd still have a better in heaven, wouldn't you? What did you lose if you lost
your stuff? What did you lose? Really nothing. In the grand
scheme of things, nothing. And that's what he says to the
Hebrews. In Hebrews 11.3, we read of a better country. In
Hebrews 12.24, we read of better speech. The blood of Christ that
speaks better things than the blood of Abel. Remember when
God said regarding Abel's blood, it cries to me from the ground.
And what did it cry? Vengeance. What does the blood
of Christ cry? Forgiveness. Isn't that better? Hebrews 11.35 says that we're
a better resurrection. So this entire epistle is an
appeal to the Hebrews to see that Christ is better. Now that
is what a precious gift this thing of exhortation is. Let
me give you another statement regarding exhortation that lets
us know of the importance of this. God the Father is called
the God of all comfort, and it's the same word, the God of all
exhortation. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the consolation of Israel, same word, the exhortation of Israel. God the Holy Spirit is called
the comforter. the Comforter. So all three persons
of the Godhead take this name for themselves. And this gives
us some idea of how important this scriptural gift and this
scriptural concept is of exhortation, calling to one's side. And this is the way the Gospel
is to be preached. Paul said, I beseech you. I beseech
you, that's the word, I beseech you by the mercies of God that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. Paul said to Timothy,
preach the word, be instant, in season and out season, with
all longsuffering and doctrine, reprove, rebuke, and exhort.
That's all part of the preaching of the gospel. One of the most
amazing scriptures in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20. And remember,
exhortation means to call to the side. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 20, we then as ambassadors of Christ as though
God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
you be reconciled to God. Now that's God's manner of preaching. And the main idea of exhortation
is that of comfort. comfort, encouragement, and consolation.
So obviously, if I have this gift of exhortation, I'm going
to have something that encourages, that inspires, that comforts,
and that consoles. Now, not everybody finds consolation
in the gospel. This is a very important point.
Not everybody finds consolation or comfort or console. Not everybody
is motivated by the gospel. In fact, Nobody does but believers. Only a believer, only a child
of God, only one of God's elect, only a sinner is consoled by
the comforts of the gospel. Unbeliever does not find anything
appealing in the gospel because the unbeliever does not hear
the gospel as a sinner. If you hear the gospel as a sinner,
you're going to find comfort. You're going to be consoled.
You're going to rejoice. If you hear the gospel as a sinner,
if you don't hear the gospel as a sinner, it's not going to
do anything but irritate you. You're not going to agree with
it. You're not going to like it. Only a sinner can be comforted by
the gospel. Now, what's a sinner? A sinner
is somebody who, all they can do is sin. That's how they see
themselves. That's how they view themselves.
And this is not basking in that. It's just, I'm a sinner. Now, to that sinner, here's the
good news. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. of whom I am chief." To a sinner,
it's good news that God unconditionally elected a people. That means
He doesn't have to look for any works in you for Him to save
you. It's good news that Christ accomplished salvation. It's
good news that grace is irresistible and invincible because I know
I'll resist it if it's not. It's good news that God's people
persevere, that He causes them to. You see, how you hear will
determine how you receive a message. If I hear as a sinner, it's good
news. If I hear in any other way, I
will not be enabled to hear. Now, when I thought of comfort,
the first thing that came to my mind was Isaiah chapter 40.
Would you turn with me there? Isaiah chapter 40. God says to Isaiah, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. You see, God has a people. He's
got a special people and elect people. They're his people. Matthew 121 says, Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Comfort ye Comfort ye my people. Verse two, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. And my marginal reading says,
speak to her heart. Now the gospel is addressed to
the heart. And that's not some kind of nebulous
ooey-gooey, we don't know what it means. The heart is the understanding,
it's the affections, and it's the will. The gospel is addressed
to the heart. And I want somebody to preach
to my heart, don't you? I don't want you to just preach to my
intellect. I don't want you to just preach to my will. I don't
want you to just preach to my affections, trying to raise something
up. No, I want the whole man addressed. The heart, the understanding,
the affections, the will. And he says, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her. Say it loud enough so she hears.
You want her to hear this. And here's what the comfort of
the gospel is. 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. Her warfare. Now what warfare is he talking
about? Is he talking about fights between
people? Fights between nations? Conflict
between people? No, he's not talking about that
at all. He's talking about the warfare that goes on in every
believer's heart every day, every hour. It's the conflict between
the flesh and the spirit that goes on in your heart. Paul said, what I would That do I not. What I hate, that is what I do. That's what Paul said. And that's
what goes on in every believer's heart all the time. A continual
struggle between the two natures. the old man and the new man. Every believer has a holy nature,
a nature that cannot sin. It's not that it doesn't practice
sin. People say, well, where it says
that nature that doesn't commit sin, that means it doesn't practice
sin. Well, what in the world does that mean? All you got to
do is breathe, and you're practicing sin. What that's a reference
to is a new nature that does not sin and an old nature that
all it does is sin. And there's all the time. Now, what does God's Word tell
me to say to that person? Your warfare is accomplished,
and you have already won. When Christ said it is finished,
it was finished. Your warfare, it's accomplished. I mean, you might see the battle
going on, but you've already won. You've already won. The
victory is already yours. We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us, the scripture says. Tell her that her iniquity
is pardoned. Now, this is the opposite of
human religion. Human religion is you will be
pardoned if you blank, blank, blank, blank, and blank. If you
do all those things, you'll have the forgiveness of sins. Now
all that is is salvation by works. That's all it is. No, don't tell
her if she does this or that, her iniquity is pardoned. Tell
her, her iniquity is pardoned. It's put away. It's gone. You don't have... You see, I
love saying this. In the gospel, salvation does
not end with the forgiveness of sins. It begins. It begins
with the complete, free, total forgiveness of sins. Christ Jesus
blotted out all my sins. And what I do in the gospel,
I find out I've been forgiven. I find that out. When you hear
the gospel, you find out, he forgave me. He put away my sin. You don't think there's something
I need to do to get this forgiveness or achieve this forgiveness.
No. Tell her, her iniquity is pardoned. Four, look what it
says next. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double. for all her sins. Now on the cross, this comes
from the Lord's hand. Don't you like something coming
from the Lord's hand? I mean, this is what he did. She hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. On the cross, not
only was my sin punished, but complete satisfaction was made
so that God is completely satisfied with me and everybody that Christ
died for. Not only was I not given what
I deserve, which is hell, but I was given all that he deserves. She hath received at the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Not only was I forgiven, and
that's a great blessing to really have your sins forgiven. Not
only was I forgiven, I was justified by what he did. I was justified,
so I stand before God without guilt, perfect in God's sight. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Not only were all my debts paid,
but I was given infinite riches in Christ. She hath received
of the Lord's hand double. for all her sins. Not only was
I saved from hell, but I was made just like Christ. Not only was I delivered from
having nothing, but I was given all things. She hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Now that's what
exhortation is. It's the comfort of the gospel. God the God of all comfort, Christ
the consolation of Israel. Here's another scripture, the
second beatitude. You can turn there if you want, but what does
it say? It says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 4, blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn.
And that is in the present active tense. That means you're doing
it right now. It's not something you used to do. It's something
you're doing now. Now when he's talking about mourning,
what is he talking about? He's talking about mourning over
your sin. Mourning over other sin. But
you mourn. You mourn before God over your
sin. And you know what the Lord says
concerning that person who is mourning over their sin? He says,
they're blessed. If you're mourning over your
sin right now, you've been blessed of God. And what is the promise
in that beatitude? They shall be comforted. Not they might be comforted,
but they shall be comforted. They shall be consoled. They
shall be exhorted. Comforted with what? What is
it that comforts a sinner? The gospel. This exhortation
has wholly to do with the gospel. You know what? You're the only
comfort that I have. I'm in comfort. This is where
all my hope is. As I mourn over my sin, all my
hope is that everything that God requires of me, He looks
to His Son for. My hope is that I have the very
righteousness of Christ, and that's all I need. My hope is
that when Christ died, my sin was put away. My hope is that
right now, Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, representing
me, and that's why I won't fall away, because He preserves me.
Just like He said to Peter, Peter, I have prayed for you, that your
faith fail not. He says that regarding every
believer. That's why we're preserved. My
hope is utterly and completely in Christ. But what comfort there
is there. Would you have any comfort of
all if any of your salvation was dependent upon you? I wouldn't. Not a drop. I know I'd mess it
up, but thank God. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. I love that scripture. Romans
chapter 5 verse 6. This comforts me. when we were
yet without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Oh, what comfort I derive from
that word from God. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 2. Verse 25, And behold, there was
a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. And the same man
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation, the exhortation,
the comfort of Israel. Now that's talking about waiting
for Christ. And the Holy Ghost was upon him, and it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death, before
he had seen the Lord's Christ. Oh, that, I love that. He's the
Lord's Christ. He's the Lord's prophet. He's
the Lord's priest. He's the Lord's king. He's the
Lord's Christ. And verse 27, he came by the
spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child
Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took
he up, him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now
let us thy servant depart in peace. I'm ready to die according
to thy word, and here is how I can depart in peace, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. Jesus Christ, that little baby
in his arms at that time, is God's salvation. Christ is salvation. Verse 31, which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles,
a light to show how God can have anything to do with the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel. He really is our glory. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Verse one. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ. Now he's not saying if there
is any consolation in Christ because he knows there is. What
he's saying is if there's any consolation to you in Christ. But first let's take this term
in Christ. It's one of the most important,
maybe it's the most important two word phrase in the scripture,
in Christ. Well, what's it mean? What's
it mean? Well, what does being an Adam
mean? It means that me and you were
in Adam. He is our father. And when he took of the fruit
and ate of the fruit and died, me and you did as well. We're
not charged so much with somebody else's sin. When Adam sinned,
we did too. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men in that all
have sinned. When Adam sinned, I sinned. When Adam sinned, You sinned. It's not just that you're charged
with His sin. No, you did it. Because when
He did it, you did it. Just like Levi. It said regarding Levi that when
Abraham paid tithes, Levi paid tithes because he was yet in
the loins of his great-grandfather Abraham when he did it. So whatever
Abraham did, Levi did. Whatever Christ does, Whatever
Adam did, I did. So this thing of being in Christ
is the same thing as being in Adam, only it's a whole lot better.
It's infinitely better. It means if I'm in Christ, whatever
He did, I did. If I'm in Christ, somebody says,
how do you get in Christ? Well, God's got to put you in
there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? You can't do anything
and just hop into Christ. God's got to put you in Christ.
And if He puts you in Christ, you've always been in Christ.
And you've never been separated from Christ. You've been in Christ
eternally. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus?
Who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? In Christ. That's what we confess
in baptism. We confess in baptism that when
He lived, I lived. When He died, I died. When He
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. And isn't
that all of our hope? That's all of it. There isn't any other
hope. Oh, what consolation there is in Christ. What's in Christ? Well, the Scripture says, Of
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and
you are complete in Him. I'll tell you what's in Christ.
All the fullness of the Godhead and you. And you. And you are
complete in him. Now, is there any consolation
in Christ? Ephesians 1, 6 says, He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved. I love that song. In the Beloved
accepted am I. Risen, ascended, and seated on
high. God sees my Savior. Then he sees
me. In the Beloved. accepted and
free. What freedom there is there.
Oh, the consolation of Israel. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
2. I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us and hath given us everlasting consolation." That's the same
word, exhortation. Everlasting consolation. And a good hope, and the reason
it's good is because it's through grace. A good hope through grace.
God's complete unmerited favor given to his people for Christ's
sake. A good hope through grace. But this consolation is called
an everlasting consolation. Now, you know what that means?
That means if you have it, you've always had it, and you'll never
not have it. That's what this everlasting
consolation is. You had it, even when you didn't know it. Now,
I wouldn't give, now listen to me, I wouldn't give anybody in
this room any hope if you don't believe the gospel. I wouldn't
say, you might have everlasting consolation anyway. No, if you
don't believe the gospel, if you don't bow and look to Christ
as your only hope, I can't give you any comfort. It is only to
the believer that we can say you have this everlasting consolation.
I wouldn't want to say this to an unbeliever, and I'm not going
to, But to every believer, I can say, you've always been in Christ
and you always will be in Christ. And you're always accepted because
you have an everlasting consolation. I love thinking about that. I
can't really much think about it. I can just believe it, but
I love it. An everlasting consolation and a good hope. How come it's
a good hope? It's through grace. That's why
it's a good hope. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
6. This is another description of
this consolation that we have in the gospel. Verse 17, wherein God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the
immutability, the changelessness of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge to lay
upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil, whether the forerunner for us is for us entered, even
Jesus made an high priest after the order of Melchizedek." Now,
a strong consolation. A strong consolation. For who?
for those who have fled for refuge. You fled for safety, a hiding
place, a refuge from the wrath of God, a refuge. For those who
have fled for refuge to lay hold upon that hope that's set before
them. What is the hope of the gospel that When Christ died,
my salvation was accomplished. That's the hope of the gospel.
No other hope. There's only one hope, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, inflating for this refuge, we have him
as an anchor for the soul. And I love the way Christ is
compared to an anchor that actually went into the Holy of Holies
in the very presence of God. He's there right now, but I don't
see him, but he's still there. And he's an anchor, an anchor
for the soul and an anchor. If you're in a boat and you can
see the anchor, how much good is the anchor doing you? It's
not doing you any good at all, is it, if you can see it. You
see, it does you good when you can't see it. And we walk by
faith, not by sight, and we really believe that Christ, our anchor,
is in the very presence of God as our representative. And that,
the scripture says, gives us strong consolation. I have strong
consolation in my refuge that I've laid hold of by faith in
the gospel. Now what a gift he that exhorteth
on exhortation and how the body of Christ needs this. Exhortation
is meaningless without the gospel and we are called upon to exhort
one another. Here's the scripture and I want
for this Hebrews chapter 3. Verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God, but exhort one another daily. While it's called
today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin. Sin is so deceitful, it'll harden
my heart so I won't know the difference between light and
dark, day and night. And so he says, exhort one another
daily. Verse 14, for we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. Now what's the beginning of your
confidence? The beginning of my confidence was when I found out that my
sins were forgiven for Christ's sake. The beginning of my confidence
was when I was enabled to believe that when he said, it is finished,
it was finished. The beginning of my confidence
was when I found out that salvation really was of grace. That's the
beginning of my confidence. And you know what I'm called
upon to do? To hold on to that confidence steadfast unto the
end. My confidence doesn't change.
because the object of my confidence is Christ only. And I'm to hold
on to that confidence steadfast unto the end. But he said, exhort
one another daily, daily while it's called today, lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end. Aren't you thankful for the gift
of exhortation? May the Lord give us grace to
be true exhorters, exhorting one another with the gospel.
Let's pray together.