2 Corinthians chapter 1. I want to read the first 11 verses. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and beginning
here in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church
of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all
Achaia. Grace be unto you, and peace
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in
all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble. By the comfort we're with, we
ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And
whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation,
which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which
we also suffer. or whether we be comforted, it
is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast,
knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you
be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, that
you be ignorant of our trouble, which came unto us in Asia, that
we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that
we despaired even of life. But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God, which raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a
death, and doeth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet
deliver us. Ye also happen together by prayer
for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many
persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. I want
us to begin with this this morning and maybe go down through verses
1 through 4. And then tonight I want us to
look at the subject of the danger of mistrust. So we are going
to spend our whole day in these first 10 or 11 verses. But I
wanted to dwell just a few minutes because it's always been very
interesting to me. Verse 1, the apostle said of
himself, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. By the will of God. Now, if you
don't know much about what we talk about around here, we talk
a lot about God's will, don't we? We talk about God's sovereign
will. We believe it. We trust in it. We glory in His sovereign will. And if you're here very long
around us, you'll hear something about God being sovereign. God's
will being sovereign. And we earnestly believe that
that's what the Scripture teach. Now, I trust we wouldn't believe
it if the Scripture didn't teach us that. But we find this in
the Scripture. There is a doctrine, a teaching
in the Scripture that teaches that God is God, and that He
has a will, and He exercises that will. Whatever He wants
to do, He does it. Now I want to read, let me quote
two or three verses. Do you remember this in your
mind, the term there? But let me quote to you Daniel
chapter 4 and verse 34 and verse 35. This is where Nebuchadnezzar
had been out in the field eating grass like an oxen. His fingernails
grew out like eagles' claws and his hair grew out. And the Lord
taught him a lesson. And when those days were over,
his understanding returned unto him. And here's what he said.
He said, I bless the Most High. Now that is the way He addressed
God. Who is He? He is the Most High. In other words, there is nobody
above Him. He is the Most High. And I praise and honor Him that
liveth forever and forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And listen, All the inhabitants
of the earth are refuted as nothing in His sight. They're nothing.
We're nothing in His sight. And He doeth according to His
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth. And no man can say unto Him,
What doest Thou? Now that's why we believe in
the sovereign will of God. And listen to Romans chapter
9 and verse 18. Therefore hath He mercy on whom
He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. Boy, we felt
that in our souls, have we not? Have we not felt our need of
mercy? And we found out that mercy is
free in the hands of God to bestow it upon whom He wills? I will
have mercy upon whom I will. And Paul said, why does he yet
find fault then for who has resisted his will? Well, he can find fault
with man. He knows man. He knows his heart.
He knows his ways. But over and above that, nobody
can resist his will. It is impossible to do that.
And Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, listen to this. In Christ
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh. God is a working God and He is
working now. He has been working ever since
the beginning and He will continue to work. He worketh what determines
what He does. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Now, some may read these passages
and just argue like crazy. And they may twist them and say
they can't mean that and they can't mean this. All right. All
right. Go ahead and argue if they will.
But listen, there's one thing you can't argue with and that's
fact. That's experience. And if we didn't have the Bible
to tell us that God is sovereign, that when He sets His hand to
absolutely do something and accomplish His purpose, nobody can stop
Him. He's going to have His way. We've
got that right here in verse 1 to teach us that God is sovereign
in His will. Here it says this, look at this,
Paul, an apostle by the will of God. What? Who is this man? This was Saul of Tarsus, was
it not? What kind of a man was he anyway?
An apostle of Jesus Christ? Who would have ever thought such
a thing? He hated Jesus Christ, did he not? He said, I thought
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I did them to the best of my ability. I lived in
an outright and open enemy to Jesus of Nazareth. And he persecuted
Christians. You read there in Galatians chapter
1, and he was riding to the Galatian church, and he said to those
Gentiles there in Galatia, even you heard about my conversation
in time past. In the Jews religion, how I persecuted
the church and wasted it. What happened to this man? He
is not an apostle of Jesus Christ. Are you kidding me? What happened
to this man? What determined that this man,
the greatest enemy of the Lord, should now be the most faithful
and loving apostle of Jesus Christ to spread His name far and near? Well, somebody said a wise soul
winner must have got a hold of him. Must have really taught
him how wrong he was and showed him that Jesus of Nazareth was
really the Messiah. Well, here's what's wrong with
that. Paul said, I wasn't taught this by man. I learned this by
revelation. And when the Lord Jesus appeared
to him on the Damascus road and broke him down and put him in
the dust and stopped his mouth, he said immediately, I conferred
not with flesh and blood. I didn't go up to Jerusalem to
learn of Peter and James and John. I went off into Arabia
and the Lord Himself taught me of Himself in the Gospel. But
Paul, an apostle, and brothers and sisters, you get right back
down to where the rubber meets the road. What was it that determined
that this man would be an apostle of Jesus Christ? The will of
God. You ask Paul if he believes that
God is sovereign in His will. He would say, look at me. Look
at me. And if I asked you this morning
to examine your own experience in salvation, if you had nothing
else to go by, what would you tell me? You would tell me, I
know God is sovereign in His will. Because look what He did
to me. He saved me. I was His enemy. I wasn't open like this man Saul
of Tarsus was, but I was his enemy. I was dead in trespasses
and sins. What determined where I would
be saved or go on in my sins and go to hell? You know what
determined that? The will of God. That's it, isn't
it? Aren't you glad? Boy, when you
get right down to the nitty-gritty, one of the things that blesses
your soul and gives you assurance is that you're saved by the will
of God. It wasn't your will that determined
your salvation. We're born not of the will of
the flesh, not of blood or the will of man, but of God. Of His
own will begot He us. Here we lay dead in sin. And
He says it's My will to save that man. Yes, but listen, you
don't know how dead that man is. Yeah, you don't know how
the devil is in that man. You don't know how much that
man hates you. You don't know how much that man loves the world.
Oh, God knows all of that, doesn't He? But He said, I will to save
him. Then save him I shall. I shall. Oh, there are some precious things.
Listen to these two verses of Scripture concerning the will
of God. Listen to John 6.38. If you are
here this morning and He saved you, And you are saved by the
will of God. Listen to these two precious
Scriptures concerning the will of our Triune God. The Lord Jesus
said, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. What is that will? He tells us,
doesn't He? And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up. at the last day. What a good
hope, dear child of God, you've got! It's God's will that His
Son raise up your body at the last day. What a good hope! And
listen to this one, John 17, 24. Here's the Lord Jesus expressing
His will. And you know His will is just
as sovereign as the Father, for they're one in will and Father,
I will that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where
I am." Ain't that wonderful? What's going to determine your
being in heaven with the Lord Jesus and seeing Him as He is? The will of God. The will of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So, if you go back to your conversion,
what determines your conversion? The will of God. Him keeping
you and raising you up at the last day, it's the will of God
that determines that. We owe our salvation, our hope
of heaven, to the very will of God. Somebody will say, Bruce,
if I believed that, I would become so presumptuous. I would become
so boastful and proud and exclusive. I think I was above everybody
if I believed that. I had a man to tell me one time,
he said, if I believe what you believe, I'd just stay at the
house. Isn't it something that people that don't believe this,
yet they tell you how they would feel and how they would act if
they did? Well, here's a man that believed it. How did he
act? How did he think? What did he
do? How did it affect this great
apostle? Well, he says here in verse 1, I love the way he always
begins his epistle. He didn't say, Reverend Paul? He didn't say Paul, D.D., the
Doctor of Divinity. He didn't even say Brother Paul.
He just said Paul. Paul. That doesn't sound like
he's exalted himself, does it? He's just Paul. Somebody asked me, what are we
supposed to call you? What are they supposed to call
me? You just wait. I can tell you
some stories about things like that. People come up and tell
me, what are we supposed to call you? How do we address you? I
say, what's it say right there? Bruce Crabtree. Why don't you
just address me as Bruce Crabtree? That's who I am. That's what
I am. He didn't have any earned titles to his name, did he? We do that here, and that's all
right. But boy, when we get into the Kingdom of God, all of that
goes aside, doesn't it? It's Paul. Another place he wrote
the first epistle we have, the book of Romans. You know how
he began that? Paul the servant. You know what that word means?
A slave. He's a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I'm just Paul. Ain't that what
he said? It didn't make him think highly of himself, did it? The
only time he used his apostle is not to exalt himself, but
just to tell of his office. That's the office that the Lord
Jesus called me into. And boy, His humility, this is
characteristic of the Apostle Paul. He said here in verse 1,
and he includes, look at this, young Timothy, young Timothy. Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ
and Timothy, young Timothy. He didn't say he's an apprentice. He's my underling. I am training
him. I just wanted to mention his
name. He is not worthy to be named with me. He was just a
young preacher. But Paul here in humility says,
Me and Timothy right unto you. Well, he was not exclusive, was
he? Look here what else he said.
To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints,
which are in all Achaia, all the saints. Now do you imagine
there were some saints here that were babies in Christ? You read the Corinthian epistles
and read what was going on there at Corinth, and I'm telling you
some of it was a mess. Was it not? They were having
all kinds of trouble, all kinds of difficulty. What to drink,
what to eat, All the fornication, all the idolatry. There was things
in this church that was an absolute mess. And yet he writes to them
and says, to all the saints. Yes, there were saints that absolutely
need to grow in grace and knowledge. But here's what he's saying.
Are you saints? Are you saints? Then I'm writing
to you. But Paul, you don't know how
weak I am. You don't know how frail I am. You don't know how
weak I am in the faith." He said, I don't care. Maybe you need
to grow. You need to grow in grace and
knowledge. But he says this, are you in Christ? Then I don't
exclude you. Are you a saint? Then I'm right
into all the saints. He included every one of them,
didn't he? He wasn't right into Baptists. He wasn't right into
Presbyterians or Westlands or Methodists. Are you in Christ? That's what he told them. If
any man be in Christ, that's who I'm writing to. Those who
are in Christ. Have you been called out of darkness
and to the fellowship of God's dear Son? Are you a saint? Paul, I tell you, I'm having
trouble. I'm having a lot of trouble.
Well, you may be. You may be. But dear soul, I'm
not going to exclude you. If you are in Christ, you may
be as weak and as unstable as water, but are you in Christ?
Yes, Paul, but I am so fallen. Are you sorry about that? Are
you repentant about that? Is Christ your hope? Is He your
life? Then I am right into you. I don't
exclude anybody if they are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace. from God our Father. But surely
a man who believes in the sovereignty of God, he would get high-minded,
he would get exclusive. It's just me and my four and
no more. No! Here's Paul, and he's not that
way at all. You know we got people that way,
don't we? Man, they've arrived. You get on the website sometime
to read the little booklets, and man, they're smart, they're
sharp as a tack. They know who the sheep are and
who the goats are, and they're able to separate them. They know
who the tires are and who the wheat is, and they can pluck
up the tires and never bother the wheat. They're smart, I'm
telling you, at least in their own eye. But just a few of them left.
And what happens when there's just four of them left? Then
they can't get along. They start doubting each other.
Then they split and go their way. Paul isn't like that. He says, Are you in Christ, a
new creature? Then I'm writing to all the saints. I don't care if you're a Baptist.
I don't care if you're a Presbyterian. I don't care if you're nothing.
Are you in Christ? Then you're a saint. I'm writing
to you. Oh, believing that God is sovereign
in His will and purpose doesn't give us a standoffish attitude,
does it? It doesn't make us mean and hateful.
Paul knew that grace could be in a sinner and save a sinner
and yet be weak in that sinner. Grace in us is not perfect, is
it? I need grace. I need grace. I
tell you, I do not know if there is anybody here that believes
in the sovereignty of God any more than I do. I believe in
the sovereignty of God from first to last. I believe He's already
elected those He's going to save. He's already wrote their names
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. I believe that Jesus Christ came
down from heaven and obtained eternal redemption for those
people. I believe the Holy Spirit in time will call those people
by the gospel and give them faith and all graces and once in Christ,
in Christ forever. I love that, don't you? And those
will be raised and presented in heaven without spot or blemish
or any such thing. Brethren, I believe in the sovereignty
of God. And you know something in the
light of that what I feel inside myself? I need grace. I'm a man
who is in need of grace. And aren't you glad that God
has it? And aren't you glad that He can increase it? Peter said,
I pray for you that peace and grace may abound. It can grow,
can't it? That peace that the Lord Jesus
obtained upon Calvary's tree? That peace that's in our heart?
Oh, Peter said, I pray that it will just abound in you. And
James said, He gives more grace. He resists us the proud but gives
grace to the humble. Oh, Paul believed in the sovereign
will of God. All these apostles did. And it
just made them feel like they need grace more and more and
more. Look here in our text again.
Grace be unto you in peace. Grace and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He wished
for them. That's what He prayed for them.
More grace and more peace that comes from God and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Didn't make him heady, did it?
Didn't make him high-minded? Brethren, if what we believe
about God and Christ and self makes us standoffish, makes us
judgmental, makes us hateful, then we better go back and re-examine,
haven't we? We may believe the truth, but
maybe it ain't got in our hearts. Because that wisdom that's from
above is first peaceable, it's easy to be entreated. You can
sit down and talk to somebody about it without sticking your
finger in their nose and making their nose bleed. Look in verse 3 now. Blessed
be God. This word blessed means to praise,
to give thanks to, to adore, adoration. I bless God. I praise
Him. And Paul mentions three things
here that he praises the Lord for. And I want us to look at
these right quickly, then we'll go eat lunch. First one, He blesses
God for this, the Father. Look at this. This is so wonderful.
I praise God, He says, even the Father. I praise Him that He
is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have these two
First Persons of the Sacred Trinity. And a distinction is made between
them. Do you notice that? The Father
of our Lord Jesus. See that distinction? He's the
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not like He is men or angels.
Jesus Christ is not a created Son like men are and like Adam
was. He's not a Son by adoption like
you and I are. We're adopted sons. There was
times when we weren't sons, and now we're adopted sons. And we
have the spirit of adoption. But Jesus Christ is the Son of
God eternally. Now that's a mystery, is it not?
You can't get a hold of this. How do you have a son as old
as the Father? Ain't that amazing? Ain't that
a mystery? The old Puritans used to call Him the Eternal, Only
Begotten of the Father. The eternally begotten of the
Father. Now that's a mystery. He is absolutely
God. He is everything that makes God,
God. Jesus Christ is. And yet He is
distinct. There is truly a Father, and
there is truly a Son. Listen to John 1.1. In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Look at the unity. Look at the
oneness. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was God. And look at the distinction.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. One with God, and yet He was
with God. A distinction between the Father
and the Son. That's a mystery, is it not? There's one God revealed in three
glorious persons. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And the blessing, one of the
blessings that's behind this is this. The Father sent His
only begotten Son into the world. to be our Savior. His only begotten
Son. How often the Lord Jesus said,
I came not of my own self, I came not of my own will, but He sent
me. My Father sent me. Jesus said
unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but
He sent me." What great love is that? And James says that. John says that. Talking about
the love that's manifested in God sending His Son. It's almost
like the Father said, My son, I'm sending you on an errand.
I'm giving you a commandment. My Father, what do you want me
to do? I want you to go to earth. There's
a people there I want you to redeem. And I'm sending you there
to do it. And I'm going to give you a body.
And I've given you a commandment to be faithful and obey my law
and die for their sins, a cursed death." And my son said, Father,
I love thy law. I love your commandments. I'll
go. Lo, I come, he said, in the volume
of the book. It is written of me. And John
said, ìWe have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son.î
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And
John also said this, ìAnd this was manifested, the love of God
towards us.î Poor parishioners. Because God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we should live through Him. And listen
to how John says this, Grace be with you in peace and mercy
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
in truth and in love. He is the Son of God in truth.
We just don't make that up, do we? There is really and honestly
a Son of God, an eternal Son. That's the truth. And He's the
Son of God in love. God loves Him. How many times
did the Father say, this is my beloved Son? And He calls Him
beloved. You're accepted in the beloved.
God loves His Son. That's the amazing aspect of
the cross, is it not? We've often made statements like
this. You hear it so much. Would you
give your son for your enemies? You have a son of your bosom
that you love and he's obedient to you. Everything you tell him
to do. He never argues with you. He just does it. He delights
to please his father. Would you give that son for those
ungodly terrorists over there shooting people and cutting their
heads off. Would you say, my son, I want you to go over there
and I want you to give your life for those bunch of people? Would
you do that? No, you wouldn't, would you?
You keep your son as far away from those fellows as you could.
But what did the father do? He said, son, you go down there
and die for our enemies. Boy, that's love, ain't it? That's
love. Herein is the love of God. Our Father manifested. He sent
His only begotten Son into this world that we should live through
Him. And if we sent our Son over there
to die after some of those fellows, that's all we could do. It wouldn't
be effectual, would it? Nothing good would ever come
out of it. They'd just go on like they were. But when God
sent His Son, it was effectual, wasn't it? He accomplished something,
our redemption, our eternal redemption by the Son of God. Oh, Paul said,
I bless God. I praise His name that He is
indeed the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, aren't we thankful
that God has a Son that accomplished His will in saving us. Number
two, he says this, I praise God, I extol Him, this is a wonderful
thing, that He is the Father of mercies. He's the Father of
Christ and now He's the Father of mercy. One version said He's
a merciful Father. Well, we know that, but it says
more than that, doesn't it? He's the Father of mercies. He's
the Father of every mercy. His mercies are over all His
works. In creation, don't you see the
mercy of God? Every time it rains and softens
the earth. What would happen if it didn't
rain? All the seasons, even the snow,
you see the treasures of the snow. His mercies. His mercies over all His work.
What if His mercies wasn't over this creation? It wouldn't be
a safe place to live, would it? His mercies are over His providence? His mercies reaches to every
man, woman, and boy and girl in this world. And His mercies
are sure in salvation, are covenant mercies, everlasting mercies
in salvation. Every mercy is begotten of the
Father. Now think of that. If you have
a child, it's because you begot him. Every mercy. Think of this this way. I wish
we could get lost people to think of this this way. You live your
life and your heart is filled with pleasure. You have your
children. You have a job. You breathe. You are in health.
Why? Mercy. And think when you got
up this morning, you woke up and you were in your right mind
and able to get out of bed. Just think of the mercy involved
in that. And every mercy God gives, each
one of them is begotten of the Father. It's as though He looks
upon each individual and says, He needs mercy. And He begets
mercy. And extends it and gives to them.
Isn't that amazing to think of it that way? Oh, He's the Father
of mercies. He begets mercy. How much more
when we're talking about covenant mercies. Saving mercies. I like to think of it this way.
I see mercy. back there in eternity. And she
has a pen in her hand. And what's she writing? She's
writing the names of all the elect of God in the book of life.
Why do you say mercy did that? Because we are called mercy's
vessels. Mercy's vessels. Not justice
vessels. But we are the vessels of mercy.
What makes the distinction between the vessels of wrath and the
vessels of mercy? Mercy. Mercy made the distinction. What is it that saved us? What
is it that woke us up from wrath to flee? Mercy. You experienced your first saving
conviction in mercy's light. Massacred the dickens out of
you. Oh man, I'm lost forever. The Lord is never going to save
me. Didn't we think that way? I thought that way. But that
was mercy's light teaching us that. Awakening us up from wrath
to flee. By His mercy He saved us from
the washing of regeneration. And what do we need to follow
us all the days of our life? Is it not mercy? And what are
we looking for this morning? When you look past your deathbed
and out into eternity, what are you looking for? Mercy. Mercy. Jude said, looking for
the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy from the beginning, mercy
at the middle, and mercy from out in eternity. Mercy, mercy,
mercy. When the Lord saved me, I'm telling
you what, I was so... I look back on when the Lord
first saved me and Dunham is an understatement. Spiritually
ignorant is an understatement. I thought, boy, I've got it. I'm going to read. I'm going
to be established. I'm going to know something and
be something. And the Lord began to teach me
to estimate myself. And when he's finished with me,
here's my attitude now. I need mercy. I tell you, I've
learned how to pray for mercy in the last few years like I
never knew before. I can pray for it earnestly now because
that's my need, is mercy. And since He's the Father of
mercies, He just keeps on giving mercy. I remember and I've told you
this story so many times. There was an old faithful preacher
somewhere in England. Now, his name escapes me. But
he was dying, a faithful man. And one of his old friends went
to see him before he died. And his old friend got right
down next to his ear and whispered in his ear, Dear brother, you're
going to receive your reward. And the old preacher whispered
back up at him, Brother, I'm going to receive mercy. Mercy. Oh, aren't you glad there's mercy?
But there'd be no mercy if God wasn't the Father of mercies.
But because He's the Father of mercy, there's mercy to save
us. I mean fully save us, completely
save us. Oh, I praise God. The Gentiles will glorify God
for His mercy. And the last thing we'll look
at quickly is this. He said He blessed God, He praised
Him, that He was the God of all comfort. The God of all comfort,
consolation. Boy, this is a sad, sorry world,
ain't it? We was talking, me and Randy
was, and some of us about what went on this weekend over there
in Paris. And, well, I feel for those fellas.
I feel for them. Man, it's probably just started,
dude, don't you think? Probably coming year. They want
to bring a bunch of those fellas over here now. And I feel for
them. What are you supposed to do with
them? I don't want them as my neighbors, do you? There's probably
some in there that you wouldn't mind at all having this neighbor.
But I tell you, there's some in there that will cut your head
off, too. Cut your children's head right off in front of you.
And it's been the way with that people ever since the Lord told
Abraham, Ishmael's going to be a wild man. And his hands are
going to be against everybody, and everybody's hands are going
to be against him. You and I are probably getting ready to face
some things we've never seen in our lives. But I tell you,
just forget all of that. It's still a sad and sorry world,
isn't it? Sometimes I get down. If I didn't
have the wife I had, I wouldn't have a wife. Because I couldn't
find another to live with me. Sometimes I get down and all
I want to do is just get away. I built me a little study out
in the garage, right in the back corner of my garage. And I go
out there, I don't have to shave, don't have to wash my head, change
my clothes. Sometimes I go out there in my
pajamas. Just to get away. And it's not that I don't like
people, but I tell you, I know that there's a lot of days that
it's not good for people to be around me. I'm just miserable. Do you ever feel that way? I'm
like that. Who was it that wrote that song,
I Hate Everything? George Strait, I Hate Everything.
I hate my job, I hate my life, and if it wasn't for the kids,
I'd hate my ex-wife. I don't have an ex-wife, but
I just about hate everything. Do you ever get to feel that
way? That's just being honest. I get feeling down. But one thing
that's taught me, one thing this has taught me, that there is
no comfort in this world. This world cannot give you lasting
soul comfort. There is no comfort. There is
no temporary comfort. There is no comfort for the soul
but in the God of all comfort. And I think I've experienced
that. I've had things and they didn't satisfy me. And I've lost
things. My world's been turned upside
down. They don't last. And sometimes
I think I just want to get along with the God of all comfort and
get away from everything else. And he comforts like nobody else
can comfort. The Lord Jesus said, I'll not
leave you comfortless. I'll come to you. That's why
He looked upon a broken heart and a crushed spirit and says,
I'll comfort you. I'll uphold that broken spirit.
I'll uphold that heart that's crushed because nobody else can
do it. Some of you have experienced
what it is to be in a condition that nobody could comfort you.
No situation could comfort you. No word spoken by anybody could
comfort you. You knew if you were comforted,
it was going to have to come from the Lord. And thank God
He's willing to do it. We say sometimes, this God-forsaken
world, but it's not. It's not. I tell you, when God
forsakes this world, there'll be no comfort of any kind. And
there's comfort right now. There's comfort for everybody,
isn't there? But when God forsakes this world,
nobody but God-forsaken people knows what it is to be comfortless.
That rich man in hell, there is no comfort, absolutely no
comfort for him there. Because he lifted up his eyes
in hell, in Pyramid, and he said, there is no God here! There is
no God here! Why do you say that? Because
there is no comfort! And all the poor beggar in heaven,
Lazarus who was full of sores here, He said, there's nothing
up here to harass me. There's nothing here but comfort.
Now He is comforted. And what was said of Him 2,000
years ago are said of Him this morning, Wayne. What condition
is He in now? He's comforted. Why? Because He's in the presence
of the God of all comfort. Well, you and I hope to be so. And sometimes out of our greatest
triumph, we'll see this afternoon, out of our greatest affliction
comes the greatest comfort. Think of the cross. There was
somebody that was forsaken of God, wasn't he? He knew something
about what it was to be comfortless. Think of him as he looked out
over the crowd. There was no eye, as the preacher
said, beaming up to him saying, we know what you are doing there.
We thank you for it. We love you for it. No. Eyes
of hatred. Screams of mockery. And when
he looked to heaven, it was dark. But out of that misery came a
greatest comfort between eternity. Salvation. Eternal salvation.
Oh, I am the God of all comfort. Blessed be His holy name. Let's pray.