The title of the message is,
Our Hope for You. And beginning in verse 1, we'll
just go verse by verse and ask the Lord to reveal His Word to
us and make it, as Bob said in his prayer, a blessing to us. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, The apostles were never fond of titles, either before or after their
names. He referred to himself as Paul. He didn't refer to himself by
any title. I don't imagine Timothy called
him Paul, though. I imagine Timothy called him
Brother Paul or Pastor. But he called himself Paul. He
referred to himself in that way, because he was an apostle. He
was an apostle. He said, Paul, but yet an apostle. He's a servant, and a bondservant,
and an unworthy servant according to his own testimony. Unworthy
to be called an apostle. But nevertheless, he was an apostle.
God uses the most unlikely means to accomplish his purpose. We
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency
and the power might be of God, not of us. If there was anything
to us, or in us, or of us, we'd get the glory. But since there's
not anything to us, or in us, or of us, he gets the glory,
Paul. But an apostle, and an apostle
not by the will of men, Man didn't put him in the ministry, God
did. An apostle by the will of God, according to the will of
God. God put him in the ministry,
and God gave him the gifts and graces to equip him to preach
the gospel. And he includes Timothy in the
greeting and salutation. He says, and Timothy. And Timothy, not my servant or
underling or disciple, but my brother." The Apostle Paul was
a man of deep and sincere humility. He considered young Timothy to
be his comrade and brother, fellow laborer in the gospel. Not that
he felt above Timothy or Timothy beneath him. He's my brother.
My brother. And we're riding on to the Church
of God, which is at Carwenth, with all the saints in that area. And the first order of business
after the salutation is a prayer. In verse 2, grace be to you and
peace. Grace be to you. We're saved
by grace. We're kept by grace. We'll enter
glory by grace. And we live every day by God's
grace. It is grace that called us. It
is grace that bought us. It is grace that taught us. It's
grace that keeps us. And it's grace that God gives
us for every day. But all of our grace is imperfect. All of our grace stands in need
of growth. And that's the reason he says,
grace to you. We already have grace. That's
how God saved us. We're children of grace. We're
called by His grace. We're kept by His grace. But
may God give you more grace. Grace upon grace. Peter encourages
us to grow in grace. Grow in grace. wrote to this
church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. He talks to them about
the grace of giving. He said, now you've grown in
love, and you've grown in the grace of faith, and you've grown
in the grace of utterance, preaching, and knowledge. Now grow in this
grace, generosity. So even the person with the most
grace stands in need of more grace. Grace upon grace. So he prays, grace be to you,
and peace. Ah, my, peace. Precious peace. Peace with God. Nothing like
it. Peace with God. Peace in our
hearts by grace. Peace among believers. How precious
it is. How unhappy we are when that
peace is not there. Peace in the home. Peace between
brethren. Peace with all men. As much as
lieth within you, live at peace with all men. I tell you, the
older I get, the less I like conflict. The less I like conflict, the
less I want any part of it. Peace. Grace to you and peace. Well, from whom? From God our
Father. He's the giver of peace. And peace is a gift. And he's
the giver and Christ is the fountain. He said, grace to you and peace
from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me
read you Colossians chapter 1 about this business of peace. Here's
the source of peace. Here's the fountain of peace.
In Colossians 1 verse 19, it pleased the Father. that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. And having made peace, how? Through the blood of His cross,
by Christ to reconcile all things to Himself. By Christ, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, grace be
to you and peace from God our Father from the fountain of all
grace and all peace, our Lord Jesus Christ. All right, verse
3. Bless God. Blessed be God. What does this word, bless, mean
in reference to God? How can I bless God? We're blessed
by God. But how can I bless God? Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me, bless His holy
name." Well, the word means several things. The first thing it means
is this, praise God. Let everything that hath breath
praise God. John Chapman read a scripture
tonight in the study in which it says, in his temple, Everyone
praises God. In His temple, everyone praises
God, gives Him all the glory. So, to bless God is to praise
God. Secondly, to bless God is to
thank God. Thankful. Every petition we offer
to God is to be offered with thanksgiving. And to bless God
is to speak highly of God. Be careful. Be careful. When Job experienced all of these
multiple trials, heartaches, he was careful, very careful,
not to charge God with folly. Very careful. In all of this,
Job, sin not, nor charge God with foolishness. To bless God
is to speak highly of God, and to bless God is to give Him all
the glory. And He's worthy because, listen,
He's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, He's not the Father of
Christ as He is Adam in creation. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's not the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the sense of adoption as He is our Father. But He's the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ in that He gave us Christ. Christ said, I come
from God. I come from God. God sent His
Son. He's the Father. of the covenant. He's the father of the Redeemer. He's the father of our high priest. He's the father, the giver of
Christ Jesus. And he's not only the father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's the father of mercies. Life,
love, light, all are mercies of God. Everything we have is a gift
from God. Man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. He's the Father of all mercies. He's the God of all comfort.
He's the source of all comfort, of all hope, of all encouragement. There is no encouragement except
in Him, in His Word, in His promises, in time of trial and trouble. suffering and sickness and yea
death, to whom do we turn? Whom have I in heaven but thee? Whom have I on earth but thee? He's the God of all comfort.
And Peter said in 1 Peter 5, the God of all grace, The God of all grace, the God
of all comfort, who has called us into His eternal glory by
Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while. He'll make
you perfect. He'll establish you. He'll strengthen
you. He'll settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion
forever and ever. The God of all comfort. The Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless Him. Thank Him. Glorify
and praise Him, the Father of mercies and the
God of all comfort. Verse 4, three important things
are evident here. He comforted us in all our tribulation,
all our troubles. He is our comfort. God is our
comfort. Christ is our comfort. You know,
over in Hebrews chapter 4, it says that we don't have a
high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but he was in all points tempted like as we are. He's been where
we are. We've never been everywhere He
has been, but he's been everywhere we'll ever be. He was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. We haven't suffered like he suffered. We haven't been and never will
be everywhere he has been in the flesh as a man, tempted in
all points, tested in all points. But we'll never be where He has
not been, so He'll comfort us in our troubles and in our tribulations. And secondly, He comforts us,
verse 4, in our troubles and tribulations, secondly, that
we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble. He comforts us that we might
comfort others. Every vessel God uses, he prepares
for the task. He never uses an untested vessel,
not for his purpose and glory, to comfort. He said to Pharaoh he used him
that he might demonstrate his power, but God when he demonstrates
his grace and comfort, he'll use a vessel that he's prepared
for that task. He comforts us in our trouble
that in order that we may be able to comfort them which are
in trouble. And then, this is what those
whom he uses to comfort others, who can be a comfort, this is
what they use to comfort others. He comforts us that we may be
able to comfort others who are in trouble. How? By the same
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. We take them by where He took
us. Nothing originates with us. Everything
that we preach, we're just repeating what we heard him say. Barnard said so often, so clearly,
you can't tell what you don't know any more than you can come
back from where you ain't been. And so, we don't want to grumble
too much about the road God has us walk, and the valley through
which He takes us, and the path over which He directs us. Because
he's doing it on purpose. To accomplish his purpose. To
be a blessing to his people. And all of us want to be a blessing
to his people. So he says he'll comfort us in
our troubles, which he sins. That we may be able to comfort
those in their troubles, which he sins. By the comfort of Christ,
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For, verse 5, as the sufferings
for Christ and of Christ abound in us, increase. And what he's saying here, as
the sufferings and trial for the sake of Christ and the gospel
increase, and the longer believers live, the more trials, the more troubles. You increase
and abound. Abound means to overflow. The
word overflow as the sufferings of Christ literally overflow. How much more can you take? As you get older, they overflow.
Your life touches so many lives and so many people, so many loved
ones. You have a keener sense of feeling
And things affect you that didn't, that when you were young you
could take a little better as you get older. And this is what he's saying,
as the sufferings of Christ increase and overflow and abound, as the
believer gets older, so our comfort abounds. Thank
God for that. The more the believer suffers,
the more God comforts him because the more God teaches him and
reveals to him and God upholds him and strengthens him, the
more we are able to bear by his grace and the more we are able
to help others and not ourselves be overwhelmed with grief and
despair. So that's what he's saying. He's
saying that the sufferings of Christ overflow and abound. And the way seems to be more
difficult. So our consolation, thank God,
will abound. As sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. As trials did abound, grace did
much more abound. We know more about Him. We've experienced He'll help
us because He has helped us. He'll uphold us because He has
upheld us. That's what I'm saying. We know
that. We're in trouble, but He'll help
us because He helped us that last time we was in trouble. In verse 6, now watch this carefully. Paul speaks here of apostles
the apostles and the disciples, the prophets, the missionaries,
the pastors, the teachers, those who minister the gospel of Christ
particularly, and the elders and the older believers, the
leaders, the older believers. Now, he's speaking mainly of
them. Verse 6, and whether we be afflicted, it's for your consolation
and salvation. What he's saying here is when
God troubles his leaders, parents, pastors, elders, teachers, older
folks. When God tests us and troubles
us and tries us, it's for your comfort and your consolation
and your deliverance and your salvation. Now skip the middle
part of that verse and go to the last part of that verse 6.
Or whether we be comforted, it's for your consolation and salvation.
In other words, he says here that what happens to us in pain
or peace is for your sake. It's for your sake. In other
words, if God's going to use a man to show you something,
He'll show it to him first. And that's what he's saying here.
These who are leaders and pastors and elders, God puts them through
the fire for your sake. Your comfort and your salvation.
And God comforts them for your comfort and salvation. We couldn't
take constant trouble. We couldn't take constant joy.
Wouldn't be good for us either place. So whether it's pain or
peace, whether it's trials or whether it's happiness, it comes
in our lives that we might be an example and help others. Now look at the middle part of
that verse. And it's effectual in you, in the enduring of the
same sufferings which we also suffer. In other words, he said,
your time's coming. That's what he said. Your time
is coming. What I go through to teach you, pain or pleasure, trials or joy,
but I promise you, Paul said, God will make it effectual. He
has to. Because the day is coming when
like our children have broken our hearts, yours will break
your hearts. That's right, whether you believe it or not. Everybody in here, all the young
people, it doesn't matter who he is,
your time's coming. If you don't learn it now, it's
going to be impossible to endure it. That's the reason they're
shutting people up every day. That's the reason doctors are
prescribing medicine every day for people that cannot take it. They can't live with trial and
trouble. They don't have any comfort.
They don't have any peace, no joy. In this world you shall
have tribulation. But if you learn this, be of
good cheer, I have overcome this world. And that's what he's saying in
that verse. Whether I'm afflicted, Trouble is for your sake. Whether
I'm comforted is for your sake. That you might be comforted.
Because the time's coming when you're going to need it. And verse 7, and our hope for
you, and our hope for you is steadfast, I know, that as
you are partakers of the suffering, so shall you be also the consolation." I'm confident, Paul said, I'm
just confident, unwavering, steadfast that God has begun a good work
in you and He'll finish it. You'll continue in the faith
and you'll not be moved away. These are not wasted days. These are not messages with no
purpose. Just as you share in the sufferings of our Lord, you'll
share in His comfort. He'll be there for you too. I'm
sure of it, he said. That's my hope. Alright. Now
brethren, verse 8, I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of
the trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed
out of measure. above strength, insomuch we despaired
even of life." We're not told here what this trouble was, to
which Paul referred in this verse, but it was so great, this was
so heavy, this was so great, Paul felt that this trial and
trouble was beyond his strength. He believed he'd die. That's
what he said. He's saying, I was pressed clear
out of measure. I had no strength left. I despaired even of life. I can't
survive. In verse 9, we had the sentence
of death in ourselves. God brought me to such an extreme
experience and condition. Why? That we should not trust
in ourselves. but in God who raises the dead.
God brought Paul to such a difficult time and condition in order that
he may lay aside all trust and all confidence and all hope in
human wisdom or human strength or human power and trust God
alone who raises the dead. And if he's able to raise the
dead, He's able to deliver us even out of the most extreme
difficulties. And if we're brought to that
place where, you know, we reach and get that promise, He said
He'll not try you above what you're able to bear. But Paul
came to the place where he didn't think he could bear it. Couldn't take any more. He said,
I'm going to die. But he said he did that to me
that I might be reminded that without him that's exactly what
I'd do. I'd quit. I'd die. But he raises the dead. Go on and die. But he'll raise
the dead. And verse 10, and He delivered
us. He delivered us. This could be
our watchword. He delivered us from so great
a death, and He doth deliver us in whom we trust. He'll yet
deliver us. That could be the watchword of
every believer in every condition and situation. He delivered me.
And He doth deliver me. And He will deliver me. That's
why He saved me. By grace, I've been saved. unto
us who are being saved. And now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed. It's always God. Alpha to omega,
beginning to end, it's always God. And then Paul's confidence in
God's purpose and sovereignty didn't discourage him from prayer.
He said in verse 11, helping together by prayer for us. You
prayed for us. Paul said, you prayed for us
and God was pleased to deliver us. That's what he's saying there. You prayed for us. That for the
gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks
may be given by many on our behalf. He's saying here that you prayed
for us and God delivered us and therefore We ought to give thanks
to God that He did deliver us. We should be as diligent in giving
Him thanks for prayers heard as we are in offering prayers. You know that. We should be as
diligent in giving thanks for prayers heard as we are in offering
petitions. Don't forget to thank Him. That's what Paul is saying. Many
prayed for me and many better give thanks on my behalf. For our rejoicing is this. Now
you know I've often said our ministry ought to be characterized
by three things. Three things ought to characterize
every true servant's ministry. One is simplicity. Simplicity. Preach so that people can understand
what you're saying. In words they can understand.
Not with wisdom of words. Lest the cross of Christ be made
of non-effect. The simplicity of Christ. Secondly,
sincerity. Godly sincerity. No other motive
or goal than His glory and the good of the congregation. No
covetousness. Just godly sincerity. And thirdly, dependent on the
grace of God to make it effectual. Don't try through means and methods
to accomplish the will of God. Depend on the Spirit of God,
the grace of God to accomplish the will of God. to convict men
of sin and bring them to Christ and to bring them to repentance
and cause them to love or give or do whatever they do, depend
on the grace of God. And that's what Paul says right
here in verse 12. Our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of our conscience that in simplicity, godly sincerity, not with fleshly
Wisdom or methods, but by the grace of God. We've had our conversation
in this world. Our ministry. It ought to characterize
every man's ministry. Simplicity. Sincerity. And total dependence
on the grace of God. For we, verse 13, We have no
hidden meanings. We write none other things unto
you than what you read or acknowledge. There are no hidden meanings
in the words I write. There's no deceit and hypocrisy.
What you read is exactly what we mean. That's what he said. What you read is exactly what
we mean. What you read or acknowledge.
And I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end. This is the
Word of God. And I said to someone after the
service this morning, this type of preaching, like we're doing
here, like the elders do, and pastor tries to do, verse by
verse, that's the way to teach God's people. And that's the
way to be delivered from error, because you go just exactly as
the Scripture is written, and the people are looking at it,
and you're looking at it, and the Spirit of God Opens our hearts
and eyes and ears to see, hear, and believe. And that's what
it's saying. There's no hidden meaning. There's no hypocrisy.
What you're reading is exactly what He's saying. That's what
He said. That's what He said. And that's
the way we preach. That your faith might not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the Word of God. This is what
He said. So therefore, verse 14, as this
is the last one, as also you have acknowledged us in part,
that we are your rejoicing, even as you also are ours in the day
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we're going to rejoice together
and rejoice over one another and rejoice over the victory
and the grace of God and the glory of God when we stand in
His presence. You rejoice that I came along
and I'll rejoice that you came along. Paul said that's, I'm
your rejoicing in your mind. And we all rejoice in him. We
got one common song.