Open our Bibles today to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning with verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God
of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the
comfort wherewith 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, have you ignorant of our trouble which
came to 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 doth deliver in whom we trust that we shall
or he will yet deliver us. You also helping 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. For our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have
had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly, to you would. The Apostle Paul, if we notice
in this passage of scripture, he does not tell us what trouble,
or what tribulation he was in when the God of all comforted
him. He does tell us that it was while
he was in Asia, if you notice again in verse 8, and it was
a great trouble. It was such a trouble, as he
says, for we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble
which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure,
above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. This means that this one particular
trouble that he has reference to here in this verse of scripture
was so severe It was so severe that he and those with him, they
saw no probability, no possibility, humanly speaking, that their
lives would be spared. Now, keep your places here, but
if you look in chapter 11 of this same letter, the Apostle
Paul experienced much tribulation and trouble in this world for
the gospel of Christ. Here in chapter 11 in verse 24,
he said, of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes, save one. Five times, five times he was
beaten with 39 stripes. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
From what I've read, very few people ever survived one beating
with rods. He was beaten three times with
rods. Once was I stoned, and we know
about that because they drug his body outside town thinking
he was dead. The only reason they stopped
throwing stones, they were convinced that he was dead. Once, he said,
I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been
in the deep. Can you imagine that, spending
a night and a day in the ocean? helpless. But none of these troubles
that are mentioned here is the trouble that Paul has reference
to back in our text this morning. This trouble was so great, he
said, it was above strength insomuch that we despaired even of our
life. I believe, of course, we know
there's a reason that Paul was not led of the Spirit of God
to tell us what this trouble was, because this is something
that all of us may profit from. No matter what trouble, what
tribulation we may be in, we may apply this teaching, this
word, to ourselves. But I want us to consider especially
his words in verse 4. In verse 4, he tells us God comforted
him in tribulation and that he was to use that same comfort
to comfort others. Notice that in verse 4. Who comforted
us in all our tribulation that in order that we may be able
to comfort them which are in any trouble. Now notice, by the
comfort. by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. In other words, Paul is saying
God comforted us so that we might use this same comfort, the same
comfort that he comforted us with to comfort others who are
in trouble. What was that comfort? Well,
it could not have been strength No doubt God does comfort his
children by giving them added strength to endure a trial, to
go through a struggle or temptation, but there's no way if God gives
you strength that you can take that same strength and give it
to somebody else. That's just an impossibility.
So I know it wasn't with the strength that God gave him, and
no doubt, as I said, he did give him strength, The Lord is our
strength. He doesn't only give us strength,
He is our strength. And it couldn't be a good feeling.
I'm sure that when the Lord delivered him and comforted him out of
this trouble, he felt good, no doubt about it. He had some good
feelings, but there's no way that you can take your good feelings
and pass them on to someone else. So the point I'm making here
is this comfort, where with Paul was comforted, that we are, that
he said we are to use to comfort others, had to be the truth,
the truth of God. God comforted Paul with the truth,
not vague ideas, but as we would say, concrete truth, something
that he could use and give to another person and they could
realize in their heart and their mind whatever it was. Now I'm
going to suggest this morning three truths that God may have
used. He certainly has in my life and
I'm sure many of you in your lives. But the first truth that God
uses to comfort His people and we are to use in comforting others
is God's absolute sovereignty. God's absolute sovereignty. Listen to these words of David
in the Old Testament. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for
all that is in heaven and on earth is thine. Thine is the
kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all things. The absolute sovereignty of God
in all things. Remember the lesson that God
taught Nebuchadnezzar. He was a great king, wasn't he?
A mighty monarch. But what he didn't realize is
that God had raised him up, and God had given him ability and
power and an army to conquer other nations, to build the great
kingdom of Babylon. He didn't realize that. He didn't
take God into consideration. And one day he said, is not this
the great Babylon which I have built? And you know, God taught
him a lesson, didn't he? You've heard of the school of
hard knocks? That's where Nebuchadnezzar was
sent, to the school of hard knocks. Because he was driven out from
among men and lived out like a beast, eating grass, his hair
growing, his nails, for seven seasons, for seven seasons. And then his mind was given back
to him, and this is what he confessed. He doeth his will in the army
of heaven, that is God. He does his will in the army
of heaven among the angels, among all the principalities and powers,
he doeth his will. among the armies of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? In other words, we are
his creatures, he is sovereign, he has an absolute right to reign,
to rule, and he does, and none of us have the right to question
him. We just don't have that right.
He's the potter. Two times in the word of God,
we are told this. He's the potter. And he makes
of the clay, the vessels. Some vessels of wrath, some vessels
of mercy. God does it. God is absolutely
sovereign. We live in a day, my friends,
and you know this is so, but we live in a day that most people
have been taught And we know it by nature, we don't really
need to be taught this, but we just have the idea that all of
creation exists for man, for man's glory. When just the opposite
is true, that God has created all things and he has done so
not for man's glory, but his glory, his glory. You know, in
heaven, You read through the book of Revelation and many times
we are given a glimpse of what goes on in heaven and we see
this is celebrated. It's celebrated here among God's
people, isn't it? We celebrate this truth that
God is sovereign. But in heaven, there's no question. There's no bad note in the song
of heaven. All, everyone in the choir singing
the same thing, giving God glory and praise. Because as we read
in Revelation 4, the 24 elders, which represent all the people
of God, all the elect of God from both the old dispensation
and this dispensation, everyone around the throne, The 24 elders,
they say these words, thou art worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power for thou has created all things and for
thy pleasure they are and were created. This truth is celebrated
among the inhabitants of heaven But how does this truth comfort
a child of God? When a child of God is in trouble,
and our Lord, we read that at the beginning of the service.
He said, in this world you shall have tribulation. How does this
truth concerning the sovereignty of God, the absolute sovereignty
of God, how does this comfort a child of God? Let me give us
four ways. First, this truth assures him
that God is aware of his trouble. This truth, that God is absolutely
sovereign, this assures a believer God is aware of this trouble.
Whatever it is that I'm in, however difficult it is, God is aware
of this trouble. In other words, I'm not alone
in this trouble. I'm not alone. Is it possible
that I am in this trouble and God who is sovereign over all
things is not aware of it? Well, that couldn't be so. That
just couldn't be so. That just cannot be. You know
that verse in Amos which says, shall there be evil in a city
and the Lord hath not done it? Amos chapter 3 and verse 6, and
I've told us before, reminded us, when it speaks of evil, shall
there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it. We're
not talking about the scripture, the prophet is not talking about
moral evil. Because God cannot be tempted
with sin, neither tempteth he any man. But what men, what we
call evil, things that happen to us, Can there be evil in a
city and the Lord hath not done it? God's absolute sovereignty
assures us that God is aware of this trouble that I am in.
Does the sovereign Lord God work all things after the counsel
of His own will? Well, the scripture says He does.
Ephesians 1 and verse 11, who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Well, doesn't that mean that
this trouble is part of the all things? Doesn't it? Doesn't this mean that this trouble,
whatever it is that I'm in, if he's absolutely sovereign, and
he is, and he works all things after the counsel of his own
will, and he does, then this trouble, whatever it is, he knows,
he's aware of. And I want you to notice, we're
not talking about fatalism. You know, sometimes people get
the wrong idea, and they think, well, you folks over there believe
in fatalism. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. Nothing, nothing. And you see this in this passage
of scripture. It's not certain laws that are
fixed, my friends, but it is rather the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who in verse three is named the Father of mercies,
the God of all comfort. Yes, he is the sovereign Lord
God, and we may call upon him in trouble. Notice in verse nine,
I'm sorry, verse 11, the apostle makes mention of the fact that
these believers in the church here at Corinth, that they had
prayed for him in his trouble. And he acknowledges you also
helping together by prayer for us. We have a kind and loving
heavenly father, And yes, in the midst of trouble, we're not
thinking about certain laws, certain fixed laws that are governing
this trouble, but rather that our Heavenly Father has ordained
this, that He's working all things after the counsel of His own
will. A second thing, this truth assures
Him that God is bigger than His trouble. God is bigger than his
trouble. Not only does God know that I'm
in this trouble, he knows all about it. It's part of the all
things that he has ordained, the all things that work together
for my good as a child of God. But he also is bigger, larger
than whatever the trouble is. No matter how great the trouble,
God's greater. No matter how great, God is greater. And if you notice in verse nine,
to show the greatness of God, the apostle Paul brings out the
fact that God raises the dead. How great is that? How great
is that for a man to breathe his last in this world and to
be buried and four days later, the Lord raise him? And yet we
know that's exactly what happened with Lazarus. And we know one
day there's going to come a resurrection, there's going to be a resurrection
rather when all who are in the graves shall come forth. How
great is our God, how powerful is our God. He's sovereign over
all things, yes, even even the grave. And we have a number of
examples of that given to us in the word of God. This truth
of God's absolute sovereignty assures him that God being absolutely
sovereign does not mean that he is unjust. It does not mean that he is unjust. You know, Abraham, he knew this. He knew this truth. And when
he was interceding for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God had
determined and told Abraham he was going to destroy those cities
because of their wickedness. And Abraham, rather, he began
to intercede, didn't he? And he knew, and part of his
intercession was, shall not the God of all the earth do right. And He will. He must. He's God. He's holy. He'd no longer be holy if He
were not just. And the child of God knows that
even in this trouble, God will do right. He's not dealing with
me in any way unjustly. God will do right. He will not
act unjustly toward me. Why? Because he is God and he
cannot act unjustly. You know, when you say God cannot
do something, you have to be very careful, don't you? Scriptures say he cannot change. He's the same today as he was
yesterday and shall be tomorrow. Scripture says he cannot lie.
That's the same as changing. Scripture says he cannot deny
himself. That really says it all. He cannot
deny himself. Is he holy? Absolutely holy. Amen. Remember when Isaiah had
that vision of God high and lifted up, though Seraphim We're crying
one to the other. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God. Holy. This truth of God's absolute
sovereignty assures him that he will do justly. God will act
justly, deal with him in justice. And then fourth, this truth assures
him not to trust in himself. Not to trust in himself. Verse
9, Paul says this, for we had the sentence of death in ourselves
that we should not trust in ourselves. How foolish it is for me to trust
in my ability, in my understanding, my strength, anything
that I have to handle this trouble. How foolish it is for me to do
so. The God of all comfort, who is
absolutely sovereign in all things, who is my Heavenly Father, He,
He will work this out. He will give me the strength
and the grace that I need. And He's called this to show,
if you look here in our text, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, in the Old Testament,
you see, he's called most of the time the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And that is because of his covenant
relationship with those patriarchs, the fathers of Israel. He made
a covenant with them. He made a covenant with Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world.
He's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this reminds
us of this covenant, this everlasting covenant of which the Lord Jesus,
He is the mediator of this covenant. You need a mediator. I need a
mediator. All men do. There's such a distance. I'm
not talking about in miles. I'm talking about in our nature
that God is so holy and you and I are so sinful. We don't like to hear that, do
we? But this is what the Word of God tells us. And because
God is so holy and we are so sinful, we must have a mediator. We must have one between Him
and us for Him to approach unto us. He will approach unto us
through a Mediator. And for us to approach unto Him,
it will be through the Mediator. And all of the blessings, all
of the mercies that we need, if we are to receive them, they
will be mediated to us through the Mediator. And the scripture
says, for there's one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man, Christ Jesus. So this truth of God's absolute
sovereignty must be a means of comforting God's children when
we are in trouble. I read a story one time about
some people out at sea back in the 1800s and the ship was being
tossed every which way, the winds were blowing Passengers were
afraid for their life, and they saw one lad there, one young
boy, about 12 or 13 years old, and he seemed to be playing and
not afraid at all. Someone said, aren't you afraid?
He said, no. Well, why not? My father's the
captain of this ship. My father's the captain of this
ship. That just settled it for him. And when we know that God
Almighty, our Heavenly Father, He's the captain, of this ship. He's in control of all things. He's absolutely sovereign. But here's another truth. The
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior's absolute success. I want you to turn back with
me to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter 53 and verse
11, notice what the prophet here,
inspired of God, says about God's righteous servant. He shall see
of the travail of his soul. He shall. Now, what would be
included in the travail of his soul? Well, if you look above
this, it would include the fact that he was afflicted, he was
wounded, he was bruised, he was chastised, he was smitten of
God, and afflicted. That would all be included. Plus, in verse 8, cut off out
of the land of the living. The Lord having laid the iniquity
of us all upon him, as the scripture says in verse six, and the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, the text here,
he shall see of the travail of his soul. Because God made to
meet upon his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the iniquity, the sins,
of all of his people. Then he was bruised. He was chastened. He was afflicted. He was wounded. He was smitten. And eventually
we know he was cut off. He died on the cross. He was
cut off out of the land of the living. Or as the apostle in
the New Testament would tell us, for he hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin. Now you and I, there's no way
we can begin really to understand what all is included in this
statement, the travail of his soul. I mean, if you just picture
in your mind all the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they were all because not that he was guilty, not that he had
offended God, not that he had broken God's law, but only because
God took all the sins of his people and laid them, caused
them to meet upon Christ. And then God said, Awake, O sword! It was God who smote him. Yes. But notice the rest of the verse.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He shall. Now, I don't know about
you. But it would be a strange kind
of satisfaction if one of those for whom he travailed, travailed
in soul, should be lost. That'd be a strange kind of satisfaction. Do you see why? And this is the
only reason that the many shall be justified. Notice the rest
of that verse. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. Why? For he shall bear their
iniquity. That's the only reason anyone
is ever declared just by God is because Christ, God's righteous
servant, He bore the iniquity of His people. And yet this verse
tells us that He will be satisfied. It's by His knowledge, by you
coming to know Him, me coming to know Him. When I came into
this world, I didn't know God. I knew there was a God, sure. And I knew He was a great God
to some extent. But I didn't know God. This is
life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. How do we know God? Through Jesus Christ, only through
Him. by our knowledge of Him. And remember in the New Testament,
the scripture says they shall all be taught of God. All. Now, the truth of the Savior's
absolute success must be a means of comforting God's children
when we are in trouble. We may be in trouble, we may
be going through dark days and difficult times, but let me assure
myself my Savior is successful. He has fought the fight. He's
won the battle. He's conquered death. He's conquered
sin. He's conquered the grave. And
he did so not only for himself, but for you and I, those that
he represented. And a third truth that I believe
comforts God's children is the Holy Spirit's absolute promise
to never, never forsake his own. This is what he said in Hebrews
13, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And if you look
at the promise in Ephesians chapter one and chapter four concerning
the Holy Spirit, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
13. In whom, Paul writing to these
believers in the church, in whom you also trusted. In whom? In Christ. In whom you also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise." You see, God, the Holy Spirit
is the seal. And He comes to live in every
child of God, in every believer. When a person hears the gospel
and believes, trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, then that person
is sealed with the Holy Spirit. If you look over in chapter 4
of Ephesians, in verse 30, the apostle repeats this. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Now that day of redemption has
reference to the resurrection of the body. God's people, we
are sealed and we are sealed with God the Holy Spirit. And
his promise is that he will never, never, never, Yes, there's five
negatives in that verse. He will never, no never, no never
forsake his own. This truth is certainly a comfort
to all of God's children in trouble. Just being assured of his presence
is a constant source of comfort. In closing, Hear the words of
one of the hymn writers. Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide. In every change, he faithful
will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heavenly friend. through thorny ways leads to
a joyful end. I pray, I know there's many other
truths that we could think about today, but I trust that these
three truths, God's absolute sovereignty and the absolute
success of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there's a, There's
a way that some people present Christ as though he failed or
he possibly failed in his work, but that cannot be. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied. And God, the Holy Spirit, his
promise to be with us, never to leave us nor forsake us. Let's
turn, if you will, and sing a few verses of 351, Him number 351.