As I was considering the study
at James that we've just begun, and as I would consider the manifold
things that God sends our way by appointment in order to ultimately
try our faith and work patience in us, my mind was suddenly consumed
with the thought of how faithful our God is. in bringing consolation
and sweet solace to His people. This year especially, I have
both needed and wanted and waited for the consolation of Israel. And I stand here to tell you,
the Lord is gracious. The Lord is gracious. Every believer
to some degree knows by experience that a great part of their life
on this planet is lived waiting for the consolation of Israel.
The concept of consolation presupposes in a state where solace and comfort
is needed and sought for. To those who need no consolation,
Christ is of no importance. No importance. To the needy,
however, to the broken-hearted, to the one who suffers under
trial and tribulation, the one who suffers doubts and fears,
Christ is the precious consolation of Israel, the balm in Gilead,
the physician who is there. And Christ is the believer's
only consolation. You'll find consolation as a
believer nowhere else. In fact, every other place you
go will prove more sorrow and more anguish. But you will find
sweet consolation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The principle of
consolation or being consoled or comforted is spoken of several
times in the Word of God. In fact, our God in the Corinthian
letter is called the God of all comfort. The God of all comfort. When he admonished Isaiah to
preach to his people, he said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. That's the job of the minister
of the gospel. It's not to scold you, not to
shear you, not to beat you up. It's to comfort you. Why? Because if you're a child of
God, you've got troubles in this world. It's just that way. It's just that way. In our text,
the first thing declared is that Christ is not a general, or generic
or common consolation. Here this morning, I expect there
are those that will hear these words and it will mean nothing
whatsoever to them. God have mercy on their souls. This consolation is not an offer. It is not a proffer. It is distinctly
and exclusively the consolation of the elect. That's who it's
for. That's who He came for. Israel,
for whom Christ is consolation, is true Israel, the church of
the living God. The revelation of this is first
seen in the fact that Israel includes the elect among the
Jews and the Gentiles. Look over at verse 31 of this
same chapter. "...which Thou hast prepared
before the face of all people, to lighten the Gentiles, and
the glory of thy people Israel. This is a consolation for all
the elect out of every kindred nation, tongue, and people upon
the face of the earth. We know that when our God speaks
of Israel, He speaks of them often as the circumcision. And the Lord says in Romans chapter
2 and verse 28 and 29, He is a Jew who is not one outwardly,
but inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart and not of the
flesh, whose praise is of God and not of men. That's true Israel.
So I'm looking at a bunch of Jews this morning. True Jews. True Israelites. That's who you
are. That's who you are. Paul said,
We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Israel,
true Israel, are the people of the eternal covenant. For when
Paul wrote to the Galatian church discussing these two covenants,
he used the allegory of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac, and Ishmael,
and spoke of us, the believer, as being sons of Abraham, like
Isaac was, like Isaac was. In the same book, in Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 29, he declares that all who believe are the
seed of Abraham and heirs according to promise. True Israel are worshippers
of God in Jesus Christ who know that nothing about them has anything
to do with their salvation. For they, the true circumcision,
have no confidence in the flesh, none whatsoever. Now to Simeon,
this old saint here in Jerusalem, waiting for the consolation of
Israel, when he saw Jesus Christ, the consolation of Israel, it
removed from him the desire to stay in this world and the fear
of death. It just went away, just to see
Him. wondered at the magnitude of
this. Simeon was a devout man. That means he was a man who studied
the Scriptures. He was a man who lived in the
temple and served the Lord. He was a just man. That means
he was justified. He was justified looking to Christ,
looking for Christ, looking to the Messiah. And when he saw
Christ come in for purification, he held Him in his arms. And
he looked in the face of an infant, a baby, maybe eight weeks old. A baby. And he said, Lord, let
me now depart in peace. I have seen Thy salvation. And
that consoled him so. And he said, Lord, let me die
now. I'm ready to go. I've seen all I need to see.
Ain't nothing this world holds that can be better than what
I'm looking at right now. And that's the testimony of every
believer who sees Jesus Christ. When we see Him. we'd just soon
be gone and be with Him. To some degree, every believer
feels the same confidence when he looks at Christ and sees Him.
And this is a sure declaration that when it comes time for us
to go down to death, and that time will come and draweth nigh,
our consolation will be Christ. And it will be sufficient and
great consolation. He is the consolation of Israel. I want to look at four things
this morning quickly. The first thing is this. Jesus
Christ is our consolation in the face of religious, legalistic, free
will religion. He is our consolation. He is
the consolation to those who would bring the believer back
under the law. In every religion, save for true
religion, which is worshiping God in the Spirit and rejoicing
in Christ Jesus alone and having no confidence in the flesh, which
is the religion that embraces the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. Every other one, no matter what
it's called, whether it's Baptist or Muslim, whether it's Hindu,
whether it's Shinto, whether it's Presbyterian, whether it's
Mormon, whether it's Seventh-day Adventist, no matter what, every
other religion, whether it's Baptist, Every other religion
that does not embrace Christ alone, and I mean alone, for
the salvation of their soul from pole to pole is a legalistic
religion. Because the fact is, you are
going to be accepted by God by grace alone or by your works
alone. And we know your works will never
be accepted. So Christ is the consolation
for the people of God in the face of a legalistic religion.
You remember when Paul came back from Antioch, when he came back and was confronted
with the Jews at Jerusalem because the Gentiles had not been circumcised
and were therefore not brought under the law and were therefore
not truly saved. There was a consolation given
to these Gentiles. And the consolation was finally
after Peter spoke and revealed that the Jews were saved exactly
the same way that the Gentiles were saved, by the grace of God,
through faith. that the Gentiles rejoiced, and
they rejoiced in that this message of the gospel consoled them in
the face of those who demanded that they do works in order to
be saved. They were consoled. Look over
at Acts chapter 15. This was the first Bible comment. Right here in Acts 15. And it
went well. It went real well. But in Acts
chapter 15 and verse 31, it says this, that the Gentiles,
which when they read what the disciples in Jerusalem had written,
that they were saved by grace through faith, they didn't have
to be circumcised. When they read that, they rejoiced
for the consolation. That consoled them. And I'll
tell you that's the only thing that will console you in the
face of religion today. This is the account of consolation
given to the Gentiles. The epistle to the Galatians
in great part was about this incident. For it was Paul who
said, I confronted James and Barnabas. I confronted them because
they and Peter also face to face because they were destroying
the gospel. They were mocking the gospel
because they went to a place where the Gentiles were redeemed
by the blood of Christ, were given faith to believe in the
merits of Christ alone and these people went down there and the
Jews were there pushing these people to go back under the law.
And Peter left the Gentiles fellowship. And because of pure pressure,
because of his own guilt and conscience, not because he believed,
because of his unbelief, he was a believer but he was full of
unbelief, he left that table and went and sat with those who
said, you are only saved if you keep the law. Paul said, I withstood
them face to face and I said, you despise the grace of God,
he said. For if righteousness come by
the law, then what Jesus Christ did on Calvary was a big fat
zero. It meant nothing. Christ is dead
in vain. This was the subject of the book
of Galatians and Colossians also. And after the first recorded
Bible conference where Simon Peter set things right, these
at Jerusalem sent a letter to the believers at Antioch and
they were rejoicing in the consolation. They were rejoicing in the consolation.
The word of their full salvation wrought by Christ was consolation
in the face of a legalistic barrage. And it will be that same way
with you. It is so easy to say it. Christ is all. You may not think that is an
argument, but it is the only argument. It's the only argument
when people come tell you, you've got to do something for your
salvation, you can just say, Christ is all. So they'll get
mad. Yes, they will, because they
don't understand, because they don't have what you have, but
that's the sweet consolation. This gospel is consolation. It
reminds me every time I preach it, and every time it's preached
to you, it reminds you that Christ is all, and that if you have
Him, you are at peace with God, and no matter what this world
throws at you. consolation of Israel has come. Secondly, Christ is not some
temporary consolation. He's not a temporary consolation
or a fleeting consolation. He is the consolation of Israel.
Look over at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look at verse 16, ìNow our Lord
Jesus Christ HimselfÖî Boy, thatís pretty clear, isnít it? Our Lord
Jesus Christ, His full name and title is given there, the One
who rules the universe, the One who came to save His people from
their sins, the One who was anointed for the task, the Messiah. Our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath
loved us, and hath given us an everlasting consolation, and
a good hope through grace. A good hope. Everybody's got
a hope. I know they do. I've talked to them. Not everybody,
but everybody I've talked to has one. And sometimes it's the
flimsiest thing you've ever heard in your life, but they've got
a hope. But I'm here to tell you this morning, right now,
there's not a person in this congregation that believes they're
going to perish eternally. Even if they don't trust Christ,
they don't believe that their life's going to end in torment
and separation from God. They don't believe that. Because
they've got a hope somewhere in them. But it's not a good
hope. is the eternal consolation that
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, even God the Father, gives to
His people. It is an everlasting consolation. No matter where you are, what
time of the day it is, no matter what the circumstance that comes
your way, Jesus Christ is our consolation. Our consolation. This immediately transports us
to the realm of eternal counsels of God. When it talks about an
everlasting consolation, we leave this world and go into eternity. We leave this world. This immediately
transports us there. In order to fully appreciate
this, we must see the contrasting distinction that God has made.
Our Lord has set this everlasting consolation over against an everlasting
damnation, because it is one or the other. An everlasting
consolation or an everlasting damnation. Now, the everlasting
damnation is seen in chapter 2 and verses 1 through 12. Now,
I know this is one of the big guns of eschatology in this day
and premillennialism. They love to talk about it all
the time. But this is not talking about anything other than your
attitude toward God and His truth. Those who are condemned make
themselves to be God, and they sit in the temple that is in
the church claiming themselves to be God. How do they do that?
They say, I saved myself. They say, I'm saved by my free
will. I'm saved by my will. Scripture
says you're saved by God's will. But they set themselves up, and
they proclaim that man and his will and his freedom of will
is the ultimate decider in the matter of salvation. And it's
not just organized religion that's doing this. If you've watched
TV or read articles in political newspapers or political magazines
in the last two or three years, you'll find this term free will
is everywhere. Everybody believes that God has
given man a free will. And with that, he determines
his own destiny, which is a stupid misuse of language and understanding
of simple language. If you have a destiny, you can't
be in control of it. And if you're in control of it,
it ain't a destiny. It doesn't have anything to do
with destiny. Destiny has something to do that's preordained. But men believe in their free
will, and they're described here as those who set themselves up
to say that they're God, that they're king in the church of
God. And not only that, it says this
of them, in verse 9, it says even that they follow him who
is the wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Even Him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders." They've got proof of their religion
because they've got wonders and signs. They say, we really are
God's children because we can speak in tongues, or we can prophesy,
or we've been taken out into a vision into the third heaven,
or we've seen Jesus on a McMuffin. They say all these sort of things.
But the fact is, they're liars, and they're the ones who are
condemned forever. It says, ìAnd with all deceivableness and unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved.î Youíre not saved apart
from the truth. There are those who believe, ìWell, I saved a
long time ago, then I learned the truth.î You werenít saved
a long time ago. You come to know Christ when you hear who
Christ is. And you donít hear who Christ is until the true
gospel is preached unto you. Itís just that simple. You believed
after you heard the Word of Truth, not before you heard the Word
of Truth. And why in the world would somebody want to cling
onto that old garbage dump when the truth sets a man free? Because people can't stand to
deny experiences they had. And people have experiences in
religion. I've had plenty. I've had a ton of them. Didn't
know God from a goose, but I had a ton of experiences. All of
them were nothing. Anything before belief in Christ
as He is revealed in His gospel, wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith, anything before that is
nothing. Anything. Anything. They receive not the love of
the truth. This is the contrast that God is making. He says some
people have an everlasting consolation. Listen to these people. They
love not the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
cause God has sent them a strong delusion. God deluded their head. God made them unable to come
up with right and reasonable consolation. They believed a lie. God gave
them strong delusions so they'd believe the lie that they are
indeed the one who sets themselves up as king in the temple. That
by these signs and wonders that proves that they are children
of God. And they denied the gospel of peace, but not everybody. There are some that God has given
an everlasting consolation. Part of their consolation is
the thing spoken in verses 3 through 12. because they do not personally
concern the believer. For Paul says in verse 13, but,
wait a minute, there is somebody else. There is another way going
here. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and believing the truth. The difference is made
by God. One, He sends a deluded mind.
Because they love not the truth. He sends them a mind so they'll
believe it when men lie to them. What a sad state of affairs that
is. But that's religion as we know it in the world today. These, in verse 13, don't have
to worry about that. Don't have to worry about that
at all. They've been chosen unto salvation through saints of creation
and the Spirit and believed in the truth. They've been set apart
by the Spirit. They've been caused to embrace
the truth by God-given faith. They have been called to it by
the gospel. It says, Whereunto He called you to our gospel,
to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
verse 14. They have been assured of it by obtaining the glory
that it entails. They have obtained the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is an everlasting consolation, and it translates into this.
When I wake up in the morning, I've got a good hope. I've got a good hope. I don't
have a hope based on lies or based on delusions. I've got
a hope based on the Word of God, based on the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, a strong consolation and it's conditioned entirely
on the immutability of God. God doesn't change. That's good
news to me. People want God to change. That's
why they talk about Him in such low terms. But it blesses my
heart and it gives me great consolation to know that when I get up in
the morning, I may be a hundred percent different than I am right
now. I may be in a slew of despondor. I may be so goofy I want to swing
from a tree. And in all that, God doesn't
change. My consolation doesn't change. It's still Jesus Christ. A sweet solace for the child
of God. Thirdly, Christ is the consolation
for those who fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before
them. That hope is faith. It's of faith. If you believe
you have a hope, and I'm not talking about a wish, or a dream,
or an aspiration. I'm talking about an expected
end. That's what a hope is. And if you can see the hope,
you can't Believe it. Do you know that? You can look
at yourself and say, well, I've got evidence that I'm a child
of God. You have no hope. You have no hope. A hope that
is seen is not a hope. But we have a hope in Jesus Christ,
according to Romans 8, 24. And that hope, of course, is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over to Hebrews chapter
6 just for a moment. In Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18,
It says this, that by two immutable things. What does that mean?
These things never change. In which it was impossible for
God to lie. We are liars, God is not. We
might have a strong consolation. A strong consolation who have
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This consolation is based on
the immutability of God who cannot lie. God cannot lie. There are several things God
cannot do. And it ain't due to ability,
it's due to inclination. It's due to, for lack of a better
word, the nature of God. The nature of God. The character
of God. God can't lie. Why? Because He's not inclined to. He's God. Scripture said he don't
lie because he's not a man, which means that if you're a man, you're
a liar. If you're a woman, you're a liar. And you know that to
be true. You know that to be true. God
doesn't lie. God can't forgive sin apart from someone
dying. He can't. Somebody's got to die
as a punishment for sin. God must punish sin. He can't
let you off. If you're a sinner, you've got to die. You have to
die. God can't let you go. Also, God cannot put somebody
in hell for whom Christ has died. He cannot. If the dead has been
paid, then the dead has been paid. That means God is satisfied,
propitiated for that person, and that person cannot go to
hell. Because God is satisfied for them. And God cannot lie,
therefore we have a strong consolation. A strong consolation. This immutability
of God concerning His promise of salvation to those who fled
to Christ will not change. I am the Lord, He said. I am
the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Why am I not consumed? Because I am a good fellow. Because
I believe the Gospel. Why am I not consumed? Because
I believe the sovereign grace of God. Why am I not consumed?
Because I walk down an aisle. Why am I not consumed? Because
I pray through and I pray and I read my Bible. Why am I not
consumed? Because God Almighty does not
change. And that's the reason He chose
you in eternity, put you in Jesus Christ, who paid for your sin
debt if you're His, and you will not perish because He will not
change. You say, well, what if I act
up? What if? Don't be foolish. You're a murderer
and a thief, and every woman here is a whore, and every man
here is a drunk and a gutter and the vilest of all creatures
and a whoremonger. Every man and woman here. You're
messed up. That's what you are by nature.
Open you up and you're a seething pile of wriggling worms and maggots
on a dunghead. That's what you are. But I am. How can I ever be safe? God does
not change. If He set His affection on you
before the world began, you're in. You're in. You're glorified and sanctified.
That's a consolation. Knowing what I am, that's such
a strong, strong consolation. And that's what I need. Fourthly,
Christ is the consolation that you can enjoy. you can enjoy. I grow weary of
sad-faced believers. I do. I grow weary of complaining
believers because I'm one of them and I'm weary of me more
than I'm weary of anybody here. What we have at our disposal is not only a strong, everlasting,
true consolation, We have a consolation that can be enjoyed, appreciated. We can enjoy that. We can walk
in this life in solace and comfort of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Look over Philippians chapter
2. if there is therefore any consolation
in Christ." Any consolation in Christ. "...if
any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
of compassion or mercy, fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind, Let
nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus." The fact of this everlasting
consolation never changes. We know that. However, Paul makes
it clear that the believer may not have the full enjoyment of
that consolation if he fails to see himself in
the true light of the gospel and fails to look at his brethren
in a proper way. There is something about this
thing, caring for the household of faith. loving the brethren,
because Christ said, As much as you have done it to the least
of one of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." You
have done it unto me. Now, nothing we do or do not
do can affect the absolute surety of the everlasting consolation
that God has wrought for us. That will never change. However,
Paul makes it clear that a believer may not have full enjoyment of
it. It is plain that the enjoyment
of love And fellowship and compassion and consolation in Christ is
inextricably tied to the believer's consideration of his brethren. You see, it ain't really about
me. I know it feels that way. Me, me, me. It's not really about
me. Paul exhorts the believer to
think in a right manner or to be like-minded in love. Love
demands what Paul declares in verses 3 and 4 to let nothing
be done for vainglory. What is vainglory? My glory.
Me getting glory, you getting glory is vainglory. God alone
is worthy of glory. Let nothing be done through strife.
People like a fist fight. Do you know they do? That's why
churches like to have them business meetings and them business conferences
because it can bring out the worst in people. And I know back
in the day when I didn't know Christ, I looked forward to bringing
out my worst in front of everybody else. And acted like it was holiness. But it wasn't. It wasn't. Nothing drew strife. But in lowliness
of mind, that's an interesting little word, lowliness of mind,
it means down mind. Down mind. Putting your mind
low. That means operating in your
thoughts from a very abased perspective. In lowliness of mind, esteem
other better than themselves. Which other? All other. Every
child of God. Every brother and every sister.
We are to think more of them than we think of ourselves. Well,
preacher, we know them. Stop looking at them. Be like Mercy and Christianity
in Pilgrim's Progress. Be like them two gals. Each of
them was wearing a pristine white wedding dress because they were
the bride of Jesus Christ. Mercy looked at Christiana and
she didn't even see her. She said, Oh, what a beautiful
dress. Christiana looked at Mercy and said, Oh, what a beautiful
dress. If you see Christ, you'll see yourself as lower
than your brethren. and you will esteem your brothers
better than yourselves. Not an easy thing to do. Impossible
to do apart from a look at Jesus Christ. But if you look at Him,
you'll see that. He said that. Let nothing be
done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let
others esteem us. Look not every man on his own
things. That doesn't say that we're not to look on our own
things, because we do, because he uses the word also next, he
said, but also on the things of others. So we're to look to
take care of ourselves, we're to take care of our house and
our family and such as that, but that's not the end of it
all. We're to look at every man also on the things of others,
to pay attention to needs, and watch folks, and watch expressions,
and watch, and if you hear conversations that they're in need, because
generally speaking, We're so proud that we won't tell somebody
we're in need. Isn't that true? I mean, it's
so easy to give, but it seems so hard to receive. But let me
tell you this, if a brother or sister gives you a gift, there's
no strings attached to it. There's no strings attached.
So don't feel guilty about taking it. Be glad. Be glad. This is a consolation that is
to be sought for. It has to do with love for the
brother. This consolation is derived from a like-mindedness. And the mind we are to imitate
is the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. And this, of course, is experientially
relative and is referring to our relationship with our brethren
because Scripture declares in 1 Corinthians 2 that we have
the mind of Christ. Scripture says that. As He is,
so are we in the world. We have the mind of Christ. So
what He's talking about here, let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. He sets up Christ in a scenario
here, a true scenario, about His relationship with God the
Father. And this is the mindedness that
we are to look at this relationship between God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ and see this like-mindedness in our relationship
with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The mind here is in
the sense of as and so. As Christ is one mind with God,
we are to be one mind with our brethren. We are equal with our
brethren as Christ is equal with God. There is no difference. Now our mind says think lowlier
though, doesn't it? Our mind is to think lowlier.
Why? Because Christ laid aside His
reputation and became an obedient servant, so we do also humble
ourselves in reference to our brethren in the same manner.
That's the language spoken of. And we do it even unto death.
For Christ's mindedness was to die in order to please God. He was obedient even to the death
of the cross. Hereby, John says in I John chapter
3, Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his
life for us, then we ought to lay down our life for the brethren. That's the mindedness. And with
that mind in this, there is a consolation, there is fellowship, and there
is peace. The consolation itself we know
is an everlasting consolation. It is an act accomplished by
God and given to us by God the Father, by God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit. It is real and it is sure as
God Himself. However, the enjoyment of it
is relative. to our love and care for the
household of faith. You don't have much in this world.
I don't either. How do I know? Because we can
lose it all in a second, can't we? We can. I talked to a friend the other
day, a fellow who had been doing well in business all his life.
He told me he lost $60,000 last year in his 401k. I said, what are you going to
do about that? He said, keep on working. Put some more back
in there. I believe the market is going to recover. You can lose everything. You
can lose your life. What do you really have on this
earth? I'm ready. You've got Jesus Christ. And if you've got Jesus Christ,
you've got His body. And His body is the brothers
and sisters in Christ. That's what we have. Don't ever
take this for granted. Because right here, every Sunday
morning and Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night, I look into
the faces of my brothers and sisters in Christ, and you know
what? It's a sweet solace, a sweet consolation. I have the
best life. I have the best life imaginable.
So do you. 30 years. We're like Simeon. We wait for the consolation of
Israel. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.