Spirit washed in His blood This
is my story This is my song Praising my Savior This is my story This is my song
Praising my Savior All the day long Perfect submission Perfect
delight Visions of rapture should have blessed on my side. Angels he's singing ring from
above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story, this is my
song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this
is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission,
all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blest Watching and
waiting, looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His
love This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. I tried my best to follow them
doubted notes. If I had your attention back to Luke,
I want to look at one verse of
Scripture, verse 25. Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon, And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. Tyler, my message this morning is forever consoled. Forever consoled. I find myself, in these last few months, spending
more time in the Psalms, because David was a man who needed a
lot of consolation. I find myself finding comfort
in those passages where he looked to Christ and is consoled in
his heart and his mind. Every believer to some degree
knows by experience that a great part of his life on this planet
is lived waiting, often in anticipation, for the consolation of Israel. The very principle of consolation
presupposes in a state where comfort is needed and comfort
is sought. To those who need no consolation,
Christ is of little importance. However, to the needy, to the
brokenhearted, to the one who suffers under trial and tribulation,
under doubts and fears, Christ is that precious consolation
of Israel and Christ is the believer s only consolation. He is the
only way we can comfort one another with the comfort wherewith we
have been comforted. The truth of consolation or being
consoled or comforted is spoken of several times in the Word
of God. Consider these will reveal the singular source and effect
of our consolation, of how we are consoled in this world. In
our text, the first thing declared is that Christ is not a general
or a generic or common consolation. This consolation is not an offer
or a proffer. It is distinctly and exclusively
called the consolation of Israel. He is not said to be the consolation
of all people in the world, but of Israel, for whom Christ is
consolation. That Israel is not natural Israel. That Israel is the Israel of
God, or the church of the living God. Natural Ezra rejected the
Lord Jesus Christ. He came to his own and no one
received him not. He cried, O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thy children unto thee,
but thou wouldst not. Thou wouldst not. He spoke of
the Pharisees of Jerusalem as standing at the gate of heaven,
not going in themselves, but making sure that nobody else
went in either. In Matthew chapter 23. So when
we talk about the Israel of God, we're talking about all those
who are saved by the grace of God, true Israel, the redeemed
elect out of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, and it's
those who have had their hearts touched and opened by Jesus Christ. All that is Israel is not Israel,
or it is not of Israel. Paul said in Romans chapter nine,
but in Isaac, shall thy seed be called, and that is a metaphor
for those who are born by the Spirit and not by the flesh,
are those who the Lord has called. He is not a Jew who is one outwardly,
whose circumcision is of the flesh, but he is a Jew who is
one inwardly, the circumcision of the heart, whose praise is
of God, and not of men. True Israel are the people of
the eternal covenant of grace as spoken of in Galatians chapter
4. True Israel are worshippers of
God who know that nothing about them has aught to do with their
salvation. Paul said we are their circumcision
who worship God in spirit, who trust in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. That's who true Israel is. Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified unto
the world and all who abide by this rule. The peace of God or the peace
be upon God's Israel, the true church. For Simeon, this old
saint, the consolation of Israel was so sure and so absolute that
it removed from him the very fear of death. In fact, he longed
for death now. When he held Christ in his arms,
he was ready to leave this world. When he saw Christ, he was entered
the next because he had seen God's salvation, and that's an
accurate definition of who Jesus Christ is. He is God's salvation. He is the salvation that God
planned, God purposed, God consummated, He is God's salvation. To some
degree, every believer feels the same confidence when he looks
at Christ. And this is a sure declaration
that when it comes time for us to go down to death, our consolation
will be singular. It will be Jesus Christ. There
was a man in medieval times who carved crucifixes for the church,
the Roman church. He was a master carver. His crucifixes were held by popes
and cardinals, and people paid good money for them. And he was
coming down to die, laying on his deathbed, and his parish
priest came to him with one of the crucifixes that he had carved,
and said, don't, brother, don't worry, brother. He said, you
see this? You're all right. He says, I
carved that. There ain't no hope there. There ain't no hope in
a carving. There ain't no hope in a carving. What's my consolation? What consoles
me? I'll tell you, as far as experimentally
goes, my consolation is understood and appreciated when I hear the
gospel. That's what I appreciate. Most of the time in this world,
with the things going on, all the things coming at you, one
time you forget about these things and you're not consoled. You
need consolation. and then you come and you hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ and for that period of time everything's
okay. There ain't no problems in the
world for that short wondrous period of time. There are four
things in scripture that speak of the consolation, four things
we want to consider today. First of all, Christ is our consolation
when the espionage of religious legalism attacks us. Those who would bring the believer
under the law That happened in Antioch, you remember. Paul wrote
about it in Galatians, and it was addressed in Acts chapter
15. Look over at Acts chapter 15 just for a moment. In Acts chapter 15. It says in verse 31, when they
read, they rejoiced for the consolation. Now something brought them to
consolation. What had happened was, those
in Acts, in Jerusalem, were saying that believing Christ was okay. It was good. It was necessary. But it wasn't enough. You had
to also be circumcised and keep the law. And Paul brought in
some Gentiles who had never been circumcised, and they said, well,
these fellows have got to be circumcised. And Simon Peter
stood up and straightened it all out. They were told that
trusting Christ was a good thing, a necessary thing, an essential
thing, but not quite enough to have a fully righteous standing
before God. As I said, they were told they
had to be circumcised and keep the law in order to establish
a righteousness that was acceptable before God. Men are doing that
today. They might not use the term circumcision,
but the term circumcision is a term that's generic. It means
keeping the law whenever you see it in Scripture. In the Epistle
to Galatians, a great part was written about that incident.
And after the first recorded Bible conference where Simon
Peter set things right, and he did set things right. In chapter
15 and verse 7 it says, And when there was much disputing of Acts,
Peter rose up and said, ìAnd them men and brethren, you know
how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.î
Now heís talking about when he was sent, when he received that
vision on top of that house, and God hung down a sheet and
hung all manner of beasts on it and said, ìTake it, eat.î
And Peter said, ìI ainít going to do that. Thatís against the
law.î Not so, Lord! I can't eat this stuff! The Lord
said, I've made this clean. Don't you call clean what I've
made. Don't you call unclean what I've made clean. And he
was preparing to go down to the house of a centurion, a Gentile
man, to preach the gospel and he went. And so this is what
he's talking about when God gave him that edict, that command
to go to the gospel. And it says in verse 8, And God,
which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the
Holy Ghost even as He did to us. He said He gave these Gentiles
the Holy Ghost. They weren't circumcised. Now
I didn't circumcise them. I didn't tell them to be circumcised.
I preached the Gospel to them. The whole household come to know
Jesus Christ. And He said He put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith, not by
fleshly circumcision. Now therefore, why do you tempt
God? Now if you want to know what it is to tempt God, don't
stand on some preface and say, should I jump or not? What is
it to tempt God? To tempt God is to try to bring
a believer under the law. Try to bring a believer back
under the law. You're tempting God. Why tempt ye God? Why tempt ye God to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor
we could bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice the way he puts this. We shall be saved even as they. Now he didn't say they should
be saved like we are. Now these were the Jews. He was
a Jew. He was God's chosen nation. Not
the elect according to grace, but the elect according to nation.
He was God, and why wouldn't He say, they'll be saved just
like us? No, because they weren't saved as being Jews. They were
saved like everybody else. They're saved through God giving
them faith to believe the Gospel. And so He puts the Gentiles first
as believers. He said, we shall be saved just
like they are saved. Just like they are saved. Now
when they said, after Peter did, they sent a letter. They sent
a letter. out and they were told to disregard
the fusillade of falsehoods being hurled at them by the Judaizers
because Christ indeed had finished the work of salvation and trusting
Him was all they needed to do. And the reaction when they read
it was they rejoiced for the consolation. They rejoiced for
the consolation. Indeed it is a time of rejoicing
when you finally come to the place where you realize there
is nothing you can do and you refuse to let other men tell
you what to do, and you simply trust Christ alone for salvation.
That is consoling. That is consoling, and they were
consoled by it. The word of their full salvation
wrought by Christ was consolation in the face of the legalist barrage.
This is every believer's consolation as we hear the attacks of the
world's religion against Christ alone. People say they believe
in Christ alone, Tell them you believe in Christ alone, and
don't say anything else. Christ alone is my salvation.
I remember one time Debbie was talking to a religious lady,
a teacher over at East Elementary, and the lady was talking about
believing in grace, and Debbie said, yes, Lord. Christ is all my salvation, all
of it, every bit of it from start to finish. I had nothing to do
with it. And the lady said, what? What? Don't you go to church? Don't you pray? And David says,
yeah, but that don't have anything to do with my salvation. That's
a result of it, not a cause in any way. It's consolation in
this world of religion, to know in your heart that your salvation
is finished. They rejoice for their consolation.
Secondly, Christ is not a fleeting consolation. not something that
comes and goes. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, after Paul thanked God that God
had chosen some Thessalonians to salvation, through the sanctification
of spirit, belief in the truth, word, and deed, called them by
the gospel of the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said this in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 16, Now our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God even our Father, which hath
loved us, and given us an everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace. In this passage the believer
is giving an everlasting consolation, everlasting comfort. This immediate
transports us to the realm of the eternal counsels of God.
In order to fully appreciate this, we must see it in the contrasting
distinction that God has made. Our Lord has set this everlasting
consolation over against the everlasting damnation of those
who referred to in verses 3 through 12 who were given a strong delusion
that they might be of a lie because they love not the truth. The reason that this is an everlasting
consolation is because they are chosen to it in eternity. As it says in verse 13, they
are called to embrace it by God-given faith and to believe it. 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 spirit, belief in the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel." They are called to it
by the gospel. The person is not saved until
he hears the gospel. He is not saved because he sees
a pretty cloud in the sky that is the shape of an angel. He's
not saved because some bird lands on his shoulder and tells him
he's saved. He's not saved because he walks down an aisle. He's
not saved because he goes to church. He's not saved because
he prays. He's not saved because he reads his Bible. He's saved
because God, by His gospel, called him to Jesus Christ. That's the only way. That's why
we preach the gospel. That's why we endeavor to make
it as clear and as plain as humanly possible. And I know, being a
human being, it ain't never as plain as it could be. But we
endeavor to make it as plain as possible, because listen to
me very carefully, if you ain't heard the gospel, you ain't ever
going to be saved. You're called through the gospel
to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's assurance to the obtaining of the glory. And this is an
everlasting consolation. It's everlasting because it began
before the world was, and it will still be going on when the
world is over with. It's an everlasting consolation. And it's good hope through grace. Thirdly, Christ is the consolation
for those who fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope before
them. That hope is faith. Romans 8 and verse 24. Romans
8 and verse 24 says this, For we are saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope. For that which a man seeth, why
does he yet hope for? That hope, of course, is Jesus
Christ, according to Scripture. And this consolation is based
on the immutability of God, who cannot lie. This immutability
of God is concerning the promise of salvation to those who fled
to Christ. If you trust the Lord alone,
you have a strong consolation conditioned upon the fact that
God don't change. Has God called you? Has God given
you faith? Has God given you this hope?
This eternal, invisible, wondrous hope in your heart and your soul?
Has God given you that? And He's given you an everlasting
consolation. An everlasting consolation through
the hope. You have a strong consolation.
Strong consolation. Conditioned upon God's not changing. Fourthly, Christ is the consolation
to be enjoyed. To be enjoyed. Paul talked about
this consolation when he wrote to the Philippian church in chapter
2, in that great chapter that sets forth Christ and his work on Calvary's tree.
Paul says, if there be any consolation, any consolation in Christ, any
comfort of love, any fellowship of spirit, any bowels of compassion
or mercy. This passage is an admonition
to believers concerning the appreciation and enjoyment of this consolation
in Christ. Now our salvation is sure. Nothing we can do to change that,
thank God. We might be like David and commit
adultery. Hope we don't, but we might.
Might be like David and commit murder. Hope we don't, but we
might. Might be like Peter, deny the Lord three times. Might be
like Abraham, lie. A lot of things we could be.
Hope we don't, but we could be. None of those things affect our
salvation. Our salvation, the salvation
of God's elect, was established and accomplished 2,000 years
ago on Calvary Street. That will not change. That's
a consoling factor. However, do you always enjoy
your consolation? Do you always enjoy your salvation? No, we don't. Because though
our salvation does not change and God's attitude toward us
never changes, our attitude toward Him does. Often circumstances,
things can get in the way, take our mind off of Christ. Nothing
we do or can do or will not do affects the absolute surety of
this everlasting consolation. However, Paul makes it clear
that the believer may not have the full enjoyment of it because he fails to see himself
in a true light. and fails to look at his brethren
in a proper way. This is how Paul sets this up.
If there be any consolation in Christ, fulfill you my joy, that
you be like-minded, having the same love, being in one accord.
Love, unity, one mind, singularity of thought, Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory. Don't try to do something just
to start a fist fight or for vain glory, empty glory. That
means your glory. But in lowliness of mind, that
word lowliness of mind is down, the actual reading in the Hebrew
or rather the Greek is down thinking. That means when you think about
yourself, think down. Don't think up. Think down. Lowliness of mind means taking
the lowest seat not the highest seat. It means considering yourselves
in light of Jesus Christ, not in light of your brethren, in
light of Christ. Then you will look properly at
your brethren. That is how that works. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem or hold
in esteem other better than themselves. That is a tall order, isn't it?
Think about it. Almost always we measure everything
and everyone by our own standards. The standards we have are not
necessarily biblical. They probably have a lot to do
with the baggage we carried since babies. We have ideas about righteousness
that aren't necessarily so. Esteem others better than yourself. He said if there's going to be
consolation, this has got to take place. It's got to take
place. Look not every man on his own
things. That doesn't mean don't take care of your own things.
But don't only look at your own things, but look also every man
on the things of others. And he said, let this mind be
in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. This means this is what
Christ did. He said, I'm meek and lowly and
high, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. David said this after he had
done those horrible things with Bathsheba and after he had Uriah
killed. He confessed before the Lord. He said, I've done it.
It's me. It's my sin and my sin only that
separates from me and you. I know that. It's my fault. I
don't blame anybody else. He says, if you judge me, you'll
be right to put me in hell. But you might be just when you
judge. He said, Lord, restore me. Not
to my salvation. He didn't doubt that he was God's
child. Restore me to the joy of my salvation. Paul here talks about the joy
of this consolation. He makes it clear that a believer
may not have the full enjoyment of that consolation. Paul exhorts the believer to
consider things in a right manner or to be like-minded in love.
and demands what Paul declares in verses three and four, to
in lowliness of mind esteem others better than yourself, do nothing
but strive for vain glory. And this consolation is derived
in like madness of one mind and one accord. The mind we are to
endeavor to imitate is the mind of Christ. This of course is relative and
is referring to our relationship with our brethren. You see, There ain't no high
and low among the brethren. We have different offices. We
have different functions in the body, but the hand has a different
function than the heart. The brain has a different function
than the lungs. But they're all part of the body. We're all equal in God's eyes.
Every child of God is exactly the same. They're not better. They're not worse. Paul the apostle
is no different than you, except that he had an office of apostle. The pastor is no different from
you, except he's given the function as a pastor. He's no different. We're the same. And the consolation
that we have in Jesus Christ has to do, our enjoyment of it
rather, has to do with how we see our brethren, and how we
treat our brethren. Christ laid aside his reputation.
Are you ready to do that? He 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 what
we're to do. Think of Bunyan's Bride of Christ. how she marveled at the beauty
of her wedding dress, or the wedding dress of the Bride of
Christ. How saints look at it and say, Oh, what a beautiful
dress. And the bride says, Oh, what a beautiful dress they're
wearing. Would He do this even under death?
This is what Christ said. In John chapter 3, verses 16
through 18, He says, Hereby perceive we, This is how we understand
the love of God. How do we understand the love
of God? Because He's given us a lot of
stuff. How do we understand the love
of God? Hereby perceive we the love of God that He laid down
His life for us. So we ought to lay down our life
for the brethren. That ought to be the attitude.
And there's what we'll find enjoy the consolation in Jesus Christ.
The consolation itself is everlasting. It is an act accomplished by
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. It is real and
it assures God Himself. The enjoyment of it is relative
to our love and care for the household of faith. He said to those on His right
hand, Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from all glory because when I was sick you visited
me when I was in prison you came and saw me when I was hungry
you fed me when I was naked you clothed
me and they said when we do any of that we don't know anything
about that besides you're the Lord In as much as you've done it
to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Unto
me. If there be any consolation, any comfort of love, any fellowship
of mercies, fulfill you my joy, let this
mind be in you. Do nothing for strife or vain
glory. Esteem others better than yourselves.
Think not on your own things, but on the things of the others.
I thank God for the everlasting, true, sure, and absolute consolation
that I have in Jesus Christ. I thank God for that. And I want
to enjoy it too. And how I want to enjoy it is
how I look at you and treats you. That's how I'm going to
enjoy it. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.