Unknown: It is indeed, indeed, the benefits that we receive in our union with Christ that overflows for us the very perseverance. It's not our own doing, but it is the very thing that flows from God Himself.
Unknown: What a great God we have. Then, even in our weaknesses, that His strength is made perfect. And now receive from him a sermon text this evening, this morning, excuse me, 2 Corinthians, chapter one, verse three through five. Now hear the word of the Lord.
Unknown: [3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Unknown: [5] For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
Unknown: This is the word of the Lord.
Unknown: Thanks be to God. Please be seated and join me as we call upon the name of the Lord.
Unknown: Oh, holy and awesome God, we come before you, knowing that you are God who is for us, Lord.
Unknown: The mystery of the gospel, that holy God will be a friend of sinners, that you would choose to love the unlovable, that you would choose to love those who were your enemies, you would choose to love the very object of your wrath, not because we are so lovely, not because there is anything good in us, not because we have done anything right in your sight, but rather in spite of our wretchedness, in spite of our sinfulness, that you gave up your only begotten son into this world. We thank you, O Christ, that you came into this world freely and lived and moved and had your being in midst of wicked generation, and not to despise them, but rather weep over them, and we thank you that you lay down your life as a ransom for many, that through the blood that's been shed and through the body that's been broken, that we have hope that our sins can be forgiven, and through your resurrection, that our lives are no longer geared toward this earth, but geared toward the heaven, the new heavens that is to come. We thank you that now Christ is enthroned and seated at the right hand of God the Father, as our King, priest, and prophet, that our hope and our rest is not on this earthly place, but in the heavenly realms, where Christ is enthroned and seated, and He is now resting from His work, and by our, by faith, and or through faith, and by Your grace, and by working of Your Holy Spirit, we long to, and we desire to find that great rest in your son, so we ask that your spirit will be present here with us. Lord, is there anyone amongst us who are tired and weary? Would you come and meet us where we are and strengthen our feeble legs and feeble arms?
Unknown: Are there who's any, any in this room who's in fear over various trials and the wiles of the enemies. We pray that you grant us confidence and strength to persevere. Is there anyone who's captured by the evil one and besetting sin so easily entangles us? Oh, pray, we ask that the power of your word would come and free us from our bondage, and that you draw us to the heavenly King, that we may fix our eyes upon Him and find strength to fight the good fight that you call us to fight for, Lord. We are needy people, and we do not come with strength, but rather with weakness, that we may exchange our sorrow for joy, that we may exchange our weakness for your strength. So meet us where we are, oh God, and help me to rightly divide your word and to proclaim it faithfully and to apply it unto people's hearts and their lives, that through it that your church will be built up one spiritual stone at a time, that Christ be preeminent, that you be glorified and exalted amongst your people. May our worship be fitting of your kingdom, and may it be unto you, and you alone.
Unknown: We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Unknown: Amen.
Unknown: A couple weeks ago, one of our kids, we have, by God's grace, little ones running around. Our church is down in Naples, is mainly older, but it's been joy to see God bringing a lot of younger kids, younger people, and their cries and smiles and laughters, and some. Time screams, and I remember we have a little, little, not a step, but little thing, where like a slope, where if any person who wants to come up and they cannot use the stairs, they can come up through it, and the other day one of the little ones was running around, you can hear him giggling, laughing, having fun, and all of a sudden you hear a thump, and then guess what? You hear, and you hear a mom running and say it's okay, it's okay.
Unknown: Picks him up, and he stops crying very quickly, actually.
Unknown: And you wonder, was that fake?
Unknown: It always runs through my head.
Unknown: How do you stop so quickly? But oftentimes we cry, not because it hurts, right? The pain really was not the problem, rather he cried because he wanted comfort.
Unknown: He wanted to be comforted. It's an occasion to recognize that there is someone who cares, there is someone who loves, there is someone who will provide, then comfort. And in one sense, that is the very reality of every human being that lives on this earth, isn't it? Whether it be those who are in Christ, those who have made a profession of their faith and trust in the risen and ascended Christ, like many of us are in this room, or maybe, maybe some of us are struggling with some of the gospel truth, and maybe question some of these things, but the fact is, whether you're inside of these four walls or outside, those who have Christ, who are in Christ or outside of it, whether we are in sin and too dark in our hearts to see our wickedness, to see our need of our Savior. Everyone in the world, in one sense, is looking to be accepted and looking to be comforted, is that true? I mean, if you really think about it, one of the reasons, whenever you listen and talk to any community of people who are outside of the community of Christ, with their own groups, their own subgroups, they're not uniform, though certainly they're in the kingdom, in the, in the Holy Scriptures, there's only two groups, and yet those two, you know, those who are in Christ and those who's outside, but so often those who's outside makes their own little clicks, makes their own sin habits to be determining factor, identity marker for their own communities, and so and so on, and from within that groups they all look for some form of comfort, don't they, whether it be LGBTQ community or whatever they call themselves or desires to do so, whether it be certain forms of interest groups and other things, even political parties, we're all looking for not only something to identify with but also to find some comfort for, in other words, life is full of misery, isn't it? That there is a sense that everyone on earth is looking in midst of our misery, in midst of this brokenness, this life that we feel, this earth that you and I live in, this body that is so fragile, this heart that is so easily broken, this mindset that is so easily wanders away.
Unknown: Everyone, young and old, small and great, male and female, we're all looking for someone to come and comfort the cries of our age, if I may say, is to find comfort for our hearts, and this morning's text really speaks of the only one who is able to provide a true and genuine and lasting comfort all those who are suffering, and all those who are weary. So, my invitation to you this morning is to look to the word of the Lord, not to the words of men or ideas or opinions, but rather let us examine the holy scriptures and see what it is that the Lord is teaching us, so that we may find for comfort our soul, so we may find rest, so we may find water, living water for thirsty souls. So, Second Corinthians, chapter one, verse
three says this: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Here's
my point number one: God of all comfort, God of all comfort.
my point number one: Book of 2 Corinthians is written after 1 Corinthians. Ta-da! Actually, there was probably.
my point number one: Another letter between the First Corinthian and Second Corinthians, and then now he's writing a second letter. He's really the First Corinthian. If you read it, it is not a fun letter. Paul is writing First Corinthians to address certain issues in the life of the church. The people of God, after they have converted and turned to the Lord, this Gentile church, majority Gentile people have gone astray into their sinful behaviors and ways that there was division in the church. People were saying, I follow this guy, I follow that guy, I follow this person, and they were divided. And Paul had to address the divisions of the church and the turmoils, but also there were some other issues. There were sins that were involved, the sins that Paul says, even the heathens would not do such things, that a man was sleeping or married to his father's wife, probably not his biological mother, but a stepmother engaging in behaviors that's uncomely, not even in a Roman colony, in the Roman Empire, and he said, How could that be? And he was not only dealing with that individual, but the whole church, because they overlooked that sin, as if the risen and ascended Christ, and the death that He has, the death that He has endured for us, and the forgiveness we have received from Him was a licensure to sin. So Paul is addressing all kinds of issues in the first letter to the church in Corinth, and he wrote a second letter, which seems to have done the similar thing, and now he's writing the second letter, after hearing of their repentance, after hearing of them realizing what they have done before the holy and awesome God, and they made some amendments, and wanted changes, and now Paul is writing this second Corinthians to encourage them in the Lord. Put it this way, Paul, out of his love, he brought a rod and struck them, and now he's bringing his shepherding staff to comfort them and to remind them of all the grace that we have in Christ, and here he points them in this opening passage here to say, let's look to God of all comfort. Verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, this very trinitarian in the mind of Paul, that there is God the Father, who is the one he's addressing here, and he's blessing his holy name, and he is saying he is God himself, and he's the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, calls him, he says, the Father of mercies. Did you know that God, by his nature, as the Puritans often called him, that his benevolence, his good will toward people, especially sinner, is always toward mercy, that holy God, in His holy righteousness and zeal, is in one sense requires that He must judge evil, but very proclivity of God Himself in all of His beauty and all of His perfections of His great attributes of God as God, who is indeed good. Shall I say the very goodness of God when we say God is good, his goodness, and he's a should I put it this way, this is really hard, because we're talking about infinite God, and when we talk about infinite and eternal and holy God, who's beyond our comprehension, we must be careful that we may not speak so little of him or diminish his characters or speak wrongly of who he is, because they'll be violation of the third commandment, the name of the Lord, and all of his attributes should be cherished and loved and adored. So we must always be careful, even as a minister here, I must not sin as we speak of the things of God, of who he is, but at the same time, Puritans, as they often struggle with the wrath of God against the wicked, there is a great sense of God that He's talking about God's tender heart toward sinners is always toward mercy, that we must be careful to speak of God as God of mercy. Before we speak of God as God of wrath, you see, wrath is merely an extension of His justice, but God is good, and mercy is the very way in which God approaches sinners.
my point number one: That's why, in Reformed theology, for us specifically, we focus a lot on the common grace of God, common way in which God shows mercy and grace to all the undeserved sinners, as the righteous both receive rain and water and food and sustenance, and God sustains all things, the golden. Sheep, and he does it out of his mercy, but at the same time it's not God who's just merciful to all here that's spoken, but it is the Father of all mercies, the one to whom that we are now given by our faith and union with Christ, that we have given all the rights and privileges to be called the sons of God, that we can truly say, and being united with Christ, speak these words with Him, and say, Our Father, who art in heaven, and our Father's will toward us is always, always that of mercy.
my point number one: Can you believe this? There are times where our fathers are disciplinarians, aren't they?
my point number one: They have to tell you, go to your room. I don't like that attitude. Don't talk to your mom that way. I heard some of these words very morning this morning.
my point number one: Um it's not because he is men of wrath, our fathers would do this, but rather out of out of love, out of compassion, that as soon as the child turns, we're like the prodigal father, they, we run to the child and grabs a hold of him and puts a ring on his hands and put a new robe upon his arms, and put a new sandals, and say, "My son has come, and so it is. Our Father, He is full of mercy. His disposition is not of anger and wrath. Oh, children of God, know this very clearly. God's will always towards you is that of mercy, and mercy, and mercy. For as far as east is from the west, the Lord has removed your transgressions from you, and His will to you is mercy. Let me put it this way, so many times when people go through trials and hardships, you know what I hear often, even the seasoned saints will say, this is God doing this to me because I did something wrong. Did my husband leave?
my point number one: Because did my children walk away from faith? Because I is it because I've done x and y and z.
my point number one: Oh, people of God, that's not how God operates, because he will never see you as a sinner ever again. His blood has wiped you away, and you have a clean slate. Matter of fact, not only clean state, he has placed his righteousness of Christ upon you, that no sin is ever found in the sight. The Lord looks at you, and all he sees is a righteous one in the Son. He has nothing but blessings for you.
my point number one: It's not God's punishment.
my point number one: Certainly, there are times where He may discipline, but please understand, discipline is not the same as punishment.
my point number one: Punishment is the wages of sin.
my point number one: Discipline is merciful hand of God, because He loves, isn't it true? I must say, I received a lot of discipline from my own mother and deserved it, so, and I know now I didn't know then, it's all because she's she loves me. It's out of mercy. So we have God, who is Father of mercies, and He is God of all comfort. The Greek here, God of all comfort, translated means all comfort. Amazing, you. isn't it? Though all here can be translated all or every, whatever and however you want to unpack that reality that one way you can say is that God has comfort for you in every occasion and He will comfort you in every way that you are needed to be comforted. You know, some people are comforted differently than the others. Some people need hugs, some people just need a good pat on the back. Some people, like me, you know, good smack on the back, wake up, whew, that's comforting. We all have various personalities and ways that works is different. We respond to hardships differently, don't we? And yet God brings all comfort and every comfort in every occasion.
my point number one: Here, matter of fact, He continues, Who comforts verse four in all of our afflictions, in every kind of hardships, in every way that you feel weak and unable to, the Lord is our Father, is ever to provide comfort in every occasion, in every time, in every place, wherever you are in life. Know this, that God has a comfort for you. Have you lost your husband?
my point number one: Do you feel lonely? Have you lost your children? Oh, the Lord will comfort you. He'll, he'll make his promises sure and true, that his covenant never fails.
my point number one: We have a covenantal God, that even though you feel small and weak, unworthy, praise the Lord, He did not love you because you're worthy. He loves you because he loved you. Are you deeply entrenched in sin, the sin that so easily entangles us?
my point number one: Oh, the Lord is God of mercy and comfort that he's able to rescue out from the wiles of the devil.
my point number one: He's the one who is able to go through the gates of hell and bring a people for himself. Do you believe that he is able to bring it to himself? Are you in a very dark and scary place, my little ones? Here, are you afraid of the dark, are you weary over your future? Are you just having so many concerns and worries. The Lord is the Lord of all comfort, for every affliction and every weakness and every suffering. That is your Father, that is our God.
my point number one: This is the Lord. That's why we are here, isn't it? If God is not merciful to us, if God is not God of all comfort, why are we even here this Sunday? I'll be in my bed, sleeping, but we are here because we need the Lord every moment and every hour. I need Him. I'm not here because I'm so strong, I'm here because I need God, and so do you, and this God is able to bring you the great comfort that you need. There's nothing on this world is able to bring you comfort, no other man, no other woman, not even a dog, nor a cat. There's only one who's eternal. There's only one who's unchanging in his ways. There's only one who shows and who is always faithful. He always shows up. He always brings the comfort that you need, and He is the Father and our God in Christ Jesus, so number one God of all comfort, number two agents, agents of all comfort. Verse four in the latter part he says this, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Paul says something very interesting. He says God is God of all comfort. He's the Father of mercies. He's the Father of our God. He's the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has shown mercy to us, who's a comfort for us in all of our afflictions, and we've been comforted. And then he looks at the church, the Corinthian church, and says, Are you comfort? Have you been comforted? And if there's anyone who's been comforted by the Lord, then now you are to be the very agents of comfort for others, so he says, so that we may be able to comfort. I mean, how many times the word comfort comes in these two verses. I mean, comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort. And the call for you, church, that if you have any comfort from the Lord, any fellowship from the Lord, any love from him, you have experienced it and known it and found comfort in it. Then here it is. It is your duty. It is the calling from the Lord to you to be an agent of comfort to others, like the mother who runs so quickly to a child who's crying. Why does she do that?
my point number one: Because she knows what it means to fall, right? If you don't know what it means to fall, you look at someone falling, you go,"Oh, he fell. It's a mere.. it's merely a statement, it's merely something you saw, a fact that occurred. But the moment you realize when I fell before, and I've been comforted with that very comfort which we have received. Is it not true that we're able to go and empathize and sympathize and bring comfort to those around us?
my point number one: May I encourage you in the Lord.
my point number one: Have you been comforted of the Lord? Then it is the Lord's call to you to participate in the Lord's comforting of His people, Philippians chapter two verse one. He says this, so if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, He says, Paul writes, complete my joy, being of the same. Mind having the same love, being in full accordion of one mind. Verse three: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. If you have received anything from the Lord, which we all have received so much, or indeed our cup overflows, even the darkest place, even those who are in the darkest place, have you not received the Lord's comfort, and it is the Lord's call to you to be the Lord's agents of comfort to those who need comforting.
my point number one: Let me put it this way, How does God comfort His people? That's a question, isn't it? It says God is the God of all comforts in all of our afflictions. How does he bring that comfort to his people? How does he bring the comfort to the person in the pew next to you, behind you, in front of you? Well, you are that very agent that God has spoken through his word of his grace, and what God has done through his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, he brought forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life, and the great comfort that he has brought to you and made it true and real to you in your heart, as we have earlier heard earlier of the great benefits we have that flows from justification, adoption, and sanctification, all that flows from you, from the well of life. Now you're not just to drink of that well by yourself, but rather you're to take it and share with one another, and that's how God is a God of all comfort, because he uses his hands and his feet, his mouth pieces, you and I to be the very agents of comfort. Is that your pursuit as a member of this body of Christ? Oh, Bey Haven, when I came to this church, when I first met you, I still remember it was outside in the back of Rosemary's beautiful yard, and we all needed comfort, didn't we? Out of pain, out of anguish, it is out of those ashes the Lord has brought something beautiful, such as this, and it is the Lord who has used every single one to comfort each other and strengthen each other. Isn't it one of the beautiful duties that the Lord has given to His church is that we are to be a light in this dark world, that we are to be the agents of comfort to those around us, and especially those who are in this church and the body, not only that, are you agents of comfort, but he says in, he says in verse four, and the latter part of verses, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, or another word, all affliction, with the comfort which we ourselves has received. Did you know this, that every single one of you, every single one of you are important and significant in this body. You know why? Because you alone are able to comfort someone. There's some people in this room that I would fail to comfort, isn't that true?
my point number one: There's some things that I just could not empathize or sympathize perfectly. There's some ways in which we want to be understood, in some ways that I couldn't do. Isn't it true? But I know someone in this room the Lord has placed by His providence that you may be the very agent of the Lord's comfort for all and every occasion you know one of the things, one of the things that I always witness is in the ministry is there are times where there's season and time when a person who's been very involved in the church for whatever reason may not be able to, for various reasons, not sin but various reasons, is unable to participate as he or she have done and maybe dwindle in his time and obligation to the church for very good reasons.
my point number one: At times the Lord often does that, and then all of a sudden you think to yourself, you talk to your pastoral staff, and you go, What are we going to do if he's or she is not here? And then the week continues, and then everything works out, and you go, What happened? Well, the road the Lord raise up another person to fill the very roles you thought, what are we going to do. It's not that the other person was not important or not needed in the body, but in one sense, God, in His providence, always raises someone up to do the work of the church, and every single one of you, from the littlest to the oldest of our seasoned saints, the Lord has placed you in Bay Haven Presbyterian Church to comfort and be useful to someone in this very place. Did you know that? I encourage you, rather than just saying hi in the formalities, but ask, How are you? How can I?
my point number one: How may I pray for you and participate in this very work of God of comforting one another?
my point number one: How can you go to outside of these four walls and find those who are in need, those who are weary, and who needs gospel truth, and share this God of all comfort, so they too may join and find comfort, as we've been comforted in Him. What a beautiful picture. A true evangelism is not increasing in numbers for the sake of numbers, but rather increase of the comfort of God's people, that we may serve Him as He indeed is serving us and meeting us in our weakness, so number one, God is God of all comfort. Number two, you and I, we are the agents of God's comfort, and number three, Christ of all comfort. Verse five, for we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ's suffering we share abundantly in comfort too. Paul, as he thinks about the Father's work, how he has - he is a comfort for all, and how we are to be the very agents. He cannot but run right to his savior, the one who came to him in the midst of his sins, the one who that he was persecuting, the one that met him in the road to Damascus, who came to him and says, "Paul, Paul, or Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Is it not too hard to kick against the goad? And you remember the response of Saul or Paul, then who are you, Lord? You see, Paul is not the one who seek after God. Paul is not the one who wanted to live for him, but rather he was living for himself, persecuting the church, the very bride of Christ, you know, one of the things that you, as you read through his epistles, the reason why he ran so hard, the reason why he's willing to take so much beating, the reason why he's willing to suffer so much and so greatly. There's often times you see this part of Paul when he expresses the depth of his heart, you know what he always says. Oh, I have persecuted the Church of Christ. If you're to say Peter every morning when he hears the cock crows, you bring sorrow to his heart. I think every time you listen to Paul when he sees of Christ's people suffering, being persecuted in midst of calamity and weakness and frailty, I think something would squirm in his heart, and his prayer would be, God, please comfort them. And one of the beautiful things I think in the life of Paul is this, that he always finds his own comfort in his union and communion with Christ, his Savior, here as he's thinking about the comfort that we need, he's looking at the sufferings that we have, and he put it this way, he addresses what our suffering truly is. Do you hear what he says? He says, for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings What did Christ do when he came into this world?
my point number one: Did he live a perfect and beautiful childhood, had a wonderful birth at, I don't know, the big hospital down the street with a wonderful doctor without any complication, and he just had a perfect life through good private middle, private elementary school, middle school, high school, went to prestigious college, and graduate with a great and wonderful degree, and just cruise through life, you know.
my point number one: Even if you have all these things, you don't cruise through life, do we? But that's not how Christ's life was worked from his conception. People looked at his own mother with the state and questions from his birth in a manger to his his life on earth with persecution by the religious leaders and mockery of the soldiers and his rejection by the Pontius Pilate, and as he was crucified on the cross, all of his friends, all of his disciples fled him and left him alone. His life from birth to his death was marked by one idea. You know what it is. It is that of suffering. It is that of great humiliation. We have a Savior who didn't just come out of a flower and said, I have arrived. We do not have a Savior who came to this world and conquered half of the world that He knew. Do we do not have a Savior who did great and mighty things with his power and his army and his arms and strength, but we have a Savior who suffered through and through from his birth to his death on the cross, not because he deserved it, but rather he chose that way of suffering for those who are suffering in this world, for those who are drenched in sin and misery, those whose cover in the, in the, in the dirt of this world, the Lord came and he suffered for us, and flip side of it, as Paul's looking at it now, he flips it around and says, "Look, you and I suffer now, don't we? You know what that suffering is. He says it's a participation of Christ's suffering. Isn't that weird? I could understand that Christ participating in my suffering, but here He reframes your life and my life in the light of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He says, Are you suffering today as the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially because you trust in the Lord, or you're rejected and hated and despised.
my point number one: The Lord says, look, you're participating and you're sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
my point number one: Beloved people of God, what a wonderful thing it is that we have a privilege to suffer for and suffer with and suffer in Christ Jesus. You know, the disciples, after they witnessed the resurrection and receiving of the Holy Spirit, Peter was flogged, and he goes on. He says, Yeah, I'm sure he said, ouch, you know, but there's a certain joy of to share and participate in the sufferings of Christ, to be considered worthy to suffer for Him. And here there's a whole new dynamic, new frame of reference for your and my suffering, that we don't suffer alone, that we suffer in Christ, but it is we suffer in abundantly sharing in Christ's sufferings. Oh, church, we live on earth. And what did Christ do on earth? He suffered. Now is the time to suffer. Think about it, because sooner or later you'll never ever have to suffer again. The suffering is gone.
You realize this: you can never suffer ever again, until if you're as long as you're on earth, you can suffer, but you never get a chance to suffer for Christ. You never get a chance to share in the abundance of His suffering that even church for 2000 years have shared in His suffering so greatly. I can take you to the villages and to the towns where there's churches are being burned, people are killed, blood is shed. I can take even today place like Zanzibar, the most beautiful place, they say.
You realize this: And yet the very brothers and sisters in Christ, they're persecuted, killed, and despised. And when you go and see them and look at them in the eyes and you ask them why did you choose to die, some of them choose to die. Realize this.
You realize this: I remember when I was in Zanzibar, one of the pastors I was talking to him, he said some of these families because Zanzibar is a majority Muslim nation and if any of their sons, any of their daughters convert, they just marry them away to a Muslim. If any, any young man becomes a Christian, you know what they do, they send them to Saudi Arabia, and they arrange for their death. And I asked them, Pastor, why would they choose to go and to die? Why don't they run away to the mainland? He says, How can you refuse? That's your father and your mother, and that's the Christ that you love. You see there today, even now, who are willing to suffer for Christ, and consider it a crown of joy that we can partake of this suffering, church militant to suffer is now, and now we are to suffer, because Paul says it this way. So, through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too. You know, as I studied this text, it was really fascinating to me. Paul is saying this when Christ died and rose again, and when He is now ascended, and He is now to be, and He is now enthroned. That process, you know what Paul calls it, Christ's comfort, that a weird word, that Christ Himself after.
You realize this: Suffered, he was comforted of the Father. Well done, my good and faithful son. Come, sit, and be glorified. And so it is, O people of God, that you suffer, as Paul says, for a little while in these momentary afflictions.
You realize this: Consider the glory that is to come, impair incomparable glory in Romans chapter eight, that is before you, because we will one day rejoice and receive the comfort of our Savior Jesus Christ, that He will come and He'll call out to you, 'Come, all who are weary, and He will call to you and say, well done, my good and faithful servant, come enter into my comfort. They want a glorious day, isn't it?
You realize this: They were able to participate in the very comfort of Christ, who is the Christ of all comfort, who alone from Him alone flows the comfort and the life and the river for many. For Christ alone is the balm of Gilead. For your wound He alone can heal. He is the only one who's a shelter and anchor in the time of a storm.
You realize this: He alone is a rock in which we can stand and stand firmly and established in this world. He alone is a light to our path. He alone is a shepherd that will take you through the valley of the shadow of death. Christ alone is a comforter for all, because he suffered for all, and now he has received this great comfort, and he is ready to give it to you, if you will come, you will come and rest in this comforter. Will you come? The invitation this morning from to all those who are already in Christ. Are you weak and weary, afraid and tired? Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will comfort you, and all those, even who's outside of the Lord, I don't care. The Lord doesn't care, because the call is to all, all of you come, and the God of all comfort and the Christ of all comfort will comfort you and send you as the agents of comfort for His glory, and for our good, praise the Lord. Let us pray.
You realize this: Oh, heavenly Father, we thank you for the risen and ascended Christ, who suffered for us, and who was comforted for us, and who is our very comfort, and whose only hope in life and death. Pray that you would move our hearts and to find our comfort in you, that we may find strength for today and hope for tomorrow, and that we may live unto your glory, Lord. You know I fail every day, and even now I have not done faithfully to proclaim your truth, but ask that you would apply it even in my flaws, even in the weakness of my preaching. Pray that your spirit would apply it perfectly to your saint's heart, and that you draw them to yourself. Oh, be glorified, be exalted, be adored, O God of all comfort, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.