WEBVTT 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:33.119 In July of 2007, a nurse politely ushered my wife and I into a small somber gray room illuminated by icy cold fluorescent tubes flickering intermittently as if they're going to die any moment. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:37.359 On a cart, the nurse pushed into the room. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.880 A little human. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:44.719 Oh, so tiny but so noticeable was Annabelle's facial features. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:55.840 We got a mom's nose and my chin, and we sat there for I don't know how long, but we just couldn't explain the situation. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:03.600 There was no words, but I do remember Job said, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:05.680 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:12.799 Grabbed Annabelle one more time and handed her over to the nurse, and we left the hospital. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.560 It was a long and quiet drive back home. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:27.920 Almost seven years to the date during a routine ultrasound visit, I overheard the words fetal demise. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:30.079 Fetal demise? 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:31.760 What is that? 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.400 Those words sound familiar. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:45.920 We sat in the car after the doctor's ultrasound appointment for I don't know how long, but I just couldn't bring myself to say these words. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.239 The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:50.640 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:59.120 A few days later, my wife was scheduled for a DNC, a procedure that should have lasted no more than an hour or so. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:07.200 But two hours into the surgery, the surgeon burst through the door saying, We have to make a decision. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:13.199 Your wife is losing a lot of blood, and we will lose her if we do not do emergency surgery on her. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.199 I said to the doctor, can I take some time to think and pray about it? 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.479 He says, if you could do it quickly, that will help. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:30.479 My wife had to spend the next few days in the hospital, and we once again left a maternity ward empty-handed. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:35.199 It was a long and quiet drive back home. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.240 The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.800 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:49.919 Three years later, we're sitting in a waiting room and a nurse calls us into this little cubicle. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.360 Susanna, that's my wife's real name. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.840 We've got your test results back. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.520 You have stage two ductal carcinoma. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:00.800 Ductile what? 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:02.000 Mr. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.560 Van Strauten, your wife has cancer. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:13.680 It was a long and quiet drive back home, and I could definitely not bring myself to say, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:15.759 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:22.719 Human grief and sorrows are like waves of the sea. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.800 They roll in and out. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:31.599 Life often is lived in a sea of tears. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:37.199 Sometimes the Lord gives, and sometimes the Lord takes. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.479 But blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:49.199 The heroes of the faith were not spared of pain, sorrow, and grief, and even they had to suffer. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:55.840 In Genesis 37, verse 34, Jacob tore his clothes and grief. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:02.479 He put on sackcloth on his loins and mourned for the loss of Joseph for many days. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:04.800 It says he was inconsolable. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:14.319 Afflictions roll in like waves of the ocean into the life of David, the man after God's own heart. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:20.639 First, he mourns the loss of a newborn in 2 Samuel 12, 23. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:30.399 And later in 12, 2 Samuel 13, 37, David mourned the loss of a rebellious son, Absalom. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.120 Job mourns loss. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:44.319 First, his wealth, then he lost all his children, and then his health went. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:54.160 And Job in Job 1.21 says, The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.800 What type of person says this? 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:13.040 Well, the apostle Paul was certainly familiar with affliction, grief, and pain, and many sorrows, and yet in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3, he said, Blessed be the God and Father. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:25.680 Both Job and Paul, despite grief, pain, and affliction, says, Blessed be God. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:35.199 Now passage here contains valuable truths that I will aim to unpack for us, but there are so many lessons here from other people. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:51.600 I will use examples from the life of Jacob, Job, David, and Paul, but we will also learn today that our God reveals himself as the God of compassion and that he is the God of all comfort. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:57.920 And hence the title of my message, The God of Comfort, Compassion and All Comfort. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:06.000 People are often consolable, inconsolable when they experience loss. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:13.360 They are often looking for something, but they don't really know what they are looking for and where to find it. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:18.000 God's people in turn find themselves at a loss of words. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:28.160 They are wanting to be sensitive and caring towards somebody in grief, but often they don't know what to say or what to do. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:37.759 There's so much fear and uncertainty, and how do we comfort somebody who has gone through some painful experiences? 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:52.160 Yet God's people are told that they are God's children and that he is the father of all compassion and comfort. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:58.240 They are comfortered in order to be comforters. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:05.519 This is the message of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:10.639 Have the slide up there, but you're welcome to follow along in your Bibles. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.720 And I'll read this for us. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.720 Blessed be the God and Father. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.439 And that sounds like Job, right? 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.800 It's a very Jewish thing that Paul is doing here. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:24.079 Baruch Hashem. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.000 Blessed be the name. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:51.920 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that, notice the so that, 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. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:08:02.480 For as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:11.279 This passage is surely about suffering, grief, and sorrows. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.399 But there are three things I want to highlight here this morning. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.000 Firstly, is that God is the father of compassion. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.560 God is the father of compassion. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.800 Number two, that God is the God of all comfort. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:28.319 Verse four. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:37.440 And then we will learn that God comforts us in order to comfort others. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:45.279 God's compassion is the one side of a coin, and his comfort is the other side of a coin. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:56.320 But like a gold coin, God deposits that into our lives for the purpose of comforting others, no matter their affliction. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:04.559 Firstly, God is the father of compassion. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:10.159 Now you may ask me how, Antonia, how do you see the word compassion in this passage? 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:19.840 Well, it says here that blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:26.559 That word mercy is a very rarely used Greek word. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:30.000 Very rarely used in the New Testament. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:34.320 But it's got a strong Old Testament connotation. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:40.320 In the Septugent, it's used ubiquitously. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:44.000 And it's translated compassion. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:46.480 Compassion. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:54.879 And I will make a case here that I think that this is probably better translated as the father of compassion. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:04.320 It will make it very consistent with how the Greek word is used in the Greek Old Testament. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.440 That he is the God of compassion. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:08.720 Give you an example. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:12.559 Deuteronomy 4.31. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:19.120 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.600 He's a compassionate God. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:29.039 He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers, which he swore to them. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:35.440 So God is there, ultimately identified as the God that is compassionate. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:43.200 We often say mercy is not getting what we deserve. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:50.960 I think that's just one little slice of the rich meaning of the word mercy. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:02.320 Mercy, in a sense, have connotations with sympathy, pity, and mostly the word compassion. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:07.759 On one rare occasion, this word is translated as compassion. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.200 And it's kind of confusion when you look at uh Romans 9, verse 15. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:21.600 But he quotes there, he says, For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:26.080 There's that same Greek word, compassion on whom I have compassion. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:34.000 I don't know why the translators didn't just pick to use the word compassion, but I guess it's kind of an archaic word. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:36.559 We don't use it that much today. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:42.240 And so I would identify here that God is the father of compassion. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:48.000 Colossians 3.12 translates that very same word. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:55.200 Paul says to the people of Colossae, he says, put on a heart of compassion. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:00.000 You be compassionate like God is compassionate. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:11.120 Now let me try and uh wade through the English here a little bit, uh, because we have English words like empathy, sympathy, right? 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:16.960 Let me let me split them apart for you a little bit uh here. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:32.879 Compassion and mercy is very similar in meaning theologically, and compassion and sympathy through the old testament, it is it's synonymous. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:41.600 And so in the sermon, I'm gonna use the words sympathy and compassion interchangeably because they so closely connected. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:53.200 Sympathy is the desire to share in the pain of someone, even choosing to suffer with that person. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:56.320 That's what it means to show sympathy. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:58.240 Remember Job's friends? 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:05.679 They came out to meet him and to show sympathy to him. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.440 Show sympathy. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:14.399 If you have the ESV, you will see that Job's friends came out to show him compassion interchangeably. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.679 We can use the word compassion and sympathy interchangeably. 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:23.919 On the other hand, empathy is such a popular word today. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:27.039 People want to go, well, you got to show empathy. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:31.200 I have not really found any evidence in the Bible for empathy. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:40.240 Empathy, by definition, is the ability to understand or relate with someone's experiences. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.600 The ability to understand and relate with someone's experience. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:50.480 Be as it may, you had a similar experience. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.279 Now you can relate with that person. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.720 If you can't relate with this person, well, sorry you can't show empathy. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.279 The Bible is not focusing on empathy. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.879 The Bible focuses on sympathy or compassion. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:18.480 Sympathy focuses on the ability to feel the person's pain regardless of one's own experience or understanding of the cause of their pain and affliction. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:25.519 And to better understand God's compassion, I'm gonna give you four aspects of God's compassion. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:27.919 And I'm gonna move through these quickly. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.720 Like I said, I want to be done by noon. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:38.960 Firstly, divine sympathy, or rather, divine compassion is an attribute of God. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:40.399 That's who he is. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.120 Exodus 34, 6. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:48.480 The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:50.960 God is a compassionate God. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.799 He's a sympathetic God. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.159 That's who he is. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.559 God is compassionate. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:10.639 Therefore, he does and never fails to have compassion. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.679 Lamentation 3, 22 and 23. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:24.000 The Lord's loving kindness indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:25.120 We know that one. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:26.879 I think there's a song. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:28.799 They are new every morning. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:30.240 Great is thy faithfulness. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:35.279 God's compassion is is renewed every morning. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:36.879 They just there. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:43.440 One thing you can count on tomorrow morning is that God's compassion in you is going to be there. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:53.840 Number two, divine sympathy, or rather, divine compassion is like that of a father for his children. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:00.879 You know, I think there's nothing that hurts a father than a child getting hurt, right? 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.080 Dads? 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.279 Sometimes you're like, yeah, you were stupid, but I feel sorry for you. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:08.000 Yes. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:09.679 Right? 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.240 Like, yeah, that was not very smart to do. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.679 You should not have jumped off the table pretending you Batman. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:18.480 That doesn't work. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:22.240 That cape has no value, and breaking your fall. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:38.000 And yet, Psalm 103, 13 says, just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:49.679 Those who fear him means that the Christian, the saint, has God's compassion like a father has compassion on his children. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:56.559 Three, divine sympathy, or rather, divine compassion relates to the omniscience of God. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:59.519 Because God is omniscient, he knows. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:02.639 Well, just people often say, well, God just doesn't know. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.279 God hasn't lost his job. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.759 God didn't lose a wife. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.160 God didn't lose a parent. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:17.119 Well yet in uh Exodus 3, verse 7, God says, I know their suffering. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:19.839 God is omniscient and he knows. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:21.680 He knows. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.480 God knows everything and he knows everything perfectly. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:33.359 But through the second person of the God it, he knows experientially. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:35.599 Get this? 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.000 He knows experientially. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:46.720 Isaiah 53, verse 3 says, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:59.599 A lot of people have a problem in thinking that God cannot be sympathetic because you know God doesn't know what I'm going through. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:05.599 And it's true, God doesn't know what you're going through, but God is acquainted with sufferings. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:10.559 In fact, Hebrews 4.15. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:23.839 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he was without sin. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.920 Hebrews 4.15. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:31.039 And again, then that word sympathize, you can put the word compassion in there. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:38.880 He can feel for you because he knows what is pain, he knows what is loss, he knows what is grief, he knows. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:50.960 Divine sympathy, or rather divine compassion, does not compromise God's perfection, holiness, and his unchangeable nature. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:56.079 God is not shocked when he hears bad news. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:57.039 He's not like us. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.440 Well, that's rocked my life here. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.160 God is impassable. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:07.920 That's a word you can look up on the internet, the doctrine of impassability. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.559 And the doctrine of impassability says that God is not changed. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:14.400 He's unchangeable. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.759 Nothing affects him, nothing stuns him, nothing surprises him. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:28.000 But nevertheless, God is not the tin man of the wizard of oz who has a brain but no heart. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.599 Because John 11, 35 says, What? 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:36.079 Jesus wept. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.039 Unless it was a show, but Jesus wept. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.680 Jesus wept. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.519 And so God knows, He is intimately acquainted with our sufferings. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.279 And so what conclusion can we draw at this point? 00:19:54.079 --> 00:20:04.799 The verse there says, and 2 Corinthians 1 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Compass. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.440 You can pencil it in in your Bible. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.519 It's not sacrilegious. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:21.200 As the God of compassion, he certainly not only knows how to sympathize with us, he knows how to comfort us. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:28.640 You see, the thing is, if we don't have compassion, if we don't have sympathy, forget about giving comfort. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:29.759 Okay? 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:35.279 If you can't feel somebody's pain, you're not going to be able to comfort them, period. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:42.640 Because, like I said, the way that this verse is presented in the Bible is that it's a it's one coin. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:48.960 On the one side you have compassion, and the other side you have comfort, and they have to go back to back. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:56.160 So let's look at this other aspect in this passage, and that deals with God's comfort. 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:06.640 The Father of mercies or compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:09.519 Do you notice something there? 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:13.279 God of what type of comfort? 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.720 A certain type of comfort? 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:23.200 Only the comforts that he can cover is the God of what? 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:24.640 All. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.279 And what type of affliction? 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:30.240 What type of affliction can he comfort? 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:33.279 If you have the NSB, all. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:35.359 If you have the ESV, any. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:45.680 I don't know if all of any makes all the difference, but there's nothing outside the scope of God's comfort. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:52.799 His comfort is comprehensive, he is comf is all sufficient, and it's all complete. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:59.759 In fact, we need no other comfort than God's comfort, and nothing can substitute. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:01.680 God's comfort. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:05.039 There's no substitute for God's comfort. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.599 It is the comforts of all comforts. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:11.839 Everything else is matchless to God's comfort. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:18.640 But lo and behold, his comfort is effectual and efficient. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:21.200 It accomplishes something. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.799 And I'll explain that to you soon. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:32.079 One author speaks of this comfort that God gives. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:49.119 It's a presidency verb, showing that God comforts us constantly, unfailingly, not spasmodically or intermittently, and he does so in all our affliction, not just certain kinds of afflictions. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.559 If God was empathetic, it would be limiting him. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:23:00.720 But because he's sympathetic, he can comfort us in all kinds of afflictions without affliction exception. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:06.319 This Greek word, comfort, is fascinating. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:09.119 Parakaleo. 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:11.599 You can throw that around at lunch. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.960 Para kaleo, and people will think you very smart. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:19.839 But it's got a variety of meanings. 00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:20.400 Okay? 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:26.079 It's generally translated as comfort, but it's also translated as encourage. 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.640 And it's also translated as help. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.599 I mean that's how tricky Greek is. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:38.160 When I left Saminary, my last Greek class, the professor said, you know now enough to be dangerous. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:47.440 It's tricky because that Greek word can take on many meanings. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.359 But here's a clue. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:57.599 John Wycliffe in the 14th century was responsible for translating the Bible into English. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.000 And he sees this word parakaleo. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.759 And he's like, what shall we use in English? 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.640 Right? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:11.519 And he's walking up and down, I don't know, watched a little TV, and then went back. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:13.279 He's like, I don't know. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:14.559 Paracaleo. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:17.759 And then he says, aha! I've got the word comfort. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:20.400 We can translate it, comfort. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:25.039 And where does the understanding from of comfort come from? 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:26.960 It comes from the Latin. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:31.839 The Latin root there in the word comfort is fortus. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:36.079 Where do we get the English fortitude? 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:38.400 Courage. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:40.559 Strong, brave. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.440 And this is what one commentator says. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:47.759 He says the word comfort in modern day English has gone soft. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:55.200 The idea of comfort is to do something more than giving sentimental assurance. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:11.680 It's not some tranquilizing dose of empathy that only dulls the pain, but rather this word comfort in the old English meant to strengthen somebody or to encourage somebody. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:20.400 He says it's a stiffening agent that fortifies one in heart, mind, and soul. 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:32.160 So this word comfort, when God gives us comfort, it's not just like a sentimental thing, like, yeah, okay, okay. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:33.839 It's not that. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:40.319 It's something that gives us the strength to face tomorrow. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:55.200 God's comfort is about strengthening weakness and sustaining sagging spirits so that one faces the troubles of life with unbending resolve. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:56.720 Wow. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:25:58.799 Wow. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:01.359 See what I mean? 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:05.759 That God's comfort is an effectual comfort. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:08.000 It does something for you. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:17.279 Let me give you some more ideas on this comfort thing. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:37.680 I'm going to give you four ways in which God comforts us and how he sustains sagging spirits and strengthens weak knees so that the saints can face tomorrow. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:48.319 Number one, God's comfort oftentimes comes in the form of help and a solution. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:52.319 God comforts us is like, yeah, I fixed it for you. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:53.440 That helps. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:58.559 You know what happened with Jacob? 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.880 Jacob was inconsolable after the loss of Joseph. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.000 And after many, many years, he's reunited. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:08.640 God ordains it for him to be reunited. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:17.200 And he says in uh Genesis 46, 30, uh I'm now reunited, now I can die. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:18.720 I'm good now. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:19.920 I'm good. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:22.799 Hannah, do you remember Hannah? 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:28.400 Hannah was the unloved wife, unable to conceive. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:37.200 And in 1 Samuel 1, 17, she was praying, and then Eli the priest said, You will have a baby. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:38.720 God answered your prayer. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.279 God can fix things. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:51.519 David said in uh Psalm 86, 17, because you, Lord, have helped me and comfort it. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:54.160 God's help comforted him. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:54.880 Okay. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:28:04.640 But notice the word sometimes, not always, God doesn't always fix the situation, but he will comfort you. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:08.480 Point number two here. 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:16.720 God's comfort usually takes the form of the promise of his presence. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:21.759 I find Psalm 23 fascinating in this aspect. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:31.920 Psalm 23, verse 4, in the NIV says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:36.319 Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:47.759 Just this idea that God is with David, even though it be a rod and a staff that disciplines him, he's like, at least God is with me. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:51.920 And that, my dear friends, should trump everything in life. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:29:00.000 I mean, but no matter how things turn out, knowing that God is with you, that should say enough. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:02.559 At least God is with me. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:10.400 In the end, that's what we will have. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:18.079 The rod affliction gives the sheep the assurance that the shepherd is there. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.720 He is present with them, for you are with me. 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:25.200 Psalm 119, verse 76. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:31.680 Let your steadfast love comfort me according to the promise to your servant. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:32.799 God promises. 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:36.400 His steadfast love is his covenant loyalty. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.119 He's there. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:38.640 I'm here, there with you. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:40.000 You're not gonna be alone. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:42.079 No matter what you're going through, you're not alone. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:43.200 I'm with you. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:44.640 I'm with you. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:51.599 Isn't that sometimes what we hunger for when we we are really sad? 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.039 There's bad news, loss of someone. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.160 You don't want to be lonely, do you? 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:02.160 And even when you're lonely, God is with you. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:03.680 God is with you. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:21.599 The presence of God for David was a great assurance when he lost a newborn son and when he lost a rebellious son. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:30.160 And that comforted him, and that comfort gave him an unbending resolve to face tomorrow. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:36.400 Number three, God's comfort comes in the form of scriptural truth. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:43.759 This book is probably the greatest source of comfort you will have, dear brother and sister. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.319 Nothing can beat this. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:52.319 David says the following, Psalm 119, verse 50. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:31:00.400 He says, This is my comfort in my affliction that your word has revived me. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:12.799 The word of God is what strengthens and revives and gives us the fortitude to stand and face the troubles of life. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:29.440 Paul says in Romans 15, 4, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, the patience and the comfort. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:34.240 Scripture is gonna teach you patience, and scripture is gonna give you comfort. 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:36.000 Wow. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:37.920 In one book. 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:39.440 One book. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:43.359 You want to have a book on how to comfort people? 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:48.160 Number four. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:50.559 Wow. 00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:52.000 This is amazing. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:53.519 This is really amazing. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:59.759 God comforts us by the indwelling of the divine comforter. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:03.440 What's another word for the Holy Spirit? 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:04.799 Quick test. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:13.920 Comforter, helper, encourager. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:18.960 Same root word as the word comfort there in 2 Corinthians. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:26.799 He is called the paraclete, the one who encourages, the one who strengthens, the one who helps, the one who comforts. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:30.960 And he indwells the believer. 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:33.839 Here's John 14, 26. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:46.559 The old American Standard Version says, but the comfort, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring to remembrance what I've taught you. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:49.119 He is a comforter. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.240 The comforter dwells within us. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:59.200 You don't need to go far to find help, dear brothers and sisters. 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:01.200 And so there you have it. 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:04.000 God comforts us in at least four ways. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:07.680 Number one, helping, fixing things. 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:10.480 Number two, giving us the assurance of his presence. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:12.880 Number three, giving us the truth of Scripture. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:16.720 And number four, giving us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:21.200 God's comforting grace is his deposit. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.960 It is an investment into our lives for a purpose. 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:30.480 And I wonder if we can all spot the purpose for which God comforts us. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:32.559 There's a purpose. 00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:34.400 See in red there? 00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:35.599 So that. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:37.920 It's either a result or a purpose. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:39.759 I've not figured that one out. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:42.880 It's either a purpose clause or a result clause. 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:47.279 But either way, God does something so that we are able to do something. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:49.200 And what does he say there? 00:33:50.319 --> 00:34:04.640 He says, the God who comforts us in all our affliction does it so that we are doing the following: able to comfort those who are in any affliction. 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:08.000 Wow, that is huge. 00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:16.000 We know comfort as Christians, and now we can give comfort to others. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:20.800 We know what is compassion, now we can give compassion. 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:38.960 Now, once again, Christians often because they've been influenced by modern uh thinking on comfort, uh they they go down this pathway of empathy. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:44.880 And and when they think about empathy, they go, oh, I can't do anything. 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:46.239 I don't understand it. 00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:47.599 I've never lost anything. 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:50.880 I've never lost a family member, a child, or whatever. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:53.440 I never had bad news given to me. 00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:57.920 Uh life was good this far, so I can't I can't do anything. 00:34:58.400 --> 00:34:59.920 Forget about empathy. 00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:02.960 Empathy is not a biblical thing. 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:07.280 We seldom will be able to relate with a person. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:11.440 We will seldom understand the cause or the source of their trouble. 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:15.119 But empathy is not the point, period. 00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:37.360 What is the point is that we are compassionate, just like God is compassionate, we must be able to show sympathy because we have been shown God's sympathy, but we will also be comforted by God in that same comfort. 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:41.679 We are now able to comfort others. 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:50.880 Colossians 3.12 says, so as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:56.880 Once again, I'm often shocked at Christians how cold-hearted they can be. 00:35:57.039 --> 00:35:58.880 They've got no clue. 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:00.800 I'll tell you a quick story. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:02.000 I'm over time. 00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:04.159 Let's see how much I owe you. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:06.880 We can sit here for a little bit. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:16.000