October 25, 2023
Author: Pastor Gordon Cook
October 25, 2023
“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 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.”
2 Corinthians 1:3,4
2 Corinthians 1:3,4 was the text that Pastor
Jones used on that Saturday morning and stressed that, “If we are going
to properly embrace our sufferings and our joys, we have to start with
God.” That was an excellent way to begin, start with a proper theology.
Secondly, he said, “We have to know who God is, we also have to know
what he does.” But obviously from the text, who is God, 2 Corinthians 1
tells us, “He's the father of mercies and the God of all comforts.” It’s
a wonderful description of God, “the Father of mercies and the God of
all comfort.” But as I said, he not only said that we must know who God
is, but we must know what he does. And it's clear from our text that he
comforts us. That's why he's called the God of Comfort.
But if I
were to ask you exactly, “How does God comfort?” What would you say? I'm
sure there's many things that we can all say, but I have four ways in
which God comforts us and Pastor Jones alluded to some of these: He
comforts by his Spirit; He comforts by his Word; He comforts by his
people; He comforts by his gospel. Those are the four major ways in
which God shows us that he's a God of all comfort.
If I wanted
to prove those from my Bible, first of all by his spirit, we could go to
John 14 where Jesus gives quite a description of the Holy Spirit's
ministry and he speaks of the Holy Spirit using that very rich nuanced
word: he's the Peraclete or the Councelor, he comes alongside to help
us. A number of English translations actually translate that Greek word,
the comforter. And so how does he comfort us? Well, in many different
ways, but certainly he comforts us by his presence. He indwells us
doesn't he? In Romans 8 that's stressed four or five times by the
apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit indwells us in that he says, “He bears
witness with our spirit,” Romans 8, “that we are the sons of God.” So he
comforts us even by reminding us that we are the sons of God. That's a
wonderful comfort to know in the midst of trials and sorrows of life,
that you have a heavenly father, that you are a child of God.
The
second major way in which he comforts us is by his word. The Bible is
given to us to help us through our trials and tribulations. It's never
called the book of comfort, but it does comfort us. Listen to what Paul
says in Romans 15, “For whatever was written was written for our
instruction, that through endurance and encouragement of the scripture,
the Bible was not written to discourage us but to encourage us.” And who
hasn't found comfort or encouragement when you read your Bible. Think
of all the promises of God. Think of all the psalms that you can read
and bring comfort; think even of the epistles and the wonderful truths
that we have in terms of our relationship with Jesus Christ; think of
the Bible biographies: David and Moses and Job and how many times has a
downcast, depressed, discouraged saint come away from reading his Bible,
reading Psalm 23, reading Romans 8, and they have found comfort. God is
a God of all comfort. How does he comfort us? By His Spirit, by his
word.
Thirdly, he comforts us by his people or by his church. If
you go back to 2 Corinthians 1:4 that is even mentioned. Paul says, “Who
comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in who are
in affliction.” Our trials are never wasted and they are to help us
grow, but they are also to help others grow, to help others in the midst
of their trials. Think of Joni Erickson Tada, she's been in a
wheelchair for 50 plus years. Think of all the ways that woman has
comforted others by her own trial. She has been able to tell others of
where her hope is and who she clings to in the midst of her pain and
suffering. She's been a wonderful example and a wonderful comforter.
How
does God comfort? By his spirit, by his word, by his people, and then
finally I would say by his gospel. What brings more pain or sorrow than
any other thing in our life? Our sin. Jesus said, “Blessed are they that
mourn,” I think he's talking here about mourning over our sin, “They
shall be comforted.” How are we comforted? Well, we're comforted by the
gospel. What brings the greatest comfort to the child of God when they
sin? It’s knowing that you're forgiven, right? Isn't that the wonderful
comfort of that doctrine of justification, there's no condemnation to
those in Christ Jesus. All our sins have been forgiven.
There's a
wonderful prayer by the Puritan Thomas Brooke, here are just a couple
phrases, “Eternal Father, this is my comfort, the imputed righteousness
of Christ. This answers all my fears, doubts and objections. How shall I
have communion with you, a holy God? In the righteousness of Christ.
How should I find acceptance with you? In the righteousness of Christ.”
Then he goes on and on speaking of the comfort he has because of the
righteousness of Christ. So there's no greater comfort, is there,
knowing that all our sins have been forgiven, washed in the blood of
Jesus Christ. As we go to the throne of grace, it's good to remind us
that we have a father of comfort.
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