Comforts of God Experienced in Affliction

Introduction: Preaching Christ from Personal Experience

0:04 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, June 29, 1997, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:16 May I encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to the first chapter of Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and chapter 1.

0:30 Follow, please, as I read the first 11 verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.

0:44 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all. Who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. Or, whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort which works in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort.

2:04 For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us. You also, come together on our behalf, by your supplication, that for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer for the blessing of the Spirit upon the preaching and hearing of the word of God. Let us pray. Our Father, we draw near again, encouraged by your own word of invitation,

3:17 to draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. And our Father, we know that our lives are a constant display of human need and weakness, but we come this morning conscious of special need, special need that we may be given light and understanding in the Scriptures, that the one who speaks may handle your word with accuracy and that we who receive that word may receive it with discernment and understanding. O Lord, we ask that it may be evident to each one gathered in this place that you, the living God, though unseen, are known in your felt presence through the preaching of the word this morning. Hear our cry and meet with us, we plead. We plead for the good of our souls and for the glory of your name. Amen.

4:29 Now you can mark it down as an indisputable fact that no true servant of Jesus Christ preaches himself or his experience as the substance of his ministry. If you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, if you ever hear any man claiming to be a true servant of Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit is the source of his life, ministry, you will know that he is a false minister of Christ. For the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves your bond slaves for Jesus' sake. Now while no true servant of Christ ever makes his own person or experience the basis or the theme of his ministry, every true servant of Christ preaches Christ out of the context and the matrix of his own experience of Christ. As surely as he preaches Christ and not

5:52 himself, he preaches Christ out of the context of his own experience. experience of Christ. And in a very focused way, that's what I will attempt to do this morning. As most, if not all of you know, at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, I will be wheeled into an operating room at Chiltern Hospital for major surgery, the goal of which is to remove a cancerous prostate and any other cancerous tissue that may be found in the surrounding area. The events of tomorrow morning are the culmination of issues that began to unfold on April the 15th of this year, when, during my first visit to a specialist, I was told there's something suspicious going on in your prostate gland. And in the ensuing eleven weeks that have followed, God has wonderfully manifested his

The God of All Comfort and His Purpose in Affliction

6:59 grace, his love, his nearness. And this morning, I'm constrained to set before you some of the particular ways in which this has been true. And in order to set our study of the word of God in a thoroughly biblical setting, I want you to look with me for a few minutes at the statements of the apostle written on behalf of himself and Timothy, as found in 2 Corinthians 1, verses 2 and 3. 3 and 4. You will notice that verse 3 begins as a eulogy. Whenever you read in the scriptures someone saying, Blessed be God, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, such as you have here and in Ephesians 1, this is a eulogy. This is speaking well of God. And as the apostle, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, begins to speak well of God, this is a eulogy. This is speaking well of God.

7:59 He begins by blessing God for what he is in himself and in his revelation of himself through the Lord Jesus. Notice the language of the text. Blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. As the apostle speaks well of God.

8:29 As he blesses God for what he is in himself, you will notice that that blessing of God is not some mindless enthusiasm, throw up my hands and just praise God, bless God, bless Jesus for nothing in some kind of a mentally convoluted way. No, there is the clear light of perception as to who God is in himself. And you will notice that that speaking well of God has two focal points. First of all, Paul blesses God for what he is in himself as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, when he speaks well of God, he is not speaking well of God primarily in terms of what God has always been in himself. The mysterious one in three and three in one. The God referred to in Genesis 1-1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

9:41 But he is blessing God particularly in terms of who he is since he has revealed himself in the person and work of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He has always been. He has always been God, but technically he was not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ until the second person of the Godhead became incarnate in Mary's womb and there was one who could refer to him as my Father. While there was an eternal relationship between the pre-incarnate Son and the Father. It awaited the incarnation for that truth to be made patent and clear in space and time history. And so when the Apostle speaks well of God, he is not just throwing out indiscriminate terminology. He is condensing into that terminology all of the glorious revelation of God in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

10:56 And therefore referring to him as our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore referring to him as our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore referring to him as our Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus And until the incarnation, there was no Jesus.

11:12 And the second person of the Godhead according to John 1.1 existed from eternity. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

11:29 that the angel said to Joseph, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he it is that shall save his people from their sins. And so as the apostle blesses God for what he is in himself, he blesses him that he is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of manifested redemptive grace and love, that God revealed and exegeted in our Lord Jesus. But then he refers to him secondly as the Father of mercies or compassions and the God of all comfort. That is, he is the God who manifests his disposition of compassion, who ministers to the people of the world, comfort in a way consistent with his nature and his being. So that referring to him as the Father of mercies or compassions and the God of all, he is clearly indicating that God manifests and exercises compassion and confers comfort because it is of his very essence to manifest his disposition of compassion and his being. So that he refers to him as the Father of mercies or compassions and the God of all, he is clearly indicating that God manifests compassion and comfort.

12:59 As a lion always acts like a lion because in his nature he is a lion, a lamb acts like a lamb because in its nature and disposition it is a lamb, so God is the God who can be called Father of mercies and God of all comfort because it is in his very essence and nature to manifest his disposition of compassion and his being. To be a compassionating and a comforting God. And Paul blesses God that he is these things in himself. But then secondly, he blesses God for what he has been doing to his servants.

13:43 Look at the text. This God is described in verse 4 in terms of what he has been doing for his servants. Who is comforting us. Who is comforting us in all our affliction.

13:59 And while that term according to the analogy of scripture could be applied to all Christians indiscriminately that God is the comforter of his people, in this context the us is Paul and Timothy. And he refers to this activity of God as the one who has been comforting them in all their affliction. And that he is comforting them in all their affliction. And he is thinking particularly of their afflictions is clear from the context when we read in verse 8.

14:33 We would not have you ignorant brethren concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia. That we were weighed down exceedingly beyond our power insomuch that we despaired even of life. And he gives broad stroke descriptions of this particular combination of afflictions to which he makes reference in verse 4 when he blesses God for being the God who is ministering comfort to his afflicted servants. Afflicted in these particulars that are further described with a comfort that was tailor made to those particular afflictions. And the word that is used for affliction in verse 4 and again in verse 8. And in verse 8 is that general word for pressured circumstances. Pressure cooker circumstances that press in upon us.

15:37 And the apostle who blesses God for what he is in himself. God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father of mercies or compassions. God of all comfort.

15:50 He now addresses by way of speaking well of God the fact of what he has been doing. Doing for his servants. He has been comforting them in all of their affliction. But then notice thirdly in the text that Paul explains the purpose for God's dealings with his servants.

16:12 For what purpose has God been comforting his servants? Verse 4 tells us. He says that we may be able to comfort. And he uses a construction ice tall with the infinity.

16:27 Which has the very clear pressure of purpose. Here is the purpose for which God has been comforting us in our afflictions. Comforting us because it is in his very nature to do so. He is the God of compassions.

16:47 He is the father of compassions. The God of all comfort. He has been comforting us in our afflictions. But he has been doing it according to this.

16:58 Not primarily to take the pressure off us. Notice what the text says. He has been doing this not to make life more comfortable for us. But he says God has been doing this in order that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

17:29 In other words the apostle recognized that God's dealings with him and Timothy in their particular afflictions. Those dealings consistent with who he is as the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God of manifested redemptive love. Who is in a particular way the God described in the text as the father of mercies.

17:59 And the God of all comfort in acting consistent with his very being and nature in continually comforting us in our affliction. What has his purpose been? Not primarily to make things easy for us. But rather to make us more fit to mediate comforts of God to the matrix of our own experience.

18:28 Isn't that clearly the significance of this? Isn't that clearly the significance of this? That we may be given the ability to comfort them that are in any affliction through the comfort, notice, not the comfort that is inherent in God as the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, though that is true. But he says through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

19:01 Now you see? The basis of my statement, though no true servant of God preaches himself or his experience as the basis of his proclamation, every true servant of God will preach Christ out of the matrix and the context of his experience of the grace of God. And in this very passage, and I commend it to you for your meditation, you will see that in five verses, verses three to seven, no fewer than ten times, you will find the verb parakaleo and the noun paraklesis, and we had some rooting around in those words in our studies in the upper room discourse, to comfort the verb, comfort the noun, ten times in five verses. The great thrust of this passage focuses upon the reality that God is indeed, the God of all comfort, and that's not just a pious notion, catchy little phrases to go on wall plaques, it is the reality that Paul and Timothy had come to experience in an unusual way,

Comfort 1: The Sovereign Will of God

20:19 in a combination of pressure cooker circumstances that caused them even to despair of life itself. And they said the only reason we're alive, and communicating now, is we serve the God who gives life to the dead. We were as good as dead. But God came to us in grace and mercy, ministered his comfort, his consolation, and now we recognize that he did this, that we, out of that crucible of the provenness of God, as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, might be competent, to minister that comfort to others. Well, with that passage as a framework for what I'm going to attempt to do in the remaining time, I want to address the question, what are the peculiar comforts wherewith we, and when I say we, I'm speaking particularly of my wife and me, have been comforted in these days. From April 15th, when the first dark cloud, began to form on the horizon, with the urologist's assessment that there's quote, something suspicious that will demand a biopsy, to the moment when we sat in his office,

21:45 and we heard the dread C-word, you have prostate cancer. And from that moment, till now, what has been our experience of the comforts of God. And I have pleaded with God that, I would not even in the interest of magnifying His grace, speak beyond the reality of our experience, and thereby break the ninth commandment. I beg God, Lord help me to be honest in all that I say this morning.

22:18 But I've also begged Him that I would not rob Him of any glory due to His name, by a false modesty that would understate the measure of His grace. What are then the comforts, wherewith we have been, and continue to be comforted? Well, as time permits, I want to set before you four of those distinct comforts. Number one, the comfort of the sovereign will of God.

22:48 The comfort of the sovereign will of God. From the very beginning of Trinity Church, when we composed our first official letterhead, we wanted to put a text on the letterhead, that embodied at least one of the major concerns of our life and ministry as a church. And some of you will remember that from the very first letterhead, a specific text has been printed up till perhaps just recently. I'm not sure if it's on the present letterhead.

23:20 I think it may be. And that text is Romans 11 in verse 36. Romans 11 in verse 36, where the apostle, after opening up the grand scope of salvation, in Jesus Christ, the salvation that takes within its scope not only individual sinners, but even the disposition of nations, he closes with this tremendous statement, for of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all, to Him be the glory forever. Amen.

23:59 Of Him, in sovereign will and purpose, through Him, by sovereign, immanent, all-encompassing providence, and unto Him, in praise and honor and glory, are all, recreate reality, in its largest and smallest motion and disposition, from the farthest yet undiscovered galaxy, to the subatomic particles, with its quarks, and all of the other terms, that people give to them, are all. For in the language of Ephesians 1 in verse 11, He is the God who is working, actively, imminently, powerfully, infallibly, He is working all things, after the counsel of His own will. The all things of the familiar text in Romans 8 in verse 28, and we know, that all things, those in a man's prostate things, when some kind of funky, histological change goes on, and the people in the lab say,

25:27 that's a cancer cell, is that a thing? Is that a thing in God's world? Working together, not just working, but working together, and not just for some, undescribed end, but for good, to them that love God, to them who are the cold, according to His purpose. Psalm 115 in verse 3, Our God is in the heavens, He has done whatsoever He wills.

26:04 You see, the doctrine of God's sovereignty, is not some theological abstraction, nor was it ever intended to be an arena, in which people slug it out, and somehow come to blows, over theological issues. Either God, who made this world, and everything in it, rules it, and everything in it, or if you rule Him out, of one subatomic, atomic particle, you've ultimately ruled God, entirely out of His world. All things, all things. And it's amazing, how when we preach certain things, God holds us, to what we've preached.

26:45 From time to time, I make a point of listening, to one of my sermons, not to admire it, but to criticize it. And to see if I've fallen into patterns of verbal expressions, that are trite, and unusually, or unnecessarily repetitive, and the rest. And I listen with a critical ear. And a couple of months ago, after the first visit, in April 15th, I was listening to a sermon, that I've never preached here, that was prepared and preached, at the Ligonier Conference, in February of 1996.

27:18 I was asked to preach on the subject, the sovereignty of God, over nature. And my outline was, God's sovereignty over nature, explicitly affirmed. And we looked at a number of texts, God's sovereignty over nature, vividly illustrated. And then we looked at a number of examples, of this.

27:35 And then my third heading was, God's sovereignty over nature, practically applied. And I have the notes from that sermon, on the application. I want you to listen, to what I had the nerve to preach, back in February of 1996. A present conviction, of this truth, lies at the basis, of fulfilling the clear mandate, of Philippians 4, 6 and 7.

27:56 And we'll come to that, in one of the second categories, of comfort. My second application, was this. A present conviction, of this reality, lies at the basis, of drawing comfort, from Romans 8, 28. How can we have, the confidence of faith, that all things, are working together, for good, if any one thing, escapes the control, of God?

28:15 Well, I'm not saying, that God's sovereignty, over nature, is the only thing, that God's sovereignty, is the only thing, that is in control, of God. And then I had, two specific, illustrations, to press. Was God, really there, at the conception, of that down syndrome, child? My second, was this.

28:36 Was God, really there, when the processes, which caused, the proliferation, of destructive cells, occurred? And then, what was not in my notes, and it was uncanny, as I listened to it, said, what will you do, when the doctor, tells you, that the report, has come back, from the pathologist? And he says, the C word. Yes, without claiming, to be a prophet, in getting specific, in the application, it was in the very area, that God was preparing, me to face, some months later.

29:13 And I would be, shamefully, and willfully, guilty, of reproaching God, if I did not say, that the doctrine, of God's sovereignty, better stated, the reality, of a loving, gracious, sovereign God, has been, the sheet anchor, to our souls. As Pastor Carr, pointed out, in his masterful sermons, on Christian contentment, submission, to the sovereignty, of God, does not mean, painlessness, it does not mean, prayerlessness, it does not mean, paralysis. But it means, amidst, the pouring out, of the pain, and the grief, and the fears, amidst, the pleading, with God, amidst, taking every effort, responsibly, to address, a situation, at the end, of the day. Either you say, from your heart, as did, our blessed Lord, amidst, His pain, amidst, His prayer, and amidst, His responsible, actions, nevertheless, not, my will, but, thine, be done. And if we believe, what the Apostle says, in 2 Corinthians 1, that God's dealings, with us, particularly, as His servants, though there is, a generic application,

30:41 to all of God's people, if we believe, that His dealings, with us, in bringing us, into the crucible, of intense affliction, is that we might, prove Him, experientially, to us, that He is, the Lord, who is, God, experientially, to be, the Father, of mercies, and the God, of all comfort, to the end, that we may be able, to comfort others, by the comfort, wherewith, we ourselves, are comforted, of God. Then, when these, intense afflictions, come upon us, we don't ask, why me, Lord? We ask, who, then, Lord? You see the difference?

31:24 Not, why me, but, tell me, that I might better, prove Your grace, to minister, to others. Who, then, Lord? Who, then, is the candidate, for that comfort, that You're going to give, to me, in this crucible, of affliction? You see, we're back, to the old principle, He that was saved, His life, will lose it.

31:50 But, He that will lose, His life, for my sake, in the Gospels, the same, shall save it. And, Philippians 1, He says, according to my earnest expectation, and hope, that in nothing, I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, now, as always, Christ, shall be magnified, in my body, whether by life, or by death. His great passion, was not a smooth road, of comfort, into retirement, and into a rest home, and then fade off, into the sunset. He said, in this bodily existence, I want my entire being, to be one magnifying glass, that when you look at me, Christ, becomes big in your eyes. Whether by life, by death, to be magnified, for, to me, to live, is Christ, and to die, is gain. This past Friday morning, to God, was very gracious, in enlarging my heart, in a very special way, in spreading before Him, all the details, of the upcoming surgery, right down to pleading with God, that when I'm in no man's land, and the anesthesia is still, affecting my brain, and you can babble, I said, Lord, make me babble, like a Christian man. There's enough sin, in my heart, and in the memory banks, foul words, that I uttered,

33:18 before I was converted. Filthy thoughts, and jokes, that I could still tell, if I wanted to reach in. Lord, don't let me dishonor you, when I'm babbling, but let me babble, like a Christian. Let Your Word come out.

33:34 Let language of hymns come out. Let everyone, who gets near me, know, that's not a reverend, whose religion, is his profession. That's a man, who knows his God, and loves his Savior. What comfort, has God brought to us?

33:50 He has brought the comfort, of His sovereign will. After praying out those things, on Friday morning, I came down, to share with my wife, that God had met me, in a special way, and given a fresh sense, of commitment, and release, and submission, to the will of God. And her words to me, were dear, as I've gone about, these days. The last words of Romans 12, too, have been going over, in my mind, again, and again, and again.

34:21 The good, the acceptable, and the perfect, will of God. I speak the truth, in Christ, I lie not. The truth, the doctrine, of God's gracious, all wise, all encompassing, sovereignty, has been a consolation, to our souls. But then, there's been a second category, of comfort.

Comfort 2: The Promised Peace of God

34:42 It is the comfort, of the promised, peace of God. And here, I want you, to turn with me, to the familiar words, of Philippians 4. You're not going to hear, anything new, this morning, folks. You get staring down, the gun battle, or something like this, you've got no stomach, for novelty.

35:01 You want, proven, you want, proven stuff. You want, proven stuff. And you'll find yourself, going back, to the most, elementary issues. The comfort, of the promised, peace of God.

35:16 Philippians 4, 6, and 7. In nothing, be anxious, but, in everything, by prayer, and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests, be made known, unto God, and, the peace, of God, which passes, all understanding, shall, guard, your hearts, and your thoughts, in, Christ, Jesus. I've made reference, to the date, of April 15th. It was about, 7.45, in the evening, when I walked, through the garage door, and into our family room, thinking, that I was, going to be able, to tell my wife, that the urologist, report, was such, that we'd schedule, a less, radical, form of surgery, to just make life, a little easier, for me, in the years, to come, as God would give them. But when I told her, that after his examination, there was some concern, that we might be dealing, with something more, than a common, middle-age problem, and I'll speak, euphemistically here, rather than turn, the morning worship service, into an anatomical lesson, and as we, then went, to have our regular, family worship, stuck to our regular, pattern,

36:33 presently reading, through William J's, morning and evening, I then was, pressured in my own mind, to sit with my wife, and open up, Philippians 4, 6 and 7, and I said, now dear, the directives of God, are clear, whatever, the urologist, thinks he's found, whatever, the forthcoming, biopsy, and ultrasound, may reveal, this much is clear, Almighty God, has given, a prohibition, in verse, 6a, and he says, in no thing, be anxious, and we must, together, repudiate, all sinful, anxiety, as much as, we repudiate, a temptation, to curse God, to steal, from our neighbors, to be unfaithful, to our marriage, vows, sinful, anxiety, is out of bounds, for us, as Christians, we must, not, look on it, as an, innocent, accompaniment, of dark news, in nothing, be anxious, and we must, together, repudiate, all sinful, anxious, that's the prohibition, now dear, God's told us, what we're to do, as the means, to neutralize, the power, of sinful, anxiety, in everything, by prayer, and supplication, let your request, be made known, unto God, there's the avenue, of unfettered, approach, to God, prayer, generically, supplication, specifically,

38:02 request, made known, but mingled, with thanksgiving, we try, to think of everything, for which we could, give God, thanks, even that first, dark cloud, over our shoulder, give thanks, to God, that he has, brought things, to light, give thanks, to God, for this, for that, the other, we thanked, ourselves out, then we laid, our request, before God, brought all, our arguments, as to why, we believed, it would glorify, God, that the biopsy, would come up, life would get on, we brought all, our arguments, before God, and when we had done, to the best, of our ability, what this verse says, in nothing, be anxious, took our stand, in Christ, against sinful, anxiety, sought by prayer, and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let our request, be made known, to God, then we said, now Lord, we don't have the power, to do what, verse seven says, that's your job, and the peace, of God, which passes, shall guard, shall set up, a sentinel, around your hearts, and your thoughts, and your thoughts, vagabond, uncontrollable things, that run off, in a hundred directions, God has promised, to set, this garrison, of soldiers, around heart, and thought, in virtue, of our union,

39:31 with Christ, and we said, something along this line, as I led us in prayer, now Lord, we can't do the last, but you've committed, yourself to do it, and we are pleading, with you, to fulfill your promise, and I stand, to testify, in this place, this morning, the best I know, in judgment day, honesty, somewhere, in the next, several hours, before we awakened, in the morning, God sent, that garrison, of soldiers, around our hearts, and minds, and they have not, broken ranks, for five minutes, over the last, eleven weeks, and that's not, because by nature, either my wife, or, this man, standing in front of you, has got some kind, of Christian macho, to just face the worst, no, by nature, and temperament, I am a timid, tentative, fearful little boy, and if you question, my honesty, ask my dear mother, about the son, to whom she gave birth, and let her share, the incidents, of that inherently, tentative, fearful, temperament, and ask my wife, sometime, about her convoluted, upbringing, and about her, another woman, the mother, powerful, and no, domestic, stability, and all the rest, and God, can take, two people, who didn't have, either temperamentally, or, environmentally, the things,

41:00 that make them strong, and this verse, is not qualified, by temperament, or, circumstances, it's only limit, is the grace of God, in Jesus Christ, and that has no limit, and I stand, to bear witness, blessed peace of God. You say, but pastor, what do you mean by the peace of God? Well, look at the text. It says it passes, it surpasses, it exceeds, it goes beyond what? Understanding.

41:30 Now, what you don't understand, you can't explain. Now, sometimes you say to someone, look, explain that to me. You say, well, I understand it, but I can't explain it. You know what my response is? No, you don't understand it. That's why you can't explain it. If you understand it, generally you can explain it. But even granted that there may be situations where you do understand something, but you can't explain it, there's never a situation where you can explain something you don't understand. And I stand before you to say, I don't understand that peace. It surpasses understanding. So how can I explain it? You can only explain it or attempt to explain it by walking around it with negatives. What it is, I don't know. But I know what it ain't. That restive, disturbed, distressed, lying upon the bed at night. What

42:26 if this? What if that? What if the other? What if this? What if that? Robbing the energy of tomorrow by the anxious thoughts of the night. That's not the peace of God at work.

42:39 Trying to anticipate a thousand what ifs instead of bending one's mind and energies to the realities of present duty and present responsibility.

Comfort 3: The Prayers and Expressed Love of God's People

42:51 I can't explain what it is, but I bear witness along with my wife of the comfort of the promised peace of God. And thirdly, I want to address briefly the comfort of the prayers and the expressed love of the people of God. No little part of the comfort wherewith the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort has been comforting us to the end that we might be able better to comfort others. Thirdly, I want to address briefly the comfort of the prayers and the expressed love of the people of God. It's interesting, isn't it, that in this very passage, Paul highlights the place of the prayers of the Corinthians. And he says that in the midst of this gracious deliverance of God, and of his hope of the ongoing grace of God, that he and Timothy and others might accomplish this, bringing this benevolence gift to Jerusalem. That's the context of the language of verse 11. He says, You also helping together on our behalf by your supplication. He was confident that they were

44:05 entering in with him by their prayers. And not only was the apostle conscious of that consolation and comfort that is mediated through the prayers of God's people, but by the expressed manifestations of the love of God. Look at the example in chapter 7 of this epistle, where our words, comfort, are found again. 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 5.

44:36 For even when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief. We were afflicted on every side. Without were fightings, and I love the next phrase, within were fears. You mean there were times when Paul was afraid?

44:55 Yes. David was afraid. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. It's what you do with your fears.

45:04 That is the difference between the Christian, the non-Christian, between the Christian acting consistent with what he is in Christ, and acting inconsistently. Within were fears. Nevertheless, notice, he that comforts the lowly or the downcast, even God. Here is the God of all comfort, comforted us by a fresh, unusual, intense outpouring of the Spirit upon our souls.

45:35 No. He comforted us by the coming of Titus. One day when Paul was feeling the pressure of all of these circumstances, and his spirit was heavy, and no doubt crying out to God for the consolations of His grace, there was a creek in the hinges. And through the door came Titus, and the comfort of God was mediated through the loving spiritual intercourse with his dear brother.

46:06 And he came with news of what had happened there at Corinth, and how Paul's letter that he says further on in this chapter, he said, I was grieved when I wrote it, not because I wanted to make you grieved, but because you needed to be called to repentance. For now Titus has come, and he has told us of your response. And our hearts have been made glad. You see, the comfort of God was not brought immediately into the soul of Paul.

46:36 It was mediated through a fellow redeemed sinner.

46:42 And when the Apostle says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies or compassions, the God of all comforts, and what He is in mediating of Himself to His people, does not always come by the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit, but is mediated through the members of His body.

47:11 And we have known that in a most precious way in these days. Cards, letters, notes from some of the kids, barely able to frame their ABCs. This morning at nine o'clock, a telephone call from Germany, from our dear brother Hart. So many expressions of your love.

47:33 And what does that do? It mediates the very comfort that God is, and that God communicates to His people. It becomes the conduit through which we know the comfort of God, and the compassions of God. The other day as I thought upon it, and realized that God willing, tomorrow morning, there will literally be several thousands of God's precious ones from the Philippines, to Australia, to the Middle East, to the Caribbean, to the U.K., and all points in this country, praying for this hell-deserving sinner. And I said, Lord, among the four and a half billions of this world's population, how many live and die and never have one person pray for them? And I'm going to have thousands of people praying for me? And I was swallowed up with a mingled sense of unworthiness, unworthiness on the one hand, and an overwhelming sense of God being the Father of mercies and the God of all.

48:48 The comfort of the prayers and the expressed love of the people of God. My dear wife and I have known that, and I bear public witness to it. And then the fourth category of God's comfort, wherewith we have and continue to be comforted, is the comfort of the redemption. The redemptive love of God.

Comfort 4: The Redemptive Love of God

49:12 And this, of course, is the overarching comfort, even above the comfort of the sovereign will of God, the promised peace of God, the prayers and expressed love of the people of God, is the comfort of the redemptive love of God. Now, what do I mean by the terminology, the redemptive love of God? Turn, please, to Romans, I'm sorry, chapter 8. Romans chapter 8.

49:37 Again, we're back in the... familiar territory.

49:43 This wonderful chapter, some regard it as the richest chapter of gospel privilege found anywhere in the Word of God. Notice how it begins. Verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

50:04 The blessed state in which Almighty God has no legal controversy with... with men is the state of being in Christ Jesus.

50:17 In the face of the ugly reality of the universal condition of human sinfulness, a reality that Paul has established in the earlier chapters, he dares to state no condemnation to a certain group of people. And how are they described? Not in terms of any external, social, economic, racial, ethnic privilege, but in...

50:41 in terms of this category alone. They are in Christ Jesus. They have come into union with Him who took our nature upon Him. And in that nature lived a life of perfect conformity to the law of God.

50:59 Died under the curse of imputed sin. Rose from the dead on the third day. And now by the operation of the Spirit, men are regenerated, women are regenerated, boys and girls are made new. And in repentance and faith they lay hold of Christ and are united to Him.

51:20 And in that union there is no condemnation. God's treatment of us is the treatment of His own Son. Having raised Him from the dead, vindicated His work, we are accepted in the Beloved One. And then as the various privileges of the children, the children of God are opened up, culminating in their glorification, when they should be made like the Lord Jesus.

51:49 And even this present sin-cursed world will be released from the effects of the curse. He cries out in verse 31, What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us, all things, what are the all things?

52:15 Everything necessary to bring us to the climactic experience of a full salvation. A renewed body, to dwell in a renewed earth with all of you creatures. And that forever and ever. And as He then expresses His own personal conviction, I am persuaded, verse 38, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, things present, nor things to come, nor things to come, all of the unanswered questions, what will the surgeon find tomorrow?

52:55 What will be the results if he finds this, finds that? Things to come, none of these things present or to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. Now notice, she'll be able to separate us from the love of God, and where is it? It is not out there generically in His kindness and benevolence to all of His creatures and all of His creation.

53:23 It is not the love that is expressed out there in God's general offer of mercy to sinners. No, look at the text. It is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's His redemptive love.

53:40 And the exclusive sphere of that love is in Christ. And if we are in Christ, then all the gifts and commitments of that love are sent to Christ. Of that redemptive love. God is committed to vindicate His justice by bringing every sin to judgment.

54:07 God is committed to vindicate His holiness, to vindicate who He is as Creator and Lawgiver and Judge. But in Christ Jesus, He has vented His righteous wrath. He has...

54:21 He has pledged a full and a complete salvation.

54:26 And in these days we have known something of the comfort of the redemptive love of God. Confident according to verse 32 that if God has done the greatest work, the greatest demand upon the Godhead was found in conjunction with the giving up of His Son to death. He that spared not His own Son, He has done the greatest work. Delivered Him up for us all.

54:57 How shall He not also with Him in that sphere of redemptive grace and activity freely give us all that is necessary that His salvation might be fully experienced in all for whom He died. What a comfort to face the unknown things of the coming hours, the coming days, and the coming days. Knowing that the God who in space, time, history, His own beloved Son, at the point that He loved Him most intensely, when the obedience of the Son reached its apex in laying down His life for sinners, at the point when His obedience found its culminating expression, and the Father's heart was never more moved with complacent love for His Son, at that point, He spared Him not, but brought down the full weight of His unleashed fury, punishing our sins in Him who died for us. We have the promise, how shall He not with Him in that sphere of redemptive love be confident that He will give us all things.

Application to Believers: Enduring Tribulation with God's Comfort

56:23 Well, those are four of the blessed categories of God's comfort that we have known in these days. And sooner or later, if you are a child of God, though God's tailor-made plan for your life may never have in it the dread C-word, may never have major surgery in the plan, there will be, according to the word of God, that which Acts 14.22 calls tribulation between now and your entering the kingdom. The Apostle and his companions preached to the young converts that through many tribulations, same words, afflictions, we must enter the kingdom of God. And I trust as you come into those intense crucibles of affliction that God will bring back to your mind this morning, when in a way that doesn't begin to do justice to the realities, you heard someone say that there is a God who takes to Himself the terms of the world. Father of mercies, God of all comfort, who ministered comfort to His servant to the end, that He might be able to administer that comfort experientially

Application to Unbelievers: The Need for Christ in Crunch Time

57:46 to those who are in any affliction, and validate in your own heart that God is indeed the God whom Paul blesses. And as I close, I want to ask the question of those of you who are not in that circle of redemption. That circle of redemptive love. What are you going to do when crunch time comes for you?

58:13 You're bopping along without Christ, without God, filling up that king void with who knows what! But crunch time is going to come somewhere, sometime. And you may be a Psalm 73 man or woman whom God in His sovereign providence spares the ordinary afflictions of life, but crunch time will come when your appointment with death comes up in God's calendar. It is appointed unto men once to die.

58:50 What comfort will you have? I ask you, what comfort will you have from the things that now occupy your soul? The things to which you now give your life, do you want them to be your companion when you go through the valley of the shadow of death? What you give your life to in life, that will be your companion in death.

59:12 That's why Paul could say, for to me to live now is Christ, and therefore to die is gain. For I know that He who is my Lord and the object of my affection and trust in life will be my companion in death, and therefore death will be gain to me. But as I said to the young people Friday night, you fill in the blanks, for to me to live is...

59:37 What do you fill in the blanks? Right now, to me to live is...

59:41 What is life to you? To me to live is fun, games, success, career, station, standing, influence. What is it? To me to live is...

59:53 children, grandchildren. What is it? My friend, if you don't want it to be your companion passing through the valley of the shadow of death and stand with you in the day of judgment, turn from it and fill in the blank with Christ. He's the only one worthy to be there in the blank.

60:11 To me to live is Christ. Turn from your silly idols. Turn from every blasphemous, blasphemous thought injected by the enemy of your souls that there is something to be had out of Christ that's worth anything. Throw yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ and know the blessedness of His presence now in life, His companionship in death, and His vindication in the last day.

Concluding Testimony and Prayer

60:43 From the human standpoint, we have every reason to be hopeful and expected that the surgery tomorrow will be God's instrument to put this chapter behind us, hopefully enriched by all the things that God has taught in so many areas and that the Lord will continue to exegete in the days to come. But as the Scripture says, we know not what a day may bring forth any day. When you know in a few hours the mask is going to be on your face and you're off in no man's land and you know that you're going to be opened up and there's the real possibility, one in a hundred, never get off the table, it has a way of yanking your chain. And you ask the question, am I really on solid ground? And as a boy who went to bed every night, scared to death I'd die, how I thank God the King of Terrors has been stripped of his power! And when that anesthesiologist places that needle in the back of my hand and I float off into Never Never Land to do so in the confidence that if God should take me I'll wake up and look upon the face of Jesus.

62:05 I bless God for a Savior who has committed himself to be with his people. And if I never preach from this pulpit again, I pray, God, you will remember that a man stood there and told you that Christ alone is worthy of your trust. Christ is infinitely worthy of your whole soul trust in life, in death. May God grant that his dealings with us may be by his grace the crucible in which Christ himself will increasingly become precious to us.

62:49 And that some of you who perhaps have been careless, indifferent, the Lord will use the things shared this morning to be the instrument to cause you to seek the Lord while he may be found and to call upon him while he is near. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you that amidst the great and ultimate realities of life and of death and of judgment you have given us clear light from your holy word. How we thank you that your Son and his salvation are suitable to all of the needs of your people. And we thank you that you have pledged that having spared not your Son you will with him freely give us all things. We plead with you this day that you will magnify yourself as the God of all comfort and the Father of mercies. We pray, O Lord, that your people will store up the blessed realities that have been set before them today.

64:09 We thank you for many that have proven them in ways that we have yet to prove them. We ask for those who have been deluded by the God of this world, who sit here today and are not in the orbit of your redemptive love in Christ. O, may they flee from their sin and their unbelief and cast themselves upon your mercy in Christ, that they may have that confidence that nothing shall separate them from your love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hear us and seal your word to our hearts, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

64:50 Amen.