The God of All Consolation

I'm going to begin with a question. How many are going through difficult trials right now?

Well, a lot of people. A lot of people raise their hands. We know today's society is making things harder. Life is far more expensive than it used to be. It is more stressful. It's also more permissive, so we see things that we didn't see before. And far more dangerous. There are tragedies.

Also, we face accidents, illnesses, and some ask, well, why? Why me? Why do I have to go through this?

And of course, the Bible addresses this subject head-on. Basically, it's one of the main themes where God explains the history of how He is carrying things out, how we got to this point.

And He gives one answer, which many times we don't cover. It is quite profound. You can say it is one of the operating principles of God.

It is a principle that is not very enjoyable, but it is necessary in His plan of salvation.

And we're going to see how many times it is mentioned in Scripture. And the best development of this subject, of why sometimes we go through things, where suffering, difficulties, all kinds of anguish and tragedies happen.

And the best development of this is found in 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-7. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3-7. Paul begins his epistle addressing the church, and he says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I think...let me see here...hold it...no, 2 Corinthians, not first. Sorry about that. Let me start again in verse 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

Here he's bringing up this point of God being the Father and the God of all comfort.

That's why the title is the God of all consolation, because the word means consolation.

He goes on to say, verse 4, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now, if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. And so one of the answers in the Bible is that because we cannot really console someone in an effective way unless we first understand that person's suffering. Before you can truly console another, you have to first understand and many times experience what the person has gone through. Now, God has gone through all of this and much more.

So when he talks about the God of consolation, God has suffered and gone through more than any human being. Notice in John chapter 3, that famous scripture which unfortunately is seldom understood properly. John chapter 3 verse 16, it says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And so God, knowing the world would be hostile, still was willing to sacrifice his own Son to be able to offer that salvation to all of us, to all of society.

Probably one of the greatest tragedies would be the loss of a child.

Well, God has lost a child.

The only begotten Son, he lost, and he did it willingly. He didn't lose it because of an accident or happenstance, but he willingly offered him as a sacrifice. How much does that take to do? Some suffer through poverty.

Well, God has gone through that. His Son here on earth went through poverty. He was not in a nice, cushy palace. He was not born into a rich household. He was born into a very common house of a blue-collar worker. At that time, it was more than being a carpenter, but it was just being an artisan.

That man, his father Joseph, worked primarily with his hands. They worked cutting wood, using stone, building things, heavy work. It wasn't intellectual work at all, and God was willing to submit to that way of life. Well, God also understands what sickness is because his Son took all of our sicknesses. That's why it says there that through his beatings, we are healed. We're going to be going through Passover, and the bread, that broken bread, signifies what God went through for us and what healing is available for us.

Now, people go through different situations in life, and they learn to be far more merciful and compassionate because they've gone through that. It wasn't even enjoyable, but afterwards, what has happened is that their hearts have been deepened. They were much more aware of the situation and suffering going on. One of the most generous persons I know in the church lived in poverty for at least eight years, and that person knows how others feel.

And so, he's able to give far more because they were there. And so, this principle that we have to go through things to be able to help others, we've been there. We've suffered. We know what hunger is. We know what tragedies are. So, nobody is going to leave unscathed in this life. We're all going to go through different trials and tests, and hopefully that helps us to be more compassionate, be able to console one another. Notice in Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14.

Paul, in this moment, being in prison, is still enraptured and ecstatic and so happy because he understands God's plan of salvation. And he says here in verse 14, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man.

We need to be strengthened through that Holy Spirit, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge.

So he says that we can't grasp the huge dimensions of what Christ has done for us, the sacrifice that took place. And so in our lives, we should deepen that knowledge and understanding of what he has done. Because sometimes we just say, woe is me, and we don't think about how many things God, the Father, and Jesus Christ have suffered and gone through, and they don't want to have a spoiled child in their kingdom.

They want somebody that knows what suffering is and can help others with their suffering as well. In Philippians chapter 2, another one of the prison epistles, he's in prison, and yet he is so close to God, he talks about all of these wonderful experiences that God shows him, the love that God has shown him. Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 9, he says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, by the way, this word consolation, comfort, comes from the Greek word paraclesis, which means to go alongside someone to help them.

You go alongside, you understand their situation. It means to encourage. The word study dictionary says of this word, all of scripture is actually a paraclesis, an exhortation, admonition, or encouragement for the purpose of strengthening and establishing the believer in the faith. It's there to comfort us, console us, instruct us. That's why many times the best prayer is the one where you have the Bible open, and you're conversing, and you're learning from God, and all these scriptures can come up, and you're seeing God answer many of the things we ask.

Continuing on, he says, if there is that consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Paul knew what compassion is. How much did he suffer? More than just about anybody that I know of.

And he could console others. He says in verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. It just brings up this point about nothing being done through selfish ambition or conceit. I was just talking with someone here before services about a point that I was sharing with him. I was thinking that sometimes people say, oh, this person is very political, and others say, well, this is being done for political reasons. Now, it can be in the church, it can be at the house, it can be at work, and I was thinking, what makes something political or not? We don't want to be political. Well, here's a good definition of what being political is, because the Bible says that we should honor those that we work for or are under. Remember what it says? We can go back to Philippians 2 here in a minute, but Proverbs 27, we covered this in one of the Sabbath thoughts recently. Proverbs 27 in verse 28. Nice, convenient scripture to remember.

Let's see. If I can...

Proverbs 27, sorry about that. It was verse 18, not 28. Verse 27 verse 18, it says, whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit. So he who waits on his master will be honored. So this is the principle. If you're working for somebody, you take care of that business.

You take care of what they're doing, and you try to be the best worker and servant, and you're going to be honored by that person. So is that being political? If you're trying to please your boss or please someone at work or at your whatever it is. Well, being political is when you are using the other person, be it your boss or someone else, and manipulating them for your own adaggrandizement, for your own advancement. You use people to advance your own position. That's being political. Now, when is it not being political? Well, if you're trying to advance the other person's purpose. If you're doing it not for your own advancement, you're doing it, you're not manipulating others. You're doing it. You're pleasing God with the way you're doing things. You're trying to get whoever works over you that you are trying to help them be better and succeed. See, one is focused on self and adaggrandizement and trying to advance yourself. Isn't that what people say? Well, he's political. It means he's not really interested in the other person. He's interested in what the other person can get for them. But if you're worried about what you can do to help the other person, that's tending the fig tree. That is helping the business. So, going back to Philippians chapter 2, it says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. Verse 3, but in lowliness of mine, let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. So again, get yourself out of the limelight and trying to do things for your own. Add grandizement and lifting yourself up. Verse 5, he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So now he says, I'm going to give you an example of someone who did not have selfish ambition or conceit, who was concerned about the other more than self. Verse 6, it says, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. So here, it's teaching that actually the one who became Christ as the word was equal in power and glory with the one who became the father. And it was the word that sometime in the distant past, to carry out this plan of salvation, said, I am going to voluntarily submit myself to this other God being. And so then he says he did not think it was equal robbery to be equal with God, which the word robbery means to hang on to what you have.

He didn't feel, no, I've got to remain with my total power and independence. No, he didn't have that attitude. He was willing, voluntarily, to submit. He says, but made himself of no reputation when he came to the earth. He didn't have a special place and riches and power and glory, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. So he didn't try to come here with a special privilege. No, he took on the role of a common Jew of his day, the common profession. He lived in a small house. He lived in the village. He worked with his hands.

Here was God in the flesh and yet in this subservient role, a very humiliating role.

And yet he wasn't chafing and he wasn't irritated and bitter about that at all. He did that. He voluntarily took that position. Can you imagine the sacrifice that took? We can't imagine it.

Verse 8, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, one of the worst types of death ever invented by man.

This was the worst torture that the Romans could come up with. Just before, they would just kill the person, execute them, but this one, it lasted hours and you were trying to get your breath every time and you couldn't die. So it was just about the most agonizing death you can imagine.

He says, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And everyone will have a chance eventually to choose if they do that or not.

If they don't do that, if they don't bow their knee before him, they're going to end up in the lake of fire and the second death. And they will be incinerated and the smoke of their torment, there will be no halting it as it wafts up into space. There's no stopping it.

We're going to cover that in the Bible study today.

And so, brethren, this is what the reality of why we are going through what we are going through, because God says, I have a mission for you. It's not just about our own selves and living comfortably and never going through any difficulties, but actually that through the difficulties and through the trials that we go through, it should deepen our hearts and make us more God-like to realize how much we should think about the others and not our own selves.

Notice in 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12.

Again, this is deep stuff. This is deep theology, as we would call it. This is not that run-of-the-mill, well, God just putting us to a test and let's all be strong and be patient. No, this is far deeper. Verse 12, Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. Maybe it means suffering for someone else, beloved to you, and showing compassion and realizing how much we want God's kingdom to come, so there won't be this type of suffering that we see on the earth. He says that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come, for the judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? If these first fruits that God is calling now don't make it, what is to be expected of the rest of the people? So it is a time of reflecting what we're going through, how we can become better persons, more compassionate, more loving to those that are suffering. Notice in James chapter 5 in verse 10.

It says, My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Now Job went through a trial that nobody would like to go through, and yet he says Job was transformed through that experience. He became a much more compassionate person. He became far more humble before God than he had in the previous stage.

So he learned a lot. It reminds me of what Dennis Luker, a former pastor here, I had a chance to be with him basically the last days that he was there in Cincinnati. I stayed at his house, and I remember him mentioning several times that when he looked back on his life, that the times when he suffered the most, the most difficult trials he went through, he said those were the times when his wife and him grew spiritually the most. Now that wasn't a coincidence. It was the deepening of the heart and the mind and the person as such. He became far more loving, but if he would have had an easy life, never gone through difficulties, I doubt he would have been the type of person that we got to know. Greatly compassionate, greatly loving.

I had the opportunity to work under him for three years, and I've always lamented so much because I've never had quite a boss like him. He just made me feel like I was his son, and that he was just always there backing, and no matter what was done, he always had that loving look and that wonderful patience and always positive. Now he was no wimp. He was in that way when things people tried to take advantage of him or doing something wrong in the church. But if he saw that your heart was right and that you were doing the best you could and with all your heart, he was a hundred percent. He was like Barnabas, the son of comfort and consolation.

I'm sure a lot of you have felt the same way that knew him. Let's go to Romans chapter 15.

Romans chapter 15 and verse 6.

Starting in verse 5, it says, Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, that's a mouthful. If you want to analyze that carefully. The God of patience and comfort. It doesn't say the God who gives patience and comfort. No, the God who has experienced that. The longanimity, the forbearance of God as people got worse right before the flood. And God said that he spent about a hundred years while the ark was being built. The long suffering of God. So God knows he's put up with a lot with human beings and comfort. The God of comfort.

So he knows what people feel like when they're going through tough trials. He's gone through basically, what was it, 33 years where he saw his son being humiliated and finally accused falsely and being crucified. So he knows how to comfort and console. He's not a heartless God that doesn't know what people go through. Not at all.

Going on to the next scripture. In Romans 8, just a couple of chapters before, this theme is repeated time after time in Scripture. Notice Romans 8, verse 16.

And when something's repeated in Scripture, it's because it's important before God. It says, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So again, something about having to experience these things. Persecution. Many times people have to face persecution in the family. Some people don't understand what a person's doing. They want to go back to their traditional beliefs. That's a type of persecution you go through. Many people have been disowned because you followed this way of life. This isn't a comfortable way of life or an easy way of life. There are sufferings. People give up many times working on the Sabbath. For them to remain faithful, they have to give up good jobs. Again, why? Well, you're learning to suffer like Christ suffered. So then you can comfort and console somebody in the process. I know it's ironic that even in the ministry, I never thought this would happen. But actually, because of those that came in and changed doctrines and no longer wanted to keep the Sabbath, that actually in the ministry we were persecuted inside the church and threatened with losing our jobs if we kept faithfully the Sabbath. And so many of the ministers that we have today as part of our church, they gave up their jobs because of the Sabbath. They didn't give up the Sabbath day as a common day. So again, what does that mean? Well, when you're teaching it and you say, yes, sometimes it's tough and sometimes a person loses a job. But you know what? We lost a job, too. So it's not just preaching out there. We lived it. We lived the humiliation of having to be removed because we were going to obey God and keep the Sabbath day. So you see, there you are going through sufferings that God said we are to take up the yoke of Jesus Christ and follow Him. He didn't say it was going to be easy. He says that we were going to have to give up many things.

In Colossians chapter 1, there's another scripture along this line, Colossians chapter 1 verse 24.

And by the way, when you go through these trials, there are many that say, oh, yes, I'm willing to do it. And then when crunch time came, they didn't. They said, oh, no, I've still got to pay the mortgage. Oh, I've got to pay the bills. And they backed down. And so you never know until you face and you live through the experience who are going to really carry it out and who were there just talking the talk, but not walking the walk. And again, the ministers in United have had to do that as well as other church of God groups as well. But some people say, oh, well, our church is better. We do more than others. And look, let's not get into that. Everybody has their scars from keeping God's way. So we're not here novices, amateurs, or wet behind the ear type. Everybody has had to go through these things. And so it should be respected. Whatever church of God group they are. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 24, Paul says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. So he says, in a sense, the church is still suffering through what Christ established, and that in all generations people suffer. And it's like Christ being tortured or beaten anew. And every time a person faces a trial of faith, you're actually involved in that the sufferings of Christ in the church are being filled by all of us going through these experiences.

In 2 Corinthians 11, it's a good time to talk about Paul. Paul speaks of this more than any other.

Of course, Peter, James, they also covered it, but Paul is the one that goes through this principle more than any of the other ones. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 16.

He's talking to the Corinthians. They don't respect him very much. And so, in a sense, he has to say, brethren, what I'm going to say, people can take it as if I'm boasting. And Paul says, that's not what I'm doing. But because the way that you are treating me, I have to go ahead and explain it in this way. He says, verse 16, I say again, let no one think me a fool.

If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool that I also may boast a little. He doesn't know how to address this without feeling uncomfortable, because he's going to have to bring up a lot of things that he has gone through. But people were criticizing him. They were belittling him in front of others that had, as opposed, better reputation. And so he says, I'm going to have to do this to be able to defend my ministry. Verse 18, seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For you put up with it, if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face to our shame, I say that we were too weak for that. But in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly. I am bold also. So he says, excuse me, brethren, but I'm going to tell you a little bit about my life and my sufferings. And so he goes on to say in verse 23, he says, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. Because of course, God was using him far more powerfully than any of these other men. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often, talking about threats of death, from the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Can you imagine? That's basically close to 200 stripes. I mean, that's beaten with rods. So he went through five times being beaten 39 times every way. The Jews had it that the maximum was 40. And so in case someone counted wrong, they did it 39. So they would go over and actually get to 41. So they were more conservative and just beat the person 39 times. He did that. He went through that five times. I don't know. Anybody here gone through that one time? I don't think so. Three times I was beaten with rods. So it wasn't just the stripes. That's with a different type kind of a whip. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day. I have been in the deep. So here he went through three terrible shipwrecks, accidents, where in the Mediterranean Sea the ship, all of a sudden, they weren't very navigable in those days. There were storms. And so here the ship started sinking. And you had to grab on to a plank of wood and be out there. And he said one time he was basically 24 hours holding on to his dear for his dear life in the Mediterranean, bobbing up and down. The Apostle Paul, man that God was using as his principal tool. And he's out there bobbing up and down for a day. Do you think he could have said, well, God, I don't deserve this. Where were your angels? Why didn't you rescue me? And this wasn't just one time. Three times I was shipwrecked.

He goes on to say, in journeys often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, because they do exist in our midst. That's a trial all by itself. God sifts the church. He's always sifting and seeing people that are there, and they're really not with God's program. And they're just there waiting to cause problems. Continuing on, verse 27, it says, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often. So he had to get close to God, just like we have to, in cold and nakedness. This is why he decided not to marry, because can you imagine submitting a woman, his wife, through all of this?

Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. So he was supervising churches. He was getting all kinds of information, notifications of problems here, problems there, how to deal with this, how to deal with that. And here were the Corinthians. Well, we don't really think much of Paul. We like Apollos. He's a better speaker. Oh, Peter, oh, yes, well, he's more important. So this is the way Paul felt. And again, he didn't do it in a mean spirited way. He was just saying, I think I deserve respect. He's telling the Corinthians.

Then he goes on verse 29, talking about that deep concern. Who is weak? And I am not weak.

So talking about, well, people that have difficulties. You go, you see what is going on. You try to deal with that. You don't deal with them with a heavy hand. You try to work things out. Many times you bend yourself, you know, backwards, just to be able to help the person, help that little one. But yes, you're supposed to go after that one and leave the 99. But what happens when that one doesn't want you to pick them up, doesn't want you to help them?

Eventually, that person is not a sheep. He's a human being. He has free will. He decides. But as a minister, we're supposed to bend over backwards. We're supposed to be patient.

He goes on to say, who is made to stumble? And I do not burn with indignation when somebody gets offended. And you are really concerned. And people offend. They cause problems. And of course, you're affected by it. And you're going to deal with it. You go after whatever is needed to solve the problem. And yet many times, it doesn't turn out because either the person doesn't want to, or they think that the problem is something else. But you see, that's why we have the Passover every year in this period of time when we're supposed to talk through issues. If somebody has something against me or someone else, please, let's talk about it. If we're all converted by God, we can solve it. But if a person doesn't want that, even God cannot avoid a person that just wants to go their own way. Even God cannot intervene because he cannot deal with the sacredness of your own decision-making. If a person finally decides, I'm not going to do it God's way, I am going to be stubborn to the end of my days, God's going to have to throw him in the lake of fire. There's no other solution to it. So you see, Paul understood what consoling was because he needed consolation. He was the one that could have been discouraged with everything he went through, and yet he was saying, this helped me. I've been at sea. I know what it is to be shipwrecked. I know what it is to go through things. So that's the benefit of the experience of going through difficulties, to be able to help others. But we have to be like children. We cannot get stubborn. We cannot harden our hearts. He said, if we have a childlike attitude, everything is available to be talked. Everything can be hashed out, but we have to have the attitude of a child.

So let's go on now to 1 John 4, verse 17. 1 John 4, verse 17. John certainly went through a lot in his life. He ended up in the island of Patmos, as we are going to cover. And he says he was there because of the sufferings of Christ. He accepted that. And he says here, verse 17, verse 17, Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. As Christ was, we went through things in this world. He was attacked. He was persecuted. He was maligned. Well, so are we. The world doesn't understand us. They don't understand these wonderful principles. They don't understand what a person with God's Spirit does. And in Revelation chapter 1, as I mentioned, in verse 9, John says, I, John, both brother and companion, in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So yes, companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience. So he says, this is part of my job description. This is what I have to go through. But I'd be able to learn more about how to love others because of these sufferings. So we need to take trials as learning experiences to get us closer to God, suffering that we may be better able to console others.

It's the principle that Christ mentioned to the Pharisees about the woman who truly appreciated Christ's sacrifice. Notice in Luke chapter 7, Luke chapter 7 verse 36.

Again, the same principle that we are studying here, one of the operating principles of God, that we need to go through sufferings in order to deepen our hearts so we can console others. Luke chapter 7 verse 36.

Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner—so this was a woman that had a sinful life, probably a prostitute—when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping.

She understood his message about being her Savior.

And she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with a fragrant oil.

Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself. So he wasn't going to say it out loud, but this is what he thought. This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus, knowing the thoughts of men, decided to give him a learning moment. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii. A denarii is basically one day's wages. So this was like a hundred days wages, more than three months. And the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?

Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have rightly judged. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. So that was an insult right there, which you know, Christ being the humble person didn't say anything. But that was actually an insult to a guest of a house.

He said, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with hair, the hair of her head.

That was a pretty demeaning thing she did. You gave me no kiss. This is the way that you greet someone. Here we don't do that, but in Latin America, in places in Mexico and Chile and Argentina, it's even worse.

Because you got to kiss twice on, you know, when a cheek, either cheek. So not one cheek is enough.

But he says here, but you gave me no kiss of greetings. But this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. So again, it shows the attitude of the Pharisee. He felt superior to Christ. He felt he was doing Christ a favor to bring him to his house. So he wasn't going to do all of these things. He felt he was actually doing being very generous, just having him come.

God in the flesh coming into a house. God in the flesh coming into a house.

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, he admitted this of the woman, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. So it's a principle again. If you don't deepen your heart, you don't go out, you don't really become uncomfortable sometimes doing the things that need to be done to help that other person who's going through a difficult time.

Christ did.

And so we are wrapping up this message. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

One more scripture after that. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

And verse 16.

Paul simply says this at the end, I'd like to read that in the amplified version.

It says, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and encouragement and well-founded hope through His grace, comfort and encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

How do you think the Apostle Paul could write something like that if he had not experienced that consolation, that suffering that he went through, and God helping him go through it and eventually overcome it? He's doing it because he experienced it, and he gave encouragement and consolation to others.

So we have the scripture in Revelation chapter 7.

To finish, here we see the result of God's love and consolation. Everlasting consolation means that He's always going to know us and always going to know what we went through, and always is there to wipe the tears off our eyes. In Revelation 7 verse 15, talking about that innumerable multitude, it says, Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. So this is talking about when God the Father comes back, that New Jerusalem is established. They shall neither hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat, because they're spirit beings. They're not going to be physically affected. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So yes, He understands what we're going through, but God knows what He's doing. He knows there are things that we need to learn, and especially to be more like that God of all consolation.