God of Comfort, God of Hope

You know, I think back on the song, It Is Well With My Soul, and those who have been in the church for a long time, you remember that that was one of the songs we sang often in church. And as I was growing up, one of the songs that always stuck with me, and I wondered what it meant when you would talk about all the trials that you would have in life and all the things that could come your way, that you would be able to say, It Is Well With My Soul.

And over the years, I've heard people say, Well, that song doesn't make sense, and you know, it dropped out of our hymnal, some were happy with it, but over the years, I would even wake up some night singing that song to myself, and I remembered all of the words. And as I've grown older and been in the church a long time, I understand what it means to be able to say, It Is Well With My Soul, when you go through the trials and tribulations of life.

You know, a few years ago, I had never heard what the story behind that song was, but a few years ago, someone, I don't know if I was listening, or someone sent me what that song meant, and the man who wrote it, his name is Horatio Spafford, and he had had a series of unfortunate or not-so-good events in his life. Back in 1871, he lost his business in the Chicago fire. He had his only son die a starlet fever.

And then, as they were planning, with everything going on, to go over to England, he sent his wife and four daughters over ahead of him. He had to stay back on a business thing, and was going to join them a few days later, and en route to England. The ship they were on collided with another ship, and the four daughters died. And, as the story goes, as he came over to visit his wife, who had polygraphed him, and I can't even imagine the pain that people go through when he heard a...

when he got a telegraph just saying, survived alone. Meaning, all the daughters were gone, but his wife survived. That as they pointed out to him, the ship that was taking him over, this is about where that ship sank, and his daughters died, is when he sat down and wrote that song. And as he wrote that, and as I think about what he must have gone through, and what people who have gone before us have gone through, they've learned what that song means.

You know, the Bible study this past week, we talked about the time of chastisement, you know, that we should not despise the chastising of God. You know, it's the training time that we're in, the pai Hadea that we're in. And he doesn't promise us that everything is going to be great and wondrous and everything. But if we remember, if we remember what he has us in, and what the end result of it all is, then we could say, as we go through it, it's well with my soul. It's God's will that I'm going through this. You know, as we live in an age where we see things happening so quickly around us, and as we can draw the line from here to there, we see a road that doesn't look so very palatable for us to be on.

But we know we must traverse this, and we know that, you know, God will be with us through it all, and we know that we must cross that road and travel that road into God's kingdom and the return of Jesus Christ. Through it all, we learn many things, you know, in life, but one of the things that we learn among the many blessings, the many, many blessings that God gives us is one that we find back in 2 Corinthians.

Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians 1. And there in the opening verses of Paul's second epistle, at least second epistle to the Corinthians that we have in the Bible, he says something to us that we may not think of as a blessing necessarily. We may not think of it so much today, but we have all experienced it. We may take it for granted. We may not have even thought about it. But in the years ahead, it's going to be so very important to us.

2 Corinthians 1 and 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. The God of all comfort. When we see the word all in the Bible, God doesn't use words lightly like we might. The God of all comfort. It goes on in verse 4 and says, Who comforts us in all our tribulation?

Not just in time of death. Sometimes we think of God's comfort when a loved one dies. And we think of 2 Thessalonians 4 verses 13 to 18, where Paul reminds us they are sleeping, but they will live again. It's the ultimate hope and the ultimate comfort that we can have in those times when we're feeling the loss of someone and the emotion that goes along with it. But here, Paul says, He's the God of all comfort. The God is there in all of our tribulations. The one who will comfort us, the one who will be there, the one we can count on. And no matter how tough things are and how difficult they may be, God is there to comfort. He is there.

Back in Luke 2, we see something said about Jesus Christ as He was born. Recently we talked about some of the names of Jesus Christ. You know so many of them. Savior, Lord, Messiah, Master. We recently talked about Captain, Forerunner, Mediator. But in Luke 2, verse 25, as Christ is born, Simeon gives us another name, another aspect of Jesus Christ's life.

Luke 2, verse 25, says, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Waiting for the consolation of Israel. The word translated consolation there in verse 25 is exactly the same word that is there in 2 Corinthians 1.

Verses 3 and 4 and many other places. The comfort of Israel. Another name now we have for Jesus Christ. Another blessing that He gives us. Another thing that we can count on Him for. We may not even know that we need it or be consciously focused on it.

But today I do want to focus on it because where we are today, and certainly as we move from here to the return of Jesus Christ, that comfort of God is going to be so important to us. That comfort of God that people have found and know the importance of it and have felt the benefit of it as they've gone through really difficult trials. Like the man who wrote that song that we just heard.

People like Job. People like all those men and women in Hebrews 11 who endured devastatingly tough times. And yet they stood right through it all, right to the end. Did they do it just because of their inner strength? Well, we know they didn't. Just like if we rely on our inner strength and our determination only to see us through the times that we live in, we'll fail.

They relied on God. They came to experience and love the comfort that God gave them in all their tribulations. He's the God of all comfort. Today I want to talk about Jesus Christ. Here he was born. And Simeon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says he's the consolation of Israel. He'll be the comfort of Israel. One of the names that we have for him. And as he grew and he waxed strong in the spirit and grew up and began his ministry, you remember he called, of course, the disciples to him and they walked with him.

And as they saw and walked with him day in and day out for those three and a half years, there was a comfort that they derived from him. No matter what came their way, as long as Jesus Christ was there next to them, things were going to be okay. As long as Jesus Christ was there, they learned to trust in him. He was a comforting man to be around. The spirit is a comforting thing to have with us and among us and in us. And as Jesus Christ would begin to talk at the end of his physical life about it, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. I'm going to be buried. I'm going to be resurrected. And I won't be with you day to day anymore. You can sense the discomfort in them. Life had become so good, if I can use that word, a very common word, but so good with Jesus Christ there with them. How could they even fathom him not being there walking by them, side by side, because he was comforting, as well as teaching, as well as a captain, as well as the forerunner, as well as teaching them what they needed to know.

But he was a comforting person to be around, and they knew they were going to miss him. Just as the people that miss each other, if we're not here for Sabbath service, we don't see each other for a while, they were going to miss him before he was even born, because indeed, something would be missing. He told them that night that he was going to be arrested. That night, you know, it's good for you that I go away.

Over John 14, verse 16, he told them that when he went away, there would be the Holy Spirit that would be come to them. In John 14, verse 16, when he mentions it, the first time, and then five times more, that night, as you go through chapters 14, 15, and 16 in John, he says this. Verse 16, I will pray the Father, and He will give you another, and it should truly be translated to the old King James.

It says, Helper in the new King James. But when you look up the word there, it's the very same word. That's comforter, the consolation of Israel, the same word. That's there in 2 Corinthians 1, 3, and 4. He will give you another comforter. The Holy Spirit will comfort you. What you do to this would be, it will comfort you. It will also teach you what Christ did in person. It will also guide you into all things that Jesus Christ did in person.

It will also lead you to the kingdom if you follow it, as Jesus Christ would do when He was in person with them. So God made provision that the Holy Spirit would provide this very necessary thing to His people. That that would be a comforter to them. And as God calls, and as we repent, and as we receive the Holy Spirit, we begin to realize there is a comfort as we see the things going on in the world. As we look at situations change, as we look at attitudes change, as we look at the climate and the world change around us, and I don't mean atmospheric climate, I mean political climate and governmental climate, as we see things change, we're comforted because we know that God is in control.

We know that He is there. We know this is His plan. We understand that. And we experience that. We live it. We may not focus on it. What a blessing it is. What a blessing it is to be able to have that with us. In Hebrews 13 verse 5, I'll be with you every step of the way. He told the disciples, I'm not going away. You're going to have the comforter here with you every minute of every day.

As long as you want it there, and as long as what you're doing would provide a place for that Holy Spirit to be and be engaged, as long as you follow it and follow God. He says the very same thing, because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever as is Jesus Christ back in Deuteronomy 31.

He says the very same thing to Israel, if you will. Turn back to Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6, Moses is preparing to depart Israel. They felt comforted by Moses' presence. As long as Moses is here, everything is okay. We feel comfort when he's there. We've been up against some hard things. We've made some mistakes. We've complained. But you know, with Moses here, there's comfort. But now he's disappearing. Now he is going to die, and there will be another leader in Israel. Verse 31, chapter 31, verse 6, he says, Be strong and of good courage.

Don't fear. Don't be afraid of them. For the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave or forsake you. I've been with you these 40 years, but God will always be here. He is eternal. He will always be there to comfort you. He will always be there to see you through. He will always be there to keep you straight on the paths if you let him be there. In Hebrews, we're told exactly the same thing in the New Covenant. God will be there to comfort. God is there to comfort. He is the God of all comfort. Where do we find that comfort? Is it just something we feel?

If we kind of feel out of sorts one day, we're kind of battered by something that we didn't expect. You know, in an age we live in today, you might say the wrong thing at work and find yourself with the pink slip at the end of the day. If you listen to some of the things that are going on, what do we do?

Where's the comfort in that? You might feel out of sorts. And what is happening? We can always look to God for comfort. He knows exactly what's going on in our lives. Everything that goes on in our lives, He's well aware. And everything is designed to make us better, to make us stronger. And as we follow Him and as we work with Him to solve the issues in our life, to face the trials, the difficulties, as He leads us and we learn what He wants us to learn, there's the comfort when we see the success, but there's the comfort along the way when we remember.

After maybe an initial panic, an initial fear, God is there. He knows what's going on. It's tough. It's difficult. It hurts. But God is there. God is there. Let's turn back to 1, 2 Kings. No, 1 Kings. I'm sorry. 1 Kings. No, it is 2 Kings. As we're on our way to 2 Kings, I was going to mention a few people in the Bible who experienced this comfort that God would send their way.

I want to take the time to turn to some of the stories of Elijah. There's many things that we can learn from Elijah. Among what we can learn from him is the comfort of God. You'll remember, of course, when he challenged the prophets of Baal and to show who was the true God. God showed that he was the true God. The prophets of Baal were killed.

As any of us would be, Elijah thought that the king and queen of Israel would immediately choose God. They didn't. In fact, Jezebel set out after Elijah and said, I will do to you what you did to them. I will kill you. Surprised, Elijah. You remember that? And so he ran. He ran. As you look at the account there, you see that Elijah told God, it's enough.

It's too much. He was human just like us, an emotional thing that we thought, this is the only answer. They have to see it. They can't deny it. And yet they did. You know, when we look at some of those things in the Old Testament and stories that are there, we think, how could Jezebel have felt that way? How could she just look at something that happened and just totally discount it and say, I don't want to hear it. I'm just after your head. But when we look at the world today, we can see a time that maybe that might befall us.

We might say something that seems so obvious that the facts all back up. And yet there would people would say, I don't want to hear it. I don't believe it. Off with his head. God did allow Elijah to flee. And you remember that as he was there, God fed him. And he said, he said, you need strength. You need this time. And then he had Elijah supernaturally fed again.

You need this time. You remember the time on another occasion where he was by the brook sherrath and the raven came every day and gave him food. That had to be a comfort to Elijah. He knew God was there. Every day he knew God was there. Maybe you've seen signs in your life where you've prayed about something or you've been involved and you've seen something and you just know God is there. How comforting is that when you know God is there? And he does make us aware of that.

And we shouldn't discount it and say it's coincidence or whatever. Now, we know when God is there and it's a tremendous blessing that he gives us. Now, you're already there, but I'm not. You're in 2 Kings. I'll get there in a minute. 2 Kings 20. You know, Hezekiah, he was a man who had things happen to him that he didn't count on, one that's common to so many of us. 2 Kings 20. Verse 1, he became sick. He was a man who followed God, appreciated, followed Him, obeyed Him implicitly.

Chapter 20, verse 1, it says, In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Some of us have been in that situation. We get a diagnosis we didn't count on. It's, in some cases, a death sentence if we look at it from the world's standpoint. It can floor us. It can stop us. We can panic. We need some time to get ourselves together and realize, you know, God is there. Look at what Hezekiah did. Did he panic and did he run all the place? It says, In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, went to him and said, Thus says the eternal, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.

Pretty final. I dare say none of us have been told, Set your house in order, you will die. Well, maybe we have. I know there's been some serious illnesses over the years with people that are here. What did Hezekiah do? How did he handle it? What he did was he turned his face, verse 2, toward the wall. He prayed to God, saying, Remember, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in your sight.

And Hezekiah whipped bitterly. He went right to God. He didn't run to the nearest emergency room. He didn't run to the nearest hospital. The first thing he did was go to God. I have this thing, this trial, this tribulation, this thing that's come upon me I didn't count on. I didn't know where to turn. But the first thought in his mind was, turn to God.

Let Him direct the paths. Get the comfort that God and only God can give us. And He poured His heart out to God. The way we communicate with God is through prayer. And not just through, you know, general prayers, but detailed prayers, as you've heard me say a few times recently. Hezekiah just didn't pray a detailed prayer.

He poured His heart out to God. He wept bitterly. I've done your will. Why is this coming upon me? Help me understand. Comfort me in this. Let me know your plan. We can be detailed with God in the things that we need. Maybe sickness. It may be financial problems. It may be any other trial or tribulation that comes on us. God can comfort. God can lead. And the first place we turn is to Him in prayer.

Hezekiah showed that. God heard His prayer. It happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court that the Word of the Lord came to Him saying, Return. And tell Hezekiah the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your Father. I've heard your prayer. I've seen your tears. Surely I will heal you. On the third day, you'll go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add to your days 15 years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the King of Assyria, and I will defend the city for my own sake over the sake of my servant David.

And then Isaiah gave him a physical order. This is what you need to do to heal that boil or whatever it was that would cause his death.

Go to God first. We want the comfort. We need the comfort from God. We need to remember, he knows everything that's going on in our lives. Everything that happens is to build our character and to get us ready for the kingdom of God, to be ready to be born into his kingdom. There's comfort in that. Knowing he's there. Hezekiah knew God was there, and that's where he turned. That's where he turned first. One chapter back. In chapter 19. In verse 10, we kind of see Hezekiah in another stressful situation. The king of Assyria is levying huge threats against Hezekiah. Huge threats. If you don't do what I say, if your people don't bow down to me, this is what's going to happen. Has any of these other people been able to stand against this great king of Assyria? And it troubled the people. Again, we can look down the road for however long it is between now and see the same thing could happen to us. What threats might be there? If you don't do this, if you don't stop saying this, whatever it is, this is what's going to happen to you. Anything to make you stop doing what you're doing and do what others want you to do. And this is what Hezekiah was faced with. Because Satan has the same principles, whether it's for a nation or for individuals. His mission is to disrupt the people of God, get them to turn away from God, look to their own devices, and follow his way. And follow his way. Okay, verse 10. He...

Let's just read through it. Here are the threats that the king of Assyria has. So, "'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah,' the king of Assyria says, saying, Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." Might we someday be saying, don't trust in your God? He's not going to get you out of this situation. Now, that was what Hezekiah was hearing. "'Look, you've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them. And shall you be delivered? How the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, and all these other people. Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sephravahem, Henna, and Iva?" Look at all these people before. What's so different about you, Hezekiah? You think you can stand? You think your God's going to be able to stand against me? Verse 14, Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it. What did he do? Did he panic? Did he get on the phone and look for alliances? How do we counter that? I need people to work with me to fight against this king of Assyria. We've got to silence him somehow. What do we do to counter this? He didn't do any of those things. He read the letter, and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and he spread it before him. Hezekiah prayed before God and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear and hear. Open our eyes, O Lord, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly the kings of Assyria? They've done what they said they have done. They have laid waste the nations in their lands. They've cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands. Verse 19, Therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone.

He turned to him. Hezekiah learned even in times when the nation was at risk. The threats. And he knew he...they didn't have the physical strength to stand against the Nacharab in Assyria. And he read of the plights and the way of the Assyrians. It's a daunting thing. They were ferocious and accrual people.

Hezekiah went to God. That prayer, he found comfort in God. He knew God was there. He knew what was going on. And he went to God. And at the end of the prayer, God answered, I hear what you're saying. They will not invade your city. As strong as Assyria is, he will not. And as you go through the rest of the chapter, you see the Nacharab. They lost men. He went back and he was assassinated by people of his own nation. There's comfort in God. There's answers in God. The first place that we need to go is learn to go to God first. And then he will guide where we may need to go. Do this, do that. Follow these instructions. Every time you read of a king, that God is answering, God tells him what to do. He shows him the way. God will order our steps. There is comfort in that if we seek him. And we follow his lead. There should be immense comfort in that. If we go forward to the New Testament, I'm sorry, in Acts 16, we find Paul and Silas. And they've been out preaching the gospel. They've been preaching the truth of Jesus Christ. And they run into some people that didn't like what they were saying.

And they find themselves in quite a predicament, if you will, when you're looking at it physically. Again, when we look at this incident, we look at what happened to Paul and Silas. It doesn't look so out of the question in our lives anymore, does it? That this could happen to some of us down the road. If we're preaching the Word of God, if we're preaching the gospel of God, if we're preaching the return of Jesus Christ, which the church of God will do, and do increasingly strongly, we could find some of us in prison as the government's way of silencing it. Well, it happens here to Paul and Silas. Let's pick it up in Acts 16, verse 20.

What happened was they cast a demon out of a girl. They saw their livelihood disappearing. They didn't like what happened to them, the people of the city. And so, verse 20, they brought them, Paul and Silas, to the Magistration. They said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city. The words they're saying, we don't want to hear what they have to say. We don't want to hear their message. We don't want to hear anything about it. We want it the way we want it.

Away with this message. Get it out of our system. Everyone needs to just do what we have always done. These men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs, which are not lawful for us being Romans, to receive or observe. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. Simply because they didn't like what they did. They didn't like their words. They didn't like their message.

I want to hear it.

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

I dare say at the beginning of this, neither Paul nor Silas saw that happening. All of a sudden, they're in an untenable situation. One that's difficult for us to imagine. Maybe one that one or more of us go through in the future. Simply for preaching the Word of God. Simply for teaching the things that God said. To a world that simply doesn't want to hear it. So there they find themselves. At midnight, verse 25, Paul and Silas, what did they do? Were they moaning? Were they complaining? Did they get on the phone with their attorneys? Who's the best defense attorney in the city here? How are we going to file our case? What are we going to do to get ourselves out of prison?

Now, at midnight, Paul and Silas, what were they doing? They were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them.

There was a calmness. There was a comfort. They knew God was right there with them. God wasn't surprised by what happened. They may have been surprised by what happened, but God knew this would develop their character. Their faith in God would be stronger. He will do things to have us become stronger in our commitment to Him, stronger in our faith to Him. What they did was they turned to God. They prayed. They sang hymns.

If it as well with my soul had been around at that time, they would have sung that. Maybe you sometimes, when you wake up in the middle of the night, there's a hymn in your mind. And you know when you hear that hymn, something that you've been thinking about that God wants you to know or to understand that's going on in your life.

Don't try to put it out of your mind. Go with it. God comforts us in many ways. Praying to Him and having that deep relationship with Him is one of the ways. But we have to put the effort in. Jesus Christ Himself said, if you have any, whatever cares you have, whatever burdens you have, whatever trials you face, whatever you need to be doing, take it to Him and He will bear your burdens. And He will show the way. Whether it's through what He gives or whatever counseling or whatever you have, He will show the way. Listen, but be comforted. He wants you to succeed. You will succeed if you trust in Him. If you're comforted in Him and you don't panic and you don't run in another direction, but you run first to Him. And that takes time and commitment on our parts as we go through our lives to discipline ourselves. Go to God first. Seek His will. It could be very difficult, but He is the God of all comfort, of all tribulations, of all trials. Everything we need is there, and it abounds, as we'll read later on in 2 Corinthians 1, it abounds through Jesus Christ, who is our consolation.

We may just need to focus on that a little bit more.

Well, praying to God is one of the ways that we can be comforted in times of trial and stress, times of depression, times of anxiety, times of loss. What's another way that God comforts us? I'll turn to Psalm 119. David certainly learned to be comforted by God. Through his time, he went through many trials. He had an eye-opening affair, you know, with the choice of words, with Bathsheba and that whole incident. He had to see who he was. And he was comforted knowing that God would grant him repentance when he truly repented of that. And David became a different man after that, a man after God's own heart. Psalm 119, verse 50, gives us one of the ways that he was comforted. Of course, Psalm 119 is a treatise, if you will, to God's law, like David's love song, to God's law and God's scriptures. Psalm 119, verse 50, he says, this is my comfort. This is my comfort and my affliction.

When I'm enduring a trial, when I find myself in a difficult situation, this is my comfort and my affliction. Your Word has given me life.

The scriptures are also a source of comfort that come from God. Certainly prayer. Certainly our faith in Him. Certainly building that faith in Him. Certainly opening ourselves up to God and talking to Him and asking Him in detail. But the scriptures are a comfort, and we know that. Maybe we haven't thought about it. But Psalm 23, how many people turn to Psalm 23 in a time of distress? It's a very comforting set of scriptures. And when we read that, or Psalm 91, or any of the others that you go to when you're feeling distressed or anxious and you don't know what to do, you go to the Bible and you find the comfort and the peace. And the solace that's there when we read those words because we know they're the words of God, it reminds us, He's working with us. He's dealing with us. He knows exactly what's going on. And if we trust in Him, follow Him, find the comfort and ask Him to order our steps. He will. He will. We learn it over time. David says, I find comfort in my affliction in your word. Certainly David prayed. David also went to the scriptures. He didn't run to complain to friends. He didn't run to soothsayers. He didn't go to anyone else. He went to God. He went to scriptures. He kept it with God.

Paul says the same thing in Romans, Romans 15.

Romans 15, verse 4.

Verse 4.

For whatever things, He says, whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Look at what we've talked about already this morning, now afternoon. We've already looked at the scriptures. We've seen the examples of Hezekiah. We've seen the examples of Elijah. We've seen the examples of Paul and Silas. People of God, those things can encourage us. If God did it for them, He'd do it for us, too. They were certainly people who had grown very close to God. And when it says in the book of James, draw near to Him and He'll draw near to you, that's a lesson for us. How do we draw near to God? We obey Him. We seek Him. We yield ourselves to Him. We deny self. We do the things that He said exactly the way He said. He can fix the situation. He can lead. He can guide. He can heal. He can fix. Name it. He is the God of all comfort in all trials and tribulations. So we can even go back to the examples and say, well, God, look what You did. Look what You did for Hezekiah. Look what You did for Paul and Silas. And we learn, go to Him first. Put your trust Him. Train our minds. That's where comfort lies. Not in anything of the world, not in any of our own devices, but in what God has given us. 5. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. He'll provide. His word can comfort. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 4. Verse 13. May be the first thing you thought of when I mentioned the word comfort were these set of verses. Where Paul explicitly uses these verses to give us comfort in time in one of the more difficult times in life when a loved one dies. When mom or dad die, when spouse dies, when a child dies, when someone that we were very close to dies. There are words in the Bible because every situation we're in, there is an example in the Bible that we can turn to that can comfort us and can let us know God is there. God cares. He never leaves or forsakes us. Chapter 4, verse 13. I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

There are words of comfort. We grieve when people die. It's right to grieve. I mean, that's part of who we are. We will miss that person. But we have words of comfort knowing that God has a plan for everyone, that everyone will live again. And we take comfort in that. We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. Verse 18, he says, therefore, comfort. Comfort one another with these words. Use the words of the Bible to help each other be comforted the way you are comforted when you read those words. Maybe as you've gone through a trial, someone has said, look at this example in the Bible. Look what happened here.

And we look at it, and we find ourselves comforted. Drawing closer to God or recognizing the need to draw closer to God. Maybe as we go from 2021 into 2022 and 2023, we will really find the need to be comforted by God. Now is the time to do the things that you can find that comfort and that you understand that comfort and that it comes from Him. So Paul says, comfort one another with these words. Comfort comes through Jesus Christ. Prayer to God. Comfort. The Scriptures bring comfort. It's another area. Paul hints at what another area from which we can find comfort in our time of trials, tribulations, grief, confusion, whatever it might be. He says it there in 1 Thessalonians 4.18, but let's go back to 2 Corinthians again and see what Paul has to say as he further discusses this blessing of God that is the comfort that he provides. 2 Corinthians 7.

And let's look at verse 4. The same epistle that he opens with, you know, God is the God of all comfort of all our tribulations and trials. And later on he says here in verse 4 of chapter 7, he says, Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. Well, you'll remember the Corinthian church is the one who, the 1 Corinthians 5 man that had to be put out of the church for a while that he might find God. He did repent, and right after these series of verses that I read are the verses that talk about what brings repentance, what repentance brings, the vindication, the zeal, the excitement, the diligence. Leading up to that, he says, Great is my boldness of speech. I told you exactly what God said.

Excuse me. I told you exactly what God said you need to do, and you did it. What a novel idea. God said, do it, do it. Oh, great is my boasting on your behalf. I'm filled with comfort. Where did Paul derive that comfort? He derived that comfort because the people did what he said, what God was giving them to do.

You know, I know exactly what Paul is talking about here. It is a comfort. It should be a comfort to all of us when we come to Sabbath services or to the Wednesday Bible studies, and we see each other. Maybe we just see a name, but it's comforting, isn't it, to know we're all there. It's comforting to see each other and to know that we're still walking with God, that we still have faith in Him, and that we're growing stronger and stronger. So Paul is telling the Corinthians, I'm comforted in you. I gave you some tough things to do, and you did it. That comforts me. I see you growing. I see you following God. Good for you, Corinthians. You gave Paul comfort. The same comfort we can give each other. The same comfort, frankly, that I get from you. Every time I see you at Sabbath services, every time I see you Wednesday, because I know you're walking with God and you're making the effort to be there. You should have derived that same comfort from each other. He says, I'm filled with comfort. I'm exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. God's working with us. He's getting us ready for what He wants us to be. Indeed, he says in verse 5, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts. Inside were fears. Kind of sounds like the environment we live in today. Confusion. Conflicts outside. The whole world changing, falling apart. Uncertainty as to what lies ahead. Certainty as we look at the Bible and know what lies ahead. Just how does it happen and how long does it take to get there. We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts. Inside were fears. Nevertheless, God, who comforts the downcast, depressed, discouraged, feeling a little hopeless, feeling a little uneasy about what's going on and what it means. God comforts. God will provide what we need. Nevertheless, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us. How? By the coming of Titus. It was really good to see Titus come to us. What a comfort that was to see a brother come to us. Maybe when we're having trials, health trials, whatever trial it might be, maybe it's really comforting to that person to receive a phone call. Maybe it's really comforting to that person to receive an email. Maybe it's really comforting to that person to receive a visit.

God comforts us through each other, is what Paul is saying. I felt comfort just knowing Titus came. It was so good to see him. No matter what I was going through and all the things that were going on in the world around me, just having Titus come was a comfort. Where does that leave our responsibility? Well, we shall see. And not only by his coming, but also by the consolation, same Greek word, as comfort, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

Titus was comforted by you when you talked to him about me and said that you were praying for me and that you were concerned about me and that you were looking to God to guide and direct and comfort me. That bolstered me. That bolstered Titus to know that you cared, that you really were concerned about each other. And it wasn't just, well, Paul's off in prison.

God will take care of him. Who needs to talk to him? Those old things. All those things were comforting to Paul, comforting to Titus. Just like it was comforting to the Corinthian church to get that letter from Paul, that he cared enough about them that he would take the time to do that.

What we do, and what we do, God has made us, that we need each other. We can't get away from it. He's put us in a body because he wants us, as we hear over and over again, to become one. And as we march closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, we will understand what comfort that is. That we're close to each other and we have each other to talk to, to turn to, to just pick up the phone and say, I'm with you in the trial you're going through.

Even Jesus Christ knew what that comfort was. If we look back at Matthew 26, when he was going through a trial that we can only imagine, as he was about to be arrested and go through the agony that he was going to go through, be crucified and die. When he was going through that, and he knew what was coming about, where did he go? Did he think about, how can I do this? How can I have my disciples fight against these people that are going to come and arrest me?

Now in Matthew 26, he knew he was going to find comfort and he was going to find strength in going to God. Jesus came with them, the disciples, to a place called Gethsemane and he said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. Comfort, strength come from God. Was Jesus Christ oblivious? Was he immune to the agony and the apprehension that he was going to go, of what he was going to go through the next day?

No. He was human, tempted at all points like as we are. He felt it. He understood how difficult it was going to be. Where did he go? Go to God in prayer. Verse 37, he took with him Peter and the two tons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. There they are. You can imagine if you knew what was going to happen to you in the next several hours.

Sorrowful and depressed. It was going to hurt. It was a difficult thing to face if you're a human. He took someone with him. He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he told them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful.

Even to death, just stay here and watch with me. Just be here from me. Just be there. You are a comfort to me to have you near. He was closer to God, closer than any of us are to God, but he still wanted that human comfort. Sit here and watch with me. He went and he prayed to God. You can see he poured his heart out to God. In verse 40, he came back to the disciples and he found them sleeping. He said to Peter, what? Couldn't you watch with me one hour?

I wanted to come back and find you. Comforting. It would have been comforting to see you praying for me, praying to God. But you're sleeping. It didn't even really faze you what was going on with me. And it happened again, as you see in verse 42. We had in verse 43, again, he came back and they were tired. They weren't giving him the comfort that he was looking for, but we see that even Jesus Christ needed the comfort that God would want us to give each other. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 1. Continue with what Paul wrote in those opening verses we talked about. In verse 4, we start with who comforts us in all our tribulation and then he gives us the reason for us to be comforted. That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble. We can be a help to them. We can be a comfort to them. God comforted us. Now we know how to comfort other people. We should take the opportunity. We shouldn't just stand back and say they can go through it on their own. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Do what needs to be done. Let them know you are with them. Not everyone of us has been through every single situation in life, but among us, most situations we will find ourselves in, someone in the congregation has been comforted, has been through it, that could offer words of consolation. It doesn't mean the rest of us don't have to. We can always express our prayers for others and acknowledge what they are going through.

God 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. Verse 6, He says, 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. What He is saying there is, I understand when I am comforted, it is for your benefit because now I know how to comfort you. I know the words to give. I know where to direct you. I know what I can do. God will lead me to that. He has shown me, and I can share that with you. And our hope, verse 7, for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. You will feel God's comfort. You will feel the comfort from others. That's a good thing. That's a responsibility of all of us. God is always there. God will never leave or forsake. God will comfort. Are we learning to do the same thing that God expects that we expect of Him? He is the God of all comfort. 2 Thessalonians 5. Nope, must be 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 11. Paul, as he is giving this list of things for the church in Thessalonica to do, verse 11, he says, Therefore, after everything that goes on before that, talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, talking about the time of the end, therefore, comfort each other. Be there for each other. When something happens, be there. God is always there. If we are training to be like God and like Jesus Christ, bond together. Be there. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another. And he says, just as you are also doing, we all grow in that area. He knew that that church would continue to grow in that. They were already progressing as God's body around the world today and here in Orlando, in Jacksonville, wherever you go to church. We need to be growing in that as well. So when that time comes, we can be there. God will comfort us. We need to learn how to comfort each other. In Hebrews 6, 18, we read this not too long ago in Bible study. It will start in verse 17 where the sentence begins. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, unchanging the same yesterday, today and forever, confirmed it by an oath that by two unchangeable and certain things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation. God says he'll do it. It's not going to change his mind. We might change our mind. God doesn't. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. The same yesterday, today and forever. I am the Lord your God. I change not. To us who change, it's us who fail to draw close to God. We might have strong consolation knowing he's in charge, knowing when difficult times come in life, whether it's be health issues, whatever. Name the issue. I can't come up with any health issues, tribulation issues, trial issues, things that happen to us. Do that. That we might have strong consolation because we have hope in him who have fled for refuge, who laid hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, in which enters the presence behind the veil. Finally, let's conclude in 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2, verse 16. God is the God of all comfort in all our trials, tribulations, and everything that faces us in life.

We need to know that. We need to practice it. We need to go to him first. In all the things we've talked about today, we find the comfort in prayer to God. We kind the comfort in the Scriptures. We find the comfort with each other. That means we've got to be part of the body that God had put us in, an active and a steady part of the body that God has placed us in. We can't do what God wants us to do or become what he wants us to become if we are just part-time in the body and have every other thing or many other things maybe keep us from where we need to be. It's time. It's time for us to prepare. It's time for us to get ready. It's time for us to learn what God wants us to do and let him build in us what he wants to build in us. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 16, Paul gives an apt wrap-up to this message. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation, it's there forever, not just one short time, but forever. May God who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, may he comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Draw close to our God, the God of comfort, the God of hope.