The True Source of Comfort

If you could bring comfort to the peoples of the world, where would you start? If you could bring comfort to the peoples of the world today, where would you start? Would you start with making everyone physically comfortable, or start with relieving the peoples of the world of fear, anxiety, and mental anguish? To make people physically comfortable, you would need to provide food, clothing, and shelter, and heal them of all their diseases. Physical comfort is something we take for granted, but it is one of the greatest of all blessings. Remember the old saying, you don't miss your water until the well runs dry. The number of people around the world who are seeking just some sort of physical comfort in the face of pain, the heat, the cold, the hunger they face on a daily basis is staggering to contemplate. Probably over 3 billion people, close to half of the world's population, are suffering to some degree or another in one of these areas. And that's not to mention the pain, the anguish, and the experience from deadly diseases that ravage the peoples of the world. It's amazing what people will do to seek out physical comfort. They will forge streams, climb the highest mountain, cross the hottest, driest desert. They will plunge through the darkest, deepest jungle in search of physical comfort. Instinctively, people will do whatever they can do to survive in the physical sense. And thankfully, we have that instinct of survival. But the greatest pain and suffering that the peoples of the world are suffering is from mental and spiritual anguish. Even the people who have food, clothing, and shelter are not really comforted by what they have. They want more. It's not good enough. It's just more and more. The world is in search of a comfort zone, and they don't know where to find it. And if they did find it, perhaps they would not even recognize it if they did. Let's notice the true source of comfort, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 3. These three or four verses here are among the most comforting verses in the whole Bible. Verses, if you can turn to in any state of distress or grief. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Wood that all of the world had access knew the God of all comfort. Oftentimes, we find ourselves in situations in which we refuse to be comforted, and sometimes we don't recognize the simplicity that is in Christ or claim the promises as we should. Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort we are with, we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. God is the Father of all comfort. Notice now in Romans chapter 15, Romans 15, back a few pages, Romans 15 and verse 4.

So, what of a summary kind of scripture here in Romans 15 and verse 4.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Comfort of the Scriptures. Remember what Jesus said in John 6, 6 to 3, The words I speak, they are spirit in their life, there is strength, there is comfort in reading and studying the word of God. Today we want to search out the keys to God's comfort. George Friedrich Handel composed the Messiah in the summer of 1741. At this stage of his life, Handel was depressed, he was in debt, and he began setting the biblical libretto to music at a breakneck speed. This libretto had been written by another person, and he began to set it to music in the summer of 1741. In just 24 days, the composition was completed. It begins with the prophecies of the birth of the Messiah, with him reigning, and then ends with him reigning as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It starts off, and it goes on, To a large degree taken from Isaiah 40, let's go there, can we find the kind of comfort that we need, the world needs, in the times that we live in from the word of God? Remember what we have just read from Romans 15, verse 4, For whatsoever things were written aforetime, or written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture, might have hope. In Isaiah 40, the Handel's Messiah begins with this, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, that was John the Baptist. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And so Handel's Messiah goes on with these first twelve verses of Isaiah 40. Such inspiring, inspiring words. Notice in verse 9, O Zion, remember what Zion is. Zion is a geographic place in the Middle East in the environs of Jerusalem.

Zion is also symbolic of the church, as Paul writes in Hebrews 12, 22, that you have come to the Mount Zion to the city of the living God, the church of the firstborn. O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice and strength. Lift it up, be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and met it out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains and scales, and the hills in a balance.

So that time is coming, of course, in which all of the world, even the physical creation, will be comforted in a sense, and all the peoples of the world will be comforted. And that great hallelujah chorus, He shall come and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. But here we are, we find ourselves still in the flesh, and in need of comfort in some way or the other, almost every one of us.

A large majority of these words, as we have just noted, are taken from Isaiah 40. The rest of Isaiah is oftentimes referred to as the volume of comfort. So I would encourage you, if you have time, the rest of this Sabbath, or tomorrow, this coming week, to read the rest of Isaiah, Isaiah 40 through 66. Those 27 chapters have been referred to as the volume of comfort. Let's go now to Isaiah 51. We get a bit of the flavor of it in Isaiah 51, beginning in verse 1.

Isaiah 51. So we have an assignment for this coming week to read 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 51, verse 1, Hearken to me you that follow after righteousness, you that seek the Lord, look unto the rock which you are hewned. Jesus Christ is referred to as the rock, and the rock of our salvation. He is the head of the corner. And to the whole of the pit which you are digged, look unto Abraham our Father, and unto Sarah that bear you.

Sarah is a type of the church, the Jerusalem above. For I called him alone and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. Remember once again, Hebrews 12, 22, that Zion is a type of the church, or symbolic. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving in the voice of melody.

Harken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation. See, in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, the church is called an holy nation. A purchased people, a holy nation. For a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest, for a light of the people. My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth. Mine arms shall judge the people, the isle shall wait upon me, and on mine arms shall they trust.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment. And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. And so the vesture, as it is called, in the Scripture of the earth and the heavens, is going to be changed.

Instead of the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, pervading the earth, the spirit of God is going to pervade the earth, and the knowledge of God is going to cover the earth like the sand covers the seashore.

My salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Harken to me you that know righteousness to people, in whose heart is my law. God is writing His law on our inward parts through His Holy Spirit, for those who have entered into the new covenant, the covenant of sacrifice that you heard about in the sermonette. Fear you not, the reproach of men, neither be you afraid of their revelings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

Awake, awake, put on strength the arm of the Lord. Awake as in ancient days and the generations of old. Are you not it that hath cut, rehab, and wounded the dragon? Dragon, of course, symbolic of the devil. Are you not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea away from the ransom to pass over?

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing and design, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow, and mornings shall flee away. I, even I, am He that comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of men that shall die, and of the Son of man which shall be made as grass?

God is the Father of all comfort. So once again, the last, if you count Chapter 40, the last 27 chapters of Isaiah, the volume of comfort. The church will be in mourning before the return of Christ, and He is coming to bring comfort to a people in mourning. If we turn forward a few more pages to Isaiah 61 and verse 3, Isaiah 61 verse 3, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, not just the physical geographical place, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.

And we have a lot to go through. We're going through a lot now. There's a lot to go through in the future. But we can be comforted. And I hope we find out from the rest of what we have to say today that we can be comforted even now.

Now, comfort is somewhat difficult to define. Here's how strong defines the word comfort. The Hebrew word is nakam, spelled N-A-C-H-A-M in English, nakam. To be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion, to have grief, to comfort oneself, be comforted, to console, to have compassion, to be comforted.

Basically, He uses a word to define the word. And helping a person who's been injured, we take great care in trying to make everything just right. Or the pillow is under the knee. How does that feel? What about the light? You have too much light, you need me to turn the lights down. Are you cold? You need more blankets? It seems to me that comfort has to do with removing all the things that causes a person to feel pain, things that causes anxiety, stress, distress, fear. In short, removing anything that raises a sense of pain, guilt, anxiety, shame, stress, irritability.

Get rid of it all! If one is truly comforted, they are set totally at ease. Do we really have anybody on the face of the earth today that is totally at ease? It seems that basically everybody is stressed out about something. Paul writes that, whatsoever state I am in, I've found therewith to be content.

Very few of us ever reach that state. One is truly comforted, just totally at ease. They don't fear, they don't dread what is before them. Let's go to the 23rd Psalm. I think the 23rd Psalm is just about as perfect an example as can be found in literature of really what it needs, what you need to be comforted in the spiritual sense, which also has meaning for psychological sense and physical sense. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd.

Of course, this is a declaration of who is the Lord and master of our lives. The Lord is my shepherd. And as one little girl wrote, that's all I need. If we really understand, the Lord is my shepherd. So this is a declaration of who is the Lord and master of our lives.

Then the statement, I shall not want, makes it clear that this person is trusting implicitly in the shepherd to supply all of their needs. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It means that this person has total faith in the shepherd. So we can conclude that for many of us, all too often, the Lord is not our shepherd. Because it seems that we are all too often filled with wants that are never fulfilled.

In Strong's definition of want, the Hebrew word is kossar. And this word means to be lacking something, to diminish, to decrease, to cause to lack, to cause to be lacking. The rest of the psalm is basically devoted to explaining how the shepherd takes care of every need. The problem with us is that we're weak in faith. Often times we can faith and don't really understand at times. And at times we don't really accept the shepherd's love, care, and concern. We continue in the psalm. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

The green pastures are the best pastures. That's where you lead the sheep to. The green pastures you leave the dry and the dirty and the dark pastures behind. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. And yet, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear non-evil. For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with the oil my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. But oftentimes, we're looking for all things in our universe to be made straight, and everything returned to the state in which we felt comfortable.

And we thought that the former days were better than these days. But as the poet writes, This is Omar Khaim, The moving finger writes, and having writ, The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on, Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. Ecclesiastes 1.15, Solomon writing here, The great ellipse in Ecclesiastes when Solomon writes of all the various things that he does, in some ways you could view Ecclesiastes as a very negative kind of book. But there is like an ellipse that should generally always be added, and that is apart from God.

Apart from God, all is vanity. Apart from God, nothing is going to work out. Ecclesiastes 1.15, That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. In this world, in this life, in Satan's world, but through God, it can be. At times I think how wonderful it would be to make everyone comfortable today, tonight, as you lie there on your bed, your warm bed, having been well fed.

What it would be like if you had the power to make every person on earth comfortable. Every person would be healed. There would be no strife among the peoples of the world. Everyone would have a roof over their heads, a warm soft dry bed, and a full stomach. Then you quickly note that you have no such power. You're hard pressed to provide those things for your own household. Then you think, well, God has the power. Why doesn't he provide all these things for all of humanity? Then you realize that if he did, he would take away humankind's prerogative of choosing.

See, humans want the freedom to choose, but after they choose, they want to blame God. Why did God let this happen? Well, it's because humankind has chosen to go its own way. However, we could take this reasoning too far because much of the suffering that is extant in this world centers on the fact that Satan the devil is the God of this world, the God of this present evil age, and he has influenced the leaders of the nations of the world to do some awfully oppressive things.

I mean, you could hardly imagine that your own government would be out gunning you down in the streets as it's happening in Syria. Of course, it's happened in Libya. It's happened in many parts of the world as dictators try to hold on to power and squash the opposition. There are many innocent victims of Satan's oppression, and the leaders of this world have done some awfully oppressive things. Let's go to Isaiah 14, where this king of Babylon is a type of Satan the devil.

This is how Satan the devil rules in Isaiah 14, verse 4. Now, you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased? The exactress of gold, the golden city, ceased. Of course, the various peoples of the world and governments are trying to garner all the gold they possibly can to themselves at the present time, gold out trading somewhere around $1,740 an ounce, slightly down yesterday. But some say it's going to go to $5,000 an ounce.

Who can afford $5,000 an ounce? Well, obviously, it's the rich, it's nations, governments. You know the James 5 prophecy about the rich men go howl and weep because God is going to eventually intervene. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and non-hinders.

The whole earth is at rest, or you could say the whole earth is comforted and is quiet. They break forth into singing when this one is put away. Yes, the fir trees rejoice at you and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you are laid down, no feller has come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth. It is raised up from the thrones all the kings of the nations. And they shall speak and say unto you, Are you also become weak as we?

Are you become like unto us? Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your vials, the worm is spread under you, and worms cover you. How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? Of course, that is exactly what is taking place on the face of the earth today. And this oppression is going to continue. And this cry for comfort and security is going to continue. And the peoples of the world will be willing to sacrifice almost anything just to survive, to put food on the table, and to be somewhat comforted physically, and not realizing that the most important comfort is spiritual, psychological, emotional.

To a large degree, the peoples of the world are at the mercy of their governmental and religious leaders. It seems like we're all powerless to do anything today.

The problems of the world will never be solved until right government is established on the face of the earth. Now, the understanding that God is working out a great plan of salvation for all humans through all the ages should be one of the greatest sources of comfort that we can possibly have. Jesus said, you shall know the truth, and the truths will make you free. See, through the truth, you have been set free from fear, ignorance, superstition, and the dogmas of man. You know and you know that you know. That should be one of the most comforting things that you could possibly imagine. To understand that God is working out a great plan of salvation for all humans, and eventually the crooked will be made straight. Let's go back to Isaiah 42. Remember, from 40 through 66, to a large degree, is about comfort. In Isaiah 42, we're going to pick up one verse here. In Isaiah 42 and verse 16. Isaiah 42, 16. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. And I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. That He will always be there, even to the end of the age.

As you have heard me state so often, the first article of faith is to believe that God exists, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. But we must be willing to accept His solution to our problems. I find myself wanting to fix things by returning to the way things used to be.

But just as the poet writes, as we've already read, the moving finger writes, and having writ moves on, nor all the piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it. It's gone. It cannot be recaptured.

The only thing that's left for any of us is what lies ahead. It is right now and what lies ahead. And we will either live in eternity or experience the second death. Now back to Psalm 77. Psalm 77. Many of us have been here. Some of us are here probably right now. I find myself here from time to time.

I've read this from the pulpit of the field house up there several times in sermons.

I always, nearly always, use it in counseling, especially when people are in distress. In Psalm 77, I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave a ear unto me, crying out in prayer. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. That refers to the Old Testament position of prayer on your knees with the hands extended out like that. My sore ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. So if you refuse to be comforted, what can God do? You keep on looking for that magic bullet kind of thing, that magic formula. The magic formula we have in our hands.

I remember God and was troubled. I complained. And this same word is translated communed in a later verse. And really, that's the best translation. I commune. In other words, I talked to myself. I went back into over and over my problems. I communed, and my spirit was overwhelmed. When I looked at all the things that I had to deal with, and all the things that were upon me, my spirit was overwhelmed. How can I take it?

You hold my eyes waking. I'm so troubled that I cannot speak. I've considered the days of old, the years of ancient times, what used to be good back then. Back then, well, just look the way it was. We didn't have all of those problems back then.

You know, I think we have short memories oftentimes, the way things were back then. And my daddy said many, many times, I don't want to go back to the good old days. My daddy grew up in a very, very hard way.

I called remembrance my song in the night. I commune, that same word that translated, complain, in verse 3. I commune with mine own heart. In other words, I went over my problems again, and my spirit made diligent search. And then here comes the four enemies of faith. Anxious care, fear, doubt, human reasoning. Anxious care, fear, doubt, and human reasoning.

Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Does His promise fail forevermore? Have God forgotten to be gracious? Have He in anger? It must be that I've done something so terrible.

Shut up His tender mercies.

There is no sin that God cannot forgive, and there's no sin that God will not forgive upon repentance.

If that were not true, I mean Jesus Christ died in vain.

And I said, this is my infirmity. In other words, this is what's wrong with me. My problem is my problem. This is really my sickness. It's not so much the problems that are upon me, as it is my focus is totally upon me and myself. It's my condition and my problems. And God is sort of like in the background. He says, hey, I hear you, but you won't accept what I have to say.

Then the solution comes, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate also of your work and talk of your doings. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Remember what we talked about in the sanctuary recently? So much emphasis in the Old Testament on the sanctuary. Why? Because that's the place where God placed His presence. Today it abides in each one of us, who is so great a God as our God. You are the God that does wonders. You have declared your strength among the people. You have with your arm redeemed your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. So when He got His eyes back on God, He was comforted. So one of the principal ways to be comforted is to keep our focus totally on God and to claim His promises so that we live our lives with the assurance that He will keep His promises. God has promise who cannot lie. Every human being from time to time will let us down. And one of the principal reasons that people cannot be comforted in this age hearkens back to what I've already alluded to, the fact that they will not let go of the past. Somehow we feel that by brooding over the past, somehow this will help pay for our past sins and failures in whatever area we want to name from child rearing to marriage relationships to how we handle the situation with a neighbor next door. If I feel bad enough about myself and if I chastise myself enough, then somehow that helps. The brooding over the past often times leads to a root of bitterness that becomes a person's reason for living. And they're living for the day that everyone gets what they have coming to them. And they're not talking about eternal life. Let's go to Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14.

I've seen a few people in the church who would end this condition. Their reason for being, their reason for living. Somewhere in the past something had happened to them, and they were determined some way, somehow, that they were going to exact their vengeance on the person that caused them such hurt.

Brother, you know, even in Romans 12, the Living Sacrifice chapter of the sermon, it even talks about loving your enemies.

Proverbs 14.10, The heart knows his own bitterness, and a stranger does not inter-metal with his joy. That's my reason for being, and you can't take it away from me. Or as that is a sad state of affairs to be in. The root of bitterness is used to justify their thoughts, their feelings, and actions toward whomever and whatever is causing them distress. Now, let's notice Hebrews 12, the Bible admonition in the Scripture, to get rid of such feelings. You remember the story of Jacob and Esau, how Rebecca and Jacob cooked up the scheme to deceive Isaac, so that the birthright blessings would be passed on to Jacob and not to Esau. Esau was the firstborn. Of course, you know they were twins. Esau came forth first.

Esau could never let it go. Back a few years ago, I gave a series of sermons on the life of Jacob, quite a fascinating life that he led. One time, Jacob and Esau met up, and it was like they reconciled.

But Esau could never let it go. In Hebrews 12, verse 11, Now, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them, which are exercised thereby. You know, verses 6 and 7 talk about if you're without chastisement, then you are illegitimate and not sons, because we all, from time to time, deserve chastisement, correction. Wherefore, lift up your hands, which hang down in the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. But let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. And the example that he uses is Esau. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person. A profane person is a person who looks at the here and now, the secular. Profane has to do with the secular, the worldly, the temporal.

Esau was willing to give up birthright, which has great spiritual overtones, or the here and now bowl of soup, who for one morsel of meat food sold his birthright. For you know how that after when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

So once you go a certain distance with this root of bitterness, however far that is, and it gets hold of you to the very depth of your being, I guess it's like the unpardonable sin.

You just can't go back. You know what we talked about last week? Don't let the sun go down on your own ground. There is no way that we can pay for our sins and carry all of our burdens and the burdens of everyone we love all by ourselves. We all need help, and God and Christ are the source of help, the Spirit of God and the Word of God. In fact, we're admonished in Galatians 6 and verse 2 to bear one another's burdens. You know, the main reason that God the Father sent Jesus Christ to this earth was to die for the sins of humankind so that we could be reconciled to the Father and receive a gift to the Holy Spirit. See, the Holy Spirit is equated with the Comforter. In fact, in one place it's called the Comforter.

So we go now to 1 John 4 verse 7, a little more about the Comforter just a little bit later, in 1 John 4 verse 7 about why God sent His Son. This is somewhat of a summary. There are different places that are a little bit more direct as far as a specific verse. But I wanted to read this section of Scripture and have a stink on it in 1 John beginning verse 7.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loves is begotten of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. And this was manifested the love of God toward us because God sent His only begotten Son in the world that we might live through Him. See, the wages of sin as death, the gift of God as eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, you cannot have eternal life until the debt of sin is paid for. Jesus Christ paid that debt.

Verse 10, Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propituation for our sins. He went in our stead. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby, know we that we dwell in Him. How do you know? And He in us because He given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. So the main reason Jesus came to the earth was to die for the sins of humankind so that they could be reconciled to the Father and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to receive the comfort of God through Jesus Christ other than through that Holy Spirit, the very essence of God abiding in and dwelling in us. You know, Jesus promised, let's go to John 16 now, Jesus promised, John 16, Jesus promised that He would send us the Holy Spirit, which is identified. And we'll read that verse in just a moment. In John 14, 26, as the Comforter, the Comforter and the Holy Spirit are interchangeable, the same.

In John 16, verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter. Are we comforted by God's Spirit? Are we comforted by the Word of God?

The Bible calls the Holy Spirit Comforter. This word comforter, patocletos, means one alongside. In other words, you're never alone. There's always one there with you.

For if I go not away, the Comforter, the one alongside, will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. Now we go back to John 14. John 14, verse 15, and read a few passages here.

In John 14, verse 15, If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter. Some try to make this another Comforter into a person. God cannot be separated from His Spirit because that's His essence. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from His Spirit because that's His essence. You cannot be separated from your flesh. That's your essence. People talk about out-of-the-body experiences, but our essence is what we are, and God is Spirit. Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it sees Him not, neither knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. For I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Eventually, all the world will have access to this Comforter, at least be given an opportunity. Yet a little while, the world sees me no more, but yet you see me because I live, you shall also live. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments and keeps them, it is he that loves me, and he that loves me, shall be loved to my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judah said unto him, not his carrot, Lord, how is it that you will make yourself manifest unto us and not unto the world? And Jesus answered and said, if a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we, Father and Son, will come unto him and make our abode with him.

He that loves me not keeps not my sayings, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the comforter which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things, bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever things I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

That great comforter will guide us. It will help us.

It will call things to remembrance. It will be with us in the still of the night. It will be with us in the deepest, darkest dungeon that you can imagine. God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. God and Christ are in you. Remember, I just recently gave the sermon on intercessor. Jesus Christ ever lives to make intercession for us. Therefore, He's able to save us to the utmost. If you haven't memorized that scripture, go home and repent and learn it. Hebrews 7.25 He is able to save them to the uttermost scene that He ever lives to make intercession for them. So this brings us to letting go. We who feel so weighted, we who feel so burdened by the cares of this world, must let it go. There are certain things to hold on to, and there are certain things to let go. 1 Peter 5 verse 7. Let's go there. 1 Peter 5 verse 7. 1 Peter 5 verse 7. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Can we do that? Can I do that? Can we cast all our care on Him because He cares for us? Jesus Christ's admonition is, don't try to carry all the burdens yourself. You can't carry all the burdens yourself. None of us can. None of us are that strong. Some are a lot stronger than others. In that sense, let's go to Matthew 11 and verse 28. Notice what Jesus Christ says. We need to be reminded of these promises. In Matthew 11 and verse 28. Come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll comfort you. I'll make everything just right.

You won't need to feel guilty. You won't need to feel anxious. You won't need to feel fearful. You won't need to doubt. You won't need to use human reasoning. Just let it go. Believe the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. But I think most of us, from time to time, think that maybe our burden is more than we can bear. So we have to let go in order to receive God's comfort. Cast all your care on Him, for He cares for you.

Now let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5. This great exhortation to comfort here, I don't know if you've ever thought about it and read it in that particular light. In 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 11.

Verse Thessalonians 5, verse 11. Wherefore comfort yourselves together. Remember what we read? You can just stay there. I want to read 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 through 5 again. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. By the comfort, wherewith, we ourselves are comforted of God. If we have been partakers of God's comfort, then He admonishes us to comfort others with that same comfort. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation abounds by Christ. Now back to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 11.

Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as you also do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you. And to esteem them very highly in love, for their works' sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore.

Pray without ceasing. And every thing give thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesize. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you, by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

So, brethren, we have from the Bible the words that are necessary for us to be comforted. Remember what we read from Romans 15 and verse 4. It is for our learning, for our admonition, that we might have hope through the Scripture and through the Word of God. And remember the words of Handel's Messiah as it starts in Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. So the Messiah has come, and he has left us a record. He has left us an example.

Brethren, we can walk in the same paths, and we are walking in those paths, but at times there are things that are thrown in the path that seem to be almost insurmountable. But as we have noted from the Scriptures today, there is no mountain too steep, there is no river too wide, there is no desert too hot or dry, there is no jungle too deep or dense. There is nothing that can prevent us from being comforted by the Word of God and His promises and the Spirit of God, and by one another if we claim the promises.

We have to let go of those things that wait us down. And remember 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Cast all your care on Him, for He cares for you. Remember the last few verses of Matthew 11.

Cast all your burdens on Me. My burden is easy and my yoke is light. So, brethren, let's go forth now with a sense of comfort and security that God is going to be with us even to the end of the age.