It'd be a wonderful thing if his coming interrupted our worship service. Then it would be a real worship service. The passage read earlier from 1 Peter is actually representative of the bulk of New Testament literature. And what I mean by that is that the New Testament writings make numerous references to suffering, and particularly to the suffering that belongs to the followers of Jesus Christ, simply because they are followers of Christ. And so Peter wrote, beloved, do not think it 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, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. And then later in that text, Peter speaks about judgment beginning at the house of God. I don't know if you've given much thought to that. That's a strange idea that judgment would begin at the house of God. But Christ told us that he came with a winnowing fan to separate the chaff from the wheat. And the nearer we come to his return, the more we will see and feel of that separating work that only he can do. And it will happen through suffering. and through the division that comes as those who do not really love him show themselves unwilling to suffer for him. Now Peter, in the text read, announces both the coming of suffering and gives an explanation as to why it is coming. He says, rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, so that when his glory is revealed, you who have partaken of his sufferings will be made glad with exceeding joy. Christ's people suffer because they're human. Suffering is part of a world cursed by sin and death. But Christ's people suffer in a different way, more than the rank and file of humanity, simply because they are his people. Christ was the man of sorrows. He was a man of sorrows because he came to take our place under the wrath of God. But he was also the man of sorrows because he exposed the world for what it was. He came as a light of the world. He dispelled darkness. Darkness rebelled against him. and inflicted suffering upon him. And if we are attached to him in a way that causes us to look like him, sound like him, reflect something of his glory and excellency to the world, the world that hates him will hate us. Jesus said to his disciples, if the world hates you, You know it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore they'll hate you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. And so this becomes a test of our genuineness. If we are his, if we follow in his steps, if we live in communion with him, if we obey him as his disciples, something of the world's hatred for him will come to us. That's hard. It's reality. And in a sense, it's a reality of grace. It's grace that we suffer because of our attachment to Christ. But it would certainly be wrong if we define Christian experience purely in terms of suffering. If that's all that came to mind when we thought, think about living in this world for Jesus, well, that means I will suffer. No, that's only part of the story. The Bible speaks of consolations and comforts that are supernatural. that come only to those who suffer with and for Christ. So turn back to last week's text, 2 Corinthians 1.5. Paul writes, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. What simple and yet profound words. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Last week, to help us think about suffering with and for Christ, I described four ways, just four of many ways actually, through which, by which, because of which we might partake of Christ's sufferings. First of all, there's inward suffering as our remaining sin, our flesh, wars against the Spirit. We almost never have a moment's peace free from inner turmoil because of the flesh warring against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. And then there is the suffering that I've already referenced, the suffering from the world that continues to hate and seek the death of Christ. The world still is trying to crucify Jesus. Now he's been crucified, he's been raised from the dead, and he's glorified in heaven. They can't get to him, but they want to. They want to kill him. They want to eliminate him from all thought and consideration. And since I can't get to him, they get to us. And then thirdly, suffering within the human family because of unconverted spouses, unconverted parents, unconverted children. And then finally, suffering that comes to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ Sanctification is a messy process. None of us are completely sanctified, and in that process, we sometimes do things that we will regret in eternity. We say things, we divide, we hurt one another. That's part of our suffering for Christ's sake. But now we want to turn this morning to the much happier subject of comfort and consolation. Looking again at 2 Corinthians 1.5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Abounding suffering matched, surpassed, by abounding consolation. Consolation is really the subject of this particular passage. The Greek word, parakaleos, the Greek word for suffering or for consolation or comfort, occurs some 11 times in the noun or verb form, just in verses three through seven, 11 times. The apostle is concerned that neither the Corinthians nor us, members of the church for generations to come, that none of us would be disheartened by our sufferings. So disheartened that we might actually back away from Christ and back away from his cross. Beloved, never forget that our salvation requires endurance. He that endures to the end shall be saved. We must believe, endure to the end. Endurance requires faith. And there's a sense in which faith requires hope. And so the God of all comfort, supplies us with powerful reasons to be hopeful in the midst of our sufferings in this world. Hopeful, are you hopeful? As I was preparing to get up here just a few moments ago, the thought just kind of overwhelmed me that I have no idea how much suffering is represented in this congregation right now. Maybe physical suffering, I know some are suffering physically, but I'm thinking primarily of mental, emotional suffering. Things that you have never spoken or have spoken only to the people closest to you, ruptured relationships, people in the world that hate you, neighbors that may be at war against you, for Christ's sake. I don't know how much suffering is here, but Christ does. And what he says in this text is sufficient for you, however much you're suffering, and I pray that he will bring that to you. Well, let's consider a few of the ways, a few of the ways by which Christ administers consolation to his suffering people. Number one, he doesn't let us forget the prize that is set before us. He doesn't let us forget the prize that is set before us. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, where he wrote, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He was living for a goal. There was a finish line that he was striving to reach. And the prize is an upward call to be in the glory of God with his savior. It wasn't something that Paul thought about occasionally. This is what he lived for. I press, I strain, I stretch toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. I think it's very helpful for us to ponder the testimony of that man who suffered perhaps more than any other man for the cause of Christ, suffered more than all of us put together times 100. How did Paul think when he was nursing those 40 stripes minus one? Five times he was beaten with a belt, a whip embedded with rocks and glass. Five times, 39 stripes. And those last stripes were actually designed to kill him. Many prisoners never survived that kind of flogging, scourging. They died. He went through that five times. What do you think he was thinking about as he was waiting for his back to heal? He couldn't lay on his back in bed, putting on clothing hurt, Did he have anyone to put some soothing ointment on his back? Five times, 39 stripes. Paul, what were you thinking as you suffered as you were recovering? How long did it take you for those wounds to heal, only to be reopened? What did Paul meditate on? while he was suffering in prison. Dark, damp prison cells where he spent months and sometimes years. What do you think about when the only reason you were there, and you have to remember, Paul was a distinguished lawyer. Before his conversion, He aspired to greatness in Israel. He was on a career path that would have taken him perhaps even to the highest echelons of Hebrew culture. Now he's a prisoner, despised, beaten, left alone. What do you think about? Do you think he ever asked himself, Is the gospel worth this? Is it worth this isolation, this pain? What did Paul think about? He thought about home. Not mommy and daddy home, he thought about home where Christ was, where Jesus had gone to prepare a place for him. He thought about the glory that enveloped Christ. The glory that had blinded him on the road to Damascus. And no doubt, that was just a vague reflection of the glory. He thought about the glory. He thought, that glory will soon envelop me. And that caused him to write this, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. That's what kept Paul going when he was being beaten and robbed and denied and in prison. Now our text in 2 Corinthians 1 is The consolations referred to here are not actually the consolations of heaven, they're the consolations that come to us in this world, but a substantial part of our present comfort, particularly as we near the end, is a contemplation of what is set before us, the world to come, first with Christ, In our souls, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's where Bill Shepard went yesterday about 7.30. In his soul, he went to be with Jesus. But then Jesus, when he comes, will resurrect our decayed bodies. And body and soul, we will be with him in the recreated earth forever and ever and ever. That's home. How much do you think about that? These are the ultimate consolations for the Christian. I have been privileged to know Bill and Lillian Shepard since the early 80s. But ever since they moved to Melbourne, almost every time that I talked to Bill, he would say something like this. I'm closer home. I'm closer home. I can't wait for that day when Jesus comes and takes me to himself. He talked about that over and over and over. Beloved, how do we explain, and sometimes it is a dilemma, how do we explain the enormous suffering that God in providence brings upon his own children? What kind of father would do that to his children? Do you ever think about that? Does that ever cause you questions? It causes me questions. And the answer that I have come back to again and again and again is that only God, my father, knows the joy, the peace, the healing, the rapture that he has prepared for his children in the world to come. He knows that one millisecond with him in heaven will wipe away the remembrance of our suffering and our despondency and our tears. And we have to remember that. In our sufferings, we have to think about heaven. In our joys, we ought to think about heaven. when everything is going just the way you want it to. You want to think the best things are still ahead. This is not my ultimate good. So, part of the consolation is the assurance of heaven. Secondly, There is a consolation that comes directly from Christ to the souls of his people, ministered by the Holy Spirit. There is a consolation that comes directly from Christ to the soul of the suffering Christian, ministered by the Holy Spirit. If you have your Bible open to 2 Corinthians 1, go back up to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, who comforts us in all our tribulation, Go back this afternoon and read them, ponder it. Who comforts us in all our tribulations so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. God is the author of all comfort. And he provides comfort in many different ways, but one way is by a direct powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians again, seeking to motivate them, to have greater love and unity among themselves, argues, he argues for their improved unity using the rationale of the great experimental benefits that have come to them through the gospel. Listen to what he says. Therefore, if there is any 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. Here's what I think he's saying. I think he's saying, as surely as I have introduced you to the unspeakable pleasures of communion with Christ, with its consolation and comfort, with its felt affection and mercy, if I have introduced you to those experimental realities through the gospel, then you owe me. You make me joyful by loving one another and being of the same mind. Paul knew that he was talking about reality. He didn't think for a moment that the Philippians would say, what's he talking about? Fellowship in the spirit? Consolation from Christ? No. He knew they knew. He knew they had experienced these things. And when he wrote about them, they would immediately identify in their experience the consolations of Christ, the comfort of being loved by him, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. We're talking about real experiences. Mystical. experiences, but real. Some people get nervous when you start talking about mystical experiences. Beloved, if you're not comfortable with a mystical, you're not comfortable with God. How do you explain Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God in three eternal persons? How do you explain the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? How do you explain that logically? It's a mystery. In John chapter 14, part of the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus said, I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper. The word's parakletos, and the old King James, remember, translated it comforter. I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter. Helper is better, but comforter is included. He will give you another helper. And that word another means another of the same kind. He will give you a paraclete just like me that he may abide with you forever. Namely the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he dwells with you and he will be in you. And then he went on to say, but the helper of the Holy Spirit in the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things, bring to remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And he ties together this mystical inward peace with the gift of the Holy Spirit. I will give you the Spirit and I will give you peace. And those two things are intertwined. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. The way he works and functions is a mystery, but it's real. Mysterious, but real. And among the real things the Holy Spirit does is to give us comfort and peace in our darkest hours. And we can be in the darkest place we've ever been. We can be in the place that we've always dreaded. And our heart cries out to God. We feel we're on the brink of utter despair and collapse. And suddenly, inexplicably, we're at rest. We have a sense all is well. And we're surprised. Paul told the Philippians again, don't worry about anything. But in every condition that frightens you, troubles you, let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving. Ask God whatever you want, whatever you think you need in that situation. Ask him with thanksgiving. And what did he say would happen? He said, and the peace of God that surpasses comprehension will set up guard in your heart. He didn't say that God's going to give you exactly what you asked, but He does promise this peace, this remarkable calm, this peace, this sense of well-being in our darkest times. Christ conveys a sense of well-being, that He is there with us, controlling all the factors that alarm us and working them all together in a most wonderful tapestry that will bring goodness and joy to our hearts. Those of you who are not joined to Christ, Do you ever say to yourself, well, it's all gonna work together for good. I believe it's all gonna work together for good. It doesn't work together for good without Jesus. If you don't have Christ, it's gonna work, but it's not gonna work for good. It's gonna work for pain and destruction. If you don't have Christ to reconcile you to God, God is against you, he's not for you. If you were to believe on Christ, he would forgive your sins, reconcile you to God, and then you could have this promise. Because it's to those who were called according to his purpose, to those who love him. Okay, number three. Christ imparts consolation by the Holy Spirit through his word. Through his word. This. Romans 15.4. for whatever things were written before were written for our learning so that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Everything that was written was written to teach us, train our thinking so that we might endure with comfort. It'd be torturous to live in fear and doubt. That is not the will of God for his people. He's appointed some tough times, but he intends that we will live through those tough times without fear, without anxiety, with calmness, with hope, with peace. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me. Besides still waters and green pastures, He prepares a table, a table. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And though I pass through the valley of this, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. Perhaps the most powerful experiences of comfort come to us as we are reading the Bible, as we are meditating on what it teaches, correctly interpreted, and as we apply it to ourselves by believing prayer. And that's particularly true with regard to the promises. God has made promises. Don't be shy about taking those promises to your heart and praying them back to God. And the Holy Spirit is there to help you. to help you understand, help you believe, and help you apply so that you suck the goodness, the sweetness, the comfort out of the Word of God. Turn to Luke chapter two. A marvelous example of how this works was an elderly man named Simeon. Simeon lived technically in the Old Testament. Now I know we learn of him in the New Testament scriptures, but he was actually living in the Old Testament era. And he believed what the Old Testament scriptures taught him about a coming savior. And when he went to the temple, which apparently he did every day, he worshiped Jehovah in light of the promise of a coming redeemer. And God honored him. God honored his faith by allowing him to see the baby Jesus. And by the witness of the Holy Spirit, this is the one, Simeon. This is the one. Look at Luke 2.25. Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem named, whose name was Simeon. This man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, Lord, now you're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation. Now, what was Simeon looking for? The consolation of Israel. That's who Jesus is. The consolation of his people. Simeon faced death. He was getting old. He knew he would die soon. He longed for hope. He longed to see the one promised by Isaiah by whose stripes he would be healed of his sin and relieved of his condemnation. He believed that there was such a one coming. He wanted to see him. In other words, reading the Bible, reading the Old Testament scriptures gave him hope and consolation. The Bible gave him hope and consolation, and God honored his faith, allowing him to see the Savior at the ripe old age of eight days old. And when Simeon held Jesus, he did not see him as just another baby boy. He saw him by faith and by the witness of the Holy Spirit as the one he had been longing for and looking for all his days. Now, is God gonna do that for you? Eh, probably not. He's not gonna do that exact same thing. I don't think. I mean, he's God. If he did it once, he can do it a thousand times. But beloved, if you will live in your Bibles, and if you will store the word of God in your soul, if you will pray over the scriptures, and plead for the grace to understand them and to believe them and to remember them and to apply them to everyday living. If you will speak God's words to your own heart when you are in any kind of trouble, you will experience by the Holy Spirit an amazing degree of consolation. Do you have a go-to text in times of trouble? I hope you do. I mean, a text that you go to whenever you're afraid, whenever doubt crosses your path, any trouble, I hope you have a text that you run to. I do, and I've told you of it often. It's the 34th psalm. It is my go-to text. And when I'm ministering to God's people in times of their own trouble, I will often read Psalm 34 or tell them to go read Psalm 34. And this is part of what the psalm says. The whole psalm is dripping with the honey of mercy. But here's just part of it. Now it's not all good news, right? The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. But then. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Now, this is the part I really love. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servant, and none of those who trust in him. shall be condemned." What more could you ask for? But this is very important. Christian comfort, though it is a felt reality, it is a great deal more than a feeling. We can get feelings in all kinds of ways. look at Christmas trees with multicolored lights and I get a feeling. White line, but multicolored lights, I get a feeling. I hear Bing Crosby sing White Christmas, I get a feeling. Nat King Cole chestnuts roasting by, I get a feeling. But that's not from God, that's from my sentimentality. I'm not talking about that. God's comfort is truth. God's comfort is truth. It's God doing what he has promised to do for the people to whom the promises are made. That's real comfort. Well, my time's gone. Let me just mention, I'll just mention what I was gonna say to you. Fourthly, God brings consolation through his people, through his people. Second Corinthians 1.4. who comforts us in all our tribulations so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted. God comforts so He can make comforters. He comforts you so you will comfort others. If you read 2 Corinthians 7 verses 5 through 7, Paul talks about the comfort he received through Titus. When Titus came from Corinth and had a good report regarding the Corinthians, Paul's fears were allayed and he was comforted. Last week, I said that part of our Suffering comes through God's people and the failure of Christian love. But it's also true that a large part of our comfort comes through God's people. And may I give you a challenge? Plead with God to make you an encourager. Remember Joseph. Pray that God will make you like him. Not like Thomas the Doubter or John Mark who quit and left like Joseph. You say, like who? Well, we know him better by another name, Barnabas. He was such an encouragement to the church in Jerusalem that the apostles had the audacity to change his name to Barnabas. You know what Barnabas means? Son of encouragement. I think we would all do well to strive to get to the place that when people see us coming, they don't see trouble coming. They don't see an argument coming. They don't see a complaint coming. They see an encouragement coming. Here comes my encourager just in the nick of time. Well, a couple other things I'll throw out. God gives encouragement by providence, particularly providence in the answer to prayer. God gives encouragement through music, and this is not just a plug for this evening. There is a mystery, and I have given tons of thought to the mysterious nature of music and the capacity of music, not just any music. Some music drives you crazy. Some music leaves you cold. But there is a wedding together of truth and melody that can do something for the soul that almost nothing else can do. Thursday night, Sherry and I drove over 100 miles to hear one of our favorite vocalists. And I'm driving through Winston-Salem and rush our bumper to bumper and I turned to her and I said, are we crazy? It's a two-hour drive to hear a man sing, but about two-thirds through his concert, when he was singing, O come, thou day-spring, come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here. dispense the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." As I heard that, I thought, no, we're not fools. This was a means of grace to our souls. And we drove the two hours back home late at night rejoicing in what God had done for our soul through music. I close with this word. Supreme above all other consolation is the consolation of the cross and the empty tomb. Every other promise, every other word from God is ineffectual apart from the cross and the empty tomb. That's where your sins were punished if you believe in Jesus. They were punished in Jesus so they will not be punished in you. You the sinner can have hope and presence of God the judge because Jesus died and was raised from the dead. And supreme above every other comfort that God gives us is the comfort of the empty tomb and the man at his right side who died to redeem his people. If you do not believe in Jesus, you don't have any real comfort. And whatever you think is a comfort is an empty shadow. It's not real. As I gazed at Billy Shepard on his deathbed, I thought to myself, what hope? Could you give in the presence of death if you didn't have a resurrected Savior? We're all gonna be on that bed much sooner than any of us think. And if you don't have Christ, it'll be too late. Too late. Now is the day of salvation. You can have your burdens taken away. You can have peace and life eternal if you will come to Jesus. Call on Him. He'll answer you. Ask Him to save you. He'll hear you. Repent of your sins. Confess you are a sinner. You deserve the wrath of God, but you trust Him to take that wrath in your place and to give you His righteousness. Ask Him. Trust Him. That is your ultimate comfort. Let's pray. Who are we to think that we should be comforted? We who have broken all your commandments, we who have forgotten you in our daily lives, we who have complained about your providence, who are we to think that we ought to be comforted? And yet, Father, You have made Yourself to be the God of all comfort to those who simply believe in Jesus Christ with a broken and contrite heart. How good You are. And Father, we are bold to ask not denying our undeservedness. We are bold to ask for Christ's sake that you would make us to be a people full of comfort and peace and joy that we might represent our Savior the way he needs to be represented. Dismiss your people with wonder at how good you are. And those who were not your people, dismiss them with trouble and agitation of soul. And may it continue until they find peace in Jesus. We pray in his wonderful, immaculate name, amen. so so you