[0:00] We can resume our public worship of God by singing to his praise from Psalm 46.! Psalm 46, we sing from the beginning down to verse 7.
[0:14] God is our refuge and our strength in straits at present day. Therefore, although the earth's removed, we will not be afraid. Though hills amidst the seas be cast, though waters roaring make untroubled be, though the hills by swelling cease to shake.
[0:34] A river is, if streams do glad the city of our God, the holy place wherein the Lord most high of his abode. God in the midst of her doth dwell.
[0:45] Nothing shall hardly move. The Lord to her unhelfed her will, and that right early prove. The heathen raged tumultuously. The kingdoms moved where?
[0:57] The Lord God uttered his voice. The earth did melt for fear. The Lord of hosts upon our side doth constantly remain. The God of Jacob's refuge has safely to maintain.
[1:12] And so on. We'll sing these verses. Psalm 46, from the beginning, God is our refuge and our strength in straits at present day. God is our refuge and our strength in straits at present day.
[1:28] Fellowship is a plush for fear. Could you understand this vision present day?
[1:42] That far along the earth, we will see our place.
[1:59] Though health's a mess, the peace we have.
[2:09] Though water only in me, and rather be in our world.
[2:25] I swear to me, it should be.
[2:36] Our river is to be in July.
[2:46] The city of our God. The holy place where the Lord must die.
[3:05] The holy place where the Lord must die. God is the mist of the earth, God's in heaven.
[3:22] The holy place where the Lord must die. The Lord must die.
[3:36] God is the mist of the earth. The holy place where the Lord must die. God is the mist of the earth.
[3:50] The holy place where the Lord must die. God is the mist of the earth.
[4:05] The holy place where the Lord must die. God is the mist of the earth. BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD B unsere unsere unsere
[5:10] In this act of worship, bestow upon us the spirit of the almighty God, who is God over all.
[5:21] Even such a thought fills us with wonder, that as we call upon you, that we can seek your help, so that our worship would be acceptable, and our prayers received and heard and answered according to your will.
[5:48] That our praises, as they are offered, would be taken from what they are, your own word returned to you.
[6:00] And we bless you and thank you, that we can, in some measure, believe that you are able to receive from our hand, that which you have given to us, to give back to yourself.
[6:19] There are so many in this world of ours, who believe that they can make God behoven to themselves.
[6:35] And the reality and the truth of the matter is that we have nothing but what we have received. Even the most gifted of your people, endowed with graces and gifts aplenty, all they are doing is exercising these gifts to the glory of the God who gave them, and the God who wishes to receive them from us.
[7:11] So in our praises, in our prayers, in our hearing of your word, we would ask that all that we do would be acceptable to you.
[7:25] We give thanks for the help of your spirit. Even one with God, as the persons of the Trinity, are one.
[7:42] The mystery, that is, the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May we see him and marvel at his beauty, and be able to reflect upon all that he has accomplished in your name on our behalf.
[8:23] That he resides at your right hand, having entered into the gory experience of death on the cross, having his body pierced, having his name slandered and belittled, and yet, in so doing, the will of the Father was accomplished in him.
[8:49] And we bless you and thank you that you testified to that through his resurrection from the grave. And as he resides at your right hand, even though our prayers are often felt to be ineffectual, we know that there is great efficacy in the intercession of that high priest that is at you right hand, even the great high priest, who intercedes on our behalf.
[9:20] We commit our cares and concerns to you this evening, whatever they may be. Even as we lead this congregation, many things are not known to us, and yet they are known to you.
[9:34] There is nothing hidden from the all-seeing eye of the God with whom we have to do, and for that we give thanks. Even our most vile of sins, they are before the eye of a holy God, yet we are not consumed.
[9:52] And we give thanks for your mercy and every token offered, that directs us to your foodstool, and that enables us to cry out for mercy and grace to man in time of need.
[10:06] We bring before you the homes and families represented, remembering also the many that are not, thinking of all that are unwell, those who are housebound or hospitalized, those who have need of special attention because of their own peculiar circumstances, struggling with ill health, or the frailties of old age, some confined to their own homes, cared for by loved ones, some confined to places where they depend on the care of others.
[10:42] We remember them all to you, and pray for your own intervention, so that their needs are met even far above our asking.
[10:57] This is the grieving of the sorrowful, heal their hearts, bind their wounds, remind them of the one who has entered into death and understands it better than any other, as one who experienced it for himself and yet rose triumphant from the grave.
[11:18] We bless you and thank you for every way in which his walk in this world testified to his willingness to meet with those who were sorrowing and who spoke unto their sadness words of comfort that could only be spoken by himself.
[11:37] We remember the preaching of the gospel, not only in this place, but in every corner, for the name of Christ is lifted up before men and women, young and old.
[11:51] But we do especially pray for this congregation in this time of vacancy. Thankful that although these times have come in the past, that in your time, you provided for them, one who would be their minister and their servant over them to lead them to Christ and to be the under-shepherd of that Christ, who is the good shepherd of his own flock.
[12:25] May they be given wisdom and discernment in securing a united mind and a united end. Here in this congregation and in all vacant congregations in our communities, within our island and beyond, we live in a day where so many are turning their back on the gospel, turning their back on Christ.
[12:52] But it was ever thus, even in his own day, as he walked in this world, there were those who clamoured at the sound of his name and who were in awe of his wisdom.
[13:09] And yet, in a time appointed, their back was turned and they chose the barabuses of this world and insisted upon his death on the cross.
[13:23] Lord, we see so much of that in this day that the wisdom of men is shown to be what it is, futile and without energy or without purpose because they cannot see beyond whatever it is that confronts them in the in the short term.
[13:48] But the all-seeing eye of God is able to take in, as you have revealed to us, not just the minutiae of their lives but the the biggest of pictures.
[14:01] So that time and eternity are melded into one in your sight. and your work will go on even though this world will pass.
[14:13] We give thanks for the glory that is yours that it will one day be revealed and that your name will be highlighted as the one who is God over all of Jesus Christ you have sent.
[14:30] Hear our prayers and petitions for our nation for our King for his parliaments! those who would stand out in your name whatever they have found are thankful for them and we pray for you preserving and keeping as you have promised to keep all your creatures and all their actions as you govern over them in providence.
[15:27] Continue to watch over us now the short time that we are together remembering us here in this place your servants who endeavour to continue the proclamation of truth as they would serve you in whatever capacity hear our prayers and pardon our sins in Jesus' name Amen Let us continue to sing to God's praise this time singing verses from Psalm 91 we are singing verse 1 to verse 6 Psalm 91 He that does He that does in the secret place of the Most High reside under the shade of him that is the Almighty shall abide I of the Lord my God will say He is my refuge still He is my fortress and my God and in Him trust I will assuredly He shall desail and give deliverance from subtle foulish stare and from the noise and pestilence.
[16:38] And so on to verse 6. Psalm 91, He that does in the sacred place. He that does in the sacred place on the most likely side.
[17:03] Under the shade of death the gift of life be shot of mine.
[17:19] I, O Lord, know what you will say. He is my refuge.
[17:35] He is the hope that shines my glory again in praise of you.
[17:49] Amen. Are you who do you shall be still and do you do you And from the night of righteousness His feathers shall deny us And yet we shall be His peace will rest shall be And shield us the land of glory
[18:53] Thou shalt not meet to me afraid A jealous of the night Nor for the earth Your love does lie Thou shalt not walk in Thy flesh And yet we shall be Nor for the flesh That walks in Thy flesh And yet we shall be Nor for the flesh And yet we shall be And yet we shall be Nor for the flesh
[19:54] And yet we shall be Nor for the flesh Let us hear God's word As we find it in the New Testament Scriptures The second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians And we're reading from the first chapter 2 Corinthians chapter 1 2 Corinthians chapter 1 2 Corinthians chapter 1 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ By the will of God And Timothy our brother And to the church of God Which is at Corinth With all the saints Which are in all Achaia Grace be to you and peace from God Our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be God Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father of mercies
[20:56] And the God of all comfort Who comforteth us In all 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 For as the sufferings of Christ Abound in us So our consolation Also aboundeth by Christ And whether we be afflicted It is for your consolation And salvation Which is effectual In the enduring of the same sufferings Which we also suffer Or whether we be comforted It is for your consolation And salvation And our hope of you is steadfast Knowing that as ye partakers Of the suffering So shall ye be also of the consolation For we would not, brethren
[21:57] How you ignorant of our trouble That we were pressed out of measure Of strength And God delivered, in whom we trust And God delivered, in whom we trust And we were pressed out of measure And in Asia That we were pressed out of measure Above strength In so much that we despaired even Of life But we had the sentence of death in ourselves That we should not trust in ourselves Which raises the dead Who delivered us from so great a death And God delivered In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Ye also helping together by prayer for us That for the gift bestowed upon us By the means of many persons Thanks may be given by many On our behalf For our rejoicing is this The testimony of our conscience That in simplicity and godly sincerity Not with fleshly wisdom But by the grace of God We have had our conversation in the world And more abundantly to you what?
[23:01] For we write none other things unto you Than what ye read or acknowledged And I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end As also ye have acknowledged us in part That we are your rejoicing Even as ye also are ours In the day of the Lord Jesus And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before That ye might have a second benefit And to pass by you into Macedonia And to come again out of Macedonia unto you And of you to be brought on my way toward Judea When I therefore was thus minded Did I use likeness Or the things that I purpose Do I purpose according to the flesh That with me there should be ye and ye and nay But as God is true
[24:03] Our word toward you was not ye and nay For the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us Even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus Was not ye and nay But in him was ye For all the promises of God In him are ye and in him And to the glory of God by us Now he which establishes us with you in Christ And hath anointed us is God Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our heart Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul That to spare you I came not as yet unto current Not for that we have dominion over your faith But are helpers of your joy For by faith ye stand
[25:06] So on down may the Lord be pleased to bless to us the reading of this word We can continue singing to his praises Verses from Psalm 66 Psalm 66 And we're singing from verse 5 Verses 5 to 12 Come and the works that God hath wrought with admiration see In his workings to the sons of men Most terrible is he Into tri-land the sea he turned And they a passage had Even marching through the flood on food There we in him were glad He ruleth ever by his power His eyes the nations see O let not the rebellious ones lift up Themselves on high
[26:08] Ye people bless our God aloud The voice speak of his praise Who safe preserves Our food from sliding stays And so on down to verse 12 Come and the works that God hath wrought with admiration see Come and the works that God hath wrought with admiration see Let's see.
[27:02] Let's see.
[27:32] Let's see.
[28:02] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[28:14] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[28:26] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[28:38] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[28:50] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[29:02] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[29:14] Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see.
[29:26] Let's see. Let's see.
[29:42] Thank you.
[30:16] Can we turn back again to the passage that we read together in the New Testament, Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 1.
[30:36] We'll read again from verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
[31:04] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ.
[31:14] Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
[31:26] The Lord, through his servants, the apostles, gives insights to us of his own character and of his own characteristics through doxologies and benedictions that we find punctuating his word.
[31:54] They have great insights into the work that he does and the work that he continues to do and the work that he had done and will yet do.
[32:08] And the focus this evening is on these words, the God of all comfort.
[32:19] The reason I suppose I was attracted to these words was I was thinking over the past year, you understand that it's just over a year since I retired from being ministered in the congregation here.
[32:43] And although that was a retired from ministering in the congregation, it's not retirement from the ministry or the aspects of ministry that I am able to do in a pastoral sense.
[33:00] Part of what I get involved in more than I would like is being asked at times to officiate at funerals, either participate in them, lead the service or just be present there as someone who is familiar with the person who died or the grieving family.
[33:28] And over the past year since I've retired, I counted over 20 occasions where I was asked to function in that capacity.
[33:44] And one thing that I've always been convinced of was that if at all anything that I could do, it would be as a channel of comfort to those who were grieving.
[34:07] And I discovered very early on that the greatest fear of many ministers of the gospel is that they would much rather leave that to somebody else because of their own inability or incapacity.
[34:33] But notwithstanding that, there was always the conviction that the very best thing you could ever do is direct them not to yourself or anything you said or any other person said, but direct them to the one who is described here, the God of all comfort.
[35:00] And more convinced than ever that that is really what we should be engaged in whenever we're encountering the sadnesses that are inevitably in the world in which we live in.
[35:19] That is confronting the reality of death. That there is someone who has comfort. Theologians suggest that the word comfort here would be best translated as we find it translated further on.
[35:41] That this God is the God of consolation. The God who is the God who is the God of consolation at a time when the impossibility of it seems to be glaringly obvious.
[35:59] The one thing I find along with this is that there is no doubt in my mind or in other person's mind that there is a need for comfort at such times.
[36:13] And that is proved not just by the way people look for it, but where they look for it.
[36:23] Even though very often they look for it not from God, but elsewhere. They comfort and they comfort and they console themselves by focusing attention on things that they believe matter.
[36:41] Perhaps the life lived, the content of that life, the legacy left behind, and so on and so forth. Whatever these things bring, true comfort, true consolation can only be found at the hand of God.
[37:01] I believe that this passage here speaks not just of the need for comfort at the time of bereavement. It speaks of the many things that affect our lives in this world that bring us to experience despair, despondency, broken heartedness, our own failings and the failings of others, the impact of these things on our lives, and the aftermath of brokenness that is in the world that surrounds us.
[37:37] We need comfort. We need comfort. We need consolation. We need to know where to look for it. And Paul is speaking here as someone who is in the very place where he has had to look for consolation and comfort.
[37:59] But wisely he knew where to look for that comfort. And he directed his attention to God. Because he knew that God was able to provide it.
[38:12] And we are reminded of that most clearly in this passage. Although the comfort afforded by God is, as he says, in all our tribulations.
[38:25] In all our tribulations. It's just making it as broad as possible. And I suppose to think of what Paul had in mind possibly had to do with his own particular situation as a preacher of the gospel, as an apostle.
[38:47] He was experiencing persecution for his stance on the gospel. He was experiencing enmity from those that he preached the gospel to.
[39:04] But more painfully for him, he was encountering this venomous spirit against his character from within the very church that he served.
[39:19] The very church that he continued to function in. And he felt most keenly the effect of that, as you would imagine.
[39:31] That when your brothers, when your sisters, when your own family turn on you, it is very wounding, very hurtful.
[39:42] And it was so in the experience of the apostle. So the title, the name, the God of all comfort, was a name, as we are reminded again and again in the scripture, the name of the Lord is a strong tower to which the people of God flee.
[40:06] And when they flee to the name of God, they are safe. And in this sense, Paul uses the name of God in several ways of understanding.
[40:23] And there's far more to it than this limited understanding of it. He knows that whatever he feels, and he feels burdened and hurt and saddened, he knows to flee to this God.
[40:41] So I want us to think in light of that, particularly of the words of doxology. And then secondly, the name itself, what it implies, the God of all comfort.
[40:59] How Paul understood the benefit that there was to him personally, of having the God of all comfort as his God to whom he ran, to whom he went.
[41:15] And the benefit that there was to others as a result of his experience of being comforted by the God of all comfort, that it enabled him to then minister to others by virtue of his own experience.
[41:38] Well, as you can see in this passage, and it's not just this passage, there are many other passages in the Bible, where we find opening doxologies of praise, where we find expressions descriptive of the God of heaven.
[41:59] And I've often thought that there are times in our experience when we ourselves focus in on these God-given titles at specific times in our experience because of their meaningfulness to us in that situation.
[42:21] You know, we sang the opening psalm there, God is our refuge and our strength in straits of present day.
[42:32] It just doesn't tell us simply that we can hide in God. But the fact that he is our refuge, the fact that he is strong, the fact that whatever enmity, whatever enemy that we encounter, whether it is life or death or anything that we encounter there, that God is there for us to go to.
[43:00] And the words that are here are not empty words as far as Paul is concerned. He is fully persuaded that he is God's debtor.
[43:10] And he cannot but extol the name of God, praise and magnify the name of God, because he has discovered the truth of the description for himself.
[43:27] He has discovered the reality of this description, as a description that he finds so opposite, so perfectly fitting his need at the time.
[43:38] Perhaps there is another way in which you have discovered, you know, read here the things that are said about God. The Father of Messies.
[43:50] What does that create in your mind? The Father of Messies. It's important imagery. It tells you something about the source of, not just memory, but messies.
[44:10] And he had received much as God's servant, and it was as the Lord dealt with him, that he had fuller understanding of that, so as to declare it to others.
[44:27] When the word blessed is used, we are told by theologians, when it is used in the New Testament setting, that blessedness only truly applies to God.
[44:46] Any blessedness that is attributed to the people of God has its source in God itself. They can act as tributaries to others, but they are receptors to the blessings of God, the God who is blessed.
[45:08] Theologian Charles Hodge makes this statement. Paul is addressing the one whose son is the eternal son.
[45:20] The one who assumed our nature, he says, and who is invested with that nature as the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the name of Christ in its fullness is declared to you, the Lord, who is Christ, Jesus, who is the Lord, Christ, who is God's anointed, the wealth and the depth and the breadth of that name is staggering.
[45:48] And Paul is convinced and persuaded that this person is designated thus by the God who is the God of redemption, the father of memories.
[46:07] And I think it is Calvin that says in his own sentiments, in his own thinking, that when Paul speaks of the fatherly love of God, he is there describing the fountainhead from which all grace flows.
[46:33] And John the Apostle, when he writes, and as it personally says, see what manner of love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.
[46:47] What you're finding here, Paul, the Apostle, John the Apostle, each one directed to the God who is the source of every good and perfect gift which is bequeathed to be stowed upon, directed towards the people who bear his name in this world.
[47:07] And it's no wonder that he speaks of this God as the God of all comfort. So that's a sort of umbrella over which, that is set over these words and that encourages a closer deliberation of what that means to every believer.
[47:34] There is one facet I am wanting to focus on more than any. This characteristic or this facet of God's character that Paul is appreciative of.
[47:53] The delight, the thankfulness, the very fact that God is the God of all comfort means something to Paul.
[48:07] And because it means something to Paul, he is able to direct others to think of it, to speak of it, to experience it for themselves. I don't know what this particular predicament is that would create this at the very outset.
[48:26] It might have been, as I suggested, that Paul had experienced God's word to himself when he was downcast, downtrodden, and exposed to the venomous activity of those enemies of the cross.
[48:47] But Paul is not selfishly speaking about his own experience. You know, he speaks here, who comforts us in all our tribulations.
[49:06] He understands all too well that his experience is not unique. There might be personal aspects of what he is enduring that are unique to himself.
[49:20] Very few of us, if any at all, had to engage with the trials and troubles that Paul had. You know, and you find in the epistles the description that he gives of how he was tormented by his enemy when he was beaten, when he was shipwrecked, when all of these natural calamities and physical tortures were sent to, to virtually destroy him, if that were possible, and it wasn't at the time.
[50:02] But he is not thinking of an exclusive experience. He is thinking of troubles, whatever they may be, that are the experience of those who know the Lord as their God, that he can commend to them their God as the God who is the source of true and genuine comfort.
[50:27] Words of consolation, words of encouragement, words that are reminding them of their true standing, regardless of how others may seek to denude them of the comfort that is and should be theirs.
[50:44] It shows that he knew where comfort for him was to be found, but that he was also persuaded that it was to be found for all those who would seek it in the same place and to the same degree.
[51:06] Now, is that true of you tonight? Do you think that when God speaks and entitles, gives this name to God, that it is only the provenance of those who are in leadership or those who have special burdens to carry that he can appear like that?
[51:30] Well, that's not the case. For all of God's people, whoever they are, and however much they need to be encouraged, there is the assurance that God is there for any and all to go to.
[51:48] And in the simplest form, they are given the persuasion that he is able to help them. But the strange thing is that sometimes that comfort comes in ways that may appear to us to contradict our expectations.
[52:11] We expect God to bring comfort and consolation in a way that we can marry to what we understand comfort and consolation to mean.
[52:25] when God works, we expect him to work in a particular way and our understanding determines what God does.
[52:37] We insist on it. This is what I need and this is how God is going to meet it. This is me in my brokenness. You tell me that God is there as the source of comfort to meet my need and I expect God to do that in his own way.
[52:58] Whether that means for me or as Paul would say if he was confronted by a myriad host of enemies of all descriptions, the easy answer is remove them, obliterate them, take them out of the way and comfort will come through that channel.
[53:17] but God proves again and again in the way that he deals with his people that the simplest answer as they determine it is not the answer that God supplies.
[53:33] Sometimes comfort comes in ways that they least expect and God oftentimes deals with the person in that way.
[53:48] There's a story told about a Christian from a past generation. He belonged to these islands probably in the 19th century maybe even 18th century possibly 18th century.
[54:03] There was a famous preacher here who was a 19th century preacher by the name of Finley Monroe and he was renowned as an evangelist who preached throughout the highlands and the islands and there was a man from back who we are told was converted as a result of being present at a sermon preached by Finley Monroe and he was probably quite young at the time and after his conversion he emigrated to Canada and he spent his life in Canada as far as I remember.
[54:53] But it was as a result of his encounter with this person he his life was changed and in his old age he was renowned I think I think it was said of him that of all the converts that people knew from home over in that foreign land that he was a standout Christian but he went to worship in a congregation in Canada in Quebec and he became acquainted with the minister of that day and he became exceptionally fond of that minister but at some point that minister went elsewhere he went to Ontario and we are told that many years after that when this man from back a man called
[56:05] Malcolm Macleod he heard that the minister had come back to preach at communion and he was determined that he would go once again before he died to hear this minister that he was so closely bound with and it was there that he told his testimony and it's a very funny story in many respects because it was a question day and in order for him to make his way to the question meeting he was so frail he required the assistance of a friend and his wife to walk with him on either side until he made his way to the church and the story goes that his former friend a minister who was presiding at the communion saw him in the congregation and called on him to speak and he was so frail his friend started to lift him up to help him stand and his wife on the other side was pulling him down because she thought he was too frail to stand so we had one force on one side lifting him and the other force pulling him down but the minister saw what was happening and he told them let him speak and he told his story and he remembered how when he was a young man in Lewis he was told of a young preacher come to preach the gospel who would carry a bible and go anywhere preaching and he said others were going so I went with them not because
[57:54] I expected anything but because I wanted to be where others went and it was during the service he said he sat behind he sat at the furthest corner away from the preacher as possible and yet he said the moment his preacher began to speak he said the floods of his soul were opened he couldn't contain himself he wept and wept and wept and the more the minister spoke the more he wept and wept and wept so he said if there had been a vessel present it wouldn't have contained my tears and this was his testimony this was what he told but he concluded it in this way the work that began that day is a work that continues until this day and will remain until the day that
[58:59] I die that's the work of the God of all comfort that's the work of the God of all consolation breaking down the heart of a man who is steeped in sin like all men and women are and yet in the mystery of God's dealings the one who has this title you would think that the tears were speaking of enmity rather than friendship that you would think that what God was doing at that very moment was so contrary to the very name that he possesses that it was not really something that God would do but no one else could provide consolation to a soul like this
[59:59] God because God knew what he needed God knew not just what he wanted but what he needed and sometimes when we look at things from the outside when we look at the experiences that we have that we think are going to break us that are going to destroy us the things that we think like a child having a toy removed from their grip and they cry loudly against their parents for depriving them of their plaything not realising that there is a reason for it the wonderful thing here as far as Paul is concerned is that the need of comfort that he has and the wisdom to go to God to receive it once he receives it he is able then to speak to others about the
[61:01] God who provided comfort for him the means by which he provided it and the answer that it secured and that's what he goes on to say God's provision of it enables him to supply the needs of others sometimes God's people are broken by God and I don't know why why did God allow me to have such such misery why did God allow me to go down this road when all it brought was grief if you are a Peter why did Christ allow me to do the very thing he warned me against if he had known that I was going to deny him as we saw in the morning surely it would have been better for me if he had prevented me from doing this very thing and yet
[62:05] Peter discovered the awesome wonder of repentance the awesome wonder of the mercy of God in Christ he discovered it in a way that allowed him to proclaim the truth with facets of it that were previously hidden to him and experienced introduced to him and friends there are people here tonight and I'm telling you there are pains and sorrows and griefs in their life and you're looking at them and they tell you about them and they will say to you I would never be without them I would never be without them why because they're the very things that
[63:12] God enables them to use to comfort others with his comfort to comfort others with his comfort that's why we feel so foolish when we find ourselves and we're struggling for words and we know their platitudes we know their words hanging on the air and we don't want them and we don't need them and we know that those we want to help don't want them and they're of no use to them but if God has supplied us with the knowledge of his grace and the knowledge of his name and the knowledge of the bounty that is his name as the God of all comfort and consolation what a tribute to him in his mercy if you look at
[64:19] Christ if you look at the Joseph of the Old Testament Joseph was sold into slavery and he endured much suffering yet what did he say at one point when he had to comfort his brothers he says to them it was not you that sent me it was not you that sent me hither but God he hath made me a father to Pharaoh that amazing the wisdom of that man who endured much suffering sent to Egypt in order to be a minister to the needs of his own family and to the family of Israel and what of Christ for his great high priest of his people our high priest in all points tempted!
[65:27] in all points tempted like us we are yet without sin!
[65:42] to go to him for comfort and he knows the hard way that comfort is to be given for which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be wounded, comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
[66:36] May God encourage us to look meaningfully at the one whose name is above every name. Let us pray. Lord, we give thanks that those that you place your hand upon in order to console them and to uphold them, that they know the difference between the work of man and the work of God.
[67:09] We give thanks that you are willing to approach such as we are in our brokenness and bring healing. Help us to always lift our eyes beyond the here and now to the God who is God over all, who is willing to receive us to yourself.
[67:29] Forgive us in Jesus' name. Amen. The closing psalm, Psalm 94, we're singing Lushes 14 to 18.
[67:41] Psalm 94, verse 14. For sure the Lord will not cast off those that his people be, neither his own inheritance quit and forsake will he.
[67:55] But judgment unto righteousness shall yet return again, and all shall follow after it, that are right-hearted men, who will rise up for me against those that do wickedly, who will stand up for me against those that work iniquity.
[68:12] Unless the Lord had been my help when I was sore oppressed, almost my soul had in the house of silence been addressed these verses. For sure the Lord will not cast off those that his people be.
[68:26] For sure the Lord will not cast off those that his people be.
[68:48] Not yet his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for his Son for If you are not yet, I know shall follow after it, That are right after him.
[69:39] So will I suffer in thee again, those lost who wilt you sing, who will shine upon you, if you do not do this for you.
[70:13] Unless the Lord had healed my head, when I was so oppressed, onward my soul I hid, now I'm silent in my breath.
[70:47] We face mercy and peace from God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all, ever and always. Amen.