The God of All Comfort

[0:00] 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3

[4:06] 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 4 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Corinthians 1, verse 3 1 Samuel 1, verse 4

[7:53] Romans 8 verse 16 it says that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. There's a scripture here that says that the Holy Spirit bears witness with you that you are his son, his daughter today by virtue of his grace.

[8:13] Psalm 34 it says the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. If you're feeling you've got a broken heart, if you're feeling you've got a contrite spirit, the Lord is nigh unto you.

[8:30] He is close to you today. Psalm 34 18 promises you that. Matthew 28 20 when our Lord departed, was ascending, he says, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the ends of the world.

[8:46] Amen. Deuteronomy 33, another comfort of the scriptures. Verse 27, the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.

[8:58] And he, so many scriptures you could share. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Isaiah 41 10, fear not for I am with thee.

[9:09] Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will uphold thee. Yea, I will help thee.

[9:23] Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. The comfort of the scriptures. What about this one? Be careful or be anxious for nothing. Philippians 4 6.

[9:34] But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[9:54] What about casting all your care on him? For he careth for you. The comfort of the scriptures. It's jam-packed with comfort, with encouragement, with blessing, with exhorting.

[10:06] The comfort of the scriptures. Number two, a second area of comfort for you. If you're needing comfort, and we all need comfort. We all need comforting and exhorting and encouragement.

[10:17] I know I need a heap of it. And the comfort, the second one, is the comfort of the saints. Now we've got that here this morning. We're not talking about saints that someone decrees is a saint, but someone that God makes a saint.

[10:34] You as a believer in Christ Jesus are a saint today. We've got Saint Don here this morning. And Saint Audrey. Amen. And we've got, there's places packed with people who love Jesus, who are saved by his blood, who love the Saviour.

[10:50] The comfort of the saints today. And it says in Romans 1 verse 12 that we're comforted together. And it goes on by mutual faith. There's a sense where there's a comfort that comes from mutual faith.

[11:04] Where there's faith in a mutual sense. A combined faith. That's Romans 1 verse 12. God's people can be a comfort to us. You know, if you're feeling like you're needing comfort, get amongst God's people.

[11:19] And encourage your brother, your sister. Be encouraged, as it says in Hebrews 3 verse 13. It says, but exhort one another. Every Sunday. It says, but exhort one another daily.

[11:32] Daily. While it is called today. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. That's Hebrews 3 verse 13. Exhort. It's the same word. Comfort. Comfort or exhort one another.

[11:44] Encourage one another. How often? Daily. Use every opportunity you can. To get the comfort of the saints. To give the comfort of the saints. To exhort again. It means to come alongside.

[11:55] To come alongside of one. To come alongside of another. For the sake of speaking. Of consoling. Of comforting. Of encouraging. Of giving counsel.

[12:06] Of advice. Or instruction. The word. It means to call to one side. To console. To encourage. To strengthen. To comfort. To encourage. To instruct. To teach.

[12:16] There's lots of facets to this word. But it's all about comforting, isn't it? As we come alongside to help. Call someone alongside. To plead with them. To urge.

[12:27] To appeal. To exhort. To comfort. And it's got the sense of believers. You. Here today. Every one of you here. Every one of us here today. Has a call here.

[12:39] Exhort one another. Daily. While it is called today. So. You know. That's not saying. Well. I'll wait till tomorrow. No. Today. Today. Today. Now.

[12:49] In the present sense. The present sense. And we can both give and receive encouragement. And it's a continual action. Is the sense of it here. We can. At times.

[13:00] I know. I can. We can dwell. Now. I'm feeling. Woe. It's me. I had a hard life. You know. Or whatever it might be. That's happening at the time. And that can be true. I'm not denying that.

[13:11] But. There can be times. When we're focusing on ourselves. And not thinking. Hey. Maybe there's another. Who needs more of a comfort than I do. Maybe my little woe. And trouble is really relatively minor.

[13:23] And. Compared to another's burden that they're carrying. As the word tells us. Bear one another's burdens. Think of someone who you can strengthen. Who you can comfort. Who you can come alongside.

[13:34] With words of comfort. Or courage. Or consolation. And we can. Do the same for one another. So the comfort of the saints. Third one is the comfort. Of the spirit.

[13:45] The comfort of the spirit. In Acts 9. 31. It says. But then had the churches rest. Throughout. All Judea. And Galilee. And Samaria. And were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord.

[13:58] And in the comfort. Of the Holy Ghost. Were multiplied. The churches had rest. They were multiplied. They were edified. They were walking in the fear of the Lord.

[14:08] In the comfort. Of the Holy Spirit. The comfort of the spirit. Is. A blessing for you. As God's. Son. As God's daughter.

[14:20] The comfort of the Holy Spirit. We know that every believer. Is a residence. Is a dwelling place. Is a temple. A place of dwelling. Of the spirit of God. And our Lord Jesus says in John 14.

[14:32] He promises. In John 14 from 16. And I will pray the Father. And he shall give you another comforter. That he may abide with you forever.

[14:43] Even the spirit of truth in the world. Cannot receive. Because it seeth him not. Neither knoweth him. But ye know him. For he dwelleth with you. And shall be in you. He says in John 14.

[14:54] 18. Here's a promise for you today. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I will come to you. And I know. I've heard it interpreted.

[15:06] Of verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless. He will not leave you as an orphan. He will come to you. He will be your father. He will be your parent. He will be that one. Who comes alongside to help.

[15:17] To be that comforter. To be that encourager. And the Lord Jesus promises. The Holy Spirit would come. And would dwell with the disciples. And the parakletos. It's the Holy Spirit. That's the Greek word we're talking about.

[15:29] The helper. The comforter. The one who comes alongside to help. Think of that. That the Holy Spirit comes alongside you. To help you. To walk with you. To abide with you forever.

[15:40] And we've seen the comfort of the scriptures. We've seen the comfort of the saints. We've seen the comfort of the Spirit of God. And lastly. The comfort of the Saviour.

[15:51] 1 John 2. 1 it says. My little children. These things write I unto you. That you sin not. And if any man sin. We have an advocate.

[16:03] With the Father. Jesus Christ. The righteous. We have an advocate. The same word comforter. We have a comforter. We have an advocate. We have a representative.

[16:14] The comforter. The helper. The Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a sense where the very Saviour. Is a comfort for us. Think of Hebrews 7. It was touched on in the prayer time earlier.

[16:25] Wherefore he is able to save them. So that uttermost. That come unto God by him. Seeing he ever liveth. To make intercession for them. He's interceding for you. Even very.

[16:36] At this very moment. At this very moment. As the mediator. Between God and man. As the one who stands. Between us. And God's wrath.

[16:47] In his suffering. At the cross. In his finished work. He's bled. He's died. He's made the way open. He's opened the way. Into the very holiest. By his blood.

[16:58] And he is the one standing. In our place. Standing. Before the. The judgment bar. As it were. And saying. If you could.

[17:10] Picture it. To the father. He is guilty. He is sinful. He is deserving. Of every. Bit of your judgment.

[17:21] Of your wrath. Of your fury. But I have paid. I have paid. For him. I have paid. His way. His. His.

[17:34] Entrance into heaven. Is guaranteed. By my blood. Because I poured it out. For him. For her. That they can be saved. And here's that one. Who pleads your case. As the advocate.

[17:46] Before the judge. As it were. And. As he is the judge. In himself. But he has paid. The price. The penalty. Is paid in full. By the.

[17:56] Ransom. Price. Of his very blood. And here's the paraclete too. The one who comes alongside. To help. The comforts of the advocate. The one who pleads for you. Who encourages.

[18:07] Who strengthens you. He's praying for you now. Ever live it. To intercede. To make intercession. And he strengthens us.

[18:17] To face the challenges. That may come. Our way. To help us. As he is the helper. The counsellor. The comforter. You know. The word. It means counsellor.

[18:28] Counsellor too. Comforter. You know. Sometimes we can go to the world. For counsel. We might get good advice. From a worldly counsellor. We might get good counsel. That's not to say.

[18:39] You know. As the word says. That in a host of counsel. It's good. It's good to seek counsel. But. What greater counsellor can you go to? You know.

[18:50] You might ring lifeline. Or living hope. Or crisis care. Or who knows what. But. How much greater. How much. How much better.

[19:00] To come to Christ. To come to that comforter. To come to that counsellor. That one who knows. Our every need. The one on whom. We can cast our every care. Because why? He careth for you.

[19:11] He careth for you. And he is the one who comes alongside. To comfort our hearts. And to give us that grace. And so. Think of it. How can you be a messenger of his comfort? Think of it.

[19:22] Sister. Brother today. Let us consider one another. Provoking unto love. And to good works. Exhorting one another. So much the more. As you see the day approaching. There's time running out.

[19:34] It's time. Now is the time. Be a comfort. Be a comforter to those you know. To those you care for. Let God use you as a channel of his love.

[19:45] Of his blessing. Of his refreshing. Of his comforting. Come alongside another to help them. Come alongside them to help them. Don't be removed.

[19:56] Don't be distant. Don't be aloof. Come alongside to help. I know that we all could do more of that. Life is so busy. And there's so many other things to do.

[20:06] We all know that. And yet. If we could just spare some time. If we could spare some care. What a difference it could make. And you can be. A way of providing holy refreshment.

[20:19] And holy blessing. And. It's a matter of us being responsive. Isn't it? Are we responsive? To the one. Who gave us the scriptures. That can comfort.

[20:30] Maybe it's the sharing of scripture. As was talked about. Earlier in the service. That. Maybe there's a comfort. There's a comfort of the scriptures. You can impart to another today. Something that God's quickened to you.

[20:42] Something that God's. Moved you to think. Well. Maybe that would help. Margaret today. Maybe. Maybe that. That would help. Don today.

[20:53] This. This Bible verse here. Come to church with a scripture to share. Come. Or. Call another. Find out each other's phone numbers. And.

[21:04] And. See if you can. Spread the word of cheer. The word of comfort. Think of the. The comfort of the saints. Do we miss out on that? Don't miss out on that.

[21:15] You're needed and. And. You miss out on the comfort. And you miss out on giving comfort. And encouraging and exhorting. The comfort of the spirit.

[21:27] As a Christian. You're indwelt. By the spirit of the living God. He dwells in you. And lastly. The comfort of the saviour. Now. We've said all these things. Speaking to Christians really.

[21:40] When I say the comfort of the saviour. Is he? Is he your saviour? We can't take that for granted. The comfort of the saviour. You must trust him. You must call out to him.

[21:51] And if. If you do. As you do. In that instant. New life happens. Because of what he. Extends to you. His gift. If you but trust him.

[22:02] And. Turn your life over. To his control. Let us pray. Dear Lord. We praise your. Wonderful name. We thank you dear saviour. That. You gave your all for us.

[22:13] And you are the God. Of all comfort. In which we can find our strength. Our counsel. Our help. And Lord. Help us to be messengers. Of that comfort to others. Help us to live in that comfort.

[22:24] To read the comfort of your scriptures. To impart it to others too. We thank you Lord. For this great. Joy that it is. To know you. And your salvation. And Lord.

[22:35] Help us to be. Mindful of it. And living in that truth. Day by day. In Jesus name. Amen.