Suffering And Consolation

Canada, preaching there in New Brunswick. And then we left there and drove back and then went to Tennessee with my wife and had a family reunion. So I've been missing a couple of weeks, but it's good to be back.

And I wanna get back into another book of the Bible. And so I'm gonna start here this morning in 2 Corinthians chapter number one. We're gonna look at the book of 2 Corinthians.

I've made it through all the New Testament except for the book of Luke and 2 Corinthians. So I'd like to spend some time in the book of 2 Corinthians. So I'd like to do that here this morning, start off here in the first chapter.

Oh, you know, we've been seeing him in the book of Acts traveling. And the one area that he planted a church was in this area of Macedonia. And Achaia, you remember the vision that Paul had in the night, a Macedonian man saying unto him, come over here to Macedonia and help us.

And so he ended up going in that direction and he planted a church there at one of the places at Corinth and the church was established. And so Paul was writing a letter to the church after he has been there at least once or twice. And so we're gonna look at this first chapter.

I'm gonna go down through 11 verses and then we'll talk about a subject that is often reoccurring. And you might think it's my hobby horse, but I'm just preaching you the word of God. And a lot of people have hobby horses and some of the hobby horses are not mentioned very much in the scripture, but this is a theme that is at the center of the gospel.

It's at the center of the New Testament and I preach on it often and I believe God wants it preached on often because he mentions it so many times in the New Testament. So let's look at 2 Corinthians 1. I'm gonna read down through the entire passage and then we'll come back and consider some of the things in it. Verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother under 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 the 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 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 you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came unto us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure. He's talking here about Ephesus.

My Bible here has Acts 19.23 underneath it, Ephesus where the great goddess Diana was, and there was great difficulty there at Ephesus. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came unto us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

Yet 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. So we have here a passage here on suffering and consolation. Of course, when you're suffering, you need some consolation.

Brother Irvin's family is not here this morning. There's a young Amish couple that works with Irvin, and they just lost a one-year-old, one-year-old little boy, who had heart surgery after he was born, and he couldn't make it. And I got to see the little boy yesterday at the viewing, and we're gonna be doing the funeral today.

What a family that's going through suffering, suffering and needing some consolation. But here in this first chapter, Paul brings up, and it was part of his life, he was one who suffered often. And I think we had a great disadvantage here in America, not that we shouldn't suffer in America, because we should if we're doing the will of God.

But it seems like here in America, we can't embrace or we can't accept this whole idea. I think if we lived in the early church in the days like at Corinth here, I think we'd be surprised at the early church and what was going on in the early church. Even the church here, Paul mentions in verse seven, that they also are suffering and partaking in the sufferings of Christ.

But suffering and tribulation is a reoccurring theme in the New Testament. And for us, we ought to embrace suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. In 1 Peter 2, verse 21, the scripture says, for even here unto were you called, think about this, even here unto were you called, because, now listen, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us a what? Example, an example.

Why do you leave someone an example? Well, it goes on to say, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. In other words, he has laid out an example of his life. And that life is laid out so that you and I can follow his steps.

And again, I battle with this all the time. It's not just Paul, it's not just apostles, it's all of us, that we are to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus says, follow me, follow me, one of the most important ways in which we follow him is what Peter says, he suffered to leave us an example that we should follow in his steps.

Now, think about that for a minute. That's a choice that we have. Peter is saying, you need to follow that example of suffering, it's a choice.

Many people today are waiting to get into some sort of a suffering for Jesus' sake, but I don't believe that's a biblical concept. And we'll see that here this morning. The first words a disciple of Jesus would hear back in those days when they followed him was this, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Take up a cross and follow me. The idea of the cross being an area or something that is inviting suffering. And so Paul starts out here in this 2 Corinthians with a chapter here on suffering.

And there's a lot in 2 Corinthians on suffering. We're gonna look at some other places here. But the idea of suffering for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So much comes out of, and this is a beautiful thing. So much comes out of suffering for Jesus. You know, we can suffer for our sins.

Many people do, we see them down in Columbus every Tuesday night. They are suffering, their life is a mess and they're suffering diseases and bondages and heartbreaks and fears and anxieties and addictions. They're suffering because of their sin.

Some people suffer because of natural causes. I'm starting to suffer a little bit. James probably suffers with old age.

You know, we're getting older and we have to deal with issues and we suffer through certain things. But we can also suffer because we are living for the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the context here.

The context here is suffering because we are living for the Lord Jesus. Now, you know, trying to preach and encourage people to suffer for Jesus is like trying to get them to go to the dentist. It's kind of a difficult thing.

But I'd like to give you some encouragement here from Peter. Peter spends a lot of time on suffering before we jump into this passage about why it's a good thing. And encourage you to embrace it.

I'd like you to turn, or maybe I'll just read here. You can stay in 1 Corinthians. I'd like to read here in 1 Peter chapter four.

Peter addresses the idea of suffering. He says this. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.

This is not unusual. But rejoice insomuch as you are partakers of Christ's suffering. You're following in his steps that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Now, here's one benefit for suffering. And that is when he is revealed or when the Lord Jesus comes and he establishes his eternal kingdom, you will be glad with exceeding joy. Those who suffered for the Lord Jesus will be glad with exceeding joy.

He goes on to say, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. That's hard for us to embrace. Happy are you.

Some people aren't happy today. Happy are you if you suffer for my sake. You remember those disciples after they got a scourging there in I think it's Acts chapter five or six.

They come away from that scourging rejoicing. Boy, what a time to rejoice. Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. And here's something beautiful. For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.

Wow, I think we all want that. The spirit of glory and the spirit of God, that's an evidence. By the way, we should embrace this.

That's one of the great evidences that the spirit of God is resting upon you. The spirit of glory is upon you because of the suffering that you're going through. On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified.

It glorifies God. You know, when you suffer for righteousness' sake, you know, it's basically a picture of Jesus. He came, he lived, he suffered.

He laid his life down for righteousness' sake. He did the will of God. And when we suffer for righteousness' sake, the father says, that's my son.

And that brings glory to him. Then he goes on here and talks about, none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yeah, there's other ways that we can suffer.

But as we go through the book here of 2 Corinthians, we're going to see a lot of invitation to take up a cross, to be willing and open to embrace suffering. So we're talking about here some of the sufferings that Paul is going through. These sufferings are a major part of his life.

You know, I don't know, it's hard for us to imagine, but here's a man who's spending a lot of time suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus, imprisoned, beaten. Look at verse number five here in 2 Corinthians chapter one. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, he's talking about him and Timothy and those that are with him, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

And so the sufferings of Christ abound in him. Now I know, you know, there's many things in life like brother Chris said this morning that attract our attention. And yet there are maybe some here this morning who really want to be exceedingly joyful on the day of the Christ's return, who really want the spirit of glory and of God to rest upon them and who really want to glorify God in their body.

Well, if it's gonna happen, you're gonna have to go through suffering. It's gonna be suffering involved in it. And Paul says that the sufferings of Christ abound in me.

You don't have to turn very far, but look over to 2 Corinthians once and that we'll see this later on. 2 Corinthians 11, later on in this letter, Paul's gonna talk about some of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23. He says this, are they not ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more.

In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods.

Boy, this is amazing. If we have one of these things occur today in the churches of Jesus Christ. And I don't think it's because we're living in a different era.

I think it's because we're living in a different way. We're not living in a proper way. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned.

Thrice I suffered a shipwreck, a night and day. I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils amongst false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness and my, that's a long list. And this is all because I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's proving here His apostleship to the Corinthians. And so suffering. And you know, Paul said this, he said, "'Follow me as I follow,' who? "'I'm following Christ and you follow me.

"'And I'm following Christ and I'm having to suffer for it.'" Now notice here, back in 2 Corinthians 1, the context here, I wanna get the context of his suffering. 2 Corinthians 1, in verse number eight, it says this, "'For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant "'of our trouble which came to us in Asia, "'that we were pressed out of measure, "'above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.'" And this is talking about the time that Paul was at Ephesus and there was an uproar there about the goddess Diana. And you remember that story? We went through it when we went through the book of Acts and the whole city was confused and moved and there was a theater there and many people rushed into the theater and they wanted to get to all these disciples that were with Paul.

And Paul wanted to go in and speak to the people and they said, no, you can't go in. They held him back and they sent him out of the city to get away from this mob that was wanting to kill him. So he brings that up as an example of the sufferings that he was participating in.

And so Paul is following an example. He's following an example of Jesus and he's giving his life. Here's something that I think we need to remember.

He is giving his life for the salvation of others. By the way, what did Jesus do when he came? He gave his life for the salvation of others. We just took this morning the bread and the wine and we remembered the Lord's death.

Well, why did he lay his life down? He did so for the salvation of others and he had to suffer to bring people into the kingdom of God. And I've said this to you before, but it's a beautiful example here is that Jesus came and his sufferings atoned for our sins. He paid for them with his blood, with his body.

Then he sends out his people and we can't pay for sins. We can't atone for sins, but his people go out and they take the message of the gospel, the message of the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the world. And in doing so, they partake of his sufferings.

And so he gave his life for the salvation of humanity. And we also follow his steps and give our life. And I'll tell you, if you give your life for the salvation of humanity and you abandon yourself and you, as Jesus said, lose your life for my sake and the gospels, we'll find that we'll suffer more and more as we lose our life for his sake.

Now notice also there's someone involved with him there in verse number one, it says not only Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, but Timothy, our brother, Timothy. You know, Timothy's with him and Timothy's experiencing some of the things that Paul's experiencing. And I don't know how long we would last being a companion of the apostles and spending a few months in prison or getting a beating or some of the things that they went through being a shipwrecks and how we would endure, if we would endure the difficulties.

We live in a very easy society. And yet that society still hates the Lord Jesus and those that represent him. But I wanna talk about Timothy, first of all.

Timothy, and Timothy was a young man that seemed to be a struggle with some fears. Like many of us do, you know, we have fears and their fears are real. And Paul writes a letter to Timothy about his fear.

And Timothy was a man that went along with Paul and he was sometimes very fearful that, man, we're gonna get in a riot or they're gonna stone us or we're gonna lose our life. And he was just like many of us. He had fear.

And so Paul writes to him in his second letter to Timothy. And he says this in chapter one, verse seven, he says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. Are you afraid? Are you afraid to speak out for the Lord Jesus? Are you afraid to lay your life down for the gospel and the salvation of souls? Well, Timothy had fears.

And Paul encourages him that God has not given us that spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Can you imagine? Here's Timothy.

Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed to speak up and say I'm a Christian and speak forth the truth. Don't be ashamed, Timothy.

Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner. Oh, you know how it is. Well, I don't really associate with that guy over there that caused that riot.

You know, the one you threw in jail and you beat him. I don't really know who he is. I don't associate with him because I don't want to associate with someone like that.

Well, don't be ashamed of me, Timothy. Don't be ashamed. I'm his prisoner.

And many times people are ashamed of other brothers and sisters in the Lord. Like, I don't know if I want to associate with that. Like, I'm ashamed.

And it is a challenge not to be a fearful and not to be ashamed of those who suffer for the Lord's sake. And so Timothy is just like us. He's a real human being, young man.

Paul says, come with me. We're going to go out and win the world. We're going to preach the gospel and we're going to suffer for it.

And Timothy says, whoa, I'm not sure I want to do this. And Paul assures him, God has not given us that spirit of fear. He's given us power, love, and a sound mind.

Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. I know when I read through these things that the temptation is to try to fit the Bible into my life. And that's one of the things I think we need to be careful of.

Don't try to fit the Bible into my life. Actually fit your life into the Bible. You know, well, I see that.

I see that and I see how Paul suffered. I see how Timothy's there, but that just doesn't fit for my life. It doesn't fit.

So I'll kind of adjust things so I can kind of make them work together. And I'll just say, that's different than where I'm at. I need to adjust and go that way.

I need to fit my life into the book instead of the other way around. Let's keep going here. I want to bring out a couple of things in this first chapter.

And look at verse number nine. This is a real thing here, a very real thing to Paul and to Timothy. Verse nine says, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves.

That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Now, Paul literally had this. He said, I have a death sentence upon me and upon my life.

These are thoughts that are kind of far off for us. I understand that, but keep in mind that Paul is out publicly on a regular basis proclaiming truth. And he is suffering greatly for it.

The proclamation of the truth. He says, I have a death sentence. If you picture those who are sitting on death row, and they know they're going to die.

They just don't know what day it is, but they're ready to die at any day, at any moment. He says, I have this death sentence upon my life. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I shared this I think last time.

He says, I die daily. I die daily. I wake up every morning and I realize that this might be my day to die for Jesus.

You know, yesterday I was chased. Today, I might get stoned. And I die on a day-to-day basis.

I am prepared. And so when the Lord says to us, take up your cross. You know what a cross was back then? It was a death sentence.

It was a death sentence. The cross represented the lethal injection, or any other way. The electric chair that we would understand in America was the death sentence.

But Jesus is inviting you to take up a cross, meaning take up that death sentence upon yourself. You know, a cross means I'm heading to the hill to be killed as a criminal. Oh, and so, take up the cross and deny yourself and follow me.

Now this is really, brothers and sisters, I know we all battle this. I battle with it on a regular basis. It's the essence of what faith is.

And we can talk about faith in many different ways, but the essence of faith is me believing this book and saying, my life is short, eternity is long. People all around me are gonna die and spend eternity in hell. The best thing I can do, according to this book, is to give my life to save as many as possible.

Isn't that common sense? That's faith. That's believing what God says. That this life is short, and it is.

I don't know anyone's lived more than 100, 510 years. Eternity is forever and ever and ever. We have a world around us that's lost and dying and going to hell.

What can I do with my life? Well, faith says, give it for the gospel's sake. Give it for the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, it's gonna be a 30, 40, 50 years of difficulty and suffering and laying your life down.

Yes, Paul, we understand that, but there'll be eternal glory. There'll be the spirit of God resting upon you. You'll bring glory to God through it.

But most people decide, I'm not gonna go that avenue and try to ride the fence and not suffer as little as you can and make sure you somehow get into heaven and we try to ride the middle of the road. But faith says, I'm gonna lose my life. Amen? I'm gonna lose it.

And there's a direction to lose it. You know, those kamikaze pilots, they lost their life. In Japan, you know, they took that plane in World War II or they drove that plane right into those Navy boats and they killed themselves, but they killed themselves for all the wrong reasons.

People go off to war. They think, you know, I'm gonna lose my life possibly. They lose it for their country or for America.

What the Lord's asking is you lose your life for him. And you know, if we had some young men and young women like in the military, I'm gonna go and fight and I'm gonna go to Iraq and I may die, but that's okay. I'm gonna fight for my country.

Have some of those in the church. Fighting for the Lord Jesus, amen. For the nation, the holy nation.

And this war that we're facing with the devil and all the casualties of war. My, they're all over the place. That's the essence of faith at the very root.

Okay, I have, you're sitting here, you're a young person, you're 20 years old. I have maybe 50 more years, 60 more years. Okay, faith says, take it, give it all to him.

That's a step of faith because life is temporal. Eternity is long. I wanna earn rewards throughout all eternity, so I'm gonna give my life for him.

So, so Paul's suffering. But suffering is not the only thing mentioned here. There's another word that's mentioned here about 10 times.

And I'm gonna read down through this passage here and you could pick it out. It's actually used 10 times. And it's, there's actually two words that are actually the same word here.

But listen to it as I read here from starting in verse number three. 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 any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Anybody know what the word is yet? For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation, by the way, it's the same word there, 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 you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation, the consolation. I like what it says there in verse number three.

He's the Father of mercies and he's the God of all comfort. Think about that, the God of all comfort. You know, I can, James may be going through a tough time physically, maybe I can come and his back hurts and I can give him some massage there.

Feel good, doesn't it, James? I can give him some comfort, physically speaking. I can comfort him physically, but nobody can get to the spirit of man, to the heart of man like the Lord can, the Lord Jesus. He is the God of all comfort.

And if you want real comfort, you need it down in your inner man, in the heart of man, in the spirit of man. He's the God of all comfort. Are you familiar with that one word? In John 15, John 14, the comforter shall come.

We sing that song, the comforter shall come. Well, who is the comforter? John 14 says, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. So this is a beautiful thing.

I never realized this before, I'm gonna bring some verses out. This is a beautiful thing. Here the Lord is, He sends us out on a mission as a church body to salvage and to save this humanity.

He has redeemed them by His own precious blood and His broken body. He sends us out and He dwells in us by the spirit of God to be our comforter in the midst of all this affliction that will come to us from this world that hates us. The Lord says, I'm gonna send you out, but I will not leave you comfortless.

I'll come. I'll not leave you comfortless. That's gonna be a tough job, but I'll not leave you comfortless.

So the word comforter there comes from the Greek word paraklete, which means one who comes by your side to encourage you. I like this subject. One who comes by your side to encourage you.

Now, one of the great ministries of the Holy Spirit is to comfort us in our suffering. Comfort us. Consolation, console, or to comfort you.

Now, I have no doubt that when these disciples there were beaten there in Acts chapter five and scourged on their backs, they went away, it says rejoicing. Who do you think was rejoicing their hearts? The comforter. It was exciting, though it was painful.

It was an exciting thing, and the spirit of God was giving them great comfort in their suffering. And I agree here that, you know, when we go through, maybe we sin and we fail and we make a miserable part of our, we make our life miserable, that the Lord is there and we repent and God moves in and he comforts those who are guilty and condemned and grieving. He comforts them.

And when we lose, like this little one-year-old baby, we lose a baby like that. The spirit of God can comfort us. But in the context here, it's referencing when we lay our life down for the Lord and we go through great hardship and difficulty, that the Lord is the one who by his spirit will comfort, will comfort.

Now I didn't realize this and put these things all together, but I wanna read to you a couple of verses and how this all fits together. The Lord has provided everything we need for the work that he has prepared us for, but in Matthew chapter 28, in verse 18, it says, "'And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "'Go ye therefore and teach all nations, "'baptizing them in the name of the Father "'and the Son and the Holy Ghost, "'teaching them to observe all things "'whatsoever I have commanded you.'" And then the next words are important.

"'And lo, I am with you always.'" Now that's interesting. I am gonna send you out as a church body. I am gonna send you out and it's gonna be difficult and you're gonna suffer.

Some of you are gonna die. James is hearing these words. James, you're gonna die pretty early in this endeavor and Peter, you're gonna get crucified upside down and John, they're gonna throw you in a hot boiling oil and they're gonna try to fry you to death and many of you are gonna be chased all over the world, but I am going to be with you always.

Now how is that? The comforter. I'm gonna go to heaven and I'm gonna send my spirit and I'm gonna dwell in you as the comforter and I'm gonna go with you everywhere. Everywhere you go, I'm gonna go with you.

And I'm gonna be the one that comes alongside and be an encouragement. And those words are very, very important, I think, and very consoling. Go, I don't wanna go.

It's dangerous, I know that. I'm fearful. Yes, Timothy, I know that.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. He has given us a comforter and lo, I'm gonna go with you always. Even to the end of the world.

I thought about the first chapter there of the book of Acts and another verse. Listen to what it says in chapter one, verse eight. But you shall receive power.

After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me. Witnesses, you know what that word means? Martyrs. It's the word martyrio, martyr.

I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit and you're gonna go out, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth as living martyrs, but I'm going to give you the comforter to go with you. You know, maybe one of the reasons why we don't see the comforter as vibrant, as powerful, as openly displayed in life is because we're lacking in a willingness to say, Lord, here it is. And Lord, I'm gonna give you my life and I'm gonna suffer and I know I'm gonna suffer.

I'm gonna follow Jesus and I'm gonna suffer. And the spirit might just jump up inside you and say, woo, I'm ready. Let's go, let's do it.

I'm sending you out as a martyr and I'm gonna have my spirit and, Lord, I'm gonna be with you always. Well, that's what Paul was experiencing. And he's understanding the consolation.

We've seen the consolation throughout the book of Acts. You remember, he's in the prison there in Macedonia and Jesus visits him, encourages him. Boy, what an encouragement that would have been, a vision of the Lord, but the Lord is with us.

He doesn't want us to go by ourselves. Now, here's something beautiful. Look back to verse number four, excuse me, you're not there, Acts 1, verse four.

Let me read it to you. And being assembled together with them, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, you have heard of me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. I like that.

You know what he's saying? Fellas, listen, don't go yet. Don't go and do this work yet. Wait until you be endued with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, because I don't want you to go out alone.

I don't want you to start and take off and you face this difficulty without me being with you and comforting you in the process. So wait until the Holy Spirit comes down and indwells you, then you can go and I'll be with you. You know, that's like a father saying, son, I don't want you to go out there by yourself.

Just wait, I'll be coming, then we'll go out together. And so he says, wait, don't go. Wait until I can go with you.

I want to be the one who walks with you and beside you. So how many of you could say, I'll face anything? Like David said, I'll face the giant. I'll face God.

I'll face anything if the Lord's right here beside me. How many of you would face anything if the Lord was with you? Yeah, we could do that, couldn't we? If the Lord's with me, I can face anything. Well, he is.

We just need to believe it, amen. He is. I'm with you, I'm with you.

You don't have to be afraid. And this is exemplified. Let me read to you another account.

This is exemplified in Luke. Jesus actually was a paraclete, a comforter, even before the descending of the Holy Spirit here in Luke chapter 24. It says, then arose Peter and ran unto the sepulcher and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves and departed, wondering in himself at that which was to come to pass.

And behold, two of them went the same day to the village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

Someone who came and walked alongside. He came near and he walked with them. But their eyes were whole and that they should not know him.

So he's coming to walk with them. I like this, verse 30. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them.

And their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight. And notice this, and they said one to another, did not our hearts burn within us? While he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the scriptures, and they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together. And then they were with them saying, the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared unto Simon.

That's beautiful. You know what happened? They were perplexed. They were in fear.

They're walking along this road, not knowing what's gonna happen. The Lord comes up beside them. He is a paraclete, he's a comforter.

He walks with them. He encourages their heart. Didn't our heart burn within us while he opened up the scriptures to us? They get excited, they get encouraged, they run and they tell that the Lord is risen.

Their hearts are raised and encouraged. So many times in life we're perplexed and in despair, not knowing which way to go. We need someone to come along and say, hey, I'm with you and open up the scriptures to us.

Boy, there's nothing more encouraging than God opening up the scriptures to you, amen. And your heart burning within you. You know, that's good, Lord.

That's good food for my soul. I can go another week or two on that one. And we need that.

And the Bible says it's the comforter that teaches us in all things and guides us into all truth. So the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not only to empower and to give gifts, but also to comfort as we go forth into this wicked, wicked world. Another thing the Holy Ghost does is to teach us, teach us.

John 14, 26, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you in all things. He'll teach you. If you're there in 2 Corinthians chapter one, look here at verse number three, 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse three.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that. Now there's a reason why, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now, here's what Paul learned in life, and I've learned this some in life, probably you've learned this too, that God takes us through things in life for the purpose of teaching us how to resolve them and work through them so that we can teach others, amen.

And that's exactly what's happening here. God is comforting us, not so we can say, oh, I feel good now and I can go on with my life, but he comforts us and helps us through our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. Usually what God gives us, he expects us to pass on, amen.

You know, we don't wanna be the Dead Sea and only receive and receive and receive and receive and end up being dead. We wanna receive and receive and give it out and give it out. The same apostle said to Timothy, the things that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to what? Teach others also.

There's a translating of lessons, taking what we learn in our affliction and helping comfort others. Look at verse number six, and whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation. In other words, I'm being afflicted, but it's not just for me, it's for you because I'm gonna teach you.

Look at the end of that verse, 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. In other words, what I'm going through, God wants me to bless you and use it for the benefit of others. You know, Brother Yossin here, I use him often, but there's a, I don't know if you probably knew this, but there's a family, young couple just lost a one-year-old baby.

We're gonna have the funeral this afternoon. Who can minister to someone like that? Someone who's lost a child, lost a baby. Who can minister? I've gone through that.

I've had to go through that, and I've learned that God has helped me through that, and here's what I wanna teach you. Many years ago, I went through a bout. Some of you might know something about these things.

I was a fearful individual, and I went through just struggling with believing I committed the unforgivable sin, the unpardonable sin, and I was a young man, Christian young man for about five or six years, and I got into a very deep, deep hole in my life, and I went through some great difficulties just thinking somehow I'm done, and I'm useless, and I can't be forgiven. It's an awful feeling, horrible, especially if you're a Christian, and so I had to go through a period of six months to a year and work through that, and I remember one day on my bed at Bible school just rejoicing and just crying out to God. My heart was just full of praise to Him because God brought me through that, and He had delivered me from it and brought me out of that terrible bondage.

It was amazing how many people the Lord took me to who were in the same predicament. There's a young man in Bible school that I sat beside who was going through the same thing that I had gone through, and I was able to help him. There's a young lady out in Denver area, Denver, Colorado, who I was at a Bible school one time, and I must have mentioned something like that.

She called me on the phone, and her family, and struggling with the very same thing. My wife and I knew a young lady who was going through the same thing that I was able to minister to her. The same consolation that I received from the Lord that I worked through, I was able to minister to others.

That's a principle in the Bible. What God teaches you, He expects you then to use it to teach others. If God comforts you and gets you through situations and helps you through, there's probably someone on the other end of that that you're gonna be able to teach them and help them through.

Turn with me to 1 Timothy once here. 1 Timothy, I'm almost done. 1 Timothy chapter number one.

Paul is a great example of this, and he tells us about it. I think he learned this way back early in his ministry that God is gonna take me through things, and he expects me to teach others the things that I have learned and have gained comfort and consolation from. 1 Timothy chapter one, starting in verse number 12.

This is Paul's testimony to Timothy. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it eagerly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, after saying all these things about himself, look what he says in verse 16. How be it for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

I'm an example. I, a blasphemer. I blasphemed him.

Matter of fact, he says, I even compelled others to blaspheme God. I, a blasphemer. I, a persecutor.

I persecuted the church everywhere I went. I put him in prison. I was injurious.

I actually had Stephen stoned. I probably had a number of other people murdered. I was all those things.

And God brought me through this and showed me that he can even forgive someone like me. Yeah, he can forgive someone like me. And not only forgive me, he can make me an apostle.

And I can do the ministry that I'm in. He's given me this ministry, someone who has such a wicked past. So I wanna teach you all something, he says.

Verse 16, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern, an example to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. You know, God saved me because he wanted to show people he's a merciful God and he's longsuffering. And he can use you, even though you've gone a long way, the wrong way, amen.

And I had to go through that, Paul said, that I could be a pattern, he uses that word, a pattern for those who follow me. And so you can imagine Paul with a young man and the young man says, but Paul, you don't understand what I've done. I mean, I was murderous, I was immoral.

I compelled people to go against the Lord Jesus. The Lord would never wanna save me or use me. Oh, let me tell you something.

He's already used me as a pattern. He showed how longsuffering and merciful he is. And now here I am, an apostle.

So you've got a lot of hope. And I'm sure Paul would use that as a teaching tool because he experienced that himself. God, you're a very longsuffering.

He called him the father of mercies. And I'm sure any young person or older person he met along the way who felt hopeless, he said, oh, you just need to look at my life. You'll see a pattern there that you don't have any problem.

You just need to get your act together and let's repent and let's move forward and God can use you. So I don't care where you've been, I've been here this morning. You know, some of us stay in the mully grubs and we stay way down and God can't do this, God can't do that.

I've done this, I've done that. Well, here's an example of someone who's pretty low and opposed the Lord in a very forceful way. Even has people that are dead.

A Stephen, a servant of the Lord, killed him. Laid Stephen's clothes at his feet. Probably if anybody could have said, I'm done, the Lord can never use me and just go and bury themselves in their mully grubs, it would have been Paul.

But he said, I know God. And he's shown through my life that he'll use anyone if they'll surrender their life to him. And I don't know what you've gone through.

Some of you have gone through very difficult situations, great hardship, difficulty. And all those things, God is wanting to use them for other people's consolation and comfort. And you might even get hit over the head like the Lord does sometimes with me.

You might get hit over the head with people just like, hey, boom, here they are, right in front of your face. Like, well, I learned the Lord taught me that lesson and here you are, I'm gonna teach you what the Lord brought me through. And that's our ministry.

So starting out here in 2 Corinthians, just a reminder that the Christian life is a life of suffering, but you got a comforter with you. And he is gonna walk with you the whole way, even at the end of the world. You don't have to be afraid.

You don't have to be discouraged. Keep working, keep laboring. And great is your reward when he comes, glory.

Happy in this life and you glorify God as you suffer. And so let's keep those things in remembrance. We'll pick up here in verse number 12, but 2 Corinthians is a book that's largely talking about suffering and Paul's ministry and going through difficulty.

So let's close here with a word of prayer then we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word of God. May it burn also in our hearts as the Holy Spirit opens to us in our own personal life, the scriptures.

Lord, there are certainly people here who have experienced things that they can comfort others in their affliction. By the same comfort, wherewith they were comforted of you. And so Lord, thank you so much here this morning for the comforter that we have in our hearts.

Lord, may we truly recognize who is walking with us every day and living his life through us or desiring to live his life through us. I wanna pray especially for this young couple, this mother and father who's lost this little baby, little boy, Abram, one year old. Lord, as they have to deal with it today in this funeral, the bearing of the body.

Lord, may there be those who can comfort them with the comfort wherewith they were comforted by the Holy Spirit of God. Lord, help us to minister to others what you've ministered to us. We pray your blessing on these words in Jesus' name, amen.