The God of All Comfort

2 Corinthians. We're probably, Lord willing,

going to be in 2 Corinthians for a bit. We went

through 1 Corinthians. It's probably been, well,

it's probably been several years ago now. Probably

six or seven years ago, I would say. If you care

to go back and listen to that series, it's on

the church website along with the rest of the

sermons from the last ten years. There's one

for 1 Corinthians. We didn't cover 2 Corinthians

at the time, and so I'm probably going to hang

out in here for a little bit. 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 1:1

1, verse 1. Let's pray, and then we'll get started.

God, we come to you. We thank you for the freedom

we have to come into your house tonight. I thank

you for being good to us. I thank you for the

love that you've shown us and the love that we

have. For one another, I pray that your Holy

Spirit would just guide me to say the words that

you want us to hear tonight, that we would see

your word, that we would be comforted by it,

dear Lord. And I pray that you free us from the

worries and the distractions of this world and

that you would help us to focus on you and hear

from you now. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen.

If you go back and read in the book of Acts,

and particularly in this case around Acts chapter

Acts 18 · chapter mention

18, you're going to see some of these journeys

that Paul was on along the way. And you're going

to see some of the places that we talk about

from Paul's letters. You're going to see places

like Corinth or places like Ephesus. These are

some of the places that he wrote letters to.

And when you go back and look at Acts, you're

going to see some of these places. In Acts chapter

Acts 18 · chapter mention

18, you're going to see that Paul goes to a place

called Corinth, and there he meets a man and

a woman by the name of Aquila and Priscilla,

and they're tent makers, and he too is a tent

maker, and they become friends and sharing the

gospel and doing the work of the Lord, and he

meets them in Corinth. The places that we see

Paul visit, and maybe revisit some of them, going

back and forth between them, throughout the book

of Acts, are some of these people that receive

letters. That is, Paul went and saw them. He

went on his way. And he would hear what was going

on, and he would write a letter to maybe correct

them of some things that were not going so good

or maybe encourage them, maybe say, hey, you're

doing a good job. As in the case of the people

of Philippi, the book of Philippians is a pretty

encouraging book. Some of them are kind of stern.

You may remember, if you've ever read 1 Corinthians,

that it's a few things in there he gets on them

about, that they're not doing too good. And so

he wrote this letter after he had left. left

1 Corinthians, or excuse me, after he had left

Corinth, he wrote 1 Corinthians back to them,

and then probably about a year or year and a

half after he wrote the letter that we know as

1 Corinthians, he wrote another letter to the

people of Corinth, and that's what we know as

2 Corinthians. Now, it's possible that he wrote

more letters. Some have suggested that he might

have wrote as many as four letters to the people

of Corinth. These are the only two. that we have,

but he kind of picks up and maybe even addresses

a few things that he talked about in the first

letter, but kind of carrying on with the same

idea here as we get into 2 Corinthians 1, verse

2 Corinthians 1:1

1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's

will, and Timothy, our brother, to the church

at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout

Acacia. Grace to you and peace. From God, our

Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have

a pretty typical introduction here, similar to

what we see in Paul's other writings. He's saying,

look, I am Paul, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ,

and I'm the one who's sending you this letter.

We see in this particular letter that he's talking

about Timothy, who must have been there alongside

of him. We know of Timothy from the letters that

he wrote to Timothy in 1 and 2 Timothy. We see

Timothy mentioned in some of Paul's journeys.

We see him mentioned here. When he wrote the

letter the first time, what we know as 1 Corinthians,

there was a guy with him named Sosthenes. That

was who was with him in the introduction of 1

Corinthians. And here, this year, year and a

half later, however long, we see that it's Timothy

that is with him. And he talks about Achaia.

He talks about this is the region, the whole

region around where Corinth is. And this is around

Greece. If you're familiar with geography and

where Greece is on the map, this is kind of the

region, the area that we're talking about. And

Corinth was probably a pretty well -to -do place

at that time and probably a pretty large place.

They probably had a pretty big population. Paul

is writing this letter again to the people of

Corinth. He's acknowledging that he is the one

who is writing it. He's acknowledging that Timothy

is there with him. And he opens this letter with

just some beautiful language. Grace and peace

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he proceeds to go on about his letter.

And that's where we start in verse 3. Praise

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of all mercies and the God of all

comfort. Now that is a beautiful verse right

there. That verse alone, you could just kind

of sit up there for a second and just kind of

soak that in. That God, we praise God. He's our

Savior. There's salvation that comes through

Him. And what does it say? It says that he is

the God of all comfort. And that's good to know

because there are times that we need to be comforted.

There are times where life is just hard and we

just need some comfort. And he is the God of

all comfort. There is no comfort that comes from

anyone except from God. Any comfort that we feel,

even if people don't realize it, if it's good,

if it's comforting, if it brings you peace, then

it must come from God because there is no peace,

there is no mercy, there is no comfort in any

other. Paul starts right off here by saying,

we praise God because he is the God of all comfort.

Then he continues to build this first section

of the letter based on that idea. He says in

verse 4, he comforts us in all our affliction.

Now, that's a good verse. He is the God of all

comfort who comforts us in all of our affliction.

Now, we need to maybe remember this verse because

there are days that we are Now, whatever that

affliction may be, maybe it's just stress, maybe

it's physical pain, maybe it's just a mental

battle that you're going through, whatever it

is, There are afflictions that come upon us.

There are afflictions that we face. And it doesn't

matter if you are young and old. There are times

in our life that we are afflicted. But we call

on the God who is the God of all comfort. And

what does it say? That he comforts us in our

afflictions. Well, that's good to know. Because

there are days that, man, our afflictions are

pretty rough, and that's what he's going to talk

about. So praise God that he is our comforter.

He comforts us in all our affliction so that

we may be able to comfort those who are in any

kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves

receive from God. Now, isn't that a beautiful

idea? This is kind of the idea of Scripture.

What we receive from God, we give back to others.

We let what we've received from God be seen through

us by other people. So when we experience the

love of God and the grace of God, then that should

flow from us. When we've experienced comfort

through God, then that helps us to be able to

comfort others. Because there are people in this

world and they don't know how they're going to

make it through the next night or the next day.

They don't know if they can make it any further.

They're seeking and they're searching and they

want some kind of comfort. And some of you in

this room, or maybe somebody listening online,

has been there before where you didn't think

you were going to make it through the night.

You didn't think that you were going to make

it through the week. You didn't think that there

was any light at the end of the tunnel. You didn't

think that there was any comfort for your pain

and your affliction, and you found God. You found

the God of all comfort. And you called out to

the God of all comfort, and he comforted you

and your afflictions. And Paul says, when you've

experienced that, then you need to go out there

and help other people. You need to find those

people in the world that are struggling, who

are afflicted, who are in pain, who are in discomfort,

and you need to say, look, I have been where

you are. I have been where you are, and let me

tell you about God. I don't know if you know

about God. I don't know if you know the scripture.

Maybe you don't think God's there. God doesn't

care. But let me tell you about God, that he

brought me comfort, that he showed me light,

that he showed me love, that he was merciful,

that he was gracious. And I served the God of

all comfort, and he helped me, and I got through

it. And I didn't think I was. And I know you

don't think you're going to get through this

death you're suffering, or this pain you're suffering,

or this affliction you're suffering. suffering,

but I want to tell you that I got through it,

and God can help you get through it, and I want

to walk with you along the way. And Paul says

that we have been comforted by the God of all

comfort, and when we have received that comfort,

we are called to comfort others. Now, that's

a good message. That's kind of the message of

Scripture, whether it's comforting or whether

it's grace or whether it's mercy. Whatever we

have received from God, God calls us to give

that back to those that we encounter. Verse 5.

For as the suffering of Christ overflowed to

us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows.

All right, so Christ suffered and... The sufferings

of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our

comfort also overflows. So even in the midst

of this difficulty, we reflect on Jesus Christ

and we can find some comfort in the fact of who

he is and what he has done. And in the midst

of his suffering, he continued to be faithful

to God. He continued to be on his mission. And

there's comfort to be found in that, that we

serve a Savior who's given us an example, who's

let us know that there is going to be suffering

for serving God, but there is comfort on the

other side of that suffering. Verse 6, if we

are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.

If we are comforted, it is for your comfort,

which is experienced in your endurance of the

same sufferings that we suffer. So what does

he say? Paul says, look, if we're afflicted,

it's for your comfort. That is to say, we are

serving you. We are doing the work of God. We

are trying to stand up for you. We are trying

to lead you, and we are facing all kind of persecution,

and we are facing all kind of affliction, but

we are doing it for you so that you may find

some comfort in Christ. And so if we are afflicted,

we are doing it for you so that you may hear

of Jesus Christ, so that you may receive salvation,

so that through our affliction, you may receive

comfort. And so it is, Paul says, that we receive

comfort. Even when we are afflicted, we receive

comfort because we know that you are coming to

Jesus Christ and we find comfort in that. Isn't

that a crazy thing right there? Because you see

that even today. Now, you might not be aware

of it. You need to be aware of it. You need to

look up some people sometimes. There are still

people today, Christians, who are suffering for

the kingdom of God, who are facing persecution,

who are facing being put in prison, who are facing

death, who sometimes are killed, who are in prison

right now doing the work of God and suffering

greatly. And why in the world would they do that?

Because they receive some comfort. knowing that

they have done the work of the Lord. They received

comfort knowing that in what they have done that

has got them in prison, that has gotten them

persecuted, may have brought someone else to

Jesus Christ. And so inside that jail cell, as

Paul was on occasion, he received comfort knowing

that outside of those walls, the gospel was still

being spread. that he had done some work, that

he had went to people who were struggling and

afflicted, and he had told them about Jesus Christ,

and they had found comfort in Jesus Christ, and

it cost him his freedom. And oftentimes we see

of Christians that it cost them their life, but

even in that affliction, they find comfort because

they know that others are finding comfort in

Christ. So when we are afflicted, we find comfort.

And when we are comforted, Paul says, we find

comfort because we know that in your affliction,

you find comfort. It's just this cycle. Paul

says, I pour into you. It brings me affliction,

which brings me comfort, which brings me more

comfort because you're afflicted, which brings

you comfort. Which brings you comfort in us because

we're doing the work. It's this cycle of brothers

and sisters in Christ working together and saying,

living for the Lord is not always easy, but it's

always worth it. There's great peace that comes

from that. It's scary. You know, you're thinking

about, man, I don't know if I want to do the

work of the Lord. I don't know if I want to put

myself out there. What if I'm persecuted? What

if somebody comes against me? What if I'm in

prison? Would I be able to handle it? Well, I

don't know, but I think we would. I think if

we do it with the right heart, I think that we

would be those who would say, God, it is worth

it. There is comfort even in the midst of the

affliction. We find comfort in Jesus Christ knowing

that we have led others to Jesus Christ. And

that's exactly what Paul is saying to the people

of Corinth here. And our hope for you, verse

7, and our hope for you is firm because we know

that as you share in the sufferings, you will

also share in the comfort. So Paul says, hold

on. I know that you're going to do good. I know

that you're sharing in the sufferings right now.

But what does he say? So you will also share

in the comfort. Even though life is difficult,

even though there is affliction, If we continue

to seek God and call out to him and serve him,

we will find the God of all comfort, and there

will be comfort in our life. And Paul says there

is great hope in that. We find hope in that in

our life, and we find hope knowing that you are,

even in the midst of suffering, finding comfort

in Jesus Christ. Verse 8. For we don't want you

to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that

took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed

beyond our strength so that we even despaired

of life. Now, obviously something pretty serious

had happened to Paul and some others who were

with him in Asia. I don't know what event this

was. I'm not sure if it's even in Scripture.

Maybe it is. I don't know. But whatever the event

is, he doesn't go into it here. But what does

he say? He says, look. Our affliction took place

in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed beyond

our strength so that we even despaired of life.

Have you ever been in that type of affliction

before? Whatever brought it on. Maybe it was

because you took a stand for the Lord. Maybe

it's just some life circumstance, some death

that you've encountered in your life. Whatever

it is, there's all kinds of things that bring

affliction to us. Have we ever been in a state

in our life where we felt completely overwhelmed

beyond our strength? That's a tough place to

be. That is a scary place to be because we realize

that we are helpless. We feel overwhelmed beyond

our strength. That whatever is before us, that

whatever we are up against, it is too big. It

is just too overwhelming. We don't think we can

make it. We do not have the strength to carry

on. We have been fighting and we have been walking

and we have been walking and we have been on

the road and on the journey for days and for

weeks and for months sometimes. And there are

times that we feel like we cannot keep going.

We are so overwhelmed. What are we going to do?

Paul says, look, we even despaired of life. We

knew the end was near. We knew that we have nothing

else to give. We knew that we had done all we

could do. We were completely overwhelmed. We

were completely drained. And we knew that death

was soon going to come to us. He continues on

in verse 9. Indeed, we personally had a death

sentence within ourselves so that we could not

trust in ourselves, but trust in God who raises

the dead. Isn't that something right there? He

says, we had given all we could give. We had

nothing else we could do. We had given up. We

had given in to death. But in that, we trusted

God all the more because we knew that God could

raise us to life. So even in the midst of our

affliction, even in the midst of our overwhelming

circumstances, even when death is at our door,

we trust in God all the more because who else

can we trust in? And that's where we need to

be in those seasons of despair in our life. Maybe

there are some of you tonight that feel overwhelmed.

You don't have any strength. There is nowhere

else you can go but to the Lord. That's it. That's

the only place you can go tonight. That's the

only one that can give you strength. That's the

only one that can deliver you from your situation.

And should he choose not to deliver you in this

life, Paul says we trust him all the more because

even if we're at death's door here in our affliction,

we know we will wake up in the presence of God

and so we trust God all the more. We find comfort

in our affliction, and if our affliction ends

in death, then so be it. It'll end in the presence

of God. Paul, he was ready. He was strong in

the faith. He didn't give up at persecution.

He didn't give up at affliction. We might be

tempted to. There may be times in our life that

the least little affliction comes. We get overwhelmed.

We start questioning God. We get angry with God.

We want to give up on God. Sometimes people get

that way, but not Paul. Paul says, I'm in it

for the long haul. Paul said, I serve and I praise

the God of all comfort. And I take comfort in

knowing that God is with me and I want you to

take comfort in God even in the worst situation,

even in the situations that end in death. Trust

in God all the more because he is the only deliverance

that we have. This is good advice for us. We

know what affliction is like. Everybody in here,

you know what affliction is like. You've experienced

it. You may be experiencing it now. I can tell

you the same thing that Paul told you, and that's

all I can tell you, is to trust in God all the

more. I don't know what the outcome of the situation

will be, but I can assure you that God is the

one who's in control of the situation, and whatever

occurs will be his will, and he will be with

you through it all. Verse 10. He has delivered

us from such a terrible death. And he will deliver

us. We have put our hope in him that he will

deliver us again while you join in helping us

by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on

our behalf for the gift that came to us through

the prayers of many. So here Paul says, look,

we thought we were going to die. We thought it

was the end. We thought our affliction was going

to get the better of us. But what does he say

in verse 10? He has delivered us from such a

terrible death, and he will deliver us. So whatever

this affliction was that Paul and those with

him would have encountered in Asia, he thought

the end was near, but he says, I praise God because

he... delivered us and he will continue to deliver

us both in this life and from this life and to

eternity with him God has been with us and then

he says in verse 11 while you join in helping

us by your prayers then many will give thanks

on our behalf for the gift that came to us through

the prayers of many now Some of your translations,

mine says the gift that came to us. Some may

say something like the graciousness that we've

received. That's probably the gift that he's

talking about here. He's probably talking about

this gift of grace that God had showed him. We'll

see. in a few chapters that Paul calls out to

God because there's this thorn in the flesh.

And Paul calls out to him to remove it, calls

out to him to remove it, and God doesn't remove

it. But he says, my grace is sufficient. My grace

is sufficient. So even in our afflictions, if

God doesn't remove them, his grace is sufficient

to get us through. And what does Paul say? He

says, This gift, this grace that came to us through

the prayers of many. This is important for us

to know. Okay, so we serve the God who is the

God of all comfort. We want to comfort others

when we have been comforted through God. But

in the midst of our affliction, what is important?

It's important to know that there are others

who are praying for us. It's important that we

are praying for other people. And Paul acknowledges

that. He says, look, we were at death's door.

We thought it was done. We were trusting in God

to take us home to be with him. But instead,

he delivered us. He was gracious to us through

the prayers of many. Now, maybe there are some

of you tonight that need prayers. Maybe there's

something you're going through and nobody else

even knows it. Find a brother or sister in Christ

you can trust and say, look, brother, look, sister,

I need you to pray for me. There is power in

those prayers. You can say the same words Paul

said. I feel overwhelmed and the situation I'm

up against is beyond my strength. Would you pray

for me? Would you pray that God would be gracious

to me and be merciful to me? There is power in

knowing that there are people who pray for you.

Maybe you're doing pretty good, praise the Lord.

Maybe you're living in that comfort and grace

right now. That's great. But maybe there are

others you know that aren't doing so good. Maybe

you know of some who have affliction and suffering

and pain. Maybe you know of some tonight that

are overwhelmed beyond their strength. And maybe

today and tomorrow and in the days to come, you

just need to pray for them. You need to pray

that God would give them grace, that God would

give them strength, that God would give them

comfort. You might just need to go see them.

Give them a hug. Sit down with them and say,

I'm praying for you. Is there something I can

do? I'm praying for you. Just continue to trust

in God. It'd be great if we could give people

all the answers to their problem. We don't want

to make no fake promises. We don't want to say,

oh, God's going to get, we don't know what God's

going to do. It may be God's will to deliver

them from their affliction. It may not. We want

God's will to be done. We don't want to make

promises that we don't know the will of God,

but we can tell people, look, I'm praying for

you. I'm praying that God would be gracious to

you and give you comfort. Maybe even share this

scripture with them. We praise the God of all

comfort that comforts those. who are in affliction.

It's a beautiful, beautiful passage for us, I

believe, to learn from, to find comfort from,

and to be able to comfort others from. Let's

pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for your

word tonight. We thank you for being the God

of all comfort, dear Lord, because we know what

affliction is, dear Lord. Some know it better

than others. But God, if there are any that are

listening tonight online or any that are in this

building tonight, God, that are experiencing

affliction, whatever it may be, I pray that they

would seek you and that they would find comfort

in you, dear Lord. That maybe there are some

tonight who feel overwhelmed and their affliction

is stronger beyond their strength, dear Lord,

more than they can bear. I pray, God, that you

would be gracious to them. I pray that you'd

give them deliverance. I pray that you'd give

them peace. I pray that you'd give them clarity.

I pray that you'd give them hope, dear Lord,

that they would not despair. God, we don't know

what you're going to do, how you're going to

answer prayers. We don't know, dear Lord, but

we pray your will be done. And whatever the outcome

of our afflictions are, dear Lord, we pray that

you'd give us comfort and grace in the midst

of them. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.