1065. The God of All Comfort

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we'll hear a sermon preached at the Bob Jones University Bible Conference.

This is a time when classes are dismissed and students concentrate on hearing the Word preached from several visiting pastors and evangelists during the week. Today's sermon is from the 2020 Bible Conference preached by Dr. Steve Pettit. He'll be continuing the sermon from yesterday titled, The God of All Comfort. Pick your Bibles and turn tonight to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

Our theme this week is the God of all comfort. And so I feel like it's my responsibility to, the best that I can, lay out for you the theme itself from a very clear scriptural passage. And then as our other speakers come and other things happen this week, they speak out of their own life's message, their life's experience, their understanding of the Word. And so my goal tonight is really to take this theme that we find here in the Word of God and really do the expounding work, just the exposing of Scripture. And I would encourage you over the course of this week to go back to what we're looking at tonight as a time of prayer, as a time of meditation, especially the entire book of 2 Corinthians because it deals so much with this theme that we will come away with a greater understanding of the God of all comfort.

So tonight we are reading in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and we're beginning in verse 3 and we will read down tonight to verse 7. Just to make note that the word comfort and the word consolation are the exact same words. The word affliction, the word trouble, the word tribulation, they're also the exact same word. Let's hear God's Word tonight. 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 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 abounded 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. That leads me to the second thing I want us to note here tonight, and that's found in verse four, where we see not only a celebration, but we see a description of God's comfort. Would you look at these seven words, he says, who comforts us in all our tribulations.

Now let's just stop there, if you don't mind, and let me be slightly technical. Because in the technical, you have some rich meaning. First of all, the word comfort is what we call a participle.

What does that mean? Well, it's the combination of a verb, an action, and an adjective, a description. So when he says that God comforts us, it's what God does, and it describes what he's able to do. God himself comforts us. So what does the word comfort mean? Well, it's probably not the way we naturally think. For example, when I think of comfort, I think of beds with really soft down pillows.

Big beds, not little ones, big ones. When I think of comfort, I think of what it says in the dining common when it has that section that says comfort food, which it always includes pizza and the chocolate chip cookies at the dining common that are the best in the entire universe. So when we think of comfort, we think of how it makes us feel. And there's an element of that, but that's not really the meaning of comfort.

The literal meaning of comfort is someone who comes and they stand beside you. They come alongside of you like a good friend, and they do something for you. Through their presence, through their words, they strengthen you. You become stronger. You become encouraged. Maybe you're a little low and they cheer you up. They support you. They stand beside you as an advocate, or maybe we could say they have your back.

So let me illustrate the idea of comfort with a few statements. In the face of a miserable situation, the coal miners were given glimmers of hope and became optimistic that something good was going to happen. Encouraged by the success of their win, the volleyball team is beaming with confidence.

The government invested $10 million in a program to encourage new talent in the world of cybersecurity. Because the professors were supported, their motivation to be creative reached a new level. 10,000 people came out for the pro-life rally and the enthusiasm and the atmosphere was palpable. You could feel it. Enthusiasm, encouragement, comfort. I think probably one of the best examples of comfort is actually what's happening.

First of all, a bald-headed dude named Paul Isaacs comes and he speaks. All of a sudden, you got motivated to do something. You got encouraged. And it wasn't like something that came and just sort of went away.

It wasn't a flash fire. So now you've been encouraging each other in this fundraising or to find your 50 and you've been working at it and you've been motivated. And most importantly, by the grace of God, we're going to buy a stork bus and the end result of that is we're going to encourage scores of women not to get abortions. That's the idea of the word comfort. God comforts us. And since God is the source of all comfort and this verb comfort is in the present tense, that means that God is able always to comfort because there is never a time that God Himself is not comforted and encouraged. God's face is always shining. God's joy is always full. God's vision is always clear. God's knowledge is always complete. God's heart is never depressed.

God's mind is never confused and God's desires never wane. There is never a time that His comfort is not available to us who comforts us in all our tribulations. Now in order for us to get a better grasp on the word comfort, Paul presents a contrast. What is a contrast? It's like somebody who is exhausted walks into a hotel room with a king size bed. Or somebody who is freezing enters into a warmly heated room. Or somebody who is starving enters into a room with a table full of food.

That's a contrast. So what is the contrast or what is the opposite of being comforted? Paul says, who comforts us in all our afflictions? The opposite of being comforted is being afflicted. What is an affliction is things like stress, pressure, tribulations, trials, troubles, heartbreaks, heartaches, hardships, pressures, problems, pain. In chapter 12 and verse 10, the Apostle Paul categorizes five different human afflictions that we all experience. And I remember when I really came to understand that.

I began to make sense that the trials and troubles of life have various categories that God works through. In that list He says there are physical afflictions called infirmities, sickness. There's probably lots of you in this room who have physical issues. Verbal afflictions are called reproaches. That means people say bad things about you. They speak against you. It could be in a small group, big group or whatever.

I didn't know I was such a bad guy till I came to Bob Jones. It's like, all right, whatever. Financial afflictions called necessities. How many of you have financial afflictions? Would you raise your hand? You have necessity.

Sure. Spiritual afflictions called persecutions. That is you're literally being persecuted because you're a believer. Emotional afflictions called distresses. And that could be almost anything.

Family problems, relationship problems, all kinds of issues. And listen to what Paul says. He comforts us in all our afflictions. There is not a trouble that you face that God's comfort is not sufficient for. But let me complete this little phrase or this little sentence with two little other words here that are very important. He says, who comforts us in. The word in there is a preposition. It's a marker of the extent of time.

It's called the timeframe. God comforts us in whatever you're in. It doesn't last forever. It's going to come.

It's going to go. But during that entire timeframe, God comforts you. And then the word all.

The word all means totality of anything. So in all, during the timeframe, the experience of what I'm going through, God comforts us in all our afflictions. Paul is saying that what is happening to you and however long you experience it, God will perpetually provide all the comfort and all the encouragement you need.

You can say it this way. There is all comfort for all afflictions all the time. There is all comfort for all afflictions all the time. It means that God is sufficient. He is going to give us all comfort for all afflictions all the time. And Paul makes it personal. The whole book of 2 Timothy is his life's message.

It's out of his own experience that he is speaking. When he was in prison in Turkey, Greece, Israel, and Rome, he said God comforted him. When he was flogged five different times by the Jews with 40 lashes, and being brought to the point of death, God comforted him. When he was beaten with rods three times, God comforted him. When he was stoned to death in Lystra, God comforted him. When he was shipwrecked three times, God comforted him.

When he floated in the open sea for 24 hours, God comforted him. When he faced danger from robbers, God comforted him. When he faced danger from rivers, God comforted him. When he faced the danger in the cities, God comforted him. When he faced danger from the Jews, God comforted him. When he was in danger in the countryside, God comforted him. When he was in danger in the sea, God comforted him. And when he was in danger from false brothers, God comforted him. And on top of everything else, Paul said, I felt the daily pressure, literally the daily affliction of his burden for all the churches and yet in all of that, God comforted him. In all of our afflictions of life, God's comfort is all sufficient in stress, in disappointment, in anxiety, in fear, in confusion, and even in death. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions. And that leads me to the last point I'd like to make tonight. And that is what is the intention of God's comfort?

I said it in the beginning, I'll conclude with the idea. What is God's purpose? Well, go back if you would please and look at what he says in verse four, who comfort us in all our tribulation.

And then notice the next word, he said that, one of those little prepositions. That word that indicates God's intention. So why is it that we are going through this? And two things, number one, first of all, through the affliction, I am able to experience or let me say it this way, God enables and God empowers me through the affliction. Look at what he says, so that we may be able. That phrase may be able is the word that we get the word dynamite from, dunamis. It's speaking of God's divine enabling, God's divine empowering. This is the resurrection power that brought Jesus up from the dead. And what he is saying is God literally empowers me.

There's a power that comes through this affliction. And we see it in verse eight. Would you drop down to verse eight? Notice what he says, it's actually his testimony. He says, for we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that's around Ephesus, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of our life.

So he was under tremendous pressure. But notice what he said, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that, here's the purpose, we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead. He said, when I was in trouble, instead of trusting in myself, I actually experienced the resurrection power. And notice verse 10, he's testifying, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will deliver.

What is he saying? Paul experienced this empowerment to deliver him from his afflictions in the past. Paul experiences this empowerment to deliver him from his afflictions in the present. And Paul is saying that he will experience this empowerment to deliver him from his afflictions in the future. What is the intention of the trouble?

Why am I going through this? Because God wants to enable me, that I would experience his power in my life. So what's that purpose? What's the purpose of the power?

And that's the second thing. And that is to make us effective in ministry. Look at what he says in verse four, that he, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. God doesn't comfort us simply for our own personal benefit. Because God exploits our troubles. That means he makes full use of them. You could say it this way, God does something in us so that he can do something through us.

God is enabling us, he is doing something in us because he wants to bring us to a place where he can use us a new level. My wife has two favorite video games. One is called Candy Crush. I ask her, what is the goal of Candy Crush? She said, to get to the next level. She said, but each level has its own new and difficult obstacles to overcome. And if you get through one level, successfully it opens the door to go to the next level. That makes absolutely no sense to me, especially if there's no end in sight.

But that's what happens. When you experience trouble and God's enabling comfort, what is God doing? He is opening up a new level of opportunity for ministry.

What is this ministry? He says that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. He says we become enablers. We become comforters. We become empowers. We become encouragers. We become those who strengthen. But it's not our strength, it's not our ability, it is God's enabling us with His own comfort wherewith we've been comforted of God. Now take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians 7. I'm almost done but I want you to see the testimony of this because Paul talks about how this actually works. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 5, he says, for when we were coming to Macedonia, that's around Philippi, our flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side. There's the word troubled again. Without were fightings, within were fears, nevertheless, God that comforted those that are downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus and not by His coming only but by the consolation by the comfort wherewith He was comforted in you.

Do you see it? It actually didn't start with Titus, it was the Macedonian believers who went through trouble. They were suffering and they got God's comfort, God's power. Titus shows up, he's discouraged or he's in trouble and they comfort him. He gets the comfort and then he goes and he sees the apostle Paul who you would think he's the guy that's the ultimate comforter and Titus goes and shows up and he comforts and encourages and he strengthens the apostle Paul and he's, what he's saying is this, that the pathway to effective ministry is actually through trouble.

Think about it, what is the ministry of the Trinity? Is the Father not the comforter? He's the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Is the Son not the comforter? Philippians 2, one, if there be therefore any comfort in Christ. Is the Spirit of God not the comforter? But when the comforter is come, even the Spirit of truth.

The Father comforts, the Son comforts, the Spirit comforts. What is the secret then to having an effective ministry? How do I become one that is like this?

It has a three-step process, it's really simple. Have trouble. How many of you have trouble, raise your hand, okay, you're qualified. Have trouble. Number two, get comfort.

Got it? Now, comfort others, is that simple? I've told the story many times, many of you have heard it, my wife's had cancer now for 20 years. Whoever ever talks to me about cancer, if I'm in a room and somebody has cancer, they don't come to me, they go to my wife. Everybody asks me, how is your wife doing?

Nobody asks, how am I doing? Because the ministry of life is the ministry of the working of God in you in order to work through you. I'm grateful for my ministerial training. I had great education, excellent education here at Bob Jones. I'm so thankful for the opportunities I received, especially as I was preparing for the ministry in so many different ways, but I have learned that effective ministry does not come through primarily education or opportunities, though God uses those things.

It actually comes through the trouble-comfort model. When you go through trouble and get God's comfort, what God is doing is He is making you effective. The most effective messages always flow out of one's struggles.

The greatest hymns that have ever been written, we sang one tonight, it is well with my soul, came out of a heartbreak of life. The best sermons are always the sermons that come out of a life's message. A message prepared in the mind reaches the mind. A message prepared in the heart reaches the heart. A message prepared in the life reaches the life. Our greatest messages are our life's messages. Divine enablement comes through human afflictions, and God then is giving you a divinely enabled message to have effectiveness in the ministry.

And who's a good illustration of that? Yesterday I texted Paul Isaacs. Last time Paul was here just a few weeks ago, we had a little deeper conversation about his life, and he opened up and shared with me his afflictions. I want you to listen to this, because he's a great example.

And I texted him yesterday to make sure that I got the details right. When Paul was 12 years old, 12 years old, he got aplastic anemia. That required that he had to go through blood transfusion. And he went through 90 gallons of blood in a transfusion because they gave him a 2% chance to live and he survived. But during that transfusion, Paul got hepatitis C from the infusions. And today, Paul Isaac lives with cirrhosis of the liver, celiac, constantly low blood cell counts, and he has a history of what is known as esophageal varices, which essentially means the esophagus is swollen with a problem with the flow of blood through your liver and into your esophagus, and he gets internal bleeding.

And he has had that since he's 12 years old. So I'm not surprised at all because people who have effective ministry had to have a crucifixion somewhere. And when you put your lens on, all of a sudden you get a little bit better view that the people that God is using to have impact and effect in lives and comfort and strengthening and enabling and supporting are actually people who have gone through trouble, received God's comfort and now they can effectively comfort others.

You know, it's an amazing thing to think about it. And folks, I want you to, especially our students, I want you to understand, I want you to get this down in your soul. This is effective ministry. It's not the fluffy stuff. It's not the cool stuff.

It's not the big or the loud stuff. It is that transformative work of what God does in your heart when you go through trouble and he comes with his comfort and empowers you so that you can be a blessing to others. May we bow our heads together for prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight that your truth is unchanging and that you are always faithful. I pray tonight, especially for our student body, that you would in particular help them to understand, to grasp, to get a hold of, to see, to comprehend how it is that you have chosen to work through your servants. This is the way you work through Jesus. This is the way you work through Paul and you have not changed.

This is the way that you work through us. Father, you know our hearts, you know our lives. Help us, Lord, to cling to you and thank you that through our connection to Jesus and through his word and through his people, there is ongoing and perpetual comfort. And thank you that it is all sufficient. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. You've been listening to the conclusion of a sermon by Dr. Steve Pettit, preached at the 2020 Bob Jones University Bible Conference. Thanks for listening and join us again next week as we'll hear another sermon here on The Daily Platform.