Brother Gary Sunday Evening 10/13/13

Brother Gary Sunday Evening 10/13/13

Tonight I would like to speak on the consolation of Christ.

2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

We see the word ‘consolation’.  It appears in the New Testament 6 or 8 times.  The thought of the consolation of Christ is an invitation to come near to Christ and have Him give an exhortation of comfort.

It is Christ calling us to come near to Him.  When we come near to Him, He begins to speak and consol us.   In this consoling, even though the events of life are that we get sick, have accidents, make mistakes in the shoes we wear and have hurt knees, and so on, He uses the time to speak to us that He has wonderful desires toward us. 

Christ consoling us always urges us to choose the High way.  For me when I am sick my mind spirals down.  There is more than a train load of discouraging thoughts.  One would say that even though the train is more than a mile long and the caboose is never there, (It is a perpetual train), God consoles us with an urging to choose the High way.

He is reasoning with us.  I couldn’t grasp this at first, but it is scriptural.  “Come let us reason together,” God spoke to Isaiah.

I heard or studied a message on the unreasonableness of sin.  Christ is so reasonable and His ways are right.  

2Co 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

2Co 1:2  Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

2Co 1:4  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.

2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

2Co 1:6  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.

2Co 1:7  And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

God is a God of all comfort; we can rest assured on that.

Tribulation means distresses, sicknesses… it covers all the difficulties of life.  Isn’t it an absolutely wonderful thing, He comforts us so that we can comfort others.  God always comes through. 

Life is going to produce difficulties.  It will produce sufferings and things that cause us to feel pain.  To whatever degree the pain is, when we acknowledge that and tell God, “This pain is immeasurable,” but His consolation is also immeasurable. 

There are times that we feel a loss is immeasurable:  We love a soul and they get into trouble. 

The brother testified, in 1971 he left God and truth.  The pain would be immeasurable in the thought that this soul is lost.  God has a way of calling the soul near.  That seed had been planted.  That seed might have lain there 35 years but this seed never deteriorates. 

There are times that we go through things so that we can help the body of Christ.  It is a wonderful thing if God chooses to let us suffer so that we can help someone else. 

As you are partakers of the suffering so shall you also be of the consolation.  That is a stone of promise that you can keep and pass around.  You run across people that are in a difficult place in life.  You can pass the comfort stone.

Php 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

There is definite consolation in Christ.  Isn’t love a comforting thing?  Isn’t it comforting to know that you are loved?  The song says, “A love that cannot let me go.”  The Collingsworth sing a song, “Just to know that He loves me.” 

You children are blessed to be loved.  If you know that someone loves you then you are blessed.  Love will mold your life to miss so many perils that are out there.  I think of those that have not known the love of a mother, the love of a dad, the love of a grandma, or the love of a grandpa. 

We want to love children.  We want to love the little Howards; we want to love the grand children of the saints.

There will be those that are difficult to love in our families. 

It is wonderful to have the Holy Spirit love us. 

It is wonderful that there is the reality from the inside of Jesus and of the Body of Christ of feeling the need.  There are a lot of people that will flippantly say, “I’m going to pray” or “Just roll it up.”  Isn’t it wonderful when someone feels the need?

Church, enjoy the consolation, the comfort, the compassions from Christ.  It was Paul’s joy to see the saints enjoying them and he comes back and says, “That we all have the same mind.”  Enjoy the fellowship of the spirit.  Enjoy the consolation.

I remember when my oldest daughter left home to go to college and I would wake up in the middle of the night just gripped by fear.  Isn’t it wonderful to have consolation in Christ?

2Th 2:16  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

2Th 2:17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

He will give us everlasting consolation and good hope.  Have you ever felt the churning within and had to get a hold of Christ and say, “God I really need your consolation.”

Speaking of Abraham:

Heb 6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

It hasn’t happened yet but we are going to be patiently enduring and waiting on God.

Heb 6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

Heb 6:17  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

Heb 6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

David took the smooth stone and God put it through the helmet and the brain of Goliath.  God did it all.  David came back and gave all praise to Him.

“I am here with my ear tuned for Jesus to draw me near to Him.  I am here to hear Jesus speak and I am going to choose the High way.”

I was thinking of the thought of the anchor.

Heb 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

I believe that God designed the anchor before man ever designed it.  He designed it and gave it to man so that you and I could grasp that when that anchor is placed right where it is to be, when the storms of life come and when the prosperities of life come, that anchor remains secure because it is anchored in the Word of God. 

His Word anchors us to be balanced, to be steady.  It anchors us in the fruit of the Spirit.  It anchors us.  We are human and we need the anchor.  If we go too far this way or that it anchors us. 

Heb 6:20  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.