Well, good morning. If you’ve got a Bible, go ahead and go with me to Romans chapter eight, correct. And we’re still in the same verse 17, although we’re gonna dip our toe into verse 18. And if you wonder why we’re going so slow through this, I would call this a normal rate of understanding, and so that’s actually what we’re after. I want to refresh our memory just a little bit. What we’re going to do here this morning is an implication of chapter eight, verses 17 and 18, not a direct correlation. Okay, so it’s not exactly the exposition of the singular nature of the text, but it’s an implication, and I do have some – what we would call some pastoral leeway to do that, some license. Now, I don’t get to inject my thoughts, I have to teach what the Bible teaches, but we want to understand some details of what we talked about last week, so if we just go back only to, you know, chapter one, unrighteousness, suppression of truth, and damnation, condemnation is what’s called for. You come into justification, it’s all by grace through faith, it’s all in Jesus Christ. The law had to be fulfilled by someone else, because you and I couldn’t do it. So, we’ve been given righteousness, a whole new creation, old things passed away, new things have come. We get into chapter seven, and what do we learn? We learn this: believers will still battle sin, but at the end of that chapter seven, we see what Jesus is our deliverer, right? What does Paul pray? He cries out, “What, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” And he says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ,” right? And that’s where you get the “therefore” in chapter eight, verse one. Therefore, because of Him, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And all of chapter eight begins the demonstration of the fact of convincing us that there’s assurance of who we are in Christ. We’ve been set free from the law of sin and death, Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has made our spirit alive to God. We will one day be raised from the dead with glorified bodies. We are being led by the Holy Spirit. We’ve been adopted into God’s own family. We call God the Father, “Abba”. We are fellow heirs with Jesus Christ. All our suffering for Christ will be rewarded, and the sum total of all will ever suffer is nothing to be compared to our reward. That’s where we are right now, right there at the end. But when we read the text, there’s a little bit of – I would call it a bolstering of understanding when we talk about suffering.
I want to read this text, and this is going to be 16 through 18. Romans 8:16-18, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him.” Now we saw what that meant last week, case you missed that, that means “since” or “indeed” that is this is in the indicative, it’s not in the imperative. You’re not earning your salvation by suffering, that’s not what this means. It’s a poor choice in the ESV on that one word. If indeed is generally that’s assuming “In order that we may also be glorified with Him, for I consider that the sufferings of this (watch this) the present time (this is important here) are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Okay, let’s cut this up just a little bit. This word “worth” is “axios”. It’s a Greek word, “axios”. It’s a Greek word that means a set of the scales. In other words, what Paul is writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is this: that if you take eternity in the future and you set it on the scale, and you take every bit of suffering that you and I could ever experience, and you were to counter that weight with this. There is no such thing as it affecting what’s heavier. In other words, eternity takes it all the way to the bottoms the scale out, and nothing is affected at all. It’s not worth comparing to the glory, and so what we have time at issue here. We have a time frame. Okay, so we have the now, and then we have the then. So, we could say the present, we could say the future. Okay, and the assurance given here is very detailed and very good. Well, it’s as detailed as it needs to be. That how good is it? It’s not a detail of what is it, but it is a detail of how good is it. Well, it’s not worth comparing to whatever you go through here. Now, you got to keep in mind what Paul was talking about. His life as well, and we saw his resume last week, and he was beaten and bludgeoned and whipped, and he had all the physical, and he had the heartbreak to go with it. He had false brothers, he had false friends, he had false ministers, he had people who betrayed him, all those things. Okay, he would go to trial, nobody would stand with him, right? He had problem children, like Mark, and then he saw them, you know, recover and come back into ministry, all of those things he experienced, and what he says is this: it’s not worth comparing once eternity hits the scales, it’s not worth comparing, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but we actually live here and now. Okay, and in case you didn’t know, here and now still matters. It’s impossible to be so future-minded that it washes away any sense of pain or suffering and desperation in the here and now. It’s just listen, that is not sufficient, and that’s by design. I’ll prove it to you. It’s not sufficient. You can’t just say, “Well, in the sweet by and by.” Hey, there is a sweet, and there it is in the by and by, and that is your best life. You’re not living it now if you’re a Christian, okay? If you are living your best life now, you’re going to hell. But that’s not what’s happening now. But simply to tell someone, “Look, there’s an eternal weight of glory, and that is sufficient to get you through suffering.” I want to demonstrate to you in Scripture, if that’s not even God’s way, it’s a part of it, it’s a very important part of it. I’m not minimizing 18 at all, but I want to actually magnify it with the whole counsel of God, so that we’re not left wanting, and so let me read you this.
We hear this from several places. Here’s directly from the lips of Jesus in Matthew 5:10-12, where He is in the Sermon on the Mount. What is He doing? Is He giving them the law? No, I mean, is He giving them the gospel? No, He’s giving them the law, that’s what the Sermon on the Mount is, and it’s even embedded in this, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. (Watch) Rejoice and be glad (why? Well, here’s the promise) for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Now, so “Your reward is great in heaven.” Now, is that in the here and now, or is that in the future? It’s not a trick question. It’s in the future, and it is a good calming assurance that we are secure, and there’s a reward coming, but is that in God’s economy sufficient to sustain you in the suffering in the here and now? Here’s what I’m gonna say to you: it’s not God’s plan that it’s that way. Let me show you another instance, just Romans 5:3, just the essence of that progression that starts in verse three. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering (why), knowing that suffering produces.” And then there’s a list of things it produces, not in the here, or not in the by and by, but even in kind of in the here and now, but it’s always in the future, because you grow in those things, and still this is future. So, here’s what I want you to hear. Not in the sweet by and by, nor in the guarantee of growth, is there what we would see in Scripture, the sufficiency for the Christian going through suffering. This is why I want to bring this to bear, because if you don’t have the whole counsel of God, you risk taking a piece and saying, “Here, Christian, here’s your full assurance.” And then they find that something is sadly lacking if we haven’t impacted it with the full counsel of God, according to the gospel. So, I’m going to show you the progression of this as a help for those of us who are suffering, and if it’s not your turn yet. Well, it will be, and that’s not morbid, that’s life. Now, some people will even ask, “Well, why does there have to be suffering at all?” They think they’re brilliant because they say, “Well, if God is altogether good, He would remove suffering. If He’s altogether powerful, He could remove suffering. Therefore, God is neither good or all powerful, one or the other.” What they don’t understand is that God is not the causative agent of any suffering except that which He laid on His Son. But we live in a sin-cursed world, and when the Son of God entered into it Himself, He endured suffering, so that we could one day face glory and be relieved. I remember when I was a kid, I went to Catholic school, I got beaten by nuns. Pray for me. Parochial school was quite an experience. I’ll never forget. I don’t know how many of you remember the old Mrs. Baird’s Bakery on Mockingbird and. Alice! Do y’all remember that was right by the airport? You drive by that thing, and the smell.. oh my gosh, and you know, just.. it was like a setup for you to buy their expensive food at Love Field. Anyway, we went there as a field day, and we walked in that thing, and the smell was just overwhelming. You left in my.. we had school uniforms and my uniform, when I got home, it smelled like bread. My mom was like, you know, huffing it. Well, why did it smell like that? Mrs. Barrett’s bakery? Because there was bread baking. Why is there suffering? Because there’s sin. Baking bread produces those smells. Having sin on the planet produces suffering. It does. It immediately produces suffering. There would not have been any under innocence, none. That’s the causative to it. But the Christian has more than just the promise of the future. There’s something in the here and now. Let’s start leaning toward that understanding.
This is 1 Peter 4:12-14. Peter has a lot to say about suffering, but let’s just.. we’re going to capture this essence. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” Why is this happening to me? No, you’re not being picked on. You live in a sin-cursed world, but here it is. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s suffering. So that would be the sympathetic essence. It’s not the same verb, but sympathetic essence that we saw in verse 17 of chapter eight of Romans, that you may also rejoice and be glad. Now watch, “When His glory is revealed.” Now that is what? That’s the future. Now here again we’re seeing rejoice about it, because here’s the promise of the future, but we start to get a hint, if you will, in the next verse that it’s more than just the promise of the future, but it’s what’s in the actual, in the here and now, in the midst of our suffering. Look at the next verse, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed.” Now, is this talking about the by and by or is it talking about now? It’s talking about now. Watch, because that’s in the current, “Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” I want you to see this. Here’s the essence of it: rejoice, be glad. If it happens to you now, do you look to the future? Yes, you do. But guess what you have right now. You have the spirit, the spirit present not just upon you in the moment of the suffering, but the indwelling Holy Spirit, which what we’re going to see, according to your Bible, was required for the apostles to be comforted in the midst of their suffering.
Now, comfort is essentially what’s needed in the midst of suffering. Otherwise, what you end up with are what I would call natural responses to suffering. Here they are, you know these are true because I made them up.
1. Surprised & Shaken
2. Blaming & Begrudging
3. Hopeless & Despairing
Now, okay, this is the sum total, and not a brag, it’s the sum total of 40 years in study in the scripture. You can put them into these categories. Your mileage may vary, but I’m not going to go to the details of this. If you’ve been in the Word long enough, you’re going to go, “Yep, that’s biblical.” And so, we kind of put them together so we could pair them. This is where people tend to go, I mean, unbelievers and believers, surprise, we just saw Peter tell us not to, so obviously that has to be a good response. So, what is that? That’s when hardship or sorrow hits, particularly even in Christians, when they’re persecuted. They’re like, “I’m in the Bible Belt,” and they’re shocked, right? And you see this in people’s response if you do any kind of counseling, any kind of D-group interaction, any kind of one on ones, and people pour out their heart. Oftentimes, there’s this shock of what’s going on, and thus they are shaken. They start to feel unsteady. They start to feel like the world is collapsing around them, not because there’s trouble in the world, but because some of it has landed on them, that makes sense, right? I mean, I like to watch sometimes. Well, I used to like to watch boxing. I don’t really watch the MMA. It’s just, yeah, and I, yeah, I can’t. Okay, a little bit, maybe it’s a very little bit, because Kelly be like, “What are you doing? The women aren’t going to fight, are they?” Like, no, I’m not watching that. But I used to watch boxing when it was good, and you know, you’d see somebody take a really hard shot and really punched by a professional, and you’re like, “Oh, that must have hurt,” but see, that’s nothing to standing in front of that man. And having him hit you in the jaw, this is what suffering is. We can empathize and have sympathy for others, but when we feel it deeply is when it hits us, and oftentimes we’re not just surprised by the punch, but we get shaken by the punch. Ever felt that? You have it’s natural. Then this can spill over at this point in particular, if we don’t have the intervention the way God designed it, it can actually go to blaming now. Ultimately, who are we blaming? If we blame, ultimately we blame God. Blame God. Now, you might blame your neighbor, you might blame the person persecuting you, you might blame the person in the fast lane, but ultimately, who are you blaming? Well, you’re blaming God, because if you’re an actual believer, you understand that divine sovereignty is a thing. He is sovereign, His providence is sovereign over all His creation. He’s the creator and the sustainer, and He superintends and governs over all the creation. Now, He’s not the causative agent in any of that, that would cause you pain like that of the suffering. He’s not the theological, He is not the efficient cause, but He is the deficient cause. Now, maybe you’re not familiar with that. Let me show you this. If something happens in the world, it’s because God allowed it. It’s not necessarily because He caused it, but it’s at least because He allowed it. We would agree to that. Let me show you this. I’ve got this pen, I won’t do it, because I’m scared of you. I could take this and I could throw it at Brad. Actually, I’m scared of Carla. If I take this pen and I throw this pen at Brad, I am theologically speaking, I am the efficient cause of this pen going at Brad. Okay, in other words, I did it, I caused it, but if I simply take this pen and I let go of it, what’s going to happen? It’s going to follow the ground. Did I cause that? Well, in some ways you have to say it, but I am the deficient cause. I simply removed my restraint and what was natural and of the nature of the earth, which is gravitational pull. It happened, that’s providence. God is the efficient cause toward His people. God is the deficient cause toward those who aren’t. In other words, He actively operates and works everything for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, and to the others, what does He do? He leaves them to their own nature and lets them do what they want. He changes this nature, He leaves this nature alone in eternity. Guess who gets what they want? Everybody. Efficient cause to the believer. Deficient cause to the unbeliever. He lets it go, but see, we will start to blame. We’ll say, “God, You could have stopped it, and now I think I have a grudge against You.” Come on, you might have been there. I could argue, and I can actually prove to you out of the Gospels that the apostles struggled with this. Think about this, “Do You not care that we are drowning? Wake up and go to work now.” They didn’t say those quotes, but you don’t talk about there’s Jesus in the boat, asleep on the cushion, insult to injury, “Wake up and help,” and that’s what we feel. We say this, “I’m a little mad, starting to have an issue, so I sing that we sing about God’s goodness, and I flinch a little bit. You tell me I’m loved. Well, then why this, and why that.” And then you get over to this hopeless. What does that mean? Well, you’re in a place where you don’t feel like anything’s ever going to brighten, and you enter into some kind of a lull, or for some of us, maybe a depression, and you become really negative. It’s an old joke, but you become so negative that if we put you in a dark room, you’d develop. People from the digital age will never get that joke, isn’t that cool? It’s like an insider with old people, myself included. And then they enter into a place of despair, and you roll around, and then you read those verses we’ve been reading, and you find, listen, that you feel like they’re insufficient to draw you out of this conclusion. This is natural, but what we’re after is the super. The natural. Here’s the natural. What does super mean, right? It means over and above, right? We have man, then you have Superman. He’s over and above man, right? I should step over there when I say that, right? We don’t need the natural responses, we need supernatural responses, and all of these, by the way, come from a sense of entitlement. “I’m not getting what I deserve.” Okay, I love you. Listen to me. You don’t want me what you deserve, you want what He deserved, and does deserve, and in Christ, that’s who you have. So, the escape from these things is elegantly simple, but I’ll promise you this. It is not enough just to have a future hope now, lest you corner me and call me, you know, separating from the.. I’m not separating from the text, I’m incorporating the entirety of it. I’m gonna prove it to you.
Let’s go to John 14:15-18. Jesus gives them an indicator of who’s true. He says, “’If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.’” What are His commandments? There are two of them: believe and love one another. Right, that’s the essence of the commandment: love God and love others. And, of course, obviously, what do you do to do the works of God? What does Jesus say? Believe on the one who He sent. It doesn’t mean if you love Me, you’re going to nail the Ten commandments. You can’t do that. You should aspire to it, and you do if you’re a real believer. So, let’s understand. He’s the reason why I’m saying this verse is He’s in the context of true believers. Okay, next verse, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another.” Now, hang on, don’t do the word yet. Other words, He’s going to give you another. Now, you’re going to see this is in the context of Jesus saying, “I’m going away.” He’s going to give you another. In other words, “What I’ve been doing, I’m going away.” He’s going to give you another. In other words, a replacement. “I’m going away. I’m going to go to the Father. He’s going to replace Me with somebody else. I’m going to give you another.” And the ESV translates this “helper” to be with you forever. Okay. Helper. Now the word in Greek, “Paraklétos”, that’s an L in there, “Paraklétos”. Some of you who speak Espanol, you’ll recognize that from the from the original. “Para” means “with”, right? It literally means one called to your side or called to one side. I’m going to give you someone who will be called to your side, and the translation from the literal of the word has always, always, through most of church history, been seen as this comfort, that’s why King James translates it, I believe rightly to that, and in all the forms of the word those are interchangeable, so we’ll see the word “comfort” later, it’ll just be a different phrasing of this word, it’s always different form of the word, which doesn’t change the essence of it, so when you see that helper, I want to ask you the question. Let me ask you a question, if you’re cold, let’s say you’re freezing, you’re cold, and you’re shivering and shaking, and you’re at risk of hypothermia, and I sit down next to you, and I say, “Hey, I’m here to help.” What would you say to me? “Warm me up now.” What would you say if, instead of just coming near you and say, “I’m here to help,” I show up and I have this massive fluffy comforter, I come behind you and I throw that around you, rub your shoulders a little bit there, “You better?” You’re like, “Yes.” That’s the better picture of the one called alongside, because it’s not just the essence of I’m going to help you through it, but I’m going to ease your pain, I’m going to ease your suffering. That makes sense. I’m going to comfort you in the midst of your trial and your affliction. This is an accurate form of this word. And could you say “Helper”? Yep, you could also say “Advocate”. Oftentimes it’s translated “Advocate”, so what? When the Greek word is the same, and you have to pick.. well, there are many ways to do that. The only one that’s for sure is within context. So, we have to ask, what is Jesus trying to communicate to the disciples? Is it, “I’m going to give you another Advocate”? Is it, “I’m going to give you another Helper”? Or is it, “I’m going to give you another Comforter”? I would argue it’s Comforter based upon the context. He’s saying this: I’ve been your Comforter, I’ve kept you safe. I haven’t just been a helper to you, right? “I haven’t just been an advocate for you. I’ve been comforting you, guys. I’ve been providing for you. I’ve told you, “Be at peace. Don’t worry.” I’ve fed you. You haven’t gotten sick, have you? See, I’m comforting you. So, understand that in the context, I’ll ask the Father, He’ll give another Comforter to be with you forever.” Who is it? Look at verse 17. Here it is, “Even the Spirit.” It’s the Spirit. What is He saying? “I’ve been comforting you, guys, I’ve been providing for you, protecting you, I’ve been dealing with this, you know and I’m going to go away, but I’m not going to leave you alone. I’m going to give you the Spirit. If I don’t go away, you won’t get the Spirit.” In fact, doesn’t He say “It’s better that I do go away”? “Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him, you know Him, for He dwells and will be in you.” And that’s our here and now, that’s believers, that’s the church, that’s the true church throughout time and geography, ever since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, and the church was born, and the true saints were what? Led by the Spirit of God, raised from the dead by the Spirit of God, and thus led by the Spirit of God, sealed by the Spirit of God, guaranteed by the Spirit of God, and listen to me, comforted, comforted by the Spirit of God, an active indwelling agent to comfort the heart of a true believer, in the midst of their trials, their sufferings, that is the fuller picture than just the type and shadow in the Old Testament, and the future hoped, there’s the here and now, so it’s past, present, and future. Even the Spirit right now here’s where we set the context, and I know it’s on the back end, but this is an essential piece. Look at verse 18, “I will not leave you (how? I will not leave you) as orphans. I will come to you (how?) by the Spirit.” Let me ask you, what does an orphan need well? An orphan needs everything, but in this context He’s saying, “I’m not going to leave you without a Parent. I’m not going to leave you without a Caretaker. I’m not going to leave you, listen, without a Comforter. I’m not going to do that to you. I’m going to make sure you’re protected, provided, and the things you’re going to go through, you’re not going to be alone, I’m going to be actually essentially with you.”
Skip down to verse 25 still in the same context. John 14:25-27, “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you.” Right? “I’m telling you this because I’m going to be going away.” But here’s the word again: “Paraklétos”, “But the Helper.” And I’m telling you, when you read your Bible, I need you to at least consider that word. You need to do it, because it does the context justice, “But the (Comforter) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” And then here’s the consequence of it, in the same thought. The next verse, what is it? “Peace (peace) I leave with you.” Now, does that mean He just sends peace? No, peace is a fruit of the spirit. He’s still in the essential nature of the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense? “Peace I leave with you.” How? Through the spirit of peace. Peace in what? Peace in the sorrow, peace in the suffering, peace in the trial. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.” That’s nothing other than the Holy Spirit. I’m going to give you the Holy Spirit. He’s going to be your comforter. I give it to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. And then he says, do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. What’s the essence for that? It’s comfort. Are you suffering, Christian? You need to be comforted. You need it. I don’t know. I’m gonna go on record saying that these 11 sincere disciples that were there are more spiritual than me. I don’t know why. I mean, I was not.. I was not.. I know it’s a shocker, but I was not personally discipled by Jesus. Did you spend three years with Him, hearing Him talk? Were you at Pentecost? Are you an eyewitness to His life, death, burial, resurrection? I’m not, so I’m thinking this: if they need that, I need that more, because they were transcendently experiential, at least in those things, and it’s seen Him personally, you know. Let your heart be troubled, or let it be afraid. He puts that together, doesn’t He? He puts that in the “I’m going to give you comfort, it’s going to bring you peace. Don’t let your heart be troubled, and don’t let it be afraid.” How will that be? That will be because the Holy Spirit is ministering comfort, and they’re receiving peace. Here’s what we tend to do, though: we tend to find other comforters, this is natural in our unrenewed mind. We still look to the old comforts. Is that true? You can say “amen”. Yeah, and the longer you’re saved, you start putting away some of those old comforts, and the Holy Spirit does more of that job, right? It’s His immediately, He’s the only one that works, right? But we go after other comforts. I’m not going to go through the details of those. I don’t have to. It’s why do they call it comfort food? I’ve literally said to Kelly, “Let’s go eat our feelings” and Jesus responded, “Yes, that’s comfort.” I get comforted by eating a good meal, I get comforted by good friends, I get comfort with God. But listen, all of those cisterns are ultimately empty because all those cisterns are fountained by what? By Christ, I don’t remember 132 maybe all the singers and dancers declare what? All my fountains. Every other cistern is filled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so the friendships can comfort you because it’s a flow of grace, and the times together, and the worship, and the Word, and the communion. All of these things, you’re with your Bible in the morning, you’re looking at a mountain sky. What think about the comfort, and if the Spirit is flowing through that, ministering peace to you, then it has some effect, but it’s secondary. We can’t terminate our hope on a secondary comforter. We can’t do it. We’ve got to go to Him for it. Let me just say it to you this way: don’t seek comfort, seek God, and you’ll get the comfort. Like, but I’m but what some of the.. I don’t think first service will have a problem with what I just said. The third service may struggle. I’m kidding, because if you say “Yes, that’s what I need.” So, I’m gonna go seek comfort. You’re kind of missing it. Don’t go to get what God gives, go to get God. And guess what? All these things will be added unto you. I know 6:33 it’s talking about some other things in context, but isn’t that true? It’s essentially true for everything, isn’t it? I seek Him, I’m going to get everything that He is, everything He wants me to have, and comfort is at the top of the list. How do we know He’ll do it?
Well, this is 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, and some of you know I was going here. Paul just blurts this to the church at Corinth, who needed to be comforted. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (this is the Father) the Father of mercies and God of all (“Paraklésis”).” Sound familiar? Why is it translated “comfort”? Because it wouldn’t be effectual in context to say the word “helper” or “advocacy”. This is comfort. He is the God of how much comfort? All. What do the singers and the dancers say? “All my springs are in You.” Your translation might say “All my fountains are in You.” In other words, if there is comfort that’s real, it comes from God, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit does more than pacify. He actually restores. What does David say in 23, right? He restores my soul. He’s my Shepherd. I shall not want all these benefits, and he does what at the end of it? He restores my soul. He takes my mind, my will, and my emotions, and He brings them to a place of restoration that I can continue to walk forward whole. That doesn’t mean there’s no pain, by the way, but that means you have one who’s called alongside you, that’s what it means, and what does He minister? He ministers comfort. He goes on verse four, “Who comforts us (“Parakléto” just another form of the same word) who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to now (look), comfort those who are in any affliction.” Now, what is that? That’s a secondary comfort, isn’t it? That’s what we would call a secondary grace. God’s using a creaturely mean means for you to be a vessel of passing on what you’ve been given, but still, who’s the true comforter, though? The essence is always going to be the God of all comfort. So, if I’ve been comforted by God, and you are suffering, I can come along beside you with empathy and love, and I can be with you and say, “I’m so sorry. How can I help? It’s going to be okay. God has got this.” There’s the assurance, but those words are empty if it’s not the Spirit doing the work. Don’t get it confused. This whole: “I think I’m an empath.” You’re not an empath, you’re a human being, and the Spirit is the one actually doing all ministry right now. Let me say it to you this way: if you’re receiving anything of the essence of the scripture right now, it’s because what the Holy Spirit’s doing is not because a man’s doing it. If the Spirit doesn’t go to work, there’s no increase. I can plant, I can water, others can do. You guys do this exact same thing, but God brings the increase. Those are His words, not mine. You’ll be able to comfort those who are in any affliction. Oh, look, “With the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” In other words, it’s actually secondary. The true ministry of the Spirit is it’s not you. Now I’ve known people who are they’re like comforty, sappy, and they can do that, and that might make they might appease you for a moment or two, but if it’s not the sincere work of the Holy Spirit, that’s going to come up empty. Verse five finally, “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings (that’s what we’re talking about, ultimately, right? In 8:17) so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” What is the key here? “Through Christ,” how is this bought and paid for? It’s through Christ that we get comforted.
Why? Because He wasn’t comforted. Matthew 27:45-46, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ That is ‘My God, My God, why have You (not comforted) Me?’” Yeah, He took what you deserve, He took what I deserve, and thus He says, what? “I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you.” And what did He say? I’m going to send this Spirit, and He’ll be with you always. That’s what Jesus means. Matthew 28, “Behold, I’m with you even to the end of the age.” With us, how? The indwelling Spirit. Thus, we have the Comforter. Don’t get the gospel separated from this ministry. It’s because of Jesus Christ that we have the Spirit, and it’s because we’re in Christ that we’re able to reap the benefits of that, and it’s not just the narrative of the past, it’s not, and I’m not minimizing these things, these are precious, it’s not just the promises of the future, those are awesome, but it’s the current present ministry of the Spirit now, the one called alongside, where yes, He dwells in you, but it’s almost like somebody’s just right there, right there in the moment.
Psalm 34:18. “The Lord is (what? Oh, He’s) near.” What does that mean? Does that mean He was distant before you got your heart broke? No, that means it’s manifesting that you feel that you sense that He comes near. He’s near to who? He’s “Near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.” I don’t know about you, but you know when you think about going out to dinner with someone, do you go, “You know who can we find that’s broken hearted? Because they’re fun to hang out with. How about somebody that’s crushed? It’s like going to lunch with Eeyore.” I’m just going to machine gun it. Nahum 1:7. “The Lord is good. He’s a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him.” This is analogous to the Spirit’s ministry of comfort and strength. Psalm 147:3. What does He do? “He heals the brokenhearted and He binds up their wounds.” Who does it? Food doesn’t do it, drink doesn’t do it, sex doesn’t do it, sin.. well, no sin will ever do it. No, even an ordinate creaturely means will never do it. He’s the one that does it. So, who do we seek? We seek Him, because He’s the one that comforts us. Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God.” Here they are. You want to know what real worship is? It’s “A broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, You will not despise.” You show up at church sometimes. You’re like, “I don’t even know if I could lift my heart to heaven.” Do that because He’s near to you. Do that because that’s who He rescues. Do that because He – that’s a sacrifice to Him. Because, yeah, you say “I don’t feel like it.” That’s why it’s a sacrifice. No sweeter worship than someone who lifts their eyes to heaven when they feel like they’re standing somewhere in the middle of hell. Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to who to all (get this, all) who call upon Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” If you’re here and you’re going, “I don’t know if God will hear me,” but then you’re calling this a liar. You’re calling God a liar. Have you tried call on Him? “I don’t know how to do that.” Go home, I’ll overly prescribe it. Go home, get alone, and say this: “God, I’m calling on You. I’m calling on You.” Do that. Like, “That’s it?” That’s it. And it’s because of what Jesus has done that you have even a way to the Father, and in someone who’s regenerate, you realize that, and then Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He is the heavenly intercessor, He ever lives to make intercession for you, so the Spirit’s in you, and we’re going to see in the weeks ahead, He’s even praying for you. Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the one who is high and lifted up. (This is God) Who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. (This is God speaking) ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit to (do what? to) revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” He goes to work where others would go away. And then finally landing it here in our New Testament, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, this early doxology in that book. “Now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father.” So, there you have two people of the Trinity, right? You have the Father and you have the Son, “Who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.” Who’s that referring to? That’s the Spirit. That’s the Trinity in one verse, by the way, again take that, modalist! Gave comfort, eternal comfort. “Comfort your hearts (look, the Spirit does that) and establish them in every good work and word.” Do you want to be established in every good work and word? Then listen to me. You need to be comforted by the Holy Spirit. That’s what you need. You have to walk at this because you’re seeking God.
KEYWORDS
Romans 8, Suffer, Suffering, Comfort, Helper, Advocate, Comforter, Peace, Assurance, Salvation, Justification, Condemnation, Faith, Grace, Secondary Grace, Comforts, Resurrection, Persecution, Eternal Life, Restoration, Non-Denominational Churches In Grayson County, Bible Churches In Grayson County, Churches In Texas, Romans 8:17, Gospel, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Scripture, Worth, Axios, Mrs. Baird Bread, Efficient Cause, Deficient Cause, “Paraklétos”
Speaker
Steve LeBlanc