His life and ministry allows suffering but provides comfort-pt 1
2 Cor: 1:3-7 · Bob Eckel · Jan 15, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 02
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/410261633146894

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so Roger got us going last week. Thank you, Roger. And today we're going to kind of get into the meat. And there's a lot of meat in 2 Corinthians. And for Roger, I really appreciate all the verses you shared last week. I mean, there must be hundreds of verses in 2 Corinthians that I think we all rely on. And I'm going to share with you a couple that I really love today as we get into our lesson a little bit more in detail. So let's go ahead and read the first seven verses. And I don't have my modern device open here, which is more legible than the one I had before me, but let's see how I do with my glasses and my head tipped in the right way.

Okay, so 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 who are in all Achaia. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abounded us, so our consolation also abounds 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. For 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 we also be of the consolation. I miss Pat for the other device I have to hook up. Pat, where are you? Okay. We're wired for action. Okay, first verse. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

And my thought here, how's that for an uplifting beginning? And as we all kind of carry on our day-to-day activities in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, is this the manner in which you approach the Lord? Just think about that a little bit. We have this kind of casual, very open relationship and very informal and we kind of approach the throne boldly. But do we kind of position our Heavenly Father in this manner? I mean, Paul repeatedly in his epistles kind of has this opening kind of appetizer, if you will, to a lot of truth that follows. Neat way to start, huh? And keep in mind, we're not legally bound to this kind of relationship that we have to approach Him so formally, but it's interesting that Paul does it repeatedly. So it really puts the Lord in the appropriate position, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's the Father of mercies and God of all comfort? Is it the Lord Jesus Christ or is it the Heavenly Father? Or does it make any difference? We have a Triune God, don't we? The Holy Spirit is part of this process too, although he's not mentioned in this verse.

Alright, good. Let's go ahead. To some extent I think this reflects one major or several intervening trials that Paul experienced between composing the two epistles to the church at Corinth. How would you summarize the first epistle to the church at Corinth? Anybody? Stern. What was the mood or the temperature of the church at Corinth that Paul was addressing in his first epistle?

Is this a mature church? No, there was a lot of doubt whether he was really an apostle among some of them. So Jack, why do you think Paul starts the second epistle with all this kind of comfort and consolation and salvation stuff? I mean, do you think that this is, and it's reflected I think by Paul's history, But Paul's coming about this in kind of a whole new and different manner as if he has learned himself things through his life experiences. And I didn't pin down exactly what those may have been, but there's kind of a history now of Paul himself experiencing a lot of trials and tribulations. And he's coming with kind of a different message. And I think that's why the book of 2 Corinthians is so uplifting, because there's so much sound doctrine that relates to our identification truth in this epistle.

So just keep that in mind as we go forward, not only today, but for the next eleven and a half months. Isn't that right, Roger? We have eleven and a half months in this epistle. Okay, feel free to interrupt at any time. So how does the Father of Mercies relate to all comfort? Now what we're going to do today is, I've got a lot of scripture that supports each and every question I have for you, or supports each and every one of the verses, but I think we have a tremendous amount of time and opportunity for discussion today. So your thoughts.

How does the Father of Mercy said in the verse, and God of all comfort, relate to all comfort? All comfort. Nobody has any ideas here. So what's the God of all mercies and his relationship to our comfort, all comfort? How does that ensue? How do you deal with your comfort, Jack?

Well, he is the father of the comfort. And he also brings the tribulations for our spiritual advantage. Does he bring them or does he allow them? He allows them. Why are we thinking about God's comfort? God of mercy is providing comfort. Let's look at a couple of verses and come back and discuss this further. And of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. So his fullness, we've received of his fullness, and that's really related to what precedes this verse in John, his mercy.

James 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. The idea that these trials and tribulations and afflictions we experience is something that he in fact has allowed Jack, right?

In 2 Thessalonians 2.16, we dealt with this on Friday night in our gathering, but now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace.

Notice grace is the vehicle and our response to the grace is by faith. So we were talking on the way down this morning. We're talking about the doctrinal truth that we aspire to based on what God has revealed, but our response always has to be by faith, doesn't it? And Lindy, Matt, Hal is so beautiful in describing faith for everything it's worth. The grace is infinite, but yet our faith is really an active response to what God has revealed.

So this idea of the God of mercies, let's define mercy versus grace. What's mercy? Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve. And what's grace, very simplistically? Unmerited favor, everything is ours but yet we don't deserve any of it. But mercy is withholding punitive responsiveness to who we are, right in the old man's sinful nature.

Alright, let's go ahead. Verse 4 then, who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with a comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Let's first compare the comfort of, from, in God to those of the world system. Let's compare that. What about an unbeliever who's just lost his sister or her sister? You gather for the funeral and you go through all these steps and everybody's weepy.

I'm just trying to say what kind of comfort is that versus the comfort that the Lord gives us. What are some thoughts there? It's more than likely cold comfort because in spite of all the fancy words that people talk about, and even if there's feelings expressed, the hurt is still there in some way.

It's nice to be able to help people get over the hump, but they're still dealing with the problem. Instead of just words, you need actions to go with it. Keep in mind that the world system goes through trials and tribulations just like we do. So what's different about us? There's hope. There's hope. Okay. And Dave, hope? Hope in what? hope in the future. Just hope in what God's already accomplished and we'll see our loved ones again. They're with God now.

Okay, but how many people who we know or at least we sense pretty convincingly that they're not saved but yet their relative is God to a better place, right? I mean you hear that kind of all the time, don't you? Is that comforting? I mean, it's comforting in a different kind of way, isn't it? Well, they've convinced themselves that their loved one is in a better place. But if you're a believer, you know, there's no unknown. You absolutely know. So what's the comfort then? How is the comfort experience differentially for us than versus the world?

It's a rest. I think it's a rest. Tom, you've got your hand up. No degree of guesswork is involved. You've got positive assurance from God's Word which is utterly dependable. We're going to come back to this in a verse or two to follow, but it's citizenship, isn't it? Isn't it citizenship? I always look at this earthly experience as our business address. My late wife had a sign on the refrigerator for many years before she went home to be with the Lord. Earth is my business address. Heaven is my home.

So when you think of citizenship, we're thinking about the comfort we get relates to how we interpolate and interpret earthly trials and tribulations and put them into eternal perspective. As Verne so nicely describes in terms of eternity, God has no timetable. Eternity has no time. And when we're placed in the heavenlies eternally, we in fact exist in our true citizenship without a time clock.

So we have to interpret the comfort that God promises and gives by our faith, by the way. We're not robots here. We're not going to plug ourselves into the wall and suddenly we're wired with comfort. It's our faith in response to his great grace that allows us to be comforted through our trials. He has told us over and over again that he will be the comforter through all of our tribulations. So we know that to be true.

So the comfort of the world system is temporary, somewhat shallow, but yet it is meaningful. How can you doubt that a family that has lost a loved one that can't comfort one another in kind of an earthly perspective. We all go through grief. Everybody in this room has lost a loved one. But we grieve. Grieve is a human response to loss.

Look at the Lord Jesus Christ with Lazarus. He was pretty strung out over that, wasn't he? But yet he put it into internal perspective. Not only did he do that, he brought Lazarus back from the dead. But yet nobody seemed to believe that miracle in terms of who he was. Okay, good. Maybe you're not going to get to it, but the two alls, maybe there's more than two, but back in three, he says he's the God of all comfort.

I think that's pretty significant. That's that word, I think, PAS, P-A-S in the Greek, and it means there is no exceptions. Actually, I listened to Macaulay on this. I thought he had a really great point on this. If you're looking for comfort, this says, for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's really no other place. I mean, you may, and that's actually when it says all, it's all inclusive. So that's really encouraging.

He is making a statement here that's pretty profound. He's saying, I am the God of all comfort. Comfort is inherent in me. inherent in the life of the Lord Jesus. And Margaret's comment of rest I think really fits here, doesn't it? Well, in a sense I didn't mean to ignore all, but that's why I said let's compare it to the world system of providing comfort. Gary? I think the world system of comfort is looking at yourself as being comforted. And Paul is saying you take the comfort and comfort other people. Right. Good. And that's really this verse, isn't it?

Comfort, pericleo, to console, to encourage, to strengthen by consolation. We're going to come back to this too, but consolation is in second place. We think of consolation, you won the consolation, that means you were eliminated in the first round, but you won everything after that, so you won the consolation prize. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not, clearly not the meaning, and it really means, this comfort term is really meaning to console, to encourage, or to strengthen by consolation.

That means our view may be that this is not so good, but in fact the opportunity here is to grow in grace by our faith. May be able to, present passive infinitive, basically he will. He will provide comfort. who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those. By the way, we being able to really is a source of grace worked through by faith in each and every one of us. Tribulation and trouble are translated differentially here in this verse, but they're the same Greek word which basically means trouble, tribulation, affliction.

So this is all the same word used differentially by, at least in the New King James. I'm not sure what the other versions have to say, whether they translate this differently. How about other versions? Do they translate that differently? Or is it tribulation and trouble in the verse? Same deal, same word.

Now, how can we comfort others with a comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God? Well, I think unless we go through some of these things, we don't know what someone else is experiencing. I mean, I think if you lose a spouse, that's a unique thing, and you can then comfort someone else who's lost a spouse, or a child, or whatever it is, or even If someone is ill and has a certain kind of illness, cancer or whatever, you're able to comfort them because you know, you've had that. I'll come back to that in just a second. This comfort of the Lord that is complete is a comfort that we can't give others by the power of the intellect or the flesh.

So the reason I put Galatians 2.20, which is a verse we know very well, this is another life. When we comfort others through experiences that we've had, and they're going through similar experiences, that comfort can only be in an eternal perspective. This is not, gee, you know, I lost my wife at a young age, and gee, you have too, and I can identify with that. No, that's not, that doesn't put it into heavenly perspective. So, it's another life.

I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself. That's what it is. It's another life that ultimately bonds with our fellow believer and he or she is comforted because of the comfort God gives. And that's all comfort. So it's a heavenly perspective. These trials, tribulations, and afflictions are never going to go away in our lives down here.

And certainly for some they're much steeper than others in terms of the mountain they have to climb to get through. Have any of you had this opportunity? Cheryl's trials are unique to her, and Winnie's to her, and April's to her. We all kind of have our own history, don't we? But it's through those experiences the Lord allows us for 2 Corinthians 1-4 to be played out. and ultimately meet the needs of our fellow believers.

And it's a privilege. Margaret relates to my personal situation. My first wife died at 45 and I had five children. Margaret, praise the Lord, stepped into my life and has made it whole. Her companionship and our fellowship has been very, very special. How many people experience that? I hope very few, but a few people do. And that's been an opportunity, as she said, to share.

But each and every one of us here have our own personal experiences. Whether it be a loss, or a child who's gone astray in terms of their spiritual walk, or whether in fact it's illness, or disease, or whatever else it might be, the Lord provides us opportunities. And I think that's why we can't look at these negative things that the world thinks as very negative. And I think what we have to do, based on what we know, is we actually have to praise the Lord and look at our trials in a different way.

You know, Peter considers it a privilege to be tried, right? And when we study that epistle, ultimately you have trouble putting that on, don't you? How many of you are praying for new trials to come every day? Not this guy, for sure. Alright, let's go to verse 5 then.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. What does it mean that the sufferings of Christ abound in us? What does that mean to you? Are we put on the cross with nails driven through our wrists and souls? I hope not, right?

Well Bob, there's certainly an aspect that because we are identified with Christ, we will suffer because He suffered. We'll suffer reproach because we are identified with Him, we're His child. So we'll suffer as He did, we'll suffer the the disdain of the world. There's that whole aspect. There's even more it seems like. That's one part of this, but there's even more I think beyond that.

Remember always, Hebrews 4.15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was at all points tempted as we are yet without sin. And I don't like the term tempted. I don't believe Christ could sin. I don't think any of us believe He could have.

So He's tested to prove who He is. And I think as we think of our day-to-day walk and all the struggles we have at sometimes in responding by faith, remember the Lord is allowing these trials, tribulations, and afflictions to test us to prove who we really are. All of the old man and signature can be attempted to sin. We give in to that, we sin. But remember, the temptation is not sin. And if you think that the temptation is really being tested to prove who we really are, I think there's a lot of victory in that.

That's just not an intellectual process. That's a response we have by faith. And boy, we fail at that, don't we? Day in and day out. We give rise to the temptation, either the thought or the deed or the lack thereof. But yet, when we think of that trial or tribulation as proving who we really are in our new creation in Christ Jesus, then I think we put that into perspective.

And I think that is really what Hebrews 4.15 is saying. as he was tempted without sin so are we tested to prove in fact we really are. You know if you think of the Matthew account of Christ in the wilderness I mean did Christ ever give in to what Satan was tempting him to do? Well no, but in a sense if you think about that him being tested to prove that he really was the Son of God without sin I think I'm personally uplifted by this and I hope I'm trying to encourage you to be uplifted to think that those temptations are testing us. And by faith we can be above the temptation. Tom? I would say that Christ's example of just being so in the will of his Heavenly Father in the flesh was so repugnant to Satan that he couldn't do anything else but leave. It was beyond his character. He couldn't dig it.

And remember always, 2 Corinthians 5.21, he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

How's that for positional truth? Remember, God looks at each and every one of us as perfectly righteous. It's only we that fall short and lose that fellowship because of our lack of faith. So this is what we're talking about here. We're talking about our consolation or that encouragement being strengthened through this, a bounce through us because of the Lord Jesus Christ and his new nature in us. And as I put here, we need to put this on by faith. We're new creations in Christ Jesus and we've been crucified with Christ and we've been buried with him with baptism unto death and risen with him in newness of life. How you doing at that? What's faith? Define faith. Margaret?

Believing what the Lord has revealed. Perfect. In fact, even Mike Doyle, he was with us on Friday, Roger. I was proud of Mike. What's faith? And he said, well, faith is believing what God has revealed. Good for you, Mike. Anyway, this is the Schofield definition of faith, and it's simple. Hebrews 11, 1 is wonderful. But it's kind of a clumsy verse, and it's not that I'm questioning God's wisdom in that verse, but faith is believing what God's revealed. Wherever that is, whatever that is. It's that simple.

And Bobby, you see that, and I know Mike said this a bunch of times too, you see that all throughout scripture. Abraham believed God and was reckoned with righteousness. He didn't know about a whole lot of stuff, but he believed what God said. Well look at Cain and Abel. I mean the example is true, look at Adam and Eve. So anyway we can thank them for this sin nature we've inherited. So just remember faith is really, do we believe this?

And by the way, we believe Proverbs 3.22 as well as we believe 2 Corinthians 1.5.

It's just Proverbs 3.23, I don't know what that verse says, but it may or may not apply to us today. Remember, all the Bible is for us, but it's not all about us as believers, but the principles of God never fail.

They're there from Genesis through Revelation. And we were talking on the way down how, you know, you can, we're going to be doing 2nd Corinthians and how many times have we read 2nd Corinthians, but every time you go through part of the Bible, all of a sudden you, and it's not that it wasn't there before, but you have this whole new, well, wow, where did that come from? And it's because the Lord is now, you're growing and you see, Other things are being revealed that you didn't see five years ago.

I mean that happens your whole life. It really does. With the word. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. So remember, if Howard here really pounded some, he spent several years describing our existence to bring glory to God. And that's our purpose. Our purpose here by faith is to bring glory to the Heavenly Father. And the sufferings and trials and how we respond to them are part of that.

Romans 8.17, And if children then heirs, and heirs of God join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Again, saying these trials and tribulations the Lord allows them not by mistake. He doesn't bring them, but he allows them for our growth and grace.

And Philippians 3.10, what lovely verse, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. So that the conforming to his death is not getting on the cross, in fact we're doing the Lord's table today I think, in fact the conforming to his death is to realize that his death was not only for our sins to be forgiven but also for the sin nature to be crucified. So that's where the power comes from, to seeing ourselves not only having our sins forgiven but also the sin nature being crucified with him. This book is so doctrinally enriched. It's just so incredible what we can get out of this. And I think our triumph here is a matter of citizenship. I alluded to that earlier.

Where's your citizenship? And if you think this earthly place is where our permanent dwelling is, we're mistaken and our faith is lacking. Paul says my citizenship is in heaven, not here. And here's something to think about a little bit. I think about this often on it's kind of it's kind of gives me a new rest and a peace. Is it possible that our sufferings here begin because of our this is our business address. Our home's in heaven. So just the earthly experience in its own right is part of the sufferings, right?

I mean that's kind of a suggestion for you. You can put that on or ignore it. But I mean if our home is really in heaven I mean, just think when you go on vacation, you know, you may have a very nice trip to some place in Nebraska, or well, it's possible, or in Iowa, or perhaps in Costa Rica, or perhaps in Singapore, or perhaps in South Africa, but isn't it good to come home? And if you think about when you go away, coming home is really uplifting, isn't it? This is my home, this is where I exist. Do we think about our heavenly home in that same way?

I must admit I don't much of the time, but I think that's what the Lord wants us to have in terms of our citizenship. And consolation, as I alluded to earlier, is not a second best kind of deal here, but it really relates to our comfort that He only can provide. So consolation again, like I mentioned earlier, we tend to think of second place or you didn't win the tournament, but you came in second. That's not what we're talking about here.

And if this abounds, which means to exist in abundance, present active indicative, it's factual. It's now. It's something we respond to by faith and it's factual that this abounds in each and every one of us. Now if we're afflicted, it's for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. If we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

All the verbs in this verse are in the present tense, and all but is effective, which is in the infinitive tense, are indicative. So let's look at the verbs again. Now if we are afflicted, that's passive by the way, we're being afflicted by something on the outside, which is effective, it's infinitive, which kind of is almost like you expect it to happen, We also suffer, present active, and by the way it's active not passive. Or if we are comforted, present active indicative. All this is factual. It's all happening to us and it's either passive because the trials are passive in terms of their impact and how we respond is an active response by faith.

How do my and your sufferings affect, work to benefit, your consolation and salvation? When we are weak, then we are strong. Okay, and weak in the Greek is no strength. Weak is not like how we bring some of our attributes and expect the Lord. How many times, you know, we pray, I think, just, you know, subconsciously asking the Lord to help us. Well, I don't want to be overly critical of that, I'd probably do the same thing, Lord help me, in a sense, but that's really self-focused, it's not identification based, and it's kind of like, well I'll bring my own strengths up to a certain point, and you'll help me the other way.

Keep in mind, as earthly citizens we all have responsibilities. Responsibilities to our family, we have responsibilities to our job, responsibilities to the body, And that doesn't happen passively, that's active. But I think when we make it active, we put it into the perspective of who we are in Christ. But this helping me, I mean, sometimes it just reflects how we're depending on our own strengths up to a certain point. And then the Lord to really bless us or help us get the job done or have some circumstances be changed.

Can people identify with that a little bit? Again, we're not robots. Our response to these trials and tribulations are also an act of faith. And they're different for each and every one of us. And forgive me, but this is a good place to tell you the section of this epistle that historically and still has been very special to me. And again, it's 2 Corinthians. 17 and 18.

For our light and affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh in us, me, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal." Boy, that verses, particularly through Sharon's illness and death, really uplifted me. Light afflictions, light afflictions, and they're light from a heavenly perspective, even though they're very profound and of great meaning and concern to us.

Not hearing much comment here. Anyway, people have anything to share at this point? Yeah, Gary. How can Paul say of life, afflictions, his were very heavy as we look at them, but he saw the glory and that made him light. I think of that song, it's better, better by far, to be with the Lord, the bright morning star, This old world just can't compete with the glory we'll find there. Heaven is better by far. And it's not the future, it's present.

Right. And remember Philippians 121, for me to live is Christ and die is gain. Either way you win. I like that, because either way you win. For me to live is Christ or die is gain. It's a winner, either way. And his timing reflects both, doesn't it? But our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more eternal and exceeding living glory. I mean, it's just very, very special.

We'll get to those verses. Roger, I think you mentioned at least 17 last week, right? All right, let's turn to verse 7, our last verse for this morning. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the suffering, so also you will partake of the consolation. So remember, The God of mercies will provide all comfort, and Roger, back to all. I mean, there's no question here that we'll partake of that consolation, encouragement, and be consoled in our sufferings. God promises it.

How do we respond to that? Not by hoping or taking a leap of faith. It's actually putting faith in what God has revealed. Is it He really believed? Do I really believe this, that he's going to promise all comfort through our sufferings? What does it mean to have steadfast hope, and this is based on knowing others' consolation to follow?

Nobody has any thoughts here. Jack, what do you think? I can tell you're thinking. Not that I can't tell you, but the rest of you can. You know, the father, he never makes a mistake. He's always perfectly at ease with this. He has a perfect answer that describes who and what he is. I'm not sure I understood all that, Jack.

I'm sorry. God being who he is and he knows the outcome of it because he's designed the whole program for your constellation. Okay, but now I'm concerned about you and your consolation. My hope is that my having experienced what I have is going to be a minister to you.

It's kind of back to what we dealt with a little bit earlier about we go through things so we can be of comfort to others. And consolation here again is not a second class conclusion, what's occurring. So I think this is in fact how by our faith we really feel that the Lord can work through us by bringing that same peace and rest to someone else. Knowing is iaido which is factual. We know that as you are partakers of the suffering souls you will partake of the consolation. It's not knowing like like we need to experience like Gnosis or ultimately the ultimate in experience, the Epic Gnosis. This is a yaido. It's kind of like we're at 2400 South Holly. It's a fact. We know. Certainly. Tom.

And behind all that is as we read this, we are being equipped by God to stick with it and trust and rest in his provision and it will come to pass. And we are that much more better equipped right away. So Tom, what you said is you believe what God has revealed. You've responded by faith. That's what we're called to. Simply that.

Philippians 1.7, just as it is right for me to think that this of you all, because I have you in my heart, and as much as both in my chains, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. So Paul's identifying with the church at Philippi in a way that really exemplifies very accurately what this verse is all about.

Romans 8.18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory with which shall be revealed in each and every one of us. Again, bonding, ministry, providing comfort based on what God has promised. Now keep in mind, salvation, if we go back here, Consolation and salvation was what was mentioned in the last verse, and we really didn't deal with this, but salvation, does that mean bringing someone to the Lord? Salvation is of three tenses, isn't it? Some of us, not all of us, can remember the date we were saved. July 14, 1978 for me. That was when I was saved. But we're in the business of being saved day in and day out.

And so the salvation here doesn't relate to someone coming to the Lord through their sufferings, although that would be possible for sure. It relates to the fact that in this process we are continually being brought into the person and the experience and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that salvation is the present tense salvation, day in and day out. In fact that's one thing that made me really interested in getting, Margaret encouraged me to start coming to church here after Sharon had died and so that really was the beginning of a new life. The idea here is my growth in grace really depended on my wanting to be in a position to grow by grace. Increasingly like each and every one of us, being saved day in and day out, maturing in the knowledge and experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will be saved, right? to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, that's a comfort that only comes through our faith and what the scripture has to say. Keep looking down. That's where he has us. And this whole issue of comfort really is, I think, intricately and importantly tied into our position. And that is from above. Thoughts? Visual insights?

Sounds like I'm almost preaching here today, doesn't it? There's so much application here that I think just to look at the verses and drill down on all the intricacies of being scholarly about the verses really isn't what this is all about. This epistle to 2 Corinthians relates to each and every one of us and our growth in grace. And this is really kind of the beginning of a lot of good stuff to follow. Any thoughts?

I thought verse 5 was kind of significant, the fact that he talks about the sufferings of Christ are in abundance, but then he talks about how the comfort is in abundance. It reminds me of the verse about where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. So God says, you know, you may think the suffering is overwhelming, but my grace is overwhelming. My grace abounds even more than that. So it's just over the top of what God is providing for us. He provides beyond what we need. And our response to that is the first three there. Blessed be the God and Father.

It's a good place to start always, isn't it? Have many of you experienced the opportunity of the trials you've been through to be able to be ministered to others in the body? Gary's nodding. I suspect that all of us have had some opportunities to apply this to the day-to-day existence. There's lots of... I'm still struck by the alls.

So you think about it, people are always searching for Even Christians are always searching for comfort, and you're looking here, looking there, and God says, stop looking, look to me, because I am the only source of true comfort. You know, one of the tendencies we have, I think, is to look horizontally and look at other people and what they're going through, and I think there's nothing wrong with that. has allowed a path for each and every one of us to have our own trials, tribulations and afflictions. And although some suffer a lot more than we do. And if you think about when this was written, I mean it was written at a time where I'm sure there was much more, much more in the way of comfort being needed for people who were living at a time where things were not so simple. And there are people around the world that are experiencing terrible things. And they are really. sincerely suffering for their lives. And this is a hard concept for them to accept based on their day-to-day existence. We're very fortunate. Think about all the security blankets we have today that weren't there historically.

Not only a home and an automobile, but insurance to cover both, right? Insurance. If you think about insurance, some people would say it's not godly to have insurance, right? I don't know, I'm going to keep mine. I'm not sure how everybody else thinks about that. Matt, any thoughts?

Our salvation is our insurance. That is our true insurance, isn't it? so is God's mercy, always sufficient, and their hope is so rich. And sometimes in light afflictions we don't get to experience the fullness. I think that other peoples who have heavy afflictions can really cling to this hope, the present salvation that you talk to, but also to develop that future salvation that they're going to experience when they get to their heavenly home.

Okay, well if there's no further thoughts or wisdom to be shared. Roger, you want to close us in prayer, please? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have in our Savior, Lord. Thank you for our time here and your spirit to guide us and to show us, as was mentioned, show us the truths maybe we've seen before, but but need to be reminded of, reminding of our wonderful place and our Savior. We ask in His name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.