The Character of Comfort

I. THE SOURCE OF COMFORT (2 Corinthians 1:3)

A. His Initial Identification – “God”

B. His Expanded Identification

1. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
2. The Father of mercies
3. The God of all comfort

II. THE EXTENT OF GOD’S COMFORT (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

A. The God of All Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3)

1. Man struggles to comfort
a. Job said his three friends were “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2).
b. David said he looked “for comforters, but…found none” (Psalm 69:20).
c. Jeremiah cried that Israel had no comforters (Lamentations 1:2, 9, 16, 17, 21).
d. Man struggles in both the giving and receiving of comfort (Genesis 37:35; Psalm 77:2)
2. God provides all comfort
a. Either directly
1.) The Father (2 Corinthians 1:3)
2.) The Son (John 14:16, 18)
3.) The Holy Ghost (John 14:26)
4.) The scriptures (Romans 15:4)
b. Or indirectly – through man

B. Who Comforteth in All Our Tribulation (2 Corinthians 1:4)

1. All our tribulations
2. Are met by available comfort

III. THE EXTENSION OF GOD’S COMFORT (2 Corinthians 1:4)

A. Who Comforteth Us

1. The giver of the comfort – “Who” referring back to God (2 Corinthians 1:3)
2. The recipient of the comfort – “us”
a. At first glance, this may seem like a generic truth for all Christians
b. While it certainly would extend to all believers, the immediate context is Paul and his fellowsoldiers
1.) “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them…by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted” (2 Corinthians 1:4)
2.) “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation” (2 Corinthians 1:5)
3.) “And whether we be afflicted” (2 Corinthians 1:6)

B. That We May…Comfort Them

1. This is not to suggest that the only reason Paul suffered tribulation was to enable him as a comforter to others, but in the least, it suggests this as one of the primary reasons
2. The idea is that comfort received by Paul was to be used to comfort others who would find themselves in similar circumstances
3. This is further confirmed in 2 Corinthians 1:6
a. Whether we be afflicted
1.) It is for your consolation and salvation
2.) Which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer
b. Whether we be comforted – “it is for your consolation and salvation”

C. By the Comfort

1. Those who have not received of God’s comfort cannot comfort those in trouble.
2. Paul was merely a conduit through which the comfort passed.

IV. THE CALL FOR GOD’S COMFORT (2 Corinthians 1:5-11)

A. The Nature of the Troubles (2 Corinthians 1:5)

1. The sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5)
2. Bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:10)
3. Approving ourselves as the ministers of God (2 Corinthians 6:4)

B. The Extent of the Troubles (2 Corinthians 1:6-9)

1. Pressed out of measure, above strength (2 Corinthians 1:9)
2. We despaired even of life (2 Corinthians 1:9)

C. The Hope in Troubles (2 Corinthians 1:10-11)

1. God’s deliverance (2 Corinthians 1:10)
2. The saints’ prayers (2 Corinthians 1:11)

D. The Perspective in Troubles

1. Troubled but not broken (2 Corinthians 4:8-11)
2. Light afflictions giving way to exceeding weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
3. Sorrowful yet alway rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:3-10; 2 Corinthians 7:4-7)
4. Glorying in infirmities (2 Corinthians 11:22-30; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10)