Series: 2 Cor
Title: Blessed God
Text: 2 Cor 1: 3
Date: February 16, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
2 Corinthians 1: 3: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
There is a wealth of edification and instruction in these divine titles. We will be greatly benefited if we take the time to learn what these titles mean—especially what they mean in relation to needy sinners such as we are.
Proposition: Our praise of God our Father is because he has revealed himself to us as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Each phrase will make up our divisions.
BLESSED BE GOD
In many passages, these words signify an act of prayer in which God is praised—that is what the word “blessed” means in this case.
Psalm 34: 1: I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. (Ps 96: 2; Ps 134:2)
To bless God is to praise him and to adore Him, to acknowledge his excellency, to express the highest thoughts and gratitude for him. It is to pour out our heart to him as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. All believers praise God our Father himself and we praise him as the Source of all our spiritual blessings.
God is himself the “Blessed” One
Mark 14:61: [the high priest asked Christ] “Art thou the Son of the Blessed.”—speaking of God the Father as the Blessed!
So God’s saint’s praise God himself because he is the Blessed! Then in Psalm 145: 10 it says, “All thy works shall praise [or bless] thee.” God’s works bless Him because his works declare he alone is God. God alone could create all things. God alone can save wasted sinners making us entirely his new creation. God alone can do so being just and the Justifier! His works bless him!
So the nature of this prayer is not a petition but it is ascribing praise to God: for being who he is—first and foremost—Blessed God and for all his blessed works to sinners like us!
THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
2 Corinthians 1: 3: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
As sinners, in need of grace, we bless God, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, God is “a consuming fire” to sinners like us. If anyone here meets God outside of Christ, you will meet God in all your sins. And God shall be a consuming fire unto you. So our praise of God our Father is not apart from Christ. Nor do we simply praise him as “the God and Father of the Lord Jesus.” He is. But if we only know him with a historical, head-knowledge then we have no relation to him. We have no acceptance with God nor can we approach him. But the Object of the saint’s praise is “God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When we praise him as “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” we are praising God for all spiritual blessings.
Ephesians 1: 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:…
What are all spiritual blessings that God blessed his elect with in our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this list in past tense:
Romans 8: 29: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30: Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
When we praise him as “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” we praise him as the God of our accomplished salvation.
1 Peter 1: 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5: Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Brethren, that is why we praise God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in eternity. Then he accomplished our salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, keeps us by his power unto salvation which ready to be revealed in the last time.
THE FATHER OF MERCIES
2 Corinthians 1: 3: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies…
God is “plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 86:5) He gives his people “mercies” in plenty. But this title “Father of Mercies” conveys more than that. It means his mercies come from God’s very nature. His mercies come from who God is. He is “the Father of mercies.”
When scripture speaks of someone as “the father” it means he is the author, the first cause. For example, Jabal is called “the father of such as dwell in tents.” (Ge 4:20) Jubal is called “the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (Gen 4: 21) They were the originators, the first to do so.
For this same reason, in another text, God is called “the Father of spirits” (Heb 12:9) because God is the Begetter of spirits. If you are born-again you have a new spirit in you because you are born again of God. He is the “Father of lights” and “the Author” of all gifts because all gifts and all light comes from him. (James 1:17) Likewise, our text says God is “the Father of mercies” because all mercies originate with God and without him there would be no mercy.
There are at least three reasons he is called the Father of mercies.
One, as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, he is the Father of all our covenant mercies. And all our mercies are covenant mercies. All his mercies are sure and continual to us because of Christ’s precious blood shed for his people by which Christ, as it were, fulfilled, signed, sealed and delivered the everlasting covenant to God the Father and to his people.
Two, God is called the “Father of mercies” to signify that God delights to show mercy.
Micah 7: 18: Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
Brethren, we are not saved by mercy, singular. We are saved by mercies, plural.
Lamentations 3: 22: It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23:They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Three, the name “Father of mercies” applies especially to the case of the Corinthians. And in their mercies, we see our mercies. It was God the Father’s mercies to send Paul to them and Paul dealt faithfully to them—it is God’s mercies to send faithful ministers to us. It was God’s mercies to rebuke them for their faults instead of being abandoned by God—it is God’s mercies when he rebukes us as a Father chastens his child he loves. It was God’s mercies that caused them to be convicted—no amount of truth will help us until God sanctifies it to our heart by his mercies. It was God’s mercies to bring to them repentance and make them right their wrongs—every gift is of God’s mercies.
So we praise God as the Father of mercies because our entire salvation is due to all our mercies originating with God. We pray,
Psalm 51: 1: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psalm 40: 11: Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT
2 Corinthians 1: 3: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Since God is the Father of mercies, he is also the God of all comfort. He is not the God of some comfort but the God of all comfort. God is the source of every genuine comfort to his people. He promises his people, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” (Is 66:13),
When our children were little—even now—when they hurt themselves, they flee to their mother and she comforts them. I have never seen a child, not flee to their mother when they needed comfort. Knowing God is the God of all comfort, should make us flee only to him in all our need. But strangely, we usually turn first to our vain comforters. Oh, please hear this word, go only to God our Father. He is the God of all comfort!
“Comfort” means soothing but it means much, much more. It means “strength.” All our strength is the God of all comfort. And his comfort is our strength. He is able to effectually comfort by strengthening his child.
Psalm 119: 50: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
When he comforts us by quickening us in strength, all our comfort is in Christ Jesus our Lord! Now, consider that God our Father is able to justly be “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” to his elect because Christ endured the cross on our behalf, receiving no mercy and no comfort from God the Father as he did so.
On the cross, God showed Christ no mercies and no comfort because Christ hung there as Surety and Substitute of his elect. He was the one made sin for us, the one made a curse for us. Therefore, in strict, unbending justice, as Judge, God dealt with Christ as the one and only, guilty sin-bearer, justly cursed in place of all his elect people. God said,
Zechariah 13: 7: Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd…
Oh, what our Savior endured in our place! When men poured out the cruel venom of the fallen heart upon the Lamb of God, “he opened not his mouth.” But when the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort forsook him on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.” (Ps 22: 3; Mt 27:46). Yet, he vindicated God saying, “But thou art holy, but I am a worm, and no man.” (Ps 22: 3, 6) And since he satisfied divine justice for his people now God is just be to us ONLY the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort
Brethren, always remember and never take for granted that our cup is sweet because our Savior’s was bitter; God communes with us because he forsook our Substitute; we are enlightened because Christ endured darkness for us. This is why we praise God saying,
2 Cor 1: 3: Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort!
Amen!