1.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Comfort means: something (or someone) that gives you all the strength that you need.
• Everyone needs comfort.
• Jesus Christ gives true comfort:
  - The comfort of belonging to someone
  - The comfort of being free to live
  - The comfort of being free from guilt
  - The comfort of being cared for
• The whole Bible tells one, beautiful story of how God saves people from sin through Jesus Christ.
• The story of the Bible has three big parts:
  - Sin
  - Salvation
  - New Life

1.2 Ecclesiastes 4:1-4←⤒🔗

^4:1 So I again considered all the oppression that continually occurs on earth.

This is what I saw:
The oppressed were in tears, but no one was comforting them; no one delivers them from the power of their oppressors.

^4:2 So I considered those who are dead and gone more fortunate than those who are still alive.

^4:3 But better than both is the one who has not been born and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.

^4:4 Then I considered all the skillful work that is done: Surely it is nothing more than competition between one person and another. This also is profitless – like chasing the wind.

© NET Bible

1.3 Everyone needs comfort←⤒🔗

From the day we are born, we need comfort. Think of how a baby cries from the first  moment of his life! As that baby grows up, he will fall down and get hurt many times. When he goes to school, he will experience many other challenges. Life is not easy, even for a child.

Also, think of someone who has grown old. Old-age is a time in which people need comfort too. An old person knows that death is coming closer. The same is true for people who are very sick or who are living in a time of war.

But what if you are not a child, or an old person, or someone who is going through illness or war? What if you are young and strong and enjoying life? Do you still need comfort? Our Bible passage shows us that the answer is “Yes.”

Our passage comes from the book of Ecclesiastes. This book was written by a king. He was rich and powerful. No one would think that he had any problems. But he writes, “I considered those who are dead and gone more fortunate than those who are still alive” (verse 2).

For this king life was full of suffering. When he looked around him, he saw oppression (verse 1). Everywhere in the world there was evil (verse 3). The king saw that even successful people were not happy, because they were always trying to be better than others (verse 4). He started to believe that everything is “profitless” (verse 4). In the end, everyone will die anyway!

Think about your own life. Do you sometimes feel confused? Lonely? Disappointed? Tired? These are times when you need comfort. Comfort means: something (or someone) that gives you all the strength that you need.

1.4 There is comfort!←⤒🔗

The king who wrote Ecclesiastes was right. In this world we will not find anything that can truly comfort us. Even our friends and family will disappoint us. And one day we will die and leave everything behind.

But there is a Friend who is there for us, now and forever. That Friend is Jesus Christ. With him there is true comfort, life, and happiness. The comfort that he gives is a comfort for all times and all situations. It is a comfort for when we eat, work, rest, go to church, face problems, and even for when we die.

No-one else can give the kind of comfort that Christ gives to his people. Christ’s comfort is:

• The comfort of belonging to someone.
• The comfort of being free to live.
• The comfort of being free from guilt.
• The comfort of being cared for.

In the next part of the lesson, we will look at each of these four points.

1.5 The comfort that Jesus Christ gives←⤒🔗

1. The comfort of belonging to someone←↰⤒🔗

Everyone belongs to someone. When Christ spoke to a group of unbelievers, he said that they belonged to their father the devil (John 8:44). But Paul writes to believers, “you are not your own… For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

As a believer, you do not belong to yourself. You are called a “Christian” because you are Christ’s. He is the Master of your life. You belong to him with your body and soul. You belong to him with your past, present, and future. He takes full responsibility for you.

2. The comfort of being free to live←↰⤒🔗

Without Jesus Christ we would be slaves of the devil and slaves of sin. We would also be slaves of the world around us. We would simply do the things that other people do. But Christ frees us from slavery and fear. He sets us free so that we do not have to live like the rest of the world. He frees us to live for him. We have this promise from him: “if the son sets you free, you will be really free.” (John 8:36).

3. The comfort of being free from guilt←↰⤒🔗

All of us have sinned against God. Our sins were like a debt of millions and millions of dollars. We could never pay this debt. But Jesus Christ paid it in full! Because of his death, we are completely forgiven for all our sin. God has covered our sins and he will never count them against us (Psalm 32:1–2). Freedom from guilt–that is the greatest freedom we can have in this world.

4. The comfort of being cared for←↰⤒🔗

If you belong to Jesus Christ, then your life is in good hands. Even when suffering comes, it cannot hurt you forever. God is your Father, and your Father has control over everything. He uses good things and bad things to make you stronger and to bring you closer to him. You are cared for, in life and in death, today and tomorrow, whatever may come.

1.6 For true comfort you need true knowledge←⤒🔗

The comfort that Christ gives is not a comfort for everyone. It is only for those people who know him.

To know Christ means to trust in him with your whole heart. When Christ was on earth, there were thousands of people who saw him and talked with him. But many of these people did not know him. They did not believe that he was their Saviour.

Today there are also many people who know the Bible, but do not really believe what the Bible says. They do not know God or his Son, Jesus Christ.

The whole Bible speaks about Christ. That is the reason why God gave us the Bible! He wants us to have true knowledge of his Son, so that we can have true comfort.

You may be thinking, “But the Bible is a big book! How can I know everything in the Bible?” Yes, the Bible is a big book. But the whole Bible tells one beautiful story. It is the story of how God saves people from sin through Jesus Christ. If you understand this story, and if you trust that it is true, then you will have true comfort: now and forever.

In this Bible study you will see that the story of the Bible has three big parts:

Part 1: Sin
Part 2: Salvation
Part 3: New Life

In Lesson 2 we will begin to discuss the first part: Sin.