Another Comforter — Ian Paisley

I have two texts that I want to speak upon. You will find them in the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel, verses sixteen and seventeen. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.

Even the Spirit of truth from the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. But ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Old John Newton, who was a contemporary of George Whitefield, once said, There are some books that we read, they are good enough, they are sound enough, but they are what I call books of half-pence.

You have to take such a quantity before you get any value. But the old preacher said, there are other books of silver, and there are other books of gold. But he said, I have one book, and that book is a book of banknotes.

And every leaf of it is a banknote of immense value. I have two banknotes here in my text. What their value is, it is impossible for any preacher to expound or evaluate. And in the short time that I have, it would be impossible for me even to scratch into the depths of truth of these two texts.

Christ’s Sixfold Teaching About the Comforter

But I want you to notice six things. I don't think I'll ever reach the sixth one, but I'll give them to you anyway. They're simple things, but they're sublime. First of all, we have Christ's prayer. And I will pray the Father.

Then we have Christ's petition. He shall send you another Comforter. And then we have Christ's promise that He may abide with you forever. And then we have Christ's prohibition. Even the Spirit of truth in the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.

And then we have Christ's pledge. But ye know Him. And then we have Christ's power. He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. It's a solemn place when the Son prays to the Father. We are allowed here to eavesdrop on one of the greatest prayers that Christ ever offered to His Father.

It was a prayer for the Father to give His disciples, whom He was about to depart from, another Comforter. It was a glorious petition, because He said, I will not leave thee comfortless. I will come to you.

And so we are allowed to listen to His prayer. I was thinking this week of what a prayer that was. The Son had left the ivory palaces. He had come down into this world of woe. He was about to go to the cross.

And naked on that cross, He was about to die an awful death. To drink the cup of hell for you and me. To be broken in body and in soul with the unbearable body of the sins of the world. Our blessed Lord Jesus.

And yet amidst what He was about to endure, and the dark night that He was going to pass through, which would press for it from His lips, those terrifying words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Amidst all the pressure, and all the burden, and all the anxiety, He prayed. He prayed that the Father would give to His church another Comforter. This Comforter is none other than the great Holy Spirit of God.

The third person of the adorable Trinity. And we see in this chapter, Christ calling for the descent of the dove of the Spirit. Of the spreading of the Spirit's holy wings to descend upon the church. The sound of the rushing mighty wind of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit in Romans 8

If you turn with me now to the eighth chapter of Romans. Romans chapter eight. You will find there in Romans chapter eight, the chapter of the Holy Spirit. As many as twenty-six times the Spirit of God is mentioned in the epistle to the Romans.

But in this one chapter, there's eighteen of those occurrences. It is the chapter of the Holy Spirit. And looking at this chapter again last night, I was again introduced to the fact that there are ten things about the Holy Spirit in this chapter.

You'll find in verses one and two, the law of the Spirit. You'll find in verses three and four, the walk of the Spirit. You'll find in verses six and seven, the things of the Spirit. You'll find in verse eight to verse thirteen, the life of the Spirit.

You'll find in verse fourteen, the leading of the Spirit. You'll find in verse fifteen, the cry of the Spirit. You'll find in verse sixteen, the witness of the Spirit. You'll find in verse twenty-three, the first fruit of the Spirit.

You'll find in verse twenty-six, the intercession of the Spirit. You will find in verse 27 the mind of the Spirit. Go home this afternoon, take a little time off and read this chapter. Mark those ten great things about the Holy Spirit and remember as you read them, these are the things that Christ was praying for.

He wanted you and I to know the law of the Spirit. He wanted you and I to walk the walk of the Spirit. He wanted you and I to be taken up not with the things of the world, but the things of the Spirit.

He wanted you to have imparted in your soul the life of the Spirit. He wanted you to know the blessed leading of the Spirit. He wanted you to hear the cry of the Spirit. He wanted you not only to hear the cry, but know the witness of the Spirit.

He wanted you to be a bringer forth of the first fruit of the Spirit. He wanted you to enter into the intercession of the Spirit. He wanted you to have always the mind of the Spirit. I will pray the Father that He will give you another comforter.

Christ’s Petition for Another Comforter

So much for the Lord's prayer. Let's look at the Lord's petition. He says, I am praying to the Father that you'll have another comforter. He shall give you another comforter. Christ must depart to heaven after He dies.

He must take His precious blood and sprinkle it in the holiest of all. And He must commence the second part of His great high priestly work, ever living to make intercession for us. But these blessings of Christ at the right hand of God today, interceding for His church, can only come to us by the work of the Spirit of God.

And so He says to the Father, give them another comforter. I am coming back to glory. But send from the glory the third person of our adorable Trinity, the blessed Spirit of God. And I want your Father to give them the Holy Ghost.

That prayer was initially answered on the great day of Pentecost. When a hundred and twenty men and women met in the upper room, and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. And as a result, three thousand souls were born in that day.

Remember this, whatsoever the Son asks of His Father, the Father gives. And the Father has given the Holy Ghost. And whatsoever the Father promises, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad. And whatsoever the Spirit imparts, the Father completely fulfills.

As Mr. Spurgeon once said, the three persons of the Holy Trinity mutually promise on one another's behalf. There is a bond of three holy names appended to every promise of God in His book. The name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.

By these three immutable names, the Christians have been secured, saved from death and hell and destruction. Saved for heaven, saved for service, and saved to be the heirs of God and the joint heirs of Jesus Christ.

Believe in the Trinity of your security as a child of God. And look at that verse which says that He may abide with you forever. One person of the Godhead that will never leave the child of God. The blessed Son had to leave His children.

He had to go to the cross. He had to go into the darkness. He had to come from the tomb. He had to ascend to heaven. He had to take His place at God's right hand. But the blessed Spirit is with His people forever.

The Paraclete as Advocate and Comforter

He abides, He abides. Hallelujah! He abides with me. I am rejoicing night and day as I walk this narrow way. For the Comforter abides with me. Notice Christ's promise. He said, I'm going to pray the Father.

But I'm not only going to pray the Father, but the Father is going to answer my prayer and give you another Comforter. Mark the name. In the Greek text it is paraclete. It is a wonderful and most suggestive word.

It refers to one with the capability of assisting another in need. It is a title for one who is called in to help. And thank God Christ was called in to help poor, ungodly, sinful men. And He came and helped them by His cross, by His death, by His blood shedding, by His intercession in the glory land.

But there is another Comforter. And as I sat last night and thought about this, I discovered that when you turn over to the first chapter of John's first epistle, chapter 2 of the first chapter of John's first epistle, we read this,.

And if any man sin, we have an advocate. That's the word paraclete. We have a Comforter with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Up in heaven today, I have a Comforter. I have a paraclete, my Savior.

And when I sin on earth, He pleads for me at the Father's throne. He is a forgiving Savior, a loving Savior, a tender Savior, a gracious Savior. But in my heart, I have another. And the prayer that Jesus offers for me, for repentance and forgiveness, is the same prayer that is re-echoed in my heart by the blessed Holy Spirit of God.

In my heart, He is the one who prays for me. And if any man sin, we have an advocate. We have a paraclete. We have Jesus Christ the righteous, but He has prayed for another paraclete to come. And in my heart today, while the Son pleads for me at the Father's throne, the Holy Spirit pleads for me in my heart.

Why the World Cannot Receive the Holy Spirit

But let us pass from the Christ's promise to His prohibition. It tells me here that the Holy Spirit is prohibited from this world. It tells me whom the world cannot receive. The world as the world of doomed and sinful souls cannot receive.

The only one who can receive the Spirit of God is the new creature in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God enters a heart that is purified by the power of the blood of the Lamb. And no man in this world can walk in this world and think he can have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is prohibited from the world. The world cannot see Him or know Him. That is why man hate the very word about the Holy Spirit. They laugh and joke about people who say the Holy Spirit indwells their heart.

That is why they grieve the Spirit. That is why they vex the Spirit. That is why they lie to the Spirit. That is why they resist the Spirit. And that is why they tempt the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of the believer.

He is prohibited from the world. The story is told of an unbelieving physician who was attending to one of his patients who was a believer. And the doctor said to his patient, he said, I don't understand why you believe in the soul.

He said, did you ever see a soul? No, said his patient. Did you ever hear a soul? No. Did you ever smell a soul? No. Did you ever taste of a soul? No. Well, he says there are four senses and they do not witness that you have a soul.

Let me ask you one final question. Do you ever feel the soul? Yes, said the man on the bed. I feel it. Right down in the heart of my life I feel it. There is a soul. My soul. And it is the most precious thing in all the world.

And the doctor laughed and he said, any man that has not a five sense, he's putting his faith on something that is not reliable. And the man on the bed looked at him and he said, your position, sir, is about pain.

I know you have seen people in pain. But did you ever see pain? The doctor had to admit it, no, he had never actually seen pain. He said, have you ever smelt pain? No. Have you ever tasted pain? Do you know what it tastes like?

And he said to him, what is more, have you ever heard pain? You've heard people crying in pain. But have you ever heard pain itself? He said, no. Well, then he said, sir, you believe in something that has only four senses.

It has four senses rejecting it. And you have never been able to see it or smell it or hear it or taste it. But one last question, did you ever feel pain? Oh, yes, he said. The doctor says, I have felt pain.

Well, just the same way as I know that I have a soul because I have felt it stirring. So, I have enough proof in that to prove I have a soul. There is a blessed Holy Ghost and He works on the souls of men to bring about the goodness and the grace of God.

I want to ask you this morning, are you a stranger to the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit a stranger to you? Many in this meeting today can say, I know the Spirit of God. I have felt Him in my conscience, in my heart, in my inmost soul.

Knowing the Holy Ghost and the Power of Pentecost

The world cannot know Him. The world cannot receive Him. The world cannot see Him. But, thank God, we can know Him, the blessed Spirit of God. Let me turn fifthly to Christ's pledge, ye know Him. He says, but ye know Him.

Oh, that we might really know the Holy Ghost. What this church needs is the knowledge of the blessed Spirit of God. What your pastor needs, what your elders need, your church committee, your Sabbath school teachers and superintend, all need to know the blessed Holy Spirit.

And our Savior prayed that we would receive the Spirit and we would get to know Him. The one who baptizes with fire from heaven. The comforter of the church. A gospel without the Holy Ghost is a powerless gospel.

A preacher without the Holy Ghost is a powerless preacher. A Christian without the Holy Spirit is a useless worker in the church of Jesus Christ. But a gospel that is filled with the power of the Holy Ghost can wreck the power of sin and set the vilest sinner free.

The power of the Holy Ghost. He shall baptize you with fire. He shall baptize you with fire is the promise. What happened in the day of Pentecost? A handful of people, not great people or important people or well respected people.

Just poor people. But down upon them came the power of the Holy Ghost. And three thousand were instantaneously converted. And from those three thousand went forth into all the earth the witness of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are here today sitting in this meeting house because of Pentecost. What happened in Samaria? Philip went down and he preached the gospel. The Samaritans turned to the Lord. And the apostles went down and showed them the way of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit fell upon the Samaritans. And hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them were swept into the kingdom of God. And the cities of Samaria were turned from their dead religion to a living Savior.

What did it? The power of the Spirit of God. What about that Gentile house of Cornelius? What about the men and women gathered there? And they were searching. And they were crying. And they were bewildered with it all.

And Peter came. And Peter told them of the blessed Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And the Gentiles were swept into the kingdom and opened the door for millions and millions of Gentiles to come to Jesus Christ.

You need and I need and our churches need today a knowledge of the Holy Ghost. A church that can say, we know the Holy Ghost. He's working amongst us. He's moving in our hearts. He's keeping us from sinning.

Spirit-Filled Christians and Consecrated Prayer

He's turning us to walk in the ways of prayer. And the ways of Bible reading. And the ways of Christian witnessing. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. And that's the work that we'll tell. But, thankfully, we have Christ's power.

He dwelleth with you. And shall be in you. This morning, I have sought to challenge you about beneath the facts of the Holy Spirit of God. All out prayer should be your response. I'm going to pray that the Spirit of God will, my teacher, be showing the things of Christ to me.

I'm going to pray as I never prayed before. That I will be filled with the Spirit of God. Be not drunk with wine, said the Apostle Paul. Be filled with the Spirit of God. Wanted today, Spirit-filled Christians.

If we don't get them, the church will perish. The devil will triumph. Evil will succeed. But get a handful of people filled with the Holy Spirit. And they'll have power enough to shake the world and shake the district where they work.

You need to cry for the Holy Ghost, my brother, my sister. You need to intercede. You need to plead for a manifestation and special operation of the Holy Ghost in your own soul. And then in the souls of your fellow Christians, in the heart of the church, and in the area in which we live.

Oh, for a visitation of the Holy Spirit. There can be no halfway house. You've got to go all the way. Only by constant, continuous, and consecrated prayer for the Holy Ghost will the Holy Spirit come to us in all His fullness.

Let us be doubly earnest. Let us utter our cries and our yearning and our requests that the Holy Spirit will so anoint our labors that all who hear it will be overcome by the mighty slaying power of the Spirit's sword.

The Final Warning and the Call to Turn to Christ

But let me say something to the ungodly, the unsaved, the unprepared in our service. You need to awaken to the fact that the Holy Ghost does not strive with sinners forever. My Spirit shall not always strive with man.

And when the Holy Spirit of God strives with you for the last time and leaves you, you are sealed for eternal death and everlasting hell. And there's no hope for you in time. There's a line that is drawn in rejecting our Lord.

When the call of the Spirit is lost, as you hurry along, let the pleasure of my throng. Dear sinner, have you counted the cost? Don't be a fool today. Turn to Christ. There is mercy with the Lord. The Lord, the blessed Spirit, is a tender Spirit.

He comes to you today and He invites you to the cross and to the blood and to the pardon and the forgiveness of sins. Oh, turn while the Savior in mercy is pleading. And steer for the harbor bright. For how do you know that your soul may be drifting over the deadline tonight?

Prayer for Revival and the Salvation of Sinners

I trust that you'll respond to the Holy Spirit, dear sinner friend, and go away with the Spirit in your heart, the hope of glory in your soul. Let us bow our heads in prayer. O God, our Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word.

Thy Word is truth. Write it upon our hearts. I need to be filled with the Spirit of God. O come and fill me and thrill me with Thy divine power. Come upon our brother here in the ministry and in all the neighbors of this house.

May this Spirit visit this place. May the Holy Spirit take up residence in this place. And may men and women be transformed from dead, cold formalism into the fiery life of a soul filled with the Holy Ghost and fire.

And for dear sinners that are lost who sit amongst us, to whom we talk each day and walk each day, but they are not talking about Jesus. They are not walking the road to heaven. They go down the road to hell.

O Spirit, stay your hand. In mercy do not forsake them. Do not leave them. Do not say goodbye to them, but lead them, guide them, and bring them into the place of mercy, to the cross where the blood can wash them, and to the Christ of God who can save them.

Do a saving work amongst us. Bless our province. Will Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? Do it for Thy great name's sake. And everybody said, Amen. Amen.