John chapter 14, and we will take as our text this morning, verses 16 and 17. Hear the word of our Lord. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, you know him, for he dwells with you. and will be in you. Let's go through the Lord in prayer. Father God, we pray that you would illumine this text for us and help us to understand your work toward us in the person of your Holy Spirit, that we might hold communion with him and be really and truly helped. God, that we might be comforted. God, we pray that you would give us a heart not to refuse the comfort that you give to us by your Holy Spirit, nor to grieve the Spirit, but God, to walk with him. And we pray that you would help us to profit by this truth this morning and to glorify your son, Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen. Well, brothers, you have tolerated me fairly well so far, and so I will test your kindness once again as we conclude our devotional reflections on communion with the triune God. And this morning we consider what it is to hold communion with God, the Holy Spirit. As has been argued before, this communion, it rests upon the actions of God. It rests upon the actions of God, specifically God's actions toward us and the way in which he relates to us. certain of these actions by a merciful accommodation in order that we might know him personally, manifest one or other of the persons of the Trinity, so that on that basis, we might hold communion severally with the persons of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So the question before us this morning, I think, first of all is, what is that work of God toward us which is ascribed most fittingly to the Holy Spirit? John Owen rightly suggests, I believe, that the work of God ascribed most fittingly to the Holy Spirit is that of giving comfort. John Owen says, the foundation of all our communion with the Holy Ghost consisting in his mission or sending to be our comforter. By the ministry of the Holy Spirit and in communion with him, we become the actual beneficiaries of the grace that is in Jesus and which comes to us through Christ from the heart of God the Father. Comfort is a word that, its range of meaning has sort of constricted over time. And so we need to understand, I think, we wouldn't go far wrong if we understood it in a modern sense, but we typically, we use the word comfort that suggests consolation in adversity or grief. And yet the older and richer sense of that word is evident by the many options that Bible translators use to translate the Greek word here. Parakletos, helper, advocate, counselor, comforter. It suggests in a more general sense, the giving of strength or support, offering aid or assistance. Could be that this is offered to us in the face of adversity or as we grieve, but not necessarily. Help, I think, gets it about right. And what a wonderful thought to us, and how comforting it is, and even in the way we use that word, that God helps us in every way. But for the sake of following John Owen's thought on this subject, I've chosen to use the older language of comfort, which is perhaps more devotional language, sometimes found in our hymns and has, I think, more of a devotional ring to it. And so first we'll reflect on what sort of comfort or help that the Holy Spirit gives to us, to shine some light on this and understand it in its varied and multifaceted meaning, so as to better understand this work. And then we'll conclude with encouragement for receiving and responding to this comfort in communion with the Holy Spirit. So first of all, I want to suggest that the Holy Spirit gives divine comfort. Look with me at verse 16 here, John 14, verse 16. And I will ask the Father and he will give. So first of all, the comfort which the Holy Spirit gives is a divine comfort. It comes from God in the fullest sense. Now, this may seem obvious to us from the fact that the Holy Spirit is himself God, but there's more to it than just this. When Jesus says, I will ask the Father and he will give, this is shorthand for the economic procession of the Holy Spirit. And John 15, 26, if you look forward, makes this clear, which says that when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father. So the Holy Spirit then is described as coming to us from both Father and Son, and their giving or sending Him to us is described in terms of procession. So one implication of this is that even when we hold communion with the Holy Spirit, primarily, there's always a secondary communion with Father and Son. And behind the comforting procession of the Holy Spirit lies the loving purpose of the Father and the gracious purchase of the Son. The Father, first of all, is petitioned by Christ here in John 14, 16. He is petitioned and must be the one who ultimately gives the answer. And so the outcome of this is according to his purpose. And he answers in the affirmative, of course. which demonstrates that He is willing to give comfort. And so as we experience this comfort, this real help that comes from God, it is the loving purpose of the Father which lies in the background and is part of our communion with the Holy Spirit. And then we have the Son who is the one who's doing the petitioning. He petitions the Father asking only for what He has merited on our behalf, what is His by rights. And so it's also appropriate to say that on the basis of the grace purchased by Him, the petition is answered and comfort is given. And therefore, as we experience this comfort, the gracious purchase of the Son lies in the background and is part of our communion with the Holy Spirit. And so the overarching point is that in holding communion with the Holy Spirit and the experience of this comfort, we are the beneficiaries of a comprehensive divine effort to bless us. I mean, let that sink in. You know, God's not just taking pity on us and sort of just sending one person of the Trinity, or this is a sort of a half measure to help us because he feels sorry for us or something like this, and we're just glad for whatever we get, but this is just comprehensive divine effort that God is pulling out all the stops and going to every length to give us that assistance, that support and strength that we need. And so communion with the Holy Spirit in comfort suggests that God in the totality of his personal relations is at work, intending to communicate good things to us. So it's a divine comfort. And secondarily, it is a, secondly, it is a lasting comfort. Jesus says in verse 16 that he will ask and he will give another helper to be with you forever. Have you ever thought how wonderful it would have been to have known Jesus personally during the time of his earthly life? Of course you have. How jealous do we, when we think about the disciples walking with Jesus, knowing him face to face. What a blessing. How advantageous must that have been? What comfort it must have been for the disciples to know that whatever difficulties lie ahead, their master was near at hand. They had his presence with them. And therefore, what discomfort, what disconsolation to hear him say, little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. I mean, devastating. to those who have become accustomed to the advantage and the help, really, the blessing of comfort that our Lord gave. Nevertheless, he tells his disciples, it is to your advantage that I go away. So he's saying to you that you are not in fact, today, you are not in fact disadvantaged for not having Jesus present with you now. It might seem better to have him here, but it is in reality better that he is away. The presence of the Holy Ghost with believers, John Owen says, as a comforter sent by Christ for those ends and purposes for which he is promised is better and more profitable for believers than any corporeal presence of Christ can be. Now he hath fulfilled the one sacrifice for sin which he was to offer. And the reason for this is that as he goes on to say, if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you and he will be with you forever. So not only will we continue to have the comfort of God's presence after the ascension of Jesus to heaven through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but we will have it forever. Just a blessed reality. A very precious truth. This is how God fulfills the promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Ministry can be an isolating vocation at times. Some of you have co-elders, even then I think probably, but for those who are alone, and I know many of you do feel isolated, and perhaps even your families, your wives are isolated, and the feeling of being without help You know, the feeling of feeling alone and being isolated in ministry is a real discouragement. It is a discomfort. And yet the Lord would have you know that he is with you and will be with you always to the end of the age. So ours is a comfort which is from God and is God with us forever. Third, it is real comfort. Jesus says, even the spirit of truth, Job 41.9 says, behold, the hope of a man is false. It's one thing to have comfort, to feel that sense of stability and security that comes from, for us, it may come from knowing that we're well-supported, money in the bank can do that, job security, an extensive network of supportive relationships, and yet all of these can let us down, and we know it well. Our fortunes can change in a moment, and we can lose all that gives us that sense of stability and security. Our comfort had better not be a false hope. Psalm 33, 17 says, the war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might, it cannot rescue. And that might seem like the height of a true hope if you've got at your backing military strength, and yet the Bible tells us that so much that we hope in is ultimately false. How sure are you of the truth and reality of the convictions which communicate comfort to your soul? We need true comfort. And so it must be based not upon wishful thinking or human thought, but on something more sure. Listen to the words of 2 Peter 1, 19 through 21. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, this is something that you can know for certain, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, which would place our comfort on the uncertain foundation of human thought and speculation. Peter goes on, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, so where did prophecy come from? but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the gospel and then illumines that truth that we might understand and profit thereby. 1 Corinthians 2 10 through 12 reads, these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us. by God. And so from these texts, you begin to see the role of the Spirit to give us certain truth and the assurance that it can only arise from such certainty. This is no false hope. It is a real comfort. And then fourthly, it is exclusive comfort, whom the world cannot receive. I think far too often as believers, we live with a sense of missing out on temporal comforts, which the world enjoys. We may sacrifice them gladly for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord, we tell ourselves that, but we can succumb to this temptation of discontentment. And so we may do this with a nagging sense of deprivation. In the back of our mind, we wonder whether or not we really are better off when it seems like we are manifestly worse off because of our faith commitments. And especially so that we're hostile, our world becomes towards our Christian faith. And maybe this is a particular temptation for pastors. Have you ever thought, could I give my family a better standard of living by switching to a secular vocation? and we may feel excluded from what our sort of age peers and other careers can afford to do for their families and so forth. Are we missing out, brothers? Well, here in John 14, Jesus tells us that actually we have an exclusive comfort which the world cannot receive. It cannot receive this comfort because it comes in communion with the Holy Spirit, and they don't know the Holy Spirit, but we do know him, and we have strength and support that they know nothing of, which we shouldn't wish to trade for everything this world might offer in exchange. Fifthly, it is personal comfort. Jesus says here, you know him, you know him, for he dwells with you. The presence of the Holy Spirit with us serves as the explanation for this best of comforts, a personal relationship with a triune God. Not just to know of him, to glory in his perfections and his majesty and to admire him or to adore him from far off, but to draw near and to have this relational closeness and the sense of intimacy and communion with him. John 17.3 says, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. The words of R.B. Kuyper, communion with God is what makes heaven heaven. and we know the Father and Son by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And so this comfort is to draw, and you think of all the other, I mean, I'm just scratching the surface here, so you think of the ways that the Holy Spirit convinces us of these realities of our adoption, so that we might cry out, Abba, Father, and He just drives us continually back into this sweet fellowship with our triune God. Finally, it is a spiritual comfort. Here, Jesus says, And in verse 17, that you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. The Holy Spirit doesn't just touch down beside us. It doesn't just come in when we most need him, but he dwells with us and he lives within us. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit suggests a sort of immediacy to the Lord's help. He's always at hand, but furthermore, he is within us In his renovating power, Romans 8.11 says, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So there is spiritual life and there's a real change which begins with our new birth but continues on as the spirit is active in a spiritual manner in our life. Now, how might communion with the Holy Spirit consist in receiving and responding to the comfort he gives? What encouragement do we have? And I wanna conclude with this, I can't say it better than John. I just consider reading for my devotionals, highlighting certain passages, just reading it to you. Of course, many of you have already read Communion with God, and I'd say read it again. Read it for the first time. It is so helpful. It's so thought-provoking indeed, but it's so personally helpful. Let me conclude with this quote, giving us some encouragement to receive and to respond to in biblically faithful ways, the comfort of the Holy Spirit in communion with Him. John Owen says, let us then lay weight on every effect of the Holy Ghost in any of the particulars before mentioned on this account that they are acts of His love and power toward us. This faith will do that takes notice of His kindness in all things. Frequently He performs in sundry particulars the office of a comforter toward us and we are not thoroughly comforted. We take no notice at all of what he does. Then is he grieved. I think about the places in scripture we have made mention of someone like David refusing to be comforted. Brothers, don't refuse to be comforted. He goes on to say, of those who do receive and own the consolation, he tenders and administers. How few are there that consider him as the comforter and rejoice in Him as the, so it's one thing to receive this comfort, not to refuse it, but it's another to then acknowledge all of this help that's coming to us. It probably is rightly suggested that the Holy Spirit is forgotten, that we fail to give Him praise and acknowledgement, thanksgiving for the things that He's done in our lives. Upon every work of consolation that the believer receives, this ought his faith to resolve upon. This is from the Holy Ghost. He is the Comforter, the God of all consolation. I know there is no joy, peace, hope, nor comfort, but what he works, gives, and bestows. And that he might give me this consolation, he hath willingly condescended to this office of a Comforter. His love was in it, and on that account doth he continue it. Also, he is sent by the Father and Son for that end and purpose. By this means come I to be partaker of my joy. It is in the Holy Ghost of consolation. He is the comforter. What price now shall I set upon his love? How shall I value the mercy I have received? Let's pray together, brothers. that you cause them to take root in our hearts and to bear fruit in our lives. As we walk with you, we might be really truly comforted, giving you all praise and honor and glory for this humbling work that you've done in us, to take note of our frame, our weakness, our need for help,