In this sermon, the speaker addresses the disciples' discouragement and fear in the upper room after Jesus revealed that one of them would betray him and that Peter would deny him. Jesus then comforts them by introducing the Holy Spirit as their advocate, defender, helper, and counselor. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being encouraged by the Holy Spirit in order to be effective witnesses for the Lord. He explains that the Holy Spirit teaches and reminds believers of the Word of God, and also empowers them to obey it. The speaker concludes by highlighting the role of the Holy Spirit in convicting the world through believers' personal witness, prayer, preaching, distribution of literature, and other forms of communication.

If ever a group of men were completely discouraged and felt as though their world had fallen apart around them, it was the disciples in the upper room. First of all, Jesus told them that one of them was going to betray him, and that went through them like a bolt of lightning. And then he revealed to Peter that Peter would deny him, and of course Peter was their great leader, and that upset them. And of course he told them he was leaving. I suppose one of the hardest things I ever had to do was to read my resignation to the last church that I pastored. I'd been there ten years and learned to love the people so much, and to tell them that you're leaving always hurts. Jesus told them he was leaving. At this point he introduces the Holy Spirit. That's the beautiful thing about our Lord. He never cuts, but that he heals. He never takes away, but that he gives more. And he calls him the Comforter. John chapter 14 verse 16, 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, whom 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. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. This word Comforter is a greatly misunderstood word. We think of the word comfort as a mother soothing a child or someone consoling somebody. But the word is much bigger than that. As we examine this name of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, we make some very important and practical discoveries. I'd like for us tonight to look at these discoveries and then I trust apply them to our lives. First of all, this name helps us to discover who the Holy Spirit is. Now obviously the Lord is talking about a person. He's not talking about an influence, a blind force. There are religious teachers today who tell us the Holy Spirit is not a person, but he is a person. Our Lord always refers to the Spirit as he, he, him. And when he talks about him as the Comforter, he's telling us who he is. This word Comforter is a translation of a word that means someone who is called to your side to help you. It's made up of two Greek words, kaleo, which means to call, and para, which means alongside. The word parable has the same word in it, para, alongside, ballo, to throw. A parable is something you cast alongside something else to explain it. Para kaleo, one who is called to your side to help you. It's interesting to read the English translations of the word to see how many translators tried so many different words, because the word is really so rich and so full. Some use the word helper, and I will pray the Father and he'll give you another helper. I noticed that the New International version uses the word counselor. I shall give you, he shall send you another counselor. Some translations use the word encourager. I like that, because often in the New Testament, this same word, para kaleo, is used to mean encourage. It says the Apostle Paul exhorted them. That means he encouraged them. So when you put it all together, you find that the Holy Spirit is one who comes to our aid to counsel us, to help us, to encourage us. It also carries the idea of an advocate, one who defends you. Over in 1 John 2, this word is used, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The Lord Jesus is our advocate in heaven, representing us to the Father. And the Holy Spirit is our advocate on earth, helping us with the world. Because the world accuses us, and the devil accuses us, but the Holy Spirit is the advocate. The opposite of advocate is accuser. Now the Holy Spirit does convict us, but the Holy Spirit does not accuse us. There's a difference. So he's the helper, the counselor, the one called to our side to encourage us and to help us live for Jesus Christ. Why then did Tyndale, when he made his translation in the English language, use the word comforter, which was followed by many translations? We think of a comforter as someone who comes to us when we're really broken up. He puts his arm around us and says, there, there, it's not as bad as you think it is. That's not what the word means at all. If you studied Latin at all in high school, you know what the word comforter means. Com means with. Fort means strength, fortify, fortification. And so comforter means with strength. In other words, the Holy Spirit of God doesn't come to pamper us. The Holy Spirit of God working in our lives as the paraclete, the one called alongside to help us, doesn't come to pamper us and baby us. The Holy Spirit of God comes to fortify us. He says, you're going through difficulty. I'm going to do much more than sympathize with you. I am going to enable you and counsel you and empower you and strengthen you. And I'm going to see you through. Now it's really unfortunate that some of our hymns and gospel songs give the idea that when Christians are in trouble, they run to the Lord Jesus and hide. They get this idea, I think, from a mistranslation or a misinterpretation of Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. He is a refuge that He might give us strength. Jesus Christ never is a refuge to pamper us. We don't come running to Him and say, oh, things are going so bad. Don't you want to sympathize with me? He says, well, it's fellowship for a while. I want to give you some strength that you might go back out and fight the battle. Now, if you're looking to the Lord Jesus and to the Holy Spirit to pamper you, to kiss it and make it well, my friend, you're in for a disappointment. He is our refuge. There are times I have to run to Him and say, Lord, protect me. And then while He's doing that, He says, let me put some power inside of you because pretty soon out you go again. We are not God's pampered people. We are not God's sheltered people. The paraclete, the counselor, the helper, puts into us the strength that we need, the comforter. He has the strength that we need to get the job done. Now, Jesus tells me that the paraclete is the gift of the Father. I will pray the Father and He will give you another comforter. I'm glad for that. You don't earn the Holy Spirit. You don't work for the Holy Spirit. You don't deserve the Holy Spirit. He's a gift. And when you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came in, God's gift to you, His love gift. And therefore, your relationship to the Holy Spirit is not one of works and merit. It's one of grace and faith. If I had to say to the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit of God, I've been a good boy this week and so I deserve a little bit of help, I don't think I'd ever get it. Now, I should walk in holiness. I should not grieve the Spirit. I should not quench the Spirit. I shouldn't disobey the Spirit. I know this. You know this. But no Christian can claim on the basis of merit any of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit ministers on the basis of grace. One further statement, he only ministers to believers whom the world cannot receive. See, the world can't receive the Holy Spirit because the world can't see him. The philosophy of the world is seeing is believing. Jesus said, if you believe, you shall see. And so we have believed and we have received the Holy Spirit. And the world thinks we're just a little bit crazy because we're depending on an inward power that they can't see. But you've discovered, haven't you, how real the Holy Spirit is. And so we've discovered from this name who he is. He's the one who comes to help us, not to pamper us, not to kiss it and make it well, but to empower us and encourage us to go back and fight the battle and not quit. There's a second discovery. We discover here not only who he is, but we discover what he does. It's a little word that Jesus uses here in verse 16 of John 14, I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter. Now our Greek students here tonight know that in the Greek language there are two words for another. One means another of the same kind and one means another of a different kind. If I say to someone, bring me another book, that can mean any kind of a book. But if I use the word that's used here, I'm saying bring me another book of the same kind. So Jesus is saying the Father is going to give you a helper exactly like me. In other words, now you just better fasten your safety belt because this may send you into orbit. The Holy Spirit is to you now what Jesus was to his disciples when he was here on earth. Did you ever read the four Gospels and say, oh, if only I had somebody going through the storms with me. Oh, if only I had somebody who was doing for me what Jesus did for his disciples. Our Lord says, look, another of the same kind. I'm going back to heaven. If I stayed here in my physical body, I couldn't be everywhere at once. We're going to send the Holy Spirit, the Father and I, and he can be everywhere. He is ubiquitous. More than that, he is omnipresent. He is everywhere and he can be with you in Chicago and he can be with your missionaries in West Virginia and he will do for you what I have been doing for you the last three and a half years. Now, we don't have to go into detail because you've read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Whenever the disciples were frightened, Jesus calmed them down. Whenever they were facing impossibilities, he saw them through. How do we feed 5,000 people? We can manage. How can I get through this storm? I'll see you through. How can I walk on the water? I'll take care of it. Lord, how can I pay my taxes? We can see to that. You see, everything Jesus did for his disciples when he was here on earth, the Holy Spirit wants to do for you. He wants to teach you. We'll talk later on in this series on the spirit of truth. He wants to teach you. Jesus taught his disciples. He wants to discipline you. Jesus disciplined his disciples. He wants to defend you. Whenever somebody attacked the disciples, Jesus defended them. The Holy Spirit will defend you. He wants to encourage you. Our Lord spent so much time just putting new heart. That's what the word encourage means, in the heart. He wants to encourage you just the way he encouraged his disciples when he was here on earth. Our Lord tells us here that the Holy Spirit's relationship to you and me is different in two respects from his relationship, Jesus' relationship, to his disciples. He says here, you know him. How do they know the Holy Spirit? He tells us, he dwelleth with you in the person of Christ. The Holy Spirit had completely filled the Lord Jesus. The Father gave the Spirit unto Jesus without measure. And so he said, you know the Holy Spirit. He dwells with you in the person of Jesus. He shall be in you. Of course, it took the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus to make that possible. And now when a person trusts the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves in. Now, this to me is very marvelous. The disciples had Jesus with them. We have the Holy Spirit in us. Secondly, Jesus was only with them temporarily, and then he left. The Holy Spirit is with us forever. This is why I keep saying in this series, the Holy Spirit is my psychiatrist. I don't say that to discredit my friends in the psychiatric field. I say it to magnify the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He lives in me. No psychiatrist can do that. He knows all about me. He knows my mind and my motives and every intent of my heart. And so when I come to him, I'm not coming to a stranger. And I don't have to be afraid of him because he loves me. He's not charging me fifty dollars an hour. I'm not against a psychiatrist doing that. That's part of the therapy. All he says to me is, turn yourself over to me. That's all. Just turn yourself over to me and I'll see you through. One further word about that. You can't separate the work of the Holy Spirit from the work of the Lord Jesus. Don't you ever do it. Because the Holy Spirit came on the basis of the work of the cross. Back in the Old Testament, when they ordained the priests, they would put blood on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe. Then they'd come along and they'd put oil on the blood. Now the oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the blood has touched, the oil can come. Now if you know Jesus as your Savior and you've been washed in the blood, then the oil can come. The Holy Spirit can work in your life. So we've discovered who he is. He's the helper, the counselor, the encourager. We've discovered what he does. He does for us what Jesus did for his disciples. Thirdly, Jesus tells us here how he does it. And here we turn the page to chapter 14, verses 25 and 26. These things have I spoken unto you, being present with you. But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and shall bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you. Over in chapter 15 and verse 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. We've discovered who he is and what he does, and now we're discovering how he does it. How does he encourage us? How does he help us? We face a demanding life. I don't know about you, but as far as I can discover, life gets harder and harder. It gets better and better. It gets harder and harder. And life becomes difficult and demanding. And there are days when you just haven't got the strength or the wisdom. How does the Holy Spirit help us? Now, woe be unto that Christian who depends on feelings. They want the Holy Spirit to be some kind of a spiritual jag, some kind of a real zap. I have known in my own ministry the work of the Holy Spirit at times when physically I was at my worst. I'm sure Paul had the same experience because he had a thorn in the flesh that constantly buffeted him. No, no, it's not by feeling. I wish that somehow we could graduate people out of this kind of a thing. Certainly emotion is involved. The Holy Spirit ministers to us by teaching us the Word of God and pointing us to Jesus Christ. One thing I fear about some, not all, some of the emphasis on the Holy Spirit during these days is this. It focuses on the Holy Spirit instead of on Christ. The Holy Spirit didn't come to testify of himself or to glorify himself. The Holy Spirit came to testify of Christ and glorify him. It works like this. You're going through a difficult time. You pray and say, Dear Father, it's hard, and you've promised to help me, and the Holy Spirit lives in me, and he's my counselor and my helper and my encourager. Now, Father, I need his help. I need his encouragement. And the Father says, Why don't you open the Word? And so you open the Word of God and you say, Spirit of God, teach me. Beyond the sacred page I seek thee, Lord, my spirit pants for thee, thou living Word. And the Spirit of God takes the things of Jesus Christ and he shows them to you. And you say, You know, what have I got to complain about? I'm rich. I have all of this and heaven too. And he makes Jesus very real. You say, I've never experienced that. Then I feel sorry for you. When you read the Old Testament, you find that he teaches you about Jesus in types and symbols and pictures and prophecies. When you read the Gospels, he gives you his work on earth. You read the epistles, his present ministry up in heaven. You read the book of Revelation, his coming victory. And wherever you look, you find his promises. Discouragement comes when you close your Bible. Encouragement comes when you open the Bible. The Holy Spirit does not work in a vacuum. He takes the truth of the Word of God and reveals the Lord Jesus. You say, but pastor, there are times when I go through experiences and I haven't got my Bible with me. I'm driving my truck down the highway or I'm running my machine or I'm going through. I have got my Bible with me, but that's the great reminding ministry of the Holy Spirit. He says he will bring to your remembrance what he's taught you. Now, students, he won't bring to your remembrance what you haven't learned. The Holy Spirit is not a substitute for learning. I had an experience right down here next to the piano a couple of weeks ago after the evening service. A fellow came up to me and said, you quoted a verse tonight. And I did quote that verse. I hadn't quoted that verse in centuries. And I had quoted that. He said, where's that found in the Bible? Now, I must confess to you that sometimes I forget the addresses. I can quote you the verse, but sometimes I forget the address. You have the same problem, I think. But instantly there came to my mind the reference. You know, I hadn't quoted that verse or used that verse in a long, long time. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You've been witnessing, haven't you? And you've gotten discouraged. They're bringing this up and bringing that. But all of a sudden there comes to your mind and heart wisdom that you can't remember. The things start coming out you heard in sermons or Sunday school lessons. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest joys I have is to say something from the Holy Spirit that I hadn't planned or prepared to say while I'm preaching or teaching the Word of God. It's a great experience. That's the reminding ministry of the Spirit. So, when you're in the hospital and you can't read your Bible, when you're in a situation where you haven't got your Bible, you say, Spirit of God, I need encouragement. If I don't get encouragement right now, I don't know what's going to happen. And the Spirit of God just turns on that celestial computer and he brings back to your memory those things he's taught you. You know, isn't it terrific to have the author of the book living in your heart? I studied some textbooks when I was in high school and college and seminar. I wish I'd known the author. I'd have told him a few things. Here we have the author living within us, teaching us the Word of God. So, you see, he teaches us the Word and he reminds us of the Word, but he goes one step farther. He gives us the strength to obey it. The Holy Spirit of God just takes the Word of God and makes it real to us and warms our hearts and floods our minds. Then he moves in and gets a hold of our wills and he helps us to do what the Lord wants us to do. He doesn't work in spite of us or instead of us. He works together with us. There's a fourth discovery here. The Lord Jesus tells us not only who he is, the Comforter, the one with the strength, and what he does. He takes Jesus' place and how he does it. He does it by teaching us the truth, but he tells us why he does it, and this is the thing that we miss. So many books written on the Holy Spirit miss this, and it took me the longest time to learn what the Lord wanted me to learn. Chapter 16 of the Gospel of John, our Lord uses the word Comforter again. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you, and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Please notice it's not of judgment to come. That's what Paul preached about over in the book of Acts. It's sin, righteousness, and judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. Do you know why the Holy Spirit works in your life? That you might be able to witness to a lost world. Now, I want to underscore this. I want the Spirit of God to burn this into our hearts. The Holy Spirit is not a heavenly luxury for you to get into your room and enjoy. Oh, I had such a great time with the Holy Spirit today. Did you end up a better witness? That's what he says back here in chapter 15, verses 26 and 27. He, the Holy Spirit, shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness. You know what witnessing is? Well, everybody knows what witnessing is. It's arguing religion with people. No, it isn't. It's convincing people that the Presbyterians are right and the Baptists are wrong. No, it isn't. Well, witnessing is telling people about their sins. Quit your smoking. Quit your gambling. No, no, that's being a prosecuting attorney, not a witness. You know what witnessing is? Witnessing is just telling people how wonderful Jesus is. That's all it is. Now, they can argue with your church doctrine. They can't argue about what Jesus means to you, and he says the Holy Spirit of God is going to come to you, and he's going to do a work in you that he might do a work through you. He's going to work in you to reveal Jesus Christ, and you're going to see him, and then you're going to bear witness of him. I've heard people pray in pre-service prayer meetings as though the Holy Spirit runs up and down the aisles and talks to people. He doesn't do that. He uses people to talk to people. Did you know that? You see, the world today is guilty of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit hasn't come to talk about anybody else except Jesus. Not Moses, Jesus. Not John the Baptist, Jesus. Not John Calvin, Jesus. Not Martin Luther, Jesus. See, the world needs to know about Jesus. So he reveals Jesus to us that we might reveal Jesus to the world. Now, he's come to talk about one person, Jesus. He's come to talk about one sin, unbelief. He's going to reprove the world through you of sin. What sin? They didn't believe on me. You know, people can quit their smoking and drinking and gambling and blasphemy and still go to hell. The sin that condemns people to hell is the sin of unbelief, of sin because they believe not in me, but you have believed in me. Therefore, the Spirit of God will witness through you of what your faith in Jesus means. So he convicts about one person, Jesus, about one sin, unbelief, about one measurement of goodness, the righteousness of Christ. You know, people are always measuring themselves by themselves or by somebody else. How many times have unsaved people said to you, well, I'm as good as anybody at Moody Church. But our Lord says, wait a minute, the Holy Spirit says only one measurement, righteousness, I go to my Father. For three years, I was giving them a chance to see righteousness. I'm gone now. They can't see me, but they can see you. Oh, what an indictment this is. The Holy Spirit works through me to convict the world of their unbelief and of their unrighteousness. That means the more we live like the Lord Jesus, the more people see him. That makes our Christian living so important. And he convinces about one danger, judgment. Just one. He said the prince of this world has been judged. The devil's already whipped. If you're on the devil's side, you've lost. The sentence has been pronounced, but it hasn't been executed yet. You see, our friends and relatives don't have to die to be condemned. They're already condemned. That makes witnessing so imperative. But how does the Holy Spirit convince the world? Through people, through our witness personally, through our praying, through our preaching of the word, through our distributing of literature, through the writing of books and the making of films and the singing of songs. Don't ever pray, oh God, win the lost, unless you're prepared for the Holy Spirit to work through you to win the lost. Now we just back this up a little bit and then we'll be on our way. If I want the work of the Holy Spirit in my life for selfish purposes, I won't get it. I have no right to sit home in my room and say, oh, I'm lonely and discouraged, and oh, Spirit of God, comfort me, if I don't take that comfort and go out and touch somebody else's life. You see, the work of the Holy Spirit is not on a dead-end street. Holy Spirit will never go into a dead-end street. He looks for a channel. And when the Spirit of God begins to work, it has to touch the lives of others so that he is the comforter. Whenever you're going through difficulty and danger and trial, the paraclete is there to take the word of God and reveal the Son of God and encourage you. And when you get that encouragement, go out and share it with somebody else. You know what will happen? You'll get more encouragement. It's such a thrilling experience to see how the Holy Spirit works through a person, and then he just gives more and more. If any man thirsts, said Jesus, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is not a luxury. The Holy Spirit is a necessity. If you're here tonight and you've never trusted Christ, you don't have the Holy Spirit. When the blood is applied, then the oil can be applied. And if you'll trust Jesus as your Savior, you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you'll have someone who lives in you who will constantly encourage you. He comes with strength, comfort. He is your advocate. He is your defender. He is your helper. He is your counselor. And he does it through this book. And as you read this book, you see the Son of God, and you're encouraged. A discouraged Christian is no witness for the Lord. If our unsaved friends and loved ones and neighbors see us walking around, we're critical, and the world's against us, and we're sour, they're not going to want our product. That's like a fellow ringing your doorbell, and he's as bald as a billiard ball, and he's selling hair tonic. You say, I'm sorry, I'm not interested. But oh, when you've experienced the Holy Spirit's work down inside, it just does for you what needs to be done. He just floods and fills. You don't hear bells ringing. You don't see flashes of light. You don't hear voices. It's just a sweet experience of encouragement. And you find you're spilling over on the lives of other people, and then they want to trust Christ too. I recommend the counselor to you, the comforter. Where do you look for help when you're discouraged? Some people reach for a bottle of whiskey or a bottle of beer. Some people reach for a cigarette. Some people run out to get some entertainment and diversion. What do you turn to when you're discouraged? Have you ever thought of turning to the Holy Spirit and letting the comforter work in your heart? Let's pray. We're grateful, our Father, that we have such an abiding, loving, understanding counselor. Lord, in my own ministry, I have misunderstood people. I have been a poor counselor. We remember that Job said of his friends, miserable counselors. But oh, how wonderful the Holy Spirit is to counsel us and encourage us. Now, Lord, forgive us for wanting to be pampered and sheltered. May the Holy Spirit of God empower us and encourage us that we might go back into the battle and win people to Christ. We pray that even here tonight there will be those who will turn to the Savior for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.