108 John 14:16-18 THE PROMISE OF ANOTHER COMFORTER Introduction: When Jesus ate the Passover Supper with His disciples He informed them that one of them would betray Him into the hands of the Jewish leaders who would kill Him. He would be raised from the dead, but after His resurrection He would remain with them only for a very short time. He would go back to heaven from which He had come and would leave them in the world to carry on the work which He had begun. The disciples were very sad. They were heart broken because they loved the Lord. In our text last Sunday, He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." In this, He challenged them to live their lives in obedience to the things which He had taught them. In our text today, Jesus gave them a promise which was designed to help encourage them and lift their spirits. He promised them that after He was gone, another Comforter would come to take His place. I. The comfort and joy which Jesus had been to them Up to this time Jesus, Himself, had been their Comforter. His presence with them had been their constant source of joy --- their inspiration. He had been their source of encouragement and strength. They had sat under the preaching of John the Baptist and had heard John preach that the promised Christ was about to come. John warned them to repent of their sin and urged them to place their faith and trust in the coming Christ. They did. They believed John's message that Christ was soon to come. They repented of their sin and they placed their faith in the Christ to be their Redeemer. In token of their faith in the coming Christ, they had been baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. It was not until after they were saved and baptized that they learned from John that Jesus is the Christ. They had trusted in the Christ without knowing that Jesus is the Christ. Then John announced that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He announced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Again these men believed John. They accepted his word that Jesus is the Christ. It must have come as quite a surprise to them when Jesus called upon them to leave their former work to come and follow Him. But since He called them and since they believed that He is, indeed, the Christ, they forsook all and followed Him. For three years they had followed Him. They eagerly sat at His feet and listened to Him preach and teach. His preaching and teaching was a constant joy to them. They watched and marveled as He performed miracle after miracle. They thrilled when He empowered them to perform miracles much like the miracles which Jesus had done. They must have been astounded beyond measure when they heard Jesus call for Lazarus to come forth from the grave and they saw Lazarus come forth still wrapped in grave clothes. These disciples had held the idea that the Christ was going to be crowned as King of Israel and drive the Romans out of their land. Therefore, they were rather certain that Jesus would soon be crowned as king and that they would become officers in His kingdom. Jesus had tried to forewarn them that this was not going to happen. But when Jesus rode down Mt. Olives into Jerusalem with thousands of people proclaiming Jesus to be the kind of Israel, they felt certain in their minds that He was about to be crowned as king. They were more than happy to be followers of Jesus. II. Their need for someone to comfort them At the Passover Supper Jesus had shattered their dream and shattered their hearts. He had announced that instead of being crowned as King, He was going to be crucified. He said that one of the very men who sat with Him at the Passover table would betray Him into the hands of the enemy who would crucify Him. He went on to say that all of them --- all of them --- would forsake Him before the night was over! He did say that after the crucifixion He would be raised from the dead, but He would remain with them only for a little while. He was going to leave them and go away. They were crushed. They were devastated and the worst was yet to come when He would actually be arrested and crucified. They would, of course, be overjoyed when they would see Him after His resurrection from the grave. But keep in mind that He would remain with them only for a little while and they would still be in need of a Comforter. They would need another Comforter because He would be gone. III. The promise of another comforter In our text Jesus assured His disciples that even though He was going away He would pray to God the Father and God the Father would send them another Comforter to take His place. V. 16, "And I will pray the Father..." The very idea that Jesus would be praying for them should be encouraging to them. In this text He tells them that He will be praying for them and asking God the Father particular request for them. But I think you can see that this does not mean that He will pray about one thing for them. He would ask the Father for many things for them. In chapter 17 we have the record of a prayer that Jesus later prayed for them while He was yet with them. He would continue to pray for them even after He goes away to heaven. Yet He would pray not for those disciples only. He would pray for all of the disciples who down through the years would follow Him down through the years. He would pray for us. It should be encouraging to us to read this statement in our text and to learn that Jesus prays for His disciples. I appreciate anyone praying for me. But I cannot think of anyone I had rather have pray for me than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But the point that Jesus is making right here is that He would make a particular request to God the Father for them. (V. 16), "And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter..." Jesus said that He would pray for the Father to send another Comforter to take His place with the disciples. Jesus would make the request to God the Father to send another Comforter to His disciples and He was not in any doubt whatsoever that God the Father would grant His request. He is certain that the Father will not refuse His request. He is certain that the Father will send another Comforter to His people just as He asks Him to do. IV. The Comforter which the Father would send The Greek word, which here is translated "another," carries the idea of "another of the same kind." There are two Greek words used in the New Testament which are translated "another." This particular word means "another of the same kind" whereas the other Greek word means "another of a different kind." The meaning here is that God would send another Comforter of the same kind and the same caliber as Jesus. God would send another Spirit who is like unto Himself. The new Comforter would think like Jesus. The new Comforter would teach them the same things which Jesus had taught them. The new Comforter would have the same mighty power as Jesus. The new Comforter would be able to watch after them like Jesus. The new Comforter would be able to empower them to do the work which Jesus would assign them to do. The new Comforter would love them like Jesus loves them. The new Comforter would fill their hearts with joy as Jesus had done. The new Comforter would comfort and strengthen them like Jesus had done. The new Comforter would lead them and direct their paths as Jesus had done. The new Comforter was another Comforter of the same kind as Jesus. There would be one big difference. The new Comforter would abide with them and would not leave them. (V. 16), "...that he may abide with you for ever." Even though the Spirit whom God the Father would send would be like Him, yet His stay with them would not be like the stay which Jesus had with them. The stay of the new Comforter would be much longer than that of Jesus. Jesus had been with them for only about three years. He was in the world longer than that, but His ministry with them was only about three years. Yet the ministry of the other Comforter would not abruptly end as the ministry of Jesus was about to do. This Comforter would remain with them forever. He would remain after those particular disciples were dead and gone and new disciples were on the scene. In verse 17 the other Comforter is identified. V. 17, "Even the Spirit of truth..." The other Comforter whom God the Father would send would be "the Spirit of truth." This is the Holy Spirit of God. This Spirit of the same kind of Spirit as Jesus. They are both Deity God. This is in sharp contrast to another spirit of a different kind who was at work in the world. There was, and still is, a very powerful evil spirit in the world. The spirit of a different kind is the bitter enemy of God and He is the bitter enemy of the people of God. He is the bitter enemy of the disciples of Jesus. He is not at all a spirit of truth. He is a liar and the Father of it. He is a constant threat to the people of the world, especially to the people of God. He goes about seeking whom he may devour. He especially seeks to devour disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples would most certainly need a new Comforter of the same kind as Jesus to be with them. They would need the Holy Spirit to be with them, to protect them, to provide for them, to lead and guide them, and to comfort, to encourage them and to empower them to carry on the work of Jesus Christ. They would need another Comforter of the same kind as Jesus to do for them what Jesus would do if He were yet with them. This new Comforter would exist in the whole world, but He would have a relationship with New Testament churches and the people of God which was entirely different to His relationship with the world. (V. 17), "...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." He would convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come, but the world at large would not receive Him nor know Him. IV. The promise that Jesus Himself would be with His people But His work with New Testament churches and with the disciples of the Lord would be to bring them the same kind of comforting, challenging and encouraging leadership which Jesus had given to them. V. 18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." The Greek word which here is translated "comfortless" literally means "orphans." Jesus said to His disciples, "I will not leave you alone in the world like orphans are left alone in the world. I will not leave you to "root hog or die." I will not leave you fend for yourselves. I will continue to take care of you. In the coming of the Comforter whom the Father will send to you, I will come to you. Listen, I do not pretend to understand all that is involved in this statement. But I know this: In some mysterious way that I suppose we will never understand, Jesus Himself is actually with His people through the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. When Jesus became a man, there was at least one limitation placed on Him. He could not be present in His physical body everywhere at the same time. This posed a problem. As His people would scatter out into all parts of the world preaching the gospel and organizing churches in all parts of the world, it was going to be impossible for Jesus to physically be with them all at one time. But that was no posed no insurmountable problem for Jesus. Physically He would go back to heaven and sit on the throne of God and yet, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, He would be with every church and with every Christian in all the world at the same time. He said, "I will not leave you in the world as orphans. I will come to you." In this statement He was not talking about His second coming at the end of the church age. He was talking about His presence with His people to comfort them, to help them in their work for Him and in all their trials of life. This reminds me of what Jesus later said when He gave the Great Commission. He said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world (or the end of the age.) In closing let me make one important point. There are a thousand and one things in this world to disturb us. There seems to be a new and bigger problem every day. But there is an Almighty Spirit whom God has sent to comfort and cheer us. He is here at the request of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. And in His Almighty presence, Jesus Christ Himself is present with us. I want to ask all who are Christians to look to the Lord for strength, for guidance, for joy unspeakable and for comfort to the soul. I want you to be challenged to carry on the work with joy which Jesus has assigned us to do because the Lord is with us. I want to ask every unsaved person to turn to the Lord right now right here in this service. I want you to call you to repent of your sin. I ask you to call upon Jesus Christ and ask Jesus to save you. If you will trust Jesus, Jesus will save you. Then I want to call upon you to come and join us in the work and worship of God. The Lord is with us. Jesus has promised us. He has prayed to the Father and the Father has sent the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Himself is with us.