August 9, 2025 -- John 14:26 -- The Holy Spirit -- the True Comforter

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 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 14:26 ESV
 
The word “Helper” is often translated as “the Comforter”. A friend gave me a multi-volume collection of C. H. Spurgeon sermons. I have been thoroughly enjoying them. His comments on the Helper, or Comforter, are striking. Please note, in the past it was common to refer to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Ghost. Spurgeon uses that expression for the Spirit in this quotation.
 
“And first, we will remark, that God the Holy Ghost is a very loving Comforter. I am in distress, and I want consolation. Some passer-by hears of my sorrow, and he steps within, sits down, and essays to cheer me; he speaks soothing words, but he loves me not; he is a stranger; he knows me not at all; he has only comes in to try his skill. And what is the consequence? His words run o’er me like oil upon a slab of marble; they are like the pattering rain upon the rock; they do not break my grief; it stands unmoved as adamant, because he no love for me. But let some one who loves me dear as his own life, come and plead with me, then truly his words are music; they taste like honey: he knows the password of the doors of my heart, and my ear is attentive to every word: I catch the intonation of each syllable as it falls, for it is like the harmony of the harps of heaven. Oh! there is a voice in love, it speaks a language which is its own: it has an idiom and a brogue which none can mimic; wisdom cannot imitate it; oratory cannot attain unto it; it is love alone which can reach the mourning heart; love is the only handkerchief which can wipe the mourner’s tears away. And is not the Holy Ghost a loving comforter? Dost thou know, O saint, how much the Holy Spirit love thee?”
C.H. Spurgeon, “The Comforter” Spurgeon’s Sermons, Vol. 1 - 2, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Eleventh Printing 2023, page 73
 
Joy
 
O Christ ! All thy ways of mercy tend to and end in my delight,
Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I might rejoice.
For my joy Thou hast sent the Comforter,
multiplied thy promises, shown me my future happiness,
given me a living fountain.
Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy;
I pray for joy, wait for joy, long for joy;
give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of.
Measure out to me my times and degrees of joy,
at my work, business, duties.
If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning.
Let me rest in the thought of thy love, pardon for sin,
my title to heaven, my future unspotted state.
I am an unworthy recipient of Thy grace.
I often disesteem thy blood and slight thy love,
but can in repentance draw water from the wells of Thy joyous forgiveness.
Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath,
where the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation,
glorification is finished and perfected for ever,
where thou wilt rejoice over me with joy.
There is no joy like the joy of heaven, for in that state are no sad divisions,
unchristian quarrels, contentions, evil designs,
weariness, hunger, cold, sadness, sin, suffering,
persecutions, toils of duty.
O healthful place where none are sick!
O happy land where all are kings!
O holy assembly where all are priests!
How free a state where none are servants except to thee!
Bring me speedily to the land of joy.
“Joy” The Valley of Vision
 
https://youtu.be/kDYjn-YdnD4?si=HHySEICBaYXGzXEg Holy Spirit Living Breath of God
 

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