The Spurgeon Series 1855 & 1856. Charles H. Spurgeon

the sons of God, and shall make us wise to understand all things. He is the Teacher; it does not matter what this or that man says; I rest on no man’s boasting authority, nor will you. You are not to be carried away with the craftiness of men, nor sleight of words; this is the authoritative oracle, the Holy Spirit resting in the hearts of his children.

      5. The other translation is advocate. Have you ever thought how the Holy Spirit can be said to be an advocate? You know Jesus Christ is called the wonderful, the counsellor, and mighty God; but how can the Holy Spirit be said to be an advocate? I suppose it is thus: he is an advocate on earth to plead against the enemies of the cross. How was it that Paul could so ably plead before Felix and Agrippa? How was it that the Apostles stood unawed before the magistrates and confessed their Lord? How has it come to pass that in all times God’s ministers have been made fearless as lions, and their brows have been firmer than brass, their hearts sterner than steel, and their words like the language of God? Why, it is simply for this reason, that it was not the man who pleaded, but it was God the Holy Spirit pleading through him. Have you never seen an earnest minister, with hands uplifted and eyes dropping tears, pleading with the sons of men? Have you never admired that portrait from the hand of old John Bunyan? A grave person with eyes uplifted to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth written on his lips, the world behind his back, standing as if he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold hanging over his head. Who gave that minister so blessed a manner and such excellent subject matter? Where did his skill come from? Did he acquire it in the college? Did he learn it in the seminary? Ah! no; he learned it from the God of Jacob; he learned it from the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit is the great counsellor who teaches us how to advocate his cause correctly.

      6. But, besides this, the Holy Spirit is the advocate in men’s hearts. Ah! I have known men to reject a doctrine until the Holy Spirit began to illuminate them. We who are the advocates of the truth are often very poor pleaders; we spoil our cause by the words we use; but it is a mercy that the brief is in the hand of a special pleader, who will advocate successfully and overcome the sinner’s opposition. Did you ever know him to fail once? Brethren, I speak to your souls; has not God in old times convicted you of sin? Did not the Holy Spirit come and prove that you were guilty, although no minister could ever get you out of your self-righteousness? Did he not advocate Christ’s righteousness? Did he not stand and tell you that your works were filthy rags? and when you had almost still refused to listen to his voice, did he not fetch hell’s drum and make it sound about your ears, bidding you look through the vista of future years and see the throne set, and the books open, and the sword brandished, and hell burning, and fiends howling, and the damned shrieking for ever? and did he not thus convince you of the judgment to come? He is a mighty advocate when he pleads in the soul — of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come. Blessed advocate! plead in my heart, plead with my conscience. When I sin, make conscience bold to tell me about it; when I err, make conscience speak at once; and when I turn aside to crooked ways, then advocate the cause of righteousness, and bid me sit down in confusion, knowing my guiltiness in the sight of God.

      7. But there is yet another sense in which the Holy Spirit advocates, and that is, he advocates our cause with Jesus Christ, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Oh my soul, you are ready to burst within me! Oh my heart, you are swelled with grief; the hot tide of my emotion would almost overflow the channels of my veins. I long to speak, but the very desire chains my tongue. I wish to pray, but the fervency of my feeling curbs my language. There is a groaning within that cannot be uttered. Do you know who can utter that groaning, who can understand it, and who can put it into heavenly language and utter it in such a celestial tongue, so that Christ can hear it? Oh! yes; it is God the Holy Spirit; he advocates our cause with Christ and then Christ advocates it with his Father. He is the advocate, who makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered.

      8. Having thus explained the Spirit’s office as teacher and advocate, we come now to the translation of our version — the Comforter; and here I shall have three divisions. First, the comforter; secondly, the comfort; and thirdly, the comforted.

      9. I. First, then, the COMFORTER. Briefly let me summarize in my mind and in your minds too, the characteristics of this glorious Comforter. Let me tell you some of the attributes of his comfort, so that you may understand how well adapted he is to your case.

      10. And first, we will remark that God the Holy Spirit is a very loving Comforter. I am in distress and want consolation. Some passerby hears of my sorrow, and he steps within, sits down and tries to cheer me; he speaks soothing words; but he does not love me, he is a stranger, he does not know me at all, he has only come in to test his skill; and what is the consequence? his words run over 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 has no love for me. But let someone who loves me dearly 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 is an idiom and an accent which none can mimic; wisdom cannot imitate it; oratory cannot attain to 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 Spirit a loving Comforter? Do you know, oh saint, how much the Holy Spirit loves you? Can you measure the love of the Spirit? Do you know how great the affection of his soul is towards you? Go, measure heaven with your span; go, weigh the mountains in the scales; go, take the ocean’s water, and number each drop; go count the sand upon the sea’s wide shore; and when you have accomplished this, you can tell how much he loves you. He has loved you long; he has loved you well; he loved you for ever; and he still shall love you. Surely he is the person to comfort you, because he loves. Admit him, then, to your heart, oh Christian, that he may comfort you in your distress.

      11. But next he is a faithful Comforter. Love sometimes proves unfaithful. “Oh! sharper than a serpent’s tooth” is an unfaithful friend! Oh! far more bitter than the gall of bitterness, to have a friend to turn from me in my distress! Oh! woe of woes, to have one who loves me in my prosperity forsake me in the dark day of my trouble. Sad indeed: but such is not God’s Spirit. He ever loves, and loves even to the end — a faithful Comforter. Child of God, you are in trouble. A little while ago you found him a sweet and loving Comforter; you obtained relief from him when others were only broken cisterns; he sheltered you in his bosom, and carried you in his arms. Oh, therefore do you distrust him now? Away with your fears! for he is a faithful Comforter. “Ah! but” you say, “I fear I shall be sick and shall be deprived of his ordinances.” Nevertheless, he shall visit you on your sick bed, and sit by your side to give the consolation. “Ah! but I have distresses greater than you can conceive of; wave upon wave rolls over me; deep calls to deep at the noise of the Eternal’s waterspouts.” Nevertheless, he will be faithful to his promise. “Ah! but I have sinned.” So you have, but sin cannot sever you from his love; he loves you still. Do not think, oh poor downcast child of God, because the scars of your old sins have marred your beauty, that he loves you less because of that blemish. Oh, no! He loved you when he foreknew your sin; he loved you with the knowledge of what the aggregate of your wickedness would be; and he does not love you less now. Come to him in all boldness of faith; tell him you have grieved him, and he will forget your wandering, and will receive you again; the kisses of his love shall be bestowed upon you, and the arms of his grace shall embrace you. He is faithful: trust him; he will never deceive you; trust him; he will never leave you.

      12. Again, he is an unwearied Comforter. I have sometimes tried to comfort people who have been tried. You now and then meet with the case of a nervous person. You ask, “What is your trouble?” You are told, and you try, if possible, to remove it, but while you are preparing your artillery to batter the trouble, you find that it has shifted its quarters, and is occupying quite a different position. You change your argument and begin again; but lo, it is again gone, and you are bewildered. You feel like Hercules cutting off the ever growing heads of the Hydra, and you give up your task in despair. You meet with people who are impossible to comfort, reminding one of the man who locked