ADULT STS LESSON 165 THE PROMISE AND MINISTRY OF THE COMFORTER

MEMORY VERSE: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

TEXT: John 14:15-31; 16:1-33

The thought of Christ’s departure from the world had filled the disciples with foreboding. They were apprehensive that their lives and the ministry committed to their care might be in jeopardy if the Great Shepherd was taken away from the sheepfold. As a result, Christ devoted time to comforting and preparing their minds against the challenges ahead after His departure. When He was physically present, Jesus had been to His disciples, strength in times of weakness, courage in times of defeat, inspiration in times of failure, help in times of need, succour during temptation, and protection when they were assailed by fear.

Afraid that they might miss all these if He left them, the disciples could not hide their apprehension. Christ therefore assured them that His departure did not mean desertion; that His imminent ascension would ultimately be to their advantage. He assured them of His eternal presence and protection and promised to send another Comforter who would abide with them forever. He also gave details of the office of the coming Comforter whose abiding presence would sustain them in times of temptations and challenges. In the discourse, Christ shows His disciples the evidence of those who are His children, profess to love Him and the benefits they stand to enjoy. He also talks of the relationship with His Father.

Finally, the Lord leaves behind a legacy of His peace because the world is steeped in violence, turbulence and confusion and only His brand of peace could preserve our faith till He comes again to take us home.

1. THE PROMISE OF THE COMFORTER (John 14:15- 20; Matthew 3:11; John 7:37-39; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).

The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ was not designed to terminate after His physical departure from the earth. To ensure that the Church continued to function unhindered, fulfil her mission on earth and survive the onslaught of the gates of hell, the Holy Spirit was promised as a gift so as to strengthen and make her more vibrant in the work of evangelising the world (Matthew 28:18-20; 16:18; Mark 16:15-20). In preparation for the reception of the Comforter, Christ’s disciples were to manifest their love for Him through obedience to His commandments. True love for God, according to the Lord manifests in acts of obedience (John 14:15,21-24). The proof that a child loves the parents shows in his or her willingness to do what they want. Likewise, obedience to Christ’s teachings is the only true evidence of our love for Him. No one can claim true love for the Master who is not committed to serving and doing His will. The idea of a disobedient Christian or a rebellious child of God is contrary to the teaching of the word of God. Every child of God is called to obey the Lord even when it is not convenient. “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter…” (John 14:15,16).

By this statement, the Lord reveals that obedience to His word is a prerequisite for the coming of the Comforter and should be seen as condition for the promise which follows. Upon the proof of love and obedience, Christ promised to pray to the Father to send “another Comforter” that will abide with them forever. The word “another” as used in the original does not suggest something of a copy or inferior in substance and quality, but another Person of the same, kind or like in power, authority or capability. This puts the Holy Spirit in the same class with our Lord Jesus Christ. He is co-equal with the Father and the Son; He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent (2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 25:29; 1 Peter 1:2).

Other words for the Comforter are: Helper, Advocate, Mediator, Instructor, Strengthener or Defender. It was necessary that the Lord should return to the Father after the work of redemption but He needs to equip the emerging New Testament Church to continue His work to the uttermost parts of the earth.
If that were to be, there was need for an abiding Person to drive, guide and lead the church to greater heights.
Besides, Christ’s physical presence in the midst of the disciples was to them an end of all fright or fear.

Hence, the need for Somebody like Himself who would be to them as a companion to do what He would have done were He to be around. Moreover, He said if He did not go away, the Comforter would not come (John 16:7). He is not to be an occasional helper but an abiding One in the church till Christ comes again. It is interesting to note that the Holy Spirit had been called “the promise of the Father” because God pledged to endue end-time believers with the Spirit in a baptismal measure.

Christ’s promise here therefore serves to further confirm the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on cleansed, sanctified saints (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; 2:33). The promised Spirit is not only referred to as the Comforter, He is also called the Spirit of Truth because He is true, teaches the truth, bears witness to the truth, defends the truth and propagates the truth. He will not teach anything contrary to the doctrines of Christ.

All His revelations will conform to the teachings of Christ. He is not and cannot be the author of error. Apparently, those who propagate falsehood have not the Spirit which Jesus Christ promised (Isaiah 8:20). Only children of God can be indwelt by this Spirit. The world, denoting all unregenerate people, cannot have Him because they neither can see nor know Him. They cannot receive Him until they experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

To underscore further the expediency of the Comforter and prepare the minds of His followers, Christ re-emphasised that He was going away. He said, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:19,20). For His disciples, it was to be a temporary separation to enable Him, first, accomplish His mission of redemption on the cross after which He would resurrect again. Second, to go and prepare a place for them in His Father’s Kingdom so that where He is, they also may be (John 14:3).

Afterward, He would sit at the Father’s right hand to make intercession for the Church. Third, His departure would enable the Holy Spirit begin His (Spirit’s) work in a fuller measure as it is in the divine plan that each member of the Godhead should be involved in the programme of redemption. Though He was going away temporarily, the Lord implies that those who are spiritually alive would still see Him with the eyes of faith; they will fellowship and commune with Him in prayer and receive revelations from time to time. And, at the rapture of the saints, they will see and fully understand the relationship between Him and the Father. But Christ will come again to judge those who refuse to accept His message of grace and salvation.

2. THE PURPOSE OF THE COMFORTER (John 14:25,26; 15:26; 16:7-15; 7:37-39)

There are purposes why the Holy Spirit came upon the Church. “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:25,26). Christ has spoken many things concerning His passion, death and resurrection; He has said many things concerning His teaching and commandments, concerning His Father and the relationship between them.

He has said many things concerning the identity of true believers and the privileges they enjoy for being obedient to His word. He has taught His disciples various things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Yet, it is necessary that the Comforter must come. In addition to His ministry, the Holy Spirit has specific works in the programme of God for the Church. When He indwells believers, first, He quickens our mortal bodies enabling us to serve the Lord with zeal (Romans 8:11). Second, He empowers believers for public and private ministry and equally directs gospel work (Acts 1:8; 8:26-29).

The Spirit endues the saints with courage, boldness and power to be authoritative witnesses for Christ. Third, He reproves the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:7,8). He takes Christ’s word and impresses it on sinners’ hearts, convicting them in the process. Fourth, like Christ, He teaches and guides into all truth (John 16:13). It is notable that some teachings that the disciples of Christ were not able to bear are now being taught by the Holy Spirit. Fifth, He brings to our remembrance all things that Christ has taught. Sixth, He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26,27). Seventh, He helps and gives victory in times of temptation.

These and many more come through the indwelling influence of the Holy Spirit. Having exhorted them to be of good cheer and prepare for the coming Comforter, Christ invokes His peace upon the disciples. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). But it was more than mere wishes as was the custom of the Jews: it was a legacy He bequeathed to the Church. And, as legacy, it becomes our heritage and an abiding blessing. This peace from the Prince of peace is “not as the world giveth”, it is a distinctive brand of peace that passes all understanding. It can only be experienced by those who turn away from the life of sin and accept Christ’s message of reconciliation and forgiveness.

3. MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (John 16:1-33; 14:16-20,26; Acts 16:30; 2:37,38; John 8:9; Luke 24:32; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
Although the Spirit’s powerful ministry was not fully revealed to God’s people until the incarnation of Christ and later at Pentecost (Acts 2), His person, presence and ministry are unimaginably indispensable in the life of the church and the individual believer (John 15:26; 16:7,15) who desires to live a fulfilled life in the Kingdom. Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the best the Christian enjoys from the Lord are little crumbs that drop from the Master’s table. Jesus Christ graphically reiterated His earlier prediction of hatred, repugnancy and persecution that would be visited on the believers by the world.

He declared that persecution would be so commonplace that persecutors of believers would think they are serving God: “...yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 16:2). In any case, Christ’s prediction of the times of distress and persecution that awaited the Church was immediately accompanied with His promise of the Comforter. The soothing balm for the persecuted New Testament believers and Church is the presence and ministry of the promised Comforter. This He does by standing for them as the Advocate.

As an Advocate, He does not only defend but also guides the utterances of saints under trials. “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak…” (Matthew 10:19,20). Apart from His ministry to believers during persecution, the Holy Spirit takes preeminence in the work of world evangelisation. A Bible scholar writes thus: “The Spirit convinces of the fact of sin, that we have done so and so; of the fault of sin, that we have done ill in doing so; of the folly of sin, that we have acted against right reason, and our true interest; of the filth of sin, that by it we are become odious to God; of the fountain of sin, the corrupt nature; and lastly, of the fruit of sin, that the end thereof is death”. It is after the Spirit reveals the depravity and degeneracy of the sinner that he or she feels guilty, seeks to be saved and cries out, “what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).

On the day of Pentecost, listeners to Apostle Peter’s spontaneous sermon could not argue against the word though he laid the truth harshly on them (Acts 2:37). The Spirit’s ministry also includes inspiring believers with knowledge of all truth and supplying instruction and consolation to all Christians. He directs believers in various ways, but specifically, He orders the steps of a good man in the area of evangelism. He directed Philip to join the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch and preach to him (Acts 8:29); He spoke to the church to send Barnabas and Saul on missionary assignment (Acts 13:2); restrained Paul and his companion from preaching in regions that were not ready for the gospel (Acts 16:6,7); and directed them where and when to preach (Acts 16:10). All these He still does as we depend on Him. He leads believers (Romans 8:14); warns them ahead of danger (1 Timothy 4:1); reproves them when they go astray (Micah 3:8; John 16:8); and intercedes for them (Romans 8:26).

In the Old Testament, the ministry of the Holy Spirit among God’s own people was a privileged blessing of a few people among the nation of Israel. Thus, the ministry was not available for “all flesh” as it is in the New Testament. It was not even all Israelites but selected ones that were filled with the Holy Spirit (Numbers 11:25- 29). There were, however, instances of those who were selected and equipped for the service of God. Examples are Bezaleel and Aholiab who, through the power of the Spirit put up an excellent architectural masterpiece of the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11). Other examples include Gideon (Judges 6:34); Jephthah (Judges 11:20) and Samson (Judges 14:5,6; 15:14-16).

As He indwells believers, the Spirit goes further to cleanse, purge, purify and sanctify the heart of consecrated ones (Acts 15:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). When this blessed experience is received, a believer is enabled for victorious daily Christian life (Luke 1:74,75). He is the Spirit of power. When a sanctified believer presses further to receive empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he or she is baptized with an initial sign of speaking in tongues, an experience that produces spiritual dynamism, effectiveness, boldness and power to witness for Christ (Acts 1:8; 2:4). He also gives revelation, inspiration, illumination (Philippians 3:3); appoints and ordains leaders for God’s work. Finally, the presentday body of Christ needs the Holy Spirit to confront hordes of adversaries waging the final war against it, so that multitudes of people can be hauled into the kingdom of God before it is too late.

Questions for review:
1. Why was it necessary for Christ to comfort His disciples before His departure from the world?

2. Point out the reason for “another Person” to take the place of our Lord after His departure.

3. Explain why it was necessary for Christ to go back to heaven after the cross.

4. Enumerate some specific areas of ministry the Spirit of God helps believers.

5. Mention the benefits we enjoy when we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

6. Differentiate between Christ’s peace and the world’s.