Grace Bible Church



The comfort of the Spirit

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

I was recently asked what was the difference between the comfort of the Spirit of God and that of Christ's comfort to the disciples. Having already preached to you on this subject, let me say by review what the comfort of the Godhead is and their distinctions.

Divine comfort is another term which encompasses the whole of man's redemption. All three persons of the Godhead are comforters. 2Co1:3 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God;"

The God of all comfort respects all three persons. Thus comfort may be said first of all to have it's origin in the Father. That Holy God would look upon sinful man, whose lot by reason of his transgressions and sins is misery and destruction, and both determine and decree that he should enter into an everlasting covenant of grace, life, and peace through His Son Jesus Christ is the greatest of comforts imaginable. Ezek 37vs26 "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.", also see Jer 31vs33,34.

Secondly the objective ground and cause of our comfort is to be found in the work of the second person, our Savior and Lord Jesus. The comfort of God's elect was procured and established in the suretyship of Christ. Having assumed our nature Christ was really a comfort to the disciples in his nearness to them and protection of them in their weakness and ignorance of divine things. The term comfort means to call near, to go alongside of, it means to instruct and guide. Jesus Christ fully demonstrated this role of comforter with his disciples even to the extent of taking up their case with divine justice, as their substitute and mediator, which he did for all of his elect, by becoming a propitiation for their sin, and establishing an everlasting righteousness for them as their federal head , thus accomplishing eternal redemption for them all. Isaiah 53vs5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Third and finally; the comfort of the Spirit is to bring into subjective experience upon the heart and life of God's people that gracious covenant and it's blessing which has now been ratified and put into force by the death of God's Son. The Spirit of God is the imediate source of comfort for God's sheep. He comforts them in regenerating grace, giving them life and producing faith in their hearts towards Christ their Savior. He makes manifest to them all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which is in Jesus Christ. He plants Christ in their hearts through the scriptures, and gives them that more sure word of prophecy concerning the finished work of Christ and their accomplished redemption by Him . He conforms them to his image , and assures them of their eternal life in Christ. 1John 4vs13 "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."

"As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name." Isa 63vs14.

Pastor JesseGistand
Grace Bible Church
San Leandro, CA 94572

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