January 7, 2022In recent weeks, we have looked at three assurances that the Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples: the assurance that those who repent of their sins and trust Christ as their Saviour will live forever with Him in heaven, the assurance that believers in Christ know the Father right now, and the assurance that children of God have the privilege of prayer. A fourth assurance is that believers in Christ have the Holy Spirit. In his study of the Lord Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 14, Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes: “We must know who the Holy Spirit is, what He does, and how He does it.”
On Sunday, it will be 49 years since I asked God’s forgiveness for my sins and received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. So much has occurred since that life-changing day. I am grateful for spiritual mentors like Jim Yorgey, who came to Montreal to serve at the Christian pavilion called “Sermons from Science” at the world’s fair in 1967. Many Montrealers were glad that several pavilions, including the Christian one, remained open for a few more years. After I took a card for a Bible course by mail in 1969, I took three years to complete three lessons of the course which Jim corrected. It was at the end of the third lesson where I was asked about my spiritual condition, that I realized that I needed to repent of my sins and trust in the Lord, who gave Himself for my salvation.
If there is anyone reading this who has not repented, I urge you to read the gospels and ask the Lord to show you your need to be born again. As Jesus prepared to go to the cross to take our sins upon Himself, He taught His disciples that the Holy Spirit is “another Comforter” and “the Spirit of truth.” Dr. Wiersbe writes: “The Greek word translated ‘Comforter’ is parakletos and it is used only by John (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1). It means ‘called alongside to assist.’ The Holy Spirit does not work instead of us, or in spite of us, but in us and through us.”
Dr. Wiersbe notes: “Our English word comfort comes from two Latin words meaning ‘with strength.’ We usually think of ‘comfort’ as soothing someone, consoling him or her, and to some extent this is true. But true comfort strengthens us to face life bravely and keep on going … Parakletos is translated ‘Advocate’ in 1 John 2:1. An ‘advocate’ is one who represents you at court and stands at your side to plead your case.”
How comforting it is to know that the One who created the world and all that is therein, loves us with an everlasting love! May we always look to Him for the strength that only He can provide.
Scripture for the weekend: “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 said to you.” John 14:26 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “God is going to invade this earth in force, but what is the good of saying you are on his side then when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, something it never entered your head to conceive, comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side … It will be the time when we discover which side we have really chosen whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.” – C. S. Lewis