On this Sunday, we look forward to the coming of the Spirit of Truth, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
This Spirit is called by a special name in our text. The word can be translated in a variety of ways.
In the King James version, the word "Comforter" is used to describe the Holy Spirit. He is Someone who sees your sadness and consoles you. He sympathizes with your grief and gives you joy instead.
Of course, we should remember that, for a Christian, even sadness works for your good. God sends some burdens for you to carry so that you will be strengthened. The Spirit, the Comforter, allows you to carry a heavy, painful cross. So the purpose of true spirituality is not always to make you happier. Sometimes, the true religion of the Spirit makes you even more sorrowful than ever, because He shows you your guilt and the punishment you deserve.
But you should learn to not trust your emotions. They flow from a sin-filled heart. So you cannot make the Spirit of God a slave to your every feeling. Sometimes, He creates good and pleasant emotions in you, and gives you joy and peace that you can actually feel. But you cannot trust those feelings as the foundation for faith, since it is so easy to mistake false spirituality for true, and false peace for true.
So what does it really mean that He is your Comforter? The primary meaning is this. He comforts you in the face of your greatest sorrow, which is death. Death hangs over your head, and can approach anyone at any time. Worse, this death is deserved, since all men are sinners who have worked hard to earn that wage. Every action and word and thought produced by your sinful flesh has testified to the fact that you are not innocent victims of God's Law.
But the Spirit comforts you by showing you the one truth that frees you from death. He shows you Christ. He shows you the Cross. He shows you the precious Blood that flowed for you. He comforts you through His holy Word that tells you that your guilt is erased. Your punishment has been diverted to Someone else, to the Lamb of God who took it all in your place.
Now you have eternal life instead of death. You have the certain hope of perfect happiness in Paradise instead of unending torment in hell.
If that is not comfort, then nothing is. Truly, the Spirit is a great Comforter.
In other versions of the Bible, the same word translated "Comforter" is instead translated as "Advocate." An advocate can mean someone who is willing to stand up publicly to speak out on your behalf, particularly a defense attorney.
There is a prosecutor who is against you. The devil is a most clever accuser. He knows all about you. He is familiar with your crimes since his servants, the demons, have deeply investigated your life. They have the goods on you.
But your Defender is One who is much stronger and knowledgeable, the Spirit of God. He uses a legal maneuver called justification. To justify someone is to have them declared innocent. The Spirit has justified you on the basis of the life and death of Christ. So your Advocate makes the motion to dismiss all charges, and there's nothing satan can do about it.
Some people want to say, "Well, you forgot a step, pastor. The devil casts his vote, and God casts His vote, and then you cast the deciding vote." Well, what kind of courtroom would that be? The judge does not make his verdict and then ask the defendant if he agrees. God's verdict is the only one that matters. The righteous and holy Judge needs no help from you.
No, He declares you innocent because your Friend, the Spirit of God, stands by your side to plead for you. He does not plead your good works or your fine intentions or your love or any quality in you. If He did that, then you would lose.
But He pleads Christ for you, and you are declared innocent. So He is the perfect Advocate for you.
The Spirit is also called "Counselor." A counselor gives advice and guidance. A counselor untangles the difficulties of life that you cannot resolve yourself.
Of course, the Spirit untangles the greatest personal dilemma ever. He untangles your sins. By yourself, you could not solve this problem. You would only try solution after solution. Perhaps you would enter denial, and decide that you have no problem at all. Perhaps you would delude yourself into thinking that you had solved the problem of sin on your own. Perhaps you would sink into despair and depression over your sin, and so stop fighting against it. What use is there to struggle against a problem when you cannot win?
But rather than despair, the Spirit of Truth speaks to you the only true Word of Counsel that can resolve the dilemma for you. He speaks the Absolution that untangles every sin. He tells you that you are forgiven for the sake of Christ. He fills your heart with saving faith that receives the benefits that Christ gives.
For the Counselor is the wisest of all counselors. No earthly psychiatrist or confidante or advisor could be even a fraction as wise. Your Counselor does not point you to pithy cliches or twelve-step programs to solve your sins. He does not give you quick-fix solutions. He gives you the Truth that is in Christ Jesus. For the Truth is the Wisdom of God that you see hanging upon the Cross. The Son of God, tortured for your guilt, is the only Wisdom that can solve your problem of sin. Only the Wisdom of God in Christ crucified gives you forgiveness.
So it is only the Spirit of Truth that can be your Counselor against sin.
But the Spirit is also called your "Helper." He also gives you the aid that you need most of all. This is not some casual help, as if you could do most of the job and He only had to give you a little assistance. No, you were helpless, and He came to give you all that you needed.
Here you might wonder, "Wasn't it Christ who gave me what I need? Why do I need the Spirit?"
It is true that Christ earned forgiveness by His work in His earthly life. He lived the perfect life, obeying all of the Commandments all of the time. He even laid down His life for you, and then took it back up again at the Resurrection. Christ did everything necessary to earn your salvation.
But the Spirit is the One who actually delivers the forgiveness. Christ earned the treasure, but the Spirit brings it to you. He is the One who gives you the gift through Word and Sacrament and faith. He works in Baptism to deliver the benefits that Christ earned. If the Spirit did not do this for you, then the work of Christ would not help you. But the Spirit, your great Helper, has brought the Cross and the Blood and the Resurrection to you.
Without His help, nothing else would matter. You would be completely lost. But with the Spirit's help, you are the immortal children of God. You are the inheritors of everlasting glory. That is how much He has helped you. Compared to Him, there is no other Helper.
This is the great Spirit of Truth, true God equal to the Father and Son. This is the One who has done so much for you: Comforter, Advocate, Counselor, Helper. In Him you have life, even as you also have life in the Father and the Son.
All glory be to this One God of your salvation. Amen.
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