The Comforter

“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
Suggested Further Reading: 1 Peter 1:10-12, 22-25
I have heard many fanatical persons say that the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to them. Now that is very generally revealed nonsense. The Holy Spirit does not reveal anything fresh now. He brings old things to our remembrance. “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you.” The canon of revelation is closed; there is no more to be added. God does not give a fresh revelation, but he rivets the old one. When it has been forgotten, and laid in the dusty chamber of our memory, he brings it out and cleans the picture, but does not paint a new one. There are no new doctrines, but the old ones are often revived. It is not, I say, by any new revelation that the Spirit comforts. He does so by telling us old things over again; he brings a fresh lamp to manifest the treasures hidden in Scripture; he unlocks the strong chests in which the truth has long lain, and he points to secret chambers filled with untold riches; but he creates no more, for enough is done. Believer! There is enough in the Bible for thee to live upon for ever. If thou shouldst outnumber the years of Methuselah, there would be no need for a fresh revelation; if thou shouldst live till Christ should come upon the earth, there would be no necessity for the addition of a single word; if thou shouldst go down as deep as Jonah, or even descend as David envisaged into the belly of hell, still there would be enough in the Bible to comfort thee without a supplementary sentence. But Christ says, “He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you.”
For meditation: The Spirit of truth who guides into all the truth (John 16:13) does not work independently of Jesus the truth (John 14:6), the only true God (John 17:3) and the word of truth (John 17:17). Otherwise “What is truth?” (John 18:38).
Sermon no. 5
17 October (Preached 21 January 1855)
C.H. Spurgeon

There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy!

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(Alexander Smellie, "In the Hour of Silence")

"Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me!" Mark 8:34

The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry, may assume different shapes.

There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy. None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord. But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit. He draws close . . .
  to ripen my wisdom,
  to deepen my peace,
  to increase my courage,
  to augment my graces,
through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing.

And then, I grow closer to Jesus under the load.

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Come and welcome

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17
Suggested Further Reading: John 6:35-40
How wide is this invitation! There are some ministers who are afraid to invite sinners, then why are they ministers? They are afraid to perform the most important part of the sacred office. There was a time I must confess when I somewhat faltered when about to give a free invitation. My doctrinal sentiments did at that time somewhat hamper me. I boldly confess that I am unchanged as to the doctrines I have preached; I preach Calvinism as high, as stern, and as sound as ever; but I do feel, and always did feel an anxiety to invite sinners to Christ. And I do feel also, that not only is such a course consistent with the soundest doctrines, but that the other course is after all the unsound one, and has no title whatever to plead Scripture on its behalf. There has grown up in many churches an idea that none are to be called to Christ but what they call sensible sinners. I sometimes rebut that by remarking, that I call stupid sinners to Christ as well as sensible sinners, and that stupid sinners make by far the greatest proportion of the ungodly. But I glory in the confession that I preach Christ even to insensible sinners—that I would say even to the dry bones of the valley, as Ezekiel did, “Ye dry bones live!” doing it as an act of faith; not faith in the power of those that hear to obey the command, but faith in the power of God who gives the command to give strength also to those addressed, that they may be constrained to obey it. But now listen to my text; for here, at least, there is no limitation. But sensible or insensible, all that the text saith is, “Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely.” The one question I have to ask this morning is, art thou willing?
For meditation: Jesus gladly received children and their carers; he rebuked his own disciples, some of God’s children, who tried to get in the way (Mark 10:13-16). Are we helping or hindering others who need to come to Christ?
Sermon no. 279
16 October (1859)
C.H. Spurgeon

What sorrow, what sweetness, what glory!

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(Alexander Smellie, "The Hour of Silence" 1899)

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

What sorrow, what sweetness, what glory--encircle the head of the Lamb of God!

1. He is the Lamb of Sacrifice. "His blood so red--for me was shed!" Priest as well as Victim, Shepherd as well as Lamb--He offered Himself in my place, without spot and blemish. He assumed my misery, and reaped the harvest I had sown--a mournful harvest of guilt and woe! His unsullied and stainless life, He gave freely, cheerfully--for my forfeited and outcast and ruined life! Oh, how He loves me!

2. He is the Lamb of Deliverance. I remember that ancient type of my Redeemer and Lord--the Lamb of the Passover. It was slain, and its life-blood was sprinkled on the door-post--and the family within was safe. The dark-winged angel of death with the sharp sword in his hand, had no condemnation for them. In the same way, behind the merit and the grace, the atonement and the intercession and the human-divine Person of Jesus--I take my stand, and I am free from condemnation!

3. He is the Lamb of whitest Purity. There is no spot in Him; He is altogether lovely. And, as I abide with Him, as I meditate on Him, as I love and trust in Him . . .
  old things pass away with me;
  I grow in grace;
  the meekness and the patience and the beauty of God's Lamb begin to be seen in my life;
  and upward and heavenward and Christward I mount!

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There will be no night there!

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(Rufus Wheelwright Clark, "Heaven and its Scriptural Emblems" 1853)

"There will be no night there!" Revelation 21:25

Is it not a blessed announcement that there is a world in which "there will be no night!"
No night of crime, deceit, treachery or temptation!
No night of sorrow or affliction!
No night of pain, sickness or death!

Oh, tell it to the weary believer, who is struggling against the evil habits and depraved inclinations of a wicked heart; who, on life's fierce battlefield, is striving to win an immortal crown!

Oh, tell it to the dying Christian, who, restless upon his bed, through long, wearisome nights, is trying to learn the lessons of submission, and faith, and moral discipline, which his sufferings are teaching--who longs for light to break through the dark clouds that are gathering about him.

Oh, hasten with the tidings to the bereaved family, and assure them that there is a world where these griefs shall be lifted from their oppressed spirits, and their present afflictions, if rightly improved, shall work out of them "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!"

For where God is--there can be no night.
Where bright, holy angels throng--there can be no sorrow.
Where celestial music rolls through the galleries and arches of temples filled with the effulgence of the Deity--there can be no sighing.
Where Jesus reigns in His majesty and glory, "all tears shall be wiped away!"

No night in Heaven! Then . . .
  no sad partings are experienced there,
  no funeral processions move,
  no death-knell is heard,
  no graves are opened,
  no mysterious providences will there perplex us,
  no dark calamities will shake our faith.
But we shall walk the golden streets of the eternal city, surrounded with perpetual brightness, breathing an atmosphere of heavenly purity and love, and free to enter the palaces of our Savior-King, or climb to heights over which no shadow ever passes!

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