Let us turn now to God's word
once again and drawing your attention to the chapter that we read in
John chapter 14 and verse 16 John chapter 14 verse 16 and
I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter
that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. And I will pray the Father, and
He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth. As I'm sure you're all aware,
the verse comes, of course, from this portion in chapters 14.
through 15 and 16, in which we have what might be said to be
the last sermon of the Lord Jesus, his valedictory discourse. And of course it begins with
those familiar words, let not your heart be troubled, ye believe
in God, believe also in me. We might even say that in a sense
those words are the text upon which the whole discourse centers. The words are repeated, are they
not? Here at the end of verse 27,
he says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not
as the world give I unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." How the Lord Jesus Christ is concerned
to minister comfort to his disciples in the prospect of him leaving
them. He is coming now of course to
the end of his earthly ministry and as you know following these
discourses we have the great high priestly prayer in the 17th
chapter And then after his prayer we see from chapter 18 following
how the Lord comes to make that great sacrifice. He's not only a praying priest,
but he is a sacrificing priest and he offers himself. He's not only the priest, he's
the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world." So in these discourses he's preparing the disciples
for that tremendous event. The very purpose of his coming
into the world is about to leave them. And yet he will seek to
minister comfort to them. What is the source of that comfort? In a sense we must recognize
of course that true comfort can only come where there is that
true and proper knowledge of God himself. Remember what he
says in his prayer, this is life eternal. to know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Of course, we
have that knowledge of God, that understanding that God is the
One who has created us, the One who constantly sustains us, the
God who looks upon us and provides for us, The God who sees our
greatest needs and even ministers to us as those who have transgressed
and sinned against Him, for the knowledge of God. Theology is,
or was at one time, referred to as the queen of all sciences,
and surely that is the truth, is it not? Because theology is,
in a sense, the science of God, it's the knowledge of God. In
that sense, Martin Luther says that doctrine is heaven, if we
do but know the doctrine of God. And this is what's revealed to
us here in Holy Scripture, is it not? The Bible is a revelation,
and it's a revelation of God Himself, how He speaks, how He
makes Himself known. And there, in the Old Testament,
He declares to the children of Israel, to the nation of the
Hebrews, Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, nor
there is none beside Him. the God of Israel is the true
God. And when we come to the New Testament,
we have the fullness of that revelation in the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're told, ultimately
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. It is
the Word, made flesh it is the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to
reveal to us all the wonder of God himself and here as we see
the Lord Jesus Christ discoursing with his disciples he speaks
of his oneness with the Father in these previous verses when
Philip asks that he show them the Father, Lord show us the
Father he says and it suffices us. Let us see Lord Jesus responds
to that request. Have I been so long time with
you and yet I shall not know me Philip? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. O sayest then show us the Father. Believe I shall not that I am
in the Father and the Father in me. Oh there is a wonderful
oneness between the Son here in human form and the Father,
but not only a oneness with the Father, there is also this oneness
with the Holy Spirit. As He says here in our text at
verse 16, I will pray the Father and He shall give you another
Comforter that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of Truth. whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him. For he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you even by the Spirit." Doesn't the Lord Jesus
Christ come to His people, make Himself known to them by the
Spirit? There is a oneness with the Spirit,
as there is a oneness with the Father. And this is the comfort,
is it not, that Christ has come to make God known, and God in
all the fullness of His triune being. Well, as we turn to consider
the subject matter that's set before us in this particular
verse, in John 14 and verse 16, first of all I want us to consider
something of that order of the Trinity that is to be
discerned in salvation. There is a certain order, and
in that order we have the revelation of God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. This is really a Trinitarian
verse that we have as our text this morning. Look at what the
Lord Jesus says, I will pray the Father. This is God, the
Son, in human form, speaking to his disciples, I will pray
the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he
may abide with you forever. Here we see quite clearly three
distinct persons, personal pronouns are used. Christ says I, and then he speaks of the Father
and he says of the Father that He is another personal pronoun. He speaks of the Father and says
He shall give you another Comforter and then we have mention of the
Holy Spirit that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of Truth." We see then we have the Son of God in human nature
praying to the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit. How right, how true are the words
of Hart in his great hymn on the doctrine of the Trinity. All true Christians this may
boast, that truth from nature never learns, that Father, Son
and Holy Ghost are save our souls. are all concerned is not something
that is learned from human nature, it is that which is revealed
to us here in the Word of God. And I say again there is a certain
order of the Trinity when it comes to the whole truth of salvation. We must first of all of course
recognize here the doctrine of God, the essential God. Let me
just quote from the Athanasian Creed. There, it is stated quite
plainly, the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
is all one, the glory equal, and the majesty uncreate, such
as the Father is, Such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost."
In other words, these three persons are gods. Not three gods, but
one God. One God subsisting in three distinct
persons. And that's the truth, I say,
that we see in our text this morning. We know that when The
Lord Jesus, in the course of His ministry, spoke of the Father, and spoke of the Father
in terms of His own sonship. The Jews were offended, they
said He was a blasphemer, because in saying that God was His Father,
He was making Himself equal with God, like in chapter 5 here. And verse 18 we're told that
they sought the Moor to kill him. They would stone him to
death because he had performed a miracle on the Sabbath day
and He told a man to take up his bed and walk, and in that
sense they said he had transgressed the Sabbath. They understood
not the true significance of the day. They surrounded it with
their legal laws and their traditions. But it was not just a matter
of the Sabbath. There in chapter 5 and verse
18, they sought the more to kill him. because he said that God
was his Father, making himself equal with God. And we see how
that so many times this was the reason why they wanted to be
rid of him, they would have stoned him. But his time had not come. Back in chapter 10, remember,
verse 32, the Jews answered him saying, for a good work we stoned
him not, but for blasphemy. And because of thou being a man,
make thyself God. How did he make himself God?
When he said that God was his Father. But they couldn't. They
couldn't take his life. They had no power to take his
life. No one could take his life. He
had the power, the authority to lay that life down and to
take it again, as he says in chapter 10. He would only die
at that time that had been ordained by God. And it was when the fullness
of the time came that He set His face as a flint to go up
to Jerusalem. And then what do they do? Well,
at the end they accuse Him, of course, before the Roman authorities,
before Pontius Pilate. In chapter 19 and verse 7 we
have a law. By our law He ought to die. They
said, because he made himself the Son of God. Blasphemy! That was the charge that they
laid against him. They understood, you see, the
significance of his words when he spoke of God as his Father. God the Father, God the Son,
but then also God the Holy Spirit. And here, in the text, as the
Lord speaks of another Comforter, we are immediately told at the
beginning of verse 17, even the Spirit of Truth. It's interesting to consider
the names of the Divine Persons, God the Father, God the Father
begets, God the Son, of course, is begotten. Well, what of God
the Spirit? Well, the name there expresses
not His essence, but His relationship. His relationship to the Father
and the Son, just as their names express their relationship, the
Father begetting, the Son begotten. So, also when it comes to the
Holy Spirit, as the Spirit he proceeds. Look at verse 26, when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from
the Father. just as the Son is begotten of
the Father so the Spirit proceedeth from the Father but He not only
proceeds from the Father He also proceeds from the Son and we
see that later in chapter 20 verse 22 Christ breathed on them
it says When He had said this, He breathed on them and said
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. He proceeds from the Son. He has breathed forth, as it
were, from the Son. This is His relationship. to
the son as it is his relationship to the father. Now, the significant
thing here in the text, of course, with regards to God the Holy
Spirit, is the use of these masculine personal pronouns. He is clearly
here declared to be a person. That's how he's spoken of by
Christ. another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Christ speaks of
Him in terms of He, and Him is clearly a person. three persons
in, in the doctrine of the God, and this is the only living and
true God. And I say that our whole text
is very much centered in this great truth of the doctrine of
God, the doctrine of the Trinity. But when we think of the order
of the Trinity, in terms of that great work of salvation, we have
to come then to consider not so much the essential Godhead,
but we have to consider the whole economy of grace, the way in
which God works. And how is it that God works? He works, of course, in terms
of covenant. And in that eternal covenant,
in which the whole economy of grace is established, We see
there how that the Son of God willingly becomes God's elect
servant. And you know the text, Isaiah
42 verse 1, Behold my servant, says God, whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. this is the Christ, the anointed,
the one upon whom is the Spirit of God, and He is God's servant,
He is God's first elect, and He stands at the head of the
whole election of grace, He is the head of the body, the church
is enough, and in Ephesians chapter 1 we see quite clearly how all
the elect are chosen in Him, chosen in Christ, before the
foundation of the world. And so what does he say when
we see him exercising his ministry here in the world, though he
be equal with the Father? I and my Father are one, he can
say. There is a oneness with the Father.
But when he's exercising his ministry in fulfillment of his
covenant office, he says, I came down from heaven not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Here in chapter
6 and verse 38. There are so many verses in which
he speaks of his submission to the will of the Father and how
this is the work that he must accomplish, I must be about my
Father's business, he says in chapter 9. In chapter 4 and verse
34, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work. And so, as he is executing that
work, there is that sense in which the Father is greater. The Father is greater than him.
Look at what he says here at the end of verse 28 my father is greater than I my
father is greater than I that's in terms of his office in the
covenant as that one who is the elect servant of the father now
as the Son is serving the Father in this order of the Trinity,
in the great work of salvation. So, also we see that the Son
is served by the Holy Spirit. And doesn't Christ say that?
Later in His discourses, in chapter 16, verse 13, He says, When He,
the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath
are Mine, therefore said I that He shall take of Mine, and shall
show it unto you. how the Spirit serves him, just
as he comes to serve the Father. And there we see that the ministry
of the Spirit, the comforter when he comes, it's not to draw
any attention to himself, though he be God and is worthy of the
worship that belongs to God, yet his ministry is so self-effacing. He shall not speak of himself.
He comes to be a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. as he
comes into the world, as he's executing this great work that
he undertook in terms of the covenant, the eternal covenant,
so he's anointed with the Spirit. The end of the third chapter
here, God give us not the Spirit by measure unto Him, what a glorious
effusion and outpouring of the Spirit. Now we've spoken before
of the significance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in terms of
Christ as we see him in his human nature how he is dependent though
he be God manifest in the flesh yet he is dependent so much upon
the Holy Spirit his conception how is he conceived in the womb
of the Virgin Mary Well, the angel says the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee. Therefore also that holy thing
that is to be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He is the Son of God, but that
holy thing, that human nature is conceived by the Holy Ghost
in Mary's womb. and then the spirit again is
so evident that he's baptizing the heavens open and the spirit
descends upon him in the form of a god there is his anointing
and then of course when we see him exercising his ministry immediately
after the baptism he is led of the spirit into the wilderness
very much under the influence and the leadings of the spirit
of God he is led of the spirit into the wilderness and there
he is tempted of sight and thought he dies then he comes out of
the wilderness in the fullness of the spirit he says and he
goes into the synagogue and there in the synagogue he receives
from the minister the book of Isaiah and he reads
those words in Luke chapter 4, isn't it? He comes to Nazareth
where he had been brought up goes into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and the book of the prophet is delivered to him,
he opens the book And he reads chapter 61, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. Here he is beginning his public
ministry, and the Spirit is so evident. And he acknowledges
that as he reads the words there of the prophet Isaiah. And then
as he's engaged in his ministry and he's performing his miracles,
how does he perform miracles? Well he says, As the Jews accuse
him of working under the influence of Beelzebub, he tells them quite
plainly, if I, through the Spirit of God, cast out demons, then
the Spirit of God is among you. They're guilty of blaspheming
the Holy Spirit. That's the great sin that they're
committing. Because he is performing these
great works, these mighty deeds, by the Holy Spirit constantly
throughout His earthly ministry we see the Lord acknowledging
the Spirit of God and the Spirit serving Him and when He comes
to die what does it say in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14 and through
the eternal Spirit He offered himself up to God through the
eternal Spirit. And as in his death, so also
in his resurrection, put to death in the flesh, says Peter, quickened
by the Spirit. He's quickened by the Spirit.
There's a sense in which he is raised again by the Father. and
the father owns and acknowledges his work in raising him from
the dead but there's a sense in which he he raises himself
as God death cannot hold him but also there is a sense in
which the spirit is there raising him again from the dead all the
persons of the Godhead then are clearly involved here is sent
by the Father, and as the Son is undertaking this great work
of salvation, there is that ministry, constant ministry of God, the
Holy Spirit. And so, Christ here is praying
to the Father, and asking that the Father would grant this ministry
of the Spirit to His disciples. I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another comforter. that he may abide with you forever
even the spirit of truth and he can say to the father as he
does previously in chapter 11 at the tomb of his friend Lazarus
I know that thou hearest me always oh how the father hears how the
father answers And so it is that this prayer is not prayed in
vain. The Father hears and the Father
answers. But the Spirit comes, of course,
as the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified. He must first execute this great
work, as we see there in verse 7 of chapter 16, nevertheless
I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if
I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart
I will send him unto you and it is the glorified Christ who
sends the Spirit back in chapter 7 And verse 39, we're told the
Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. This is the manner in which the
Father gives the Spirit, He raises the Son, the Son ascends to heaven,
the Son is seated at the Father's right hand, He receives gifts
from Him, and He bestows the Holy Ghost there on the day of
Pentecost. And Peter says it, does he not?
in the course of his preaching, in his sermon, in Acts chapter
2, he tells them, Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted,
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Christ is
that One. I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever. But over us his blessed gift comes through Christ. through
the mediation of Christ as he is faithful and obedient to his
Father's will and executes that work and the Father owns and
acknowledges him by raising him again and receiving him into
heaven so he bestows the Holy Spirit. Here then we see how
this great salvation involves all the persons all the persons
of the Godhead. Let us look more particularly
at the office of the Holy Spirit in salvation, because this is
what the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of here. How He constantly
speaks of Him as that One who is the Comforter. He shall give
you another Comforter, He says. And you see how this word is
used so very many times in the course of these discourses. In verse 26 of chapter 15, When
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he
shall testify of me. And then again, in that 7th verse
of chapter 16, if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto
you. Now it's a word that is very
interesting when we examine it. It is profitable sometimes to
do some word study with regards to the word of God and our understanding
of God's words. And this particular word that
is rendered in these discourses as comforter is one of those
compound Greek words. John Brown, in his commentary,
John Brown of Edinburgh, in his great commentary on the discourses
and sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ, says of this word that
it literally means one called to be beside another. And that's
a good interpretation, explanation of what the word really amounts
to. You can't really translate it
by a single word in English, although, of course, the attempt
is made to do that, rightly so. But this is how Brown understands
it. One called to be beside another. It's the word paraclete. And
we have it, of course, in one of the hymns, Hymn 29, Fountain
of Joy, Blessed Paraclete, Warm our cold heart with heavenly
heat, And set our souls on fire. Says Joseph Hart in that hymn.
He uses the Greek words, Paraclete, the Comforter. Now in the New
Testament, that word is only used by John. He uses it here in his Gospel,
but we also find that word, the same word, the same Greek word
at least, used in his first general epistle. But interestingly, it's
translated differently. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
1, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. We have an advocate, an advocate. You see the connection, one called
to be beside another, an advocate. or a barrister as we would say
in England, one who represents another, speaks for another.
But it's the same word really, it's the same word as we have
rendered as comforter here in these chapters in the Gospel.
And so as we think for a little while in conclusion about the
office of the Holy Spirit in salvation, I want Just to consider these two words,
these two renderings of the same Greek word. First of all, the
word Comforter. The word Comforter. The guy in
the hymn says, What comfort can a Saviour bring to those who
never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. He is the Comforter. But how
does he comfort? Well, remember the ministry of
the Lord Jesus, and as I've said, the Holy Ghost is so much there.
Christ is ministering always under that blessed unction of
the Holy Spirit. And what does Christ say? They
that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are
sick I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, it is true, is it not, that
all have sinned. All have come short of the glory
of God. But how few have any sense of
their sin. And as the Holy Ghost fulfills
His office as the Comforter, this is where He begins, is it
not? He begins by convincing the sinner of his sin. He is the Spirit of Truth. I will pray the Father, he shall
give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth." And he makes the truth known unto
the sinner. And how does he make the truth
known unto the sinner? He works conviction in the soul
of the sinner. He brings that sinner to a sense
of what his true condition is before God. He opens the eyes
of the sinner. and causes the sinner to see
himself. And not only to see himself,
but he makes the sinner feel what he is before a God who is
holy, a God who is three times holy. How he takes the Word of God
and brings conviction into the soul of the sinner. And we see
how the Lord Jesus himself constantly emphasizes him as that one who
is the Spirit of Truth. In that 26th verse of chapter
15, where he speaks again of the Comforter, he says, even
the Spirit of Truth, which proceeded from the Father, and so as the
Spirit of Truth, he comes to convince He comes to convince of sin.
It's interesting there in chapter 16. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
is come, He will guide you into all truth. And He goes on to
speak of how He will reveal the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only
so, He is also that One, of course, who comes to show the sinner
his sins. and previously there in chapter
16 when he says it's expedient that he goes away otherwise the
comforter cannot come but when he comes what does he say? verse 8 he will reprove or as
the margin says he will convince he will convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they
believe not on me of righteousness because I go to my father and
they see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. This is his work, first of all
to be the one who brings conviction into the sinner's soul. How James
speaks, you see, of that right, that true hearing of the word
of God, if any be a hearer of the word. He says he's not that
man who Having heard the word goes his way and forgets what
manner of man he is, he knows what he is. The spirit in the
world shows him what he is, convinces him of his sins. But having done
that great work of conviction, the spirit then of course comes
as the true comforter. He can only bring comfort to
those who have that real sense of their needs. And so there
is that work that is preparatory, that work of reproving the sinner,
and then revealing Christ, and revealing Christ in all the fullness
of that great salvation. Again there in chapter 15 and
the end of verse 26, He shall testify of me, says Christ. He bears testimony to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He shall not speak of himself
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall glorify
me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."
This is His work. All this is His great work as
the Comforter, but to know that work of comfort we must first
of all know Him as that One who is also the Convincer. This is
His office. And this is that work that he
must undertake and execute in terms of that covenant that is
a Trinitarian covenant. But then we see him not only
as the comforter, he is also the advocate. Now in that verse
that we referred to in John's first epistle, the opening verse
of the second chapter where he uses his same word there John
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ an advocate with the Father
Christ is that one who is an advocate in heaven who represents
his people who stands before God on their account and not
only an advocate of course but also that one who is the great
high priest who having fulfilled his priestly office upon the
earth by making the sacrifice has now entered into that within
the veil and there he by his very presence is constantly
pleading on behalf of his people and he is able, we're told, able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for But we're thinking more particularly
of the office of the Holy Spirit in salvation. He is the comforter,
as I say. As the comforter, he is the one
who convinces of sin, and then he is that one who comes and
bears testimony to Christ and reveals Christ to that poor needy
sinner, but he is also an advocate. And how is he an advocate? Well,
he enables the believer to bear witness in the midst of all his
trials and all his troubles. We have the words of the Lord
Jesus, do we not? In Matthew's Gospel, there in
Matthew chapter 10 and verses 19, 19 and 20, Christ says, 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. For it is
not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh
in you. The Spirit of your Father, enabling
those who are delivered up to be faithful. and to bear their
testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ and of course we have a wonderful
example of it in scripture in Acts chapter 7 where we read of the martyrdom
of Stephen and that great apology that he makes when I say apology
it is great defense of course of his faith it's a Stephen bearing
his testimony, his faithful testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ who
is that one who is spoken of throughout the Old Testament
Scriptures. Now he is enabled by the Spirit of God
to speak with great boldness even as they stone him to death
and he is received into the very heavens. But then, if we know
anything of church history, we see the same do we not in the
testimony of the martyrs, be it those who were martyred in
the early centuries of the Christian era, those who were put to death
by pagan Rome, the faithful testimony of those men who loved not their
lives unto death, and then, of course, at the time of the Protestant
Reformation, when, in many ways, papal Rome was more persecuting
than ever pagan Rome was. But there, clearly, in our own
country, the blood of the martyrs became the very seed of the Church. But how the Spirit emboldened
these men Oh, He is an Advocate. And He is that One who comes
and dwells in His people and emboldens them to be faithful
in bearing their testimony. He testifies to Christ. And those
who know the Spirit in their own heart will bear testimony
to the same Christ by that gracious working of the Spirit in and
upon them. But then, of course, also we
know how the Spirit is that One who dwells in the believer's
heart. Just as there is one in heaven, the great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, having entered into that within the
veil, so God has granted one to come and dwell in his children. And those words of the Apostle
in Romans 8, the Spirit, he says, also helpeth our infirmities. We know not what to pray for
as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us. with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And we need that
blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit as we come before God
in prayer. And here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ in prayer asking His Father for that blessed gift of the
Comforter I will pray the Father and He shall give you another
Comforter that He may abide with you forever even the Spirit of
Truth or that He might truly then abide with us so we might
know Him and that we might know His gracious ministry even today
as we come together to worship God what is our worship but for
the office of the Holy Ghost we should desire that we might
be those who are truly in the Spirit on the Lord's day the
one who gave the Word, who inspired those holy men as they spoke
the Word of God, as they wrote the Word of God that He would
come and that He would minister to us and we can ask God, can
we not? Christ is asking the Father,
we can learn of Him we can ask God for the Holy Spirit The Lord
Himself says it, if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more? How much more shall your
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? O God, grant then that we might
know the blessed ministry of God the Holy Ghost. The Lord bless His Word. What the f-