As the Lord may be pleased to help us, let us turn this morning to John chapter 14, and in particular verse 26. John chapter 14 and verse 26.

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. 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.

This quite lengthy discourse of the Lord that covers these relevant chapters in John's account of the gospel goes on, I think, to chapter 17. But this particular part especially commends to us the Doctrine of the Trinity of God doesn't it father son and holy spirit completely united Not especially our subject this morning, but I do feel we need to draw attention to it the names given father son and spirit are almost sort of interchangeable in this passage, really. You read, for example, that the Father will send the Spirit. Later on, I think in one of the later chapters, but Jesus says he will send the Spirit. He says that the Spirit will come in his name. He says that the Spirit will speak of the Father. And he speaks of them all at different parts in this discourse. all of them abiding with his people. And that's a great blessing, isn't it? I know the Trinity is a hard thing to understand, but it is so clearly revealed here. And all persons of the Trinity are mentioned here in our verse, aren't they? The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my, the Son's name. He will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

All those things of course known to the Spirit that Jesus has spoken as one God in complete perfection of harmony and purpose and union together. But one of the names that especially is given to the Holy Spirit is that of Comforter. And it is a lovely subject to consider the comfort which the Holy Spirit brings. We read in the second epistle to the Corinthians about God being the God of all comfort. But this morning my thoughts were led especially to the comfort that we have when we are taught by the Holy Spirit and especially this morning as we consider the things that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance that Jesus has spoken to us.

There is a wonderful comfort in remembrance. I think that is true naturally, isn't it? We have fond memories, whether that's of people or particular events or situations, circumstances that we've passed through, and we might often like to think back upon those things. and our memories can be very sweet and they can be very comforting. Perhaps when we are in some period of trouble or trial, some difficulty, it's comforting to think back to times when we have previously been delivered.

We should Think of those things especially on a national basis today, but we think of them personally and individually as well it's comforting to be reminded and above all it's Comforting to be reminded that God has spoken to us

It's not something that we should just take for granted David in Psalm 28, in the first verse of that Psalm, makes it very clear to us what is the consequence if God never speaks to us. David says there, Psalm 28 and verse one, unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent to me. lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pits." This is very stark, isn't it? If God never speaks to us.

Now I know we can say in one sense God speaks to all the works of creation, for example, do speak to the whole of mankind, don't they? without excuse in not believing in God, but this is really speaking of a personal word from God, when as an individual we are spoken to by God. And if that never happens, if God remains silent to us forever, we will be like those going down into the pit. We will be those that go down into the pit. if we never hear the voice of God on a personal, individual basis, speaking into our heart, into our soul.

So the very fact, if you can look back and remember a time when God has spoken to you, that should be very comforting, very reassuring that we are not those that will be left. to go down into the pit because God has taken notice of us. Individually, God has spoken a word into our heart.

Now, we are fickle, aren't we? Our minds can get feeble and maybe especially as we get older we may become forgetful. But I think there is, we've proved that there is a wonderful comfort in the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in bringing those things to our remembrance, reminding us of what God has said. We're not dependent upon our memory for that blessing but the Spirit reminds us, brings it back to us. Remember this situation, remember what God did, remember what God spoke to you in the past. Oh, and nothing changes that relationship to God and with God, does it? But it's so comforting to have those things in remembrance.

Now, Jesus put a lot of emphasis on speaking to his sheep, didn't he? You, I'm sure, are familiar with the passage in John chapter 10 where Jesus compares himself to a good shepherd looking after his sheep. especially there he says how he speaks to the sheep and they recognize his voice they've heard it before they recognize the power and the authority with which he speaks. When he spoke on earth, they had to testify, didn't they? Even if they didn't really believe all that he said, they still testified, never man spake like this man. Oh, there was a wonderful authority that even the The very learned scribes and the Pharisees, they couldn't match the authority with which the Lord spoke. But are we those sheep who have heard the voice of Jesus and recognized it and he says they follow him because they know his voice. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I hope you'll forgive a little anecdote that just illustrates this, but I say especially for the children and for the younger ones. We were on holiday a few years ago, and the outer Hebrides, the Scottish islands on the island of Lewis, And my wife and I were walking along and we came on the walk to a place where there were, I think it was about eight crofters' cottages.

And behind each cottage there was a long, very long, but extremely narrow strip of grass and fences dividing them off. Each strip was only as wide as the cottage was. but in each of these different strips there were sheep and as we were walking along down the track that went down at the end of these strips of grass one of the, evidently one of the crofters came along and in fact he was blowing a little whistle but the same principle applies.

The sheep heard that and in one strip they responded to hearing the voice of their shepherd. They recognised, I suppose, the tune that he was playing or the sound of that particular whistle and they responded. But it was very instructive. We just stopped and watched this happening because the sheep in all of the other strips totally ignored it. There wasn't a single sheep in any of the other strips that made any response to this particular shepherd's voice.

But on the other hand, every single sheep in this one strip did respond. Some of them responded very promptly. Some of them were obviously overjoyed, as it were, to hear that voice. They knew what was coming. And what was coming was that as he drove down to the end and turned round at the cliff edge, then he unloaded bales of hay and water for them. And they knew they were going to be fed.

One or two of them were rather reluctant. I suppose they were quite comfortable lying down or sitting down. Maybe they didn't feel in any particular need of feeding. And one in particular, I can still picture it now in my mind, it just sat there. And I thought, well, is there something wrong with it? Or what's the matter? And it rather, I was tempted, it was going to rather destroy this parable that I felt I was being taught, if that one sheep could just ignore it. But eventually even that one stubborn sheep got up and although it walked slowly, slowly at first, increasingly its pace increased and until it was running down the field to catch up with the rest of the flock and to meet with the shepherd. And that's always stood out so powerfully to me.

All, Jesus said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. No sheep can be left behind. But are you and I ready followers? Are we those that hear the first few words, as it were, that he speaks and we follow him then? Or are we that reluctant, stubborn sheep that wants to defer it, put it off, stay where we are? Oh, but all shall come to me. Oh, and, you know, there was no less food, no less provision for that stubborn sheep than for any of the others. Oh, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. said Jesus. That shepherd didn't say, well, you were slow to respond, I'm not feeding you today. No, there was nourishment provided even for that sheep.

Now, the sheep hear the voice of their shepherd, but not just the ones, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit to comfort us by reminding us what Jesus has said. Is there some precious promise, some precious word that the Lord has caused you to hope upon? And yet maybe the sweetness of that passes and maybe even what it was you've forgotten Oh, pray that the Holy Spirit will remind you, will comfort you by bringing it back. This is what the Lord said. The Lord won't change his word. The promises we've had won't be altered or fail to come to fruition. The Lord is good. He remembers everything he said. That's a comfort, isn't it? God won't forget what he has said to you. You may forget temporarily what he has said, but he doesn't. The Holy Spirit doesn't. The Holy Spirit has made record of that and will bring it to your remembrance to comfort you when that is needed.

Now, one of the things that I personally and perhaps some of you also have had to be very thankful for over the years is that the Lord is patient with us. Long-suffering is a word that is used. Now we're not all quick learners are we? We're not all those that respond immediately and have the full teaching revealed to us instantly and we can have, as it were, a complete understanding of everything. Sometimes we need, I've often called it revision lessons. It's just so naturally, isn't it, what you learn and you younger ones learning today. I mean, in general at the moment, You can't remember everything that you've been taught, can you? You need to go back and have reminders of it and revision lessons. I was not very good at revision myself. I used to, when I started to go through the revision notes, I used to think, oh yes, I can remember that all right. I don't need to go through that again. And then you find when you get in the exam, actually you didn't remember it. or you didn't really understand it and you should have paid more attention to being reminded of it.

Well, this is a wonderful comfort, isn't it? That God knows when we are slow learners, not justifying it when we are stubborn and when we will not pay attention. That's another matter. But the Lord knows our frailties. He knows that we often need to be reminded of things. that we thought we had learned, thought we had understood.

And also, there are those things, aren't there? God's dealings with us in our lives that maybe at the time we don't understand. There are mysterious providences, aren't there? Situations and things that we have to walk through and experience and we may think, well, I don't know, why was that necessary? The Lord could have changed that. The Lord could have made it easier or more comfortable for me. Why did he not do that?

Well, I was thinking of Peter especially. Peter was often, of course, very outspoken, wasn't he? But he, so many times, and it makes a study, I would commend it to you to work through the Gospel accounts and indeed the epistles of Peter and the Acts of the Apostles. You find many times Peter had to be reminded three times of what God had spoken to him. Or he had to experience something three times in order to come to a better understanding of what God was doing in his life.

We have one example where after supper the Lord clothed himself with that towel and washed the feet of the disciples and wiped them with that towel. Now Peter couldn't understand that could he? And to begin with he thought that was wrong. I suppose he thought it was demeaning for the Lord to to take up the work of the most humble servant. And he said, protestingly really, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? And Jesus said, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And you can see in Peter's epistles how that afterwards in many ways he did learn some of these lessons. He did know them afterwards. God didn't let him forget. The Holy Spirit didn't let him forget what Jesus had spoken or what Jesus had done. And though he didn't understand it at the time, it was brought to his remembrance.

You have, of course, Peter's denial. The Lord had said to him, hadn't he, very clearly, At least it seems clear to us, I suppose we have the benefit of hindsight, but the Lord said that Peter would deny him three times. Peter again protested, no, other people might forsake the Lord, but he would never do that. He was so bold and so self-confident, wasn't he? But as we find, the Gospels records, three times he did deny that he knew the Lord. And at the end of that third time, the cock crowed, marking, I suppose, the beginning of the dawn, and Peter remembered what the Lord had spoken. And it had a great effect upon him, didn't it? Went out, he left the company that he didn't need to have been mixing with at all. There's a lesson for us there. He didn't have to be in the hall with those that were opposed to Jesus. He'd put that creature comfort of the blazing fire on a cold night, more than the fact it exposed him to ungodly company. But he went out and he wept bitterly, real, tears of repentance

but sadly we find again don't we that in the Acts of the Apostles you have Peter having that vision of all the different animals being contained in a sheet and let down from heaven command again a very clear command to Peter rise Peter kill and eat and Three times he says, not so, Lord. Those words actually don't make any sense, do they? You can't address the Lord as Lord and then say not so. Lord implies I am the servant. He is the master. He has the right to command. If I call him Lord, I can't then say not so.

But sadly, we may often be in such a spirit. I remind you of that very powerful parable that the Lord spoke about the two men building their houses, one on the rock, one on the sand. That parable, I think, is often misrepresented. as being about faith building upon the rock that is Christ. Well, faith does need to build on the rock that is Christ, but that's not what that parable is about. That parable is about obedience. The contrast is the two men that both heard the words of the Lord and one of them did it and his house remained standing. And one of them only heard and was never a doer of the word. And his house collapsed totally and was in a ruin. And these things speak to us. We can't say not so, Lord, but we need to be reminded, don't we, of what the Lord has said.

So Peter, we find then afterward, oh, no doubt he was musing upon what that vision meant. But then, as you know, the three men came, being sent by Cornelius, the Roman centurion. And Peter then, as he comes to Cornelius' house, he says, God has shown me that what God has cleansed, I am not to call unclean. He was reminded of what God had spoken. taught by the Spirit, what he at first hadn't understood.

I was thinking as well, not just Peter, but all the apostles, they didn't really understand what Jesus spoke to them about his death and in particular about his resurrection, did they? There are many things there that they couldn't work out what he really meant. But we read after those things came to pass, they remembered his words.

Now I'm sure in all of those circumstances that I've just described, there was a great comfort, wasn't there? Whether it was to Peter or whether it was to all of those apostles together, the comfort of being taught by the Spirit and being reminded by the Spirit what Jesus had spoken or what God had spoken to them. It must be so really, mustn't it? Because God doesn't speak idle words. God doesn't say something to us that we can, as it were, just disregard and forget. We will be reminded. There's a purpose in what God says. It is for us to prayerfully seek that out and and see what that means for us.

But we have this wonderful comfort that the Holy Spirit brings those things to our remembrance. Now, that is I think really very wonderful, isn't it? We have a teacher. It's in my thoughts to speak more this afternoon, God willing, about the teaching, what it is that the Holy Spirit teaches. But as we consider this morning, just the fact that he teaches, the fact that God does speak to us and we're reminded of these things.

At the end of John chapter 15, we have another reference to the Comforter and we read there, when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, again the Trinity at work here together, even the Spirit of Truth which

proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of me. So there is it twice, all three persons of the Trinity mentioned. There will be the testifying, really meaning they're the teaching. The Holy Spirit will teach the Lord's people of Christ, of what He is to them, their Redeemer, their Saviour.

We don't know these things, we don't learn these things from a purely natural heart, do we? We can learn, as it were, the theory of them. We can understand, as it were, the theory of salvation, but it's the teaching of the Holy Spirit that applies it with power so that we have a personal saving knowledge of those things.

Now, has that comforter testified to you of the Lord Jesus Christ? If he has, I'm sure you'll be able to say what a comfort that was. In all your need, it may be circumstantial needs, providential needs, but above all, as our sin is revealed to us, that need of a saviour, need of the one that can atone or has already atoned for our sin. What comfort that brings, doesn't it?

I'm so struck. I never go long without thinking of those words. I love to be at the seaside and watch the sea but Those words we read of in Isaiah, that the wicked are like the restless sea. When it cannot rest and casts up the mire and the dirt, there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. There is no comfort. There is no testifying of the Holy Spirit in their hearts of the work of Christ as Savior, as Redeemer. They never have that comfort. They may not even realise their danger or their need of it, but they never have this comfort.

I say again, as the Holy Spirit testified in our hearts of the Lord Jesus Christ and that great work that he did for his people, laying down like that good shepherd, laying down his life for his sheep. If you were looking, or if you want to look, at the end of John chapter 15, you'll see that there's no full stop at the end of verse 26. There's a consequence. If the Comforter, if the Holy Spirit, or as it is in this verse, the Spirit of Truth, has testified in our hearts of the Lord Jesus, made Him personal to us, then there's a consequence and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning oh is there that testimony in our hearts of what we have been taught by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 66, we have that lovely verse, don't we? Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I will testify of the goodness of God to me, especially in salvation. It's not only a matter of providence, but so often those things are entwined together, aren't they? But what he has done for my soul, Ye also shall bear witness. You also are to testify.

You think of that man often referred to, isn't he, perhaps rather unkindly really, but the mad Gadarene, the one who was possessed with so many evil spirits. When his whole life was transformed by Jesus, If you study those accounts again, you'll see that the state that he was in before Jesus spoke to him and the state afterwards could not be more opposite. Before, he was totally restless, night and day, crying out and moaning, as it were, cutting himself with the stones. living among the tombs of the dead, naked, opposed to anyone that would try to subdue or constrain him. Afterward, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Now, he was told, wasn't he, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. And what did he do? He went home and he, I think the word is used, he published it, much abroad. It doesn't mean published in the sense of making a book out of it, but he didn't just quietly gather two or three friends together. He wanted, as it were, so many people to hear. He wanted to testify of the goodness and the comfort that had been brought to his soul. One who had not known, really not known the meaning of the word comfort, but now was comforted by that teaching and he would Share that with others to the glory of God.

That's the point isn't it? It's not Come and hear what I have done for my own soul or come and hear how I have changed my life It's come and hear what God has done for my soul There's no boasting there. It's all the glory to God

ye also Shall bear witness now that's personal that's individual But the church together, collectively, is also to bear witness to these things. We have a remarkable little verse in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter nine, and verse 31. This follows the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. You remember, you younger ones, again, especially, you'll remember how Saul of Tarsus persecuted the early Christian church and was a great opponent of it. But when God changed his heart, then we read, then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified. That means they were built up, they were strengthened. It also has the sense of being more deeply taught. They were edified and walking, so there was a practical outworking of this, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. They were multiplied. There were many souls added to the churches in different places. because they were walking this out and as they were walking it out they were being comforted by the Holy Ghost.

Great Comforter was with them. He was teaching them more and more about the Lord and about their responsibility to be a light in the world. And we as churches in our different localities, we also have this responsibility, don't we, to bring light into the world. to be like a beacon on the top of a hill. You know, we've all seen, I suppose, in the recent days the various bonfires and so on. A light that shines in the darkness is visible, isn't it? Often from a long distance away. And this is what the church should be like. They must walk in the fear of the Lord but also in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

It's not an easy thing, is it, to bear witness before other people. It's not something that perhaps comes naturally to us. Perhaps we are naturally more shy and quiet, but there is this comfort. comfort that the Holy Spirit brings of doing the right thing of being obedient not just Hearing that this is what we ought to do, but actually doing it walking it out

Doesn't say that it was easy for them. I know it was easier in the sense that Saul's persecution had stopped but I mean they still had all the opposition of the Pharisees and the opposition of various people that worship different idols and so on. You can think of how the opposition was stirred up in Ephesus by those that sold the, I don't know what you would really call them, but mementos or something of Diana, the god of the Ephesians, how they opposed the early Christians.

But they were comforted. They were helped and they were strengthened as a church by the Holy Ghost. They were reminded that this was their responsibility. They were reminded that Jesus had said to them, that great commission as it is often called at the end of Matthew's account of the gospel, this was their responsibility and this is our responsibility.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost of the Trinity, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Not teaching them anything different, teaching them our own thoughts or our own theories or some man-made doctrine, but teaching what we have been commanded, what we have been taught by the Holy Spirit.

And we sometimes forget those things, but he brings them to our remembrance.

Oh, if we feel this burden, and we may feel this maybe individually, that one is being prepared by God to go out, to make this public teaching of what they have been commanded and what the church has commanded, But all of us have this responsibility, don't we, to teach to others what we have been taught and not to hold it back, to keep it to ourselves. We need much strength and much help and there will be many oppositions. So we need much comfort as well at times.

I was thinking, speaking to a lady, a church member, back in the summer, not at home, at one of the chapels I visit, and she provided her house as a place where the young people could meet for Bible study. But she said to me, because I'd taken the Bible study, she said, well, as a lady, there's very few things that I can do, but I like to do this. And I said, no, I'm sorry, I need to correct you. As a lady believer, there's very few things that you can't do. Yes, the public preaching, the public ministry and teaching, that is one thing. But there is still a teaching ministry for the ladies as well, isn't there? Whether it's in the Sunday school, whether it's teaching by their own example, teaching their own children. Not only that, but teaching the men in private.

That example of Phoebe, you have especially the example of Priscilla, don't you, who taught Apollos. Apollos was already by that stage a well-known and evidently quite able minister of the gospel. But in private, in her own house, along with her husband Aquila, she taught him more perfectly. And there are so many And I've proved it, and I expect some of you have proved it as we go around. There's so many of the ladies that can teach us. I think of one place I went, sadly now closed. The lady was over 90 by the time I first met her. And I said to her one day, really after the morning service and after our conversation, I said, I didn't mean this literally, but you'll understand what I meant. I said, you ought to be in the pulpit this afternoon and I'll sit in the pew. I really felt she could teach me far more than I could teach her. Now, yes, in the public ministry, that wouldn't have been right. So obviously we didn't do that. But you know what I mean? This is a word for all the church, isn't it? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, what you have been taught.

And then here is another comfort, we must leave it, but know, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. I said at the beginning, in various parts of this long discourse in John, you have the promise of the Father abiding with the people, his people, the Son abiding with his people, and the Holy Spirit abiding with his people. So although the direct context is Jesus was saying he was returning to heaven, or would be shortly returning to heaven, to the Father, the Spirit would still be with them. And Father, Son, and Spirit are one. So there's no contradiction to these words where Jesus says, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world.

Well that should be, may it be to us each a comfort and a strength as we seek to fulfil whatever that commission means to us personally and as a church.

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.

Our concluding hymn is from Hymns for Worship, number 146.

Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend.
Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end.

146 from hymns for worship.

? The Lord is on my side ?
? And they shall flee ?
? The cross of griefful pain ?
? Leave to thine own ?
? To mother and provide ?
? Hear every change ?
? Be faithful evermore ?

Please know, my soul, thy best, thy happy friend, through folly, ways, leads to a joyful end.

? All the life of the day ?
? Tonight the future as it has the past ?
? I hope thy confidence let nothing shake ?
? All thou mysterious shall be seen ?

The waves and winds still blow. His voice, who rules them all, he dwells below. be, for in them be the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and fear are all gone, sorrow forgot, love through its joy

Dear Lord, do help us truly to be comforted by that knowledge that thou hast spoken and that thou art still speaking to us. May we, O Lord, be those obedient sheep that follow thee that go in the ways of thy commands. Help us, Lord, personally and collectively to fulfil those great commissions that thou hast spoken, that we should witness before all men those things that we have been taught by thy Spirit.

Lord, we do thank thee for that comfort of thy presence going with us at all these times. May we, O Lord, be much comforted by that.

Now may the love of God the Father, the grace of Christ the Son, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit be with us each. Amen.