Toward the end of the days of His flesh, the Lord Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit to comfort them, to help them, to counsel or teach them. In John 14-16, the Lord comforted the disciples. They were distressed because He had said that He was going to go away. He comforted them by promising to send them the Holy Spirit, who would be another Comforter for them. The Holy Spirit would also act as an Advocate for them. The Lord Jesus is an Advocate on our behalf in heaven; the Holy Spirit is as an Advocate on our behalf upon the earth. God’s people have two Advocates. Two Persons speaking up for them: The Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God.

The Greek word which stands behind our English words comforter, helper, advocate or counsellor is the Greek word “Paraclete.” We have even taken it over directly into the English language. In Hymn 38 we sing about the Holy Spirit our Paraclete.

What does that mean? Well, it means that He comforts us, He counsels us, He advises us. He speaks up for us and He speaks to us.

Faithful Helper⤒🔗

First of all, He speaks up for us as a faithful helper. That’s what we read in Romans 8. The apostle Paul said there that we do not know how to pray as we ought, so the Holy Spirit sanctifies our prayers.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. (27)
And He who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.Romans 8:26-27

Sometimes you don’t know what to pray. You feel confronted with a looming problem. You’re not sure what to ask God for. You need something, but you’re not sure what. At a time like that, don’t panic. Don’t quit praying. Keep praying. Lay it before God. Tell Him you don’t know what to ask for. The Holy Spirit will pray for you. The Spirit of God within you will pray to God the Father on your behalf. And His prayer will be good; it will be correct; He will ask the right thing for you. For His prayer is always perfectly conformed to the will of God. And God will hear the prayer of the Holy Spirit prayed on your behalf.

That’s good, isn’t it? To think that we have a faithful friend dwelling in us and among us who takes our imperfect prayers, perfects them, and presents them to the perfect Father in heaven. Who even prays for us. That is one aspect of what it means that the Holy Spirit is our Paraclete.

Wise Counsellor←⤒🔗

Another aspect is that He counsels us. He, as a faithful friend and helper, gives us good counsel. He works the Word of God in our hearts so that the Word becomes part of us. He makes us want to live for Jesus Christ. He guides us so that we are obedient to the Word of God and so that we do indeed live for Christ – that we give our lives to Him.

Listen to His counsel. Don’t just go your own way. Listen to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus Christ has given as our Counsellor. We often live as if we do not need God – as if we do not need the counsel and instruction of the Holy Spirit. So often we act like Israel, in Isaiah 30:2, who said: We make our plans. We do not need the counsel of God. We do what we think is right and good. We do quite well without the counsel of the Holy Spirit.

Do you ever live like that? We all do at times, don’t we? Let us renew our appreciation of this work of the Holy Spirit – His work of counselling us. We must understand that the Holy Spirit does not work in our hearts in a mystical way. He works with the Word of God. He impresses us with what the Word of God says, and He encourages us to be obedient to that Word. He reveals to us, in the Word, what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us, and He makes us respond to the Lord Jesus with all that we have. He convicts us of our sins and our sinfulness. He makes us repent of our sins. He brings our lives to a radical conversion – to a life which quits serving self and starts serving God.

Don’t Resist←⤒🔗

Do not resist this counselling work of the Holy Spirit. We resist it when we ignore the Word of God, when we refuse to read it or listen to it or obey it. Then we grieve the Holy Spirit. That’s what Paul said in Ephesians 4:30. When we knowingly ignore the counsel of the Holy Spirit, when we know better but go our own way anyway, then we grieve the Holy Spirit. We make Him sad.

But He will not grieve forever. If we knowingly, not out of ignorance, but knowingly refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, if we consciously rebuke the Word of God – if we say: “I know what the Word says, but I don’t care; I’m going to do what I want to do and not what the Holy Spirit counsels me to do” – then the Holy Spirit will grieve, but not forever. Then He will rebuke us. He accuses and denounces those who willfully close their hearts to His working – those who say: I don’t care about the good news and the demands of Jesus Christ.

And that is the sin against the Holy Spirit. When someone who has never known God attacks the truth of God’s Word in ignorance he sins against the Father and the Son. There is forgiveness for that sin. The way to repentance is open. But when a person rejects the Word of God knowingly and consciously – when he resists the illuminating work which the Spirit is doing in him – then he sins against the Holy Spirit of God. And when knowledge is joined with unbelief, there is no opportunity left for forgiveness. There is no chance for repentance for those who have sinned against the Holy Spirit. Not because of some weakness or limitation in God. But only because the person has chosen to place himself beyond the reach of God’s forgiving grace.

Let us be warned and let us warn each other to pay careful heed to the counsel, the advice, the leading of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that, we will be greatly comforted. Listen to He is not an Enemy; He is a Friend.