Spirit of Truth

The truth when it comes out of darkness scares us and it rightfully should! The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth when it comes out of darkness scares us and it should! The truth of who we are! Maybe it’s the truth of what the scale says or the cholesterol numbers or blood pressure. Maybe it’s the truth that are you are no longer 29 and haven’t been for a long time (at least 5 almost 6 years). The truth of who we are when it comes out of the darkness and comes into the light scares us.

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth scares us when it comes out of the darkness and points out who we really are…more then our health and age. It’s more than that…it’s a scary reality when the truth hits us between our eyes…that we are by nature spiritually blind, dead, and enemies of God.

Ugh!

It’s this Truth brings fear and trembling. And the fear of truth has brought into question, “what is truth?” A question that has been asked for quite a long time. The meaning of truth is put up for grabs in the world. Is there such thing as Absolute Truth? One might ask. And if we say yes, we can be branded as mean. The measuring stick of truth we’d rather have brandished against someone else. Truth causes fear!

There’s a man in Scripture that pointed this out! King David and his lustful thoughts turned into at least one wild night with Bathsheba and maybe even a full-blown affair. She becomes pregnant, which causes fear to David (if the truth comes out what would people think of him?) He calls home her husband, Uriah to spend time with his wife, but he didn’t spend any time with her and David quickly has Uriah killed. In noble-gesture David takes the grieving war-widow in as one of his wives. David is hoping that no one knows the truth about what happened...

There is one that does…God does. God knows David’s truth that causes David much fear. And God sent Nathan to point out to David the truth. Yet, as Nathan tells the story, David doesn’t see the truth, David sees an evil man who took the poor man’s ewe lamb for himself. David wants justice..the truth of this man needs to come out. David cries out, “As the Lord God lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!” And then the truth comes out as Nathan looks at David, “You are the man.”

David heard the truth from another human being. This Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth convicted David. This was God’s conviction. He for awhile hid the truth. He didn’t want anybody to find out about the truth. Yet God knew it, it convicted David! The Spirit of Truth convicted David of his Sin. He was led by this Spirit to say, “I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.”

Yet for awhile David didn’t let the truth come out. Perhaps he had a hard time accepting any form of Absolute Truth himself. Perhaps he even asked what is truth? And it’s a question we ask today. We wonder what the truth is in the government - from Watergate to Benghazi to everything in between. There are scandals in the church - from sexual transgressions to the embezzlement of funds. Stung by leaders falling into business profiteering and money laundering. Stung by educational systems - bullying run rampant along with other types of violence. And not to mention the sports world with Performance-enhancing drugs and and Deflategate! No wonder people become skeptics to the truth. No wonder people say that truth is what it is to you, and I may see it differently. So we ask the question, “What is truth?” Much the same way as the Pilate did to Jesus.

Yet as The Spirit of Truth is sent, isn’t trying to just get you to say “It happened this way,” or “I’m telling the truth.” This Spirit of Truth testifies and points to the Word, revealing that God’s Word is truth, that Father is truth, the Son is Truth, and the Spirit is truth. God not only knows the truth…he embodies the truth. He speaks His Word of Truth and it is truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth. And this truth is reality and that reality hits David! It pointed out the truth to David. The Same Spirit of Truth who came to David, comes to convict the “World concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

You and I can identify with David. We are afraid when the truth comes out of the Darkness. We would prefer it to stay hidden…brushed under the rug, shoved in the closet, put into the dark recesses of the basement or attic. We make good stories to protect our reputation. We actually consider ourselves better than the unbelieving sinner who exchanges the truth of God for a lie.

We may accept the truth that God created the heavens and the earth, that he ascended into heaven. That truth doesn’t hurt us. The truth that exposes us and makes us vulnerable before the Holy One - we don’t want to address it. This truth scares us. We utter on our lips, “there are people who do worse then me.”

The thing is the Spirit of Truth comes into your life and He exposes the Truth. It pierces your darkness and brings the hidden things to light. He brings the ugliness of the truth to light. He brings the truth the scares you into the open. The Spirit of Truth says, “You are the man! You, you are the one with the secret sins - no matter the secret whether it be sexual, financial, with alcohol, or other great shame and vice. You are the man! It’s not the one that shows up on the newspaper or the convicted felon. It’s you! You are the one with sickening the truth that lives inside of you.

Aha!

It’s a truth that scares us! And yet there is another truth - A beautiful truth - that is revealed by the Spirit of Truth! This truth is something that we do not have to be scare of. St. John reveals Jesus’ Words:

English Standard Version Chapter 15

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

He will bear witness about Jesus..and his work of righteousness.

The Spirit convicts the world also of righteousness. It’s a conviction based on the conviction that Jesus Christ had. Instead of you bearing the brunt of being “the man” God the Father pointed to Jesus and said, “You are the Man.” For the bloody death of Christ on the cross delivers to you righteousness. The bloody death of Jesus on the cross exchanges your ugly scary truth of being a sinner…to receiving a truth, for more beautiful, far more safe than you can imagine, a truth that despite the truth that you are sinner, God is for us! This is God’s reality for you! God is true to His Word, His Word of promise that He would send a Savior to take the World’s Sins away. He did that for you. Jesus died for you, Jesus rose for you. Jesus reigns for you. Jesus even not is interceding on God’s right hand for you. And this Jesus who did all this, didn’t leave us alone. He sent the Spirit of Truth who continues to bear witness.

He bears witness to the truth of Jesus Christ! He even brings us to believe in this miracle that happens when the scary truth comes out of the darkness at the cross, where we confess our sins, and God is “faithful and just to forgives our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God didn’t reject David. Neither does he reject you! God loves you! This is your reality. This is truth! This is ultimate truth. It’s the truth that the Spirit of truth bears witness to.

Yeah and Whee!

Their is more truth! It’s the fact that the cynical world that we live in is conscious of its sin. The Law of God is written on their hearts. No one thought likes to admit the truth, “I’m a sinner. I’m the man.” Sometimes these people might even portray all their good qualities but yet the verdict, the guilt, the truth brings them into despair, saying, “God will never love me,” thinking that there is no hope for htem, but yet, that person is a prime candidate for the Spirit of Truth to work a miracle in…Jesus also died for that person. Jesus exchanged that person’s ugly and scary truth on the cross for the safety of Christ and his kingdom, of being a child of God.

Today, the church celebrates. We celebrate the coming of the Spirit of Truth on Pentecost, the Spirit who guides us into all truth. We rejoice that the Spirit glorifies Christ, and that he will takes what is Christs and declare it to you. As Jesus says,

English Standard Version Chapter 16

15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

That’s the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth.

In our Old Testament lesson, we heard the truth proclaimed and lived out in a miracle. The whole house of Israel was dead, dry bones! The Almighty God told the prophet to prophesy through the Spirit of Truth that they would live again, and all the bones came together, along with sinews and ligaments and skin and flesh coming back. He was even commanded to prophesy throught eh Spirit of Truth to bring the breath of life back into God’s house. And by the Spirit of Truth, they stood up and lived. That same Spirit of Truth has come into us. We who once were convicted by that scary truth and left for dead, are now living members of the Body of Christ, we are Children of our Heavenly Father, brought into His Kingdom by the Spirit of Truth.

This Spirit of Truth gives us faith to believe and the ability to receives his Gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation Through His Word and Sacraments. As the scary truth that appears in dry bones, these bones come together in the safety of the ark of his church through waters of Baptism. We are joined to God’s family and given the robe of righteousness. We are absolved of the scary truth as we hear God’s Word of grace and forgiveness. We even kneel in fellowship of Saints, Angels, and Archangels across time and space at the Table of Our Lord where we receive the very Body and Blood for our forgiveness. For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. That’s the truth. For not only do we proclaim it, but we receive forgiveness each and every time we take this medicine of immortality. THat’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

In this Household of faith you have life! The life of Jesus given to you so that you may live. The Spirit of truth has come. He comes to testify and witness about Jesus and His Work for you. He comes to testify to the truth…the truth that you are forgiven…the truth that brings you life. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.