The Spirit of Truth
Notes
Transcript
This morning we are in John 16:5-15.
The setting is Jesus talking with his disciples, on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus has washed their feet, and given them the command to love one another.
They have had the Passover meal. Jesus revealed Judas as the betrayer, and sent him on his way.
Jesus has told the disciples that he is going away, and they are saddened and confused.
He has told them to not be discouraged. He has encouraged them that he is going to prepare a place for them, and that he will come back for them.
He told them of another comforter.
He also warned them that the would would hate them, but that they must in turn testify of Jesus.
And that brings us to pick up what Jesus was saying to them, in John 16:5-15.
but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
about sin, because people do not believe in me;
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Let’s Pray.
but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.
Flled with grief. Why? They likely were fearful. They did not understand what Jesus was talking about.
They likely were afraid of being alone. Though there would still be each other, the One who led them, showed them, cared for them, empowered them, taught them was telling them that he was leaving.
If he left, what would they do? Where would they go? Who would lead them? Who would encourage and empower them?
Have you ever felt that way?
Many in these days as well are afraid. Many are alone. Many wonder how we will do what we need to do.
Jesus provides the answer. Jesus gives comfort. How?
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
The Advocate
The Advocate
Good for you that I go. Why? If I go, I will send the Advocate. The advocate could not come to them until Christ returned to the Father, and sent him.
Jesus had spoken of this advocate earlier in the evening, while they were still in the upper room after their last Passover meal together.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
When we looked at this months ago, we saw that this is another advocate of the same kind. (There are two Greek words for another. One means ‘another of a different kind’, the other, which is used here, is ‘another of the same kind’.)
Jesus wanted his disciples to have another advocate of the same kind. The same kind as what? As Himself! Jesus is our advocate.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
What is an advocate? An Advocate helps
What is an advocate? An Advocate helps
An advocate is a helper. Jesus helps us by standing before the father on our behalf. For the disciples, he helped them by being with them and directing them for the years he spent with them.
Now, Jesus is going away and says it is good because then he will send another advocate like himself, that will help them.
How would this advocate help them?
The word in the Greek in which this was first written covers an area of meaning for which we use multiple words in English. In some contexts it has the sense ‘to encourage’. On other occasions, it has the sense ‘to exhort’. In others, the sense is ‘to comfort’. It literally means to come alongside. Whatever help is needed in the moment is the help it provides, wheterh to comfrot, encourage or exhort.
Who is this Advocate, and how will he help?
Who is this Advocate, and how will he help?
When we studied John 14, we saw Jesus told us who the Advocate is, and a couple ways the Advocate will help.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The Advocate is the Holy Spirit.
He will teach and remind.
Here in John 16, Jesus reiterates this by saying,
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
The Spirit of Truth will teach us
The Spirit of Truth will teach us
Even after three years with Jesus, the disciples did not know all that they needed. They still didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about when he said he was going to die and rise again, even though it was foretold in the prophets, what we call the Old Testament.
They did not understand the coming Kingdom of God. They thought Jesus was going to establish the kingdom at that time. Even after he rose from the dead they did not understand, and asked if now he was going to establish the kingdom.
They knew that they didn’t know or understand all that they needed.
How about you? Jesus has given us a mission. He wants us to testify to the world. He wants us to understand and live the will of God in this world.
Do you feel like you know enough? Do you feel like you understand all that you need? Do you ever feel confused about all that is going on, and the messages that are in the world?
Jesus comforted the disciples, and us. He promised to send this advocate who will teach us. The advocate will tell us what is to come. This Advocate is the Spirit of Truth! He will teach and show us what is true!
We see that he did just that with these disciples of Jesus. When we look at what they did and wrote after the coming of the Holy Spirit, we are amazed at their boldness, and their understanding! We are amazed at what they forsesaw coming in the future!
The Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, will teach us. He will give us what we need to learn and understand so that we, too, can boldly live and testify to Jesus.
The Spirit of Truth will remind us
The Spirit of Truth will remind us
I don’t know about you, but my memory is not what it used to be.
The advocate will teach us all things, and will remind us of everything!
Jesus had promised his disciples that they would be given the words to say when they needed it. We see that happening in the Act of the Apostles.
The Advocate will remind us of what is true. He will remind us of the things Jesus taught when we need it.
I remember learnign of Howard Rutledge who was an American POW in Vietnam for 7 years.
He had gone to church when he was younger, but had fallen away in his adult years. However, as he was in that prison, Hanoi Hilton, in Vietnam, he found himself remembering verses and hymns that he had learned years before. How? The advocate will remind us!
This is not an excuse to skip church, or skip reading the Word of God for yourself. However, it should be a comfort that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit will remind us of what He teaches us when we need it.
We are not alone. We can rely on him, just like the disciples had relied on Jesus for those years that they traveled with him.
The Advocate will teach us, and remind us.
There is another way the Advocate will work, and this is primarily a ministry through us, to the world.
We say last week,
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
We must testify to this world, and the Spirit of Truth will testify.
Does this world need to know what is true? It sure does! There are so many messages out there, and people don’t know who to believe! What a great opportunity to be able to let them know that we know the truth! The Spirit of Truth will reveal what is true!
How will that be? Jesus explained it further by saying,
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
about sin, because people do not believe in me;
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
The Spirit of Truth will testify and
The Spirit of Truth will testify and
We must testify to Jesus in this world. But have you ever tried to testify, and not seen people responding?
If the world hates us, what would ever move them to actually listen to what we have to say?
The Spirit of Truth.
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
The word for prove here means to convict, to show clearly.
about sin, because people do not believe in me;
He will show them that they are wrong because they are not believing in Jesus. Everyone is guilty of sin. The punishment of sin is death.
But Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, didn’t he, 1 John 2:2? Then why is there an issue?
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
They are condemned because they do not believe. They have not received the payment that Jesus has willingly made on their behalf. Refusing to believe means they still need to pay for their sins themselvs. They are condemned because they do not believe.
The Spirit of Truth must make that clear to them.
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
When Jesus was in the world, his very righteous presence convicted those around him. Now that Jesus is not here, the Spirit of Truth is going to being that conviction about righteousness.
and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
People believe that they can live in rebellion against our Creator, and be our own bosses. Satan has deceived the world with this lie.
However, Satan himself is condemned and will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, which God prepared for the devil and his angels.
People need to understand the Father of lies, and the lies they have followed are just that. They are lies. They are condemned.
The Spirit of Truth is the One who can convict of sin, righteousness and judgment.
Thais is why, when the Spirit of Truth came, the apostles were filled with great knowledge, they were reminded of all that Jesus taught, and they testified boldly on that day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2.
By why did they respond then, and not when Jesus was teaching?
The Spirit of Truth came and convicted. He proved them wrong.
The Apostles testified, and the Spirit of Truth testified, bringing proof that they were in the wrong, and they were cut to the heart, and 3000 people were saved.
I read an interesting story which may help us understand a little better how this works.
John—That You May Believe What the World May Perceive Through the Holy Spirit (vv. 7–11)
Jorge Rodriguez was a Mexican bank robber who operated along the Texas border around the turn of the century. He was so successful in his forays that the Texas Rangers assigned an extra posse to the Rio Grande to stop him. Late one afternoon one of the special Rangers saw Jorge slipping stealthily across the river, and he trailed him at a discreet distance as he returned to his home village. He watched as Jorge first mingled with the people in the square around the town well, then went into his favorite cantina to relax. The Ranger slipped into the cantina as well and managed to get the drop on Jorge. With a pistol at Jorge’s head, he said, “I know who you are, Jorge Rodriguez, and I have come to get back all the money you have stolen from the banks of Texas. Unless you give it to me, I am going to pull the trigger.” But there was a problem—Jorge did not speak English, and the Texas Ranger did not know Spanish. The two adults were at a verbal impasse.
About that time an enterprising villager said, “I am bilingual. Do you want me to act as a translator?” The Ranger nodded, and the villager proceeded to put the words of the Ranger into terms Jorge could understand. Nervously, Jorge answered, “Tell the big Texas Ranger that I have not spent a cent of the money. If he will go to the town well, face north, and count down five stones, he will find a loose one there. Pull it out, and all the money is behind it. Please tell him quickly.” The little translator assumed a solemn look and said to the Ranger in perfect English, “Jorge Rodriguez is a brave man. He says he is ready to die.”2 What we do not know most assuredly does hurt us!
The ranger could testify, but it was like it was falling on deaf ears until the interpreter, who spoke the heart language of Jorge Rodriguez, made it clear to him.
In the same way, if we go out and testify on our own, how can they respond?
The bible is clear that those who are not spiritual cannot understand spiritual things.
They need the interpreter. They need the one who can prove it to them, make it clear and real to them.
That is the work of the Spirit of Truth. He makes the truth of God clear to them, they are convicted, and they repent.
This is why the apostles were able to carry out their mission successfully.
As Paul testified,
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
The world will hate us. We must testify.
We need the Spirit of Truth to teach us, and to remind us so that we understand what is right in this world.
Then, we need to testify of Jesus, the only hope for this world.
And if we want them to understand and receive the testimony, we need the Spirit of Truth!
Let’s recognize our need for the Spirit of Truth. We need him to teach us and remind us.
Let’s rely on the Spirit of Truth. He will teach. He will remind. And he will testify with us, convicting and proving the world they are wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment.