The Spirit of Truth

When I was in upper Elementary school I used to attend a Christian camp called Eagle Lake. It was in Colorado and it was run by the Navigators. We would spend the week learning about Jesus, memorizing verses, participating in camp activities and zooming down a zipline, which spanned the length of a lake that was shaped like an eagle (hence the name Eagle Lake:) Each night we would have a gathering which included worship and teaching. I can’t remember any specific lessons I learned while listening to the preacher of the week, but one night each year they would teach us a lesson we wouldn’t soon forget. As we were sitting on the hard floor listening to the preacher of the week, the doors would slam open and in would walk all of our counselors dressed in camouflage and wearing black war paint on their faces. They were hardly recognizable. We’d all jump with surprise as they came in yelling at us and accusing us of being Christ followers. They then explained that we would be playing a game called the “underground church.” It was pitch black outside and our goal was to reach “Paul” in a secret location before being caught by the crazy counselors who had become Christian persecutors. If we were caught they would take us to prison where they would begin to yell and scream at us about how stupid our faith was. They would ask us to defend our faith and their questions were really hard to answer. They didn’t hold back. They made us question the truth that we had proclaimed to believe just moments earlier.

If we happened to find Paul before being taken to prison then we would gather together and pray for the persecuted nations in our world. Whether we found ourselves in prison or the underground church, most of us were in tears by the end. It was a very real exercise in questioning what we believed and why we believed it. It also was a test to see if we had enough courage to testify to the truths we believed about Jesus.

The worldly truths I believed as a 10 year old have changed. Jonathan Taylor Thomas is not the most eligible bachelor. And taking quizzes in magazines like Teen do not dictate what shade of foundation I should be wearing.

Political truths are always changing, I am not even sure there is such a thing as political truths.

Moral truths seem to have always existed, but they also seem to be different for each person, country, and culture.

Religious truths have changed as well. Theological and doctrinal statements that we used to stand firmly on and defend until we were blue in the face have possibly shifted a little bit.

The only truth that has never changed is the truth about who Jesus is and what He came to do. It has never changed. It has been challenged in every generation, but the truth of His life, death and resurrection has held fast for the last 2000 plus years. The truth of what He has done for millions, if not billions, of people is irrefutable.

How is that possible? You would think that over time we would have lost interest in the stories of a man who lived a long time ago, who claimed to be the Son of God, and who did pretty miraculous things. There have been many people who have done amazing things in their lifetimes, but their stories have been lost in history.

1. Why does the truth about Jesus stand firm today?

It’s because when He ascended to heaven He gave His followers the Holy Spirit. Last week I spoke about the gift of the Holy Spirit, the parakletos, the Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, Mediator. He is sent to us by Jesus and on behalf of Jesus to be actively involved in our lives. We talked about the the role the Advocate plays in convicting us, convicting the world, revealing the righteousness of Christ and bringing judgement upon Satan. But Jesus chose to describe the Holy Spirit another way as He was preparing the disciples for His departure.

In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth three different times. In John 14:15-17 Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth.” And again in John 15:26-27, “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. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” And finally in John 16:12-15, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 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. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 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 world that the disciples had grown up in was filled with different forms of truth. Rome had brought in their pantheon of gods. The Roman citizens were expected to worship Caesar alongside these other gods. Moral truths were blurred. Social classes were strongly adhered to. Slavery was a way of life and widely accepted and utilized by the aristocrats. According to Paul in Galatians 5:19-21 “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” were obviously taking place and were more common than not in Galatia, which was a part of the Roman Empire.

The concept “Speak your truth” existed way before it became a hashtag on social media.

To a lost world, truth is always subjective. It is based off of a person’s perspective, opinions and feelings. Subjective truths cannot be proven right or wrong. They are solely based on someone’s experiences. Many truths will remain subjective. How I perceive a situation may be different from how you perceive it. For me, my experience was my truth, and your experience was your truth. Subjective truth can be very dangerous because it doesn’t have to be attached to reality. It can be very deceiving and can cause great harm to a person, to families, and to communities.

The TRUTH that Jesus wants to fill His disciples with by way of the Holy Spirit is “that which is in accord with what really happens, facts that correspond to a reality, whether historical (in the time/space continuum) (Lk 4:25; Ac 4:27), or an eternal reality not limited to historical fact.”

2. The Spirit of Truth testifies to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

When a person has been filled with the Spirit of Truth, it is impossible for them to keep quiet about the work of Christ in their life. I was going one way, then Jesus changed my life completely and I am now headed in a completely different direction.

One of my favorite scenes in the show the Chosen is when Mary Magdalene is trying to tell Nicodemus about her experience with Jesus. She says, “I was one way, now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.”

3. The Spirit of Truth gives us the strength and courage to testify about what Jesus has done in our lives.

Take Peter for example. Before being filled with the Spirit, he denied Christ three times and fled the scene of the crucifixion, ashamed of his betrayal. Then, on the Day of Pentecost the Spirit blows into the Upper Room and he is filled with the Spirit of Truth.

Acts 2:14-21, “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Talk about a change of heart and a change of character!

Jesus tells us that we need to testify about who He is and what He’s done! Our testimonies should have three distinct parts. They should consist with a glimpse into our BC days, our Before Christ days. The purpose of sharing this part of our lives is not to glamorize the sin we once lived in, but to highlight our spirit’s alienation from God. It helps people connect to us in a very vulnerable way. We can easily confess our sinful ways, not with joy, but with the sober understanding that our sin is the reason died on the cross.

Then our testimonies should transition to our AD days, or for those of you who need a refresher, our “Year of the Lord” days! This is when we tell people about what Jesus has done to forgive us, free us, and heal us. This should be the focus of our testimony.

I remember having a conversation with someone who was on the fence about putting their faith in Christ. I was in my early 20’s and I had had very real and tangible experiences with the Holy Spirit. This person kept wanting me to prove that Jesus really was the Son of God. I could give them hundreds of scripture references, but they wanted solid proof, not just telling them what the Bible said. So I began sharing parts of my own experiences and what Jesus had done in my own life. Slowly they came to understand that the Spirit living in me had done such a deep work of healing and transformation that I would never deny the work of Christ in my life.

Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Has Jesus done any of these things in your life? Has His forgiveness set you free? Has He ever done such a deep work of forgiveness in your life that you feel like a completely different person? What about setting you free from the bondage of sin, shame, and bitterness? Has He ever ministered so deeply to your spirit that you knew that you had been completely set free? Or what about His supernatural ability to heal, whether physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually? Have you ever been healed from something you never thought you’d be healed from?

I could go on and on! My life isn’t made of one testimony, it is made up of hundreds of testimonies. I don’t have one day when Jesus came in and changed everything, I have a series of days, months and years where Jesus came in and did work in me that completely changed the course of my life.

It is intimidating to enter into a debate with someone who is skeptical, or someone who had been hurt by the church. They come to the table carrying their own baggage and doubts. So many times we feel like we need to defend Jesus by pulling out the Bible and leading them down the Romans Road. Sometimes that’s effective. But more often than not, allowing the Spirit of Truth to testify through us to the work of Jesus in our own lives is what breaks down the walls around a well guarded heart.

Last week we talked about the spiritual battle we are in. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, it is against a very real enemy who is evil and his native language is lies. He is known as the deceiver. He wants to twist the truth, thwart the truth and pervert the truth. Satan wants to deceive people and keep them oblivious to the truth of Jesus Christ. He will try to keep us silent because he knows that his time is short.

In the book of Revelation, John has a vision of what the end times will look like. Revelation 12:10-12, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

Jesus was sending his disciples out like sheep among wolves. He knew what their earthly future held, but He also knew what the testimonies they boldly shared did for the Kingdom of God. So He equipped them with the Spirit of Truth, and that is exactly what He is giving us today! The Spirit that dwells in those who believe is ready to testify to the life giving work of Jesus, He is ready to give you boldness as you lovingly share all that Jesus has done in your life. He is ready to expand the Kingdom of God through you, one testimony at a time.