Jesus Promises the Spirit of Truth

The Last Teachings of Jesus

From the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane

First, We looked as Jesus’ statement that He is the Only Way to the Father

Then we spoke about:

The Way of Jesus Is Obedience

Last Week, We studied about the prayers God empowers us to pray, Because,

When We Walk With Jesus, Prayer Changes things

>>>Today, we see what we can learn as. . .

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

>>>Next Week:

Jesus Tells His Friends of His Resurrection

>>>The Next Week:

Jesus Prays With His Disciples

>>>First Sunday of April:

The Arrest and Priest’s Trial of Jesus

>>>Then on Passion Sunday:

The Political Trial and Sentencing of Jesus

>>>Easter:

Celebrating the Resurrection

>>>Then on April 24

Reflections on the Crucifixion

So we have a a lot of important Sunday Preaching Themes that we will deal with with on our journey toward Easter, and even after.

All of this has come as are using the three chapters after the last supper and Jesus washing His disciple’s feet, the Gospel of John chapters 14, 15, and 16.

Chapter 17 deals with the prayer of Jesus, then in 18 we have the betrayal and arrest, in 19 the trial and sentencing. A lot to cover in these very rich chapters.

>>>So let’s get back to today’s word from God’s Word:

Jesus Promises the Counselor Will Come

There are many promises in the Bible, and each one is from the loving heart of God.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit that comes from Jesus is also from that same heart of God’s love—and in some ways is the very presence of God’s love in us: for the three are one, Father, Son, and Spirit, and if God loves his own then Jesus loves his own and the Spirit loves his own.

And God’s love is the love that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”

>>>So, as another act of God’s love, which sent the Son because of love, Jesus promises this:

John 14:16 CSB

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

Jesus the Son of God always defers to His Father while he is on earth—even in the prayer he makes in the Garden, where his final conclusion of his conversation with the Father was “not my will, but Your will be done.”

So he tells his disciples he will ask the Father.

Yet there is no uncertainty in Jesus request. He is not going to ask the Father and hope that the answer is yes. He already knows the heart of the Father, for it is his own heart.

For us, we pray to God for what we want, while Jesus’ teaching on Prayer in these chapters, as we saw last week, is the promise of prayer’s purpose will always be met in God’s answers, which will be in line with His kingdom purposes.

The Paraclete Will Come to Us

Jesus will ask, and the verse here says that the Father will give what we need: Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, first of all, paraketos, which means our helper, our advocate, our intercessor.

It’s only here in John’s Gospel, in three passages we will see, that Jesus speaks of the Spirit as paraketos, which in our clumsy speech usually comes out as “Paraclete”.

This third person of the Trinity will take the place of Jesus in the lives of the disciples: another Counselor, besides Jesus, whose physical form cannot stay with us eternally.

We need the presence of God in our lives. Otherwise we are lost in our selfishness and sin.

Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, Helper

So the parakletos that comes from God the Father by the request of Jesus the Son is the Holy Spirit that counsels us; He is the Holy Spirit that intercedes for us before the Father in heaven; He is the Spirit that helps us and who advocates for us, or takes our side in our needs to Fulfill the Fathers purposes for each of us.

And Jesus says that this Paraclete will be will be with us forever. Unchanged and unchangeable, the Paraclete does not pass through a birth, and death and resurrection as does Jesus, who we first see in physical form yet who is the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus Promises the Spirit of Truth

which is another name for the Counselor, because of another function of the Spirit in us.

As Counselor the Spirit is on our side so we do not stand alone before men or God, and this Counselor-Paraclete is ever with us because of Jesus’ request.

>>>Jesus’ description now is this, found in John 14:17.

John 14:17 CSB

17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

The Spirit of Truth is not given to the whole world, only to believers.

The Spirit of Truth is unrecognized and unrecognizable in the unbeliever.

The believer really will not question who the Spirit is; we already know him, for in our confession of Faith in Jesus, we get the kiss of the Spirit, in a sense, and when Jesus went to the Father after the Resurrection, he asked on our behalf, and God did as the Son asked. The the promise is permeated with the permanent presence of the Paraclete.

Jesus Now, The Spirit Later:

This Spirit of Truth was in Jesus fully, and so has been with them in the person of Jesus, and will be in them, and actually in us as long as we live.

Jesus Is With Us When the Spirit is In Us

>>>This word is given so that the believer will always know the reality of Jesus through the Spirit, as he says again:

John 14:18 CSB

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

Not left as orphans, not left without Jesus’ Spirit or the identity as the daughters and sons of the Heavenly Father, We have the Spirit of Truth because of Jesus’ plea for our needs.

The Counselor-Holy Spirit is Our Teacher

We first need the presence of God, but that is not all. We need the teaching Spirit of God so we can know and speak truth.

>>>Jesus says it like this:

John 14:25–26 CSB

25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

Jesus spent only three years with his disciples on earth, but has continued to be with them all their lives to teach and remember all that Jesus spoke.

And without this Holy Spirit, we would not have the Gospel records of the life of Jesus.

We know of the Spirit of Truth because this Spirit was first in the Apostles, and we know of the Spirit of Truth because, in our own surrender to God for forgiveness and salvation, we have shared that same Spirit.

The third person of the Trinity is known to us as counselor, advocate, helper, intercessor and teacher. This is such an amazing gift of God!

>>>Not only is the Spirit of Truth given to teach, but also,

The Spirit’s Role is to Testify About Jesus

John 15:26 CSB

26 “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.

The Spirit In Us Testifies About Jesus

John 15:27 CSB

27 You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Jesus Must Return to the Father

John 16:7 CSB

7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus is Fully God and Fully Human, and

The Spirit was Fully In Jesus

Jesus Released His Holy Spirit To US

The Spirit of Truth is God’s Attorney General

John 16:8 CSB

8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:

The Spirit Convicts the World About Sin

John 16:9 CSB

9 About sin, because they do not believe in me;

The Spirit Convicts the World About Righteousness

John 16:10 CSB

10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me;

The Spirit Convicts the World About Judgement

John 16:11 CSB

11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

The Spirit of Truth Shares the Father’s Heart

Even as Jesus shared the Father’s heart. But there was really too much to tell, and understanding too deep for the young disciples. So Jesus left open the door of what the Spirit would teach us in years of learning to walk with him:

There Is So Much More To Tell

John 16:12 CSB

12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

The Spirit of Truth Is Our Guide to God’s Truth

John 16:13 (CSB)

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

The Spirit of Truth Speaks for God

John 16:13 (CSB)

13 When the Spirit of truth comes,. . . . he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears.

because the Spirit of Truth is God in us.

The Spirit of Truth is The Spirit of Prophecy

John 16:13 (CSB)

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, . . .He will also declare to you what is to come.

The Spirit of Truth Glorifies Jesus

John 16:14 CSB

14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

The Son Has Been Exalted

John 16:15 (CSB)

15 Everything the Father has is mine.

The Spirit Declares the Truth of Jesus

John 16:15 (CSB)

15 ....This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.

The Promise of the Spirit of Truth Is For Us

We Need the Spirit In Us:

We need a counselor-helper

We need a counselor-teacher

We need the power to testify about Jesus

We need the Spirit to be effective in evangelism

Because if the unbelieving world is not convicted of their own sin, they will never seek a path of righteousness and will fall under judgment with Satan

The Spirit is Promised, And We Must Be Receptive