Speak Spirit Speak

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SPEAK SPIRIT SPEAK

John 16:12-15

12 "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 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 bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

NIV

The person of the Holy Spirit is present with us today and he is the one who speaks truth into our hearts and minds. Although he first convicted us of our sin and need of repentance, he now resides within us revealing all we need to know about the Father, the Son, and himself, the Spirit of truth. No one can know the truth unless the Spirit reveals it to them. We might think that putting forth a great deal of academic effort gives us all the knowledge concerning God. We even have developed the term theology to depict the study of God. But there seems to be a difference between knowledge and truth. We cannot be certain, but it certainly appears the disciples were not theologians, as the Pharisees and teachers of the law would have been considered. Yet they did not receive or refused to accept the Spirit of truth and thus were void of truth. However, the simple, could we be bold enough to say, uneducated disciples, some just fisherman, tradesmen, were revealed the truth. True, Luke was a doctor, and Paul, by his own confession was a Pharisee and son of a Pharisee, so he would have known the law quite well. Of course, even fishermen were Jews and familiar with their history and the Law of Moses. Yet, not one of them could know the full truth without the Spirit. It is the same with us. No matter how much education we attain, we cannot know the truth unless the Spirit reveals it to us. That does not mean he does not reveal it through our studying or learning as much as we can. But there are cases when men without any formal training whatsoever have become great orators of the truth. The Spirit speaks into our heart and mind that which is from Jesus and Jesus has been given everything from the Father. This is one of those truths some have difficulty with. What belongs to the Father, belongs to Jesus and the Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus and makes it known to us.  All three of those persons are God, but they are not each other. Some would same that is a mystery we cannot understand, yet the Spirit reveals it to us, he makes it known to us. How can that then be a mystery if the Spirit makes it known? The only answer to that which seems plausible is men are looking to their own reasoning, their own knowledge, rather than listening to the Spirit. So speak Spirit, speak and we will listen.