“When the spirit of truth comes, Jesus says, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me. For he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said, he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
– John 16:13–15
Are you hearing this? This is an amazing promise that Jesus is giving to his disciples in John 16:13–15 of what will happen when the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, comes upon them. And for all of us who have trusted in Christ, this is already a reality. The Spirit of God lives in us. Listen to this. When the spirit of truth comes. Now, think about this, the spirit who is in you, he will guide you into all the truth. He will lead you to truth. Think truth. Think how valuable truth is. To bank your life on that which is real, that which is true about God, that which is true about you, that which is true about the world.
We want to know God more and more. May our only boast be in the Lord.
God Will Guide Us To Truth
It’s not fake news. This is truth. However, this is not just truth about today. This is timeless truth that persist through all of eternity. He will guide you into all truth for he will speak out of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are come. And the whole picture is he’s talking about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit here. He says, Jesus says, “The spirit will glorify me for, he will take what is mine,” so all that belongs to Jesus he’ll take it and declare it to you.
And so what belongs to Jesus? Well, verse 15 says, “All that the father has is mine”. Follow the logic here. All truth, God the Father has belongs to Jesus and the Holy Spirit will take all that belongs to Jesus, which is all that Father has, and he will make it known to you, declare it to you. Just let that soak in. That should make us all right now just go to God in prayer, in the Spirit right now, according to this word and to say, bring it on, Oh God, we want to know your truth. We want to know and understand your word. We want to know and understand what is real and true about you. And we want to know you. You are truth.
John 16:13–15 Wants Our Eyes And Hearts Open To God
You are, we read it in John 14, Jesus, you are the way the truth and the life. We want to know you through the Spirit of God. Help us. Open our eyes, our hearts, to know Jesus more and more and more. To know you, God, and all of your glory, to know your holiness. We just think about Jeremiah 9:23–24, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord.”
John 16:13–15 Wants Us To Know The Glory Of God More
Yes, God, we don’t want to boast in any riches, any might, any power, any wisdom. We want to boast that we know you, that we know you. Spirit of God, help us to know the glory of God more and more and more every day. We want to know you more today than we did yesterday. God, we want to know you more tomorrow than we do today. And we want to know the truth about ourselves. We don’t want to be deceived.
We want to know the truth about the world around us. and we don’t want to be deceived in the world around us. Spirit of God, please, lead us, guide us into all truth. More truth today, more truth, the next day, more truth the next day. Through your word, by the power of your Spirit, oh God, we ask this, believing, knowing 100% guaranteed based on your promise in John 16:13–15, that the spirit will lead us into truth. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
