Co-Workers With God Series

4 24 2016 Co-Workers with God John 15:26-16:4

If your boss who trained you for a few years invited you to become partners in his business, you would consider it to be a great privilege. Listen to Jesus’ intents and purposes for those who had discipled with Him; Jesus speaks 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. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

The Spirit of Truth WILL testify about Jesus.

Again the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, (Comforter or Helper) is promised to Jesus’ disciples. In John 14:16 Jesus had promised: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—“ Then in John 14:26 Jesus said: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

Now listen: These verses do not at all contradict one another but rather support that the fact that the Spirit is regarded as being connected in the most intimate way with both the Father and the Son. The sending of the Holy Spirit is equally important to the Father as the Spirit is to the Son. The Spirit will proceed (go out) from the Father in order to continue the ministry and testimony of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit being sent in Jesus’ Name means that He will represent, remember, and teach all the things that Jesus taught from the Father.

There is great legal significance in the name for the Holy Spirit, namely, “Parakletos” since the Holy Spirit represents Jesus Christ’s “case”, standing in the place of the Lord Jesus as His complete and competent witness, testifying to the Truth of Jesus before the world and alongside the disciples of Jesus. So the Spirit of Truth WILL most definitely testify/witness about the One who is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Lord Jesus.

There are two ways in which the Spirit bears witness or testifies; one is the witness of the Spirit in the writing of the Word of God. The authors of the Old Testament were led by the Spirit of God, bearing the Word of God before the Birth of Jesus. The authors of the New Testament would also be led by the Spirit of God as they bore the witness of Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

Likewise 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us: “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” This places the Bible in a category by itself: no other book can stand up to the Bible’s proclamation of authorship being led by the very Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth.

Secondly, the Spirit testifies the truths of God’s Word to individuals who read it and are changed by the very Word of God. We sometimes refer to this as the internal witness of the Word of God. Paul explained it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

The Spirit-inspired written Word of God is life changing. It is interpreted within the human heart. The Word speaks to the minds and hearts of people in such a way that those who are being led by the Spirit of God to believe in the Lord Jesus WILL be led to trust Him as Savior and Lord. In John 3:8 Jesus explained it to Nicodemus this way: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Later Jesus said in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” The internal witness of the Word and Spirit of Truth continue to change lives as God powerfully builds His Kingdom.

Disciples of Jesus MUST testify about Jesus.

Let’s listen to those verses (26-27) again: “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.” So we saw how the Spirit testifies to the Truth of Jesus, and then immediately Jesus adds: “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”