Today’s message is entitled “Authentic Christianity.” This is a subject that I feel very strongly about, and I believe the Lord feels very strongly about it as well. The meaning of “authentic” is of undisputed origin, genuine, true, the real deal. And as we study John’s gospel I believe this theme is emphasized over and over again. I believe authentic Christianity is very important to God. And so it should be very important to us.
God doesn’t want superficial Christianity. He is not interested in lip service. He is not interested in rituals and ceremonies and observing holy days which are supposed to honor the Lord, but in reality act as a facade for carnal hearts. In fact, Jesus said to the church of Laodecia in Revelation 3:15, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”
Now that’s some pretty harsh talk for a bridegroom to say to His bride, is it not? And yet this is how the Lord feels about superficial, sanctimonious Christianity that is not truthful with Him. David said in Psalm 51:6, “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” God cares about the integrity of His people. Truth is important to God. The word truth is used in the Bible 201 times. And in the book of John it is used 26 times.
Jesus said in John 3:33 that God is true. He said in John 14:6 that “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth in John 14:17, John 15:26, and John 16:13. And He says the word is truth in John 17:17. I would suggest that God cares about truth. He cares about authenticity. And so He cares that we walk in the truth. (2John 1:4) So without question it is important to God.
And truth is important to me. It’s the reason that I preach the gospel. It is because of a desire to know the truth, and that the truth would be known. Many of you are familiar with my story. But for those that aren’t - I am a preacher’s kid. Preacher’s kids have it tough for a whole host of reasons that I won’t elaborate on today. But be that as it may, as a genre we are notorious for rebelling and going astray. And I was no exception. My dad had been an Army sergeant in the paratroopers before he got saved, and he brought us up by very strict standards. So by 21 or so I had decided to leave home and try to find out if the world was as fun as it looked. Long story short, I ended up getting as far away from my dad’s ministry as I could get. I ended up in Redondo Beach, California. After many years, I realized one day that I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone to bed sober. I had explored all of the deviant pleasures that the world had to offer and still ended up unsatisfied and miserable. And along the way, my love for God had become so cold I wasn’t even sure anymore what I believed.
To add to my problems, I had been dating a girl that was a Seventh Day Adventist. And in the process of discussing religion with her, I found that many of the things that I thought to be true about Christianity I really did not have any basis for believing, other than that was how I had been raised. Which caused me to have serious doubts about what was really the truth. And so one day all of this culminated in a bout of some serious soul searching. I became under conviction of the Holy Spirit. I knew I needed to get right with God, but I spent all day walking the beach, trying to shake it off. Eventually though, God got me alone in my garage that evening, and I began to pour out my heart to the Lord and ask for forgiveness and express my need to have Him take over my failed life.
Especially though because of the questions I had developed due to the exposure to Seventh Day Adventism, I wanted to know the truth. And so I prayed to God that if He would show me the truth, I would do it. Even if it meant that everything I had been raised to believe was wrong, I wanted to know the truth. And I asked God to show me.
I had always heard that when someone comes to the Lord he should read the book of John. And so after I threw away my drugs and alcohol and cigarettes, I found a Bible which somehow I still hadn’t lost, and began reading the book of John. And a couple of hours later or so, I came upon this verse we are looking at in our text today. Verse 13; “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” I believe the Holy Spirit specifically illuminated that phrase, “He will guide you into all the truth…” And I have been pursuing that truth for 30 years now.
So I believe God wants authentic Christians. Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” To that end, God has given us the Spirit of truth, so that we might worship Him as He wants to be worshipped.
I saw a lady’s bumper sticker the other day in the parking lot of the post office, and it said, God is too big for one religion. But such a definition of God must require that this big God doesn’t care how He is represented. He must not care how we worship Him. That He has not declared who He is. But that belief offends the very concept of God. God has declared who Himself to the world in the person and words of Jesus Christ, who said they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.
The concept of truth has various dimensions, depending on how it is used. But as it relates to worshipping God, to being a disciple of Christ, Jesus indicates that truth is progressive. Jesus said in vs.12, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”
What Jesus is indicating there is that the disciples had a limited capacity to understand the truth. They were still struggling with the basic truths of the gospel as He had been teaching them. The commentator Ellicott said, “The revelation of Christ is not an imperfect revelation which the Holy Spirit is to supplement. It is a full revelation imperfectly received, and His office is to illumine the heart, and bring home to it the things of Christ.”
So for the disciples to understand fully the truth of God, God had to give them a Helper to illumine their hearts and lead them to the truth. And He did that through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of authenticity. His ministry in the life of a believer is like the seal that is placed on an item that guarantees it as being authentic, the real deal. Ephesians 1:13
speaks of that seal, saying, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
So as the disciples come to believe truth of Christ, and trust that truth and act upon it, then they will be capable of receiving more truth which will be administered through the Spirit of truth.
That principle of progressive truth is taught throughout the scriptures. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.” What that teaches is the nature of truth. A lamp in those days was a oil burning lantern. It did not shine a beam of light like a flashlight. But it cast a glow a few feet in front of you. So that is the nature of truth. It is revealed as we walk in it. As we are obedient to the truth revealed at that step, God will reveal the next step. As so we walk in the truth, step by step.
But He is also indicating that they will receive another teacher of the truth. As He has been their teacher for 3 years, now has come the time when He is going to be handing off their discipleship to another teacher who will take them to another level of truth. At this point, Jesus has taken them as far as they can go. They are not able to bear the next level of truth at that point. And the reason is that they haven’t yet proved, or tested that truth.
For instance, all that Jesus has taught them concerning Himself, His divinity, His death and resurrection, has not reached the full level of comprehension. But as the next few days unfold, they will witness His death, they will witness His resurrection, and they will receive the Holy Spirit. Those events will exponentially increase their level of comprehension. It’s one thing to believe Christ is God in theory. But when they see His resurrected body those theories will be proven to be actionable truth that God will build upon through the guidance of the Spirit.
That is the idea that Jesus was expressing in the quote from Revelation to the church at Laodecia I mentioned earlier. Jesus said, “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich.” There is truth that is refined by the fire of experience, or refined by the fire of persecution or trial that proves the truth of the scriptures in a way that enables us to take the Christian walk to the next level. It is possible to learn a biblical principle, but then God will cause events to transpire in such a way that it tests your faith in that principle, so that you will really come to comprehend it. And that testing then increases your faith.
But the main point Jesus is making is that He is ending His time with them as a teacher, and He is handing over that responsibility to the Holy Spirit who will continue to lead them and guide them as He had done for the last 3 years.
Notice how Jesus describes the Spirit. He calls Him the Spirit of truth. In fact, three times Jesus refers to the Spirit as the Spirit of truth. (John 14:7, John 15:26, and of course now in 16:13) Now that’s important because it stresses the principle that the Holy Spirit will always act in accordance to the truth. Nothing that claims to be of the Spirit should ever be relied upon if it is not in accordance with the truth of God’s word. That is how we can recognize it as of the Spirit. We may have some kind of experience which we think is spiritual, but if it doesn't agree with the revealed truth of God in scripture, then it must be dismissed as a false spirit. John said in 1John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” So you can test the spirits by the word of God. The Bible is the revealed truth of God.
He also is called the Spirit of truth because He is the means of God conveying the truth of scripture. Peter said in 2Peter 1:20, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” And Paul also in 2Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Inspiration means “God breathed.” And it’s interesting that the word in Greek for spirit is pneuma, which means breath of air. So the scripture is breathed by God through the Holy Spirit to the agency of human writers. That is why He is called the Spirit of Truth.
And in this description of the Spirit’s ministry, once again Jesus refers to this principle we mentioned earlier of progressive revelation. He says “He will guide you in to all the truth.” To guide is to lead. Sort of like leading someone by the hand. It is not a once and done operation. But continually being filled with the Spirit’s leading, by being yielded to the Spirit’s teaching.
So then it is proper that there is a period of infancy in the Christian walk. After all, we are first born again by the Spirit. But then we are to walk in the Spirit, and grow in the Spirit. It is proper to have a time when you feed on the milk of the word, but there should come a time when you begin to eat meat. When you grow into maturity.
The disciples were at this point only able to receive milk. They couldn’t handle the meat because they were not mature. The same situation was seen in Corinth, and Paul reprimands the church there because they should have graduated by this time to solid food, but they had not. 1Cor. 3:2, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.” Why? Because they were still carnal. They had not grown into maturity in Christ.
Listen, we are called to grow up in maturity and stature in the Lord. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ. That involves being trained in righteousness, learned in sound doctrine, and practiced in godly works. That is what the Spirit wishes to lead us into, and it is incumbent upon us to yield to His leading. We need to be obedient to the truth revealed thus far, and as we do that He will guide us into all the truth. Far too many Christians have accepted the basic truth of Christianity so that they are saved, but that is as far as they have gone. And as a result the church today is carnal, worldly, and ineffective. Being filled with the Spirit is being yielded to what the Spirit says through the word.
Now the other way we can authenticate the Spirit of truth, is because Jesus says “He shall not speak of His own initiative.” In other words, He doesn’t speak of Himself. He speaks the words of Christ and glorifies Christ in all He does. Jesus uses the same method to determine the Spirit’s truth just as He validated the truth of His own words. Jesus said in John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” And in the 8th chapter, Jesus says that His words are the words of God, and that He does not glorify Himself but He glorifies God.
So by the same standard of truth He says the Spirit is true. Because He does not speak on HIs own initiative. In other words, there is one source for truth and that is God. And all the trinity is unified because as Jesus speaks the words of the Father, so the Spirit speaks the words of Christ. They are in harmony with one another.. And I would add that they are in harmony with scripture.
It’s important to note that Jesus teaches us that truth is not by man’s discovery, but by divine revelation. Jesus says in vs.14, “He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” We don’t need to go seeking truth on a mountain, or through some guru, or by some vision. Truth is revealed to us through the revelation of God in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds for us so that we might understand it as we believe it and are obedient to it.
I would like to make one more comment about vs.13 before we move too far from it. And that is the truth, or all the truth, as Christ speaks of. What is this truth? It is not all truth, as some translators have it. For the Holy Spirit does not reveal to us the truth of chemistry, or the truth of Algebra, or things of that nature. We do not become supreme experts on all truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. But we are guided into all the truth. All the truth of life, and what pertains to real life from God.
That is the truth of the gospel. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me. So to be guided in all the truth is to be guided to way of life from God. God is the source of life. He holds all life in His grasp. Nothing exists without Him or can exist outside of Him. And Jesus came to show us the way to God, the way to the source of life. That way is through coming to believe in the truth of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
That’s what I mean by saying authentic Christianity. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” God’s way is through Jesus Christ. And His way leads to life. Abundant life. Eternal life. Authentic life. It doesn’t concern itself with putting on a religious front.
Authentic life is not a self righteous life. Authentic life is not religious superficiality. Authentic life is rooted in the truth. The truth that mankind is fallen and cannot have fellowship with God. The truth that Christ came to die for sinners, so that our sins might be forgiven and reconciled to God. Authentic life believes the truth and have been made free from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. And so we commit ourselves to the truth. We aren’t concerned about superficial, emotional based, feel good Christianity without regard for the truth. Authentic Christianity realizes that we are all fallen people and that we need to know the truth to be free from the snares and traps of Satan. We know we have to stay engaged in the truth to all of our ability. The devil wants to convince you that you can live life in neutral spiritually. That is a lie of Satan. Jesus said I wish you were either hot or cold. Authentic Christianity requires staying hot. Staying the course, regardless of the trials. Persevering. Even suffering. But all the while believing that this way is the truth and it requires our daily commitment to it if we are going to succeed as God would have us to.
I would like to end with a story from Genesis chapter 24 as a way of illustrating this ministry of the Holy Spirit and summing up His purpose for us. You may remember in Genesis 24 there is the story of Abraham obtaining a bride for Isaac his son, and there is an unnamed servant, who is sent far away to Abraham’s distant relatives in order to find a bride for Isaac. In this story, Abraham allegorically represents the Father, and Isaac of course represents Jesus, and the servant represents the Holy Spirit. So it says Abraham sends out this unnamed servant who is to find a wife for his son. It’s interesting the servant doesn’t have a name. He has a title, but not a name. So the unnamed Spirit or the unnamed servant goes on this journey and comes to a well where a girl comes and waters his camels. And there he is led by the Lord to Rebecca, who is the one whom the Lord has chosen to be the wife of Abraham’s son.
Later that day they gather around the table as they are getting ready to eat and the servant of Abraham says, “I will not eat anything until I have told you my business.” And with that he begins to tell of the glories of Abraham and the son. He says, “My master is a great man. He’s been made great, and furthermore he has given everything that he has into the hands of his son. And I’m here to obtain a bride for the son.”
Well that is exactly what the Holy Spirit does in his work of glorifying Jesus Christ. He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and through his ministry He teaches us the truth of Christ, so that we might be joined to Christ as His bride, the church. As Jesus says in vs.14-15, the Spirit takes the things of Christ and discloses them to us so that we might be a fit bride of Christ. So that we might be taught the complete knowledge of Christ. So that we might be conformed to Christ. So that we might be matured in Christ, so that we might do the works of Christ, that one day we might be glorified with Christ. And He does that through leading us and guiding us in all the truth that is necessary for life and godliness.
Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” This is the ministry of the Spirit of truth, to present us to Christ, even as Abraham’s servant presented Rebecca to Isaac.
At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus said in vs.1, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.” He has given us a guide to keep us from stumbling. To present us faultless, without spot or wrinkle, that we might be the glorious church of Christ. That is the ministry of the Spirit of truth. To lead us and guide us into all the truth, so that we might not stumble. So that we might be found a fit bride at Christ’s return. Let’s pray.
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