Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: John 16 and Psalm 49

¹³ But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the 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 glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you.

In John 16, Jesus highlights one of the most important ministries of the Holy Spirit – a ministry which He would initially carry out in the lives of the apostles, and then would continue in the life of every subsequent believer (including us today). That is the ministry of revealing the truth!

First, before we come to believe, and while we are thus still “people of this world” (v.8), the Holy Spirit goes to work to draw us to Jesus. He does this by revealing to us the truth about our own sinfulness, the truth about Jesus and His absolute righteousness (and hence His capacity to save us), and the truth about the final judgment and our need to be saved from it. In summary, the Holy Spirit draws us to salvation by holding up the truth about ourselves, Jesus, and the Gospel to us, and by graciously bringing us to a point of believing that truth.

Secondly, once we have received Christ as our Saviour and Lord, the Holy Spirit constantly leads us into the truth … “all the truth” (v.13). He reveals to us everything Jesus wants us to know – about the Father, about Jesus, and about a God-honouring, Christ-exalting life as a disciple. And He does this so that, as we realign our lives to these truths, Jesus will be glorified through us. The Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus. It’s what He always does. And He will do it in our lives as we receive the truth about Jesus and begin to live in step with Him.

Life Application: Is there a situation in your life today in which you are uncertain of the truth, or of the will of Jesus for your action or reaction in that situation? Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all the truth about the situation and about Jesus’ will for your response. Then be brave … ask for His empowering … and do it.