IV. THE DISCIPLES’ PREPARATION BY THE SON OF GOD (13:1 – 16:33) A. THE DISCOURSE IN THE UPPER ROOM (Jn 13:1 – 14:31) 5. The Promise of Residence (14:1-3) 6. The Way to the Father (14:4-6) 7. The Oneness with the Father (14:7-11) 8. The Performance of Greater Works (14:12-15)

9. The Sending of the Holy Spirit (14:16-17) a. The Divine Helper (v.16) b. The Spirit of Truth (v. 17) An Introduction  The second half of chapter 14 includes Jesus’ teaching on the resources of discipleship. ~ He would not only be with them, He would actually indwell them.

b. The Spirit of Truth (v. 17)  Read Jn 14:17. 1) The identity of the Spirit (v. 17a) 2) The inability of the world (v. 17b) 3) The blessing of the believers (v. 17c)  Jesus would soon leave the disciples, but He would remain with them. ~ How could this be?

~ The Counselor – the Spirit of God Himself – would come after Jesus was gone to care of and guide the disciples. ~ THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD WITHIN ALL TRUE BELIEVERS, HELPING US LIVE AS GOD WANTS, AND BUILDING CHRIST’S CHURCH ON EARTH. ~ By faith we can appropriate the Spirit’s power each day.

 The Holy Spirit has been active among people from the beginning of time, but after Pentecost (Acts 2) He came to live in all true believers. 1) The identity of the Spirit (v. 17a)  Read Jn 14:17a.  Judging by descriptions of His work, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth primarily because He communicates the truth.

~ (Cf. Jn 14:6) the Holy Spirit as the Spirit who bears witness to the truth, i.e. to the truth that Jesus is. ~ (Cf. Jn 16:13) He guides His people into that realm of truth which is personified in Christ and His redemption.  From this it follows that until we have been inwardly instructed by the Holy Spirit, all our minds are bound in falsehood and futility.

2) The inability of the world (v. 17b)  Read Jn 14:17b.  The “world” is the moral order in rebellion against God. ~ “The world” lacks an organ of spiritual discernment; it does not “see” or perceive the Spirit and His actions and, therefore, fails to acknowledge the Holy Spirit.

 Because “the world” is so profoundly materialistic, it is always suspicious of what it cannot see, what it cannot experience or scientifically measure. ~ “The world” would rather follow Satan’s lie (see Jn 8:44, 45; cf. 14:30). ~ The world does not, indeed refuses to understand the Spirit; and because of that lack of understanding, they cannot receive Him.

 This does not mean that “the Spirit of truth” has no work or ministry to “the world”. ~ See Jn 16:8 ~ People may become aware of their sin but they will not recognize how they came to this awareness nor understand its real and profound implications.

 There are several factors that prevent people’s understanding the Holy Spirit until after they have believed in Christ: 1. The Holy Spirit speaks a heavenly message (the words of Christ). 2. The Holy Spirit reverses one’s way of thinking. 3. The Holy Spirit begins with a different starting point.

3) The blessing of the believers (v. 17c)  Read Jn 14:17c. ~ Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, by their responding to Christ’s call to follow Him, “the Spirit of truth” was already with them. ~ On the day of Pentecost, therefore, the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them.

~ The Spirit is to be experienced; otherwise the promise of relief from the sense of abandonment brought about by Jesus’ leaving is empty.  What the Lord is saying in this last part of the verse shows the special excellence of that grace which God gives only to His elect. ~ This is no ordinary gift that He is giving to the disciples and, later on, to those who would come to Him in faith!

 Here, He is telling us that only the Spirit makes Himself known by us by living in us. ~ Otherwise He is unknown and unknowable, much less incomprehensible. ~ We must be aware of our own poverty and recognize that sound understanding comes from no other source.

~ Christ’s words show that nothing that relates to the Holy Spirit can be learned by human wisdom and reason, but that He can only be known by the gift and experience of faith.  The world has refused to know Jesus; but any sincere seeker, no matter how sinful or how ignorant, who humbly comes to Jesus in faith, can receive this gift of the Spirit.