John 16:13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself… Jesus said, "I am the Truth." Hence it is just the thing to be expected that he should talk again and again concerning the blessing to men which is so bound up with his being. The truth as it is in Jesus must become truth in us. What glorious aims he has with respect to his friends! He wants us to master the whole truth of what every human being ought to experience. We cannot look ahead to the fullness, but Jesus can. He sees the end toward which we are to be guided, and he points out the Guide. He cannot do things all in a hurry, in grace, any more than in nature. I. LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY HERE SET BEFORE US. We may be led into the whole truth. He wants us thoroughly to know the fullness of which we already know the part. What we need above everything, and what is quite possible if only we choose to make it possible, is to get the full benefit meant to come to every human being from the entrance of Jesus into the world. We are already better off in an indirect way. But indirect benefit must always be superficial benefit. Jesus, having great expectations for us, wants us also to have great expectations for ourselves; expectations going out after the true crown and glory of humanity. Our own wish surely ought to be to know all a human being can know about this wondrous Jesus, and have all the transactions with him that a human being can. II. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS WHOLE TRUTH IS TO BE GAINED. 1. There is the significant word about being guided. We may be among those taking things just as they come, following our own inclination when we can, and, when we cannot, submitting to necessity; or we may be distinctly conscious that we are led - led as by one in authority, whom we feel that we ought to follow. In lesser things it makes all the difference whether we are led or not led. The child left to grow up pretty much as it likes, without any attempt to guide it and put something like order into its life, is sure to suffer. We always gain in being led by those who are competent to lead. Those whom we call pioneers, who seem to have found out a way for themselves, have often been under some overmastering impulse which has really amounted to a leading. And if the loss of leading be so serious a loss in lower, visible affairs, what must it be in dealing with the unseen and eternal! 2. The Guide is pointed out. The Spirit of the truth will lead us into the whole truth. The process is a gradual, persuasive, and certain one. The Spirit of Jesus did for these disciples what Jesus in the flesh was never able to do. The Resurrection came to lift the obscuring film from their eyes. Their thoughts were sent into a new channel. The ordinary objects of human ambition became very paltry and worthless. What a difference between the Peter of the Gospels and the Peter of the First Epistle! These men were actually guided into a firm and satisfying grasp of the whole truth; and we want the same. We want a power all-sufficient to guide our feelings and behavior every day of life. The influence of the unseen and eternal must swallow up the influence of the seen and temporal. And this is all secured by submitting to the leadership and absolute disposition of the Spirit promised by Jesus. - Y. Parallel Verses KJV: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. |
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