A person may quote the passage from John 16:13, "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." But what did this mean to the disciples? Just like today, there were many religious authorities trying to convince people that their understanding of God's desires were correct. The difficulty is they had grossly misinterpreted what God wanted. One of Jesus' goals was to help people understand what God truly wanted from His people. When Jesus completed the sacrifice, He returned to the Father, but left the Holy Spirit within His disciples to continue the spread the truth about what God wanted. This indwelling Holy Spirit was the Spirit of truth. Today, we have this truth revealed, whether that truth was revealed through ancient prophecy, revealed through first century inspired writers, or revealed now. The Spirit is our assurance that we can know, understand, and apply the truth about Jesus. So when we hear true testimony, when people give true witness to Jesus, then the Holy Spirit is present, supporting that message, using that message to convict people of sin and bringing comfort from that message to those in need. When we speak the truth about Jesus, the Holy Spirit is present giving power to that truth.
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