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      "Full Disclosure"
      John 16:12-15
      Theme: The Holy Spirit will glorify Christ by enabling believers to know Him through the truth of Scripture.

        1. The Demand for the Disclosure – 16:12

          1. God’s Desire to Reveal Truth

            1. Having promised to be there for His disciples when they encounter the hostilities of the world through the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the world of their sin, Christ now broadens His description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
            2. He informs us that the Holy Spirit will also have a very specific role in the lives of the believers as well.
            3. The primary work of the Spirit of God will be to work to provide men with the full comprehension of what God desires to have revealed.
            4. This instruction and guidance into truth will initially occur through the work of revelation, but will extend beyond that process to the work of illumination.
            5. Jesus begins this portion of His message by stating that there are things that God desires that they understand – "I have many more things to say to you ..."
            6. Thus, Jesus informs us that he is coming to a conclusion to what He feels that He is able to reveal to them immediately – He only talks to them for about 2-3 more minutes after saying this.
            7. However, in this statement He provides and indication that there is more to come – that what Christ wanted them to know; yea, what He knew they needed to know, would indeed be forthcoming but later.

          2. God’s Delay in Revealing Truth

            1. He indicates the reason for the necessary delay in revealing what was important for them to know – "… but you cannot bear them now."
            2. The disciples were incapable of laying hold of or retaining what He would have said to them – they couldn’t "carry" the truths that the would ultimately have to hear.
            3. There were several reasons why they were unable to hear these things:
              1. First, they were completely distracted from the comprehension of what Jesus was facing and would be unable to grasp it due to their preoccupation with how Jesus’ situation was negatively impacting them – cp. v. 6
              2. Second, the work of redemption needed to precede a full disclosure of redemptive truth; and,
              3. Third, they were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit who enables men to comprehend the truths of redemption – a situation that disabled the men with little fault of their own – it simply wasn’t time yet.
            4. The fact that the disciples were in no condition to receive further revelation from the Savior demonstrates their need for the Holy Spirit to come and guide them into all the truth.

        2. The Details of the Disclosure – 16:13

          1. The Supervision in Revealing the Truth
            1. Once Christ had accomplished redemption and provided the means by which sinful men could be reconciled to God, and then sent the Holy Spirit to teach men, then men would be able to receive the further revelation that Christ wanted us to receive.
            2. So, He states "But, when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth."
            3. It will be the work of the Holy Spirit to provide the leadership needed to bring them into the knowledge of all the rest of the things that Christ desired that they understand – "all truth" = the body of redemptive revelation.
            4. This work of guidance possess two elements:
              1. First, it refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the holy men of God through whom He would provide us the balance of the things God wanted us to receive
                1. The "truth" being referred to here is the Word of God – cp. John 17:17
                2. It is through the leadership of the Holy Spirit that we have received the Scriptures – cp. 2 Peter 1:21
                3. It is the Holy Spirit who was the agent through which the Scriptures were inspired or "God-breathed" – cp. 2 Timothy 3:16
              2. Second, it refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the believer to interpret what has been revealed in an appropriate and accurate way:
                1. The proper interpretation of Scripture is not dependent upon some guru, or through a particular church, nor by means of tradition, nor by means of reason … - 2 Peter 1:20-21
                2. It is dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit who guides the believer into all truth – cp. 1 Corinthians 2:7-12.
            5. Thus, this provision of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth is described as an anointing abiding in us – cp. 1 John 2:27.

          2. The Source of the Revealed Truth

            1. The revelation of the truth of God will find its source in God Himself – "for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak."
            2. Thus, even as Christ was yielded to the authority of the Father in speaking only what He was commanded to speak, so the Spirit of God will only speak what God desires to have revealed – cp. John 8:28
            3. Thus, the product of the Spirit in inspiration is properly called God’s Word as is the impact of the Scriptures as the Spirit of God applies them – cp. 1Thessalonians 2:13
            4. Now, Jesus has sent the Spirit and therefore He will enable the disciples to receive the things Jesus wanted to say to them, but they couldn’t bear them.
            5. Thus, to use an Old Testament analogy, the Holy Spirit would "take them into the land" that was Jesus was describing to them.

          3. The Scope of the Revealed Truth

            1. In the ministry of the Spirit, we understand "… that He will guide [us] into all the truth" – bring to mind everything that is needed for eternal life and godly living – cp. 2 Peter 1:3-4
            2. This begins through revealing the truth concerning 3 issues:
              1. The establishment of redemption through regeneration – a ministry of the Spirit of God who indwells men and basically was revealed in the book of Acts
              2. The "leading into all truth" was revealed through the Gospels and the Epistles
              3. The "disclosure to you [of] what is to come" was revealed through the Revelation
            3. There seems to be an element of personal responsibility inherent here – that He will guide us … but we must have the initiative to follow Him and to seek out the truth of Christ in the Word.

        3. The Directive of the Disclosure – 16:14-15

          1. The Focus of Revealed Truth

            1. It is proper to understand the focus of all truth to be the Lord Jesus Christ – "He will glorify Me"
            2. Jesus Himself identified Himself as the Truth – cp. John 14:6
            3. Thus, truth is not found in a system, a philosophy, or even through religion – but rather in a Person – Jesus Christ who is the Truth – cp. John 1:17-18; Colossians 2:8-9.
            4. The essence therefore, of being guided into all truth is to be introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ through the Scriptures – cp. Revelation 19:13.
            5. Have met Christ, it is then the Holy Spirit’s passion that He grow ever more significant to us that we might begin to worship Christ all the more.
            6. He will cause Christlikeness to be formed in believers through allowing them to see the Lord Jesus clearly in Scriptures – bringing them into conformity to Him as they behold Him – cp. 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2.

          2. The Foundation of Revealed Truth

            1. The Spirit of God will not cause believers to encounter a message that is in some way independent to or divergent from that which Christ Himself delivered – "for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you."
            2. This emphasizes that what the Holy Spirit teaches will be an elaboration on the things that Christ Jesus wanted to say.
            3. In this way, we have every confidence that the things that the Spirit of God revealed – even though we may not be able to trace them directly to what Jesus had said when on earth – are just as full of authority as what Jesus did say.
            4. Jesus once again emphasizes that what the Holy Spirit would reveal would be of the same source as that which came through Jesus – that it was all the Word of God – "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."
            5. In this the absolute and total unity of the Spirit is made evident in the process of revealing truth to men – it finds its source in Father, through the agency of the Spirit of God concerning the realities existing in the Son of God.

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