Scripture Focus (John 4:19-24) – “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. [20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” [21] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
I. Jesus Merges Spirit with Truth (John 4:19-26)
A. Her diversion (19-20) – “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. [20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain (Gerizim); but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
B. Her deception (21-22) – “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know…”
C. His declaration (23-24) – “But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit {worship’s flight} and truth {worship’s foundation}, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
II. Holy Spirit Revealed as God’s Truth
• John 14:16-17: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
• John 15:26: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
• John 16:13: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
In these verses, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth who:
• Dwells with and in believers.
• Testifies (bears witness) about Jesus.
• Guides believers into all the truth.
• Speaks what He hears (from the Father and Son) and reveals future things.
III. Holy Spirit People Must Remain Truth People
A. Holy Spirit is always concerned about truth (1 John 5:6) – “This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”
B. Holy Spirit preserves truth in Scripture (1 John 4:6) – “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
C. Holy Spirit teaches you (John 14:26) – “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (The Spirit as teacher of truth.)
D. The Spirit reveals truth about God (1 Corinthians 2:10-13) – “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11] For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
IV. The Urgency for Truth in Days of Deception
• “But the hour is coming, and is now here…” – John 4:23
Spirit without truth leads to subjectivism, experience/encounter based idolatry, and vulnerability to lying spirits or self-deception. Not every spiritual experience is from the Holy Spirit.
Truth without spirit produces dead orthodoxy, legalism, pride in knowledge, and powerless religion (a form of godliness without the power). We can be biblically accurate yet spiritually dry and vulnerable to a heartless, passionless cold commitment to a God we really have never met.
• “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24