Preaching Guide: The Holy Spirit

The purpose of Preaching Guides is to provide the essential information a preacher or Bible teacher will need to prepare a message.  My goal is to create a preaching guide for every essential topic in the Bible.  

Definitions of the Holy Spirit

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000:  “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.”

Nicene Creed (AD 381): “And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.”

The Heidelberg Catechism (AD 1563) Q&A 53: What do you believe concerning “the Holy Spirit”?  First, that the Spirit, with the Father and the Son, is eternal God.  Second, that the Spirit is given also to me, so that, through true faith, he makes me share in Christ and all his benefits, comforts, me, and will remain with me forever.”

Interesting Information About the Holy Spirit

The study of the Holy Spirit is called pneumatology, from the Greek word pneuma, “spirit.”  

Theologian JI Packer calls the doctrine of the Holy Spirit the “Cinderella of Christian doctrines,” because “very few seem to be interested in it (Knowing God, 60).”

Theologian Herschel H. Hobbs says that the Holy Spirit is the most neglected member of the Trinity (Fundamentals of our Faith, 51).

A few years ago author Francis Chan wrote a book about the Holy Spirit called Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

In A.D. 1611, “ghost” meant spirit.  Thus, the makers of the KJV Bible called the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost.  Unfortunately, today “ghost” refers to the spirit of a dead person.  

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit can be divided into two categories: His person, and His work; who He is, and what He does.  

Insights About the Holy Spirit

• The Holy Spirit is Called:
• The Spirit of the Lord God.  Is 61:1
• The Spirit of grace.  Zec 12:10; Heb 10:29
• The Spirit of your Father.  Mt 10:20
• The Holy Spirit.  Mt 28:19-20
• The Paraclete (Greek, parakletos) – comforter, counselor, helper, advocate, strengthener, supporter. Jn 14:26
• The Spirit of truth.  Jn 14:27
• The Spirit of holiness.  Rm 1:4
• The Spirit of life.  Rm 8:2
• The Spirit of Christ.  Rm 8:9
• The Spirit of God.  Rm 8:9
• The Spirit.  Rm 8:9
• God’s Spirit.  Rm 8:14
• The Spirit of adoption.  Rm 8:15
• The Spirit of His Son.  Gal 4:6
• The eternal Spirit.  Heb 9:14
• The Spirit of glory and of God.  1 Pt 4:14
• The Spirit of prophecy.  Rev 19:10

• The Holy Spirit is God.
• In the first three centuries of Christianity there was no formal doctrine of the Holy Spirit, due to the fact that the church was preoccupied by debates over the nature of Christ.  In the later fourth century, three arguments were central in establishing the divinity of the Holy Spirit (Alister McGrath, Theology: The Basics, 103-104).  
• First, the Bible applies all the titles of God to the Spirit, such as “holy.”  
• Second, the functions of the Spirit reveal His divinity.  For example, He creates, renews, and sanctifies, all functions of God.  
• Third, Jesus commanded us to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit (Mt 28:19-20).  This points to the Spirit sharing the same divinity as the Father and Son.  

• The Holy Spirit is a Person.
• He is not a power, or force or influence.  This is the opposite of what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe.  They believe that the Spirit is God’s power in action, his active force, and not a person who is part of the Trinity along with God the Father and God the Son (www.jw.org).  On the contrary, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person.
• Why do we believe He is a person?
• He possesses personal characteristics such as intelligence, emotions, and will.  
• He engages in personal activities:  speaking, teaching, praying, and bearing witness.  
• The Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as “He,” and not “it” (Jn 14:16-17).
• He reacts like a person.  He reacts like a person.  He can be resisted (Acts 7:51), grieved (Eph 4:20), insulted (Heb 10:29), blasphemed (Mt 12:31), and received (Jn 20:22).  
• JI Packer wrote, “Again the Holy Spirit is said to hear, speak, witness, convince, glorify Christ, lead, guide, teach, command, forbid, desire, give speech, give help, and intercede for Christians with inarticulate groans, himself crying to God in their prayers.  Also, he can be lied to and grieved.  Only of a person could such things be said.  The conclusion is that the Spirit is not just an influence; he, like the Father and the Son, is an individual person (JI Packer Keep in Step with the Spirit, 61).”

• He is distinct from the Father and the Son:
• We see this distinction in several places:  
• He is distinguished from the Father and the Son in the baptism formula.  Matthew 28:19-20 
• Jesus referred to Him as “another Counselor (Jn 14:16),” distinguishing Him from Jesus.
• The Holy Spirit is distinguished from the Father and the Son at Jesus’ baptism.  The Son was in the water, the Father spoke from heaven, and the Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus (Mt 3:16-17).  

• The Holy Spirit lives inside the believer.
• In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit existed and was active, but He did not permanently indwell all believers.  R.C. Sproul sums up the Holy Spirit’s work in the Old Testament.  “The Spirit empowered OT leaders for limited tasks… Yet the anointing of the Spirit seems to be limited to few individuals, who are gifted for peculiar ministries of leadership (What We Believe, 56).”  Moses was one of those leaders who was anointed by the Holy Spirit with special wisdom and powers.  Yet Moses prayed that God would pour out His Spirit on all God’s people (Num 11:29).  Later, the prophet Joel prophesied that this one indeed happen in the future (Joel 2:28-29).  Fast forward to the New Testament, when John the Baptist preached that the coming Messiah would baptize people with the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11; Mk 1:8; Jn 1:33).  However, Jesus didn’t baptize people with the Spirit during His earthly ministry.  Instead, He promised His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit after His death, resurrection, and ascension (Jn 14:16-17).  Right before Jesus ascended He told His followers to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8).  Then, ten days after His ascension, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on all His followers (see Acts 2:1-4).  From that day forward, the Holy Spirit indwells (lives inside) every Christian (1 Cor 3:16).  
• Four Thoughts About the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit:
• The Holy Spirit lives inside every believer.  Rm 8:9
• The Holy Spirit indwells you the moment of salvation.  Rm 8:9
• The Holy Spirit never leaves.  Jn 14:16
• Jesus’ placing the Holy Spirit inside the believer is called the baptism with the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:8).
• The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a second experience, subsequent to the indwelling of the Spirit some time after salvation.  A better term for that would be the filling of the Holy Spirit.  
• Lewis Drummond wrote, “Baptism in the Spirit speaks normally of that initial reception of the Spirit of God at conversion (Lewis A. Drummond, Love, p. 106).”
• First, consider the term “baptism.”  Water baptism is a one-time experience at the beginning of one’s conversion.  The same is true of Spirit-baptism.
• Second, while the Bible commands believers to be Spirit-filled (Eph 5:18), it never commands believers to seek the baptism with the Holy Spirit.  
• Third, Paul said that all Christians have been baptized with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13).  
• Warren Wiersbe wrote, “It is unfortunate that the term ‘baptism of the Spirit’ has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning.  God has spoken to us in Spirit-given words that we must not confuse (1 Cor 2:12-13).  The baptism of the Spirit occurs at conversion when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God.  All believers have experienced this once-for-all baptism (1 Cor 12:13).  Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, because we have already experienced it and it need not be repeated (Warren Wiersbe, Transformation Study Bible, 1 Cor 12:12-13).  
• Theologian John Stott says that to have been “baptized” with the Spirit is a vivid figure of speech for to have “received” the Spirit – something that all Christians have experienced.  (John Stott, Baptism and Fullness, p. 28.)
• John Stott says when you combine John 1:29 and John 1:33, you discover the characteristic work of Jesus is twofold.  “It involves a removal and a bestowal, a taking away of sin and a baptizing with the Holy Spirit.  These are the two great gifts of Jesus Christ our Savior.  They are brought together by the prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the new, and they cannot be separated (see Ezekiel 36:25, 27)… Certainly we must never conceive ‘salvation’ in purely negative terms, as if it consisted only of our rescue from sin, guilt, wrath and death.  We thank God that it is all these things.  But it also includes the positive blessing of the Holy Spirit to regenerate, indwell, liberate and transform us… When sinners repent and believe, Jesus not only takes away their sins, but also baptizes them with his Spirit (Stott, Baptism and Fullness, 31-34).”

• You need the Holy Spirit’s help to live a successful Christian life.
• The Holy Spirit is instrumental in the Christian life from start to finish.
• He is even active in your life before you become a Christian (Jn 16:8; John 6:44).
• Before you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit is the one who convinces you that Jesus is the true Savior, and that you desperately need Him, and then He draws you to God and gives you the ability to accept Christ.  Of course, you have the ability to accept or reject Christ (Acts 7:51).
• JI Packer wrote, “… He convinces us that the Jesus of the gospel, the New Testament Christ, really exists and is what he is ‘for us men, and for our salvation (Nicene Creed).’”  (JI Packer, Affirming the Apostles’ Creed, 116.)
• Packer also said, “It is the sovereign prerogative of Christ’s Spirit to convince men’s consciences of the truth of Christ’s gospel.”  (JI Packer, Knowing God, 61.)
• Baptist theologian Herschel Hobbs wrote, “His work with the lost is threefold.  First, he works in conviction.  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict ‘the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believed not on me’ (Jn 16:8-9).  The Holy Spirit shows man the awfulness of sin and what it does, not merely to the sinner but to God.  He brings man to realize that he is a sinner and that the greatest sin is unbelief in jesus.  ‘Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more’ (Jn 16:10).  The Holy Spirit leads man to see that compared to Christ’s righteousness his self-rightesouness is as filthy rags (Is 64:6).  Furthermore, he shows man the righteousness of God which is not by works but by faith in Jesus (Rm 1:16-17).  ‘Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged’ (Jn 16:11).  Man is led to admit the righteous judgment of God upon him because of his sin.  Thus he is ready to reject Christ and accept hell or to accept Christ and accept heaven… Of course, man must respond in faith.  Either he will do so or else he will reject Christ.”  (Herschel H. Hobbs, Fundamentals of our Faith, 59.)
• Then as a new believer the Holy Spirit instantly does a number of things for you at the moment of conversion.  
• He indwells you (Jn 14:16-17; Acts 2:38; Rm 8:9; 1 Cor 3:16; 1 Cor 6:19).  He comes to live inside of you.
• He regenerates you (Jn 1:12; Jn 3:5; 2 Cor 5:17; Titus 3:5-6).  He gives you a new heart with the desire and power to please God.
• Bill Bright wrote, “When a person receives Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit translates him from his spiritually dead natural state into a new, spiritually alive child of God.”  (Bill Bright, The Holy Spirit, 19.)
• He places you in the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13).  Now that you have the Holy Spirit within you, you are immediately granted membership in the universal body of Christ and the family of God.
• He seals you (2 Cor 1:21-22; 2 Cor 5:5; Eph 1:13-14).  In those days, people would place a seal, sort of like a logo, or a brand on livestock, on all of their possessions.  The Holy Spirit is God’s seal of ownership on you.  The Holy Spirit also serves as God’s down payment, or pledge, or promise that God will one day bring you to heaven.  
• Bill Bright said, “By the very presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives, we are given a preview of the inheritance which awaits us in heaven.  God, by indwelling us with His Holy Spirit, is giving His promise in the form of a down payment that our inheritance is real and waiting.”  (Bill Bright, The Holy Spirit, 20.)
• He gives you a spiritual gift – a special ability to be used in serving God and others in the church (1 Cor 12:7).  
• Finally, as a growing Christian the Holy Spirit wants to do all sorts of things for you:
• He wants to move you to evangelize (Jn 15:26-27).
• He wants to help you in your weaknesses (Rm 8:26).
• He wants to assure you of your salvation (Rm 8:16; Gal 4:6).
• He wants to empower you to overcome sin (Rm 8:12-13).
• He wants to give you the desire and the power to do God’s will (Phil 2:13).
• He wants to give you power for ministry (Acts 1:8).
• He wants to give you boldness for evangelism (Acts 4:31).  
• He wants to help you love God and others (Rm 5:5).
• He wants to help you grow and become more like Jesus (Gal 5:22-23).
• Remember, Jesus called Him the Paraclete (Jn 14:26), and that word means comforter, counselor, helper, advocate, strengthener, supporter.  Those are all the things that the Spirit wants to do for you.
• However, having the Holy Spirit does not mean that you will benefit from His presence.  Many people have a piano in their home, but they don’t enjoy its benefits.  Many Christians have the Holy Spirit, but they don’t experience His power.  The Bible describes two different types of Christians – spiritual Christians and carnal (fleshly) (1 Cor 3:1).  Spiritual Christians are those who are living by the power of the Holy Spirit, and carnal Christians are living without His power.  To live a successful Christian life, you must tap into the Spirit’s power.

• To receive the Holy Spirit’s help, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• Lewis. A Drummond, former professor at Southern Seminary, explains the need for the filling of the Spirit in his book Love: The Greatest Thing in the World.  He begins with love.  God has commanded Christians to love God wholeheartedly, and to love your neighbor as yourself, without fail, no excuses.  How can you possibly do that?  Drummond points to Romans 5:5.  "This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."  The only way to love is with the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit.  Drummond says, “Through the Spirit’s inner work, as we properly relate to him, we ascend to His sphere of love (Love, 86).”  He argues this point from 1 John, which says that love is from God (1 Jn 4:7), and that we love because He first love us (1 Jn 4:19).  He also points to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, which defines agape as a quality of love “enkindled by the Spirit.”  Drummond also points to Paul's mention of the "love of the Spirit” in Rm 15:30.  To love as God would have us love then, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• The command to be filled with the Spirit is found in Ephesians 5:18.  "And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit."
• What does it mean to be filled by the Spirit?  It is to be filled by His power.  It is the Spirit enabling you to fulfill the will of God (John Walvoord, Five Views of Sanctification, 217).  It is the Holy Spirit enabling you to love God and others.
• Lewis Drummond (Love, 106) wrote, “By filling the believer with the Holy Spirit, God equips His people for service, ministry, and godly living and enables them to bear the fruit of the Spirit that centers in love….”  
• Bill Bright said, “Thus, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, a power much greater than our own is released within us and through us for victorious living and a fruitful witness for the Savior.  Without the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, a Christian cannot experience the joy and wonder of the supernatural life.”  (Bill Bright The Holy Spirit, 11.)
• Theologian John Walvoord defines the filling of the Spirt as “the unhindered ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian.  Such ministry brings for the time being a control of a believer’s life by the Holy Spirit and the infusion of spiritual power, enabling a Christian to do far more than he or should could do naturally.  Such spiritual control of a Christian, however, is not permanent and is dependent upon the constant renewed filling of the Spirit.”  (Walvoord, Five Views of Sanctification, p. 215).  
• Again, Walvoord explains, “The believer who is filled with the Spirit does not get more of the Spirit quantitatively, but rather the Spirit is able to minister in an unhindered way in the believer and in a sense has all of the believer.  Accordingly, the issue is not one of getting more of the presence of God but rather of realizing the power and ministry of God’s presence in the believer’s life. ( John Walvoord, Five Views of Sanctification, 216.)
• To put it even more succinctly, Walvoord wrote, “The filling of the Spirit signifies the empowering presence of the Spirit of God, enabling the individual to accomplish the will of God.  (John Walvoord, Five Views of Sanctification, 216.)
• Two observations about the command to “be filled” in Eph 5:18
• First, it is in the present tense.  It literally means “be continually being filled by the Holy Spirit.”  In other words, it is not tell you to do something one time, but over and over again.  It’s commanding you not just to do something, but to live a certain way; to adopt a lifestyle – the Spirit-filled lifestyle.
• Second, it is in the imperative mood.  That means it is a command.  And that means there is something you must do.  The Holy Spirit wants to fill you with His power, but you must let Him.  
• How can you be filled with the Holy Spirit?  Lewis Drummond provides five principles for how to become a Spirit-filled believer (Love, p. 108ff).  He says that he practices these five disciplines every day.
• Acknowledge your need for God’s power.
• Abandon all conscious sins.  “To make a 100 percent break with all known sin stands out as absolutely necessary… We must absolutely come to grips with our conscious sins and confess them, one by one by name – before God (1 Jn 1:9)… One can hardly have Christ’s fullness in one hand and grasp known sin in the other.  Fullness and rebellion are totally incompatible to the believer.”
• Abdicate the throne of your life.  “Jesus must be King.  We are to love God with our total being; and that means a surrendered will, enthroning Jesus Christ as Lord of life.”
• Ask God to fill us with His Spirit (Lk 11:13).  
• Accept the gift of fullness by faith and thank God for His goodness.  “We receive salvation by faith and do not ask for any sign or particular feeling that God has genuinely saved us; so also we claim by faith the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  We rest in His promise.”
• With that, Drummond warns about four false teachings about the fullness of the Spirit (Love, p. 104).  
• “When believers are filled with the Spirit they enter a state of absolute sinless perfection.”  The Bible is clear that you will struggle with sin until you die (1 Jn 1:8-10).  
• “The Spirit must always be accompanied by a particular gift of the Spirit, such as tongues.”  The Bible is clear that God does not give everyone the gift of tongues (1 Cor 12:28-30).  The evidence of the Spirit’s fullness is not the gifts of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.  
• “Being filled with the Holy Spirit must invariably be a very emotional experience.”  Every individual is different, so we all respond differently to stimuli.  Consider salvation.  When some people get saved, they have an emotional experience, and others don’t.  Just as we don’t expect every new convert to have an emotional experience, the same principle applies for the filling of the Spirit.  Drummond writes, “A radically changed and deeply loving life is what truly counts.  It resides primarily in the will, not the emotions.  It is not ‘how high you jump’ when God fills you with HIs Spirit that matters; rather, what concerns our Lord is how straight you walk in love when you come down to earth.”  Bill Bright agrees.  “The Holy Spirit is not given to us that we might have a great emotional experience, but that we might live supernaturally – holy lives – and be fruitful witnesses for Christ.  So, whether or not you have an emotional experience is not the issue (Bill Bright, The Holy Spirit, p. 84).”
• “The more one subdues self, the more God automatically fills one with His Spirit.”  The key word there is “automatic.”  Instead, Drummond you need to consciously repent of all sin, fully surrender to God, and pray for the filling.  
• What is the evidence of the Spirit’s filling?
• The Holy Spirit is said to be self-effacing.  That is, rather than draw attention to Himself, His goal is to make much of Jesus.  His mission is to testify about Jesus (Jn 15:26) and to glorify Jesus (Jn 16:14).
• Therefore, the evidence of the Spirit’s filling is a person who makes must of Jesus.  It is the person who testifies about Jesus and glorifies Jesus.  
• JI Packer wrote, “What then are the signs that Christ’s self-effacing Spirit is at work?  Not mystical raptures, nor visions and supposed revelations, nor even healings, tongues, and apparent miracles; for Satan, playing on our psychosomatic complexity and our fallenness, can produce all these things (cf. 2 Thess 2:9ff; Col 2:18).  The only sure signs are that the Christ of the Bible is acknowledge, trusted, loved for his grace, and served for his glory and that believers actually turn from sin to the life of holiness that is Christ’s image in his people.  These are the criteria by which we must judge, for instance, the modern “charismatic renewal” and Christian Science.”  (J.I. Packer, Affirming the Apostles’ Creed, 117.)
• In his book, Keep in Step With the Spirit (p. 55), JI Packer says that the essence of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to “mediate the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  By this he means that the Holy Spirit’s goal is to make the believer aware of three things:
• That Jesus is near.  “The first is that Jesus... is here, personally approaching and addressing me.”
• That Jesus is at work in my life.  “The second is that he is active, powerfully enlightening, animating, and transforming me along with others as he stirs our sluggishness, sharpens our insight, soothes our guilty consciences, sweetens our tempers, supports us under pressure, and strengthens us for righteousness.”
• That Jesus is glorious.  “The third is that... he is glorious, meriting all the worship, adoration, love, and loyalty of which we are capable.”
• Therefore, the evidence of the Spirit’s fullness is intimacy and devotion to Jesus.
• In another of his works, JI Packer writes that the best indicator of the power of the Spirit in one’s life “is, quite simply, love for God and other people: love that, with or without much strength of feeling (for we cannot always command strong feelings), actively honors God by grateful praise and active service of others by helpful care.  Love that constantly says ‘no’ to... the carnal self in order constantly to say ‘yes’ to its own selfless calling is the strongest proof of the Spirit’s power that anyone can imagine (Packer, Rediscovering Holiness, p. 225)”
• Pastor John MacArthur adds, “The New Testament reveals to us that the Ruach Yahweh, the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, creates life, and transforms life, and purifies, comforts and conforms sinners to Christ, and equips, and empowers, and seals, and secures, and illuminates.  These are the things for which He is to be honored and loved.  And what it doesn’t say is this:  The Holy Spirit knocks us down.  The Holy Spirit makes us laugh in a silly way.  The Holy Spirit amps up our body heat.  The Holy Spirit gives us the hiccups.  The Holy Spirit gives us convulsions, puts us in a stupor, makes us look drunk, causes us to fall down, speak gibberish, make primal sounds, jump, roll.  Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.”
• Elsewhere, Pastor John MacArthur writes that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives should mirror what the Spirit did in Christ’s life. “How did the Holy Spirit work in Christ? Did He knock Him down?  Did He make Him look drunk?  Did He cause Him to fall, or flop, or roll, or laugh hysterically, or bark, or babble, or talk gibberish?”  No!  MacArthur then illustrates this point by pointing to how the Spirit worked in Christ.  In Luke 1 Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives us new life.  In Luke 2 the Holy Spirit matured Jesus, helping him grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men, and He wants to mature you as well.  In Mark 1 Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism.  The Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13).  In Luke 4, the Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to overcome temptation, and He wants to do the same for you.  In Luke 4:14-15, Jesus was empowered by the Spirit for ministry, and He wants to empower you for ministry.  Hebrews 9:14 says that Christ faced death triumphantly through the power of the Holy Spirit, and He wants to empower you to sustain you in your suffering.  Romans 1 says that Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, and He wants to raise you to life when you die as well.  MacArthur concludes, “If you want to see the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how He works in us, look at what He did in Christ.”  

• How to relate to the Holy Spirit:
• Be led by the Spirit (Rm 8:14; Gal 5:18).
• The MacArthur Study Bible (note on Rm 8:14) says, “Believers are not led through subjective, mental impressions or promptings to provide direction in making life’s decisions—something Scripture nowhere teaches.”
• The ESV Study Bible (note on Rm 8:14) says, “i.e., those who yield to the Spirit.”
• The Reformation Study Bible (note on Rm 8:14) says it means to be governed by the Holy Spirit.
• The KJV Study Bible (note on Gal 5:18) says, “The Christian is led by the Spirit, when yielding to Him, to turn away from the flesh’s yearnings, thus putting sin out of his daily life.  The verb ‘led’ indicates voluntary submission; the believer decides by whom he will be led – either by his flesh or by the Spirit.”  
• JI Packer wrote, “Twice Paul speaks of being ‘led’ by the Spirit (Rm 8:14; Gal 5:18).  Both times the reference is to resisting one’s one sinful impulses as the flip side of one’s practice of righteousness.  ‘Leads’ is rightly taken to mean ‘guides,’ but the guidance in view is not a revealing to the mind of divine directives hitherto unknown; it is, rather, an impelling of our wills to pursue and practice and hold fast that sanctity whose terms we know already.  Thus to be led and guided, says Paul, is the mark of a Christian.  ‘All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God,’ shown and known to be such by the direction of their lives.”  (JI Packer, Keep in Step With the Spirit, 118.)
• The NLT Study Bible (note on Gal 5:18) says to be directed by (led by) the Spirit is to be under the Spirit’s authority.
• The NKJV Study Bible (Note on Rm 8:18) says, “Being led by the Spirit is virtually synonymous with walking according to the Spirit. ‘Walking’ highlights the active participation and effort of the believer. ‘Being led’ underscores the passive side, the submissive dependence of the believer on the Spirit.”   
• Walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16).
• The MacArthur Study Bible (note on Eph 5:18) says this is synonymous with the command to be filled with the Spirit.
• The MacArthur Study Bible (note on Gal 5:16) says this command means to submit to the Spirit's control – that is, respond in obedience to the simple commands of Scripture.
• The ESV Study Bible (note on Gal 5:16) says, “Walk by the Spirit implies both direction and empowerment; that is, making decisions and choices according to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and acting with the spiritual power that the Spirit supplies.”  
• JI Packer says, “That means saying no to the desires of the flesh (sinful lusts of body and mind) and allowing the Spirit to bring forth in us his fruit, which is defined for us as a nine-point profile of Christlikeness.”  (J.I. Packer, Keep in step with the Spirit, 72.)
• JI Packer defines this as “always to be moving forward in the formation of godly habits and the practice of active Christlikeness.”  (Keep in Step With the Spirit, 36.)
• John Walvoord wrote, “Walking by the Spirit involves continued dependence.  When people walk physically, they depend upon the strength of their limbs to support their body.  Christians going through life must likewise walk spiritually in constant dependence upon the Holy Spirit.  Variations in conscious dependence upon Him correspond to the variations in people’s experience of being filled with the Spirit.  The exhortation teaches clearly that the spiritual life must be lived moment by moment in relationship to the Holy Spirit as the Christian’s source of strength and direction for life.”  (John Walvoord, Five Views of Sanctification, 21.)
• Jerry Bridges explains how to depend on God.  “We express our dependence on the HS for a holy life in two ways.  The first is through a humble and consistent intake of Scripture… The second way we express our dependence on the Spirit is to pray for holiness.”  (The Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges, 74-75.)
• John MacArthur writes, “The New Testament refers to this sort of living (walking with God; Gen 5:24) as walking in the Spirit.  We are to live continually in the atmosphere of the Spirit’s presence, power, direction, and teaching.  The fruit of this walk in the Spirit are: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Walking in the Spirit is allowing Him to pervade your thoughts.  It is saying when you get up in the morning, ‘Holy Spirit, it is Your day, not mine.  Use it as You see fit.’  It is saying throughout the day, ‘Holy Spirit, continue to keep me from sin, direct my choices and my decisions, use me to glorify Jesus Christ.’  It is putting each decision, each opportunity, each temptation, each desire before Him, asking for His direction and His power.  Walking in the Spirit is dynamic and practical.  it is not passive resignation but active obedience.”  (Hebrews, 312.)
• Keep in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25).
• JI Packer wrote, “Walk there is not peripateo, as in verse 16, signifying literally the walker’s moving of his limbs and metaphorically the activity of living, but stoicheo, which carries the thought of walking in line, holding to a rule, and thus proceeding under another’s control.” (JI Packer, Keep in Step With the Spirit, 11.)
• The ESV Study Bible (note on Gal 5:25) says it means “to walk in line behind a leader.”  
• The New Living Translation says, “Let us following the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
• Be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18).  See above.
• Sow to the Spirit (Gal 6:8).
• The MacArthur Study Bible (note on Gal 6:8) says this is equivalent to the command to walk by the Spirit, which is also equivalent to the command to be filled by the Spirit (note on Eph 5:18).  
• The New Living Translation says, “Live to please the Spirit.”
• Do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30).
• The New Living Translation says, “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Spirit by the way you live.”
• The ESV Study Bible (note on Eph 4:30) says, “Grieving the Holy Spirit means to cause him sorrow by one’s sin.”
• R.T. Kendall says that the verb “to grieve” means to get one’s feelings hurt (R.T. Kendall, The Sermon on the Mount, 250).
• R.T. Kendall wrote, “The Holy Spirit is a very sensitive person and can be grieved.  When He is grieved, it is as if the dove, a NT symbol of the Spirit) gets frightened and flies away.  Not that the Holy Spirit utterly leaves us -- no, that is not the case.  But we temporarily lose the blessing of the Spirit -- the anointing.  When the Holy Spirit is grieved, the anointing lifts from us; when the Holy Spirit is not grieved -- and the Spirit is Himself -- the anointing enables us to do what had been utterly impossible.  This is why I said earlier that the kingdom is the rule of the un-grieved Spirit, and that is precisely what we pray for when we say, ‘Your kingdom come.’”  (Kendall, The Sermon on the Mount, 230.)
• Kendall writes, “When we grieve the Holy Spirit He does not desert us, but we do lose an anointing of peace, clear thinking, and a sense of His presence and fellowship.”  (The Sermon on the Mount, 250.)
• The MacArthur Study Bible (see note on Eph 4:30) says, “God is grieved when His children refuse to change the old ways of sin for those righteous ways of the new life.”
• Do not stifle (quench) the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).
• JI Packer wrote, “… there is nothing so Spirit-quenching as to study the Spirit’s work without being willing to be touched, humbled, convicted, and changed as you go along.”  (JI Packer, Keep in the Step with the Spirit, 11.)
• JI Packer wrote, “It should be noted, too, that while one may effectively put out a fire by dousing it, one cannot make it burn again simply by stopping pouring water; it has to be lighted afresh.  Similarly, when the Spirit has been quenched, it is beyond our power to  undo the damage we have done; we can only try to God in penitence, asking that he will revive his work.”  (JI Packer, Keep in Step With The Spirit, 253.)
• The NKJV Study Bible (note on 1 Thess 5:19) says, “To quench the Spirit means to resist His influence, like trying to smother a fire. One of the fundamental rules of walking with God is that we should not say no to the Spirit of God.”
• The MacArthur Study Bible (note on 1 Thess 5:19) says that we douse the fire of God’s Spirit with sin.  

Why is the work of the Holy Spirit important?

JI Packer answers this question in his book Knowing God, p. 61.

• Without the Holy Spirit, there would be no gospel, and no New Testament (Jn 14:26; Jn 12:49; Jn 17:8, 14; Jn 16:12-14; Jn 15:26).  “The promise was that, taught by the Spirit, these original disciples should be enabled to speak as so many mouths of Christ so that, just as the OT prophets had been able to introduce their sermons with the words, ‘Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,’ so the NT apostles might with equal truth be able to say of their teaching, oral and written, ‘Thus saith the Lord Jesus Christ.’”
• Without the Holy Spirit there would be no faith and no new birth – in short, no Christians (Jn 16:7).  “To the apostles, He testified by revealing and inspiring, as we saw.  To the rest of men, down the ages, He testifies by illuminating: opening blinded eyes, restoring spiritual vision, enabling sinners to see that the gospel is indeed God’s truth, and Scripture is indeed God’s word, and Christ is indeed God’s Son… It is the sovereign prerogative of Christ’s Spirit to convince men’s consciences of the truth of Christ’s gospel.”