Daily Bible Teaching

Finally I want to briefly deal with the Lord’s leading of His children today, through signs. You will recall that we saw that under the old covenant, that our Lord Jesus from time to time, led those saints by that method. The reason that I will only deal briefly with that method under the new covenant, is because that method is non-existent in the church age. There is not one place in the New Testament given as an example, of one of the Lord’s children seeking guidance from t

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” There is one final way that our Lord Jesus leads us under the new covenant that we need to discuss, which is His leading through the voice of the Holy Spirit. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus taught us that as His sheep, we will hear His voice, and that when we hear His voice we will follow Him. In other words He also guides us in the affairs of life by speaking directly to us.

Luke 9:34-36 “While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. (35) And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (36) When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.” God’s leading of His children with His audible voice is another method which has not changed between the old and the new cov

Acts 10:9-11 “The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. (10) Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance (11) and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.” The next account we want to discuss is recorded for us in the above quoted passage of scripture.

1 Corinthians 12:7-10 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation o

Jeremiah 29:8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.” As I have already mentioned, it is unscriptural for believers to seek dreams from the Lord. Those who do, open themselves up to deception. The above quoted passage of scripture tells us that we can cause dreams to happen, but warns us against listening to those dreams. The

Acts 2:17 “'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.” And so we come to God’s leading of His new covenant saints, through dreams. This is one method that the Lord uses to lead His saints, which has not changed between the old and the new covenants. We can confidently make that statement based on the aut

Acts 21:10-14 “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (11) When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' “(12) Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. (13) Then Paul answered, "What d

Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, (12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (13) till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” And so we come to God’s leading of the new covenant saints through the office of the p

Psalms 39:3 “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned.” Both the Spirit of God and the word of God are given to the saints to guide them in life. That same truth was applicable to the Lord Jesus when He walked in the flesh, for the Lord said of God’s word, that His word was a lamp to His feet and a light to His path (Psalm 119:105). And so the scripture reveals to us that when our Lord Jesus walked on the earth He would meditate constantly on the wo

Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” You will recall in our example earlier, how everyone rejected the Apostle Paul’s perception because they looked at their natural circumstances. As we read the account in full, we see that they made their decision to sail based on what they could see in the natural. The weather conditions were right. The experienced sailors knew what they were doing. And the current location th

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” So just how does the Holy Spirit lead us in the affairs of life? The apostle Paul gave us a bit of insight into this method when we quoted him earlier (Acts 27:10). In that instance Paul said that he “perceived” what was going to happen. Remember that the Holy Spirit resides in our spirits. So what Paul was saying is that he perceived in his spirit, what the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” And so we come to God’s leading of His children under the new covenant. In the earlier part of this teaching we said that the reason that we wanted to first examine how God led the saints under the old covenant, was so that we could more clearly understand just how the Lord leads His saints in the new covenant. We saw tha

Job 38:1-3 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: (2) "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (3) Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” As I mentioned earlier, there were other methods that the Lord used to lead the saints under the old covenant, which we will examine in this section. But it must be emphasized that the following methods were the exception and not the rule. And in each case

Genesis 20:3-8 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, "Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife." (4) But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? (5) Did he not say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this." (6) And God said to him in

Exodus 25:7 “onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.” Exodus 28:30 “And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. So, Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually.” The second of the primary methods that God used to lead the old covenant saints was put in place after the priesthood of Aa

1 Samuel 3:1-11 “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. (2) And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, (3) and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, (4) that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered,

1 Samuel 28:6 “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.” We have looked at who had contact with the Holy Spirit under the old covenant, but what about being led by Him? Even the king and the priest who were anointed by the Holy Spirit to stand in their specific offices were only anointed to perform their functions. The Holy Spirit that was upon the king and the priest would not give guidance to those

1 Samuel 16:1-13 “Now the Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons." … (13) Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” In this section we want to examine examples given in scri

Hebrews 8:13 “In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” In order for us to have a clearer understanding of how God leads His children under the new covenant, we need to examine how God led His servants under the old covenant. By showing the difference between the two covenants (for they are different), we can avoid making the mistake of trying to apply old covenant practices un

2 Corinthians 1:17 “Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No?” The second example that we will look at of being led by the Holy Spirit, is the apostle Paul. Paul never did anything unless he was led by the Holy Spirit. When he wrote to the church in Corinth as quoted in the passage above, he told them that his plans were never done in the f

Hebrews 10:5 “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.” In this section we will look at examples in scripture of those who have chosen to walk in God’s perfect will for their lives. Our first example which we will discuss is the Lord Jesus, for He is the ultimate example of one who sought God’s perfect will for His life and then walked in it. Someone will say that we can’t look at Jesu

Psalms 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.” There is also an eternal price to be paid for walking in God’s permissible will. All believers will stand before the Lord Jesus on their day of judgement to give an account of their lives (Romans 14:12). The Lord can only place His stamp of approval (so to speak) on those works which He has pre-ordained should be done in our lives, for it is only those works in which He is a co-labourer toge

Hebrews 12:9-11 “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? (10) For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. (11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who