Holy Spirit Guides New Covenant Believers
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
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 that one of the fundamental differences between the saints of the old covenant and the saints of the new covenant, is that we have the Holy Spirit residing on the inside of us, whereas the saints under the old covenant did not. The scripture quoted above is just one of many that teach us this truth. Because of this fact, God leads His children under the new covenant, completely differently to the way that He led His servants under the old. We saw that the primary way that the Lord led the saints under the old covenant was through the office of the prophet. We saw that the reason that the Old Testament saints went to the prophet for guidance, was because none of them had any access to the Holy Spirit. Under the new covenant this is no longer the case however, for every saint has direct access to the Holy Spirit, who resides within each one of us.
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 things that I said to you.”
And so under the new covenant there is one primary way that the Lord leads all of His saints, which is through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord Jesus reveals to us one of the roles that the Holy Spirit fulfils when He takes up residence in our spirits as born-again believers, i.e. He teaches us all things. Although in context, the Lord is explaining how the Holy Spirit teaches us all things that pertain to the kingdom of God, all still means all. And so the Holy Spirit teaches us how to do all things in life as well. Which would include how to excel in our business or our career, how to raise our children, and the list goes on and on.
John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord expands on the role that the Holt Spirit plays in the life of the believer. Notice that one of the roles that the Holy Spirit fulfils in our lives is that He guides us. Although in context the Lord is teaching us that the Holy Spirit will guide us through the scriptures, as He teaches us truths in God’s word. Nevertheless He will also guide us in our daily walk with the Lord, so that as we follow His leading we can walk in the Lord’s perfect will for our lives.
2 Peter 1:13-14 “Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, (14) knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.”
In the previous passage of scripture our Lord taught us that one of the roles that the Holy Spirit fulfils in our lives is that He shows us things to come. And so we see that as we learn to yield to Him, the Holy Spirit will also show us future events that will take place in our lives. He does this so that we can prepare ourselves for those events. You will recall that we saw earlier in this teaching that the Holy Spirit had prepared the apostle Paul beforehand, regarding his trial that he would undergo in Jerusalem at the hands of the unbelieving Jews. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that the Holy Spirit had revealed to the apostle Peter that his time was drawing near for him to leave this earth to be with the Lord Jesus. No saint should be taken by surprise by any major event in their lives, because God has given us the Holy Spirit to show us things to come.
Acts 27:9-13 “Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, (10) saying, "Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives." (11) Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. (12) And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there. (13) When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete.”
As I have already mentioned, for those saints who are led by the Holy Spirit there should be no major trial that comes into their lives which they have not been forewarned about, so that they could prepare themselves to go through it. Nevertheless there are also some trials that the Lord wants us to avoid, and so the Holy Spirit forewarns us so that we will not continue on the path that we are currently on. In the above quoted account the Holy Spirit warned the apostle Paul to counsel his travel companions not to set sail at that time, because it would result in the loss of their ship, their cargo, and also the loss of their lives. As it turns out, they decided not to follow Paul’s advice (which was actually the Holy Spirit’s advice), and when external circumstances looked right, they followed their natural thinking rather than the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and set sail. We all know the rest of this account. They lost their ship and their cargo, and the only reason that they did not lose their lives, is because Paul interceded to the Lord on their behalf. And so from this account we can see that it certainly pays to listen to the Holy Spirit when He tells us of things to come.
Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
When Jesus taught us that the Holy Spirit would guide us and show us things to come, He was referring to our personal lives, as evidenced in the example we have just looked at. This truth is confirmed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for this passage teaches us that as sons of God, we can expect to be led by the Spirit of God. We are sons of God every moment of every day. And so as sons of God, we can fully expect to be led by the Spirit of God every moment of every day. We saw earlier in this teaching that our Lord Jesus, when He walked on the earth, did exactly that. We also saw that the apostle Paul learnt to walk his Christian walk, being led by the Holy Spirit in every decision that he made. And so this passage of scripture actually gives us the right, to expect to receive the Lord’s guidance by His Holy Spirit. In other words this is a promise of God, and in Jesus all the promises of God are “yes and amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). As we go through the rest of this teaching we will see that under the new covenant, we have no scriptural grounds to expect the Lord to lead us by any other method, as all other methods only occur as the Lord wills. But every believer has the right to be led this way, and should therefore exercise that right. God has no problem with His children claiming what is rightfully theirs in Christ Jesus. In fact, He delights in His children taking Him at His word and acting on that.
Michael E.B. Maher
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