LESSON 5

What does a person mean when he says the Holy Spirit is

“leading” them?

The Miraculous Leading of the Holy Spirit

• Jesus was “led” by the Spirit (Mat. 4:1 Lk 4:1)• Paul was “led” by the Spirit (Acts 16:6-7)• Peter was “led” by the Spirit (Acts 10:19-20)• Philip was “led” by the Spirit (Acts 8:26, 39)

God has always “Led”!

• The Father “Led”– Noah (Heb. 11:7, Gen. 6:13-15; 7:5)– Abraham (Heb. 11:8-9, Gen. 12:1-4)– Israel (Deut. 8:14-15; 29:4)

• The Son “Led” (Jn. 1:43; 6:44-45)• The Spirit leads (Rom. 8:14)

There is NO “Mystical” leading by the Holy Spirit

• The dramatic (experience) has never saved! (Acts 11:14)

• Obedience to the word, is what saved. (Isa. 1:18, 2 Thess. 2:14, Rom 1:16)

Jacob Creath—”I never saw the day when I did not desire to be good and please God, my Maker. I often withdrew to retired places, and prayed to him that I might see a great light shinning around me, like Saul of Tarsus; or hear a voice informing me that my sins were pardoned. Under these circumstances nature sometimes gave way and I went to sleep on my knees, overwhelmed with the dreadful consideration that I was forever lost.” Search For the Ancient , Vol. 1, p. 118

How the Holy Spirit leads to Salvation

• Leads to Salvation only through what He has revealed through Scripture.

• Romans 10:13ff

Salvation was accomplished as…

• 3,000 “gladly received his word” (Acts 2:41,47)• Many “heard the word” (Acts 4:4)• Samaritans “believed…he preached” (8:12-13)• Eunuch heard Jesus “preached” (8:35-38)• Saul was “told what to do” (9:6)• Cornelius would hear “words”

Salvation was accomplished as…

• Cornelius would hear “words” (Acts 11:14)• Lydia “heard…things spoken” (16:14)• The Jailor heard Paul “speak the Word” vs 32• The Corinthians “hearing believed” (18:8)• The Bereans “received the word” (17:11-12)• The Eph. 12 “heard” (19:5)

Direct Operation is illogical

• Why ask a question in Acts 2:38?• Why the importance of the gospel?• Why are there lost in the World? (2 Pet. 3:9)

The Holy Spirit leads Christian in 3 ways

• Via miraculous means during the infancy of the church.

• Via the Scriptures—to avoid error (1 Tim 4:1-2), to obtain all spiritual blessings (2 Pet. 1:3), to spiritual security (1 John 5:13)

• Via Providential means

The “Leading” of the Holy Spirit

• God has always “led” by imparting “Truth.” • When man listens and obeys, he is “led.”• The miraculous leading does not exist today. • The instructional ministry is critical to the

Spirit’s leading. (Heb. 3:7; 10:15)• Thus the Holy Spirit uses the

Scriptures to “lead” mankind

today!