The Necessity of the Spirit

Jesus knew His followers would need the Holy Spirit. Do we?

This morning, let’s examine 3 passages from God’s Word, one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament, which teach the necessity of the Holy Spirit for doing God’s work and living as His people.

So, he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7 NIV).

“In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple…” (NET Bible Notes). We need the Holy Spirit as our Mountain Leveler!

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 NIV),

“To be ‘filled with the Spirit’ means to be constantly controlled by the Spirit in our mind, emotions, and will” (Warren W. Wiersbe). We need the Holy Spirit as our Controlling Influencer!

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Galatians 5:25 NLT).

The Greek term which translations translate as “walk” or “keep in step with” more literally means, “follow the leader or example,” “follow behind,” “following the leading of” (stoicheo, The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary). We need the Holy Spirit as our Leader, the One whom we follow!

The Lord Jesus has not left His followers as orphans. He asked the Father to send them the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit as our Mountain Leveler, our Controlling Influencer and our Leader, the One whom we follow!