The Holy Spirit's Work in the New Testament

Well, good evening. I want to continue tonight in our study of the work of the Holy Spirit. You have a handout, and my goal is to try to get through the rest of the handout tonight. We've been in this handout now for a few weeks.

We took a week off last time. We've looked at the Holy Spirit's work in different areas. We've looked at the Holy Spirit's work in revelation and inspiration. That regards primarily the work of giving the Word of God, the Scriptures.

And last time we were here, we looked at the Holy Spirit's ministry in the Old Testament. How in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God gave regeneration. He gave indwelling on a selective basis. Not every person, and again, that's somewhat debated among theologians.

I think the New Testament promise, and we're going to see tonight, the difference between the New Testament, the New Covenant, and the Old Covenant, is that the indwelling would be completely for every believer.

Rather than selective indwelling, it would be a full, everyone in the Covenant would be filled with the Spirit. We saw that He restrained sin, and we saw that He enabled for service. Now we're going to look tonight at a two-fold reality.

We're going to look at the Holy Spirit's work in relation to Christ and in relation to the believer. So we're going to look at the Holy Spirit's work in relation to Christ and in relation to the believer.

The Holy Spirit in the Virgin Conception of Christ

So under the heading of the Holy Spirit's work in relation to Christ, we're going to first look at the virgin birth. Now, I've already said this, so I don't have to correct myself, even though I'm about to.

I did say this earlier in the series, so I'm going to correct myself, because on the sheet it says virgin birth, but it shouldn't. What should it say? Virgin conception, because really Jesus' birth was a normal birth as any other child.

Jesus did not translate from the womb to the room through some kind of a magical process. We believe that Jesus was born as any other baby was born. We believe there was a full birth, and that once He was born, He was born as a child into the world, and that Mary did not maintain her virginity in the birth as is claimed by Roman Catholics.

There's no reason to believe that. There's nothing in the text that would indicate that. She was, of course, given a natural birth to Jesus Christ. And so how does this concern the Holy Spirit? Well, when we refer to the Holy Spirit of God, it is He that the Scripture says was the one who caused the conception.

We see this in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20. If you want to turn there very quickly, this is the promise of the virgin conception. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20. And most of you are familiar with this.

Of course, every year we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We usually hear these verses. It says, As he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Now, the parallel passage to this is in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1, verse 35. And I'm just going to read it quickly because I have a lot to get through tonight. And the angel answered her. Now, this is the angel speaking to Mary in Matthew's gospel.

It's from Joseph's perspective. Well, this is Mary's perspective. It says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

So from Joseph's perspective, that child is from the Holy Spirit. From Mary's perspective, that child is from the Holy Spirit. We have here a twofold witness to the Spirit's work in the birth or the conception, rather, of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Something important from a theological perspective is this, is that the Spirit did not cause Jesus's divine nature to come into existence. What do we believe about the divine nature of Christ? It's eternal, right?

The divine nature of Christ is eternal. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There was never a time when they were not, for they have always been, and evermore shall be. God in three Persons is not something that happened after the Incarnation, but God in three Persons is what has always been, the triune God.

And so, the Holy Spirit did not give birth to the divine nature of Christ. He did not conceive the divine nature of Christ. The Holy Spirit conceived the human nature. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, at that moment, created something out of nothing.

Because you've heard the expression, it takes two to tango. Well, it takes two elements to create a child. You have the egg and you have the sperm. And we know the woman does not produce but one part.

And so, what had to be produced by the Spirit, and I'm not trying to be crass or anything, but it was some kind of physical something was produced by the Spirit to cause the fertilization of the egg and to bring about the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, why do I focus on this? Because this is an expression of His divinity. Only God can create something out of nothing. And while there had to be a necessary something, it was the Holy Spirit who did it.

He created the necessary something that was needed for the birth. This past week, there was an article that came out from a woman, seminary president. I'm going to be mentioning her in my sermon on Sunday.

She is the seminary president of Union Theological Seminary, and she made a big wave this week by saying that you can be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection, which Paul says you can't. But, and that's my sermon, and that's why I'm quoting her in my sermon, because Paul says that dog won't hunt.

But she says you can be a Christian and you don't have to believe in the resurrection. And she made big waves, you know, because she's a seminary president. It's not like she's some lady off in a field with five followers somewhere.

She's president of Union Theological Seminary in New York. And it's actually, she's a Disciples of Christ minister, by the way, for those of us who used to be a part of that. She's a minister in the Disciples of Christ Church.

And not only in her article did she deny the resurrection, but she denied the virgin birth. So it got him on both ends, as it were. Got Christ on both ends of his life. He's not divine in his death. And it's an amazing thing to see liberalism really take hold and show its face.

Because that's what liberalism, liberalism is ugly when it shows its face, especially in theology. Oftentimes people sit behind a mask, a veneer of fake. But when the mask comes off, you see what really is behind it, and it's ugly.

And it's ugly. So the virgin conception. I said I was gonna get through all this tonight. Let me, I'm gonna speed up a little. So we see the virgin birth. What's next on the list? On the work, the life and ministry of Christ.

We've already been through this. The Holy Spirit of God is anointing Jesus for his work. The Holy Spirit filled the Lord, you know, and urged him and moved him and directed him. The Holy Spirit of God is there.

Never is there a time where we see that the Holy Spirit is not active in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, if you just want a few verses, Luke 4, 18, specifically referring to the empowerment of the Spirit in the work of Christ.

Then we move on to the death and the resurrection of Christ. In the death of Christ, the Father pours out his wrath upon the Son, and an atonement is made. But I want to show you something very important.

I want to show you that in the Bible, Hebrews 9, 14, says he offered himself through the Spirit. So the Spirit is active there too. The Scriptures also indicate that the Father and the Son participated in the resurrection.

And guess what? The Spirit is active in the resurrection. Romans 8, 11 says he was raised by the Spirit. So we see in Hebrews 9, 14, and in Romans 8, 11, that the Spirit is active in the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ.

In the sense of we hear the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, 1 Corinthians 15. And the Spirit of God is active in these things. Dwight Pentecost, you probably heard that name before, said this.

He said, I would question whether there is any great work of God revealed in the Word of God in which all of the members of the Godhead do not work together to accomplish God's purpose. I would wonder, and he said, I would question if there's ever a work that all three are not participating in.

Now we have to be careful because we know like we don't say the Father was on the cross. We say the Son was on the cross, right? And so to say the Father was on the cross would be a misrepresentation of the Trinity.

It's called patrapassionism, the idea that God the Father died on the cross. And that was an early church heresy and it was rebuffed and has never been accepted by the church as true. So we do understand that within the economy of the Trinity, there are different roles that are participated.

The Father elects, the Son redeems, the Spirit regenerates. That's a good little way of sort of thinking about their work in redemption, right? But I with Pentecost would agree that it seems as if anytime there's a great work of God, you'll see all three involved.

And certainly that is the case in the birth, certainly is the case in the life, and certainly is the case in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I didn't write everything up on the board, but I do want to write the last one on the list, because we said he's working in the virgin birth, he's working in the life and ministry, he's working in the death and resurrection.

He's also working now in relation to the ministry of Christ. How is the Spirit working now in relation to the ministry of Christ? He's working now as the Vicar of Christ. By the way, just to see how many of you maybe are not familiar with this term, how many of you have heard that term, Vicar of Christ, applied to someone else?

Who is it applied to, Pat? The Pope, right? The word Pope means father. It's from the Latin papa, and it means, you know, to be father. So he's referred to as the father of the church, but he's also referred to as the Vicar of Christ.

What does Vicar mean? Yeah, I mean, it's shortened for the term vicarious. So like if I said, I'm gonna be out of the pulpit Sunday, and Andy's gonna preach vicariously, he's gonna preach as my substitute, he's gonna preach in my stead, right?

Now that may be a little silly way of using that term, but you understand that's what vicarious means, to do something in the place of someone else. The substitute, as Richard said. So who is the substitute for Jesus?

You say, well, no one can substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he said that the Holy Spirit, John 14, 16, that the Holy Spirit was going to come. He said, I go so the Holy Spirit can come another, like me, right?

In fact, just real quick, I want to make sure I'm saying it correctly. It's important part of the text, John 14, 16. He says, And I will ask the Father, and he will send you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells within you, and will be in you. So here, he says, I'll ask the Father, and he will give you another helper. This is the vicarious work of the Spirit. Jesus goes, the Spirit comes.

And he becomes like Christ to us. What word is usually used for helper there that when we're when we're just talking about this passage, because I said another helper, what's the word that we're used to?

King James language, comforter, right? Yeah, yeah. So he is called the comforter. I love this word. I love the word comforter. But it's not really a good translation. Because the word in Greek is parakalētos.

It is the word where we sometimes the word paraclete. You'll hear people say paraclete. They kind of put a hard E sound. Parakalētos. Para is like parallel to be beside something. It's a prefix. Kaleo means call.

Like I said, Paul, come here. That's call. That's kaleo. So I kaleo to my side. That's parakaleo. I call you to my side. Come stand next to me. Right? Parakalētos is the one who stands beside me. Right?

In fact, in the in the legal idea, it was the idea of somebody who stood in to stood up for you. Like if you remember when you were little, maybe you had an older sibling, and somebody was picking on you.

And your older sibling stood up beside you. And they were they were at that moment. They were your parakalētos. They were they were called to your side. Or maybe you have one of the terms R .C. Sproul likes to use is a family attorney.

We don't really have those much anymore. Everybody's so specialized in law. But back in the back in the day, people had an attorney that was their family attorney, whether they were selling property, or they had a lawsuit or anything.

They had that one guy who sort of took care of all this or like a family doctor, right? Had a family attorney that was he was their parakalētos. He was their parakalētos. He was the one who came stood beside them if they had to go to court.

Right? Jesus stood with the apostles while he walked the earth. When he left, the Holy Spirit comes and he stands beside the believer inside the believer actually. But he is there. And here's why I say I like the word comforter because even though even though the word comforter is not really a, I would say a one to one translation for called alongside or parakalētos this the comforter we always think of comfort is like, ooh, something's comfortable, right?

Like comforter is what we put on our bed, right? So and I and I imagine somewhere in some time in history, somebody's compared the Holy Spirit to an Afghan, you know, something that you put over you to cover you up, right?

The Holy Spirit is like a comforter. Well, that's actually not what this is. The prefix com in Latin means with and forte. If you've ever done any music theory is the Latin for strength. So com forte in Latin means with strength to give strength.

And so the Holy Spirit is the comforter and the idea that he stands beside you to strengthen you. That's that's where the King James English of the comforter comes from. It's a direct pull from the Latin use of the term where the Latin was translating the Greek parakalētos into com forte and then into English comforter.

He who comes to give strength. He's not a blanket. He's a warrior. He's there for power. He's giving you strength. He's not just covering you, which he is covering you, but he's also protecting you. And so there's that there's that idea.

He's the vicar. He's he's he's the one who's standing in the place of Christ, not the pope and not the pastor. But the Holy Spirit of God is the vicar of Christ. Right. If I if I were to if I were to die next week, you get another one just like me.

But the Holy Spirit, he's going to be there forever. You know, this is like I preached last Sunday. The messenger doesn't matter. It's the message that matters. And the message is empowered not by the man, but by the spirit of God.

Right. You might not get one as handsome, but you could get another one. I had to throw that in there. OK, so. OK, so so that takes us through how he is in relation his work in relation to Christ's ministry, even to today.

Now, I want to quickly go through three aspects of the Holy Spirit's work in our life as believers, three aspects. And we're going to look at three things and look at indwelling. And because, again, I just don't want to get I could spend a week on each of these, but I want to move on.

I want us to we've spent so much time on this. I want us to begin to track a little bit further. So I want to look at each of these tonight. We're going to look at indwelling, sealing and filling. And I'm going to I'm going to give you some scripture, but I won't necessarily have you go there because I know that takes that just takes time.

But if you want to write it down, you may. First of all, the indwelling of the spirit, the indwelling of the spirit is permanent in the new covenant. John 7, 37, John 7, 37 to 39. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of water, living water. Now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The spirit was not yet given. He says, one, there's going to come this indwelling. And when he comes, he's going to be with you forever. That's John 14, 16. He's going to be with you forever. Now over to Galatians quickly, just to just to add, you know, two or three witnesses to what I'm saying here.

Galatians chapter three, verses two and three says, let me ask you this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

What does that tell us? It says we received the spirit when we believed. Because again, read verse two. Let me ask you this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit?

Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Paul's making an argument here about people who think that the law is going to make them somehow more righteous or more spiritual. But the point that that we can extrapolate out of this is he's saying you began in the spirit, insinuating that all believers begin the same way by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.

That's how we started. And that's how we're going to continue. You don't start in the spirit and continue in the works of the law. You start in the spirit and you continue in the spirit. And of course, Romans eight, nine says if you do not have the spirit of Christ, you do not belong to him.

And the last one just for this, because this is important that we understand this is First Corinthians chapter six, verse 19. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own. Your body is a temple of the spirit, right? Think of it like this. In the old covenant, the spirit of God was invested in what location? The temple, right? That was the picture. The temple was in the middle of the people and the spirit of God was there.

The spirit of God, that is why there was so much that had to be done and so much that was involved in taking the sacrifices to the temple and going into the temple. And they're why the man who went into the temple had to be had to had to make a sacrifice for himself and then had to make a sacrifice for the people.

And then he had to go in. And there's a there's a there's actually a story that says he had a rope tied to his leg so that if he died on the inside, they'd pull him back out. That's not scriptural. There is nothing in scripture that says that.

But it makes a good story, right? Because, you know, the idea was if he went in there and he and he wasn't properly sanctified, he dropped dead. Right, because he was in the spirit of the presence of God.

What happened when Jesus died on the cross? The temple veil, which was separated the holy place from the most holy place, the sanctuary from the sanctum sanctorum, it separated those two areas. The temple veil ripped from top to bottom to demonstrate one that God did it top to bottom because it was it was it wasn't man who ripped it from the bottom up.

It was God who ripped it from the top down. And it demonstrated the spirit of God now going to be not no longer invested in this singular place. But now it's open for all because the spirit of God is going to indwell all.

And so there's this indwelling of the spirit that's permanent and is going to be complete. Everyone is going to receive it. There are some questions about this because, again, we and we kind of addressed this last time, so I don't want to go backward.

But people say, well, what about people who lost the spirit? Well, the only time we see that we do see that in the old covenant. That's why I do think there's a distinction made between the old covenant ministry of the spirit and the new covenant ministry.

Clearly, the text says Saul, the spirit was taken from him. Right. Clearly, it says that. And David certainly feared in Psalm 51, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. You know, so there's certainly fear there.

However, in the new covenant, we don't see that we see the promise of God, the promise of the the work of the Holy Spirit as being something that's going to abide. It's going to change us and it's going to be forever.

It's that indwelling work of the spirit. Paul expected the believers to have the spirit. This is why when he met the believers in Acts 19 and he asked them if they had the Holy Spirit and they said, we do not have the Holy Spirit, we don't even know who the Holy Spirit is.

He says, haven't you had the spirit since you believed? That was an expectation that they would. That's Acts 19, verses one to six of the expectation is you would have the spirit since you believe. So the indwelling of the spirit is number one.

The Spirit's Sealing as God's Guarantee of Salvation

Number two is the sealing of the spirit. Now, I talked about this before. The sealing of the spirit is something that God performs on behalf of us to secure our salvation. Second Corinthians one, twenty one and twenty two.

It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. The word there is Arabon. It's the first initial payment.

It is a guarantee that it is going to be fulfilled. A first installment is a promise that there will be a final payment. I'm not going to give you money at the beginning if I don't intend to give you all the money at the end because I lose the first payment.

Right? That's what we call the down payment. The Arabon is the idea of a guarantee. I'm making a guarantee that I'm going to complete this. The Bible says he who began a good work in you will do what?

Will bring it to completion. God is the one who will do the work. He is going to do that and he seals you. By the way, that's Philippians one, six, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

The principal idea in sealing is ownership. If you want to write that out there. The principal idea behind sealing is ownership. You're sealed. You're mine. By the way, you're never commanded to be sealed.

Do you know that? You're not commanded to be sealed because you don't do it. God does it. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. The Spirit of God does the sealing independent of you.

That's just that's important for what I'm about to say next. Because when we come down to filling of the Spirit, that's different because we're commanded to be filled. We're not commanded to be sealed.

See the difference? Because one is an independent work of God. The sealing is God's doing. And how long are we sealed, beloved? Until the day of redemption. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. We are sealed unto the day of redemption.

This is one of the verses that I use when people say they think they can lose their salvation. And here's my response. If you want to have the question of whether or not you can lose your salvation, I'll say this.

Number one, yes, there are people who make false claims. Yes, there are people who believe they're saved and they're not. Yes, there are people who say they're Christians and they show themselves later to not be.

This is what we see in Matthew chapter 7, when Jesus said, Many will come unto me on that day and say, Lord, Lord, have we not done this in your name? Have we not done that in your name? Have we not done many mighty things in your name?

And Jesus will say unto them, I never knew you. Not I knew you for a time and you couldn't cut it. I didn't give you the seal and took it back. That's another part. You know, I never knew you. Never, ever, ever.

He didn't say never, ever, ever. But that's what it means. Never, ever. So if somebody says I was saved and now I'm lost, I say you never were saved if you are actually lost. If you're saved, you're sealed.

And you're sealed until the day of redemption. You're sealed back to the word unto means for you're sealed for the day of redemption. It's like on Christmas when you put that wrapping paper on the on the present and you're sealing it until Christmas, but you're also sealing it for Christmas.

Right. You're sealing it for the purpose that it's going to be opened. Right. You're closing it so that it'll be open. You're you're protecting it. You're putting that tape on it, that seal on it, which I realize is a really cheesy example of a good seal.

But you're sealing it for something. And when the Bible says you're sealed for the day of redemption, that's the purpose. And so that's the until. You're going to be sealed until then. And if you're a believer, you should rejoice in that.

You should rejoice in the fact that your salvation, one, didn't come from you. And two, isn't sustained by you. I remember one time talking to a guy about he said he thought he could lose his salvation.

And we're going back and forth. And I said, well, are you saved today? That's a good question. I believe you can lose it. How are you doing today? And he said, well, today I'm doing good. So, yeah, I'm saved today.

That's his literal response. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not putting words in his mouth. He said today I'm doing good. And so I'm OK and I'm saved today. And I said, but you could just as easily be lost tomorrow.

And he said, yeah, then you're not sealed until the day of redemption. By the Holy Spirit of God, if it's if it's as if it's as easy as in and out like a yo-yo. And that's really what salvation is for a lot of people.

I'm down, I'm up. I'm down, I'm up. Maybe I'll go around the world, but I'm down and I'm up. It's like a yo-yo. Salvation is not a yo-yo. You're in his hand or you're not. You're not going in and out.

You're sealed. All right. So that's that's that's that when I told you I was going to get through. We're going to give me a couple more minutes and we'll be done. Because this third one is very important, because we talk about the indwelling of the spirit.

He comes and does that when you believe. He seals you when you believe. And guess what? That's that's independent of you. His indwelling you is independent. His sealing is independent. But now we're going to talk about filling.

Being Filled with the Spirit and Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

And I want you to write down this. If you want to turn there, you can. It's probably going to be filling when we have time to look at. Ephesians 5 18. Ephesians 5 18. Now this passage is important because it actually maintains two thoughts for us to consider.

One, it says do not get drunk with wine. Well, we can spend some time with that. We talk about what it means to be drunk. But instead of that, I want to focus more on what it says after that. It says and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit.

When you are interpreting the scripture, it's important to look for parallel language. Because especially in the Proverbs, when you're reading the Proverbs, it might say something that's really obscure.

And then the next line will be really clear. And it will help you understand what was really obscure, because what was obscure was a little difficult. But the next line is really easy. I can't think of one to give you an example, but you understand what I'm saying.

It's called a parallelism. There are things called contrasting parallelism. That's where, you know, it'll say something and then it'll say the opposite. And then there's synonymous parallelism, where it'll say something and it'll say the same thing a different way.

And so we see parallels in scripture all the time. And it's something to look for when you're interpreting the Bible, because the Bible is its own interpreter. Scripture interprets scripture. So when the Apostle Paul says, do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

What is the two words that are being paralleled in that passage? Drunk and filled. Yes, drunk and filled. And so here we have, oh, by the way, the word be filled is an imperative. Here's the command. Remember I said the indwelling and the sealing are not something you participate in.

But now the be filled is, it's a command. Be filled. Here's what it means to be filled with the Spirit. It means to be under the control of the Spirit. You get drunk with wine, that means you're under the control of the wine.

You get drunk, no I don't want to say get drunk with the Spirit. You get filled with the Spirit, it means you're under the control, you're submitting yourself to the control of the Spirit. And it is in the imperative, therefore it is conditional.

It's conditioned. Filled with the Spirit is conditioned. Because you might not always want to be controlled by the Spirit, because you have a human body that wants to be satisfied, and its lusts want to be filled.

And so there's this battle, who's going to have control? The Spirit or the flesh? Jesus said the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Right? And so the filling is maintained by not grieving the Spirit.

Ephesians 4 .30 says don't grieve the Spirit. Right? Meaning don't do those things that cause distress to the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God lives inside of you. I used to think like this, imagine every time you sin and the Spirit of God lives inside of you, it's like he's living with a crazy roommate.

You're the crazy roommate, and he's living inside of you. I know that's a silly example, but you think the Spirit of God is with you. Think of the grief that you cause the Spirit of God in the sense that when you want to do what he doesn't want you to do, one, you're not being controlled by him, you're not being filled by him at that moment, you're rebelling, and you're the crazy roommate.

And he's lived inside of you. He's set his home in your heart. So not grieving the Spirit, that's one. Not quenching the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5 .19, you say well that's the same thing.

Well, sort of. But to quench means to put out a fire. Grieving the Spirit, I think, is an act of participation in something that would cause distress to the Spirit. I think quenching the Spirit is not participating in what the Spirit would command us to do.

Have you ever had an opportunity to witness to somebody and you refused because you were scared or because you just didn't want to get into it or because you didn't want to talk about Jesus, and then later you feel this compelling conviction in your heart because you quenched the Spirit of God in that moment?

So grieving is the act of participation. And again, this is my way of understanding. It's an act of participation in something that causes grief to the Spirit of God, and quenching is not participating in what the Spirit is prompting.

Man, I can't tell you how many times the Spirit has prompted me to talk and I kept my mouth shut. And that's quenching the Spirit of God, isn't it? That's like a fire, and I've taken my smothering cloth and I've covered up that fire that was in me.

And now I know it. And so we have grieving the Spirit. That's a condition that we don't want to do. Quenching the Spirit is something we don't want to do. But we want to walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5 .16.

Walk by the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit, meaning our daily life is governed by Him. We want to be controlled by Him. We want to be filled by Him. Not drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but filled under the control of the Spirit.