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Walking in the Spirit is Not a Fantasy

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy}


Walking is the Spirit is not a fantasy. If I do not fail here; if I prove this, then sinners, I hope you will then see reason enough to take the name of fanatic on yourselves and from now on write them down as “Israelites indeed.” Christians who are listening to me today: will you help me in this proof? This once help me; the cause is clearly on the Lord’s side; you may, if you are willing, come and be willing examples of this truth. Will you live, according to your principles, the life of God that is within you? Will you live, according to your rules, the Word of Life? Will you follow your Leader, the Holy Spirit who is given to conduct you? Will you draw closer to the practice of the godliness that you profess? Will you live in obedience to the Spirit whom you have received? Will you show yourselves a pattern of faith, patience, righteousness, and holiness? Will you be dealing less about earthly vanities and be less earthly in your earthly dealings? Will your dealings be wholly about Heaven and heavenly things? And will you make these your dealings and delights? Will you labor to be more concerned about spiritual things and spiritual exercises so that you may become more spiritual, more spiritually minded, and have a more spiritual temperament? Will you get further away from the love, lust, fashions, ways, and joys of this world? Will you allow the Eternal Spirit to fill you with His love and fashion you into His likeness? Will you forbear any more resisting, grieving, slighting, and quenching His holy promptings? Will you listen to His counsels and answer His impulses? Will you grow daily, becoming better Christians, saints, saints in heart, saints in tongue, and saints in your general way of life? Will you make your graces, comforts, spiritual joys, and delights more visible? Will you let your light so shine before people that they must either put out their own eyes or be forced to acknowledge that God is truly in you?


Brethren, we ourselves are very much responsible for all our adversaries’ slanders. We have helped them to be able to reproach us. We have furnished them with accusations by our walking so much in the flesh and so little in the Spirit. We have taught them to question whether there is even any such thing as walking in the Spirit. May the Lord pardon us and make us sensible of it: we have caused an evil report against our God, His Spirit, the Gospel, and God’s ways. For all we know, we may have undone many poor wretches by our hardening them in their misconceptions about godliness and Christianity.205 There has been much dross in our gold, ashes upon our fires, and earth in our spirits. We have had such sad mixtures of water with our wine. We have taken too much liberty for our carnal joys and carnal pleasures. Our light has been dim, our grace has been low, and our good works have been spare and thin. By all of these, we have made people bold to say that we are not what we are, but a mere lie and deceit. And, we now have no way to vindicate ourselves, our Christianity, or our holy profession; we have no way to justify our God and His Gospel—except by blowing up the coals, shaking off our ashes, stirring up the grace of God within us,206 and letting them have their perfect work in us. Will you Christians listen to me in this? Then I would be bold to bring you forth as witnesses for God and His truth. However, because it would be more comfortable for you if there were many witnesses, I would like to bring in as many evidences as possible. Yet if you, or any other particular congregation of professors, should fail me, let all the world know that I have sufficient proof ready at hand.

Four Damnable Absurdities That Would Follow if Walking in the Spirit Were a Fantasy

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy}


If walking in the Spirit were a fantasy, then these damnable absurdities would necessarily follow:



Damnable Absurdity: The Spirit is Unfaithful in His Office

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: Spirit is Unfaithful}


If walking in the Spirit is a fantasy, the Spirit is unfaithful in His office. The Spirit of God is given to the people of God, to every one of them. This is so plainly asserted in Scripture that one must deny the Scriptures in order to not grant it. “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9 ESV).207 There are certain operations of the Spirit that are the Holy Spirit’s work to do.208 One operation of the Spirit is to enlighten believers; therefore, He is called the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Ephesians 1:17–18). Another operation of the Spirit is to sanctify; this is called “the sanctification by the Spirit” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Another is to lead: “He will lead you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Another is to assist and help (Romans 8:26; Ezekiel 36:27). Another is to comfort; therefore He is called “the Comforter” (Acts 9:31). As the Spirit of the Lord does these works, there are people who are enlightened, sanctified, led, helped, and comforted by Him. If there are no such people, and if the comfort of the saints is only pretended; if their light, help, enlivening, and encouragement are all fantasy; if they are only led in imagination, enlivened in imagination, and comforted in imagination, then where is the Spirit’s faithfulness? See what blasphemies people run into before they are aware of it. Sinners, take heed what you do. You are bold to reproach the saints with “The Spirit, the Spirit,” but take heed meanwhile of reproaching the Spirit with unfaithfulness. Blasphemy against the Spirit is no small sin (Matthew 12:31). Although every such blasphemy against the Spirit is not the unpardonable sin, it is a fair step toward it. Look to yourselves.



Damnable Absurdity: God’s Promise Is False

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: God’s Promise False}


If walking in the Spirit is a fantasy, then God Himself is false in His promise. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:27 NASB). If no such thing is done, then where is the promise of God? He who makes walking in the Spirit to be only talk makes the promise of God to be nothing but words.

Damnable Absurdity: The Devil Does More in Destroying Souls than the Spirit of the Lord Does in Saving Souls

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: Devil Does More}


If walking in the Spirit is only a fantasy, then the devil does more toward destroying souls than the Spirit of the Lord does toward saving souls. Let us again consider this Scripture: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2 NASB). For our purpose, there are two things observable: First, sinners are led by the devil. Second, they are assisted and stimulated by the devil.

Sinners Are Led by the Devil

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: Devil Does

Sinners Are Led by the Devil}


That sinners are led by the devil is shown in the expression “they walk … according to the prince of the power of the air.” They walk according to his guidance, mind, and will. He has them at his summons. When he says go, they go; when he says come, they come; and when he says do this, they do it. But how does this happen that the devil can hold such a hand over them and can lead them thus at his pleasure? Why,

Sinners Are Assisted and Stimulated by the Devil

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: Devil Does More

Sinners Are Assisted by the Devil}


Sinners are assisted and stimulated by the devil, that evil spirit that “is now working in” them. The devil suggests evil thoughts into them and thereby stimulates, provokes, and sets them to work. In Acts 5, the devil is said to fill the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira, stimulating them to lie against the Holy Spirit. And once the devil had put a lie into their hearts, their hearts quickly put a lie into their mouths. When the devil has worked wickedness in the hearts of sinners, they soon fall into working it out. When wicked people lie, it is the devil who lies in them. When they curse, rage, and swell with madness, the devil rages in them. When the lusts of people bring forth adultery, drunkenness, rioting, carousing, and so on, the devil lies inside blowing on the coals. Is this just imagination that wicked people walk in that evil spirit, the unclean devil. Is it imagination that the devil draws them on, drives them on, helps them on, and hardens them in their wickedness? Could people otherwise be so wicked as they are with such quarrelings, contentions, debaucheries, villainies, cursing, blasphemies, rottenness, and crudeness coming out of people’s mouths and abounding in their lives? Could there otherwise be so much constancy, boldness, and hardness in sinning against all fears, warnings, reproofs, counsels, conscience, and the dictates of reason and common sense were it not for that evil spirit that works in these children of disobedience? Now, if it is no fantasy that wicked people walk in the evil spirit, can you conceive it to be only a fantasy that the saints walk in the Holy Spirit? And you must grant that wicked people walk in the evil spirit, or else you must conclude that people are all devils themselves. If the devil stimulates and empowers lies, curses, and foul language in the hearts of sinners, you may allow that the Spirit of God stimulates and empowers duties, prayers, praises, and so on into the hearts of the saints. Could a poor Christian who has so many corruptions inside, so many temptations outside, and so many weaknesses, hindrances, and discouragements ever follow the Lord in His holy ways against all of this if he had no other spirit than his own to carry him on? The saints are surely in as much need of help from above to carry them on in holiness to life, as sinners have of that which is from below to carry them on in iniquity to destruction. I think you should not question that the Spirit of God will be as active to save as the devil is busy to destroy.



Damnable Absurdity: God Has No People in the World

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Damnable Absurdities if Walking in Spirit Fantasy

Damnable Absurdity: God Has No People}


If walking in the Spirit is only a fantasy, then God has no people in the world. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14 NASB).209 “As many [all]” indicates just so many and no more. God has no more children in the world besides the people who are led by the Spirit. To be led by the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit are one and the same thing. If then there is no such thing, nor such people in the world to be found, then where are God’s children? God has no child if this is so. If those people are correct who say that walking in the Spirit is a fantasy, then you must write the God of all the earth as childless, a Father without a child, and a king without a people. Such people are neither wise nor true; they have robbed the King of Saints of all His subjects and the Father of Lights of all His children.


You see now to what a plain issue this matter is brought. If those people are correct who say that walking in the Spirit is a fantasy, then the following damnable absurdities are true:



Answer to an Objection against the Reality of the Delights, Joys, and Comforts of Godliness

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Walking in the Spirit

Walking in the Spirit Is Not a Fantasy

Answer to Objection to Reality of Joys, Comforts}


But it may be, sinners, that you will reply as follows: we grant that this is true, that there are those who are led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. But you talk of so much spirituality in mortal men and of such high notions as living in the fellowship of the Spirit and living in Heaven. You tell us of such glorious light, such raptures of joy, and such ecstasies of spiritual delights. These are the fantasies. These are the things that we can only deem to be the foolish dreams of deluded hearts.


And now you think you have hit it at last. But is not this what you say: The Spirit enlightens, but gives no light. The enlightened see no more than the blind. The Spirit renews people, and yet they are not changed. The Spirit leads the saints, and yet they follow Him just as fast as those who have no legs. The Spirit dwells in them, yet they have no more fellowship or acquaintance with Him than those who never saw Him. The Spirit assists, yet gives no help. The Spirit comforts, but gives no joy. After all He has done, He leaves them just as other people. Whatever more the saints pretend to have is a mere cheat and delusion. The sum of all comes down to this: the Spirit does, yet does not. He does something, some great thing, and yet that something is just nothing.


But is there no such life of God in which the Lord, having gotten the chief interest of the heart, has also the dominion of the life? Is there no such life in which the main dealings and business in that life are pleasing and honoring God and seeking that glory and honor that is from Him? Must God be an underling to the world and be put off to only our spare hours that our worldly affairs will allow Him? We would do as well to downright profess that we have no God at all. Or, if we must have one, a Baal, Ashtoreth, Nisroch, Molech, ox, or calf may serve us well enough for a god. Such as god may be trampled upon or told to stand aside whenever the world has anything for us to do.


Is there no such spiritual life whose comforts are spiritual comforts and whose pleasures and delights are spiritual pleasures and delights? Are there no delights in God, who is a well of life and the source of all blessedness? The creatures have their various kinds of sweetness coming from them: the sun its light, the fire its warmth, the fig tree its sweetness, the olive tree its fatness, the fruits of the earth their pleasant tastes and smells, and the instruments of music their melodious airs and sounds—all of which gratify and please our senses. Is the spring [God] only a dry and unsavory thing, but the cisterns so fresh and full? Do not fleshly activities have their different pleasures? Are not the labors of the farmer and the travels of the merchant sweetened by the gain and income of them? Are not games, dances, sports, and plays so delightful to people that they will sell their souls for such pleasures? And is it only the activities of Christianity that have no juice or sweetness in them? Is it only godliness that has no bud, so that the stalk yields no food? Or the delights and comforts of godliness such flashy and airy things that we cannot tell when we taste them or whether we are awake or in a dream? Consider the Scriptures once more: “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:7–9 NASB). “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NASB). “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalm 4:7 ESV). “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3 ESV). “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8 ESV). “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 NKJV).


Let him who reads understand. Do all these speak of a life of the saints that is a dry, dark, and unpleasant life? Let me ask you two questions more. First, are there any delights in Heaven? Is there any joy before the throne and in face of God? Are there any pleasures at His right hand? Does the Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the Paradise of God yield any pleasant fruit? Does the crystal river that runs through the City of God yield any pleasant streams? Regarding the activities in glory: blessing, praises, and singing “Hallelujah, Hallelujah,” are there any pleasures in these? Speak, sinners, what do you think? Are there any delights in Heaven?


Second, is not there something of that heavenly joy and delight let down to the saints here? While they have a part in the same activities, do they not have a little share in the same pleasure? What is the meaning then of the “earnest of their inheritance” in: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee [earnest] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV)?210 The apostle tells us that, after the saints had believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest [guarantee] of our inheritance. An earnest is a part of that inheritance; it is an earnest given in hand. The earnest of our inheritance is a part of the inheritance.


Believe it, sinners: God’s earnest is no jest. God will not mock His saints, even though you do. As sinners to their cost, so saints to their comfort, experience that God’s earnest is in earnest.


Sometimes the Lord, though more seldom, causes some flashing of His wrath to fly out in the faces of some incorrigible sinners. He kindles flames in their souls and burns in their bowels as an earnest of those everlasting flames prepared for them, beginning their Hell on earth. Similarly, He lets fall some handfuls of that harvest and some drops of that new wine that are a portion of the fuller inheritance that is reserved for the time when the saints will sit down with Him in His kingdom. This is the earnest of their inheritance, something of the same joys and the same kind of pleasures that are laid up for them, and thus assured to them. And is there not enough yet to convince you?


If you will still hold your own and go about to persuade us that all this is only fantasy, we must give the same credit to you that you yourselves would give to a man born blind: he has seen neither sun nor star. Hearing you talk about them, he might laugh at you as fanatics and tell you that there are no such things as sun, stars, or light. You would believe your own eyes rather than the blind man’s blind confidence; you would pity rather than credit him. And so, must we not credit, but pity you.


Do you not wonder that there should be such things and you do not see them? The riches of Christians are hidden riches (Isaiah 45:3); the manna of saints is hidden manna. The white stone and the new name are not visible to ordinary eyes (Revelation 2:17). Do not think that it is our pride or vanity that speaks. Does not our Lord say the same things: “No one knows except him who receives it” (Revelation 2:17)? And, “No stranger shares its [his] joy” (Proverbs 14:10). The sweetness of Christianity lies deep. The rich wines are in the cellar and the rich mines are in the bowels of the earth. On the other hand, the best of sin is visible; the flower and cream are at the top and the bran and lees are on the bottom. Sin is honey in the mouth, but bitterness in the belly. Sinner, you have not gone deep enough in Christianity to come to the pleasure of it; will you therefore say there is no pleasure in it? You may as well say that there is no gall and bitterness in sin because you have not yet met with a bitter drop and all of the anguish, horror, pangs of misery, gnawing of tongue, gnashing of teeth, and torments that are said to be in sin. You think these are mere fantasies, because you have not yet felt them.211 But wait awhile; you are not yet at the bottom, the dregs are yet some distance down. Oh, the underground fruits of sin! When these come up, then you will taste what gall and gravel there is in it. Never think you are secure from sorrow; a little deeper may conclusively refute you with a witness against you. And so on the other side, there is no ground to suspect that the sweetness of Christianity is nothing just because some dabblers in it, who have only trifled on the surface and outside of it, have not had the least taste of any such thing. The brackishness and bitterness of Christianity is at the top; the best is at the bottom. The wine cellar is lower than you have gone. If you would be persuaded to go deeper and to settle in more closely and thoroughly into a godly life, your own senses would at length conclusively refute your censures and whatever you have heard spoken falsely concerning the comforts and delights of holiness. You would say with the queen of Sheba, “The half was not told me” (1 Kings 10:7; 2 Chronicles 9:6).212


We will freely grant you that all is not gold that glitters. There are false fires, false joys, and false comforts to which many pretenders to Christianity have boasted. These have not yet had any part or share in Christianity. And neither saints nor sinners have examined this kind of pretender closely enough. These pretenders, these false lights deserve much of the blame for both the slanders that light upon true saints and for the blindness that abides on sinners. Some people dream that they are eating and drinking, or that they are rich and making merry. Will you therefore conclude that you are only in a dream while you are eating, drinking, rich, or rejoicing? Because there are comets that shine among the stars, are they all comets? Are there no stars? Because there are glowworms213 that shine, is the sun just a glowworm?


Shall I add one more word? You that yet hold to the same tune and still cry out, “Fantasy, fantasy, all is just fantasy,” tell me that I may know that you are in earnest and believe your own talk. Tell me, dare any of you come and sign this with your own hand: “This godliness that you have been commending to me here, along with all of its comforts, joys, and delights, I do utterly renounce forever. Let me never know what anything of this means. Let me never have any part hereafter with the godly people.” Dare you put your hand to that? It is some comfort to us to hope that this challenge will be an advocate for Christianity in the consciences of adversaries.


But if not, then know, sinners, that wisdom will be justified by her children (Luke 7:35). And as for you, beware lest that time come upon you that is spoken of by one of the prophets: “Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you” (Acts 13:41 ESV).



205Dear reader, if you also labor under such misconceptions, consider: just because some carnal Christians and hypocrites are taking swan dives into the fires of Hell, must you follow them?

206The phrase “stir up,” for example, as used in 2 Timothy 1:6 and Hebrews 10:24, and as used here, is a reference to stirring up the mix of coals and ashes from a wood or coal fire to allow oxygen to reach fuel formerly smothered by ashes so as to brighten up the fire.

207From this passage, some wrongly conclude that the lack of particular gifts of the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, is evidence of not being saved. But, the Spirit does not give the same gifts to all (1 Corinthians 12).

208According to the divine being and pleasure of the Trinity, each Person of the Trinity has certain roles, which differences in roles do not at all diminish the full deity and godhead of any of the three Persons.

209The Greek texts clearly show that the phrase “these are the sons of God” is a correct translation. While the English, when thus translated accurately, is a bit awkward, it accurately shows that the two groups include the same people; the logic is if and only if. Translations that say that those led by the Spirit are sons of God lose this bidirectional meaning; one might possibly conclude that there are some sons of God who are not led by the Spirit.

210The Greek is ἀρραβών [arrhabōn], which is a legal and commercial technical term meaning an advance payment. It may be a down payment on a purchase, a first installment, or an advance payment that guarantees the validity of a contract. It implies that this earnest is part of the total amount. The NKJV and ESV translate as “guarantee,” the NASB as “pledge,” the KJV as “earnest,” and the NET Bible and HCSB as “down payment.” The NKJV, ESV, and NASB all have “down payment” in marginal notes. However, a down payment implies debt or obligation. As Paul makes clear in Romans 4:4, wages are of debt, not grace. Our saintly inheritance is of grace. For this reason, the editor believes that Alleine’s use of “earnest” is the best translation, although “pledge” would also have been acceptable.

211The editor wishes to suggest to the reader that if he or she will think deeply and honestly, he or she has, indeed, experienced some of the bitter fruit of his or her sin in this life.

212A great difference of opinion is the result of believing God or not. The mother who does not know, or does not believe, that her child is in deadly peril is at ease. The mother who has been informed that police have just rescued her child from a nasty hostage situation of which she is aware will have great joy. Likewise, the born-again Christian who is grateful to God for his or her rescue by Christ from eternal hellfire will have joy, peace, gratitude to God, and an affection and love for God that the unbeliever is unable to even comprehend. This is the more so since these are gifts of the Holy Spirit.

213glowworm: firefly, lightning bug.

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