As Stephen was addressing some rebellious Jews, he told them that both they and their ancestors were guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). Our goal in this article is to show how they resisted the Holy Spirit, and how we can be guilty of doing the same thing today.

Remember that these Jews were supposedly under God's Old Covenant and were accountable to that part of the Word of God. Peter was speaking of the Old Testament when he wrote that "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21). Paul tells us that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Eph. 6:17), and that the Holy Spirit teaches (1 Cor. 2:13). We can safely conclude that the Word of God is the result of Holy men of God being guided by the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit's sword is the word of God, and that the Holy Spirit teaches.

But bear in mind that the Holy Spirit does not teach us ordinary folks directly, but through the Spirit's sword which is the Word of God. Therefore the Jews to whom Stephen was preaching, in resisting the Holy Spirit, were resisting the teachings of the Holy Spirit which are the word of God.

Every time we read the Word of God, have it read to us, or preached to us, we are being spoken to by the Holy Spirit. And when we resist the teachings of the Word of God, we are resisting the Holy Spirit! To resist the teachings of the Holy Spirit is but to be guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit.

- The Exhorter, 9/2/12