esus willingly paid the debt of sin and
purchased our salvation and the promise of the Holy Spirit. We are no
longer our own; we are His and His alone. We are not on our own; we
belong to God. The LORD sent the Holy Spirit for our comfort because
Jesus paid for the sins of the world. The Holy Spirit is not a personal
attendant; He is God. The Holy Spirit is in perfect understanding with
the Father and Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is part of the plan for our
regeneration. We need to die to self so He can reign. Most people do not
die to self-life at conversion. He becomes a part of our life so we
willingly surrender our heart to God and lay our life on the altar. We
will not mature if we do not learn to take up the Cross and follow Christ
daily. We would not need the Holy Spirit if total sanctification and
regeneration took place at conversion. The point being, if we laid our
life on the altar and surrendered to God’s will, why are we still trying
to run our own life?
God unites His family in Christ
by the fact His grace saves us through faith. The avenue that the Holy
Spirit uses to draw us to salvation is the witness of God’s Word working
in the life of believers. There are different levels of understanding but
our maturity is a matter of learning to be obedient to the Word of God.
Our salvation came through Jesus Christ alone and we must receive Him as
LORD, Savior, and Life individually. Salvation is a personal experience.
We receive our new heart and spirit as the Holy Spirit brings us
individually into a personal experience with Him.
We need to know and understand
that with His Spirit we also received the fruit. The Spirit bears witness
to the ‘born again’ conversion experience. As individuals we do not know
all the mysteries of our faith. However, we share the fruit of the same
Spirit. We simply apply what we understand about God’s love within our
community, home, and work place. The Holy Spirit Himself produces the
good works which God has prepared for us to walk in. -- Eph 2:10
God’s desire for us is to give
grace and show mercy in the same manner we receive God’s irresistible
grace. We are God’s children 'in Christ’. For this reason we should love
one another. We are members of one body, and in some manner love must
confront sin. We are to question immature behavior because God works
through us in each other’s life too. Jesus said we will know other
believers simply by sharing and allowing the fruit of their new life in
Christ to reveal their identity.
Some people know all about the
Bible. The knowledge puffs them up but the fruit is what will witness to
the motives of a new heart. People may understand all mysteries and still
lack love for one another; people can be foolish without God’s guidance
through the Holy Spirit. Some believers only perceive what is right and
wrong in their own understanding. Still others show apathy instead of
mercy and compassion. God has enabled you to be a doer of the Word and
not a hearer only, to forgive one another, and rejoice in the salvation
God provided. God calls us to grow in love, accepting one another as
individuals. We need to appreciate and accept all of the children of God,
saved or not, allowing for the Holy Spirit to convince them of sin. No
person is worthy or deserving of God’s love for before coming to Christ;
everyone needs salvation, and this only by the grace of God.
Only God knows the hearts of
individuals. We can only try to understand other people's rejection, lean
on God for direction and understanding as we share our life and faith in
God with others. Why do we try to live spiritually on our cunning and
craft? The answer is that some people do not really understand God’s
grace. Some believers are still trying to provide their own
self-righteousness when God wants them to trust solely on the work of the
Cross and the Holy Spirit. Again, the failure of the believer to bear
fruit is a matter of not knowing God in an intimate relationship. We can
choose to share His love in our own strength knowing God will honor His
Word. However the evidence of our trust in Him will come to light in the
fruit that God produces when we remain connected to Christ. If we cannot
love and be intimate with those who surround us, we cannot truly love the
One we haven’t seen.
Jesus Promised To Send Us The Spirit of
Truth
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.
"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He
may abide with you forever, "even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know
Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you
orphans; I will come to you. "A little while longer and the world will see
Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. "At
that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in
you. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.
And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him." -- Jn 14:15-21
The Cost Of Receiving The Holy Spirit
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will
come to him and make Our home with him. "He who does not love Me does not
keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's
who sent Me. "These things I have spoken to you while being present with
you. "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
things that I said to you. -- John 14:23-26
The Holy Spirit Guides Us To Continue
Jesus' Work
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is
to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go
away, the Helper will not come to you; but
if I depart, I will send Him to you. "And when He has come, He will
convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: "of sin,
because they do not believe in Me; "of righteousness, because I go to My
Father and you see Me no more; "of judgment, because the ruler of this
world is judged. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now. "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but
whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. "He
will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
"All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will
take of Mine and declare it to you. -- John 16:7-15
The Disciples Received The Holy Spirit And
Power To Remit Sin
Then, the same day at evening, being the
first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and
said to them, "Peace be with you." Now when He had said this, He showed
them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw
the Lord. Then Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has
sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained." -- John 20:19-23
The Ascension And Great Commission
And being assembled together with them, He
commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise
of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; "for John truly
baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked
Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the
Father has put in His own authority. "But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Now
when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and
a cloud received Him out of their sight. -- Acts 1:4-9
The Arrival Of The Holy Spirit
Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came
a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole
house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided
tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance. -- Acts 2:1-4
The Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit In The
Last Days
'And it shall come to pass in the last
days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your
old men shall dream dreams. and on My menservants and on My maidservants I
will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will
show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and
fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood, before the coming of the great and notable day of the
LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
shall be saved.' -- Acts 2:17-21
The New Testament Promise For All
Generations
Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let
every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the
promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as
many as the Lord our God will call." -- Acts 2:38-39
The Promise Is To Those Who Hear And
Believe
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and
shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. --
John 5:24
The Victory And Triumph Of Those ‘in
Christ’
Now thanks be to God who always leads us
in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His
knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among
those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we
are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to
life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many,
peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak
in the sight of God in Christ. -- 2 Cor. 2:14-17
Jesus Revealed God’s Love For Us And That
We Are Live For Christ
For the love of Christ constrains us,
because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He
died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,
but for Him who died for them and rose again. -- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
We Are A New Creation ‘In Christ’
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new. Now all things
are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has
given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. -- 2 Cor. 5:17-19
We Are God’s Children
Behold what manner of love the Father has
bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the
world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are
children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we
know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as
He is pure. -- 1 John 3:1-3
By Believing In Jesus, God Abides In Us
And We Receive Everything We Need
And by this we know that we are of the
truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns
us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our
heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we
ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those
things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that
we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one
another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments
abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by
the Spirit whom He has given us. -- 1 John 3:19-24
We Receive The Promise Of God’s Spirit As
The Evidence Of Our Salvation And Adoption
But when the fullness of the time had
come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as
sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer
a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. - Gal
4:4-7
No one has seen God at any time. If we
love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given
us of His Spirit. -- 1 John 4:12-13
The Gospel And The Spirit Witness That We
Are ‘In Christ’
If we receive the witness of men, the
witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has
testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in
himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has
not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the
testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that
you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is
the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask,
we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. -- 1 Jn
5:9-15
By Abiding ‘In Christ’ We Have Both The
Father And The Son
This is love, that we walk according to
His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from
the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out
into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not
lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not
have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and
the Son. -- 2 John 1:6-9
The Holy Spirit Works Through Us
But the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of
wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the
same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of
healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another
prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same
Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He
wills. -- 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
We Are Members Of One Body, United ‘In
Christ’
For as the body is one and has many
members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body,
so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body;
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and have all been made to
drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.- 1
Co.12:12-14
Our Assurance Comes From The Holy Spirit
For our gospel did not come to you in word
only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as
you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. -- 1 Thess.
1:5
And we have such trust through Christ
toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything
as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us
sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. -- 2 Cor. 3:4-6
We Are Being Transformed By The Spirit Of
The Lord
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into
the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. --
2 Cor. 3:17-18
Our Love For One Another Fulfills The Law
Of Christ
For you, brethren, have been called to
liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but
through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." -- Gal.
5:13-14
We Overcome The Corrupt Nature (Flesh or
Self-life) By Walking In The Spirit
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one
another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are
led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. - Gal. 5:16-18
The Fruit Of The Spirit Is Manifested By
Crucifying The ‘Self-Life’
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.- Gal.5:22-25
We Are Sealed By The Holy Spirit As A
Guarantee Of Our Inheritance
In Him you also trusted, after you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having
believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, to the praise of His glory. -Eph. 1:13-14
We know God and Receive the Holy Spirit
Through Faith
For this reason I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His
glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what
is the width and length and depth and height; to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of
God. -- Ephesians 3:14-19
The Evidence Of Being Filled With The Holy
Spirit
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is
dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the
fear of God. -- Ephesians 5:18-21
But you have an anointing from the Holy
One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not
know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist
who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have
the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If
what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in
the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised
us; eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who
try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him
abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same
anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a
lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. -- 1 John
2:20-27
And whatever we ask we receive from Him,
because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in
His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the
name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us
commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in
him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has
given us. -- 1 John 3:22-24
Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who
does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God
was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No
one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us,
and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in
Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have
seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he
in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God
is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love
has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. -- 1 John 4:7-17
There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not
been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If
someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he
who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom
he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who
loves God must love his brother also. -- 1 Jn 4:18-21
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is
begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when
we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that
we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For
whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that
has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world,
but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? -- 1 John 5:1-5
Christ Abides In Us Through The Spirit
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him,
because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in
His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the
name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us
commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in
him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has
given us. -- 1 John 3:21-24
When The Holy Spirit Comes, He Will Never
Leave Us
"And I will pray the Father, and He will
give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, "even the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in
you. "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. "A little while
longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I
live, you will live also. "At that day you will know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and I in you. "He who has My commandments and
keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by
My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." -- Jn 14:16-21
The Holy Spirit Will Reveal Christ And
Bear Witness To Us
"I do not pray for these alone, but also
for those who will believe in Me through their word;
"that they all may be one, as You, Father,
are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that You sent Me. "And the glory which You gave Me I have
given them, that they may be one just as We are one: "I in them, and You
in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know
that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.-- John
17:20-23
The Holy Spirit Gives Us Life And Leads Us
Into All Truth
But you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors; not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. -- Rom 8:9-14
The Spirit In Us Will Assure Us Of Eternal
Life In Christ
If we receive the witness of men, the
witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has
testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness
in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he
has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is
the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that
you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. -- 1 John
5:9-13