The Work of the Holy Spirit
Sunday Evening Bible Study
October 10, 1999
Introduction
We’ve talked about the Holy Spirit as a person. He’s not some impersonal force, He’s a real person. We have a relationship with real people. And we’ve talked about the deity of the Holy Spirit. He isn’t just any old person, He’s God.
Illustration
One day while walking with some children, Queen Mary was caught in a sudden shower. Quickly taking shelter on the porch of a home, she knocked at the door and asked to borrow an umbrella. "I’ll send it back tomorrow," she said. The queen had deliberately disguised her appearance by putting on a hat that partly covered her face and by wearing some very plain clothes. The householder, reluctant to give a stranger her best umbrella, offered her a castoff she found in the attic. One rib was broken and there were several holes in it. Apologizing, she turned it over to the monarch, whom she did not recognize. The next day she had another visitor—a man with gold braid on his uniform and an envelope in his hand. "The queen sent me with this letter," he said, "and also asked me to thank you personally for the loan of your umbrella." Stunned, the woman burst into tears. "Oh, what an opportunity I missed that I did not give her my very best," she cried.
The Bible says that as Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us. Do we recognize who it is that lives in us? If we really had a clue who the Holy Spirit is, would it change how we relate to Him?
The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believer
1. He dwells in us
His indwelling is a promise of God’s "New Covenant" with man:
(Ezek 36:26-27 KJV) A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. {27} And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Under the Mosaic Law, the "Old Covenant", the Holy Spirit could be in a person (as He was in Moses, Joshua, Ezekiel, and others, Num. 11:17; 27:18; Eze. 2:2), but it seems that the work of the Holy Spirit in a person was limited to just certain special people, primarily leaders, priests, or prophets. Under the "New Covenant", the Holy Spirit is promised to all who believe.
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be "in" the disciples:
(John 14:15-17 KJV) If ye love me, keep my commandments. {16} And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; {17} Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
We believe this took place for the disciples after the resurrection:
(John 20:22 KJV) And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Paul wrote of the Holy Spirit being in him, writing to Timothy:
(2 Tim 1:14 KJV) That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
John called him the "anointing":
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
When the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we become His temple:
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
The Holy Spirit dwells in us from the time that we first accept Jesus as our Savior. We cannot belong to Jesus if we do not have the Holy Spirit:
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
2. He assures us of our Salvation:
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
You don’t usually call someone "Daddy" unless they are your Father. The Spirit reminds us that we are God’s children.
1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
1 John 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
It is very common for a Christian to doubt their salvation. It’s common but it’s also a sign of spiritual immaturity. God doesn’t want you to stay there. God’s desire is not that we live in a state of constantly questioning our relationship with Him. Part of the Spirit’s job is to show us that we belong to God.
If you have been questioning whether or not you are saved, go back to the basics:
(1 John 5:9-13 KJV) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. {10} He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. {11} And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. {12} He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. {13} These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for your sins? Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior?
If you have Jesus, then you have eternal life. If you have Jesus, then the Holy Spirit (the witness) is IN you, and you need to simply work at listening to Him more than you listen to the other voices that tell you that you don’t belong to God.