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When we try to live
by the law we cannot help but stumble from
time to time. Romans 7:21 says, “So I find
it to be a law that when I want to do right,
evil lies close at hand.” That’s why the
Bible says in Romans 3:23, “for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
The law is a strict set of dos and don’ts
that no one can keep. We cannot save
ourselves because we are all born sinners
and we can never measure up to God’s
righteous standards (cf. Deut. 27:26; James 2:8-10; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 10:5).
We are not under the law but under
God’s grace.
Romans 6:12-14
says, “Let not sin therefore reign
in your mortal body, to make you obey its
passions. Do not present your members to sin
as instruments for unrighteousness, but
present yourselves to God as those who have
been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for
righteousness. For sin will have no dominion
over you, since you are not under law but
under grace.”
The New Covenant offers us an entirely
different way of living.
Under the
New Covenant, we have the total and complete
forgiveness of ours sins through faith in
Jesus Christ alone. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In
him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of his grace.”
And we
have God’s seal, the promise of the Holy Spirit living
inside of us as a guarantee of our eternal
inheritance. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “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 of our
inheritance until we acquire possession of
it, to the praise of his glory.”
The power of the Law to condemn us was
broken at the cross.
Romans 7:5-6 says, “For
while we were living in the flesh, our
sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at
work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are
released from the law, having died to that
which held us captive, so that we serve in
the new way of the Spirit and not in the old
way of the written code.”
The Bible
tells us that there are three kinds of
people in this world.
1. The natural
person, someone who has not received Christ (1 Cor. 2:14);
2. The carnal
person, someone who has received Christ but lives a defeated
life because they are trying to live the
Christian life in their own strength (1 Cor. 3:1-3); and,
3. The spiritual
person,
someone who is directed and empowered by the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:15).
God wants
us to live our lives filled by His Spirit at
all times.
Christians need
to understand what it means to have the Holy
Spirit living inside us. We need to
understand what it means to be directed and
empowered by the Holy Spirit at all times.
And to do that, we need to look at what the
Holy Spirit does in each of our lives.
Here are some of the
main things the Holy Spirit does in the life of
every believer.
The Holy Spirit
regenerates us.
Titus 3:5-7 says,
“he saved us, not because of works done by
us in righteousness, but according to his
own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he
poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ
our Savior, so that being justified by his
grace we might become heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.”
John 6:63 says,
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh
is no help at all. The words that I have
spoken to you are spirit and life.”
Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children
of God,”
Every person who receives
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is immediately
regenerated and born again and his or her
dead spirit becomes a new living spirit.
The Holy Spirit anoints us.
1 John 2:20 says,
“But you have been anointed by the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.”
1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing
that you received from him abides in you,
and you have no need that anyone should
teach you. But as his anointing teaches you
about everything, and is true, and is no
lie—just as it has taught you, abide in
him.”
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says,
“And it is God who establishes us with you
in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has
also put his seal on us and given us his
Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
“The Greek term for anointing is “chrisma”
(1 Jn. 2:20; 2 Cor. 1:21) and is related to
the title Christ, which means “anointed
one,” and is used in the Greek Old Testament
(the Septuagint) for the anointing of a high
priest (see Exod. 29:7). The anointing here
depicts the impartation of the Holy Spirit
to a person (see: Isa. 61:1). As Christians,
now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are
joined to the Anointed One and share in His
anointing (2 Cor. 1:21, 22). Therefore we
can know all things with respect to truth
and falsehood. Because the Spirit lives
within us, we know all that we need to know
in order to resist the temptations of false
teachers and to live godly lives in this
world.” [1]
Every believer is anointed by
the Holy Spirit for the purpose of
assimilating the truth of God’s Word. God
has given us human teachers that are
important for our learning but it is the
Holy Spirit that actually teaches us
spiritual truths that reach our inner being.
The Holy Spirit infuses the truth of God
into our lives.
The Holy Spirit seals us.
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “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 of our inheritance until we
acquire possession of it, to the praise of
his glory.”
Ephesians 4:30 says,
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.”
2 Corinthians 1:22
says, “and who has also put his seal on us
and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a
guarantee.”
2 Timothy 2:19 says,
“But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing
this seal: “The Lord knows those who are
his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name
of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
The Spirit is a deposit, or down payment. A
deposit is simply the first payment, the
remainder will come later. The Spirit’s
presence in our lives is just a foretaste of
the good life to come (Rom. 8:23).
The Holy Spirit
baptizes us.
Romans 6:3-4 says,
“Do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, in
order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.”
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For in one Spirit
we were all baptized into one body—Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to
drink of one Spirit.”
So, what is
the baptism of the Spirit? Christ pointed
forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit in
power (Matt. 3:11; John 1:33), and we are
told that it is necessary that we receive it
(Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 2:38-39; Acts 11:16; 19:2-6;
John 3:5). All Christ’s followers
take part in the Spirit’s baptism as their
souls are renewed and cleansed by the new
birth (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3-4; Eph. 4:4-6;
Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:26-28; Titus 3:5-6).
When we receive the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, we are baptized into the body of
Christ, his church. The baptism of the Holy
Spirit was a onetime historical event that
is not repeated over and over again. All
true believers receive the Spirit’s baptism
when they come to faith in Christ. Christ
pointed forward to the coming of the Holy
Spirit in power for the church universal.
After the Spirit descended upon the church
in Acts 2, the baptism was always spoken of
in the past tense.
The baptism of the Spirit
is not a second blessing, or a feeling we
experience like some people teach, but
rather a position we gain through faith in
Jesus Christ. The sphere of the baptism
grows numerically as more and more people
accept Christ as their Lord and Savior (Rom. 6:3-4;
1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 4:4-6; Col. 2:12). Every believer takes part
in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you
haven’t received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you
haven’t been born again, and you are not
part of the body of Christ (Rom. 8:1-11).
The Holy
Spirit gives every believer spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 says, “Now there
are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the
same Lord; and there are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who
empowers them all in everyone. To each is
given the manifestation of the Spirit for
the common good.”
The Holy Spirit
decides what gifts to give to each believer
for the building up of the body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:29-31
says, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all
possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with
tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly
desire the higher gifts. And I will show you
a still more excellent way.”
The answer to
each of these rhetorical questions is no.
God designed the body of Christ to be
diverse. Christians can and should desire
additional spiritual gifts, but we have to
remember that no believer receives every
gift and all the gifts are given to edify
the church, not the individual (1 Cor. 14:1-5; 14:13; James 1:5). As important as
the spiritual gifts are to the Church,
living our lives out of love for God and
love for others is even more important (1 Cor. 13;
cf. Rom. 12:6-8; 13:8-10; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Eph. 4:11-16).
The Holy Spirit
writes the New Covenant law of love on our
hearts.
Hebrews 8:7-12 says,
“For if that first covenant had been
faultless, there would have been no occasion
to look for a second. For he finds fault
with them when he says: “Behold, the days
are coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will
establish a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah,
not like
the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt. For
they did not continue in my covenant, and so
I showed no concern for them, declares the
Lord. For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those
days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws
into their minds, and write them on their
hearts, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. And they shall not
teach, each one his neighbor and each one
his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for
they shall all know me, from the least of
them to the greatest. For I will be merciful
toward their iniquities, and I will remember
their sins no more.” (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 10:15-18)
The covenant God made
with Israel at Mount Sinai eventually became
known as the “Old” or, “first covenant”
(2 Cor. 3:14; Heb. 8:7; 9:15, 18). The promise
of the New Covenant given in Jeremiah 31 is
the longest Old Testament passage quoted in
the New Testament (Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16-17).
According to Jeremiah 31:32, the New
Covenant would not be like, or the same as,
the Old Covenant law. Clearly the law had to
change for Christ to give us the New
Covenant in its place (Heb. 7:12).
Each covenant is a stand-alone legal
contract. A contract must have all of its
requirements spelled out in the contract.
Each covenant can use elements of previous
covenants, reapply them, omit them
completely and give new laws. The laws found
in the Mosaic Covenant were done away with
in their entirety as a legal code. It has
been replaced by the law of love, what the
apostle Paul called the law of Christ, or the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ, and
James, the Lord’s brother called the royal law of liberty (cf.
Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 9:19-23; 1 Jn. 4:7-8; 5:3;
Rom. 8:1-4; James 1:25-27; 2:8-12).
The Mosaic Law was only a temporary
guardian that brought nothing to fulfillment
(Gal. 3:23-24; Matt. 5:17). The New Covenant
is better than the Old Covenant because it
assures us of our complete redemption and
brings us into the very presence of God
(Heb. 3:6). The Levitical priesthood was set
aside since it was unable to accomplish
God’s saving purpose because of its
“weakness and uselessness” (Heb. 7:12). Only
Jesus’ work on the cross could bring people
to perfection (Heb. 7:11; 9:9; 10:1). Unlike
the Levitical priesthood, Jesus’ priesthood
was final because the sacrifice that he made
on our behalf was perfect. Jesus, as our new
high priest has accomplished “eternal
salvation for all who obey him” (Heb. 5:9).
The Holy Spirit indwells us.
John 14:15-17 says, “If you love me, you
will keep my commandments. And I will ask
the Father, and he will give 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 with
you and will be in you.”
And Romans 8:9-11 says, “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. But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from
the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ
Jesus from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit who
dwells in you.”
The indwelling of
the Holy Spirit is a permanent experience
that all Christians have when they come to
faith in Christ. The Bible teaches that the
Holy Spirit indwells everyone who believes
in Him without exception. Jesus promised
that those who believed in Him would receive
the Spirit of God (John 16:13; Rom. 8:9-15;
Gal. 4:5; 5:18, 22; 1 Jn. 2:27; 4:13). From
the moment of the Christian’s spiritual
birth they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at
all times (John 1:12; 14:16-17). The Bible
says that those who don’t have the Spirit’s
indwelling are without Christ, worldly, and
are opposed to Christ by the carnal nature
(Rom. 8:9; Jude 1:19; Gal. 5:17).
When we are filled by the Holy Spirit we can
experience the abundant and fruitful life
that Christ promised us.
The
indwelling of the Spirit and the filling of the
Spirit are sometimes confused. Every
believer is indwelt by the Spirit from the
moment of conversion; but the filling of the
Spirit takes
place in the life of the believer as they
pray to be filled by the Spirit on a
moment-by-moment basis.
The filling
of the Spirit gives the believer power to
live the Christian life on an ongoing basis. In fact, the
believer is commanded by God to be filled
with the Spirit at all times. Ephesians 5:18 says,
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is
debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”
We will be filled by the
Spirit when we sincerely desire to be
directed and empowered by Him (Matt. 5:6;
John 7:37-39). To do that, we need to
confess our sins and by faith, thank God
that He has forgiven all of our sin’s, past,
present, and future, because Christ died for
us (Col. 2:13-15; cf. 1 Jn. 1; 2:1-3; Heb. 10:1-17). We are told to present every area
of our life to God (Rom. 12:1-2), and by
faith claim the fullness of the promised
Spirit. Finally, we must obey Christ’s
command to be filled with the Spirit (Gal. 2:20; 5:16-17; 5:24-25;
Rom. 6:6; 8:1-11; Eph. 1:13-17; 3:16; 4:23-24; 4:30-32; 5:18; Col. 3:3-8).
Christ promises to give us the strength
to overcome the powers of darkness when we
put our trust in Him.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we walk in the
flesh, we are not waging war according to
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh but have divine power
to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments
and every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ,”
“Paul is not
waging a fleshly battle but a spiritual one.
The weapons of his warfare are not physical
but spiritual, such as prayer, the Word of
God, faith, and the power of the Holy
Spirit. By the Spirit, Paul says we tear
down the strongholds of wrong thinking and
behavior that are reflected in the lives of
those who resist his authority.”
[2]
We cannot overcome sin by
trying to keep the law because the law is
powerless to help us. The Spirit-empowered believer must
capture every thought and yield it to Christ
through the Holy Spirit living inside of us.
When we are exposed to ideas or
opportunities that might lead us down the
wrong path we have a choice, we can either
recognize the danger we are in and turn away from it,
or we can allow the unhealthy thoughts of
our minds to take us captive. When we ask
Christ to be filled with His Spirit He is
faithful and will not desert us. If we do
stumble, we have the assurance that Christ
has already forgiven us and given us His
Spirit as His pledge of our inheritance
(Eph. 1:14).
Put your trust in God
and His Word and do not depend upon your
feelings (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 14:22-23). The
promise of God’s Word, not our feelings, is
our only authority. The Spirit filled
Christian lives by faith in the
trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word.
God has provided the abundant life for all
those who trust in Him (John 10:10; 15:5;
Gal. 5:22-26).
God wants us
to understand the importance of what the
Holy Spirit does in each of our lives, and
the power He gives us to live the Christian
life.
If you are only
beginning to understand the ministry of the
Holy Spirit in your life, don’t get
frustrated if Christians around you seem
more mature. It takes time to grow in
Christ. Don’t become discouraged. You can trust
God and know that he will help you grow
in your walk with Christ as you trust the
Spirit’s guidance more and more each day (2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:16).
References:
1. The Nelson’s
Study Bible: Word Focus: Sealed.
2. The
ESV Study Bible: 2 Corinthians 10:3-4.
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