THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN SALVATION: His Indwelling Work

Memorial Drive 10/7/18 THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN SALVATION: His Indwelling Work Various Texts Last Week: The Spirit’s work in SALVATION in CONVICTION and REGENERATION … THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever …”. (John 14:16) “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 that I said to you.” (John 14:26) “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God (Christ), and having received from the Father THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” (Acts 2:33) … The Spirit of God Will LIVE In You! “… the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides WITH you and will be IN you.” (Jn. 14:17) “abides” – “staying, continuing, dwelling, enduring, being present in, remaining” “… WE will come … and make our ABODE with him …” (Jn. 14:23) The ABIDING of the Spirit IN the believer creates OF us an ABODE, a “staying place” of God! God’s house! God’s dwelling place! The place where, we might say, God hangs His hat! A place that God increasingly makes His own and stamps with His image and personality! A place where, just by choosing to live there, God expresses His love TOWARD us and His acceptance OF us and His pleasure IN us! A place where the mark of God’s nature and character and presence and power are more and more expressed and experienced! … This Will Be BETTER For You! “… because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But 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 GO, I WILL SEND HIM to you.” (Jn. 16:6-7) … THE INDWELLING WORK OF THE PIRIT (God Working From Within) • The Indwelling of the Spirit Takes Place Corporately With Powerful Implications “Do you not know that YOU (plural, you folks who make up the Church of God) YOU are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in YOU (plural)?” (I Cor 3:16) “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy and that is what you (plural) are.” (Vs. 17) Is God serious??? “many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (I Co. 11:30) Paul is adamant about how WE build on the foundation laid … “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all HUMILITY and GENTLENESS, with PATIENCE, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to PRESERVE THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-3) Why are we to PURSUE oneness no matter how painful or difficult it may be? “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-6) “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor (to make an outcry, to bring a wrong or wrongs to the attention of others) and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:31-32) • The Indwelling of the Spirit Takes Place Individually “… do you not know that YOUR BODY (singular) is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not YOUR OWN? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in YOUR BODY (singular).” (I Cor 6:19-20) God’s Spirit “takes up residence” not only in the BODY of believers, the church, but also in EVERY INDIVIDUAL MEMBER of that church who is born again! … THE WONDER AND BLESSING OF THE SPIRIT’S INDWELLING So why is this INDWELLING such an incredible blessing? Everyone is deep, down thirsty! “… Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall NEVER THIRST; but the water that I give him will become in him a WELL OF WATER springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.’ But this HE SPOKE OF THE SPIRIT, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for THE SPIRIT was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Jn. 7:37-39) The Spirit makes real the soul-satisfying pleasure of having amazing intimacy with this God who lives within us, both corporately and personally! Final Comment On the Indwelling of the Spirit … The train doesn’t have to have the caboose! Have we jettisoned God’s intent for and the desirability of emotions, feelings, experiences? “water springing up” and “rivers of living water” anticipate EMOTIONS and EXPERIENCES of God! Christ tells us that through His Spirit something is available that we can experience as being more soul-satisfying than anything else in life! It’s the fountain of the Spirit of God, and we CAN and ARE TO drink deeply from it! “In Your presence is fullness of joy! In Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Ps. 16:11) If DAVID could experience such pleasure in God (and it pleased God that he did), then how much more WE who have the Spirit of God living WITHIN us to make real God’s love and presence! The Spirit’s indwelling should not only “MAKE REAL” God’s living in us, it should arouse our PASSIONS heavenward!