The Holy Spirit Indwells

Sermon delivered on July 8th, 2018
Sunday Morning Service

By: Pastor Greg Hocson

Scripture Texts: John 14:16-17; Romans 8:9-17

 

Introduction

One of the most exiting truths about being born again Christian is the truth that is set before us in our text this morning. Being born again is a miracle and is a great privilege. A Christian is not just someone who is religious, or who comes to church, or is a morally upright person. A Christian is someone who has a special relationship with the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.

 

The gospel of John records Jesus saying in John 14:16 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.

 

Our Lord here reveals to His disciples that the Comforter, who is the Spirit of truth, will come and shall be with them and shall be in them. This is one of the most exciting and encouraging ministries of the Holy Spirit, namely, His indwelling ministry. The New Testament teaches that when a person completely places his trust in Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, not only is he forgiven of his sins, he is also indwelt by the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit comes and lives within him. His indwelling is not just for a special class of Christian but for all Christians. This is true of every single Christian without exception. 

 

This morning consider with me some aspects of this special relationship of the believer with the Holy Spirit: Its Mystery; Its Necessity; Its Intimacy; and Its Permanency.

 

I — The Mystery of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit would not only go with them through life, but actually dwell in them. What an overwhelming truth that the Holy Spirit of God would make His home in every redeemed sinner! What an awesome reality that God the Holy Spirt would live in the believer, not simply paying a short-lived visit but making His "home" in us. This is a mystery! This is beyond comprehension. It surpasses knowledge. This can only be known by divine revelation and can never be fully understood by any human mind.

 

This truth that the Holy Spirit would dwell in a man, surpasses understanding.

1 Kings 8:26 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. 27: But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

Solomon asks, "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" This is not a question of doubt, not a question of unbelief but a question of astonishment that God would dwell with men. This is deep and profound that the true and living God, the One who spoke the universe in to existence would condescend to dwell with sinful and depraved men.

 

If the vast universe cannot contain God, how much more our puny little body.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

 

But its incomprehensibility does not mean it's not a reality. There is a story about a boy flying a kite. The kite was so high that it had disappeared into the clouds. A man came by and asked, "Why are you holding on to that string." The boy said, "I've got a kite up there." The man looked up and said, "I don't see it." The boy replied, "Well, I know it's there because I can feel the tug."

 

This is what the Spirit of God does for us.  We may not always see the evidence that we are sons of God but we will feel His tug in our hearts continually that reminds us that we belong to Him.

 

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you cannot explain how people are born of the Spirit.

 

II — The Necessity of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

Not everyone is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jude 19 tells us, "These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." Jude here, describes people who cause division, worldly and devoid of the Spirit. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ do not belong to Him. 

 

The person who gives no evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of God's Spirit in his life has no rightful claim to Christ as Saviour and Lord. The person who demonstrates no desire to avoid sin, no desire for the things of God and no passion to please God is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thus does not belong to Christ.

 

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 

If you have the Spirit, you belong to Christ. The indwelling work of the Spirit gives the believer the security of knowing they are a child of God.

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? 20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Here, Paul also combines the idea of the indwelling Holy Spirit and belonging to Christ. We have been bought with His blood. We are not our own; we belong to Him.

 

In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

It is because God has given us his Spirit that "we know that we live in Him and He in us" (1 John 4:13). It is the indwelling the Holy Spirit that gives a believer the assurance of salvation.

 

III — The Intimacy of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

As we have seen in our previous studies the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God. As God, He is omnipresent. 

Psalm 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8: If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9: If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10: Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

As God He is equally present at all times in all places. The question is, if the Holy Spirit is equally present at every place at every time, what does it mean to say that He dwells in the life of a Christian?

 

The term "the Holy Spirit is in you" or "the Holy Spirit dwelleth in you" is describing a closeness of relationship that exists between the believer and the Spirit, a kind of mutual indwelling. It is describing an intimacy of relationship. It is to point out that we have come into a special, intimate, personal relationship with Him through repentance. 

 

Wuest puts it this way, "The Spirit is not only resident in the believer in the sense of position in him, but He is actively at home in him, living in him as His home. The Spirit has a ministry to perform in him, namely, to give him victory over sin and produce His own fruit."

 

Yes, the Holy Spirit is everywhere but He sustains a peculiar and personal intimate relationship with the people of God and unto them alone. The Spirit of God "dwells in you." He takes up residence—not as a guest but a resident, not as a visitor but a dweller. The Holy Spirit is said to "dwell in" a believer which implies relationship, closeness, familiarity and intimacy. 

 

When President Kennedy was in office, his children were young.  Those children knew that they could wander into dad's office, the same office that no one could enter without approval, any time they wanted.  They played under his desk, sat in his chair, and crawled up on his lap.  They did this because John Kennedy was not the President to them.  He was their dad.

 

That's the kind of relationship we have with God.  It's mind blowing to think about.  We have access to Him at any time.  We can call upon Him at all hours of the day or night.  We have the confidence that He will always take our call and respond to our requests.

John 14:17 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.

The world does not know Him but you who are born again believers know Him. 

 

IV — The Permanency of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

The Holy Spirit is not an occasional visitor but that He takes up residence in God's children. In fact the present tense even underscores that the Spirit continually indwells us not only in this life, but in the one to come! He will abide with the believer forever.

 

In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come and go from the saints, empowering them for service but not necessarily remaining with them. The Spirit, who had once been with King Saul, "departed from" him, removing His influence and guidance from the king.

1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 

 

But now, in the Old Testament, we never have to pray the prayer of David in ...

Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

 

John 14:17 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.

"Dwelleth" expresses a permanent abode. He does not come to the believer as a Guest, but He comes to reside. He does not just pass by, He comes to stay.

 

Closing Thoughts

This indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every believer is not just an empty reality. This is a potent and practical reality. It brings about many practical benefits for God's children. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives confidence that we belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit with us and in us to renew and sanctify us, to comfort us in trials, and to sustain us in afflictions.

 

Another benefit of having the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives is that He gives us an greater revelation of the glory of Christ.

Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20: Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21: Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23: Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Paul here, is praying for something that we would do well to pray for ourselves and for others. Let us plead that the Lord by His Spirit would give us a sight of the glory of Jesus Christ. Here is the key to holiness in life and faithfulness in service. I believe with all my heart that if a man truly sees Christ, that man would live right. 

 

"The greatest hindrance to holiness are easily overcome when a man sees by faith the glory of Jesus Christ. The most blinding and binding habits of sin are easily snapped  in the life of a believer when he sees the glory of Jesus Christ. In Christian service the things that we feel responsible to do and yet it binds us because we feel so incapable of doing them, those things will be easily performed, joyfully performed when we get a vision of the glory of Christ. Now apply that that to your own experience, in my own experience, when you have your eyes on Christ you can do what otherwise is impossible. But if you don't have your eyes on Christ you cannot do even what would appear childishly simple. The key to everything in the Christian life is placed in our very hands here, the Holy Spirit indwells every Christian. Holiness, victory, service, all these things they are not placed in the hands of just a few they are in the hands of every Christian because the Holy Spirit abides within every Christian in doing so He shines in them. To let them see Christ." - Allan Cairns

 

O, how the church would be very different if everyone would live daily in the reality of the truth, "The Holy Spirit is with me and in me, I am not my own; I now belong to Christ." My tongue is not my own; my eyes are not my own, my money is not my own; my time is not my own. I need to use all these to serve and glorify Christ. It's a life-transforming principle! O, how we need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to live for God's glory. You and I cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit residing in us

 

Living without the Holy Spirit is like trying to drive a car with an empty gas tank. You may be an expert in cars and understand all the secrets of internal combustion, but if you have an empty gas tank, your car isn't going to get anywhere.

 

The indwelling Holy Spirit brings us to the place where He can show us Christ; He brings us to the place where He can experience the presence of Christ and He brings us to the place where we can show Christ to a world lost in sin.

 

AMEN!