We have already briefly glanced at the Godhead, personality, indwelling, and some of the operations of the Holy Spirit. We shall now, as the Lord may enable us, look further into the scripture teaching of the dwelling of this divine Person in the believer, and also in the church on earth.
1. The Holy Spirit in the Believer, as we have seen, follows remission of sins; for though He may, and does, work in sinners to bring them to Jesus, for cleansing by His precious blood, yet, when one is born again, has received remission of sins, he is " clean every whit;" so that, because the vessel is cleansed in God's sight, the Holy Spirit can come, and be in us forever. Thus the believer is "sealed," marked by God as His; and has the "earnest" of the inheritance, the pledge of certainly having that eternal glory to which he is called. The Holy Spirit is therefore given to him until he is actually and bodily brought to God—"the day of redemption of the purchased possession." All of His grace, and therefore all will "be to the praise of his glory." (Eph. 1:13, 1413In 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, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13‑14).) By the same Spirit, too, he is " anointed," set apart and qualified for the service of God; and, as in the type of the consecration of the priests, the anointing with oil followed the sprinkling of the blood, so (as we have noticed before), in Acts 10, the gift of the Holy Spirit immediately followed remission of sins, and we know that "without shedding of blood there is no remission." It is then a point of all importance, that we should clearly understand that one aspect of the gift of the Holy Spirit is, that He is God's witness to the sin-cleansing virtues of the blood of Jesus. He is also God's gift to them that obey Him, God's seal to the eternal efficacy of the one offering which was once offered by His own Son, God's anointing for His service.
So clearly is His indwelling in the believer taught in scripture, that on one occasion the saints were asked, " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God?" Had they realized this, they would not have used their bodies for unholy purposes. It is our persons that Christ redeemed; so that, though, as to our souls, "we have redemption" in Christ, and through His blood, we look for the Savior, who shall change our vile bodies; and we are told that our mortal bodies will yet be quickened by His Spirit which dwelleth in us. Not only is this truth eminently sanctifying, but also full of comfort, when thinking of our bodies of humiliation. The Holy Spirit, then, who, as to our souls, has already brought to us eternal life in Christ—" the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"—has also taken up His abode in our bodies. Again, we find our hearts are spoken of as to where the Spirit has come to dwell in God's children. " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6).) We might have thought, unless the word had been so very explicit, that the Spirit would have dwelt in the new nature. Not so; He forms the new nature, so that we are born again by the incorruptible seed, the word of God, and thus brought to the Son of God, who was crucified for sinners, that we might have eternal life in believing on Him, and thus be newly created in Christ Jesus; but, this being so, He comes and dwells in our " hearts," our " bodies," and strengthens the new nature, for the Holy Spirit is the power for all communion^ service, and testimony. The apostle therefore prays that we may " be strengthened with might by his Spirit in " the inner man," and that we might be filled " with all joy and peace in believing," and " abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit," (Eph. 3:1616That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (Ephesians 3:16); Rom. 15:1313Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13).) How wonderful, then, is God's own testimony to the eternal efficacy of the one offering of the body of Christ, and how blessed the thought that this other Comforter is to abide with us forever!
Among His many blessed operations in us, we may notice that He is "the Spirit of adoption," so that we may have the feelings and activities within us of those who have been brought into the endearing relationship of children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. He thus bears witness with our spirit (or, new nature, if we may so speak) that we are the children of God; and He also cries within us, " Abba, Father." " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.'' It is by the gift of the Spirit we know our relationship, and the blessed liberty of it, with the Father. " Beloved, now are we the children of God." We have not, then, received a servile spirit, giving us dread and a slavish fear, which hath torment; but the spirit of adoption which produces filial reverence and fear lest we grieve and dishonor Him; and a childlike confidence in Him who has, in such grace, brought us so near, so very near, to Himself in Christ, and through His precious blood. Neither have we received the spirit of the world, that we should be more successful worldlings, or be able to fight with their weapons, and excel in their doings. Far from it; it is God's Spirit, that we might have intelligence and power to act according to God—to be imitators of God as dear children. " Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
Nor have we received the spirit of fear, to crush us under a sense of our own weakness and many infirmities, to cast us inward on our own barrenness and poverty, and thus fill us with fearful apprehensions and gloom. No, these things are not the fruit of the Spirit in us. Though He reproves sin, and at times may deal with us so as to bring us before God in humiliation and self-judgment, yet He points us to a triumphant Christ, a glorified Man, a coming Savior, Lord of all, as the One in whom all our resources are. Thus He draws out our hearts after Christ and His interests. He bids us to consider Him, lest we grow weary and faint, and to look off unto Him, lest we fail to run with patience the race that is set before us. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Tim. 1:77For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7).) Is it not, then, clearly set forth that those who are taught and guided by the Holy Spirit will not have a servile state of heart, a spirit of bondage and dread? Neither will they be worldly-minded, nor will they be timid and fearful; but, while serving the Lord with all humility of mind, they will be of good courage, loving in their ways, obedient to the Fathers will, intelligent as to His mind, sound in doctrine, and will manifest a divine power with their service and testimony.
It is by the Holy Spirit having come, consequent upon the accomplished work of Jesus, that the deep things of God are now "revealed." Prophets had not the knowledge of these things, and they knew they had not; for we find one saying, "Bye hath not seen, neither ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;" but an apostle could add the precious truth, " but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.....The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." So utterly dark is man naturally as to divine things, that nothing less than the revelation and power of the Spirit of God can enable him to receive them. " The natural man (educated, uneducated, moral or profane) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Nor are we competent to make the things of God known to others but by the Holy Spirit. "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual," or communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. If, then, we can neither know, receive, nor communicate spiritual things but by the Holy Spirit, it is also equally clear that the Holy Spirit is given to us to fill us with such intelligence that "we might know the things which are freely given to us of God," be able to receive them, and give them out to others. (1 Cor. 2) Were these statements of scripture received into our hearts in simple faith, how entirely and habitually we should be cast upon the power and operations of the Holy Spirit!