The Blessed Indwelling Holy Spirit

John 14:15-19,  “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” 

I love this passage of Scripture and think of it often! The unsaved man (i.e., the unregenerate person) cannot see the Holy Spirit. That is what the Holy Bible plainly says! The unsaved world refers to people who have never been born-again. That is, they have never come to God as a needy sinner, placing their trust in God's only begotten Son, who died on the cross for their sins. The world hates Jesus, because He (through the Word of God) testifies against their evil works (John 7:7). 

Who is the Holy Spirit anyway? I'm glad you asked! The Holy Spirit is an individual person, just like God the Father and God the Son are both individual persons. The Bible teaches that there is only one true and living God (Deuteronomy 6:4), but God exists in three unique persons of; namely, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). Here is a helpful chart that a web visitor shared with me, that I agree with theologically...

Jesus said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Yet, Jesus is not the Father, saying, “my Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). There is a popular heresy today in some churches today called “Modalism,” which teaches that Jesus and God are the same person. Modalism says that God goes into different MODES, fulfilling different roles of Father and Son, but it is the same person. Modalism teaches that when a believer gets to Heaven, we'll only see God the Father. What saith the Scripture? Colossians 3:1, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Clearly, Jesus sits on the RIGHT-HAND of the Father. Could the Scripture be any plainer? I think not. 

The doctrine of the triune nature of God in theology is called the “Trinity,” but I prefer the word “Godhead,” because it is found in the Bible in Romans 1:20, Acts 17:29 and Colossians 2:9. Unfortunately, most of the modern Bible revisions corrupt these passage by removing the Godhead, instead referring to the “divine nature” (which is meaningless). That is exactly what the English Standard Version (ESV) which Bob Jones University promotes and sells says—“divine nature” in Romans 1:20. 

'MEET THE HOLY SPIRIT' (a helpful book by Pastor Jack Hyles)

I love the Holy Spirit. When I got saved at age 13, for the first time in my life I felt the VOICE of God in my soul, telling me not to sin. Before I was saved there was only darkness. I used to sass my mother before I was saved. When I got saved, I heard that still small inaudible voice in my soul saying: “David, I don't want you talking to your mother like that anymore.” For the first time in my life I had a hunger for the things of God, and I thirsted for the milk of the Word each night before I went to bed. In the months that followed getting saved, I remember my mother saying to me one evening: “YOU'VE CHANGED!” Well of course I did, I had the Holy Spirit living inside me now, and He was working on me. You see, that's how salvation works—you don't give up your sins to be saved, nor to evidence that you are saved, but the Holy Spirit begins to work in your life when you get saved. I still had sins in my life, but I felt bad about them, and God's Holy Spirit convicted me for those sins. As Christians, we SHOULD live for Christ; not MUST (that is works); not WILL (that is Lordship Salvation). God saves you, and then the Holy Spirit changes you!!! 

The blessed Holy Spirit does all of the following in the life of every believer:

• Comforts us (John 14:18)
• Teaches and reminds us (John 14:26)
• Guides us into truth (John 16:13)
• Seals us (Ephesians 1:13)
• Gives us eternal life (Romans 8:10-11)
• Reproves ours sin (John 16:8)
• Intercedes for us when we pray (Romans 8:26)
• Empowers us (Acts 1:8)
• Helps us (John 14:26)
• Gives us spiritual gifts (1st Corinthians 12:7-11)
• Sanctifies us (Galatians 5:16-26)
• Fellowships with us (Philippians 2:1)

Now if you are not a born-again child of God, you don't see or know the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). I thank God for the awesome Holy Spirit! 

“Salvation can only be evidenced by works, if works are required to be saved.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Why Lordship Salvation Is Wrong!”