John
14:15-17 “If you love Me,
keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give
you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows
Him; but you know Him, for He dwells
with you and will be in you.
Romans
8:8-9 “So then, those who
are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
These
verses assure each of us that we are actually living “in the Spirit,” because
He has come to “dwell in you.” One commentary states that all of this has come
about “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit”. This
glorious new birth, with sins forgiven and eternal life, is accomplished by the
Holy Spirit in response to our faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.
But
also note that “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”
It is absolutely vital that we have the Holy Spirit, “for as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” - Romans 8:14. The question
is, just how do we know that we have the Holy Spirit? The answer is, because
His Word says so! “He that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent me,”
said Jesus, “has everlasting life” – John 2:24. Furthermore, we have the
testimony of internal peace and assurance. “The Spirit [Himself] bears witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God” – Romans 8:16.
Finally,
the indwelling Spirit will increasingly be growing His eternal fruit in our
lives—the nine fold fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” - Galatians 5:22-23, and this will
testify to others also that we do indeed have the Holy Spirit.
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