time. This sealing speaks of own ership and security. Cod possesses our lives because He has acquired us through Christ's redemption. How glorious are the saving pur poses of the Lord. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE BELIEVER The Holy Spirit not only convicts and regenerates the believer, but also He seals the Christian, with Himself as the seal, until the day when the Lord calls us to be with Himself. It is the indwelling of His presence in our lives that accom plishes our sanctification through spiritual maturity (I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Closer is He than breathing and nearer than our hands or feet. The Holy Spirit is the pulse beat of our Chris tian experience, although we may not always be conscious of this. Sometimes we are tempted to walk according to our own feel ings. Some people live almost en tirely on the level of human emo tions. Such can only bring disaster for they can never be a barometer of your experience. It is the Holy Spirit's presence within us that makes us what we really are. Let Cod be true and every man a liar. If you have really been saved, born from above, the Holy Spirit is just as truly within your heart as when your emotions are at their peak. The way to feel good is to believe Cod, to treat His word as true, and to depend entirely and utterly upon the Holy Spirit as you turn your life over to His constant and continued control. In Galatians 5:22 we find a list of the fruit which the Spirit gives us. Keep in mind the word "fruit" here is in the singular and not the
loveliness. He does the same thing today in the human heart which trusts in Christ. Sinners do not be come saints through an evolution ary process of improvements. You are born of Adam physically with a fallen, sinful human nature. When you accept Christ the Holy Spirit gives you a new nature which be longs to the Lord. It is as simple as that. At Pentecost (Acts 2) three thou sand people came to Christ in one day. In the tenth chapter Cornelius, the Roman captain of the army, and those who were with him, in a moment of time believed and were changed. Paul's life was trans formed on the road to Damascus. Being a Christian is not a matter of culture and education. It simply and imperatively requires being born again (John 3:1-18). This is what makes it possible for the soul to delight in the way and the will of Cod. At the same time of conversion we are baptized into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13). This baptism was prophesied in the Gos pels, partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and explained with the words, "For in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body" (the Church). It is all the work of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost marked the creation of the Church. There were individual believers before then but there was no corporate, collective group. Also simultaneous with salvation is the sealing of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Instantly, as we received life from above, we were made members of the body of Christ, and also were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise. It all happened in a single moment of
Page 50
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker