"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:26-27 NIV)
A. You have been BORN-AGAIN of the Holy Spirit
1. You can only become a child of God.
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." (John 1:12-13)
We aren't born that way. Like begets like. An eternal God begets eternal children. In the human family, conception and birth are not dependent on the baby but the parents. So it is with God. The difference between natural birth and spiritual birth is spiritual birth gives spiritual life.
"Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)
2. The Holy Spirit or the incorruptible seed is the source of your new birth. "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." (1 Peter 1:23)
B. You have been WASHED in the Rebirth.
1. This washing took place at the Cross through the shed blood of Jesus.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5 KJV)
2. This is a once and for all experience.
"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11)
*Notice that this verse says that you were (past tense) washed.
Jesus taught us that to have fellowship with Him, we don't need to repeat over and over the complete bath of the new birth. We only need daily cleansing of our soul because it becomes dirty due to walking in a sin-cursed world.
Listen to what Jesus said to Peter after Jesus told them He was going to wash his feet:
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." (John 13:8-10)
This is why Jesus said that eleven of them were clean (saved through the complete washing of the new birth), but not Judas, who had never experienced the new birth. When you sin, you need not be reborn repeatedly but experience the daily cleansing through confession and repentance of the sin.
C. You have been BAPTIZED in the Holy Spirit.
You have been permanently immersed in the Spirit and forever enclosed by Him. You are not only identified with the Holy Spirit but with all Christians as well.
"For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." (1 Corinthians 12:13)
D. You have been given the GUARANTEE of the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy Spirit is in the heart of every Born-Again Christian, guaranteeing their inheritance.
"set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, <guaranteeing> what is to come." (2 Corinthians 1:22)
It is like an engagement ring that signifies the promise of marriage. It is an advance payment for things to come.
E. You have been SEALED with the Holy Spirit.
1. A seal is a sign of ownership and authority.
He has set His seal "of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 1:22)
2. The proof that the Holy Spirit has sealed a person is if there is a desire to stop sinning.
3. The presence of the Holy Spirit causes your body to become a holy temple.
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." (1 Corinthians 6:19)
4. He enables you to understand and comprehend spiritual truth in the Bible
"We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." (1 Corinthians 2:12)
F. You have been FILLED with the love of God
1. You now have God's love pouring into your heart at all times, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:5)
2. His love, in turn, motivates you to love Him back in gratitude.
a. Because you are His child, "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts."
b. This love is what causes you to cry out, "Abba, Father." towards Him. Abba means daddy. **What an intimate way of calling to our heavenly Father.
3. Because you are filled with His love, there was created within you the inner conviction that you are indeed His.
4. If a person does not have the Holy Spirit in them, they can not be a Christian.
"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." (Romans 8:9)
G. You have been REDEEMED.
1. Only the shed blood of Jesus can redeem us.
"and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24)
2. Jesus provided the ransom payment. He bought you. He paid the price with the infinite, eternal value of His blood.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" (Ephesians 1:7)
3. He bought you out of the marketplace of sin, and you now belong to Him by right of purchase.
4. Once Jesus purchases you, you will never be sold back because Jesus has set you free, and now, "you will be free indeed." (John 8:36)
H. You have been FREED from the curse of the Law.
1. Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the Law because He actually became the curse.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
2. We are no longer under Law but under grace.
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)
3. Sins dominion was through the Law.
The inability of Humans Beings to keep the Law manifested their sin and brought us under the curse of the broken Law.
4. Faith in Jesus releases us from the obligation to a broken law and from any obligation to keep it.
"So, my brothers, you also died to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Romans 7:4-6)
I. You have been RELEASED from a relationship with satan.
1. The grip of satan on a person who is not Born-Again is terrifying and powerful.
"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves." (Col. 1:13)
2. No one could ever release themselves or escape from such power.
3. Only Jesus can save them.
4. The lost person is a slave to sin. They are owned and bound by it.
5. Through the forgiving of all your sins by shedding His blood, Jesus took away the enemies accusations and "canceled the record that contained the charges" against you. Jesus "disarmed the evil rulers and authorities" and "shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross." (Col 2:13-15 NLT)
6. When you humble yourself before God in prayer, repent of your sin and seek His face, He "will hear from heaven"… "and heal" the land. (2 Chron 7:14-16 NLT)
J. You are the DWELLING place of the Holy Spirit
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)
1. There are two words in the New Testament that are translated "Temple:"
a. "Hieron"
The Greek word "hieron" signifies the Temple's entire building or outer courts where all the people had access. This is the area in the Temple where Jesus taught His lessons.
b. "Naos"
The word used to describe your body as a "temple" of the Holy Spirit is the word "Naos." This word is also describes metaphorically the physical body of Jesus.
"Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." "The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body." (John 2:19-22 NIV)
Your mind and spirit dwells in your body. You have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). Your body (Naos) is the very shrine, the Holy of Holies, where the Spirit of God dwells (1 Cor 6:19). Only the high priest, clothed in garments of repentance, amid a cloud of incense, and with the blood of sacrifice having been offered, could lawfully enter in the Holy of Holies (see Leviticus 16; compare Heb 9:7). By His death, Jesus tore the curtain that separated us from the dwelling place of God and now our spirit, mind, and body is His dwelling place! (Matt 27:51) - AND - He promised to NEVER leave or forsake us! (Heb 13:5)
"For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16 NIV)
2. Jesus "is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5 KJV)
a. Light and darkness can't dwell in the same place.
Only what is "good and perfect comes to us from God," He is the "Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow."
b. His light is so brilliant that light is His shadow! (James 1:17-18 TLB)
c. NO demon has the ability to produce darkness, causing you to stumble.
"Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble." (1 John 2:10 NIV)
Jesus taught us that "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall" (Luke 11:17-18 NIV)
d. Your body can't hold both God's eternal light and the eternal darkness of hell because there is NO darkness in God's holy temple – which is you!
e. The most Holy, Creator God of the Universe lives IN you, and He "is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:1-5 NIV)
This verse doesn't say, "Greater is the Spirit of God in you, then the demon who may also be in you." The demonic spirits of the enemy live "in the world," NOT in you.
f. When Jesus was dealing with the Jews, He said they belonged to their father, "the devil."
He didn't say they were demon-possessed or under the oppression of the devil. He said they belonged to the devil and did "not belong to God.' (John 8:42-47 NIV). This is the sense in which John wrote:
"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning." (1 John 3:8)
Paul says that "you were dead in your transgressions and sins" when you "followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Eph. 2:1-9)
g. Paul indicates that the Born-Again Christian does not live among those who are disobedient, those IN whom the devil actively works.
1. If the enemy cannot be at work IN you as this verse teaches, then you can't be indwelt and possessed by demons.
2. Those found in the Kingdom of the Son - Born-Again Christians in the Lord Jesus Christ - are not under the rule or authority of demons because God "has rescued us from the dominion of darkness" (Col. 1:13 NIV). Jesus destroyed the works of the enemy on the Cross and won the war! There will still be battles to fight but victory is assured! (1 John 3:8)
PRAYER - CAN WE COME TO AGREEMENT ON THIS SECTION? (see Phil 1:6)
Holy Spirit, thank you for living and working in me daily. Thank you for sealing me. I am confident that You began a good work in me, and you will finish it until the day Jesus comes for me.
