a) He Regenerates the Believer.
John 3:3-5--"Born of ... the Spirit." Tit. 3:5--"The... renewing
of the Holy Ghost." Sonship, and membership in the kingdom of God,
come only through the regenerating of the Holy Spirit. "It is the
Spirit that quickeneth." Just as Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost,
so must every child of God who is to be an heir to the kingdom.
b) The Spirit Indwells the Believer.
1 Cor. 6:19--"Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is
in you." Also 3:16; Rom. 8:9. Every believer, no matter how weak
and imperfect he may be, or how immature his Christian experience,
still has the indwelling of the Spirit. Acts 19:2 does not contradict
this statement. Evidently some miraculous outpouring of the Spirit
is intended there, the which followed the prayer and laying on of
the hands of the apostles. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his." "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:3).
c) The Spirit Seals the Believer with Assurance of Salvation.
Eph. 1:13, 14--"In whom also after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise; which is the earnest of
our inheritance." Also 4:30--"Sealed unto the day of redemption."
This sealing stands for two things: ownership and likeness (2 Tim.
2:19-21). The Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of adoption" which God
puts into our hearts, by which we know that we are His children.
The Spirit bears witness to this great truth (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:14,
16). This sealing has to do with the heart and the conscience--satisfying
both as to the settlement of the sin and sonship question.
d) The Holy Spirit Infills the Believer.
Acts 2:4--"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Eph.
5:18--"Be filled with the Spirit." The filling differs somewhat from
the indwelling. We may speak of the baptism of the Spirit as that
initial act of the Spirit by which, at the moment of our regeneration,
we are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ; the Spirit
then comes and takes up His dwelling within the believer. The
filling with the Spirit, however, is not confined to one experience,
or to any one point of time exclusively; it may be repeated times
without number. There is one baptism, but many infillings with the
Spirit. The experience of the apostles in the Acts bears witness to
the fact that they were repeatedly filled with the Spirit. Whenever
a new emergency arose they sought a fresh infilling with the Spirit
(cf. Acts 2:4 with 4:31 showing that the apostles who were filled
on the day of Pentecost were again filled a few days after).
There is a difference between possessing the Spirit, and being
filled with the Spirit. All Christians have the first; not all have
the second, although all may have. Eph. 4:30 speaks of believers
as being "sealed," whereas 5:18 commands those same believers to
"be filled (to be being filled again and again) with the Spirit."
Both the baptism and the infilling may take place at once. There
need be no long wilderness experience in the life of the believer.
It is the will of God that we should be filled (or, if you prefer
the expression, "be baptized") with the Spirit at the moment of
conversion, and remain filled all the time. Whenever we are called
upon for any special service, or for any new emergency, we should
seek a fresh infilling of the Spirit, either for life or service,
as the case may be.
The Holy Spirit seeks--so we learn from the story of the Acts--for
men who are not merely possessed by but also filled with the Spirit,
for service (6:3, 5; 9:17; 11:24). Possession touches assurance;
infilling, service.
e) The Holy Spirit Empowers the Believer for Life and Service.
Rom. 8:2--"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death" (also vv. 9-11). There
are two natures in the believer: the flesh and the Spirit (Gal.
5:17). But while the believer is still in the flesh, he does not
live after the flesh (Rom. 8:12, 13). The Holy Spirit enables the
believer to get constant and continual victory over sin. A single
act of sin a believer may commit; to live in a state of sin is
impossible for him, for the Spirit which is within him gives him
victory, so that sin does not _reign_ over him. If sinless
perfection is not a Scriptural doctrine, sinful imperfection is
certainly less Scriptural. The eighth chapter of Romans exhibits
a victorious life for the believer; a life so different from that
depicted in the seventh chapter. And the difference lies in the
fact that the Holy Spirit is hardly, if at all, mentioned in the
seventh chapter, while in the eighth He is mentioned over twelve
times. The Spirit in the heart is the secret of victory over sin.
Then note how the Holy Spirit produces the blessed fruit of the
Christian life (Gal. 5:22, 23). What a beautiful cluster of graces!
How different from the awful catalogue of the works of the flesh
(vv. 19-21). Look at this cluster of fruit. There are three groups:
the first, in relation to God--love, joy, peace; the second, in
relation to our fellowman--longsuffering, gentleness, goodness;
the third, for our individual Christian life--faith, meekness,
self-control.
f) The Holy Spirit is the Guide of the Believer's Life.
He guides him as to the details of his daily life, Rom. 8:14; Gal.
5:16, 25-"Walk in the Spirit." There is no detail of the believer's
life that may not be under the control and direction of the Spirit.
"The steps (and, as one has well said,'the stops') of a good man
are ordered by the Lord."
The Holy Spirit guides the believer as to the field in which
he should labor. How definitely this truth is taught in the Acts
8:27-29; 16:6, 7; 13:2-4. What a prominent part the Spirit played
in selecting the fields of labor for the apostles! Every step in
the missionary activity of the early church seemed to be under the
direct guidance of the Spirit.
g) The Holy Spirit Anoints the Believer.
This anointing stands for three things:
First, for _knowledge and teaching_. 1 John 2:27--"But the
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth . . . ye shall abide in him." Also
2:20. It is not enough to learn the truth from human teachers, we
must listen to the teaching of the Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:9-14 teaches
us that there are some great truths that are spiritually discerned;
they cannot be understood saving by the Spirit-filled man, for they
are "spiritually discerned." See also John 14:26; 16:13.
Second, for _service_. How dependent Christ was upon the Holy
Spirit for power in which to perform the duties of life is clear
from such passages as Luke 4:18--"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he hath anointed me to preach," etc. Also Acts 10:38--"How
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good." Ezekiel teaches a lesson by his vivid
picture of the activity of God portrayed in the wheels within wheels.
The moving power within those wheels was the Spirit of God. So in
all our activity for God we must have the Spirit of power.
Third, for _consecration_. Three classes of persons in the Old
Testament were anointed: the prophet, the priest, and the king.
The result of anointing was consecration--"Thy vows are upon
me, O God"; knowledge of God and His will--"Ye know all things";
influence--fragrance from the ointment. Just as the incense at
Mecca clings to the pilgrim when he passes through the streets, so
it is with him who has the anointing of the Spirit. All his garments
smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. He has about him the sweet
odor and scent of the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.