CHRISTIANS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT - Pastor J. C. O’Hair
We have learned that God will have all men to be saved. We have learned that Jesus Christ on the cross gave Himself a ransom for all. In Hebrews 2:9 it is stated that Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasteth death for every man. We have learned that God wants all believers to know that they have eternal life. God wants all believers to be filled with joy and peace in believing. So God wants His children to have a real knowso salvation, and to have the joy of salvation.
When the sinner believes the gospel of his salvation, he is sealed with or by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13). He is sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30). God’s Spirit bears witness with the believer’s spirit, that he is the child of God and a jointheir with the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:14 to 17). The word “Christ” is the Greek word, “anointed:” “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (II Corinthians 1:21 and 22). A Christian is an anointed one, a Christ one. Christ and anointed are the same word. In I John 2:26 to 28 we learn that when the believer receives the anointing, the anointing remains. No one can pass out of Adam into Christ but once. And no one in Christ can pass back into Adam. The Holy Spirit is the believer’s earnest, the assurance, of his eternal redemption, which includes the redemption of his body on the day of redemption. (Ephesians 1:14). When the believer receives the Holy Spirit at the time he receives Christ and salvation, he receives all of the Holy Spirit.
The three thousand souls converted on the day of Pentecost were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, to receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 to 43). Cornelius some years later received the Holy Spirit while Peter was preaching unto him the message of salvation. (Acts 11:15 and Acts 10:39 to 48). The twelve apostles and some other disciples spent several years with Jesus of Nazareth on earth before the Holy Spirit came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. (John 7:38 and 39; John 14:17; John 16:7 to 9 and Acts 1:5). Therefore, they had to wait several years to receive the Holy Spirit. The believers on the day of Pentecost did not have to wait several hours, only until they had been baptized with water. In this age of grace no believer has to wait at all after being saved by grace through faith, without water. (Ephesians 2:8 and 9).
In the days of Paul, and under his ministry, even the heathen received the Holy Spirit because the Lord Jesus died on the cross. (Galatians 3:14). Paul was instructed by the Lord to instruct those saved Galatians to walk in the Spirit, if they lived in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25). All Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit; but few Christians permit the Holy Spirit to fully control them.
In Galatians 5:22 to 24 we learn of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. In Romans 8:4 we learn that those who walk in the Spirit fulfil the righteousness of the law, which is the fruit of the Spirit. In Romans 13:10 we learn that the fruit of the Spirit, love, is the fulfilling of the law. In Romans 5:5 we learn that the love of God is shed abroad in the believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 5:29 to 32 we are told that the Holy Spirit was witnessing to Israel that God had raised Christ from the dead to be Israel’s Saviour. In II Thessalonians 2:13 we read that the believing sinner is chosen by God unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. In I Corinthians 6:9 to 11 we learn that the believing sinner is washed, sanctified and justified by the Holy Spirit, in the Name of the Lord Jesus. From these Scriptures we learn that the believer is sanctified before he is washed and justified. “By the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10). The person, who has not been sanctified, has not been justified or saved. But of course the sanctified, justified believer is called to a life of separation and service.
The believing sinner is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ at the time he receives the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation as God’s free gift. (I Corinthians 12:13). Salvation is God’s free gift to the believing sinner. So also is eternal life, righteousness and the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:8 and 9; Romans 10:10; Romans 6:23). The believer is blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3). The mighty power of God is available for the believer. (Ephesians 1:19 and 20). There is yet to be a fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy concerning the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh; but not in this present “Church” age.
As we compare Acts 8:5 to 16 and Acts 19:2 to 6 with Galatians 3:14 and Ephesians 1:13 and 14 and II Corinthians 1:21 and 22 and I Corinthians 12:13, we learn that during this age of grace after the dead sinner becomes a living saint he never again receives the anointing, the sealing or the baptizing of the Holy Spirit. But the believer is told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18). In this present age and dispensation of grace it is contrary to sound doctrine to tell a saved person to tarry for the Holy Spirit. Those who were told to tarry for the Holy Spirit were the Lord’s disciples before the Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven. (John 7:38 and 39; Acts 1:5). Surely earnest prayer is a contributing factor in being filled with the Holy Spirit. Together with such prayer the believer is to study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15). He is also to worship God in Spirit and in truth. He is also to gather with other saints in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is also to be a faithful ambassador and witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to be a practical Christian in ministering to those in need. He is to put on the new man and put off the old man. He is to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called. He is exhorted to do many spiritual things as he walks in the Spirit and manifests the fruit of the Spirit. The real Spiritfilled believer is described in Philippians 3:3. If the believer does not add other things to his faith, he will be a nearsighted, carnal Christian. (II Peter 1:9 and I Corinthians 3:1 to 5).
The Lord Jesus said, “herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit and so shall ye be My disciples.” (John 15:8). Then we read in Acts 11:26 that the disciples were first called “Christians. Therefore, we might say that a Christian is a fruitbearing-branch
abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit is taught in Acts 13:2, Romans 8:26 and 27 and Acts 5:1 to 9, and in other Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ, In God’s presence, is the believer’s Paraclete. (I John 2:1 and 2). Christ, in John 14:16 and 17, said, “I will send you another Paraclete.” So the Holy Spirit is a Person.
No Christian can really please God, unless and until he is controlled by the Holy Spirit, Who, by the Scriptures, guides the Christian into all
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