LIFE
IN THE HOLY SPIRIT |
| Now
that Christ has born our sins on the Cross and been raised
from the dead, the Holy Spirit has been poured out. The effect
of this is that the victory and the life which Christ has
won passes over to us, or into us. We live in the good of
and the delight of things which Christ has gained for us-even
though we have not come to receive all of them yet. |
| John 15:26; 16:12-15;
cf. Matthew 12:43-45; cf. I Peter 1:2-12 |
| THE PROMISE
|
| God
had promised Israel he would send his Spirit, together with
a new heart so that his people could truly be his people,
love him freely and do his will in the world. |
| Ezekiel 36:25-32 |
| BEING BORN OF THE
SPIRIT |
| Receiving
the Spirit is being baptized in the Spirit. It is how we become
Christians, or are born again. Being born of the Spirit and
being born of God are the same thing. (We could compare Jesus
being born by the Holy Spirit coming to Mary, and her child
then being called the Son of God.) The coming of the Spirit
is the coming of God. We are his children. |
| Acts 1:4-5; 2:38; John
3:3-8; Romans 8:5-9; Luke 1:35 |
| We
could neither recognise Jesus as Lord or God as our Father
without the enabling of the Spirit. The Spirit works in us
before we recognise him to enable us to recognise Christ as
he is, and to turn to our Father who has called us. |
| I Peter 1:2; I Corinthians
12:3; Galatians 4:6-7 |
| THE SPIRIT JOINS
US TO CHRIST BEFORE THE FATHER |
| The
Spirit comes to show us the things of Christ and to join us
to Christ in an unending relationship. Just as Jesus had his
physical body and his Messiah's calling and enabling by the
Spirit, so that same Spirit is now the Spirit of Jesus (while
still the Spirit of God) so that we may participate in all
that Christ now is before the Father. |
| John 14:16-17; 20:21-23;
Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 12:11 |
| THE SPIRIT UNITES
US WITH CHRIST'S VICTORY |
| The
Spirit is the Spirit of Christ sent by God so that the same
power by which Christ lived and gained his victory resides
in us. This victory is the end of all condemnation-the past
cannot rise up to haunt and pollute and frustrate the present.
This victory has secured the renewal of our bodies beyond
death-our future is as secure as Christ's Resurrection. In
the present, we have a vital relationship with God as Father
by which we can live for him rather than for the flesh. All
this, we know because of the Spirit of God within us. |
| Romans 8:1-16 |
| THE SPIRIT SETS
US FREE |
| We
may have lived by the spirit of this age, giving ourselves
over to it's principles and practices and to the satanic powers
that manipulate it for their own ends. But now, we have received
the Holy Spirit of God. We are free from the necessity of
self justification and free in our being to serve God and
our neighbour. |
| Galatians 5:13-25; II
Corinthians 3:17-18 |
| Therefore,
we should be careful not to resist or grieve or quench the
Spirit, but rather, be continually filled with him. |
| Acts 7:51; Ephesians
4:30; 5:18; I Thessalonians 5:19 |
| |
