II Cor. 1:21-22, I Cor. 3:16, 6:19-20, Rom. 8:9
Every Christian is indwelt with the Holy Ghost at the point of salvation so that the Glory of Christ can be a reality within our lives. That Glory comes from the filling of the Spirit. Remember, the glory of God in the Old Testament times, as it shown from the pillar of cloud by day and by the pillar of fire by night, was the sign to the Jews that they were under blessing and that they could continue to anticipate blessing from God. That’s why our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit as in 1 Corinthians 3:16. It’s like the tabernacle and temple of the Old Testament – the Glory of God resided there. This glory is inside us and is manifested in blessing as we are controlled by God the Holy Spirit.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
The believer received the Spirit of God through hearing of faith (Gal.3:2; Romans 10:17). The believer did not invite the Holy Ghost to dwell in him but rather upon believing the Gospel (Eph. 1:13), he is instantaneously saved and became a child of God, and simultaneously also he received the Spirit of God into his heart (Gal. 4:6; Romans 8:14-16). God gave him the Spirit of His Son into his heart as an earnest of the inheritance (Eph. 1:14).
Romans 8:9 means that you are not supposedly controlled by the Old Sin Nature, but by the Spirit when you are indwelt by the Spirit upon salvation. It also means that the Spirit of God does indeed indwell every believer and that you cannot be a believer and not has it.
The title “the Spirit of Christ” is a functional title for God the Holy Ghost. The Spirit indwells and when He controls the soul, He reproduces the virtues of the character of Jesus Christ. That’s how we follow in His footsteps. In John 15:26, the Lord Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit would come from the Father and bear witness of Jesus Christ.
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But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
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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. (2 Cor. 1:21-22)
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But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)
It is always the ministry of the Holy Spirit to lift up and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in the Church Age. This is accomplished as we are controlled by the Spirit, because the fruit of the Spirit is simply a pen portrait of the character of Jesus Christ.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Cor. 6:19-20)
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Christ becomes the believer’s hope of Glory (Col. 1:27)
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The believer becomes Christ’s possession (Rom. 8:9)
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The believer becomes God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:21)
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The believer becomes the habitation of God (Eph. 2:22)
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The believer becomes God son (Gal. 4:5-7)
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The believer receives the earnest of God’s inheritance (Eph. 1:14)
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The Spirit becomes the witness of the believer’s sonship (Romans 8:14-16)
Evangelist Rodgie Quirante
The Workman’s Treasure Study Series