regeneration

The Study of The Holy Spirit in The New Testament

In the last chapter we saw a little concerning the Spirit in the New Testament, but I would like to take a bird’s eye view of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

As a lost person you were in the depth of sin and unable to do anything about your situation. You were lost and on your way to eternal torment in the lake of fire. At some point in your life you were confronted with God. You may have faced Him when looking at the stars on a summer evening when you realized that there had to be some power that put those stars in place. At some point in time you were confronted with God.

If you are a believer now, you were at some point in your life confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You accepted that message of salvation and became a child of God.

At the point that you accepted Christ as your savior you were introduced into the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the family that makes up all living believers on the earth. We have local assemblies of believers that we call churches.

At the point of salvation you received a heavenly guest who took up residence within you. His name is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Almighty God in residence!

We have all the magnificence of the Godhead resident inside of ourselves. This is why Paul told the Corinthian Christians that they were the temple of the living God. We are the temple, or dwelling place of God!

The Holy Spirit is just as much a person as you and me. He has the attributes of a person such as will, volition, and intelligence. He is a personable being that is desirous of fellowshipping with you and me!

He is highly intelligent, for He knows all things. He is highly compassionate, for He is God Himself. He is very strong, for He is all-powerful. He is all loving, for He is Love. THAT is the person that you have living within you! How do you live your life? Do you do your own thing when no one is looking, thinking that you are getting away with it? WRONGO! God knows all that you do.

When you believe, you are saved. It is called regeneration.

1. THE REGENERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: At the moment that you accepted the Lord you were saved. At that point a whole bunch of things happened to you in one instant. The important one that happened was that you were born again, or regenerated. It was the placing within you of a new nature as well as the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all came to live with you. Jo. 3:3 "...ye must be born again...." Titus 3:5

2. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: One of the other things that happened to you is that you were baptized into the body of Christ. It was the placing of you into the family of God. This is not Water baptism, but is a baptism in the spiritual realm that we have nothing to do with. It is automatic and we don't have to seek it or desire it. I Cor. 12:13, "For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body...."

3. THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit comes to live within you at the moment of your salvation. This coming to live with you is called INDWELLING and is a study in and of itself. He is within us for many purposes that we will be looking at in this study. Rom. 8:9, I Cor. 3:16, II Cor. 6:16, Ro. 5:5, Gal. 4:6.

4. THE GIFTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Again at the point of salvation you were given one or more spiritual gifts that you are to develop and use for the building up of your local church. Eph. 4:11 tells us that the gifts are for the building up of the church, or the training of others to do the work of the Lord.

5. THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: As we walk with the Lord He will ask us to do certain things for Him. He does not leave us to find ways and means of doing these things, but has empowered us to do them. When He asks us to witness to a friend, we don't have to go out and muster up a basket full of courage and boldness. We have the Holy Spirit living within us who will give us the courage and boldness! There is nothing too big or too hard for you as long as you have the Holy Spirit empowering you. (I Cor. 2:3-5 shows the power of God in contrast to the power that we have. See also Lu. 24:49; Acts 1:8.)

May the message we give be God's message with POWER. As you go out to witness for your Lord, you will find, often times, that you are amazed at how effective you are in countering objections and questions. This is the power of the Spirit. Once years ago my wife and I witnessed to a man. As he would object, we would have references from the Word to disprove him. As he would question, we would answer. Finally after an hour or two, he buried his head in his hands on his knees and said, "Wait a minute, you have me confused!" We did not confuse him; it was the Word and power of God.

6. THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The filling of the Holy Spirit is used in contrast with being drunk with wine in the book of Ephesians. We are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit as fully as the person is controlled by the wine when he is drunk. We are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit at all times. This is the case anytime we have confessed all of our sin, according to I Jo. 1:9, and have turned control over to Him. If we are controlling our life then He is not, and we are not filled. Eph. 5:18, "And be not drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit"

The idea is not to be out of control, but to allow the Holy Spirit to lead, to teach and to show forth His fruit as Galatians tells us. Being filled is being controlled by Him.

7. THE CONVICTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: When we as believers have sin in our lives we are not in fellowship with God. We will be convicted by the Holy Spirit of that sin so that we will confess it and remove it from our life.

The term used is a legal term that has the idea of convicted in a court of law. We will know when something is hindering our life and walk with God. The Holy Spirit will point out any sin to us as we pray and we will seek to be filled with the Spirit.

I Jo. 1:9 is God's answer to sin. Confess it and He will forgive it. Confess has the idea of agreeing with God on what you have done, as well as a decision not to do it again.

8. THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: As we go out into life, He will lead us into the profession, the marriage, the place of residence, etc. that He desires for us, if we will allow Him to do so. Rom. 8:14 mentions, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." We can be led by the Spirit if we allow it. Leading comes from the Word, prayer, and His peace. Some add one further source of leading, and that is the advice of other believers.

A chapel speaker years ago mentioned of the advice of Christians, "Be sure they are Spiritual!" You cannot trust the advice of a believer that is not walking with God. You probably should not rely heavily on the advice of a spiritual believer either. God is able to lead. Rely on the big three above for most of your leading. It is not wrong to seek advice to check out your thinking, but allow God to have the final part in your walk. (Gal. 5:18; Acts 16:6-10; Acts 13:4; Acts 8:29.)

9. THE TEACHING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit teaches the believer. I John. 2:27 mentions, "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, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." You receive the teaching of the Holy Spirit primarily in two ways: a. By reading and studying the Word of God and reacting to what you read and learn. b. By listening to teachers and preachers. A teacher or preacher normally puts in many hours of preparation and prayer when getting ready for a lesson or sermon. That preparation can be a good basis for you to learn from. Don't assume all that you hear is gospel truth, for man can err, but listen, consider and learn from those that teach you. You learn anytime that you are open to the Word of God. (I Cor. 2:9-10 also.)

10. THE PRAYING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our prayers. Rom.8:26 says that He groans. At times we pray asking for something. "OH, LORD, I HAVE TO HAVE A CORVETTE TO IMPRESS THAT NEAT CHICK I JUST MET!" The Holy Spirit will groan! NO! That is not what it is talking about! We need to pray according to the Word. We need to pray for our needs.

To tie all this up into a package that you can put into practice in your life, you need to first of all be a Christian. That is, one that has trusted Christ as their Savior. Secondly, you need to have given your life to Him for His service and control. That is dedication! Look at Rom. 12:1,2. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Present it and leave it there. One of our pastors years ago mentioned of this verse, "The problem with living sacrifices is that we keep getting down off the alter." Commit yourself to Him. Thirdly, you need to allow the Holy Spirit to control your life.

Every part of your life will be better if the Spirit is able to control your life. You may find trials and problems, yet you will know that God is in control and doing what He wants to in your life.

He wants to be your TEACHER!

He wants to be your COMFORTER!

He wants to be your COMPANION!

He wants to be your POWER!

He wants to be your LEADER!

He wants to be your PRAYER WARRIOR!

He wants to be your CONVICTOR!

He wants to be the very center of everything that you do, be it leading to the college of His choice, leading to the mate of your life, leading to the church of His choice for you, helping you in times of troubles, empowering you to witness to your friends, helping you to submit to authorities, or learning from the pastor in the messages.

EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO - HE WANTS TO BE INVOLVED IN!

It would seem that we have a much better path than the Old Testament saint had to trod. We have all the help and assistance we could ever desire resident within - consider this the next time you read of the Old Testament saint and their walk on this earth - how much more we have than they.

Again as you were reading I trust you have been thinking - why is this in a book on regeneration? To show the clear difference between the Old and New Testament saints. The Old Testament saint did not have the Spirit within - why - God could not dwell where there was no rebirth - no new creation - in my opinion of course.