“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father” Galatians 4:6.

The great gift of the Father, through whom He obtained salvation and brought it near to us, is the Son. On the other hand, the great gift of the Son–whom He sends to us from the Father to apply to us an inner and effectual salvation-is the Holy Spirit.1 As the Son reveals and glorifies the Father, so the Spirit reveals and glorifies the Son.2 The Spirit is in us to transfer to us the life and the salvation that are prepared in Jesus– to make them wholly ours.3 Jesus, who is in heaven, is made present in us, dwells in us, by the Spirit. We have seen that in order to partake of Jesus two things are always necessary–the knowledge of the sin that is in us, and the understanding of the redemption that is in Him. It is the Holy Spirit who continually promotes this double work in believers. He reproves and comforts. He convicts of sin and He glorifies Christ.4

The Spirit convicts us of sin. He is the light and the fire of God. Through Him sin is unveiled and consumed. He is “the Spirit of judgement and of burning,” by whom God purifies His people.5 There is no limit as to how deep repentance must be for the anxious soul who complains of not feeling his sin deeply enough. He must come daily just as he is.

The deepest conviction often occurs after conversion. To the young convert we simply have to say let the Spirit who is in you always convince you of sin. He will make you hate sin, which formerly you knew only by name. He will make you know –and with shame confess–sin, which you had not seen in the hidden depths of your heart. He will point out to you sin, which you fancied was not with you, and which you had judged severely in others.6 With repentance and self-condemnation, He will teach you to cast yourself upon grace as being entirely sinful. In this way, you will be redeemed and purified from sin.

Beloved brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is in you as the light and fire of God to unveil and to consume sin. The temple of God is holy, and you are this temple. Let the Holy Spirit in you have full mastery to point out and expel sin.7 After He makes you know sin, He will, at every turn, make you know Jesus as your life and your sanctification.

And then the Spirit, who rebukes, will also comfort. He will glorify Jesus in you, and will take what is in Jesus and make it known to you. He will give you knowledge concerning the power of Jesus’ blood to cleanse,8 and the power of Jesus’ indwelling to keep.9 He will make you see how literally, how completely, how certainly Jesus is with you every moment, so that He may do all his own Jesus-work in you. Yes, in the Holy Spirit, the living, almighty, and ever-present Jesus will be your portion. You will also know this, and have the full enjoyment of it. The Holy Spirit will teach you to bring all your sin and sinfulness to Jesus. He will teach you to know Jesus with His complete redemption from sin as your own. As the Spirit of sanctification, He will drive out sin in order that He may cause Jesus to live within you. 10

Beloved young Christian, take time to understand and to become filled with the truth–the Holy Spirit is in you. Review all the assurances of God’s Word that this is so.11 Please, do not think, for even a moment, of living as a Christian without the indwelling of the Spirit. Take pains to have your heart filled with the faith that the Spirit lives in you and will do His mighty work. It is through faith that the Spirit comes and works.12 Have a great reverence for the work of the Spirit in you. Seek Him every day to believe, to obey, to trust, and He will take and make known to you all that there is in Jesus. He will make Jesus very glorious to you and in you.

Father, I thank You for this gift which Jesus sent to me from You. I thank You that I am now the temple of Your Spirit, and that He dwells in me. Lord, teach me to believe this with my whole heart, and to live in the world as one who knows that the Spirit of God is in him to lead him. Teach me to think on this with deep reverence and loving awe, that God is in me. Lord, in that faith I have the power to be holy.

Holy Spirit, reveal to me all that is sin in me. Holy Spirit, reveal to me all that is Jesus in me. Amen.

Footnotes

1) John 7:39; 14:16,26; Acts 1:4,5; 2:33; I Cor. 3:16

2) John 15:26; 16:14,15; 1 Cor. 2:10,12; 12:3

3) John 14:17,26; Rom. 8:2; Eph. 3:17,19

4) John 16:9,14

5) Isa. 4:4; Zech. 12:10,11; Matt. 3:11,12

6) Ps. 139:7,23; Isa. 10:17; Matt. 7:5; Rom. 14:4; I Cor. 2:10; 14:24,25

7) Ps. 19:13; Mic. 3:8; I Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 3:17; 6:16

8) John 1:7,9

9) Eph. 3:17-20; 1 Pet. 1:5

10) Rom. 1:4; 8:2,13; 1 Pet. 1:2

11) Rom. 8:14,16; l Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 1:22; 6:16; Eph. 1:13

12) Gal. 3:2,5,14; 5:5

Notes

1. The knowledge of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit is for us of just as much importance as the knowledge of the person and the work of Christ.

2. Concerning the Holy Spirit, we must endeavor to hold firm the truth that He is given as the fruit of the work of Jesus for us, that He is the power of the life of Jesus in us, and that through Him, Jesus Himself, with His full salvation, lives in us.

3. In order to enjoy all of this, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This simply means emptied of all else and full of Jesus. The way to be filled with the Spirit is to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and to follow Jesus. Or rather, this is the way in which the Spirit leads us to His fullness. No one has the power to enter fully into the death of Jesus unless he is led by the Spirit. But He takes him who desires this by the hand and brings him into it.

4. As the whole of salvation, the whole of the new life, is by faith, so is this also true of the gift and the working of the Holy Spirit. By faith–not by works, not in feeling–do I receive Him, am led by Him, and am filled with Him.

5. As clear and definite as my faith is in the work that Jesus only and alone finished for me, so clear and definite must my faith be in the work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in me–to work in me the willing and the performing of all that is necessary for my salvation.