John 14:17-
“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot RECEIVE, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye KNOW him; for he dwelleth WITH you, and SHALL BE IN you”.
The words in the above verse which are direct words of our Lord convey great meaning.
This verse is both a declaration, and a Prophetic utterance.
Notice that I highlighted some words in “caps”. Those will serve as guide and sign posts to our study today.
First is “RECEIVE “.
The world cannot receive him, talking about the Holy Spirit.
Why?
The godless world doesn’t have eyes to see him, and doesn’t know what to look out for.
And there’s a consequence for this: the world now grapples with lies, deceit, guile, greed and avarice, and selfishness.
The second is “KNOW “.
The HolySpirit is the Spirit of Christ. You can’t know him if you haven’t known Christ.
When you argue and say stuff like : ‘Jesus is a great prophet but why make him into God?’
When you esteem the teachings of Christ a good moral code to live by, but fail to acknowledge him as God and indeed worship him, you can never know the Spirit of Grace.
Jn 8:24
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”.
“The Holy Spirit is already with the disciples of Christ. “Shall be in you”, is a prophesy which refers to a future indwelling, which happened at Pentecost, after Jesus rose from the dead.
That’s by far the most distinguishing characteristic of a New Testament believer. Everything Jesus promised the believer is activated by his presence in our lives in the person of the HolySpirit.
Therefore, we can conclude that anyone who claims to believe in Christ, but denies his finished works of eternally securing the believer a place in God, has neither known the HolySpirit, neither dwelleth He in him.
“SHALL BE IN YOU” has been fulfilled, and we (every believer ) now has God dwelling, not WITH, but IN him or her. The Bible calls it a mystery.
Col 1:27 MSG
“This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ , warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic.
Christ! No more, no less”.
The HolySpirit is now resident in you. Forever! Not until your next sinful act, (as some ignorantly teach), not even until the Rapture. He’s now part of you connecting you to the Godhead as a trademark connects a product to its manufacturer.
The HolySpirit is the one that bears witness with our human spirit that we are of God and in God.
Rom 8:16, 1 Cor 6:17, Gal 4:6-7.
The HolySpirit is in you to cause you to rejoice continually in God. That’s why Bible describes it as ‘God has given us the earnest of the Spirit ‘. 2 Cor 1:22.
I like how the Message Bible renders it:
” By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete”.
The presence of the HolySpirit can no longer depart from you as happened to Samson. Or as happened to David when they sinned.
I know there are Wolves in sheep-clothings still scaring the living daylights out of their congregation with the “take-not-your- HolySpirit” of Psalm 51 and the “Samson wist not” of Judges 16.
The presence of the HolySpirit is in you to empower you to live Godly.
Friends, God is a good Father. For him to successfully take away the pleasure of sin from you, he had to replace it with a GREATER pleasure. The joy of the HolySpirit.
Rom 14:17
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”.
-Dr Nich Mbaezue-Daniel