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The Holy Spirit Devotional # 7 – The Indwelling and Sealing Work of the Holy Spirit

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1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

As we have seen from a previous study, the Holy Spirit would come upon believers in the Old Testament. However, after Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit now comes to indwell all Christians in this present age (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19).

The Holy Spirit is given as a gift from God the Father to believers (John 7:37-39; Acts 11:17; 1 Corinthians 2:12). As a result, it is not based on a work that we do. We do not merit and do not deserve His indwelling ministry in our lives.

If one does not have the Holy Spirit’s presence in their lives, it is because they are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit works upon the unsaved.

Though a person who is outside of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, does not have the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, it does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not working in their lives. One of the gracious things that God does for humanity is He brings conviction to the unsaved (John 16:8–11).

This brings hope that those that are outside of a relationship with Christ today may have one in the future. This would happen because through the work of the Spirit, the unsaved person comes to an awareness of their sin, repents of those sins, and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Truly, none of us would be saved if it were not for the Holy Spirit bringing the conviction to our hearts that we are sinners, and under God’s judgment, and that we need a remedy for our desperate position. And the only remedy is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit works WITH and IN the Christian.

We have seen that the Holy Spirit does not indwell nonbelievers. However, for those who trust in Christ alone for their salvation, the Holy Spirit works with Christians and in Christians. This indwelling brings the very presence of God into our lives. Some of the benefits we receive as the result of having the indwelling Spirit of God working with and in us are as follows:

  • To give eternal life (John 3:3–8; John 6:63)
  • To teach (Luke 12:12; 1 Corinthians 2:12)
  • To guide into truth (John 16:13)
  • To control ministry (Acts 10:19–20)
  • To give the power to witness (Acts 1:8)
  • To lead (Romans 8:14)
  • To comfort (John 14:16; John 14:26; John 16:7)
  • To seal (Ephesians 1:13)
  • To testify of Christ (John 15:26; John 16:14)
  • To abide forever (John 14:16)
  • To assist in prayer (Romans 8:26–27).

The Holy Spirit abides IN the Christian

I want you to realize that there is a significant difference between the anointing ministry of the Holy Spirit of the Old Testament versus the indwelling ministry as a result of the work of Christ. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon a person for a special ministry and then leave the person.

For the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the very presence of God is in their lives forever. The Scriptures speak to this in John 14:17, where it says that the Holy Spirit, “dwells with you and will be in you.”

In Romans 8:9, it tells us that, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

For an even more dramatic illustration of the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life, we find Paul’s statement that we are the very temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The temple was the place where God dwelt.

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself as dwelling with His people, in the tabernacle tent or the temple.

Since Pentecost, Christians become the place were God resides on this earth. We do not become God. But God comes to dwell within us.

Finally, Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, that we need to know this, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

The Holy Spirit lives within individual Christians. As a result, it makes the Christian’s body a temple where God’s Spirit dwells. We are not our own. We were bought with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to use our bodies in service to the glory of God in the good of others.

POINT TO PONDER: The Holy Spirit is a Person. He works on the unsaved person. He works in the saved person. The Holy Spirit lives in the believer.

Prayer

Father, thank you for the indwelling ministry of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the precious gift that you’ve given us in your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the fact that his in dwelling is permanent. It is utterly amazing that the presence of God dwells in the life of a believer. Thank you for giving us something greater than even the Old Testament saints had, your presence in us who will never leave us. Please remind us of the great of our eternal security. We praise you once again for this precious gift.

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