Is God's Holy Spirit within us?

12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:12-17

The danger we always face in this sort of discussion is judging our faith on the basis of performance. And when we do that we ignore the fact that our salvation depends in its entirety on the work of Jesus Christ, not on our performance. And the presence of God’s Holy Spirit within us depends entirely on the work of Jesus Christ, on the grace of God.
So how do we know whether we have God’s Holy Spirit within us?

The first answer to that is that Jesus promised that he would give his Holy Spirit to all who believe in him. So that’s the first test. Are you someone who believes in Jesus? Again, that isn’t a question of performance. The question isn’t have you got to the point where you’re good enough for Jesus? It’s simply do you believe that he’s the Son of God? Do you believe that he died and rose again? Do you believe that his death has made it possible for your sins to be forgiven? Have you come to the point where you’re willing for him to be the Lord of your life? If you can say yes to those sorts of questions, then you can be confident that he’s kept his promise. That his Spirit is working within you already. Look at v9: "You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." In other words, everyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of Christ dwelling within them. Now there are 2 things we might want to observe from that. First of all, it means that anyone who suggests that some Christians are still waiting to receive the Holy Spirit hasn’t understood what it means to be a Christian. But it also means that anyone who has believed in Jesus Christ, who has given their life over to him, has the Spirit within. And that means that they’re now living a life of righteousness through his indwelling.

We are children of God, then we’re also heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Mind you Paul points out that if I’m a joint-heir with Christ it may mean that I’ll join him in his suffering as well as in his glory. But as we’ll see next week, the small amount of suffering we may experience in this life is nothing compared to the glory that God will reveal in us at the end, the glory that will be part of our inheritance. And that glory will come, not through our ability to achieve a particular level of godliness, or a particular level of spirituality, but through the power of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us, through the new life he gives us and through the righteousness won for us by Jesus Christ.
So here’s how it is. If we wonder whether we’re truly followers of Christ then this is one way we can tell: are our minds set on the things of God, is our failure to obey something we struggle with, do we relate to God as our father, rather than someone distant and remote?
And if we’re truly followers of Christ, then are we setting our minds on Jesus Christ? Are we calling on God our Father to help us by his Holy Spirit?
And if we believe in Jesus Christ, if we belong to him, then this is the assurance we’re given: that he’s given us his own Spirit to dwell within us, to fill us with his righteousness, to change our minds so we’ll focus on pleasing God, not our sinful flesh; to testify to our spirits that we are indeed children of God.
I pray that everyone here will go away today knowing that God is our Father, that we are his children and that his Holy Spirit dwells within us bringing us the life, the righteousness, we need to live in God’s presence for eternity. Amen

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