SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21
Romans 8:5-9
1 Corinthians 3:16-17

My soul doth delight in them.

THE SPIRIT INDWELLING (I)

The question which we should be asking today is not “Are you a Christian?” Many, possibly most, of those who say “Yes,” are not even remotely Christian but think they are – under false pretenses or mistaken notions. What we should ask is, “Have you the Holy Spirit?” This will catch many professing Christians by surprise and they will be dumb-founded, hard-pressed for an answer. My question then is “Do you have the Spirit?” This is a critical and basic issue which we must settle once and for all, for if you cannot say “Yes,” your whole Christian standing is in question.

Now read carefully what God’s Word has to say on this matter. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom 8:9). The proposition is clear and unmistakable: IF YOU HAVE NOT THE SPIRIT, YOU DO NOT BELONG TO CHRIST!

Let us pursue the statement further. If you do not belong to Christ then whose are you? All men are either Christ’s or the Devil’s. There is no third position. This may startle some readers but may the fact awaken some in the way of salvation. Outside of Christ all men are subjects of the Kingdom of Satan and heirs of wrath. Have you been delivered out of that deadly situation? Have you been translated out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son? Have you been joined to Christ, made the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit?

How can this be, you ask? Observe: The Spirit and Christ go together. If you have Christ as your Redeemer, His Spirit dwells in you. You may be a prominent member of a large and respectable church; you may move in the best Christian circles; you may even be a Christian worker or pastor. All these are only external links and God is not looking for these. God is interested in that vital life-union of His Spirit. If you are His, the Spirit must dwell in you. It is “all or none.”

THOUGHT: The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Christ.
PRAYER: O, Breath of God, come breathe within me.