Recently in
a couple of settings I have been asked why I believe in eternal security. This is a fourth installment dealing with
principles that answer or address that question. We have looked at the concepts of adoption,
the work of God in my salvation, and the “past” tense statements of Paul in
Romans 5. Today I want to take a look at
the concept of the Holy Spirit within the believer. , Romans 5:5 (ESV) 5and hope does
not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. When we are justified by faith the
Holy Spirit is given to us. He begins to dwell within us. Paul makes this point even clearer in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV) where he said,
“19Or 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, 20for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your
body.”
In this
passage Paul gives us the confidence that for true believers the Holy Spirit
dwells within each of us. He does not
say that the Holy Spirit leaves or that he would like to dwell. In fact, these Corinthians were dealing with
a lot of sin in the church and Paul was addressing that sin and telling them to
forsake it or flee from it. In this
chapter it was sexual immorality. The
reason for fleeing was not to keep from losing their salvation, but rather to
treat the temple of God as is fitting for the Lord Almighty.
He could
have said that God wants to use your body as a temple or that he was using your
body as a temple, but his statement was a positive “Your body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your
own.” Why are we no longer our own to do
as we please.
Paul
continues, “You were bought with a price.”
That price for the believer was the price paid on the cross for our
redemption. This position as a temple of
the Holy Spirit was past tense. The
purchase has already been made. The price of that redemption has already been
applied to our lives.
This then is
our motivation for Holy Living. We are
no longer our own since Christ paid the price of our redemption and we are the
temple of the Holy Spirit. For these
reasons, we are to glorify God in our body because God has taken over ownership
and we need to glorify Him first and foremost.
I hope
that all listening have placed their faith in Christ for salvation that they
too might have the privilege of being the dwelling place of God.
To see the video version of this go to www.youtube.com/user/churchoflittleton FW # 83.
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