The Incoming of the Holy Spirit

If you have repented of your sins and placed your trust in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness, then you are born again. You are converted. You have been given the free gift of salvation — eternal life, forgiveness of sins, the assurance of heaven and the life to come.

Not only have you been given salvation. You also, at that very instant of repentance and faith, have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let me read our text once again: "'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

I ask you, have you met the conditions? Have you repented of sin? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? If so, you are a Christian. And if you have done this, you also already have the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life! It was the Holy Spirit that gave witness to the presence of God in your life by the peace that was yours when you were converted. The Bible constantly refers to the Holy Spirit being in the life of every believer in Christ.

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The Bible says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body."

Even the carnal Christians of Corinth are reminded that they have the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ and His apostles always take this for granted in addressing the believer. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit does not depend on your emotions. It depends simply upon your union with Jesus Christ through repentance and faith. There is no instance in the Bible where the initial incoming of the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience to salvation. It begins at the moment of conversion. Paul restates with power this fact that each believer has the Holy Spirit's presence in his life. Romans 8:9 makes this definitive statement: "But 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." He then continues in verse 11: "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you."

Once you discover this exciting fact, much of the confusion, much of the anxiety of spiritual living disappears. You have repented of sin. You have placed your trust in Jesus Christ. God's Spirit is yours. No longer do you need to wait for Him. Call for His touch? Yes. Surrender increasing areas of your life? Yes. But thank God the Holy Spirit is with you to some extent from the moment you open your heart to the Savior to that moment in which you step into His eternal presence.

Again and again there is a fresh anointing of God's Holy Spirit in your life, but never again does the Holy Spirit come in. He is always in you. Your prayer may echo the words of that wonderful hymn by Dr. Daniel Iverson:

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me

Break me; melt me; mold me; fill me

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me

That will always be your prayer, for we all need the freshness of the Spirit of God. Yet He never leaves the life of the believer. You may quench His activity in your life. You may minimize His capacity to work as you try to handle your own life, guarding those precious sins and failing to trust in Jesus Christ. Yet, if, in repentance and faith, you have opened your life to God, His Spirit is with you.

This is the secret of the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

This is the starting point for any conversation on this topic. There is a fullness of the Holy Spirit that is greater than at conversion. There are conditions for this fullness that differ from those in which the Holy Spirit comes into your life. We will look next week at the topic "The Fullness of the Holy Spirit."

But there is no sense in moving on unless you first have settled this question of repentance and faith. Have you met the conditions? If so, be prepared to experience the rest of the privileges of life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That is true spirituality!

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John A. Huffman, Jr., is Pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. He is a Contributing Editor to Preaching.