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THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR "Knowing That
God Abides Within Me” Rev.
Carl Haak June 1, 2008; No. 3413 (Printed copies in a
four-message booklet can be sent monthly without charge. Request from:
Reformed Witness Hour, |
prca.org
Dear radio friends,
Do you know if
God is dwelling within you? Do you have the confidence and joy that you
are His child? Do you have the assurance that right now He abides in you,
that is, He is not going anywhere and that nothing can separate you from His
love in Christ Jesus our Lord? If you do, all is well. Eternal,
almighty, glorious, blessed, gracious God, by His Holy Spirit lives in
you! Then you have eternal life now. What is more, you have
no lack. Psalm
23 : “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” You are
lifted above every trial and sorrow. You have strength, peace,
hope. And you are also made to be humble, trusting, obedient.
In one word, if God dwells in you, you are victorious. I
John 4:4 , “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome (the wicked
one).”
How do you know? How do
you know that God dwells in you? Do you assume so, by the mere fact that
you go to church or that you were born in a believing home? Are you
assured of that because you have had some type of vision or you have heard a
voice? The answer of the Bible is that the only way of knowing that God
dwells in you is by the Holy Spirit whom He hath given us ( I John
4 ). By the work of the Holy Spirit we are given to confess with all
our heart that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, come in human flesh to save us, by
grace alone. And then by the Holy Spirit given to us we hear in our heart
the Word of God. Is that true of you? Then you are of God.
Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!
The apostle John, in I
John 3, 4 , speaks of profound and deep and precious truths in the simplest
of terms. He is speaking to us, in those chapters, about assurance,
Christian assurance, the assurance of knowing the love of God, of the
confidence of faith. How do we know? How do we assure our hearts
before God? How do we have confidence toward God?
The apostle has given various
indications of how we are given truly to know that. One indication or
test is love. Do you love God? Do you love your brother and sister
in Christ? ( I
John 3:14 : “We know that we have passed from death unto life,
because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death.”) We know
that we have passed over from the realm of spiritual death to the realm of
spiritual life because we are given to love the brethren. He goes on to
say in verses 18 and 19, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue; but in deed and truth. And hereby we know that we are of the
truth, and shall assure our hearts before (God).” Do you love your
brother in Christ? Do you forgive him, even as God forgave you? Do
you truly seek her good? Do you have compassion for them?
Those are the gifts of the
indwelling Spirit.
But another, even more basic
evidence that God abides in us and that we know Him is the evidences of the
indwelling Spirit. We read in Romans
8:9 , “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you.” We read in John 14
Jesus’ promise: I will give you another Comforter; and he shall abide in
you. A Christian, then, is one who has been given the Holy Spirit to
dwell in him, his body being made the temple of the Spirit and his heart
abiding in sweet fellowship with God. It is the Spirit who works in our
heart to confess with heartfelt reverence and conviction: Jesus is the
Christ, my Lord and Savior. And it is the Spirit who opens our ears to
hear the Word of God as the Word of God in truth.
The point is this: The
Christian life, the true life of salvation, is not simply an empty, formal,
indifferent, outward thing. Nor is it something of continual doubt and
uncertainty. But it is the real spiritual life of the Holy Spirit within
us. It is the assurance that God Himself dwells in us. It is the
victorious cry: I know that God dwells in me, for the Spirit gives me to
believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to hear His Word in my heart.
By that, we know that God
abides within us.
As I said, John, in I John
3 and 4, has been talking about the assurances that we have that God dwells
in us, namely, that we are savingly, eternally,
irrevocably united to God by the Holy Spirit whom He hath given to us.
(We read that in verse 24 of chapter 3.) That is a sovereign gift of
grace. God gives the Spirit. And by that a man is saved.
The Holy Spirit is the third
person of the Trinity. He has a work among the three persons of the
Trinity. His work is to reveal, to make known, to
illuminate. His work is to reveal the Father to the Son and the Son to
the Father. We read in I Corinthians 2:10 , “But God hath revealed them (that
is, the things of salvation) unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
The things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God. The Spirit is the great Illuminator. The Spirit is
the One who makes known. You cannot know that you are a child of God but
by the work of the Holy Spirit ( Rom.
8:16 ). The Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are the children
of God. We cannot understand the treasures of spiritual things but by the
work of the Spirit in us.
John, in I John
4 , warns of false prophets and lying spirits. How do we discern
whether the true Spirit of Christ is in us? We would say, the Holy Scripture, the Bible, is the test. And the
answer is, Yes, that is right, but it is only part of the answer. Without
the Holy Spirit of Christ you can have the Word of God in your hand and it will
avail you nothing. It must be the Holy Spirit personally who illumines
the Holy Scriptures to your heart and gives you to understand them.
Again, Paul says in I
Corinthians 2:12 , “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to
us of God.”
But that brings another
question, does it not? If I can know God only if the Holy Spirit is given
to me, and if I can understand the Scriptures only if
the Holy Spirit interprets them for me, then the question is: How do I
know whether I have the Holy Spirit? John says in I
John
4:1 , “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” So
how do I know?
What John says is, “Test the
spirit.” By the word “spirit” he is not referring to ghosts,
disembodied spirits, demons. But he is referring
to influences—those influences or powers exerted over the minds and hearts of
men and women. John says there are many such influences, many such
spirits, many such false prophets gone out claiming to be the guide for you to
find truth. Many false prophets say, “We possess the inner light and can
bring you truth.” There are the cults and the false religions.
There are the cults that claim to be of Christ but add to Christ, perhaps by
saying, “What you really need is to understand the golden plates that were
revealed long ago.” Or false religions that say, “
As the Holy Spirit of Jesus
Christ is a power to illuminate our soul and control our heart and mind and
renew us within, so also these pretender spirits, these false spirits, have
power and influence. False spirits in Christianity and in false religions
exercise deception and delusion. These spirits, these false prophets,
says John, are gone out into the world. They are sent by the devil to
establish the kingdom of the Antichrist. He says in I John 4:3 , “This is that spirit of antichrist, whereof
ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the
world.”
Beloved Christian, all the
false spirits, all those influences—cults, false religions, the influences of
our present world to control a man’s heart and mind, American materialism, the
spirit of ungodliness—all of these spirits are sent by the devil with a view to
the establishment of an antichristian kingdom, the kingdom of man.
Now, how do I know that I
have the genuine Spirit of God and that I am not duped, that I am not deceived
by these false spirits and impostors? How do I know that the true God is
in me and not a false spirit, even the spirit of the antichrist?
John gives the test ( I John
4 ) for recognizing the true Spirit of God. He gives two tests.
The first is given in verse 2: “Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” In other words, you
know that God dwells in you by the Holy Spirit by this evidence: that God
will cause you to confess the truth about Jesus Christ, namely, that He is God,
and that He is come into the flesh. You confess that the pre-existing Son
of God was born of the flesh of the virgin Mary
according to the sacred Scriptures. You know Jesus Christ as the God-man,
the only One who can remove sin and death and clothe us with righteousness,
life, and glory. The Holy Spirit works through the Holy Scriptures so
that you confess that Jesus Christ, God’s Son in my flesh, is my Savior, my
God, my Master, my Lord, my treasure, my joy. That is the work of the
Spirit. Do you do that? Do you confess that? Then God dwells
in you. The emphasis falls on that word “confess.”
What does that mean,
“confess”? That is more than speaking mere words. Many who are not
born of God or indwelt by the Spirit can say true things about Jesus
Christ. If we paid someone enough, we could get a man from the street or
anywhere to make a confession that we would want to
be made in front of the whole church. But true confession is a matter of
the heart. It is the ability not just to say words, but to know the
beautiful teachings of Christ from the heart. The true Spirit of God
gives you to make a confession with heartfelt reverence, conviction, and submission.
John uses the word “confess”
in I John 1:9 : “If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins.” Confess our sins. What does that
mean? That is not the glib confession, “I’m a sinner, I guess.” It
is not like telling your child, “Go tell your brother that you’re sorry,” and
then your child goes to his brother and quickly says, “I’m sorry.” That
is not a confession. It must be of the heart.
To
confess Christ is to feel the tremendous truth that God’s Son came in the flesh
for me, that He is my only Savior. It is not merely correct
words. It is done in a disposition of reverence and submission. You
continue your confession by saying, “Lord, Sovereign Savior, what wilt Thou
have me to do? I love Thee, Lord.” So, here is the first
test: a heartfelt confession and a loving submission to God’s
Son—tonight, tomorrow, wherever you are, in the church, at work, with your
friends—always. Is that true of you? Do you confess Jesus Christ,
God’s Son that way? Then God dwells in you.
The second test that John
gives is in I John
4:6 , “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth
not us.” When God, by the Holy Spirit, dwells within you, you will hear
the preaching of the Word. You will hear that Word of God in your soul
and in your heart.
In verse
2 we saw that the test is what we say. You can tell a true child of God, you
can tell that the true Spirit of God is in you when you are given to say from
the heart the truth about Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In verse 6 the
test is of what people hear. What do you hear? Do you hear only the
world? Do you listen only to the world? Are you concerned only
about what the world says? The test is this: Do you hear the Word, do you hear the teaching of Holy Scripture going down
into your heart? That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the days of Jesus Christ
the people would say it this way: “No man speaks as that man!” They
heard in their heart the Word of Christ. John says, “Whosoever heareth us knows God.” And the hearing of us, the
apostles (John and his fellow apostles), again, was not merely the listening.
Just as confession, the mere speaking, proves nothing;
so also the mere listening, again, proves nothing. But it is a believing
listening. It is when you listen so that the word sinks into your
heart. Great swelling words of eternal life come into your heart.
It is a humble listening that believes the truth and gladly submits. That
is the test of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Do you hear the Word,
especially as that Word is preached to you? Do you hear Jesus in the
preaching say, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”? Do you hear Christ speak to
you in your heart of hearts, “You, you are Mine, you
belong to Me”? That is the test.
Does God
dwell in me? Has His Spirit been given to me so that He abides within
me—not a false spirit, not the spirit of antichrist who will vanish in the day
of Days, but the true Holy Spirit? Well, here is the test: Do you
confess from the heart that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, has come in the flesh to
deliver you from sin’s bondage? And, secondly, do you hear Him speak to
you personally through the Word?
Oh, the glory of it!
John says in verse 4, “Ye are of God, little children.” It is a statement
of fact. Doubts are gone. Questions fly away. I am of
God. Let that sink down. Your source is of God. You are born
of God. You have come into existence by His grace. God gave birth
to you. A divine life has been implanted within you. Not of this
world, but of the world that is above. Little children, ye are of God!
The term “little children” is the affectionate term of love.
Do you confess Jesus Christ
as God’s Son, your Savior? Do you hear His Word deep down in your
soul? God is in you, little children.
And thus, another fact is
true about you. You have overcome them, that is, these false spirits of
the antichrist, says John, these strong, seductive, powerful influences of
darkness. You have conquered them. You have been victorious over
them. You have stood firm. You have not yielded to them. You
have remained loyal to the Son of God incarnate. You have overcome
them. Great foes have been brought against you. Seducing, deceptive
spirits would assault you. How are you going to be able to stand?
You have overcome them because He that is in you is greater than all the
world—greater than Satan himself, the god of this age, and all of his false
spirits. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
Our God is God!
You conquer by the power of
His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than all satanic forces, all
the forces of deception and blindness. You owe your confession to the
sovereign work of the living God. You owe your orthodoxy to the Spirit of
Christ. You stand, listening receptively to the Word of God and
confessing loyally Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit is stronger and has
conquered in your hearts.
Oh the glory of this:
God dwells in us! Can words be found to express the comfort? We
know that God abides in us by His Spirit given to us. Greater is He that
is in us than he that is in the world. What sorrow, what heartbreak, what
grief, what trial, what loss, what pain, what hardship, what thing in your
future will be able to outweigh or prevail against this truth: God dwells
in me?
As a rock on the coast of
This is
a gift of grace. Many Christians struggle with this. Many
Christians seek to know if God is in them. You must base this knowledge
upon Scripture, upon the exposition of the Scriptures that you have heard
today.
Then remember: Live
always to His glory. Praise Him always. And rely on Him
always. When you are threatened by the deceptions of the evil one, by
temptations or discouragements, remind yourself: Greater is He that is in
you than he that is in the world. And trust Him. For
this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. This
is the gift of gifts—the sovereign indwelling of the Holy Spirit giving you to
confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to hear His Word. God dwells
in you.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank Thee for Thy
Word. Work within us that blessed assurance, that perfect confidence,
that we are Thine and Thy Spirit is ours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.