Believer’s Inheritance pt 2 (a New Power)

John 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Ephesians 1:13-14  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,  (14)  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

      As God’s children we inherit the Person of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  He is, and will eternally be, our new power to walk with God uninhibited!  False professors fail at attempting to lead the Christian life as outlined in the New Testament because they cannot even faintly maintain the new attitude or appetites we are given by becoming the children of God.   False professors are just as carnal as they were before they made their profession.  As a result, they will either leave the church altogether, try to ruin or dominate a good church, or find a church that will accommodate their lack of spiritual actions and attire.

Ezekiel 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

2 Timothy 1:14  That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

      The Holy Spirit provides us with divine abilities that were unknown to us as unbelievers.  Because we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), carnal and sold under sin (Romans 7:14), and the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2), we were totally cut-off from spiritual things.  But now, because we are God’s children, we have the earnest of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit constantly within us (2 Corinthians 1:22)!  How could we not understand spiritual things with the presence of God continuously dwelling in our lives?!

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Romans 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

2 Corinthians 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

      Because of His holy presence, we now have inherited the spiritual ability to:

1.         Understand Scripture

1 John 2:27  But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

1 Corinthians 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  (See also John 14:26; 1Corinthians 2:13)

      There are now over 400 perversions of the English Bible!  There are many motives for this, the biggest being that the printing of contemporary English versions is very lucrative. Why is it so lucrative?  The answer lies in the fact that lost people are looking for an easy-to-understand Bible.  In other words, sinners are attempting to dumb-down the Word of God so they can discern it.  These are futile efforts because the worldling is spiritually inept no matter how much he seeks to “understand” scripture!  The sinner, by changing the Bible, is actually getting further away from spiritual discernment because, by doing so, he attacks the words, thoughts and intentions of God in His holiness and redemptive plan!

      As the scriptures cited above intimate, we can only comprehend spiritual things because of the new power given to us through the person of the Holy Spirit which takes up residence within us at our new birth.  The Bible instantly comes to life in the spiritually-renewed believer’s mind!  He starts to comprehend those things which were formerly a mystery to him because of his carnality!

2.         Approach the Throne of God in Prayer

Romans 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Ephesians 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

      As previously noted, at salvation we have been adopted into the family of God.  We are His kin through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ!  This makes us a part of the royal family so we have been granted full access to the Throne of Almighty God Himself!  It is part of our inheritance.

Galatians 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

      “Abba” literally means, “My Daddy.”  As a believer, we have a new power to approach God as our “Daddy,” so to speak.  However, this fact does not in any way negate God’s holiness and make Him out to be like one of us.  Believers also inherit a natural reverence for their Heavenly Father at salvation.  The Word of God is simply teaching us that, because of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives, we can approach God as our loving Father rather than as a distant vengeful God!

Romans 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

      This is exactly the same relationship that the Lord Jesus had with His Father during His earthly ministry as seen in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Mark 14:36  And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

            The false professor is like the Pharisee in the temple when the Bible says he, “… prayed thus with himself…” (Luke 18:11).  A sinner has no ability within himself to reach the throne room in Heaven regardless of his religious affiliation or sincerity.  Only the Holy Spirit of God, given us as part of our inheritance at salvation, has the ability to carry our heart’s desires into the spiritual realm!

Romans 8:26-27  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  (27)  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

3.   Walk with God

Galatians 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

            The false professor is void of any ability to walk in a manner pleasing to God.  He is like, “…they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit” (Jude 19).  Lost men can make themselves look very good on the outside, but it is the condition of man’s heart that concerns God.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

            The Lord Jesus had this to say to the Pharisees concerning their lack of spiritual ability:

Matthew 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Matthew 15:19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

            The condition described by our Lord in the above references is the same state of every religious human that has not experienced the new birth of salvation.  He has not the Spirit of God, but only his own idea of self-righteousness!  No matter how religious a sinner may be, he still has absolutely no ability to worship God, understand God, or approach God, let alone to walk with God!  He is inept, left spiritually lifeless and unable to interact with God just as a dead man is unable to carry his own casket.

Ephesians 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

John 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

            Because he does not experience the presence of the Holy Spirit, a sinner will also never have the peace that can only come from God.  The religious sinner is still somewhat condemned in his mind and unable to escape the thoughts of an unpurified conscience.  The only way to escape these reproving thoughts in the absence of the Holy Spirit is to attempt to suppress them through worldly means such as psychology, religion, fleshly indulgences, and so on.  This condition, if not turned around by salvation, will ultimately lead to being given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).  This is a dreadful state wherein the Lord has turned them over to their sin and will not approach them by way of conviction ever again!

Titus 1:16  They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Romans 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

            The experience of the child of God, however, is quite different.  The believing saint has inherited the “earnest (or down payment on his inheritance) of the Spirit,” and is now quite adept at walking in the newness of  life with absolutely no condemnation from his conscience concerning his eternal state.

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

            The child of God can walk in a manner that is pleasing to God because he is in fact led by God Himself through the person of the Holy Spirit.  He can claim the promises of these verses:

1 Peter 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Galatians 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

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