Did You Receive When You Believed?

From "With" to "In"

The scriptures above are enough to show that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is available to all, and that through this baptism we experience the indwelling of God. It is by this baptism that we experience what Jesus spoke of in the upper room before He went to Calvary. John chapters 14 through 16 are rich with truth that can help us, but I will quote just a few statements: "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:16-18). "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:12-15).

Notice that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was "with them" but would be "in them." This is a foundational statement and answers many of our questions. When thinking about the baptism in the Spirit, many recount their past experiences with God and think that the Spirit must be within or they could not have experienced those things. The Holy Spirit has been working in all things from the beginning of creation, but He could not dwell within us until Christ paid the price of sin at Calvary. The Old Testament saints experienced the Spirit "coming upon them" or "in them" on many occasions, but He never came to dwell within in the same way He did on the Day of Pentecost. If that had been possible in the Old Testament, Christ did not need to go to Calvary. The Spirit coming to dwell within men on the Day of Pentecost was a new event, never before experienced by any man. The disciples during the time of Jesus experienced many things (including the revelation of who Jesus was) but they did not know "God within" until the veil was torn at Calvary and the Spirit was poured out on Pentecost. We also may have experienced the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but that in itself does not prove He has come to dwell within, making us alive unto God.

What is the difference between "with" and "in"? Consider this statement of Jesus, together with John's comment: "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39). From this statement of Jesus I believe we can say the main difference is that when the Holy Spirit (God) dwells within, there will be a resource coming from our inner man that is clearly divine and brings a consciousness of God that we did not have before. Paul says that His Spirit is joined with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and this makes our spirit alive unto God in a way we never experienced before. The "rivers of living water" flowing from the throne of God bring us into union and fellowship with God and what He is doing, in His eternal purpose. This union brings an ability that is of God and His resources. But note that John clearly explained this would not happen until Jesus was glorified.

A second familiar statement of Jesus is this: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Many have understood this to be power to minister the gospel: preaching, miracles, and doing the work of God. I agree we do need God's power to do those things, but each of us needs power beyond ourselves to be true sons and daughters of God, and to "live His life." We cannot live the Christian life by self-effort. Whatever level we may attain to by our efforts will always fall short of what God expects. God does not ask us to "live our lives for Him," but to live His life by the faith that He authors in our hearts. Paul said it this way: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in [or of] the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). How can we live His life except by having His Spirit indwelling us?

To say this another way, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to make all that Jesus did for us at Calvary real to us and in us. Without the indwelling God, the work of Christ remains as a fact in history but lacks personal and practical application in everyday life. The foundation of our salvation is the work Christ did at Calvary, and everything He is doing in our lives today is based on that. But God does not intend that we try to apprehend in our minds the truth of what Christ did for us at Calvary, then work to apply it in our lives with our natural ability. Rather, He has sent the Holy Spirit to do within us what we cannot do. Our place is to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, and then in cooperation with Him, by faith, let God work His work as He chooses. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).

Next: The Way into the Riches of God