The Holy Spirit and His Gifts | Page 37

God For Us, With Us, and In Us The New Testament gives us three relations that God sustains toward man. First, God is for us. Second, God is with us. And third, God is in us. To have God be for us guarantees our success: ". . . If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31). If God is on our side, we are sure to win in life. If God is for you, and you know that He is for you, you become utterly fearless in life. No matter how difficult the situation may be, no matter how dark the clouds that hang upon the horizon of your life may be, you are calmly assured that you must win in every circumstance because God is for you. There can be no defeat if the Lord is for us. And, thank God, He is for us. If God be for us, who can be against us? You can also have the assurance that not only is God for you, but in every place in life and in every situation, God is with you. No matter what the circumstances may be, if you are a Christian, the Lord is with you. The knowledge of th e Word of God along this line should certainly cause our hearts to leap for joy within us, and buoy our spirits up in faith and confidence. Under the New Testament or New Covenant, the Bible says we have a better covenant established on better promises (Heb. 8:6). Under the covenant in the Old Testament, God was for Israel and with Israel, but He was not in Israel. However, in the New Testament, God is with us and for us, but we also have something better — God is in us. God is actually making His home in our bodies as His temple (1 Cor. 6:19). Believers Are the Temple of the Holy Spirit Of all the mighty truths in connection with our redemption, this is the apex of the reality of our redemption: that after God Himself recreated us and made us new creatures in Christ and made us His own, then He, in the Person of the Holy Ghost, makes our bodies His home! 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU? 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 (Amplified) 16 Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God's temple (His sanctuary), and that God's Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you — to be at home in you [collectively as a church and also individually]? 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 19 What? know ye not that your body is THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST which is IN YOU, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 (Amplified) 19 Do you not know that your body is the temple — the very sanctuary — of the Holy Spirit who lives within you, whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own? 2 CORINTHIANS 6:16 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I will dwell IN THEM, and walk IN THEM; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.