Holy Spirit, Sign of Salvation and God's Gift

"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge" (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).



Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee



Our God of love sent His only begotten Son Jesus to the earth as atoning sacrifice to save human beings who were on the way to death due to sins. It is because He wanted to destroy our wall of sins against Him and let us recover the lost image of God. That is, He opened the way of salvation.
After Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom and fulfilled His duty as the Savior by dying without any sins on the wooden cross, God sent us another Helper, the Holy Spirit. God opened the way of salvation so that anyone can receive salvation by believing in Jesus Christ and enter Heaven, but God already knew that people would lack strength to continue to walk the way to eternal life until the end.
What then should we do in order to receive the Spirit who is the sign of salvation and God's gift, recover the lost image of God, and become His true children who can share everlasting love with Him?


1. The works of the Spirit who descended upon Mark's upper room

In Acts chapter 1, Jesus commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, that is, the Helper the Holy Spirit. He also urged them to receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and to become His witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. They saw the ascension of the Lord and gathered in Mark's upper room. They all, with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer to receive the Holy Spirit and power.
In the meantime, on the Pentecost, 120 people were praying fervently in Mark's upper room. The second chapter of Acts describes the situation like this: "And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance."
When this happened, many devout Jews who were from every nation and staying in Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost were bewildered and some of them mocked and said, "They are full of sweet wine."
But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and said that they were not drunk, but God poured out His spirit on them as prophesied in Joel 2:28. He also declared that the prophesies in the Old Testament had been fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
By listening to these messages from Peter on the Pentecost, many people repented and received baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. The number of the people was as many as 3,000 (Acts 2:14-41). In this way, the Early Church was established by the Lord's disciples who received the Holy Spirit and the power, and the gospel could be spread in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and even to the whole world.


2. The Holy Spirit, the sign of salvation and God's gift

John 1:12 reads, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name". As said, anyone who listens to the gospel and accepts Jesus Christ can receive the Spirit and their names are written in the Book of Life. If God seals us as His children, He gives the Holy Spirit into our hearts as its pledge and helps us be born again as a new creature and live in His will through the Holy Spirit.
Our Helper the Holy Spirit protects and helps believers. Also, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the truth who searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10). The Spirit teaches us of sins, righteousness, and judgment, lets the spirits of those who have accepted Jesus Christ awakened, and helps them cast off sins and lawlessness and live in righteousness. He guides us to have faith and hope for Heaven, gives us strength to think, speak, and act in the truth every moment, and leads us to become men of spirit by giving birth to spirit in our hearts.
The Helper the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts and teaches us the truth just like a private tutor. And He is a driving force to us so that we can unceasingly run towards Heaven. Therefore, when we are full of the Spirit, it is like a machine with the optimum engine, and He gives birth to spirit in us and we can quickly become men of spirit.


3. Our spirits must be renewed by the Spirit without quenching the Spirit

Once we accepted Jesus Christ and received the Holy Spirit, we have to possess firm faith in Christ. In order to become holy persons by means of the Word and prayer by the help of the Spirit, we should cast away sins to the point of shedding blood (Hebrews 12:4) and we have to throw away every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). By doings so, we can receive the blessing of the prosperity of our spirits that causes all things to go well with us and brings us good health (3 John 1:2). We can also become men of spirit and whole spirit and please God like the forefathers of faith did.
But there are some people who received the Spirit but have not changed their hearts. They still live in sins and evil following the desire of the flesh since they have not followed the desire of the Holy Spirit. Some of them come to have lukewarm faith and stop casting away sins at some point though they tried to cast off sins in the beginning. They have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in their striving against sin (Hebrews 12:4). Some others even stopped fighting against sins, befriend the world, and commit sins leading to death again.
The Holy Spirit will be quenched if you keep committing sins without living according to the Word of God although you received the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 reads, "Do not quench the Spirit." If you do not change although you received the Spirit as a pledge for salvation, then, as written in Revelation 3:1, 'you will have a name (reputation) that you are alive, but you are dead.'
Therefore, we must not quench the Spirit but we have to let our spirit be renewed by the Spirit, recover the image of God that had been lost since the first man Adam's transgression, and bear the fruit of the Spirit.
God the Creator manifested the amazing providence when all men fell under death due to transgression of Adam, the first man. God places the seed of life at the sixth month of conception into the spirit God sends us and plants it in the nucleus of a cell in the deepest heart that is central focus point of the body. When a person hears the gospel and accepts Jesus Christ, God sends them the Helper the Holy Spirit as His gift into the heart and lets the seed sprout and the dead spirit revive.
To the extent that we follow the desire of the Spirit and obey His guidance, He helps us bear the fruit of the Spirit. Anybody can grow up well in spirit as long as they obey the guidance of the Helper the Holy Spirit and He allows them to become men of spirit and whole spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God prepared Jesus the Savior and the Helper the Holy Spirit even before the beginning so that all men can be saved and enter the heavenly kingdom. Furthermore, He pours down the Holy Spirit like a waterfall so that we can increase our faith in the inspiration of the Spirit and achieve the providence of the end time.
As the Lord commissioned us, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive the Holy Spirit and power and become the witnesses of the Lord to every corner of the earth.

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