Believing the Gospel

Believers are saved through the gospel of Christ. It comes with much assurance. The Spirit of grace enables us to believe in Christ. When the gospel comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have much assurance. Only the Holy Spirit can give the believer this assurance. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance (1 Thessalonians 1:5). 

Believing the gospel of Christ is our salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Never does God believe for us. However, God enables you to truly repent and believe in Christ. The grace of God enables us to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. After you repent and believe the gospel, you can testify how God brought you to that point. It is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16).

The Holy Spirit convinces believers of the gospel with much assurance. Without the Spirit of grace convincing you, there is no desire to be saved. The Holy Spirit convicts of unbelief and convinces us to turn to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:8-11). That's the Holy Spirit working in believers through the gospel.

The Holy Spirit enables us to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30; 16:30-31). Our inability to do so is overcome only by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:2). What God commands, God provides through the Holy Spirit. He who commands repentance, grants us repentance (2 Timothy 2:25). He who commands faith in Christ, gives us faith by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Born of the Spirit

Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). Salvation is to be born of the Spirit. New birth is a work of God's grace in us, beyond our full comprehension.

New birth is salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord (Titus 3:4-5). The Holy Spirit alone can change our hearts (Romans 2:28-29). To be born of the Spirit is regeneration or new birth. It is being born from above, because the Holy Spirit comes from above (John 3:6-7).

Like the wind, the Spirit works with great power. His power is omnipotent. The wind moves at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. It's hard to explain, and often difficult to understand. The Holy Spirit, like the wind, moves when, where, and how he pleases. New birth is the work of the Holy Spirit to the praise of God's glory.

The Holy Spirit brings salvation through new birth to give us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). Regeneration or new birth is the work of only one, the Holy Spirit (John 3:7-8). New birth enables us to have a genuine love for God and a heart to obey Christ. God's Spirit does in us what we could never do for ourselves. In Christ, we are born of the Spirit to become a new creation (John 3:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Our Access to God

William Reid's book, The Blood of Jesus, was published in 1866. This book focused upon the blood of Jesus for salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and true prayer. William Reid was absolutely confident that the Holy Spirit always bears witness to the blood of Jesus. Access to God in true prayer is based upon the blood of Jesus.

William Reid wrote, "In all true prayer, great stress should be laid on the blood of Jesus. Perhaps, no evidence distinguishes a declension in the power and spirituality of prayer more strongly than an overlooking of this. Where the atoning blood is kept out of view, not recognized, not pleaded, not made the grand plea, there is a deficiency of power in prayer."

When we speak of the blood of Jesus, we always refer to his atoning sacrifice at the cross. The word blood speaks of a violent, sacrificial death. In the Old Testament, blood sacrifices were in the place of those who offered them. They pointed toward the one and only sacrifice that could take away our sins. There is power in true prayer, based upon the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:1-10).

The priests of the Old Testament prayed with access to God on the basis of a blood sacrifice. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, praying for the people of Israel. He could not enter the Holy of Holies without the blood (Leviticus 16:11-14). Access to God in true prayer is through the shed blood of Jesus. 

We Are One in Christ

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote, "As a believer, you are one with Jesus. Therefore you are secure. You will be confirmed to the end until the day of his appearing." In these words, Spurgeon spoke of every believer as one with Christ. We are one with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers are one in Christ through new birth. Every true believer is born of the Spirit. We have been born again unto faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As we are in Adam through our first birth, so we are in Christ through our new birth. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation"(2 Corinthians 5:17).

Believers are one in Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are baptized with the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Christ is the head, and we are the body. As Adam was the head of the human race, so Christ is the head of the church, which is his body (Colossians 1:18).

As the human race is one with Adam through sin and death, so we as believers are one in Christ through salvation from sin and death (Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 15:22). As we were born with a sin nature in Adam, so we are born again as a new creation in Christ.

Believers are one in Christ through the gospel. We are one with Christ through his death and resurrection (Romans 6:5-6). We have died to the old life, buried with Christ, we are risen with him in newness of life. Water baptism is the symbol of our death, burial and resurrection with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Therefore, Charles H. Spurgeon said, "As a believer, you are one with Jesus."

God's Good Pleasure

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). God is pleased with you, when the Holy Spirit is in you according to God's good pleasure. The Holy Spirit is in you through the abiding gifts of faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). 

God's good pleasure is in all who truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19). He works in you to do God's will. The Holy Spirit changes your heart (Romans 2:28-29). That's called regeneration or new birth. He gives you a renewed will with a desire to do God's will.

God's good pleasure is to work in your heart. The heart is your mind, will, and emotions. He is doing more in you than you can understand. He is always doing more than you ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). God is working in your heart to bring glory to His name. The Holy Spirit gives you the ability to do all that pleases God. That includes your ministry gift and power to witness for Christ (Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 4:10-11).

As a believer, God's good pleasure is in you through the Holy Spirit. He will never leave you nor forsake you (John 14:16-17). Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, at the coming of Christ (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). The same Holy Spirit, who began a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6; 2:13).