This study was first taught on October 16, 2012

Topic: Now That the Holy Spirit is in You (3.2): His Transforming Work Should be Manifest in You

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Background
Last week, we saw that truth is not an ideology or a philosophy, neither is it something that is vague or nebulous, nor is it relative to what a person or society considers it to be. Rather, truth is a reality and an absolute, which has its source or origin in a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the source of truth, He is the embodiment of truth, and truth itself! The Holy Spirit, Who is also called the Spirit of Christ, therefore has the nature and attributes of the Christ, and so the Holy Spirit is the source of truth, the embodiment of truth, and truth itself. Thus, the Holy Spirit cannot lie, is not false, neither does He deceive, nor is He deceptive. And even though He is invisible to the human eye, He is nonetheless a Person, and the effect of His presence is clearly evident.

We therefore noted that if indeed the Holy Spirit is in us, His nature, which is also the nature of Christ, should be manifest in us, in whom He indwells. For instance, if a person has the malaria virus in him, he inevitably and ultimately will manifest the malaria disease; similarly, if a person has the AIDS virus incubating in him, he will inevitably be HIV/AIDS positive. In the same way, we noted that if the Spirit of truth is indwelling a person, then that person will be truthful, and will be an embodiment of truth.

The import of the Holy Spirit being in a person who is a believer in Christ is that the believer in Christ should manifest the personality, nature, and power of God, which are all present in the Holy Spirit, gradually and ultimately, over time. Therefore, we don’t expect a true believer in Christ to be a dispenser of error, of falsehood, or be a talebearer. We also don’t expect him to have any hypocrisy in him, or be of a dual personality; neither do we expect him to manifest deception, or be deceitful; nor should any guile or iniquity be found in him. The believer in Christ should not harbour any myths or fables (superstitions and traditions); neither should he acknowledge any hypothesis or assumptions whatsoever, as truth. Instead, the nature of truth ought to be in him, such that he will not be able to tell lies, act faithlessly, and be untrustworthy. We also expect that he will be able to identify truth, and dispense it as becomes one in whom truth resides! But this may not be the case in many instances with believers in Christ.

Scripture Text(s)
John 14:16-17
Tonight, we want to see why many believers in Christ do not manifest the nature of the Holy Spirit Who is in them, particularly, the nature of truth; and how they can begin to manifest same. May the Holy Spirit continue to help us to attain the highest level of spiritual maturity, in Jesus' name, Amen.
For a believer in Christ to be able to manifest the nature of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, as is expected of him (Romans 8:29), he ought to have been transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit in him. And this is the major work of the Holy Spirit when He comes into our lives, beginning with truth!
John 17:17; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; John 6:63; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14; John 8:31-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; John 15:26; 14:6; 1:14, 16; 15:1-8; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.

Conclusion
The Holy Spirit’s work in the believer in Christ is to transform his life and nature permanently through the agency of the word of God, which is truth! Because He is the energizer or the quickening Spirit, the Holy Spirit revives and enlivens the believer in Christ through the word of God as the believer receives them into his spirit. It is this combination of the energizing work of the Holy Spirit and the received word of God into the inner man which enables the transformation of the believer into a person who embodies truth.

If a person claims to be a Christian and knows all the clichés in ‘Christianese’, he will not be an embodiment of truth, if he is unable to receive or take hold of the word of God into his spirit man. This is where many a would-be believer in Christ gets stuck, and is unable to embody truth. Indeed, if you live with someone, you will soon take on some of his mannerisms, except you are uninterested in him; but if you are taken in by a person, you are very likely to imbibe all the possible attributes of the person. In the same way, if you truly love Christ, His Spirit, and His word (which are all one and the same), you will be more than willing to receive His abiding presence, the Spirit of truth, as well as His word! And if you are more than willing to receive the abiding presence of Christ, then, over time, the believer will begin to look more and more like Him, being truthful, honest, reliable, faithful, etc.; in other words, as long as the believer remains or dwells in Christ, His Spirit, and His word, he will continue to grow and glow from glory to glory!

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