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Does the Holy Spirit dwell in the backslider
The short answer is yes, if he or she is truly saved (born again). I say if he or she is truly saved because they’re many people who call themselves Christians who are not. The Holy Spirit is a person, He is the Spirit of Truth, He is the Third Person in the Holy Trinity of God. The Holy Spirit is God himself. This is important to note because God who knows all things about all things knows with absolute certainty if a person truly believes in His Son Jesus or not. Once He knows a person places genuine faith in Jesus His Son, He then gives that person the gift of His Spirit. The bible tells us that once a person is saved by placing their faith in Jesus as Savior they are then indwelt by the Person of the Holy Spirit and He seals them as a child of God until the day of redemption. There are many Scriptures in the Bible that prove the Person of The Holy Spirit will never leave the believer in Christ. So, let’s just go over a few of them here below.
Jesus said in John 14:16
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
So here we have proof from Jesus himself that The person of the Holy Spirit who is the Advocate will never leave us believers in Christ.
Jesus also promised to never leave us nor forsake us his children (Hebrews 13:5), He promised and said, Lo, I will be with you always even unto the end of the Age (Matthew 28:20).
As far as I’m concerned, every sin is a backslide, there are no front slide sins. All sin is prideful and is rebellion against Almighty God. There are no sins that please God, All sin is sin and all of it displeases God. The bible makes it clear that all humans are born into sin (Psalm 51:5) and that all humans have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The bible tells us that there is no one on the earth who does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). So since it’s true that all of us are born into sin (Psalm 51:5) and since its true that all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23), and since its true that all of us do sin (present tense)(1 John 1:8-10) (John 8:7) ,and since its true that all of us will sin in the future (Romans 7:14-25) (James 3:8) (Jeremiah 17:9). How shall anyone keep the Holy Spirit in them if we are just so hopelessly sinful? The answer is we don’t keep the Holy Spirit nor ourselves saved by our own strength or doing, He The Holy Spirit is the one who keep us saved by the grace and power of God. He is the one who has decided long ago to never leave us nor forsake us and to seal us with His Holy Seal.
Every believer has a war going on within them, the old sinful nature which is warring against the Spirit and the things of God. Your old sinful nature wants to keep you away from God with all its sinful lustful passions and desires and the Spirit of God wants to bring you nearer and nearer to God through His Son Jesus. The bible goes into great detail about this war in Romans Chapter 7 which we will go over here below.
-The Apostle Paul himself said that he struggled with sin. Proof from the word of God below.
Romans 7:14-25
Struggling with Sin
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
1 John 1:8-10 (NLT)
"If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts”.
There is your proof from the Word of God that we are all sinners. Jesus Christ is the only one without sin people of the world, the only one. For He Jesus is God in the flesh who is perfect. Look at the proven Scriptures below.
1 Peter 2:22 (NLT)
He (Jesus) never sinned, and he never deceived anyone.
1 John 3:5 (NLT)
And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, for there is no sin in him.
1 Peter 3:18 (NLT)
Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners (us) that he might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
Hebrew 4:15
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Now you have just read for yourself from the Word of God that Jesus Christ is the only one in all the world who is sinless. The only one. Therefore, if anyone claims that they do not sin (even if they supposedly called themselves Christians), and if or anyone claims that they have never sinned, they are liars and they have also just called God himself a liar. And we know that God cannot lie. For proof that God cannot lie just look at the proven Scriptures here below.
Hebrews 6:18 (NLT)
18So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.
(Romans 3:4) (NLT)
4Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, "He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court."
Summary
The backslider will not lose his or her salvation because of their sin, nor will the Holy Spirit leave the believer in Christ. I have already earlier in this message proven this to be true with Word of God. However, just because the backslider will not lose his or her salvation does not mean that they're no consequences for sin. The bible is crystal clear that They're always consequences for sin whether you see them or not (Romans 6:23) (Galatians 6:7-8). The believer in Christ can be out of fellowship with God and they will grieve the Holy Spirit if they continue to live in sin (Ephesians 4:30). The Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin (John 16:8) and God’s hand of discipline will come to them if they are true sons and daughters of God. This is because the Lord chastens those whom He loves (Proverbs 3:11-12) (Psalm 118:18) (Revelation 3:19-21), This means the Lord will discipline us (his children) when we stray away from him because of sin (Psalm 32:4) (Proverbs 3:11-12). He does this because He loves us and wants the very best for us in our lives. He loves us too much to leave us where we are. So, remember these three words for the backslider (Convict, discipline, and grieve). He (The Person of The Holy Spirit) will convict them of their sin, God's hand of discipline will come to them if they are true sons and daughters of God and if they continue to stray away from Him because of sin, also those that continue to backslide will grieve the Holy Spirit because they are walking in the flesh and not the Spirit.
The backslider is just not fellowshipping with God as he or she should, more than likely it’s because they are involved in some type of sin. Sin always tries to drag us away from God and his word, sin always tries to ruin our fellowship and our intimate love relationship with God. However, it could be a number of reasons why he or she is not fellowshipping with God, walking in the Spirit (Romans 8:1, 4), reading the Word etc. Regardless of the reason there is no excuse for our sin, however the truth remains that sometimes all of us Christians have backslid at one time or another. None of us are perfect and sinless. None of us gets it right all the time. This is precisely the reason why we need the Holy Spirit to be our Comforter, Counselor, and Guide in this Christian walk cause if left to ourselves we would choose the sinful path every time.
To say that The Person of The Holy Spirit does not dwell in the backslider is the same as saying God himself does not dwell in the backslider. Remember The Holy Spirit is a Person, The Holy Spirit is God himself. So, If you say God himself does not dwell in the backslider then eternal salvation cannot dwell in them either since God is the author and giver of salvation. The bible tells us that the Lord himself is our salvation. Eternal Salvation is much more than just a length of time or an eternal gift that God gives us when we believe in Jesus, the revelation that God's Spirit is revealing unto you is this "Salvation is a person.". When God saves us, He gives us the best gift of all HIMSELF! What I’m saying is, If it were possible to remove salvation from the believer (which it isn’t) you would be removing God as well. The reason why this is utterly impossible is because of many reasons. But I will share with you one for now. The bible says that when a person gets saved the fullness of the Godhead takes up residence in that person’s life forever.
The bible clearly says that believers in Jesus Christ can never lose their eternal salvation (John 3:16) (1 John 5:11-13). To say that the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the backslider, is also the same as saying you believe in a gospel of works in which you must perform and do good deeds to be accepted by God. So, for example, if you sin royally then you lost your salvation and God will take His Holy Spirit back from you because of your sin. If this false, gospel of works was true then we would surely lose our salvation and the Holy Spirit daily because of our many sins. This performance works - based gospel is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ that’s found in the Holy bible. The bible clearly says that we are not saved by our works or by the doing of good deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9). The bible clearly says that all our righteousness are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The bible says we have no righteousness of our own (Philippians 3:9). We are not saved by our righteousness we are saved by Jesus’ righteousness. It is His righteousness that covers us and saves us when we believe in Him by faith as Savior. This biblical truth is very important to grasp and understand.
The bible goes on to say that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9). The bible also says that sin dwells in us (that is, that sin dwells in our flesh) and that there is no good thing in our flesh (Romans 7:14-25). The true gospel that’s found in the bible clearly says we are saved by the grace of God when we place our faith in His Only Begotten Son The Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) (John 3:16). When a sinner places their faith in Jesus, believing He Christ died on the cross for all their sins and believing He (Jesus) arose from the grave they will be saved by God everlastingly, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) (John 3:16-18) (1 John 5:11-13) (Romans 10:9-13). Once a sinner truly believes this gospel The Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of them forever never leaving them (1 Corinthians 3:16) (1 Corinthians 6:19) (John 14:16). For He is there to stay. He seals them with His Holy Seal and will never remove this seal of God from them (Ephesians 4:30). God’s never going to remove His seal on them, and who is greater than God? So, if God himself is not going to remove it, then no devil in hell can remove it, nor any human. God makes sure the believer will be secured, saved, and kept that way.
Let's together read what the bible says here below.
Romans 8:1, 4
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirt
Did you get that? Did you truly see that revelation in (Romans 8:1)? The Holy Spirit in this passage of scripture is teaching us an amazing truth of God. And this is what it is “There is therefore now no condemnation (no condemnation God says) to them which are in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah to the sinless Lamb of God (who is Jesus Christ The Son of God our Savior) who was condemned for us on our behalf at the cross! Let’s read what the bible says about our loving Jesus here below.
Isaiah 53:3-5
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
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