The Divine Power of the Holy Spirit
A.The divine power of our Christian life has its basis in the indwelling of the Spirit but our exercise of divine Power results from the Filling of the Spirit.
B.The Filling of the Holy Spirit is the first power option of the spiritual life of the believer in the Church Age. It is impossible to execute the unique spiritual life of the Church Age apart from the Filling of the Spirit. Divine power is necessary to execute the divine plan and apart from the Filling of the Spirit, there is no spiritual life whatsoever.
C.A perfect plan (the Grace plan of God) demands perfect power for its fulfillment. The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life and demands a supernatural means of execution. This is the major dramatic difference between us and unbelievers. Obviously, anything an unbeliever can do bears no resemblance to the Christian way of life.
The inner conflict between the Sin Nature and Indwelling Holy Spirit
A.The prior indwelling of the old sin nature from the moment of physical birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit from the moment of the new birth result in a great inner conflict (Gal. 5:17)
B.The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the principle of victory over the old sin nature, while the filling of the Holy Spirit is the function of victory over the old sin nature.
C.Therefore, emphasis is placed on the baptism of the Holy Spirit which frees the believer from the power of the old sin nature and empowers the believer for a new way of life.
D.The inner conflict between the old sin nature and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is disclosed in Rom. 8:2-8 and Gal. 5:16ff. The old sin nature has a head start since it was in our body from the moment of physical birth. It is only overcome by positive volition toward bible doctrine and the timely and consistent utilization of the rebound technique.
