The Holy Spirit Uses The Word Of God To Bring Us To Salvation (2).

God’s salvation corresponds to our need. We have a need for forgiveness. The Gospel speaks to us of ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1). We doubt our ability to keep going in the life of faith. God’s Word says to us, ‘Do you not know … that God’s Spirit dwells in you?’ (1 Corinthians 3:16). We wonder if there is hope. God assures us that there is hope. He does this by pouring His love ‘into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (Romans 5:5). Peace with God provides us with the God-given foundation for living the life in the Spirit. Before we are called to the life of discipleship, God says to us, ‘There is … now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). To the believer, God says, ‘You have been set free’ - set free ‘from the law of sin and death’, set free ‘for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:2). This freedom is in Christ. The Lord Jesus says to us, ‘if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8:36). His way of setting us free is emphasized in John 8:32 - ‘you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’. Our experience of freedom, given to us by Christ through His Word of truth, is to be an ongoing experience. This experience of freedom is described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:16-18. It begins ‘when a man turns to the Lord’ (v.16). Freedom is the gift of God. It is the gift of the Spirit: ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (v.17). Our ongoing experience of freedom - freedom from sinfulness, freedom for Christlikeness - grows ‘from one degree of glory to another as we ‘behold the glory of the Lord’ (v.18).