What does God do when you believe the gospel?
When you believe the gospel, God does it all: He places Himself—the Holy Spirit—within you, places you in Himself, and grants you assurance. You receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, are in Christ, and are called a child of God, though the world does not recognize you.
Les explains that the indwelling Holy Spirit is the criterion: if anyone lacks the Spirit of Christ, he is not His; if you have the Holy Spirit, you are in Christ. You receive the Holy Spirit by believing the Gospel. When you believe the Gospel, God does it all—He puts Himself in us, He puts us in Him, and we have assurance. Les then takes us back to 1 John 3:1, written after Paul’s letters, to show how it fits with Romans and Ephesians. John writes to believers: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons, or the children, of God.” As a result, the world does not know us. Les asks if we have experienced this, noting many class people tell him even their own church people do not recognize them.