022. Does the Holy Spirit live in and remain with the believer, or come and go?

Does the Holy Spirit live in and remain with the believer, or come and go?

I know of no place where it is recorded that He conies and goes from the believer. It is true the Spirit of the Lord departed from king Saul, but we have no reason for believing that he was a true believer, a regenerate man. The Holy Spirit dwells in the believer according to the teaching of Jesus Christ (John 14:17). The believer may grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30), but it does not say that the believer “grieves Him away,” as it is sometimes quoted. Indeed, it distinctly says that even though we grieve Him we are “sealed unto the day of redemption.” The believer through sin or worldliness may lose the consciousness of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, but losing the consciousness of His presence and power is one thing, actually losing His presence is another. The Holy Spirit may withdraw into the innermost sanctuary of the believer’s spirit, back of conscious possession, but He is still there.

There is, however, a work of the Holy Spirit upon a person short of regeneration, as in conviction, and in such a case He may come and go.