The Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and the Son, and is the indwelling presence within believers. The sermon establishes the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit by examining His names, attributes (eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent), and His work in creation, inspiration of Scripture, and the resurrection of Christ. It highlights God's desire throughout history to dwell with humanity, culminating in the New Testament promise of the Holy Spirit indwelling believers, making them the temple of God. This indwelling is a gift received upon salvation, not something to be continually asked for, and it empowers believers to live holy lives and reflect Christ.
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Thank you, we enjoyed that good singing, good song leading. Joy to be here again tonight. Turn to the Gospel of John tonight again, please. John chapter fourteen. We're bringing a series on the Holy Spirit. This morning we spoke on the new birth, being born of the Spirit. Unless you're born of the Spirit, you're not a believer, you're not a Christian. the man be born again he cannot be the kingdom of God if any man had not the fear of Christ he is none of it the word of God says examine yourselves as whether you be in the faith very very important that you know that you know the Lord Jesus your Savior and that you are born of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel we saw this morning and the working of the blessed bit of God, we're born again.
Except the men be born of water, the word of God, and the spirit of God, we cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God. Now we want to read from the Gospel of John chapter fourteen, verse sixteen and seventeen. The Lord Jesus is speaking, and he says, and I'll pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seed him not need and know it him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his Holy Word. Now, as a way of introduction, what are we going to say tonight, particularly about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we want to give some background. Who is the Holy Spirit? Many think he's some type of an influence. We want to just check it out from the Word of God in a few scriptures that we'll appreciate better when we come to the truth of the indwelling Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is He equal with the Father and with the Son. It would be the Word of God teaches that He is. He's lying, they linked up together with them. You remember Matthew chapter twenty-eight and the Great Commission, where they were to baptize the believers in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He was together with the Father and the Son and the great benediction in second Corinthians chapter thirteen, the last verse, where we have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The comfort of the Holy Ghost, as they are mentioned, linked up to with the Father, the Trinity, together in the commendation.
The verse we read this morning in First Peter one, two, we were set apart by the Holy Spirit, the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus. were left according to the foreknowledge of God. You have the Trinity there in that verse. So you see them many times associated together. Then also we know from the names that are given to him. I just want to list some of the names that are given to him can only be given to one who's God and who's a person. You notice in that verse we read too that he may abide with you forever. We're not speaking too much tonight about the personality of the Holy Spirit as this deity.
He's called, in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus called him that in Luke, verse thirteen. He's called the Spirit of holiness in Romans one and four. And these names are very, very suggestive. So when God, the Holy Spirit, indwells us, of course, he should make us a holy people because he's holy, enables us to be holy. And apart from him, we couldn't be holy. He's called the Spirit of God in First Corinthians chapter three, sixteen. He's called the Spirit of Jehovah, Isaiah sixty-one, four.
He's called the Spirit of Christ in Romans eight and nine. He's called the eternal spirit in Hebrews nine fourteen. He's called the spirit of light that has made us free from the law of sin and death in Romans eight and two. He's called the Holy Spirit of promise in Ephesians one thirteen. He's called the spirit of glory in first Peter four fourteen. There it says, If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happier, ye for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you. And then he's called another confidant. We have here in this verse we read.
And I'll pray and let the Father give you another confidant, one that's equal to the one that was with us before the Lord Jesus. Does he possess the attributes of deity? In Hebrews nine and verse fourteen, we read that Christ offered himself through the eternal spirit. He's eternal. In Romans fifteen, verse nineteen, he's spoken about there, but God has revealed them, verse nineteen, through the mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God.
He's omnipotent. And you only have to read the book of Acts to see something of the majestic power of the Spirit of God. We'll deal more with that at a later date. Then he's also omniscient. First Corinthians two, ten says, that God had revealed them unto us, these wonderful hidden things, by the Spirit, for the Spirit. He searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. He knows everything. He's omniscient. And he's also omnipresent, as we read in Psalm number thirty-nine, where the psalmist said, Whither shall I flee from thy spirit?
And whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, behold thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. Should we say he is omnipresent? Now that he do the work of deity. We mentioned this morning he moved in creation. The Spirit of God moved upon the deep. He was very active in creation. In fact, the whole Trinity. He reads the same in the book of Job, how his Spirit was active in creation. Job chapter twenty-six in verse thirteen, also thirty-three in verse four, very active in creation. We want to bring home to us who he really is.
He's the creator or two. Then he, of course, was very active in the inspiration of the Word of God. Holy men of God, they were moved, decayed along by the Spirit of God. All scriptures are given by inspiration of God. And this is a wonderful thing. Remember in John six, Gene would take up some of it later, how he would glorify the Lord Jesus. how he'd bring things to remembrance concerning him. And I said, I was thinking about that. I just want you to just turn for a moment what the Spirit would like to do to the Song of Solomon chapter five.
One of my favorite portions in the Song of Solomon chapter five. The Spirit of God in inspiration brings before us the loveliness of the Lord Jesus. He wants to make Christ more precious to us. The question is asked of the bride, what is thy beloved more than another? O thou fairest among women, what is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou art so charged? And she goes on to say, My beloved, this is the Lord Jesus. In Song of Solomon, chapter five, verse ten, he's white and ruddy, absolutely pure. He's the cheapest among ten thousands.
And let's get on to you that believe he's precious. Who makes him precious to us? The Spirit of God. He wasn't precious before who were born again. I could take the Lord's name in vain and didn't bother one little bit. But after I was saved, there's a difference. They never once have I ever taken the Lord's name in vain since. Why? He's precious to me now. His name is as ointment toward forth. And you can't use a name like that in vain. For in cussing, his head is at the most fine gold, his loyalty of the Lord Jesus.
His locks are bush in black as raven. His eyes are the eyes of dove. Remember he looked in the multitudes and he was moved with compassion. His cheeks are a bed of spices, a sweet flower. all the marvel of the gracious words that were seated out of his lips out of his mouth. His lips like sweet plows, and his cheeks upon me are as bad as spices, the cheeks that were plucked. But then his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. You remember the Lord Jesus said that Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like the lilies. The Lord's words were like lilies.
dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Never man speak English. Now the Holy Spirit gave inspiration. He draws to the Lord Jesus in all his loveliness. And then it speaks about his legs, a pillar, marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance, leavenance, ectonance, seeded, which is gone and on. But I just want to read this. His mouth is the most sweet. Yay! He's all together lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. The Spirit of God. Seeing that he does the work of deity in the inspiration of the Scriptures.
Then he was very active too in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I might say in the dead too, according to the verse in the In Hebrews, he, through the eternal spirit, speaks about Christ there dying for, shedding his blood. The Spirit of God was very active in the death of Christ and the resurrection. If you turn to Romans chapter one and verse four, it speaks about the resurrection there and the Spirit of God. And he was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from earth among the dead.
You have the Spirit of God active too, as we said this morning, in regeneration. And I should have also mentioned he was active in incarnation. Remember he told Mary that that holy thing that would be born of her was because the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. and the power from one high shall overshadow thee. And that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. God, the Spirit, the Spirit of God. If you ever called God, yet in Acts chapter five, remember when Satan came in and the first sin that was judged directly by God himself, sin of Ananias and Sapphira of lying, professing to do something they didn't.
Now you remember Peter said in verse three of Acts chapter five, Peter said unto Ananias, why had Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? And then down in verse four he said, Thou had not lied unto men but unto God. He is God. I want to just establish that before we go into it, so we see more the beauty and the wonder of what we're trying to bring before you tonight. The wonderful thing about the Lord, all down through the Old Testament, all the way through, he always wanted to fellowship with men and dwell with men. Remember right in the beginning of the garden when he came there, the cool of the day was the fellowship with Adam and Eve.
And you remember, Satan had been there and deceived the woman and Adam had taken this fruit and seen it come in. But there was God's desire. God walked, Enoch walked with God. You remember, he was converted when he became a senior citizen at sixty-five. And he walked with God for three hundred years. Well, it was like three hundred years time. We'll all be walking the streets of gold. He was walking with the Lord down. He said, God wants the fellowship of the people in the ark. He said, come down thy house into the ark. He was already in there. Back in the days of Moses, if you turn to Exodus chapter twenty-five, and verse eight, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
of a God's great desire. In First Kings chapter six and verse thirteen to David, beginning in the middle of verse twelve, then I'll perform my word with thee, which I speak unto David thy father, and I will dwell among the children of Israel. Now turn please to Second Chronicle, Chapter Six. Remember God's great desire. Now comes the temple, Solomon's temple.
And Solomon is offering that beautiful prayer dedication. He says in verse eighteen, And will God invariably dwell with men on earth? The whole heaven and the heavens of heaven cannot contain the how much less this house which I have built. Solomon, with that magnificent temple as opposed to the most elaborate building that was ever built, he says, can God indeed dwell with men upon earth? And you know the history of Israel, as the glory cloud that filled the house he eventually departed.
Then in John chapter one, John chapter one, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. And in verse fourteen the word was made flesh and he tabernacled among us. God came to earth in the person of his son. He had been coming and wanting to dwell the Father in the Old Testament. Now for a period of some three and a half years, he that had seen me had seen the Father said to the Lord Jesus. He came to unfold and reveal the Father. But because of his physical, bodily presence, he was limited to be with people that he was with.
But he said, I'm going to go back to heaven. That's what we read in John chapter fourteen. And when I go back to heaven, I'm going to send you another comforter, and that comforter he's going to come, and you're going to, and he's going to dwell with you. The altar says you're going to be with you forever, and he's going to be in you. And that's the glorious truth of the indwelling Holy Spirit. God, the Spirit, now this is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, one of these first nights I want to speak on the baptism of the Spirit, but tonight it'll take us all the time we have to deal with this subject.
But the Holy Spirit came, as you know, in Pentecost, and he came to dwell here, and to stay here, and he came that time, and all the believers that were filled with the Holy Spirit, will God indeed dwell with men upon earth? We thank God we can answer in the affirmative. He has come, and he says to the collective kind of Christian Christians, know ye not that ye are the temple of the body of Christ. And then he says to us as individuals, know ye are not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that marvelous? God living in us. This is a tremendous great truth.
And I hope we can appreciate it and laugh at that God, who filleth the heavens, whose glory is so great, who is so holy that he has to even look to humble himself and he's so great and so high, to behold the things that are in heaven. And now God in the person of the Spirit has come to dwell in us. And I believe that's one of the great truths. that we have in the New Testament. That's the dispensation today, the Holy Spirit. He has come. The comforter has come. And he's come to take off his abode and he'll dwell with you forever.
You know, in the Old Testament he came upon men. He says of Bethlehem that the Spirit of God came upon him. prepared him for the work he should do in connection with the tabernacle. The Spirit of God had ever came upon Gideon. The Spirit of God came upon Samson, and he moved him. The Spirit of God came upon David. The Spirit of God came even upon evil men Saul and Balaam. It tells us the Spirit of God came upon Balaam. When he had certain things to accomplish, he came upon men.
But in the New Testament sense, he never came to indwell them. And that's what happens when we are born again. The Spirit of God takes up his residence in our hearts and our lives. And that's such a tremendous thing. His heart was to take him. He, God, the Spirit, dwells in our hearts. And I want to give you some scriptures for that. Now connection with the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, let me first bring before you some other scriptures.
First the promise to turn back to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter The Holy Spirit was promised in the Old Testament, Ezekiel chapter eleven, verse nineteen. And I'll give them one heart and I'll put a new spirit within you. This is most important. Sometimes people come and ask, have you received the Holy Spirit? They see promises, I'm going to put the Holy Spirit within you. Ezekiel thirty-six and verse twenty-six. Maybe you'll start at verse twenty-five, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, and I'll cleanse you.
A new heart altar will I give you, and a new spirit. And I happen to have a new Bible, and he puts that in capital letters. A new spirit will I put within you. That was promised back. in the book of Ezekiel chapter thirty-six, twenty-six and twenty-seven. Then the Gospel of John just turned to chapter four, where the Lord was dealing with the woman as the well. John chapter four, verse thirteen and fourteen. Jesus answered and said unto whosoever drinketh this water shall thirst again. And friend, if you're here tonight and you're not saved, you can go in for everything this world has to offer and you'll thirst for more.
is never truly satisfied. There's nothing satisfying down here. People with all the riches and all the things of amusement and entertainment and everything else, what's happening? They're committing suicide, they're divorcing one another and everything else. Nothing down here. is lasting or satisfying. But the Lord Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst for the water that I shall give him shall be in him. I like that. Be in him a well of water. Peter refers to a joy unspeakable and full of glory coming from within.
The joy of the Lord. You'll find out if you read the book of Acts when the Spirit of God really had its way, there was much joy. You read that over and over again. We see a Christian that long-faced and said all the time, he doesn't know the presence and the power of the Spirit of God in his life like he should. John chapter seven, these are the promises. I don't think I'll finish this message tonight, but will continue again probably on Tuesday morning. John chapter seven, verse thirty-seven, in the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture had said, out of his innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water. Isn't that a tremendous promise? That's the spirit of God in the believer. For this beg he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. Why? Because Jesus was not yet glorified. You can't have a body in earth, but you have a head in heaven. And it was dependent on the Lord going back to glory. except I go away, he said in John six and seven, the comforter will not come.
But if I go, I will send him. And he did. On the day of Pentecost, he came, and he came for the express purpose of baptizing of believers into one body, and every believer becoming a member of the same body and everyone, and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We're living in a great day. I thank the Lord that I'm living in the day of grace. You need to praise the Lord for that. Rivers of living water. And then we read that promise in John chapter sixteen. That's great, and we'll pick up more about that.
Now, when the Lord Jesus was here in John, Luke chapter eleven, verse thirteen he said this but even being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more should your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him this I keep I ask you to remember this was before Pentecost this was before the Spirit was given and on the day of Pentecost I'll be speaking more about that. There's probably one aspect of the praying, but he still hadn't come. But once the Spirit has come, there's no need to ask for him anymore, because if you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit, what he needs is he needs to have more of you and more of me.
He has come. You don't have to ask God for something that's already here. I remember reading the late H.P. Barger illustrating this. He said there was a friend of his one time invited him to take his tent to his town with the whole tent meeting. So Mr. Barker said, well, the best way to bring it about is you pray for it. So he kept on praying the Lord would allow Father Barker to come there with his tent and pitch his tent on this man's land. Well, the day came when the Lord opened the way and Mr. Barker pitched a tent. Now then, after the tent was set up, they went into the tent, and that man that owned the land, he says, now, brother, let's just ask the blessing now on the tent meeting we're going to have.
Before it came, he prayed for the tent. Now that the tent had come, he didn't have to pray anymore for the tent, but he prayed that God would bless the ministry, the word given forth within that tent. And that way the Holy Spirit has come. It's certainly all right for us to pray that we might be strengthened by the Spirit and that we might not quench Him. We might not grieve the Holy Spirit. We can pray like that, but you don't have to pray for His coming. He has come. Sometimes we hear people praying in properly, Lord, and forgive us all our sins.
You don't have to pray that anymore. Because I use the little word, have. Ephesians four, thirty-two. Be kind one to another, tender heart to forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, have forgiven you. Giving you all your sins, past, present, future. Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake, says First John two, twelve. They're all forgiven. Now, I believe it doesn't necessarily, Lord, give me eternal life. God says you have eternal life. John six, forty-seven, very, very I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life right now.
You don't have to pray and ask the Lord to make your fix for heaven. He had made us accepted in the beloved. He had made us meet for the inheritance of saints in the light. That's something we possess. And that's the same thing about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, He came just like the Lord Jesus came, the Lord Jesus died once, and that's all sufficient to put away every sin in this world. The Holy Spirit has come once, and when He's saved, He's come to dwell you and take over His reign and take control of your life. We want to speak on that on a future night too, and the filling or the fullness of the Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now notice some of these scriptures from the Word of God. Acts five, thirty-two. And we are his witnesses of these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey him. He hath given him. Second Corinthians one, twenty-two, who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our heart. He hath sealed us, something that's accomplished. You have the Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians five, five. Now he had wrought us for the self-same thing as God who also hath given unto us.
the earnest of the spirit. Galatians four, six, and because he is son, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son, crying in your heart, Abba, Father, he hath given the Holy Spirit. First Thessalon four eight, he therefore despised the despised of not men, but God who hath given unto us his Holy Spirit. He hath given us the Holy Spirit. I say praise the Lord. Marvelous to have God dwelling in us. First John three twenty-four. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him.
And hereby know we that he abided in us by the Spirit which he had given to us. He hath given us the Holy Spirit. That true of every believer. First John four thirteen. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us. because he had given us of his spirit. Remember when Peter preached to the house of Cornelius, Peter said after these people had received the Spirit of God, he said, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? They received the Spirit of God upon believing.
So that anyone ever lead you astray about that, trying to seek something that you already have. God has given us the blessed bit of God. Peter says when he recounts that in Acts eleven, for as much then as God gave them, the light gift as he did unto us at the beginning. He gave us the very same gift, the Holy Spirit. Romans five, five. And hope make it not ashamed because the love of God is shed upon in our heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. The love of God is shed upon in our heart.
And you know, the fruit of the Spirit is love. And we are void of love. Does that mean to say something? We are lacking the Spirit of God to control our lives. because he brings out that love, that love of God shed upon in our heart by the Holy Spirit. Romans verse eight, twenty-three, not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit. We have the first fruits of the Spirit. There's a carnal convention, chapter two, draw.
Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God we have received, and that was sanctified positionally by the Spirit into the body of Christ. What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which dwelleth, or which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? Let me bring a few practical remarks in the end. This is a wonderful truth, but with great privilege come great responsibility.
Oh, how we need to guard against that. We'll probably deal more with that than about grieving the Holy Spirit. How do we grieve? Well, you know what he thinks of Lord Jesus. And we bring great delight and pleasure to him when we are occupied with Christ and we talk about him and his loveliness and his beauty. He's the Holy Spirit and we allow sin in our lives, unclean thought. The Word of God speaks about every thought going into captivity and obedience to Christ. God's Word says you to be holy even as I am holy. And I think my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
How we need to realize this is God's dwelling place. And you know we're really... filled with the Spirit, been told with the Spirit. Don't you think it's going to manifest Christ in our lives? And you look at the fruits of the Spirit, we'll look a little more at, and you'll see in them the Lord Jesus. He's the only one that's fully brought at all the fruits of the Spirit in their fullness. And as we abide in Him, and His Word abides in us, and the Spirit of God has control of every activity, and we are saturating the Word Then we're going to become more and more like Him.
Like the hymn says, Oh, to be like Him. That's to be our great desire. Like our blessed Lord. Oh, what a lovely person. What a wonderful person. We sang that about him. What a wonderful salvation. Tonight, may we Indeed, who are indwell by the Spirit of God, given much thanks. And may we not be afraid, he's God. He'll never lead you contrary to his word. Give yourselves to him completely, and that way we'll be more occupied with the Lord Jesus.
Remember Stephen? Man full of Holy Spirit, is I see Jesus. What did they say about Stephen? His face shone like the face of an angel, the reflection of Christ coming out of that holy man's face, all to be more like him. May God help us to be yielded to the logic of Christ and the control of the blessed spirit of God that dwells in each believer. Now if you're not saved tonight, He is none of his. That's what the Lord will possess.
If any man had not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Let's just find it in Word of clear. Father, we thank thee for this wonderful dispensation we're living in. Remember, in the Old Testament, I was only come and dwell among men and come upon them. Even the days of Lord Jesus, he came here bodily, but oh, we thank thee. He said, well, I go away, I'll send a comforter, and he shall not only be with you like the Lord Jesus was, but he should be in you. And we thank you for this great mystery that Paul speaks about in Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We thank you for this great privilege to live in this dispensation of grace. Give us thankful hearts and appreciated hearts. And I truly appreciate thy love and thy grace and thy presence. We commend ourselves truly in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.