Who is the Holy Spirit?

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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.

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Welcome to Through the Bible’s Sunday Sermon. Our message, Who is the Holy Spirit, will help us learn to live with the power God intended for us to have, the power to overcome sin and walk in the light of his word. Does that sound like something that you want? Well, keep listening. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your spirit who leads us into truth. Would you teach us now through your word? We’re listening. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen. Here’s the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

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The Holy Spirit is prominent in the Word of God. I think that He’s mentioned in probably every book of the Bible with the exception of the book of Leviticus. You’ll find that at the very beginning of the Bible there is the mention of the Spirit of God, and at the very end of the Bible we read that in the very first chapter, Genesis. I think that’s a good place to begin tonight, isn’t it? At the beginning, Genesis 1, 2, the very second verse, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. There, of course, is the first reference, and it’s right at the beginning of the Bible. Then at the end of the Bible, in the last chapter of Revelation, in verse 17, we read this invitation, “…and the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” So at the very beginning of the Bible and at the very end of the Bible, like a great parenthesis, we have the Spirit of God mentioned and in between it’s a very prominent subject. You will find that he’s mentioned again and again so that it would be very difficult to read and study the Word of God without paying attention to the subject of the person and the work of the Spirit of God. Now, tonight, I want to discuss the question of who is the Holy Spirit. The first thing that we’d like for you to note is the personality of the Holy Spirit, that He is a person. And it doesn’t mean that he has a body, because just to have a physical body doesn’t make a person. A personality depends on other things as we’re going to see. Now, look at this in several different areas. The Holy Spirit is identified in Scripture as a personality. And we’re going to speak about the deity of the Holy Spirit, the names, the types, and the symbols of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit and the world since Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit and the Christian, and then the Holy Spirit and the future. Now we’re discussing this evening the personality of the Holy Spirit. And first of all, we’ll come to this subject here. But may I say this? This is necessary, I think, to say in these days. During the Dark Ages and the inception and rise of Romanism, a great deal of biblical truth was lost, lost to the church because of neglect, and because the fact that paganism had intruded into the church. And we find that when the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation came, actually what it did, it recovered a great deal of biblical truths. Those things that had been lost during that sterile period of the Dark Ages, a great deal of that truth was recovered. For instance, justification by faith. That is the thing that Martin Luther rang the chains on throughout Europe and absolutely shook Europe so that there’s been no revolution quite like that. It was a religious revolution, of course. And then the great emphasis and distinction that Calvin made between law and grace, or grace and works. And then an emphasis that was put by all the Reformers on the inspiration of the Scriptures and the importance of the Word of God as a rule of life, that it must be brought into the daily living of God’s people. Now, a great deal of truth, I say, was recovered But there was some truth that was not recovered at all. In fact, right now, the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things, prophecy, is just now being recovered. And that’s one of the reasons that we find the interest in it, because that is the thing that’s being developed in our days. But one of the prominent subjects that was not recovered in the Reformation at all And the example is the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. So that since the days of the Reformation, there have been several movements that they’ve given prominence to this neglected area of truth. For instance, the Wesley movement was that exactly. The great truth that Wesley emphasized was the truth of regeneration. You remember that Wesley’s favorite verse, and I suppose he preached on it once every week, was, ye must be born again. And you remember the story, someone asked John Wesley, why is it that you always preach on ye must be born again. And Wesley said, the reason that I preach so much on ye must be born again is because ye must be born again. That’s the reason he emphasized it. Now he brought the great truth of the work of the Spirit of God. And there have been several movements But because of the vacuum that there has been in this area, there has been abortive movements which have led to excesses and extreme and weird interpretations of Scripture. And I give as a point in question the tongues movement in Southern California. That’s an example of it. Now, we want in this series to examine Scripture in depth. We want to see what the Word of God has to say on this very important subject. And I do not want to take just a few verses or lift out just a verse out of the context and look at it apart from the great truth of the Word of God of what it teaches. But we need to recognize that this is one of the great subjects of the Word of God, and it does deserve our thoughtful study and prayerful study. Now, one of the main misunderstandings relative to the Holy Spirit is that he’s some sort of an influence. He’s some sort of a divine emanation. He’s a pervading force. He’s sort of just an attribute of God. He’s sort of an impersonal block. That is the viewpoint that I’m afraid a great many people in our good churches have of the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit is identified and designated specifically as a person in Scripture. Now, by now, I’m sure many of you have turned to some of these verses that are here. Isaiah 48, 16. Now, will you listen to this? Come ye near unto me, hear ye this, I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Now, actually, this is a prophecy of the Messiah, of the Lord Jesus. And he says, God, the Father, and God, the Holy Spirit, they’ve sent me. He speaks of him as a person, you see. Now you’ll find, if you just turn over a few pages in Isaiah 61, 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord hath anointed me.” Now, the Spirit of God is spoken of here as a person, and it’s called, you can see, the Lord. Now you will find out, and I’m not interested in going into other details here, but if you turn over to Luke, the third chapter, the 21st verse, this is the quotation that’s given at the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus, also being baptized and praying to heaven, was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. Now you can see he’s treated as a person. The Lord Jesus said, you will recall, if I go I’ll send another comforter, even the Spirit of truth. In other words, a person just like he was a person. He was in bodily form. But now he says, I’ll send the Holy Spirit to you. And then in Matthew 28, 19, “…go ye therefore and teach all nations.” baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.” And there you have the three persons mentioned. Now Revelation 1, 4 and 5, the seven spirits of God there, the seven meaning completeness, perfection, as he is in heaven. And again, treated actually as a person there. Now that is one avenue that reveals that he’s a person. Now the Holy Spirit has the attributes of a person. He has a will, for instance. And here again, let’s turn to 1 Corinthians, the 12th chapter, at verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. The Holy Spirit has a will, and that belongs to a person. Only a person has a will. And then thought also. Turn back to Romans 8, 27, and notice that. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Now, the Holy Spirit knows. He has thought, and he knows. which is peculiar to a person, of course. And then we have here, he has knowledge, if you please. And let’s turn right back to 1 Corinthians 2. And we are very anxious for you to see these. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Now listen to this. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” Now I’m going to come back to that in another connection, and if you’ll just let me pass on at this time. Now we also have the fact that the Spirit of God loves. And I’m sure all of you will agree that only a person could love. In Romans 15, 30, Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. And we know that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and so on. And I have a quotation here. I am using, you may be interested to know this, But I’m using at least 15 books that have been written on the Holy Spirit. I have been doing probably more reading recently than I’ve done in a long time. Now, the Spirit performs such actions as a person only can perform. This is from Dr. Bickersteth. He created the worlds. He strives with the ungodly. He convicts the world. He performs miracles. He inspired the sacred writers. He speaks expressly of events in the latter times. And he speaks to the churches. He appoints ministers in the church. He commands and forbids. He new creates the soul. He intercedes. He teaches. He sheds abroad the love of God. He seals the soul. He cries in our heart. Those are all things that are indicative of a person and only a person could do these things. Now that’s how important it is to note that. Now we’re still not through with that. The Holy Spirit can be treated as a person. Now, he can be lied to. Let me just refer to this because I’ll be coming back to this. You remember that Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, you’ve lied to the Holy Spirit. And then he said to them, why tempt ye God? In other words, the Holy Spirit can be lied to. He can be tempted and he can be resisted. You remember that, I think probably we should turn to that passage of Scripture. Acts 7, 51 reads, “‘Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye.'” Now, what you have here, of course, is Stephen before the Sanhedrin, and he’s speaking to these religious rulers, and he says to them, “‘You resist the Holy Spirit.'” And then you can grieve the Spirit of God. And you remember Paul says, “…grieve not the Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” But notice what Isaiah also says. This was a great truth of the Old Testament. In 63.10, Isaiah says, But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. The word vex means grieve. And grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. And he can actually be insulted. That’s Hebrews 10, 29. And we’ll not take time tonight to look at that. But I’m not through. Let’s look at something else that reveals he’s a person. He’s called another comforter. Now, listen to our Lord. He’s in the upper room discourse, John 14, 16. And I will pray the Father. He’ll give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Now turn over to the 16th chapter, 6 and 7, and this is very important. But because I’ve said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it’s expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And not only that, but we have here the reference, I’ll pray the Father, he’ll give you another comforter that he may abide with you. And the interesting thing is that the pronouns that are used here, the word spirit is neutered. in the Greek. But when he’s spoken of as the Holy Spirit, the masculine pronoun is always used. In other words, he’s referred to always as a person. And I think it’s tragic in some places in Scripture that it’s been translated which or that or if. and it ought not to be that at all. It ought to be, instead of a which or a that, it ought to be he, because it is the masculine in the Greek, and that is very important. Now, I hope that somehow or another I’ve established the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person. He’s a person like the Lord Jesus Christ is a person, and He’s a person like God the Father is a person. And that brings me to consider this, the deity of the Holy Spirit. And I want us now to look at this very important subject. The Holy Spirit is God. Now, may I say this at the very beginning of looking at these scriptures, This is very meaningful for us. Here is where a great many Christians need to have this truth brought to them. Frankly, We feel very much alone today, and we feel very weak. I’ve talked with a Christian, and her problem was that she feels very much alone, feels very weak. I’m confident that every Christian here tonight would say that. I’m sure you would. You’d say, well, I certainly feel very much alone. I feel like Elijah got that complex. You know, I alone. And then there are many of us that we feel very weak. Well, isn’t that one of the questions tonight? This fellow doesn’t even want to call himself a saint. He doesn’t feel like a saint. Probably doesn’t look like a saint. Maybe doesn’t act like a saint. But he is a saint. But if he’s a child of God, he’s indwelt by the Spirit of God. And you have God with you. And you’re not alone. That’s the great truth of this age. is that God is in the world. And God is dead? Of course he’s not dead. God the Holy Spirit is in the world today. And he will work, and he does work, and he is working in the lives and hearts of those that are God. and he’ll work in the heart and life of any individual. They’ll open his heart and life to him. Now, that’s important. He’s God in the world today. Now, the deity of the Holy Spirit, and he’s the third person of the Godhead. Now, we’ll be redundant. We’ll refer to scriptures we’ve looked at before. You will recall that he said, Go ye therefore into all the world. You teach all nations. baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And by the way, the word ghost, of course, in our translation It doesn’t mean what it did in the days of Queen Elizabeth. It’s got so today, ghosts mean some sort of an apparition that you see. You think of a haunted house when you think of a ghost. But it means spirit, actually, and that’s the meaning of it, and probably we should keep it that way. Holy Spirit. And baptizing them in the name of the Father, God the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, the second person of the Godhead, and the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. He’s put on an equality with God. Now, Paul understood it that way also when he gives us a benediction over in 2 Corinthians at the very end of the epistle. In 2 Corinthians 13, 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. The triune blessing is given there. Then in Ephesians 2.22, and we’ll not look at that this evening. Now I want to turn back to 1 Corinthians, the third chapter. I think we’ve been there before, but let’s look at this, 1 Corinthians 3.16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Now, we’ll be returning to that later on, but that’s a very important truth, my beloved, that the child of God, Athanasius is right, wretch, you poor wretch, you. Don’t you know you’re carrying God with you? If you’re a child of God, the Spirit of God dwells within you. That ought to have a great deal to do in regulating conduct, oughtn’t it? Anywhere you go, you take the third person of the Godhead. This is one of the, What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? We’ll have occasion, of course, to deal with that later on. Then again in 619 is this verse that I’ve just given, What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? And then we have in Acts 5, verse 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? Now, he says you’ve lied to the Holy Ghost. Now, notice Peter. Whilst it remained, was it not thine own? After it was sold, was it not thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Peter makes the Holy Spirit and God synonymous here. You didn’t lie to just the Holy Spirit, you lied to God because the Holy Spirit is God, you see. The Word of God makes that very clear. Then here’s some very interesting scriptures that we need to look at. And here’s Exodus 17. Now follow this very carefully because these are very important to see. You’ll remember the children of Israel are in the wilderness. And the very interesting thing is that they are thirsty. They don’t have enough water. We had somebody here tonight from New York City. Now, that brother will understand when you don’t have enough water. They didn’t have enough in New York City, you remember. Now, will you notice this? Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink. Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children, our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, take with thee of the elders of Israel thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I’ll stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Maasa and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Now let’s turn over to the third chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. And will you notice this? Because I think this is a very important truth that we need to pick up at this point. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. As in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty days. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Now will you notice something that I think here is without doubt one of the most beautiful pictures that you have in the Word of God. Here is Moses smiting the rock and out of it flows the water for the children of Israel.” Now, will you see the picture that is there? God the Father gave the Lord Jesus Christ, God so loved that he gave him. And it was God who smote him. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. Moses smote the rock. Who’s the rock? The rock is Christ. We’re told that, definitely. Paul says to the Corinthians, the rock that followed them was Christ, and the water, the Holy Spirit. When he was smitten, the Holy Spirit, if I go back to the Father, if I go not away, the Spirit will not come. But if I go, I’ll send him unto you. And when he was smitten on the cross, died for our sins, He said, wait in Jerusalem till I get back up yonder before you go, wait till I go. And he got back up there. Now he says to them, the Spirit of God came. And the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, the water poured out. And we’ll see that the water is the finest figure that we have, at least one of the finest figures we have of the Holy Spirit of God. You don’t have a prettier picture than that. You can see Moses smiting the rock, water flowing forth. God giving the Son to die upon the cross. And then the Son, as he dies on the cross, he sends the Holy Spirit, the water flows forth into the world. There’s another picture. Turn to Isaiah, the sixth chapter, if you will, that wonderful dedication chapter for Isaiah, that which set him aside for the service of God. Now, will you notice what is said, though, in the last part of this, verse 8, Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy.” Tremendous language, isn’t it? Their eyes, shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and convert and be healed. Now, go over to the last part, the last chapter of the book of Acts. And let’s listen to Paul the Apostle as he uses this particular passage of Scripture. 28 of Acts, the 25th verse. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After that, Paul had spoken one word. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. What did Isaiah say? The Lord said unto me. Paul says it was the Lord, yes, but it was the Holy Spirit that spoke unto him. Well spake the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear. and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive, etc. So that you have here a clear reference to the fact that the Spirit of God is God, my beloved. And I’m not through with that one either. The Holy Spirit has all the attributes of deity. These are big words. Omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence. Omniscience means he has all knowledge, as God does. You see, God doesn’t only know the plan he’s working on in every detail of it, but God knows every other possible plan. That means an infinite number of plans in every detail in those plans, and he picked the one he’s working on because it’s the best plan. So you can be sure God’s working on the very best plan today. He knows everything that’s knowable. God is omniscient. And we want to turn to 1 Corinthians, the second chapter here, and look at this for just a moment. 1 Corinthians 2. Now I was there a moment ago, and here we want to see something now. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Now listen to this. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” This is a very wonderful passage of Scripture here. What he’s said is this, that the Spirit of God is our teacher today and the only one that can take the Word of God and make it real to us because as it’s written, I have not seen, hear, heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit because only the Spirit of God knows God because he is God. Now, what man, he says, knoweth another man but the spirit of man that’s in him. Now, tonight, you know how I feel and I know how you feel. You see someone that’s going through a very trying experience and your heart goes out to them. You know exactly how they feel because they’re a human being and they have a human spirit. You have a human spirit and that’s the way you know it. Now, I tell this old story, and some of you have heard it, and let me tell it again, if you don’t mind. When I was pastor in Nashville, an elder, I had a very wonderful elder, and he’d known me since I was a boy, and he was a very wonderful personal friend. He lived next door, and it was in wintertime, and I got up one morning. My study was upstairs, and after breakfast, I went upstairs and looked out the window and for the first time noticed that during the night it had snowed. Five inches of snow was on the ground. It was beautiful. And I sat down at my desk, and even before I had prayer, I just sat there and gazed out on the landscape. And while I was sitting there looking out, That elder came out of his house, and that’s back there, the days of the old furnace, not oil furnace, but coal furnace. Many of you from back there, a man from Chicago, know this. You know you have a furnace, and you have to carry out ashes. He came out his back door, and he had two scuttles of ashes. And he stood there, and he looked out over the landscape. And you know, as he looked out over the landscape, I’d just done that. I knew exactly how he felt. He was thrilled to see that snow. I don’t know, just beautiful. And I knew exactly how he felt. Then, he was a great big fellow, so he started down the steps, and they’re long steps, holding those two scuttles of ashes. He got them down about halfway, and his feet, both of them, went out from under him. And he didn’t want to spill the ashes, so he just, he didn’t brace himself, he just sat down. But he was a fat fellow and he was well cushioned, so he just sat right down. And so the minute he sat down, he put down the two scuttles very carefully and he looked around over the landscape. You know, I knew exactly how he felt. That’s embarrassing, you know, especially if somebody saw you do that. And he looked around and he went over the landscape two or three times. He was convinced nobody saw him. And he got up and I could see. I felt good. Nobody saw him. Apparently not hurt. He got his two scuttles and he started out. And he got a little ways out on the walkway. And then we had a repeat performance. Only this time he fell lots farther because he’s not on the steps. He went all the way down to the sidewalk. And I could see that he hit, he almost bounced. But he’s still holding his two scuttles of ashes. He didn’t spill one of them. And so he put them down again and I’m confident he sat there for three minutes in that cold snow. And this time he really went over the landscape. He looked it over, you know, everywhere to make sure nobody saw him, you know, fall like that. After all, it’s bad enough to fall once, but you’re sort of foolish to fall twice. And so he looked them over and after a few moments he got up. He picked up his two scuttles, he went out to the alleyway and there’s a place there, you remember, where you used to empty your ashes. He emptied his ashes, both scuttles, got his empty scuttles and started back and he got up on the porch and he turned around again. My, you could just see the satisfaction in his face as he looked around over the landscape. He was very happy about everything went in. That was on a Saturday morning. Sunday morning, when I went in to the pulpit, he ushered in one of the corners of the church. I went right by where he was. And I said to him, my, you sure looked funny yesterday carrying ashes out. And he looked at me in amazement. He said, did you see me? And I said, yes, sir, I saw you. He said, you know, I didn’t think anybody saw me. Well, I said, I could see that. Now, I knew exactly how he felt, and you know exactly how he’s felt, don’t you? Because you’re a human being. He’s a human being. I’m a human being. And we understand each other. But friends, do you know how God feels? Do you? Do you know what God thinks? No wonder this crowd today say God’s dead. As far as they’re concerned, he is dead. They know nothing about it. Only the Spirit of God. who knows God because he is God. He alone can take the things of God and make them real unto us. He alone can make us understand. And I’m not disturbed, I hope you are not, when a bishop in San Francisco says, I don’t believe in the virgin birth. Of course you don’t, brother. I hope you don’t. And I mean that. Because any time an unsaved man says, I believe in the virgin birth, he upsets me terribly because he’s contradicting the Bible. The Bible says you can’t know it, my friend, until the Spirit of God makes it real to you. And we need to emphasize that, that only the Spirit of God can open this book. And that’s one of the reasons it’s not an interesting book to a great many people. You can get facts, but you can’t get truth until the Spirit of God is our teacher. Renan wrote probably the most brilliant life of Christ that’s ever been written. But he also fouled the whole thing up because he took the last half of his book and he attempted in that last half to interpret Christ. And I give you my word I talked to our junior high Christian ever group the other night, and that’s a sharp little group. We got junior highs that could give a better interpretation of Christ than Renan, one of the most brilliant men that ever lived, gave. Why? Well, anybody can get the facts, but only the Spirit of God. can be the one to give you the truths of the word of God. And that, my friend, is something that is all important. Now we come to something else here. He is omnipresent. That means that he’s everywhere, and it means he’s everywhere at the same time. And that’s not all. It means all of him is everywhere at the same time. You say to me, explain that. I can’t. I don’t understand it, but that’s what the Word of God teaches, and he’s the infinite God. All of him is everywhere at the same time. The Spirit of God is in here tonight because he indwells believers. All of him is here tonight, but all of him is in the Billy Graham crusade in London. All of him is in India tonight and in Africa. May I say that he’s everywhere. Now, that’s the thing that David, and David was so amazed at this, and I’ll only turn to this verse, Psalm 139, 7, “‘Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence?’ And then David speaks of the fact, he says, if I go to heaven, you’re there. If I go to hell, and what he means by hell is the grave. I go down in the grave, he’s there.” And though I go in the depths of the ocean, he’s there. And if they get to the moon, he’ll be there. He’s everywhere. The Spirit of God is everywhere. He’s omnipresent. He is God. And then he’s omnipotent. Zechariah 4, 6, it’s not by might nor by power. And let me change that. The Hebrew would, I think, give it to us like this. It’s not by brain nor by brawn, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. Only the omnipotent power of God. Now he’s holy. David says, take not thy Holy Spirit from me when he sinned. because in the Old Testament he did leave a child of God when he sinned, and David prayed that he had not. And his name itself, Holy Spirit, only God has eternity. And you and I, children of time, God is the God of eternity. Now I’m going to just give one other thing, and I’m through this evening, and I’ll not give all of this. There are many symbols of the Holy Spirit, and they help us to understand them. I’m confident God gave them to us for that reason. I’m only tonight going to mention just one of these, and that symbol is the dove. And I believe that that’s one of the loveliest pictures that’s given of him. You remember at his baptism, and let’s turn to Luke 3, 22, and this is a symbol that’s given of the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. By the way, there you have the Trinity again. God the Father speaking from heaven, God the Son being baptized, and the Spirit of God coming upon him like a dove. You will recall that that’s the way that it’s given. And the very interesting thing is you have a statement of John concerning this. You remember when they came to him and asked him some questions? In John 1, 30 and 34, this is what he said, “‘This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew him not.'” but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” And then back in the 8th chapter of Genesis, you have the story of Noah sending out of the ark the two birds. There you have the hawks and the doves. But here it’s the raven and the dove. And the raven did not come back because he found some dead carcass that he could light on and make a meal. And it was for him a wonderful thing, but not the dove. The dove speaks of the Holy Spirit. And he flew over this mass again of the flood, of the judgment. And he could only find rest in the ark. And thus the Holy Spirit is today in the world. And like that dove, I don’t think he’s happy in Los Angeles. You may be happy in Los Angeles, but I don’t think the Spirit of God is. I think that he’s finding no place here to rest. Now I want to close with this. Right now, we’re seeing materialism has become a god, so much so that tonight this country’s in grave danger, and I think in grave danger of a revolution. A great many people feel that tonight if they could get just a few more material things, they’d be satisfied. And a lot of Christians like that, my friend. May I say to you this evening that materialism is one of the deadliest, one of the deadliest eras of the present hour, this business of going after things. You and I are living in a world in which the Spirit of God has been almost crowded out. Even believers today have crowded Him out. And again we need to recognize that we need to have the Spirit of God on the scene. bringing the reality of Christ into our lives. Hungry hearts today. And you’ll never be satisfied with material things. You can have all of them. But the most unhappy people are the people that have got everything that this world offers. What you and I need, and what we need as believers tonight, is a fresh infilling of the Spirit of God in our lives. how we need God tonight on the scene. And only the Spirit of God can make the Lord Jesus real tonight. That’s the reason we want to study about the person and the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

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If you’d like help growing in your walk with God, we’ve got resources that can help. Call 1-800-65-BIBLE or visit ttb.org. We’d love to hear from you. And when you’re in touch, will you do us a quick favor? Let us know how you listen to Through the Bible. This bit of information helps us to be good stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us through faithful partners like you. So thanks in advance for your help. I’m Steve Schwetz, and as we go, I want to leave you with this blessing from Romans 15. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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He washed it white as snow.

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