The Spirit and Indwelling

We've been looking at ministries of the Holy Spirit, first of all, to unbelievers, now to believers. We've seen that the Holy Spirit regenerates us at the moment of salvation. He gives us new life, new birth. So that's regeneration. We talked last week about the ceiling of the Spirit. The presence of the Spirit in our lives serves as a seal, a mark of ownership, a mark of authority, a mark of security, that the Lord puts in us through the Spirit of God. Tonight we talk about the indwelling of the Spirit. Let me just introduce our study by making sure we understand what we mean by the indwelling of the Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit is a term used in the Bible basically to describe an abiding presence of the Spirit, continuing presence of the Spirit with us. The actual location is not the issue. I mean, we talk a lot about him being inside us, and that is the way the Scriptures use the terms, our body as a temple, as we'll see. But the location is not the important thing. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit being. So it's not like he takes up residence somewhere down in your left arm or in your right hip or somewhere inside you, and he's contained and encapsulized with your body. That's not the issue. The issue is he maintains an abiding presence with us at all times. That really is what the indwelling of the Spirit is all about. It is at the center of the Lord's promises to His disciples before He left to go back to heaven, as we've been seeing in John 14 through 16, the upper room discourse. Jesus often talks about the Holy Spirit, and that although He's leaving, the Holy Spirit is going to be with them forever. And so it was really at the cornerstone of what Jesus was encouraging His disciples with about the Spirit's ministry to them after His departure. And the indwelling of the Spirit is foundational to all other ministries of the Spirit for us as believers. The ceiling of the Holy Spirit is dependent on His indwelling. The anointing of the Spirit is tied to the indwelling, the teaching of the Spirit, the leading of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit. All of that is tied to the indwelling. And so the indwelling of the Spirit is a very important concept for us to grasp hold of, and that's what we're going to be looking at tonight. We're going to begin with just who is indwelt by the Spirit, the person's indwelt. And I want to make a case for the fact that all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit. Not just some Christians who are really spiritual and are higher-planned than others. The indwelling of the Spirit is not based on our experience, so it's not something that we pray for or seek, or some people get and some people don't. It's not that at all. I believe the Bible is pretty clear on this that every believer is indwelt by the Spirit, and that that happens at the moment of salvation. Now we're going to build a case for that from four different angles. There are four different ways in which the indwelling of the Spirit for all believers can be seen in the Scriptures. The first one is that the Bible says that the Holy Spirit even indwells sinning Christians, even Christians that are sinning that are not really right with the Lord, but if they're believers, they are indwelt by the Spirit. And so if you look with me first at 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19, most of you probably have your Bibles open there because that one is on your notes. 1 Corinthians 6.19, probably the most familiar verse about the indwelling of the Spirit, where Paul says, do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from God, you are not your own. You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your bodies. The whole letter of 1 Corinthians is addressed to a very mixed group of believers. You don't have to read very far into 1 Corinthians to realize this is a messed up church. This is a church that's got a lot of problems. A lot of sin involved a lot of difficulties in the church that Paul's trying to straighten out. A lot of carnal, flashly believers in the church, he talks about that in 1 Corinthians 3. Lots of problems in this church, but all of them are addressed in this passage as possessing the Spirit. He does not specify just a certain group of them that are not involved in any of these difficulties that he's going to address and has addressed. He's basically saying you as believers in Corinth, all of you, are temples of the Holy Spirit. Your body is the temple of the Spirit of God, a place of residence where God takes up residence within you. When you think about it, the immediate context here in chapter 6, Paul is addressing people who have been guilty of sexual immorality, have been involved in sexual sin, and his whole point is don't use your bodies that way. Your body is not to be used for sexual immorality. Why? Because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So in the immediate context, he's obviously addressing some believers who are not living for the Lord as they should. And yet he says your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So the impression, the implication is all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit, not just certain ones who've attained a certain status or standing spiritually. Any questions or comments about that before we look at the next line of evidence? The second line of evidence that all Christians are indwelt by the Spirit is the fact that the Holy Spirit is a gift. The Holy Spirit is a gift. We're going to look at three passages which teach that. The first being John chapter 7, where Jesus foretells the giving of the Spirit. That's the time when he is at the feast of the festival of lights in Jerusalem. And the feast of tabernacles, verse 37 says on the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not been glorified. So he speaks of the Spirit as being received, as being given as a gift. A couple of other passages. Romans chapter 5, Romans 5 and verse 5, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And then one other reference, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 5. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. So in these three passages and others, the Holy Spirit has mentioned as a gift. He is given to those who trust Christ as Savior, nowhere is there any indication in Scriptures that the Holy Spirit as a reward for something we do. Nowhere in the Bible is there any merit involved that would earn the presence of the Holy Spirit. So there is nothing in the Bible about believers doing something, praying a certain way, living up to a certain standard, and thus being given the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a gift. There is no distinction between believers. He is a gift. We do not earn him any more than we earn our salvation. He is a free gift. And the implication of that is that he would be given at the moment of salvation. If he is given, there is nothing we do to earn him. There is no spiritual growth. We have to attain before we get him. The implication of that is if all believers are indwelt and he is a gift, and the implication is that it happens at the moment of salvation. Okay, any question there before we get to the third one? The third line of evidence is more from the negative side of things. And it is this, the absence of the Spirit is evidence of being unsaid. So even sinning Christians are said to be indwelt by the Spirit. The Spirit has said to be a gift, but from the negative side of things, the absence of the Spirit is evidence of being unsaid. To being an unbeliever, Romans 8 and verse 9, very clear on that. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. So the indwelling of the Spirit is characteristic of a believer. If you are not indwelt by the Spirit, you are not a believer. So they are one and the same. Every believer is indwelt by the Spirit. If you do not have the Spirit, then you are not a believer. Jude 19 also says pretty much the same thing. Describing false teachers or apostates in the church, he says, verse 19. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts, and do not have the Spirit. Now, if you read this whole book, the book of Jude, the description of false teachers is pretty stark, pretty dark stuff. And it is clear that these are people who are not believers. They are going to be condemned. They are going to be judged by God. So it is pretty clear that they are not believers. And even the term he uses here, they follow mere natural instincts. The word natural there, natural instincts is the same word and the same idea as 1 Corinthians 2, 14, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. So it is a clear tie into the fact that these are unbelievers. They are false teachers, but they are unbelievers. The Bible teachers, if someone denies the faith, turns their back on Christ and walks away, never comes back, that it is clear they have never really ever been saved. And that is the case with these false teachers. So they have not the Spirit. They do not have the Holy Spirit and evidence of the fact they are not saved. Okay, the fourth line of evidence is that the presence of the Holy Spirit is linked with the presence of the Father and the Son. All three are said to be with us or be in us or to abide with us. If you are in Jude, just flip back a couple of pages to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 24. The one who keeps God's commands lives in him and he in them. The idea here is the evidence of our salvation is an obedience. We have seen that before. It is not that you keep commands in order to get saved, but the keeping of God's commands is an evidence that there is true life there, true genuine salvation. And so that is why he says the one who keeps God's commands, it is clear. He lives in the Lord and the Lord lives in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the Spirit he gave us. So he lives in us and that is seen in the fact that he gives us the Holy Spirit. And then in John 14, we have been looking at this passage on Sunday mornings and we have seen this fairly recently. The Holy Spirit's presence is linked with both the Father and the Son in John 14, verses 17 to 20. The mentions the Spirit of truth that he is going to send in verse 17. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you before long the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you. In the end of verse 23, Jesus replied, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. So you've got the Father and the Son making their home with us, abiding with us, but he's also introduced that by the Spirit of God who, in verse 23, who in verse 17 lives with you will be in you. So the Holy Spirit's presence is linked with the presence of the Father and the Son. Now we know that the Father and the Son are with all believers. Jesus makes that clear in this very passage that we've just read. So obviously the Holy Spirit is also with all believers because they're all three linked together here with this indwelling. So there are several ways as we've seen that the scriptures indicate that all Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you or to continue an abiding presence with you. So the Holy Spirit is with every believer. He is given to us to be with us forever. That never ends. Comments are questions about that before we move on to how long that lasts. Concept of the indwelling for all believers. Any comments? Questions? Okay, that's pretty familiar truth. I'm sure to all of you. I want to stress next the permanence of the indwelling and let's stay right here in John 14 and verse 16. Jesus says, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate. Remember we saw that's another of the same kind, another advocate or counselor, comforter or the Holy Spirit to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. So the Holy Spirit is promised to be with us forever. Is there anything that can cause the Holy Spirit to leave us? Is there any sin that you can commit that would cause the Holy Spirit to leave? Not if this is true. Jesus said, he will be with you forever. That sounds like he's going to stay, doesn't it? He's going to be with you forever. He will never, never leave. There are a lot of people that feel like when you sin as a believer, you lose the Holy Spirit. That's not true. You do not lose the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not leave because of sin. There's no sin you can commit. There's nothing you can do. That will cause the Holy Spirit to leave us. Very clear here in John 14, 16 that he is with us forever. And the whole point of this passage is to contrast with Jesus leaving. Jesus can't be with us forever. He's in a body that will die. He'll be resurrected and go back to heaven in a glorified body. But Jesus is leaving. The whole point of the contrast is the Holy Spirit is staying. He's not going to leave. He's not going to be here awhile and then he's staying. He's remaining. He's abiding with you forever. That's the whole point of the contrast. However, although you do not lose the presence of the Spirit or the indwelling of the Spirit, when you sin as a believer, sin does affect the ministry of the Spirit. In what ways would you think that the ministry of the Spirit to us is affected by sin? Don't feel like witnessing to anybody. So that inter testimony of the Spirit that compels us to witness can be damaged. Don't hear His voice for sure. What else? Anything else? You think sin might affect as far as our relationship with the Holy Spirit? The ministry of the Spirit, the Spirit that serves works through us, compels us to serve. That's going to be short-circuited if they're sin in our lives. Don't want to be serving the Lord. The way we breathe is the Spirit of the Spirit. We're not being within the Spirit. Thank you, I'm very happy. Okay. In fact, I've got a verse, so it's going to put up on the screen for that very thing. I think it's up there next. Yes, Ephesians 4, 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So obviously the Holy Spirit is affected by our sin, isn't He? He's grieved. That's a pretty strong term. The Holy Spirit is grieved when we sin. So obviously that's going to affect His freedom to work in our lives as He desires. There's another verse that talks about how the Holy Spirit is affected by our sin. It's 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18, which says, do not quench the Spirit. Now quenching is literally a word which means to put fire out, to throw a blanket on, to kind of muzzle the fire and the power of the Spirit of God in our lives. And so if we quench Him, He's not pleased, He's grieved by our sin. If we quench the Spirit of God by any kind of unyieldedness or sin in our lives, then His power is affected. The fire of the Spirit through us, we might say the filling of the Spirit, His control over us is affected. So there are lots of things that are affected. You don't lose the Spirit, His presence is there forever, but He certainly is affected when we sin. It's not like sin has no consequences in our relationship with God or in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit is grieved, He is quenched, His power filling is stifled when we are involved in sin. So it interrupts all of those things. Tommy? No, I think it's like the Spirit of the ancient, if it is, you can now say that, and how the devil will drill out all the sin that has been doing Spirit to make you be affected. Yeah. That's a good point. I mean the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sin. So if we sin and He leaves, we're not going to have that conviction of the Spirit anymore. And so that's a good point. Certainly all the blessings that come from our obedience and serving the Lord and the ministry of the Spirit through us, all those blessings we forfeit when we're living in sin. And so the Holy Spirit is not blessing us, giving us joy, peace, fulfillment and knowing that He's using us. All of those things are affected. So just because you don't lose the Spirit, just because He doesn't leave, don't think that, well, doesn't matter if I sin, it's inconsequential, isn't it? No, there are lots of consequences to our sin in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. It's pretty damaging, but He still remains there. He abides with us forever, but we've kind of choked off His power, His working through us, the blessings like you've talked about other things. So, permanence of the indwelling, it is permanent. He's always there. He will never leave us, but certainly is affected by our sin. So it's not a small thing to disobey the Lord. All right, any other comments or questions along those lines? Certainly. Ruins your prayer life? Yeah. Just think about it. You know, part of the Holy Spirit's ministry is to intercede for us while we're praying. And when we don't know how to verbalize what's on our hearts, Romans 8.26 says the Holy Spirit actually words our prayer to the Father. Well, if we're living in sin, that's quenched. That's not going to happen. So it does affect our prayer lives. And even the desire to pray is it dries up when we're living in sin. That's for sure. Okay, good. Anything else? Okay, let's talk about the perception of indwelling. And what I mean by that is how do we recognize the indwelling of the Spirit? How do we know that it's true? Well, there are two ways that we know that the indwelling of the Spirit is true. The first one is through the Word. And that's the most important. No question. It's the better of the two. We know we are indwelling by the Spirit because the Bible states it because the Bible teaches it. Regardless of what I feel, regardless of what I'm experiencing, we know what the Bible teaches. And that's key to a lot of things, even the assurance of our salvation and so forth. We believe that because of what the Bible teaches, not because of what I feel. Now, there is, however, a second way that we experience or perceive the presence of the Spirit. And that is through our experience. Although we do not base our belief on experience, nevertheless, we may experience the evidence of his indwelling. We may actually sense it, feel it, recognize it. Not just because it's in the Word, but you may experience the ministry of the Spirit. A couple of verses on that on the screen. First of all, first John 413, this is how we know that we live in him. By the way, the word no is to know by experience. It's not to know factually. It's to know by experience to have experienced this. So this is how we know by experience that we live in him and he and us. He has given us of his spirit. How do we know and by experience feel sense that we live in him and he is in us. We have this union with our Lord. It's because of the presence of the Spirit. Now, probably what's being referred to there is conviction. That's how we sense his presence. When a believer disobeys God, you know it. Unless you have constantly lived in disobedience to the point that you've, you've, you've, you have a hardened conscience and the spirit of God is no longer working. In your heart and life. But typically when a believer sends you feel it. You know it. You sense the pressure of the Holy Spirit, convincing you that you've done said thought something wrong. And so that conviction of the Spirit is the evidence of his, of his presence with us. The other passage is one that we looked at earlier. Ephesians 430 and do not grieve the spirit of God with whom you were sealed with the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit literally is grieved. He hurts. He weeps when we sin. And in the context, there's talking about different sins of speech. In the verse before he's talked about putting away, you know, anger and malice and wrath and all those kinds of things. So he's talking clearly about sin. It is sin that grieves the Holy Spirit. He literally is touched in a negative way. And if you're a believer, you can't help but feel that. You sense that. You know that. That's the conviction of the spirit. And so and there are other ways too. More positive ways. There are times when you sense the spirit laying on your heart to do something or speak to someone or take advantage of a situation and opportunity to do something to serve someone or to be a witness to someone. And you just feel this sense of compulsion inside that you need to do this. And I believe that's the Holy Spirit. That's the spirit of God prompting us, compelling us to do something. So there is experience that goes along with this. You see, now we we don't base our belief on that experience. If I stop feeling that does it mean it's no longer true? Of course not. We base our belief of the presence of the spirit on the clear statement of scripture. But you can also sense it and feel it at times in the ways that that we've seen in these verses. All right. Any question or comment there about the perception of the indoling how we know how we sense it and feel it and experience it. Okay. There are some problems related to indwelling that we want to look at tonight as well. Problems may be a little too strong a word. But I was searching for another letter, a literating here a little bit that started with P. You know, we've got persons and permanence and perceptions. So we had to have one star of P. So problems really we're talking about questions. There are some questions related to the indwelling of the spirit that have raised concerns that trouble people. And they are somewhat troubling, but there I believe are good answers for all of them. One of them is this is obedience or asking for the Holy Spirit a condition of his indwelling. In other words, does the Holy Spirit come only when we're obedient or does he come only when we ask for him? There are a couple of passages that seem to indicate that. Let's look at one of them in Acts chapter 5 verse 32. Acts 5 32. Peter speaking to the Sanhedrin after they have been warned not to teach you more in the name of Christ. He says in verse 29 we must obey God rather than human beings. Verse 32 he says we are witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Oh, so the gift of the spirit and dwelling of the spirit is dependent on my obedience. It means if I'm disobedient, he leaves. If I obey comes back. Is that what it means? I don't think so. I think the obedience spoken of here is the same thing as faith in Christ. Remember he's talking to unbelieving Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, and this is quite often the way that the gospel is presented in the book of Acts that the trusting Christ is savior is being obedient to the faith or obedient to the gospel. Let me give you a couple of other verses that shed some light on that that say it much the same way. Acts chapter 6 and verse 7. This will be on the screen for you. So the word of God spread the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Now it's clear there that these priests trust Christ as their savior because in the context he's talking about the church growing more disciples being added. People getting saved but the way that it's expressed is they became obedient to the faith. Another passage that makes this clear is Romans chapter 1 and verse 5. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. The obedience that is linked with faith in Christ, the obedience of obeying what the gospel says that you need to trust Christ as savior and Paul's taking that message. It's clear if you read the context in Romans 1 he's talking about the gospel and he's taking that message of the gospel to Gentiles. What is that message that you need to trust Christ as savior, the obedience that comes from faith. So it's not that obedience is a prerequisite to getting the spirit in these contexts in the way this is stated. Obedience is the same thing as trusting Christ as savior. You're being obedient to the call of the gospel which says commands us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be saved. And when we're obedient to that command we do trust Christ as savior, the Holy Spirit comes. So it is only in that sense that obedience is a condition. Now the other part of this question is obedience or asking does the Holy Spirit come when we ask for him or do we have to ask for the Holy Spirit in order to get him? Do we need to keep praying, keep asking for the Holy Spirit? Look 1113 seems to indicate that. Look 11 verse 11 says, which of you fathers if your son this is Jesus teaching on prayer, which of you fathers if your son asks for a fish will give him a snake instead or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion. If you then though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So here it sounds like I'm supposed to pray to get the Holy Spirit. And there are a lot of people who take this verse and teach that the Holy Spirit is given in answer to prayer. And so they believe this is teaching that I have to pray a certain way or with a certain fervency to get the Holy Spirit. Well it helps to look at the parallel passage. This same teaching is found almost verse for verse the same teaching, same teaching on prayer is found in Matthew 7. So look at how Matthew 7 deals with this. Matthew 7 is on the screen, verse 11. If you then, Jesus says in Matthew, if you then though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? Now even in Luke's gospel he mentions the good gifts. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, then your heavenly father is going to give good gifts to you. The concept is just like we don't disappoint our children when they ask for something good do we give them a snake or a scorpion something is going to hurt them? Obviously not. We give good gifts to our children. Well in the same way God gives good gifts to those who ask him. That's a very general way of saying God answers prayer. Now in Luke's gospel Luke mentions the Holy Spirit in a very general way as one of those good gifts that God gives in just a general way. It's not saying that the presence of the spirit is dependent on our prayer. But in general terms he's saying the Holy Spirit is one of those good gifts that God gives. And he may be talking about his power, his blessing in a very general sense the good gift of the spirit is given when we pray his power is blessing not talking about his presence because his presence is very clearly indicated in scriptures as a gift to all who trust him. So it's not it's not connected with prayer in the sense that I need to pray in order to get the Holy Spirit. Luke just mentions the same thing Matthew is saying as an example of one of those good gifts the presence power the blessing of the spirit just in general terms all that the Holy Spirit brings comes to us when we're asking. So is obedience or asking a condition for receiving the Holy Spirit? No. Faith in Christ is the only condition for receiving the Holy Spirit. He comes and indowels all who trust Christ is savior. Any questions about that comments about that. Yes or job? So the contrast is in the nature of sinful human beings and all that. Yes. The contrast is even we the contrast is in the nature of sinful human beings and holy God. The contrast is that even we who are sinful human beings know how to good good gifts to our children. We're not going to do something that would harm them. And if we as sinners know how to do that then surely God who is perfect holy and just knows how to give good gifts when we ask him. He's not going to fool us or trick us or send us something bad when we ask him for something good. The contrast really is in the nature of sinful people and the nature of a holy God. Both know how to good good gifts and certainly God's not going to disappoint us that way. That's really where the contrast is. The mention of the Holy Spirit is just Luke's way of saying I'm saying the same thing Matthew did God knows how to give good gifts. One of those good gifts is the Holy Spirit and his power is blessing all of the activity that he accomplishes in our lives and that part is in answer to prayer. But we don't get the indwelling as an answer to prayer. That's clearly something that comes through faith in Christ. Good question, good observation. Others? Here's one that's troubled a lot of folks. Is indwelling ever temporary because there are some passages in the Old Testament that seem to indicate that. One being 1 Samuel 16 and verse 14. Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. Oh, so the Holy Spirit left Saul? Do you mean he indwelled Saul for a while? Then he left? Is that what that's talking about? Those passages are often used by good dispensationalists. I'm a dispensationalist. I believe difference between the old covenant with Israel and the new covenant with the church. There are differences in the ministry of the Spirit. But a lot of dispensationalists teach, well these kind of passages indicate that the Holy Spirit indwelled people temporarily in the Old Testament but he indwelled permanently in the New Testament. This passage is not even talking about indwelling. It's talking about becoming on someone to give power for a specific task. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on people in his power. He would give divine enablement and power to accomplish a task. And then he might be removed if that person was living in sin. That's what's being talked about here. Contrast it with verse 13 and David, see David and Saul are being contrasted here. Look back at verse 13. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him David in the presence of his brothers and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Rama. What's happening is that the Holy Spirit comes on David to empower him to do the work that God wants him to do specifically to do the work of being king. But Saul who had been disobedient and sinful, the Spirit of the Lord departed from him. Now where's the power of God was no longer on him. The power of God, the Spirit came on David powerfully. That's clearly an enablement passage. Has nothing to do with indwelling. It's not talking about indwelling. It's talking about the Holy Spirit giving power to do what God has called you to do. God has called David to be the next king. Samuel comes and anoints him. So the Holy Spirit comes on him powerfully to give him the power to do that job. And at the same time, because of Saul's sin, removes his power, departs from Saul. Now that's why David prays in Psalm 51 after his sin with Bathsheba and he came under conviction of that sin. That's the reason he prays in Psalm 51 11. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Notice the context verse 10. Create a me of pure heart, O God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Why? I've lost that pure heart, Lord, and I don't have a steadfast, faithful spirit anymore. I've been living in sin for almost a year now by the time David confesses this. So he says, do not cast me from your presence. That's the smile and favor of God upon David's life. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. I'm convinced he was remembering Saul and because of Saul's disobedience, the power of the Spirit was removed from Saul. David doesn't want to see that happen. And he knows he's sinned grievously and it could happen. God could remove his power, the enablement of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit to do the works that David needs to do. God could remove that. So he says, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. In verse 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation. Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. So this is all in the context of being restored to fellowship with God. It's not an issue of losing the presence of the Spirit, but the power of the Spirit. So that's what's happening here. And we're going to see that a little bit later when we do a lesson on the Old Testament ministry of the Spirit. There's a lot of occasions like this where the Holy Spirit comes on someone to give them power to do a specific task. Several people in the Old Testament that's referred to. It's not talking about indwelling. These temporary coming on and leaving of the Spirit. That's not has nothing to do with indwelling. It has everything to do with the power of the Spirit, the enablement of the Spirit for a particular task. Yes. Carolyn? Pardon me? Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. We're not talking about indwelling here. We're talking about the power of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit. Specifically, the enablement of the Spirit or filling to do a particular task. I'm backpedaling just a little bit because when we do our study on the filling of the Spirit, we're going to see there are two kinds of filling. One kind of filling, and I'm jumping ahead of myself here, but one kind of filling is the Ephesians 5, 18 filling. The command, be filled with the Spirit, and it's contrasted with, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. That's the control of the Spirit, the influence of the Spirit in my daily life and conduct, making me more like Christ. That's a continual, progressive filling of the Spirit, controlling my conduct and character. The second kind of filling is what we're talking about here, where the most theologians call it, the sovereign filling of the Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit just comes on you to enable you to do a particular task. That's different from the daily control of your conduct and character. This is a special enablement to do a particular task. So when we are called upon to do something for the Lord, the Holy Spirit motivates you to witness to somebody and you're scared to death to do it. Call for the power of the Spirit. Pray for the enablement of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit, and He will give you what you need. I quite honestly recognize this and have for 42 years in my life, I am not capable of preaching the Word of God without the enablement of the Spirit. It is a scary thing. I recognize that very deeply and cry out to God every time before I preach for the enablement of the Spirit because that's not something you can do in human power. That's different from that continuous, progressive filling of the Spirit, though. I'm getting way ahead of myself. We're going to talk more about that. But yes, you're right, Carolyn. This is not indwelling. This is filling or enablement for a particular task. It's that kind of filling. So is indwelling ever temporary? No. One final question that we need to ask, I don't want to leave it here right at the end, is indwelling ever given after salvation? And there is a passage in Acts that seems to indicate that. Acts 8, 14, 17. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. So these people in Samaria are getting saved. They've heard the Word of God accepted the Word. So the church in Jerusalem, since Peter and John up there to check this out, verse 15, when they arrived, they prayed for the new believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now, Charismatics have a field day with this. Charismatics take passages like this to teach this is how you get the Holy Spirit. You get someone to come lay your hands on you and pray over you and the Holy Spirit will come. Well, our time is gone. So I just want to quickly answer that. There is a delay here in the receiving of the Spirit for a particular reason. This is the first time the gospel has spread beyond the Jewish race, beyond Jews. It has now gone to Samaria. These are bitter rivals of the Jews. They're hated by the Jews and it is absolutely crucial for the unity of the church to show that there is the same thing happens here as happens in Jerusalem. So this is going to happen when the apostles arrive. By the way, there are no apostles today. The apostles were a select group of men for the first century. God gave them special supernatural powers. And so God wants everybody to see this is the same faith. It's the same church. Samaria and Jerusalem are the same. And the way to powerfully drive that home was to cause a delay in the receiving of the Spirit until the apostles from Jerusalem get there, lay their hands on them, thus signifying the unity of Jerusalem with Samaria. So that was an unusual situation. Much the same thing will happen in chapter 10 when the gospel goes to Gentiles. And it is the speaking and tongues there that identifies that branching out of the church with what happened in Jerusalem back in chapter 2. No doubt that they are all in the same body. It is clear to both Jews, Samaritan and Gentile that this is all the same thing. That's the reason for the delay. You have to understand that there are some untypical experiences in the book of Acts because we're in transition here. This is transitional stuff. And in order to show the unity of the church that's what's happening as the church branches out into new areas, this is not a hybrid church. This is not a different work of the Holy Spirit. It's the same thing as what's happening in Jerusalem. And to tie the two together there's a delay in the receiving of the Spirit. Same thing happens later in with the Gentiles. And even in chapter 19 with some disciples of John who had not yet heard about Jesus. We're living in a time when there's still a lot of transition going on from Old Testament to New Testament and there's some unusual things happening. Not typical. But it's clear in the epistles when the church is established and church truth is being taught that the Holy Spirit is not delayed. The Holy Spirit, all Christians have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes at the moment of salvation. That's clear in the epistles. Some transitional stuff going on in Acts. She has to be careful how you build doctrine from some of those passages. In conclusion, let me say it's humbling to recognize that we are his temple. That is very humbling to recognize that we are the temple of the Spirit of God. He lives within us. It is also encouraging to know that we have his help all the time. He is always with us and it is convicting to recognize that we have the Holy God with us at all times. It is the Holy Spirit. So it ought to dictate the way we live and our obedience to the Lord. So a lot there with the indwelling of the Spirit. Our time is up. I'll answer questions at the door. Try to if you have any others. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the indwelling of the Spirit that he comes to indwell us at the moment of salvation. And all of us who are believers have the Spirit of God. Thank you for that. May we recognize his presence. May we not grieve him or quench him by sin or unyieldedness. May we let his presence be fully expressed through us. For your glory, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.