Indwelling 8 of 8 Part Series on Holy Spirit Ken Sils

If it be the Lord's will, the next time that I stand before you we will not have as a scripture reading Matthew chapter 3, verses 11 through 17. We have arrived at the point of a series in which many members of the Lord's Church really enjoy the last one, especially on a long-dated series of lessons. But when you're trying to unravel the mysteries of a mysterious one among the Godhead, you really do need a long series of lessons to help us really understand the work of the Holy Spirit. Last week, as I had promised, we're going to earn our Ph.D. in Spiritology because the topic or the subject matter that we are considering in these last two lessons, the principles concerning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are difficult, and I recognize that I exchange the right hand of fellowship with those that are confused about and no doubt the religious world around us are carried away with all kinds of incorrect and, yes, false idea, falsehood after falsehood when it comes to understanding this topic, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And so what I want to do for a moment before we get into Lesson 8 is to think about some of the points that I made last Sunday about the Holy Spirit's indwelling. We look at the Holy Spirit and we recognize from the New Testament that he's been given to Christians and that he dwells in Christians. And since he dwells in us, we have wonderful benefits that are provided to us, like I read in 2 Corinthians 1, in verses 21 and 22, where he's established us, anointed us, he's sealed us, he's set as a down payment until the purchased possession for the day of judgment, and these truths were clearly stated in last week's lesson. And the balance of the time that we had in our first lesson, I looked at the nature of five different New Testament biblical indwellings. And the first one we looked at is there upon the screen, where both the Old Testament and the New Testament tells us that sin dwells on our souls. And our souls are on the inside of our body. There's the inner man and the outer man. And so when we obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, our sin-stained soul is washed in the blood. We sing that wonderful song all the time, and our souls that are like scarlet are made white as snow, the image of purification. Sin's markings are literally inside of us, like maybe you had a ham sandwich that entered inside of you for lunch today. We understand that premise, do we not? We also talked about the New Testament, where it said, let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. Again, when we think about the word of Jesus Christ, it's really principles and ideas and truths. And these ideas, principles, and truths, they are burned into our minds or into our biblical hearts, which, of course, is where our brain is. And so this also is a literal indwelling, although we can't shove a Bible into our ear or up our nostrils, we do not digest one like John was told to eat the little book. We do know that biblical ideas are there in our minds, and we meditate upon those things. And so God's word does richly dwell in us in that fashion. Some might want to argue that's representative, but let's just leave that one liberal for that case. And then we looked at a third one together when we considered Satan dwelling in the city of Pergamos in the book of Revelation and in chapter 2. This was an indwelling. Satan dwells, he abides, he's living in that city. And we recognize pretty quickly that although this is an indwelling, it's of a different type or a different sort. The devil did not have a literal throne in Pergamos. You couldn't go to Pergamos and say, there's the devil's throne. At least as far as I understand history, there wasn't anything like that. But the devil did have a throne there. He did reign there through agents, through those that were doing his bidding. We looked last week at there at the church at Smyrna, that there Jesus was talking about the Jews that comprise the synagogue of Satan. Satan was using Jews all across the civilized world to try to destroy his church. And that would be the idea of him reigning or ruling like he owned the city. And therefore it was a representative or an indirect indwelling through a source of agents. We also talked about the indwelling of Christians in light or Christians that dwelt in the light. And I ask you a very common sense way is that we recognize that if we walk into a dark room, we're not going to light it up just because we walked in because we dwell in light. Or there's light that comes from us all over. We're inside of light. And so the light lights up the dark room. That's really silly. We understand that that's not what the Bible's teaching us. We are immersed in the light of Jesus Christ because we're following the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We're following the words of light from the light of the world. And so again, this is a representative, an indirect indwelling as Christians are dwelling in the light. And the last illustration I used was a rather complex concept from 2 Peter chapter 3 where it talks about new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. I could do what I did this morning in Bible class and go through a long dissertation of what this might mean, but actually in understanding indwelling, it's not difficult. As I said last week, a place is a place is a place. A place in and by itself is nothing, but we know that there's places of righteousness and places that are unrighteous. And the reason we know that it's an unrighteous place is because of the people and the actions associated with the people. And so we think about the modern concept of what we know as a strip bar. That's a bad place. That's an unrighteous place. Why is it an unrighteous place? Because of the people and the actions that are being done in that place. And so that's why we don't want our young to go there. We know the people and the actions they're doing at the strip club. It's an unrighteous place. It's this idea, the new heavens, new earth, it's a righteous place because people of righteousness, beings of righteousness are there. Once again, it is an indirect indwelling as a result of an agency, in this case the people that are there. And so the New Testament teaches us that the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians. The subject matter of the last lesson is not if the Spirit indwells us, but how. How does the Holy Spirit indwell us? I've answered this question, and I've talked to people that are on the other side of the issue that take, I believe, the wrong position, and they say, you really don't believe that the Holy Spirit indwells us. Well, I just spent all last week in vain if that's the case. I think I made my case very clear that the New Testament tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells us. There's just two ways that He does. Does the Holy Spirit dwell in me and you like sin indwells on our soul? Does He indwell in us like a ham sandwich dwells inside of our stomach and our digestive system? Or does the Holy Spirit dwell in us through some type of representation, some type of tool or an agent? There's a lot of people, including members of churches of Christ, that never really consider or get this far in their understanding about the indwelling, and it fosters a lot of issues which would make it almost impossible for us to successfully answer the many falsehoods that are promoted by modern-day charismatics, that so many of them, they're persuaded to rely on their personal feelings, their hunches, their whims, their dreams, their sensations, but they're attributed that to the Holy Spirit indwelling in them. And so we have a hard time answering if we don't get this question right. Now I recognize that was a long introduction, and as a result of that, I think that it's going to be helping us to resolve the confusions and give us the real biblical clarity that we need to have concerning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So let's get on to part number two of this, the last lesson, number eight, of the Holy Spirit when it comes to the idea of the indwelling. First of all, recognize that the New Testament reveals to us that our Heavenly Father dwells in Christians. You know, I think there's several that do not realize that our Heavenly Father dwells in Christians. This passage is pretty clear if you'll look with me in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and in verses 16 through 18, where Paul said to the Corinthian Christians, and what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and be their God, and they shall be my people, therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, do not touch what is clean, and I will receive you. Notice there, verse 16, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Well he says that I will dwell in them. That's how he started there in verse 16 with that passage, I will dwell in them, I will walk among them, and notice, I will dwell in them for the third time. I am their father, they are my children, I will dwell in them. You know where this passage comes from? Where did Paul get this passage of Scripture? He got this passage of Scripture from the book of Leviticus. Let's turn our Bibles there, to the book of Leviticus, and in chapter 26. Leviticus chapter 26, and let's read a few passages here, beginning in verse 9. Leviticus, that's not somewhere we usually go, right? It's kind of complicated, Old Testament, but here in Leviticus chapter 26, and in verse 9, God says, for I will look on you favorably, and make you fruitful, multiply you, and confirm my covenant with you, you shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. Look at verse 11, I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, I will walk among you and be your God, you shall be my people, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves, I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you walk upright. I will walk among you, I will be your God, you shall be my people. That sounds like what Paul was talking about. So when we think about this expression in Leviticus 26, we go back to the Old Testament days, and it's easy to recognize that the presence of the Heavenly Father, the one who is above all, was felt and understood through the Old Testament tabernacle. That's what he's talking about in here. He's talking about, I'll set my tabernacle among you. And that's how you're going to know. That's how you're going to feel my presence is through the tabernacle, and we know that during the night there would be a fire above it, during the day there would be a cloud above it. His presence was felt to the people through what's known as the Most Holy Place. So there can be no doubt here that when we think about the Father's indwelling into the nation of Israel, whether it be Old Testament or New Testament, that it's not a literal indwelling. It's a representative, an indirect indwelling via representation. He dwelt in them through the tabernacle. Because the Bible teaches us it is not possible, it is impossible, for God to literally indwell our bodies. Isaiah makes that emphatically clear. If we'll look in Isaiah chapter 66, in Isaiah chapter 66 and verse 1, I like to try to present this to a lot of the charismatics that are around there. When Isaiah said, Thus saith the Lord, Heaven's my throne, earth is my footstool. Where's the house that you'll build for me? Where is the place of my rest? Think about that for just a moment. As you read that particular passage of Scripture, he's saying that I literally dwell in heaven. That's where I'm dwelling right now. Earth cannot be my literal dwelling place. Earth is my footstool. Y'all got a footstool, right? Can you get inside your footstool? All I can do is you can prop your legs up on it. That's all you can do with a footstool. You can't get inside of the footstool. And so when you think about it, he says, I can't get inside the earth. It's too small. Too small for me. Can't get in there. And I still think he's using, he's not using quite appropriate measurements because he's so much higher than that. But our God, he dwells in heaven. And Jesus talks about the Father in this fashion. In John chapter 14, remember, he's about to go to the cross and he's telling the disciples not to be anxious, not to be troubled in their hearts. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house, my Father's house, there's many mansions. Now, I think to help us in this series, we need to take the glossy language out of the King James, New King James, and look at the literal language. That word there, many mansions, it's really not there. It's I've got a lot of room. There's a lot of room. Lots and lots and lots and lots of room. That's all I've got up there is room. And if you stop and think about it, when I've described to you about the greatness of God, people don't really understand how big and how great God is, that there's the first heavens and there's the second heavens and there's the third heavens. And if you happen to be in the United States of America, heaven is up. And if you happen to be in China, heaven's up, because the earth is a globe. So heaven's up and heaven's up. What that means is heaven totally encapsulates the earth. Shouldn't be surprised of that, that God is so big. I talked to you about the universe, that they said it was infinite, but Einstein finally figured out that's not true, it's infinitely expanding. God said, I made this thing in six thinking days, six days. It's like me putting the universe on my coffee table. That's God. How can we say that God is going to be the Father's literally inside of me? How are we going to say that? That's not who our God is. Our God is so much bigger. His home is heaven. If you look here in Hebrews chapter 9, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 24, Hebrews chapter 9 and then verse 24, the Hebrew writer says in this passage, he says, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God for us, where is our Father literally actually is in heaven? The Son of God, when he finally completed his mission, he ascended into the Father's house, where he literally actually is, and his presence is literally actually felt. At the same time, Paul says that I'll be in them, so we recognize that it's got to be a literal, it's got to be an indirect representative indwelling. And here's some interesting, I'll finish this point with 1 John chapter 4. In 1 John chapter 4 and then verse 12, John says, no one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us. Look there in verse 13, we know that we abide in him and he in us. If we're talking literal, if we're talking actual, that is impossible. You can't do that literally. You can only do that figuratively. You can only do that indirectly, that he's in you and you are in him. That's the only way that that thought can be done. He's dwelling in us because he's given us of his Spirit. He's in us because he's given us his Spirit. That's how he's done it. He's done it through that agency. And we have seen and testified that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him. There's that expression, God abides in him and he abides in God. There's that same concept and we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love and he who abides in love abides with God and God in him. Three different times that statement is made. An impossibility actually, literally, but representatively it truly makes sense. As you think about the marriage union, that I'm in Sandra, Sandra's in me. We are one. We are one flesh, but it's done indirectly. And we understand that position. So it's a representative. Our Father dwells in us representatively, indirectly. And we also understand as we read the New Testament Scriptures that Jesus indeed dwells in Christians. In 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and in verse 5, in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and in verse 5, the Apostle Paul says in this passage, famous passage, examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not know that? That's what he's saying. Don't you understand that, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you're disqualified. So if you're on the wrong side of the spiritual track, you don't recognize that Jesus Christ is inside of you. And how do you think Jesus, the Son of Man, is in any person, let alone all of us in this place together, separated by time and space? How's he in all of us? How's he accomplishing that? And we go, ooh, you know, mysterious. It's in there. It is a defilement of our common sense, but we don't need to have a defilement of our common sense. Jesus is not literally inside Ken Sills' shirt. He's not in there. That's not the way that this indwelling works. He's not literally, actually, or personally inside of me, like a ham sandwich would be inside of me after lunch. Now Jesus is in me, but not literally. Jesus is in me through representation, indirectly. Notice the way that Peter speaks of it in Acts chapter 2. And in Acts chapter 2, and in verse 32, he says this Jesus, God has raised up of which we are all witnesses, therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he said himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Nor let the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you've crucified both Lord and Christ. In other words, Peter is saying, I saw him ascend to the right hand of the Father. We've already seen where the Father is dwelling, literally, and actually, his presence is in heaven. We read that passage in Hebrews chapter 9, that he went through the veil to the presence of his Father in heaven. That's where he literally resides right now. And so some might say, well, okay, so maybe he's literally in heaven right now, so you need to show me how he is dwelling in me via representation. And I'm more than happy to do that. If you look with me in Galatians chapter 4, and in verse 19, what a fascinating passage this is. Galatians chapter 4, and in verse 19, the Apostle Paul said, my little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. That's an interesting expression, isn't it? That Christ is formed in you. I thought that's where the potter is forming something. Christ is formed in you. Well, how is Christ formed in us? He's formed in us by a transforming message. And that transforming message taken in my heart, applied in action, it helps me to become more and more like Jesus every day. This is not rocket science that I just said there, is it? It's pretty simple, pretty simple for us to understand that point. In the book of Philippians, and in chapter 1, and in verse 20. In Philippians chapter 1, and in verse 20. The writer says in this passage, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body. Whether by life or by death, Christ is going to be magnified in my body. That means we'll be able to see him if we take a body x-ray, MRI machine, is that what he's saying? Well, that's the way that some might be looking at it, if he's actually, literally inside of there. But no, that's not how Christ is magnified in my body. If we would just continue reading a little bit, look at verse 27. Verse 27, only let your conducts be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or not, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel of Christ Jesus. If we'll abide in this wonderful gospel of the message of Jesus Christ, that's going to allow people to see Jesus in me. That's an indirect, that's a representative type of indwelling. And notice a passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13, I've talked about this passage often throughout this series, where Paul said, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we've all been made to drink in one spirit. Remember how much we saw a few moments ago that we're in God the Father and God the Father is in us? Well, notice here in verse 13, we're in Jesus Christ, we're in his body, we're in his church. That Jesus Christ is magnified in my body, he's formed in my body, and I'm placed into the body of Jesus Christ, that I'm in him, he's in me. Same concept. And that's an important concept that helps us recognize that this is not a literal, actual indwelling, but that this dwelling is one that's representative, it's an indirect indwelling. And so now, finally, we are prepared to see how the Holy Spirit indwells us as Christians. And let's turn to a passage of Scripture that helps tie all of this together, in the book of Romans, and in chapter 8. In Romans, the 8th chapter, let's read verses 9 through 11. I love Romans chapter 8, it's one of my favorite chapters in the book, it's the chapter to me that gets the short end of the stick. All the wonderful blessings we have because we're in Christ Jesus, and here they are. Here's a couple of them mentioned, beginning in verse 9, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But it's the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Verse 11, who raised Jesus from the dead? Our Heavenly Father. That passage says, if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, he's in you. We know he's talking about our Heavenly Father, how's he in us? Not literally, not actually. Verse 10, and Christ is in you. He's talking about Jesus Christ. We know Jesus is not literally inside of us, he is reigning at the right hand of the Father who's in heaven. But we know that the Father is in us, we know that Christ is in you. It says it right there in verse 10. And so, when I bring up these points, why in the world are so many, including members of the Lord's Church, adamant, insisting that the Spirit of God, in verse 9, is a personal, literal, direct indwelling inside of our flesh? That doesn't make any sense. If he's literally inside, look at verse 9, he says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you. And in the very next breath, he says, Christ is in us, and the very next breath, he says, the Father is in us. Why would we say the Holy Spirit's literally inside of my body, but Jesus and the Father are not literally inside of my body? That is not logical. That is not properly handling the Scriptures. It's either going to be all one way or the other. And I want to tell you that I'm leaning that it's the other. The Holy Spirit is not literally inside. But I think I can answer this. I think I can answer this, this rapid circulation of the false dogma that the Holy Spirit is this mystical, magical, invisible force that just basically gets sucked into us at conversion. Kind of like the way Ezekiel speaks. And like I think I said not long ago, that if you have to go to Ezekiel to prove your point, you're probably on the wrong side of the issue. That's my guess. Ezekiel chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. But the religious people around us do these types of things all the time. Look at the way Ezekiel speaks. Now Ezekiel is talking in highly vivid, illustrative language. And he says here in Ezekiel chapter 2 and in verse 1, well, at the end of verse 28 in chapter 1, So when I heard it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one speaking, and he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you. Then the Spirit entered me when he spoke to me, and he set me on my feet, and I heard him who spoke to me. The Spirit entered in. How many people in the religious world today, that's their concept of conversion. Suddenly they see the light. It's like suddenly they took their nostrils and sucked the Holy Spirit up into their body, and now they're slain in the Spirit. We are given this concept by the type of verbiage that is used here in the book of Ezekiel. But as I talked before, the Holy Spirit is not like Casper the ghost that can be parceled up into a gazillion different pixels. I think some of the problem that we have in our generation is that we are trusting in those that are lying to us and behind pulpits. Number two, we want the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. Number three, we watch way too many fantasy movies. I guess some of it. We got these weird ideas that some of these fantasy heroes and some of this fantasia can actually be incorporated into the way the Holy Spirit works. Remember the Holy Spirit is a person. He's not a parsoned out pixelated ghost who conveniently chops himself up into gazillion pieces. You get a feast. You get a feast. It's like Oprah. You get a car. The Holy Spirit works. That's not the way he is dwelling inside of us. It might be cool to fantasize about that concept, but it's truly not biblical, and we would never ever think of the Father or the Son indwelling us in that fashion. We never would. So why do we think about it with the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit indwell Christians? Let's get some biblical insight into this as we read this section of Scripture. I should have showed you that a while ago. Sorry that I didn't. So let's move on to this passage of Scripture in the book of Galatians and in chapter 3. In Galatians chapter 3 and in the first five verses, we're going to find out how the Holy Spirit indwells us in these two verses of Scripture. The Apostle Paul says to the Galatians, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works and the law or by the hearing and the faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain as indeed it was in vain? Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works and the law or by the hearing and the faith? You've got two choices, by the works and the law or by the hearing and the faith. How did you receive the Spirit? How was the Spirit given to you? How are you dwelling in the Spirit? The answer is obvious, by the hearing and the faith, not by the works of the law. The works of the law that represents the Old Testament law system, the law of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. The hearing and the faith would represent the New Testament law system, the teachings of Jesus and his holy Apostles and Prophets. How do we know that? Well, look with me in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and in verse 6, the Apostle Paul in this passage makes an interesting comment. He says, concerning God, he has made us ministers of the new covenant. I've told this to a lot of people and people have looked at me like, really? I didn't know that. He's made us ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. For if a ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how would a ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? The law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, the Apostle Paul was not a servant of. He was not a minister. That's not what he was laboring in. That wasn't his job. Now that's what he did before when he was known as Saul, a persecutor of Christians. He was doing that earlier, but he's not that anymore. He's a minister of the new covenant, the new covenant which the Holy Spirit was bringing to the world, not that which Moses was bringing to the world. And it's important, how did you receive the Spirit? Was it by the works and law or the hearing of faith? Here in this passage he makes it clear, it's got to be by the hearing of faith. That very famous passage that Paul makes to the Romans in Romans chapter 10 in verses 16 and 17, that sad statement, that they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, we believe our reports when faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith in Jesus Christ comes by hearing the teachings of the new covenant. Faith comes by hearing the gospel that demands obedience. And it was the Holy Spirit that made this possible. If it weren't up for the Holy Spirit, the world would have never been converted to Jesus Christ. If it weren't up for the Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 2 would not have happened. Think about that. Acts chapter 2, the establishment of the Lord's Church, started with the Holy Spirit coming down on those twelve men, immersing them with miraculous power, making them able to speak in other tongues, and people were like, how in the world are you doing that? And Peter says, y'all be quiet and listen to me, I've got a message to tell you. And he told them about Jesus. The Holy Spirit made that possible. And so obedience to the gospel of Christ produces faith in men. The Spirit made this gospel possible to be obeyed and to be lived. And so to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ is to accept the Spirit of God. And this is that expression that I've used a few times in this lesson called metonymy, where one thing is said, but another thing greater is expected, that the Spirit dwells in me. He doesn't dwell in me literally, he dwells in me representatively, as the New Testament dwells in my heart by faith. That's how the Holy Spirit indwells me. The gospel of Christ is the faith. And as you look at that chart, and we're not going to, don't worry, I'm not going to read these passages, I've gone long already. But I want you to look at that section, look at all of those things. The Spirit witnesses, instructs, convicts, begets, born of the Spirit, Spirit saves, sanctifies, cleanses, power of the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, comfort of the Spirit, Spirit indwelling. All of those passages, as the Holy Spirit does it, everything the Spirit is doing, he's using the mechanism known as the Word of God, because the Word of God does those same things. It does those same exact things. And so when you look at that particular expression, think about what Paul was saying to the Christians in Ephesus. Remember when he talked to them about putting on their Christian armor, and all the different weaponry that was given in Ephesians chapter 6. And he tells us, as you read there in verse 17, take on the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. What is the Spirit using to accomplish his mission? He's using the Word of God. And so when we think about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he's using that grand and glorious tool. And remember when I was talking to you about the indirect or the representative type of indwelling, that it's using a tool, it's using a source, it's using an agent, it's using people. The tool he's using is the Word of God or the doctrine of Christ Jesus. I want you to also look with me about this parallel. This is a very famous parallel. We use it all the time among the church when we're talking about singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You may have your Bible there in Ephesians, but this chapter, look there in verse 18. Don't be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. I'm getting a high level of Spirit in me. That's the idea of the Spirit indwelling, and it's maximized. How are we going to do that? Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord. How am I going to get just richly filled up with the Spirit? I'm going to sing these wonderful songs. That'll get the job done. But the sister passage in the book of Colossians says this. In Colossians 3, verse 16, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. Do you think that's just coincidence that those two passages would be like that? One's in reference to being filled up with the Spirit, and the other is letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. The Holy Spirit is using the Word of Christ to emotionally raise us up, so sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with your heart blowing with grace, making melody in your heart as you're singing these songs to the Lord and teaching and admonishing each other. Spirit-filled people occurred when the words of Jesus dwell in them or filled representatively. So where is the Holy Spirit actually, literally, personally indwelling? Well, this isn't hard, because it wasn't hard for the Father, and it wasn't hard for the Son. In the book of Revelation, and in chapter 1 in verse 4, when John sees the grand revelation, notice what he sees. It says there in verse 4, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. That's a little confusing. But this terminology is used again. Look in Revelation chapter 5 and in verse 6. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne were the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though he had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. The seven spirits. Again, what's at the throne? The Father is sitting on the throne. The Son's at the right hand. Just grab the scroll out of his hand. And the seven spirits of God. That's a weird concept. But if you remember, go back to lesson number 1. That seems like going back five years ago. Go back to lesson number 1. Look at the descriptive names I gave. One of those was the seven spirits of God. Where did that come from? Isaiah chapter 11. Look with me in Isaiah chapter 11. And then, well, let's just begin, I think somewhere around verse 2. Yes, verse 2. We'll just read verse 1. Isaiah 11, verse 1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? And a branch shall grow out of his roots. Talking about the Messiah. Look at verse 2. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Count those up. You'll find seven spirits. When you have the spirit of the Lord, spirit of wisdom, spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, spirit of knowledge, the spirit of fear of the Lord. Now, you might remember when I was going through the script of James, I did that for you and showed you that that's in reference to the Holy Spirit. That's what his name was known as. Where is he? He literally resides in heaven. Now, if you have a King James or a New King James, 1 John 5, verse 7 teaches that principle. In 1 John 5, verse 7, if you have a New American Standard or English Standard version, you won't see it. But in New King James and King James, verse 7 says, for there's three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. I think that's one of the reasons why they want to get rid of that. It destroys their concept of the indwelling and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit literally resides in heaven. These three are one. You would think I'm done. I would like to be done, but I think there's something really important that we need to discuss before we finish. Because there are two really troubling situations that are present if you're insisting that the Holy Spirit literally, actually, personally indwells your flesh. And I don't think we'd be complete if we didn't talk about those two very troubling situations. The first one is, when you think about the two problems that are there with the actual indwelling, I have this simple question to ask you. What does the Holy Spirit do when sin enters a Christian's body? If the Holy Spirit's literally inside your body, and you sin, and sin now is present upon your soul, inside your body, what does he do? Remember, as you go back to 2 Corinthians 6, I think this is a real issue. In 2 Corinthians 6, and in verse 16, you are the temple of the living God. If God has said, I will dwell in them, I'll walk among them, I'll be their God, they shall be my people, therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I'll receive you. I'll be a father to you, you shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Lord God Almighty. He can't take up residence where sin is, and if he's taking, if he does, and if you have some sin, what does he do? Does he just pop out and hover around on the outside, thinking, oh, they'll take care of this. I'll just kind of, I'll go sit over here in the chair for a while. I'll just pull up a chair, and I'll let them, because I can't abide in that temple that's now corrupted and defiled. I can't do that, and so when he gets things right, I'll come back. And then I ask him, where's the process for that? How do we know when he's coming back in? Do you do that when you pray, when you confess, when you repent, when maybe you're rebaptized? When? Well, consider Romans chapter 8. In Romans chapter 8, and then verses 5 and 6, this is an easy, really an easier question than we think. Again, in Romans chapter 8, that great chapter, the passage says, for those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, they're the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The Spirit lives in me because I'm spiritually minded. Boy, that's not hard to figure out, is it? If we understand the concept of an indirect indwelling. I've accepted, and I live by the laws the Holy Spirit gave me. Look at verse 2 in this text. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. To reject these laws makes me a carnally minded individual. If I return to a lifestyle that's according to the flesh, the Spirit no longer dwells in me because his laws are no longer guiding my life. That's pretty easy to understand, isn't it? His laws aren't guiding me anymore, so he's not indwelling me anymore. Because his laws aren't guiding my life anymore. This is clearly a representative indwelling. The Holy Spirit is not playing jumping jacks. He's not jumping in. He's not jumping out. He's not going in our flesh, coming out of our flesh, just waiting for the moment. I've got to get out of here. I can't stay here. That's not happening. But if you take a literal, actual indwelling Holy Spirit, you are forced to take that approach. You have no choice, and it's a rather silly choice. Okay, so that's a dilemma. That's a problem. But here's the one that really, really, really bothers me, and I don't think a lot of Christians have thought this through very well, or they would jump off board of that philosophy as quick as they can. To say that the Holy Spirit literally indwells me makes each of us, whether we realize or not, and again, I'm going to say probably not, whether we realize or not, it makes us a blasphemer. That's pretty serious, a blasphemer. I'm forced to draw that inference, because you are telling me that God is literally inside of you, that God's literally inside of you. And what's the big deal about that? There was a huge deal in the Gospel, in John chapter 1, and then verse 14, the Word that came flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. We preach and teach all the time that there's one, only one, the great one, the Almighty One, who is incarnate, who is God that is dwelling in flesh, that he is the Emmanuel, God with us, that the Holy Spirit took the Son of God, which John referred to as the Word, and implanted him into the womb of Mary, and there he grew a body of flesh. And we marvel at that position. He is incarnate, he is Emmanuel, and that's why he was able to say to the Jewish leadership of his day, before Abraham was, I am. And they're like, uh, what'd you just say, bucko? And he said, you heard me, and they picked up stones to kill him, because they were calling him a blasphemer. They would have been right if God wasn't inside his flesh. But we know that they're wrong, because he truly is Emmanuel. He is God wrapped in a body of flesh. Consider the modern mindset of the charismatic Pentecostal and New Age movement, who often with great fanfare declare that God is literally inside of them, moving them, motivating their dreams, their hunches, their feelings, their motives, often supplying them with eternal revelations, because he's literally inside of them. He is personally telling them the best course of their lives, and they shut out all other forces. And I've tried to study with individuals like that, and when there's a clear biblical conflict with what they've been telling me, and what the New Testament teaches, they would rapidly pull out, well, you just don't understand, the Holy Spirit has told me this, so go away and shut up. That's the way they feel. That's the way they think. And this is the point where I think some of my brothers and sisters that hold an actual literal concept of the Holy Spirit deep down, while they're very reluctant to talk about the ramifications of what the Holy Spirit is doing for them while he's dwelling literally inside of their bodies, they really don't want to go there and discuss about the extra benefits. But what it does, it exposes the folly of their position. And so I hope that we have answered the question sufficiently, and I want to finish with this great passage of Scripture, where Paul says concerning the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6 and verses 19 and 20, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We are indeed the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are precious stones that make up the foundational walls of the tabernacle that's not made with hands, and inside of that grand and glorious tabernacle is the holy place and the most holy place, and as a result of that, us being making up the walls of precious stones, let us use what God blessed us with, our bodies and our spirits, and glorify him with the words we say and the deeds that we do. That is what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. Hope and pray that you've enjoyed this series, and that it will be an encouragement to you, and that now you understand far better the mystery of the mysterious one, and that he's no longer such a mystery to us, and that we can trust what the Bible has to say about that. If you consider yourselves tonight, and you're thinking, Ken, you're talking about sin on my soul, that it's in there. If you look inside and you see that one ugly dark blot, you need to be willing to ask God's forgiveness and mercy. My brother, sister, I don't want to see you this close and lose it. We can't do that, can we? We can't be this close and not live right. Come out of your sin, be willing to repent, be willing to confess before God, and the blood of Jesus will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. And so if you would like to obey that invitation, we'll sing this invitation song and give you that opportunity.