Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. So here's why. These are Bible answers to life questions, people that are asking questions. Tonight we're going to talk about, we're going to answer this question. Why does it seem that the Holy Spirit is absent at times? Why does it seem that the Holy Spirit is absent at times? Today there's a lot of confusion about the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. I think since the 1960s and the charismatic revolution that took place at the end of the social revolution that took place in our culture, I think that there's been a lot of confusion that leads to a lot of questions. And this type of question, why does it seem like the Holy Spirit's not working at some times or isn't present at times, comes because of that confusion. So in order to answer that question, I'm gonna answer about five different questions. Number one, we're gonna answer this question, who is the Holy Spirit? Number two, we're gonna talk about why he is here. Why is he here? Number two, what is he doing? Or number three, what is he doing? Number four, what is his purpose? And then we're gonna answer the question, why does it seem that the Holy Spirit is absent at times? In Acts chapter one, Jesus is meeting with the disciples. Now Jesus has died, he's been buried, he's risen from the dead. The disciples are anxious about what he's gonna do next. Man, this is something that, this doesn't happen. This has never happened. Someone died, was buried, rose from the dead of their own power, that he's walking around with nail prints in his hands and his feet, and they're interested in one thing. They wanna know, is the kingdom about to be established? What is gonna happen next? And so Jesus tells them what's gonna happen next. In Acts chapter one and verse four, the Bible says, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. In John chapters 14 through 16, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit coming. And he says, my Holy Spirit's gonna be poured out on all flesh. And now Jesus is saying, you wait here. The promise that John said I was gonna bring, I'm going to bring. He says, I'm going to the Father and I'm going to have the Father send the Holy Spirit. For John truly baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Somebody asked me one day this question, what's the difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit? There is no difference whatsoever. If you were to look at the word ghost, in the Greek, it would be the word pneuma. If you looked at the word spirit in the Greek, it would be the word pneuma. It's just that the translators translated it sometimes spirit, and the word sometimes they translated it ghost. So don't think there's these two different people. I had a lady say one time, you baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, not in the name of the Holy Ghost. I said, it's the same thing. She said, no, those are two different words. And I said, well, not in the Greek, they're not, they're the same, it's the same thing. So this is the same person. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? This is what they wanted. The Bible says, and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. Now note that this hasn't got a whole lot to do with this message tonight, but you ought to mark that in your Bible the next time someone comes to you and tells you that Jesus is coming back in 2017. You need to remember this verse. You remember this verse. Listen to what he says again. Jesus said this. And if you think Jesus is a pretty good authority, say amen. Okay, so Jesus is a pretty good authority. He knows what he's talking about. He said, and he said unto them, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons. Jesus could come back today. And he could come back a hundred years from now. I was reading in a book just yesterday, a guy named John R. Rice. He wrote back in the 1960s, hey, Jesus could come back today. I hope I don't get to finish this book. He said that in the 1960s. But he didn't come back. He said he might not come back for 100 years. Well, we're 50 years closer to that. I don't know when Jesus is going to come back and neither do you and neither does some guy that comes along like ten years from now or five years from now or next years and tells you he's studied the pyramids, he's examined Isaiah, he knows what Jesus meant, and Jesus was talking about dates and exact times, but tell him he's nuts. That's what you tell him. in the love of Jesus, you're out of your mind. And so you just let them know that. Now this is really important. Because he's talking to them as the foundation of the local church. And he says, you will receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you will be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He said, look, I'm going to do what I said I was going to do. I'm going to ascend to the Father. Because as long as I am here, the Holy Spirit can't be poured out on all flesh. Why? Because the Holy Spirit in his totality embodied the person of Jesus Christ. So Jesus said, and we'll see this later on, that right now he's dwelling with you because he was in the person of Jesus Christ, but he says, when I go to the Father, I'm gonna ask him to send him and he will dwell, he's dwelling with you right now, but he's gonna dwell in you. So He said, the promise that I gave you that this was going to happen is going to happen. So you wait here until the Holy Spirit comes. And when He comes, He's going to empower you to be witnesses. He's going to empower you to be witnesses. Now remember why He said He's going to empower them. Why did He say He's going to empower them to be what? That's why He empowers us. Remember that. That's what Jesus said. He said when He sends the Holy Spirit, He's going to empower you to be, say that again, the witnesses. That's the whole idea here. The whole idea is that He's going to empower you to speak in tongues. I want you to understand that. He didn't say, I'm going to empower you to do miracles. He didn't say, I'm going to empower you to raise the dead, to pick up snakes, or to do anything else like that. He didn't say, I'm going to empower you to have weird visions of anything. He said, I'm going to empower you, this is what Jesus said. Jesus said, I'm gonna empower you to be witnesses. So that's why Jesus said, I'm going to the Father and I'm gonna ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. He's gonna empower you to be witnesses. And he said, you're gonna be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. You know where we are right now from Jerusalem? Take a guess. We are at the uttermost parts of the what? That's where we are, we are a long way away from where Jesus said you're gonna be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. What Jesus said would happen, happened through the Holy Spirit working. Now, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus' prophecy is fulfilled. Jesus' prophecy is fulfilled at the day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter two, read it, it's in your notes or you can read it in your Bible along with me. The Bible says in Acts chapter two, and when the day of Pentecost, look in verse one, The day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were all with one accord in one place. It doesn't mean they were all in a Honda. Okay, you're not following me here. So thank you for the courtesy laugh. That was very kind. And on the day of Pentecost, it was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now let me explain to you Pentecost. Pentecost was a feast that the Israelites had on a yearly basis. So they were having this Pentecost feast, and they were all coming to Jerusalem for this feast. Well, the disciples were there at Jerusalem, and so on that particular day, the Bible says, they were all with one accord, that is, all the disciples were in agreement. They'd been praying together, they were asking God to work, they were waiting the way Jesus told them to wait. The Bible says they were all in one accord in one place and suddenly the Bible says there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and it filled the house where they were sitting. So they are inside and all of a sudden they hear the sound of a rushing mighty wind. The Bible does not say that a wind came through. We were out when we dedicated this property. We came out here to dedicate this property about 25 and a half or 26 years ago we came out to this property and we were going to dedicate this property to build it and we put a tent up. And it was a big tent and we were all going to be underneath this great big tent and there wasn't the sound of a rushing mighty wind, a great big wind that came. and blew the whole thing down. And so we thank the Lord for the evidence of His Holy Spirit coming. But it wasn't just the sound, it was the wind. The Bible says they were in there and they heard the sound of a rushing mighty wind. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. Now this is very interesting. So the sound of the wind comes through and fire is on their head. If somebody ever tells you they had a Pentecostal experience, check the top of their heads. See if there's any burn marks. Because if they didn't, and I don't mean to, I was being sarcastic, but the Bible says, there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak, now this is very important, with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterances. Now, you need to understand what this other tongues is. The Bible always explains itself so there is no confusion. The Bible says, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem devout Jews, or Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and they were confounded because, now listen, that every man heard them speak in his own language. This is very important because this is a definition in your Bible of what tongues is. Tongues is the ability to speak in a language that I've not previously learned. For instance, I don't know much Spanish. I know taco. I know burrito. I know enchilada. I know si, senor, and I know como estas. I don't know what it means, but I know the answer when somebody says that to you is bien. So if somebody says como estas, I say bien. I think what do beans have to do with como estas? It must be some kind of dressing you put on beans. I have no idea. I do know when I'm speaking in the Spanish department that they've taught me to say como estas, and when they say that to me, I say bien, and then they're happy that I finally learned something. So I don't know much language, I don't know any of that. If all of a sudden I walked into the Spanish department and I began to speak in fluent Spanish and I communicated them the gospel truth in fluent Spanish. That would be speaking in tongues like took place at Pentecost. This is the Bible defining what speaking in tongues is. Now again, let me say this, the Bible says they all began to speak in tongues and that the multitude came together and they were confounded, now listen, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, this is clarifying, behold, are not all these which speak, Galileans, aren't they all from Galilee? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born, Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers of Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, and Pergia, and Pamphylia, and Egypt, and parts of Libya, and Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians." Listen. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. The point is this. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit is going to come. Now Jesus said, after his death, burial, and resurrection, he said, I'm leaving, guys. You don't need to know when I'm coming back. God the Father will take care of that. But until I come back, I'm sending the Holy Spirit. And when he's coming, he's going to empower you to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. So they wait, they pray for 10 days, 10 days later the Feast of Pentecost comes and while they're praying together in one accord, in one place, they're praying, the Spirit of God falls on them. And they begin to speak in languages that they had not previously learned. So that when the multitude heard about this and they came together, now it seems as though they're outside. There's a group of people come and they hear them speak. They're hearing them speak the gospel in a language that they've not previously learned. Now, these are people from all different places. What Jesus said, go into all the world. But to kick this thing off, he brought all the world to them. And they told them in their own languages about Jesus and how he suffered and died and was buried and rose from the dead and paid for their sins because he wanted to let them know this gospel needs to go out to every language, to every person. And so they heard them give the gospel in different languages. The Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost and the power of God began to move through the church And he has continued to work now for the last 2,000 years. He is still working in the church, working through the church. So, several questions that come up that we're answering tonight. I wanted you to see where the Holy Spirit began to work. By the way, the Holy Spirit had not worked worldwide since, like this, since the time of Noah's flood. God told Noah, he said, listen, my spirit's not always going to strive with man. My spirit's not going to work worldwide again. He said, but for the next 120 years my Holy Spirit will work. Back then the Holy Spirit worked all over the world convincing men they were sinners, there was a righteous God and judgment was coming. But from the time of Noah, and after Noah came out of the ark, God worked after that, it was very soon after that, that God brought, caused the confusion of the languages, and then he raised up a nation to represent him. So people could look to that nation, the nation of Israel, and see what God was like. And the spirit wasn't working worldwide, the spirit worked through prophets, and through individual people, and through the nation of Israel. So, who is the Holy Spirit of God? That's the first question we want to look at tonight. Who is the Holy Spirit of God? Well, A, some would refer to the Holy Spirit as an invisible force. That would not be the case. I can remember when I first started talking to people about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I remember speaking to some Jehovah Witnesses. The Jehovah Witnesses said, well, the Holy Spirit is nothing but the invisible force of God. He is an invisible force. Well, that's not what the Bible tells us. When I was a teenager, I also remember people referring to Him as an it. In fact, I was involved in Pentecostal churches, and in the Pentecostal churches, I would be kneeling and I would be praying, and people would come up, put their hands on me, and say, have you received it yet? and I had not received it yet. And so they may have been referring to the gift, or they may have referred to an experience, but the Holy Spirit is not an it. We need to understand that. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a wonderful person and equated Him with God the Father and Himself. In John chapter 14, there in your notes, the Bible says, Jesus is speaking. He says, If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. that he may abide with you forever. Now he said, listen, if you love me, you keep my commandments, and what's gonna happen is this, I'm gonna send you another comforter. And he's gonna abide with you forever. Jesus is going away, and he's saying, I'm gonna send a comforter that's not gonna go away. Even the Spirit of truth, this is the Holy Spirit, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But you know him, now listen, I quoted this earlier, you know him for he dwelleth with you and he shall be in you. Interesting statement. Jesus said the Holy Spirit right now is dwelling with you. but he's going to be in you. See, he was with them in the person of Jesus Christ, but he was going to be in them. Then he says, when he's in them, I will not leave you comfortless. He says, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna go to the Father. The Father's gonna send the Holy Spirit. I will not leave you comfortless. Then he says, I will come unto you. Wait a minute, he just said the Holy Spirit was going to come. Yes, but when the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus comes. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But you see me, because I live, you shall live also. At that day, you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Well, how does he do that? How does, Jesus said, listen, I'm gonna send, go to the Father, the Father's gonna send the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's gonna come to you, when he comes to you, I'm gonna come with you, when I come to you, when I come to you, the Father's gonna come to you. That's because the Bible teaches us that there is one God who reveals himself in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There's several things we learn in this passage. Number one, in this passage Jesus tells us many things about the Holy Spirit. Number one, he says that he would come as a result of the Son asking the Father to send him. He would come as a result of the Father are asking the Father to send him. He said, I'm gonna go to the Father, I'm gonna ask the Father, and the Father's gonna send him. Number two, we see that he is not an it. In verse 16 and 17, the Bible says when he, the Holy Spirit, shall come, notice he is a person, notice the personal pronoun for you English teachers out there. The pronouns he and him, you don't refer to something that is an impersonal nothing as a he or a him. In verse 16, it says, he is another comforter. That is one that is like me. He is a helper. The word comforter just means helper. He was with them, as I said, but he would be in them. The Holy Spirit of God would come and live inside of believers. When the Holy Spirit would come, Jesus would come with him. And when Jesus came through the Holy Ghost, the Father would come as well. A few weeks ago somebody said, you always talk about the Father, and you always talk about the Son, and you always talk about the Holy Spirit, but do you believe in the Trinity? The Holy Spirit, God the Father, and God the Son are co-equal, and we call this the Trinity. That is the Trinity. The word Trinity is never found in the Bible, but the concept is there all through the scripture. When the Bible says God created the heavens and the earth, he said, let us, God said, let us. There's only one God, who's us. God said, let us make man in our, who's our? There's only one God. He's not talking to the angels because the angels don't look like you. you should see the description of the angels. Now sometimes they manifest themselves and they look like man, but they don't look like you. There's angels that got like four heads, one looks like a lion, and one looks like a, there's four different heads. Can't remember what they all look like. Read Ezekiel chapter one. You wanna just read some mind-blowing stuff that looks like the twilight zone? Read Ezekiel chapter one. It's amazing. They don't look like you. The angels don't look like that thing you put on top of your Christmas tree either. You can put her up there all you want, but it doesn't look like anything. And Michael would resent you putting them in a dress. The angels in the Bible, the Seraphim have got three pairs of wings. They've got a pair of wings up here, a pair of wings down here, and a pair of wings in the back. And the Bible says they cover themselves with their wings when they're in the presence of God because He's so holy. And all they can say is, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The whole earth is full of His glory. They don't look like you. So God wasn't saying, let us make man in our image. He wasn't talking to the angels. He wasn't talking to any other being. He was speaking to God. God the Father was speaking to God the Son, or God the Son was speaking to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This is the Trinity. There is one God who reveals himself in three persons. You say, well, I have a really hard time understanding that. I talk to God about that all the time. I'm waiting for that day when God says, well, let me explain it, Dave. But I think I'll be in heaven when He explains that. And I think when I get to heaven, I won't care. It's just be able to see Him. Somebody said, will we look and will we see? Will we see Jesus next to God the Father? Yeah, we will, at least if we see what Stephen saw. Stephen looked up and he said, I saw there on the throne, and I saw Jesus standing next to the Father on the throne. And the Bible tells us that John looked and he saw before, now this is really, this really gets interesting. The Bible says he saw before the throne of God, the seven spirits of God, which is the Holy Spirit of God. So now you have God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but you have the Holy Spirit who is seven spirits. Now how does that work? I don't know. You're a math teacher, have you figured that out? I don't know how that works. The Bible just tells us that that's who God is. You can't figure out God. I tell people all the time when they say, please explain the Trinity, I say, no, you explain this to me first and then I'll explain the Trinity. You explain to me if you believe that God is going to go home with you when you leave. Oh yeah, I believe he goes with me wherever I go. Well, he goes with me wherever I go too. And listen, there's millions of Christians around this world, and He goes with them wherever they go. And if you can go with them wherever they go, and do with them whatever they do, and He hears and answers prayer for you. I mean, if I'm over on that side of town, and you're over on that side of town, and somebody else is right here, all three of us could be asking God for something, and He hears and answers prayer in all three different locations. In fact, not just in those three places, but in all the places where Christians are asking God for anything He's hearing. And he's answering, and he understands, and he's listening. And he answers the questions, and he takes care of those things. And he can be everywhere at the same time. Well, if he can be everywhere at the same time, you tell me how that works. I don't know how that works. I don't understand, I don't know that, but I know this. If he can be everywhere at the same time, he has no problems being in three places at once. Can you say amen to that? Does that make sense to you? I mean, I'm not saying do you understand that, but does that make sense? If God can be everywhere at the same time, he can be in three places at once. And if he wants to have a conversation with himself, he can, you do, and you're not even a trinity. Walking through your house saying, I don't understand what he's talking about tonight. And nobody's around, just you. And so if you can do that, God can do that. So, That's who the Holy Spirit is. He is a wonderful person. He is what we refer to as the third person of the Godhead. He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. Number two, why is the Holy Spirit here? Why is the Holy Spirit here? Now, here's the answer to that. In John chapter 16, Jesus says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. It's expedient for you that I go away. Four, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. So Jesus said, he's living in my life right now, and I've gotta go away so that I can be at the right hand of the Father, and then I can send him to come to you. Verse eight, and when he is come, he will reprove. This is what he's gonna do. When He has come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believed not on me. Of righteousness, you understand, they crucified Him, and they didn't believe Him. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, they're gonna see me rise from the dead, and I go back to my Father, they're gonna say, oh man, we did the wrong thing, He was right, and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged, Satan is gonna be judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, he says, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." My mentor, Dr. Wemp, used to say this. He used to say the Old Testament was the time of God the Father. God the Father worked throughout Israel from Genesis chapter 12 and on was the time of God the Father. God the Father manifests Himself over and over again. When we come to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, That is the time, the manifestation of the working of Jesus here on this earth. God the Father was working here on this earth in the Old Testament. God the Son worked Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A little bit in the book of Acts when He appeared unto Paul the Apostle. But from the time of the book of Acts it's been the time of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been working for the last 2,000 years. Today we have the Holy Spirit working on this earth and He is working, doing the things that He is doing. He is God on earth today. And we need to understand that. So, what is he doing? Well, A, he is here to reprove. The word reprove means to convict the world of three things. Number one, of sin. Number two, of righteousness. And three, of judgment. He gives what I call the bad news. There's not a person in the world, there's nobody sitting in here that at some time in your life wasn't convicted that you were a sinner, that there was a righteous God, and that judgment's coming. By the way, as a Christian, you do something wrong, the Spirit of God's saying, that's wrong. You get mad at your wife and you say the wrong thing. And the Spirit of God says, that was wrong. And you may argue, it wasn't wrong, she was so nasty to me, and she's the one that did all this and she did that. And God says, you're so wrong, you're so wrong. And the Spirit of God's there convicting you. That's what the Spirit of God does to us as believers. But I want you to understand, he does that with the entire world. He's told the entire world they're sinners. He's told the entire world that judgment's coming. And he's told the entire world that there is a righteous God. everybody all over the world. You say, how do you know that? Because Jesus said when he comes he would convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So if you go to a friend and he says, I don't think I've done anything wrong, he's lying because the Spirit of God told him he did something wrong. Now you can get to a point where you deny God enough that he won't work with you anymore. But every person in this world since the day of Pentecost has had the Holy Spirit convicting them of those three things. You're a sinner, there's a righteous God, and judgment's coming. I was listening to Corrie Tin Boone today on our radio station. What a wonderful story. 35 years ago she was speaking and Corrie Tin Boone told the story of how she was persecuted and beat in German prison camps and she was telling the story and she said after she got, while she was in the prison camp, she said the guard brought her in and was interrogating her and he said, He said, you tell me how you can have such a good attitude. And she said, do you really want me to tell you? And he said, yes, I want you to tell me. She said, because I know Jesus as my savior and I've put my faith and I trust in Jesus Christ and I know him. And he said, you stop right there. You cannot talk about that here. And he had her leave. And then 24 hours later he called her back and he said, I want you to tell me more about what you were telling me about yesterday. He said, I couldn't sleep all night long. He said, all I did was think about what you had to say. All I thought about was what you had to say. Tell me more about this. And she said, you really want me to tell you? And he said, yeah. And she gave him the whole gospel message, and he bowed his head and trusted Christ. And he said, then it was two days later, her sister Betsy went in and got to talk to him about Jesus. And he protected her throughout the time they were in the prison camp. And though her sister died, she lived through it because the Spirit of God is working worldwide. The Spirit of God is working worldwide. When an atheist says, I don't believe in God, he is denying what the Spirit of God has told him. I don't believe there's such a thing as an atheist, except someone who has hardened their heart so much God says, fine, you don't get another chance. You don't get another chance. You know the people that I find that are hardest people to witness to? Are the people who either grew up in church and rejected Christ. The Bible says you can't renew them again to repentance. So a person has said, I don't want anything. Man, they're shut off. They're not going to get saved. But the Bible tells us that every person has had an opportunity. So that's with the Holy Spirit. Why is the Holy Spirit here? He's here to convince everybody there's sinners and there's righteousness and there's a righteous God and judgment's coming. You see, let me explain this. Romans chapter 3 says, there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that seek after God. The Bible says we're all gone out of the way, we're together becoming unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no not one. The Bible says there's none that seek after God. So by nature we are totally and completely depraved. It is as though God is here and we have walked away from him and we're not even thinking about him. We are totally, we are so wrapped up in the next thing, it'll tickle my flesh. The next thing, oh I want to go to this place, I want to go over here, I want to eat this, I want to drive that, I want to live here, I want to have that, I want this person to make me happy, I want this thing to make me happy, I want this, and we're running after our flesh. That's what we do. We don't give a rip. We are totally and completely oblivious to the fact that there is a God. So, if God didn't intervene, Samson, we would just go, fall off the cliff, and die, and spend eternity in hell. So we're all walking away from God, and we just don't even care, because we're oblivious to the fact that there's a God, because we're absolutely, completely, spiritually dead. That's our condition. So how in the world is anything gonna be reached? I'm not even thinking about God, I'm not caring about God, I am totally and completely depraved. The only way something can happen, the only way I can get saved is if somehow God intervenes. So God intervened in two ways. He sent Jesus Christ to die for my sins and be buried and rise from the dead for me, even though I didn't care and I was going my own way and all I wanted was my own selfish desires. Even though that's the way I was, God sent Jesus to die for me because somebody has to pay for my sin, or I have to pay for it myself by going to hell. That's the way it is, okay? Now, He didn't just do that, because that happened 2,000 years ago, and I wasn't born until 1955. When I was born in 1955, God knew that I was going to need somebody to point me to the cross, and I was naturally not going to give a rib about the cross. When I was born, this is what I said. I said, bring me, change my diaper, I don't like this. And I screamed and it was dark. That's what I did, because I was all selfish and self-centered. I went, hey, maybe. And as I grew up, I screamed because my brothers picked on me, and my sister was mean, and my whole family, I was the baby of the family, and they treated me that way. And then I got abused, and I always had to wear hand-me-downs. It was just a horrible life. And so, you know, babies, how many of you are babies of the family? See, it's tough for us, isn't it? Can you say amen to that? Okay, that's right. And so, don't want anything else from any of the rest of you. So I was selfish, self-centered, I wanted my thing, that's all I wanted and that's the way you were too. I don't care if you're the oldest or the youngest or the middlest, I don't care where you were. The fact of the matter is you were selfish and self-centered because you didn't care about God. So what's going to happen to get me to look at God? Nothing I do. Here's what happened. The Holy Spirit, Jesus said, I'm sending the Holy Spirit, and he's going to convict every single person in the world that they're sinners, that there's a righteous God, and judgment is coming. So nobody will ever say, nobody will ever say, I didn't have a chance. Oh yeah, you did. Because the Holy Spirit, I don't care if you were in New Guinea or Las Vegas, Nevada. The Holy Spirit told you you're a sinner and that there's a righteous God and the judgment's coming and you didn't cry out to God and say, God, what do I do? So everyone's had an opportunity because the Holy Spirit is working. You understand, very important, the work of the Holy Spirit. You would not be saved had not the Holy Spirit of God convicted you that you're a sinner, that there's a righteous God in judgment. And if you're here tonight and you've never gotten saved, it's not because God hasn't told you you're a sinner and you need a Savior, it's because you just won't receive that. And you can receive that tonight. So number B, He not only reproves or convicts the entire world that they're sinners, and there's a righteous God and judgment's coming. Number two, he indwells believers. He lives in believers. In John 14, 17, this Bible says, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him for he dwelleth with you and he shall be in you. He's going to come and live inside of you. Now when does that happen? When does He come and live inside of you? John chapter 3 and verse 5 through 7 says, Jesus answered, Jesus is talking here about physical birth and spiritual birth. And he said, listen, he said to Nicodemus, he said, hey, you've got to get born again. Nicodemus said, what are you talking about? Physical birth? Entering back into my mother's womb and being born? Jesus said, no, you've got to be born physically. You've got to be born in the water. But you also have to be born spiritually. That which is born of the flesh, when you were born the first time, you were born with a body and a soul, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So he says you gotta be born spiritually. See, the first time you were born, you were born with a body and a soul, but your spirit was dead. You were separated from God because you inherited spiritual death from Adam. But when you got saved, you became spiritually alive. You were born of the spirit. At the moment you got saved, the way you got spiritually alive is the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you and made you spiritually alive. In fact, the Bible says this. that in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. If you don't have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, then you're not a child of God. So you have the Spirit of God living inside of you. Now the Bible says in Romans 8 verse 16 that he bears witness that we are his children. I used to wonder, what in the world does that mean? That he bears witness that we are his children. How does he do that? I'll tell you how he does that. He does that by convicting you of sin. See, when you do wrong, you say, oh, there's nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that. The preacher gets up and preaches on something and you say, I don't care, there's nothing wrong with that. And you walk out and you say, oh, there's nothing wrong with that. But he says to you, you know there's something wrong. And you know there's something wrong with it because when you're at home and I'm not talking anymore, there's nobody around, your wife isn't even saying, he's right, he's right. You're at home and you're all by yourself and you're arguing. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. That's him convicting him. That doesn't happen to everybody. That doesn't happen to everybody. That happens to his children. Not only does he convict us of sin, but he prompts us to pray. Somebody tells you about some serious deal, you know what lost people do when a terrible problem comes up? They worry, they fret, they bite their nails, they cuss, they throw things. You know what Christians do when they're pulled over by a cop? They pray. Say, how do you know that? That's what Christians do. Why? We are just prompted to pray. John, there was a time in your life you didn't just pray when something happened, but when you got saved, it's just a natural thing. Why do you do that? Because you're a child of God. Children call on their dad when they're in need. When you have a problem, he prompts us to pray. He also prompts us to witness. Unsafe people don't think, I've got to tell that person about Jesus. Unsafe people don't do that. But you know what you do? You think about your friends. You think about your friends that are going to hell. You think about your co-workers that are going to hell. You think about that because you are a child of God. You can't get rid of that. I know a guy that was totally and completely backslidden. He's in a bar, and he said, you know what I do in the bar? He said, I can't get away from it. He said, I've been in the bar, and I'm telling people about Jesus. And you know what I tell him? I know I shouldn't be here. I'm a bad example. But you know what you need? You need to get right with God. Unsaved people don't do that. The children of God do that. Children of God. So the Spirit bears witness, and then He prompts us to praise. Something good happens. You know what Christians do? They say, praise the Lord. Even if they don't say it out loud. Have you ever been in a situation where you really weirded somebody else out? Something great happened and you're with a bunch of unbelievers and you didn't think about it and you said, oh, praise the Lord. I mean, that's wonderful. What I was saying was because believers just praise the Lord because we're His children. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're His children. That is why he's here. Number three, what's he doing? What's he doing? This is what he's doing. I'm gonna give these very quickly so you can just fill them in. He comforts us, the Bible says in John chapter 14, verse 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Called up somebody I hadn't seen for like 30 years today. And I said, hey, I just wanna talk to your husband. She said, oh, you didn't know. I thought you knew. And I said, no, she told me about how he passed away. And she told me about one of her sons that had passed away. And I said, I'm so sorry to hear that. She said, he's in a better place. Things are good for him. You know, the Bible tells us that God gives us comfort. The word comfort means helper. It comes from a Greek word, parakletos. It means that one that comes alongside to help. He's our helper. He's our helper. That's not all, He guides us into truth. Albeit when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. He guides us into truth. But that's not all. He helps us understand what is about to happen. The Bible says this, again, verse 13. It says, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, he shall show you things to come. I don't have to fear the future and it's not as though I've got spy glasses or I need a crystal ball. He prepares me for things that are about to happen. And then he'll show us what Jesus is like because the Bible says he doesn't speak about himself, he speaks about Jesus. He will glorify me and he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. He tells us what Jesus is all about. not only that, He intercedes for us in prayer. This is so important. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." So the idea here is that the Spirit works in our life, convicting us, and works in our life. When we're praying something, God knows the intent of our prayer, and He answers the intent, not always the exact thing we're praying for. Number four, what's His purpose? Why, what is, what is, what's the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit coming? Some people would think that being filled with the Holy Spirit is the end in and of itself, but that's not the case. The Bible tells us this, He is here to glorify the Lord Jesus, to draw people to Jesus. The Bible says again, He will guide you into all truth, He shall not speak of Himself. And somebody's constantly talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and I do not want to take away from Him, He is God. But the Bible tells us when the Holy Spirit is controlling us, we're not going to be talking about Him, we're going to be talking about Jesus. And that's the reality. We're here to show people what, he's here to show people what Jesus is like. John 16, 14, he shall glorify me, Jesus said, he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. So the word that he's gonna speak is in the name of Jesus. He is also here to empower believers to witness. The very first thing that we talked about in Acts chapter one and verse eight, the Bible says this, but you shall receive, Jesus said, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and in most parts of the earth. Don't think, hey, I don't need the Holy Spirit stuff, I've got Jesus. No, you need the Holy Spirit. If you're going to be an effective witness, you need his empowering in your life. He is sealing believers, and this is an absolute, this is just a wonderful, wonderful attribute of the Holy Spirit. This is something that he does. This guarantees you're going to heaven. What if I blow it tomorrow and cuss out my wife? You're still gonna go to heaven. What if I, what if I, what if I turn into a crook? You're still going to heaven, why? Because the Bible tells us that he seals you. In verse Romans, I'm sorry, in Ephesians chapter one verse 13 it says, in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, I don't have time, I'm running out of time. to tell you the details of this, but the word sealed meant to anyone, anyone who read this in Paul's day understood exactly what Paul was talking about. Whenever you sent a letter to somebody, it would be in a scroll. They would take a wax seal and they would stamp that scroll with that wax seal. That seal could not be opened except by the person who had sealed it. That was a contained document. It could not be opened by anyone else except the person that had the authority. If I sent it to you, then you had the authority to open that. But unless somebody had the authority to open it, they could not open that seal. Jesus said, after you believed, you received Jesus Christ, God sent you the Holy Spirit of promise, and He sealed you. This is wonderful, because what happened is the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you, you became spiritually alive. You've been sealed. Nobody can open you up and take out what was put in you until you get to God the Father. When you get to God the Father, He's not gonna take it out, He's gonna say, welcome home. Good you're sealed. You can't get out of it. You're going to heaven whether you like it or not That's the idea you are sealed by God and no one can take you out of his hand So then if that's the case number five, why does it seem that the Holy Spirit is absent at times? And that was the question It's number one not because he is absent I I want you to see this, it's very important. The Bible says he is working worldwide. And the Bible says it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. He is doing the work that he said he would do. He indwells all believers. We saw that in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of His. The Spirit of God is in you. You say, well, I don't sense Him at times. Why? Why does it seem like He's absent? We may be expecting Him to do something that He does not do. Sometimes we'll ask God to do something like force somebody to believe. God does not force unsaved people to get saved. God gives us a free will. And the Bible tells me I can pray for somebody that the Spirit of God will convict them, and he will. God will answer that prayer. But God will not force somebody to receive him as Lord and Savior. Sometimes we'll ask God to take away trials. We'll come to him and say, Lord, we want you to do this. I'm going through a trial. Take this trial away from me. But God's word, the Holy Spirit doesn't work contrary to his word. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 says this, He does not take away trials, he always makes a way of escape. So he works with us through the trials, he promises us he'll go through the trials with us, and he will make a way of escape, but he doesn't take away. God, just take away this temptation. A young man came to me one time, and he said, I really have a problem with desiring to be married. And he said, I just, he said, and desiring to be with a girl physically. And I said, well, are you doing anything morally wrong? He said, no. He said, I'm staying pure. I'm doing right. He said, but I just really want to, I'm really looking forward to getting married. I said, well, listen. He said, would you just pray that God will take away the desire? I said, you're crazy. You don't want God to take away the desire. What God wants you to do is learn how to control the desire. 1 Thessalonians chapter four says this, We are to show that we are sanctified by abstaining from fornication. That is, we are to show that we are children of God by not being involved in sexual sin. Then he says this, he tells us we need to learn, God wants us to learn how to possess our vessels, that is to control ungodly desires. Why is it that he would create a boy at 13 years old with physical desires and a girl at 13 years old with physical desires and then in our culture we say you don't want to get married until you're 20, 21, 22 years old. Some of them are not getting married until they're 38. You know, it's amazing. I saw Anna and said, I want to get married now. But why does God put the desire and then say, wait, here's why. I tell teenagers this all the time. I say, God wants you to learn from the time you're 13 to the time you're 19 how to control the desires that are in your body. He wants you to learn how to possess your vessel. Why? Because when you're 25 years old, or you're 35 years old, or you're 40 years old, and Miss Flirt comes walking, not, I mean, not our teacher, Mrs. Flirt, Miss Flirty, I'll say, okay, comes walking by, and you're 40 years old, and and starts tempting you to do that which is wrong, if you've learned how to control those emotions from the time you were 13 to the time you were 19, and you said no then, then you're not gonna have a problem saying no at 40 years old. You understand that? God knows the things that we need to learn, and He knows what we need to learn. So God wants us to learn how to control those things. So you can't ask the Holy Spirit to do something that He doesn't do. Also, there are people that are asking the Holy Spirit to do weird things. Because of false teachings in the charismatic movement, people want to have all these, and excuse me, I'm not trying to be unkind, but oddball experiences, you know, flipping out and doing weird things. A few years ago we had what was called the Laughing Revival, and it's just nothing you find in the Bible. But people want that kind of weird experience. And so when God doesn't do that, they think, man, he's absent. Then there's other things. You say, well, I'm not looking for that. I just want to know the presence of God. But let me tell you this. The Bible says that we can resist the Holy Spirit of God. And this is very important. Acts chapter 7, verse 51 says, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so did you. You know, lost people can say, I don't want to get saved. I will not get saved, I resist the Spirit of God. So somebody, a lost person can resist the Spirit of God. I believe that Christians can refuse to obey the Spirit of God and we can resist Him working. Paul says, or I'm sorry, Stephen says here, you are stiff-necked, you won't let the Spirit of God work. Number, in D it says we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30 says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit of God? To grieve the Holy Spirit of God is to do something He told me not to do. He says, be not drunk with wine. I go out and get drunk. I've grieved the Holy Spirit of God. He says, He says, thou shalt not kill, I go and kill somebody. I've grieved the Spirit of God. He says, thou shalt not steal, I go out and I steal. I've grieved the Spirit of God, you understand? Grieving the Holy Spirit of God is to do something God tells me not to do. And so if I'm grieving the Spirit of God, he's not gonna be working, I'm gonna feel like he's not present. Then I can quench the Spirit of God. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians, quench not the Spirit. Quench not the spirit. Now quenching the spirit, the word quench means to pour fire on something. When you're out camping, if you ever go out camping, you got a fire thing, you pour fire on there. Unless you have a gas grill, then you just turn off the gas. But that's quenching, that's quenching. It's pouring water on, stopping. The spirit of God will lead you to do certain things. Samson, he'll say, you need to love your wife. But you had a bad day. And you come home and she's a little nippy, because she's had a bad day too. And so the Spirit of God says, you just need to love her. And you say, I don't love, I don't want to love her right now. And you just be the, and you're being a jerk. And so, and so, and so, you just want to do this. So you grieve, you quench the Spirit of God. He says, listen, I'll love her through you. You just need to put your arm around her and you say, nope, ain't gonna do it. We do that, we can quench the Spirit of God. The Bible says wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands and we can quench the Spirit of God and say, no, we're not gonna do that. The Spirit of God tells us to read the Word and we say, nope, not gonna read the Word today, I wanna watch my favorite soap opera. And so we do that instead. We can quench the Spirit of God. We quench the Spirit of God when we don't do something He tells us to do. I was on an elevator one time, there was a guy with a yellow tie standing right across from me. And the Spirit of God said, witness to him. I said, he didn't want me to witness to him. And so he got off the thing, and I got off the elevator, and I walked down the hall, and the Spirit of God said, you should have witnessed to him. And I said, you're right, I should have. So I turned around and went back, and the guy was gone. And I thought, I should have witnessed that guy. I should have witnessed that guy. The Spirit of God didn't tell me to do that. I mean, the devil will never tell you to witness to somebody, by the way. You say, well, I witnessed this. I tried to witness somebody, and he treated me bad. I don't care. You gave an opportunity. So we can quench the Spirit of God. He can tell us to do something, and we can grieve the Spirit of God. And so if we do that, and then if we don't get right with God, see, then here's what'll happen. If we quench the Spirit of God, we grieve the Spirit of God, or we resist the Spirit of God. Now here's what happens. We say, okay, we justify it. The Bible says we as Gentiles do two things. We either accuse somebody else or we excuse it. Oh well, God didn't want it in the first place. Instead of confessing it. Now if I will not confess my sin to God, now I'm still quenching him. You understand? So if I'm doing something contrary to what God wants me to do, and I won't confess it, then He is going to be convicting me, and I'm gonna ask Him for something, or I'm gonna want to sense His presence, but I'm not, and the reason is because I've unconfessed it in my life. And so the Spirit of God can be grieved, He can be quenched, and He can be resisted, and if I am doing those things, then I'm not gonna feel like He's present. Is He present? Yes, He lives inside of me. Is he there? Yes. But I'm not, I'm not allowing him to do what he wants me to do. It's like having a, it's like having a GPS with you and saying, I can find this place without the GPS. And you go wandering all over the city and say, why didn't the GPS work? It's there. The GPS is there. You're just not using it. Turn on the GPS. and then it'll give you direction, it'll give you guidance. But if you refuse to turn on the GPS, then don't get mad at the GPS and throw it out the window. It's not the GPS's fault, it's your fault. We surrender to the Holy Spirit of God and say, God, I confess to you, I have been grieving you, I've been quenching you, I've been resisting you, I surrender to you. God, you do in my life what you want me to do. He'll give you direction and you'll know the presence of God. We know that we are children of God because the Spirit of God bears witness with us that we're His children. So that's why and how the Holy Spirit works. Father, help us to take what we've heard tonight and live it. I pray, Father, that this will be helpful to people, and I pray they'll use this to be able to help their friends who have questions about the working and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And I ask this in Jesus' name. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBC of Las Vegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.