The Promise of the Holy Spirit in the Bible (Gifted Series)

Believer, what a great gift you have, and that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God, dwells within you.

Book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 9.

Romans 8:9

You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Just two verses later, Romans chapter 8, verse 11.

Romans 8:11

The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in you.

So what does that mean?

Who is the Holy Spirit?

And what effect does he have in our life?

That's what we're aiming to answer with our Bibles open as we walk through this series called Gifted.

It'll be an eight-week series.

We'll look at the person of the Holy Spirit.

We did last week, the promise of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the function of the Holy Spirit in redemption, the presence of the Holy Spirit in a disciple, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, the fruit of the Holy Spirit in a Christian, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church.

Well, this morning, looking at the promises and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, I want you to see three things.

Three things.

I pray that we see first the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

I pray also that we see the prophetic promise of the Holy Spirit that has now come for those who believe in Christ.

And I pray that we would recognize with joy the blessing of being indwelt with and empowered by God's Spirit.

But first, let's talk about the Holy Spirit being present in the Old Testament.

When you think about the Bible, where would you imagine the Holy Spirit first shows up?

Now you know this main point is that I'm going to argue that he is in the Old Testament.

But where would you believe you don't have to look very far?

Actually, we see the presence of the Holy Spirit in the very beginning of our Bible, in its introduction.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 through 3.

Genesis 1:1–3

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

In fact, the Bible mentions a couple things here.

We see the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

God says, Let there be light, and light comes into being by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let's just say this: God creates by his word, let there be.

Colossians chapter 1, verse uh 16 tells us, for by him, and in Colossians, the context here is Jesus, the word of God, for by Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

So God creates by his word, according to Genesis chapter one, but he creates by his word through his spirit.

So the Holy Spirit brings order out of chaos, creating all that is out of all that which is not according to the Father's will.

Sinclair Ferguson, which by the way, if you don't know Sinclair Ferguson, go read.

What a gift to the church.

Sinclair Ferguson writes the work of the Holy Spirit in creation is to extend God's presence into creation in such a way as to order and complete what has been planned in the mind of God.

So in short, the Holy Spirit was not only present in eternity past, but was a person alongside the Father and the Son who brought forth all that you see and all you experience today, yesterday, tomorrow.

But the Holy Spirit is not only present in the beginning, but all throughout the stories of the Old Testament.

Do you know that?

Let me give you some examples.

Example number one the divine presence of God that guided God's people as they exited in the Exodus out of Egypt through the Red Sea.

A pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night.

The prophet Isaiah says, That was the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 63, I believe it's on the screen as well.

Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit?

Who caused his glorious arm?

Maybe it's not on the screen.

Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?

Isaiah says, the Holy Spirit of God.

What about other passages in the Old Testament, like when God gifts certain men for the construction of his tabernacle, so that they would complete the work God set out before them?

Or who inspires prophets as they're led by the Spirit of God to write the words of God, the Holy Spirit.

But I want you to understand this this morning, and this is very important.

While the Old Testament is filled with references of the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, and it's filled with the work of the Holy Spirit in certain people.

The Holy Spirit's activity is uniquely different in the old covenant than in the new covenant.

What do you notice?

Well, you see in the old covenant, the old testament, the Holy Spirit led a few particular people to accomplish a few particular tasks during a few particular times.

You don't see in the old testament indwelling language used.

In fact, when you think of the old testament, you might think, where while God is omnipresent, where is his like special dwelling place?

Well, we know that.

On earth it was the holy of holies, the most holy place, where God would dwell amongst his people with barriers.

The most holy place.

So when you read the Old Testament, you find out that in the Old Testament, God dwelt in a place he'd made holy, his most holy place, a sanctified, set apart area that with fear and trembling a priest would enter into one time a year to make a sacrifice to atone for the sin of the camp, the people Israel.

Believer?

What does the book of Hebrews tell us about that?

The New Testament.

Reflecting upon the work of Jesus.

The book of Hebrews tells us that in his sacrificial death, Christ entered into the most holy place.

As our great high priest, like the priests of old, who would go year after year after year.

And then he made an offering, and the offering was himself, the Lamb of God, come to take the sin of the world, his blood as if sprinkled on the mercy seat, the place where wrath was blood was poured out, an offering was made, and mercy was received.

Jesus is our propitiation, the Greek word's Hilasterion.

Jesus is the mercy seat where blood is spilled and mercy is received.

Christ walks into the most holy place, the great high priest, offering his blood upon the mercy seat, making us right with God.

In his death, the temple curtain we know was torn from top to bottom.

And we now approach God through Christ, receiving the mercy we need for the sin we've committed.

That we would not receive the punishment we deserve because Christ was that once and for all priest offering the once and for all sacrifice, giving us access to God, and our access is through Christ.

Oh believer, that's incredible.

I mean, you sit there, you have access to God through Christ.

But that's not that's not it.

Not all of it.

Jesus, before he ascended to the right hand of his father, when he was talking with his disciples, actually before he was crucified, he said, I am going to ascend to the right hand of my father, I'm gonna go.

But I'm going to send my spirit, the comforter, the paraclete.

And actually, it's far better that I go, that I might send him to you.

Which brings all sorts of questions, right?

Better.

Jesus told his disciples that it was far better for him to go so that he might send the Holy Spirit to guide and to comfort us.

Well, according to the Apostle Paul, there's some things we got to put together here.

According to the Apostle Paul, how are we now then, if God's special dwelling place in a place in the Old Testament was the Holy of Holies in the innermost part of the temple, how are we then now to understand, as Christians who believed in Christ, who has given us access to the Father, to think about God's people, the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, people of faith.

Well, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 tells us that the church is the temple of God.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

And you might think, oh, that's just one of really many cool titles, right?

That we get to call ourselves on Sunday mornings or what have you.

But Paul means something by that, carried on by the Holy Spirit to say it.

What does he say?

The spokesperson of the twelve disciples.

He says, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5, you believer, are living stones making up the temple of God where the Spirit dwells.

1 Peter 2:5

What does that mean?

Oh, hear this.

You, believer, are the special dwelling place of God on the earth.

No longer is God's special presence uniquely in a particular place for a particular people to enter with fear one day a year.

Now God's presence is within all his people all of the time for all time.

So in the Old Testament, God dwelt in a place he'd made holy.

In the new covenant, God dwells in a people he's made holy.

That's you.

The Holy of Holies was a set apart, sanctified place.

What does the Bible say about you?

You are a set apart people, a sanctified place, making up the temple of God, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.

And get this to kind of come and worship at the temple was a unique thing.

Well, now God's dwelling is everywhere where all God's people exist, all over the face of the earth, giving witness to who God is and what he's done.

We are a testimony to who God is everywhere we are at all times.

I'm gonna go on here for a second because not my nose.

So then we think about the priests.

Well, Peter says, we are now, because of the great high priests, priests, meaning we have access to God and represent him all the places we go.

The priesthood's no more.

What about sacrifices?

The sacrifices are no more.

Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

You give yourselves as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.

O believer, hear the word, you have been made holy by the blood of the Lamb, the once and for all sacrificed by the once and for all priest, and you have been set apart, sanctified by God, made new for his presence.

What a gift you have, and that the Holy Spirit of the living God dwells in you.

This was a day in the Old Testament that the prophets and the priests and the kings longed for.

Looked forward to.

Oh believer, you live in that day.

1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10 through 12, Peter said the prophets were longing for and looking forward to this day as they wrote serving you.

1 Peter 1:10–12

You think about it.

In the old covenant, God, though he was never far, may have sometimes felt distant.

Times were the people of God were in exile and they did not have the temple.

God's people, it seems, in the Old Testament, continuously ran back to idols.

Very few, in fact, outside of Israel even came to worship the one true God.

Truth sometimes may have felt unclear.

And so because of this, the prophets longed for better days.

Think of Moses for an example.

Moses, Numbers chapter 11, verse 29, Moses longed for a day when all of God's people would have the Holy Spirit within them.

Numbers 11:29

He said, I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord would put his spirit on them.

David, even as the great king he was, had no expectation the Holy Spirit would remain on him after he sinned with Bathsheba.

You read Psalm 51, he said, Lord, please don't take your spirit from me.

So the prophets of the Old Testament, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesied about a future day and age, a day where the Holy Spirit would come in power to personally rest upon the people of God, to purify their hearts, and to empower them for global mission.

Listen to the prophets.

Ezekiel.

God said, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I'll put within you.

I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I'll give you a new heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

A new day with a new heart.

What about Joel 2, 28 and 29?

And it shall come to pass afterward, this is Old Testament, prophesying about a new day.

Three prophecies.

Three prophets, one prophecy.

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Think of Paul and John.

Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit.

What about Jeremiah?

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them.

I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my peep my people.

No longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me.

From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Believer, we live in the day the prophets long for and look forward to.

A day God promised would come.

And what does that mean for us?

Well, ask yourself if the prophet spoke of a future day where God's Spirit would come and indwell the people of God to live, emboldened on mission to live, and able to obey Him with gladness and not begrudging hearts, to have soft hearts, to be guided to the truth, to be sealed until the day of redemption.

Is there in any way you have maybe not appreciated rightly the day you live in?

What God has done for you?

Maybe you've assumed this is just the day we live, the experience of all Christians, all believers at all times, all followers of the Lord.

Maybe think: is there any way that you might better live with a grateful heart, a thankful heart to what God has done by his spirit for you?

This is the day that Moses dreamed about, and the day the prophets declared, where God's people would be, quote, cleansed by his spirit and would receive power from his spirit to be his special ambassadors all over the world.

That's what's happened.

That promise has arrived.

And I want to take you to the place it did.

Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

You know the story.

Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father.

He said he would send his spirit.

The disciples are gathered in the upper room.

They're told not to yet go out.

We can only assume, even though they knew what Jesus did, that they needed the Spirit of God to do the work they could not do.

Open blind eyes to see the beauty of Jesus, not just the fact that he was a historical figure.

Cause deaf ears to hear.

Or Satan screaming in their ear, oh no, no, no, no.

Hear the word of the Lord.

So the Holy Spirit descends upon these disciples as they're in Jerusalem.

God timed it perfectly.

Pentecost is happening.

People from all over the world with different languages are gathered there.

Peter preaches the first like full spirit-empowered sermon, and thousands come to hear and know Jesus, the one they crucified as the Messiah, Savior, and Lord, the only hope for their soul after death.

They believe.

Here's what Peter says when he preaches.

Are you ready for this?

He lifted his voice and he addressed them, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk.

The people thought they were drunk because they were speaking in languages they had never heard before, but they're the languages of all the people that had gathered there for Pentecost.

They're hearing the gospel in their own language.

Peter didn't know all those languages.

Holy Spirit did.

Enabled them to preach in languages they did not know, but people did.

He said, These people are not drunk as you suppose.

It's only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel, and he quotes Joel 2, 28 and 29.

This is what's happening.

He says, In the last days it shall be.

God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Speak truth of who Jesus is, what he has done to all the world.

This is that day.

This is the promise now.

Here, it's come.

Joel could only dream.

Moses dreamed.

The prophets declared it would come.

It's here.

Then he quotes Psalm 110 in Acts 2, 20 33.

He quotes Psalm 110.

Exalted to the right hand of God, Jesus has received from the Father his promised received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit.

We have received from the Father, the promised Holy Spirit, and Jesus has poured out what you now see and hear.

This begun, a new age, a great blessing in the new covenant, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which means something for you, dear believer.

Many things, which we'll cover over many few weeks to come.

But a few things that I just want to point out.

That you might appreciate about what God has done for you.

Don't take any of this for granted.

Let me be clear.

Don't take any of this for granted.

Four things.

Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the curse of Babel has been reversed.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

So maybe you remember the story of Babel in Genesis 10 and 11.

Well, in Genesis chapter 10, before Genesis 11, the story of Babel, we're given a list of nations.

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

All these people that exist.

And in Genesis chapter 11, we learn that they have pride in their heart and want to make their own name great.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

God is angry.

And so what God does is he confuses their language and scatters them abroad.

Well, what happens in Acts chapter 2?

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Well, he waits intentionally to send his spirit until all these different nations are gathered in Jerusalem.

And then he gives the message of the gospel to people who spoke one language, fishermen, but empowered them to speak in many languages the good news of the gospel of Christ.

So people that were scattered because of their ski sin with confused languages are now gathered, and God is uniting them to be his people with the language of the gospel in all the different languages that had been the result of their sin.

He's uniting a people in him, now saved and safe and kept.

People once scattered because of their sins, speaking gibberish, now gathered by God's Spirit, speaking the gospel in all the languages that were a result of sin.

It's incredible.

God is gracious and kind.

Second, the church is empowered to reach the nations.

The gift of the Spirit by Christ fulfills the Father's promise to the Son in Psalm 2.

In that Psalm, you see the Father and the Son almost interact.

Father promises, the Son, ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance.

All throughout the Old Testament, we see that the people of God were to be a witness to God from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Even a Psalm, you think of Psalm 67 and Psalm 96, bless us that we might be a blessing to all the nations.

And there were times and seasons where that was definitely true, but did not, it wasn't, it wasn't permanent.

Christ ascends to the right hand of the Father.

He sends his spirit.

Jesus said, before you hear the Great Commission, which by the way, do not forget this part of the Great Commission.

What does Jesus say?

He says, All authority in heaven and all authority on earth has been given to me.

So what do you see when the Holy Spirit is poured out?

Well, you see a few disciples share the gospel, 3,000 are saved, and from 3,000, thousands more, and then persecution spreads the gospel out, thousands and thousands and thousands more, multiple countries than it goes to, and then multiple continents it goes to.

And then now, somehow by the power of God's Spirit at work through the church, there are somewhere around 2.2 to 2.68 billion people who profess faith in Christ today.

Not to count the last 2,000 years of people who've professed faith in Christ.

That is the power of the Spirit of God through the church of God, doing a work the church cannot do.

That's why Jesus said to the disciples, don't go yet.

I'm going to send my spirit, and we'll see the nations be my inheritance.

Third thing.

What we see in Acts 2, you see, you know, divided tongues of fire, fire, wind, divine tongues.

Remind us a little bit of what Moses encountered on Mount Sinai.

There's a connection there.

Moses ascended to Mount Sinai only to descend with the Ten Commandments, physical law.

In the same way at Pentecost, Christ ascends and then he descends, the Spirit of Christ, not with the law written on tablets of stone, but with the gift of his own spirit to write the law on our hearts.

The work of God writing the law on our hearts enables us to fulfill the law's commands, albeit not perfectly, but gladly.

Gladly.

Here's the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31 and the great hope of Moses that we looked at in Numbers 11.

Christian, you can obey the Lord.

Enabled by the Spirit of God, you can obey the Lord.

God is preparing you by his Spirit for heaven by working holiness in you through conviction and sharpening.

A great hidden work of the Holy Spirit that gives you a distaste for worldly things that you used to hunger for.

Now let's be clear.

You can't be sinless, but as Danny Aiken said, and I love this, you can certainly sin less.

Enabled by God's Holy Spirit, God is preparing you for heaven, purifying your heart, giving you more of a taste for the things not of this world, but the things of heaven.

So that when you get to heaven, it's like a meal.

This is what I hunger for.

That's what I love.

For the Christian, holiness isn't an aimless pursuit where we obey the Lord not begrudgingly, but with the joy the Spirit produces in us, with gladness.

After all, what's the fruit of the Spirit?

Christlikeness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

That's the spirit working, making you more like Christ.

God has given his spirit to you to produce Christ-likeness in you.

Fourth.

All of God's people are in dwelt with the Holy Spirit.

All.

Whereas in the old covenant, as I mentioned, the Spirit's work was generally limited to a few, mostly men and leaders.

Now we read in Acts 2 that sons and daughters prophesy.

Young men have visions, old men have dream dream, dream dreams.

These visions and dreams were modes of communicating the gospel under the old covenant.

Right?

Hebrews chapter 1, God spoke through prophets.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

He's like, hey, think of like what those people do.

Share the gospel to people that are burdened under their sin.

Like you'll be empowered to share the gospel like that.

They were sharing the good news of what God was going to do.

You're sharing the good news of what God has done.

That's what he's saying.

Hey, now the gospel is going to go global.

You'll have the Spirit of God.

You'll communicate what God has done as you open your Bible and share it with a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, someone over in Malawi, someone down in Cuba, someone up in Canada.

And God's Spirit will what?

Do something you can't.

Open their eyes.

Cause them to see.

Again, Jesus, not as a historical figure merely, but as the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who's come to seek and save the lost, who's come for them.

In Christ and by the gift of his spirit, all the Lord's people possess the knowledge of God.

No one in this room has more of the Spirit than I do, or than you do.

We may be gifted in different ways.

We might have grown up in maturity over our years in Christ, but we are indwelt with the same Spirit of God that has transformed our hearts and lives to testify to our Lord.

One famous preacher used to say, There are no blue ribbon sheep.

The Holy Spirit isn't something you control, manipulate, get more of, or get a higher anointing.

You've been gifted differently, but by the same Spirit for the same calling, giving testimony to Christ.

So this is not all that could be said about the Holy Spirit.

But these four truths are direct results of the promises we see in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and in Joel.

And we'll look in the weeks to come about how the Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures, produces fruit in us, gifts us for service in his church, and seals us until the day of redemption.

But all that in the weeks to come.

But I want to leave you with this Pentecost, the giving of God's Spirit is the culmination of Jesus' work.

Remember what Jesus said in John 7?

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The giving of the Holy Spirit is the culmination of Jesus' work for his church.

And believer, God is working today through you by the Holy Spirit that dwells in you.

You are empowered as a believer to glorify God, to share the gospel, to resist sin, to understand truth, and to serve others.

Don't do anything less.

What a great gift you have been given, and that the Spirit of the living God dwells in you.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you for sending your son Jesus the Christ to die the death we deserve for the sin we committed to give us life we don't.

Lord, you have covered over our sin with your blood.

This we confess that it is by faith and by faith alone and your finished work that we can be saved and secured forever, forgiven of our sin and given new life.

I do pray that if anyone does not have a relationship with you even today, Lord, that they would give up striving for happiness apart from you, and give up striving for trying to save themselves apart from faith, simple faith in you.

Lord, that you do not only send your son, but you have not taken us away.

You've not returned yet.

And instead, you've given us your spirit so that all the earth would know you are God.

Lord, we are your witnesses, your servants.

We are here to share truth as we give testimony, like a temple or a tabernacle in the wilderness.

Give witness to who you are, what you have done, what you are like, and what you will do.

Help us by the power of your spirit to be good witnesses in a word and deed.

What a great gift we've received.

In your name and for your glory, we pray as your people.

Amen.