1. S. Franklin Logsdon said, "Second only to the matchless miracle of the incarnation of Christ is the descent of Deity to tabernacle in the bodily tents of men and women, there to cohabit with the spirits of born again people. In the former operation, God was providing the rich and abundant gift of divine life; in the latter, He is proffering the superabundant supplies of infinite grace. Indifference to the provisions of the Saviour results in a catastrophic hopelessness, while inattention to the presence of the Spirit issues in colossal helplessness."
2. "Inattention to the presence of the Holy Spirit issues in colossal helplessness."
3. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest blessings a Christian can enjoy. The Bible has much to say about this, and I will try my best this morning to expound this great doctrine.
4. Before I go further, I want to emphasize that the Holy Spirit is more than an important doctrine. He is a divine Person.
5. Many Christians understand the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but no very little about the Person of the Holy Spirit.
6. Walter L. Wilson was a medical doctor, a preacher, an author, and a tent-maker. He made tents for the US army during WWI, and he made tents for many famous people, including Buffalo Bill.
7. In 1913, a missionary asked Walter Wilson about the Holy Spirit.

“Who is the Holy Spirit to you?”

Wilson immediately replied:

“One of the Persons of the Godhead … Teacher, Guide, Third Person of the Trinity.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

Sadly, Wilson said:

“He is nothing to me. I have no contact with Him and could get along quite well without Him.”

8. The next year, on January 14, 1914, James M. Gray preached a sermon on Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
9. Dr. Gray said, “Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus; He has His own body. It is not the Father; He remains on His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God gives you the indescribable honor of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth.”
10. That message explained things very well to Walter Wilson. He went home and prayed, “My Lord, I have treated You like a servant. When I wanted You, I called for You. Now I give You this body from my head to my feet. I give you my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a bed with cancer. It is your body from this moment on.”
11. The following day two people came to sell Walter Wilson advertising, and he led them both to Christ. From then on, Walter Wilson was an effective witness and soulwinner.
12. In fact, he went on to write several excellent books about soulwinning.

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS THE BELIEVER TO MAKE CHRIST REAL

1. In John 4:13 and 14, our Lord said to the woman at the well, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
2. When a person comes to Christ he receives the indwelling Holy Spirit.
3. Jesus said in John 7:37 and 38, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
4. John 7:39 explains it this way, "This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive."
5. A preacher friend recently told me he was getting out of the ministry. He said he "burned out." I quoted John 7:37 and 38, and told him if he was filled with the Holy Spirit he would never burn out!
6. Interestingly, though these "rivers of living water" picture the fullness of the Holy Spirit, fire is also an emblem of the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said Jesus "shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 3:11).
7. The Holy Spirit is called "the spirit of burning" in Isaiah 4:4.
8. S. Franklin Logsdon said, "The Holy Spirit takes up His abode in the body of the believer to make objective truth an inward reality."
9. Unsaved people cannot understand spiritual things. First Corinthians 2:14 says, "But the natural (unregenerate) man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
10. Unsaved people cannot understand spiritual things. When we talk to sinners we must keep the conversation very simple -- sinners are lost; Jesus died on the cross for their sins; hell is real; if they repent and put their trust in Jesus, He will save them, etc.
11. But even many Christians have a difficult time understanding Bible truth because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit. No Christian can experience the spiritual impact of truth or enjoy its vitality until the Holy Spirit, our divine teacher, opens our eyes and hearts.
12. First Corinthians 2:11 says, “Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,
Ready my God, Thy will to see,
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!   (Clara Scott)

13. It is, therefore, the contact of God’s Spirit with man’s spirit which "paves the way for an intelligent appreciation and an effectual appropriation of the transforming revelations" of our Infinite God (Logsdon).
14. The Holy Spirit directs us and guides us. Our Lord said in John 16:13. “He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
15. S. Franklin Logsdon said, "A guide is necessary when the way is not known, or when immensity or complexity (or both) characterizes the objective to be surveyed. And where can the human mind discover a broader, more profound field of investigation? The Book of books is a mine of wealth incomputable, an ocean of wisdom unfathomable, and a sphere of wonder incomparable. Because He searches the deep things of God, and is Himself omniscient, the gracious Holy Spirit can “paraclete” (help) us into the highways of prophecy, the boulevards of doctrine, the avenues of inspiration and the bypaths of biography. With His patient, potent assistance, one has the blessed privilege of ascending the mountain – climbs to the fastnesses of revealed grandeur, where the azure blue of heavenly atmosphere suffuses one with the glory of the Divine Presence."
16. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher (cf. I John 2:20, 27). The anointing of the Holy Spirit is a holy endowment furnishing us with the ability to grasp the truth of God's Word.
17. My text Wednesday night was II Timothy 2:15, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
18. A Christian who does not know how to "rightly divide the word of truth" has no valid excuse for his or her lack of Bible knowledge.
19. The work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us "into all truth." Our Lord said in John 16:13, " Howbeit 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 will shew you things to come."
20. The Holy Spirit opens up our understanding. That is what I Corinthians 2:14 means: “the things of the Spirit of God...are spiritually discerned.”
21. More about Jesus let me learn,
    More of His holy will discern;
    Spirit of God, my teacher be,
    Showing the things of Christ to me. (Eliza E. Hewitt)
22. The Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and makes them plain to us.
23. S. Franklin Logsdon said something sad but true. He said, "Without the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, indifference, obstinacy and rebellion would, in varying degrees, begin to characterize the actions of God’s people. Indeed, this is precisely what is developing because the Spirit of God is unrecognized generally as the present Indweller of the believer."

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS THE BELIEVER IN ORDER TO AFFIRM OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

1. The emphasis in Romans 8 is on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is mentioned nineteen times in Romans 8.
2. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
3. This is the witness of the Spirit. To witness is to attest the truth of a person, place or thing. The Greek word translated "beareth witness" means “to witness with.”
4. The Holy Spirit takes up His abode within our bodies to witness with our spirits.
5. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit in moments of doubt and discouragement.
6. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit in the hour of temptation.
7. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit in times of sorrow.
8. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit when we kneel to pray (cf. Rom. 8:26, 27).
9. We do not know how to effectively pray, but the indwelling Holy Spirit knows. He knows what we need even before we ask. Our Lord said in Matthew 6:8, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."
10. The Holy Spirit makes "intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8:26). All true prayer originates from God.
11. It is the work of the Holy Spirit when we pray to make known to us what is the will of God in the matter about which we are praying.
12. And the Holy Spirit will show us if the thing is according to His will.
13. R.A. Torrey said, "There are many things we need which are not definitely promised in the Word...and it is the method of God, when we pray, to give us, by the direct illumination of the Holy Spirit, to know His will even in regard to things about which He has given us no definite promise."
14. Illustration from R.A. Torrey: "In my first pastorate we had a union meeting of all the churches of the town. In the course of the meetings we had a day of fasting and prayer. During the morning meeting while we were praying, God led me to pray that one of the most unlikely men in the town might be saved that night. The man had led a wild, roaming life; few in his family were Christians; but as we knelt in prayer that morning God put a great burden on my heart for that man's salvation, and I prayed that he might come to the meeting and be saved that night. And as I prayed, God gave me great confidence that the man would come and be saved. And come he did, and saved he was, that night. There was not a man in that whole town who was more unlikely to be saved than he. That was more than forty years ago, but when I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a few years ago, I met another man whose mother was saved about the same time, and he told me that this man was then living in Tennessee and was still living a Christian life. Now, I cannot pray for the salvation of every unsaved person in that way, but by His Spirit, God revealed to me His will regarding that man, and in many a case He has revealed His will."

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS THE BELIEVER IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH FELLOWSHIP AND A DIVINE PARTNERSHIP

1. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."
2. The Greek word translated "communion" means, "fellowship" or "joint participation."
3. The same word is used in Philippians 2:1, which refers to the "fellowship of the Spirit."
4. The same word is translated as “partners” in Luke 5:10, where it says, "James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.”
5. The Bible teaches that we enjoy fellowship with the Holy Spirit in a practical way. We are partners in the work of the Lord.
6. This is what the apostle Paul means in I Corinthians 3:9, where he says, “For we are labourers together with God.”
7. Our Lord said in Matthew 9:37 and 38, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
8. And we see in the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit is “the Lord of the harvest” (cf. Acts 13:1-4). He directs the operations.
9. We must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He directs us regarding soulwinning and missions. Ephesians 4:30 says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.”
10. S. Franklin Logsdon said, "In its simplest form a partnership is said to exist when two persons offer their resources to accomplish a particular end, each contributing what the other lacks, that together they may be fitted for the pursuance of their common purpose. But what do we have which the Holy Spirit does not have that He would deign to enter into such an unusual relationship with us?
    - We do not have the knowledge, but He does.
    - We do not have the wisdom, but He does.
    - We do not have the power, but He does."
11. Then, what do we have which He does not possess? A body! Remember the life-changing message that God used in the life of Walter Wilson?
12. The message was from Romans 12:1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
13. Dr. James Gray said, “Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus; He has His own body. It is not the Father; He remains on His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God gives you the indescribable honor of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth.”
14. Have you presented your bodies to the Holy Spirit?

CONCLUSION:

1. I began this message by quoting I Corinthians 6:19, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
2. The other day I read something helpful by Norman B. Harrison. He said:
3. How many housewives have a “lumber room,” a catchall, a rubbish room is what it amounts to, made up of an assortment of things they would be ashamed to show their visitors, yet which they lack the courage to throw away and be rid of forever. They would blush to have their neighbors peep into that room and investigate its contents. That cluttered-up, unyielded, uncleansed room is but a picture of what the average Christian is harboring in his inner heart-life — things he would not have anyone suspect are there; things the presence of which he is scarcely willing to acknowledge to himself; things that if brought out to public gaze would shame him forever with his fellows. Yet the Holy Spirit knows these things are there, and has to put up with them daily. He knows they remain in the life, solely because the one who has let Him into the heart has refused to turn that heart over to Him for His full occupancy, undisputed and unrestrained.
4. Friends of the writer tell this experience: They were at one time under necessity of changing their residence. At length they found a house that suited them well. They were ready to decide upon it. But they thought best to inspect it once more. In doing so they came upon a door which had previously escaped their attention. To their inquiry the agent explained, what he had before neglected to tell them, that the owner had some things he wished to store and that he was reserving that room for his own use. “Oh,” said our friends, “if that is the case we would not even consider taking the house. We want it entirely for ourselves or not at all.” Of course. Not one of us would hesitate in coming to a like decision. Then how can we ask the Holy Spirit to accept of a divided heart, unsurrendered in its entirety to His blessed presence? (HIS INDWELLING PRESENCE).