Walking with the Holy Spirit - Powerful Message by Billy Graham

tonight I want you to turn with me to the 14th chapter of John and I want you to turn to the 16th verse now I have several scriptures I'd like to read but I'm just going to limit myself to this particular scripture the 14th chapter of John beginning at verse 16 if ye 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 even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye

know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you Pope John was once asked what the greatest need in the world was and he said the teaching and the ministry of the Holy Spirit my wife and I took a brief vacation several years ago with the great Swiss Theologian Carl Bart and I asked Dr Bart I said what is going to be the next theological emphasis in the world and that was before the charismatic movement had come to Bloom as we know it

today and Dr Carl Bart with great prophetic Insight said said the emphasis is going to be on the work of the Holy Spirit and the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:1 now concerning matters pertaining to the spirit I would not have you ignorant now it's impossible to understand the Bible Christian Living the structure of the church to understand your own relationship to God without the person and the work of the Hol Holy Spirit now we have uh what is called today the charismatic movement and I see it throughout the world I see it in

V all sorts of phases I've been to some countries where they say that the charismatic movement is moving so great in the Roman Catholic church and I find that those people have never spoken in tongues at all they've just had a new experience with Christ and yet they call themselves charismatic and they are right because every true Christian is charismatic every true Christian is charismatic it's the word charismata where we get our word Charisma from and that is the plural for Caris which means gift a gift of Grace now there are 20 or 21 or

19 no matter how you count them in my book I say 20 but I think it's only a sample list of the gifts of the Spirit but every True Believer has a gift of the Holy Spirit the gift of administration the gift of helps the gift of knowledge the gift of wisdom the gift of an evangelist the gift of a pastor the gift of a teacher whatever the gift is it is given by the will of the holy spirit it's a gift from the Holy Spirit to you to help you to guide you to lead

you to strengthen you to edify to build up the body of Christ and to witness for Christ to the world round about us and so in that sense every True Believer is charismatic now let's look a little bit at the word the work of the Holy Spirit first of all he's not a he is not an it I hear people talk about I want it he is a person the Bible says that he's not something he's someone he is God there are three persons in the Trinity God the Father God the son God the Holy

Spirit you say I don't understand that neither do I I'm not going to try to explain it at least at this point except by faith that there's one God expressed in three persons God the Father God the son God the Holy Spirit now the Bible teaches that the holy spirit is all powerful Micah 3:6 says I'm full of Power by the spirit of the Lord the Bible says he's present everywhere no matter where you go he's there whether shall I flee from thy Spirit or whether shall I flee from thy presence Psalm 139:7 that is

one of the reasons that Christ went away he went to get out of a human body because Christ could only be in one place at one time he was confined to his body he went away so the Holy Spirit could come in his place and be everywhere at the same time the Holy Spirit can be in your heart and my heart and we may live a thousand miles apart he said it is expedient for you that I go away and if I go not away the holy spirit will not come he said so he said

I have to go away so that the Holy Spirit can come and do his great work throughout the history of the church now he also has all knowledge the Bible says but God hath received them unto us by his spirit for by the spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yay the Deep things of God it is the holy spirit that teaches us and takes us deeper and deeper as we go along in our Christian life now in our Christian Life we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ but we can only

grow by the help of the holy spirit because the moment that you receive Christ as your savior the Holy Spirit comes to live in your heart your body becomes the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is there to help you live the Christian Life there's not a person in this audience that can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit there's not a person in this audience that can follow Christ without the help of the holy spirit so the holy spirit is extremely important all important in our lives the Bible also says that

the Holy Spirit has all knowledge but God hath revealed unto them by his spirit for he searcheth all things ye the Deep things of God but in the Book of Revelation it says that he has seven eyes the word seven is the word of perfection in the scriptures he has seven eyes perfect eyes he sees everything that goes on he knows what goes on in your heart he knows what goes on in your mind nothing is hidden from him the searching probing power of the holy spirit with those seven eyes that see in every direction

he has perfect knowledge and then the Bible says he's Eternal in Hebrews 9:14 we have the phrase the eternal spirit he is the co-eternal with God the father and God the son to explain the Trinity again I do not know how but let's say you take an apple you have the peeling on the outside you have the meat and then you have the core but it all makes up the apple or you have uh ice and water and Vapor they're all the the same but they take different forms those are poor illustrations of the mighty

Trinity God the Father God the son and God the Holy Spirit now he's called holy 100 times he's referred to as the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost is the old English translation and the Bible says God says be ye holy even as I am Holy the holy spirit's job one of his jobs is to help make you holy and we ought to be more holy today than we were yesterday we should always be growing more into the image and Conformity to Jesus Christ and it's the holy spirit that helps us in this growing process

now the Bible also teaches that where he is there's liberty our brother a moment ago talked about Liberty the Liberty that he has in Jesus Christ he gives us Liberty out of the bondage of the law and out of the bondage of legalism because you see even though you may be a slave to sin to drugs to alcohol or whatever it may be you're a slave of sin Jesus said but Jesus Christ comes and liberates us because of his death on the cross and the Holy Spirit also liberates us and there's liberty where the spirit

is and I can go into a service and tell you in 5 minutes in that service if the those people have been liberated by the Holy Spirit the work of the Holy Spirit what is the work of the Holy Spirit the work of the Holy Spirit first of all is to convict he convicts us of sin and when he has come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment in John 16 he uses a mother's prayers as our brother a moment ago said or a tragic experience or a pastor's sermon

or some other experience maybe this telecast he will use to convict you of your sin and of your need of turning your life over totally to Jesus Christ that's the work of the Holy Spirit and many times he Disturbed you I've had people get up out of their seats and come and stand in front and shake their fist in my face they were so disturbed by the spirit of God but they'll come back one man came back the next night and accepted Christ one man came at 5:00 in the morning to our hotel to receive

Christ the Holy Spirit sometimes makes you angry he disturbs you you don't like for people to point right in your direction and say I'm a you're a sinner the Holy Spirit points right at you he puts a dagger in your heart and he says you're a sinner you need to repent we don't like to hear that but that's the work of the Holy Spirit and without the work of the Holy Spirit you could never go to heaven Heaven you could never have your sins forgiven you could never be saved and the Holy Spirit has been

working with some of you all week whether you've been here or haven't been here and then secondly he gives new life you see the Bible says that we are dead in sins and trespasses our spirit within us made in the image of God is dead toward God and what does mankind need tonight mankind needs life all have sinned therefore all are dead toward God and a dead man needs to life and the Holy Spirit comes to give us that new life in Jesus Christ bertran Russell once wrote to a friend I could think of nothing

but suicide for over man and his Works he said night falls pitless and dark is that the way you feel night is falling pitless and dark for you you see Man Without God is dead but Jesus said except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God you must be born again and the Holy Spirit is the one that does the work of making you a born again person it's a supernatural act not by works of righteousness which we've done not all your good works and all the good things that you've done

are going to save you Titus Paul said to Titus but according to his Mercy he saved us we're saved by the mercy of God by the grace of God I don't deserve Heaven I don't deserve to have my sins forgiven I don't deserve to be saved I don't deserve to have this peace in my heart I don't deserve this deep-seated joy that I have it's by Grace by Mercy something I didn't earn something I didn't work for I just received a gift the gift of God the gift of salvation but according to his Mercy saved

us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy spirit it's the holy spirit that does it and then thirdly as I've mentioned already he indwells many of you are spiritually dead and surfed with the issues or with the life in which we live today in our hedonistic culture the Holy Spirit can come into you and indwell you right now you can start all over again brand new life the life of the spirit the Holy Spirit indwelling you the Holy Spirit pulsating spiritual life through and in you and I will put my spirit within

you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them says Ezekiel 3 6 think of it God said I'll put my spirit in you I'll come to live in you think of your body hous in God and that's what happens your body becomes the temple where God dwells by his holy spirit that's the reason we should never take anything unclean into our bodies that's the reason we should discipline our bodies that's the reason we should watch our bodies because it's the Temple of the Holy Spirit God loves

you a body he doesn't want it polluted and filed up by fleshly lust and things that you give yourself to he dwelleth with you and shall be in you said Jesus in our text know ye not that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you said First Corinthians 3:16 and then fourthly the holy spirit gives you power to serve Christ but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be Witnesses unto me I can't do the work I can I'm doing

without the power of the Holy Spirit people always you know bless their hearts I love newspaper reporters some of them are my best friends and uh but many of them who do not know Christ cannot possibly understand what it's all about they study and they try to penetrate and they try to figure it out they think it's advertisement they think it's promotion they think it's uh something else one fellow said that he knew the secret of of why the crowds came to these meetings he said it was my eyes well you can't see my eyes

four rows back no I'll tell you the secret it's the Holy Spirit the spirit of God where Christ is exalted I don't claim to be a great preacher I'm just a community unic Ator of God's message he called me and gave me that gift he gave Cliff his gift he gave Ted his gift he gave bevay his and John his and all these team members he gave them separate gifts he gives as he Wills there's some of the the team members here that we have with us and some of the people here that can do

things I would give anything in my possession to be able to do by way of organization by way of music I wish I could sing like some of these people I can't sing a note in fact I don't even sing when I'm standing beside somebody because I throw them off and I'm not the greatest organizer in the world but God gave me my little gift the gift of communicating the gospel and the thing that counts is the message that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture that he rose again according to the scripture

that he's coming back again and that he's ready to come into your heart right now by the Holy Spirit and make you a new person that's the gospel that's the one message Christ gave me that's the one message God gave me I was reading about something in Wakefield England the other day and a woman had tried her driver's test for the 38th time and failed 38 time times and failed perhaps you've tried that many times for a license spiritually to sit in the driest seat of your life but it hasn't worked how many people come

have gone to meetings and you've rededicated your life and you've come forward or you've gone out of there and said I'm going to live different or I'm going to do better it it just hasn't worked this may be the 38th time and tonight it may work because you're going to turn your life over to Christ in the right way by repentance of your sin and by faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit is going to come supernaturally and renew you and give you a new nature and then the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the

spirit what are the fruit nine of them but the fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness and temperance that's produced by the Holy Spirit they are people that you may not be able to love normally they're just not your kind but the holy spirit will give you the power to love them and the greatest thing in the world what is it love the greatest evidence that you know Christ is love and you can't love that person well I know there are some people

that are just hard to love but the Holy Spirit can love through you he can love through you and then you you don't have joy there are a lot of times that I feel that I don't have joy and I get on my knees and I say Lord where is the fruit of the spirit of joy in my life and the joy is there down deep it's a Deep River whatever the circumstances there's a River of joy and then the peace that passeth understanding comes from the Holy Spirit whatever the circumstances let the world fall

apart I have peace in my heart I know where I'm going I know where I've been and I know where I'm here by the Holy Spirit do you know Christ you see the Holy Spirit comes to do this he comes to magnify to glorify and exalt the son John 16 13 says he shall not speak of himself the Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself in other words we're not to go around saying the holy spirit this the holy spirit this the holy spirit that and ignore Christ he came to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ

he came to glorify Christ and the Holy Spirit is pleased when you glorify Christ in your life now the Bible says that you can sin against the Holy Spirit the Bible says you can anger the spirit the Bible says you can grieve the spirit the Bible says you can lie against the Holy Spirit the Bible says you can tempt the Holy Spirit the Bible says that you can resist the Holy Spirit and if you resist the Holy Spirit there's no forgiveness because you see it's the holy spirit that draws you to Christ it is the

holy spirit that convicts you of your need of Christ and if you resist him keep resisting your heart getting harder and harder all the time then there's no more repentance no more salvation there's only one way of Salvation and that's Christ a solemn thing to resist the Holy Spirit Spirit you detect his voice and yet you deliberately refuse it's a dangerous thing to resist the spirit he that despiseth Moses law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sore punishment suppose ye shall be thought worthy who have trotten Under Foot the Son

of God and have counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was Sanctified an Unholy thing and have done despite under the spirit of Grace I'm ask asking you tonight to give in to the call of the Holy Spirit I'm asking you to come by the hundreds and say I want Christ in my life to be my Lord and my savior and I want to be sure of it you may be a faithful in the church but you really don't know Christ or you may not have any religion you may be Catholic or Protestant or

Jewish or no religion at all I don't know who you are what you are but I would assume that the majority of the people here tonight are churchgoers and I know thousands of churchgoers that need to come to Christ in a new way and have a new experience with the Lord Jesus Christ led by the holy spirit because you see there's many people that need to be filled with the Holy Spirit I don't have time to go into what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit or to be baptized with the holy spirit

all that's in my book book because I'm here tonight to talk to you about what the Holy Spirit can do for you right tonight right here and now and I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat hundreds of you as we've seen night after night and I want you to come and stand here in front of the platform and say by coming I want Christ in my heart I want to know I'm going to heaven I want my sins forgiven I want to start a new life if you're with friends or

relatives they'll wait if you come from that top balcony up there it'll take you about 2 minutes so start now you can bring your friend with you and there are thousands of you here tonight that God has been speaking to you get up and come right now quickly and say by coming I want Christ in my heart I want the Holy Spirit to come into my life tonight I want Christ to forgive my sins you get up and come quickly we're going to wait on you