David Diga Hernandez - What If the Holy Spirit Left the Earth?

God, the Father, is seated upon a throne. God, the Son, sits at the right hand of the Father. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells in you. Psalm chapter 139, verse 7, teaches us that you cannot escape from the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the omnipresence of God, and as I was saying just a moment ago, we so often take that presence for granted. We ignore the Holy Spirit; we put Him off for another time. Sometimes I think we fail to appreciate just how wonderful it is to have His presence and power in our lives. So, I want to talk to you about this idea: what would happen if the presence and power of the Holy Spirit were suddenly lifted from the earth? Now, I want to assure you, Jesus said that when He sends the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will never leave us. Those who receive the Holy Spirit are not abandoned by the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit will never abandon the true believer. That’s a fact, that’s a promise from Jesus Himself. But I think that as we begin to consider what life would be like without the Holy Spirit, that consideration will produce an appreciation for who He is and what He does in our lives.

Now, the Scripture does talk about a time when the Holy Spirit moves aside. As I said, the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, but there is a moment in time when the Holy Spirit will allow His influence to be set aside to allow for certain end-time events to take place. Watch this: Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, state, «For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness, or the Antichrist, will be revealed. But the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming.» Again, that’s Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 7 through 8. The Holy Spirit is the one here upon the earth, and His influence is holding back the influence of the man of lawlessness. So, there is a time that’s coming when the Holy Spirit will remove His influence. Of course, as I said, He’s omnipresent, but His influence will be allowed to be removed. The Holy Spirit will choose not to influence the earth in that specific way.

While we don’t know when this will happen, I do want to consider this idea: what would life be like for the believer if the Holy Spirit were to just someday say, «You do it on your own»? One more time, I want to assure you that’s not going to happen. But again, I think in considering these things, we learn to appreciate who He is. First and foremost, we see in John chapter 16, verses 7 through 8, that the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts the world of sin. Now, imagine that the conscience, the collective conscience of mankind, is suddenly no longer moved by God’s holy standard, suddenly no longer influenced by the voice of the Holy Spirit. We would see sin increase in the earth like never before. We would see people becoming so cold-hearted, so violent, so wicked, so perverse, that life would be unbearable. Just like Abraham, you and I, by being in this nation or in this world, are holding back the judgment of God. That holiness in us is the preservation of a nation. But if the Holy Spirit were to suddenly remove His convicting powers, suddenly no one would feel shame for their sin. Those things that are done in secret would be done out in the open, and society would collapse.

John chapter 14, verses 15-18, teaches us that the Holy Spirit brings comfort. Imagine, in those moments of sadness and sorrow, those moments of isolation and loneliness, those moments when you feel like quitting because the weight of the world is on you. Imagine in those moments not having the presence of the Holy Spirit to comfort you, to assure you, and to let you know that the future is still in God’s hands. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray, according to Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10; He is the Spirit of prayer and supplication. Imagine trying to pray without the help of the Holy Spirit—you would run out of things to say, you would run out of passion to fuel your prayer life. Not only that, you would forget to pray because it’s the Holy Spirit who reminds you to pray. You would even lose the desire to pray because the Holy Spirit wouldn’t be there to cultivate that desire. He’s our teacher, according to John chapter 14, verse 26. Imagine that the Holy Spirit wasn’t there to walk you through Scripture.

Imagine trying to grasp deep spiritual truths without the Holy Spirit teaching you in your spirit to understand those truths. Imagine not being able to comprehend salvation, not being able to comprehend the gifts of the Spirit, not being able to comprehend surrender, sacrifice, and ministry, and how to overcome those things in yourself that you want to overcome. Imagine having to go about revelation without the Holy Spirit. Why, we would have no true teaching. We would be confused, and anyone and everyone would give their opinion, and we wouldn’t know who was telling us the truth. Our ears would be inclined to hear heretics and false teachers without the Holy Spirit saying, «That’s not right.» We would be easily manipulated by people who were greedy, by people who had selfish ambition, by people who preached just for their own gain, because the Holy Spirit wouldn’t be there to say, «There’s something not right about this.» He wouldn’t be there to teach, to remind, and to reveal. The Holy Spirit is…