Ephesians 5:18 Part 2

Thank you, music ministers, if you have your B

ibles, turn with me.

Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 18.

Last week we studied the first half of verse

18, and today I want to begin by reading

verses

18 to 21 as context for the rest of the

section that is going to come, but today we're

only

going to get into the second part of verse 18,

but this is where we're going to be heading,

so I want to read ahead just a little bit,

starting with verse 18, "And do not get drunk

with wine, for that is dissipation, but be

filled with the Spirit, speaking to one

another

in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody with your heart to

the Lord,

always giving thanks for all things in the

name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God,

even the Father, and be subject to one another

in the fear of Christ."

Now, last week I told you that there are two

parts to verse 18 that make up a contrast

between the two parts, so focus in on verse 18

where Paul says, "And do not get drunk with

wine,

for that is dissipation, first part, contrast

ed with, but be filled with the Spirit." Being

filled with the Spirit is the energy of the

worthy walk that Paul called us to back in

chapter 4 and verse 1, remember? Verse 3, "P

ortions of Ephesians." Three chapters of Ephes

ians is theology,

starting in chapter 4 verse 1. Remember, walk

in a manner worthy of the calling with which

you have been called. That starts the second

half of the book of basic Christian life

principles.

And none of us here, no Christian ever, will

ever walk, remember, walk means pattern of

life,

in the ways that Paul has called us to walk

since the start of the fourth chapter, if

we are not filled with the Spirit. Think about

the things we've learned that are so great.

We will never walk in humility, in unity, we

will never walk different from the world,

we will never walk in love or wisdom, all

those things we have learned unless

we are energized by the Spirit of God. We won

't walk wise, but rather we'll operate as fools

,

as we recently learned. We won't walk,

remember, making the most of our time. We won

't operate

understanding what the will of the Lord is, as

we recently learned, unless, again, we are

filled

with the Spirit. So, that begs the question,

what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit

?

And there are a lot of professing Christians

who are very confused about what this means,

something being filled with the preacher, with

the Spirit, filled with the preacher. That's a

faux pas, is what you call that in French. But

some think, and really do believe, that being

filled with the Spirit is when the preacher

comes by and he taps you on the forehead,

and you fall back on the ground and flop

around like a speckled trout in the bottom of

the boat

after he gets off of your hook. Others say

being filled with the Spirit is when you gain

the ability

to babble incoherently in a language that

nobody can understand, so that if you have in

your life

had some kind of ecstatic experience like

those two, then you've got it. You're filled

with the

Spirit, and if you haven't had one of those

experiences, well, sorry for you, you just are

not filled with the Spirit until you get one

of those two things. There's a lot of

variation,

a lot of discussion about this concept. There

are other folks that are very stoic about this

subject, and they recognize, yeah, that means

the Bible says the Holy Spirit is present in

us,

but they really don't recognize any impact of

anything in a practical way about being filled

with the Spirit, and both are wrong. The

filling of the Spirit is a very profound

reality in the

life of every Christian, and what we're going

to work hard today to do, as we always do, is

to

understand what being filled with the Spirit

means from a sound, reasonable, biblical

perspective.

That's how we're going to understand it,

because there's only one perspective on this.

What do you say? When we come to controversial

doctrines, I might be right, and you might be

wrong, and you might be right, and I might be

wrong, or we might be both wrong, but the

Bible's

never wrong. You understand? There's going to

be three points that we're going to use

that's going to help keep our vehicle in

between the ditches when it comes to this

subject for today. Number one, the contrast,

and we already looked at that contrast between

being

drunk and being filled with the Spirit. If you

missed my sermon on drinking alcohol and being

drunk,

go back on our Facebook page and watch that

sermon, because I got so much material here.

I don't have time to go back over all that

again today, except to give you the main point

out

of the sermon, which was drinking alcohol is

not a sin, getting drunk is pretty easy to get

,

right? The main point. Go back to listen to

all the rest of it at your leisure. Point

number two

is the command, and that's what we're going to

get into today. And then point number three,

which we won't get to today, will be the

consequences. So Paul's instruction here.

Again,

look at verse 18. Don't be a drunkard. Let

your life be characterized by being filled

with the Spirit. Here in verse 18, I want you

to look at that phrase, be filled with the

Spirit.

That right there is a command in the Greek

language. Now, as you know, I don't know Greek

,

but my friend, Johnny Mack knows Greek. So

when Johnny Gratt material says, "This is the

Greek,"

I buy it in the Blue Letter Bible or any other

of those tools I can look at too.

But there is in Greek words and phrases that

are called the indicative mood. Now,

that sounds like a big, heady thing. It's

really not. All it means is this. The

indicative mood

means this. A statement of fact. That's all

that it means. Okay? Then there is what is

called a

word or phrase. That word is in the imperative

mood. That simply means it's a command. It's

an

imperative. So an imperative is a command. And

without question, in the Greek, be filled with

the Spirit is an imperative in the imperative

mood. And it is a command for Christians to be

filled

with the Spirit. So what I'm telling you is,

Christian, this is not an option for us.

This is not a suggestion. Have you ever

noticed that in Scripture, God rarely makes

suggestions?

He states facts. He makes commands. Really, if

you study the Bible, you'll find there really

are

very few optional things when it comes to God.

Because he's God. He's in charge of everything

.

Whether you believe that or not makes

absolutely no difference to the reality that

he is in

charge. So here in verse 18, be filled with

the Spirit is not an option or even just a

statement.

It is extremely clearly a command. One of the

sad teachings in the church that really had a

lot of

influence starting in the 20th century is that

you can make a decision to believe in Jesus

and you're saved. And just making that

decision, done deal. You don't have to really

be bothered

with following commands like this, be filled

with the Spirit. Obedience to the Word of God

is kind of optional. That's really only if you

want to be a super spiritual Christian,

you can go all the way with it so that in this

understanding you can be saved by believing.

But then you can just kind of be indifferent

on the obedience in because you made that

decision

to believe. I mean, you'll be in heaven. You

just won't be in one of those larger mansions

when we

get up there for the super spiritual folks

that were filled with the Spirit and followed

that command.

Now, unless anybody in here can take their

Bible and prove me wrong, I have yet to find

anywhere in the scripture where the Lord says,

"Okay, if you really want to be super

spiritual,

do this." I don't find that anywhere in

scripture. Or if you want to

live kind of indifferently as a Christian more

carnally, well, yeah, that's an option for you

too. I don't find that in scripture. I've

never found anywhere in the Bible where God

deals like

that. Okay? This comes under the heading of an

issue that has been labeled the Lordship of

Christ.

Another name for it would be the Lordship Sal

vation. I believe that surrendering

to the total Lordship of Christ is absolutely

essential for saving faith.

I don't think there is any other option like

right here. Verse 18, it is a command

from God through the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit to the apostle Paul, to the scripture

for

all time in the church to be filled with the

Spirit. In fact, a genuine Christian should

never be

content to live comfortably in one of these

non-Lordship salvation carnal kind of boxes

where you say, "Well, I'm not one of those

kind of Christians who just wants to go to the

super

spiritual level. I'm just content to believe

the facts of the gospel and just live the

Christian life out kind of in a nominal lower

level kind of way. But we've got this problem.

The Bible says that even the demons believe

and they tremble. The facts, they know them.

They know them better than we do. They tremble

. They don't surrender. And so,

believe me when I say this. Hear me when I say

this. Understand me when I say this.

It is not legalism. When we hear Jesus himself

say, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

What should happen when you, Christian, when

you hear that

immediately in your mind, in your soul, there

should be a positive, "Yes, Lord, that's what

I

want to do reaction out of thanksgiving for

the fact that you have been saved by the blood

of the

cross." That should be the natural reaction of

a believer. Now, let's talk specifically about

the meaning of feeling. What does that mean?

Well, first, here's a true statement of

theological biblical fact. Every true, genuine

believer possesses the Holy Spirit in all his

fullness completely and totally. There is no

such thing as a Christian who exists without

the Holy

Spirit. Now, it's important in that way you

are reading the New Testament to understand

the nuance

that exists when you are using words like "

lesh," "blessly," and "carnal." There's some

real nuance,

and I want to show you this. I'm going to take

a minute with this that you understand. Most

of the

time, "carnal," "bless," "blessly," are words

that are used to speak of unsaved Christian. I

'm unsaved

people. For example, look at Romans 8-7 and 8.

"Because the mind set on the flesh," King

James says,

"carnal mind," both words. Same thing, "is

hostile toward God." That's an unsaved mind. "

For it does

not subject itself to the law of God, for it

is not even able to do so." Verse 8. "And

those who are,"

look at this phrase, "in the flesh." That's

the unsaved. That's how it's used here.

"Cannot," please, God. "Cannot." So, clearly,

pretty easy to see. "Flesh," "in the flesh,"

"carnal," if you're in the King James, all of

those words are referring to lost people,

unbelievers. If your mind is set on the flesh

or you are in the flesh, in those verses right

there,

you are not saved. Is that easy to understand?

But it's not always the case with these words.

Let me give you an example in 1 Corinthians 3.

Here in 1 Corinthians 3, in context, Paul is

addressing believers here. Paul is addressing

Christians here, and he's talking to them

about being infant Christians. And he's saying

, "You're only able to take milk. You're not

able

to take solid food." And when he says solid

food, he's talking about, "You're not able to

dial in

with the deeper doctrines of Scripture," is

what he means there. And look what he tells

them in

verse 3. "For you, Christian believers in the

church at Corinth, are still," look at that

word,

"fleshly. And since there is jealousy and str

ife among you, are you not fleshly? And are you

not

walking like mere men?" So watch this. They

are saved, but here's his point. "You're a

Christian,

but you are still behaving in a fleshly way.

You are still behaving as a Christian in a

sinful

way." You've heard somebody say, "Well, well,

well, that person right there, the reason why

they're acting like that, they're a carnal

Christian." And that's how the done Lordship

position deals with this. But I could say, "

Well, okay, I'm looking at you, what you're

doing there."

I could say, "Well, you could be possibly a 1

Corinthians 3 behaving carnaly Christian,

or I could say you could be carnal in the

Romans 8 totally lost kind of way." You see

the difference?

But here's what the difference is between the

two most of all. If you are a person who is

comfortable

with your carnality and you're not caring, you

're not fighting against it, then you better

examine

yourself because that's an example of Romans 8

carnality right there. It doesn't bother you.

You're not fighting against it. Now, we all

know this sitting in this room if we're all

honest with ourselves and one another,

Christians can behave carnaly, right? We

battle with our flesh

and our sin every day, right? But not as a

continual pattern of life. When we sin, we are

convicted,

we ask forgiveness and we fight against it.

Carnality as a pattern of life is

characteristic

of unbelieving people. No matter what they

possess, Romans 8 says they are at enmity.

What does that

word mean? You've heard me say it many times.

That word is very clear. Enmity means the

state of

being an enemy with God. That's what all unbel

ievers are. That's what I was before I came to

Christ.

That's what you were before you came to Christ

. You were an enemy of God before he saved you.

You can't please God no matter how many man-

centered good works you do apart from faith.

Now,

look at what the next verse says in Romans 8-9

. However, you are not in the flesh but in the

spirit if indeed the spirit of God dwells in

you. So there in the flesh is referring in

context

what the previous verses means. You are lost.

We just read those verses. So he's writing to

Christians and he's saying you are not in the

flesh. You are not lost but you are in the

spirit.

Why? Look next if indeed the spirit of God

dwells in you. Look next in verse 9. But if

anyone does

not have the spirit of Christ, he does not

belong to him. So you see, very clear. If you

don't have

the Holy Spirit, it's not that you're carnal.

It's not that you haven't gotten him yet. If

you don't

have the Holy Spirit, you are not saved. If

anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he

does not

belong to him. It's pretty simple, right? Now

I'm laboring this because I really want you to

get it.

There's been so much bad, error-filled

teaching with this subject, especially here in

America,

the 20th and down into the 21st century. As a

Christian, I'm here to tell you it is a

biblical

fact that you have the Holy Spirit right now

in his fullness. You have the Holy Spirit

right now

in totality. He doesn't come at some time

later after salvation. He doesn't come in

doses when

you get touched on the forehead by the charlat

an wolf in sheep's clothing. We don't ask God,

"Lord, please give me more of your spirit."

Why? Because for the Christian there isn't any

more to

get. Every believer from the moment of

salvation possesses the Holy Spirit of God in

totality.

Look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, "For by

one spirit we were all, all Christians,

into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether

slaves or free, and we were all made to drink

of

one spirit." That's true for all Christians.

Let me add that the baptism of the Holy Spirit

,

again, is not an experience that happens to

you sometime after salvation, as many teach.

Many say, again, that the evidence of the

baptism of the Spirit is when you begin to bab

ble in these

unknown tongues. And I've talked to many who

have come out of that kind of movement and

every single

one of them have told me I was faking it. I

was taught how to do it and it wasn't the Holy

Spirit.

I might have been deceived that I thought it

was the Holy Spirit, but now that I look back,

it was really me. Every one of them. That's

not true what you see happening in the church

today.

Just not. You can get mad at all you want.

That's false doctrine. It's not taught

anywhere in the

Bible to babble in an unknown tongue that no

one can understand. Every moment somebody's

doing that,

they are wasting their time, period. You get

mad if you want, but the Bible is very clear

about this.

Now, nothing happens to you, the baptism of

the Spirit, physically at all. Look again at

verse 13.

We were all baptized, one body by one spirit.

There's just simply not some genuine

Christians

who have had the baptism of the Holy Spirit

and others who have not had the experience. It

's

really just simple. This is what the baptism

of the Spirit of God is. It's an act of God

by which the Holy Spirit puts you into the

body of Christ at the moment that you believe.

At the moment that you believe, Christian, you

receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and God

places you into the body of Christ. It's a

theological reality at the moment that you are

regenerated and exercise saving faith in

Christ. It's not some later experience that

goes on,

no matter how you want to define it. Verse 13

further says this, no matter who you are,

no matter where you come from, look at it.

Whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free,

we were all made to drink of what? One Spirit.

So, there's no true Christian who does not

possess

the Holy Spirit from the moment of their

conversion and for the rest of their life.

Look at 1 Corinthians 6-19. This is true for

all Christians, or do you not know that your

body

is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you

whom you have from God and that you are not

your own.

He's getting on to the Corinthians right there

in that passage and about their immorality

again and

notice, notice what he doesn't say to these

Corinthians who are behaving badly. You need

to get the Holy Spirit. Does he say that? No,

he's saying you are defiling the Holy Spirit

that's

already in you. That's what he's saying. Same

as Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30, do not grieve

the

Holy Spirit. Same as 1 Thessalonians 5-19, do

not quench the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve,

don't quench. You want to know why? Because he

's always there. He's not coming sometime later

,

he's there from the moment of salvation. And

by the way, the Spirit is not an it.

Holy Spirit is a he, that's right. He's a

person within the construct of the Trinity.

And as Christians, we can quench the Holy

Spirit. MacArthur study note says the fire of

God's Spirit

is not to be doused with sin, like doused with

water. And we can grieve the Spirit by our sin

. He

can be saddened. He can be anguished by our

sin because he is the Holy Spirit. And he is

always

present in us, guess what? Even when we sin.

That's something to think about, isn't it?

Galatians 2.20, "I have been crucified with

Christ and it is no longer I who live,

but Christ who lives in me." The Spirit of

Christ in me. Let me tell you, that is mind-b

oggling to me.

And it won't ever not be mind-boggling to me,

that the Creator God of the universe, the one

who is

holy, holy, holy, that we sing about this

morning, the almighty, sovereign God could

take up

residence in my body. That's inconceivable.

And people have trouble thinking about the

Trinity. One God, three persons. How about the

Spirit of God indwelling every single believer

on planet earth simultaneously right now? That

's an even more mathematical problem, I believe

.

David said, "Those things are too high for me.

They're too wonderful, amazing to be even

begin

to contemplate." And yet, it is the Bible

truth. And just one more note on the baptism

of the Spirit.

Search the Scriptures and I promise you this.

I promise you this. You will never find a

command

and imperative that we learned about earlier.

You will never find a command. Be baptized

with the

Spirit. You won't find one. Because again, the

baptism of the Spirit is when you are placed

into

the body of Christ at the moment that you're

saved. Now, go back to Ephesians 1. I'm sorry,

Ephesians

5. Well, even in Ephesians 1, I mean we could

say it, you are not commanded to be sealed

with the

Holy Spirit. Remember that from Ephesians 1?

Yep, secure. You're not commanded to do that.

Why? Because as a Christian, you've already

been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You've already

been

baptized by the Holy Spirit. Guess what? You

've already been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

And

that's not a command either. It's not a

command. Be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But

there is a command.

There is a command concerning the Holy Spirit.

And it's right here in our verse. Look at it

again,

verse 18, chapter 5. This is a command. Be

filled with the Spirit. Okay? Now, let's get

into that

phrase in the Greek. Get strong. Literally.

This is what it is, literally. Be being kept

filled with

the Spirit. The idea of being kept is a

constant be being kept. Okay? It's not one

time I'm filled

with the Spirit and that's it. I'm done for

the rest of my life. That is not the idea. Be

being

kept continuously filled. Guess what it is? It

's moment by moment by moment. It's day by day

by

day. It's not a once for all time reality. It

's be being kept continuously filled. That's

the idea.

You may be baptized into the body. You may be

indwelt and you may be sealed by the Spirit

until

the day of redemption. But you will live a

defeated Christian life if you don't know what

it is.

To experience moment by moment, be being kept

continuously filled by the Spirit of God

experience.

And I can't stress enough the idea of a contin

ual moment by moment, second by second work

being

filled with the Spirit five minutes ago. Isn't

any good for you right now? Does that get to

you?

Being filled with the Spirit tomorrow isn't

any good for you today. Okay? And there's a

couple of

ways of understanding the Greek word for

filled. In one sense, picture this idea. It's

the idea

of wind filling a sail in a sailboat and

blowing the boat out to sea. And that's the

idea, as Paul

said, of us being carried along by the Spirit.

Having the thrust and the energy of your life

being the power of the Spirit of God. Not on

your own energy. You get it? Not your own

flesh.

Not your own ideas. You don't generate your

own will when you are filled with the Spirit.

It's the idea that you are blown along under

the wind of the Spirit of God. It's you are

under his control completely. You are carried

along the path that he will go. You're carried

along in life by the Spirit of God, blown

along like a sailboat in the wind. To be

filled with

the Spirit is to be carried along day by day,

moment by moment from thought to thought, word

to word,

D to D, by the power of the energy of the

Spirit of God. So being filled also carries

the idea

of permeation, something that permeates. I

mean, remember the the commercial? The

commercial

pop, pop, biz, biz. Oh, what a relief it is.

Remember? Alka-Seltzer. I remember one, only

one time my grandfather plop plop, biz, biz

and gave me that Alka-Seltzer and almost threw

up.

But what happened when you dropped those two

little Alka-Seltzers into the glass of water?

It just permeated every part of that water.

That's why it tasted so bad. So you're not

only

permeated by the Spirit. You're not only blown

along by the Spirit, but also carrying with

that

is the idea of total control. Now let me give

you an example of this. I really want you to

get this.

Look at the end of John 16 and verse 6 where

it says, "Sorrow has filled your heart." Okay?

That means sorrow to such a degree that it

that it can't be balanced off by any kind of

happiness

or anything else. You are just totally sorrow

ful, okay? Overtaken by sorrow. We've all been

there.

But very often we can, in life, day to day

life, we can kind of balance off

these emotions like sorrow. Let's take sorrow

for example. Well, man, you got some trouble

at home.

It's causing you some sorrow. I'm going to go

to work and just get my mind off of it. So at

work,

I'll be in a better situation. Or vice versa.

Not going good at work. I'm heading home where

it's

great. And you just kind of balance off

between sorrow and happiness. Or maybe you're

thinking

about some sad things and you say, "Wait a

minute. I'm going to stop. Let's talk about

something happy."

Right? Let's quit talking about that. And off

you go. And what happens? Sorrow's gone. You

know,

you're thinking and talking with somebody

about something happy. So we can balance this

off. But

sometimes we can't find that balance, right?

Like somebody we love dies. Huh? And we are

all the way

down. And there's nothing that nobody can say.

There's nothing that nobody can do that can

take

away that sorrow. And you are filled with

sorrow, completely dominated by it. That's how

the word

fulfilled with the spirit is used in our verse

. You understand? It's a totally dominating

situation.

And then you're going along and you're, "Oh,

long lost uncle Phil Moore leaves you $200,000

. You

wasn't ready for him." Pow! You're instantly

back in happy land, right? And what happens at

that moment?

Man, you're filled with happiness. You're not

thinking about anything else. How am I going

to

spend this $200,000, man? That's the concept

of the word. You're totally dominated at that

moment

with that happiness. You're controlled by that

which influences your thinking and your

emotion

totally. Now the same is true with how we live

our Christian lives. And we wax and wane, don

't we,

between self and spirit. Walk it in the flesh.

Walk it in the spirit. When we yield

ourself to the spirit of God, guess what? Ste

alth disappears and we're filled with the

spirit.

Everything is controlled by him, all of our

emotions, all of the act of our wills, all of

our

thinking process. You've been there and you

know that the best life is, right? When

everything is

clicking on all cylinders spiritually, that's

what it means to be filled with the spirit.

I want you to think for just a minute about

the spirit operating in the life of Jesus,

which is so far up in the stratosphere. I can

't even, that I can even talk about it,

is really scary to me. But still we're going

to do it because it's in the Bible, Luke 4-1.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from

the Jordan and was being led around by the

spirit

in the wilderness. So look at that first. What

was the condition by which the spirit led him?

Look at the first part. He was full of the

Holy Spirit. Now I'm speaking in human terms,

as Paul

says, he had yielded the control of his life

to the power of the Holy Spirit and then he

was led

by the spirit in the wilderness. Now it's the

same for us, not on the level of Jesus, of

course,

you understand that, but the concept, the

concept there is exactly the same. On the

other hand,

when you grieve the spirit, he is personally

sorrowful. When you quench the spirit, that's

how

you restrict what he'd like to do in your life

and both of those come about through our sin.

And as we know, when we do that, when we gr

ieve the spirit, when we quench the spirit,

when we sin,

what does God bring about in our life? Correct

ive chastening, like a good dad does to a kid

who

is misbehaving. And let me tell you as a

Christian, you will never in your life affect

anything for

God with your life unless you are filled with

the spirit when you're doing it. Everything

you try

to crank out on your own in your own flesh is

useless. Wood hay and stubble, not gold,

silver,

precious stones that you want to have at the

judgment seat of Christ when every Christian

is

going to stand before King Jesus and give an

account of everything they did from the moment

they were regenerated to the moment they took

their last breath. To do all the things that

we

have learned so far since Ephesians chapter 4

verse 1, I'll say it again, you have to be

filled with the spirit. When God wants to use

somebody to get a job done, guess what? He

always

gets somebody who is filled with the spirit. I

want to give you some examples, look at

Stephen.

Acts chapter 6 verse number 5 into the verse,

he was a man full of faith and what? The Holy

Spirit,

still speaking of Stephen in Acts chapter 7

verse 55 says, but being full of the Holy

Spirit,

he gazed intently into heaven. Being filled

with the spirit, guess what it does? It det

aches you

from this world system. You don't care what

happens to you as long as God gets the glory,

that's being filled with the spirit. Go look

at Fox's book of martyrs and those martyrs

that

went to the stake and were literally burned to

a crisp on a wooden pole and they were praying

all the way out. They didn't care what was

happening to them as long as God got the glory

.

When God picked Barnabas, look in Acts 11

verse 24, says Barnabas was a good man and

full of the

Holy Spirit and of faith. Acts chapter 13

verse 9, but Saul who was also known as Paul

filled with

the Holy Spirit, you see it over and over.

These are the people God uses. Those who are

filled

with the spirit, that's the standard. So now

we got all that in our minds, right? Now we

got to ask

another question. Okay, brother Philip, you

taught us all this so far. Well, how does this

happen?

How do I get filled with the spirit? I mean,

if it's commanded, how does this get done?

And I'm going to tell you something I realized

just this past week and this happens many

times

as I'm studying for sermons. I have been wrong

anytime and I've done it that I've stood up

here

in this pulpit and prayed for all of us in the

worship floor. Lord, please fill us with your

spirit. I have been wrong when I prayed that

and I'll never pray that again. You want to

know why?

Because the feeling of the spirit is not

something that you pray for. You don't pray

for it. It's

not a prayer request. It's a command. You get

it? It's a command. It's not a prayer request.

We don't say Lord, fill us because he's up

there commanding. I want you filled. You see?

And so if he gave us to command to be filled

with the spirit, there's got to be some

resources

that we can access to be able to see this take

place. Let me tell you where the resource

starts,

where it starts. You start to be obedient to

the command, be filled with the spirit,

to empty yourself of yourself. It involves

confession of sin. It involves surrender of

your

will. It involves surrender of your intellect,

your body, your time, your talents, your

treasure.

Every area of your life, you surrender it over

to his control. It's the death of self.

It's the slaying of your own self-will. When

you die, he fills. You get it? When you empty

yourself, he will fill you up with his spirit.

Now, let me, I want to, I want to close out.

This is so important. This is a comparison.

And this second part here of how to be filled

with the spirit is going to take a minute to

get this, but just stick with me here.

This is the how to be filled with the spirit,

or one, empty yourself of yourself. But then,

Paul goes on after verse 18. And we're going

to be studying this in the Sundays to come.

And in context, what this simply is, is Paul

is saying, okay, be filled with the spirit

that's

your command. Now, here's what happens when

you're filled with the spirit. You give some

examples.

Verse 19, you will speak to one another in

songs and hymns and spiritual songs. That's

something that you will do when you're filled

with the spirit. Verse 20, you'll always be

giving

thanks for all things when you're filled with

the spirit. Verse 21, you will be subject,

or in other words, you will submit to one

another. Verse 22, spirit-filled wives will

submit to their

husbands biblically. Verse 25, spirit-filled

husbands will love their wives as Christ loved

the church. Chapter 6, verse 1, spirit-filled

children will obey their parents. Chapter 6,

verse 4, spirit-filled fathers will not

provoke their children to anger. Chapter 6,

verse 5, spirit-filled servants will be

obedient. Chapter 6, verse 9, spirit-filled

masters

will treat their servants right, and those to

apply to employers and employees in our day

and time.

Now, oh, that's very practical, right? Paul

says that's what's happening when you're

filled with

the spirit. There's no flipping or flopping

around on the floor here. There's no babbling

and something

you can't understand here. That's just

practical things of what happens when you're

filled with

the spirit. Now, if you want to know how

important this subject is to the Apostle Paul,

turn over

with me to Colossians 3, verse 16, look in the

middle of the verse and voila, teaching and

admonishing one another in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs. Does that sound familiar

from what you just read in Ephesians 5? And

with thankfulness in your heart to God, does

that sound

familiar? Look right here, we find the same

sequence in Colossians 3. Let's keep going in

Colossians 3 and look at verse number 17,

whatever you do, do in word or deed, do all in

the name of

the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him. We

saw that, remember, to God the Father and look

at verse

18, wives be subject to your husbands as is

fitting in the Lord. Verse 19, husbands love

your wives

and do not be embittered against them. Verse

20, children be obedient to your parents in

all things,

for this is well pleasing to the Lord. 21,

fathers do not exasperate your children so

that they will

not lose heart. Verse 22, slaves in all things

obey those who are your masters on earth, not

with

external service as those who merely please

men, but with sincerity apart, fearing the

Lord. All

the same things from Ephesians 5, right? Now,

track with me here. We know what produced all

those same things in Ephesians 5, right? We

just studied it. Verse 18, from Ephesians 5,

we just

studied it, be filled with the Spirit and then

all those things happened, right? Those were

evidences of being filled with the Spirit.

Well, what is it that produces it here in Col

ossians 3?

We'll go back to the start of verse 16 and

look at it. Here's what produces it here. Let

the Word

of Christ richly dwell within you with all

wisdom. You see that? So, it's pretty clear in

this comparison

between the passage in Ephesians 5 and the

passage in Colossians 3 that being filled with

the Spirit

is the same thing as letting the Word of

Christ richly dwell within you. Do you see

that?

It's got to be the same because it produces

the exact same things in both passages and the

verses that follow. It produces the same

results. So, if we want to be filled with the

Spirit,

I'm telling you, we don't pray for it. We don

't go get somewhere by ourselves and plead with

God.

We certainly don't get thumped in the head by

the televangelists. If you want to be Spirit

filled,

feed yourself the Word of Christ. Let the Word

of Christ richly dwell within you.

That's the key to being Spirit filled, folks.

This isn't rocket science. The more that you

are fed

and filled with the Word, the more you will

find yourself coming under the total control

of the

Holy Spirit, i.e., being filled with the

Spirit. It's not complicated. Being filled

with the Spirit,

let go of yourself and let the Word of God

dominate your life. Let it take the place of

preeminence with your time, attention, and

energy that you have of every day that you're

not sleeping,

every moment that you're not sleeping, over

all other things that you take in. And we take

in a

lot of stuff every day, don't we? But put the

Word of God first. You want to start? Start

your day

right when you get up, open your Bible, and

read a chapter of Scripture. First thing,

before you do anything else, before you make

your coffee, before you make your breakfast,

before you do anything, open up chapter, go

through the whole Bible like that. And when

you get to the

end, go back to Genesis 1 until you die. Just

try to do that every morning. It doesn't take

long to read a chapter of Scripture some are

longer than others, but at the most, you know,

for four, four, five minutes. Also, study the

Bible. Don't just read it. Study the Bible

with

commentaries and study Bibles. Come see me if

you want some resources. Also, sit under the

expository preaching of the Bible, which you

are doing today. Come to Sunday School for

further

discipleship training with what we give you on

the screen there. And as I tell you all the

time,

the sermons of the absolute finest expositors

of Scripture in the whole world are in your

hand.

They're in your pocket right now or in your

purse. On your phone, they are just a few

clicks away.

Use this technology for good to further feed

yourself, the Word of God. Listen to Dr. - I

've

been - I've heard probably all Dr. Sproul's

expository preachings, but you can go on Ligon

ier.org

right now. His preaching is different from his

teaching. And I've been going through the

Gospel

of John verse by verse with Dr. Sproul for the

last month or so. You can go hear his sermons

that he preached at St. Andrew's. Go listen to

those. You can even speed it up to 1.5 and it

goes by faster if you can handle that. The

more that you feed yourself the Word of God

through any of those methods, the more that

the Spirit has the truth put into your mind

to give you direction and control and guidance

. The more you put in there, the more he has to

work with. You understand? And in that way,

being filled with the Spirit will cause you to

be more

and more and more as you spiritually mature,

yielded to the Spirit and the presence of

Christ

and that presence will begin to dominate your

life. And don't forget this. As you're doing

this,

you are in a war. You and I are in a battle

every day between being filled with the Spirit

and being at war with our own flesh that wars

against the Holy Spirit, being at war with the

world system. All the things, other things

that we have to put into our minds from the

world system

at war with us putting the Word of God into

our mind. This is the Christian life. You see?

That is the struggle. That is the battle. Now,

if you hear this today, and I'm fixing the

clothes,

I promise, if you hear this today and you say

to yourself, "Man, I'm following really short

of what he's saying here and I'm telling you

Christian right now today, it's very simple.

Ask God to forgive you for falling short and

get busy. Crack your Bible up. Follow the

command

to be filled with the Spirit. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day.

Thank you, God. Clear instruction in Scripture

. Pray that you would please

implant this in the hearts of your people, the

minds of your people, so that we would make

application of it with our lives and that

there's any here who have not come to faith

in Jesus Christ. Lord, please don't let them

get out of that door without coming and grab

my hand to ask more about it. If we see one

come to Christ, we give you as always all the

good.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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