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.
[BLANK_AUDIO]