Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Statement Of Faith

Holy Spirit Part 3

INTRO: We have begun this series on the Holy Spirit asking the questions, 'How can we enjoy the abundant life promised to us by Jesus Christ?' 'How can we experience Joy in our lives, especially in difficult times?' And 'How can we worship and serve the Lord in power and with passion?'

 We saw in Eph. 5:18b that we are to be filled with the Holy  Spirit. Last time we took a sidebar and looked at other Scripture and found that God is in the filling business. He desires to fill us with joy, hope and His Spirit.

 But, we also saw that we will often choose to be filled with other things: pride, lust, greed, anger, jealousy to name a few. I said that it seemed to me that we were created to be filled...but filled with the Holy Spirit of God, not with the corrupted things of the world. We will be filled with something. God, speaking through the pen of Paul, commands us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is where we have arrived today in the text.

Trans: Turn to Eph. 5:18. Last time we looked at Paul's negative command, do not be drunk with wine. Today we will examine his positive command, be filled with the Spirit.

II. How are we to do it? (Ephesians 5:18)
   A. Negative Command: Do not be drunk with wine
   B. Positive Command: Be filled with the Holy Spirit

 In English, this phrase seems pretty straight forward. However, the verb which is translated 'be filled' is much more rich in the original Greek. It is one grammar lesson worth  taking.

Grammar Lesson
1. The verb 'plerousthe is a 2nd person, plural, present, imperative, passive verb.

2. The mood of this verb is Imperative. That means it is a command. So Paul is not suggesting that we befilled.
    He is commanding it with all the authority given to him by God.

3. The verb's tense is present. English grammar has 3 tenses: past, present and future. The Greek is much more complex.
    The Greek present tense here refers to a continual action. It could be translated properly as 'be continuously filled'.
    It means we are to maintain the state of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

4. The verb's voice is passive. This means that the subject is acted upon by another.
    Being filled with the Spirit is something the Spirit does to us.

5. The verb is in the 2nd person. That means it is addressed to you.

6. It is also plural. This means it is not  addressed just to you but to all of you..to ya'll if we  were in the South.

     Pretty interesting isn't it? All that from 5 words.

Defining the Term

ILL: A man, lets say he was an engineer, walked into a lumber yard and said that he wanted to by 10 2B4s. The puzzled clerk asked, 'Are you sure it isn't 2 by 4's? Let me check, the man responded. He walked out to confer with a woman who was sitting inside a car and then came back into the store. Yes, that's right 10 2 by 4's. That's what we want. OK, how long do you want them? asked the clerk. Let me check, the man said.  Again he went out to the car, conferred and then came back into the store. We want them for a pretty long time. We are going to use them to build our house.

 Communication between people can often be difficult especially when we are not sure what others mean by the words they use.

 This also happens in the Church, with some of the Christian jargon that we use. One such term that can be somewhat confusing is 'Spirit Filled'.

Let me tell you what it is not.

 Being filled with the Spirit is not a 2nd work of grace. It is not what happens when you reach a certain level of spiritual perfection and you then are filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of such filling being speaking in tongues.
 Unfortunately, this is bad theology as Scripture does not support this understanding of being Spirit Filled.

Let me tell you what it is.

 Being filled with the Spirit is evidence of a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
 It is a pleading for and recognition of the presence of God every moment of every day.
 It is surrendering to the will of God in all areas of your life, whether it be secular or sacred.
 It is a dependence upon the Word of God and the Spirit of God to guide your life and your lifestyle.
 It is an attitude of expecting the Spirit to work in and through your life.
 It is a hunger for the Spirit to teach you things you didn't know before, to lead you to do things you never
    thought you could or would do for Christ.
It is a releasing of all that is self and a willingness to be controlled by the will and Word of God.

TRANS: That is what being filled with the Spirit is. But, how does that happen? Is there a process we follow? Is there a place in Scripture where it lays out the 1,2,3 of being Spirit Filled?

Process/Requirements/Steps

 Perhaps the answer is found in Eph. 5:18. How do you get drunk with wine? By drinking a lot of it. So it is with the Spirit. Having a cafeteria style Christian life where you only take a little of this and a little of that is not the path to being obedient to God by being Spirit Filled.

 Unfortunately there is no one place in Scripture that gives us the process, requirements or steps to being Spirit Filled. Perhaps that is why we have 2 Tim. 2:15 'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'

 From my study on and experience of being filled with the Spirit, this is what I have found.

1. Seek God
 The first thing that I have noticed in those who are Spirit filled is a heart for God. There is such a deep desire to know Christ that it seems to be the guiding force in their lives.

Read: 1 Chronicles 16:10b-11 'Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.  Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.'

Read: Psalm 42:1-2a 'As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.'

    Don't settle for seeking just joy or answers to prayer or effective ministry. Seek God. Because He is worth finding. Being Spirit filled requires an insatiable appetite to know God through Christ. God then prepares your heart to be filled with all that He is.

2. Choose God
 You must decide, choose how you will spend the remainder of your life here on earth. Being Spirit Filled means more than just going to church. You must choose to follow and walk after the Spirit of God. This means a constant choice to submit to the commands of God as given to us in His Word.

Read: Deuteronomy 30:19ff  "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life..."

Read: 1 John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
 To be Spirit Filled requires that you commit yourself, to the fullest extent, to the will and Word of God so that who you are, the very essence of your nature, is bound to Christ.

3. Confess to God
 You can not be filled with the Spirit and filled with sin. You must put off, as Paul so often says, all that would hinder you from your relationship with  Christ.

 Sin will make your heart callous making you insensitive to the presence of God.
 Sin will create a separation from joyful fellowship with God and the fullness of the Spirit vanishes from the presence of sin.

Read: Colossians 3:8-10 'But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.'

Read: Romans 6:11ff  'Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you'

 To be filled with the Spirit requires an emptying of all that is sinful in your life by sincere confession and repentance before Almighty God. God can not fill you with His Spirit, when you are full of yourself.

4. Ask God
 We have such a hard time admitting we are needy people.  Asking  is the expression of humility and need that will open the door to the fullness of the Spirit.

Read: Colossians 1:9-12 'For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.'

Read: Matthew 7:7-8 'Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.'

        To be filled with the Spirit requires that you acknowledge your need for God's empowerment and confess your own inability to live as God's Word commands. Unless you truly realize that you can not live for Christ in your own strength, you will never allow the Holy Spirit full reign in your life. God can and will empower and enable you with His presence, He will fill you as you yield to His Word and follow His leading.

Conclusion
 You don't need to compare yourself with other Believers.

 You don't need to look for some spectacular sign.

 You don't need to wait for some great feeling or tingling excitement to sweep over you.

 Being Spirit Filled is not given so that you may have a great emotional experience, but that you might live a holy life and be a faithful and fruitful witness for Jesus Christ.

 Trust, that when you are being faithful to what God's Word commands, God is faithful and will be present with you, in the fullness of His Spirit, to empower and enable you to serve Him in all joy and to the praise of His glory.

 Well, we will end here. Do you desire to live a Spirit Filled life? Seek God, Choose God, Confess to God, and Ask God.

 He will not disappoint you.