HB Charles Jr @ MBI Founders Week 2016 Ephesians 5:18-21
Two commands in v. 18. The one at the bottom is the hinge.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is one of the most divisive and misunderstood ministries of the Holy Spirit.
Why. No teaching and wrong teaching. The point of this message is practical, challenging, and encouraging.
You must be filled with the Sprit to be a devoted and growing and growing and fruitful Christian. Only Jesus was filled with the Spirit like we should. How can we be like Christ? Be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
“It is the will of God to have the Spirit of God use the Word of God to make the children of God look like the Son of God.”
I. It has nothing to do with you getting more of Spirit.
· When you get saved, you get all of the Spirit. Romans 8:9 “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” There is a difference between Spirit indwelling and Spirit filling.
· It is a tragedy for a person to live and die and go to heaven without being filled with the Spirit. It’s like buying a new car with all the bells and whistles, but you can’t figure out how to start it so you put it in neutral and push it everywhere you need to go.
II. Consider the call to be filled with the Spirit.
· The word filled here means “to fill, to bring something to saturation, to its level of containment.” The term when used metaphorically like it is here denotes totality and exclusivity. Something that is already full doesn’t have room for anything else. It means that thing is the dominating presence, controlling influence, and driving force of our lives.
· You can be filled with many things.
ü Luke 2:40 Jesus was filled with wisdom
ü Luke 4:28 Jesus preached in the synagogue and they were filled with wrath/anger and tried to throw Jesus off a cliff.
ü Acts 13:45 The enemies of Paul were filled with jealously or envy.
ü 2 Corinthians 7:4 Paul was filled with comfort.
ü 2 Timothy 1:4 Paul speaks of being filled with joy to see Timothy again.
You can be filled with many things, but here Scripture explicitly commands us to be filled with the Spirit.
· This is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It means that the Holy Spirit has a monopoly over your life.
“A pastor had recommended DL Moody to speak and a younger pastor replied, ‘You all are talking about this Mr. Moody as if he has some monopoly on the Holy Ghost.’ To which an older pastor relied, ‘We know that Mr. Moody doesn’t a monopoly on the Holy Ghost, but it’s obvious that the Holy Ghost has a monopoly on Mr. Moody.’ “
· It’s a command and not a suggestion. Scripture never commands to be indwelt, baptized, gifted, or sealed with the Holy Spirit. Those are standard equipment, but you must be filled with the Spirit to make the standard equipment function properly. There are two commands in verse eighteen and they both carry the same weight. It is just as sinful to not be filled with the Holy Spirit as it is to be drunk with wine. We should be just as offended when preachers preach and singers sing and are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
· This is for everybody, not just for the clergy, etc. It is for every Christian. Ephesians 5:22-6:9 will unfold how being filled with the spirit will shape your relationship with other people. God wants every husband, wife, parent, child, employee and employer to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
· It is repeated, not permanent. We are to keep being filled. Someone asked DL Moody if he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he said, “Yes, but I leak.” Matthew 16:16 where Peter makes the great confession and then is told a few verses later to “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Keep short accounts with the Holy Spirit.
· It is received not earned. It is not an act of human achievement but of divine accomplishment. You can only submit to the command.
III. The Conditions for Spirit infilling.
· The passage commands us to be filled, but does not tell us how to make that happen. This passage does not teach how to be filled with the Spirit.
· Colossians three is a parallel of Ephesians five going into six. Colossians 3:16 says “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…” There is not anything mystical. To be filled with the spirit is to live a life of obedience to the Word of God.
“God does not fill with the Spirit those who believe in the fullness of the Spirit or those who desire it, but those who obey Him.” --FB Meyer
· When I am disobedient to the Word of God, it grieves the presence of the Holy Spirit, it quenches the work of the Holy Spirit, but when I yield myself to the Word of God to live out the life of the teachings of our faith, God the Holy Spirit lives within me to enable me to do God’s will. When you determine to obey the Word of Christ, the Holy Spirit is there to give strength as strength is needed. You show me a person who is filled with the Word of God, and I will show you a person who is filled with the Word of God.
· In chapter six verse ten through twenty he addresses the fact that if we live a spirit filled life, the enemy of our souls will fight back. God has given us the whole armor of God so that we will be able to stand our ground no matter what the enemy does. There is one piece of the armor listed that is both defensive and offensive. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. The Holy Spirit will only fight with his own weapons. If you do not have the Word of God in you, you limit the Holy Spirit.
· If you have all Word and no Spirit, you will dry up, and if you have all Spirit and no Word you’ll blow up. If you got the Word and the Spirit, you’ll grow up.
IV. The Characteristics of Spirit Infilling
· How do you know when a Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit? If you are filled with the Spirit, it will most fundamentally show in how you treat other people.
· There is no place in the Scripture where a person filled with the Spirit claims to be filled with the Spirit because in John 15:26 Jesus says that when the Spirit comes, He will testify and bear witness to Me. (John 16:14) He is never putting a spotlight on himself.
· Verses 19-21. It will show up in Spirit filled worship. The first evidence that you are filled with the Spirit is that He will put a song in your heart. Corporate singing is the language of the Church, and we will be doing it with hearts of thanksgiving and worship to God. Music is to be an extension and expansion of the Word. Theology is married to doxology. Deep conviction should result in high praise.
· It will also show up is Spirit filled thanksgiving. Verse 20. We will give thanks always and for everything. Note the Holy Trinity in this verse. "We are to give thanks to God the Father in the name of God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit. The bottom line of the verse (Eph. 5:18-21) is this. Spirit-filled people are grateful people. Grumpy, complaining, whining, cussing, fussing Christians are not filled with the Spirit. Spirit-filled Christians don't live at the complaint counter of life." --HB Charles
· Give thanks always and unconditionally and for everything trusting that all things really do work together.
· Verse 21. Spirit filled submission. He begins to affect how you will treat other people. It is a military term which means to line up under a commanding officer. This reminds us that spirit filled Christians don’t fight for position. They don’t politic for authority. They don’t insist on their own way. Adrian Rogers called this the principle of kingdom authority. To get over what God has put under you you gotta learn to get under what God has put over you.
· We do this out of reverence of Christ. We dress that term up, but the fear of the Lord is the fear of the Lord. If you know the Lord there are just some things you won’t do or say or places you won’t go. You live a life of submission because you are being obedient to the commanding officer. You serve where the Lord assigns you.
You may build great cathedrals large or small,
You may build sky scrapers grand and tall,
You may conquer all the failures of your past,
But only what you do for Christ will last.
You may seek earthly fortune and fame,
The world might be impressed by your great name,
Soon the glories of this life will all be past,
But only what you do for Christ will last.
Though your armies may control each hemisphere,
And your orbits out is space cause men to cheer,
Your scientific knowledge may be vast,
But only what you do for Christ will last.
Though your songs are heard and praised by men
They all have no meaning unless you’ve been born again
Sinner heed these words. Don’t let this harvest pass.
For only what you do for Christ will last.
The refrain says, Only what you do for Christ will last.
Only what you do for Christ will last.
Only what you do for Him will be counted in the end.
Only what you do for Christ will last.
