Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

[0:00] All right, open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. Did he just say Ephesians? He did. He did say Ephesians chapter 5 instead of Colossians chapter 3.

[0:12] You've got to ask yourself, what is going on? We haven't even finished Colossians yet. No, we haven't. There's two reasons that we're going to go to Ephesians chapter 5 beginning of verse 17.

[0:23] One is because it is a parallel passage to the Colossians 3, 16, and 17. And 18 and following, but also it's Mother's Day. You say, well, what does this have to do with Mother's Day?

[0:37] Well, you'll see when we get to the end of it. So Ephesians chapter 5, and we're going to read verses 17 through 21.

[0:51] Here's the word of the Lord. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

[1:04] But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

[1:24] Let's pray. Father, thank you for the word. Thank you for how you have given to us everything that we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

[1:36] And as we seek to live the life that you've called us to live this morning, as we seek to obey you and do what it is you've called us to do, we pray that you would open our minds to your word, that you would give us the faith to believe, and that we would obey you fully and completely.

[1:56] And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. What we're about to look at is a concept and a thought and an idea that I have looked at for years.

[2:10] I have probably preached from this passage several times throughout the ministry that I've had, and I find this to be something that is so necessary for every single Christian to grasp and to know, because this is the essence of living the Christian life.

[2:28] There's a lot of things that are there, but this is one of the most necessary things. Some Christians learn this, but some Christians don't, and many Christians live this way without understanding the details.

[2:41] But we want to see the details of this, and I think it will help us to grow as Christians, that we can live in a certain way, live in a spirit-filled way, by understanding two things.

[2:55] What do we mean when we say spirit-filled? What is it to be spirit-filled? And then why do you need that? Those are my two points this morning.

[3:06] And so let's just dive right in. What is being spirit-filled? There's three things that being spirit-filled means. Number one, it is a command. It's a command.

[3:18] In verse 18, it says, Be filled. And it's in the command structure in the Greek. The original that was inspired by the Holy Spirit for Paul to write down.

[3:30] It's in a command structure. And this letter of the Ephesians is the most broad-based letter that Paul has ever written.

[3:42] This is a letter that was meant for many churches. As a matter of fact, they have found copies of this letter where it says to the saints at Ephesus. Ephesus is not there, but a blank line is there so that Paul could have written Laodicea or some other town and sent the letter to them as well.

[4:02] It's almost a merge letter, if you will, because it's got universal application to every single Christian on the face of the planet. So being filled is not something for pastors, missionaries, and super-Christians alone.

[4:20] You. If you are in Christ, if you are a Christian, you are commanded by God to be spirit-filled. And if you are not being spirit-filled, then you're being disobedient to the Lord.

[4:38] Wow, that's pretty strong. Well, not yet. To not live in a spirit-filled way is to live in disobedience to Christ.

[4:50] And even though you might feel like everything is good between you and Jesus because you see blessings in your life, yet if you're not spirit-filled, those blessings are not coming because of obedience, but because of God's kindness.

[5:03] It is a must that every Christian is filled with the spirit. And not only is it a command, it's a continual command. In other words, it's in the present tense in the Greek, which means it's something that's supposed to characterize your life all the time.

[5:20] You're always supposed to be this way. And one of the reasons that it's written this way is because there are times that we live without being spirit-filled. There are times that we live in our own strength and our own power, doing things our own way without the spirit filling us because we're not leaning and resting upon him as we should.

[5:42] And so it's a continual command in that you should constantly be being filled with the spirit. But it's not just a continual command. It's a passive command. And this is where it gets weird.

[5:54] It's a passive command. In other words, here's a better way that I might would translate the Greek. Continually allow yourself to be filled by someone else with the Holy Spirit.

[6:11] In other words, in order for you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there's nothing that you do to get it. You just have to open yourself up to be filled with him.

[6:21] It's a submission that you have to make to the Lord to be filled with his spirit. Now, there are things that you're supposed to do or things that you've got to have your hands on.

[6:35] And let me give you those two. There's two things specifically. One is our passage back in Colossians 3.16. It was just on the screen for a second there a minute ago.

[6:46] Listen to what Colossians 3.16 says. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

[7:07] Now, we'll just stop right there for a second. This is the same structure that Paul writes in Ephesians. In Colossians, the difference between the passages is primarily that in Ephesians, he says, be filled with the spirit.

[7:21] And in Colossians, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In other words, being filled with the spirit is having the word of Christ dwelling in you richly.

[7:34] And having the word of Christ dwelling in you richly is being filled with the spirit. One of the things about the book of Colossians that maybe you have not noticed is that the Holy Spirit is not talked about hardly at all throughout the book of Colossians.

[7:50] But when you look at the parallel book, Ephesians, the Holy Spirit is talked about a ton. And the reason for that is just the particular sort of slant that he has to take in talking to the Colossians because of the heresy that he's having to fight.

[8:04] But the reality that happens within us of being filled with the spirit is a thing that happens as the word of Christ richly dwells within us.

[8:15] In other words, the more that you get the word of God into your life and the more the word of God has of your heart, the more you are filled with the spirit. But let me take you to a second passage, Luke chapter 11, verse 11 through 13.

[8:30] This is Jesus speaking. He says, What father among you, if a son asks for a fish, will instead give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

[8:52] It is a command. And part of what you must do is get into the word and let the word get into you. And you must also pray. Lord, please fill me.

[9:03] Let me have your presence here with me. I need you. And so that is our job. Our job is to be in the word. Our job is to pray and then submit to the Lord and allow him to fill us with the Holy Spirit.

[9:17] There is a second thing that being filled with the Holy Spirit is and it is a presence. It is a presence. It is a presence of God with us. You will remember that Jesus gave a promise in the Great Commission right at the end of it in verse 20 where he says, Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

[9:41] It is a promise. It is a promise that the incarnate, crucified, resurrected, ascended, ruling, reigning Christ promises his presence with his people, his church, all the way to the very end of the age.

[9:59] Well, how? How is Christ with the church, with his people to the end of the age? John chapter 14, verse 16 and 17, he says, And I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.

[10:27] Will be in you. So the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the resurrected, ruling, reigning Christ is with his church, with his people, in his church.

[10:43] And when you and I as individuals seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, when we obey this command and we have the presence of Christ with us, what this means is, think about this, what this means then, there's coming a day, there's coming an age, there's coming a time when this age will end and the age to come will begin.

[11:14] The age to come is a time when there will be the perfect presence of the triune God with his people, there will be the new heavens and the new earth, it will be a glorious experience because sin will be done away with, Satan will be defeated, death will be destroyed, there will be no more night, there will be no more death, there will be no more sickness, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no more pain, there will be no more suffering, it will be time, a time of great joy as we drink deeply from the rivers of God's delights because we will be with him face to face.

[12:03] being filled with the Holy Spirit is then a taste of the glory to come right here, right now.

[12:14] It is a promised presence of God with us, of the spirit of the resurrected Christ whose word richly dwells within us that we have prayed for, is a taste of that glory as the spirit of the resurrected Christ comes and makes his presence in us and with us.

[12:36] It is as though the end times comes and lives here with us and that is a promise. Now here's why I'm saying it this way. It's a presence and it's a promise.

[12:49] It's a promise that's fulfilled. It's a promise we pray and he fills us and here's the thing. This is not about a bunch of goose bumps that we feel coming up the back of the spine because someone hits a really high note in a beautiful song.

[13:05] This is not some ooey gooey feeling that begins to happen in my stomach because the pastor is preaching in an emotionally excited way and so it fills conviction. Just because we feel physically and emotionally things does not mean that is the feeling of the Holy Spirit.

[13:22] The feeling of the Holy Spirit does not manifest necessarily in a way that we feel it. It's a promise to be believed.

[13:34] He wants us to be filled. We pray to him. He fills us and we believe it's there whether you feel it or not. Because if we constantly walk around and go well I just don't feel like the Spirit's there.

[13:50] Well what verse and chapter are you reading that tells you to know if you're filled with the Spirit look at how you feel. It's not there.

[14:02] It is a promise of God and is God faithful to his promises? Amen. He is. The third and final thing that being filled with the Spirit is is that it's an empowerment.

[14:16] It's an empowerment. Now I get this from two ideas. One is there's an analogy in the text in verse 18. It says do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

[14:30] And there's an analogy that's being drawn there. The analogy is that of drunkenness which is a sin. Right? Drinking alcohol is not a sin. Drunkenness is.

[14:42] And you have to separate those two otherwise you're going to end up thinking things you shouldn't think. But the drunkenness is a sin and this word drunken right here in Ephesians it's the idea of taking an animal skin and soaking it so that it becomes pliable so that you can turn it into and make out of it whatever it is you want to.

[15:04] So a person who's drunk is basically made pliable by the alcohol so that sinful nature takes over and does what it wants to do. It says don't be controlled by that but instead the Holy Spirit is there to make you pliable and usable for the Lord.

[15:21] That's what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be made usable by the Lord. The second sort of line of thinking is that if you look through scriptures what you see is that the presence of the Holy Spirit upon people through Old and New Testament is that he empowers them for a thing.

[15:40] He empowers them for a particular thing. You can see this in Exodus chapter 31 verse 3 where the Lord is talking about how he's filled someone with the Spirit of God with ability intelligence knowledge and craftsmanship so that he can build the tabernacle.

[15:57] That's the task he has to accomplish and the Lord filled him to accomplish that task. Or 1 Samuel chapter 10 beginning in verse 9 it says when he turned his back to leave Samuel this is speaking about Saul God gave him another heart and all these signs came to pass that day and when they came to Gibeah behold a group of prophets met him and the Spirit of God rushed upon him and he prophesied among them.

[16:26] The Spirit empowered him that he might prophesy in that time period and you can see in Acts chapter 4 that Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said and what he said was to the rulers he's on trial he's before the Sanhedrin and he's preaching to them but he does so because he's been filled with the Spirit the Spirit fills him to empower him to accomplish a particular task it happens to Paul the Apostle Acts chapter 13 but Saul who was also called Paul filled with the Holy Spirit and now the rest of the story is that he looks at this guy and he basically chastises this person face to face there's a particular task that he needs to do and the Lord fills him with his Spirit in order for him to accomplish that particular task now that's what it is to be Spirit filled it's a command it's a presence and it's an empowerment and so why am I talking about this so what the great need of the church today is for every single member to believe the truth that you ought to be filled with the Spirit of God you need it

[17:43] I need it to be empowered to live out the things that the Holy Spirit causes us to do when he calls us to do certain things we need to be filled with the Spirit in order to be able to do those things if we want to see gospel impact changing the world around us then we must live Spirit filled lives so what do you need to do in order to be Spirit filled before I move on into the second point you've got to just believe this is true I mean like if you're sitting there thinking to yourself yeah that whole filling thing that sounds like that's for you Brady that ought to be for you you're the pastor you're the guy that's always yak yak yak so you need it as a matter of fact you probably need a little bit more so you can just take mine but that is not the case and if you don't believe this if we as a body don't understand and grasp this then we're not living up to the potential that the Lord has called us to and so not only do you need to believe that this is true that you ought to be

[18:55] Spirit filled but the second thing is is then you need to submit to the Lord and you need to get into his word and you need to pray and ask him to fill you and there's some people there's some people that one of the things that they may not understand is that they're not Christians because the Holy Spirit's never going to fill them they might ask the Lord to fill them and fill them and fill them but because they've never trusted Christ to begin with he's not going to fill them this is what he does for Christians not non-Christians the scriptures teaches that if you do not have the Spirit of Christ then you do not belong to God and so the first step for you would be to say am I really a Christian and if not repent of your sin and turn to the Lord today so that brings me to my second point why do we need to be filled with the Spirit in this age since the Lord Jesus Christ has come some things have changed in the

[20:00] Old Testament we absolutely see that the Lord would empower and fill people with his Spirit in order for them to build a tabernacle fight a lion or make a prediction or prophecy but now because Christ has come died risen and ascended the things that the Spirit fills us for are specifically lined out in the passage that we're reading in other words you don't get to say I'm going to be filled with the Spirit so I can do X and you get to decide what the X is it's not a task you get to decide what it is you're going to do it's a task that the Lord has called you to and it's not something that you got to kind of roll some dice and figure out which task is it you're not casting lots to say is it this one this one this one this one no there are four things in the passage in front of us that he fills us for now might there be more maybe there are but there's at least these four and these four I tell you I tell you if you do these four things fully on and you you run after these things it will fill up your entire life and you won't have room for too much else so we want to walk through these four things that he tells us to do they begin in verse 19 begins in verse 19 when he says addressing one another addressing one another this is that the

[21:26] Holy Spirit we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can speak the word of God to one another we need to be filled with the spirit so we can speak the word of God to one another when he says addressing one another that word addressing is the most basic word in Greek for say speak!

[21:45] tell talk just having a conversation it's not the word for preaching it's not the word for anything else but it's just speaking to one another and so he's saying we're to speak to one another to address one another and then he says in psalms hymns and spiritual songs what's a psalm it's in the old testament right you know the trick right it's like this you take your bible and you say where are the psalms put your bible here and you break it in half and it's pretty much going to be the psalms right you with me wake up so so the point is is that he's using psalms hymns and spiritual songs he's not saying speak things that are false to people but he's saying these are scriptural truths these are things right out of the scriptures you're to address one another you're to talk to one another with these scriptural biblical truths you're to have spiritual conversations with one another speaking biblical truth with one another and in order to do that you must be filled with the holy spirit you're to be filled with the holy spirit so that you can have good godly conversations with one another if you're not being filled!

[23:02] with the holy spirit you have no power to have that good biblical godly conversation with another Christian that's the first thing second thing still there in verse 19 he says singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord now let me just pause and say this from verse 19 through verse 21 there are five words that end in ing ing okay addressing singing making thanking submitting these five words are parallel with one another and they flow out of be filled that's how that works right so if you're being filled you're being filled for these five things but I said four because singing and making melody go together right and this is about worship your worship in order to worship the Lord with your whole heart you need to be filled!

[24:02] with the spirit when we are filled with the Holy Spirit worship flows out of us or let me say it this way we need to make sure that we're filled with the spirit when we come together to worship when we come together to worship now one of the things that we do is we greet one another when we get here and that's a good thing I don't ever want us we read scripture I pray but that's a great moment for you in that moment not to just sort of go like because you know how it is I know how it is somebody is praying out loud up here dear Lord we thank you for this day and your mind goes like uh right you just sort of blank because you don't know what to do with that right well what you're you're so

[25:02] I can worship you singing and making melody with my heart to the Lord that's what your prayer needs to be in that moment you need to be asking the Lord to fill you so that worship is something that is enjoyable I went to go lead worship for a men's retreat there were about 75 men at this retreat I had a guitar and that was it and I just and I didn't say I didn't give instructions to these men nothing and they just stood up and with everything they had they poured and I'm going to tell you something 75 men in a room singing with their hearts to the Lord not afraid that they don't know the words to the song not afraid that it's a new song not afraid that somebody is going to hear them sing off key not afraid of all the things that we have a tendency to pack in on our worship but just filled with the spirit they let loose and they loved the

[26:12] Lord Jesus Christ with their singing and I have never seen that since it was gloriously beautiful and I'm saying to you sing with gusto when we come together to sing you might say to yourself but I don't know the song nobody just sing the song it's about Jesus it's not about the people around you going like oh you did a really good job today that's not what it's about you say well I can't carry the tune it's like okay we'll take a moment listen to the song but man don't come looking at the music come looking at the Lord and then what the music is doesn't matter we need complaints come and worship the Lord be filled the third thing is to give thanks and I gotta move this on quickly giving thanks verse 20 says giving thanks always for everything to

[27:15] God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ now there's other passages that tell us to give thanks in everything but this one says to give thanks! for everything why should you give thanks!

[27:30] for trials and persecution and suffering because Paul says in 2 Corinthians for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal we're to be grateful people but we cannot be grateful if we're not filled with the Holy Spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to live a life of gratitude and thankfulness and finally the last thing is submit to the authorities in your life verse 21 says submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ now what he does from verse 22 through chapter 6 is he begins to point at three different groups of people that need to submit to the authorities in their lives that is what he does he says listen you need to be spirit filled because being spirit filled means you're going to have to be submissive and particularly he begins to line out the submission of wives to husbands children to their parents and slaves to their masters there's no way for a person to be submissive on their own apart from being filled!

[29:07] with the Holy! Spirit!! Now we have to talk about this submission for a second because there's a lot of weird things in our culture that people say and think and it needs to just be set aside the word submission is not the word subservience you hear me submission is not the word subservience this word submission comes out of the military when someone goes and voluntarily signs up for the military they sign up to be what constantly telling their ranking officers what to do no they sign up to be told what to do they sign up for it they volunteer for it wives!

[30:28] to be! to be not about this guy and it even says in verse 24 that wives should submit in everything to their husbands!

[31:13] Jesus does now if that rubs you the wrong way and makes you feel uncomfortable then one of two things are wrong either you've seen a lot of husbands who have abused this or you've been infected with the ungodly thought of feminism from this world this does not mean this does not mean that a woman is lesser than a man it is just the role that God has placed us in God has made men and women differently we are not the same and that is a glorious truth that is a good that is a good thing that we are not the same that provides for the flourishing of life in this world if you don't believe me look at the crazy people that want to say that there's no difference between men and women the wives in order for you to be submissive to your husbands you must be filled with the spirit you say well are you going to talk to the husbands yeah father's day is coming but let me just say to the men just briefly and then we're going to make some application husbands you are called to love your wives as

[32:43] Christ loved the church you were called to self sacrifice on behalf of your wife as Christ sacrificed himself on behalf of the church and to do that requires you to be filled with the spirit you cannot love as Christ loved the church if the Holy Spirit of God is not filling you and empowering you to do that so let's talk then some application what does all this mean what kinds of things do we need to walk out of here with taking these big truths and bringing them down mothers let me call upon you and let me even say it this way women let me call upon you to live godly lives let me call upon you to believe that

[33:44] God has called you to make an impact in the kingdom of God and eternity by being a godly woman and I want to call you to do two things based on all that we've said I want to call you to do two things that I think are in your wheelhouse by being filled with the spirit these are things you can do that will help just make a difference in this world number one embrace the God ordained role of wives to be submissive in marriage this very thing that we've just talked about I'm calling on you to believe this as a truth to understand it as a truth to uphold it as a truth and to love it and to enjoy it because what you believe about marriage leaks out of you if you don't believe a woman ought to be submissive to her husband that leaks out of you as you live your life the things you do the things you say the ways that you talk what you believe leaks out of you and what ought to leak out of you whether you're married single divorced or widowed what ought to leak out of you is this is a good and glorious truth that ought to be upheld and believed and taught and embraced by everyone and as godly women you are the best source to be able to see this being upheld and held on to and enjoyed we need to see you loving this truth even if you have no husband to submit to you have people in your life that need to submit to a husband and you need to uphold this truth but it will only be by the power of the holy spirit working in you and one of the glorious things that happens while

[35:40] I'm standing right here and I am preaching to you I'm exercising authority over all of you but at the same time I'm having to be submissive to the Lord because I can't say from his word just whatever I want to and it gives me great courage to humbly!

[36:04] I look at godly women and how they submit to their husbands because I see the example of what the church ought to be the second thing I want you to do not only uphold and embrace that truth but the second thing has to do with speaking to one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs and that is this pass on the truth of the scriptures to the children pass on the truth of the scriptures to the children Paul says in second Timothy as he's writing to Timothy was acquainted with the scriptures from childhood that word childhood means infancy from infancy he was being taught the scriptures and someone made him acquainted with him you want to take a guess who it was we find out in the letter to

[37:23] Timothy the first one I mean here in first chapter of this one that it was his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois he their faith passed on to this boy mothers your influence is powerful your influence in making your kids and grandkids familiar with the scriptures sets them up in a glorious way for life yes they have to make their own decisions and yes sometimes they choose sin and walk away but your job is to make sure that they can't say my mother never taught me that so put down green eggs and ham pick up the gospel of John and pass on the scriptures as a matter of fact let me say this every woman whether you are married single widowed divorced whether you have children or you never had children let me call on you to be one who will take and pass on the scriptures to the children if you've got adult children call them and ask them to read the

[38:43] Bible with you if you've got grandkids send them verses and let them understand why that verse is so important to you you've got nieces and nephews send them Bible story books and tell them read these to your own be a woman who is dispensing the word of God to every child you can get your hands on and I tell you you will make a difference in this world and there are many of you there are many of you that I believe I've heard a few things here and there there are many of you that do this very thing and you're to be commended God is to be praised and we thank God that you do and do it more do it more one last thing I promise we need to close man

[39:50] I just want to come right back to you with one final thing don't make it hard for your wife to submit to you don't don't think to yourself that she's got it with the kids she'll make sure they go to church she'll make sure that they hear these things and that's not on you because since you're the head the buck stops with you and you will be held accountable for all that takes place in your home so don't be don't be someone that makes it difficult to submit to love as Christ loved the church be willing to bend over backwards to serve your wife sacrifice whatever you have to to make sure she gets the word of God and your children and grandchildren get the word of

[40:53] God if you've got to sell your hobbies in order to give tools for your wife to be able to grow in her faith then sell them because there's a battle out there for the souls of our families there's a battle out there for the souls of our wives for the souls of our kids for the souls of our grandkids and unless we are willing to bow the knee and get into the word we can't fight that battle but to do so we must be filled with the Holy Spirit