And my text for tonight is, and we need this 5 verse 18.
! And do not get drunk with wine, for that is the votary, but be filled with the Spirit.
This is not a temperance sermon, alright?
I think the Bible, when it talks about alcohol, talks about moderation rather than total abstinence.
I'm not going to talk about wine or beer tonight.
But there is a contrast here.
See what it says?
Do not get drunk on wine, but be filled instead.
Filled with the Spirit.
That is the text.
Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple.
And he died 10 years ago this year.
He was a creative genius, really.
And he said this, he said, when I was 17, I read a quote that went something like this.
If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you will almost certainly be right.
Well, that was true for him, wasn't it, 10 years ago?
But it made an impression on me, he said.
And since then, since those 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and I have asked myself,
if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today?
And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Well, what do you need to change tonight?
How do you want to live the rest of your life?
My question is that Steve Jobs asked.
What do you need to change?
And how do you want to live your life?
Look what it says in these verses.
Look carefully then how you walk.
Not as unwise, but as wise.
Making the best use of the time because the days are evil.
Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
Two things from the little paragraph.
First point is really short.
And the second point is very, very long.
First thing is a contrast.
Second thing is a command.
So firstly, let's look at the contrast.
Verse 18.
Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.
Now there are some people that take him to be saying,
and you sometimes hear this in Christian circles.
They take him to be saying that being filled with the Spirit
is like being drunk with wine or beer.
Or whatever your poison is.
But that is not what he's saying.
Paul isn't making a comparison here.
Paul isn't making so much of a comparison, but drawing a contrast.
And it's a very sharp contrast.
Now being drunk and being filled are not the same thing.
There are similarities.
There is a comparison.
So you remember, don't you, on the day of Pentecost?
We're told that the ascended Christ, Jesus Christ, gave the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And we're told about that at the beginning of Acts 2,
that they were filled with the Spirit, and people thought that they were drunk.
Do you remember?
And Peter had to say to them, listen, it's only 9 o'clock in the morning,
the pubs aren't even open.
And we're not drunk.
This isn't drunkenness.
But the very fact that people could think that they were drunk
means that there is some kind of comparison.
But it's only very fleeting.
I suppose you could say that both the drunk and the Spirit-filled person
are under the influence, aren't they?
And that is where the comparison ends.
And the contrast begins.
Dr. Martin, I'll tell you in his series on Ephesians,
talks about the stimulus of the Spirit.
I don't agree with everything he says about the Holy Spirit in those volumes.
But listen to what he says.
He's writing both as a doctor and as a pastor.
And he compares and he contrasts the two states of drunkenness
and being filled with the Spirit.
He says wine, alcohol, pharmacologically speaking,
is not a stimulant, it's a depressant.
Take up any book on pharmacology and look up alcohol
and you'll find it's always classified as amongst the depressants,
not the stimulants.
First of all, it depresses the highest centres in the brain.
They control everything that gives a man self-control, wisdom,
understanding, discrimination, judgment, balance,
the power to assess everything.
In other words, everything that makes a man behave at his best and highest
takes away that.
What the Holy Spirit does is the exact opposite.
The doctor says,
if it were possible to put the Holy Spirit into a textbook on pharmacology,
I would put him under the stimulants,
for that is where he belongs.
He really does stimulate.
He stimulates every faculty.
The mind, the intellect, the heart and the will.
Now I think you can see that very clearly in this paragraph.
There's so much in this little paragraph.
We could put a whole series of sermons on it.
But there is, you can see it almost at a glance,
this startling contrast between being drunk
and being filled with the Spirit.
Just look at these verses in a moment.
You see the drunk, he staggers around all over the place.
He doesn't know where he is.
He can't walk in a straight line.
That's what they used to do, didn't they,
before random breath testing.
You were asked to get out of your car.
You kind of blew into a bag.
And then the policeman said to you,
can you walk in a straight line?
That drunk person cannot walk in a straight line.
But the Spirit-filled person, verse 15,
knows exactly where he's going.
He's careful how he walks.
It says there in verse 15, literally.
And then verse 18,
drunkenness leads to debauchery.
It says in our text, it talks about riotous living.
We say, don't we, he's wasted.
Totally wasted when he's drunk.
But the Spirit-filled person, if you look at verse 16,
is someone who is not wasted,
but at verse 16 he makes the best use of time.
And he makes the most of every opportunity.
If one of the researchers,
there are about three and a half million
working days lost to alcohol and drugs.
Can you see the contrast?
There's no staggering all over the place.
There's no wasted days for the Spirit-filled person.
There's no muddle-handedness.
There's a disciplined lifestyle.
Look at verse 17.
There's no hangovers.
Alcohol confuses the brain.
But the Spirit-filled person understands what the will of the Lord is.
He's not muddling in his thinking.
Or look at verse 19.
This is what a Spirit-filled church looks like.
I don't know if you've ever been in town where the pubs were empty.
It doesn't happen.
It happens so much in Ealing.
But growing up in South Wales,
you'd be in town when the pubs were closing.
It used to be at 11 o'clock.
And it's the exact opposite of verse 19.
And so in church, we sing to one another,
not drunken songs,
not sluried speech,
but we speak to one another
and we sing to one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
And that's what a Spirit-filled church looks like.
You notice it in funerals particularly.
I've seen loads of funerals.
It's the sharpest contrast in the world.
You take the funeral of a Christian and a non-Christian.
And if you have to go to the crematorium
where there are no Christians present
and you have to press the button
and the singing comes on over the CD
and I am the only one singing,
it's a pretty miserable affair.
It drags you down.
But you go into a Christian funeral.
You go to the funeral of Tom Chapman,
the minister of Surrey Chapel,
where the church will be full
and it might be a very tragic death
in very tragic circumstances.
But the singing of a Christian funeral lifts the Spirit.
You've experienced that.
There's such a contrast.
Between the drunken songs
and the Spirit-filled singing of God's people.
And so look at this.
You see, amongst the people of God,
there's no staggering around.
There's no staggering gate.
There's no wasted days.
There's no muddled heads.
And raucous laughter and discordant songs.
And verse 20, there's no regrets.
For the drunk, there's always the morning after,
the night before.
There's the hangover,
the hazy memory of what's been said and done.
You're not quite sure,
but the Christian,
the man or the woman who's under the influence
of the Holy Spirit,
has no regrets.
Verse 20,
they give thanks always.
And for everything to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the Christian life.
That is the life controlled by the Holy Spirit.
It is always giving thanks.
For everything.
Let me give you an example of this.
I read this week of a Korean businessman.
The man was in his 50s.
He was obviously very unwell.
He stood up to give his testimony.
And this was his testimony
before a crowd of 27,000 people.
He said,
I'd like to thank my friend.
His speech was unclear.
He could only just stand.
He was a wreck, this man.
He obviously had health problems.
And he said,
I'd like to thank my friend Parkinson
for introducing me to Jesus.
And he wasn't talking about Michael Parkinson.
That isn't a superficial
praise God whatever happens.
No, that is a deep thankfulness.
Isn't that?
That is the Spirit's work.
When things are not going right for you,
always giving thanks for everything.
No regrets because God is in control.
The Spirit is at work.
And no drunken brawls either.
No bloody noses.
No broken jaws.
Instead, verse 21,
submitting to one another
out of reverence,
of Christ.
Isn't that what church life should be?
It's always a sign
of the Spirit being at work
in church life.
To put others first
are not a me first attitude.
It's not like kids,
me, me, me first.
So many churches are like that,
isn't it?
What can I get out of things?
Staying away from church
so people will chase you.
But no one said,
how can I serve the body
submitting to one another?
I could go on.
No broken homes either
because of the way the chapter continues.
Verse 22 and 23.
And we get examples,
don't we,
in the rest of Ephesians 5
of what spiritfulness looks like
in the home
between husbands and wives,
what it looks like
between parents and kids,
and what it looks like
in the workplace.
When the Spirit is in control,
there's no broken homes,
there's no domestic violence.
There's no abused children.
That's what the,
what the chapter is telling us.
It's such a difference,
isn't it?
It's such a contrast
between being drunk with wine
and being filled with the Spirit.
It's a contrast,
not a comparison,
and it's sharp.
And it's really worth
meditating on that this week.
To get a picture of what it means
to come under the influence
of the Holy Spirit.
But the main point
I want to make to you tonight
is the command
to do not get drunk on wine
which leads into debauchery.
and say,
here's the positive command.
Instead,
be filled with the Spirit.
And I want you to see
it's not so much
of an experience
as a command.
Listen to this testimony.
We were in a constant
state of worship.
They were the happiest days
of my life.
We were floating,
swimming in the feeling
that we were about
to enter eternity.
We had no doubts.
Does that sound like
somebody
who is filled
with the Spirit?
They are the words
of a Muslim suicide bomber
who failed in his mission
when the bomb didn't explode.
He'd been taught
that the first drop of blood
to be shed during jihad
would wash away
his sins instantaneously.
And he would face
no reckoning
on the day of judgment.
And he was high.
High as a character
on such an experience.
But it sounds very similar,
doesn't it,
the way some Christians talk?
Is that what Paul means
when he says
be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Now it's interesting
that there are different words
used in Acts and Ephesians.
And we don't always
appreciate that.
The Eskimo
has 47 different words
in their language
for snow.
When it snows,
it doesn't mean
it's snow
in Eskimo land.
It snows
in lots of different ways.
And for us,
it's just white and cold
is that snow.
But for the Eskimo,
there are all these
different ways
of understanding
what snow is.
So for example,
they might have a word,
let's call the word
fluff fluff.
Which means,
you know,
that kind of really
light,
powdery kind of snow
that floats
softly to earth.
You know?
Christmas card snow.
Generally covers everything
with a pristine
12-inch blanket
of dazzling white.
It's perfect
for photographs.
Or they might have
another word
for snow
called
screaming freezer.
which means,
you know,
the bitter kind of snow.
The driven,
horizontal,
freeze your eyebrows
off kind of stuff.
That howls for days
and buries everything
on the suffocating
avalanche of white death.
Do you see the difference?
You might say,
it's snowing today.
But you need to know
the difference
between the two.
The words you're going
to use
if you're going to
go out on it.
Isn't it?
And so when the Bible
speaks about being
filled with the Spirit,
it does use
two different words
to describe it.
There are two words.
And just because
Gethin works for us
everything,
so I'm starting to use
Greek lots.
It's not.
I've just read
Don the Cloud.
Alright?
One word is
pluroo.
Pluroo.
And the other word
is pimpleni.
They're different words.
of being filled
with the Spirit.
In the Acts of the Apostles,
when it describes
the church being
filled with the Holy Spirit,
the word is
the pimpleni word.
But when Paul speaks
here in Ephesians
of being filled
with the Spirit,
he uses
the pluroo word,
which is a different word.
And it carries
a different sort
of nuance to it.
In the Acts of the Apostles,
it was a dramatic
coming down
of the Spirit.
Narrative
is not
normative.
What I mean by that
is the book of Acts
is a distinct time
in redemptive history.
We mustn't look
at the book of Acts
and think,
oh, I tell you what,
Peter had a handkerchief
he sent around the place
to heal people.
Poor Levy,
let's get his handkerchief
and set that around.
That's not what it's like.
And the words did
all kind of
dramatic things.
And the word
that is used there
is complaining.
And people were empowered
for particular acts
of ministry
and so on.
But the word
that Paul uses here
is a different word
altogether.
Be filled with the Spirit,
he says.
Now let's think about
what this means.
What does Paul mean here?
Four really
simple points,
four Ps.
Number one,
it's a passive command.
It's a passive command.
So,
does he say
fill
with the Spirit?
Or does he say
be filled?
There's a difference.
A really important difference.
Let's go back
40 years,
you know,
you wanted to fill up
your car,
you go to the garage
and there's a little
man or woman
who walks out
from the little booth
in the garage
and you don't even
have to get out
of your car
and you wind
your window down
and you say
fill her up,
please.
You sit in your car
and somebody
would fill
your petrol tank
for you.
It would be wonderful,
wouldn't it?
Those days are gone.
It would do itself now.
But in those days
it was filled
for you.
Well,
it is the Holy Spirit
who fills you.
He is the one
who does the filling.
Paul is not saying
to you tonight
fill yourself.
He is saying
be filled.
Can you see the difference?
Let me try and illustrate it
again in another way.
There is a command
in the Bible
to love.
If you are a Christian
you are to love
your fellow Christians.
You are to love
your enemies.
And so on.
That is a command
for something
for you to do.
But if I say to you
be loved
that is a different
command, isn't it?
That is a passive
command.
That means there has
to be someone
out there
who is going
to love you.
And you have to be
open to that love
and to receive
that love.
To be prepared
to be on the
receiving end of it.
And that is what
Paul is saying here
about the Holy Spirit.
He is not saying
do this
and do that.
Do this
and do that.
Press this button.
Go to this meeting.
Attend that conference.
And hey,
presto,
you will have an
experience of the
Holy Spirit.
That's not what he's
saying.
He's saying be filled
with the Spirit.
Be open
to the Holy Spirit
taking control
of your life.
That's what he's
saying.
To be on the
receiving end.
It is passive.
And so I want to
ask you and myself
and us as a church,
how open are we
to the Holy Spirit?
How willing are we
for the Holy Spirit
to take over
our day-to-day
lives?
How much do we want
that to happen?
Jesus said in the
Beatitudes,
he said,
Blessed are those
who hunger and
thirst for they
shall be filled.
Those who hunger.
One of the things
I began to pray for
us as a congregation
more than anything
else is we would
be hungry.
And we would be
thirsty.
Blessed are those
who hunger and
thirst.
So isn't it
true,
as A.W.
Tozer said
somewhere,
that everyone is
as full as they
want to be.
Everyone is as
full as they want
to be.
He uses this
illustration,
he says,
you see a
Mercedes-Benz
or a BMW
and you want
that.
You see the
pro-shirt or you
watch the advert
and you dream
about having a
Mercedes or a
BMW.
And then you
see the cost
or the price.
And you forget
about it,
don't you?
I'd love a
MacBook,
you know,
an Apple MacBook.
And occasionally
I dream about it.
And I see the
cost.
And you forget
about it,
don't you?
Any sane person
would forget
about it.
I don't want it
that much.
Do I?
If I wanted it
that much,
I'd make the
sacrifice,
I'd make it
happen,
but I don't.
I'm not willing
to make the
sacrifices to pay
the price to
have it.
It's probably
a good thing.
But the
question is,
how badly do
you want to
be filled
with the
Holy Spirit?
And so many
of us
are Christians,
we know the
jargon,
we know what
we're supposed
to say,
but do we
really want
the Holy
Spirit to
take control
of our
lives?
Do we
want it as
badly as we
think we
do?
Are we
prepared to
pay the
cost of
that?
Because there
is a cost
to it.
We want
it,
but do we
want it
that much?
And if we
don't want it
that much,
are we
going to
settle for
getting away
with the
bare minimum
of what we
can get away
with and
still be
thought of
as Christians?
That is not
being filled
with the
Spirit.
You see what I'm
trying to say?
I'm saying it
imperfectly, but
we're as full
as we want
to be.
Not as full
as we think
we want to
be, but as
full as we
really want
to be.
And Paul
says, be
filled.
It's a
passive
command.
Allow the
Spirit to
fill you,
he's saying.
It's passive
and it's
plural.
Do you
notice it's
a corporate
command, it's
a command
for the
whole church.
Americans
would say,
yawl, be
filled with
the Spirit
yawl.
That is
something that
happens when
Christians get
together.
The
command is a
plural command
that's addressed
to all the
Christians.
You have to
see it in
that context,
it's when
Christians get
together,
it's when
Christians gather
in the name
of Christ.
That is what
this little
paragraph is
describing.
It's something
that takes
place in the
context of
worship and
fellowship.
You are
making melody
in your
heart to
the Lord
and you're
singing
chalms and
hymns and
spiritual songs
to one
another.
And you
see it in
the context
of the
meeting for
worship and
fellowship,
that people
are filled
with the
Spirit.
Now I
think that's
an important
point.
When they
are submitting
to one
another out of
reverence for
Christ, it
is in the
context of
Christians living
together and
worshiping
together and
fellowshiping
together and
speaking the
Word of God
to one
another.
It's in that
context that
the Spirit of
God comes.
It's what the
old writers
called the
means of
grace.
Let the
Spirit fill
your hearts
and lives
protecting your
imaginations.
And if you
want that to
happen, you
need to use
the means of
grace which
God has
given.
Use, as
someone has
said, all
the resources
of the rich
Christian
tradition.
It's poems,
it's songs,
it's liturgy
to help you.
This old
preacher called
Dr.
Joeet,
Joeet was a
preacher in
London and
he tells him
how he once
went down to
the coast of
Tainmouth.
He sat by
an old
sailor, a
man who
spent many
years on a
sailing vessel
and he
said, do you
know anything
about the
wind?
He said, yes,
I know a lot
about the
wind.
Well, will
you explain
to me the
phenomenon of
the wind?
I don't know
what you mean.
How do you
explain the
wind?
What do you
know about
it?
Well, actually,
I don't know
anything about
the wind.
But I know
wind.
I can hoist
the sail.
And I think
that's the
point, is it?
Do you remember
what Jesus said
to Nicodemus?
He spoke about
the Holy Spirit
and he says,
the wind blows
where it wills,
you hear the
sound of it,
but you can't
tell where it
comes from or
where it's
going to.
It's a mystery,
you can't
control the
wind.
We can't
control the
Holy Spirit.
we can't
say the
Holy Spirit
is coming
down now
in our
meetings.
That is
horrible when
you hear
people talk
like that.
You can't
trick your
fingers and
say,
wind,
come here.
You can't
say,
Holy Spirit,
come down
at this point
in the
service when
the musicians
begin to
play the
softly music
in the
background,
the lights
go down and
everybody moves
to the front.
That is
blasphemous
nonsense.
You cannot
control the
Holy Spirit.
it.
The wind
blows where
it wills,
but you
can hoist
a sail.
You can
put yourself
in the
way of
the Spirit.
Under the
means of
grace.
You can
gather with
God's
people.
You can
put yourself
under the
preaching of
the words.
You can
come to
the Lord's
table.
You can
be at the
gathering of
God's people
to pray.
you can
sing songs
and hymns
and spiritual
songs and
catch up
with one
another and
speak God's
word to
one another
and submit
to one
another out of
reverence of
Christ and
the wind
will blow.
And you
will find
that there's
wind in
your sails
in the
Christian
life and
so make
use.
You want
the wind
in your
sails?
Make use
of the
means of
grace.
Gather
with God's
people.
It's a
passive
command.
It's a
plural
command.
It's a
present
continuous
command.
It's a
present
continuous
command.
Can you
see it?
Literally
go on
being filled
with the
Holy Spirit.
That's what
it is.
It's not a
once and
for all
experience.
Now how
do you go
on being
filled?
How do
you go
on in
the
Christian
life being
filled?
How do
you go
on with
the wind
in your
sails?
Let me
say two
things.
And the
New
Testament
really says
two things
about this
and it
couches
them both
in the
negative.
Just go
back in
the previous
chapter to
chapters 4
and 5
in verse
30 of
chapter 4.
Verse 30
chapter 4.
First half
of Ephesians
Paul is
broadly
describing the
gospel.
The second
half of
Ephesians
he's
describing
Christian
lifestyle.
And he's
explained the
gospel but
now he's
going to
show you
how to
live out
the
gospel.
And so
in chapter
4 verse
30 he
says do
not grieve
the Holy
Spirit of
God
with whom
he was
sealed for
the day
of redemption.
Do not
grieve the
Spirit.
Let me
illustrate this.
Jeff Thomas
my friend
let me
quote you.
He puts
it so well
he says our
relationship with
the Holy
Spirit is
not like your
relationship with
a speed
camera.
Don't you
hate speed
cameras?
That's my
words not
Jeff Thomas's.
That camera is
not grieved if
you do 35
mile per
hour in a
30 mile per
hour zone.
It might be
situated in the
most beautiful
valley in
Wales but it
never takes
photographs of
sunsets or
lakes or
swans flying
across the
fields.
It simply
snaps your
car breaking
the speed
limit.
It is a
pre-programmed
machine and
he says your
relationship with
the Holy
Spirit is not
like that.
Then he goes
on to use
another
illustration.
He says your
relationship with
the Holy
Spirit is not
like your
relationship with
a cash
dispenser.
You feed in
your card,
you punch in
your number and
out comes the
money.
That's all it
does.
You can be
in the
foulest of
moods imaginable.
You can be
muttering and
complaining under
your breath and
shouting at your
children to
stay still.
But the cash
point is utterly
indifferent.
It will simply
give you what you
want if you
sufficient credit.
My relationship
with the cash
point is inert.
It's not like
that with the
Spirit.
He is a
living person.
We saw that in
the first thought,
didn't we?
That he is a
loving person who
grounds and
loves and
prays who can
be grieved
and blesses.
And if I
am not
maturing and
not loving and
not praying and
not witnessing and
not worshipping that I
should, then the
fault does not lie in
the breakdown of the
divine machinery.
It lies in our own
failure to maintain a
growing living
relationship with the
Lord who is the
Spirit.
Grieve not the
Spirit.
You know when
you've offended
your wife, don't
you?
You know when
you've offended
your mum or your
dad.
You know when
you've offended
your friends,
don't you?
There's a
cooling off in
the relationship.
There's a
distance.
There's an
atmosphere.
Well, it's
time to put it
right.
And Paul is
saying, go on
being filled with
the Spirit.
Let your
relationship with
Jesus, be the
same by the
Holy Spirit.
Be sensitive to
what offends
him.
Don't have a
mechanistic view
of the Christian
life where we
plug into this
or we plug into
that.
And then we'll
have the power.
Or we think, I
am justified.
And so it's
just all right.
And you kind
of have a
reformed
mechanistic view
of the Christian
life.
No, it's a
relationship.
With Jesus
through the
Holy Spirit.
Don't grieve
this gracious
willing guest
who's come to
live in your
life.
Don't offend
him.
And then the
other thing
the New
Testament says
is do not
quench the
Spirit.
1 Thessalonians
5.19
Do not put
on the
Spirit's
fire.
Do not
treat
prophecies
with contempt.
He puts
those things
together.
They're related.
You ever
been in a
situation, maybe
you've been
in a house
group, or
maybe it's
been outside
the church
altogether,
at work,
and you've
said something
in the Bible
study, and
somebody else
has taken a
massive jug of
cold water and
poured it on
it.
It's very
difficult, isn't
it?
You don't want to
say anything ever
again when that
happens.
You get terrified
the next time
there's a question
asked.
It's so
discouraging.
We need to be
careful, don't we,
when we speak to
each other.
in our Bible
studies or at
church on a
Sunday, that we
don't pour
cold water on
someone else's
contribution.
But do you
see what Paul
is saying?
Paul is saying
we can do
that with the
Holy Spirit.
Don't despise
prophecies.
What is
prophecy?
There's all
sorts of
madness about
what is
prophecy.
Prophecy is
speaking the
word of God.
That's what I'm
doing now.
When you share
the Bible with
someone, you are
speaking the
word of God to
them.
Don't despise
when somebody
is sharing the
word of God
with you.
Don't despise
prophecies because
you might be
pouring cold
water on the
Holy Spirit.
And if we do
that, well it's
no wonder, is it,
that our spiritual
ardour and
fervency dampens
down.
Don't quench
the Spirit's
fire.
So there's a
contrast or a
comparison.
It's a
command, it's a
passive command, a
plural command, a
present continuous
command.
Go on being
filled with the
Spirit.
If you want to
come under the
influence of the
Holy Spirit, then
you go to the
Bible, not
to the bottle.
It's very
interesting, isn't
it?
I'm running out
of time, but it's
really interesting.
Colossians chapter
3, it's really
exactly the same
passage.
But instead, Paul
says there, instead
of saying being
filled with the
Spirit, do you
remember what he
says?
He says, let the
word of God dwell
in you richly with
psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs.
It's really
fascinating.
Instead of being
filled with the
Spirit, Ephesians,
he tells the
Colossians, let the
word of Christ dwell
in you richly.
See what he's
doing as you
compare those two
passages?
He's saying if you
want to come under
the influence of the
Holy Spirit, if you
want the Holy Spirit to
come to you, then go to
the Bible.
That's what you've got.
And not to the
bottle.
Let the word of
Christ enrich.
That's why we love the
Bible.
Let it furnish your
meetings.
Let it enrich your
conversations.
You cannot separate the
Bible from the Holy
Spirit.
He is the author of
Scripture.
And if you want to be
controlled by a person,
we might say, he's full
of so-and-so.
He's always quoting
him.
He's reading his books.
He's reading his
articles.
He's influencing his
thinking.
And if you want to be
full of the Spirit, he is
not a power to plug into
or anything like that.
He's not a cash machine to
dispense power.
If you want to be filled
with this person, the
third person of the
blessed Trinity, then you
need to be reading what
he's written.
And we ought to be
thinking his thoughts
after him.
So it's passive, it's
plural, it's present
continuous, and it's
powerful.
Let me end on this
point.
What does the Holy
Spirit fill us with?
What does it mean?
Do you remember that
episode in Isaiah chapter
6, in the year that
King Uzziah died?
I went into the temple
and I saw the Lord.
John tells us in 1241
that it was Jesus he
saw.
It's a great one for
children witnesses.
They've missed it.
It's very clear in
John 1241.
But the Lord whom
Isaiah saw in Isaiah
6 was Jesus.
And that makes sense
to me because you
cannot see God
except through Jesus.
And God makes
himself known in
Jesus.
And in the year that
King Uzziah died, I
saw the Lord high and
lifted up.
On the train of his
robe filled the
temple.
And above him were
the seraph, each with
six wings, with two
wings.
And they covered their
faces, and with two
they covered with
their feet.
And with two they
were flying and
they called out to
one another, holy,
holy, holy is the
Lord God almighty.
The whole earth is
full of his glory.
And that's what we're
talking about.
God is in his
temple.
His glory fills the
place of his
fullness.
That we have all
received.
And so go on being
filled with the
spirit says Paul.
Let's pray.