Again, I just have one verse,
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
18. And be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the
Spirit. I don't expect you to remember
all the sections that we've studied on, the different subjects, and
their placements within this epistle. I don't even remember
them all myself. But one of the things I've noticed
as I've read this epistle and looked at the different subjects
and different sections that the Apostle Paul has placed them
in, there seems to be one or two critical verses in each section
that really casts a light on the subject that the Apostle
Paul is teaching us. And this verse here is one of
those verses. Let me give you an example of
what I'm talking about. Look back in chapter 1. In chapter 1 and verse 13, I remember
when we were studying on this first chapter, and I noticed
that this was a critical verse. And the reason I say this is
for this reason. Paul says here in verse 13, ìIn
whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after you believed, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." And I remember thinking
to myself how critical this verse is, and it is for this reason
I say that. Paul had just finished mentioning
all of these heavenly blessings that are in Christ. The blessing
of election, the blessing of predestination, the blessing
of redemption. the blessing of the forgiveness
of sins, the inheritance that was laid up in heaven for the
elect. And then he comes here to this
verse, and this verse proves a person's interest in these
blessings. How can I have any hope that
I have a saving interest in these heavenly blessings? Well, Paul
gives it. You've heard the gospel. You've
trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation has become your
salvation. That being so, then, I know that
I'm one of His elect. I know that He's predestinated
me unto the adoption of children. He's redeemed me. He's forgiven
me. I have an interest in this eternal
inheritance that He's laid out. So there's a critical verse.
And we go on here to chapter 2 and verse 4 and 5. I remember as we looked at these
two verses, especially these two verses, I thought what a
critical verse this is, to be put here in this exact spot.
I used to read the scriptures and think that it was just haphazardly
written, that Paul sat down, you know, and he wrote all of
these things down, but it didn't happen that way. These things
are put exactly where the Holy Spirit wanted them to be. Why
do we say that? Well, look here what he says.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace you are saved. Now,
why does he put that here? Well, he'd just been telling
them about all of these blessings. these heavenly blessings. And
now they knew that these blessings were theirs. And Paul said, Now
lest any of you think that you deserve these blessings, or that
you married them or could earn them in any way, he said, I'll
have you to know that you have these blessings because of the
great mercy and love of God. Remember, he said you were dead
in trespasses and sins just like everybody else. You don't deserve
anything. You're saved by grace. You're
saved by grace. And then he goes on here in the
14th verse and the 15th verse of chapter 2. And he puts these
verses here in the exact place where they should be. Look what
he says here in verse 14. Christ is our peace, who hath
made both one, Jew and Gentile, he has made us both one, and
hath broken down the middle wall of petition between us, having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinance, for to make in himself of two one new
man, and so make in peace." Now why does he write this? Because
he's ready to tell us about the church. And he calls the church
the body of Christ. And he says, I know, he says,
listen, I know this is a mystery. How the believing Jew and the
believing Gentile can be one body in Christ. There's not two
churches. There's not two bodies. There's
not a gospel for the Jew and a gospel for the Gentiles. They're
one. Jew or Gentile, bond or free,
male and female, old and young. You're one in Christ. How can
this be? Well, here he tells us this.
before he goes on and tells us about the mystery of being one
body, one church. He says, here is how Jew and
Gentile can be one. Christ has made us one. He's
broken down all of these petitions. There's no such thing now as
culture. There's no such thing as race. There's no such thing as sex.
We're one in Christ. It doesn't matter who you are
or where you live. If you're in Christ, you're one with everybody
else that's in Him. And then he goes on here in the
18th verse of chapter 5, and I call this a key verse because
the Apostle Paul has been telling us and explaining to us and instructing
us how to live the Christian life. how to walk as believers. He began in chapter 4 in verse
1. Look at this. I, therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, in all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace." That's where he begins
this subject of the believer's walk, but as Paul often does,
He has this thought that comes into his mind, put there no doubt
by the Holy Spirit, and he leaves his subject. And he goes off,
and he says almost, this reminds me of something else. And he
goes off on that subject. And then he returns again to
his subject, which he does down here in verse 17. This I say,
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds. And
he begins right there, and I would contend he goes all the way through
chapter 6 in verse 21 before he closes this subject about
the Christian living in this world, the Christian's life. And he sums it up, he begins
to sum it up, and if you want to read it again, especially
there in the fourth chapter where he begins to say, put off the
old man, which is corrupt and put on the new man, and he uses
these positive things and these negative things that we should
do. And then he begins to sum it up here in the fifth chapter,
and he gives us these five things. Look here at verse 14. If we're
going to walk as Christians in this life, live as Christians,
he says, Wherefore, awake thou that sleepest, Arise from the
dead, and Christ shall shine upon you." Christ shall give
you life. That's the first thing. That's
the first thing He tells us. Listen now. He says, I've been
talking about your Christian walk. Here's what you must do.
And you must do it continually. Awake out of your sleep. Do you
find yourself having to wake yourself up? Don't you have a
tendency like the virgins to slumber and sleep? Don't you
have to tell yourself, wake up, Bruce. Wake up. Arise from this
dead state that you're in. Deadness and coldness of spirit.
Arise. Look up. I think it was Miranda
called me the other day, or someone was telling me that. And they've
noticed this in themselves, and I notice it in myself. Have you
ever noticed a tendency to just live your day looking down? You
just go looking down, don't you? Then all of a sudden, for some
reason or another, you look up. And you think, oh my soul, look
what a beautiful day. Look at the sun. Look at the
beautiful blue sky. But what's your problem? You've
been looking down. And when you look down, what
happens? Well, there's nothing there, is there? It's so discouraging,
so disappointing. What do you need to do? Look
up. And Paul says, awake. You're sleeping. Wake up. Get
out of your dead state. Look up. This is a day the Lord
has made. We'll be glad and rejoice in
it. And then he gives us another exhortation. It's this in verse
15. See then, after he told us about
walking the Christian life, see then that you walk exactly. Don't get stuck in this rut of
seeing how much you can get by with and how far away you can
walk. Walk exactly. Seek for perfection. You say, Bruce, well, is that
a reason not to seek it? Obeying the Lord perfectly? Loving
Him perfectly? Fearing Him perfectly? That's
a good goal, ain't it? Exactly. And then he says this
in verse 16, buying up the time. Redeeming the time. You can't
redeem time you've lost. It's gone forever. Buy up the
time you have now. Take advantage of the time. Don't
waste your time. If we're going to walk as Christians
in this world, we must, we must, brothers and sisters, buy up
the time. Use the time wisely. We've just
got a short time. Our time is almost gone. And
we're going to leave the stage. Now is the time. We must use
the time. And then he tells us in verse
17, to be enlightened people. Don't be unwise, but be understanding
people. Seek to know the will of God. Seek it from His Word. Seek to
understand the will of God. And then he comes here to this
verse, and this is why I call it the key verse in this whole
passage. because he explains in this verse
how all of this is to be accomplished. And how is it to be accomplished?
Be you filled with the Spirit. That's the secret of it all.
That's the key to understanding all of this. Be you filled with
the Spirit. Listen to this in Ezekiel chapter
36. I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes
and keep my judgments and do them. I will put my Spirit in
you and cause you to walk." The Christian life is not an easy
life, is it? There are struggles, there are
conflicts, there are battles. We have Satan and his fallen
angels that we are almost constantly in conflict with. We have the
world that sometimes is so appealing. We have this flesh that is so
weak. But the Christian life can be
lived. And thank God it can be lived
in a degree of joy and contentment. And the reason is, there is a
cause behind it. There is a sovereign cause behind
it. And this is what it is. I will
cause them to walk in my statutes and keep my judgment. I will
cause them. That is exactly what Paul is
teaching here in verse 18. Here is the cause of the Christian
living a Christian life. Here is the cause of his walk
being filled with a holy If you want to live the Christian life
and live it successfully, live it with a degree of joy in spite
of all the conflicts that you have, then here's the only way
to do it, brothers and sisters. Be you filled with the Spirit,
because He's the cause. He is the cause of it all. I've thought so much about this,
and I know that it's true. I've thought so much about this
through the years. And what a tremendous burden it has lifted from my
shoulders to come to the knowledge of this truth. If I believed
that the well-being and the continuance of the church, I don't care if
it's this local church or the universal church. If I thought
that the spiritual well-being and the continuance of the church
was dependent in any way upon me, I'd despair. I despair for
her, but it's not dependent upon me nor any other individual upon
this earth. The Lord Jesus said, upon this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. I'll go even farther than that,
and I'll say this. If I fought my own spiritual
well-being, dependent upon me personally, I despair of myself
and my own salvation. You know why? I can't keep myself. I can't walk this walk myself.
I can't live the Christian life myself. But thank God, here is
the way we live it. Here is the cause. I will put
my Spirit within you, and I'll cause you. He's the cause of
it all. I'll go as far as to say this.
There is a definite sense in which God is doing the walking
and living Himself in us. Now, you think I can go that
far? I can go that far, and I think we can go to the Bible and prove
it. Listen to 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16. You are the temple
of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and
I will walk in them. Who is it really that is doing
the walking? It's God in us. Isn't that so? You say, but Bruce,
you're walking. The church is walking. Yes, but
who is the cause of the walking? Who's really doing the walking?
It's Him that worketh in you to will and to do of His good
pleasure. And Paul made that wonderful
statement in Galatians 2 where he said, I'm crucified with Christ
Nevertheless, I live, yet not I." Ain't that amazing? I'm crucified with Christ. I
died with Christ. And I'm not living, he said.
It's Christ who is living in me. Now, brothers and sisters,
who's doing the walking? Who's doing the working? Who's
doing the living? And if you think it's dependent
upon you, you're in trouble, aren't you? And somebody said,
well, if I just believe that, Bruce, I'd just give up. No! It's this that brings our utter
dependence upon Him. It's this that fills us with
joy and confidence, knowing that it's not us, but it's Him working
in us, the cause of it all. Be you filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what makes the Christian
life so wonderful. When I think of this, it so excites
me. When I think of this Troned God,
this Sovereign God that fills the heavens and the earth, He
dwells in me. That amazes me. And every day
I get out of my bed, when I think of this, it's so exciting. What's
He going to do today? Where is He going to lead me
today in my thought, my meditation? Where I go and what I do. Be
ye filled with the Spirit. That's the key to this walk. Some people look at this and
all they see is do's and don'ts. Don't do this and don't do that.
But oh, it's much more than that, isn't it? It's walking in the
Spirit. It's life in the Spirit. Let's
go just a little bit further here in our epistle. Notice the
order. I want you to notice the order
that the Apostle Paul has been setting forth here. This is very
interesting as you study these epistles very carefully and you
see an order. And he begins in chapter 4, and here in verses 22, he begins
with life in our own hearts. That's where we must begin. There's
no sense trying to, as the old Puritans used to say, there's
no sense to go fight a war abroad when there's one raging at home.
You begin in the heart, don't you? And that's where Paul begins
here, he says in verse 22, that you put off concerning the farmer
conversation of the old man which is corrupt, and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man.
See who he's talking to? He's talking to them as individuals. He says here's where you must
begin, in your own heart. Keep your own heart. Look to
your own self. You mustn't go looking at everybody
else. You always must begin with yourself. Nobody else matters
in that sense. It doesn't matter where everybody
else is or what they're doing. You begin with yourself. And
that's what he said. And he goes on down there to
say in those verses, put away lying. Speak every man truth. Be you angry and sin not. These
are things you have to work on yourself in your own heart. And
it's a constant battle, isn't it? And then in verse 32, he
goes from ourselves to life among believers in the church. And
he says in verse 32, Be ye kind one to another, and tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
us. That's the way we live our lives
among one another. As Christians, we're kind, we're
tenderhearted, we're forgiving. We have to be that way. We have
to be that way. And then in chapter 5, beginning
there in verse 3, he goes to another matter about
living, and that's living as Christians in this world. How
are we to live as Christians in this world? We're to be light. We're to be lights in this world. What does light do? Well, it
does two things. It exposes the evil, but it attracts
sinners. You have to be salt. What does
salt do? It preserves. What does the church do? The
church preserves society. And salt makes thirsty, doesn't
it? That's what Paul said you are.
In this world, the church is alive. It's salt. And then he
goes here in chapter 5 and verse 22. And he has us living in the family. Now, see what he's doing? He
starts out with our own hearts. You put off the old man, you
put on the new. Then he goes to life in the congregation
among believers. You be kind and tenderhearted.
And then he goes outside in the world. He says, now you're in
the world. You're to be a light. You're to be salt. Now he takes
you home. Clarence living with Gail, and
Gail living with Clarence. And he deals with that. And he
says, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands. And husbands,
you love your wives. And then he goes from husband
and wife, he goes to the children. In chapter 6, children, obey
your parents in all things. Verse 4, you fathers, provoke
not your children to wrath. And then he leaves the home,
and here in chapter 6, he goes to the workplace. In verse 5,
servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according
to the flesh. In verse 9, your masters do the
same thing to them forbearance and threatenance. And brothers
and sisters, as we come here to these exhortations, what we
see going on in society today is this. The church is not being
what she should be. What's happening in our workplace?
If you've been out there lately, you know what's happening. It's
chaos, isn't it? It's chaos. What's happening in our homes?
Well, look at it. There's an epidemic of divorces,
forsaken children. And you just keep on following
it back, and you know where it comes back to? The heart. The
heart. And what would solve the problem?
But Paul hits at it right here. Be filled with the Spirit. And I'm telling you, when that
problem is confronted by the church, and the church walks
and lives filled with the Spirit, I tell you, you'll probably see
society change. We talk about our politicians,
don't we? Poor things, we talk about them
and how sorry they are, how much money they're spending. Oh, but
look at us. Look at us. Look at the church. Where is the church? Where is
the church that's filled with the Spirit? Oh, here's the key. And Paul
goes on here in chapter 6 and verse 10, and he says this. He
says you're going to live your Christian life. You're living
it in your heart. You're living it in the congregation,
you're going out into the world, you're doing it in your home,
you're doing it in your workplace. But here's what you're going
to be constantly faced with. Conflict. Disturbance. There's someone who is seeking
even your destruction. And who is it? It's the God of
this world. Satan and his fallen angels.
And, brothers and sisters, that's why I say chapter 5 and verse
18 is the key to all of these exhortations. Be filled with
the Spirit. Now, two questions. Two questions. I just want to look at two questions
this morning. That was sort of my introduction, but the rest
of it is very short. I want to ask you two questions
in the light of this verse. What does it mean, then, to be
filled with the Holy Spirit? And secondly, how can we be filled
with the Spirit? That's a command, isn't it? Be
filled with the Spirit, and thank God it is. That's a command. What does it mean to be filled
with the Holy Spirit? Well, we must divide this up
in two things. It means two things. And we've
got to distinguish between these two things. If this verse is
so important, and if this concept is so important, to be filled
with the Spirit, we need to know what it means to be filled with
the Spirit. And God help us, we need to know
how to be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit
means two things. I want you to turn to the book
of Acts with me. The book of Acts chapter 1. Here's the first meaning of what
it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're filled with
the Holy Spirit, these early Christians were filled with the
Holy Spirit to perform some immediate and specific purpose. They were filled that they might
be enabled to perform some immediate and specific purpose that they
could not do in and of themselves. They had to have a power outside
themselves come upon them and fill them to do what was required
of them to do. You remember when the Lord Jesus
told his disciples, his apostles, before he went back to heaven,
he said, I want you to abide here in the city of Jerusalem.
until you be endued with power from on high. Remember that?
What was he talking about? The Holy Spirit. And that word,
endued, means you're clothed. It means like you're sinking
down in your clothes. You're clothed with power from
on high. And here's what the Lord Jesus
said in verse 5 of Acts chapter 1. He said, For John truly baptized
with water, But you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence." That's Pentecost. And they were asking
him in verse 6 about will he restore the kingdom to the Jews.
In verse 7 he said, it's not for you to know the times or
the seasons. In verse 8, but you shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And you'll
receive this power for this reason. And ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost parts of the world." Now we come to chapter
2, and here he is, this blessed third person of the Sacred Trinity. And they are waiting here for
Him. He is the promise of the Father. And let me just read
it to you. Look here in chapter 2 and verse
1. When the day of Pentecost was
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty
wind. And it filled all the house where
they were sitting, and there appeared unto them clothed in
tongues, like as of fire, and it set upon each of them, and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." And then what happens? Something miraculous took place
that had never took place before. And I think it's only took place
two or three times since in the Scriptures. But here's what happened.
They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them
utterance. He's causing them to do something
they could never have done. This great power has come from
heaven, and He has filled them, and now they begin to speak in
18 different languages. Look at what was said in verse
5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out
of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad,
the multitude came together, and were confounded, because
that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they
were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold,
are not all these which speak Galileans? Are they not ignorant
and unlearned men? How here we every man speak in
his own language, his own tongue, wherein he we were born. Ain't this a miracle? It's a
miracle. There was no interpreter. It
would be like me up here preaching in my broken hillbilly English,
and you have a Russian here, and you have a German here, and
you have a Swede here, and you have a Mexican here, and a Frenchman
sitting here, and I'm just preaching in the English language, and
they're all hearing me. That's a miracle. What enabled
them to do this? The Holy Spirit. He filled them
for this particular and immediate task. I want you to look here
in another place in Acts chapter 4. Look in Acts chapter 4. Here is where they had been threatened.
And they went back to the church and they lifted up their voices
and they prayed. And this is their request in
verse 30 of chapter 4. The church is praying. And they
asked the Lord to do this, by stretching forth your hand to
heal, that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your
holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost. There is only one baptism of
the Holy Spirit, but there are many fillings. The same people
that were filled in Acts 2, here they are filled again for what
purpose? Look at it. And they spake the
Word of God with boldness. Why were they filled? To do this
specific task. And you go on through the book
of Acts, and you see this over and over again, that these men
were filled with the Holy Spirit. And when they were filled with
the Holy Spirit, it's because God had some immediate great
work for them to do. Every place that you find, with
few exceptions, speaks of what it means to be filled with the
Holy Spirit. In Luke 1, I don't want you to
turn there, but remember this account of John the Baptist?
He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and he
leaped for joy. Why was it that he was filled? We wanted it on record that he
leaped. He leaped. What would make him
leap? The Holy Spirit filled him. And
he leaped. Mary said he leaped. His mother
said, he's leaping in my womb because he heard the salutation.
that the Lord Jesus was coming, and he leaves. And Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Ghost, and she spake out and praised
God with a loud voice. And Mary was filled with the
Holy Ghost, and she magnified the Lord and praised Him. So the first meaning here is
then, what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Ghost? It
means to be filled with Him to perform a specific and immediate
task. Well, here in Ephesians 5.18,
that can't be the meaning of this passage here. It can't be that at all. He doesn't
come here and fill us to perform some miraculous task. What does
this mean, then? Be ye filled with the Spirit. It means this, being habitually
filled. Go on. Some read it like this,
and I think this is a good way to read it. Go on being filled
with the Holy Spirit. Live your life under the absolute
influence and control of the Holy Spirit. What happens with
a man when he gets drunk on wine? We looked at that last week,
didn't we? He's controlled by it. He's influenced
by that wine. He's full of wine, so what's
he going to do? He's going to be influenced. He's going to
be controlled. That's what Paul is saying here about being filled. You're influenced. You're under
his control. He's guiding you. He's leading
you. He's doing it. Go on being filled with the Holy
Spirit. Now, I want you to look here
in the book of Acts in one more place. In Acts 6, verses 3 and
5. And here, I think we see We see this in these deacons, that this is
exactly what this means. It doesn't mean that you're filled
suddenly, full to do or accomplish some immediate task, but it means
you're just living your Christian life and you're full of the Spirit. Nobody comes to you and says,
Boy, look at him, he's full of the Spirit. Look what he's doing.
It's not that at all. It's not that at all. But I'm
telling you, you take a Christian that lives his life filled with
the Spirit, and I tell you, nobody else may not sit up and take
notice, but other believers will. Because it's evident. It's evident. And here in chapter 6 of Acts,
they were needing some deacons to help these widows and to make
sure that they were fed and housed and all of this. And here is
what happened in verse 3. Here is what Peter and the apostles
told them. Verse 3, And wherefore, brethren, look you out among
you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost. and wisdom, whom we may appoint
over this business. But we'll give ourselves continuously
to prayer and the ministry of the Word, and this saying pleased
the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen. Why? He was a
man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. How did they know
that? Was it because he was running around speaking in tongues? Was
it because he was going around healing people all the time?
No. No. I'll tell you two ways they
noticed it. He was a wise man. Boy, he's
a man who understood the gospel of Christ. And he lived it out in his life.
He was a man full of faith. He believed God. He walked by
faith. Here's a man, they said, who
is full of the Holy Spirit. So when Paul tells us to be filled
with the Spirit, He is telling us that this is a state or a
condition that we live in every day. Go on being filled with
the Spirit. The Lord Jesus said, I will give
you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth, and He shall
abide with you forever. And now we are instructed to
be filled with Him. If He is in us, And He abides
within us forever. Brothers and sisters, it only
stands to reason that we long to be full of Him. Absolutely
under His control. Influenced by Him. So that's
what it means. It doesn't mean that He's going
to fill you and you're going to jump up and start speaking
with tongues or do something else. It means when we walk filled
with the Spirit. We can live this Christian life
in spite of all the conflicts, and we can live it successfully,
and we can live it with a measure of joy and contentment and happiness. Go on being filled with the Holy
Spirit. Now, is that clear? Okay, let's
come to this last question right quickly. And this is a critical
question in the light of that. How can we be filled with the
Spirit? How can we go on being filled
with the Spirit? Let me give you four or five
things quickly. First of all is this, and this sounds so simple,
but it's this. To recognize that it's possible. To recognize that it's possible. To know it and to believe it. Don't we forget that He's within
us? This is such amazing truth that
we forget it. And that's scriptural. The apostle
Paul says, no, you're not. Have you forgotten that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you? Have you forgotten that? Don't
you know that? But let's just not be so down on them. Don't
we forget it? Aren't we ignorant a lot of times
of it? That He abides in us. Here's
this second, third person of the sacred trinity, the very
God of very gods. And what does he do? He abides
in us. And he has this endless supply
of himself to give us. Do we know that? Do we even recognize
that? Here is the first thing that
you and I must know and remember, that he is in us. This wonderful
person. And he is able and desires to
fill us with Himself. What did the Lord Jesus say?
There shall be in you a well of living waters. What was He
talking about? The Spirit springing up, springing
up. There He is. Do we know that? Do we recognize that? Here's
our first problem, if we'll just recognize that He's there, that
He's here within us. And I make this statement just
a minute ago. He desires to fill us. He desires to fill us. Is that right? Does He really
desire? Well, here it is. Be ye filled
with the Spirit. If He says that in His Word,
is that not His desire? to fill us? Secondly, not only recognize
that he is within us, but desire him to fill us. We should desire
the filling of the Holy Spirit. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Listen
to this wonderful verse in Isaiah 44, "...I will pour water upon
him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour
my Spirit upon thy seed, and blessings upon thy offspring."
Poor water. Thirsting for Him, longing for
Him, desiring Him. And the third thing is this.
Here's how we go on being filled with the Spirit. Don't be doubtful
and don't be unbelieving. He's called the Spirit of faith,
isn't He? And He said to abide in our hearts by faith. The very
way that He first came to us was through faith, was it not?
Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. The Spirit abides in our hearts
by faith, and He has sealed us. He came and He sealed us. And
He abides there. And when you believe His Word,
when you simply believe it and obey it, He is pleased with that.
Faith pleases Him. When you find a passage, believe
it. When God speaks, believe it. Believe it. Don't doubt it. What does doubt do? It grieves
the Holy Spirit. It grieves Him. The Holy Spirit
is pleased when we live in faith and by faith upon what is written. All brothers and sisters, if
we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then believe. Believe Him. Believe Him. Be
men and women of faith. That brings us to this fourth
thing, and the Apostle Paul mentions it himself in chapter 4 and verse
30. He says, "...grieve not the Holy
Spirit, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption."
If we want to be filled with the Spirit, then don't grieve
the Spirit. If you and I are walking after
this old corrupt man, if we're lying one to another, if we're
not redeeming the time, And we live sometimes in our hypocrisy,
then we must know this, brothers and sisters, we must know this,
that He will not fill us. If He's grieved with our life,
then He will not fill us. So do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God. Do not deliberately grieve Him. Have you ever had a guest come
to your house and you waited for him? And you anticipated
his coming. And when he got there, you had
so much respect and reverence for him. You were so careful.
When the kids get up in the morning and your guest is still asleep,
you say, kids, be quiet. Be quiet now. John Claude came,
and he was asleep upstairs, and the girls were up and getting
ready for school, and I kept on saying, Girls, be quiet! We've
got a guest! We've got a guest! When we've
got a guest come to our home, aren't we on our best behavior?
How much more with this heavenly guest? On our best behavior. Because he's a holy guest. He's
the best guest you and I could have. Don't do anything to grieve
the holy And then in 1 Thessalonians 5.19,
Paul says, quench not, quench not the Holy Spirit. This word
quench means to extinguish. How do we extinguish the Holy
Spirit? Well, His graces. He's a light, and we can quench
the light. He shines through us, and we
can quench the light. He's not an influence. He influences
us. Don't quince the influence of
the Holy Spirit. You know, when he works in us,
he almost works secretly. This is why we're told to be
so careful not to quince it. We don't hear these voices falling
out of heaven into our hearts, do we? We don't hear any audible
voices or see these visions. He doesn't work that way, does
he? He works so secretly on our spirits, influencing us. You shall hear a voice behind
you saying, this is the way. Why did he say it like that?
Behind you. Because you don't see anything.
But you hear this. He's influencing us. He's guiding
us. And Paul says, listen, be very
conscious of his leader. Don't quench him. Do you ever
get a certain urge just to pray? Well, don't delay. Find somewhere
to pray and get along with the Lord. Do you ever just be sitting
around and suddenly you want to read or this passage comes
to you and you want to find out really exactly what it says?
Well, go find out. Go find out. That's the Spirit
leading us. He's influencing us. Don't quench
Him. Be conscious of Him leading us. I had a friend of mine call me
a couple of weeks ago, and he was up to Muncie at a little
mall playing our show. And we went up Saturday and talked
with him. He's a very dear friend. And he knew that he was going
to miss the worship the next day. I talked with him Sunday
morning over the phone and he said, you know, I feel awful.
He said, I just feel awful. I said, what's the matter? Of
course, I knew what was the matter. But he was saying, he said, you
know, I never get to see my son. I never get to spend time with
him. And he said, he asked me to come down here and spend some
time with him. And he said, I wanted to and
said, I did, but said, this is this is the Lord's day. And I
want to be with the Lord's people. And he said, I feel awful. I
just feel awful. What made him feel that way?
I tried my best to comfort him and told him, you know, there's
times you do. You want to. There's exceptions,
isn't it? But you know what? I didn't comfort
him very much. I didn't comfort him very much. You know what
he was conscious of. He was conscious that the Spirit
of God was using the means to guide him in his Christian
life. This is where I need to be with the Lord's people. Who was telling him that? The
Spirit was influencing him to tell him that. We've all experienced
that happen. We've all had that. There's times,
for some reason or another, providence got you stuck in a place up north
and you can't get south. But you know, don't you? You
know. We've all been there. And we try to comfort one another
and tell one another, Bill, you know. You just can't have it
sometimes. But follow the Spirit's leading. As he deals with our spirits,
don't quench him in anything. If we do, I'll tell you what
happens. If he quenches the light and
the fire, he's like a fire, and he burns within us, and you start
quenching that, what happens? Oh, it gets colder, don't it?
And the flame gets dimmer. And the faith and the love that
once was so strong and hot, now becomes lukewarm. And that was
the problem with the Laodicean church and the Lord Jesus. I
wish you were hot or cold, but you're just lukewarm. Just lukewarm. Quench not the Holy Spirit of
God. And lastly is this. Ask for it. Ask for it. Pray to that end. You say, Bruce,
if he's there, why should we ask for him? Because we want
to be filled with him. We want to be filled with him. If Christ sent him for this purpose,
and he's come to glorify the Son of God and abide in us and
fill us and influence us and cause us to walk in his stature,
then pray for that end. Listen to Luke 11.13. Lord Jesus
says, if you, He's speaking to His little children, if you being
evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him? Well, every believer has the
Spirit. But we want more of Him, don't
we? More of this glorious person. We want more of it. I hope that was instructive to
you and a blessing to you.