Ephesians chapter 5 and one verse,
down in verse 18. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
18. This is a text within itself,
and it fits in very, very well with the context of what you
and I have been studying about, beginning all the way back in
chapter 4. this epistle on how the believer
is to walk. And he says here in verse 18,
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with
a spirit. Be not drunk with wine, that's
excess, but be filled with a spirit. I think all of us would have
to agree this morning. who knows anything of God, anything
of the triune God, that one of the greatest miracles between
the eternities would have to be that this third person of
this sacred trinity indwells the believer. Of all the mysteries
and all the miracles that we often talk about, that is revealed
in the Word of God, this certainly has to be one of the greatest
miracles of all. The Scripture says so much about
this indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God hath sent forth the Spirit
of his Son into your hearts. That is where he abides. That
is where he dwells in the heart. But not just in the heart, the
scripture says, your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost
which you have of God. This Holy Spirit is sent to our
hearts and it is sent to our bodies, and which is in you,
and you are not your own. And he said in 2 Corinthians
6.16, I will dwell in them And I will walk in them, and I will
be their God. I will dwell in them. The heaven
of heavens cannot contain the eternal God. He fills heaven
and earth, and yet he says, I will dwell in them and be their God. They shall be my people. The
Lord Jesus said, I will pray the Father, and he will give
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even
the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because
it doesn't see Him and it doesn't know Him. But you know Him, he
told his apostles, because He dwells with you and shall be
in you." What a miracle! The Holy Spirit within the heart. And from the book of Genesis
all the way through the book of Malachi, we have these two
great promises. One was the coming of the Son
of God to take our humanity, to be born, to live as our representative,
to die as our substitute. He's coming. And the second great
promise was this, all the benefits that came out of His coming.
And the sheep was this, the promise of the Holy Spirit. If I go not
away, The Holy Spirit will not come. He sometime called the
promise of the Father. Carry you at Jerusalem, the Lord
told his disciples, until I send the promise of the Father upon
you. And you know what that promise
was? I will put my Spirit within them. That's the promise. And
in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 13 and 14, we have both of these
comings together. Because the scripture says that
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us for this reason, that we might receive the promise
of Abraham. And what was that promise made
to Abraham? That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Two great comings, the coming
of Christ and the coming of his blessed Holy Spirit. When you
and I talk about Christianity, when we talk about the Christian
walk, we're not just talking about morality. We're not even
talking about a super morality. We're not talking about, surely,
isolation from this world or total separation from this world.
When we talk about the Christian living in this world, you know
what we're talking about. Life in the Spirit. That's what
Christianity is, isn't it? It's not a bunch of do's and
don'ts. If people look at us and that's
all they see in us, then how have we failed? Because Christianity
is life in the Spirit. If you live in the Spirit, you're
alive in the Spirit. This is the way we began the
Christian life. Paul was right into those Galatians,
and he got on to them because they were wanting to go back
under the law. They were trying to be perfect
in this flesh. And he said, having begun in
the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? We begin
our spiritual life by a new birth, born of the Spirit. And he says,
if you live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit. That's the way
we're to live. That's the only way to live the
Christian life, is in the Spirit. And you know, as we're born of
the Spirit, and as we live and walk in the Spirit, we'll end
this walk. And we'll be resurrected by the
Spirit. Listen to what Paul says in Romans
8 and verses 9 and 11. that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth
in you." This mortal must put on immortality. How is that going
to happen? This Spirit which is within you
shall quicken this mortal body. It will be on a day like this.
Nobody will be predicting it to come to pass. If anybody predicts
the rapture, the coming of Christ, just mark it down. It's not going
to be that day. But it'll be a day something
like this, and we mortals will be living on this earth. And
suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, there'll be change. and given a body like unto the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul said he'll do that by
his Spirit which dwelleth in you. What is Christianity? It's
a lie in the Spirit. That's what it is. That's why
Paul says if we have not the Spirit of Christ, we're none
of his. No other way to be a Christian,
is there? Now he comes here to the text and he contrasts being
filled with the Spirit and being drunk with wine. Be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, why does he contrast these
two? Well, one of the reasons, and
there may be many, but one of the reasons is this. Because
what strong drink pretends to be the Spirit really, really
does. Strong drink makes many promises,
but it deceives us. It cannot fulfill the promises
that it makes. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink
is raging, and he that is deceived thereby. How does strong drink
deceive us? How does it mock us? By promising
what it cannot provide. Now, the first thing is this,
and see if this isn't true. Strong drink promises a good
time. It promises happiness. It promises
joy. It promises laughter. How many
times have you heard somebody say, especially in your teenage
years, let's go get drunk and have a good time? What makes
them think they're going to have a good time by getting drunk?
That's what strong drink promises. And you see the party going on.
And when it first begins, everybody's happy. And they're laughing,
and they're telling jokes, and they're tall tales, and they're
lies. But as the party progresses,
and as they drink more in excess, what happens? Well, then sometimes
here's what's happened, and how often have we seen this. Instead
of laughter, instead of joy, there's contention, and there's
feuding, and then sometimes there's violence and debauchery of all
kinds. Do you want me to show you that
in the Scriptures? Look over here in Proverbs chapter
23 with me right quickly. This wise man tells us exactly
what strong drink in excess leads to. Look in Proverbs chapter
23 and look here in verse 29. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse
29. If you want to read about excess
of wine and strong drink, the wise man in the Proverbs says
very much about it. And look here what he says. He
says, Wine and strong drink promises a good time, but he basically
says, you show me a person that is prone to drink in excess and
be drunken, I'll show you a not a happy man. But he says, I'll
show you a miserable man. Look what he says in verse 29.
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds
without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? Now
that don't seem like a good time to me, does it you? And he says,
they that tarry long at the wine, and they that go to seek mixed
drinks. Look not o'er the wine, don't
lust after it when it is red, when it giveth its color in the
cup, when it moves itself aright. At the last, it bites like a
serpent, and it stings like an otter. Thine eyes shall behold
strange women, and your heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the
sea, or he that lieth upon the top of the mast. They have stricken
me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me
and I felt it not." Why? He's passed out. He was drunk. And a brawl ensued and violence
and they beat one another up. And he wakes in the morning.
And what does he do? I will seek it yet again. What
does wine promise? A good time. Joy and laughter. But what does it really give?
sadness, sorrow, contentions, even violence. But contrast this
with the blessed Holy Spirit as He possesses the believer
and even fills him, hears what He promises, they shall indeed
draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation. If any man
thirsts Let him come unto me, and drink." Listen to this, "...he
that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water." And you know what that
is? That's joy. Rivers of joy. With joy shall
they draw water out of the wells of salvation. When you read the
Scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit and His attributes and
His fruits, one of the things that's often associated with
the Holy Spirit is joy. It's joy. That's not just an
attribute of the Holy Spirit, it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is this, joy. Joy. ending depths of supply of joy
where the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart. Listen to how Paul
says it in Romans 14. He says, The kingdom of God is
not in meat and drink, but it is righteousness and peace as
opposed to what? Drunkenness and contention. Righteousness
and peace as opposed to getting drunk and fussing and feuding. The kingdom of God is righteousness
and peace, and listen, joy in the Holy Spirit, joy in the Holy
Ghost. Peter was writing to those who
were scattered abroad, those believers, and he was telling
them, about being the elect of God. He was telling them about
God begatting them by His mercy and washing them, giving them
that inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled. And he said you're
kept to this inheritance by the power of God. And then he makes
this statement, wherein you greatly rejoice. Where do you rejoice? In your heart. Why? Because you
have this wellspring. There within you, the Holy Spirit.
And you greatly rejoice, even though for a time, He says, you
may be burdened through trials and tribulations, just for the
triumph of your faith, which will appear glorious at the coming
of Christ, whom having not seen you love. And though now you
see Him not, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. What does the blessed Holy Spirit
promise? Joy. True happiness. I want you to look over here
with me in Psalms chapter 4. And here's how David puts it
in Psalms chapter 4. Look in the book of Psalms and
look in chapter 4. The great characteristic of a
believer's life, brothers and sisters, should be joy. Because the Spirit of God abides
in them. Look how David describes it here
in Psalm chapter 4, and look in verse 6. There will be many
that say, Who will show us any good? And then he asks the Lord
to do this for them. Lord, lift up the light of thy
countenance upon us. Shine by your Spirit upon us. And look what happened. The Lord
did. And look how David felt about it. Thou hast put gladness
in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their
wine increased. They had their fall festivals. They brought in all the corn
from the field. They filled their barns. They
brought in the grapes and they made their wines and they all
got together and was ready for winter. And they were drinking
their wine and they were rejoicing that they got in all their crops. And now they're ready to buckle
down the hatch and wait for winter. And how happy they were! But
David said, you put something in my heart that makes me more
joyful than they could ever be. And what is that? What is that? That's the fruit of the blessed
Holy Spirit. Joy and gladness. How did he say it in another
place? At thy right hand there are pleasures, there are pleasures
forevermore. In your presence is fullness
of joy. Brothers and sisters, let me
ask you this morning, how much do we know of this? Are we just
going along so burdened down and we've just considered the
Christian life just a burden? Just be careful that I don't
do this, and try to be careful that I do do this. Have we got
it in that rut? Then look at this text this morning. Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. And one of the evidences that
we're filled with Him is joy. Now I'm not talking about this
outward, silly stuff that you see these charismatic youth meet
them down at the grocery store and they have this vain show
praising the Lord. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about something that's in the heart. There's a joy. There's a gladness. And I tell
you, you can't hardly help but be joyful and glad. when the
Spirit of the Lord is abided in your heart, because he is
indeed the well of living water. Be not drunk with wine, therefore. Strong drink promises this, but
it can't give it. Be ye filled with the Spirit. Secondly, strong drink and excessive
wine promises this. Does it promise comfort? It promises
comfort. How many country music songs
have they made on some poor fellow whose marriage is cracked up,
or he's run into trouble, and he goes down and he drinks his
troubles away by the bottle of beer. But what happens to him? He winds up sobbing in his beer,
doesn't he? Winds up crying in his beer.
Strong drink may promise comfort, but it makes it worse. Here you
have all this misery and all this sorrow because of these
bad things that's happening in your life. So you say, I'm going
to go drink my troubles away, but what happens? It exaggerates
the troubles. You go down there and you see
some poor fellow sitting on the barstool, and he's so drunk,
and what's he doing? Is he comforted? Why, no. He's complaining. He's sobbing. He's telling everybody, well
listen, about all his troubles. He's not comforted at all. It's
made it worse. Be not drunk with wine. That
won't comfort a man. It won't comfort a man. But contrast
this with the Holy Spirit. He's called the comforter. And that's not just what he does,
that's who he is. You'll notice the Lord Jesus
said, I'll go to my father and I'll pray him and he'll give
you another comforter. That's a man. That's who he is,
a comforter. The Lord Jesus was with his disciples
for three and a half years. He was with them constantly.
They never faced anything but what he was right there. Three
and a half years. He was their confidant. When
Peter's mother-in-law got sick, he went to the Lord and said,
Lord, my mother-in-law, she's down on the bed, and she's got
a fever. She's awfully sick. And he said,
I'll come and heal her. And he came and touched her,
and she got up and ministered to the people. When Peter didn't
have any money to pay his taxes, Remember what the Lord did? He
said, Peter, don't worry about it. Go down there and catch a
fish, and you'll find a piece of corn in that fish's mouth,
and you go pay your taxes, and you may pay my taxes. All the trouble that they got
in, the Lord was there to comfort them through it all. And He told
them one day, He said, I'm going away. I'm going away. And they said, Lord, we're going
with you. Because this world ain't fit to live in. You've
been such a comfort to us. You've been there every step
of the way when we needed you. And we can't live without you.
We can't live without your comfort. And he said, no, you can't go
with me. Where I'm going and the way I'm going, you can't
go. But he said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going
to pray my Father and He's going to send you another comforter. Another comforter. See what it
is. The Lord Jesus was in the body.
He was flesh and bones. He could not, as a man, get into
their hearts. He was with them, but He was
not in them. But He said, when the Comforter,
who is the Holy Ghost, comes, He's going to be in you. He's
going to be in you. And what's He going to do? He's
going to comfort you. What I've done for you these
three and a half years, He's going to exaggerate it. He's
going to be in you a comforter. And how did Paul say it? He said,
God is the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our tribulation. And he does it that we may comfort
one another by the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted
of Isn't that wonderful, brother? Comforted of God. I was talking with Brother Floyd,
born just a few days before he died. I asked him how he was
doing. And he said, Brother, I don't
ask you to pray for me to get well. He said, I know this is
unto death. He said, my sickness is unto death. He said, just
pray, the Lord will comfort me. Just pray to the Lord. Can God
do that? I mean, when you're dying of
cancer, when you're seeing the tumor and you're feeling it swelling
every day, can He comfort you? Yes, He can. And He's in us. He's in us. Another comforter. Oh, I tell you, brothers and
sisters, He can do what strong drink only promises to do. He can conquer. Haven't you experienced
it in your own self? I mean, when you lose your health,
when you lose a dear family member, when you come into some awful
trials and it seems like your world is turned upside down,
and you can't be comforted by your relatives or by any brothers
and sisters in Christ. But haven't you experienced the
comfort that He gives? I love what Job said about it.
When he gives quietness, who can disturb? When he conquers,
nothing can disturb you, is it? Oh, how precious that is. Be
not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Thirdly, strong
drink promises this. It promises strength. It promises
boldness. It makes a person think that
they're invincible, that they're being stimulated. Wine and strong
drink promises all of these things. This is why so many times when
you see somebody get drunk, what's the first thing they want to
do? They want to fight. We've seen it. Take a guy and
he's so peaceful, but put a few drinks down him and he thinks
he's invincible. That he can whip anybody. There's
an old story about this fella going down to the bar and he
was sitting there on the stool and drinking. And the more he
drunk, the drunker he got. And he looked over at this old,
old dried up man sitting on his left hand and said, I think I
can whip you. And he drunk another beer and
he looked over at this little squirmy guy sitting on his right
side and said, I think I can whip you. And finally he got
so drunk he stood up and turned around and said, I think I can
whip anybody in here. And the fellow said a big, stout,
giant-looking man stood up and thumped his head. But see what
strong drink does? Now he'll make you think you're
invincible. He'll give you strength you think
that you don't have. It promises what it cannot yield. I had, call it an opportunity
or not, but I saw a fellow the other day. Saw him three or four
times or five times in a day. And every time I saw him, he
was getting more drunk, more drunk. Drinking whiskey and drinking
beer and getting drunk. And I had to take him home that
night. And all day long, every time I seen him, he was talking
about, boy, he had told his bosses off, and how bold he was, you
know. He's bragging so arrogant. He's
just so arrogant. That night I was taking a fellow
home, and he was exhausted. He had bragged and boasted, and
he wore himself out. I could have pushed him over
with one hand. The whiskey didn't stimulate
him at all. It just wore him out. Strong
drink, brothers and sisters, excessive drinking, it gives
nothing. It adds nothing. It takes everything
away. It will take your character. It will take all your time. It will take your sense of reasoning
and understanding. It will take your goods. And
in the end, it will leave you with nothing. Nothing. Look at that poor prodigal. You know what prodigal means.
It means excess. Waste. That's why we call him
the prodigal. And you remember what he did.
Look how the promise, look how it killed his natural affection. He told his father, who loved
him, said, Give me everything that's coming to me. Just the
promise of having a good time and getting drunk and partying
caused this young man to lose all sense of reasoning and affection. He said, give
me everything that belongs to me. I'm out of here. Hadn't his father been good to
him? Yeah. Why was he so ungrateful? Why didn't he love his father?
Why was he so anxious to leave the family? Well, that's what
we're talking about, isn't it? That's what even the promise
of strong drink does. It will make a father leave his
wife and children, make a mother leave all her family. Natural
affection. I'm leaving you, Dad. And not
only getting out of the house, I'm getting as far away as I
can." And look at his reasoning. He had so much. He could have
used that and increased it and been a rich man. But he lost
his sense of reasoning. And what did he do? He went and
wasted his substance with rautous. You know what that word rautous
is? It's the same word in our text. Without just living. Excessive living. And he wasted
everything. His time, his health. And he
finally come to himself and he said, this is one thing about
it. What I thought was going to be a good time has been my ruin. And if I don't
get out of this place and this hog pen and go back to my father's
house, here's what's going to happen to me. I'm going to perish.
I'm going to perish. But that's what wine and strong
grain promises, but it can't deliver. But contrast that now
with the Holy Spirit. Be not drunk with wine, but be
filled with the Spirit. And what's the promise of the
Spirit? Strength. Strength. Look here, I love this
verse in chapter 3 of Ephesians. Look at Ephesians chapter 3. Look here in verse 16. Here's
what the Spirit promises, and I'm telling you, He delivers.
Paul prayed for them and He prayed for us. That He would grant you,
God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might. You know what that word might
means? Miraculous power. It's a miracle, ain't it? Strengthened
with might, how? By His Spirit. We're in the inner
man. Oh, we've felt that, haven't
we? We have felt that power. We went down a couple of weeks
ago, or three weeks, or whenever it was, to the nursing home,
and I was just wore out. Torn mentally, I was torn physically,
wasn't feeling good, didn't feel like I had anything to say. And
I'm telling you what, we began to sing. And the message, and
I left and went home, and I was feeling like a teenager. In my
heart, in my inner man, I was so strengthened. What is that? That's the Holy Spirit strengthening
the inner man. Strengthening the heart. And
I'm telling you, if the heart is strong, then you're strong.
It even affects you physically. Have you ever noticed that? Oh,
the strength of the Spirit. That's His promise. That's His
promise. Miraculous power. He promises
this. He promises boldness. Boldness. The Lord has said, I will never
leave you or forsake you, therefore we may boldly say, the Lord is
my heifer. You remember those apostles when
they forsook the Lord? Brother Glenn was telling us
about the crucifixion of the Lord and all the apostles forsook
Him. And Peter tried his best to hang
in there, didn't he? But you know something? He didn't
have the strength to do it. He didn't have the boldness to
do it. He couldn't do it. This poor little maid came up
to him and said, you're one of them. He said, oh my God, that's
a lie. Look at her face. She's going
to eat me up. And he said, I don't know. I
don't know him." Oh, she said, you're one of them, ain't you?
Oh, he began to curse. No, I'm not one of them. Do I
talk like one of them? Do I act like I know him? He
was scared to death. But look at him at Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came and
filled the house and filled them, What did he do? He got up and
faced thousands of men, and he said this, You have crucified
the Lord of glory. He laid that charge right at
their feet. And they got him and John and
brought him in before those 70 men, those Sanhedrins, and they
said, If we hear you one more time mention His name, we're
going to whip you, fellas, or worse. And he said, Oh, I'm not
careful to answer you. I'm going to obey God rather
than man. How bold he was! And the Scriptures
even says they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake
the Word of God with boldness. You and I get sometimes, and
you're just like your pastor. You couldn't even preach Christ
to a little kid, could you? You're so timid and so fearful. I get like that myself. But let
the Holy Spirit come. Oh, let him manifest this boldness
in the heart. You don't care who the man or
who the woman is. You'll speak up and hold not
your peace. That's what he promises. Strength
of inner man and boldness, boldness, boldness. Oh, we're not careful. Those
three Hebrew children faced the fiery furnace, and that's what
they said if we're not careful. Daniel, you pray again, you're
going into the den of lions. He opens his window and he prays.
He's not afraid of the lions. He's bold. He feels invincible. Mortals are immortal here until
their work is done. The Spirit. Oh, if you want true
boldness, don't go get drunk to get it. That's presumption. You'll get yourself whipped.
But the Spirit gives true boldness. He'll make you bold as a lion. He doesn't rob us of anything. No, He restores unto us everything. Could I even say this, brothers
and sisters? Not only does He restore our
affections, but He puts within us supernatural affections. Could I say that? Is that not
so? He that loveth is born of God,
for God is love." It's not a human love, is it? It's not a natural
love. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. That's supernatural love. And
he's talking about the fruits of the Spirit. I love this, because
when he said the fruit of the Spirit is love, he went right
ahead to say it's long-suffering. Why does he add that? Well, somebody
has caused somebody to get on edge. Somebody's been bothering
somebody, and you're getting sort of fed up. You can't take
it anymore. But what happens? Oh, the Holy
Spirit. He's there in the heart. And
He's put this attribute, this fruit of long-suffering in your
heart. And what does that enable you
to do? Just put up with a person. And not only put up with the
person, but love the person. And be kind to the person. And
tender to the person. These are supernatural things. They're not natural. And I tell you what, He does,
as wine, darken our understanding and make us silly. But you know
what He does? He enlightens our understanding.
Look what he says over here right quickly in our text. Look what
he says in chapter 5. In the very same breath where
he is talking about being filled with the Spirit, in verse 17,
verse 17, ìWherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what
the will of the Lord is.î be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I tell you, the wisest people, the most understanding people,
the most rational people, are people who are filled with the
Holy Spirit. They know more about Christ than anybody. One thing
is to remember, brothers and sisters, you read the book of
Ephesians, is who the Apostle Paul was writing to. He kept
saying that he wanted them to know, oh, I want you to know
Christ. I want you to know the love of
Christ, which facts are not. I want you to know about your
calling and your hope. I want you to know these deep
things of God. You know who He was writing to?
He was writing to slaves. He was writing to children and
husbands and wives. Common people, just like you
and me. He wasn't writing to great intellectuals. God don't call many of those
people. Then how did the Apostle Paul expect these people to know?
these things. To understand what the will of
the Lord is, I'll tell you how to expect to know it. The Spirit
of God revealed it. The Spirit of God came and He
teaches us. That's why I encourage you to
read your Bibles at home. Seek the Lord at home. Don't
come here depending on me to feed you all the time or these
brothers teaching you. You have the Spirit of Christ
in your heart. And he can reveal these things.
He can teach you and guide you and make you understand what
the will of the Lord is. Bless his holy name. He does
it. And let me say this in closing. You and I cannot be Christians.
I can't be a Christian and you can't be a Christian until God
makes us a Christian. That's all there is to it. And
he makes us a Christian by giving us a new birth, born of the Spirit. And when he does that, brothers
and sisters, the Spirit of God is all you need to live the Christian
life successfully. To live it with joy and understanding
and peace and love. He's all you need to walk in
the light. And when that happens is when
the world is apt to set up and say this, there's something different
about those people. And it's not just morality. It's
not a bunch of do's and don'ts. But I'm telling you, that's a
lively people. That's an honest people. That's
a loving people. That's a truthful people. And
you know what the Lord Jesus said about light? The church
is a light, a city set on a hill. And I've told you different times,
light is attractive, isn't it? It's attractive. And you're the
salt of the earth. And salt makes people thirsty.
That's what the church is. It's a light and it's salt. It's
a light when it has this blessed Holy Spirit. And it walks in
the Spirit. It's salt when it has this blessed
Spirit. And walking in the Spirit. That's
what the Christian life is about. Living and walking in this blessed
Spirit. May the Lord bless His Word to
you. Let's pray.