August 1 - Filled With the Spirit
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Every child of God is under orders to be "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Let us therefore not be content to only learn about this doctrine, but to go on in obedience and actually experience this "filling."

I. FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT - WHAT IT IS NOT.

A. It is not speaking with "tongues", healing people, jumping over the pews, or rolling on the floor.

B. It is not receiving more of the Spirit.

1. Every child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

2. Because the Spirit of God is a person it is folly to speak as though He could be received in differing amounts.

C. It is not spiritual growth.

1. Christians may be Spirit-filled at every stage of maturity.

2. A babe in Christ may be Spirit filled while a mature Christian may enter into a time of failing in this area.

3. The living of a "Spirit-filled" life should be viewed rather as a position of good spiritual health.

4. While health may be experienced at any age, yet the lack of good health is a deterrent to proper growth in both the spiritual and physical realm.

D. It is not to be confused with other workings of the Spirit.

1. The experiences of being "Spirit-filled" and "baptized with the Spirit" have often been confused.

2. As would be expected the filling accompanied the baptism in Acts 2, but to therefore confuse them is a serious error that ends up perverting both truths.

3. The baptism with the Spirit was given at Pentecost while people were Spirit-filled even before Christ’s birth.

4. We are commanded to be Spirit-filled while no one has ever been commanded to be baptized with the Spirit.

5. They are clearly different experiences.

II. FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT - WHAT IT IS.

A. To be filled with the Spirit is simply to be yielded to Him in every area of our life.

1. This experience is often directly and indirectly compared to drunkenness.

a. Ephesians 5:18 – As wine controls the drunkard, so the Holy Spirit should control us.

b. Luke 1: 15 – John shall be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mothers womb.

c. Acts 2:13 – On the day of Pentecost, mockers declared the disciples were full of new wine, but they were full of the Holy Spirit.

2. Just as wine controls the drunkard and makes him bold and vocal so the Spirit-filled individual is under the sway of the Holy Spirit.

3. He becomes spiritually bold and able to testify for His Lord.

B. The experience of those who have been Spirit-filled seem to vary greatly.

1. In normal Christian living the saint is daily filled as he confesses his sin and yields to God.

2. The filling in this instance is not so much an emotional experience as a continuance of fellowship with God.

3. At other times the filling has come upon an individual unsought or with special signs.

4. Please note the various circumstances which surrounded the filling in the following Scriptures:

a. Luke 1: 15 – John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mothers womb.

b. Luke 1:41 – John leaped in his mothers womb when he heard the message of the coming redeemer.

c. Luke 1:67 – John’s father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied about the coming redeemer.

d. Luke 4:1 – Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit after he was baptized, and when he was lead by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

e. Acts 2:4 – On the day of Pentecost, the people were filled with the Holy Spirit.

f. Acts 4:8 – Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he got up to preach on the day of Pentecost.

g. Acts 4:31 – When the early church prayed, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

h. Acts 7:55 – Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit when he was being stoned.

i. Acts 9:17 – Ananias revealed to Paul that he would receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

j. Acts 11:24 – Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit.

k. Acts 13:9 – Paul was full of the Holy Ghost when he spoke to Elymas.

l. Acts 13:52 – The disciples were full of the Holy Ghost and joy, even when some didn’t believe.

C. Compare

1. Filling of Acts 2:4 – Day of Pentecost with

2. Acts 4:8 – Peter and John filled with Holy Spirit when they were persecuted.

D. Continue from above. (I want to add another text this morning – Galatians 2:20 states, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

1. There are two points at the very beginning.

a. Encouragement. The disciples were encouraged from the Word of God (see Acts 4:24-30) not from the 3,000 that were saved on the Day of Pentecost, or the 5,000 that was saved in Acts 4:4.

b. Discouragement. The disciples weren’t discouraged at all. This shows us we are wrong when we are discouraged, or when we are worried about how things will turn out.

c. The disciples prayed for courage to be true to God, not to establish a program of education for the recent converts.

2. There are three points to this message.

a. Acts 4:31 – Filled with the spirit.

b. Acts 5:17 – Filled with indignation.

c. Acts 5:28 – Jerusalem filled with the doctrine of God.

3. Point # 1 – Acts 4:31 – The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.

a. Acts 5 – In the middle of all this Holy Spirit filling, Ananias and Sapphira weren’t filled.

b. They put on an act of being filled, but died when they lied to God.

c. Peter didn’t pronounce death on Ananias, but when he died, Peter told Sapphira what would happen to her.

4. Point # 2 – Acts 5:17 – Rebels against God were filled with indignation.

5. point # 3 – Acts 5:28 – Rebels against God said the disciples had filled Jerusalem with their doctrine. (They didn’t recognize the doctrine as belonging to God.)

E. Acts 7:55 – Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost when he died.

1. Acts 6:3 – One of the qualifications of being a helper was to be spirit filled.

2. Acts 6:5 – The Bible explicitly states that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.

3. Note the vast difference in circumstances of being filled.

F. These Scriptures make it very plain that the experience of being Spirit-filled follows no certain pattern as to the surrounding circumstances.

1. The experience came before and after Pentecost, with and without visible signs, and upon many different types of individuals from our Saviour to an unborn baby.

2. The experience is associated with praise, soul-winning, and judgment (in the case of Barjesus).

G. In taking note of all this we should be careful to remember that regardless of the surrounding events, the filling itself is simply the Spirit of God taking control of one’s life.

1. In our own life we may have times of being Spirit-filled that seem like mountain-top experiences while at other times the yielding to God produces only the quiet joy and peace of everyday Christian living.

2. Regardless of the presence or absence of certain experiences let us be assured that each Christian may be Spirit-filled everyday.

3. God alone knows the particular work that needs to be done and therefore He alone can determine the circumstances that are to surround our daily fillings.

III. CONDITIONS UPON WHICH ONE IS "SPIRIT-FILLED".

A. Because we are commanded to be "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18) it is obvious that there are conditions to be met under normal circumstances. The Christian who desires to be Spirit filled should note the following:

1. The Holy Spirit speaks in a still small voice, as in I Kings 19:12. Elijah didn’t pay attention to the strong wind that broke in piece the mountain, or the earthquake, or the fire. He heard only the still small voice of the Lord. So should we be.

2. Quench not the Spirit - I Thessalonians 5:19 – "Quench not the Spirit."

a. Quench means to extinguish, or cause to go out.

b. You and I can cause the Holy Spirit to stop working with us.

c. II Timothy 1:6 – "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."

d. Many people believe they are more spiritual by just letting happen what will happen. But that is not spiritual. Do you just eat if it happens upon you? Do you just go to work if it happens upon you?

3. Grieve not the Spirit - Ephesians 4:30 – "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

a. Grieve means to distress; to be sad; cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, be cause sorrow, be make sorry.

b. This is like when the Holy Spirit impresses you to do something, and you don’t do it, causing the Holy Spirit to feel sorrow.

c. "I’ll do it later" is our favorite excuse – Would you have liked it if the Holy Spirit had told you he would seal you in salvation later because he had something else to do right then?

d. Psalms 78:40 – "How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!" We don’t like to think we are like Israel in the wilderness, but we often are!

e. Psalms 95:10 – "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:"

f. Isaiah 7:13 – "And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?" When we grieve the Holy Spirit, we weary God.

g. Isaiah 63:10 – "But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." God turned against Israel because he grieved and wearied him, so he will turn against us. Instead of being a help to us, he will be our enemy!

h. Mark 3:5 – "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." Are we like the unbelieving Pharisees who set their own standards of faithfulness, and rejected the standards of God?

i. Acts 7:51 – "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." We don’t consider ourselves stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, but we are like the unbelieving Pharisees when we don’t yield ourselves to the gentle pleadings of the Holy Spirit.

4. Walk in the Spirit - Galatians 5:16 – "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

a. Walk means to tread all around, walk as proof of ability, to live, deport oneself, follow, be occupied with.

b. This is a yielding to the Spirit rather than to the power of the flesh.

c. Gal. 5:25 – "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

d. Gal 6:8 – "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

e. Rom. 8:1 – "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

5. Pray.

a. Acts 4:31 – When the early church prayed for boldness so they would remain true to God and his word, they received the filling of the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

b. Luke 11:13 – "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

6. Every Christian should pray daily for a closer walk with God and for a greater anointing of the Spirit in his life.

a. How sad for any child of God to dishonor his Lord by allowing the flesh to mar his testimony.

b. I Corinthians 3:3 – "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?"

c. God uses those who are "Spirit-filled".

1) Acts 6:3 – "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business."

Acts 11:24 – Speaking of Barnabas – "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord."

IV. THE RESULTS OF BEING SPIRIT-FILLED.

A. Bold preaching.

1. Luke 1:15-16 – "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God."

2. Acts 4:8 – "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,"

3. Acts 4:31 – "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."

4. Acts 9:17-20 – "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. 19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God."

5. Isaiah 61:1 – "The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;"

B. Joy.

1. Acts 13:52 – "And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost."

2. Ephesians 5:18-19 – "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"

C. Unity.

1. I Corinthians 3:1-3 – "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?"

2. Ephesians 4:3 – "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

D. Praise.

1. Ephesians 5:19-20 – "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

E. Spiritual growth.

1. When God is at the helm of our life we may expect to grow daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.

2. II Peter 3:18 – "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."

F. Proper behavior in our relations to others - In Ephesians 5:21-6:9

1. Paul deals with the various duties of the husband, wife, child, parent, employee and employer.

2. Notice that the context is the filling with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

3. Is not Paul teaching that only through the power of God’s Spirit can we properly fill our various roles?

V. CONCLUSION

A. May each of us count it as a sacred duty to daily be "filled with the Spirit." To be filled with the Spirit should be viewed as the normal Christian experience rather than the privilege of some select few.