THE WINE

KEY PASSAGE: EPHESIANS 5:14-21 (NASB)

Welcome

We welcome you to our Sunday morning worship service, including our first-time visitors. First-time visitors, please stand so we can see you and recognize you, and let us welcome our online viewers. We are glad to have you with us today.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

O LORD, You are one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That mystifies us, but it also inspires us. It leaves us speechless and makes us want to shout Your praises. It makes us long to be unified and thankful for our amazing diversity. Help us live in the image of who we are and what You call us to be. May this sermon encourage and strengthen the hearers so they can grow in the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tithe and Offering

The receiving of offerings of God’s people is an act of worship. And this morning, I want us to remember the inspired words of David taken from First (1st) Chronicles 16:29: “Give to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!” Your tithe and offering allow this church to serve you and our community, and we are grateful for your faithfulness and obedience in giving to this church. Ushers, please pass around the offering plates so we can collect our tithe and offerings. Please follow the directions on the screen on how to give.

Announcement

Please look up on the screen as we make our announcement. We will resume our monthly staff meeting starting on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at noon. Good Friday Service is March 29, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. Please be sure to sign for the Seven Words on the Cross. The spot fills up very quickly, so please be sure to sign up. Our church’s weekly Bible Study is at 7:00 p.m. every Wednesday. If you are interested in the new member class, we have a sign-up at the back of the church, so please be sure to sign up for the new member class.

Declaration of Faith in God

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Paul was concerned that the Christians in the church at Ephesus needed to wake up to the new spiritual reality in which they lived and functioned. You see, the Christians in Ephesus were in a pagan environment. To put it another way, they were living in an anti-God culture. But these believers had come to Christ. They had trusted Christ and had been radically transformed. But unfortunately, they had begun to enter into a spiritual coma. That is why, throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul keeps wanting them to know that their new place of operation was heavenly places. A spiritual realm that they needed to learn to live in, function in, and operate from the perception and perspective of. So, Paul calls on the Ephesian believers.

SERMON EXPOSITION

In Ephesians chapter 5, verse 14, Paul asks them to wake up. Verse 14 says: For this reason, it says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”

What is true of the Christians in Ephesus is true of Christians today. Far too many Christians today are spiritually asleep. They are asleep to the spiritual orientation to life and have begun to sleep in the materialistic, satanic, demonic, ungodly world of the physical because they are too asleep to the spiritual realm. Paul understands that if they are going to be adequately accustomed, they will have to learn a spiritual truth. A spiritual truth is one of the most dominating truths of scripture. I am calling this the wine as we continue our series on the Names of the Holy Spirit.

This is the principle of wine. We have been talking about the spiritual, and for you to understand the spiritual, you need to fully understand the Holy Spirit and His role in how you live in a secular culture as a sacred saint (as a holy person in an ungodly world).

It is this absenteeism (absence), this inactivity (slumber), snoring if you will, of Christians and our refusal to wake up, shake up, at the alarm clock of heaven, getting us up from the spiritual slumber that keeps us from being ineffective and not impactful as God would have us to be. And so, Paul says in verse 15, “Be careful how you walk." So, he is talking about how you operate in the world. Paul gives believers a standard operating procedure (SOP) on how to live and function in the world. “Not as unwise men, but as wise.” Being able to make the right kind of decisions in the secular world environment. Make the most of your time; stop wasting time, you know, because the days are evil.

Paul talks about the evil world in which we live, worship, work, play, and raise families. You see, the filling of the Holy Spirit brings a sharp separation between the believer and the world. So, Paul says it is time to get up; it is not time to lay in bed all day like you don't have something to do, and he says to do that, you must understand the will of the Lord. You must understand what God is up to. You must learn to look at life from God’s perspective to fulfill God’s purpose in your life, to your life, for your life, and through your life.

A believer is to walk wisely. A believer’s walk reveals the urgency of the hour and the importance of living for God. You see, the entire objective of a believer's walk is to stay in God's will. A believer walks in God's will as a train runs on a train track. A believer’s walk in this world demonstrates that they belong to Christ.

Now, that raises a fundamental question. How do you wake up and walk? Well, that is where the principle of the wine comes in, the theme (subject) of our sermon for today. Paul says in verse 18, “And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery,” which is destructive (watch this) “But be filled with the Spirit.”

God commands us to be filled with the Spirit and expects us to obey. We do not fill ourselves but permit the Spirit to fill us. To be “filled with the Spirit” means constantly controlled by the Spirit in our mind, emotions, and will.

You see, Paul contrasts what wine does when you have had too much of it and what the Spirit does when you get too much of Him. God is inviting Christians to get drunk, but not on wine. “Be not drunk with wine.” God wants you to become intoxicated with the Spirit. I want you to wake up, and I want you to fill up when you wake up so you can fulfill God’s will; if you are going to be full of God and full of God’s purpose in your life, you will have to learn to be an intoxicated Christian, not with wine but with the Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit possesses a believer (watch this) , it is a divine intoxication. One good thing about the filling of the Holy Spirit is that it produces discernible behavioral differences. Your views and standards are different, and your operations are different. You are different because you have too much to drink.

Do you remember, on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, when the folks outside were making fun of Peter and the other disciples and accused them of being drunk with wine?

Peter responded, “We are not drunk like you think; the Holy Spirit has overcome us.” Every believer, every person, has received the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you have received the Holy Spirit; you have been baptized and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But to have Him is not equal to being intoxicated with Him.

When a police officer pulls you over for operating a vehicle or being in control of a vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs, it is an automatic DUI – driving under the influence. You are driving under the influence. God wants all Christians to be LUI, living under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The world should pull you over because you are an intoxicated person, but not because you have had too much alcohol; you have had too much Holy Ghost. Now, it is not that you need more of the Holy Ghost because He is already there.

You have all that God has to give you: the Holy Spirit. What you, I, and we need is to come under His influence. The word “To be filled” means to be overcome or overwhelmed. This word is used throughout the New Testament in many different scenarios.

The Bible says in Luke chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, that “Jesus being filled with the Spirit was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Jesus was under God’s control, led into the wilderness, and on the offense against Satan. Today, the devil is running over far too many Christians because we are not intoxicated enough with the Holy Spirit. We are not drunk enough with the Holy Spirit. John chapter 16, verse 6, says, “The people were filled with sorrow,” they were overcome with sadness. Sadness was ruling their emotions because they were filled with it.

When you are full of the Spirit, it means you are overcome; you are overwhelmed. You can't stop crying when you are full of sorrow. According to Luke chapter 4, verses 28 and 29 say, “The people were filled with rage,” so much so that verse 29 says, “They wanted to throw Jesus off the cliff.” In other words, they were so overcome and controlled by wrath that they could not control themselves, they could not control their anger, they went after Jesus, and they wanted to kill him. Jesus had to supernaturally wiggle His way out through the crowd to escape their wrath.

See, if you are just a natural man or a natural woman, it is because you are not a drunk saint. You have not become intoxicated yet with God. Acts chapter 13, verse 45 says, “The folks were filled with jealousy.” In other words, jealousy enraged (angered) them and controlled them. So he says, “If you are going to wake up, shake up, bake up if you are going to hit this evil world and be the kind of man, the kind of woman who knows what the will of God is, who sees God maximizing their time, the shortness of their lives in confronting the evil of our culture,” Paul says, “You going to have to get a little bit of... you need some juice. You need enough juice to become intoxicated.” He says, “Be filled with the Spirit.”

We do not fill ourselves but permit the Spirit to fill us. So, let's talk a little Greek for a moment. The word “be filled” is a passive present, plural, imperative. Let me say that again. The verb "be filled," which is very important, is a passive present, plural, imperative. It is an imperative. An imperative is a command. He is not asking you to be filled; he is not recommending that you be filled; Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, demands that you be filled.

Now, it is up to you to reject the command, but that means you will be an asleep Christian, a Christian who doesn't see the will of God, a Christian who is not unique or different. You will be a natural saint (believer) because you will not be operating under the influence of the spiritual wine, the person of the Holy Spirit.

So, it is a command you must obey, not a recommendation that would be nice if you did it. It is passive, which means it is not something you do; it is something you allow to be done. Be filled is passive. In other words, you don't fill yourself; the Holy Spirit fills you. So, he commands you to stop blocking the Holy Spirit from filling you. The Holy Spirit that is in you wants to fill you. He says, “With the passive, let him.” He is eager to control you. He is eager to turn you into a drunk Christian, a Christian living under the influence.

We have all been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and every believer has equal access to the Holy Spirit's filling. This is an ongoing process. So, don't live on yesterday's filling of the Holy Spirit because you need today and tomorrow’s filing. Many Christians will talk about how God did this yesterday. They will give testimonies about the past work of God in their lives, which is good, but when you talk about what God is doing now, they get silent. Why? Because they are asleep. They are sleeping Christians. They are not alive to the intoxicating work of the Holy Spirit.

We do not need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come into our church service: The Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and guess what: He has never left the church. We must allow ourselves to be filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to let the atmosphere in our church service include the presence of the Holy Spirit to dominate our lives individually and collectively. You won't get drunk by the Holy Spirit by taking a sip on Sunday morning—that is not enough drink. You will only get drunk by the Holy Spirit if you drink Him regularly. You need to drink the Holy Spirit wine regularly so that you can be an intoxicated Christian under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

And how do you know when you are drunk? Simple- the same way you know when a person is intoxicated because they are acting outside of themselves. They talk differently, think differently, react differently, and go against themselves. “I want to do this, but because I am drunk, I got to do that.”

Because they are now intoxicated with the Holy Spirit of God, you say, "How do I get this process started"? Well, let me give you a promise. Luke chapter 11, verse 13. It says, “God will give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks him.” So, you start by asking Him, “Lord, I want to be filled.” Ask Him daily, “Lord, fill me today with your Spirit as I worship you, minister to others, and surrender to Jesus Christ and His Word.”

Now, let me warn you: when you get drunk from the Holy Spirit, some folks are going to get offended because they don't want to see that kind of intoxication. That is a good kind of intoxication. But carnal Christians are going to be mad at you; they are going to call you too super spiritual. They will say, “You just keep bringing up the Bible.” They are going to do that when you get drunk because they have never been drunk with the Holy Spirit.

Faith Appeal and Call to Action (Conclusion)

To be drunk with the Holy Spirit, you must have Him. And the way you have Him is to come to the Lordship of Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins; He rose from the dead for your eternal salvation, and if you will place your faith alone in Christ, if you will go to Him right now and say, “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, and I need a Savior. I not only live in an evil world, but I am also a sinful person,” because Jesus only saves sinners.

Jesus was changing water into wine. That is what Jesus did in His first miracle, and what He did was bring joy to what would have been a disappointing occasion. And you know life can be like that. Life can be very disappointing and frustrating. You are expecting happiness, joy, celebration, and excitement. Then you find out life is not all that it is cracked up to be, that is, until Jesus does one of those water-into-wine miracles, when he brings joy back, and the beautiful thing about that miracle is when He did that miracle, He saved the best for last.

The beautiful thing about looking to God when you have run out of your get up and go that has gotten up and gone, when life has become empty, when life has become a routine, to know that Jesus still turns water into wine. Jesus can still take the emptiness of existence. When we give Him something to work with, our commitment, our love, and our obedience, that is the water of our lives, Jesus takes it, speaks over it, blesses it, changes it, and woo, joy comes out of misery, the celebration comes out of sorrow because He has turned the water of disappointment, into the wine of gladness. Look forward to the miracle God has for you; He still loves turning water into wine. God bless you.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Almighty God, who through Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ, has overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; we ask You that as by Your special grace You put into our minds good desires, so by Your continual help we may bring the same to good effect, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen!

God bless you, and we are dismissed.