Being Filled (Romans 1:26-32)

Filled = to make full, to cause to abound, to fill to the top so that nothing shall be wanting to make full measure, to completion.

If you want to live a life of sin, God will fill you up to where all you want is sin. On the other hand, if you want to live a life of sanctification, God will fill you up to where all you want is to please the Savior.

Filled with Sin

Genesis 6:11–13 “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

(violence here in the Hebrew is the same word for cruelty, wrong, falseness, damage, and unrighteous) The earth was FILLED WITH WICKEDNESS, so God destroyed every living person on earth.

Proverbs 1:20–33 KJV 1900

Wisdom crieth without; She uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: In the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; When distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, And shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Devices = counsels (Hebrew 4156/ moy ate saw) 1 Time “devices” 6 times “counsels”

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Jeremiah 23:23–24 “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”

God is everywhere! He see what we do, He knows what we think. God is so big that he fills everything! You can’t put God in a jar!

Habakkuk 2:14–15 “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, That puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, That thou mayest look on their nakedness!”

One day, everyone will know and understand God’s glory!

Philippians 2:9–11 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Filled with the Spirit

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (First mention in the New Testament)

It’s amazing the first mention of “filled” in the OT deals with sin, but the first mention of “filled” in the NT deals with sanctification. If you want to live for God, God will fill you up!

2 Peter 1:3 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”

When you go to a buffet, you can pick whatever you want to fill you up. Do you want life and godliness, or death and ungodliness?

Matthew 14:20 “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.”

5 loaves and 2 fishes / describes and pictures God’s sufficiency for the believer. When it seems like there’s no way, God will fill us up!

Luke 1:13–17 “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 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. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

When someone is filled with the Holy Ghost, they are gonna talk about Jesus! Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Acts 4:7–8 “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,”

Those who have stature and authority in this world cannot compare to one who is filled with the Holy Ghost! Don’t let worldly leaders scare you when you have the Holy Ghost to help strengthen you!

Acts 4:29–31 “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy 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, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

Prayer leads to the filling of the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit leads to speaking the word of God with boldness!

Acts 5:26–29 “Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

It’s our job, once we get filled with the Holy Ghost, to fill our Jerusalem with the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Acts 13:6–10 “And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?”

There are those that want to make people quit the faith (some shall depart from the faith). But we are to earnestly contend for the faith. We need to be filled with the Holy Ghost to get rid of the wolves and false prophets that try to destroy our churches. Paul just called him out for what he was! We shouldn’t back down from anyone trying to destroy and detour those from living the Christian life!

Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”

There are Christians that are trying to find what can only be found by being filled with the Spirit of God.

Peace, Joy, Happiness, Love, Contentment. Philippians 4:11 “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”

Colossians 1:9–10 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

God wants us to be filled with the knowledge of his will in everything pertaining to him, so that we can live a life that’s pleasing unto him. When we are filled with the knowledge of his will, we will be fruitful in good works, which also leads to more knowledge of God!

It’s your choice what you want to be filled with. You can be filled with the things of this world, it’s ways, it’s news, it’s concerns. Or you can be filled with the Spirit of God, the knowledge of God, the will of God, the boldness of God, the power of God. God will let you be filled with whatever you want to be filled with!