Sermon Tone Analysis

THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

EPHESIANS 5: 13-21

Intro.

The forester who came to buy a new saw.....powersaw....did not pull the cord...”What’s that sound?!?”

 

The Holy Spirit can be *in you*, and yet you can *know very little* of His Power and influence.

·         the issue we always have to deal with is not *how much of the Holy Spirit* we have, because we have all of Him.

·         *the issue is how much He has of us!*

!

OUR NEED OF THE SPIRIT’S FILLING

·         Our text is Paul’s classic treatment of this subject in Eph.

5

 

1.

Paul says it is possible to be a Christian and yet be *asleep.*

2.      Paul says it is possible to be a Christian and yet */waste your time./*

3.      Paul says it is possible to be a Christian and yet to be */unwise/**.*

*4.      *Paul says it is possible to be a Christian and yet */not know what God’s will is./*

* *

*5.      **>>key verse--Eph.5:18*

(I wonder what the response would be if we took a poll among an average group of Christians and asked how many of them could point to:  1.

wasted portions of their lives, 2.  to unwise decisions,

      3.  to periods of sleepiness and  

     4.

sluggishness in their lives?)

~*Why do we do some of the things we do and make some of the decisions we make?

 

*/It is because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit!!/*

*~*~*He is not the dominating influence in our lives!*

*~*~*He is not in control!!*

 

·         If you are a believer the concern is never that you don’t have access to the Spirit’s fullness-----the concern is that the Spirit be given *the place in your life that He wants and deserves to have!*

 

·         This is the purpose of the Spirit’s filling----The purpose of the Spirit of God  is to *control* our lives so that we 1. *wake up spiritually*----------we 2.*become wise spiritually----------3.so we know what God’s will is*!

God gave us the Holy Spirit because He knows something we tend to forget.

--it is impossible to live the Christian life on our own!

Jesus Himself said in John 15:5: “*Apart from Me* *you can do nothing.”*

·         When you were saved, you did not lose your fleshly desires.

·         Your old flesh got dragged kicking and screaming into your new life, but your flesh has no intention of letting you go without a fight!

·         That why so many of us have so many of the same old propensities we had before we were saved!

Your flesh is as corrupt today as it was when you were lost.

-----there is *nothing* in your flesh that is going to help you live the Christian life.

Romans 7:18: I* “FOR I KNOW THAT IN ME (THAT* *S, IN MY FLESH) NOTHING GOOD DWELLS, FOR TO WILL IS PRESENT IN ME, BUT HOW TO PERFORM WHAT IS GOOD I DO NOT FIND.”*

This means that in your own strength, your attempts at self-improvement won’t be any more successful today than they were in your unconverted state.

(the only remedy for the flesh is crucifixion with Christ.)

~*~*If the Christian life is a* supernatural life*, then we need* supernatural help* to live it!!

 

~*~*The only thing that makes you more powerful *now* than you were before is *“He who is in you”* I John 4:4.

 

--it is not a matter of doing your best and letting the Holy Spirit make up the difference.

--and it is not  a matter of just being sincere

God has given us the Holy Spirit to provide us the enablement we need to overcome!

Our challenge is to *“be filled with the Spirit.”*

FOUR OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SPIRIT’S FILLING

     Every word in this brief phrase*---**”be filled with* *the Spirit”**---*is packed with meaning, so let me make four observations...

 

1.

GOD’S COMMAND ----God’s does not say, “ If you want to, it would be nice if you were filled with the Holy Spirit.”*

IS GOD NOT INTO SUGGESTIONS.

...HE IS ONLY INTO* *COMMANDS...........................(*there is no command in the Bible to be *baptized* by the Spirit or *indwelt *by the Spirit...those are *blessings* *we receive automatically* when we come to Christ!.....But we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit-----because this relates to our daily experience of His influence!!

2.      FOR EVERY BELIEVER----the command in Eph.5:18 is plural in the Greek---It applies to every believer!!

3.      GOD DOES IT-----the command is passive-----you are to be filled, not fill yourselves

*4.      *KEEP IT UP-----this is a plural, passive command, it is also in the present tense!! (a continual process)    An accurate translation*-----**”KEEP ON BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT”*

 

·         In other words, don’t get filled with the Spirit today and expect the filling to cover you from here on out!    (You may eat a big Sunday dinner, but that does you no good on Monday or Tuesday---the filling is depleted)            

·           (The same thing happens when you fill your car with gas---you drive around and the fuel is depleted)

 

·         So no matter how full of the Spirit you are when you leave here today, what you receive today will not last you all week!)

 

·         In fact, some of you will not get out of the parking lot without losing your sanctification!

/Why?/

*~*Because we live in a world that depletes the experience of filling!*

 

1.

Sin depletes it!

2.      People deplete it!

3.

They can take your attention away from the filling!!

 

 

 

{I want to make a crucial distinction between the Spirit’s filling and illustrations like food and gas...when your stomach or gas tank  is depleted it is empty}

 

{But even though the filling of the Holy Spirit is an experiential concept, don’t ever think that if you are not filled with the Spirit, He leaves you empty.}

*{He doesn’t leave you, period!!}*

 

The depletion of the Spirit’s filling is the loss of the experience and enjoyment of His full benefits in your daily experience!!

* *

*WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FILLED*

 

     In order to understand what Spirit-filled people should look, act, and think like-----look at a Greek word “plerousthe”-----”filled” in Ephesians 5:18

 

(It occurs throughout the Bible and has alot to teach us)

 

 

   

 In Luke 4:28---the Bible says the people of Nazareth were *“filled with rage”* at Jesus when He challenged them with unbelief.

(notice in vv.

29-30 that they didn’t just get filled with anger and just walk away---they tried to push Jesus off a cliff!!)

(Their rage took possession of them!!)

 

     In Acts 13:45, the Jews in Antioch became *“filled with jealousy”* at the success of Paul and Barnabas.

(they began to attack the two men verbally and even to blaspheme----now good Jews don’t commit blasphemy)

(but their anger took over and made them do things that they normally would not do)

 

*A MATTER OF CONTROL*

 

    These two examples give you the idea behind the word* **FILLING*

 

*--it means control!!*

 

~*~*When you are *filled* in the NT sense, */it means that somebody or something has taken over command in your life and is pulling the strings./*

...if you have ever been so angry that  your anger overwhelms you, you know what I’m talking about

(anger was in control of you)

 

*~*~*The purpose of the Spirit’s filling is that He might control our lives!!*

 

--we know from Scripture and from experience that Satan also wants to control us!!

--he wants to *rule our emotions and our passions*

--he wants to *set the agenda for our attitudes and* *actions*

 

~*~*So we have to replace the wrong control with the right control!!

 

That’s why sincerity alone isn’t enough--if the wrong person is in control

 

*It’s not about sincerity---IT’S ABOUT CONTROL!!*

 

     Unless sincerity leads you to the right kind of control, you will not have any kind of power

 

What do we mean by the control of the Holy Spirit?

Back up to the beginning of Eph.

5:18 and pick up the opening phrase, *“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,”  or degradation*

*CONTROLLED BY ANOTHER*

(there’s the picture we need right here)

--even if you don’t know what it means to be filled with the Spirit, you do know what it means for someone to be drunk!

--you know that a drunken man doesn’t get that way by looking at advertisements for liquor

--he gets drunk by drinking

--and the more he drinks, the drunker he gets---the more completely the alcohol inside him is controlling him

--when a man becomes drunk, another power takes over his life

--we say he is under the *influence of alcohol*

--this substance *transforms* him into someone he was not before

(one minute he is nice and quiet---but when the wine takes over he becomes loud and boisterous---he thinks he is Pavarotti and he starts to sing!)

 

--when a police officer stops someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol and tells him to walk a straight line, he cant do it---Someone else controls his legs