To be Filled and Led by the Holy Spirit

Speaking to a large audience, D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked, "How can I get the air out of this glass?" One man shouted, "Suck it out with a pump!" Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass." After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. "There," he said, "all the air is now removed." He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by "sucking out a sin here and there," but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Filled:

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Luke gives a little more detail than the other gospel on this subject.

Luke 4:1a “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan…”

First don’t misunderstand, Jesus had always been full of the Holy Spirit, he was never a quarter filled, or half filled or even 9/10s filled, he was full of the Holy Spirit from eternity. No where does scripture say Jesus had to be filled, to be filled means something is less than full or short of being full. Only once in all of Scripture speaks of Jesus being full.

Lukes use of this term is not to show that at no time did Jesus lack any of the Holy Spirit, but to show his deity and divine nature, for only Christ, is and has ever been completely full of the Holy Spirit.

We need to be filled, we are empty, there is nothing in us that is holy, as a matter of fact the only thing we are filled with, is sin, corruption, we do not possess the Holy Spirit till we by the grace of God, which is a gift of God, come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, by repenting, believing and calling on His name to be saved. Believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, buried and resurrected, according to the scriptures.

Guzik:”We should not infer that He was not full of the Holy Spirit before, only that He was now full of the Holy Spirit in an unusual and public way. But willingly limiting Himself to what could be done by the guidance of God the Father and the empowering of God the Holy Spirit”.

“Jesus came into the world to identify with men; and to identify with men is to identify with sin. He could not purchase righteousness for mankind if He did not identify with mankind’s sin. Jesus’ baptism also represented the willing identification of the sinless Son of God with the sinful people He came to save”.

Like the Disciples, we like them must be filled, because we are empty of anything good. And we will never be completely filled.

The following passages speaks of being filled,

Acts 2:4, speaking of the disciples at Pentecost, Acts 4:8 speaking of Peter being filled, 4:3 speaking of believers,

Acts 13:52, Eph. 5:18 filled with the Spirit, All these are “filled” with, or, of the Holy Spirit/ Ghost, reference to others, because we are not born with the Holy Spirit in us, we are not full of the Holy Spirit, but we must be filled.

LED;

“Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.

Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.

‘I closed the door,’ the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’”

Often, we do not hear God speak to us because we do not listen well enough.

“...was led by the Spirit...”

Jesus, willingly submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit, he followed the Spirit’s guiding, without complaint or questioning.

Did Jesus know where the Spirit was leading him to ?, for what reason ?. Scripture doesn’t say.

As with Jesus, if we submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading we may end up in the wilderness, in the valley, or maybe the mountain top. But wherever we are lead to it is of the will of God.

The Holy Spirit should be the only spirit we should be led by, but we love to be lead by our own spirit. And our spirit makes mistakes and is sinful.

The only way we can be led by the Holy Spirit, is if we are the sons of God. And we can not be the sons of God unless, we by the grace of God, which is a gift of God, come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, by repenting, believing and calling on His name to be saved. Believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, buried and resurrected, according to the scriptures.

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Being led by the Holy Spirit is to be led by God/ Christ.

To refuse to be led by the Holy Spirit is to refuse the leading of God, and is disobedience to God.

Do we follow, obey the leading of the Holy Spirit always ? NO, we don’t.

Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

We don’t because we don’t know where the Holy Spirit will lead us, we are scared to follow into unknown territory. Why ?

Because we have more Faith in our own spirit than we do in Christ’s power to protect and guide us.

If we sin, if we do something that is disobedient to God, and we start to feel sorrowful, we say it is our conscience speaking to us, I say it is the Holy Spirit dealing with us.

Other spirits speak to us as well,

We need to discern those spirits.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

If we feel a spirit is guiding us to do something, we need to discern what spirit it is. How do we do that ?

Pray, that’s the first thing, second do as the Breannes did, search the scriptures.

We must at all cost allow our selves to be led of the Holy Spirit in all things, as Christ did, if the Holy One of God, God in the flesh, was willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, we must follow His example.

Let me leave you with this, We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, and if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we must let the Holy Spirit lead us, weather, to the wilderness, the valley or by God’s Grace the mountain top.

The only way to be filled and guided is by the grace of God, which is a gift of God, coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, by repenting, believing and calling on His name to be saved. Believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, buried and resurrected, according to the scriptures.

Be filled, Be led.