Be Filled With The Spirit!

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

I believe that this is the greatest need of the church of the Lord Jesus today.
I believe that God's people are hungry and thirsty for something more.
I see so much insecurity and defeat in the lives of many Christians.
There also seems to be little growth in the lives of many Christians.
Instead of going from victory to victory, they seem to be going from defeat to defeat.
There is no joy in their life.
There is no thrill in their life.
Their life for Christ is not exciting or fulfilling.

The Bible says, "Be ye filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18)
That is not optional.
That is a command.

The first part of the verse says, "Be not drunk with wine."
When I was a young man, our church had a business meeting and dismissed one of the deacons
who had come to church drunk one Sunday morning.

Wonder what would happen if every deacon came to church on Sunday filled with the Spirit?
For if you notice the same Scripture that says, "Be not drunk with wine," also says,
"Be ye filled with the Spirit?"
That statement is not just good advice, it is a message from God saying,
"Be ye filled with the Spirit."

Now I ask each Christian here, "Are you filled with the Spirit?"
If not, you are sinning against God.
You have no victory in your life.
There is no joy, and there is no thrill in your life, and there is no victory over the world
unless you are filled with the Spirit.

In Ezekiel 37, 4, we have a good illustration of people that are without the fullness of the Spirit:
"Again he said unto me, Prophecy upon these bones, and say unto them,
'O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.'
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones;
'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord."
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise,
and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them,
and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them."

This is a picture of a vast majority of the members of our churches today.
The bones are in place, and the organization is well oiled, and machinery is running fast.
We have our chairman, our committees and all of the organization we need,
but there is so little breath in us that we can't even take a breath.

Bone of bone, all the sinews and flesh muscles in place blood vessels, eyes, hands,
feet, ears, nose, hair, but no breath!
That is a picture of thousands of Christians today.
We have everything except the breath of God.
We have everything except the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Take a look at 120 people gathered together with one accord in an upper room,
afraid and nervous.
They are trembling because many people are milling around outside waiting
to persecute and kill them.
Suddenly the Holy Spirit comes in with all of His fullness and these people go out
and turn the world upside down.
They were powerless -- they had no power, until the Holy Spirit came upon them.

"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." (Acts 1:8)

We must face the truth that the church of today is powerless.
We still gather for our prayer meetings, church services, Bible studies, and committees meetings.
Bible classes are conducted; Bible schools are carried on, but we have no power
because we do not have the Spirit of God in power and in fullness in our lives.
The Bible says, "Be ye filled with the Spirit."

We need to remember that young man in the sixth chapter of 2 Kings.
He was chopping down trees.
As he was chopping, the axe head fell off and fell into the stream.
Now this young man didn't take his old axe handle and just keep on chopping.

He went to Elisha, and said, "Elisha, I have lost the axe head."
And Elisha went back with him, took a stick and held it over the water and "the iron did swim."

Many of us have lost the axe head, but we're still trying to chop with the handle.
We are trying to chop down the trees, trying to live the Christian life,
trying to produce the fruit of the Spirit with the old axe handle when the axe head is gone.
We need to pray that the axe head will swim, and that the axe head will be back on the handle
in our lives before we leave this place today.

Are you filled with the Spirit?
I truly believe that our desperate need today is not a new organization nor a new movement,
nor a new method -- we have enough of those.
I believe the greatest need that we have today is that we who are Christians
and who profess the name of Jesus Christ should be filled with the Spirit.
Are you filled with the Spirit?

It is not possible to teach a Sunday school class with power unless you are filled with the Spirit.
It is not possible to preach with power unless you are filled with the Spirit.
It is not possible to reproduce the life of Christ daily unless you are filled with the Spirit.
"Be ye filled with the Spirit!"

Now look at Galatians 5:22: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
That is the fruit of the Spirit, and you and I should be producing that fruit.

I can remember how many times that I tried and I tried, and I struggled and I struggled
just like Paul said he did in the seventh chapter of Romans.
I wanted to do good, but evil was present with me -- there was a raging conflict all the time,
and I had no victory.
Do you know the reason why?

The reason was the fruit of the Spirit can't be worked up.
It can't be brought about by men or women in their own strength.
It is only by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit
which He has given to us that produces this fruit.

It is impossible to produce the Christ-life without the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be done!
You may try to do so.
You may work your head off.

You may work day and night to try to produce love, but you will never produce genuine love
without the Spirit of God.
You may try to have peace, and may try to be calm under all circumstances,
but you will never produce peace without the Spirit of God.

You may cry and plead to have joy in your life.
You may race from pleasure to pleasure, and attend many social events;
you may read books which you believe will bring joy; but you will never have real joy
outside the Spirit of the living God because He alone produces joy.

You may want patience and pray, "Dear Lord, control my tongue.
Lord, I don't want to fly off the handle.
I don't want to tell people where to get off."
But you will never have victory until the Holy Spirit gives you the victory.

Also, in trying to produce the fruit of the Spirit, do you know the second thing we are trying to do?
We are attempting to have supernatural power without the fullness of the Spirit.
Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." (Matthew 28:18, 19)

In other words, we are sent forth to do a supernatural job,
and we don't do that "super-natural" job.
Leading a person to Jesus Christ cannot be done apart from the Spirit of God.
It is the Spirit of God that does the convincing.
The Spirit of God does the regenerating.
He does the pleading.
It is the Spirit of God that brings a person to accept Christ, not you -- and not me.
We are only witnesses and channels through which God's Spirit works.
We're trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit without supernatural power.
It cannot be done.

When God told us to go and preach the gospel to every creature and to evangelize the world,
He provided supernatural power for us.
That power is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
It is available to everyone of us.
It is more powerful than dynamite or a nuclear bomb.
It is more powerful than any explosive ever made by man.

God said that "we shall have power after that the Holy Spirit comes upon us."
Do you know anything of the power of the Holy Spirit?

You may say, "I want to be filled, I want joy in my life.
I want to produce the fruit of the Spirit in my life.
I want victory in my life.
I don't want to live an up and down life everyday.
I don't want to be up one day and down the next day.
I do not want this great conflict inside of me all the time.

I want victory in my life.
I want to live on the mountain-top, above the clouds.
I want to live on the sunlit peak of God's grace and love.
I want to shine for Christ as one of those brilliant, radiant, power-filled Christians."

Do you?
Do you really mean it?
Are you hungry and thirsty to produce the fruit of the Spirit?
Do you really want to have power in witnessing?
Do you really want to see people come to Jesus when you speak to them
about their soul salvation?
Do you want inner peace and joy to be yours?
Do you want your conflicts and frustrations to be settled?

Are you hungry today to have the chains, the bonds and fetters of evil habits broken?
What would it mean to you to have daily, constant, consistent victory day in and day out?
Perhaps going to a prayer meeting isn't very attractive to you, and if you would admit it,
you're not reading your Bible regularly, and you may not be reading it at all.

If you really want to change and be filled with the Holy Spirit you can, but there is a cost involved.
There is a price to pay.
Are you willing to pay for an abundant life -- for a thrilling, victorious adventure for the Lord?
I guarantee you on the authority of the Word of God that it is available
to every man, woman, boy and girl in Christ.

So, what is the first step?

The first step is to be cleansed from our sin.
God has not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness.
The Bible says, "Create in me a clean heart."

The Bible tells us that "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us."
The word, "cleanseth," means "continue to cleanse" from every sin.
Then when you read 1 John 1:9:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
This is God's remedy for your sins.

The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18)

Now the first thing you have to do is to confess your sins before God.
Don't tell God only some of the things that you have done wrong; be completely honest with God.

What kind of sins do we need to confess?
We must confess the sins of omission, and the first one is ingratitude.

How often do we stop and thank God for the rain and sunlight.
How often do we thank God for those little blessings that means so much to us everyday.
How often do we thank God for our salvation?
How often do we thank God for forgiving all our sins?
How often do we thank God for giving us eternal life?
How often do we thank God for giving us a home in heaven?
How often do we thank God for our loved ones and our friends?
These sins ought to be confessed -- they are sins of omission.

The second sin of omission is a lack of love for God.

God is a jealous God.
How would you like it if your husband or wife gave you as little time as you give to God?
Suppose your husband or wife were too busy with outside interest to be faithful to you.
When we say that God is a jealous God, we mean that He wants our full attention;
when we are unfaithful to Him -- it is sin.

The third sin of omission is neglect of the Word of God.
The Bible says to study the Word, and to desire the sincere milk of the Word
that ye may grow thereby.
How long has it been since you read your Bible?
If you are neglecting your Bible study, then it is a sin against God.

The fourth sin is unbelief.
Did you know that every time you don't believe in God, you are really saying,
"God, You lied."
God says, "I will answer your prayer."
"Well, Lord, I don't think that you would do it," we answer.

Our faith is often like that of a woman who prayed for the mountain to be removed into the sea,
and she got up the next morning, looked out and said, "Well, I didn't think it would be."
We pray for revival and if God doesn't send it, we say,
"I didn't think we would have a revival anyway."
We prayed that God will supply our need.
Maybe we become impatient and say, "I have been doubting all the time that He would."
We have no faith!
We are saying by that, "Lord, You are a liar, You are a liar."

The next sin is neglect of prayer.
How long has it been since you really spent time with God in prayer?
You cannot grow in your Christian life without prayer.
Lack of prayer is a sin.
We must confess our prayerlessness.

The sixth sin is failure to attend church services.

The Bible says, "Neglect not the assembling of yourselves together." (Hebrews 10:25)
It has been a long time since some of you attended church regularly.
This is a sin against Almighty God.

Then, we lack a passion for souls who do not have Jesus as their Savior.
We must have a burning desire to lead unbelievers to know Christ.
Our passion should be intense and deep.
Do you feel that way about those who are unbelievers?

Other sins of omission are neglect of family duty – we forget the family altar;
our hospitality is cold; we refuse to deny ourselves -- all these are sins.

Next, are our sins of commission that we need to confess.
These include the sins of worldliness, pride, envy, a bitter spirit, holding a grudge,
slander and gossiping, lying, cheating, hypocrisy, robbing God, temper, and malice.
All these things God says must be confessed to Him.
They must be put away, and given up for good.

Maybe you have confessed sins such as these, but you have not renounced them.
The Bible says not only to confess, but to forsake them and God will have mercy.
There are many who come before the Lord and confess a sin,
and then go out the next day and commit it again.
Then, we come again to confess it to the Lord and think that we are forgiven.
Afterwards, we repeat the sin again.
That is not genuine confession.

Genuine Spirit-directed confession means renunciation of that sin.
Both Saul and Judas admitted that they were sinners.
These men admitted their sin, but they did not renounce it.

Have you renounced your sin, or did you just say,
"Now, Lord, forgive my sins," only to repeat them again?
That prayer doesn't get any higher than the ceiling.
God says, we must be cleansed of all our sins.
When you confess your sin, God forgives and cleanses.
He washes that sin away.

God's Word says, "If we confess our sins [talking to Christ], he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
Everyone here can know that his or her sins are forgiven, and that he or she is cleansed,
and that God does not remember that sin anymore.

Some may say, "But I don't feel like it."
Forget your feelings for a moment and just take God's Word.
We rely too much on feelings.
Our feelings change everyday.

One day we might eat something and get sick and feel bad.
The next day we might sleep 10 or 12 hours and feel good.
Then we're are ready to fight the world.
Then, the next day we may feel bad again.
So if we are going on our feelings, we would be down one day and up the next.
It is not feeling that proves forgiveness.

It is the Word of Almighty God.
When we confess our sin, God forgives!

The devil is the one who keeps your sin fresh in your mind.
The devil will say, "Well, you confessed it, but it is still bothering you."
He will do his best to worry you with it.
He likes to see you become discouraged so you will go back and commit sin again
because you are discouraged.
We must not allow Satan defeat us on that point!

We must believe God!
When God says our sins are forgiven, they are forgiven.
They are buried in the sea of God's forgetfulness and God remembers them no more.
God said so in Hebrews 10:17: " And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
God said it, and you can believe it!

After we have confessed our sins, we must take the second step – consecration.

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your self servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death,
or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)

"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:13)

Paul says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable under God,
which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1)

Consecration is surrender – it is yielding.
If someone would ask us to sum up in one word what victorious living is, we would say, "yielding."
That means yielding all to God, letting God have His way in every phase of your life.
This means everything – giving God 100% of yourself.

Imagine a man who wanted to rent his house.
Another man said, "I'd like to rent the house, but I am having a tough time right now."
The first man said, "I'll tell you what I will do. I will rent you the house but there is one room
that I am going to keep for myself."
The other man asked, "What are you going to keep in that room?"

He answered, "Well, I have a pet tiger and I'm going to keep it in there."

Now you may smile at this, but this is what some of us have said to God.
"Lord, You can have every bit of my house.
Lord, You can have the bedroom, and You can have the living room,
and, Lord, you can have the dining room, and the closet.
But, Lord, please let me keep the kitchen and the refrigerator.
I've got something there that I want just for myself."

That's what we say to the Lord.
"Lord, You can have every part of my personality, and You can have everything,
but, Lord, there is just one little thing I want to keep for myself.
Lord, it is a harmless little thing.
It doesn't mean very much.
I'm sure that You will not mind.
Please, let me keep it."

So, we go on trying to keep some secret sin.
We never yield it and we never surrender it, and we never know what real consecration is.
Are you holding out on God?

If you are, you will be living a life of frustration and conflict.
You will have no peace, no power, and no joy.
God deserves and demands first place in our lives.

Sometimes, we let little things stand in the way.
You may let your family or friends stand between you and God.
You may let love of things prevent your total love of God.
If so, you are holding out on God, and you have failed to consecrate yourself to Him.

So, we come back to the question of how can you be filled with the Spirit?
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." (Colossians 2:6)
How did you receive Jesus as your Savior?
Did you work for it?
The answer is, "No!"
Did you have to cry and beg? No!

One day, by faith, you received Jesus, and you received the fullness of the Spirit of God.
If you have been cleansed from sin and absolutely yielded to God holding back nothing,
then by faith, you can claim the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life.

You didn't work for your salvation.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

Some people join the church in an attempt to become a Christian.
Others are being baptized believing that will bring them salvation.
You ought to be baptized, and you ought to join the church,
but after you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Joining the church or being baptized will not save you.

The Bible says that our works and our righteousness are as filthy rags
in the sight of Almighty God.
It is by faith, and only by faith, in the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
shed for you on Calvary, that you are saved.

By faith, I know I was saved.
For God said, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)
I know I was saved because God said so.

So, how can I know that I am filled with the Spirit?

I believe that first you must have the courage to witness.
When you read the book of Acts, you find those words 26 times.
"They spoke boldly the word of the Lord."

When you are filled with the Spirit, you're witnessing for Christ all the time
– at your business, on the street, in the car, on the plane – every where you are,
you're witnessing for Christ and you are telling others about Him.
People may laugh at you and they may think that you are crazy fanatic, but it makes no difference.
In spite of persecution, mocking and teasing, you are witnessing daily for the Lord Jesus Christ.
You are witnessing in the way you live, and in the words you speak.

The second proof of the fullness of the Spirit is seen as you produce the fruit of the Spirit
in your life.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22, 23)

"The fruit of the Spirit" -- the word, "fruit", is singular and it means in one cluster, one fruit.
There are nine parts to it, but there is still only one fruit.
You cannot have love without joy.
You cannot have joy without peace.
You cannot have temperance without meekness.
All these fruits are produced as one.

If you have genuine peace, you will have genuine love.
If you have genuine love, you will have genuine meekness.
All of them go together because they are produced by the Spirit of God.

How do you know that you are filled with His Spirit?
You know that you are if you are producing the fruit of the Spirit.
How do you know that you are filled?
Because you are witnessing for Christ and producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life.

The third proof Is the place that Christ has in your life.
Does He have first place?
Is He preeminent?
The Holy Spirit always exalts and magnifies the Lord Jesus.
He didn't come to speak of Himself, but to speak of Christ.

If I see Christ living in a person, and I see that person radiating Christ,
and producing the fruit of the Spirit; and witnessing for Christ;
and Christ is exalted and magnified in his life, then I can be very sure
that Christian knows something of the fullness of the Spirit.

I ask you again, "Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?"
If not, are you ready to pay the price?
Are you willing to pay the price of confession of sin, yielding to God,
and having faith in the Word of Almighty God?
Are you filled now?
Are you producing the fruit?
Are you witnessing in the power of the Spirit?

John Hyde was on his way to a mission station in India.
While he was on board ship, he received this telegram, "Are you filled with the Spirit?"
He was known as a great Presbyterian preacher and his first reaction, as he crumpled up the telegram
and put it in his pocket, was "The audacity of somebody sending me a telegram,
asking me if I am filled with the Spirit.
Of course I am -- I am a missionary!"

Then he stalked off to his stateroom.
In that stateroom, God spoke to him.
He took the telegram from his pocket and read it again.

He got down on his knees, and yielded himself completely to the Lord Jesus.
He surrendered everything in his life and claimed by faith the power of the Holy Spirit in his life.

John Hyde went to India, and God sent a great revival.
He went from India to Korea.
In 1902 and 1905, they had the great Korean revival.
It started among the Presbyterian missionaries of Korea and swept Korea
because one man was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jonathan Goforth was in Manchuria, and he heard about it.
So he came down to Korea, and saw the revival and received the knowledge he needed
and prayed for a Spirit-filled life.
Then Goforth went back to Manchuria, and one of the greatest revivals of all time
broke out in Manchuria.
Three great revivals came because one man was filled with the Spirit.

Just think what would take place in this church and this city if Christians in this place today
would be filled with the fullness of the power of the Spirit of God?
Are you willing to pay the price?

Revival will come when God's people are ready and willing to pay the price!

"Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me,
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.
Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us,
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us."

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White