Ephesians: Wealth, Walk, And Warfare: Lesson 7

A. THE FOUNDATION OF SPIRITUAL MINISTRY

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

1. The verb is imperative; you are commanded to be filled.

2. The verb is linear. “Be filled continually” or “be filled repeatedly.”

3. There is no command to be sealed. “You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). It is your new position in Christ.

4. There is no command to be spirit baptized. “For by one spirit are we baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks” (I Cor. 12:13). You were automatically placed into Christ at salvation.

5. The responsibility of being filled with the Spirit lies with you. Illustration of meal.

6. Ephesians was written to “the saints which are in Ephesus” (1:1). The filling is not for preachers only.

B. LOOKING AT THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT

1. Most church problems are symptoms; the root is a lack of the filling of the Spirit.

2. A Spirit-filled Christian is yielded to God. He does God’s will.

3. Spirit-filled Christian does not get more of the Holy Spirit, but the reverse; the Holy Spirit gets more of them.

4. What happens if you are not filled with the Spirit? Living for the flesh. “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ” (I Cor. 3:1).

5. The filling is not automatic.

C. THE CONDITIONS

1. Thirsting or wanting the Holy Spirit. God promised, “I will pour water on him that is thirsty” (Isa. 44:3). “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water . . . this spoke He of the Spirit” (John 7:37-39).

2. Separation from sin. “Be not drunk with wine” (Eph. 5:18). There are two commands to get the filling. The first is negative, be separated from sin. The second is positive, “be filled.”

3. Believing. It was for Lee Roberson, John R. Rice, B. R. Lakin, Jerry Falwell, and Billy Graham. If you don’t believe it, you will never get it.

4. Asking. “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luke 11:13)? “You have not because you ask not” (James 4:2).

5. Continue until you get the filling. “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

6. The right reason. Not for ecstatic feelings, but for service. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The word witness is found 33 times in Acts.

D. THE COMPARISON TO DRUNKENNESS

1. The comparison was not an accident: a drunken man and a Spirit-filled man have similarities. Both are controlled with another power outside of themselves.

2. What happens when the spirits in the bottle control a person?

a. Walk – stagger.

b. Talk – slur.

c. Sight – blurred vision.

d. Hearing – dull.

3. What happens when the Holy Spirit controls a person?

a. Walk – “Lets us walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).

b. Talk – “Magnify God” (Acts 10:46).

c. Sight – “To give the light . . . of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6).

d. Hearing – “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith” (Rev. 2:7).

4. A shy, timid, backward person will talk loudly and with boldness.

5. A person who is afraid will become bold. A drunk is fined $10 but gives $20. A drunk making a list of people to beat up.

6. For the joy that God gives, Satan has a substitute – drunkenness.

7. We will minister with power when we get a power greater than ourselves.

E. THE RESULTS

1. The Holy Spirit strengthens your inner person. “To be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16).

2. The Holy Spirit leads you. “Those who are the sons of God are led by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 8:14, ELT).

3. The Holy Spirit produces character. “The fruit of the spirit is . . .” (Gal. 5:22-23).

4. The Holy Spirit helps you understand the Bible. “The anointing (of the Spirit) teaches . . . you all things” (I John 2:27).

5. The Holy Spirit improves your memory. “The Holy Ghost . . . shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance” (John 14:26).