LIVING A SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE
EPHESIANS 5:18-21
Introduction: A Spirit filled life ought to be the goal of every believer. Unfortunately many if not most Christians are satisfied with the way things are spiritually in their lives for as long as there is a spot is reserved for them in heaven they’re content. Few demonstrate lives filled with the power of God, while most live a “ho-hum” Christian existence. Some wonder why they can not find victory over the besetting sins in their lives; others don’t struggle with deep sin but never do much for Christ either. The reason is that very few believers are living Spirit filled lives. What does it mean to be Spirit-filled? Why should one be filled with the Spirit? What are the evidences of a Sprit-filled life?
I. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
A. All born-again believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit the moment that they receive Christ.
1. John 3:3-5 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
2. 1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
3. Romans 8:9 “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
4. The Holy Spirit baptizes a convert in the Blood of Jesus Christ and indwells the believer as the seal of his inheritance – 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13, 4:30
B. To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.
1. Ephesians 5:18 (ESV) “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”
2. Paul explains being filled with the Spirit by drawing a parallel to the effect of alcohol in the life of a drunkard. Liquor controls the life of the drunkard.
3. Proverbs 29: 29-35 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?"
4. Under the Influence or Control – Alcohol reduces one’s inhibitions and results in dissemination. The statistics concerning alcohol are overwhelming. Alcohol is America’s number one drug. It is the third leading cause of death. Alcohol is involved in fifteen thousand homicides and suicides annually. Sixty percent of child abuse involves alcohol. When one is drunk with alcohol he/she is under the control of that substance.
5. Just as a drunk is under the influence of alcohol, so the Spirit filled believer is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. As alcohol controls the thoughts and actions of the drunkard, so the Holy Spirit is to have control over the thoughts and actions of the believer.
6. To be filled with the Spirit means to empty oneself and to allow God to fill you. D. L. Moody said, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.” – J. Kuhatschek, Taking The Guesswork Out of Applying The Bible, IVP, p. 153ff.
II. Why should one be filled with the Spirit?
A. To be Obedient to God
1. We are never commanded anywhere in the New Testament to be indwelt by the Spirit, never, that is also a promise already guaranteed. We’ve never commanded to be sealed by the Spirit or kept secure, that is also a gift of God. We’ve already been sealed, we’ve already been baptized, we’ve already been indwelt. Those are never given as commands.
2. We are commanded in Ephesians 5:18 to "Be filled with the Spirit."
3. The word "filled" means "to be full to the top; lacking nothing; nothing short of complete."
4. The verb is in the active tense indicating that this is a constant action. Literally we are to "go on” or “keep on” being filled with the Spirit.
5. This statement is also in the passive voice indicating that this is something done to us and not what we do. The Holy Spirit fills us when we relinquish our will and control yielding all to His control.
B. To have the Power of God in our life
1. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
2. A large company extracts contaminating substances from steel drums by suction. Powerful pumps draw the materials out of the barrels, but the workers must carefully regulate the force of these pumps. If they take out too much air, the drums will collapse like paper cups because the outer pressure will exceed the inner pressure. Likewise, when adversity and hardship come into our lives, unless God empowers us from within we will be unable to withstand the pressures from without. The power of Christ in you is greater than the pressure of troubles around you. – D C Egner
3. 1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
4. An army is drawn up before a granite fort which it intends to batter down. We ask the general, “How are you going to level those great stones?” He points us to a cannon-ball and says: “By this” But there is no power in that; it is no more than a hundred weight, and if all the men in the army hurled it against the fort it could make but a slight impression. He replies: “No, but look at the cannon.” Well, there is no power in that. A child may ride upon it ; a bird may perch on its mouth; it is a machine and nothing more. “But look,” he says, “look at the powder”. Well, there is no power in that. A child can spill it, a sparrow may peck at i’. Yet this powerless powder and powerless ball are put into this powerless cannon and then a spark of fire enters the powder, in the twinkling of an eye that powder is a flash of lightning, and that ball is a thunder bolt which smites the fort as if it had been hurled from heaven. – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
5. The Holy Spirit The Spirit of God is crying out to-day for churches through which He can strike the spark, ignite the powder, and for men and women whom He can fill and use.
III. What are the evidences of a Spirit filled life?
A. Our Worship will be energized
1. Ephesians 5:19-20 “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2. The Spirit-filled believer loves worship and cannot help but sing. They sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. Historically, any time there has been great revival, there has been an outpouring of great God honoring music writing.
B. Our Willingness will be unmistakable
1. Being filled necessitates being yielded.
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit.”
3. The Spirit is “quenched” by any un-yieldedness to the revealed will of God. As a Christian you have a choice. You can run your own life or you can yield to the control of the Holy Spirit. You either do what you want or you do what the Spirit wants. Your choice will determine the degree of the power of God in your life.
C. Our Walk will be different.
1. A walk in the Spirit will of necessity be a walk in accordance with the Holy Spirit Inspired Word of God.
2. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
3. Walking in the Spirit means living out an active trust in God and His Word giving absolute allegiance and obedience to God’s commands.
D. Our Witness will be expanded.
1. Acts 1:8 “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.”
2. Any Christian who isn’t witnessing isn’t filled with the Holy Spirit. And any Christian who isn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, isn’t fully equipped to be a witness for Christ.
3. Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.”
