Living the Spirit-filled Life
Galatians 5:18
March 12, 2017
Spirit-filled = under the control and leadership of the Spirit.
The Bible paints a picture of 3 different kinds of people:
The Unbeliever: The person outside of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:14
(can you draw a circle in here?)
The Spirit-filled Believer: one who is directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 2:15, 16
(can you draw a circle in here?)
The Carnal Believer: one who has Christ in their life, but is deceived and/or defeated. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
flesh(ly): dominated by fleshly, earthly desires and appetites.
(can you draw a circle in here?)
So how do we become filled with the Spirit?
1. Express to God your desire to be filled John 7:37-39
2. Confess your sinful desire to run your own life Luke 18:13-14
3. Thank Jesus for the forgiveness of ALL your sins: past, present, & future!
Colossians 2:13-14
4. Present every part of your life to God’s control Romans 12:1-2
5. By faith claim the fullness of the Spirit 1 John 5:14-15
One of the great challenges and burdens of any pastor is seeing His people struggle and suffer. For many of you, the abundant life that Jesus offers seems to more of a pipe dream than a reality.
There are many here who don’t have a lot of struggles in life; marriage is good, job is good, health is good, money is good. But the problem with evaluating the abundant life by those factors is that it leads to the cancer of complacency.
Either way, many if not most of us here this morning are not really living the abundant life Jesus talked about.
When you think about it, the only way to evaluate whether or not you’re experiencing the abundant life boils down to this: Am I living the Spirit-filled life?
The phrase, Spirit-filled means simply to be under the control and leadership of the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18 “And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.” Once you have too much alcohol, you’re not in control of it but it is in control of you. so Spirit-filled = under the control and leadership of the Spirit.
So how can you determine you’re Spirit-filled? You can’t determine it by a lack of suffering. Luke 4:1 says, “Then Jesus returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil.” Jesus, under the control of the Spirit was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for the purpose of temptation and suffering. In fact, it goes without saying that Jesus was under control of the Spirit as He was in the garden, sweating great drops of blood, controlled by the Spirit when He was getting beaten by Pilates’ soldiers, and controlled by the Spirit when He was hanging on that Roman cross.
The book of Acts records that Peter and Paul and the disciples were routinely beaten and stoned while under the control of the Spirit. In Acts 7, one of the church leaders named Stephen preached under the control of the Spirit and look at what happened to Him: “When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 56 “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep.”
Now, I say all this to countermand the teaching that some of you are getting exposure to on T.V. and in books. The Spirit-filled life, the abundant life has NOTHING to do with health and wealth and prosperity. Nothing!
Now The Bible paints a picture of 3 different kinds of people:
The Unbeliever: The person outside of Christ
“But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
This is the person who does not have Christ in his life and so therefore he/she is on the throne of their own life. They are in control of their life—or so they think.
(Draw circle with chair and S on the throne) This person can still believe in God, that is, believe that He is real. They can believe in Jesus, that is believe that He died on the cross and rose again. But this person has never admitted that they are a depraved and hopeless sinner. This person has never repented of their sin and turned to Jesus. And this person has never placed his or her faith in Christ alone and what He did on the cross to save them.
The Spirit-filled Believer: one who is directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit
“The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone . . . we have the mind of Christ” 1 Corinthians 2:15, 16
This person has Christ in their life and allows the Spirit of Christ to rule and reign on the throne of their hearts. (draw circle with cross on the throne, S at the feet)
This person acknowledges that their life is not their own but is to be lived at the pleasure and in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit influences, directs, and controls their life.
The Carnal Believer: one who has Christ in their life, but is deceived and/or defeated.
“Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still fleshly.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
You might underline the word flesh(ly): dominated by fleshly, earthly desires and appetites. This person can show up at church, pray and even throw some money in the bucket when it comes by—but really they are on the throne of their life and their fleshly desires dominate most of their life. (draw circle w/S on throne and cross at feet)
So guess which one of these three people is living the abundant life? The life that Jesus said in John 10:10 was “more and better life than you ever dreamed of” John 10:10
You guessed it. The Spirit-filled believer. Unfortunately some estimates put the number of Spirit-filled believers at under 25% in most churches. That means that as many as 75% of church goers are not really controlled and dominated by the Spirit, but by worldly and fleshly desires. They’re calling most of the shots in their lives, not the Spirit. Having surrendered their lives to Jesus at one point, they have gradually pushed Him off the throne.
The result is that many Carnal Christians are trying to live the Christ-life, but because they’re attempting it in their power instead of the power of the Spirit, they’re failing.
Here are some signs of the carnal believer: (build)
• Up and down spiritual experiences John 18:15-27
• Has an idea what it means to be spiritual, but cannot seem to experience it on a consistent basis Romans 7:19-20
• Struggles with having an effective prayer life James 5:16
• Doesn’t spend significant daily time in God’s word John 8:31-32
• Refuses to give God the tithe; 10% of their income Matthew 22:23
• Plagued by worry, fear, guilt and/or doubt James 1:5-8
• Can’t gain victory over sin habits Romans 8:5
• A lack of evidence of being concerned for the eternity of others
John 15:8
You don’t’ have to have all of these to be a carnal believer. In fact, if any one of these is present in your life to any degree, you are not living the Spirit-filled life. My guess is that there are many, many of us here this morning that are not living the Spirit-filled life but instead living the carnal life. The carnal life is such an onerous thing to Jesus: that He would shed His blood and die so that you could experience His abundance and then instead of experiencing it, settle for something far, far less. Instead of sitting at His feet (diagram), He’s sitting at your feet.
Let me add and additional word of warning: if you find yourself experiencing most or all of these on a regular basis, you may not be really saved at all.
The Spirit-filled life (build) is what God desires for us and has provided for us. Here’s what it looks like:
• Their life revolves around Jesus in every way Galatians 2:20
• When they sin, they practice spiritual breathing 1 John 1:9
• Has a vibrant devotional life Mark 1:35
• Introduces others to Jesus Acts 1:8
• Has gotten beyond being stingy with God 2 Corinthians 9:7
• Sees the fruit of the Spirit growing Galatians 5:22-25
• Responds in faith, not emotion Hebrews 11:6
(Facts/Faith/Feeling train diagram from Pathways)
The Spirit filled life—the Abundant life—this is what God has in store for each of us; this is what down deep every true believer desires.
So how do we become filled with the Spirit?
1. Express to God your desire to be filled
“Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me y and drink! 38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit.” John 7:37-39
2. Confess your sinful desire to run your own life
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest x and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me z—a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other.” Luke 18:13-14
3. Thank Jesus for the forgiveness of ALL your sins: past, present, & future!
“And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14
4. Present every part of your life to God’s control
“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:1-2
5. By faith claim the fullness of the Spirit
“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” 1 John 5:14-15
Remember the train illustration. When you begin to practice spiritual breathing like this, sometimes you FEEL different; sometimes you don’t. But we don’t walk by feeling, we walk by faith.
"Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have been directing my own life and that, as a result, I have sinned against You. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ's death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I now thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit."
