Fragrance of the Father Part 5
Script.
Ephesians 5:18 (NIV) be filled with the Spirit.
John 14:9-21
10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Introduction:
A.B. Simpson in his book “A Larger Christian Life” talks about this particular verse.
The emphatic word in both these verses is “filled.” It is the Greek plaroo, which means to fill full, so full that there will be no room left empty. This is the thought, which, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, we desire to impress in this message. It does not mean to have a measure of the Holy Spirit, and to know a good deal of Christ, but to be wholly filled with, and possessed by, the Holy Ghost, and utterly lost in the life and fullness of Jesus. It is the completeness of the filling which constitutes the very essence of the perfect blessing. A fountain half full will never become a spring. A river half full will never become a waterpower. A heart half filled will never know “the peace which passeth all understanding” and the power which flows from the inmost being, as “rivers of living water.”
I. Faith is seeing the Heart of God:
1. John 14:12 - John 14:14 (NIV)
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
2. Now A.W Tozer says that faith is the gaze of the heart at God it is but the raising of our inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God.
3. In essence our spiritual eyes.
4. This is hard for us to comprehend because we are so use to the physical realm; the spiritual never enters the picture.
5. A spirit-filled person can see God anywhere because that persons mind is set to love and obey him. Paraphrase from A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God ,pg 95.
6. Only the totally committed will see God with the soul of their being.
7. In sin we were blind to the ways of God and the way back to God in a personal intimate way.
8. Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
9. Blind people have a tendency to learn ways by repetition.
10. They always go the same way.
11. They have a routine that they follow religiously for fear of getting hurt.
12. Those that are Spirit filled will trust in God for everything.
13. Allow God to lead them and guide into paths of righteousness.
14. The more we die out to self the more room we make for Jesus.
15. When we have died out to self, died out to the big “I” in our lives.
16. To be able to say like Jesus in his most trying hour not my will but your will be done.
17. You know who started using the big “I” don’t you?
18. Ever since he started using it he began enticing others to use it as well.
19. In this particular chapter In Isaiah chapter 14 there is a parallel between the King of Babylon and Lucifer or Satan.
20. Follow with me.
21. Isaiah 14:3 - 4
3On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, 4you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
22. When the King of Babylon has fallen you will say this taunt against him.
23. Isaiah 14:12 - 15 (NIV)
12 How you have fallen from heaven, (KJV-has Lucifer) O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.
24. The King of Babylon like Lucifer said in his heart the great “I wills”
25. “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High
26. This is the very thing that cast Lucifer out of heaven with a third of the angels with him. In Rev12: 4 war in heaven
Transitional:
Our faith reaches its zenith in Christ we die out to self only to make room for more of him, then his Spirit fills up every part of our being, every part of our living and we are living
II. A Spirit Filled Life:
1. In verse 10 don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
2. It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work it is the Spirit within us doing his work if we allow him to.
3. Also listen to verse 16-17 and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
4. At this time he lives with you and after Pentecost the Holy Spirit will be in you.
5. In the Spirit filled life when we have paid the price and committed ourselves to his cause completely.
6. We will look back and say what John Maxwell said, “I’m glad I paid the price; I’m glad I dreamed the dream.”
7. After you’ve paid the price you will be glad you did.
8. Our outlook on life will be different.
9. As Robert Kennedy was quoted to have said and what others said about him and I quote, “Some people look at things as they are and say, why? Some people look at things as they could be and say, why not?
10. The spirit filled life we will have a different outlook at life and why not.
11. We’ll see a vision of what things could be and strive forward to make it happen thru Christ.
12. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
13. All that we are all that we will ever accomplish for ourselves or for Jesus will be how we view, how we see, how we comprehend the opportunities that are available to us.
14. John Maxwell further says, “There are people who see only what is and constantly butt their heads up against the wall and back away with Excedrin headaches.
15. They haven’t figured out that if they stand on their tiptoes and peek over that wall, they will see that there is life beyond.
16. They’re always asking, why did this happen to me?
17. Why am I a victim of my circumstances?
18. But there are other people who have learned to look beyond limitations and barriers.
19. They can see beyond and say, Why not? Why can’t this happen to me.”
20. As a spirit filled Christian we’ll be able by the grace of God to see what we can become.
21. The trials and persecutions that we go through will make us stronger not bitter and because of our different outlook on life we’ll say this happened to me and by God’s grace I’ll be a better person because of it.
22. God wills with every vision he gives us show us what we have the potential to become.
23. The apostle Paul went through a lot of difficulties John Maxwell says, “what helped Paul come all those difficult times?
24. It’s very simple. He had a vision.
25. The vision makes the difference.
26. Any problem is a problem when there is no purpose.
27. But no problem is a problem when there is a purpose.
28. How true that is! When you really have a dream, you aren’t a problem-conscious person.
29. When you see a problem, and the dream takes you through the problem.”
30. We need to quit looking to ourselves for life’s answer and start looking to Christ who will lead us safely through this life.
31. Through this we affect and influence lives for Christ or rather the Holy Spirit within us affect and influence others for Jesus.
32. The more self is gone and the more room in our hearts we allow Jesus to have the greater the Holy Spirit’s influence will be on others.
Transitional:
A spirit filled life is a person who has heaven on his mind, so they are busy influencing people to believe in Jesus.
III. The Reality of Jesus:
1. John 14:9 (NIV)
“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?
2. A twelve-year-old boy said this to his parents.
3. This boy was filled with the Spirit since the Holy Spirit of God conceived him in his virgin Mothers womb.
4. The boy who astounded the teachers with his understanding and his questions in the temple that day was Jesus
5. Luke 2:52
52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
6. In favor with God and men, he did what God wanted him to do; he did his best to serve others so people favored him too.
7. Matthew 20:26 - Matthew 20:28 (NIV)
26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
8. He came to serve others this was his mission.
9. What is our mission what is the source of our focus?
10. He had one focus in mind to prove to others that he is the Christ the promised messiah.
11. Spirit filled Christians have one focus in mind to prove to the world that Jesus is the Christ.
12. We prove that with our very lives.
13. The only way to prove to the world that Jesus is the Christ is authoritative proof.
14. Like the miracle on 34th street to prove that Kris Kringle is the one only Santa Claus their authoritative proof was the post office.
15. While our authoritative proof is the living witnesses that we know he is real and answers our prayers right here in our hearts.
16. That through faith in God and that he works miracles through us is our authoritative proof that he is real.
17. Our personal testimonies to the reality of a living God are something we can know intimately, factually and beyond all doubts.
18. People believe what we tell them by how much we believe in it.
19. We tell them that a product really works and they’ll go out and buy it just by our testimony alone.
20. We tell them that Jesus really works, that he is real, and that he does answer all prayers by our testimony alone they will go out to see, prove for themselves that he is real in their own lives.
21. The disciples believed it with all of their hearts with their very life, they paid the ultimate price for their faith in that Jesus is the Christ they died for him, all except John the beloved they say he is the only one who died of natural causes.
Transitional:
They say the proof is in the pudding, the proof of Jesus is in the Christian, what is in the Christian? His Spirit.
IV. The Nature of This Infilling Spirit:
1. Ephesians 5:18 be filled with the Spirit.
2. A.B. Simpson says in his book a larger than Christian life and I quote: “It is all connected with a living person.
3. We are not filled with an influence; we are not filled with a sensation; we are not filled with a set of ideas and truths; we are not filled with a blessing, but we are filled with a person.
4. This is very strange and striking. It is wholly different from all other teaching.
5. Human systems of philosophy and religion all deal mainly with intellectual truths, moral conditions or external acts.
6. Greek philosophy was a system of ideas; Confucianism is a system of morals; Judaism is a system of laws and ceremonies; Christianity all centers in a living person, and its very essence is the indwelling life of Christ himself.”
7. We do not deal with ideas and philosophy we deal with a person, a living vibrant person.
8. Jesus went to God the Father and sent to us a comforter a counselor.
9. Jesus was a great comfort to their troubled lives without him they feared that they would fall apart.
10. John 15:26 - John 15:27 (NIV)
26“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
11. The disciples needed and wanted the strength the confidence that Jesus gave them they were filled with grief at his leaving.
12. He wanted them to share with others what he did for them.
13. John 16:5 - 15 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.
7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.12“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
14. Illustration: “The way to approach this, it seems to me, is to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is a Person. The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. So many seem to talk about being filled with the Spirit as if the Holy Spirit were some kind of liquid. They talk about having an ‘empty vessel’, an empty jug, and having the Spirit poured in. That is entirely wrong because it forgets that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is not a substance, not a liquid, and not a power like electricity. We all tend to fall into this error. We even tend to refer to the Holy Spirit as ‘it’, forgetting that the Holy Spirit is the third Person in the blessed Holy Trinity.”
- “Life In The Spirit - in Marriage Home and Work” - Lloyd-Jones, pg 47 1973 Baker Books
15. It says in the beginning chapters of Genesis let us make man in our image and after our likeness.
16. The word “our” is the trinity God the Father, Jesus the Son, and The Holy Spirit. Jesus told them to baptize in the name of these three.
Conclusion:
1. Spirit-born the world needs to see Jesus living again on earth in the experience of spirit-born mortals who effectively reveal the Master to all men. By Paulson
2. Galatians 5:16 - Galatians 5:18 (NIV)
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
3. Our sinful natures desires what is contrary or the opposite of what the Spirit’s desire is, the Spirit’s desire is to reveal the Son to us and to others.
4. Revealing God to others is the Spirit’s job, our job is to let go of self and let him.
5. Once we allow the Holy Spirit full control there is a gentle power raising up in our lives.
6. Illustration: There is a story about a sunken ship that illustrates the quietness of the spirit, but at the same time His Power in our lives.
"Several years ago engineers building a new bridge over the East River in New York, discovered that the wrecked hull of a ship, sunk many years before, lay right where the center piers were to be built. Powerful machinery was brought in to remove the ship, but it would not budge.
Then one of the engineers had an unusual idea-why not have the tide raise the ship!! Some strong cables were attached to the hull when the tide was low. The other ends were fastened to the barge above. As the tide came in, the barge gradually lifted the sunken ship. It was then towed out into the ocean and sunk at a spot that would not cause future problems."
God’s Holy Spirit is like the tide, it comes quietly, it comes in slowly, but it comes to us with enough power so that we might do the job God has called and led each of us to do.
SOURCE: Tim Zingale in Pentecost Sunday on www.sermoncentral.com.
7. Galatians 5:22 - Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
8. Literally to take the next step that the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into.
9. Spirit filled Christians are exactly that Spirit filled, not worldly filled not sinfully filled not selfishly filled but spirit filled.
