“Be Filled with the Spirit”

(Ephesians 5:18)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
1. This morning, we considered who the Spirit is:
a. He is a person.
(i) He thinks, makes decisions, comes and goes, teaches, guides, hears, speaks,
and serves.
(ii) He can be resisted, insulted, and sinned against.
(iii) He has holy affections/holy desires.

b. He is a divine person.
(1) He creates.
(2) Knows all things.
(3) Is treated as equal with God and called God.
(4) Really, any act of God is an act of the Triune God.

c. He is to be worshiped, praised and glorified as we do both the Father and Son.

2. We also considered what He does in salvation:

a. It is His role to apply Christ to His people.
b. He transforms them.
c. And He guides them.

B. Preview.
1. He unites us to and applies Christ to us once: but after that, His work of
transformation/sanctification/guidance begins.
a. Sanctification is a cooperative endeavor.
(i) The Lord works in us.
(ii) But we work with Him.

b. Since it is cooperative, there are things we must do.

(i) We must grow in grace and knowledge, as we saw last week.
(ii) To do this, we need the Helper: we need the Spirit, we need to be filled with
Him.
(iii) Since this is His work, the more we are filled with Him, the greater will be
our forward momentum or progress in holiness.

2. Tonight, let’s consider two things:

a. What it means to be filled with the Spirit.
b. And how we are to be filled with the Spirit.
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II. Sermon.
A. First, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
1. To be filled with something means to be under its control.
a. In Scripture, it can mean literally to be filled with some substance or thing.
(i) Such as with bread, “I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak
to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall
be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God’” (Ex.
16:12).
(ii) The land can be filled with violence, meaning violent people and violent
acts, “Then God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for
the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to
destroy them with the earth” (Gen. 6:13).

b. But when used of a person, it can also mean to be under the influence of
something:
(i) To be filled with wine means to be drunk, or under its control (Eph. 5:18).
(ii) Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom, meaning that the Lord had filled
him with the wisdom necessary to guide His people, “Now Joshua the son of
Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him;
and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded
Moses” (Deu. 34:9).
(iii) To be filled with anger means this is the primary controlling factor:
(a) “When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage
to him, Haman was filled with rage” (Esther 3:5).
(b) When the Ephesian artisans thought they would lose their business
because of the Gospel, they “were filled with rage, they began crying out,
saying, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’” (Acts 19:28).

2. To be filled with the Spirit means to be under His control.

a. We are the temple of the Spirit:
(i) “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
(ii) “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have
been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (6:19-20).

b. The Spirit inhabits/indwells His temple: As such, He wants control, to move us

in the right direction:
(i) In the direction of holiness/service.
(a) The greatest prophet who ever lived was controlled by the Spirit even
before he was born: Gabriel said to Zachariah regarding John, “For he will
be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he
will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother'
s womb” (Luke
1:15).
(b) When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she was filled with the Spirit and
began to declare how blessed Mary was (Luke 1:41f).
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(c) Zachariah was filled with the Spirit and began to prophecy (v. 67).
(d) Christ was anointed with the Spirit above measure, which empowered
Him to do, as a man, what His Father called Him to do (John 3:34).
(e) Peter, filled with the Spirit, preached boldly before the Rulers and elders
of Israel (Acts 4:8).
(f) After Peter and John were released, the disciples prayed that they might
speak the Gospel confidently, and they were filled with the Spirit and did
so (Acts 4:31).
(g) Paul was filled with the Spirit at conversion (Acts 9:17) and continued to
minister in the fullness of the Spirit (13:9).

(ii) He wants what we want: that we become more like Christ/glorify God.
(iii) The more we are filled with Him, the more that work will advance in our
hearts.

B. How are we filled with the Spirit?

1. Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit.
a. Notice, the verb is passive.
(i) “Be filled,” not “fill yourself.”
(ii) This isn’t something you do, but is done to you.

b. The One who actually does the filling is the Spirit.

(i) Be filled with the Spirit.
(ii) He does the filling; He is what we are filled with.
(iii) It is not quantity of presence, but degree of control.

c. But it is a command, which tells us this filling is not only possible, it is God’s
will.
(i) If it is His will, we know we can have it.
(ii) We know we can not only have a little, but a lot of His work.
(iii) We can be filled with His powerful influence.

2. How then do we fulfill this command, if the Spirit is the One who does the work?
a. We must ask the Father, the Son, the Spirit for this help.
(i) The Spirit comes in answer to prayer.
(ii) Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13).
(iii) There are examples on special occasions where it wasn’t asked for, but
given (see above). Where God calls and there is need, He is given.
(iv) But generally we must ask for it.
(v) Reading the Word, hearing it preached, receiving the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper will also help.
(vi) But prayer is the primary way: “You do not have because you do not ask”
(James 4:2).
(vii) This is first of all a command to pray for this filling.
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b. But we must also resist and avoid the things that prevent/offend Him.
(i) Because He is holy, sin offends/grieves Him.
(a) The example of David shows us that sin drives Him away, “Do not cast
me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing
spirit” (Ps. 51:11-12).
(b) When we sin, we resist, we grieve, we offend this holy person who dwells
in us.
(c) We lose His influence; He withdraws partially – thank the Lord, not fully.

(ii) We must resist sin; repent, put to death our sins; stop doing the things that
grieve Him.

c. Realizing He is our good, our comfort, our guide, our down payment of heaven,
let’s do what we must to be filled with the Spirit.
d. Do we desire to desire holiness more, read the Word more, understand it more,
obey more, love more, forgive more, have more peace, patience, joy, hope? We
need to be filled with the Spirit.
e. As a final encouragement to seek His help, let me quote the Puritan Richard
Bernard, from his book Contemplative Pictures with Wholesome Precepts (page
326 in Day by Day), “The Holy Ghost is the third person in the Trinity; He
proceeds from the Father and from the Son. He works ever from both, together
with both. He is Christ’s vice-regent in His kingdom, His only general in His
church. He rose up the prophets, He instructed the apostles, and now qualifies all
of Christ’s true messengers. The bad He makes good; in the good He increases
grace. He reforms our ways, informs our judgment, and confirms our faith. He
changes discord into duties of love, and turns all misdeeds into alms deeds;
prattling into devout prayer, foolish prating into powerful and persuasive
preaching; the preacher’s tongue He makes the pen of a ready writer. Evil lusts,
where He comes, He kills; the dead works of darkness, He expels. He is the
Spirit sanctifying the elect; He is not partial, but deals measurably to all, without
sinister favoritism. He is to the saints the blessed Comforter; He persuades them
all, to call God ‘Father.’ He works repentance and gives thereupon true peace of
conscience. Christ’s church is His temple, and He is the safeguard of His sheep. .
. . He helps us to incite, to frame our wills, to make our meditations, to moderate
our affections, and to order all our actions. Our eyes by Him see into the
Scriptures; He is the true commentary to understand the Word. . . . Here in this
life He begins grace, sets on to goodness, persuades to holiness, urges to charity,
presses to godly practice, and settles the soul in religious pureness.”
e. If this is what you want to see happening in yourself, seek to be filled with the
Spirit. He is God’s ordained agent of sanctification. Amen.