Filled with the Spirit - 4

Well, good evening. It's good to see you.

I hope you had a great day. The Lord has given us some beautiful weather, hasn't he, for this conference? And thankful for the blessing of being with you folks and just the fellowship we've had. It's been marvelous.

Just a great time to get back and get reacquainted with a lot of my brothers and sisters I hadn't seen for a while. It seems like we're away and then able to come back and it just, it gets good all over again, let's put it like that. Our pastor has read a rather lengthy portion and I'm glad you did, Brother Greg, because it gives us a sense of what's going on around the passage that I want to talk to you about tonight. Where we're going to be tonight is Ephesians 5 starting at about verse 18 and then for the next 3 or 4 verses. On the subject of filled with the Spirit.

As it's already been remarked, there is a major watershed. It's like the continental divide that we find between chapter 3 and chapter 4 in the book of Ephesians. In the first 3 chapters of this book, we've been exploring what we might call this mystery. I mean that's what Paul calls it, the mystery of the eternal purpose of God, His unconditional election, the predestination of His children to sonship. Then last, the second night, the first night, second session, we looked at the mystery of salvation by grace through faith and how that worked and the fact that it is through faith that we are savingly joined to our Savior and that we are united with this body, a body He says that filleth all in all, speaking of the universal church.

But then here at chapter 4 suddenly everything changes. Now we deal, look, Ephesians 4 look for yourself, look at verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation to which ye are called. Notice that now we have the call to walk, which means to live, conduct your life, to walk a new way. How did we used to walk?

Remember the zombie walk that we talked about the first night? That was the walk, you walked according to the course of the world, you walked according to the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, you walked according to the lust of your own flesh, that is that dead man walk. You are no longer dead, you have been quickened with Christ, you are to walk a new way. And it is described in various ways, if we are here in chapter 5 look at verse 2, he says, walk in love as Christ has loved us and given Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savior. Walk in love like Christ has loved you. A little later down in verse 11, have no fellowship with the unfruitful, oops I got the wrong verse, back to verse 8, that's what I wanted, for we were once upon a time darkness but now ye are light in the Lord, walk as children of light.

You walk in love, you walk in light. And though Paul does not use the phrase here, he most certainly does over in Galatians chapter 5 in verse 16, he says, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. A little later in that same chapter if we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit. So we could define this walk in several ways, it is basically to walk like Christ walked. If we look back from verse 18 where we are going to sort of start to, I guess I'm really not telling the truth here, I've already started, but when I get to verse 18 I'm really starting.

Okay, this doesn't count. Okay, this is just warm up. Okay, if you back up from verse 18 just a little bit, back to verse 14, I want you to notice that he's quoting here from the Old Testament. It's not an exact quotation but it is assumed that he is quoting Isaiah 60 verse 1, the verse that says to Zion, rise and shine, thy light is come. And what is interesting is if you back up from that a little bit into the last couple of verses of Isaiah 59, what you are reading about is that there is a Redeemer who is going to come to Zion. And God is saying I'm going to fill him with my spirit and with my words and basically he's going to give the spirit and the words to his children and to their children and it will never end. And why I think that's important is even back there in the Old Testament we see a close affinity, a close relationship between the spirit and the word.

Just keep that thought in your mind as we proceed because that will become important as we work through this subject. The Messiah, the Christ, in both languages Hebrew and Greek both mean the anointed one. And by anointing typically it was done as you know with oil. In other words these anointed men might be a priest, might be a prophet, might be a king, they are to be oily. And the interesting part is when you start looking at Old Testament prophecy looking ahead into the New Testament age they saw that this age that was coming was to be an age of the Spirit. We have two very clear statements of the New Covenant, there are many more, but over in Ezekiel 36 according to about verse 26 we have the idea that in this New Covenant that God is going to give us a new heart. He's going to give us His spirit. In Jeremiah 31 when he cites this New Covenant he states that God is going to write His law, His word you see, on our heart. Notice the assimilation again of the word and the spirit. And so for an Old Testament saint looking ahead into the New Testament age he was seeing an age coming that is characterized by the Spirit of God. It's the age of Messiah is to be an age of the Spirit.

Let's, well I don't want to take the time to turn there. Joel chapter 2, Peter quotes it in Acts chapter 2. You know the passage I'm talking about on the day of Pentecost?

What's happening? He quotes Joel chapter 2 in the Old Testament. In the last days looking ahead to the New Testament age there is going to come a time when God is going to pour out His Spirit on who? All flesh, basically meaning all kinds of flesh.

Now you say, well what does that mean? Well you have to understand in the Old Testament there are just a few folks upon whom the Spirit fell. Now I don't mean the Old Testament was devoid of the Spirit, you wouldn't have anybody saved if that were the case. But when you speak of this special anointing you generally would speak of this guy over here who is a priest, or this guy over here who is a prophet, or that guy over there a man like David who is anointed as a king.

You've got a guy here, there, and there. But what we are being told in the New Testament age is God is going to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, all kinds of folks. Your young men, your young women, your old men are going to dream dreams. Your young maidens, it's not going to be the aristocrats, even down to your servants and your handmaidens I'm going to pour out my Spirit. And notice I'm going to pour it out.

There is going to be an increase shall we say in volume. It's like opening the spigot wide open. And what we then see as Peter preaches and cites this chapter out of Joel chapter 2 on the Day of Pentecost, how does Peter interpret it? First of all he says, this is that which Joel was talking about. You see what's happening here on the Day of Pentecost? This is that.

That's what he's talking about. God is pouring out His Spirit. But he goes on to say that what's really going on is Christ is now exalted to the right hand of God. He has prayed to the Father and received this gift and He's poured it out on us. You see there's something different about this New Testament messianic age. The Messiah has earned, bought this blessing of the Holy Spirit. He has asked the Father for it.

He has received it. And now He is pouring it out on His people. This is the age of Messiah. It's the age of Messiah's Spirit.

You see the connection? Turn to John 7, just a second. Jesus is in Jerusalem on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. They called it the Great Day of the Feast.

Some of the rabbis later would write that you've never known joy unless you were in Jerusalem on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Because everybody went down to the Pool of Siloam and the priest would fill up these big pitchers full of water and everybody would be in a long procession and they are singing songs about the Lord is our salvation and the whole, I mean there are a million people that have come into Jerusalem for this thing and they are all going back up to the Temple Mount. And there those priests would take those big pitchers of water and pour it over the altar. And they are re-commemorating when Moses struck the rock in the wilderness and the water came out. In other words the miracle is not going to happen so we are going to make our own miracle. We are going to have our own little fountain here. And they are pouring it and the people are singing, with joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation.

And the Scripture says right in the middle of that thing, you'll see it here in John 7 verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried. Can you imagine in the middle of that scene here this guy stands up and shouts, if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink. You begin to see who he is claiming he is.

You see what they are doing? That's me. You want water?

Come to me. He that believeth on me as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And just in case we miss it, a little slow, John helps us. He gives us a little word of commentary in verse 39 and look carefully at it. But this spoke he of the Spirit, that's that water, whom they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Now that's an amazing verse. Now we know He is not saying that the Holy Spirit wasn't here in any way, shape, fashion or form. There would be no one saved if that were the case. But compared to what's coming, it's like the Holy Spirit wasn't even here to what He's coming to be.

So what is it waiting on? We are waiting on Christ to be what? Glorified. I knew a guy, and by the way this whole thing of filled with the Spirit I had a flirtation with the deeper life movement back before I went out to Wyoming. And there was a guy there who was trying to get filled with the Spirit and he read this verse that the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet because Jesus wasn't yet glorified. So he just decided that's my problem I can't get filled with the Spirit because Jesus is not glorified. So he went around, every word out of his mouth was praise Jesus, praise Jesus, praise Jesus.

He's trying to get glorified you see so he can get filled with the Spirit. That is not what John is saying. John is pointing to a historical point in time when Jesus would rise and ascend and sit down at the right hand of the Father.

Guess what? That's what Peter is saying is happening on the day of Pentecost. Now the Spirit is given because Jesus is now glorified at a historical point in time. Pentecost is like the celebration.

It's the coronation of this new King. This is His wedding gift to us as it were, His coronation gift that He is pouring out upon His people. Remember that John the Baptist said I baptize in water, the one coming after me he is going to baptize with the Spirit and with fire.

There is a lot of meaning packed into that. There is a sense in which the Old Testament prophets were Spirit empowered people, right? But did they have the power to give the Spirit to others? You remember Elisha came to Elijah saying when you go I want a double portion of your Spirit. And what did Elijah say? Well sure fella. No Elijah said you've asked a hard thing there.

Not real sure. But I tell you this if you see me ascend, if you see me go up to heaven if you see that then you will get what you asked for. And sure enough he did. You remember a double portion of Elijah's Spirit fell on him. But no Old Testament prophet could dish out the Spirit. Jesus is going to dish it out. He is going to baptize us in His Spirit.

You see the difference? So we don't have to be afraid of this thing. The Spirit of Christ is our heritage. And as we see it expressed here it is our duty to be filled with the Spirit. As Paul has been dealing with Christian duty here he oftentimes expresses it in a negative way and then in a positive way. You'll see that looking back into chapter 4. For instance verse 25 he says put away lying by speaking the truth.

You've got the negative, you've got the positive. Go down to verse 28. Let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands that which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Instead of stealing become giving. Look a little more verse 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying. You see the negative, you see the positive.

We see exactly the same here in verse 18. Be not drunk with wine in which is excess, different ways it's translated but you know the basic idea. But be filled with the Spirit. Again we have the negative, don't do this.

We have the positive, do this. To be filled with either wine or the Spirit. I mean we do talk about wine as a Spirit don't we? So it really doesn't matter which Spirit we're talking about here to be filled with either one will have an effect on your conduct, on your behavior.

I don't want to ask for a show of hands here but you know what I'm talking about. To be drunk with wine we've seen drunkenness. Perhaps some of you in your pre-Christian days experienced it yourself. We know what alcohol can do if taken to excess but in the same sense to be filled with the Spirit also affects one's behavior. Drunkenness will cause a loss of judgment, a loss of perception, a loss of inhibition and self-control and usually it is exhibited in one's actions, in one's speech, in one's silliness.

Right? On the other hand to be filled with the Spirit is another kind of drunkenness and I don't know if I can say this right but it's to be drunk on sobriety. Whatever you get my feeling. It produces another kind of effect, the very opposite effect that alcohol produces. To be satiated with the Spirit as we're going to see is to be satiated with the Word. It is a joy that is true and real. It is not the silly, shallow, jesting joy of a drunk. It is a true and real and lasting joy and on the next morning when you sober up you don't have to repent of it. I mean how many drunks do you know?

They were the life of the party the night before but now that they sober up they realize the damage that they have done. This is a joy that does not need to be repented of. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones who was a medical doctor when he was writing about the Holy Spirit he said, if I were a pharmacist I would have to put the Holy Spirit under the classification of a stimulant. It stimulates, you see? It produces an effect just like alcohol is a stimulant. It will produce a certain conduct so the Holy Spirit is a stimulant.

It produces a completely different effect than alcohol. Again looking at the words here if we look in the original we see that this is indeed a command. Be not drunk with wine which is excess but be filled with the Spirit is an imperative.

It is a command. Furthermore it is in the present tense and the present tense in Greek tells you it sort of more speaks of the kind of action that we are talking about, something that begins and continues on. And because of that many would translate this be being filled with the Spirit. This is not a one and done thing. That is where our Pentecostal friends miss the point. There is not some second blessing and now you've got it.

This is not one and done. This is a continual duty be being filled with the Spirit. This is not speaking of one's initial baptism by the Spirit. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 we've read it before, by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.

That is the very definition of being a Christian. You have been placed by the Spirit of God. It is called there by Paul a baptism. You have been baptized by one Spirit into one body.

You have been connected. You have been joined to the body of Christ. You are now in Christ. That is the very definition that Paul has given us of what it is to be a Christian. So in other words if you have not been baptized by the Spirit you are not a believer. You are not a Christian.

It is that simple. If you are a Christian then you can say you have indeed been baptized by the Spirit because you've been joined to the body of Christ. But there is something that again it is not a one and done.

There is an ongoing duty to be being filled with the Spirit. It is in the middle voice. Now in English we really don't have anything that is exactly equivalent to the Greek middle voice. The closest we've got is what we would call a reflexive verb like I hit the ball, that's active. I got hit by the ball, that's passive. I hit myself with the ball. Now that's reflexive.

And that's the closest thing we've got in English to this notion of the middle voice in Greek. It is something you do yourself. In other words this is not a command whereby you sit around and you wait for somebody else to do it.

The monkey is on your back. The responsibility is on your shoulder. And so you could also translate it and some have tried different ways. I suggested being filled with the Spirit that catches that present continual action. But perhaps put it this way, get yourself filled with the Spirit. Or fill yourself with the Spirit doesn't quite work because it seems like you're just doing something internally and that's not this. But get yourself filled with the Spirit. Or keep yourself filled with the Spirit. This is an ongoing duty for the believer. It is our responsibility. Basically what we're being told to do is help yourself.

That's probably a great way of putting it. Help yourself to the Spirit. You can have as much as you want.

And the only limitation is you. Remember Paul prayed, we looked at his prayer last evening that you be filled with the fullness of God. That's what we're talking about. Remember that the Spirit in the New Testament age is the Spirit of Christ. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled up on Jesus, satiated with Jesus. It's sort of like a sponge. When you dip it in a pail of water you not only baptize the sponge in the water but the sponge then is satiated with the water. And that's the notion that our lives are to be absolutely saturated, permeated by the Spirit of Christ.

And I think that will help us keep things in perspective. Now what is the evidence of this, this filling? Well it's obviously speaking in tongues and we all know that, right? From our association with Pentecostals. And by the way I grew up, I don't want to speak disparagingly of Charismatics and Pentecostals.

Some of them are very, very serious believers and Christians. I grew up in a community. Each little town had a Baptist and Methodist church and over in one of the towns they had an Assembly of God church. And for a while in high school I dated a girl who was a member of the Assembly of God church over there so I would go over to her church on Wednesday night sometimes. And I learned a lot about Pentecostalism over there. Yeah, speaking in tongues was not something that was unknown to me or in my community.

We grew up with it, okay? But I don't want to speak disparagingly of a lot of very godly people were over there. They were serious about serving the Lord. They were just not taught very well. They were seeking this experience and just it was sometimes the wildest place you could be in our little country town on a Wednesday night was down there at the Assembly of God church.

So let me say that I on the one hand I don't want to be overly critical and yet on the other hand I believe they've completely missed the boat when it comes to what is being described here. The evidence of being filled with the Spirit according to the next verse, we've got several of them here in verse 19 is indeed we speak but notice we are speaking to ourselves or one another is a better way of translating it in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. It's music. Have you ever thought about why do we sing? I mean I know there are some, some of the scholars out there in the Reform circle say, well it's all about the words.

Well if it's all about the words why don't we just get up and read the point, ok? Have you ever thought about why do we sing? What is it about singing? What is it about music? I remember the first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference ever went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1976 and several of us were having a deep theological discussion in the swimming pool by the motel where we were staying.

I soon learned if you want to really get into the deep water, get in the deep water. That's where all the deep conversations take place. And we were talking about several of us young guys talking about why do we sing? What's so important about singing? And one young man his name is Edwin McClellan, I hadn't seen him since.

He's from Galveston, Texas. He said, well singing is zeal according to knowledge. And I've never forgotten that.

He hit the nail right on the head. You remember Paul talks about the Jews have a zeal that's not according to knowledge? Singing is a zeal, it's far more zealous than just standing up here and reading the words, right?

It's a zealous activity but it's a zeal according to knowledge. In singing we are expressing the truths that we are hearing from this pulpit. We're echoing those things and especially in congregational singing we have things like saying the same things, singing in harmony, singing in concord. You think of what we are illustrating in our singing. You ever thought about that?

That what the congregation of saints is supposed to be? We are in fact demonstrating that in our songs. What did Paul say? I want you all saying the same things.

Well guess what? That's what we do when we sing. And notice what we are to sing, songs. I take that to be inspired songs, hymns, songs of praise and thanksgiving. And then spiritual songs, that's a little more difficult.

The word is ode in Greek. Well it's sort of like what I just sang to you. It's a song of Christian experience. You know we have these wonderful hymns where we are speaking of our praise to God and then we also have hymns, I'm thinking of love lifted me, I was sinking deep in sin, a song of Christian experience. And so there is a variety of ways that we express the truths that we have heard to one another. This is all the product of being filled with the Spirit.

Now the other kind of Spirit will produce some music too. My wife Linda and I were over in Amsterdam. We had to spend the night there forehead to England for a meeting over there. And unbeknownst to us, England was playing the Netherlands in a soccer game there at Amsterdam. Now if you think people go crazy here over the Super Bowl or over something like that, I've never seen anything to match what goes on when they have those soccer games over there. They call them football.

Football. We got down, we were a little late to the party apparently, we got down to the big square there in Amsterdam just as the paddy wagons were leaving. They had loaded up a bunch of these guys that had gotten into a fight out there. But we were trying to walk our way back to our hotel and all of a sudden in the distance we are hearing all this singing. Men singing. I mean you could hear it for blocks and we kept getting closer and closer and what it was is a whole group about 40 or 50 of these English soccer fans standing out in the street in front of a pub singing to the top of their lungs whatever their fight song or whatever it was. It was a specter.

I'd never seen anything quite like that. They were drunk and they were singing. Well guess what? When you get drunk on the Spirit one of the evidences is that you start singing.

You start vocalizing the truth that has filled your heart. I just don't see that. I've shared with you before in years past that in other religions I just, I don't get it. I've been around Muslims and I've listened to some of their songs and it sounds like they're strangling a cat.

I just can't imagine somebody. They don't do it. Do you realize how singing the music that we express is so peculiar to Christianity and it's just so natural? That's what we do when we get together. We sing praises to our God and to our Savior Jesus Christ. Don't ever take that for granted. Secondly in verse 20 here's another effect of being filled with the Spirit, giving thanks always for all things, at all times for everything that comes our way unto God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to be in a perpetual state of thanksgiving no matter what is going on around us, in our environment or in our personal lives no matter what is happening we are overflowing with a heart filled with praise and thanksgiving. I remember seeing a reading, an account of an old man back over in England in the old days, poor as a church mouse, he had a glass of water, he's sitting at his table, he has a glass of water, he has a plate with a piece of bread on it and he looks up to heaven and says, all this and Christ too? In other words the Christian is overwhelmed not with how little he has but how much he has. He may have nothing in this present life but what he has thrills his soul and nothing in this present world can take its place. You know we are the culture that aspires to get stuff and stuff will not give you what Christ gives you. It doesn't give you the joy, it doesn't give you the peace.

We could go on and on about how many doctors and how many lawyers and how many rich millionaires blow their brains out because of all the wealth doesn't satisfy that empty spot, that void in the shape of Jesus Christ that's in the human heart. Only Christ can fill it. We go out west and for two months last summer we didn't have a drop of rain and boy things get brown. You get up high and you look around and you see something green you can guarantee there's water, there's water over there. And over and over again in the Old Testament you have the idea that the wicked are like the heath, that's the desert shrub, when it gets dry it just dries up. When it rains it greens up. In other words it's absolutely controlled by outside circumstances. But the tree that is planted by the water it doesn't fade, its leaf doesn't shrivel, it doesn't lose its fruit in times of drought.

Why? Because it's got an unseen source of nourishment and water. And the Christian, the righteous man is illustrated by that principle that there's something we've got. That's what Jesus is saying, out of their belly flows rivers of living water. We have the well inside us. We're not dependent on water coming from the outside for us to be green and to bear fruit.

We've got an internal source of water springing up within the heart. And then notice I wasn't going to touch verse 21 because notice submitting yourselves one to another in fear of God. But really if you want to be honest the sentence didn't end until the end of verse 21. In other words we have the effect of the filling of the Holy Spirit, singing, music, okay, thanksgiving, and then submitting. And submitting you say well what do you mean by that? Wives submit yourself to your husband, husbands love your wives, you know a little bit about that. But have you ever connected that to being filled with the Spirit? That being filled with the Spirit enables me to take my place in the economy of Christ, to fulfill my role where He has placed me in my setting. So men to love your wife is an evidence. To love your wife like Christ loved the church that flows out of being filled with the Spirit.

Ladies to submit to your husband this is the evidence. This is a far cry from speaking in tongues. But it is this experience, this being filled with the Spirit of Christ that enables us to produce the conduct that honors Christ. To serve your boss at the job.

Men to treat your employees fairly like Christ would have you treat them. These are the evidences that flow out of being filled. It bleeds over into every area of our life, our personal life, our corporate life, and our relationship with one another out in the world.

All right now I want to try to demystify this for you a little bit because there is a mysterious side to this thing. But if we examine it closely I want you to realize again that link between the Spirit and the Word. I mentioned it back in Isaiah 59 as we began tonight. Let's go to the day of Pentecost would you? Turn to Acts 2.

We'll see it here. Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 4.

This is speaking of the 120. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now I don't know how you could possibly make a case reading the entire chapter that the tongues mentioned here are anything other than foreign languages.

That's very clear. The people will make it clear a little later. Verse 8. How is it that we hear every man in our own tongue? Rather than getting so infatuated with the fact that they spoke in tongues, let's ask the question, what were they speaking in tongues? When these people heard these men speak in their own native tongue, what are they speaking? Well we have a little bit of a clue if my eyes will fall upon the verse.

How is it? Verse 11. Cretans and Arabians goes through this long list of nations. Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Let that sink in a minute. What wonderful works of God do you suppose they're talking about? What has just transpired in the lives of this 120? They have just come through the fact of the Christ's death, His burial, His resurrection. He is ascended to heaven and now they have this, the confirmation that He is enthroned in the skies. I submit to you that the wonderful works of God that they are talking about in these other tongues is what we would call simply the facts of the Gospel.

It can't be anything else. So notice that they are empowered to speak but let's never forget what exactly is it that they speak. Go a little later in the book of Acts. You remember in chapter 3 John and Peter have the lame man there at the temple and the second sermon and all these who are converted. And then of course in chapter 4 they are caught on the carpet by the Sanhedrin, commanded not to teach and preach in the name of Jesus anymore. But in chapter 4 verse 23 they let them go and they go back to their own company and they tell everybody what has happened and everybody rejoices that this is a fulfillment of prophecy, a fulfillment of Psalm number 2 of the heathen and the people raging against Christ. But notice verse 31, okay, Acts 4 31, when they had prayed the place were shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. This is the same bunch that got filled with the Holy Ghost back earlier in chapter 2.

You see the ongoing thing here? They are filled with the Holy Ghost and what's the effect? And they spoke the Word of God with boldness. You see the connection? They are filled with the Spirit and they speak.

What is it they are talking about? Look in verse 33 for an example. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. You see the connection between being filled with the Spirit and speaking Gospel, or singing Gospel, or being thankful for Gospel, or submitting to one another because of the Gospel. These things are all connected.

And that's why I say I'm trying to demystify this for you. As an example let's go back to Ephesians 5. Back to our text, just a moment.

Let's look at it again. Verse 18, be filled with the Spirit. Verse 19, speaking to yourself, Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Verse 20, giving thanks. And verse 21 submitting. One, two, three, four. See those things?

Hold your finger here. Go over to the book of Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. Now I have a theory. I do know that Ephesians and Colossians were sent by Paul, written by Paul when he was in prison. They were sent together with Tychicus back to Ephesus, Colossae. And the book of Philemon was also delivered at the same time. So these are two letters that Paul is writing about at the same time.

And so we are not surprised that we find certain parallels between them. What was that? One, two, three, four. Do you remember what it was? One was filled with the Spirit.

Two was singing, music. Three was what? Thanksgiving.

Four? Submitting. Okay.

Okay? Filled with the Spirit. Singing, thanking, submitting. Look at Colossians 3 but I want you to work backwards.

Let's start with 4. Look at verse 18. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as it fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives. That's what we were reading.

That's that submitting thing, right? Alright, we're putting the car in reverse here. Let's back up. What's just in front of that?

Verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. What was number 3? Thanksgiving. We had 4 is submitting. Here 3 is what? Thanksgiving.

Alright, let's back up one more. What was number 2 over there in Ephesians? Speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Here in verse 16, the middle of verse 16, admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Same three things that we had in Ephesians, correct? Do you see the parallel?

Well let's back up just a little bit more and put our car into reverse one more time. The first part of verse 16 is then what must correspond with Ephesians 5 verse 18. That what is called over there being filled with the Spirit is here by Paul said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. You remember me saying that you need to see that there is this relationship between the Spirit and the Word. And what is described as being filled and satiated with the Spirit of Christ over there is here, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

I mean after all that is the point of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? When Jesus was with His disciples in the upper room before He goes out and is betrayed there in John chapter 13, 14, 15, 16 isn't that what He tells them? I'm about to leave you boys but I'm not going to orphan you, I'm going to come to you. I'm going to return, I'm coming to you but I'm coming to you through the Comforter.

Because you see the Holy Spirit is His Spirit, right? He is going to come to them through the Comforter, through the Holy Spirit. And when He comes what is He going to do? He's going to take my things and show them to you.

I'm just thinking through the list, you'll find it scattered throughout that last discourse. He's going to glorify me. He's going to lead you into all truth.

You get the point? My Spirit is going to come and be a surrogate parent for you. And He's going to come and open your eyes so that you see more of me. That's the role of the Holy Spirit, not to give you some gift that you can play around with as your toy, but to glorify Christ, to show you Him that you be overjoyed and filled with joy over what Christ has done for you. That's the problem that I see with our Pentecostal brethren is they narrow this thing down to just one thing.

Whereas what's really going on in the reception of the Holy Spirit is to open our eyes up to the totality of what Christ has done for us. I had a young man, I was hoping Earl was going to be here tonight because he was around when this happened. I shared the story with him shortly after. There was a young man, I was preaching, young preacher out in Wyoming in a place called Evanston Baptist Church there. And about 10 o'clock on Saturday night the son of one of the members there, his name was Stanley, he lived over in Rock Springs.

Rock Springs is 100 miles away but that's next door. And he called me up 10 o'clock, brother Greg how would you like to get a call like this? You may have for all I know. You know I always cringe, tighten up 10 o'clock on Saturday night when the phone rings. It's Stanley, and Stanley is telling me, well I just want to let you know that my wife and family we are all coming tomorrow, we are coming over to visit my folks. And I said, great, man that's great news, we look forward to seeing you. And he said, well I just wanted to let you know, give you a little bit of heads up that I plan to speak in tongues tomorrow. You ever gotten one of those calls?

No? So I said, okay, we probably need to talk a little bit about that. And I said, well what are you going to say in tongues?

And he says, well I don't know. You know I don't know what I'm liable to say, I won't know unless there's an interpreter there. And I said, well you do agree that Paul tells us over there in 1 Corinthians if there's no interpreter just be quiet. And he says, yeah I know that but how would we know if there's an interpreter unless I speak in tongues? You see his logic? So I said, okay Stanley I tell you what just for the sake of argument I'll grant you your supposition that you'll speak in tongues and they will be an interpreter there.

Okay, just for the sake of argument. What are you going to say in tongues? Are you going to tell me something that's in the Scripture? If you are, why don't we just read the Scripture? And if you are going to tell me something that's not in the Scripture then we've really got to talk.

Do you see the problem? What a static speech, interpreted or not, is going to add to my understanding of what has already been revealed in the Word of God. I don't take the issue with someone that speaks in tongues. I say, you want to do it in your closet at home standing on your head.

I don't care what you do, that's fine. But the utility of that gift has ceased in the New Testament church. We don't need extra biblical revelation anymore. We have the canon of Scripture.

We have what we need. We do not need additional prophecy revelation. And if I understand anything about Paul's argument over in 1 Corinthians 12, he points out that tongues alone doesn't edify anybody because nobody knows what you're saying. He says in fact if you have the unlearned, the lost people come into your meeting and everybody speaks in tongues, well wow they're just blown away.

Look at these people who have got this supernatural gift. Is that what he says? No, he says they're going to go around and say you're crazy, you're mad.

My friend when I'd visit that Assembly of God church with my girlfriend back there when I was about 16 years old, that's exactly when I left there, I said those folks are nuts. He makes it clear that the church is only edified by an understandable, clearly communicated message of truth. And so he will say, seek the better gifts.

Seek the good ones. Because that's our job in the church is not to put on a show. Our job in the church is to edify one another.

And you cannot be edified if you don't understand what is being spoken. And so that is where I would say I'm not going to argue with you whether the gift is ceased or not. All I'm saying is in our day, now that we have scripture in our hands, the utility of that gift has passed away. We have the authoritative Word of God. You want to go in your closet and speak in tongues all you want, that's great.

That's fine with me, I'm not going to get in a fight with you. But as far as edifying the church, its usefulness has passed. I want to demystify it, but I also don't want to de-supernaturalize it. I'm afraid in sovereign grace, reformed circles, we have somewhat strip-mined the supernatural out of Christianity. That we've made it all doable and whether God shows up or not, we still go on with the show. This is telling us that we have a de-seeded need of the Spirit of Christ invading our hearts, taking over our lives. And you know why it is so hard to be filled with the Spirit? It's because we're so full of everything else.

It's hard to fill up a glass that's already full. Somehow we become so full on the stuff of modern life and the entertainment of modern life and the show that's going on around us. The world chokes the Word, grieves the Spirit. We have no room for anything else in our lives. But oh, my friend, in short we are called to be clones of Christ, to act like Him, talk like Him, live like Him.

And the only way we can do that is to be filled with His Spirit. One fellow put it like this, he said, suppose you're on the street, you're starving to death and the president of the First National Bank comes out and sees you there and says, come on in here. He takes you inside the bank and he unlocks the vault where there's stacks and stacks of bills. And he says, go help yourself to all you want.

And if you come out with one dollar, whose fault is it that you're poor? That's the promise. You can have as much of Christ as you want.

But let's get serious, folks. How much do you really want? Do you crave to know your Savior? I listened to Paul in Philippians where after he served Christ for probably 20 years, he said, Paul, what do you want? He said, I want to know Him. I want to know Him. It's almost like I never met Him.

But he's walked with Him for 20 years. Well, I want to know Him. I want to know Him in every way possible.

That's my quest. That's my desire to know my Lord. How much do you want of Jesus?

How much do you want of Him to invade your life? Peter will use very different words than Paul in explaining this same thing. He will use the term korageo, add to your faith this and this and this and this, korageo. It's from a koros back in ancient Greece. You remember they loved their dramas, their plays.

But I never had thought about how do they put these things on. They had a korogos, a guy with deep pockets who rents the plays, hires the actor, who pays the expenses to put this play on, korogos. Peter using that same phrase, korageo, korageo your soul, add to your soul this.

He said, well, I don't have any deep pockets. Your master has deep pockets and he's given you the keys to the vault. Help yourself to the Spirit of Christ.

Satuate yourself. Oh, may God help us. Let's pray. Father, of all the things we've talked about this week, this is the critical thing and the explaining thing for a lot of our powerlessness, our ineffective goodness, is that we just really don't want you all that bad. Because we know that you come into our lives, you take over, things are going to change, things are going to be different, priorities are going to be switched.

Many of us, we've grown comfortable with our lives, satisfied with where we are. Oh, Father, would you take all that away, strip us, empty us that we might be filled with the Spirit of our Lord. Let us take this commandment seriously, because in a very real way, it is the key, it is the ground of fulfilling all the other commandments to be satiated with the Spirit of our Lord. Do it for Christ's sake, I pray. Amen.