God’s Command for a Holy, and Spirit Filled Life — Al Whittinghill

The Comforter and the Spirit of Truth

About the comforter the comforter that he when he gets to the father will send and he says he says this comforter the spirit of truth the world cannot receive because it can't see him and Neither knows him, but you know him for he's dwelled with you.

And he will be in you he's saying what you have seen and known of the spirit in the life. My life Jesus as I've walked when I get to the father I'm gonna send you the very life of the spirit, and it's not going to be like being with me anymore.

It's gonna I am gonna be in you the spirit of the Living God the comforter. Which the Holy Ghost is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name. He will teach you all things. And he will bring to remembrance Whatsoever I've said to you and when the comforter is come I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth.

He will testify of me. All these are his words. He said to his own in John 14 15 and 16 and listen to this one verse 13 in 16 he says when he has come he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak of his own initiative.

But rather what he will speak what he hears and he will show you things to come he will glorify me. He will receive what's mine and give it to you. That's his promise. What a great song tonight to say that the Spirit of God speaking to our heart when he speaks he does not stutter.

He makes it known that he's saying to you and tonight The Lord changed what I was going to share on tonight. I had a hard afternoon because I was saying Lord is this is this the way you want to go and then when you sang That song tonight.

It was a beautiful Confirmation to me. Well, let's pray together and then we'll read scripture together. Father we thank you. Now. We bow before you and we bless you. We bless you for Sending in your spirit Back from the throne I will sin the father and I will sin that we will come to you and I will be in you the The Lord from heaven the Spirit of God will seal our spirits and you will teach us Everything that we need to know to love you and honor you.

So tonight we ask you to do just that and make it so that we are people that are truly Alive and on fire and obedient to the Spirit of God. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. As you were talking about your children I just thought I should say that my wife and I are getting ready to celebrate 44 years and we've got five children and 20 grandchildren and 20 of them were together in our house on Christmas Day.

One of my sons is a pastor church planter in Vermont and one of my sons-in-law and my daughter are church people in Chattanooga and we've got a Pastor that I mean we've got pastors everywhere and Paul is the drummer for passion.

You might have met Paul winning You know, I don't know at the dome. Were you there? I don't know but we've got a daughter in Florida and she's got seven. We've just got a lot of kids and and I talk about a sanctifying influence now when you have 20 grandkids all under 20 years old in one room and Everybody's trying to open presents together and it is a deeply humbling experience.

Salvation as the Restoration of God's Life

I'll tell you what I wanted to share that. You know, we talk about the gospel with hushed tones and we should it's awesome. But the gospel of our salvation is much much more than the forgiveness of sins.

The forgiveness of sins you see it's here's what it is. It's the restoration of the life of God into the soul of man and his spirit based upon the forgiveness of sins to walk around and always say my sins are forgiven and not allow the other him to do this to Restore his life and his character and his power is is so Contradictory when I receive eternal life, it's not a thing.

I receive it's a person. He is life and to have him you have life and when you don't have him you don't have life so the moment that I Dare to become a true believer Based upon based upon his precious blood the moment that moment when I receive my sins forgiven I give myself away to him.

I become a suit of clothes. You might see say for him to to live in and I'm no longer my own property. I've been bought with a price the precious blood of Jesus, you know all this but you see the only person that has the real Right to live in me now is him and anything else is kind of usurping that and we have to learn that it doesn't take place.

Instantly you see God's grace and I become a a vessel but it doesn't happen right away. There's a process by the Spirit where he teaches and he leads us and this is where all of us who are Christians are and some are listening more than others if you look around at the church in America I believe this the greatest need in the world is a spirit-filled Church.

The greatest need in America is the spirit-filled Church. The greatest need in my family is a spirit-filled dad and mom. The greatest need in your community. Are churches that are filled with the Spirit of God?

That's but you see it's not automatic. We have the privilege of being us of continuing. It's in a yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I want to just ask you what you think of when you hear that word Holiness, what does that mean to you when you hear the word holiness?

Do you think about someone who carries around a big black Bible and And always is saying something like praise the Lord praise the Lord and or they can jump when they sing or does that make a Person holy does.

Is it a kind of a religious churchy lifestyle? Is it someone that's always saying praise words or maybe they're other hand? You might think they're a dropout from daily life that makes a person holy or maybe a little weird or someone who?

Only reads their Bible and hardly ever gets out anywhere. Does that make a person holy? You see the scriptures say that holiness is a separated life. Yes, but it's not just separated from things. Look what I don't do.

Look what I don't do. It has that in that meaning. But it really more so means separated unto. Separated unto it's like in this sense reserved for the exclusive use of it's like my shoe is reserved for the exclusive use of my foot and Nobody else puts it on unless it's my grandchildren.

They may do that and walk around but it's reserved. It's separated unto him you see and our bodies are when we're joined by the Spirit of God. We are reserved for him and this is the reason he left you on the planet.

Why didn't he drown you at baptism? To be with Christ is far better. To die is gained. Do you believe that? Well, he leaves you here with the infinite privilege of being brought into his heart and his passion as a co-laborer.

Communion see communion precedes commission. A Lot of people are busy working quote for God, but it's not the work of God. It's what they imagined it would be. We need to learn to surrender and let him do his work in us.

Real holiness in my life and in yours is the result of only one thing the Holy One his presence. Given freedom in my life and yours all the call of Scripture is to holiness. You say I just want to know God's will for my life.

Well the Scriptures in Thessalonians say this is the will of God even your sanctification. Your holiness. And he says you're called unto holiness in Hebrews. He says without holiness. No man will see God.

He says if that's not happening if it's not the process that's going on. And then I don't really know him in the sense He wants me to know him. The Ecclesia the church means called out ones. But it's also means called into an assembly called together in the presence of God.

The very first work that God ever does is to convict of unholiness. He brings conviction of sin he he brings the word to to turn to me with all your heart. And if you haven't had that then if you don't know sin.

You'll never appreciate the cross in the way that it was meant to be apprehended. It takes a revelation of sin and the cross. Being forgiven for me to appreciate what he really wants how important is holiness.

Holiness and the Church's Testimony

It is the critical need in the church in America and in the last two years probably maybe three years. It's death blow after death blow to the testimonies of many ministries and many churches and many groups because the world has seen that holiness is an option and.

Then we come and we try to carry on ministry and they think they can sidestep as well. You see it's a clever thing. It's spiritual warfare of the enemy and he he is trying to Absolutely take away our heart and our message one of the characteristics of the last days.

It says man will be unthankful and unholy. It's a character. So that's why you don't hear me that many messages on holiness. But the Spirit of God is speaking to us about holiness. We and in say saying we have the privilege of this.

Yes to God. You see you can grieve the Holy Spirit. The Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit by whom you've been sealed until the day of redemption. It says you can resist The Holy Spirit he can whisper to you.

You can say no you can quench the Holy Spirit. Inwardly, he's speaking to us and we we quench we pour water. He says stand up and share my word with these people here on the bus and we pour water on it.

We quench that burning fire that's there. We can insult the Holy Spirit. The Bible says we can disobey the Holy Spirit. We can ignore the Holy Spirit. We can misrepresent him. You see we can insult him.

All those terms are used in the New Testament about what we can do against his gracious. Wonderful moving in your heart and your mind. Well, I want to read in Ephesians 5 with you if you'll turn there.

That's the scripture we're going to be pulling from this evening. Ephesians chapter 5 and we're going to cover what some have said is probably one of the most important commands in the New Testament this this last portion of of Ephesians talks about the walk and the love and the power of God when he's in the people.

The first half of it talk about the the heavenly riches of the church but then comes the earthly responsibilities of how we're to walk out who we are in those last chapters of Ephesians and so I want to read beginning in verse.

I told the gentleman in the back a little later. But I want to start in verse 8 if we can Ephesians 5 8. You were sometimes darkness. But now you are light in the Lord walk as children of the light. For the fruit of the spirit or the light in all is an all goodness and in righteousness and in truth.

And you prove what is acceptable to the Lord have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. But rather reprove them. How do you do that? Well, you do it by your life shining your light shining.

It's a shame to even speak of those things which are done by those that walk in darkness and secret. But all things that are reproved are revealed by the light and whatsoever makes something revealed is light.

That's what the church is to be a light in darkness and salt and and to reveal the truth now we get to the verses wherefore God says Awake you who are asleep now, this is really being awakened here. This is what it means to be awoke.

Awake those of you who are asleep and it's speaking to believers and and rise from the dead and Christ will give you light. See that you walk wisely or circumspectly not like a fool. But as a wise person redeeming the time paying the price to let your time your days be Christ filled be because the days are evil wherefore don't be unwise.

But it says become Understanding what the will of the Lord is. This is his will we're talking about. And here's the verse and be not drunk with wine. We're in his excess but be filled with the spirit and then it gives some characteristics speaking to yourselves and psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs there'll be a symphony of the Word of God on the inside.

You'll find it easier to write songs all of us when his song is being sung and you sing and make melody in your Heart to the Lord and you give thanks always for all things to God in the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and you submit to one another your church body and you're you're in the fear of God and then it talks about Relationships it talks about wives Submission to husbands then it talks about how that husbands are to give their lives and lay down their life for their wife.

Then it talks about children to parents then it talks about masters and slaves then it talks about the Christian and the devil because the way you'll tell if your spirit fill and it's coming out. Will be in your relationships.

It'll come out with your grandchildren with your employer. It'll come out. It'll God lets that be reality to us now. This command verse 14 to be being filled with the Spirit of God is given. We could understand if it was to a carnal Corinth.

But this is to of the most spiritual church probably that Paul spent time at back in verse 1 of chapter 1. He says that he's writing to the faithful in Christ Jesus to Saints. He's writing to a church that's had a massive experience with God like your church had an awesome experience with God but God would still come and say look my command to you is to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God to Saints to Holy Ones in Christ Jesus and this word when it says be filled this is an important it this is a The verb tense there it is a plural it means all of you there's no exception everybody hearing this.

Everybody reading this you're to be being filled with the Holy Spirit of God and it's also Passive voice because that means you don't do this. It's not something that God says. I want you to fill yourself.

This is something that's done to you. So it's all-inclusive and it's so. It is something that is what is happening. I guess the Lord wants us to hear that. He wants it to happen to you. And to me as a continual thing.

It's a command and it's for all of us and it's to be done now. It's a present tense and it's continuous all those together a plural all of you. Let this happen to you. It's continuous. It's like a river that God has designed it to happen.

And so God is saying that to us now, what's he saying? He's saying be filled with the personality of God and the scriptures say God is light. The scriptures say God is truth. God is love. God is a consuming fire.

So it means that your life is being filled Continually with love and light and truth and fire not of this world and a man can't receive this unless the Holy Spirit Makes this real to him and you can't even hear what I'm saying tonight and have it make sense.

Unless God was saying to you. Let this be my will for you. I want you to understand what the will of the Lord is how to prove and walk in the whole heart and mind of God. Well, I'm gonna tell you something.

The world is amused and probably offended by the denominations. Our grasp or lack of it of truth. They see things happening and they just chuckle they ride by a church that's lit up and they say They're meeting again.

Look their pastor was just in the paper. He's an adulterer and They dismiss it all. Because we don't take this verse seriously on every level. It is so serious. It's so serious see God designed the real Christian life to be impossible.

You Can't live the Christian life. I can't live the Christian life. It's possible only one way. It's Christ himself in you. It's that mystery. We talked about where you allow him to be God. You're not trying to help him out.

You're trying to belong to him and consecrate yourself moment by moment and life is a dressing room for Eternity you see it's by my spirit sayeth the Lord. So let me ask you honestly. Are you obeying this verse?

Are you and I we've each got to do it. It makes sense when you have a verse that's this clear to ask yourself. Am I being obedient to this verse? There's no middle ground here. Doesn't mean we'll all be Mightily perfect and the spirits will but it does mean that our hearts will be toward him with my whole heart.

I've sought thee Lord and I want to know you. I want to know you you see we have an opportunity to lie to Ourselves and maybe not live in the fullness of all of that. So God wants us to be different in these days.

Conditions for Being Filled With the Spirit

Now. We're not speaking about being born of his spirit here. We're talking about being filled with the spirit. He who's joined to the Lord is one spirit and out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

Like the scriptures say and that's what he wants to happen. I'm not asking you tonight. Do you have the Holy Spirit? I'm asking you if the Holy Spirit has you. That's the question. Whether or not he has my heart and my ear and my passion and my desire.

The question is does he possess you and the other question is do you really want him to? Because when the Spirit of God Owns his church and makes her what he wants her to be and died for her to become and lives for her to become as He prays for her and longs for her and fellowships and communes with her when that happens.

Do you want that it will make the church a bullseye not a blessing? She will become a target as I said this morning. I've been in a lot of countries I've had the privilege of preaching in over 65 countries and I can tell you some of them black behind the Iron curtain before it came down.

I got to see firsthand and be part of it up close and how these Christians under incredible persecution Were so joyous and it absolutely devastated me and it showed me how shallow I was living in the church.

That I had been in for so that I didn't really understand the fellowship of his sufferings and to arm myself With the same mind and what it really meant to take up the cross. Those are things of Christ and it took the Holy Spirit Leading me into that to lead you into that and we're still headed into it.

It's coming to our country. You know this Harder days will come there is no way that God will ignore what's going on no matter who we elect you could put the Apostle Paul in the White House and This country would still come under the judgment of God for the way It's treating things that he hates and the way he's they're embracing the things that he condemns.

And he's warned after war and after war national disasters earthquakes, you name it. How could you warn people anymore, but we go right on just dismissing it. I wasn't gonna talk on this and I said I wasn't gonna talk on the issues of the hour.

I was going to talk about the majesty of eternity but I'm telling you as it says in Jeremiah, there's a rumor from the Lord the land and People know it their hearts are fluttering because they know that not only nationally but internationally.

There is such an immense Fuse that's been lit and things are happening that you have no idea in the news and they're being hidden from the public. But when it happens, it'll happen quickly. That's not to make fear.

But it is to provoke you and me to choose now and don't wait he foresees The evil coming and he prepares his heart for it. This is a wise man who hears what the Lord is saying when we do this. So every true believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

But would you agree with this not every true believer is being filled with the Spirit. Would you say that's true? Look around it is so obvious if you're not filled if I'm not filled being filled with the Spirit.

There'll be no power in your life. Not really and the world will be offended and they will they'll put you off and push you away and this is why so. Many people have a hard time living the Christian life because they're trying to do it.

Only the Spirit of God in them can do they can't love that. What can't love your enemies. Only God can enable you to do that as he fills you. You have no power in living if you're not filled you have no power over sin.

It's like trying to throw away a boomerang you throw it away and it keeps coming back. But the Holy Spirit will break this power. He breaks he convicts us and he gives righteousness. He can over only he is the overcomer and then you'll try to also serve him and it won't work in service.

It'll be like Miserable futility it'll be trying and always halfway there and it'll be inside quiet Desperation and not over just bad things but of not having what God really wants in our life. So here's the thing tonight.

God longs to fill us with his Holy Spirit. He commands us to be in the place where we can be filled with his Holy Spirit. And he is more ready to fill me with his Holy Spirit than I am. He's having to let me learn hard lessons sometime to say what you need is me it's not an it you need.

It's not just deliverance or money. It's me you need and I need to surrender and I'm learning this more more. He is yearning and he died so he could fill me with the Holy Spirit. He is on the throne today praying for us to his church to put on the garments of beautiful praise and to walk before the Lord In the beauty of holiness and that's possible only by him.

So if I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit The fault is entirely mine. Whether you're a baby Christian or whether you're a seasoned saint he wants us to be being filled with the Holy Spirit and if Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the one sin in the scripture that says so serious that God says it then to ignore him is probably one of the greatest errors and mistakes the church could ever make and You don't put God on your treadmill or my treadmill or in my box.

We let him be God you saw some amazing things happening here three years ago. I Heard your pastor who's been a friend of mine for Oh Almost two decades. I heard him say that his life was changed in those meetings.

I heard him say he saw things. It's the power of God that changes us when we see this and we want to enter into it. And this is what every one of us needs in here. And even if we resist it, we know it's true.

We know that it's true. So You see God wants us to be filled but there are conditions To be filled with the Holy Spirit. There are biblical Conditions that God will not lay aside to let me enjoy the power of his inward presence.

I want to give them to you. I'll list them right now. These are the simple words confess renounce surrender obey and Believe those five simple words. I'm going to talk about each one for a moment. You see confession.

Confessing Sin Specifically

This is when I come and I call things in my life, it's like what you heard this morning when Confess sin homo logeo. It means to say the same word. It's not just your anger. It could be wrath you got to call things in your life.

But the Spirit shows you the same word he uses you can't sidestep them or treat them lightly. I've got to confess you see the Spirit of God and sin Cannot live in the same heart and have freedom. You just can't do it.

It's got to be One or the other so God will not cover Pour his spirit on flesh. He just won't do it now. I want to just bring Josh can you come up here for a second? I'm gonna we had baptism this morning I figured I'd do something something tonight.

Would you just stand right there for a second? Okay. No, but I Have here. Okay, have a sip. I have here Something very obvious. I want you to put your arm on my and now I want you to shake me shake it shake it.

Oh, okay. Let's shake some more. Okay now, okay. Okay. What happened when you shook my arm it spilled over it spilled over. Why did it spill over? There's not a lid on it. There's not a lid on it. Okay, you shook it.

But but why did Water come out when you shook me because it was moving because it was moving. But why do water come out when you shook it? There's water in there. That's it. There's water. That's it. Take this drink.

No, that's good. Nobody ever gets that. No, no. No I mean I've done that with kids and everything and they always say because you shook it because the velocity of the water was greater than the Cup all these things the reason water comes out is because waters in it.

But we have to ask ourself what came out of me the last time I was shaken. Whatever is in it No matter what label we wear No matter what we say with our lips if our hearts are far It will come out and it will be there like that.

So God wants us number one to confess to confess you see it says in the scriptures if I regard Iniquity in my heart The Lord will not hear me and that word regard is a has actually even a sexual connotation in the Hebrew to it.

It means like to fondle or to or to flirt with if I flirt with and and mess with evil in my heart. It doesn't have to come out here. It absolutely God Shuts down my prayer life. It says this is the confidence that we have in him if we ask anything According to his will if our hearts don't condemn us.

We know then he hears us and if we knows he hears us. Then we know we have those petitions that we've asked of him. But if our heart condemns us if we're full of unforgiveness, then don't let that man think he'll expect anything from the Lord.

But you see we go right on coming to prayer meeting. We go right on going through the motions and we fit right in. We know a lot of people all of us and there are many very very Busy people and religious people in denominations even but then we find out later that it wasn't Agreeing with the inside and the outside have you seen this lately and it's very distressing and it hurts the church's Reputation as being a holy church indeed.

So it is the Christian that's told to confess sin. The last man's to confess the Lord. He doesn't understand this yet. He comes to the Lord and he repents of his sin. It comes he does confess but the Christian is the one that the scriptures are saying confess your sins and Pray for one another that you might be healed if we walk in the light as he's in the light then the Lord his blood will keep on cleansing us and we have fellowship because we're walking in the conviction in the confession of Sin, so the greatest hindrance to the spirit-filled life is sin and self and we've got to confess these things.

This is base one you can't go any further than that until you really deal with it now. I wrote this down and I want to just read this because In case you haven't noticed the devil is very busy in our day.

We are told not to be ignorant of his devices. We're not to be ignorant of his craftiness and his his strategies were to be beware. If if he can't stop a person from coming to Christ. What he wants to do is paralyze his testimony and put him at a permanent standstill where he's just a statistic.

Where he's just a number. So it's his goal the devil's to have some sort of foothold. The scriptures talk about that giving place or giving a foothold have giving a place a stronghold of some inward Unsurrendered area that we keep for a logical reason to us, but it's insanity scripturally if you really look at it.

We hold on to it and he wants to destroy my fellowship or my testimony. He wants to defile my mind by secret journeys on the internet or on the TV. Where nobody knows that you think it won't hurt anybody, but your whole family suffers people can tell.

There's something wrong here. He wants to divide your heart he wants to you have you have a contradictory life or he wants to paralyze your faith or Misdirect your focus and your priority and your energy.

He wants to rob you the devil does of your fellowship with the Lord and ruin your fellowship between husband and wife. Because of unspoken undealt with things. That's what the devil is trying to do. He wants me to be a dwarf in my inner man, I May be well known and on TV or whatever else I think makes success for the believer, but I can be a dwarf inwardly.

God's eyes are looking at the heart. He's searching. He's looking for a person whose heart is right toward him that he can be showing himself strong. The devil wants to distort what it means to be a Christian especially in our day and make us just one more group of people that's doing right in their own eyes like it was at the time of Judges so scriptures are full of examples of the bones of people who died in the wilderness of all the Kings 38 Kings only eight of them were really good and only four of those finished.

Well in the scriptures. Think of that but you don't have to be like that nor do I. Because we have such greater light than the people who didn't see the resurrection and understand it. And they didn't have a high priest on the throne whose name is Jesus.

Praying for them not like we do that. He prays for us from his victory. Not just for hours. It's it's glorious what he wants for us. So confess and you got to be specific. You come before the Lord you say Lord.

I'm confessing specifically this is what I've done and let the weight of it move you and and and. See conviction is his part. Confession is my part. He convicts me of sin. That's faithfulness, but that doesn't mean boy.

You sure got to me today preacher. Then not really until you deal with the Lord and can confession and Deal and and making things right with people you see confess confess be specific. And he says confess your sin.

Is there gossip? Is there jealousy are there forbidden things doubtful things? Unclean activity compromise. It says in Psalm 90 verse 8. You've put our secret sins in the light of your face. It says that There's nothing hidden.

It won't be openly revealed. You got to see it in the big picture. So the first thing you see is to confess. It's like the woman that kept coming to the preacher and she was a Exaggerating everything and the preacher says Lady, that's a lie.

She says well pastor. I wouldn't want to call it lying. Well, you got to call it what God calls it. I go never be free from it. You got to see this seriousness of it. No more making excuses. He died to free me from the thing that I excused that glance.

Forbidden glance that attitude that quick answer of the tongue. I'm just saying wouldn't it be great if you were free if I were freed from that we can be we can live above that. We can live in the light we can make manifest and see we're just not willing to be rejected by those around us because we're different.

Oh. You're a phobic person or you're this or that and they they think we're against this and against that. No. No, because we've got the humility that comes with being filled with the Spirit to let us suffer patiently.

Whatever it takes to show who he really is confess. Confess you see if if the Holy Spirit points something out to you or me. It's going to remain the issue. It won't go away by increasing your offering.

It won't go away by getting more busy. It'll rim next time you get in your finest moment before God. He's not trying to condemn you. He's going back to say I want you to deal with that. It won't go away.

Because if the Spirit of God points it out, it's important. It may not feel like it's important to you. But the first thing then is confess. But the second part of this thing is renounce. Renounces when Proverbs 28 13 says whoever covers his sin Makes an excuse it covers it over.

He will not prosper. That's a promise from God as real as John 3 16. Whoever covers his sin will not prosper. But whosoever confesses and forsakes his sin Shall obtain mercy. It's the inward forsaking.

Renouncing Sin and Closing Doors

It's the hidden behavior of the heart that has to deal in the presence of holiness with what we're talking about. You see sin confessed must be renounced. You got to close the doors that you had open in your life and Unless I forsake What I confess I end up mocking God.

Lord I did it again. I'm back at the altar again and Lord Lord and and we can really trick ourselves but confess and Renounce and it may be hard but Jesus compared it to like plucking out your eye I remember or cutting off something you got to go to that extent to to let God Extract this from your heart and he will do what you cannot do.

Are there things in your life that you feel like you have to make an apology for? Do you change the way you talk when your pastors around or a deacon or a person you respect spiritually? Do you talk differently with your golf or bass buddies or whatever you go do to get with the guys?

Whatever you do you say this may involve something from the past like making it right money you owe. But you have to make it right you have to do if you really want to live in what we're talking about Revivals one thing but maintaining and walking in the character of God is another.

Why do revivals fade out because we forget this kind of truth right here. I don't know what's making that noise, but thank you all for not jumping too much when it happens. I don't understand it. Do you want God?

Enough To give up what you know to be wrong. Do you? Are you willing for that you say I can't well that just proves you're really lost in. I'm not willing now. We're getting somewhere. You see because he has given you the ability if you will it may be hard, but you see.