Filled in the Spirit - Ephesians 5:18

Amen.

Christ Is Building His Church in a Discouraging World

Thank you for lifting your voices today. Think about what our Lord Jesus is doing all over the world today. What an interesting thing is happening. Christ is building His church. I know that we can look around and we can certainly be discouraged, and rightfully so.

We can be discouraged about some things happening in the world today. We can be discouraged about things that are happening even in our own country. We can be discouraged about things that are happening perhaps in our families or maybe even in our community.

We live in a fallen world and there are things that certainly are, even rightfully, discouraging to the Christian heart. Let me encourage you with this wonderful truth this morning and something that we've been learning here as a church.

Christ is building His church. But what that means, it means more than just some sort of physical structure. It means more than some sort of club or community group. It means that Christ is building a holy people, a people who love one another, a people who are committed to the things of Christ and to one another, a people who love evangelism, a people who desire to do all that God has instructed us.

The Command to Be Filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18

And so that's where we find ourselves this morning in Ephesians chapter 5. In what we've been talking about, Ephesians chapter 5, what we've been talking about last week and then this week is what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

I want to be a Spirit-filled church. Don't you? We ought to want that. But what some people mean by that is a little different, I think, than what Paul means by that. And so this morning, we take up this subject again and we talk about being filled in the Spirit, filled in the Spirit.

And I'll explain that more as we go on today. But hopefully you found Ephesians 5. Would you stand with me in the honor of reading of God's Word? We find ourselves once again in verse 18. We covered part of it last week.

We'll cover more of it this week. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, and that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would understand this text today.

We pray that the Holy Spirit would be here, Holy Spirit. We pray that you would be here with us and among us and in us and that you would use the Word today to shape in us, to point our hearts and our minds even today to Christ, that we'd understand the truth that we're about to hear, that we'd be fed today by the Word of God.

Show us Christ. Lord, I know that there are Christians here among us who need to grow today in being filled in the Spirit. I know there are some here perhaps who have professed Christ, but they don't even have the Holy Spirit within them.

They're not actually believers, and today they need to repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ. And Lord, I pray that you would just work, our great and holy triune God, work today for your glory.

Work today in this community. We want to see the banner of Christ lifted higher, and we believe that Christ is worthy of a healthy church here. And let us be resolved to give our lives to such a noble endeavor.

We pray it in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. This is, as I mentioned, the second week. We look last week at more of the negative aspect of this verse. We looked at last week the prohibition. That is, Paul says, do not, do not get drunk with wine.

So we talked about last week that the Christians should not be controlled by alcohol, but we noticed an application. It's not just alcohol. The Christian is to not be controlled by anything except what?

Actually, the question is, except who? The Holy Spirit. So the things we put into our bodies, the things that we allow our minds to dwell on, the things that keep us up late at night. Are you one of those people, like any kind of person, like myself, at times you lay your head down on the pillow and you can't go to sleep.

Why?

You're just thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking. Paul says, no, no, don't be controlled. Don't be controlled by these things. Be controlled rather by the Holy Spirit. That's the prohibition.

What It Does Not Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit

This week we come to the second point of this verse, and that is the precept, the precept. And do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery. But notice the second part, be filled with the Spirit.

So I say the precept because this is a command. The second half of this verse is also an imperative. We're not merely told in this verse to not do something. Well, Christians don't get drunk with wine.

That's true. But we're told also to do something. So let me remind you again. If you see Christianity today as merely the things that you're not allowed to do, like if your summary of Christianity is the not do's, then you've misunderstood the essence of Christianity.

It's not just about the things that we don't do, but also the things that we're commanded to do. And that is in verse 18, we're not only commanded not to get drunk with wine, but also to what? To be filled with the Spirit.

This is a command. And so it is our endeavor now to consider this command. And let me make this comment. What is your reaction to the commands of the Lord? Okay, because the Christians' reaction to the commands of the Lord is that we love to know what God has commanded us to do.

I want to know what is it that God wants of my life. The commandments of God are not seen as a groan to the believer. They're not seen as burdensome to the believer. Rather, the genuine believer wants to know what it is that God has commanded them to do so that they can adjust their lives accordingly to His book.

So you and I are commanded then to be filled in this text with the Spirit. That is the Holy Spirit, of course, the third person of the Trinity, God Himself. So what is it now that Paul means by this? I'm going to mention first what it does not mean, and I think that will help us.

I was helped by Martin Lloyd-Jones' sermon on this verse and diagnosing what this feeling is not. So first of all, being filled with the Spirit is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, okay? And some, I should say, persuasions of Christianity might think that being filled with the Spirit is you need to get baptized with the Spirit.

That's not what Paul is talking about here because the Spirit's baptism is a one-time event. It happens at conversion. And in the baptism of the Spirit, we're resurrected. We are united to Christ. That is, spiritually resurrected, regenerated.

We're united to Christ. We're united to all that He has done for us. Water baptism, by the way, is intricately connected to this, not because water baptism brings about these things, but because water baptism is that outward and visible sign of these inward realities.

But baptism of the Spirit, baptism of the Spirit, is a one-time experience for every true Christian.

So listen very carefully here.

When Paul says that Christians are to be filled with the Spirit, he's not saying for us to go and be baptized again by the Holy Spirit. You can't, if you're a Christian, you can't be baptized again by the Holy Spirit.

This has already happened to you. It's happened in your regeneration. By the way, we need to notice something about this command. It's a passive command. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

So you understand what I mean when I say be passive. That is, we're not to fill ourselves. The text says we're to be filled, okay? And though it is passive, it's actually also a command. Whereas, for example, I wanna show you another example.

When it comes to Spirit baptism or regeneration, being born again, you know that we're never commanded to be born again. It's just a reality that has to happen to us. Let me show you real quick. Turn to John 3.

Flipping over here to my left, to the Gospel of John, John chapter 3, this is passive as well, but it's just an indicative. It's not a command. So in John chapter 3, this is what Jesus says. I'm gonna read in verse 3.

Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you,.

Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you.

Now here it is.

You must be born again. That's not a command. Jesus doesn't command, go be born again. He states it as a matter of fact. You must be, it's in the indicative mood. You must be, it's a declarative statement of fact.

To put it more simply, they're not telling us in verse 7, Jesus is not telling us what we must do, but what we must be. We must be born again, or we cannot see the kingdom of God. The Bible does not command us to go be born again.

Why?

Because regeneration is entirely passive. You can't do that. That's what God does to you. It's something that God does to us, not something that we conjure up with God, and cooperate with God, and work with God in order to bring about.

But now back to our text, this is not a declarative statement. This is an imperative. It doesn't just say you must be filled with. It says, no, He commands us in verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

So it's a passive command. It is be filled, meaning we don't fill ourselves. However, it's also an imperative. It's not an indicative. That is, it is a command. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a command, but being filled with the Spirit is a command.

So this is not talking about spirit baptism. Number two, it's not talking about the sealing of the Spirit. This will be easier to look at in our text. Go back to Ephesians chapter four, verse 30, just a few verses above where we're at.

Ephesians chapter four, verse 30,.

Says this,.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were stilled for the day of redemption. Okay, so we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, not like you seal vegetables and put them in the fridge. Rather, we're sealed with the Spirit like God stamps us with His ring and the hot wax and we're stamped with the Holy Spirit Himself.

So the Holy Spirit of God is in us as a down payment, as it were, of eternal glory. The Spirit holds us until the day of redemption, bearing witness to us that we are God's children. So again, spirit baptism, one-time experience.

The sealing of the Spirit, one-time experience. It happens at conversion. We certainly experience the effects of that more and more and more in our life, but it's only a one-time experience. We're not commanded here to be sealed in the text, but to be filled.

Okay, so baptism of the Spirit, sealing of the Spirit, these are all prerequisites to what Paul's commanding in verse 18. That is, let me just say this. If you haven't been born again, if you haven't come to Christ in faith, you're not going to live a life filled in by, with the Holy Spirit.

In fact, that's a problem for a lot of Christians today. They're like, why can't I, I try to read my Bible, it doesn't work. I try to go to church, it doesn't work. Every now and then I feel guilty about evangelism, but it doesn't work.

I try to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it doesn't work. Well, maybe it doesn't work because your heart is still stoned and you must be born again. Okay, this text is not spirit baptism. It's not spirit sealing.

Thirdly, it's not being filled for an extraordinary task. So here's what I mean by this. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit comes upon people sometimes in a special way for a specific extraordinary task. Think of Samson for a moment.

You remember what happens with Samson? Even at his death, he prays for one more time to have the Holy Spirit in him and it brings him much strength. Or think about in church history. There were men and women in church history who were marched to the stake and they were burned alive.

And what were they doing when they were going to the stake? They weren't kicking and screaming. They weren't crying. Some of them were preaching Christ. Some of them were singing a hymn and imploring with those who were hearing them to turn to Christ and be saved.

How were they doing that? I believe it was a special grace, a special grace from the Holy Spirit for those moments. But Paul's command here is not for the extraordinary moments of our lives. Friends, what I'm saying is, this is for the everyday average blue collar Christian.

All of us are to be, verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. So it's not spirit baptism. It's not spirit sealing. It's not some sort of extraordinary task.

And if it's not those things, then what is it? Well, that's what we're going to look at. Let me give you three points here. And I think this will help us wrap our mind around what Paul is saying. So number one is this.

Being Filled with the Spirit Is a Controlled Condition

First, being filled in the Spirit is a controlled condition. Number one, it's a controlled condition. Paul says, do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Now I'm going to talk a little bit of grammar.

I think it'll help us. It's interesting that some of your translations may say by the Spirit. Some of your translations may say with the Spirit. But the Greek word is actually the word for in the Spirit.

So I like that language, actually. Be filled in the Spirit. So it's not so much, because I think sometimes we think about this. I'm an empty vessel. I'm like a pitcher. I'm a little bit empty on the Holy Spirit today.

I need the Holy Spirit to come into me. Like some have said, like a liquid or something. You're pouring out a liquid, but the Spirit is not a liquid. That's not how we're to think about it. That's not what Paul is showing us here.

Rather, he's showing us that instead of an experience that we have, friends, this is a condition that we are to be in. It's a controlled condition. We have been transformed by grace. If you're a believer, you've been united to Christ by grace through faith.

And now we live out our days on earth in the Spirit of God, gladly under His control, gladly under His leadership. So many people talk about how they're a believer, but they don't live tangibly as though Christ is King.

But to be filled in the Spirit is to live under the glad submission of the Spirit of God. This is a control condition. And that, I believe, is the point of the illustration with drunkenness. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

Remember, we talked about last week that word. It's used in the prodigal son, reckless living. To be drunk with wine is recklessness. The opposite of that is to be controlled by the Spirit. So Paul is not saying, as some people would say, that you need to be drunk on the Holy Spirit.

And I've been in places before, and you have too, where people sort of try to exercise that, a drunkenness on the Spirit. But that's not what Paul is saying. The whole point here is that the Christian should be controlled by the Holy Spirit, not by foreign substances, not by carnality, not by idolatry.

Okay, let me just tell you this. Lack of control in your life is the opposite of this command. Lack of control in worship is not Holy Spirit oriented. Those who try to make a mockery of the worship of God and cause confusion and chaos, there may be a Spirit present in those places, but it's not the Holy Spirit.

Because the Holy Spirit brings about control. How do I know this stuff about control, by the way? Let's look at another passage. Turn over to Galatians real quick. Galatians chapter five. Here, go back to your left one book.

You're in Ephesians. Go back to Galatians chapter five. And here Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. And here's the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians chapter five. I'll start in verse 19 to give a contrast.

So Galatians chapter five, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Okay, so here's what it's like to be controlled by the flesh. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

Listen to Paul very carefully. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So if you're here today, let me just give a gospel invitation to you.

If you are here today and you say, I know I'm a Christian, but I'm controlled by idolatry or drunkenness or envy or sexual immorality or strife. And you want to say things like, well, that's just how I'm made.

That's just my constitution. That's just my personality. I'm bent towards these things and I do these things and these things control my life. But I know I'm a Christian because there was a time in my life that I raised my hand and I prayed a prayer and I walked an aisle and I signed a card and they baptized me and they put a name in my Bible.

And I know I'm a Christian. Paul says he knows you're not a Christian. That's what Paul says. That's not what Quattro says, it's what Paul says. Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Friend, if that is you, this is the gospel invitation. If that is you, you need to repent and you need to believe on Christ. You need to turn from your sin and your idolatry and your hypocrisy and you need to cast yourself upon the mercies of Christ.

And like the song we sang this morning, he welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor. Our sins there are many, but his mercy is more. Come to Christ. But now listen, this is what a spirit controlled life looks like.

Verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. And here's the last one, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Friends, what I'm trying to say is that to be filled in the spirit is to live a life that is controlled by the spirit.

It's a controlled condition. S .M. Ball notes that believers now live in this constant awareness of the presence of God in their lives. It's the Holy Spirit that brings about this awareness and brings about tangible fruit.

Sinclair Ferguson says it this way, to be filled with the spirit refers predominantly to exhibiting the fruit of the spirit in a life that is under the lordship of the spirit. Being filled in the spirit is a controlled condition.

It's not foolishness. It is not disconnected from the brain. 10 years ago or so, I was in a men's Bible study. And a man just asked, you know how you ever in a Bible study, sometimes a man just ask a question.

Well, a man asked the group, have you ever felt God? And then he proceeded to answer his own question. He said, I have. I mean, I'm reading a direct quote because I wrote it down.

I did.

It was one of those experiences. He says, I have. My brainwaves start going like, I don't know, like I touched something electrical and my spine gets tingly and I smell roses. I've always heard if you smell roses, out of nowhere, that's God.

Friends, what I'm trying to say to you is there's a lot that we could work through with that illustration. But the point is that is not being filled in the spirit. That rather is an experience that seems to incorporate a line from the song in the garden, I think.

And a bad experience perhaps with an electrical outlet. That's not what Paul is talking about here. We live, though, we live in experience-driven Christianity. How are things going in Asbury, by the way?

Oh yeah, that's already over, right? We're so caught up in some sort of experience for a week or two weeks. Oh yes, and we're fighting as Christians. That's really revival. No, it's not really revival.

And we're arguing about it.

Why?

Because we're so wrapped up in an experience. And some people live their Christian life from experience to experience to experience. And they don't know how to live just the ordinary, regular, normative Christian life.

And the ordinary, regular, normative Christian life is actually extraordinary because it is a life filled in the Holy Spirit of God. Friends, we can't try to create something here. Churches do this, don't they?

Today, we're gonna create an experience, you know? So the drums will come out of the stage and they'll spin around while the drummer's continuing to play and we'll all be amazed and we'll say, woo, we had a good church today.

And then we'll wake up tomorrow, we won't read our Bibles and we won't tell people about Jesus. We'll go on sinning. We'll love the idols of this world and we won't be transformed. That's not Christianity.

Christianity is that we're to be in this constant condition of a life filled full in the Spirit. We are His possession. We are to be under His control. We are to be under His divine influence. It means that we're Bible people because the Spirit wrote the Bible.

It's a controlled condition. Secondly, it's a continual command. Now, notice something again about grammar. I'm in Galatians, I gotta go back to Ephesians. Notice something here. When he says, be filled, be filled with the Spirit, you may not notice, it sounds like it's past tense, but in reality, it's a present imperative.

Meaning it's a constant thing that we're to do. It's a continual command. The idea, friends, that Paul is saying is the Christian is to keep on being filled in the Holy Spirit. Keep on submitting yourself to His divine influence.

The Spirit of God, He doesn't numb us like drunkenness. Drunkenness numbs us. Or other things that we get involved in, the idolatry of the world. It pulls us out of reality. But that's not what the Spirit does, right?

That He empowers our minds. He inflames our hearts. He enlivens our wills. He invigorates our affections. There is real, no, friends, I'm just gonna tell you, there is real no life apart from the Spirit of God.

To be filled in the Spirit is to actually live for God. Here's where real contentment is found. Being fulfilled in God. God is enough. He is enough. He is enough. He is enough. I don't gotta have Brother Jacob's truck.

I don't gotta have Brother Gunnar's camper, right? I don't have to have the vacation.

You know what I'm saying?

I have enough in God. Like I'm not saying those things are wrong, you understand? What I'm saying is we live life trying to keep up with the Joneses. We live life saying, like, I wanna go where they're going.

I wanna do what they're doing. Like, no, no, no, God is enough. God is enough. That's who we were made for. And this is the life that we live in the Spirit. Real contentment. Friends, to be filled in the Spirit will result in people saying things to us like this.

You're out of your mind. To give your life to the church, to give your life to proselytizing the gospel, to give your life to always be talking about Jesus and always be so connected with your church family,.

You're out of your mind.

Because the reality of the Holy Spirit in a people and with us and for us and in us is not just making us nice, moral people. Listen, please, very carefully to this. Perryville is not going to have an issue with nice, moral people.

That's what you wanna be. Just a nice, moral person. You pick up the trash you see on the street. You involve yourself in the activities of the community. You're nice to everybody. You're holding open doors.

Not that any of those things are wrong, okay? But what I'm saying is, that's not being filled in the Spirit. No one in Perryville is gonna have a problem.

If you live that way.

But they will have a problem. They will take issue when the Holy Spirit actually takes control of your life and influences and fills your life.

Why?

Because that will result in a life that's not just moral and clean and picking up trash and down at the ball fields or whatever. That will result in a life that loves the Bible and loves the church and loves Christ and loves holiness and hates sin.

That kind of life is a problem and an indictment upon a culture that embraces nominal Christianity. Friends, this is no like command. Be filled in the Spirit. And the point here is, Christian, you're continually commanded to live that kind of life.

So don't look at here and be like, you know what, on this day, 13 years ago, I was filled in the Spirit. Check, got that done. Boom, I'm off to something else. No, friends, this is a continual command.

Be filled in the Spirit. You're to be continually filled in the Spirit. It's simply not an option. Okay, thirdly, it's a controlled condition, a continual command. Next, it is corporate communion. Corporate communion.

Here's what you cannot forget in verse 18. What is the subject? This is fun, right, grammar? What is the subject of verse 18? The subject is not there.

What?

No, it's implied, right? And do not get drunk with wine. Who's he talking to?

You.

So the subject, just like we understand in English, the subject is an implied you. And you don't get drunk with wine. Okay, but in Greek, we can understand it. In English, we don't understand it. Though, here's a great idea.

Someone should translate the Bible in Perry County vernacular. Because if you did that, you would know the difference between you and y 'all, right? You is what? Usually singular, right? Brayden, you go start the car, all right?

Y 'all is plural. Y 'all need to clean up your room. Okay, if you don't take this as irreverent, but if Paul was writing in the Perry County vernacular, he would say something like this. Y 'all don't get drunk with wine.

Why would he say y 'all? Because the idea here is plural. Please don't miss this. It is a command, but it is a plural command. Yes, yes, yes. Individual Christians are to be filled in the spirit, but the command is corporate.

It's plural. It's for the local church. In fact, look at verse 19. That's what rolls right into it. Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Oh, by the way, can I show you something? I'm too excited to keep it to myself. But a few weeks, we'll get to verse 19. Okay, in verse 19, it says your, look at verse 19 at the end, making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Your, there, is plural. Okay, y 'all's heart. Heart is what, plural or singular? It's singular. There's not an S on it. You would expect it to say your hearts. In other words, make melody to the Lord with your hearts, meaning each individual should make melody to the Lord with their individual hearts.

It doesn't say that. It says your, plural, heart, singular. What's he saying? Friends, he's saying the local church has a heartbeat, right? The local church has a united heart. And so back to verse 18, it's not just individually that we're supposed to be filled with the spirit, but together in one heart, we're to be a church that is filled with the spirit of God.

The local church, friends, is not a joyless place. And I've seen something happen over the last couple of months here. I've seen something happen. And it's actually very beautiful. You guys talk a lot to each other, right?

Standing around, I'm looking, I'm watching you. No, see, before church, we can't get church started on time because you're just talking. And then after church, try to get out of here and you're just still talking.

Why is that? It's because the spirit is working in this place. We're not a joyless place. We're to be a family. We're not the frozen chosen. Local church together seeks to be filled in the Holy Spirit.

And we desire to be a spirit filled church. Christ is King. We are a spirit filled church. We seek to have together our minds and wills and desires under the complete control of God. This is what it means to be a Bible loving Baptist church.

Baptist churches get knocked on by other churches that say, well, you guys don't care anything about the Holy Spirit.

Baloney.

Yes, we do. We love the spirit of God. We want more of the Holy Spirit. We want to live more and more. We want every rebel aspect of our life. Every thought that is going out of control. Every rebel lust that's remaining in our heart.

We want all of it to be submitted to the Holy Spirit. And we need the spirit to make us more and more and more like Christ. We love the Holy Spirit at this place. We need him.

We need him.

We just don't think that the Holy Spirit results in foolishness. We believe it results in a life that is under control. We find our satisfaction here in what the spirit of God is doing. Having united us to Christ, having united us to one another, sanctifying us.

We don't need to find our satisfaction in music style or programs or from the text, we could say drunkenness. We don't need those things.

Why?

Because we have the Holy Spirit. So now the question comes, how do we obey this command? If this is what it means, if it's a controlled condition, a continual command and a corporate communion, how do we submit our lives to Ephesians 5 .18?

How do we do what this says? Let me just give you a few notes. One obvious answer is this, if you are violating Ephesians 4 .30, then you can't be obeying Ephesians 5 .18. What does Ephesians 4 .30 say?

Turn there in your Bibles just a few verses up. Ephesians 4 .30, Paul says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Okay, if your life, if your life is grieving the Holy Spirit, if your life is grievous to the Holy Spirit, then you are not being filled in the Holy Spirit.

So tangible application, I'll put it down on the bottom shelf. Hear me, if your life, if there is sin in your life, it will keep you from being filled in the Spirit. You can't on one hand grieve the Holy Spirit and on the other hand be filled in the Holy Spirit.

So first application is this, you want to obey Ephesians 5 .18? Yes, if you're a Christian. So first you have to put to death, you must seek to put to death the things that are earthly within you. Is something else today seeking to control your life?

Is it the cell phone? Is it something that seems like not that big a deal, the cell phone or television or the internet or social media? Whatever it is, you must kill it by the Spirit of God. You must take it to the Lord.