BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT by D. James Kennedy A.B., M.Div., M.Th., D.D., D.Sac.Lit., Ph.D., Litt.D., D.Sac.Theol., D.Humane Let. TEXT: For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Ephesians 5:9 I suppose if I were to ask those of you to stand who know in your heart that you are a Christian, the great majority of you would stand. However, if I were to ask how many of you know in your heart that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, I m afraid a much smaller group would stand. How about you, dear friend? Do you know that you are filled with the Holy Spirit? Our text today says, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). If more church members were as concerned at being filled with the Spirit as they were about finding the right wine, the church would be a very different place, and our nation would reflect the change. Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost means fifty days. This is fifty days after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in His fullness upon the Church and the real beginning of the New Testament Church. Many people are not even sure the Holy Spirit is in them at all. In fact, many people are not even sure who or what the Holy Spirit is. I have even heard members of this church refer to the Holy Spirit as it, a thing something neuter. My friends, the Holy Spirit is a person. We know about the three persons of the Godhead Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is a person, the Son is a person, the Holy Spirit is a person, and this is not merely a quibbling about words. I would imagine, gentlemen, that if your wife said to your son, Would you tell that... that thing across the table to pass the salt (and maybe some of you have experienced that), I assure you, you would indeed feel quite demeaned and humiliated. To call the glorious person of the Holy Spirit a thing is also quite demeaning. It is, in fact, the consummate insult to degrade a person into a thing. By the way, virtually all of the cults believe that the Holy Spirit is a thing. They almost all deny the personality of the Holy Spirit and believe that He is a force, like gravity or magnetism Page 1 of 7
or electricity or something of that sort, and not, as historic Christianity has always held, a person. ATTRIBUTES OF PERSONHOOD What is the definition of a person? How would you define a person as opposed to a thing? There are historically four attributes to personhood. First, a person has a mind, has intellect, and can think. Second, a person has feelings, emotions. Third, a person has will. He can decide and choose and act. Fourth, a person can communicate in some way or another. These are the attributes of personality. Does the Holy Spirit have these attributes? Does He have a mind? Scripture says And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints (Romans 8:27). The Holy Spirit clearly has a mind, and an intellect, and He knows things. He not only knows things, He even knows things to come, the Scripture says. Does He have emotion? The Bible tells us that we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). The Scripture speaks of the love of the Holy Spirit. These are emotions, and so He has those as well. Does He have a will? The Bible tells us that the Spirit commands and the Spirit forbids, which are acts of the will. Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them (Acts 13:2), says the Holy Spirit. He also forbade Paul to enter into Asia, dividing to every man severally as he will (I Corinthians 12:11). Clearly, the Holy Spirit has a will. Obviously, neither the wind nor magnetism nor gravity nor electricity thinks, feels, and wills. The Holy Spirit also communicates. He cries in the hearts of Christians, Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6). Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Revelation 14:13). Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot [of the Ethiopian eunuch] (Acts 8:29). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is indubitably a person, and He is a divine person. As Peter said to Ananias, Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Acts 5:4), in that He had lied to the Holy Spirit. He is a divine person, and that is the basic foundation of the Trinity upon which all Christian worship and doctrine are founded. To deny the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit is to destroy the very foundation of the Christian life. The Holy Spirit is a very interesting person. He is God without a name. What is the name of the Holy Spirit? Well, you say, it is the Holy Spirit. Wait a minute. The Father is holy. The Son is holy. The Holy Spirit is holy. That is no different than the other two. The Father is a spirit; and prior to the incarnation of Christ, the Son or the second person of the Trinity, the logos, was Page 2 of 7
eternally a spirit; and so, the Holy Spirit has no distinctive name at all. In that, we can learn an important lesson a lesson of humility. The Holy Spirit does not come to call attention to Himself. Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will bring to your remembrance the things I have taught you. When the Comforter [the Spirit] is come... he shall testify of me (John 15:26), said Jesus. The purpose of the Holy Spirit was to speak about Christ, not about Himself. Dr. Manford Gutzke, for many years a professor of Bible and Christian education at Columbia Seminary, one of the most godly and Spirit-filled men I have ever known, said something I think is worthy of our remembrance. He said, You can always tell when any person or group or church is filled with the Holy Spirit, because they will be talking much about Jesus Christ. They will not be talking about the Holy Spirit. If you find an individual or group continually talking about the Holy Spirit, this may cause you to assuredly know that they are giving evidence that they are not being led and controlled and moved by the Holy Spirit for the simple reason that the Holy Spirit does not so move men. He leads and directs people unto Christ. That is the reason He came. What does the Holy Spirit mean in your life? We read in Ephesians 5: And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the [Holy] Spirit (v. 18). That is a command. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. I am afraid we have far more people in America who are filled with wine than are filled with the Holy Spirit. There are several tens of millions of alcoholics in this country today. Since each one of them affects five or six or seven other family members (fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters), it means there are probably 100 million people in this country who are adversely affected, and some of them tragically so, by those who are filled with wine or other alcoholic beverages. Nevertheless, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a very different thing. The Holy Spirit is the giver of joy. The Holy Spirit is a giver of happiness. As our text said, be [ye] filled with the [Holy] Spirit, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody... in your heart to the Lord (v. 19). So, dear friend, I would ask you, are you doing that today? Is your life, your heart, your mind filled with joy, or is it empty? Is it barren? Is it dry ground? Do you find that the joy of your salvation is gone? Do you look at your life and honestly say that you can t think of anything that really gives you true joy? If so, it is because you are not filled with the Spirit of God. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT Though the Spirit of God is the bringer of joy to all Christians who are filled with Him, that is not the primary purpose for His coming. What is the primary purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit? Listen carefully. Jesus said, in Luke 24:46-49: Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Page 3 of 7
What is the great task and calling of the entire Christian Church? What is the reason for the existence of this church and any church? What is the purpose of God in calling any man into the ministry or any person into Christian service? It is that men and women might be brought out of darkness into the glorious light of Christ that they might be raised from the deadness of sin into the everlasting life of knowing the Savior. It is that lost men and women might be found and saved by Jesus Christ. And so we have that famous text in Acts 1:8 (which I suppose is probably my life text) where Christ says, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. There is that great command of the Great Commission once more. Ye shall be witnesses unto me. Do you know why so many Christians are not witnesses for Christ? Very, very simple. They are not filled with the Spirit of God. When you are not filled with the Spirit of God, there are certain things you are filled with. You are filled with self. You are filled with fear. When the apostles, who were timid rabbits hiding in an Upper Room with closed and locked doors for fear of the Jews, were imbued by the Holy Spirit from on high with power, they suddenly became bold witnesses for Jesus Christ, and the fear was gone, and they rejoiced and sang to the glory of His name. The Spirit of God was poured out upon the Church that they might be witnesses unto Him. If you are not a witness for Christ, that is ipso facto evidence that you are not filled with the Spirit of God. The well-known Dr. R. A. Torrey said that a baptism of the Holy Spirit is always connected with and is primarily for the purpose of equipping for testimony and service. It is to make us useful for God in the salvation of souls and not merely to make us happy. Note well: the Holy Spirit is the source of all gladness and joy and happiness, but the primary reason for the giving of the Spirit and the outpouring of the Spirit is not to make us happy, it is to make us useful and to make us fruitful. When we are useful, we will be happy; and when we are fruitful, we will be happy. The reason so many church members are spiritually barren is that they have never been filled with the Spirit of God. In the Old Testament it was a great disgrace for a wife to be barren. Many a wife lamented and wept over her barrenness. We are the bride of Jesus Christ. He is our bridegroom. It is even more disgraceful to be spiritually barren, and yet how many Christians weep over their barrenness, lament about their barrenness, are grieved in their heart about their barrenness. Ah, my friends, it is not until the Spirit of God fills every crevice of our heart and being that we begin to have that real passion for souls, which was the passion of Jesus Christ. If we will be like Him, we must share those things He was concerned about, and His great concern for lost men and women. He came to seek and to save the lost. The Bible commands us to be filled with the Holy Spirit that we may receive power from God. If it commands us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then we might expect it would tell us how we could be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible commands us to be saved. We might expect to find, and indeed do find, that the Bible tells us clearly how to be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:31). The Bible also Page 4 of 7
tells us how we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. My friend, is your heart empty? Is your life lacking in joy and purpose? Is your spiritual life barren? Are you petrified to talk to people about Christ? Do you lack boldness as well as power? Then listen well. One: For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring (Isaiah 44:3). To the soul that is thirsty, to the soul that realizes it is dry ground, that is the first thing we must have a need for God, a need to have Him fill our life. Ultimately, the reason people don t go to Heaven is because they don t want anything to do with God. I have invited people to ask God to come into their lives, and they have said no. Then they want to go to Heaven and live forever with this God they want nothing to do with now. Do you really love God? Do you desire Him? Do you seek Him? Have you waited upon Him and prayed that He would pour out His Spirit upon your life, fructify your soul, and give you much fruit? I have. I hope you have. We must be thirsty. Second, the Bible says, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13). In the Matthean account of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, How much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11). We must first be thirsty. Then we must ask God to pour out His Spirit; we must call upon Him and beseech Him. We must ask Him to fill us with His Spirit so our lives may be changed and transformed and may be filled with joy, and our hearts may be filled with song, and there may be melodies on our lips and rejoicing in our hearts, and we may have power and boldness we don t dream of now. Third, in addition to thirsting and asking, we are told, And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him (Acts 5:32). Part and central in that obedience is obedience to the great command the Holy Spirit has given that we shall be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. God is not going to give us the Holy Spirit if we have no intention of using the power He gives to us. To them that obey Him means a complete surrender of our lives unto Jesus Christ. When we receive Christ, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body, but alas, we are leaky vessels. Every hole is caused by sin, and so we need to be filled with the Spirit. By the way, the verb be filled is what is called a continuous, repetitive tense. It means not just one time (the eros tense), but over and over again we need to ask God to fill us with His Spirit. If I were to ask all of you who prayed this morning that God would fill you with His Spirit to raise your hand, I don t know how many hands I would see. How vital that prayer is. You can do nothing for Christ you can t teach Sunday school, bear witness, preach, or anything without the Spirit of God enabling you to do so. We need to obey Him, which means a determination to turn from whatever it is God shows us by His Word and Spirit is wrong. We need to place a guard on our eyes, what we look at; on our ears, what we listen to; on our lips, what we say; on our hearts, what we think; and on our feet, where we go. Have you yielded yourself entirely unto Christ? Have you said to Him, Lord Jesus Christ, I Page 5 of 7
want to serve you, I want to live for you, I want to turn from everything that is evil or displeasing to you and follow you as you give me the grace to do it? He gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. To thirst, to ask, to obey. A MATTER OF BELIEF Finally, we read: Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Spirit) (Acts 2:38). There is His promise. If we repent, turn from our sins, seek Him, ask for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, we have His promise, Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is, finally, a matter of belief. Even as we are told that if we will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved, so we place our trust in Christ and believe His promise that we are saved. Having fulfilled the conditions for the reception of the Holy Spirit, we are to receive and believe His promise that He is filling us with His Spirit, and then go forth to use that power. You will be amazed what can be accomplished. I guarantee that you can accomplish more for Christ in a month filled with the Spirit of God than you would in a lifetime without that power. Those who have been mightily used of God down through the centuries would testify to that great fact. To thirst, to desire, to want. Ah, my friends, if that is not there, I would fall on my knees and beseech God to grant me that thirst. If we are too blind to see how dry we are, how barren we are, then God needs to open our eyes to the horrific plight of our souls. We need to ask, beseech, implore God to pour out His Spirit upon the dry ground, and we must be willing to turn from all of our sin and seek to follow Him as He will lead us and empower us by His Spirit. Then we must believe that having fulfilled these conditions, He will fulfill His promise and pour out His Spirit and fill us afresh by His grace. Are you filled with the Spirit of God or is your soul dry ground filled with dust, and thorns, and thistles? God grant you a thirsting soul that you may be filled and that you may rejoice in His presence. ***** PRAYER: Spirit of the Living God, descend upon our souls. Mold us, melt us, make us, fill us and use us for your glory, as we go rejoicing through this life with a song in our hearts and a melody on our lips, because Thou art the king of all joy. O God, forgive us for our dry and dusty souls, and pour out the flood of waters upon us as we wait before Thee and ask Thee right now. In Thy most blessed name we pray. Amen. Sermon delivered by Dr. D. James Kennedy on May 31, 1998, at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 105080 Page 6 of 7
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