1 Kings 8:10–11 (ESV) And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
Ephesians 5:18 (CSB) And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:
The Spirit-filled life is the normal Christian life.
Acts 2:39 (ESV) For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Reasons for the Spirit-filled life.
The first reason for any Christian to be Spirit-filled is simple obedience.
Disobedience to God is not weakness, but wickedness.
The Scripture also teaches that sins of omission are just as offensive to God as sins of commission, James 4:17.
A sin of commission is doing something you know you shouldn’t have done.
A sin of omission is not doing something you know you could have done or should have done.
If we’re doing what we ought to do, we cannot be doing what we ought not to do.
the Spirit-filled life is not an option. it is a command to obey.
A second reason Paul gives for being filled with the Spirit is that it is our responsibility and our obligation.
Look at the responsibility and obligation of our worship life.
Ephesians 5:19 (CSB) speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, Our worship life is to be alive with joy and the reality of Christ. This kind of worship is the overflow of the Spirit-filled life.
The responsibility and obligation of our wedded life.
A truly Christian marriage will mirror the relationship between Christ and his church.
The two elements, love and submission, are non-negotiables within the relationship.
Ephesians 5:22 (ESV) Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Submission is a humble recognition of that divine ordering.
Ephesians provides a radical Christian understanding of marriage, as a ‘one flesh’ relationship which mirrors Christ’s marriage to his bride, the church (2:14–18; 4:1–16), and ultimately points to the bringing of all things together in unity
It is Satan‘s lie, that submission means inferiority.
A woman is truly liberated by the Spirit of God, when she is free, not only to do what she wants, but to do what she ought.
Ephesians 5:25 (ESV) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
How does Jesus love the church? He loves it sacrificially and completely.
The wife’s model is the church, but the husbands is Christ himself.
Thirdly, the obligation of our work life.
Ephesians 6:5–7 (ESV) Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
The truth for us today from this passage is to work for our employers, as though they were the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fourth, the responsibility and obligation of our war life.
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
A third reason for being filled with the Spirit is our opportunities.
Ephesians 5:15–17 (ESV) Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Any day that is not lived with a Christian being consciously and visibly filled with the Holy Spirit, is a wasted day it will be lost for all eternity.
Acts 1:8 (ESV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Requirements for the Spirit-filled life.
The Holy Spirit is a person, just as God, the Father and God, the Son are persons.
First, there must be a full and complete commitment to the Spirit.
Have you given him the key to every room, every closet, every desk? Is there any part of your life that is off-limits to your heavenly guest?
The Holy Spirit must have the key to your business life, your social life, your thought life, everything.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV) …do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
The second requirement for the Spirit-filled life is continual control by the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 “be continually filled with the Spirit.”
This matter of the Spirit-filled life is not a once for all matter.
Acts 2:15 (ESV) For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Alcohol has been called “the devil in liquid form.“
The third requirement of the Spirit-filled life is that of a conscious claiming of the Spirit.
When He (the Holy Spirit) is present in our lives, we all have this love, patience, or anything else that we could ever need in him.
Results of the spirit filled life.
In our relationship to God, there will be a spirit of adoration.
It is the holy obligation and blessed privilege of the people of God to worship the Lord in the Spirit.
The Old Testament “psalms“ were the songbook, both of Israel, and of the early church. “Hymns“ and songs of praise issue forth in adoration directly to God. “Spiritual songs” mean joyful and spontaneous music that overflows from the heart.
The whole idea is that Spirit-filled worship, whether the congregational or personal, is to come joyfully from the heart and is to be unto the Lord.
We are often sing in one to another, rather than to the Lord.
Perhaps the worst thing that could be said about some music that it is sung to the wrong audience.
I am to make music, not in my heart, but with my heart. My heart is to be the instrument of praise for God’s glory.
In our relationship to circumstances, the result of the Spirit-filled life will be a spirit of thankfulness,
Ephesians 5:20 (ESV) giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
When we give thanks, we are not necessarily expressing approval of those things for which we give thanks. We are rather announcing our confidence that our God is greater than any of those things.
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (ESV)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
The father of mercies is will use our sorrow to help us be a blessing to other broken hearts. You see, since God is love, and God is sovereign, there is no area where he does not lovingly rule, or overrule even in tragedy.
Romans 8:28–29 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
In relationship to others, a Spirit-filled life will result in a spirit of submission
Ephesians 5:21 (ESV) submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
In earthly relationships, submission is one equal willingly, and lovingly, placing himself or herself under another equal so that Jesus will be glorified.
2 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV) For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
We do not submit to one another because of one another as such, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ. —
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