The Fullness of the Spirit - Sermon Outlines. Org



The Fullness of the Spirit

Intro: I am going to ask you to use your imagination for a few minutes. What would happen if we all came to church next Sunday morning and I staggered as I stepped into the pulpit and could not even speak without slurring my words? What would happen if I was noticeably drunk as I stepped up to preach? I imagine that some of the men would rush to the front and kindly remove me from the pulpit. Why? The Bible is very plain on this matter. Turn to Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess…”

What if Greg approached the platform to announce the opening hymn and we all noticed a bleary, glassy look in his eyes, an unsure step, a heavy leaning on the platform and those in the front row could smell alcohol on his breath? I would no doubt make a motion that Bro. Nichols not be allowed to lead the singing in the meeting. Why? The Bible is so plain on this matter. Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess…"

What if Dave Franklin tried to preach and he was stone drunk? Maybe that is a bad example. Just kidding. What would happen? Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess…"

If any member of our church came to the services drunk we would not have a problem with how to deal with it. We would simply forbid them to participate in the church. The Bible is very plain in Ephesians 5:18, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess...”

But that is only half of the verse. There is something else in Ephesians 5:18 and who are we to say that it is not just as important or as plain a command for that matter as the first part? Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” Let us look at this verse grammatically. Because the word "and" is used with these two commands, they are of equal importance and value. According to this verse it would be just as great a sin for the Pastor to enter this pulpit and not be filled with the Holy Spirit as it would be for him to enter the pulpit drunk out

of his mind.

This morning I want to speak about the “Fullness of the Spirit.” Different people have different ideas about the way the Holy Spirit works in our lives. To the Pentecostal it’s called the BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. To the Nazarene, it’s called SANCTIFICATION. To the Wesleyan, it’s called PERFECT LOVE. To the Quaker it’s called OVERCOMING POWER. To the Presbyterian it’s called DEATH TO SELF. To the Baptist it’s called WHAT WE AIN'T GOT THAT WE SO DESPERATELY NEED IN OUR CHURCHES.

How do we know we can be filled with the Spirit? Well, since God commands us to be filled, it would safe to assume that we can indeed be filled. But how do know when we are filled with the Spirit of God?

When you received Christ as your Savior you also received the indwelling Spirit of God. Turn to Romans 8:9. We see here that having the Holy Spirit living in us is a sure proof of salvation. If you don’t have the Spirit, you don’t have salvation. When the Spirit of God comes in you, you receive all of Him there is. That’s because He is a person and not an IT or a THING.

So all believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, but it is one thing to have the Holy Ghost in you and another thing to have Him upon you! When this happens, everything about you begins to change. When you received the indwelling Christ or the Holy Ghost, He was permanent and eternal. 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

2 Corinthians 1:21-22, "Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."

As I said earlier, this change, or the results of the Spirit of God coming upon you is called different things by different people, but I have always referred to it as the fullness of the Spirit or the filling of the Spirit. It is more important that you have this filling than to attempting to name it. This filling is necessary for you to live your life in victory as a child of God. Without this filling you will be just an ordinary, defeated Christian. You will live your life thinking that there is nothing more than what you have right now. You will die and go to heaven never having attained what God wants from you. God’s will for you can only be achieved through the fullness of the Spirit of God upon you.

I want to give you five ways to know whether you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

I. Christ Will Be A Living Reality To You

Look at John 16:13. Many Christians look at Christ as though it was nineteen hundred years ago. They have no perception of Christ as a living presence with them day by day.

When a person is filled with the Spirit of God he does not talk much about the Spirit, but about Christ, because the whole aim of the Holy Spirit is to shed light upon Jesus Christ. There are some who make a great mistake by talking about the Spirit as if He were their Lord. The Spirit does not glorify Himself nor reveal Himself, but reveals Christ; thus the person who is most filled with the Spirit talks most about Jesus Christ as a living personality.

A. The Abiding Christ John 15:1-11

1. The person who abides in Christ is the one who rests in the Lord. This is the person who realizes that Jesus is the life-giving vine and without Christ they can do nothing.

2. This person is full of joy and peace because they have ceased from striving for self and are living unto Christ.

B. The Indwelling Christ 2 Timothy 1:13-14

Paul said in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him.” There is a vast difference in knowing Him and knowing about Him. I know about President Abraham Lincoln. I have seen

pictures of him and I have seen the monument in his honor that stands in Washington D.C. I have read in the history books about him; however, I do not know President Lincoln. I have never talked with him. I have never had him write me a personal letter. I have never fellowshipped with him. I have however, met Jesus Christ personally. I have talked with Him many times and He has written me a personal letter. That makes Him a reality to me. I can feel His presence constantly. This reality is because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:17, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

C. The Awareness Of His Constant Presence

John 14:26-27

And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. The song writer, while writing this song, is saying that he knows the Lord Jesus personally, and that He is a living reality to him.

II. You Will Have Assurance That You Are God’s Child

Romans 8:16, "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." The Spirit of God teaches the believer the things of God as spoken in the Bible. Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Your faith of assurance will be strengthened

as you allow the Spirit of God to teach you, “Thus saith the Lord.” As you hear the Word of God taught, both in Sunday school and from the pulpit, your assurance will grow. Those who miss Sunday School and church often are missing opportunities in making their Christian life more secure. The fullness of the Spirit overcomes the doubt that will be present often times with a Christian concerning salvation. Salvation comes to you and to any believer by Jesus Christ. It doesn’t come by the cross, but by Him who hung on

the cross. It doesn’t come from an empty grave, but by Him who arose from the grave. It doesn’t come by the Bible, but of Him whom the Bible testifies. It doesn’t come by the Holy Spirit, but by the One whom the Holy Spirit glorifies. The moment you place your faith and hope in Him, you are saved! There’s no doubt anymore. There’s no possibility of a failure on Christ’s part. When you allow the Spirit of God to take over control of your life He will bring that assurance that so many are missing. The saved person that is experiencing doubt is doing so because of the absence of the filling of the Holy Spirit in his/her life.

III. You Will Have Victory Over Sin

Galatians 5:16-23

If you are being constantly overcome by sin you are not filled with the Spirit. The Christian life is not that we must avoid certain sins or evil deeds, but rather being saturated with something better so that you have no desire for sinful things. A person who has just had a good “T Bone” steak doesn’t fight with the dogs over the bone that is left. A person who is filled with the Spirit is delivered from the power of sin. Jesus Christ is not a theory, but a living power in the life of the believer. 1 John 3:24, "And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us."

The Holy Spirit of God will accompany you everywhere you go. If you go to places that a Christian

should not go, He must accompany you. You determine where He goes by where you go. If you will keep the awareness that He accompanies you everywhere you will not be as likely to engage in sinful matters. The Holy Spirit sees everything you watch. He hears everything you listen to. He has to observe every thought you have. He is subjected to every condition you are. If you will be constantly aware of this it will cause you to refrain from sin. John 16:8, "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." He convicts the Christian with a holy conviction that causes the individual to know that a certain sin or deed is not of God and that it should not be part of the actions of a child of God. If you never have a convicting feeling toward anything you do, then it is doubtful that the Spirit is in control of any part of your life. The more you yield to the leadership of the Spirit, the more He will control you.

1 Thessalonians 5:19, "Quench not the Spirit." You will quench the Spirit when you do not follow His convicting power toward a certain sin or deed. When you yield to His convicting energy, then you are overcoming that particular sin.

IV. You Will Have Power In Witnessing Acts 1:8

If you are not witnessing for Jesus Christ you are not Spirit filled. Witnessing is the natural result of the fullness of the Spirit.

A few months ago, Nashville suffered severe flooding. The waters of heavy rains overran the banks of the rivers and streams. When that happens, a natural result is that the water seeks level ground. That is a law of nature. It is a law of God that a person who has been flooded by the Spirit of God will witness. That flood of the Spirit must go somewhere and it will seek a place to witness.

The first four chapters of Acts are filled with occasions where the N.T. Church people went everywhere witnessing for Christ. Witnessing was just the common ordinary outflow of the fullness of the Spirit of God that came upon them in Acts 2.

A. Peter Displayed This Fullness Of The Spirit Acts 2:14, "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words."

B. Stephen Displayed It In Acts 7

C. Paul Displayed it

Acts 14:19-20, "And there came thither

certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead." Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe."

Paul and Steven were filled with the Spirit and they had boldness to witness and preach to the point that they were stoned. They were stoned but Steven kept right on preaching till he died and Paul got up and headed off to preach somewhere else.

When a person is under the fullness and power of the Spirit, the natural thing is to witness for Christ. That is the purpose of the Spirit of God, to magnify Christ, to speak of Christ.

V. You Will Have The Spirit Of Love Acts 2:45-47

1 John 4:12 "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us." God’s love is perfected in a Spirit filled Christian. Perfected = “completed or accomplished.” God’s love is made complete through you the Spirit filled believer. If you are not Spirit filled, then there will be a gap in His love toward someone else. That’s kind of heavy, isn’t it? If you are not Spirit filled there is a broken link of the chain of God’s love. His love can’t flow through you on to someone else like it should.

Do you have that Spirit of love? If not, I wonder who will suffer for that? Someone is not receiving the display of God’s love. Someone is being short changed. You will not be fulfilling God’s intention for you in loving someone else if that Spirit of love is absent.

If you are not filled with the Spirit of God there are some steps you should take: confess, surrender, and exercise faith.

A. CONFESS

You must come to God in confession of the sin

of not being filled with the Spirit. If you are not filled that means that you have been controlling your life and that is sin. You are commanded not to get drunk, but you are just as straightforwardly commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ask God to forgive you for not being filled.

B. SURRENDER

After confessing then you must surrender. That means to yield your entire life to God for His purpose. You are willing to abandon self entirely and absolutely to His will and service. That is what Holy Spirit filling is all about. It has nothing to do with how much of the Spirit you have, (you received all of Him at salvation) but it has everything to do with how much of you He has. Give your life over to Him completely and you will be filled.

C, FAITH

Galatians 3:14, "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

The faith part that you must understand is: You may not feel a surge of Spirit power in your life, but it is by faith. It is in believing that God has done what He said He would do and then acting upon that promise. If He said that He would fill you, then that means that you are filled and you should begin acting on that. You start immediately acting like a Spirit filled person. I don’t mean that you fake it, but rather acting upon the promise of the Spirit through faith. A time will come when you realize that you have sinned and have quenched the Spirit’s work in your life; you then seek the filling all over again, and then again and again.

Conclusion: Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”

We should be filled with the Spirit because we are

commanded to be, but we should also be filled because it makes life so much sweeter and richer.

Are you tired of living a mediocre Christian life? Are you tired of never really gaining the victory? Are you tired of just going through the motions? If you answered yes to any of those questions; you can get headed in the right direction tonight.

Acts 5: 32, "And we are witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him."

All you have to do to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to, first, do what His Word tells you to do; second, ask God for the filling; third, trust God for the filling; and finally, be totally sold out to Him.

None of us here this morning would think about coming to church drunk; and yet, every Sunday preachers fill the pulpit, teachers teach their classes, song-leaders lead the congregation, and people fill the pews who are not filled with the Holy Ghost; and that is just as wrong as doing all of these things under the influence of alcohol.

One time the religious leaders of a city were planning a revival and one of the men suggested they bring in D. L. Moody to preach. One of the other men said, "D. L. Moody does not have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit." The other man answered, "That is true, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on D. L. Moody."

What would happen if everyone here tonight were filled with the Spirit on a regular basis? We could turn our communities upside-down; we could turn South Eastern Missouri upside-down; we could turn the whole world upside-down. What is stopping you?

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