Turn with me this morning, if you would, to the book of Ephesians as we continue our study of pneumatology. A little bit different than just a doctrinal presentation, although I could have done that, but I want to do it in the context of scriptures. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit, perhaps the most neglected person of the Trinity. perhaps, by believers. But the most necessary for the believers is the Holy Spirit of God. Do you realize you could never obey God apart from the Spirit of God? Do you ever realize and think like this, you could never be saved apart from the Spirit of God? Nor could you willfully participate in sanctification. or the process of sanctification. In other words, without the Holy Spirit of God, we're not Christians. You hear this? Without the Spirit of God, we are not Christians. But because of His regenerative work in our hearts and lives, we have come to have faith in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Having been born of the Spirit of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 5, we're going to get a little responsible with this today, and verse 18. Be not drunk with wine, but in excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Father in heaven, may this reading and this message be implemented into our lives by the Blessed Spirit, and we take to heart those things that you'll teach us. Help us to grow and mature. I want to thank you, God, for everyone that's here today. I want to thank you for the husbands and the wives and the young people. I want to thank you for our teachers and men and women of God that love you and are faithful to you. And I ask you to bless us today, not because of ourselves. We are your children. Father, have mercy upon us and cleanse us and help us to grow and mature. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. If you look at the book of Ephesians, which we're doing on Monday night Bible studies, You may recall, or may remember, the context of the book is the grace of God. He starts out in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, elaborating upon the grace of God, or the favor of God from eternity, from way back in eternity, if there is a back, from eternity until eternity. In other words, way back until then, glorification, etc. 2, 3, chapter 2, verse 8, probably summarizes it best when he says, for by grace are we saved through faith that not of ourself. Then chapter 4, we begin a practicum of those doctrines. And Paul writes this way. Paul write a whole section, Romans for instance, of theological doctrines, justification, sanctification, glorification, et cetera. Then in chapter 12 of Romans, he stops. Therefore, brethren, he says, that we present our bodies. In other words, let's take what we just taught you and let me show you what to do with what God has revealed to you. You ever been there? What do you do with what you have? You ever think of that? Instead of asking for more, what am I doing with what I have? financially or any other way. So what do we do with that? Well, in Romans 12, we submit ourselves. Well, in chapter 4 of this book, he begins by a walk worthy of the vocation wherein you're called. He's not talking about plumbing, electricians, and all that. He's talking about a position in Jesus Christ. So we walk worthy and he begins to instruct us and he does a contrast between the Gentiles or how we walked as Gentiles prior to salvation. And by the way, there is a prior to salvation experience. There is a prior to salvation revelation, whether you realize it or not. For instance, I really didn't realize how awful sin was or is, I should say, until after I had been born in the family of God. Then I began to realize the tragedy of sin, and I realized the triumph of victory through Jesus Christ. But I realized, so there is a priority. We did do these things before we were saved. Unfortunately, some of these things carry over into after salvation. That's why he begs us and pleads with us to put off the old man and to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness in Christ Jesus. So he begs us to do that. So the Christian, all of a sudden, the believer gets activated. You hear this? He gets a new life in Christ. by the Spirit of God. He gets a new beginning in Christ by the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit of God working in his heart. And here Paul says, I want you to be filled with the Spirit. Now, before we go on, let me give you something that he's gonna show to you. He's gonna go like this. In verse 21, all of these are command oriented, by the way. You cannot keep the commands of God apart from the Spirit of God. We're not talking about the Ten Commandments here. We're talking about practical living commandments. For you to be victorious. Now before I get into it, let me stop. Have you ever felt like a failure in some attempt that you tried to be a Christian and you just peered out? Just failed. Just flunked the test. Didn't succeed. Maybe it was a trial of your faith and you failed it. And you've been here, done this, so don't sit out there and act like, hey, get this over with, it's daylight saving time. We'll have you out of here before dark. That falls on Dennis, by the way. Anyway, but we'll have you out of here before dark, just stick with us. But now, I've failed, what happens, et cetera, et cetera. Well, the Apostle Paul, which I consider to be one of the greatest, as far as that's concerned, and he admitted to his failures in Romans chapter seven. There's some good that I want to do that I don't get done. And there's some bad I don't want to do, and that's what I end up doing. Oh, wretched man that I am, he said. I need some help. Who shall deliver me from this body of corruption? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he was not talking prophetically. He was speaking practically. It's not about the rapture or the resurrection. So he says, although that would be true. So in this chapter, he's going to give us, let me see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven commands. And we're not going to, I'm just going to read them to you. Okay. Number one, there's a command to be submissive. Now I want all the ladies, we'll get to you in just a second, but I want you to hear the word submission. or submissive, what it actually means, okay? What it really means. It means for me to get myself in the place that God wants me to be in every role of life. For instance, if you're an employer, okay, be God's kind of employer. If you're an employee, be God's kind of employee. Get yourself in line with what God teaches about life. That's submission. So in chapter five, verse 21, submissiveness to one another is taught or commanded. In chapter 5 verse 22, it's wives submitting themselves unto their own husband. Same word, get yourself in order place. And you'll be glad to know and glad to quote that God is not the author of confusion. So everything he's going to give us here is in order. Order, now we live in a world of chaos, okay? Let's get it in order. People don't like to operate according to order. They like to react, they like to create their own worlds, they use alternatives, et cetera, et cetera, but they're out of order. Why? Because it's contrary to what God teaches. If it's contrary to what God teaches, it's out of order. What's wrong with homosexuality? Two men enjoying each other sexually, if you want to put it that way. Okay, what's wrong with that? It's out of order. Why? Because God didn't create them for that. It's out of order. You'll notice that the Bible starts out laying out a plan of order. And there was the first day, and then the second day, and then the third day. So this thing called submission is not to be sloughed off, okay? I'm just not very submissive. No, you're a rebel. You're just a rebel. You're one or the other, okay? You're a disobedient child of God if you're not submissive, et cetera. For instance, the authority of the church. Said, I'm going to do my own thing. I don't care what they preach. I don't care what he teaches up there. I don't really care. I got this worked out. No, you're just a rebel. And I'd be glad to share that with you eyeball to eyeball if you want me to. Better hurry, though. My good eye's going bad or something's happening to it. But anyway, there's a command for wives to submit. Then there's a command for the husbands to love their wives. verse 25. Then in chapter 6 verse 1, there's a command to children to obey their parents and the Lord. Then in chapter 6 verse 4, there's a command for parents not to provoke their children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Then there's a command for employees to obey their employers, chapter 6 verse 5. Then there's a command for employers to serve their employees, chapter 6 verse 9. Now doesn't that sound wonderful? Now, to a certain extent, in the flesh, we can do any and all of those things. To a certain extent. Right? And we can become self-righteous. Now, in our own flesh, we'll never be in any of those places where God wants us to be. I'll never, in the flesh, love Edna like God wants me to love her. Not in the flesh. Sorry. As much as you love that woman, you can't do it in the flesh and please God. There's no work of the flesh that will justify us, no. Now you can slumber and so on, but here's what's missing in our Christian lives today. The feeling, F-I-L-L, of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because we have misinterpreted and misapplied. Look at the contrast in chapter five and verse 18. In that one verse, there's one section that's negative, be not, okay? There's another section that's positive. Same verse, verse 18. That's positive. Be filled with the Spirit of God. So I got the negative and the positive. Line them up beside each other, see the difference. Okay? Now he says, be not or do not. In other words, eliminate, get rid of the idea, and I'll tell you why in a second, with no consideration of it. Now, let me, Well, let me go ahead. Be not drunk with wine, he said. Now, here's an absolute for you. An absolute refraining from drinking wine unto drunkenness. Now, there's a side effect to that. If I'm drunk on wine, I'm under the control of wine. Okay? It dominates me while I'm drunk with wine. Now, there's a reason he didn't just throw this in here, by the way. This is not a social issue, by the way, in this passage of scripture. although we could apply it socially and should. Be not drunk with wine at all. But in this particular case, it applies to a certain situation. And by the way, the word wine there is oinos. It is fermented under drunkenness. You don't get drunk on grape juice, okay? Welches or any other, okay? Here's the problem. In Acts chapter 2 verse 13, you know the story. In Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had arrived. The promised Spirit of God, promised by Jesus Christ Himself, He had arrived. And each disciple was filled with the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost. And the sign or indicator was they all began to speak in languages or tongues, various tongues. I think there's 18 different references there in that passage of scripture in Acts chapter two. And they all began to speak in languages that every man heard in his own language and heard what they were saying. Well, this was a miracle. It was a marvelous miracle. Why? Because this is the beginning, but it's not the end. Here it is. Now, you need the feeling of the Holy Ghost as much as they needed the feeling of the Holy Ghost. Now, you're never gonna speak in tongues, okay? It's not the point. But the indicator there was that they spoke in tongues, or spake in tongues. Of course, the unbelieving world said they're drunk with wine. Now, the reason they accused them of being drunk with wine, because in the day, it was a custom for the pagans to be drunk in worship, okay? They would drink, and drink, and drink, and drink, and drink, and get drunk, and drunker, and drunkest, to the point where they had a pit to go and vomit in so that they could drink more. Now, if you've never been in a drunk's vomit, it's nasty. See, Pastor, how do you know? Because I worked in a correctional center and had to help some guys up off the floor. Nasty. So they have a pit that we go and regurgitate in and then drink more wine and become drunk. Now, here's the thinking. The drunker I get, the more out of my mind I am and submissive to the deities of paganism. You hear this? So it was a paganistic worship endeavor to worship idols or false gods that were drunk. And the drunker we were, the more communion we are with our pagan deities. You hear that? That's what they're accusing of in Acts chapter two. Here's another pagan idea. They're drunk with wine, they're speaking in tongues. This is just a pagan idea. Of course, Peter stepped up to the plate and took care of that real quick. So when Paul says, and be not drunk with wine, he's saying, listen, don't live like pagans. Don't live as if you're unsaved. Don't live as if you worship other gods. You need to be under the control of a sovereign God of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're not under control or dominated by him if you're worshiping idols by drunkenness. He says, whoa, does that make sense? Does that clear that up? In other words, that wasn't just thrown in because Paul had nothing to say. He didn't throw it in there just to preach against drinking socially. That's not what Paul's doing at all. Now, am I a teetotaler? You better believe it. Had a man left this church because I was a teetotaler. I don't even like tea, much less totaling. I don't know what totaler is. But here we go, give me a Diet Coke or a Sprite. You can have the tea, I'll drink it if you want me to. And there is some good tea, with about five cups of sugar in each glass. You know, some parts of this country don't sell sweet tea. Up above the Mason-Dixon. They have trouble with that, they should come on down here. No, I don't want any more of them down here, don't worry about it. But anyway, so when the disciples were speaking in tongues, they were considered to be as idolaters. Now here's what Paul does, just to prove the point. Don't trust me, trust him. He uses a word, but, B-U-T, quote. But, in other words, let me contrast that the good to the evil. But, in other words, let's disassociate ourselves from the previous. And that's what salvation does, by the way. It disassociates me from the previous and makes a priority of the present. So he says, but, as if to say, disassociate yourself from the former. Disjoin separate from the pagan worship, and be positively filled with the Spirit of God. Now, being filled with the Spirit of God is not the antidote to drunkenness. It wasn't meant to be. Okay? Not, therefore, to be an antidote. It's there to address how in the world am I gonna please God when He gives us all these commandments, okay? And I can't keep one of them. So here's what I do. I'm just carnal. Lost? No, I'm not lost, I'm just carnal. No, you can't be both. The carnal mind, Romans chapter eight, is at enmity with God. How can you be an enemy of God and be saved? I thought reconciliation was the result of salvation. I can't be an enemy of God. Don't turn to 1 Corinthians 3 on me on that one. That doesn't even apply here. When he says, are you yet not carnal, where there's enmity and strife and so forth, he's talking about you acting as though you're carnal. That's the things that lost people do. So he said, be positively filled with the Spirit of God. Now let's do this. Let's go back for just a few moments and see the reliance that we should have on the Spirit of God. Because we all run around talking about God the Father being sovereign, and the Lord Jesus Christ being Lord of my life, but we don't talk much about the Spirit of God. Do you hear anybody talking about Him? Very few. That includes you. Very few. Unless they abuse, and I'll get to the abuse in just a moment. But let's do this. Remember who He is. Ephesians chapter one, and if you're taking notes, I'll try to go slow so you can get the references at least. Ephesians chapter one verse 13, he's the spirit of promises. Now who promised to send the Holy Spirit? And we're not gonna turn, because you do want out before dark. John 14, John 15, John 16. Jesus is preaching and teaching. Who promised the disciples to send another comforter. Jesus did. So could we honestly say with Paul in Ephesians 1.13 that he's the spirit of promises. Now has God ever broken a promise? Has God ever violated a promise? Has he ever reneged on a promise? Not one time. Not one time. He's kept every word he's ever promised to keep, he's kept. And those he promised to keep, he's going to keep. For instance, is he coming again? Okay, is he going to come? Sure. When? I got no idea. Neither do you, by the way. Okay, did he send a comforter? Well, according to Acts chapter two, yep. So he's the spirit of promises. So he is here consequential of the promises of Jesus Christ to you, the believers. You got that? Now when God promises you something, Whatever it is, he's going to keep his word. And I'll show you how he did that in a little while. He's the spirit that indwells the believer forever. And we hear hymns, we hear songs about don't depart from me, come to me and so forth. That can't happen. He indwells us already. He's not coming again. He's not gonna move out and move back in, okay? He's not gonna set up an abode and then go out. He's in you forever, the Holy Spirit of God. Now listen to this, because you'll know. Know you not, 1 Corinthians 3, 16, that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Got that? That's the Corinthian church. Now if he had to depart from anybody, you'd think he'd depart from the Corinthian church. They had all kinds of physical problems, or moral problems, or ethical problems, or problems. But not so. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, and you have of God, and you're not your own? So he indwells every believer, even the believers of Corinth. He indwells the young believer, The not so young believer, the elder believer, he indwells every child of God. Every child of God is indwelt of the Holy Spirit of God, whether they act like it or not. If they are saved, he indwells them, okay, or lives within them. He's the one that secures our pledge from Jesus. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians 5.5, Now he that hath brought us the self-themed thing is God, who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit. You'll find that again over in Ephesians. What is that? That's the secure bond. In other words, I put, if you want to call it a deposit, I don't like that, but a deposit down. I'm coming again. Okay? He's the Spirit of God that indwells us. He's the Spirit that secures those things with God. In other words, every promise of God for me is secure in the Holy Spirit of God. Got that? The promises of God are not a blank check for you to run around and write. The promises of God are dependent upon the Spirit of God, not you. Now, get that. Otherwise, we'll turn our endeavors into works. Some people make faith a work. Shame on you. Faith's not a work. Faith produces works. Faith's a gift from God, Ephesians 2. I don't want to get off on that right now. The Spirit of God assures us of our place in the Father's house, John 14. The Spirit of God will cause you to do great works. Listen to John 14. Now, in extent, not superiority as far as your own power. Listen to this. I say unto you, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father. Greater in extent. Now let me illustrate that for you. The extent of the ministry of the disciples would go out of Jerusalem to the innermost parts of the world. Right? Acts 1.8. or Matthew 28, the Great Commission. The extent of our ministry is greater than the physical extent of Jesus Christ was. He dwelt where he dwelt, he lived where he lived, et cetera, et cetera. And if the gospel's gonna go out from there, it's gonna have to go out through someone other than him because he's not going to Germany. And he's not going to Bulgaria or wherever. He's not going anywhere but heaven. But we go with the gospel, same message, same person, Jesus, around the world with the gospel. So the extent is greater than actually what he experienced here on earth, physically. Do you understand that? That's not blasphemy, it's just truth. He told his disciples it would be greater. In other words, you're not gonna be stuck in Jerusalem, you're going to Samaria. You are, Judea, Samaria, the other most parts of the world. That's where you're going, okay? You're not gonna be stuck here. So, not that he was, He'll grant our petitions. He's the intercessor on our behalf. He gives peace. He brings joy. He brings us the surety that the son and the father are one. He intercedes for us in prayer. The spirit of God bears fruit, love, joy, peace, et cetera, Galatians chapter five. So he's active. He's not passive. You're passive. He's active. You hear this? life. Now let me ask you a question. Do we need him? Is there a necessity? Well, Jesus said, it's expedient for you that I go away. It's profitable for you that I go away. For if I go not away, this comforter will not come unto you. So it's profitable for our lives that the spirit of God indwells and he is the spirit of promise. Now we've got people claiming the promises of God apart from the works of the spirit of God. They're not gonna get them. He's not gonna hear that cry. He's not going to hear that plea. They'll run and grab the text out of John 14, and if you ask anything in my name, the Father here, he'll give it to you. He's not saying, hey, here's a blank check. He's going to go on and bring you in relationship through who? The Holy Spirit of God. You hear this? All my life before God, in exercising faith, et cetera, is dependent upon the Spirit of God working in and through me. And the only way he's going to do that is, the positive side of that command, is that I be filled with the Spirit of God. Absolutely filled with the Spirit of God. I'm going to hurry, because I want to get to the main point. All right? Let me misinterpret that for you, first of all. Some teach it's a dramatic experience that you're suddenly energized and spiritualized into a permanent state of advanced spirituality. It is the second work of grace they teach. Wrong, in case you're wondering about. Some believe that you can be stoic and attempt to do what God wants you to do, or make up an alternative and ask the Spirit of God to bless, and that's being filled with the Spirit. Some teach as though it's been possessed or indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and we know that He indwells every believer, because Paul said in Romans 8, you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit, and so be the Spirit of God dwell in you, he said. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. In other words, without the Spirit of God, you're not a child of God. With the Spirit of God, you're a child of God. Whereby His Spirit we cry, Abba, Father, Romans chapter 8. Some believe that you receive the filling of the Spirit of God in degrees or units. You get a little bit here, a little bit here, a little bit here, and you progressively grow until you're filled with the Spirit of God. When is a glass of water full? When it's full. Until it's full, it's not full. Now you'd have water in the glass and it'd not be full, right? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about being filled with the Spirit of God. Some teach it's the same as baptism. One spirit, we are baptized into one body. When does that happen? At regeneration. When the Spirit of God births you into the family of God, Romans chapter 6, you're baptized into the body, the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 6. There is no second baptism, third baptism, fourth baptism. There is no recurrence of baptism. It happens one time, one time for each believer. That's it. You're either in the body of Christ or you're not in the body of Christ. And you're in the body of Christ because he baptized you into the body of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter six. Listen to this. He that believeth on me, Jesus said, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given." That's in John chapter 7. Because Jesus was not yet glorified. Some believe it's the same as baptism, as I've said. Some believe it's the same as being sealed. It's not. It's not. It's different. It's different. All those things are gonna take place. But let's go back and interpret our scriptures. But being filled with the Spirit of God. This is where I change channels. That word filled comes from the word plethora. It basically means to be under the dominion of or under the domination of something. For instance, like wine. You can be filled with wine. Spiritually speaking, it means to have a conscious connection with the Spirit of God. That I'm conscious, not just when I do something wrong and get under conviction, but as I live, I'm conscious of the Spirit of God. And let me make it practical and I'll go on with the message. If I'm going to love Edna, I mentioned a little while ago, I'm going to have to love her according to the Word of God. How do I do that? Through the Spirit of God. And how do I do that? Well, we'll talk about it, by being filled with the Spirit of God. This feeling that we're talking about actually implies that it happens continuously. It's not a one-time event. It's not, I feel the spirit now, and that's the end of it. It's, I'm constantly being, being filled with the Spirit of God. In other words, it's a constant, not progressive, but a constant process whereby I'm filled with the Spirit of God over and over and over. For instance, Peter was filled with the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, was he not? Then you go to Acts chapter four, again, he's filled with the Spirit of God. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means for that occasion, he was filled with the Spirit of God. And here's what I'm saying, that at Pentecost, they were filled with the Spirit of God for the occasion. Do you happen to know, do you happen to know that the gift of tongues ceased? Do you know that? I'm gonna wait for you. If you don't know it, know it. There is no such thing today as the gift of tongues or the Spirit of God. It doesn't exist. It stopped with the apostles. When the apostolic age ceased to be, the gifts of the apostles ceased to be, and the reason is there are no more apostles. Pretty simple. There are no apostles today. There's nobody here that qualifies to be an apostle. As good as you are, you're not an apostle, nor is your wife an apostle. I'm telling you, I get out and talk to people. You better get the wife and husband sitting at the table together. She'll be in one world and he'll be in another. She's more spiritual, she thinks, than anybody on the earth. She just wished her husband was like her. Now you're not in the counseling chamber, but I am. She's right with God and he's got a long way to go. Her antidote is, you know, if he would just pray with me, which would be good, would you not say? If he would just lead us in devotions, if he was this, if he was that, well, does that make him spiritual? And does that make him feel the spirit of God? Because he does those things? Anybody can do those things. We had Bible stories every night when I was growing up. I don't think there was a Christian in the house. Anybody can do those things. That's not what makes you spirit-filled, by the way. And I'll tell you what does, just a minute. To be spirit-filled means to be submissive. It is a, what can I say? It is part of the salvific experience, just like submission. Do you know you can't be saved apart from submission? Do you know that? You can't be saved apart from the Lordship of Christ. He's not Savior and you make Him Lord. He was Lord long before you ever came along. You don't make Him anything. He already is. So we submit to the teachings of Christ. The guidance of the Holy Spirit is put within us because He's there. And He'll guide us into what? All truth, the Bible says. Here we go. So do we need him? Well, yeah, we need him. Well, how does this happen? How does this lordship express itself? Hey, look with me, please, in our text. Then we're gonna read a parallel text. And be not drunk with wine when it is excess. Let me read it from the ESV. Anybody got an ESV today? Oh, good for you. All right, nobody. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ. Period. There it is. How does that happen? How does it happen? Well, Paul addresses this in Colossians chapter three. Turn over there, come on. You need to turn or burn. I'm just kidding about that. Look in verse 16. Here we go. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Here we go. Now you know and I know that the spirit of God speaks through the word of God. You hear this? Even Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was yielded to the Spirit of God. Matthew chapter 4, Luke chapter 4, and Mark chapter 1, where the devil was going to tempt Jesus, quote, in the wilderness. One passage says he was led by the Spirit. One passage says he was forced by the Spirit. Not that he rebelled, but who wants to go in and face the devil? I mean, God had already done that once when He cast him out, of course. but he was filled with the Spirit of God. Now here's Christ, the Son of God, filled with the Spirit of God. And remember in his baptism, the Lord's baptism rather, water baptism by John, I'm speaking of, that the Spirit of God descended as a dove and lit upon him. So the Spirit of God and the Son of God are working in unison, together. Now the Word of God incarnate has ascended back to heaven. He's left us the written Word of God, okay? So he'll not speak of himself, but he shall speak of me. The things that are given to me, he'll give to you. In other words, you're gonna receive the Word of God. Now Paul says when it comes to being filled with the Spirit then, we have to let the Word of God, or allow the Word of God to permeate us richly, he says. You hear what I'm saying? the Word of God permeating my life. The way I think, the way I act, the way I respond, the way I deal, all of life here in pleasing to God is dependent upon me and the Spirit of God working in and through me. That only comes, listen, that only comes through yielding, submission. And the reason many Christians are miserable today, they know nothing about being filled with the Spirit of God. And they have adapted, and I don't like this, a carnal mentality. If I hear this one more time, I may throw up. Well, I'm just carnal. We're just flesh. Who taught you that? Who taught you that all you are now is carnal? I realize what the flesh is. Come on, Peter talked about the flesh less than against the spirit, spirit against the flesh. I got that, I got that. But to say that you're just flesh, or I'm just carnal, you're lost. L-O-S-T, lost. On your way to hell. There is no carnal Christian. There is no Christian who pursues the flesh and the lust thereof. It doesn't happen. Now we battle, some battles we win, and unfortunately some battles we lose. And Paul said, there's no more me. It's no more me. It's sin that dwelleth in me, he said. Good time for confession, by the way. So we're filled with the Spirit of God. Now, one author put it like this. If you had a sailboat, what would it take to move the boat? Wind and the sail. Got it? Without wind, you just got a boat dead in the water, or adrift in the water. But you let the wind blow, and all of a sudden the sail fills up and moves the boat. Well, that's what the Spirit of God does. When you're filled with the Spirit of God, he gives you the energies, enables you to go and walk with God. And we are to walk by the wind and spirit. The sailboat illustration. Otherwise, I may develop a hardness of heart. I may be careless about my Christian walk, right? Or casual, too casual about my spiritual walk. Complacent, if you want to put it that way, about that. And so I'm satisfied as is. We four, no more. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and me, no more. After all, pastor, I'm saved, and I know that I'm saved. At least I'm in the kingdom. Are you really? Who told you you were? Who told you you were part of the kingdom? Who told you you had been born again? Who told you that salvation is represented by the way you think? It's not, is it? It's not. So, we must be filled, if we're gonna be energized to do those things, and not be passive, we must be filled with the Spirit of God. Let me change pages here. Secondly, the second idea about being filled is permeation. The third idea about it is a flavor mentality. And put the three together and it's just this. It's called domination. The Spirit of God dominates my life. Now watch. When he dominates my life, I do great things. Not great in your eyes, but I mean by that, pleasing to God. For instance, for instance, Stephen in Acts chapter six, verse four and five was recognized for deaconship officially because he was full of the Holy Ghost. And every deacon in this church needs the same thing. Before you sit at the table of the men of God, make decisions and so forth, you need to be full of the Holy Ghost of God. I'm afraid that doesn't happen sometimes with any of us. But if we're going to do great things and serve God, we're not going to accomplish them in the flesh. We're going to accomplish them in the spirit of God. I got proof. I got proof. Peter. at Pentecost, his experience. And he spoke in tongues, but not only spoke in tongues, but this man stood up and preached like he had never preached in his life. And 3,000 souls were brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that day, that day. Now, where was this Peter on the night that Jesus was arrested? Where was he? He was outside, he wasn't with Jesus, was he? He was outside by the fire warming his hands. People came by and said, aren't you one of them? No, no, no, three times. I'm not one of them. Where was the Acts chapter two Peter then? Where was he? Would you say he's in fellowship with Christ? No, I wouldn't. Why? He didn't go into judgment hall with him. He could have gone in with him, by the way. He could have gone in with and testified on his behalf if he would have. But he knew they'd set him up for death. And Peter wasn't willing to die for Christ. Now you can say a lot of things about this. How about Paul? Saul of Tarsus. He wasn't recognized until verse 17 of chapter 9 when he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Need I elaborate on what Paul accomplished being filled with the Holy Ghost? You know what I'm saying? How about this? How about Barnabas? Barnabas was gonna be sent out as a helper, as a junior apostle. How can I do that? Not appointed of God, but appointed of the apostles to go out and carry their message. Not until he's filled the Holy Ghost. Boy, that seems to be a requirement, doesn't it? It is a requirement. How do you know? Because number one, it's a command. How about the disciples in Acts 13 verse 52? Not until they were filled with the Holy Ghost did they accomplish great things for God or the will of God in their lives. We've got people living in the flesh, quote, looking for the will of God as if it's missing, as if it's a mystery. You know why you can't find it? You're not filled with the spirit of God. I have no problem recognizing what the will of God is for my marriage, my own personal marriage. Here it is. I have no problem knowing what the will of God is for a father and his children. I have no problem knowing what a wife's role is in the household. None. Why? Here it is. I have no problem knowing what it is to work for another man and please God. or be a boss and have people working for me to please God. No problem. Only because the spirit of God has taught me from the word of God. And for what it's worth, he has led me. Now, how did he lead me? Let me help you with this. He didn't lead me to buy a new car. Got this? Buy a new car if you want a new car. He didn't lead me to hold back the time. Because I was going to go on vacation. He didn't lead me to do any of that stuff. If he leads me, he leads me what? According to this word. He didn't lead me to buy Luke a pizza. And I don't think he ever will. That's not the leading. I may buy a pizza someday, but not today. But it won't be the leading spirit of God. It'll be something I just want to do. How about that? One, I just want to fellowship with you, Luke. I just want to spend some time with you. Let's do it around a piece. I mean, Baptists are known for fellowship and eating. How can you fellowship without eating for crying out loud? But I know what the will of God is. Here it is. Did God create the heaven and the earth in six days? How do I know that? That's what it teaches. See, where there are those who disagree, God'll straighten them out and they'll get ahead if they go. Six days. How do I know? The Spirit of God. How do I know that I'm chosen of God? The Spirit of God. Make my calling and election sure? How do you do that? According to the Word of God. And Paul says in Colossians, let the Word of God dwell in you richly. Now the subject is understood in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3. You be filled with the Spirit. That's the subject. You let the Word of God dwell in you richly. You hear this? You do it. Oh, the Spirit will this, the Spirit will that. Wait a minute. If he only works in accordance to the Word of God, you see, both pastors tied back to the Word of God, then you participate because there is a possibility of you grieving the Spirit of God. Or he's working in your heart and life and you quench the fire that's burning in your heart because of the Spirit of God. You can quench that. You can. So you're pretty active in this. And we're responsible to God to be filled with the Spirit of God, not run around bragging about this or bragging about that. And by the way, you never pray about this. You do it. You don't pray about being baptized in the Holy Ghost. It just does. It happens at the new birth. People pray about me and feel the Spirit of God and yet disobedient. You're not going to ever feel the Spirit of God if you're disobedient to God. If you're complacent and cold and indifferent, let the Word of God dwell in you. Let it abound in you. I like it when people go out of my office and say, well, I go to him for counseling, but all he's going to do is use the scriptures. Oh, God forbid, but hey, you don't know what you're saying to me when you say that. Sick them. Like an old bulldog, sickle. Preach the word of God. Teach the word of God. Let the word of God dwell in you richly. That's why I'll be here this afternoon. I want more. I'm a greedy kind of guy. I always have been. If it's good, I want all you're gonna give me. It's like fudge. Don't break me off a piece of fudge. Send a plate. Watch, it's all modesty, pastor. Well, here's that one area I don't wanna be modest in. Let the word of God dwell in you richly. Moderation, I don't wanna be moderate. Let it dwell in you richly. Get in the word of God. Obey the word of God. Submit to God. Honestly submit to God in everything in life. Everything in life. We have some decisions to make in life. But we're not going to violate biblical principles to do them. We're not going to revival somewhere and be healed. I'm not even going to fly to Mexico and get treated. I trust the God of this book. And this book is the only disclosure of the true God that I know. So if I'm gonna know God and God's will, God's plan, I've got to be filled with the Spirit of God. Filled with the Word of God. John 6, 63, the flesh profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit that quickeneth. The words that I speak of you, they are Spirit and they are life, he says. To neglect the Spirit of God is no less a sin than to neglect the Son of God or the Father God. Remember, they're co-equal, same God. To belittle the work of the Spirit of God is to belittle the work of God altogether. Now, whether you know it or not, when we let the Word of God dwell in us richly, we begin to propagate teaching and admonishing one another in the things of God. We become thankful. We sing, we teach, we have wisdom, psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, and with gratitude and thankfulness in our hearts. Genuinely thankful in our hearts because of the Word of God. Listen folks, it's a command. Now I want to bring you this last idea. I could make a point out of it, but you might be around dark getting out. Romans chapter 8, there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Ephesians 4 verse 1, that we walk according to the vocation where we were called. Now we walk. You can go to Peter sometime and read about the battle and walking in the spirit of God. There's a battle going on. It really is. Because Mark, you do have some preferences about life yourself. And I have some preferences about life myself that are maybe not absolutely contrary, but they're not exactly what God had to say about it. There's a battle going on. I have a flesh, I have a body, as you often mention. I have a body that lusts. It's a lustful vessel, this body is. Have you ever noticed that? Don't send me a piece of fudge, send a plate. Now I'm gonna be sick later, but some things are just worth the price until I get sick. And I do get nauseous eating a lot of sweets. It's okay. The icing on the cake is the best part of the cake. You know what I'm saying? Or the feeling between the layers. Or, or the edges around the top of a real Reese cup. They're ruffled. Don't you just like to nibble those things off first? And then take a little bite here, a little bite there. I can take 20 minutes to eat one Reese's cup. Or I can guzzle it down in about 10 seconds if you want me to. But I'm not satisfied. The flesh is never satisfied. You hear this? There's a battle going on. Would you admit that? There's a struggle going on. Until you admit that and be filled with the Spirit of God, you're never going to overcome that. So for you to say I'm just flesh would be carnal. Something is wrong with your theology. I'm not just flesh. Proof to you? Absent from the body is present with the Lord. In other words, Brian, I may go home and be with the Lord without this body. This old corrupt must put on incorruption. So I'm not just flesh, and we're just carnal. Now if you are, you are. And you're admitting a great fallacy concerning salvation. What must we do to overcome the flesh and yield to the spirit? Read Galatians 5 in its context sometime. Now I realize this might not be so significant to some, but to me, it's very significant. It explains a lot. A lot of my failures, a lot of my struggles are explained by this doctrine of the Holy Spirit of God. Did a lot of things that were good, but not necessarily of the Spirit of God. And so do you, by the way. We need to repent of that foolishness. Get back to the Word of God. What does the Word of God teach concerning church discipline? What does the Word of God teach concerning mentoring others? God didn't ask us to have a game plan other than what we're doing. Mentoring one another, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, etc., etc. That's God's plan. You say, well, but look at the church, it's not growing and we're losing people and blah, blah, blah, blah. My father is the husbandman. Okay? When he severs a vine, he severs it for the good of the whole. and he burns it, John 15. It belongs to God. The church belongs to God. Christ is the head of the church. I'm not, he isn't, Dennis isn't, Eddie isn't, you're not. Who's the head of the church? Jesus Christ. Now how do you know that? Because the Spirit of God taught me that from the word of God. He guides me into all truth. I don't have problems, I was telling somebody the other day, I don't have problems receiving truth necessarily, sometimes, I struggle with understanding it. I have trouble articulating truth. How do you say this? Then I'm quickly reminded that Paul wasn't an orator either. So forget the oratory work and just preach. Just preach. Well, are you filled with spirit? Are you? Only if you yield to the word of God. He didn't ask you to pray about it. He didn't ask you to study it. He didn't ask you to come to the altar. He said, be it. Be filled with the Spirit of God. As I was praying this morning in my office, I prayed, of course, about this. And the answer is very quick. Stick to the Word of God. That's spiritual people. when they stick to the Word of God. Now, in closing, when was Peter ineffective? When he was away from Christ. When was he most effective? When he was in communion with Christ. You hear this? And he was both. At different times, he was both. He was constantly being filled with the Spirit of God. He was filled, being filled, and was never empty. Remember, the river doesn't run dry. Remember that? So he's constantly flowing by the Spirit of God. Well, I pray this will help you. If you have any questions about that, I'd be glad to meet with you and talk to you about it. But it is significant for your life. And I'm not gonna bypass it, because the charismatic's got a wild idea about it. Or you have a wild idea about it. No, I yield. I yield. Not my life, I'm bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are His. The problem with most Christians is there's a lot of arrogance among the Christians, as if God saved us and now we're pretty much at liberty to be on our own. You know, young, I belong to Jesus Christ. I answer to Him moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. He's Lord of all. Father, thank you for the privilege of preaching and teaching this morning, I hope and pray that it wasn't so prolonged that we couldn't endure the teaching of the Word of God, that there's genuine interest in their lives. There's no assumption among us, no false humility, no false piety. I pray, God, that the Spirit of God would teach us this morning if nothing else, to be continuously conscious of Jesus Christ and his word. Fill us with the word of God. Lord, let it dwell in us richly, abounding, Lord, that our lives will be forever being conformed to Jesus Christ. Again, we thank you, Lord God. We thank you, Father, and I thank you, O blessed Holy Spirit, for your grace.