“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit!”

Ephesians 5:18

Two months ago, I began to address the question, “Why does every Believer need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?”    This is the first of several questions I will seek to address in this series.  We have been examining chapters 14, 15 and 16 of the gospel of John, because they contain a discussion by the Lord with His disciples about His soon-coming departure, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the role the Spirit will fill in the life and ministries of both the disciples and those who follow them.  I recommend you scroll down and read Part One and Part Two before you read any further.

The third reason every Believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit is not only that He indwells and instructs the Believer, but that He also endows the Believer (John 16:14)!  Remember, the word “disclose” means to tell back!  The blessed Holy Spirit not only makes Christ real to the Believer, but also in the Believer, and ultimately through the Believer!  Remember also the meaning of the word “another” in John 14:16=“Another like Me!”  Jesus, the Son came to disclose (To tell back) the Father (John 16:15), “He is the radiance of the Father’s glory, and the exact representation of His nature!” (Hebrews 1:3) So, the Holy Spirit came to disclose (To tell back) the Son (John 15:26).  Only the Believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit can effectually disclose the Life of Jesus Christ! 

We have examined three reasons from Scripture why every Believer should be filled with Holy Spirit.  Because He indwells the Believer, He instructs the Believer and He endows the Believer!  Yet, there is a fourth reason.  Ephesians 5:18 is not a recommendation, it is a Biblical commandment!  In the original writing of the New Testament (Greek) there is a way sentences can be constructed so that the reader (listener) can know the statement is an imperative commandment!  Such is the case with Ephesians 5:18, it is imperative that every Believer be filled with Holy Spirit!  And how did Jesus Himself tell us we are to express our love to and for Him?  “He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me…” (John 14:21).

Jon Moore