WHY BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? (Part Three)

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

Ephesians 5:18

“When He, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of Mine and disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” John 16:13-15

“When the Helper comes…He will testify about Me.”

John 15:26

WHY BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? (Part Three)

In part one (Aug, 2021) and part two (Oct, 2021) of this series we pointed out there is a great deal of misunderstanding about the ministry of the Holy Spirit that has led to some questionable teaching on the subject. Instead of criticizing false teachers/teachings, I have chosen to spend our time on what the Bible does say about the command to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). As the Lord anticipated the closing of His earthly ministry, He spent less time with the crowds and more time with his disciples. John chapters 14, 15 and 16 record His preparing His followers for the coming presence/ministry of the Spirit!

In John 16:13-15 Jesus uses the term “disclose” three time. In the original language the term means “to tell back”. The Holy Spirit “tells back” to the Believer what Jesus has said, and by doing so, He quickens, or makes alive Christ to the Believer, in the Believer and through the Believer! In the same manner that the Son came to “disclose” the Father (16:15). So, He says in John 15:26, The Holy Spirit came to “disclose” the Son. Note also that the author of Hebrews describes Jesus thusly, as “the radiance of the Father’s glory, and the exact representation of His nature! (1:3a) To expose the meaning only the Believer filled with the Holy Spirit can be used to “disclose” the Life of Jesus Christ!

The Lord promised Abram and Sari a son, but before the promise was fulfilled, an H was added to each of their names. The letter in the Hebrew alphabet that corresponds to the H in our English alphabet is formed in the lower throat. It is a “breathy” sound. The same word in the Hebrew that is translated “breath” can also be translated “wind”, or “spirit”! It is only as we are emptied of self and filled with the Holy Spirit that the life of Jesus Christ can be made real to us, and ultimately through us to others!

So, why should each believer be filled with the Holy Spirit? Because we are commanded to in Ephesians 5:18, an opportunity to demonstrate our love for Christ by obedience. In addition He indwells (John 14:16a), instructs (John 14:26a) and endows us (John 16:14)! So, what does it mean to be filled? It means “To make full; to be filled to the full.” We cannot be filled with the Spirit until we are emptied of self (Matt. 16:24)! Then, who needs to be filled with the Spirit? Anyone lacking any portion of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23, or the power promised in Acts 1:8! As the believer denies the ‘self-life’ and crowns Jesus Lord of their life, that one is promised to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jon Moore