Be Filled with the Spirit

by Graham Jones - The Church at Gun Hill

"And be not drunk with wine wherein is 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." Eph. 5 vv. 18-21.

Continued from previous page - "The Work of the Holy Spirit"

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

As we look further we find that there is something in the Bible which is called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said, concerning Jesus, "He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Now the new birth is not the baptism with the Holy Spirit. When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit, as Romans 8 v 9 makes clear, for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. But the baptism in the Holy Spirit is something further. When you are born again of the Spirit, the potential of that baptism is definitely within you, but you must come to a realisation of the fulness of it as you allow the Holy Spirit to fill you and flow through you. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a definite, saturating experience of being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. It is being filled with God, for that is who the Holy Spirit is. It is a total yieldedness to Him. The word 'baptism' signifies an immersion in something. When the women dipped their clothes into purple dye, the Greek word that was used was 'baptise': they baptised the cloth. They submerged it completely into the dye. When we baptise someone in water, we immerse that person totally in the water. And when people are baptised in the Holy Spirit, it is as if they have been immersed completely in the Holy Spirit, and that every part of their being is filled with the Holy Spirit. He is in control. That is something we very much want to see for every believer.

We often sing that chorus "I get so thrilled with Jesus, every moment of the day," but we will not see that thrill manifested in our worship services until every believer is baptised with the Holy Spirit and being filled continually with the Holy Spirit. It is rather sad sometimes to see Christians worshipping in such a half-hearted and glib way. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, filled to overflowing. It is like that widow in the Old Testament who had just a pot of oil. Elisha told her to pour out the oil and to keep on pouring. That little pot of oil was all that she had left in a time of severe famine, yet she obeyed and poured it out. One pan was filled up and the pot was still full of oil, and the next pan was filled, and the next. In the end she had to borrow pots and pans from the neighbours to fill them up with oil and still the oil flowed until everything was filled. It was an overflowing vessel of oil that was miraculously filled. Now oil is a type of the Holy Spirit and we are like that little earthen vessel that contained it. The Bible says we are like earthen vessels and when we are filled with the Holy Spirit it is an ever-overflowing experience, not something that you can bottle up and keep inside. It is overflowing.

Jesus said in John chapter 7 vv 37-39:

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on Me, 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 Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)."

Jesus was speaking prophetically of the time when the Holy Spirit would come and fill believers with that glorious baptism. It would be an overflowing experience for out of their innermost beings would come these mighty rivers of living water. In Acts chapter 2, when the disciples received the fulfilment of that promise, they knew quite definitely that the promise Jesus had made had been fulfilled. In Acts chapter 1, after Jesus had risen from the dead and before He ascended into heaven, He gave them the command, "...wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, you have heard of Me. For John truly baptised with water; but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." (Acts 1 vv 4,5) and then in verse 8, "But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Then in Acts 2 v 4, they knew the fulfilment of that, when they were all together on the day of Pentecost. Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. That was a mighty, overflowing and quite definite experience. There they were, about a hundred and twenty of them, unsure of what to do, when suddenly there was this mighty experience. Immediately they were transformed. They became a praising people, the words of worship and praise and glory to God coming from deep within them as the Holy Spirit saturated their beings. The people heard them glorifying God and this not even in Hebrew or Aramaic but in other tongues. There was an overflowing. What a transformation took place when they were filled with the Spirit! And what was the manifestation of that overflowing? It was in words, in language, in praise, and all in other tongues. It was not just a big, beaming smile or a feeling of peace and joy. They had taken the stopper out of the vessel and the oil came out - praise and glory to God in abundance and Divine power.

This is what we find in the New Testament, that when people were baptised in the Holy Spirit there was an overflowing experience which was noticeable. Now I do not want to use terms such as 'the initial evidence', but I want to talk about the definite, overflowing experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. If you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, you know that you have been baptised. It is not possible to say, "I think I received the baptism," or, "I must have received the baptism because every believer does." If you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, it was a definite, tremendous experience which you will never forget. But if you cannot testify to such blessing, and you are a Christian, the potential is there; it is within you; you have received the Holy Spirit. He is just waiting for that obedience for you to come in faith, and to allow Him to take control. It is like taking the stopper out of the bottle and letting the contents flow out, but instead of being emptied, as fast as the vessel pours out, it is constantly filled from within.

Look at the experiences of the people in the book of Acts as they were baptised in the Holy Spirit! Look at the people of Samaria! They believed and were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus and yet they did not receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit straightaway. When the apostles came and laid hands on them, then they received. And so remarkable was the outward demonstration of it that Simon, a magician, wanted to give money to the apostles to buy such power that he also might be able to give the Holy Spirit to people. Peter had to rebuke him for such corrupt thinking. But something remarkable had happened. They were already believers, born again of the Spirit, baptised in water but they had not yet come into the fulness of the Spirit. However, when they did, what happened was observable: Simon saw the miracle. It was not just some private, inner blessing. Simon was practised in the black arts of magic and sorcery, but what he saw then amazed him. It was something that he could not account for. That is in Acts chapter 8.

In Acts chapter 10 we meet Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who feared God and was seeking God. God sent him Peter, who preached to Him Jesus, whereupon the man and those that were with him came to that precious knowledge of salvation; they were born again of the Spirit and baptised with the Holy Spirit all at once. How did Peter know that they had been baptised in the Holy Spirit? It tells us in Acts chapter 10. It says it was because they heard them speak with other tongues, just as the disciples had done at the beginning. There was an overflowing experience that all could see, just as there had been at Samaria.

Next we come to Ephesus, in Acts chapter 19, where Paul finds some believers, not Christians, but God-fearers, people who had repented of their sin but had not gone on to know the salvation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul preached to them Jesus, and when they heard this they were baptised in the name of Jesus. Then, when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. They were baptised in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon them in a mighty deluge. Of course, the Bible speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit in terms of rain - the former rain and the latter rain. Have you experienced this deluge, this baptism of the Holy Spirit? Do you know the fulness of the Holy Spirit within? Peter said, in Acts 2, that this was a fulfilment of a prophecy, given in the Old Testament by the prophet Joel. Peter goes through what Joel said - you can compare the two: Joel 2 vv 28 & 29 with Acts 2. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit."

Now Peter adds these words to the words of Joel: "And they shall prophesy." In other words, as the result of the coming of the Holy Spirit, there will be prophetic utterance. I think it can be maintained that it is the teaching of Scripture that, when a person is baptised in the Holy Spirit there will be this prophetic utterance as part of the overflowing experience. In the Old Testament it was so when the Spirit of God came upon people. When Saul was sent by Samuel and he mixed with certain prophets, the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied, so much so that people began to say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" When Moses and the seventy elders received the Spirit, they prophesied. And somebody came running to Moses to report a couple of men prophesying in the camp, to which Moses replied that he wished all God's people were filled with the Spirit and were prophesying. This prophetic utterance is the result of the Spirit of God coming upon people. Of course, we find in the New Testament its special fulfilment in the promise that Jesus gave at the end of Mark's gospel, where He said that these signs would follow those that believe, that they should speak with new tongues. This had not happened in the Old Testament. Thus we find in the book of Acts that they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There was a speaking forth in a new language and everyone who is baptised in the Holy Spirit has this overflowing experience and has this ability, given of God, to praise and magnify Him in tongues. There is the evidence. We do not have to call it 'the initial evidence of speaking in tongues' but we can confidently point to the Scriptural evidence given by Peter: "they shall prophesy". And prophetic utterance is a speaking forth; and that speaking forth, which is particular to the New Testament, is that of speaking in tongues - a definite experience.

Jesus said, "You shall receive power." When they prayed for the Holy Spirit, in the Book of Acts, they found they had a holy boldness that they had never possessed before. In Ephesians it tells us that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. This is all part of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you do not know that baptism then you need to know it for it is not an option but is standard for the Christian life. If you do not know that you are full of the Holy Spirit then you have not really begun to serve Him and to live the life that God wants.

"In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Ephesians 1 v 13.

Notice the sequence here! What happened first? You heard the word of truth, after which you trusted. That is pretty straight forward: you cannot trust until you have first heard the good news. Then, after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This is the progress in the Christian life. Now a seal is a mark of identification. A seal on a letter gave it the authority of the sender as he made on it an impress with his signet ring. We are sealed with the mark of the King of kings, sealed with the Holy Spirit. You are marked as being His if you are baptised with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4 v 30 warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit by Whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption.

However, this fulness of the Holy Spirit, this baptism in the Holy Spirit, is not known by every believer. It is what every believer may have but not all walk in what God has provided. Every Christian has the potential but for many the potential is not realised. There were more than five hundred brethren who witnessed the risen Lord. I Corinthians 15 makes that clear, but Acts chapter 2 reveals that only about one hundred and twenty were present, on the Day of Pentecost, to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 7, the command was, when there was trouble over the distribution to the widows, to seek out men, full of the Holy Spirit, which suggests that there were others who were not full of the Holy Spirit. And they chose Stephen and six others, men of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. When you are baptised with the Holy Spirit, you are full of the Holy Spirit. He does not come in parts or instalments but you are full of Him completely, to overflowing.

How can you be baptised in the Holy Spirit? By faith - that is the only way. Read Galatians chapter 3 v 2: "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter said, "Repent and be baptised and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." You do not have to earn or merit it: it is a gift, which is received by faith, according to Acts 5, by those who obey Him. That is not the obedience which merits but the obedience which, in humble submission, reaches out and receives.

"And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Luke 11 vv 9-13

It is a gift that God is only too willing for us to have, but the problem is at our end. When we yield all then there is that mighty, overflowing experience - born again of the Holy Spirit, baptised in the Holy Spirit, full of, and being filled by, the Holy Spirit.

Click to continue to next page - "Be Filled BY the Spirit"

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