The Holy Spirit and the Believer – Part One: Filling
I want to tell you a story about a man who lived in Texas. His name was Ira Yates, and he was a rancher. He was born in 1859, and by the time he was 12, both of his parents had died. As a teenager, Ira scratched out a living harvesting peanuts. In 1883, he married a girl named Annie—the daughter of a Methodist minister.
Ira and Annie threw themselves into a number of business ventures over the next few years. In the 1890’s, they ran a ranch for a man named John Nasworthy, and on the side, they ran a butcher shop. Around the turn of the century, Ira served a term as the town marshall of San Angelo, Texas. After several more years of ranching, he decided to go into the retailing business. He bought a dry goods store in the town of Rankin – he paid 216 head of cattle for it. The store hadn’t been doing very well, but Ira and Annie fixed it up and soon it began turning a profit. In fact, the store became so successful, that it attracted the eye of a local rancher and businessman named Thomas Hickox.
Hickox owned a large ranch in nearby Pecos County, but he had been looking to get rid of it for years. The 16,000 acre ranch was unfenced, plagued by disputed boundary lines, frequent droughts, and well water that always had a mysterious greasy film on top. Hickox proposed a trade: his ranch for the Yates’ dry-goods store.
Ira and Annie’s friends warned them not to do it, but ranching was in Ira’s blood and he had always dreamed of owning a large spread of land. So he and Annie made the trade. Papers were drawn up and the deal was done on June 1, 1915.
The next eleven years were nothing but struggle. Ira and Annie worked hard to barely eke out a living herding sheep and cattle. There were droughts in the summer and storms in the winter that decimated their herds. Life was a constant battle just to survive. By the year 1926, Ira and Annie were about ready to throw in the towel. But that is when a geologist from the Transcontinental Oil Company showed up on their doorstep and asked their permission to drill a test well on their property. Ira and Annie, with nothing to lose, agreed.
At 1,115 feet, the drillers struck oil. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Translated into today’s market value, that would be a gross income of about $2.5 million a day from that single well. And that was only the beginning! Many more wells came in—some more than twice as productive as the first. Thirty years later, the US government did a test of one of the wells on Ira Yates’s land, and it still had a potential of 125,000 barrels per day.
It turns out that all that time, while they had been working their fingers to the bone to try and make a living, Ira and Annie Yates had been sitting on top of one of the largest oil deposits in the world – a formation that became known to geologists as the Yates Pool. All that time, Ira and Annie were millionaires, but they didn’t know it.
And that is true of many Christians when it comes to understanding the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have God’s amazing resources at our fingertips, but we just don’t know it. And so we struggle along, living in spiritual poverty instead of drawing upon the Holy Spirit’s power.
A.W. Tozer said, “Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life about as bitterly as any other doctrine there is. He has confused it, opposed it, and surrounded it with false notions and fears. He has blocked every effort of the Church of Christ to receive from the Father her divine and blood-bought patrimony.”
In recent weeks, we have been exploring the person and work of the Holy Spirit. We have found that He is one of the members of the Trinity; the most personal and intimate side of God. Jesus calls him a Comforter, a Counselor, a Friend.
When we receive Jesus Christ, God enters our lives in the person of his Holy Spirit in order to make a total transformation in the way we live.
You see, becoming a Christian is not just adopting a new system of beliefs; it is entering into a whole new way of living.
Dr. Peter Singer, the noted ethicist from Princeton University says that the reason Christianity is not more sought after by people nowadays is that it presents itself as a belief system rather than a way of life.
We Christians tend to do evangelism this way; we say, “Here are four spiritual laws to believe” or, “Here are five steps to peace with God” and if you believe them, you are saved.
We present the Gospel as though it were certain facts to believe in order to ensure that you’ll go to heaven when you die. Author Dallas Willard pictures a person arriving at the gates of heaven. God unscrews the person’s cranium, peers inside, and, if he can find certain beliefs there, he says “Okay, you’re in; you’re saved.”
We present the Gospel as information to be understood rather than news to be acted upon. Suppose that someone came running up to you and told you that your house is on fire. How would you respond? You would respond much differently than the way you would respond if you were sitting in a university chemistry class studying the rapid oxidization of combustible materials. One is news, the other is just information. News calls for an all-out response; information calls for intellectual engagement.
Jesus presented the Gospel as good news; news that calls for a radical change in the way we live.
God gives us His Holy Spirit in order to bring about that radical change in the way we live. The Holy Spirit enables us to live this radically new lifestyle called Christianity.
The Holy Spirit is not some optional extra; He is not a fancy add-on to the Christian life—He is absolutely essential. Without the Holy Spirit, we would have no way of living the Christian life; He is that important to us.
But there is a great deal of confusion among Christians as to what the Holy Spirit does and how he does it. One of the most important things we need to understand is the difference between what the Bible calls the baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit.
Baptism of the Spirit
The word baptism means to dip; to be placed into; to be immersed. It is used often in Scripture to describe water baptism, but it is also used to describe what happens to us the moment we trust Christ for salvation. There is a spiritual transformation that occurs in the life of the believer, and it is spoken of in terms of it being a baptism.
When John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah came along, he said over and over again about the Messiah…
Mark 1:8 I baptize you with water, but he (the Messiah) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
And sure enough, when Jesus was finished his earthly ministry, after he had died and risen again, he said to his disciples…
Acts 1:4-5 Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (And) you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
(You see how the coming of the Holy Spirit was going to bring about a radical change in their lives.)
So the disciples waited in Jerusalem, in obedience to Jesus’ command. And then…
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
This was the baptism of the Spirit that Jesus had promised. The Holy Spirit was now living in each one of them and empowering them to be a witness for Christ. Where they had previously been cowards, they were now bold. Where they had previously been hiding because of Jesus Christ, they were now out in public preaching Jesus Christ. There was a total transformation of their lifestyle.
Now some of you may want to know more about the phenomena of speaking in tongues. I don’t want to get bogged down in discussing this issue today. Let me just give you 3 brief observations…
In the NT, speaking in tongues…
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happens on few occasions – only 3 times in Acts (Pentecost - ch. 2; Gentiles - ch. 10; Ephesian disciples of John - ch. 19); and in the church at Corinth – a dysfunctional church
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is not a necessary accompaniment to being baptized with the Spirit.
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Is not even mentioned in the latter part of the NT (post-60 AD), and is not mentioned in the writings of the early church fathers as a practice of the church
I would invite you, if you are interested, to pick up a brief paper that I have written on the charismatic gifts. It is available today on the church literature table.
What exactly is happening when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit?
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
So the Holy Spirit places us into the Body of Christ. We become one with Christ; we are now “in Christ”. The NT speaks of how vitally important it is to be “in Christ”. It uses this expression almost 100 times.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Ephesians 2:6-7 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
It is an incredible privilege to be found in Christ. How do we get there? The Holy Spirit puts us there – he baptizes us into the body of Christ. And it is a once-for-all transaction – the verb tense used in 1 Cor. 12:13 is the Greek aorist tense – it denotes a decisive “once-for-all” action.
So every Christian, the moment he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, is baptized into the Body of Christ. This happens the moment he places his trust in Jesus Christ, and it makes him one with all other people who have likewise put their trust in Jesus Christ. There are no class distinctions in the Body of Christ – we are all one in Him.
Galatians 3:26-28 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And it is our duty to preserve that oneness, and act on that oneness, as it says in
Ephesians 4:3-6 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called —one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
So the baptism of the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit comes and lives in our lives and gives us a new power source for living. And he baptizes us into the Body of Christ and gives us a new standing in Christ, and a new relationship with everyone else who is standing in Christ. We are now one with them.
But what about being filled with the Holy Spirit? What does the Bible mean by that expression, and how is that different from being baptized with the Holy Spirit?
Filling of the Spirit
Let’s go to Ephesians 5…
The Letter to the Ephesians falls into the familiar pattern of much of Paul’s writings. First, he gives us an extended section of theology, of doctrine. This would encompass chapters 1-3. Then, on the basis of that teaching he shows us how that ought to make a difference in the way we live. At the beginning of chapter 4, he says “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” And then he goes on to spell out what that life ought to look like.
Ephesians 5:15-18 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Do not get drunk on wine… Instead, be filled with the Spirit
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An imperative – it is a command for all Christians everywhere
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A participle – literally, “keep on being filled”. In other words it is not just a one-time experience; it is an on-going, repeatable daily experience.
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Passive voice – it is not something you can do for yourself; God must do it – we are simply to present ourselves to the Holy Spirit for him to fill us.
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Results in a new way of living – see v. 19ff
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Speaking – v. 19
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Singing – v. 19
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Giving thanks – v. 20
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Submitting – v. 21
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Marriage, family, employment – v.
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Spiritual armor
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Now think about how this contrasts with the baptism of the Spirit:
| Baptism of the Spirit | Filling of the Spirit |
|---|---|
| A blessing to be enjoyed | A command to be obeyed |
| Happens once for all | Happens many times |
| A new position in Christ with fellow believers | A new lifestyle |
Being filled with the Holy Spirit means to yield myself to his control. I am asking Him to fill me with his presence and his power.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, he gives us the power to overcome our sinful nature, and our lives produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-23 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The Christian life is impossible to live unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
One of the realities of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is that he places us into a new relationship in Christ, and also with everyone else on planet earth who is a follower of Jesus Christ. We are one with them in Christ.
IDOP Video & Prayer time