The Spirit-Filled Life: Part 5

Welcome to the Pointing the Cross Radio Podcast, the Radio Ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of the World Forest.

Our prayer is that we have part of our Bible study programs will bring the law to a craving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the grave to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

All right now, very pleasant greetings to each and every one of you.

I'm Brother James, and I welcome you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is the Preaching of the Cross radio broadcast, and I got laughing just a moment ago as I was uh waiting for the uh second hand to roll around to begin uh recording this particular broadcast.

Uh it's uh I'd never thought about it before.

We we've been doing these radio programs for 20 years, and uh it just struck me as funny just a moment ago that an announcer at your radio station tells you now it's time for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast, or or some such thing as that.

And then I come on and I say this is the preaching of the cross radio broadcast, and uh I don't know if that's overkill or not.

Maybe it just verifies the fact that the uh the uh program manager, the station manager, wasn't pulling your leg, but this is, I'll tell you for the third time, this is the preaching of the cross radio broadcast, and we're glad that you tuned into the program today.

We are studying the simplicity of the spirit-filled life.

The simplicity of the spirit-filled life.

On the program today, we want to begin by talking about the evidence of being filled, and then later on the program we'll talk about the abiding things of Pentecost.

This is the fifth study in the series, and we can't go back and go over all the material, but we'll tell you at the close of the program how you may obtain this entire study.

You know, people in America, in particular American uh Christians, are so prone to seek the spectacular in life that the real and worthwhile things are hidden and passed by.

Jesus said to his disciples in Acts chapter number one and verse five that they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

And uh he told them also in Acts chapter one and on down in verse number eight, ye shall receive power.

After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.

Now at Pentecost on that particular year, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and they received power.

We at once turn our eyes upon the spectacular.

Much is made of the rushing wind, much is made of the shaking house, much is made of the fiery tongues, of the speaking of tongues, the rushing crowd, and often we demand the same thing.

But let us remember that what happened on that particular day of Pentecost has never been repeated, can never be repeated.

There can be but one crucifixion, there can be but one resurrection, there can be but one ascension, and there can be but one day on which the Holy Ghost of God was given to the body of Christ.

That which those days ushered in abides to the end.

We might as well seek a second nativity as a second Pentecost.

When at Pentecost the disciples believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they received the Spirit to dwell in them and fill them.

Thus the body of Christ received its filling the very first time.

And since that time each one who is born again is baptized into this one body.

There are many divergent demands today for the evidences that one is filled with the Spirit of God, and generally the demand is that the same evidences appear that were manifested at that feast of Pentecost.

Jesus said to his disciples that they would receive power, and they would be witnesses unto him in both Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth.

Now many have taken this promise of power to mean power in public speaking, but we must remember that the speaking with power on the day of Pentecost is recorded only of the leaders, Peter and John and the rest of the apostles.

There were at least a hundred and ten others filled with the Spirit, but nothing is said about their preaching.

Did they manifest power in speaking?

Well, you read the fourth chapter of the book of Acts, and we read that the disciples were filled again.

Because of fear of the Jews, they met together and prayed.

The twenty ninth verse, and now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant them to thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word.

The answer to that prayer was that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word with boldness.

Each time the power was manifested in witnessing to the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness.

There need not be a great display of contrition and repentance in those who hear.

In Peter's day some were made angry, some scorned, some laughed, some said they were drunk, some turned to the Lord, while the majority just turned away.

Let the Holy Spirit manifest his presence as he will, and as he sees best in this present time.

But the real proof that one is filled with the Spirit of God is not that he is a powerful speaker, but that he is a fearless witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are others who demand, as an evidence of the filling of the Spirit, that one speak with tongues.

You can hear them on just about any religious radio station, morning, noon, and night, tongues, tongues, tongues, you'd think the Bible was filled with people speaking in tongues.

Now there was a definite reason for speaking with tongues, both at the Feast of Pentecost and later at the house of Cornelius, the first Gentile believer.

Note the very evident reason in the first instance.

Acts chapter 2, verses 5 through 12 tell us there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Acts 2:5–12

Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude were come together, or came together, and were confounded because they heard every man gibber jabbering in heavenly prayer languages.

No, I'm sorry, I didn't read that as God wrote it.

Let me read, let me read the Bible.

Because then every man heard them speak in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold are not all these which speak Galileans.

How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?

In verse number 11, we do hear them speak in our tongues, in our tongues, the wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed.

These passage passages, this verse is uh self-explanatory.

The truth concerning the risen Christ and the gift of the promised Holy Spirit was given to this multitude which spoke many different languages, so that each one could understand what was spoken, and in turn carry the all-important message of the gospel to his own country and to the world.

It was a miraculous use of languages which needed no interpreters.

Now, why did Cornelius, the Gentile, speak with tongues?

Well, the Bible says in Acts 10, verses 44 to 46, let me turn there and read the word of God.

Acts 10:44–46

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

And they of the circumcision which believed, that's the Jews that have brought the gospel to the Gentiles, were astonished.

As many as came with Peter, why?

Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.

And here we see that Cornelius and the Gentiles speaking with tongues was not the same as at Pentecost.

Remember the six Christian Jews who came with Peter, not mingling with the Gentiles, but sitting apart from them?

What evidence did they have that the Holy Spirit had been given to the Gentiles?

Cornelius and his household spoke with tongues, so that these Christian Jews might bear witness that God had dealt with the Gentiles officially, as he had done at the first with the Jews.

Remember, the Jews require a sign, 1 Corinthians 1 22.

And these Jews knew that by the speaking in tongues that the Gentiles had received the light gift, as had they at the Feast of Pentecost, and that the Gentiles before God were on equal footing with the Jews.

Whether it was a known or unknown language in this passage does not make any difference.

Although the reason for the miracle seems to be very clear in both these cases, there are still some who insist that we too must be able to speak with tongues in order to prove to other Christians and to ourselves that we too are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what God has to say about this matter in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse number 22.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

Now God's word should settle this matter once and for all.

If you can speak with tongues, well, thank God for this gift of the Spirit, but do not take the gift as a test for others.

Don't try to force others into the mold of your experience.

Let the Spirit of God manifest Himself through every other one in whom he dwells as he sees best for that particular individual.

When somebody tells you that you, as a believer, you as a born-again Christian, have to speak in tongues to prove to yourself or to others that you have the Holy Spirit, whoever tells you that is denying the plain truth of the Word of God, because if you are a believer, tongues are not for you.

Listen to the scripture again, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

The question is, then what is the real evidence that one is filled with the Spirit?

Which is most necessary?

That you know that you are filled, or that others know you are filled, that your pastor knows he is filled, or that his people know he is filled.

I say the chief need is not that you know it, but that others know it.

So what should we find here?

In Galatians chapter 5, the Bible says this the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Against such, there is no law.

Now, to whom does the fruit of a tree belong?

To the man who owns the land in which the tree grows.

Here the Holy Spirit is pictured as a tree growing in you, who are God's property.

Hence the fruit is for God, and for his friends to enjoy, the tree doesn't eat the fruit, the tree gives the fruit to others.

The fruit of the spirit is not for the person in whose life it is found, but for the owner.

Who gets the benefit of long suffering?

Others, of gentleness, others, of meekness, others, and the same for each part of the fruit.

It is for others.

Now, there is an evidence to you when you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

I'm not denying that.

I'm saying the primary evidence will not be seen in the individual who is filled, but we'll be seen, or by the individual who is filled, but we'll be seen by others round about.

In John 16, if I was going to look for an evidence in my own life that I was filled with the Spirit, this is what I would look for.

You see, I could misjudge whether or not I love, I could misjudge whether or not I'm gentle, I could misjudge whether or not I'm long-suffering, but the people round about me, they could tell me.

Now, in my own life, as I examine myself, the Bible says in John 16, verse 14, when the Spirit is come, he shall glorify me.

John 16:14

Now, am I glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ?

Am I bringing honor to the Savior?

Your evidence that you are filled with the Spirit is that Jesus becomes everything to you.

You see him, you are occupied with him, you are fully satisfied with him, he becomes real.

And when you witness about him, the Holy Spirit witnesses with you regarding the truth about him.

The words in the Bible about Jesus are no longer hearsay, but Jesus Christ becomes a personal reality to you.

Jesus is your Lord, your master, and you rest in his lordship.

The Bible has become a new book.

The real evidence of a spirit-filled life is not emotion, not exalted feelings, not shaking, not speaking with tongues, but first, that others see the Holy Spirit working in your life, the very character of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit.

And second, that in your own private life you see in the book, in the Holy Bible, the things of Jesus, and that you are personally rejoicing in him and are occupied with him.

God says, My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and you say, My beloved Savior, in whom I am well pleased.

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have longed and waited to fill you, in order that Jesus, who is the image of God, in whom dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily, might be all to you, and that you might know him and rejoice in him.

Would you not bow before him and thank him that you have something better than feelings, something better than emotions, that you are now entirely in the hands of the Lord Jesus, that the Holy Spirit lives in you to reveal to you the wonders and riches of your Savior?

I tell you we spend so much time seeking for God to give us something when the truth of the matter is He's already given us.

He's already given us so many great and wonderful things.

Many of us, and I say us, because prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, many of us are apt to be confused as to the real significance of what happened on that day of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter number two.

And no wonder with all the false teachings circulating about that chapter.

But this was the day the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the body of each believer.

Now, up until that time he had been with the believers, but not until this day did he come to dwell in the believers.

It was the day the Holy Spirit took up residence, if you will, within the body of Christ.

Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, had appeared to men before he was born of the Virgin Mary.

But he came to dwell among men at Bethlehem's manger.

In the same way the Holy Spirit had come upon men many times throughout Bible history.

He had been with men, and he had even filled men on occasion for a time before Pentecost.

But now he came to baptize men into one body, to abide in them and to fill them.

That day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two ushered in a new day for men.

The filling of the Spirit meant to the disciples three outstanding things.

Number one, a new appreciation of the person of the Lord Jesus.

Oh, they had walked and talked with him, they had handled him, they had expressed their love and confidence in him.

But when the Holy Spirit filled them, he took the things of the Lord Jesus and showed these things to the disciples.

The words they had heard, they now understood.

The things that he did, they now comprehended.

The person of the Lord Jesus became marvelously real to them.

He became their indwelling Lord.

They not only understood clearly what they remembered of his teachings, but they understood the meaning of what the prophets had spoken about him.

They saw the significance of it all.

They bowed and worshipped him as God in a way they never had done before.

Secondly, when they were filled, they had a new appreciation of each other.

They were welded into a new organism, the body of Christ that had been formed in three and a half years of Jesus' earthly ministry, had now sprung to the fullness of its life.

They were no longer able to say this is my own or that is my own, but they gladly shared all they had with those who were part of the body.

There was a new love for one another.

The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, temperance, faith was seen in their lives.

A new forbearance with the weakness of others, a new long suffering with the failures of others, a patience in conditions about them.

Oh conditions became harder, no doubt.

Opposition was greater, we know that.

But strengthened by the indwelling spirit, they were victorious in all these.

In their relationship with each other, they found they were necessary one to another.

The life of one began to fit into the life of the other.

The corners and edges seemed to have worn off.

Peter found he needed John, John found he needed Peter.

They began to understand they were members one with another of this new body.

The third thing that stood out at Pentecost was a new appreciation of the Word of God and a burning heart to tell what they knew about the risen Lord.

The new understanding of the prophecies, the new comprehension of the meaning of the words of Jesus himself so burned in their hearts that they could not refrain from telling what they knew about the glory of Christ.

These three things all spirit-filled persons have in common with the disciples: a new appreciation of the person of Christ, a new bond of fellowship and union with other members of the body of Christ, and a new understanding of the Word, and with it a desire to share with others what has been revealed to them by the indwelling Spirit Himself.

The Holy Spirit is given to those who believe God.

All that we ever receive from God is by faith.

And so the filling of the Holy Spirit also is by faith in the one who does the filling.

Command, be filled with the Spirit.

That's the imperative mode, a command.

And it's in the present tense.

Every moment be ye filled.

A continuous, ongoing, day-by-day, moment by moment process is what the Word of God has in view.

In in the passive voice, constantly, moment by moment, let yourself be filled.

That is, be, receive the filling of the Spirit.

We cannot fill ourselves.

But the fountainhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, seeks to keep us filled.

The water mains are being filled as the water flows through them.

God longs to keep us filled with the Holy Spirit while we trust Him to do it.

On our part, feeling has nothing to do with it, but faith has everything to do with it.

You believe.

And as you consent to His desire, that is God's desire to fill you, He fills you.

And He will keep you filled just as long as you continue to trust Him for the fullness of the Spirit.

You may expect the Holy Spirit to continue glorifying Jesus.

Can you not can can you can you think of a time when the Holy Spirit would stop bringing honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ?

Then you tell me at what time the Holy Spirit would deny refuse, fail to fill any believer that desired to glorify Jesus Christ.

Think about that.

Do not look for emotions, those change.

Do not expect exhilarating feelings.

That doesn't always take place.

In fact, those, if if present at all, are temporary, you know that.

But expect on the authority, expect on the plainly stated truth of the Word of God, expect the Holy Spirit to glorify the Lord Jesus.

Listen to this word from Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ.

The Holy Spirit takes these blessings, and one by one shows them to us.

The servant of Abraham took from his camel loads of treasures, bracelets, and earrings and necklaces for personal adornment, garments of fine linen and costly woven goods, displaying the treasure to the loving eyes of Rebecca and the mother and the hungry eyes of Laban and the father, that each might get a slight idea of the great wealth of the son of Abraham for whom he sought a bride.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit takes the treasures in Christ and shows them to the loving eyes of his bride to be.

A young woman once wrote of her experience as follows.

You know, the one purpose of God, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit is to glorify God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Father's purpose is to do it in the lives of his children by filling them with the Holy Spirit.

We worship God as we see the riches of his character.

The hour now cometh, Jesus said in John 4 23, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Worship is loving adoration and contemplation of the person of God.

Not his gifts, not his rewards, not his blessings, but we praise God from whom all blessings flow.

We don't praise God for the blessings, but all creatures here below should praise God, the God from whom the blessings flow.

That's worship.

When the Holy Spirit takes the riches of the Father in the Son and shows them to us, we cannot help bowing in worship.

Many of us have never really worshipped, but as he fills us with his spirit, as we are shown the wealth we have in Jesus our Savior, in a new way we bow and worship, lovingly, adoring, and lovingly contemplating the person of our Savior.

Now, my friends, my friends, listen.

It is the will of God that we should live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

I know, I know some of you are scared to death of that word.

You begin to try and put me in some sort of a bracket and line me up with a certain group of this or that.

I am simply telling you the Holy Spirit of God, if he had his way, he would lead you, he would lead me to make Jesus Christ the Lord of all.

No man can say Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Man is not able in his own strength gladly to bow before Christ Jesus.

Man won't bow to anybody in his own strength.

But the Holy Spirit filling us enables us to remain bowed, remain surrendered to him, so that in every circumstance of life the Spirit-filled person can say, Not my will, but thine be done.

Regardless of what men may say or do, we can say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

We are strengthened day by day to choose the precious will of God for us.

Have you in loving adoration bowed before him who desires your being, that he may fill it?

Thank him, thank him, thank him, that it is his holy purpose to show you the things of Jesus in his way.

Thank him that he will fill the horizon of your life with the wonder of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ who fills heaven with wonder.

And thank him that he will enable you to worship the Lord, for he is worthy of our worship.

Thank him that his work is to keep you bowed before Jesus as Lord, that he will enable you daily to choose his will, which is good and perfect and acceptable.

As he fills you, he will enable you to do these things which are impossible for a human being to do in his own strength.

You see, I needed to be saved.

God by his grace saved me.

I needed to be sealed and secured.

God by his grace did that for me.

And I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and just as soon, just as soon, as I desire that marvelous filling, God, by his grace, will give it to me.

My friend, these Bible truths don't always line up with denominational teaching.

My friend, these Bible truths don't always match something that someone has lifted from the pages of Scripture and held forth as a doctrine.

But my friends, I am telling you, the God who longs to save you and saved you by his grace when you called upon his name, that same God, longs to fill you with his Holy Spirit.

It's a matter of faith, it's a matter of believing.

But no one who has ever believed these blessed truths has been denied the full enjoyment of their reality.

I hope and pray we've been of some help to you today.

If you would like this entire series on the spirit-filled life, three cassette recordings, six radio programs, no cost, no price, no charge, absolutely free, no solicitation letter to follow.

All you have to do is write to us, send us your name and address, and say, please send me the tapes on the spirit-filled life, and we will send them to you without cost, without obligation.

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Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you, and good day.

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