There is a story about the saintly British
pastor F.B. Meyer, who knew the doctrine
of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Meyer said, The Holy Spirit dwells in each
believer, but I've known some men, not many,
where the Spirit was prominent in them, and
I've known even fewer still, where the Holy
Spirit was preeminent in them.
Our lesson today, friends, in our flame series,
is the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
First, we will see this aspect of the
Holy Spirit dwelling in believers from the following
scriptures.
In Romans 8 and 9, we read, But
ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit.
If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his.
And over in 1 Corinthians 3.16 we
read, Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you?
So all believers are indwelt with the Spirit
of God.
But I want to focus our attention today,
friends, on the subject of the fullness of
the Holy Spirit.
And the best way to approach this is
by stating, Once filled, many fillings.
As we are leaky buckets, so to speak,
and we need to be filled with the
Holy Spirit.
As the directive in Ephesians 5.18, And
be not drunk with wine wherein is excess,
but be filled with the Spirit.
We need power from above to live above
the world in sin.
But because the Christian life is impossible to
live by fleshly effort, We will either walk
in the flesh and fall on our face,
Or we will walk in the power of
the enabling of the Holy Spirit, Which gives
us grace to live above sin.
We see this principle over in Galatians 5
.16, Which declares, This I say then, walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh.
We must understand the meaning of the fullness
of the Holy Spirit.
Remember F.B. Meyer's comments about the distinction
of the Holy Spirit being prominent and preeminent
in our lives?
I believe it's possible for the Holy Spirit
to be present without being president, To be
dormant without being dominant, To be resident without
reigning.
When we surrender to the Lordship of Christ,
And we surrender all of us to all
He is, And by faith we enter into
the fullness of the Holy Spirit, But then
sin is exposed and self is executed, And
the Holy Spirit can field overflowing and anoint
with authority and power.
Then when others look at us, self is
decreased and the Spirit is prominent.
I like what R.A. Torrey, the colleague
of D.L. Moody said, He said, we
can have as much of the Holy Spirit
we want, So long as He can have
as much of us as He wants.
Listen friends, there can only be one answer
to the question, Why has the church lost
her power?
The answer lies in the reality that the
church has forsaken the third person of the
Trinity, Replacing Him with programs, money, and man
-centered methodologies.
Our reliance is one of self rather than
reliance upon the Holy Spirit To empower us
to pray, preach, and witness with an endowment
from on high.
Let us pray.