Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we're all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn. And on this episode, I want to answer the question: what is the filling of the Holy Spirit? There is a ton of confusion regarding the Holy Spirit's work, and my heart is so full. I've been writing a book on the Holy Spirit. I just finished it up, and I am absolutely awestruck at the way God works in our lives through the Holy Spirit. And really how clear his work is in the scriptures, that he reveals, that he searches, that he indwells, that he teaches, that he testifies, that he convicts, that he intercedes. You know, he prays for you when you don't know what to pray. He regenerates, he's involved in our salvation. Uh, he sanctifies, he's involved in making us more like Christ and more holy. He seals. That's uh Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, and that he keeps us saved, that he illuminates, he opens our eyes to the truth and enlightens our hearts. He leads us, he empowers us, he baptizes us. I'll explain that in a new episode coming up as well. And the difference between that and the filling, which that's another thing he does. He fills us, he gives us gifts, and then he helps us in our weaknesses. And shocker, there's still more. I mean, the depths of the Holy Spirit, they're like a well that we can draw from over and over and over again. So what a God we serve. And uh, on this episode, I want you to have a good understanding of his filling. Recently I posted something about the filling of the Holy Spirit, and uh a lot of people responded really favorably. They understood, and there were some other people that pushed back or ended up replying to the post, and I think they missed a little bit of what um the filling of the Holy Spirit is, because, in my opinion, the Holy Spirit is one of the most neglected members of the Trinity. Also, he's the one who gets a lot of the bad press. People are confused. There's a lot of abuses and misuse of his work or a lot of work that is said to be his that is not at all. And so let's kind of walk through an understanding of the Holy Spirit, and then I'll give you some clear takeaways and we can make some observations, not based on experience, although I'm not discrediting anyone's experience, not based on feelings, although I'm not discrediting anyone's feelings, but based on what scripture teaches. And whatever your background, maybe you're someone who's more Pentecostal and you uh have different beliefs. Well, you still got to submit to Scripture. And maybe you're someone that uh doesn't really know what to do with the work of the Spirit, and you used to be in some charismatic abuses or some of the extremes, and you've swung the other way, and now when the topic of the spirit comes up, you're you're not really sure what to do with all that because you don't want to fall into the excesses. Let's just go back to the word of God first. Let's talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Yes, there are examples. While it is historically known that the Holy Spirit came upon a lot of people in the Old Testament, that he did not enter in. There are a few references. We have, you know, Joshua in Deuteronomy 34.9, he's said to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He's going to lead God's people after Moses. Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2.2 and Ezekiel 3.24 is said to be filled with the Holy Spirit to speak God's truth. But all in all, the Old Testament is a point in time where the Holy Spirit came upon individuals and empowered them for God's purposes with the people of Israel and the prophetic ministry that he had for them, like in the case of Ezekiel. Or uh in the time of the judges, we see, you know, Othniel, Gideon, Samson, all said to have had the Spirit come upon them. But the New Testament marks this incredible, unique, historic, supernatural moment in which the Holy Spirit doesn't anymore just come upon people, but He comes inside of us. And it's no longer the external outward temple, the physical temple that the Jews used to worship at, in which God's presence resides, but it is the believer. And unlike the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which never once in Scripture is anyone commanded to seek and to pray for or to go to some faith healer or special person, you know, and and pray for it and get it, and they're going to impart it to you. The Holy Spirit always baptized under his sovereign power. He did it. The filling of the Spirit is something that we're commanded to do. We're commanded to, in Ephesians 5.18, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Very different again. In the book of Acts, you have the apostles. At times they would lay hands on people. Of course, at Pentecost, they were all waiting there. They were praying, they were together, but overall, no one was saying, Holy Spirit, baptize me, Holy Spirit, baptize me, or fire, fall, fire, fall. None of that was happening. The Holy Spirit was doing it. And when they prayed for certain people, the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred. People spoke in tongues, and we'll get to this again in a future episode. But the Jews were always shocked when that happened. At Pentecost, it was a bunch of different languages, and they were in awe, and the church was being birthed. With Peter and Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, he was a Gentile. They go, Well, hold on. I thought the Holy Spirit was for us. He's falling on them, they're speaking in tongues, and it was a sign to the Jews that God was saving other people, not just them. That happens a few different other times, but again, no one was ever commanded that they had to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2.41, when the 3,000 souls are added to the church, there's no mention of their speaking in tongues. And when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 that we've all been baptized by one spirit into the body, he actually says in 1 Corinthians 12, 30 that not all speak in tongues, not everyone's going to have that gift, and not everyone's going to have that experience in their baptism. But the filling of the Spirit is a command. And so how do we become filled? Well, there is an answer for that. And it starts with knowing that this is a command. The imperative command to be filled with the Spirit means that we ought to seek it out, pray for it, and obey that instruction. It's an imperative when Paul says it in Ephesians 5.18. And uh the second thing I'd want you to understand is not just that it's a command, but it's an ongoing experience that can happen time and time again. So we'd say it this way theologically. There's one baptism. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one-time thing. There's one baptism, but there can be many fillings. And we get that from the verb that he uses in Ephesians 5.18. It's a present tense verb. It literally translates, you know, be being filled or be being kept filled, and implies that we're to continue being filled again and again. So what is it? Well, third, the filling of the spirit. It's a command, it's an ongoing experience that happens time and time again. It is then, third, yielding yourself and coming under the control of the influence of the Holy Spirit. You say, What do you mean by yielding? Well, submitting to the Spirit. You want to be under his influence. In contrast to drunkenness, which in Ephesians 5.18, Paul says, Don't be drunk with wine. He says, but instead be filled with the Spirit. It would imply that some Christians were under the wrong influence. They were yielding to the wrong things. And he says, Now yield yourself to the Spirit. Come under the control of the Spirit. MacArthur commentates this. The best analogy of moment by moment yielding to the Holy Spirit's control is the figure of walking. The figure Paul introduced in Ephesians 4 1, walking involves moving one step at a time, and it can be done in no other way. Being filled with the Spirit is walking thought by thought, decision by decision, act by act, under the Spirit's control. The Spirit-filled life yields to every step of the Spirit of God. So you yield, you submit, simply put, you obey what the Spirit of God says and not what your feelings, your emotions, or other influence say. And how do you hear him speak? How do you know what he says? Well, you go to the word of God, which the Spirit revealed. John 16, he disclosed to the apostles. He gave the prophets what they needed. He gave the revelation, what Peter calls the prophetic word made more sure. And he spoke to them and gave us the revealed word of God in Scripture. So yield to the Spirit means to yield to the direction of the Spirit through God's word. Next, the filling of the Spirit can actually be hindered by ongoing sin. We've all been baptized in the Spirit. We're all in the body of Christ if you're a believer. But the filling of the Spirit is dependent on our surrender to God's way and the rejection of our own flesh. This is why Paul says in Galatians 5, 16 through 23, we see a command to walk by the Spirit and not by the deeds of the flesh. And then by walking in the Spirit, which is to be preoccupied with the things of the Spirit, we then bear the fruit of the Spirit. Well, let me ask you a question as a believer, if you say, Well, what do you mean I I I can I can hinder the filling of the Spirit with ongoing sin? Well, if the filling of the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit, when you as a believer get angry, are you producing the fruit of the Spirit? No. When you as a believer are being prideful, you can't for a second say you never sin. When you as a believer are losing uh your perspective on something, when you're being impatient, when you're being unloving, when you're being bitter, when you're going back to those old things and you're not forgiving. Are you filled in that moment? Are are you immersed in the spirit or are you under the influence of some emotion? I think the answer is obvious. You cannot experience the ongoing filling of the spirit and the benefits of that filling if you walk in the flesh. That's why Paul says again and again, lay aside other influences, put off the old man, put on the new man. He tells the Corinthians they were really sinful. They were still baptized into the body of Christ. He tells them that in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, but they were acting very disobedient and sinful. He tells them, flee immorality and remember you're the temple of the Holy Spirit. So they still had the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were still baptized into the body by the Holy Spirit, but they weren't walking in the filling of the Spirit. They weren't under his influence. And so what should you do? Well, I'll give it away now because I don't want to make you wait any longer, but you confess sin and you pray and you say, Holy Spirit, fill me. Help me to obey Christ and to do what you're supposed to do. In John 16, Jesus said you would enable the disciples to bring glory to Christ. Would you help me as a follower of Christ to bring him glory? I confess my sin. I need your help. Please fill me. Please guide me in wisdom. Please open my eyes to your truth and show me my blind spots in the error of my way. Help, please, to produce the fruit of the Spirit in my life. Help me to resist the deeds of the flesh, bring my emotions under your control. I want to yield to you and bring honor and glory to my Lord. Did you know you could pray that? In fact, if you're not praying to the Holy Spirit, I would say you have not tapped into a beautiful part of prayer that God has given to us, in which we could pray to any member of the Trinity and we're praying to God. Did you know that? That you have access to the Father because of Christ, and you have the Holy Spirit in you and helping you because the Father has sent and the Son have sent the Spirit. So use the gift you've been given. Sin is going to hinder you bearing fruit. So deal with it. The filling of the Holy Spirit will produce Christ-like character and fruit in your life. When you're filled with the Spirit, there's objective results. You can look and see habitual patterns of fruit, and you can see the way people live when they're believers. When they're bearing fruit, you can be sure when you're bearing fruit that the Holy Spirit is the dominating influence over your life. Also, the filling of the Holy Spirit is what stirs us to boldly proclaim the gospel. Throughout the passages that you'll see the filling of the Spirit in the book of Acts, a consistent theme is present when people are being filled with the Spirit. Gospel proclam proclamation happens. In Acts 2.4, the gospel explodes at a Pentecost, and then eventually 3,000 souls are added in Acts 2.41. When Stephen is being martyred in Acts 7.55, it says he was a man full of the Holy Spirit. Preaching the gospel was what he did until his dying moment. He even says, forgive them to the Lord. I mean, the gospel was coming out of his last breath. If you have a difficult time sharing the gospel or being bold about your faith, it's perfectly biblical and allowed to ask the Spirit to fill you for the purpose of declaring the gospel. Couple more. The filling of the Holy Spirit produces singing, thanksgiving, and submission. Where do I get that from? Well, in the passage that mentions the filling, Ephesians 5.18, Paul answers the question that might really be in everyone's mind. You say, Well, what was that? What was that going to look like? Okay, the fruit of the Spirit, I get it. But but in general, is there more? Well, yeah, he goes on in verse 19 and says, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Well, there you go. Being filled with the Spirit results in praise emanating out of the spirit-filled life. We sing praises to God because we're filled with the Spirit. If you have a praise problem, I'd I would pray and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. If you have a difficult time being thankful, you may not be living the spirit-filled life. Gratitude is a choice. Ask Him for help. If you're not a very mutually submissive person in the fear of Christ, maybe you should ask the Holy Spirit for help with that. We need to consider how Jesus wants us to live. When we're to be submissive to others in the fear of Christ, it means we're thinking, Lord, how do you want me to live? You we're we have a teachable spirit, a loving spirit, a mature, growing heart. And our relationships with other believers will thrive. Why? Well, because we're being filled with the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. In the verses that follow in Ephesians chapter 5, Paul gets into marriage and parenting, employer and employee relationships, and all of that is going to require copious amounts of grace and submissiveness in our hearts. So we need the Holy Spirit and his filling for us to live those things out. And finally, and this is an important one, the filling of the Holy Spirit does not likely result in speaking in tongues, but rather the empowerment of the Spirit to live a faithful and godly life each day. Why do I say likely? Well, even in the book of Acts, you don't really have this wholesale filling or baptism where everybody's getting tongues. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 30, Paul says, not all speak in tongues, do they? And there are people that will try to say, well, tongues in Acts was different than tongues in Corinth. There's not a lot of great evidence for that. People will say, well, my tongues are more ecstatic utterance. Well, then Paul still says you got to have interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14. And if you don't have interpretation, you need to be silent. And a lot of people today are not speaking in known languages. I don't know any that are regularly speaking in known languages, like the book of Acts. And so we want to understand the filling of the Spirit in a different category and be very careful with blanket statements. Now, maybe you're one of those people who say, Well, I've heard some things, or, you know, one time I experienced, I would say this, regardless of the one time or the anomalies or the exceptions, what Scripture teaches is that the filling of the Spirit is not about speaking in ecstatic tongues. It's about living faithfully. It's about living fruitfully and being submitted and yielded to the Spirit of God to walk in obedience to the Son of God. That's Christ. And so, based on what Scripture teaches, the filling of the Spirit is going to bear fruit in your life. The filling of the Spirit is going to accompany a special zeal, most certain, for sharing the gospel. It's going to result in conviction to live a godly life. It's going to be focused on loving others above yourself, being mutually submissive. It's not necessarily going to be a hype-filled experience. And that would be my encouragement to you. When you are thinking about the filling of the Holy Spirit, just think of everyday Christian life. I know that doesn't seem as exciting to some people. I know it's not as exhilarating and wild and cutting edge. Well, shocker, the Christian life is brick by brick, one day at a time, one step at a time. It is, if you will, a mundane obedience, but it really isn't when you're living filled with the Holy Spirit. It's the simplicity of following Christ, being your satisfaction, having all of life focused on Him and wrapped up in Him, for the spirit-filled believer, that's enough. For the person that is not a believer, that sounds boring. For the person that is not satisfied with the Word of God and never content, always chasing the next experience and the next hype-filled thing. Well, yeah, it's not going to be enough. But I'm telling you, when you go back to God's word on the filling of the Spirit, and you pray and ask the Spirit to fill you, and you focus on living according to the Word of God and being all wrapped up in Christ, it's like the old song, you know, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Sometimes you just need to go back to the simple truths of Scripture, and like a pair of noise-canceling headphones, it just silences all the extra noise. And pretty soon you find yourself focused on the simplicity of following Christ all over again. The Holy Spirit will do that in your life. He will fill you and He will help you serve the Lord. Three things. Number one, filter all experiences through Scripture. Test the Spirits. That's first John 4 1. There's a lot of healthy debates on these issues. I know cross-denominational lines people will differ here, there, and everywhere, but in the end, you filter every experience through the Word of God, through Scripture, and you're gonna be okay. Number two, seek the filling of the Holy Spirit through prayer. You're allowed to. You're commanded to. So confess sin. Don't neglect him. Ask him for help. I heard a story just the other day. Uh John MacArthur went to a church and he got up to preach, and after singing these songs, uh he got in the pulpit and uh in a very loving way, very respectful way, he got up and said, We just sang some beautiful songs, but never once did we sing to the Holy Spirit. We we don't we can't neglect the Holy Spirit. We should be singing to the Holy Spirit. He's God. I think that's a really helpful reminder for all of us. When's the last time have you prayed, talked to, and asked the Holy Spirit to work in your life? Finally, reject any requirements for the the filling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit except by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. You don't need to go to some special conference to get it. You don't need to go have some guy lay his hands on you, you don't need to give an offering, you don't need to do anything extra special. You're baptized in the Holy Spirit by grace through faith, you're filled with the Holy Spirit by going to him. You don't need a mediator. Seek it out at the source. Christ is your Lord, the Spirit is your helper. You can be filled and bear much fruit. My prayers that this episode has helped you understand the filling of the Holy Spirit in a deeper way, and my prayers that you would be yielded to him. Now you need his help for that. So go to him today and ask him to help you walk in his ways. Uh, for more videos and loads of free content, go to furthegospel.org and be sure to follow us on social media. We're on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and we have a YouTube channel you can subscribe to to get all of our videos direct to your inbox, totally free. And lastly, if you're one of our partners who support the ministry, thank you. It's because of you that we can put out a plethora of resources for free. If you have always wanted to support a ministry or you've been praying about a ministry to support, I would encourage you to go to forthegospel.org, check out our give page, look at the way that we talk about money, handle money, and some of the projects that we're using God's money to accomplish. All in all, we just want to serve Christ and make him known. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.