Fullness for Every Disciple 1

I invite you to turn in God’s Word this morning to Acts in the 13th chapter, Acts 13.

When I meet with the Session Committee, when the Session Committee meets each month, we’ve been reading through the book of Acts over many months, and just sequentially take a section and read a little further. And last Tuesday evening, we read the closing verses of Acts 13. And I usually will read it ahead of time and reflect upon what is being said. I was really struck by a number of statements here.

The sermon that precedes the end—we’re going to read from verse 44—but the sermon that precedes, where the Apostle Paul is in, not the Antioch from which he was sent. That’s Antioch in Syria. That’s at the beginning of the chapter. By the time you come to the end of the chapter, they are in Antioch, Pisidia, and they are preaching the Word.

And as Paul preaches, there’s a great move of the Spirit of God. And such is the move of the Spirit of God that there’s a great gathering that comes on the next Sabbath, as you see in verse 44.

So this evening, we’ll be looking at another part of this portion of God’s Word. But this morning we’re going to be looking at the last verse. But read with me from verse 44. Let us hear the Word of the Lord.

“And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God.

“But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.

“Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”

That will be our focus this evening. Verse 47 continues:

“For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

“The word of the Lord was published throughout all the region,

“But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts.

“But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came on to Iconium,

“And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.”

Amen.

We trust the Lord will bless the public reading of His Word. And what you’ve heard, beloved, is the Word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, help us. Come, Holy Spirit. Please inspire our hearts. Cause the Word to run with power today. You know every life. Some are in conflict, in struggle, in distress, in frustration, in confusion.

I pray, either directly or as a result of the effect and influence of the Word today, that there will be answers and resolution and peace. Give us ears to hear.

O Spirit of God, be my helper. Be the helper of all who hear. Move. Extend Thy kingdom. Give deliverance over the enemy. Fill with the Spirit. O come in power today, we pray in our Savior’s name. Amen.

Have you ever met anyone who you can think upon as having seen potential in you? Someone that communicated to you the fact that they saw in you potential?

I think there’s a real lack of this. I don’t think it’s new to our own generation, but there’s a lack of looking at someone, assessing them, and being able to see beyond where they are presently, to see what they might be, to see what grace might accomplish in them.

And there’s a sense in which, a certain sense—and I don’t want to take this to an extreme that would make it trite, because sometimes when we talk about potential, we’re talking about something that’s really self-centered—but there is a sense in which there is no one that sees more potential in you as a child of God than the Lord Himself.

Now, this is not because you’re such a wonderful person. It’s not because you’re endowed with such tremendous gifts and abilities or connections. But it’s because He shed His blood to give to you the fullness of His Spirit, that by the fullness of His Spirit you might do what otherwise you would not be able to do.

As Luke works through his Gospel, he touches upon the significance of the Holy Spirit, especially in the life of our Lord Jesus. And at the end of the Gospel, he gives indication that this is something that they’re to tarry in Jerusalem for.

And as he picks up in part two, the book of Acts, the portion of which we have read here this morning, from this same author, Luke is again emphasizing this. And he brings it out and shows that the power of the Spirit that endured our Lord Jesus Christ, that led Him, that moved in Him, that enabled Him and empowered Him, is now being promised in a fullness to the people of God that is distinct from anything they have known in the past.

And that the church, the apostles, are to wait in Jerusalem until they know that this gift has been bestowed upon them, and with that gift, they then can go into all the world and preach the gospel.

But it is in that order. Beloved, it is in that order. It is not that they are sent just to express truth. They are sent, but told, you need enablement. And with that enablement, to use the terminology, you will fulfill, in a sense, the potential intended.

You’re called to be witnesses. I’m calling you to this task of being witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. But you need the Spirit. You need the Spirit.

As the Apostle Paul embarks on this missionary endeavor, as he is sent by the church—and again, the Holy Ghost is in this, sending Paul, sending Barnabas. You read of that at the beginning of this chapter.

They begin their travels, and they preach the gospel. And fundamentally, they are focusing upon going into synagogues, first and foremost, and telling them that the Messiah has come, that He has suffered, that He died, and that He rose again from the dead, and that in order to have salvation, there must be an embracing of these truths.

Now, of course, this is met with different responses. And in this particular case, as they go into the synagogue, there is a preaching that is impressing. It is impacting. It is causing a sense of division. Even those outside are hearing about what’s going on.

And it is the Gentiles, verse 42, when the Jews are gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles—those who, again, they’re there, they’re watching, they’re hearing, they’re watching on as those who are able to attend and be there. But those who weren’t of the line of Abraham, they besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

And again, these Gentiles, they may have frequented the synagogue. There may have been a curiosity in them, that they often were there. Whatever the case, then, the next week is where we began in verse 44. It says, “came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God,” to hear what these men had to say.

And the central message is on this fact that the Son of God took our nature, lived, died, rose again, and is ascended, and calls us to believe in Him in order to have the forgiveness of sins.

Now, who wouldn’t want the forgiveness of sins?

The Jews that refused to believe, however, Luke writes that they were filled with envy. They were mad. Envy is driving this. This is not unusual. When Pilate is dealing with the Lord Jesus, he knows that for envy the Jews had delivered Jesus up to him. He knew it was because of envy. And this envy now is being seen again, only now directed towards the apostles and what they’re doing.

They’re filled with envy, and what I want you to see is a contrast in how Luke closes out this record that’s given. While the enemies are filled with envy, the disciples were filled with joy.

Now what would you rather be filled with, envy or joy? Envy or joy?

And I think there are many, many—and if you were to assess your life, envy is a common feeling within the soul. But disciples of the Lord Jesus have no need to ever feel that. And if they’re living as they ought, instead, they’re filled with joy.

You see, the heart of man is never vacant. The heart of man is never vacant. Something will fill it. Something will be there.

Now look at your own heart today. What’s filling it? What’s filling your heart? It may not—maybe it’s not envy. Maybe it is envy. Maybe it’s anxiety, worry, fear, anger, resentment.

Before we are done, not only do I want you to desire that your heart, your life, is filled with joy, but I want you to understand how we come to get to that place.

My objective this morning is simple: that you go out of here desiring a Spirit-filled life. A Spirit-filled life.

This is a birthright. It is something that the Lord Jesus suffered and bled that you might have and possess. It is a gift. And He reaches it out for you to receive it.

And there are too many of us, too many of us, I fear, do not embrace this gift as we should. Oh, we sit under preaching and we know all the vocabulary. Yet we are not—it cannot be said of us that we’re filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.

So I want us to consider, then, this morning, The Fullness Every Disciple Needs. The fullness every disciple needs.

So if you’re not a disciple of Christ, I’m not focusing on you. However, let me say to you that you can be a disciple. Right? You can be a disciple today. You can begin the path of discipleship today.

All those who are disciples of Jesus Christ are so because they look to the Lord Jesus, they believe in Him, and they have committed their souls to Him. They have sought forgiveness from Him through the shedding of His blood. They have received life, and they are disciples.

It wasn’t just an event. It is a way of life. It wasn’t a moment isolated in time. It is the path and journey they are on. The disciples of Jesus Christ are always disciples of Jesus Christ. They remain disciples of Jesus Christ. And when they get to glory, they are going to be servants before the Lamb.

So you can be that. You can be that today.

Just confess your sins. Turn from your sin. Confess them before God. Seek the pardon. Believe that Jesus reaches out before you, puts forth in your midst eternal life, and you can have it. Only believe.

The fullness every disciple needs.

Really simple this morning.

First, let’s consider what they had. What these disciples had.

The flow may be a little off-putting because it tells us the disciples, you know, shake off the dust of their feet and they go to Iconium. But, and you wonder then, these disciples in verse 52, where are they? But these disciples, it’s referring back to those that remained there, those who were influenced, those who were glad and had glorified the Word of the Lord and believed, as verse 48 says. These believers, these disciples, were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.

So what did they have?

Well, in the first place, they had the person of the Spirit. The person of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not an act of force. He is not just some entity. He is a person. And He is someone, then, who looks upon the people of God, looks upon the blood-washed, and loves them. The Spirit of God loves everyone who belongs to Christ. He loves them so much He draws them into the arms of Christ. He elevates their affections toward Christ. And He keeps them seeking Christ and living in the path that honors God.

The Spirit loves, and He is constantly serving every child of God.

He is a person. And so this that came upon them, what these disciples had, was not a mere feeling. It’s not just the joy. It is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was in their hearts.

They had many reasons to be discouraged. Paul and Barnabas had come in and had excited them to hear what they had to say. They listen. They respond. They believe.

And the very leaders, God’s spokesmen, are expelled. They’re driven out. And that could have been very discouraging. It could have caused them to lament and wonder, what’s the future for us? To so tie what they had committed themselves to, to the instruments that had brought the truth to them.

But that was not the case. That was not the case. They saw beyond. They were actually able to see, and God, by His Spirit, enabled them not to become discouraged by the circumstances of the preachers being sent away.

I think it’s hard, unless you really put yourself in their shoes and try to feel it. You think about, maybe some of you can look back to the pastor that you sat under when you were converted or who had a big impact in your life, and imagine that impact. And imagine it’s cut short. Imagine it’s taken away.

Imagine how you might be filled, not with envy maybe, but with anger over that.

These disciples were not. You see, they had the person of the Spirit in them. And so this body of believers did not collapse. They had the breath of God in them. They had the wind in their sails. And they were living in that state and condition.

Now, we often fall into the habit of putting too much weight upon external things. And men have a place, right? God uses preachers. He uses men to preach His truth, to expose our hearts to His truth, and so on. And there are things that are important. But often we put too much weight on.

And this encourages us when we think that blessing is so tied to an individual person, in the sense of the preacher, or a denomination, or a church, or a missionary endeavor, or whatever it might be. And we think, you know, if they’re not there, if this doesn’t exist, then there’s no hope.

And what this text is telling us is, you can take the best missionaries who ever lived outside of Christ, the best missionaries ever raised up from within the church, and take them away, and disciples can carry on because there’s another person who remains and abides with them forever: the Holy Spirit.

The person of the Spirit. He is a person, beloved. What they had was a person.

And when you have a person in your life, you’re called then to be acquainted with that person, to know that person, to understand that person. Obviously, marriage is a very obvious application there, but even when we have children or in any other context of being familiar with a friend.

You put yourself into your place of employment. It’s good for you, it’s wise for you, to try to understand not just what your boss is asking you to do, but to understand your boss. Who is this person? What are their expectations? What are their tendencies, likes and dislikes? How can I work towards doing the things, not just written in my job description, but in a way or in a manner, or in addition to things, I know they appreciate?

It’s wise to look beyond and see the person.

Well, the Holy Spirit is a person. And we at times, I think, we pray for the Holy Spirit—though I don’t think we do that often enough, as I will say later—but we pray for the Holy Spirit, and we’re just looking for power. We’re looking for what He brings instead of actually wanting to know the Holy Spirit.

Oh, that I would know the Holy Spirit, His love for Christ, His mission to make much of Christ, teaching my heart that is also my mission to do the same. Thinking about how He moves into the heart of wretched sinners and is willing to work there, as it were, to go to filthy ground, the heart of the wicked unbeliever, and work right there. We’re called to the same, to go to difficult places and difficult people and to work right there.

What they had: the person of the Spirit.

They also had the plenteousness of the Spirit. They had the Spirit’s filling.

They were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. There was a fullness of this Spirit, of the Spirit with them.

And the verb is literally, they were being filled. Right?

It’s in the imperfect, and so it has a sense of continuing action. It’s telling you that it wasn’t just Paul and Barnabas went away, and they were in that moment filled with the Spirit, and then that faded or went away. No, it is Barnabas and Paul went away, and the reason why they continued and the witness continued was because they kept being filled with the Spirit. It was an ongoing experience for them.

It’s also in the passive voice because it was not something they did themselves. It happened to them. It is God filling them with the Spirit. It is in response to the Lord Jesus Christ who promised that He would send His Spirit. So God is acting upon them. They’re constantly being filled with the Spirit of God.

The Spirit is personally present, actively working, continually supplying these disciples with what they need. I mean, is that not what you need? Could you ask for anything more?

Having been forgiven, having been adopted, having been promised such life as you possess, what is your need? Continually enabled, continually empowered, continually supplied with God, the Spirit of God, in your heart and life. This is what they enjoyed.

And it is not here for us to read it and say, well, that was nice for the first century.

I believe Luke is writing this because he wants to underscore: this is how the church survives.

When he begins this very book, let me go back to chapter 1. You can see how he begins the book, Acts 1.

Verse 1:

“The former treatise, have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach

“Until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Ghost”—there’s the emphasis, it’s through the Spirit—“had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.”

But I want you to note: not only is the emphasis on Jesus Christ giving commandments, giving the instruction that the disciples needed through the Holy Spirit, but he is talking about what Jesus began both to do and teach.

The implication is, it’s not finished. It’s continuing on.

And I want you to see this, that what Luke is showing is this is the ongoing work of the church, that he’s actually undergirding the continuance of this entity and how it continues.

I was just reading in the providence of God in my readings in Acts 28 yesterday, and one of my favorite verses is the last verse of the book, where Paul is under house arrest, and the last verse of Acts is that he is preaching under house arrest. He is preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

He keeps doing what he was always doing. So it’s what Jesus began both to do and teach, and He hasn’t finished.

I want you to see this, that you here, believer, this morning, you, you who may see no potential in yourself, who may see no importance to your own existence, no value to your life, you’re part, you’re a disciple. And what the Lord has for you is the fullness of the Spirit, that you might be part of this ongoing work that Jesus Christ is accomplishing until He returns.

The plenteousness of the Spirit. He is able to fill the life, to give to disciples the equipment that they need, to enable them.

I don’t know if you can look back on your life and say, I have felt the Spirit’s power in my life. I have known His enablement. I have known the joy that He gives, the power He endues us with, the liberty that is enjoyed, the courage that comes at times that otherwise we would be fearful. Maybe you can look back and say, there have definitely been times in my life where I have known more of this fullness.

And is that not an indictment? Is it not a confession that brings conviction?

What has happened since then? Has the Spirit lost His power, His enablement? Is there something wrong with the Holy Spirit? Is there something wrong with the willingness of Christ to enable me, to send His Spirit, to empower His church?

No, Christ is as invested in the advance of His church, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it, as He ever was.

And He has gone and has promised the Spirit, and every single disciple can know the plenteousness of the Spirit as those disciples did.

There’s also the pattern of the Spirit I want us to consider as well. The pattern of the Spirit and what they had.

They had something that was, again, it’s Luke’s emphasis. We went back to Acts 1, Jesus teaching commandments through the Holy Ghost, Him promising—again, we didn’t read in verse 8 of chapter 1, but I’ve quoted it already—promising that He would give the Holy Spirit, that they might be witnesses. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth.

And so what Luke is doing under inspiration is he is repeatedly putting this truth of the Spirit before the reader, that Theophilus would be aware that this is the reason why.

It has been said, and I don’t know who originally said it—many have said it—that the book of Acts, in one sense, should be titled, “The Acts of the Holy Ghost Through the Apostles.” This is what the book is about: the acts of the Holy Ghost through the apostles. Not just the acts of the apostles, but the acts of the Holy Ghost through them.

And look, it’s underlining then, over and over again, that there’s this pattern of the Spirit. And as He comes to the church, as He comes to individuals, there are certain things that happen.

I can’t go through the entire book, but you’re going to find that it’s repeatedly connected with a boldness and witness. Right, so that trembling disciples who otherwise would run for their lives are willing to stand right before their enemies and testify of Christ and preach the gospel, even though it might result in the loss of their very life.

And so you see this. You see that no matter what’s happening, no matter what threat—again, we just read the last verse of the very book—he continues under house arrest, a threat of his life, continuing to preach. It didn’t matter what men said or what threat was upon them.

And so it’s connected to bold witness. It’s connected to the overall mission. In other words, that the advance of the gospel through the nations is only by the Holy Spirit working through disciples.

It’s also connected with their joy, as we’re reading here, with their endurance. I think it’s implied here because Paul and Barnabas are gone; the disciples continue to endure.

It’s connected with the piety of the church as well. So these things you can see if you go through the book of Acts. Just note the work of the Spirit and what is going on.

And so this pattern, again, to just drive it home, this pattern of the Spirit is seen. The repeated theme of this is to show to the church in every age that they are not left without what they need to do what the Lord has asked them to do. They are furnished with exactly what they need.

And the Spirit is willing, desirous, longing to come to disciples and fill them so that they might continue on in the path, in the course that the Lord has for them.

They are being strengthened under persecution. Paul and Barnabas may be gone. They may be expelled. Now these disciples, they become the focus.

While Paul and Barnabas are there, they’re the focus of the attention of the haters, of the opposers. They’re the ones that are receiving all the animosity. But if you think for a moment that when Paul and Barnabas go away, that the animosity dies down, you’re not living in the real world.

Once they’re gone, some of these other disciples, whoever rises to teach, whoever comes to instruct, whoever is the converted rabbi or whoever he might be, who believes and starts teaching them, they become the target.

And yet still they continue. Still they do it with joy. Because what was supplied to Paul and Barnabas, what was given to them to do the task, is available to the disciples who continue on.

Oh, we need to be reminded of this.

We have a great habit of looking into the pages of history and seeing these giants of the faith and imagining that they are of such an ilk, that they can never be attained to again, that there was something special in them.

Now, I know, I know there are features about characters that make them distinct. Right? Paul was distinct. His background is distinct. And so what he’s able to accomplish is distinct. I get that, in a certain sense.

But what the book of Acts is saying, what it’s showing us, that every disciple can know this fullness, even in the face of opposition, and carry on doing what they are called to do.

And so, you read the pages of church history, and you young people, you children, as you read about missionaries and what they did, don’t sit there and say to yourself, I could never be such a person.

That’s true if you’re just thinking about the carnal. You might never be a person like that. But oh, what happens when a life is surrendered and the prayer ascends in all sincerity to God, Lord, fill me. Fill me. Just give me Yourself. And I’ll do whatever You’ve called me to do.

The Spirit empowers.

And you have also the pleasure of the Spirit. Inevitably there’s joy. Inevitably there’s joy.

Some of us have commented on this in times when you’re looking at seasons of the blessing of the church. And you’re reading the history or you’re hearing the remarks of seasons in which the church is blessed. There’s something that stands out. They’re often enjoying, they’re enjoying God and what He is doing.

It’s marked by joy.

So, you see these characters who go and they’re opposed, and they meet the opposition with joy, which, in one sense, inflames the opposition even more. They want to get you down. They want to get you depressed. They want to get you discouraged. That’s because Satan’s behind them. And the accuser of the brethren is always trying to steal strength from the child of God.

Oh, maybe you were here this morning and that’s exactly what he’s trying to do. He is robbing you of strength. And he’s causing you to be discouraged and to think that there’s no hope. This prayer will never be answered. God doesn’t care about me. God’s not hearing me. The Lord doesn’t love me, or whatever those doubts that arise in the mind.

And you’re here and Satan is just pummeling you every day of late, trying to make you more and more discouraged. And it is not, it is not the will of the Lord that you stay in that state. It is not.

The joy of the Lord. A joy that has burst in the knowledge that the Lord loves me, that He has chosen me, that He has saved me, that He has forgiven me, that my name is written in heaven, that I no longer belong to the enemy. These things that do not change and cannot change, they drive this impulse. And when we just, we recognize that and we pray for the person of the Spirit to fill us, then, then, there is the Spirit-produced joy.

You’re going to need it. If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re going to need it. You’re going to need that sense of the Spirit enabling you to face the winds, the headwinds, and do so with joy.

Because if Satan gets you discouraged and you find yourself lamenting under the juniper tree, wishing for the end of your life, then it’s over for you. You can’t do anything. Satan’s won the battle. He’s sidelined you. He’s shelved you. He’s managed to get you to shelve yourself, not because of anything God has said, but because of what he’s convinced you to believe.

And the person of the Holy Spirit works counter to that. He works counter to that. He not only gives us a sense of the promises of God, but He gives us joy in it.

Oh, I’ll tell you, you need it. This is what they had. Right? This is what they had, and this is what you need. And I need too.

People are gonna oppose you, and they’re gonna say things, and you’re gonna want to fight fire with fire. And that’s carnal.

Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Resist it. Resist the temptation. Love them. Pray for them. And commit the whole matter to God. And go on with joy.

So, what they had.

Quickly, how they got it. Time is running away. How they got it.

Well, they got it first. We must consider the proclamation of Christ. The proclamation of Christ.

The sermon that you have, verses 16 through 41, specifically, what happens here is not detached from that sermon, because that sermon, Christ is preached, the Word is received. Right? You have it, I think it’s verse 48 as a summation of it, really. But Christ has been preached, the Word has been received, there’s a rejoicing in that, the believing, the spreading of the Word.

And all of it is focused upon the fact that these men went in and they preached Christ.

Now I’ll come back to this tonight a little more in terms of some of the things that were said and the focus of the message. But there is this: they got to where they were first by the preaching of Christ.

I’ll just leave it there, simplify this thought. They got to where they were, being filled with joy in the Holy Ghost, because someone came into their territory and in the hearing of their ears Christ was preached. You take that away, you never get there. You never get to them being filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.

It’s because God sent His Son, because He took our nature, because He died for our sins, because forgiveness is offered, because He rose and He reigns. This is all the reason why.

And I’m going to tell you something that we looked at in Hebrews. The key to the ongoing fullness of the Spirit is in always beginning with Christ, who He is and what He has done.

It is not shutting yourself away just to focus on the Holy Spirit and not thinking upon the grounds upon which the Spirit is given, the grounds upon which you can make that appeal. It’s as you think upon the cross, you consider the cost, all the sacrifice, all the love, the message of redeeming grace.

And He sent His Spirit. And you, it’s based on that. You have to begin there. You must begin there.

There’s much error in seeking the Spirit in the church today. And they seek the Spirit apart from the gospel. And men like it because they see the influence it produces, the promised power and influence, and they go after that. And it’s all the wrong way around. It’s all the wrong way around. That’s what Simon did in Acts 8. It’s all the wrong way around.

It’s Christ. Go after Christ, and loving Christ, and being like Christ, and the Spirit enabling that. That is key. You can’t leave Jesus Christ and the gospel out of it.

They got it because there was the preaching of Christ.

There’s the principle of faith. The principle of faith.

Well, they believed, didn’t they? They believed. And they were told, verse 39—again, we’ll look at that more this evening—but they believed. We’re told then that, in verse 48, they believed, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

So it’s the principle of faith. And Paul, in verse 39, he explicitly contrasts the justification of Christ with that which could not be obtained by the law of Moses. He couldn’t be justified by the law of Moses.

And so there was the believing on Christ to obtain this justification.

Now, here’s the point. When he writes to the Galatians, he says in Galatians 3:2:

“Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

And the answer, of course, is by the hearing of faith.

This is the thing. If you receive the Spirit, if the gospel received or the Spirit received initially is by the hearing of faith, how do you think you receive His fullness? By a different mechanism? By a different approach?

Did you receive the Spirit initially in your salvation by believing, by the principle of faith, and then you get the fullness by fasting, by torturing yourself, by living an ascetic life, and removing all comforts from you?

Now, those things can make way to focus on the Lord. Don’t get me wrong. But they in themselves do not bring the fullness of the Spirit. The Spirit is a promise, and promises have to be believed. And what you have to do is believe the principle of faith.

These people were told that the Holy Spirit was given because of Christ. And so they believe that. And in believing that, they came to enjoy this fullness.

I am not going to get through all this. There’s no way. I’m going to have to come back to this next Lord’s Day. That was not the intention. But maybe it’ll be good for the day of prayer. Maybe it’s the thing we need to focus on next week.

Do the believers at 1207 Haywood Road have enough of the Holy Spirit? Do we have enough? Do you have enough?

Are you satisfied with your Christlikeness? Are you satisfied with the measure of your love toward God? Are you content with your burden for lost souls? Do you think the measure of faith you have as you pray is so exemplary that it needs no addition, no increase?

Not only must we confess we need the Holy Spirit, but I’m going to say, if my opinion matters a jot to you, that we desperately need the Holy Spirit. The church, generally, but this church specifically, because I can’t control what’s out there, we need more of the Spirit.

If you read through the sermons of Charles Spurgeon, it’s hard not to look at the legacy of Spurgeon’s ministry and not be impressed by the life that pulsated through that congregation during his time as its pastor. You will find an emphasis in which he reminds the congregation regularly of this need.

In one sermon, he said the following:

“Now my dear friend, take this advice, be filled with the Spirit. You have as yet received only a few drops from the divine shower of His sacred influences. Ask for the rivers, the floods, the torrents of His sacred power. Let the heavenly floods come in and fill you up to the brim. Then will you have a joy which shall rival the bliss of those who are before the throne of God. Take this advice.”

A few drops. I think most of us could say, yep, that’s me. A few drops. I’m still selfish. The restraining power of the Spirit to keep my very thoughts in check is not up to what I would desire.

So leave here. Number one, convinced that this is for you.

It’s not a second blessing. It’s not proven through the speaking of tongues, nothing like that. It is the ongoing empowering of the third person of the Trinity, who fills the life and heart of the blood-washed believer and equips them amidst, as you see in the context here, even fierce persecution.

Not only do they continue, but they continue in a condition of joy. Their lives have become more difficult. Their lives have been turned upside down by believing. And they face the havoc of threat upon their very lives and the happiness of their existence. They face it with joy. Joy!

This is what the Spirit does. He doesn’t come and just iron out all the kinks of your life. He enables you to transcend them.

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

It doesn’t put us into a carriage and make life easy for us, but it gives us endurance and this ability to soar amidst the hardships, enjoying the Lord, laboring in His power.

I want the young people to know this, to seek the fullness of the Spirit, the happiness of it, the happiness of it, more joy.

Or what way did he put it? “You shall rival, your joy shall rival the bliss of those before the throne of God.”

Heaven’s happiness filling my soul when the Holy Spirit in His fullness is in me. Is this not a thing to be sought? Are you not done with lesser things? Are you not fed up with a half kind of baked Christianity, where I have Jesus and the forgiveness of my sins, but there’s this birthright of power and fullness and joy?

And we’re, like, leaving it aside. It’s there by faith to be received as a gift that Christ is saying to you, believer, it’s for you. And we’re turning away from it.

Oh, awful. Let it not be. Let it not be. No.

Let our homes be Spirit-filled, our lives Spirit-filled, our walk Spirit-filled.

Who knows what the Lord might accomplish.

Let’s pray together in prayer.

I don’t know how we become so easily sold a Christianity that’s half-baked, as I said. Scripture speaks of Ephraim as a cake not turned. I think some Christians, some of us, we live that way. We have the constant confrontation of what the pardon and the forgiveness and what we have in Christ in our justification.

And we leave this unbaked side of the fullness of the Spirit empowering us. It’s time, it’s time we sought it. And whatever would threaten it, set it aside.

Lord, help us. Help us today. Help me. Oh, help me. I don’t have this fullness to the degree that I need.

Oh, stimulate in my heart and in every Christian, in the heart of every Christian, that we might look for this ongoing to be filled every day with the Spirit.

Bless the Spirit of God. Come to us. Take the reins of this congregation. Govern every life. May its membership, oh, may you find a love for Christ and a love for sinners in the heart of the entire body.

Hear prayer and be merciful, Lord.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of every child of God now and evermore.

Amen.