Kenneth Wuest emphasizes the significance of living a spirit-filled life, clarifying that it is rooted in sound doctrine rather than emotion. He distinguishes between the anointing with the Spirit, the baptism by the Spirit, and the fullness of the Spirit, explaining that the anointing places the Holy Spirit in the believer, while baptism places the believer in Christ. Wuest highlights that the fullness of the Spirit refers to the ongoing control of the Holy Spirit over the believer's life, which requires a conscious desire and trust in the Spirit. He concludes that living a Spirit-controlled life involves cooperation with the Holy Spirit through prayer, study of the Word, and active faith. Ultimately, the message encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit for a victorious Christian life.

The subject is the spirit-filled life and how to live it. This matter of the spirit-filled life is not an emotional matter, it's a matter of clear thinking based upon correct doctrine. And in order to understand this matter of the spirit-filled life and how to live it, we want to discuss the precise distinction between the anointing with the spirit, the baptism by the spirit, and the fullness of the spirit. Notice, if you will, the prepositions used. It's the anointing with the spirit, the baptism by the spirit, and the fullness of the spirit. Our first question, then, is this. The anointing with the spirit, just what does that mean? And the easiest way to approach our problem is to look at the two Greek words in the New Testament translated anointing. One of those words is the word elipho. And we look at that word and see how the first century people used that word in ordinary conversation. For instance, it was used of a yoke band. That is, one of those yokes placed around oxen as they pull a plow. And here are the words. Which you will carefully grease. Now the word grease is the word anoint. Then we have a letter from a man whose wife had presumably gone off on a vacation, and he writes her that during the month in which she has been gone, he has missed her so that he did not bathe nor anoint himself. That is, give himself a body massage of olive oil. And there is her word anoint. Then we have an inscription to a gymnasiac, the head of a gymnasium, to the well-beloved, honored Messor. Evidently, this man wasn't remembered so much for his athletic prowess as for the fact that he gave the athletes, after their exercise, a rubdown with olive oil. And there is the word anoint. Then we have in James, If any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, massaging him with oil in the name of the Lord. Now there is one of the words translated anoint. The other one is this, it's the word creole, and it is used of the application of a lotion to a sick horse. And so we have our definition now of the word anoint. It refers to the act of applying something to man or beast for a certain purpose. We're going to take first now an illustration of the word anointing in the case of our Lord, in Luke chapter 4, verse 18, where we read, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me. Now does that mean the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Holy Spirit hath anointed me? Or does it mean the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me? Well, the answer is found in the Old Testament text, which is clearer. The Old Testament text reads, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me. That is, Jesus is explaining the place or position of the Holy Spirit upon him in view of the fact that God the Father anointed him with the Spirit. That is, God the Father placed the Holy Spirit upon the Lord Jesus. There is our first illustration as to how the word anoint was used. Then we turn in the New Testament to the anointing of the believer with the Spirit. And we have in the Corinthian epistles the fact that God has anointed us. Paul tells us that. And we turn to James chapter 4 and verse 5 for an illustration of how that anointing was effected. When we read, Do you think that the scripture saith in vain the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Now the context here clearly indicates that the word spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. And the Greek word translated dwelleth in its full meaning is as follows. It refers to the act of one person causing another person to make his home in a certain place. And then our English word lusteth today. The word lust refers to an immoral desire. But 300 years ago when the authorized translation was made, it meant what the Greek word meant, namely a passionate desire. And now we're going to translate in an expanded translation. The Spirit who has been caused to take up his permanent residence in us has a passionate desire to the point of envy. Therefore, the word anointing refers here to the act of God the Father in answer to the prayer of God the Son sending the Holy Spirit to take up his permanent residence in us. And the Holy Spirit in us has a passionate desire to control us to the point of envy which he has regarding the control which the evil nature might have over us. And so we would translate and interpret this way. The Spirit who has been caused to take up his permanent residence in us has a passionate desire to control us to the point of envy. Envy of any control which the evil nature might have over us. And then we come to 1 John for a moment. And in 1 John 2.20 we read this. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. The word unction there is the word anointing. Ye have an anointing from the Holy One. And that anointing is the Holy Spirit placed in the believer. As for the words ye know all things, the better Greek text had this. All of you have a capacity to know. That is, by virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells, the Christian has a capacity to understand the Scriptures. And so we have our definition of the anointing with the Spirit. It is the act of God the Father in answer to the prayer of God the Son placing the Holy Spirit in the believer, in the believing sinner, the moment he believes. But now, you may ask me, how do I know that the Holy Spirit takes up his residence in the believer the moment he believes? Someone may say, I know a passage where the teaching is that the Holy Spirit doesn't take up his place in the believing sinner at the moment he is saved, but sometime afterwards. And it's in Acts chapter 19 and verse 2, where Paul says to these men in Ephesus, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? That is, did you receive the Holy Spirit since the time you believed? And that would indicate that the Holy Spirit comes in after the initial act of faith. But let us remember that the English word since has two meanings. One meaning is the temporal meaning. Namely, I didn't see this young man since he was a boy. That's a temporal meaning. But then it has a causal meaning too. For instance, we could illustrate it this way. Since you are a Greek scholar, you ought to know better. Now, which meaning is in Paul's mind here? Well, we go to the Greek text and use a few Greek technicalities here to show that the teacher is on a solid basis when he interprets this passage. The word believe is a participle and a causal participle. The word receive is the main verb. And the rule is here that the action in the verb is based upon the action in the participle. The action in the participle is the act of believing. The result of believing is receiving. All of which means this. That Paul says, did you receive the Holy Spirit in view of the fact that you believed? Teaching that the reception of the Holy Spirit is the result of the initial act of faith in Jesus Christ. Now, the purpose of the anointing with the Spirit. The purpose is to place the Holy Spirit in a position in the believer where he can minister to him in his Christian life. That's the purpose of the anointing with the Spirit. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is only potential. It's a means to an end. All the ministries of the Spirit are made possible by his indwelling. But they do not spring automatically from it. For instance, every saint is anointed with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells every saint. But every saint is not the recipient of the full ministry of the Spirit. That has to do with other things. Then there is another thing about this anointing with the Spirit. There is no such thing as a fresh anointing. The Old Testament priests were anointed with oil once at their induction into their ministry. So the Christian believer is anointed with the Holy Spirit once. He's a priest, and he is anointed with the Holy Spirit once at the moment he puts his faith in Jesus Christ. And so we've answered our first question. What is meant by the anointing with the Spirit? The answer is the act of God the Father in answer to the prayer of God the Son placing the Holy Spirit in the believing sinner at the moment he puts his faith in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. That brings us now to our second question. What is meant by the baptism by the Spirit? And we turn again to our Greek text, and we find that there are two words translated baptized. One is the word baptizo, and the other is the word bapto. And let us remind ourselves of the fact that the English word baptized and the word baptism are not the translation or the meaning of the Greek word. They are simply the English spelling of the Greek word. We're going to look in classical Greek and New Testament Greek as to how these Greek words were used by ancient people. For instance, we have this. A blacksmith dips the hot iron in water tempering it. He places the hot iron in water. Greek soldiers dip the points of their spears in a bowl of blood before going to war. They placed the points of their spears in a bowl of blood. We have the instance of an angry slave master giving his slave a ducking in the river. He placed him in the river. Then we have in the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament this. The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle the people. He places his finger in the blood. That brings us to this definition of the baptism, namely this. The introduction or placing of a person or thing into a new environment or into union with something else so as to alter its condition or relationship to its previous environment or condition. The word in its usual usage means to place into. Now we will look at several places in the New Testament where the word baptize is used. And we turn to Romans chapter 6 and verse 3 where we read, Know ye not that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? But let us remember again please that the word baptized here is not the translation or meaning of the Greek word, but it's merely the English spelling. And if we want to translate, we have this. Know ye not that so many of us that were placed into Jesus Christ were placed into his death? This is the action of God the Holy Spirit placing believing sinners in vital union with Jesus Christ. Now, you may say, teacher, how do you know this isn't water baptism, but it is spirit baptism? In the first place, we have this fact, that this baptism into Jesus Christ, this being placed into Jesus Christ, occurred 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. And believing sinners were not alive at that time. You and I were not alive at that time. And thus water couldn't touch us. But then there's another reason. This baptism into Jesus Christ resulted in, as we are told in verse 2, the breaking of the power of sin in the life. Now the breaking of the power of sin in a person's life is a supernatural act. And therefore this must be supernatural baptism, not water baptism. This teacher believes in the responsibility of a Christian submitting to water baptism as a testimony to his faith in Jesus Christ. And there are plenty of passages in the New Testament which teach that. But this passage does not teach that. It teaches that the Holy Spirit placed us in vital union with Jesus Christ when he died on the cross in order that we might share his death, have the power of sin broken on our lives, and share his resurrection. And then we go to one other passage, please. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, no, it's chapter 12, where we read in verse 13, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Or we could translate it this way, For by means of one Spirit we were all placed into one body. And then we turn to Matthew chapter 3 for a moment. And we have John the Baptist's words regarding the Lord Jesus when John says, He, the Lord Jesus, shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Now that Greek word with has the idea of instrumentality. For instance, the boy painted the fence with the brush. That is, by means of the brush. Jesus did this baptism by means of the Holy Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit was the divine agent that did the baptizing, the placing into Jesus Christ. Thus we have the baptism by the Spirit. It isn't for power. It's merely for the placing of the believing sinner in the vital union with Jesus Christ. It's never repeated. For we have in Ephesians chapter 4, the seven unities that provide unity in the Christian church. Where Paul says, There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father of all. Now this one baptism here is in connection with six supernatural things. And we would not expect Paul to bring in water baptism, a natural thing, in a list of six other supernatural things. You can hardly translate this. The best thing you can do is to interpret it and paraphrase it. One Lord, one faith, one placing into. That is, one act of the Holy Spirit, once. Placing the believing sinner in Christ. And so we have the baptism by the Spirit. The act of God the Father, a bigger pardon, the act of God the Holy Spirit placing the believing sinner in Christ. Now we come to some distinctions. Mainly the distinction between the anointing with and the baptism by the Spirit. The anointing with the Spirit places the Spirit in the believer. The baptism by the Spirit places the believer in Christ. That brings us now to the consideration of the fullness of the Spirit. And we will consider the words fill and full in their English and Greek words. These words are used in two different ways. For instance, here is the first way the Greek word and the English word fill is used. For instance, at the marriage of Cana, if Jesus said, fill the water pots with water. And we use this illustration. Perhaps you heard the statement, one baptism, many fillings. Mainly, one baptism by the Holy Spirit placing us in Christ. And many fillings with the Spirit. Let us illustrate that second expression, many fillings with the Spirit. Here is a man who has a motor car. And he drives up to the filling station and he says, fill up the tank ten gallons of gasoline. And he drives off and uses up that gasoline. And he drives up to the next filling station and fills up again and so on and so on. And this is supposed to be the illustration of a Christian who yields himself to the Holy Spirit and is filled with the Holy Spirit, uses up that power by Christian living and service, is empty and goes back and is filled up again. And uses up that power and is empty and goes back to the Holy Spirit and is filled up again. Now let us look at that illustration just a moment. In the first place, the Christian's heart is not an empty receptacle like a gasoline tank. The Christian's heart is a symbol of his willpower, his emotional nature, and his reason. And in the second place, the Holy Spirit is not so much liquid power poured into an empty receptacle. The Holy Spirit is a person to control another person, the believer. And that illustration breaks down. Aren't you glad that doctrine is not based upon illustrations? Therefore, the use of the word fill in full, having the idea of fill the water pots with water, that use is not applicable when we speak of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Here is the other way the word fill and the word full is used. Namely, they were filled with fear, Luke 5.26. Fear controlled them. And then we have in Acts 6.5, a man called Stephen, who is described as a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Stephen was filled with faith. Faith controlled him. And filled with the Spirit, the Spirit controlled him. And so let us remember that when we speak of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we refer to the Holy Spirit's control over the believer. That brings us to Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 5.18, Be filled with the Spirit. Let us translate it this way. Be controlled by the Spirit. Now there is a rule of Greek grammar that makes us translate it this way. Be constantly being controlled by the Spirit. That is God's ideal for a Christian. And so instead of saying one baptism and many fillings, we should say one baptism and his constant control. You and I as Christians cannot live above sin unless we are constantly being controlled by the Spirit. The Christian never acts alone. He either acts in the power of the evil nature or the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian's will is free, poised between these two. And thus, the ideal in a Christian life is the constant control of the Holy Spirit over him. The only thing that will keep the Christian from being controlled by the Spirit is known and cherished sin in his life. When he has known and cherished sin in his life, then the evil nature controls him. And the only way he can get back into the control of the Holy Spirit is to confess that sin and put it out of his life. John says in his first epistle, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That Greek word confess literally means to speak the same thing. That's to agree with somebody. And Christian confession of sin to the Lord Jesus amounts to this. The Lord Jesus says to me, that's sin in your life. I say, I agree Lord Jesus, that's sin. He says to me, you ought to be ashamed of yourself and sorry for it. And I say, Lord, I am. And the Lord Jesus says, you ought to put it out of your life. And I say, Lord Jesus, by thy grace I'll put that sin out of my life. And that's Christian confession. And that brings the Christian back under the control of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we have to find the words filled with the Spirit. Namely, the Spirit's control over the believer. That brings us to three distinctions. First, the anointing with the Spirit places the Holy Spirit in the believer at the moment he puts his faith in Jesus Christ. Second, the baptism by the Spirit places the believer in Christ at the same moment. And we want to be careful to note that these two acts are instantaneous acts, never repeated. Third, the fullness of the Spirit refers to the control of the Holy Spirit over the believer. And this is not an instantaneous act, it's a process that goes on all through the life of the believer. That brings us to this question. What must the Christian do to live a Spirit-controlled life? And we turn to John 7, 37 and 38 for part of our answer. John 7, 37 and 38, where we read, And in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out from his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus lays down two conditions which must be met by the Christian if he is to be controlled by the Spirit. In verse 37, a thirst. In verse 38, a trust. First, then, a thirst. You and I do not take a drink of water unless we are thirsty, unless we desire it. And the Christian is not the full recipient of the Spirit's ministry until he has a desire for that. Jesus didn't save you and me until we desired him to save us. The Holy Spirit, while doing his best in a saint that is ignorant of his ministry, yet cannot perform his full ministry in the believer unless that believer has a conscious desire for that control. Now, what does it mean for me as a Christian to desire the control of the Holy Spirit? It means, first of all, that I desire the Holy Spirit to put all sin out of my life. Second, I desire the Holy Spirit to dethrone my proud ego and enthrone the Lord Jesus. Third, I desire the Holy Spirit to produce his fruit in my life and make me like Jesus. And that is a very definite desire. Then the other condition is, namely, a trust. There is no scripture that instructs the Christian to pray to be filled with the Spirit. That does not mean that if a Christian prays a rite in faith-believing, he will not be filled, God will answer his prayer. But we didn't pray to be saved, we trusted to be saved. And the rite scripture procedure is to trust the Holy Spirit to control us. And that trust includes a yieldedness to him. For we have in Romans 6.13, yield yourselves to God. Thus we have two prerequisites for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. What are they? A desire for that fullness and a trust and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit for that control. Now your question may be, how long must I wait until I am controlled by the Holy Spirit after fulfilling these prerequisites? Must I tarry for his fullness? Well, let's go to the tarrying verse, Luke 24.49. And we read, Now this was spoken by our Lord Jesus to the disciples forty days after his resurrection. Ten days after that, at the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was scheduled to come from Heaven. Fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. And the only reason Jesus asked the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit would give them power was that the disciples were in Jerusalem ahead of schedule. They were to wait for the Holy Spirit to come from Heaven to Earth. For instance, some years ago, this speaker was teaching at a Bible conference in North Platte, Nebraska. And speaking on the ministry of the Spirit. And in the concluding message he said, My wife and I are leaving on the train tonight for home. We're going to hold a tarrying meeting in the waiting room of the railroad depot. And you're all invited to come. But the only reason why is that we were going to wait for the train. There's really no reason. So the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. And he's here. He need not be waited for. But now we haven't answered our question. How long will it take the Holy Spirit to control the believer after he has fulfilled these two requirements? We'll answer the question by asking another. How long did it take Jesus to save you when you put your faith in him? And you will answer, on the split second that I put my faith in Jesus Christ, he saved me. And there's the answer. The minute the Christian desires the control of the Holy Spirit, and yields himself and trusts for that control, the Holy Spirit controls him. Thus we have two of the prerequisites of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And that's one side of the picture. But here's the other side. Namely, the Christian must not only desire his control, yield himself to that control with a trusting heart, but he must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in his work. We get this truth from two passages in the New Testament. We have in Philippians 2, the words, the fellowship of the Spirit. And in a Corinthian passage, we have the words, the communion of the Holy Ghost. And the Greek word in translated fellowship and communion is a word that speaks of partnership. Thus when two individuals are in partnership, they cooperate with one another. And so the believer must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification. For instance, here are two extremes in the Christian life which must be avoided. Here's a young man who does not know anything about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And he says, I'm determined to be loving to everybody I meet today. In his own strength, he tries to be loving and he fails. Here is a young man who knows about the ministry of the Spirit, and the Spirit's ministry of producing love in his heart. And he says, I'm determined to be loving to everybody I meet today, and I'm just going to let the Holy Spirit make me loving. I won't do a thing about it. He fails there. The ideal combination is this. The Christian saying, I know the Holy Spirit indwells me. I know also that one of his ministries is to make me loving. And so depending upon the Holy Spirit yielded to him, I will step out in faith and be loving to everyone I meet. There is the ideal combination. It's a combination of dependence upon the Holy Spirit and a stepping out in faith to do the very thing you are depending upon the Holy Spirit to do in you. It is like bending one's arm. I have strength in my arm to bend it, but my arm won't bend until I say, bend. Or let's have this illustration. Here's a young man who knows nothing about the Holy Spirit, a Christian, and he is faced with a temptation. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists and he says, no, I won't do it. And he does it. Here is a young man who knows that the ministry of the Spirit is to give victory over sin. And he says, here I'm faced with this temptation. I'm just going to allow the Holy Spirit and depend upon him to give me victory. And he goes down in failure. For the Holy Spirit will not do for the Christian what he can do for himself. The ideal combination is the Christian saying to himself, Blessed Spirit, I'm depending upon thee to give me victory over this sin, and I'm saying a definite point-blank no to it. There is the combination of the dependence upon the Spirit for victory and a stepping out in faith and saying no to sin. And the more frequently the Christian says no to sin and yes to Jesus, the easier it is until it becomes automatic to do so. And there is the victorious life. A few more things regarding the cooperation of the Christian with the Holy Spirit. There must be a devotional study of the Word of God through which the Holy Spirit speaks to the Christian. Then he must live a life of prayer and he must engage in some Christian work. Finally, what must a Christian do to live a Christian life, a life filled with the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit? One, he must desire that control. Two, he must yield himself to the Holy Spirit trustingly for that control. And three, he must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in that control. This concludes our message, namely, The Spirit-Filled Life and How to Live a Christian Life.