In this sermon, the preacher talks about the story of Gideon from the Bible. God chose only 300 out of tens of thousands of recruits because they were the ones who drank water from the river while remaining alert and ready for battle. The preacher emphasizes the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is different from being converted. Being filled with the Holy Spirit brings joy, a fire in the soul, and a deep surrender to God. The preacher encourages the congregation to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God and to have faith in asking for the Holy Spirit.

We're turning to the New Testament this morning for our scripture reading. Pick up the authorized version of the scriptures you'll find in front of you in the pew and turn with me to the Ephesian epistle of the Apostle Paul. And you will find that at page 221, 221 in your New Testament. And we're going to read from verse 5 to verse 20 of this chapter. Verse 5, Ephesians chapter 5. And take your time for me, let's not murmur it, let us read it out and believe it with all our hearts. For this ye know, that no more hung, no poor monger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as the children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifested by the light. For whatsoever God make manifest is light. Wherefore He says, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life. Seeing them, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the times, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, for in it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ending our reading at verse 20. And we know that God will stamp His approval upon His very own infallible work. I want to speak this morning on a vital subject. Upon the necessity of every child of God to be filled with the Spirit of God. There is much controversy and many arguments about the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Does every believer have the Holy Spirit? Yes, he or she does. You cannot be a believer if you are not a possessor of the Spirit of God, as we shall see. What is the difference between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit? And how can we obey the apostolic injunction not to be drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit? These are vitally important matters that we need to consider in this day when there is a chill on the church. When prayerlessness waxes broad among the people of God and powerlessness marks many of our church services. So we need to come back to the physics of the power and fire and infilling of the Spirit of God. This is a very important subject because it was the first subject that Christ uttered when He rose from the dead and He appeared to His disciples. He breathed upon them and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, the first message after the resurrection. It was the last message which Christ gave before He ascended into heaven. And He said, You tolerate until ye be endued with power from on high. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. It was the first great happening after Christ ascended to heaven. For on the day of Pentecost when they were all with one accord in one place, the mighty wind of God. It was the tongues of fire as of fire and there was the baptism of the young church in the upper room, a baptism of the Spirit's power. That baptism of the Spirit's power was repeated down in Jericho when the Samaritans turned in their thousands to Christ and they too had their Pentecost. It was repeated again when Peter was sent for by Cornelius, the Roman centurion. And you remember the Holy Spirit and the first Gentiles. So this infilling of the Holy Spirit was for all the church, Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles together. The first test question which was put to early believers was, Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed? Because the Holy Spirit was the seed. But they were born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. So this is a vitally important subject. We need to have a restatement continually of what is the truth of the Scriptures concerning the infilling of God's people for the Holy Ghost. And every child of God needs a daily experience of being filled. And it is important that we come back to the basis. Is or has the Holy Spirit come? Or are we still tarrying for the coming of the Holy Spirit? The answer to that question is in the hymns that we have sung today, The Comforter Hallelujah Has Come. The Holy Spirit is with His people and is with them forever. Take your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 8. And in Romans chapter 8, which is the great chapter of the Spirit of God, at verse 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. When the day I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior, the Holy Spirit entered and I was born of God. And every child of God has the Holy Ghost. Now that is a very fundamental truth that needs to be emphasized. Because I hear of prayer meetings and they are praying that they want the Spirit of God to come into their heart and their sea of people. The Holy Spirit is in the heart of all believers. If any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his. The Spirit of God marks the birth of the child of God into the family of God. But let me tell you something, to be indwelt by the Spirit does not mean that you are controlled. There is a distinction, a clear distinction, by those that are indwelt by the Spirit but not controlled by the Spirit. There is a distinct difference between those who are inhabited by the Spirit but they are not indwelt by. There is a distinct difference being in possession of the Spirit but the Spirit not being in possession of you. There is a difference between us having the Spirit of God within us and being indwelt with the Spirit. So we need to see that distinction. Oh yes, if you are a child of God you have the Spirit of God and you have Him forever. He dwells with you forever. He will never leave you, never forsake you. That is not what I am talking about today. I am talking about the Spirit of God being in control of me, infilling me, possessing me, leading me, guiding me, directing me and giving me the power that I need. And it is that that should be the daily experience of every child of God. You can have a preacher that knows the Bible but if he is not filled with the Holy Spirit it is the letter that killeth but the Spirit giveth life. You can have all the sound doctrine but if it is not lit with the Holy Flame of God it is deadness in the heart. As Mr. Nicholson used to say, you can be as orthodox as the devil himself. So it is essential that every child of God awakens to the imperative need of being constantly and daily filled with the Spirit of God. Nothing was able to meet the need of something once he lost his spirit. He went out and shook himself as at other times but he wished not that the power of God had left him. What a difference between Samson without the Spirit of God, a paralyzed, broken, smashed vessel, useless to God and to man. Do you remember Gideon? He had tens of thousands of recruits but God looked at them and God turned up his nose at them and God said there is no good Gideon. I am going to take them down to the river and I am going to see how they drink their water. They took them down to the river and some of them were so lazy that they got down on their knees, let go of their swords and they put their mouth to the water and drunk and drunk and drunk. There were 300 out of the thousands and they did not lie down. They stooped down and they used their hands to bring the water to their lips. There were the men that lapped and God said out of those 300 men I will deliver Israel from the uncountable hordes of those that had impeded it. Blessed Palestine, the holy land, the land promised to Abraham and their fathers. There is no substitute to the filling of the child of God with the Holy Spirit. Now let me say to you being filled with the Holy Spirit is different from being converted. You can be converted and not be filled with the Spirit of God and it is important we keep that in mind. Turn over with me to Acts chapter 9. In Acts chapter 9 Saul was sealed and there is no doubt about it he was sealed on the Damascus road. And the Lord spoke to him and the Lord sealed him but he was not filled with the Holy Spirit. He got the Holy Spirit but he was not filled with the Holy Spirit. And then he went into Damascus and a man in Damascus, old Ananias, got a message from the Lord and was told by the Lord you go and get the hold of Saul of Tarshish because I have a message for him. And in verse 17 Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hand on him said, Brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way that thou camest has sent me that thou mightest receive my sight. Look at it and be filled with the Holy Ghost. The greatest of all the apostles was sealed and had the Spirit but he needed something more. He needed to be filled, possessed, conquered, ruled and reigned over by. And Ananias was sent that he might receive his sight and be filled. Now you say to me could God not save a man and fill him with the Spirit of God at the same time? Of course he did, he could. Nothing is impossible with God. I'll tell you something more, there was a man who was saved and had the Holy Spirit. Do you know who he was? From his mother's womb he had the Spirit of God. Go and read the Bible, God can do miracles. But the usual procedure with God according to His precious infallible Word is you are saved but you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and it is not a once and for all experience. The Ephesians were well tried Christians. Paul writes to them and he says, Be not drunk with wine, be filled with the Spirit. I met a man one day and he said to me, he said it's wrong to claim you're filled with the Spirit because that's pride. He said then it must be wrong to claim you're born of the Spirit. You can be assured that you're filled with the Spirit as you can be sure that you're born of the Spirit. It says the Spirit beareth witness with our spirits, Romans 8 and 16, that ye are the children of God. This infilling of the Holy Spirit, let me tell you today, it is not an influence coming in your body that you lose all sense of your own personality and you lose all sense of the plainness of your mind and heart. And there are people and they say they have an experience when they'll just go out for the count. I don't find that in the Bible. In fact I find the Bible telling me that the Spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. There's no such thing as the Spirit of the prophet taking over and making a man utter words that are not words and throw him on the floor and tell him then he's filled with the Spirit. That is counterfeit, anti-scriptural and it's not the teaching of the book of God. If I am sound in body, mind and soul before I'm filled with the Spirit, I'll be sounder in body and soul when God fills me with the Spirit. This is not the progress. Remember a lady coming to my church, a fine lady, and she had gone to a certain place and they took her into a room. They laid hands upon her. She was thrown on the floor and she started to speak language unbelievable. And she came back to me and she said, Mr. Paisley, I have got the Holy Ghost. I said that's very interesting. Perhaps you'll tell me more. But she said I went into a room and there were some men in that room and they laid their hands upon me and suddenly I was thrown on the floor. And she said I uttered speech I don't know what I said, but I uttered strange noises. And she says I'm now filled with the Spirit. Well, I said, were there unbelievers in this room when you were filled with the Spirit? Oh no, she says, there was no unbelievers. Well then I said you weren't filled with the Spirit. Because the book tells me that the speaking with tongues is a sign to the unbelievers. And you're making it a sign to a believer that he's filled with the Spirit. That's against the Bible. That's a deception. And that poor woman, she never did anything for the Lord after that. She was sidetracked, disillusioned and deceived. What a tragedy. Let us keep to the firm Word of God. You say to me, well, what about tongues? Well, tongues were a sign to the unbelievers and there were real languages. It wasn't gibberish. In the day of Pentecost, they spoke the tongues of the people that could hear and understand. Every man in his own tongue heard the Word of God. Let us not be sidetracked. Let us not go up wrong alleyways, deceived by the Lord. Let's keep to the firm Word of God. You say to me, well, if I am filled with the Holy Spirit, what's the mark of it? Well, I'll tell you first of all, the first mark of being filled with the Spirit is unity with others. There'll be a blessed unity among the believing people of God when they're filled with the Spirit. Pride will die. Love of the world will die. The things that divide believers will be removed. There will be oneness of mind, oneness of heart, oneness of desire, oneness of purpose, oneness of him. The whole man will be changed. And a person filled with the Spirit will have liberty of utterance. For the first time, the dumb will speak. The silent will shout. The atheist will become manly. The jellyfish will become as strong as a crowbar. That's what happens when men get... Fear disappears and they get power in utterance. Words not flat but full come from their lips. Words not tame but tremendous come from their lips. Words not boomerangs but barrages come from their lips. Yes, words not blunt but sharp. And of course, the fruit of the Spirit. And notice it's not the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. There's only one fruit that gives all these blessings. Joy will come. A person filled with the Spirit will be filled with joy. Did you notice in that passage we read? If you look at Ephesians chapter 5, you'll find that the first thing they speak, they speak in Psalms. Verse 15, Be not trumped with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Verse 18 rather of the fifth chapter. Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making none of the infilling of the Spirit is joy. The Spirit brings joy and it brings also a fire. A white hot heat in the very soul of the man. Doubts about your own salvation will fly. Prayer will not become a problem. It will become a paradise to yourself. You'll no longer stumble when people attack you. You'll stand up devoutly and strongly for the things of God. Everything that you dreaded before will disappear. For God will give you a spine like a railway line. And you'll not need to even bend to all the assaults of the enemy. This happens when men are filled. When you say to me, preacher, I need to be filled with the Spirit of God. That's a good thing. That God has taught you that. How can I be filled with the Spirit? Well, first of all, you need to put away all known sin. And I don't need to go down to you and put my finger upon you and say you shouldn't be doing that. The Holy Spirit has already done that. God has already done that. You know this sin of mine. I don't need to personalize it. The Holy Ghost has personalized it in your life. He's put His finger on it. And that must be put away. You must say, oh God, cleanse me from my sins. Make me whiter than the soul. You need to, when you pray that prayer, to believe that the blood cleanses you from all sin. Every sin had to go beneath the cleansing flow. Rolled away, rolled away, rolled away. And the burden of my heart rolled away. Then there must be obedience. There must be obedience. The Holy Spirit, we read in the book of Acts, is given to those who obey Him. Who obey Him. Acts chapter 5 and verse 32. Mark it in your Bible. For we are His witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God has given to them that obey Him. There must be obedience. And then there must come a full surrender. Turn over in your Bible to Romans. And in that great chapter, Paul says, chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The great preacher of the Welsh Revival, R.B. Jones, preached a sermon. God wants the bodies of His people. And God is in a search in this church this morning for bodies. I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies. Give your body entirely. There must, of course, be that act of faith. Over in the Gospel according to Luke, we read of that great promise. And in that portion it says, Luke 11 and 13. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? We have to be asked to be filled. Put all known sin away. Trust in the blood of Christ to cleanse you. Be obedient right up to all the light that God has given you. Make a glad and full surrender of yourself to Christ. And then in an act of faith, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit. Thank God that Christ of God baptizes us with the Holy Ghost and fire. For you believer not to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to commit the greatest sin as a believer you can commit. That sin is as great as the command. God has commanded you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you are in habitual disobedience to God. The sin of not being filled with the Holy Spirit is as evil and as great as you would do for God and goodness if you were filled with the Holy Spirit. If you were really filled with the Holy Spirit, what a life you would have of testimony, soul winning, praying and living for God. But you don't have that life. Therefore the greatness of the sin is measured by the greatness of the blessing and the greatness of robbing God of your life on earth. When you are not here, oh do you not want reverently to adore the Savior? It is only infilling of the Holy Spirit can draw us to Christ. It is only the Spirit of God can help us to really worship Christ. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Obey Him. Speak of Him with reverence. And cry out that He may come and fill you. I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost to fill me to the uttermost. I take. Thank God He undertakes. May God help us all to pray that prayer this day and minute.