Believers are called to "follow God" as dear children and "walk in love" as Christ loved the church, which is a New Testament mystery not fully revealed in the Old Testament. It emphasizes that being "filled with the Spirit" is a continuous, passive command, meaning believers are acted upon by the Holy Spirit, not self-filled, and this is crucial for proper relationships, particularly within marriage. The message contrasts this with being drunk with wine, highlighting that the Spirit's filling leads to boldness in speaking God's word, continuous thanksgiving, and mutual submission, which are essential for Christian living and effective ministry.
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or church which is Christ's body is something not known in the Old Testament. You keep and believe in the New Testament verses. It is the mystery, and it was not made known in the past time as it is now being made known to its holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, and therefore don't go looking back there in Old Testament times to find out when the assembly or church which is Christ's body is going to be caught out. That is major premise that was wrong. There's a bunch more wrong with the pamphlets. Don't believe that. But, beloved, He may come before we get through this conference. There's not one verse in all that New Testament that would prohibit His coming at this moment.
At this moment, He can come. And the good part is He is coming. He is coming. Brother Ross, how do we do that? Can we... I have to get back. I'll tell you what, I'll just stand back here. I don't need... I just want to get it back away from the north. I could. Okay. Can we get it back? If we want to get it all back. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Ephesians, if you will, chapter five. Be as therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet, smelling savor. Fortication and all uncleanness are covetousness. Let it not be once named among you as become a saint, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor guessing which are not convenient, but rather giving a thanks.
But if you know that no foremonger 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 come at the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be ye not, therefore, partakers with them. For, you were sometimes darkness, but now you light in the Lord, walk as 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 manifest to the light. For whatsoever does make manifest is light. Wherefore, saith, awake thou that sleepest.
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See them that you walk circumcisedly, not as fools, but as wise, revealing the time 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, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in songs 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, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Father, help us to lay hold to these verses that they may lay hold to us and produce God-likeness.
that they may produce fruit that will abound forever and forever. Receive our thanks for this privilege in that name that's above all names, our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, I want us to look at two thoughts from the fifth chapter of Ephesians. I would love to go into the latter part. I'd like to take up that, but I did that two times in one year in nineteen seventy-six, and I'd love to talk about the marriage relationship. But we won't have time, and I don't even know what time we do have. I don't know. This meeting ends at what time? All right. Thank you, Ross. We'll bypass Pop. What is it? All right.
All right. We'll try to make it... I'll try to be more than about thirty-five minutes, and they'll give thirty-five minutes, and we'll have a break, you said, and then Brother Swin can speak. But this morning, I want us to look, first of all, at the beginning of the chapter, Be, therefore, followers of God. as dear children. The word followers is our same word that we have for mimic in English, and it's in some other translations a different word. But what we're going to look at this morning is that God is using that same word that he used with the Apostle Paul as an example. In First Corinthians four sixteen, be followers of me. In First Corinthians eleven and one, be followers of me, even as I awesome of Christ.
And Philippians three seventeen, be followers together of me. And mark those who walk. So you have us for an example. Three times over, and three I see as a number of deity, three times over, God has instructed us as believers to follow the example of the Apostle Paul. Now there's a bit of a change here. He says, Be, therefore, followers or mimicers of God as dear children. And the word dear is the same word for love. It's a bit of a compounded form, or beloved children. And walk or literally walk around. It's peri meaning around, like perimeter. paracardium. And it's that particular word, periscope, meaning around.
And walk around in love. That is, in the sphere of love conduct your everyday life. And that's certainly in keeping with First Corinthians thirteen that says, Love suffers long in its kind, love envies not love, bumps not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unsamely, seeks not our own, is not easily provoked, thanks no evil, rejoices, not in iniquity, but rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails. And then, of course, taking in. Romans thirteen, love works no ill to his neighbors. So in the spirit of that kind of love, walk around, conduct our everyday life as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, an odor that's sweet, he's saying. And then He gives us the negative side.
And I don't really intend to take that up. I think we know not to do these things. It's not that it's not important. It's not that other things are maybe necessarily more important. It's just not I'm going to have time to deal with that part. But once we've looked at how the Christian is to conduct himself by walking around in love, then He will not be doing these things. If I'm walking in love as a beloved child, then, my beloved friend, and if I'm following God or mimicking God or finding God as my example, then I won't be doing those things. But now, the part that I want to come to is the part that's so controversial among professed Christians throughout the world. And that's that verse eighteen.
In the sixteen eleven translation it reads this way, And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Number one, I'd like to suggest that we find out that the word, the is not there in any Greek text. If you use the Eberhard Nestle, the German text, if you use the Westcott Hart, which is an English text, if you use the United Society text, or if you prefer the one like I do, that is, the text is receptive, sometimes referred to as the Stevens text. I was so glad when some of the leading professors at Dallas Theological Seminary a number of years ago went back to the text that's receptive. I said, Amen, brothers, you're catching on. And they went back to that text. It is the text of the King James.
It may not be the oldest, but I believe many of the most fundamental people in America have found it to be the purest text. But I will remind you of this, there's not one doctrinal difference in any of them. Now, this way is yes. This way is no. This way is I'm uncertain. That tells me this big picture. What is it? God has guarded over His word, beloved. Yes, He has. The word Z is not there, and it is not the word for with. It's not any one of the three words that are generally translated with. Nita is the primary word. Hey, you have a town in this little, and this big state of Missouri, or change it in. You have a town in the big state of Missouri with that letter, that name, Nita.
M-E-T-A. I don't know how they pronounce it. How they pronounce it. Is that right? Nita? Okay, that's the most general word for width. You use it in anatomy or human body like metatarsal, we call it, metatarsal, metamorphosis, metaphysical. That's the word for width in the most general sense. And you find it used that way in John The Lord said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of the Son, the world cannot receive, because it sees in none. He even knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Now he uses three prepositions there to show the relationship with the Holy Spirit. And one of them is that word, Mita, with. It is not that word.
It is not the word para meaning with. And there in John XIV, the passage that I cited just now, it's used there for with. mean with and a closer sense right alongside. I am with Pop Allen in the same room, but I am with Roy Hendricks right alongside, a little closer relationship. There is another word for with, and it is the most intimate word, and it's used in First Thessalonians chapter four, when our Lord says, Through his servant, the Apostle Paul, by his Spirit, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise, for then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together. That's the word soon meaning intimately with.
We may be divided here, and shame on us if we are, but we're not going to be divided there. You ever hear people say, well, if they can't get along down here, how are they going to get along up there? I've got the answer, beloved. God's going to change us. All these idiosyncrasies and all these problems we've been having, and all of us have got some of them. Ross's got a lot more of them. You know, I appreciate Brother Ross. What had happened, his dear wife had fed him so well that one of his nice coats wouldn't fit him. One winter I was down here, we went by his place. And he gave me a coat, and man, that's one of the finest coats. He probably waited as he still had it, but I ain't going to give it back.
He's running a good heavy-duty quarter-roy kind, and it's nice to this very day. But he listened to Chet and them singly, and that'll probably reduce. So, beloved, keep in mind. Keep in mind that we're going to be intimately with one another. But the word is not with here at all. In any sense, it is the word in. In Greek letters, ipsilon nu or in English letters, e, n, translated and literally meaning I n. Therefore, if any man be with Christ or in Christ, in Christ, that's the same word. So if you hold to that, then hold to it here. Here's what He's saying, beloved. He's not saying, be filled with the Spirit.
Sorry about that. He is saying, be filled in Spirit. In First Thessalonians five, twenty-three, the Apostle said, as the Spirit of God breathes upon him, I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our spirit is our God-conscious apparatus. It's that part of our being that's sensitive to and conscious of God. Romans eight, sixteen. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. And so you can see there it's that part of our being. Of course, the proverb writer could say, the Spirit of men is the candle or lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts. And so it's that part of our being that's sensitive to God, conscious of God.
And he's saying here, be filled in spirit. I don't think anybody has a problem with who's supposed to do that. Obviously the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the pillar. And may I say, even though it's such a controversial subject, I'm afraid that some of us have almost backed off from the doctrine and we've suffered as a result. In other words, here's the dish over on this one side. Somebody goes astray on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and being filled and so on and so forth. And in order not to be identified over there, we kill ourselves in the ditch over here. Where's the power? Shall we go back to the Acts account quickly?
Oh dear, Toby, what time did I start? I dare not ask Ross. Anyway, I think I'm supposed to quit pretty soon. Anyway, I'll try. Go, if you will, to the book of the Acts. I'll tell you, let's just while you're turning to the left, go down over to Luke. Let's start there. Three times in chapter one, we get this expression. Verse fifteen, for he shall be great, referring to John the baptizer, he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. That's an unusual saying, but it is true of John three sixteen.
Luke chapter one, if you will, and verse forty-one. Mary has gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth and it says in verse forty. She entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth or greeted her, and it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her room, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And notice what it said she did. She spoke out with a loud voice. That's important. You remember that the father of John the baptizer had been mute after he had had some stumbling of fidelity concerning the message that came to him about the coming child. And so we find just for the sake of time, the scripture says in verses, well, it's in verse sixty-seven and sixty-eight. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.
And you'll notice then that we have these three expressions. Then look, if you will, in Luke chapter four, Luke chapter four, verse one, and Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. You will notice that those are the only times that I know of in the so-called Gospels that that expression is used. Only times. And only Luke wrote about it. Then if you will, in the Acts account, if we will, go to the book of the Acts, you'll notice in chapter one, it says that the Lord Jesus showed himself alive. Verse three, after his passion or the his sufferings, by many infallible truths, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commended them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which says he, you've heard of me, for John truly immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
I would like to suggest that's what the Lord was talking about. That's what the Lord was talking about through John by His Spirit when He said, I indeed immerse you in water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mighty than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire. That's Matthew chapter three, verse eleven. The same truth is taught in Mark one eight, Luke three, sixteen and John one thirty-three. Baptism, not of the Spirit. There's no such thing in all the Bible. It's baptism in the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one in whom we've been immersed. with a view to forming one body. And you find that in First Corinthians chapter twelve and verse thirteen, where there he says, literally, and far in one spirit, not far by one spirit.
That would contradict Matthew three eleven, Mark one eight, Luke three sixteen and John one thirty three. And God doesn't contradict, beloved. He doesn't do it. Sometimes the brethren do. Sometimes we do, but God doesn't. And he's saying they're literally, in First Corinthians chapter thirteen, you might want to make a note of that, and literally and far in one spirit. We all want to view to one body, we're baptized. So the baptism in the spirit was for this purpose, forming one spiritual body. The Lord Jesus on the day of Pentecost did the baptizing, and every Christian in this room was baptized that day. Don't look for any more baptism in the Spirit. It's in the aries tense. It happened at a point in time.
That point in time was the day of Pentecost. And every child of God in the age of grace was immersed in the Holy Spirit, forming one spiritual body at that time, beloved. It is not a practical experience. It is a positional experience. And the same thing is true of crucifixion. Paul could say by the Spirit, I have been fully and presently am crucified with Christ, not like Christ. If you get crucified like Christ, seven men go in the cemetery and just six coming back, beloved. Think of it. We are not crucified like Christ. We are crucified with Christ. When the Lord Jesus was hanged there, this poor, undeserving and hell-deserving, really, sinner was identified with the Lord Jesus.
And when he was crucified, I was crucified. When he was buried, I was buried. When he was raised, I was raised. I'm seated already in the heavenly right there now. And that's additional truth. and as surely. And he could go on to say in Romans six, six, knowing this that our old man was once for all crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be dead. That is, God is nullifying that thing. And so in the Acts account, he said, John truly immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Not many days in. And they said, Lord, live out this time of the story again of the kingdom of Israel. And he said, you know, it's not for you to know the time of the season which the Father's put in his own authority. Now, if you make a note there in your Bible, verse seven, the word is exousia for power there, but it's dunamis for power in verse eight.
He said, it's not for you to know the times or season which the Father's put in his own authority, but you shall receive dynamite after that the Holy Spirit is coming upon you. My beloved friends, where is the evidence of the dynamite today? I'm not saying it's not here. I'm just saying where is it? Let us read some accounts in the Acts. Chapter two. Verse four. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. As the Spirit gave them utterance, you'll compare that with First Corinthians fourteen nine and notice that the Corinthian gave the utterance there, not the Holy Spirit. Then if you'll look please in chapter four. Acts chapter four.
Verse eight. Then Peter. filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. Notice each time it speaks of somebody being filled with the Holy Spirit, they're speaking just about every time, aren't they? And I'm going to come to that a little bit later. Chapter four, verse thirty and thirty-one, please. They're praying in their prayer. They're coming, seem to be coming to the close of that prayer. They're saying in verse twenty-nine, and now, Lord, behold, they're threatening. Isn't that something? He said, Lord, look what they're doing. as though God wasn't looking here. Isn't that something? Don't you marvel at our prayers sometimes? I love that. And Lord, behold, they're threatened. Lord, look what they're doing. You think the Lord was looking?
This way is, uh-huh. Sure he was. And Lord, behold, they're threatening. And notice now, he says, and grant unto thy servants that with all goodness they may speak thy word. by stretching forth thy hand to heal, and that the signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, prayers ended, when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were settled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Oh, brethren, we need that boldness today. I'm not talking about brazenness. I'm talking about boldness. In brazenness I see self-projected. In boldness I see the Spirit of God controlling.
And I believe that's what they're praying. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. Chapter six and verse three. Trouble erupted in the assembly at Jerusalem. Some of the widows were being neglected in the daily service. Trouble in the woman sector. We won't come in on that. Ooh, Ross helped me. Verse three. Now, in verse twelve says that, in verse two, the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
And the word serve is our same word for deacon in the verb form. Deaconia serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honor's support, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. And it's the idea of need. It is translated need to almost every other place. in your New Testament. Verse four, but we will give ourselves continually to the Word of God, to prayer and to the ministry, or deaconing of the Word. So you have deaconing of tables and deaconing of the Word. But here, look at the requirements for those men. Number one, it says, honestly, for it, why? They're going to be handling funds. Their hands need to have grease, not glue. Okay? And it says, full of the Holy Spirit. How many assemblies of believers have that requirement?
Stop and think. You know what? I think we've been bypassing that. And of course, full of wisdom. Someone may I point over this meeting? Verse, if you will, verse five. The saints pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that good? Look at verse eight. Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Chapter seven and verse fifty-five. Stephen has given his last message. In the midst of it, he says, In verse fifty five, He being full of the Holy Spirit looked up steadfast into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, I'm saying that I'm convinced that today, compared to the first century, we're weak. Now, you may be offended at that. I hope not. I don't speak to offend. Some people want to get up and just skin hide and all that, but I don't believe in that. I just think, though, that we, compared to the first century, are a bit weak in the overall picture. You'll notice that in Chapter Nine, we have another reference to that. Ananias is told to go over a straight street, the house of Judas, visit a man named Saul.
And you remember his response? Well, Lord, do we know about this man? You know, he's really been against the Christians. And the Lord said, I want you to go your way. I'm going to show you how he's a chosen vessel of mine. And so when he gets there, verse seventeen, and Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way that thou cameest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And beloved, I believe he was. Look, if you will, in chapter ten and verse forty-four. Peter has preached the gospel. You say, how do you know that? Well, it's very clear. You'll see it in verse thirty-nine. Peter said to the house of the Lord Cornelius, we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they flew and hanged on tree.
Him, God has raised up the third day and showed him openly. What is the gospel? Here it is. Paul says, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach, which also you're saved, wherein you stand, by which also, if you keep in memory, Those things that are preached unto you, lest you believe in vain, for I deliver them to you. First of all, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. I believe Peter preached the gospel there. Now, some of our brethren, and I've run into them in Canada and other places, have taught that Cornelius had spiritual life before Peter got there with the gospel. Calvinism. Darbyism. Say what you will. They say God, he was so depraved, God had to quicken him.
That means life. Had to give his spirit to life before he could repent and believe. I don't believe that for one moment. Beloved friends, I want you to know there is no life until there's repentance and faith in Christ. They'll die and go to hell forever if they neglect that. And so Peter has preached the gospel. Verse forty-four. While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them who heard the word. And they are the circumstances who believe were astonished as many as came with Peter, because among the Gentiles also were poured out the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Have they know that, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he said, Well, now if you're exercised, you should be baptized.
Nonsense. He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, beloved. It was a command. And then you'll notice in chapter eleven. In chapter eleven, Barnabas, you remember, has gone down to check out the work that's being done by those who were scattered abroad when Stephen was martyred. And you see that scripture says, and look, if you will, at verse twenty four, for he Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and much people was added unto the Lord. Chapter thirteen, if you will, Saul of Tarsus, you remember. Look at verse nine. Saul has met Elimus the sorcerer. And then Saul said, who also is called Paul, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, said his eyes on him, and said, Oh, full of subtlety and all, mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
And so on. Now we'll not go any farther in this sense. We've read verses. My time is going to come and go. But beloved, I am convinced that in our day, many of us, are seeing a dearth of the doctrine carried out that commands us to be filled. The Lord says, this do with the Jesus remembering me. We're very faithful and punctual about eating the Lord's Supper. What about the command to be filled? We're very faithful about baptizing converts, immersing them in water. In the name of the Lord, what about being filled?
We're very faithful about being gathered unto His name. We wouldn't want to take any other name with the Lord's name. It's the worthy name. But what about the command to be filled? Ephesians five eighteen, let's look at it expositionally. Brother Glenn was speaking last night about conferences and things that he believes should be at conferences, and I certainly could agree with what he was saying. Let me share with you what the Lord showed me many years ago from Acts fifteen. I call it the Jerusalem Conference. And I see three things sort of jumping up out of that chapter. And they're the things that I think should be at a conference.
Because many of what we call conferences are purely and simply preachathons. Preachers get up and shake out their shingles and rattle their bones and whatever else. But I really believe a conference should be where we confer. And that's what they did in Jerusalem. So I like to say that these three things sort of jumped out of the chapter. Let me pass them along to you. Number one, it should be to clear up our minds. There was a problem. He said, you've got to be circumcised after the man or Moses. Or you came to say, that'd leave you women out. False doctrine. Also, they were saying you had to keep the law of Moses. Someone said that. That puts everybody out. No hope for any of us. And they had a great argument about it.
And you can read that in the first five verses of that chapter. And finally when Paul and those who went with him got over there and Peter was there and different ones, they began to stand up and confer. So they cleared up the mind. A conference should clear up the mind on those issues that are conflict. Secondly, it should stir up the heart. And you can see their hearts were stirred up about Gentile converts. And then thirdly, it should straighten up the path we should walk together in real unity. And I really believe that should be some worthy purposes of a conference. And I mean, the first part that we studied this morning looked at, In Ephesians five, eighteen, I want to go back and do just a little exposition of the verse. The verb filled is in the present tense, which generally is understood to be linear or continuous in action.
So when he says be filled, it's not like be filled today and then six months later be filled. It's be filled and be filled and keep on being filled. You're not saying be filled if you're really facing a tough day. It's be filled every day. continuously. It is in the passive voice. Voice shows the relationship of the verb to the action. In passive voice verbs the subject is acted upon. The pencil subject was held verb by Donald. Passive voice. Why? The subject didn't do the acting, it was acted upon.
Let's reverse it. Donald, subject, held, verb, the pencil. That's active voice. Donald's the subject. He did the acting. Here we have the passive voice. He didn't say you fill yourself or you are filled. He just says be filled. So that means someone else has to do the filling. We have to be active upon. We can't do it ourselves. Now let me throw out two things that I want you to consider and please chew on for a while. Number one. from the book of Acts, or you can start Matthew if you wish. Matthew one, verse one. But from the book of Acts when the assembly started, you will never find one person praying to be filled.
Not one. To me, that's pretty interesting. I mean, if that's the way it's supposed to happen, then surely somebody's going to give us the example. Did I not cite three passages that said Paul was our example? First Corinthians, verse sixteen, eleven, one. Philippians three, seventeen. Find Paul ever one time asking. Find any of the rest of them asking. And please see me after the meeting. I'll be glad to look at any verse you suggest. I've read them all. Secondly, not only do we never find anyone asking to be filled, we never find anyone saying, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.
The moment you tell me you are, that's the moment I know for sure you ain't. Beloved, this is an imperative doctrine in our Christian lives. We cannot accomplish that which God wants us to accomplish. And did you ever note that where God put it? And He only put it there one time in command form. And it's abbreviating or heading up the chapter that deals so much with husbands and wives. Yes. Be not drunk with wine wherein is he said, but be filled in spirit, speaking to yourselves in sounds 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, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Submit yourself to your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husbands the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the assembly, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, if the assembly is subject of the Christ, so that the wives be to their own husbands and everything, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water with the words. They might present it to himself a glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but they should be holy and without blemish. So it meant to love their wives as their own bodies, and on and on, and you know the chapter. Where did God put it? heading up husband-wise relationship. Are we going to have a good relationship? We need to be filled in spirit. Oh, Donald, that's going too far. Pray, tell me what's the context. Four rules of biblical interpretation that are my personal ones that I've discovered myself.
Number one, no verse ever contradicts another. Number two, we must always interpret from the simple and clear toward the difficult and not so clear. Start with John three, sixteen before you get into Hebrews six, four through six. Thirdly, we must always interpret in the light of the context of any word or verse. Fourthly, we must always interpret in the light of the whole of the Bible, not just part of it. We have a whole Bible, beloved, not just part of a Bible. And so I would suggest God put it in the right place. He knows exactly where to put it. And I believe if we're going to have the right kind of husband-wife relationships that we ought to have, we need to be filled in spirit. Our human spirit needs to be controlled. For the word plural, oh, translated fields, has the basic function of control.
And if the Holy Spirit is controlling in my human spirit, then I can have the right relationship with my wife that I need to have. I tell young people in pre-marital counseling or in even pre-dating, I like to say, look, if you have someone that you're interested in develop, first of all, a oneness of spirit in a scriptural sense. Now, you can just develop a oneness of spirit, but that won't do. The Watchtower Society has a oneness of spirit. They all say that hell is not really real. They say Jesus is really not Almighty God, and they certainly say he's not Jehovah. You'll agree they've got a oneness of spirit there, but it's an unscriptural one. I suggest to young people, look, or even older ones, marriage is not limited to the young, you know. Develop a oneness of spirit in a scriptural sense, and then that will pervade over the soul.
We're a spirit, soul, and body. Because if you just start with developing a oneness of soul, you know what that'll lead to? The body. Just as sure as I'm standing here. We're made that way, and we should know, as older ones, we should already know that. I was speaking in another state. I don't need to mention which state. I had four weeks of meetings in that particular assembly, and they'd asked me, the elders had asked me to talk with the ladies and to talk with the men, but they asked me to do it separately. I said, the only way I'll talk with just the ladies like that is at least two of you elders be there with me when I do it. I was going through some things that touch on the intimate side of life in husband-wife relationships.
And one lady raised a question, and I had said that the naked body of the female really does impact the mind through the eye gate of the male, and we are made that way. Fight it, say what you will, but that's the way it is. You notice then the Lord didn't say whoever looks on a man to lust after him, whoever looks on a woman. Key word. And you see it twice in the book of II Samuel chapter eleven. David saw and she was beautiful to look upon. Two key words. Men are tremendously affected by sight. And so this dear lady said, Do you mean, Brother Don, that when my husband and I are in the bedroom, prior to going to bed at night, that if I am undressing, that that really affects his mind.
They had three kids, and I nearly fainted. Here's what I did. I'll bite you out of my con. I mean, I want to go and wake up, woman. Where have you been? Mercy. Oh, beloved. We need, brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit controlling in our spirit, because if you're in a dating relationship or any person that you know of is moving toward a dating relationship, if they started on a soul basis, that's our human and emotional conscious apparatus. And, boy, that emotion can lead us fast to the physical. It's like going down.
The eastern slope of the hill, you remember, the eastern slope of the hill when the sun has hit it a little bit and all that ice has begun to melt a little bit, is like going down that on a piece of great big piece of wax paper. You just don't seem to stop until you get to the bottom. You can try. No hope. So, develop a oneness of spirit and spiritual sense. And then you can afford with that pervading to develop a oneness of soul, which in time, it is the Lord's will, lead to a oneness of flesh. marriage relationship. So here he's teaching us where to be filled in spirit. We said the verb is passive in voice. We don't do the filling. We find it's continuous in action. That means linear action is to keep on being filled.
And you'll notice that he puts it in the context of being not drunk with wine. Now there are three likenesses of a drunk person to one filled in spirit. I can show you down the They used to jug up on Thunderbird Wine down around Kent Street, and the Thunderbird Wine bottles were everywhere just about, just scattered around. On Saturday nights, you could, Sunday morning, especially if you went down there, you could try it like that. And I can show you the biggest absolute Casper Milk Toast you ever saw that you could lay eyes on. But you let him jug up on Thunderbird Wine, and he's ready for Joe Lewis. You ever noticed that? I used to, when I first started preaching, I first started preaching on the streets of Fort Worth and then in the County Jail and City Deal.
And when you go to the, especially when you got to the City Deal, you know what to do, they'd bring the old drunks in there and they'd just line them up, you know, I say line them up, they're horizontal. They had to drag them in, just lay them down. And sometimes you just, it looked like corpses. But you knew they were still alive because once in a while something would happen. You know, old faithful would take place. And you were glad you were not lying down in there. Because that stuff, I don't have to tell you what it was. But it came up. It would spew out, and the stench was almost more than I could take. But we'd stand there and try to preach the gospel in that kind of situation. Beloved, that old Thunderbird wine would get them all tanked up, and when they got full of that stuff, they were bold. Secondly, you can show me a person that's so introverted, he'd hardly say, if he got scared.
I mean, he just couldn't speak. You've heard people say, but I just can't speak. I'd love to speak to the Lord. I just can't speak. But you get them jugged up on Thunderbird wine and they'll talk your ear right off your face. Man, they just like a songbird. Isn't that right? And another thing about a drunk that I learned long time ago, way back, an alcoholic will give you the shirt off his back. I was preaching in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was having a series of meetings there years ago, back in the sixties. And there was one of the professors at university. I forgot he had his PhD, doctor's degree in some field, and he was teaching there.
And then there was another doctor there, a medical doctor there. And then of many of the engineers and then others and various other vocations. There's all kinds of vocations that were there. And I was teaching about witnessing. I said, it's just easy. You know, I was trying to do a sales program. We all need to be out witnessing. And I said, we need to be out in one of these shopping centers. So they had one of the largest shopping centers out in the north end of Cincinnati, not too far away from Northern Hills Bible Chapel. And I said, you know, we should be able to go out there and really have a great time giving up the gospel. So enough people heard this through the series. And finally, on a weekend, on a Saturday, we had about thirty-five adults show up. And I was giving some last-minute finishing touches on what we're going to do. And I later learned this. You know, you don't hear everything goes on.
It's usually later if you hear it. But Dr. Dave Zimmerman was talking to the fellows, the professor of the university there and some other people, when they got in the cars and were going to drive out to the shopping center, said, how on earth did we let this Texas preacher talk us into this sidewalk evangelism? I'd never heard that expression in my life. I was all glory. We got out there and Mary, his wife, there was a, they had a safeway store in that complex. I mean, I got so tickled I could hardly speak. This truck driver had this. Tractor trailer rig, one of those cab overs, you know. And he's backing that long trailer in there in the back part. And Mary went out there at the back. And I thought, I've got to watch this. And of course, you've got to climb way up on that cab to get up there. And I saw her climb, scale that cab.
She got right up in that guy's face. And he stayed there about twenty minutes. He couldn't even shut the motor off. We got ready to leave. They said, we don't want to go. I said, we got meeting over at the chapel. He said, we don't care. And one dear lady came along and she was really fixed up. It wasn't perfume. It was alcohol, but it wasn't perfume. And she was a good-looking lady, the black lady. And I started witnessing to her and she opened that purse and, man, I saw a stash of bills like I ain't seen since I've been at the bank. Man, she had the money. And she was trying to hand me a handful of that stuff. I said, no, lady. I don't want your money. I said, I want you to know my Savior. And she tried to give me that money.
I'm trying to say, beloved, when we're filled in spirit, we'll be bold to speak, and we'll be fearless, and the Lord will really have the first thing. We'll be very loose on that first thing toward the needs of humanity and the work of God. Those are three likenesses. Now, three evidences in the context, and I better, oh, tear me. Real quick, I'll just go zip, zip, zip. Verses twenty, nineteen, twenty, twenty. Three evidences in the context of being filled in spirit. One is speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody. Here's the clue in your heart to the Lord. When we're singing to the Lord, the Spirit's in control. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His authority.
It's not always we can give thanks. But I'll tell you, beloved, if we're filled in spirit, we can. You've heard me say it a minute time. I've used the same illustration, but it's still just as real today as it was the day it happened. Two doctors come out of the surgical area, the swinging door says surgery, they come out, they cross the aisle in the basement there, go into a pathology lab, do a biopsy in about twenty some odd minutes, step out, call our name, Gloria and I stand up, walk forth, and that's in nineteen hundred sixty-four. And they introduced themselves, we introduced ourselves, they said we're very delighted to tell you that the large tumor that Dr. Bickle removed was non-malignant. And instantly, there's almost no rehearsal, no even pre-thought. I just instantly said, Glory, don't believe them.
Traces got cancer. You know, like, you idiot, what do you mean? Don't you know? We've just pronounced. But they walked on without a word. There was no reason to have any words. I was hard on the collar about them telling my wife that. So they go into those swinging doors. Within eighteen minutes, they cross the same hall, going to the same pathology lab, evidently do a second biopsy that Dr. Bickle had. had ordered to come back out. Call our name, this time no introductions. And they say, we're very sorry, but Dr. Bickle ordered a second biopsy in the large tumor is positive cancer. We're going to have to do massive surgery. Beloved, it's not so easy to give thanks for that, is it?
When the IRS writes and says, Dear sir, we're so sorry, we apologize. We have overcharged you. Here's a refund for ten thousand dollars. You don't find it hard to give thanks for that, do you? But, beloved, there are some things in life a little more difficult to give thanks, but I'll say this, I'm convinced of this. If the Holy Spirit is controlling our human spirit, we'd be able to do it, like the Scripture says. And then thirdly, he says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Oh, beloved, that submission there, he's talking about, is an evidence of the Holy Spirit spilling in the human spirit. Thank you very much.