Sermons with Sound Doctrine Part 8

BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND . . .

There are 7 verses in the Bible where we find exactly these words, "Be filled with the Holy Ghost" -- an interesting fact since the number 7 speaks of perfection.  Those verses are: -- Luke 1:15, 41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:8; 4:31; 9:17; and 13:9.

It is said that Moody once asked his audience, "How can I get the air out of this glass?"  One man said, "Suck if out with a pump," to which Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass."  As the story goes, "after many impossible suggestions, Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. "There," he said, "all the air is now removed."

It IS true that filling the heart with something else will indeed remove the "airy emptiness" therein, however, it is just as important to fill the heart with the RIGHT thing as it is to remove its vain emptiness.

Elsewhere, I read another illustration as follows: --  "A man who drank heavily was converted to Christ and lived victoriously for several weeks.  One day as he passed the open door of a tavern, the pungent odor drifting out aroused his old appetite for liquor.  Just then he saw this sign in the window of a nearby cafe:  'All the buttermilk you can drink -- 25 cents!'  Dashing inside, he ordered one glass, then another, and still another.  After finishing the third he walked past the saloon and was no longer tempted.  He was so full of buttermilk that he had no room for that which would be injurious to him.  The lesson is clear:  to be victorious over our evil desires, we must leave no opportunity for them to repossess us."

I confess that I find fault with this illustration: -- IN ORDER TO LEAVE NO OPPORTUNITY FOR EVIL DESIRES TO REPOSSESS US, it's going to take more than providentially finding a place where we can "FILL UP ON BUTTERMILK" -- or where we can sate our desire with whatever other earthly thing it takes to "crowd out" that particular evil desire wherewith Satan may be tempting one!

Buttermilk did the trick for the alcoholic in the above story, but filling up on buttermilk would probably do no good for a new convert who had been a NASCAR Racing addict who was tempted to buy a ticket when he drove by the local racetrack and heard the "varooom" of stock cars racing past!  Nor would filling up on buttermilk "crowd out" the temptation of a converted, former "movie fiend" to watch a Hollywood movie, at a Local Theater, or on his Computer.

Spiritually speaking, after all evil is removed from the glass of one's heart, IT MATTERS WHAT IT IS WITH WHICH THE GLASS IS FILLED!  Filling it with wine could be spiritually fatal to a converted alcoholic!  To such an one, it is GREATLY IMPORTANT that he "be not drunk with wine . . but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT" (Eph. 5:18).

As a matter of fact, whatever evil has previously filled the heart of a new convert, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT HE (OR SHE) "BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST" -- and this, NOT JUST INITIALLY, BUT CONSTANTLY!

Being filled with BUTTERMILK, or what have you, WON'T SUFFICE! -- for everyone at all times.  "BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST" is the only Divine Antidote wherewith one can successfully supplant the temptations to once again partake of "sins that are past" (Rom. 3:25).

Also, no doubt, equally imperative with having one's heart emptied of all evil and filled with the Holy Ghost, is the importance of assiduously avoiding those places and things which easily tempt one to again partake of past sins:

William Jennings Bryan used to tell of an alcoholic in his Illinois home town who "signed the pledge," stopped drinking, and seemed to be delivered from the drink habit.  However, perhaps out of habit, when he rode into town he continued hitching his horse to the rail in front of the town tavern.  Sadly, you "know the rest of the story":  He was soon again a drunkard!  Like Lot, who "pitched his tent toward Sodom" (Gen. 13:12), those who fail to "change their hitching post" after being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, are heedlessly ignoring the Divine Admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:17, "WHEREFORE COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, AND TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING; and I will receive you."

I hope every reader grasps my point as I close this message: -- If, for example, you are a former alcoholic, now saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, STOP BUYING BUTTERMILK AT THE CAFE NEAR THAT TAVERN!  For, to stay right with God, we must both "BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST" and "COME OUT FROM AMONG" those places and things where past sins were committed!  Selah.