Beating Elevator Christianity by Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

I like Vance Havner's quote about the Holy Spirit. Havner said, Churches like Samson have gone to sleep in the lap of Delilah, and though they go forth Sunday after Sunday to shake themselves, the Spirit of the Lord has departed. Samson may have looked better after he had his hair cut, but he lost his power.

I have a message on the Holy Spirit today, friends, and you're not going to want to miss it, and it's entitled, Beating Elevator Christianity by Being Filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll never forget the day in December many years ago when I first sat under the preaching ministry of Dr. Stephen F. Olford in Memphis, Tennessee at his Institute for Biblical Preaching. And while Stephen Olford preached, God turned my entire life upside down, and from that day, my life has never been the same again.

Dr. Olford eventually became my homiletical mentor, and he taught me expository preaching, but more importantly, he taught me the principles he had learned through the years on the victorious Christian life, and I will teach you today, friends, what he taught me. And it is my prayer that this little treatise on the doctrine of the fullness of the Holy Spirit will both encourage and empower the serious believer who longs for a life of consistency and victory in his daily walk with God. Too many believers struggle with what I call Elevator Christianity, where one day we're happily up in the penthouse suite, feasting at the banquet table of God, if I may so speak.

It is here, on the top floor of our experience, that we encounter deeper revelations of the Most High God and enjoy unbroken fellowship with Him. Then, incredibly, the very next day, we're down in the basement of defeat because of rebellion and sin. How horrible are the feelings of guilt and despair in disappointing our Lord by willful sin.

Unfortunately, the devil uses all his arsenal to keep us down in the basement of defeat and discouragement as we sit there sidelined like an injured athlete who's not on the playing field but who longs to be back in the game. And for a brief time, we rise back up to that top floor once again to enjoy God's fellowship and presence. And then, wham, down we go again, and our head reels from the up-and-down life of an inconsistent walk with God.

God knows all about our ruined nature and our bent toward sin. And He also knows it is virtually impossible to live the Christian life in the flesh. It simply cannot be done.

And the result is some form of elevator Christianity which differs from person to person. This is why our Lord instructed His disciples with the following promises seen in Luke 24, 29. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.

I make you a promise, friend, that if you take these principles from this message today and appropriate them by faith and apply them to your heart, then your life will never be the same again. What you've been longing for will be realized in a life of consistency with our Lord Jesus Christ. I will break down our lesson today into four segments as we study this important topic.

We will examine, first, the daily quiet time. Secondly, the daily surrender to Christ's Lordship. Thirdly, the daily submission to the Holy Spirit.

And lastly, the daily empowerment for prayer, preaching, and witness. Well, let's tackle these one by one. Are you ready? Here we go.

We will begin with the daily quiet time. Stephen Offert has a little booklet he wrote on the daily quiet time entitled, Manna in the Morning, whereby he lays out his schedule for meeting with his Lord each day, that we must choose a place of quiet either in our home or outside of it to get away with God and Bible study and prayer. Jesus himself had a make time to get away from the noise of the crowd and the busyness of teaching his disciples.

We read in Mark 1.35, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. So we see, friends, that Christ had to get away to get alone with the Father. And if he did that, how much more is it needed for us to be recharged, so to speak, with the touch of heaven? The priority of the daily quiet time is not mere Bible study alone, but to meet God in prayer where he can direct us and speak to our hearts regarding our service to him.

Whether you choose to do this early in the morning or some other time of day, it's up to you, friend. But the discipline is what matters. I found that the Lord's model of rising a great while before day has worked best for me through the years.

I used to live in a forest, and it was my habit to go out early each day before dawn for a morning walk through the woods and often use this time to speak to God in prayer. And as the sun rose, my own heart was aglow with his presence and purpose for my life. Establishing the daily quiet time is a priority for the sincere believer who longs to get serious with God.

I have learned that God gets serious with those who get serious with him. So as we establish our daily quiet time, we can then come to the daily surrender to Christ's Lordship. The Lordship of Christ is a neglected teaching today, but I submit to you, friends, you cannot live for God in a life pleasing to him without the daily surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Here is where everything breaks down and goes to seed in our walk with God. If we ignore the sovereignty and authority of Christ's deity and rightful place in our life as Lord, our Lord was crucified as a sin substitute for us. He suffered, died, and was buried.

He rose again and ascended back into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the Father. And he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. The cross and the life of the believer was a main teaching of Jesus Christ.

In Luke 9.23 we read, And he said to them all, and that means you, friend, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. What this means is a crucified Christ must have crucified followers. In Galatians 2.20 we read, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

In the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The Christ life is the only life, friend, that will result in the abundant life lived unto God for his glory. Christ reigns on a throne in glory, and he must rule on the throne of your heart, friend.

When we get saved, self is dethroned, and another is enthroned there. The Lord Jesus Christ, he must have first place and first call in every area of our daily living. And this is only accomplished by a daily surrender to his lordship.

Next we see the daily submission to the Holy Spirit. Stephen Ofer told me that we receive the Holy Spirit at the time of our conversion, but many of us do not properly understand the meaning of the fullness of the Spirit. It is possible, friends, for the Holy Spirit to be present without being president, to be dormant without being dominant, to be resident without reigning.

The Holy Spirit can be quenched and grieved in a believer's life. But when sin is exposed and self is executed, the Holy Spirit can feel to overflowing and anoint with authority and power. We see this principle in 2 Corinthians 3.18 which states, Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

This can be understood, where the Spirit is Lord, that is, where he is given his true deity and sovereignty, there is liberty. And when this happened in my life, friends, God set me free. I had liberty, for he had all of me.

R. A. Torrey wisely said, We can have as much of the Holy Spirit we want so long as he can have as much of us as he wants. So there must be this daily, this hourly submission to the discipline of the Holy Spirit. It is here, friends, where the rubber meets the road and the Christian life begins to soar to higher revelation.

And lastly, we see the daily empowerment for prayer, preaching and witness. The doctrine of being filled with the Spirit is seen in Ephesians 5.18 where the apostle Paul exhorts us to be filled with the Spirit and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. If a believer really wants to know how to be filled with the Spirit, it is found here in the doctrine of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer who is willing to bow daily and hourly to the sovereignty of Christ and to the authority of the Word.

Like I said earlier, friends, if you are serious about beating elevator Christianity, the only way is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, I hope this little lesson has been helpful to you as it has been to me. Let us pray.