9.14.2019 Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray

1 BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

the words from which I wish to speak are well know:
you will find them in Acts 2.4, 
'They were all filled with the Holy Ghost'
and in Ephesians 5.18,
'Be filled with the Spirit'.
the one text is a narrative; it tells us what actually happened. 
the other text is a command; it tells us what we ought to be. 
in case there should be any doubt in our minds about it being actually a command, we find it linked to another command, 
'Be not drunk with wine, but Be Filled With The Spirit.

now,  I am sure there is not one here who, if I asked him, Do you try to obey that command, 'Be not drunk with wine'? would not answer at once, 'Of course, as a Christian, I obey that command'. 
but now, as to the other  -  Be filled with the Spirit', have you obeyed that command?Is that the  life you are living? if not, the  question comes at once, Why not?
and then comes another question, ,
Are you willing to take up that command tonight and to say:
by God's help I am going to obey.
I will not give myself any rest until I have obeyed that command,
until I am filled with the Spirit.

I want at the very commencement  to say that it is here a simple question of listening to a command

*2  of God's Holy Spirit, in His Word...
we want to begin at once by saying God has this message to every Christian in this place:
My child , I want you to be filled with the Spirit.
let your answer be: Father, I want it too;
I am ready,
i yield myself to obey my God;
let me be filled with Thy Spirit tonight.

and lest anyone should have a wrong impression as to what it is to be filled with the Spirit, just let me say that it does not mean a state of high excitement, or of absolute perfection, or a state in which thee will be no growth. No.
being filled with the Spirit is simply this - having my whole nature yielded to His power.
when the whole soul is yielded to the Holy Spirit, God Himself will fill it.

now the question I want to ask is, What Is Needed In Order To Be Filled With  The Spirit?
the question is of the utmost importance, and if we try to find the answers that have to be given, it may help to search us.
we prayed, in the hymn we have just sung, that God might Search us and those answers will help each of us to look into our heart and life and say: Am I  in that condition in which God can fill me with the Spirit? I think the answers we shall find may also help to encourage us. there may be souls here who may say honestly, as we go on step by step:
Thank God ,  I am ready for that; and they may perhaps see that they are kept back from this full blessing just by

*3  some ignorance or prejudice or unbelief or wrong thoughts of what the  blessing is.

Now, I do not see how we can better find the answer to our question that by looking at the way in which Christ prepared the disciples for the Day of Pentecost.  you know what is done in heathen countries where the missionary preaches. converts come to him and he forms a baptismal class and there are cases in which he keeps these young converts for a year, or longer at times, in the baptismal class, to educate and train and test them and to prepare them for the Christian life. and, brethren, Jesus had His disciples  3 years in His baptismal class and they had to go through  a time of training and preparation. it was not a magic thing , an arbitrary thing, the Holy Spirit coming down upon them. they were prepared for it. John the Baptist told them  what was to come. he not only preached the Lamb of God who was to shed His blood,  but  he preached - and he tells us that it was by special revelation from God - that He on whom he saw the Holy Spirit descend would baptize with the Holy Ghost.
and now, wherein consisted the training of those disciples?  wherein consisted their preparation for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
I ask you, first, to remember that They Were Men Who Had Forsaken All To Follow Jesus.  you know the Lord Jesus  went to one and said, Forsake your net; and to another , Leave that place in the receipt of custom and come and follow me. and they did it and they could  afterwards