"How Do I Know I am filled with the Spirit?" 5-30-21
Overview
How Do I Know I Am Filled with the Spirit?
Many Christians have wondered, at one time or another, whether they truly possess the Holy Spirit. We look around at others—eyes closed in worship, hands raised, speaking in tongues, overcome with emotion—and quietly ask, "Is something missing in me?" Some have even been told that unless they speak in tongues or feel a particular surge of emotion, the Spirit is not really in them. That kind of comparison breeds guilt, shame, and doubt. But Scripture does not direct us to measure ourselves against other sinners. It directs us to the Word.
In John 14:15-17, Jesus promises His disciples another Advocate—the paraklētos, the Helper, Comforter, One who stands beside us—who will abide with them and be in them. A few verses later, in John 14:26, He calls Him the Holy Spirit who will teach us and remind us of all Jesus said. And in John 16:13, Jesus names Him the Spirit of truth. He is not the spirit of notions, ideas, personal opinion, or fluctuating feelings. He is the third Person of the Triune God, who reveals Christ to us with certainty.
Notice what the Spirit does. At creation, when the earth was without form and void, the Spirit hovered over the waters Genesis 1:1-2, bringing order out of chaos. After the fall, sin plunged creation back into chaos—but the Spirit still works to bring order, not confusion. This is why the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—looks nothing like chaos, gibberish, or unrestrained emotion. Speaking in tongues at Pentecost Acts 2 was a known-language gift given so the gospel could be heard and understood, not unintelligible noise. And feelings, however sincere, shift from moment to moment; they cannot be the measure of God's presence in us. A stirred stomach may simply be indigestion.
So how do you know? Because God has told you so. In Holy Baptism, the words declare it plainly: "Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." By water and the Word, the Spirit is given; you are made a member of Christ's body, taught the truth of Jesus crucified and risen, and kept in that faith. Notice that the "if you love me, you will keep my commandments" of John 14:15 does not stand alone—if it did, the Spirit would be a reward for our perfect obedience, and none of us would receive Him. But God's love is not conditional. Our righteousness is in Christ, and on the basis of His death and resurrection, the Father gives the Spirit to abide with us forever. The devil prowls like a lion 1 Peter 5:8, whispering that you are not enough, not filled enough, not spiritual enough. Do not listen. The Spirit of truth, given in your baptism, testifies otherwise—you are sealed, you are forgiven, you are filled, and the same Spirit empowers you to go forth proclaiming Christ and Christ alone.
Transcript
If you would please open your Bibles to the Gospel of John 14th chapter, we're opening to the 2s
Gospel of John 14th chapter. 10s
I want to share a story with you of a Christian who grew up in a church in the church and 14s
in regular attendance and as this Christian grew older, this Christian began discussing 22s
faith with friends and as discussing faith with friends, this Christian realized that there 29s
wasn't a special spectacular moment in which the Christian invited Jesus into the heart. 37s
Later a few years down the road, this Christian was at a church service with a friend and 48s
looked around and realized that people were singing with their eyes closed and perhaps with 54s
their hands raised and waving and this Christian said, I don't know if I'm filled with 61s
this same spirit. 71s
Few years down the road, this Christian had a chat with a godly person and this godly person 74s
told the Christian that unless the Christian spoke in tongues, the Christian was not filled with 82s
the Holy Spirit. 93s
Gilt, shame, questioning, doubting the very faith that had been given to that Christian, 98s
all of this arose as the Christian looked about and began comparing what looked to be 112s
it filled people with the Christian life that this Christian knew because in the Christian's life, 122s
the manifestation of the spirit didn't show itself to be big or outward or enthusiastic, 135s
didn't seem to move with great feeling and emotion. 143s
Is speaking in tongues is singing with your hands raised and your eyes closed? 152s
Is shouting when you feel a rush of feeling come over you? 160s
Is that what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit? 166s
We are entering a new sermon series of questions and answers where we pose questions and 174s
turn to scripture to God's word, to answer and to give us direction and give us his word on 182s
what he has to say. We'll have questions such as what were the first questions in the Bible 191s
or what are we saved from or what is God's strategy for anxiousness? Today we're beginning 198s
this series coming right out of Pentecost, celebrating the Holy Trinity and we are asking the 206s
question, how do I know if I am filled with the Holy Spirit? There are so many questions that 213s
swirl around the Holy Spirit. Who is the Spirit? How is the Spirit? When does the Spirit work? 226s
And there's so many ideas and thoughts that swirl around the Spirit out there that for our 233s
purposes today. We are going to keep it very tight. It's easy to find ourselves and to read and go 242s
down all of these rabbit trails about the Holy Spirit and to find all sorts of information 253s
and information that seems to not work with one another. So we're going to keep it tight and 261s
we're going to go straight to God's word and see what God's word reveals to us about the Holy 269s
Spirit, about his Spirit. We're going to begin at the end of our gospel text today with 277s
verse 26 of chapter 14 in the gospel of John. Where it's written the advocate, the Holy Spirit, 286s
whom the Father will send in my name and this is Jesus speaking, will teach you everything and 295s
remind you of all that I have said to you. Later in this same gospel, Jesus tells his disciples, 302s
when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own, 311s
but we'll speak whatever he hears and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 318s
I love that clear word that Jesus gives us of the Holy Spirit. He says the Spirit of truth. It's 326s
not the Spirit of notions or the Spirit of ideas or the Spirit of whatever one claims to be the 335s
personal truth, but it's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the third person of the Triune God. 347s
It's God's own spirit and it's God's own spirit, the Spirit of truth that reveals himself 355s
to us reveals God to us and the certainty and the absoluteness of God. How do I know if I'm 365s
filled with this Holy Spirit? Some Christians claim that you're not in spirit and you are not 380s
filled with the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues. Now we have to remember the speaking of tongues. 392s
That is a gift that was given to the apostles at that pentacost morning where they went out and they 402s
shared God's truth, the proclamation of salvation in Christ and Christ alone and they were able to 409s
judge and people understood those language. They understood their own language and God's word 422s
being brought to them in their language. Nowadays some claim that the speaking of tongues is when 431s
someone is speaking and all of a sudden literally gives a little gibberish blurb, but that is not 443s
a known language that is not speaking in tongue, that is speaking gibberish. So that does not mean 450s
that one is filled with the Holy Spirit. Another item that some Christians claim must be present 459s
if you know that you are filled with the Holy Spirit or in order to know that you are filled with the 469s
in you unless you are filled with big emotions, with big emotional response, big feelings and that you 479s
feel you are being moved in the Spirit. But can we rely on feelings because feelings and emotions 489s
they waver, they shift, they change with each passing moment. We can't rely on feelings. 504s
If we have a gurgling in our tummy, is that feeling the Holy Spirit or is it in digestion? 514s
We can't rely on our feelings to tell us if we are filled with the Holy Spirit. But we rely 522s
as scripture tells us on the Holy Spirit who will teach us everything and remind us of what Jesus 529s
said to His disciples, the truth. In verse 17, Jesus said to His disciples, this is the spirit of truth, 538s
whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, you know Him because He abides 549s
with you and He will be in you. The Spirit of truth is not received by the world. It's not 557s
recognized by the world and the world does not know the Spirit. If we look at Genesis, the first chapter 567s
right at the beginning, it says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 577s
the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the wind of 583s
God or the spirit of God as it says in some translations was hovering over the face of the waters. 590s
In these first two verses of Genesis, the very first two verses of all of scripture, we see this 598s
the world pre-creation and we see we're told that it's a world without form, that there's vast 606s
nothingness, vast darkness, there's chaos and darkness that is filling the pre-creation existence 615s
and the spirit goes through, the spirit is present at creation. In creation we have the 626s
Triune God and it's the spirit that brings order into creation. God creates and brings order 635s
to the chaos of the pre-created and then everything is perfect and orderly and in the exact 647s
place and placement and the order that God has created in his own perfection and then Adam and Eve 657s
bite of the fruit and sin enters into this world and once again creation is plunged into 665s
the chaos under the curse of sin and it is plunged into an non-ordered existence and state of being 676s
and in the chaos of the cursed creation and in the chaos of sin the world cannot recognize 687s
God's spirit. Chaos is the opposite of God's spirit and if the spirit is the one which brings order 701s
then we know anything chaotic is not of God. Think of the fruit of the spirit as it is written 712s
in Galatians, the fruit of the spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 723s
faithfulness and self-control do any of these fruits speak of emotion of chaos. Love, peace, 732s
kindness, gentleness, self-control, none of that speaks of chaos, none of that speaks of waving 746s
emotions but it's the fruit of the spirit that is the driving force in those. We don't have a chaos 758s
of gibberish within those with speaking in false tongues. We don't have the chaos of 768s
chanting and body spasms. Jesus assured his disciples in this moment in our gospel he assured them 776s
that they would know the spirit that they will know the spirit because the spirit will abide with them 786s
and in them. So how as God's disciples do we know that we are filled with the Holy Spirit? If we 793s
have these outside sources telling us, indeed, you're filled with the spirit because how do we know? 808s
How do we know if we don't raise our hands in worship? How do we know if we don't speak in tongues 817s
or gibberish? How do we know we are filled with the spirit? Martin Luther in the large 823s
community placing us upon the bosom of the church where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ. 837s
Again, we're coming back to that spirit of truth that the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to be transformed 846s
and molded and brought into faith to hear the truth of Jesus Christ. And this is, this is in the 857s
baptismal liturgy where we read by water and the Holy Spirit we are made members of the church which is 866s
the body of Christ and later in the liturgy. It says, child of God and as we say this, we as the 874s
pastors mark the sign of the cross upon the child or the adult who ever is being baptized, 883s
we mark on therefore had sang child of God you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked 890s
with the cross of Christ forever. In baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit. In baptism, we are sealed 899s
in the Holy Spirit and when we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 911s
we are given the Holy Spirit which will abide with and in us and which will lead us to all 919s
truth. The Spirit teaches us the truth, the truth of all things. But most importantly, the spirit 928s
teaches us the truth of Jesus Christ who died upon the cross and was raised from the dead for the 939s
sin and for eternal salvation for those in the faith without the spirit of truth, without the Holy 949s
Spirit abiding in and with us, we would know nothing of the truth of Jesus Christ. Without the 962s
of the Holy Spirit, the truth of Christ would remain hidden. Luther says, if the work of Christ 974s
remained hidden, no one knew of it, no one shared it, no one heard it, it would be lost. We are called 984s
into faith by and through the Holy Spirit and as we are called into faith and as we are sealed 995s
in the cross of Christ and the Holy Spirit, that is for all eternity and part of that baptismal 1007s
promise of God for you is that you are filled with His own Holy Spirit and that is where, 1016s
as we've been working in our text backwards, now we can go to verse 15 where it reads, 1029s
if you love me, this is Jesus speaking to His disciples, if you love me, you will keep my commandments, 1037s
and I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to be with you forever. 1044s
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to the disciples but it's God's gift to the church. It is the 1052s
sustainer, the driving force that holds the church together. It is the Holy Spirit that brings 1061s
Christ and Christ alone to the church and that proclamation of salvation in Christ and as we work 1071s
this text backwards, we look at verse 15 and what if verse 15 stood alone? What if that was what 1080s
we began with, what we started everything with that if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 1092s
That's a huge if coming before Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. Do we receive the Spirit only if 1103s
we commit or commit? Only if we keep God's commandments, only if we perfectly love Jesus Christ, 1116s
is that what receiving and being filled with the Holy Spirit is good contingent upon? 1129s
Because if it is, that means that God's love has conditions but we know in the spirit of truth 1135s
that God's love has no conditions for us. That sin, all sin, can and is forgiven through the blood 1145s
of Jesus Christ. So the Holy Spirit abiding in us is not contingent upon whether or not we 1156s
perfectly obey the commands of God or we perfectly love Jesus Christ. We receive righteousness 1165s
in Christ. We receive righteousness through His death and resurrection and it's that righteousness 1175s
and in that righteousness that we stand in the truth of God's spirit abiding in us 1183s
and we know that we can stand in the promise of God's love and in the promise of Jesus Christ 1194s
and in His forgiveness because He has given us His spirit. Luther says, although we have sin, 1202s
the Holy Spirit sees to it that it is not harmless because we are in the Christian church where 1211s
full forgiveness of sin resides. God sent His spirit, His advocate in this verse where where we hear 1218s
Jesus saying He will ask the Father and He will give to us another advocate that word advocate 1229s
in the Greek is periclet or pericletos and it can be translated advocate or helper or 1236s
comforter or periclet or one who stands by we have the Holy Spirit to help us to comfort us, 1244s
to sustain us because the devil as Saint Peter wrote, the devil is like a lion prowling ready to 1255s
pounce ready to devour. The devil will always prowl around us. Even though we stand in the righteousness 1263s
of Christ and the devil will continue to pounce upon us with His lies, to pounce upon us with 1272s
condemnation, to pounce upon us trying to convince us that we are not righteous, trying to convince 1281s
us that we are not filled with the spirit that we are not children of the Lords or that we are not 1291s
enough in God. The Christian that we talked about at the beginning of our story, the Christian who 1303s
looked around and realized that this Christian didn't have eyes closed in hands waving. This 1315s
Christian didn't speak in spurts of gibberish. This Christian didn't get overcome with emotion. 1324s
That Christian is looking at other sinners trying to measure whether or not the Holy Spirit is 1335s
indeed abiding in and with, but we can't measure ourselves to other sinners. We can't measure 1345s
ourselves to other Christians. The Spirit abides in you. The Spirit has been given to you. 1356s
It's the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of peace, the Spirit of love, of kindness, of gentleness, 1368s
of self-control, of faithfulness. This is the Spirit that has been promised to you. This is the 1381s
spirit in which you have been sealed. Just as the baptismal liturgy says, you are sealed 1389s
in this spirit forever forever. We know we are righteous in Christ. We know that our sins are fully 1399s
forgiven in Christ. We don't have to question. We don't have to doubt. We don't have to wonder 1416s
if we're filled enough with enough of the Spirit. Because the Spirit of truth through God's 1424s
word proclaims to you that indeed you are filled with His Spirit and that the Spirit will empower you 1434s
to go forth proclaiming His word of truth, of forgiveness and salvation in Christ and Christ alone. 1444s