Read Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;

2 Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

And in His word I do hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord

More than those who watch for the morning—

Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is mercy,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

8 And He shall redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

Introduction.

Wants vs. needs.

We do it with God, we do it with people, and we do it with our lives.

I am so focused on what I want, that I don’t realize how good it is that my needs have been met.

I need a relationship with God. I want Him to give me my desires.

I need food. I want cajun.

I need water. I want Mt. Dew

I need shelter. I want my dream home.

I need meaningful relationships. I want them to be on my terms.

Our relationship with God must begin at the point of need.

I often wonder why it is that I strain to see God’s hand in my everyday life.

I am beginning to realize that when my focus is on God providing for my desires, I will fail to see the abundant ways that he has supplied my needs.

Psalm 130 is written from a man who needs God.

verse 1 says “ 1 Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord”

A reminder of Jonah, in the belly of the whale. In the depths crying out to God.

These are men who need God. They aren’t coming to him to have their wants met. They are desperate for God. Are we desperate for God? When was the last time you cried out to God. Take a moment, and examine yourself and ask “Am I desperate for God?”

Let’s dive in.

4 points

read verse 1 and 2

Lord hear me

1 Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh.

2 Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.

I want God to talk to me.

I need Him to hear my voice.

I like to describe myself as a frustrated pentecostal. I believe that all the spirit filled supernatural gifts are for today, and yet I don’t see them manifest in the world around me. I want desperately to see God’s work.

But David here, instead of being frustrated that God isn’t speaking, prays to God that He would listen

What a transforming prayer.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and said in desperation “You aren’t listening!”

David is praying to God: “Listen to me!” “Lord hear my voice.”

When I am focused on my wants, I will desire to see God act to meet my wants.

But when I am focused on my need for God, I will simply cry out to Him “Lord hear my voice,” and be satisfied that He heard me.

Read verses 3 and 4

If God kept a record of sins

3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with you,

Therefore you are feared.

What a revelation this is

What if God kept a record of sins.

Romans 1:18 says 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

If God were to keep a record of our sins, His wrath would be visited upon us. His wrath



But instead David writes in verse 4

4 But there is forgiveness with you,

Therefore you are feared.

Then later in Psalm 103:11, 12

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has he removed our transgressions from us.

This should change our whole perspective of life.

Humility that God has forgiven us.

But also desperation that sinners would come to follow Jesus as Lord so that He can save them from His wrath.

Thank God He does not keep a record of our sins.

I wait for the Lord

5 I wait for Yahweh.

My soul waits.

I hope in his word.

6 My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning;

More than watchmen for the morning.

“more than the morning watchers, that watch for or until the morning” {h}; than watchmen of cities, or the keepers of the wails, as Aben Ezra; those who are upon the last morning watch, and are looking out for the morning light; that they may go off from duty, and lie down and sleep: or than those that sit up with sick persons; who, being solitary and melancholy, as well as want sleep, long for the morning, that they may have some refreshment: or rather than the priests and Levites that watched in the temple, that waited for the morning, that they might be relieved by others;

When we learn to focus first on asking God to hear us, our next step is to wait on Him. I believe that He will answer. But He does so in His time, and so we must learn to patiently wait.

verse 6 says that we wait for Him like watchmen long for the morning.

I remember when I was teaching music that sometimes we would have to get up at what to me is mega early… 5am to get on a bus at 6am. While sleeping, I would be so afraid that I would oversleep my alarm clock that I would wake up every little bit and look at the time. I was a watchman waiting for the morning.

Another group of watchmen were those who would sit on the walls and watch for enemies. This was a round the clock job, and so some would work the graveyard shift and be up all not. These people were watchmen waiting for the morning.

In both cases, they were anxious for morning. waiting expectantly for the sun to rise.

In the same way, we need to be expectant for God, waiting patiently for Him to act or to speak, attentive so that when He does, we will recognize His voice or His actions.

A couple points:

First, as we wait, verse 5 says “i hope in His word.” Where we can expect to hear Him speak is in His Word. I hear God’s voice most often when I hear the word of God spoken and suddenly, gold letters are around a certain phrase.

Second, as we wait, we are waiting for the things of the Lord, not for the things that we want. God has his own agenda. Sometimes it lines up with ours, but often it doesn’t. When we wait on Him we need to learn to discern His voice from ours.

Finally, verse 7 and 8 speak hope for the people of God.

7 Israel, hope in Yahweh,

For with Yahweh there is loving kindness.

With him is abundant redemption.

8 He will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Out of our need for God comes hope for the church.

Repeat

The church needs to be filled with needy people. Needy for the things of God. Desperate for God. Dissatisfied with the amount of God we have. Desiring to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.

When this is the condition of the people of God, then in verse 7 David says “Israel, hope in Yahweh. With Him is loving kindness. With Him is abundant redeption.”

He will redeem His church from all her sins.

Prayer

Lord, you are our Lord.

Teach us to put aside our wants, and to need you. Desperately.

We wait for you.

Redeem your people from all her sins.

Let our lives so shine by our desperation for you that people would be drawn to make you Lord of their lives.

What does it mean to be repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit?

“You will only revive the burning power and passion of Christ in your life by opening yourself to the power of God’s Spirit, by anchoring your daily life in the disciplines of worship, Bible study, prayer, and faithful service, and by welcoming god’s direction in the everyday routine of your life.” – Greg Laurie A Passion for God p. 13

Three word pictures in the Greek help us to understand what the term “filled” means.

First, it was used of the wind filling a sail and pushing a boat through the water. To be filled with the Spirit is to be moved along by God Himself. He becomes our source of motivation. When we are filled with the Spirit following His commands becomes a delight instead of a drudgery.

Second, being filled carries the idea of permeation and was used of salt permeating meat in order to flavor it and preserve it. God wants His Spirit to permeate our lives and influence everything we think, say and do.

Third, being filled means to be under the control of something or someone. The previous verse says to “not be drunk with wine.” The problem with drunkenness is that it controls you. When you are drunk, it controls your body, your mind, even your mouth. And then when you later aren’t drunk, it controls you by drawing you to the time when you can get drunk again.

Being filled with the Spirit is similar, only in a much more positive way. It means placing every thought, every decision, every act under the Spirit’s control. Galatinans 5:16 promises “Walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” When you walk in the Spirit you have the resources to do what God wants you to do and to not do the things God doesn’t want you to do.

How to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit?

How to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit?



“Be filled is a command. Doesn’t really give us an option.

But paradoxically, the greek shows that it is not something that we can achieve through our own efforts,

It is something done for us and to which we submit.

We do our part and the Holy Spirit does His.

So, what is our part.

1. Ask to be filled with more of the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:9-13 9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

keep asking. not just asking once.

keep seeking. not just seeking once.

keep knocking. not just knocking once.



This is so basic, but I can tell you that I don’t always keep asking.

Acts 1:4-5 4Being assembled together with them, he charged them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Wait. Waiting is hard.

Wait expectantly. “for the promise of the Father, baptism in the Holy Spirit.”



3. Don’t quench the spirit. 1Thessalonians 5:19.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.



We quench the spirit when we have unrepentant sin, a lack of love for God, and/or for others. Or when we deny the work of the Holy Spirit.

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What does the Bible say about The Holy Spirit?

1. The Holy Spirit is a comforter

John 14:16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever

2. The Holy Spirit is a teacher of what Jesus taught.

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

This is very important when you experience the supernatural. Test the spirit by lining it up with the teachings of Jesus. If a spirit teaches contrary to Jesus then it is not the Holy Spirit.

Hans Denk an early anabaptist writer said

“Whoever thinks that he can observe the law by means of the Book ascribes to the dead letter what belongs to the living Spirit. Whoever does not have the Spirit and imagines that he will find him in Scripture looks for light and finds darkness, looks for life and finds only death.”

3. The Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus

John 15:26 ““When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.”

4. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth

John 16:7-15 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment; 9 about sin, because they don’t believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more; 11 about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12 “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you. 15 All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

5. The Holy Spirit gives us power to be witnesses of Jesus

Acts 1:4, 5, 8 Being assembled together with them, he charged them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

A.W. Tozer wrote

“if the Holy Spirit were taken away from the first century church, 90 percent of what they did would come to a halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from the 21st century chruch, only 10 percent of what it does would cease to exist.

What is the filling of the Holy Spirit?

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What is the filling of the Holy Spirit?

I like to call myself a frustrated pentecostal. I believe that the gifts of the Spirit are still present. I’m frustrated because a subconscious part of me still believes my pentecostal upbringing that the gifts of the spirit are only manifested in supernatural signs like tongues. But consciously I am more like the charismatics that teach that the gifts of the spirit are not only manifesting in supernatural signs. How difficult it is to undo the teachings of our childhood.

Anyway, I believe that when we become a Christian we are initially filled with the Spirit. But fillings are not just when we become a Christian

The book of Acts tells multiple stories of people being repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:8, 10-12 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, 10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole. 12 There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

Acts 4:31When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 13:9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,

Contrast

“Believers often fall into one of two camps regarding the ministry and gifts of the HOly Spirit. One extreme emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in practically everything they say and do. They have conferences on the Spirit, sing songs about the Spirit, and constantly talk about the work and the gifts of the Spirit. Often they are so busy seeking direct revelations from the Spirit of God that they overlook the clear written revelation in the Word of God. Although these believers may have a genuine love for the Lord, their desire to witness “power” has led them into unscriptural practices.”

“At the other end of the spectrum, we have Christians whose focus is on Bible exposition. They study the Word, learn the Word, and memorize the Word (as we all should). Unfortunately, however, sometimes these zealous students or Scripture are close-minded to the working of God’s Spirit. They can be very knowledgeable about the Spirit and yet quench the Spirit by not allowing Him to move in their lives outside their time-honored traditions.”

“The key is balance: knowing the Word of God and implementing the practical power of God’s Spirit.

A good example of the need for balance is in Acts 2:16 Peter put speaking in tongues and prophecying in the context of God’s Word. “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.”

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One of the most incredible sections in the Bible is 1corinthians 2:6-16

“We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,

Which didn’t enter into the heart of man,

These God has prepared for those who love him.”

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.”

No matter how well you know me, you can never know me truly. Verse 11 says “who knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him.” Only I know myself.

Also true of God.

“No one knows the things of God, except God’s spirit.”

But then the most incredible verse in verse 16.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him? But we have Christ’s mind.”

Earlier in verse 12 he said that we have received the Spirit which is from God that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.”

The Spirit imparts the mind of Christ on us.

Isn’t this remarkable?

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Ephesians 5:18-20 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and singing praises in your heart to the Lord; 20 giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;

There are a couple problems with being full of the Spirit.

First:

It has been said that we only use 10% of our brains. I don’t know if this is a myth or not, but I’m pretty sure we don’t use our brain to it’s full capacity.

Can our brain contain the mind of the infinite Holy Spirit?

No of course it can’t.

Even if it was functioning at full capacity, it couldn’t contain the infinite holy Spirit. The Mind of God. The mind of Christ.

Second:

We leak.

Over time our passion wanes.

It is very difficult to sustain the fire of our salvation.

We struggle to maintain the disciplines of filling ourselves with the Word of God and communing with God in prayer in worship, the activities that give the Holy spirit increased place in our lives.

It’s all too easy to get formulaic which also quashes the spirit. to rely on our rituals.

So, Paul tells us in this Bible passage to keep on seeking to be more full.

A place to start is a simple prayer: “Lord give me more of the Holy Spirit. Let me know more of the mind of Christ. ”

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