Read also Luke 15:11-24; Acts 2:1-15

and do not be drunk with wine…
When a man is drunk with wine, we could also say that he is full of wine.
Wycliffe translated this verse as follows: be not filled with wine…

Do not be drunk with wine…
This does not speak of a man who drinks a little wine. It speaks of a man who is filled with wine.
It speaks of a man who comes under the influence of much wine.

Being filled with wine brings certain negative results…
in which is dissipation…
Dissipation- asotia {as-o-tee’-ah}
an abandoned life
dissolute- different to moral restraints
profligacy- recklessly wasteful
prodigality- wasteful extravagance

Asotia is the negative form of the word sozo…it has the negtive prefix “a”
sozo, sode’-zo; to save, deliver or protect. To heal, preserve, save, do well, be (make) whole.

When a man is filled w/wine, he does not save, protect, deliver heal, preserve, do well, make whole
A drunk man is unrestrained, disorderly, recklessly extravagant, wasteful, self indulgent.
He squanders his life, money, talent, possessions, health, and time, like The Prodigal Son.

This passage is not just about the dangers of drunkenness.
The main theme is to show the difference between wasteful living and living in the Holy Spirit.

There are many other things that can control a man or woman.
Power, money, greed, bitterness, jealousy, lust, self-righteousness, pride, hatred, immorality, laziness, slothfulness, indifference, irresponsibility.
All of these thing can control a man, and bring him to ruin.

This message is about being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The blessings and benefits of living according to the influence of the Spirit of God.

Not a one time event.
Be- imperative tense, a command
Filled- passive, God is the One who does the filling.
Literally- Be ye being filled; continue to be being filled; always be letting God fill you w/the H.S.

I. The Controlling Of A Life Vs. 15-17

A. The Spirit Filled Life

1. The Christian life is a controlled life, an ordered life.
2. The Christian is called to walk in wisdom, understanding, carefulness, self-control.

a. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

3. Being filled with the Holy Spirit brings out the best in a man. The Holy Spirit helps a man accomplish more.

B. The Drunken Man

1. The opposite is true for a drunk man.
2. Drunkenness leads to lack of wisdom and understanding, lack of carefulness and self control.
3. Being filled with alcohol brings out the worst in a man.
4. Alcohol is a depressant and doesn’t promote accomplishment. The man passes out.

II. A Productive Life (A Spirit filled Christian is the exact opposite of the Prodigal Son.)

A. The Prodigal Squandered Everything

1. Money, family relations, personal pride, probably personal purity
2. Jewish faith- working for a Gentile, & feeding pigs: religiously forbidden to Jews.

B. The Spirit Filled Is A Productive Life

1. The Spirit filled man has a sense of the gifts & talents he has been given by God.
2. There is a desire to not squander those gifts, but to make the life useful for God.
3. 1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

C. Going Backwards Or Forwards?

1. The prodigal’s lifestyle left him with nothing.

a. Luke 15:16 “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine

ate, and no one gave him anything.”

2. The Christian under the influence of the Holy Spirit has a productive life.

a. 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

III. Not A Negative Life, But A Stimulating Life

A. Not Negative

1. Many believe the Christian life is list of negatives, with nothing exciting or stimulating
2. A set of moral rules of what a person cannot do.
3. Christianity includes morality, but it is so much more.

B. A Stimulating Life

1. Christianity gives a man new life.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
3. The influence of the Holy Spirit brings true life to a man.
4. A power, excitement, a positive deposit into the heart of a man.
5. Acts 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

a. There was not an out of control nature to these men.
b. Peter gave a well thought out, logical, methodical, historical sermon about Jesus Christ.
c. As a result, 3,000 people commit their lives to Christ that day.

IV. A Joyful Life

A. Why Do People Desire To Get Drunk?

1. Because they are unhappy, and they want to forget their problems.
2. Many people drink because they want some joy in their lives.

B. The Christian Life Is A Joyful Life

1. True, there are many Christians who are not joyful.
2. It is not because of any shortcoming in God, or in Christ, or in the Holy Spirit.
3. Christians who have no joy need to keep pressing towards Jesus.
4. A joyful Christian life isn’t a life w/o troubles or sorrow.
5. A Spirit filled Christian can know the joy of God in the midst of troubles and sorrows.
6. 1 Peter 1:6, 8 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…

7. Joy that isn’t dependent upon circumstances or emotions.
8. Joy that comes from knowing God is sovereign, good, and loving.

V. A Loving Life

A. Friendship On A Worldly Level

1. The drunk man has friends because of the sameness of their vices. Drinking buddies.
2. He becomes a friend who relates to another on a very low and base plane of life.
3. Not built upon self-sacrificing love. Not built upon respect and admiration.
4. Rather built upon a low sense of morality and decency.

B. Friendship In The Holy Spirit

1. Healthy, edifying companionship comes from people being influenced by the Holy Spirit.
2. Christians enjoy being together b/c they are all indwelt by the same Holy Spirit.
3. They enjoy being together if they are yielding to the Spirit.
4. Loving other Christians is a mark of true Christianity.

a. 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

5. Gathering with other Christians to speak about the goodness of God.
6. To share their lives together. To worship together. Pray together.
7. A friendship and fellowship based not upon the lower, more base aspects of life.
8. A friendship and fellowship based upon the highest aspects of life.
9. It is not church membership that establishes this kind of friendship and fellowship.
10. It is not something a person can work up in their own strength.
11. It happens when Christians are filled with the Spirit of God.

The Spirit Filled Life Results In…
A Controlled Life
II. A Productive Life
III. Not A Negative Life
IV. A Stimulating Life
V. A Joyful Life
VI. A Loving Life