Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Life in the Spirit

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit.  Paul doesn’t say, “It would be a great thing to attain if you could. Try really hard.” No, he commands that we “be filled with the Spirit.”  Let’s ask this short text three questions: 1) what is being filled with the Spirit? 2) how do we know if we are filled with the Spirit? and 3) how can we become filled with the Spirit? This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 22, 2010. Series: The Holy Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel and Life. Who is the Holy Spirit? And why is the Spirit's work so vital to the Christian life? The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit is not just a vague force, but a person who works in the lives of Christians in profound ways. Today, Tim Keller is exploring how the Spirit calls us to faith, unites us together, equips us with gifts, and shapes us to be more like Christ.

Our scripture tonight comes from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5 verses 15 through 21. Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is the word of the Lord. It's good to be with you. back with you in order to look at this famous command by Paul. He commands us to be filled with a spirit. He doesn't say it would be a great thing to attain if you might, if you could. You know, try real hard, maybe you'll make it. He commands, be filled with a spirit. And I think the best way to go with this subject is to be as practical as we possibly can. So let's ask the text,

this short little text, three questions. What is being filled with a spirit? How do we know if we are filled with a spirit? And how can we become filled with a spirit? That's about as, I think that's about as granular as I could make it. What is being filled with a spirit? How do we know if we are filled with a spirit and how can we become filled with a spirit? So first, what is being filled with a spirit?

And let's look right at the center, right at the heart of the command, where Paul makes a comparison and a contrast. He says, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with a spirit. By the way, most commentators say that's rather surprising. Why in the world did he bring getting drunk up? Why would he say, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with a spirit? And the answer is, there must be some way in which being drunk is like being filled with a spirit and some way in which it's unlike. There would be no need for a warning if there wasn't some similarity, but there also would be no warrant for the warning if there wasn't a dissimilarity. So let's ask that question. How is being drunk and being filled with a

spirit both like and unlike? And here's how it's like. Remember in Acts chapter 2, day of Pentecost, the first day that the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples? And they began to speak, began to speak, the Word of God, they began to talk about God and his wonders, about the gospel, and they did it with a boldness and with a joy and with a fluency that so impressed the crowd, the onlookers, that they said what? When they became filled with a spirit, what did the people who were watching them say? These guys are drunk. Why? Because they were so brave and so happy, and the only time they ever see people as brave and as happy as people who are filled with spirit is people who are drunk. That's the reason why they looked at people who are filled with

the spirit and said, these guys must be drunk. Why? Well, alcohol gets rid of your inhibitions. The things that you're afraid of sort of melt away, and therefore there's a braveness and there's a happiness that very often isn't there if you're sober. When I was a pastor in my first church was a small town in the south, there was a town drunk. He actually had been raised at the church, and most of the family were members of the church, and I think he was a member of the church. But he essentially lived on the street, and nobody could get him to go into rehab. Nobody could get him to do what he really should do. But I remember when I first met him, he showed up at the church because I was, this is his church, and I was the pastor, and I didn't know who he was.

I remember he sat down, and boy, I was impressed with him. He didn't stagger, by the way. He said, I have done a lot of wrong things, and he explained people he'd wrong, people he'd robbed from, women that he had wronged, and he says, I'm going to go to that person to make it right. I'm going to make that person make it right. He would say, you know, he's talking to a pastor. I'm going to do all these things.

I'm going to make things right. And I remember saying, that's right. That's good. It wasn't long after that that I found out from the rest of my congregation since I was brand new in town that Carl only ever talk like that when he was drunk. He didn't stagger, so you couldn't tell right away, unless you got up close and smelled him. But he was saying the right things. He was willing to face the truth.

He was willing to tell the truth. But as soon as he sobered up, immediately, no way. He wasn't going to do any of that stuff. All his fears rushed back and flooded him and kept him a slave. So being brave and being happy, evidently, is something that, being drunk brings and also something to the spirit brings. However, being filled with the spirit and being drunk are very unlike, of course, of course. And here's how.

Paul seems to intuit what we know today empirically. And that is that alcohol makes you brave and happy because it's a depressant. Did you know that? You can go look it up. It's a chemical that actually is in the category of depressants. We say, well, if it's a depressant, how does it make you brave and happy? It depresses parts of the brain. So it diminishes brain function.

It diminishes brain ability so that a drunk person sees less of reality than you did before. And the things that you were afraid of and the things that were inhibiting you, they sort of melt away and then you're brave and happy. In other words, alcohol makes you brave and happy by depressing your brain and showing you less of reality. but the fullness of the spirit operates in exactly the opposite way. Look at verse 15, 16, and 17. Running up to Paul's command to be filled with a spirit, he is saying to the Ephesian Christians,

he's saying, look at three things. He says, I want you to be wise, verse 15, not foolish. He also says, I want you to be very careful. In verse 15, but that literally means, I want you to be intensely aware, It's a word that means, literally it says, I want you to walk circumspectly. It means I want you to be utterly and intensely aware of things around you. And then, of course, it says, I want you to understand.

Understanding, wisdom, intense awareness of what's going on. Paul is seeking a higher level of mental functioning. And where are we going to get that? next verse 18 be filled with a spirit because the fullness of the spirit unlike alcohol doesn't make you brave and happy doesn't make you joyful and courageous and joyful by showing you less of reality but by showing you more and let me give you a perfect concrete illustration of that elisha the great prophet second kings chapter six he was in a city with his servant. He had a servant. And the city was surrounded by enemies, enemy troops that

were, there were over, it was an overwhelming force that were going to come upon the city tomorrow the next day. But Elisha was feeling okay. Elisha had confidence. Elisha had courage. Elisha had joy. And the servant is just melting down with fear. And he says, how can you act like this, Elisha? Now, Elisha could have done two things to help the servant feel. face that night and the next day. What is he could have given him a bottle of alcohol? He could have said, hey, go get drunk. Because that would have shown him less of reality,

and it would have enabled him, perhaps, to face the future with a little more courage and a little more joy. But that's not what he did. Oh, no. What did he do? He prayed to God, and he said, Oh, Lord, open his eyes. show him all of reality, not just the material, but the spiritual, the supernatural, show him all of

reality. And God opened his eyes, and this in a very famous phrase, he saw chariots of fire on the mountains around the city. In other words, he saw the hosts of God. He saw the angels. He saw the supernatural world. And he began to realize God is real and God is there and God is working a plan and God has his power. And that's the fullness of the spirit. The fullness of the spirit is not giving you

joy and courage by showing you less of reality, but showing you more of reality, showing God and what he's doing and his plans and all that. And therefore, we're back to what we said at the very beginning of this series on the Holy Spirit. Earlier in the summer, when we were looking at chapters in the book of John, 14, 15, 16, where Jesus says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will glorify me. He will take what I'm telling you, what I've done. He will take of mine and show it to you. The Holy Spirit's job is to take all the things that God is doing, all the things that God has done in Christ, all the things that Christ has done for you, all the things that you are in Christ. And it makes, the Holy Spirit should I have to take all that and to communicate it to you

to make it so true to your mind, to the reason of your mind, and so real to the deepest emotions of your heart, that who God is and what he has done, and especially what he's done in Christ, becomes the controlling power in your life. It dominates you. So the things that used to deflate you don't deflate you, the things that used to inflate you don't inflate you, the things that just to scare you, don't scare you anymore. Because you see all of reality. Alcohol is a depressant. It gets rid of negative thoughts. It gets rid of fears by depressing parts of your brain, showing you less of reality. But here's what the fullness of the spirit is. The fullness of the spirit is not a frothy joy that helps you forget your troubles. Now, in a very famous spot,

C.S. Lewis said, I didn't go to Christianity. to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want to make yourself happy and comfortable, I don't recommend Christianity. The fullness of the spirit does not give you a frothy joy to make you forget your troubles. Rather, it gives you a heightened, intense understanding of the truth and who God is and what he's doing in the world that enables you to triumph over your troubles. The fullness of the Spirit is a supernaturally charged cognition which brings about a heart condition of courage and joy. It's a heightened, intensified existential moment-by-moment awareness of God and his salvation that dominates your life so that

nothing else does, so that no fears do, no danger does, nothing does because you see all of reality. That's the fullness of the Spirit. Now, secondly, How do you know if you have the fullness of the Spirit? What are the marks of a person who has it? Now, I usually when people teach or preach on being filled with the Spirit, they start with verse 18. I rather deliberately included verses 15, 16, 17, their run-up. And the reason I did is because there you have Paul talking about wisdom and then saying,

Now, if you want wisdom, be filled with a spirit. What I see in verses 15 all the way to 21 is the results of the fullness of the spirit is a kind of almost what looks to us like a contradiction. There is a humble realism along with a surging joy. A humble realism along with a surging joy. So, for example, wisdom. What is that?

Now, that's a huge subject, but at least we know this from the Bible. To be wisdom means to be down to earth. To be wise means to be realistic, not idealistic, not naive, not having rosy-colored glasses. A wise person is savvy. A wise person knows how things work. A wise person knows what life is really like, reality, warts and all. And look at the very end of the passage where it says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. submission means humble yourself before other people. Why? Out of reverence, out of this sense of awe

and reverence you have this humility before Christ. See, being filled with a spirit rightly is associated with joy. But we're also seeing that spiritual joy is accompanied by a humble Realism. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, we're sorrowful yet always rejoicing. We're sorrowful yet always rejoicing. We're poor, yet we possess everything. In other words, we're often sad, but we're never really unhappy. What is he talking about?

The fullness of the spirit brings you a joy based on God. It's a heightened understanding of God. It's a supernaturally charged cognition about God and his salvation. Whereas most of our, I don't know how to put it, the alternatives to being filled with a spirit is getting high. Getting high on a drug, getting high on alcohol, or even getting high on your own success. You know, when people get, they say, I'm on a roll. I'm not thinking negative thoughts. I'm not thinking about my flaws.

I'm thinking about my strengths. You know, positive thinking. Get rid of negative thoughts. That's not. the fullness of the spirit? Because the fullness of the spirit enhances realism. It enhances humility. The reason why you still have joy is because it's not looking at you and, hey, you're on a roll. It's looking at God. Which means that the joy of the Holy Spirit is like the stars. Because, see, the stars get brighter and brighter as the night gets darker. And the joy that comes

from the fullness of the spirit goes hand in hand with a wisdom and a realism and a humility. And it can get actually stronger. That joy can get stronger as the circumstances in your life get darker. The Psalms can profoundly shape the way you approach God. Even Jesus relied on the Psalms to face every situation, including death. In Tim and Kathy Keller's 365-day devotional, The Songs of Jesus, you'll find daily readings through the Psalms with fresh biblical insight. If you don't have a regular devotional practice, this book is a wonderful way to start. And if you already spend time and study and prayer, then reading and praying through the Psalms can help you bring your deepest emotions and questions before God and discover

a new level of intimacy with him. We'll send you Tim and Kathy Keller's devotional as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel in Life share the love of Jesus with more people. Request your copy today at gospelandlife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now, here's Dr. Keller with the rest of today's teaching. So first there's a humble realism, but then on the other hand, yes, there is this surging joy. It's all here in 19 and 20. And since this is actually all one sentence in the Greek, what you see in verses 19, 20, and 21 flow out of the command to be filled with a spirit. It's not as clear in the English because these are all broken into separate sentences.

But you see, we're supposed to, let me work backwards. A person filled with a spirit always gives thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, now there we go. Now you begin to see how you could possibly have a joy that gets, like the stars, that gets brighter and stronger as the circumstances in your life get darker. because here it says a person will fill with the Spirit can always give thanks to God the Father for everything.

Now, how is that possible? How is it possible to always have a grateful joy no matter how bad things are? And the answer is right at the very end in the name of Jesus. See, in the name, the word, in the Bible, name means your character. And when the Holy Spirit is filling you,

when the Holy Spirit is coming and glorifying Jesus and showing you what Jesus is and does, it drives you, the Holy Spirit, he drives you into the name of Jesus, who he is and what he's done. And here's one of the things you will see. God hates evil. If God did not hate evil, he would not have sent his only son. There's no reason why he would ever send his only son of the world. He hates the evil, he hates the disease, he hates the suffering and the death that's here. He didn't make a world filled with these sons.

things, and yet, how does God bring about our salvation? How does he give us life? How does he bring us glory? By horrible things happening to Jesus Christ, God brings death out of life. Pardon me, he brings life out of death. He brings glory out of suffering. He brings salvation out of rejection, all these awful things. It grieves God to see evil, and it has particularly grieve God to see evil fall on his only son. And yet, when the Holy Spirit, as the years go by, shows you more and more and more of the genius of the cross, of the genius of what God has done, and the wisdom of what has God has done on the cross. And when you see how God brings more glory and more joy into the world because of the suffering of Jesus, when suffering hits you, you're going to start to say,

I don't know what you're doing, but I thank you. I know you're working. And see, if you have that, If the Spirit has glorified Jesus to the place where you can thank God always in everything, then you become a person who sings and makes music in your heart to the Lord. Actually, I love that verse. You read right by that, and it looks a little bit frou-frou, doesn't it kind of sing and make melody in your heart? But however, notice it's not saying this is a person who's thinking about God, but who is communicating to God. And I think this verse means this.

To sing and make music in your heart to the Lord means. This is a person who so has a sense of God's presence and such a delight in God's actual presence that that person would put it into a song if he could. It's to live in the presence of God with such delight that you would sing about it if you could. you'd put it into a song if you possibly could. Being filled with a spirit means God is near.

Being filled with a spirit means you sense the nearness of God and you delight in the nearness of God. And you would sing about it if you could. And sometimes we sing about even though we can't. It sounds horrible to everybody, probably even to God, but it doesn't matter. And of course, being filled with a spirit means, therefore, that since we can thank God in all circumstances, and since we delight in his presence moment by moment,

we become people who speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I actually preached an entire sermon on that two years ago, and I can't recap it now. But that verse means not only that people filled with a spirit love music and need to express their joy in God through music, but it also is talking about singing to one another, not just singing to God. What that means is, spirit-filled people edify each other.

Spirit-filled people are constantly talking about what God is doing in their lives to one other and helping us find God in new ways ourselves, because our friends around us are speaking to us about it. The spirit-filled people create an incredible kind of Christian community. So here it is. Humble realism, along with a surging joy, Is your joy like that? Do you have a joy like that?

It's like the stars. It gets brighter as the circumstances of your life get darker. Now, if that's the fullness of the spirit, I doubt that there's anybody here who doesn't fall into one of two categories. Either you're either going to say, I don't know anything of this at all. Or you're going to say, I don't know nearly as much of it as I want. So, point three, how can we become filled with a spirit? Oh my. Let me just, let me take you to one place in the Bible that about 10 years ago hit me with all the force of a

hammer. We tend not to think about Jesus as being filled with a spirit, perhaps. Yes, we always know about the baptism and the spirit came down to anoint him for his ministry at his baptism. But Jesus Christ spends most of his time weeping. He's always a man of sorrows. He's weeping over Lazarus. He's weeping over Jerusalem. He's a man of sorrows. But there is an amazing spot. It's related in Luke chapter 10 and also Matthew 11, where we're told Jesus exalted, exploded with joy in the Holy Spirit. Jesus has an experience of the fullness of the Spirit. And this is what it says.

This is Luke chapter 10. He says, at that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Ghost, exalted, and said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Listen to it again. Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, exalted and said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

Jesus has an explosion of joy. Why? It's very interesting. He said, he was full of the Holy Spirit and the joy of the Holy Spirit. That's what Paul's talking about here. How did it happen? Here's how it happened. he's noticing something. First of all, we learn here that if you find God, it's not because

you reach him or you attain him, you know, or you rise up toward him. Oh, no. The only way anybody finds God is if God reveals himself, if God unveils himself to you. But who does he reveal himself to? He doesn't reveal himself to the learned. He doesn't reveal himself to the people who are wise in their own eyes. He doesn't reveal himself to the accomplished, to the people who say, look at my accomplishments, look at my morality, look at my talent. He reveals himself to little children. That's a spiritual phrase, of course, in Jesus, the helpless, the weak, the people who know they've got nothing, the people who know they're spiritually bankrupt. So you know what Jesus is saying? He's saying, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you're a God of grace. And you don't divide the world into the good and the bad. You divide the world into the proud and the helpless. I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you're a God of grace and you save by grace, not by works. And Jesus looked at the gospel. He looked at grace. And it filled him with the Holy Spirit.

Now, look, Jesus is perfect. Jesus is right with God. Why would Jesus need the fullness of the Holy Spirit? All I know is that even Jesus needed the fullness of the Holy Spirit to get through his life, to face the things he was facing. He literally had the whole weight of the world put on him, but he was able to bear it because he had the fullness of the Spirit. Well, how did he get it?

He looked at grace. He looked at the gospel. Okay, look at this. Let's do it right now. Psalm 51. David says to God, desperately, do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Oh, Lord, do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Take not the Holy Spirit from me. Why? Why was he afraid? Because he'd sinned. And see, Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is holy. And the Spirit of God cannot dwell with sin. And David knew that. And David knew that he was about to be abandoned. He deserved to be abandoned by the Spirit of God. With all of his joy, with all of his power. And that would have finished David as a king. He says, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. I deserve to have the Holy Spirit taken from me, but take not the Holy Spirit from me. And guess what? God did not take the Holy Spirit from him. Holy Spirit stayed with him, even though he was a sinner, even though he deserved abandonment. So there's the sinful David, says, take not the Holy Spirit from me, and God didn't. Centuries later,

the ultimate David, the greater David, the descendant of David, the sinless Jesus Christ, the true king, says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know what he's saying? He's saying, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Take not thy face from me. Take not thy presence from me. Don't take it away from me. But God did.

why you know the sinful david deserved to lose the holy spirit the sinless ultimate greater david did not deserve to lose the holy spirit but the sinful david kept the fullness of the spirit and the sinless david jesus christ lost the fullness of spirit why because jesus christ was standing in our place and he was abandoned he got the abandonment that david deserved that you and i deserve why. So he lost the fullness of the spirit so you and I could have it, even though we're sinners. Look at that. Look at that. And say, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. That you saved me by grace. Are you bored? Is there a deadness in your heart right now? It's because you're forgetting grace. It's not real to your heart. Are you having trouble loving anybody?

Are you feeling really, are you looking down at people? Are you angry? of people is because you've forgotten grace. It hasn't melted and humbled your heart. Are you anxious? Are you afraid God's going to let you down? It's because you've forgotten grace. You've forgotten the fact that God was not going to abandon you. Look at what he's done for you on the cross. Look at grace, grace, grace, until there's an explosion of joy, the joy of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to be filled with the Spirit? First, You have to be filled with Christ. You have to become a little child.

You have to rely on him alone for salvation. You have to stop, look, saying, oh, Lord, please receive me because of what I've done or who I am. You've got to say, oh, Lord, please receive me just by grace because of what Jesus has done. So in order to be filled with the Spirit, first you have to be filled with Christ. But then, you've got to take time. You've got to take time morning and evening, and maybe in the middle of the day. You've got to set aside time for you to look at the truth of the Bible,

the truth of God in general, and the truth of the gospel in particular, and study it and know it and meditate on it and ask the Spirit to ignite it in you. There's no, listen, it's not like, oh, you have your doctrine and all your truth, but I'm interested in mystical experience. No, the Holy Spirit, the experience of the Spirit, is the truth on fire in your life. It's theology on fire in your life. and that takes study and that takes prayer and that takes the means of grace and it takes the spiritual disciplines of prayer and of worship, of study, and of group prayer and of individual

prayer and of corporate prayer. You can't just drop in on church a couple times a month and hope for some inspiration and expect the fullness of the spirit. Look at what Jesus Christ has done systematically, thematically. in a disciplined way, until you can say, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you're a God of grace, and you've been a God of grace to me. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so grateful that you're a God of grace,

and you don't divide the world into the good and the bad, but you divide the world into the proud and the helpless. The people who don't think they need grace, people who do know that they need grace. And we thank you that you have been willing to come into our lives, but we also know that we don't experience this humble realism and searching joy, this heightened, supernaturally charged cognition. We have not made ourselves available to it, and we ask that your Holy Spirit would fill us, fill us, and that we go on being filled with your spirit, so that we also could become a congregation of people who,

who sing to one another and speak to one another and build each other up in love. So Father, help us to apply all these things through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, we ask it. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life podcast. We hope that today's teaching encouraged you to go deeper into God's Word. You can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit gospel and life.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 2010. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life

podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Thank you.