The Continuing Fullness of the Holy Spirit

It doesn't mean that you are no longer a Christian. You still are. You can be living a life that no longer experiences the fullness of the Holy Spirit and still be a son or daughter redeemed by His grace. You can still have your spiritual gifts. However, you now exercise them in the flesh.

I know a young man whose life has been torn apart by drug usage. He has gone the gamut from marijuana to amphetamines and, ultimately, to cocaine and now heroin. For several years, he listened to warnings, reprimands and pleadings from his father. At some points, he accepted help from his father. At other points he has sped on down this road of personal tragedy. My friend is still the son of his father. There is always the home to which he can return. He will always find the waiting embrace of the parents who brought him into this world. No matter how alienated he may be from them, he is their son by birth. In spite of his struggle with drugs, he will always be a son and have the help of his father. The days of closeness, tenderness, intimacy and love are days of the past. Now there is a broken relationship. They are out of fellowship. However, that relationship can be restored.

Advertisement

Does this describe your relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you look back to a better day when you experienced the fullness of His Spirit? Have you known a time of complete surrender? Were you caught off guard by the struggle with flesh that seemed to hit you immediately on the heels of that spiritual peak? The struggle with the flesh is normal. Yours can be victory instead of defeat.

II.

If you want to really experience the continuing fullness of the Holy Spirit, you need to latch on to an exciting concept. This motivating concept is that of abiding in Christ.

Jesus described this principle in a homey way. Dotted along the hillsides of Palestine there have always been vineyards. The grapevine grows swiftly. So much so that the tiny shoots are planted as much as twelve feet apart along the terraced hillsides. The soil has to be kept perfectly clean. The plants need a great deal of attention if the best fruit is to be produced. The young vine is not allowed to bear fruit for the first three years. Each year it is drastically cut back, so that it might develop, conserving its life and energy. In its mature years it is pruned during early winter. The vine has two kinds of branches. One kind of branch is fruit-bearing. The other is non fruit-bearing. The non fruit-bearing branches are mercilessly pruned back so that they will not drain away the fruit-producing strength of the plant. These fruitless branches are worthless.

It is out of this background that Jesus spoke these words recorded in John 15:1-5:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing."