The Three S's Part 3
by Ron Noble
The good news is that when we confess our sin and when we take ourselves to the Cross voluntarily it creates in us an atmosphere in which God's Holy Spirit can work. Sin, Self, Spirit - The THREE S's
The Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be filled with Spirit don't just be in possession of Him. He came to indwell in your life when you were saved, but there's more to life than that. Be filled! Let Him control you totally.
Think of washing the dishes. You're holding a glass and it looks like it's empty but it's not. When you turn it upside down you put it in the water you can't get any water into it because it isn't empty it's full - of air. When we receive Christ the Holy Spirit was given to us as "earnest" of that deal. Ephesians tells us that we got the Holy Spirit in a certain measure, but how much of us did He get? As we grow in life and as we come to say "Lord, if there is sin I want it gone and I don't want any more self ruling on the throne" we make a vacuum in our life just like burping the air out of that glass. A little more water comes in, and a little more water comes in until finally it's full. It's a process. We say we want it full. We just try our best to get the air out. Two things happen. First of all the glass is full. It happy, it's fulfilled. Do you know why there is such a lack of fulfillment amongst believers? It's because they are not full. You know why there is still a hunger when Jesus said "if you eat of this bread you'll never hunger again, if you drink of this water you'll never thirst" because they are not full. So Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be full, be filled. It's a process of emptying of the self life so that we can have room for the Spirit.
Philippians 2 says that Jesus emptied Himself. John said He was filled with the Spirit beyond measure. If Jesus had to empty Himself of all that He would have liked to have done – avoid the pain of the Cross He was offered to - don't we need to do that? Philippians 3:10 tells us that if we would really know Him – we need to know Him first of all and the fellowship of His sufferings from these events that are beyond our control. We need to know Him being conformed to His death and go through this cross experience willingly and voluntarily. The Third S is the good news – that we might know Him in Resurrection Power.
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