The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace to You.

If you've never contacted Grace to you, we want to send you a free booklet by John called How to Prepare for Christ's Return.

The Bible says to fix your hope on the Lord's return, but until Christ comes back, how should you spend your days?

This booklet answers that important question.

Request your free copy of How to Prepare for Christ's return by writing to prepare at gty.org.

That's prepare at gty.org. This offer is good in North America and Europe through December 2025.

And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.

Here is Grace to you Bible teacher John MacArthur.

We're in a study of the book of Ephesians and find ourselves this morning in chapter 5.

And I want to draw your attention to verses 18 and 19.

So open your Bible, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 and 19.

I'm going to read them, and then we're going to talk about these verses for probably a couple of weeks

because this is such an important portion of Scripture.

Ephesians 518 says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.

Now, obviously, this is a context of worship. Whatever the filling of the Spirit

means, whatever it produces, based upon the next verse, it begins with worship. The impact

of a spirit-filled life will show up, starting in verse 22 in marriage, in chapter

six, at the beginning of that chapter in family life, and later in chapter six, even in your

public and business life with the world around you. So being filled with the spirit is a very foundational

reality, as we all know. But what sets this verse apart is the very unusual comparison

between being filled with the spirit and being drunk.

...