All right, good morning. Good to see you all this morning. Let's call upon the Lord as we begin. Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, we thank you for another Lord's Day. We thank you for the reign and the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is the head of the church and the head of all things, for he is King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank you for your holy word, for the blessing of being able to search the scriptures. Thank you that they speak to us of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who is our all in all, and so we pray your blessing upon our study. Encourage us, fathers, we take up the matter of grieving your Holy Spirit who indwells your church, who fills the hearts of your believers, your children, that we may walk in your ways. Forgive us this morning, we pray, of our many sins, especially of our backslidings and our waywardness, and call us closer to you this day, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we'll turn to John 16, and then we'll turn to Psalm 106. Let's look at a couple of verses in chapter 16 to remind ourselves of the Spirit's ministry, and then we'll read the entire Psalm, Psalm 106. We take up this matter of grieving the Holy Spirit, which we addressed a little bit several weeks ago now in those focused studies we did on the Holy Spirit relative to Pentecost, and talking about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and such, kind of leading into the Book of Acts, particularly Acts 2, of course. So we've talked about this a little bit, but I want to come back to this. This is the next essay in Thomas Charles's volume that we've been working through, and it's a helpful reminder of this grievous sin of grieving the Holy Spirit, quenching the Holy Spirit, resisting the Holy Spirit. Whichever text, however it's translated in your scriptures, Paul speaks of this directly. So we're reminded, first of all, of the Spirit's work. Jesus speaks to the work of the Spirit, particularly in chapter 16, of course, the upper room discourse, 14, 15, 16. But here in chapter 16, verse 8, the Lord says, well, back up to verse 7, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. So this paraclete, as you know, the helper, the comforter, one like the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, another divine person, Verse 8, and when he comes, and Christ gives this description, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. In part a summary of really the work of Christ, but a summary of the work of the Holy Spirit coming to convict. Verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, so think of what we've seen in Acts, Pentecost, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. And he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the father has is mine, therefore I say he will take what is mine and declare it to you. It's a beautiful passage for many reasons, and we've come to this passage on several occasions, but it's It's a wonderful passage of the economy of the triune persons of the Godhead, right, that which the Father, the role of the Father, and we'll look at all three persons this morning on this topic as well, but the role of the Father in sending the Son, sending the Spirit. Of course, Christ conjoined with the sending of the Spirit, as we've seen in Pentecost, the Lord himself comes as the Lord of the Spirit. Christ himself comes, he does not leave his people orphaned, comes unto his church, and the role of the Spirit relative to the role of the Son, particularly to the Son's redeeming work. And we'll look at that also in just a moment. So to come to your notes then, we really have two things that we think about when we think of the Spirit. The Spirit comes to convict us of sin and to comfort our souls, right? To comfort us, this is the thing we looked at before relative to the Spirit's work of sanctification. He comforts us by taking what belongs to Christ and applying it unto us. Remember, everything has been given to Christ. He took on flesh. He's become our kinsman and redeemer. He's the head of the church. He's the sole mediator of the covenant. So everything we need has been entrusted to Christ. Everything we receive comes from Christ and through Christ by his Holy Spirit. So ultimately, from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. That's the economy of the Trinity relative to the redemption of mankind. If Christ has all things, then what we saw in the role of the Spirit's sanctifying ministry is he takes what belongs to Christ, his righteousness, and applies it to us, right? His atoning work and applies it to us. Everything relative to our effectual calling and our ongoing sanctification, the Spirit is drawing out of Christ. Think of the image that John gives in John 1, 1, right? Or excuse me, John chapter 1. And looking there at verse 16 and following, it talks about the son, We beheld him full of grace and truth, and from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. So Christ is this full storehouse, an exhaustible storehouse of everything we need, and the Spirit is constantly taking from Christ. Ultimately from the Father, everything that is mine is the Father's, and the Father's given it to me, and now Christ is the storehouse, the place in which everything has been deposited in one sense for the church, because he's the head. Everything's been entrusted to him because that's the way by joining us to him, because he's the only one who took on flesh, right? The only person who took on flesh. So everything has to be given to Christ so the church can be joined to Christ and then draw from Christ, out of Christ, all things that we need for justification, sanctification, adoption, glorification, and all the particulars of the redeeming work. So the Spirit's ministry is to convict of sin and to comfort. And this raises the question as we think about our sins, And conviction, this is what posits the question in the essay, what grieves the spirit more? And I'll let you answer this, what grieves the spirit more? Lesser sins, habitually indulged in the heart and mind of believers, or a great sudden fall through the strength of a sudden temptation? Which grieves the spirit more, and why? Lesser sins. And why? They're only in the heart. Habitually. What's that? That's the problem. Right. But what's the word you used? You said habitually indulged in the heart and mind. Right. Sounds like a bosom sin, right? Right. And why are the lesser sins habitually indulged in the heart more grievous to the spirit? Because they don't grieve us as much. Okay. Right? We found a place where Maybe we're excusing it, maybe we're justifying it, maybe we're ignoring it, maybe we think, well, I don't act out, right? I just act in my heart, my mind. But it's more grievous because there's more willfulness in it, right? Think of it relative to David's fall, right? God gives us David's fall for a reason. His fall with Bathsheba, this sudden strength, this entering into temptation, David falls miserably. And yet what does the Lord continue to say about David? What did he say about him before? What did he say about him after? He's a man after my own heart, right? And David walked in all the ways of the Lord, never stepping aside in anything except for the matter of Uriah, except for the matter of Bathsheba. And we see the suddenness David has overcome. Now we have all sorts of suppositions. Well, he should have been out at war, given the way the text begins there in 1 Samuel 11. He should have been at war. He shouldn't have been at home. What was he doing on the roof? Looking at someone else's roof where people typically bathe. What is he doing, right? He planned this, you can go into all of that, but the reality is it's very clear. This character suddenly changes from a sudden strong temptation and he falls miserably. And of course we see what happens next in chapter 12, calling Uriah back from the field, go sleep with your wife, you sure you don't want to sleep with your wife, trying to cover it up. And then of course finally send him out, draw back so he dies, trying to cover it all up. So we see this grievous sudden sin, but there's less willfulness in that than these habitual lesser sins that we are justifying and continuing in. That's what grieves the Spirit more. Because the greater the light, the greater the offense, right? And think of it, and again, we're talking in human terms, but think of it relative to how much space of time is there for the Spirit's convicting work, and Nathan-like work, don't do that, in a sudden fall compared to this prolonged habitual sinfulness, right? In a sudden fall, there's not a whole lot of time, right? If we're blindsided, as it were, there's not a whole lot of time to recall verses, to go to your prayer closet, to think it through. There's not a whole lot of time to listen to the Spirit's voice, this is not wise. You know, Lady Wisdom, come, don't go near her house, don't do that, right? There's less time for that sort of interaction and intercession and sort of ministry of the spirit, whereas when it's an habitual sin, even of the heart or mind, that is taking place over time, how many Lord's Days are you under the ministry of the word? How many Lord's Suppers, right? When you're told to come repentant, lay all your sins, how can you continue in sin? Think of the warning put at the Lord's table. If you're continuing in sin and not repentant, you don't belong here. How many Lord's Suppers have you had? How many sermons? How many prayers of confession in public worship? How many family worship confessions have taken place, right? All of this light, all of this opportunity, all of this suppressing of the truth and unrighteousness, you've no doubt been battling with the Spirit. How do we know? Because the Spirit's been battling with you, right? The Spirit is the Spirit of holiness. He's destined and committed to sanctify you. The Spirit is never going to stay idle when we're continuing in any sin. He's going to come forth and he's going to shine the light and he's going to convict. So these lesser sins are more grievous to the spirit because they're committed with more willfulness, they're committed against more light, they're committed against more of the spirit's convicting, prodding work. And they're committed, especially if you think of public and private and family means of grace, they're committed against the means of grace, which are all designed to drive you to the Savior, away from your sins. What do the means of grace do? They recognize your sinfulness. They don't suppose for a moment that you've come in here perfectly clean. And that's why we're going to feed you the means of grace. The means of grace recognize that you've come in dirty again. And yet the means of grace still feeds you Christ, the Savior, right, the atoning sacrifice, the Lamb of God that's been offered up in your place, the sanctifying work of the Spirit. So we all understand the means of grace presuppose your sinfulness and they call you back to the high priest of your confession that he might intercede for you and you receive as we do each week. the assurance of pardon when we come and confess our sins to the Father. So that's what's before us, thinking about this grieving of the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit stronger and more with these lesser habitual sins compared to a more grievous outward offense into which we fall suddenly. So when the Spirit is grieved, here's the reality then, when the Spirit is grieved, what does He do? He withdraws. This is why Paul says don't grieve the Spirit, don't quench the Spirit, don't resist the Spirit, because the last thing you want is for the spirit to withdraw. He doesn't do this all at once. The spirit is very gracious and kind, and of course, ever more patient with us. But first he'll hide himself, and he'll give less manifest and frequent signs of his presence. And why does he do that? We all know what that's like, right? Think of the Psalms, right? Shine your face upon us and we shall be saved. Don't withdraw your countenance from me, oh Lord. The cry of the psalmist when God begins to withdraw. Think of Psalm 6, I wet my couch with my tears. Where are you, Lord? How long, O Lord? This grieving on the part of the sinner, as David writes there in those penitential psalms, because God has withdrawn. This longing that God returned in manifest tokens of his presence. So why does the Spirit withdraw? Well, it's very clear. To convict. To convince us of our sin and of its real danger. Now you remember, you go back to the Marrow study, right? As a child of God, united to Christ, we're not in danger of hellfire. Christ died and suffered that for us on the cross. That's the gospel, praise God. Through faith and union to Christ, we're not in danger of hellfire, but we are in danger of the withdrawing of the spirit, which is even more grievous. Again, remember this from the Marrow. That's more grievous to a child of God, right? Remember the comparison we saw? It's like when you knew you were When you knew you were hellbound as a sinner, what did you do? I don't care. Right? You didn't care. You kept on in sin. Right? The first time someone said, you're going to go to hell if you live like that. Maybe it was your parents. Right? You're going to go to hell if you live like that. What did you do? You kept sinning. Right? So obviously that wasn't a big enough deterrent. Right? Because of the hardness of the heart, the depravity of man. But what happens when we come to Christ and we become the children of God? We don't fear hell. But we fear the withdrawing of the Spirit, and what's more grievous to us than anything else? Go to the Psalms. The withdrawing of the Spirit. Lord, take not your Holy Spirit from me. I can't handle that. Anything but the darkness, right, of God's withdrawal. That's the worst of all to a child of God. That grieves us more. And so why does the Spirit withdraw when we grieve Him because of sin? To convince us that we're sinning, right? To bring that home to us. Remember that idea of bringing something home to your heart? and to show us the danger that we are in. So what happens then if the Spirit withdraws, and that withdrawal of the Spirit doesn't prevail with us to repent and turn back into the way of holiness? What will the Spirit do next? Again, the Spirit's committed to your sanctification, more than you are, obviously, in that moment, right? What does the Spirit do next? Withdrawing didn't bring you to repentance, it didn't provoke you. You're still pressing and running in the way So what does the Spirit do next? What's his next course of action for a child of God? Chastisement. Right? Again, think of it relative to our parenting, whatever style of parenting we have. First, isn't there a rebuke? An admonition? Right? That's wrong, don't do that. Right? That displeases your parents, that displeases the Lord, don't do that. But what if they do it again, and again, and again? At some point, we decide it's necessary to take up a rod. At some point, discipline needs to take place, chastisement of some sort, right? And the Spirit does the same thing. Because if the Spirit, right, He's not gonna continue to strive with us, right? There's this wrestling taking place. Think of Romans 7, right? There's this wrestling that takes place between sin and the Holy Spirit, between the old man and the work of the Spirit in us, and the Spirit will not always strive. Think of what the Lord said in Genesis. My Spirit will not always strive with man. That's obviously a more temporal and timed picture relative to the building of the ark and the coming of the flood. But that's a very accurate picture, too. The spirit won't always strive, right? Even as parents don't always strive through rebuke and admonition, at some point, discipline becomes necessary if the child continues in this rebellious course of action. Love gets tougher, as it were. And so if the bitter experiences of the spirit's withdrawal don't teach us the greatness of the sin of grieving him, Now what does that show about our hearts? Our hearts are hard. What kind of a trouble have we gotten into, right? We have no doubt become callous because we're able to withstand the worst of all conditions for a child of God, the withdrawing of the spirit. And if we continue in sin in that state, then we are in big trouble. And it's the mercy of God that he takes up the rod. Remember Hebrews 12, right? If you don't know the discipline of the father, then what are you? Not his children. Because what father doesn't discipline his children? Every father disciplines his child. He has that right, that responsibility, right? That obligation out of love for the good of the child, of course he disciplines his child. So if you don't know the father's discipline, then you're not a child of the father, you're illegitimate. And so our hearts are hard when we can carry on in the face of the Spirit's withdrawals, when the Spirit stops striving and we just keep running in the opposite direction, we are in big, big trouble. And so what does the Spirit do? He chastises. So turn now to Psalm 106. I want to read the whole psalm. I know it's kind of long, but it's one of those historical psalms, and it's one of those ones that come back around again to the rebellion of Israel. And what we see is the Lord, that is His Spirit, by his own people here is being provoked, right? Provoked to anger, provoked to wrath against his people, chastisement, right? Wrath within the covenant, of course, not outside of it. But wrath, he's provoked to wrath, he's provoked to anger, he's provoked to take up the rod against his own people. Why? Because they're continuing against the Lord in the face of his withdrawals and then even discipline. So obviously we see the faithfulness of God and that's where we want to move this entire lesson. How in the world and why in the world can God be faithful to his people? It's because of his covenant love, because they don't deserve it at all, even as we don't. So Psalm 106, praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. What a backdrop against which now to move forward in the message of this psalm. Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people. Help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. Both we and our fathers, think of Daniel 9, have sinned. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works. They did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea at the Red Sea. He saved them for his namesake that he might make known his mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea and it became dry. He led them through the deep as through a desert. So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries. Not one of them was left. Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness and put God to the test in the desert. He gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them. When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the Holy One of the Lord, the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Aviram. Fire also broke out in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. Therefore he said he would destroy them, had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to turn away his wrath from destroying them. Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents and did not obey the voice of the Lord. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands. Then they yoked themselves to the bale of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. They provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stayed. And that was counted him as righteousness from generation to generation forever. They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips. They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts, and they played the whore in their deeds. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people, and He abhorred His heritage. He gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry. For their sake, he remembered his covenant and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love, and he caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Blessed be the Lord. the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and that all the people say amen and praise the Lord. So you see this rehearsal, of course, of, we recognize every bit of that history through our knowledge of the Old Testament and the story of Israel, but you see this rehearsal of the rebellion on the part of God's people and therefore this provoking, right? It's hard to imagine that we could provoke the Lord, the God of love, God who is love, right? God is love, says John. and the God of love, and the God of grace, and the God of mercy, surely, surely he'll overlook everything and anything. No, God can be provoked, even by his own people. Think of the great love, again, we have for our children. Your children could never upset me, I love them so much, you're so wonderful, and yet what do your children do? They upset you. They provoke you to anger. What? By their rebellion. By their hard-headedness and hard-heartedness. They're continuing against the ways that have been set before them. So this is what the Lord does by his spirit. He withdraws to convict us. of sin when we go astray, to poke and to prod at the heart and the conscience, right, with His word, especially through the means of grace. But if we continue, then the Lord takes up His chastisement against us. So why does the Spirit, think again of Psalm 106, now the Lord kept coming, and you go right through Psalm 107, read another account of this history of the rebellion of Israel. But against the history of the rebellion of God's people, what do we also find? The history of the faithfulness of the God of Israel. The history of the faithfulness of the Spirit of the Lord with his people. And why? How is it that the Spirit never gives up on us? It's because of his love. It's verse 44, right? He looked upon their distress. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress. He remembered his covenant. He relented. He caused them to be pitied, right? It was his love and grace that were driven right back once again to the love of God. Remember, the love of God was never, ever, ever moved by your good works in the first place. You don't have any good works, right? There's nothing in us, right? This is what's so foolish about saying God looked through the corridors of time and saw who would believe, who would serve him, who would be worthwhile and saved them, elected them. It's foolish. The farther God goes, the worse we get, right? There's nothing good in any of us, right? To look through the corridors of time is to see nothing but the reality that we have come to know of our own selves by his grace. We're sinners to the core. We're repeatedly sinners. Our confession is right. We break the commandments of the Lord, our God, and thought, word, and deed every single day. None of us is good. Even after we've been born again, we're still not good. We're still not worthwhile. The only good in us is his spirit. So we're driven back to Deuteronomy 7, where Moses told Israel, the Lord loved you because he loved you. And that's it. You can't go back any farther. You can't go to any other place but to the very heart of God. And so this is where we land this morning, the love of God. Look at 4A. The same love which moved the Father to send His Son to die for sinners, enemies, and traitors. We looked at that last week. That same love is what moved the Father to send His Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts, though polluted and depraved. It's God who's given his spirit to indwell us. And again, once the spirit indwells you, right, that affects what? Your calling, his effectual calling, but it affects your union with Christ. And so there's no one in whom the spirit of God is put to indwell that will then have that spirit withdrawn. It's impossible, because by the very nature of the spirit's indwelling is one in which we're brought into union with Christ. Christ would have to divorce his bride, you the part of it even, to divorce his bride in order for you to lose your salvation. And so God, knowing, here's the picture we're supposed to see this morning, is that God commits his spirit to you, looking through the corridors of time and knowing exactly who you would be and what you would be, the trouble you would be, the sinner you would be. And what did he do? He still sent his son. Remember chapter five? While we were yet sinners, ungodly, weak enemies, he sent his son. While we were totally depraved and polluted and corrupt, He sent His Spirit, right? Remember Genesis 6, right? All the thoughts of their hearts are only evil continually. That's God's description of mankind, fallen man, Genesis 6, 5. All the thoughts, only evil, all the time. That's it. So looking through the corridors of time as it were, considering us in our fallenness, that's what God sees. All the thoughts, only evil all the time. And what did God do? He still sends his spirit. He still covenants in that eternal covenant of redemption to send Christ to die for such a people and to send the spirit to indwell such a people. You know, we think of it maybe relative, the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, buying a house, right? We might say, well, it's got a solid foundation. It's got a good structure, but boy, is it in disrepair. It's gonna take a lot of work to get this together. but there's at least something here I can work with, right? The land is good, the foundation's good, the studs are good, right? There's something here I can work with. It's worth the purchase, and we can get equity out of it, putting money into it. It'll be worth it. There's nothing in us that the Holy Spirit can work with, right? Nothing at all. Again, looking through those corridors, there's nothing that God sees in us that, okay, this one's worth investing in. This one's worth giving my spirit to. There's good deep down that the spirit can cultivate the good that's there. The Holy Spirit can work with, can fan that flame. There's a single ember of good and you can fan that flame and it'll all be worth it. There's nothing, right? And yet still God sends his spirit. And he sends him, look at letter B, the same love which moved the son to come and die for us while we were yet sinners and ungodly enemies now moves the spirit. to come to those who are perverse, unthankful, rebellious, to indwell those whom he knows will grieve, provoke, and anger him." We often think, you know, can you imagine the son looking ahead and saying, she is not worth redeeming. She's not worth me dying for, right? The son never said such a thing and never would by God's grace, of course, and the Lord's wonderful covenant. But we think about it relative to that, right? The son never looked ahead and said, she's not worth it. But this morning's essay would have us stop and think about the Holy Spirit and what the Spirit goes through with each and every one of us, right? Totally perverse, totally corrupt, totally ungrateful. They're going to provoke me, they're going to grieve me, they're going to resist me, they're going to work at cross-grain to me, they're going to anger me, they're going to withdraw from me, and yet the Holy Spirit still comes. still is a part of that eternal covenant of redemption. So we're driven right back to the only truth, the great truth, that we need to hold on to at all times. And that is that the only thing that causes God to persevere with us, the only thing that causes God to do us good and to continue with us, to bear with our continued provocations, is His love. His love. That's exactly what Moses told Israel That's exactly the truth that comes back to us again. That's the truth Paul's bringing home in Romans 5, after proving in chapter 1, 2, and 3 that we are all sinners, none is righteous, no not one, yet God. Ephesians 2, in summary, all corrupt, children of wrath, fallen, following the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air, but God. God's love, and we're looking at it now relative to the Holy Spirit's condescension, God's love is our greatest refuge. Because there is nothing in us that can warrant that love, justify that love, sustain that love, earn that love, return that love. It's free. It's gracious. It's been given from all eternity. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have a lot to worship and praise God for. But here's a true refuge. Here's true security and peace for troubled souls. God's eternal, electing, redeeming love. Right? Paul puts it so clear, right in Romans 9. Turn to Romans 9, right? The reality is, made very clear, Jacob had nothing to say but hallelujah. Nothing to say but praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Verse 8, I'll jump in. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that the purpose of God's election might stand. Not because of works. But because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. We're driven right back to the grace and the love of God. The love of God that was an electing love and a redeeming love from all eternity, because even as much as we were elected from all eternity, Christ was elected from all eternity as the meteor of the covenant, because we were elected in him. He was chosen and set apart by the Father in that triune council, that the Son might be the Redeemer, the Atoner, the Sacrificer, the substitute, the bridegroom. It would be the son who would become incarnate. It would be the son who would go and die and humble himself. And now this morning, it would be the spirit who would be the regenerator, the indweller, the renovator, the comforter, the sustainer, the sanctifier. It's the spirit. And so just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, says Paul in Galatians 2.20, so the spirit moved by that same love comes to accomplish the necessary work of grace and holiness in us. So look at Romans 8, beginning in verse 9. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. He indwells you to give life to your mortal bodies, that is, to sanctify you. So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, that's what He does by sanctifying work, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. And so we have the whole Trinity brought together, just like Ephesians 1 lays it out so beautifully, right? The Father's love moved him to purpose our redemption. Christ's love moved him to accomplish our redemption. and the Spirit's love moved him to apply that redemption to us. If you think about it, this triad of divine love, the Father's eternal purpose, the Son's accomplishing work, and the Spirit's application unto all eternity, in that triad of divine love, that explains everything in the Christian life, everything relative to the covenant of grace. the Father's purpose, the Son's work, and the Spirit's application, this beautiful triune salvation, this central work of the Trinity to redeem a people for God's own possession from every tribe, tongue, and nation. No wonder John Murray's famous book still being printed is Redemption Accomplished and Applied, right? And Ryan McGraw did his own volume similar to those lines, as have so many other authors, because this is it. This explains everything, right? What did Christ come to do? To redeem us. And he fully accomplished it. It's done. We don't add to it. We don't contribute to it. We don't finish it off, put the icing on the cake. He finished it, he accomplished it, and the Spirit comes then to apply it. And understanding, understanding the Son's ministry and the Spirit's ministry in tandem, both flowing from the Father's eternal purpose, gives us a perfect understanding, being able to get our minds around in a finite way, a perfect understanding. of the gospel, of the covenant, of grace, of mercy, of the whole testimony of redemption throughout scripture, the whole big picture, the Father's eternal purpose to give His Son a kingdom and to provide for His kingdom a bride, and us being that bride. So our election, look at B1, our election by the Father in Christ in love, Ephesians 1, is from eternity. When the Father knew full well what sinners we were and would be even as Christians. The Father's love is from all eternity in full knowledge of what he's getting. Christ's love for us is from eternity in the eternal covenant of redemption when he knew full well the sinful depths into which we would plunge ourselves and the great cost it would be to him to accomplish our salvation. And yet what did he do? Proverbs 8.31 says he delighted in the children of man from all eternity. That's what Christ did. What did Christ do in eternity past? Proverbs 8.31 says he delighted in the children of man. All right, go back to Romans, or excuse me, Hebrews 12. His heart was set from all eternity on the bride he would redeem. Because from all eternity he was chosen to be the mediator of the Father's elect. And then the Spirit's love for us is from all eternity. When he knew full well the innate depravity, again, Genesis 6, the innate depravity, the corruption, and the rebellion that would mark our natural and fallen condition, he knew the people into which he would enter and indwell, but more than that, he also knew the kind of people we would be as believers, resistant, disobedient, provoking him, as we see with Israel, provoking him to anger, provoking him to wrath, provoking him to withdraw. And yet what did the Holy Spirit do? What did the triune God do? Covenant to save at a cost to himself, right? At a cost to himself and his son, yet still pouring out and putting out all the payment necessary to redeem the helpless, the hopeless, the empty, the weak, the ungodly enemies, those who had nothing, who could not contribute anything to our salvation, could not add at all could not even earn it after we got saved. We would never be any better than those who live every day by the sheer grace of God. And every Sunday we come back to church, we're the same sinners we were last week, right? We're still here by the sheer grace of God. It helps you understand and you realize now the beauty of Psalm 103. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. He's better than an earthly father. He doesn't always tried, right? that we are but dust. He's better than earthly parents could ever be. And we have come to, and the longer we're saved, the more we come to see our sinfulness, our unworthiness, our continued sinfulness as Christians. And what in proportion as we see that, so we should see the greatness of the love of the triune God. And in this morning's lesson, the greatness of the Spirit's condescension with us, and the greatness of his patience with us. Because we know how impatient we can get with our children. Right? With one another. Right? We just lose it so quick. We have no patience for one another. No patience for people. Right? Think driving down the street. No patience. At all. That doesn't even compare to how we provoke God. Doesn't compare to how we provoke God. And often, the reason this lesson is so important is because we often think of, yeah, I'm provoking my Father in heaven. But then we tell ourselves, maybe He's not looking. Right? Maybe He's not looking right now. But you remember, here's the point of the lesson. Where does this God live? Right here. You're provoking him here, right? He sees through these eyes. He hears through these ears, right? Think of 1 Corinthians 6. Shall we go lie with a prostitute and bring Christ with us? Where is Christ? In you by his Holy Spirit. Right, that's how close. So this provocation, this is the importance of this lesson. And think about grieving the Spirit. This provocation is not to some distant father up in heaven who has a lot of other things to do and maybe he's not too concerned today and I can get away with this as it were and all the stupid things we tell ourselves in the midst of sin. It's not even to Christ who 2,000 years ago died right on the cross, that historical thing. It's against the Holy Spirit, that indwelling God, that third person of the Trinity who lives within us, who moved in to convict of sin, to comfort, to encourage, to sanctify, we're sinning against Him who sees, feels, knows it all. That really brings it home, right, Misty? Yeah Yeah, great great question you remember where we are in typical history In redemptive history David is a type of Christ and Davey's being held up as a an almost perfect king. And that's why every other king throughout the rest of the line is compared to, right, the ways of David, his father, right? Either they walked according to the ways of David, their father, or they did not. So you have this sort of ideal king. And the man after God's own heart, it's giving us a, in an anthropomorphic sense, it's giving us a window into what Christ kingship is like, what Christ faithfulness is, what Christ's heart is like, Think of what it says, what is it, John 8, I always do the works that please the Father. Truly a man after God's own heart, the true man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the true David. And that's why balanced against that is that tension of, yeah, here's a man after God's own heart, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work, and yet he's a sinner, and he fails miserably, not just with Bathsheba, but with the census, right? And we see his failures throughout his life, but yet all the same, here's a type of the ideal, right? Think of the king, here's a type of the kingdom, a theocracy, God in the midst of his people, Shekinah, glory, temple, ark, et cetera. And even that, we still see the simpleness of the people, that's not the eternal kingdom. Revelation 22 gives the eternal, Revelation 21 gives the eternal kingdom. So we're shown something through way of a type, which means we're gonna see a good side to it and a bad side. We're gonna see the ideal and the falling short, right? And so that's really what it's pointing to. So it's pointing to who Christ will be, and then we see when Christ comes, Here's the true David, here's the true King, here's the one that David pointed to, the one without fail, spotless, holy, without blemish, et cetera. Right. Exactly. Righteous Lot, he calls him, and we say, what? Did I miss something? Yeah, or Samson in Hebrews 11, right? There's always going to be inconsistencies in God's people's lives. It's like we said in that Merrow study, right? And we think of it relative to even Simon, you know, the magician this morning in Acts 8, right? God's people are going to be guilty of hypocrisy, right? We're going to show hypocrisy on the left or on the right, all of us, right? But we're not hypocrites, right? And that's the distinction. We're not hypocrites. Because come back to Romans 7 and David in that regard, we're not all in anymore. Exactly. And because the Spirit indwells, remember what Paul says in Galatians 5, right? 517. The Spirit strives against the flesh, right? Or actually, it turns the other way. The flesh strives against the Spirit. We know that because we feel that. But here's the good news. The Spirit strives against the flesh. And guess what, right? Romans 8, look at the end. We come out on top, right? The glory, glory be to God, right? There's now, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who have this war within. Unbelievers don't have a war within. Their war is without, concerning their reputation, Right? Concerning what other people think of them, what they get out of it, and all that. Their struggle is without. Our struggle is within. Because our greatest grievance is the sins of the heart. Right? Because those are the ones that continue to provoke us, that we continue to have to deal with. It's easy to cut off the hand. It's easy to stop doing things externally. Hypocrites do that. Right? Cults do that. Cults turn over a new leaf very easily. Whole new person. But what do cults not experience? The struggle within. Because they don't have a new heart. They're motivated still by self-worship and idolatry. They have a different aim and goal in terms of its manifestation, but the reality is they're still motivated by self-worship. Whereas we're motivated by a love for God, this love for God and this hatred of sin. There's been this exchange. We don't love sin like we once did. Sure, it's still tempting. We still struggle with it in that regard, but it's not like it was. And the minute we dive into the same old sin, go back to Proverbs, what do we find? It's bitter. It's just not as sweet as it was. It started out sweet, ah, here's that, oh, I remember this, this is that thing, here's that taste. And then what happens, all of a sudden it's gravel, it's bitterness, it's like, this isn't the same to me anymore, right? Because something is different, fundamentally, right, in terms of our own nature, and that's the work of the Spirit. So we're always gonna have this struggle, that's Romans 7, this inconsistency. But the key we're looking at this morning is understanding how close and near that provocation is when we sin. We're provoking the very one, not the one who eternally purposed, not the one who came and accomplished. We're provoking the one who lives within to apply. And that's how near and dear, right? Think of provocation. And we feel this too, right? What are the greatest injuries? Not from your neighbor, although he can do some pretty mean things that make you mad, right? The greatest injuries are indoors, right? And the greatest injury is in the bedroom, right? in that one flesh union, nobody can hurt you more than your spouse, right? Because no one's as close, right? No one can hurt you more than your children or your parents because we're family. Think of that relative to the church of God, right? So we know what it is to be provoked and angered by others compared to what it is to be provoked and angered by the ones who are nearest to you. Think of this relative to the spirit now. The Spirit is provoked by the sin, and God is provoked by the sins of the world, provoked by wickedness, provoked by the wickedness in the White House, right? These things provoke the Spirit, but nothing provokes the Spirit like the wickedness in the hearts of His own people. Because that strikes at the heart of the Spirit. It doesn't just strike at the heart of the Spirit. The point is, and this is where the lesson continues, the point of it is it strikes at the one who loves you more than anyone else. The one who loves you so much that he came knowing he would have to bear with that. The one who loves you so much that he never leaves you, ultimately. The one who loves you so much that he wants nothing more than for you to be holy, for you to be sanctified, for you to be done with that sin that's hurting you, destroying you. This sin is taking from you. This sin is hurting your life. It's not good. It's not fun. It looks like it. It seems like you're getting ahead, but you're really not. And the Spirit knows that, and He's grieved. And so when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our sinfulness, by our resistance to His sanctifying work, our resistance to the means of grace, when we shut our ears, right, to the means of grace and to the teaching and the preaching of the Word of God, we say, I'm not gonna be changed by this, I'm not gonna be moved by this, I'm not gonna change my ways by this, I'm not gonna be sanctified by this. No one is more grieved than the Spirit. And when we grieve Him, here's the point, when we grieve the Spirit, We're grieving the one without whom we can't live. We're grieving the one who is closer than anyone else. We're grieving him without whom we have no life, without whom we are nothing but death and damnation. We're grieving the one without whom we can have no joy, no peace, because it all comes from him. Christ accomplished it. But we're not getting it from Christ unless it goes through his spirit, right? Who lives within. So for pushing that spirit away, there's no joy of the gospel for us, there's no peace of the gospel for us, because we're striving against the spirit. This is why you have the fencing of the table at that regard. If you're a believer, Continuing in sin, this table is not for you, because this table is a preeminent place of comfort and peace, right? My body was given for you, your sins are forgiven, and I rose again to prove it. Why would God give that kind of comfort to someone who is resisting the Holy Spirit? That's why the table is barred at that point for Christians who continue in sin, because they're grieving the only one from whom and through whom the very comfort of the gospel can come home to our hearts. To grieve the Holy Spirit is to grieve the one, says Charles, whose presence is heaven and whose absence is hell. Again, go to Psalm 6, Psalm 32. Look at these penitential psalms. Psalm 51, whose absence is hell to the believer. Why would we grieve him, right? Why would we grieve the Holy Spirit? It's self-destructive to grieve the only one, the very one, sent into your hearts to give you comfort, peace, joy, and to bring all that is Christ home to you, right? Again, why would you grieve your own marriage? Why would you grieve and tear down your own home? All right, this is the wicked woman in Proverbs, right? She tears down what she builds up, right? Whereas the godly woman cultivates what she builds up, supports what she builds up, furthers what she builds up in her home. Think of that relative now to the marriage, that closest and most intimate of unions. Why would you grieve the only one, the dear one, your best friend? Why would you do that? It makes no sense. You're hurting yourself. Well, how much more than relative to the Holy Spirit? Let me close with this quote I included from Charles' letter E. When he convinces us of sin, let us set our hearts mightily against sin. And when he speaks comfort, let us hear him as the Lord, our comforter, who makes known to us the love of the Father and the love of the Son. When we have no comfort but walk in darkness and have no light, let us honor him by looking to and waiting upon him only for our light in darkness and joy in trouble. And what and when he gives us, let us readily receive it. For above all things, we have need to pray to God that he take not his Holy Spirit from us. Amen.