Please take out your copy of God's Word and turn to Ephesians 4 for the reading of the Word for the text today. Ephesians chapter 4 for context I would like to start reading in verse 21. if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more. But rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good. that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Let's go again to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you. As we open your word, Father, we pray that you would teach our hearts, that the Holy Spirit would teach our hearts your word, Father. Open our minds and hearts to the truth of your word. And sanctify us and conform us to your Son. In whom's name we pray, Christ Jesus. Amen. Well, as we come to the text today, the title of the text is, Grieve Not the Holy Spirit. Now this is a command to grieve not the Holy Spirit. And it's a command that sometimes when you think about this, and even if you read many commentaries, you will not find total agreement on this. What exactly does it mean to grieve not the Holy Spirit? And I think many times this comes from not even fully understanding the Holy Spirit. He seems to be the neglected part of the Trinity. And so when we look at today's text we will try to understand what this command means and how we can carry it out. Now we'll notice it that it's in a collection of commands that Paul has given the church. This is the regenerate in the church and they're commanded to put away lying and speak to every man truth. They're commanded to be ye angry and sin not. They're commanded to let him that stole steal no more. And then we come to this command, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, and then grieve not the Holy Spirit. And those first commands, it seems easier for us to understand how to put those things away. And it's all within the context that Paul understands that this is not legalism, this is not just a set of laws that we must obey, but that this is an understanding that when we can, something we can put off, we must replace with something else. And so it's the concept of putting off the nature of the old man, our flesh, and put on the power of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit, and what helps us to be able to stand against the temptations of the flesh. But as we come to today's text, I think we need to even understand the relationship that we have with the Holy Spirit through the word that's used here would grieve. Now as we heard read today in the Old Testament and New Testament, first we read about David. And we read about this time when he had to go up against his own son. And if we weren't able to read the whole story we would know that there was a problem between Absalom and his brother. because his brother had done something awful to his sister. He had basically raped her. And David didn't punish his son in a way that Absalom was in agreement. And so Absalom murdered his brother. And because of this, he was out away from his father for three years. But he was eventually called back in, and he lived amongst his father. But secretly, he started to build up a trust in the people. He started to build them up against his father. And he eventually took the city, and David had to flee the city for his own life. In the passage that was read today, we see that the armies came up against Absalom and his armies. and that they were defeated. But there was clear instruction given about Absalom, the son who had turned against him. But yet, we see a father's love for his son. And we see his words when he found out that his son was dead. Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom. Would God I had died for thee. Oh Absalom my son, my son. And I think any of us who have children understand this. Sometimes children do things that are evil and wicked, but it doesn't mean that we don't love them. It doesn't mean that our hearts aren't grieved because of this sin. And he's saying it would be better for me if I would have been the one that died instead of Absalom. We see the grief mentioned in the heart of Isaac and Rebekah when their son Esau married a Hittite woman. So we understand what it's like when our children make decisions that we know are bad decisions. And when our children are in sin. And it's because there's a relationship. There's that relationship between parent and child. And in a sense we are saddened and sometimes even grieved when we see the sin in this world and we see the sins that other people do, but not like we are in the relationship that we have with our own children. And we are taught that that relationship that we have with our children is similar to the relationship that we have with God. In fact, He gives us a parable that was read in our New Testament readings today to help us to understand our relationship with God the Father. To help us to understand what it is to grieve the heart of our Father. And as the story was read today, and we read about this young man who is given his inheritance early because he asked for it, and he wastes it. And he remembers the love of his father's house, and he desires to return. And you can just imagine, think about the father. He knew when he was given this inheritance that his son was making a bad decision. But yet, he gave it to him. and he went out. And as we learn from the intertext, it was as if his son was dead to him. But when he saw his son returning from a distance, you see the gladness of his heart. He takes the best robe out to put on him. He kills the fatted calf. It's a great celebration because his son was dead, but now he's alive. And that parable is to help us to understand the love that God has for us as our Heavenly Father. And so as we think about this word, grieve, and we think about how much we love our own children and how much we are grieved when our children sin. Remember it said in Matthew 7 11, it says, if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? That's saying that as much as you think you love your children, God loves you more. For our hearts never have the capacity to love that God has. And so for us to fully understand this relationship that we must have with the Holy Spirit, I think we must first take a quick look at the Holy Spirit. And so as we go through the text today, we will look at the person of the Holy Spirit, the grieving of the Holy Spirit, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit. So if you want to use those, that'll be the three points of the text today. So who is the Holy Spirit? Depends on who you read, and oftentimes even within conservative evangelicals, there seems to be a lack of understanding of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is described as a power or a force, but we know that God's Word clearly teaches that He is the third person of the Trinity. In fact, our confession teaches that in the unity of the Godhead, there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And so what we understand in the Trinity is that there is one God, but in that one God there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity. And without going, this is not a sermon on the Trinity, so without going into detail, we understand that there is an economy in the Trinity. For Jesus says that, I do my Father's will. And we read that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. And the Holy Spirit says, I do not speak of myself, but I speak of the Son. And so, there's a sense in which the Holy Spirit points us back to Christ. But yet, He's the third person of Trinity. He is a person. He's one whom we have a relationship with. 1 John 5, 7 says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So what are the characteristics of this Holy Spirit? He is sent as the comforter of God's elect. Jesus said, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him. For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." So what we see here is that the disciples loved Jesus. They spent three years with Him. They knew that He was their Messiah. and he was trying to explain to them that he must leave and he wanted to let them know that it's even though you don't want me to leave it's good for you because my father will send a comforter one that will reside inside of you and he understood that in order for them to live a life of righteousness, they had to have the Holy Spirit. And we are told from this text that this is not for unbelievers. It's only for those who regenerate, those who have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, that He's a comforter. And we learn from this text that it is impossible to live the Christian life without the Spirit. We learn that the Holy Spirit teaches us all things and brings things to remembrance. and John 14 26. We are told that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. You know we see others, I remember when I was a young man and I was a believer and I was running with the wrong crowd. One thing that struck me was I was being convicted of the bad decisions that I was making, but the guys I was running with had no conviction. And you recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who brings conviction in our life. We're told that the Holy Spirit regenerates us. that the work of the Holy Spirit is to take the finished work of Christ, the atonement we have been purchased with a price, and He takes our hearts of stones and He gives us hearts of flesh, and we are regenerated so that we can have faith in Christ Jesus. We are told in Romans that He intercedes for us even when we know not what to pray. And what it's saying here is that our hearts are deceitful, and oftentimes we know not what our true needs are, but that the Holy Spirit cries out for us. We're told that the Holy Spirit guides us. You know, throughout the New Testament we see the Holy Spirit giving the Apostles direction. And we know in our own life that He guides us. And God has given us a Word and it's a lamp unto our feet. He directs our steps. And when we say that God speaks to us through His Word, we're not saying we hear an audible voice, but we recognize that this is the Word of God. And through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, He instructs us how to live. He instructs us in how to make decisions that are honoring and glorifying to God. And so we can know that because we have His Word, that He speaks to us. And it's the Holy Spirit's job to bring understanding to our study. In fact, He even gives us direction in how we should serve Him. We see examples in God's Word where He hindered the apostles from entering cities. He directs us even in our own lives, sometimes through circumstances. And so when we're trying to understand God's will in our life, we understand that we have a sovereign God. And that we're making decisions every day, and we have to trust that the Holy Spirit is in us. And as long as we're not making a sin that is against God's Word, or sinful, we trust and know that because the Holy Spirit is in us, that we can make decisions, even decisions about things that we desire to do, and trust that He's leading us and directing us. We also see the personhood of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. We see this personhood of the Holy Spirit being spoken to and the fact that He can be lied to. We know what happened in the story of Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit. See, that piece of land belonged to them. They didn't have to give any of it to the church except for what was God required of them in the tithe. But yet, they professed that they were giving all of the money from the selling of this land to the church. But they lied to the Holy Spirit and they withheld some. And even though it was secret to those around them, There are no secrets between us and God. And the Holy Spirit knew their heart and they were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. We are told that the Holy Spirit can be resisted. And we're told that the Holy Spirit can be blasphemed. Now Matthew 12, 31-32 says, "...Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Now obviously, the regenerate cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Because it says those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. And what this is speaking of is those who deny the Gospel. Those who have tasted, as we see in our passages on apostasy, that He is good, but yet they resist it and they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And we have examples even in our own day of men who have apostatized and blasphemed the Holy Spirit. They have become haters of God. So we see that this person of the Holy Spirit is someone we have a relationship with. And as we see also from our text today, the Holy Spirit can be grieved. So what does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? I mean, we understand the emotion of grief. Many of us have grieved ourself, a loss of a loved one, grieving over our children, maybe somebody who has a prodigal son, or a prodigal daughter. But what does this mean when we think in the concept of God? I think in order to understand our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we have to understand that and what we understand about God. In fact, our Confession of Faith in Chapter 2 says, there is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible without body parts, without body parts or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will. For His own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the reward of them that diligently seek Him, and with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty." So that's our own confession. What does it mean to be without passions? We just read here to grieve not the Holy Spirit, so he grieves. So what does a confession mean? In fact, we've seen that God repented. and other areas. And so how do we understand these passages that speak to God grieving or God changing His mind when we're told that God doesn't change? And so I want us to understand what's changing here in relation to God. How do we rightly view the fact that we have an immutable God that never changes, but yet we have language that speaks of Him grieving are repenting. First of all, we know that God's Word teaches us that He does not have passions like men. That He is immutable. James 117 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. and Malachi 3.6, for I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. In Numbers 23.19, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? And so we see the clear teaching in those passages about the unchangeableness of God. But we have also verses like Genesis 6, 6 where it says, God repented of making man. He looked around and all that he saw was evil and he said that he repented of making man. But yet, Noah found grace in his sight. We have verses like in Exodus 32, 14, where God is saying He's going to destroy Israel, and Moses speaks to Him, and it says that He repents of the evil that He plans to do towards Israel, or the fact that He was going to destroy them, depending on what verse you read. And understanding that God is not the author of evil in the way that that terminology is used there, but Calvin in speaking to verse 6 of Genesis says, The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him, but has reference to our understanding of him. For since we cannot comprehend him as he is, it is necessary that for our sake he should, in certain sense, transform himself That repentance cannot take place in God easily appears from this single consideration that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen. The same reasoning and remark applies to what follows, that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad, but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose. Yet because it could not be otherwise be known how great is God's hatred and detestation of sin, therefore the Son accommodates himself to our capacity." Now what Calvin is saying is God comes down to us in language and speaks in a way that we can understand Him. And so, in order to understand this, we have to understand that God is constant and the same. We're told that God is love, and that God loves us, His people, but that God hates sin. We see in the story of Nineveh, the prophecy was that they would be destroyed, but yet they repented of their sin and turned to God, and we read that God repented of destroying them. So what changed there? Did God change His mind? What actually changed was Nineveh changed in relation to God. They repented of their sin and they turned back to God and now they were in the right relationship. And so the idea here is a relationship. What we have here some refer to as anthropomorphic language. And this isn't saying that what God's Word says isn't true and that we try to change it by saying that this doesn't really mean what it says, so it's just anthropomorphic. What we're just saying is, is God's speaking in a way that we understand our relationship with Him. And that when we are out of a right relationship with Him, we are against Him. And we were in line with His righteousness, we are in a loving relationship with Him. We see this as he sort of pulls back the curtain and shows us what took place with Jacob and Esau. For we are told that while still in their mother's womb, before they could do anything bad or good, that God loved Jacob and hated Esau. And what he's saying is, we know, and as you read the rest of the story, is that Jacob, even with all the wretchedness that was in his heart, was a covenant keeper. And Esau sold his birthright. He was a covenant breaker. He was not one who understood the covenant relationship that he had with God the Father. And he was outside. He was a covenant breaker. And so therefore, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. And it's about their relationship and where they stood in that relationship with God the Father. We have to understand in this relationship that we have that this is all the more true in our relationship because the Spirit dwells with us, within us. First Corinthians, it says, know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? It is the Spirit that gives understanding and fills our heart with joy and assurance of salvation. We are told that we can know that we are His because of the work and the fruit of the Spirit in our life. So how do we grieve the Holy Spirit? We know that everything that is unrighteousness, lewdness, and filthiness, and lying, and corrupt communication, that these things that stir up filthy appetites and lust, grieve the Holy Spirit because they are against God. They are against the Spirit that indwells us. If we are participating in these things with an indwelling Holy Spirit, then we are putting ourselves against the Spirit that is in us. We must not do what is contrary to His holy nature and will. We must not refuse the counsel of the Holy Spirit in our life. We must not rebel against His government in our life. So we have to understand that in this relationship, having the Holy Spirit in us, that we are not fully sanctified. That we are not glorified. And that Paul talks about this struggle in Romans chapter 7. He said, there are things that I know I'm to do and I do not do them. And there are things that I know I shouldn't do and I do them. And he says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? thanks be to Christ Jesus our Lord. And so what he's talking about is that there's a struggle that we have because we still have these old bodies and we're still in a process of sanctification, but yet we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. And so our flesh is at war with the Spirit. But he starts chapter 8 and says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and those who walk according, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And so what we learn is there's a way in which a believer is to walk and it's according to the Spirit. And we know that we struggle with the flesh. In fact, we're told in Hebrews to keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, not looking to the right or to the left, to the sins that so easily ensnare us. And so we recognize there that in our flesh we are weak, But when we are walking in the Spirit, He is strong through us. We see that the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit is a relationship of love. So we must view our relationship in the concept of our loving Father, and the love that Jesus had for us, and the fact that His Holy Spirit is in us as a comforter. We recognize that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. And that doesn't mean that we no longer keep the law, but we understand that our keeping of the law does not save us. Our keeping of the law is actually a fruit of the fact that the Holy Spirit lives in us. We should see our sin as an offense against the love of Christ. We should recognize that our relationship is of such a personal nature that it grieves the one within us when we sin. So what are the results of grieving the Holy Spirit? We were told here that believers can grieve the Holy Spirit. What happens when a believer, for one, we see a loss of the sense of God's love for us? You find a true believer who's been living in sin and he will start to question whether God loves him. We see a loss of joy. For see, a Christian cannot have the joy that comes from Christ if he's not living according to God's Word. We see a loss of the assurance of salvation. They will begin to question whether they're truly saved or not. Now understand this, most lost people aren't sitting around going, am I saved? This is actually a conviction and work of the Holy Spirit to actually question your salvation. It's pointing to you that you need to get back in a right relationship so that you can have that joy and assurance of salvation. See, this is actually the chastisement of God. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is a good thing. It brings us back into a right relationship. We clearly see this in the relationship that God had, that David had with God the Father as revealed to us in Psalm 51. Why boasteth thou thyself, wait, sorry, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." Now here we come upon David, and we know the story. He sinned with Bathsheba, and then he didn't want to be found out, and so he sends her husband to the front lines so that he is killed. And he lives his life for the next three years as if nothing had happened. And Nathan has to come up with a way to present this to David in a way that he would understand the vileness of his sin. And he presents to him a story about a man that had a lamb and another man who took it from him. And he incites David's anger against this man. And he says, you're the man! knowing that David could have had him put to death. The Holy Spirit uses Nathan to prick his heart, and to bring him to a point of repentance. That's what we have here. Listen to the rest of this. It says, "...wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from my presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. See, what we see here in his confession is he recognizes that the broken bones must rejoice. He's recognizing that the chastisement of God is a good thing, and that it brought him to the point of repentance. And he's acknowledging that he lost his joy, and he's praying that God will restore his joy, restore the presence of the Holy Spirit with him. Now we know in The New Testament tells you that the Holy Spirit is always with us. He does not depart us. But when we grieve Him, we no longer feel His presence. And it's as if He is not with us. And we understand and we can resonate with David with, restore the Holy Spirit to me. Restore the joy of my salvation. See, even though our grieving can cause the Spirit to withdraw, He never leaves us. He never forsakes us, for we are told that we are sealed until the day of redemption. Back in our verse in chapter 30, I mean verse 30 of chapter 5, it says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. That's the put off part. Put off grieving the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption. So you need to recognize that you are sealed. of the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? This is more clearly illustrated in chapter 1 of Ephesians, verse 13, where we read, "...and whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, that the gospel of your salvation, and whom after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit a promise." which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." See, when we believe in Christ and we receive the Holy Spirit, that He's given as an earnest. It's like, it's as a down payment to guarantee that we one day will be glorified. And so the Holy Spirit is a seal for us. It's showing ownership. He has placed His seal upon us. We belong to Christ Jesus. We are told that of His sheep His Father gave those who were the elect, of which He would lose none. If you are the elect of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and you will be kept until glorification. But that doesn't mean we don't take the passages of apostasy seriously. We recognize that if we truly have the indwelling Holy Spirit that there must be fruit. And we're told that we're sealed into the day of redemption. What is the day of redemption? It means that time in which we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We will have glorified bodies. We will no longer struggle against the flesh. Now for some of us that will happen at death where to be absent from the bodies to be present with our Lord. And one day He will raise our bodies in a glorified state and we will be restored. But those who are here at one day will know what it's like to be fully redeemed. See right now there's been a down payment, but yet we have been purchased with a price For Christ Jesus went to the cross for our sins, willingly. And our sins were placed upon Him. And He died for our past, our present, and our future sins. We have been atoned for. And when we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit because we have taken ourselves out of line with the righteousness of God. And we have put ourselves against God. And that grieves the Holy Spirit, just like it grieves us when we see our children make decisions against us or against God. We understand, but yet it's in such a greater way and a capacity. And we understand that in order to be in a right relationship, we must live and walk according to the Spirit. Understanding that we do not belong to ourselves, for we have been redeemed. We have been purchased with a great price. A price in which none of us could pay. but he paid it for us. So what do we do with this? Remember, this is the concept of putting off and putting on. And it's having the right mindset. See, remember, out of the heart proceeds out of the mouth. And so what we learn from the previous verse in this text is that what's in our heart comes out in our life. And it's the same way with the Spirit. When the Spirit is in us, it should come out in the way that we live. And it's that understanding and never forgetting that the Spirit is always in us. And that everything we say and do, whether it's in private or in public, we should say it as if it is before. our Lord and Savior because the Holy Spirit is with us. He knows the innermost thoughts of our hearts. We need to remember that we've been purchased by the blood of Christ and that what He did for you and redeeming you, the love that was shared for us. We need to live as one who no longer belongs to themselves but who has been redeemed. We should be sold out for Jesus because we belong to Him. We should surrender to His desires in our life. We need to live as one who's been freed from the slavery of sin and atoned for and so it makes a difference when you understand that your sins have been atoned for and you stop trying to justify yourself by keeping the law. but that you see the righteousness of the fruit of the law by living and walking in the Spirit as one who's been atoned for." See, your faith changes the way you live. Your faith changes the decisions you make. Your faith changes the words that come out of your mouth. See, this is speaking about relationships that we have in the church. It says, And the closing verses of this chapter says, It makes a difference in how we live. And how we live together as the body of Christ. And so let us take heed to the words of Paul, and to grieve not the Holy Spirit, but to walk in the Spirit by faith. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you, Father, for we know that we oftentimes do grieve the Holy Spirit, but we pray that we would be those who keep our eyes fixed upon Christ Jesus, knowing that He willingly died for our sins and has restored us to a place of being justified where we can boldly go before the throne of grace, covered in the righteousness of Christ. And we pray that you would give us the power of the Spirit to live lives righteous before you. And we pray this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.