Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Ephesians chapter 4, and reading
from our text, verse 13. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. was epistle to the Ephesians
chapter 4 and verse 13. A message to the Ephesians and
also to us and all of the people of God that have been born again
of the Spirit and sealed of the Spirit. Until that day when the
Lord shall come and redeem his people, gather them to heaven
and to be with him. It is set forth as a warning
to us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but also as a testimony
as to how we depend upon the Holy Spirit, what He is to us,
what He has done to us. Our text says, not whereby ye
are being sealed, or in the process of sealing, but whereby ye are
already sealed unto the day of redemption. You would remember
that the work that God begins and that is begun in eternity
with the sovereign choice of his people and the love of his
people can never ever be undone. And even where we may grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, that spirit is never fully taken from
his people God's people always are his people, but they shall
suffer loss, and in grieving the Holy Spirit, they will feel
it in their own lives, their own assurance, and in their communion
and fellowship one with another. The context here is very much
as the chapter begins in endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, a people of God that are gathered together,
joined together, and it is the Holy Spirit that maintains that
bond and that union, one with another. Before coming to some points,
firstly, consider the Holy Spirit in the light of the Trinity,
who is the Holy Spirit. And then also look at some of
the works of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity of God, the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit is clearly set forth before us in the Word
of God. The Father is God, the Son is
God, the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is not just a
power and eminence emanating from the Father and the Son. Many years ago, the Mormons visited
my home and I was earnestly seeking the things of God and I let them
in. And one of the things they showed me was a book and a picture
of an old man, they said, that is the Father, a young man, that
is the Son, and then just this ray of light. and that was the
Holy Spirit. They were not picturing the Spirit
as a divine person, but as an emanation of power from the Father
and from the Son. But the way the Holy Spirit has
inspired the Word of God We are told very clearly that he is
a person by those things that are attributed to him. We are
told that he loves by the love of the Holy Spirit. We have the
most solemn account of Ananias and Sapphira who were struck
dead in the early church because they lied to the Holy Spirit. We have in John's Gospel how
that he reproves and he shall reprove the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. Also we have the gifts of the
Holy Spirit that Paul speaks of to the Corinthian church in
many different ways. The Spirit is giving those gifts
to the Church of God, several different gifts. In 1 Corinthians
12 we read, Of them, unto one is given by the Spirit the word
of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts
of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles,
to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another,
diverse kinds of tongues to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh at one
and self, same spirit, dividing to every man as he will. He will. Not a eminence, but
a person in the Godhead. And he is that witness, we are
told, John's first epistle and chapter five of the three witnesses
that are in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. They all are witness. We know that then he can be sinned
against, our Lord warned against the sin of unpardonable sin,
the sin against the Holy Spirit. He so blasphemeth against the
Holy Spirit, speaketh against, a very conscious, very deliberate
act. And our Lord spoke it in the
context of when they were saying of him that he had an evil spirit
and that by Beelzebub he cast out devils, thereby charging
the spirit that he had without measure upon him as being an
evil thing. And then, of course, in the way
of our text, that he, that is the Holy Spirit, can be grieved. When we think of the works of
the Spirit, we've alluded to some of them, but there are three
or four main works of the Spirit. The birth of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, when Mary asked the angel How shall this be? How should she be with child? It was that the Holy Ghost shall
come upon you. Therefore that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The bringing forth of our Lord
Jesus Christ was by the Holy Spirit. The inspiration of the
Word of God All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Holy men, says Peter, spake as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Holy men of old. All scripture,
every word is pure. Though there are some 40 authors,
66 books, yet all of them have one author. to breathe out, dictating
every word, to make every word pure. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my word shall not pass away. We should always
remember this. It's a great trend today to have
not only the New Testament words of our Lord in red, but also
the Old Testament as well, as it is said, a study aid. But really, it is an interpretation
of the Word of God as to what is actually a direct utterance
of God. But it takes away the fact that
every word of God is inspired Word of God. It tends to favor
the idea, well, this is what the Lord said, but this is what
Paul has said, and it's somehow inferior, or this is what Moses
said, so as somehow inferior, instead of having a very high
view of the whole of the scriptures as the work of the Holy Spirit. The next work of the Spirit is
that which our Lord spoke of in John 3, which was the new
birth. Those that are born again are
born of the Spirit. We're told that As the wind,
we hear the sound of the wind, we cannot tell from whence it
cometh and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickeneth
or giveth life, the flesh profiteth nothing. And so that great work
of giving life, spiritual life, is the work of the Holy Spirit. And then we have that which is
spoken of in our text, specifically set before us as a sealing work,
the sealing of the Holy Spirit. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. I want to look then at four points.
Firstly, we have the work of the Holy Spirit that is mentioned
in the connection of our text, the sealing of believers. And then secondly, that believers
can grieve the Holy Spirit. Before we get into particulars,
to just make that statement, make it very clear that we know
that. And thirdly, the specific things
we are told in this passage whereby we grieve the Holy Spirit. And
then lastly, what happens when the Spirit is grieved? How do
we know what is the effect of the grieving of the Holy Spirit? But firstly, one work of the Holy Spirit that
is mentioned here in this connection, the sealing work of the Holy
Spirit. If we go back to the first chapter
in this epistle, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13, we read these
words, in whom ye also trusted, this is trusting in Christ, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." Again, it is speaking of not the ongoing
work of the Spirit in sanctification, in teaching, instructing, in
leading. It is not speaking of the actual
work of the regeneration, the giving of eternal life, but it's
after that he believed, he was sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. We have also the references that
Paul speaks to the Corinthians, his second epistle to the Corinthians,
he says this, Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath
anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us and given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Then when Paul writes to the
Romans, in Romans chapter 8, he sets forth the work of the
Spirit in this way, in verse 13. He says, For if we live after
the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. That is the sealing of the Spirit. That is the work of the Holy
Spirit. It is the work of the divine
third person in the Trinity that blesses a soul that has been
brought to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and
in his redemption and seals them with the spirit of adoption that
bears witness that this is my work. This is the work of God. This is the beginning. This is
the true work of God. When we think of a seal, and like we have in the book of Esther,
when the letters went forth, firstly it was with condemnation,
and then it was a letter saying that they could fight for their
lives, and they had the king's permission to do so. And each
letter, it was sealed with the King's seal. And so that those
that received it, they received this sealed letter to open it
and they knew it hadn't been meddled with, it hadn't been
interfered with, it was really what had come from the King. You know, we might receive a
packet in the mail And if it's got a rip in it and we wonder,
well, is everything in it that should be in it? Maybe something
came out, fell out of it. Maybe it's not all there. But
if it's sealed, then we have some assurance that everything
is there. And so with the sealing of God,
it is a testimony from heaven to the soul that we might say
is Independent of man, it comes from God. And the soul, the child
of God, they are given that at the new birth, at believing. And as the whole way of it is
spoken of here, this is not the ongoing. And of course, ongoing
work is a great comfort and joy. And of course that is one reason
why we are not to greet the Holy Spirit. But this is specifically
speaking of what is already done. We bless God for the Gospel of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We spoke of the work of the Spirit
in the Bring forth into this world, Emmanuel, God with us,
the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head. Truly God,
and truly man. As much God as the Father and
as the Holy Spirit, and as much man as the seed of the woman,
as of Mary, of whom our Lord was born. And in that body, to
then live and be given of the Spirit without measure unto him. As a man, and humbling himself
as a man, he also was given the Spirit. He also was given the
sealing of the Spirit. He also had the witness, this
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Spirit descending
like a dove upon him, And they marveled at the gracious words
that proceeded out of his mouth. As a real man, he was bestowed
with the Spirit the same as his brethren are, but without measure. And that witness and that testimony,
right from the start. We think of the, in Psalm 110,
where it speaks of the new birth, and from the womb of the morning,
it is holiness. When God works, the work of grace
is holiness, or the Spirit's work, right from the beginning.
It is not just a turning over a new leaf, it's not just natural
work, it's not just a change of mind, it is that which proceeds
from God. And that which the Spirit then
says, this is my work. And this is a witness with the
spirit of my people that it truly is my work. And this is what then Paul is
speaking of to these Ephesians that they had, to the Romans
that they had, to the Corinthians that they have, and each one
of the people of God. So the comfort of that word in
Philippians, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. How do we know that work was
begun? Because the Spirit of God hath
borne witness and sealed that work as the work of Almighty
God. We should not all the time be
looking towards as if we wanted another seal, a fresh seal. The Lord does give those fresh
tokens and helps, but we should not forget that which the Lord
has begun and scripturally here has given right at the beginning. As he has laid claim, this is
my work, my handiwork, You know, if, when Abraham's servant was
sent for a wife for Isaac, and he prayed at the well, the Lord
heard his prayer, wonderful way, and they rehearsed the matter
before Laban and Bethuel, and they, as they heard that, they
said, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. they could tell from
what had done that this was the Lord's doing. We read in Psalm
118, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. And it can be seen and known
by the people of God. A pastor who watches over his
flock, he sees the evidence of that work that is begun and the
fruits that accompany salvation And in that sense, the sealing
of the Spirit is also known by the Church of God as well. The witness of their Spirit that,
like Barnabas, when he came, he saw those that believed at
Antioch, he saw the grace of God and was glad. As it were,
the Holy Spirit gave witness, this is my work, and it was recognized. We think of how it was with Peter.
Peter was at Pentecost, Acts 2, and he saw the Holy Spirit
descend. He saw the effect. He saw them
speaking with other tongues, the wonderful works of God. He
saw the effect of bringing them into conviction and then bringing
them to repentance and to be baptized and continue in breaking
of bread. Then 10 years later, in Cornelius'
household, he being called, to be the first one to go to the
Gentiles, he was able to say, under the preaching of the Word,
that the Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning, and
they were baptized. He who doth withhold thee water
that hath received the Spirit the same as us. And so that sealing
was not only known by those who received it, but those who viewed
it. Those who looked upon it, they
could also bear witness it was the same spirit, the same work,
the same effect. And so, the word before us, grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed. Not even put as
were sealed, but are sealed. So that whatever has gone on
in between, that seal still remains. It still is there. We think of
with the illustration we used as a letter, to read that letter
you break the seal. But the idea here is that seal
is still there right through to the day of redemption. It
still has that same witness. This is The Lord's work, this
is my work. Ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption. What a word that that is for
the people of God. May it be a word of comfort and
help to any troubled and tossed and tried this evening. A word from the Lord, an answer
from the Lord. Ye are sealed. unto the day of
redemption. And Satan cannot unseal it. Man
cannot change it. It is God's work. And God has
sealed it. Even grieving the Holy Spirit
cannot unseal that sealing. I want to look then, secondly,
at how the believers can grieve the Holy Spirit. In this point, not the particulars
of how, but just the fact that they can. That there are things that we
do or don't do that grieve the Spirit. I always remember years
ago, and one of our churches, I went to a prayer meeting, it
was a United prayer meeting, and in waiting for the service
to start, and they had wooden floorboards, and I had a boiled
sweet, and this sweet dropped, and it went bouncing down the
chapel. And on the floorboards, it just
echoed right down the chapel. And afterwards, the Lord's servant
who was taking the meeting, he said to me, as we were going
out, he said, the spirit is easy grieved. And I thought, hmm. We'd come for divine worship,
and no doubt he and others, and I hope myself, we had our mind
on the worship, the things of God. And just that little event,
as it were, distraction had grieved his spirit, had taken away his
tenderness or his mind off the word, or to perhaps in someone
else as well. And we think how easy we can,
perhaps coming into the worship of God, an unkind word, will
churn up our spirits so that we cannot listen to the word
as we would. Things that go on in our lives
or things that are happening, remember one time here, on a
Lord's Day, they had an event in this town, a procession, and
we had asked them when they went past the chapel, could they please
stop the band and stop the music? And one year they did, another
year they didn't. They went past just in the middle
of the sermon, and we had to stop. The racket, the noise as
they went up the hill outside the chapel. And so we just stopped
and waited till they'd passed. And then instead of just continuing
preaching, we said, now let us sing that we might regain the
Holy Spirit, the sanctity of our worship, We came before the
Lord in prayer, and I think we gave it another hymn. We sung
a hymn to seek to regain the spirit, because with that racket
and that noise, it had completely taken away that spirit of worship. And so in that way, with the
spirit that is in the believers, and in an assembly, and with
us personally, The Spirit is easy grieved. We can grieve the
Spirit. I just wanted to make that point,
and the Spirit that is given to believers in each believer,
the Spirit that we have, the Holy Spirit of God, our text
clearly states this, the Spirit The Holy Spirit of God can be
grieved, and grieved by us, grieved by something we do, or do not
do. I want to look then, thirdly, at
the specific things that we are told, and in this passage, I
do like to, when we look at a subject like this, to try and confine
our thoughts to the immediate passage. We could range from,
in quite a few parts of the Word of God, where the same truths
are set forth, where they are sanely covered, but the Holy
Spirit, who's inspired the Word, has seen fit to include in the
context the things that apply to the text. And so I want to
look then at these specific things. We have a brief summary from
verse 22 to 24 of putting off and putting on. That ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts, 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. A little summary, if you like,
of putting off and putting on. A change, a change that God has
wrought, the Holy Spirit has wrought in the soul. In the very beginning of this
chapter is speaking in positive ways A believer is to walk, to
maintain or keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. It is with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. It's put in the positive way. But then later on, it speaks
of those specific things that do grieve the Holy Spirit of
God. In verse 25, lying does, where
we do not speak truth with our neighbour, remembers one of another. You think, could really those
born again of the Spirit, could those really taught of God, those
that are delivered from the law, that they lie one to another,
while such a warning would not be necessary if it was not possible
that that should be so. And so lying or not speaking
the truth is what grieves the Holy Spirit. Remember one of
the titles of the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. He has many
titles. The Holy Comforter, Holy Ghost,
Holy Spirit, They're all the same person in the Godhead. But what Paul speaks here is
one of the first things that grieve the Spirit is really what
is opposite to the Spirit. The Spirit speaks truth. When
we lie, we grieve the Holy Spirit. Then we have in verse 26, anger. Be angry and sin not. Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath. God is angry with the wicked
every day, but God does not sin. And it is possible for us, too,
to be angry with a person and yet not sin. An anger that is
a contained anger is a just anger and is within bounds of uprightness. times when that has been the
case, when I have been angry with the behavior of one of my
fellow work colleagues and things that they did. And it actually
was a means of healing a breach before that man that used to
bait me in my religion and was a real adversary at work. This
is when I was first called in my 20s. And when I confronted
him on something that he'd done, he stood just so amazed that
I could be so angry with him, but not swear, not curse, and
be in control and be level in what I said. And he respected
that and it changed. He changed from an enemy to a
friend from that time when he saw that. And so I believe I
know what it is to be angry and yet sin not. But to just be angry
with an angry spirit and retain that angry spirit. And we're
forbidden to go with an angry man. Those that are all the time
angry, with an angry spirit, that we do not learn their ways
and walk in those ways. Praise the Holy Spirit of God. And then in verse 27, when we
give way to temptation, resist the devil, we're told, and he
shall flee from us. Satan will always be tempting. Especially, I notice this when
I'll be studying for the Word, Satan will present something
to me. If we're walking to the chapel,
Then you present someone walking in front that will be a temptation
to sin and evil, have need to remember Job's ways, I made a
covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid?
And sometimes you can really clear, when you're watching all
these things, you think, Satan knows what day this is, he knows
where we're going for worship, he knows what is going on, and
he's put this in front of me, He's put this, there's been this
said, there's been these things, and they are temptations, and
you can see they are, to be resisted and not to go on along with.
Where it is resisted, that is honoring to God, but where it
is not, where it's gone along with, that grieves the Holy Spirit. Remember the temptation of the
devil with our first parents? God has said one thing, that
thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, and Satan comes, hath God said. God doth know
that in the day that thou eatest thereof, then your eyes will
be opened, you will know good and evil, as if God was a cruel
God, a God that was keeping from them wisdom and understanding.
And our first parents, in their innocency, had a choice. Did
they believe God, or did they believe Satan? And we have that
set before us. Satan will always come with the
same lie. Hath God said? Is this really
the word of God? Sometimes you come like he did
with our Lord, and start quoting the word. Cast thyself down from
here, from the pinnacle of the temple, for it is written, he
shall give his angels charge over thee, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone. The Lord compares scripture with
scripture. He says it is written again.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. If Satan tempted our
Lord, so will he tempt us. But he grieves the Spirit when
we just, at the least temptation, we go along, we do not resist. We go along with his temptations. Then we have in verse 28, stealing. that in that stole steel no more,
taking that which is not rightfully ours. You know, the Lord has given
the principle of ownership, that men, that women, that God
has things, that actually owns things. Sometimes we might just
take it for granted and say, well of course we own our house
and we own our car and we own these things. But it is a principle
instituted by God that his creatures have a right to ownership and
that others can't come and take that which they don't own and
take that for themselves. And so when that does happen,
When it is done in any way, by lying from false accusation or
stealing, withholding from one their wages, or whatever way
it is, taking away something that belongs or is owned by another,
that grieves the Holy Spirit. We're told this in James, where
the wages of the labourer that reaped down their fields was
held back by fraud. And it is spoken as one of those
things that grieved God, that grieved the Holy Spirit of God. In the prophets' day, they told
that those false prophets were stealing their words, one from
another, saying, the Lord saith and the Lord saith. The Lord
hadn't said. They were just stealing. Those
words are making out. they were from the Lord. Then
reads in verse 29, corrupt communications, that no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers gives
the counter. But how powerful are words, How
powerful is that which can be said. James again sets forth
the tongue as a member that at one time he blesses God and another
curses man. And it is like the rudder of
a ship, that though these mighty ships are driven by great winds,
yet they're turned about by a small helm. So is the tongue among
our members. And what a great matter, that
little tongue, that little member, stirs up. And so when there is
one that is doing that, using their tongue in that way, instead
of endeavouring to keep the unity of spirit in the bond of peace,
there is the grievous words that stir up wrath. And that instead
of being a peacemaker in Zion, is doing the opposite. It is
being a whisperer that separateth chief Brethren, that grieves
the spirit of the brethren. A tale-bearer, reveal the secrets. And so the corrupt communication
is what grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Then we have in verse
31, bitterness. Really, it's added to those previous
things. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice." The bitterness, a bitter spirit. Now some people
that is something that almost characterizes them, that they
are just bitter. Maybe something in providence
that God has denied them, the path that they are walking, some
cross that they have, or something that someone has done against
them, and it leaves them with a bitter spirit. That grieves
the Holy Spirit. When a whole spirit and attitude
is wrong, that grieves the whole spirit. We think of our Lord
reproving, the disciples that were with him as he was going
up to Jerusalem. And the Samaritans did not receive
him, so they said, shall we command fire to come down from heaven
and consume them as Elias did, as Elijah did? The Lord said,
ye know not what spirit ye are of. The Son of Man came not to
destroy men's lives, but to save them, and they had to learn.
what was a right spirit. Though there are those specific
things mentioned in this very context all around our text,
so that we are not left in any doubt as to what things it is
that grieve the Holy Spirit of God. But what happens? Our fourth point, what happens
when the spirit is grieved? Well, we weaken our own security
and assurance. If the Holy Spirit is withdrawn,
and we've said at the beginning, he will never, never depart from
his people, but his influence, where that is withdrawn, then
they don't feel that spirit of adoption. They don't feel that
spirit's witness. They have the working of evil
within and not the Spirit of God. If we haven't assurance,
If we are troubled and lack that which we once had, may we look
carefully, is the Spirit in this way grieved? Where he withdraws
his operations, he leaves us to himself. In Hosea it says,
when they grieve the Holy Spirit, I will go and return unto my
place. Until they acknowledge their
transgression, then you will come again. to a loss of the
sense of His presence, of the joy and of the peace that we
have known when the Spirit is there. There will be a weakened
spiritual discernment. Those that are to discern between
good and evil must also first have that Holy Spirit. Also a hindered spiritual growth
He is a spirit that gives the growth of a soul, and that will
be stunted when the spirit is grieved. Also a diminishing of
the effectiveness of the ministry and witness. What a sad thing
it is when those in the church or those in the congregations
view the church, that they have a wrong spirit. As you mentioned,
about the effect upon the one even taking the service when
something happens. But how just one, one sinner
destroyed much good in an assembly can completely change the atmosphere
and change the spirit. How it can be that God's children
are grieved when the minister is grieved or put in bondage
and in darkness and he hasn't liberty. He finds it hard to
preach. And the Word is not fed under
by the people of God. Also, there's that increased
vulnerability to Satan. Without the Spirit, we have no
might, we have no power against Satan, against his attacks upon
us. It really affects the unity of
the Church of God. Verse three, endeavouring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We cannot grieve the Holy Spirit
without there being some effect. And really, in one way, it's
a blessed token. If we've never had the Spirit,
we'll never miss His being taken. If we've never known his sweet
influence, then we'll never know it when it's withdrawn. They
that have no changes, fear not God. But they that have known
the Spirit, I believe in such a word like this, our prayer
will be, Lord, do keep me from grieving thy Holy Spirit. Make
me tender. And if I have grieved thy Holy
Spirit, Do grant me repentance, grant me Godly sorrow, grant
me to search and try my ways, turn again unto Thee. This is not a text to bring one
to despair, it is one to encourage, one that testifies ye are sealed
unto the day of redemption and this is the reason why we should
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God all the blessings of the
Spirit. You've already had the calling,
you've already had the quickening, you've already had the sealing,
and it is unto the day of redemption, the day of the Lord's coming,
saved to glory. But may we walk that way with
joy, and with gladness, and with sweet assurance, and encouraging
one another in the Lord, and having the Holy Spirit of God
with us, to be of one spirit and at one mind in the things
of God. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.