Grieve Not The Spirit

And that is fairer than day,
and by faith we can see it afar. For the Father lives on the way,
to prepare us a dwelling place there. In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that
beautiful shore The melodious songs of the West And our spirits
shall sorrow no more Not a sigh for the blessing of rest In the
sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by, we shall
meet on that beautiful shore. Through our bountiful Father
of love, we will offer our tribute of praise. Oh, the glorious gift
of His love, and the blessings that have awarded, In the stream,
by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the stream, by and by, we
shall meet on that beautiful shore. God's word turned, if you will,
to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. The text this evening is verse
30, and then we'll use some of the context. And grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, this verse of scripture,
verse 30 here, says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
you're sealed unto the day of redemption. I believe that God
is love and therefore I believe that the Holy Spirit of God loves
the saints of God. I'm certain that tonight that
the Spirit of God has so loved us and if we wanted to make a
message out of that that we could prove so by the Word of God that
the Spirit has love as well as God the Father loved us before
all time and gave his Son to be a sacrifice for our sins.
The Spirit of God loved us and wooed us unto Christ. The Spirit
of God loved us out of our sins and loved us in regeneration
and put us into the family of God. It was the work of the Spirit
that done that. And I'm sure tonight that the
Spirit of God loves every child of God and has come alongside
them to be a paraclete or a counselor of their souls and to be a comforter
of their souls. And I'm sure that the Spirit
of God is present here tonight in the heart of every child of
God. And not only is the Spirit of God present in every child
of God, the Spirit of God dwells in the church, in a sense, that
He does not dwell in individuals. The Spirit of God dwells and
meets with the people of God. And so the Spirit loves the people
of God, and this needs to be kept in mind. And so when we
read this statement and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, the
Apostle Paul is giving us, I think, very clear proof of the personality
of the Holy Spirit that he can be grieved. Now, it's certain
that we can only grieve a person, not an influence, not an influence,
but a person. Now, if the Spirit of God was
only an it, then, of course, it'd be just an influence, but
the Spirit of God is a the third person of the Holy Trinity, and
this is proof of the fact that he has personality that he can
be grieved. Now, the child of God is such
a one as when they can see or feel the relationship that they
have with this third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost.
that they will undoubtedly understand that there's a close connection,
such a close connection between the Holy Spirit and the believer. As this text reveals here, that
the Spirit of God is grieved by what goes on in us. He must
take a very tender and affectionate interest in the child of God,
since he is grieved by our shortcomings and our sin. Now, if the Holy
Spirit was not in this relationship, or we were not in this relationship
with the Spirit of God, or we did not have this close connection,
the believer and the Spirit, then the Holy Spirit would not
be grieved at what goes on, the shortcomings, the sins, the failures
of the people of God, the sins of omission and commission. The Spirit would not be aggrieved. the infinite and ever-blessed
God condescends to enter into such infinite relationship with
his people that his divine mind may be affected by their actions. Now, do you believe that? Do
you believe that God is in such union with you that he's affected
by what goes on in your life? He certainly is. And Paul says
here, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. What a marvel
that deities should be said to grieve over the faults of beings
so utterly insignificant as we are. What a marvel that God is
affected and that God's heart is affected by what you and I
do and what we say and our way of carrying ourselves in this
life. Well, I'm sure tonight that we're
awed by this and we wonder about I don't see how we can get by
without wondering about how the infinite God can be grieved with
what we do, but he is. Now then, let's talk about the
fact that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. The one who quickened
us to life from our death in sin is the Holy Spirit. He can be grieved. The educator
of the new life in us can be grieved. of our souls, the comforter
of our souls, the one who is to bring all things to our remembrance. He who Jesus has sent to be our
guide and teacher may be great. Now let's think about this. Now
I trust you will listen to what I have to say. I believe these
things can be helpful to every one of our souls. We must understand
this relationship. that we have with the Spirit
of God. He's grieved, and he is not to be grieved, we're told,
and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Now, if we understand
that, this relationship, the heavenly dove may be disturbed,
the divine wind may be resisted, the blessed parakeet may be treated
with despise, and that is by the children of God. His grief
may be traced to his holy character and his perfect attributes. You
say, why is the Spirit of God, how can the Holy Spirit be grieved
by what I do and what I say? How can it be grieved by my actions? How? Well, because of his holy
character and because of his perfect attributes. It is the
nature of a holy being to be vexed with unholiness. There
can be no concord between God and the liar, we read in the
scripture. The Spirit Immaculately pure cannot but be grieved by
the presence of evil in the objects of his affection. He cannot help
but be grieved by sin in the lives of those that he loves. He loves the people of God, and
we'll say more about that in a minute. Sin everywhere must
be displeasing to the spirit of oldenness, but sin in God's
own people is grievous to him in the highest degree, grievous
to him in the highest degree. Now he would not hate his people,
never, but he does hate their sin and he is grieved over their
sin. He could not be the spirit of
truth and approve of that which is false in the people of God. Now because he is what he is,
the Holy Spirit and the spirit of holiness Therefore, everything
in us which falls short of his own nature must be grievous to
him. Now then, if you begin to ask
yourself the question, well now, what is it that grieves the Spirit
of God? Does this little thing I do,
that little thing I do, does this little situation or that
little situation, does that grieve the Spirit of God? Did you hear
what I said? Because he is what he is, the
Holy Spirit And the spirit of holiness, therefore everything
in us which falls short of his own nature must be grievous unto
him. And so don't be asking whether
or not playing cards is grievous to the spirit of God. Don't be
asking whether or not reading a newspaper or reading this book
or that book or something else is displeasing to the spirit
of God. Whatever is short of his divine nature is grievous
unto him. Beloved puts us in a situation
where we see the importance of some of the statements of Scripture,
such as, if you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust
of the flesh. The only way, let me tell you
this, the indwelling Spirit of God in God's people is not a
luxury. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity.
It's a necessity. I want to tell you that every
one of you would go back into sin if it wasn't for the presence
of the Spirit of God in your life. None of you would have
made it to this good hour walking as you say in the things of God
and traveling with the Lord in walk if it was not for the Spirit
of God in you. Every one of you would go back
into sin if the Spirit of God was to abandon you. It is no
luxury, it's a necessity. Every child of God has the Spirit.
But now listen, we must walk in that spirit all. We shall
fulfill the lust of the flesh and we'll grieve the spirit of
God. Anytime a man walks after the flesh and minds the things
of the flesh, that grieves the spirit of God. And I want you
to know that. I want to tell you that. Because whether it's
me or whether it's you, this is the truth. If it falls short
of His holy nature, then it is grievous unto Him. He helps our
impurities, but he grieves over our sins and our shortcomings. Now, I want to tell you this.
The Lord, the Holy Ghost, is grieved with us, first of all,
for our own sakes. Why is the Spirit of God grieved
over our sins? Well, it's for our own sakes
that he's grieved. He knows what misery, sin, in
our lives Unjudged will cost us. He knows exactly what sin
is going to cost the child of God. He knows about the sorrows. He reads our sorrows in our sins. He reads them there. Now, let
me tell you this, that no child of God can commit one sin willfully
without receiving stripes of chastisement in his or her life. You cannot sin willfully against
God without God chasing you for it. You cannot. The Spirit of
God knows and He reads our sorrow in our sins. He knows what's
going to happen, what's going to come on us if we sin willfully
against light and walk contrary to the revealed will of God in
our lives as that will is revealed in the Word. He knows the we're
making for our own backs. He knows. And so he grieves for
our own sake. Now, listen. He knows how much
communion that we're going to lose with the Heavenly Father
by our sin. And a man does lose, while he
does not lose relationship with God as a son or a daughter of
Almighty God, yet we lose communion with God. We lose fellowship
with God. We lose the nearness and the
blessedness of the peace of God, the passive understanding in
our life. We lose the graces of God which enable us to live
and walk as Christians in this world and to deal with the affairs
of life, everyday problems and the difficulties of life. We
lose if we do not walk as God would have us to if we breathe
the Spirit of God. Now, I believe the Spirit of
God can be likened Unto David, when he lamented over his son
Absalom. You remember when Absalom died,
David said, Absalom, my son, my son, would God I had died
for thee. I know David loved Absalom. He
did. And he, David felt terrible in
his soul that Absalom had died the death of a vile man. Died
lost and went to hell. He was terribly bad. and said,
would that God, I could die for thee. Listen, I want you to know
that the Spirit of God grieves over the children of God when
they sin and when they rebel against God and when their hearts
are full of evil and when their hearts are moved and when they
walk after the flesh and follow the mind and the reasoning of
flesh, the Spirit of God has grieved over that. And then I
think he also has grieved over it for Christ's sake. Not only
for our own sake, but for Christ's sake. We have been purchased
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on that tree outside Jerusalem. He has bought us dearly and should
have us all together for himself. All together for himself. If
the Lord Jesus Christ has laid down the price the Bible specifies
that he's laid down for his people, he does own them. He does own
them. And He should have us all for
Himself. Every, every one of us, every
part of our lives all for Him. Even our bodies, we're told,
we're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
bodies and in your spirit which are His. His! They belong to
Him. You are bought with a price.
You belong to the Lord. And so for Christ's sake, the
Spirit of God breathes, because any time a man walks after flesh,
your father is the mind of the flesh. He is just that much denying
the Lord Jesus of the purchase that he made. Just that much.
Now we're to glorify Christ then in these bodies and in these
spirits and we're not doing that when the spirit of God is grieved.
Now the spirit would have us crown the head of the Lord Jesus
Christ by our obedience. That head that was once crowned
with thorns, we should crown his head with the gem of obedience. and the gem of submission unto
the Lord and not to live in disobedience unto God. That grieves the Spirit.
So for Christ's sake, the Spirit is grieved when we sin. And then
also for the Church's sake. He grieves for the Church's sake.
How might some of you be useful if you did but live up to your
privilege as a child of God? You know, I was reading here
a while back a comment made by a man, and he said, Many people
live beyond their means in this life. In other words, they spend
more money than what they take in, and they live on credit,
and they live beyond their means in this life. But he said, he
ventured to say that never was there a child of God that ever
lived up, completely lived up to the privileges that they had
as a child of God. No Christian lives beyond his
means in a spiritual sense. Nobody is just using up all of
heaven's blessing, all of the Spirit's power, all of the Spirit's
leadership, and there's not a church on this earth tonight that has
what we might say the power of the Spirit of God upon it, such
as it might have if it lived up to all the privileges. I mean
if it lived up to the hills. the teachings of the Word of
God, it was in submission, and that they walked as they ought
in the Spirit of God. Now then, for the Church's sake,
he commissions us to be sowers of the good seed of the Word
of God, and our hands, when we go out, are only half-filled.
The preacher gets up and his hands are half-filled, or we
scatter weed seed instead of the good seed of the Word of
God. This church is obligated to preach the word and to preach
it faithfully. This church is obligated not
just simply to preach a message, but it's obligated to preach
that message with the anointing of the Spirit of God and in the
power of the Spirit. That's the only way that we can
honestly fulfill The commission given to us by the Lord is to
preach in the power of the Holy Spirit. And if a man preaches
in the power of the Spirit of God, the commission is fulfilled
and the Spirit of God is pleased to take the word and to use that
word. But if we fail to preach in the
power of the Spirit, if we grieve the Spirit of God and walk contrary
to His will and mind, then we cannot be said, even though we
might to the letter declare the message of the gospel, we cannot
say that we fulfilled the commission. It's with the mighty power of
the Spirit of God that we are able to fulfill that commission.
We've got to preach in the power of the Spirit. We've got to live
up to the privilege, and the privilege is, Terri, enter Jerusalem
until the power of the Spirit of God from on high comes upon
you. And when that Spirit comes upon you, then it's not by might,
it's not by personal power, it's not by individual power, collective
power anymore, but it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And so
we must remember that. Every member in the Church, we're
told in 1 Corinthians 12, 11, the Spirit has gifted, and He
divided into every man several as He will. The Spirit of God
has given gifts to those that are in the Church. And when an
individual lives and breathes the Spirit of God by his conduct
and his way of life, he robs the Church of that which he could
be rendering to the Church, that which he could be doing in the
fellowship of the body. God's given you a gift to use.
He's bestowed upon you by the Spirit. And when you walk contrary
to the Word of God and you breathe God's Spirit, you cannot render
unto the church that which you ought to be rendering. You might
ask yourself the question, what am I in this church for? What
did God put me here for? And well, the Bible says that
He has gifted every member of the church, divided to every
man several as he will, so the Lord's given surely. If He's
put me in the church, He's given me something to add to that church. And I've got an obligation to
see to it that my life is so conducted, so as I will not grieve
the Spirit, but will be able to do for the church what the
Lord has placed me there to do. And then I thank also for sinners'
sake. For all sinners' sake, the Spirit
of God is grief. It is the Spirit's office, we're
told in John's Gospel, to convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment to come. But the course of many believers
in their daily lives counter this work of the Spirit. Directly
counters this work of the Spirit. Their lives do not convince the
world of sin, but rather tend to comfort transgressors in their
iniquity. Now you listen to what I've got
to say here. I believe the Spirit of God grieves
for a lost sinner. Their lives do not convince the
world of sin, but rather tend to comfort transgressors in their
iniquity. We have heard the actions of
professors quoted by whirling sinners as an excuse for their
sins. The church does it. This man,
the church goer, he does that. He teaches that way, he steals
that way, he does so and so and such and such, and so therefore,
it's alright if I do that. They do so and so, why not us?
Says the lost sinner. It is wrong, beloved, what one
writer said, when Jerusalem And when the sins of the heathen
find precedent in the Israel of God, then you, listen to me
brother, it's bad. It's bad. Do you understand what
I'm saying? I'm saying that when lost men
and women find an excuse for their continued rebellion against
God and their continued life in sin, then the Spirit of God
is grieved over the Church for the sinner's sake. Keep it in
mind. It is the Spirit's work to convince
the world of righteousness, but many a professor of religion
convinces the world of the opposite. Our righteousness must exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, warned the Lord
Jesus. And the only way that our righteousness, our personal
righteousness, our practical righteousness is going to exceed
That righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees is when the
fruit of the Spirit of God is in our life unhindered. And when
it's there, our lives is going to be a light and it's going
to reprove men and women in this world. Let me tell you something,
that there is one thing we can be confident of, that there is
no way that a lost man, a man of the world, can feel at home
in the presence of a spirit-filled Christian. There's no way. If
you're walking in the spirit, this world is not going to be
looking you up for fellowship. As soon as they detect that the
light of God is in your soul, that's going to be the end of
their fellowship with you. They don't want nothing more
to do with you. They don't want nothing more to do with you.
And so if the world is, they like your company and like your
fellowship, and they like you to be around, you mark her down. You're walking in the flesh.
Therefore they're comforted by you, and they like you, and they
love their own time. You've got reason to believe,
reason to doubt your situation. Now the Bible says that also
the Spirit of God is to convict this world of judgment. But few
of us live like there's going to be a judgment. How many of
us have had an eye toward the judgment seat of God in this
last week? How many of us have thought this
last week, you know, we're going to have to give an account before
God? What about my daily life? God sees me everywhere. I mean,
he knows my down sittings and my uprisings, my thoughts, he
knows them far off. And the Bible says all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of him whom we have to do. I
want to ask you a question. How many of you are conscious,
God conscious enough, to know that God's going to bring in
the Gentiles? The Spirit is here in this world to convince men
of the judgment, and when the people of God believe like that,
there's not going to be any judgment. The Spirit of God is grieved
on the behalf of those that are going to be called into judgment,
and whose never-dying souls are going to be separated from God
for all eternity. I know God's going to have his
own, and I think you agree with that. God's going to save his
people. He will. But we have an obligation. to the Spirit of God, and we
have an obligation to the Word of God, and we are told not to
grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Well, now, what is the cause?
Or what is it that grieves the Spirit of God? What is it? Well,
look in verse 29 of Ephesians 4 here, and we'll try to use
a little bit of the context here and try to explain what it is
that grieves the Spirit of God. Well, verse 29 says, Let 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." What comes out of your mouth when you talk?
I mean in your conversation. Sins of the flesh, filthiness
and evil speaking. These are things that grieve
the Holy Spirit of God. God's people must be conscious
of this and be very, very careful the way they talk in this world.
You've got to watch your language. You've got to discipline yourself. And be careful what it is that
comes out of this mouth. The tongue is an unruly evil,
full of deadly poison. And therewith a man blesses God,
and therewith a man curses God. This fountain, it gives forth
sweet water. If it gives forth sweet water
and bitter water, like some Christians' mouths give forth good things,
they mouth good things at certain times and bad things at another.
Then, as James said, my brethren, these things ought not to be.
These things ought not to be. This oughtn't to be that way.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. The
sins of the flesh, filthiness, and evil speaking. What do you
say? I mean, what about your language,
brethren? What about it? It grieves the
Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost descended upon
our Lord as a dove, and a dove delights in the pure rivers of
water, but shuns all kinds of filthiness. In Noah's day, the
dove found no place for the sole of its foot on all the carcasses
floating in the waste. And even so, the heavenly dove,
the Spirit of God, finds no repose in the dead and corrupt things
of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, we
shall not obey the desires or fulfill the desires and the will
of the flesh, Paul said in Galatians. And so, beloved, remember that.
The Spirit of God cannot countenance evil speaking, cannot countenance
filthiness of the flesh. And we must keep that in mind. Alright, now take note of verse
31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice. Let it be put
away, this bitterness of heart. And I want to tell you something,
I think you're conscious of it, but these things can get out
of hand, brethren. They can get out of hand, bitterness
of heart, wrath, anger. Do you mean to tell me these
things are found in the Church of God? Yes, they are found in
the Church of God. Anger, wrath, and clamor, evil
speaking. The arrival here of the Apostle
Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, said, put
away from you, with all vows, put it away. Let it be put away
from you. Now brethren, there have been
many things that have at different times caused a great deal of
grief to the spirit of God in the Lord's churches. I know that
there have been things that have come up in churches that have
divided churches, split churches, caused a great deal of sorrow
among church members. I have known it to get so bad
in some churches where they had a cemetery at the church. And
there would be so much bitterness and grief and anger and wrath
in the church members that some of the church members would dig
up the bodies of their loved ones that were buried in that
cemetery next to the buried loved ones of members of that church
that they had come to despise and hate so much. that they would
dig up the bodies and move them to other cemeteries after they
had been in the grave for a number of years. Because they despised
the people so much, they could not stand for their loved ones
to remain in that cemetery. Now brethren, I want to tell
you something. The people of God better take heed. We better
take heed to our hearts. Let all bitterness, and wrath,
and anger, and cloud, and evil speaking be put away from you
with all our mouths be put away. And I want to tell you something
I've heard of other things, too, that could be mentioned here
in this meeting tonight. I just don't want to spend that
much time on this. I want to go on. But brethren,
listen. I want you to know that these
things can run rampant. They can get away from the people
of God. And they can cause problems and
they can cause wounds that can never be healed in this life.
Never be healed. You've got to be mighty, mighty
careful when you allow your heart to get to the place where that
you can just say anything you want to say, and where you can
just do what you want to do, bring up whatever you want to
bring, and just cause any kind of division and problem in the
church that your little heart just wants to bring. You've got
to be mighty careful, and you've got to check this old heart.
You've got to check it, I say, and let these things be put away. Let them be put away. Be a kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. And then that second
verse, or third verse of this fourth chapter, endeavoring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, would rather
rest in the bosom of another woman, rather than to rest in
her bosom. Can you think of the grief that
would be in a mother's heart if she was to discover that her
own child loved another more than her. Can you think of the
grief that's in the Spirit of God when a child of God, one
who has been placed into the family of God under the nurture
and providence of Almighty God, and then that one is found going
out here into the world seeking some pleasure in the world, seeking
some comfort in the world, And the world looks up and says,
well, here comes that Christian. He's coming over here to get
a little pleasure. Yesterday was Sunday, and he was miserable
all day yesterday. He was in services, and here
he is coming over here to have a little pleasure. He's coming
over here with us to have his pleasure. Now, brethren, let
me tell you something right now. Any time that one who professes
to be a child of God must go to the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life to have what he
or she might call pleasure, let me tell you something, that individual's
life is in question. That individual's experience
is in question. I want you to know that. Beloved,
the Lord Jesus Christ, there's pleasure in Christ. There's pleasure
in knowing Christ. There's pleasure in having your
sins forgiven. There's pleasure in being filled
with the Spirit of God and having the peace of God. And a Christian,
whenever they go into the world or imitate the world or want
the pleasures of the world and go out into the world, they are
abusing the Spirit of God and sinning against God. That's what
they're doing. Well, this is very important. And then unbelievers. How that must grieve the Spirit
of God, unbelief. How would you feel about it if
one of your children was to stand in your face and tell you they
didn't trust you anymore? They just couldn't trust you.
You made them promises and you told them this, you told them
that, but Dad, I just don't believe you. I just don't believe you.
I just don't trust you. It just won't be like you said.
It just cannot be that way. And that's exactly what you do.
Whenever you stand in the face of a promise of God, stand in
the face of a scripture, a plain teaching of the word of God,
and you deny what that says, by your conduct and by your life.
Whenever your heart's full of unneed, that's exactly what you're
telling God. God, you made the heavens and
the earth and all things that are therein, But I just don't
believe that you're the God of your word. I just don't believe
you're going to bring us to pass. I don't think you're going to
do for me what you said you were going to do. I just don't believe
it. And you go on murmuring and complaining in your heart and
feeling downcast. And you're disturbed and you
can't rest. You can't sleep. You can't do what you ought to
do because your heart's full of unbelief. This grieves the
Spirit of God. And don't, listen to me, don't
do it. You believe God. You trust God. That's what a
believer is. You're called a believer because
you believe God. That's why you're called a believer.
A believer is somebody that trusts God. That's what he is. And when
you don't trust God, you're grieving God's spirit. That's what you're
doing. The Bible says that a just shall live by his faith. Anytime you can't live by faith,
you're in the wrong place, friend. You ought not be numbered among
the saints of God if you can't live the faith. That's where
you're going to have to live. If you keep on going like you
are, this is it, this is what's involved in this life. I won't
tell you that tonight, that's what's involved in it. And I
won't tell you if you walk with God, I won't tell you what's
going to happen. You're going to have to get to a place where
human reason's got to go. You've got to come to a place
where you don't do anything but just trust the bare promises
of God. Now if you can't do it, you better
get to counting the cost right now. Because Christians live
by faith, that's how they live. And if you don't live that way,
you grieve the Spirit of God. And so when you get in a fix,
things get tough for you, things get bad. I mean when the storm
is blowing and things are really bad, you don't know how things
are going to turn out. Listen to me now. Human crutches,
you can't be looking for them. Won't do you any good if you
find one. Won't do you any good. God designs the lives of his
people so as that the people of God will live by faith. And
you're going to have to live with faith. That's the way Abraham
lived. And that's the way you've got to live. And so when you
murmur and live in unbelief, listen to me now, when something
happens in this world and your little playhouse looks like it's
falling down. I mean, it looks like everything's
about ready to fold up for you and it looks like you're out
of business. I'll tell you what, you just got to look up to God.
Lord, I'm your child. I believe you. I trust you. My
life's in your hands. And if this thing don't work
out like I think it ought to work out, that's because it's
going to work out another way. That's because it's going to
work out like you want it to be. And that's exactly the way
I want it, Lord. And this thing don't look right
to me. This thing don't look right, Lord, because it don't
look like it's right, but Lord, it's got to be right because
you're God on this earth. You're God in heaven and God
in earth. This thing is right because you're the author of
it. And therefore, I'm going to trust you. But now listen,
unbelieve. I'm telling you the cost. tonight of grief for the
Spirit of God, unbelief for the heart. All right, then ingratitude. Many times the people of God
just do not have it. They just don't have the gratitude
in their hearts. They ought to have for what God's done. They're
all the time looking for something else. They say, well, Brethren,
listen. What has God done for you? Make
it your business to know what God's done for you in Christ.
Make it your business. Study that. Meditate on that. Don't come up and stand before
the judgment and stand there being guilty of the sin of ingratitude. Know what the Lord's done for
you. Know your relationship with God. Know the heart of God, brethren,
that your heart might be full of gratitude unto Him, that you'll
live and serve Him regardless of what anybody says, regardless
of what anybody says, whatever the difficulties are, the way
you'll just serve Him. You won't let some little petty
situation turn you away from serving God. God's invested in
your son and your life. And you owe Him. You owe Him. And yet the people of God run
around and say, I don't know, this is going to cost me too
much. That ain't going to work. This is going to bother me. This
is going to disturb my little situation. My situation ain't
going to be right if I have to do such and such and so and so
to worship the Lord and so on. Brethren, listen to me. Ingratitude
is a terrible sin against the Spirit of God. And we must be
careful about what we say and what we do. I mean, Jesus Christ
went to Calvary's cross. What are we willing to do? What
are we willing to do? I mean, God spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all. What is it that we want?
What is it? Brethren, let us think on these
things. And then the one of prayer. No matter how that must breed
the Spirit of God. The one of prayer. This Bible
says you have not because you ask not. Brethren, I challenge
you with that statement. I challenge you with that statement.
You have not because you ask not. I've had people say things
to me that I've had to answer them this way. Well, you know,
how much seeking God have you done? How much seeking God have
you done for your situation, about your situation? Brethren,
listen to me. That's what haunts you the rest
of your life if you don't begin to seek God's face and call upon
the Lord and ask God for your situation. Ask God to undertake
for you. You have not because you ask
not. You're too trifling to ask. Most
men and women, most men and women won't ask God. They won't pray.
They won't seek the Lord. They won't. Now God has fixed
it up so that we can come directly to Him. He's fixed it up. There's
a new way open. And there's not a reason in the
world why God won't hear one of his people. Not a reason.
The merits of his son. We come in the merits of his
son. God will hear us when we pray in Jesus' name. And your
prayerlessness is grieving the Spirit of God and it's affecting
this church. I just tell you that right now. We got to pray
more, Brendan. We got to pray more. We got to seek the Lord's
face. More and more. Now you blame it on whatever
you want to blame it on. Your prayerlessness that is.
You blame it on whatever you want to. But it still is this. You have not because you ask
not. That's where you know I am. And
you just remember. Now God knows what's best for
his people and he'll certainly give it to his people. He certainly
will. Now then maybe we just kind of
sum this up by saying any knower of sin. Anything we know to be
wrong in our lives is grievous to the Spirit of God. And I want
to tell you something right now. The people of God are more light
than they let on what they do. You know more about what your
situation is than what I know about your situation. I know
more about mine than you know about it. You say, oh, I think
I know what's wrong with that preacher. You don't know a half
of it. You don't know a half of it. You just don't. And you
say, well, I think I know what's wrong with Brother Sodom so well,
you just best not say it because you wouldn't say enough. You
don't know how bad it is, brother. You don't know how bad it is.
Only the Lord knows how bad things are in the lives of these people,
and they're mighty bad. They're mighty bad in some of
your lives here tonight. The finger of God right now is on your heart,
fingering your heart about some of the things that's going on
in your life that's grievous to the Spirit of God. Now, you
know what I'm talking about, brother. And I want to tell you this,
and you know what I'm saying. You better deal with it. You
better deal with it. Now, if God would have you to,
And you must do it. You must judge yourself. Lest
the Lord judge you. Because when a man's judged to
the Lord, he's chastened to the Lord. God will deal with his
children. I said that last Sunday night.
God can wait on his enemies. He can wait on his enemies, but
his children, he must. M-U-S-T. He must chasten in this
life. And he will. And he will. He'll
deal with you. In the Old Testament, pray God. Confess. Turn it over to the
Lord. Say, Lord, I don't know how to
deal with this. I got a problem. I don't know how to deal with
it. It's too much for me. I can't handle it. But it's not
too much for the elder brother, the Lord Jesus. It's not too
much for him, see. Turn it over to him. Just commit it to him.
Lord, I just put it in your hands. I've got this habit, Lord, and
I can't break it. I can't do anything about it. I just can't
do it. I'm powerless. I can't handle it. I can't do
it. I just cannot shake this habit. Listen to me. You commit
that thing to the Lord. You've got to take sides with
God against that thing in your life. You've got to do it. And
you've got to pray against that thing. You've got to pray, Lord,
whatever you've got to do to break the power of this thing
in my life, you do it. Whatever you've got to do. If
I've got to go to Alaska, if I've got to move off somewhere
where there's nobody within 100 miles of me, then Lord, you just
take it up and you do as your wisdom dictates. I'm yours. You bought me with a price. Your
blood was shed on my behalf. And I want to be all yours. Whatever
you've got to do to make me all yours, you do it. And I want
to tell you something right now, the Lord will do it. He'll do
it. He'll take your situation. He'll do something with you.
He'll do something with you. I'm just telling you that because
I know it's true. I know it's true. And there's some things
in the lives of some people that they got to come see. There's
a red sea out there. You cannot get across to the
brother until the power of God comes and opens up the way. And
there are some things that a man is helpless to do and tell you
about. You got to commit it to the Lord and got to get serious
about it. Got to get serious about it.
You got to say, Lord, I don't intend to die under the power
of any sin. I don't intend to. Jesus Christ
did not leave me mortgaged to anybody, and I don't intend to
live under the power of sin. And I'm not going to do it, Lord.
I'm not going to die under the power of sin. I'm not going to
do it, Lord. You deal with this fact. I just lay it all before
you. Your wisdom, your hand, your
power, you do what must be done in my case. You do it. I want
to tell you something. It'll happen, brother. It'll
happen. The Lord will deliver his people. He'll deliver his
people. There's a way out. There's a
way out of your situation. The Lord will deliver you. You
don't have to go on grieving in the spirit of God. You don't
have to. If you deal with it right, and be honest, just talk
to the Lord like you'd just talk to anybody else. Just tell him
about it if you can. Just tell him about it. Just
take it up, Lord. I fought this thing. I tried.
Listen, he's more interested in you breaking these habits.
and getting over these things is grieving Him than what you
are. He really is. He's more interested
in you than me. And you will do it because of
His power and by His power only. Alright, then let me pass on
to this last thing here. It says, In grieving of the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed for the day of redemption.
I want to say just two things here before we close. And one
is, I want to say just a little bit about the results. And we've
been talking a little bit about that for a little while, but
just let me point out a couple of things here to you that I
think is significant and it's important concerning the results
of a man grieving the Spirit of God. One is that the child
of God, when he grieves the Spirit of God, he will not lead to his
utter destruction. For no heir of heaven can perish,
neither will the Holy Spirit be utterly taken away from him,
for the Spirit of God is given to abide with us forever. And
so you're not going to be lost, you're not going to hell for
grieving the Spirit of God, not if you're in Christ. But the
ill effects of the grieving of the Spirit of God is a terrible
thing. You're going to lose all sense of the Spirit's presence
in your life is what's going to happen. You're going to lose
that. He will be as one hidden from you, there will be an aching
void which the world or nothing else can ever fill in your life.
You grieve the Spirit of God and live in that sort of a state.
You'll lose all Christian joy, the light's going to be taken
from you, and you'll stumble at darks. Your life will not
be as a watered garden. You want to read sometimes Isaiah
58 verses 8 through 11. You might write that down. I
think that's a good picture of the child of God who's walking
in the Spirit. Just the opposite, of course, is true of the man
who's grieving the Spirit of God. There will be no power or
no usefulness in your life. No usefulness, no power. Now
brethren, let me tell you what happens when a man willfully
sins against God and he walks in disobedience. The graces of
his heart, the power of his soul diminishes until he becomes prey
to every evil lust, to every evil influence. to his own heart,
the suggestions of his own wicked heart, he just falls prey to
all these things. And the evil spirits and all
these things, they say, and the lust of his own flesh says, now,
now he's weak, just like old Samson when they sheared off
his locks, take him now, take him now. And I want to tell you
something, you get a fella who's living in disobedience to God
and walking in that disobedience and he has no grace. to deal
with anything. He has no power to handle anything.
He can't deal with these situations. And he sees this and he sees
that and he goes off this way and he goes off that way because
he's lost all of the power which a Christian can stand in this
world. I told you a while ago, it's
not a luxury, it's a necessity, brethren. You've got to have
it. You've got to have it. You've got to have the power
and the influence of the Spirit of God in your life or you're going
haywire. And you don't know right now where you will end up. You
don't know where you'll end up. I know where some others have.
I know where they've ended up. I know where they ended up. You
know where David ended up. You know where he ended up as an
older man too. Say he's around 60, I'll guess where that is.
I'll tell you what now, you just better walk with God because
the effects of this is a terrible thing. Now if the church continues
to grieve the Spirit of God, she's going to fail to bless
the generation and the age in which she lives. She won't do
it. You cannot bless this city, any other city, unless you walk
in the power of the Spirit of God. There is no hope. Now the
church also, if they continue to grieve the Spirit of God,
is in danger of being spewed out of its mouth. The candlestick
be taken away from the church. Be taken out. You just can't
persist to live in this kind of rebellion against God. You
just can't do it. You've got to walk with God. Now notice
this last thing, and there's an argument here, personal argument,
which is used in the text to forbid our grieving the Spirit,
and that's the last part of verse 30 there where it says, whereby
you're sealed until the day of redemption. The Spirit of God
has sealed the people of God until the day of redemption.
Now a seal is set upon a thing to attest to its authenticity. And it's authority. By that I
mean, you and I that claim to know the Lord, we're professing
Christians. How does a man know that he's a Christian? Now how
does the world know that a man's a Christian? How do they know
that? Well, it's the possession of the Holy Spirit of God that
is the seal, or it's that which attests to the authenticity and
it's the authority in the life of a believer. Now turn over
to 1 John chapter 4 and look at verse 13. 1 John 4 verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him. Now get this. Hereby know we
that we dwell in him. No question, we know it. And
he in us because he hath given us. of his spirit. That's how you know. He's given
us of his spirit. Now brethren, listen to me. When
a believer walks through this world, the only thing about that
believer that's going to convince this world that that individual
is different, that he's a child of God, is when that individual
walks in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's the only
thing that's going to convince this world he's different. And
I want to tell you something. When the Spirit of God is in
full possession of the life of a believer, the world's convinced.
The world's convinced. The world won't argue with you.
They won't have anything to do with you. They'll own the authority
of your life. They'll own it. And they'll recognize
that there's something different about you. The Spirit of God
is a seal, brother. And we need that seal of the
Spirit. Now, that's what you need is, if you want to walk
before this world and convince this world that you're somebody,
that somebody, that somebody being a member of the family
of God, being one in whom the Spirit of God dwells. The Bible
says in Romans chapter 8 and in verse 9, it says, if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He is none
of his. If you don't have the Spirit
of Christ, you don't belong to the Lord. And the world may not know
that you're a Christian because you may not be one. If you don't
have the Spirit of God in you, then the world never gonna recognize
you as being a Christian, because your life has no power whatsoever. Be no influence, no testimony. And I'll tell you a man that
goes out in this world, and he's trying to act like a Christian,
but he's not one, trying to influence this world that he's somebody
come from God, and he don't have the Holy Spirit. Well, you know
what happened to the seven sons of Sheba? You know what happened.
And you know what happens when old Samson got his locksheared
off. He went out and he wished not that the power had departed
from him. And I want to tell you what,
a man walking in this world without the power of the spirit is in
trouble. I mean, he's in trouble because
he's got no power to stand against this world. He's got no power
to stand against the lust of his own heart. No strength, you
see, in his heart. Friend, you see more and more
what I mean when I say the spirit's not a luxury. It's a necessity.
You've got to have it. All right? Now, a seal is used
for preserving as well as for attesting. Now, this preserving,
a seal, is set for security. The Bible says that the Lord
has given us the earnest of His Spirit. When a man has the Spirit
of God in his heart, if you know that God's Spirit is in you,
Bible says his spirit, well, bears witness with our spirit.
If the Spirit of God has ever said anything in your heart,
if you know that the voice of the Spirit is there crying out
to the Father, if you know it, that's guaranteed of your resurrection.
It's a guarantee of it. If the Spirit of God is in you,
it's a guarantee you're the Lord's. It's a seal that you belong to
the Lord. It's a seal of your security. It's a seal that on
resurrection morning you're going to be raised from the dead and
that your body is going to be made like unto the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's a seal of security. And it proves that you're going
to take part in everything God has for his people. That's what
that is. How wonderful that is. Praise
God. Any voice, any emotion of the
Spirit of God in the heart Christian always sensitive to it. That's
right. Anytime you feel the moving of the spirit of God in your
heart, pause, sit down, lay down, think about it, meditate on it,
spend time on it. If you've got any reason to believe
God's in you, I'll tell you something brother, that's a tremendous
thing. If God's put his spirit in you,
that means you're his. Not only for time, but for eternity.
You be careful how you handle that. Don't you grieve the Spirit
of God. He seals you until the day of
redemption. He seals you. That's proof you belong to Him.
You belong to God. You be careful about that thing.
Don't go out and do these things we've been talking about. You
be careful what you do. An old church, how important
this is to the church. And we see this, if God dwells
in us. There's a scripture here in verse 21 of the third chapter
unto him be glory in the church that I cross Jesus throughout
all ages world without end. I believe the church Lord will
always have his church in the world until the time he takes
it out. I believe glory ought to be brought
to God by Jesus Christ in the church world without end. And
I know that the only thing that can be done is when we walk in
the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Live daily,
constantly with this in mind. God has owned me. And I've got to live like somebody
knows the Lord. I've got to walk like somebody
knows the Lord. I can't live like other people in my life.
Now brother, listen to me now. You're not in this position by
accident. And I want to tell you something else. You're not
in this position by your own choice. God on purpose put you
where you are. And God did it. He did it. You
say, I'm a Christian. Listen, you're a Christian. You
are so because of the plan, the eternal purpose of Almighty God.
You are so by divine appointment. The Lord did this thing. The
same thing started with you. It started with Him. Now you
just settled yourself down. You got no right to yourself.
You got no right to your ways. You got no right to your mind.
You got no right to do as you please. You got no right! You've
got to fight against this sin business and all these problems
you've got. You've got to be the Lord's, fully, all out. All
out, you've got to be. It's things of God. God's done
this thing in your life. Oh, how important this is. Well,
brethren, that's the message this evening. Let us have a Father,
thank you for thy word. Oh, how we need for you to give
us a remembrance of it. How we need our Father to meditate
more and more upon these things until the heart within us is
so affected by these things that we'll be changed people. Lord,
I just pray that thou would forgive us of our sins. God, forgive
us of our sins. And remember us, Lord. And I
do commit to you this, people, undertake forward. And I'm sure
right now in their hearts, they're confessing Lord be pleased to
be perpetuated through Christ through his shed blood on the
behalf of us sinners. We beg it in Jesus name. Amen.

Grieve Not The Spirit

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Grieve Not The Spirit

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