Ephesians 4, verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, I'm looking forward next
week to sharing this verse with you. But today, I simply want
to look at this verse from this sense to see even why it's here. And I've taken the liberty to
preach through this epistle just a little bit different than we
usually have because I want to see not only what a verse means,
but I want to see even why it's there. And sometimes I think
there is as good a lesson as seeing why a verse is there,
as even understanding what it means. And that's one of the
difficult things sometimes about teaching or preaching expository. You just take a passage and go
through it, and you go through the whole epistle, the whole
book, and you run up on these verses and you wonder why this
is even here. And sometimes, to be honest with
you, It just doesn't make any sense as to why it's there. It's
not so with this. I think most of us could understand
by looking at this verse why it's here. But still, I think
even over and above that, we can look at this verse here and
say it could have just as easily been left out. And there would
have been this excellent flow right on down through here without
even putting this verse in. Let me read it to you and leave
out verse 30. And look how easily it flows. Look back up here all
the way back up in verse 25. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor. In verse 26, Be ye
angry, and sin not, let not the sun go down on your wrath, neither
give place to the devil, let him that stole steal no more,
but let him labor, working with your hands the things that's
good. that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt
communications proceed out of your mouth, but that which is
good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to
the hearers. 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."
See, you never even realized that we left out verse 30, would
you? It's sort of in a way, it calls for an investigation as
to even why this verse is here. And let me say this and we'll
look at it. Why is it here? I think as we'll see in a minute,
it's here because the Apostle Paul wanted us to know that he
was no mere moralist. He is no mere moralist. You've
seen what I just read to you, and he's talking about these
do's and don'ts of the Christian life. Don't lie to one another,
but speak the truth. Don't steal anymore, but get
a job and support those who are in need. And don't be hateful
and mean, but be kind and tender-hearted. All of these do's and don'ts
of the Christian life. But he puts this verse in there,
and it sort of reminds us all along of what he's been saying.
What is a Christian? What is a Christian? Well, he's
a man that has a new creature within. He's a man that has this
inner man, this new man that's created in righteousness and
true holiness. And the Christian life, the Christian
walk, is living out the life of this new man, this inner man
inside. But he puts this year to remind
us of this. You can't live that life. You
can't walk that walk without the Holy Spirit, without His
grace, without His gracious presence. It's not a matter of morality,
is it? It's not a matter of quit lying
and start telling the truth. It goes much deeper than that.
And he says, you've got to walk after this inner man. And to
do that, to do that, you're going to have to walk in the Spirit.
You're going to have to have the Spirit of God within you,
working in you. Now, this is the covenant of
grace. This is what was promised. Look
all the way back over in a very familiar scripture in Ezekiel
chapter 36. Look in Ezekiel chapter 36. This is how the covenant of grace
runs all the way back over here. Paul is not saying anything that
the Old Testament scriptures had already said should come. Look what he says here in verse
24. Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse
24. The very same things that Paul
is saying. Verse 24, here speaks of our
calling. Look at this. Here is what the
Lord said. Here is the covenant. Here is
the promise. And I will take you from among the heathen. I will call you out from among
them. I'm going to gather you out of all countries, and I will
bring you unto your own land." That's where He starts with us,
calling us. Then what does He do in verse
25? He washes us. I will sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. There's calling, there's
cleansing. Look in verse 26. A new heart. Also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh." What is
that? It's the giving of a new nature, a new man within, created
in righteousness and true holiness, a heart gland that never was
there before. A spirit that never was there before. But He doesn't
stop. Look in verse 27. And here it is. And I will put
My Spirit within you. That's it, ain't it? That's it. That's it. And what happens when
He puts the Holy Spirit of God in us? Well, look at it. And I will cause you to walk
in My stature. and keep my judgments and do
them. One of the things that the Apostle
Paul taught us, and he emphasized it so much, when he talked about
salvation, it was the salvation of a triune God. That it was instigated by the
Father. The Father chose those He was
going to save. He was going to redeem. And the
Son of God stood as surety for those people. But he never stops
there, does he? If he stopped there, what would
we do about Ezekiel chapter 36? I will put my Spirit within you. So Paul goes ahead and then tells
us there's a new birth. There's the Spirit working within. Regeneration and being led by
the Spirit. Let's look at it this way. Let's
look at it this way. Let's look at the reason that
this verse 30 is in here. Anyway, all blessings of God
come to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. And more
specifically, they come through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole scheme of redemption
is by the cross of Christ, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. And one of the chief blessings
that comes through the cross, if I could say the chief blessing,
is the giving of the Holy Spirit. Here's what Paul said in Galatians
3.13. He said, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Now, that's a blessing, ain't it? Free from the law, O happy
condition, Jesus has bled, and now there is remission. He hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. But the very next verse says this, that the blessing promised
to Abraham might come on us Gentiles. What is that? That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Look over here in chapter 1 of
Ephesians. Look right back here in chapter
1. Here's how Paul says this. Here in chapter 1 and verse 13,
look at this. Spirit of promise, in whom ye
also trusted. He trusted in Christ. After that
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit," and look what he adds, "...of promise." Why does he
call it a spirit of promise? Everywhere in the Old Testament
you find the Spirit's promise coming. I will put my Spirit
within you. Now, that's a promise. And though
we never find it when the Lord made this covenant with Abraham,
but Paul tells us that he promised Abraham that he would give the
Spirit to believers. And you remember what the Lord
Jesus said when he talked about the coming Spirit. He said, I
will pray the Father and He'll give you another comforter, even
the Spirit of truth. That's a promise. And he never
could get his mind off of this. He spoke of it often. When he
stood out on the Mount of Olives with his apostles and blessed
them and was ready to be received up into heaven, he told them
to remain at Jerusalem. Don't leave that place until
the Father sent the promise that He had made to them. That is
the Holy Spirit. So he was always talking about
the Spirit of promise. That's what Paul is talking about
here. And the Lord Jesus says this about the Spirit of promise.
He said, When He has come, He will guide you unto all truth.
He will glorify me, for he shall take of mine and reveal it, show
it unto you. And Paul just picks up on that.
And look here what he says in Ephesians 1 and chapter 7, 17.
Ephesians 1 and verse 17. Here is his prayer for him, and
it has to do with the Spirit. Look what he says. That the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of
Christ. What's the Spirit going to do?
He's going to take the things of Christ and reveal them, show
them unto you. That's the Spirit of promise.
And Paul just picked up on that, and he said this is what Christ
said he would do. He would show you things to come. And then Paul continues in this
epistle and picked up on something else that the Lord Jesus said.
The Lord Jesus told His apostles, He said that the Spirit dwells
with you now. But there is coming a day when
He is going to be in you. He is going to dwell in you.
And look how the apostle Paul picked up on that in chapter
2 of Ephesians. And look in verse 22. Look at
this. In whom also you are built together
for an inhabitation of God through the Spirit. In other words, as
he said in another place, your bodies is the temple. The church
is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and your bodies in particular
are temples of the Holy Ghost. And I want you to look at some
of these places. Look here again in Ephesians
chapter 2. I just want us to see why the
Apostle Paul kept bringing us back to the Spirit. He mentions
it all through this epistle. And here in chapter 2 in verse
18, look at this. For through him, through Christ,
we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. Now, you and I know that it's
only by one mediator we can approach unto God. We know that. And Paul never denied that. He
preached that himself. But he also adds here, it's not
only through this one mediator, but it's through the Holy Spirit. We can't go in our own strength,
our own ability, our own merits. We don't know how to go do it.
That's our whole problem, Bill Crockett said. They know not
the ways of the city. We don't know how to go to Christ.
He brings us to Christ, gives us faith to come. to approach
and go through the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit, by His
ability and by His grace. And look in chapter 3 and verse
4, what else he said about the Spirit. He was talking here about
the mysteries of the gospel and how he knew these things. He
said here in chapter 3, there in verse 2, if you have heard of
the plan of God's grace, the dispensation of God's grace which
is given me to you, how that by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery as I wrote afore in few words. Wherefore, when
you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ." And look at this. in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles
and prophets, by the Spirit." Now, David knew something about
the mystery of Christ. He knew that Christ was going
to be redeemed by His blood. Isaiah wrote about it. Moses
wrote about it. But I tell you this much, they
didn't know as near as much about it as is revealed to these apostles
and these prophets. And how is it revealed to them? By the Spirit. Paul said, I don't know these
things because I've got a great mind. It's not because I've read
the Bible a lot and I've searched out all these books of the forefathers. He said, I'm telling you, that's
not how I know this. The Spirit revealed this to me. Now, isn't that encouraging for
simpletons like you and I? It's just not very bright at
all that the Lord can make these things known to our hearts by
His Spirit. Look what he says here in chapter
3, verse 16. I remember when you and I looked
at this particular passage. when we studied through this
epistle. Here in verse 16, here's another prayer of the Apostle
Paul. This amazing thing. That He would grant you, I pray
for you, I bow my knees to the Father, and this is my request
for you. That He would grant you, give
to you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. I tell you what I've
said, I've said and thought about that scripture, and I'll be honest
with you, I don't know too much about it. But you know it's wonderful
just to read and think about this. Strengthened with might. You can get a hold of that, can't
you? Think of the might of God that created the worlds, that
hung the stars in their places, upholds all these things by the
word of His power, To have His might strengthening your inner
man? Strengthen us to do what? To
believe? To love? To hope? To be joyful? To be peaceful? To endear? Well, there's nothing
you and I can't believe. There's nothing we can't do.
There's nothing we can't endear and be happy while we're doing
it. If we're strengthened with might, by the Spirit in our inner
man. I don't care if you're here this
evening and you're just a young Christian. You can look at this
and meditate upon this and think, that's wonderful. Oh, that's
wonderful. Strengthened with might by His
Spirit. But he goes on here in chapter
4 in verse 3, and look what he says about the Spirit. Look what
he says here. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, the unity of the Spirit. Our unity is not a natural unity,
is it? It's not a physical unity. It's
not a unity of culture because we're raised in the same community,
raised the same way. It's not even unity among our
natural families. It's not unity of politics. I
don't know what your politics are. I really don't know. But
that's not where our unity is. Our unity is a spiritual unity. The unity of the Spirit. And we're one in Him. And if
He's in you, and He's in me, we have a unity of Spirit. Then he goes on, and this is
a wonderful verse. This is probably in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at this. These are probably
two of the most amazing verses. in this book. Sometimes I think
they aren't. Look at this. And this really
is beginning here to get at the heart. Right here is beginning
to get at the very heart of why the Apostle Paul put verse 30
in chapter 5. Look in verse 8 and verse 9 of
Ephesians chapter 5. This is absolutely amazing. You
were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Now look at this. For the fruit
of the Spirit is in all goodness and in all righteousness and
truth. What is Paul saying? He is saying
as you walk in the light as Christians, and you do good, and you do righteous,
and you walk in the truth, this is merely the fruit of the Holy
Spirit in you. Now, that's an amazing act. That's
amazing. Goodness. David said, Lord, my
goodness don't extend to you, but it extends to your children,
the excellent in the earth. And Paul said, when you're good
to the Lord's people, when you're kind and tenderhearted and you're
forgiven, he said, you know something, that's just the fruit of the
Spirit in you. And righteousness, what is righteousness?
Well, he tells us over here in chapter 5, he says, Be ye followers
of God. What is righteousness? Just obeying
Him and following Him. And Paul says when you follow
God as a dear child, all of that is, is just the fruit of the
Spirit. That didn't originate with you.
That comes from And the truth, when you walk in the truth as
opposed to a lie, putting away lies, speak every man truth one
to another, what is that? That's the fruit of the Spirit. And here Paul gets at the very
heart of what it is to be a Christian. And what is it? It's to live
not in mere morality. Is a Christian, is that what
Christianity is? Just mere morality? No, it's not that at all. The
moralist. Did you ever read a book by a
moralist? We've got some in our day, and I read a book not too
long ago by a moralist. It's just full of do's and don'ts. It's full of how to be successful
in your family. How to have a successful family.
They have these formulas. And they'll give you a formula
how to have a happy family. And you do this, and you do that,
and you get your family doing that, and you get your community
doing this and not doing that. And I tell you, you'll have a
better community, and you'll have a better town, and you'll
have a better country. And they write books, and they
write tracts, and they give speeches about all of these morals. And sometimes they get caught
on, and boy, it's like a fire, and it works for a while. But then it dies out. It dies
out. Why does it die out? Why does
the gospel of morality not work? It sounds good, but it just doesn't
work. And why not? It doesn't take
into account what man is inside. It sounds good, and you know
there's a sense in which I thank God for it. This thing that's
going on today about this awakening, about the citizens of this country
concerned about the direction that our country's been going
in for years now. It seems like some people woke
up about that, and there is a sense that I'm thankful about that.
We're going to be broke as a nation. It's sinful and wrong what we're
doing as a nation. And I'm glad people's finally
woke up and speaking out against it. But it'll die down. It'll die down. God first. Country first. It'll die down. And you know why? It takes more
than morality. It takes more than mere mortals. Christianity, brothers and sisters,
is more honorable than just a mere mortal. Ain't it? They said when we got finished
with World War I, they said we've got to get together as a nation.
We've got to get all these nations together and get it set up where
we'll never have another war. We've got to educate people.
They've got the League of Nations. And they started educating nations.
If we'll do this, we'll never have this to happen again. Twenty-five
years later, World War II came. And you know what the motto of
that war was when it was over? Never again. Never again. And they got the United Nations.
And they started teaching the nation, do this and don't do
that. Wasn't long, what do we have?
The Korean complex. And then came the Vietnam conflict.
And now look at us. Christianity is not mere morality. It's deeper and more honorable
than that. It's more noble than that. What
is Christianity? What is it to be a Christian?
This is why Paul put verse 30 in this chapter 4 that I read
to you. Because he wanted to teach us, as he said, put away
lies and speak the truth. That he wasn't talking about
mere morality. Don't let any corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good. Stop stealing
and go to work. But he said, unless you think
that I'm teaching mere morality here, he tells us what a Christian
really is. Don't forget what I've been talking
about. This new creature that's created
in righteousness and true holiness. And who upholds Him? Who works
in Him to will and to do? It's the Holy Spirit. What is
it, brothers and sisters, to be a Christian? It's to be alive
in the Spirit. That's what it is. It's nothing
less. But nothing more than that. It's
to be possessed of God's Holy Spirit. It's to be born of the
Spirit. It's to walk in the Spirit. It's
to be led by the Spirit. It's to be possessed by the graces
of the Holy Spirit. It's to be possessed by the fruits
of the Holy Spirit of God. That's what it is. It's nothing
any less than that. And to be led of him to graciously
put off the old man with all his corrupt deeds and to graciously
put on the new man that's created in righteousness and true holiness. That's what it is. Nothing less
than that. And look what he goes ahead here to say in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at this. In verse 18. Be
not drunk with wine, therefore, or in his excesses, but be filled
with the Spirit. Look what he says in chapter
6 and verse 17. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Pray
it always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. If a man have the Spirit of Christ,
if a man have the Holy Spirit of God, this third person of
the Blessed Trinity, he's a Christian. And if he doesn't have Him, I
don't care how good a moralist he is, all of his deeds of doing
good things and abstaining from evil things, it doesn't matter.
If he doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God,
he does not belong to Christ. He is not a Christian. This is why you and I are told
here in verse 30 of chapter 4 not to grieve Him. Don't grieve the
Holy Spirit of God. Our spiritual being, our spiritual
well-being, depends upon Him. It is totally upon Him. He is
to our souls and our well-being as sap is to a fruit tree. There is no fruit apart from
this Holy Spirit. It is not a matter of mere morality.
Well, I am just going to keep on doing this. I am not going
to lie. I am going to be telling the truth. Oh, it's more than that,
isn't it? It goes deeper than that. I have
some fruit trees down in my field. I have a bunch of apple trees.
And this time of year, the south goes down. And you look at those
trees and they're as barren as they can be. There's no leaves
on them. There's no apples on them. There's
no fruit on them. And there won't be until that
south comes back up and goes out into those limbs and causes
them to bud. and bring forth fruit. It's the
same way with the Spirit. We cannot have love, we cannot
have joy, we cannot have peace, we cannot bear fruit, except
He bear it through us. And that's what Paul is talking
about here. When David had committed that
awful sin with Bathsheba and committed murder, When the Lord
finally woke him up to that, he was so convicted in his conscience. He had lost his joy. He was doubtful. And here are some of the statements
that he made when he went to the Lord in prayer. He said,
O Lord, make me to hear joy. Make me to hear gladness that
the bones which you have broken may rejoice. And then he said
this, Lord, hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. And then he said this, create
in me a clean heart. His conscience felt defiled.
He had lost his joy. He had lost his confidence. And
he said this, he was concerned about this, cast me not away
from your presence. And right here, he hit the heart
of it. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Why had he lost his
joy? Why had he lost his confidence?
Why had he fallen into such doubts and fear? It had to do with the
Spirit of grace. It had to do with this Holy Spirit.
David said, Lord, I feel like you've taken him from me. I can't
even believe any longer. I can't walk humbly any longer.
I've lost my joy. I've lost my assurance. We can't
do anything, brothers and sisters. I know this for a fact, that
the Lord will never take His Holy Spirit from a believer.
He's sealed unto the day of redemption. But I tell you this, if we willingly
grieve Him, it may seem like He has. Because I tell you what
He does. Oh, He can hide His face. That's
what you read this morning, wasn't it? When the Lord gives peace,
who can cause trouble? But when He hides His face, who
can give peace? And that's what David was praying
for. And that's why Paul tells us here, don't grieve the Holy
Spirit. I mean to tell you, your life
depends upon Him. His work is just as essential
as the work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. His work
is in your soul. Don't grieve Him. And here He
reminds us in verse 30, as we walk as Christians, it's not
just a matter of do's and don'ts, though those things are absolutely
essential. The whole principle behind it
goes deeper than that. It's the Holy Spirit who is working
in us, leading us, enabling us, renewing us, giving us grace
to lay aside the weights and the sins of this old man with
his selfish attitude and his deeds and put on this new man
who is made in the very image of Christ. This is why he puts
it in here. And brothers and sisters, as
long as you and I are in this world, we're going to have this old
man to continue with. And the only one that can subdue
him is the Holy Spirit. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh. Therefore,
don't grieve him. He's on your side. The only way
this new man can walk and live and breathe and enjoy God is
by the aid and grace and presence of this Holy Spirit. Therefore,
do not grieve him. It is not about morality. It goes deeper than that. It
goes deeper than putting off and putting on. I will say this,
and I do not think you will misunderstand me when I say this. There is
no sense to run to Moses, perhaps. You can't find any help there.
He can tell you what to do and what not to do. He can tell you
to love God with all your heart. He can tell you, don't you steal,
don't kill, don't cut it. But I tell you what, He can't
give you any motive. He can't give you any grace.
He can't give you any power to live that life. The only one
who can do that is this blessed, holy Spirit of God. Grieve not
the Holy Spirit of God. And I'm anxious to share this
verse with you next week. And the Lord's willing, that's
what we'll do.