Ephesians 4:25-32, Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit

turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4 as we continue our study in Paul's epistle tonight we're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 32 I'm entitled the message do not grieve the Holy Spirit in this particular chapter Paul has made a plea for the unity of the believers that is unity among the believers and purity in the believers heart as he's made that plea it becomes increasingly clear that sometimes we don't necessarily obey but Paul is going to make a conscientious effort to help us understand how Christ is willing to help us experience unity among ourselves and purity in our hearts so let's pray Heavenly Father we know that we don't always represent you in the most perfect way and so Heavenly Father we pray that by your holy spirit you would make us men and women who not only love you but love each other Lord we pray that we could listen carefully to the instructions and the admonitions that are given to us and then the opportunities that are afforded us as we seek to love you and to follow you in this thing called the Christian life and so Heavenly Father again I pray for each individual within the sound of my voice that Lord we would desire in our hearts to experience cleansing from sin and then empowering for service in Jesus name Amen Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 25 Paul writes therefore putting away lying let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another be angry and do not sin do not let the Sun go down on your wrath nor give place to the devil let him who stole steal no longer but rather let him labor working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give him who has need let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption let all bitterness wrath anger clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you in chapter 4 of Ephesians Paul has spoken of the greatness of the church in verses 1 through 6 the gifts in the church in verses 7 through 13 the growth in the church in verses 14 through 16 were reminded earlier that were saved by grace and our hearts Paul writes used to be dead and used to be dark and used to be hard but Christ has delivered us and he's given us a new life in verses 20 and 21 paul notes that we have been changed by Christ and then he challenges us to walk in this newness of life because with the new life must come a new look were to put off the old clothes the old dispositions the old desires the old directions that led us away from Christ and then were to put on a new disposition with new desires a new walk in a new direction you'll remember that were to put on the new man in verse 24 the old man was what we were before we came to Christ and the new man is who we are in Christ the new man was created by Christ and were given a new nature and in that new nature were given a new incorruptible life there there are two words in the Greek language that translate that the English word new Neos which means fresh or newly made but there are others like it the illustration that I would use is imagine you're in Detroit and you see a car coming off the assembly line but it's like every other car that has come off that assembly line the next word is kit que nos que nos is a word that means just made also but it also means there's nothing like it it's new and unique in verse 24 it says that and that you put on the new man that word new in verse 24 is that Greek word que nos ki n OS que nos it means new and unique that means there's none like it there's no other thing like it today I learned that one of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings silent I thought a mundi which means the savior of the world sold at auction today for 450 million dollars it's the most precious piece of art that has ever been sold that we're aware of Safa Torah Mundi is a picture of Jesus has been called the male Mona Lisa and there's nothing like it it is unique the new man in Christ is new and unique Paul has argued Jesus has made you new he this isn't a refurbished view this isn't a new and improved you this isn't like you got hit by the devil and they've towed you to the new garage where they give you a new paint job and they give you a new engine and they give you a new try drive training and they try and make you look like you used to be no they took Jesus takes everything and then he puts it in the trash and then he makes a brand new you not a new and improved version but this is what Paul means in second Corinthians 5:17 when he says that if any persons in Christ they're a new creation behold the old things have passed away behold everything has taken new or has been made new so when a believer trusts in Jesus believes the gospel Jesus creates a new person in righteousness and holiness we are born again spiritually the Bible teaches that we've been given a new and divine nature the Bible teaches that our old nature adam sinful and corruptible and impermanent is placed with something new that is incorruptible eternal and forever marked by righteousness and holiness and so we as Christians put off the wretched rags that used to be who we are and we put on new robes of righteousness so the Christian who retains his or her rags and goes around dressed inappropriately Paul is going to beg us to change how by telling us what's changed our tongue and our temper in verses twenty five and six our ability to deal with temptation in verse seven twenty seven we're not to grieve err or pain the Holy Spirit in verse 30 were sealed to the day of redemption were to strip away all bitterness and wrath and anger and quarreling an injurious speech and verse 31 and so were to put on the garments of kindness and tenderness and forgiveness in verse 32 and so he begins by telling us to tell the truth instead of longing and so in verse 25 he says so then putting away falsehood let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors for we are members of one another what Paul is doing in this particular passage is he's reaching into this amazing reservoir of understanding of the of the Old Testament remember Paul is a rabbi he is trained and educated as a rabbi he is completely familiar with the Old Testament documents and so in Paul's writing a line from Zechariah chapter 8 verse 16 floods his consciousness where it says in Zechariah 8 16 these are what you shall do speak each man the truth to his neighbor it says in Zechariah chapter 8 verse 16 so here he says okay putting away falsehood let us speak truth to our neighbor Paul didn't make this up this was already revealed in the Old Testament Paul begins with this issue of lying and do you want to know why because the ancient world had the same problem as the modern world lying seems to be a pervasive problem among the unregenerate in the old man we are born and we are raised and we are conditioned to play hard and fast with the truth we've all heard the joke how do you know when a lawyer is lying what's the answer his lips are moving you all know the answer and we can make front of our attorney friends but in moments of honesty we remember that it that lying isn't restricted to the lawyer it's not even restricted to the unregenerate it seems to be found everywhere and practiced by everyone when Isaiah received his vision from the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 5 you'll remember he has this vision of God he says in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord High and lifted up he has this vision of God and he has this vision of heaven and he has this vision of angels and in this vision of heaven and God and angels and the purity and the power and the majesty he is overwhelmed and he says I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts you never understand just how wicked you are until you look on pure holiness and righteousness and then all of a sudden the impurity that is our life and our heart and our lips comes to bear you know the government will render harsh punishments for citizens who lie on their tax returns but have you ever heard of a government official punishing himself because he lied to you you see there's a different standard isn't there has anyone ever said to you I want you to tell me the truth and then they practice deceit and there's something wounding and egregious about this what's really remarkable to me isn't that Paul asks us not to lie but then he asks us to tell the truth it's the reason that he gives that were to do this he says we're not to lie to each other but were to tell the truth to one another because we are members of one another if you're a kind of person who underlines your Bible you might want to underline that because the moment he says don't lie but tell the truth because we're members of one another but the truth is we don't always feel that way we don't feel like we're members of one another we feel like my life belongs to me and your life belongs to you and I get to do what I want to do and you get to do what you want to do we feel like somehow our lives belong simply to us Paul doesn't say the obvious he doesn't say please don't lie because God is a God of truth he doesn't say please don't lie because Satan is a liar and when we join the ranks of those who lie we throw in our lot with him does the Bible prohibit lying the answer is yes is Satan really the father of lies the answer is yes but Paul is giving us an entirely different motivation for honesty he's saying that we belong to each other he's in effect saying when you lie to each other you're not just harming yourself we're harming everyone around us because the Bible says we being many are one body joined and fit together remember Paul has been pleading for unity and he's been pleading for purity and we can't have unity or purity if in our hearts we practice deceit and then we shun the truth and this is really important because the moment in your mind that you say I don't need that person I don't want that person I don't need them and I don't want them you give yourself permission to perhaps practice deceit because in the deceitfulness of our own heart we come to the false conclusion that it doesn't matter if they get hurt just so long as I'm still protected and so Paul says in order to really have unity in our fellowship in order to really have purity in our hearts we have to become a people who care about one another and to vow you honesty and then he says be angry and don't sin look what it says in verse 26 be angry but do not sin do not let the Sun go down on your anger the second thing Paul mentions after deceit and lying his anger Paul doesn't say oh by the way don't ever get angry aren't you glad he wrote be angry but don't sin because there's a reason why he's writing that let me help you think it through did God make you did God make you with a full complement of emotions did he make you with the emotional capacity to experience anger why do you suppose he did that why did God give you that particular emotion there's all kinds of emotions that he gave you compassion and mercy and sympathy and sensitivity why did he give you that particular emotion he gave you that particular emotion because anger has been given to you so that you could experience enough emotional wherewithal so that when you see a problem you can tear up that problem it's supposed to give you enough energy in order to solve the problem but we typically wind up doing one of two wrong and sinful things we either clam up we did angry we go and do you know what happens when you shut down internally you experience depression so one way that human beings deal with their anger is they clam up another way that human beings deal with their anger is they blow up you've heard of the pig I just can't stop it inside of me I can't pretend like I'm not experiencing whatever it is that I'm experiencing so some people clam up which leads to depression some people blow up which leads to lost relationships and the Bible's admonition is don't clam up and don't blow up but grow up grow up Paul is using the word for anger that means it's a momentary outward boiling over it's it's it's not this isn't the momentary outward outburst of rage this is that inward seething slow resentment that that that that all of a sudden begins to occupy your heart and so when Paul says be angry but don't sin it must mean that there is a kind of anger that isn't sinful there must be the kind of anger that motivates you to solve the problem but what we typically do is we don't get angry at the problem we get angry with each other you know my problem is you're my problem and we think our problem will go away when you go away but we have to define the problem in terms of the goal what does God want unity what does God want purity how are we gonna have unity and purity if we keep trying to get rid of each other through anger and so Paul is going to provide a special grouping of attitudes that's going to address this issue of unresolved anger and verse 31 he's gonna dare talk about malice and wrath and it's interesting to me Paul doesn't say do not let the Sun go down on your malice or do not let the Sun go down on your wrath he says don't let the Sun go down on your anger why because anger when it's ignored anger when it's not dealt with anger when it's left overnight anger when it's left to stew and simmer inside of our heart quickly becomes bitterness and resentment and malice in Titus chapter 3 verse 3 Paul writes for we ourselves were also once foolish and disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures living in malice and in in the unquote we used to be people who would get angry but not in a way that honors God and pleases God you know how you can tell the difference between anger and malice malice is when a person says maybe now they'll know how I feel if that's happens to slip out of your mouth it's gone from that place of anger to a place of malice because an anger it includes this malice this issue of malice includes clamming up wrath includes blowin up and God doesn't want us to again clam up or blow up God wants us to grow up this doesn't mean we ignore problems this doesn't mean that we don't say that there are issues that need to be resolved but we have to remember what Jesus said jesus said you've heard it said of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment and whoever says to his brother raca which means fool it means empty minded it means empty-headed if we were to have an idiomatic translation of that word it would be airhead because when you call a person airhead you're basically implying that they're incapable of thinking through to a resolution of the problem and he says but whoever says you fool shall be in danger of Hell fool here means it's an accusation of conscience it means you're accusing a person of having no moral ability to turn from whatever it is that that you need to turn from that's in Matthew chapter 5 verse 21 and 22 so there's a kind of anger that Jesus places in the same category as murder and jesus knew that murder begins in the heart just like deceit is in the heart and you'll notice something when Paul says don't lie but tell the truth he basically also says be angry but don't sin and then in verse 27 he says and do not make room for the devil think for just a moment pause for just a moment Paul touches on our tongue then he touches on our temper then he touches on the tempter I'm gonna guess that 99% of your problems will go away if you've dealt with your mouth if you've dealt with your heart and you've dealt with the devil one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to keep us safe and secure part of the Holy Spirit's job is to help you with your mouth and with your heart remember what I've repeatedly said to you you have three great enemies the world the flesh and the devil you have three great champions the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit the father has over Jesus has overcome this world the Holy Spirit lives inside of you so that this issue of the flesh could be dealt with and the father has overcome the world the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit worked in tandem together in order to deal with the world and the flesh and the devil so when Paul says make no room for the devil elsewhere James in chapter 4 verse 7 says submit to God resist the devil and he will flee both James and Paul tell us that we don't want to give Satan advantage the Holy Spirit helps us in the weakness of our flesh the Holy Spirit helps us in the wickedness of this world the Holy Spirit helps us with the wiles of the devil but we too must offer resistance we're not supposed to make the Holy Spirit's job more difficult I'm sure I was trying to think of the famous playwright I think it was Oscar Wilde who said I always respond to temptation in one way by giving in because that's what you do as an unbeliever that's what you do in the world when you're faced with temptation as an unbeliever you go ok I'm gonna give in you never realize just how easy it was until you got saved did you notice that the moment that you got saved and Jesus became an important part of your life and now all of a sudden you get tempted and you go you know the Bible says I'm not supposed to do that I'm not supposed to think that I'm not supposed to say that we could translate this leave no room or give no foothold for the devil don't allow him an opportunity lies and anger provide fertile soil for the enemy to grow his garden inside of your heart do you understand what I just said the moment that you give place to lies and give place to unresolved anger you are inviting Satan to come and challenge you if you want to do the devil a favor lie if you want to do the devil a favor don't deal with your anger do something else make excuses for your anger make excuses why you deserve to stay mad make excuses why you don't have to be completely honest Jesus told the religious leaders you're of your father the devil and the desires of the of your father you want to do he was a murderer from the beginning and doesn't stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources because he's a liar and the father of it unquote in John chapter 8 verse 44 and so Paul says stop lying tell the truth and now he says stop stealing and worked instead in verse 8 look what it says in verse 28 let him who stole steal no longer but rather let him labor working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give to those who are a need the Greek word for steal is a word that all of you know even though you may not know it right here in the consciousness at this very moment but the soon as I say the word steal in the Greek language you're gonna know it klepto you all laugh because you go I know that word klepto what's the word wit that we use in our popular culture klepto maniac a person who has this compulsion to steal so what does the Bible say if you have compulsion to steal years of therapy in-depth counseling now don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting that there aren't times when you need help and you need encouragement and you need insight but the solution to this problem of the heart according to God isn't to just simply go to counseling it's to stop stealing and start working but it's even more than that it's even more than that it's to work in order to help others in need our Kent Hughes tells the story of a preacher named dr. Roland Hill dr. hill had this unfortunate experience where he was robbed at point I don't know if you've ever been robbed at gunpoint but it is a frightening situation there's few things more scary in your life than when a person has a gun pointed at you and they all they have to do to change your life forever is just to pull that trigger and everything's gonna be different everything's gonna be changed when that happened to dr. Rowland Hill he he basically set or to dr. Roland or dr. Roland Hill he said to the man you don't have to do this you can put the gun away as a matter of fact if you don't do this and you put the gun away I'll give you gainful employment and you know what happened the guy did exactly that he put the gun away dr. hill hired him he became a faithful and the diligent employee and not only did it was he faithful and diligent but he heard the gospel and as he heard the gospel he was saved he was born again he became a changed person and when it came time for his funeral dr. hill was presiding over his funeral and talked about this incredible change that took place can you imagine going from this place in your life to that place in your life particularly if you've ever been challenged to think I can I change can i really be different particularly if you've led a lifestyle that was entrenched and deceit then entrenched and theft in the first century times were really hard and so it wasn't unusual for slaves to steal from their masters so Paul warns against stealing or pilfering he says show integrity in Titus chapter 2 verse 13 and people engage in petty larceny and pilfering all the while thinking that no one's ever gonna miss it the business isn't going to miss it no one really cares we forget that Judas didn't start his life as a thief he didn't begin the ministry go thinking you know it I'm gonna be a thief and I'm gonna just steal from the rest of the apostles Judis went on a journey he believed Satan's lies and then he became angry and then he became disillusioned with Jesus so what about the problem of theft well there was a study conducted and presented the American Psychological Association on employee theft in the marketplace that revealed some eight billion dollars a year are lost through petty pilfering the breakdown included losses to clerical errors that was 10% shoplifting by outsiders 30% employee theft 60% think about that for just a moment if you work at Target or Walmart in other words twice as much things are stolen by the employees and so for those who can it's God's will for you to work paul says work with your hands that which is good the word here for good is Agathis it means good and quality it means with an attention to detail so Agatha's here is do great work fine work do work that you should be able to be proud on and when it when it's using the term work what is good the implication is that it isn't harmful in other words have a job where you don't hurt people where you don't take advantage of people where you cause harm to other people our work shouldn't hurt people our work should help people and so when he says work with your own hands Paul isn't saying well what if you have a job where you have to use your head what if you have a job where you have to use your mind instead of your hands and fee he doesn't mean that you have to do manual labor what he means is that each worker is responsible for his or her own work you work and then you take responsibility for what it is that you need to do and then he says speak what is good instead of what is rotten in verse 29 look what it says let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification are building up that it may impart grace to the hearers stop lying tell the truth stop stealing start working don't say bad things say good things are you starting to see the pattern of the practical implications of what Paul is saying Paul isn't saying stop lying and you'll you know you're like an Italian person sitting on their hands okay now I can talk again it's not good enough to stop doing something you have to start doing something different the word corrupt could be translated unwholesome let no corrupt word proceed out of your word out of your mouth the word is SAP Ross corrupt it's a word that meant rotten spoiled have you ever come across food that started to mold and deteriorate have you have you ever been in a bachelor's refrigerator and you see stuff growing on on whatever food they have on inside of it that's what he's talking about he's talking about something that's moldy that's spoiled that's rotten it's something that that may have started off just fine but now it's experiencing the consequences of decay hence rotten or foul this would certainly include coarse language or what we would call dirty language in other words this is language that includes filthy jokes and lewd comments and unwholesome language do you know what's more gross then biting into an apple and finding a worm that's right finding half a worm and you know why now and that's exactly the illustration here filthy language should be as attractive as biting into a big red juicy Apple that's full of maggots yeah you should go gross exactly you see the tongue can only say what the heart gives it to say that's why the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Paul wants us to speak in such a way that we build each other up instead of tear each other down in other words when he that's the meaning of what is good and necessary for edification and for grace for the here Paul seems to be saying speak what is good and wholesome and let me be clear here because I think the text indicates it for that moment say what is good and wholesome and appropriate for that moment and you might think okay here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna remember the first part of this message and I'm gonna tell the truth yes the Bible says tell the truth but you can tell the truth in such a way absent grace absent love absent compassion that you hurt people well what does it you know child a truth or not tell the truth the Bible makes it abundantly clear I'm not suggesting that we employ lies or that we refrain from telling the truth in order to spare somebody's feelings I'm saying that a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and settings of silver Paul isn't advocating the raw and insensitive words that are meant to wound rather than heal we have to find a way to tell the truth in a way that's motivated by love that has as its end goal the process of making things better instead of worse I'm reminded of a slave in the ancient world it was his practice to take a small amount of poison every single day and he would take more and more and then he would increase the dosage of the poison so that it was said that when he opened his mouth he would wither the person that he spoke to I think that that's what we do when we speak in such a way that were finding it more and more easy to tear people down instead of build them up it was said of Augustan that he hung a motto in his dining room that read he who speaks evil of an absent man or woman is not welcome at this table unquote years ago I learned the habit when a person says something that's very very unkind that may even still be true to say can I quote you on that because consider the source it wasn't too long ago that a person I was making a comment about a particular person's doctrinal position and my friend and he is a good friend he said to me I know this person do you realize that this person would never ever ever say anything unkind about you and guess what I'm not saying that we abandoned good doctrine in order to spare people's feelings but again I've been reminded over and over and over again to try to be kind to be gracious in my speech and so he talks about grace instead of grief look what it says in verse 30 do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption now this is important because when Paul brings this to a head and he says don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God think about what's going on in the text are there times in our life where we play hard and fast with the truth because we want to spare someone's feelings I think that that's true do we really want to hurt somebody hopefully we don't does God care about I how I feel I think that the answer is yes but Paul also wants us to know about how God feels and so when he says do not grieve the Holy Spirit what does that mean what does it mean to grieve or pain the Holy Spirit of God we understand that all sin is Grievous but sin and the children of God is especially Grievous in what way we find it hard to imagine the invisible Holy Spirit weeping over our sin we find it easy to imagine a father's disappointment we find it easy to imagine a mother's tears we find it easy to imagine a friend's disapproval but when we lie when we fail to tell the truth when we steal when we act out an anger in ways that are dishonouring to God we grieve the Holy Spirit of God and you'll note that these things seem tied again to issues of the tongue and issues of the heart the word grieved interestingly enough is in the active voice and it means to cause saw arrow or pain we know that the Holy Spirit can be resisted in Acts chapter 7 verse 51 this was a sin that's reserved for the unbeliever only the unbeliever is supposed to be able to resist the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit comes to you and says I want you to believe the truth about Jesus I want you to believe that he loves you and that he died for you I want you to believe that his sacrifice on the cross will save you from sin and keep you from going to hell and give you heaven as a permanent solution to the problem in your heart the unbeliever says no no no the unbeliever resists the Holy Spirit we also know that the Holy Spirit can be blaspheme this also is a sin that seems to be reserved for the unbeliever but I suspect is also linked to the person who repeatedly hears the gospel who repeatedly resists the Holy Spirit who refuses the Holy Spirit's convict for conviction and confession concerning Christ this is the sin where the religious leaders see Jesus they see his miracles they see blind eyes open and deaf ears here they see the lame walk they see the Dead come back to life and the religious leader says he's doing this by the power of Satan by the way if you believe that Jesus is a dupe or a pawn of Satan if you believe that Jesus is a demonically infested satanically motivated being can you trust him as your Savior is it possible for you to believe that he can forgive your sin and give you eternal life the Holy Spirit can be quenched in 1st Thessalonians 5:19 the Bible says do not quench the Holy Spirit and this seems to be a sin that's reserved for the church when we quench the spirit of God we for Fayette fit the power of God and the blessing of God how in the world do we quench the Holy Spirit when we refuse to believe our we don't allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of conviction I've repeatedly said to you if I can talk you into accepting Christ as your Savior someone more clever than me can talk you out of it in order for a person to be truly saved in order for a person to be truly born again they have to be convicted by the Holy Spirit they have to be called by the Holy Spirit there has to be a knocking on the door of their heart a recognition of their own sin and their need for a savior we quench the Holy Spirit when we try to do the Holy Spirit's job the Holy Spirit can be resisted blaspheme quenched grieved whatever else that means it means that the Holy Spirit is a person you see that word grieved is a love word that's what John Phillips writes only believers can grieve the Holy Spirit John Phillips says quote the word grieved is a love word you cannot grieve someone who does not love you you might annoy that person you might upset that person you might infuriate that person you might disappoint him but you can't grieve him you can only grieve someone who loves you you can grieve the Holy Spirit how again when we allow our mouths to be dominated by the old life and our hearts with the old life how do we grieve the Holy Spirit when we're contrary to the Word of God or the will of God when we think or act in a way that's contrary to the character of Christ which is the fruit of the Spirit and so there's a reason why the Holy Spirit's called the Holy Spirit he's holy Paul commands do not grieve the Holy Spirit why there's several reasons not least of which is who he is he's God the third person of the Trinity He is God and what does he do it's the Holy Spirit who seals you to the day of redemption that's the reason that Paul notes here Paul's already told the Ephesians that the Holy Spirit is our down payment our earnest our inheritance your do you remember in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 where we learned that the Holy Spirit has been placed inside of heart our hearts and been given to us as a kind of downpayment of a future full reception that we're going to receive seals by the way we're given in the ancient world to indicate ownership or possession you are sealed by the Holy Spirit which is an indication that you are owned by the Holy Spirit Paul will later write you haven't been purchased with something as insignificant as gold or silver you've been purchased with the blood of the Lamb you've been purchased by God by Christ by his sacrifice you have been bought back from the world of slavery that you once were involved with and so the Holy Spirit regenerates the believing sinner into Titus chapter three verse five and you'll remember in John chapter three verses 5 through 7 where Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus and he says remember you must be born again you've got to be born from on high he tells Nicodemus you must be born again not as you first came into life but you must be born of spirit from a dark world into light and then he reminds us that you'll see the cross of Calvary where Jesus died for you and it's in that very context the G that he says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him wouldn't perish but have everlasting life the Holy Spirit indwells the believer the Holy Spirit fills us in Acts chapter 2 verse 4 conforms us into the image of Jesus in 2nd Corinthians 3:18 strengthens us in our new nature in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 16 the Holy Spirit reveals truth to us in 1st Corinthians 2:10 the Holy Spirit then fills our mind and fills our heart and then fills our words at exactly the moment that we need him to in mark 13 11 Jesus says but when they arrest you and deliver you don't worry beforehand or premeditate what you're going to say but whatever is given to you in that hour speak it for it is not you who speak it is the Holy Spirit Jesus invites us to not freak out and panic when we're placed in the most difficult of situations jesus said you know what I'll give you the Spirit of God which will fill your heart which will fill your mouth so that you'll have exactly the right thing to say instead of grieving the Spirit we allow grace to fill our heart and so what does the Holy Spirit expect from us and what should we expect from each other liquid Paul writes in verse 31 let all bitterness wrath anger clamor evil speaking be put away from you with all malice he gives a short summary we take off the old garments we abandoned dare I say it our dirty diapers we put on the garments that make us christ-followers Paul peeks in to our dirty diaper and sees bitterness wrath anger evil speaking now think about this moms how many of us would throw away the baby when the diaper is soiled you're not a good mom if you do you throw away the diaper you don't throw away the baby and so you're wrong if you think that God throws you away when your diapers get full Paul invites us to change our diaper put on a clean diaper he says let all bitterness wrath anger clamor e evil speaking be put away this is the settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man according to Warren where's me and I love that this is the settled hostility bitterness sets in when someone hurts you you hurt me you injures you you hurt me you injured me and then where do we go from there it's a failure to forgive this is the spirit of irritability which leads to a venomous resentment this is the spirit that says you hurt me and I'm not going to forgive you and I'm not going to be reconciled with you and then the bitterness begins to cloud your thinking and your heart and your judgment he says put that away wrath is this explosive anger which we briefly touched on when we talked about about anger earlier this is the wild rage that's the passion for the moment this is when all of a sudden you erupt and think about again the challenge of what we're reading almost invariably leads to wrath that seething resentment will all of a sudden manifest itself in that bitter explosive venting this is the kind of anger that blows up and then blows by as quickly as the the blow up takes place then it just calms down but it's still a violent path of destruction you know it's like I'm imagine a hurricane that comes at you and destroys everything in its path and then it's gone and then it's calm and all you see are the ruination of what it left behind evil speaking this is the Greek word blasphemy ax it literally means to blasphemy or slander these are the words that injure this word evil speaking I think in our language it is a reference to something that that you and I when we would if someone has ever used the term with you abusive language abusive language is the kind of language that tears down and rips apart this is the same word that's used in the Gospels to describe the abuse of language of the mocking multitudes and Mark's Gospel it's chapter 15 verse 29 where Jesus is hanging from the cross and the crowd say to him you saved others save yourself it's the revealing that's spoken of in that passage it's the same word malice is the greek word kochia which is usual word for depravity it means a vicious disposition this is the deep-seated evil hatred that serves as the root of all of the rest of the manifestations this is the emotion that gives you the courage to deliberately hurt someone and Paul says these are the things that can no longer be a part of your life instead be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as Christ forgave you we put off the old garment we put on the new garment we put on those things that make for grace instead of grudges how could we do less Paul writes Wiest translates this verse where it says and be kind to one another in the original language it actually says and becoming kind do you know why I take great hope in that single sentence and becoming kind it's because there's been times in my life where I was less than kind less than kind not kind and so we think to ourselves will I ever be kind will I ever be tender-hearted will I ever be forgiving and Paul in the text gives us at least a little wiggle room in what way and becoming kind in what way I'm not as kind as I could be I'm not as kind as I should be becoming kind adding to kindness instead of subtracting adding grace adding kindness these are the tools to change the baby's diaper how can we change how can we be become kind how can we experience this radical revolution of heart how can we and learn and change it's the Holy Spirit in us growing us changing us we put off the dirty diaper we put on the new diaper remember put on doesn't mean pretend okay I'm gonna just I'm gonna pretend to be kind I'm gonna pretend to be tender I'm gonna pretend to forgive that's not what he's talking about putting on isn't putting on a pretense it is putting off the pretense and putting on kindness this is this is the willingness to act with generosity in love in what way in the same way that God acted in generosity and love towards you and towards me so Paul says be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as cry God in Christ has forgiven you God has been kind to you how he acted with generosity and love God has been tender with you tenderness here's sensitivity and sympathy to the needs of others forgiveness means we extend to others grace and mercy who do we give grace and mercy to those who need it those who need it let me ask you a question did you need God's grace and mercy in your life Paul says God's giving you grace and mercy you can extend it to others I can hear your voice go ahead just be quiet for a second I'm gonna try and listen to your thoughts why should I why should I because this is the way Jesus has dealt with you God's made a way to be kind to you the Bible says it's just kindness that leads us to repentance it's his tenderness and forgiveness before you ever existed before you ever came into being before you drew your first breath before you ever had your first dirty diaper he made a way to change you to give you a new set of clothes before you ever knew the meaning of the words injury sin rebellion before those words or those deeds ever became a part of your life there was heavenly Pampers that were made just for you so how do we grieve the Holy Spirit we lie we lash out we steal we use harmful and hurtful language Lewis Sperry chafer in his book he that a spiritual identifies the key activity of truly spiritual people he writes quote they avoid grieving the Holy Spirit you need to hear the rest of the sentence by confessing their sins to God do you want to avoid grieving the Holy Spirit the best way to do that is to say I've had a issue with this or with that if you've ever been trapped if you've ever been tripped up by any of the things that Paul talks about in this passage we're given a provision in first John 1:9 rumour says and confess your sin and he is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness Lord I've been having a problem with my mouth I've been having a problem with my words I've been having a problem with my deeds what's your problem lying tell the truth stealing start working bitter words come up with a new set of words that are informed in your heart and now all of a sudden we begin to see what Paul is doing remember over and over again I need you to experience unity oh we want that I need you to experience purity oh I want that how do we have unity as a church it's found in Christ how do we have purity in our heart it's by putting in our heart the things that make for holiness godliness and righteousness here's Paul's point you can change you could be different let's pray Heavenly Father Lord thank you for your love thank you for your grace thank you for your your mercy thank you Lord for kindness Lord we pray that we would not just be simply content to thank you for kindness and tenderness and forgiveness but Lord we would want to give what's been given to us that Lord we would not withhold it has not been withheld from us and so Lord again we thank you that you've given us permission that we can put off what's old we can put on what's new and that you've given us permission that we can do this not just simply because it's right but because we need each other because unity is important to you and purity is important to you in Jesus name Amen but stand

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 4,693

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Grieving the Holy Spirit

Id: DBCiwBz1W54

Length: 66min 32sec (3992 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 16 2017