Pause Before You Act (Part 5) Series

Please note that, while this sermon may be preached in stand-alone fashion, it is part of a series. You may wish to take a look at the first three sermons. Especially helpful would be sermon one which lays the foundation. Also, there is a companion sermon called THINK Before You Speak.

V. E – Effect

Have I thought through the effect(s) that will result from my action?

A. Have I Considered the Effect Upon My Savior? (Ps. 78:40-42; Titus 2:14; Eph. 4:30; John 11:35; Rev. 5:6; 1 Thess. 2:11-12)

Psalm 78:40-42 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.

John 11:35 Jesus wept. (There are things that grieve the Savior.)

• Christ died for the church.

• And He had a purpose in mind when He did so!

Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

• He loves the church!

• Christ loves his children.

• How it must break his heart when they fight.

ILLUS: No greater grief for a parent than children that do not like each other, are at odds against one another or actively try to avoid or to hurt their brother or sister.

• He has provided Salvation

• He has provided the Spirit

• He has provided the Scriptures

• And He must look down and wonder if we are using any of these gifts?

• He must marvel that we go back and live after the old nature.

Ephesians 4:25-32 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 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. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30 (AMP) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).

QUOTE: The Greek has it, "And stop grieving the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God." Expositors says: "This is not a general exhortation, but one bearing, as the ’and’ indicates, particularly on the preceding injunction. [Handout Quote Begins Here] The utterance of evil or worthless words is repugnant to the holiness of the Spirit, and is to be refrained from as calculated to grieve Him. Word Studies in the Greek New Testament

ILLUS: Revelation tells us that the eternal 2nd Person of the Trinity is pictured as a Lamb. He is a Lion to the sinner, but a lamb to the saint. And He is pictured not merely as a lamb, but as a lamb slain!

Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

I would take that to mean that the prints of the nails are visible in His hands. The wound in his side is visible. The piercings of His feet are visible. The scars from the crown of thorns are visible. As he looks down at me, and then back to the scars, I don’t want Him to wonder if His sacrifice was worth it!

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 [The Apostle Paul wrote] As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

When I sin against my brother, I grieve the heart of my God!