Imagine for a minute we are all living in a time, long ago. A time like the days of the cave man when we had no fire. We have no way to produce a great deal of warmth at night; we have no way to cook what we kill in the forest.
Someone has told that all we need to do is pray for it and it will come.
So we begin praying for special power to come that will meet this need to accomplish what we cannot.
There are some who say we don't need it, we'll just keep doing what we've been doing.
These are the ones we talked about last week. They RESIST.
There are others who make fun of those wanting to pray and mock the whole idea. They GRIEVE.
Regardless of all of this we begin to pray and the great power in the sky responds and lightning strikes a log and there is fire.
Everyone begins to marvel at the blaze and wonder at its power and then suddenly someone throws water on it, extinguishing the flame. They QUENCH.
There are mindsets and attitudes that can disrupt what the Holy Spirit wants to do. He wants to regenerate, indwell and empower, but some people resist Him altogether, some grieve Him, and others quench Him when He comes.
Last week we looked at the unpardonable sin [Resisting the Holy Spirit] and I told you that we would look at other sins we can commit against the Spirit of God, this week.
These sins are not as easily avoided, but thank God they can be forgiven and we can learn about them and grow to do better…
I. The Sin of Grieving the Spirit (turn to Ephesians 4:30)
1. The salvation of a believer is secure and eternal.
This is because the Holy Spirit of God has sealed him until His redemption is complete.
a. The Holy Spirit both reveals and maintains our salvation. In other words He gives evidence of our salvation and the work to maintain our salvation is His responsibility.
b. He joins Himself to the Believer, securing his/her soul, until the day we are delivered from sin forever and escorted into the eternal presence of God.
2. Paul wants us to see is that the Holy Spirit is our life-long companion.
He takes up residence in our bodies as His temple.
He goes where we go, joins our every activity, listens to our every word, and knows our every thought.
We need to be aware of the Sensitivity of the Holy Spirit
A. Paul draws attention to the fact that the Spirit is "Holy" and "of God."
a. Being Holy speaks of His character.
He is absolutely without sin. It is against His very nature to sin; so, sin in any form is disgusting and detestable to Him.
b. "Of God" speaks of his origin.
He was sent from God to dwell in the believer. He is not of this world and could never be a part of it in its present condition.
B. Because of the Spirit’s character and origin, He is grieved when a Christian sins or becomes a friend of the world.
When we look at the verses surrounding our text, we can see the lifestyle that the Christian should demonstrate is one that is distinctly different from the world and our former, unsaved condition.
• According to verse 25 the lifestyle of the believer should be characterized by honesty.
• According to Verses 26, 31-32 the believer’s lifestyle should demonstrate a forgiving attitude.
• According to verse 28 the lifestyle of the believer should be known for its unselfishness.
• According to verse 29 the lifestyle of the believer should be marked by encouragement.
If the Holy Spirit is not being allowed to transform your life – if you continue living in sin and hold tightly to your worldly attachments – the Spirit is grieved. Here’s something to think about, He rejoices when we submit to Him.
