Revival In The Holy Spirit

I want to share one verse with you tonight. It is a short verse, but I think it might be among the most important verses found in the New Testament.

EPHESIANS 4:30 –

‘And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption.’

We are told in the Word of God not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Many Christians ask, “What is the Holy Spirit?” Let’s get something straight before we go on. The question should not be “What is the Holy Spirit?” it should be “Who is the Holy Spirit?”

I want to talk to you about the Holy Spirit.

1. IF HE CAN BE GRIEVED – HE MUST BE A PERSON

The Holy Spirit is a person. He is one of the Trinity; one of the God head. He is God’s sweet Spirit, sent to lead us, guide us, and comfort us as we walk through this sinful world in which we are no longer citizens.

And, we are told not to grieve Him.

How many of us have never thought of the Holy Spirit in a personal or intimate kind of way? I think that would be most Christians. It is true that different religions teach different things about the Holy Spirit, and some religions avoid the subject altogether. For instance some say He is nothing more than a force which comes from God.

And, one example of a religion that rarely teaches on Him at all is our churches; the non-denomination Christian churches in America. How many in-depth studies, or full sermons have you heard about the Holy Spirit in the last ten years? In most probability, very few.

Let’s take the story of Ananias and Sapphiras in the 5th chapter of ACTS. Ananias sold some of his possessions and brought the money to Peter. He kept part of it for himself, but when he gave the other part to Peter, Ananias lied and said that was all of it. Peter told Ananias that he was lying to the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit were just a force, or a concept in somebody’s mind, you could not lie to it, could you? It is impossible to lie to inanimate objects such as a baseball glove, a fishing pole, or anything else that is lifeless.

So when Peter says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, it proves that the Holy Spirit is not just a force that comes from God. The Holy Spirit is a person who has feelings and whose feelings can be offended by being lied to.

Paul treats the Holy Spirit as someone who has feelings. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

Trees aren’t sad when one of their limbs are cut, and cars don’t get upset when their tires go flat. “Things” don’t grieve. People grieve. Understand this very clearly: The Holy Spirit is as much a person as Jesus Christ is. The Holy Spirit is the part of the Godhead that convicts us of our sins, and comforts us as we walk through this sinful world.

In MATTHEW 28:19 it tells us to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Notice that the word ‘name’ is singular. It is not plural. The Holy Spirit is as much a part of God as Jesus Christ is, and He is just as real.

2. IF HE GRIEVES, HE CAN BE HURT

I mentioned that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. That is part of His job. He takes people who are dead in their sins; those who are blind to the grace of God, and He turns them into children of God.

He does this by bringing them to believe in Jesus Christ, the One who offered His life out of love for those who would hate Him. The Holy Spirit lets us know that Jesus was a sacrificial offering that covered our sins under His blood. Without the Holy Spirit, we would never realize that, and we would be lost forevermore.

But that is just the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s work. Once we are converted, He must help us get our homes in order; to work on our sinful attitudes; and to awaken our need for salvation. He begins a process that replaces the trash of earth with the treasures of Heaven.

And Paul said,

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit….”

God bought us at a tremendous price. That price was the life of His only Son. That was what it cost to redeem us. And since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down as a rushing wind with tongues of fire, He has been working in us night and day to make us a new person from the inside out.