I'm just going to be speaking to you on one verse, and that is verse 30, but I'll begin reading what I do at verse 17 and read to verse 32. I want to try to bring to your attention this phrase, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit, which is perhaps one of the most important messages that I've ever preached in certain ways. because it tells us so much about God, first of all, but it also tells us much about our own heart and mind and the way that we live our life before God. So let's bow together for prayer before I begin with you. Father, thank you for this amazing book of Ephesians that Paul wrote by your spirit, your good spirit, so many years ago, which still has great pertinence and relevance to us here today. And we pray to be able to glean much truth from this one verse and take it to heart so that we would live to your glory, walk more closely with you, live by faith, be enamored with your love and care over our lives, and be fruitful and profitable servants in your sight. So give us grace to that end as we hear this message. May we not refuse it, but may we receive it. In your dear name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Ephesians 4, starting in verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, but you have not so learned Christ. if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness, therefore putting away lying, Let each 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, or 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, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Well, the words, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit, come immediately after Paul's having told us what we as Christians should put away after we come to faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 25 says that we are to put away lying and we are to speak truth with our neighbor because we are members of one another. Verse 26 says that we should be angry when we see sin, but we ourselves should not sin when we have that anger. And you are not to let the sun, it says here, go down on your anger. In other words, the simple things that you once did before you came to Christ are the very things that you need to repent of and stop doing. Whether it's stealing or corrupt words coming out of your mouth, you're gonna put those things away. You will put them away and you will put them off. like old clothes. You will then clothe yourself with Christ. You put him on. You clothe yourself in his teaching and in his example, for he is the perfectly righteous and holy one. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ and you make no provision for the flesh, as Paul says in Romans chapter 14, verse 13. Christ is the one who you put on so that you will make progress in holiness, righteousness, and truth. Here in verse 30, however, we find a statement which we need to come to terms with in relation to the way that we live our life, our Christian life. Paul tells us, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed. to the day of redemption or for the day of redemption. So I want to approach this subject, first of all, by attempting to define what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit. And then second, I want to show you why you should not grieve the Holy Spirit. So let's now pray to receive this teaching. First of all, let me attempt to define what it means that the Holy Spirit is grieved. A concise definition of what it means for God the Holy Spirit to be grieved in relation to believers is this. It is when, as he examines your thoughts, your speech, or your conduct as a believer, that it reveals to him an unwillingness to change and to repent of any sin in your heart, your mind, or your life. In other words, there is an unwillingness in you to bring yourself by his grace to the place where you will do God's will. This grieves him. For instance, every Christian ought to be able at any time in their experience to pray the prayer of David in Psalm 139, 23, and 24, search me. Oh God, and know my heart and try me and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. If you cannot pray that prayer, then it will be much easier for you to grieve the Holy Spirit and not even know that you are grieving him. We find another good example of praying in the right way written down for us by David in Psalm 19, verses 12 to 14. David says, who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength. and my Redeemer. Now you will notice that we ourselves, according to these verses that I just read to you, cannot understand our own errors in the way that the Holy Spirit understands them perfectly. And so we pray that he would help us to understand, that he would cleanse us from our secret faults and secret sins. But David also asks to be kept back, not only from secret faults and sins, but from presumptuous sins which might break out in his speech and his conduct. If you do not pray in this way, it may be that you are guilty of grieving. the Holy Spirit. You may say to me that you believe that there is a sense in which the Holy Spirit cannot be grieved, for he is God. And he, like the other persons of the divine trinity, are impassable in their great being. You say that God does not have feelings and affections like a man that ebb and flow and are affected essentially by anything. that any man does, that is most certainly true. God is that great. That in his being, that he is above all that any man can do to him to get him to change. He is that strong in his being that he does not have passions. He does not have passions or griefs. because he is unchangeable in his being, and there is nothing that he cannot do to change persons or to rectify situations where he is grieved. Now we can see this scripturally, if you will turn over with me to Job, the book of Job, chapter 35, and I wanna read for you verses one to eight. It says here, Moreover Elihu answered and said, do you think this is right? Do you say my righteousness is more than God's? For you say, what advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have more than if I had sinned? I will answer you and your companions with you. Look to the heavens and see and behold the clouds, they are higher than you. If you sin, what do you accomplish against him? Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects a man such as you, and your righteousness a son of man." So we see here that God is unaffected, essentially, in his being as regards Job's righteousness or wickedness, and yet he perfectly considers Job. Now we know from the end of the book that God loved him, that he pitied Job even boasted of Job before the devil at the beginning of the book. So these are God's divine affections that are being displayed. He said to the devil, God did, that he was well pleased with Job, that Job was a righteous man, that he feared God and he was turning away from evil, Job 1.8. The only way that Job grieved God During the trial that he went through was that he did not correctly see God's love, his pity, or his care for him in the trial that he was going through that was ordained for him by God. And he tried too hard to justify himself, his own righteousness, more than God. He mistook Satan's attacks upon him for God's having done these things. And therefore he thought that God had become his enemy. So we need to understand that this word grief is like so many descriptions of the affections of God in the Bible is what theologians and others called anthropopathism. It's God's letting us know in language that we can understand that he is affected. by what we are doing. He does take notice of it, but he does not take notice of it in a way in which he himself actually changes. Now, what we do in our sins does not actually grieve him like a man would grieve or hurt him in his being so that he is in anguish over it and can do nothing about it. But rather when God grieves over the sinful things that we do, he does so in a way of letting us know by his spirit that what we are doing is not right. He's not pleased with it. And so by his spirit, he interacts with our spirit to communicate to our mind and conscience that displeasure in a way that we ourselves will, with our human emotions, feel grief over it. He causes us to know and understand how our committing a sin or continuing on in the practice of any sin, it dishonors him and his great love for us. In other words, there are in God affections which are described in the Bible as grief and pity, and yes, even love and wrath in him which he really feels. But even though these are held perfectly and unchangeably in him, when he exhibits them, it is because of this that we know he does love us when we obey him. And on the other hand, we can come to know that he's grieved and that there's something wrong with us. The spirit does let us know through the scriptures and his working that there is something which will require his grace to make us over into the holy and righteous people that we should be. And I want you to turn with me over to Genesis chapter 6, and we will see an example. An example of how God really does grieve over the sins of men. Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 to 8. Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them. that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves, of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh. Yet his days shall be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days. And also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men who were of old men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So there are, if you will notice, two words which present difficulties to our understanding if we are to take them simply at face value without trying to understand them in the way that I have described to you above as anthropopathisms. They are the words sorry and grieved. God was sorry. that he had made man and it repented him that he had made man, it says in the King James. Now for God to be sorry about anything that he has made or done would be inconsistent with his perfections of wisdom and omniscience, that somehow he had made a mistake concerning his having created man, but God is not a man that he should lie. nor the son of man that he should repent, as it says in Numbers 23, verse 19. So we should understand this word sorry, not in terms of God's rethinking what he had purposed to do in his creation of man, but of his purposing in providence to deal with that whole generation of people in the world, except for Noah and his family, according to the hardness of their hearts. That is in strict justice. He gave them 120 years to repent in connection with the preaching of Noah to them. And then he destroyed them all. So his being grieved, that word in particular, should be understood in relation to his extreme displeasure. an actual affection of divine grief, of sadness and sorrow, which is unchangeable in his being toward every sin of every unrepentant sinner. And this grief implies no change in him at all, either in his being or his eternal purpose, but nevertheless, it is there. in his holy mind and heart. God was grieved in his heart, it says here. And we see this same kind of language used in regard to God's anger in Psalm 7, verse 11. God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day. In other words, This is a fixed eternal attribute of God's being that he is angry with the wicked, not only every day, but all throughout eternity as well. And yet in terms of the wicked here upon the earth at this time, we find that Jesus says in Matthew chapter five, verse 45, that he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good. And He is merciful. He is kind to the unthankful and evil. And therefore we are to be merciful, just as our Father is also merciful. Now, secondly, I want to show you the reason why you should not grieve the Holy Spirit. It's because as it says here in verse 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So we should notice that the Holy Spirit is called the Holy Spirit of God in this place. And this is to show us that he represents God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in all of his motions and all of his actions in our life. We were sealed by him for the day of redemption. of redemption. Now, it will help us even more to understand this sealing by the Spirit if you will turn with me over to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13. It says here, In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. So we see here the order of the sealing of the Spirit in our conversion to Christ. It follows our having believed in Christ that we are sealed with him. that is with the Holy Spirit himself. And it's this being sealed with him that guarantees our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. So the redemption of the purchased possession is our receiving our resurrection body at the end of the world. When Christ returns, the whole work of redemption will be completed in us. But this sealing is the promise of all of the future good work of the Holy Spirit in us to change and to transform us into the image of Christ. And it's worded here as something which is sure and certain for us because we have received the Spirit when we received Christ. This sealing with the Spirit, in other words, is how we come to have an experiential knowledge of Christ. We believe and we're sealed with the Holy Spirit and all the promises of God begin to be fulfilled in us. And we need to look at 2 Corinthians 1 and verses 19 to 22 to establish this truth. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 19-22. Paul says, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him was yes. For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him, amen, to the glory of God through us. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. who also has sealed us and given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Now the word guarantee in the New King James is translated as a pledge in the New American Standard. In the King James is translated the earnest of the Spirit. And Bengal, the commentator, in his commentary says that the word is used for a pledge, which is given up at the payment of a debt. But elsewhere, it's used for earnest money, which is given beforehand so that an assurance may be afforded as to the subsequent full performance of the bargain. So such an earnest is the spirit himself, it says here. Once also we are said to have the first fruits of the spirit. So we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is with us each and every day and all throughout our life following our conversion to Christ and he beholds all the thoughts and intents of your heart. And what I'm trying to show you is that this should bring you and increasing assurance of your salvation if your thoughts, words, and deeds are righteous. The apostle John says in 1 John 3, 7, little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous. But if we will not pursue and practice righteousness, I think to myself, it's going to be much harder for me to conclude that I'm a true Christian if I'm grieving the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is an experiential work that is ongoing in your heart if you are a true Christian. This should speak to us of why the Spirit is grieved if he's beholding thoughts, feelings, actions in us which are not righteous, But sinful, if you do not repent of those sins in your heart, how will you be able to prevent them from breaking out into your life and your actions? So we need to remember that when we grieve the spirit, we shall cease to know and sense his presence. and blessing in our lives if we are unrepentant over our sins. I'm talking about not only the sins of your actions, but the sins of your heart. So you and I need to be regularly going over the sins of our mind and heart on a regular basis to see whether they are sinful or not. And then confessing our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of all of our sins It's an amazing thing, is it not, that we're cleansed of sins so that we do forget it? I mean, think about it with me. When you confess your sins, you might think to yourself, well, you know, I have to keep on remembering this sin. You know, but God has chosen, and He will not bring it up again in the day of judgment. And even now, when He cleanses you, that sin has been cleansed. Your conscience has been cleansed. And I'm saying that is a wonderful, wonderful experiential truth, that you don't have to keep on going on remembering the sins that you have committed on down the road, because God chooses not to remember them. And as you confess them, then the Holy Spirit cleanses you of them. Well, such an earnest is the Spirit himself, who we have the first fruits of. And so, as I've been trying to show you, we have the Spirit with us all the time. We have Him with us every day. When we walk with Jesus, we're walking in the Spirit, hopefully, and not in the flesh. See, that's where the action is in living. the Christian life. Now, I want to show you this a little bit more about this grieving of the Holy Spirit by your turning with me over to Isaiah 63 verses 7 to 14. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies. according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. For he said, surely they are my people, children, who will not lie. So he became their savior. In all their affliction, he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. And he bore them and carried them all the days of old, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned himself against them as an enemy and he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people saying, where is he who brought them up out of the sea with a shepherd of his flock. Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within them, who led them by the right hand of Moses? with his glorious arm dividing the water before them to make for himself an everlasting name who led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness that they might not stumble as a beast goes down into the valley and the spirit of the Lord causes him to rest. So you lead your people to make yourself a glorious name. It says here, so when the Lord leads us as people by his Holy Spirit. He does so, it says here, in order to make for himself a glorious name. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, us and God, first of all, and then with other believers as well. Now, we need to see this. We need to receive this truth today. We walk in the light. We have fellowship with God. We find rest for our souls. We're like a horse in the wilderness. He will lead us so that we will not stumble. But see, these people rebelled against God and they grieved his Holy Spirit, it says. And so it says, he turned to become their enemy. Well, many of them did not really know the Lord. You will never be the Lord's enemy, by the way, if you truly know him. I hope that you know that. But how will you know that you know Him unless you will repent of your sins and seek His presence and power and blessing in your life? So let us not be a people who will lie to ourselves or lie to Him by holding on to secret sins or refusing to repent of presumptuous sins. You see, when we are sincere, we will remember what Christ has done and what he is doing for us by his grace each and every day. In all our affliction, it says here, he was afflicted. And Christ is the angel of God's presence who has saved us. In his love and in his pity, he has redeemed us. And he bears with us and he carries us through all of our days. Therefore, let us remember that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and not grieve him. And let us make Christ's name glorious by the way that we think in our hearts and the way that we live our lives. Let's pray together. Our Father, we think about this truth and we are amazed. We are amazed, first of all, O Holy Spirit, that you see our hearts so clearly each and every day. We are amazed, O Lord, that you lead and guide us into all the truth and you teach us, O Holy Spirit, how to live to Christ's glory. And we pray that each and every one of us here today would take notice of this and not grieve you in our actions or our words or our thoughts, but that we would indeed put on you, Lord Jesus, and make no provision for the flesh. and that we will see that if we are grieving you, that we can, by your grace, repent of this and learn the better way of obedience and walking carefully with you. So help us to do that. May we make progress in holiness, righteousness, and truth for Jesus' sake, Father. Amen.