I'm thankful for the opportunity the elders have given me to stand here once again and open the word of God and just want God to be glorified and honored in all that I say. I'm so thankful for those who minister faithfully in putting water up here for us to drink as we proclaim the word of God. It means a lot. Our scripture reading tonight in the Old Testament is Isaiah chapter 63. We'll begin reading in verse 7 there, and that's found on page 583 in the Bibles there where you are seated. So if you're able, please stand and let us give attention to the Word of God. Isaiah chapter 63, I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us and the great goodness to the house of Israel, that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely. And 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. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned to be their enemy and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea? with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name? Who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. like livestock that go down into the valley. The spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name. Then let's turn to our text tonight. Ephesians chapter four, And we'll begin reading verse 25 and go through verse 32. Our focus tonight will be just a few words in verse 30. Beginning with verse 25, it's found on page 919 in your few Bibles if you need to avail yourself of a Bible here. Ephesians chapter 4. Verse 25, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members. One of another be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. We're here in reading of this portion of God's Word, but I hope you'll keep it open and make sure that what I say is what the Word of God says, because it's to God's Word that we must look as our standard of authority. Let's pray. Father, we want to see Jesus tonight in his passage, his grace, his mercy, and also the reality, Lord, of grieving the Holy Spirit, grieving the Godhead. And so point us, Lord, to the triune God. Convict us where we need it, comfort us where we need it, and point us to Jesus in all situations, we pray. Keep me from saying anything wrong or in any way being a distraction up here, Father. We want you to get all the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus name we pray, amen. You may be seated. As I mentioned a minute ago, we want to just look at a few verses, I mean, a few words here out of verse, Verse 30 of this very rich passage, we can't get through the entire passage, but hopefully we can get through a little bit of these few words. I entitled my sermon, A Distant Grief. Some of you may remember a book of that title. Back in 1979, Kefia Sempongi wrote A Distant Grief. It may be in our church library, I'm not sure. But that book detailed by one who had lived through those times the terrible suffering and martyrdom of many, many Christians under the evil rule of Eddie Amen, who ruled the nation from 71 unto 79, and then he was overthrown in 1979. And the book's title came from the fact that the author believed that so many people in the world were, that grief there in Uganda was distant from them because they didn't know about it. It hadn't made world news. that would set forth the terrible suffering of hundreds of thousands of people there. Well, as I thought about that book, as I thought about these words here in this text, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. And I wondered, if perhaps that's a distant grief in our own thinking. It hit me upside the head really good because I don't think that much, sadly, about the impact on the Holy Spirit of my own sins as I sin daily and have to flee to the Lord in in repentance and maybe the grieving of the Holy Spirit is a distant grief in your life as well and so we want to look at this passage of scripture and If the Holy Spirit is a distant and the grief of the Holy Spirit is a distant grief in your own life that we might be confronted of that and flee to Christ for repentance and if it's not a distant grief in your own life that you might be comforted that it is not a distant grief and keep that grief before you day by day as we seek to walk in terms of the Lord God. And first thing we want to look at tonight is the very fact that with these words about do not grieve the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit is a person. We believe in one God but three persons within the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We grieve people We grieve those that love us. We don't grieve our enemies. We don't grieve our just acquaintances out here. But in the midst of our sin, we grieve one that love us. This is a personal attribute, we can say, that can grieve. Now, we know God is unchanging. But at the same time we know that God in his infinite wisdom speaks to us about his own very essence in terms that we humans can understand. And so that's what Paul is inspired to do here in this passage of scripture. We see another great example of this back over in Acts chapter 5 where you remember Ananias and Sapphira had sold a passage, a parcel of land and They could have kept that money outside of their, any tie, the tie that, to give to the church and any offering they wanted to give beyond that. But what they had done, they had lied and they said, we're giving all the sale price to the church. Because that's what some brothers and sisters were doing there in that day. And that was fine. But there was no requirement in scripture for that to be done. but they were not really doing it. They had kept back a portion of the sale price of that land. And so Peter, moved by God, confronts him and says, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. And I mention that because only a person can be lied to. Here is another example in scripture to show that the Holy Spirit is a person. But it's not just because the Holy Spirit is a person. that it can be agreed, it's also because the Holy Spirit is holy. Equally so with the Father and with the Son, but tonight we're speaking specifically of the Holy Spirit. The very word holy is in the Holy Spirit's name. And holiness is the only of all of God's attributes. It's the only one that has a triune underlining of importance. Holy, holy, holy. Godhead speaks of holiness. And that's the one that is emphasized. with a triune, we might say, marking out holy, holy, holy. This is the reason the Holy Spirit can be grieved because he, like the father, like the son, is holy. Can't stand sin. Can't stand to look upon sin. would be some examples in scripture that would show us tonight the very holiness of God, to put it into words that we might see something of God's holiness, Holy Spirit's holiness. We can go back to the Garden of Eden, couldn't we? And we could look there at The fact that God said you can eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden but one. Don't eat of the tree of the forbidden fruit. And yet Eve did and she took a bite and she gave the fruit to Adam and he ate. And he, our federal head, fell into sin. He fell into sin, of course, and so did all mankind that proceeded from Adam and Eve. For one sin, death passed on all generations of mankind. One sin of our federal head, one sin. One bite out of the forbidden fruit. Beloved, this is the holiness of God. And this is why he's grieved by my sin, by your sin. Or we could turn to 2 Samuel chapter 6 and look at the moving of the ark. into Jerusalem that was moved the wrong way, not according to the instructions that God had given. Rather than being carried, it was put on a cart. And if you're familiar with the story of Uzzah, you know that the cart tipped, the ark was about to fall off, the representation on earth of the very presence of God. And it was about to hit the earth. And Uzzah did not want that to happen. And he reached out his hand and did that which no man could do, had been commanded not to do. It was to touch the ark that represented the very presence of God. And he did it. And he died. As a result, one touch. Here we see the holiness of God. Or we can look at the passage I just read a few minutes ago, Ananias and Sapphira. One lie. One lie told. And Ananias dropped down dead. And in all of these instances, we see what should happen. Every sin that we commit, we are reminded of the holiness of God. It's not like this is the only sin us have committed. It's the only sin that Ananias committed or Sapphira, his wife, who came in after him and lied to the Holy Spirit as well and died. It's just that God has mercy on us, but at times he breaks into history, as we see in his word, time and time again, and strikes people with death for their disobedience of one's sin. This is, brothers and sisters, the holiness of our Lord and Savior. And he puts this in the Bible that you and I might understand, begin to have a grasp of what holiness is all about, what God's all about, that we would take sin seriously day in and day out. We see in the context here of this passage of Scripture that It centers in a passage that deals with words that come forth from our mouth, and we'll try to get to that just in a few minutes, but right now we need to be gripped with the awfulness of sin for which Jesus came to die for his people on the cross of Calvary. That stench, that awfulness, Jesus was willing to die for, that for which our every lie, our ever lack of faithfulness to worship Him faithfully. We should die, oh, but for the mercy of Almighty God. And then another reason we should not grieve the Holy Spirit is set forth here not only because of his personhood not only because he is we see the holiness of him but also thirdly because we today are the temple of God. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians chapter 3, do you not know that you You brothers and sisters, you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. You are the temple of God because God's spirit dwells in you. Oh, what comfort that is, but how that in and of itself should make us want to flee sin all the more. Why should we want ourselves, the temple of God, to be an abomination for sin? We work hours to keep our house clean, keeping it presentable. How much more we should guard ourselves against sin that would defile the very temple of God with the Holy Spirit? Himself dwells. And then finally, I want to point out before moving on the we're sealed. We're sealed by that spirit. We, um, we see that here in this very verse, do not grieve the Holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit's indwelling us, as we read back in Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14, that indwelling is a seal of a guarantee that eternal life is ours. That God's promise is going to come true. Why would you and I want to sin against the spirit who is a very guarantee that God is true to his promise, that the inheritance God has promised his people is going to be given to his people? Grieve not. the Holy Spirit of God. We could go on, we could look at Kevin DeYoung's latest book, it's called Daily Doctrine and it's a one or two page summary of the doctrines and set forth in a systematic theological way, but set forth for daily readings to be used five days a week throughout the year. And in that book, he devotes a couple of those brief studies to mentioning the seven ways in which the Holy Spirit is involved in our salvation. But this is another thing we ought to remind ourselves of in regard to grieving the Holy Spirit of these seven ways that the Holy Spirit is involved in our own salvation. Let me just mention those and then you can go and study those in scripture for further reflection. But the Holy Spirit convicts us. The Holy Spirit converts us. The Holy Spirit applies salvation made certain, obtained, paid for on the cross of Calvary to our lives. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Father in so doing. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, equips us, and then as we've just seen, seals us, promises us. The salvation that God promised is real. I just want to mention, to stress one more thing here as we move on, and that is how do we grieve the Holy Spirit? I've tried to stress tonight that it's through our sin, but that can't be stressed enough. And just this week as I was further studying, getting ready to preach tonight, I came across Numbers chapter 20. Verse 12, and that's the passage where the people had been mumbling and complaining against the Lord. They needed water. And it appeared that God had been unfaithful to them. Once again, in their mindset. Now, of course, he hadn't. He'd been abundantly faithful, but In that passage of scripture, God tells Moses to go and speak to the rock and out of that rock would flow water. Now that rock points us to Christ because out of Christ flows living water. But Moses was so frustrated, so angry with the people that in Numbers chapter 20 verse 10, he speaks to the people and he says, here now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? And instead of speaking to the rock, Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. Oh, the mercy of God. In spite of Moses' disobedience, water flowed out of that rock, as scripture says here. And the congregation drank, as did their livestock. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them. And the words that stuck out to me when I read this passage, I've read it I don't know how many times, but these words had never stuck to me like they did this week when I read it. You did not believe in me to uphold me as holy in the eyes of your people. Brothers and sisters, you see when we sin, We do not uphold that we serve a holy God before fellow Christians. I wonder how many times I have caused fellow Christians to let down their guard. Makes me tremble to think about it, to think. Well, I saw Byron's sin this way, or Byron's sin in that way. A preacher can get by with it. It must not be too bad. God will forgive me. Because I did not show the holiness of God before the covenantal people of God. See, that's what sin does. in your life, in my life, it's not just a problem with us. It's what it reflects about the holiness of God to others around us, to our own family members, to those that we associate with, to those that We may not have even met. Maybe Christians, or maybe non-Christians think how much worse that would be, that really don't even understand the holiness of God. And say, well, this thing of sin may not be so bad after all. As we examine our lives, do you see whether or not you've been upholding the holiness of God before others in your own actions or interactions. Another aspect of grieving the Holy Spirit and as a result Moses did not get to enter the land of promise. We read in Isaiah chapter 63 that Generations later, the Israelites still had not learned the importance of obeying God, not for their salvation, but because they loved the God who had redeemed them in the coming Lord Jesus Christ. And so we read there in Isaiah 63 verse 10, they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned to be their enemy and fought against them. Isaiah 63, 10. Four words. It's how much God hates sin. He will turn and fight against his covenant people amidst of rebelling. But we come back to our text and just look at just a couple of things here. Notice the emphasis on speech here. We read in verse 29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace To those who hear, God calls us to avoid corrupting speech. How quickly, oh my God, can flow off of our mouths in a blasphemous way or even be abbreviated as we take God's name in vain and don't use it reverently. on a Facebook post or online and Twitter or one way or another. Profanity. Drag the name of God down so that it's not seen as a word to be used very reverently. Because this is the God that redeemed us and his son came to die for us on the cross of Calvary. Peter had to deal with that, didn't he? Matthew chapter 26, there where he was being confronted after the betrayal of Christ, he was being confronted around a campfire. And he was accused. of knowing Jesus, of being associated with Jesus. And what did he say at one point? Then he began to invoke a curse. We read in Matthew 26, verses 74 and 75. He began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately, the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. How that grieved the Holy Spirit. But God's a God of grace. And God wants us who grieve the Holy Spirit to come to him. Confess that sin and refresh ourselves again in his great grace and his great mercy that he'll pour out upon truly repentant sinners. That's a God. That's a God that we have or we can look at Murmuring. I'm very good at Murmuring. We can go back and we can look at God's covenant people, it just mirrors me, perhaps it mirrors you from time to time. And Numbers chapter 14, verse two, all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt or that we would have died in this wilderness. Deuteronomy 1, 27, they murmured. in their tents and they said, because the Lord hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Murmuring. Don't we think we have God all figured out? Don't we think? We know what's best for us in the future and we murmur, we complain when that's not the path God sets forth for us. We can identify, I know I can, with these covenant people here. You might be able to too. Grieve not, the Holy Spirit. Don't murmur. Scripture goes on to say in verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. As I said a minute ago, this God whom we grieve, the Holy Spirit even when we grieve, will bring us to repentance, will bring us to see and to experience anew the grace of God to cover that sin, because Jesus paid for it all on the cross of Calvary. That's the holy God that we serve. We not only want to point out his holiness, because that's very real, but we want to show his grace. that he calls, always calls, murmuring, complaining, lying, sinners, and any other sin we could put in there to repentance. To repentance for the first time, if you know not this holy God. to repentance the 70th time, seven times. If you are a Christian and you need his grace, his forgiving grace, time and time again, he's ever faithful to give it. Because just as he is a forgiving God, he's also a God, I mean a holy God, he's also a forgiving God to all who flee to him day and night. As they are convicted by that same Holy Spirit and confronted with it, God's always, always ready to forgive the repentant sinner. Well, how do you please, how do you please the Holy Spirit? I just want to point out just a few ways here as we close. The first thing I want to point out is don't harden your heart to sin. God calls us to examine ourselves. God's been ever gracious to us that we have not been stricken this day down to death. One or more sins that we have committed, this sin or that sin, Don't harden your heart. We could say we need to massage our hearts, keep them soft daily with the word of God. See how the Holy Spirit ministers that word to us day in and day out for God's glory. As Christians, and thanksgiving for what God has done for us, what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary. We need to remember Hebrews 12, 14, that we are to pursue holiness, not of ourselves, but in Christ, without which no man shall see God. Never think, I'm a Christian, I can go and do what I want to. If you live that way, you need to examine, do you really know Jesus as your Lord and Savior to begin with? Because God said, Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Pray that God will give you quick repentance. Don't go our culture's way. Don't call sin a mistake. There are mistakes. If you say 2 plus 2 is 4, I mean 5 instead of 4, that'd be a mistake that we can make. Or put a comma in the wrong place. Covenant children here on a grammar sheet. It's a mistake. But don't call your sins. A mistake, that's a great temptation even we as Christians face to call our sins a mistake. Makes them seem not as bad as they are. Call them what they are. Take a deep breath. Call them what they are. Confess them. To others that you've offended, confess them to the Lord God whom you grieved. We pray for God to continue to do a work of sanctification in you day by day. We have to call on that same Holy Spirit that we grieve to sanctify us day by day, to plow up our lives, our heart, and build the new man. Therein, more and more, that we would be fit, more and more, for heaven itself. But in closing tonight, I want to ask her, is anyone here indifferent? Don't raise your hand. Examine your heart. Are you indifferent to grieving the Holy Spirit? Indifferent to grieving Jesus? or God the Father, who so loved this world that he sent his son into this world to live and die for sinners, to pay the price they could not pay. If you're indifferent, pray that God would open your eyes, that you might see your very plight before a holy God, If you don't, pray unto him and ask him to forgive you for your sins. Pray that he will weigh you down to some degree of your sins and burden you to flee to him. And therein you will find mercy. Confess those sins to him. Ask forgiveness for your own indifference to a God who has given you the very air you breathe. every breath you've taken. If you're sincere, God, even though you've grieved him 20 years, 50 years, 80 years, it doesn't matter. He's a God of abiding grace, wonderful love and mercy to all those who flee to him and hide themselves in the work of Christ alone. So may you do that, and if you're indifferent tonight, may you not be indifferent another second longer. May you find yourself fleeing to Jesus, who alone cleanses us from our sins. Let us pray. Father, work in our lives. Let us take seriously the grieving of the Holy Spirit deal in my life accordingly, each one here, father, each brother and sister. Lord, bring any that are indifferent, that are outside your saving grace, bring them to you, oh father. Build up your kingdom, not for our glory, but for yours alone. In Jesus name we pray, amen.