THE HOLY SPIRIT

SINS AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

An agent from the Internal Revenue Service called up the pastor of a church. He told the pastor that he was calling to verify the giving of one of the pastor’s church members. “Did Mr. Joe Smith actually give $10,000.00 last year to your church, the agent asked.” “No,” the pastor replied, “but he will!”

You can get backed into a corner really quick when you lie about how much you donate to the church! In Acts 5 we read about a couple who did just that.

The early church had a very communal nature to it. No one claimed any of their possessions as their own. They shared everything they had. From time to time, people would sell property and donate their proceeds to the church to give to those in need.

There was a couple in the church by the name of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property. They donated only a portion of their profit from the sale. But they lied and said that what they gave to the church was the total amount from the sale of their property. They gave the false impression that they were being more generous than they were.

Peter confronted husband and wife separately. He told them that they had lied to the Holy Spirit. Once Peter confronted each of them, both Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead on the spot.

Today we continue our series on the Holy Spirit. I want to talk with you on the topic of sins against the Holy Spirit. Now, I didn’t tell you the story of Ananias and Sapphira to scare you and make you think that you’ll drop dead if you sin against the Holy Spirit. That was a unique time and circumstance in the church.

But their story does illustrate that you can sin against the Holy Spirit. And it also illustrates that it is a serious thing to sin against the Holy Spirit and we should take this message to heart and strive to walk in the Spirit as the Bible encourages us to do.

This morning, I want to share with you 4 sins against the Holy Spirit & what we need to do in response to them. PRAYER The first sin against the HS is we can…

GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

You can look at the Scripture verse on the screen or turn in your Bible to Eph. 4:30 because we will be looking at a couple of other verses alongside Eph. 4:30. Eph. 4:30 says:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” – Ephesians 4:30

This verse does give us confidence in regards to our salvation when it speaks about being sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.

A seal in Bible times was when an official letter or document was sealed. Whoever was sending the document would take their signet ring and impress their symbol into the seal to authenticate that the letter/document was coming from them. It communicated 4 things about the letter/document: that it was secure; it was authentic; it indicated ownership and the seal carried with it the authority of the one who sent it.

When Paul said that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption he is saying that our conversion is genuine; that we belong to God and that the Holy Spirit is God’s security deposit to us; guaranteeing our salvation.

So, to grieve the Holy Spirit does not mean that we lose our salvation when we grieve him. To grieve the Holy Spirit means to make the Holy Spirit sad or to bring him pain. How do we grieve the Spirit of God? By our sin. Dr. Jack Cottrell said that sin is a wound in the heart of God.

Now, what is your response to that? Does it bother you to know that you can bring grief to the Holy Spirit by your sin? In his book, Forgotten God, Francis Chan wrote-“I pray for the day when believers care more about the Holy Spirit’s grief than their own.” When was the last time you were broken-hearted because your sin brought pain to the heart of God?

Any sin can bring grief to the Holy Spirit. But let’s look at the specific sins listed alongside Ephesians 4:30.

Ephesians 4:29. Paul mentions unwholesome talk as a sin that can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Unwholesome talk, in the context of this verse, would include sins such as gossip, spreading rumors, slander and criticism meant to tear someone down. Each time those words come out of our mouths, we are bringing pain to the heart of God.

Instead we need to build others up with the words that we speak. We need to speak positive words that benefit those who listen to us. Sometimes people will say, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but….” And they go right on saying it & it’s usually something derogatory about someone else. My question is, if you know you shouldn’t say then why do you?

I want to offer 3 simple guidelines for you to test anything you are tempted to say. Ask yourself 3 simple questions about what you are about to say: is it true? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? If what you are tempted to say doesn’t pass those 3 tests, then don’t say what you’re about to say.

Proverbs 25:11 says that “a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” That’s a beautiful word picture isn’t it? The words we speak are to be beautiful words, positive words of encouragement to others and….wait for it….positive words of encouragement about others to someone else!

Ephesians 4:31-anger, left unchecked will lead to rage and rage will lead to bitterness against someone else. Those things saddened the Holy Spirit. Instead, look at what Ephesians 4:32 says we need to do.

We need to have compassion for people who hurt us. I know this is hard. I know this is counter-intuitive. It will go against the way you feel. But we are talking about the way of Jesus and what he wants us to do.

When someone lashes out and hurts you, try to be compassionate and understand what they may be going through. Allow me to let you in on a little secret that I have learned over many years in ministry. It’s this- hurting people hurt people. Sometimes people hurt you because they are hurting.

So, even though what they say/do hurts, instead of retaliating, try to understand what is wrong in their life and respond with acts of kindness. That will bring joy to the Holy Spirit.

And then, instead of being bitter and holding a grudge, which is the way of the world, be forgiving. And I know that some of you may push back and say I can’t forgive them for what they did. Could you at least be honest and say I won’t forgive? You could forgive them because God has commanded you to forgive. God won’t command you to do something that would be impossible for you to do. It’s not that you can’t forgive someone. If you don’t forgive someone it’s because you refuse to do so. So, at least be honest about it!

If you want to bring joy to the heart of God, you need to forgive whoever has hurt you. For 3 reasons. One, holding a grudge only hurts you. It doesn’t hurt the other person. Someone put it into perspective when they said that bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

A second reason to forgive is that it is hypocritical of you to not forgive. After all, God has forgiven you of everything you have done. Who are we, who have received forgiveness from God, to withhold forgiveness from others? That is the moral of the story of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. You’ll find that story in Matthew 18:21-35 (Read). Read it whenever you are having a hard time forgiving someone.

A third reason to forgive someone is because you will need God’s forgiveness again in the future. Jesus taught- “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” If you want God’s forgiveness the next time you sin, you need to first make sure that you have forgiven others.

Peter once asked Jesus, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to 7 times? Jesus said, “no, 70 times 7 times.

In other words, we are to forgive someone every time they sin against us. And every time you begin to feel resentment over an offense rise up in your spirit, make the conscious decision to forgive again and again until bitterness is displaced with grace in your heart and soul.

We grieve the Holy Spirit when we sin. We need to repent of our sins, confess them to the Lord and receive forgiveness.

Here is the 2^nd sin against the Holy Spirit. We can…..

QUENCH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:19 as we will also look at verses surrounding this verse:

“Do not quench the Spirit.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:19

To quench the Holy Spirit is to negate the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Bible tells us to be controlled by the Spirit and to be led by the Spirit. But when we quench the Spirit, we block the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

How? First of all with a bad attitude. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16 & 18. Is your heart full of joy and do you embrace a spirit of gratitude? Or, are you a person who is always negative, gripping and complaining about everything and every one? One of the fruit of the Spirit is joy. The Holy Spirit can’t work in the heart of unhappy, ungrateful person. But when we choose joy and thankfulness, the Spirit will flow in us and through us.

Another way that we can quench the Holy Spirit is through prayer-less-ness. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17. If you and I aren’t talking to God, how can his Spirit work in our lives? The hymn urges us- “Take time to be holy; speak oft with thy Lord.” Spending a few moments in pray each day keeps us open to voice of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

A third way to quench the Holy Spirit is by rejecting God’s Word. Read 1 Thess. 5:20

In those days, the churches did not have the Bible in its entirety. Therefore, in the early church, there were prophets who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, brought the message of the Lord to the church. Since the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets’ messages, to treat those messages with contempt was to quench the Holy Spirit.

Today we have God’s message in its entirety in the Bible. The only prophetic ministry today is to preach and teach what is already in the Bible. And the way we need to make sure that we don’t treat the Bible, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, with contempt, is to receive it in faith and take to heart what it says.

That begins with believing what the Bible says. Accept that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. Some people, to justify their own sin or the sin of their friends or loved ones will say, “I know what the Bible says but….” And they will begin to explain how they don’t believe what the Bible says. That is treating Gods’ Word with contempt. There is a saying that I am sure has been made into a bumper sticker. It says- “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” Now if God says it that settles it. I just need to believe it. We need to accept what God has said in the Bible.

Then we need to act upon it. We treat God’s Word with contempt when we live in disobedience to it. James 1:22 says-“do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” We need to live in obedience to the Word of God for the Holy Spirit to move in our hearts and lives.

Now, this word for quench that Paul uses gives us the word picture of the Holy Spirit being a fire. Another translation of 1 Thessalonians 5:19 is “don’t put out the Spirit’s fire.” Warren Wiersbe said-“the fire of the Holy Spirit must not go out on the altar of our hearts.”

Let me ask you-just how passionate are you about your relationship with the Lord? Here are 3 indicators. How often do you talk about the Lord? If we are passionate about something, we’ll talk about it all the time, won’t we? You know I am passionate about my Cowboys! Frustrated with them at times, YES, but passionate about them nonetheless. And so I am always ready to engage in a conversation about them. And I sometimes wonder, do I talk about the Lord as much as I talk about the Cowboys?

If we are passionate about our relationship with God, we’ll speak of him often. David wrote- “I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips.”

Another indicator of our passion or lack of it is how often we desire to come to worship the Lord. Again, David declared- “I rejoice with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

A third indicator of our being on fire for the Lord is by how often we read the Bible and pray. When Dawn and I were dating, we wrote love letters back and forth to one another. She wrote them to me because she was crazy about me and I wrote them to her because I’m just a romantic sort of a guy ( and I am crazy about her too….better get that in there) The point is we were so much in love we communicated often. And I couldn’t wait to read one of her love letters. You really can’t have much of a relationship without communication. The same is true with God. If we are passionate about our relationship with God, we’ll read his love letter, the Bible, to us and we’ll pray to him often.

Here is the third sin against the Holy Spirit……

BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT

Jesus taught:

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” – Matthew 12:31-32

Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable. And so, some worry if they have committed the unpardonable sin. And because of some misunderstanding they think that certain sins, sins like murder, adultery and divorce are unforgiveable sins against the Holy Spirit.

But Jesus said that every kind of sin can be forgiven. So even sins like murder, adultery, sexual immorality and divorce are forgivable.

So, what is this unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The definition of blasphemy is to rail against….to speak evil of, to speak with contempt towards God or the sacred things of God.

To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to speak against the Holy Spirit. The context in which Jesus taught about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was this. Jesus had cast a demon out of a man. The religious leaders were accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. They were attributing the work of God to Satan.

To speak evil of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemous. Now, given the context of Jesus’ teaching on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, some Bible commentators say that sin cannot be committed today.

But there is a 4^th sin against the Holy Spirit that has eternal consequences. It is to….

REJECT THE HOLY SPIRIT

This is what Jesus said is the ministry of the Holy Spirit:

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” – John 15:26

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to tell people who Jesus is and point to him as the Savior of the world. To reject the Holy Spirit is to reject the message of the Holy Spirit regarding Jesus. In essence, it is rejecting Jesus.

Rejecting Jesus is the ultimate & unpardonable sin. All sins can be forgiven, but God cannot forgive the rejection of His Son. What God wants more than anything else is to save people. But when people turn their backs on Jesus or the Holy Spirit, who leads people to Jesus, what else can God do? Nothing because people have rejected God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The apostle John summed it up for us when he wrote- “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

PRAYER

INVITATION