Efésios 4
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Spurgeon - What sweet talking there would be if we all spoke in this way, to “minister grace unto the hearers”! Ah! then, my dear friends, it would not matter how much we talked, if every word was salted with salt. I have heard unthinking people say, “Well, if it is in your heart, you may as well speak it; it is better out than in.” I do not agree with them! If you had a barrel of whiskey in your house, that would certainly be a bad thing to be in your possession; but it would not do any hurt so long as you kept it unopened, so that nobody could get at it, for the mischief arises when people begin to drink it. Undoubtedly, it is an evil thing for you to have anything that is corrupt in your heart, but it will not be mischievous to other people until it begins to come out; so, “let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth". One of the first things that happens when a man is really filled with the Spirit is not that he speaks with tongues, but that he learns to hold the one tongue he already has. -- J. Sidlow Baxter A T
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Spurgeon - Grieving the Holy Spirit produces a lamentable result. In the child of God it will not lead to his utter destruction, for no heir of heaven can perish; neither will the Holy Spirit be utterly taken away from him, for the Spirit of God is given to abide with us for ever. But the ill-effects are nevertheless most terrible. You will lose, my dear friends, all sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence: He will be as one hidden from you—no beams of comfort, no words of peace, no thoughts of love—there will be what Cowper calls, ‘an aching void the world can never fill.’ Grieve the Holy Spirit, and you will lose all Christian joy; the light shall be taken from you, and you shall stumble in darkness; those very means of grace which once were such a delight, shall have no music in your ear. Your soul shall be no longer as a watered garden, but as a howling wilderness. Grieve the Spirit of God, and you will lose all power; if you pray, it will be a very weak prayer—you will not prevail with God. When you read the Scriptures, you shall not be able to lift the latch and force your way into the inner mysteries of truth. When you go up to the house of God, there shall be none of that devout exhilaration, that running without weariness, that walking without fainting. You shall feel yourself like Samson when his hair was lost, weak, captive, and blinded. Let the Holy Spirit depart, and assurance is gone, doubts follow, questionings and suspicions are aroused. Grieve the Spirit of God, and usefulness will cease: the ministry shall yield no fruit; your Sunday School work shall be barren; your speaking to others and labouring for others shall be like sowing the wind.....If it is unprofitable for us to cause our church leaders to grieve, (Hebrews 13:17), how much worse it must be for us if we cause our God to grieve (Hebrews 3:7–18). A W Tozer - The Christian who gazes too long on the carnal pleasures of this world cannot escape a certain feeling of sympathy with them, and that feeling will inevitably lead to behavior that is worldly. To expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us, and if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence. (Renewed Day by Day, Volume I) Horatius Bonar - He that would be holy must feel his responsibility for being so, both as a member of Christ's body and a partaker of the Holy Spirit. The thought that perfection is not to be reached here ought not to weaken that sense of responsibility nor to lead us to give way to anything that would "grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. "Let us hold to the sevenfold fullness of the risen Christ (Revelation 2:1) and the sevenfold fullness of the Holy Ghost (5:6), for these are the church's birthright. Robertson McQuilkin in "Life in the Spirit" has a section on Making God Sad - There's another expression used of our relationship to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person with feelings—it's quite possible to make Him sad. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God," Paul says (Eph. 4:30). Then he tells us exactly the kind of thing that will make the Spirit sad: unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage and anger, brawling, slander, malice (Eph 4:29-32). The first meaning of being filled with the Spirit, then, is to yield full control to Him. Are you a Spirit-filled Christian in that sense? There's no place else to begin. Yet that's far from exhausting the meaning of this vivid word, so in the next chapter we'll consider the other meanings of being filled. But for now, let's be sure our unconditional "yes" to the Spirit is up-to-the-minute current in our relationship. Here's how I responded to this challenge: Holy Spirit of God, thank You, thank You for allowing me to have a personal relationship with You. I really do want You to be the controlling partner in that relationship and I reaffirm today that You are indeed Lord of my life. I'm truly sorry for the ways I've made You sad. Please forgive me. And give me strength to always say "yes" to You in the small things as well as the major choices I make. Let me ever be filled with Your presence and power. P G Matthew - I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions. —1 Samuel 15:11 The time for God’s judgment to fall on the Amalekites had now come. In 1 Samuel 15, the Lord commanded Saul, “Go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them” (v. 3). Then he gave specific instructions so there would be no misunderstanding. God clearly reveals to us what he expects us to do. He does not mumble. He speaks with clarity and authority. So we read, “Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Did Saul obey the Lord Almighty this time? No! Rebellious Saul did his own will, not God’s. He did not act as a servant of the Lord, but, instead, did what he pleased. He edited the word of God, adding to it and subtracting from it. So he killed the worthless animals and spared the best. Most significantly, he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, although the Lord Almighty had specifically said, “Spare them not!” Saul could not be trusted with a mission. He would not function as God’s servant. He would not submit to the will of his King, the Lord Almighty. What did God say about Saul’s disobedience? “I am grieved.” The Lord knows when we are turning away from his word and refusing to carry out his instructions, even though we attempt to justify ourselves by insisting, “I obeyed the Lord.” Such disobedience grieves him. Paul writes, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). Some people are depressed and miserable because they have grieved the Lord. We cannot grieve the Holy Spirit and be happy at the same time. God told Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” (Gen. 4:6–7). We cannot do evil and expect to be full of joy. If the Holy Spirit is grieved, we will be depressed, and we will not be free of that depression until we truly repent and do what is right in God’s sight. Because Saul rejected the word of the Lord, God rejected him. Such is the destiny of all who will not be governed by the Lord and his word.
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Spurgeon - All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace (cp 2Ti 2:1+). Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus—how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master’s cause? You cannot without the Spirit—“Without me ye can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) O branch of the Vine, thou canst have no fruit without the Sap! O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through His Spirit! (Jn 3:6, 6:63, 2Co 3:6, Ro 8:2+, Ro 8:6+) Then let us not grieve Him or provoke Him to anger by our sin (Ps 106:33+). Let us not quench Him in one of His faintest motions in our soul (1Th 5:19+); let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting (cp 1Ki 19:12KJV). If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without Him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring His blessing. Let us do Him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from Him, and then depending alone upon Him, having this for our prayer, “Open Thou my heart and my whole being to Thine incoming, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts.” (Ps 51:12KJV) G Campbell
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Spurgeon - The Spirit of God is in your heart, and it is very, very easy indeed to grieve Him. Sin is as easy as it is wicked. You may grieve him by impure thoughts. He cannot bear sin. If you indulge in lascivious expressions, or even if you allow imagination to dote upon any lascivious act, or if your heart goes after covetousness, if you set your heart upon anything that is evil, the Spirit of God will be grieved, for thus I hear him speaking of himself. “I love this man, I want to have his heart, and yet he is entertaining these filthy lusts. His thoughts, instead of running after me, and after Christ, and after the Father, are running after the temptations that are in the world through lust.” And then his Spirit is grieved. He sorrows in his soul because he knows what sorrow these things must bring to our souls. We grieve him yet more if we indulge in outward acts of sin. Then is he sometimes so grieved that he takes his flight for a season, for the dove will not dwell in our hearts if we take loathsome carrion in there. A cleanly being is the dove, and we must not strew the place which the dove frequents with filth and mire; if we do he will fly elsewhere. If we commit sin, if we openly bring disgrace upon our religion, if we tempt others to go into iniquity by our evil example, it is not long before the Holy Spirit will be grieved. Again, if we neglect prayer; if our closet door is cobwebbed; if we forget to read the Scriptures; if the leaves of our Bible are almost stuck together by neglect; if we never seek to do any good in the world; if we live merely for ourselves and not for Christ, then the Holy Spirit will be grieved. (From sermon Grieving the Holy Spirit) There are some men of so hard a character, that to make another angry does not give them much pain; and indeed, there are many of us who are scarcely to be moved by the information that another is angry with us; but where is the heart so hard, that it is not moved when we know that we have caused others grief? —for grief is a sweet combination of anger and of love. It is anger, but all the gall is taken from it. Love sweetens the anger, and turns the edge of it, not against the person, but against the offense. (From sermon Grieving the Holy Spirit) J R Miller - The new man (Ed: see discussion of New Man) will not "grieve the Holy Spirit of God." It scarcely seems possible to us at first, that we could give pain to God. Yet the apostles warned the Ephesians against this very thing. Boys know what kind of things in their life grieve their mothers. The Holy Spirit is nearer to all of us than any mother can be, and has a more tender heart. Let us watch our words, our acts, our wishes and feelings, and all the motives of our life, lest we grieve the Holy Spirit. (Devotional Hours in the Bible) Nancy Leigh Demoss - Full-Grown Sin - The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings - February 20 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.—James 1:15 SIN IS PLEASURABLE—no doubt about it. If that weren’t the case, why would we find it so tempting? However, we need to remind ourselves that those pleasures are “fleeting” (Heb. 11:25) and that in the long run, whatever perceived benefits we may derive from sin can never outweigh its ultimate cost. I have a friend who keeps in his billfold a list of the consequences of sin—things such as: sin steals joy (Ps. 51:12); sin removes confidence (1 John 3:19–21); sin breaks God’s heart (Eph. 4:30); sin opens the door to other sins (Isa. 30:1). He has a dozen or more of these on his list. All terrible things. Whenever he is tempted to disobey God in some matter, my friend pulls out this list and reads it, then asks himself, “Is this a price I really want to pay? Is this a price I can afford?” Sometimes the consequences of our sin are not seen until months or years down the road; sometimes they don’t show up until the next generation. But make no mistake: sin has consequences. The day of reckoning will come. And when it does, every child of God will wish with all his heart that he had chosen the pathway of obedience. We cannot persist in foolishly thinking that we have somehow managed to get away with our sin. Rather, we must recognize that one of God’s purposes in delaying sin’s consequences is to give us time to repent. After years of toying with sin and enjoying its “pleasures,” King Solomon finally came to this conviction: “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God…. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl. 8:12; 12:14). Think of a temptation to sin that you frequently face. Rehearse the consequences listed above, and ask yourself, “Is this a price I really want to pay?” Remember that whatever momentary delight or relief sin may offer, it is never worth the cost. In his devotional Truth for Today John
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Spurgeon writes... Anger begets anger; but grief begets pity, and pity is next akin to love; and we love those whom we have caused to grieve. Now, is not this a very sweet expression — "Grieve not the Holy Spirit"? I. THE LOVE OF THE SPIRIT. The love of the Spirit! — how shall I tell it forth? Surely it needs a songster to sing it, for love is only to be spoken of in words of song. The love of the Spirit. 1. Let me tell you of His early love to us. He loved us without beginning. 2. Was it not He who guided you to Jesus? 3. Since then, how sweetly has He proved His love. Not only in His first strivings, or after quickenings; but in the sequel, how much have we owed to His instruction. 4. Forget not, also, how much we owe to His consolation. 5. Remember how much He loves us, when He helps our infirmities. 6. Another token of His love, is His indwelling in the saints. II. IT IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WE ARE SEALED. The Spirit Himself is expressed as the seal, even as He Himself is directly said to be the pledge of our inheritance. The sealing, I think, has a three-fold meaning. 1. It is a sealing of attestation or confirmation. No faith is genuine, which does not bear the seal of the Spirit. No love, no hope can ever save us, except it be sealed with the Spirit of God, for whatever has not His seal upon it is spurious. Faith that is unsealed may be a poison, it may be presumption; but faith that is sealed by the Spirit is true, real, genuine faith. 2. It is a sealing of appropriation. When men put their mark upon an article, it is to show that it is their own. The farmer brands his tools that they may not be stolen. The shepherd marks his sheep that they may be recognized as belonging to his flock. The king himself puts his broad arrow upon everything that is his property. So the Holy Spirit puts the broad arm of God upon the hearts of all His people. 3. Again, by sealing is meant preservation. Men seal up that which they wish to have preserved, and when a document is sealed it becomes valid henceforth. Now, it is by the Spirit of God that the Christian is sealed, kept, preserved, unto the day of redemption. III. THE GRIEVING OF THE SPIRIT. How may we grieve Him — what will be the sad result of grieving Him — if we have grieved Him, how may we bring Him back again? 1. How may we grieve the Spirit? I am now, mark you, speaking of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is as easy as it is wicked. (1) You may grieve Him by impure thoughts. He cannot bear sin. (2) We grieve Him yet more if we indulge in outward acts of sin. Then is He sometimes so grieved that He takes His flight for a season, for the Dove will not dwell in our hearts if we take loathsome carrion in there. (3) Again, if we neglect prayer, if our closet door is cobwebbed, if we forget to read the Scriptures, if the leaves of our Bible are almost stuck together by neglect, if we never seek to do any good in the world, if we live merely for ourselves and not to Christ, then the Holy Spirit will be grieved. (4) Again, the Holy Spirit is exceedingly grieved by our unbelief. 2. Now, suppose the Holy Spirit is grieved, what is the effect produced upon us? (1) When the Spirit is grieved first, He bears with us. He is grieved again and again, and again and again, and still He bears with it all. (2) But at last, His grief becomes so excessive, that He says, "I will suspend My operations; I will be gone; I will leave life behind Me, but My own actual presence I will take away." Our graces are much like the flower called the Hydrangia, when it has plenty of water it blooms, but as soon as moisture fails, the leaves drop down at once. And so when the Spirit goes away, faith shuts up its flowers; no perfume is exhaled. Then the fruit of our love begins to rot and drops from the tree; then the sweet buds of our hope become frostbitten, and they die. Oh, what a sad thing it is to lose the Spirit. 3. It is a mercy to know that the Spirit of God never leaves His people finally; He leaves them for chastisement, but not for damnation. RELATED RESOURCES: See multiple sermons/articles by older expositors on grieving the Holy Spirit ON GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT John Wesley Wesley Center Online - Sermon 138 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph 4:30). There can be no point of greater importance to him who knows that it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth and into all holiness than to consider with what temper of soul we are to entertain His divine presence so as not either to drive Him from us or to disappoint Him of the gracious ends for which His abode with us is designed, which is not the amusement of our understanding, but the conversion and entire sanctification of our hearts and lives. These words of the apostle contain a most serious and affectionate exhortation to this purpose. “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” The title “holy,” applied to the Spirit of God, does not only denote that He is holy in His own nature but that He makes us so. He is the great fountain of holiness to His church, the Spirit from whence flows all the grace and virtue by which the stains of guilt are cleansed and we are renewed in all holy dispositions and again bear the image of our Creator. Great reason, therefore, there was for the apostle to give this solemn charge concerning it, and the highest obligation lies upon us all to consider it with the deepest attention. That we may the more effectually do, I shall inquire: First, in what sense the Spirit of God is said to be grieved at the sins of men; second, by what kind of sin He is more especially grieved; and third, I shall endeavor to show the force of the apostle's argument against grieving the Holy Spirit—by whom we are sealed to the day of redemption. In What Sense Is the Spirit of God Grieved? In what sense may the Spirit of God be said to be grieved with the sins of men? There is not anything of what we properly call passion in God. But there is something of an infinitely higher kind: some motions of His will, which are more strong and vigorous than can be conceived by men, although they have not the nature of human passions, yet will answer the ends of them. By grief, therefore, we are to understand a disposition in God's will, flowing at once from His boundless love to the persons of men and His infinite abhorrence of their sins. And in this restrained sense it is here applied to the Spirit of God in the words of the apostle. And the reasons for which it is peculiarly applied to Him are, first, because He is more immediately present with us; second, because our sins are so many contempts of this highest expression of His love and disappoint the Holy Spirit in His last remedy; and, third, because, by this ungrateful dealing, we provoke Him to withdraw from us. We are said to grieve the Holy Spirit by our sins because of His immediate presence with us. They are more directly committed under His eye, and are, therefore, more highly offensive to Him. He is pleased to look upon professing Christians as more peculiarly separated to His honor. We are so closely united to Him that we are said to be one spirit with Him, and, therefore, every sin that we now commit, besides its own proper guilt, carries in it a fresh and infinitely high provocation. “Know ye not,” says Paul, “that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” (1 Co 6:19). And how are our bodies so, but by His inhabitation and intimate presence with our souls? When, therefore, we set up the idols of earthly inclinations in our hearts (which are properly His altar), and bow down ourselves to serve those vicious passions that we ought to sacrifice to His will—this must needs be, in the highest degree, offensive and grievous to Him. For what concord is there between the Holy Spirit and Belial? or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? (see 2 Co 6:15-16). We grieve the Holy Spirit by our sins because they are so many contempts of the highest expression of His love and disappoint Him in His last remedy whereby He is pleased to endeavor our recovery. And thus every sin we now commit is done in despite of all His powerful assistances, in defiance of His reproofs—an ungrateful return for infinite lovingkindness! As the Holy Spirit is the immediate minister of God's will upon earth and transacts all the great affairs of the church of Christ—if while He pours out the riches of His grace upon us, He finds them all unsuccessful, no wonder if He appeals to all the world, in the words of the prophet, against our ingratitude: “And now, O . . . men of Judah, judge . . . betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isa 5:3-4). These, and many more such, which we meet with in the Holy Scriptures, are the highest expressions of the deepest concern such as imply the utmost unwillingness to deal severely even with those whom yet, by all the wise methods of His grace, He could not reform. The Holy Spirit here represents Himself as one who would be glad to spare sinners if He could, and therefore we may be sure it is grievous to Him that by their sins they will not suffer Him. For men thus to disappoint the Holy Spirit of Love—for that too is His peculiar title—to make Him thus wait that He may be gracious, and pay attendance on us through our whole course of folly and vanity, and stand by and be a witness of our stubbornness, with the importunate offers of infinite kindness in His hands—is a practice of such a nature that no gracious mind can bear the thoughts of it. It is an argument of God's unbounded mercy, which He is pleased to express, that He is only grieved at it, that His indignation does not flame out against those who are thus basely ungrateful and consume them in a moment. It was such ingratitude as this in the Jews, after numberless experiences of His extraordinary mercies toward them, that made infinite love, at last, turn in bitterness to reward them according to their doings, as we find the account given by the Prophets, in the most affecting and lively manner. And surely, considering the much greater obligations He has laid on us who enjoy the highest privileges, we may be sure that [the reward of] our sinful and untoward behavior will, at last, be as great as the mercies we have abused. There is no doubt but God observes all the sons of men, and His wrath abides on every worker of iniquity. But it is the unfaithful professor who has known His pardoning love that grieves His Holy Spirit, which implies a peculiar baseness in our sins. A man may be provoked, indeed, by the wrongs of his enemy, but he is properly grieved by the offenses of his friend. And, therefore, besides our other obligations, our very near relation to God, as being His friends and children, would, if we had a spark of gratitude in our souls, be a powerful restraint upon us in preserving us from evil. But if arguments of this kind are not strong enough to keep us from grieving our best Friend, the Holy Spirit of God, let us consider, that, by this ungrateful conduct, we shall provoke Him to withdraw from us. The truth of this almost all who have ever tasted of the good gifts of the Holy Spirit must have experienced. It is to be hoped that we have had, some time or other, so lively a sense of His holy influence upon us that when we have been so unhappy as to offend Him, we could easily perceive the change in our souls, in that darkness, distress, and despondency which more especially follow the commission of willful and presumptuous sins. At those seasons, the blessed Spirit retired and concealed His presence from us, we were justly left to a sense of our own wretchedness and misery, until we humbled ourselves before the Lord and by deep repentance and active faith obtained a return of divine mercy and peace. And the more frequently we offend Him, the more we weaken His influences in our souls. For frequent breaches will necessarily occasion estrangement between us; it is impossible that our intercourse with Him can be cordial when it is disturbed by repeated interruptions. So a man will forgive his friend a great many imprudences and some willful transgressions, but to find him frequently affronting him, all his kindness will wear off by degrees. The warmth of his affection, even toward him who had the greatest share of it, will die away, as he cannot but think that such a one does not any longer either desire or deserve to maintain a friendship with him. By What Kinds of Sin Is the Holy Spirit Grieved? By what kinds of sin is the Holy Spirit especially grieved? These sins are, in general, such as either at first wholly disappoint His grace of its due effect upon our souls or are afterward directly contrary to His gracious and merciful assistances. Of the former sort, I shall only mention, at present, inconsiderateness; of the latter, sins of presumption. The first I shall mention, as being more especially grievous to the Holy Spirit, is inconsiderateness and inadvertence to His holy motions within us. There is a particular frame and temper of soul, a sobriety of mind, without which the Spirit of God will not concur in the purifying of our hearts. It is in our power, through His preventing and assisting grace, to prepare this in ourselves, and He expects we should, this being the foundation of all His after-works. Now, this consists in preserving our minds in a cool and serious disposition, in regulating and calming our affections, and calling in and checking the inordinate pursuits of our passions after the vanities and pleasures of this world. The doing of this is of such importance that the very reason why men profit so little under the most powerful means is that they do not look enough within themselves—they do not observe and watch the discords and imperfections of their own spirits, nor attend with care to the directions and remedies that the Holy Spirit is always ready to suggest. Men are generally lost in the hurry of life, in the business or pleasures of it, and seem to think that their regeneration, their new nature, will spring and grow up within them with as little care and thought of their own as their bodies were conceived and have attained their full strength and stature. Whereas, there is nothing more certain than that the Holy Spirit will not purify our natures unless we carefully attend to His motions, which are lost upon us while, in the prophet's language, we “scatter away our time”—while we squander away our thoughts upon unnecessary things and leave our spiritual improvement, the one thing needful, quite unthought of and neglected. There are many persons who, in the main of their lives, are regular in their conversation and observe the means of improvement and attend upon the holy sacrament with exactness, who yet, in the intervals of their duties, give too great liberty to their thoughts, affections, and discourse. They seem to adjourn the great business of salvation to the next hour of devotion. If these professors lose so much in their spiritual estate for want of adjusting and balancing their accounts, what then must we think of those who scarce ever bestow a serious thought upon their eternal welfare? Surely there is not any temper of mind less a friend to the spirit of religion than a thoughtless and inconsiderate one that, by a natural succession of strong and vain affections, shuts out everything useful from their souls, until, at length, they are overtaken by a fatal lethargy. They lose sight of all danger and become insensible of divine convictions, and, in consequence, quite disappoint all the blessed means of restoration. If, therefore, we measure the Holy Spirit's concern at the sins of men by the degrees of His disappointment, we may conclude that there is no state of mind that grieves Him more, unless that of actual wickedness. Presumptuous sins are, indeed, in the highest manner offensive to the Holy Spirit of God. They are instances of open enmity against Him and have all the guilt of open rebellion. The willful sinner is not ignorant or surprised, but knowingly fights against God's express commandment and the lively, full, and present conviction of his own mind and conscience, so that this is the very standard of iniquity. And all other kinds of sins are more or less heinous, as they are nearer or farther off from sins of this dreadful nature, inasmuch as these imply the greatest opposition to God's will, contempt of His mercy, and defiance of His justice. This, if anything can, doubtless must so grieve Him as to make Him wholly withdraw His gracious presence. The Force of the Apostle's Argument Against Grieving the Holy Spirit I come now to show the force of the apostle's argument against grieving the Holy Spirit: Because we “are sealed unto the day of redemption.” By “the day of redemption” may be meant either the time of our leaving these bodies at death or of our taking them again at the general resurrection, though here it probably means the latter, in which sense the apostle uses the word in another place: “Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies” (Ro 8:23). And to this day of redemption we are sealed by the Holy Spirit these three ways: by receiving His real stamp upon our souls, being made the partakers of the divine nature; by receiving Him as a mark of God's property, as a sign that we belong to Christ; as an earnest and assurance to our own spirits that we have a title to eternal happiness. First, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God by our receiving His real stamp upon our souls, being made the partakers of the divine nature and “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.” This is, indeed, the design of His dwelling in us: to heal our disordered souls and to restore that image of His upon our nature, which is so defaced by our original and actual corruptions. And until our spirits are, in some measure, thus renewed, we can have no communion with Him. For “if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (1 Jn 1:6). But by the renewal of our minds in the image of Him that created us, we are still more capable of His influences. By means of a daily intercourse with Him, we are more and more transformed into His likeness, until we are satisfied with it. This likeness to God, this conformity of our will and affections to His will, is, properly speaking, holiness; to produce this in us is the proper end and design of all the influences of the Holy Spirit. By means of His presence with us, we receive from Him a great fullness of holy virtues; we take such features of resemblance in our spirits as correspond to His original perfections. And thus we are sealed by Him, in the first sense, by way of preparation for our day of redemption. And since we are so, and our new natures thus grow up under the same power of His hands, what do we, when we grieve Him by our sins, but undo and destroy His work? We frustrate His designs by breaking down the fences that He had been trying to raise against the overflowings of corruption, so that, at last, we entirely defeat all His gracious measures for our salvation. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit to the day of redemption as a sign of God's property in us and as a mark that we belong to Christ. And this is, by His appointment, the condition and security of that future happiness, into which He will admit none but those who have received the Spirit of His Son into their hearts. But in whomsoever He finds this mark and character, when He shall come to judge the world, these will He take to Himself and will not suffer the destroyer to hurt them. To this very purpose the prophet Malachi, speaking of those who feared God, says, “They shall be mine, saith the Lord, . . . in that day when I make up my jewels” (Mal 3:17)—that is to say, when I set my seal and mark upon them—“and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Now, if the Holy Spirit be the sign, the seal, and the security of our salvation, then, by grieving Him by our sins, we break up this seal with our own hands, we cancel our firmest security, and, as much as in us lies, reverse our own title to eternal life. Besides this, the Holy Spirit within us is the security of our salvation; He is likewise an earnest of it, and assures our spirits that we have a title to eternal happiness. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Ro 8:16). And in order that this inward testimony may be lively and permanent, it is absolutely necessary to attend carefully to the secret operation of the Holy Spirit within us, who, by infusing His holy consolations into our souls, by enlivening our drooping spirits, and by giving us a quick relish of His promises, raises bright and joyous sensations in us and gives a man, beforehand, a taste of the bliss to which he is going. In this sense God is said, by the apostle to the Corinthians, to have “sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,” and that earnest, not only by way of confirmation of our title to happiness, but as an actual part of that reward at present, the fullness of which we expect hereafter.
Efésios 4:31
Spurgeon - A few angry words have embittered the friendship of a life. A few bitter sentences have destroyed the usefulness of a sweet sermon, and even of a sweet life. Robert Louis Stevenson, in his Picturesque Notes of Edinburgh, tells the story of two unmarried sisters who shared a single room. As people are apt to do who live in close quarters, the sisters had a falling out, which Stevenson says was “on some point of controversial divinity.” In other words, they disagreed over some aspect of theology. The controversy was so bitter that they never spoke again (ever!). There were no words, either kind or spiteful — just silence. Nevertheless, possibly because of a lack of means, or because of the innate Scottish fear of scandal, they continued to keep house together in the single room. A chalk-line was drawn across the floor to separate their two domains. For years they coexisted in hateful silence. Each woman’s meals, baths, and family visitors were exposed to the other’s unfriendly silence. At night each went to bed listening to the heavy breathing of her enemy. Thus, the two sisters (ostensibly daughters of the Church!) continued the rest of their miserable lives. They probably were not true Christians, because Christians are not to resist reconciliation and forgiveness. (Hughes, R. K.: Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ. Crossway Books) The Burden of Bitterness - Luis Palau writes...A friend of mine went through a massive emotional breakdown. After his recovery, we went for a walk. "Luis," he told me, "don't ever allow anyone to make you bitter." He told me about his breakdown which proved very embarrassing. "My problems began when I got so worked up about the contractor who didn't build my basement and driveway right. I hated what he'd done to my home. And since he lived next door, I saw him almost daily. Each time I saw him, my anger and bitterness grew even more intense until I finally cracked." No wonder God's Word is so emphatic: "Get rid of all bitterness" (Ephesians 4:31). Why? Because if a "bitter root grows up" within you, it will "cause trouble and defile many" (Hebrews 12:15). (Luis Palau: How to Renew Your Spiritual Passion, Discovery House, October, 1994) Purge Out The Poison - My friend and I were standing in the parking lot of a restaurant where we had just finished lunch. While we were discussing the damage a bitter spirit can cause, he took out his New Testament and solemnly read Hebrews 12:15 to me: "Looking carefully . . . lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled." In the six long decades since our conversation, the sad truth of that warning has been repeatedly verified by my experiences in pastoral ministry. Bitterness is a poison, and if not purged out by prayer, confession, and forgiveness, it does great emotional damage and destroys relationships. A little grudge that festers can become a devastating malignancy of soul. That's why the advice in Hebrews must be diligently heeded. Have you been holding fast to the memory of some insult, some event, some criticism? As Paul put it in Ephesians 4:26-note, "Do not let the sun go down on your wrath." Take the proper steps to resolve the problem right away. Thinking It Through What are we to do when someone sins against us? (Lk. 17:3, 4). According to Jesus, how many times are we to forgive? (Mt. 18:21, 22). To get rid of weeds of anger, dig out the bitter roots. Sunk by Own Attack (USS Tang in Wikipedia) - During World War II the U.S. submarine Tang surfaced under the cover of darkness to fire upon a large Japanese convoy off the coast of China. Since previous raids had left the American vessel with only eight torpedoes, the accuracy of every shot was absolutely essential. The first seven missiles were right on target; but when the eighth was launched, it suddenly deviated and headed right back at their own ship. The emergency alarm to submerge rang out, but it was too late. Within a matter of seconds the U.S. sub received a direct hit and sank almost instantly. Instead of doing battle with the enemy, Christians often use God's Word like a torpedo to attack one another. With precisely aimed missiles of criticism, contempt, or callousness, we can cripple the body of Christ, of which we are all members. You cannot sink someone else's end of the boat and still keep your own afloat. (Ed: "Amen" or "Oh my"!) In much the same way we can destroy ourselves by our enmity and hostility directed toward others. The effects of holding a grudge are very serious. In fact, modern medicine has shown that emotions such as bitterness and anger can cause problems such as headaches, backaches, ulcers, high blood pressure, even contributing to the increased incidence of heart attacks, etc. When we do not love our enemies (Mt 5:44-note where "love" = present imperative - keep on loving them in effect "70 x 7"!) but strike back at them, we are usurping God's prerogative to mete out justice (Ro 12:17-note, Ro 12:18, 19, 20, 21-note). When we seek to take our own revenge, beloved, we in effect are aiming the torpedo at our own heart and are sure to incur severe damage ourselves. For the sake of God's Holy Name and the forgiveness wrought in our behalf by the Cross of Christ, may the Spirit give each of us the necessary desire and power in the "knick of time" so that we think before we act in haste and hatred. Amen (Quoted in part by Lenya Heitzig and Penny Rose - Pathway to Living Faith James) A Little Grudge - A little grudge can create a huge gap in human relationships. The Philippines Daily Express reported on a couple in England who had lived together as “silent partners” for 12 years. The wife was finally seeking a divorce. “For 12 extraordinary years they had lived their lives so that they wouldn’t have to meet each other,” said lawyer Simon King, who was handling the case. “When one would come into the house, the other would leave. And when they did communicate with each other, it was with notes.” They had lived happily together for the first 18 years of their marriage and had raised a son. For the last 12 years, however, they didn’t speak to each other. Ironically, neither one could remember what the hassle had been all about. Good Dads - Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. grew up with a father he describes as physically present but emotionally absent. In his first book on parenting, Pitts openly chronicles his struggle to come to terms with his alcoholic father and the climate of fear he had created in their home. Pitts challenges all men to resolve the resentment toward their absent or abusive fathers instead of passing it on to the next generation. There's a passage in Hebrews 12 that applies to all Christians, but it has special relevance to dads. It reads: Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled (He 12:14, 15) Think of what could happen in our families if we emptied our hearts of bitterness and made peaceful relationships our goal! If we have been blessed with a wise and loving father, we should be grateful and follow his example. But if our father has failed us, we must rely on God's grace, resolve our anger toward him, and strive to be the kind of dad we never had. It won't be easy, but with our heavenly Father as a perfect example, we can learn to be good dads. —David C. McCasland (Ibid) A faithful father leads by love With tender firmness from above, For he himself has learned from God The lessons of His chastening rod. --DJD A good father reflects the love of the heavenly Father. Hunt (Biblical Counseling Keys) has these insights on bitterness... Resentment toward God and those who have not fulfilled your expectations will grow bitter roots that destroy acceptance of yourself and others. If you don't forgive, you will develop a root of bitterness and a bitter root will grow bitter fruit.... You will become bitter. Unresolved anger produces bitterness. And the Bible links bitterness with being in bondage to sin. (Acts 8:23) Give the situation to God. Jesus understands how much you have been wronged. When He was being persecuted, Jesus knew that the heavenly Father would judge justly... in His way, in His time. And you can know the same. Your trial will make you either bitter or better. Following conflict, what keeps your heart from a negative focus? Jesus said, "Love your enemies."...If you are saying, "but they really aren't enemies," realize that if someone evokes resentment, bitterness, or hatred, that person is an enemy to your spirit. Because praying for your enemy is commanded by Christ, believers should obey this directive and not regard this as optional. And because praying for your enemy protects your heart from bitterness, you should want to obey this directive in heart and in deed. One approach is to pray "the fruit of the Spirit" for your offender. And because you are willing to "bless" your enemy, the Bible says that you will inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9) Wrath (2372) (thumos from thúo = move impetuously, particularly as the air or wind, a violent motion or passion of the mind; move violently, rush along) describes passion (as if breathing hard) and so speaks of an agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. It speaks of a feeling of antagonism which bursts forth in a tumultuous outburst, a hot retort. Thumos is a tumultuous welling up of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion which seizes and moves the whole inner man. Sam Gordon - Rage (thymos) is the ‘in’ word these days—we talk about road rage, air rage, and every other form of rage that is possible. The Greeks defined thymos as the kind of anger which is like the flame which comes from straw—it quickly blazes up and just as quickly subsides. In this context it has to do with wild rage, the passion of the moment resulting in an explosion from within. It is when we boil up and boil over. When people blow it big time—it is over in a moment but they leave a lasting legacy of scars. Thumos - 18x in 18v - Luke 4:28; Acts 19:28; Rom 2:8; 2 Cor 12:20; Gal 5:20; Eph 4:31; Col 3:8; Heb 11:27; Rev 12:12; 14:8, 10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 18:3; 19:15. NAS = angry tempers(1), fierce(2), indignation(1), outbursts of anger(1), passion(2), rage(2), wrath(9). As noted above the root meaning has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s breathing violently while pursuing an enemy in great rage. Thumos is a blaze of sudden anger which is quickly kindled and just as quickly dies. The Greeks likened it to a fire amongst straw, which quickly blazed and just as quickly burned itself out. It is used by the writer of Hebrews to describe Pharaoh’s murderous fury at Moses (Heb 11:27-note; cf. Ex 10:28). It is used by Luke to describe the fury of the Jews in the synagogue at Nazareth who wanted to throw Jesus off a diff (Lk 4:28,29). It is used of the pagan Ephesians who resented Paul’s preaching the gospel and especially his claim that their idols “made with hands [were] no gods at all” (Acts 19:26, 17, 28). On the final day of judgment God’s indignation will explode like a consuming fire upon all rebellious mankind. It is one of the deeds of the flesh (Gal 5:20-note), and it is not acceptable behavior for Christians here in Ephesians 4:31! Anger (3709) (orge from orgaô = to teem, to swell) refers to to an inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders, and thus is a more settled indignation. Orge as used of God refers to His constant and controlled indignation toward sin, while thumos (which originally referred to violent movements of air, water, etc., and consequently came to mean “well up” or “boil up”) refers more to a passionate outburst of rage. Thumos type anger represents an agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. The root meaning has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s breathing violently while pursuing an enemy in great rage! Orge is more subtle, deep flowing anger. It is a subtle, deep-flowing, persistent antagonism against someone. Recall that orge refers to righteous anger (Eph 4:26) as with Jesus’ righteous anger (Mark 3:5+) and is used of God’s wrath (Jn 3:36+; Ro 1:18+; Ro 12:19+), expressing His holy settled hatred and opposition to sin! Sam Gordon - Anger (orgē) is when everything is left on the back burner to simmer. It is a nurtured feeling of hatred that stems from deep within. On the outside, all may seem relatively calm—on the inside, the tempest is beginning to rage. It is a settled and sullen hostility. A touch of pique! We need to know that a hostile Christian is an oxymoron! F. F. Bruce observes “This mention of anger (Eph 4:31) as something that is bad without qualification, so soon after Eph 4:26, suggests that to be angry without sinning is as rare as it is difficult.” Orge - 36x in 34v - anger(6), wrath(30). Matt 3:7; Mark 3:5; Luke 3:7; 21:23; John 3:36; Rom 1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4f; Eph 2:3; 4:31; 5:6; Col 3:6, 8; 1 Thess 1:10; 2:16; 5:9; 1 Tim 2:8; Heb 3:11; 4:3; Jas 1:19f; Rev 6:16f; 11:18; 14:10; 16:19; 19:15 ANGER CAN SPREAD: In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a routine baseball game. But what happened that day was anything but routine. The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in the brawl. The warfare quickly spread to the grandstands. Among the fans the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire spread to 107 other Boston buildings as well. ANGER CAN BE FATAL: The 18th-century British physician John Hunter, who was a pioneer in the field of surgery and served as surgeon to King George III, suffered from angina. Discovering that his attacks were often brought on by anger, Hunter lamented, “My life is at the mercy of any scoundrel who chooses to put me in a passion.” These words proved prophetic, for at a meeting of the board of St. George’s Hospital in London, Hunter got into a heated argument with other board members, walked out, and dropped dead in the next room. (Today in the Word) ANOTHER EXAMPLE: National park ranger in British Columbia who has a two sets of huge antlers, as wide as a man’s reach; ;locked together. Evidently two bull moose began fighting, their antlers locked, and they could not get free. They died due to anger. A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. “There’s nothing wrong with losing my temper,” She said. “I blow up, and then it’s all over.” “So does a shotgun,” Sunday replied, “and look at the damage it leaves behind!” Getting angry can sometimes be like leaping into a wonderfully responsive sports car, gunning the motor, taking off at high speed and then discovering the brakes are out of order. WAGES OF UNCONTROLLED ANGER: Jim Taylor in CURRENTS tells the following story about his friend, Ralph Milton: One morning Ralph woke up at five o’clock to a noise that sounded like someone repairing boilers on his roof. Still in his pajamas, he went into the back yard to investigate. He found a woodpecker on the TV antenna, “pounding its little brains out on the metal pole.” Angry at the little creature who ruined his sleep, Ralph picked up a rock and threw it. The rock sailed over the house, and he heard a distant crash as it hit the car. In utter disgust, Ralph took a vicious kick at a clod of dirt, only to remember -- too late -- that he was still in his bare feet. Uncontrolled anger, as Ralph leaned, can sometimes be its own reward. TEMPERING ANGER: Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, was angered by an army officer who accused him of favoritism. Stanton complained to Lincoln, who suggested that Stanton write the officer a sharp letter. Stanton did, and showed the strongly worded missive to the president. “What are you going to do with it?” Lincoln inquired. Surprised, Stanton replied, “Send it.” Lincoln shook his head. “You don’t want to send that letter,” he said. “Put it in the stove. That’s what I do when I have written a letter while I am angry. It’s a good letter and you had a good time writing it and feel better. Now burn it, and write another.” Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one. - Benjamin Franklin Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. - B. Franklin R Kent