I have to tell you that as I stand here this morning, at the very start, there's a passage that
! That would not be strange for a pastor when he stands at a pulpit, right? In fact, I would hope
! You'd be a little disappointed.
If that wasn't what was going through my mind. But I want to tell you the passage. Ephesians chapter 3,
verse 21. Now unto him who knows it. Here's what it says, unto him be glory in the church.
By the way, that's a good verse. And I can think of several others that are good verses. But unto him
be glory in the church. And as we look at this passage this morning, we are looking at one
particular text in Ephesians chapter 4. And I want you to put your finger on it for a moment as we
read the text together. You follow, and then we will take some time in prayer together. And I trust that
as I pray, what you'll do sitting right there is that you will pray. And I want to coach you a little
bit on what I want you to pray about. Two things. I want you to pray according to the instruction
that we find in Psalm 119 where it says, open thou mine eyes that I might behold wonderful truths of
thy law. I want you to open my eyes that I can see what God has. Second thing that you would do is that
you'd pray for me. Because it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, it says, pray that the word of God
would have free course, that it would not be hindered. And that God would enable me to speak
by his power, through his spirit, and that God would be honored by you hearing the word and changing
accordingly. Our Father God this morning,
for us the matter of prayer is not a habit, but it is the absolute life breath of the believer.
We recognize what it says in John chapter 15, that without me you can do nothing. And so,
in keeping with that profound truth, we who are your children acknowledge that we have the right
and the privilege to call upon your name and rely upon you to do great and wonderful things that are
beyond our imagination for the glory of the cross. We want to hear and understand and be changed by the
word of God. And we ask this because of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Let me read the passage to you there in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30. It says,
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
I want to take just a second to review with you some of the things that we have done in the last
several weeks. And I remind you that several weeks ago, I had three little children come up here
on stage. Does anybody remember what that question was that I asked them?
I asked them a little question about what man is all about, right? What is the chief end of man?
Does anybody remember the answer or do you know the answer? Wave at me if you know the answer to the
first question of the catechism. What is it? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him
forever. And I can't help but think when you're thinking about it, in Psalm 16, verse 11, it says
what? In Thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand are pleasures evermore. When we get
there, it won't be any better than that, right? It's going to be great because we're going to see
Him face to face and we will be like Him. And it says in 1 John, and I already recited that,
it says that those who have this thought, this idea, it purifies us.
Well, last week, another one of our little children came to me. I actually was out there
in the lobby doing that obligatory business of hi, hi, hi. You know how people go by and it's a time
when people tell me the most important things of their life and expect me to remember them. You
know, it's like, oh, by the way, I'll be dying tomorrow. Don't do that to me. You know, it's like,
at least send me a note, okay? But I had this little girl come up to me, and she's right down there,
you know, and she says, Pastor, when we get to heaven, will we sin anymore? I tell you,
I just got cold chills. You know, I get those occasionally. And I just, I looked at her,
I looked in her eye and I said, you know what? When we get to heaven, we won't sin anymore.
But not only that, we won't be able to sin anymore. I like that. And I appreciate that little
girl's sensitivity to the ongoing struggle of sin. Do you struggle with it? Do you struggle with it?
Go ahead and nod your head because your neighbor already knows you got the problem, so give in.
You know, it's like, yeah, you're struggling with it. And here's the truth. I really want you to
listen carefully. What we're going to be looking at this morning is profoundly significant in the
believer's ongoing struggle and battle with sin. I'm not suggesting that if you get this, it's all over
and you're home free. But I am telling you this, that to be well-informed scripturally and to understand
what the Scriptures tell us about the ministry of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer
is significant in our battle in dealing with sin. I'm reminded of what it says in Galatians chapter 5,
verse 16, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The unhappiest state
of the believer is not in the battles that he has with his health or with other individuals or problems at work.
The battles that are most significant are always battles with the indwelling sin that we deal with.
And this morning, I want you to understand that the Spirit of God is significant and critical
in that ongoing struggle. Now, we are looking at a passage here that for some may seem to be a little disjointed.
Now, what I mean by that is that if you have been following the book of Ephesians, you know that
the first three chapters are profoundly theological and lay out the issues of the work of God in salvation
and in placing the believer into a body for the sake of the glory of Christ.
And then in chapter 4 and on through to the end of the book, we have the exposition of,
okay, since the believer is saved by the grace of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, how is it that we are to act?
And we find one thing after another given to us clearly, explicitly. Those who are the children of God are to live,
endeavoring to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
We are to remember that there is one God, there is one baptism, one Savior, one Lord, one faith,
and we are together. And then we find out that we're a body of believers that are organically under the headship of Christ,
working together for His glory. It's an amazing passage.
And then following that, we pick up there later in the part of chapter 4, and it talks to us about,
and don't act like the unbelieving world.
And Paul then goes on and explains, here's what the unbelieving world acts like.
You, believers, are to be different.
You're to speak the truth with one another.
You're not to let anger fester in your life.
You're not to steal.
You're not to use your lips as a means of causing heartache and grief.
Your lips are to be a resource of blessing.
And then suddenly, out of seeming nowhere, comes this little statement,
and don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
If you're tracking on the logic of it, you probably say, what's that there for?
In fact, in doing some studies earlier last week,
I was struck by the fact that there are some commentators that say,
this verse seems to be just a little disjointed and doesn't fit.
I think that's far from the truth.
I think the verse fits perfectly.
However, it does kind of rattle our cage and make us think a little bit about the subject of sin
in a different way than we sometimes do.
We're all dealing with sin on a regular basis, sadly.
And often when we're thinking about sin,
we are thinking about it from a very personal and humanistic perspective.
In other words, what I mean by that is we're thinking about sin about,
oh, well, if I do that, then this is going to happen to what?
To me.
That's bad news.
Sin's bad.
Sin hurts.
Sin causes problems.
And our thoughts about sin are centered most of the time upon ourself.
And there, seemingly out of nowhere,
the Scriptures say this,
and grieve not the Holy Spirit.
Listen to me.
The purpose of preaching
is to change the way you think.
Do you understand that?
Now, that does not mean that Tim Knoyer has the right
or the responsibility of changing the way you think.
My thoughts are no more noteworthy than yours are.
But preaching is speaking explicitly and clearly what God has to say,
and that ought to change the way you think.
And if the preaching of the Word of God this morning,
through the power of the Spirit of God,
does its job in the future next week,
when you start thinking about sinning,
you will say to yourself,
I don't want to grieve the Spirit.
Amen.
That's the test.
I don't want to grieve the Spirit.
In this flow of the passage,
we find Paul addressing issues
that could be justifiably identified as sin.
It's wrong to be angry.
It's wrong to lie.
It's wrong to steal.
It's wrong to say things that are harmful.
But then Paul steps it up and he says,
and do not grieve the Spirit of God.
With this passage in mind,
I want to address three things that we find in the text.
First of all,
when we sin,
it is against the person of the Holy Spirit.
When we sin,
it is against the person of the Holy Spirit.
I do want to recognize that our text speaks in the imperative,
and Paul commands us.
It's not kind of like,
oh, by the way,
I think you probably ought to work at this a little bit.
It's a statement.
It's an obligation.
It's something that the Spirit of God speaks explicitly to a believer and says,
this is what you are not to do.
You are not to grieve the Spirit of God.
And behind the idea of grieving the Spirit of God is a recognition that sin has some significant consequences,
not only in the life of the believer,
but to the Spirit himself.
There's more at stake when we sin than just our personal comfort or dignity.
Or honor.
And the truth of the matter is,
is that every sin has an effect on the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer.
And the sin's impact on the Spirit of God is not something that is easily managed in our own thinking,
apart from humility.
I'm going to use a word that,
and not for the sake of showing a vocabulary,
but I can't think of another way to say it succinctly,
but there are a number of antinomies in Scripture.
Ante means what?
Against, nomos, law.
There are seemingly opposing principles in Scripture.
Namely, I'll give you a couple of illustrations of it.
Probably the classic one would be the absolute sovereignty of God
and the absolute responsibility of man.
That's an antinomy.
They're hard to fit together.
The deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ would be another illustration.
And here's another one.
How can the Spirit of God be inside me?
How can the Spirit of God, who has the nature of God,
also be affected by me?
The fact that sin has an effect on the Holy Spirit
is really a challenge to our understanding,
our theological understanding of the nature of God.
What does it say in Malachi 3, verse 6?
I'm going to recite it for you.
It says,
I am the Lord.
I do not change.
Let me go over that slowly.
I am the Lord.
I, what?
I do not change.
Aren't you glad He doesn't change?
He doesn't change.
He never changes.
And it is because, as He was reciting there in Malachi,
it says,
I am the Lord.
I do not change.
And it's because I do not change that you,
O nation of Israel, are not consumed.
It is because of His unchangeableness
that my salvation is secure in His person
and in His promises,
and it is completed work.
God doesn't change.
And yet, and yet,
we read here that our sin grieves the Holy Spirit.
Now, the idea here is that it really affects Him deeply.
And so here we have that kind of conundrum,
that difficulty of saying,
okay, an unchangeable God, however,
is affected deeply by the things we do.
It changes His feelings.
And the statement reflects the sobering thought
that when we sin,
and in the context of the passage in Ephesians chapter 4,
when we honestly are not endeavoring to maintain the unity of the Spirit,
when we're not loving the brethren,
when we are less than edifying or honest in our words,
we are grieving the Spirit.
We also grieve Him when we indulge in secret lusts,
when we covet,
when we're embittered towards others.
And beloved, I think that the Scripture wants us to recognize
that grieving the Spirit is a profoundly significant thing.
The fact that we're told this here is instructive,
for it points to the principle that every sin we commit,
let me put it this way,
the principle crime of every sin is its offense against God.
Do you follow that?
When we sin,
the most significant thing about the sin that we commit
is what it does to God.
While it's true,
and it is a sub-point that is worth remembering,
His commandments are for our blessing,
and when we sin,
we harm ourself.
The larger and more significant truth
is not what sin does to us,
but what sin does to the character,
the name of God.
And for a believer to be dominated
by his thinking exclusively
about how sin affects himself
is to have a low view of God
and a high view of himself.
And here is the unintended consequence
of not having a God-word focus
when we're dealing with the subject of sin.
It is that we are often overwhelmed
in the battle with sin,
and we don't know what the solution is
because as it says in the Scripture,
you have given up the streams of living water.
Let me bring two classic texts to your mind
to help you understand
that sin really is against God.
I think about the one in Genesis chapter 39, verse 9,
where Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife.
Very familiar passage.
I think the thing that is most significant in that text
is that Joseph, as he is reasoning
with this perverted, wicked woman
who is tempting him sexually,
he says, listen,
your husband has given me
these tremendous responsibilities and respect,
but then he concludes by saying,
and how can I do this great sin against God?
When was the last time you concluded your argument
in your own thinking?
How many of you realized that sin in most cases
is not something that just kind of creeps up on us
and kind of strikes us,
and boom, we do it?
I've had people say to me,
I didn't mean to say that,
and I would agree,
you probably didn't think carefully enough,
but you did mean to say it.
We've all had those little arguments in our mind
after a conversation,
well, I should have said this.
How many of you done that?
Yeah, well, the next time they say that,
I'm going to say this.
You know, it's like, God forbid, stop me.
We think, we think, we think, we think,
we think we've got the math figured out,
we know how it's going to work out,
and then lo and behold,
when was the last time when you were kind of weighing
whether or not you would commit that offense against God,
when was the last time you said,
you know, and if I do this,
this is supremely,
this is supremely offensive to God.
Psalm 51, verse 4,
David,
when he walks out in public
and hands a brief song to John Kroll
and says,
would you sing this Sunday?
And John Kroll helps us with music here,
so, but if you looked at Psalm 51,
by the way, you know that the Psalms
were the songbook of the Old Testament,
and this is a song that David wrote,
and songs that were written
were used in public worship,
and so David hands it to the choir director
and says, listen,
next Sabbath,
I want to get on record
with what God's been teaching me
about my wicked, despicable heart,
and so I want you to sing this,
and so here we go in verse 4,
King James, bear with me,
against thee and thee only have I done this,
all right?
Hey,
what had David done?
He had murdered a man.
He had been involved in adultery
with a woman.
He had then,
for two years,
it is estimated by Bible scholars,
had been kind of carrying on
as if everything was okay.
He had played the game.
And finally,
when he is convicted,
he says,
it's only against you that I've sinned.
A practical use of this Bible truth
would be the next time that you find yourself
entertaining temptation
and weighing Satan's lies.
The next time
you
find yourself
entertaining temptation
and weighing Satan's lies,
stop and think,
if I yield to this temptation,
I am going to grieve the Holy Spirit
that indwells me
and is so incredibly
involved
in helping me
with every part
of my spiritual life.
Second thing that I want us to see
in the passage
is that when we sin,
it is against the work
of the Holy Spirit.
Look at the passage.
Because the logic
of the outline
does not come
from my thinking,
but from
the word
itself.
Don't grieve
the Holy Spirit.
It's against the person
of the Spirit of God.
But then secondly,
by whom you were
sealed.
The text tells us
more,
for it speaks of the Spirit's work
in sealing
the believer.
I want you to keep your finger there
in Ephesians chapter 4
and turn back just for a moment
to Ephesians chapter 1
verse 13.
By the way,
the book of Ephesians
is one that is riddled.
It's shot through
with recurring emphasis
upon the ministry
and the significance
of the Spirit of God.
This summer,
earlier on,
and I'm going to take a tangent
for a moment,
but this summer,
in the evenings,
we did a series,
a theological series,
and I preached
for two weeks
upon the ministry
of the Spirit
in the believer's life.
And if you were to ask me,
what are some of the things
that in the last 30 years
God has been at work
changing in my thinking,
one of them,
I think,
I pray,
is evident to you,
and that is a growing affection
for the Lord Jesus Christ
and a dominant thinking
that He is supremely worthy
of my affection
and my interest.
But another
is a greater dependence
upon the Spirit of God
actively engaged
in my life,
and I have no hesitation
to admit
I desperately need
His work every day.
The Spirit is significant
in the book of Ephesians,
and there in verse 113
it says this,
In Him you also,
when you heard
the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in Him,
were sealed
with the promised Holy Spirit.
The genuine convert
is sealed
with the promised Holy Spirit.
I'm going to have to take the time,
I will not take the time
this morning
to take you back
to the book of Romans
and chapter 8 in particular
where it argues,
I think very persuasively,
that every believer
is indwelt
with the Spirit of God.
If you're a child of God,
you have the Spirit of God
in you.
A companion passage
would be over
in 1 Corinthians chapter 6
where Paul is arguing
that the believer
should not be involved
in immorality
because when the believer
involves himself
in immorality,
he drags the Spirit along.
That's offensive.
Hey, Holy Spirit,
come with me.
I want to look
at some pornography.
That's offensive.
Not right.
And so,
in Ephesians,
Paul says,
you need to understand
that you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit.
I want you to understand
that as this passage
is played out,
the thing that we need
to recognize
is that one of the blessings
of our salvation
is not just that we have
a promise of where we will
eventually spend eternity,
and that's good news.
we also have
the promise
that we don't have
to stay the way
we used to be,
and the reason
we can be certain
of that,
now listen,
if you're here today
and you know Christ,
you won't stay
the way you are.
And one of the reasons
I can guarantee that
is not because of me,
it's because the Spirit
of God is in you,
and the Spirit of God
will not let it
keep on going.
Recognizing that
the ongoing battle
with sin
is pretty difficult,
however,
you can understand
why we would be
concerned about
having assurance
of where we will
end up someday.
and one of the things
that we receive
early on
in our spiritual life
is assurance
of our eternity,
and that assurance
does not come
through our own
accomplishment,
but it comes through
the ministry
of the Spirit of God,
namely this business
of sealing us.
and we find it
over and over again
that you're sealed,
you're sealed,
and what that is
talking about
is that guarantee
that you have,
how do I know
I am saved?
How do I know
that I will spend
eternity in heaven?
How do I know
that God has done
a miraculous work
in my life?
I have received
the Spirit
of the living God.
That's proof.
And yet we live
with our daily frailties,
do we not?
We struggle.
And Paul encourages us
over and over again
through the book
of Ephesians
to understand
that the Spirit
is at work,
He is at work,
He Himself
as the guarantee
of our salvation
and here's how we see
that He is at work.
For one,
He is reminding us
of the promises
of Scripture.
And just as our salvation
was a work of grace,
so our eternal destiny
rests on His power
to save
and the Scriptures
stand clearly
to make that evident.
Second,
we find stirring
in our hearts
with a desire
for godliness
and growth
over in Philippians
chapter 2
verse 12 and 13,
a passage that I would hope
every believer knows.
It says what?
It says,
that you are to work
out your salvation,
what, what, help me,
with fear and trembling
because it's God.
Now listen to this.
I don't think
we appreciate this enough
because it's God
who is working in you,
now track this,
both to will
and to do
His good pleasure.
Now what does it mean
to will?
It means to want to.
Lord,
how many of you
would like it
for the Spirit of God
to help you
be diligent
and persistent
in exercise?
You know?
I mean,
five days a week,
minimum of 30 minutes
at a time,
and you don't need
to look like
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
but you need
improved health.
Right?
We could all do,
well, maybe not,
but most of us
could do
if the Spirit of God
would give us
the will,
right,
to exercise.
I'd take that.
Spiritually speaking,
it says that
the Spirit of God
is in the believer
working to make you
want to do
the right thing.
Do you see
the evidence of that?
Oh, I am blessed!
Now I wish he'd gotten
it done sooner
and he would keep
at it harder.
Now you're thinking,
that's a theological
conundrum.
Bear with it, okay?
I just,
I wish
that I'd been
smarter younger.
How many would join
me in saying that?
Everything I've learned,
I've learned
through heartache
and challenge
because of my
insufferable stubbornness
and my disobedient
spirit
and my arrogance.
And I'm thankful,
I'm really thankful
that he never quits.
He enables
every step
of our growth.
Colossians chapter 1
verse 29.
Let me come to
one other point.
Ephesians chapter 4
verse 30,
it says this,
when we sin,
let me read the passage,
you were sealed
for the day
of redemption.
When we sin,
it disregards
the completion
of his work.
there's one more jewel
in Paul's statement
here,
and it draws our attention
to the future,
and it speaks
of the day
of our redemption,
and it's talking
about that wonderful
day of the
consummation of all
things,
when this present
life and the
difficulties and
heartache,
the troubling rain
that we see
in the world
that faces us,
that is pervasive
in its wickedness,
is going to be
wiped away,
and the king
of kings
will reign forever.
I find myself,
I struggle
with listening
to too much
news.
I stopped
a number of years
ago receiving
the newspaper,
because I would
read the newspaper
and somewhere
in the process
of getting from
the front to the
back,
I would find
my sanctification
reaching a boiling
point.
How many of you
understand that?
I know of a
dear brother
in the Lord
that calls
himself a
news junkie.
Well, I am
not a news junkie,
and I'll tell you
why, because I
just can take
about so much
of what's going
on in the world
before I find
myself saying,
even so,
come Lord Jesus.
Right?
It's like,
Jesus, you need
to be a stomping
on down here,
and you need
to put the
smack down
on those people.
And then I
think to myself,
okay, and
you're part of
the problem,
Tim.
Paul, in
this last
little part,
lifts up our
heart and
lets us know
that the end
is good.
When we
sin against
the Holy
Spirit, we
sin against
the one who
has sealed
us for the
day of
redemption.
Sin is
such a
short-sighted
thing.
It tempts us
to live with
an eye on
the moment.
We steal,
thinking only
of the moment.
We lie
under the
pressure of
the moment.
Every act
of sin
that we
commit,
whether it
is drunkenness
or anger
or violence
or sex
or whatever
it is,
it's all
the promise
of the
moment,
and Satan
is a
liar.
There's no
lasting benefit
or consequence.
Scripture
wants us to
think way
into the
future of
where things
will be
perfect,
and things
will be
blessed,
and we
shall see
him as
he is,
and we
will be,
what?
Do you
know the
passage?
And we
will be
like him.
And so
Paul says
this,
he says,
listen,
don't grieve
the Holy
Spirit.
When we
sin,
we offend
the Holy
Spirit who
has sealed
us for
the glory
to come.
We who
are his
children,
we who
are his
children,
are not
going to
spend all
of eternity
as
subjects to
the frailty
and frustration
of this
life.
Do you
understand
that?
And it
would do
us well
to think
more often
of how
things
someday
will be.
and that
is what
this
passage
reminds
us of.
The day
is coming
when every
one of you
who are
here will
enjoy the
glory and
the presence
of Christ
forever.
And do
you know
what?
When we
sin,
we are
saying to
God,
I don't
care about
tomorrow.
I don't
care about
what you
have made
for me.
I don't
care about
my future
blessings.
I don't
care about
seeing
Christ.
And the
Holy Spirit
pens these
words for
the believer.
He says,
don't
grieve
me.
Don't
grieve
me.
So let
me close.
Preaching
aims to
change the
way you
what?
What?
Think.
God's
love.
And this
passage
intends to
instruct the
believer that
when we find
ourselves struggling
with the battle
of sin,
the thought is,
I don't want to
grieve the
Spirit of God
who indwells
me.
And God's
people cried
out and said,
Holy Spirit,
convict us.
that we don't
sin against
you.
Let's close
in prayer.
Oh, Holy
Spirit, this
morning we are
so desperate
for you.
We are
frail,
easily
distracted,
far too
comfortable
with sin,
and most
often thoughtless
of your
presence and
ministry.
we ask that
you do
whatever is
fitting
to give
to us a
greater
sensitivity
to your
presence,
that we
who are
your
children
would know
the sweetness
of communion
and relationship,
that the
sin that
does so
easily
beset us
would grow
to be less
of a
struggle
and a
battle,
that Christ
would be
seen
preeminent
in every
thought
and every
action.
And we pray
this in Jesus'
name.
Amen.