## Grieve Not the Holy Spirit

## Ephesians 4:25-32

If we really accept the Biblical teaching concerning the personality of the Holy Spirit of God, we will not have any great trouble attributing the characteristics of personality to Him. The Bible teaches that He is a person and that He is subject to many of the same feelings and emotions common to personality. The passage before has some very solemn things to say out our treatment of the personality of the Holy Spirit. Read: v17-19

In context of Paul's discussion of our relation to the former life. We see a list of put-on / put-off principles.

- Old man / New man
- Lying / Truth
- Sinful anger / Anger w/o sin
- Stealing / Laboring
- Corrupt communication / Edifying communication

Now, grieve not the Holy Spirit...

I. An Unpleasant Possibility "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. . .

A. The Spirit of God can be grieved. He can easily be made sorrowful concerning specific things.

B. How is the Holy Spirit grieved? There are several indications in the passage:

1. Lying (verse 25).

2. Anger (verse 26).

3. Yielding to temptation (verse 27).

4. Stealing (verse 28).

5. Corrupt communications (verse 29).

6. Disordered interpersonal relationships (verses 31 & 32).

II. A Particular Aspect: Let us look at the last of the above list - disordered interpersonal relationships:

A. The presence of certain things is grieving, and thus these things should be put off:

1. Bitterness - bitter hatred.

2. Wrath - sudden outbursts of boiling anger.

3. Anger - gradual buildup of hatred and resentment with eye to vengeance.

4. Clamor - the noise made by people who are shouting back and forth in a quarrel.

5. Evil speaking - slanderous, injurious speech about someone's character.

6. All malice - a vicious disposition.

B. The absence of certain things is grieving, and thus these things should be put on:

1. Two qualities of character.

a. "Be ye kind to one another" - mild, pleasant, kind, beneficial.

b. "Tenderhearted" - compassionate.

2. An underlying principle - "forgiving one another. "

a. Most failure to have right relationships is failure to forgive.

b. This is to be done "even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you."

III. A Serious Result

A. An adverse relationship between the Spirit and the Christian.

B. The Spirit must turn from a ministry through us to a ministry to us.

C. Note that the Spirit's ministry is limited in us, but He does not depart from us.

IV. A Suggested Solution

A. Answer suggested by the text: put off and put on.

B. Comes as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives. It is a serious business to grieve the Holy Spirit. It is most important to make it right any time we feel that we may have done so. Right relationship with the Holy Spirit is essential to all other right relationships in life.