Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000100
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00:22 Hello, I am Shelley Quinn
00:24 and we welcome you to A Sharper Focus. 00:27 I am standing in tonight, 00:29 again, for John Lomacang, our pastor, 00:31 who is in Australia, preaching right now. 00:34 And I know he's been doing a program 00:37 or a series on the judgment. 00:39 So what my purpose was in these last two weeks 00:43 is to have something that would be related to 00:47 but not take away from his thunder. 00:50 So if you will recall, last week we studied Psalm 51, 00:56 which is a beautiful Psalm of repentance. 00:59 And that certainly has something related to judgment. 01:03 In that we see that 01:05 David went through the five steps of repentance. 01:09 Recognition of sin, sorrow, godly sorrow. 01:13 He confessed his sin. 01:17 He received forgiveness from the Lord. 01:19 And most importantly, 01:21 he accepted God's gift of repentance. 01:24 He changed his conduct. 01:26 So when we went through that Psalm, 01:30 if you will recall, when we finished that, 01:33 repentance wasn't the end of it, was it? 01:36 1 Kings 14:8, was something that 01:39 God spoke about David after he died. 01:43 And these were God's words, 01:45 He was talking to Jeroboam and He said, 01:47 "You have not been as my servant David 01:51 who kept all of my commandments, 01:55 who followed me with all of his heart 01:58 and who did only what was right in my eyes." 02:04 What? 02:05 David was guilty of murder, adultery? 02:08 How could God say that about David? 02:13 Well, we looked at 1 Kings 15:4-5, 02:16 which there we saw what man had to say about David. 02:22 What man wrote about David when they weren't quoting God was, 02:26 oh, yes, David did everything that was right 02:30 in the sight of the Lord 02:31 except for his incidents with Uriah. 02:37 So we see that-- you know, to me, 02:40 once again this shows us that the Bible is divinely inspired. 02:44 And when man quoted God, 02:46 he did not put words in God's mouth. 02:49 And God, when God said that, what did we determine? 02:53 If God can say that David did followed all of my commandments 02:59 followed me with all of his heart 03:00 and did only what was right in my eyes, 03:05 that means that God forgives what God forgets. 03:10 Let me say that, God forgets what God forgives. 03:14 When we ask God for forgiveness, 03:17 He is-- He forgives and He forgets. 03:22 But given that, I thought, 03:25 I've really been praying about what we should do tonight. 03:30 And at first, my thought was, 03:32 well, something that is related to the judgment is God's love. 03:38 You know, most of us don't think 03:40 about the judgment in that way. 03:42 But it is all about God's love. 03:45 The judgment is about 03:47 God exercising justly to put an end to sin, 03:52 but it says that for His people that He judges in favor of us. 03:58 Hallelujah. 04:01 But instead, the way I've been led 04:03 yesterday and then again, today in particularly 04:06 because someone asked a question about this 04:09 is that we were talking about 04:11 God forgetting what He forgives. 04:15 And tonight we're going to talk about something 04:19 that God will not forgive. 04:22 Not that so much maybe He doesn't forgive it 04:25 but it is unpardonable. 04:27 We're going to be talking tonight 04:29 about sins against the Holy Spirit. 04:33 And before we begin, we just want to welcome all of you 04:37 who are watching by television or by Internet. 04:41 We want to welcome all of you who are listening on the radio. 04:44 We're so grateful that you are here. 04:47 And I just want to thank all of you 04:49 for being here tonight. 04:50 It's a wonderful thing. This is been a hectic day. 04:53 We've been-- I hit the floor running at 4:30 this morning 04:56 and I have not stopped, it's been a hectic, busy day. 05:01 But it's nice to come apart and in the middle of the week 05:04 be refreshed by the Lord's word and by the teaching. 05:08 Hopefully, led by the Holy Spirit 05:10 if I get out of the way. 05:11 So why don't we pray before we begin? 05:15 Heavenly Father, we come in the name of Jesus. 05:18 And we thank You, oh, Lord. 05:19 We thank You and we praise You 05:22 that we are saved by grace. 05:24 We thank You and praise You that You sent Your son 05:27 to die for us while we were yet sinners. 05:29 And Father, that You have also sent Your precious Holy Spirit 05:35 to dwell in our hearts 05:36 so that Christ may live in our hearts by faith. 05:39 And that we might be empowered to do Your work. 05:43 And Father, we thank You for Your word 05:46 which we planted in our hearts. 05:48 Lord, You say it has the power to save our souls. 05:51 So these three things we are most grateful for. 05:55 We thank You for Your love 05:57 and we pray in the name of Jesus. 05:59 Father, I ask that You would get me out of the way tonight 06:03 that You would speak through Your word 06:05 by the power of Your Holy Spirit. 06:08 Help us Lord, to have ears to hear 06:11 what the Holy Spirit has to say. 06:13 In Jesus' name, amen. 06:16 What we are going to try to accomplish in this hour 06:20 is looking at five sins against the Holy Spirit. 06:25 It is important for us to realize 06:28 when we're sinning against the Holy Spirit 06:31 because we need to confess it 06:33 and we need to ask for forgiveness. 06:35 There are five sins. 06:37 We can grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 06:41 we can resist the Holy Spirit of God, 06:44 we can quench the Holy Spirit of God, 06:49 despise the Holy Spirit of God 06:52 and finally, that unpardonable sin 06:55 of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 06:59 So let's look at the first one, Ephesians 4:30. 07:04 If you'll turn there please, to Ephesians 4, 07:07 Let me just start with verse 30. 07:09 Because what verse 30 has to say is this, 07:13 Paul's writing to the Ephesians and he says, 07:16 "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God 07:21 by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." 07:26 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 07:30 Now let's-- sometimes people don't really understand 07:34 what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit. 07:37 How do we determine? 07:39 When we see something in scripture, 07:42 how do we determine what it means? 07:45 We study it in context, don't we? 07:48 That's critical, when you want to understand a phrase 07:53 or something in the Bible we have to study it in context. 07:57 First, within the chapter, 07:58 of course, within the book in which it's written 08:01 and then in the context of the whole Bible. 08:03 I mean, we don't just pluck out a scripture 08:07 and put our own determination or own interpretation to it. 08:13 So let's look at Ephesians 4. 08:17 We're going to begin with verse 1 first. 08:20 Because this is the foundation for what Paul is speaking of. 08:25 And he says, "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, 08:29 beseech you to walk worthy of the calling 08:33 with which you were called." 08:36 Paul emphatically urges the Ephesians, 08:39 walk in a worthy manner of being called a Christian. 08:45 You have been called to a high calling, 08:48 you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 08:51 a people belonging to the Lord, 08:54 and we are letters written on the heart. 08:58 Letters, we are God's letter to other men. 09:02 What we do when we say we're a Christian? 09:05 What we do every moment of our lives? 09:09 Testifies to other people. 09:12 It is so critical 09:14 that we don't just be a Christian on the Sabbath. 09:17 It is so critical that we walk worthy in a worthy manner. 09:24 And, you know, when we think about what Christ did for us, 09:28 it boggles my mind quite frankly. 09:30 I mean, when you think that He humbled Himself. 09:34 God, humbled Himself to take on human nature. 09:40 Now, what happened with His human nature 09:42 when He returned to heaven, after His resurrection? 09:46 He went back up with that same human nature. 09:49 Do you realize what that means? 09:51 That means, He can no longer be omnipresent. 09:54 That's why He had to send the Holy Spirit. 09:56 Ephesians 4:26-30 says that, 10:00 it is as the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart 10:03 that Christ dwells in our heart by faith. 10:05 He was willing to give up His omnipresence for us. 10:11 I don't know that I can quite fathom that. 10:14 But now let's skip down to verse 17 10:18 because Paul is going to provide 10:20 the practical outworking 10:22 of this exhortation to walk worthy. 10:26 In a manner that is worthy of our calling. 10:30 He's contrasting the former lifestyle 10:32 that we had without Christ 10:34 and the newness of life that we find in Christ. 10:38 So Ephesians 4:17, Paul says this, 10:43 "This I say to you, therefore, and testify in the Lord." 10:49 In other words, it's not my personal opinion. 10:52 I'm speaking on behalf of God. 10:55 "That you should no longer walk 10:58 as the rest of the Gentiles walke 11:01 in the futility of their mind." 11:04 What does it mean "to walk"? 11:06 He's not talking about if you're gliding along 11:09 or if you're hopping along. 11:11 What He's talking about is our conduct. 11:14 He's talking about our daily actions. 11:17 And he says, walk in a manner that is not like the Gentiles 11:23 who follow the futility of their mind. 11:26 Their mind that has been degraded, depraved by sin. 11:32 And Paul says, don't do this. 11:35 He goes on saying, "Having their understanding darkened, 11:39 being alienated from the life of God 11:42 because of the ignorance that is in them, 11:46 because of the blindness of their heart." 11:49 If your understanding is darkened, what is he saying? 11:53 They can't comprehend spiritual truth without the Holy Spirit. 11:59 And the idea that man is alienated from God 12:02 means that at one time he had a relationship with God. 12:07 We, in the Garden of Eden, 12:09 we had a beautiful relationship. 12:11 We were created for a relationship with God. 12:13 But man became alienated from God by sin 12:17 and he then began to suffer from spiritual death. 12:22 But because of the ignorance that is in them, 12:25 they completely ignore God. 12:29 Ignoring God is pretty ignorant, isn't it? 12:31 There's a complete lack of morals 12:34 because of the blindness of their heart. 12:35 "Who--" still talking about those Gentiles? 12:40 "Being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, 12:46 toward all uncleanness with greediness." 12:50 They are deliberately rebelling against God's will, 12:54 they are voluntarily yielding service to Satan. 13:00 And they work-- their lewdness, the lust, 13:04 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 13:07 they are coveting, always wanting more. 13:10 But verse 20, he says, 13:12 "But you have not so learned Christ." 13:17 He's saying, you've not known Christ in this way. 13:20 We need to know Him in a personal manner 13:23 as our Savior and as our Lord. 13:26 Not just savior, but Lord of our life, our master, 13:29 as our mediator and our advocate with God, 13:32 and as our high priest. 13:34 In John 17:3, Jesus said, "This is eternal life 13:39 that they may know Him (God) of heaven 13:44 and the one whom He sent." 13:46 It's as we come into this personal 13:49 intimate relationship with God 13:52 that's when we begin to experience eternal life. 13:54 Verse 21, "If indeed--" Now he's assuming something. 13:59 "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him." 14:05 What is Paul's assumption here? 14:08 He's saying, you've not so learned Christ 14:09 if indeed you're connected to the vine. 14:12 If your life source is coming from Jesus, 14:16 if you're united with Him as the truth is in Jesus. 14:22 You know, Jesus said in John 14:6, 14:25 "I am the way, the truth and the life," didn't He? 14:29 Truth is a person. 14:32 Jesus was the embodiment of God's word 14:36 and God's word is Truth. 14:38 So here's Paul's instructions to the Ephesians. 14:45 Verse 22, "That you put off, concerning your former conduct, 14:51 the old man which grows corrupt 14:54 according to the deceitful lusts." 14:57 The lusts that bring bondage and corruption, 14:59 that makes you slaves to sin. 15:02 You know, something that's interesting about sin, 15:05 Satan will always present sin to you and he gift wraps sin. 15:11 He puts shiny foil wrapper on it 15:14 and then he puts a big beautiful bow on it, 15:17 and he hands it to you and the packaging looks good. 15:20 You think, oh, this is going to bring pleasure. 15:23 But sin never brings pleasure. 15:25 Sin ends up, it ends up with us living in addiction, 15:30 with us living in pain and sorrow 15:32 and hurting other people. 15:34 So he says, "Put off this old conduct 15:38 and put off those filthy rags of yours, 15:44 the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust 15:49 those lusts that will deceive us." 15:51 And Paul said, you know, in Roman 6:6, 15:53 "Knowing this that you were crucified with Christ 15:57 that the body of sin might be done away with 16:01 that we should no longer be slaves to sin." 16:05 You know, the most wonderful news about salvation 16:09 is that it belongs to God 16:11 and that God is the one who will sanctify us. 16:16 The Bible says, the Father sanctifies us, 16:19 the sun sanctifies us, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, 16:22 the word sanctifies us. 16:24 It even says obedience sanctifies us. 16:26 But we can't even obey God except by grace. 16:32 It is only as God gives us, we accept Christ, 16:37 which is His first gift of grace, 16:40 only as the Holy Spirit dwells in our heart we receive Him, 16:44 God's second greatest gift of grace. 16:47 And as we receive His word He planted in our heart, 16:51 it is God's work to save us. 16:54 He just asked that we surrender to His control. 16:58 So he says, "Put off this old man 17:01 which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust 17:03 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." 17:09 This reminds me of what Paul said in Romans 12:2, 17:13 when he said, "Don't be conformed to the world 17:17 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." 17:21 How is our mind renewed? 17:24 It's something, you know, when he said that, 17:26 he said when you are renewed in your mind that you may prove 17:31 what is the good and perfect will of God. 17:34 Right here. 17:36 This is how our mind gets renewed. 17:39 You know, there's a lot of things and still, 17:42 I mean, as much as I've read the Bible, 17:44 there are times I'll pick up the Bible 17:45 and I'm holding a certain thought pattern in my mind. 17:50 I have a habit of thinking a certain way 17:53 and suddenly I'll read something in the Bible 17:55 that I hadn't seen before and I'll think, 17:57 Oh, Lord, what I'm thinking, what I'm doing, 18:01 it's not right according to You. 18:03 So He renews my mind through His word. 18:07 And Paul is saying, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 18:10 we're being recreated in the image of Jesus. 18:14 It's not some superficial, 18:16 external change but a recreated mind. 18:21 And then he says, in verse 24, "That you put on the new man 18:25 with which was created according to God, 18:29 in true righteousness and holiness." 18:33 And God is the one who's recreating us. 18:37 That's what's exciting. 18:38 You know, Paul often describes believers 18:43 as who we are in Christ. 18:46 In Christ, we're freed from the eternal penalty of sin. 18:51 But He always also points 18:53 to what we should strive to become. 18:57 Because the paradox is even though we're freed 19:01 from the-- 19:03 we're justified and freed from that eternal penalty of sin, 19:06 we're only freed from a life of sin. 19:09 As day by day we surrender to God 19:14 and give Him permission to work in our hearts 19:17 and ask that the Holy Spirit dwell in us, 19:21 that He might empower us. 19:23 Now let's look at verse 25. 19:25 And I'm spending quite a bit of time 19:27 on this grieving idea, grieving the Holy Spirit 19:30 because so few people understand it, 19:32 we got to look in context. 19:34 Do you see the context 19:35 that Paul is talking about right now? 19:37 Now what he's going to do in the next few verses 19:40 is he's going to give us an example, several examples 19:45 of new life in the context of a relationship with others. 19:50 And he follows this pattern, he gives a negative command 19:53 then he gives a positive command 19:55 and then he follows that with a spiritual principle 19:57 on which the command is based. 19:59 So let's look at verse 25, here's the negative command, 20:03 "Therefore, put away lying." 20:06 In context, lying grieves the Holy Spirit. 20:10 "Put away lying." 20:13 And this isn't just blatant lies, 20:15 it's all false exaggerations, 20:18 making promises you don't intend to keep. 20:21 It's spreading rumors even. 20:24 And then his positive command, 20:26 "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor." 20:31 And, now the spiritual principle, 20:35 "For we are members of one another." 20:38 See, lying disrupts unity, 20:44 lying will undermine trust. 20:47 If you can't trust someone, 20:49 you can't really be united to them, can you? 20:52 So now, in verse 26, he says, "Be angry." 20:56 Now that's not a commandment, that's a state of being. 20:58 He's simply saying, we would say being angry. 21:02 I mean, he's not commanding us to be angry, 21:04 although anger is not in and of itself a sin 21:08 if there is a good spiritual reason for it. 21:13 Jesus had righteous indignation. 21:15 And there's times when we will have righteous indignation 21:18 when we see someone doing something to someone 21:21 that is completely against God's word 21:25 and against God's principles. 21:27 But when he says, be angry, 21:30 now here's his first negative command. 21:33 He says, and do not sin. 21:35 Don't lose control, don't take revenge, 21:38 don't go out there becoming bitter and resentful. 21:41 Be angry, and do not sin. 21:44 One thing I wanted to bring up to you 21:46 because it happened to me today. 21:48 Something happened today that I wasn't necessarily angry. 21:54 I was a little miffed, 21:57 and then all of a sudden I realize I was offended. 22:02 Now years and years ago 22:05 the Lord spoke to me in that still small voice. 22:08 I didn't hear His voice booming or anything 22:11 but you know when the Holy Spirit speaks to you 22:13 and you know it's from God. 22:15 And what He said was 22:17 that the spirit of offense is the spirit of pride. 22:23 Now think about that. 22:26 You cannot be offended 22:29 if it isn't that your pride was wounded. 22:31 What happened to me today was my pride was wounded. 22:34 But now let me tell you the rest of how God said it. 22:36 "The spirit of offense is the spirit of pride, 22:40 which is the spirit of anti-Christ." 22:44 We need to-- when we get offended, 22:51 in your anger do not sin. 22:54 When you find that you're offended at something, 22:57 recognize immediately, 23:00 it's your pride has gotten in the way. 23:03 And then confess that to the Lord, 23:07 because you're actually sinning the sin of pride, aren't you? 23:10 If you'll confess it to the Lord, 23:12 you'll find out how easy it is to forgive somebody else. 23:15 Now he says, the principle command 23:18 are the principle of-- 23:21 the spiritual principle on which this is built. 23:24 Excuse me, I've skipped this verse. 23:26 He says, "Do not sin," that's your negative commandment. 23:29 The positive commandment is, 23:31 "Do not let the sun go down on your on your wrath", 23:34 don't harbor resentments. 23:36 And the only way not to harbor resentment 23:38 is to pray for the other person. 23:41 Now his spiritual principle, "Nor give place to the devil." 23:47 See, when we hold on to anger and resentment and bitterness, 23:51 we're opening the door to the devil. 23:56 We're essentially saying, Satan, come on in. 23:59 And that is exactly what does happen. 24:02 So he's saying, don't give place to the devil, 24:05 don't give him opportunity 24:08 to destroy the love of God within you. 24:11 Now let's look at another one, in the negative commandment, 24:14 "Let him who stole steal no longer." 24:19 The positive commandment, "Rather let him labor." 24:22 That's the remedy, you know, get up and take 24:26 and make work with your own hands, 24:28 he says, what is good. 24:31 You know Paul himself was a tent-maker, wasn't he? 24:34 And I think the principle is that all able bodied believers 24:40 should be doing what they can for themselves. 24:43 And he's saying, don't steal. 24:45 In context, stealing is grieving the Holy Spirit. 24:50 Now the spiritual principle he says, 24:52 "Is that he may have something to give him who has need." 24:58 Don't steal, go out and work 25:01 not just to meet your own needs 25:02 but that you can be a good steward of God's money 25:06 and that you can help the disadvantaged believer. 25:10 Now another negative command, verse 29, 25:13 "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth." 25:19 Do we realize that the words of our mouth? 25:24 Jesus said, you will be judged by your words. 25:28 When he's saying no corrupt, this is-- 25:30 it's not just profanity, it's no foul speech whatsoever, 25:34 no obscene jokes, 25:36 no suggestive comments around the water cooler, 25:41 it is no name-calling. 25:45 I just have to tell you something 25:47 that's really interesting. 25:48 Sometimes when we're counseling with couples who are-- 25:54 their marriage is in trouble. 25:56 You'll find out that they have engaged in name-calling. 26:01 And I want to speak to you guys here right now. 26:05 I heard a scientific study that was released recently, 26:09 a brain study, and they said 26:11 the way memories are formed in your mind, 26:15 especially from conversations. 26:17 Why we remember certain conversations 26:19 is when it had an emotional impact. 26:23 And women are much more emotional than men, aren't we? 26:27 See, have you ever wondered 26:29 why your wife can remember conversations 26:32 from years and years and years ago? 26:36 It's because it made-- it tattooed on her brain 26:42 because it had an emotional impact. 26:45 And sometimes people will get angry 26:48 and their anger escalates 26:50 and they'll get into name-calling. 26:52 And let me tell you something, whoever said, 26:54 "Sticks and stones may break my bones, 26:56 but words will never hurt me," they must not have been human. 27:00 Because words are very hurting. 27:03 And that is something that when-- Paul is saying, 27:08 let no corrupt speech come from your mouth. 27:11 Just know, if you're doing this, 27:14 you are grieving the Holy Spirit, 27:17 even in this name-calling. 27:19 Now his positive command is to say, 27:22 okay, don't let any corrupt speech. 27:24 But let what is good for necessary edification, 27:29 to build others up, to build up relationships. 27:33 And remember, if a word doesn't encourage and edify, 27:37 it's tearing down. 27:39 And here's the spiritual principle, 27:41 "that it may impart grace to the hearers." 27:43 That it could be beneficial to others." 27:46 Now here we are in context, 27:49 he's making this huge presentation about taking off, 27:54 discarding the old nature, putting on the new man, 27:59 putting on that robe of righteousness of Jesus Christ. 28:02 Putting on new behavior, being renewed in your mind, 28:05 and he says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit. 28:10 Everything he said up to this point, 28:13 lying, stealing, corrupt speech, 28:17 all of this grieves the Spirit of God. 28:23 And then to grieve, and actually, 28:26 if you look at this in the Greek, 28:27 he is saying cease grieving 28:30 or do not have the habit of grieving. 28:33 "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 28:35 by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." 28:41 The literal translation there is that 28:43 you were sealed with a view to the day of redemption. 28:47 This is not a guarantee of salvation 28:50 but that's a whole another bible study. 28:53 I want to point out something though. 28:56 Only a person can be grieved. 28:59 This speaks to the personality of the Holy Spirit. 29:02 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 29:06 Do not cause the spirit of love and holiness 29:10 to be in pain and distress. 29:13 You know, in the first part of Ephesians 1, 12 and 13, 29:16 he talks about being sealed in Christ 29:21 and now he's saying we're sealed in the Holy Spirit. 29:24 And receiving-- When people ask me, 29:27 how do you know if someone is a Christian? 29:29 How would you answer that? 29:31 I'll tell you my answer. 29:33 The answer is, if they are-- 29:36 if they have the Holy Spirit of God, 29:38 I know they're Christian. 29:40 If you don't have the Holy Spirit of God 29:42 then Christ can't even dwell in your heart by faith. 29:45 So now, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 29:48 He's made a case but he continues, 29:51 in context, he says, 29:54 "Let all bitterness," that continual antagonism. 29:59 "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, 30:01 clamor, loud quarreling." 30:03 Yes, loud quarreling. 30:05 Even that grieves the Holy Spirit of God 30:08 when things escalate. 30:10 He says, "Let evil speaking be put away from you, 30:14 with all malice." 30:17 See, everything he's listed here 30:19 are the works of the flesh 30:20 that we find in Galatians 5:19-21. 30:26 All of these things grieve the Holy Spirit. 30:29 And then, let me ask this question, 30:33 can you see that almost on a daily basis 30:36 we're doing something 30:37 that grieves the Holy Spirit of God? 30:40 When is the last time you asked that God forgive you 30:44 for grieving His Holy Spirit? 30:48 We need to be aware of what we're doing. 30:51 And then he says, in verse 32, 30:55 and actually in the Greek, this is a play on words. 30:57 He says, "Be kind" Which is chrestos 31:01 "to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 31:04 just as God in Christ forgave you." 31:11 So be kind, be chrestos 31:15 because he's saying, because of Christ who is chrestos. 31:20 It's kind of a play on words. 31:21 Paul is quite famous for that actually. 31:24 You know, when you think about it, 31:27 the fruit of the Holy Spirit is what? 31:30 We've got love, joy and peace. 31:34 Where do we experience that? 31:36 That's something we experience within. 31:38 Then there is long suffering or patience, 31:41 kindness and goodness. 31:43 This is something that we express to other man. 31:46 So when he's saying, "be kind to one another." 31:48 That's one of the fruit of the Spirit. 31:50 And then there is gentleness, which is essentially humility, 31:55 self-control, and faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, 32:00 that's what we express to God. 32:02 So what we need to remember is that 32:05 we have been crucified with Christ and the flesh, 32:10 the passions and the desires of our flesh 32:14 are supposed to be buried. 32:17 Now they rear their ugly head from time to time. 32:21 But what we've got to do is, when Paul says, 32:24 "Walk in a manner worthy of your calling." 32:29 He also said in Galatians 5:25, 32:32 "If we live in the spirit, 32:34 let us also walk in the spirit." 32:38 It is walking by the spirits leading. 32:42 So that is our first sin. 32:44 Do we see that we're all guilty? 32:48 Almost on a daily basis 32:50 of grieving the Holy Spirit of God. 32:53 Ask God for forgiveness, ask Him to help you repent. 32:57 I'll tell you what, if we could 32:58 just do away with that one thing, 33:00 we wouldn't be doing anything else, 33:01 every sin really grieves. 33:03 Now let's look at Acts 7, to see what the second sin is. 33:09 And we're going to have to kind of speed this up a little. 33:12 Acts 7, and we will began with verse 51. 33:20 This is the second sin against the Holy Spirit. 33:25 Act 7:51. 33:29 Luke writes, Jesus is saying this. 33:32 No, excuse me, Stephen is saying this in Acts 7, 33:36 when Luke records it. 33:38 Stephen says, "You stiff-necked 33:40 and uncircumcised in heart and ears." 33:43 He's talking-- this is right before he's stoned. 33:46 He has been telling them 33:48 just all from the Old Testament scripture 33:51 which was the only scripture that they had at that time. 33:54 So he's telling them all from scripture about Jesus 33:58 and what Jesus has fulfilled 34:00 and the pharisees are still rejecting Jesus. 34:04 And he says, "You stiff-necked 34:06 and uncircumcised in heart and ears. 34:09 You always resist the Holy Spirit; 34:14 as your fathers did, so do you. 34:17 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? 34:20 And they killed those 34:21 who foretold the coming of the Just One, 34:24 of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 34:29 who have received the law by the direction of angels 34:34 and have not kept it." 34:36 Now what happened when Stephen said this? 34:39 They stoned him, didn't they? But do you see here? 34:42 This is a sin against the Holy Spirit 34:47 is to resist him. 34:50 I believe there is an order here. 34:52 We grieve the Holy Spirit through our sin 34:57 and now the Holy Spirit-- What is his primary job? 35:02 To convict and convince us of sin. 35:05 To convict us of truth, convince of our sin, right? 35:08 So now the Holy Spirit comes along and in his gentle way, 35:13 he lets us know, you're sinning. 35:17 And we ignore him, we resist him. 35:22 We're not ready to confess our sins, 35:24 we're not ready to ask that God would grant us repentance. 35:27 So we just, kind of, keep on going. 35:30 Yeah, I know I shouldn't have shouted at my wife, 35:33 I know I shouldn't have name-called her but I'm not-- 35:37 You know, You-- 35:39 Lord, You just don't know what she's like. 35:42 So it's something that we resist 35:44 and we're sinning against the Holy Spirit when we resist. 35:47 But there's also, you know, 35:51 sometimes we resist the Holy Spirit 35:53 when he is impressing us to do something. 35:56 I have to-- an amazing story 35:58 I'm gonna share with you real quick. 36:00 One day I was driving down the road and I was coming, 36:03 it was before I came to 3ABN, I was with another network. 36:08 And as I'm driving down the highway, 36:11 I came off of a major interstate, 36:13 going onto a state highway 36:15 and there is a gas station on the corner. 36:18 And as I turn and I see this man standing behind a pickup, 36:21 I could only see his head. 36:23 And I'm going down the road 36:24 and what's being impressed upon my mind is, 36:28 go pray with that man. 36:30 Well, I'm driving down the road I'm in hurry to get home. 36:33 And I'm going down the road, and I'm going, 36:36 Lord, is that You or is that me? 36:38 And then in a minute, go pray with that man. 36:40 Lord, is this You is this me? 36:41 And I'm going-- 36:42 I was probably another three or four miles down the road, 36:45 just saying, is this You or is this me? 36:47 Is this You or is this me? 36:48 Have you ever been impressed to do something 36:50 and you don't know where it's really coming from? 36:52 And finally, what the still small voice of the Lord 36:56 impressed upon my mind was, 36:59 when will you learn not to resist Me? 37:05 Man, I turned that car round, I am thinking, 37:07 oh, he's not going to be there by the time I get there. 37:10 You know, I am just rushing back 37:11 to get to the service station. 37:13 Well, I pull up there, his pickup still was, 37:16 praise the Lord. 37:18 So I walked up, I didn't see him 37:19 and I'm walking toward the door 37:21 and there is this man that I thought I had seen his head, 37:24 and he's speaking to a couple, 37:26 and they all speaking in Spanish. 37:28 And I'm thinking, oh, Lord, maybe that wasn't You. 37:31 He speaks Spanish, he doesn't speak-- 37:34 So I walked up to him and I said, excuse me. 37:39 And he turned around and he says, oh, Shelly Quinn. 37:42 And I thought, he'd been watching me on another network 37:46 and the interesting thing was 37:48 I hadn't seen that he was on crutches. 37:53 He was getting ready to go in the next day 37:55 to have a leg amputated. 37:58 They had done surgery already on the wrong leg 38:03 and now they were going 38:04 to have to amputate his other leg. 38:07 So he was really in need of prayer 38:11 and he told me, he said, I'm frightened. 38:14 He said, you know, after my first bad experience 38:17 I don't want to lose a leg, he was a veteran. 38:19 And we prayed, and we prayed. 38:22 I mean, I was praying for healing, 38:23 I'll have you know, I was praying for healing. 38:26 He was not healed, 38:27 but he called me about 10 days after his surgery. 38:32 He said, I have to tell you, 38:33 I have gone through this whole surgery without pain, 38:37 because we prayed that as well. 38:39 He said, I have gone through this whole surg-- 38:41 they can not believe. 38:43 Normally when you have a limb amputated, 38:46 the pain is severe. 38:48 And he said, I'm not taken any pain medication, 38:50 I'm up, talking to other patients 38:56 about the goodness of God. 38:57 Now if I had resisted the Holy Spirit 39:02 I would have been sinning against God. 39:04 Now there's plenty of times that 39:06 I have resisted the Holy Spirit 39:08 and then I'm sorry, like, when God tells you 39:09 to call someone and you don't call someone 39:13 and that happened with a young girl 39:14 I've been mentoring. 39:15 And she called, I was busy eating dinner. 39:18 I thought, ah, I'll call her back tomorrow. 39:21 And the Holy Spirit-- Now I realize, it was Him, 39:23 it was going call tonight, call tonight. 39:25 No, no, I am too tired, you know, 39:27 it's been a long day, it's late. 39:30 And the next day her father called me to let me know 39:33 she died in the middle of the night. 39:36 She had MS, and she was only 18, 39:41 and the MS had come back and she knew. 39:43 He said, she was so at peace, 39:45 she knew she was going to die though, 39:47 she was calling to tell you goodbye. 39:50 I was crushed, 39:52 I mean, I am still crushed to think about that. 39:55 So we don't want to resist the spirit 39:58 when he is telling us, when he is appealing 40:01 to our conscience about somethinge. 40:03 To resist the spirit is sin. 40:07 Now let's look at the third sin against the Holy Spirit. 40:10 1 Thessalonians 5:19, 40:15 1 Thessalonians 5:19. 40:24 Hear pages turning. 40:30 1 Thessalonians 5:19. 40:34 Paul writes to the Thessalonians, 40:36 "Do not quench the spirit of God." 40:42 Now I just want to stop for a second and say this, 40:45 when you have grieved the spirit of God 40:48 and he comes to correct you in His gentle manner, 40:53 and you feel that tug at your heart, you know, 40:57 your consciences is bothering you, 40:59 you know that God's trying to correct your path. 41:03 When you resist the Holy Spirit, 41:06 if you resist him long enough, 41:10 you will quench the Spirit of God. 41:15 It isn't just-- Paul goes on to say, 41:17 "Do not despise prophecies. 41:20 Test all things, hold fast what is good 41:22 and abstain from every form of evil." 41:25 But it is-- there's a pattern here. 41:28 We grieve the Spirit 41:30 then when we resist the Holy Spirit, 41:32 if you resist him long enough, you'll quench the Holy Spirit. 41:36 That's why, you know, what did we look at in Psalm 51 41:38 that David was saying, oh, Lord, 41:40 do not take Your Holy Spirit away from me. 41:46 David had some heinous sins on his record then 41:50 but he was praying, 41:51 that's the most beautiful prayer of repentance. 41:54 But this is what we need to recognize. 41:58 And I can tell you, I mean, it can happen during the day. 42:02 I get up, the first thing I'm praying 42:04 when I'm getting up is, 42:07 Lord, fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. 42:09 I wouldn't leave the house without praying that prayer. 42:12 I mean, we should be praying. 42:14 And even Sister White says, 42:15 why are we not pleading with the Lord? 42:19 Every day we should ask for fresh and filling, 42:22 just because of the fact 42:23 that we can only be filled with the Holy Spirit 42:26 to the degree we're emptied of self. 42:29 And through the day, you know, 42:31 day by day sometimes self rears its ugly head, 42:34 does it not? 42:35 So I pray that. 42:38 And I remember when I was writing, 42:40 exulting his words, I had prayed. 42:45 I would get up and pray for about an hour 42:47 and then I would start writing. 42:48 And real quickly, my sister who was a handful, 42:54 I'll put it that way. 42:55 My sister was a handful. 42:56 I loved her dearly, but she was a handful. 42:59 And I was running ministry out of the home at the time, 43:02 it's about 12 years ago. 43:04 And she called me, she called me regularly 43:08 three to five times a day, regularly. 43:10 And so I had told her, look, I have 17 days to write a book, 43:14 so you can't be calling me all the time, 43:16 I'll call you every day at 5 o'clock. 43:18 Well, here I was, 43:19 I had prayed to be surrendered to the Lord 43:21 because you can write something that has no anointing on it. 43:25 You know what I'm saying? If God's-- 43:26 You can write truth but if God's spirit 43:29 is not really directing you, it can just be flat, right? 43:32 So I'm praying this and my sister calls. 43:36 And I said, I told her don't call unless it's an emergency. 43:38 So I pick up the phone, "Is this an emergency?" 43:40 "No, I'm just bored." "I can't talk." 43:43 A few hours later she calls again. 43:45 "Is this an emergency?" 43:46 "No, it's not but I just need to talk to you. 43:49 I'm just lonesome." 43:50 "Honey, I can't talk, I'm sorry, bye." 43:52 Couple hours later she calls again 43:54 and this time I pick it up 43:55 and she says, "You don't love me." 43:57 She said, "You just don't love me, 43:59 I don't have a sister anymore." 44:01 And here's this person who is so surrendered, 44:04 supposed to be writing this book for the glory of God. 44:06 And I said, "I don't love you? You have no respect for me. 44:11 You've no respect for my time." 44:13 And I just let her have it. 44:15 And I got off the phone and I started typing. 44:19 And I typed several pages and I printed it off to read it 44:23 and it was flat. 44:26 And I realized, I quenched the Holy Spirit of God. 44:31 I mean, truly, it can happen. 44:34 I mean, I had to surrender again that moment 44:37 because it's not just something, 44:39 don't think that quenching the Spirit of God 44:41 is something that just happens from time to time 44:45 but we've got to be careful. 44:47 And then when he says, do not despise prophecies. 44:52 You know, let me just give you a quick listing. 44:56 And we don't have time to go in this, 44:57 but this comes from Ephesians 4, 44:59 Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, 45:02 when we look at what the Holy Spirit 45:06 gave the church. 45:07 It says, he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelist, 45:10 pastors and teachers. 45:12 Okay? That five fold ministry. 45:15 We don't need to despise that five fold ministry. 45:17 If we do, we're quenching the Spirit of God. 45:20 And it also says, there's gifts of miracles, 45:23 discernment of spirits, 45:24 the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge, 45:27 encouragement, the gift of faith. 45:29 I am absolutely convinced 45:31 Danny Shelton has the gift of faith. 45:34 I mean, everybody has a measure of faith, 45:36 we grow in faith but the gift of faith, 45:39 this is I think something that God gives to someone 45:43 when he's got a huge project for them to do. 45:46 And to think how God chose Danny and had him start, 45:52 a carpenter with a high school education 45:55 who went out to build a network, 45:57 to reach the world with the undiluted truth. 46:00 And 30 years later we're all over the world 46:03 with production centers in Australia 46:05 and France, in Russia. 46:09 I mean, it's just, 46:11 it had to be that God gave him the gift of faith. 46:13 And if you hear his personal testimonies, 46:16 sometimes he'll tell stories of what he did, and I'm thinking, 46:18 I don't think I could've ever done that. 46:21 But it was the gift of faith, the Holy Spirit-- 46:25 One of the gifts is of healing tongues, 46:27 which is other languages, an interpretation of tongues. 46:30 The ministries of help or serving, administration, 46:34 leaders, mercy, helpers and giving. 46:37 There's a gift of giving. 46:39 And I saw a little girl, 46:41 this is before was an Adventist, 46:43 she was in my children's church that I was running. 46:46 And this little girl, 11 years old, 46:51 came from a family, a very modest means. 46:56 She hardly ever had shoes that didn't have holes in them, 47:01 but from time to time she would get a gift 47:04 from her grandmother, a $50. 47:06 You know what this child did with her $50? 47:09 She couldn't wait to bring it to church 47:11 and to give it to God. 47:13 And I looked at her and I thought, 47:15 this is so amazing. 47:17 One 11 year old child does this when they've got so many wants, 47:20 so many needs. 47:23 And I realized the Holy Spirit 47:26 had given her the gift of giving. 47:29 There are people who will give so sacrificially, it's amazing. 47:33 So do not quench the spirit of God. 47:36 And we need to recognize when we have, 47:38 and we need to ask God. 47:39 It's just like David in Psalm 50. 47:41 He recognized he had quenched the spirit and he's saying, 47:44 don't take your spirit away from me. 47:47 Now I don't know how I did this. 47:49 But number four is to despite the spirit 47:53 or to despise the spirit. 47:55 And essentially this is when we are profaning, 47:59 insulting and outraging the Holy Spirit. 48:02 This is when our conscience, 48:04 consciences are hardened by willful disobedience. 48:08 Turn to Hebrews 10 very quickly. 48:11 Hebrews 10. 48:14 Hebrews 10, and we will began with verse 26. 48:20 Hebrews 10:26. 48:24 And the Bible says this, "For if we sin willfully 48:29 after we have received the knowledge of the truth, 48:31 there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 48:34 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, 48:37 and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 48:42 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law 48:44 dies without mercy on the testimony 48:46 of two or three witnesses. 48:48 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, 48:51 will he be thought worthy 48:53 who has trampled the Son of God under foot, 48:57 counted the blood of the covenant 48:58 by which he was sanctified a common thing, 49:01 and insulted (despised) the Spirit of grace?" 49:07 This passage, I wish we had more time to unpack it. 49:11 This passage scares the pants off of most people. 49:16 They read this and think, oh, I can't be forgiven. 49:18 I just want to give you this thought, 49:22 what was Hezekiah's son's name? Remember? 49:28 Manasseh, king Manasseh. 49:31 Here is good King Hezekiah, 49:34 who has done so many good things 49:35 for the Kingdom for the Lord. 49:37 Now he has this-- when God grants him, 49:40 you know, when he begs God. 49:42 When God said, get your house in order, 49:44 it's time for you to die, and he begs God. 49:46 God gives him the extra years, he has Manasseh, you know, 49:50 it probably been better if he never had Manasseh, 49:52 but he does. 49:53 And Manasseh sheds innocent blood 49:56 that's from one end of Jerusalem to the other, 49:59 he institutes sacrificing children to Moloch, 50:05 including his own son. 50:07 He consults witches and mediums, 50:09 he does all of these things, he was an evil man. 50:13 He built altars to other gods 50:15 and he undid all the good that his father had done. 50:19 He led Israel astray. 50:21 And God sent Him prophet after prophet, 50:24 warning after warning, 50:25 and Manasseh had hardened his heart. 50:27 This is willful disobedience. 50:30 I mean, he despised the Holy Spirit of God. 50:34 He did everything against God that he could. 50:37 And God finally says, okay, 50:40 captain of Babylon, come get him. 50:43 He is captured and taken off in irons shackles 50:48 with a hook in his nose, he's taken into captivity. 50:52 And let me read you 50:53 from 2 Chronicles 33:12-13. 50:59 2 Chronicles 33:12-13, 51:05 this is the greatest picture of God's mercy 51:09 and divine grace in the whole Bible. 51:11 I just love this story. 51:13 You know, Manasseh's story, 51:15 his history is told partially in 2 Kings 21 51:19 and it abruptly breaks 51:21 off and then it resumes in 2 Chronicles 33. 51:24 2 Chronicles 33:12, "Now when he (Manasseh) 51:30 was in affliction, he's in captivity. 51:33 He implored the Lord his God, 51:37 and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers." 51:42 Isn't that interesting? 51:44 Sometimes God will allow the consequences of our sin 51:49 to come crashing down on our head so that, 51:54 I mean, even that is in love and mercy. 51:56 So that He can get us to where, you know, 51:59 you've heard that the old saying, 52:01 somebody's got a hit bottom. 52:03 Manasseh had hit bottom. He's in captivity. 52:07 Now this prideful man who has willfully disobeyed God, 52:13 I mean, who has done all kinds of evil things, 52:15 he has come to his senses and He humbled himself 52:20 greatly before the God of this fathers 52:22 and prayed to Him and God received his entreaty, 52:28 he heard his supplication and He brought him 52:32 back to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. 52:37 Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God." 52:42 The God restored the kingdom to him. 52:45 Is that grace or what? 52:48 Anybody who thinks that 52:50 there is not grace in the Old Testament 52:53 isn't reading it through the right filter. 52:57 You know, Paul had written to the Roman 52:59 saying that the law entered that the offense might abound 53:03 but where sins bounded, grace abounded much more. 53:08 So now let's get to the last four minutes 53:11 to the most difficult one 53:12 and that is the sin against the Holy Spirit, a blasphemy. 53:17 This, I have to say up front, is a sin of arrogance, 53:23 not a sin of ignorance. 53:25 Let me read quickly from Matthew 12:22 53:30 is where we'll start. 53:31 Matthew 12, and we will look at verse 22. 53:39 And we are going to have to read quickly. 53:43 Matthew 12:22, 53:46 "Then one was brought to Him (Jesus) 53:48 who was demon-possessed, blind and mute and He healed him, 53:52 so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 53:56 And all the multitudes, 53:58 all of the peopel were amazed and said, 54:01 'Could this be the Son of David?'" 54:04 Who was the son of David? 54:05 They knew he was going to be the Messiah. 54:06 Is this the Messiah? 54:08 The multitude saw, this is an act of God. 54:12 He has cast out demons, 54:14 he's healed the blind and mute man. 54:16 The multitude saw that. 54:17 But when the pharisees it, 54:21 they said-- they heard it, they saw it. 54:25 But when they heard the reaction of the crowd, 54:28 these hypocrites who had been getting 54:32 confirmation after confirmation, 54:34 more and more evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. 54:39 These hypocrites who wanted to hold on to their power, 54:41 their position. 54:43 Listen to what they say, "They heard it and they said, 54:46 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, 54:50 the ruler of the demons.'" 54:52 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, 54:54 "Every kingdom divided against itself 54:56 is brought to desolation, 54:58 and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 55:01 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. 55:04 How then will his kingdom stand? 55:07 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 55:09 by whom do your sons cast them out? 55:13 Therefore they shall be your judges. 55:14 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, 55:17 surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 55:20 How can one enter a strong man's house 55:22 and plunder his goods, 55:24 unless he first binds the strong man 55:27 and then he will plunder his house. 55:29 He who is not with Me is against Me, 55:31 and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. 55:34 Therefore I say to you,'" here it comes. 55:37 Here it comes within context, let's look at this, 55:40 "Therefore I say to you, 55:42 every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, 55:45 but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit 55:48 will not be forgiven men. 55:52 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, 55:54 it will be forgiven him 55:56 but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, 55:58 it will not be forgiven him, 56:00 either in this age or in the age to come." 56:05 Here we see 56:08 blasphemy was a deliberate rejection of truth. 56:13 They knew the truth but they blasphemed the Holy Spirit 56:17 by saying Jesus had an unclean spirit. 56:20 They blasphemed him. 56:22 The more evidence Jesus provided that he was Christ, 56:24 the greater their opposition was against Him. 56:27 And that progression of resisting God's truth 56:31 led to an irrevocable decision against His truth. 56:35 And now they declared He was demon possessed 56:38 because they wanted to hold on to their power 56:40 and knowing that He was not." 56:42 Their consciences were so seared 56:44 by deliberate rejection of God's truth, 56:48 they had no desire to be forgiven. 56:51 You know our God is a forgiving God. 56:53 But when you get to that point you've got no desire. 56:56 They had grieved, resisted, 56:58 despised and blasphemed the Holy Spirit. 57:03 Now I just have to say this 57:05 because I know someone who's watching is going to say, 57:08 have I committed the unpardonable sin? 57:11 Let me tell you, you can clear your conscience tonight 57:15 by asking for forgiveness. 57:16 If you are haunted with the idea 57:19 or the fear that you have committed the sin, 57:23 unpardonable sin, then I can tell you right now, 57:25 you're not because your conscience is not seared. 57:30 So ask God to grant you forgiveness. 57:33 And let's pray now that God will grant us all forgiveness. 57:36 Heavenly Father, we come in the name of Jesus 57:38 recognizing we have sinned against your Holy Spirit. 57:41 Please forgive us, Lord, for grieving, resisting, 57:45 despising, even quenching your Holy Spirit, Father, 57:48 and please protect us from ever blaspheming Your Spirit. 57:52 Oh, Lord, fill us with Your spirit, 57:54 let us never be lacking in zeal. 57:56 In Jesus' name, amen. 57:59 Thank you all so much. 58:00 We want to thank all of you at home. 58:02 Good night. |
Revised 2015-10-15