Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Roots of Faith, the podcast dedicated to grounding believers in the truth of God's word and guiding them towards spiritual maturity. Here we explore scripture through its original language, historical context and life transforming power. In today's episode, we look into Ephesians 4, 27, 30. We examine the profound implications of grieving the Holy Spirit and the evidence of true faith in the life of a believer. What does it mean to truly trust in Christ? How does our relationship with the Holy Spirit impact our daily walk? And how can we live in a way that reflects the holiness we are called to as children of God? Let's unpack these truths together, exploring the chaosic beauty of Scripture and the personal nature of God's presence with us. So grab your Bible, open your heart and let's grow in faith together.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Well, this morning I am concluding, I hope Ephesians 4, but I had to separate out the verses in verse 27 and verse 30, because when we were talking last week about all of the things in what is called chiastic format, verses 27 and 30 go together.
Now I want to start with a basic premise.
It is one that I think you can agree with with no problem.
And that basic premise is we start with the idea that what is a true Christian?
And I want to be very careful about that.
I know we have been seeing the book passed around called cultural Christians and that is a true thing because people get churchified, they become churchins.
And there's a big difference between being a cultural Christian and being a true Christian.
So as I was looking through scripture, I came to the place of saying a true Christian is one who puts their trust, their fundamental trust in first of all, Jesus Christ died on the cross.
And the sinless God, man made flesh, was the one who died.
He was born of a virgin. So the sin nature that passed upon all men because of Adam was not present the life of Christ, that is the reason for the virgin birth.
So this is the God man who died and he took upon himself the punishment for the penalty of sin.
And make sure you clearly understand that because there is a judicial punishment for our sin nature and for our individual sins.
So the true Christian is one who puts their faith in Jesus Christ.
And we also know that he was buried and on the third day, in accordance with scripture, rose again as a victory demonstration that death had been conquered.
The penalty for sin has been paid.
But what makes it claimable and the true believer is the one who puts their trust faith.
The word that we call faith or believe is the word to roll on and this is accomplished because of the promise that we find all the way back in Genesis 3:15, verses 14 and 15 say so the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers.
And he.
And this is what we call the protoevangelium, because he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
That refers to Satan.
And the only condition for claiming this promise we find In Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10. In the NIV. It says, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe, trust, roll on in your heart and take that word heart to mean your full inner person.
And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it's with your heart you believe and are justified, and it's with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
So it's not a belief that goes, yeah, I think that's true.
It's not the idea. Yes, that's the way I was brought up.
It is an individual faith, and it is a concrete belief that applies to your innermost being and comes out in the way we talk and confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
So if that's true of you today, then you fit in the statement that we find in Ephesians 1:13, 14. If you remember way back, we looked at this and Ephesians 1:13 and 14 says, and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. To the praise of his glory.
Andy asked in Sunday school, why do you praise? What kind of prayers do we offer up in praise, if I remember correctly?
Well, here's an answer.
Because we're to be to God's glory.
So therefore you and I, as true believers, have the Holy Spirit with us, the guarantee of our salvation, the seal.
When I do background checks for our employees, we always ask for a birth certificate as one of the proofs.
And because it's for a government defense issue, we cannot accept a photocopy.
The way that you know it is genuine is by the raised seal on the certificate.
It must have that or some other undisputable seal of proof.
It's amazing that you can stand in front of Somebody and say, gee, I need proof that you're born.
But when we look at this, we looked at Ephesians 4, 25, 32, and this suggests what's called chiasm or chiasmus, which is actually a literary structure that has come down through many different languages. And it's actually a logic or a thought process.
And what it does is you are looking at a thought that is up here at the very beginning, and it's repeated or reflected down at the bottom, and it builds toward the center.
You'll find that many times in the Book of Psalms.
But when I was looking at this, I saw it in the passage from 25 to 32 that just built to the center.
And when I say it reflects back and forth or a chiastic way, you might think of the old slogan, when things get tough, the tough get going.
That's actually a chiasm because it's reflected in the thought. When things get tough, reflected in the end, the tough get going.
That's a chiasm.
Now that you've had your English lesson for the day, we'll go on, because I want to direct your attention specifically to verses 27 and 30. So as we build towards the center, verse 27 is very short.
It says, and do not give the devil a foothold. Literally, it says in the original text, do not give diabolos the devil a place.
Well, what's the reflection?
That's when we go down to verse 30. And in verse 30, we find and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
And that becomes very, very important.
I said at the beginning, and I took you through the idea of what is a true Christian, because you're a true Christian, you have the Holy Spirit.
And many people identify the Holy Spirit as it.
They think of them as some influence.
That is not what this verse puts forward, and it is not what is taught Biblically.
We believe in the Godhead, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
There are several places in Scripture where we can go back and say, yes, yes, I have seen places where the three are present.
And in case you haven't seen it before, in Genesis, where it talks about creation, what moved on the face of the deep?
The Spirit moved on the face of the deep.
The person of the Godhead, the Trinity is immense.
It's very difficult to wrap our heads around the idea that there are three persons who are one.
But biblically, that is true.
And I will spend eternity seeing how awesome My God is.
But even in the language of the Bible, when it talks about God, it says Elohim, which in Hebrew is the plural form.
I used to often think it was the plural majesty. That was a good way of referring to it.
But in reality it is saying that there are multiple persons in El, which is God.
So there is this three in one.
They all have the same will. They all have the same love that has brought us to salvation. Because for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's where we're at.
I dare say if I asked you, you'd all say, yes, that's what I believe.
But do we actually understand that that third Person of the Trinity is the one who is with us?
Jesus said when he was leaving after his resurrection, he told the disciples, I must leave, but I'm sending you the Paraclete, the comforter.
Think of it this way. God the Father is demonstrated throughout the Old Testament as the one who rules, who is the righteous judge. In that day, God will judge in a righteous judgment with the authority of a creator.
Jesus Christ came so that we might know him and we could see him.
And it says about the bodily presence of Christ. I want to go to what John wrote. Remember, John was the apostle that was so close to Christ.
In First John, chapter one, the first three verses, it says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled the word of life.
For the life was manifested and we've seen it.
It was totally visible in the person of Jesus Christ.
And bear witness and show you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard. We declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us.
And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
So he says, we are joined in this fellowship within the Trinity.
Now, when Jesus Christ went on high, he ascended. He sent the Holy Spirit, the Third Person. Because God was seen in the Old Testament.
He was seen by Moses on the mountain.
He was seen by Isaiah when he was in the temple.
But that presence was so awesome.
And then you come to Christ, who was the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world. I've said that so much, but it is so true that God appointed Him before he ever created a blade of grass to die. Because he knew mankind would sin and needed a redemption.
Everything in the Old Testament, pictures or foreshadows Christ's coming.
Christ came. And as John says, that which we have seen with our eyes and have heard and have touched with our hands, we declare it to you.
And verse 30 in Ephesians, chapter 4 declares that the Holy Spirit is a person.
Only a person can feel the full emotion of grief.
And the Old Testament says God was hurt by Israel when Jesus Christ came and he came to the tomb of Lazarus.
The shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept.
They were not crocodile tears.
He was indeed hurt because he not only saw a friend who had died, but he knew the reason why death had come.
The Holy Spirit, it says, can be grieved, can be hurt.
Do we walk in our daily lives thinking about the fact that the very person of God is with me as my seal of my inheritance? Being called a child of God?
The Holy Spirit is not in it as a person.
And when you look at this, we are the ones who can hurt or grieve someone.
But you were sealed when you accepted Jesus Christ became a true Christian.
What hurts somebody?
What causes grief in a human sense, when your trust is broken, maybe it's through dishonesty, maybe in a marriage it's through infidelity.
Or maybe it's when somebody reveals a confidence that you gave to them and they breached your trust.
And what it does, it causes deep emotional pain.
Trust forms the foundation our relationship.
And that brings us to another factor of our Christian lives.
Because if the Holy Spirit is a person that is walking with us, indwelling us, that walks with us everywhere we go, we have a bond of trust relationship.
And what can hurt is when we breach the trust, when we grieve the Holy Spirit.
In some places it's unmet expectations. Well, on the human side, I expect my children to do certain things. I expect somebody else that I entrusted in working with and they fail to meet my expectations. I'm hurt.
The expectations of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer comes just shortly before this. And we looked in chapter four and it says that we are to be in truth and holiness, we're to be holy.
Be ye therefore holy as I am. Holy is what scripture says.
That doesn't mean you put a halo on top of your head and walk around.
It might be supported by your horns.
But what it does mean is you are set apart unto Christ.
When people have different values or worldviews or priorities that can create friction, grief.
Many a child with their parent, parents have a great deal of values that they hope they passed on and When a child does not reflect those values, you begin to sit there and wonder, what did I do wrong?
What didn't I communicate? And the older we get, I think the more we wonder about that.
There's also emotional neglect and indifference.
Do we grieve the Holy Spirit when we become indifferent to Christ in our lives?
I think we also come to a place of where we cause grief because it's a one sided effort. The Holy Spirit's working in us.
I don't feel like working on that today.
It becomes a one sided effort that hurts.
You are grieving the person of God who is in your life.
Grieving in relationship often involves processing disappointment and loss.
So what do we do that grieves the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is always with us.
He is a constant companion.
Nothing is hid from him.
And in this we witness to or in this he witnesses to us. The omnipresence of God.
Always there.
I used to love the song. He never sleeps, he never slumbers.
He watches me night and day.
Get that into our minds.
We have an omnipresent God.
And you cannot speak a word without the Holy Spirit hearing you. Cannot perform any action, good or bad, without the Holy Spirit seeing it, recording it.
We can't even think a thought that is mirrored in so many ways in our minds that the Spirit doesn't know we cannot escape from his presence.
And a great difficulty with many of us is that we want power without purity, we want happiness without holiness.
And when God puts his finger upon something that's unclean or unlawful, we shrink away because it costs us to renounce those things.
And what that does, the more that you put something in between you and the Holy Spirit, the God living in you, the harder it is to pray, the harder it is to fellowship.
And that hurts The Holy Spirit first. Thessalonians 5:12,24 in the literal Translation says, but brothers, we entreat you to know those laboring among you, and taking the lead of you in the Lord, and warning you, even esteem them most exceedingly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
And we exhort you, brothers, to warn the disobedient ones.
Comfort those who are faint hearted. Cleave to the ones who are being weak.
Belong suffering towards all. See that not anybody returns evil for evil to anyone. But always pursue the good, both towards one another and towards all.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
Like Sunday School said today, in all things give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus towards you.
And verse 19 says, do not quench the Holy Spirit.
When I think of the word quench, I think of steel being put into a furnace and it turns red hot.
But to temper that steel, to make it harder, to make it the best it can be, you heat it to red hot. And then you take and you plunge it into oil to quench the fire so it becomes tempered.
We need the Holy Spirit to cause us to be inflamed. And don't quench it.
Don't stop the Holy Spirit.
I ask you to go back and look at the verses that surround verse 30.
Because it is the most practical verses you could have in all of Scripture. So if I Look at verse 29, it says, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. But only what is helpful building up others according to their needs. That it may benefit those who listen.
It's with your mouth.
And it says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Verse 31 says, get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, along with every malice.
How easy is it to get angry?
Oh, it's so easy to become angry.
Just follow that driver in front of you.
And when they're poking along and there's no way to past them, you're sitting there going, come on, move. I'm going to crawl up your tailpipe.
How easy is to get angry at somebody else who hurts us?
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, but put away anger, wrath, malice.
People hang on to things that anger them for a long time.
If we do not forgive, if we do not surrender it to the Lord and say, here, Lord, this is yours.
And I'm supposed to love them, so I will love them for you.
Help me not to quench the Holy Spirit.
I'm going to close with this.
I don't look at the message translation as a translation.
It's a paraphrase.
But in the message it translates verse 30. This don't grieve God.
Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit moving and breathing in you.
Is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself.
Don't take such a gift for granted.
I'm going to ask Donna to come up to the organ.
Because in your bulletin you will find a song in the insert.
And the story behind this song. It's entitled Nothing Between My Soul and My Savior. It was written by Charles Albert Tindley.
Tindley was an African and Methodist Episcopal pastor in Philadelphia. He was born in 1851.
His mother was a slave.
His father was a freedman.
Tinley lived in poverty, but lacking a formal education, he turned around and he taught himself to read.
And Andy, he studied Greek and Hebrew, just so you and your dad know that.
And eventually he became a very well respected pastor and preacher in the city of Philadelphia.
One night in the heat of a Philadelphia summer. And boy, I can attest to those, the window was open and there was a sheet of flypaper, sticky flypaper, the desk, so that the flies wouldn't bother him.
And then one of those errant summer breezes came along and it blew the flypaper and it stuck to the lamp at his desk.
It blocked the light.
And as Tindley looked at that, the words to this song just resonated in his mind. And it's why I asked for this song.
Because it's when the Christian allows something from our sin nature to block, to grieve the Holy Spirit to block the light of the Lord in our hearts.
So when he peeled the flypaper off the lamp, he picked up a clean sheet of paper and he began to write the words of the hymn.
Nothing between my soul and my Savior Naught of this world's delusive dream I have renounced all sinful pleasure Jesus is mine there's nothing between.
This morning I want to teach you that song.
I'm going to sing the first verse and the stanza, and then we'll sing the second and the fourth stanzas together, each time going back to that refrain.
But listen to the words. I don't care if you sing. Listen to the words of that music.
Okay?
Nothing between my soul and my Savior not of this world's delusive dream I have renounced all sin for pleasure Jesus is mine there's nothing between Nothing between my soul and the Savior so that his blessed face may be seen Nothing preventing the least of his favour Keep the way clear.
Let nothing between.
Second stanza.
Nothing between like worldly pleasure Habits of life Though harmless they seem Must not my heart from him ever sever he there's nothing between Nothing between My soul and my Savior not all this world.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you were blessed by this episode, share it with a friend. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. Until next time, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in Christ.
