"THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GRIEVED"
It is madness and self-injury combined to resist the Holy Spirit,
so what induces us to do so?
In his remarkable sermon to self-righteous Jews, Stephen, the first martyr, cried – ‘Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.’ The Greek word means to fall against, such as when one puts one’s shoulder to a door to prevent it being opened.
To resist is to oppose the Holy Spirit. Stephen’s hearers resisted salvation, but as believers we may also resist the clear will of God at times, perhaps by refusing to put away a great sin, or by taking a path of self-indulgence, or by ignoring a clear call of God (in the Word) to take up a spiritual duty or a burden of service.
We know what is right, and yet we put our entire weight against the door of obedience, resisting the Member of the Godhead who acts within, that sublime, infinitely kind and glorious Custodian of our ransomed soul.
It is madness and self-injury combined to resist the Holy Spirit, so what induces us to do so? Surely it is because we lose touch with the staggering, marvellous realisation that the Most High God has lodged within, and that it is his promptings and urgings that we resist whenever some standard or duty of the Bible is laid on our heart, and we slam shut and barricade the door.
Sometimes resisting the Spirit even leads believers to articulate opposition to biblical standards (as many Christians do today over the commands to separate from worldly activities).
The second term for offending the Holy Spirit appears in 1 Thessalonians 5.19: ‘Quench not the Spirit.’ The Holy Spirit’s work is pictured here as a flame of holy conviction, zeal and warmth generated in the heart.
Quenching the Spirit suggests the idea of overriding him and his work. He is not violently opposed, as he is when resisted, but his stirrings and urgings are suppressed and the mind simply passes over them and moves on. The believer may remain faithful in doctrine, but is no longer so amenable in areas of conduct.
The flame or fire produced by the Holy Spirit is love and zeal for the Lord, for the Truth, and for lost souls. It includes conviction of sin when it leads to godly sorrow, indignation against our own wrongdoing, coupled with carefulness, vehement desire and zeal to reform. (All these terms are found in 2 Corinthians 7.11.
The flame of the Holy Spirit may urge us to witness, or to go with compassion to the aid of another person.
Do we quench the holy fervour of godly aims kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit?
Do we quench and suppress the promptings of conscience? Is the maintaining of spiritual zeal sometimes inconvenient, because it is contrary to our mood, or too costly for us? Do we therefore turn from praise, prayer, thankfulness, dedication and good works?
How can we do this, as Christians? Simply by forgetting that it is the ever-present, mighty Holy Spirit of God who is the author of all godly sensations.
We do not merely have a Divine Visitation, which would be wonderful, but something vastly greater – a Divine Resident who ignites the dying embers of spiritual activity, restoring them to full vigour. But we lose sight of both the doctrine and the reality and smother this reviving, energising work of God within.
This exhortation opens to our view the invisible heart of the Spirit. Surely one of the ‘deep things of God’ is the disclosure that he is grieved, which literally means caused distress and sorrow, by the disrespect and waywardness of believers.
Our infinite, all-powerful Divine Resident may be offended, injured and wounded in heart by the indifference of those he is taking to Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is grieved when his work in us and for us is ignored. The fact that the invincible, indestructible Spirit may be pained is largely beyond our understanding, but revelation tells us it is so.
The Holy Spirit’s love for us – like Christ’s love – is so great, that he feels for people who are tiny specks of dust before him.
A mysterious question in James 4.5 asks: ‘Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?’ This has been more helpfully rendered thus: ‘ . . . the Holy Spirit who yearns jealously over us’. With powerful protective love he grieves over our backslidings and failings, as we do over the mishaps and misfortunes of our own children and loved ones.
If only we were more constantly aware of the Spirit’s sufferings over us, what a difference it would make to our care over our walk, and to our conscientiousness.
Paul seems to have been very aware of his debt to the Spirit, saying, ‘I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit . . .’ (Romans 15.30). How he loved the Holy Spirit! In this passage he says, in effect, if only we would love the Holy Spirit, we would strive in prayer as never before for the progress of the Gospel.
The exhortation to ‘grieve not the Holy Spirit’ is made in the context of holy living, putting off the old person and putting on the new. Corrupt speech is to be curbed, whether boastful, worldly, dishonest, exaggerated, unclean and lustful remarks, or bitterness, gossiping, and hurtful words.
How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? By ignoring the pangs of conscience that the Spirit activates, and failing to check the offensive words or deeds. If we suppress these promptings, and sin regardless, then they will eventually cease, conscience will become dormant, and we will fall headlong into unrestrained sinful speech and action, forfeiting real communion with God and blessing from him.
Similarly, if we fail to pray for and implement active personal kindness toward others, with tenderheartedness and forgiveness, then we grieve the Holy Spirit who works to promote these virtues within us (Ephesians 4.29-32).
Would we not take the stirrings and urgings of conscience much more seriously if we remembered and respected that it is our Divine Resident who works to purify and develop us?
Perhaps it will help if we consider some of the possible reasons why the Holy Spirit is grieved over us.
It is madness and self-injury combined to resist the Holy Spirit,
so what induces us to do so?
In his remarkable sermon to self-righteous Jews, Stephen, the first martyr, cried – ‘Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.’ The Greek word means to fall against, such as when one puts one’s shoulder to a door to prevent it being opened.
To resist is to oppose the Holy Spirit. Stephen’s hearers resisted salvation, but as believers we may also resist the clear will of God at times, perhaps by refusing to put away a great sin, or by taking a path of self-indulgence, or by ignoring a clear call of God (in the Word) to take up a spiritual duty or a burden of service.
We know what is right, and yet we put our entire weight against the door of obedience, resisting the Member of the Godhead who acts within, that sublime, infinitely kind and glorious Custodian of our ransomed soul.
It is madness and self-injury combined to resist the Holy Spirit, so what induces us to do so? Surely it is because we lose touch with the staggering, marvellous realisation that the Most High God has lodged within, and that it is his promptings and urgings that we resist whenever some standard or duty of the Bible is laid on our heart, and we slam shut and barricade the door.
Sometimes resisting the Spirit even leads believers to articulate opposition to biblical standards (as many Christians do today over the commands to separate from worldly activities).
The second term for offending the Holy Spirit appears in 1 Thessalonians 5.19: ‘Quench not the Spirit.’ The Holy Spirit’s work is pictured here as a flame of holy conviction, zeal and warmth generated in the heart.
Quenching the Spirit suggests the idea of overriding him and his work. He is not violently opposed, as he is when resisted, but his stirrings and urgings are suppressed and the mind simply passes over them and moves on. The believer may remain faithful in doctrine, but is no longer so amenable in areas of conduct.
The flame or fire produced by the Holy Spirit is love and zeal for the Lord, for the Truth, and for lost souls. It includes conviction of sin when it leads to godly sorrow, indignation against our own wrongdoing, coupled with carefulness, vehement desire and zeal to reform. (All these terms are found in 2 Corinthians 7.11.
The flame of the Holy Spirit may urge us to witness, or to go with compassion to the aid of another person.
Do we quench the holy fervour of godly aims kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit?
Do we quench and suppress the promptings of conscience? Is the maintaining of spiritual zeal sometimes inconvenient, because it is contrary to our mood, or too costly for us? Do we therefore turn from praise, prayer, thankfulness, dedication and good works?
How can we do this, as Christians? Simply by forgetting that it is the ever-present, mighty Holy Spirit of God who is the author of all godly sensations.
We do not merely have a Divine Visitation, which would be wonderful, but something vastly greater – a Divine Resident who ignites the dying embers of spiritual activity, restoring them to full vigour. But we lose sight of both the doctrine and the reality and smother this reviving, energising work of God within.
The Holy Spirit grieves over our backslidings and failings, as we do over our mishaps and misfortunesThe third term describing our insulting treatment of the Holy Spirit appears in Ephesians 4.30 – ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’
This exhortation opens to our view the invisible heart of the Spirit. Surely one of the ‘deep things of God’ is the disclosure that he is grieved, which literally means caused distress and sorrow, by the disrespect and waywardness of believers.
Our infinite, all-powerful Divine Resident may be offended, injured and wounded in heart by the indifference of those he is taking to Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is grieved when his work in us and for us is ignored. The fact that the invincible, indestructible Spirit may be pained is largely beyond our understanding, but revelation tells us it is so.
The Holy Spirit’s love for us – like Christ’s love – is so great, that he feels for people who are tiny specks of dust before him.
A mysterious question in James 4.5 asks: ‘Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?’ This has been more helpfully rendered thus: ‘ . . . the Holy Spirit who yearns jealously over us’. With powerful protective love he grieves over our backslidings and failings, as we do over the mishaps and misfortunes of our own children and loved ones.
If only we were more constantly aware of the Spirit’s sufferings over us, what a difference it would make to our care over our walk, and to our conscientiousness.
Paul seems to have been very aware of his debt to the Spirit, saying, ‘I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit . . .’ (Romans 15.30). How he loved the Holy Spirit! In this passage he says, in effect, if only we would love the Holy Spirit, we would strive in prayer as never before for the progress of the Gospel.
The exhortation to ‘grieve not the Holy Spirit’ is made in the context of holy living, putting off the old person and putting on the new. Corrupt speech is to be curbed, whether boastful, worldly, dishonest, exaggerated, unclean and lustful remarks, or bitterness, gossiping, and hurtful words.
How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? By ignoring the pangs of conscience that the Spirit activates, and failing to check the offensive words or deeds. If we suppress these promptings, and sin regardless, then they will eventually cease, conscience will become dormant, and we will fall headlong into unrestrained sinful speech and action, forfeiting real communion with God and blessing from him.
Similarly, if we fail to pray for and implement active personal kindness toward others, with tenderheartedness and forgiveness, then we grieve the Holy Spirit who works to promote these virtues within us (Ephesians 4.29-32).
Would we not take the stirrings and urgings of conscience much more seriously if we remembered and respected that it is our Divine Resident who works to purify and develop us?
Perhaps it will help if we consider some of the possible reasons why the Holy Spirit is grieved over us.
No comments:
Post a Comment