Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit of God

Good morning, beloved It is so good to see you this morning as we worship together lift up the name above every name

Even the name of Jesus to which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess If you are so gracious and able, please turn to Ephesians chapter 4

And we're going to be reading and examining this morning Verses 25 to 32.

So when you have that please do stand for the reading of God's Word Hear ye this morning the word of the

Lord therefore Having put away falsehood. Let each one of you speak the truth of his neighbor for we are members one of another

Be angry and do not sin Do not let the Sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil

Let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands

So that he may have something to share with anyone in need let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as Fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear do not grieve the

Holy Spirit of God By whom you were sealed for the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice

Be kind to one other Tender -hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you you may be seated

Heavenly Father as we approach you this morning We ask God that you would help us to lay aside every sin every high and lofty thought

Argument that we brought up against the knowledge of Christ. May we bring every thought captive on to the obedience of Christ Lord help us

God in this moment also to recognize your sovereignty in all things To know that from you and to you are all things

And we ask God that this morning you'd grant us the good gift of your spirit To be able to comprehend to see and to believe all that you've laid out for us in Holy Scripture Unto the glory of God the

Son in his name. We do pray. Amen Well be honest church, this is a message that I Had a hard time coming up with Developing writing and also,

I think I'm gonna have a hard time delivering to you and the reason is because it's it's kind of a heavy topic and When we look at the scriptures ahead of us in today's sermon, it's called do not grieve the

Holy Spirit of God During the preparation for this sermon. I fell under deep conviction

For I have found myself to be a man who at times have grieved the heart of God the

Holy Spirit And all of us as sinners as Fallen sons and daughters of Adam have come under that same condemnation of sin under that same wrath that abides

But we've also come to recognize the peace and the gift that God gives through faith in Jesus Christ So may we so may

I share this message in the light and it's in the spirit of what I just said That God is gracious.

He's good He's abounding love he's forgiving But there are some hard truths for us to grasp and to come to terms with in the text

In the last section that we spoke of last week in general terms We saw that there was a putting off of the old life characterized by ignorance futility and deceit and So also we saw the loss and the impurity and the lust of the eyes in the previous text of Scripture in Ephesians chapter 4

In its place however in place of the old man in place of the old habits of the old sins of the old man

We see that we were to put on a new nature a new man That means a a new life a new way of life characterized by holiness and righteousness

And in this section the Apostle turns to speak quite specifically of the sins that are to be put off and The positive qualities or types of action that must be found in the new

Christian life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit you know, there's a pattern of negative prohibition and positive commands and motivation in these verses ahead of us, but most importantly

Paul lays out a Pattern and also Activities that grieve the heart of God's Holy Spirit God's Word again says in Ephesians 4 verse 25.

He says therefore as a result of having put away Falsehood let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another

If you're following along in today's teaching we're to put away falsehoods We're to put away falsehoods now why why is falsehood such a grievous sin to the heart of God's Spirit Because the

Bible teaches that God is the God of truth The Spirit himself is the one who bears witness of the truth

The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of truth The Holy Spirit is the one who brings us leads us into all truth

Therefore falsehood the opposite of truth grieves the heart of God's Spirit It's the

Spirit of holiness The Spirit of truth the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is grieved by lies

Is grieved by falsehoods Therefore when we see in the commandments thou shalt not lie

It's not a trivial matter in regard to good moral character and to even goodness for civilization

But it is something that is at the very heart of who God is. He is the God of truth

He's the opposite of the lie. He's the opposite of falsehood therefore

We see what such imperative of such power of such conviction truth matters in truth matters in all aspects of life and God does not rejoice in falsehood, but he rejoices in the truth

Therefore again, we see that Paul focusing on the new man the character of the new creation.

He says we must put away falsehood That is to mean that we no longer live according to lies and nor do we perpetuate lies in our day -to -day life

Now, why is it that we as humans lie? Well, it's pretty clear our fallen nature dictates that we lie because it is in our own self

Interest to lie it is in our own self -preservation To lie it is for our own advancement to lie

And we lie often about things that will help make us look better to the world Make us look better to one another in the church and we say no

I've never done that or actually, you know, I did this once and we oftentimes, you know, we exaggerate a story

Maybe add some details here and there sprinkle it around and make it seem a lot neater and cleaner than it actually is

And the Bible is encouraging us reminding us to put away such falsehood Brethren, the reason we put away falsehood is because we are members of one another you can write that in there as well in the inserts

We're to put away falsehoods because we are members of one another

You see deception Grieves God's heart as it attempts to cover up shift blame

Deflect responsibility and it tramples on the saving work of the cross and the sanctifying work of the

Spirit God has saved us from such a great wrath a wrath and indignation that we rightfully and dutifully

Was ours in our flesh We merited it.

We merited such wrath from God and yet in his goodness and his kindness He has given us a way a means of escape from the due penalty of our sins

He's done so in the personal work of Jesus Christ It is in Jesus Then we can come face to face with the truth the truth of who we are

Broken sons and daughters of Adam and come to the realization of who he is true

God incarnate and in doing so we see the chasm between creator and creation between a perfect holiness and Fallenness between that which is pure lovely and true and that which has fallen in the falsehoods of this world

But in coming to him We recognize this truth that we are not only coming on to him to be united with him the

God of truth But that we are then united to one another the body of Christ the church you and I you see truth matters

Truth matters because truth has many implications for life and for godliness and for what is true

Certainly you do not like to be lied to certainly, there's a a Feeling an emotion that is stirred up when one is lied to Therefore when we lie to one another we're hurting each other

We're hurting the very body of Christ the very one who saved us and delivered us from such a great wrath

It's a brethren May it be our aim to put away falsehood to live under the light of truth

To follow not just in speech and word but in duty and in life the

God of truth The one who is said of in Scripture where the Lord Jesus himself said of himself in John 14 6

I am the way the truth in the life No one can come to the father except by me.

Do you can now you now begin to see why then? falsehood lies Really hurt and come at odds with the heart of God's Spirit He does not rejoice

In lies, but he rejoices in the truth you see falsehood is infection in the body of Christ Falsehood is an infection in the body that can affect all working parts of that body

I want you if you can you don't have to turn there. I'm gonna read to you from Zechariah Chapter 8 and notice what the

Prophet Zechariah said in relation to this topic of falsehood and truth and he says in Zechariah chapter 8 verse 16 and 17 these are the words of the

Lord These are the things that you shall do Speak the truth to one another

Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another and love no false oath for all these things

I hate declares the Lord not only Does it grieve

God's Spirit to live under the pretense of falsehood and lies?

But in fact, it is something that God hates He detests

Notice that our God is one of love the scripture says God is love But that is not to the exclusion of the things that he hates there are things that God hates and One who bears false witness a tongue that is quick to lie

One who spreads falsehood is indeed a thing and even a person that God detests and the scripture says to abhor

What is evil and cling to what is good? therefore brother recognize

That truth is of the utmost importance to God Yahweh is himself again the

God of truth Jesus is the truth Therefore we as members of Christ ought not to make light of what is false while also practicing and believing the truth

Now this is a hard truth to swallow why? Because we're liars

You don't think so how many lies have you told in your life? one two a couple dozen couple a hundred maybe even a couple of thousand how many lies

Does it take to be considered a liar? truly just one and We have all fallen desperately short of God's law all desperately and woefully short of God's mark

And yet I do not say this to make you feel small or bad

But if that's the outworking of the message, then I'm not too upset over that either But in reality, it's to show you who you are and where you need to go to Because it's fallen sinners.

We need to go to the cross and in the cross we find the intersection of truth and forgiveness and In God's truth you and I can be forgiven of every lie every falsehood and Every time that we've grieved the heart of God's Spirit as the

Prophet Zechariah received from the Lord this word. These are the things that you shall do.

Here's a command Speak the truth to one another Now that can be difficult

Because sometimes we lie and we do not tell the truth out of fear of what may result from telling the truth

From what it may do maybe to another person may hurt their feelings may grieve their heart

But this Bible tells us that when we speak the truth we speak it in love We speak it not in a cold malicious way to just pierce someone's heart and leave them out to bleed

But instead we tell the truth in a way that we minister to them and Bind up the wounds of the broken -hearted truth matters

Therefore brothers to speak the truth to one another render in our gates and your gates judgments that are true and make for peace

There's a way to speak the truth in love that makes way for peace That makes way for reconciliation that makes way for a way to glorify our

God and Father In this way that we would not love the false oafs of this world

But instead that we would hate what God hates and love what he loves This is the command from our

God the God of truth Therefore as the Apostle Paul reminds in Ephesians 4 he telling the church in Ephesus The character of the new man is to put away falsehood

Let each one of you speak the truth of his neighbor for we are members one of another

Truth has implications because we're all connected. We're all deeply connected in a way that we cannot even fathom in Christ And the truth is is that we must speak the truth the truth matters

God goes on to say through by means of the Apostle Paul in verse 26 giving us another

Example of the old man the new man. He says be angry and Do not sin

Do not let the Sun go down on your anger, you know, what's fascinating about this text is that Interestingly enough anger in itself is not a sin

He says be angry Yet do not sin I've always found that a really hard thing to to wrestle with because usually when

I'm angry Sin is right at the door and It's almost indistinguishable

When I'm angry, I feel like I have a right to be angry like something was wronged

Like I was wronged and because I'm so important you should be angry too and you should be okay with me taking judgment and action and Yet the scripture says be angry, but do not sin.

Do not let the Sun go down on your anger This has always been really interesting imagery to me.

I've always wondered what exactly does this mean? To be angry not to sin. How do we do that?

How do we embody that and yet there was one who did embody just that? The Lord Jesus Christ the righteous one the one who was holy perfect blameless

He himself in his incarnation in his life and ministry found occasions in which he was

Angry, can you think of any? Can you think of one? You know,

I think to the time in which Jesus Went to the temple and he sees all the money changers and What swells up into the heart of Christ the

God -man is this righteous indignation? Where he saw his father's house the father of the celestial lights the father of all good things his house had become a house of thieves of Money changers now not only were they conducting business on the property of the temple complex

But often what was being done in these exchanges in these money changers was that there would be using unfair unjust practices to rip off people for more money

They were conducting themselves in an honorable way in a way that was deceitful filled with falsehood and Christ comes into the picture and he sees what's happening and he begins to flip tables over So if you ask yourself the question in life circumstances, what would

Jesus do understand this flipping tables is an option It's an option at times

You see Christ was righteously angry And yet he did not sin

The Bible says he is holy perfect blameless never sin Yet in his anger he accomplished something if you're following along the

Christian ought to control his anger So as to not give an opportunity to the devil

You see in the Greek the word for anger is not a boiling over rage, but rather Can be a deep -seated determined conviction

Anger can arise from a place of righteousness and Holiness as we have seen with Christ in his earthly ministry

But anger can certainly often does in fact lead to sin So what makes

Christ's anger at the money changers different from your anger with your kids or your wife?

or the store clerk You see Christ's anger Came from a place of zeal for God's holiness to be upheld for God's righteousness

For God's kingdom and when we often give ourselves over to anger It is not from a godly zeal but from selfish conceit this type of anger and indignation gives opportunity to the devil to weaponize our anger and Lead us into destructive sin notice again what the

Word of God says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 27 and give no opportunity to the devil

And so anger can give opportunity can arise Opportunity for the enemy to use against you to lead you into a serious sin usually men and women who commit murder committed in the heat of passion and anger

Usually when we say things to our spouse that are cruel mean or unthoughtful

It arises from a place of anger when we treat others in a way that is undignified

It usually comes from a place of anger be angry Be angry the things that makes

God angry be angry against falsehood and lies be angry against sin

Be angry against inequality be angry against wickedness be angry to things that God detests

Yet do not sin When you develop a heart after God's own heart you develop the qualities of Christ You see that there are many things in this world to be angry about But we don't channel that anger in a negative way in which we hurt people

But rather we use it in a way that is conducive to glorify God even more Be angry and yet do not sin.

Do not let the Sun go down on your anger Don't let it go down That is to say that it is to be now consuming all of you as darkness consumes the land

Let not hate or anger consume your own hearts turn to Christ and And allow the conviction of the

Spirit to lead you into a constructive anger that Motivates you and moves you to uphold the righteousness and holiness of Almighty God So such anger

Anger that leads to destruction grieves the spirit of holiness

Psalm 37 8 says refrain from anger and forsake wrath

Fret not yourselves. It tends only to evil So there you have a the psalmist saying to refrain from evil refrain from anger forsake wrath and yet you have this in Ephesians the

Apostle Paul saying be angry Yet not sin There's a medium here and for the

Christian one ought to Not resort to anger but more to understanding

Understanding why people are the way they are maybe why you were Unjustifiably treated in a certain way

Give yourself not over to anger or to wrath Because it tends only to evil

Proverbs 14 29 says whoever is slow to anger has great understanding But he who has a hasty temper exalts folly or foolishness

Whoever is slow to anger That's a tough one sometimes And the heat and busyness of life.

I mean we're so spoiled in the 21st century That if we have to wait more than a couple of minutes at the drive -thru, we're angry

What's taking so long? We can't understand we can't put ourselves in other people's shoes or positions and one of the things that God has called us to is

To be a people of understanding To be sympathetic towards the calls and pain and situations of others

Therefore brothers and sisters do not give yourself over to anger But instead control your anger says to not give an opportunity to the devil

Paul goes on to say in Ephesians chapter 4 and he says in verse 28 let the thief

No longer steal, but rather let him labor Doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need

Here in this example, we see a thief Someone who is once a thief someone who practiced thievery

Called to repentance to no longer steal. This is a call to change

If you are a Christian there should have been a change in you If you are a

Christian, there's still there should still be a change in you. It's called the work of sanctification where God grabs the thief and turns him from a thief to an honest man from one who takes to one who gives a

Liar, he takes one who who speaks lies and and and takes him from a life of falsehood to a man

Who now speaks the truth and love do you see the opposites the contrast that Paul is bringing into focus in the text of?

What it looks like to be a new creation when it looks like to be a Christian Let the thief no longer steal

This is a call to change call to repentance But rather here's what instead he should do what he ought to do is let him labor

Let him labor let him do honest work Let him do what is right

If you're following along the teaching the Spirit empowers the thief

To do honest work and Then we see what else it says in verse 29.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths But only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths What is the opposite of?

of a corrupting mouth That is one a pure who said that okay good.

I like it when some people respond during the sermon at times Let the person who is a

Thief no longer be a thief, but the one who is speaking corruption now speak purely

Speak pure words Be speaking words of grace and truth. You see again the contrast that is being built here in God's Word but only

Speak that which is good for building up as fits the occasion The next part of that teaching is the spirit empowers the thief to do honest work in the foul mouth to speak grace to speak grace

The opposite of corruption is grace It's purity It's love It's joy peace all the things that come with the gifts and the power and the fruit of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the one who empowers and provides these things in us

So in order to understand what grieves his heart, we must understand that which makes his heart glad And what makes

God's heart glad what makes the spirit glad are the opposite of the works of the flesh

So instead of being a thief we we do honest work instead of being one who speaks corrupting talk we speak words of grace and truth and purity and love

These are the things that God has called us to these are things that make God's heart happy Now remember who you are

In Christ, we are children of the Most High God children of God and as a child

We ought to make it our aim to please the heart of our father Make it our aim to please

Our Heavenly Father in a way that would gratify him that brings joy to his heart as he has brought joy to us

You know my children oftentimes They like to they're very thankful kids.

You can bring home, you know a Straw and say this is for you and they'll literally light up and say thank you

They're just they're just so happy that I thought of them and would bring anything to them

In the same way we ought to be glad and happy that God has brought us out of falsehood out of a life of thievery and in this honest gain and work and It's now allowed us to walk in the in the newness of life to embrace truth to embrace grace to embrace a purity of speech and life and Therefore we should make it our aim to please the heart of our father the heart of our

God So that we let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths now that that that's a heavy one

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths. There ought to be a standard in How we speak to one another how a husband speaks to his wife how a wife speaks to her husband

You ought to be a standard in which we are no not using words in a weaponized fashion

To hurt denigrate look down upon make feel other than Anyone else in the body of Christ or anyone in the world even because what would the world think of us?

If we speak lowly of one another but also of the world

We must speak truth in love speak graciously the people spread words that are

Fit for the occasion that are fit for the time in which we are living in He says again let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth

But only that which is good for building up words that are used for building up are that which are lovely pure true and right

But there's a way in you which we can use speech the apostle James puts it this way that that with the tongue

One praises our God and father But with it we can set the world ablaze as we curse man made in God's own image

The tongue is a powerful tool Probably the most powerful body part in Scripture It's very powerful because again with it in one sense.

We can praise God of the other one we can curse People made in God's image the tongue is a powerful thing

Words are powerful your words matter Therefore brothers and sisters do only that which will be for the building up and not for the tearing down You ever been in a situation where someone just verbally just broke you and tore you down made you feel so small

I had a boss once that made me feel that way where I was very new to that to a position and my boss within two days

Was just berating me saying we hired you because we thought you could do this job And you can't do it right it and if you can't do it, right

Then you shouldn't be in this position And maybe we did the we made the wrong choice in hiring you and I was just getting smaller and smaller and smaller with each passing word

At the end of that discussion. I felt just like quitting. I didn't felt built up I didn't feel like I could even do this job like he's right.

Why did he choose me? Why am I chosen for this position? I'm too young. I'm inexperienced

I don't know what I'm doing and Neither did he provide the grace and the opportunity to show me to teach me

Had he showed me and taught me and trained me and maybe I would have been better in that position But the same is true for all of us in all types of situations brothers and sisters

We're not always fit for the occasion We're not always ready to handle the opportunities ahead of us

But we ought to also recognize that people in our vicinity are not in the same place as well

Therefore we should be patient loving kind gracious to others use words that build up that edify

Instead of tearing down and most importantly brethren this ought to be true in the

Church of God and especially in our marriages especially in our homes

That we speak to our spouse of dignity Love and respect that we see them as treasures of Christ Given on to us and not to berate our beloved not to berate those in our home our children

But to grow and love them and the admonition of the Lord and This is such a need for our day.

This is such a need for our people that we love one another truly and authentically Because doing so will glorify the heart of our

King and the heart of our Savior Verse 30 says and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God By whom you were sealed for the day of redemption

Do not agree. This is a terrifying Scripture God's Spirit the

Spirit of Holiness The Spirit that hovered over the surface of the deep in Genesis the Spirit that empowered the prophets the

Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead Can be grieved by you you can grieve the

Spirit of God I Can grieve the

Spirit of God Such a thought should move us to fear and trembling

Brethren, if it doesn't you have not come to know the power of the Spirit Because the power of the

Spirit brings forth conviction he convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and if you can grieve the heart of this being of God the

Holy Spirit third person of the Trinity this is truly a terrifying thought and It should motivate us in a way to fear the

Lord one of Israel's sins in the Old Testament According to the prophet

Jeremiah and Jeremiah 2 was that the fear of me Yahweh said is not in you

They did not have a proper fear of the Lord and the Bible says in Proverbs the fear of the

Lord It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of knowledge It's a proper fear of God his greatness his holiness his other worldliness

Ought to be so great that we fear displeasing the

Spirit of Holiness himself No one understand this. The Holy Spirit is not a force.

It's not a power It is a divine person of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit can be grieved

For instance of the Jehovah Witnesses that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Holy Spirit is a force similar to what you see in Star Wars the movies this

Inactive impersonal force that kind of permeates all things and in between the walls and all these mystical things

That's not the Spirit of God in Scripture the Spirit of God can be grieved He's a person in Adam and objects for forces cannot be grieved

The Holy Spirit according to Scripture is God We see that in Acts chapter 5

Hebrews chapter 3 see in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 and 18 that the

Lord is The Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty freedom this is indeed the third person of the triune

God God the Holy Spirit and It is possible Brethren to grieve him who sealed us for the day of redemption

May it be our aim to not displease him but to please him To be found in him to be used and shaped and molded by the

Spirit of Holiness That we become more and more like Jesus That's the aim and the power of the

Spirit working in us is that we become less like the thief less like the liar less like the one who speaks unwholesome speech and more and more like Jesus That's called your sanctification

God is making you more and more holy by the indwelling of the

Spirit and Because he resides in you God the

Holy Spirit lives in you has made his home in your heart How then can it be that you share that holy divine space of your heart with idols?

With falsehood with lies with debauchery with wickedness with slothfulness

Brethren This is not the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of the flesh and the

Spirit is not pleased When we share that divine space of our heart with his spirit and unrighteousness

It ought to convict us more and more to be holy as We saw in the heart of the young rich ruler who came to Jesus as we read from the story earlier today service

He came to the Savior. He says Lord. I've got this. I've done X Y & Z. I've I've been doing the law

What else should I do? What else is there for me to do? And he missed the whole point

That it wasn't just the outward expression of the law But was the inward work of transformation that the

Spirit enables and does in us Because had the rich young man Had the

Spirit of Christ in him when Christ called him commanded him to forsake all things to sell all his possessions

He would have said yes Lord It's all yours. Anyways, it belongs to you.

All of my possessions are not my position or your possessions Everything that I have everything that I am it's not for me.

It's for you to you and from you are all things What is my life?

What a speck of dust? What is my life at all if I know you and am in you and found in you?

This is the conviction of the Spirit That everything belongs to Jesus that you are not your own possession, but that you belong to him

Therefore how we live matters How we conduct ourselves in our lives in our private lives behind closed doors when no one is watching it matters

It matters beloved Because the Spirit of Holiness is there he's watching you.

He's living in you. He resides in you therefore reject a

Sinful course of life and embrace the power of the Spirit because it's all his anyways

It all belongs to him Be not like the rich young ruler who rejected the call of following Christ, but instead laid all at his feet

He is worthy He's worthy He's worthy because he sealed you for the day of redemption

You were sealed God has put his seal of promise on you through the

Holy Spirit which means that Come all the difficulties of life all the corruptions of this world will fail to remove us from that perfect Day of redemption when we stand before him

Not having a righteousness of our own but a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus and we stand in him approved

But we also know and recognize this that on that final day When we stand before the

Lord we Have no Righteousness of our own to stand in only the righteousness of Christ But the righteousness of Christ will change you even today before the throne

It will change you It'll motivate you. It'll empower you to be different This is the characterization of a new life is to be different not like the world

Therefore knowing this great truth that we can indeed grieve the heart of God's Spirit that we were sealed for the day of redemption

It says in verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away

Be put away From you along with all malice

These are the things that we are to move away from why because we grieve

The spirit I want you to write this in there second to last part of this the teaching we grieve the spirit

By returning to the works of the flesh We grieve the spirit

The works of the flesh are evident bitterness wrath anger clamor slander

Malice, these are all things that originate not from the spirit of holiness, but instead it originates

In the flesh and the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 if you can turn there for a moment it'd be edifying for us to turn there as we see a convicting passage also from the

Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8 starting in verse 4 After we received such a great word in verse 1 of the

Romans 8 he says therefore There's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus verse 4 says in order

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh

But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit

For to set the mind on the flesh is death But to set the mind of the spirit is life and peace

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot

Those who are in the flesh Cannot please God You see the distinguishing factors of the works of the flesh and the work of the

Spirit Being in the flesh and in the spirit. They cannot coexist These are not meant to be so which is why elsewhere in scripture

We see it as idolatry When we share the space of the temple of our hearts with the spirit and with things that are not of God It is idolatry.

It is a grave sin and Those who are in the flesh they cannot possibly please

God So we grieve the spirit by returning to the works of the flesh

It does not make God's heart glad when we forsake such great a salvation

From what he has saved us from and we continue to wallow in it as if that's something that is good

We ought to recognize again as I said earlier love what God loves hate what

God hates and God hates bitterness wrath

Anger and clamor and slander. He hates these things. These are traits of the old man

Therefore put him away Run from them run as Joseph ran from sin

Run as Moses fled the pleasures of this world to follow the treasures of Christ Run from such activities and such spirits and run to the

Spirit of Christ The Spirit of Holiness How can you do that? How can you if you as a

Christian today, maybe some of the things I've said to you have convicted you Maybe you feel like maybe I've got too much anger in my heart still.

I love Jesus. I worship Jesus I'm born again, but I'm still wrestling with bitterness

I'm still mad about things that happened a long time ago. I'm still struggling with anger and resentment in my heart

What could I do? And the call in Scripture is clear put away such traits

By living in the fullness and reality of what God has called you to holiness holiness

What is holiness? in the Bible the word holy means to be separate

An analogy I've shared of you before is to be cut and separate from the world

Cut and separate from that which is unholy unrighteous and as Christians We sometimes have to take the scalpel and as Jesus says if your right hand causes you to stumble

You cut it off if your eye causes you to sin you pluck it out and in doing so we remove

We remove the opportunities for the devil to crawl into our lives and Infect us with the old man infect us with sin

So that we now We want to run from those things run from So we do so by replacing malice bitterness wrath anger and clamor

With things that we find for instance in Galatians chapter 5 the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace these traits that should be yours and are abounding in us if we are in Christ and We live according to that truth that reality and we put to death the old man

By giving the old man no opportunity to arise And give him no opportunity you you as a

Christian you have to choke out the old man choke every opportunity of sin and so we don't take literally the fact that when

Jesus you have to cut your hand off or a plucker I obviously this is Not a something that we do literally but for instance if Your cell phone

It's causing you to sin your technology if you Viewing things on your phone that you want not to be viewing

Pluck it out If you have a computer at home, and there's things that you're doing on it that isn't gratifying to God to God Take it out if you're doing if there's something that's facilitating a life apart from the spirit of holiness remove it and come

Come to the people of God we are members of one another We're here for one another not here to judge you look down upon you to curse you

But instead to lift you up to empower you to walk in this newness of life So friends we must take this fight seriously because it will either

Destroy you or ruin the good name of Christ and neither are good options

So may we put to death the works of the flesh mortify the deeds of the flesh That Christ may have the victory

We close with this beautiful word from the Apostle Paul in verse 32 to be kind to one another

Tender -hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you

I Understand that this message may have been pretty heavy Heavier than some of my previous messages

But I want you to know and I want to end with this There's a way and a means for you to be forgiven totally as Romans 8 1 says therefore there is now no

Condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus We are all sinners.

We all fall short of the mark and the glory of God and yet God has made a way for us to be forgiven

Because God in the persons of the Trinity Father Son and Spirit he is kind He is tender -hearted

He is affectionate for you and towards you And he has provided forgiveness of sin

Through the shed blood of the cross of Jesus Christ Through the cross of Jesus all of your sins all of your bitterness wrath anger clamor slander malice lies falsehood deceitfulness

All of your dishonest work all your thievery of your corrupting talk all the times that you've blasphemed the good name all of that was nailed to the cross and through faith in Jesus Christ Understanding that he died in your place

He lived the life that you could not live holy perfect blameless died the death that you deserved was raised again on the third day and as ascended to the right hand of God the

Father you can be totally forgiven of sin and Be given the gift of the

Spirit of God To live in you dwell in you and to bring you to a closer image of Christ So that you may be sealed even today for the day of redemption on to eternal life

The last part of the teaching is the response to grievance is the kindness and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ May you today?

find if you've never done it before the kindness and forgiveness of Jesus Christ by repenting of your sin acknowledging that you are indeed a sinner and Recognizing that there is one who has paid your debt who is indeed a great

Savior and through faith in his shed blood The Bible says you will then be transferred from death to life

And you can have the gift of God's Holy Spirit to live in you to change you and to transform you

But if you be a believer today Found in Christ and you say I'm still struggling with the old man brother and sister find solace in this

That there is a kindness and there is a forgiveness That can empower you to be more and more like Jesus May you find your peace and your solace in him and in him alone.

Let me pray Gracious Spirit the same spirit that raised

Jesus from the dead The same spirit that is alive and at work in us this morning this afternoon

We pray that you would bring forth the conviction of your word and to bear fruit unto repentance and life

Help us not to be grieved to the point of worldly sorrow and despair which rips forth death

But help us Lord God the Spirit to be transformed in the renewing and the thinking of our mind

To reach and attain of repentance that leads to life even life eternal through the shed blood of the cross of Jesus Lord forgive us for where we fall short

Forgive us from where we have grieved your heart. Oh Lord May it grieve and break us

When we break your heart May it grieve our soul When we grieve your heart

Lord that we would love what you love and hate what you hate and that we would find peace forgiveness forgiveness even for our trespasses

In Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and forevermore in his name we do pray.