Can You Grieve the Holy Spirit?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Ephesians 4:30, Romans 8, Galatians 5, Ephesians 4:29

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--can-you-grieve-the-holy-spirit
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Yes. Well, let's talk about this. We as apostolics, we believe that we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And that itself is an interesting concept because uh is it a physical filling where in in your bones, in your heart, in your stomach? So obviously we're talking about spiritual metaphor. And so I think what that really means is you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, not against your will, but as you submit to God's will, you are led by the spirit. Um the spirit guides you and leads you and you submit. So that means you're living a holy life.

You're bearing the fruit of the in spirit. you're not uh committing sin, you're not doing the lust of the flesh. And so uh Romans chapter 8 talks about these contrasting ways of being led by the flesh, led by the spirit. And says only those who are led by the spirit are the children of God. So it's not just have you received the Holy Spirit one time in your life, but are you currently being led by the spirit? Likewise, Galatians 5 talks about follow the flesh and spirit waring against each other. So you're either following the flesh or you're following the spirit. Uh now then that also brings up so uh you know can you lose the spirit um and what does that mean you know so uh so does it leak out so to speak um so I think we could all agree uh if if being filled with the spirit means subject to the leading and guiding of the spirit um then if you persistently live a life of sin then yes you lose the spirit and so we would say you come back to God you got to make the consecration again you got to repent Again, you got to be renewed in the spirit.

But what if you commit one sin? Does the Holy Spirit automatically leave? You got to be refilled with the Holy Ghost. You certainly need to repent. You certainly need to confess. But I think there's a sense the spirit is still in control of your life. You just went out of his control for that moment or you sinned or you made a mistake. You're culpable, but maybe not fully realizing what you did until after the fact. So I do think it the the term grieving the Holy Spirit is a way of saying there's an alternative to saying you lost the spirit. So on the one hand you're filled with the spirit, you're living a holy life.

You're pleasing God. On the other hand, you're living a sinful life. You're not letting the spirit control. You're not pleasing God. And there's a middle ground which probably every Christian experiences sometime where we do love the Lord. We are following the Lord. We do worship the Lord. But yet we failed. We made a mistake. We had a bad attitude. So is God just gone? No. But I think that God, the spirit of God is grieved. So I think in the context um if you look at the book of Ephesians you know Paul is talking about it could be more of a general reference talking about several things but um he he could be talking in the context of committing a sin that it's not you're choosing it as a way of life but you made a mistake or you made a fault or you've erided or you've done something wrong and that is grieved the Holy Spirit because the immediate um you quoted from Ephesians 4:30, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

The preceding verse, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So in the context, you might say a corrupt word. So it could be an off-color joke. It could be a spiteful comment. It could be gossip. Well, that's a sin or that is um inappropriate for Christians at the least depending on what it is. But does that mean God has left you? You're backsliden. You have to go back and be renewing the spirit. No, it means the spirit of God has kind of temporarily withdrawn his approval or you you're grieved.

The spirit is grieved. So in you see in the context, it's not like you're backsliding. You're repudiating God. You're going out and saying, "I'm going to live a life of adultery or I I'm going worshiping idols, but I have said something that's not appropriate for a Christian or I've hurt someone with my words or maybe I've sinned with my well that the spirit is supposed to be dwelling in you, controlling you. He's grieved because the spirit of God can't approve of that. So, is the spirit of God in control of you or not? Are you submitted to the spirit or not?" The spirit can't. If the spirit is in control, it's like the spirit approves of what you just said.

the spirit does not approve of what you just said. So the spirit has not abandoned you, but you've got to get that straightened out. You you've got to resubmit. You've got to confess. And so I think he's saying by your maybe momentary sins or even maybe momentary lapses of judgment where maybe we would say it's a sin, but you've hurt someone or you've been inconsiderate or uh you've been inappropriate. Well, you can't blame God for that. You say, 'Well, the spirit fills me, so whatever I said, it must be okay. And God didn't strike me dead. God didn't remove his spirit from me.

So, yeah, I was rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but you know, the spirit's okay with that. Paul is saying, "No, the spirit is not okay with that." So, I do think it's talking about um affecting your relationship with God, which left unchecked would cause the spirit to leave you, would cause you to say what we say is backsliden. But you're not at that point yet. But you must correct it. You must apologize to God, so to speak. You must resubmit to God. And so, grieving the Holy Spirit is that space between a fully consecrated life and a backsliden life, but a but a life where you've made an error, a mistake, a j a wrong judgment, or a sin, or a an inappropriate statement.

And Paul is just warning us as Christians, our speech should always be wholesome. Our speech should always be gracious. Our speech should always be edifying or building up. And when it's not, we could grieve the Holy Spirit. Now, I will say there's another episode on blaspheing the Holy Spirit, which is very different. And that is when having known God's spirit, you completely reject any work of God's spirit. It's not that God cuts you off because you sin too much. It's you've cut God off by persistently refusing to acknowledge his work. And as I said, you can listen to that episode, but I don't think that's what he's talking about because he's not saying judgment, hellfire.

you have no hope. Now, he's saying, "No, if you say something that's corrupt, uh, that's not gracious, you will grieve the Holy Spirit." So, don't do that. It's just a challenge for us to always be Christians in our behavior, in our demeanor, in our expressions, to be sensitive that whatever we say and do, we would want the Holy Spirit to be able to affirm that. And if we if we're saying something the Holy Spirit can't affirm, that indicates we've grieved the spirit, which indicates we need to get straight as soon as possible, confess and get back under the uh leadership of God's spirit. And I'm glad in those cases when we do say things that grieve the Holy Spirit, he brings conviction and lets us know we've done that.

Typically, we will feel that instantly. And if for some reason we're a little hard into that, probably the next time we go to church and hear the preacher preach, it will hit us. Or maybe even a friend will say, "Did you really say that?" Or, you know, there God will use various means, primarily our own conscience, but he could also use other people and other messages to alert us to our need to get get things right. And thank God he does that.