Grieve Not The Spirit
by Pastor Corlius R. Stam
The
first lesson each believer in Christ should learn is that immediately
upon believing he is given everlasting life. Referring to this fact
Ephesians 1:13,14 says:
“In whom ye also trusted, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also having believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”
Mark
well, the believer is not sealed by the Holy Spirit, but “with” the
Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself is the seal. Every sincere believer in
Christ, then, should rejoice in an accomplished redemption and rest in
the fact that the Holy Spirit will keep him eternally safe.
But
while we cannot lose the Holy Spirit we can, and often do, grieve the
Holy Spirit, as we read in Eph. 4:30. This is why we are told in Rom.
8:26 that the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities” and makes intercession
for us, that we might live lives which please and honor God.
The
wonderful fact is, however, that “nothing,” not even an aggrieved
Spirit shall “separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38,39). Thus in
the same breath with which the Apostle exhorts us not to grieve the
Spirit he again reassures us that this same Spirit keeps us eternally
safe:
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).
Does
this encourage careless living? Those who think so have missed the
whole point of Paul’s appeal. The Apostle does not warn the believer
that if he grieves the Spirit he will be lost. Rather, in grace he
exhorts:
“Do not grieve the very Spirit who in mercy and love has sealed you as forever His own. Do not repay such love with such ingratitude.”
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