Ephesians 4:30 reads “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption”. The word grieve is equal to the Greek word lupeo (loo-peh’-o) and translates into “to make sorry”. We who have been born again by the grace of God, through faith in his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, have the Holy Spirit abiding in us. (Romans 8:9, Ezekiel 36:27) Jesus gave us this promise during His earthly ministry. (John 14:16-17) Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, in which he works to comfort and teach us that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, John 14:26, 1 John 2:27) The Holy Spirit’s leading presence is essential to our relationship and communion with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the indwelling representative of the triune Godhead and in numerous verses of scripture is referred to as such. John 14:22-23 reads, “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” We come to realize then that we have “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) We who are born again are host to the Godhead through the person of the Holy Spirit. This relationship must be thoroughly recognized and highly protected for it is through this relationship that the Lord will use us for His honor and glory, will bear witness with us and will bring forth fruit from our life.
Satan fully realizes the importance of this communion and fellowship that God desires to have with us, and truly this relationship is a blessing for all born again. As we think about the workings of Satan and how he tries to inhibit this relationship we are reminded of 2 Corinthians 2:11 which reads, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices”. For centuries he has paraded images of sin and filthy conversation before the eyes and ears of the children of God. Satan is subtle and he moves his purpose along in small increments. He is too clever to flood our sensibilities all at once but rather rocks us to sleep through his appeal to the desires of our flesh and of the mind (Ephesians 2:3). Over time he has desensitized God’s people little by little. We have gotten used to the dark. There has been no generation before us that has witnessed such powerful and varied devices that Satan now has in his arsenal. Although Satan can never overpower the Holy Spirit and cast Him out of a born again person, he can tempt us through the flesh so that we might grieve the Holy Spirit and vex our righteous soul. 2nd Peter 2:4-9 reads, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” Lot paid a heavy price because he had allowed his relationship with God to deteriorate. Lot’s deterioration did not occur all at once either. He first pitched his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:12), his two daughters were then married to two Sodomites, he then offered his two virgin daughters to the men of Sodom to protect the two angels, he lingered in the city when asked by the two angels to leave. Lot’s positive influence on his family had ceased. His sons-in-law mocked him, his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt, and he was vexed to the point that his two daughters were with child of their father. (Genesis 19)
In this
modern age of electronics and satellites Sodom and Gomorrha can be easily
brought into the home through today’s communication media, by Satan, “the
prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The most common
device is the television. Fifty years ago if someone came into a Christian home
and spewed out the filth that is now available from our television sets they
would have been directed to the door and told to leave. But today we have been
desensitized to a great degree and don’t give it a serious thought in most
cases. We have radio, recorded music, digitized music with digital players,
videotape and DVD rentals, etc. We have computers that have access to the
Internet where anything can be viewed or listened to. Sodom and Gomorrha are
just a pushbutton away at any time of the day. We have allowed it to become very
accessible in our homes. It is not enough to just keep it away from our
children, but the aged men and women should deny this ungodliness and likewise
be in behavior as becometh holiness (Titus 2:3-12). How can we watch a
PG-13 or R rated movie and come to church expecting to have a right relationship
with the Lord? 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 says, “And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
What has been the result of indulging in Satan’s offerings? The result is the same as it was for Lot. Many have become vexed in the things that they see and hear. God’s children and church have lost our power; we have lost our influence with family, friends, and the community. Our communion with God has been affected because we grieve His Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is necessary for all born again believers to “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Romans 5:21 reads “Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” This is a great promise from the word of God. It reinforces to us that even in the very presence of sin, that there is grace to resist and take the way of escape.
Respectfully submitted,
Bro. Johnny Wall
Bro. Brett Haskins