Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption. There are different ways in which you may grieve a person. If the person hate you, and wish you ill, then you may grieve and vex him by taking the course which will make you good and happy. If the person be a bad person, then you may grieve him by doing what is right. What greater stimulus to duty, than this? — "Now, you will be industrious, and honest, and good; and make them all happy at home!" And what healthier consideration in an hour of temptation to do wrong, than that which comes first and most natural: "Oh, you will not do that, and break your mother's heart!" My Christian friends, it hath pleased God, in the words of my text, to appeal to us with just that homely consideration. "Grieve not" — the words are spoken to all of us — "the Holy Spirit of God." I. And first, mark WHO IT IS WE ARE ASKED NOT TO GRIEVE. You have seen how completely it turns upon the character of the person grieved, what the kind of things shall be that are to grieve him. The Person we are asked not to grieve is the Holy Spirit of God: the blessed Comforter. He is the kindest and best: He is our warmest well-wisher. And what kindness and consideration there are in the way in which the text shows us our duty I It is our own good that the Holy Spirit is desiring to work out: and we are asked not to vex Him by obstructing Him in doing what? II. And now, looking AT THIS PRECEPT — 1. We may be very sure that we grieve the Holy Spirit, by restraining prayer, or by heartless prayers. 2. A second way in which we shall especially grieve the Holy Spirit, by especially slighting His office and work, will be by refusing to allow Him to comfort us in sorrow. 3. There is a third way in which we shall specially grieve the Holy Spirit; and this is by resisting Him when He is seeking to lead us to Christ; by refusing to turn in penitence from sin to God; and then to grow in grace and holiness. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.WEB: Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. |
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