Transcription
Our subject this morning is the Holy Spirit and the sinning Christian. We continue this series with the theme, the Holy Spirit and you. There are three pre-erequisites which must be met before a Christian can produce the fruit of the spirit. The Christian life is not a hit or miss proposition. It's not a hippity hoppity sort of thing. It is something that you do not come upon it by chance and you do not stumble upon it accidentally. There is a discipline that is far more demanding than that which is required by any ideology today, any government or any military service or any organization. The Christian life is regulated by certain conditions which must be met if we are to live the Christian life. And I suppose that the reason for all the tragic failure today, all the frightful casualties today and the total wrecks that line the shore of life today is because we have not met the demands of Christ. There are three conditions in relationship to the Holy Spirit. Two of them are negative, one is positive. Last time we spoke on one of the negatives. This morning we turn again to a negative, the second one. Next Lord's day, we'll take the one that is positive. And the one we're looking at today is found in Ephesians the 4th chapter, the 30th verse. And it again is a launching pad for us to take off not into space but into the streets and into our everyday humrum life right here in Los Angeles. And grieve not the spirit whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
There are several basic truths that we learn from this verse that we ought to establish at the very beginning. First of all, the Holy Spirit is a person. You cannot grieve an influence. You can't grieve something that is sort of a ghost. You can only grieve a person. The Holy Spirit is a person. He can be grieved. Second, you cannot grieve him away. We are told here, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. I have a very interesting translation here I'd like for you to hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. For that spirit is the seal with which you were marked for the day of our final liberation. So that the Holy Spirit may be grieved, but you'll never grieve him away. For you've been sealed under the day of redemption. The third, the Holy Spirit is holy. It's possible to grieve him. You can't live just any kind of a slipshot life as a believer. If you do, you'll grieve the Holy Spirit.
Now, this morning, I want us to look at several questions, and each one of them begins with what. In fact, this sermon this morning is about a five-what sermon. That's about all the whats I generate anyway. And this morning, it's a five-what sermon. Actually, what is not your best question. Who is the best question. When is second and what is third. And this morning we must use the what. And the first one is what grieves the Holy Spirit? What was it that caused him to be grieved? And you'll recall that last time we said that Paul was very clear that the Old Testament had been given for our comfort and our admonition and our instruction. So this morning I go back and see what it was that grieved God. And I want to turn to Psalm 78 and verse 40. And you will find there in this psalm that the psalmist is recounting the experiences of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Here's what is said here beginning verse 40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? Yay, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Now to grieve the Holy Spirit means that we actually limit God in our lives and in that area where we are moving today. The children of Israel actually limited God because they grieved. Then Psalm 95 verse 10. 40 years long was I grieved with this generation and said it's a people that do heir in their heart and they have not known my ways. What was it that grieved God? It was the error of the children of Israel. It was their sin that grieved God. I want to confirm that. I find Isaiah had something to say about this same experience in the 63rd chapter verse 10. But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit. Therefore, he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. And Isaiah specifically says that the children of Israel in the wilderness vexed. They grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Now I move into the New Testament and we nail it down in Hebrews the 3 chapter. We find that the writer there is saying verse 10, "Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said they do always heir in their hearts and they've not known my ways." He's quoting of course from Psalm 95. Now in verse 17 of Hebrews 3 goes on and says, "But with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?" What is it that grieves the Holy Spirit of God? My beloved, it is sin. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit.
Now we come to the next what? What sins? What sins grieve the Holy Spirit? Now, I know that it's very easy to say and rather naive to say all sin grieves him. And certainly that is true. But we want this morning to deal with specifics. We want to make a diagnosis because we are talking to believers for the most part and believers sometimes grieve the Holy Spirit. First of all, I think we need to clear this up because a great many people attempt to evade and avoid this problem by saying they have gotten rid of the sin nature and that the Holy Spirit couldn't dwell in where a person has a sin nature. May I say to you, Paul makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit is able to dwell in a believer who has a sin nature. If he didn't, he wouldn't indwell any of us. But there's a basis for it. Over in the sixth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, verse 10, and I've given you two different translations. Now this morning I'm going to give you the best translation there is. It's the Megakus Adams certum translation. Now will you listen very carefully? For as to his dying, it was as to sin he died once for all. But as to his living, it is as to God he lives. Now Paul is not saying here that Christ died for sin. He said that elsewhere. He's talking about something else. He's discussing here in this section that Christ died under sin. He died a judgment death for our sin nature. And if he had not, the Holy Spirit couldn't get in 40 ft of any of us. But you see, he died for our sin nature. He died not only for sin, but under sin. For that's exactly what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 5:21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ became what we are on the cross that we today might be what he is. Christ on the cross became what we are sinners. He was made sin for us who knew no sin. Now my beloved, God has no notion of reforming the old nature. He put it to death on the cross, 1900 years ago when Christ died, he died unto sin and your old nature was judged there. God's not going to save it. Has no notion of saving. It's judged. And when you die, he'll go into the grave with you, and it will never come out. Won't you be glad to get rid of Vernon McGee? So will I. Oh, to get rid of him. And thank the Lord we'll get rid of you, too. [Music] And I have a notion that you'll be happy for that. May I say to you, Paul has already said in verse 8, we believe that we shall also be living with him. And Paul says, because of 1900 years ago, he died under sin to that sin nature, we are not to live into that sin nature, but we are now to live under Christ. Which leads me to say this. God has made provision for the prevention of sin in the life of the believer and to live triumphantly. But I must say with Dr. Scofield who years ago said it is true God has made ample provision but he says I never met anybody that was living without sin. And may I say that since then I haven't met anybody. I'm sure that you have not. God's provision is perfect, but our entrance is imperfect. Listen, my little children, my little burns, burns, if you want to call it, my little born ones, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. He's made the provision. Our entrance into it is imperfect. And because of that, believers sin.
Now, there's a cure for the sins of believers. And I think that we this morning are interested in that. I believe every sincere child of God's interested in that. But before we do it, look at the cure. Let's continue our diagnosis. I wanted to be very sure that none of us got the impression that you're going to get rid of your sin nature. He died unto it. And you and I to reckon that's the way we are to live conscious of the fact that we have that sin nature, but we are not to live in that sin nature. We're to live under Christ. Now, there's a cure for sins of believers. But let's look at the diagnosis. Let's identify some of the sins of believers. What grieves the Holy Spirit? Oh, I know somebody's going to say go into picture shows. Somebody's going to say dancing. Somebody's going to say smoking. Really? I've looked. I haven't found those verses. I say that for this reason. We have some folk today who say we don't do these things. Therefore, we are separated spiritual Christians. Let's see if you are. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of truth. The spirit of truth. The Lord Jesus said when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he'll lead you to all truth. He's called the spirit of truth. And if he is, then one of the sins that would grieve him would be lying, would it not? And the very interesting thing is that so many left Ephesians 4:30 out and do not pay attention to its context. May I say, you will find there quite a list of sins that grieve the Holy Spirit. And back in the 25th verse of this chapter, listen to this. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. We expected that, didn't we? That if he's the spirit of truth, lying then would grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And here we are told that lying is one of the things that does grieve the Holy Spirit of God. One-half truths, falsehoods, little white lies, we call them false impressions, gossip grieves the Holy Spirit of God. And where gossip is engaged in, the Holy Spirit of God cannot work in fullness of power. He's the spirit of truth. And any misrepresentation, any wagging tongue that says that that it cannot prove grieves the Holy Spirit of God. He is called the spirit of wisdom. Back in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, we had definitely given that mark, that label, the spirit of wisdom. Neglect on the part of a believer of the word of God grieves the Holy Spirit. Ignorance today of spiritual truths on the part of believers grieves the Holy Spirit. And I personally believe today that that is grieving the Holy Spirit more than anything else in our churches. The fact that men and women have been believers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years and they're still ignorant of the word of God. Know practically nothing about it. He's the spirit of wisdom and ignorance will grieve him. He's called the spirit of life and power. You remember that Paul said in Romans 8:2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, he's called the spirit of life. He's also called the spirit of power. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Power, life and power. My friend, today the thing that grieves the Holy Spirit probably more than anything else is a lukewarm Christian. Did you know that today that a lukewarm indifferent Christian today hurts the cause of Christ more than 10 infidels? Or 10 communists. He's the spirit of life and he's the spirit of power. And when he's not moving in our hearts and lives, giving life and power, then my beloved, he's grieved. He's called the spirit of holiness. Paul says in Romans 1:4, he's declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness. Therefore, all impurity offends him. Now, will you listen? I'm going to the verses immediately above our launching pad today, Ephesians 4:30, and the one below it. I don't know why folk don't draw those out. Here's what offends the Holy Spirit. Here's what grieves him. Listen to this. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, corrupt communication. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. When you said that ugly thing about a certain person, were you really motivated by malice or really was it a helpful suggestion that you were making? Were you helping the cause of Christ when you began to speak evil of someone? May I say to you, God's word says you grieve the Holy Spirit of God if you're a child of God and he's indwelling you. Ephesians 5 verse three, but fornication and all uncleanness are covetousness, let it not be even named among you. Are you money hungry today and you're a child of God? We're living in a world today that has overworked sex. Has that taken you down the drain today as a child of God? He's the spirit of holiness. And my friend, we grieve the Holy Spirit by these sins. Now, I better stop here because I'm sure that someone is saying you're meddling. You're stepping on toes. You're talking about me today. May I say to you, these are the sins that are clearly identified in the word of God that grieve the Holy Spirit. I don't say they're all of them. Maybe the things I met first grieve the Holy Spirit. I don't have the verse this morning, but I do have the verse for these things that Christians, fundamental Christians are doing today. And that's one of the reasons that we're not seeing a great manifestation of the spirit of God today is because many believers have grieved the spirit of God and he cannot work in our midst. That's holding back revival today. Believers are holding back revival, not communists. Not Hollywood, not Los Angeles, but fundamental believers are holding back revival today.
I come to my next what. Now we are three whats down. What happens when a Christian sins? Something happens when a Christian sins. He doesn't lose his salvation. Sealed unto the day of redemption. Until that day, we're presented to him. We've been sealed. And this translation actually brings out what Paul is saying. The original, the Holy Spirit is himself, the seal. He's there and he'll present you to Christ. But my friend, you can grieve him. We do not lose our salvation, but we do lose our fellowship. The Lord Jesus in the upper room. You remember that we're told two things that Satan had come into the upper room and that he had entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot and he was there. Fellowship was broken in the upper room. Our Lord arose began to wash the disciples' feet. Peter says, "Don't wash my feet." And there was a man susceptible to Satan. We know from the past because our Lord had said to him, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Our Lord said to Simon Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou dost not have any part any fellowship with me. You have to be clean if you're going to fellowship with me." Oh, the believers today that think that they can have fellowship with Christ with sin in their lives. It's impossible. And when there is sin in the life of a believer, he loses his fellowship. There's no power and there's no fruit of the spirit in the life. They're miserable and they make everybody around them miserable. They become critical and cankerous and difficult and the darkness of the world makes an assault upon the soul of the believer and it intrudes into his life. The joy of the Lord is gone. And he has to seek for satisfaction in the things of the world. And before long, the neighbors say he's living just like the man in the world. To all outward appearances, he is. My beloved, this morning, this congregation here of believers is divided into two categories. There is one category of those who this morning are living with a grieved Holy Spirit. There is another category of folk who are living with the ungrieved Holy Spirit. There is a line of demarcation and a bifurcation today among believers. Some believers are living this morning with a grieved Holy Spirit. Others are living with an ungrieved Holy Spirit. Well, somebody says, "You put us on the horns of a dilemma." You say that a believer sins. Sin grieves the Holy Spirit.
I come now to the fourth what? What must the believer do when he sins? What's the cure? May I say this very carefully this morning? A believer cannot continue in sin without serious consequences. He not only loses his fellowship, but something else is going to happen. He's going to find that God will move in and deal with him. But a believer can do something about his sins. When a believer sins, what can he do? May I say, scripture is crystal clear at this point. Everyone already has leaped to the verse. I'm going to now. First John 1:9. We can quote it, but it's sort of like John 3:16. It may not have sunk in yet. First John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now John is talking in first John in this first section about fellowship and he says that when sin comes into the life that if any believer says he's having fellowship he's actually lying because you can't have fellowship with sin in your life. What do you do if we confess our sins? He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, obviously, he's speaking here to believers. He's not speaking to unbelievers. And may I pause at this juncture because if you come in here today, friend, you've never accepted Christ as your savior. May I be very careful and say to you, God's not asking you to do this. He's not saying if you confess your sins. He's saying to you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He has you shut up to a cross and you have to make a decision relative to Christ and if you receive him you become a child of God. But until then this is not for you at all. Now, it is for a Christian. If we believe us, if we're going to have fellowship, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The believer is to do just one thing. Confess. God does two things. He forgives and he cleanses.
Oh, I've come to another what. We have six whats. Now, what is genuine confession of sin? May I say to you that there is more in scripture on this particular subject than any other subject that's in the Bible. God has more trouble with his own than he does with the unsaved. Did you know that God was able to save the entire city of Nineveh, the most wicked city until Los Angeles came along that there ever was? But God had more trouble with a backsliding prophet Jonah than he did with the entire city. God's big problem today is with believers. What is genuine confession of sin? Well, there's more in scripture about this than anything else. In the Old Testament, there are two classic examples. And I want just now to turn to one of them. It's back in the book of Joshua. It's in the seventh chapter of the book of Joshua. The children of Israel had taken the city of Jericho. No, I'm wrong. They did not take it. God took it. They thought they did. And flushed with victory, Joshua thought he could send a little army up to Ai and take it. And he sent a little army up there, but they were not able to take the little town of Ai. And believe me, it was humiliation. So much so that Joshua went in before God. And listen to this. Joshua said, "Alas, oh Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we'd been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan?" Doesn't he sound pious? Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? Now, oh, Joshua was pious. He prayed about everything but the right thing. He said, "What'll the Canaanites think? What will happen to us?" But he didn't deal with sin. And the Lord said unto Joshua, "Get thee up." Quit your whining and sniveling. Get up off your feet, Joshua. This is no time to pray. You mean to tell me that the saints shouldn't pray? No. There are times when you shouldn't pray. There are times when you should straighten things out that are wrong. Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Israel hath sinned. That's the difficulty. The problem is not with Ai. The problem is not with the Canaanite. The problem is not with God. The problem's there in your camp. You've sinned. And they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. They've even taken of their accursed things also stolen and dissembled also. They put it even among their own stuff. Now they had to get that sin ferreted out and dealt with it. They finally found the guilty party. And Achan answered Joshua and said, "Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done." When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, and I coveted them, and I took them. Now, there's going to be some extreme surgery. And Joshua said, "Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones." You say that's harsh. He hasn't changed. You say, you mean today he does that same thing. Will you listen to him in Romans 8:13? For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. Physically, no. Spiritually, no. What do you mean? You're going to die to fellowship with God. Your life will be as dead as a dodo bird. That's what he means. That thing is killing my beloved. That thing has to be dealt with. Listen to him. Colossians 3:5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, and inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. May I urge you this afternoon, at least some of you, to commit a murder? Would you this afternoon take that member of your body that's causing you to offend and crucify it? Can't crucify your body, but you can deal. Got that tongue, it's getting you in trouble. Talks too much, take it before the Lord. Tell him what it is. If we confess our sins, you got to confess it. And to confess means to say the same thing God says about it. Achan had to come out in the open says, "I saw it. I coveted it. I took it." That's confession of sin. You got to deal with it. Praise this business today of Lord forgive me my sins and up off our knees we go again to do some more so we can come back and confess again that's no good that's not confession of sin has to be dealt with. There's another man, a man that I love him. Oh, I'm looking forward to meet him. That's David. But David's a heartbreak. Was a heartbreak to God. All that day that he came from the shepherd's field. That day that he came in and Samuel poured on that little red-headed boy the anointing oil. How bright and innocent he was there that day. David didn't stay that way. It was a rough age. And David lived in the caves of the earth. David was a rough man. He was so rough God says you can't even build me a temple although it's the desire of your heart. And David was a peeping tom. He committed a sin, adultery and murder. And even today on Pershing Square, these last beaming infidels point the finger at him and said, "Look at him." Imagine God taking a fellow like David. I had one when I first came here. Walk down front here. One Sunday morning and said to me, "The idea of God taking a man like David." And I said to him, "Brother, you better be thankful. There's a God will take a man like David, cuz if he does, he'll take you and he'll take me. You better be thankful. God didn't throw David overboard. If he threw David overboard, a lot of us would be lost this morning. A lot of us wouldn't make it today, would we? David was not thrown overboard. But you know what David did? Like a lot of good fundamentalists today. Oh, on Sunday he shined his halo and he looked pious in church. Fact of the matter is when he walked in and sat down on the throne after he committed these sins, he looked around. He says, "I wonder if anybody here knows. Don't think so. And if they do, they better keep their mouth shut. I'm king. I'll shut him up." He sat there. But he wasn't comfortable. Listen, my friend. Listen to this man. He's out of This is his heart cry. Listen to him. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Listen to him now. Was David miserable after he committed the sin? Did he still have joy? When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture turned into the drought of summer. David says, "When I sat there and I looked around, I had a bone ache." My friend, have you ever been so sick that your bones ache? David's bones ache. He sat there. That man, he's God's man. Now, the king of Babylon and Pharaoh and Egypt can get by with that sin, but David is God's man. He can't get by with it. Oh, he can't get by with it. Oh, and his bones ache. And that night when he goes to bed afterwards, he rolls and calls his servant. He says, "Bring me aspirin tablet and couple tranquilizers. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. Oh, God's hand is on me and he's sat there and there's no fellowship and no joy as God's man. But he's got to deal with that sin. So God sent Nathan in the bravest man in the Bible. Daniel knew the mouths of the lions were closed when he went in there. He wasn't afraid. But David didn't know that Nathan knew. And Nathan opened his mouth. He came in and he didn't talk to his back either. He came in, he pointed his finger at David after he told him the little story. This red-headed king says, "Oh, it's easy to see fault in others, isn't it? Where's that man in my kingdom that did that, Nathan? Thou art the man." David could have done nothing more than lift the scepter that was in his hand and Nathan would have been taken out and given the Castro treatment. But Nathan was not executed. You know why? Because God's man sitting on that throne says, "Thank God it's out. I've got to deal with it. And David put it all out before the Lord and confessed it. Read Psalm 51. I think Mr. Dirks read that this morning. And now he says, "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven." Hallelujah. I'm back in fellowship with God. Oh my Christian friend, why don't you come home? Why don't you come home? Never be happy till you come home.
Now I must come to the New Testament and I want to be very brief, only one illustration. There's several classic illustrations here though. There's Peter. There's Paul. Both of them, the prodigal son. But may I take a church, a Corinthian church. Corinthian church was in a city like Los Angeles, given over to immorality and all kinds of funny religions. And these believers came out of all sorts of walks of life that had been saved. And believe me, the church got in a mess. When Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, there were divisions. Some were saying, "I'm for Paul." Some said, "I'm for Apollos." There were lawsuits. There was immorality. There were sins regarding the Lord's table. There were sins regarding giving. There were sins regarding marriage. And do you think God shut his eyes to all of that? Mm- God chastened them. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. God says, "I have already begun to chasten you because of the sin." But now God says, "If you want to take the whip off of your back, then you will have to deal with it yourself. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we're chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world." My Christian friend, to confess your sin means that you judge it yourself. Homolog is the word for confess. And it means to come over on God's side and look at yourself and say what God says of yourself that you're a dirty low-down sinner. And that you offer him no excuse whatsoever, but you say, "There it is, as black as it is, and I claim the blood of Christ. I want fellowship with you." And my friend, a child of God when they sin will do like David did. There will be an agony of soul and there will be tears of sorrow. And if they are not there, something's wrong. Now, what did the Corinthians do, friends? They they did something about it. Fact of the matter is they did everything about it. They straightened it out. They straightened out the immorality. They straightened out the divisions. They straightened out everything. And then Paul wrote them a second letter. And he says to them, "Now I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold, this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you. Yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge. In all things you've approved yourselves to be clear in the matter." Paul said to the church in Corinth, "When this was called to your attention, you dealt with this thing that was in your lives and you're sorry. When it was wrong, you made it right. And if there's not that agony of soul, it's not confession. If we confess our sins, repentance means to turn from the sin. You see, the prodigal always comes home. Always comes home because he's out of fellowship with his father and there's agony of soul. They're shedding of tears. Oh, that poor boy. How miserable he was. I'm going home. Augustine in his confessions opens up his heart. I want you to listen to just one or two excerpts. Listen to this man. For I stole that of which I had enough and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy what I stole. But joyed in the theft and sin itself. Now behold, let my heart tell thee what it sought there, that I should be gratuitously evil, having no temptation to ill, but to the ill itself. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own faults, not that for which I was faulty, but my fault itself. This man Augustine said, I love to sin. Then he says, I grasped the book, the Bible. I opened it and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell. Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. No further would I read, nor did I need. For instantly, as the sentence ended, by a light, as it were, of serenity infused into my heart, all the gloom of doubt vanished away. And this man who opened his heart before God, and he's opened it for us today. You want a psychological study, you read the confessions of Augustine. This man says, "I was utterly corrupt and I went in and laid it before God." And I says, "Lord, it's as black as you say it is." And the Holy Spirit of God no longer grieved brought life and light to this man. May I say to you this morning, no child of God can go on in sin. Shall we continue in sin? God forbid. I'm bold enough to say this morning that if you can sin and call yourself a Christian and it does not affect you in any way and you can go on living like that, you are not a child of God. You're not. You can't be the child of God. Oh, he can. Yes, he'll sin, but when he sins, go and confess it to the father. When I had the English Bible department here at the Bible Institute years ago, when we give an exam, it was the honor system and I used to bring my daughter with a little bitty thing there in the in that day and I would give an exam and there'll be some here this morning. Everywhere I go, I hear this. I'd say, "Here's your exam. I'm going to take my daughter down now at the bullets and ride the escalators. You're on your own." One of the professors said to me, "Don't you think you just sort of ought to watch them?" Well, I says, "It's honor system." Yes. But he said, "You ought to watch them." I said, "Look, if they're a child of God, the Holy Spirit's watching them. And if they're not, won't make any difference. Nobody can make anybody honest unless they're a child of God. And if they're a child of God, the Holy Spirit will deal with them." And you know, now for years, I got this letter. When I was here at Biola some four years ago, I took your course of synthesis. I stated on the exam that I had read each book so many times. It was with a great stretch of imagination that I wrote that for part of the assignment was read and part was only scanned. I write this because it's my great desire to have a keen sensitivity to sin and the sin of lying stands in the way. You see, the Holy Spirit was there that day watching him. Took four years. Then the Holy Spirit says, "Don't you think you better make that right? I've been grieved." He made it right. I have a letter from the mission field. A missionary. Oh, you say missionaries don't do this. Missionaries can sin just like us preachers and just like you can. This missionary said to me when I was in your class, I said I memorized the outlines. I did not memorize them. I had them written on my sleeve. And this missionary says, "I've been to a conference and God's convicted me of this sin and I have now memorized the outlines, every one of them, and it's been hard." But I memorized every one of them. Will you forgive me? I wrote back. I said, "You don't have to tell me anything. This is between you and the Lord all the time, wasn't it? You're a child of God, friend. You can't go on in sin.
May I conclude? I want to conclude where it did last Lord's day. You remember last Lord's day, we turn to Hosea and God says Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. But my friend, God didn't let him alone. He won't let you alone. God says, "How shall I give thee up Ephraim? I can't give you up." He says, Ephraim is an heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the corn, but I passed over upon her fair neck. God said, I judged her. I will make Ephraim to ride. Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. And then, my beloved, there came a day when it was said of Ephraim. Ephraim says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" You see, God's children will be chastened. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastneth. But the prodigal son is coming home. If you grieve the Holy Spirit of God by some sin and any sin will grieve him. John says, "Don't say you're having fellowship with him because you're lying." You're not. I didn't say that. I'm too polite to say that. John said it. He said, "You're lying." John says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. He'll forgive you. There's forgiveness with him." God wants to forgive, but he won't let you get by with him. He wants to forgive you, but you'll have to confess, and he'll cleanse you. You see, when that prodigal son got home, the father put a new robe on him, but the best robe. But wait a minute, he gave him a bath before because he smelt like the pig pen. He'll cleanse you. And when he cleanses you, you won't be running back to the pig pen. My friend, today grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Shall we pray again this morning? We want no display. I'm confident as I was last Sunday and the faith was borne out during the week. I'm thankful for those of you that sent in the letters you did. It encouraged my heart, too. I had several that told me, someone even called me at home and said, "I for the first time have found out what's been the matter. I've been trying to just dab up my life when I get in a tight place. And I've never really yielded to him to do his will." And I'm confident there's here today in those that have listened in Christians who've wondered why they've lost contact with God. No reality. And they honestly have to go into the world to seek the things of the world for amusement. They have to because the things of God mean nothing to them today. And the reason is they won't face up to the sin in their lives. Now, don't tell me this morning that you don't do this and you don't do that and you don't do the other thing. How about it really? Haven't you grieved the Holy Spirit of God? And if you'll deal with it, he'll bring reality into your life. May I move back of that? I'm wondering this morning briefly now in closing because I've only been speaking today to believers. But you may have come in here today, you're not a child of God, never trusted him. May I say to you, I hope that somehow or another, you've seen this morning when you become his child, he'll never let you go. You know, you can disobey, and I imagine many of you disobeyed your parents. My dad threatened to disown me one time, but he didn't. He punished, but he never threw me over, boy. I found my heavenly father's lots better than my earthly father. He never even threatened to throw me over. He said he wouldn't, but he told me not to grieve the Holy Spirit because he said if I did, I was going to the woodshed unless I dealt with it. I've been to the woodshed. I'm sure you have. Oh, this morning, friend, to have God as your father, it's a wonderful family. To as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God. Even to those that don't do any more or less than simply believe in his name, trusting.