How Can a Church Grieve The Holy Spirit?, 2

Introduction: The Grieved Spirit and the Garden Aviary Analogy

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, February 23, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I urge you to follow in your Bibles as I read in your hearing two portions of the Word of God, the portions with which this part of our study began several weeks ago, Isaiah chapter 63, verses 7 through 10, and then in the New Testament, Ephesians 4 and verse 30. Isaiah 63, beginning with verse 7.

0:44 I will make mention of the lovingkindness of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them, according to his word.

1:06 I will make mention of the lovingkindness of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on us,

1:36 and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on us,

2:13 and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on us,

2:48 and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on us, and this spot is about the size of a football field,

3:23 and it's filled with all kinds of rare and beautiful tropical flowers, different shrubs and small trees, and as we exit our buses and begin to make our way to this beautiful garden, the smell of all of those flowers is brought to our nostrils by a gentle tropical breeze, and we are almost stunned by the exquisiteness of the mingled odors of those rare flowers. And as we make our way closer to this garden, we notice that to a height of 50 feet,

4:06 it is entirely surrounded on all four sides by a fine wire mesh, and it is covered at a height of 50 feet. And as we draw closer, we see why. Because it is not only a beautiful, well-kept garden of unusually exotic flowers, but it is also a vast aviary containing some of the most rare birds to be found throughout all of that section of the world. And no sooner do our noses begin to get accustomed to this mingling of the beautiful odors of the flowers, but that our ears begin to hear, and experience,

4:48 there is the chirping, the warbling, and even, what we might say, a mellifluous screeching of some of those birds. And as we make our way up to the gate, we can hardly believe the sights that our eyes see of the vast spectrum of color splashed over the leaves and petals of the various flowers before us, and our ears can scarce believe the symphony, of sound that comes to them from these birds. And we are all loath to leave. We spend several hours making our way through the various footpaths, and our guides explain what the flowers are and the birds are.

5:33 And after we have done some other sightseeing over the next couple of days, there is a general consensus. We must return to that beautiful, garden aviary that we visited our first day. And so on that fourth day, we all get back in our buses and we make our way out to the same place and as we exit the buses there has been indelibly stamped upon our brains the memory of those smells picked up by the old factory nerds our brains have had an indelible impression of that symphony of sound made by

6:10 the various birds and something kicks in and we're waiting for that smell once again to make its way by our nostrils but no smell we say well maybe the breeze has changed direction and it's carrying it off the other way and we get a little closer and we hear no sounds and we say well maybe the breeze is stronger than it feels and it's carrying the sounds further away and now our pace quickens until we find ourselves right at the very gate of that garden aviary and there isn't a twitch in our nostrils of receiving any of the smells

6:49 that were so overpowering just a few days before and the place is as silent as a graveyard and we can't understand what's happened the flowers are still there the bushes the small trees and we see even perched in a tree here or there some of those rare birds but there is no song and we're baffled and we don't know what to make of this so we seek out the proprietor and we ask what happened and he said his best they can discern

7:23 who developed an unusually toxic material came in and sprayed that entire garden in aviary with that which immediately killed every living thing but so coated it with an invisible film that though it was dead it maintained all of the colors and the appearance of life but no fragrance and no sound beucase you must have had a rough elders meeting yesterday.

8:00 Your brain has been let loose to fantasize about strange things no my friends not at all the point of this little fantasy trip is just this. I'm trying to illustrate in a way that I hope will make it stick why it is that the spirit of God has said green not the Holy Spirit for it is the Spirit and the Spirit of

8:31 He alone who has planted us in the garden of God, who makes any one of us who by nature was a noxious stinking weed, He alone can make us begin to be fragrant with the odor and the savor of Christ. And those of us whose mouths were full of cursing and bitterness, and who had no song that was sweet to the ear of man, let alone to God, it is that God who has put a new song in our hearts, even praise to our God, and has made us chirp and warble with the songs of salvation.

9:12 This is what God does. He makes a beautiful garden, a beautiful aviary, but if the Spirit of God is green, we may maintain all the semblance of what was once fragrant and beautiful to eye and to ear and to nose, utterly, utterly removed if He does. When the Spirit is removed, when He is grieved and withdraws, He does not necessarily send a bomb upon the garden in the aviary.

9:55 The church building in which the garden gathers is still there.

10:01 And all the form and semblance of a beautiful exotic flower is still there, and of a chirping bird is still there. But the fragrance and the song is gone, because He has removed Himself. And therefore, as we continue our study in this eighth affirmation of the manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, namely, that we are determined to maintain the presence of an ungrieved,

10:33 holy spirit in every facet of our life and ministry, we are concerned with something that is crucial to our being the kind of garden and aviary that God desires in this wicked world. Now, having sought to answer the question, how is the Holy Spirit grieved in the life of the individual believer, we are now addressing a second and equally important question, how is the Holy Spirit grieved in the corporate life of a church? Thus far, two answers have been given to that question from the Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit Grieved: Refusing Scripture's Supremacy

11:16 Number one, the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where Jesus Christ is refused His rightful place of preeminence as the Savior, Lord, and life of that church. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where corporate life is refused His rightful place of preeminence as the Savior, Lord, and life of that church. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where corporate life is refused His rightful place of preeminence as the Savior, Lord, and life of that church. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where corporate life is refused His rightful place of preeminence as the Savior, Lord, and life of that church.

11:32 Secondly, the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where corporate holiness is not maintained by the prayerful, compassionate, and faithful exercise of corrective discipline. Now today, we're going to focus upon a third way in which the Holy Spirit can be grieved in the corporate life of a congregation. I said Wednesday night that it was my purpose to cover three things, but in my more definitive preparation, it became clear that I could only address one. And the issue is so weighty that this is not beating something thin at the edges.

12:12 It is this. The Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where the Scriptures are not given their rightful supremacy in regulating the doctrine, worship, ministry, and congregational life of that church. The Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where the Scriptures are not given their rightful supremacy in regulating the doctrine, the worship, the ministry, and the congregational life of that church.

12:54 Now if we are to understand why this is a sober fact, consider with me. Consider with me two things concerning the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Holy Scriptures. When we understand these two things, then I believe we will see why He is grieved in any church where the Scriptures are not given their rightful supremacy. Consider with me, first of all, His unique function as the divine author of Scripture, and then secondly, His unique function as the divine author of Scripture, and then thirdly, His unique designation as the Spirit of Truth.

The Holy Spirit as Divine Author of Scripture

13:34 First of all, then, His unique function as the divine author of the Scriptures. Most, if not all of us, are familiar with what Paul asserts in 2 Timothy 3.16 concerning the nature of Scripture. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

13:57 More literally rendered, all Scripture is God. God breathed. Scripture is the very out-breathing of the mind of God in characters that can be read. Scripture is God-breathed in its very nature.

14:20 However, that text does not tell us what person of the Godhead, if any, is uniquely active in giving us God-breathing. God breathed in scripturated, revelatory data, that is, our Bibles. However, in 2 Peter 1, to which I would now turn with you, we are told that one of the persons of the Godhead is particularly and uniquely active in giving us this deposit of God-breathed literature. 2 Peter 1.

15:05 And verse 21. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spake from God, being moved, literally being carried along, borne along by the Holy Spirit.

15:26 Now, just that you might feel the force of Peter's words, I take just a moment to give you the drift of the setting. He says in verse 16, that we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says when we apostles speak about the power and the presence of the Lord Jesus at His second coming, it's not because we've been duped, that someone has told us fables like my little fantasy fable in the introduction of the sermon today. He said, no.

16:04 When we spoke of these things, we spoke as those, the end of verse 16, who were the very eyewitnesses of His majesty. And he was not speaking of His majesty generically, but His majesty particularly manifested on the Mount of Transfiguration, verse 17. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when there was born such a voice to Him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom, I am well pleased. And this voice we ourselves heard born out of heaven when we were with Him in the holy mount.

16:47 There's a reference to the Mount of Transfiguration. So Peter says when we tell you that Jesus Christ will come in glory and power, we have not been told fables, but we actually beheld, as it were, a preview of that coming in power, and in glory. When there on the Mount of Transfiguration for a few moments there was an outshining of the inherent dignity and majesty and glory of the God-man that dazzled and baffled and smote to the earth these apostles who were with Him, the three, Peter, James, and John. And he says, therefore,

17:28 when we speak of the majesty and the glory and power revealed at His second coming, it's not because we've been spooked by some pharaohs, fables, oh no. He said we saw the very preview of that glory on the holy mount. What could be a more certain way of knowing something is going to come in the future than when you've seen with your own eyes a pledge of it? But Peter says we do have something more certain.

17:56 Verse 19, And we have the word of prophecy made more sure, what can be more sure than seeing a preview of the coming glory? He said we've got something more, where unto you do well that you take heed is unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is a private interpretation, for no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spake from God being born along by the Holy Spirit. The bottom line of what Peter is saying is this. No, we did not.

18:40 Follow fables. We saw an outbursting of his glory when we were with him in the holy mount. But we have even a more sure revelation of his coming glory. And that is the inscripturated prophecy.

18:55 That is God's own holy word in writing saying that he will come again in power and in great glory. And the reason why that is more sure than even the thing we saw, is that something might have struck my fevered brain and I might have had an apparition. But when I hold scripture, it's no apparition. It is the product of God the Holy Ghost taking holy men and so governing and controlling their thought processes that what they write are the very words of the living God.

19:39 Infallible! Inerrant! Certain and true! Joining that corpus of which Christ spoke when he said, though heaven and earth pass away, my word shall never pass away.

19:56 They become the permanent embodiment of the Holy Spirit's unique activity. Therefore, it doesn't surprise us in scripture that when a scripture, natural author speaks, it is said that the Holy Spirit by them. For example, Mark 12, verses 35 and 36. Mark chapter 12, verses 35 and 36.

20:29 Jesus answered and said as he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said, In the Holy Spirit. The Lord said unto my Lord, etc. Verse 37, David himself calleth him Lord.

20:51 Well, who gave us that passage of scripture? David or the Holy Spirit? Well, they both did. It is David's word.

21:00 But it is David speaking, and in this setting, writing in the Holy Spirit. In the realm of the unique control and superintendence of the Holy Spirit, so that what David wrote are the very words the Holy Spirit himself desired should be left as a permanent deposit of God-breathed scripture. Likewise, in Acts 1, in verse 16, just one other example, we could multiply these, but I want to give you just enough so that you become familiar with the language, and every time you see it,

21:43 you trigger, by law of association, what we've studied this morning. Acts 1, in verse 16, prior to the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as they are praying and praising God, the Spirit of God reminds them of some business that needs to be taken care of. Peter speaks and says, Brethren, it was needful, Acts 1, 16, that the scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spake before, by the mouth of David. The Holy Spirit spoke, but he spoke by the mouth of David.

22:20 Now listen carefully. Miss either of these things, and you'll miss the nature of scripture. The fact that David was involved does in no way neutralize it is the Spirit who spoke. The Spirit is God.

22:35 God cannot lie. God cannot err. God cannot make mistakes. So if God's, it is fully authoritative, infallible, inerrant, it is the Word of God.

22:49 God the Holy Spirit spoke, but he spoke by the mouth and also the pen of David. When David spoke, was he put into neutral, into ecstasy? There's no indication that he was. All of his rational faculties were involved.

23:10 Receiving impressions, his mind then triggered the motor part of the brain, it makes the tongue move and push against the teeth and the roof of the mouth and air comes up over the larynx. Or if he were writing, it was indeed truly a man speaking and therefore it will have David's style. It will reflect David's personality. It is David speaking.

23:37 It's David speaking in this passage. Not Isaiah. Not Hosea. Not Moses.

23:46 Not Moses. David speaking. And all that David is as David will be seen in what he spoke and wrote. David's writing will be smothered with David's fingerprints.

23:58 Not Moses. Not Isaiah's. Not Hosea's. But David's.

24:05 But you see the fact that does not in any way neutralize the reality that the Spirit spoke. You see that? And if we're to understand who it is that the Holy Spirit is grieved in any church where the Scriptures are not given their rightful supremacy and regulating the doctrine, worship, ministry and congregational life of that church, we must understand His unique function as the divine author of the Scriptures. I have found it helpful in my own devotional life

Two Great Incarnations Effected by the Holy Spirit

24:48 and in my life as a servant of God to think in terms of the Holy Spirit being the unique author of two great incarnations. To incarnate something means to put it into flesh. The Holy Spirit is uniquely the author of two great incarnations. He is the unique author of the incarnation of the living Word and He is the unique author and effector of the incarnation of the written Word.

25:22 You remember the incident in Luke chapter 1 when the angel visited the church with Mary and he announces that she is going to be the instrument in the hands of God through which Messiah will be brought into the world. Luke chapter 1, follow with me. Verse 30, Fear not, Mary, thou hast found grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb.

25:47 Mary will conceive. It is her womb. And she'll bring forth a son and she'll call His name Jesus. That's what's going to happen.

25:58 She'll conceive. She's going to conceive a son. She's going to carry it full term or at least sufficient to full term that it will be a healthy child. You'll bring forth a son and His name is announced.

26:10 Then the angel talks about His person, His office, His identity. He shall be great. He shall be called, designated Son of the Most High. The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David.

26:24 He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, of His kingdom there shall be no end. Problem. How can this be? I've had no sexual intimacy with a man.

26:35 Angel, you come from the presence of God. You know the facts of life as well as I do. If I'm to conceive in my womb, I must have that relationship which is God's divine means of producing. I'm a virgin.

26:54 I've not had sexual intimacy with a man. How can this be? The angel's answer is, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten of thee shall be called Son of God.

27:16 And you see what God does? He throws this beautiful blanket of mystery over the whole transaction and simply says, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And in the darkness, God will do His mysterious work. And by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, conception takes place in Mary's womb.

27:50 The modus operandi is veiled in the overshadowing of God. God does this amazing, this pivotal work of the mystery of godliness, how He constitutes the theanthropic person, the God-man, as much man as though He were no God, as much God as though He were no man. Two distinct natures join forever in the one glorious person and God shrouds it all in the darkness of the overshadowing and all He says is, the Holy Spirit effect. That's His great incarnation,

28:33 the incarnation of the living Word attributed peculiarly to the agency of the Holy Spirit. Mysteriously, instantaneously, secretly, but highly reversibly, our blessed Lord is constituted the God-man in the womb of the Virgin. But now the same Spirit has done another marvelous work of incarnation, not giving flesh and bones to something, but giving substance to something, the mind of God locked up in its own infinite glorious essence. Almighty God has enfleshed.

29:17 For the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2, Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him? Right now I'm going to think about something totally unrelated to this service. Anyone here want to take a look? Anyone here want to tell me what I was just thinking?

29:39 Anyone want to raise your hand and venture a guess? Why not? Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him? I know what I was thinking.

29:50 You know what I was thinking? There is no snow on the ground outside. You didn't know it. Why?

29:57 Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him? But once I took my thoughts and framed them into words. Now you all know that in the middle of a service Pastor Mark was thinking that there's no snow on the ground. But I was doing that not as a sinful distraction but to make the point.

30:14 The scripture goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 2 even so no man knoweth the things of God look at the text save the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit fully knows the mind of God. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 2 who among men knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the things of God none knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of God. The spirit who is God himself fully comprehends the mind of God but it would be locked up from us unless God incarnates it in a way that we can receive it.

30:57 And he has done that Paul says which things also we speak having received the spirit from God we now speak forth the mind of God notice now not in words the only symbols by which thought can be articulated words not in words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the spirit teacheth. Paul said we express the revealed mind of God in the very words God chooses for us to express it. That's God's second great incarnation. That didn't occur instantaneously suddenly

31:40 it stretched out over a period of 1500 years but when that process was complete the final words of the last bit of that unfolding of the mind of God in the words of God God himself says if any man adds to the words of this book God shall add the plagues contained in it if any shall take away his name shall be taken out of the book of life.

32:10 You see his second great incarnation it's the incarnation of his own mind in the written word. Now you say what in the world does all this have to do with grieving the spirit? I hope you begin to see if the Holy Spirit has gone to such pains to be the prime leading agent in the effecting of the first great incarnation the enfleshment of the living word Jesus Christ do you see why our point two weeks ago is valid? If Jesus Christ is in any way nudged or pushed from his rightful place in the church

32:54 as Savior Lord is fighting against the very ministry of him who came not only to effect his incarnation but now to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them and make them exceedingly precious and wherever the Holy Spirit is powerfully present and active and ungrieved there you will find Christ central with intelligent biblical faith with ever growing burning passionate holy love to him with confidence in him subjection to him dependence upon him

33:38 and likewise in a work that he effected over fifteen hundred years various times and places bringing together into that which we now hold as our Bibles the Old and the New Testaments he did all of this why? so that the people of God might have the full revelation of the mind of God essential for their life in this present age and the next direct revelation will come when we hear the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God and we see him face to face and in the interim period

34:22 God has given us all things necessary for faith and life within the pages of this blessed book and in all the life and ministry of the church when the Spirit is not grieved not only will the God-man in the glory of his person in the majesty of his office and the sufficiency of his work have his unrivaled place of preeminence but it's equally true when he is not grieved you will find the scriptures his second great incarnation given their rightful supremacy in regulating the doctrine worship, ministry and congregational life

The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth

35:07 of that church but I said we must not only understand something of his unique function as the divine author of scripture but secondly and more briefly his unique designation as the Spirit of Truth his unique designation as the Spirit of Truth very interesting he's called the Holy Spirit most frequently and when we come into the chapters that we're now going to look at briefly several texts in the upper room discourse where the Lord is telling his disciples what the new arrangement will be when we say the new economy it has nothing to do with money we mean God's new arrangement of things as he's working out his purposes in the earth

35:50 he's telling them what the new economy will be the new arrangement he goes back bodily to the right hand of the Father and he sends the Spirit the Spirit in that upper room discourse is designated most frequently as the Comforter the Paraclete the one called alongside to help but next to his designation as Paraclete you know what is the most frequently used designation not the Spirit of Love not the Spirit of Joy certainly not the Spirit of Gideon and certainly not the Spirit of mindless gibberish as proof that people have the Spirit he is called the Spirit of Truth

36:34 open your Bibles with me please to John chapter 14 verses 16 and 17 I'm asserting that to understand how the Spirit can be grieved when Scripture is dislodged from its rightful supremacy we must not only understand his unique function as the divine author of Scripture but his unique designation as the Spirit of Truth John chapter 14 verses 16 and 17 and I will pray the Father in this new arrangement this new economy he shall give you another Comforter another Helper another Advocate that he may be with you forever

37:19 even the Spirit of the Truth the article is there and there's no good reason for leaving it untranslated as best I've been able to track it down in my most trusted Greek commentators and references to the grammar even the Spirit of the Truth whom the world cannot receive for it beholds him not neither knows him ye know him for he abides with you and shall be in you I will pray the Father he will give you the Comforter and he is designated as the Spirit

37:58 we cannot conceive of his first activity in the new economy separate from the Truth John 15 verse 26 in the continuation of that upper room discourse having told them that in the new economy they will be hated some of them killed abused for his name's sake they will be treated as he was treated his consolation to them is verse 26 but when the Comforter the Advocate the Helper the Paraclete is come whom I will send unto you from the Father

38:42 even the Spirit which proceedeth from the Father he shall bear witness of me he is the Spirit of the Truth and then in John 16 verses 12 to 15 in that same upper room discourse it's all one piece of fabric he doesn't leave the room until John 17 goes out prays that prayer recorded John 16 verses 12 to 15 I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now how be it when he

39:26 the Spirit is come he shall guide you into all the Truth for he shall not speak from himself but what things soever he shall hear these shall he speak and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come here he is designated again as the Spirit of the Truth and he will have a twofold ministry he shall not only bring to remembrance what they have seen and heard in their contact with the Lord Jesus but a prophecy fulfilled uniquely in the book of the Revelation through John the Apostle though fulfilled through other Biblical writers

40:10 he shall show you the things that are you see his unique designation as the Spirit of the Truth if it teaches us nothing else teaches us this that if we would not grieve the Holy Spirit we had better be very sensitive to that which is called the Truth he is the Spirit of the Truth and where the Truth may be lightly or carelessly set by that which is most precious to him so precious that one of his unique designations

40:54 is the Spirit of the Truth and therefore it should not surprise us that in his ministry the executor of the will of Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father the Holy Spirit who comes to bring the internal application of the Salvation purchased by the Lord Jesus in every facet of that work of the Spirit what is the instrument constantly in his hands it's the Truth when he comes to arrest us in our wild self-destructive headlong plunge into Hell what is the Law by which he gets us and brings us into the Kingdom

41:39 it's the Truth James 1.18 of his own will by that's how he got us by the Word of Truth faith cometh of hearing and hearing by the Word of God Romans 10.17 the passage we had in the Sunday School Hour 1 Peter 1 having been begotten of dead not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God it shouldn't surprise us that not only is the Truth his instrument in the divine begetting it is called his sword Ephesians 6.17 the sword of the Spirit

42:21 what is the instrument by which he lays bare the hearts of men Hebrews 4.12 and 13 the Word of God is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword what is the instrument by which he gives us hope Romans 15.4 it is by the comfort and patience of the Scriptures that we have hope what is it that warns us moreover by them is thy servant warned what is it that comforts us wherefore brethren comfort one another with these words I say it reverently take the Truth out of the Spirit's hand and you leave him with no instruments

Application 1: Do Not Ignore or Reject Biblical Doctrine

42:58 it is God breathed Scripture that he uses because he is the Spirit of the Truth uniquely he is the Spirit of the Truth now do you see then why he is grieved if there is any replacement of the rightful supremacy of this book in regulating the doctrine the life the ministry the congregational experience of any church well I hope I have established the thesis now quickly I want to make some applications number one

43:40 if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit we must not as a church ignore or arrogantly reject any doctrine taught by the Scriptures if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit we must not willfully ignore or arrogantly reject any doctrine taught by the Scriptures if 2nd Timothy 3.16 is true and it is all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable

44:23 to make the man of God complete verse 17 then there is no doctrine that comes within the God breathed Scriptures that we have any right willfully to ignore or arrogantly to reject in the consecutive reading of the Word of God we must never come to a portion concerning which we say well if I take that seriously that may rattle my cage that may upset the status quo I will just willfully pass over it that's willful ignorance or we may look at it and say that seems to say this the more I look at it it's obvious it says that but I don't like that do you know what we're doing as I prayed Lord

45:07 how can I make this stand out in the stark ugly reality of what it really is suppose the Lord Jesus were to come down from the right hand of the Father and stand among us in his glorified presence and somehow insulate us from being consumed by the burning light of his countenance and he were beginning to speak and say some things and you sat there and said that offends me and you would have run up on the platform and clasped your throat over the mouth of Jesus what would the rest of us do here we'd wonder that such a person wouldn't drop dead

45:43 my friend that's exactly what you do when you come to any doctrine in scripture and say oh I don't like that you clasp your carnal arrogant hand over the mouth and then you expect the spirit to be present will you treat him that way and why is the Holy Spirit grieved in many a church well not only because they failed to implement corrective discipline to cast out evil people not only because Christ has been replaced by super personalities

46:28 but also and by games and fun and entertainment grieved in many a church that may not have undisciplined immoral people in it may not have a three ring circus but it has a group of I will willfully ignore many doctrines that are not popular and I will arrogantly reject any doctrine I can't understand oh dear people of God don't do that don't do that don't do that don't do that I exhort you I exhort you do not in any way subject the Holy Spirit's mind in scripture

47:12 to human pride that would set the limits of what you will believe for Isaiah 66 1 and 2 says this where's the house you're going to build for me God says that will secure my presence He said it doesn't exist everything is mine I made it you can't build a house big enough to hold me but he says to this man will I look even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word Isaiah 55 8 and 9 my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways as the heavens are high above the earth so are my thoughts above your thoughts

47:55 and my ways above your ways oh dear people may we never never in human pride willfully ignore anything in the scriptures that should be part of that which we call the doctrine we embrace and humbly confess to be God's truth you see you may go down to the Jersey Shore with your mug that you drink your coffee in and you may dip it into the surge and bring it out and say my mug is full of the Atlantic Ocean that would be true but oh what a fool you'd be to say my mug contains

48:39 the whole of the Atlantic Ocean there's all the difference in the world and when your coffee mug can contain the Atlantic Ocean then your brain can contain God's mind until then take the posture of a creature that's Paul's answer to human arrogance that won't receive a doctrine such as the doctrine of election read it in Romans 9 when the objector says wait a minute you mean God made a choice between this one and that one before they were born before there was anything perceived in their character and conduct that would make one more worthy than the other and yet he's going to judge them both

49:23 that's not fair you know what Paul's answer is well sit down and I'll reason it through with you and he says nay oh man nay oh reply against God man never put them this way never put them this way you and I are on our face you can't even suck the next lung full if he doesn't give you the breath for he giveth to all life and breath and all things oh may we never never never in this place grieve the Spirit

Application 2: Do Not Permit Unsanctioned Worship

50:06 by willful ignorance or arrogant rejection of any doctrine taught by the Scriptures second exhortation is this if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit we must never permit and approve in our corporate worship anything not sanctioned by the Scriptures if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit we must never permit and approve in our corporate worship anything not sanctioned by the Scriptures the only worship sought by the Father according to Jesus in John 4 23 and 24 is what kind of worship the Father seeks those to worship Him in Spirit

50:51 and in what truth they who worship Him must worship in Spirit and where is that truth it's in this book and to introduce anything into His worship for which we have no warrant in the truth is to insult God and to grieve the Holy Spirit we must resist the pressure to be regulated by human traditions or consensus of men this was the great problem with ancient Israel read about it in Deuteronomy 18 9 where God says you must not learn the way of the nations and frame your life and your worship

51:35 and your corporate experience by their ways Paul had to warn the Colossians in Colossians 2 8 against the traditions of men that would intrude in their concepts of God and salvation and therefore regulate their worship introducing intermediaries rather than the one mediator the Lord Jesus Christ dear people of God don't ever grow weary of God's manna you know what God's manna is His own institutions by which He has ordained to feed our souls that's what manna was to the wilderness generation was it not it was God's own uniquely fully balanced diet

52:19 sent down every morning six days a week in double portion on the sixth day so they could have enough for their Sabbath but you know what happened to those foolish people they got weary of the manna all it did was keep them alive had all the vitamins minerals trace minerals none of them were going crazy because they didn't have enough zinc and trace minerals none of them were malnourished but they got tired of it God's marvelous provision to need all of this for physical sustenance and they got weary of it that's what happens in churches like this all we've got is God's plain-jane institutions reading the Bible

53:02 praying singing praises and theologically truth-framed hymns not by somebody's twitch in their feelings but framed by the truth

53:23 reading the Bible this stinking old manna I want something fresh you know what God gave them He gave them flesh till it came out their nostrils and they do that to this place if you ever get weary of God's manna you'll grieve the Spirit and when He goes go back to my fantasy trip to the exotic island you just can't live long without flowers that don't smell and birds that don't chirp so people will start to create their own fragrances and make their own sounds but the Holy Ghost is gone

54:03 worshiped you get wiser than I am and I'll leave you in the arrogance of your ignorance dear people of God may it never be so because when a church has to gather with an absent God the human heart longs for something real man's a very religious creature and he'll make up his own substitute

Application 3: Maintain a Scripturally Saturated Ministry

54:48 third exhortation if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit and here I plead especially with you young men and women in your twenties early thirties so you can always tell how old someone is by who he calls young a few years ago I would have said you mature men and women but you kids in your twenties and thirties and you real kids in your teens listen to me now especially I'm dead serious now hear me carefully if we would maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit we must never receive approve or perpetuate in this place anything less

55:31 than a scripturally saturated ministry do you hear me we must never receive approve or perpetuate and what do I mean by that I mean a ministry every ministry every ministry any ministry every ministry has had a mission of salvation we must have an impact in it and that is by doing the task of saying I can't do to anyone

56:16 anything but to know what they can do and then and that is by being acceptable by becoming sufficient by doing the work that you have to do And from a breath horse, a nursing babe, you have known the sacraments which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

56:45 Not puppeteers entertaining you. Not little fiddle-faddle stories that make you giggle. It is the scriptures that will make our precious children wise to salvation. And I thank God for a Sunday school in which the scriptures saturate the curriculum.

57:07 And that's the way it ought to be. In the teaching of our youth, the same is true in the pulpit ministry. Any ministry in our outreach, it must be a ministry saturated with the word of God. For Paul says to Timothy, his son and the faith, as he's about to leave, his final charge, 2 Timothy 4, I charge thee in the sight of God in Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach.

57:40 And he says, Timothy, even when people don't want it, the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but they'll have a case of chronic itching ears. And then they will heap to themselves a bunch of teachers whose one mastery is how to tickle itching ears. Turn away their ears from the truth. Well, what's Timothy to do? Go with the flow?

58:05 People can't take solid preaching anymore. You can't get good in Bible from a so-called Reformed seminary. In their quarterly blurb to advertise what they're doing, they had the nerve to produce an article saying the day of consecutive expository preaching is over, man. Get with it. Face up with it. It's passe.

58:28 That's right.

58:31 You can't expect people in today's world to do that. The theme, the subject is dictated by the next verse. You've got to be relevant, man. The only way you're going to get a hearing is you've got to speak to the issues that people are already interested in.

58:44 Who says so? My Bible! The Bible says, I'm pure from all men. Because I've scratched people's ears where they itch in their carnal desires.

58:59 No, I've not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.

59:05 You dear young people, never, never, never, never receive or perpetuate in this place than a scripturally saturated ministry. And if God gives this place over to foolish leadership, where they're mesmerized by the influence of eloquence, not saturated, saturated with the Bible, and you've tried to get your voice heard and have something done and they won't hear, then go somewhere where you get a Bible-saturated ministry. Leave all your happy memories of this place behind. Your memories can't take you to heaven.

59:46 Only God, by His grace, through the ministry of the Word, can. And there are eloquent people who aren't saturated with the Scripture. And Romans 16, 17, and 18 says that they can beguile the hearts of the innocent. Some of the greatest harm has come to the Church of Christ through eloquent men who had enough of Christ and enough of the Bible not to be recognized for what they were.

60:11 They were bridges from orthodoxy to liberalism. They were bridges from Bible-saturated ministries to Christian ministries. But because they were eloquent, people didn't recognize them. I hope you young people, young men and women, are developing a spirit of discernment.

60:35 I don't care how eloquent a man may be. If he doesn't keep hooking you in, listen to this book, and convince your judgment with an open Bible on your lap. Don't talk! Don't perpetuate it, because the Holy Ghost won't stay long where His own second incarnation is replaced by human eloquence.

60:59 Beware of those with the captivating influence of a charismatic personality who are not saturated with the Word of God. I tell you, Norman Vincent Peale, if you've ever heard him, he's got a captivating, charismatic personality. If you can't sit and be gripped by Norman Vincent Peale, there's something wrong with you. There's just something about the man that's captivating.

61:21 That's why at age almost 90, if he's still around, he can still fill a hole wherever he goes. Oh, you dear people, listen, listen. Don't be duped by captivating personalities if they don't saturate the ministry with the Word. Don't be hooked by the fascinating influence of pop psychology promoted by a specious use of the Word of God.

61:47 Fascinating influence of pop psychology promoted by a specious and artificial use of the Word of God. The airwaves are full of such people. They have their followings by the million in which they've taken humanistic psychology and sprinkled it with the semblance of a verse here and there. They've done what Peter says.

62:11 They've twisted the Scriptures. You beware of it. You the people of God, along with the leadership, must be convinced that the Spirit will be believed, unless, unless we approve, receive, and perpetuate only a ministry that is scripturally saturated. Well, my time is gone.

Conclusion: Grieve Not the Holy Spirit

62:35 I had a fourth exhortation. I leave it. Go back to the garden aviary. I believe by His grace, God's made such a garden aviary in this place—we don't have all the sweet smell that I pray we will have as we have more of Christ.

62:55 We don't have all the iniquity we need to have. You have to be an aviary. We have more of Christ and more of His grace and more likeness to it. We don't chirp and warble and sing as beautifully as I believe we can.

63:06 But I believe this is a God-made garden aviary with real fragrance and with real songs.

63:21 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

63:25 Don't grieve Him by allowing the script to be taken from their place of rights.

63:37 In every facet of our doctrine, our worship, our ministry, and our congregational life. I close with these very brief words of a simple little poem that I found a few days ago and it's been haunting me. The only way I can get it out of my system is to read it. The fourth, second line has the word mean.

64:04 M-I-E-N. It's a synonym for appearance.

64:10 Keep that in mind as I close by reading this. Simple expression of what's on my heart. Sin is a monster of such awful mean that to be hated needs but to be seen. Sin is a monster.

64:30 The sin of grieving the Holy Spirit and all of its horrible results of such awful mean that to be hated needs but to be seen. But seen too oft, familiar with face. We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

64:55 You see? To truly see it, but to look at it long and not to hate and avoid it. We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

65:12 Grieve not, grieve not the Holy Spirit. Our Father, what can we say in your presence but have mercy upon us? When we think of those gods. The garden aviaries that you planted in days gone by.

65:42 The fragrance of which and the song of which went out to the ends of the earth that are now nothing but grown-over fields with thorns and nettles and not a living bird that finds any resting place in which to sing. Oh, God spare us such an end.

66:07 Right upon the heart, the corporate heart of this assembly. A determination. That your spirit will not be grieved away by replacing the rightful supremacy of your holy word in the totality of our life. Lord, where we are presently walking in a way contrary to scripture, show it to us.

66:31 Where there are doctrines put there for our good to believe and we are ignorant, teach us. Where we believe things we ought not, correct us. Oh, Lord, do anything to us. But take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

66:46 Seal your word and to your name be the praise and the honor through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.