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-54-
The God Who Is
Sins That May Be Committed Against The Holy Spirit
Sins of Believers
LYING
It is on account of the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person that He can be sinned against. In Acts chapter 5, note verse 3. "But Peter said, `Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?'" Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, pretended to be spiritual people. Their sin lay in the fact that their piety was a fraud. While they thought their lie only affected men, it was in fact a lie made to the people of God, and was therefore a lie made to the Holy Spirit of God. For this offence, God struck them dead. People can lie to the Holy Spirit.
GRIEVING
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). If believers are sealed until the day of redemption, it is impossible for them to lose their salvation. Nevertheless, we must beware lest we grieve the Holy Spirit by our attitude.
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (verses 31,32).
QUENCHING
In I Thessalonians chapter 5, see verse 19. "Quench not the Spirit." If the Holy Spirit enlightens us, then to the degree He is quenched, to that degree the light of our understanding is dimmed. To the degree that we quench the Holy Spirit who teaches us, and who opens our understanding, to that degree we may fall into error.
INSULTING
In Hebrews chapter 10, we read beginning at verse 23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
"He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Heb. 10:28-30).
Note, first, that it is abundantly clear from the context that the text speaks of believers, and not of unbelievers. It is again important to note that every epistle in the New Testament is addressed to believers.
Second, note that the context speaks of temporal judgment, and not of eternal judgment. People who believe the passage concerns the loss of salvation have a salvation not of grace, but of works. Paul said, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
"This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3). Christ is the author of eternal salvation. It is a salvation that ever lasts, or it is not an everlasting salvation.
"He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 10:22). It is not the people who make a momentary emotional response to psychological pressure who are converted. Time has a way of settling this business; and they only who continue in the things of God give evidence they are truly the sons of God. People who have "backslid" for years, and years, have never been saved. It is foolishness and heresy to brand people as Christians who have no affection for the Lord, and no interest in His people or in His work.
Third, See the necessity for public worship. We do not have an option whether or not we will attend church: it is our duty, and it affects not ourselves only but "one another." It is a matter of obedience. The Lord established the church "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12; see verses 13,14); and they who will not obey, open themselves to be led away by error.
Fourth, If the knowledge of Christ, of His humiliation and death is not sufficient to make us hate sin and live a godly life, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." There is nothing in all creation that can help us. To sin wilfully is to tread under our feet the Son of God, and to treat the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing. What an insult to God! Note here that it is possible to insult the Holy Spirit.