Well, Scott gave a message last night on being filled with the Holy Spirit, and I actually want to begin today talking about a gigantic obstacle. I'm coming at it from the other way, a gigantic obstacle to being filled with the Holy Spirit. If God wants to fill his people with the Spirit, why wouldn't they be? Why would there need to be commands about being filled with the Spirit? It's because there are times in our lives where we erect obstacles to it.

So in order to speak about this, I'm going to take us to just two different verses from two different letters that Paul wrote to believers. One about grieving the Spirit, one about quenching the Spirit, and I'm going to try to quickly explain each of them and also speak of the relationship they have to each other. The first is Ephesians 4, verse 30. Paul simply says in Ephesians 4, 30, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is a person, Scott helpfully taught us that last night, not a force but a person who can be and is at times grieved.

What does that mean? My mind normally quickly goes to sorrow, being caused to sorrow, made to sorrow. And that's within the range of meaning for the word that's being translated. But I think there's a risk if you just think that the Spirit is made to sorrow that you then conclude, stop making God sad, and that's the sum total of what you get from this verse, and that's not the sum total of what we should get from this verse. There's much more here than stop making God sad.

God is king in heaven. God will be fine. Also within the range of meaning of translating the same word is to offend. So I think it's good to think of grieving the Holy Spirit as causing the Holy Spirit to sorrow when we have areas in our lives of stubbornness, of carelessness, of sin that we nurture, hide, cultivate. God does sorrow over that in his people, but it also offends him.

I think we want a full-orbed view of what it means to grieve the Spirit. You cause him to sorrow and he is offended at your stubbornness, at your persisting in sin, about the carelessness in which you are engaging the life that he gave you and The born-again life that he bought you with the blood of his son That is grieving the spirit in 1st Thessalonians 5 19 1st Thessalonians 5 19 Paul simply says, Do not quench the Spirit. So similar but not exactly the same. To quench is to suppress or stifle. Don't suppress the work of the Spirit in your life.

Don't stifle the Spirit's desire to help you, to strengthen you, to sustain you. Why would you suppress that or stifle that? That immediately should make you ask a question. What's the question? How in the world could I stifle the Almighty Spirit of God have you ever thought that who are you Can you make his hand too short?

Can you keep him from doing what he wants to do? When the Spirit indwells a believer, we're talking about real believers here, this is who Paul is writing to, when a believer is indwelt by the Spirit, helped by the Spirit, sustained by the Spirit, it is because the Spirit of God is willing and able to Give what is needed to help, to sustain, to fortify, to strengthen. The Spirit of God is always able. Not even my stubbornness... Able.

Not even my stubbornness has no impact on his ability to help me sustain me, strengthen me. But my carelessness over the life that he's bought with the blood of his son and my stubbornness in clinging to sin, cherishing sin, hiding sin, nurturing sin can make the Spirit of God unwilling to help me." Unwilling, always able, but made unwilling. For a believer, permanently unwilling, no, I don't think we believe that. We don't affirm that. But for a period of time, according to his own wisdom, he knows just when to withhold it and just when to restore it.

Though he's able, you make him unwilling to strengthen you and help you. And it's actually a mercy for him to suspend his sustaining, strengthening work in your life, because if he just kept on helping you in the same old way you'd cling to your sin and continue to nurture it and hide it and be careless over the life that he bought you with the blood of his son. But he wants the believer to feel it. To feel the lag. To feel the suspension of the work that you come to know and cherish.

And so he's able, but he's not willing, and he stops. I don't believe he ever completely stops. Where would you be if he ever completely stopped? But the point is he makes you feel lack as a gracious move to bring you out of carelessness and sin. So who am I speaking to today?

I bet you anything, I'm speaking to some people in this room who are feeling dry and are feeling distant and are feeling cold and it is because you have offended the Spirit of God and made him unwilling to help you. And I want to tell you what to do. You should apologize to the Spirit of God. The Bible term, the best term is repentance, to own your sin and to turn away from it, but sometimes it helps to put it in other words, words we would use outside of the religious context. One of those words might be to apologize.

You owe an apology. The precious Spirit of God has been given to indwell you and to help you, but you have offended him to the point that he is unwilling to help you, you owe him an apology. And honestly, if you want to be done being cold and feeling distant, then you should go and get alone with God, and you should own your carelessness, and own your stubbornness in your sin, And you may just find that the warmth returns, the joy returns, the nearness returns. May it be so. Oh God, I pray for anyone in the room and the description fits.

They feel cold and it hasn't occurred to them why it is that they have felt that you are at such a distance, but you're offended and I pray that you would help them to own their sin and to turn from it, that times of refreshing would return to them. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you.