Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Grieving the Holy Spirit

Bryan Schneider · April 9, 2022

Ephesians 4:30

sharonrpc.org/sermons/grieving-the-holy-spirit

Summary

Christians spend their lives putting off the old self and putting on the new, while the Holy Spirit steadily conforms them to Jesus Christ.
The gospel begins with human inability: no sinner can boast before God, and Christ alone supplies righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Salvation and assurance rest in the triune God—Christ redeems, the Spirit seals for the day of redemption, and the Father keeps believers securely.
Security in Christ never makes sin harmless; God saved his people from darkness for holiness and good works rather than passive or presumptuous living.
Lying, sinful anger, theft, corrupt speech, bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander, malice, impurity, covetousness, and idolatry grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit.
These sins damage both fellowship with God and relationships with neighbors, tearing down the church the Spirit is building.
Believers pursue holiness from love and gratitude, desiring the Father's pleasure rather than trying to earn or preserve salvation by works.
The Spirit's seal points toward Christ's return and final redemption, giving both urgency for present sanctification and hope that God will complete his work.

Why should the lifelong struggle against the old self not cause a believer to despair?
Why is Christ, rather than the believer, the only ground for boasting before God?
How do Christ's work, the Spirit's seal, and the Father's keeping establish assurance?
Why does assurance of salvation never provide permission to continue comfortably in sin?
Which ordinary or respectable sins in Ephesians 4 most easily escape serious attention?
What does it mean for personal sin to have both vertical and horizontal effects?
How do destructive speech and anger oppose the Spirit's work of building the church?
What is the proper gospel motivation for pursuing holiness and good works?
How does the promised day of redemption shape present choices?
Where are you tempted to remain on spiritual autopilot rather than deliberately putting on holiness?

Grieving the Holy Spirit: Bringing divine displeasure through sins that contradict the Spirit's holy presence and church-building work.
Old self: The former pattern of corrupt desires, thinking, speech, and conduct that believers are commanded to put off.
New self: The renewed life created according to God in righteousness and holiness and expressed through Christlike conduct.
Imputed righteousness: Christ's perfect righteousness credited to believers, which supplies their acceptance before God.
Sanctification: The Spirit's lifelong work of renewing believers and enabling them increasingly to die to sin and live in holiness.
Sealing: The Spirit's mark of belonging and security that anticipates the completed redemption of believers.
Perseverance: God's preservation of true believers in grace through all their remaining conflict with sin.
Good works: Obedient fruits of living faith that express gratitude, edify neighbors, and glorify God without meriting salvation.