How Does A Christian Grieve the Holy Spirit?

Brethren, let's begin today by turning right to the Scriptures. Let's go to Exodus 23.

Exodus 23, starting here in verse 14. Exodus 23, verse 14. In the process, brethren, of revealing this plan of salvation to all of mankind, God established His holy days. He's established them around the harvest seasons in the Middle East. Just as people were harvesting their crops around these festival seasons, God's holy days show us He's now in the process of harvesting a spiritual crop. Crops for the kingdom of God. The holy days have tremendous meaning, each and every one of them, and they build upon one another. Together, they progressively reveal how God works with mankind. Of course, as you and I realize, as I made mention, beauty is one of those words we can use to summarize this day of Pentecost.

We can marvel at the beauty of God's plan of salvation. We can marvel at the technique that our loving God uses in educating and teaching us. We begin with Passover as that first step in God's plan. Passover teaching us how Christ's total sacrifice for our sins has made it possible so that we can be forgiven, we can be redeemed from death, and have eternal life.

You know, as I was thinking about and preparing the message for today, I was thinking about how each of the holy days, including Passover, a festival of God, how each of these picture, to some degree, the heart, the condition of the heart spiritually. David, in his great Psalm 53, I'm not going to turn there, but David realizing he had sinned a tremendous sin, and you're all aware of what we're talking about. As he was praying to God and as he wrote that Psalm, Psalm 51, one of the things he said about his heart, he asked God, he said, Create in me a clean heart.

Create in me a clean heart. And certainly, we were so happy at the Passover season when God allows us to understand that our hearts and our minds, that we can be cleansed, we can be forgiven because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then we have the days of unleavened bread. Days of unleavened bread teaching us that we must remove sin, we must avoid sin. Instead, we must obey the beautiful law of God, the law that he gave in the Old Testament on Pentecost. And here, we see where, as Passover, we see a heart that needs to be cleansed and is cleansed because of the sacrifice of Christ.

During the days of unleavened bread, we see a heart that is put on the right path. A heart that's put on the right path. I'm not going to turn there, but God said in Deuteronomy chapter 5 in verse 29, Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commands, all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever. Well, of course, God was speaking to a group of people who did not have God's Spirit in them, but had God's Spirit working with them many times. And certainly, as we think about what the Father is doing with us, we are so privileged here on Pentecost, where we have got God's Spirit not only among us, not only with us, but in us.

As Mr. Bradford made mention, this particular Holy Day has a number of names, the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Weeks, and the New Testament is called Pentecost, from Pentecostos, in the original meeting, 50th. Here we see the heart empowered, empowered by God's Spirit of power.

Pentecost has a bit of a personal reflection I have on the Day of Pentecost. I've mentioned in the past that my first ordination, back in the days when I was coming up in the worldwide Church of God, we had a number of what we called ranks in the ministry. We don't do that anymore or talk about that anymore, but back in the day, I was ordained as a local church elder on September 22, 1979, at the ripe old age of 27 years of age.

I was as green as green could be at 27. Ten years later, on Pentecost, on June 11, 1989, I was 37 years old, and I was ordained with the call back in those days a preaching elder. Back in those days when you were ordained as a preaching elder, that was basically what most of us who pastor churches were at that level. Within a matter of a couple of months, I left the area I had been working in in Raleigh, North Carolina, moved to Appalachia, and began pastoring my first church in 1989.

So it's a day of a bit of a remembrance for me in many ways, and I certainly appreciate all of God's holy days, but this one has a particular aspect to me that is very important to me.

I'm sure it is to you for the various reasons you might have. But let's take a look now. I would like you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4, as we're looking at Pentecost here.

Deuteronomy chapter 4, we want to read verses 5 through 9.

So, surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore, be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us? For whatever reason we may call upon Him, and what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all of us all which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life and teach them to your children and your grandchildren. You know, so many times, brethren, we think about the power of God's Holy Spirit that came in Acts chapter 2, and we're going to get to that in just a few moments. But I also want to make mention here that God at Mount Sinai, on Pentecost, as He gave His law, that also was a very powerful happening. God's law is a tremendous power.

Think of the situation. I'm not going to turn back there to Exodus chapter 19, but think about what happened on Sinai, on that Pentecost. God coming down with thunder and lightnings. A thick cloud, it said. Now, we've been watching the news. We've seen the volcano in Hawaii. We've seen that thick plume of cloud coming out of Kilauea.

That was just probably very minor something for us to think about as we think about what God was doing on Pentecost back in the Old Testament. But He came down to Mount Sinai in thunder and lightnings. Thick clouds, fire, quaking. He came in power. He came to give His law, which empowered the nation of Israel. It empowered them in a sense that it gave them divine guidance. It helped them to understand what real righteousness was, how people should be living their lives, the abundant life. Now, this was just physical. We understand that. But it was also a tremendous act of power on this day of Pentecost. I'd like to read you from the Bible Knowledge commentary talking about this section of Scripture. It says, In these verses another purpose of the law is revealed, to make Israel morally and spiritually unique among all the nations, and thereby draw other nations to the Lord. In contrast with all the other nations, Israel is not to be distinguished by her natural resources, her wealth or military might, but by her moral skill and close relationship to God, both of which could come only from her obeying her moral constitution. If Israel would obey the law, she would be the envy of the nations. They would see her as A, being wise and understanding, and B, having a love for God who is near her, and C, possessing righteous decrees and laws. What God did in the Old Testament was a matter of power by giving people his beautiful law. In that law, as we read in James 2.8, I'm not going to turn here, but if you want to put that in your notes, James, Christ's brother, Jerusalem, pastor, and apostle, said this, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well.

James is quoting from Leviticus 19.18. God's powerful law is a law of love. A law of love. So there we see the power of Pentecost in the Old Testament. Let us turn our attention now to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2.

Acts chapter 2 starting here in verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. One accord in one place. Who was they? Verse 5 says, And there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout men from every nation under heaven. Devout men. People who believed in the God of Israel, who believed in the power of that God of Israel, who were devout, who worshipped the great God. And they were with one accord, which shows us something about the mind of God and what He wants for His people. Verse 2, Acts 2.2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. God being the great teacher, He wants people to realize where this power is coming from. A sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind, a powerful wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Jesus was about to fill them. It filled the whole house. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. Fire. You know, when you take a look into the Scriptures, fire symbolizes God's presence and God's power, in many cases. You have the incident in the Old Testament about the burning bush.

You've got Israel being led by the pillar of fire. You've got the happenings at Mount Sinai, which I've just referred to, about God descending upon Mount Sinai in fire. You had the continuous fire on the altar. In Revelation, you see the glorified Christ whose eyes are as a flame of fire. So here we see what God is wanting to telegraph to the whole world. A mighty happening from heaven, filling these people who were devout. And they were filling them with His Holy Spirit. And notice, verse 4, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues.

I don't think the major point for the purpose of my sermon here is the thing about talking with tongues. But the thing that I want to reflect on here, have you reflect on, is that when they were filled with God's Holy Spirit, they were given a tool, a powerful tool, to do the work of God. Just as you and I, each and every one of us, have been given a powerful tool to do the work of God. Let's turn our attention to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

1 Corinthians chapter 2. I've read this a number of times in the recent past, but it's certainly apropos here. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9.

So, people without the benefit of God's Holy Spirit only have a certain level of understanding. They can be brilliant people. We've got a planet full of brilliant people.

Verse 10. But God has revealed them to us through his Holy Spirit.

You don't have to have a PhD to understand the deep things of God. You just have to have a converted heart and mind in God's Spirit in you. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Here we see a contrast. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Humans can understand human things, but it takes God's Spirit, the power of that Spirit, to understand spiritual things. Verse 12. Now we've received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that rushing mighty wind by analogy that we saw there in Acts chapter 2. That we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Freely given to us. We didn't have to go out and plunk down money. These have been freely given to us. Now, Christ paid a price, and frankly so have you and I, to be a part of this church, to be a part of God's church. Verse 13. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So here we see a whole different dimension that you and I are privileged to be a part of, to be into this spiritual dimension. Verse 14. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, because you have got God's Holy Spirit in you. You can make judgments. You've got the power of God's law to use as guidelines. And you combine, you know, you see the beauty of what God was doing. He gave his powerful law in the Old Testament to people who didn't have the Spirit. He wanted them to realize that of and by yourself as a human being, you're going to fall short. And they began to learn that lesson. But in the New Testament, God says, if you really want to obey that law properly, you must have the Holy Spirit. So, brethren, God's Holy Spirit is a spirit of power. But like any tool, any power tool, you better know what you're doing. I don't know how many of you like to chop firewood or, you know, use a buzzsaw, a chainsaw. If you've never done it before, you better watch what you're doing, because that thing can bounce off a limb or a trunk of a tree and come right back at you and do some real damage. Same thing is true with God's Holy Spirit. We better understand that there are some things we can do that abuse that power. And that's one of the things I want to talk about today. Let's take a look at Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30 Brethren, when we think about the power that God has given to us, the power of His law, His way of life, the way His mind thinks and works, the power of that Spirit to help us obey that law, we certainly don't want to do something that causes grief and grieves the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to turn there, but in your notes you might want to jot down 1 Thessalonians 5.19. Because if we continue to grieve and grieve and grieve that Holy Spirit, Paul writing to that little church in Thessalonica in Greece said that God's Holy Spirit can be quenched. And we certainly don't want to quench God's Holy Spirit.

So my theme today is basically a question. I'm going to ask a question and hopefully to a little degree answer that question. The theme, if you're taking notes, you want to put something across the top of your paper. How does a Christian grieve the Holy Spirit? How does a Christian grieve the Holy Spirit? A little bit of a qualifier on my sermon today. As I've told our fellows in Spokesman's Club before you begin putting together a body of a message and all the guts, the internal workings, you first have to have a theme. Where are we going? Where do I want to take the Chicago Church and visitors today with this sermon? Asking a question, how does a Christian grieve the Holy Spirit? I began writing various notes down. I had, I forget how many different points I had, a number of points I was going to give to you. I began working on point number one, and I kept on working on point number one, and kept on working on point number one, and became evident I would have to reduce the number of points by half, then reduce it maybe two points. Then I said, no, no, no, we're going to do one point. And the reason we're going to choose the one point is because, at least in my life, I know this is something that I need work on. I would dare say, as I give you this point in a few minutes, you do too. I'm betting you do as well. But before we get to that particular specific point, one, you know, as we're talking here about Pentecost, we want to make in God's Holy Spirit the law of God. There's some other ground I want to cover, again, as a bit of a background. Let's turn to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 2.

Brethren, God's Holy Spirit defines us as Christians.

God's Holy Spirit defines us as Christians. Therefore, we don't want to grieve that spirit. We don't want to quench that spirit that defines who we are in God's family. Romans chapter 2 and verse 29. But he is a Jew. Romans 2, 29. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God. Circumcision is of the heart. Remember, I said earlier that when you take a look at all of God's Holy Days, to my way of thinking, the heart is very much a very key element in each one of God's Holy Days. And certainly, we want circumcision of the heart. I'm not going to turn there, in your notes you might want to jot down Acts chapter 5 and verse 32, where it says that God gives his spirit to those who obey him. So we want to be obedient, not grieving the spirit, not quenching the spirit. And of course, I would be remiss if we didn't go over to Romans chapter 8, verse 9.

In essence, this is a great definition of what a Christian is. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. I'm doing a little bit of work up here as I spilled some water on myself.

Water representing the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, what can you say? Romans chapter 8, verse 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

What is a Christian? A Christian is one who has God's Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit of power. Now, having given all that as background, let's take a look at the one point I want to leave with you today. How does a Christian grieve the Holy Spirit? And again, there are many things I could say here, but we're just going to look at one thing. We grieve the Holy Spirit by unloving speech. We grieve the Holy Spirit by unloving speech.

Now, I know I've not been the best at that. How about you? Have you been perfect with that? Have every word come out of your mouth and golden? Every word coming out of your mouth and just, you know, people kind of stand in awe. And they think, wow, that person is just so very converted. I'm sure that to some degree, you know, people do admire you and so on and so forth, but I think we all have a bit of work to do with this. We can grieve God's Holy Spirit by unloving speech. That goes contrary to God's law of love that was given first in the Old Testament. It goes contrary to the workings of God's Holy Spirit. When you take a look at—and I'm not going to turn there—but take a look at Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. What is the first fruit of God's Holy Spirit?

Love. Love. I'd like to go back to Ephesians chapter 4. So if you turn back there, please.

I read verse 30 earlier. Verse 30 saying, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Strong—or, excuse me, vine's expository dictionary of biblical words defines grieve this way to cause pain, to distress, to cause sorrow, to make sorry. Is that something that we want to do to our Father? To cause pain, to distress, to cause sorrow, to make sorry? The Tyndall New Testament commentaries has a comment on that word, and they say, it causes a personal sorrow to God. Causes personal sorrow to God. Is that something that you or I want to do? Cause a personal sorrow to God? Let's take a look at the context of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. Let's go back up to verse 22.

Ephesians 4, 22. And that you put off concerning the former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. You know, when we pray in using the Matthew chapter 6 model, you know, our Father who is in heaven. I don't know about you, but when I look at those words, I think, wow, our Father, that my dad is the same as your dad, same as Moses' dad, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and the apostles, all those wonderful people in Hebrews chapter 11. And it talks about not taking God's name in vain. It's not just a matter of not using the name of God improperly. It's a matter that we call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves sons and daughters of God. And so it's up to us to do what it says here in verse 22, to put off the old man, put off the corruption, to live according to that powerful law that was given on Pentecost in the Old Testament. Verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. You know, you might want to put there your notes, Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. I'm not going to turn there. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, where our minds need to be transformed by the power of God's Holy Spirit. Verse 24, and as you put on a new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. And again, we keep on going back to you, take the law of God and the Spirit of God, you combine them, and we can do what it says here in verse 24. Verse 24 at 5, therefore putting away lying.

Notice the speeches being talked about here. Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor.

We'll talk more about this down the road in the sermon. Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor if we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Don't give place to the devil. Let him steal, stole, steal no longer, but let him labor working with his hands, which is good that he might have something to give to him who is in need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification that it might impart grace to the hearers? So notice a good part of the context here has to do with the way we use our speech. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. I've read that several times now. Verse 31, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you, even as God in Christ forgave you. Why is speech so important, brethren, when we're talking about grieving the Holy Spirit? Why is speech so important?

God answers that for us. Let's turn to Matthew 12.

Matthew 12.

Matthew 12, verse 34. Brute of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Brethren, our speech shows the real us. If our speech shows that we are warm, compassionate, encouraging, loving people, that shows us something. If our speech shows that we tend to hurt, discourage, say things that cause people to just kind of fall away, that shows us something about our heart as well. And that's something that each of us, each and every one of us, has got to to think about to analyze using God's Holy Spirit. Verse 35, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men speak, they will give account in a day of judgment. For by your words you'll be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. By our words we show where our heart is. By way of contrast, and I'm not going to spend much time on this, because I don't want the sermon to be negative along those lines. I just want to touch on this. Examples of unloving speech. Things that came to my mind, divisive speech, where you've got one brother or one sister saying things that go contrary to their other brother or sister. You know, Mr. Armstrong's favorite, one of his favorite scriptures, was Psalm 133, verse 1. I'm not going to turn there, but it says, how good and how pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. So, divisive speech is unloving speech, and it goes contrary to what God wants on the day of Pentecost in the rest of our lives. Hurtful speech, where we say things that rub salt into a wound, where we say things that maybe hit a person in a fragile area of their life. You've got to be very careful about that. Discouraging speech. You know, there have been times when people have said things to me, I'm betting I probably said things to others that have just ripped the heart out of me, and maybe ripped the heart out of you, and maybe we've done that to other people. I don't think we've meant to do that. Probably the people who've done it to us probably didn't mean to do it. But that's why we need to be so careful and use wisdom and to think before we speak. Faithless speech. I've seen, and I've probably been as guilty as anybody with this, and many times past, where sometimes we want to take more of a walking by sight kind of an approach, versus always remembering the power of our great God. Never forgetting, no matter how things look, that doesn't make any difference to God.

If we're not careful, we can, there could be brothers or sisters we're talking to who are faithful people, but maybe they're having some real difficulties in life, and instead of us bolstering their faith, instead of us helping to be a sail for them, we're more of an anchor. We've got to be very careful about that. So we don't want to grieve God's Holy Spirit for that kind of speech. But we want words that spring from God's Spirit of love, that tremendous power of God's Spirit of love. We want words that will give God glory and give benefit to the individual, to the hearer. Let's take a look at Proverbs chapter 10. Want to read three Proverbs to you. We want to go away from the negative and into the positive here with what God's Spirit can do with us. We want words spring from God's Spirit of love, words that bring healing. Proverbs chapter 10 verses 20 and 21. Proverbs 10 verses 20 and 21. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, valued greatly. The heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. So God's Spirit could be a spirit that God's Spirit is a spirit, that when we use it properly we feed hungry people. We feed hungry souls. We give them sustenance. Spiritually speaking, turn over a couple of chapters to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12.

Verse 18.

Proverbs 12 18. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health. The tongue of the wise promotes health. There we've got God's Holy Spirit working in us that promotes health, where people may not feel well emotionally or mentally. They may be down. They may be really blue. Bible talks about strengthening the the the the weak hands and the feeble knees. Same chapter, Proverbs 25 verse excuse me, Proverbs chapter 12 verse 25. Proverbs 12 25. Anxiety in the heart of the man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. A good word makes it glad. So words springing from God's Spirit of love. God's Spirit of power bring healing. We've seen in the Proverbs that God's Spirit can feed, promote health, make people glad. And that's what we want to be doing in not grieving God's Holy Spirit. Brother, we must allow God's Spirit of power to change us. Allow God's Spirit to change us, to change our hearts, and that in turn will change our speech, which will negate the grieving of God's Holy Spirit along those lines. Let's look at Colossians chapter 3. I'm using more scriptures than normal today, but that's all right. Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16. You know, how are we going to allow God's Holy Spirit to change us, to change our hearts? You've got a really big help here in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 16. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So as you and I let the words of Christ dwell in us richly, what comes out of our mouth we sing with grace. We talk with grace, and we don't grieve God's Holy Spirit. How do we do that? How can we do that? You know, this is not rocket science. God's ways are simple. God's ways are very basic. I have yet here since I, you know, beginning of June, Mary and I will have been in the area two years. I have yet to swing a golf club.

One of the gentlemen in this room made me a wonderful driver. I've yet to un-chief that thing and go out there and use it. He even gave me tokens to a local driving range. I mean, that cost me a cent. But, you know, I enjoy watching golf, and I've made this analogy in the past. I'll make it here again. You've got these golfers who make millions of dollars, and they will go to professionals to get correction so they can make more money if they're not playing well. What does a professional golfer do for another professional? The first thing they say, they say, okay, here's a golf ball on the ground. Walk up to it, and the golf is called addressing the ball. Where is that ball in relation to your two feet? Is it too far forward? Too far too close to your left foot or too close to your right foot? There's a place where that ball needs to be resting. And then when you get that proper, then the teaching pro will say, well, here's a golf club. Let's see how you hold on to it. Well, you're holding it the wrong way. It's a little too weak or it's a little too strong. Basic stuff. How you stand. How you hold. And if they do that properly, they'll make a lot of money. And you know something you may not know. You see, if you're, you know, you're going, those of you don't even care about golf, but you're going through the channels and you see a golf match and you see those caddies. You may not know this, but a number of those guys are multi-millionaires. Generally speaking, those men will make between one and two thousand dollar salary a week and between five and ten percent of the winnings of whatever the pro makes. Now, they've got to pay their own expenses. You know, if they've got to drive or fly or whatever they do. But in some cases, if you're paying for the better pros, you fly in his jet, doesn't cost you anything. You stay in a home that he rents, doesn't cost you anything. Listen, he wants to charge you. But most, many of those caddies are multi-millionaires. Most of them make six figures or a million dollars a year. Now, if they didn't play on the Sabbath, I'd be happy to tote. With my bad back and bad feet, arthritic feet, I'd be happy to carry one of those bags for that kind of money. So, what's all this got to do with letting the word of Christ belong to you richly? We're talking about basics. Prayer. Prayer is a basic staple of the Christian. How do we let the word of Christ dwell on us richly through prayer? Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20. By the way, on holy days we do have a two-hour church service. Just want to make you aware of that as I'm looking at my timepiece here. So, 3 30s are cut off time unless I become Gerald Waterhouse. And you'll go off to dinner and I'll be standing here talking to myself. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 20. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all. I mean, look at all those words lined up together. Exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. According to the power that works in us. According to God's Holy Spirit of power. Who is able to do exceedingly, which means to surpass, to go beyond any request, to overcome, do anything. Abundantly, to overflow and do more than enough. Above, to go over and beyond. All that we ask. And we can ask a great deal, can't we? What is the greatest answer or deliverance we can think of? God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can think. Now, we've got to live according to that law of love. We've got to, you know, do those things that are pleasing on God's sight. You know, 1 John 3 22. God will answer those prayers. Will he answer every prayer? Absolutely. Will he answer every prayer the way we want? Not necessarily. The Apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord three times for a health issue. Pleaded. Didn't just ask. He pleaded three times. God said, I hear your prayer. I'm going to answer your prayer. But the answer is no. Because I, you know, I can heal you. Tremendous miracle. You'll be happy. You'll be grateful. You'll talk about it. You'll write about it. But I want you to go through life having a look to me every day. Every day through your pain, through whatever it is you're going through, Paul, and realize that every step you take is you have to be empowered by me. And, you know, Paul's long dead. But for all of eternity, he will be glad that God answered the prayer that way. And, you know, I wish that I had good hearing in both ears. I wish I had good vision in both eyes. I wish I didn't have arthritis. And now it's getting to my hands. I'm ashamed to admit that at times I've asked my wife to open a pickle jar. I just can't hardly do it anymore. It's painful. My maternal grandfather had very bad rheumatoid arthritis. All of us have our issues. And yet, God is working with us because of those issues. And he's teaching us various things. Another basic way that we let the Word of God dwell on us richly through the power of God is our study. Our study. Let's turn to 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, 15.

Where it says, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Be diligent, it says. A worker, it says, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Want to give a little bit of a shout out to our sermonette guys. You know, we are so fortunate here in the Chicago church. We've got a number of excellent men who give sermons. We heard one yesterday. We heard a wonderful sermonette yesterday as well.

But I want to just concentrate a little bit on our sermonette fellows. So many of them will call either myself, they'll call Mr. Bradford, they'll call Mr. May, John May as elders. They'll say, well, I'm thinking of giving this message, and here it is. What do you think? And there are times I'll write back and say, hey, it looks good. Go for it. There are times I'll say, well, you know, maybe this other scripture would work a little better. You know, they'll say, oh, thanks. That really would work a little bit better.

But the point is, the point is our sermonette men very much want to make sure they get it right. They want to rightly divide the word of truth. And here in the Chicago church, we've got a legacy of that, of properly teaching the word of truth. And we, as individuals, as we listen to the messages, we want to be diligent, we want to be workers, we want to get into God's word. And, brethren, please do that. I sense at times, not just, I don't know so much about Chicago, I'm not totally aware of what all we do here.

But I know in other places I've pastored, people were becoming, they weren't so much turning into their Bibles, they were listening to a sermon, you know, going to work or from work, reading a study paper or something. And those are, those are fine, but that doesn't replace opening your Bible and being taught by God, by His Spirit, in the word of God.

Don't go through life just getting it secondhand. If you want to have a supplement, as you're driving to work or coming home from work, fine. You want to, you know, use a study paper, fine. But make sure you are into the Bible. Your Bible is open. You're allowing God to show you things. Some of the most exciting times in my life spiritually, I remember sitting at, you know, whatever location in the house I would be sitting at studying the word of God, and I saw something I never saw before.

Not new truth to the church, but it was new to me. God's Spirit working powerfully in my mind to show me, hey, an example. When I was 15, as God was beginning to work with me, one of the first booklets I got was United States and Britain in Prophecy. And, you know, God was working with me as a young kid to bring me into the church, and I read through that booklet, which is so fascinating, and I saw where it talked about how we should keep the Sabbath.

I'm going to do that. Now, remember, God's Spirit is not in me, and so I started keeping the Sabbath from Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset. Had the wrong day. Had the wrong day. And I was doing that for a while, and then I started rereading the book at another time, and it was right there in black and white. Saturday. I said, Randy, what are you doing? You're doing the wrong thing. And so I made the announcement to my folks.

You know, I'm not going to church anymore on Sunday. Now, that went over real well. It went over real well. Just like, you know, Christmases with these big Italian gatherings, you know, the aunts and uncles going to midnight mass and all that sort of thing, and then Mr. Randy de Alessandro, the 15-year-old, says, well, I'm not accepting presents in a group of 50 or 60 people. Those were fun days. But you know, it was interesting.

My maternal grandfather, the same one who had rheumatoid arthritis, was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute here in Chicago. And one day when I was a little tyke, I was rummaging through his closet. I probably was only six or seven years old and stumbled upon an old copy of U.S. and B.C. in prophecy. So, I don't know, maybe my grandfather, once upon a time, prayed that somebody in his family would come into the church. And it happened. It happened. Let's take a look at Acts 17 and verse 11.

Acts 17 and verse 11. We're talking about studying. Let the Word of God dwell on us richly as we study. We know the example here. The Bereans. The Bereans. Acts 17 and verse 11.

These are more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Notice two things here. They received the Word with readiness. They had a state of mind. They were allowing God's Spirit to work with their mind. They were receiving the Word with readiness. Much like Ezra, who prepared his heart to seek and to do the Law of God. They received the Word with readiness. And secondly, they searched the Scriptures daily. Daily. You add that to what we saw in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 15 about being diligent, being a worker, and rightly dividing the Word of truth. You see something really powerful there.

A third way that we love the Word of Christ wellness richly is meditation.

Meditation.

The Psalmist. I'm not going to turn there, but in Psalm 119 verse 97. Psalm 119 verse 97. I'll read it for you. Oh, how I love your Law. It is my meditation all the day.

Why is meditation so important? Again, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What are we feeding our heart? What are we feeding our heart? Mike Shpezak, a while back, gave a very fine series on Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Let's turn there. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8.

Now, as we read this verse, remember the principle out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Philippians 4. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. What are we feeding our heart? We're feeding things that are true and noble and just and pure and lovely and of good report and virtue and praiseworthy, using the power of the Bible, using the power of the law of God that was given on Pentecost, adding to that the power of God's Holy Spirit. And then we have really health-giving words that come out of our mouths. Health-giving words that come out of our mouths. We want that. We want that. So we must allow God's Holy Spirit to change us, to change our hearts, which changes our speech. Let's go to Colossians 4.

Colossians 4 and verse 6. Colossians 4 and verse 6.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Let your speech always be with grace. Might I suggest, brethren, four different tests of gracious speech? Four different tests of gracious speech. Letter A. Test of gracious speech. Letter A. Are you sure what you're about to say is true? Are you sure what you are about to say is true? Is it really seasoned with salt? Salt was used for purifying, preserving. Seasoned speech is truthful speech.

Before we make a statement, do everything you can to make sure that statement is true. We quoted this earlier. Want to quote it again? I'll just read it for you. Ephesians 4 and verse 15 where it says, but speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love. That's how we need to speak in love. Speak the truth in love. Letter B. In terms of tests of gracious speech, letter B is the information you're about to say complete. I appreciated a sermonette that one of my fellow pisons gave here not too long ago. A fellow by the name of Giorgio. I appreciated the fact he asked his wife, says, hey, you know, if we said, can you give me an example of something that's been said that was maybe not so complete? And his lovely wife said, oh, sure. So, notice what came out of her mouth. His example about doing the dishes and how he said he'd have done the dishes, but didn't do all the dishes. So I thought that was kind of interesting. Way to go, Allie. I appreciate that. It's easy to get half the story. What is said may be true. Mr. Zakela brought that out, but it may not be complete. Before we say something, we should make sure we've got the whole story. Proverbs 18, verse 13. And you know, gossip is one of those kinds of things where people will say things and they don't have the whole story. Have you or I been guilty of gossip? You and I can answer that question in our own heart and mind. Proverbs 18, verse 13. But he who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. He who answers a matter before he hears it, before he gets all the facts. What he the analogy has is not complete. It's folly and a shame.

Letter C, in terms of tests of gracious speech, is what you are about to say necessary. Is what you are about to say necessary.

May be true, may be complete, but is it necessary? Just because it's the truth doesn't make it necessary. There are times when silence truly is golden.

There's a principle in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23 we want to look at. 1 Corinthians 10, 23.

1 Corinthians 10, 23. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Not all things build up. In other words, not all things are necessary.

Lastly, in tests of gracious speech, letter D, is what you are about to say kind.

Is it kind? May be true, may be complete, may be necessary in some ways, but is it kind?

How are we phrasing what we're saying? I've known people who thought they were being bold in the faith as they chop somebody down at the ankles. You know, I'm being bold. I'm telling it the way it is. I'm calling it ace and ace. Yeah, and as you leave a, you know, broken bodies all around, you know, if we're not careful, we can be brutal. We can be harsh. We can be hurtful. We can be discouraging. We can tear the hearts out of people. And probably all of us have done all of that at one point or another. Is what you were about to say kind. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10.

Romans chapter 12 and verse 10.

Where it says, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. Be kindly affectionate with brotherly love. So our speech is speech that is kind.

Brethren, I've got an action list as we're coming down to the conclusion. I'm not going to take you too far over. I know you're hungry. Some are cold. Short action list, three things. Number one.

If you see or if I see that we have a problem with our speech, let us all look at our heart.

Is it possible that your words are tipping you off to the fact that you need to reevaluate, you or I need to reevaluate our relationship with God? How do people respond to us? How do people respond to what we say to them and the way we approach them?

Again, we may have the best of motives. We may want to be really helpful. But there are there's always a right way and a wrong way to approach every individual. What may work with person A may not work with person B and so forth. That was number one. Number two, ask God to make you or I more sensitive to those around us. Pray you or me.

Ask God to make you more sensitive to those around us. Pray that He would help you, help me, help all of us. See with His eyes. See with His eyes.

And number three, do a study of the book of Proverbs. If we think that we lack wisdom, we are so fortunate. Going back to what God, God didn't give the Israel, all of the Bible, Old Testament back in Sinai. But when we take a look at what God has given us through the power of Holy Spirit, we've got a whole section of the Bible that's called wisdom literature. Wisdom literature. And if we think we lack wisdom, and who doesn't, who wouldn't want more wisdom?

We can study the book of Proverbs. We can study as we go through, and people come to me, what do I do to gain more wisdom? Keep on every day. Read a little bit of the Proverbs every day. Make it, you know, don't ever stop a little bit every day the rest of your life. Just keep on going from beginning to end. Write down, study, analyze, meditate the verses that deal with conversation, the deal with speech. So, brethren, in conclusion, what is our takeaway today on the day of Pentecost? In the Old Testament, God gave Israel his law of love. In the New Testament, God gave his spirit so that man could properly obey that law of love. God's Holy Spirit defines us as Christians. We must not grieve the Holy Spirit. One of the ways we can grieve God's Holy Spirit is by unloving speech. And we've taken a look today at what we can do to use the power of God's Spirit by speaking with grace. Have a good evening, everybody.