In Carl Provost's sermon 'Grieve Not the Holy Spirit,' he explores the command in Ephesians 4:30, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Holy Spirit's role within the Trinity and how believers can avoid grieving Him. The sermon draws parallels between parental grief in biblical narratives and the potential grief of the Holy Spirit when believers sin or turn away. Provost explains that grieving the Holy Spirit is tied to our relationship with God and involves actions contrary to His nature and will. He highlights that the Holy Spirit is a person, not just a force, who comforts, convicts, and guides believers, sealing them for redemption. The sermon also addresses the concept of God's immutability and how anthropomorphic language in the Bible helps us understand His unchanging nature. Furthermore, the sermon outlines the consequences of grieving the Holy Spirit, such as loss of joy, peace, and assurance, and concludes with a call for believers to live in obedience and faith, always mindful of the Spirit's presence and work in their lives.

Please take your copy of God's Word and turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Starting in verse 25. Starting in verse 25 wherefore put away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor For we are members one of another. Be ye angry and send not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Heavenly Father, we come before you recognizing, Father, that we are those who are sealed into the day of redemption.

And, Father, I pray that as we look at this text today that the Holy Spirit would illumine our hearts and teach us and show us how we might rightly walk according to the Spirit. We pray in your Son, Christ Jesus' name, amen. The text for the sermon today is Ephesians 430, not 230 as it says in the bulletin. That was my typo. So, grieve not the Holy Spirit.

That's a command. And I think it's a command that even if you read common tarot, you will realize that there's not a lot of agreement on exactly what that means. And so I think there needs to be a foundation laid. In fact, in many respects, if you look at the writings that are available today, you'll find lots of things on God the Father and lots of things on Christ, but you don't find as much on the Holy Spirit. And so in some respects, the Holy Spirit is neglected in some of our study and writing.

But as we understand the Trinity and we look at how it is that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. I want us to first think about this word grieve. We all know the story of the prodigal son. The story of this young man who was raised in his father's house, given great things, all the good things he needed. But he wasn't quite satisfied with that.

He wanted something different and so he asked for his inheritance. And he went off to a foreign land and he wasted his inheritance. And he found himself in a situation where he was feeding pigs and having to take of the slop that was given to the pigs to feed himself. And he remembered what things were like in his father's house. But as we think about that story, think of the perspective of the Father.

Think of the Father that raised this Son, raised Him in the Word, gave Him all that he needed to develop for godliness. And to see him take his inheritance off and to go out into the world and to waste his inheritance. Think of the grief that was on his heart, thinking that he had lost his son. And we are told that when he saw his son returning, he had compassion for his son in his heart, And he ran out to meet him and he came back and he told his servants to kill the fatted calf. And there was a celebration because his son was dead but now he's alive.

We also see other stories in the Bible but one in particular. We think about David and the troubles he had with some of his children. And the trouble he had with Absalom. Separated for three years because of he had killed his brother, because of what he had done to his sister. But yet word is sent and he is brought back into the city and he is given all the benefits of being the son of the king.

But he gained the hearts of the people and turned them away from David to himself. And he took over the city, and David had to flee the city for danger of his own life. And the grief there with the troubles and the death of a son and now his son taking his kingdom. And doing vile things just to bring more insult to injury to the concubines that were left behind. But yet, at his death, He says, Absalom, Absalom, he's grieving for the loss of his son.

And See, this idea of grief is tied to a relationship. We see things all the time in the news, bad things, and we see other people grieving. But oftentimes if we have no connection to the person, we don't have that same level of feeling. Yes, we can recognize this is a bad thing, and sometimes we can have compassion for the situation and the person or the family member, But yet we don't have that grief the way that Father shares the grief for His children when they turn away or they're led astray. And we also don't have that same level of love that's restored when a son comes back.

And if you know anybody who's had a prodigal child, you've seen the grief they've gone through, but you also, if there's ever been one that's returned, you've seen the great joy that's restored. That's speaking of the relationship that we have with our children. We're told in God's word that it said, if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? That's saying that as much as We know how to give good things to our children that the love of God is so much greater than even our capacity to love. And therefore, from the sense of grieving, there's this sense that there's a relationship in which we are commanded to not grieve the Holy Spirit.

Verse 30 says, In grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Well first I want to look at the person of the Holy Spirit so we can understand this relationship. Who is the Holy Spirit? See, if you read a lot of different writings, and sometimes people misrepresent the Holy Spirit, and they speak of The Holy Spirit almost like it's some power or force. But the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.

Our confession says, in the unity of the Godhead, there be three persons of one substance, power, and eternity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Of one substance but three distinct persons. And so what we see is just as we recognize Jesus and the personhood of Jesus is saying that the Spirit is a person. And In fact, He's spoken of like that throughout Scripture.

In 1 John 5-7 it says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So He is fully God. That's what we understand the Trinity as. God is one, but three, three persons. One is substance, power, and eternity.

It's said that the Son was eternally begotten and that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. And understanding that even within the Trinity, and this isn't a sermon on Trinity, so I won't go into a lot of detail, but there is an equity in there, and that the Son says He always does the will of the Father. And that the Spirit proceeds both from the Father and the Son. The Spirit has said that He never speaks of Himself. He's always pointing back to Christ.

Pointing us back to Christ and what has been accomplished. Pointing us back to the Eternal Father and the love that He has for us. What are some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit? We are told that Jesus said, I must depart and I will send a comforter. See, He sent as a comforter of God's elect.

We read in John chapter 14, it says, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter. And these were those who were grieving the loss of their Savior, their Friend. But he says, I will send a comforter in my place, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you." See we learn there that there's a comfort of being sent for our benefit And it's not for those who don't believe. In fact, they can't even see it.

They don't understand it. See, that's one thing that even distinguishes the ethics of the Bible from the world's ethics. In all the other systems of ethics, You might find places where it tells you not to lie and not to steal and to have edifying speech. But you won't find one with the command that says, grieve not the Holy Spirit. For there's something different because we have the Holy Spirit in us.

And we're commanded to grieve not the Holy Spirit. What we learn from this is it is impossible to live the Christian life without the Spirit. We are told that the Holy Spirit indwells us and enables us to keep His commandments. It's only through the Holy Spirit that we can stand before a holy God covered in the righteousness of Christ because it was His work to redeem us and to apply that redemption that was accomplished by Christ Jesus on the cross to our hearts. To take our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh, to quicken us and to give us that faith to believe.

We're told that the Holy Spirit convicts us. When we're in sin, the Holy Spirit brings conviction. You know, if you run with a group of guys that are doing things, maybe lying or stealing, that are not believers, you will find that oftentimes there's zero conviction. Even with the law of God being written upon the hearts of men, where they know right and wrong, you will find people to the point of being so callous that there's no conviction of theft, of lying, of murder. But the Holy Spirit convicts us.

The Holy Spirit, we're told, regenerates us. We're told that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we know not what to pray. That's teaching us that oftentimes we don't even know what our greatest needs are, but the Holy Spirit does and intercedes for us. We are told that He guides us. He gives us direction in the decisions that we make.

Now we understand that God ordains all things. We also understand that His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And that when we look at His Word, and it gives us direction in life, but we can make decisions knowing that the Holy Spirit is directing us. And as long as we're not making sinful decisions, and we're making decisions according to the principles of God's Word, we can trust and know that He is active in directing us. He speaks to us.

And oftentimes when you hear us talk about the Holy Spirit speaking to us, we're not talking about an audible voice, but we're talking about when we read His Word and when you know what you're supposed to do because of the Holy Spirit that's in us. We're told that He illumines the Word for us. He helps us to understand it. He even gives us direction in our service to God. We see that He kept the apostles from entering some cities.

He gave them direction of where they should go and where the churches should be established. He'd direct their paths. Oftentimes, even by situations, This seemed completely out of their control with people who had turned against them. But yet, it's being directed according to God's ordained plan. We also see that the personhood of the Holy Spirit in the language is used in the fact that we're told that He can be lied to.

We're told that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. And we know how that turned out. We're told that He can be resisted. We're told about those in God's Word who have tasted The goodness of God. They've tasted in some sense the Holy Spirit's work in their life, but yet they resisted Him and He departed from them to return no more.

We see this in Saul. The Holy Spirit was upon him, but the Holy Spirit departed. The Holy Spirit can work in the life of an unbeliever, but an unbeliever can resist the Holy Spirit. We're told that He can be blasphemed. In fact, we're given clear instruction about that in differentiating between blaspheming Christ or blaspheming the Holy Spirit, where it says, Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

And whosoever speaketh with word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." See, the understanding there is that one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit is one who has denied the Gospel. One who has been shown the goodness of the gospel, the goodness of the redeeming love of Christ Jesus who shed His blood, but yet, they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. They haven't had their hearts quickened. And see, The people that Paul is speaking to here in this text are those who are regenerate, that have the Holy Spirit indwelling them.

They cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And as we come more particularly to our text today, we see that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. So grieving the Holy Spirit, what exactly does that mean? We talk about the grief that comes upon a father when his son turns away. But what does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit?

I think in order to rightly understand this, because there's a lot of wrong information on this, to rightly understand this, We have to understand our doctrine of God. In fact, our Confession says, in Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, it says, But there is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible without body parts or passions, Immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own, immutable and most righteous will. For His own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty." There's another chapter behind that, but that's what our confession states. And of course our confession is just a compilation of what God's Word teaches. And it's a statement of faith that describes who we are as a Presbyterian denomination.

And it gives us theological perimeters in which we teach under. But we understand that this is what God's Word clearly teaches and so we have to reconcile these things. What does it mean that we can grieve the Holy Spirit, but yet we're told that he's without passions? And so what's being explained there is that God is immutable. God doesn't change.

And so God's not fickle like man. He doesn't have passions like man. He's not in a good mood one day and a bad mood the next. God is love. And our relationship with Him is based upon that love relationship because we are His children.

We've been made joint heirs with Christ Jesus, with Him being the firstborn. We are sons and daughters of God, and therefore we're in that loving relationship. And where we're at in that relationship is dependent upon us and our obedience. And so where the relationship changes between us and God is on our part, not on God's part. God is the same.

He's constant. We see this in many places in God's Word. We are also told that God repented. We see this in several places in God's Word. So what does this mean if we're saying that God is immutable and without passions, but yet He repented?

Let's look at a few verses so we can have a better understanding of what we're trying to reconcile here. In James 1.17, it says, That's James teaching that God is always the same. What we know about God, His character doesn't change. Malachi 3, 6, for I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Numbers 23.19, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent.

Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" See there we clearly see a verse where it says, God is not like man, that he should repent. But yet we have verses like Genesis 6, 6 where God said that he repented of making man because they were all evil. In Exodus 32, 14, where God said He's going to destroy Israel because they had already turned from Him, and Moses spoke to Him and it says He repented of destroying them, of doing this against them. And so, what's going on here?

What we understand is that God is infinite. God is above and beyond what we can think. But He's condescended to us. And He's given us His Word. And He's revealed Himself to us in a way that we can understand Him.

And some of this language is called anthropomorphic language. It means that He speaks to us in such a way that we understand the relationship. Calvin in speaking to this passage in Genesis 6 says, The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to Him, But has reference to our understanding of Him. For since we cannot comprehend Him as He is, it is necessary that for our sake He should, in certain sense, transform Himself. That repentance cannot take place in God, easily appears from the single consideration that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen.

The same reasoning and remark applies to what follows, that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad, but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose. Yet because it could not otherwise be known how great is God's hatred and distation of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates Himself to our capacity." And what Calvin is trying to help us to understand is that when you look at God's Word as a whole, and you understand that He is sovereign, and that He orchestrates everything that happens, yet at the same time we see where decisions change, he's speaking to us a way where we understand. I want to look at a couple of examples of this. And one that comes to mind is Nineveh.

See, Nineveh was told that they would be destroyed because of the wickedness in their city. And Nineveh repented and turned from their sin and turned to God. And in that we're told that God repented of destroying Nineveh. But actually from the perspective of God's sovereignty and the perspective that He knows all things, what we see there is it wasn't God changing in relation to Nineveh, but Nineveh changed in relation to God. God's standard didn't change.

It was the same. They repented and they turned to God, therefore they were not destroyed. And so when we understand what this language is teaching us, it's teaching us about our relationship to Him and that love relationship. And I think this anthropomorphic language is the best sense in which we need to understand what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit. See, this is all the more true because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

He's in us. He knows our thoughts, our innermost thoughts that wouldn't be revealed to anyone else. The Holy Spirit knows these. The thoughts that come to our mind that we never allow to come to our lips, He knows. He knows the wickedness that is still in us.

And so he can be grieved at a level at which many others around us never see, because there is a part of us that is against God. It's that flesh. Paul speaks about this in Romans 7. He talks about the things in which I know I am to do, I do not do, and the things that he shouldn't do, he does. And he's talking about the struggle with the flesh.

And he says, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? He's talking about that inner struggle, that war with his members. But yet, the only reason there's a war there is because the Holy Spirit is indwelling us. The unbeliever doesn't have this war. He lives in the flesh.

But yet, because we're not glorified yet, we're in a process of sanctification, There's a war in our members. And when we walk in the flesh, we are grieving the Holy Spirit. But when we walk, as He teaches in His Word in chapter 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Whenever we're walking in the flesh, we are grieving the Holy Spirit. We are walking against what we know is right, against what we know God's Word teaches.

But when we're walking in the Spirit, we are clearly walking in the direction of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3.16 says, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." See the Spirit gives us understanding and fills our heart with joy and assurance of salvation. So how do we grieve the Holy Spirit? For one, we know that everything that is unrighteous, lewdness, filthiness, lying, corrupt communication, or anything that stirs up filthiness and appetites of lust, grieve the Spirit of God." Now remember, as we talked about in these others, this is the church he's speaking to. These are regenerate believers.

He's had to tell them, put away lying, be angry and sin not, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole still no more. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, and grieve not the Holy Spirit." These are all commands given to people who have regenerate hearts. And it's pointing to the fact that you are still at war with your members, and that part of living the Christian life is to put off these things and to put on Christ. And this one is a little more different because it's not a...

It's a Put off grieving the Holy Spirit, meaning quit following the fleshly desires and follow the Spirit that is within you. We must not do what is contrary to His holy nature and will. If we do things that are contrary to the holy nature and will, we are grieving the Holy Spirit. We must not refuse the counsel of the Holy Spirit. We must recognize that the Holy Spirit is always giving us direction, speaking to us through His Word.

And We must not refuse the counsel of the Holy Spirit. We must recognize that the Holy Spirit is always giving us direction, speaking to us through His Word. And we must not refuse the counsel of the Holy Spirit. We must not rebel against His government of our lives, for those all grieve the Holy Spirit. See, we must view our relationship with the Holy Spirit as that relationship with love.

When Paul was asking for prayers for the apostles, for the brethren, he reminded them of the love that we should have for the Holy Spirit. See, we recognize that because we are regenerate, we are no longer under the law, but under grace. Our relationship is different, for we have been redeemed. Our sins have been atoned for. And so we don't just have this moral code where we have to do things in order to be righteous, because that's Pharisaicalism.

No man is righteous by his own works. But we are freed to walk by the Spirit because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because He paid the price. We have been redeemed. Past, present, and future sins have been atoned for. And there's freedom in that.

When we get our minds around that and we understand that, it's at that point in which we're freed from the slavery to sin and freed to serve Christ. We should see our sin as an offense against the love of Christ. Think about Christ, said He willingly went to the cross for our sins. Our sins put Him on the cross. And then we are told in Hebrews that one who turns away from the grace that has been given to us, turns away from this redeeming work, and turns back to the things of the world, is to trample the blood of Christ under His feet.

It's to have no regard for what love has accomplished for us. See, we have to recognize that our relationship with the Holy Spirit is of such a personal nature that it grieves the Spirit within us when we sin. We have to get our mind around that and understand that He's always there. It's not like He's just there sometimes or we can put Him aside at times. He will never forsake us.

He's always there. So what are the results of grieving the Holy Spirit? See, there's a loss of the sense of God's love for us. If you find a believer who's been living in sin and grieving the Holy Spirit, He will start to question God's love for him. There's a loss of joy.

When someone is a believer and they turn back to the world, even when they're doing the things that the world says give you joy, give you happiness, There is no joy. There's a loss of assurance of salvation. You find somebody who's living in sin, a Christian who's living in sin, and they no longer can tell you that they're assured that they're saved. They question their salvation. They start to question whether they're a reprobate.

There's a loss of peace. They start to question whether they are that apostate, that one who has departed the faith. And there's a fear of the wrath of God that comes upon them. See, this is necessary. This in itself is a work of the Holy Spirit.

It's not that He has departed and left you, it's that He has pulled back. And you no longer experience the benefits in order to chastise you and in order to bring you back into the loving arms of the Father. Just as the Father allowed His Son to go off, He knew it was a bad decision. He knew what it was leading to. But yet, the conditions of the world turned him back to the loving arms of his father.

This is all to bring us back to a right relationship. See, we see the results of this in David's life. Of this in David's life in Psalm 51. Now this psalm, I'm sure everybody knows here, was a psalm that David wrote after Nathan had came to him and confronted him with his sin. Confronted him with his sin.

The sin that he had been acting as if hadn't happened for three years. And Nathan had to come up with a way to bring it to the king that would prick his heart. Because he knew that even though he was calloused because of the sin, that there was still a heart of flesh in there. And he came up with this story about a man who had taken another man's lamb. And once he had incited David's anger towards this person, He said, You're the man.

And David, we're told that David repented of his sin. And this is the psalm that we get. And listen to this, it says, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil.

In thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest." See, he's speaking of that grieving of the Holy Spirit here when he says, "'Against thee and thee only have I sinned.' Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did not my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou dost make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice, recognizing the chastisement of God for the purpose of bringing Him back into a right relationship, that the bones which thou hast broken, that God has broken, may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sin and blot out all my iniquities." Now listen to this. "...Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." See, he recognized that that relationship with that indwelling Spirit needed to be restored. He needed to be in right relationship with the holiness of God in order to be in that loving relationship and to not be grieving the Holy Spirit. Restore unto Me the joy of Thy salvation. He's acknowledging here that He's lost the joy because of the sin, and He's asking that it be restored.

And uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from the bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." See, we see in that, we get a sort of this picture where David pours out his heart to God in repentance, and that's used to teach us how we are to pour out our hearts to God, to just turn over, repent and turn our sin over to Him and ask for that joy to be restored. For it is the work of the Holy Spirit. See, even though our grieving can cause the Spirit to withdraw from us, we're told that He never leaves us, for we are sealed until the day of redemption.

Look again at verse 30, it says, "'And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.'" So the sealing of the Holy Spirit, what does it mean to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? See, we're told that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. In fact, in chapter 1 of Ephesians, verse 13 and 14, I want to read both of them, it said, In whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom after that you believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." So basically after you trusted in Christ and believed in Christ, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory." So it says there that the Holy Spirit that we're sealed with is an earnest or down payment. It's a guarantee of our inheritance. So The Holy Spirit is there to guarantee that we will receive this inheritance that we've been promised.

And it's to keep us until the redemption of the purchased possession. So it's recognizing that if you're here today and you trust in Christ Jesus and you've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, you don't belong to yourself. You have been purchased with a price. You belong to Christ Jesus. You are not your own.

Until the praise of His glory. And so we see even from the beginning of this letter that there's this concept of the sealing of the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. And so He wants them to understand. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, for that's not who you are. You're no longer in the flesh.

That's the old man. Live with your new nature. You have been given the Holy Spirit to live a life set apart, a life of righteousness, which can only be accomplished through walking in the Spirit. And it's said that we are to be sealed into the day of redemption. See, each of us here today that professes Christ has been purchased with the blood of Jesus.

And we're in a process of sanctification. And one day, we will be glorified. We will be in a twinkling of an eye, made like He is. No longer an inner war of the flesh, but a glorified body. With no longer having temptations to sin, but completely freed to live righteously and to worship God for eternity.

So then what are we to do? How do we do this? I mean, a transaction takes place. Some of them it's a little easier to talk about putting off one thing and putting something on. But when you're talking about what's going on on the inside, It's about our faith.

It's about our understanding of what was accomplished for us. See, one, I want us to remember that the Spirit is always there. He's always present. He knows everything we say, everything we do. There are no secrets that we have.

And we need to live in such a way that we know that He's always there. And we need to remember what the Spirit has done for us by redeeming you. See, He took The redeeming work of Christ and He applied it to us. We have been redeemed. It was the work of the Holy Spirit.

And remember that we no longer belong to ourselves. That we should be those who are servants of Christ Jesus. And however we live our lives, every decision we make should be made as one who's been bought with a price. We need to live as one who no longer belongs to themselves, but one who has been redeemed. And we need to live as one who has been freed from the slavery of sin.

We need to recognize that we are no longer a slave to sin. We are no longer a slave to the flesh. And that our sins have been atoned for and sealed. That we have been sealed into the day of redemption. And so it's this understanding that even if tomorrow I give into the flesh, There's a freedom in knowing that there's grace and that we live a life of those who constantly repent.

We're constantly turning back. We're told to keep our eyes fixed upon Christ and Jesus, not looking to the right or left to the sins that so easily ensnare us. We recognize that there is a weakness in us, but yet that the strength that is in us is Christ Jesus. And that we have to keep our eyes fixed upon Him, or we do easily give in. But yet, there's a freedom and understanding in our faith that there is no condemnation.

See, your faith changes the way you live. Your faith changes the decisions you make. Your faith changes the words that come out of your mouth, as we talked about last week. The out of the heart proceeds out of the mouth. And when we are walking in the Spirit, we will find that we are not those who are lying, who are stealing, who are angry, who have corrupt words.

It's a transformed life. It's a life that's clearly viewed by the fruit of the Spirit. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you and we thank you that you've given us this word and that you have taught us that we are truly those who are filled with the Spirit, who have been redeemed and sealed into the coming of our redemption, knowing that one day we will, with our minds looking towards eternity, spend eternity in heaven with our Savior. I pray in Christ Jesus name.

Amen.