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Classes are now in session. We are finishing our series on getting to know the Holy Spirit. We have talked about communion with the Holy Spirit, being led by the Holy Spirit, how to know the voice of the Spirit. We have talked about building ourselves up in our inner being. We have talked about the power of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit. We want to end today talking about the conviction of the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit uniquely can be grieved.
We touched on some of this earlier but I want to come back to it. I want to read to you from Isaiah 63. It says this, I mean there are so many beautiful passages in Isaiah. Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with his garments stained crimson? Who is this roving in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? It is I proclaiming victory, mighty to save.
Wear your garments red like those of one treading the winepress. I have trodden the winepress alone and the nations no one was with me. So God speaks of coming in vengeance. And he says in verse five, I looked but there was no one to help.
I was appalled that no one gave support. So my own arm achieved salvation for me. My own wrath sustained me. So he comes to bring judgment on those destroying his people and he intervenes and saves. And then beginning in verse seven, I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised according to all the Lord has done for us.
Yes, the many good things he has done for Israel according to his compassion and many kindnesses. He said, surely they are my people, children who will be true to me. And so he became their savior. Look at this. It is an incredible statement. In all their distress he too was distressed.
Wow! Sometimes you say, God, why aren't you doing something? And he is in pain with us. But why doesn't he just step in? God knows. God has his reasons. God has his ways. But in all Israel's distress he was distressed with them. That is extraordinary.
It is extraordinary. And the angel of his presence saved them. That is why we haven't been totally destroyed because of the merciful intervention of God. In his love and mercy he redeemed them.
He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet, they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is uniquely grieved.
Yes, God is grieved. God is one. Father, Son, Spirit, they are one.
It is not that there is independent operation in terms of there is no unity in the Godhead. But because the Holy Spirit is the one who interacts with us directly, the Holy Spirit can be grieved. And that is why Ephesians the fourth chapter Paul ends by saying this. He has been giving exhortations in terms of our Godly conduct. And he says this, verse 29, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. But only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen in. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
That is God stamped. That is God sealed on us, setting us apart. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. But only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. God dwells with us. The Father and Son dwell with us by means of the Spirit. We are indwelt by the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit. We have communion with the Holy Spirit.
All that we have been talking about these previous weeks. And therefore we can grieve Him. I can grieve people from a distance that do not know me. But I grieve Nancy much more because we are married together. We are one.
We have been best friends for over 50 years and married for over 48 years. We are one. And therefore I can grieve her in a unique way because of how close we are together. We are intimate with the Holy Spirit beyond even our understanding. And our wrong conduct grieves Him. Our wrong conduct wounds Him. When we attack each other with ruthless words, not walking in love, not speaking the truth in love, that grieves Him. When we are full of bitterness and rage, that grieves Him. When we give way to lustful, fleshly desires without repentance, that grieves Him.
Why? Because He is love. Because He is good. Because He is holy. Yes, when Isaiah sees the Lord in Isaiah 6, he hears the seraphim chanting, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, adonai, tzvot, lachal ha'aretz, kavodot, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of heavenly armies, filling the whole earth with His glory. So God in His very nature is kadosh. He is holy. Leviticus 19, quoted in 1 Peter 1, be holy as I the Lord your God I'm holy. And yet, and yet, even though Jesus is called the Holy One, even though He prays to His Father in John 17 as Holy Father, the One whose very name and title is holy is the Holy Spirit. So all of us fall short.
That's the reality. And that's why we're quick to repent. That's why we're quick to receive cleansing. My only boast is in the righteousness of Jesus. My only boast is in the goodness of the Lord. My only boast is what He has done for me. No boast in myself. None of us who know ourselves boast in ourselves. We only boast in Him and His righteousness and His truth and His reality and His beauty.
That is a fact. But the Holy Spirit is the One whose very name, whose very title, whose very description has holy in it. And therefore, when we give ourselves to unholy contact, you know, sometimes we only think of sexual immorality. Well, that's serious in God's sight. But what about attitudes of the heart that are sinful and ugly? Aside from that, what about attitudes of the lips, words that come out of our mouths? Not attitudes of lips, but words that come out of our mouths that are sinful? What about what about business practices?
What about other things? When we willfully give ourselves to that which is wrong, it grieves Him. It causes Him pain. And our greatest desire should be to bring joy to the Spirit. Our conduct can bring God joy and pleasure.
Isn't that remarkable? We can, metaphorically speaking, put a smile on his face or bring tears of grief to his eyes, metaphorically speaking. Remember, we and our fallen nature are a reflection of God in this perfect nature. And God feels deeply. God cares deeply. He loves deeply. And that's why He convicts us by His Spirit.
When we went to India the first time, and God willing, be 30 trips total for me, and days ahead just being able to go over and be with my friends there and serve the people of India. Sometimes there have been university lectures and things like that. When we went the first time in 1993, we went to a leper hospital.
And we met people there that you can't really treat them. They're just there. And they're missing toes. They're missing fingers. Part of their nose is missing. It was so, so sad to see.
I remember a woman that was on a street corner begging where we were in one of the cities in India. And she was missing part of her nose. And you could tell she used to be an attractive woman. They're features, but she was missing part of her nose. And she didn't have fingers on her hand. She had a stump. So she had a basket over the stump on her hand with a bucket where you could give her money. And even though the ministry is there saying, hey, we have ways of caring for the poor and the needy and the lepers and others. And we do that already.
And sometimes people on the street, it's just they work for organized crime. Everyone, you know, give her some money. Let's help her out. So what I'm going to say is very intense. We were at the leper hospital and talking to the director. And he said that the reason that they're missing like a toe or something like that in many cases is that the nerve dies, right? The nerve dies.
What I'm about to say is a little ugly. The nerve dies. And in the middle of the night, a rat starts biting their toe. And they don't even know it. They wake up in the morning.
They're missing a toe, but the nerve has died. And I know it's a very intense illustration, but it's always stuck with me. We want our spiritual nerves to stay sensitive. We want our spiritual nerves to stay sensitive.
We don't want to become indifferent to the conviction of the spirit. Again, Satan comes to condemn. Satan comes to condemn and lie and destroy and drag down. That's what Satan comes to do. Satan, things that you've repented of, things that were dealt with, things that are under the blood, Satan will say, remember this, remember this. God says, I don't remember it anymore. Satan tries to dredge that up.
Or Satan comes and says, that's it. It's over for you. There's no hope. That's it. God's done with you. That's it. You're just worthless.
Get out of here. That's what Satan does. The Holy Spirit lovingly can fix us. The Holy Spirit comes and says, you're off track. You ever been driving? Maybe it's late at night. You're a little tired. You're driving on the highway and you start to just drift a little and you suddenly wake up because you hit the gravel on the side.
It's like, oh, I'm off the road. That is the loving, a picture of the loving conviction of the Spirit. But sometimes the sword of the Spirit goes deep because we've been living in persistent sin or we haven't heeded his voice or he's trying to get our attention. It's then so crucial that we hear.
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If you're watching on YouTube and you don't subscribe, go ahead and subscribe to our Line of Fire YouTube channel and click the bell to be notified. All right, so talking about conviction of the Spirit. Before I was a believer, I was not just a sinner. I was a proud sinner. I was proud of my heavy drug use. I was proud of my cruelty to others. I was, I was proud of my negative reputation and I was proud that I could do more drugs in terms of higher doses than anybody in my high school. I earned the nicknames Iron Man, Iron Man, and Drug Bear, and I thought I was cool because of that. I even stole money a number of times from my dad, not even for myself, just to help some friends out.
$60, $80, he had a stash, you know, a few hundred dollars in the house. And, and ultimately, I knew that he knew, but I, well, I was still stealing and I was proud, I was proud of it. I lay in bed at night and I was proud, I was proud of my thievery. Well, I'm laying bedded high on drugs every day, doing one drug or another. I'm laying in bed high on drugs. And, and thinking about how cool I am, steal money from my father, even boast about it.
Yeah, I do this and all these drugs I do. I ripped off my best friends. I told them money was stolen, I actually stole it myself. And I didn't know it, but folks in this little church that I attended one time to try to pull my friends out because they got born again before I did. My two best friends, fellow band members in our rock band.
I played the drums, one played baseball and played guitar. And I didn't know it, but they were praying for me. And the Holy Spirit began to convict me. I didn't know what it was. All I know is I'm laying in the same bed, high on the same drugs, living the same life. One day earlier, I'm so proud of it, boasting in my own mind. Next day, oh, I'm an unclean, I'm filthy, I'm filthy, this is terrible, what kind of person are you?
I didn't know what it was, I didn't know what it was. And some of you I'm speaking to you and the Holy Spirit's speaking to you about something totally other. Don't hurt your heart. Today, if you hear his voice, don't hurt your heart. This could be the day that you get free. This could be the day that the Holy Spirit changes you. This could be the day where you get saved.
If he's dealing with you now, whatever it is, cry out to him. If you have to confess, if you have to make some right, whatever you have to do, do it. Do it now. Do it now.
And he'll bless you for it. If you can't do it this moment, make a determination. The first moment you have, you're going to do it and you'll be free. You'll be free.
So I didn't know that it was conviction. I thought, I'll change my regimen of drugs. I'll change my regimen of drugs.
I'll only do drugs that help me to fall asleep at night. But I can't get rid of the conviction. Then I found out it was the Holy Spirit convicting me of sin. And then I got wonderfully, beautifully, traumatically, a party can. Oh, what a beautiful story. Well, now I'm clean. The guilt is gone.
I'm living a new life. One day my dad says, Michael, did you steal that money from me back then? Oh, it's my dad. I love my dad. He's a wonderful man.
One of the kindest men I've ever known. My dad, I can't, I can't tell him the truth. It's too hard. It's too hard.
I'm a born again believer now, right? I have to tell the truth, but it's too hard. So I said, no, no, I didn't, dad. He goes, oh, okay.
I was just asking. So I said, yeah, I'm going to go up to my room. I couldn't take it.
I ran up to my room. I got on my knees. I was overcome with conviction. Oh, it was like a sword had pierced the depths of my soul. Oh, I say, oh, God, I am so sorry.
I'll tell him. I'm so sorry. And then the conviction left. I thought, oh, good. Oh, and then there's like the sword pierced me again. I've shared this before, but I want to share it again. I went downstairs.
He was still sitting at the kitchen table. I said, dad, I stole the money. You know, my loving father said, my Jewish dad, he said, Michael, the moment the money was missing, I knew you stole it. And I forgave you on the spot.
But what hurt me was that you had a need and you didn't come and tell me that's what hurt me. That was my earthly father. How much more forgiving is our heavenly father? When we truly repent, he won't beat us up.
When we truly come under conviction and say, Lord, I sinned. Forgive me. Wash me.
He won't beat you up. And listen, friends, sometimes we have to confess to people that we've hurt. I hurt my dad. I've heard people close to me over the years. Have you? And I've had to say, I'm so sorry.
I am so sorry. First, I've repented to God. Now I have to repent to you. If we sin against God, we repent to God. If we sin against people, we repent to God and to people. And whatever that circle is, if we've broken the law, then we have to go turn ourselves in, you know, whatever that circle is. What's amazing, though, is when you truly confess that the gut lifts as deep as the pain was. You're free.
You're clean. I know people that committed heinous crimes. I mean, literally murder, heinous crimes, cold-blooded murder, not even in the midst of a fight to accidentally hurt someone.
No, no, cold-blooded murder. And then afterwards, they got radically, dramatically saved in prison. And if you meet them now, you can't believe they ever murdered anyone.
And the people that knew in the past can't believe they really changed because it's that dramatic. And they're in prison. And yet they're free. Why? Because they're free on the inside.
They're free on the inside. So if the Holy Spirit's dealing with you, I've had his conviction so intense, I've got on my face wailing and sobbing. But then what comes out of it is a deep cleansing, a deep purging. And he really does forgive. And he really does cast our sins into the depths of the sea.
And he really does remember them no more. So I want to read these words to you about the character and nature of God. Because if the gospel is not about redemption, then it's not about anything.
If the gospel is not about redemption, it's not about anything. Psalm 103. I just love quoting it in Hebrew.
I hope it doesn't bother you. Bless the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. All my own inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your sins.
Not some. Who forgives all your sins. Who heals all your diseases. And this was David's testimony over the course of his life.
He didn't die of the things that would have killed him. Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. This is even written before the cross, friends.
Think of this. He will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed.
He remembers that we are just dust. And then I leave you with 1 John chapter 1 as we conclude our series on getting to know the Holy Spirit. If we walk in the light, verse 7, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the Messiah, the righteous one.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. If you have never received cleansing of your sin, cry out. Acknowledge, Lord, I have sinned. I am guilty in your sight. I deserve condemnation. But I believe Jesus died for my sins.
I believe he rose from the dead. Wash me clean. Wash away my sins. Give me a brand new start. Give me a new heart. And Lord, I am yours. I want to serve you. I want to live for you. As a believer, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you, yield to his conviction.
Make things right with God and man. And the blessing of God will be on you. May you grow in the communion and knowledge of the Holy Spirit.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, and click donate.
