HOW CHRISTIANS SIN AGAINST THE SPIRIT

Pastor Rick Jackson

There are two basic sins against the Holy Spirit involving Christians. By that I mean, there are many ways for a born-again believer to sin against the blessed Holy Spirit but they basically fall into two categories.

I. QUENCHING THE HOLY SPIRIT [I Thes. 5:19]

When we know we ought to do something, either by the Word of God or the leading of the Holy Spirit in another fashion and we don't do what we ought, it is a sin of omission. We are omitting something we should be doing. This quenches the Holy Spirit. When a lost person does this enough he sins against the Spirit, blasphemes the Spirit, and eventually God says, "My Spirit will not always strive with man." When a saved person does this it is another matter.

1. Quenching the Spirit limits God in our lives. [Ps. 78:41, John 7:37-39]

2. Quenching the Spirit limits us in God's service [Rm. 8:4-13]

3. Quenching the Spirit limits the fruits of the Spirit [Gal. 5:16-25]

II. GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT [Eph. 4:30]

When we know we should not do something by the Word of God or by the leading of the Holy Spirit and we do it anyway, it is a sin of commission. We are committing an act we should not be doing, we are sinning. This grieves the Holy Spirit.

1. Grieving the Holy Spirit leads to loss of joy [Ps. 51:12]

2. Grieving the Holy Spirit leads to loss of fellowship [Ps. 66:18]

3. Grieving the Holy Spirit leads to loss of usefulness [I Cor. 9:24-27]


Continual quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit will lead to chastening [Heb. 12:6] and eventually an early death [I Cor. 11:30-32]

III. THE SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THE TWO SINS

When you get right down to it, sins of commission and sins of omission are two sides of the same coin. Both displease God by grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit. The solutions are basically the same.

1. Confess the sin [I Jn. 1:9]

2. Forsake the sin [Proverbs 28:13]

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

3. Yield to the Holy Spirit [Rm. 6:11-19, 8:1-4, 26-27]