(Matthew 12:31), “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.”
Most people think of sinning, as doing something against God the Father, or against Jesus the Son, or against another person. But most people, even Christians, never think about the fact they can sin against the Holy Spirit of God.
Most often, people think of the Holy Spirit as more of an “It” than a “Him.” But according to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is not only God, but He has a will, a personality, and can even be offended! According to the Scriptures there are at least five sins that can be committed against the Holy Spirit of God.
- The Holy Spirit can be Grieved what (Ephesians 4:30-32), “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
The word “grieve” means “to make sorrowful; to affect with sadness.” Grieving the Holy Spirit is a sin that is committed by believers when they have a spirit of unforgiveness toward others as taught in the above passage: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, and not forgiving others as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven them. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is also grieved when believers give themselves over to the works of the flesh; (Galatians 5:19-21a), ” Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like…”
- The Holy Spirit can be Quenched (I. Thessalonians5:19), “Quench not the Spirit.”
The word “quench” means “to extinguish, suppress, or stifle, which generally refers to “putting out a fire.” Throughout the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is depicted as a fire and as a fire the Holy Spirit burns within every believer unless that believer does something to put the fire out. There are two ways to put a fire out: either by smothering it by dousing it with water or covering it as with dirt; and the second is, by removing the fuel. Quenching the Holy Spirit is a sin believers commit against the Holy Spirit when they fail to deal with sin in their lives that smothers and extinguishes the fire of the Holy Spirit; or by failing to add the necessary fuel, such as prayer, fasting, and study and obedience the Word of God that leads to, apathy, indifference, insensitivity, and self-will.
- The Holy Spirit can be Lied To (Acts 5:1-10), “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.”
The early church in the book of Acts experienced the great hand of God upon them and as a result, the hearts of many of their converts had been touched to given generously and to freely share their blessings with one another.Many who owned lands or houses were selling them, and the church distributed the proceeds to those who were in need. Then one couple, Ananias and his wife Sapphira, decided to sell one of their possessions and seemingly to give all the proceeds to the apostles, but they kept back part of it for their own use. But God by His Spirit, made the apostle Peter aware of what they were doing and Peter asked, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” From this passage we learn that lying to the Holy Ghost is practicing deception by saying one doing and doing another with the motive to appear great in the eyes of man. Lying to the Holy Ghost is a sin believers’ commit against the Holy Spirit when they try to deceive, mislead, or practice hypocrisy in any way in order to make themselves appear spiritually great in the eyes of man.
- The Holy Spirit can be Blasphemed (Matthew 12:31-32), “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 a 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.”
The word “blaspheme” means “to speak hurtful of, or to ascribe the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the credit of the devil.” Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God is a sin that only unsaved people can commit that has determined in their mind that Jesus is not God; the Bible is not the Word of God; and there is no Power of God; and they attribute the work of God to the power of the devil.
- The Holy Spirit can be Resisted (Genesis 6:3), “ And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in this world is to draw men to Jesus for salvation. It is the Holy Spirit that Convicts the Heart of man that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. It is the Holy Spirit that Convinces the Heart of man that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. It is the Holy Spirit that Converts the Heart of man in Salvation. But when a person says no to God’s call for salvation they are guilty of committing the sin of resisting the Holy Spirit. And one day if a person says no long enough and if a person resist the Holy Spirit long enough, God will leave them alone and they will die and go to hell. There is an invisible line drawn by God and we do not know where that a man can cross and God will no longer act in mercy and grace, but in judgment. If you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I urge you to do so, because if you say no to God’s calling you to salvation and you resist the Holy Ghost, it may be that God will never speak to you again and your eternal destiny in hell will be sealed forever.
If you are saved, don’t sin against the Holy Spirit but yield you heart, mind, control, and life to Him.
Pastor Allen Jackson