Abandon the Flesh

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

The word grieve means to distress. To do something that would cause God the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit anguish would be detrimental to salvation. The Holy Spirit is God. He enters into our body at the time we commit to Jesus. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of God? And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1Corinthians 6:19-20)

 When we believe, repent and receive Jesus as our Lord, immediately the Holy Spirit enters into us and we are sealed. We don’t see that seal, but in the spirit realm, all the invisible world sees the “stamp” that means “Do not touch. This belongs to God.” It stops the work of the devil against us. Christians should not fear the devil. As children of God, we have power over the works of the devil. Jesus told His disciples when He sent them out, “Behold, I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the authority of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19) Some may say, but that authority was given to His disciples. Are we not “followers” (disciples) of Jesus? And are we not sent to be salt and light to the world? If we submit to God, the enemy will flee from us. He cannot stand against God. “Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The seal of the Holy Spirit brands us as belonging to God and stops the enemy against us. There is so much more we could explore about how he deceives the children of God so that we fear, falter and sin. But we want to stay on the topic of our study.

The work of the Holy Spirit is the continuing work of Jesus in our lives here on earth. Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18) Notice two big things in this Scripture Jesus said, “another” Comforter... and “ I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.” By using the word “another,” Jesus is saying another one just like Me.

In John 14 Jesus say He is leaving. If He is leaving, why does He then say will “I will come to you?” We need to notice these little contradictions because they reveal something that we gloss over and don’t notice. He was leaving the disciples, going back to the Father after the Resurrection. Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure. But He then adds, “I will come to you.” The presence of the Holy Spirit in us and His union with us is the same connection that Jesus had with the disciples. But at the time, unbeknown to the disciples because they had no idea that Jesus was always speaking to them in spiritual terms, Jesus was revealing a beautiful Truth. With the Holy Spirit in us, Jesus is with us. In fact the whole Godhead is with us. This is because the Godhead, the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are One, always in contact, always communicating, always agreeing and always working together. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works themselves.” (John 14:11) This is a God thing and something we cannot understand. But it’s Truth. “Jesus said to him, Have I been with you such a long time and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And how do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works.” (John 14:9-10)

He is the “parakletos” which is translated “advocate, helper, comforter.” He teaches us and reminds us of what Jesus taught. He is doing for us what Jesus did for His disciples. He is training us and working in us in preparation for our home in eternity. He is sanctifying us as we repent of our flesh weaknesses that He reveals. And how does that happen? When we get in the flesh, the Holy Spirit reveals it as sin. We can wallow in it and say things like, “That’s just the way I am.” But if we truly love the Lord, we will loathe the sin in our flesh and repent. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) We must remember that all of our sins past, present and future have been forgiven. And we have been cleansed of all sin and guilt of sin by the Blood of the Lamb. But this sin is different. Yes it’s been forgiven. But it has just now been revealed to us. We must repent (leave it, abandon it) and confess it so that the Holy Spirit can work in us and sanctify us. And just as we think we’ve gotten rid of it, another sin is revealed. And this will happen until we see Jesus face to face. Each time we repent and confess a sin, we are being changed into the image of Jesus. “ But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:18)

The work of the Holy Spirit in us is so holy that any although every sin is forgiven, sin against the Holy Spirit is not forgiven. “Therefore I say to you, All kinds of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this world or in the world to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)

To close we see that the Holy Spirit in us is very important in being changed into the image of Christ. It’s hard to understand the Truth of how the Father and Jesus are with us through the Holy Spirit. The Oneness of the Godhead is too spiritual a Truth for us to understand while we are here in this world. The work of the Holy Spirit in us is so holy that to speak a word against the Holy Spirit is a sin that will not be forgiven.

Let us pray:

Father God, Your Truths are too wonderful for me to understand, but I believe every Truth because I know how magnificent and how Good You are to me. Your blessings and comfort through the Holy Spirit, undeserved, are so glorious, I cannot describe in words of this world to say how grateful I am of Your gracious Love for me. To think that I grieve the Holy Spirit when I disobey, when I choose the flesh instead of the spirit, when I give in to selfishness and laziness, when I choose to whine instead of facing the difficulties of this world with the fierceness of a good soldier of Christ, I see how much work needs to be done in me to be changed into the image of Christ. My Lord, although I don’t like to be disciplined, I need the Holy Spirit to reveal the areas that need to change in my life. Change me my Lord. Sanctify me. I loathe the very stench of sin which I excuse as weaknesses, failings and defects. Reveal sin in my flesh so I can abandon it and be cleansed from it. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.