'Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption.'--Eph. iv. 30.
The miracle of Christianity is the Incarnation. It is not a link in a
chain, but a new beginning, the entrance into the cosmic order of a
Divine Power. The sequel of Bethlehem and Calvary and Olivet is the
upper room and the Pentecost. There is the issue of the whole mission
and work of Christ--the planting in the heart of humanity of a new and
divine life. All Christendom is professing to commemorate that fact
to-day, [Preached on Whitsunday] but a large portion of us forget that
it was but a transient sign of a perpetual reality. The rushing mighty
wind has died down into a calm; the fiery tongues have ceased to flicker
on the disciples' heads, but the miracle, which is permanent, and is
being repeated from day to day, in the experience of every believing
soul, is the inrush of the very breath of God into their lives, and the
plunging of them into a fiery baptism which melts their coldness and
refines away their dross. Now, my text brings before us some very
remarkable thoughts as to the permanent working of the Divine Spirit
upon Christian souls, and upon this it bases a very tender and
persuasive exhortation to conduct. And I desire simply to try to bring
out the fourfold aspect in those words. There is, first, a wondrous
revelation; second, a plain lesson as to what that Divine Spirit chiefly
does; third, a solemn warning as to man's power and freedom to thwart
it; and, lastly, a tender motive for conduct. 'Grieve not the Holy
Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.'