“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! [Acts 7.51]
The tell-tale sign that the Holy Spirit is resisted is overwhelmingly powerless religion.
This is, by and large, the prevailing condition of the Church today: the Holy Spirit is resisted. Indeed there are occasional 'spots' of power here and there, but, for the most part, the Church is powerless. While there is much talk about the Holy Spirit, there is little actual evidence of the Holy Spirit as depicted in the Bible record. This problem of powerlessness must be seen for what it is based on Biblically-informed understanding: it is resisting the Holy Spirit.
Of course, no 'Christian' group today would ever admit to resisting the Holy Spirit, but, when we understand what resisting the Holy Spirit actually is, we might find reason to rethink this position...
Quoting from Isaiah's writings, Jesus defined the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in Him and therefore in everyone who follows Him (John 14.12):
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]
“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” [Luke 24.49 bold added]
Elsewhere however, Jesus defined the powerless condition of those whose hearts are hardened - those who resist the Holy Spirit:
For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ [Matthew 13.15]
The familiar terminology Jesus used, regarding 'deaf ears and blind eyes,' is the abridged albeit recurrent terminology of idolatry. In fact, it is repeated twice just in the Psalms:
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 115.1-8 bold added]
The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 135.15-18 bold added]
Embracing idolatry is, in fact, resisting the Holy Spirit.
Embracing idols, because it is indeed resisting the Holy Spirit, is an eternal deal breaker for relationship with God:
“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. [Matthew 12.30-32]
In Stephen's accusation (Acts 7.51 above), this is confirmed because he said, "That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!" The Old Testament writings are nothing if they are not a record of Israel's shameful and repeated affairs with idolatry: resisting the Holy Spirit power of God by embracing idols.
Because Jesus is the giver of the Holy Spirit...
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. [John 14.15-17]
...it is that much more important to understand the significance of following Jesus:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]
To give up our own way is to yield only to the supernatural, unexplainable, power of the Holy Spirit (given by Jesus) turning away from every natural, explainable way of man. To take up our cross is a commitment "to the death" to demonstrate (like Jesus) only the Holy Spirit's power in our lives... accomplished only by following Jesus.
In Acts 7.51, Stephen effectively accused the people who were about the stone him of the same gross idolatry their ancestors were guilty of. The difference between Stephen and his murderers was the same difference between Jesus and His murderers: the undeniable miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit.
The best way to make a religious person mad enough to commit murder is to identify their powerlessness as the idolatry it is.
Father in heaven, my own powerlessness is a glaring indictment upon me. I accept that truth and confess it as sin. May the power of Your Holy Spirit rest upon and flow through me as He did Jesus. May I be found with no other agenda in this life but to give up my own way, take up my cross, and to follow Jesus. So be it.
