Many people don’t know it, but there is a progression of rejecting the Lord that can make it more and more difficult to be saved. As we turn away from the Lord’s advances towards us, we become more hardened to Him. Let’s track this progression scripturally.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 (KJV)

The first step in the progression is to grieve the Holy Spirit. The word grieve means to shock, demonstrate hurt, cause pain, make sad, or distress. One example of this is a spouse that is unfaithful. The other spouse is shocked and hurt, because it was unexpected and the betrayal caused pain. We can do this to the Holy Spirit, which Ephesians 4:30 warns us not to do. Ephesians 4:25-32 tells us how we can grieve Him- by being bitter, angry, full of wrath, unkind, or unforgiving.

Next, doing things that grieve the Holy Spirit leads to the next step in the progression, which is to resist the Holy Spirit.

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Acts 7:51 (KJV)

These people actively resisted the Holy Spirit, which prevented them from receiving Christ as their Savior. We can grieve God and hurt Him by our insensitivity to Him, and then as we continue to turn from Him, we resist Him by refusing to do something He tells us to do or we know is right in His eyes. At this point, as we resist His Word, convictions, and warnings, we are headed further from Him. This creates another layer of hardness in our hearts. Our conscience becomes what the Bible calls seared with a hot iron. What does this mean? When someone is severely burned, the nerves in that spot can become damaged and there is a loss of feeling. When the conscience is seared, we don’t feel the touch of the Lord, and just like Pharaoh, we harden our hearts more and more.

Quench not the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:19 (KJV)

Once someone has grieved and resisted the Holy Spirit, the next step is to quench the Holy Spirit- or put our His fire, His manifestation in our midst. To do this is to extinguish, smother, put out or snuff out the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, to make efforts to douse the fire and presence of God among the people. When someone makes this active, conscious effort to stop God’s moving, He may not totally leave the person, but He does withdraw His presence. And this may not just happen to an individual person, it can also happen to a church, causing the presence of God to be withdrawn from an entire congregation. And what is left is a dead, dry church.

Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:29 (KJV)

This leads to insulting or despising the Spirit of Grace. When someone hates the concept of God and counts the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus as nothing, they are despising the Lord. Refusing to honor what Jesus Christ did for mankind, hating it and calling it evil, wicked, and a lie, means that there is just one thing left for this person- God’s judgment. They have vexed the Lord, or violated and rejected Him to the point of no return.

We may not think that rejecting the Lord once is a big deal, but as a person continues to push against God and turn from Him, the harder their heart becomes. Eventually, if the person does not repent and turn, they reach a point where salvation is very, very difficult, if not impossible. We must keep our hearts soft towards God and remain pliable in His hands. And we must pray for those that He is trying to reach, that they don’t harden their hearts.and become unreachable.