Quench Not The Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Intro; As we pick up our study on the Holy Spirit of God after our Easter break, let me remind you of what we have studied already;
The Holy Spirit is the Promised Power of God in Christ, that gives believers the ability to walk in truth and testify of Him.
The Mission of the Holy Spirit in the world is to Convict the world of sin righteousness and judgment.
The Holy Spirit’s mission in the believer is to give life, guide in truth and is the seal of our guarantee in salvation and eternal life
Then we spent a few messages on the work the Spirit does in the believers life
He anoints the believer- consecrate, sanctify for a task; to preach the Gospel
He is a Gift Giver- spiritual gifts to every believer
He is a Fruit Producer- we produce spiritual fruit when we work within our spiritual gifts
Then we talked about Living the Spirit Filled Life, abundantly living in Christ and being empty of the world. We are chosen vessels of the Lord to bear the name of Jesus, and to be willing to suffer for His name sake.
Now we come to the last two messages concerning the Holy Spirit and the believer. Unlike the previous messages that focused on the promises and blessings of the Holy Spirit, these last two messages are a warning to the believer not to forfeit those blessings.
This morning we will look at “Quench Not The Holy Spirit”
Text; 1 Thes. 5:19
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
Paul has been instructing the church on holy living, and we need to understand that the early church did not have a completed Bible like we do. The Holy Spirit gave the gift of prophecy to some in the church and would speak God’s message through them to the church and often they spoke in a tongue.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Paul wanted to make sure that they “proved all things” that were said by what he had previously taught them.
Today we have the completed Word of God and the prophetic ministry we have is preaching and teaching. But just like then, the Holy Spirit is the only guide we have to open our eyes to truth and the only power we have to obey it!
1. Quench;
1. Quench;
Quench- stifle, smother, to put out; to extinguish the power or energy of something
One of the symbols that is used for the Holy Spirit in the scriptures is fire.
4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
How do you quench a fire? You pour water on it. You dampen it down and don’t let it burn. To quench the Spirit means that we are not listening to the Holy Spirit; refusing to do the will of God. We refuse to let the Holy Spirit be our Guide to lead us. You and I quench the Holy Spirit when we take matters into our own hands.
Remember that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit—as a Helper to assist us in life, ministry and to progressively sanctify us/mature us in Christ!
John 14:16 (NKJV)
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
John 15:26 (NKJV)
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
John 16:13 (NKJV)
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
The Christian Quenches the Spirit’s work by ignoring Him, neglecting Him, disobeying Him or by simply procrastinating!
2. Quench Not the Spirit;
2. Quench Not the Spirit;
The command that Paul gives to “Quench not the Spirit” is surrounded by a series of six positive commands. Lets look at them.
[20] Do not despise prophecies; Paul is warning them not to neglect the Word of God, the very fuel needed for the fire of the Spirit to continue burn in our lives.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,
18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.
[21] Test all things; To prove worth, value. We need to test all things in the Spirit so we will cling to the good.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Don’t let a good person go: learn from them. Do not let a good doctrine go: hang on to it, live it, practice it, and teach it to others.
[22] Abstain from every form of evil; refrain from doing wrong and even the appearance of evil. If we could abstain from evil on our own we wouldn’t need Jesus. But we can’t, therefore Jesus gives us the means to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit!
John 15:5 (NKJV)
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.I
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.
If we try to abstain from evil without the help of the Holy Spirit, we will become like other religious people and begin to tolerate sin and unholy living
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
[16] Rejoice always; feel or show great joy or delight, different from happiness according to circumstances
God has forgiven us our sin in Christ, given us eternal life in heaven with Him, and abundant life now as we live and serve Him.
Why then do so many christians live such a dull and burdensome life and seems that serving Christ is more of a problem than a privilege?
I read a book years ago by Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church called Fresh Faith. I just reread it recently and came across this truth.
The great majority of Christian's are command-oriented. Every day we wake up conscious of God’s moral law and try to do right so He will approve of us at the end of the day. Yet we continue to struggle. We would do far better to wake up thinking about God’s wonderful promises - what He said He would do for us and with us today. Then His power working in us [Holy Spirit] will tenderly direct us in the way of obedience and right living. That is rejoicing always!
Nehemiah 8:10 (NKJV)
10 … “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Christian joy constantly flows from what the believer continually knows to be true about God and about his eternal, saving relationship to Him—regardless of circumstances.
[17] Pray without ceasing; If we quench the Spirit, if we pour water on the flames of the Spirit, we will stop praying. And prayer is our lifeline to the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit!
For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do.
Prayer stirs fellowship and communion with God
Prayer brings about a greater knowledge and understanding of God.
Prayers un-prayed will be prayers unanswered.
A lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of faith and a lack of trust in God’s Word.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
[18] In everything give thanks; This single scripture is too often taken out of context and misunderstood.
How can we thank God for terrible trials such as accidents, sickness, death and sin? We don’t; because this is not what Scripture says or means.
“In everything” (not for everything)—thank God for the victory He has given us through Christ. We are to thank Him for His presence and power [Holy Spirit] as we walk through trials. In Christ Jesus there is victory and triumph over all, no matter how terrible it may be!
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God balances our lives by giving us enough blessings to keep us happy and enough burdens to keep us humble.
Close;
Paul knew that the health of the church would ultimately be determined both by its commitment to preach and by its desire to honor God’s Word. And these two things depend completely upon the Holy Spirit of God. Walter Kaiser, distinguished Professor of Old Testament and former President of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, sobering words are as relevant today as when they were first written over 30 years ago:
It is no secret that Christ’s Church is not at all in good health in many places of the world. She has been languishing because she has been fed, as the current line has it, “junk food”; all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substitutes have been served up to her. As a result, theological and Biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously a worldwide spiritual famine resulting from the absence of any genuine publication of the Word of God (Amos 8:11) continues to run wild and almost unabated in most quarters of the Church. (Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology, 7–8)
The church will only be as strong as its commitment to preach, teach, and obey Scripture.
“Quench not the Spirit of God” that we may fully understand and obey Him!