The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts

AUTHENTIC!

(CHURCH, MINISTRY, AND CHRISTIAN LIVING)

Lesson XX – “Quench Not The Spirit”

I Thessalonians 5:19

Introduction: Our text is I Thessalonians 5:19. We will come back to V16-18 in the next lesson, and we will consider V20-22 following that. But V19 is like the “hub” verse for V16-22.

Please look back at I Thessalonians 1:5, then at 4:7-8, and now at 5:19. We could have spent a whole lesson showing from Scripture how utterly helpless we are without the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

 The Holy Spirit gave unction to Paul to preach at Thessalonica.

 The Holy Spirit convicted their hearts or his preaching would have produced no church.

 The Holy Spirit indwelt the believers, else they could never gain victory over sin.

We could go on and on, but let me just say that when the Holy Spirit does not work in our lives, we are useless to God. And when the Holy Spirit removes His power and blessings, a congregation becomes as hollow as an empty soup can.

To do the work God wants us to do as a church, we must be very sensitive to our dependence upon the Holy Ghost of God! Paul believed that very thing and said to this church, “Quench not the Spirit!”

I. Some definition and explanation

A.The definition of “quench” begins to give us understanding.

1.“Quench” = put out. It properly applies to extinguishing or smothering of a flame of some sort, such as that of a fire.

2.It is very simple. Take a candle, light it, and now take a snuffer and quench or extinguish or smother the flame.

B.So the Holy Ghost must be considered metaphorically or spiritually, as fire.

1.Our verse demands it by reason of the definition of quench; it pertains to fire or a flame.

2.No problem! It is consistent with the revelation of Scripture with regard to the Holy Ghost.

3.Acts 2:1-4 The Holy Ghost showed His presence to the upper room assembly by the cloven tongues as of fire that sat upon each of them.

4.Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist pointed men to Jesus and said He would baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

5.So it is accurate to understand that the Holy Ghost of God is not fire, but is symbolized by fire.

6.But follow closely to avoid jumping to a quick conclusion.

C.There is no danger! Neither you nor I can extinguish the person of the Holy Ghost.

1.If God can be eliminated so that He is not, then the Holy Spirit can be extinguished. Of course this is absurd.

2.A candle flame can be made extinct. The Holy Spirit cannot.

II. then what is the meaning?

A.An illustration.

1.Imagine a large, white, lit candle, symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

2.Imagine lesser candles surrounding it, which represent man.

3.Now the Holy Spirit ignites man and man’s hearts with His activity.

4.True fire is begun by the Holy Spirit.

B.Consider a new convert; one who has genuinely been converted, not just a mere mouth profession.

1.Here is a person who has little or no interest in the things of God and the will of God.

2.God saves him, and moves in by the Holy Spirit.

3.Now he loves truth, the Word, church, and God’s people. He desires to grow and serve and be used of God.

4.He’s on fire for God! And the Holy Ghost ignited the fire.

5.The Holy Ghost cannot be extinguished, but the obvious fires burning in the new convert’s life (ignited by the Holy Spirit) are quenchable and extinguishable.

C.Now consider a church like the Thessalonian church or Southwest Baptist Church.

1.The Holy Ghost lit some fires in the Thessalonian Baptist Church.

a.1:3 Work of faith; labor of love; patience of hope.

b.1:7 Examples to other churches.

c.1:9 Served the living and true God.

d.1:10 Waiting for Jesus to come; great fire of anticipation.

e.All these positive characteristics were fires ignited by the blessed and sweet Holy Ghost of God!

2.God’s Spirit has ignited certain fires in Southwest Baptist Church.

a.Young people surrendering their lives to God’s service. (Only the Holy Ghost can call.)

b.Soul winning fires: There are people involved in reaching others and being trained to win souls, and I am persuaded the Holy Ghost is at work.

c.Sinners outside the church are being saved; sinners inside the church are being saved.

d.Prayer meeting fires.

e.Family fires are burning and wives and husbands are in love and are raising their kids to love and serve Jesus.

3.We do not want to promote, hype, or be idealistic.

a.Southwest Baptist Church faces and deals with human problems.

b.But we must not let these problems blind us to the fires we know are being ignited by the Blessed Spirit of God!

c.God’s Spirit is trying to ignite other fires: fires of reconciliation, forgiveness, and brotherly love.

d.The Holy Ghost desires to do a work here.

III. DO NOT QUENCH OR BE GUILTY OF EXTINGUISHING THE FIRES IGNITED BY THE HOLY GHOST

1. First, give consideration to the immediate context of the Thessalonian letter.

(Note: Rather than pointing to every verse, I will summarize what we have dealt with in the letter.)

1. Chapters 1-3: To listen to slander of Paul and team and to turn from their teaching would do the job of quenching the Spirit’s work.
2. Chapter 4: To engage in sexual uncleanness and immorality will quench the Spirit’s work.
3. Chapter 4: To ignore the teaching on brotherly love will quench the Spirit’s work.
4. Chapter 5: To spiritually sleep and not watch will quench the Spirit.
5. Chapter 5: To not maintain biblical attitudes toward one another and toward those with oversight will quench the Spirit.
6. Chapter 5: To be vengeful and unforgiving quenches the Spirit.
7. Chapter 5: To lightly esteem prophecy quenches the Spirit.

“Ignore His presence, His promptings; hold unspiritual attitudes and actions; criticize; tolerate immorality – it all quenches the Spirit” - Heibert

1. Southwest Baptist Church can quench the Spirit’s workings.

1.Be a hypocrite and live differently than your Sunday profession.

2.Don’t be forgiving and without revenge; don’t be loving to those who have hurt you.

3.Be critical and judgmental of each other, of soul winning, of members getting saved, of the music program; of everything!

4.You will effectively extinguish fires ignited by the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion: All over Oklahoma City and the U.S. are church buildings, some even with crowds, where fires once burned, but are now cold and lifeless.