QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a Person! He is as much a Person as the Father and Son. The Father is spirit and he is a Person. John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And the scriptures inform us that the Lord Jesus and the Spirit are one. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is no division in the Trinity. The Lord God is one Lord. Yet He is manifest in three distinct Persons.
And as a Person, the Holy Spirit can be quenched, grieved, and resisted. Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
But it is eternally disastrous to deal so with the Holy Spirit! For it is He alone who has exclusive authority and ability to convey Christ and his word to the soul! John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
And as blasphemy against the person of Christ is the Greatest Forgivable Sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the Greatest Unforgivable Sin! Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
The Apostle Paul was guilty of committing the Greatest Forgivable Sin – blasphemy of the Lord Jesus! But he was forgiven as he did it ignorantly. 1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Sin is defined by rebelling against revealed light. Sin is a refusal to obey the word of the Lord after it is made known to the heart. James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Luke 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
That is the Unpardonable Sin! – the sin unto death! 1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
We are warned early on in the scriptures that the Spirit of the Lord God will not always strive with mankind. Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 ¶ And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
The Holy Spirit is revealed to us as a fire. Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And as everyone knows who has had a wood stove, or a fireplace, or campfire, the fire must be attended to. And so must the Spirit within us! 2 Timothy 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For we must not neglect to cultivate our graces! 2 Timothy 1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
The Apostle Peter stated that this was the reason for his writing his second epistle. 2 Peter 1:13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
And of course, Satan has his own fires to trouble the hearts of the believers. Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Those who were considered to be more noble believers were those who searched the scriptures in order to prove all things so as never to neglect the keeping of their hearts! Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
For we must all guard against the dilemma of the thorny ground hearer! The seed sprang up. But the thorns sprang up with it and eventually choked it out, as it was not attended to. Luke 8:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
For the provision of the sun and rain cause the weeds to grow as well as the good plants. Hebrews 6:7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9 ¶ But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Therefore we must always be about our ‘spiritual gardening!’ We must constantly be pulling out the weeds of carnal imaginations and fleshly, religious concepts. Hebrews 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Matthew 18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Those who do so have the Lord with them to make their efforts effectual. Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Song 4:15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Jeremiah 31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
The warfare against our old carnal nature is ever ongoing. For that which was born of the flesh will always be fleshly. And it is never to be reconciled with that nature that was born of the Spirit! John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
One thing we can be absolutely assured of is that every soul that is not a proper plant itself, shall be rooted up from the Father’s garden! Matthew 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Keeping the heart in a spiritual condition is a continuous matter. And it is one that, if neglected, is eternally fatal to the soul! Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Therefore we can clearly see just what a tragedy it is if we either quench, or grieve the Holy Spirit! For He alone is our ability to please God in successfully accomplishing the daily warfare against our fleshly natures.
It sometimes seems that when we’ve done,
The very best we can;
And turn around and look on it,
We find there’s quite a span;
A span between the mark we sought,
And where our best left off;
With wiser hearts we realize,
We’re nothing without the cross.
‘That I would do, I do not,’
Is what the apostle said.
Ashamed he could do no better,
For the One who died and bled.
But that One instructs we could do nought
Without His power within.
So all our good we thought we did,
Was always due to Him!
Bro. Gene Breed
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Pastor Gene Breed
April 07, 2018
