Am I Quenching the Holy Spirit?

00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, another common question that we get in the inbox is how the Holy Spirit works in our lives and how our lives are

00:00:05.880 | influenced by the Holy Spirit in our relationship to Him,

00:00:09.040 | which raises all sorts of questions in the practices of what we should do and not do in that relationship.

00:00:15.560 | Mick from Arizona writes in to ask this, "Pastor John,

00:00:20.120 | I was recently struck after reading 1 Thessalonians 5.19, which instructs us not to quench the Spirit.

00:00:27.280 | What does this phrase mean, 'do not quench the Spirit,' and what are some ways that we might do this in our daily lives?"

00:00:33.920 | Let's get the specific text in front of us

00:00:36.680 | and a little bit of context. So here's 1 Thessalonians 5.16-22.

00:00:42.460 | Rejoice always,

00:00:45.360 | pray without ceasing,

00:00:47.360 | give thanks in all circumstances,

00:00:49.800 | for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecy,

00:00:58.000 | but test everything,

00:01:00.000 | hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. Now, let's get one thing really clear at the outset,

00:01:07.160 | namely that being able to quench the Spirit of God does not mean

00:01:14.160 | that we are sovereign and He's not. It does not mean that we have

00:01:20.380 | final or decisive control over the omnipotent Spirit of God.

00:01:26.400 | It means that God, for wise and holy and good reasons,

00:01:31.000 | often allows us to resist the Holy Spirit, allows us, permits us, or as the old word suffers us,

00:01:37.760 | to resist the Holy Spirit. It's plain that God can overrule our

00:01:44.240 | resistance and quenching and

00:01:47.000 | bring us to repentance whenever He pleases. And I get that from 2 Timothy 2.25,

00:01:54.600 | where it says, "God may perhaps grant them repentance,"

00:02:00.160 | leading to a knowledge of the truth.

00:02:02.960 | Repentance from resisting the Spirit of God is a gift of God.

00:02:09.240 | So, let's keep out of our minds any thought here that our ability to quench the Spirit means we have decisive control over the

00:02:17.160 | Spirit in our lives. We don't. He is sovereign and lets us, for His

00:02:24.160 | purposes, sometimes

00:02:26.080 | quench Him. Now, what does it mean?

00:02:29.800 | What do we do when we quench the Spirit? And here are four quick answers. Number one, it means to despise

00:02:36.800 | the supernatural work of the Spirit and treat it with contempt. Right there in the context,

00:02:42.760 | do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise

00:02:45.960 | prophecies, but test everything, hold fast to what is good.

00:02:52.000 | Evidently, some in the church at Thessalonica

00:02:54.000 | despised the gift of prophecy. Now, why would they do that? Well, evidently, the gift was being misused in some way.

00:03:01.560 | I've seen it done. I've been tempted to despise it myself.

00:03:04.880 | It's so often the case. But Paul's response to that, which is very realistic, he says,

00:03:11.760 | "Yes, that happens. So, test everything,

00:03:15.480 | hold fast to what is good. Throw away the chaff, keep the good. So, don't despise

00:03:22.080 | God's gift. That would be the first way that we quench the Spirit, having an attitude of contempt

00:03:28.480 | towards God's

00:03:31.000 | supernatural

00:03:32.200 | gifting. Number two, quenching the Spirit means neglecting the gift we have. Here's where I get that.

00:03:38.640 | 1 Timothy 4.14, 2 Timothy 1.6. Compare these two.

00:03:43.000 | Do not neglect, Timothy, do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy

00:03:50.920 | when the council of elders laid their hands on you. And then 2 Timothy 1.6. I

00:03:56.160 | remind you, fan into flame

00:03:59.240 | the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. So, in Paul's mind,

00:04:06.720 | neglecting the gift was virtually the opposite of fanning it into flame or

00:04:13.320 | quenching it. He could have said, Timothy, don't quench the Spirit. Stir up his

00:04:20.720 | gifts into flame. So, if you have a gift from God,

00:04:23.960 | you are quenching the Spirit if you don't fan it into flame.

00:04:29.480 | That's number two. Number three, quenching the Spirit means

00:04:33.560 | shutting down your emotions

00:04:36.680 | when joyful

00:04:39.080 | spiritual expressions are called for. I get that from Ephesians 5.18. Do not get drunk with wine,

00:04:45.560 | which is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

00:04:50.440 | Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody to the Lord in your heart.

00:04:56.640 | So, the vibrant fullness of the Spirit overflows in

00:05:01.720 | appropriate expressions like singing and making melody from the heart to the Lord.

00:05:06.960 | And if you don't like those expressions and you resist them, fold your arms. I'm not gonna do that sort of thing.

00:05:14.040 | I'm not gonna sing. You are quenching the Holy Spirit.

00:05:18.160 | Number four, finally, quenching the Spirit means

00:05:21.560 | resisting the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the gracious behaviors that come from the Spirit. I get that from Ephesians 4.30,

00:05:30.600 | where it talks about grieving the Spirit. And I think grieving the Spirit and quenching the Spirit are very close to each other.

00:05:38.560 | Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for up-building,

00:05:43.640 | as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Do not

00:05:49.080 | grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

00:05:53.120 | Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.

00:05:58.040 | So, in front of the command not to grieve the Spirit, behind the command not to grieve the Spirit,

00:06:03.840 | we have these exhortations to be kind and gracious to other people. In other words, live out the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

00:06:11.960 | So, my answer to Mick's question

00:06:14.160 | about this quenching of the Spirit is, first,

00:06:18.400 | that when we quench Him, we're not sovereign. He is sovereign. And then it means four things.

00:06:25.240 | Despising some gift of the Holy Spirit. Number two,

00:06:29.800 | neglecting some gift that we have. Number three, shutting down our emotions and refusing to give expression to them. And

00:06:37.800 | number four,

00:06:39.680 | resisting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

00:06:43.160 | So good. Thank you, Pastor John. And

00:06:46.080 | may we be very careful not to neglect or despise some of the gifts that God has

00:06:50.760 | intended for us to enjoy in our lives and in our churches. This is such a great word for us today.

00:06:55.640 | Thank you, Pastor John. And next time we hear from a woman who now finds herself stuck in a moment of indecision.

00:07:02.280 | So, what are we to do as Christians when our hesitancy

00:07:06.000 | freezes us? That's the question Pastor John will address on Wednesday.

00:07:09.480 | For more about this podcast and to send us a question, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:07:17.480 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you on Wednesday.

00:07:20.280 | [END]

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00:07:26.280 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Am I Quenching the Holy Spirit?

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