Trinity Baptist Church

The Spirit of God

Quenching the Spirit

1 Thessalonians 5:19

 

I want to ask you to open your Bible today to 1 Thessalonians 5 and notice what we read in verse 19

 

We are continuing our study of the Holy Spirit of God.  There are four primary commands given in the New Testament regarding the work of the Holy Spirit.  Two are positive; two are negative.  On the positive side, and we’ve looked at these already, we are commanded to walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit. 

 

On the negative side, we are not to grieve the Spirit nor are we, as we will see in this verse, to quench the Spirit. 

 

Now as Paul brings his letter to the Thessalonians to a close, he is giving them a series of rapid-fire commands on how to live. These aren’t complicated.  They don’t need any explanation.  They are up front and to-the-point. 

 

In fact, these commands, beginning in verse 16 and continuing down through verse 22, are rather simple, and even somewhat simplistic.  However, we need to keep in mind that while being simple on the one hand, they are profound on the other.  And also, we need to remember that this is a congregation of relatively new believers.  The church is only a few months old; none of the believers there is older than that, and so they are in need of a reminder and a summarization of the basic elements of Christian living.

And one of those commands is “do not quench the Spirit”.  Now that tells us, right off the bat, that this matter of not quenching the Spirit is basic stuff.  It is something the newest of Christians can comprehend.  It is elemental and fundamental to living successfully as a child of God. 

 

And obviously, that means quenching the Spirit is a possibility for a child of God, otherwise we wouldn’t have needed this command.  And we shouldn’t be too surprised by that.  Last week we saw that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. 

 

By the way, the Holy Spirit can also be resisted and blasphemed and we may look at those before we finish this series.  And just for clarity’s sake, it is unbelievers who blaspheme and resist. Believers quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. 

 

So what’s the difference between quenching and grieving?”  In retrospect, I probably should have dealt with quenching before grieving because grieving is the result of quenching. 

 

It helps me to think about it this way:  Quenching is what you do to the Spirit; grieving is how He responds to what you did.  Grieving speaks of the personal anguish of the Holy Spirit when a believer quenches the holy fire that He has kindled in the heart. 

 

You do not quench the Holy Spirit without grieving the Holy Spirit, and you will not grieve the Holy Spirit unless you quench the Holy Spirit.  They are simply two sides of the same problem; one describes what you do, the other describes how He responds. 

You quench, He grieves.  He grieves because you quench.  So verse 19 is

 

 

And it is to believers.  “Do not quench the Spirit.”  That verse has been translated in a lot of different ways:

 

“Do not quench the Spirit” (ESV).

 

“Don’t suppress the Spirit” (The Message)

 

“Do not try to stop the work of the Holy Spirit” (New Life Version).

 

“Don’t stifle the Spirit” (HCSB).

 

“Don’t turn away God’s Spirit” (CEV).

 

Perhaps the most literal translation comes from the NIV which says, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire”. 

 

Fire is one of the most frequent biblical images for God’s presence with his people. The connection is made in such passages as Exodus 3:1-5 with Moses and the burning bush.  In Exodus 13:21 we find a pillar of fire leading the Children of Israel during the time in the wilderness. 

 

It was a fire from the Lord that would fall and consume the burnt offerings. In I Kings 18:24 we find Elijah on Mt Carmel issuing a challenge to the prophets of Baal and it will be the “god who answers by fire who will be established as God that day. 

 

When God called Isaiah, he sent an angel with coals of fire from the altar in heaven to touch His lips and seal that calling.  John the Baptist declared that Jesus would come baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

 

On the day of Pentecost, the church saw what seemed to be tongues of fire descending on them as the Holy Spirit blew through the place. 

 

And in particular, fire represents several things with reference to the Holy Spirit.

 

 

And in regard to all of that, Paul tells these early believers to not quench the Spirit.  So what does it does it mean to “quench” the Spirit’s fire?

 

The word “quench” means to extinguish or stifle.  Think about a literal fire for a moment.  You might douse a flame with water or you might extinguish it by covering a fire with a mound of dirt.

 

 

In Scriptural terms, the same word found here in our text is used in Mark 9:48 for putting out a fire.  It is used in Matthew 25:8, for putting out a lamp.  That’s what it means, to extinguish, to quench, to stifle or in simple language it pictures pouring water on a fire.

 

Paul says here, “Don’t pour water on the flame. Don’t put retardant on that fire.  Don’t stifle the work of the Spirit.”

 

Now there is intentionality involved in quenching a fire.  You normally don’t quench a fire by accident. The fire goes out because someone either lets it burn out or takes steps to put it out.

 

That thought contains a basic, vital truth regarding the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is naturally “burning” within us.  When we get saved, God builds a fire inside of us.  He is resident and alive. 

 

As the Lord neared His death, He promised to send another helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who was one exactly like Himself.  His promise was that “the Holy Spirit is going to come after I ascend to the Father. 

 

Jesus said, “I’ll send the Holy Spirit, and He will assume the role with you that I have had.  He, the Holy Spirit, being another member of the trinity, God of very God, He will come and fulfill the role that I have filled in the lives of the disciples.” 

 

In effect, He is saying, “I have been your teacher; He will be your teacher in the future.  I have been your friend; He will be your friend.  I have been your guide; He will be your guide. 

I have been your resource; He will be your resource.  I have been your helper; He will be your helper.  I have been your comforter; He will be your comforter.”

 

In other words, “the Holy Spirit will step into the role that I have had.  I have done it alongside of you; He will do it in you.  I have been, as it were, the fire around you; He will be the fire in you.” 

 

Something happened after the resurrection and ascension that had never been experienced before.  We see a little foretaste of it as Jesus walks with two disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. 

 

They didn’t realize it was Jesus until He began to talk with them about His life and ministry and what had happened.  And do you remember what they said of that visit?  “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

 

No one had ever said that before!  I believe that was a little indication of what it was going to be like for the Holy Spirit’s fire to be resident in every child of God! 

 

But what the Lord promised and sent arrived on the day of Pentecost, and consequently to every single believer that ever comes to Christ.  The Holy Spirit comes to live within that believer.  All Christians are indwelt by the Spirit of God.  And He is there like a fire, not to be quenched, but to be fanned to full flame.  And what Paul is telling us is that will continue unless we do something to put out the Spirit’s fire.

So how would you go about putting out the Spirit’s fire in your life or in someone else’s life?  How do we quench the Spirit? 

 

Disobedience would do it. Harboring sin would do it. Criticizing someone else’s love for the Lord would do it. Harboring bitterness in your heart would do it. There is a sense in which every sin and every wrong attitude is a way of saying “No” to God.

 

But the preeminent way to put out the Spirit’s fire is by saying “No” to the Lord. I think the primary reference is personal.  In fact, the only fire you have personal responsibility for is the one inside you.  You can’t quench my fire and I can’t quench yours. 

 

I can respond to something you do and vice versa.  And every time we resist God’s prompting, we put out the Holy Spirit’s fire. This might apply to something huge, such as answering God’s call to be a missionary or answering God’s call to a new job or to make move to a different city or into a different neighborhood.

 

But it applies just as much to God’s prompting to be kind or offer a word of encouragement.  It might be the Spirit’s urging us to reconcile with a friend or make a visit to the hospital. 

 

When God directs us or prompts us or calls, we must respond in obedience.   And every time we refuse to obey or intentionally disobey, we quench the Spirit of God.  

 

So what happens when we disobey a clear call from the Lord?

 

Let me show you

 

 

It is found in Deuteronomy 1.  Beginning in verse 19, Moses is relating the story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. When they came to Kadesh-Barnea, Moses chose 12 men to spy out the Promised Land. They came back with this report:

 

verse 25

 

Now the next verse should read, “So the people rose up, marched in, and took the good land the Lord had promised to give them.” But it doesn’t say that. Here is the next paragraph of the story:

 

Verses 26-28

 

I want to pause here to insert that this is not a false report. Everything the spies said was true. It was a good land flowing with milk and honey. And there were many walled cities filled with powerful people. Though God had promised the land to the Jews, they would still have to fight for every inch of it.

 

To make it even clearer, they would have to fight, and some of them would have to die in the process. God’s promises never cancel the need for nitty-gritty obedience in the details of life. The Jews could have the Promised Land, but if they were unwilling to fight for it, it would never belong to them.

 

God wasn’t going to drop the keys from the sky and say, “Here. I’ve wiped out the bad guys. Go in and make yourselves at home.”

If they wanted the milk and honey, they could have it, but they would have to believe God enough to fight the bad guys and drive them out of the land.

 

You know the rest of the story. The people grumbled against the Lord. They made every excuse in the book why they shouldn’t have to go and fight. The desert started looking pretty good to them compared to those “Anakites” who lived in the Promised Land. What are a little sun and dust and a few sand dunes compared to the “Anakites"? Moses appealed to them to remember all God had done for them in the past:

 

Verses 30-31

 

Kadesh-Barnea was the turning point for an entire generation. Despite seeing the mighty miracles of God in Egypt, and despite having walked across the Red Sea on dry ground, the people chose not to obey God. Notice how Moses puts it:

 

Verses 32-33

 

Did you get that? God appeared to them “in fire by night.” Every night when they went to bed, they had only to look at the fiery pillar to be reminded of God’s special care for them. How could they possibly lose with Almighty God on their side?

 

But they chose to disobey anyway. As a result, an entire generation wandered in the wilderness for forty long years. Think of what that meant …

 

All of the wasted years; all of the missed   opportunities; all of the lost life.

 

What a tragedy!  They deliberately and intentionally chose the desert with its scorching heat, the burning sand beneath their feet, endless days and weeks trudging through the Sinai, with flies buzzing around them and scorpions hiding under the rocks.  And they left graves everywhere they went.  In fact, a whole generation died because of unbelief.  And it was all because they would not obey God. They chose the long way and the hard road.

 

Now I want you to come all the way awake and get up on the edge of your seat and listen very closely to what I’m about to say.  Here is where we take the New Testament instruction and the Old Testament illustration and from them draw

 

 

There are a lot of God’s people who look back over the course of their life and see the same thing the Israelites did. Foolish choices in the past cost you dearly.

 

For some, your sin cost you your marriage and your family. It may have sidetracked you for years. In some cases, rebellion may have landed you in prison. That’s what happens when we disobey the Lord. Life goes on, but everything now becomes difficult.

 

And some of you are about to do the same thing.  You don’t have the advantage that others have.  You can’t look back yet and see the devastation you are about to cause.  That kind of stuff only happens to others.  You’re too smart or too smooth.  You’ll get by with it.  You’ll escape the consequences. 

But I will remind you.  God is not mocked.  We reap what we sow.  And I will tell you one of the heartbreaks of being the pastor of the same church for a long time is seeing the results of bad decisions made by people you love and care about.

 

If a pastor just stays for a couple of years and moves on with no long-term relationships, he may never know what happened to the people he served.

 

But I’ve been here long enough to witness a lot of heartbreak.  You could see it coming and people were too arrogant or too ignorant to listen and even as you counsel and try to help, they choose the hard road and the litter along the way is found in their children and their families and their health and their  witness that has been destroyed as they quenched the fire of God in their life.

 

I find it interesting that the Spirit is described in Scripture as both fire and wind.  But one illustration helps to understand the other.  The fire is internal.  It is that guiding, comforting presence that teaches and corrects and encourages. 

 

The wind, on the other hand, is external.  You feel it and sense it and see its results and it blows where it wants to.  In regard to the wind, there are two ways to live life as a Christian.  You can go with the wind or against the wind. 

 

To travel against the wind is to quench the Spirit.  And when you travel against the wind, everything becomes more difficult. It doesn’t matter if you’re riding a bicycle or driving a semi, you will have to deal with the effects of the wind when you travel into it. 

It will affect your travel time, your efficiency and your endurance.  Hills and mountains become more of a challenge.  The wind noise will escalate.  The grit and dirt will be more abrasive. 

 

But everything changes when you turn around and begin to ride with the wind at your back. Your mileage increases.  You can go farther on a tank of fuel.  You can peddle easier.  The noise is quieter.  The dirt’s not getting in your eyes. 

 

Having the wind at your back makes all the difference. What once was difficult now becomes easy because the wind helps carry you along.

 

That’s how it is with your spiritual life as well. When we walk in the Spirit, we are “carried along” and things that once were difficult now become easy. The surrounding noise and distractions are minimized.  We are able to go farther and accomplish more and get more rest than we ever realized. 

 

And the opposite is true as well.  When we disobey the Lord, when we ride into the wind, when we quench the Spirit, everything in life becomes difficult.

 

Do you remember the story of Eric Liddell from the movie Chariots of Fire? He was a Scottish Olympian who won a gold medal in the 400-meter race at the 1924 Paris Olympics Games. When he was a young lad, his sister asked him why he loved to run so much. His reply became the motto of his whole life, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”

 

Those who obey God feel his pleasure.  Those who quench the Spirit don’t.

We used to talk a lot about being “on fire” for Christ. You don’t hear that phrase much nowadays but it’s a perfectly biblical image. The supreme need of the church today is for men and women on fire for Christ.

 

From 1872 until 1968, with the exception of only a couple of years, Yosemite National Park in California was the scene of a spectacular evening show. Near sundown the crowds gathered at Camp Curry, located by a lake below a large cliff called Glacier Point.  Up on top of Glacier Point, the rangers would build this enormous bonfire right at sunset.

 

At 9 pm sharp, as the crowd below fell silent, a master of ceremonies in Camp Curry would bellow out the following exchange with a firemaster at Glacier Point. . .

 

“Hello, Glacier Point!”

 

“Hello, Camp Curry!”

 

“Is the fire ready?”

 

“The fire is ready!”

 

“Let the Fire Fall!”

 

Then this huge bonfire of red fir bark would be pushed over the edge of the cliff, appearing to the onlookers below as a glowing waterfall of sparks and fire.

 

 

 

 

One writer described it this way:  “High up at Glacier Point, the living embers slowly begin to fall and continue until they become a blazing stream of red and gold swaying in the wind while sparks fly off like stars. The stream grows smaller and smaller until it becomes a mere thread of gold drawing the curtain of night, and darkness descends.”

 

I believe God calls to America today, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Oklahoma, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Ardmore, “Are you ready?” And he calls to Trinity Baptist Church, “Are you ready?” And he calls to me, “Terry, are you ready?” And he calls to each of us, “Are you ready?”

 

Let the answer ring out to heaven: “Lord, we are ready. Let the fire fall!”

 

Let’s pray.