Don’t Quench The Fire Of The Spirit

DON’T QUENCH THE FIRE OF THE SPIRIT

1 Thess. 5:19

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: Presence of God

1. It sounds like a made-up story, but it’s true. Some years ago a church in Carter County, Tennessee had an attorney draw up a deed for their property. He wrote the deed naming The Lord God Almighty as the owner.

2. That was fine until some years later the church wanted to sell the property and relocate. They went back to the same lawyer. He said it would not be a problem. The court could issue them a new deed. But as part of the process of writing such deeds, it is necessary that it be determined that the previous owner could not be found.

3. So the Sheriff was given the papers to sign. He swore that “The Lord God Almighty was not to be found in Carter County, Tennessee.” The newspapers picked that up and saw in it a story. The headline read, “Lord God Almighty Not to Be Found in Carter County.” (The article went on to say that His Infernal Satanic Majesty, however, could most certainly be found in Carter County, Tennessee.) [Robert Shannon, Preaching; March/April 1998]

B. PAUL WARNS US NOT TO RESTRICT THE HOLY SPIRIT’S INFLUENCE IN OUR LIVES

1. The Bible warns against "grieving the Spirit" (Eph. 4:30), "quenching the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19), “resisting the Spirit” (Acts 7:51), and ultimately "insulting" the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) which may be equivalent to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

2. God is not a Person to be trifled with, to mock, or to insult. We must always be respectful, humble, and repentant in the presence of the Creator. He graciously extends to us the olive branch of mercy, but He owes us nothing. God is a debtor to no man.

3. He is longsuffering with our ignorance, but a wicked, prideful attitude, if maintained after enlightenment, will harden His will, like concrete, to be just as devoted to our punishment & correction, as He was to our salvation!

4. Be careful not to try to force God into your frame of reference. Who are we to tell God how to run His universe, how to save the world, or how to run His church? Do we think we are equal with God? Are we as wise as He? Did we pre-exist Him or His Word?

5. Our place is but to humbly serve and obey; to take His Word as we find it, not to rewrite it to fit our theology.

C. THESIS

1. Tonight we look at 1) How important the Holy Spirit is to us, 2) What we do which causes Him to pull back, and 3) How to restore His presence to our lives.

2. The title of this message is, “Don’t Quench the Fire of the Spirit.”

I. REASONS WE DESPERATELY NEED THE SPIRIT

A. WITHOUT HIM WE COULD NOT PRAY!

1. The Holy Spirit is the only avenue by which our prayers ascend unto the Father; “We have access by one Spirit unto the Father” Eph. 2:18.

2. If the Holy Spirit were to leave us, we could have no communion with God. We must have the Spirit or else our great resource and remedy of prayer becomes unavailable! Thank God for our access!

B. WE COULD NOT UNDERSTAND TRUTH

1. Next, the Spirit of God is given to “guide us into all truth” (John 16:13). For all who lack wisdom – He takes of the things of Christ and make it known to us.

2. It’s the Spirit of God that illumines the Word for us; He opens our minds to understand God’s truth. What would we do without the Holy Spirit, our patient and infallible teacher (Luke 12:12; John 14:26)? He teaches us what to say and remind us of everything Jesus has said to us.

C. WE WOULD HAVE NO COMFORT IN TROUBLE

1. We need the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. One of His names is the Paraclete, the Comforter. He has come to heal our griefs and comfort our sorrows.

2. His mission is to bring us joy and peace (Gal. 5:22). Our adversities may be many, but in the Holy Spirit’s gracious presence we’ll rise above them all.

D. WE COULDN’T BE PURIFIED FROM SIN

1. The Holy Spirit is our sanctifier (Rom. 15:16; 2 Thess. 2:13)! He “strives” to keep us from sinning (Gen. 6:3). When we feel sin raging within us, how could we hope to conquer that nature without His aid? If He left us, we’d be defeated before we even started.

2. I would rather die a thousand times than lose the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit! How else could we ever become holy and acceptable to God?

E. HE’S OUR SOURCE OF DIVINE LIFE