Lesson 23: Don't Quench The Spirit Or Despise Prophecies, But Don't Be Gullible Either Series

1/10/19

Tom Lowe

Lesson 23: Don't Quench The Spirit Or Despise Prophecies, But Don't Be Gullible Either (1Thessalonians 5:19-22)

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (NIV)

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

Introduction

In verses 19 and 20 Paul warns the Thessalonians not to despise spiritual gifts. The prophets were really the equivalent of our modern preachers. It was they who brought the message of God to the congregation. Paul is really saying, “If a man has anything to say, don’t stop him saying it.”

Verses 21 and 22 describe the constant duty of the Christian. He must use Christ as the standard by which to test all things, and even when it is hard he must keep on doing the right thing and keep himself aloof from every kind of evil.

When a church lives up to Paul’s advice, it will indeed shine like a light in a dark place; it will have joy within itself, and power to win others.

(5:19) Do not quench the Spirit.

There are many who do not realize the importance of the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit as it has to do with believers. We know His primary work is to draw us to Jesus (John 6:44; 16:7-11). The Holy Spirit convicts us, convinces us and draws us to Jesus. He then is the attending physician at the new birth (John 3:3, 5). The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12, 13); He indwells us (Rom. 8:9); He leads us (Rom. 8:14); He assures us (Rom. 8:16); He seals us (Eph. 4:30). However, it appears from what Paul says here that it is altogether possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. It is also possible to “quench the Spirit.” The apostle implies that some, at least, of the Thessalonians were quenching the Spirit. Paul calls on them to stop.

The word “quench” means “to extinguish, subdue, suppress, to make an end of.” That is the explanation given in Webster’s dictionary. Whatever obstructs, hinders or dampens the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men is forbidden. “Quench” is used here in the sense of putting out a “fire”[a]?i.e., we are not to extinguish the “influence”[a] of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

When the Holy Spirit directs you to a ministry or mission to the glory of God, do not request a road map, for when it is time to change course, the Holy Spirit will let you know. He speaks “with groaning which cannot be uttered”; He directs in many ways. “. . . Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). Anything that will tend to quench the passion of worship in the soul, to render us lifeless in the service of God, may be regarded as quenching the Spirit. Worldliness, pride, ambition will do it.

When we are willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh we will not follow a selfish, self-centered, self-glorying path, for the Holy Ghost came to glorify Jesus and to speak? not of Himself? but of Jesus. He leads us into paths of right living? paths which, even though they may be paths of suffering, will glorify the Lord Jesus. To refuse to follow His leading, for one reason or another is to quench the Spirit? and that is a sin. We should go where the Spirit leads, we should say what the Spirit directs us to say, and we should minister wherever the Holy Spirit leads us to minister.

(5:20) Do not treat prophecies with contempt

To prophesy is to foretell things that will happen many years from now? but it is also to foretell things that have already been foretold. Every minister and Sunday school teacher is a prophet in one sense . . . not as Daniel and Ezekiel were Prophets? but we are foretelling what they foretold. Every minister is a prophet, and believers are not to despise prophesying. In the days of Paul the “perfect law of liberty” had not yet come; the Bible was not complete. All the books of the Bible had not been given, and in that day God’s prophets (including Paul) had the power of declaring the mind of God by direct inspiration. It seems that in the Thessalonian church this great gift of prophesying was being despised by some of the more sober-minded men. Therefore, Paul gives a direct command that believers were not to despise what the prophets said. They might not like it; they might not agree with it? but they were to receive what God’s man prophesied.