So I'm going to preach a sermon entitled Grieving and Quenching the Holy Spirit, Grieving and
Quenching the Holy Spirit, and you're there in Ephesians 4, but if you want to keep something
there, bookmark it, we'll be back there several times throughout the sermon.
But go over to John 16, John chapter 16, and I want to preach this sermon because of the
fact that, as we're going to look this morning, there are two ways in which we can hinder
the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
We can grieve him, but we can also quench him, and I believe there's a difference between
the two.
I believe that there's grieving the Holy Spirit, and then there's quenching the Holy Spirit.
And what I want to do this morning is help us to learn how to encourage the work of the
Holy Spirit in our lives.
Rather than grieving the Spirit, rather than quenching the Spirit, how is it that we're
going to actually foster the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
And the Holy Spirit can be grieved, and it can be quenched, and that's something we should
want to avoid, but it goes even beyond that.
Just avoiding those things, we also want to learn how we can actually encourage that work.
And the topic of the Holy Ghost, it's something I feel like Baptists sometimes kind of shy
away from, and the Bible talks a lot about the Holy Ghost.
Obviously, it's a very real ministry.
His ministry to us is very real, but it's been so corrupted and misrepresented by a
lot of other denominations that want to make it into something that it isn't, and it feels
almost like any time you bring up the Holy Ghost, people might get a little nervous or
edgy, like, is he going to start wanting us to roll around in the aisles here and bark
like dogs or do some kind of crazy thing, because you say, what are you talking about?
That kind of thing is out there.
That kind of thing is out there where they take the ministry of the Holy Ghost and just
corrupt it, they misrepresent it.
Well, we can't let this great, this important truth of the ministry of the Holy Ghost be
taken from us.
This is a very important ministry, and the Holy Ghost is not somebody we want to grieve
or quench in our lives.
It's somebody that we need in our lives in order that we can live a good Christian life.
You're there in John 16.
It says in verse 7,
So notice Jesus said that it was expedient for him to go away, meaning it was profitable,
it was good, it was needful for him to go away.
Why?
Because if he went not away, the comforter will not come.
That goes to show you the importance of the Holy Spirit as it's being called here, the
comforter.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important that even Christ is saying, hey, it's expedient
that I go, because you need to have the ministry of the comforter.
Verse 8,
So this is a very important ministry.
The Holy Spirit is somebody you need to have in your life.
It's not somebody you want to quench, it's not somebody you want to grieve, it's somebody
that we should seek to appease in our Christian lives.
It says there,
So go to Ephesians chapter 4 where we had you start.
Ephesians chapter 4.
Now let me just start out by saying, the sealing of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed.
That's a guaranteed thing.
When you got saved, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
That's what it says there in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30.
When you got saved, you got sealed by the Holy Spirit until what?
Until the next time you sin?
Until you got backslidden?
Until you quit living for the Lord?
No, until the day of redemption.
Until the resurrection, when the new man and the new body are brought back together.
So you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, but it is possible, although you are sealed by
him, you could still grieve him.
You could still quench the Holy Spirit.
The sealing is permanent.
You're in Ephesians.
Go back to chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1.
Keep something in chapter 4, we'll be back.
Jesus said that he gives unto us eternal life.
They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
We know that once we're sealed, we're always going to be sealed.
Once we're saved, we're always going to be saved.
We're never going to lose that.
Look at Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11, in whom also we have obtained, notice it's past
tense.
It's past tense.
It's already done.
You're already sealed.
It's as good as done.
We have obtained an inheritance.
We're not obtaining an inheritance.
We're not earning an inheritance.
We've already obtained it through the salvation that is in Christ, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom we also trusted, ye also
trust after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
That sealing that we have comes to us what?
After we believe.
What is that sealing?
It's a sealing of promise that we're going to have, that we have obtained an inheritance.
He is the earnest of our inheritance, is what the Bible calls him.
Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
We'll see that.
2 Corinthians chapter number 5, I'll read to you from 2 Corinthians 1.
He said, Now he which stabless you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath also
sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
So God has sealed us and he has what?
Given us an earnest.
You know, an earnest is just, we would use that word to be, means to be serious, right?
Like when you buy a home, you put down earnest money.
What are you showing people?
That you're serious about buying a home.
You're not just, you know, you're not just going around kicking tires, as they say.
You're serious about buying the house, you put down earnest money, right?
And that's the sense that God, that the Bible is using that word here.
You know, God has given us earnest.
Hey, I'm serious about redeeming you.
I'm serious about giving you an inheritance in heaven.
I'm serious about resurrecting you.
Here's the earnest, the sealing of the Spirit.
Look in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1.
It says, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have,
again, past tense, we have a building of God.
It's already done, not made with hands or eternal in the heavens.
For this, in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we should be
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought for us, for the selfsame thing is God, whom also hath given us unto
us the earnest of the Spirit.
So there it is again, the Spirit, that sealing is an earnest.
It's a down payment, but notice that it is God that has wrought it for us.
God's the one that did that for us.
We didn't earn that.
That's why it says God hath given us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident.
Look, if you're saved and you have the sealing of the Holy Spirit, you are always confident,
knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, knowing we have
a home in heaven.
That is our confidence.
Don't let anybody take that from you.
But though we are sealed, though we have that sealing which is permanent, though that earnest
is there, though we have the promise of God, it is still possible for us to do what?
To grieve the Holy Spirit.
If it weren't possible to grieve the Holy Spirit, why is Paul telling us not to grieve
the Holy Spirit?
And people get into these false doctrines and say, well, once you're saved, you're just
never going to grieve the Holy Spirit again.
You're just never going to sin again.
That's a false doctrine.
He says right there, grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed in the day of redemption.
How do we see, now how do we, how is it that a person can grieve the Holy Spirit?
Through the sins of the flesh.
That's how we, you know, that's one major way of grieving the Holy Spirit is through
the sins of the flesh.
Go to Galatians chapter five.
Keep something in Ephesians.
Go to Galatians chapter five.
If you want to bookmark Galatians chapter five, we'll be back there again later.
Ephesians five, it says, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled
with the Spirit.
He's saying, look, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.
You know what that tells me is you can't have both.
You can't be drunk with wine and filled with the Spirit.
These things are contrary.
It's one or the other.
Galatians chapter five, look at verse 16.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary
one to another so that you cannot do the things that you would.
So what's one way that we can grieve the Holy Spirit is through walking in the flesh.
It's through drunkenness and other things that we're going to look at.
And these things are contrary one to another.
I mean, you can't have both.
You can't walk in the flesh and in the Spirit.
So let's get a little bit more specific, go back to Ephesians chapter four.
What are some other ways that we in the flesh can grieve the Holy Spirit?
Well, we'll just look at the context of Ephesians chapter four verse 30.
We'll back up to verse 17.
It says there in Ephesians four 17, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that
you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the
understanding dark and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that
is in them because of the blindness of their heart.
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto what?
Lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Now these are, you know, lasciviousness, uncleanness, these are referring to the lusts of the flesh.
You know, those carnal desires like fornication.
Now it's beyond even just the normal, you know, I guess the standard that the world
would have for fornication.
Lasciviousness is like the next level.
You know, it's where it's a very lewd, very open type of behavior, okay?
But he's saying, look, the Gentiles, that's what they've given themselves over unto.
And to do what?
To work all uncleanness.
You know, and that lifestyle of fornication and lasciviousness is an unclean lifestyle.
And he's saying there that we don't, that we should not henceforth walk as the other
Gentiles.
Why?
Because we're not in the vanity of the mind.
Our understanding is not darkened.
We are not in ignorance.
We have the Holy Spirit.
So let's not walk like them.
Let's not walk in the flesh, let's walk in the Spirit.
Because if we're going to have the sealing of the Spirit and then walk in the flesh,
you know what you're going to do?
You're going to grieve the Holy Spirit.
Go over to Galatians chapter five, if you're still something there, keep something in Ephesians
four.
Back to Galatians five again, the Bible says in first Peter four, for the time past of
our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
He's saying the time past when you walked in those sins, that's sufficient.
You don't need to do that anymore.
It does what?
The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
When we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable
idolatries.
These are the sins of the flesh that grieve the Holy Spirit.
Look at Galatians chapter five verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest which
are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envings, murders, drunkenness, revelings,
and such like of the which I tell before as I told you also in time past that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
These are the works of the flesh.
There's more that we could talk about.
But a lot of these just encompass a lot of different sins, don't they?
If we go to and talk about, if we say lusts, if someone's just lusting, that's going to
encompass a lot of different sins, drunkenness, revelings, banquetings.
These are the type of things that the Gentiles, the unsaved, the heathen get involved with
that if we as the children of God continue to also do will cause us to grieve the Holy
Spirit.
And the Bible's telling us not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
Why?
Because you need the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life.
And you know that's one of the great joys of the Christian life is the ministry of the
Holy Ghost.
It's such a profound thing to know that that is real, that there really is a Holy Spirit
who really does minister to our hearts.
You're in Ephesians chapter 4, look at verse 20.
I had you in Galatians 5, I'll give you time.
Go back to Ephesians chapter 4.
In verse 20 he said this, but ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard
him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning a
former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
We need to put off the old man, we need to put off what that old, that former conversation,
that way we live, the way, the manner in which we lived our lives, those old behavior, those
things that we used to do, we need to stop doing them.
So we do not grieve the Holy Spirit.
So that's one way you can grieve the Holy Spirit and probably everybody, that's probably
not news to anybody.
Like yeah, sin doesn't, God doesn't like sin.
What else brother Corbin?
Is water wet?
The sky is blue, right?
We could just end it there.
Don't sin.
Amen.
Let's close in prayer, right?
But what about even beyond that, the sins of the mind, right?
The sins of the mind.
Because sometimes we think, well, I'm not doing those things, you know, I'm not outwardly
in sin, but a lot of times the things that we think or feel or say inwardly, those are
also sinful.
And you know, the sins of the mind are another way in which we can grieve the Holy Spirit.
So it's not just these outward lusts of the flesh, but also the inward sins of the mind
and the heart.
And really, those are the tough ones.
Those are the ones that we really struggle with probably more than others.
I mean, some sins, it's really easy, they're easier to get rid of because of all the detrimental
effects that they have on our life.
You know, we want to get rid of the alcohol, we want to get rid of the drugs and the pornography
and the fornication and all these other things, because it's just so obviously bad.
And we know, well, other people, you know, I might get caught, I'm not going to do that
anymore.
But inwardly, that's where, you know, we feel like, well, I can get away with things.
You know, and a lot of those sins are a lot more subtle.
You might not even recognize some things as sin.
Go to verse 23 of Ephesians chapter 4.
Verse 23, it says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new
man which is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore, put away lying, speak every man truth with this neighbor, for we are members
one over another.
Be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
So we don't want to be angry, vengeful people.
Now, of course, there's a time and place for anger, but that's not the type of people we
need to be.
The Bible says that anger rests in the bosom of fools.
It rests there.
It's always there.
We said we should not go, you know, go not with an angry man lest thou learn his ways,
right?
So obviously there's a time to be angry, but that's not what we want to define us.
It's just a person who's always angry.
But again, these are sins that are inward, aren't they?
These are sins that come from within.
Now we understand all sins come from within, but these are sins a lot of time that, you
know, aren't necessarily sins of the flesh.
These are sins that are of the mind.
Verse 27, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing
which is good that he may give to him that needeth.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good use of
edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit.
Now we understand that all these sins ultimately come from within, don't they?
Jesus said in Matthew, those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart and they defile the man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts,
false witness, and blasphemies.
So more than just, you know, our outward abstinence from sin, we need to be even more concerned
with, you know, an inward cleansing, an inward being right with God.
We want to look inward because that's really where, if that's where sin is going to come
from, you know, that's where holiness is also going to come from.
Like if all these sins that grieve the Holy Spirit are coming from within us, from in
the heart of man and manifesting themselves, I mean that's the same way it's going to work
with holiness, true holiness.
You know, we're going to be filled with the Spirit, that's going to come from within and
manifest itself in our lives.
Go over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
So that's one way, or one aspect of, how do I want to say this?
We don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit, right?
That's one thing we don't want to do.
But the other thing we don't want to do is quench the Holy Spirit.
And most people grasp that concept of not grieving the Holy Spirit, I don't feel like
I need to park it there this morning.
Don't sin, you know, don't commit these sins, don't lie, don't think evil thoughts, you
know, clean up your thought life, get your heart right, get the sins out of your life,
don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
That's a pretty easy concept to grasp.
But even after we've gone through that process and begun to, you know, mortify the members,
when we cease to grieve the Holy Spirit, and again, no one's going to be perfect in this
area, we know we're all going to mess up, but we're not just living in this continual
state of just grieving the Holy Spirit day in and day out, you know, presumptuously sinning
against God.
Even after we've gone through, you know, gotten rid of that, and we've begun to mortify the
members of our flesh, we have to be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit, which I believe
is a different work.
That's another way of, well, we'll just look at it here.
We must be careful not to quench the Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit, it's not only, is proactive not only in helping us to stop certain behaviors,
right, he's proactive in not only helping us quit certain sins, but he's also helpful
in developing godly behavior.
You know, it's not just I'm going to stop sinning and that's it, it's I'm going to,
you know, I'm going to get the sin out of my life, I'm going to clean up my life, I'm
going to stop grieving the Holy Spirit, and now he's going to work in my life, right?
He's going to, you know, if you're there in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, look at verse 19,
it says, quench not the Holy Spirit, quench not.
And how did the Holy Spirit show up on the apostles in the upper room?
Like a flame, right?
It was like the tongues of fire, tongues of a flame.
Now obviously he's not doing that today, okay, but he's likened unto fire.
I mean, and how do you put out a candle often?
You quench it, right?
You lick the fingers and you quench things like that.
So in a way, you know, part of the ministry of the Holy Ghost isn't just trying to get
us to stop doing certain things, but he's also trying to, you know, light a fire under
us as the saying goes, trying to get us motivated in another direction.
So we might understand, well, I'm going to mortify the flesh, I'm not going to do these
certain sins, but now the Holy Spirit's trying to get us to go in another direction and now
we have to be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit, not to put out that work, that flame
that he's trying to light under us.
So quench not the Holy Spirit, and that's what I want to look at a little bit more closely
tonight, because again, or this morning rather, because of the fact that, you know, grieving
the Holy Spirit's pretty obvious.
Everyone probably understands that you can grieve the Holy Spirit and how that's done.
But you know, quenching the Holy Spirit, and I think sometimes people forget this part
of it, not only are you not to grieve the Holy Spirit, you're also not to quench the
Holy Spirit.
Meaning, once he starts that work in your life, be careful not to quench that.
Be careful not to resist that.
Don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Are you still in Galatians 5?
Galatians chapter 5, we all know the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the afflictions and lust.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So notice again, this is the fruit of the Spirit.
You know, there is fruit that the Spirit will bear in your life, and it's attitudes.
It's love.
It's joy.
It's peace.
It's longsuffering.
It's faith.
It's meekness.
It's temperance.
And if we find ourselves lacking these areas, we might want to ask ourselves, am I quenching
the Holy Spirit?
You know, maybe I've cleaned up my life.
Maybe I've gotten some things right.
But are these things being developed?
And if we got to say, well, you know, I'm lacking here.
You know, I don't have the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and so on and so forth.
The gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
I don't have all these things.
You know, some of this is lacking.
Well, maybe it's because you've been quenching the Holy Spirit in that area.
I mean, we're glad that we've cleaned up our lives and we're getting the sin out, but let's
not stop there.
Let's let the Holy Spirit develop these attributes in our lives.
And these are attributes that the Spirit must bring forth in your life.
And again, you know, this is why this is an important subject, and I hope everyone's paying
attention because you need the ministry of the Holy Ghost in your life for this.
If this is what you want, who wants love?
Who wants joy?
Who wants peace?
Who wants longsuffering?
Who wants all these things?
I know I do.
Well, guess what?
You're only going to get it through the Holy Spirit.
That's the only way you're going to get it.
That's the fruit of the Spirit.
You can't just drum this up in your life.
You can't fake this.
This can't be counterfeited by some force of will.
You've either got this or you don't, okay?
And the only way to get it is through the ministry of the Holy Ghost.
And we're real good about not grieving the Holy Spirit, but I feel like a lot of times
we can lack big time in this area where we quench the Holy Spirit, where we don't understand
the importance of His ministry in our lives to develop these attributes.
So this requires, you know, and you say, well, why is it, why do people lack?
Because this requires effort.
I understand that this is the ministry of the Holy Ghost.
This is the fruit that He brings forth in your life.
But you know what, you have a part to play in that too.
The work of the Holy Spirit, it's cooperative, okay?
You know, it's between Him and us.
It goes both ways.
You can't, you can't drum this up, but you know what, you do have to put off the old
man to put on the new.
You know, it's like you can't just, you know, you can't wear a pair of, I mean, you can,
but you're going to look ridiculous, right?
I'm going to put on my jeans and I'm going to put on a pair of shorts and I'm ready for
everything.
You can't wear one or the other unless you want to walk around looking like a moron,
right?
And you can't wear it, you can't put on, walk around on the old man and expect to be walking
around like the new man.
You got, if you want the Holy Spirit to clothe you with these attributes, to give you the
love, the joy, the peace, the long suffering, the faith, the meek, the temperance, so on
and so forth, you have to be willing to put off the old man.
Go over to Romans chapter six.
He says in Ephesians chapter four that you put off concerning the former conversation
of the old man.
You're going to Romans six, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.
Who has to put on the new man this morning?
You do.
You have to put him on.
And when God sees us putting off the old man and trying to put on the new day in and day
out, that's when the Holy Spirit begins to bear fruit in our life because we're being
filled by the Spirit.
The Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new.
We already have that new man, but you know it's possible for a Christian to walk around
like a dead man, to walk around that old stinking flesh and just walk like that.
He's like a walking dead man.
If he does not put off the old man and put on the new, the new creature's there.
He's there to put on.
The Holy Spirit's there to fill.
The Holy Spirit's there to give these things.
The question is, do we want them in our lives?
He said, lie not one with another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds
and have put on the new man which was renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that
created him.
So there's the putting off of the old man and his deeds.
How do you put off the old man?
Mortifying the flesh, getting these sins out.
And then there's the putting on the new man.
And we'll look at what that involves, that putting on in a minute, the specifics, the
behavior that we would, you know, that we would display if we were actually trying to
do that.
You're in Romans 8, look at verse 4.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Oh, another sermon on the Holy Spirit, that's not really that interesting.
Well, you know what?
You must not be after the Spirit then.
You must not mind the things of the Spirit.
You know, the people that are minding the things of the Spirit, they like to hear about
the things of the Spirit.
Say, oh, another sermon on the Holy Spirit, great, yeah, I'm interested in that because
I'm walking in the Spirit.
Look at verse 9.
But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.
If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth
in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.
But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.
He said there at the end, if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body.
Going back to the original point of not grieving the Spirit, well, I don't want to grieve the
Holy Spirit anymore.
Well, then you need to mortify the deeds of the body through the Spirit.
You start to see how important the ministry of the Holy Ghost is this morning, how much
we really need it if we want to live a godly life, if we really want to get some sins out
of our life, if we really want to start to manifest the fruits of the Spirit in our life,
you need him.
You need to have that.
He's the one that's going to help you mortify the deeds of the body.
Verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.
Look, this is a privilege that not everybody has.
If you are a child of God this morning, you have the unique privilege of being led by
the Spirit of God.
I'd say that's a pretty big deal.
Name whatever celebrity you want.
I have no interest in meeting them if it means I don't get to meet the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit or whoever.
I'm going to probably start listing names that nobody even recognizes, except for the
other older people.
But that's who I want to lead me, and that's who I want to lead you.
And if you're born again, you're saved, and I'm assuming everybody is, you are in that
position of being led by the Holy Spirit, but it's not automatic.
Now the ceiling's automatic, we already talked about that, but being led, that's not automatic.
The filling of the Holy Spirit, not automatic.
You have to put off the old man, you have to put on the new, that requires effort on
our part.
So let's talk about that.
How are you going to foster the work of the Holy Ghost in your life?
How are you going to foster the working of the Holy Ghost in your life?
And if you're looking for some super exciting new formula, go down to the Pentecostal Church,
and they'll throw some oil and water in your face or whatever they do, and they'll have
you standing around in a circle babbling in tongues, and you can walk out feeling like
you're filled with the Holy Spirit, but that's not the truth.
That might be exciting, it might get the flesh all worked up, but that's not how it works.
How are you going to foster the working of the Holy Ghost in your life?
It's nothing new.
You know what, and if you're of the Spirit, you'll get excited about it, but if you're
of the flesh, you're just going to be like, oh, that again, that again, how about this?
Go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
Let's just look at some of the things that he told us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, where
he told us not to quench the Holy Spirit.
How are you going to foster it?
If you're not going to quench him, how are you going to encourage the working of the
Holy Ghost in your life?
Pray without ceasing, verse 17.
Prayer.
Well, that doesn't sound very exciting.
That's what's there.
Ask the Holy Spirit for it, like you really want it.
Go to Luke chapter 11.
Keep something in 1 Thessalonians 5.
Go to Luke 11.
People are like, oh, yeah, I know I'm supposed to ask for the Holy Ghost.
Dear Lord, fill me with your Spirit.
You think God's going to fill that prayer?
That's just like, oh, I just know I'm supposed to say that, and if I just say these magic
words, I'll get the Holy Spirit.
That's not how it works.
God's not just this vending machine where if you pour in a certain amount of coins,
oh, you get the Holy Spirit now.
God gives the Holy Spirit to people who actually want it.
The people who really want the Holy Spirit, they're the ones that are going to get it.
Look at Luke 11, chapter 5, and he said unto them, Luke 11, 5, which of you shall have
a friend and shall go unto him at midnight, and saying to him, friend, lend me three loaves,
for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.
And he from within shall answer and say, trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children
are with me in bed.
Now, again, this is a friend coming to a friend.
Look, I'm willing to help my friends, but at some time, some parts of the day are better
than others to get help from me.
Now, if you call me up at two in the morning and say, hey, I need to borrow a cup of sugar,
I'll be like, come back in the morning.
This is inappropriate.
And that's what's kind of going on in the story.
This guy's saying, hey, lend me three loaves, and what's he saying back to him?
He said, trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are in bed with me.
I cannot rise and give thee.
So I'm trying to go to bed, dude.
I got a long day tomorrow.
You know, quit bugging me.
I cannot rise and give thee.
Verse eight, I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend,
yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall
be opened unto you.
What are you saying?
Because of his importunity, because he keeps asking and asking and asking, because he's
bugging him.
He said, no, I need it.
Then he's going to say, ah, quit bothering me, here, take it.
It's not going to matter what hour of the day it is.
And that's the analogy that Jesus is using here.
Verse nine, and I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you.
But don't, not just like, oh, yeah, I'd like to have that.
I mean, really ask.
I mean, who's ever just given something to their kids because they just kept asking for
it and asking for it?
I've been worn down like that, I'm not going to lie.
Dad, I want a dog.
We'll get one, we'll get one, we'll get one.
Guess what?
Pugs on the way.
Pugs growing up right now, they're going to be here in a few weeks.
And if you know anything about me lately, I'm not a big fan of dogs lately.
I feel like I own like six just from where I live.
I've got dogs on all sides.
But you know what?
They kept asking, just showing, I really want it, I really want this.
Is that how we are about the Holy Ghost?
That's how we should be, because we saw how important the working of the Holy Spirit
is in our lives.
You need to have it, or you're not going to have these fruits, you're not going to put
off the old man, you're not going to walk in the newness of life without the filling
of the Holy Ghost.
It's just not going to happen.
So are we asking for it?
Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto
you.
You know, he's talking about seeking.
Have you ever lost something and really looked for it?
My wife can tell story after story, and I mean, I get mad when I lose things.
It's not even the fact that I need it, it's the fact that I lost it at all.
It just bugs me.
Like, I know I had it yesterday and now it's gone.
I mean, I'll tear things apart.
Now when I do it, I've grown up a little bit where I tell myself, I just say, calm down,
take a deep breath, and look for it very carefully.
It's because you usually look right at it several times, right?
But that's not just this like, where did that go, oh well.
That's not the kind of seeking he's talking here.
Oh yeah, I forgot that.
I guess I'll get that later.
When he's saying seeking, like you're looking for it, you're trying to find it.
You have to have it.
Seek and ye shall find.
It's there to those who really want to find.
Knock and it shall be opened.
For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh,
it shall be opened.
If a son asks bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?
Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If he should ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much of your heavenly
father give what?
The Holy Spirit.
You say, oh it's not about the Holy Spirit.
That's exactly what it's about.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give gifts unto your children, look, is God better than
us?
Does God know how to give better than us?
Oh yeah.
You know, and we're evil, and we still, we're kind to our children, and we're his children.
We're led, you know, we are led by the Spirit of God.
We are the sons of God.
We are the children of God.
So if we go to God and say, I want the Holy Spirit, is he going to give it to us or not?
Of course he is.
He's going to give it to us if we ask, if we ask in sincerity, if we're really wanting
it.
And God knows our hearts.
If we're sincerely wanting the Holy Spirit, the problem is a lot of times we lack it because
we don't really want it.
Because we're really not that interested in it.
Because the way he ought to go about getting it, what do you mean prayer?
I mean, it'd be a lot more exciting if I just said, hey, I got this bottle of water up here,
I'm just going to start sprinkling the crowd, and whatever.
And then we're all just going to jump around, we'll get the rock band up here, and then
we're all going to be filled with the Spirit, right?
No, all you've done, you're just, you have a high, it's just your heart rate's been accelerated.
You're full of oxygen, you know, or maybe even a devil, who knows?
Right?
But that would be more exciting, but, you know, it's pretty exciting to me to think
that I can pray and be heard by God, and he gives me his Holy Spirit.
To me, that's exciting.
You know, it's a dull exercise only to those who lack faith.
If that's dull to you, well, if I just, you mean just pray, that sounds kind of boring.
It's because you might not really believe it.
Maybe you really haven't let that settle in on you.
It's dull only to those who lack the faith.
Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
So how are you going to foster the work of the Holy Spirit?
It's important not to grieve him.
It's also important not to quench him when he starts to work in your life.
And you know, you want to kindle that fire, right, not put it out.
We want more of the Holy Ghost in our life working in our lives.
How are we going to get that?
Through prayer.
You know, real quick, verse 18, in everything, give thanks.
Notice it says they're in everything, not just for everything, but in everything.
You know, the tribulations that you're going to go through, the hard times that are bound
to come, you know, that's when you should be giving God, you should still, even in that
moment, give God thanks, right, for this is the will of God concerning you.
God gives to those that are grateful, you know, those that give thanks for what they
get.
You ever give to somebody and they're just, you could tell they take it for granted?
It's like, well, that's the last time I want to give that guy anything.
You ever have a child who's like that and you just kind of said, well, maybe not next
week, you know, maybe you're not going to get any more of that.
But the ones that are thankful that they appreciate what they're given, they get more.
God will give us, so give thanks and everything.
Okay, look at verse 19, quench not the spirit, that's what we're talking about, right?
And despise not prophesying.
You know, go to church.
You want to get filled with the Holy Spirit, go to church.
There I said it, all right?
Go to church.
You know, and I preach about that a lot, and it's not because I need people to come here
and make me feel important, you know?
I need, I want people to come to church for their benefit.
I mean, I had a great church.
I still got a great church.
You know, Faithful Word Baptist Church, Tempe.
I like sitting in the pew and being preached at.
I like it.
You know, but I'm doing this to help other people because I want other people to grow
in Christ.
I want other people to know the fullness of the Holy Ghost.
I want other people to get involved in the work of Christ and save souls and raise families
and so on and so forth and all the things that come along with that.
But that's what he says here, quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, preaching.
That's what prophesying are.
The preaching of God's Word, the prophets getting up and preaching God's Word.
Where does that happen?
Happens right here in church.
Three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday.
You know, and here's the thing.
If you're dragging yourself into church, I'm just going to go ahead and say, you're not
filled with the spirit.
Now I get sometimes we have to, you know, had a long day at work and whatever and we
got to get there and we're just physically tired.
But if we're waking up on Sunday morning, it's like we're refreshed, wife made a great
breakfast, whatever, we've got no excuse and it's just like, oh, it's time to go to church
now.
And you got that kind of an attitude, you're not filled with the spirit.
A person who fills the spirit is going to say, I can't wait to hear what God's Word
says this morning.
They're going to be there.
I can't wait to praise God in song.
I can't wait to meet the brethren and have fellowship with those that are like-minded
like me.
That's what a spirit-filled person, that's how they're going to, you know, the attitude
they're going to have.
Not just this, oh, I guess I got to go to church and show my face.
So you know, quench not the spirit.
Prove all things, he says in verse 21.
Hold fast that which is good.
Prove all things.
Now, how are you going to prove all things?
By reading your Bible.
Look, this is nothing new.
I know.
I know it's nothing new.
But these are the things that people lack the most, the basics, the fundamentals that
keep them from having the fullness of the Holy Ghost.
This is what causes them to quench the spirit in their life.
God, you know, the spirit's trying to move, the spirit's trying to work, get in church,
pray.
He wants you to read the Bible so he can speak to you, but we just don't do it.
These are the areas that people struggle and these are the basics that we need to get down
once and for all in our life and make sure we don't let them slip.
Prove all things which are good.
You know, take the Bible, open it up.
Is what the preacher's saying right?
Is what I'm hearing right?
Let me prove it.
You know, let me be like the Bereans, you know, who search the Scriptures daily to see
whether these things be so.
Let me be noble like they were.
Read your Bible.
Verse 22, abstain from all appearance of evil.
Now, notice he didn't just say abstain from evil, he said abstain from all appearance
of evil.
He's saying even if it just looks evil, even if it's not inherently evil, abstain from
it.
Just don't even go there.
You know, what's this talking about?
Living a holy life.
Live a sanctified, set-apart life.
That's what God wants for you.
And look at verse 23, and the very God of peace shall sanctify you holy.
Now, what does it mean to be sanctified?
We talked about it just recently, it means to be set apart, right?
If you do all these things, God's going to set you apart unto himself, you know, a vessel
meet for the master's use.
That's what you'll be to God.
If you do all these things, all these just basic, fundamental, lackluster, mundane, day
in, day out things that we need to do as Christians, pray, read our Bibles, go to church, get the
sin out, live a separated life.
If we'll do those things, what are we going to get?
We're going to have God, the God of peace, sanctifying us holy.
That sounds like a pretty good trade-off to me.
And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So if we desire to be filled with the spirit this morning, you have to be willing to walk
in the spirit.
Say, well, I don't want to grieve the spirit, that's great, but you know, that's like, that's
like first base.
That's like, you know, step one in the Christian life, stop sinning, you know?
Stop grieving the spirit.
Okay, well, what about not quenching him?
What about even going beyond that and saying, not only am I not going to grieve him, not
only am I not going to quench him, I'm actually going to try and foster and encourage the
Holy Spirit in my life, through prayer, through Bible reading, so on and so forth.
Well, then you're going to have to be willing to walk in the spirit.
You know, it's called walking because it takes effort.
It's putting one foot in front of the other.
You know, here's the thing, when it comes to walking in the spirit or the flesh, it's
one or the other, like I said earlier.
You can't have a bit of both.
You can't have a little bit of sin and a little bit of the Holy Spirit.
It's one or the other in our Christian lives.
You can't have both.
So the challenge this morning that I'm putting out there is, decide what you want for your
life.
Decide what you want.
Do you want the pleasures of sin for a season?
Because we're not stupid.
I mean, why do you think people sin?
Because there's pleasure to be found in it.
It's for a season, though, right?
Is that what we want?
The pleasures of sin for a season with all its shame, with all its regret, with all its
consequences?
Or do you want to be filled with the Spirit?
Do you want to have the fruit of the Spirit this morning?
Which do you want?
One of them is going to offer you, you know, that carnal satisfaction, right?
That pleasure.
The other one is going to offer us what?
What is the Holy Spirit going to give us?
Joy, peace, love beyond comparison.
So that we in all things can thank God.
No matter what happens in our life, we're like, well, I got the Holy Spirit, I'm saved.
No matter what goes on, I'm still praising God.
If you desire to be filled with the Spirit, then you're going to have to endeavor.
You're going to have to put forth the effort not to grieve Him, not to quench Him, you
know, not to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit, by which what?
We have been sealed.
You know, we're already sealed by the Spirit.
You know, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
We already have life in the Spirit.
That's the direction we're already headed.
Why would we resist God?
Why would we be like that, you know, dog who doesn't want to go for a walk?
You know, just keeps pulling on the leash.
You know, we're going to get there eventually.
We can go kicking or screaming and get, you know, drugged all the way there to heaven.
Or you know, we could go happily along and God would guide us and lead us, help us to
avoid certain pitfalls and, you know, take in some nice scenery at the same time.
But if that's what you want for your life, if you want the filling of the Holy Spirit,
it doesn't come automatic.
There's a process involved and, you know, we should want it because we desperately need
it in our lives.
Let's go ahead and pray.