First Thessalonians 5 Part 7 Do Not Quench Or Grieve The Holy Spirit Of God

1 Thessalonians 5:19  Quench not the Spirit. 

What does it mean to "quench the Spirit"? It is obvious Paul is warning all Christians not to quench the Spirit and that quenching Him is not something we should do.

The Greek word means to put out a fire by dumping a generous amount of sand, dirt and water on it. 

Thus, certain wrong actions on our part can lead to quenching the Holy Spirit because we interfere with His work in trying to make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Quenching by refusing to heed the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

Genesis 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 

During the time that Noah built the ark, he preached about the righteousness of God and judgment for sin via a global  flood (See 1 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 2:5).

Remember that fire is a symbol of the Spirit of God. When He came on the day of Pentecost, cloven tongues of fire appeared on the heads of the disciples that day (Acts 2:1-3).

Therefore, quenching the Spirit of God is a very apt metaphor to warn us not to resist His work in our heart. We must not participate in anything that impedes His sanctifying and purifying work. 

Therefore, God sets a time limit on how long His Spirit will work in our hearts. Repeated failure on our part, to hear and heed what He is saying to us, will result in His work in us being extinguished or quenched. 

Do not resist what the Spirit is working into our heart. 

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 

The fruit of the Spirit is love. If we happen to respond with hate when someone says or does something to us that we don't like, then we can be guilty of quenching the Spirit. 

If we allow ourselves to become a people who murmur, complain or have bitter hearts, we can quench the Spirit because His fruit is joy.

If we are known for being a troublemaker, then we run the risk of quenching the Spirit. Jesus said that the peacemakers are blessed, not those who stir up strife.

If we have short tempers and explode with anger in our dealings with others, when He is trying to help us to become longsuffering with others, then we may quench the Spirit. 

If we have a harsh, haughty spirit toward others when the Holy Spirit is trying to help us become gentle hearted people, then we may quench His work in us.

When the Holy Spirit is having His way in our heart, we will be faithful, not faithless. We will have good character in us rather than having a bad reputation. 

We will be meek because our Lord Jesus was meek. We will not have an unyielding spirit that disobeys the will of God for us.

We will be known as a temperate, emotionally controlled Christian who is moderate in all things, rather than being disagreeable, unpleasant or given to excess.

To put it simply, as we review the fruit that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in our lives then we will quench or stifle what He wants to do in our heart.  

If we resist His work or refuse to follow when He leads us or just ignore Him altogether, then we will certainly quench His efforts to conform us to the image of Christ. 

A fire can be extinguished by throwing dirt on it or by pouring water on it. 

Quenching the Spirit's sanctifying work in us happens when the water of our bad spirit, corrupt attitude or self centeredness pours into our heart. It displaces and quenches Him from producing holy fruit in us.

However, the idea of putting out a fire by throwing dirt on it, is a picture of our sinful choices and immoral actions quenching His purifying work in us. 

Grieving the Spirit is closely connected with quenching Him.

Ephesians 4:26-32  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27)  Neither give place to the devil. 28)  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29)  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30)  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31)  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32)  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 

What is grieving the Spirit? It is doing things that dishonor God, that cause others to blaspheme His holy name. 

Thus, grieving the Spirit is comparable to throwing dirt on a fire to extinguish its flames. A heart filled with anger, wrath, malice or evil toward others, certainly grieves the Spirit. 

Corrupt communication from our mouths, or posts, and pushing people away from Christ Jesus also grieves the Spirit of God. 

If we are hardhearted and refuse to forgive others as Christ forgave us, we are quenching the Spirit.

These are sins that we commit and in so doing we have polluted our minds or body. 

God's Spirit lives in us. We must seek to glorify God.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20)  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

Our physical body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. Our body and spirit no longer belong to us to do with as we please. 

God bought us by redeeming us with the blood of Christ. We now belong to Jesus our Lord. We are adopted into the family of God and are his sons and daughters.

Therefore, we must not grieve or quench the Spirit of God by our sinful thoughts, words or actions.

We are called to live a holy life, honor God and to not quench His Spirit. 

2 Corinthians 6:14-18  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15)  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16)  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18)  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

Paul as guided by the Holy Spirit, tells us we must live a life of separation. We must separate ourselves from a wicked, corrupt culture. 

We must separate ourselves from evil doers. We must separate ourselves from those who reject the truth of scripture.

Our Father tells us to not fall into sin and to avoid all that is unclean in our culture. He is our Father and we are His children. 

If we are guilty of quenching or grieving His Spirit, then we must confess our sin, forsake it, and receive His cleansing as He has promised to do (See 1 John 1:7 to 2:2).

May we earnestly examine our lives to make sure that we are not doing anything that would hinder the work of God's Spirit in our heart. 

May our Lord strengthen our resolve to follow hard after Jesus.

Bob