Next week, not this week. Tonight we continue
our electives. What a tremendous crowd last Sunday
night. And I hope that you'll join us tonight
even if you weren't able to be here last week.
There is a brochure available out in the lobby
if you'd like to know what electives are available.
Still room for you and I think most of them.
A couple of them may be filled but you can check
tonight and there surely will be room somewhere
for you to fit in. Well, this week is an important
week. Does anybody know what day it contains?
Groundhog Day was last week. Washington's birthday
is next week. This is Valentine's week, right?
And I'm sure all of you remembered that and probably
have already ordered your corsage or your candy
for your sweetheart. Correct? Now you will. It's
one thing to say that we love someone, it's another
thing to show it. Words without actions are not
very meaningful, are they? This is an opportunity
for you to show that one that you say you love,
that you really do love her or love him. Likewise,
we say that we love Jesus Christ, and we have
sung that this morning, but I wonder if we love
what Jesus loves. If we love someone, we will
want to spend time with them. We will want to
be involved in the same things that they enjoy.
Is that true with Jesus? Do we spend time with
him and are we involved in that which is the
delight of his heart? You say, well, what is
the delight of his heart? Well, the answer is
not hard to come up with. The answer is the church.
For he loved the church and he gave himself for
the church. Jesus Christ loves His church. And
you and I are called upon to love it as well
and to show our love in ways beyond words. That's
what the apostle begins to talk about in our
text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Today we're
just going to take the first four verses of this
longer paragraph. It begins in verse 19 where
it says, Do not quench the spirit, do not despise
prophetic utterances, but examine everything
carefully, hold fast to what is good, abstain
from every form of evil. The duty of the believer
to the local church, a duty that comes out of
love in his heart for Christ and for what Christ
loved, is that duty can be stated in three simple
ideas that are found at the end of this chapter.
This morning we're going to deal with the first
one, be sensitive to the Spirit. If you and I
want to love what Jesus loves, the Church, we
must do so, first of all, by being sensitive
to the Holy Spirit. In being sensitive to the
Holy Spirit, we thus become a responsible member
of the Church. I remind you that the ministry
of the Holy Spirit is not peripheral to the Church.
That, in fact, the ministry of the Holy Spirit
is central to what we are all about. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians, the 12th chapter, where
we find in verse 13 this tremendous truth. He
says, For by one spirit, 1 Corinthians 12 -13,
we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free. He says we
were, past tense, all, every one of us, whether
carnal or spiritual, mature in the Lord or brand
new babe in Christ, we were all baptized into
one body. This, my friend, is the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. We are never commanded to seek
the baptism of the Holy Spirit because we need
not. It happens to us automatically at the moment
that we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
The result of that baptism is that we are placed
into one body, identified with each other and
Jesus Christ as our head. And he says, we were
all made to drink of one Spirit. We all partake
of that life that he alone can give. He unites
us to Jesus Christ and to Christ's earthly body.
And then the Holy Spirit likewise gifts us, at
the same time, the moment we're saved. Notice
in verse 7, to each one, is given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common good. And then he
lists a number of the gifts. And he says in verse
11, but one in the same Spirit works all these
things, distributing to each one, individually,
just as he wills. The Holy Spirit is not a peripheral
issue with regard to the church. We wouldn't
be the church. if it weren't for the Holy Spirit.
We wouldn't be gifted to serve Jesus Christ as
we are if it weren't for the Holy Spirit. He
sovereignly chooses which gifts you and I will
have to develop and use for Christ in this lifetime.
We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. That
is our duty to the church and our duty to the
Christ whom we say we love. If we want to send
him a valentine this week, let it say this on
it, Jesus, I love you and I love your church.
If we love the church, we will be sensitive to
the Holy Spirit, being sensitive to the Holy
Spirit is defined for us in the text we've read
this morning. To be sensitive to the Spirit means
in the first place not to quench the Spirit.
Not to quench the Spirit. He is present within
the church as its very life. We have all been
made to drink of Him. He is the source of life
and of power. in the church. Just as a fire in
the belly of a steam locomotive heats that boiler
and produces steam, giving it the power to move
those gigantic wheels and to pull that train.
So the Holy Spirit is the fire within the bosom
of Christ's body, the church. which produces
the power and the energy to get the job done
God left us here to do. Do not quench this fire.
To quench him does not mean to entirely extinguish
him, for he is God. He can't be completely extinguished,
he cannot be suffocated or destroyed, but he
can be opposed, he can be resisted. We can say
no to Him. And when we do, we quench Him. The
way that the apostle expresses this is in the
imperative, and it's continuous, it's present.
And so he is really saying, stop quenching the
Spirit, if you interpret it one way. The suggestion
may be here that in fact the Thessalonians were
doing some things which were in opposition to
what the Holy Spirit wanted to do. And so Paul
says stop quenching the Spirit. Or it can be
read to mean make it the pattern of your life
never to say no to the Holy Spirit. The bottom
line is the same. We don't want to quench Him.
Although there are some who do, in my opinion,
abuse the place of the Holy Spirit in the Church,
most of us are generally much better at resisting
Him and at ignoring Him than we are at hating
and obeying Him. Benz -Havner was one of my favorite
preachers. It was a joy to meet him on several
occasions. and have him preach in a church where
I was pastoring. He had a quaint way of saying
things. On one occasion, he reminded his audience
of this verse by telling of a poorly educated
friend of his who used to say, don't squench
the spirit. His friend had unintentionally combined
the word quench and squelch and came out with
squench. And Havener says, what an appropriate
word to create. Don't squinch the spirit. He
went on to say, we squinch the spirit in more
ways than we suspect. We do so when we stifle
the desire to speak or act for the Lord. When
we criticize or discourage others by an unspiritual
attitude, we throw cold water on their inner
fire. We have the Holy Spirit as an honored guest
he says in every Christian gathering and he can
be grieved very easily a frivolous attitude a
rebellious frame of mind or a fed -up complacency
will do it and so if we want to Show our love
for the church that Jesus loves and thus love
him We will not squinch the Spirit. But if we're
going to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, it
also means not to despise prophetic utterances.
These utterances were words spoken by those who
had the gift of prophecy in their church. They
were timely words of direct revelation and exhortation
from the Lord. to his dearly beloved people.
Perhaps it was an abuse of this gift that caused
some to look down upon it, to despise it, to
make nothing of it. Or perhaps there were those
who were giving counterfeit prophecies that caused
them to overreact and to look upon prophecy with
contempt. We don't really know the source of
this command, but Paul does say, do not despise
prophetic utterances. Today we understand that
God is not giving prophecy in the sense of doctrinal,
propositional revelation. Truth has been already
delivered to us in this book, the Bible, and
with its completion, revelation ceased. We have
everything that we need in the Bible. It is sufficient
for our every need and desire. However, God does
still today give insight and wisdom to other
believers to counsel you and me and the church.
In one sense, these are prophetic utterances.
You see, God does. put timely words into the
mouths of others to give us counsel or exhortation.
It's important to understand that these utterances,
if they're of God, must always, without exception,
be consistent with the Bible. But based upon
the principles of the Word and people's insight
of us that God may give them, They are able to
deliver to us prophetic utterances, and we must
be careful not to despise them. We will be sensitive
to the Holy Spirit when we take time to listen
to what others are saying through the body of
Christ. When we take time to hear the voice of
God speaking to us through them, we must not
despise the ministry of others in the body to
us. They can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit
to us sometimes when we have a hard time hearing
it. And because of that, we are to consider and
to weigh what they have to say. We must listen,
of course, to the proclaimed Word of God. When
we hear the Word of God preached and applied
to our lives. It is being done so that we might
hear the voice of God and take heed and obey
what God has to say. We must not despise prophetic
utterances in that way either. Tragedy and loss
comes to us when we do not listen to God. Two
young women lost their lives in a fire that swept
through their apartment some time ago. Ironically,
their apartment was equipped with smoke detectors
which were in good working order, but they died
of smoke inhalation. Why had these smoke detectors
failed to operate? Well, they wanted to find
out and so the fire inspectors examined them.
and found that there had been a party in the
house the night before. Because they did not
want the smoke alarms going off during the party,
they deactivated them and forgot to reconnect
them when the party was done. Consequently, tragedy
struck that night and they lost their lives.
You and I need to be aware of disconnecting our
hearts. from the voice of God. For when we do
that, we leave ourselves vulnerable and in danger
of tragedy in our lives. Do not despise the voice
of the Spirit of God. Be sensitive to Him. And
if you and I would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit
and thus love the Church, this church, the local
church that Jesus loves, then we must finally
examine everything carefully. It is not a compliment
to any of us to recognize that we live in a day
when many Christians are naive and gullible.
There are too many Christians who believe everything
they're told, if it's claimed that that's true
or it came from God. I've heard people applaud
and listen carefully to those who've said they've
died and gone to hell and come back to life or
died and gone to heaven and come back to life
and people sit at their feet and they're put
on television shows and proclaimed. Examine carefully
what is said to come from God. He tells us to
do that. Any test, of course, requires a definite
standard. If you're a student, you know that
when you take a test, the teacher will receive
the results from you and will compare your answers
to what's in the answer book. Because those answers
in the answer book determine the standard. And
what you put down is measured according to the
standard. Now, what is the standard when it comes
to these utterances of prophecy. What is claimed
to be from God? What is the test? Well, the test
has to be definite. So what can be definite?
Well, of course, the Word of God. We must measure.
We must put to the test everything by the Word
of God. Whether that be counsel that someone
may give us, that they say the Lord told them,
or it's someone who's preaching from the pulpit
of the church. We must put to the test what is
said by the Word of God. That's our responsibility
if we love the church. I remember an occasion
when a friend who moved to another state and
got involved in a different kind of ministry,
wrote me a letter and said, I know why you left
your former church. God told me. And he said,
you need to deal with the spirit of fear in your
life. God told me that you left that church because
you were afraid of throat cancer. Now, before
God, I want to tell you, throat cancer had never
entered my mind until that point. I had to put
to the test what this brother was saying to me.
He got his message somewhere, but it wasn't the
Holy Spirit. We have to put to the test everything.
We can put to the test, put it to the test of
the authoritative traditions of the apostles.
That's what Paul was talking about here to the
Thessalonians. They had limited written revelation
at this point. Now today there are no apostles.
We don't have to really worry about this. But
in those days, in addition to the Old Testament
scriptures, they had the authoritative traditions
that the apostles were passing on to them. Perhaps
another test might be pointed to, which is valid
today, and that is the nature and the result
of the prophecy. Did this person who gave you
the word, did that result in growth? Did it result
in maturity in your life, or was it something
less? There are some people who Have been told
that it is God's will for them to leave their
wives and their families and to go off to live
With a group of Christians in a communal situation
Can that in fact be a voice from God? Well in
the first place such a thing is absolutely contradictory
to the Bible But secondly it did not produce
maturity and growth it produced disaster Now
he says, when you've put it to the test, hang
on to what is good, what's past the standard.
If you don't do that, you're quenching the spirit.
But on the other hand, what has been found to
be evil, which may mean what has been found to
be false, pseudo -prophecies, he says treat those
with contempt. Not to do that is to quench the
spirit. In these sentences we have briefly outlined
for us what it means to be sensitive to the Holy
Spirit. Paul lays down for us the importance
of the ministry of the Spirit of God in our midst.
How do we apply this idea to ourselves living
many centuries later? Well, we've done some of
that. But let me conclude by saying that we apply
this idea of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit
by the choices that we make every day of our
lives. We choose either to quench the Spirit
by refusing His voice, opposing His leading,
by believing anything that comes along, by not
giving heed to the Word of God and obeying it.
we quench the Spirit. Or we choose to be sensitive
to the Holy Spirit who lives in us by heeding
His voice. There are two kinds of yielding to
the Spirit of God that we need to think about.
There seems to be the kind of yielding that Romans
12 .1 suggests. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice to God. It might be called an initial
yielding to the Holy Spirit. It's the same kind
of idea that's found in Romans, chapter 6, where
I would like you to turn. And verse 13. Romans
6, 13. He says, do not go on presenting the members
of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness.
Now that first present is in the present tense.
It means do not do what you're now doing. Do
not, as a habit of life, present the members
of your body to sin so that sin can abuse you.
But, he says, present yourselves to God." It's
the same verb, but it's a different way of saying
it. Here he means, present once and for all yourselves
to God as those alive from the dead and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Here we have a definite yielding to the Holy
Spirit, to God's will, which brings blessing
in our lives and our usefulness to him. It is
a once and for all decision to accept God's rule
as the basis of life. It doesn't have reference
to any particular concern or issue. It is a yielding
that says, I accept the will of God for my life
even though I don't even know at this point what
that means. It's an initial yielding. But there's
a different kind of yielding which our text really
speaks to. And that's what I would call a daily
yielding. A daily yielding. Which is a surrender
with regard to specific direction that God may
give us. Or a yielding with regard to a particular
struggle that we're having at that moment. It
is a reiteration. of Christ's right to rule in
our life. And it needs to happen every day. To
be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and thus yielded
to the will of God is a duty. And not to be sensitive
to the Holy Spirit and not to be yielded to the
will of God is to live in disobedience and in
sin. We're talking about an obligation on our
part. If we say that we love Jesus, then it means
that we must love what Jesus loves, His church.
And if we love His church and we love Jesus,
we must be sensitive. to the Holy Spirit. Have
you come to that place in your life where there's
been that initial yielding? Where in your walk
with God you have driven the stake down and you
have said, I do not know what the will of God
is for my life, but at this moment I am choosing
to present myself and all that I am to Him. And
if you've done that, are you daily yielding to
the Lordship of Christ in your life? Are you
being sensitive to the Holy Spirit? A number
of years ago, back in the horse and buggy days,
there was a man who was driving along a road
with his wife and their buggy. And they came
to a place where there was a sharp ravine on
her side of the buggy. And the road was narrow
and she got scared and so she reached over and
she grabbed one of the reins to the horse. Now
her husband reacted calmly to the situation.
He simply offered to her the other rein. And
she said, oh no, I don't want both of them. And
he said, well my dear, we can't both have. rain
to the horse. And then she realized that by grabbing
the rain she had really endangered her life and
she put the rain back in her husband's hand and
on they went safely. Isn't that something like
what we do? We come to a point in life where
there's a ravine where we think we are in danger
or where we're going to experience something
that we might not enjoy and we reach over and
we grab one of the reins from God not both of
them were Christians after all But one of them
and somehow we think that that gives us security
When we have done just the opposite we have made
a very foolish decision The wisest decision we
can make is to simply put the reins in the hands
of God and say drive on Lord. I'm talking to
some people this morning who are sitting in the
buggy with one of the reins in your hand. And
the Lord is saying here you take the other one
too or else give them both to me. And you know
what needs to happen. Will you let him have the
reins? Will you let him be the one to guide you?
Will you yield to him either in that important,
that all -important initial surrender or in a
surrender over some particular issue that has
arisen since that perhaps was done years ago
in your life? Let's pray together. There was
a young man one time who was having a difficult
time in his walk with God. He knew that God wanted
him to do a particular thing and yet he struggled
with that because he wasn't willing at that point
to do it. His godly mother, desiring to be a
ministry to him, took some construction paper
and out of the construction paper she made six
letters that simply said L -E -T. Her point was,
let God have His way. And she put those on the
desk in his room. He saw them, was convicted
by them, knew what they meant, was not willing
to let God have His way, and so he went out the
door and slammed it as he went. And coming back
some time later, he went to his desk and realized
that when he had slammed the door, A gust of
wind was created which took the D away from those
six letters, leaving let go on his desk. And
God used that to strike his heart and break him.
And he yielded to the will of Jesus Christ in
his life. My friend, that's your need and mine
this morning, too, to let go. and to let God
have His way. I wonder if you're here and you
need to make that initial yielding to Jesus Christ.
And you would be willing to say, I will love
Jesus Christ and I will be sensitive to the Holy
Spirit and yield myself to Him. And I am making
this once and for all decision. I'm putting down
my stake this morning. If that's your case, would
you stand where you are? This is my once and
for all decision. I'm yielding myself to God's
will. I'm presenting myself and the instruments
of my body, the members of my body to Him. Just
stand where you are. Just to let go. God bless
you. I would imagine there are many here who
have done that, but there may be some issues,
particular specific issues that have arisen.
And you need to say, I will let go and let God
have His way. I surrender today and I will tomorrow
to the Holy Spirit. I'll be sensitive to Him.
I've not heard His voice. I've been struggling
with God. But I yield today Would you also stand
This is not the initial you've done that but
now there are some particular issues and struggles
in your life And you're saying I will yield to
the Holy Spirit God bless you God will honor
your decision God bless you It will open new
channels of usefulness of God in your life. I
yield to the Holy Spirit to be sensitive to him.
Let's all stand together now. Father, I thank
you for these who have responded in a particular
way to your voice in their lives today and whatever
those issues are. May they be fully. dealt with
by yieldedness, by a fresh sensitivity to the
Holy Spirit. Sing with me. Mold me and make me
after thy will. While I am waiting, yielded and
still. Lord Jesus, we love you. And we want to
prove that love by loving what you love, the
church. We recognize that part of our responsibility
in loving the church is to be sensitive to the
Holy Spirit because the way that we each treat
the Holy Spirit affects all of us. And so as
we walk out from here today, it is with a sense
of yieldedness and waiting upon you and excitement
to know what the next step is in our adventure.
in your will and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.