Transcript: Quenching the Holy Spirit: Signs and Solutions for Believers

Music Music Today we are going to talk about a subject that I believe is little taught on in the Church of the Living God today. The title of this message is called, How Can I Be Sure That I Am Not Quenching the Holy Spirit? We are taking our message today from the scripture found in Song of Songs, chapter 8, verses 6 through 8. And before we get started in the Song of Songs, or otherwise called the Song of Solomon, I would like to give a little background on this book. Song of Songs speaks of spiritual communion and a lifetime walk. It is a song of love and a song of desire and typifies the love song between Messiah and his bride. The heartbeat of this book speaks of a spiritual communion and the path of the believer who is actively pursuing the Lord and his work in them. Hallelujah! But those who allow his grace to work to its fullest end and complete accomplishments are few. The choice, dear listener, is yours. This book symbolically expresses the progress of the sweet intimacy of the communion with Christian fullness of his love. One thing is pursued in the book of songs, and that is a relationship with the king, which in its consummation tells us that satisfaction cannot be obtained through knowledge alone. The song speaks of rest from wandering and tells us that man can reach satisfaction only through love. Faith is our walk, but the tangible manifested presence and fellowship is our rest. She, the maiden, is a type of true believer who longs to have a fuller experience with Jesus. The song describes the beginning of deeper seeking after the Lord until such longings are realized in the fullest relationship and friendship with the king. This song is a special love that Jesus has for his bride, his dove. This book expresses bliss through union with the king of kings, Jesus Christ. as believers begin to cry out and know God for himself alone the Lord brings them into his chambers and there is a difference between his banqueting house called the house of wine which means the revelation of his love brings great joy and his chambers represent a secret place where the maiden bride will be prepared for fuller knowledge of the Lord this is a wonderful book in which the Lord ordained to be included in almost the middle of the Bible. It is a love story with Christ the Messiah and his church. Christ's love for his bride, the church, is totally pure and in no way sexual or carnal in nature. It is pure and holy without anything that is sensual. It is totally spiritual and centered on God's agape love, which comes only from him and him alone. It is truly an injustice to this book. When preachers and teachers say, this book is all about the husband and wife relations in the marriage, this totally misses the mark and the intent. Now having prefaced the outline of this beautiful work of the love relationship that Jesus Christ has with his church, we are going to move on to our purpose for this message today. And as was mentioned, I reiterate the title called, How Can I Be Sure I Am Not Quenching the Holy Spirit? We're taking our main text and message today from the scripture found in Song of Songs, chapter 8, verses 6 and 8. The maiden cries out, Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death. Jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol, the place of the dead. Its flashes are flashes of fire, most vehement flame, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised. In these verses, the maiden bride asked to be his most valued possession. She wanted him to be jealous over her in the proper sense. The word seal refers to an engraved stone used for authenticating a document or other possessions. And this could be suspended by a cord around the neck over the heart. The word seal ring was worn on the hand and it is used to mean arm. In Song of Songs, chapter 5, verse 14, the word tells us, His hands are like rods of gold set with nails of barrel and topaz. His body is a figure of bright ivory overlaid with the veins of sapphire. The figurative use of hands throughout the Bible has various meanings, but in this case and use in the scripture, the hand means figuratively strength and power, authority and possession, which represents the nature and character of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the bride asked her bridegroom that he treasure her, she also asked that he regard her as a prized seal in verse 6. And I repeat again, Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death. Jealousy is as hard and cruel as the old place of the dead. and its flashes of fire, a most venomous flame, the very flame of the Lord. She next describes the love they shared. It was as powerful as death, as controlling as the grave, as passionate as the fire, and as irresistible as a river and priceless too. Such love comes from God and God alone, dear ones, and it's called the flame of the Lord. Verse 6. You see, dear listener, there are only two relationships described in the Bible where jealousy is potentially an appropriate reaction. And this is found in the divine human relationship with God Almighty and in the marriage relationship. These are the only two relationships that are considered exclusive. No one can purchase this divine supernatural love. It is only available as a gift. This is the only place in the book that reflects on the nature of love itself. In verse 6, she longs for his placement of his seal for her to be placed upon his heart, where in verse 7, it's described as raging waters cannot quench love, and its flame of love could not be distinguished. Verse 7, many waters cannot quench love, and neither can floods drown it And if a man would offer all the goods of his house for love he would be utterly scorned and despised You see dear one this confirmation of her love is the culmination of love and is the highest point or her very reason for being. And this is what we were created for. The flame of love of God in the heart of a human vessel is truly the work of the Holy Spirit for his church in which Jesus Christ has died for upon the cross. Dear listener, we all should have this fervency of our love for Jesus. This brings honor to his name and expresses the church's love in the highest degree in such a flame as to not be quenched. I remind you that the greatest commandment in Scripture for all professing believers in Jesus Christ is found in Matthew 22, verse 36. When Jesus was approached by those who were testing him, they asked, Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. Verse 38, This is the first and greatest commandment And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Jesus is saying that we must love the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul, and mind. And means that this is with our whole person and bottom line, dear one, we are to love him above all things or person without reserve. Jesus loves God his Father with his whole heart and he is blameless in his allegiance in his loyalty and submission to God his Father our Lord loves his Father with his whole being and was prepared to surrender his life and please his heavenly Father's will in going to the cross as a supreme sacrifice for the salvation of mankind And the second greatest commandment is similar to the first in character and quality and also deals with love. We should love our fellow man who is our neighbor and especially more so those who are of the brotherhood of believers. We should love them unselfishly. the main point of all of this is that we are given the precious Holy Spirit in order that we may reciprocate this priceless gift of God called his love God looks for reciprocation of our love to him there is no way that any one of us can truly love with agape love which comes only from God we must walk in the light of his Holy Spirit This love of God is supernatural and is not of an earthy kind. The word of God tells us that God is light. In 1 John chapter 1 beginning in verse 5, the word declares, And this is the message, the message of promise, which we have heard from him and now are reporting to you. God is light. There is no darkness in him in any way. No, not in any way. Verse 6. So if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with him, when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are both speaking falsely and do not live and practice the truth which the gospel presents. Verse 7. But if we are really living and walking in the light, as he himself is in the light, We have true unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses, removes us from all sin and guilt, keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, God's own purchased special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. You see, all true believers of Jesus Christ are called out of darkness and now treasure the light of the truth of God called the gospel. These live in it and also share the light of this wonderful, marvelous truth with others. In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, the word tells us, God who said, let light shine out of the darkness, has shown into our hearts so as to beam forth the light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God as it is presented in the person and is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. verse 7. However, we possess this precious treasure, the divine light of the gospel in frail human vessels of earth that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of power may be shown to be from God and not ourselves. As mentioned, we are called to share the light of this wonderful truth that now lives in us. King David declared in Psalms 4, verse 6 by saying, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Dear listener, it comes to where you become jealous of the light and the truth which comes only from God because you know nothing you have been entrusted with is anything of your own doing. God has given true believers his Holy Spirit. The precious Holy Spirit is called our teacher, our comforter, and our guide. And we are told to guard our hearts and hold fast to what we have learned in regards to the truth of Holy Scripture. There is a wonderful case or maybe an analogy of how as Christians we must protect the Holy Spirit's light within us. And it goes like this. A man has lost his way in the dark and dreary mind. By the light of one candle which he carries in his hand, he is groping for the road to sunshine and to home. That light is essential to his safety. The mind has many winding passages in which he may be hopelessly bewildered. here and there marks have been made on the rocks to point out the true path but he cannot see them without the light there are many pits into which if unwary he may suddenly fall but he cannot avoid the danger without the light should it go out he must soon stumble and fall and perish should it go out that mine will be his tomb how carefully he carries it How anxiously he shields it from sudden gusts of air, from water dropping on it, from everything that might quench it. You see, this case described is our own. We are like that lonely wanderer in the mine. Does he diligently and carefully keep and protect the light of the candle so the flame doesn't go out like his life depends on it? much more earnestly we should give heed to the warning quench not the spirit it is sin that makes our road both dark and dangerous if God gives us no light we would never find the way into our home of purity and righteousness and holiness called heaven and we would lose hope of ever reaching our eternal home we would perish in the darkness into which we have wandered We would have no faith in Christ which leads and keeps us on the highway and safe path into eternal life But praise the Lord dear one and be encouraged because those who do pursue him and love him with their whole heart he gives us his spirit to enlighten, encourage, guide, and cheer us on. Hallelujah! We come back to our opening scripture where the bride maiden called out to her bridegroom in Song of Songs, chapter 8, verse 6. Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and gruel as Sheol, the place of the dead. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame, a very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, and neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised. Well, she, the maiden here, declares many waters, or we could say many troubles and hard times, cannot quench love that she has for her beloved Savior. Quench not the Spirit is the key word for us today. The working of the divine spirit of God is that he is always in action. Apostle Paul wrote with unmistakable evidence to the promise which he said, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Definitely, this wonderful event did happen to the 120 who remained in the upper room. These people who remain received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, They went out in the power and might of the Holy Spirit with great influence, with knowledge and the grace of God resting upon them to do the work that God Almighty had created them for. Now we need to understand the working of the Holy Spirit, dear listener, so we do not fall short and end up quenching the Spirit's work in us. The first thing the Spirit of God works on in us is understanding. He spoke to the understanding of the prophets, the psalmists, and apostles. So consequently, we have in the Bible the truth brought to our understanding throughout the Bible, if we taste and see that it is good. God becomes an empty tool in the hands of those who do not have the Holy Spirit to shine the light of truth within the pages of Scripture. and the light of his holy fire within the pages of the scripture remain in darkness and they remain empty and devoid of his life-saving truth. Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 1, 17 and 18 declares, For I have always prayed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that he may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of him by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light so you can know and understand the hope to which he has called you and how rich and glorious his inheritance is in the saints. Only the Holy Spirit can bring this truth into wonderful reality by a supernatural divine light shining into the hearts of the hungry man or woman who has earnestly been seeking the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, and mind. King David, in Psalms 119, verse 18, cried out to God, saying, Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of your law. Ah, those who quench the Holy Spirit either neglect the Bible or they are not taught by the Spirit in the light of the truth. All of their efforts are in vain if they think to put a little time in the Word so that they make God happy or think they're saved by half-hearted efforts to please God by their neglect of Him through study of His Word and prayer. people like this become a law unto themselves they live in the flesh and make up their own rules and justify their own doings god spoke through ezekiel the prophet in chapter 36 beginning in verse 25 saying i sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all of your idols I will cleanse you. Verse 26, a new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and you shall heed my ordinances and do them. well since the outpouring of God's precious Holy Spirit at Pentecost God has given his Holy Spirit to all those since that time who have sought him and love him with all their heart these long to please their Lord and do his will the second thing we need to understand in the working of the Holy Spirit dear listener so that we do not fall short and end up quenching the Spirit's work in us is the work he does with our consciences. The office of the Holy Spirit is to bring sin to a remembrance. There is a saying that if you tell your best friend his fault, he might be one of a thousand if you have not lost him for telling him the truth. Psalms 141 verse 5 tells us, Let the godly smite me and it will be a kindness. If they reprove me, it is like a medicine. Don't let me be refused. That is the cry of the heart of the author. You see, it is very true. Only a few can say, let the godly or righteous bring a correction to me without me being offended. David tells us in this verse that it's like medicine if we receive that correction. But dear listener, the Holy Spirit knows how to bring correction and reprove without offending and irritating at the right time in the right way because you are growing sensitive to his nudgings and his way. Yes, he might use even human vessels to do this. The still small voice of the Spirit of God pricks the conscience of those who incline an ear to him. And when his voice is heard, it may bring to remembrance some half-hearted excuse, a sin or some neglect of a half-denied responsibility a person may be hardening his or her heart to. That still small voice is saying over and over, quench not thy Holy Spirit. the third thing we need to understand in the working of the Holy Spirit so we do not fall short and end up quenching the Spirit's work in us is that we become sensitive to do the will of God King David said in Psalms chapter 40 verse 8 I delight to do your will oh my God yes your law is in my heart Dear Church, there is no greater example than our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh to do the will of his Heavenly Father. And we read this in Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 5. Hence, when he, Christ, entered the world, he said sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but instead you have made ready a body for me to offer. in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no delight Verse 7 And then I said behold here I am coming to do your will O God to fulfill what is written of me in the volume of this book We who are faithful to do the will of God are living testimonies of Jesus's work on the cross, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. In order for God's will to be done, it had to be first known and understood by his people. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Through Moses, the judges, and the prophets, God has made known his will and led people in applying it in everyday situations. Psalms 143 verses 10 through 12 tells us, Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me into a level country and into the land of righteousness. Save my life, O Lord, for your name's sake. In your righteousness bring my life out of trouble and free me from distress. Verse 12, And in your mercy and loving kindness, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my inner self, for I am your servant. By obeying the commands and precepts in God's word, we gain understanding, and through understanding and faith, we see the truth and long to obey because of love for our Savior and our Heavenly Father. and this inspires us to want to please him and do his will. The Holy Spirit, therefore, touches the will and the wellspring of life and begins to fam the flame of love. Hallelujah. And the fourth and the last thing is that we need to understand in the working of the Holy Spirit, so we do not fall short and end up quenching the Spirit's work in us, involves our hearts. we briefly mentioned at the beginning of the first and greatest commandment which is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 you shall love the Lord your God with all of your mind your heart your soul with your entire being and with all of your might you shall love is the point and direction here God is looking for all of your heart dear listener not just for a part of it The Spirit of God enables us to cry, Abba, Father, Abba, Father, which is a term of loving endearment. It is like our term that we use today, calling Daddy or Papa. Coming from an Italian family, we called our dear Father, Papa. So calling our creator God, Abba, as was mentioned, is a term of endearment, and up close loving him and involves a heart full of love for him. And this warms our heavenly Father's heart, dear ones. In Galatians chapter 4, verses 3 through 7, we read, Also when we were children, we were in slavery to the basic principles of the world, But when the time had fully come, God sent his son born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law that we might receive full rights as sons. Verse 6. Because you are sons, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts in the spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. and since you are a son, God has also made you an heir. Praise the Lord. I must mention that it is a dreadful thing to quench the spirit in a doubting or questioning attitude of duplicity of mind and this is called intellectualism. Where faith does not grasp a hold of this hard issue of the love of God for his children, it is an easy thing to quench his spirit. In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29 we are told, Son, give me your heart. But if the heart says, I will not go your way, then that person risks quenching the spirit's work in their hearts. Now there's a word of warning here. The Holy Spirit is God and also has all the strength of God. and what he pleases to do, he can do. No one can stand against him. Nothing can stand against him. And this is the greatest possible comfort to us because we have enemies that are too strong for us but no enemy is too strong enough to hurt us if the Spirit of God is on our side. Amen. He protects those whom he loves. And again, as the Holy Spirit is God so he has that wonderful power of working on the heart which belongs to God in purifying it and making it holy like God himself and another thing is that the Holy Spirit is like fire in the heart of man fire gives warmth and light is this not exactly the character of the work of the Holy One within the heart what is colder than the fallen heart of man towards God. It is only him who warms a hardened heart into real love for God by his precious Holy Spirit. Summing up this word today in quenching God's Holy Spirit's work in our lives as a professing believer, we see the first thing the Spirit of God works on is our understanding. Secondly, he works on our consciences. Next, we become sensitive to do the will of God. And fourth, he becomes involved in our hearts to make them pure, holy, honest, and upright. And if you find yourself resisting any one of these points in your life today, please know that you are risking your eternal salvation. Dear listener, the loving spirit of God is longing to work among you and in you. His heart is set upon you. He is opening the treasures of goodness before you. Please take care that you do not grieve him by your indifference. He will act to you as you act to him. Just as fire cannot burn in a damp, unwholesome atmosphere, as there are places underground where the air is so foul that the brightest candle will go out at once. So if you choke the heavenly fire, it will go out. The Holy Spirit will not work in the midst of coldness. When the Spirit's impressions are erased from a cold heart so that there's no spark left among its ashes, it carries a dreadful outcome. God's word says, My spirit shall not always strive with man. And this happened in the scripture when we saw that he departed from Saul. Let us all take this word serious today and examine our hearts and call on Abba Father to help us see things we are doing and do not see that we may grieve the Holy Spirit and possibly quench the flame of fire that we may have had at one time. Call on him. He will answer you. He is ready and waiting for you. Do not wait. Call on him today.