[0:00] Let's read God's Word then as we find it in the New Testament and in the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and chapter 5.
[0:13] First letter of Paul to the Thessalonians and chapter 5 and we shall read the whole chapter.
[0:35] But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
[0:47] For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
[1:04] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all children of light and children of the day.
[1:15] We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
[1:30] But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for unhelmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
[1:54] For for comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.
[2:14] And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men.
[2:30] See that none render evil for evil unto any man. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore.
[2:43] Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit.
[2:53] Despise not prophecies. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
[3:05] And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:17] Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
[3:33] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. May the Lord bless to us that reading of his holy and infallible word.
[3:45] And to his name be the praise. Let's sing again in Psalm 85. On page 339 in the blue book, if you're using the blue book.
[3:57] Psalm 85 at verse 5. Shall thy displeasure thus endure against us without end?
[4:13] Wilt thou to generations all thine anger forth extend? That in thee may thy people joy. Wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord.
[4:23] To us do thy salvation give. And so on to the end of the psalm. Psalm 85 at verse 5. Shall thy displeasure thus endure?
[4:34] Shall thy displeasure thus endure? Shall thy displeasure thus endure?
[4:47] Our Jesus will live again. Will thou to change?
[4:59] chsource of Pearl? JIN, SLEEP.atori sing, Missman, How as you céuIs are fowls nothing worth there?
[5:15] Thou of tão faithful, As you o'er the King of policemen, God has exercised us formen. For甲斐 commit to your belovedborn Quer Irak.
[5:27] Show us thy mercy on to us, through thy salvation here.
[5:43] I hear what God the Lord will speak, to his folk, his weak peace, and to his sins.
[6:04] But let them not return to foolishness.
[6:16] To them that feel venturing in, this is the vision.
[6:32] That glory in her hand, behold her courage in this song.
[6:48] To men with men, she righteous men, unpeach this beauty.
[7:04] To saints of heaven, a righteous name, looks done from heaven and high.
[7:23] Ye hodest in the Lord shall give, her heart shall yield and grace.
[7:39] Just as you sent us in this case, shall go before his grace.
[7:57] Let's turn back then to the chapter that we read. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians in chapter 5.
[8:08] And we can read again at verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men.
[8:22] See that none render evil for evil unto any man. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore.
[8:33] Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophecies.
[8:45] Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.
[8:55] And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And particularly verse 19.
[9:09] Quench not the spirit. Or as it is in the Greek, the spirit quench not. The emphasis being on the spirit.
[9:21] The spirit quench not. So before we look at that particular verse, I'd like to put the chapter and the letter a little bit in its context.
[9:37] This is probably the earliest letter we have of Paul's. There's some argument about that. But the majority opinion is that this is the earliest letter we have.
[9:51] There may have been others written before that have not been preserved. But this would seem to be the earliest one. And perhaps in your Bible it's got a footnote at the end saying that the first epistle unto the Thessalonians was written from Athens.
[10:08] Again, there's an argument over that. Some think it was written from Corinth. But it doesn't really matter. Whichever place it was written from, it was round about the year 51 AD.
[10:22] Round about there. And it was on Paul's very first missionary journey into what is modern Greece, into Europe. You will remember that he had come across, first of all, having dreamt of a man from Macedonia, saying, coming over to help us.
[10:43] And then he had been at Philippi. From Philippi he had gone to Thessalonica, then to Berea, being chased from both places. And he's forced to flee to Athens.
[10:53] And you can find all that in the book of Acts, and especially in chapters 16 and 17 and so on. And it appears that from there he has received a letter with various questions which the Thessalonian church, the Thessalonian church, the church in Thessalonica, has asked of him.
[11:18] And these questions particularly are questions about the second coming of Christ. And it would appear that there was great worry among the saints in Thessalonica.
[11:36] Because since Paul had been there, some of them had passed away. Some of them had died. And therefore the question was about what would happen to them because they died before Christ had come for the second time.
[11:54] And you will find particularly in chapter 4, and you see towards the end of chapter 4, at verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them.
[12:11] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
[12:29] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
[12:42] But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
[12:54] And so Paul is reassuring the believers in Thessalonica of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[13:06] Now, it's not something that I want to spend an awful lot of time on. I'm aware, of course, that time is limited. But this is the passage, of course, from which the theories of the so-called rapture are often taken.
[13:21] And you may come across rapture, what's called rapture theology at some points. The belief that when Christ comes for the second time, all God's people, that is all the believers, those both dead and alive, will disappear from earth to be with him.
[13:40] But, and this is where the twist is put in today's theology, that many will be left behind. And that there will be a second period where many of these people will get the chance to become believers again.
[13:54] That once they see all the dead and the living believers have gone. That is absolute nonsense. That is absolutely contra-Scripture, against-Scripture.
[14:06] And it's been propounded particularly by a series, an American series of television or movie programs called Left Behind. Very interesting to watch, but biblically quite wrong.
[14:21] So, beware of that. If you come across the rapture terminology and the rapture theology, this is the passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16 to 18 that it's based on.
[14:35] And it is a mistake. It's a complete misinterpretation of what is actually said there. Because what Paul is referring to, the second coming of the Lord, if we look at it again in the context of the book of Revelation and what Jesus says in the Gospels, then that will be when the day of judgment occurs.
[14:56] There will be no second chance then. No second chance at all. So there are various things then that Paul is saying to the church.
[15:07] And he finishes this chapter, and bear in mind of course that these letters were never written with chapter divisions. Chapter and verse divisions were something that was added much, much later.
[15:19] Chapter divisions first of all, and then verse divisions later, in order to make it for ease of reference more than anything else. But you have to look at this as one complete letter.
[15:31] And then in the second half of the chapter, we see how he gives instructions to the church. And he is really giving a list of instructions as to how the church is to behave.
[15:45] And these are very, very good instructions for any church anywhere. From verse 12 onwards, as we read.
[15:56] But I want to look particularly at a series of short statements, put together short instructions that we have from verse 16 onwards. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, quench not the spirit, despise not prophesies, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil.
[16:22] And so on. Now, if we were able to follow these instructions to the letter, what a difference it would make to this church and to any church.
[16:36] What a difference it would make. And yet, when you look at them, your immediate question is to say, how on earth can we do this? But yet, some of the things are very straightforward in theory.
[16:54] Warn them that are unruly. Verse 14. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak. Be patient towards all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man.
[17:05] But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. And you would say, well, that's what a church should be. And remember that a church is not the building.
[17:17] The church is the people. The church are the people. That's the behaviour that we should have.
[17:29] But then comes a number of instructions that are more difficult. Rejoice evermore. How can you rejoice in the face of death, of loved ones being taken away?
[17:45] How can you rejoice in the face of those that you know being taken into eternity without the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? To spend forever in eternal punishment.
[18:01] Pray without ceasing. How can you pray without ceasing? And you would think when you think about it, that's impossible. You can't pray when you're asleep.
[18:16] But is there any other time where you cannot pray? Or you may think, well, when I'm going about my daily work. Well, that depends entirely about what kind of a job you have.
[18:28] But this doesn't mean that you're kneeling down, closing your eyes, etc., and engaging in prayer. What this really refers to is having the spirit of prayer.
[18:41] That you are always aware that you are dependent on God's sovereignty and God's providence for every situation you are in.
[18:53] If that were the case, then we would become much more dependent and much more humble than we are.
[19:08] Pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks. How can you give thanks for the tragedies of life that happen round about us? How can we give thanks for COVID?
[19:20] How can you give thanks when you lose your job? How can you give thanks for serious illness, for physical handicaps, etc., etc.? Well, read what follows.
[19:34] For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
[19:46] How hard is that to understand when you are undergoing difficult, serious situations? And so often we hear people saying, If God exists, why is this happening to me?
[20:07] Even many a believer has come up with that prayer. Lord, why are you punishing me? Why am I going through this affliction?
[20:17] And the answer very often is quite simple, but very difficult to understand. Because you have things to learn from it.
[20:34] God makes no believer suffer without a purpose. There is a purpose to it. And perhaps the easy way of understanding it, it's not easy, but it's an easy example, is consider any athlete or any sports person who has reached, shall we say, the higher echelons of their sport.
[21:00] Or even perhaps just these people, and I passed so many of them today, both morning and evening on the way here, who are running along the road, pounding away, probably in the hope of losing a few pounds, which they'll put back on once they've had a drink of water at the end.
[21:18] But the objective is the same. And yet everything that they do, they push themselves to the limits. There is a significant amount of pain involved in training and in practicing to become better, fitter, faster, whatever it is.
[21:40] And it was summed up with an old advertising slogan that used to be used for Nike shoes. I've maybe said this before, but it's worth repeating again. No pain, no gain.
[21:56] No pain, no gain. Well, for the Christian, for the believer, it's exactly the same. No pain, no gain.
[22:07] It is through the suffering that providence brings you, that God allows to happen to you, and very often in his restraining grace brings you through, that you grow.
[22:22] You grow in dependence on him. You may not understand the providence. Sometimes there are many things we go through that we don't understand.
[22:33] But it's only afterwards, perhaps even years later, that you see, you begin to see and understand why.
[22:46] And perhaps the best example of that in Scripture is the book and the sufferings of Job. God never explains to us why he put Job through what he put him through.
[22:59] Job himself never fully understood it. But yet, if you look at the first and the last chapters of the book of Job, which goodness knows how the first chapter was added, and who was given the revelation to add it, nothing that happens to the believer happens without God's permission.
[23:21] But nevertheless, Satan always has limits to what he can do. That's the experience of Job. That's the experience of every believer who goes through difficulty, who goes through times of tragedy, and who goes through suffering.
[23:38] That in all things, all these things, the Lord upholds and supports, and sometimes in the most miraculous ways. But that is not what I want to concentrate on.
[23:51] I want to concentrate on this verse. Quench not the Spirit. Now, the Spirit that is referred to here is, of course, the Holy Spirit.
[24:05] And some people have particular difficulty in dealing with the Holy Spirit. We have this conception very often that we have God the Father up here, Jesus, more or less on the same level as God the Father, but the Holy Spirit is somewhere down here.
[24:25] And yet, that's not what Scripture tells us at all. Scripture tells us, your catechism makes it very clear, and you can look at it when you go home, that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
[24:39] And that the three of them are equal in power and glory. And that's what we often forget about the Holy Spirit. That he is a person.
[24:52] The third person of the Godhead, equal in power and glory to the Father and the Son. It's very difficult to get our heads around that.
[25:05] And sometimes it's even more difficult to get our heads around the idea, of a Trinity. The word is not mentioned in Scripture. But there are plenty of places in Scripture where it's quite clear that the Trinity is at work.
[25:22] If you go back to the very beginning of Genesis, you find that the Hebrew word that is used for let us make in the first part of creation is Elohim.
[25:34] It's in the plural. It's not singular. It's in the plural. Let us make. All three persons of the Godhead are involved in the creation.
[25:47] All three persons of the Godhead are involved in the redemptive work and the covenant work of the Trinity through creation. The body used to say that the clearest place that you would see the Trinity at work was at the Jordan.
[26:05] When you saw Christ being baptized, the Lord Jesus being baptized with the Holy Spirit coming down in the form of a dove and the voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son.
[26:19] All three persons present at the same time and at work. And that is what you see throughout the Scripture, that all three persons are at work, sometimes one in more obvious ways than the others, but nevertheless they're all there.
[26:39] And if you have difficulty with the concept of the Trinity, the three persons, one God, then think of it this way. The old buttocks always used to give the example of a pair of trousers.
[26:53] You have two legs and a bit at the back that covers your backside, but it's still one pair of trousers. You could take the same example with a jacket.
[27:04] There's two sleeves, two arms and the body of the jacket, but it's still one jacket. But there's perhaps an easier, maybe not easier, but I'll give it to you anyway, mathematical way of understanding it for those of you who like maths.
[27:21] Think of it like this. I'm sure you've heard this before. One plus one plus one equals?
[27:33] And I'm sure everyone will tell me the answer is three. Correct. Now multiply one times one times one.
[27:45] And the answer is one. So how can one be three and at the same time be one? It's exactly the same idea.
[27:57] And it helps us perhaps understand the figure of the Holy Spirit as part of the Trinity, as the third person of the Godhead, and we have this instruction here.
[28:10] The Holy Spirit is not so visible perhaps in the Old Testament. He comes into play more from the day of Pentecost onwards. In the book of Acts.
[28:22] But you will remember that the Lord Jesus promised the coming of the Spirit to his disciples. Go and have a look at John 14 when you go home, where he speaks to the disciples about the sending of another Comforter.
[28:37] And he will teach you all things. And he promises that when the Holy Spirit comes in full after the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension, after the finished work of Calvary, when the Son ascends to the right hand of the Father, then the Holy Spirit is poured out in its fullness.
[29:01] And of course, that had been prophesied in so many places in the Old Testament. In the book of Joel, the prophet Joel, chapter 2 and verse 28, the prophet says, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
[29:18] And you remember that a similar promise had been given in the book of Jeremiah, also in Zechariah and so on. In Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31, it says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
[29:36] And in verse 33, This shall be the covenant. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people.
[29:49] And as you know, at the regeneration of the believer, when he is raised, shall we say, from the deadness of sin and brought to a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is present from then on in his heart.
[30:12] Now again, of course, you could argue we're not talking about the fleshy heart, that is the muscle that pumps, but even as we were trying this morning to fathom out where the mind is, in the same sense, the heart in that sense, means in the whole essence of the human being.
[30:30] Every believer in here and everywhere else, what does Paul say to you? He says, Know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
[30:42] The Holy Spirit dwells in you. So if that's the case, why does he give this instruction of the Spirit quench not?
[30:53] And we have to think of what is the meaning of quench? Well, nowadays, most people know the meaning of the word quench as to quench your thirst.
[31:04] When you're thirsty, you want a drink so that your thirst will go away. And that's the meaning of the word quench that we're familiar with. But that wasn't the original meaning of the word quench.
[31:17] The original meaning of the word quench meant to put out a flame. It was used for whatever you put on top of the old candles in order to put out the flame.
[31:31] In most cases, there was a specially shaped piece of metal that sat on top of the candle that denied the oxygen and put the flame out. And that was what was meant by quench originally.
[31:47] And it's very interesting that the same word that is used for zeal, the root of the word in Greek, also comes from the idea of a flame.
[31:59] So when you quench the Spirit, you are putting out the flame of the Spirit. And remember that that is what was seen at Pentecost.
[32:10] The Holy Spirit descending like tongues, doesn't say as tongues of fire, but like tongues of fire. That was the appearance it had. And yet there are times for when the believer, when he feels that the Spirit is no longer present with him.
[32:30] The Spirit is being quenched. But take comfort from the fact that it's a little bit like the sun. It's lovely today.
[32:42] You can see the sun. You can feel its heat. But two days ago, you didn't see it at all. The sky was covered with clouds.
[32:54] In fact, it rained pretty heavily and we are very thankful for the rain. We badly needed it. But nevertheless, the sun was still there. Well, the other illustration that's often given is what we were looking at in Psalm 19 this morning.
[33:10] The heavens, God's glory do declare. Have a look at the sky just now. Where are the stars? You can't see them. Why? Because of course, it's the light of the sun blocks them out.
[33:21] But they're still there. They're still there. And so it is with the believer. The spirit is still there with you, even although you may not feel its presence all the time.
[33:36] John Owen, the theologian, but just like this, 16th century, he says, we are always in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are not always in communion.
[33:52] And that's what the believer wants. He wants to be in communion. At all times with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, very often you get special times of communion.
[34:03] Sometimes in your own daily devotional. Sometimes in the prayer meeting. Sometimes in a sermon. Sometimes at communion, at the table. There is a special feeling of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
[34:16] But there are other times when it just doesn't seem to be there at all. When the heavens feel like brass and your prayers seem to be almost unutterable, that you just can't pray in the way that you want to.
[34:34] And God's presence isn't coming to you in the way that you want. Why is that? Well, perhaps if we examine what is meant by the quench, not the spirit, we might get close to an idea.
[34:51] Where is the spirit quenched? Well, sadly today, the first and the principal place where the spirit is quenched is in the pulpit.
[35:03] And I say that with all seriousness and all reverence. I don't mean this particular pulpit or any particular pulpit. But in many, many churches throughout our land and in many other places in the world, the spirit of God is not preached and is not present.
[35:29] We will get social sermons. We will get prosperity gospel sermons. We will get sermons about this, that and the next thing. But we will not get sermons about sin and repentance and salvation and eternity.
[35:46] The things that matter. The spirit is quenched. George Smeaton, one of the great theologians of times gone by, put it like this.
[36:00] He said, the spirit is Christ's instrument in quickening, in regeneration and then in quickening the church and quickening the believer.
[36:14] The spirit is Christ's instrument. I was reading Douglas Macmillan's little sermon on the spirit, not so little in its theory, not some time ago.
[36:27] And Douglas Macmillan pointed out that one of the problems he was seeing among his congregation at that time, not going to tell you wherever the sermon was preached, was that they were only half listening.
[36:40] They weren't really paying attention to the things of God. They had the appearance of listening. And he said, I know one man, he said, who's an expert at appearing to be listening when he's really asleep.
[36:56] And you may be there this evening, you may be here this evening, and you have the appearance of listening, but your mind is elsewhere. What are you doing?
[37:10] You are quenching the spirit. You are quenching the spirit. In the second place that the spirit can be quenched is with the individual.
[37:26] You don't spend time with the spirit. What does that mean? That you don't spend time with God's word, you don't spend time in prayer, and you don't spend time listening.
[37:43] I don't mean to me or to anyone else who's preaching, but listening to what the spirit has to say to you.
[37:57] Oh, how many excuses do you make? I'm too busy, I'm in too much of a rush, I've got too much to do, I've got this, that, and the next thing, I've got to look after the kids, the family, make them, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, there are demands made on us by our daily living and our daily activities, but if you, as a believer, if you do not set time aside to read the word of God, to pray, then you are quenching the spirit.
[38:31] how can you hope to come to a knowledge of the Holy Spirit's work, of the person of the Holy Spirit, if you don't spend time with him?
[38:47] How can you get to know a person unless you spend time with that person? Or you can hear all about that person from someone else.
[39:01] And sometimes what you hear is someone else's interpretation. It's only when you yourself spend time with that person that you really begin to get to know them.
[39:17] And the more time you spend with them, the more the relationship grows and the deeper it becomes. And the more you get to know them.
[39:28] It's exactly the same with the Holy Spirit. If you don't spend time with the Holy Spirit in the word, in prayer, then you will not get to know him in the way that you ought to.
[39:48] And sometimes you quench the spirit by refusing to carry out his instructions. I referred to that a little bit this morning.
[39:58] How often do you feel the voice of the Spirit saying to you, phone so-and-so, go and see so-and-so, say a word here, but you don't want to do that.
[40:13] You don't really want to do it, so you just don't do it. you are quenching the Holy Spirit. How often maybe in your workplace you feel that you should say something to those who are taking the Lord's name in vain, that you should maybe have a word of witness here and there, and yet you don't do it.
[40:41] Why? Oh, isn't so much preached on tolerance nowadays. We have to tolerate everything except the word of God.
[40:53] And you're afraid that people will be offended. Maybe they will be. But surely perhaps offending them once is better than seeing that person on the road to hell, to a lost eternity.
[41:13] Oh, it's not easy to do. I'm well aware of that. It's not easy to do. And sometimes among friends and family it's more difficult to do than with complete strangers.
[41:26] But you are quenching the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit. Perhaps you're doing so also in your own discipline.
[41:38] Your discipline of attending the means of grace, of attending the prayer meeting. There are so many people nowadays who don't bother going to the prayer meetings.
[41:51] And yet Spurgeon, when a visitor asked him in his church in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, he said, why is your church so full? Why are you so successful?
[42:03] Spurgeon said, come with me and I'll show you. And he took him downstairs in the church underneath the main church hall, if I can put it that way.
[42:15] And there in a room downstairs were gathered a group of men and women. And the visitor said to Spurgeon, what are they doing? I said, they're praying.
[42:27] that's the engine room of the church. That's what keeps the church going. Are you and I failing in our duty in the engine room sometimes?
[42:44] But then you see, if you're not a believer, you may be here this evening and you're just here for appearances sake. You're just here because it pleases your husband, your wife, perhaps your family, perhaps other people.
[43:00] You're just here for the sake of appearances. And yet this warning is given to you so clearly. What are you doing when you are not believing?
[43:15] You are rejecting the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is speaking to each and every one of us this evening. He is calling to us to believe.
[43:26] that he can carry out the work of regeneration in your heart. And yet some are simply saying don't really want anything to do with it.
[43:41] Oh, that was my own case for many years. Didn't want anything to do with it. And it's not surprising as Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that we are dead in trespasses and sins.
[43:55] We need the Holy Spirit to bring us to life, to regenerate us to life. But yet so many people don't want that. Oh, it'll spoil my life.
[44:08] That's what I thought. I was really annoyed when I saw my wife becoming interested in the things of God. and I thought, my goodness, if she gets converted, it's going to ruin our marriage.
[44:26] And I did everything possible to stop her being interested in the things of God. It didn't work. Of course, it didn't work because God's purpose was much greater.
[44:42] Much, much greater. But that's another story. But you may be here this evening and you are deliberately quenching the spirit.
[44:53] You've heard the gospel message. You know what it's all about. But you're far more interested in looking at the clock and expecting to get out of here as soon as possible.
[45:04] That's really what matters to you. Eternity is a concept that doesn't really have any meaning for you. Hell is something you just don't believe in.
[45:16] Oh, I understand you fully. I was the same myself for many, many years. Didn't believe it. Didn't want anything to do with it. But yet the Holy Spirit is instrumental in bringing you out of that state if and when you will permit him to do so.
[45:37] He is speaking to you this evening. And he's speaking to you loudly and saying quench not the Spirit. The Spirit quench not. When you hear the Spirit striving with you, it's not the preacher, it's not the speaker, it's the Holy Spirit, then don't quench it.
[45:59] Don't reject it. Don't turn it away. Why? Because God tells us very early on in Scripture, Genesis 6 and verse 3, that my Spirit will not always strive with man.
[46:17] There will come a point where God will say, enough, enough. May the Lord grant that that is not your case this evening.
[46:32] The Spirit quench not. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank you that we are able to meditate on these things.
[46:44] We pray for any in here this evening that may be quenching the Spirit. Oh, that the power of your Spirit would deal with each and every one, bringing them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might see the need of a Saviour, that here we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come.
[47:08] We thank you for your word this evening. We ask that you would bless us and keep us safe as we conclude our worship. In Jesus' name, Amen.
[47:20] Let us conclude then by singing in Psalm 51. Psalm 51, page 281 in the Blue Book, verses, a couple of which we sang this morning, but again, they're so relevant to this theme.
[47:40] Verses 9 to 14, all my iniquities blot out, thy face hide from my sin, create a clean heart, Lord, renew a right spirit me within, cast me not from thy sight, nor take thy Holy Spirit away, restore me thy salvation's joy, with thy free spirit me stay, then will I teach thy ways unto those that transgressors be, and those that sinners are shall then be turned unto thee.
[48:09] O God of my salvation, God, me from blood guiltiness set free, then shall my tongue aloud sing of thy righteousness. Let us sing these verses unto God's praise in Psalm 51, verse 9, all my iniquities blot out.
[48:25] Amen. Cast me not from thy side, nor take thy own Israel away.
[49:10] Restore me thine salvation's joy, when thy peace could be saved.
[49:25] Then will I teach thy ways unto those that come, since search me.
[49:40] And those that sinned shall end, be turned unto thee.
[49:54] O God, you're my salvation, Lord. Me from the guiltiness set free and shut my tongue together.
[50:17] Sing all thy righteousness. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all now and forever.
[50:35] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.