Latest / CCC West Covina / The Model Life: Adoration, Part 7

Transcript

The Model Life: Adoration, Part 7 · CCC West Covina

0:00
Take your Bible if you would please, and turn to the 5th
0:02
chapter of First Thessalonians. And today we're going to cover
0:05
verse #19 we're looking at the model life.
0:09
The model life is 1 of adoration.
0:12
It truly adores the true and living God.
0:16
It's best seen in the trilogy of commands.
0:19
Rejoice always, verse 16. Pray without ceasing verse 17.
0:25
And in everything give thanks verse 18 for this is the will of
0:32
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
0:36
God's will is that you be joyful, prayerful and thankful.
0:41
And that trilogy of commands makes up the model life of
0:45
adoration, a life that truly adores it's God.
0:52
But the the life of adoration is not only defined by by what it
0:56
does, it's also defined by what it doesn't do.
1:02
And that's where verse 19 and verse #20 come into play, where
1:05
he says do not quench the Spirit and do not despise prophetic
1:15
utterances. Those who adore their God don't
1:21
quench the Spirit. Those who adore their God don't
1:26
despise the Word of God. Interesting.
1:34
Again, Paul gives no explanation, no instruction, no
1:41
application. He just gives the injunction.
1:47
This is the command. Do this, don't do that.
1:54
And yet he doesn't give any extras to it.
1:59
And that's because of First Thessalonians 213.
2:02
When they received the word, they received it not as the word
2:06
of men, but actually as it actually is the word of God.
2:09
And they actually put out the welcome mat and received it.
2:13
And these are all new believers that they've been saved for just
2:17
a, a few months. It's not like they've they're
2:20
old Saints have been, you know, crusty in their walk with Christ
2:24
over all these years. No, these are new believers, few
2:29
months old. They tells them do not quench
2:33
the Spirit. See when when they were born
2:36
again, they were they were saved by the Spirit.
2:39
Titus chapter 3. They, they were sealed by the
2:44
Spirit. Ephesians chapter 4.
2:49
They, they, they serve according to the spirit first Peter
2:53
chapter 4, they are sanctified by that spirit.
2:59
Titus chapter 2. So he tells them, because you're
3:05
saved, sealed, sanctified, secured, and serve in the
3:11
Spirit. Make sure you don't stifle the
3:14
spirit or smother the Spirit. How do you do that?
3:22
What does that mean? What's it mean?
3:25
Do not quench the spirit. Well, let's say you're really,
3:30
really thirsty. How do you quench your thirst?
3:33
By drinking lots of water, right?
3:36
Well, when you quench the spirit, you, you dampen the
3:39
spirit you, you retard the spirit, you extinguish the fire
3:44
of the Spirit of God in your life.
3:47
And Paul simply says, listen, don't do this in your walk with
3:51
the Lord. Do not stifle the Spirit's work
3:57
in your life. Don't do that, he says very,
4:07
very easily. Just don't quench the spirit.
4:10
Don't extinguish the spirit. Now we know that the the Bible
4:14
speaks of God's presence as a fire.
4:19
Remember in Acts chapter 2 and when on the day of Pentecost
4:22
there were there were cloven tongues of fire over the heads
4:25
of of all those people who who believed and were baptized in
4:29
the Spirit because the the fire would represent the presence of
4:34
God in their lives. It was, it was quite a miracle.
4:40
You can go all the way back to the book of Exodus, the 3rd
4:42
chapter, right? And God spoke to Moses from a
4:46
fiery Bush, a burning Bush. You can go back to Exodus
4:52
chapter 24 and realize that on top of the mountain there was a
4:55
consuming fire because that was the presence of God on top of
4:59
Mount Sinai. When you think of the glory of
5:04
the Lord, you think of the the presence of God manifested in
5:08
brilliant light. And that is exactly what what is
5:12
happening here. When when you quench the spirit,
5:15
you are, you are dampening the fire of the Spirit of God in
5:20
your life. And you know what, for the most
5:23
part, we have no idea. We are doing that.
5:26
We are not waking up today and saying, hey, I wonder how I am
5:29
dampening the spirit, how I am retarded.
5:31
The spirits work in my life. We don't think that way and we
5:34
should because the Bible is very explicit.
5:37
Do not do this. Do not quench the spirits.
5:41
When the Spirit of God came, Acts chapter 1, the Lord said
5:49
when, when, when the Spirit of God comes, you're going to
5:54
receive power. Things are going to be different
5:58
than they've ever been before, and you'll be my witnesses all
6:02
throughout the world. But when the Spirit of God
6:05
comes, something's going to happen and it and it deals a lot
6:10
with with our friends with the Lord.
6:11
Remember Peter, Peter, whenever he was in the presence of the
6:15
Lord, he, he was great. I mean, he could cut off mouth
6:19
because his ear in the Garden of Gethsemane, even though there
6:22
were soldiers all around him and it was just Jesus and a handful
6:27
of disciples. But he wasn't afraid.
6:29
He had he had courage. But when he followed Christ from
6:34
a distance, when he wasn't in the presence of the Lord, he
6:38
would deny the Lord to a little girl by a fire.
6:45
But when he received the Spirit of God and Acts 2, the courage,
6:49
the boldness, the strength that Peter had to preach and live for
6:53
Christ was remarkable. So Paul comes along and says,
7:00
listen, I want you to be joyful, I want you to be prayerful, and
7:03
I want you to be thankful, but make sure you don't quench the
7:08
Spirit of God. How does that happen?
7:12
I want to be very practical with you this morning.
7:15
I want to be able to explain to you how it actually happens in
7:19
our lives and things that you might not even be aware of, but
7:22
you need to be. So think about this way #1 how
7:26
does 1 quench the Spirit of God? Well, you do it by diminishing
7:32
His personality and identity in your life, by diminishing his
7:41
personality and identity in your life.
7:46
You know, we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as low man on
7:50
the totem pole. There's God the Father, then
7:54
there's God the Son, and then somewhere down the bottom of the
7:57
pole is God the Spirit. And and we forget that they're
8:02
equal in nature. There's one God who manifests
8:06
himself in three distinct persons.
8:09
But we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as as low man on the
8:12
totem pole, as if as if he doesn't make that much
8:17
difference in our lives. In all reality, he's the
8:22
forgotten member of the Trinity. I'm sure that when you woke up
8:26
this morning, you weren't thinking about the Spirit of
8:28
God. In fact, I would probably reckon
8:31
to say that throughout this past week you weren't thinking about
8:35
the Spirit of God. But we simply just don't pay
8:41
very much attention to the relevance of God's Spirit in our
8:48
lives and we simply ignore his dwelling.
8:54
You don't mean to. It just happens.
8:58
And we, we diminish his personality by not understanding
9:01
that the Spirit of God is God. Acts 5, three and four.
9:05
Remember when Peter told Ananias that you had lied to the Spirit?
9:11
And then he comes back in verse 4 and says you've actually lied
9:13
to God, meaning that the Spirit is God and, and, and, and
9:19
because he's God, he's a person. That the Spirit of God is not an
9:23
it. The Spirit of God is not an
9:26
influence. The Spirit of God is not a
9:28
force. The Spirit of God is a person,
9:32
yet we deny and diminish his personality, thus diminishing
9:36
his identity as as God in our lives.
9:41
He possesses the same attributes of God.
9:43
He's on the present, He's omnipotent, He's omniscient, He
9:48
has intellect, He feels we can grieve the Spirit.
9:54
Ephesians 430 do not grieve the Spirit of God.
9:57
How do you do that? Whenever, whenever you quench
9:59
the Spirit, you grieve the Spirit, OK?
10:02
The grieving of Spirit is in, is in, or is the result of us
10:06
quenching the Spirit. We sadden him, we bring sorrow
10:11
to Him simply because we have quenched, dampened, stifled,
10:17
smothered, retarded the work of the Spirit of God in our lives.
10:23
And it happens simply because we, we just diminish His
10:26
personality and identity. We're not really actively
10:30
thinking about the Spirit of God, actually God dwelling in
10:33
me. And yet the Lord said, I'm going
10:36
to send you another comforter, another another of the same
10:41
kind. Alas, another of different kind
10:43
would be heteros. But this is, alas, this is
10:45
another of the same kind. I'm going to send another of the
10:48
same kind as me. And he will be in you.
10:50
He will be your helper, He will be your teacher, He will be your
10:53
guide. He will empower you.
10:55
I won't be with you in person, but my spirit will be in you.
11:00
And therefore you will never be an orphan.
11:03
You'll never be without me. I'll always be there.
11:08
And yet we don't think of the presence of the Spirit of God in
11:12
our lives as much as we should. So the first way that we we
11:19
begin to quench the Spirit of God is by diminishing his
11:23
personality and identity in our lives.
11:29
The second way is disregarding our spiritual giftedness.
11:39
Do you know that you quench the Spirit of God?
11:41
You stifle God's spirit when you disregard your spiritual
11:49
giftedness. First Corinthians 12 tells us,
11:54
verse 11, that the Spirit of God gives us a gift by His own
12:03
volition. So Paul in Second Timothy
12:07
chapter 1 would say these words, verse 14 guard through the Holy
12:14
Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been
12:18
entrusted to us. So because of the Spirit of God,
12:21
we can guard the treasure. What's the treasure?
12:24
The treasure is the gospel. The treasure is the truth.
12:28
We, we are guardians and protectors of the truth.
12:30
By the power of the Spirit of God that dwells within us, we
12:33
can stand against those who speak against the Word of God,
12:37
whether it's at work or at school, at play, no matter where
12:40
we are, we can stand strong because of the Spirit of God.
12:44
And earlier Paul would say these words in Second Timothy one
12:47
verse #6 for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the
12:53
gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my
12:57
hands. In other words, this is the
13:00
opposite of First Thessalonians 519.
13:03
Paul says, don't quench the Spirit Here he tells Timothy,
13:06
you need to fan the flame of the Spirit of God, the giftiness
13:10
that God's given. You don't, don't retard that.
13:15
How does that happen? By ignoring our spiritual
13:18
giftiness, by letting that giftedness atrophy, by lack of
13:23
use, realizing that God has called us to build the body of
13:27
Christ. So let me say it to you very
13:31
practically. You as a believer are a
13:33
spiritually gifted person. That's part of your identity.
13:37
Who you are in Christ is that I am a spiritually gifted person.
13:40
God's Spirit indwells me. He has gifted me.
13:43
Why? For the sake of His name, His
13:45
Kingdom, for the purpose of building the body of Christ.
13:49
So because you're spiritually gifted, God wants to use you
13:52
within the body of Christ. And when you disregard that
13:56
giftedness, you don't use that gift.
14:00
You don't use it in such a way that it builds the body of
14:05
Christ. You quench the Spirit of God,
14:09
thus grieving the Spirit of God. So in other words, we need to be
14:16
actively involved in doing that which God's called us to do.
14:21
So here's Timothy, he's about 35 years of age and maybe he's he's
14:25
reluctant in exercising his giftedness as a pastor, as a
14:31
preacher, as a teacher. And Paul says, Timothy, you need
14:36
to rekindle afresh, need to fan the flame of your giftedness.
14:39
Don't draw back. Keep exercising your giftedness
14:43
for the glory of the Lord. And then he says this in verse
14:46
#7 For God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but of power
14:50
and love and of discipline. Our self-control.
14:54
God's spirit is one that gives us power, enables us to love and
15:02
to discipline our lives every single day.
15:06
This is just so important. You see, we we diminishes
15:11
working in our lives by living undisciplined lives when we have
15:16
a spirit within us who is God who empowers us to live lives of
15:25
spiritual discipline. Think about that.
15:29
So whenever your life is an undisciplined life, you quench
15:32
the Spirit of God. Whenever your life is is lacking
15:37
the love for God and love for the brethren, you quench the
15:40
Spirit of God. Whenever you go through life
15:44
living as if you have no power, no energy, no strength, you
15:48
quench the Spirit of God. And for the most part, we don't
15:54
even recognize that. We don't even recognize what
15:57
we're doing. And whenever you quench him, you
16:01
grieve him. What?
16:04
Why would he want to grieve the comforter?
16:07
Why would he want to grieve our helper, our teacher, our guide?
16:12
Why we want to grieve the one who regenerated us, who who
16:16
cleansed us with the washing every generation?
16:19
Why would we want to do that? That's the question we have to
16:23
ask ourselves. And so when you disregard your
16:27
spiritual get to this by letting it atrophy, by not using it, not
16:32
our being even ignorant as to what spiritual get to this is,
16:37
or just downright denying that you have one and not even using
16:41
it in the church, you, you've quenched the Spirit of God.
16:47
You know, we go through life every day and you know this we,
16:50
we face hardship, we face difficulty, we face decision
16:53
making. Sometimes our lives are, are,
16:55
are are in shambles and they're and they're, they're falling
16:57
apart and we're wondering why without ever recognizing that
17:01
maybe we are in the process of quenching the Spirit of God in
17:05
our lives. Therefore, his operation in our
17:07
life is not what it should be because we have thrown water on
17:11
his working in our lives and we wonder why our lives are so
17:14
messed up. This need to be that way, see.
17:19
And so we need to realize that that we quench the Spirit by by
17:22
diminishing his personality and identity in our own lives and
17:26
then disregarding our spiritual giftedness as it pertains to
17:31
building the body of Christ. If you're here today and you're
17:36
a born again believer, you've been gifted.
17:38
And if you don't use that gift in the operation and
17:42
mobilization of the church, you're quenching the Spirit of
17:47
God as we speak, thus grieving the Spirit of God.
17:52
And I would ask you, why would you want to do that?
17:55
God's gifted you by His Spirit, indwelling you use it for His
18:01
glory #3 Not only do we quench the Spirit by diminishing His
18:07
personality and identity and disregarding the spiritual
18:10
giftedness that He's given to us, but by by denying His
18:15
control over our lives. Again, we don't, we don't
18:20
purposely do this. We just deny His control over
18:26
our lives. The Bible says this in Ephesians
18:28
5. He says verse 18 and do not get
18:33
drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with
18:38
the spirit. The word filled is play Rao,
18:41
which means permeation, domination, control be be
18:49
permeated with the Spirit of God.
18:51
Don't be drunk with wine and which is excess.
18:53
Don't, don't let externals dominate you.
18:58
He uses wine as an illustration, but there are other things that
19:02
dominate their lives. That control our lives.
19:06
Doesn't have to be wine. It could be activities, it could
19:09
be another person, it could be all kinds of things.
19:11
Whatever it is, don't let that control you, but but be
19:14
controlled. Be dominated.
19:16
Let the Spirit of God permeate every aspect of your life.
19:18
Live in the conscious presence of Almighty God.
19:24
But when we deny his control over our lives, we quench the
19:28
Spirit. Interesting that Colossians 316
19:31
says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
19:34
Let it be in a home in your hearts.
19:36
And it's it's, it's the same thing as letting or or letting
19:41
being filled with the Spirit of God.
19:42
Why? Because the consequences are the
19:44
same. In Ephesians 5, when you're,
19:47
when you're filled with the Spirit, when the Spirit of God
19:49
permeates your life, when you're dominated by the Spirit of God,
19:51
you sing to one another. In psalms and hymns and
19:53
spiritual songs, you give thanks unto the Lord and you submit one
19:57
to another. When you go to Colossians 3 and
20:00
read verse 16, the following, when the word of Christ dwells
20:02
and you richly, what do you do? You sing to one another in
20:05
psalms and hymns, spiritual songs.
20:07
You give thanks to the Lord and you submit to one another.
20:09
The same is true of both. Why?
20:11
Because they're one and the same.
20:13
How do I know my life is dominated by the Spirit of God?
20:16
Because my life is dominated by the scriptures I learned the
20:19
word of Christ dwelled in me richly.
20:22
So when I don't study to show myself a prudent of the God, a
20:24
Workman that needed not to be ashamed, I quench the spirit.
20:29
When I live a life of meditation and Bible study and memorization
20:34
so that the word of Christ dwells in me richly, God's
20:37
spirit can't dominate my life. I quench the Spirit of God.
20:43
I need to be controlled by God's spirit.
20:47
I, I need to live by keeping in step with the Spirit of God.
20:54
When I don't do that, then I end up quenching the Spirit of God.
21:03
It's like a glove. If I had a glove up here, I
21:06
could hold it in my hand and, and, and throw it down and it's,
21:09
it's virtually of no use until I put my hand inside the glove.
21:14
And if I've put only one finger in the glove, then the only part
21:20
of that glove that works is that where that one finger is and the
21:23
other four asked for holes with fingers in them are useless.
21:27
They can't do, they can't pick anything up, can't catch
21:29
anything. But once my hand dominates,
21:34
permeates the glove, then the glove can do whatever I designed
21:38
it to do. That's the same thing with the
21:41
Spirit of God when the Spirit of God indwells us, which he does
21:45
at salvation. When I am controlled by God's
21:49
spirit and let the word of Christ develop me richly, then
21:52
my life is dominated. My feet, my arms, my eyes, my
21:55
heart, my mind, everything is dominated by the Spirit of God.
22:00
So I think God's thoughts, I speak God's words, I live God's
22:03
life, and that doesn't happen, and I quench the Spirit of God,
22:12
thus grieving His Spirit. And for the most part, we don't
22:15
even think about these things. But it's so important #4 I can
22:23
quench the Spirit of God by disobeying his commands.
22:29
That's pretty obvious, right? In the three, right before, it'd
22:33
be joyful, be prayerful, be thankful.
22:34
If I disobey His commands, I will quench the Spirit of God.
22:40
Listen, the only reason I can obey the commands of God is
22:43
because of the Spirit of God. Remember the book of Ezekiel,
22:47
Ezekiel chapter 36 verse #27 God says, I will put my Spirit
22:52
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be
22:56
careful to observe My ordinances.
22:58
That's the new covenant promise. I will cause My Spirit to be in
23:04
you. And because My Spirit is in you
23:08
now, you can obey My ordinances. You can do what I've commanded
23:13
you to do. Why?
23:15
Because I'll be in you and the Spirit will motivate you.
23:18
Well, whenever you decide to disobey those commands because
23:22
of pride or because of arrogance or because of indifference or
23:25
for whatever reason, you quench the Spirit of God.
23:30
Because the reason the Spirit of God indwells you is so that you
23:32
can live Christ's life. And when I decide not to live
23:35
that life and live in disobedience to that life, then
23:38
I quench the Spirit of God. So incredibly important over in
23:47
First Thessalonians chapter 4. Remember in verses 1 to 8, we
23:52
talked about the fact that what happens when you are a believer
23:57
in the Lord Jesus Christ that you are to live in obedience to
24:01
His word. And in chapter 4 it talks about
24:06
how we are abstaining from sexual immorality.
24:09
And when you don't, he says in verse #8 So he who rejects this
24:15
command is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy
24:20
Spirit to you whenever you disobey the command to this is
24:26
the will of God, even the sanctification that you abstain
24:29
from sexual immorality and you engage in sex outside of
24:33
marriage. You are rejecting the Spirit of
24:36
God's work in your life. You're disobeying His commands.
24:40
You are quenching the Spirit of God.
24:43
Therefore, you are grieving the Spirit of God.
24:47
You know, we, we, not we people engage in sex sins outside of
24:54
marriage because they want to grieve their partner, but not
24:58
realizing that they're grieving the Spirit of God in the
25:00
process. And they're more concerned about
25:03
grieving their partner than they are grieving the Spirit of God.
25:07
That's a problem. See there's so many times we
25:11
quench the Spirit by disobeying his commands.
25:15
So as I review this, you can pretty much understand that
25:17
right when I disobey the commands of God, I quench
25:20
spirit, I retard his work in my life, I dampen his effect in my
25:23
life. When I when I deny his control
25:27
over my life and decide that I want to control my life and do
25:30
as I please or let some other substance or some other person
25:33
control my life, that quenches the spirit.
25:37
We can understand that when we disregard our spiritual
25:41
giftedness, we don't do what God tells us to do as people in the
25:45
body of Christ, we, we quit the spirit.
25:47
When I diminish this personality and identity in my life, I I
25:50
quit the Spirit. We understand that we can get
25:52
that, but but the fifth one, the fifth one is some something
25:57
other than what we necessarily think.
26:00
And that is when you depend on your own resources instead of
26:07
God's Spirit, you quit the Spirit.
26:12
And we do this quite often. We, we depend on human
26:18
resources, we depend on, on human strength, human wisdom,
26:30
human techniques instead of the spirit of the living God.
26:41
And we do this without even thinking about it.
26:46
We believe that because of our education, because of our
26:50
athletic prowess, because of my leadership, I can just make
26:56
decisions, do what I want, live what I want, but all the while
27:01
quenching the Spirit. Think about this, the life of
27:07
Moses. Moses believed in his
27:11
self-sufficient, self reliant self efforts.
27:17
He could pull off the exodus, but he couldn't.
27:23
And Moses was educated in the finest school system of his day.
27:27
In fact, I would venture to say that his education is far
27:31
superior to any education you could receive today, no matter
27:34
what school you go to. He was educated in the world's
27:39
greatest educational system that ever existed in Egypt, knowing
27:45
that he was Nixon line to be the Pharaoh.
27:47
So his leadership skills were off the charts.
27:51
On top of that, he was a athletic, muscular man.
27:57
On one day in Exodus chapter 2, he saw one of the Egyptians
27:59
beating one of the Israelites and he he slew the Egyptian.
28:03
Just a matter of moments thinking that the people would
28:07
rise up and say this is our leader, but they rebelled
28:11
against him. So here is Moses with all the
28:15
the education and all the qualities and all the expertise
28:21
to lead Israel. But he wasn't ready.
28:26
So what did God do? God drove him to the backside of
28:30
the desert for 40 years to break him.
28:37
So when he comes out of the desert and he and he and he and
28:41
he's able to hear the word of God speaking to him through a
28:44
fiery Bush, everything about his self-reliance is gone.
28:48
Everything about self-sufficiency is gone.
28:51
He's like who, who, who shall I say sent me?
28:55
If I go, they're not going to listen to me.
28:57
Before he thought they would listen to him because he was
29:00
Nixon line to be the Pharaoh, but they did not listen and so
29:05
God had to break him. Why?
29:06
Because God needs to to shatter our independence from Him in
29:11
order to establish our dependence upon him.
29:13
Because we are so autonomous, we think that we can make it
29:17
without God. What we think we can make our
29:20
marriage work, but we can't. We do though.
29:27
We we think we can make our family work, but we can't.
29:31
And we get so disgruntled and so confused and so angry and and so
29:35
upset because we're trying to control life from a human
29:38
perspective. Wonder why my kids don't obey
29:43
one of my wife. My wife doesn't follow.
29:45
Wonder why the people at work don't like me instead of
29:49
realizing that it's all because of the spiritual work of my
29:52
life. And he relies solely and totally
29:56
upon Him. We so easy depend upon man made
30:02
things that we no longer rest in the sovereign work of God.
30:10
Listen to Paul's prayer in Ephesians chapter 3.
30:15
When he says these words, Ephesians chapter 3, he says,
30:21
for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom
30:24
every family in heaven and earth derives his name, that he would
30:28
grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be
30:31
strengthened with the power through His Spirit in the inner
30:36
man. This is Paul's prayer for the
30:40
Church of Ephesus, that God would grant you because of His
30:43
eternal riches, power that comes only through His Spirit.
30:50
That's only in the inner man to accomplish God's will for your
30:57
life. You can't do it without the
31:01
Spirit of God. Galatians chapter 3 verse #3
31:05
Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, having
31:13
begun in the Spirit, you think you could be perfected by the
31:17
flesh? You were saved by the Spirit.
31:22
You were in dwelt by the Spirit. You were sealed by the Spirit,
31:26
you were set apart by the Spirit, but now you're trying to
31:30
live your life without the influence and power of that
31:35
spirit in your life to lead you and guide you.
31:39
And Paul says you're just foolish people because the
31:42
spiritual life is only accomplished by spiritual means,
31:47
not by any other means. So important.
31:53
And so we tend to to think that we know better than God, that we
31:59
could do things better than God. So we depend upon our own
32:03
resources, we depend upon our own intellect.
32:07
We lean on our own understanding basically in every decision we
32:11
make each and every day. Instead of obeying the
32:15
Scriptures which says do not lean on your own understanding
32:19
in all your ways, acknowledge Him.
32:21
He will make your path smooth. If your path is as smooth, it's
32:24
because you're leaning on your own understanding because God
32:27
promises to make your path smooth if you trust in Him and
32:30
acknowledge Him throughout each and every aspect of the decision
32:33
making process. But so many times we just negate
32:37
that float out the window and we live our lives as if God doesn't
32:44
even exist. But we can't live without him,
32:48
without me, because you can do nothing.
32:51
Nothing. But we think we can.
32:54
And we we forget that that God is working in our lives through
33:00
his Spirit. God had to work in the life of
33:02
Moses. God had to take him to his, to
33:06
his desert, had to take him to the school room of God.
33:09
He had been educated in the school room of Egypt.
33:12
He needed to be in the school room of God.
33:14
Why? Because he needed a PhD in the
33:16
ways of God. We're so concerned about getting
33:18
a PhD in things that just don't matter.
33:21
You need to get a PhD in the things of God, in the ways of
33:24
God. And that only comes to the
33:26
desert experience, only comes to the suffering and difficulty of
33:31
isolation. And he had to learn that.
33:36
And once he learned it, he came out of Egypt or came out of the
33:41
desert to lead Israel, the greatest leader in Israel's
33:46
history, because he would learn to depend upon the living God
33:50
for everything. What's what God wants to do in
33:53
your life? You live a life of frustration.
33:59
You live a life of unsettledness, live a life of
34:02
discouragement. Could it be that that you're
34:06
just quenching the Spirit because you're trying to make
34:08
decisions based on your own intellect, your, your own way of
34:13
thinking, instead of trusting and dependent upon the living
34:17
God to lead you and to guide you in the way that you should go?
34:24
There are some of you today that are even experiencing Psalm One
34:27
O 6 verse #15 my mom's favorite verse that God will give you the
34:32
desires of your heart but send a barrenness to your soul.
34:39
Be careful what you ask God for because sometimes He gives it to
34:42
you but sends that absolute barrenness to your soul and
34:48
you're so disgruntled. Even though you got what you
34:51
wanted, it wasn't what you thought it was when you made the
34:55
decision. And now you are so unsettled.
35:02
God is saying you need to trust me, you need to believe in me,
35:05
you need to lean upon me. But when we depend upon our own
35:11
self resources instead of the spirits resources, we quench the
35:18
spirit number six. Here's one you don't think of
35:26
very often, but it happens. We quench the spirit when we
35:30
downplay the spirits working and up play our working.
35:39
We downplay the spirits working and up play our working.
35:45
In other words, it's it's what I have done.
35:52
I got a promotion. I I deserve this promotion.
35:56
I got a raise. I deserve this raise.
35:59
I've worked hard at it. Other people have worked hard
36:03
too, but they don't have a raise.
36:06
But you see, I've worked harder than they have.
36:08
I deserve this. Not realizing that Paul says in
36:12
First Corinthians 4, What do you have that you did not receive
36:17
from God? The answer is nothing but but we
36:23
think it's because of what I've done.
36:27
Look at this this great building I have built.
36:30
Look at this great Bible study that I have built that people
36:33
are coming in droves or, or we think I LED my, my, my sister or
36:39
my brother to the Lord. No, you didn't, but you think
36:43
you did. See, because down deep you want
36:47
to downplay the spirits working and up play you're working for
36:54
your own glory. So we take pride in the fact
36:57
that I LED so and so to the Lord, or I went on this mission
37:01
tripping and LED this many people to the Lord, or I did
37:05
this or I did that. And we want to boast in our, our
37:10
achievements. And we, we talked about it on
37:12
Wednesday night that, that the true Christian, he, he glories
37:16
in Christ Jesus. He puts no confidence in the
37:19
flesh. He has no confidence in himself,
37:23
but he glories in Christ. He boasts in Christ.
37:28
But so often we we want to boast in our own achievements and
37:30
accomplishments. I've done this.
37:34
Look what I did here. Well, that's because of me.
37:39
No, it's not. It's because of the Lord.
37:43
God's doing those workings you can think about.
37:50
I bought a house. Yeah, you did.
37:54
But you have a house because of what God has given you.
37:59
It's from, it's from the Lord. What do you have that you did
38:02
not receive? Absolutely nothing.
38:05
Not just in the spiritual realm, but in the physical realm as
38:08
well. That's why I love what James
38:10
says. He says, come now, you who say
38:13
today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a
38:16
year there and engage in business and make a profit.
38:21
He says, you who say that I have a plan and this is my plan, I'm
38:29
going to make a profit, I'm going to move here, I'm going to
38:32
do this and I'm going to this is my plan.
38:35
He says, yet you do not know what your life will be like
38:37
tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
38:40
appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
38:42
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and
38:47
also do this or that. And then he says this.
38:53
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting
39:00
is evil. When you make your plans,
39:07
ignoring the Spirit of God, the dwelling of God, the moving of
39:11
God in your life, you're just arrogant.
39:16
You're boasting your own arrogance.
39:18
I'm going to do this, I'm going to take this job.
39:21
I'm going to move here. I'm going to do that.
39:25
Jesus, if the Lord wills, that should be your prayer.
39:31
Listen to these words. So true.
39:36
Jeremiah, Jeremiah 10 verse #23 I know, O Lord, that a man's way
39:44
is not in himself. I know I can't run my own life,
39:51
nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
39:59
But you know what? We think we can.
40:02
That's why you're not a great prophet like Jeremiah.
40:05
Because you see, he knew he couldn't.
40:07
He couldn't direct his own steps.
40:08
He couldn't make his own plans. Why?
40:12
Because the Lord's in charge, he says.
40:15
Correct me, oh Lord. Put me on the right path, and
40:21
then this one, Psalm 143 verse #10 teach me to do Your will,
40:27
for You are my God. Let Your good Spirit lead me on
40:32
smooth, level ground for the sake of Your name.
40:35
Isn't that great? Teach me, Lord, Your will.
40:40
I want to know your will, Lord. I want to know Your will for my
40:43
life, for You're my God. Let your good spirit lead me.
40:50
That's the cry of the believer. That's Spirit.
40:56
Isaiah 11 verse #2 is described as the spirit of wisdom,
41:00
understanding, counsel, strength, and knowledge.
41:05
The Spirit that you have within you is the spirit of knowledge,
41:08
strength, understanding, and counsel.
41:11
That's why God says, I'm going to give you my counselor, I'm
41:15
going to give you my guide, I'm going to give you my teacher,
41:18
I'm going to give you my wisdom. Why?
41:21
Because I want you to have the mind of Christ.
41:24
That's who lives within us, the Spirit of God.
41:29
So why would we seek counsel outside the Spirit of God and
41:32
outside the Scriptures that He's given to us?
41:35
Why would we do that when He's given us the Spirit of power, of
41:40
love and self-discipline? That's a spirit that lives
41:47
within us. But when we, because of our own
41:52
sinful nature, downplay the Spirit's working to upplay our
42:01
working, we've quenched the Spirit one more.
42:10
This will lead us into next week.
42:13
You quench the Spirit when you despise prophetic utterances,
42:18
which is the next verse verse #20 when you degrade, when you
42:27
look down upon, treat as irrelevant God's holy Word.
42:37
Why? Because the word inspired is as
42:43
equal to the Word Incarnate. Psalm 138, verse #2 it says,
42:53
Thou has magnified thy word even as thy very name.
42:59
At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.
43:02
At the Word of God, every knee will bow.
43:05
Because the Word of God inspired is from the Word of God
43:07
Incarnate, and they're on the equal plane.
43:13
Solomon says Proverbs 13 verse #13 The one who despises the
43:21
word will be destroyed by the word, he says, but the one who
43:32
fears the commandment will be rewarded.
43:38
The one who reveres commandment is rewarded.
43:41
Those who despise it will be in debt to it, and they will be
43:45
destroyed by it. That's why you can't ever afford
43:49
to despise prophetic utterances over in Second Chronicles
43:54
chapter 36, which is the last chapter in the Jewish Bible.
44:01
It's not the book of Malachi, it's the book of Second
44:04
Chronicles because the Jewish Bible ends with the destruction
44:07
of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.
44:10
That's why the Jews stand at the wailing Western waiting wall,
44:16
whatever you want to call it, and mourn what is taking place
44:21
because the Bible ends in Second Chronicles 36.
44:24
The Jewish Bible and how does it end, ends this way.
44:30
The Lord, that the God of your Father's sent word to Israel
44:34
again and again and again by His messengers, His prophets,
44:45
because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling
44:47
place. Why did God keep sending
44:50
prophets over and over again, different ones of them?
44:56
Because God had compassion on His people and His dwelling
44:58
place. What?
45:00
Why does what? Why does God keep you coming to
45:01
hear the word of the Lord? Because He has compassion on
45:04
you. He wants to teach you.
45:07
He wants to grow you. And so He just keeps giving you
45:12
the same message over and over and over again.
45:17
Verse 16 But they continually mocked the messengers of God.
45:24
Imagine that. Mocking Jeremiah, mocking
45:28
Isaiah, mocking Daniel, mocking Amos, mocking all these great
45:37
men of God who came to bring the message.
45:40
But that's what they did. They mocked them, made fun of
45:42
them, scoffed at them. They continually mocked the
45:49
messages of God, and they despised His words, God's words,
45:57
and scoffed at His prophets. They despise the word of God,
46:06
they scoffed at His prophets. They mocked the men that God had
46:12
sent until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until
46:22
there was no remedy. How sad is that?
46:30
There was no longer a remedy. There was no longer an answer.
46:34
The word of the Lord kept coming over and over and over again.
46:40
And they despise the prophets, they despise his messengers.
46:43
They scoffed at them over and over again.
46:47
They just treated their words as if they meant nothing.
46:52
But they were the words of God, see?
46:56
So the wrath of God was kindled against them until there was
47:00
absolutely no longer a remedy for them.
47:04
Jerusalem was destroyed. Israel's never been the same.
47:10
How sad is that? So incredibly sad.
47:15
I I say that because how do we quench the Spirit?
47:20
But by looking down upon the commands of God, the prophetic
47:23
utterances of God, the words that God has given to us,
47:26
whether they're inspired words, whether it's the Incarnate Word,
47:30
by looking down upon that word and treating it as if it means
47:34
nothing but around, he means everything because it's a
47:39
treasure of God's word in their lives.
47:43
So Paul says to those in Destin, I could don't quench the Spirit.
47:46
Don't stifle the work in the Spirit.
47:48
Don't smother his influence and power in your life.
47:52
Don't do that. Instead, fan the flame, throw
47:56
wood in the fire, rekindle afresh the Spirit of God and be
48:02
used for the glory of God. May God give us the grace never
48:07
to quench the Spirit, so that we in turn then grieve the Spirit,
48:13
but maybe walk in the Spirit, taking each step in the presence
48:18
of the living God. Let's pray.
48:21
Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to
48:25
spend a brief moment in your word.
48:28
We ask that Lord, we would be the kind of people that adhere
48:33
to the words of God, that we not just be hearers only, but doers
48:40
of the word that actually we we would leave here saying, I'm
48:44
going to recognize God in my life, the street of God.
48:49
God lives in me. I'm going to exercise my
48:52
giftedness for the glory of God. I'm going to obey the commands
48:55
of God, not disobey the commands of God.
48:58
I don't want any glory. I want all the glory to go to
49:00
the Lord. I don't want to trust in myself.
49:05
I want to trust in the spirits working in my life.
49:07
And I want to make sure when I hear the word of God, I don't
49:12
look down upon it, but then I Revere it for what it truly is,
49:18
God's holy word. That's our prayer.
49:21
Lord in Jesus name, Amen.