Good evening. Tonight's message
is called Quench Not, Despise Not, Prove All Things. Tonight
we'll continue our study in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 where Paul is exhorting
the Thessalonian believers here in the latter part of this chapter.
Let's read verses 14 to 23 and we'll see this in our text before
us, Paul's exhortation. We'll start in verse 14 of 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. Now we exhort you Brethren, warn
them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the
weak, be patient toward all men. 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, 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 prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good,
abstain from all appearance of evil, 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. Now some take these exhortations
before us to mean that man by his will can quench the working
of the Holy Spirit of God. One thing is for sure. The Holy
Spirit, as to His person and work, cannot be quenched. Beloved,
He is God, He is Sovereign, and none can stay His hand. And He
does as He pleases, in heaven and on earth and in the seas,
in all deep places, in all the inhabitants of the earth, there
appears nothing before Him and His great Almighty Power. So
to quench the Spirit does not mean, as some foolish professors
claim, that the will of man can frustrate or alter the will of
God. No, no one can alter the will
of God. He's God Almighty. He has no
counselors. We can't twist His arm. He wouldn't
be God if His will could be thwarted. He wouldn't be God if we could
frustrate or alter His will. He would not be God. No, He's
God, and His will is supreme. Calvin and Gill bring forth that
this verse about quenching the spirit here, speaks of the graces
of the Holy Spirit of God, love, which can all be quenched by
our neglect. And let us not quench the grace
of God. Let us not despise the preaching
of the gospel, no matter who is preaching it. So we see then
that Paul does not mean the person of the Holy Spirit who works
effectually as he will. You know, the Holy Spirit can
do whatever he pleases. And it says here, quench not
the spirit. But listen to what it says in John chapter three,
verse eight. It says, the wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof. But canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit." And then in 1 Corinthians chapter
12 verses 1 to 11 the scripture declares this, Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know
that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even
as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of
gifts but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations
but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations
But listen to this, but it is the same God which worketh all
in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit where all. For to one
is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word
of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same
Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another
the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning
of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to Another,
the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one
in the self same spirit, dividing to every man severely as he will. It's the spirit who gives these
gifts. Paul here in our text, in the
context of our text, refers to the graces of the spirit, such
as faith, love, joy, peace. He speaks of the gifts of the
spirit when they are neglected and not put to use for the glory
of God. This is what it means to quench
the spirit, suppress or subdue his graces and gifts. So let's
read verses 19 to 21 together. Quench not the spirit, despise
not prophesying. Prove all things, hold fast that
which is good. These three admonitions address
the same thing, although the first, verse 19, can apply to
the previous verse that speaks of love, prayer, praise, and
thanksgiving. And these are attributed to the
work of faith through the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God
is the one who works these in us. It's fruit of the Spirit.
We see in verse 19, quench not the spirit. The word quench here
means to extinguish, like when a fire in your stove goes out,
or a candle quits burning. When that happens, there's no
warmth from the stove and no light from the candle. Again,
Paul does not mean the person of the Holy Spirit who works
affectionately as he will, and none can stay his hand. He here
refers to the graces of the Spirit, such as faith, love, joy, peace,
which we see in the context of this text. He is speaking of
the gifts of the spirit when they are neglected and not put
to use for the glory of God, which again is to quench the
spirit, to suppress or subdue his graces and his gifts. Now,
painful trials are not easy to go through. Not only should we
never allow the trials of life to cause us to murmur against
God, we should never allow anything to rob us of our joy or our peace
with God. Let us remember that the Kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Beloved of God, we are on a path
that God Himself has ordained for us. Where we find ourselves
is our lot in life. When we turn our eye of faith
away from Christ, that's when we start looking at self and
start worrying about the mundane things of this world and that's
when we begin to rejoice in the things of this world or go the
opposite way and feel sorry for ourselves. And a murmuring spirit
is a wrong spirit that causes the warmth of God's love to turn
cold. The candle that God has lit in
each of us, each of his born-again, blood-washed children begins
to flicker and go out, and we can become miserable in that
state. We'll never lose our salvation, but we can sure lose our joy
and our peace if we start looking to self, or if we start looking
to the world. If we look to self or the world
to make us happy, we're gonna lose our joy, beloved. We're
gonna lose our peace. And I've seen one murmuring spirit
take out a whole family of faithful people. One of them starts murmuring
about something when there was no trouble at all. And then another
joins in, and another is persuaded, and soon you have a whole group
of murmuring people. I've seen it happen, and the
results are absolutely tragic. It could have all been stopped
if that first one who began murmuring had been told to stop. But no,
no one in that family had the courage to do it. And they were
all carried away by our murmuring spirit right out of the local
assembly. And it's just tragic. It's tragic
when someone shipwrecks another one's faith and quenches the
graces of the Holy Spirit of God. Beloved, we have much to
rejoice in. And if we remember that we are
but saved sinners by the grace of God, then there won't be too
much room to murmur about one another. And beloved, we know
it's easy to praise God and give Him thanks when there are no
bumps on our path. It's easy for us to praise God
when we have money in the bank, when our health is good, when
our little vessel is sailing on smooth seas. It's easy to
praise God. The true test of our faith comes
when certain circumstances beyond our control brings painful trials
into our lives. when the seas which our little
vessel is sailing on start to foam with rage, when the dark
clouds of life close in, and the winds of life start to howl,
covering up the sunshine in our lives. And our text tells us
how to deal with all the seasons of life, and we can only do this
by the power and might of God the Holy Spirit in us. In all
the seasons of life we are to rejoice evermore. We are to pray
without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus our Lord concerning you,
my dear brothers and sisters. Therefore, let us not quench
the Spirit. Let's read verse 20 now. We see
Paul will continue his exhortations to the Thessalonian church, to
the born-again, blood-washed, purchased people of the Lord
Jesus Christ at Thessalonica. He writes in verse 20, despise
not prophesying. Now Paul is telling us, do not
despise, do not make light of or be indifferent to the message
of those who preach the gospel and those who interpret the word
of God. Paul addressed this over in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 in
verses 1-5. Let's turn there. Paul pens,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, follow after charity
and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men,
but unto God. For no man understandeth him.
How obeyed in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth
speaketh unto man to edification and exhortation and comfort.
He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, but
he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all
spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied. For greater
is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except
he interpret that the church may receive edifying. Beloved
of God, this verse aligns with the previous verse. The way to
keep from quenching the spirit is to despise not the preaching
of the gospel. And we as believers are to desire
the gospel, no matter who's preaching it. Always remember, it's not
the man, it's the message. Now, some foolishly say, well,
this preacher's my favorite, or that preacher's my favorite.
But we are to be concerned about the message that the preacher
preaches. The Brians did not search out
which preacher they loved more than any other, or which preacher
was deeper in their minds than any other. No, no, no, they would
say away with such foolishness and let us search the scriptures
to see if these things were so, that being what the preacher
was saying, as again, it's not the man, it's the message. I listened to a preacher on Sermon
Audio the other day, Jonathan Pledger, David Pledger's And
I said to my dear bride, Vicki, I said, boy, that man has the
message. And then we listened to it together. And we both rejoiced
as we listened to the wonderful message of the grace of salvation
in Christ alone proclaimed. And again, it's not the man,
it's the message. It's the message that he preached
that was such a blessing to my soul. The message of salvation
in Christ alone, in him alone, no works of man, nothing. all by the sovereign grace of
God. Salvation being by all by the
sovereign grace of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. So beloved of God we are not
to despise the preaching of the true gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's only one true gospel
and it's the message that that gives God all the glory. When
that young man preached he gave God all the glory. He gave the
glory to God for our salvation from beginning to end. And that's
how it should be. Because salvation is of the Lord.
It's His doing. You know that God himself pronounces
a curse on those who would dare to preach any other gospel. Listen
to these words again penned by Paul under inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God. In Galatians chapter one, he
says in verses six to nine, he says, I marvel that ye are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. Now look at that. Well, there's
another gospel. And that's the gospel of man's
works, beloved. Anything, anything that adds
anything to the free grace of God in Christ, to the gospel
of God's free grace, anything, just a pinprick of your works
is another gospel. And Paul continues, which is
not another. It's actually, it's not even good news. It's not
a gospel, which is not another. But there'll be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Well, how do they
pervert the gospel of Christ? Well, a little leaven, leavening
the whole lump, doesn't it? Well, you got to do this to be
saved. You got to do that to be saved.
Baptize to be saved. You got to receive a second blessing
to be saved. No, salvation is in and through
Christ alone. And do not listen to those who
pervert the gospel of Christ, which is the gospel of a complete,
finished, sin-atoning work by the Lord Jesus Christ in Him
alone. And then Paul goes on to write
this, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other
gospel unto you, that which we have preached unto you, let them
be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel, any other gospel
than the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ
and Christ alone of a complete finished work of salvation by
the Lord Jesus Christ 100% plus nothing, then let him be accursed. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. And those
who have heard the life-giving voice of Jesus Christ our Savior
have turned a deaf ear to the voices of strangers. Turn if
you would to John chapter 10. We only desire to hear our Great
Shepherd's voice. And how do we hear it? Oh, we
hear it through the preaching of the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. Look at this in John chapter
10 verses 1 to 5. You see here, what happens when
the shepherd cries out, his sheep follow him, don't they? When
he calls his sheep, they follow him. They won't follow another.
They won't follow a false preacher. No, they won't follow a false
prophet. They'll only follow the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's sheep will only follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this in John chapter
10 verses 1 to 5. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. You know, when I was a little
tyke in Canada growing up, I used to go visit my great-aunt who
lived up north. And she leased her land out. She had a good chunk of land,
and she leased it out to the neighbor who raised cattle. And
he would come to that fence, and these were cattle, not sheep,
but these were cattle. And we'd try to call them cattle
over, and they'd just look at us like wondering what we were
and who we were. But you know what? When that
farmer came over and he called those cows, they came a running. And he used a name. I can't remember
exactly what it is, but he used a name to call them, and they
came running, because they knew his voice. He wasn't a stranger
to them. And hear God's sheep, they hear
the voice. It says in verse 3 again, To
him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And he
calleth his own sheep by name, and leaveth them out. And when
he putteth forth his sheep, he goeth before them. Look at that,
oh the Lord goes before us. And the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but flee from him. Someone says, oh, come on over
here. The true gospel's over here. It attributes anything
for man to gain salvation by anything he does. Well, that's
not the voice of the great shepherd. That's the voice of a false prophet.
The true gospel gives our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, all the glory. And that's exactly what true
believers want to hear. Because of God's grace, we do
not despise the preaching of His sovereign grace. We love
to hear the gospel preached. We love to hear the gospel of
God's sovereign grace and sovereign mercy in Christ preached and
proclaimed. We love to hear how God has shown
us mercy in and through the perfect redeeming work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man, And as we saw earlier in Galatians, God
abhors any preaching that promotes anything man contributes to salvation. Oh, God's elect are saved by
the perfect sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they have experienced the miracle of the new birth, and they abhor
any religion of works. Salvation has been fully accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. It is he who has redeemed
his people with his precious blood. It is he who died for
sinners on Calvary's cross. And God's sheep are accepted
by God in him. Praise his mighty name. And this
is why we say, flee the Christ, flee the Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. Now there's another Jesus. That's
preached by false prophets and there's another spirit. Paul
writes about that again under inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God. And those who have received this false Jesus and another
spirit, oh my, they will go to their eternal doom trusting in
themselves. Look what Paul wrote. Again,
under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, over in 2 Corinthians
11, verses three and four, he said, but I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his celibate, so
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus. Look at that. One that needs
your help. One that didn't complete the
salvation of his people. One that needs you to make a
decision. That's another Jesus, beloved.
That's another Jesus. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear with him those false religionists
who have never been delivered from the power of darkness are
the ones who despise the true gospel of God's amazing grace
that gives our great God and our Savior all the glory. You
just start telling people that salvation's of the Lord. You
just start saying that He's completed the work, that there's nothing
for man to add to that finished perfect work, and I'll tell you
what, you see how quickly false religionists despise the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we who have been delivered
from the power of darkness, oh, we know that we're only saved
by God's amazing grace. And in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we long to hear the true gospel of God's amazing
grace. Again, that gives our Lord Jesus
Christ all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. Now,
many in our day, and in the day that Paul wrote this letter to
the saints at Thessalonica, despised the preaching of the gospel.
So we see, as Solomon wrote then, that there's nothing new under
the sun, because it's the same with natural man today. Men still
despise the gospel, but not God's people. Oh, we love the gospel
of God's grace. We see in verse 21 that Paul
exhorts the Thessalonians to prove all things. Let's read
that 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21. Prove all things,
hold fast that which is good. So we see in this text that believers
are to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. How
do we prove all things? How is this proving done? Is
there a standard by which things are proved, tried and tested? Well, let's consult the scriptures.
Listen to these words of scripture in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18
to 21. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things. Okay, so right away Peter's
setting forth that God's people are not redeemed with corruptible
things. What are they? As silver and gold. You can't
buy your way into heaven. From your vain conversations
received by tradition from your fathers. You cannot be saved
by traditions of certain churches. How is a believer saved? But
with the precious blood of Christ is of a lamb without blemish
and without spot the spotless sinless lamb of God the Lord
Jesus Christ shed his precious blood and Redeemed his people
from all their sins and then the scripture says who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest
in these last times for you. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. God purposed and planned that
he would save a people and those people would be redeemed by the
precious blood of the lamb, God's lamb. And then it says, who by
him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead. give Him
glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Our faith and
hope is in God and God alone. As you've heard me say many times,
we don't add a stitch to the righteousness of Christ. Not
a stitch. It's all woven by Him. He's the
one who's done it all. He's the one who's done it all.
And then in 1 Corinthians, let's listen to more scripture. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 verses 13 to 16 the scripture declares this, Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. Oh okay, so we're to compare
spiritual things with spiritual things. And then it says this,
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Just remember where you were before the Lord saved you,
and remember what you thought of the scriptures. Maybe someone
witnessed to you. Maybe someone gave you a Bible. What did you think though then
about what they said? I know what I thought then. I
thought it was foolishness. I can relate to that verse. But
the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them
because they are what? Spiritually discerned. Well,
when we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God, now we have
an understanding. because the Holy Spirit of God
is illuminating the scriptures and teaching us the things of
Christ. Remember, he will not speak of himself, here point
us right to Christ, beloved. And verse 15 says, but he that
is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no
man. For who hath no in the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
Christ. So, beloved of God, we are to
be as noble as the Bereans. When they heard the gospel preached
by God's faithful preachers, they received the word with all
readiness of mind. They searched the scriptures
daily, whether these things were so. And this is serious, as since
the fall of man, religious men and women have died in their
sins, thinking their religion was right. And they woke up in
eternal torment when they departed from this life. Our eternal soul
is at stake. We better be right. Don't take
the preacher's word for what you hear. Prove all things from
the Holy Scriptures. Hold fast to that which is good
and dismiss from your minds those things that are contrary to the
inspired word of God. Salvation is either all of works
or all of grace. They cannot mix. And we know
we who are the people of God, that salvation is all of grace.
Listen to this in Romans chapter 11. verses 5 and 6. Even so, then, at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works. Romans
11, 6. That's so clear, isn't it? If
salvation is by grace alone, and it is, then it is no more
of works." Paul again, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God, continues the sentence and he says, otherwise, grace
is no more grace. If it's of works, it's not a
grace. And then he says, he continues and says that, but if it be of
works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
And then, of course, in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, the scriptures
declare, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, see, not of anything you do. It is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So God's people,
we dismiss from our minds the doctrine of man's works of any
kind for salvation, and we hold fast to that which is good, which
is salvation is by the pure, free, and sovereign grace of
God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and that
He alone has accomplished this for us. God Himself says this,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. Listen to that. It's not of your will. It's not
of my will, nor of him that run it. It's not of your works or
my works, but of God that showeth mercy. My oh my, God has mercy. upon His people. The inspired
Word of God puts the doctrine of free will in the same category
of works. We must dismiss from our minds
the false doctrine of man's so-called free will, and we must hold fast
to that which is good concern in our salvation, which is our
salvation is by the sovereign grace and mercy of God, which
He freely bestows on His chosen blood-bought children in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, We are not to lean on our own
understanding, or we are not to trust human logic. No true
saving faith like Abraham's faith believes God. We take God at
His word. And if we believe that some will
go to hell for whom Christ died, we are saying that Christ failed
in His work of redemption for his chosen people. No, Jesus
Christ is Jehovah God, Elohim as we saw on Sunday. If God could
fail at anything then he'd cease to be God. God's people find
this wonderful God-honoring truth very dear to us. Jesus Christ
saved us at Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago by his grace and we
hold fast to that. Again the latter part of verse
21 says hold fast to that which is good. Salvation in and by
and through the Lord Jesus Christ is good and we've seen throughout
the word of God Any and every reference that contains the word
good finds its beginning and ending in He who alone is good,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is none good but God.
This final encouragement is this, Seek the Lord, and having found
Him, hold fast. In doing so you will not quench
the Spirit, and you are not despised prophesying, no, no, you are
loved the preaching of the Gospel. and you'll prove all things,
because you hold fast to that which is good, that being the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Amen and Amen.