The Spirit's Sanctifying Work

Chapter 5, verses 19 to 22.

Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast to what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil.

So in this final unit of instruction here, as he's closing his letter,

Paul turns our attention and the attention of the Thessalonian church

to the mighty work of the Holy Spirit,

but particularly in the Christian sanctification.

The text affirms a few things for us here that are helpful.

It affirms that the Spirit is indeed at work in the church,

preparing believers for the glorious return of Christ.

It also teaches us that this sanctifying work

is one in which we must actively participate,

pursuing the purity that he will complete at the end.

And what we discover immediately here in these verses

is that we can actually stifle the Spirit's work in us.

And we do that in this case and in the context of this passage

by treating the various means of the Spirit's work with contempt.

So the Spirit is working.

We need to pursue that work,

but we also need to be warned that we can stifle that work.

And there are particular ways that Paul is intent

to highlight how that might be done.

There was a specific way in the Thessalonian church

where these Christians were quenching the Spirit's sanctifying work,

and it all had to do with contempt for the gift of prophecy,

which for them was a critical means of the Spirit's operation

in establishing the church.

So we're taught in the passage here that as we await Christ's return,

we must be careful not to quench the Spirit's work

by despising the Spirit's ways.

And at the heart of the text is the most significant

and powerful means of the Spirit's mighty work in our lives

so that we would understand that if we truly desire to live

in a manner worthy of God,

who calls us into His kingdom and glory,

as we saw in chapter 2,

we must take this instruction seriously.

That the Spirit is at work,

and He's at work in a particular way,

and that His most primary and powerful means of work

is actually what's at the heart of what we find here.

I have just two simple headings

that conform to Paul's imperatives here.

The first one is this.

Don't hinder the Spirit's work.

Don't hinder the Spirit's work.

It's very plain for us in verse 19.

Do not quench the Spirit.

It's a simple, straightforward statement.

It's the main idea of what Paul is going to go on

and expand upon in verses 20 and 22.

It moves our focus to the work of the Holy Spirit

and our sanctification in particular.

There's two fundamental truths here

that are worthy of our meditation.

The first is an encouragement.

The second then would be a warning.

And the encouragement, as I've already mentioned,

is this,

that the Holy Spirit of God

is actively working in the lives of His people.

He's actively working in the lives of His people.

We understand that the Spirit of God

is the agent who applies the work of Christ

to the individual.

That if the Son supplies through His atonement our salvation,

the Spirit applies the work of the atonement for our salvation.

And the Bible tells us that the activity of the Holy Spirit

in our salvation is amazingly vast.

We could spend several sermons

just thinking about and meditating on

and reflecting on the various ways that the Spirit works.

In fact, the Old Testament actually indicates

that this would be a sign of the coming kingdom.

It would mark out Christ's kingdom in the world.

And of course, that was inaugurated

on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

There's a lot of ways that the Bible speaks

of the Spirit's work.

For our purposes this morning in relationship to this text,

I want to highlight just two of them,

regeneration and sanctification.

Regeneration and sanctification.

Regeneration is the work of the Spirit

to take one who is spiritually dead in sins

and bring them to life in Jesus Christ.

It's what Jesus was referring to

in that great conversation with Nicodemus

in John chapter 3 when He told Nicodemus

John 3 · chapter mention

that to enter the kingdom of God,

one must be born again of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit applies the atonement of Christ

to the individual through the work of regeneration.

And He does so through the preaching of the gospel.

The gospel of John tells us in so many different places,

Jesus is teaching about this.

In John 15, 26, Jesus says that when the Spirit comes,

He will bear witness about me.

That is, He will guide our hearts.

He will indicate the work of the Holy Spirit

and the application of the atonement to our lives.

He would go on to say later,

2 Corinthians chapter 4,

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Paul would speak of those who are blinded by sin,

blinded by the God of this world,

but that God shines in their hearts

the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ Jesus.

And what is the agent by which He does that work?

It is the Holy Spirit of God that He does that.

If you are a Christian today,

you are a Christian

because the Holy Spirit of God

has brought your dead soul to life in Christ.

Through the gospel,

the Spirit applies salvation,

bringing sinners to life,

calling us to repent

and to believe.

Loved ones,

if you are not born again,

you will not enter the kingdom.

You cannot be saved.

That's Jesus' message

and that's what the Holy Spirit does.

We find that clearly stated.

Titus chapter 3,

Titus 3 · chapter mention

He saved us not because of works

done by us in righteousness,

but according to His own mercy,

by the washing of regeneration

and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

He poured out on us richly

through Jesus Christ our Savior

so that being justified by His grace,

we might become heirs

according to the hope of eternal life.

The Spirit is actively at work in His people,

first in regeneration,

but then we find in connection to this text

in 1 Thessalonians 5,

the Spirit is actively at work in His people

through the work of sanctification.

Sanctification being the work of the Spirit

to take one who is born again

and make them holy.

Of course, we understand that at the moment

we come to faith in Christ,

positionally we are holy,

the righteousness of Christ imputed to us,

but in this life,

until the return of Christ,

the Spirit is at work in us,

purifying us,

sanctifying us,

making us holy.

But whereas regeneration

is solely the work of God,

sanctification is a lifelong process

in which we cooperate with God's work

to grow in holiness.

So the Scriptures command us again and again,

things like walk in the Spirit

in Galatians 5.

Be filled with the Spirit

in Ephesians 5.

Keep in step with the Spirit

again in Galatians 5.

All of those being imperatives for us.

The power is in the Spirit's work.

It's in His grace,

but in our sanctification.

We pursue that work.

We cooperate with the Spirit's work

in our lives.

There's tremendous encouragement in this,

isn't there?

The Spirit is working.

What a joy to know that.

We've seen it in the letter

several times already, haven't we?

Chapter 1 and verse 5,

the gospel message was spoken to them

in the power of the Holy Spirit,

meaning the Spirit of God saved them

when Paul preached the gospel to them.

He was at work in the regeneration

of the Thessalonians.

And just a verse later in chapter 1,

and it was through this regenerative work

of the Spirit

that the joy of the Spirit

was put in them,

which led to their perseverance of faith

as they faced incredible hardship

and persecution.

And then we get to chapter 4 and verse 8,

and we find that God gives the Spirit

as a gift to His people.

To do what?

To help them live according

to the will of God.

What a joy.

That's an encouragement.

Simple statement.

Yes, in verse 19,

don't quench the Spirit,

but one amazing encouragement

is that the Spirit is actively at work.

He saves us,

and He's working to sanctify us.

And what a joy it is to know

that He's doing so.

But there's also a warning in verse 19,

isn't there?

It's not only an encouragement.

There's a warning that goes along with it.

The warning of verse 19 is simply

that though the Holy Spirit

is actively at work in and through us,

we can't actually easily hinder

His sanctifying work in our lives.

Quench here, of course,

it means to extinguish.

It's like pouring water on a fire.

It's an appropriate metaphor, isn't it?

The Scriptures often comparing

comparing the Holy Spirit to a fire.

It's not that the Spirit Himself

can be extinguished,

but that we can hinder His work

through sin,

through neglect

of the means of the Spirit.

And so, the Bible instructs us,

again, in several places,

things like,

do not grieve the Spirit

in Ephesians 4.

Do not resist the Spirit

in Acts 7.

And then, of course, here,

we're commanded not to quench the Spirit.

So, be encouraged.

God is pleased

to do a mighty work in your life

through His Spirit,

but be warned

that there are ways

that you can stifle that work,

which is the primary focus

of these four verses.

Paul is going on

in verses 20 to 22

to address a specific way

that the Thessalonians

were quenching the Spirit.

So, if we're going to follow

the two headings,

the first one is

don't hinder the Spirit's work.

The second one would then be

don't despise the Spirit's ways.

Don't despise the Spirit's ways.

Look again at verses 20 to 22.

Do not despise prophecies,

but test everything.

Hold fast what is good

and abstain from every form of evil.

These verses tell us

how the Thessalonian Christians

were quenching the Spirit's work in them.

It has to do with their treatment

of prophecies.

In this case,

prophecies refers to

a unique gifting

of the Holy Spirit

on individual Christians

for the purpose

of building up the church.

I want to show you two texts

that help us to understand this

and wrap our minds around

how the Thessalonians

would have understood

this instruction.

The first one is in

1 Corinthians 12.

In fact,

you could read

1 Corinthians 12 through 14

and find a lot of instruction

even specifically

about prophecy,

but let me just point out

a couple of verses

to you here.

Paul says,

there are a variety of gifts

but the same Spirit.

In other words,

part of the Spirit's

activity and working

is to gift His people

in order to use them

in particular ways.

There are varieties of service

but the same Lord.

There are varieties of activities

but it is the same God

who empowers them all

in everyone.

And then he begins to list

a number of these giftings

and right in the middle

of the list

is this idea of prophecy.

He says,

the Spirit gives

to another prophecy

and to another

the ability to distinguish

between spirits

which is connected

in this case

to this idea of prophecy.

And then at the end

of the paragraph

he says,

all these are empowered

by one and the same Spirit

who apportions

to each one individually

as He will.

And we see a similar statement

in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Paul says,

having gifts that differ

according to the grace

given to us

let us use them

and he highlights

this gift again

if prophecy

that we would do it

in proportion

to our faith.

Now,

we don't know as much

about this gift

and how it functioned

in the early church

as we would like to

but we do have enough here

to get our bearings.

It wasn't simply preaching

which involves proclaiming

and explaining

a particular text

of Scripture.

That's not exactly

what's happening here.

That's not how

the Thessalonians

would have understood

this instruction.

Prophecy

was a spontaneous

and extemporaneous

revelation from God

spoken by a Christian

to encourage,

instruct,

and warn

God's people.

Preaching and teaching

is a different category.

It is prophetic

in its nature

but it's a different category.

Preaching and teaching

involve

the Scriptures themselves,

speaking the Scriptures,

explaining the Scriptures.

This function

of prophecy

in the early church

is not exactly that.

it's this spontaneous

revelation from God

through a Christian

for the building up

of God's people.

And it wasn't necessarily

foretelling the future

though certainly

that would have been

the case

at times.

It was also

forth telling

the will of God

regarding present circumstances.

And in the early church age

this was

a regular means

of the Holy Spirit

working

to sanctify believers.

Now remember

that's the context

of what we're dealing with

in 1 Thessalonians 5.

The idea

is

our sanctification

and growing

in that sanctification

as we await

the return of Christ.

And Paul says

don't quench the Spirit.

The Spirit's at work

in this sanctification

and you can hinder it.

And one of the ways

you guys are hindering it

he says to the Thessalonians

is by despising prophecies.

Don't hinder that work.

That's a way

the Spirit is working in you.

Don't despise it.

Apparently

the Thessalonians

had grown

weary

of those claiming

to have

a prophetic word

from God.

Began to

reject the notion

of prophecy

outright.

Now

we've spent

enough time

in this letter

to acknowledge

that it is not surprising

that they would have

come to this point.

We've seen

that

charlatans

were actively

at work

religious

and philosophical

in Macedonia.

Who could they trust?

Paul even

almost gives

a defense

of himself

in chapter 2

in relationship

to this

marking himself

out as distinctly

different from

the charlatans

of the day

who had come in

and were attempting

to deceive the people.

If you read ahead

in 2 Thessalonians

you find that

there's a moment

there where it seems

that some

of these people

were actually

maybe even writing

letters to the

Thessalonians

under the guise

of being

from Paul.

And they were saying

things like

the Lord's already

come back

and Paul says

no,

no,

if you hear a spirit

or a prophecy

is what he means

from that

or a letter

or somebody

saying this

as if we have

said it

no,

that's not true

Paul says.

So it's not hard

to see

that this church

would have probably

grown a little bit

weary

of this kind of thing

and just decided

you know

the easiest thing

is just to not

even listen to that.

If it's not coming

directly from Paul

then we're not

even going to hear it.

If it's not coming

directly from

an apostolic witness

then we won't listen.

Perhaps that's

what's happening here.

Jesus and his

apostles

they all warned

often of

false prophets

who would attack

the church

as wolves

in sheep's clothing.

We know this was common

and it's just as common

today.

Paul understood

their despising

of this gift

and means

of the Spirit's work

as being something

that was hindering

their sanctification.

He understood it

to be a huge problem.

By despising

the Spirit's ways

they were inadvertently

quenching the Spirit's work

and were therefore

hindering their ability

to continue

in their process

of sanctification

as they awaited

the Lord's return.

The solution then

Paul says

is not to despise

prophecies

but rather to

test them.

He says

don't despise them

test everything.

Rather than dismiss

the means of the Spirit

test everything

against what?

Against the Old Testament

Scriptures

whatever they might have

had with that.

Against the apostolic

witness of the gospel

that we know

they had

from Paul

and now

Timothy

who has returned

since Paul

was forced to leave.

And through that testing

they were to hold

fast

to everything

that was good.

Those things

which were in line

with apostolic doctrine

and they were to

abstain

from everything

that appeared

to be evil

or what they would

determine

was inconsistent

with what they knew

to be true

from the apostolic

witness.

And this instruction

holds true today.

Test

everything

against what?

The Scripture

both old and new.

Every idea

every thought

every action

every counsel

you receive

should be tested

against the truth

of God

in Jesus.

And in so doing

we must hold fast

to what is good

according to the Word

of God

and we must reject

every form

of evil

that is inconsistent

with the Word

of God.

And in this way

we today

like the Thessalonians

rightly cooperate

with the Spirit

in His sanctifying work.

We might understand

these verses

this way

if we could just

paraphrase them

a little differently.

Don't quench

the Spirit

by despising prophecies.

Instead

test everything

you hear

holding to what

is good

and resisting

what is evil.

And the imperative

holds true now.

This introduces

a huge question

doesn't it?

Are we then

to expect

the Spirit

to work

through prophecies

now

as He did

then?

And that's how

I want to close

our study

and apply

the text

finally.

The gift

of prophecy

as the Thessalonians

knew it

as it is

referenced

here in the New Testament

served a unique

and temporary

purpose

in the early church.

One purpose

was the fulfilling

of what the Old Testament

prophesied.

Joel chapter 2

Joel 2 · chapter mention

God speaking

through His prophet

He says

on that day

on the day

of the Lord

I'm going to

pour out

the Spirit

and your sons

and daughters

are going to

prophesy.

And we fast forward

to Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

this phenomenon

is happening

in Jerusalem

and Peter

stands up

to preach

to explain it

and as he does so

what does he do?

He refers to

Joel chapter 2

Joel 2 · chapter mention

and he says

this thing

that you are witnessing

today

this is the fulfillment

of the Scripture

the outpouring

of the Holy Spirit

so that even

in one situation

or in part

of that context

is even your sons

and daughters

are prophesying.

this was an essential

means

of the Holy Spirit

in laying the foundation

of the church

and perhaps

the best text

for us to understand

and think about

this particular issue

is Ephesians 2

20

the church

is built

on the foundation

of the apostles

and prophets

Christ Jesus

himself

being the cornerstone

the cornerstone

being the gospel

of Jesus

the teaching

and the revelation

of God

through the apostles

and prophets

completing the foundation

on which

the church

is being built

New Testament prophets

functioned

similarly

to Christ's apostles

though their prophecies

were tested

and tried

against the apostolic witness

the Holy Spirit

gifted

and used them

to speak

the infallible

word of God

to the church

before the scriptures

were completed

God used them

to establish

the church

and guide his people

during a unique transition

in redemptive history

and now that

that foundation

of the church

is fully established

through the completion

of the New Testament scriptures

we understand

the office

and function

of the apostles

and prophets

to have passed away

it wouldn't even be correct

I think

to say that the gift

of prophecy

still exists today

but just in a different

form

as if

some would reduce

this gift of prophecy

as active today

but really just reduced

to preaching

but that's not

that

I don't think that's consistent

with what the scripture

is teaching us here

and of course

there are many

that would say

that

would disagree

with me on this

that this gift

is actually

just as operative

today

as it ever was

I think

we're on

firm

footing

when we disagree

with that

to say

that it still

exists today

but only in a different

form

it would

it would lead us

to affirm

a spiritual gift

that is neither

defined

nor warranted

in the scriptures

and I understand

in the disagreement

I want to respectfully

say this

for those of you

who may even have

a disagreement

with my position

on this

that what is being

practiced

and referred to

as the gift of prophecy

in modern traditions

is not the same

as what we read

in the New Testament

it's not the same

in affirming

such things

opens the door

to confusion

and to spiritual

abuse

in the church

I think Tom Schreiner

is helpful on this

some of you have read

his little book

on spiritual gifts

and he's helpful

just in this simple statement

we no longer have

the gifts of

apostleship

and prophecy

the scriptures

constitute

our soul

and final authority

and thus

the role

of the apostles

and prophets

the role that they played

in the foundational

period of the church

is no longer needed

the scriptures

he emphasizes again

are our soul

and final

authority

that presents a problem

doesn't it

what are we supposed

to do with texts

like 1 Thessalonians 5

19-22

do we just say

well this just

doesn't matter to us

no of course not

does it have any relevance

to us now

yes

indeed it does

though there is

no new

prophetic utterance

for us to anticipate

we have

the apostolic

and prophetic

witness of the Holy Spirit

in the completed canon

of the New Testament

and we must not

despise it

as Peter wrote

we have the

prophetic word

more fully confirmed

in the written word

of God

we're blessed

with something

that the Thessalonian church

did not have

the whole scriptures

and the Bible

we understand

is the primary

and most significant

and powerful means

the Holy Spirit's

work today

it is the sword

of the Spirit

in Galatians 6

it's his instrument

for applying

the work of Christ

to us

in our salvation

in our regeneration

and in our sanctification

we obey this text

and we fan

into flame

the Holy Spirit

by submitting

to the scriptures

his scriptures

as the soul

and final authority

of our faith

and practice

we obey it

by not despising

the preaching

and teaching

of the Bible

in the corporate

gathering of the church

we obey it

by not neglecting

to study

and meditate

prayerfully

on the word of God

in private worship

we obey it

by testing

everything we hear

by the truth

of scripture

holding fast

to what is in line

with it

and rejecting

every form

of evils

and loved ones

we obey this text

by refusing

to confuse

or even

potentially

abuse

others

by claiming

a spiritual gift

that no longer

is used

by God

when we claim

to speak

on behalf

of God

the words

that come out

of our mouths

ought only

to be

what he has

given us

in the Bible

statements

like

the Lord

told me

to tell you

or

I have

a fresh

word

from God

for you

mistake

our words

for God's

and we need

to tread

carefully

here

it doesn't

mean

that we

can't

share

what's

on our

hearts

with one

another

it doesn't

mean

that we

can't

pass

on a

form

of

counsel

or encouragement

that we

feel impressed

to give

but we

need to

be careful

to distinguish

a way

that God

may be

using

my words

for your

good

versus

what God

has said

we must

say

to someone

else

we need

to be

careful

with this

we don't

serve people

well with

statements

like that

we confuse

them

we don't

stand in

line

with the

scriptures

when we

make

statements

like that

what we

ought to

say

rather

better

way

to

serve

people

in the

work

of the

spirit

is

maybe

to do

something

like this

why don't

we look

at what

God

says

in his

word

about

this

thing

in your

life

maybe

we would

say

something

like

you know

I've

heard

what's

going

on

maybe

this

particular

passage

will

bring

light

to

your

circumstance

why

don't

we

examine

God's

word

and pray

and ask

for the

spirit

to give

us

wisdom

in

how

to

apply

it

if

we

want

to

speak

God's

words

we

need

to

actually

speak

God's

word

and again

it's not

that we

can't help

one another

and it's

not to

say

that God

doesn't

use his

people

to help

his

people

I don't

believe

that

he

does

we

just

need

to be

careful

to

distinguish

between

a way

that God

may be

using

me

to help

you

with

my

words

verses

thus

saith

the

Lord

thus

saith

the

Lord

for

us

is

only

what

is

recorded

for

us

in

the

scriptures

now

what's

the

text

about

the

text

is

not

about

describing

what

this

gift

is

perhaps

there's

been

too

much

time

on

that

the

text

is

about

not

quenching

the

work

of

the

spirit

by

despising

his

ways

and

what

is

the

way

that

we

know

the

spirit

is

actively

working

in

our

regeneration

and

sanctification

today

preparing

us

for the

return

of

Christ

he's

working

through

his

word

so

don't

despise

it

be

present

when

it's

being

taught

and

preached

in

the

church

let

it

be

the

thing

that

guides

your

discipling

relationships

with

one

another

as you

sit at

coffee

together

this

week

let

it

be

the

thing

that's

ruling

over

your

home

let

it

be

the

thing

that's

ruling

over

your

work

your

relationships

for both

the

Thessalonians

and for

us

this

instruction

is about

proper

submission

to the

Bible

and

through

the

scriptures

the

spirit

is

indeed

working

even

now

preparing

us for

Christ's

return

and to

cooperate

with

his

work

we

must

embrace

the

word

of

God

and

test

everything

by

it

let's

pray

together