A few days ago, I was getting hungry around lunchtime. And I consider it a great act of providence that God led me to a church that is almost right across the street from Rudy’s BBQ. So, I went to get a sandwich there. And as I was waiting, I had a guy come up to me and say, “Hi there. What do you know?” 

“What do you know?” Can I just tell you—that is a dangerous question to ask a pastor! And that was on Thursday, when I am doing sermon-preparation, so this guy didn’t know what he was getting himself into. But I gathered myself a bit, and said, “I know that I am made in the image of God (Gen 1). I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. And I know that he was raised from the dead, and I will be too someday.” And then I said, “I don’t know much, but I know that.” 

And we had a nice conversation after that because this guy also was a believer. We actually had a fun conversation about the rapture. But it occurred to me after that conversation that I should have shared something else with him—something that I was meditating on from 1 Thessalonians 5. One of the things that I know that I know that I know is that I, as a believer in Jesus Christ, am indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the “deposit guaranteeing our future inheritance” as Paul explains in Ephesians 1:14. “What do you know, Pastor Tony? What do you know that you know that you know?” Well, I know that God has placed his Holy Spirit in me (2 Cor 1:22), and the Holy Spirit is living and active in my life, producing the fruit of the Spirit, convicting me of sin, and using the gifts of the Spirit in me to edify the church. 

And that’s what this passage is about—1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. That’s what I see as the unifying theme in these four verses. Perhaps you see this too? I see the unifying theme of these verses as the Holy Spirit. All in favor of the Holy Spirit this morning?

I’m entitling this message today “Showing the Spirit.” Paul doesn’t want the Holy Spirit’s work in the church to be stifled or throttled. The word he uses here is “quenched.” Instead, he wants the work of the Spirit to be stirred up. He wants the Holy Spirit’s work to be leveraged and valued within the church. But he also wants the Holy Spirit’s “work” to be tested. In other words, not everything that is called “the work of the Holy Spirit” or sanctioned as “the work of the Holy Spirit” is legit. And so, Paul says to test it. 

Go ahead and write this down as #1 in your notes. I want to give you today 

Three commands concerning the Spirit:

And here’s the first one:

1. Kindle the Spirit without quenching (5:19)

Paul says in verse 19.

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

Remember now, I said a few weeks ago that Paul gives a string of commands, a string of imperatives at the end of 1 Thessalonians. Paul started the book with explanation and theological reasoning. He ends the book with orders. Do this. Don’t do that. Do this. Don’t do that. In fact, there are 17 imperative verbs in the last 17 verses of 1 Thessalonians. That’s why we’ve slowed down in our exposition of this book, because many of these commands are quite expansive. Some of these commands, you’ll be doing for the rest of your life, like the passage we looked at last time: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (5:16-18). Anybody mastered those three things yet? I haven’t. These are lifelong pursuits of the follower of Jesus Christ. 

And that’s true for verse 19 too: “Do not quench the Spirit.” To that we should say, “Okay, don’t quench the Spirit!” “What should we do instead?” “What’s the opposite of quenching?” Well, “to quench” or the Greek σβέννυμαι means “to douse with water” or “to extinguish.” The five foolish virgins told the wise virgins in Jesus’s parable to give them some of their oil because their lamps were about to σβέννυμαι (Matt 25:8). The fire was going out. And that metaphor for the Holy Spirit makes perfect sense because the Holy Spirit is often likened to a fire. 

So, Paul says, “don’t extinguish the work of the Spirit.” What should we do instead? We kindle the work of the Spirit. We “fan it into flames,” as Paul says elsewhere (2 Tim 1:6). We use our gifts of the Spirit. We embrace the work of the Spirit in the church. We love the Holy Spirit. And we pursue the Holy Spirit. And we let the Holy Spirit work in us. Don’t quench the Holy Spirit’s work, church. Kindle it! Fan it into flames. Use your gifts. 

“How do we do that, Pastor Tony? How do we fan it into flames?” Well, it’s like anything. You need practice. Michael Jordan didn’t become Michael Jordan by sitting around squandering the “spirit of basketball” inside of him. Vincent van Gogh didn’t just sit around wasting the “spirit of painting” inside of him. Beethoven didn’t waste the “spirit of music” inside him. And Mary Shelley didn’t quench the “spirit of a novelist” inside of her. They all had to practice. And all their gifts were different too. Just like the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church. 

So, here’s how you practice. Let’s say that there is a couple in our church that is having serious marital problems. This is strictly hypothetical, so don’t assume I’m talking about someone here today. A couple is having marital problems, let’s call them Larry and Jill, and they share it with others who love them and care for them in the church. The wife, Jill, shares it with a trusted friend in the church. And let’s say this trusted friend has a gift of prophecy. And so, after listening to Jill, she says, “thanks for sharing, Jill. Can I share with you what I think the problem is? I think your problem is such and such…” And Jill’s friend cuts through all the smoke and all the clutter and confusion and she gets right to the heart of the issue and addresses it… whatever the issue might be. She’ll say something like this, “You don’t trust your husband, Jill, like you should. You are letting fear and anxiety get the best of you. And you are robbing your home of peace.” 

And then let’s say that Larry goes to his pastor and asks for help. And Larry’s pastor is clearly gifted as a teacher of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit has empowered him to teach and to lead the people of God. And so, the pastor takes Larry to the Bible and says, “Here’s your responsibility, Larry. You’re to love your wife as Christ loves the church.” And if Larry’s wife is there too, he’ll point out her responsibility. And he’ll say, “Here’s how God created marriage (Genesis 1-3). Here’s how God created it to work (1 Peter 5, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3… etc.)!” And he’ll try to teach or expound the Scriptures to help edify that couple and get them past their struggles.

Well Jill and Larry have other friends in the church. And maybe another member of their church, someone in their small group, is gifted in the area of service. Well that person isn’t going to edify them the same way as others who are gifted in prophecy or teaching. The service-gifted person is going to say, “I tell you what. Larry, Jill, you guys work so hard! You’ve been so busy lately. Why don’t you go out on a date and just have some fun? Bring the kids over to my house we’ll watch them. You guys just go have some fun and enjoy yourselves and talk this through with each other.” 

And then another person with the gift of leadership will say, “You know what, this is a pretty serious issue in our church. How do we address this matter strategically in our Small Groups? We need a fully orbed approach to this matter because it’s going to crop up more and more in our culture, because marriage isn’t valued or taught like it used to be.” 

And another person they know who is gifted in the area of exhortation will say, “I tell you what Jill/Larry, I’m going to meet with you every Tuesday morning at 6am, and we are going to pray about this matter. And we’re going to be accountable together for this. And we’re going to nip this issue in the bud. We’re going to fight for your marriage! And we’re going to trust that God will give you victory in this area.” 

And then another person within the church will just sit and listen to Larry or Jill and will grieve with them and cry with them. And say, “I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I hurt with you.” And they’ll empathize with that couple. What gift does that person have? Do you know? Mercy!

Now… question! Who did the right thing for this couple in the context of the church? They all did, right? All these gifts are needed. And each of these gifts is fraught with potential excesses that need to be balanced by the others. If it’s all teaching and no mercy, then a church can become a very heady and unsympathetic place. If it’s all mercy and no teaching and exhortation, the church can become a place of stagnancy and enablement. And that’s not good either. That’s why Paul says the church is like a body. We have different parts that have different functions that are all used to edify the church and advance Christ’s mission. And so, the first way that we “don’t quench the Spirit” as a church is quite simply to “use the Spirit.” You throw another log on the fire. You keep it burning and blazing! 

Now let’s talk about some other things that quench the Spirit. In addition to not using it, I wrote out some additional things here that I believe quench the Spirit’s power in the life of the church. Write these down. Let’s avoid these. 

Five ways we quench the Holy Spirit:

1) We care more about what the world thinks than what God thinks – When we run after the world and curry the favor of the world and care more about what the world thinks than what God thinks, that’s like throwing cold water on a hot fire. That’s how you grieve the Spirit of God inside of you. And this is a lifelong battle, I know, because we live in the world. Our natural tendency is to gravitate towards the world and curry favor with the world. You’ve got to resist that tendency in your heart. 

Here’s another way, we quench the Holy Spirit:

2) We disobey the clear commands of Scripture – We chase the fruit of our flesh, not the fruit of the Spirit. We hear God’s Word and then do the exact opposite. That extinguishes the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

Or maybe we don’t disobey, we just avoid Scripture altogether. Hear no evil. See no evil. I’m not disobeying the commands of Scripture, because I don’t even know what they are! I don’t read my Bible. That’s a Spirit-quenching activity right there. 

Here’s a third way, we quench the Holy Spirit:

3) We stop loving the things that God loves (e.g. the church, the Scriptures, justice, righteousness) – Maybe we grow cynical. Or maybe, like the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation, we abandon our first love (Rev 2:4). Our love for the Lord grows cold, and then our love for the things that God loves grows cold. That happens with Christians, all too often. 

Here’s a fourth way, we quench the Holy Spirit:

4) We nurse doubts, anxiety, negativity, and fear in our hearts – Instead of calling those things out and repenting of them we start feeding them, like that man-eating venus flytrap in “Little Shop of Horrors.” That quenches the Spirit. 

Here’s a fifth way, we quench the Holy Spirit:

5) We ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit – We let our consciences get seared as Paul says elsewhere (1 Tim 4:2). We’ve ignored the Holy Spirit so much, we’ve stopped discerning his conviction and his prompting. That’s quenching the Spirit. 

Now to that you might say, “Okay, that’s how we quench the Spirit! How do we Kindle the Spirit?” Well, nothing complicated here, you just turn these five things on their head. And you start cultivating the opposite. 1) Instead of caring more about what the world thinks, you start prioritizing what God thinks. 2) Instead of disobeying the clear commands of Scripture, you obey them. You read God’s Word, and you read with the intent to be a doer not just a hearer. 3) You love the things God loves and you never abandon your first love. And you are passionate about those things that God loves (the church, the Scriptures, justice, righteousness, etc.). 4) You don’t nurse doubts anxiety, negativity in your heart. You curb those things. You put them to death. You call them out. And 5) You obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You are as attentive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting as a new mother is to the cry of her new baby. 

So, that’s how we kindle the Spirit among us, church! Are we all in favor of that? Don’t quench the Spirit. Kindle him instead. And here’s another thing that Paul wants us to do. Write this down as #2 in your notes. This second command is a little more complicated. 

2. Test prophecies without despising (5:20-21a)

Paul says in verse 20. Here’s another prohibition. 

20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; 

Now this is really important here. There’s a balancing act that’s built right into these verses. Don’t despise, but test. Does everyone see that? Don’t despise the act, the prophetic act. But don’t accept individual prophecies wholesale without discernment. 

Let me say it this way. Don’t despise the Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy… this is a gift that is given a lot of weight in the NT. It’s spoken about repeatedly and valued highly in the Scriptures… So, don’t despise the Spirit’s work of prophesying, but don’t assume that everything done in the name of prophecy or even in the name of the Spirit is legit. Test it. 

Now I know this probably generates a million questions for those of you in this room, because a lot of zany stuff is condoned in our day with the label “prophecy.” So, let me walk you through what I believe about this gift. 

And before I get into the specifics of this gift, allow me to make this quick disclaimer. Here’s my disclaimer— “Good, Christian interpreters disagree on this gift and whether or not it is in use today.” Good, Christian interpreters (some that I respect very, very highly) disagree on prophecy, and what I’m about to say. But what follows is my best ability to make sense of what the Scriptures say about the gift of prophecy. And just keep in mind, it’s okay for Christians to disagree on this. This is not the deity of Christ or another core Christian doctrine that we need unanimity on. It’s ok to disagree on this topic, and to have healthy dialogue and debates about it. 

So, some would say that prophecy as a spiritual gift was operative in the NT era before the Scriptures were completed. But after the Scriptures were written, that gift ceased. In other words, it was an OT and NT activity that preceded the giving of Scripture. And when Scripture was finalized, prophecy as a gift ceased. And certainly, a case can be made for that view. And to a certain extent I agree with that. There was definitely a kind of prophecy or prophetic-writing that did cease. But I don’t think that the “gift of prophecy” used in the church for the edification of the body ceased. And I’ll give you some examples of how it can be used effectively in just a second.

The main reason that I’ve come to this view is because of this passage. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 says, “Do not despise prophecies.” It says, “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.” And the reason that passage hits me so hard is that I’m tempted to do that all the time. When I hear people say things like, “I feel like the LORD has put it on my heart to tell you…” I just kind of roll my eyes and say, “yeah right!” But according to 1 Thessalonians 5:20, I can’t do that. We can’t despise the use of that gift. Maybe God wants to use that gift to help another person? Now that doesn’t mean we should receive what that person says automatically. Paul says, “Test everything; and hold fast to what is good.” So, we need to test prophecy, but we cannot despise it. 

Also, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” And then Paul goes on to say that this gift is especially edifying for the body of Christ. After reading that, I think to myself, “Okay, I need to pursue this. I need to understand this gift. But also, I need to earnestly desire it.” 

So, let’s try to understand this gift. Here’s a definition of NT prophecy given by Wayne Grudem in his book on this topic. Grudem’s says, “[NT prophecy is] a human report of something that God has brought spontaneously to mind. It is different from teaching in that teaching is based on a written text of Scripture, while prophecy is based on the immediate impression that God is directing our thoughts to information that we would not otherwise have known or spoken.” 

So, as an example of this, Charles Spurgeon was preaching once and he stopped in the middle of his sermon and said, “Young man, the gloves in your pocket aren’t paid for.” And that word proved true. Spurgeon gives other examples like this in his autobiography where he’s preaching and then all of a sudden, extemporaneously, he prophesies something to someone in his congregation or to a specific group of people in his congregation. And later it’s proven true. 

Or consider this. John Piper said this once that when he was preaching, he just made a passing reference to “a Bible study on the 36th floor of the IDS Tower” in Minneapolis. And he didn’t have anything like that written in his notes. And he didn’t plan on saying that. He just used it off-the-cuff for an illustration. Well, a woman came up to him after that service with joy in her face saying that she was visiting the church that morning and just that week had had a meeting with well-to-do businessmen on the 36th floor of the IDS tower in Minneapolis about a ministry possibility. And she came to Piper’s church for encouragement in this venture. And she took his statement as an encouragement from the Lord. 

Now could that just have been a coincidence? Yes. But probably not. I believe this was God giving these pastors insight into specific situations in the church, and he used this gift of prophecy to edify those in the congregation. Here’s John Piper’s definition of the gift of prophecy. He says it’s “a Spirit-guided expression of something we otherwise would not know or say, which is powerful for that particular moment and brings conviction or exhortation or consolation for the awakening or upbuilding of faith.” Piper goes on to say, “It should not spook us as something uncontrollable, but should be treated as any claim to insight. It is fallible. It may prove true and it may not because the human channel is sinful and fallible and finite.” 

And I think that this gift can be applied even more generally than these two examples. In other words, I think God can give people who have this gift general discernment into issues, so they can identify patterns of behavior and expose a person’s heart. I mentioned earlier how the person counseling Jill who was gifted with prophecy was able to see past all the confusion and the clutter and get right to the issue. I’ve seen that in action. I know people who can see past all the smoke and all the confusion and get right to the heart of the matter. And speak to a specific issue. I’ve actually prayed for this gift and that kind of discernment, and I think God has answered that prayer in my life.

Now I need to clarify something. I see this gift as a kind of discernment that doesn’t involve the exposition of Scripture. But let’s be clear, that doesn’t mean prophecy can be unscriptural. Here’s what I mean—the prophetic gift should never be used to circumvent or overrule the Scriptures. So, if someone comes to you and says, “I think the LORD has given me a message that you should divorce your husband and marry this other person…” than you are free to respond, “I’m sorry. That’s not from the LORD. The LORD would not give you a prophecy that conflicts with obedience to the Scriptures.” 

I said a few weeks ago that if someone comes to you and says, “I know the exact day of Jesus’s return. I prophesy that it will be this exact day!” You can politely say to them, “No you don’t. The Bible says clearly that no one knows the hour or the day. And the LORD would not give you a prophecy that conflicts with Scripture.”  

So, this gift of prophecy isn’t an exposition of Scripture. But it doesn’t go against Scripture either. That’s all part of Grudem’s definition that I quoted earlier. And I think Grudem’s definition helps us differentiate between the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching. If all I was doing up here was prophesying… If prophecy was the same as teaching… why would Paul list them as separate gifts in Romans 12? Paul says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching” (12:6-7). They are different gifts, and they have different nuanced uses in the Body of Christ. 

So, let me give you that definition again. NT prophecy is “a human report of something that God has brought spontaneously to mind (So it’s not something you’re studying or preparing ahead of time. It’s not the rightly dividing of the Word and the exposition of Scripture that Paul mentions elsewhere). It is different from teaching in that teaching is based on a written text of Scripture, while prophecy is based on the immediate impression that God is directing our thoughts to information that we would not otherwise have known or spoken.” 

A teacher is called to rightly divide the Word of truth. That’s what a teacher does. A teacher is called to expound the Scriptures as the Word of God. That’s my job on Sunday morning. That was Charles Spurgeon’s job on Sundays. He may have occasionally prophesied, but he was always teaching. 

Now here’s the objection that people sometimes offer when it comes to prophecy. Someone will say, “Well, Tony, in Deuteronomy 13:1-5, it says that if a prophet utters a false prophecy, they should be put to death.” So, a prophecy can’t ever be wrong. A prophet has to be 100% right about everything they say. Well let me address that. I think that’s true for someone who stands up and says, “Thus says the LORD.” If you equate your “prophecy” with Scripture, then yeah you have to be 100% accurate. But I don’t think that’s necessarily how the NT gift of prophecy works. If it did, then why would Paul say here that prophecies should be tested? In fact, Grudem makes a strong case in his book, and I think he’s right, that NT Prophecy is different from OT Prophecy. It’s not inerrant. It’s a gift from the Holy Spirit coming through us, the flawed, well-intentioned, vehicles of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church. And we sometimes make mistakes. 

And so, if we embrace this gift of prophecy in the church (and I think we should) we need to figure that into our language. For example, if you feel like God has laid something on your heart for another person, don’t go up to them and say, “thus says the LORD.” That overwhelms the whole conversation. How can somebody test that? You put the person you’re communicating to in an impossible position. Either they have to receive your word as inerrant, which they shouldn’t. Or they have to reject you and despise prophecy which according to 1 Thessalonians 5:20, they shouldn’t do that either. Give them an opportunity to weigh what you are saying and test your prophetic utterance. 

Here’s what’s more common. People don’t usually come to you and say, “thus says the LORD!” but they will say, “The LORD told me to tell you… such-and-such.” But instead of that, here’s a better way to frame a possible prophetic utterance that God has laid on your heart. Here’s how you do that. You say, “Hey brother/sister, I feel like the LORD has laid this on my heart for you. I want to share it with you. Consider this…” Or maybe start with a question: “Can I share something with you that I believe the Lord has shown me? Are you struggling with such-and-such? I had a sense that you might be. And I just wanted to see where you are with that. Can I speak to that matter in your life?” And give them a chance, as you humbly present something to them, to weigh what you are saying. And trust this too, if the Holy Spirit inside of you has prompted that utterance, then the Holy Spirit inside of them, if they are listening, will confirm it. 

You know the goal is not showing off your awesome prophetic powers! The goal is not demonstrating your spiritual authority over another person or dominating another person with your awe-inspiring prophetic utterance! The goal is edification. Right? The goal is building up the body of Christ with the gifts of the Spirit. You want to help another person. You want to love another person with the use of your gift.

Remember 1 Corinthians 13! Do you remember what 1 Corinthians 13 says? “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,” Ooh. Aah. What an amazing gift! “… but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” It’s meaningless if I don’t have love. It’s just obnoxious noise. “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge” Ooh. Aah. That person has amazing prophetic powers! So what? If they don’t have love. “… and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” 

I could give you a lot of examples of people who supposedly used the gift of prophecy, but it didn’t amount to a hill of beans, because the motive wasn’t love or edification. The motive was control or manipulation or self-inflation. “Look at me. Look at how insightful I am. Look how God has helped me discern something in your life. So, you should listen to me more.” No. Love builds up. Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. Love edifies. And that’s why God gave us spiritual gifts in the first place, so we can build up one another in the Body of Christ.   

So, let’s just talk practically for a moment. Let’s try to think through how we might obey what Paul says here in 1 Thessalonians 5, “Do not despise prophecies.” How might we as the church “not despise” this gift, but instead actually encourage it. Well here’s what you can do. Here’s what I’m doing right now. I’m praying for it in my own life. 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” So, I am eagerly desirous of this gift. I’m praying for it. 

I heard John Piper say a few years ago that every Sunday before he preaches, he prays silently to himself, “LORD give me prophetic insights today and specific words for your people beyond the material I’ve prepared so that I can speak directly to an issue that they are dealing with.” I’m going to ask the Lord to do that for me. And that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop preparing a message and stop studying to show myself approved. I’ll always do that. I couldn’t stop doing that if I tried. But in addition to that, in addition to rightly dividing the Word of Truth, I’m asking God to add to my teaching gift, a gift of prophecy as well. 

And this isn’t limited to me. You can do this too. As you are driving over to your small group, what are you praying on your way there? As you are about to meet with your brothers and sisters and mutually encourage them, what are you praying? Are you praying, “Lord give me a word of encouragement for them!” “Give me insights into what they are struggling with! Give me specifics on what they are struggling with, so that I can edify them in some way!” Are you praying that way? You can. And maybe for some of you God has uniquely gifted you in this way to bless others with that gift. Go use it. 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”

And as part of that, don’t just be willing to deliver a word of prophecy. Be willing to receive it. 

Charles Spurgeon said once, “It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.” Don’t just be willing to deliver, be willing to receive from another person. 

And if you have this gift, or if you sense that God has given you a prophetic word for another person, don’t “Thus says the LORD” them. Don’t do that. That doesn’t give them a chance to weigh what you are saying, as they are supposed to. And that doesn’t allow them to confirm what you are saying through the Holy Spirit that resides in them. Instead offer it up this way, “I sense that the LORD has given me a word for you. Can I share this with you?” 

The great missionary leader C.T. Studd said once, “How little chance the Holy Spirit has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves.” I don’t want that to be true of me or of our church. Let’s kindle the Spirit here within our church. Let’s test prophecies without despising them.

And then one more thing. Write this down as #3. 1) Kindle the Spirit without quenching. 2) Test prophecies without despising (5:20-21a). And… 

3. Cling to what is good without compromising (5:21b-22)

Paul says at the end of verse 21, and also let me read verse 22:

hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 

I told a person this last week that I’m preaching a controversial passage this Sunday, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. And he thought I was referencing this verse not the verse about prophecies. I understand why he thought this verse is controversial because some Christians in the KJV-only world have interpreted this verse to mean that we should be totally separated from the world and avoid any semblance of evil whatsoever. So maybe we should move to Amish country and start churning our own butter? No. That’s not what Paul is saying here. Actually, the Greek is better understood to mean “abstain from every kind of evil” not “every appearance of evil.” Basically Paul is saying anything that is not good, abstain from it. This is equivalent to Scripture elsewhere that tells us to “Be holy because God is holy” (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:16).      

So how do we “hold fast to what is good” and “Abstain from every form of evil?” Well let me link that to the broader work of the Holy Spirit, which I think is the focus of these verses. To the extent that the Holy Spirit inside of you confirms what is good and true and beautiful, you cling to that. You practice that. You live for that. You love that. 

To the extent that the Holy Spirit inside of you warns you about something or convicts you of something that is evil, you run from that. You get away from that. You abstain from that. And you start to learn as you grow as a Christian to trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life. Let me say it this way, abstain from the deeds of your flesh (Galatians 5:18-21): “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Instead cling to the fruit of the Spirit. Instead, hold fast to what is good (Galatians 5:22-24): “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” because “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

This is what we call the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So let me close with that. We’ve talked about the gifts of the Spirit. We’ve talked about the fruit of the Spirit. We’ve talked about not quenching the Spirit. All of these topics prompts the following question: “Do you have the Holy Spirit inside of you?” Do you now? If you do, then all of this makes sense this morning. If you don’t, then all of this is a foreign language to you. I might as well be speaking in French. 

Listen, the Bible says clearly that faith in Jesus Christ saves us from our sins, and Jesus gives us the deposit of his Holy Spirit which is a guarantee of our future inheritance. If you’ve put your faith in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. If you haven’t put your faith in Christ, then why not? Let today be a day of salvation for you. Pray with me, and then we can worship the Lord together.