Warmth of the fire of the Holy Spirit or the quenching of the Holy Spirit?
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| Icon of the Pentecost (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
You ‘quench’ a fire; so what he is really saying is, Do not quench the fire of the Spirit that is within you. Of all the images used with respect to the Holy Spirit there is none used more frequently than that of fire. John the Baptist used the word quite dramatically. Some of the people, having heard his preaching, said, ‘Is not this the Christ?’ John overheard them and said, ‘I am not the Christ. I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable’ (Luke 3:16 and 17).
On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came, He descended in the form of ‘cloven tongues as of fire’. Indeed there is already an adumbration of this in the Old Testament, where the Holy Spirit is referred to as ‘the spirit of burning’ (Isaiah 4:4). This is the emblem that is used in order to bring to us the truth concerning the Spirit. Here the Apostle puts it negatively, ‘Do not quench the Spirit’. We are also told not to ‘grieve’ the Spirit. That is not the same as to quench the Spirit. Grieving the Spirit has a much more direct reference to the Person Himself; quenching is more related to His influence, and to His effect upon us. Of course, by quenching Him we also grieve Him, but here we are dealing with the quenching.
As Christians we are meant to be living a ‘life in the Spirit’. We are no longer ‘in the flesh’, we are ‘in the Spirit’. The Christian life is a ‘life in the Spirit’. We are meant to be ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18). The normal Christian life is to be a life filled with the Spirit. It is a spiritual life, governed, controlled, guided by the blessed Holy Spirit. The devil’s chief desire and object is to prevent our living that life, and he is so successful that the average man in the world looking at the Christian Church says, ‘Of course I am not a Christian; what need is there to be a Christian?
As Christians we are meant to be living a ‘life in the Spirit’. We are no longer ‘in the flesh’, we are ‘in the Spirit’. The Christian life is a ‘life in the Spirit’. We are meant to be ‘filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18). The normal Christian life is to be a life filled with the Spirit. It is a spiritual life, governed, controlled, guided by the blessed Holy Spirit. The devil’s chief desire and object is to prevent our living that life, and he is so successful that the average man in the world looking at the Christian Church says, ‘Of course I am not a Christian; what need is there to be a Christian?
I cannot see much difference between a Christian and a man who is not a Christian. Indeed,’ he adds, ‘I know many more moral people doing good work outside the Church than there are inside the Church.’ It is because Christians are not showing the power of this life in the Spirit that the masses are outside the Church today. To evangelize successfully the Church must become a spiritual Church. Then she will challenge the world; but not until then. The devil’s chief aim is to persuade us to quench the Spirit; and, alas, he is very successful.
We can know whether we are quenching the Spirit or not by considering what the Spirit does as fire. First of all He gives light and understanding. The Apostle prayed for the Ephesians that the Spirit might do this very thing for them: ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know …’ (Chapter 1:17–18).
We can know whether we are quenching the Spirit or not by considering what the Spirit does as fire. First of all He gives light and understanding. The Apostle prayed for the Ephesians that the Spirit might do this very thing for them: ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know …’ (Chapter 1:17–18).
The Spirit gives understanding and knowledge; He explains the mysteries of the faith, giving us an understanding of the doctrine of salvation, that we may know these things clearly and apprehend them and lay hold on them. But the Apostle continues, ‘That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe. (verses 18–19). Later in chapter 3 we find him saying that he bows his knees before this God who is the Father of all fatherhood, praying that we may ultimately come ‘to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, and be filled with all the fulness of God’ (verse 19).
Do we know these things? Are we clear about the way of salvation? Can you explain it to another? Do you understand the teaching of these Epistles? Or are you like so many modern Christians who say, ‘Of course, I have no time for these things, I am too busy’. The Spirit is here to enlighten us, to open our eyes, to make these things plain and clear, to get rid of all confusion in understanding and knowledge and apprehension. Look at the Apostles themselves before and after the day of Pentecost. Before, they were confused, they did not understand. But the fire came, and immediately Peter preaches and expounds the Scriptures: he has knowledge, understanding, comprehension. This is typical of the Spirit’s work.
Another thing I want to emphasize is the warmth of the fire. Do not quench the fire, do not quench the Spirit. In other words you must not be a cold Christian. Christianity means warmth, it means a glow. Paul has to write even to a man like Timothy, and say, ‘Stir up the gift that is in thee’, which might better be translated, ‘Fan into flame the fire’. Stir up the embers, ‘maintain the glow’, as someone translates it. Now that is Christianity—warmth, fire! Do not quench it! You cannot think of a fire without thinking of heat being radiated, and you and I as Christians are meant to be like that. ‘Yes, of course,’ you say, ‘but if you have true scholarship you will not be animated; you will be dignified, you will read a great treatise quietly and without passion.’ Out with the suggestion!
Do we know these things? Are we clear about the way of salvation? Can you explain it to another? Do you understand the teaching of these Epistles? Or are you like so many modern Christians who say, ‘Of course, I have no time for these things, I am too busy’. The Spirit is here to enlighten us, to open our eyes, to make these things plain and clear, to get rid of all confusion in understanding and knowledge and apprehension. Look at the Apostles themselves before and after the day of Pentecost. Before, they were confused, they did not understand. But the fire came, and immediately Peter preaches and expounds the Scriptures: he has knowledge, understanding, comprehension. This is typical of the Spirit’s work.
Another thing I want to emphasize is the warmth of the fire. Do not quench the fire, do not quench the Spirit. In other words you must not be a cold Christian. Christianity means warmth, it means a glow. Paul has to write even to a man like Timothy, and say, ‘Stir up the gift that is in thee’, which might better be translated, ‘Fan into flame the fire’. Stir up the embers, ‘maintain the glow’, as someone translates it. Now that is Christianity—warmth, fire! Do not quench it! You cannot think of a fire without thinking of heat being radiated, and you and I as Christians are meant to be like that. ‘Yes, of course,’ you say, ‘but if you have true scholarship you will not be animated; you will be dignified, you will read a great treatise quietly and without passion.’ Out with the suggestion!
That is quenching the Spirit! The Apostle Paul breaks some of the rules of grammar; he interrupts his own argument. It is because of the fire! We are so decorous, we are so controlled, we do everything with such decency and order that there is no life, there is no warmth, there is no power! But that is not New Testament Christianity; and that is why so many people are outside the Church. Does your faith melt and move your heart? Does it get rid of the ice that is in you, the coldness in your heart, and the stiffness? The essence of New Testament Christianity is this warmth that is invariably the result of the presence of the Spirit. Do you not feel that as you read that most lyrical of books, the Acts of the Apostles? Live in that book, I exhort you; it is a tonic, the greatest tonic I know of in the realm of the Spirit. The Christian spirit is a warm spirit. I am not thinking of some artificial appearance which looks like fire. People try to make electric fires look as if they are coal fires, but it is not the same thing. I am talking about FIRE and not mere appearance.
The Spirit not only gives warmth, but with warmth He also gives assurance. A true Christian, filled with the Spirit, knows that his sins are forgiven, and that he is a child of God. ‘The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ He has ‘the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ He knows it, he is certain of it. He knows God’s love to him. The Apostle in writing to the Romans says, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us’ (8:5).
The Spirit not only gives warmth, but with warmth He also gives assurance. A true Christian, filled with the Spirit, knows that his sins are forgiven, and that he is a child of God. ‘The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ He has ‘the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ He knows it, he is certain of it. He knows God’s love to him. The Apostle in writing to the Romans says, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us’ (8:5).
‘Shed abroad!’ Not a little trickle, but an outpouring, a great profusion. As He was ‘poured forth’ upon the Church on the day of Pentecost, so is He poured forth into our hearts, bringing the love of God. Is that love in your heart? If not you are somehow quenching the Spirit. The Christian is a man who knows that God loves him. He is amazed at it, but he knows it; he is melted by it, he is moved by it.
Not only so; he knows that he is a child of God and that he is a special object of God’s care. God pours His love upon him and into him. And the result of this is that he in turn loves God, and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot have the fire of the Spirit within you without loving God. You not only believe in God, you love Him; you not only believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you love Him; and you are grieved at the fact that your love is not greater than it is. ‘Whom having not seen.’
Not only so; he knows that he is a child of God and that he is a special object of God’s care. God pours His love upon him and into him. And the result of this is that he in turn loves God, and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot have the fire of the Spirit within you without loving God. You not only believe in God, you love Him; you not only believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you love Him; and you are grieved at the fact that your love is not greater than it is. ‘Whom having not seen.’
The Apostle Peter says to Christians, ‘Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory’ (1 Peter 1:8). Is that true of us? Do we know something of this ‘joy unspeakable and full of glory’? Do we really love Him? I am not talking about merely saying so, I mean, Do you feel it? Is your heart moved and melted and drawn out to Him? That is how we are meant to be—‘Be not filled with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit’. And this is the result of it.
That in turn leads to gratitude, the desire to praise Him and to magnify Him, to live to His glory. That is truly to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Paul, writing to the Romans, says, ‘The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Romans 14:17). ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice’, says the Apostle, to the Philippians (4:4). When the Spirit comes there is warmth; we are melted, we are moved, we love. The fruit of the Spirit begins to manifest itself, and it is ‘love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and temperance’.
We should all be as a burning fire. There should be this flame within us burning out the dross, but above all filling us, and inflaming us with a great love to Him. We should begin to pray with Charles Wesley — Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart...With boundless charity divine.
Author: Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1976). The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–13 (pp. 271–275). Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust.
That in turn leads to gratitude, the desire to praise Him and to magnify Him, to live to His glory. That is truly to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Paul, writing to the Romans, says, ‘The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Romans 14:17). ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice’, says the Apostle, to the Philippians (4:4). When the Spirit comes there is warmth; we are melted, we are moved, we love. The fruit of the Spirit begins to manifest itself, and it is ‘love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and temperance’.
We should all be as a burning fire. There should be this flame within us burning out the dross, but above all filling us, and inflaming us with a great love to Him. We should begin to pray with Charles Wesley — Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart...With boundless charity divine.
Author: Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1976). The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10–13 (pp. 271–275). Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust.
