Living in the Spirit: Reject, Grieve, Quench (John 14:16; Eph 5:30; 1 Thes 5:19)
• John 14:16-17 In the same context that Jesus promises the Spirit, He warns us that some will reject the spirit.
• This makes sense since Jesus has already told His disciples that many would reject Him as the Messiah.
• The perfect example of this is the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit first came. Acts 2:12-13
• Jesus sites two reasons here as to why they will reject the Spirit:
o First, they can’t see Him. The bible says that is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6)
Equally, without faith it is impossible to see the Spirit
o Second, Jesus says that don’t know the Spirit.
Jesus is saying that some people will never develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be in us – then how vitally important it is that we know Him.
o We wouldn’t want a total stranger living in our home.
Other passages of this rejection: Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
• Stephen says their their refusal to accept God’s redemptive work through the prophets was rejecting the HS.
Grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph 29-32)
• The context for this is for the believer who has accepted Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
• The verb here means to pain, grieve or injure.
• So how do we grieve the Spirit? The whole context here is sin, ungodly behavior.
Verse 29 The word unwholesome here means, bad, rotten, worthless or harmful.
• If I speak something that is “unwholesome” towards another person, or I speak something that does not build up another person I grieve the Spirt that is in them. But that is the same spirit that is in me.
Verse 31 Any of these attitudes or behaviors grieve the Holy Spirit. This should be really sobering if our desire is to live in the Spirit.
• The word brawling there is actually the word for shouting. Several translations use clamor.
Verse 32 Lack of kindness and compassion on our part also grieves the Holy Spirit.
• Lack of forgiveness will also grieve the Spirit.
From the OT Isa 63:10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
Now let’s look at quenching the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19-21)
• The word translated here as “put out,” or “quench” means: to extinguish or quench as in a fire. (water on a fire.)
• It’s an active ongoing command. We are always to be on guard, making sure that we don’t quench the spirit.
• Not grieving the HS and not quenching the HS are two completely different concepts.
o Grieving is related to sin and ungodly behavior. Quenching is dumping water on the work of the spirit
So what does it look like to quench the HS? The very next verse gives us one clue.
• Having contempt for any of the things of the Spirit will quench it.
o This contempt would apply to more than just prophecies.
