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QUENCHING THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (II Tim. 4:1-4) Okay, we read here that folks will turn away their ears from "the truth." Now, notice I Thessalonians 5:19, where we are admonished with four simple words: "Quench not the Spirit." Then we read in John 16:13 that the the Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of truth." This is where Jesus says, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." The Spirit of truth wants to show us things, but He can't do so, if we quench the Spirit by turning away our ears from the truth. I trust that that makes sense to you. There are many ways to quench the Spirit, but one way is to reject truth, since He IS the Spirit of TRUTH. A great many Christians do this without ever realizing what they've done. They just don't like or don't agree with what the preacher is preaching or teaching, so they reject it. The question "BUT IS IT TRUE?" never enters their minds. Paul's admonition to "prove all things" is ignored (I Ths. 5:21), as is John's words about walking in truth (I John 3:4) and Jesus' words about the truth making us free (John 8:32). Christians pretty much just live as they choose, with a few dos and don'ts, while ignoring over ninety percent of God's truth. The words "true" and "truth" are found nearly 300 times in God's word, 297 to be exact, yet most of God's truth remains a mystery to God's people. They pretend that it's a mystery because it's "hard to understand," but the truth is that most have quenched the spirit of truth by turning away their ears from the truth, and they have done this for various reasons. Let's consider some of those reasons . . . I. LAZINESS II Timothy 2:15 says that the student of God's word must be a WORKMAN. Studying and learning God's word takes work, and some people just don't want to work. Work is for making money, in their view, but not for learning truth. You know, there can be gold buried in your back yard, but you won't benefit from it, if you're too lazy to dig it up. The Bible belonging to the average Christian today doesn't look much different than in the day it was purchased, indicating that it hasn't been getting much work. As someone has rightly said, "The Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't." Some believers quench the Spirit of truth by simply being too lazy to read and study. II. BLINDNESS AND DARKNESS Some people quench the Spirit of truth by refusing to acknowledge that that the devil has them living in a prison of darkness. The Pharisees were like this. They skeptically asked Jesus, "Are we blind also?" not believing that they were (John 9:40). YES, they were blind, blinded by their own personal pride and self-righteousness! Acknowledging their blindness would have placed them in a humble and inferior position, and they refused to allow that to happen, so they CHOSE to remain in darkness. As the old adage goes, "Ignorance is bliss." People feel unaccountable and innocent when they are unlearned, so they CHOOSE to remain unlearned and then act all innocent about it. Jesus said in John 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Condemnation! They are quenching the Spirit of truth by choosing to remain in darkness.As any law enforcement official will tell you, "I didn't know" is not a valid excuse for breaking the law. It is our responsibility to know the law so that we can obey it, and it's our responsibility to know the word of God for the same reason. Ignorance is not innocence, as Leviticus chapters four and five make very clear. Many Christians are guilty of quenching the Holy Spirit by simply remaining ignorant of God's word. III. WORLDLY PLEASURES II Timothy 3:4 says that people in the last days will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. That's a sure way to quench the Spirit of truth. God has some special truth that He wants you to know and to have, but it challenges your convenient and pleasurable lifestyle, so you turn away your ears from the truth. We read in Hebrews 11:25-26 that Moses could have continued in the pleasures of sin in Egypt, but he chose "the reproach of Christ" instead. It was all set for him to just conveniently stay right where he was, but he CHOSE the way, the TRUTH, and the life. Most people do NOT make this choice, so they quench the Spirit of truth instead. Their life motto is pretty much, "THE TRUTH STOPS HERE." They refuse to be a conduit through which God's truth can travel and bless the lives of others. They are content with allowing truth to fall in the street (Isa. 59:14) while they and the world around them continues to be led by the spirit of error. This age ends with billions of people being sent a "strong delusion" by God so that they will believe and follow the Antichrist, and the reason given for this is that they "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Ths. 2:12). Pleasure is more fun than truth, so they choose pleasure and quench the Holy Spirit of truth, and end up worshiping the devil. Rejecting truth is far more dangerous than most folks think. God takes His truth very seriously, and, if you're wise, you will also. After all, Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Mat. 4:4) Don't make the mistake of quenching the Spirit of truth with worldly pleasures. IV. CONVENIENT TRADITIONS Jesus told the Pharisees that they were making the word of God of none effect by their traditions (Mat. 15:6). This means they were using their foolish traditions to quench the Spirit of truth, to STOP the flow of God's good truth into the lives of people. And it was so convenient. All they had to do was continue on the path that they were on. No exits, no detours, and no U-turns. They could just conveniently stay the course of their vain traditions and life would not change or be challenged. No cross and no loss, just smooth sailing ahead. That's where many people are today. They have their cozy bed made, and they don't want anyone messing with it, not even God when He tells them that there's a rattlesnake in their bed. They don't see it, so they don't believe it, so they choose to quench the Spirit of truth by remaining in their convenient traditions. V. RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE Finally, many people quench the Holy Spirit of truth with religious prejudice. They are wholly committed to some man or some creed or set of rules, and changing their views for Bible truth would cause too much friction, so they stay loyal to Dr. So and So and his school or camp instead of setting themselves free with God's truth (John 8:32). Friend, please examine your own heart and conduct and let God know that His truth is always welcome to and in you. Never quench the Spirit of truth. Doing so only increases your darkness.