John 14:17 The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him by you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.
There is no doubt that as we study on how to be led by the Spirit that we have to look at the Person of the Holy Spirit. He says the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. We want to realize that in everything in this life there are two spirits involved. It is either the Spirit of God involved or it’s the spirit of the world. Paul did tell us that the spirit of the world is involved in many of the things of this life.
Lets look at I Cor. 2:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now the rulers of this age represent all the principalities, powers, and wicked rulers of the darkness of this age and the wicked spirits in high places that govern the condition of this earth.
Also please look at the book of II Cor. 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them. Also Eph. 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
The background of it is chapter 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
We realize that some of the things in this life are born of the flesh. But the bible classifies everything born of the flesh and everything of the work of man as indirectly connected to the spirit of this world. You cannot avoid it but in this world that we live you are either influenced or moved by the spirit of this world or by the Spirit of God. Let me tell you that many times, the spirit of this world moves many Christians without their realizing it. Everything of this life that comes to your eyes and your ears, every act or deed, of a man or a woman who live in this world is inspired either by the Spirit of God or by the spirit of the world. Although we don’t realize it that even the newspapers carry the spirit of the world. If you look at them, the spirit of the world is involved. If you just dwell too much on it, you will be drawn by the magnetic influence of the spirit of this world.
Even the neutral things of life like for example a lot of worldly presentations, advertisement on products, the Internet and all these things are conveying the spirit of the world and the spirit of the lust of the eyes. You look at most advertisements and they appeal to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These spirits are involved.
What we need to realize is there is no compromise between the two. I am not saying that therefore you cannot look at the papers or look at the news. But you must be aware that when you are handling those things there is a subtle influence that can come upon your life. When you handle those things, you must be very alert and discerning.
What happens is that that same spirit sometimes comes into a person’s life. Many times Christian businessmen mix around with other businessmen who are worldly. The spirit of the world can creep into you as you associate with such worldly people. If they do not watch out that spirit will influence them in the decisions they make. Then it can creep into the church when such businessmen also sit in the church board meetings and make decisions affecting the church. The spirit of the world and the Spirit of God can be lusting against one another as the book of Galatians tells us - one is fighting against the other. We need to be aware of that. Under these two major spirits are many sub-divisions. For example on one side is the Spirit of God and working with the Spirit of God are the other spirits called the angels. There are many types of angels, viz, warring angels, archangels, worship angels, ministering spirits. So there are many other realms of angelic activities that work together with the Holy Spirit. On the other hand is the spirit of the world, Satan himself being the chief of all of them. And he uses the fallen angels who are the wicked spirits in the heavenly places and wicked rulers of this age and the principalities and the powers. So, he is using all of them and everything of this life that you handle. As long as it’s a product of man, it is either under the influence of the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God. It either imparts life or imparts worldliness.
Here in the bible it tells us in the book of John 14:17 that there is a Spirit of God whom Jesus Christ sent and it says whom the world cannot receive. In other words, if you live by the spirit of the world and are influenced by the spirit of the world, the Spirit of God cannot lead you. There are two spirits involved and two laws involved. What happens here is that before the Spirit can lead us, we must live in the Spirit and we must be in the Spirit. Before you can swim you must be in the water. You can’t swim without the water. The very words I say that you are swimming imply that you are in the water. To be led by the Spirit implies that you must live and be in the Spirit. The reason we are teaching this is because a lot of the decisions of men even the decisions sometimes of church leaders are influenced by the spirit of the world and not by the Spirit of God. God is not pleased if the spirit of the flesh moves you. Lets look at Gal. 5 and we have said that the whole passage talked about the fruit of the Spirit as an important factor to being led by the Spirit. Many times when Christians meet together, it is not so much to seek the mind of Christ as to seek to put their own ideas forward. That is despicable to God. We need to be people who are pliable to the law of prayer and learn to be led by the Spirit. I am speaking instructed by the Spirit. God wants us to move into the realm of the Spirit because we are close to the end times. Anybody who moves in the spirit of the world, or is influenced by worldly ideas or acts by the ideas coming from the spirit of the world will not last in this present generation. This is the hour of judgment where those who are led by the Spirit and built in the Spirit will last. Those who do not build in the Spirit will not last. Ten or twenty years ago, some of the work of Christ was born of the flesh and it lasted temporarily.
But in the past few years, many prophets declared that God is not going to tolerate that anymore.
Good ideas are not enough. It’s important to be led by the Spirit. Gal. 5:16 I say then; Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 18 it says But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. The key theme is led by the Spirit. Now look at verse 25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit. Living in the Spirit precedes walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit speaks about movement; it speaks about being led. But before you can walk in the Spirit, you live in the Spirit. Now there are two laws and two spirits that work all the time. Perhaps you could visualize that this whole place is filled with water. Let’s imagine that the sea level is ten feet above the ground. Now we are all submerged underneath. We are all submerged under the law of sin and death under the influence of this world which all of us are in.
Before we are born again our spirit, our soul and our body was submerged under the influence of the law of sin and death and under the influence of the law of the spirit of the world. We were all submerged underneath. And there was this gravitational pull of sin and weights that pulled us lower and lower. Thank God for Jesus Christ when we are all born again our spirit man was born again. Our soul is not been fully renewed. And our body is still in the law of sin and death. Our spirit has now risen out of the law of sin and death. Our spirit is no more influenced by the law of sin and death. Our spirit is now moving by the law of the Spirit of God whom the world cannot see. That is why the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is out of the law of sin and death. Unless we pull our soul above the level of the law of sin and death by the renewing of the Word of God and developing the mind of Christ, the Spirit cannot lead us. See the soul is still subject to the law of sin and death.
When I fellowship with some Christians, sometimes I could discern that a great portion of their mind and their soul still operates according to the law of sin and death. You could discern that some people’s soul and some people’s body still operates based on the law of sin and death and on the law of the spirit of the world. God is not pleased with that. Before the Spirit can lead us, our spirit, soul and body must be fully submerged into the realm of God. We must burst out of this pool of the law of sin and death. Many of us find that our spirit has been released but that is not good enough. Somehow, by the grace of God we must pull our soul into that realm where our soul rises above the level of the law of sin and death. If the law of the Spirit of life touches your mind, your mind is different where the life of God is imparted into your soul. There is an impartation and you have a different kind of mind. There is a transformation of the mind that takes place. This process is not instant. It’s gradual. If God transforms your mind, you become more in a position to be led by the Spirit. Therefore, you see that many Christians claim to be led by the Spirit but actually, a great majority of them are not. I find in the Christian walk and in the ministry a great many Christians are not led by the Spirit. They are led by the Spirit a portion of a time and think that they are led by the Spirit a hundred percent all the time. The only way to be led by the Spirit is No. 1 to be free first. How can you swim when your hands are tied? You must be free first, free from the influence of the law of sin and death. A lot of Christians find it hard to be led by the Spirit because their mind keeps on thinking the thoughts of this world. Their minds keep on lusting after the things of this world. Their mind keeps on coveting after the pleasures of this life and the things of this life. How can the Spirit lead you? You must be free first. Free from the influence and the domination of the spirit of the world. It takes time and diligence to get out of that. Only when your mind is free then your mind can now be opened to the spirit realm. Then God starts dealing with the body realm where God wants to renew our body until our body is literally free from the law of sin and death. I believe it can be done. It can be transformed until our physical body is no more subject to the things of this world and can be translated into God’s realm.
One day as we walk with God our body will be completely free from the law of sin and death and from the spirit of this world where spirit, soul and body are free from the law of sin and death and that is when your body is no more subject to death. That’s when you are free and you move into immortality. That’s powerful when the body moves out of the law of sin and death. That is where the devil becomes fearful. But it’s awesome in the sight of God. There are very few people who have reached that point. Enoch and Elijah had reached that point where they have been translated bodily physically. Even their physical bodies are caught into the spirit world. I am just pointing to the
possibility of that happening when we move into the realm of the spirit of law of life. But the moment your soul is transformed by the Spirit of life, you are in a position of being led by the Spirit. Even though your body may not be in the position yet, keep following of the things of the Spirit and your body will one day be pulled along into the realm of the spirit.
The bible tells us here in Jn. 14:17 that the world cannot and does not receive the Spirit of God. The world is unaware of the work of the Spirit of God. I could paraphrase it and also say the world and those who are under the influence of the worldliness and the spirit of the world are completely unaware of the Spirit of God. They do not receive Him at all. Why do they not receive Him? Two reasons are given in John 14:17. No. 1 they do not see Him because the world neither sees Him
nor knows Him. So, No. 1 He is invisible. He is not in the realm where your eyes could see; your hands could touch or your physical ears could hear. The Holy Spirit is invisible to the world. That makes it difficult for people to believe and accept. But those of us who learn to live in the spirit world like Paul, we live in the spirit realm and we see the invisible.
Let me show forth how many Christians are still in the carnal realm. They move in the carnal realm because they are still being moved by what they see. They are still being moved by what is around them with their physical eyes. They are not moved by the Spirit of God. For example, in the matter of giving, people are moved only when they see a need. Do you know that God is not pleased just with that? That is carnal movement.
The bible in the book of II Cor. 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. We understand the portion about giving grudgingly - that means you must give willingly and not being forced. But the other portion is you don’t give out of necessity. In other words, you don’t give just because you see a need. You have to be in the Spirit to discern the need. But the vast majority of Christians live in the carnal realm. Only when in the carnal, they see a need then they are moved. Even the people of the world could do that. Even the people of the world with human sympathy could do that. There are a lot of non-Christian philanthropies that give to charity because of the need that they see. But Christians are supposed to move at a higher level. I don’t base my giving just because I see any need. Because if I do I perpetuate a condition of need. In other words, I encourage people to have needs so that I could give. That is not the system of God. You don’t give to Jesus because you see Jesus has a need. You give because you see in the spirit realm and you know that you are led by the Spirit. Giving by the Spirit is one of the areas the Spirit starts teaching you to be led in the realm of giving. Many times the Spirit speaks to me, “Son give to this person, give to that ministry.” We don’t broadcast, we don’t tell people but we have to learn the leading of the Spirit that way. As you move in giving, you will learn how to move and hear God in the healing realm and in the other realm. I am pointing to the fact that the vast majority of Christians move in the carnal realm. They give out of necessity and not because of the leading of their heart. When I am led by God to give to a person, I don’t give just out of need. If I give out of need, that is charity and that’s a different area.
If I see someone without food, out of compassion I can provide a meal for him or her. But that’s not the only realm of giving. Sometimes you give to a person so that, that person can have an opportunity to be a giver too. Not just to meet that person’s need. You may think that is not an important realm but dealing with finances is the first area God begins to deal with your life. If you are not faithful in finances, you will never be used by God in other areas. That is one of the most basic areas that God deals in our life. I could point to many other incidences but I am just pointing to a principle in the bible how many Christians are carnal and not spiritual in their giving. So, they missed out of the blessings of God. We see this realm here that in the world the Spirit is invisible. But those who move
into the Spirit to them they see the invisible as visible.
Paul moved into that realm in the book of II Cor. 4:18 While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. In other words, he is saying we move in the invisible realm. We move in the realm of God where eye does not see nor ear hear. But it’s only spiritual eyes and spiritual ears that see and hear into that realm. The reason why people cannot be led by the Spirit is that they are not accustomed to moving in the invisible realm. Or the world does not receive Him because they neither see Him nor know Him. The world doesn’t see or experience the blessed Person of the
Holy Spirit. And He is such a real Person. It grieves my heart sometimes where as I fellowship with people, some of the very things they are saying I could sensed the Holy Spirit being grieved and they could not. I said, “Lord what is wrong with these people? Don’t they know that the Holy Spirit is there and they are hurting Him?” Sad, but many people are not accustomed to that invisible realm. Some of the things they do quench the Holy Spirit. See the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is invisible but He is real. We have talked about all the different types about the leading of the Spirit. But in this message, we want to talk about the Holy Spirit as a Person. We have to be aware of Him, aware of His Personhood and aware of Him being present all the time.
If you are having your home cell meeting, be aware that He is right there. If you are in a discussion or a meeting or family discussion to make a decision please remember He is there. He is invisible there and we tend to forget Him. But He is there. The difference between the world and us is this - the world cannot accept the fact that there is an invisible Person of the Holy Spirit but we can because we have been brought up and trained by Jesus. And Jesus said He would remain invisible. As you walk with the Holy Spirit, people cannot see the Holy Spirit but He is there. He is there teaching, leading and guiding you. And that is the first reason why the world cannot know Him or receive Him. Don’t let His invisibility hinder you from knowing Him as a Person.
There are some things and some forces that are invisible to the world but it has not hindered the world from making use of them. T.V. waves, radio waves are invisible but the world has tapped on that. Just because something is invisible, it doesn’t mean we could ignore it. Radiation from heavy metals is invisible but deadly and dangerous. Those invisible forces are very powerful that we must not neglect. How much more if that is in the natural that the Person of the Holy Spirit is always there.
We see Him, we know Him. No. 1 He is invisible, No. 2 the world doesn’t know Him at all. That’s why the world doesn’t receive Him. The world doesn’t know Him, how He works, how He feels. If the Holy Spirit is a Person He has feelings. He can be grieved and He can be quenched. But the Holy Spirit is not outside - that’s what John 14:17 says. He is with you and He shall be in you. And you are always aware of the fact that you are carrying the Holy Spirit in you. You are a carrier of the Holy Spirit. Paul always walks with that mental frame of mind. He says we are vessels of God, earthen
vessels to contain the glory of God.
In II Cor. 4, he talks about how we are earthen vessels to contain the treasures and the glories of God. So, that frame of mind is always there. The Holy Spirit is in me. He can feel things differently from me. He has His feelings separate from my feelings. So we are just earthen vessels. Wherever we walk, we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in us, what He feels, what He says. We have spoken about His voice and some of His communications to us. He is a Person and we must be sensitive to His feelings. In that way, we get to know Him. What do you mean when you say you know a person? You know their likes and their dislikes. Some of you I know well enough to know what is your favorite food. And if you know me you probably know what kind of food I like and what kind of food I dislike. So, you learn the likes and dislikes of a person. You learn their life style. You learn their habits. So, the Holy Spirit is in us. When we know Him, we know His feelings. And there are two main areas of feelings we can develop. One is when He is grieved. Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. We can grieve the Holy Spirit by No. 1 saying something that He doesn’t want us to say. No.2, by having an attitude that He doesn’t want you to have. No. 3, doing a wrong action that He doesn’t want you to do. It can be in the realm of words, attitudes, thoughts and actions. He is very conscious of these areas. And it can cause Him to grieve if you harbor a wrong attitude against somebody. If you say a wrong word against somebody, or you act wrongly in a certain realm, the Holy Spirit will be grieved.
Notice Paul continues in Eph. 4:31 Let all bitterness, (now bitterness is your attitude, bitterness is your feelings of hurt and strife, revenge and vengeance and anger) wrath, anger, (wrath has to do with vengeance, anger has to do with irritation) clamor, (that is in the area of evil) and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Malice is to have an evil intention and evil motives. It could be some actions that could be outwardly good or bad but your intention is evil. I would say that most of the time that malicious intention is not present in Christians. But once in a while, there are those with malice too. If we are not watchful, we allow the spirit of the world to develop malice and evil in our lives. Notice here that all these things will cause Him to be grieved.
Sometimes, it surprises me as I fellowship with people that they are grieving the Holy Spirit and they could be grinning from cheek to cheek without knowing it. I am amazed and I say, “God, how can this person grieve the Spirit and not know it.” Sometimes, if he or she is supposed to be a Christian leader I am ashamed. That is why we cannot let that continue. We must pull up our bootstraps. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ and we must live the standard that God wants us to live so that we move the more in the Spirit. God has been dealing with me in the Spirit to move in some signs but I am not able to move in our congregation at the moment yet. But there are two signs of the Spirit that He has spoken to me about that I have started operating in other countries but I have not been able to move that much here. God is telling me that the more I move into that realm the more I have to "defellowship" from people who walk in the flesh. I could bear witness to them, share with them the Word, but I am not to continue with them because it becomes dangerous, not only in their influence over my life but also to them. I am talking about moving into the realm of the Spirit where I would be able to pick up someone and tell that person’s name and their symptoms. I am talking about moving into the higher realm of the Spirit. And the more you give your spirit, soul, and mind to God, to consecrate yourself and to serve Him more you cannot afford these kinds of people who move in the flesh. I will not have a single one of them working with me. Because it becomes dangerous also for them. Because if I start moving into that realm I pick up sins in their life. And I tell them and if they don’t repent that’s their responsibility, it’s not mine. If I consecrate myself a hundred percent and you consecrate yourself fifty percent you better watch out. If we consecrate ourselves a hundred percent and another consecrates fifty percent, where is the fellowship? If we do not walk in the light, how can we have fellowship with each other? If one walks in darkness and in the spirit of the world and the other walks in the Spirit, how can they have fellowship with one another? First John chapter one says how can we have fellowship with one another.
We are talking about being led by the Spirit, moving people deeper and deeper into the realm of God. I want to say that I am not staying still all the time. Where I was one year ago is different every year. I press on deeper into the things of God. And if any leader who works with me refuses to continue to grow, they cannot last long with me. If I grow and they don’t grow, they will still think of me about two years ago. I am not the same two years ago as I am now. In fact, if we don’t grow we are
backslidden. This year we are supposed to move more in God than we were one year ago. See this year we are supposed to have more wisdom than last year. We grow right with God. This year we should have more commitment than last year. Next year, we should have grown more in God. We are not playing church. We are not just setting up an organization just to keep it running. We want to see the church of Jesus Christ perfected. We are heading on into glory. And nothing must hinder the work of God. The sad thing is that people are not sensitive to the grieving of the Holy Spirit. There are three different realms of grieving the Holy Spirit. There is a realm where people grieve and they do not know. The reason is their hearts are hardened.
Eph. 4:18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Sometimes if the spirit of the world and the law of sin and death still rule in our soul, we will grieve the Spirit by doing things and having wrong attitudes that are displeasing to the Spirit. And if we don’t know it, how are we to be led by the Spirit? If we are not sensitive to the grieving of the Holy Spirit, how can we be led by the Spirit? So there is a realm where people's hearts are hardened and they don’t even sense the grief of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is grieved, the angels weep, and the people don’t know. One day when we get to heaven, we will know. But now because the spirit of the world has corrupted and hardened the hearts, the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s feelings is not there at all. Then there is a middle realm that I call tender-heartedness grieving.
Eph. 4 verse 30 it says do not grieve the Holy Spirit verse 32 says be kind to one another and
tenderhearted. You are sensitive to the grieving of the Spirit. The word grieve is a Greek word that is sometimes translated as sorrow. That is the middle realm. Then there is the third realm that is even more important. You not only sense grief but you completely abhor, despise and hate the evil.
In Heb. 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more then Your companions. Notice it says that you hated lawlessness and it says therefore. If we are not sensitive to righteousness or lawlessness, forget about the anointing. It’s only when Jesus loved righteousness and hated lawlessness therefore God anointed Him. We have to pay a price. I know people who lose their anointing because they fellowship with people in the flesh and the spirit of the world gets into them. When people have a wrong attitude or begin to speak wrong words or fall into wrong actions, they lose their anointing. You can’t keep the
anointing unless you love righteousness and hate lawlessness. Now this is a different realm here. It is one thing to feel sad about evil and another to despise evil or hate evil. I am not talking about feeling angry. But there is something in you that just disliked it and abhorred it. Some people get angry at the works of evil but they fight them in the flesh using violence. Some pro-lifers burn down abortion clinics and gun down doctors who perform abortions. I am not talking about that. They themselves need renewal of mind because you don’t overcome evil with evil. That’s what they try to do, using the flesh to overcome evil. You use the Spirit of love to overcome evil. So, what we have here is a deeper realm of grief. You are so grieved that you abhor the evil done. To you it’s like abomination. Your development in the Spirit has grown deeper. Some people are in the realm where their hearts are hardened. Some are tenderhearted. A lot of us here are in this realm but we need to move on into this realm here where our hearts develops to the extent that what God hates we hates and what God loves we love. What God abhor we abhor. Its one thing to read in the bible that something is abomination to God and another thing to have us feel the same abomination that God feels about it.
Let us look at I Thes. 5:19-20 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. We are talking about the Person of the Holy Spirit. Grieving is when something is wrong and He is telling you and you are not listening. Wrong attitude, wrong word, wrong thought or wrong action. Quenching is when He is telling you to do something but you are not listening. On the other side He is not doing anything but there are some things being done that He is not happy with. In this realm of quenching, He wants to do something but we are not allowing Him to; we quench. The Greek word for quench pictures a fire that is about to start and water is poured on it. The fire of the Holy Spirit comes out and we quenched it. A person does not only personally quench the things the Spirit wants him to do but could also quench the working of the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives. Another person can also
quench the Spirit in your life. Sometimes we see young eager believers learning to be led by the Spirit, no doubt as you learn you are allowed to make honest mistakes. If you made a mistake twice, you didn’t learn from the first one. Sometimes you see a believer wanting to move into the things of God, some of the things they are receiving are from God, and the Spirit is telling them to do
something. Then some self-righteous Pharisee comes along and says, “Perhaps that is not of God.” Do you know what that fellow is doing? He is quenching the Spirit too. So not only can you quench the Spirit in your own life. If you are being led by the spirit of the world and not by the Spirit of God, you may even quench the things that the Spirit wants to do in other people’s life. I know because there was one occasion it happened to one Singapore brother. He was being led by God to give a huge sum of money to a missionary. He was already signing the check. And another Christian came and brought a bad report about the missionary. He not only grieved the Spirit he quenched the Spirit too and tried to prevent this person from giving to that missionary. That’s amazing but it happens
all the time. In many situations sometimes somebody may say, “I am led by God to give to this person.” I say, “Hey, don’t give to this person like that.” If you are right, then it is not a problem. But if you are wrong, you are quenching the Spirit. You are answerable to God. You have just prevented someone from being led by the Spirit and from obeying the Holy Spirit. So, people think that quenching is only within them. No, you could be quenching the moving of the Holy Spirit in
somebody else too.
That is why we must be people of prayer. Don’t jump to conclusion, don’t be hasty. Don’t be moved by the spirit of the world and the world’s ideas and traditions. And many times people without prayer, without fasting, without waiting on God jump to conclusion and they quenched the Spirit. It can happen in a church committee meeting, it can happen in any meeting, it can happen in any situation. Because the spirit of the world is still influencing them. I am very cautious before I say that soand-
so is not led by the Spirit. If somebody says that he or she has the leading of the Spirit, before I say anything that is contrary, I’d better make sure I hear the Spirit for myself regarding him or her. I must be prayerful and I must sense the Spirit in the invisible realm. These are areas that are very serious to God. Let me tell you the leading by the Spirit consists a hundred percent of all our Christian life. It’s a serious matter learning to be led by the Spirit. It is possible to be grieving and quenching the Spirit at the same time. In other words, you could be saying the wrong thing, having the wrong attitude and also at the same time stopping another person from obeying the Spirit. You are doing both. Now in I Thess. 5 there are also three degrees of quenching. If you are in this area here where your heart is hardened, there is no doubt that what the Spirit tells you, you cannot perceive. I Cor. 2:8 and 9 that the natural man does not receive what the Spirit is giving. So, whatever the Spirit wants you to do, if you cannot even sense any quenching or grieving, you are just dead wood.
That is I Cor. 2. We learn to be led by the Spirit and you are not afraid of anything. If I am sure that the Spirit has led me in a certain way even if I were to go alone and everybody drop out I would
still go ahead. It’s most important that we have to have boldness and a consecration to obey the Spirit come what may. So, it’s important for us to be led by the Spirit.
I Cor.2: 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world. He is saying if you have the spirit of the world influencing your life you cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. Because its blocked out by the things of the world. But the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Verse 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Who is a natural man? A natural man is someone under the influence of the spirit of the
world. A natural man is someone who is led by the spirit of the world. He follows along with the tide of the spirit of the world and it has a heavy input and influence on his life. So if you are right here as a natural person under the influence of the spirit of the world you cannot even sense the things the Spirit is putting on you. You cannot get any direction; you cannot sense any grieving or any quenching. At the second level in I Thess. 5, you sense the quenching. You sense the quenching.
You know the fire has been put out. You sensed it in your life. And people who experience that go into a crisis of depression. When you put out the things of the Spirit, life is burned out of you. So, it tells us here that I quench the Spirit. Now verse 20, Do not despise prophecy. This is the third degree of grieving. Some Christians are over here in this area of despising prophecy. The opposite of despise
is to receive. Not only just to receive but you receive it with a powerful of attitude of reception. And that attitude is found in Isa. 64:4 For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him. Who are those who wait for Him? Isa. 66:2 For all those things My hand has made. And all those things exist, says the Lord. But on this one will I look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word. That is the third degree here. You not only sensed that the Spirit is quenched and you fear to quench Him but over here every word that the Spirit of God speaks
to you, every direction that He given into your lives, whether visions, dreams or thought or any area, every leading of the Spirit in your life causes a trembling and awe in your life. Then you have reached this third point. There are very few people in this realm.
Remember we are answerable to God to obey the written Word, as we are to obey His spoken voice. We are accountable to obey the written Word. And of course, the spoken Word cannot contradict the written Word. But if God tells you to do something and leads you by the Spirit, you are also answerable for that at the judgment day. That’s awesome if you think about that. If God tells me to go to a country to minister the Word, if I don’t its awesome to think that one day, I have to answer for that. He will ask me, “Why didn’t you obey?” And I cannot say this person tells me not to. This must be ingrained into our lives we must be in such awe and trembling that if God is the one who tells you to help somebody, don’t let another person hinder you from doing that. If God is telling you to minister to another person’s need don’t let somebody take that blessing from you. If God is telling you to obey Him by giving a prophecy, a word or functioning in a gift, don’t let somebody take that from you. Somebody can quench you but if you are filled with such awe you will still obey even if you have to weep and cry. That somebody might not be somebody you do not know. Most of the time, it’s somebody you know. It could be your loved ones who walk in the flesh. It could be your own friends who walk in the flesh.
This is a warning from God - we are accountable to be led by the Spirit. We have to put this awe into our lives that we are accountable to be led by the Spirit. That is the reason why in all those years there are some decisions that I made have been unpopular but I pushed forward because I fear God more than I fear man. If God tells me and speaks to me about certain things come what may even if I have to give the shirt on my back to obey I will. Even if all my friends were to forsake me, I will. We got to balance it a little bit. If you are married, you have a husband or wife and God is telling you to do something that affects the whole family, you have to wait for him or her. You are not solely responsible any more. You are only responsible to convey God’s demands on your life to your husband or wife and wait for him or her to respond positively. And if some decisions in your life are
going to affect the whole family you make sure that your whole family moves in it before you move. But if it’s a decision that does not affect them and it’s yours and yours alone, you are accountable to God to be led by the Spirit. And may we receive the leadings of the Spirit with trembling at His Word.
There is no doubt that as we study on how to be led by the Spirit that we have to look at the Person of the Holy Spirit. He says the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. We want to realize that in everything in this life there are two spirits involved. It is either the Spirit of God involved or it’s the spirit of the world. Paul did tell us that the spirit of the world is involved in many of the things of this life.
Lets look at I Cor. 2:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now the rulers of this age represent all the principalities, powers, and wicked rulers of the darkness of this age and the wicked spirits in high places that govern the condition of this earth.
Also please look at the book of II Cor. 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should shine on them. Also Eph. 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
The background of it is chapter 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
We realize that some of the things in this life are born of the flesh. But the bible classifies everything born of the flesh and everything of the work of man as indirectly connected to the spirit of this world. You cannot avoid it but in this world that we live you are either influenced or moved by the spirit of this world or by the Spirit of God. Let me tell you that many times, the spirit of this world moves many Christians without their realizing it. Everything of this life that comes to your eyes and your ears, every act or deed, of a man or a woman who live in this world is inspired either by the Spirit of God or by the spirit of the world. Although we don’t realize it that even the newspapers carry the spirit of the world. If you look at them, the spirit of the world is involved. If you just dwell too much on it, you will be drawn by the magnetic influence of the spirit of this world.
Even the neutral things of life like for example a lot of worldly presentations, advertisement on products, the Internet and all these things are conveying the spirit of the world and the spirit of the lust of the eyes. You look at most advertisements and they appeal to the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These spirits are involved.
What we need to realize is there is no compromise between the two. I am not saying that therefore you cannot look at the papers or look at the news. But you must be aware that when you are handling those things there is a subtle influence that can come upon your life. When you handle those things, you must be very alert and discerning.
What happens is that that same spirit sometimes comes into a person’s life. Many times Christian businessmen mix around with other businessmen who are worldly. The spirit of the world can creep into you as you associate with such worldly people. If they do not watch out that spirit will influence them in the decisions they make. Then it can creep into the church when such businessmen also sit in the church board meetings and make decisions affecting the church. The spirit of the world and the Spirit of God can be lusting against one another as the book of Galatians tells us - one is fighting against the other. We need to be aware of that. Under these two major spirits are many sub-divisions. For example on one side is the Spirit of God and working with the Spirit of God are the other spirits called the angels. There are many types of angels, viz, warring angels, archangels, worship angels, ministering spirits. So there are many other realms of angelic activities that work together with the Holy Spirit. On the other hand is the spirit of the world, Satan himself being the chief of all of them. And he uses the fallen angels who are the wicked spirits in the heavenly places and wicked rulers of this age and the principalities and the powers. So, he is using all of them and everything of this life that you handle. As long as it’s a product of man, it is either under the influence of the spirit of the world or the Spirit of God. It either imparts life or imparts worldliness.
Here in the bible it tells us in the book of John 14:17 that there is a Spirit of God whom Jesus Christ sent and it says whom the world cannot receive. In other words, if you live by the spirit of the world and are influenced by the spirit of the world, the Spirit of God cannot lead you. There are two spirits involved and two laws involved. What happens here is that before the Spirit can lead us, we must live in the Spirit and we must be in the Spirit. Before you can swim you must be in the water. You can’t swim without the water. The very words I say that you are swimming imply that you are in the water. To be led by the Spirit implies that you must live and be in the Spirit. The reason we are teaching this is because a lot of the decisions of men even the decisions sometimes of church leaders are influenced by the spirit of the world and not by the Spirit of God. God is not pleased if the spirit of the flesh moves you. Lets look at Gal. 5 and we have said that the whole passage talked about the fruit of the Spirit as an important factor to being led by the Spirit. Many times when Christians meet together, it is not so much to seek the mind of Christ as to seek to put their own ideas forward. That is despicable to God. We need to be people who are pliable to the law of prayer and learn to be led by the Spirit. I am speaking instructed by the Spirit. God wants us to move into the realm of the Spirit because we are close to the end times. Anybody who moves in the spirit of the world, or is influenced by worldly ideas or acts by the ideas coming from the spirit of the world will not last in this present generation. This is the hour of judgment where those who are led by the Spirit and built in the Spirit will last. Those who do not build in the Spirit will not last. Ten or twenty years ago, some of the work of Christ was born of the flesh and it lasted temporarily.
But in the past few years, many prophets declared that God is not going to tolerate that anymore.
Good ideas are not enough. It’s important to be led by the Spirit. Gal. 5:16 I say then; Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 18 it says But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. The key theme is led by the Spirit. Now look at verse 25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit. Living in the Spirit precedes walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit speaks about movement; it speaks about being led. But before you can walk in the Spirit, you live in the Spirit. Now there are two laws and two spirits that work all the time. Perhaps you could visualize that this whole place is filled with water. Let’s imagine that the sea level is ten feet above the ground. Now we are all submerged underneath. We are all submerged under the law of sin and death under the influence of this world which all of us are in.
Before we are born again our spirit, our soul and our body was submerged under the influence of the law of sin and death and under the influence of the law of the spirit of the world. We were all submerged underneath. And there was this gravitational pull of sin and weights that pulled us lower and lower. Thank God for Jesus Christ when we are all born again our spirit man was born again. Our soul is not been fully renewed. And our body is still in the law of sin and death. Our spirit has now risen out of the law of sin and death. Our spirit is no more influenced by the law of sin and death. Our spirit is now moving by the law of the Spirit of God whom the world cannot see. That is why the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is out of the law of sin and death. Unless we pull our soul above the level of the law of sin and death by the renewing of the Word of God and developing the mind of Christ, the Spirit cannot lead us. See the soul is still subject to the law of sin and death.
When I fellowship with some Christians, sometimes I could discern that a great portion of their mind and their soul still operates according to the law of sin and death. You could discern that some people’s soul and some people’s body still operates based on the law of sin and death and on the law of the spirit of the world. God is not pleased with that. Before the Spirit can lead us, our spirit, soul and body must be fully submerged into the realm of God. We must burst out of this pool of the law of sin and death. Many of us find that our spirit has been released but that is not good enough. Somehow, by the grace of God we must pull our soul into that realm where our soul rises above the level of the law of sin and death. If the law of the Spirit of life touches your mind, your mind is different where the life of God is imparted into your soul. There is an impartation and you have a different kind of mind. There is a transformation of the mind that takes place. This process is not instant. It’s gradual. If God transforms your mind, you become more in a position to be led by the Spirit. Therefore, you see that many Christians claim to be led by the Spirit but actually, a great majority of them are not. I find in the Christian walk and in the ministry a great many Christians are not led by the Spirit. They are led by the Spirit a portion of a time and think that they are led by the Spirit a hundred percent all the time. The only way to be led by the Spirit is No. 1 to be free first. How can you swim when your hands are tied? You must be free first, free from the influence of the law of sin and death. A lot of Christians find it hard to be led by the Spirit because their mind keeps on thinking the thoughts of this world. Their minds keep on lusting after the things of this world. Their mind keeps on coveting after the pleasures of this life and the things of this life. How can the Spirit lead you? You must be free first. Free from the influence and the domination of the spirit of the world. It takes time and diligence to get out of that. Only when your mind is free then your mind can now be opened to the spirit realm. Then God starts dealing with the body realm where God wants to renew our body until our body is literally free from the law of sin and death. I believe it can be done. It can be transformed until our physical body is no more subject to the things of this world and can be translated into God’s realm.
One day as we walk with God our body will be completely free from the law of sin and death and from the spirit of this world where spirit, soul and body are free from the law of sin and death and that is when your body is no more subject to death. That’s when you are free and you move into immortality. That’s powerful when the body moves out of the law of sin and death. That is where the devil becomes fearful. But it’s awesome in the sight of God. There are very few people who have reached that point. Enoch and Elijah had reached that point where they have been translated bodily physically. Even their physical bodies are caught into the spirit world. I am just pointing to the
possibility of that happening when we move into the realm of the spirit of law of life. But the moment your soul is transformed by the Spirit of life, you are in a position of being led by the Spirit. Even though your body may not be in the position yet, keep following of the things of the Spirit and your body will one day be pulled along into the realm of the spirit.
The bible tells us here in Jn. 14:17 that the world cannot and does not receive the Spirit of God. The world is unaware of the work of the Spirit of God. I could paraphrase it and also say the world and those who are under the influence of the worldliness and the spirit of the world are completely unaware of the Spirit of God. They do not receive Him at all. Why do they not receive Him? Two reasons are given in John 14:17. No. 1 they do not see Him because the world neither sees Him
nor knows Him. So, No. 1 He is invisible. He is not in the realm where your eyes could see; your hands could touch or your physical ears could hear. The Holy Spirit is invisible to the world. That makes it difficult for people to believe and accept. But those of us who learn to live in the spirit world like Paul, we live in the spirit realm and we see the invisible.
Let me show forth how many Christians are still in the carnal realm. They move in the carnal realm because they are still being moved by what they see. They are still being moved by what is around them with their physical eyes. They are not moved by the Spirit of God. For example, in the matter of giving, people are moved only when they see a need. Do you know that God is not pleased just with that? That is carnal movement.
The bible in the book of II Cor. 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. We understand the portion about giving grudgingly - that means you must give willingly and not being forced. But the other portion is you don’t give out of necessity. In other words, you don’t give just because you see a need. You have to be in the Spirit to discern the need. But the vast majority of Christians live in the carnal realm. Only when in the carnal, they see a need then they are moved. Even the people of the world could do that. Even the people of the world with human sympathy could do that. There are a lot of non-Christian philanthropies that give to charity because of the need that they see. But Christians are supposed to move at a higher level. I don’t base my giving just because I see any need. Because if I do I perpetuate a condition of need. In other words, I encourage people to have needs so that I could give. That is not the system of God. You don’t give to Jesus because you see Jesus has a need. You give because you see in the spirit realm and you know that you are led by the Spirit. Giving by the Spirit is one of the areas the Spirit starts teaching you to be led in the realm of giving. Many times the Spirit speaks to me, “Son give to this person, give to that ministry.” We don’t broadcast, we don’t tell people but we have to learn the leading of the Spirit that way. As you move in giving, you will learn how to move and hear God in the healing realm and in the other realm. I am pointing to the fact that the vast majority of Christians move in the carnal realm. They give out of necessity and not because of the leading of their heart. When I am led by God to give to a person, I don’t give just out of need. If I give out of need, that is charity and that’s a different area.If I see someone without food, out of compassion I can provide a meal for him or her. But that’s not the only realm of giving. Sometimes you give to a person so that, that person can have an opportunity to be a giver too. Not just to meet that person’s need. You may think that is not an important realm but dealing with finances is the first area God begins to deal with your life. If you are not faithful in finances, you will never be used by God in other areas. That is one of the most basic areas that God deals in our life. I could point to many other incidences but I am just pointing to a principle in the bible how many Christians are carnal and not spiritual in their giving. So, they missed out of the blessings of God. We see this realm here that in the world the Spirit is invisible. But those who move
into the Spirit to them they see the invisible as visible.
Paul moved into that realm in the book of II Cor. 4:18 While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. In other words, he is saying we move in the invisible realm. We move in the realm of God where eye does not see nor ear hear. But it’s only spiritual eyes and spiritual ears that see and hear into that realm. The reason why people cannot be led by the Spirit is that they are not accustomed to moving in the invisible realm. Or the world does not receive Him because they neither see Him nor know Him. The world doesn’t see or experience the blessed Person of the
Holy Spirit. And He is such a real Person. It grieves my heart sometimes where as I fellowship with people, some of the very things they are saying I could sensed the Holy Spirit being grieved and they could not. I said, “Lord what is wrong with these people? Don’t they know that the Holy Spirit is there and they are hurting Him?” Sad, but many people are not accustomed to that invisible realm. Some of the things they do quench the Holy Spirit. See the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is invisible but He is real. We have talked about all the different types about the leading of the Spirit. But in this message, we want to talk about the Holy Spirit as a Person. We have to be aware of Him, aware of His Personhood and aware of Him being present all the time.
If you are having your home cell meeting, be aware that He is right there. If you are in a discussion or a meeting or family discussion to make a decision please remember He is there. He is invisible there and we tend to forget Him. But He is there. The difference between the world and us is this - the world cannot accept the fact that there is an invisible Person of the Holy Spirit but we can because we have been brought up and trained by Jesus. And Jesus said He would remain invisible. As you walk with the Holy Spirit, people cannot see the Holy Spirit but He is there. He is there teaching, leading and guiding you. And that is the first reason why the world cannot know Him or receive Him. Don’t let His invisibility hinder you from knowing Him as a Person.
There are some things and some forces that are invisible to the world but it has not hindered the world from making use of them. T.V. waves, radio waves are invisible but the world has tapped on that. Just because something is invisible, it doesn’t mean we could ignore it. Radiation from heavy metals is invisible but deadly and dangerous. Those invisible forces are very powerful that we must not neglect. How much more if that is in the natural that the Person of the Holy Spirit is always there.
We see Him, we know Him. No. 1 He is invisible, No. 2 the world doesn’t know Him at all. That’s why the world doesn’t receive Him. The world doesn’t know Him, how He works, how He feels. If the Holy Spirit is a Person He has feelings. He can be grieved and He can be quenched. But the Holy Spirit is not outside - that’s what John 14:17 says. He is with you and He shall be in you. And you are always aware of the fact that you are carrying the Holy Spirit in you. You are a carrier of the Holy Spirit. Paul always walks with that mental frame of mind. He says we are vessels of God, earthen
vessels to contain the glory of God.
In II Cor. 4, he talks about how we are earthen vessels to contain the treasures and the glories of God. So, that frame of mind is always there. The Holy Spirit is in me. He can feel things differently from me. He has His feelings separate from my feelings. So we are just earthen vessels. Wherever we walk, we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in us, what He feels, what He says. We have spoken about His voice and some of His communications to us. He is a Person and we must be sensitive to His feelings. In that way, we get to know Him. What do you mean when you say you know a person? You know their likes and their dislikes. Some of you I know well enough to know what is your favorite food. And if you know me you probably know what kind of food I like and what kind of food I dislike. So, you learn the likes and dislikes of a person. You learn their life style. You learn their habits. So, the Holy Spirit is in us. When we know Him, we know His feelings. And there are two main areas of feelings we can develop. One is when He is grieved. Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. We can grieve the Holy Spirit by No. 1 saying something that He doesn’t want us to say. No.2, by having an attitude that He doesn’t want you to have. No. 3, doing a wrong action that He doesn’t want you to do. It can be in the realm of words, attitudes, thoughts and actions. He is very conscious of these areas. And it can cause Him to grieve if you harbor a wrong attitude against somebody. If you say a wrong word against somebody, or you act wrongly in a certain realm, the Holy Spirit will be grieved.
Notice Paul continues in Eph. 4:31 Let all bitterness, (now bitterness is your attitude, bitterness is your feelings of hurt and strife, revenge and vengeance and anger) wrath, anger, (wrath has to do with vengeance, anger has to do with irritation) clamor, (that is in the area of evil) and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Malice is to have an evil intention and evil motives. It could be some actions that could be outwardly good or bad but your intention is evil. I would say that most of the time that malicious intention is not present in Christians. But once in a while, there are those with malice too. If we are not watchful, we allow the spirit of the world to develop malice and evil in our lives. Notice here that all these things will cause Him to be grieved.
Sometimes, it surprises me as I fellowship with people that they are grieving the Holy Spirit and they could be grinning from cheek to cheek without knowing it. I am amazed and I say, “God, how can this person grieve the Spirit and not know it.” Sometimes, if he or she is supposed to be a Christian leader I am ashamed. That is why we cannot let that continue. We must pull up our bootstraps. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ and we must live the standard that God wants us to live so that we move the more in the Spirit. God has been dealing with me in the Spirit to move in some signs but I am not able to move in our congregation at the moment yet. But there are two signs of the Spirit that He has spoken to me about that I have started operating in other countries but I have not been able to move that much here. God is telling me that the more I move into that realm the more I have to "defellowship" from people who walk in the flesh. I could bear witness to them, share with them the Word, but I am not to continue with them because it becomes dangerous, not only in their influence over my life but also to them. I am talking about moving into the realm of the Spirit where I would be able to pick up someone and tell that person’s name and their symptoms. I am talking about moving into the higher realm of the Spirit. And the more you give your spirit, soul, and mind to God, to consecrate yourself and to serve Him more you cannot afford these kinds of people who move in the flesh. I will not have a single one of them working with me. Because it becomes dangerous also for them. Because if I start moving into that realm I pick up sins in their life. And I tell them and if they don’t repent that’s their responsibility, it’s not mine. If I consecrate myself a hundred percent and you consecrate yourself fifty percent you better watch out. If we consecrate ourselves a hundred percent and another consecrates fifty percent, where is the fellowship? If we do not walk in the light, how can we have fellowship with each other? If one walks in darkness and in the spirit of the world and the other walks in the Spirit, how can they have fellowship with one another? First John chapter one says how can we have fellowship with one another.
We are talking about being led by the Spirit, moving people deeper and deeper into the realm of God. I want to say that I am not staying still all the time. Where I was one year ago is different every year. I press on deeper into the things of God. And if any leader who works with me refuses to continue to grow, they cannot last long with me. If I grow and they don’t grow, they will still think of me about two years ago. I am not the same two years ago as I am now. In fact, if we don’t grow we are
backslidden. This year we are supposed to move more in God than we were one year ago. See this year we are supposed to have more wisdom than last year. We grow right with God. This year we should have more commitment than last year. Next year, we should have grown more in God. We are not playing church. We are not just setting up an organization just to keep it running. We want to see the church of Jesus Christ perfected. We are heading on into glory. And nothing must hinder the work of God. The sad thing is that people are not sensitive to the grieving of the Holy Spirit. There are three different realms of grieving the Holy Spirit. There is a realm where people grieve and they do not know. The reason is their hearts are hardened.
Eph. 4:18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Sometimes if the spirit of the world and the law of sin and death still rule in our soul, we will grieve the Spirit by doing things and having wrong attitudes that are displeasing to the Spirit. And if we don’t know it, how are we to be led by the Spirit? If we are not sensitive to the grieving of the Holy Spirit, how can we be led by the Spirit? So there is a realm where people's hearts are hardened and they don’t even sense the grief of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is grieved, the angels weep, and the people don’t know. One day when we get to heaven, we will know. But now because the spirit of the world has corrupted and hardened the hearts, the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s feelings is not there at all. Then there is a middle realm that I call tender-heartedness grieving.
Eph. 4 verse 30 it says do not grieve the Holy Spirit verse 32 says be kind to one another and
tenderhearted. You are sensitive to the grieving of the Spirit. The word grieve is a Greek word that is sometimes translated as sorrow. That is the middle realm. Then there is the third realm that is even more important. You not only sense grief but you completely abhor, despise and hate the evil.
In Heb. 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more then Your companions. Notice it says that you hated lawlessness and it says therefore. If we are not sensitive to righteousness or lawlessness, forget about the anointing. It’s only when Jesus loved righteousness and hated lawlessness therefore God anointed Him. We have to pay a price. I know people who lose their anointing because they fellowship with people in the flesh and the spirit of the world gets into them. When people have a wrong attitude or begin to speak wrong words or fall into wrong actions, they lose their anointing. You can’t keep the
anointing unless you love righteousness and hate lawlessness. Now this is a different realm here. It is one thing to feel sad about evil and another to despise evil or hate evil. I am not talking about feeling angry. But there is something in you that just disliked it and abhorred it. Some people get angry at the works of evil but they fight them in the flesh using violence. Some pro-lifers burn down abortion clinics and gun down doctors who perform abortions. I am not talking about that. They themselves need renewal of mind because you don’t overcome evil with evil. That’s what they try to do, using the flesh to overcome evil. You use the Spirit of love to overcome evil. So, what we have here is a deeper realm of grief. You are so grieved that you abhor the evil done. To you it’s like abomination. Your development in the Spirit has grown deeper. Some people are in the realm where their hearts are hardened. Some are tenderhearted. A lot of us here are in this realm but we need to move on into this realm here where our hearts develops to the extent that what God hates we hates and what God loves we love. What God abhor we abhor. Its one thing to read in the bible that something is abomination to God and another thing to have us feel the same abomination that God feels about it.
Let us look at I Thes. 5:19-20 Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. We are talking about the Person of the Holy Spirit. Grieving is when something is wrong and He is telling you and you are not listening. Wrong attitude, wrong word, wrong thought or wrong action. Quenching is when He is telling you to do something but you are not listening. On the other side He is not doing anything but there are some things being done that He is not happy with. In this realm of quenching, He wants to do something but we are not allowing Him to; we quench. The Greek word for quench pictures a fire that is about to start and water is poured on it. The fire of the Holy Spirit comes out and we quenched it. A person does not only personally quench the things the Spirit wants him to do but could also quench the working of the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives. Another person can also
quench the Spirit in your life. Sometimes we see young eager believers learning to be led by the Spirit, no doubt as you learn you are allowed to make honest mistakes. If you made a mistake twice, you didn’t learn from the first one. Sometimes you see a believer wanting to move into the things of God, some of the things they are receiving are from God, and the Spirit is telling them to do
something. Then some self-righteous Pharisee comes along and says, “Perhaps that is not of God.” Do you know what that fellow is doing? He is quenching the Spirit too. So not only can you quench the Spirit in your own life. If you are being led by the spirit of the world and not by the Spirit of God, you may even quench the things that the Spirit wants to do in other people’s life. I know because there was one occasion it happened to one Singapore brother. He was being led by God to give a huge sum of money to a missionary. He was already signing the check. And another Christian came and brought a bad report about the missionary. He not only grieved the Spirit he quenched the Spirit too and tried to prevent this person from giving to that missionary. That’s amazing but it happens
all the time. In many situations sometimes somebody may say, “I am led by God to give to this person.” I say, “Hey, don’t give to this person like that.” If you are right, then it is not a problem. But if you are wrong, you are quenching the Spirit. You are answerable to God. You have just prevented someone from being led by the Spirit and from obeying the Holy Spirit. So, people think that quenching is only within them. No, you could be quenching the moving of the Holy Spirit in
somebody else too.
That is why we must be people of prayer. Don’t jump to conclusion, don’t be hasty. Don’t be moved by the spirit of the world and the world’s ideas and traditions. And many times people without prayer, without fasting, without waiting on God jump to conclusion and they quenched the Spirit. It can happen in a church committee meeting, it can happen in any meeting, it can happen in any situation. Because the spirit of the world is still influencing them. I am very cautious before I say that soand-
so is not led by the Spirit. If somebody says that he or she has the leading of the Spirit, before I say anything that is contrary, I’d better make sure I hear the Spirit for myself regarding him or her. I must be prayerful and I must sense the Spirit in the invisible realm. These are areas that are very serious to God. Let me tell you the leading by the Spirit consists a hundred percent of all our Christian life. It’s a serious matter learning to be led by the Spirit. It is possible to be grieving and quenching the Spirit at the same time. In other words, you could be saying the wrong thing, having the wrong attitude and also at the same time stopping another person from obeying the Spirit. You are doing both. Now in I Thess. 5 there are also three degrees of quenching. If you are in this area here where your heart is hardened, there is no doubt that what the Spirit tells you, you cannot perceive. I Cor. 2:8 and 9 that the natural man does not receive what the Spirit is giving. So, whatever the Spirit wants you to do, if you cannot even sense any quenching or grieving, you are just dead wood.
That is I Cor. 2. We learn to be led by the Spirit and you are not afraid of anything. If I am sure that the Spirit has led me in a certain way even if I were to go alone and everybody drop out I would
still go ahead. It’s most important that we have to have boldness and a consecration to obey the Spirit come what may. So, it’s important for us to be led by the Spirit.
I Cor.2: 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world. He is saying if you have the spirit of the world influencing your life you cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. Because its blocked out by the things of the world. But the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Verse 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Who is a natural man? A natural man is someone under the influence of the spirit of the
world. A natural man is someone who is led by the spirit of the world. He follows along with the tide of the spirit of the world and it has a heavy input and influence on his life. So if you are right here as a natural person under the influence of the spirit of the world you cannot even sense the things the Spirit is putting on you. You cannot get any direction; you cannot sense any grieving or any quenching. At the second level in I Thess. 5, you sense the quenching. You sense the quenching.
You know the fire has been put out. You sensed it in your life. And people who experience that go into a crisis of depression. When you put out the things of the Spirit, life is burned out of you. So, it tells us here that I quench the Spirit. Now verse 20, Do not despise prophecy. This is the third degree of grieving. Some Christians are over here in this area of despising prophecy. The opposite of despise
is to receive. Not only just to receive but you receive it with a powerful of attitude of reception. And that attitude is found in Isa. 64:4 For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him. Who are those who wait for Him? Isa. 66:2 For all those things My hand has made. And all those things exist, says the Lord. But on this one will I look, on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My Word. That is the third degree here. You not only sensed that the Spirit is quenched and you fear to quench Him but over here every word that the Spirit of God speaks
to you, every direction that He given into your lives, whether visions, dreams or thought or any area, every leading of the Spirit in your life causes a trembling and awe in your life. Then you have reached this third point. There are very few people in this realm.
Remember we are answerable to God to obey the written Word, as we are to obey His spoken voice. We are accountable to obey the written Word. And of course, the spoken Word cannot contradict the written Word. But if God tells you to do something and leads you by the Spirit, you are also answerable for that at the judgment day. That’s awesome if you think about that. If God tells me to go to a country to minister the Word, if I don’t its awesome to think that one day, I have to answer for that. He will ask me, “Why didn’t you obey?” And I cannot say this person tells me not to. This must be ingrained into our lives we must be in such awe and trembling that if God is the one who tells you to help somebody, don’t let another person hinder you from doing that. If God is telling you to minister to another person’s need don’t let somebody take that blessing from you. If God is telling you to obey Him by giving a prophecy, a word or functioning in a gift, don’t let somebody take that from you. Somebody can quench you but if you are filled with such awe you will still obey even if you have to weep and cry. That somebody might not be somebody you do not know. Most of the time, it’s somebody you know. It could be your loved ones who walk in the flesh. It could be your own friends who walk in the flesh.
This is a warning from God - we are accountable to be led by the Spirit. We have to put this awe into our lives that we are accountable to be led by the Spirit. That is the reason why in all those years there are some decisions that I made have been unpopular but I pushed forward because I fear God more than I fear man. If God tells me and speaks to me about certain things come what may even if I have to give the shirt on my back to obey I will. Even if all my friends were to forsake me, I will. We got to balance it a little bit. If you are married, you have a husband or wife and God is telling you to do something that affects the whole family, you have to wait for him or her. You are not solely responsible any more. You are only responsible to convey God’s demands on your life to your husband or wife and wait for him or her to respond positively. And if some decisions in your life are
going to affect the whole family you make sure that your whole family moves in it before you move. But if it’s a decision that does not affect them and it’s yours and yours alone, you are accountable to God to be led by the Spirit. And may we receive the leadings of the Spirit with trembling at His Word.
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