We're turning tonight for our Bible reading to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. I'm going to take time to read the entire chapter tonight. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, reading from verse 1. As you turn up the passage, let me just mention, I should have mentioned this during the announcement time, but our offering for the work in Nepal, the situation there with the earthquakes over the last number of weeks came to $12,500 or so. And on our committee meeting on Tuesday night, we took the decision with some funds that we have available to us to increase that to $15,000 and to send it to the churches there in Nepal. So you can pray for them. The Lord will encourage their hearts. We have rebuilding work to do, as you can imagine, and various needs across the hundred or so congregations that we have out there in the presbytery in Nepal, and we ask you to remember them in prayer. But we do thank you for your giving for that, and as we have further updates, I'll let you know how things are in that part of the world. The first Third Thessalonians chapter five tonight is the passage we're turning to, and we're going to read from verse one of the chapter. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write on to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but he obtained salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with unholy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. And amen, we pray the Lord will bless the reading of his precious word to all of our hearts this evening. We're coming tonight to the question, why revival tarits? Those of you who've been here the last number of weeks now will know that we've been on the theme of revival, looking at its definition, looking at the need to pray for revival, considering the aspects of revival and the work of the Holy Spirit. Tonight the question is, why are we not in revival? Or why does revival tarry? I'm taking the words of verse 19 as my text, Quench Not the Spirit. It's a very important verse of Scripture nestled there among other exhortations that Paul is giving to these Thessalonian believers in regard to their Christian life. And I want to take it really as a launching pad tonight. We will look at the text, but look beyond the text as well as we consider this very important question, why revival tarrys? So whether Bibles open there, and with our hearts open also let's seek the Lord together in a further word of prayer. Father in heaven we come before thee now with thy word before us We are thankful for the scriptures of truth. We are thankful, Father, for the exhortations here, the direction, the comfort, the counsel. We thank thee for the revelation of Jesus Christ who encourages our hearts. We thank thee tonight for thy word that we have just read in these verses. We pray, Lord, as we ponder this very important theme, we do pray for the help of the Holy Ghost. Lord, we are conscious tonight that these are themes that we have looked at before. These are matters, Lord, that almost all of us are aware of, and we pray that the familiarity of them would not breed contempt within our hearts towards them. Lord, we come with open hearts tonight, and we pray, before we turn now to the preaching of Thy Word, we pray for the work of Thy Spirit to be active in our hearts throughout this service and in the days to come. Lord, minister to us. Speak to us, we pray. We ask that, Lord, we might be a generation of thy people who enjoy and experience the outpouring of thy spirit. in times of refreshing, in times of revival. So Father, hear and answer our prayer. Give help in the preaching, give help in the hearing tonight of thy word. May we come with the desire that thou would speak to us and we would listen to thy voice. So hear and answer our prayer, we pray. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. I think it's almost impossible for a concerned Christian to read accounts of past revivals and not ask the question, why is the church of Jesus Christ not enjoying such times now? We find ourselves in a barren season. True conversions are few and far between. There's a growing spirit of worldliness. The church's voice is drowned out by political correctness. Liberal theology is crippling many institutions. Worship has become a battle in many conservative circles that's losing that battle. And there's a deepening sense of discouragement in the hearts of many of God's people. And as you look at the spiritual landscape in the United States in our generation, it all stands in such stark contrast to former days of revival blessing. We can read of the first and the second great awakenings in this land in the 1700s and the 1800s. And then we can think of the lack of spiritual awakening in our own generation. And the concerned believer, as he reads those accounts, is bound to ask the question, why does revival tarry? Why are we not, in 2015, enjoying the measure of blessing and the sense of the Lord's presence and power as the church of Christ experienced in the 1700s and the 1800s in this land. Let me answer that question negatively first of all. It is not because God is unable to revive. We must never entertain the thought that while God was able to bless before, something has happened that means God cannot bless now. There were some in Isaiah's day who thought that way, and the prophet had to correct that way of thinking by saying in Isaiah 59, In other words, what the prophet is saying to those who are beginning to think that something had happened to the Lord, he was telling them there's nothing wrong with God. He is the Lord and he changes not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchangeable. Our strength decreases. Our strength declines with the passing of time and as we grow older in this world. But God never grows faint. And God never grows weary. He is able still to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or what we think. And God's ability to revive His church is the same tonight as it ever has been. And therefore, the fact that we are not in times of revival is not because God is suddenly now unable to revive. Furthermore, it is not because this world is sinking in sin. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, this world has been sinking in sin. You think back to the early chapters of the book of Genesis and you'll discover that the world wasn't very old when the first murder took place. And then there was adultery and drunkenness and sodomy and idolatry. And every generation ever since has added sin to sin. There have been some horrendous times of great wickedness in this world, times of awful rebellion against the Lord. And yet even in such times in the history of these nations, God has been pleased to move in revival blessing. Paul noted in Romans chapter 6 that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And very often God has moved in times that have been particularly dark in the world's history. The ways of the ungodly, the wickedness of the ungodly do not prevent God from reviving his church. And we must ever bear that in mind. We can look at our present society with all of its corruption, all of its dishonesty, all of its wickedness, all of its immorality, all of its increasing immorality, and we can think that such things will stop God working. Let's understand that God has worked before when times were very dark before. The wickedness of this age among the ungodly of this world does not explain the lack of revival. Moreover, revival tarries, but not because we are in the last days. It's often been presented as an argument against praying for revival. The reasoning or the line of reason goes along the thought that we are in the last days, and in the last days men shall wax worse and worse. The love of many shall grow cold. Antichrist will appear. There'll be a general apostasy and a great departure from the faith, and therefore there is no place in God's plans in the last days for a time of revival of true religion. On the surface, that may sound a plausible position. We are moving towards the end of time, we're moving towards the coming of the Savior, and these will be perilous times, therefore we ought not to expect, and therefore ought not to pray for a revival. But the fact is, according to Hebrews chapter one and verse three, the period known as the last days began when Christ came to earth the first time. And therefore, the period known as the last days, beginning when Christ came the first time, will come to an end when Christ comes the second time. Therefore, by that reckoning, every revival that the Christian church has ever known since the days of Jesus Christ, every revival the Christian church has ever known, has been in the last days. In fact, in Acts chapter 2, the writer there, the Holy Spirit, notes that what took place on the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the fulfillment of a promise specifically given for the last days. So the lack of revival in our generation cannot be blamed on the fact that we are in the last days, because every revival we read of since the appearance of Christ, every revival we have read of has taken place in that period known as the last days. Furthermore, it is not because the devil is too strong and his kingdom cannot be overthrown. For sure, Satan is busy. He knows his time is short and he has come in like a flood to overthrow the church and bring havoc among God's people. He's well described when Peter speaks of him there in 1 Peter chapter 5, like a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. And Christ described the devil very well when he pictured him as a strong man keeping his goods. Satan is mighty. He is a strong enemy, but he is not mightier than God. He is a defeated foe. Christ has triumphed over him, and therefore Satan to Jesus must bow. And the strength of the devil does not explain the lack of revival in our generation. Another thing, revival tarries, but not because the gospel is no longer relevant in a post-Christian age. Some think it is. They suggest that revival is out of date, that the gospel is not enough. The world that we live in needs something else. We need something different. We need something new. And the thought in the minds of some is that revival doesn't come because we need something more than the work of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century. And so they're arguing from the perspective that we're living in a post-Christian age, and the revival is not going to meet the need of the nations. And none of those reasons come anywhere near explaining why revival tarries. So the question remains. The question is still there. When we know that God is the God of revival, and that he has openly shown his ability to revive in the past, and his word contains tremendous promises that he can still revive in the present, the question remains, why does revival tarry? Why are we not presently enjoying revival in the church of Jesus Christ? Well, any answer to that question has to deal with the question, what is revival? We looked at a few weeks ago We discovered that revival is where the Holy Spirit enlivens and quickens and awakens believers. It is where he stirs the hearts of the people of God, increases their love for Christ, gives them fresh zeal, draws them from their worldliness, and sets their hearts on fire for God. Revival is not something that man manipulates, or manufactures, or organizes, or designs. Revival is the work of the Holy Spirit, where he works primarily in the hearts of his own people, and as a result of them being revived, very often associated with that is the salvation of many, many souls. Therefore, the question, why are we not in revival, could be reworded. and ask this way, why is the Spirit of God not demonstrating His power in the midst of His church as He has done in the past? Why are we not seeing the evidence of His powerful and gracious work as at other times? And I suggest that the answer to that question must involve the possibility Sometimes we've got to think about the sovereignty of God. But I think the answer to that question, why is the Spirit of God not working in evident power as He has done in the past, the answer to that question must involve the possibility that we have grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that the Spirit is not working at all. He is working in different places. He is working in our own hearts, in our own congregations, in this land, in different ways and at different degrees. And I have no desire to guilt God's people into some kind of religious fervor in order to find an answer to the question that in itself would not be right and that in itself would never work. But having said that, we do need to inquire and search and examine ourselves. lest the reason we are not enjoying revival comes to this question about our grieving of the Holy Spirit. And I think we need to be humble enough and honest enough to come before the Lord and ask, could this be the reason why the Spirit of God is not working in the same degree of power and blessing as we have read He has done so in the past? And therefore, I urge every believer tonight to carefully consider this matter. This is not just for one of us. This is not just for you in the pew, it's for me in the pulpit too. Is it possible that I have or that we have quenched the Holy Spirit? Now with that question in mind, and with this little text before us, Quench Not the Spirit, There are four lines of thought that I want to draw your attention to as we think about that question. First of all, the Spirit of God can be quenched by his people. The Spirit of God can be quenched by his people. The language here in 1 Thessalonians 5, 19 depicts the Spirit of God as a flame or a fire. That's the concept behind the word quench. He's depicted as a flame or a fire. It's a good representation of the Spirit of God. For back in Acts chapter two, when the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, we read there that suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. So right there in Acts chapter two, in the day of Pentecost, in the outpouring of the spirit of God, the spirit of God is likened to a flame or a fire. And he has spoken off in that way under this image of a flame or a fire because it is his work to enliven or to inflame or to enlighten or to quicken the soul. It is the spirit of God who causes the heart to burn. He fills the believer with zeal and with passion for the Lord and his work. It is the Spirit of God who reveals Christ to us, and in revealing Christ to us, he stirs the soul. He sets the church of Christ on fire as he reveals Christ to us. That's the Spirit's work. But this verse in Thessalonians reminds us that the Spirit can be quenched. The word quench there means to suppress or to stifle. In other words, a situation can arise where the Spirit of God is grieved or offended or quenched by His people. Begs the question, how does that happen? What causes the Holy Spirit, under this picture of a phlegm or a fire, what causes the Holy Spirit to be affected in this way? So much so that it is said that He is quenched. And the answer to that question is sin. Adam Clark, the commentator, said, this spirit is represented as being quenched when any act is done, word spoken, or temper indulged, contrary to its dictates. It is the spirit of love, and therefore anger, malice, revenge, or any unkind or unholy temper will quench it. It has been observed that fire may be quenched as well by heaping earth on it as by throwing water on it. And so the love of the world will as effectually grieve and quench the Spirit as any ordinary act of transgression. Anger, malice, bitterness, revenge, any unkind, unholy temper he says is going to quench the Holy Spirit. And a love for the world will be like putting earth on a flame as we relate it to the Spirit of God. The love of the world will quench the Holy Spirit. John Gill noted that this is a reference to the graces of the Spirit. And then he goes on to say, and though these cannot be totally extinguished and utterly put out and lost, yet they may be greatly damped. The light of faith may become dim and the flame of love may wax cold. the heat of zeal may pass into lukewarmness, and the light of knowledge seem to decline instead of increasing, and all through indulging some sin or sins by keeping ill company and by neglecting the ordinances of God, prayer, preaching, and other institutions of the gospel." It's the same idea. We can quench the spirit of God by our sin, keeping ill company, neglecting the ordinances of God, prayer, preaching, and the other institutions of the gospel. That's not just their opinion. Scripture bears that truth out. It is sin that causes the Spirit of God to be grieved. We offend Him by our worldliness. We offend Him by our prayerlessness. We offend Him by our bitterness, by our hypocrisy, by our harshness, by our anger, by our lack of godliness. Is that not the message that comes with the four in Ephesians chapter four? I'll take time to read that chapter, but Paul gives a series of exhortations there about very practical matters. In verse 25, he speaks about lying. In verse 26, he speaks about being angry. In verse 27, he speaks about giving place to the devil. In verse 28, he speaks of stealing. And then he goes on to speak about our words and the need to be gracious and kind and forgiving and putting away malice. And in the middle of all of that, Paul says, "...grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." And it's impossible to come to any other conclusion, brethren and sisters, but that these things that he mentions in chapter 4 are the things that grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Note what he says there, "...grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." The Spirit of God is pure and holy. He is blameless and spotless. He is perfect in all His ways, and therefore sin grieves Him. Now, I understand tonight that we all have indwelling sin, but when we deliberately harbor certain sins, when we refuse to repent of it, when we hang on to sin, despite the striving of the Spirit of God in our hearts, despite him showing us that sin, when we harbor that sin in our hearts, we quench and grieve him. Matthew Henry, the commentator, said, we must be careful not to quench this holy fire. As fire is put out by withdrawing fuel, so we quench the spirit if we do not stir up our spirits and all that is within us to comply with the motions of the good spirit. And as fire is quenched by pouring water or putting a great quantity of dirt upon it, so we must be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit by indulging carnal lusts and affections or minding only earthly things. And I suggest tonight that that's a solemn warning. I've had the advantage, I guess, over you in the fact that I've read those quotations throughout this past week, and they are very sobering. They are very solemn warnings. It is possible for us to grieve and to offend and to quench the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have to ask the question, if revival is the working in power and great evidence of the Spirit's working and we're not in revival, then we have to ask the question, is that because we have quenched him? And that's not an easy question for me to ask. It involves some serious heart searching. It demands some very honest self-examination. Are we ignoring the Holy Ghost? Are we ignoring His Word? Would it not be the case that we quench the Spirit of God if we don't turn to His Word, come to that with a humble heart? Are we neglecting the place of prayer? And He is described, the Spirit of grace and supplication. If we neglect the place of prayer, are we not offending and grieving the Holy Ghost? Are we not offending Him and quenching Him by refusing to obey His truth and by living as if we don't need Him? When's the last time we prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Are we disregarding the Lord? Do we put more store on earthly things than spiritual things? Are we, as the Lord's people, happy to go on without knowing more of the Spirit's power? Are we happy to go on with better thoughts towards others? Does it concern us that the Spirit of God is slighted and sinned against by multitudes in this world? Does that grieve us? Are we anxious for His glory? Do we treat His Word and His people and His worship with disrespect. These are things that will quench the Holy Spirit. It is possible for God's people to quench God's Spirit. The Spirit of God, therefore, can be quenched by His people. That's the first thing. The second thing that I draw your attention to is the thought that when the Spirit is quenched, He withdraws from His people. Quenching the Spirit of God is not a trivial or insignificant thing. When the Spirit of God is grieved, when he is offended or when he is quenched, to keep with the language of our text, he withdraws his gracious and powerful influences. Now understand that that does not mean that the Spirit of God leaves his people completely. It does not mean that he abandons his church once and for all. It does not mean that he forsakes us and cuts off all union with his people, never to return in power. It doesn't mean that he completely leaves us on our own and we're left for the rest of our lives without him. What it does mean, though, is that he withdraws the consciousness of his presence and the demonstration of his power. there is a diminishing of the manifestation of the Spirit's power. In Micah chapter 2 and verse 7, the question is asked, is the Spirit of the Lord straightened? It's an old-fashioned word. The word straightened means curtailed. And you could read the question that way, is the Spirit of the Lord curtailed? And in the context of Micah chapter 2, it is asking there, has the Spirit curtailed his work? Has he withdrawn in that sense? The same truth appears in other places, but under a different picture. For example, in Psalm 13, the psalmist asks, and he speaks there of God hiding his face from his people. In fact, in that psalm, the psalmist thinks the Lord has forgotten him. And he asks about the Lord hiding his face. In Isaiah 59, the word is that God has separated himself from his people. He has withdrawn himself. And all of it points to the same thing. When God's people harbor sin and grieve the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit of God is quenched, the Spirit withdraws from them. And let me illustrate that from Scripture. Remember the story of Samson Judges 16 verse 20 We know that Samson was a judge who began to judge Israel against the Philistines. And he was used of God to do many mighty things. And then Samson fell in love with Delilah. And you know the story of how she begged him to tell her the secret of his strength. And he mocked her and lied to her. And she wept daily against him. And eventually he told her the secret of his strength. He was a man consecrated to God from his mother's womb. And the sign of that consecration was his hair had never been cut. And she knew when he told her that, that now he'd eventually told her the truth. And Samson was put to sleep on Delilah's knee. And she called for a man to come in and cut his hair. And whenever Samson's hair was cut, Delilah said in verse 20 of Judges 16, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And the verse finishes with these awful words, and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. Samson had grieved the Spirit of God. He had played fast and loose with sin. He was in the arms of a Philistine woman, surrounded by Philistine soldiers asleep in her bedroom, and he had lost out with God, and the Lord departed from him. And there he was as a man shorn of his strength because the spirit had departed. I think of the picture in the Song of Solomon in chapter five. The spouse has gone to her home and it's nighttime and her beloved comes. He stands at the door and he knocks and cries that she would open up to him. And we're given a glimpse of her heart and a glimpse of her thoughts. She thinks to herself, I have put off my coat, I have washed my feet, and she doesn't want to get up to open the door to let her beloved in. There's no desire for fellowship as there had been, and she grieves him. And then she has a change of heart. And verse 6 tells us that she went and she opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself. I can only picture that in my mind. And you've been at a situation where you've gone to someone's door, and you've knocked the door, and you're expecting an answer, and then you've eventually left that door, and as you're walking down away from the door, you glance back to see if perchance they have come. Because she did not come, he had withdrawn himself. I think of Hosea chapter 5 and verse 15. Dealing with the sins of Israel, the Lord says, I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. In their affliction, they will seek me early. And there in the nation of Israel, the Lord had withdrawn himself. He had gone and returned to his place because of their affliction, because of their iniquity and their offense against him. Come into the book of Revelation and into chapter 3, and enter the letter to the church at Laodicea, a church that was neither hot or cold. The picture that's given there of a lukewarm church is taken from the surrounding areas. There were hot water springs that were piped, the water was piped into the city. There were cold springs and that cold water was also piped into the city, but sometimes the hot water cooled as it came, sometimes the cold water heated up as it came, and by the time the water got into the city, it was lukewarm. Not really fit for purpose. And the Lord said, as I look at the church at Laodicea, I see a lukewarm church. The church felt they had need of nothing. They were rich. They had gold. They had clothing. They felt they had need of nothing. And the Lord said, you are wretched and poor and blind and naked. And then in verse 20, he said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me." Believer, those words are not directed to the unconverted. It's often the picture painted, it's often the way the text is taken, that Christ is standing outside the door of the unconverted and it's up to them to open the door and let Christ come in so Christ can see of them. That's not the picture of the text. This is a text that relates to the church. Christ has withdrawn himself because of the sin of the church, because they felt they did not need him, that they had need of nothing. They didn't even need the Lord, they thought, and therefore the Lord had withdrawn himself from them. And that, I tell you, is the real danger for the church of Jesus Christ. We can so quench the Spirit of God that he withdraws, that he withdraws the manifestation of his power among us. When God's people grow careless towards him, When we live as if the Spirit of God doesn't exist and we don't need Him. When we go through religious exercises with no heart for God. When we slight the Spirit, when we play at Christianity, when we turn away from Him, when we couldn't care less, when the things of God are not important enough to us that we would pray about them. When the church of Christ is not precious enough for us to pray for that church, then don't be surprised if the spirit withdraws. It's happened before. It's happened before. Look at the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter two. A church noted for its activity, for all of its service, for all of its labor, and the Lord said, I have somewhat against thee. You have left your first love. The church was 40 years old. One of the success stories of the New Testament time. Within 40 years, the church had left its first love and the Lord says, you must repent and do the first works or else I will come and I will remove the candlestick from you. And now, there's no church there in Ephesus. It's happened before. and we need to realize it can happen again. There was a time when Mary and Joseph supposed that Christ was in their company. Look, chapter two, they had been to the temple, they'd been to Jerusalem for the time of the feast, and then they traveled back to Nazareth with others in their company, and they traveled a day's journey, and then they realized that Christ was not there. They had gone a full day without ever talking to the Lord. a full day before they realized that Christ was not there with them. Believer, it is horribly possible for the church of Jesus Christ to keep on going as if nothing was wrong and Christ not be in our midst. The doors are still open. People are still coming. The finances are reasonably good. It looks well, but all the while the Spirit has withdrawn because the Spirit has been quenched. It's a very solemn situation. The Spirit of God can be quenched by his people. When the Spirit is quenched, he withdraws from his people. The third observation here is that the withdrawing of the Spirit leads to powerlessness among God's people. When the Spirit withdraws, God's people are marked with powerlessness. What are the consequences when we quench the Spirit and He hides His face from us? What does it mean for a church or for a Christian? He's not conscious of the presence of the Holy Ghost. Does it really make that big a difference? Do we notice, do we notice if the spirit withdraws himself? In every case, in every case where that happens, the Christian or the church faces a spiritual crisis. The spirit departed from Samson, he was taken prisoner and bound by his enemies. You know the story of Samson as a blind man grinding at the Philistine mill. When the Lord withdrew from the church at Laodicea, they were in a wretched, poor, blind, naked, impoverished state. They lost out in their fellowship with him. When the spouse discovered that the love of her soul departed from her, she cried, my soul failed. She was overwhelmed by a sense of failure. And there's enough evidence in Scripture, there's enough evidence in church history to show the devastating consequences of such a thing. I want you to turn in your Bible with me to Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah chapter 59. And pay careful attention to the language of that chapter. It's a very solemn passage of scripture. I've already quoted part of it. Because in chapter 59 in verse one, we have this very similar situation. He says, the Lord's hand is not shortened. In fact, it begins with the word behold. He draws our attention to this and says, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is he heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Think of that. He has hid his face from you. The same thought as the Lord withdrawing, and the reason for that withdrawing was because their iniquities have separated between them and their God. God was still the same. He was still the same in regard to his power to save. He was still the same in regard to his ear being open to their cry, but their sins had separated between them and God, and their sins had hid his face from them that he would not hear them. A tragic, tragic scene. Note the consequences. Look at verse 9. There is darkness there. There is darkness for the Lord's people. The Spirit gives light, but if he is quenched, and if he withdraws because he is quenched, then the child of God stumbles along without a consciousness of the Spirit's presence, the way we would stumble about in a dark night. Judgment is far from us. We wait for light, but we hold obscurity for brightness, but we walk in darkness. the darkness of that situation. Notice the desolation of that situation. Look at verse 10. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the night, and we are in desolate places as dead men. There's no light, there's darkness and there's desolation. Barren, wasted, forsaken places without growth and little life. We are in desolate places. Notice the distress as well. We roar all like bears and mourn sore like dogs. We look for judgment, but there is none for salvation, but it is far off from us. Troubled and anxious, we roar all like bears, and the bear roars when it's in trouble, when it feels itself threatened. The dove mourns when it's in distress. There's a lack of joy here. When the Spirit of God withdraws, the child of God finds himself losing that joy. Look at verse 11 also. We look for judgment, but there is none for salvation, but it is far off from us. There's the sense of disappointment. Expectations are not realized. Their desires are not met. And then look at verse 16, and note the decline. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. There was no one to pray. No one to pray. The prayer meetings, if I could use this line, the prayer meetings were empty. There was a decline. There was no one to intercede. And verse 16 puts it that the Lord wondered at that. It was almost like an amazing thing. There's no one to pray. Do you see the consequences when the Lord withdraws and hides his face? It's a dreadful situation for the church of Christ to be in. It's what happens when the Spirit of God withdraws from His people. You have a graphic illustration of that in chapters of 1 Samuel. Eli is there as the high priest. His sons are sinning against the Lord. He doesn't restrain them. He speaks to them, but doesn't stop them, and they're causing the people to turn away from the sacrifice. It's the heart of the gospel that's impacted there, the sacrifice that points to Christ. They're neglecting that, and things are tragic. And the Lord writes Echabod over the door. The Ark of the Covenant is taken. Eli's sons are killed in battle. Eli himself dies at that time, and the Lord talks about Ichabod, the glory has departed. And the nation was like that for 20 years. Until you come into 1 Samuel chapter 7, and after years of preaching by Samuel, the people begin to lament after the Lord. But for 20 years, for 20 years they had been in a state of powerlessness. defeated by their enemies, overcome because of their sin. The child of God, the church of Christ, cannot do spiritually well when the spirit withdraws. When the spirit of God is quenched and he withdraws himself, he hides his face. It brings the church into a time of crises. But I don't want to leave it there tonight. I want you to see in the fourth place that the Spirit is willing to return and revive God's people. The Spirit is willing to return and revive God's people. God's Spirit can be quenched, can be grieved, but he cannot be destroyed. Therefore, while there are times when he withdraws, He does so only to turn and draw his people back to himself. If you have your Bible open there, still at Isaiah 59, notice what is said in verses one and two again. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. And then look at verse 20, it's a very sad chapter. And then in verse 20 we read these words. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. The Redeemer shall come. The Redeemer shall come. There's the revival in the chapter. There's the stirring of the hearts in the chapter. There's the work of the Spirit of God and the work of Christ in the chapter, because he has not forgotten his covenant. This is my covenant, he says. These are my people. This is my work. This is my cause. But notice that he comes to those who turn from transgression in Jacob. He comes to those who are marked with repentance. who are marked with faith, who shall come and trust in Him, who shall come humbly before the Lord. In Hosea chapter five, verse 15, I've mentioned that. He says, I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. In their affliction, they will seek me. Early chapter six opens with these words, come and let us return unto the Lord. For he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us. In the third day, he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. the Lord returning to them, turning their hearts, stirring their souls, quickening them again, awakening them to their need, showing them their sin, giving them the grace of repentance, and coming to revive them on the third day. Believer, that's what we need. And therefore, that's what we ought to pray for. As we search our hearts tonight and have the Spirit of God search our hearts, Perhaps as we do that we find that we have grieved the Holy Ghost. The Lord brings something to our mind that we are guilty of, something perhaps that we know we've been guilty of and harbored and held onto and refused to let go of. What does a Christian do with sin like that? Well, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And it's a mercy of the Lord. And if he shows us that we are quenching the spirit, it's a mercy of the Lord that he shows us there is still restoration for us. He doesn't break the bruised reed. We looked at that some weeks ago. He doesn't quench the smoking flax. He is our advocate. He is our Redeemer. He is our Savior. He calls us to come. It's like Revelation 3.20. I stand at the door and knock. What's he say? Open the door. Come to me. Buy of me. Come and I will restore you. And I pray tonight the Lord will take his word and write it upon my heart and write it upon all hearts of all his people here. It's never an easy thing to consider quenching the Spirit or grieving the Holy Ghost. But sometimes we need to face up to these things, come before the Lord and ask Him to show us our hearts, to come before the Lord and rejoice. that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. It doesn't show us our sin to leave us in a mess of guilt. It doesn't show us our failures just to leave us there. It shows us that we might return with confession of that sin and no restoration and revival. So may the Lord take his word tonight and apply it to our hearts. And may we pray as we have never prayed before, O Lord, revive thy work. God challenges us and chooses our sin, either individually or collectively. Let's come before him with thanksgiving. That's a mercy from the Lord. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts for Jesus' sake. Let's find a word of prayer. Father, we thank thee for thy presence. We thank thee for thy word. Lord, we have no desire, we have no desire to quench the Holy Ghost. We have no desire to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. So Father, we pray tonight that thou would draw nigh to us, that thou would search our hearts, Lord, I would minister to our souls. Bless every family, bless every home represented here tonight, bless every believer. Lord, we know that these are difficult things at times for us to face up to. Lord, you give grace. We thank thee tonight for the precious blood of Christ. Lord, be pleased to revive our hearts. Be pleased tonight to revive Thy church, revive Thy work. O God, do a reviving work, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name. Part us with Thy blessing. We thank Thee tonight for Jesus Christ, our Savior. May we love Him as we have never loved Him before. When we remember that He has loved us, and given himself for us. Answer prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.