How to Keep Your Spiritual Fire Burning | Part 2

Are you quenching the spiritual fire God the Holy Spirit is sent by God the Father to guide us, to lead us. He gives us fire to light our path, and we need to be very sensitive to the Spirit of God because He is so easily quenched.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding. The day of Pentecost and Acts chapter 2 mark the birth of the church. Adrian Rogers said Bethlehem is God with us. Calvary is God for us.

Pentecost is God in us. Now in part one of today's message, Pastor Rogers revealed that when we're filled with the Spirit, it acts as a holy flame. It illumines, consumes, transforms, empowers, and attracts us. There are four ways to keep this fire burning. So if you have your Bible, turn now to Acts chapter 2 as Adrian Rogers reveals how to keep your spiritual fire burning. Do you know that John Wesley used to say this, he said, you know, I just set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn. And fire has power.

Too many of us are reading the Bible like it's a math book rather than a love story. By the way, if dead wood starts fires, I know a lot of churches that are ready to burn. These early Christians, they had a fire that water couldn't drown and swords couldn't kill and jails could not hold. All of this is the fire of God and that's the reason on the day of Pentecost God gave these great emblems of wind and of fire. Now I'm not talking about wildfire and I'm not talking about painted fire.

I'm talking about real fire. Sometimes when you talk about getting on fire, people are afraid we're going to become fanatics. Well, an average church, there's not much danger of that.

It would be like putting a cauldron of policemen around a graveyard to keep a wild demonstration from breaking out from those who sleep there. I believe the reason that the cults are getting many of the members of Bible-believing churches is because there's an empty place in people's heart. They want something that is real. They want a passion. They want a fire. Now I've just mentioned all of the things that fire does and you need to keep the fire burning in your heart because this church is not going to stay on fire until the members, pastor and people and staff and deacons and teachers, till we ourselves are on fire.

So I want to give you four things, three of them negative and one of them positive, if you would keep the fire burning. And they all deal with the Holy Spirit who is the spirit of fire and the spirit of burning. Number one, principle number one, don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Don't lie to the Holy Spirit. If you lie to the Holy Spirit, you're playing with fire and you're going to get burned. In Acts chapter 5, let me give you an example of somebody who lied to the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 5, I read this, but a certain man named Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, that is, she was in on the deal, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

They were having a love offering, see, and so she brought it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, just underscore that, to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not at thine own power? That is, you didn't have to give it.

Nobody twisted your arm. Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. That means he died. The ghost was the spirit that was in him. And great fear came upon all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up and carried him out, and they buried him. They carried this man out of the church service.

Now, what happened is this. There was a great wave of revival that was sweeping the early church. First there was addition, then there was multiplication, and the devil wanted to cause division and subtraction. The devil wanted to get in on the arithmetic also. And so what he did, he began to work through the people in the church, particularly Ananias and Sapphira. He'd already tried to stop the church by persecution and found out that only made it grow. So Satan said, if I can't stop them, I'll join them, and I'll work from the inside.

And so he got into the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira, as we're going to see. Now, what caused Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost? The root of their sin was pride.

Now, listen to me. It's pride that causes you to lie to the Holy Ghost. The root of their sin was pride. There was a man named Barnabas who gave an exceptional love offering gift, and people were grateful for it. Barnabas didn't do it to show off, but Barnabas was not ashamed to let it be known what he had done. The Bible says we'd have let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father, which is in heaven. And what Barnabas did was a spontaneous show of love.

Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in and bask in the glow of that, so they sold a piece of real estate, told everybody they were going to give everything they received to the Lord. Now, they didn't have to do it. Peter said it was in your power. You didn't have to give anything. You could have given part.

But don't lie and say that you've done something that you've not done. The reason that they did this simply was pride. They wanted to be praised.

They wanted to be petted. And nothing puts a man more in jeopardy in spiritual things than pride. There's nothing that will put out your spiritual fire quicker than pride, because the Bible says that God resists the proud, and He gives grace to the humble.

The Holy Spirit of God has poured out the Spirit of grace upon people who are humble. Now, the root of their sin was pride, and the fruit of their sin was pretense. They pretended more than they had. They wanted credit. Again, I want to say it's not that they refused to give.

That was in their power, Peter said. But they were acting as hypocrites. Read the Bible, and you're going to find out that Jesus Christ reserved His sternest words for hypocrites. Frankly, I had to search my heart before I could preach this message.

I mean on my knees. I had to ask myself, Adrian, do you pretend to be more holy than you are? Are you telling people things that you don't believe, or even worse, things that you do believe and don't practice?

You see, that will put out the fire. There's pride that leads to pretense. And I believe that many of our churches are filled with that. I've seen congregations stand and sing, I surrender all, all to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.

And frankly, that's a lie. They have not surrendered all. They have not given all freely to the Lord Jesus Christ. We sing, take my silver and my gold, not a might would I withhold. How many congregations do you believe really mean that? Take my silver and my gold, not a might would I withhold. Then we hold it with all our might. I've seen congregations sing on Sunday morning, faith of our Father's holy faith, we will be true to thee till death.

You ever sing that? And don't even come back Sunday night. I mean, they'll stay home to watch the Sunday night movies, but they will sing on Sunday morning, faith of our Father's holy faith, we will be true to thee till death. That's hypocrisy. It's lying to the Holy Spirit.

Now, who caused that? Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, why has Satan put in your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? It's a strategy of Satan to sabotage the spirit of revival. Again, I say he tried intimidation and persecution.

That didn't work. The cause of Christ had been hurt far more by hypocrites within the church than by enemies outside the church. Now listen to me. I'm talking about how to keep your spiritual fire burning. If you lie to the Holy Ghost, you're playing with fire. It is serious to tell a lie to anybody. More serious to tell a lie to a judge, thrice serious, and much more than that, to lie to the Holy Spirit of God, to lie to God.

It's not only serious, but folks, it's foolish. Let me tell you why it's foolish. Because the Holy Spirit was there when the deal was made. The Holy Spirit was on the inside.

The Holy Spirit knew everything. You can't fool God. Abraham Lincoln said you can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. You can't fool God any of the time. I mean, why did he try to lie to God? It's serious. It's foolish. And you say, well, was God capricious when God struck Ananias dead and later Sapphira dead?

No. God had warned them. As a matter of fact, he said, why has Satan filled thine heart? To lie to the Holy Ghost.

That means that the Holy Spirit of God had been speaking to them because he is the illuminating fire of God. It was willful and it was inexcusable, and God made them an example to coming generations. Have you ever wondered why God doesn't strike hypocrites dead today in the churches?

Why did he strike Ananias and Sapphira dead? Why doesn't he strike the hypocrites dead in our churches today? Because God took certain individuals and he made them an example.

Let me give you some examples of examples. Jude chapter 7, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities round about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. He left Sodom with his smoking ruins as an example. Then in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 10 and 11, how does God feel about murmuring? Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come. When God killed those people in the wilderness with poisonous serpents, why doesn't he kill people who murmur today with poisonous serpents? God has given an example.

Why did God strike Ananias and Sapphira dead? Why doesn't he strike every hypocrite dead? God has given the example. We need to learn, we need to be on guard against hypocrisy. Ask yourself this question, is there any hypocrisy in me? Am I pretending a devotion to Jesus Christ that I don't really have? Are you going in and out among your brethren, serving as a deacon, serving on the staff, singing in the choir? Don't sing what you don't mean.

That's hypocrisy. That's lying to the Holy Ghost, and you're playing with fire. Number one, don't lie to the Holy Ghost. Number two, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Now if you grieve the Holy Spirit, you're going to dampen the fire.

Well, what grieves the Holy Spirit? Unconfessed, unrepentant of sin in your life. Turn this time to Ephesians chapter 4, and look, if you will, in verse 25.

Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil, that is, don't give a beachhead, a campground to the devil.

Let him that stole steal no more. But rather, let him labor, working with his hands, the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now watch verse 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And he says here, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

And then he prefaces that and follows that with a litany of sins, sins of the flesh, sins of the Spirit, everything from malice to an unforgiving spirit. And he says, this grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Now, when you grieve the Holy Spirit of God, you dampen the fire of God. You see, the Spirit of God is burning love.

He is passionate love. The word grieve is a love word. Did you know that you can only be grieved by somebody that you love?

You think about it. When the neighbor's kids do wrong, that vexes you. When your kids do wrong, that grieves you. You see, only is a person grieved if they love the person who is doing wrong. I have been grieved by people when they do wrong.

So grieved. Somebody told me a while back about a preacher who had fallen into immorality. I'm not ashamed to tell you, when I heard it, I fell to my knees, and I wept like a baby.

I could not stop crying when I heard about what this man had done, because I loved him, I admired him, and I grieved. Now, the Holy Spirit of God loves us so much, that when we have filthy sin in our hearts and in our lives, unconfessed, unrepentant of sin, that grieves the Spirit of God, and it dampens the fire. I don't have any unconfessed, unrepentant of sin in my life that I know of. I would be a fool, a fool, to try to live the Christian life while harboring sin in my heart and in my life. You say, well, who do you think you are, somebody? No. That's normal Christianity.

That's not abnormal. Don't get the idea that we're all supposed to have our little pet sins. Yes, we fail.

Yes, we stumble. That's the reason why He says, be ye angry and sin not, and don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Get it right. Don't harbor that sin. Don't go to bed with that sin.

Don't wake up with it. How wonderful to start a day clean and pure to lift your hands and praise the Lord and not grieve the precious, blessed Holy Spirit of God who loves us so much that His heart is broken. We unconfessed sin in our lives. Now, if you want to keep the fire burning, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Number three, don't quench the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19 says, quench not the Spirit. Now, if you quench the Spirit, you just put the fire out. We need that fire, that illuminating fire, that energizing fire.

We need that purging, cleansing fire. The Holy Spirit is sent by God the Father to guide us, to lead us. He gives us fire to light our path. And we need to be very sensitive to the Spirit of God because He is so easily quenched. And there have been times in my life I'm afraid that I've quenched the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has spoken to me, and I've not obeyed the Spirit of God. I can remember a time with deep remorse, the first little church I ever pastored. I had told the Lord, I will talk to every person in this town that I can about you.

I will go to at least every house. And I had worked and worked and worked and worked. And there was one house kind of down the road a long distance. And the Holy Spirit seemed to be moving my heart saying, go to that house.

And I thought, well, I've done enough, and I won't go. I was driving later down the street. I saw a woman coming, driving her automobile, both hands in the air. She was screaming at the top of her voice.

I pulled over and asked her what was wrong. She pointed to the orange grove there in front of that very house and said, he's dead, he's dead. I went into that orange grove, and there I saw that man with a high-powered rifle.

He put it up in the air, high-powered rifle, put it up to his head, reached down and pulled the trigger. And there he was, his body was already blue and rigor mortis had come where he'd gone out in that field and shot himself. I can see that scene in my mind right now. And I wondered, did I quench the Spirit?

That was the one house I did not go to. And that has stayed with me. All of these days, don't lie to the Holy Ghost. Don't quench the Holy Ghost. Don't grieve the Holy Ghost. When God's Spirit speaks to you, be quick my soul to answer him. Be jubilant, my feet. Is God speaking to you about something? Somebody you need to get right with? Some money you need to give?

Some restoration you need to make? Some witness that you need to bear? Then do it.

Do it. Because you can put out that flame, you can quench the Spirit. Now listen, don't lie to the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. But let's come right back to our verse again in Acts chapter 2, verse 4, be filled with the Spirit.

They were all filled with the Spirit. Now remember again, Ephesians 5, verse 18, be not drunk with wine when the success, but be filled with the Spirit. Now don't get the idea that you are a vessel and the Holy Spirit is some sort of liquid power that He pours into you, like you would fill a jug.

No, no, no, no. You are a temple. And to be filled with the Holy Spirit means that He has the key to every room. 1 Corinthians 6, 19, what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which you have of God?

Have you given Him the key to every room, to every closet? How are you filled with the Spirit of God? Just be completely committed where the Spirit of God is. Be completely committed. Where the Spirit is Lord, there's liberty. Just simply say, here I am, Lord. Take my life, every ounce, every inch, every nerve, every fiber, every possession.

It is yours. I give you the key to every room, every closet, complete commitment and continual control. From this verse of Scripture, the one thing I left out when I told you that it was the Lord and His passive voice and plural in number, it is in the present tense. It means it is continual action. Actually, be being filled is what it says.

Be being filled. Why does He say don't be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit? Why didn't He say don't steal but be filled with the Spirit? Why didn't He say don't commit adultery but be filled with the Spirit? How does a person get drunk with wine?

He's speaking here not only in contrast but comparison. How does a person get drunk with wine? He drinks. How does he stay drunk? He has to keep drinking. Be being filled.

He's talking here in comparison. Just constantly be being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. It is the present tense continual action as we are letting God's Holy Spirit fill us. So how do you fill the Spirit? Well, there's complete commitment. There's continual control as we are drinking and letting Him have His life in us.

And then there is constant claiming. Just say, Lord, I claim your power right now. That's what I did on my knees before I came out here to preach this message. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples went out.

On the day of Pentecost, the lost came in and God was glorified by that New Testament church. I want the fire to burn brighter and greater than it has ever burned. Are you with me? Are you with me? Folks, let's keep the fire burning.

Thank God there's the fire and there's the wind to spread it. What would happen if everybody who comes on Sunday morning were a Spirit-filled believer and would let Holy Ghost fire burn in them? Will you say by God's grace, I will be at least one? I will by the grace of God. Lord God, Lord God, I pray that you will help us, that we will learn to let you have your way. Come, Holy Spirit, be continually cleansing and filling me and fill us individually and corporately. No, Father, help us not to play games, not to pretend, not to lie to the Holy Spirit, not to grieve the Holy Spirit, not to quench the Holy Spirit, but to be filled. Thank you, Lord.

Amen. Now today, if you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus Christ, we'd love to offer you an insightful resource on our website. It's our Discover Jesus page. There you'll find answers you may need about your faith, as well as a response section where you can share how this message or others have made a difference in your life. Simply go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and mention the title, How to Keep Your Spiritual Fire Burning.

You can also order online at lwf.org slash radio, or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Resist grieving and quenching the Spirit and be totally committed to Him.

Give Him continual control and constantly claim Him as Lord. We're so glad you joined us for today's broadcast. We hope you'll tune in next time for more from Adrian Rogers, right here on Love Worth Finding.

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