It is a wonderful thing to know that God’s grace is so awesome. That God has saved me by grace and not by my works of righteousness.
One may ask what happens if we allow ourselves to go so far as to quench the Spirit, have we lost our salvation forever. Scripture reveals that those who choose this path will be given over to themselves for their own destruction, but scripture also reveals that God is faithful, and the Lord made these promises to Abraham; “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them …I will have respect unto you …and establish my covenant with you. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And [that] I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember. But if ye will not hearken unto me and will not do all these commandments …And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me …Then will I also walk contrary unto you also in fury, and will punish you. And knowing these things Paul told the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. And John also made reference to these passages when in his first letter he said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Lord also told Moses concerning the covenant made with Abraham “even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I [am] the LORD their God” And in the gospel of John it is written that the Lord confirmed this covenant by saying “All that the Father giveth me (regeneration) shall be delivered to me; and the one that comes to me (conversion), I will in no wise cast out”, as properly translated.
It should be evident that we are spiritually dead after regeneration. I know this term is often misused to refer to the unregenerate but consider this once again; the Spirit cannot be dead if it is not present. The unregenerate person cannot be spiritually dead without first possessing the Spirit to begin with. According to 1 Corinthians 2 the natural man is not in any capacity able to know Spiritual things, they are void of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of man is only able to understand the things of man, even after regeneration. This spirit of man begins to die as we subdue its desires, bringing to life the Holy Spirit. As we grow in faith and learn obedience the natural spirit becomes dead and the Holy Spirit raises to life. Likewise, the Holy Spirit can be quenched according to 1 Thessalonians 5. To quench means to suppress the Spirit or inhibit the expression of the Spirit. As defined in Galatians 5 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. To inhibit the Spirit from bearing these fruits we suppress it and become spiritually dead, unfruitful, unproductive, and worthless to God.
I have listed various passages which support this truth as well. This list is only a few of the many that convey this truth. It will be hard for some to accept the truth they truly speak but I have been able to overcome this and hope they will be able to also. Each one speaks of the path to both death and life although both may not be specifically mentioned.
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not [his] brother abideth in death.
1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin [which is] not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Romans 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Luke 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
1 Thessalonians 3:8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected [us], and we gave [them] reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life
If we accept these passages as truth, that one is able to be spiritually alive while in obedience and by disobedience spiritually die, it should not be difficult to accept that the newly reborn child of God who has not yet learned obedience would also begin his spiritual life in death not yet having fully realized his sins and finding repentance unto life.
Ephesians 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Those who are asleep in Christ, those born again children who have not awakened spiritually from the dead will be taken by God; they will not be left behind. Those of us who are alive, who have been spiritually awaken and have endured to the end, will not prevent the spiritually dead and disobedient, for the first shall be last and last shall be first.