It didn't break me, it just knocked
them over. Responsibility, awesome responsibility. Trying to preach your word, his
word, to you. I have enjoyed the services thus
far very much. And I think I would have enjoyed
them even more if I hadn't have been worried about, I got to
come up next, you know. Maybe I'll mess up everything
I've been saying. But it is a joy to be here. And
I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the provisions you've made
for this conference, your hard work and the good food. And I
know none of us don't believe it very much, but inasmuch as
you've done it under one of the least of these, my brethren,
you did it to me. Serve in Christ. One other thing
I want to say before I get into the message, a message I hope
that will cause you joy and comfort in the Lord, and that is that
I've been studying through the book of Malachi, and I ask each
of you, each of you that are old enough to read, to go home
and read that over and over, slowly, prayerfully, Slowly,
prayerfully. There was a church, Old Testament,
the Nation of Israel. They went nearly 400 years without
a word from God. And religion just ran on so well.
Glad there wasn't a glass. And I wonder how many churches
there are in Danville, Kentucky, and Boyle County, and Garrett
County, and all around the state, all throughout our nation that
are running on without God. Their origin and energy and perseverance,
all through the wisdom and power of men, they don't need God.
I heard an old fellow, and I'll close with this, this part of
the message. An old fellow said years ago
in the National Sovereign Grace Conference in Memphis, he said,
what's going on in the churches around us today that needs God
for an explanation? And that causes me to tremble.
What? 1 John chapter 2. I want to talk to you a few minutes
this morning about God's anointed ones. There are some people in
this world that are anointed of God. I know that word has
been so abused and misused, but we'll try to just be simple and
plain this morning what it means to be anointed in this sense
of the Lord. Verse 18, 1 John 2, verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time. And as you've heard that Antichrist
shall come, even right now in the first century. There are many Antichrists. Wherefore,
you know it's the last time. These are the last days. The
land's filled with antichrists. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they'd been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. And I love this conjunction when
I see it. Most of the time in the scriptures
it's so meaningful. But. They. But. You stayed. And you stayed because you have
an anointing from the Holy One. And you know all things. Some of you here fit that description
this morning. Thank God. Thank God. The beloved apostle John writes
to these believers in our text, and to us today, with special
reference to the dangers of the last days. And that is, many
antichrists have gone out into the world. They left us. They're
men. They're preachers. They're liars.
They're deceivers. And they've all gone out into
the world and started sects and denominations in the world full
of them. No doubt if they'd been obvious, they'd stayed with us,
but they went out. They started their own church, and it's still
going on all over the world. I thought Madisonville had all
the churches it could hold, and they're still making new ones. And yet, at the same time, they're
saying and teaching and practicing after the manner that doesn't
matter what you believe. And yet, we're going to start
our own. But it doesn't matter what you believe, we're all going
to heaven anyway. What is an Antichrist? As the word says,
someone who's against Him. But these fellows are not that
honest. An Antichrist is one who's against Him and opposed
to Christ, but he's an imitator and a deceiver. Deceiver. And our Lord Himself said, if
it were possible, They would deceive the very elect of God. Thank God it's not possible.
Why? You have an anointing from the Holy One. We're told to keep
ourselves in the faith. We're told to fight the good
fight of faith and earnestly contend for the faith and make
our calling and election sure. We do these things. And yet when
it's all said and done unto Him that is able to keep you from
falling. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. You have an anointing from the
Holy One, and we know some special things in a special way. These
fellows are deceivers. Beware of false prophets. They
come to you in sheep's clothing, but they're not sheep, ravening
wolves. Beware of false prophets, these
antichrists. They're the ministers of Satan.
But they appear before you and claim to be the ministers of
righteousness. And if it were possible, why
is it not possible? If it were possible, they would
deceive the very elect of God. It's not possible because God
won't have it. God won't have it. He's going
to bring His people home perfectly conformed to the image of His
only begotten Son. The New Testament abounds with
warnings against the deception of these antichrists. And history
abounds with the testimony of those who have departed from
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Abounds. John says in verse 19, they left
us because they were never of us. They were with us for a while,
claiming to believe the same thing, and then they up and left.
Altogether different. They left the Apostle's Doctrine
and Fellowship because they never were of us. Never were of us. I have a question. I'm going
to try to be brief. How can we or any believer, if
it were possible, These men would deceive the very elect of God,
the very chosen precious ones of God. Powerful deception. Worldwide deception. Everywhere
deception. How can we ever escape this awesome
satanic power of deception? There are so many antichrists
And then we have this big word, but, B-U-T. They left us, but. You have an unction from the
Holy One, and you know all things. That's the reason you're not
deceived. Well, three things that are wonderful
things in this statement. Number one is, you who believe. you have an unction from the
Holy One. That's number one. Number two, emphasize this, this
unction is from the Holy One. And number three, you know some
things. He says here you know all things. And I'll try to show
what that means simply. This statement to these people
would no doubt have had a two-fold effect, and I hope it does on
you here this morning. All these people deceived in
the world, all these people in religion, in my family and in
your family, so many deceived. They got more confidence and
assurance than you have, and they're just headed straight
to hell. First of all, this statement
should have reminded these people Why? The only reason why they
had not been deceived. You didn't save yourself, God
did it. And God started it, and He continues
it, and He'll finish it. Be thankful. Thankful that salvation
is not of you, it's of God. They should be so thankful, so
thankful, They were kept. Not because they were naturally
wiser or better in any way than those who had departed. They
weren't. The difference is, you have an
anointing from the Holy One. God done something for you. If you make it to heaven, it's
because God done something for you. And He's not finished yet. He's not finished yet. But because the Holy One, the
Enthroned Christ, had anointed them, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, consequently, these
words should have comforted their hearts, causing them to worship
and praise God with thanksgiving. We're anointed of God. God has
blessed us. My Redeemer has anointed me with
the Holy Spirit. That's what that anointing is,
the Holy Spirit. And I know the truth. And you
know the truth. And you know that no lies are
the truth. That's what he tells his people. What a comfort to believing souls. What an encouragement to look
away from ourselves and entirely to Christ. Trust Him and Him
alone. I want us to look at this unction
just for a few minutes this morning, this anointing. In verse 27,
it's the same Greek word, twice translated, anointing. You have
an unction or you have an anointing from the Holy One, and it simply
means grace, a gift, the favor of God, a bestowment of God. The best way to say it, in my
opinion, is you're endowed by the Holy Ghost. You have an endowment. You have a gift of God, and it's
the Holy Spirit. And He not only came to dwell
with you, be with you, but to abide in you. You have an anointing
from the Holy One. And it's the Holy Ghost, the
Lord, the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit. You have this anointing
from the Holy Spirit. Call twice an unction in verse
27. You're endowed with the Holy
Spirit. Christ has freely given us the Holy Spirit. You remember
what He said when He left? He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. And He said in another place,
I have a lot of things to tell you. You can't receive them now,
but I'll send the Comforter. And when He's come, He teaches
some things. Bring to remembrance some things.
You have an anointing from the Holy One. Not only to be with
you, John 14, verses 16 and 17, to abide in you also. You are
anointed of God. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in you. Bearing testimony to the Word of God. The Holy Spirit,
now listen to these words carefully, this is so important. The Holy
Spirit confirms, confirms the Word of God to our hearts. We don't change from doctrine
to doctrine. We don't change from church to
church. Because we know the truth. And
that no lies of the truth. And we can't leave the truth.
It's real. It's confirmed to our hearts.
It's not just one doctrine compared to another doctrine. It's reality. Christ dwells in us. In our hearts
by faith. And the Word of God is confirmed
to our hearts. wonderful passage in Isaiah and
said, this is the fellow that God pays attention to and dwells
with. And there aren't many alive in
the world today. Those who tremble at His Word. Have you ever trembled at the
Word of God? Do you ever read warnings in
here and tremble at the Word of God? I remember when I was
a young man, young, just beginning, and I read in the Scriptures
where if any man loves this world, the love of God is not in him,
he's dead, he's lost, he's going to hell. And I love this world. And it scared me. I don't know
God yet. And there's other warnings like
that in the Scriptures, throughout the Scriptures. They that have
the anointing from the Holy One, they tremble at the Word of God. But thank God He gives them comfort.
He gives them comfort. Tremble at the Word of God. Look at John 16, the Gospel according
to John, chapter 16, just a moment. The Holy Spirit takes the Word
of God and confirms it to our hearts. The Holy Spirit, by through
faith in us, and He gives us the faith, The Holy Spirit gives
reality to what we read in this book. Reality. Man comes to me
and wants to argue about who God is, how big He is, how great
He is. Just go to somebody else. I don't want to talk to you.
I know how big He is. As far as this people of mine
can figure it out through the Word of God. Todd said last night,
He's God. What does that mean? It means
everything. Who's Jesus Christ? He's God. I said it all. He's not a failure. He's not
a would-be Savior. He's not a trying-to-be Savior.
He's not a hope-to-be Savior. He's a Savior. He's God. Never
fails. And never gets discouraged along
the way either. John chapter 16. I love the way
this is spoken of here. John chapter 16 and verse 12. I have yet many things to say
to you. But you can't bear them now. How be it when He, the Spirit
of Truth, has come, and He is the Spirit of Truth? Anything
you hear people talking about, the Spirit did this, the Spirit
revealed this, the Spirit impressed me to do this, if it's not according
to this Word, it wasn't God's Spirit. Somebody else's Spirit. I don't doubt that they were
impressed. But if it's not according to
this Book, God didn't do it. And this spirit of truth has
come, he'll guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.
And he shall..." Now look at this word, S-H-E-W. He'll show
you things. I love that word, show you. I
like to see things, don't you? He'll show you. He'll show you. He'll show you. And this word
is used three times here. He shall glorify me, for He shall
receive of mine, and shall show it to you." Oh, there it is again.
Show it to me. The things of Christ, He takes
them through this Word, and the Holy Spirit shows them to us.
Shows them to us. All things that the Father hath
of mine therefore shall I unto you, that He shall take of mine
and show it to you. I looked this up in the Greek
concordance, and this word can be translated declare, or report,
or tell out. But in this context, nothing
fits better, in my opinion, than show it to you. He's going to
take these and show them to you. Show them to you. And that's
what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I have not seen or
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. But, how's that
word again? God hath revealed them to us.
He showed them to us by the Spirit. By the Spirit. He shows us, reveals
us these things. Then, we know. We know some things. With this precious endowment,
with this precious anointing, this precious unction, we know
and we see enough. You know all things. I simply
mean we know and we see enough in the context of this deception.
We can never be deceived. They were deceived. They left,
but you, no, no, you're going to stay. You have an anointing
from the Holy One, and you know some things. First of all, what
do we know? What does He show us? What do
you see? I know one thing, and I see it so plain and so clearly,
and I can't even consider anything contrary to that, that God is
God indeed. David said, why should the heathen
say, now where's your God? David said, my God's in the heavens,
where He's always been. and doing what he's always done.
What's that? Whatever he pleases. He's God. Nothing else even makes
sense. He's God. Job said in the context,
the very context of all his sufferings, all the things that happened
to him, he said he's of one mind who can turn him and whatever
his soul desires. What? That's exactly what he
does. And he got a lot more things
in store for me, Job said. Our God is God indeed. He's God
over all things. He's God over all flesh. He is
sovereign. And He is holy. And He is just. So much so that He cannot, cannot,
and no wise, clearly guilty. Are you guilty? He won't clear
you. He has to meet with your sins.
Your sins must be punished. He can't overlook them. He can't
forget them. He can by no wise, no means,
clearly guilty. You know what he does? I'll tell
you in a minute, but I'll just put it in now. He makes us innocent. He makes us innocent. He makes
us innocent. In his Son. As clear as my hand before my
face, God is God indeed. And as I said before, there's
no use trying to argue me out of it. It's real. Like Moses long time ago, I've
seen him who is invisible. No use talking to me about how
great Pharaoh is. I've seen the Lord. I've seen
the Lord. The glorious, awesome reality
of the God of the Bible The Spirit makes it real. You're not just
changing from one doctrine to another. The Spirit of God, through
this Word, has shown you God. You'll live with that throughout
eternity. It's just not a new doctrine
you came up with. You've met God. You've seen the
Lord. The second thing is, every man
and woman by nature, He shows us what we are by nature, those
whom He saves. If you have this anointing, you
know who you are, and you and I see eye to eye. Heart answereth unto heart in
those who believe. Brother Todd last night talked
about things he's ashamed of. I knew exactly what he meant.
I've been there. And not only been there, I live
there. Sometimes, I know I read in the scriptures and my sins,
the Lord don't remember them anymore, but I can't forget them.
And sometimes things come to mind that nobody knows about
but me! And I'm so full of shame. Before God. Because you have an anointing
from the Holy One. Sin is not just what we are outwardly,
what we do. Sin is what causes us to do those
things. It's what we are by nature. It's
what we are on the inside. God said, the folks around you,
all they see is the outward appearance. But He said, I look on the heart.
I look on the heart. I know what's in there. The Pharisee
jumps up, I never committed adultery. And the Word of God says, if
you ever lusted after a woman in your heart, you did. You sure
did. You ever hated without a cause,
you're a murderer. God looks on the heart. There's
many reasons, many ways we're restrained from expressing ourselves
in our sinfulness outwardly as we're capable. I thank God for
that. But it's in here, nonetheless.
I was a young boy, and we got old enough. Dad had two cows
for us to milk each morning, and we sold the milk to buy flour and stuff that we
needed. And he got one old cow, big and ugly and mean, and put
me to milking that cow. And I'd just about halfway get
comfortable and think she wasn't going to kick, and she'd do it.
Kick the bucket over, kick me over, and I'd put the kickers
on her. They got a thing called kickers
that tie their legs together, they can't kick. And I was able to milk her okay.
But you know what? It never changed what was in
her heart, not one tiny little bit. The kicking was still in
her heart. And she'd look that old head
around me, them big eyes, and she'd just want to kick my head
off. There's a lot of things in this world that are kickers
for us. They keep us. They restrain us
by the grace of God. But what's in the heart, it's
in the heart. And it's going to ever be in the heart until
this old heart of flesh is laid down in the grave and dies. One man said it's like when you
see sin as it is. He said it's the difference between
seeing a painted lion on the wall, a big fierce lion painted
on that wall. I don't think I'd be too scared.
But if one were to be led down this aisle, I might be behind
on over here. When you see sin as it is, God
shows you what you are. You won't be thinking so much
about Uncle John and Aunt Jo. You'll be thinking about you.
And you'll live with what you are the rest of your days. And that's not fun. It's like
living in a cesspool of iniquity. I remember 1959, when I first got a sight, I got
a sight of this for the first time. I grew up in Sovereign
Grace Church. But when God showed me, showed me what I was in here,
I was terrified of death and afraid to live. I seen for the
first time in my life what I was capable of. Before that, I grew
up in a church, and if I did venture off to do something bad,
I knew it was bad. I wasn't that kind of fella.
Boy, God showed me what kind of fellow I was. And you know,
from that day on, I sure have needed a Savior. From that day
on. Thank God He showed me that too.
I groveled around and wallowed and cried and blowed snot and
everything else, trying to believe up some kind of a saving experience. It never did come. One day I
was reading the scriptures, and 1 Peter chapter 2, it says something
like, He bore our sins in His own body on that tree. And God
gave me hope. And that one verse, I said, that's
the answer. I quit trying to believe, and
somehow, by the grace of God, I began to believe. I've been trying to believe ever
since. By the grace of God, I do believe. I do believe. Another man said, this thing
of seeing yourself for the first time is like you're driving down
the road, breaking the speed limit. You know you're breaking
the speed limit. But then the blue lights and the siren, you
see the lights and hear the siren, and then you really know it.
You know, you're going through this world, everybody says, yeah,
we're all sinners. We're all sinners. And God turns
on the light. You see, like the Apostle Paul,
I died. I died. I died. You live out your life with David
and Paul, our sin is ever before us. But thank God, number three,
He shows us the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen who God
is and some of His holy requirements. I've seen His justice. He can't
clear the guilty. I've seen what He requires, perfect
obedience. And I've seen what I am, and
there's no hope. But thank God He showed me this. The Holy Ghost showed me the
Savior. You have an anointing, you've seen the Savior. He's
been revealed to you. You've seen Him. Bless God for
this truth. My sin is ever before me. But
we see and know the truth and reality. I like to use that word
in my preaching at home, son. Reality. Faith is a substance
of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. It gives
reality to these things we believe. Everybody says, I want to go
to heaven. I'm looking for the golden streets. But what reality
is there in it? Maybe there is to them, but it's
false. It's not according to this book.
It's another spirit. It's an expectation based upon
something other than the Word of God. Say it. God, who cannot clear the guilty,
and He cannot, in infinite love and grace, gave
His only begotten Son to take our place. All that the Holy God requires
of me The Son of God performed for me. And what can you say more? What
do you need more? God looked at him and said, I'm
well, please. And now, through faith in Him
as He is, so am I in this world before God. Before God. Those Old Testament priests in
Hebrews 10, those Old Testament priests Often time, day after
day, offering the same sacrifices unto God, we never took away
one sin. But this man, but this man, I
love that. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down. One sacrifice for sins forever! Sat down. From henceforth expecting
till every enemy is put under his foot. Because by one offering,
by one offering, he hath perfected forever, perfected forever, the
elect of God, them that were sanctified. He perfected them
forever. Then on up in verse 17 it says,
and their sin, which just makes perfect sense, and their sins
and their iniquities never be remembered against them again.
Why? They're gone. He put them away. They're purged. They're gone. He put them on Christ. And then
turned loose the fiery wrath of God upon His Son until they
were all purged away. Punished. Gone. Put away. And forgotten. And forgotten. If you're a child
of God, if you have this anointing, you can't forget, He can't remember. And that gives us hope and peace
and joy and we can live out our lives from day to day. This fleshly
sinful speck of dust in hope before God. Even with joy and
peace. joy and peace. He became, one word, the propitiation
of our sins. Satisfied God for us. And we
see, it's been shown to us, we see the Lord Jesus putting away
our sins and perfecting us forever before God for that one offering. And with this anointing, we'll
never turn to another. We've seen Him. How could you?
The apostles didn't know much in the beginning and didn't know
much in the ending. We don't know much today. But Christ was
preaching one day and He said, no man, I told you before and
I'll tell you again, no man can come to Me except that we're
given unto Him of the Father. And they just took off, the whole
multitude. And here stands twelve, twelve
little folks there. And he looked at him and said,
you going away too? Peter said, where can we go?
You've got the words of eternal life and we know and we're sure.
Because it's been shown to us that they are the Christ, the
Son of the living God. There's no place else to go.
No place else to go. Where shall we go? We know and
we're sure. And fourthly, We see the future. And the older you get, the more
you'll see it. A man came to Spurgeon one time
and said, Spurgeon, a priest on dying grace, he said, Mr.
Spurgeon, Reverend Spurgeon, whatever you call him, said,
I don't have this grace. Spurgeon said, are you dying?
He said, I don't guess. He said, you don't need it yet.
You don't need it yet. When you need it, you'll have
it. When you need it, you'll have it. Paul said, and I like this, while
we look not at things which are seen, but we look at things which
are not seen. Because everything you can see
with these peepers is temporary, changing, passing away. But invisible
things, spiritual things, they're eternal and forever. He said
that's what we look at, that's what our affections are. That's where our affections are.
And we're encouraged to set our affections on things above, not
on things down here. And we look for it. This city,
this fellowship, this heavenly country. And we wait for it. And we long for it. And the older
you get, I think, the more true that probably be. set our affections on things
above, and hold loosely to everything down here. And I'll close with this. I lived
in Okinawa for a year and a half. And it was alright. I was young,
stupid, free. Whatever came up, you know, we'd
play ball or whatever I wanted to do, I could do. Played pool,
ping-pong, learned how to play ping-pong from the Japanese. But anyway, this is the point. I learned to live over there
alright, but it never was my home. And I was counting the
days, marking them off the calendar the closer it got. I'm going
home. You know what I'm doing now?
With all my medical problems, I'm counting the days. It's not
my home down here. One thing I learned closely after
God saved me, this whole world lies in wickedness. That's part
of learning of Christ and of God. May God bless these words,
the testimony of His Son, to your hearts. And may your faith
be that real kind, the kind that's been given to you where you see
the Lord. You see God, you see yourself,
you see the Savior. And that's the world you live
in. The lost folks, natural man's influenced by the things of this
world. Believers are influenced by the things of the next world.
May God bless these words to our hearts. Thank you, sir.