1 John, chapter 2. Down through the years, I've
preached from this text many times because I feel that it's
so important. And it's a comfort to me when
I read it. God preaches it to my own heart.
And I hope that it'll be that to you this morning, a comfort,
encouragement. I want to talk to you about those
who are anointed of God. Those who are anointed of God. A few years passed, and even
now we hear a lot about they have the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, and they don't mean by that what God means in the Scriptures. I want to talk to you this morning
about those who have truly, according to God's Word, the anointing
of God. And if I don't have it, I sure,
sure do want it. The anointing of God. 1 John
2, verse 18, little children, It's the last time we live in
the last days. And as you've heard that Antichrist
shall come even now, there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it's the
last time. Christ has come. There are many
who are against him, who are opposed to him. seek the destruction
of his people. And these antichrists, they went
out from us, but they were not of us, never were. 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 antichrists, that
they were not of us. But, what a wonderful little
conjunction here, but, you have an unction from the Holy One
and you know all things. And I've not written to you because
you don't know the truth. I've written to you because you
do know it and that no lie is of the truth. Verse 26, These
things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you,
deceivers, antichrists. But the anointing, there's that
word but again, but the anointing which you have received of Him,
the Holy One, abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, you shall
abide in him." By this teaching, this anointing, you shall abide
in Christ. Now do it, little children. Abide
in him. that when he shall appear we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. This anointing is so precious,
so valuable, and such a miracle and such wonder. The beloved
Apostle John has written to these believers in our text with special
reference to deceivers, that they be not deceived. He warns
them over and over, as do all the Scriptures, the dangers of
the last times, of the last days. There's more warnings in the
Scriptures concerning not being deceived than any other single
thing. And yet it's hard to find anybody
that thinks this is even a possibility. They might not make it. They
might not be believing the truth. They might be deceived. But we
found out from Matthew chapter 7 that most of those in this
world, throughout this world, who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
do all their religious works in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, most of them don't know Him, and shall be cast out. Many are deceived. Well, these
are the last days right now. And this was written here soon
after the resurrection of Christ. The last days began. If there
were many antichrists back then, and deceivers shall wax worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived, how many must they
be in our day? How many? If there were many
back then, in the days of the apostles, what multitudes of
them must be in our day? Now let me say this plainly and
clearly. What is an antichrist? Well, a word in the case of someone
opposed to Christ, someone who is against Christ, but it's not
that plain and not that simple. An antichrist in the scripture
is not in open opposition to Christ, but one who very subtly
and deceitfully deceives the people through imitation. He
sets himself up as something he's not. The Bible says in Matthew 7, 13 through 15, that
there's a straight gate and a narrow way and very few find it. And
there's a broad gate and a broad way and the highway's full. And
the reason is, beware of false prophets. They come to you in
sheep's clothing, deceivers, but they're wolves. They're wolves. They come to destroy the sheep,
not to save them, not to comfort them, but to shear them and destroy
them. And then in 2 Corinthians 11,
13 through 15, don't think it's strange if the ministers of Satan
have transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness. They
present themselves to the world as ministers of Christ, ministers
of righteousness. And that's not a strange thing,
Paul said. Don't think it's strange. In Matthew 24, 24, such is the
extreme danger of deception that the Lord Jesus spoke these words,
and I repeat them to you this morning. that if it were possible,
they would deceive the very elect of God. It's not possible, but
if it were, it shows you how serious this is. If it were possible,
they would deceive the very chosen, converted, quickened, living,
elect of God. But it's not possible. It's not
possible because they have the anointing from the Holy One. And they know too much. It's
not the quantity of what they know, it's the quality of what
they know. They know God. They know Christ. They know about sin. They know
about grace. They've been taught of God, the
divine teacher, the Holy Ghost. These people are deceivers, and
the New Testament abounds with warnings against deception of
these antichrists. And history abounds with the
testimony of those men who departed from the apostles' faith and
doctrine, carrying away many with them. Now, look at 2 Peter,
just a second. 2 Peter, just a moment. Just
a few pages back in the Bible. 2 Peter 2, verse 1. Peter writes
about the same thing. Paul writes about the same thing.
They talk about deception. Don't be deceived. 2 Peter 2, verse 1, There were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who shall privilege, shall bring
in damnable, soul-destroying heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them, and bring upon themselves with destruction.
They shall not escape. They shall not go unpunished.
And many, this is the danger, and many, You say, well, I'll
know them. I don't know them. Many shall
follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of
truth, God's precious truth, shall be evil spoken against.
Spoken against. And that's what we have in our
day in religion. Men don't want to hear about
God's divine election, but that's the only hope of any man. The
only hope of any man. These false teachers, and through
covetousness, and boy, that's what drives them. Through covetousness,
they covet big churches and big numbers and big pocketbooks.
Through covetousness, with vain words, hypocrites, they make
merchandise of you. whose judgment now a long time
lingereth not, and whose damnation slumbereth not, the wrath of
God burns against them." Their merchandise in trade, in their
business, their merchandise is the souls of men and women. That's
their trade. That's what they covet. The more souls, the bigger the
church, the bigger the name, the more money. Then they become reverend so-and-so
down the street with the big old congregation. I have a question. How can we
or any believer ever escape, ever escape this awesome, satanic
power of deception? I have no power against Satan. I need a refuge. I need a rock. I need an advocate. I need a
mediator. I need one who does have power
against him to hide behind. And I found that one. And we'll
talk about him in a moment. There are many Antichrists in
this world. Many, many. And a lot of them have left us.
We've seen it over and over across the land. They left the Apostle
Doctrine and Fellowship. But, there's that word, but. Why didn't they all leave? You have an option from the Holy
One, and you know all things. Those three things in that little
sentence. You have an unction or an anointing. The same Greek
word is used in verse 27 twice, and it's anointing. You have
anointing. The word is chrisma. You have
a gift. You've been endowed by God. You've been favored by God. You
have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things.
That's why we're not deceived. That's why we're not running
to and fro behind every wind of doctrine. We have an anointing
from the Holy One. And it is impossible for us to
be deceived. If it were possible, they would
deceive the elect of God, but it's not possible. Not because
we're brighter than anyone else, but because we have an anointing. We've been gifted of God. We
have an endowment. The Holy Spirit has been given
us. We have an anointing from the Holy One. These three things,
you have an unction or an anointing. Number two. And it's from the
Holy One of God, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And number three,
you know all things. By this anointing of the Holy
One, you know all things. This anointing is the Holy Spirit
being given us. Not only to dwell with us, Christ
said, but to abide in us. To abide in us. That's anointing. This statement to these people
would no doubt have a twofold effect, and it ought to. It ought
to have on us. First of all, it would remind
them why they're not deceived. Why they're steadfast in the
truth. Why they cannot leave the truth. That's the first thing. Why do we have the truth? If
we have the truth, why is it that we have the truth and others
don't? Others have left it and departed and run after the innovations
of men, the methods and means that men have come up with. Why
is it? We have an anointing from the
Holy One. Standing fast in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, these people weren't naturally brighter
or wiser or better in any way than those who left. But they
were anointed of God, anointed of the Holy One. That anointing
is the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy One, the enthroned
Christ, had given them the Holy Spirit. Secondly, it ought to
stir up this and these people and us here today. Secondly,
consequently, comfort our hearts, causing them and us to worship
and praise God, that He'd open our hearts, open our eyes to
the truth of God. Christ said all men don't have
eyes to see, All men don't have ears to hear, but he said, blessed
are your eyes, for they see. God opened your eyes. Blessed
are your ears, for they hear. God's opened your ears. Blessed
is your heart. You understand the things of
God. That's the anointing you have
from the Holy One. My Redeemer has anointed me with
the Holy Spirit. I know the truth. I know that
no lie is of the truth. There's some things that God's
people know. It's like heart answereth unto
heart. Believers understand each other.
I know how you feel. You know how I feel. I know what
you think about God. You know what I think about God.
What we think about sin and feel about sin, feel about grace,
sovereign grace. We understand each other. Now,
this morning, I want us to look at this issue
and find out for sure what this anointing is. You have an anointing from the
Holy One and you know all things. And secondly, I want to know,
I want us to settle it here this morning before God do we have
it. Do we have this anointing? Do we have this anointing? It's
called an unction, it's called anointing, but it's a gift of
God. It's a charisma of God. It's the grace of God, the favor
of God bestowed upon us that we have eyes to see and ears
to hear. And we have a teacher that dwells
in us, a divine instructor. And we know some things quite
well. We know them quite well. Well,
we're endowed with the Holy Spirit. Christ has freely given us the
Holy Spirit, not only to be with us, but to dwell in us. Look at John 14, just a second.
John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Verse 16, I will pray the Father,
that's the Holy One of God, He shall send you another, give
you another comforter. That's the anointing which we
have of God. That He may abide with you forever,
forever. Now look at verse 22. Judas said
unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest
thyself to us and not to the world? And Jesus answered and
said unto him, if a man love me, he'll keep my words. My Father
will love him, we'll come unto him, make our abode with him
in the Holy Ghost. These things have I spoken unto
you, being yet present with you. And the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach
you, teach you all of the elect of God. They shall all be taught
of God. John chapter 6, verse 45. They shall all be taught of God.
He shall teach you all things. and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I've said to you. He'll teach
you and bring things to remembrance that I said to you. And you know
these things. You're taught of God. You're
taught of God. You have a divine instructor,
a divine teacher, the Holy Ghost dwelling within. And you know
these things. And not only is He with you,
that he shall dwell in you. Now listen to this carefully.
Lots of people know the truth in their heads and they know
it is the truth, but we must have more than that to be the
children of God. not only to be with you, but
to dwell and abide in you, the Holy Spirit confirms, confirms,
confirms the truth of God in our hearts. We believe, we're
said to be saved because we believe with the heart. Confirms the
truth of God in our hearts. It's not something rattling around
up here that may change tomorrow. No, you're taught of God. You
can't ever change. As far as your basic thoughts
of God, you can't ever change. As far as your basic thoughts
of sin and grace, you can't ever change. You're taught of God,
and He's confirmed those truths to your heart. You can increase
in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but you
won't change what you believe. You won't be believing this about
Him today and that about Him tomorrow and change back and
forth. You can't change. The Holy Spirit confirms the
truth of God to the hearts of the saints of God, all of them.
Now look at John 16. I love this. John chapter 16. And look what it says here. Verse 12. Christ, before He left this earth,
went back to glory. He told his apostles, he said,
I have yet many things to say unto you, but you can't bear
them, you can't receive them right now, not yet. How be it? When He, the Spirit of Truth,
the Anointing, when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide
you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. And He shall,
this little word here, I love the way it's translated here,
show you, show you things to come. Somebody says, I believe
this or I believe that, and I think pretty sure, I'm pretty confident,
I know it. He showed me. He's confirmed
the truth to my heart. I know without a doubt. He shall
glorify me, for He shall receive of me, of mine, and show it to
you. All things the Father hath are
mine, therefore said I that he shall take of mine and show it
to you." Now this word show, it can be translated declare,
report, tell out. But I like the word show in this
place here, particular place. Take the things of Christ and
show them to me. I like to see, don't you like
to see? Show them. Well, I heard about this doctor,
and old Job said that too, said, I heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now I see. Now I see. show is well fitted to this passage
of scripture and this thought of anointing. You read 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 verses 9 through 12, and it has never entered into
the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that
love Him, but the Spirit of God revealed them unto us, showed
them unto us by His Spirit. God showed them unto us by His
Spirit. Now, these things that He reveals
to us and shows us, we know. We know them. You have an anointing
from the Holy Water, you know. You're not guessing or wondering.
You know. What's the truth? You know. What's
the truth about God? You know. And you know the truth
about yourself. You know the truth about Christ
and grace. We know. With this precious endowment,
this precious anointing, we know and we've seen enough to keep
us from ever being deceived by the false religions of this world.
It just will not happen because it cannot happen. We abide in
Christ and the Holy Ghost abides in us. Let me briefly give you
three or four things. Briefly. that the Holy Ghost
teaches. You know all things. Now that
doesn't mean all things including everything, everywhere, all time.
It means in this context, you know enough so that you'd never
be deceived. They left, but you won't. They
left, but you have the anointing. They left because they didn't
know all things. You know all things, and that
no lies are the truth. You know. You know. Three or four things quickly. First of all, like Moses of old,
we have seen Him who is invisible. Well, how did you ever see Him
who is invisible? The Holy Ghost, the anointing
showed us. We see. We read through the Old
Testament from the beginning to the end, and we see Him who
is invisible. We see Him in all of His majesty. We see Him in all of His glory.
We see Him in His power. We see Him in His Holy One, the
Holy One of Israel, over and over, the Holy One of Israel.
His name is holy. Name is holy. And we see Him
as sovereignly gracious, having mercy upon whom He will and whom
He will not. He passes on by. That's the picture
I have of God. He doesn't owe us a thing, not
a single thing, nothing, all we deserve. And that right quickly
is hell. That's all we deserve. All we
can ever deserve. We can't earn, we can't merit
the favor of God. He must bestow it upon us. And
we see that by the grace of God. And with this anointing, thank
God, we can never deny these truths. I can never deny or can
I stand to hear people talking about God except the way He's
revealed in this book. It's just as real to me as my
hand before my face. I've seen him who is invisible. I see him in the word. I see
him in the clouds. I see him in the trees. I see
him everywhere. Him who is invisible. The Bible
said these clouds, and one day, a couple days ago, the clouds
were just thick and floating over our heads, you know. And
I looked at those clouds, and the thought came to me from the
book of Job. Every cloud follows his counsel. Heard the lightning flash a lot
this summer, and every streak of lightning goes exactly where
he sends it. He says, go there, and it goes. That's a reality to me. I'm not
dreaming. That's real. That's the world
I live in. I've seen Him who is invisible.
The glorious, awesome reality of the God of the Bible. Secondly,
we know the truth about ourselves and our sin. I almost preached another message
today. about a sinner. Christ came by, Matthew chapter
9, Levi was a publican, taking taxes from the people, and he
said, follow me, and he lifted up, followed Christ, and called
his friends together and had a big party for him that night
at his house. And all these publicans, they
came to hear what Christ had to say. And these Pharisees asked
the disciples, why does your master eat and drink, have fellowship,
have anything to do with sinners? Christ, knowing what they said,
He said, I came. The whole, they don't need a
doctor. People who are not sick, they don't need a doctor. But
He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And these teachers of the Bible,
Teachers of the Bible. He told them. He said, you go
learn what that means and I'll have mercy. Go learn what it
means to be a sinner. Most people in America don't
know what it means to be a sinner. They have sin connected with
drugs and drink and inordinate sex and all kinds of things,
but they don't know what sin really is. Those are effects
of sinners, of being sinned, but we are sinned. Christ said
it's a matter of the heart. The religious man jumps up and
said, I've never had fornication with anybody. Christ said you
look on a woman to lust after her in your heart, you're a fornicator.
I've never killed anybody. You hate anybody without a cause,
you're a murderer in the eyes of God. Men look on the outward
appearance. They look on the outward dress.
God looks on the heart. God looks on the heart. From
the heart proceed all these evil things. Look at Matthew 15 just
a moment. I believe that's where it is.
Matthew 15. Verse 17, his disciples didn't
understand what he said very completely. And he said, are
you also without understanding? Listen to me. Do you not understand
that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly,
is cast out into the drought? But these things, those things
which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and
they defile a man. Do you ever read that passage
where it says, from the heart the mouth speaketh? Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, and that's sin. Vain thoughts, sin. murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies, these things, and numerous others. These things are the things which
defile a man, but to eat without washing your hands, that never
did defile anybody. They didn't go through the ceremonial
washing, the tradition of the Pharisees, and they were condemned. Christ said, you don't understand
a thing. Not what you eat, not having
clean hands or dirty hands, not what you put in your mouth that
defiles a man's what comes out of the heart. And all these things
he named and 10 million more dwell in the heart of the sons
and daughters of Adam. They dwell there in the heart. I've said many times over and
over since I began preaching, and even before, that the religious
people, they live before men. They justify themselves before
men. But the child of God lives before
God. He's not seeking to justify himself
before man. He's seeking to justify himself
before God, be just with God, be accepted of God, please God. Christ told the Pharisees on
one occasion, He said, how can you believe which receive honor
one of another and seek not that honor which comes from God only?
How can you? You can't ever believe. You have
to be interested in the good opinion of God above everything
else. You know, the difference between
a religious man and a saint of God is the difference between,
you could paint a big bear or a lion on the wall over here
and we wouldn't be scared of it, would we? We know what it
was a picture of, but we wouldn't be scared of it. I'll tell you,
turn one loose here in front of me and we'd all be scared. You're driving down the road
way above the speed limit. You know you're breaking the
law. You know it's a sin. You're not scared. But if you're
driving around and pretty soon blue lights flash behind you
and you hear a siren behind you, and then you pay attention. Well,
sin to us is not a painted line. It's a living life. It's real. It's real. We have an anointing, and we
see ourselves as God sees us. And we say with the Apostle Paul
from our hearts, in me, that is in this old flesh, there's
not a single good thing, not one thing good. And we say with David also. And
our sin is always before us. We live with it. We live with
it. It's a body of death we carry
around with us. That's what Paul said. Romans
chapter 7. Sin is ever before me. Thirdly,
We see and we know the truth and the reality of Christ crucified. We know what happened. We know
what it means. We've stood there outside Jerusalem
at Mount Calvary, called Gothis Hill, and we've seen with our
eyes what took place there. We've seen them lead forth a
man. that had been beaten beyond recognition
almost. And they were mocking and jeering. And they crucified Him on that
cross. They sat there and they gambled
for His garments, made fun of Him. But we see more than that. We
see that whole thing ordained of God. We think about what happened
to Joseph, what he told his brothers. He said, you meant it for evil,
God meant it for good. You say you sent me down here
and brought me down here, but God sent me down here to save
much people alive. God hung his son on that cross
to save much people alive. I see that. And I live on God. I live on God. And it's a reality. God, who cannot clear the guilty,
in infinite, infinite, infinite love, sent His Son to pay for
our guilt, satisfy His law, satisfy His justice. God did that. that we might go free. He sent
His Son, Romans 3, to be the propitiation for our sin, to
satisfy God for our sin. That we, through faith in Him,
in His redemption, might be forgiven. And we see Him putting away our
sin by perfecting us forever before God. Hebrews chapter 10,
those Old Testament priests offered the same offering daily unto
God that never put away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, he sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high, till his enemy should be made his
footstool. For by one offering, By that
one offering of Christ on the cross, he hath perfected forever
all of the elect of God. Perfected them forever. Satisfied God for them. And we see it. And we don't know a whole lot,
but we know what Peter knew. He said, will you go away? And
Peter said, there's no place else to go. Thou hast the word
of eternal life, and we know and are sure that thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God. John chapter 6. We know
and are sure. It's real. It's our life. We live as we are before Him,
as He is. We live on His Son. He's the bread of life to us,
the water of life. He's our refuge. How can we escape
the temptations and the powers of Satan? We have a refuge. Christ Jesus the Lord. All of my enemies, satanic enemies,
in human form or whatever, they can all get by my defenses. But
all of them joined hand in hand with Satan himself cannot touch
me without Christ's permission. Take that home with you. Think
about that. There hath no temptation taken
you but that which is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted. above that you're able,
but will, with that temptation, make way of escape that you may
be able to bear it. Oh, we're in such good hands.
We ought to be so thankful. We are, but we ought to be more
thankful. May God bless these words to our hearts. With this
anointing, this endowment of God from the Savior, we look
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
We look for a heavenly country. We're just strangers and pilgrims
down here. Our citizenship is already in
glory, and we're anxious to get home. Just passing through. And we're waiting and longing
and looking. And let us do that by the grace
of God. And hold loosely all of these
things down here below. Hold loosely. Pretty soon you'll
be separated from them. No doubt about it. It's true.
Okay, David.