Now, let's open our Bibles to
the book of 1 John, chapter 2. As I said in the opening reading,
the title of the message this morning is, The Power of God's
Word. The Power of God's Word. Let
me begin by reading the two verses that I dealt with last week,
along with verse 20. 1 John 2, verse 18. Look at verse
18. John writes, It is the last time. And as you
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many
Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They,
that is, these Antichrists, went out from us. But they were not
of us." See, they never were saved to begin with. That's what
the Spirit is teaching here. For if they had been of us, if
they had been truly saved, true children of God, they would have
continued with us." The translators added, no doubt, because that's
the emphasis, it's an emphasized phrase in the original language.
So it's like saying, 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. Now verse 20, but you have an
unction from the Holy One, and you know all things, but you
have an unction. Now it's important that we keep
in mind that the subject of the Apostle John in this letter has
to do with the opposition, the opposites nature of the unbelieving
world and the believing world." In other words, he is speaking
of Christians and Antichrists, enemies, believers and unbelievers. And that is important if you
understand what he is saying here and if we are going to derive
any comfort from this passage at all. For example, as I said
last week, you hear that term Antichrist and it It may bring
up a lot of different ideas or images in your mind. I don't
know if you've read any of these books that are out about the
end time or seen any of these movies, but usually when you
hear the term Antichrist, you're thinking of one person, some
strong, charismatic, political, religious leader who'll come
on the scene and who'll dominate. But that's not what John is speaking
of. He's speaking here of the spirit of Antichrist. And as
I defined it last week, think of it this way. Now, this is
antichrist in this book here. It's those who come in the name
of Christ, but who in some form or another deny Christ. In other
words, they're Christian in name only. Antichrist, anti-Christ,
against Christ. And it's deceptive. John is speaking
of those here who came out of the church, the visible church,
the church here on earth. We know the true church. There
are no false Christians in the true church, the one Christ redeemed. But while on this earth, the
churches are mixed. There's wheat and there's tares.
We're going to see that in just a moment. There's sheep and there's
goats. And Christ said at the end time
he would divide these tares from the wheat, these goats from the
sheep. That's his business, not ours. Our business is to preach
the gospel of Christ. Our business is to pray that
all people would accept Him and believe in Him and receive Him
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. That's our business.
We're to preach the gospel to every creature. We can't go around
here picking out, well, this one, that one, I'm going to preach
to this one, I'm not going to preach to that one. We preach
to anybody and everybody who will listen. That's what the
Scripture teaches. Go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. But there are those who are Christian
in name only. Now, there are a lot of ways
to call yourselves a Christian and not be one, a lot of ways
in the scripture. We can see that in different
passages of scripture, but the way that John is speaking of
is that one who claims to be a Christian, but they are either
ignorant of or they deny or neglect or compromise the doctrine of
Christ, the truth of Christ, the gospel of Christ. What does
the scripture say about Jesus Christ? Who is he? What did he
do? Why did he do it? Where is he
now? Is he coming again? All of these
things in some form or another. There were those who called themselves
Christian who denied his humanity because they thought that flesh
was inherently evil. Therefore, he could not be man.
But you see, he is man. Our brother prayed about it.
He came into this world and he became incarnate. He took upon
himself the likeness of sinful flesh, but without sin. His humanity
was a sinless humanity and it never became anything else but
sinless humanity. He is God. There are some who
call themselves Christian who deny his deity. But my friend
John makes that clear here in these verses we're going to read
here in a few moments. You cannot know the true Christ
without knowing Him and being assured that He is God. And let me add this too. If you
serve Him, follow Him, praise Him, extol Him, honor Him, worship
Him, and you don't believe He's God, that makes you an idolater. You're not to praise, worship,
or extol anyone who's not God. You worship a man, that's idolatry. I don't care who he is. I don't
care how good you think he is. We don't follow a man, we don't
pray to a man, we don't kiss a man's ring or his feet. When
they bowed down to Peter, because Peter had performed a miracle
by the power of the Holy Spirit, he said, God forbid, don't you
do that to me. Wouldn't you enjoy seeing some
of these men who like people to follow them say the same thing?
That's anti-Christ, you see. So those who come in the name
of Christ. Now, there are times in this life when they are exposed. And here, that's what John is
speaking of in verse 19. They went out from us. Now, some
will carry on unto judgment until they die and go to judgment.
The Lord spoke of those in Matthew chapter 7 when they stood before
him at judgment and said, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? Have we not Have we not cast
out demons? Have we not done many wonderful
works? And he said, depart from me ye
that work iniquity. I never knew you. You say, well,
could I be one of those? Well, if you're not looking to
Christ and Him crucified, you are. If you're not resting in
His blood and righteousness alone, you are. If you stand before
God and plead anything but what Christ accomplished on your behalf
as the Redeemer, as the Savior, as the surety, as the mediator,
that's denying Christ. So he says, they went out from
us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained. But
they were made manifest. But he says, but ye, now you. Now he's speaking to believers
here. He's speaking to those who are
more than Christian in name only, but truly Christian, true believers
in heart. He's speaking to those in whom
God's Word, by the power of the Spirit, has accomplished its
goal to bring life, to bring a sinner to Christ. These are
people of true faith, not just false faith. These are people
who have truly come to repentance of dead works, not just an outward
motion. These are people who truly believe
and know and follow and love Christ. But you, this is one
of those buts in Scripture that is grace. But God, but God, but
you, now here's what he says, you have an unction. That unction
is the power of God the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Applying
the Word of God, begotten again by the Word of Truth. God the
Holy Spirit has given you life. God the Holy Spirit has implanted
that Word, the Word of God. Now that Word of God is not just
some mystical thing flying out here that you can't put your
finger on now. It is the revealed Word of God. Now, we've spoken
of that quite often. First of all, we can speak of
Christ Himself who is the living Word of God. He's the living
Word. In beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. That's Christ, the living Word
of God. We can speak of Christ as the
incarnate Word of God, the Word made flesh and dwelling among
us. But we can also speak of the written Word of God, these
scriptures. This is the written Word of God.
Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, these scriptures are God-breathed. From Genesis to Revelation, what
you have written before you is the Word of God. And then we
can speak of the preached Word of God. That's the uttered Word,
a man standing before you proclaiming the gospel. Now, how do we know
it's the Word of God? Well, we know Christ Himself
is the living Word, the incarnate Word. How do we know these scriptures
are the Word of God? Well, it takes some study. It
takes some time. But I'll tell you the main way
you know. These scriptures speak of the glory of God in Christ. Every one of them. They're consistent.
There are no contradictions here. I used to believe there were.
I spent a lot of my life trying to prove this wrong. And in my
pursuit, I felt like Saul on the road to Damascus. He was
on his way to kill Christians and God saved him. I was on my
way to prove this book wrong, prove the gospel wrong, and God
saved me. Through studying it, trying to
tear it apart and tear it down and prove it wrong, I come to
a saving knowledge that this is the book of God. This is the
book of Christ. And it's an amazing thing. How
do you know if a man is uttering the Word of God, preaching the
Word of God? Well, is he preaching Christ and Him crucified? Look back at 2 Corinthians, chapter
2, at Brother Stanrad. And this is what Paul is saying
here. He says, verse 15, when we're
preaching the gospel, we're unto God. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 15,
we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. That means when we
preach Christ, that's a sweet savor to God. That's honoring
to God. That's pleasing to God. Now,
if I get up here and preach myself, or preach you, or try to please
you, or try to please me, or brag on you, that's not pleasing
to God now. Now, it's pleasing to men. I
know folks who want to hear that. And it'll please them, but it's
not pleasing to God. Paul says, when we preach Christ,
we're a sweet savor of Christ. That's pleasing to God. And he
says, in them that are saved and in them that perish. Now,
here's what he's saying. Whether you believe it unto salvation
or whether you walk out unsaved and perish, it's still pleasing
to God when we preach Christ. That's what he means by that.
If I stand here and preach Christ, if every one of you turn your
back on me and walk out the door and say, I don't believe that,
I still please God. That's an amazing thing. And
let me tell you something now. That's a sad situation. It's
a heartbreaking one. When anyone who sits under the
preaching of the gospel of Christ, which as I read in the opening,
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that what? Believeth.
Now, if you believe, what is that? That's that unction that
John's speaking of. You have an unction. God the
Holy Spirit gave you life, spiritual life, and implanted the Word
of God on your heart. Indelibly, it cannot leave you.
You may lose sight of it for a while, but it can't leave you.
And you can't leave it, ultimately. So here, when somebody turns
their back on it, it's sad. It's heartbreaking. But the fact
is that if Christ is preached, God is pleased. And he says in
verse 16, to the one we are the saver of death unto death. That's
right, death unto eternal death. By nature we are spiritually
dead. Now, if we remain spiritually dead and die in that state, what
is that? That's eternal death. My friend,
your only hope is salvation by the grace of God in Christ. All I'm doing is standing up
here telling sin-sick sinners where the only cure there is
can be found. Now, that's simply it. Now, if
you refuse to take the cure, you have nobody to blame but
yourself. And then he says, and to the other, the savor of life
unto life, or life unto eternal life. Now, he says, who's sufficient
for these things? Who's got the stamina for it?
The strength for it? Who's sufficient? Well, not me. Not any man. He says in verse
17, for we're not as many which corrupt the Word of God. That
word corrupt, if you have it in your concordance there, you
might have the term deal deceitfully with or deceptively with. Now,
let me tell you something about dealing deceptively with the
Word of God. Those who do it, are themselves
deceived. Now, I want you to understand
that. And that's important. Now, I know there's probably
some folks who are just shysters and they get up and they say,
well, I'm just here to get what I can out of the people. But
they are themselves deceived. And the people who follow them
are deceived. But now listen to this now. Look
at verse 17. But as of sincerity, But as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in, or literally, of Christ. Now here's the key, right there.
Is Christ preached? Is Christ preached in the glory
of His person? Is Christ preached in the power
of His finished work? Is Christ preached in His Lordship? As the Redeemer, the Savior,
as the Sovereign Redeemer and Sovereign Savior, is Christ preached? Now that's the key. Now here's
the next thing. Do you love it? Do you love to
hear Him preached? Do you want to hear something
else? Or someone else? Do you want to hear somebody
give you a psychological cure for your downtrodden attitude? Or do you want to read a book
called A Better Life Now? Or do you want to jump into the
Left Behind series and just get immersed into that stuff? You
know what that is, don't you? That's fiction. You know what
fiction is, don't you? It's the opposite of this. Fact. Now, it's more than fact. It's
the truth of God. Is your mind drawn elsewhere,
in other places, or do you feed and feast upon the Word of God? That's the issue. Do you have
an unction from on high? He speaks of it here over in
verse 6 of chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians 3. He starts out, remember he
said, who's sufficient for these things? Well, not me, but he
says, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us
able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the
Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. That's
that unction, the Spirit giving life through the Word. James
spoke of it in James chapter 1, we're begotten again by the
Word of truth. Now go back to 1 John 1. Now,
this is what John is speaking of. Now, the Bible, in other
places, speaks of and teaches of the inner struggle that goes
on within a child of God. For example, you'll find that
spoken of and taught of in Romans chapter 7, verses 14 on to the
end of the chapter, speaking of the struggle, the warfare
that goes on inside a believer. Paul calls it the warfare of
the flesh and the spirit in Galatians chapter 5. This is what some
men of old and today refer to as the two natures in a believer. And I don't really get upset
over that terminology, but I have to recognize, and you need to
recognize, that that is not biblical terminology, and that different
people can mean different things by it, and it's confusing. And
this is the thing, you know, whenever we use a non-scriptural
term, we have to be careful. We use non-scriptural terms.
For example, you won't find the word sovereign in the scriptures.
But yet we speak of sovereign grace. But that's not a confusing
term. It's not one that you can take
and mean what you... Sovereign means in control. It means God's
on the throne. We use the term trinity to describe
the triunity of God's nature as the Trinity, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Trinity is not a scriptural term,
yet it is one that adequately describes the nature of deity,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Granted, people can take that
and mean all kinds of things with it, but we have to define
our terms. But my point is this, the scripture in a lot of places
speaks of the inner warfare that goes on in a believer. We have
a warfare, it's a struggle. A warfare of the flesh and the
spirit. And we have to fight that warfare in the Word of God
by the power of the Spirit. But that is not John's subject
here. His subject here is believer
and unbeliever. Christian and Antichrist, you
see. He's talking about two different
people. One who believes in Christ, who
has an unction from the Holy One, and one who does not. Now,
that's his subject all the way through this book. Keep that
in mind. Never does John leap into talking about the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. That's in other places, but not
here. And that's important when you
get to chapter 3. But he says you have an unction.
Now, here it is. It's the nature of the fellowship
that God has with his people. Fellowship with the Father and
the Son. Fellowship of light. You see, there's a fellowship
of light, and then there's a fellowship of darkness. The fellowship of
light is the Church, the true Church. The fellowship of life
is believers, those who have this unction, those who've been
born again by the Spirit. They're in Christ. They're chosen
of God. They're redeemed by the blood.
They're regenerated by the Spirit. They worship around the Word
of God. Their mutual unity is in Christ
and the power of God and the salvation in uplifting him and
exalting him. And whenever you have a bragging
session on Christ, that's where they'll be. That's the issue. That's the fellowship of life.
The fellowship of darkness is the opposite. That's the unbelievers.
And it's the fellowship of truth in Christ. That's the unction.
Now, the gospel not only exposes and excludes false brethren,
but it also reveals and affirms true brethren. Now, am I a true
believer or am I a false professor? That's a good question. Many
use this passage over in 1 John chapter 2, such as this, to dissuade
believers from seeking and having assurance of salvation. They'll
say things like this, see there, we cannot be too sure of our
own salvation. We may be like those in verses
18 and 19, who will eventually fall away, and therefore we cannot
be sure until the end. Now, that is not what John is
teaching here. It is true that salvation is only for those who
endure and who persevere to the end. But what is our perseverance
but the grace of God? And in what do we persevere and
continue? In believing. In the assurance
of God's grace in Christ, what do we do? How do we persevere?
We run the race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. You know, the Bible teaches that
the more faith and assurance we have based on the right ground,
the more we glorify God and honor Christ in our lives. Scripture
says that. Abraham believed God, and they
glorified God in believing Him. Do you know it is the greatest
dishonor to God's character to disbelieve Him? That's why unbelief
is the greatest sin. It's the mother of all sins.
The first sin was unbelief, questioning God's Word, bringing it into
doubt. Well, what about presumption?
Well, think about this. True faith is assurance based on the
right ground. Now, what is the right ground?
That's where we've got to be careful. You say, well, I want
to know that I'm saved. Well, how can we know? I want
to have assurance. I want to be confident. Well,
true faith is assurance based on the right ground. What's the
right ground? Christ and Him crucified. That's it. Now, what's
presumption? Well, presumption is assurance
based on anything else, anyone else. Paul wrote, God forbid
that I should glory, have confidence, except in one place, the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded that he is able, not that I am
able, that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto
him against that day. You see, don't commit your souls
to me. Don't commit your souls to any
preacher. Commit your souls to Christ. That's right. He's the only right
ground. That's what it is to build your
house upon the rock, Christ Jesus. Don't put your confidence in
the house, put your confidence in the rock, Christ Jesus. That's what John's talking about
here. This is an unction. He says in
verse 20, you have an unction from the Holy One. This unction
came from Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit. Godly assurance
is only for those who have that unction from the Holy One, the
anointing of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, regeneration
and conversion. It's from Christ. It's the fruit
and result of His work for us. I've got an article in the bulletin
today I want you to look at. On the back of the bulletin,
it's called Regeneration and Justification. I got copied there
because I don't know who wrote it. Somebody asked me that. Why do you have cognac? Because
I don't know who wrote it. I didn't write it, but I don't know who
did. Now, I don't normally read to
you from the pulpit other than the Scriptures, but I want you
to look at this. Now, regeneration is an act of God in us. That's
the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Isn't that right?
He gives spiritual life. Now, listen to me. I don't know
how he does it. Do you? Can somebody explain to me the
anatomy of that? We can't, all right? We just
know he does. Christ told Nicodemus this about
the subject. He said, the wind bloweth where
it will, listeth where it will. You don't know where it's come
from. You don't know where it's going. You just know it by the
sound thereof. You know it by the effects of it. What happens
when the Spirit gives life? A sinner sees his sin, sees who
he is. A message tonight from Isaiah
6 is when a sinner sees his Lord. Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And he said,
when I saw that, I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man
of unclean lips. When I see the holiness of God,
I see my sinfulness, my depravity, my inability. I cannot save myself. And there's nothing about me
that's worth saving. And there's nothing I can do
to save myself. I can't earn it. I can't merit
it. I don't deserve it. If God gave me what I deserve,
it would be eternal damnation, based on my best now. Not just
based upon the things that I'm embarrassed of, based on the
things that I'm proud of. If God judged me based on the
things I'm proud of, I'd deserve nothing but eternal damnation.
I'll tell you, that's what that umption is. And then He doesn't leave us
there, thank God, does He? You see, this is how we discern
from Scripture the work of the Holy Spirit within. He drives
us to Christ for salvation, for righteousness, for forgiveness,
for pardon, for acceptance, for all that we need, for refuge.
He drives us to Christ. And He won't drive you anywhere
else. The Holy Spirit won't. He will not drive you anywhere
else for relief, salvation, anything. But that's what, it's an act
of God in us. Now justification, I've got here,
is a judgment of God with respect to us. When God justifies a sinner,
He declares that sinner righteous before Him. And I've got an illustration
here that I think is worth noting. He says, the distinction is like
that of the distinction between the act of a surgeon and the
act of a judge. Now I like this. Like a surgeon,
he goes in, he operates, he removes a cancer. He's doing something
inside you, isn't he? He's removing that cancer, that
tumor. Well, that's not what a judge does in justification. He gives a verdict regarding
our status, whether or not we're guilty or not guilty. Now, if
we're innocent, he declares accordingly. That's what the judge says. Not
guilty. Now, the purity of the gospel
is bound up with the recognition of this distinction. Did you
hear that? Whoever wrote this knew what
he was talking about here. The purity of the gospel is bound
up in the distinction of those two things. Let me show you why.
If justification is confused with regeneration, then the door
is open for the perversion of the gospel at its very center.
And I'll tell you the biggest perversion of it. It's this issue of justification
by an infused righteousness. And I'm telling you the truth
now. Am I justified before God based upon what Christ did for
me on the cross? Or am I justified before God
by what the Holy Spirit does in me? Well, the Scripture teaches. That we're justified before God
based totally, exclusively upon what Christ has done for us.
Now, that does not render the work of the Holy Spirit unnecessary,
and it doesn't diminish the work of the Holy Spirit, and it does
not deny the work of the Holy Spirit. What is the work of the
Holy Spirit? Well, first of all, the reason
that the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary is because of what
Christ did for me on the cross. Because you see, when he established
righteousness, one thing the Bible teaches early on in Genesis
is that righteousness demands life. Righteousness demands life. If your sins are still charged
to you, that's death. The wages of sin is death. But
the gift of God is eternal life. Righteousness through Christ,
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Secondly, the work of the Holy
Spirit in us is to drive us to Christ for righteousness, to
show us what He accomplished, who He is, what He did. That's
that unction here, see. You have an unction. You know
who Christ is and what He accomplished. You don't confuse these two.
Now, look at that second paragraph on this article. Now, what the
judge does in his pronouncement of the verdict is just as real
as what the surgeon does in his operation. If you don't believe
me, if you ever become guilty of a crime and go to trial and
the judge and the jury declare you guilty, see if it ain't real. See if it's not real. Go up there
and tell the judge, well, that's not real because nothing's been
done in me. Well, that's crazy. Judges say, well, I'll show you
what's real and what's not real. You're going to jail. But he
said, that's real. What the judge does is no legal
fiction. He's made a declaration. He's
the judge. He has that right. He has that position. And my
friend, when God justifies a sinner through Christ, it's real. He said it. God doesn't do anything
fake. He's not a fake God. He doesn't deal in pretense.
His judgments are always according to truth. Now, I'm still a sinner
in myself, and I hear these guys preaching, well, you mean God
declares me righteous when I'm not really righteous because
I'm a sinner in myself? No, my friend, you don't understand
the gospel at its center, you see. The declaration of righteousness
is in God's eyes, in His law and justice. What I am in myself,
I am still a sinner, but my sins are not charged to me. They are
not laid to me. O Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldst
mark iniquity, who would stand? Not me, not you. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose sins are
covered, whose transgression is forgiven. Why do we need Christ? Do I need Him today just as much
as I ever needed Him? Will I need Him tomorrow? You
bet I will. He's my Savior. He's the Lord
my righteousness. I have no right standing before
God in myself. I have it in Him. Now, one day
I will be morally pure and perfect in myself, but that's not until
I'm glorified with Him. He goes on to say, what the surgeon
does is no matter of a patient's stand under the law. In other
words, if the surgeon takes out a cancer, that has nothing to
do whether or not that patient was a guilty man or not guilty.
I mean, he puts here, he says, a surgeon can operate on a guilty
person just as well as one who is not guilty, can he? And that's the way we should
look at regeneration and the new birth in light of justification
before God. The Holy Spirit, His work in
us in this umption, does not change our standing before God. Christ did that. God declared
us righteous in Him. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
in time, He sends His Spirit to change our hearts, to change
our minds, to cleanse our consciences. to give life and light and make
us aware, savingly, of what Christ accomplished. That's the difference.
That's this unction. Look at verse 20 again. He says,
and you know all things. Well, we know Christ and Him
crucified. He is our all in all. Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 and 2, for I've determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Secondly, we know all things concerning the matter at hand.
Issues of light and darkness, our sins and the remedy. I know
my sinfulness, I know the only remedy. Christ and Him crucified,
His blood and His righteousness. We know how God can be just to
justify the ungodly by conditioning all of our salvation upon His
Son, who by His obedience unto death on our behalf satisfied
every requirement of the law and the justice of God and brought
in everlasting righteousness. Now, those who leave do not have
this option, those who leave the gospel. The power of God,
the Holy Spirit, in making the gospel the power of God and its
salvation. Now, let me just turn over to
Matthew chapter 13. Now, how could they leave? Somebody says, well, how could
they leave? Well, you remember here in Matthew
13, the Lord tells the parable of the sower and the seed. And he speaks of many different
types of here. Now, here's a sower comes. The
sower is Christ and his ministers preaching the gospel, preaching
the good news of salvation. Some of it fell on the wayside,
didn't get planted. Some of it fell on stony ground
and didn't take root. Some of it fell on thorny ground.
There was weeds and thorns there and they sprung up and they choked
it out. And then some of it fell on good
ground. Over in Matthew 13, look at verse
18, he explains all that. He says, "...hear ye therefore
the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom," that's the gospel now, "...and understandeth it
not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which
was sown in his heart, this is he which receiveth seed by the
wayside." That's the natural man. He understandeth not. He
discerns not. He receives not the things of
the Spirit of God. What he's talking about here is a person
who's indifferent. He just doesn't care. Or she
just doesn't care. I'm just not interested in what
that preacher has to say. I've got other things to do.
I've got other fish to fry. I've got a field out here to
hoe. I've got children to raise. I've
got a wife to support. I've got a job to go to. I've
got a ball game to go to. Whatever. He's just got different
ideas. He's not interested in what you
have to say. He's taken up with the things
of the world. Now, that's certainly not who John's speaking of, because
he's speaking of those who appeared to be Christians. Well, he goes
on, verse 20. But he that receiveth the seed
in the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word,
and anon, or now, or immediately, with joy receiveth it. Yet hath
he not root in himself, but doreth for a while. Now, that sounds
very much like what John is speaking of, doesn't it? Endures for a
while. For when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word, By and by, he is offended. Here's
a person who hears it. He immediately rejoices and receives
it. But there's no unction here.
It doesn't take root. How's he found out? Well, tribulation
and persecution comes. Over what? Over the Word. You
see that? Over the Word. He's not just
talking about any tribulation, any troubles that we have. We've
got a lot of troubles. And he's talking about when you're
challenged over the Word of Truth, the Gospel of Christ. He's offended. How is he offended? Well, there
are probably several ways. You mean to tell me that you've
got to believe this or you're going to go to hell? You ever
heard that or something like it? You mean this is the only
message, the only way? You know, it's a good way, but
the only way? You mean that if my grandma and grandpa didn't
believe this, that they're in hell today? He's offended, you
see. And my friend, what does the
Good News of the Kingdom say? There's only one way to God,
and that's Christ and Him crucified. And then look here, verse 21,
or verse 22. He also that receives seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this
world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and
he becometh unfruitful. Now there's one who receives
the word for a time, but then other things take him away, and
it says the care of this world. Now, God has given us all kinds
of responsibilities in this world. We have families, we have jobs,
we have a lot of things, and we're to take care of them. But
what he's talking about is when the care of those things causes
you to neglect or deny the gospel, the truth of Christ, the worship
of God. And when he says the deceitfulness
of riches here, now, mainly when we see riches, we think of money.
But don't just limit it to money. Esteem, it could be riches in
family or friendship. He doesn't want to lose his friendships
or his esteem in this world. And they spring up and they choke
out the Word. And he becomes unfruitful. Verse
23, But he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that
heareth the Word and understandeth it. Now there's the unction.
He hears it and he understands it. Now that doesn't mean that
he understands everything in this book. But he understands
the gospel. He understands the good news
of how God saves sinners. He understands who Christ is,
and what He did on Calvary, and why He did it, and where He is
now. He understands it savingly. He understands it to the point
that he believes it. He trusts in Christ, and he loves
it. He's got to feed upon the Word.
There's a need in him to hear and to feed upon the Word of
God. That's the unction. that he's talking about. You
have an unction. And he says, which also beareth
fruit, and bringeth forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty. There are different degrees of
growth, but there is growth. That's what he's talking about.
That's that unction. That's what we know, you see.
You have an unction. That's the power of God's Word
in the hands of the Holy Spirit, you see. And that's what we pray
for, for all who hear. Let's sing hymn number 204, Turn
Your Eyes Upon Jesus, hymn number 204.