Sermon Tone Analysis

05-21-2017

Week 17

You have power and ‘can do-ness’ because you have the Holy Spirit

(ESV) 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

23 No one who denies the Son has the Father.

Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.

But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Just as way of reminder, these past weeks as we’ve been going through 1 John, we’ve been shown the things that can hinder our real fellowship with God.

John has laid these out because he wants believers in the church to continually grow in maturity as Christians, but also so that they grow even closer in their relationship with God…in fact, this thing of fellowship with God is so much a blessing from God…

Having fellowship with God the Father and God the Son is the greatest blessings that has been given to the Christian, and it has been permanently written into our lives through the Holy Spirit…the One Who has anointed us.

We should remember once again, that John is writing to people who are IN the Church…or more pointedly, he is writing to people who have NOT left the church as some had done, because they had fallen away because of false teachings through those John called anti-christs.

Those had not stood firm and rejected the false teachings and it is here in the passage we’re looking at today that John discusses the reason why some had fallen away and some had not…there was a very distinct difference…it was the ONE thing that made possible some who were NOT misled and NOT seduced by the errors of false teaching.

And here in verse 20, John says, “ (ESV) 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

Note, John started off with, “but you…” he is shifting back now to those who have REMAINED…and he says that they had been Anointed by the Holy One…this is the Holy Spirit…

So here we see 2 groups of people…those who were NOT Christians, even though they had been in the church…these were the ones who as it says in verse 19…they ‘went out, that it might be plain they all are not of us.’

Those who went out were ‘NOT Christians’ to start with…apparently they went to church with their friends, and apparently ‘sort of looked like’ they were Christians…they probably talked the talk and sounded like it, and no doubt called themselves Christians as well.

And now with the shift, again shown by the ‘but you…’ as John starts verse 20…

This means that now John is turning his words to the Christians…he’s addressing the ones who remained…these were the ones who are different…they have something special as John writes,…

These are the ones he points out who were ‘anointed by the Holy One’…in other words they had the Holy Spirit in themselves…they were therefore truly saved people.

So what we see then is that there were 2 groups of people…

There were the “NOT Christians” because they did NOT have the Holy Spirit, and we have the Christians who were born-again believers because they “DID” have the Holy Spirit.

They had repented, and believed in Jesus Christ, and as such they had received the Holy Spirit just as Jesus promised, as we see in (ESV) 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

And in (ESV) Jesus said…8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

And (ESV) says, 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So then, very plainly, John is saying that Christians are “Who they really are” because they have the Holy Spirit…

If a person does NOT have the Holy Spirit in him or herself, then that person is NOT a Christian…

Doesn’t matter what you say or call yourself.

No Holy Spirit, and you’re not a Christian.

This really sort of shoots a big hole in popular beliefs that tell you it doesn’t matter what you believe just so long as you trust in some higher power.

The problem is that according to God’s Word…NOT the word of intellectual writers and scholars, the problem is that there is ONLY One Who gives the Holy Spirit…

Higher powers don’t give the Holy Spirit of Christ;

Mohammed doesn’t give the Holy Spirit of Christ;

Buddha doesn’t give the Holy Spirit of Christ;

Religions and the church don’t give the Holy Spirit of Christ…ONLY Jesus does this and ONLY when a person repents and puts his or her trust in Jesus Christ…

John calls this the ‘anointing’…some translations call it the ‘unction,’ but both are the same.

This having the Holy Spirit is what allows a person to ‘have knowledge.’

This spiritual knowledge…not the smarts to pass a math or science test…but it is this spiritual knowledge through the Holy Spirit that enables the believe to ‘know and discern’ the dangers that threaten them and the church.

I see this anointing thing as a really big deal…it’s truly important to each of us…

since ‘Anointed and anointing’…look at the phrases, ‘anointed by the Holy One’ in verse 20, and ‘the anointing that you received’ in verse 27, remind us that something has actually happened in the life of the Christian…

To be anointed Biblically is in fact a very big deal as we can see in the Old Testament where prophets and kings and priests were all anointed in a special ceremony using an oil…

This signified that they had been ‘set apart’…does that sound familiar…aren’t Christians ‘set apart’ the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord?

The Bible sure seems to be saying this when we read things like being called a ‘royal priesthood’ in and ‘kings and priests’ in …

That’s really what John is explaining...the fact that the Holy Spirit in the Believer is Who makes all the difference in the world…

Once again, we’re not Christians just because we join a church, nor because we say we’re Christians…

we become Christians who are set apart at that very moment we are saved and the HOLY SPIRIT comes into our lives.

So with all of John’s talking about the Holy Spirit and anointing, does this mean that’s what the church should emphasize?

Naturally, this passage has led to some problems that have come up over one thing especially…and that is what is the relationship between the Holy Spirit in the Christian and the Word of God.

As with just about everything, extremes on any side of any doctrine will cause problems.

Church history bears this out because the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Doctrine of the Word of God have provided the basis of some groups to head off the deep end.

For instance in the 1600’s the Puritan movement saw an outgrowth of a more extreme group over the dispute over the Holy Spirit and the Word…

And that ‘more extreme group’ of Puritans eventually became the Quakers.

According to church history, the Quakers tended to place strong emphasis on what they called, ‘the inner light.’

They said this ‘inner light’ was all that was needed and the Bible was not really needed because the ‘inner light’ gave them all the same insight and revelation as the early apostles.

Also, we should understand too, that not every Quaker believed this, only a part of the group.

Another example of placing much emphasis on inner voices or lights was and still is found in Mysticism.

Mysticism emphasizes much ‘looking inward’ in order to see or hear the vision of God since that is where you get God’s leading and your guidance to live.

Naturally, there’s a big problem with all this seeking only the ‘inner voice’ or seeking that special vision to lead you while ignoring God’s Word.

In doing so, people start seeking only the subjective or the experiential to guide them…

So they tend to base their experience of God upon those ‘feelings’ and if those ‘rising up of Christ in them’ feelings aren’t there, then they would label whatever they were trying to ascertain as being not truth.

This group of people tends to basically ignore the Whole of God’s Word…which means they tend to not really read their bibles a lot.

Do you see the problems that this could lead to?

It’s really easy to then set yourself up as being ‘infallible’ because God gives you these special voices or see these special dreams and therefore you don’t really need to examine what you hear or see with God’s Word.

You just trust your feelings and inner senses.

God’s Word will always bear out what the Spirit would tell us…in fact, rather than seeking the feelings first, we really ought to go to God’s Word first, and let God speak through It to us, illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

The Much more accurate way of discerning God’s Will for our lives.

OK…So what are some of the things that having the Holy Spirit brings about?

Scripture again gives us the answers to that question.

One of the first ones, Paul wrote about in …

(ESV) 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

When you HEARD the Word of Truth (the Gospel of Salvation), and you ‘BELIEVED in Him’…then at that very moment, you were sealed with the promise…

So the Holy Spirit is God’s Gift to PROVE to you that YOU were in fact saved and that you will in fact go to Heaven.

That’s a really big deal because we all have doubts about a lot of things.

And Satan will use those doubts to diminish your fellowship with God.

Satan will use those doubts to diminish your effectiveness in being a witness of what Jesus did for you.

You sin, and you don’t think God will forgive you, and Satan reinforces that thought.

So you don’t go and draw closer to the Lord, but you push away from Him and you start doubting your salvation.

But then the Holy Spirit assures you that you’re really saved, and although He does convict you of your sin, all the same, He is telling you that you need to go ahead and agree with God and repent and turn back to Him.

And here’s the really big one, we have witness that we really are children of God…

(ESV) 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

The Holy Spirit testifies that we are truly Children of God…we have been set free…the Spirit testifies in us that we are NO LONGER CONDEMNED because we are IN Christ Jesus, and we really have been Set Free in Jesus Christ, our Savior.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

ESV We are able, through the Power of the Spirit residing in us, to ‘set our minds on the things of the Spirit…the things of Christ,’ rather than being dragged along by the things of the flesh…the Spirit gives us that ability.

ESV 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Because we are Children of God, the Spirit gives us LIFE because of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ in us through His Holy Spirit…no longer dead…no longer hostile towards God…we can now live in PEACE with God…we have been Reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ.

We are no longer of the flesh…we are saved…and the Spirit gives us testimony of that because of His Presence in us.

If we have Him in us, then we BELONG to God.

10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.