Abide in Him
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
The trucking industry has an interesting illustration of the sealing of the Spirit.
For certain types of loads, when a truck is fully loaded and ready for its run, a plastic seal is put around the lock on the door.
This seal cannot be broken before the truck reaches its destination without the penalty of loss of one’s job.
This is similar to the sealing of the Spirit.
The seal of the Spirit cannot be broken before the Christian reaches his heavenly destination.
It is our guarantee of reaching God’s destination for us.
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Today, we will explore the gift of the Holy Spirit within our lives...
And we will see how He preserves us leads us into fellowship with Christ.
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So, please turn your Bibles to 1 John.
We will be conducting our study in Chapter 2 and focus on verses 26 through 27.
Our message this morning is called, “Abide in Him”
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
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.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) They Will Try to Deceive You
1) They Will Try to Deceive You
Verse 26: I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
John is specifically talking about those false teachers and antichrists that we have been discussing in this series.
This warning is not just meant for the original readers of this letter.
We too in our time have many false teachers and antichrists that are constantly trying to deceive people.
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Many of them are charismatic and charming when they speak...
They are wonderful public orators and motivational speakers...
They typical make lavish promises and claim to hold secret knowledge...
Additionally, they threaten anyone who challenges their authority...
Usually ruling their internal teams with an iron fist...
But having a pure and wholesome image for the outside world to see.
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Many of these individuals even perform fantastic signs and wonders in order to prove their claims...
Nearly all of which was revealed to them in private revelation.
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Beware church....
These are just wolves in sheep’s clothing...
As Jesus said in Matthew 24:24:
24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
This is no small warning.
These false christs and false prophets are so convincing...
And their signs and wonders are so great...
That is it was possible to mislead the elect then they would have...
Thank the Lord that the elect have the Holy Spirit and can’t be mislead.
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But these false teachers and false prophets...
Then but their trust in mortal things...
They have faith in themselves and faith in others...
But that is considered sheer foolishness by the Word of God.
For to put one’s trust in the flesh is to turn away from God.
As Jeremiah 17:5 says:
5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.
However, despite the many warnings in Scripture and what John says in his letter...
Many will ignore the warning.
They will walk amongst us masquerading as fellow brethren...
But once they depart from the faith to follow one of these false teachers...
They reveal that they where never of us from the beginning.
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The crowds that follow cults and cult leaders is not to be a surprise for us.
The Scriptures said in the later times...
In our time...
Lost souls will attach themselves to the teachings of demons as it says in 1 Timothy 4:1:
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
Some of these false teachers and antichrists will be easy to identify...
Other will be a lot harder to pinpoint due to their clever cover...
But rest assured, Beloved.
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We have the gift of the Holy Spirit that lives inside every single born-again believer.
And the Holy Spirit will always guide us from falsehood.
An this is where John takes us next in his letter.
2) You Have the Holy Spirit
2) You Have the Holy Spirit
Verse 27a: But the anointing that you received from him abides in you,
The word "anoint" or “chrisma” in the Koine Greek means to assign or appoint...
In this case to set someone apart.
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For example in the Old Testament...
An anointing was a ritual of pouring or smearing oil on a person's head or forehead to set them apart.
The ritual was often done to install someone in a new office or role of authority.
That person is then authorized and equipped for a task of spiritual importance.
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The way John specifically uses the term here points to the Holy Spirit...
And how He sets Christians apart for their ministry that is done in Christ's name.
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So, every true and genuine Christian has the Holy Spirit living in them...
And the Holy Spirit come into a person the moment they are justified and in right standing with God...
The very moment God opens ones eyes and softens their heart.
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When Paul writes his letter to the church in Corinth...
He reassures them of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in them.
Take a look at 1 Corinthians 3:16:
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
So, in addition to the Holy Spirit now residing in believers...
We as followers of Christ must understand that our bodies are God’s temple.
This is why it is imperative that believers be good stewards of their bodies....
But not only that...
There is another truth we can conclude...
Our bodies are no longer our own.
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Just three chapters after Paul told his readers that their body is now God’s temple...
He repeats himself with the additional teaching that we are not our own...
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
This is why we can’t live our life in whatever manner we choose...
We must abide in the instruction that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
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The Old Testament even prophesied this back in Ezekiel 36:27 when God said:
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
God knows that we can’t keep His high standard.
God knows on our own we will fail miserably.
In fact, the Scriptures are a good record of our constant failures and inability to save ourselves.
But God is merciful.
He gave us His Spirit...
He gave us the Holy Spirit...
So we can walk in his statutes...
So we can be careful to obey His rules...
Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit that He sent us!
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You see, Church...
Those whom the Father choose before an eternity past...
He gave to the Son...
And the Son voluntary shed His blood for His inheritance of the saints...
And It is the Holy Spirit who preserves those saints to the very end.
So, the Holy Spirit is the God’s seal on the believer that they will make it to the end...
In other words...
The Holy Spirit guarantees we will make it to glory...
That we will make it to eternal life.
As 2 Corinthians 1:21–22 perfectly puts it:
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
The Holy Spirit does not only guard us and preserve us...
He also brings us into all the knowledge we need to know about regarding our salvation and walk with Christ.
He guides us as we read Scripture...
And He guides us as we hear other people teaching...
Leading us to understand what truths are from god and what are of the world.
Remember just a few weeks ago when we expounded 1 John 2:20 which said:
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
So, this is not all knowledge as in we will be all knowing about all things...
However, all essential knowledge we need as followers of Christ will be provided for us by the Holy Spirit.
Most often...
That truth comes from the Word of god directly which the Holy Spirit is the author of.
So, the Holy Spirit is both the author of Scripture and our personal interpreter of Scripture...
Making sure we do no go off track in our understanding of God’s Word.
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I really love how Ephesians 1:13–14 does a wonderful job of of summarizing the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers:
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,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
So, with all this amazing truth of what the Holy Spirit does in our lives...
We can rest assured that we do not need teachers of worldly wisdom or opinions...
And this is were john brings his attention to next in our passage.
3) No Need of Worldly Wisdom or Opinions
3) No Need of Worldly Wisdom or Opinions
Verse 27b: And you have no need that anyone should teach you.
This verse does not mean we do not need teachers of God’s Word...
As the ESV Study Bible says regarding this verse:
“Yet by writing this letter, John is obviously teaching them.
He means, rather, that they have no need for any instruction that diverges from the gospel message.”
So, let me put it this way...
Stop looking for spiritual experiences and teachings outside the Bible...
Instead, as we have clearly seen...
The gift of the Word of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit living in us is enough!
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Any teachings that doesn’t have a biblical foundation will fall...
It will collapse...
For the things of the flesh are always against the things of the Spirit...
Let us look to Galatians 5:17 for godly wisdom:
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
So, if you want to educate yourself and better equip yourself...
Seek the things that are grounded in Scripture.
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Seek those things...
Even if you will be mocked...
Seek those rich biblical truths even if you will have scoffers spewing toxic hate on you...
For those who mock the things of God lack understanding...
For they lack the Holy Spirit.
Jude 18–19 says:
18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
These scoffers are hard headed...
And blind to real truth...
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But the reality...
Is that you and I were blind too at one point...
But by God’s grace and grace alone He lifted the veil that blinded us so much to his truth.
This is a truth that is attested in 2 Corinthians 3:14–17 when discussing the blindness of Jews to the Good News of Jesus Christ:
14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
I love how that passage finishes...
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”...
To follow the teachings and errors of the world is to be enslaved by sin...
But the Holy Spirit gives us freedom form the bondage of sin.
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It is those who are led by the Holy Spirit that are part of the royal family of God...
It is those who are led by the Holy Spirit that are truly adopted as Children of God...
We do not have a spirit of slavery that lives in us anymore!
We do not have a spirit of fear!
We are free!
As Romans 8:14–16 says:
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
And there is freedom in the truth...
That is why the holy Spirit guides believers into all truth...
And this takes us to our last and final point.
4) The Holy Spirit Guides in Truth
4) The Holy Spirit Guides in Truth
Verse 27c: But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Verse 27 heavenly echos Jeremiah 31:34 and I believe John is very intentional about this:
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Because God gave His followers the Holy Spirit...
They can all truly know the Lord.
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The Holy Spirit is the helper that was promised to us and He always leads those who are born-again into eternal truths.
He gives us a mind like Christ...
Look at what Paul says on the matter in 1 Corinthians 2:12–16:
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
The reason the Holy Spirit will lead us to have a mind like Christ...
Is due to the fact that one of His main functions in the life of a believer...
Is to bring into remembrance the commands and instructions of Jesus as Christ Himself said in John 14:26:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
The Holy Spirit brings this remembrance by consistently pointing us to the perfect Word of God...
And providing the Children of God with the proper interpretation of the Scriptures.
Additionally, He daily brings to remembrance in our minds the truths we have already faithfully learned from the Bible.
He helps us to discern what other individuals teach and preach as either solid doctrine or false.
Overall, He will guide us in all truth.
John in his own Gospel account records these truths about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13–15:
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Having the seal of the Holy Spirit means that as a by product we will abide in God’s commands.
That is a sign that we really do have the Holy Spirit in us.
John will continue to repeat this truth in this letter in future chapters.
For example consider 1 John 3:24:
24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
And likewise the biblical truth found in 1 John 4:13:
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close I want to share this:
Ranchers in West Texas make it their practice to round up all their year-old calves each spring for branding.
The calf is held down, the branding iron is heated red hot, and the brand is placed on its flank.
The brand is the rancher’s mark of ownership.
No one can dispute that the calf belongs to him.
In the same way God has placed his mark of ownership on us by sealing us with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is God’s mark of ownership, authority, and security over us.
No one can remove us from his ownership until the day of redemption.
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So, for those who believe, be assured...
Your transformed life...
Your process of sanctification...
Your journey of becoming more Christ-like...
Is all the work of the Holy Spirit...
And the fact that you have the Holy Spirit...
Is fact that you belong to Christ and have a relationship with the Father.
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For those who never experienced a transformed life...
For those who have not been on a journey of sanctification...
And are not being molded into the image of Christ over time...
Then that void you have in your life is Holy Spirit shaped...
And only the Holy Spirit can fill that void...
So, pray for mercy and grace from God...
Repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
Follow the command and promise of Romans 10:9-10:
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
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