Anointing Of God
The Holy Spirit, The Anointed One

1 John 2:24-29 "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. [25]  And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. [26]  These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. [27]  But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

The Southern Baptist Church movement is synonymous with one concept. If you were to ask any other denomination what distinguishes our doctrine above all else, you would be told, "They believe in 'Once Saved, Always Saved'".

And this is true, not of just the Southern Baptists, but of many other denominations as well. The Presbyterians, for one, also believe that those who committed themselves to Christ are Eternally Secure. This is a Biblical truth, for Jesus said:

John 10:28-30 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29]  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. [30]  I and my Father are one."

Jesus said "no man (TIS = no one) is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand". Once we commit our lives to Christ we are eternally secure, safe because of the promise and sacrifice of the Son. This is Biblical truth.

It is also Biblical truth that when a person commits their life to Christ they are anointed of God, Kings and Priests before Him. If you are in Christ, then John tells us, as inspired by God, that certain things are true of your life.

First, at the moment of salvation something revolutionary happened to your life. You were changed, anointed by God, as the Holy Spirit entered your life. This change was evident in the fact that you abide in the Gospel, you become a new creature. Look at what John says:

1 John 2.24 "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father."

The word "remain" in our text is the Greek MENETO, which means "to abide, dwell, remain". The person who is truly saved, not just a Church goer, resists false teaching and the world while following after his Master's doctrine.
 

"If what you call your 'faith' in Christ does not involve taking the slightest notice of what He says, then it is not Faith at all ... but only intellectual acceptance of some theory about Him."   -- C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

John tells us, "Look, if you have truly accepted Christ as Saviour, then you will act like it". This is not the simple doctrine that the religious person would have us teach. The religious person in our midst takes the Doctrine of Eternal Security and perverts it from its Biblical truth. The religious teaches that an intellectual understanding of who Christ is is sufficient, but ignores the anointing of God. If you are saved, I tell you, you are indwelt by the very Spirit of God. If you are saved, you are undergoing changes in your walk with God every day. If you are saved, you are a new creature in Christ. :

2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Brothers and Sisters, I tell you, the religious crowd is not anointed of God. They follow a formula, a procedure. To them the Bible is an intellectual source book to be studied, but not a living Book that brings victorious living when its truths are applied. The unanointed will not go to Heaven. The religious will not go to Heaven. Those who are righteous by faith will go to Heaven.

Consider the difference in the life of Paul and Stephen:

Acts 7: 55-8:3 "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, [56] And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. [57] Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, [58] And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. [59] And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. [60] And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. [Acts 8. 1] And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. [2] And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. [3] As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."

Stephen, a deacon in the early Church, was the anointed of God. He had accepted Christ as Saviour and, beyond that, submitted to the anointing of God's Holy Spirit. While captured and falsely accused Stephen, not regarding his own safety, abided in the Gospel of Christ. He preached Christ to these religious heathen and, while in the midst of God's Filling, looked into Heaven and saw Jesus standing up in his honor, waiting to receive him to glory. The religious Saul, on the other hand, stood off to the side and consented to Stephen's death.

Do you know why the religious crowd took off their clothes and laid them at Paul's feet? Because stoning was a bloody business. As they took up stones and threw them, blood would spatter. Dirt from the stones would cover them. So they took off their clothes and, standing stark naked in their blasphemy, threw stone after stone against the anointed of God. The religious threw the stones, the religious watched the clothes, and the anointed went to be with the Lord.

Religious Saul went to Church because his parents went. When the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious body of Israel, needed an assassin to "weed out" the anointed, to kill them, they called on faithful Saul/ Paul. And Paul was good, very good at what he did. Saul, the unanointed, the religious, actually led as many Christians as he could to death, then went to the High Priest to get more names:

Acts 9:1-6 "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, [2]  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. [3]  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: [4]  And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [5]  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. [6]  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

And on this day Paul turned from religion to relationship, from unanointed to anointed by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

Brothers and sisters, dear Family, tradition and religion will eat this Church alive if we let it. You are not called to be led by tradition and religion, but by the Holy Spirit of God. Look at our introductory verse again:

1 John 2.27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

Break this verse down, phrase by phrase:

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you":  If you are in Christ, you are the anointed of God. You are anointed because you are under the blood. You are anointed because you are indwelt by the Spirit, anointed of oil. This Spirit abides in you, ever resides in you.

"ye need not that any man teach you": Our doctrine does not come from man, it is not man based. We do not follow man made creeds, nor religion which is empty and vain, but we follow the ever Living Word of God.

"the same anointing teacheth you of all things": We do not use our own human understanding to follow the things of God, nor to put these principles to work in our lives. The Anointing, the Holy Spirit within us, guides us into all Biblical truths. We as believers must be still so that the Anointing One can perform His acts. Just as the prophets only anointed those who stood still and submitted, we as believers must stand still and die to self. Only then will the Spirit of God teach us, only then will the Anointed One be able to do what He must.

Remember when Jesus, preparing His disciples for His departure, told of the coming Spirit:

John 16:13-15 "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14]  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. [15]  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

You must submit to the Spirit, to His guidance if you as believers want to grow. You must take the words that you hear from the Scripture and apply them to your hearts, live them, or you are living religiously and ineffectively.
 

One day, while working to feed his family, farmer Fleming heard a cry for help coming from a nearby swamp. The farmer dropped his tools and ran over to the nearby swamp. There to his surprise was a young terrified boy stuck up to his waist in thick black muck. The young boy was screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the young boy from what would have been a slow and terrifying death.  The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's small tattered farm house. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out of the carriage and introduced himself as the father of the boy farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did." the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. "Anyone would have done the same." At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door. "Is this your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. The nobleman said, "I'll make you a deal. Let me have the honor of giving him a good education. If the young boy is anything like his father, he'll grow up to be a man you can be proud of." So the farmer accepted the nobleman's offer.  In time, farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted, Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of Penicillin. Years later, the nobleman's son, who had almost died in the mire, was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman was, Lord Randolph Churchill. His son grew up to be the noted, Sir Winston Churchill.

Two ways are set before every person on earth, the way of the World or the Way of Life, Jesus Christ. Two choices are placed before everyone in this Church today, follow religion or follow the Anointed One, the Holy Spirit. Religion says, "I will come to Church to fulfill my duty, but I will do nothing else". Religion says, "I will be concerned for myself, but not for my family, for the Body". Religion says, "I've got mine, you go get yours". But the Anointing says:

Galatians 5:22-26 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, [23]  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. [24]  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. [25]  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. [26]  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."

You are Spirit people, you are anointed people. Follow after God with all you heart, love with all your soul. Submit to His Will, not your own, for His way is peace. For in Him:

"is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him":
 

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