Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday November 23, 2014
Text: Isaiah 10:27 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”
1 John 2:26-27 “These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. (vs27) 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.”
PREMISE
The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.22, Page 60; a comment on 1 John 2:27 ---THE OBLIGATION OF THIS BLESSING---“More fully stated this is the obligation which is inseparable from the possession of this anointing from the Holy One. The context clearly shows that the person spoken of in verses 27 and 28 is the Lord Jesus Christ. The exhortation to abide in him is based on the assurance that the anointing which they had received abode in them(ver.27). The “in him” must not be toned down to his doctrine, or his system, or anything of that kind. “In him” by the exercise of the faith of the heart, by the attachment of holy love, by intimate and reverent communion in him, and by participation in his life and spirit. Thus we are to abide in him(cf. St. John 15:4-7).Thus we can learn; first that the “illumination of the Holy Spirit is indispensable to a clear and correct apprehension of the great truths of Christianity.” Cudsworth says “words and syllables which are but dead things, cannot possibly convey the living notions of heavenly truths to us. The secret mysteries of a Divine life, of a new nature, of Christ formed in our hearts, they cannot be written or spoken; language and expressions cannot reach them; neither can they be ever truly understood, except the soul itself be kindled from within, and awakened into the life of them.”(cf.1 Corinthians 2:10-13).Second The “anointing from the Holy One”—the influence and presence of the Holy Spirit within us---is a preservative against seductions of error. Third and finally; the possession of this Divine preservative is not an encouragement to presumption, but a reason for perseverance, inasmuch as the anointing which they received of Christ abode in them, St John exhorts his readers to “abide in him”.