The Spirit & Scripture (4); The Spirit and Conviction

Three very significant ways in the Scriptures. First of all, in the communication of the information that was written in the Scriptures to the Apostles, that's his work of revelation. And then as they wrote the books of the Bible, he guided them and guarded them from all error. That's inspiration. And then what we've been looking at recently last week was illumination. And that is the Holy Spirit's work in our hearts as we read the Scriptures. We looked at the meaning of illumination and somebody helped me out here, help me remember what is the meaning of illumination. What what ministry of the Spirit is that? Shedding light on, okay? That's the literal meaning of the word illumination and it has to do with the Holy Spirit doing what in relation to the word of God and us, helping us to understand, comprehend, and also a second part of that definition. Brings conviction or response, a welcoming of the word of God, a submission, obedience to it, that's a part of illumination as well. We saw that the need for illumination was because of our sinfulness. Our heart, also our mind, has been affected by sin and the clearest text on that was 1 Corinthians 2, 14. The man without the Spirit cannot accept or welcome, excuse me, the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they're spiritually discerned. So there's something wrong with the mind of an unsaved person. Unsaved people, all of us without Christ, our minds have been affected by the fall. We cannot either accept or understand spiritual truth because it is spiritually discerned or understood. So we saw that was the clearest text for the need for illumination. Then last week we were looking at the fact that the Holy Spirit's work in illumination begins in regeneration, okay? That makes sense, doesn't it? If an unsaved person who doesn't have the Spirit cannot understand the things of the Spirit, then you would think that whatever the Spirit does in helping us to understand the word would begin when he comes in at salvation, regeneration, new birth. So we saw that the Spirit's work begins then, we saw that in 1 Corinthians 2, 15 and chapter 3 verses 1 through 3. And then where we left off last time was the Spirit's work in regeneration is also a continuing work. And we were looking at 1 John chapter 2 and that's where we're going to start tonight. We barely touched on it last week and said only enough to get us confused, including me, I'm sure. So let me go a little deeper into this tonight a little more and we'll have a little more time to talk about this. Remember that we started this section actually, not in 1 John 2, but in Ephesians 1, don't turn there, but in Ephesians 1 we saw that Paul was telling the church in Ephesus a very godly church deep in the word that he was praying that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened so that they would understand the depth of the love of God and all that God had for them in his plan. But that phrase, the eyes of your heart enlightened is exactly what we're talking about. We're talking about spiritual eyesight, but it's not your physical eyes, it's the eyes of your heart, the ability to understand and accept the word of God. And Paul was asking that that be enlightened, be opened up, illuminated, illumination is what we're talking about. So that's a great verse. But in 1 John chapter 2, John talks about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in helping us to understand scripture so that we're not deceived by false teaching. That's the thrust of what he's talking about in this passage. It is these two verses, verses 20 and 27, are in the context of false teaching. In fact, just to make sure we understand that, look at verse 21, well this begin verse 20. Verse 20 says, but you have an anointing from the Holy One and all of you know the truth. Now notice verse 21 and 22, he's saying this because of false teaching. He says, I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth, who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Okay, serious, doctrinal error, false teaching, especially in the early church was the denial of the humanity of Christ. And that would later develop into a full-blown cult called Nosticism, which would deny that Jesus ever had a human body. But that because it was built on Greek philosophy and said basically, the Greeks played to taught that all material physical stuff is evil and only the spirit and spiritual stuff is good and so God could not contaminate himself with a physical body. So Christ could not have had a body. The body of Jesus was just some kind of apparition or something and they had other ways to explain it as well. So that's what he's talking about here. There was a very early form of that in John's day and so John is saying the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist, he denies the Father and the Son. Now look down at verse 26, he says, I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. So it's clear this whole idea of anointing and what he's talking about because of this anointing you know the truth. It's in the context of people who are trying to lead the astray with false teaching, particularly in the area of what to believe about Christ. So that's important to recognize. We started talking about this a little bit last week and it's where we had to leave off and really didn't get into it enough. But this whole concept of the anointing, he mentions it in verse 20, you have an anointing from the Holy One, then verse 27, he says, ask for you the anointing you receive from him remains in you. You do not need anyone to teach you. But as this, as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit, just as it has taught you remain in him. So he mentions four times this anointing and it's important to understand what that deals with, what that means. So we have to go back and do a little bit of background to get to this point and understand what all is in John's mind when he uses his word because he's a Jew who's familiar with the Old Testament, he brings all that with him and so it's good to kind of go back and get that background. Anointing in Bible times was a literal action to induct someone or introduce someone into a particular ministry, in particular someone who had an area of leadership like a king. If you became a king, then you would be anointed and oil would literally be poured over your head to inaugurate you, to initiate you into your role and your job and your responsibilities. Same thing was true of prophets and their ministry. So this anointing with oil, this literal physical action would often be accompanied in the case of a prophet or a king in Israel, like we're going to see with David, it would often be accompanied by a literal power of the spirit also that would give them the spiritual power needed to do the job they were being inaugurated into. So this physical act of anointing was often accompanied with a spiritual act of the power of the spirit to do the task they were being anointed to do, such as the case with David. First Samuel, we looked at the verse last week but we didn't have a chance to really talk about it. So Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. That's a literal action. He's got a horn full of oil and he's pouring it on David's head. He anoints him with that. And from that day on the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Rama. So the idea is he's anointed in this literal act of pouring of oil to inaugurate him into his role as king and accompanying that is this endowment with power from the Holy Spirit. There are really two separate acts but the physical anointing is accompanied by a spiritual power and so those two become very closely associated. So much so that in Isaiah 61 verse 1 this is said about Christ. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom to captives released from the darkness from darkness for the prisoners. This is a messianic prophecy. If you read on through the passage it talks very clearly about the ministry of Christ. So it's a prophecy about Christ and the prophecy is the Lord has anointed him. It is the Lord who put him into his ministry inaugurated him into his ministry and that happened at his baptism. Remember when Jesus was baptized the father spoke from heaven the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. The father spoke from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And so that and from that moment on he goes out for the 40 days of testing in the wilderness then he goes directly into his ministry. So the father the Lord anointed him to proclaim good news to bind up the broken hearted to do his ministry. But accompanying that was the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me and that was symbolized with the coming of the dove. So these two are very closely tied together. Again you move into the New Testament and it's even more closely tied together in what Peter says in Acts chapter 10 Acts chapter 10 verse 38 referring to the same event the anointing of Christ says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. So he was given spiritual power to do his ministry through this anointing. He anointed him with the Holy Spirit. So in the Old Testament the anointing is a physical act to inaugurate someone into a role like Prophet or King. It is often not always not every King who would be anointed would have the power of the Holy Spirit come on them. There were a lot of unsaved kings that were anointed particularly in Israel. But in many cases if a person was was right with the Lord the Holy Spirit would come on them and enable them to do their task and then of course Jesus that is all put together. He is he is anointed prepared by God to do his ministry and the Holy Spirit comes on him. So that's why anointing becomes tied to the power of the Spirit because of that Old Testament background. And that's why often we hear someone preachers a lot of times we'll talk about anoint me with the Spirit of God. And what they're saying is give me the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's fine that's understandable but in 1 John 2 he's not talking about being inaugurated into a particular role and needing the power to do that. He's talking about I believe the presence of the Spirit in our lives as believers. When we come to know Christ is saved you the Holy Spirit comes into indwelling us. So he inaugurates us through the indwelling into the spiritual life where we're born again we're saved. The Holy Spirit comes in. I believe the anointing here that he speaks of is that presence of the Holy Spirit thus enabling us to understand scripture. Why do you think it's that rather than power John? I'm glad you asked. The reason is because of the way it's stated in verse 20. But you have an anointing. Who's he talking to? The dear children that he's addressed back in verse 18 and if you go further back in the letter he's writing to believers in general. So you believers in general he's not he's not specifying any particular person who's being inaugurated into any kind of certain ministry. You believers in general have an anointing. He doesn't tell them to ask for it pray for it seek it. He said you have it. Believers in general have this from the Holy One and all of you know the truth. Not some of you not just not just a few who have special power all of you all of you believers know the truth. Now remember from 1 Corinthians 2 that does not mean that we are omniscient that we know everything. Remember this this illumination of the Holy Spirit we saw clearly from 1 Corinthians 2. Simply means that because of the Holy Spirit's presence in us we have the capacity to now understand spiritual things. We can understand the Bible but this is an ongoing continuing work as we'll see when we get to the verse 27. But I think this is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives giving us the capacity to understand scripture because we all as believers have this so that we have the capacity to understand we are not we don't have to be fooled by false teachers and that's his point in this passage. You know the truth that there are people trying to lead you astray there are people against Christ, anti Christ out there with false teaching and they're trying to lead you astray but you know the truth. You have the capacity to discern and distinguish truth from error. True doctrine from false doctrine you have the you have the capacity to do that. Okay you're not at the mercy of false teachers in other words you know the truth you have the Holy Spirit. Okay now verse 27 he says this because we have this instinct for truth from the presence of the Holy Spirit he says in verse 27 as for you the anointing you received from him remains in you because we're in John 14 on Sunday mornings and we'll be in John 15 this week you might tie in John's words here with what John has written in John 14 he's talking about the Holy Spirit who abides with us forever he remains he doesn't leave he's with us forever and so this anointing this presence of the Spirit in our lives which all believers have is there and remains there doesn't leave it stays there and so he says because of that you do not need anyone to teach you oh I'm in trouble learn you don't need anyone to teach you does that mean that we do not need any human teachers I heard enough thankfully why would you say that okay we're slacken ourselves all of us need some teaching but is there any biblical precedent for having teachers is there anything in the Bible that tells us we should have teachers yeah pardon me Jesus thought yes what about John he's teaching okay Jesus taught what about the great commission go make disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the Father's Son Holy Spirit teaching them to observe the support of our commission is to teach and the disciples were supposed to do that what about the gift of teaching one of the spiritual gifts is that of a teach what about the role of pastor teacher what about the the pastoral epistles that are so heavy on the role of a pastor in teaching the word oh there's plenty of scripture that tells us there's a legitimate role for teachers and teaching so this must mean something else yes right right and and that's the reason for all of those commands about teaching so that we grow as new believers we grow and learn more of the word how to live how to plant to our lives in the context here what he's saying is you don't need to be fooled by these false teachers you're not at the mercy of false teachers and it helps to understand a little bit of what these people were teaching and how it would develop later in the full-blown nosticism the nostics would say and John is dealing with an early form of that the nostics would say this they would say we've got inside knowledge that you can't find anywhere else even in the Bible we've got this secret inside knowledge you need us to communicate that to you you're dependent on us and that's basically what every cult does they've got a corner on the truth they've got a little angle on the truth that nobody else has so we're the only ones that have it you'll not get this anywhere else you're dependent on us that's what John's warning against in the context these people are trying to leave them stray who are false teachers he calls them anti-Christ you are not totally dependent on anyone else who has a corner on the truth who is the only one who has truth why because you've got the Holy Spirit you can sniff out that kind of error you know that's not right so that's what he's talking about he's he's not saying you don't need anybody to teach you the Bible he's saying you're not at the mercy of these false teachers like they're telling you you are that's what the anointing of the Holy Spirit is about so the anointing of the spirit the presence of the spirit in our lives gives us the ability to know the truth and smell error to be able to sniff it out and and know the difference we're not at the mercy of teachers to tell us what's right or wrong we have the Holy Spirit in the Word of God so we can detect error that doesn't mean that as believers we automatically are going to be right every time we're automatically going to know the difference from the truth in error remember this is all a part of growing and so that's the reason he says as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real not kind of bit just as it's taught you remain in him in other words keep growing keep keep moving on in the Christian life and that's an important part of of this whole work of illumination as well okay I've done a lot of talking so let me pause for a moment see if you have any questions before we move to a couple of cautions about illumination yes Blaine yeah but yeah it's the same idea and they were right for that kind of error because of that background for sure there's not a direct connection between the nozztics and the priest but yeah they were used to that kind of thinking that you're dependent on us for the truth and so when the nozztics came along and started teaching that yeah it was it was the way they were used to relating to those things I didn't hear the first party question Barry I'm sorry yes yes yeah that's a that's kind of an inference from this but it's a good one the fact that you know this anointing is present it's present with every believer verse 20 and it remains in us and it's not an issue of being guided or taught how to get some anointing which is true in a lot of circles that that believe the anointing of the spirit of some kind of power that didn't able you to speak in tongues or whatever yeah or that it comes later right right it's clear here this is this is a ministry of the spirit of God that and I tie it to the Holy Spirit even though the Holy Spirit's not specifically mentioned here I tie it to the spirit because of the other ties of anointing with the spirit in the other texts that we looked at so this it's clear that this is the presence of the spirit with every believer that is an abiding presence continuing remaining presence but it does tie into illumination because it is the presence of the spirit that he says this anointing gives them the opportunity to understand truth and discern truth from error and that's how it fits into illumination okay all right any other comment or question before we yes John yes yeah it's Antichrist little a so it's not the Antichrist big a the person who will come in the tribulation time this is anyone in fact he mentions them as plural in verse 18 he says you've heard that the Antichrist is coming even now many Antichrist's plural have come so yes he's talking about these false teachers people who are against Christ good point anything else yes so true so true good that's a great point you know we all start out with milk truth and and move on to bread and then meat and and I I believe that every truth in the Bible has those levels I don't think there are some truths there milk truths and some truths that are meat truths I think every truth in the Bible has those layers for instance salvation has some milk elements to it so simple that even a five year old six year old child can understand enough to be saved but you know I've been I've been studying the Bible I've been in ministry for 42 years and there's still a lot about salvation I'm learning and a lot of deeper truths there that I'm still grappling with and trying to understand those are the meat levels of truth so yeah we all start out milk level with everything and then we develop a little more able to handle a little more and we continue growing but none of us will ever exhaust all the diet that's here all the milk bread and meat that's in this book there's just so much of it here okay all right let me give you a couple of cautions about illumination because these are often misunderstandings of illumination number one illumination is not communication of truth in addition to the word it is not communication of truth in addition to the word there are there are some people who say and again this is a lot of what cults do but there are a lot of well-meaning Christians too that say things like you know I know I heard this from God I got this from God like they have a direct line to God that nobody else has and so I've got this this truth and I'm not going to listen to anyone because the Holy Spirit communicated this to me directly that's very dangerous I understand what people mean when they say that but that's revelation what they're talking about is the biblical truth of revelation and as we saw revelation closed when scripture was done God is not revealing any new truth illumination simply means that the Holy Spirit helps us to understand and accept and respond to the truth that has already been recorded remember first Corinthians 2 we spend a lot of time there remember it talks about how the truth of God was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles who put those spiritual truths into spiritual words remember verse 13 and then it's those spiritual truths put into spiritual words in the Bible that the Holy Spirit helps us to understand verses 14 and 15 of 1 Corinthians 2 that's clear so we're not talking about the Holy Spirit speaking new truth giving me truth that nobody else has so I can use that as a club you know to tell you what you ought to do that is a misuse of scripture that's not what illumination is you know it's not like I've been illumined I know I got something it came direct from God I've been illumined I've been my eyes have been opened now I'm going to tell you what God said there's a lot of that that goes on in Christian circles and it's a misuse of the Bible it's a misuse of the doctrine of illumination illumination is clearly God helping me to understand what is already revealed not some new truth not something in addition to the Bible there is no authority over our lives except the Bible and the Holy Spirit is not operating separate from the Bible he is operating through his word to to help us understand and know what God's truth is so illumination is not communication of new truth in addition to the word of God second caution illumination is not a substitute for study and careful interpretation of the scripture of the word here's another misunderstanding of the doctrinal illumination and this one is particular particularly the the sin of preachers I hear it every so often you know I don't need to study I just get up and the Holy Spirit fills my heart mind and tongue what I'm supposed to say well I believe there is a spiritual dynamic of the Holy Spirit entering into the preaching process I've talked about that before but that does not eliminate the need for study look at what Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2 15 he's telling him how to do his ministry he says study to show thyself approved unto God a work man you're working in the scriptures now get your hands dirty and get busy and do some hard work a workman that need it's not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth how do you get it right so that you can give it right do you do you say okay Lord I haven't done anything I have any note of Bible this week but I need the illumination of your spirit now as I preach no you study that's what Paul told Timothy to do he didn't say wait for illumination he said study now as you study the Bible that should always be done in reliance on the Holy Spirit because remember that's part of his ministry to help us understand the Bible so we should always study God's word in reliance on the spirit praying for wisdom praying for illumination what is it I didn't think of it before to put it on the screen I think it's Psalm 119 105 open my eyes that I may be hold wondrous things out of thy law the Psalmist said open my eyes that I may be hold wondrous things out of thy law so that's the kind of prayer we should always be praying as we're studying the word of God open my eyes Lord so that I can understand wondrous things out of your law open my eyes okay that's reliance on the Holy Spirit but it doesn't absolve us from study we're still supposed to study the Bible so illumination is not a substitute it's not an easy way out it's not a free ticket where you don't have to study the scriptures now Paul told Timothy if you're going to do your ministry right if you're going to write to divide the word if you're going to cut it right and give it right study be a workman do some work in the scriptures okay and that's not easy it's it's work okay those are two cautions I would would give about this whole area of illumination two common misunderstandings any any question come in about those before we move on it sure is yes the awana program the awana stands for approved workman are not ashamed and that's exactly what that verse says study to show yourself approved and the God a workman needs it not to be ashamed so yeah where a wana comes from I mean Paul didn't start a wana Timothy didn't start a wana I know you're not saying that but but that's the verse it comes from yes okay just while we have conclusion or summary let me give you just summarize this whole thing since we spread it out over two or three weeks the whole idea of illumination let me let me just summarize it this way with four statements four statements that I kind of will summarize illumination the first one is this and it has to do with the need for illumination the whole of human nature including our mind is adversely affected by the fall so that in our natural state we cannot correctly evaluate understand or respond to divine truth okay that's that's key that's basic that's foundational the whole of human nature including our mind is adversely affected by the fall so that in our natural state we cannot understand evaluate understand or respond to divine truth that's exactly what first point is to says second statement about illumination is this regeneration that's the new birth salvation regeneration gives the spectacles of faith in other words gives us divine eyesight sorry I didn't put these on the screen spiritual eyesight the spectacles of faith so that gives us the capacity to correctly evaluate understand and respond to spiritual truth so it is regeneration that gives us that capacity that we don't have in our natural state okay now we number three the third comment is this we still need there is still a need for continuing growth in spiritual understanding just because we have the capacity to understand the scripture doesn't mean we automatically understand everything we still have to grow we still have to study so it's a continuing growth process and then number four the Holy Spirit works internally in the believers life countering the effects of sin so that we can understand and properly respond to the word that's his work of illumination we don't have it naturally because of sin regeneration gives us the glasses we need the spectacles of faith the opportunity now to understand and that's an ongoing continuing process but it is the Holy Spirit who works in us internally to counter the effects of sin on our minds so that we can now understand the scriptures and respond to them that is illumination and it's something that we don't think about a lot don't spend a lot of time on but it's one of the ministries of the spirit that we ought to be most grateful for because it is an amazing provision of the Lord for us to be able to grow if we couldn't understand this book there'd be no way we could grow if we couldn't evaluate it and process it and respond to it with a welcome spirit and desire to obey it we couldn't grow so thankful for that amazing ministry of the spirit well the actual expression rightly dividing it comes from a Greek word which means to cut straight and so the idea is cutting it straight and it has to do more with interpretation of the Bible understanding what it means cutting it straight not going off on a tangent somewhere but getting it right is the idea so study to show yourself approved to God a workman that needs not to be ashamed getting it right cutting it straight the word of God understanding it properly yes Carolyn that's a danger that is a danger and it's a danger of any Bible study group it's a danger of any it's a danger of pastors teaching too and that is that we tell what we think the Bible means without cutting it straight without studying carefully to make sure we understand what that text says there's a lot of that and and we have to be careful whenever we're just kind of going around the circle sharing well I think it means this I think it means this I think it means this somebody's got to be able to cut it straight okay now I'm all four small groups I'm the one that starved them here I'm the one that initiated that ministry and we have carefully selected chosen leaders who we believe can handle the Bible but a danger of any any group or someone's not really studying the word is that we just begin to share our own thoughts about what it means and that can be that can be dangerous but it can also be dangerous from the people but I've heard a lot of preaching like that where people are just kind of saying whatever about a text without really having dug it all and studied it all you're right there is a a single meaning interpretation of every passage there are lots of applications and that's where discussion helps this is how it applies to my life this is how it applies to me this is what I'm using it to do in my life and that's legitimate many applications but a single meaning yeah sure yeah you know everybody else has got it wrong with us but that's okay that was supposed to be funny sure sure and and let's let's let's be honest here there are some passages that are kind of vague and not real clear and that's why people disagree on what they mean and yes you're right good people can come to differing ideas as to what a passage means it doesn't mean everybody's right it means one of two things a lot of people are wrong or the passage was never intended to be so specific that we come hard and fast and make a doctrinal truth out of it and there are lots of lots of passages like that for sure okay right right yeah it's a tricky thing because no human teacher is infallible in other words no human teacher always gets it right and so that's a very tricky thing we are dependent on the spirit of God to help us discern truth from error but no human teacher including this one always gets it right so that just drives us back to the word to keep keep digging and studying and making sure coming as close to that again sure that's a great thing Tommy said when I when I read and study the scriptures I try to get myself out of the way I'm asking God to tell me what this means and help me understand it and that's a great I mean that's exactly what the Psalmist was saying open my eyes and I may be holding wondrous things out of your law how we don't understand the scriptures because rather than coming to the Bible with preconceived notions as to what it means and kind of fitting that over the text and making the text fit what we believe we're open to whatever the Bible really is saying and we want the Holy Spirit to help us understand it that's the right approach it's good yes Kelly the application may be different the meaning is the same but various cultures you may apply something as to how to affect your life differently but there's only one meaning of any particular text I mean what and that meaning is what God meant when he when he communicated it through Paul or Isaiah or whatever that's the meaning but there may be many applications and and obviously there's a lot of cultural the room for cultural differences in areas where the scriptures don't speak clearly you know like in Christian Christian liberty issues and that's a whole other ballgame and a whole other can of worms that we don't have time to get into tonight in fact it's one minute after eight we don't have time to do anything else tonight so I'd hope to be able to get into the next ministry of the spirit we'll we'll tackle that next time