The Unction of the Holy Spirit — Gerhard Du Toit

Jesus Reads Isaiah in Nazareth

Luke chapter 4 verse 16, and he, that was Jesus, came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. There was delivered unto him the prophet, the book of the prophet Isaiah.

When he had opened the book he found the place where it was written The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted To preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind.

To set at liberty then that are bruised to preach the acceptable here of the Lord. And he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bearing witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son?

Jesus said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in thy country. And he said, verily I say unto you that no prophet is accepted in his own country.

But I tell you the truth that many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah When heaven was shut up for three years and six months When great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent.

Save unto Sarephta a city of Sidon Unto a woman that was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Lysias the prophet. But none of them was cleansed saving Nahum the Syrian. And all there in the synagogue when they heard these things they were filled with wrath.

And they rose up and they thrust him out of the city. And they led him unto the brow of the hill wherein their city was built That they might cast him down headlong. But Jesus passing through the midst of them went his way.

And he came down to Capernaum a city of Galilee. And he taught them in the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power. Our father as we bow this morning again in the greatness Of what your presence has been about these days.

Is there a sense in which many of our hearts has been humiliated before God. Lord it was such a searching reality To me personally in this time of prayer this morning As we identify with one another. And I was reminded of this word in Matthew 5 When you said blessed are the merciful.

And now in the beauty of the classical Greek language Is it giving unto us the perception That I have come to the place where I see through someone else's eyes. And I have felt through his hands And I have sensed the depth of listening through his ears And the heart and I have come to the place of absolute identification.

And God the thing that broke my heart this morning is I listened to my brothers and sisters pouring out their hearts before you. That I found my heart been broken again and again Through little statements and cries and longings and yearnings That has been flooding from our souls in the presence of God.

We want to say to you this morning Lord we do love you In the light that you have given unto us And the acceptance of the depth of the depravity of sin And in the reality of what the life of Christ can be about.

We want to say to you this morning that As we contemplate the fall As we contemplate the future of this ministry We want to be a people being intoxicated with God. And we want to yield ourselves to you and humble ourselves Under the mighty hand of God.

And I thank you this morning for the blessing For the privilege Father being entrusted to me Something of the depth of the burden of this work. We pray that you will raise up intercessors in the days to come.

We pray that all over this country God there are men and women Many of them may be on in years But these people know what it means To get through to God in the place of prayer. And this morning our Father we pray That you will give us at least a thousand intercessors All over this country Who in the days to come are going to climb Underneath the burden of God For life action ministries And will systematically pray them through to you Father on a daily basis.

And Lord we pray that in these crusades Through the different teams in the ministry of Nancy And others who are going out proclaiming the truth of scripture That you will help us to discern these intercessors All over the country.

That you will help us to arrest these people That you will help us to entrust unto them the burden of God. And so that in the days to come That every aspect of this ministry could become saturated In the place of intercessory prayer.

And Father we know this morning That the only way that we're going to go forward Is going to be in our knees before God. Because we know in our hearts That you will keep us broken. And we know that you will keep us out of the way.

And God our Father we know that you will take the glory. I pray this morning that you will protect this work From the devices of the evil one. Lord there is such potential But with the incredibility of potential Are there some of the most incredible possibilities of downfall.

And this morning God we pray That in these coming weeks and months That you will cover this movement under the protection of the blood. And these young people that are going to go out in the days to come We pray that you will so purify and cleanse them And so wash them in the blood.

That every one of these crusades will be places Where God would come and help himself to the lives of people. Thank you Father this morning for your word. It's amazing how the word of God breaks us again and again.

And whenever we submit under its authority And the spirit of God witness to the word Do we find deep within our hearts something begins to crumble And something begin to crush Under the authority of the depth of scripture.

Lord I was reminded of Charles Adams Spurgeon That when he was asked if there are times that we need to defend The reality of scripture How he rose to his feet and said that there are times When we do not need to defend the word of God.

But that the word of God is like a lion. We simply need to let him loose. And this morning we pray that you would let him loose in our midst. And God if you want to break into our hearts today. And if you want to put us in the midst of an organized disorder.

If you want to send us all over this complex With broken hearts, crushed spirit Under the reality of the cleansing of the blood. We pray that you would help yourself to us. We say to thee this morning we do not want to enter into The full ministry without being absolutely unctionized of God And saturated with the depth of your presence and your brokenness.

We do not want to do that. And so we pray that as we ponder upon scripture. Father come to us today in Jesus name, Amen. I love to read the old Puritans. Quite often in many of my times of personal reading.

The Unction of the Holy Spirit

Of course we read all kinds of other valuable material. But some time ago I was confronted with An incident that took place in the life Of a man with the name of Thomas Boston. Thomas Boston was a Puritan.

And Boston one night had a dream. And in his dream he saw Satan preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Boston went up to Satan in his dream and said to him Why are you preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Surely you are doing harm to your own kingdom. But the enemy turned to him and he said to him I'm preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ without the unction of the Holy Ghost. And he said I found myself being effective Instead of bringing people closer to God.

If I found myself being effective In actually driving people away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was said that the life of Thomas Boston After that incident was never the same. I want to speak to you this morning if I may In the time that we have available On this great subject.

What does it mean for us to live a life Under the unction of God the Holy Spirit. Whenever I study a subject in the New Testament I always ask myself What is the Old Testament. Saying to us about this New Testament subject.

Because of the fact that the Old Testament Is revealed for us in the New Testament. And as you know the New Testament lies hidden for us in Old Testament scripture. We don't have time to explore the depth of this in Old Testament scripture.

But let me mention to you that there are four words In the Hebrew text trying to communicate to us. This word anointing. Or this word unction. Two of those words are found at two places. And then the other two words are found at something like 142 passages In Old Testament scripture.

And when you study it in very great specific detail You will discover that there were no less than eight Material objects that was affected by this word anointing. For instance the altar of God was anointed In the Old Testament.

The tabernacle of God was anointed. You discover that there were a number of classes of people That was affected by this word anointing. For instance the prophet was anointed So that he could become the mouthpiece of God Towards the people of God.

The priest was anointed So that he could be wholly set apart unto God. And the king in the Old Testament was anointed So that he could become the leader of the people of God. And there were three different kinds of anointing.

There was the anointing with spices. Then there was the anointing with oil. And then there is what we want to look upon as The anointing of God the Holy Spirit. I don't think it's possible this morning to be able to Explore for us this concept from a biblical perspective.

Because God always wants us to move from truth to experience And not from experience to truth. And I don't think it's possible for us to explore the depth Of what this life is all about Unless you and I come to grips with it As it manifested itself upon the life And the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now maybe you are like me. I'm one of those people I consistently need encouragement. And when I began to study this subject in my library. And I never allow my library to interpret the Word of God for me.

I always want the Word of God to interpret my library. I want my library to scream from the walls of my study. Saying to me what God has been saying to you is absolutely true. But I remember sitting in my library studying this subject.

And the more I studied it The more I became crushed in the presence of God. Sitting in a corner and saying to the Lord Lord. I cannot compare my life ever with the life of Christ. Because he was not just sinless in his birth He was supernatural in his life.

And yet I don't think we will be able to come to grips with it Unless we see how this reality manifested itself Upon the life of the Savior. And I was encouraged by a little word At the end of the Gospel of Luke.

The Promise of the Spirit Upon Christ

You remember when Jesus turned to his disciples. And he made his statement. And he said to them I want you to tarry in Jerusalem. Until you have received this endowment from my Father. And the word in the Greek New Testament.

For the word tarry is a very profound little word. He looked upon them and he said to them. I want you to sit down. I want us to look at the subject this morning. Under three possible headings. I want us to consider the promise Of the unction of the Spirit of God Upon the life of Christ.

If we will have time I want us to look upon the purpose. Why was Jesus Christ anointed with the Holy Spirit of God. And if time would have allowed us today We would have considered the power Of the unction of the Spirit of God.

You know my wife often say to me Daddy you're just like one of these 747 jumbo jets. You never have a problem to take off. But you always have a problem to land again. I don't know how far we will be able to get With this material.

But let me try and cover some of these great aspects Of this life brother and sister. That we are talking about. A life being unctionized of God. A life that you discover in the lives Of some of the old Puritans.

That when these people preach I think of Jonathan Edwards And McChane of Scotland. That when they preached That the people were so vividly transparent They became so vulnerable in the presence of God.

That they would say of McChane of Scotland. That we felt that he knew absolutely everything about us. What is the promise of the Spirit of God Upon the life of Christ. There are two essentials to this promise That I would like to bring under your attention.

The first is what I would regard as the secret Of this promise upon the life of the Savior. And secondly the symbol of this promise upon his life. He said Gerard what was the secret of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why was it that people would listen to him. And they would say no man ever spoke like this man. Why was it that his life made a lasting impression Upon the lives of people. Why was it that they would say what gracious words Would come from the lips of the Son of God.

The Secret of Christ's Holy Life

What was the secret of his life. The first thing I would like to bring under your attention. And to me it is very very simple and to a degree That it was a life of holiness in the presence of God. I want to be absolutely transparent with you this morning My brother and sister.

And I want to utter these words to the inadequacy of my own soul. And I want to say to you that there is no possibility whatsoever That you and I will know the depth of the unction Of God the Holy Spirit upon our lives.

If we don't know the secret of the life of holiness. You say what about the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well you remember that marvelous statement in John chapter 17 When he prayed in his high priestly prayer.

And he made this great statement and this is what he said. He said Father I sanctify myself for the sake of my disciples. You see the meaning of the word sanctification. It's not so much for us to be set apart from this world As it means for us to be set apart unto God.

You see when my life as a Christian is set apart unto God. My brother and sister my life would be so saturated With the reality of the life of Christ. That this world and its sins and its influences And its awful reality will not have an effect upon my Christian life Because of the fact that I'm separated unto God.

You say what about the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well think of the words of the writer to the Hebrews When he made this statement about Christ. And he said he was holy. He was harmless.

He was undefiled. And he was separate from sinners. You see in his relationship to his father He became the holy son of God. In his relationship to his fellow men He was absolutely harmless. And in his relationship to his ministry He was undefiled.

And in his relationship to himself He became the prophet and the priest and the king. It was a life of holiness. There was the beauty of holiness. Listen my brother and sister Holiness it's not something that distracts people.

It makes them hungry for God. You say what about my relationship with God. Well let me take you to some New Testament passages of scripture. You remember in 1 Thessalonians That marvelous little epistle to the church of Thessalonica.

And I often say to myself If I would ever pastor a church again That those are the kind of group of people that I would like to deal with. They were a witnessing church. They were a sacrificing church.

They were a giving church. And yet Paul mentioned that in the first chapter. And then when he came to the third chapter He made this statement. And the Greek New Testament is so emphatic in its explanation.

Of when he virtually said this He said there is a burden upon my heart. And he said I pray for you day and night. Because I sense that there is something That is coming short in your faith. Something that is lacking in your faith.

And then he at the fifth chapter Will bring that burden to a moment of a climatic reality. When he prayed for them. And he made this statement He said I pray that the very God of peace Sanctify you through and through.

I love a German translation because of my background. It says Heiligen Druch und Druch. Now when you go to the Greek text in the New Testament It's incredibly emphatic. Because you're dealing with two marvelous words.

The first word is the Greek word halotilios. It means that God is able to sanctify me extensively. The second word is the Greek word halokleros. It means God is able to sanctify me experientially. My brother and sister the construction The structure in the text of the Greek language Is very profound.

Because it's what we would refer to as The eros imperative mood. It is what theologians would look upon and say. It's not linear which is ongoing. But it's punctilia. It's to the point I wondered this morning if I could ask you Is God in the process of sanctifying us to the point?

I think of the words of Urasius Bunar. He said I went to look for the world that I found there in the church. I went to look for the world the church and I found it in the world. My brother and my sister listen.

We are a distinctive society. We are not being isolated from this world. But we are infiltrating this world With the distinctiveness of the reality of the life of Christ. And those of us who are out there in the ministry Going to these churches.

And many of them are so sick. And they're so dominant by sin. I mean I've spent 90 of my time with pastors. And if I were telling you this morning The things that is coming sometimes out of the lives of these men Are just staggered.

And it often happens when God begins to break their hearts In days of prayer. And they just turn to me and they said I need to talk to you about something. And you know I've come to the place That I can expect anything coming from their lips.

And when I hear that little statement I need to say something. Then I sometimes just shudder and forgot. What is this going to be? You see we're speaking about the life of holiness. I wonder my brother and my sister If I can ask.

Because I want to say to you that life action ministry Will only be used of God To the degree that it is sanctified before God. You say why do you say that? Well God says be holy as I am holy. The writer to the Hebrews said Follow peace of all men And holiness with which out no man shall see.

Though listen my brothers and sisters. This message of a holy life Is not a popular message today. Because it breaks into every aspect of the self life. It brings the reality of the cross to us. And God said there's not going to be anything left of yourself.

Separation Unto God

Someone said to me some time ago In these conferences on prayer. And said why is it that you need to spend day after day in prayer? You know what I said to them? I said it's because we want to get out of the way.

So that God can do something. Can I ask you this morning my brother and my sister Are we set apart unto God? You see it's possible to be set apart from the truth. I mean I deal with people like that sometimes.

And I find these people all they believe in separation. And they stand for what they would consider as the doctrines of separation. But you know what I've discovered? They've never been separated unto God.

And there is a huge mess in between. I think of another great promise in the New Testament. You remember that great statement in 2nd Corinthians When Paul wrote to the church at Calvary. He made this statement in the 6th chapter.

And this is what he said to them. He said come ye out from among them and be ye separate sayeth the Lord. And he said that's not the unclean thing. And he said I will be a father unto you. And you shall be my sons and my daughters.

And then chapter 7 verse number 1 follows. And what did he say? He said having therefore these promises Dearly beloved. He said let us cleanse ourselves From all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit.

Perfecting holiness and the fear of God. You know what you discover when you study that verse? When he said let us cleanse ourselves From all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. Those are two distinctives.

The filthiness of the spirit. Those deeply embedded things That sometimes come to the surface. Not our actions but our reactions. Things that so often won't surface in normal situations. Because we have become masters of deception.

But sometimes they're in the quietness of our own situations. In the presence of God. Sometimes in the relationship with my closest family. These sins of the spirit They will surface. And Paul said having therefore these promises Are being consecrated to God.

He said let us cleanse ourselves From all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. It's again in the aorist imperative mood. He said let God through his work. You say Gerard how do I cleanse myself? You know the best way I can illustrate this concept Is like if I come to your house And somehow my vehicle broke down in front of the house.

And I've been in the engine trying to fix this. And knocked at the door of your house For a cup of tea. And you open the door. And you say oh welcome. And I said you know I've just been working in the engine of my vehicle.

And my hands is full of oil. And you would say I would say can I just wash my hands? You take me to a place. And there's a basin and a towel All toweled and some soap. And you put some water in. And I would stand there and say You know I wish my hands was clean.

I mean you look at me and say Oh you're from Africa. Just make yourself available. Prevalence is that you see the efficacy of the word of God. You see people that I've met through the years Who are sold out to God and his word.

Are people who are living lives set apart unto God. You see there's this washing efficacy in the word of God. Not just when we speak about salvation. I think that's when Peter made this statement. And he said you were born again.

Not of corruptible seed But of incorruptible Through the word of God Which liveth and abideth forever. And we see the emphasis upon scripture. When it comes to the concept of salvation I often look upon John chapter 3.

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus. And he said to him Unless a man is born out of water and the spirit He shall not see the kingdom of God. I often say to myself Was he speaking about the water of the word of God?

And here Paul comes in Ephesians chapter 5. And do you remember what he said? He said be not drunk with wine. Wherefore there is an excess. But he said be ye being full to the spirit. He said redeem the time.

Because the days of evil That means that time is a piece of eternity. But God wants us to analyze time. He wants us to maximize time. He wants us to utilize time. And then he makes this statement. When he speaks about the spirit-filled life.

He said be full to the spirit. On a consistent basis. And as he explored that. And he said what is the spirit-filled life? He said why submit yourselves to your husband. Well he said it's spiritual submission.

He said sing to yourselves in psalms And hymns and spiritual sounds. What's that? That's spiritual worship. He said husbands love your wives. As Christ love a church. That's spiritual sacrifice. And then he made this statement.

He said as Christ love a church. So that he might sanctify it Through the washing of the word. I wonder this morning If I could ask you in this little gathering In the presence of God. Is there a longing in my heart to live a holy life?

Holiness Seen in Family and Ministry

Brethren and sisters I'm not speaking of extremism. I'm speaking about the beauty of the brokenness of holiness. That's something that makes people so hungry for God. I'll never forget you know my daughter.

She came to Christ when she was three and a half years old. And we were on our back. As my wife does children's work. And study under Ellie Maxwell at Prairie Bible Institute. And we were at a conference out in the prairies And driving back.

And I was dealing with the adults and Janice and the children. There was little Monica sitting through all these sessions. And we were driving back. And there was this little tap on my shoulder. As we drove back home.

And I said, what is it? And she said, Daddy I want to know about in saved. And so I began to explain to her as we were driving. And you know she said, but how will I know? And I said, well you know you need to be born again.

And she said what does that mean? And I tried to explain to her. And she said, well how will I know that this has happened? And I said, you know the witness of the Holy Spirit. And she said, what's that?

And my wife sat next to me and bumped me on my ribs. And said, get down to a level. And I said, why did you do that? You know I mean that's what my wife does. And she said, no she's asking you. And so I tried you know.

You know God is a straight line with a crooked street. You know God used nobody. Isn't that great? And so I went on and as we were driving She tapped me on my shoulder again. And she said, will you stop?

And I stopped And parked the van and said, what is it? She said, I want to be saved. I want to be saved right now. God saved her. We saw the difference in her life. And so we came back home. And we were in our old house.

And we had a basement And had a big area where I used to see God Before we moved to another house. And the best times in the morning with me. It's the early hours of the morning. No phone, it's quiet and everything.

And I would be there trying to seek the face of God. You see, are you doing well there? I don't think so I mean you just said, Lord I've got nowhere to go. You need to come. And God does it. And I remember one morning.

It was one of these mornings. You know when this sanctifying reality Our scripture came. And there was just this watching of God Through the mind The emotions The heart The body and its instincts. Just the word comes in Watching and watching.

And I didn't want to go anywhere that day. And eight o 'clock every morning My wife would send me down And said, go and call daddy for breakfast. And I was on my knees Under this blanket in the window Just smashed up before God.

And I heard the little footsteps coming down. And as I came, the door opened. And there was this three and a half, four year old standing. And she looked at me Just being saved. And she knew that I met with God.

She didn't want to call me for breakfast. And I could sense the hesitation. And I look up as she was standing there. And our eyes connected. And I knew she didn't want to disturb me. And as our eyes connected, I looked at her.

And I said, Monica, come here. Very carefully she came. And when she came close to me, I grabbed her. And I folded the blanket over her. I said, God Entrust unto her this something. You know, Andrew Murray.

Five hundred of his descendants. Were prayed into the ministry. Some of us sit here this morning. And the Previous Sister, you've got family. You've got children. Listen, no ministry goes further than our family.

It's a life of holiness in the presence of God. Can I ask you this morning. Are you yearning for... You say, why do you say that you are... Listen, the Holy Spirit in me is a Holy Spirit. He wants me to live a holy life.

I wonder this morning, many of us who sit here. My brother, my sister. Do we know the secret of it? Is there a yearning? Do you know it comes through in our ministry? The things that we are doing for God.

You say, what is it? There's a fragrance about it. There's something about it. Brother and sister, we can't fool people. I mean, they look and they know if we are real. They know if there is a sense of reality.

Yieldedness and the Spirit-Filled Life

...of holiness. Never forget preaching in a church out in British Columbia. And end of the morning service. One of the larger churches in the morning service. Fellow in his late thirties. Came running down from the balcony of his church.

Conservative congregation, if I may say that. Coming running down out of his Conservative Alliance church. And ran down the island. Running, found himself running into my arms. As I was coming down from the pulpit.

And so I knew he needed help. Just broken up. We sat down and I said, what's it? He said, my name is Peter. He said, I got saved 24 months ago. And he said, I need help. I said, what's up? He said, Gerard, 22 months.

He said, I was ablaze for God. What do you mean? He said, I studied the scriptures. He said, I pray. He said, I witnessed the people. He said, I couldn't wait for the services to start. And he explored the depth of his hunger.

That he had for God. And I said, so what happened? And he said, eight weeks ago. After the morning service. He said, one of the older men in the church came to me. And he took me into a corner. And put his hand, arm around my shoulder.

And he whispered into my ear. And said, Peter, it's time that you calm down. One of these days. You're just going to be like the rest of us. He threw his arms in the air. And said, I'm just becoming like the rest of them.

Can I ask you this morning. Are you a different organization? Is there a distinctiveness? Are there people that are saying Before you come to a church. You know, maybe we shouldn't do it. Because it's going to cost us too much.

I think of the pastor I met some time ago. We were discussing a prayer conference. And he said to me, what is it going to cost? And I just said, it's going to cost you absolutely everything. I said, it could cost your ministry.

Well, that scares the life out of the average American pastor. My brother and sister, we're dealing with reality. You say, why? Because we're standing for revival. I think of these themes going out. Listen, this is not just crusades.

Every crusade is the possibility. That God could come and visit in such a way. That it could affect the whole movement. It's something else. Do you know where he was? It was the life of yieldedness. Can I share with you something this morning?

You know, this is the beauty of this. This secret in his life. Brother and sister. The spirit-filled life is never meant to become a goal. It's always a gateway. Do you know the beauty of this reality?

Of what we are speaking about? Is that you can't sit here this morning and say Gerard, you know what? There was a time in my life when I met with God. In a deeper way of revival. And God did a work in my life.

And God cleansed me. And the spirit of God was in my life as a person. Whom I received when I was saved. Somehow, instead of being resident The spirit of God became precedent. I yielded my life to Him.