Knowing Christ Pt 3 — Philip Powell

The World Passes Away

Verse 17, and the world, remember the third test as to whether we know Christ is that we do not love the world, that's one of the things. And then he says, and the world passes away, it's impermanent, and the lust thereof, the world, what is the world?

It's not just worldliness in the sense of going to cinemas or all that, although I think you have to be careful about that as well. But, or you know, associating with people in certain contexts, you have to be careful about that.

The Bible says, blessed is the man who sitteth not in the seat of the scornful, nor standeth in the way of sinners. And so we have to be careful about that. But that's not the measure of it. The measure of the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

And the great thing about it, the interesting thing about it is that we spend so much time in that area very often, but it's going to be impermanent, it's passing away. And the world passes away and the lust thereof.

That's the difference between lust and love. Well, one of the differences, there are others of course. But love is eternal because it is of the nature of God. But lust passes away, passes away ultimately in judgment, of course.

But he that does the will of God abides forever. Little children, there's that expression again, as we pointed out, it's an endearment term. My little one, my precious one, my mon petit, my cherie, you know, you can throw in lots of expressions there.

Antichrists and the Signs of the Last Time

Little children, it is the last time. How do we know it's the last time? Well, you've heard that Antichrist shall come in the last time. But even now, 2 ,000 years ago, there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time.

It's something that was literal then. What is the last time? Peter talks about it on the day of Pentecost. I pour out my spirit upon all flesh in the last time. So, there is the sense of the last time because it's the last dealing of God with humankind.

It's a particular era, a particular dispensation, what we call the dispensation of grace. There have been other dispensations when God has been dealing with men on a different basis. The law, for example, is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

But now, here's the dispensation of grace and it's the last time. So, he says, okay, we know it's the last time because there are many Antichrists. Not those simply who are against Christ. That word doesn't just mean that.

It means those who replace Christ. And he says there are many who are trying to replace Christ. But he's also not only stating that in respect of that time, but towards the final time. He's saying one of the big signs that you will know that Christ is coming, that it is the end time, is that there will be a multiplication of Antichrists.

Those who claim to be Christ. Popes, but not only the Pope in the Roman Catholic system, but leaders in Pentecostal situations and charismatic churches and any church you like to think of who puts themselves up there, who are always preaching themselves, who are claiming special, special anointings, Antichrist.

They're putting themselves in the place of Christ. Now, that's what he's saying. And he says, you will know by this token, this is one of the major signs actually. Okay, there are earthquakes, there are the graphic signs, there are the warfares and all of that.

But this is the predominant sign that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24 and that is referred to here again. When they came to Jesus and said, tell us Lord, when will these things be? That is, when will the temple be destroyed?

What will be the sign of your coming of the end of the age? The first thing he said, he said, let no man deceive you for there will arise many false Christ. Now, this is what he's saying again here. So, it's the thing that we've got to focus on and it's unfortunate that some people get upset when we say, well, they can't be Christ because their teaching is so false to the Bible and they get upset.

And I don't like people getting upset with me, but you know, that's it. We've got to take a stand for truth, haven't we? So, there it is. They even now are there many Christ, whereby we know that it's the last time.

The Anointing from the Holy One

And then he says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

But you have an unction, that's an old English word and it could have been translated as the same word that is rendered lower down in verse 27 as anointing. So, it's precisely that. But you have an anointing from the Holy One.

Notice that, the Holy One. And you know all things. Okay, what does it mean to know all things? We'll have a look at that in a moment. I have not written unto you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it.

And that no lies of the truth, who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is anti-Christ. He puts himself in the place of Christ, that denies the Father and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.

Notice that's in italics actually, in the King James Version. It wasn't in the original, but the translators put it in because it had some significance in respect of the whole context of what is being said.

But that first part can stand on its own. Whosoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. The Son and the Father are joined. Jesus said, I and my Father are one. So you deny one, you deny the other.

There's a lot of people now who are denying the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, Jesus-only people. One of the big, big preachers that came across from America recently, went to Paradise Assembly of God.

His name is T .D. Jakes, has a huge church in America, 30 ,000 people. He denies the Father and the Son because he does not accept the three people, persons in the Trinity, the Godhead. And he says right here, whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father.

The Jesus-only thing and lots of those sort of things actually fits into here. Verse 24, let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you shall also continue in the Son, and there it is again, in the Son and in the Father.

And this is the promise that He has promised unto us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you or deceive you. And now this final verse, but the anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.

Knowing Christ Through Intimacy

Okay, let's go back to our basic theme. Question, how do you know that you know Christ? One of the verses that Brother Bill quoted a lot at the camp was John 17 verse 3, and this is life eternal that they might know you.

So you say, I've got eternal life. Okay, have you really got eternal life? Do you really know Christ? And this is a life eternal that you know, that they might know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Now, always in the idea of the Jewish mind and also in the Greek language, the idea of knowing had the thought of intimacy. That's why in the Old Testament it's used as a euphemism for the sexual act.

It says, and Adam knew his wife. There was intimacy, and it carries the wife through. And so when it comes to the idea of knowing Christ, it is used in that sense of knowing Him intimately. This is why the analogy is used in the New Testament of Christ and the bride.

The bride has to keep herself pure. She has to keep herself chaste. Paul says, I have betrothed you. I have sort of engaged you to Christ in the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. But he says, I want to present you as a chaste virgin, that you keep yourself.

That's why we're not to love the world, and we're not to allow the things of the world to come in. The bride belongs to the husband. She doesn't belong to anybody else, and there's that intimacy. And so there's that intimacy with Christ.

So we have to be careful about outside bodies which would seek to intrude in those areas. And this is one of the measures of our knowing Christ, that we might know Him. Okay, how do we know that we know Christ?

Keeping Christ's Commandments

Let me just quickly run down for those who haven't been with us, but it's all on tape if you want it. There's a five-fold answer of John. First of all, John says, verses three to eight of this chapter, but in particular verse three, that we know that we know Christ because we keep His commandments.

Verse three says, and hereby do we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. All right. It's not how we feel, how we enjoy, or sense. Wasn't that marvelous? You know, that's important to know that we sense the presence of God.

But do we keep His commandments? That's the issue. We used to sing a song, and I don't know if we could perhaps pick it up as the final, maybe today. The greatest thing in all my life, and I think the order is right.

Sometimes congregations turn them around and sing it in different order, but I think this order is important. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. That's where it starts. And to know Christ is to love Christ.

So, the greatest thing in all my life is loving you. All right. So, we know Christ, we love Christ. But that leads to the next thing, which is obeying Christ. So, the greatest thing in all my life is serving you.

To know Christ is to love Christ, is to serve Christ. This is how we know that we know Christ, that we keep His commandments. The keeping of the commandments now is from the inside, but it expresses itself outwardly.

In the Old Testament, this was the big difference. When they came to Mount Sinai, before the children of Israel knew what God was going to command three times, they said, everything that the Lord commands, we will do.

They didn't even know what He was going to ask for. It seemed like a great expression of obedience, but it wasn't. It revealed the blindness of sin. They didn't know their only weakness, nor did they know the high standard of God.

But what does the Bible say? The time will come when He'll write His what? Law in our hearts. How does He do that? He does it by coming into us Himself. Christ in you. We are in Christ, but Christ is in us.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. And when He comes, He brings His love with Him, so that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And out of that love for Him, we keep His commandments.

So, it starts internally. It's not difficult. That's why He says, my commandments are not grievous. They were very grievous in the Old Testament, because it was all a human effort thing. But now it is no longer that.

It is God having worked His grace in our lives, and we simply work out what He has worked in, so that that love becomes the fulfillment of the law. The greatest command, what is it? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.

And Jesus said, you haven't asked me what this one is, but I'll tell you what it is. The second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. And so, these, He says, all of the law and the testimony, everything, hangs on these two things.

So, He does that. So, the greatest thing in all my life is knowing Him. I've got to come to know Him before I can do any of that. And then I love Him, I serve Him, I obey Him. Alright, so the first thing is, we know that we know Christ, or you know that you know Christ, if you keep His commandments.

Loving the Family of God

But it's not just the one thing. It's all of this. It's all five of them. The second thing is that you love His family. You are part of His family now. And I am part of His family. So, maybe sometimes you won't like me, but you've still got to love me.

And I've got to love you. Now, love is not just agreeing all the time. And this is where people get confused. Love is correcting. Love is chastening. Love is pointing things out. If a brother is going to go astray in the fellowship, and you can see the danger, you're not loving him if you keep quiet about it.

Mind you, you've got to do it in a particular way and be careful how you do it. But don't withhold that which is necessary. That's the love that is so important. Love of His family. If you keep Him, if you keep His commandments, then you're going to love His family.

We're part of His family. Verse 10 says, He who loves his brother abides in the light. And there is no occasion of stumbling in Him. In other words, He doesn't put up a stumbling block. You may create a stumbling block, but He doesn't create that stumbling block.

If you love the brother and he loves you, then you're both abiding in the light, and there's no need to stumble. We're all human. None of us is better than the other. We might have learned a few more things than another or whatever.

We may be more developed, more mature spiritually, but we're not better. The pastor is not better than the person in the pew. I remember the statement made by a godly man when I was a young boy, a young fellow in Bible school, and he said, listen, he said, the man who does the most menial job out there in the world, and he's doing it in the will of God, is more important than the pastor in the pulpit who is out of the will of God.

That's true. It's all a question of the will of God. We've got a calling. We've got a calling. Each of us has a different calling, but we have to love the family of God. We have to love the people of God.

Rejecting the World and Its Enemies

The third thing is that you reject his enemies. This is what we talked about last time we were together, where it says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Verse 15. So, we reject his enemies. Christ is at enmity with the world. That's a worldly system, and that worldly system has crowded into the church, and the church and the preachers, and they've just thrown their arms open wide, and they said, come on in.

Why? Because we want to increase our numbers, so we've got to get with it. So, we've got to become relevant, and they become so relevant that they become irrelevant. You see, the very fact of the church is that it's different.

It's not part of that society. It's different. Now, I'm not talking about being stupid. I'm not talking about, you know, dressing in such a way that everything is, you know, divided off, or we don't do, you know, we're not in the world sort of thing.

We are in the world, and we're a part of that system, but what we have to watch is the principles that govern that system, and the practices that govern that system. You know, this is why I said at the camp, and I say it again, I cannot see how the church can establish a political party.

I cannot see how it can possibly do it, because of this one reason that in politics, it has to be based on the popularist view. It's got to be that way, and, you know, I mean, it's been revealed over and over again that that's what has to happen.

That you start down that track, and you say, we're going to establish a party, and, you know, it's all going to have the right morals, and everything. You see, we're forgetting a lot of things, that the moral sinner is as lost as the immoral sinner, right?

And you can impose morality, or try to. It'll never work. It can't work. It has to be a choice of the heart, and this is where God is ordained, not by political maneuvering, but by the preaching of the gospel.

When the church, I said in an article recently, and somebody's challenged me about it, and we're going to have a bit of a consideration of it in the next couple of issues of contending earnestly. He said, you know, you say that if the church becomes political, it ceases to be prophetic.

He said, I would suggest that it's only as the church becomes political that it is prophetic. No, no, no. That's what they tried back way, way back in Roman history, when, when, who was it? I've forgotten his name now, but one of the emperors enforced Constantine.

That's right, enforced the Christian ethic. He said, we'll now make everybody Christian. It doesn't work. It corrupts the whole thing. The church has to be out there, taking its stand where it belongs, and proclaiming in there.

But you go in there, you have to become a part of that. I'm not saying that individuals can't be. I think we need good Christian politicians. I can't see how men who have given themselves to ministry all their lives, and they've come to the retirement age.

I can't see any reason for them going into politics, other than to get the ninety thousand dollars that's, you know, part of the salary. Sorry if I'm being a bit cynical, but that's the fact. That's the fact of the matter.

If a man is called by God to the ministry, and he deviates right at the end, he's still deviated. You cannot mix the two. A young man who is a lawyer or something, and feels called to go into politics, no problem.

He has a good Christian ethic. He's giving his life to that, and he can serve, and he can, he can do something. I've got no problem with that. A number of us could have done that, except that the call of God was bigger, greater.

I remember my good friend, Phil Hills. I still love him and respect him. He said, if I became a politician, I would miss the will of God. That's what he said. I believe he's right. Things haven't changed.

The Fourth Measure: The Anointing

Okay, you reject his enemies. And now, this is the thing that I want to bring today. The fourth thing, you share his energy of life. Item four. But you have an anointing. What is the anointing? You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

This is the fourth measure of how we know that we know Christ. The last, which we'll deal with next week, is that you emulate his attitude and actions. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of God.

There are certain leading questions that are suggested by this topic today. What is the anointing is one of the questions. But there's another question, which is more basic. What is the church? There are many now that are in the church, but they're not of the church.

Just like we're supposed to be in the world, but not of the world. So now, the thing has become reversed. And there's a lot of people who are in the church, but they're not of the church. They don't have the anointing.

They don't have the energy of life. They don't have the thing that makes them tick, which is the life of God. And so, the whole thing has got reversed. And you've got a situation now where there's a big difference between the true church, which are the called out ones that belong to Jesus Christ, and Christendom, which is that huge monolithic thing out there, made up of all sorts of denominations.

Now, it's not just the Roman Catholic. It's the whole thing. But that's the fundamental question. And when we talk about the anointing, I think the fundamental question is to ask, what is the anointing?

So, I want to just take a few things here, which I hope will help you. I want to talk about the anointing and the correlation of the anointing in the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is a difference.

Anointing Objects and the Fulfillment in Christ

The first time you'll have the concept of the anointing in the Old Testament is with Jacob. When Jacob was running away from Esau, and he came to a place, you remember what the name of the place was? What was it called first?

I remember Pastor Morgan met three young men, and he said, what were the name of the three Hebrew lads? But he said, I don't want their Babylonish name. He said, I want their Hebrew name. Fellas, did you come up with the answer eventually?

Yes, you did. What were they? Was it, did it start with Azariah? Hananiah. There you are. Good boys. Excellent. Excellent. What were the Babylonish names? Everybody knows that, don't they? Shake the bed, make the bed, and throw the bed over, was it?

Meshach, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, okay? And everybody knows those. That's the Babylonish name. Bethel was the place, but we know that because Jacob called it that. But it was called Luz at first, wasn't it?

He came to this place called Luz, and God came to him that night, and he had a vision and a revelation of God. And the next morning, he got up and he took a pillar, which, no, no, no, it was a pillow.

It was a stone, wasn't it? A pillow is a stone laid that way, although I wouldn't like to lie my head on a stone, but maybe Bill Randles will be out in the back somewhere along the way. But there it is.

There's a stone as a pillow, but the thing that had taken him that night was that God had appeared to him, and he said, my oh my, God is in this place, and I didn't know it. And he took the pillow, and he turned it into a pillar.

He took it and turned it up the other way, and he anointed it, the Bible says, with oil. Actually, the expression is he poured oil over it. That's Genesis 28 verse 18, but in the parallel passage, when we have reference to it, God appears to him as Jacob is coming back to his own land, and God said to him, I am the God of Bethel.

I am the God of the house of God, where you anointed the pillar. So, anointing had to do with objects, first of all. Now, nowhere in the New Testament you can have objects that are anointed. Places are not sacred.

Objects are not anointed. Somebody might say, well, what about the handkerchiefs that, you know, Pentecostals anoint? Well, they based it on a very, very questionable incident in the New Testament, and it doesn't say they were anointed.

Nowhere. Nowhere does it say they were anointed. Actually, I think it's very important to see the whole context of that issue that took place. Acts chapter 19 verse 8, and it talks about Paul. I think it's Acts 19.

I hope I've got the right chapter. Is it Acts chapter 19? I think it is. Let me have a quick look, and what happened there, and it says that it was very special. So, I mean, if a thing is special, why do we try and make it a regular occurrence?

Acts chapter 19, is it verse 8? Is it Acts chapter? Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, I think, yeah, all right, that's fine. I've just taken a run-in from verse 8, and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

There's something very wonderful taking place at Ephesus. And when divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And then verse 11, it says, and God wrought special miracles.

Notice, it's not just ordinary miracles, it's special. This is the only time we ever read of it. And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.

Nowhere does it say they were anointed. They were taken from his body. God was doing something very special. And yet, you know, some have turned that into a routine activity, so much so that people say, okay, here's a….

Marilyn Hickey says this, here's a little container of oil, and it's been specially anointed, because R. Roberts has washed his hands in it. And that would turn me off right away. Sorry. But, you know, and we have done it, and all you've got to do is send us $35, and you can have this, and it'll speak all sorts of miracles.

That's merchandising the gospel. That's dreadful. They are making merchandise of you. Paul didn't sell it anyway, but I mean, it was nothing to do with that. And yet, that is the try to project those sort of ideas on.

So, nowhere in the New Testament, I don't think anywhere, you put me right. If I'm wrong, I don't think anywhere you'll find that an object was ever anointed, because there's certain typology that's going on in the Old Testament.

And so, you have, for example, the tabernacle furniture, it was anointed, because it has significance, which is going to find its fulfillment in the anti-type. Now, here's a rule. No servant of Christ is an anti-type of any type in the Old Testament.

Christ is always the anti-type. Right? And do you know what I mean by anti-type? He is the fulfilling of the type. In the Old Testament, you have lessons, which are being taught in what we call typology or typology.

The pictures. But all of those have a fulfillment in Christ. They don't have a fulfillment in the church, they don't have a fulfillment in the people. This is where people have gone astray. They have a fulfillment in Christ.

Christ is the anti-type of all types. Does that explain the term anti-type? Everybody got the idea? It's the fulfillment of it. So, every object that had significance, and this thing with the pillar had significance, because the pouring of the oil set it apart as a man of Samaria came to Him and said, tell me, you know, which is right?

Is it Jerusalem or is it Mount Gerizim? Where should we worship? Our people say it's Mount Gerizim, but you Jews say it's Jerusalem. And Jesus said it's neither and yet it's both. Because God is spirit, He seeks those to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

So, the time has come now, He says, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. It's no longer location, it's no longer objects. All of that is fulfilled in Christ.

Right? Now, the same thing with regard to people. The people are anointed in the New Testament. A person who is sick was anointed with oil, because that was a symbolic thing. And it says the prayer of faith shall save the sick.

Not the oil, but the prayer of faith. The oil in what it represents, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, symbolizing God coming into the situation, and that's okay, as a symbol, that's alright. But it doesn't heal, it's the prayer of faith.

So, in the New Testament, you do have occasions when people are spoken of as being anointed, and that is one such occasion, but it has nothing to do with their spiritual position. It has to do with the need of their body and the fact of provision for healing.

Christ as Priest, Prophet, and King

But in the Old Testament, you have certain individuals that were anointed. You have the priest that was anointed. Well, who's the great priest now? Christ. Right? The prophet was occasionally anointed.

Who is the prophet now? Christ. The king was anointed, always anointed. The prophet wasn't always anointed. But the king always was anointed. Who's the king now? Christ. We're not prophets in that same sense.

We're not priests in that same sense. We are not kings in that same sense. Now, we are told that we are a kingdom of priests, you know. The book of the Revelation, where it says, we are made kings and priests, it's a wrong translation.

It should be, we are made a kingdom of priests. So, we're all one there, and there is anointing on that, which I'll explain in a moment. So, you have to see the difference between the Old Testament anointing and the New Testament anointing.

The Holy Anointing Oil and the Flesh

Now, in the Old Testament, there were certain things about the anointing. Let me just take you for a moment, very quickly, to, I was just looking at it as I was sitting in the seat there. Exodus chapter 30, I think it's Exodus 30, verse 25 talks about the anointing oil.

You will make it an oil of a holy anointment, anointment compound from the art of the apothecary. It's the anointing oil which was made to be poured on the priest. And verse 32 says, upon man's flesh shall it not be poured.

Right? So, the anointing, even in the Old Testament, wasn't to be poured on the flesh. Why? Because it symbolised the Holy Spirit. He hasn't come to magnify the flesh. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh.

When a man stands up there and waves his jacket and everybody falls over, and he's basically saying, look at me, how great I am. You know what the problem is? Flesh. No anointing there. Doesn't matter what he claims.

There is no anointing there. If a man claims to have the anointing, as Pastor Bill said at the camp, and I agree with him totally, and he's not living a holy life, just dismiss it. It's not anointing.

Anointing doesn't protect you from sin. The blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses from sin. And when you're cleansed from sin, the anointing comes on a holy life. So, upon man's flesh shall it not be poured.

And then this other thing, neither shall you make any like it. Nobody was to, although they were given the constituents of this special anointing oil, on threat of death, nobody was to make it, except those for sacred purpose, because it represents the Holy Spirit.

That's why when you get into meetings where, you know, the whole thing is zooped up and, and, you know, you know, hyped up, it's an attempt to make something. And it's dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

You shall not make anything like it. In the Old Testament, you had God starting the fire in the tabernacle, but then we read of an occasion when the priest, the sons of Levi, brought their own fire. It was strange fire.

You remember what happened? The judgment of God came on them. They looked at the fire one morning. They said, no, it's not, not doing too well, is it? We'll, we'll put that out. We'll, we'll create our own.

You can't do that. That's dangerous. Wonderful thing about the Lord Jesus. It says, Matthew chapter 12, a bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench until he has set judgment in the earth.

Every word that God begins, he does not discard. If the flame is flickering, we are not to put it out. We are to fan it into a blaze again. Hallelujah. The oil was very sacred. Now, the fulfillment of all of that, both ways, is in Psalm 133.

Unity, Truth, and the Body of Christ

Psalm 133 talks about dwelling together in unity. Most people miss this. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. That's true. Unity is very important, but there's something more fundamental than unity, and that is truth.

If you don't love the truth, ultimately, even God turns against you and deceives you. When we are engrafted into Christ, we are engrafted into truth, and the thing that motivates us now is the nature of Christ, which is truth.

So, truth is far more fundamental than unity. I want unity, but I'm not going to have unity at any price, because truth is more fundamental than unity. So, I have to stand for the truth. We have to contend earnestly for the faith.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. A lot of people have bought this idea that unity is strength, and they've gone down that road. I heard it so many times when I was part of the structure, but Phil, you know, we've got to be united.

I said, there's something more important than that, and you ignore that, ultimately, you're going to go astray. It's good that we dwell together in unity. What's it like? It's like the precious ointment, holy anointing oil, upon the head.