Anointing of the Holy Spirit | 1 John 2:20-27

Alright, does anybody know where we're at? Not second

John First John chapter 2, but I knew what you meant.

So good job And we're gonna wrap up first John chapter 2 today.

Can y 'all believe it? We're getting through the longest chapter in first John I'm getting a lot of surprise faces like we'll believe it when we see it

Yeah, so something important that we do every single time is we talk about context and I always want to review the context

So that's fresh in our minds as we examine the current text So a few things that we've talked about for a number of weeks now is fellowship

Okay, so sometimes people understand fellowship is all we just kind of get together and have a good time

But that's not what that's not how John has been using the word fellowship Aaron help me out.

What is Christian fellowship look like? Being together, but not just together.

It's being together Knowing that we are

In the word. Yeah We're we're together in a different sense with how the world gets together and does stuff we get together in truth

We get to gather to worship God So it's so much deeper so much richer so much full like you're getting it we have a togetherness that is distinct from the world and So our fellowship is with the

Saints and with God and so John has been talking about how our Koinonia our fellowship is with the

Father and Necessarily with the Son and so y 'all may remember last week. We talked a little bit about the

Spirit, right? You either have the Spirit. I say last week. It was two weeks ago. We either have the Spirit of Christ or the

Spirit of remember Antichrist So it's important and really those the only the only two categories you can be in you're either a son of God or son of the devil you either have the

Spirit of Christ or a Spirit of Antichrist So when we're in fellowship so much deeper

Right. What's something else? We've been talking about in first John Liberty.

What do you remember? Yes, so especially in verse 5 of chapter 1

God is light and in him. There is no darkness at all So what's something that we've we've talked about there

Liberty with what God is? God is sinless

He is holy and I believe it's James chapter 1 that tells us that God is so holy that he cannot even be tempted

With evil much less tempt us right God is sovereign has a purpose in all things

But if they understand Satan is the great tempter, right we get easily enticed bar by our flesh

But God altogether something different. He is set apart meaning he is holy

Right, and that's the standard and we all fall short of that standard. So good We've also talked about walking in the light and walking in darkness.

What's the differences there? What do you think Josiah? What's walking in the lightning? Perfect answer obeying

God, I mean that's perfect walking in the light as he is in the light obeying him desiring to know him more

Avery what is walking in the darkness? Yes, which member we talked about I think it's first John chapter 2 verse 16 all that's in the world

Lust of the eyes lust of the flesh and the pride of life, which is sin Living a life devoid of glorifying

God, what's the chief end of man someone help me out? Yes, chief end of man is to glorify

God and to enjoy him forever However, if you don't enjoy him if you don't know him if you don't look to Jesus in faith alone

You still will glorify God, but how I know

I know how to I know The right mindset, but I don't know how to say it

They best want to hop in there How can somebody who's not enjoying God and sweet relationships still glorify

God with their life and the Day of Judgment? Avery They're doing his will and God will be glorified in his justice and his wrath against him

So my point is I would rather enjoy sweet fellowship with God Right rather than my life be to his glory

With his justice and his wrath, you know, I mean But it what's wonderful is when you're saved

The Creator is no longer your judge, but Heavenly Father and we're adopted into a loving family

But to someone who doesn't know God is father. He is their judge You know what?

I mean? And so that's the situation every man is in is we're all We've all sinned before God We've all chose to rebel against our

Creator and we'll be held accountable for that and so the gospel is paramount the utmost importance and so we've talked about two different kinds of teachings or Spirits that rival the gospel of grace.

Do y 'all remember the two L's? Nailed it.

Do you so what is legalism? Lauren what do you got for Lee?

What is legal? Why is it? Why does legalism war against the gospel? No, no works righteousness

My works of obedience are what's going to save me and keep me saved. That's legalism to the core in legalism will look at verses

Like in chapter 2 verse 5 that said well and look at verse verse 4 and 5 together Whoever says

I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected

And so the legalist is gonna say see you got to keep the commandments You have to keep his word or you cannot be saved

And we're like, mmm, that's not what John's saying He's talking about if you have a transformed heart by the

Spirit if you are in fellowship with the Son and with the Father You desire to keep these how do we know that well that word know whoever says

I know him But does not keep the commandments. Well, he doesn't truly know him because if you're in sweet relationship

With Christ, then you desire to live your life to glorify him You know,

I mean so legalism is wrong when you're looking to yourself to do good works to earn favor with God And some people say well, yes,

I'm doing all I can to obey But that's not earning salvation I'm like that's literally the definition like if you're looking to yourself and your obedience and not to the perfection of Jesus You're literally trying to earn

Salvation like the Pharisees did and the Pharisees who were trying to earn their salvation by keeping the law

Which is holy righteous and good and they're not getting in then that means whatever other system that's trying to earn

God's favor With obedience is gonna fall short. You know, I mean, so that's legalism

And then what's the other extreme opposite? Justin said licentiousness. The other word is antinomianism.

What is that? Avery Avery but aren't we no longer under law but under grace

So doesn't that mean that I can just kind of sin so grace may abound that's what Paul says

Am I taking those verses out of context? Oh Man context is so huge because Paul's point is we're no longer under the ceremonial laws

Jesus fulfilled all that that we're pointing to him and our heart isn't to try to Outsin God's grace.

No, we want to live life to the glory of God Why would we go back to the old self when Christ rescued us from the old self?

That was in opposition to God doesn't make sense. So no, we don't have a license to sin But when we do we have an advocate with the

Father so Lauren, what do you remember about advocate? Kind of like the the middleman

I really like that a mediator Which is another key term elsewhere in Scripture that Jesus is our mediator the

Holy Spirit is our mediator the Holy Spirit is also called our advocate or Most translations say comforter or helper.

It's the same word used about Jesus in first John 2 1 So, what do you remember in the courtroom setting about what an advocate looks like?

Yeah, I remember we talked about defense attorney think about God The Father is judge Jesus is our defense attorney and who is the prosecutor?

Who's the prosecutor trying to hurl? Accusations against against us that we're not worthy

Satan he's the great accuser right and Jesus has the best arguments that comes to our defense and says no

He's mine, right who can bring a charge against God's elect No one nothing in all of creation could possibly separate us from the love that we have in Christ Jesus Isn't that beautiful?

So if you're looking to the biblical Jesus in faith meaning that you love him then that's from outside of this world

That was granted from above So for those of us that have taste and seen that the Lord is good.

We know as 1st John 5 13 says John says

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God That you may know you have eternal life.

It's eternally settled right when we're walking in the light. That's permanent Isn't that awesome?

You know you may say But oh man, and does that mean I can't sin sometimes and does that mean that I can walk in darkness well

For the person that's walking in the light that's permanent, but we still war against sin

We don't desire to live our lives in sin and find joy in that no when

Christians sin It's convicting because we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us right and we fight against sin

We get Christian accountability like this when we're like hey, we call up A brother in the faith and say

I need to talk about spiritual truths That's things that we get to do as we're walking in the light so a lot of that's helping us with context and so I Remember two weeks ago

We talked a lot about Antichrists and we talked about people leaving the church, and what do we make of that?

Isn't it discouraging on one hand when people leave the church absolutely? but Verse 19 says they went out from us

But they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us

But they went out that it might become plain that they were not all of us And so this is the

Antichrist. This is someone who possesses the spirit of Antichrist Especially in the immediate context of John in the first century

These were the Gnostics does anybody have any idea of what Gnosticism taught back in the

Gnostics said well You know we believe in God who is spirit, but we also believe and he is good

But then matter is evil and so the the two can't touch and so does anybody know why this totally takes away an important doctrine to Christianity if God is spirit only and cannot become flesh and become matter and Matter is evil.

What key doctrine in Christianity does that take away? 100 % remember the name the important name of that doctrine when he took on flesh the incarnation

So this is like John chapter 1 literally in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was

God Verse 14 and the word took on flesh and dwelt among us

And that awesome so the word is Jesus Jesus took on flesh because he represents humanity

It's like Lauren said it defeats the whole purpose to say that God can't become a man because we need a perfect perfect Representative on our behalf to account for our sin.

That's what Jesus did on the cross So check out the the profound mystery of what had to occur You you have to pay for your own sin

It has to be dealt with like a human has to account for that but for an eternal standard

Something that man cannot do unless he's going to be punished for eternity So literally God who is eternity took on flesh to represent us

No, you well I hear arguments all the time like God cannot become or this thing humanity was added to Divinity, so they're not contradictory and I would say because God is omnipotent all -powerful

He alone can do that. So on the argument says that God Can't take on flesh.

The point is well if he's if he's not all -powerful Maybe he can't but since he is he basically gets to determine the rules

You know, I mean now he's never gonna lie. He cannot lie He can't deny himself scripture tells us that but I would actually say the

Old Testament Predicted that God would become a man. I remember one of the famous Christmas verses

What is it Isaiah 9 6 for for unto us a child is born a son is

Given and his name will be wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father

These are categories that only point to God and he's going to be a child remember

Isaiah 7 14 says that a virgin will bear a child essentially

Well, this is talking about the virgin birth of the incarnation, right? So I would actually

I think that's a great question to ask is basically how can God become flesh?

Well, I would say number one. It is a miracle It's a miracle on par with God speaking the universe into existence the

God that can speak the universe into existence can take on flesh in One of the persons of the

Trinity if that's the plan That's what I'm saying. If we're gonna allow for miracles and there's no logical contradiction there

But because he's omnipotent because he's God Because Jesus Condescended I would say that that is the answer of all answers and this ties back to the context because the

Gnostics Here in the first century. They wanted to take the incarnation away so remember how

Look at first John chapter 4 He's telling us to test the spirits to see whether they're false prophets if they're

Antichrist throughout in the world Verse 2 by this, you know The Spirit of God that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God so this is

Lauren kind of the standard to see who affirms that reality or Outright denies it because if they did not they don't have the spirit right?

They are Antichrist So excellent point something we definitely need to think about so we were talking about Antichrist And I remember we talked about the parable of the sower

What do you remember about that candy? I was how did that correlate to us talking about the spirit of Antichrist and the spirit of Christ?

Well, there were three where the sower it's kind of like the rocky

Yeah Planet Pavement and on the good soil like the rocky was like It's logical.

Mm -hmm. Oh, that's good. Are you gonna add to that Justin? Yes, so there was four but three is what

I thought you were getting at three were Spirit of Antichrist where the seed was scattered

We're sown, but then it was quickly scattered whether it was birds that came away and swooped it with your spiritual warfare

Where you had the thorny ground which the the cares the world choked the gospel out People were like I want to go

I want to go back to what the world has to offer Right, or you had the stony ground which kind of represented persecution because the world hates

Christians, right? And so when people are like, oh, I don't I didn't know I was signing up to be persecuted Well, that's proving someone had a heart

That was stony and had the spirit of Antichrist and like you're saying

Justin The fourth ground the fourth soil was what? Good soil right that received the seed it took root and produced much what?

Fruit no roots. No fruits. And so the fourth ground

Represents a heart that the Holy Spirit is transformed and has the spirit of Christ you're like,

I think that's right No, absolutely. So I did want us to be careful and sensitive to the context that first John 2 19

The Antichrist is mainly talking about false teachers that left the church, but think about the practical implications they usually will bring a following with them and They're showing that they have the principle of the the spirit of Antichrist and we're just saying oh well you can in principle

Have the spirit of Antichrist in many different ways shapes and forms, right? Any ideology any teaching that just opposes

Christ first? John is just so happy to talk about a very particular one one of the Gnostics that denies that God can take on flesh

So that's a little bit of the context. So if you would look with me Let's look at verses 18 through 27

Children it is the last hour and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming. So now many

Antichrist have come Therefore we know that it is the last hour they went out from us

But they were not of us for if they had been of us They would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us

But you have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge

I Write to you not because you do not know the truth But because you know it and because no lies of the truth who is the liar?

But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the Antichrist He denies the father and the son no one who denies the son has the father whoever confesses

The son has the father also Let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you if what you heard from the beginning abides in you then you too will

Abide in the son and in the father and this is the promise that he had made that he has made to us eternal life

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you But the anointing that you received from him abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you

But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie just as it is taught you abide in him

So we read that last time right? I remember we started talking about In the children the last hour has come meaning that during this

Temporal age as we are waiting for Christ's return, which I'm excited. That's we're gonna get into next week

There's false teachers trying to deceive you teaching you false doctrine that's trying to distort the gospel of grace and so when we talked about the spirit of Antichrist and how

God's build Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it So when people we see people leave our heart breaks for him

We pray for him, but we trust in God's sovereignty. The church is being purified Remember we talked about that word last time purification is kind of this refinement process like it's becoming stronger

Okay, so I want us to think about the contrast though because he's talking about those

False teachers Antichrist with true children that possess the spirit of Christ We have the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit that will make sure That we will be brought to the day of Jesus Christ that good work that God began in us will bring it to completion

So look with me at verse 20. Here's where we see the contrast but you who's the you

Yes, all of us right member in verse 18. He says children. So he's talking about the children of God Remember we even talked about spiritual maturity

How you have children in the faith young men young women in the faith and then you have fathers of the faith, right?

Those who are mature so children in the faith You have been anointed by the

Holy One and you have and you all have knowledge So question, what do y 'all think this anointed by the

Holy One is talking about? Yes, so let me ask you this so actually this was this was tough so who's the

Holy One here So This I struggled with this for a while I thought because look back with me verse 20

But you have been anointed by the Holy One So we're gonna look at verse 27 here in a moment

But verse 27 seems to make a distinction between the anointing that we possess what you're absolutely right is the

Holy Spirit But the Holy One would be consistent to look at Jesus Christ He's the

Holy One, but we've received his anointing So I think back to his baptism who floated down like a dove onto Jesus at his baptism

Holy Spirit, and so he is being anointed as the high priest that the Old Testament kind of pointed to So we partake in that anointing meaning it that the

Holy Spirit Regenerates transforms our heart and then indwells us gives us a gifts

Compels us to learn all things that has been revealed to us So I'm gonna give you props because the anointing

I think is definitely talking about The Holy Spirit and notice it says but you have been anointed by the

Holy One and you all have knowledge What do you think this kind of knowledge is getting at Josiah?

Knowledge of God absolutely which we get from his word Which is inspired by who by the

Holy Spirit got which which God Used man to bring about his word to inspire his word

Are you about to add something else? or that dream Yes, and I like how you're you're trying to say okay, but Maine is involved right now

Because a lot of people doubt Christianity because they say well didn't men write the Bible and we're like Technically God wrote the

Bible but used man like this Lauren if I asked you

Did I write this essay or did the pencil write the essay? Yes, it was a means it was an instrument used by me

You know, I mean and so we could say yes to both but God used certain men as an instrument and in some ways

Use them through their personalities through their linguistic style to bring about Scripture and so the unified author of Scripture is

God inspired by the Holy Spirit, but he used Many different prophets apostles over 1 ,500 years which shows a beautiful testimony of Scripture and its truth

So look with me at verse 27 these kind of go hand -in -hand together when we're trying to ask, okay

Who's this anointed one? And and then we read that you all have knowledge.

Well, like Josiah said this is knowledge of God Look at 27, but the anointing which like Aaron said is the

Holy Spirit you have received from him the Holy One Abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you

But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie just as it is taught you abide in him

Okay, someone help me out here What we read here is we had the Holy Spirit that abides in us

But what about this part where he says you have no need that anyone should teach you Does this mean since I have the

Holy Spirit I have my Bible It's my Bible me under a tree and I don't need the body of Christ Is that what it's saying that I can learn everything that I need to know by myself

Sure remember John's writing against Antichrist The he's writing against the devil and his schemes.

He's giving us the will of God I write these things to you that you can be informed that you can rest assured in your salvation

And so the point is so much thing about this Lauren. We had the Holy Spirit that teaches us truth

Like Josiah said things about God We don't listen to Human wisdom from the world that can't give us truth

They give us a bunch of opinions about things that they don't know either They're just telling us about their limited life experience, which cannot give us truth

But the Holy Spirit the anointing that we have from the Holy One, which is Jesus teaches us all things concerning truth

What do you think? sounds good and So that's the thing it's not that we don't need teachers

We have the Holy Spirit that's gifted us teachers in the church Fellowship to discuss truth.

We don't need teachers of the world to try to tell us Why we're here what the meaning of life is.

What is our purpose? Right, like like we've been talking about God's clearly revealed that to us

It's actually want to have you turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 the

Apostle Paul weighs in on this conversation he mentions a number of these same things that we've been talking about and So look with me at 1st

Corinthians chapter 2. What do you might like to read? verse 6 through 14

We do however speak a message of wisdom among the mature But not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing

No, we declare God's wisdom a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began none of the rulers of this age understood it or if they had they would not have crucified the

Lord of Glory however as it is written What no eye has seen what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived

The things that God has prepared for those who love him and These are the things

God has revealed to us by his spirit The spirit searches all things even the deep things of God For who knows a person's thought except their own spirit within them in the same way

No one knows the thoughts of God except the spirit of God What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God so that we may understand

What God has freely given us? This is what we speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words

The person without the spirit who does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, but considers themself

Foolish and cannot understand them because they are dis discerned only through the spirit

Perfect. Thanks so much Aaron. All right. So did anybody catch any details that Paul mentioned here in this passage?

anything jump out Of There is a spirit of the world and spirit of God right, but like I said there there's two different voices

Speaking at kind of the spirit of the world and then you got the spirit of God That's what you kind of start off and see it in verse 6 yet among the mature.

We do not impart wisdom Although it is not the wisdom of this age or the rulers of the age

Because they are doomed and are passing away But we impart secret and hidden wisdom from God Which God done all these things from before the foundation of the world?

And so this is exactly what John is talking about is we don't need anyone of the world to try to teach us about truth

It's just it's the Holy Spirit. It's God and his fullness that reveals these things to us in Jesus Christ and so look down at Verse 12 that Aaron read now.

We have received not the spirit of the world But the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given to us by God What has

God given us? He's given us salvation He's given us his word to be able to understand his perfect will and then he says in verse 13 and we impart this in words

Not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit Right, so I just think

Paul is really driving the home the point home We listen to the things of God. We've been given his spirit.

We are children of God. We are children of the light We don't walk in darkness Not that we don't sin, but when we do sin we have an advocate because we're walking in the light

So if you would turn back with me to 1st John chapter 2 I Really want us to talk about that anointing is the

Holy Spirit that we have and he teaches us in accordance to his word and one thing we've been talking about is

God's Word is truth Meaning it cannot deceive us. That's why we spend so much time in the word

I mean, this is beautiful if you if you understand this as a living breathing

Word from God not just ink on a page. Well, this tells us about truth This is more fundamental more foundational in our experience than the things that we get up and do

I'm just saying this actually gives the proper context of why we're here on earth.

That's incredible This ties everything together This gives us true insight about who we are and who everyone else is and why we're here

So look at verse 21 real quick Because remember he's saying but you have been anointed by the

Holy One and you have all you all have knowledge I write to you not because you do not know the truth

But because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. So remember the context is the

Antichrist are Distorting God's truth and they and as they do it they make themselves known that they are not truly of us

They are denying the truth that God took on flesh in Jesus Christ the incarnation and for people that say well

Well, that's not possible. My question would be how do you know? It's not possible. Has God revealed that that's not possible

Does that somehow contradict his nature? Well clearly no He added humanity to his nature.

So he is the God -man. There's no contradiction in that now Does that blow our minds does that require a miracle to happen?

Absolutely. Definitely requires a miracle and so what

I love about this is We want to know more about the truth

We should we should care about things that are logical and be able to detect things that are illogical

But the only way to do that is to base our worldview on how God has revealed himself to us in his

Word Right, and then he gives us the proper categories. He says and there is no lie

That is of the truth. And so I know some of y 'all in homeschool study logic. Is that true?

And so one of the most basic laws of logic is called the law of non -contradiction

And so I'm just saying here's a clear affirmation of God telling us no lies of the truth don't believe things that are false

Right, and we had the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will guard us from trusting in something.

That is false So so take rest in that because our are we gonna be confused at times potential

Are we gonna cross paths with false teachers? Yes, but if we're trusting in the biblical Jesus the second person of the

Godhead Then we have been given his anointing the Holy Spirit that will guard us from trusting anything else to lead us astray

Isn't that awesome? You remember one of the fundamental points that John is teaching us is that we can rest assured in Eternal life knowing that we are saved

And so you got the Saints you got the ain'ts you got the Spirit of Christ you have the Spirit of Antichrist Jesus says you're either with me or you're against me your child of God or your child of the devil

You're walking in darkness or you're walking in the light And so I'm just saying we can know that if we truly

Not perfectly, but if we truly love Jesus not with the perfect love but with an imperfect love

We're eternally settled in our salvation in him. What do y 'all think?

That's good news in that right and that's good news to the Christian Who's already has their sins forgiven because there's a lot of Christians that struggle with the question.

Oh, no Am I still saved am I saved to begin with and it's like look the answer is always look back to Jesus What do you think about him?

Oh, I love him. I want to spend time with him. Oh, that's God given right beautiful truth

And so look at verse 22, so we get the contrast remember he's writing to you children But then verse 22 who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the

Christ This is the Antichrist he who denies the father and the son No one who denies the son has the father whoever confesses the son has the father also question

Last week we were in the church building that one guy that was up there teaching. What was he teaching on? The Trinity So I love what

John is saying here because if you deny the father Well, I guess what you deny the son you don't have eternal life

If you deny the son that he came in the flesh guess who guess who you also deny You deny the father you you deny the father and ultimately reveal that you don't have the spirit

You don't have the anointing you have the spirit of not Christ, but Antichrist So my point is this is

Trinitarian Doctrine 101 right here because you see that the father is not the son and the son is not the father

God is one essence or one in being in three Persons, okay.

And so that was one of the big points that I drove. I tried to drive home Y 'all y 'all tell me if this made sense, but God is not one in three in the same way

He is one being one essence. He's eternally existed But he's also three persons personhood and being are not the same thing

And so if we understand those two categories, then we avoid being illogical Because if someone says we worship one

God and three gods, does that make any sense at all? No And remember no lies of the truth.

The truth will not contradict itself. God cannot deny himself. God cannot lie. Those are all verses And so my point is if someone says they believe that the son is the father they do not understand who

God is one being three persons and If you deny the father you deny the son if you deny the son you deny the father

Let's continue so remember that the Antichrist went out from us proving that they were not actually of us

But look at the security that the believers have Let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you if what you have heard from the beginning abides in you then you too will abide in the

Son and in the father and this is the promise that he has made to us eternal life

That awesome Eternal life guess what is eternal if you could lose eternal life.

It wouldn't be eternal And so a lot of people struggle with this And I get it. I get it to all the debates and all the discussions.

I do it. So y 'all don't have to But it's so beautiful to rest assured in Jesus But when you start looking more at yourself and the things you do you start thinking

I love Jesus But man, I got a whole lot of sin going on my life. Yeah, that's called sanctification

Right, we're work. We're a work in progress Now point is the sin though will be discouraging right we war against it

Yes, but oh when we keep our gaze on Jesus the perfect one, that's where he rests secured

I am eternally secure not because of the good things that I can do But because he is perfect because he died on my account.

I'm looking to him and That's where he says. Yep. You got Antichrist that leave that fall away

But for us we have the promise of eternal life when God makes a promise liberty

Can he lie? No, that's why later in first John it says our hearts may condemn us because they will

But God knows all things. So when God makes a promise, he knows all things it can't fail

Right, and so I think that's beautiful As we wind down I was wanting to talk about I want to cycle back to something because I I've talked with people that say well since I have the

Holy Spirit I Can I Had this special knowledge that you know

Just me apart from everybody else and I had this thing with God and I always push back with people to say

Well, the Holy Spirit is never going to give you a personal revelation that contradicts his word

Because the word is also inspired by who? Lauren By God, yeah, the the scriptures have been inspired by the

Holy Spirit and so I wanted to have y 'all turn with me to John chapter 8 or we see a really good example of The Holy Spirit teaches us.

Yes by truth but also by gifting teachers With insights to the

Word of God and help us learn and understand. It's like what we're doing now, right? We're all together

Being taught all things that are true from God's Word, but we don't learn it through osmosis

If I just you know put my head on my Bible somehow, I'm gonna soak up all the facts. No, it's through a process

It's through fellowship. It's through Your pastors your elders those who are discipling you by going to the word and looking at context

Okay. So this is one of my favorite stories in the book of Acts Has anybody ever heard of the Philip and the

Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8? Oh Sorry, that was the first mistake

I ever made Y 'all don't believe that do you?

Acts Kenny's like, ah, we've heard more mistakes from you before. So has anybody ever heard of the story of Philip and the

Ethiopian eunuch? Yes, well, let's look at the story and I want you to be thinking about okay, how can we be taught

Spiritual truths since we have this anointing the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things we don't need any human wisdom to tell us truth

Just think about this story So look starting in verse 26 in Acts not John Acts chapter 8 starting verse 26

Now an angel the Lord said to Philip pause Philip is a deacon of the early church who was full of the

Holy Spirit meaning that he was saved and He was obedient to what God had called him to okay

And the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza this is a desert place and he rose and went and there was an

Ethiopian a eunuch a court official of Candace Queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all of her treasure

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was written and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet

Isaiah and The Spirit said to Philip go over and join this chariot

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand?

What you are reading and the eunuch said how can I unless someone guides me? And he invited

Philip to come up and sit with him now the passage of the scripture that he was reading Was this like a sheep that that was led to the slaughter like a lamb before it shears is silent

So he opens not his mouth in his humiliation justice was denied him who can describe this generation for his life was taken away from the earth and The eunuch said to Philip about whom

I ask you does the Prophet say this about himself or about? someone else

Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the scripture He told him the good news about Jesus and as they were going along the road

They came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water What prevents me from being baptized and he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water

Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him and When they came up out of the water the

Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing but Philip found himself and Exodus and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he had came to Caesarea now this was a

Evangelistic encounter so I get that The eunuch wasn't a part of the church yet, but there's so many good principles here because someone that really you know

Knows a lot might say yeah, I'm Philip and I just need to teach everybody else. Well understand

You know as we're making application here We're all The eunuch at times, right?

How can I understand the scripture unless someone guides me? and that's why

God gifts many teachers in the church to go into exegesis to go into the original text and draw out its truth and Explain it and boldly declare it and exhort us to live lives to the glory of God But we also need to be prayerfully be

Philips Right meaning we need to disciple other people We need

Paul's in our life Right those that we can look up to disciple us and we need Timothy's to pour our lives into right remember

We talked about spiritual maturity, right? We need those a lot of us are mere babes in the faith

Right that are just saved and teach me right children in the faith that have their sins forgiven

But many of us have grown to be young men and women in the faith putting on the the whole body armor of God and Make war with the enemy, which is who?

Which requires us to be spiritually mature to no sound doctrine so we won't be swept away by every wind of doctrine that that Human cunning and the deceitful schemes of the enemy tries to throw at us when our hearts filled up with the word

Then we can rightly know truth from error Jesus said it is written. It is written.

It is written and Satan tried to twist God's Word out of context But that's why we talk about context every time right?

So I just wanted to say like the Holy Spirit guards us from embracing error

He who is in you the Holy Spirit is greater than he who is in the world the devil

Ain't the spirit of Antichrist and so once again the Holy Spirit is integral so important to our