SERMON: The anointing from t..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brethren. So as I said, we're going to continue addressing this portion of the Scripture in verse 18 through verse 27 in chapter number 2.

And we're going to read, we have read already the long section last week. So I'm going to invite you to read from verse 15 all the way through verse 10 in chapter 3. so that we get the context of what we are going to be addressing today. Remember, I want to speak to you about the anointing of the Holy One. How many times that word has been used by people about being anointed by the Holy One, or the anointing of the Holy One.

So we're going to be addressing something of that. I think there's going to be, Lord willing, another two sermons addressing the anointing of the Holy One. But today we're going to start to try to get a little bit of an idea from the Scriptures, this portion of the Scripture, and the canon to understand what that is. And as we're going to read those verses, brethren, I ask you that you pay careful attention to the heart of the apostle. He's trying to bring this warning to the church not to be taken by the things of the world.

And after he has warned the church not to be taken by the things of the world, now he wants to warn them about those who want to deceive them. The false teachers, the false prophets who are in the world and who are of the world. Starting that in verse 18. So let us read together from verse 15 in chapter 2 going all the way through chapter 3 verse 10. The Word of the Lord.

So let us pay careful attention and read these words, brethren. This is the Word of the Lord. Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does, the will of God abides forever. Children, or little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist, or that Antichrist, is coming. So now, many Antichrists have come. Therefore, or because of that, we know that it is the last hour.

They, the Antichrists, 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 be complained that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge, or know all things. 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.

Who is the liar? 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. Let what you 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 made to you or to us. That promise is 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, the anointing, has taught you, abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. Brethren, speaking to Christians, verse 28.

And now, little children, once again, 28. Abide in Him, so that when He appears, We may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God. And so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we, the children of God, will be has not yet appeared. But we, the children of God, know that when He, Christ, appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Christ, in Him, purifies himself as Christ is pure, as He is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother and sister." Of course, amen. This is the word of the Lord. My dear brother, my dear sister, may the Lord help us to speak, and may the Lord help us to hear and to receive the words of the Lord.

And my dear brother, my dear sister, there is a very important teaching in the Scriptures, and that is the teaching about tribulations. If you remember, and if your vessel is filled with the Scriptures, and if your mind is filled with the Scriptures, and if you have treasured up the words of the Lord in your heart that you will not sin against the Lord at this very time and this very hour, even as we speak about tribulations and trials, I hope the Spirit of the Holy One will anoint you and speak to you about this doctrine of tribulations. In James, he says that we are to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The Scriptures, my dear brother and sister, teach that tribulation is for the purpose of the testing of the genuineness of those who profess to be in Christ.

That is that tribulations, persecutions, difficulties, and pains in this present world is with the purpose, according to James, to bring completion to our faith. To test our faith. And to bring completion that nothing will lack. If we were going to ask ourselves, children and brothers and sisters, the question, what is the present purpose of tribulations? What is the present purpose of trials?

We could answer with James that that is for the testing of our faith and that we will be made perfect. That is that we will be made complete. Not perfect in that we are going to be divine, but rather that your vessel will be filled with the presence of Christ and that you will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of trials and that is the purpose of tribulations. But very interestingly, the Apostle Peter, In 1 Peter 1 from verse 6 and onwards to verse 9, he speaks of tribulation not in a present sense, but rather he speaks of tribulations and the testing of our faith in a future sense.

And he says that we are to rejoice in the salvation that he has described from verse 1 to 5. That we are to rejoice, even though now for a little while we are grieved by various trials. And then in verse 7, he gives the purpose or the reason why the Christian is to rejoice in the present time, even if we have tribulations. He says, "...so that..."

in verse 7 of 1 Peter 1, verse 6-7, "...so that the tested genuineness of your faith which is more precious than gold, which is put through fire, then he jumps to the last day, may be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ." Hear those words, brother and sister. The present purpose of a trial and a tribulation is for the testing of our faith. Yet, when that faith is tested and is proved to be genuine, in the last day, that faith is going to be found to result in honor and praise and glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And while it is true that with the keeping and the preserving of the saints, Jesus Christ is going to be glorified and the Father is going to be glorified, The Apostle, what has in mind there in verse 7 of 1 Peter chapter 1, is the honor and glory and praise that the one who is tested genuine will find in Christ Jesus. That is that when a genuine believer endures until the end, that genuine believer is going to hear these words. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with little, now I'm going to give you much. Come and enter into the joy of your master.

Brethren, this is what the Scriptures say about your faith. That your faith, your feeble faith that is tested in the present time, is going to be found in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ to result in glory and praise and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of our faith that is at times filled with doubts. All of our faith that many times is just so feeble and so little. In the keeping and in the preservation of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be for praise and honor and glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if we did not know and we did not understand Philippians 1, verse 6, that says that He who began a good work in us is the one who will bring it to completion in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be tempted to take some of that credit and some of that praise and some of that glory unto ourselves. If we did not know, brethren, that the keeping and the preservation of the Christian is the work of the Lord Himself, that He who began a good work in us is the one who will bring it to completion in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet, the Scripture speaks that genuine faith that has been tested through trials and tribulations on that day, my dear brother and sister, is going to be found for the saint to be praised and honored and glory at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter continues and exalts and opens his heart in praises saying that this is joy unspeakable. That this One who we have not seen, we love.

And this One that we have not seen, we believe in Him. And we rejoice in Him with unspeakable words. Unspeakable joy. Because brethren, this is the certainty that the Christian has. That in the present time, though tribulations will come, the faith of the saint will be found to be of praise and honor and glory.

Yet, we have in the Scripture verses like verse 28 in chapter 2 of 1 John. that calls us, even though we have the certainty. And in Philippians 1, verse 6, that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. Even though we have verses like 1 Peter 1, verses 6-9, that our faith is going to be found for the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have 1 John 2, verse 28, that calls us to little children.

Abide in Him so that When He appears, we Christians may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. The apostle calls Christians in the present time to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the future glory, and the future praise, and the future honor of the faith of the genuine believer, whose faith has been tested to be genuine through tribulations, is contingent upon the present abiding in Christ. There's not going to be a saint that receives the honor and the praise and the glory at the day of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has not abided, whatever is the participle of that verb in English, in Jesus Christ. Abiding in Christ, my dear brother and sister, is necessary so that the Christian will not shrink back from Him in shame at His coming.

And this type of shame is the shame that we find in Matthew 7. On that day many will come to Him to say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all of these mighty things in Your name? Didn't we prophesy in Your name? Didn't we cast out demons in Your name? Didn't we do all of these Christian things in Your name?

And the Lord will say, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of inequity. My dear brother and my dear sister, if the Spirit of God does not speak to our hearts the seriousness and the weight of those words, then simply this is an exercise in which words with Colombian accents are uttered into this room that produce no benefit at all into the hearts of those who receive them. And then just as past as another Lord's Day. He's the Lord, the One that is to speak to us the seriousness of these words.

That on that day many will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we go to church on Sunday? Lord, Lord, didn't we go on missions at this particular time and didn't we do these things? Lord, Lord, didn't we prepare a sermon every Sunday, twice sometimes per week to preach and didn't we serve and did all those things? Yet, The fact or the way that we are found to be in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ is contingent upon the present abiding in the person of Jesus Christ. And my dear brother and my dear sister, on that day in which those fearful words are uttered from the mouth of the Savior, Not only false Christians will receive that from His mouth, but also many false teachers and many false prophets will receive those words from the mouth of the One who knows all things.

Actually, the context of Matthew chapter 7 is precisely for false teachers and false prophets. That is the spirit of error that the Apostle is trying to warn the Christians about in this chapter 2 of this portion of the Scripture that we have in front of us. This spirit of error that if you remember in 1 John 4, verse 7, the Apostle contrasts and tells us something very important. That in this world there are two spiritual realities. One is the spirit of truth, and the other one is the spirit of error, if you remember in the end of verse 6 of 1 John chapter 4.

In this world, my dear brother and sister and soul, spiritual reality can be divided into two sorts and two types. Spiritual reality of that which belongs to the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. We have that in verse 6. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us.

Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And let me tell you something, my dear brother and sister, that whoever or anyone is either a slave to the spirit of truth or a spirit of error, Everyone under heaven and on earth is a slave to either capture taken by the spirit of truth or the spirit of error. And my dear brother and sister, that is fearful because by nature we are born taken captive by the spirit of error. And this is what I wanted to say to you last week, that this spirit of error is the general principle that governs this entire world.

This world is under the lay and the power of Satan, who is the spirit of error himself. And that spirit of error, according to Ephesians 2, verse 1 and 2, is working in the sons of disobedience. And this spirit of error, or this spirit of Satan, is that which prevails in our world, brethren. When you go to the streets and when you go and open your eyes and you see the colors and you see the funds and you see everything that we see and observe, all of it is governed by the spirit of error primarily. The spirit of Satan that is working in the sense of disobedience.

And the apostle does not have a concern so much with the general principle of this spirit of error, at least in chapter 2. He's more concerned about the personification of that spirit of error, that as I said to you last week, my dear brother and sister, it is personified in the Antichrist, the Antichrist, the one that is coming, This son of disobedience, or this son of lawlessness, or this man of lawlessness of sin, the Antichrist that is coming. But the concern of the Apostle is more focused on the Antichrist with a little a. You don't speak sign language, but with a little a. The Antichrist.

This is the false teachers with the false prophets. That is the concern that the Apostle has here in chapter 2. Now let me just tell you this, my dear brother and sister. The worst spiritual position that a human being can be at is that of a false teacher or an Antichrist with a little a. The worst.

A spiritual position that a human being can be at is that of a false teacher or a false prophet. Yes, there's going to be many people that are going to go to hell because they did not receive the Lord, they did not accept the Lord, they did not believe in the Lord, they did not obey the truth, as the Apostle Peter will say in 1 Peter 2, because they did not open to receive and obey the words of the Lord. Yes, many people will end up in hell, paying for their sins. But the worst spiritual position that a human can have is that of a false teacher. A false prophet.

May the Lord help us, brethren. May the Lord protect us. James 3 says that there is a stricter judgment for those who pretend to be teachers, or at least those who speak as if they were speaking to the congregation and to people. Because it says there will be a stricter judgment. If that stricter judgment is for those who are in the context of the church, who speak on behalf of Christ, imagine the judgment that comes for false teachers and false prophets.

That is what Jude wrote about in Jude chapter 1, verse 3 and 4. Beloved, he writes, while I was very diligent to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men, speaking of the Antichrist, speaking of the false prophets, for certain men have crept into the church unnoticed, unawares. ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness and who deny the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jude speaks in there in verse 3 and in verse 4 that these men who have crept into the church, my dear brother and sister, have been marked out for this condemnation from a long time ago.

False teachers and false prophets have been decreed in the eternal counsel of the Lord to be within the context of the church. To come from the context of the church, to try to fight or to try to make violence against the Church, against the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this is under the control of the Lord Jesus Himself. But it says that they have been marked out for this condemnation. Come with me very quickly to Jude, and let me just simply read for you a little bit of what comes for false teachers and false prophets.

The verses that I mentioned before are verses 3 and 4. Pay careful attention to this vocabulary, brethren, referring to false teachers and referring to false prophets. I said to you that the worst spiritual position that a human being can be at is that of a spiritual or that of a false teacher or false prophet. If one was going to choose a place of hell, one would choose the one that does not belong to the false teachers and false prophets, brethren. Because what is reserved for them, as Jude will say, is terrifying.

What I read before to you, what I mentioned to you before is verses 3 and 4. It says, Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing or exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men or people have crept in and noticed who long ago were designated or marked out for this condemnation, and godly people or men who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our Lord, the only Lord God, or the only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. John, please go to verse 20. Speaking of this, this is the judgment that is to come for false teachers in verse 10.

It says, "...but these people, these men, blaspheme all that they do not understand. And they are destroyed, but all that day, like unreasoning animals, Understand intuitively. You understand what I'm trying to say there. Verse 10, brethren.

Treating them as animals. Considering to know. They think that they know the things of God. They think that they know the Scriptures. They think that they know the things that the Lord has revealed on Himself.

They do not know anything. Verse 11. This is for the false teacher and false prophet. Woe to them, and you know the weight of that word, woe, right? In English.

Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perishing chorus rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts. You know, the love feast? That's why we call it a love feast every month. The coming together of people to partake in the communion of the saints.

These are the hidden reefs of your love feast, as they feast with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars. And this is it, brethren. For whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever." Brethren, this is the destination, this is the purpose for which God has ordained and decreed these false teachers in the context of the church.

This is the worst spiritual position that a human being can be at. That is to be a false teacher, to be a false prophet, pretending to know the things of God, pretending to speak on behalf of God, yet taking very deep insight by the passions of the flesh in such a way that they show unto others Like if they were men of God, or sadly, women of God, but they are reserved for this darkness, blackness, I think it will say in your other translation, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. What option of escape there is for these people, brethren? Nothing. And in everything that the Lord does, He is just, and He is good, and He is perfect.

May the Lord have mercy upon this feeble little church, brethren. That He will protect us from the errors of men. That He will protect us from the carnality and the heart of men. that He will protect us, my dear brother and my dear sister, from the imaginations of men, the deceptions of men, the words of men that can't convince themselves that they are right, that they can have passion and zeal and even sweat from the pulpit and speak and raise their hands and move this and this, yet be deceived, brethren. If it's not by the grace of the Lord, if it's not by the sustaining grace that is found in Jesus Christ, then brethren, there's no hope.

There's simply no hope. That's why we are, as the brothers said, look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up absolutely everything that we are. Every talent, every prideful thought, Confidence in self is to be put to the cross, die to self, and to trust in the Lord entirely, brothers and sisters. For everything that we are to know of God, and everything that we are to live of God, that when we approach the book, that when we approach the Savior, we approach Him in that way. Lord, if you do not speak to me, I will not be able to comprehend, to understand anything.

Brethren, why would these false teachers, false prophets, end up in this very dark destination? Why would these false prophets end up in this darkness that has been reserved forever? Well, we could just simply say because that's what the Lord has ordained for them, which is what Jude said. But brethren, there's a very important word. There's a very important characteristic of false teachers.

that I'm going to show you now, so please pay attention to that. There is a very important characteristic that belongs to post-teachers, that when I preach, you remember from 2 Peter chapter 2, I did not see so clearly, and I understood just... I spoke about it somehow, but I did not see, and I did not understand very well, and now... The Lord has shown me something of this more extensively in the canon, in the context of the New Testament, that I think is very important that we learned and that we see as a church. There's something of false teachers, there's something of false prophets, this characteristic of them, that if we understand that in false teachers, false prophets, it will help us understand what it is the anointing of the Holy One.

We will not understand the anointing of the Holy One because you have already heard sermons about the anointing of the Holy One. And you may not know how to demonstrate it from the scriptures, but you already know that the anointing of the Holy One is the Holy Spirit or something like that. But brethren, we will not understand the depths of what it is to be anointed by the Holy One if we don't understand the contrast that the Apostle is presenting in 1 John chapter 2. And that is to contrast that with the spirit of error that is found in the Antichrist. Now, there is something that the Antichrist, with a little a, or the false teacher, does that is the clear characteristic of what a false teacher and false prophet is.

And that is given almost in all instances, according to my present understanding, of false teachers and false prophets in the New Testament. Jude has already mentioned it there, and I want to point it to you there. We're going to see that characteristic of the practice of a false teacher, and then I want to show you how John uses it, and then how the New Testament applies that so that we will understand. If you pay attention there to verse 4, it says, For certain men have crept into the church, unnoticed, one and worse, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. These men who long ago were marked out for this condemnation are described as ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness or lewdness.

And this is the word, brethren. Deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Deny the only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, brethren, this word there is very important. The false teacher, the false prophet, the person who is operating in the spirit of error is one not only who turns the grace of the Lord into lasciviousness and into sin, but one who all the time denies the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you paid careful attention to the passage that we read in 1 John, this is also the idea of the Apostle in 1 John. Come back to 1 John. So Jude says that these people for whom the blackness is reserved forever, these people deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ, which is exactly the same that the Apostle John says in 1 John 2. Pay attention, please, carefully to what he says in verse 21. Or let us just read from the contrast in verse 20.

But you, remember, He has already spoken about the Antichrist. But you, Christians, have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know all things to have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, brethren. You know, sometimes in my mind, in my heart, I would like not to have words to explain, but we all see the things in the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit. Pay attention to what He says.

It's in verse 21. I write to you, not because you, Christians, Do not know the truth, but because you know it, the truth. And because no lie is of the truth. Then it comes with the contrast in verse 22. Who is the liar?

But he who, and that is the word, 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.

I've said to you so far, brother, sister, my dear soul, that if we want to understand the depths of the blackness and darkness and unrighteousness that is found in the Antichrist with a little a, in the false teacher and the false prophet, we are to understand that denying. This denying is the main manifestation of having the spirit of error inside of the person. And hopefully, not inside of any one of us. Because this is terrifying, brethren. To have the spirit of error in you is to deny the only Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So then the question that follows is, what does it mean to deny? What is the meaning of denying? Let me tell you what it is not, and then from the Scriptures I will tell you what it is. Brother, sister, denying is not the open denial of the atheist against the existence of God or the presence of God. Right?

We might think that denying someone is just simply saying, that does not exist, or he does not exist. Denying in this context of the Scriptures is not saying that God is not. It's not saying that God does not exist. And the reason why I know that is because if they were denying the existence of God, if they were denying the existence of Christ, if they were denying in this categorical sense who God is, then they wouldn't be false teachers. They wouldn't be false prophets.

But they remain in the context of what it is the church teaching false doctrine because they are still holding, at least in words, to vocabulary and to words and to statements that are religious in nature. So their denying is not the categorical denial that the atheists will come and say, Christ does not exist, or Jesus does not exist, or God does not exist. That is denying the existence of the Lord. This denying, my dear brother and sister, is more canning in nature. And the way that we understand it is just there from the Scriptures because the apostle has given us a clue to understand this.

And that is found there in verse 23. Remember, this is the apostle of contrasts. He presents the light, and He presents the darkness. And the darkness is defined by the light. That is, you understand what is darkness by seeing the light, right?

So you see what love is, and then you understand what hating is, because you don't have love. There in verse 23, the Apostle is going to show us or give us insight into what denying is. Verse 23, it says, "...no one who denies..." This is the third time that he's used this word.

"...no one who..." In this section, "...no one who denies the Son has the Father." He's going to contrast now the denying with the opposite word.

And he says, whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. So denying this characteristic of false prophets and false teachers, those who have the spirit of error or the spirit of Antichrist inside of them, make them deny is when they do not confess the Son and the Father. He who denies the Son doesn't have the Father. And whoever confesses the Son has the Father. You have the opposition and the contrast that the Apostle is presenting there.

He who denies the Son does not have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father. The apostle uses this word to speak about these false teachers and false prophets, not only here, but also in chapter 4, which is the extended portion of the Scripture that speaks of false teachers and false prophets. Brethren, endure with my words and the way that I speak, so that we will see the things that we have in the Scriptures. Please endure.

It says in chapter 4, Beloved, oh brethren, in chapter 4 verse 1. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets, these are the ones who had the spirit of error in them, false prophets have gone out into the world. When the apostle uses this, have gone out into the world, he's referring always to verse 19. They were with us, but they went out of us.

So they have gone from the church into the world. So it says there, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

You see the word there, once again? Confessing opposite to denying. So, confesses that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. In other words, whoever denies, it could be used there, right?

But he says, the spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming now and is now in the world already. The apostle uses these two words. The false teacher, the false prophet, the one who has the spirit of error inside of him or her, the one who has the spirit of the Antichrist in him or her, does not confess Jesus and he does not have the Father. In other words, deny the only Lord God in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jude 1, verses 3 and 4. And this is also Paul. John chapter 2, verses 18-27. They deny the Lord God. And whoever has the Spirit of Truth confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Father.

The question is, what does it mean to confess? Because in our days now, confessing is just simply just to speak words, and just to say, Jesus Christ is Lord. And people take that as confessing, just saying a word, uttering the sound that says, Jesus Christ is Lord. Thankfully, the Apostle has already illustrated and given to us the meaning of what it is to confess. And that is found in chapter 1, verse 6 through 9, specifically in verse 9.

Pay attention to this, brethren. I'm here now trying to present to you the biblical meaning of the word confess. So by understanding what biblical confession is, we will understand the opposite, which is denying, which is what the false teacher, false prophet does because of the presence of the spirit of error inside of them. And I hope that you follow there, brethren. Verse 9 in chapter 1 it says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There the word is used once again by the Apostle. If the Christian confesses his or her sins, the Lord is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What is confession? I explained that, I think, even in two sermons. But my dear brother and sister, confession is to enter into genuine agreement with the will of the Lord.

When you sin, when you sin as a Christian, the light of the Holy Spirit will come to convict you of sin, and He will point your soul that you are sinning in this particular area of your life. Genuine confession is the result of agreeing with the Holy Spirit that is convicting you of that sin. It is to agree with the will of the Lord speaking unto your life. It is to genuinely say, Lord, what You say about me is true. What You say about you is true.

Genuine confession now will accept that sin has been committed And genuine confession will now hear the Word of the Lord that says, He is just and faithful to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all your unrighteousness. Confession is to have a genuine agreement with the truth of God. Brethren, confession is to have a genuine agreement with the truth of God. That is that God speaks about who He is, what He does for you and for your soul, and confessing Him, or confession, is to genuinely agree with Him, with His will, with His truth. It is to be in alignment with the truth of God.

That is what it is to confess. Hence, denying, which is not a categorical opposition of the existence of God. For the false teacher, denying, my dear brother and sister, is a hypocritical, false acknowledgement of the truth of God. Once again, denying, brother and sister, is not open denying that says God does not exist, Christ does not exist. Otherwise, they could not continue to be false teachers in the context of the church.

They're still speaking of Christ. They're still speaking of God. They're still using the Scriptures. Denying for the false prophet, it is this hypocritical, false acknowledgement of God that requires that they will change God. It's hypocritical, it's hidden, it's secret, it's inside, it's false because it's not in agreement with the truth.

Acknowledgement of God. Come please to Second Peter and Second Peter will illustrate this much better than this. Peter, John, Paul, all of them used the word, deny, to speak of false teachers and false prophets. Brethren, you remember the difficult passage that is found in 2 Peter 1, verse 2, in which people questioned themselves, well, if the false teachers have been bought by the blood of the Savior, where did the Lord Jesus Christ die for them? Remember?

Now pay attention here, because if you understand now what denying means for the false teacher, this hypocritical, this false acknowledgement of Christ, not an open opposition to Christ or His existence or who He is, but rather a hypocritical, in the heart, no agreement with the truth inside, false claims, you will understand then 2 Peter 2, verse 1 and 2, it says, but false prophets, verse 1 in 2 Peter 2, false prophets, also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you," now it says, "...who will secretly bring in destructive heresies," now it says the same word, "...even denying the Lord or the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed." It is spoken or it is said of them that these false teachers, these false prophets are even denying the Lord who bought them.

Because brethren, these people are now hypocritically and falsely claiming allegiance to the Lord that is not the Lord. Because they have not confessed who He is and the things that He has done. They do not know the truth inside of them. They have hypocritically and falsely acknowledged this Lord, this Master. And what they do, they actually deny this Lord that bought them.

Which is the irony of what the Apostle is trying just to mention there in 2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2. That is that there is a denying that happens in the heart. Brethren, the interesting thing about these two verses that we have in front of us, 2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2, is that Peter gives us an insight into what denying actually does. Pay attention to the two things that the deniers, the false teachers, false prophets do. deniers, the false prophet, the false teacher, the Antichrist, they do two things.

First one is that they bring secretly destructive heresies. Brethren, you should be able to see that 1 John chapter 2. They bring indestructibly secret heresies. And then second, it says, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their sensuality, and because of them many Because of them, the way of the truth will be blasphemed. Two things that these people, with the spirit of error inside of them, are moved to do.

The first one is to bring heresies, brethren, inside of the context of the church. But these heresies are brought secretly. Remember, to deny the Lord is falsely and hypocritically acknowledge the Lord, the Master who bought them, the One who is their Savior, the One who is their Redeemer. Hypocritically and falsely claim that He is the Lord. So they will bring destructive heresies in the context of the church.

That is what John was facing, at least with the early church. If you return to 1 John, you will see that many of them, according to John, many people were denying that the Lord Jesus Christ had come into the flesh. They were not denying the Lord Jesus Christ. They were not saying Jesus Christ does not exist. They were not saying Jesus is not Jesus, or Christ is not Christ.

What they were doing is that they were denying the Lord by bringing in destructive heresies in the context of the church. Why, brethren? Because they cannot have alignment or they cannot have agreement with the truth. They cannot agree with the truth. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ in that particular way.

But the second one, my dear brother and sister, is that these people, lacking the power of the truth that sets a person free, will always, or at least according to what I understand in the context of these creatures, will always fall in secret sins and primarily sexual immorality. False teachers. False prophets, brethren, false teachers, false prophets will generally fall into the sin of secret sexual immorality. Peter mentioned it in 2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2. But if you can go to 1 Timothy 6, or you can come even to Titus, please come to Titus 1, chapter 2, I think it is, chapter 1.

This is the work of denying the Lord, brethren. Denying the truth of God. Denying the testimony of God. Hypocritically and falsely acknowledging this Lord. This is the second part of denying.

It's not only this hypocritical, falsely acknowledgement of the Lord, but this is a manifestation also in the secret lives. It says in Titus chapter 1, In verse 10, For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially to those of the circumcision party. Remember, in the early church, most of the false teaching was coming from the Judaizers. That was the situation that they were going through. But this is not only exclusive of the Judaizers.

It says, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting 1 chapter 10. For there are many who are insubordinate... Once again, Titus chapter 1 verse 10. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the cretins, a prophet of their own, said, Cretins are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Now the apostle says something actually very strong here. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and to commands of people who turn away from the truth.

This is speaking actually to the church, brethren. Right? This is speaking to the church. That the church might not follow these things. To the pure, all things are pure.

But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. Jude, Paul, and Peter. They deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. This is the false teacher, brethren. This is the false prophet. And you think that this was happening to the naked eye of the congregation? No, brethren.

Secretly bringing in destructive heresies to the context of the church. Secretly, in the private place, doing all of these horrendous practices. Mainly, if you read 1 Timothy chapter 6, money and sexual immorality. What drives the one that has the spirit of error. And brethren, brethren, brethren, this is what the spirit of Satan does by nature in those in whom he works.

Brethren, if it's not because of the grace of the Lord, do you think that we could be any different? Actually, I could be speaking these words right now while I am one of these and you will not know. Brethren, apart from the grace of God, not only working this in our lives, and more importantly, revealing this in the context of the church, and bringing the powers of discernment as Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12 and onwards speak, that we are to have our senses of discernment trained, exercised, If we do not grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Peter, then my dear brother and sister, we can be deceived in the same way that Peter mentions. That's why church is not about a person just simply opening their mouth, and just preaching a sermon one or two per week. But rather, church is about the work of the Spirit in the heart of every Christian, of every believer.

Bringing the light of Christ and of the gospel to the life of that person, so that that person may live according to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the church will walk in ways of power. The ways of power in which we are to walk are when the Spirit of God is in us. And thanks be to the Lord that the contrast is given there in 1 John 2 because it says, but you... That is the contrast for the Christians in 1 John 2. But you, it says there in 1 John 2.

But you, in verse 20, you have been anointed by the Holy One. Brother, sister, it is impossible for a genuine believer to deny the Lord God in the way that the false teachers deny the Lord God. It is impossible for a genuine believer who has received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as we're going to see there, to deny The Lord God. Now, a person might be tempted because of the persecution and because of trials to deny with words. But remember that I have tried to explain to you that denying is not something that just simply is uttered with words.

Denying is something that is more profound that happens inside of the spirit of the person. the denier, the genuine denier, the false teacher, the false prophet, when they deny the Lord Jesus, they hypocritically and falsely acknowledge the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is manifested in a life that is taken captive by sin, usually sexual immorality. The person who has been genuinely visited by the Holy Spirit will never deny the Lord in that particular sense. That's why there's a very famous verse in 2 Timothy.

If you go there quickly to 2 Timothy so that I can prove that to the Scriptures and move on to the next point. Otherwise, I will not be confident with your faces of what you're saying there. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, In verse 11 it says, remember this passage that at times is complicated to understand? It says, "...the saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him..."

2 Timothy 2 verse 11, "...the saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, We will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him. But then it says, if we deny, He will also deny us. And that is because no genuine Christian brethren will deny the Lord.

The one who denies in the category of the false teacher or false prophet is because they have been already denied by the Lord. The Lord will deny them. That's why it says, if we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself. He cannot go in opposition with the truth that is in Him. And this is the Spirit that has been given to us according to 1 John chapter 2.

Brethren, this is the anointing of the Holy One. Every single Christian, if you return to 1 John, chapter 2, has received the anointing of the Holy One. This is not something that belongs just to some type of Christians, or some Christians that experience a particular matter. But verse 20 says, "...but you have been anointed by the Holy One."

And yes, brethren, this is the Holy Spirit. How do we know that this is the Holy Spirit? Simply because in verse 26 it says something very important about this anointing. It says, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you, but the anointing that you have received from Him abides in you. Brethren, this anointing of the Holy One is received from Him.

It's received, it's given by Him. And in this case, the Him is the Father. If you pay attention to verse 25, it is the Father. We have received this anointing from the Holy One, from the Father, and it says, And you have no need that anyone should teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about everything, and it is true, and it is no lie, just as He has taught you, you abide in Him." Brethren, we have two important things about this anointing of the Holy One here.

The first one is that it's received from Him, from the Father. Every Christian receives this anointing of the Father, of the Holy One. And also, this anointing of God, this anointing that is the Spirit, as I'm going to show you now, teaches us all things. That is, the way that Christians learn is not through the mind, brethren. It's not through our senses.

Of course, we use our mind and we use our senses. But the ultimate way in which a Christian learns and is taught is through the anointing of the Holy One. Very quickly, come with me to John chapter 7, please. John chapter 7. There's a very powerful verse there.

In John chapter 7. John chapter 7, verse 39. Let's just read from verse 37. Endure with me a little bit, brethren, and pay attention to this that I'm going to say next. The Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy One given to each person.

Brethren, this is the Spirit of truth. Contrary to the spirit of error that is in the world, the spirit of Satan. It says in verse 37, Chapter 7, verse 37, And on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his... Speaking of the believer, right?

Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this, the flowing of water from the heart of the believer, this is when the presence of the Spirit is inside, is triumphant in the sight of the Christian. Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." The Spirit that those who will believe had yet not received, because Jesus Christ had not yet been glorified. Come with me quickly to John chapter 14.

Let us just read these two passages and then I'll speak about that. John chapter 14. This is the spirit that is meant to be in the believer, that had not been given yet to the believer, because Jesus Christ had not yet been glorified. It says in verse 15 of chapter 14, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever.

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, they have the spirit of error. Because he neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be with you. Please, bear with my reading and continue. I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you, yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. But you will see me, because I live. You also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home or abode with him. Whoever does not love Me, does not keep My words, and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. Please endure the reading.

Verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, Pay attention. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Oh, brethren.

I wish I had an extensive vocabulary and different words, brethren, to take all of the thoughts that I have and just to put them in words. But even as I try, all of my words will collapse and I'm not able to speak to you clearly. Brethren, my dear brother, my dear sister, this is the spirit of truth that the saints of the new covenant have received in a special, particular way that not even the saints of the old covenant had. Pentecost came, then Jesus Christ went up to heaven, coronation, whatever the word is, coronation. Enthroned in heaven as the King of kings and Lord of lords at the right hand of the Father.

And He sends the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to come and baptize the church. To take this church out of this wilderness and anoint every single Christian. So that in other times, in other ways, God spoke not to Israel and not to the people, but God spoke to the fathers. and that through the prophets. But in these last days of the new covenant, He has spoken to not the preacher or not the teacher, but to us, the church, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the way that He speaks to us, us, the church, is through the Holy Spirit. No need that anyone will tell us that is the promise of the new covenant. There will not be need that anyone says, know the Lord, because everyone will know the Lord. How they will know the Lord? Because of the truth of the Holy Spirit that has descended from on high to come and reside in the heart of the believer of the New Testament.

And now, this feeble slave person of the first century that the whole society was just putting aside because he was of not good opinion or reputation, This person, vile and reviled through the generations, who only takes the book and believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, can be spoken into his or her heart from the one who is reigning in heaven. No need of books, no need of the wisdom of men, no need of anything but just simply faith coming down on our knees and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ to be spoken by the one who has anointed us. And the promise is, my dear brother and sister, that by that powerful faith, We will never deny the Lord, not because we are so good and powerful and mighty and so wise that we will never deny the Lord, but rather because he has come descended in such a way that he has put his truth in this earthen vessel, in this earthen vessel that collapses with things, yet his glory has come and visited us so mightily, brethren, that he who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. That the faith, the little faith that you have that is not yours, that is God-given, will be found to the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He will be able to teach you all things.

All things have been given by His power that concern to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him. 2 Peter 1, verse 2 and 3. All things have been provided and given to the saint that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is it required? It is required to die to self.

It is required to die to our prideful ways. It is required to die to our imaginations and our minds. To say, I want to count it all lost for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be taught, I want to be instructed, knowing the ways of men, not approaching the Scriptures in a rushed way, pray-less way, just to find the answer here and there, and to go and run to a book to someone else to tell you the answer, but rather, striving on your knees, that your knees will blister coming before the Lord, and asking that He will speak to you, that He will instruct you, that He will guide you in the ways of the Lord, so that when you speak, You don't speak as someone who is remembering something that is something there, but rather that you speak out of the abundance that is found in your vessel, that the Lord has filled with His Word, with His love, with His power, and that you will be able to open your eyes and not to see the things of this world, but Jesus Christ and Him enthroned in heaven, loving your wicked, sinful soul and taking you until the end, Not because you deserve it, brethren, but rather because He loved you and He gave Himself for you. This is the Spirit, the Helper that we have inside of us.

We have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, made to drink of it. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12. We have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and we are made to drink of it every single day. May the Lord send an outpouring of His Holy Spirit that we will be filled in our hearts with His love. that we will know and understand the depth of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, that when we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for your soul.

How is a person not going to live for this Lord? How is a person not going to judge that if one died for us, we are to live our lives for the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the love of Christ that compels us and moves us to count it all loss for the excellency of His knowledge, that we will live for Him and not for us. Amen, brethren? Amen.