Sermon: Unguent
[uhng-gwuh
nt]
by Chris Cumming
Let us begin this day by turning to 1 John 2.
1 John 2:15-21
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth
the will of God abideth for ever.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that
antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we
know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out,
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because
ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Verse 20 says that firstfruits have something called, “unction.” What
is unction? How does unction work? Do I need unction? The title of
this sermon is, “Unguent” [uhng-gwuh
nt]. What does this word mean and what does this word have
to do with unction? In the Bible Study Schedule at the Las Vegas site,
there is a photo of a tube of salve just under the sermon title,
“Unguent.” What does salve have to do with unction of the Holy Spirit?
Isn’t salve defined as, “medicinal ointment for healing or relieving
wounds and sores?” Does the word, “unction” have something to do with
healing and anointing?
Today, we will answer all these questions and more as I encourage all of
us receive the unction of God.
Receive the unction of God.
Let us define the words, “Unction” and “Unguent.”
Unction
noun
1. an act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious
rite.
2. an unguent or ointment; salve.
3. something soothing or comforting.
4. an excessive, affected, sometimes cloying earnestness or fervor in
manner, especially in speaking.
5. Religion.
--the oil used in religious rites, as in anointing the sick or dying.
--the shedding of a divine or spiritual influence upon a person.
--the influence shed.
--extreme unction.
6. the manifestation of spiritual or religious inspiration.
Unguent
noun
1. an ointment or salve, usually liquid or semiliquid, for application
to wounds, sores, etc.
With these two definitions in hand, let us immerse ourselves into 1 John
2:20.
1 John 2:20
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
As we do with our Bible studies in Titus, let us begin with the general
commentaries and move to the specific commentaries. We will begin with
the Matthew Henry Main.
Here, I. The apostle encourages the disciples (to
whom he writes) in these dangerous times, in this hour of
seducers; he encourages them in the assurance of their stability in this
day of apostasy: But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know
all things. We see,
1. The blessing wherewith they were enriched - an unguent from heaven:
You have an unction. True Christians are anointed ones, their name
intimates as much. They are anointed with the oil of grace, with gifts
and spiritual endowments, by the Spirit of grace. They are anointed into
a similitude [resemblance, image]
of their Lord's offices, as subordinate prophets, priests, and kings,
unto God. The Holy Spirit is compared to oil, as well as to fire and
water; and the communication of his salvific [sal-vif-ik]
[relating to redemptive power of Christ]
grace is our anointing.
Note: Of all the tens of
thousands of commentary passages I have read, this one had me weeping
with the reading of it. The meaning of this one single verse is
abundantly profound and it is imperative you know the absolute gravity
of that meaning. What is greater than the Kingdom of God? What is more
important than the Plan of God? Of all the humans on Earth and all the
elements in the Universe, what is the most important ingredient on this
Earth in that great plan being carried out and ultimately fulfilled?
Answer: You.
The commentary text says that you are enriched with a blessing from
heaven. Who on this Earth but you have this blessing? The text says we
have an unction from God. Who else on this planet that such unction?
The text says we are the anointed ones. Who in this world has
experience a higher anointing than you? The text say that you and I are
anointed with the oil of grace [salvation], with gifts and spiritual endowments [abilities,
talents and capacities] by the Spirit of God. Who do you
know, besides us who has such an anointing, such gifts and such
spiritual endowments? Do presidents? Do senators? Do prime
ministers? Do kings? Do rich people and celebrities? I say to you, by
that same Spirit that the answer is no. Right now, you are the most
important people on this planet, we call Earth. Let this astounding
fact sink into your heart and mind on a daily, if not hourly basis.
Continuing in the commentary.
2. From whom this blessing comes - from the Holy One, [from
God by the power of the Holy Spirit], as Revelation 3:7,
These things saith he that is holy - the Holy One. The Lord Christ is
glorious in his holiness. The Lord Christ disposes of the graces of the
divine Spirit, and he anoints the disciples to make them like himself,
and to secure them in his interest.
Quoted verse:
Revelation 3:7
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith
he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that
opened, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man opened.
Question: Does President Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth or Vladimir Putin have the Key of David?
3. The effect of this unction - it is a spiritual eye-salve; it enlightens and strengthens the eyes of the understanding: “And thereby you know all things (1 John 2:20), all these things concerning Christ and his religion; it was promised and given you for that end,” John 14:26. The Lord Christ does not deal alike by all his professed disciples; some are more anointed than others. There is great danger lest those that are not thus anointed should be so far from being true to Christ that they should, on the contrary, turn antichrists, and prove adversaries to Christ's person, and kingdom, and glory.
Quoted verse
John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit],
whom the Father will send in my name, [it]
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
II. The apostle indicates to them the mind and meaning with which he wrote to them.
1. By way of negation; not as suspecting their knowledge, or supposing their ignorance in the grand truths of the gospel: “I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, 1 John 2:21. I could not then be so well assured of your stability therein, nor congratulate you on your unction from above.” It is good to surmise well concerning our Christian brethren; we ought to do so till evidence overthrows our surmise: a just confidence in religious persons may both encourage and contribute to their fidelity. ~Matthew Henry Main
Now the Matthew Henry Concise covering verses 18-23
Every man is an antichrist, who denies the Person, or any of the offices
of Christ; and in denying the Son, he denies the Father also, and has no
part in his favour while he rejects his great salvation. Let this
prophecy that seducers would rise in the Christian world, keep us from
being seduced. The church knows not well who are its true members, and
who are not, but thus true Christians were proved, and rendered more
watchful and humble. True Christians are anointed ones; their names
express this: they are anointed with grace, with gifts and spiritual
privileges, by the Holy Spirit of grace. The great and most hurtful lies
that the father of lies spreads in the world, usually are falsehoods and
errors relating to the person of Christ. The unction from the Holy One [Spirit],
alone can keep us from delusions. While we judge favorably of all who
trust in Christ as the Divine Saviour, and obey his word, and seek to
live in union with them, let us pity and pray for those who deny the
Godhead of Christ, or his atonement, and the new-creating work of the
Holy Ghost [Spirit]. Let us
protest such antichristian doctrine [in
our minds], and keep from them as much as we may.
-Matthew Henry Concise
Here is something from the Biblical Illustrator
The anointing
I. What the anointing is.
II. Where this anointing is. It “abideth.” Other anointings do not
abide. The fragrance of other unguents soon passes off. But here is an
anointing which, like “the ointment of the right hand, which bewrayeth
itself,” abideth, “abideth in you.” But you say it is not true; nothing
is more plain than that ardent Christians get cold, and those who lived
Christ may grow self-willed and self-assertive. How can John say that
the unction abideth? Well, I suppose he wants to call attention to the
Divine side of the case, to show us that whatever we may do, or whatever
we may be, God remaineth faithful.
III. “What doth the anointing?” He teacheth, and, saith John, He has
every right to teach, for “He is truth and no lie.” Besides, “He hath
already taught you,” and what you have learned of Him should give you
confidence in Him for what you may have yet to learn. Read your Bibles,
but read them in His light; listen to your teachers, but listen to them
with continual application to a higher Teacher. It is to that higher
Teacher you owe the greatest blessing you ever received in the world,
the blessing which made you a Christian. Remember to trust to Him as
Guide and Counsellor, to ask Him what to believe on every subject.
IV. What is the outcome of all this? It is, “Ye shall abide in Him.”
~Biblical Illustrator
Notice again 1 John 2:18-20
1 John 2:18-20
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that
antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we
know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out,
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
I originally had the commentary from the John
Darby Synopsis at this point but it is rather long, so it is included at
the bottom of the text version of the sermon.
Here the explanation from the Expositor's Bible Commentary. This is an excerpt from a longer commentary.
Yet an Apostle calmly says "ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." This, however, is but another asterisk directing the eye to the Master’s promise in the Gospel, which is at once the warrant and the explanation of the utterance here. "The Holy [Spirit], whom the Father will send in My name, [It] shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26) The express limitation of the Savior’s promise is the implied limitation of John’s statement. "The Holy [Spirit] has been sent, according to this unfailing pledge. [It] teaches you (and, if [it] teaches, you know) all things which Christ has said, as far as their substance is written down in a true record-all things of the new creation spoken by our Lord, preserved by the help of the Spirit in the memories of chosen witnesses with unfading freshness, by the same Spirit unfolded and interpreted to you." ~Expositor's Bible Commentary
Quoted verse:
John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit],
whom the Father will send in my name, [it]
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.
Notice the commentary on John 14:26
Shall teach you all things - All things
which it was needful for them to understand in the apostolic office, and
particularly those things which they were not prepared then to hear or
could not then understand. See John 16:12. Compare the notes at Matthew
10:19-20. This was a full promise that they would be inspired, and that
in organizing the church, and in recording the truths necessary for its
edification, they would be under the infallible guidance of the Holy
Spirit.
Quoted verses:
John 16:12
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Matthew 10:19-20
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall
speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you.
Bring all things to your remembrance - This probably refers to two things:
1. He would seasonably remind them of the sayings of Jesus, which they might otherwise have forgotten. In the organization of the church, and in composing the sacred history, he would preside over their memories, and recall such truths and doctrines as were necessary either for their comfort or the edification of his people. Amid the multitude of things which Jesus spake during a ministry of more than three years, it was to be expected that many things which he had uttered, that would be important for the edification of the church, would be forgotten. We see, hence, the nature of their inspiration. The Holy Spirit made use of their memories, and doubtless of all their natural faculties. He so presided over their memories as to recall what they had forgotten, and then it was recorded as a thing which they distinctly remembered, in the same way as we remember a thing which would have been forgotten had not some friend recalled it to our recollection.
2. [God through] the Holy Spirit would teach them the meaning of those things which the Saviour had spoken. Thus they did not understand that he ought to be put to death until after his resurrection, though he had repeatedly told them of it. So they did not until then understand that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, though this was also declared before. ~Barnes Notes
Look at the Adam Clark on these two phrases in John 14:26
[It]
shall teach you all things - If in the things which I have
already spoken to you, there appear to you any obscurity, the Holy
Spirit, the Advocate, Counsellor, and Instructor, will take away all
your doubts, free you from all embarrassment, and give you a perfect
understanding in all things: and this Spirit ye shall shortly receive.
And bring all things to your remembrance - Here Christ promises them that inspiration of the Holy Spirit which enabled them not only to give a true history of his life and death, but also gave them the most perfect recollection of all the words which he had spoken to them, so that they have been able to transmit to posterity the identical words which Jesus uttered in his sermons, and in his different discourses with them, the Jews, and others. ~Adam Clarke
And now the John Gill:
[It] shall teach you all things - this is the proper work and business of the Spirit, to teach, interpret, and explain all things which Christ had said to them; to make them more plain and easy to their understandings; to instruct them in all things necessary to salvation, and to be known by them, that they might teach them others:
And bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you - which through inattention, or want of understanding in them, had slipped their minds, and were forgotten by them. This accounts for it, how the evangelists some years after the death of Christ; at different times and places, and without consulting each other, could commit to writing the life, actions, sayings, and sermons of Christ, with all the minute circumstances attending them. ~John Gill
Go now to the specific commentaries on our key
verse of 1 John 2:20 with our focus on the last phrase, “and ye know all
things.”
And ye know all things
- That is, all things which it is essential that you should know on the
subject of religion. The meaning cannot be that they knew all things
pertaining to history, to science, to literature, and to the arts; but
that, under the influences of the Holy Spirit, they had been made so
thoroughly acquainted with the truths and duties of the Christian
religion, that they might be regarded as safe from the danger or fatal
error. The same may be said of all true Christians now, that they are so
taught by the Spirit of God [by God through the Spirit], that they have
a practical acquaintance with what religion is, and with what it
requires, and are secure from falling into fatal error.
~Barnes Notes
And ye know all things - Every truth Of God necessary to your salvation and the salvation of man in general, and have no need of that knowledge of which the Gnostics boast. ~Adam Clarke
And ye know all things - for this anointing is a teaching one; it makes persons of quick understanding; it enlightens their understandings, refreshes their memories, and strengthens all the powers and faculties of the soul; it leads into the knowledge of all spiritual things, into all the mysteries of grace, and truths of the Gospel, into all things necessary for salvation; for these words are not to be taken in the largest sense, in which they are only applicable to the omniscient God, but to be restrained to the subject matter treated of, and to those things chiefly in which the antichrists and deceivers cited; and regard not a perfect knowledge, for those that know most of these things, under the influence of this unction, know but in part. ~John Gill
And ye know all things - needful for acting aright against Antichrist’s seductions, and for Christian life and godliness. In the same measure as one hath the Spirit, in that measure (no more and no less) he knows all these things. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
And ye know all things - All things needful to guard against these opposers and seducing teachers. ~People's New Testament
And ye know all things - Necessary for your preservation from these seducers, and for your eternal salvation. ~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
Let us close making sure we answered those questions I gave at the beginning of this sermon.
What is unction?
--the shedding of a divine or spiritual influence upon a
person--knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
--an anointing.
--anointing oil.
--an unguent or ointment-salve.
--healing.
How does unction work?
--all unction works by the will of God through Christ by the power of
the Holy Spirit
Do I need unction?
--Yes, and continually.
The title of this sermon is, “Unguent” [uhng-gwuh
nt]. What does this word mean
and what does this word have to do with unction?
--an ointment or salve for application to wounds and sores.
--unction is an unguent or salve.
--God imparts not only knowledge, understanding and wisdom but
emotional, mental, physical and spiritual healing and comfort.
--the unction or spiritual unguent of God keeps us safe from all false
doctrine.
In the Bible Study Schedule at the Las
Vegas site, there is a photo of a tube of salve just under the sermon
title, “Unguent.” What does salve have to do with unction of the Holy
Spirit?
--as we see in the definitions of, "unguent" and "unction" both are
about anointing and healing.
Isn’t salve defined as, “medicinal ointment
for healing or relieving wounds and sores?” Does the word, “unction”
have something to do with healing and anointing?
--yes, unction has much to do with healing and anointing.
--firstfruits are anointed ones before God.
--unguent from God can be literal but also spiritual.
--we are anointed into the image of Jesus Christ.
--this salve and ointment from God is holistic to every element of our
being.
So,
continue now and receive the unction of God.
---END---
Additional Text:
In the main body of the sermon I wrote:
Notice again 1 John 2:18-20
1 John 2:18-20
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that
antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we
know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out,
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
Here is the commentary on those three verses from the Darby
Synopsis:
To the babes the apostle speaks principally of the dangers to which they were exposed from seducers. He warns them with tender affection, reminding them at the same time that all the sources of intelligence and strength were open to them and belonged to them. "It is the last time;" not exactly the last days, but the season which had the final character that belonged to the dealings of God with this world. The Antichrist was to come, and already there were many antichrists: by this it might be known it was the last time. It was not merely sin, nor the transgression of the law; but, Christ having already been manifested, and being now absent and hidden from the world, there was a formal opposition to the especial revelation that had been made. It was not a vague and ignorant unbelief; it took a definite shape as having a will directed against Jesus. They might for instance believe all that a Jew believed, as it was revealed in the word, but as to the testimony of God by Jesus Christ they opposed it. They would not own Him to be the Christ; they denied the Father and the Son. This, as to religious profession, is the true character of the Antichrist. He may indeed believe or pretend to believe, that there shall be a Christ; yea, set himself up to be it. But the two aspects of Christianity (that which, on the one hand, regards the accomplishment in the Person of Jesus of the promises made to the Jew; and, on the other hand, the heavenly and eternal blessings presented in the revelation of the Father by the Son), this the Antichrist does not accept. That which characterises him as Antichrist is that he denies the Father and the Son. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is indeed the Jewish disbelief that forms part of his character. That which gives him the character of Antichrist is that he denies the foundation of Christianity. He is a liar in that he denies Jesus to be the Christ; consequently, it is the work of the father of lies. But all the unbelieving Jews had done as much without being Antichrist. To deny the Father and the Son characterizes him.
But there is something more. These antichrists came out from among the Christians. There was apostacy. Not that they were really Christians, but they had been among the Christians and had come out from them. (How instructive for our days also is this Epistle!) It was thus made manifest that they were not truly of the flock of Christ. All this tended to shake the faith of babes in Christ. The apostle endeavors to strengthen them. There were two means of confirming their faith, which also inspired the apostle with confidence. First, they had the unction of the Holy One; secondly, that which was from the beginning, was the touchstone [test] for all new doctrine, and they already possessed that which was from the beginning.
The indwelling of the Holy [Spirit] as an unction and spiritual intelligence in them, and the truth which they had received at the beginning — the perfect revelation of Christ — these were the safe guards against seducers and seductions. All heresy and all error and corruption will be found to strike at the first and divine revelation of the truth, if the unction of the Holy One is in us to judge them. Now this unction is the portion of even the youngest babes in Christ, and they ought to be encouraged to realize it, however tenderly they may be cared for as they were here by the apostle. ~John Darby Synopsis