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Sermon:
Unguent
[uhng-gwuh
nt]
1. an act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious
rite.
5. Religion.
6. the manifestation of spiritual or religious inspiration.
1. an ointment or salve, usually liquid or semiliquid, for application
to wounds, sores, etc. 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 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 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.
IV. What is the outcome of all this? It is, “Ye shall abide in Him.”
~Biblical Illustrator 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: 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. 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 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 - 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 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?
So,
continue now and receive the unction of God. 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 |
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