ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD." There is no statement in the Bible, that was made by an apostle, that is more remarkable and even startling than this statement. When you think of it seriously, it seems as though Paul was very unguarded and careless in his language. We are apt to think that he ought to have modified and limited it in some way, such as for instance, all good things are of God.
But no, Paul makes the sweeping, unqualified statement, "All things are of (literally,
out of) God." Furthermore, so important did Paul consider this truth that he repeats it over and over again. The direct statement is made no less than six times in the writings of the apostle. See Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6, and 11:12; 2 Cor. 5:18; Eph. 1:11, and Heb. 2:10. Now was the apostle careless and a little too bold in these utterances, or did he mean just what he said, and are they true, taken full strength? I say, without any hesitation, yes, to the two latter questions. The more we learn of God's works and ways the more we shall understand that in a sense absolutely "
all things are of God;" or in other words, as it has been often expressed God
is in everything. We will notice a few passages that will set forth the Bible teaching on this point.
Says Christ, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matt. 10:29,30). In Luke 12:6, we read, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God." Do you realize friend reader, the stupendous character of this statement? How many millions of sparrows think you are there in the world? And of course it is not sparrows alone that God cares for, but all creatures, not one of them is forgotten, and even the very hairs of your head are numbered. The great men of the earth manifest their greatness by their close attention to so called great things; the affairs of state, national interests, business ventures involving the risk of millions, vast philanthropic schemes, and such like matters of world-wide importance. These men generally have very little care, and pay very little attention to the common every-day affairs of life: But God, between whom and the greatest of all earth's great ones there is an infinite disparity, displays His greatness by caring for what would seem to be the most trivial interests of his creatures, like the numbering of the hairs of their heads, and taking notice of apparently the most unimportant events, like the falling of a single sparrow. Well may we exclaim with Faber, in view of such greatness,
O, God? thy loving greatness ever lies
Outside us like a boundless sea;
We cannot lose ourselves where all is home,
Nor drift away from thee.
Thus doth thy grandeur make us grand ourselves,
Thy goodness quells our fear;
Thy greatness makes us brave as children are
When those they love are near.
If you would see this thought of God's universal providence carried out in every detail, read Psalms 104, 107 and 147.
See the case of Joseph for an illustration of how God is in affairs of greater moment as it would seem. His unnatural brethren determined to kill him; (Gen. 37:12, etc). Being dissuaded from this they sell him to the Ishmaelites, thus bringing upon him a cruel servitude, and upon their aged father a heart- breaking agony. A blacker or more wicked deed could scarcely be imagined; and yet in the sequel of the story, when Joseph is made ruler of Egypt, and his brethren coming down to buy corn at last discover that he is their long-lost brother, whom they had so cruelly wronged, he reassures and comforts them by saying, "Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." (Gen. 45:5,8). Could we have a more striking and positive illustration of how "all things are of God?" He is in everything. even in the crimes and cruelties of man. Take another illustration not so prominent in the Bible but just as positive. See Judges 14:1-4. Samson becomes enamored of a Philistine woman and must have her for his wife. In vain his parents try to dissuade him from so improper an alliance as it would seem, Samson is completely bewitched and insists upon having her. Who would suppose that God had anything particular to do with this apparently foolish love affair? and yet it was of him. For the 4th verse reads, "But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines." For another illustration see 2 Chron. 10:15, 11:4.
Another very striking example of how all things are of God is brought out in the case of the priestly house of Eli. Read l. Sam. 2:30-33. Now see how the fulfillment of this prediction was brought about in 1 Sam. 22:18-20. A more cold-blooded, barbarous butchery was never perpetrated, and yet it was the carrying out of the purpose of God. In 1 Sam. 2:31, God says, "I will cut off thy father's house." According to the account in chapter 22, it was Doeg that did the awful deed, and yet it is plain to see how God was in it. Abiathar escaped the massacre; the denunciation was against the entire house of Eli. Abiathar must be banished from the priesthood. See how it was done in 1 King 2:26, 27. "So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; to fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh." Is not this a very plain illustration of the great truth we are considering. The awful deeds of wicked men are "of God" in such a sense that he makes them conducive to the carrying out of his own plans and brings good out of them in the end. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise him; the remainder of wrath [that which he cannot turn to his praise] will he restrain." "All are his servants." (Psa. 119:91 ). "Fire and hail, snow and vapour, and stormy wind fulfill his word." (Psa. 147:8).
The heathen king Cyrus is another illustration of this truth. See Isa. 45:1-7. Cyrus was God's "anointed" to do His work. God used him as an instrument to accomplish a certain purpose, though Cyrus knew not that he was thus being used of God; (See verses 4.5.). The case of the Assyrians is still more marked. God was using them just as the carpenter uses his tools. See Isa. 10:1-19; especially verse 15; and in the same connection see Jer. 51:19-20.
Again, see Josh. 11:15-20. Israel destroyed the Canaanites and made peace with none of them, except the Gibeonites, "For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle that He might destroy them utterly." See also a very remarkable illustration in Psa. 105: 25. God sent his people down into Egypt, having sent Joseph before them (verse 17; this verse confirms Joseph's own statement that God, and not his wicked brethren, sent him), to prepare the way for them. God increased his people and made them stronger than their enemies (verse 24) and now mark, "He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal deceitfully with his servants." What! did God incline the hearts of the Egyptians to hate his own people, to deal deceitfully with his own servants? So the record reads. Truly, "All things are of God."
Take still another illustration from the New Testament. The crucifixion of Christ is always looked upon as the most awful crime that ever was committed, and the perpetrators of it are considered as deserving the most severe retribution; and yet they simply did what God's hand and counsel determined before to be done, (Acts 4:28). And Peter tells us that Christ was "delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." (Acts 2:23). Thus we see how even this stupendous crime was of God, and since we know that he worketh all things after the counsel of his will," (Eph. 1:11), we can readily understand from the illustrations cited how true it is that "all things are of God." Thus in God's universal sovereignty fully established by the plain teachings of the word.) "He doeth according to his will, in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him what doest thou?" (Dan.4:35). See also Isa. 40 whole chapter, and Rev. 17:17.
To the child of God this truth is most precious and reassuring. It teaches us how absolutely safe we are while we "abide under the shadow of the Almighty." His power extends not simply to the smallest affairs, like the hairs of our head and the birds of the air, but also to greater things, individuals, communities, states. nations, and worlds, and no creature moves but by his appointment or permission. "All things are of God," therefore I can understand how all things work together for good to them that love God;" and how, also, all things shall yet turn for good to man, since God loves him. God uses the forces of the world whether human or otherwise—just as one would move the pieces on a chess-board. They are so many instruments,—tools, in his hands. Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if a rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood." (Isa. 10:15).
But now these considerations lead us to another great subject, which we will examine in the next article. But for now let's take these things into your considerations for all of us as His great and very powerful subject as well. Let's get down to the very depths of one's own soul to study it , then be in prayer about it and keep right on going till the word comes unto us as God's people. Then when we get one's own conformation in it then it's time to move out in God, and moving on with our Lord Jesus Christ as He is leading us more unto himself in one's own life. With it it does bring growth in the person as we listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes in time and seasons to accomplish many great certain things that He has revealed unto us as we wlak in him as His people in the word of God. Don't rush it, or we'll make mistakes in us as human beings. Remember to as for His forgivness as it shows up and then return to what was said at that time unto you. Rely on Him to carry you through it as He does bring His children or His people through His manifestations of His holy spirit in with His Word in knowing that all things have been made by Himself. In which it comes for us in His eternal power of His very nature (man by reason) and in mortal laws in that knowing for us that identifies Him in heading toward God in what he shares wit us. The creator clearly shows in that unmistable power of His messages as He as a person as being His people in showing us His ways for us to tread on in our life. His eternal power had made all of those things in this world that we can see, hear, touch, smell to do as He himself has laid before us daily. In His supernatural power which is sustaining for us as His people ( Human beings) being fully aware of His power that does sustain us daily and spiritually too. His divine nature, particular His faithfulness, and graciousness, to all mankind in this whole earth. The revelations comes only from God, don't supresse it, allow Him to be himself in You at that moment in time whenever the unction comes in you at those moments of your being it comes in many different ways as a human being.
The Unction of the Holy One
"But you have an unction (or anointing) from the Holy One, and you know all things." 1 John 2:20
The life of John, the beloved disciple, was prolonged to a very late period; and we see the wisdom and goodness of God in thus prolonging his life, that he might be a standing bulwark against the errors and heresies which overflowed the primitive church. When the Lord of life and glory was upon earth, all the bent of Satan's malice was against him; but when, according to God's elect purpose and counsel, Satan had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ into the hands of the Jews, and the Son of God was nailed to the accursed tree (for Satan was outwitted by his own invention and out-shot by his own bow); then when Jesus had ascended into heaven, all the power of Satan was turned against his disciples. When he could not touch the Head, he aimed his arrows at the members; and no sooner did the Lord pour out upon the church the gift of the Holy Spirit in great measure on the day of Pentecost, than Satan immediately introduced all manner of error and heresy to harass the church.
Now, through the kind providence of God, the life of John was prolonged to bear testimony against these errors and heresies; and thus this blessed apostle was a standing testimony against the errors that came in like a flood. In the chapter from which the text is taken, John addresses himself to the church of God as divided into three distinct classes. There are the weak and young, whom he calls "little children." There are those who are established in the divine life through exercises, trials, temptations, and through corresponding blessings; these he calls "young men." And there are those whose lives are verging upon eternity, who have received many testimonies of God's goodness and loving-kindness, and have thus become "fathers."
Speaking, then, to the church of God as thus composed, he puts them in mind of those seducers and heretics who had crept into the church. He says, "Little children, it is the last time" (that is the last dispensation,) "and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists." They had heard of "antichrist," and they supposed that "antichrist" was some single person; the man of sin that was to rise. "No," says the apostle, "There are many antichrists." All that are opposed to Christ, all that deny the story of his Person, the efficacy of his work, and the power of his blood, these are antichrists, because they are all against Christ.
Now these antichrists were formerly among them, members of their churches, walking, apparently, in Christian fellowship. The apostle therefore says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us." They could not receive the love of the truth because their hearts secretly loathed it. They could not endure Christian experience, because they possessed it not, nor could they submit to gospel precepts and Christian discipline, because their affections went out after the world. The truth of God, the pure truth, did not suit their impure, corrupt minds; so they went out from the church, they separated themselves, and thus abandoned the communion and community of the faithful; for "if they had been of us," in heart and soul, knit together in the bonds of the Spirit, in real spiritual union and communion, if they had thus "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." Separating from the company of God's people is a testimony that such are not of God's people, and they make it manifest that they never were in heart and soul united with the family of God when they withdraw themselves from them.
But the apostle would here rather infer, "How did it come to be otherwise with you?" What has preserved you faithful when others have proved unfaithful? What has kept you still leaning on and looking unto a crucified Immanuel when others have trampled on his blood and turned after idols? Was it your own wisdom, your own ability, your own righteousness, your own strength? No; not so! "But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things." This is what he implies, "you have an unction from the Holy One." It is that which has kept you, it is that which has taught you. "You little children, young men, and fathers, you have an unction from the Holy One," and by that unction "you know all things."
With God's blessing, then, this afternoon I shall endeavor to take up the words of the text as they lie before me, and show–
I. What it is to have an unction from the Holy One.
II. How by virtue of this unction from the Holy One we know all things.
I. What it is to have an unction from the Holy One.
Let us look at the simple figure contained in the text.
Unction signifies literally
anointing. It is indeed the same word, and is so rendered a little lower down: "But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him" (verse 27). It has probably some reference to the oil or ointment which in those hot countries was employed to anoint the body, and keep it in health. But besides this there is a reference to what we read in Exod.30:22-33, where God commanded Moses to make a holy anointing oil by which the tabernacle and every vessel in it was to be consecrated; prefiguring
the special anointing of the Holy Spirit on the hearts and consciences of God's people. So that as no vessel in the tabernacle was holy until it had been anointed with the consecrating oil, so no soul is holy until it has received the unction from the Holy One. No prayer, no praise, no service no sacrifice, no ordinance can be holy unless it is touched with this pure unction and divine anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Now there is a divine suitability and peculiar figure here made use of–
1. Oil is of a SOFTENING, suppling nature. It is applied to the body to soften and supple it. So spiritually, the unction, or anointing of the oil of the Holy Spirit makes the conscience tender. Wherever that unction comes, it takes away the heart of stone, and gives a heart of flesh. It removes impenitence, unbelief, waywardness, perverseness, self-righteousness, and self-conceit; it softens and supples and makes tender the heart and conscience, so as to fall under the power of the truth.
Until the Blessed Spirit by his sacred operations upon a man's heart supples it and softens it in this way, the truth never falls with any weight or power on it. And this is the reason why hundreds hear truth without any effect; not being anointed with this unction from above, the heart of stone is not taken away, that evil heart of unbelief which rejects the solemn truth of God.
But when the Blessed Spirit brings the secret, mysterious, and invisible, yet powerful anointing oil of grace into the heart, it receives the truth as from God; and truth thus coming from God penetrates into the soul. The law sounds its curses; but they never touch the conscience until the unction of the Spirit attends it. The gospel holds forth its blessings; but without this unction they never come with savor and power into the soul. Christ is spoken of in Scripture as being to some "a root out of a dry ground--he has no form nor loveliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (Isa.53:2). And why so, but for the lack of this unction of the Holy Spirit.
Wherever the unction is in a man's conscience it will always make that conscience tender. So that if you see any man, whatever profession he may make, who is bold, presumptuous, daring, and self-confident, be assured that the unction of the Holy Spirit has never yet touched his heart; he has but a name to live while dead. Now do you watch for this in professing men and women, and in the ministers whom you hear, whether you see in them this soft, tender and meek spirit. If this is totally absent, the unction of the Holy Spirit has not yet come upon them.
2. Again, unction or anointing oil is of a PENETRATING nature.
When ointment or oil is rubbed on anything it penetrates into the substance beneath. It does not lie on the surface; it penetrates below the surface into the very substance of that to which it is applied. So it is spiritually with respect to the unction of the Holy One on the heart and conscience. In the case of most people who have truth in the understanding, but it is not brought into the heart by divine power--the effect is superficial. There is no depth of vital experience in their hearts; thus they resemble the stony ground hearers of whom we read in the parable of the sower: "Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away" (Matt.13:5,6). In their case the Word has not, as a two-edged sword, pierced even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, nor has it so sunk into their consciences as to be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of their heart.
But the unction of the Holy One, the internal teaching and operation of the Spirit penetrates into every heart to which it comes. It does not merely lie on the surface; it does not merely change the creed; it does not merely alter the life. It goes deeper than creed, lip, or life; it sinks into the very roots of the conscience. If your religion has never penetrated below the surface, it lacks this grand test of having come from God. The religion of God consists in the unction of the Holy One which goes beneath the shell and the skin; which works down to the very bottom of man's heart and opens it up and lays it bare before the eyes of him with whom he has to do. It is by virtue of this unction that our secret motives are discovered, and the pride, self-righteousness, presumption, self-seeking, and all that depravity that ferments in a man's heart are laid open. It is by the penetrating effects of this divine light and life in a man's soul that all the secret workings and inward movement of his heart are discovered and laid bare. A man can never loathe himself in dust and ashes, never abhor himself as the vilest of the vile until this secret anointing oil touches his heart.
He will be satisfied with a name to live, with an empty profession, until this teaching of God the Spirit goes through every mantle and veil, and searches into the very vitals, so as to sink into the secret depths of a man's spirit before God. He is never thoroughly honest to God or himself until the unction from the Holy One makes him see light in God's light.
3. Again, unction, or oil is of a SPREADING nature.
It diffuses itself, as it is termed. It is not confined to the little spot where it falls, but it extends itself in all directions. So it is with the unctuous teaching of the Blessed Spirit in a man's heart. It spreads itself through the soul. The Lord therefore compares it to leaven (Matt.13:33). How does leaven act? It is very small in itself, a little lump; but when put into the large mass of meal, it diffuses itself through every portion of it; so that not a single crumb of the loaf is unaffected by it.
Thus wherever the unction of the Holy One touches a man's heart it spreads itself, widening and extending its operations. It thus communicates divine gifts and graces wherever it comes. It bestows and draws out faith, and gives repentance and godly sorrow, causes secret self-loathing, separation from the world, draws the affections upwards, makes sin hated, and Jesus and his salvation loved.
Now if you had a child, and were very anxious for its growth, you would not like to see the child's arm and leg grow, and the other members remain as they were. You would not like to see its head growing much faster than the body; you would soon be afraid lest, the child die of water on the brain. And yet you will find some professors that grow only in one thing; they never grow in simplicity, prayerfulness, spirituality, watchfulness, and heavenly mindedness. Their faith, if we are to believe their own statements, grows very much, but we never see the other graces and fruits of the Spirit grow with it. But such a monstrous growth as this is not the growth of the new man of grace. That grows equally in all its parts, and every member bears a harmonious proportion to the rest.
If faith increases, hope and love grow--and when faith, hope, and love grow--humility, spirituality, and simplicity, deadness to the world, and every other grace and every other fruit of the Spirit grow in the same proportion.
Wherever the unction of the Holy Spirit touches a man's heart it diffuses itself through his whole soul, and makes him wholly a new creature. It gives new motives and communicates new feelings; it enlarges and melts the heart, it spiritualizes and draws the affections upwards, and brings about what the apostle declares as the effects of union with Christ: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor.5:17).
Of this sacred anointing John says that it teaches of all things, and is truth, and is no lie. Without it all our religion is a bubble, and all our profession a lie; without it all our hopes will end in despair. See to it, then, you that fear the Lord, or desire to fear him--whether you can find any of this unction from the Holy One resting on your heart--any secret melting down of your spirit before the Lord, any breathings of affection into the bosom of Jesus, any overpowering and overwhelming sense of that love which passes knowledge; any inward longing to enjoy him and delight yourself wholly and solely in him.
Now this unction of the Holy One will be felt only as the Lord the Spirit is pleased to bring it into your soul. It may be but once a year, once a month, or once a week. There is no fixed time for it to be given; but just at such a season and in such a manner as God sees fit. But whenever it comes into the heart, its operations and effects will be the same, the feelings it creates and the fruits it produces will be the same. O what a mercy to have one drop of this heavenly unction! To enjoy one heavenly feeling! To taste the least measure of Christ's love shed abroad in the heart! What an unspeakable mercy to have one touch, one glimpse, one glance, one communication out of the fullness of him who fills all in all!
This sanctifies all our prayers; this sanctifies the preaching, this sanctifies the ordinances, this sanctifies our public worship, this sanctifies the persons, the sacrifices, the offerings of all spiritual worshipers; as we read: "That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Rom.15:16).
It is the sweet unction of the Holy One that knits the hearts of the people of God together in indissoluble bonds of love and affection. By this unction from the Holy One we know the truth, believe the truth, love the truth, and are kept in the truth day by day and hour by hour. Is this the grand thing that your soul is longing after and pressing forward to enjoy? In the secret sinkings or in the secret risings of your spirit in the inmost sensations of your heart towards God, is the unction of the Holy One, the divine anointing of the Holy Spirit the chief thing you are looking for? Without this unction of the Holy One we have no tender feelings towards Jesus, no spiritual desires to know him and the power of his resurrection; without this unction we have not a single breath of prayer, nor one spiritual panting or longing in our soul.
The Lord's people have often to walk in a state of darkness; by this unction from the Holy One they are brought out of it. By this unction from the Holy One they are supported under afflictions, perplexities, and sorrows. By this unction from the Holy One when they are reviled they revile not again. By this unction from the Holy One they see the hand of God in every chastisement, in every providence, in every trial, in every grief, and in every burden. By this unction from the Holy One they can bear chastisement with meekness, and put their mouth in the dust, humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God. Every good word, every good work, every gracious thought, holy desire, and spiritual feeling do we owe to this one thing: the unction of the Holy One.
It is a solemn thing to have an unction from the Holy One, and it is a solemn thing not to have it. It is a solemn thing to live under this sweet anointing; but what a solemn thing to have a profession of religion and to know nothing of this sweet anointing! If in the great day those only will be saved who have had this unction of the Holy One, where will thousands be who have had but a name to live? If this be true, as it is, where will thousands be in the last day, when the Judge will sit upon the great white throne?
But if the unction of the Holy One be upon a man he is a consecrated vessel of mercy; wrath, justice and the law cannot touch him; the anointing oil is upon him, the blessing of God rests on his soul, and he is safely hid in the hollow of God's hand from the wrath that is coming upon the world.
II. How by virtue of this unction from the Holy One, we know all things.
"And you know all things." What does the apostle mean by that? Does he mean that they actually know all things, all the realms of science; all the varied departments of art? O no; the Lord's people are a very poor people, and usually a very ignorant people in matters of human knowledge. No; they are ignorant for the most part of the various branches of human knowledge. It is not their province to know what the learned men of this world pore over, and rack their brains about; such knowledge is not for their comfort or spiritual profit. It is a mercy to be ignorant of what the wise men of this world consider the only things worth knowing.
Nor does it mean that they know all gospel mysteries. Many of God's people are ignorant of fine points in divinity, and many a professor dead in sin and living after the course of this world is much clearer in the letter of Scripture and in the grand scheme of salvation than some of God's poor, broken-hearted family. But by this expression we may understand that they know all things profitable, all things needful, as the apostle Peter says:"All things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pet.1:3). What are, then, some of these all things?
1. They know THEMSELVES.
A knowledge of oneself is indispensable to salvation. If a man does not know himself he cannot know God; if a man does not know himself he cannot know the Son of God. To know and see oneself in one's true colors as poor, miserable, filthy, guilty sinners, lost, undone children of Adam, with a heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, with a nature thoroughly depraved, helpless, and hopeless--thus to know ourselves would stop all boasting. It would stop all thinking himself better than others, and effectually pull down all creature-righteousness, if a man once had the unction of the Holy One upon his heart and conscience, making himself known to himself.
By this unction from the Holy One we know our sinfulness, our dreadful, desperate, abominable sinfulness; by this unction from the Holy One we know our hypocrisy, our dreadful, desperate hypocrisy; by this unction from the Holy One we know our obstinacy, our perverseness, our alienation from God, our proneness to evil, and our horrible aversion to good; by this unction from the Holy One we know that we deserve the eternal wrath of God, that by nature we are at an infinite distance from his purity; that we are altogether as an unclean thing, and that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
If a man is not rooted and grounded in the knowledge of self, he never can be rooted and grounded in a knowledge of Christ as a Savior: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Therefore if a person does not know himself lost, nor groan, nor sigh on account of being lost, all that Jesus is, and all that Jesus has for poor lost sinners is hidden from his eyes. This is the reason of there being so much profession without possession; so much of the letter without the Spirit, so much doctrine without the power.
But when we are taught by the Blessed Spirit to know ourselves to be lost, ruined, and undone, then we want to know there is a Savior, and such a Savior as alone can save us out of our lost condition. No wonder that men despise the Person of Christ, no wonder that they deny his eternal, underived deity; no wonder that they deny the eternal Sonship of Jesus and the personality and operations of God the Spirit; no wonder they trample underfoot the divine mystery of the Trinity. They have never seen themselves; they have never groaned under a burden of sin; never had a knowledge of self in its ruin and depravity.
2.
Nor can we know
the purity and spirituality of God's holy LAW,
but by this unction from the Holy One.
3.
Nor can we know that
the SCRIPTURES are true, or that God has revealed his mind and will in them except by virtue of this unction from the Holy One.
4.
Nor can we know there is a
JESUS, a divine Mediator, an lmmanuel, God with us,
but by virtue of this unction from the Holy One. We may have correct views and sound notions; we may have speculations floating on the brain; but humbling meltings and dissolving views of the Son of God in his sufferings and agonies--we cannot have but by an unction from the Holy One. To see the stream of atoning blood from his sacred body, to see his glorious robe of righteousness, justifying and covering the sins of his people, to see the Holy Mediator interceding at the right hand of the Father, and to have the soul dissolved under the sight and feeling of the mystery of Christ as a God and Savior, nothing but an unction from the Holy One, the anointing oil of the blessed Spirit upon the heart, can give us this knowledge of him whom to know is life eternal.
5.
Nor can we
know the PARDON of our sins, but by virtue of this unction from the Holy One. We cannot know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, but by virtue of the unction from the Holy One.
6.
Nor can we know the
liberty of the gospel or the sweet manifestations of the Lord of life and glory, nor can we walk at large, as David speaks in Psalm 119:45, nor can we enjoy the sweetness and blessedness of a gospel deliverance but by this anointing. We cannot come out of darkness into light, bondage into liberty, coldness into warmth, but by the unction from the Holy One. Nor can we know what the favor of God is, nor this loving-kindness of a tender Father, nor his watchfulness over his children as a most affectionate Parent, nor the shedding abroad of his love in the heart, nor the inward witness of the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry, Abba, Father, but by virtue of the unction of the Holy One.
7.
Nor can we know what it is to have
a heavenly home,
a harbor of rest and peace, a blessed mansion above where tears are wiped from off all faces, but by virtue of this unction. How needful, then, it is, how indispensable for a soul that stands on the brink of eternity, that is exercised and troubled at the sight of death and judgment, to know whether he has any unction from the Holy One resting on his heart and conscience!
But if he has the unction from the Holy One, there will be fruits and effects, there will be holy panting and desires; the heart will not be always barren, dark, and unfruitful; it will not be always grasping after the things of time and sense. There will be something in the soul as distinct from these things as light from darkness, and heaven from earth. There will be a humility, a brokenness, a tenderness, a contrition, a spirituality of affection as different from the spirit of the world, as Christ from Belial. This unction of the Holy One touching a man's heart and conscience will make him more or less manifest as a new creature; it will make spiritual religion more or less the element in which his soul lives and moves; it will transform him, as the apostle speaks, "in the renewing of his mind;" old things will pass away; yes, all things will become new; with it he is happy; without it he is a wretch.
With this unction from the Holy One all is plain, blessed, and clear; without it all is dark, perplexed, and confused; with it there will be a savor in reading the Scriptures, and they will be sweeter to the soul than honey and the honeycomb; without it the Scriptures are nothing but a riddle, a weariness, and a burden. With it prayer is sweet and delightful to the soul--and prayer, and preaching, and hearing are, alike, blessed; without it all is dark and confused; we feel not the importance of the things we are hearing and speaking.
With this unction from the Holy One the ordinances of God are blessed; we see a grandeur and a beauty in the ordinance of baptism, and a sweetness in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. With this unction from the Holy One the people of God are highly prized as our chief companions; without it we care not for them, and feel as though we would rather go out of their company than get into it. With it eternal things are weighty and precious, the only things worth seeking or having, without it eternal things fade away, and the things of time and sense occupy the mind--it is engaged in the world, and eternal realities are out of view.
O what a difference in a man's soul when he has this unction and when he has it not! When the unction rests upon a man's heart it makes as great a change as when the sun rises and night disappears; as when the spring comes and winter rolls away with its cutting blasts. Now do you do you think know the difference? Does this find out your religion? Have you these inward changes, these alternations, darkness and light, summer and winter, day and night, seed time and harvest, cold and heat--these are figures of the work of God on the soul. We need both. The corn needs the winter as well as the spring and summer. We need night as much as day; the sun as much as the absence of it. So spiritually; we need unction, and sometimes we need the withdrawing of the unction, because we would get proud, as Deer speaks: The heart uplifts with God's own gifts, and makes even grace a snare."
Now if you have ever felt in your soul the least drop of this unction you are saved. The little children to whom the apostle wrote, saying, "their sins are forgiven," were but weak and feeble, but with that unction everything had come to cover their sins. The feeblest, therefore, the most trembling, most doubting and fearing, the most exercised, the most self-condemned, if they have but the least drop of this unction from the Holy One on their souls, are pardoned sinners, and shall be with Christ in glory.
When Moses consecrated the vessels in the tabernacle, it was not the quantity of the anointing oil that he put on which sanctified them; if he dipped his little finger in the oil and just touched the vessel it was as much consecrated as if he put both his hands in the anointing oil, and rubbed it all over. So spiritually, the least touch of this unction from God the Holy Spirit upon the conscience, the least drop of this holy oil falling from the Spirit on the heart, sanctifies, and fits it for heaven.
catcmo2006 Thank You for stopping in this site it's about Jesus Christ first and prayers, intecessory prayer's and at other times about this vast world we live in today which this old world as we all know it is slowly departing to be reaching our home in glory.
FREE MORAL AGENCY Do not the views set forth in the foregoing article clash with the doctrine of man's free moral agency? Do they not make him out to be a sort of a machine without any will of his own? Before answering these questions let me call the attention of the reader to the fact that the foregoing views are most plainly Scriptural. The many illustrations I have given (and I might give more) clearly set forth the absolute sovereignty of God. Let me also call attention to the fact that the phrase, "free moral agency," is not a Scriptural one, any more than the phrase "immortal soul" is Scriptural. Free moral agency is simply a theological expression, man-manufactured for his own convenience, and it may be that it does not express the truth. Let us by all means fit our theology to the Bible; and not try, as many do, to conform the Bible to our theology. Now then to the question. Is man a free moral agent? I answer most emphatically, no. Is he a machine then? Again I say no. What then is the truth? An agent is an actor, one who is able to act; a free agent is one who can act as he pleases without any restraint; a free moral agent is one who is free to act as he pleases on all moral questions, i.e. all questions involving the qualities of right and wrong. Now we do not hesitate to say that man is not a free moral agent. One passage of scripture would confirm this position if we had no other. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." (Psa. 79:10). If man is under restraint then he is not a free agent; and surely the illustrations we have given in the preceding article clearly show that God does restrain and control, and use man just as he pleases. And yet man is free; the Bible teaches it and I firmly believe it; but how free? Free as to his will, I answer; but not free as to his acts. He is a free moral chooser, but not a free moral actor. Man's will is free, he may choose what he pleases. His purposes, determinations, volitions, are entirely under his own control and guidance. But his actions are controlled and directed and over-ruled by God. We have seen this to be true in the illustrations we have already given. Let us notice another. The Jews were exceedingly desirous of getting Paul out of the way; they wanted to kill him. Paul was arrested and forty Jews banded together under a great curse that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. (Acts 23:12). I do not know whether these wicked Jews kept their oath or not, but if they did they starved to death for they never killed the apostle. They were murderers in the sight of God just as much as though they had committed the deed; but he interfered so that they were unable to carry their wicked purpose into action. But God did not interfere to prevent cruel Nero from taking Paul's life later on. This illustration shows how God sometimes restrains and sometimes permits evil. He restrains it when he cannot overrule it to his glory. He permits it when he can so overrule it. The very night before these forty Jews had formed their murderous intention, the Lord had stood by the apostle and said, "be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also in Rome." (Acts 23:11). God's word was thus passed to the apostle, assuring him that he had no immediate cause for alarm, and mapping out his future service. Would God allow forty Jews to thwart his purpose, or cause his word to fail? No, nor forty millions of them. Paul is delivered and God's word comes to pass; as God, himself, says: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." (Isa. 46:10) . But now why did not God interfere to save Paul's life from Nero? Because the apostle's work was done then, and he could glorify God in such a death. Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy from a Roman dungeon, while awaiting his execution, in which he exclaims, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course,—henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." (2 Tim. 4:6-8). Paul's mission was accomplished; hence, God allowed Nero to carry out his wicked purpose; and yet he was no more guilty of the murder of the apostle, than were the forty Jews who were not permitted to carry out their purpose. Turn to the case of Joseph again. His brethren were determined to kill him, but God "restrained" them. Then they decided to sell him into slavery; this God allowed because he could over-rule it for good. Thus does the wrath of man praise God, and the remainder (what cannot be made to praise him), he restrains. Man may purpose or determine what he pleases, and as he purposes, so he is judged. "For that he hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, therefore shall he eat of the fruit of his own way, and be filled with his own devices." (Prov. 1:29,31). "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," (Prov. 23:7), and so will he be judged. But whether he will carry out his thoughts and plans, will depend upon whether God will let him or not; and whether God will let him will depend upon whether he can overrule it for the good of his creatures and his own praise. If he can, he permits it; if he cannot, he restrains. But whether he permits or restrains the man is equally accountable for his purposes. Christ makes this plain in his sermon on the mount. He there makes the guilt to consist in the purpose of the will, not in the outward act. "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart," whether he is allowed to carry out his evil desires or not. 
