Allow The Holy Spirit to Teach

I John 2:19 says that many turn to other religions or sin because they were never really believers to begin with.   “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.”   Others stay faithful to Lord, because as I John 2:20 tells us, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”  The Greek word translated unction is ‘charisma’ which literally refers to being smeared with an anointing oil as a sign of acceptance or endorsement.  This is what Jesus was referring to in John 14: 15-17, when he said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”  As Romans 8:9 tells us, “…if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”  The people turn away because they do not have the Holy Spirit. 

Because they have the Holy Spirit, believers have the ability to understand God and his word in ways others cannot.   I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  John 16:13-14 promises, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”  The ability to understand God’s word fully is a more meaningful evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power than any so-called spiritual gift or sign. 

Because they have the Holy Spirit to enable them to know what is true, John is able to explain how they can identify false teachers in I John 2:21-23.  “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.  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.  Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

God and Jesus are like a father and son who do almost everything together.  Anyone who doesn’t believe Jesus is God’s son clearly cannot know either one of them personally, because if they knew them well at all, they would have seen them together and would see the family resemblance.  They would also have heard God talking about his son and his accomplishments.  If they claim to know God or Jesus, they are like a person trying to crash a party by claiming to know the host. 

Don’t shut the Holy Spirit up in a corner of your life like an untrained puppy that might make a mess on the floor, but give him access to your whole life, as I John 2:24-5 tells us.  “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.  And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”  If the Holy Spirit has control of our life, we will continue to follow the Lord, and ultimately receive eternal life. 

“These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.  But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (I John 2:26-27)

Because the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, we do not have to depend on what others tell us, but can depend on him to show us what is right.  We need to take the time to check out those who are trying to tell us what God wants.  You have the same Holy Spirit to teach you as the most famous Bible expositor or scholar.  Stay with what he shows is true, knowing that it will pay off in the end.   I John 2:28-29 advises, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.  If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”