Your Anointing Abides

"But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you" (1 John 2:27). The anointing of the Holy Spirit is received to abide in you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Christ means "anointed one." Christ abides in you as a believer, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones taught,"We have been anointed and been set apart; we have received this unction, and it has given us this understanding of truth which enables us to say that 'we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).

What does it mean to "have the mind of Christ?" It means the anointing of the Holy Spirit abides in you to teach you (1 John 2:27). He teaches you according to Holy Scripture, inspired of the Holy Spirit. The mind of Christ is always according to Scripture.

According to the New Testament, you are taught of God. Jesus said, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me" (John 6:45). 

Certainly, God uses people to teach us, such as evangelists, pastors, and other teachers. However, we are all dependent upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit to teach us. Both teachers and those who are taught must depend upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit to understand the truth. The anointing of the Spirit abides in you.

Complete Salvation

Charles H. Spurgeon said, "Great care must be taken that this faith is exercised upon Christ for complete salvation, and for not just part of it. Numbers of people think that the Lord Jesus is available for the pardon of past sin, but they cannot trust Him for preservation in the future."

"Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them"(Hebrews 7:25). Jesus Christ completely saves. Spurgeon put it this way, saying, "Genuine faith trusts a whole Christ for the whole of salvation." Our Lord Jesus Christ is complete salvation for every believer.

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ"(Philippians 1:6). Therefore, Spurgeon was clear to maintain that believers in the Lord Jesus can "trust Him for preservation in the future." That means Jesus Christ begins and completes our salvation.

Spurgeon warned of Christians who could trust Christ to save them from past sins, but they did not trust Him for the future. Spurgeon said,"They trust Him for years past, but not for years to come." He was sure of complete salvation in Christ. He declared, "Salvation by grace is eternal salvation. Sinners must commit their souls unto the keeping of Christ for all eternity." Jesus Christ is every believer's complete salvation.

Conviction & Conversion

Millard Erickson wrote, "Conversion is the individual turning to God. ... Jesus spoke specifically of conviction of sin, which is the prerequisite of repentance (John 16:8-11). Without the work of the Holy Spirit, there can be no conversion." 

Conviction is the work the Holy Spirit prior to conversion. Left to ourselves, we would never turn to God (Romans 3:10-12). The Holy Spirit convicts us of one particular sin above all others, not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:8-11). Conviction in itself is not conversion, but it is God's preceding grace preparing us for conversion.

Conviction of the Holy spirit may lead us to repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Repentance and faith go together like the two sides of the same door. Repentance is turning away from your sins, in particular the sin of unbelief. Faith is turning to God in Christ Jesus as our Lord. Repentance and faith are one and the same action in conversion. 

Conviction of the Holy Spirit precedes conversion. We repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason Millard Erickson could say, "Without the work of the Holy Spirit, there can be no conversion."

Three Abiding Gifts

Your faith in God for today and your hope in God for the future are gifts of the Spirit. God not only makes sure promises in the Bible, but the Holy Spirit gives you the faith and hope to rest in those promises. Faith and hope are gifts of God's Spirit in your heart. 

Faith and hope always comes with God's greatest gift from the Holy Spirit which is love. God's everlasting love makes the believer's hope sure. God loves His children with an everlasting love that is faithful and true. Our personal relationship with God is based upon these three gifts of the Spirit. Love is the assurance of faith and hope. 

"Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"(1 Corinthians 13:13). There are many more gifts of the Spirit, but these three are for everyone who is born of the Spirit. The absolute assurance of your new birth is these three gifts of the Spirit. Now they abide in you. They are not temporary gifts.

The three abiding gifts of the Spirit are focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by faith in Christ, based upon the gospel(1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Our blessed hope is in Christ, looking for his appearing and our glorification (Romans 8:30; 1 John 3:2). God's love in Christ fills our hearts (Romans 5:5; 5:8)."We love him because he first loved us"(1 John 4:19).

Your Walk with God

Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can walk with God according to the everlasting covenant. God has made covenant promises to every believer, guaranteed through the blood of Jesus and proven by his glorious resurrection. Believers walk in the light of God's covenant word. Every believer's fellowship with God is based upon the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. We walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

Your walk with God is through Jesus our great Shepherd. He takes away all our sins. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin"(1 John 1:7). Believers become the righteousness of God by faith and union with Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). We walk with God, because the Shepherd of the everlasting covenant is working in us to please God (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Your walk with God is in the light of his covenant word (1 John 1:6-7). God's word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). Believers are walking by faith upon the promises of God's covenant word (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Your walk with God is fellowship with God,"we have fellowship one with another"(1 John 1:7). Fellowship means communion. God speaks to us through his covenant word known as the Holy Bible. It also means that we talk with God through prayer. Our bond of fellowship with God is his everlasting covenant word. Joy is the fruit of our walk with God (1 John 1:4).

Knowing God as Father

J.I.Packer wrote,"What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father." 

Jesus said,"No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him"(Matthew 11:27). 

Packer taught,"Sonship to God is not, therefore, a universal status into which everyone comes by natural birth, but a supernatural gift which one receives through receiving Jesus."

Dr. Packer was right! Being a Christian is knowing God as Father. God's grace enables us to repent of our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30; 16:31). The Holy Spirit comes into our lives to know God as our Father. 

"You received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God"(Romans 8:15-16).

Jesus Christ came into this world that all believers may know God as Father. Trusting Christ gives us a relationship with God as our Father. Believers are children of God the Father through faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

Confession of Faith

Salvation comes to us through the resurrection of Jesus our Lord. "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved"(Romans 10:9). Jesus is proven to be Lord through his resurrection. He becomes your Lord, as you believe and confess him as Lord. Our confession of faith says, "Jesus is Lord."

Jesus risen from the dead is the singular most important doctrine in the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17). The salvation of every believer rests upon the resurrection of Christ. It's the miracle you must believe to be saved. Confessing Jesus as Lord is the earliest confession of the Christian faith. It focuses upon the resurrection of Jesus as our confession of faith.

If your faith is in Jesus our Lord, then the Holy Spirit convinced you (John 16:7-11). The Holy Spirit illumines your mind and brings you to repentance, a change of mind, concerning the resurrection of Christ. Then and only then, you will truly confess that Jesus is Lord, because you know the truth personally. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3).

The word saved means to be delivered from the condemnation and judgment of your sins. Also, it means to be delivered from the wages of sin which is death (Romans 6:23). To be saved is to receive eternal life through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If Jesus is your Lord, your are saved.