2nd Corinthians 1:21-24 | The Anointing, Sealing and Earnest of the Spirit
Tonight we are going to look at the last 4 verses of chapter 1 of 2nd Corinthians. We spent the first week talking about the comfort of God. If you remember, we talked about in the very first sermon the reason why God allows trouble in our lives. Then last week we preached about living a life of simplicity and godly sincerity. And we learned about our conscience and our conversation and our confidence in our converts. And tonight we’re going to finish up this chapter by looking at the final subject that Paul gives us here in chapter one. He brings up the comforter in regards to the Holy Spirit of God. Look at 1st Corinthians 1:21 “21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;”. In verse 21 he talks about us being anointed and then the next verse about the Holy Ghost. The reason is because often the Holy Spirit is represented as an anointing of oil.
We’re looking at a passage that is probably familiar many of you. However, I’ve learned over 11 years of ministry that I tend to make assumptions about the things people know and then I talk to people in our Church and realize that it isn’t always true. We shouldn’t assume what everybody knows. It’s best to hit the basics and reinforce them and make sure no false doctrine or wrong doctrine creeps into our Church. Several years ago I did a 9-week Sunday night series called “By My Spirit”. We went through and looked at every theological idea you could think of regarding the Holy Spirit. But it is good for me to remind you of these things.
I want to just give you one example of how the Holy Spirit is often illustrated or represented in the Bible as oil. And there’s lots of examples we could look at but I’ll just give you one. 1st Samuel 16:12 “12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.”. This is the story where Samuel goes to the house of Jesse to anoint a king and the only son of Jesse who doesn’t come is David. God tells Samuel not to look at the outward like man does. Samuel asks if he has another son and then they bring his other son David. So we see that physical oil gets poured on David. But then the Bible says “13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon David. We see here that often times oil represents the Holy Spirit.
2nd Corinthians 1:21 “21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;”. Here Paul tells us that God anointed us. Now there are several things that the Bible highlights about the Holy Spirit. And again, I spent 9 weeks on Sunday nights going through and teaching everything I could think about the Holy Spirit. We’re not going to do that tonight. I’m going to really just focus in on the things that the Apostle Paul kind of highlights here. But there are several things about the Holy Spirit that are important that you need to be aware of and that you need to understand.
Number 1 – It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us. And when the anointing is mentioned, that’s what should come to mind. You’ve been anointed to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. 1st John 2:27 “27 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. What’s the first thing that you need to know about the Holy Spirit? We need to understand that the Holy Spirit teaches us. Why don’t we need any man to teach us? Because the Holy Spirit of God teaches us the word of God.
And here’s what you need to understand. Often people will come to a Church like this or they’ll listen to preaching online and they’ll listen to some preacher or some man of God stand up and go to some complicated passage and bring out some complicated truth. The tendency is for Church people to say “Well I could never study the Bible and know that. I could never understand the Bible. I could never read the Bible and get that knowledge.”. But here’s what you need to understand. God is no respecter of persons. If you’ve ever had this thought before then you are wrong. As long as you have the same King James Bible and you also are saved so that the Holy Spirit dwells in you then you could also learn by reading and studying the Bible. There should be nothing that is taught from this pulpit or from any Bible believing Church’s pulpit that you could not have learned and studied on your own. If you’ve got the Holy Spirit of God and the King James Bible, the Holy Spirit has a purpose to teach you.
John 14:17 “17 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.”. Look at John 14:26 “26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”. See, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit can teach you all things.
Now I want you to understand this because sometimes you start talking about the Holy Spirit and people get all hocus pocus charismatic Pentecostal. The spirit is not magical. It’s not like you sleep and one day wake up and then you have this great knowledge. Look at verse 26 again “26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”. How does the Holy Spirit teach you? He’s going to remind you or bring to your remembrance the things that you need to know. But here’s the thing. He’s not going to put them there. You got to put them there. You have to wake up and read and study the Bible. Even if you don’t understand everything, worry about the things you do understand and apply it to your life. Then as you read it daily, it will start to make sense as the Holy Spirit is teaching you and reminding you of the things you read.
There are passages you may have read 25 times but then it finally hits you what it is talking about. Do you think Pastors have some secret website to get some special knowledge? When I preached on Joel 2, I preached some deep things. How did I figure out the army and desolation in Joel 2? Well, when you read Joel 25 times and Matthew 25 times and Mark 25 times and Luke 25 times and Revelation 25 times, eventually it’ll sink in. There’s no magic to it. You just read the Bible and the Holy Spirit will bring things to your remembrance.
See, the truth is that you can learn and study the Bible on your own. This isn’t the Catholic Church in the dark ages where they tell you that you can’t read or understand the Bible and need a Priest. As Independent Baptists, we tell you the opposite. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God.”. Be ready to receive the word of God. Be like the Bereans which received the word with all readiness of mind but also go home and search the scriptures daily whether those things are so. Read the Bible, memorize the Bible and spend time with God. The Bible says that the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things. How? He brings things to your remembrance. He’s not going to teach you something you’ve never read before. He’s not going to teach you something you’ve never learned before. But you read it and read it and read it enough times and you’ll start making connections. And it’s not because you’re so smart but because the Holy Spirit of God will bring things to your remembrance.
The Bible is a spiritual book. The natural man cannot understand the Bible. Only the Holy Spirit can help you understand the spiritual book which is the Bible. Look at 1st Corinthians 2:7 “7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”. I’ve often heard people take verse nine and apply it to heaven. But the context of the verse is actually about the word of God.
1st Corinthians 2:10 “10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”. By the way, that’s why when you come to Church here at Verity Baptist Church, we use a lot of Bible. We cross reference things and compare because we are comparing spiritual with spiritual. I don’t just get up and tell stories for 30 minutes.
1st Corinthians 2:14 “14 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.”. Listen to me, the unsaved man cannot understand the Bible. I don’t care how many Books of Romans and Johns you give them. I don’t care how many times they read through it. They cannot understand it. They will not get saved on their own. They need somebody to explain it to them, to open up their mouth and communicate it to them. This is why we don’t have big campaigns to just pass out a bunch of literature. We train soulwinners to open their mouth like Paul the Apostle said “And for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.”. Why? Because that’s how the gospel is preached. Why? Because unsaved people cannot understand the word of God. They need you to help them.
Sometimes people will ask “Why do you pass out invitations then?”. We do it as an icebreaker. And also we have the gospel on there because if you give them the gospel and they don’t get saved, the seed has been planted. They could review those thoughts and end up getting saved since the gospel was already preached. Or maybe you get someone saved and they can now use those verses to try to get a family member saved. But the point is that we want to preach the gospel because unsaved people cannot understand. They cannot understand the word of God. And by the way, the only reason you and I can understand is because we have the Holy Spirit. That’s it. Go to 1st Peter 5.
People who don’t read the Bible just have wrong beliefs. If you have a great idea, unless you can match it to the word of God, you’re probably wrong. Just mark that down. That’s how you’ve made every mistake, everything you’ve regretted in life. Just read the Bible. Just do what the Bible says and you’ll be fine. You start trying to come up with all sorts of ideas from your own mind then that is how you get yourself in trouble.
Now when you get up and preach how you need not that any man teach you, people feel like they don’t need a Pastor at all or a Church at all and will just learn everything on their own. It’s true that you can learn if you have the Holy Spirit and a King James Bible and you can learn anything from the Bible that you could have learned on your own. However, the Bible does tell us that God gave us a Church which is the pillar and ground of the truth. It says that he gave some Apostles, teachers, prophets for the edifying of the body of God. So before you go to Mr. YouTube and say you don’t need anyone else, if you read the Bible then you will that Jesus built the Church, died for the Church and is the head of the Church. And he gave you Pastors within the Church.
What’s the purpose of a Pastor? Well there’s lots of reasons for a Pastor. We’re actually going to talk about this at the end of the service as well, at the end of the sermon. But look at 1st Peter Chapter 5 and look at verse 1. “The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:”. The word Elder is used synonymously throughout the Bible with the word Pastor and Bishop. We’re referring to the same position but 3 different facets of the same job.
Why is a Pastor referred to as an Elder? Because he’s supposed to be spiritually mature and grown and able to understand deep things of the word of God. Why is he called a Bishop? Because he’s supposed to be the overseer, the administrator, the ruler, the person in charge. Why is he called the Pastor? Because he’s the one that’s supposed to do Pastoral care. He’s the one that performs the marriages and performs funerals and does the counseling and does all those things.
Here he says “The Elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an Elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:”. But notice what he says in verse 2 which is probably the most important part of being a Pastor. “2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;”. One of the things that the Pastor is supposed to do is feed the flock of God feed. You come to Church and we open up the Bible and I feed you the word of God spiritually. Then there are 2 extremes. One extreme is thinking that the Pastor does all of your feeding. That’s wrong. Because you have the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read and study the Bible. Don’t just rely on your Pastor to feed you. But the other extreme is saying that you don’t need a Pastor since you have the Holy Spirit of God. Let me tell you something. You’re wrong. God gave you a Pastor to feed you.
So which is it? It’s both. You’re supposed to feed yourself and you’re supposed to have a Pastor to feed you. Why feed yourself? Because you’re not a baby. Babies can’t feed themselves. They get fed. It is a sign of maturity when you actually begin to open up the Bible and read it and study it for yourself. But obviously when you just got saved you’re not going to just open up the book of Ezekiel and learn these wonderful truths. So how can you learn the book of Ezekiel? You probably need a Pastor who’s read the Bible 25 times to teach you these things. God gives you both for a balance. What does a Pastor do? A Pastor helps you go further faster. They help you understand things that maybe you’re just not going to understand because you’re newer, because you just haven’t read as much. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not supposed to read and be growing and learning and understanding yourself. You need to be doing both. You need God. With the Holy Ghost and the King James Bible, you can study the word of God and learn it but God also gave you Pastors to help you go further. So when you’re reading through these prophetic books and don’t understand everything, just keep reading and learning and eventually you’re start learning and grasping and making connections. The Holy Spirit will remind you of the things that you read. Then you also have a Pastor that’s supposed to help teach you these things.
We liken having a Pastor to eating physical food. You go home Monday-Saturday and you are preparing your own meals. Then you come to Church on Sunday and the Pastor feeds you a meal which is like a spiritual restaurant. Most of my meals I eat at home but sometimes I take my wife out to a nice restaurant. Here is the thing. At Verity Baptist Church, I don’t mean to say this in an arrogant way, but the teaching and preaching is fine dining. Some of the Churches you go to is like spiritual McDonalds. You go to fancy restaurants because they prepare meals that you just don’t have the time or ability or knowledge to prepare. At Verity Baptist Church, we give you a balanced diet of good nutrition from the word of God.
Here is what most Christians do. They don’t understand a lot of the Bible so they just read Psalms and focus on the part of Psalms they do understand. Then they go to YouTube and listen to end times, reprobates, vaccines and their favorite hobby horses. Then you come here and I tell you that I’m glad you listened to lots of YouTube preaching but how about you open up the Word of God and read it for yourself. I remind you and help you to learn things that you’re supposed to be doing, things that you have no interest in. Your marriage is falling apart but you don’t want to listen to any marriage sermons so I just make you listen to the marriage sermons. End times is great and we preach on that but you need to learn about being honest and having integrity and being a hard worker.
Maybe you’re a new Christian and you don’t know how to learn the Bible. That’s ok. Go home and do the spiritual hamburger helper and then come here and I’ll serve you a steak every Sunday. Then you can learn how to prepare your own spiritual steak at home. The point is that God has ordained both. You read the Bible and learn it on your own and then you come to Church with a Pastor and he teaches you these things. I pray that you would apply the preaching from this Church but also that you develop a devotional time with the Lord and you learn and grow through that as well. I also pray that God would use other preaching and Pastors that you can listen to and grow from as well. Don’t have this idea that you can’t read the Bible and learn. You have the Holy Spirit. You have a Bible. You can read the Bible and begin to learn parts of the Bible. As you learn and grow, you’ll learn and understand more,
We’re going verse by verse through 2nd Corinthians. Probably the next time you read it for yourself, you’ll understand a lot more things. The point is that the Holy Spirit resides in you and you can learn and grow and understand and you should. However, God has given you a Pastor also to help you along the way.
2nd Corinthians 1:22 “22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.:”. It is not only the Holy Spirit that teaches us but it is the Holy Spirit that abides in us. He said that he has sealed us. The word seal has several ways to apply it or several meanings. The idea is like in the ancient world when they would maybe send a letter and they’d put a seal upon it. The purpose of the seal was twofold. If you’ve ever seen any ancient documents or replicas of documents, then you’ll know that they didn’t have envelopes like we have. They would put a piece of wax and while it was hot would seal it with some sort of emblem. The purpose of the sealing was two-fold. The first was to identify where it came from. The second was to protect it. Because if the letter got to its destination and the seal was broken, then we would know that somebody read the letter.
1st John 2:27 “27 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.”. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit indwells you. John 14:16 “16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 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. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”. The Holy Spirit indwells you. The Bible says you’re indwelled by the Spirit of God.
1st Corinthians 3:16 “16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”. Most people are aware of this but sometimes we don’t act like we know it. Sometimes you preach these basic things and people roll their eyes and think they don’t need these things. But those same people get drunk and watch bad movies and are screaming at their spouses. That’s why I need to remind you that the Spirit of God indwells you as a saved person and you are not your own. 1st Corinthians 3:17 “17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”. 1st Corinthians 6:19 “19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”.
You belong to God. God put his spirit inside of you. Your body became the temple of the Holy Ghost and when you drag that carcass into the bar, you just drug the Holy Spirit into the bar. Do you understand that? This is why the Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. This is why the Bible says quench not the Holy Spirit of God. How do you grieve or quench the Holy Spirit? When you bring the Holy Spirit with you in the presence of sin. 2nd Corinthians 6:16 “16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”. 2nd Timothy 1:14 “14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”.
Number one – the Holy Spirit teaches us. It is the anointing. Number two – The Holy Spirit abides in us. It is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. It is the sealing of God. Why does he seal you? To identify you, that you belong to him. To protect you. We’ll talk about that next, the eternal security and the protection of God. But look, the Holy Spirit lives inside you. And by the way, it’s the Holy Spirit that unites us. The same Holy Spirit that indwells me is the same Holy Spirit that endures you. So we have one faith, one baptism, one Holy Spirit of God. It unites us as believers. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. He abides us. He seals us.
2nd Corinthians 1:22 “22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”. Notice how it says “the earnest of the Spirit”. Go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1:13 “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”. Now I’m not preaching on this today but notice the word trust in verse 13. What does that mean? The Bible is its own dictionary. It defines itself. Notice how it also says believe in verse 13. What does it mean to believe? It means to trust. When we say “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”, we aren’t saying believe he exists. We mean put your trust in him, put your confidence in him.
But notice how it also says “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”. Now there’s another doctrine here that I just want to point out to you quickly. When is it that you get the Holy Spirit? There are religions like the Pentecostal Charismatics that say salvation is a process of repenting, believing, being baptized and then you are filled with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues. But the Bible doesn’t say that you get the Holy Spirit later on down the road. Ephesians 1:13 “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”. When were you sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise? The moment you believed. That’s when you got the Holy Spirit. It’s not a process.
Now notice, you’re sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. In 2nd Corinthians he said you got the earnest of the spirit. Here in Ephesians 1:13 it says the Holy Spirit of promise. What is the promise? Here is the promise. Verse 14 “14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”. What does all that mean? Here’s what it means. The earnest is your guarantee. It means that once you’re saved, you’re always saved. God’s never going to let you go. You’re never going to lose God. And God’s not going to lose you. You say why? Here’s why. Because of the Holy Spirit of promise, because of the earnest of the Holy Spirit.
Let me define “earnest money” to help explain. Earnest money is defined as a deposit made to a seller showing the buyer’s intent to purchase often used in real estate transactions. Earnest money shows when you put earnest money down, it shows that you’re serious about purchasing. And earnest money may be lost. The reason that it shows that you’re earnest or serious is because it may be lost. If the buyer backs out of the transaction, the earnest is like a down payment that you put down. You’re basically saying that it is the down payment and you will come back to finish the transaction. If you do back out, then the seller can keep that money. When it comes to salvation, you need to understand this. Theologically, the transaction is not complete yet. You have been saved completely in spirit but your flesh is still corrupt. It’s not until the rapture or the resurrection that this corruptible, the Bible says will put on incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality. At that point, the transaction will be completed. You’ll be saved – body, soul, and spirit. Right now it’s just your spirit that’s the new man. We still struggle with this old flesh. And the Bible says that in order to guarantee that God was not going to forget about us and that he was going to come back for us, he gave us the Holy Spirit as his earnest or as his down payment.
What he is saying is that if he fails to fulfill his promise then he will lose the Holy Spirit. Now do you think that God is going to lose the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is God. God’s not going to lose the Holy Spirit. If we were able to lose our salvation then God would be able to lose the Holy Spirit. God’s not losing the Holy Spirit. He’s going to finish the transaction. He’s going to finish what he promised. He gave me the earnest of the spirit, the promise of the spirit. And it is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. He’s going to finish what he said unto the praise of his glory. See, it is the Holy Spirit that guarantees our salvation. It is guaranteed. Our salvation is guaranteed by the earnest of the Holy Spirit. That’s why he sealed you. To protect you, and to preserve you, and to show you that he’s going to finish the transaction.
Let me just review really quickly. One of the things that we learned about the Holy Spirit in these verses. Number one – the Holy Spirit teaches us. It is the anointing that teaches us. Number two – the Holy Spirit abides in us. It is the sealing that God gave us to identify us, to protect us, to preserve us. And then thirdly, it is the Holy Spirit that guarantees us. It is the earnest of the spirit, the promise of the spirit that guarantees to us that God is going to finish his transaction.
2nd Corinthians 1:23 “23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.”. We talked about why Paul didn’t come to Corinth. So I won’t deal with that verse tonight but we will catch up to that next week when we look at chapter two. Verse 24 “24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”. Now the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Church at Corinth as a spiritual leader. Because if you remember, he mentioned how they are his converts. He talked about that it would be a benefit because when a Pastor opens up the Word of God, it is a benefit to you. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It helps you.
Paul is stating just like I am that although there is spiritual leadership, he is not in dominion over their faith. What does dominion mean? It comes from the same word as to dominate. As a spiritual leader, I am not supposed to dominate your faith or your life. Notice 1st Peter 5:1 “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;”. It says to take the oversight. The word Bishop means that you look over, you manage, you administer. The Pastor is called the ruler in the Bible. Hebrew 13:17 “17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”.
1st Peter 5:2 “2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.”. The Pastor is the boss at Church according to verse 2. But notice that in verse 3 it says “neither as being Lord over God’s heritage”. That’s the same thing that Paul said when he said not for that we have dominion over your faith. He says not being Lords over God’s heritage but being ensamples to the flock. What he is saying is that as the Pastor, I am not supposed to run your life. When it comes to the operation of our Church, I have that rule and you should obey it. However, when it comes to your personal life, I don’t have the rule over it. Obviously as a Pastor I can give you counsel and advice and admonish you of course. You can come and ask for advice and all of those things. But I don’t tell you what color clothes to wear in your house. There are religions like that such as the Amish that make you dress in a certain way in your personal life. Here’s the point, I’m not supposed to dominate your life. However, I am supposed to rule in the house of God. I am to be a dictator when it comes to how Church operates but not when it comes to your personal life.
Why is that important? Here’s why it’s important. Because I would say that this is probably the number one thing that I have to teach people when they come to a Church like ours. Oftentimes people come to our Church that have not gone to any Church ever. They’ve just watched YouTube. That is great that YouTube got them here but they’ve never been a part of a Church or a Church family and they don’t know how a Church is supposed to go biblically. The other group of people we have come to our Church are people who used to go to unbiblical Churches. Realize that this is a Pastor led Church. Why? Because that’s what the Bible says. Taking the oversight thereof, to be the ruler. There are other Churches that are run by Deacons or Elders or loudmouth women or people that are big donators. Actually most Churches are not being run by their Pastors. Then people come here and are freaked out because the Pastor is acting like a dictator.
The Bible says obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for your souls. You say “Pastor, why do you watch so much or care so much?”. Because the Bible says that the Pastors must give account for what happens in this Church. I take my job seriously and oftentimes what I have to do is I have to gently and sometimes not so gently teach people that this is a Pastor-led Church. I run this Church. I don’t run your house. I preach the word of God. I try to influence you. Whatever you do at your home, that’s between you and God. When it comes to Verity Baptist Church, I run this Church. What does that mean? It means everything is run by me. Even my wife who I have running baby showers and ladies’ events, even my wife runs things by me. Maybe you think I’m joking but when it comes to baby showers, orchestra and other events, I am in charge of those. I might put people in charge to run those events but it is underneath my authority.
Your personal life is not something I run. But all things that go on here must be run by me because I am in charge. This is a Pastor-led Church. I’m not going to dominate your life but I’m not going to let you take over this Church. Now obviously I’ve put people in charge that I trust to run those ministries, to do those things. But at the end of the day, you have to remember this is a Pastor-led Church. So if you’re told “Maybe we should ask Pastor.”, don’t get a bad attitude about that. This is a Pastor-led Church. Why does Pastor really care? I am responsible for it. You need to understand that this is a Pastor-led Church. I’m going to rule this Church in the way that God has given me to rule it. I’m not going to rule your life. I’ll help you. I’ll admonish you. I’ll counsel you. I’ll give you advice. Whatever you do in your own personal life, that’s between you and God. But when it comes to this Church, I decide on what type of music, whether or not we will have a Bible study, whether or not we will have a new soulwinning time or program. Do you understand me? Paul said that he didn’t have dominion over their faith or life but he did in the Church. The role of the spiritual leadership is to lead.
Spiritual leadership is to teach you the word of God but also to operate this Church. I will tell you how things will be done in the Church. At home you make your own choices but in Church I am the rule. 2nd Corinthians 1:24 “24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”. Not only is spiritual leadership to lead, spiritual leadership is also to help. The Biblical mode for leadership is servant leadership. I don’t have time to develop this. It’s a sermon for another day. But servant leadership is the biblical model. It isn’t that you go and do all the chores for your children. It is that you take your role of authority or leadership and use it for the benefit of those following you.
Do I lead Verity Baptist Church? Yes, I lead it very strong. But I lead it strongly for the benefit of others in order to benefit or help you, to not allow this place to become a circus with everyone deciding how things will operate here. There’s nothing wrong being a strong leader. There’s nothing wrong with being a leader and in a position of authority. I lead with authority but I lead for the benefit of others.
Husbands, your job is to lead. Your job is to lead her and be in authority but before her benefit. Let me let you in on a little secret. When your followers realize that you’re leading for their benefits, they’ll be happy to submit. When they realize that the leader isn’t doing it for their personal gain, they will be more able and willing to submit.
I hope that some of you would be able to say “Since I’ve started coming to Verity Baptist Church, I’ve learned. I’ve grown. It’s helped me.”. Hopefully the leadership of this Church has helped and we’ve led for your benefit which is what Paul said. Paul said that he wanted to come to give a second benefit. He said “not for that we have dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy”. What is our job as spiritual leaders? To help. But it is also to lead for by faith you stand.
Let’s pray.