Part 8 (1/2)
Dead Formalism or a Fresh Anointing?
ECCLESIASTES 10:1.
1 Dead flies cause the OINTMENT of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour....
Notice the word ”ointment.” That comes from a Latin word meaning to anoint. The margin of my King James Bible has a footnote by the words ”dead flies.” It says, ”Flies of death.”
Before we were born again, we were in spiritual death - that is, we were separated from G.o.d. But after we were born again, we were delivered out of spiritual death and translated into the Kingdom of G.o.d's dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We shouldn't allow back into the church the cold, dead formalism that was in the church when we were still in spiritual death - when we were dead in our sins and trespa.s.ses before we were born again.
That's where the problem lies in the church today!
There's too much dead formalism in the church, and it produces a stinking ointment instead of a fresh anointing. Dead formalism is robbing the church of the anointing! No, we need to look to the New Testament to find G.o.d's pattern for everything we do so we won't be a ”stinking ointment”! If we follow G.o.d's pattern for being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, a fresh anointing will abide upon us and we'll be full reservoirs to G.o.d's glory!
If you're filled with the Spirit and you maintain that fresh anointing, there will be a song in your heart! Not ”dead flies” - not a stinking savor - but a song! A fresh anointing, not a stinking ointment! If there's a song in your heart, it'll show up on the outside. It'll show up on your face. You won't have to notify your face if you're happy; it'll just show up on your countenance!
Continue to stay filled with the Spirit! Speak to yourself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Stay in G.o.d's Presence long enough so there is a continual flow from your heart to the Lord! If you're filled with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit, thanksgiving and a singing heart will be a lifestyle with you and you'll have a submissive and teachable spirit. You'll have a fresh anointing on your life from G.o.d, not a stinking ointment!
Smith Wigglesworth once said, ”I'd rather have a church full of people who didn't have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and all of them hungry for G.o.d, than to have a church full of people that had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and had lost their hunger for the things of G.o.d.” People with no hunger for G.o.d remind me of that verse in Ecclesiastes 10:1: ”Dead flies in the apothecary send forth a stinking savour.” Spiritually speaking, a person can stink.
Every single one of us needs a fresh anointing! Stay in G.o.d's Presence until you are anointed from on High. Speak to yourself in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; sing and make melody unto the Lord! Declare, ”I shall be anointed with fresh oil! Thank You, Lord, for the fresh anointing! I receive it now!”
<btt:accented>Chapter 10 A Fresh Anointing Is Recognizable
You see, spiritual health is just as obvious as physical health. You know when people aren't feeling well, don't you? It shows up in the way they look and act. Did you know that spiritual health is the same way? It is just as obvious whether or not someone is in good spiritual health; it's recognizable. It's recognizable when someone is so filled up with the Spirit that they radiate the glow of the Holy Spirit.
It must be recognizable because we read in Romans 12:11 where the Bible said, ”Be fervent in spirit,” or ”Maintain the glow.” If it wasn't recognizable, you wouldn't know whether you were maintaining the glow or not. Also, when the Bible said, ”Be filled with the Spirit.” If it's not recognizable, you wouldn't know whether a person was filled with the Spirit or not.
I remember years ago I read a message by one of the pioneers of the Pentecostal movement, and he made mention of the fact that some years before he had been the pastor of a church. He had asked a missionary who was returning to the U.S. to speak in his church.
In those days people traveled primarily by train. This pastor went to the train station to meet the returning missionary. As soon as the missionary saw the pastor, he discerned right away that spiritually something was wrong with the pastor. One of the first things he asked the pastor was, ”What's the matter?”
The pastor replied, ”Nothing's wrong.”
”Yes, there is,” the missionary said. ”Something is the matter. You're not where you ought to be spiritually; 97 you're not up to par.”
”Nothing's wrong,” the pastor insisted.
The pastor later related, ”I drove the missionary back to the parsonage, and by the time we got there, G.o.d had begun to deal with me that I had not been truthful with him. So later that evening I went to his room to tell him the truth. I knocked on his bedroom door, and he invited me to come into the room. I said, 'You said to me earlier that I'm not where I should be spiritually. You said that something was the matter with my spiritual health. I said there wasn't anything wrong with me spiritually, but I've repented for saying that because there is. I must tell you the truth.' ”
The pastor lived and pastored his church in quite a large city. He said to the missionary, ”For a number of years, in fact, when you left our city last, my church was the only Full Gospel or Pentecostal church in this city. But since then another man moved to this city (he wouldn't even call him 'brother') and started a church across town. He came in on my territory to start a church!”
Surprised, the missionary said to the pastor, ”But there are several hundred thousand people in this city!”
The pastor replied, ”Actually there's even more than that now because the city has grown since you were here last. I imagine now there are about one million people or so in the metropolitan area of this city.”
The missionary looked at the pastor, and somewhat taken aback, said, ”Do you mean to tell me that you've been upset because someone else came and started another church in this city! You ought to be glad! Do you mean to tell me that you actually lost out with G.o.d and lost the glow in your spiritual life because you had something against another minister? You ought to be glad G.o.d sent another minister to this city! You ought to pray that other ministers would come and start churches in this city!”
This pastor had lost out with G.o.d because he let a little something get into his heart against another person. It showed up in his countenance; in his spirit. It was recognizable. This pastor's spiritual ”health” and well-being was almost the first thing the missionary noticed when he saw him; the missionary saw immediately that the pastor wasn't where he ought to be spiritually.
The pastor later related, ”I knew what the missionary said was right. So before our church even started the first service with that missionary, I got in my car and went across town and apologized to this other pastor. I said to him, 'Come and fellows.h.i.+p with us. Let's start another church here in this city.' ”
Once he made it right with this other pastor, they both began to maintain the glow! And the blessings of G.o.d fell upon them mightily.
Spiritual health is discernible. That missionary discerned right away that spiritually there was something wrong with that pastor. First of all, he didn't have that glow or that fervency of Spirit the Bible talks about. A Christian can't maintain the glow of the Spirit if he's holding a grudge against another person.
Because this pastor had something in his heart against someone else he was no longer a full reservoir. Remember Jeremiah 2:13: Broken cisterns can hold no water. Unforgiveness and holding grudges will cause the vessel to break and leak! This pastor had become an empty cistern because he had something in his heart against another man of G.o.d so there was no way he could maintain the glow or be fervent in Spirit! His heart wasn't right with G.o.d. Spiritual health is discernible!
Filled and Running Over
Being filled with the Spirit is recognizable! When you are filled with the Spirit, your cup is filled and running over!
PSALM 23:1-6.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou ANOINTEST my head with OIL; my cup RUNNETH OVER.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Many of the Psalms are prophetic and many of them are Messianic, that is, they are really prophesying about the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, if you'll read Psalm 22, you'll see that psalm is actually a picture of the crucifixion of Jesus. Notice Psalm 22:1 says: ”My G.o.d, my G.o.d why hast thou forsaken me?....” That's exactly what Jesus cried out on the Cross (Matt. 27:46). Psalm 22 was fulfilled when Jesus died and rose from the dead.
We are now living in Psalm 23. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus Himself declared, ”I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11). Notice Psalm 23 didn't say, ”The Lord is my Shepherd; I am full of want”! It said, ”The Lord is my shepherd; I SHALL NOT WANT.”