Don’t Touch My Anointed
Notes
Transcript
Intro; In my first vocational ministry as a student pastor, the church I served had revival services that first year. My Pastor, who is a scholar and a great man had invited an evangelist to come based on a recommendation of a pastor friend of his.
On Sunday morning the evangelist told a story of a preacher being severely abused by a small country church congregation that he served, to the point he left the ministry and lost his family. His message that morning focused on the need of church unity for revival.
On Sunday night he preached on the Pharisaic attitude of deacons in the church and preached on their need to be servants/waiters of tables and not leaders. Again the reason churches don’t experience revival because of lack of unity.
On Monday night he wore an army outfit and preached on the need to be good soldiers of Christ, and every person in the army carries a rank from private to general, and unless we serve in the rank we are placed, their will be no revival in the church because of insubordination among God’s soldiers.
On Tuesday night he preached on preachers in the church and said that they are “God’s anointed” and they should not be abused nor challenged. That God has placed them there to shepherd the church and there can be no revival unless the sheep follow the shepherd. Again, order brings unity and then brings revival.
There was no Wednesday service because we asked him not to come back after the services on Tuesday night. Now the theme of his messages would no doubt apply to many church situations today. But the intent behind his preaching became personal. We found out he was that preacher who had been abused by that country church and his messages were not biblical in context, but vengeful towards the church and completely out of context with the scriptures because he had been hurt.
I share this story with you because that happens more often than one thinks in the church. Pastors, elders and evangelists will take a scripture out of context to give themselves a so called immunity and protection leading to an abuse of their God given authority.
Such is the case we will look at this morning, which was used by this evangelist in those revival meetings and by preachers today.
Text; Psalm 105:15
15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
Prayer
1. Anointed Ones and Prophets;
1. Anointed Ones and Prophets;
Anointed- Hebrew [ma-si-ah/ Messiah] To be anointed by God can mean…
To be set apart for a certain function
To be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
To receive deliverance and divine protection from God.
Anointing is a powerful act of God making one a recipient of his goodness and faithfulness
Prophets- Hebrew [na-bi] A person chosen and directed by the inspiration of God to proclaim God’s will to others.
Let’s read the background of this text to understand it’s true meaning;
1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works!
3 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
4 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!
5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
6 O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac,
10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,”
12 When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
13 When they went from one nation to another, From one kingdom to another people,
14 He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
This Psalm, probably of (David) is a psalm of thanksgiving and remembrance that God is a covenant keeping God and He always keeps His promises!
“Anointed ones” refers to a group of people God has chosen to bless. Not a individual. That is the nation of Israel!
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Prophets- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God’s covenant message was given to the nation through them. And all during their lifetime no king or nation could thwart God’s plan. The Lord guided and guarded His chosen in the midst of the political and moral pressures of their day.
Remember when Abraham went south towards Gerar and told Sarah to tell the men in that area “she was his sister” [half-truth], so he would not be killed. King Abimelech took her but God prevented him from sleeping with her and compromising His covenant with Abraham.
7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Isaac did the same thing in the land of Gerar with Abimelech [Gen. 26], and Jacob deceived his father Isaac and also had to deal with his uncle Laban’s deception [Gen. 27-33], but in all their faults God never wavered in His covenant to Abraham!
This scripture is specifically directed to the nation of Israel, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the patriarchs of the nation, and is a reminder of God’s goodness and blessings to them.
So what can we glean from this for the church today?
2. The Church Is Anointed in Christ;
2. The Church Is Anointed in Christ;
Every born again believer has been “anointed/set apart/empowered” by God in Christ through His Holy Spirit to live and proclaim the Gospel of Christ in the midst of the political and moral pressures of our day.
There are three specific scriptures that use the word “anointed/anointing” concerning the church in the NT. I want to share them with you.
First; Standing in Christ
21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,
Establish- firm foundation, to warrant security
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Second; Understanding of the Word
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
The anointing here is the unction of God to know and walk in “truth”. In it’s context, it is the ability to spot false teachings/teachers and discern things that are from God from those that are of antichrists in the church/religion.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Third; Productive Servants
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
The anointing we have in the Holy Spirit is an anointing that must be utilized by the believer/church to be effective in our lives and to be productive for God’s glory in reaching others!
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit as the church, we are empowered, set apart, and secured, as we live in alignment to the will and the work God is doing in us.
To be anointed is not for us to have the license to do whatever we want to do or say whatever we want to say - without being criticized, challenged or even chastised by God!
Close;
As God’s anointed, we are His chosen people, the church, and so we must imitate the love and compassion of our Heavenly Father.
As God’s anointed, the church, we will face persecution, trials and maybe even death for our witness of Him, but we also have the assurance that the Lord is in control. He will never leave nor forsake us.
As God’s anointed, we must allow the Lord to use our life for His purposes.
God’s anointing doesn’t make us untouchable in this world, it makes us eternal for the next!
