The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The title is, The Anointed One, and the scripture references Luke chapter 3, verses 15, 16, 21, and 22. Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Luke. 

I'm reading from chapter 3, beginning at the 15th verse. As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire. Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove. And a voice came from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son.

With Thee I am well pleased. The Gospel of the Lord. For me, epiphany always comes with a jolt.

I wonder if that's the case for you. We've hardly left the birth narratives behind. Angels and shepherds and manger bed.

And suddenly here we are 30 years later at the baptism of Jesus. 30 years have gone by and I just find myself wishing I knew more about what happened in the interim. but we're only given one very brief glimpse just a snapshot really in Luke's Gospel when Jesus was 12 years old and went up to the temple and he was a student he put himself at the feet of the teachers the priests and the scribes and so on and before he became a teacher he was a student now the reason for that is obvious when you stop and think about it You see, the Gospels are not trying to give us the complete biography of Jesus.

What they're giving us is the account of His ministry. And as important as those 30 years were in terms of preparation, in terms of giving Jesus opportunity for His character to develop and to manifest itself, As important as they were for that, they weren't at all important for His ministry. And the Gospel writers are singularly uninterested in anything about Jesus that doesn't pertain to His ministry.

Notice that Jesus didn't begin His ministry until this episode that I've just read to you. Up until this point, 30 years worth of preparation, Jesus was the best carpenter in Nazareth. I'm sure of that, aren't you?

I mean, wouldn't you love to have Him make a table for you? Guarantee you He's going to charge what it's worth and no more. Up until this point, Jesus doesn't begin His ministry.

And after this point, He never again returns to the carpenter's bench. So I want us to look very closely at this. Jesus doesn't begin His ministry per se until He's anointed by God with the Holy Spirit from on high.

In the account that we heard from the book of Acts, Peter goes to the home of Cornelius and he recounts the Gospel in these terms. He says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power. God the Father anointed God the Son.

This is a sovereign act of God. And until that act takes place, Jesus doesn't minister. That's not to say He's not a good person.

Best person you ever met. Most beautiful character you would ever want to encounter. But He doesn't begin His ministry until this point.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Now when you face that, when you really look at that fact, it seems to me that it speaks very powerfully to one of the questions that people continually raise today. Maybe you've had people ask you this.

Maybe you've asked it yourself. Sometimes people ask this with a good deal of stridency, irritation, even anger in their minds and in their hearts and in their voices. They say this sort of thing.

Now where do you get off telling me that I need more of the Holy Spirit? I'm a Christian. I have been a Christian for years.

Didn't I receive the Holy Spirit when I became a Christian? Yes. Yes, you did.

As a matter of fact, the New Testament says you cannot even call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit. No one who doesn't have the Spirit of God can belong to Jesus. Yes, you received the Holy Spirit.

No question about it. Well, where do you get off telling me I need more of the Spirit? Didn't I have new birth?

Don't I have the life of God inside me? Didn't I become regenerate? Wasn't I made a member of the body of Christ?

Didn't I become an heir of salvation? Yes. Yes.

Yes. That's all true. Well, I don't understand.

What do you mean when you say I need more of the Holy Spirit? Well, let's just take a look at Jesus. Jesus didn't begin His ministry until now.

What happened at this point? What did He need? What did He lack?

Let's be very clear about this. Jesus did not lack birth into the family of God. From before the foundation of the world, He was the Son of God.

Right? He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. If anybody was ever born of the Spirit of God, it was Jesus.

His life was the life of God. The book of Hebrews says He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature. You can think of that.

Some of you may have signet rings. You have your family crest on a ring. And in the olden days, when they didn't have stick them on the back of letters, the way they sealed letters was they'd pour some hot wax on the back of it.

They'd take a signet ring and press it into the hot wax. That would not only seal the letter, you see, but as you looked at it, that told you who it was from. You see official documents that way.

It has a seal of the magistrate or the governor or the king or the bishop or whoever it might be. It's saying in the book of Hebrews that God's character is like a signet ring pressed into the hot wax of Jesus. God who is invisible has impressed Himself into the very character of Jesus.

So you look at Jesus and you see the family crest of God. You follow that? The book of Colossians says the same thing even more powerfully.

In Him, that is in Jesus, the whole fullness of Godhead dwelt bodily. Everything that God was and is was present in Jesus. Okay?

So what did He lack? We say in the Nicene Creed, we'll repeat it in just a few minutes, God from God, Light from light. True God from true God.

Begotten, not made of one being with the Father. That's who He was. What did He lack?

He did not need to be born again. He did not need to have His sins forgiven. He did not need to receive a new nature.

He did not need to be made a member of the family of God. He did not need to become a member of the body of Christ. He was the body of Christ.

That's all there was. But he didn't begin his ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon him. I want you to see this very vividly.

The Holy Spirit indwelt him. He lived and moved and had his being in the context of the Holy Spirit. And yet, until the Holy Spirit came upon him, in addition to all of that, he didn't begin his ministry.

And after that happened, he never went back to the carpenter's bench. You follow me? Now let me just ask you, if Jesus needed that, how about you and me?

We are not talking about regeneration. We are not talking about being born again. We are not talking about becoming Christians.

We're talking about the principle of anointing. The Holy Spirit coming upon you and coming upon me for ministry. Okay?

I want to show you something. I hope this isn't tedious. I want to take you through some Scriptures.

I want you to see it for yourself, because it is not my Word, it's God's Word. Would you look with me very quickly back in the book of Exodus. Let's start with chapter 3.

Exodus chapter 3. This is part of the call of Moses. People of Israel have gone down to Egypt and they've ended up in slavery.

They're in bondage. And God says to Moses, I want you to lead them out of bondage. Chapter 3 and verse 10.

God says, Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth My people, the sons of Israel out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should do this? You see, Moses knew perfectly well that in and of himself, he had no ability to do that job.

He's going to face down the mightiest king in the history of the world up to that point. He's going to lead three million people out of bondage single-handedly. Who am I to do that?

If you read the story, he argues with God for about three chapters on that subject. Look at chapter 4, verse 10. But Moses said to the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent.

Now, I don't know how you picture Moses, but I see him as Charlton Heston. And it's really hard to think of him as not being eloquent, but that's what he says. See?

I stutter. That's what he says. I'm slow of speech and of tongue.

I can't do this. And the Lord said to him, Who made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind?

Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth. Now there's a lot more to the story, but that's just the part I want us to see.

You can't do this in your own strength. You're absolutely right, Moses. But as I call you, I will equip you.

I will be in your mouth. God's calling and God's anointing go hand in hand. He calls Moses to do this job, and then He says, I'll equip you to do it.

I'm not asking you to do that in your own natural power, your own natural strength. I will equip you. Turn over to chapter 31.

It comes time to build the first tent of meeting, the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. Chapter 31, the Lord says to Moses, See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. I have called him and I have anointed him.

I have filled him with the Spirit of God. And it goes on to say with ability and intelligence and knowledge and craftsmanship. He's got gifts to do this job.

He knows how to build a building. He knows how to fashion a tent. He's got great talents, but that's not enough.

I've called Bezalel, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. I've called him to do this job, and I've anointed him to do it. You see what I'm saying?

Look over in the book of Numbers to the right. Chapter 11. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.

just in case you're an Episcopalian. We come to the point where the people are pressing so heavily upon Moses that he really is being strung out with the demands of leadership. And the Lord intervenes.

Chapter 11 and verse 16. And He says, Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom you know to be the elders of the people officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting and let them take their stand there with you. And get this, notice, they're already elders.

They're already leaders. They're already in positions of responsibility. But God says, I'm calling them to help you to share your particular ministry.

Verse 17, And I will come down and talk with you there, And I will take some of the Spirit which is upon you and put it upon them and they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it by yourself alone. God calls them to ministry. And He says, I'll equip you.

His call and His equipping go together. His call and His anointing go together. Begin to see the pattern?

Joshua. Two more books to the right. Moses' ministry comes to an end.

And Joshua has the awesome task of stepping into Moses' shoes. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine having served under Moses for 40 years and now it says, okay, your turn.

And Joshua is absolutely panic-struck. Chapter 1, verse 5, God says to him, Josh, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not fail you. I will not forsake you. Be strong and of good courage.

I'm not asking you to do this out of your own wisdom. It's not because you're such a brilliant general. such an incredible administrator such a charismatic personality I'm asking you to do this because I plan to be in you and upon you and with you if you'll let me and so the pattern continues you move on into the book of Judges and we have a sort of a cycle that repeats itself God raises up a judge to lead the people he passes judgment on what the law of God what the word of God means as it applies to people's lives he becomes a prophet to them he becomes the sort of focal point of leadership and then they sin and they rebel and it says that God allows punishment to come upon them and then they repent and God raises up another judge and the pattern repeats itself over and over again Judges chapter 3 Verse 7, the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God, serving the Baals and the Asherah.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan, Rishatham, and so on. And then verse 9, the people of Israel cried to the Lord, and the Lord raises up a deliverer, a judge, who delivered them, a man by the name of Othniel. verse 10 and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him he didn't judge out of his own wisdom his own brilliance his own legal training he had a Yale degree and a Harvard education no that was John Kennedy not Othniel Othniel ministered out of the Spirit of God ok that's his equipping chapter 6 verse 34, But the Spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon.

Gideon overthrew the Midianites without one single shot being fired. Did you know that? How did he do it?

The Spirit of God took possession of him. Look at chapter 11. And verse 29, Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And one after another after another. Chapter 13, verse 25, the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in Samson.

How did he do all those incredible miracles that we read about? Not in his own strength, because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. We come to the end of the book of Judges.

We come to the beginning of the kingdom. And once again, exactly the same thing. You move into 1 Samuel.

And the first king that God raised up was a fellow by the name of Saul. Chapter 10 of 1 Samuel. The prophet Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon Saul's head and kissed him and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over His people Israel?

I don't ask you to be king in your own strength. I anoint you. With what?

With the very Spirit of God. Look at verse 6. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you and you shall prophesy with the other prophets.

And your very nature will be changed. You'll be turned into another man. Verse 9, When Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart and all these signs came to pass that day.

Saul was not a very good king as a matter of fact. and pretty soon he had to be replaced with a young man by the name of David. And we read about that in chapter 16.

1 Samuel 16, verse 13, Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And so on, and so on, and so on. You look for it, it runs all the way through the Old Covenant.

God calls a man or He calls a woman to minister and He says I will anoint you to do that thing I don't ask you to do it in your own natural strength I don't ask you to do it in your own talent your own natural gifts your own wisdom your own insight your own power I ask you to make yourself available to me and let me pour out my Spirit upon you now be clear about this that that was for the leadership in the old covenant God poured out His Spirit upon prophets priests kings singers instrumentalists builders and occasionally somebody else but by and large the common men and women folks the little folks like you and me had no direct contact with the power the anointing of the Spirit of God if you and I wanted to know about God in the days of David we go and ask David about it you go to the leaders the leaders have an anointing of God that's how they minister but the common people have no contact with that. They go and they learn from the leaders. Do you follow me?

That's absolutely clear. But what we find as we move through the Old Testament is that God begins to talk about something new is coming. There will be a new covenant and it's going to be different from that.

Look at Jeremiah. Just about dead center in the Bible. Jeremiah chapter 31.

very important passage Jeremiah 31 in verse 31 behold the days are coming says the Lord when I will make a what? a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put My law... Where? On tablets of stone so they can all read it.

I will put My law inside them. Inside them. I will write My law upon their hearts.

They'll know it inside them intimately. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord.

For they shall all know Me personally, intimately, as David knew me, as Abraham knew me, as Moses knew me, they shall all know me personally. From the least of them to the greatest. Not just the leaders, but the littlest among us.

I will make a new covenant and what's new about it, what's different, it will not be like the old covenant. What's different about it is that they shall all know Me in the power of My Spirit from the very least of them to the greatest. That's God's promise.

Look over at Joel. Very important passage that Peter quotes on the day of Pentecost. And I trust it's familiar to you.

But maybe it takes on a different significance in the light of everything we've just seen. Joel 2 and verse 28. Again, God is speaking and He says, It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.

Now that does not mean on each and every man, woman, and child. It means on all those who are part of this new covenant. On all flesh within the new covenant.

I will pour out My Spirit. Now, if this has never hit you before, please let it hit you right now. What's new about the new covenant is not the pouring out of God's Spirit.

He's been doing that from the very beginning of the story. What's new about the new covenant is the all flesh. Do you follow me?

He's been pouring out His Spirit on the leadership. What's new is that He's now going to pour it from the least of them to the greatest. Your sons, your daughters shall prophesy.

Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and the maidservants in those days, says the Lord, I will pour out My Spirit.

Not just upon prophets, priests, and kings, but upon butlers and maids and chauffeurs and garbage collectors, and upon you and upon me. Do you understand what I'm saying? It is the birthright of every Christian, every single one of us who names the name of Christ, to move under an anointing of the Spirit of God that makes the anointing that Moses had pale by comparison.

That's our birthright. That's what it is all about. That's what Jesus came to accomplish.

You know what the word Christ means. It means the Anointed One. That's who He is.

And if that's what the word Christ means, what does the word Christian mean? it means the anointed ones the little Christs the anointed ones do you understand that it is God's will for you and me and all of us to move under an empowering that is greater than the greatest that anybody in the Old Testament ever knew do you believe that? that's true that is normative Christianity okay that's what Jesus himself said do you remember what he said about John the Baptist he said no one born of woman is greater than John the Baptist alright nobody that includes Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob nobody in the old covenant is greater than John the Baptist but I tell you that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he you can surely qualify for that if you are the least of all Christians in all history you're greater than the greatest in the Old Testament if you dare to receive it and Jesus begins His ministry by coming under an anointing of God's Spirit and He says that's the pattern that's the pattern I'm the first fruits I put the key into the lock that all of you might go through that door.

This is for you. That's what John said about Him. He who comes after me is greater than I. The thong of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

What you've just seen happen to Him, He will perform in your life if you'll let Him. The same empowering of God's Spirit that made Jesus do what He did is available to you and me. Do you understand what I'm saying?

We're not talking about becoming a Christian. I take it for granted that that's already happened to you. We're not talking about receiving forgiveness of sins or the guarantee of heaven or having a new nature put inside of you.

He who comes to Christ is a new creature. All things are passed away. We're not talking about that.

We're talking about the same anointing that came upon Jesus is to come upon us. There's a story told about a little old couple, husband and wife, that they'd had a dream all their lives that someday they'd go on a world cruise. And they saved up their money and saved up their money and finally had enough and they bought passage on a luxury liner.

That's all they had. No more money left over. And so they took a big trunk with them filled with crackers and cheese because they didn't have enough to go to the dining room.

Day after day. I mean, they just loved that cruise. They saw things they never thought they'd see.

They went to places that they never hoped to go. And night after night, they went down to their stateroom and they nibbled their crackers and cheese. came the last night of the cruise and they checked their resources and they thought maybe they had just enough to afford one glorious meal in the great banquet hall of the liner and so they went and they couldn't believe what they were seeing I mean, filet mignon lobster Newberg wines of every possible description and they just feasted themselves and came the end of the meal and they called over the steward and they said, could we have the check?

The check? Yeah, the bill for the dinner. Well, the dinner was included in the price of the ticket.

All the dinners were included in the price of the ticket. Do you see what I'm saying? you are the anointed ones.

That's who you are if you dare to receive it. This is what Peter said. Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, not because he was the Son of God, but because he was anointed by the Spirit.

You are the anointed ones if you dare to believe it, dare to receive it, allow God to anoint you. So you and I can do the same thing. Or you can go to your stateroom and nibble crackers and cheese.

But it's all part of the ticket. Let's bow our heads. Lord, to the extent that we have been resistant to Your Spirit, forgive us this morning.

Lord, to the extent that we've been foolish enough to think that we could be Christians in the power of our own strength, forgive us this morning. Lord, we want to be those who receive from You all that You have for us. And we ask You to let Your Holy Spirit come upon us this day.

Lord, I ask You to anoint me by Your Spirit just as You anointed Jesus. Not because I deserve it, but because I so desperately need it. Lord, I pray that You pour out Your Spirit upon these my brothers and sisters.

Let us forget about ourselves and open our lives to You so that we sing and dance and pray and praise and prophesy according to the promptings of Your Spirit. Let us be instruments of healing to those who are sick. Instruments of deliverance to those who are oppressed.

Lord, fill us with Your Spirit. Fill this place, fill this body of Christ with Your Spirit. Be magnified and glorified in our midst.

Be uplifted. Be exalted. you