TAKE NOT YOUR ANOINTING FROM ME!
Ps. 51:11
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Larry Weathers is a math teacher in Benton, Kentucky. One of his math students got his hand caught in a go-cart chain and lost a third of his finger. He missed a few days of class.
2. When he returned, Larry asked if his injury hindered him in any way. The student was surprisingly upbeat. “No, it actually helps me,” he said.
3. Larry said, “How can that possibly help you?” And the student replied, “Well, for instance, now I can work fractions!”
B. TEXT
“Cast me not away from Your presence; and take not Your Holy Spirit from me” Ps. 51:11
C. THESIS
1. David had taken a man’s wife (Uriah the Hittite) and then had him killed. Then David quietly married Bathsheba. It looked like he had gotten away with it.
2. But the Bible ominously says, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” 2 Sam. 11:27. Then God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David and prophesy God’s four judgments to him because of these grievous sins.
3. It’s believed it was at this time that David wrote and sang his beautiful song of repentance to God, which we know of as Psalm 51.
4. I want us to sing together a portion of that psalm which captures the broken heart of David:
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence;
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways.
(Ps. 51:10-13)
5. Psalm 51 captures David’s fear he might have lost God’s favor and David put into words his deep repentance, which is a model for all of us when we sin.
6. This message is entitled “Take Not Your Anointing From Me!”
I. WHAT CAUSED THIS DANGER?
1. Psalm 51 describes David’s great mental anguish at the reality that he had hurt his relationship with God and might have lost God’s favor.
2. Christians today are too quick to assume they have God in a box and He must do what they want. The Apostle Paul knew better: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness: otherwise you also shalt be cut off” Rom. 11:22.
3. So what were David’s concerns that drove his repentance?
A. HE WOULD BE REJECTED BY GOD
1. He worried that he might be shut out of God’s favor forever. David had seen God turn away from supporting people – like King Saul, and feared that he too might be thrown out on the garbage heap of eternity by God, like something rejected.
2. Paul also carefully watched himself “lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” 1 Cor. 9:27, KJV. The Greek word for “castaway” is adokimos, and means “rejected.”
B. GOD’S PROTECTION WOULD BE GONE
David also knew he would be outside God’s protection; the Power who gave him victory and kept him safe from all his enemies, would be gone. Many times God had delivered him; he knew he couldn’t live without God’s help.
C. GOD’S SOFT MERCY, TURN INTO HARD JUDGMENT
1. The Bible warns against "grieving the Spirit" (Eph. 4:30), "quenching the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19), “resisting the Spirit” (Acts 7:51), and ultimately "insulting" the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) which may be equivalent to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
2. God is not a Person to be trifled with, to mock, or to insult. We must always be respectful, humble, and repentant in the presence of the Creator. He graciously extends to us the olive branch of mercy, but He owes us nothing.
3. He’s longsuffering with our ignorance, but a wicked, prideful attitude, if maintained after enlightenment, will harden His will, like concrete, to be just as devoted to our destruction, as He was to our salvation!
4. God told His people Israel; “All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees He gave you” Deut. 28:45; Exodus 34:7.
II. EXAMPLES DAVID MAY HAVE THOUGHT OF:
A. CAIN
1. David probably thought of Cain, separated from God’s presence. Cain didn’t listen to God’s warning and killed his brother Abel, the first murder.
2. God marked Cain so other men wouldn’t take revenge on him. Cain was banished from the presence of the Lord and became a restless wanderer and a vagabond.
3. David, who had killed Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, feared he might become accursed, for murder, as Cain was.
B. SAMSON
1. Certainly David thought Samson losing the Spirit. David’s phrase, “Take not Your Holy Spirit from me” was reminiscent of the statement made about Samson, “The Spirit of the Lord departed from him.”
2. Did David remember that strongman who, like him, could seize a lion “by his beard” (1 Sam. 17:35) and kill it, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him? Or how Samson had killed his 1,000 Philistines, but David was sung about for killing his “tens of thousands?” (1 Sam. 18:7)
3. Yet for all that, when Samson’s hair had been cut, the Spirit departed from him, and he was like any other man! He was blinded and bound to a grist mill and made sport of by the Philistines. So much for the hero of Gaza! Would that be David’s fate?
C. KING SAUL. Or did David think of King Saul?
1. Saul was God’s pick. God loved him (1 Sam. 10:1). Yet Saul’s pride, disobedience, and murder of the Gibeonites at last caused God to reject him, and replace him with another. Would that be David’s fate?
2. Once God left King Saul, no Urim or Thummim would give a divine response; no prophet would regard him; no priest would present sacrifices for him. He was a person “not welcome” before God’s presence – a fearful thought for David.
3. Samuel said, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” The Lord said, “It repents Me (I regret) that I have set up Saul to be king” (1 Sam. 15:11).
4. King Saul’s fate was worse than Cain or Samson, because when the Spirit of God left him, an evil spirit took it’s place! The Bible says, “Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” 1 Sam. 16:14. All these considerations brought a sober mind to David.
III. WHY THE SPIRIT LEAVING WOULD BE DEVASTATING
A. WE COULD NO LONGER PRAY!
1. The Holy Spirit is the only avenue by which our prayers ascend unto the Father; “We have access by one Spirit unto the Father” Eph. 2:18.
2. If the Holy Spirit were to leave us, we could have no communion with God. We must have the Spirit or else our great resource and remedy of prayer becomes unavailable! Thank God for our access!
B. WE COULDN’T UNDERSTAND TRUTH ANY LONGER
1. Next, the Spirit of God is given to “guide us into all truth” (John 16:13). For all who lack wisdom – He take of the things of Christ and make it known to them.
2. It’s the Spirit of God that illumines the Word for us; He opens our minds to understand God’s truth. What would we do without the Holy Spirit, our patient and infallible teacher (Luke 12:12; John 14:26)? He teaches us what to say and remind us of everything Jesus has said to us.
C. WE WOULD HAVE NO COMFORT IN TROUBLE
1. We need the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. One of His names is the Paraclete, the Comforter. He has come to heal our griefs and comfort our sorrows.
2. His mission is to bring us joy and peace (Gal. 5:22). Our adversities may be many, but in the Holy Spirit’s gracious presence we’ll rise above them all.
D. WE COULD NEVER BE PURIFIED FROM SIN
1. The Holy Spirit is our sanctifier (Rom. 15:16; 2 Thess. 2:13)! When we feel sin raging within us, how could we hope to conquer that nature without His aid? If He should leave us, we would be soon defeated.
2. God said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man” Gen. 6:3. Think how terrible it would be if He did! I would rather die a thousand times than lose the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit! How else could we ever become holy and acceptable to God?
E. LOSE OUR SOURCE OF DIVINE LIFE
1. Remember, Church, that we were born again by the Spirit. If the Spirit were ever taken from us, the very source of our spiritual life would be gone!
2. Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” If there’s any good in us, it’s because of the life and fruit of the Holy Spirit.
3. It’s the Spirit of Adoption that makes us Sons and Daughters of God. Without the Spirit, we would cease to be the children of God!
4. The Holy Spirit is not a luxury, but a necessity; if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His! Without Him you and I are separate from Christ, foreigners to the covenants, without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).
F. BETTER TO LOSE ALL ELSE BUT THE SPIRIT!
I’m sure David would have prayed, "Lord, whatever You take from me -- my children, my crown, my life, yet do not take Your Holy Spirit from me!” That should be our heart’s cry too.
IV. WHAT MIGHT CAUSE THE SPIRIT TO PULL BACK
A. BIG SINS; ALSO A CHAIN OF SMALL SINS
1. One great sin, when committed, startles the soul into repentance; but a continuation of small sins will be found to be even more dangerous, because we gradually realign our direction toward sin.
2. The journey to reprobation can begin with distractions of the cares & affairs of life, setting our hearts on the world (like Lot’s wife), refusing to listen (Jer. 13:10), hardening our hearts to Him, resisting Him.
3. The Holy Spirit says, “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained” 1 Sam. 2:30.
B. THE SPIRIT OFTEN GRADUALLY LEAVES
1. It should be remembered that God may partially take away His presence and His Spirit. Paul outlines three steps of God’s withdrawing from a person by the words, “God gave them over” in Romans 1:24,26,28.
2. This means that at each stage we may repent and turn back to God. Thank God that’s it’s not until death (Heb. 9:27) that our condition becomes permanent.
3. Praise God His mercies are “new every morning.” Just as sin separates us from God, heartfelt repentance – “plowing our unplowed ground” – causes us to be restored to God and His good favor.
4. Great are the words of Isaiah 43:25; “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Godly Sorrow
1. The Christian speaker, John Bevere, tells how, as a teenager he became bound to the sin of sexual lust. A majority of American males are also bound to lust.
2. He says it didn’t leave when he accepted Christ, nor when he got married. Finally he went to a well-known minister and confessed this sin. He was known as one of the most powerful ministers in America. He prayed for John, but nothing happened.
3. One year later, John was so grieved he went on a four-day fast. He was fed up with this sin. He knew it hurt God, and that Jesus had already paid the price for him to be free.
4. On the fourth day of that fast, God led him in a deliverance prayer, and the spirit of lust left him! He was free and is still free today!
5. When he inquired of the Lord why He hadn't been set free when he was prayed for by that minister, God showed him that his repentance had only been partial. He’d wanted to be free so he could be promoted in the ministry.
6. When my motive became that I loved God and wanted nothing between us, godly sorrow produced true repentance which granted deliverance!. [John Bevere, The Voice of one Crying. Apopka: Messenger Press, 1993, p. 86-87.
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you want to come clean from your sins and partial repentance? Come up and kneel at the front.
2. How many of you know you haven’t honored the Holy Spirit as much as you should and want to repent for that? Come kneel at the front.
3. How many of you want a fresh enduing of the Spirit tonight? Let’s pray for all 3 of those! PRAYER.
[This is a rewrite of Charles Spurgeon’s message, “A Most Needful Prayer Concerning the Holy Spirit.”]
