TRY THE SPIRIT revised

1 John 4:1–6 KJV (WS)

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

“One of the gifts that according to St. Paul is brought to the Church by the true Spirit is precisely the discerning of spirits.

Numbers 14:24 KJV (WS)

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Luke 22:3 KJV (WS)

Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

John 13:27 KJV (WS)

And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.

1 Kings 22:19–23 KJV (WS)

And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

1 Corinthians 12:10 KJV (WS)

To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

(1). From this point his argument proceeds to show that confession of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God is evidence that God’s Holy Spirit is working through a man.

a. In other words a person must be saved.

There are many spirits in the world, both good and bad, and some standard of judging them must be found.

There is the Spirit of God

(2) And there is a spirit of antichrist.

. Anti-christ - a personal opponent of Christ expected to appear before the end of the world:

. a person or force seen as opposing Christ or the Christian Church:

. a person or thing regarded as supremely evil or as a fundamental enemy or opponent:

(3) Each possessing and manifesting himself through men.

Matthew speaks of “false Christs, and false prophets”

Matthew 24:24 KJV (WS)

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Those to whom John here refers are doubtless those in 2:18–27 who are termed “many antichrists,” who “went out from us, but … were not of us.”

1 John 2:18–27 KJV (WS)

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 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.

He who “denieth that Jesus is the Christ” is a “liar,” who also “denieth the Father and the Son.”

1 John 4:20 KJV (WS)

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

There is a diabolic supernatural power, as well as a righteous supernatural power, working in the world and in the lives of men.

There are also false prophets who make evil out of good.

Some are to be found in the church—those who substitute institutionalized religion for the vitality of the Spirit of Christ, and those who substitute a humanism for the gospel of Christ.