Here For It: Wk 6

Intro Illustration:

Hold up a quarter: how much is this worth?

*Toss it to student*

How do you know how much it is worth?

Because it says it on it? OK.

There was a time when the value of a coin was not as certain as it is now.

We live in a relatively stable period from that perspective. The value of the coin is no longer based on its weight and the value of the metal from which it is made.

A dollar is always worth a dollar and a euro is worth a euro...we can take currency at face value.

For much of history though, the value of currency like this was based on its weight and quality. See, we just use material that we can stamp and say it is worth a certain amount but before the currency was literally worth what it was worth. So, for example if a coin was made of silver and silver has a particular value that it costs, well then the coin would be weighed out to be worth a certain amount. But this leads to some challenges. Because when you used those coins they would get beat up and broken down. And, people would try to make counterfeit coins out of cheaper substances and pass them off as legit.

Because of these challenges there was a process called testing that would have to regularly occur. You would want to get your currency tested to make sure you knew an accurate value of what you had. This process changed over the years. First it was done by taking the density of the coin and measuring that. Then they developed a process of chemically testing the coin compared to something called a touchstone. Then, the easiest way became weighing the coin. Weighing was far simpler, and there is evidence that the first scales and balances were used to weigh gold ingots in ancient Egypt around 2400 BC. They would take the coin and weigh it out against weights that were perfectly created for testing coins. All to make sure they were pure materials and proper weight.

It was critical to make sure that what you had was actually valuable and worth keeping and using for currency. But in order to do that you had to test it and make sure it was legitimate to its core.

In our passage tonight, the author, John, will be talking about testing the teaching that we hear in the world around us. Just like the coins of history- there are plenty of voices in our world that have a lot to say about how we should live and what is true. And it is important that we consistently test the voices that are trying to influence us to make sure they are actually valuable, or more accurately, that they are actually from God! And you guys know this is a real struggle because our world is noisier than it ever has been in history. It seems like everyone everywhere has an opinion about everything and they are yelling about it to convince you to believe them. Whether it’s at school, in the news, on social media, or in your friend group- people around us are always trying to convince us about how we should live, think and believe. This can be about big or small topics but nonetheless we are under a constant bombardment of noise from our world. And I believe that you all know that not all of the voices, not all of the noise, is actually good for you. Even from people close to you, the information and advice can oftentimes be found inaccurate or insufficient. So we have to be really careful about the people we let influence us and who we listen to for advice and life and faith. Ultimately, we have to test the voice around us to determine is actually true and what is not!

Main Point:

As followers of Jesus:

We are here for Truth, so we have to watch out for lies.

Transition:

Turn with me to 1 John 4. We are looking at the first few verses of this chapter tonight and as you turn there I want to help us all remember what we have been doing in this series so far. This has been all about why we are here as a church and a ministry. WE have been looking at 1 john to remember some of the core truths and practices that are meant to be the heartbeat of our lives as the church!

1. A Community of Love Must Have Jesus at its Center.

2. We are called to walk in the light together as we follow Jesus.

3. The Christian life and the wordly life are only separated by knowing who we are in Christ.

4. The Church will only thrive in hard times when we each abide in Christ!

and finally,

5. Children of God love to live like their Father.

This has all been helping us see the big picture of who we are and how we are meant to live as the Church, the community of Jesus followers- especially right here at FAS!

Now, let’s continue that thinking by seeing how John wants us to test the voices around us so we can live by the Truth of God instead of falling for the lies of our world.

Read with me,

1 John 4:1–6 CSB

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

Remember, John is writing to a church who has been attacked by false teachers that are leading people away from the congregation by spreading lies about Jesus. So, he is genuinely trying to help them learn how to navigate the many voices around them saying different things.

What we first see John make clear is that even though there are many voices around them-

Not every voice we hear is worth listening to.

Just because someone claims to be a teacher, or an expert, or even a pastor, does not mean that you have to trust them and listen to their teachings.

Look back at verse 1:

1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Not some false prophets, not a false prophet, but MANY false prophets have gone out into the world.

John is clear that it is a noisy world and many voices are not actually spreading the truth!

Now, John’s focus is inside of the church ok- he is directly attacking those that are claiming to be christians and church leaders, but who are not teaching what is right and true.

SPIRITS?

And before we go any further we need to clarify one thing. Why is John saying to test spirits? Not people or voices or teachers- he uses the word spirits.

John is referring tot he spiritual origins of a teaching or belief about Jesus. Every teaching or belief about Jesus is spiritual! It is either from God or from the devil.

Pause- I realize that sounds a bit extreme but think about it. The bible teaches us that everything is under the influence of a spiritual reality. That either we belong to God and have His Holy Spirit within us directing us and influencing us, or we belong to this world which Jesus said makes us children of the Devil and we are under the influence of spiritual evil. Then map that onto what we teach and believe about Jesus. Jesus makes the entire difference between whether we are saved and right with God or if we are separated from him and at the mercy of spiritual evil in this world. So, what we we teach and believe about Jesus is either from the Holy Spirit within us or is a lie about Jesus from the Enemy.

So, getting back to the first point. Not every voice we hear is worth listening to because not every voice we hear is from God and under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

What John is reminding them in this moment is that the only voices they should trust and follow with their lives are ones that are led by the Holy Spirit! This is why we shouldn’t follow the advice of people who aren’t even claiming to be Christians when it comes to what we should believe and how we should live our lives. This should be obvious, but when it comes to people online or at school, or anywhere else that are suggesting things you should do and believe for your life and wellbeing- you should not trust anything they say if they don’t claim to be a Christian. If they aren’t a Christian, then they don’t have the holy spirit in their life to guide them, to teach them what is true, to give them any sort of wisdom or understanding of what to believe or how to live. They may be an expert in their field but you should NOT trust their advice if it is about what you believe or how you should live.

To be clear, if someone isn’t a christian and they are talking about how to make good coffee I am not saying don’t believe them. But if they start to tell you that you need coffee to be happy, ok that’s where we get off the ride and open our Bibles right?

Ok, so, obvious no-go if someone is not a Christian and is giving advice on how you should live your life and what you should believe because they do not have the Holy Spirit, and in fact they are fully open and vulnerable to the evil spirits in this world.

But what about voices in the church like John is talking about that claim to be Christians, or church leaders? What about the guy on tiktok teaching us Bible stories? Or the sermon clips from pastors across the country? How do we know whether or not we trust voices that claim to be CHristians and claim to be teaching us Biblical truth for our lives? And maybe they have a big platform, lots of followers, they seem to have evidence of faith in their lives?

Well number 2: 2. Every voice should be tested for its value.

Even if someone is the pastor of a church, we should test them and make sure that they are clearly speaking by the power and influence of the Holy Spirit!

How do we do that? verses 2-3:

1 John 4:2–3 “This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.”

So John gives us the two options that we may encounter. And it all comes down to the content of their message and what they believe about Jesus!

The ultimate test for someone’s spirit is what they say about Jesus.

John breaks it down to 2 big things.

Jesus is the Messiah and He truly came in the flesh.

No one who is speaking without the Holy Spirit can claim and confess these things about Jesus.

Only by the Holy Spirit in us can we confess a true belief that Jesus came to earth, was fully Human and fully God, and He is God’s Messiah- the chosen one sent to save the world through his life, death and resurrection.

Why can we only do this through the Holy Spirit?

1 Corinthians 12:3 “Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”

Again, if we are remaining in Christ- we know He is LOrd and have followed HIm and His Spirit is IN us. IF we are not saved we do not have his Spirit, so either we do not KNOW Jesus is Lord, or we reject Jesus as Lord so of course we wouldn’t teach that He is Lord. If you’re not a christian its either because you haven’t heard, so you can’t believe, or you have heard and you reject that Jesus is Lord.

So, Every voice must be tested for its value.

And the good, trustworthy weight that we use is who that person says JEsus is and does that person consistently preach this Biblical view and importance of Jesus.

So, you come across someone online claiming to be a christian, or maybe a pastor of a church and they are saying something and you’re like ok I haven’t heard that before, or that’s interesting- can I trust them? Well, here’s a check list for you to evaluate them by: Do they CONSISTENTLY teach and claim to personally believe these things:

Criteria:

Jesus is fully God and fully human.

Jesus physically came to earth.

Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.

Jesus is the only way to be saved and find life.

If you do NOT see these things in their teachings and life then RUN the other way from them. Do not listen to them! Don’t let them give you advice, don’t walk with them in any capacity that they could possibly influence your life, beliefs or decisions.

On the flip side, If you DO see these things consistently- then you can continue to listen to them and just double check what they are teaching against Scripture. This is always a good practice for any teaching or preaching you listen to. Even me! Sometimes, people can start to teach their own opinions or ideas more than what the Bible actually says- that doesn’t mean they are a false teacher, a heretic or an antichrist- it may just mean that they are getting distracted from their calling to preach the Word of God faithfully.

Now, before we move on- we do see that word antichrist and I even just mentioned it. What is John talking about? I want to clear this up quickly for us.

You have probably heard a lot of misconceptions about the idea of what the word antichrist means.

The word antichrist- means against the messiah. Anyone who speaks AGAINST Jesus. They’re against, who he is and what he teaches and opposes him.

What John says here is simply this- anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the unique Son of God, or that he has come in the flesh. This exact word is only used here in First John. No where else in the Bible. But most Bible scholars believe that this idea is related to the beasts (meaning the corrupt political and religious rulers) that will rise up before Jesus returns.

But this word is not about making us try to point out people and label them as some ultimate evil bad guy from the Bible. Yes, people will always be speaking againsst Jesus, and yes one day there will be really bad rulers that seem to be taking the world by storm just before JEsus returns.

Our role is not to figure out who those end times people will be. IT is to be on our guard so we don’t fall for the teachings that are against Jesus TODAY! I know that may not answer all your questions but you can talk to me after if you are interested in learning more ok?

Here john is saying hey, the spirit of the antichrist is at work all around us today so we HAVE to test every spirit/every voice and see if it is from God or not!

Finally, John ends with a very hopeful and encouraging reminder.

Verse 4:

1 John 4:4–6 CSB

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

John says, this:

3. The Holy Spirit has given us victory over this world.

We do not have to be afraid, concerned or discouraged when the teachings of this world that are against Jesus and against the Bible and against Christianity seem to be taking over. They WILL not last!

The SPirit of God is stronger than the evil spirits of this world. JEsus proved that through every miracle he performed, and he ultimately proved it when He rose from the dead. The only power sin had was defeated by the resurrection of Jesus.

So, no matter how it appears, true teaching- Biblical Teaching- always prevails over false teaching.

I have to urge y’all- don’t fall for the lies of the world. ABout how to live, how to dress, how to act, how to talk, what to think about things. John says it- this is the way of the world and the people of the world listen to that.

But we are God’s Children!

We listen to our Father like we said last week and we trust His Spirit Of Truth!

And be careful and on your guard against people who claim to be christians and teach things contrary to Scripture. Test every voice that you let into your mind- check what they say about Jesus, test their message against the Bible and then decide whether you will trust them or not going forward.

We are here for truth, so we have to watch out for lies.

Bow your heads and let’s respond together.

Matt can come up.

If you have never been saved, hear what John said tonight. You are still in this world and you only know and understand the ideas and thinking of this world. And this world belongs to spiritual evil. You won’t find life or satisfaction, or fulfillment or love in the world. You can only find that in God. But God loved you so much that even though you were lost in your sins and separated from him, He sent his one and only son Jesus into this world. Jesus lived a perfect life and taught us about God. Then Jesus went to the cross and died in our place for your sins and my sins. And then he rose from the grave so that anyone who turns to him will be forgiven of their sins, brought into a personal relationship with God, and given eternal life in His kingdom. Is there anyone here tonight who has not be saved, you are still doing life on your own in this world and you need to turn from your sins and be saved tonight?

Christians in the room- are you being careful and testing the voices you’re allowing into your life? John was watching that church get ripped apart by false teachers because the christians were not being careful about who they listened to. We should want to trust our Church leaders, but when we meet someone new and hear their message we have to check them on it.

Have you taken any advice or added anything to your life without testing it first against the Gospel and Scripture? Ask God to show you anything you may need to remove or change because its not from Him, it came from a bad teacher or leader! Maybe you need to come ask me about something or someone you are listening to or have followed! I am happy to help you test them by the standards that we mentioned earlier!

Let’s ask God to help us be on guard against the lies around us and walk in the Truth of His Spirt as His children.

PRAY

Stand and sing.