Prove It: Overcomers

Introduction

Bring up the pair of Jordan’s. Give them an understanding of a legit test on a pair of Jordan shoes. The smell of the shoe (if it smells like really strong glue), if you shine a black light on it and see glowing pencil marks it’s fake, if the box doesn’t have a tag behind the sticker, if the box is flimsy and bad quality cardboard, if the stitching in certain areas is wavy or inconsistent, if the bottom of the shoe bends when you squeeze it, if the toe box sinks in when you push down on it. This was the second pair of Jordan’s that I bought and I was so excited about them because I wanted them so bad and I thought I was getting a good deal on them. It’s embarrassing now looking back at it thinking that I bought a pair of fakes and didn’t even know it.

But I was naive. I didn’t know the tests to do to know. I didn’t check the signs of why they would’ve been fake. After that happened I never wanted to get tricked again so I did a bunch of research and figured out all of these markers of why a shoe is fake to make sure it never happened to me again. This is what John is doing for the one’s he is writing to in 1 John!

READ 1 JOHN 4:1-6.

John has just finished sharing with his readers that we KNOW that we abide in God and God in us because the Spirit that He has given us. And now he is warning that no every spirit is a good one, and just like the legit test on the Jordan’s, John gives us a legit test for the people and the spirits that are behind the messages that they preach when they are not from God. And here is what the legit test revolves around: Jesus.

Let’s dig into the Word.

Who you Confess Matters

The awesome thing about the people that John was writing to is this: They were probably really eager to hear from God. You guys have to understand that the church during this time didn’t have the New Testament that we read today. They had the Old Testament, many of the new believers were Gentiles who knew very little about the Old Testament writings, and so they were following the leadership of the Holy Spirit and were eager to hear from the Lord that they serve. However, in their eagerness, and the amount of false prophets and false teachers that were spreading lies about who Jesus was, it would be easy for them to listen to something that wasn’t true about Jesus and believe it. This is where John steps in. He warns them that with the coming of the Holy Spirit given to us and residing in us, there are other spirits who are trying to oppose the work of God. John says “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for MANY false prophets have gone into the world.” Many people had their ideas about Jesus and what they wanted others to believe about Him. They knew if they could confuse people about who Jesus was and what He was then they could derail people into confusion.

And again, this all goes back to what you believe about Jesus. It boils down to what you believe about Jesus. John wanted to drive home that the central thing that you HAVE to get right is what you believe about JESUS. (PAUSE) What you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, and demonstrate with your life about Jesus is the test. (SAY IT AGAIN)

John says “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” Here is where it gets a bit difficult because I’m thinking “I could pay anyone 100 dollars to get up here and say that they believe in Jesus and they would do it. Even if they didn’t believe it.” But this word “confess in verse 2 conveys more than just saying with your mouth but believing with your life. It’s more than just asking someone if they confess Jesus, but seeing it with their life lived out that they bear fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, peace, joy, goodness, patience, self-control, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness). John is getting to a fundamental point…without the true Holy Spirit residing inside a person’s heart, they cannot believe rightly about Jesus and live rightly for Jesus. CONFESSION IS CRUCIAL.

John is telling us that we should be theological investigators. Which seems really difficult in a

John gives us the first part of the test and sandwiches an amazing promise in the middle of this warning.

God is greater than Satan

1 John 4:4 is a verse that you should commit to memorize because it is a promise from God.

Who you Listen to Matters

Be Careful not to wander away from Truth.

How do I know it’s from God? What does that even mean?

It will line up with Scripture.

It’s in the book.

We have the resources to look these things up with a click of the button.

Stay away from TikTok, be fact checking.