1 John 4:1-6
Notes
Transcript
Test the Spirits
Test the Spirits
Good morning my friends!
Here we are, the last Sunday of the month of November!
And we are officially, 4 weeks from Christmas and 5 weeks from the start of a New Year, 2024.
It really doesn’t even seem possible, but the old saying it that time waits for no man and very few women… as Poss used to tell me...
So this morning we have gathered to worship and I am blessed to see you.
I hope you are enjoying our walk through the epistle of 1 John. Through the course of our study John has been teaching the church to remember they are to love God and to love the world around them.
Also, they are also called to know there is a battle between light and darkness, good and evil around them. They are called to remain or abide in Christ.
John is continuing this theme here in this chapter as He calls for believers to test the spirits..
Now there are only two spirits in this world, The Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
And let me remind you that if you are a born again child of God, you have the Spirit of Truth in you, God’s Holy Spirit. These other spirits which are in the world and they are of the devil, the prince and ruler of this world.
So we are going to examine what John is telling us here and how to live in the midst of darkness and challenges.
So this morning, Lets start with this thought...
1. Don’t Believe Every Spirit...
Listening to John’s words my friends, we are able to see a man, who loves those he is ministering too and teaching. He genuinely cares for them… and as a spiritual father, he is motivated to warn them of these various dangers to their faith.
And so John begins by saying “…don’t believe every spirit...” and what’s implied here is John saying… Children, don’t believe everything you hear and the don’t believe every person speaking the message.
So lets look at what John says in verse 1
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
So look there, we see John’s heart, like I said.... He addresses them as Beloved.. He loves those to whom he is writing too, and that love motivates him to warm them of these dangers to their faith.
Think of it, as a parent, or friend to someone else, you want to warm them if danger is near.
Man, if I came into church and noticed a rattlesnake out by the door, I am going to do my best to take care of that snake and warm others not to come near until it’s gone, Why? I care and want to keep people safe.
So John is hoping to keep them safe!
So John says a couple things a person was to do...
The first is this “…do not believe every spirit,...” There are people out there speaking, and John is warning the church, “...don’t believe every spirit...”
Behind every word spoken is a spirit, something, or literally someone who is influencing the words. And here is the warning... but not all spirits are from God, and likewise not every word is from God.
So the warning is “Be careful”.... Listen my friends, just because we think or know someone to be Christian doesn’t mean we automatically accept everything they say, teach or proclaim. We are to examine it before receiving and accepting it.
Then secondly, John says the next step is to “test the spirits” and see if they are from God or not. Again you are examining the message to ensure it is God’s message or not…
A good example is receiving a coin, you inspect it, you literally put it to the test to examine if it is real gold or silver or just made to look like it.
So you do the same with these words, messages, doing your best to discern truth from error… and here is why John says.. “....for many false prophets have done out into the world..”
Wow… It is so easy to hear a good thought, it is warm and fuzzy, makes you feel real good to say that is oh God… but it may not be… So we have to be careful that the evil one and his minions have not come into our midst.
There are a lot of preachers in our world, but some of them who are the most popular do not preach the whole word of God. They tell you want you enjoy hearing, but not what you need to hear.
And people enjoy it.... You know why? We don’t like being told the truth and thus knowing we are lacking, evil or unrighteous in front of God.
Do you remember Paul encouraged believers to test the spirits when it came to gifts to ensure it was of God or not…You can go look at the first 3 verses of 1 Cor chapter 12.
We must be discerning, but listen now to verses 2 and 3....
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Now, John continues this… No only has he given us the command to test every spirit. But here is the best way, The perfect test, John says does the message acknowledge Jesus Christ was born into flesh, coming from God.
Every spirit will either be approved or rejected based on this Christological test.
It is not only a comprehensive test, but it is a confessional test.
So what am I saying here. The message and the messenger will confess and adhere to the message and theology about Jesus. It cannot add to or detract from the Holy Scriptures as given in the word of God.
Now you might think, why did he mention the Scriptures? Jesus is the Word, and the Scriptures are God’s written revelation of Himself to us.
And by their refusal to confess Jesus reveals their true nature, they are not of God and are of the spirit of the antichrist. Their true colors have been revealed!
Their presence was active in the world in John’s day and remain active in our world today...
*My friends this really is crucial, What we and others think and believe about Jesus determines everything else in your Spiritual and Physical life.
So it is crucial that we and the world understand and believe in Jesus and understand His death, burial and resurrection, and that He is coming again, Amen and Amen.
Now lets move forward....
2. You are of God...
Without a doubt this is one of the most encouraging verses in Scripture and really one of my favorites.
Now this thought ‘You are of God” is an important one for the child of God to remember as they walk along the journey of this life.
So lets examine why.... Lets look at verse 4...
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Again, John falls back to the affectionate tone to those he is writing too, “Little children....” He is speaking tenderly to them…
And in this one verse look at what John tells them....
A. You are from God… This phrase is emphatic, “YOU”, you are from God. There is a stark contrast between you and those who do not know God, think about it.
Just as there is a difference between light and darkness, so there is a marked, personal and tangible difference between the children of God and the children of the devil.
B. And have overcome them… At a point in time in your past, there was a war waging inside of you. God was calling you and the evil one was trying to keep you.
But you believed the Word of God and were saved by His wonderful grace through faith in the Son of God.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And when you said yes to Jesus, you overcame, and the battle was won. You are His forever… What a love story my friends. He loved you and saved you.
C. Greater is He… And to encourage them further, John tells them something every child of God needs to hear… How can we be sure the battle is won?
Look at the second part of verse 4b “...for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Our victory isn’t ours to claim, My salvation, my current blessing, my hope, my future… it all comes from Jesus, and Jesus, who gives us the victory is greater than the one who is in this world.
He in us, is our hope my friends. And Jesus in us is something we cannot loose, we cannot let go of it. He has us always.
Let me share Col 1, verse 27...
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Did you hear that.... Christ in you is the hope of glory.
So while there is a war still raging today in our world, you are part of the victorious, those who are in Christ and at helping to call others before it gets to late.
This fact my friends is why I say all the time, we must be telling others about Jesus…
We want them to have that same victory. And that victory will change every part of life..
Victory in Jesus saves and makes heaven our home, it releases addiction and sets the captive free, it makes a sinner a saint and prepares them to enter the greatest kingdom of all time, to finally see the one who saved them face to face.
Now, just one last thought my friends today...
3. A Final Call to Pay Attention....
My friends, as we wrap up the final thoughts of this passage, John tells us one more time, there are two forces as work in this world. Those who are from God, and those who are from the devil…
I think we forget this at times, there are two forces opposing one another in this world…Don’t be surprised by it.
In fact that John has spent this much time telling them to beware because the spirit of the antichrist was present in the world and was leading the world astray…
Do you think they needed to pay attention to this concern?
Yes.... and so should we still today.
Now, Lets go back at verses 5-6
5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
What does John say? They, these false prophets, false teachers, and anyone else who might be leading people astray are from the world.
To be of the world is to have no connection to the Father.
So if they are from the world, their message is from the prince and ruler of this world, again this goes back to a spirit of the anti-christ.
And who listens to them, those in the world, those who do not belong to the Father are the ones who follow the direction of this false spirit.
But right here at the beginning of verse 6, John reminds those he is writing too, Listen but we are from God.
And you can be certain of this truth… to say we are from God means we are His, we belong to Him and we listen to His teachings.
And that is the truth, Jesus told his disciples that night in the upper room that the Spirit of Truth (God’s Holy Spirit) would teach them all things John 14:26 and and would lead them or guide them into all truth John 16:13. Why? They were His children.
But those who are not of the Way, the Truth and the Life is not of God.
My friends, the world will resist God, they want nothing to do with God and they want to push God out of the way.
And they have been doing it.... Think about it....
A. The world ( and the prince and ruler of this world) has pushed the church out of the schools. And the world has allowed everything else to come into our schools.
B. We have seen abortion legalized and over 54 million children murdered for the satisfaction of the God of self.
C. It pushed people away from sound doctrine and proper way of living and has indoctrinated the world into believing if it doesn’t bother anyone else, it is ok...
D. The world has taught people they don’t need anything other than good morals and ethics concerning the way we live. You will be just as good or better than anyone else.
E. The world has taught society if it feels good, then embrace it.
And there is so much more we could talk about my friends, but I don’t want to spend all my time here pointing out the growth of sin, you know how long it has been happening.
John points out very carefully these two thoughts here....
Those who are God’s, John says they listen to us… A child of God should have a desire to live and do that is right in the sight of God.
This isn’t just a desire to do and act right, this is a desire to know God and to walk with Him day in and day out. It is a desire to read and know the Word of God and it is a desire to worship with other like minded people.
We want these things because we are His children and we love Him.
Now lets finish up verse 6....
This is how we know the difference between the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of falsehood.
We are to test the spirits! We examine what they teach, what confessions they make and the yes even the person who brings the word as well.
Does the teaching of a person or group match up with the word of God.
Does their confession, their doctrine match up with God and His word. An example that is quick and easy for us to see is the Mormon church.
As them who Jesus is them, they will say oh, He is the Son of God.
But push it further and ask them if Jesus is the second person of the trinity who was born into flesh to die in our place? Is Jesus and the Father 1, meaning is Jesus God. They will say no… So their version of Jesus doesn’t match up to the Word of God.
Is Salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it God;s free gift or do we have to earn it....
Test the Spirits...
John says by these things we will know what is of the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of falsehoods..
Can you see why I tell stress the importance of knowing the word of God, the importance of Prayer and time with God?
It is truly a matter of life and death…
So this morning, here we are moving toward the celebration of the birth of Jesus into our world.
I want to encourage you to walk closely with God, to pray and spend time in the word.
Have you done this?
I want to encourage you to follow where God is leading you to serve.... You are one of His chosen vessels to carry His name and life to others…
Will you do this?
Maybe this morning you would just confess in your heart, Pastor, I have been trying to lead my life myself and it isn’t working and today I want to give all that over to Jesus so that he can lead.
You can do that today…
Let the start of this magical wonderful season begin with Jesus in your heart leading you day by day.
Pray with me today.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.