Deceiving Spirits
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Intro
Intro
The Reality of Deceiving Spirits
The Reality of Deceiving Spirits
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.
John concluded the previous section by reminding us of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
:
God the Holy Spirit resides within every child of God
God the Holy Spirit resides within every child of God
He is the promised Helper and Comforter sent by Jesus on the day of Pentecost
He guides us, teaches us and leads us
Warning!
Warning!
Don’t fall for imitators!
Not all things spiritual are of GOD.
There are angels and there are demons
Angels carry out the will of God and are faithful to aid His people and deliver His message.
Demons lead astray
They want to deceive and blind as many as possible
They twist and pervert Scripture
They imitate the things of God
They inspire false prophets to preach false messages
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
We must have a healthy skepticism to all teaching.
A true preacher or teacher of God will encourage that.
John says to test the spirits
use discernment to determine if their message is accurate
Test= a metallurgists’ term used in assaying metals to determine their purity and value.
Is it gold or fool’s gold?
Every book, sermon, song, and testimony must be inspected and tried to determine the purity.
How much is Biblical?
How much is coming from man?
How much is demonic?
False prophets and teachers are the physical expression of demonic, spiritual sources.
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
Thankfully, we are not on our own in this test, John gives us
The Marks of False Christs
The Marks of False Christs
The Marks of Deceiving Spirits
The Marks of Deceiving Spirits
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. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
1st Mark: The heart of the matter is Jesus
Who is Jesus?
What did He do?
Main issues;
Jesus has come in the flesh
some were falsly teaching error about Jesus
Jesus is God incarnate
God in the flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Eternal God the Son, took on flesh
100% God
100% Man
If wrong on this point, they are false teachers and not led by the Holy Spirit
The demons in Satan’s ranks pervert and twist Scripture.
They chip away at the truth of Jesus.
They deny His true nature and invent some false description.
Many today have bought the lie that
He was a prophet
He was a good man
All who deny the true nature of the Son, are here labeled as being led by the spirit of the antichrist.
That is the very heart of The Antichrist’s agenda
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
The Antichrist of Revelation, the final antichrist will be the embodiment of this error and spirit.
Notice
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
The restrainer is currently keeping the spirit of antichrist limited, yet that spirit and lawlessness is already at work.
: The speak from the world
They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
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.
They teach wordly wisdom rather than God’s word
They are from the world
They speak from the world
The world listens
Neat little package!
John reminds them of the contrasts.
They reject his apostolic authority and God’s word.
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
The Victory over deceiving Spirits
The Victory over deceiving Spirits
1 Jn 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.
They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
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.
Praise the Lord we can have victory over deceiving spirits.
We have no need of fear, because the Holy Spirit is greater!
The Spirit is a built-in truth dectector
False teaching will be quickly highlighted and rejected by the Holy Spirit
All the hosts of hell cannot take us out of God’s hand!
God illuminates our minds and is greater than deceivers
v. 6- the Word
John was writing inspired Scripture
God was writing through John
Now we have the completed word to overcome deceiving spirits
2 Tim 2:
and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
By the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the word of GOd we can stand against deceptions of demons.
Don’t fall for Satan’s tricks.
All things spiritual are not godly!
Test the spirits!
check out all teaching with:
a. The Holy Spirit
follow His leadership
false spirits lead away from and twist the truth of Jesus
b. The Word of God
God’s spirit and angels will NEVER lead away from the word!
Stand in the truth.