Discerning Truth
Notes
Transcript
Discerning Truth
Discerning Truth
Good morning
You know I remember before my grandmother
Retired from the ministry
She used to say
Can you believe it
I get to go to church today
I get to preach the word of God today
Believe it or not she served over 30 years in the methodist church
Before finally retiring due to dementia taking its toll
But in the spirit of the last few sermons how many of us
Wake up Sunday morning
Thinking, I get to go to church today?
Anyways
I wanna open up this morning with a question.
If what you believe to be truth was actually false would you want to know?
If what you believe, what you hold dear as absolute truth,
is in reality a lie
would you want to know the truth?
And please don’t just flippantly answer that one,
Because so many people say absolutely
I would want to know the truth
But then you introduce to them
Truth backed by evidence,
Science
Reality
But they still refuse to accept
We call this cognitive dissonance
Its when you introduce a bit of information
That rocks someones world
Goes against their view of how the world works
I open up with that question because of today topic
This is perhaps one of the more interesting sermon topics that were going to go over in this series
In fact it was one that I was kind of hesitant to go over
Yet I believe it is desperately needed
In fact, It’s this particular topic
That has the ability to divide congregations
Divide denominations
Even divide Christianity
Its one of the main reason we fight so much
So I am going to attempt to do this
In a manner that unifies rather than divides
But needless to say, this is a difficult topic to deal with.
But its also an easy one
If we spent more time on education
If we spent more time in understanding Scripture, Bible study
Rather than motivational sermons
I think this would be an easier topic to tackle
You know I’m not sure if you guys have caught on
But there is a reason
Why I have been walking through the book of 1 John
I want to teach the entire book
To help you understand the entirety of what God is saying here
Not just selected topics
Because once you understand a particular doctrine
Or maybe you have navigated your way through entire books of the Bible
The Bible begins to make sense
It opens up
And the confusion goes away
Then miracles happen
Meaning the fighting the arguments go away
That are so prevalent in our churches now days
And when we stop fighting
We can get down to the love aspect that I have been desperately
Teaching over the last couple of weeks
And so real quick if you recall a while back ago
I believe it was before Christmas
I preached a sermon on first John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17
we talked about being at war with the world
We talked about choosing a side
God vs Satan
Sin vs righteousness
And then immediately following that sermon
We discussed the reality of the antichrist
And the possibility of false teachers
And false prophets
In today’s passage John is once again encouraging us to test everything
To put everything that we believe in
Everything that we hear
Up against the truth of Scripture.
And what makes this sermon difficult to preach
Is that I’m jumping from the realm of post modern thinking
In that the Bible is a good book that teaches me morals
Maybe its a good book that teaches me values and ethics
But that’s all it is
It’s simply a book that helps me get a long in life
But now I’m jumping into the realm that the Bible is real
That there really is a spiritual battle going on
That there really is a God
That there really is such a thing as sin
As a savior
As a man named Jesus who claimed to be God Himself
I’m jumping into the realm of understanding
That there really is a Satan
That there really are fallen angels, spirits or demons
That will try to destroy me
Try destroy you and the world you live in
Try to destroy our understanding of who God and our understanding of who Jesus is
Perhaps one of the clearest examples of this is in the book of Ephesians
Where the apostle Paul instructs us to put on the
Full armor of God
And why
Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Like I said tough stuff to preach on
So today I want to go over three things
First understanding the Holy Spirit
Second the reality of deception in todays world
Last I want help you understand how to discern truth
As well as give you some hope something to chew for this week.
Please open your Bibles to
Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
So if you have been with us
John is sort of opening up a new section here
For the sake of those that haven’t been with us the entire time
And just to help us all out
lets just do a real quick review
If you recall in chapter 1
John opened up with the truth of Jesus and who he is
Maybe you remember the excitement of John
The reality that He had actually seen the Messiah
But then he goes to discuss
What a believers lifestyle ought to look like
And he does this through 1:5 through half way through chapter 2
And he really focuses on our redemption from sin
As well as our relationships with other believers
Really drove that point home
But then he goes on and starts to describe our relationship with the world
And this is where it really started interesting
Where he really put us at odds with the world
Meaning choose a side
Do you love the world or do you love God
Because we are at war
And we are all in this battle even if we don’t want to be
And so John is really saying pick a side
And if you recall that was a difficult to preach like I said
It called you out forced you to make a choice
He even started warning about the ultimate opposition to God
He started hitting on the end times
As he began to go into
The Antichrist and the reality of what that means
As well a warning about the reality of those that fall for false doctrines
And where such teachings come from
But then in Chapter 3 we get some of the beauty of John’s writing
We get to hear how we are loved
We get to hear how we are accepted children of God
That have nothing but positive things to look forward to
But as we open up today’s section of Scripture John begins to warn us
Against the reality of being a child of God
And what that looks like when we are faced with Satanic opposition
Because if you are a child of God
Then naturally you are at odds with the Fathers enemy
Like I said we are in this
Whether you like it or not
So John is going to help in this battle
He is going give the tools
To help navigate this spiritual world
And that’s where end up today
And notice what John really focuses on here
Because this a part of Scripture or a part of the Bible
That I really think is missing in today’s teachings
In today’s Sermons
or at least it’s focused on the wrong things
But notice in chapter 3 verse 24 here
John starts to refer to the fellowship we have with God
But not just that
But the fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit.
Through the promised helper
That Jesus said would be to our benefit.
You know I remember as I was going through seminary
My professor would always joke
Ask the question
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Do you think He is a real thing
And you know when you really think on it
Many of our denominations
Many of our churches
Don’t pay attention to Him at all
He’s like the forgotten one of the trinity
And yet oddly enough
I don’t even know if you all realize this
The Holy Spirit is the work horse of the Trinity
I remember building a class
Teaching a class for a church in Maryland
And I remember the looks on the face of people
When I described every thing the Holy Spirit does
I mean did you realize, maybe you did maybe you didn’t
But did you realize,
Not only was the Holy Spirit involved in creation
He played an active role in the life of Christ
Meaning he took part in the
incarnation
Birth
Baptism
Growth
Ministry
Miracles
Death and Resurrection
Just to name a few
He is said to be the author of the Word of God
If you’ve never look this up its called the doctrine of Biblical inspiration
He is considered to be a teacher,
He guides, speaks, enlightens, commands and intercedes
He is said to be the sustainer of life (Psa 104:29) and
He CONVICTS US OF SIN
He plays an active role in your life
Your Sanctification
Regeneration
Illumination
and is the giver of gifts
and is the reason for the fruit of the Spirit
Anyone know what those are
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
And whats amazing here is that the Bible is telling us
That once you become a believer
Once you make Jesus your Lord and Savior
The Holy Spirit lives inside of you.
That’s why Paul tells us “do you not know that you are the temple of the Spirit”
and John in verse 24
Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
And so when John tells us that we are able
To discern between the truth and lies
He is telling us that we have the power of God within us
To resist Satan
To resist evil
To discern what is right and what is wrong in the faith
By simply leaning on the power we have been given through the Spirit of God
and the Word of God which we have blessed with.
Ladies and gentlemen this is critical to our walk with God
We live in a world that is full of deception
You literally have pastors dancing in money on stage
Pastors that are getting filthy rich off of tithes
And thousands of people falling at their feet
Literally worshiping a false god that they have made up.
Without the Holy Spirit
Without being in tune with God
It is nearly impossible to navigate this life.
Nearly impossible to live a Christian life
Look what one author said.
Spiritual truth and error are not discerned by logical or intellectual reasoning alone. Intellectual reasoning is a part of the truth discernment process, but truth is not discerned that way alone. Some of the brightest people on the face of the planet are dead wrong about something they believe and teach. Spiritual truth is not discerned, known, or identified by reasoning alone.
He goes on to say
To know God you must come to him in faith and love, intellectuals who are intoxicated with their own wisdom and knowledge can’t quite seem to figure out that their own investigative methodologies are flawed to the core when it comes to discerning the truth.
Look guys we live in perhaps the most deceptive era of human history that has ever existed
Since the dawn of creation
And think on this
We have more information at our finger tips than most people in the 1800s had in their entire lives
You have access to more knowledge
To more doctrine
To more resources
Than any generation that has ever existed
And yet the church falling away
We are declining faster at any time in history
And think on this
Have you ever realized that every monotheistic religion
Every religion that believes in ONE God
Not multiple Gods
But ONE GOD
Is centered on Jesus
So then why the confusion?
Isn’t there just one Jesus
Really think on that
Because the deception is real
And it has potentially fooled billions of people
Some say he is the spirit brother of Lucifer
Others say he the arch angel Michael
Other say he was a great man but most certainly not God
And the list can go on
And the reality is the world is offended at the truth
Seriously,
Think on this
The world is ok with Jesus being less than God
With Jesus being a great man
Maybe Just an Angel
But when you make him out to be God in the flesh
To be exactly what the Bible claims Him to be
Oh then we have a problem
Because it screams exclusivity.
It screams that He is the only way to the Father
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
And this is exactly what John was dealing with in his day
And yet it is exactly what we are dealing with today!
Thats the entire point of verse three
1 John 4:3 (NLT)
But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
We have billions across the globe that do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior
And I gotta be honest
It breaks my heart
Because we have our work cut out for us.
And yet the sad reality is that if you look at the church
On a spiritual level
We are not ready
We are not willing
And We are losing the battle
We have pastors on main stream tv
Refusing to hold to the truth that Jesus is the only way
We have pastors falling almost on weekly basis due to immorality
The miss use of money, etc.
And its almost always due to one of the five
Alcohol
Drugs
Sex
money
Anger
And studies are showing that out of supposed born again Christians
70% believe that Jesus isn’t the only way to God.
But listen to this because it gets even more disturbing,
in the 1980s
Only 14% of people in Great Britain identified as Christians
Numbers are significantly lower in countries like
Sweden 5%
Finland 4%
Denmark 3%
And we discussed it a few weeks ago how if you just did the numbers
96% of our community doesn’t come to church
And could care less about God
And that’s current events
We have fallen victim to the teaching of the false prophets
And the false teachers
That tell us the Bible isn’t real
This Jesus things is just a way of life
It has nothing to do with your eternity
And Jesus is only one of the multiple paths too God.
The church
Or should I say some in the church
have fallen victim to the teaching of the world
Hook line and sinker
You know what one of the fastest growing believes is?
Theres actually two
The Nones
and those that consider themselves Spiritual
Guys we have our work cut out for us here
It is time to stop sitting idly by
Are start taking the offense
And you might be saying ok I hear
But how do I know the truth
How do I know whats real doctrine
Whats real Christianity
Look what John says here
Because its very easy to discern the truth from lies according to John
Stick to doctrine
Stick to the Word of God
If what you are hearing doesn’t line up with Scripture
Its of this world
Its not of God Period
Lets read this one more time
This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
You want to know how to discern true and false spirits
John is saying here
What does the Bible teach about Jesus?
Stick to doctrine
Educate yourself in the Word
Be in the Bible every day
Start to memorize Scripture
Start to participate in church events
Develop friendship with other believers
Make your salvation
Make God the center piece of your life
The primary of objective of everything you hope for.
I want to leave you with a passage I’d like you to focus on this week
Because I don’t want a single person in here to fall victim
To the false teachings that are so prevalent in this world
I want you to walk out of here confident
You know who Jesus Christ really is
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Jesus is God
Died on the cross for your sins
Took the wrath of the father upon himself
So that you could be forgiven and spend eternity with Him.
He proved himself to be the promised messiah not only
by the signs and fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament
but by rising from the dead on the third day.
He is worthy of your attention and your allegiance
Because He is God
Anything less is a lie
I encourage you Get to know Him
Seek Him daily
You may regret a great many things in this life
You won’t regret your relationship with Jesus
I promise you that.
Let’s close in prayer.
‘May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace.’