"Knowing the spirit of truth proves it"

In 2013, Christian rapper Shai Linne stirred quite a controversy with his song “False Teachers.” It is a critique of the prosperity gospel, and in it he does the unacceptable in our hypertolerant/noncritical society today: he names names. In the song. Shai particularly calls on Christians outside of America not to be deceived by these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matt. 7:15) who export their heresies around the world. He says:

Don’t be deceived by this funny biz,

if you come to Jesus for money, then he’s not your God, money is!

Jesus is not a means to an end, the Gospel is.

He came to redeem us from sin, and that is the message forever I yell!

If you’re living your best life now your’re heading for hell!

Turn off TBN, that channel is overrated.

The pastors speak bogus statements, financially motivated.

It’s kind of like a pyramid scheme.

Visualize heretics Christianizing the American dream.

It’s foul and deceitful, the’re lying to people,

teaching that camels squeeze through the eye of a needle!

(John Piper via Twitter said of the son, “My, my, Shai, this is good.”)

Calling out and identifying false teachers is neither fun, nor popular in our culture today. Six times John will use the phrase “from the world” and six times he will use the phrase “from God”

It is amazing those who are of “the world” and not “from God” have worked their way into the Churches today. John now provides us a test we must apply to determine whether something or someone is from the world, or from God.

This test is more important than any test you will ever take in school. It’s results are a matter of life and death.

1 John 4:1–6 ESV

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. 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. 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. 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.

Big Idea: The Spirit of Truth breaths Life, the Spirit of the World Breaths Death.

How do we Know if we are listening to the right Spirit?

1. Are you listening to the right Message and Messenger?

Note: We are impressed by the novel or the unusual, and it is tempting to ascribe such things to the power of God. But John specifically warns us not to believe all that we are told, but to discern its origin, whether it comes from God or not. Notice that John indicates that many false teachers have gone out into the world, these people may be very charismatic, they may be very enthusiastic about the message they are giving and may actually believe what they are proclaiming.

This is like those football supporters who make the most extravagant claims about the imminent success of their mediocre teams. You see it at the beginning of every NFL season every coach and owner tries to sell their teams on the idea that they have what it takes to be a Super Bowl Contender.

Events will later prove that what they say has been deluded. Their claims are false. Or they could be the lies of those who are imposters, deliberately wanting to deceive others for their own personal benefit.

Miraculous powers are not proof in themselves of the truth of those who exercise them. There were some magicians in Egypt who could imitate some of the miraculous deeds God did through Moses (Ex. 7:22;8:7). There was Simon, the Samaritan sorcerer, who had amazed people for a long time with his magic (Acts 8:11) such signs are to be tested.

HOW CAN WE TELL IF THE MESSAGE AND MESSENGER ARE TRUE

*Examine what they Say

(1) Test to see if the message comes true.

Deuteronomy 18:21–22 ESV

21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

This is a very useful test however, it cannot be applied at the time the message is given. An earlier chapter emphasizes that the content of the message is the all-important factor.

(2) Test to see if the message leads people to worship something or someone other than God.

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 ESV

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

The test is not whether it feels right but whether it is true or not. There is a plumb line of God’s reveled truth in the scriptures that must be applied. Every Christian has this most important responsibility to test it against the word of God to determine whether it is true or not.

Every preacher should say often to his congregation, “Do not believe it because I say it, but because God says it in his Word.” He will want to produce a congregation of ‘Bereans’ who examine the Scriptures every day to see if what it said is true.

Acts 17:11 ESV

11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

I often become skeptical of any preachers who seldom or rarely refer to scriptures in their sermons. I had a family come to the Journey a while back who commented after the first message that they heard more scripture proclaimed in one message than they did in their whole time at their former Church.

Our Christian pop-culture has led people to worship personalities in the pulpit rather than the Creator of the Universe.

We say we follow so and so, or we ascribe to so and so’s podcast. Does the person bringing the message make himself bigger the one who has the words of Life. Some people may be led to worship religious activity or prosperity over the gospel.

Paul hears word from the Church at Corinth that there is a division arising where some say they follow Paul, or Apollos, Of I follow Christ. Paul responds,

“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you Baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that they were baptized in my name.”

1 John 3:24 “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.

The last part of 3:24 refers to the testimony of the Holy Spirit. According to this verse we gain assurance of God’s presence in the message we are hearing by the spirit that has been given to us. The Spirit testifies that we are God’s children. How does the spirits testimony express itself in your life?

What is a testimony? A testimony is the presentation of evidence that should help a jury decide the truth of a claim. A testimony is valuable to the degree that it can be counted as good evidence in deciding if a claim is true. The evidence that the Holy Spirit presents to our own spirits and to the community is first of all the evidence of love. The Spirit puts within us a humble heart of love and gives evidence of his presence and power.

The same spirit also testifies to the evidence of whether something is from the spirit or from another source all together.

(3) Test to see if the message confesses the true Jesus of the Bible.

What does it mean to “Confess?”

This creates somewhat of a problem for us. We know that there are those who can say true things about Jesus who are not in fact born of God or indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

If we paid him enough we could call someone off of the street and get him to make any confession we wanted here in front of the whole church, and it would be no evidence at all of his belonging to God. And Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). In other words, merely saying right things about Jesus is not sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

So what does Jesus mean when he says in verse 2 that “every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God”? The answer must lie in what John means by the word to “confess.”

In 1:9 John say’s, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins.” What does confess mean hear? It does not merely mean mouthing a bunch of words, “I know I am a sinner.” WE all know that forgiveness and reconciliation do not happen when the words of an apology are glib or insincere.

If we say to one of our children, “tell your brother you’re sorry,” and he says begrudgingly, “I’m sorry,” it does not achieve reconciliation. The confession must be sincere. It must come from the heart. It must be more than mere words. There has to be a disposition corresponding to the offense committed. Real regret, Godly sorrow, Real contrition. Then forgiveness and reconciliation happen.

So, when John talks about evidence of divine spirituality being in the “confession” that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he probably does not mean that the mere words or thoughts are sufficient evidence.

Just because someone can say that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is in no way a sure sign that they are of God or even truly believe what they are saying.

HEARTFELT REVERENCE, CONVICTION, AND SUBMISSION

So the Holy Spirit bears witness to the genuineness of a believer or a prophet in two ways. One is by producing the fruit of love. And the other is by producing a genuine confession of doctrinal truth about Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:16 ESV

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

(Howard Marshall)

“If a person claims to believe in Jesus, it is appropriate to asks, ‘Is your Jesus the real Jesus?’”

What someone thinks about Jesus has enormous consequences. In a real sense it determines everything!

Tell me what you believe about Jesus and I can probably tell you 95% of the rest of your theology. Do you confess with the Apostles, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matt. 16:16)

2. Are you listening to the right Spirit?

John now expands his test beyond the content of the message that is being brought to the effects that it produces in peoples lives.

vrs. 4 refers to all Christians, they in verse 5 is referring to the non-Christian false prophets, and we (verse 6) to the apostles and the true teachers who stand in the stand in the true apostolic succession.

The Christian that John is writing to has already conquered the false prophets. They have conquered them in that they have not been swept away by their deception. The fake prophets have attacked with their defective views of Christ, and the Christians have stood firm.

They have not yielded, they have not given them an inch. They have conquered. They have remained Orthodox and loyal to the Son of God incarnate in the man Jesus Christ.

Problem:

At first glance verse 4 seems to be denied by our common experience. How can John say that the Christians have overcome the false prophets, when they are proving an increasing threat to the health and existence of the church?

We see this in a powerful way in the mainline denominations that are riddled with a radical theology which denies Christ and ridicules those who believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God.

But John is right, because the false teachers have not won the true believers over to their side.

The battle continues today among the true believers over the sufficiency and inerrancy of the word of God. We still believe in the virgin birth, the atonement and the resurrection. WE have conquered them. They could not conquer us.

By applying the truth test, Christians remain true; their faith is not destroyed and their savior is not denied.

*The Right Spirit is the Greater Spirit of God

He is greater than the spirit that is in the World. Is the World strong? Yes, but, our God is infinitely stronger. Are false prophets wise yest according to the worlds standards, however, our God is infinitely wiser! Is Satan great, yes according to this worlds standards, but our God is infinitely greater!

And this one who is infinitely stronger, wiser, and greater lives inside of you.

-John Piper

1. Do not take credit for your listening ears or confessing heart.

Always give credit where credit is due, always give all the glory and credit back to God.

2. When temptation and discouragement come remember that, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Almighty God abides inside of you. Trust in Him, for this is His victory that overcomes the world, your faith in the sovereign indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. (“Test the Spirits).

Beyond "Experience"

The current phrase "worship experience" merely serves to confuse us. Those who worship with the expectation that the act ought to generate certain experiences for them will undoubtedly have many experiences. But they will probably not be the sorts of experiences that Christian worship offers to those who seek only the face of God through song and prayer, preaching and sacrament.

Worship Leaders and Pastors can generate many powerful experiences, but when experience is the aim, this becomes cheap theater, smoke and mirrors at best and manipulation at worst. Both are repulsive substitutes for an encounter with the power of the living God

THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit (or spirit of God) transforms and empowers God’s people.

“He who is in you is grater than he who is in the World”

God’s Spirit transforms His people to share in His moral character and empowers us to fulfill His purposes. Scripture speaks of the human spirit in two different terms.

(1) Demonic spirits

(2) The Spirit of God

The Spirit of God was active in creation and among God’s people; Gen 1:2 “The spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

The Old Testament describes the spirit in several ways:

Descriptions of Deliverance or judgment; shows God working through wind. (Seen displayed in the plagues on Egypt)

Scriptures sometimes portrays the spirit as God’s Breath. (Exodus 15:8, “At the blast of your nostrils the water piled up.”)

Israels prophets warned that idols lacked breath, in contrast to Yahweh who controlled the winds.

Hebrew poetry portrays Yaweh riding on the wind. (2 Sam 22:11; Ezek 1:4).

Wind sometimes associated with God’s presence (Gen 6:17;7:15).

Unlike God’s spirit the human spirit or “RUACH” was created mortal that guides our emotions; desire or will; strength; moral condition; disposition.

ROLES OF THE SPIRIT

The Spirit as a Transforming Power

The Spirit transforms God’s people. For example in Ezekiel, God had exiled His people because of sin; however, He promised that he would restore them and put His Spirit in them so that they would obey Him in the future. (Ezek 36:26-27).

Early Christians often wrote about spiritual purification and transformation as well. In 2 Cor 3:3-6, Paul uses wording that links Ezekiel’s promise of the transforming Spirit to Jeremiah’s promised new covenant, in which God would write His laws in the hearts of His people. (Jer 31:31-34).

In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born from water and the Spirit (John 3:5), and that whatever is born from the Spirit is Spirit (John 3:6).

Such empowerment of the Holy Spirit is no guarantee of moral virtue by itself (1 Sam 19:20; Saul tried to kill David, Matt 7:22-23). Disobedience can also alienate a person from the Spirit of God (Judg 16:20; Jude 19).

The Spirit empowers people to hear from and speak for God the prophets did (Acts 2:17-18). Writers like Paul and John emphasized the spirit coming at conversion, and illustrate a continuing life empowered by the Spirit. The book of Acts most fully illustrates the experiences of the early Christians.

*The Wrong Spirit is the lesser Spirit of the World

The spirit of the world is the spirit of deception, the spirit of death, the spirit of the evil one. By contrast, the false teachers are tied to this world (verse 5), the world which is passing away (2:17).

The world is their origin and their audience.

That is why so many of their heresies or false teachings include building of a new world order, a new government or a new system, usually with their leader as messiah at its head.

The world of mankind is in rebellion against God is attracted by the false prophets and their cults because fundamentally they have the same desires and inclinations. They will always get a hearing by the world.

These ‘prophets’, political or religious, proclaim the glory of man and the fulfilment of human desires, at whatever cost and by any sort of behavior, people will jump at the idea.

We human beings want to be assured that we are basically all right, and that any ideas about sin and judgment or accountability to a creator God are outdated or unnecessary. It is all governed by this world and the desires to make it a more comfortable and palatable place where you can enjoy yourself even more. It has nothing to say on the issues of eternity, or consequences for sin. It has no dynamic by which lives can be changed and offers no ultimate significance beyond the grave. It is all about making this life better and building a utopia right here where we live.

3. Are you listening to the Right Teachers?

Verses 5-6 Contrast parallel comparison’s of the separatists and the members of the community of Believers.

PEOPLE WILL REPEATEDLY LOOK FOR SUBSTITUTES FOR GOD

(1) What is the origin and allegiance of the Teacher.

The opponents are of the world and the Believers are of God.

If the person bringing the message is more concerned about their own fame or reputation chances are their allegiance is off. This is repeated from verse 4 that reminds the believers that they have overcome the world and should not fall back into it’s teachings and lessons.

1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV

12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

The origin of everything that comes from the spirit comes directly from God and enables it’s followers to receive and understand what it is bringing. If the origin is from the world it will rely more on man’s wisdom, more on their own understanding.

(2) Listen to the nature of what is being said.

Only what the opponent say’s is characterized, again with the expressions of the world.

The natural person according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not accept the things of the spirit of God because they are seen as foolishness, therefore, he is not able to discern them at all.

The natural person will downplay sin;

The natural person will not see all scripture as God breathed and completely inherent;

The natural person will seek to look more like the world around them instead of being set apart as the children of God;

The natural person will avoid talking about things such as the sinfulness of humanity,

The exclusive nature of the Spirit filled person will speak of

The atonement

The reality of Hell

Salvation through Christ alone.

Can someone still do good things and have the appearance of truth. Yes, we are all created in God’s image and can have the appearance of doing good things, however, eventually darkness will be exposed by the light.

We are told in Romans 1:19 that we can all know about God and his nature because we have all clearly seen and understood, however, there are those who have chosen to suppress this truth by believing the lie over the truth. Further down in verse 21 we are told that they became futile in their thinking, worshiping the created over the creator.

Ephesians 2:3 tells us that we are all by nature children of wrath. All human beings are born with a sinful nature. Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.” Ephesians 7:20 “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:10 “As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one.”

(3) Consider who is listening to their message.

The World listens to the opponents, while those who know God listen to the believers.

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:3-4

2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

The word itching literally means “to itch, rub scratch or tickle. To want one’s ears “tickled” is to desire massages rather than messages - sermons that make us fell warm and fuzzy rather than messages that challenge us and step on our toes, entertain rather than edify, and please rather then preach. These people will have to have as one commentator put it, “ears which have to be continually titillated with novelties.”

It is these kinds of messages that refer to peoples desires rather than their true felt needs, or wants. It is these kinds of desires that impel someone to believe whatever he wants to believe rather than the actual truth itself. People who have itching ears also have selective hearing. They are more concerned with what feels good and comfortable, not with the truth - after all, truth is often uncomfortable. Paul is warning that the day is coming when people would only open their ears to those who would scratch their itch.

Evidence today of people having “itching ears”

*The message that people are not required to change, as if repentance were not necessary.

*The message that God is too loving to judge anyone.

*The message that the cross with all of it’s blood is not all that is necessary, it is not enough.

*The message that God wants his children to be healthy and wealthy. (I guess they never read Jesus words in Matt. 6).

*People turn their backs on the truth about sin and condemnation.

*People are craving a newer and fresh ideas for growth even though there is nothing new under the sun.

*Peoples longing to fell good about who they are and where they are going.

*Messages that are tickling a lot of ears tend to sell a lot of books and buy a lot of adds on t.v.

In today’s postmodern church, we see many walking away from the hard truth of scripture. Some Churches that once preached sound doctrine now teach as acceptable the very evils the Bible Condemns. Some pastors are afraid to preach on certain passages in the Bible. Christian “feminist” deny God as a heavenly Father, calling Him a “she.” Gay Christians are not only welcomed without repentance into Church fellowship but into the pulpit as well.

(4) Consider who is not listening to their message.

Only those who do not listen to the believers are characterized - he who is not of God.

Listen means receptive hearing of the speaker’s message. This suggests that speakers’ position is determined by their basic affiliation.

The fruit test

Matthew 7:15–20 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Those who are not listening to the message of the false teachers are going to be bearing good fruit for the kingdom of God. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 Paul encourages the Church to test what kind of men they are and the fruit of the gospel in their lives.

The Doctrine Test

We now go back to the test of sound doctrine that John gave at the beginning of chapter 4. We also here what Paul say’s in 1 Timothy 6:3-4

1 Timothy 6:3–4 ESV

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

We always need to measure the doctrines that are being taught by the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and by their implications for godliness.

The Scripture Test

This is the test of submission to the scripture. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:37-38 “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are commanded of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.”

In 1 John 4:6 “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.

The Gospel Test

Finally the gospel test is one that really got Paul going. Galatians 1:8-9 Paul say’s that if anyone comes to you, even an angel telling you a gospel that is different than what has been preached to you “Let Him be Accursed.” Paul repeats this last part twice.

Note: The best way to protect yourselves from false teachers is to be part of a healthy, Bible preaching and teaching Church, and to be prayerfully saturated everyday with the Word of God.

CONCLUSION

Not to oversimplify what we have heard John say, however, the struggle is clear

Truth is exclusively on one side and Error is on the other.

Humans are prone to defend themselves by polarizing the situation. John makes it clear of the continued necessity to “test” what they hear proclaimed and to inquire concerning its spiritual source. If you take the position of its “us” against “them” it will often put you in uncomfortable situations.

However, if you choose to bury your head in the sand and ignore false teaching when you hear it, you will be guilty of far more than you could ever imagine.

Sixteenth Century Reformer “Martin Luther”

“It does not good to say: I will gladly confess Christ and His Word in all articles except one or two which my tyrannical masters will not tolerate .... But he who denies Christ in one article or word has in this one article denied the same Christ who would be denied in all articles; for there is but one Christ in all His words, collectively and individually. (Luther, What Luther says, vol 1, 407)

A battle is raging for the hearts, the minds, and the souls of men and women. Be a good soldier of Christ and the cross, of that which is true and is right. The spirits, confess Christ as Lord, trust the Holy Spirit who is inside of you, and stay latched to the Word. Here is your strength, here is your safety, here is your Salvation.

Question: What Spirit are you listening to and how is it guiding your life?