1st John 3:24-4:6
“And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in
him. And hereby
we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath
given us” (1 John 3:24). “Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come;
and even now already is in the world. Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because
greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They
are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and
the world heareth them. We
are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is
not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and
the spirit of error” (1 John 4:1-6).
“To
the Church in Corinth he says this “examine yourselves
as to whether you are in the faith”, test yourselves, “do
you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless
indeed your are disqualified.” He
says, test, examine, do you know that Jesus, God, the Holy
Spirit is within you. And that is indeed part of the Christian
life. Let’s
look at verse 24 of chapter 3 [1 John 3:24]. “Now
he who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. And
by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom
he has given us.” Now
John has already explained to us that obedience to God’s
Word, to his commands is evidence that somebody is a child
of God. He gave
that to us in the last verse. It’s
evidence that I’m a child of God. But
also that I’m walking in close fellowship with God. When
I obey his commands that’s proof of that. And John summarized the last verse what
it means to obey his commandments. It
means that we should believe on Jesus Christ, that is the
initial saving faith---Jesus said that one of the works that
you should do is to believe in Jesus, that’s the first
work, to get saved---and then from that to obey his commandments. And
as he summarizes it, it is also to love one another. And
of course, the rest of the Bible says the same message. To obey God is to love God with all my
heart and soul and mind, and to love my neighbor as myself. So, when this is true in somebody’s
life, verse 24, ‘Now he who keeps his commandments’,
when this is true, ‘he abides in Christ, and Christ,
God abides in him.’ I
think this is an amazing thing, we’ve seen this repeated
before, and I was thinking about it. It
is an amazing expression, he says ‘abides in him, I
abide in Christ and Christ abides in me.’ That
really is a statement, when you think about it physically,
me being in him and him being in me. How does that even work out? But that’s certainly a statement
of intimacy, isn’t it, that I’m actually in Christ,
I’m in the body of Christ, but I’m in Christ,
if I’m walking with him, and he’s also in me. Now, I would think then, with that statement,
and I believe this is true, I can have a relationship with
God so close that I can, that no other relationship with
any other being can compare. The Bible teaches that my wife and I are
one, there’s this mystical union that takes place between
the husband and wife. There’s a very close relationship. But the Bible never says that I’m
in Paula and Paula’s in me. [there
is a spirit union though, which he refers to as mystical. The
spirit-in-man of both he and Paula are what make them “one
flesh”, and it is a direct picture of the Triunity
of God, their spirits mingle, and because they both are believers,
their human spirits, in union with God’s Holy Spirit
[cf. Romans 8:16] are in a holy and spiritual “one
flesh”. Athol Dickson in his amazing book “The
Gospel according to Moses” brings this truth to light
as well. Have you ever noticed guys, that when
you’re hiding something from your wife, she intuitively
knows?] And as a Church we are told that we are
one, but the Bible doesn’t say that you’re in
me and that I’m in you. But when it speaks about my relationship
with God, it says that I can actually dwell in him and live
in him, and he dwells and lives in me. That’s
pretty wild, huh? Speaking
of the closeness, the intimacy, the union that can take place,
and should take place between somebody who believes in Jesus
Christ, somebody who walks with him. Wow, that’s beautiful man. And that’s something all the more
I want to experience in my life. Now,
how can I be sure, he says here in verse 24 that Christ is
abiding in me? He says “I can know”, of course
it’s ginosko, it’s experientially that
he abides in me, “by the Spirit that he’s given
us.” How can I know? And what is the Spirit he’s referring
to? The Spirit
is the Holy Spirit. Capital “S”. Right? I
can know that I am a child of God, like in the case of Acts
chapter 19, I can know indeed that I am because the Holy
Spirit, you know, God the Holy Spirit is residing, he’s
in me, this gift of the Holy Spirit. Now
in Acts chapter 19 that was seen in the disciples, when they
believed, man, they had the Holy Spirit. When
they didn’t believe, they didn’t have the Holy
Spirit. And that
is true. Paul
wrote to the church in Rome, Romans chapter 8, verse 9 he
said “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ
he is none of his.” So
if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you’re not
a child of God. But if you are a child of God, you have
the Holy Spirit in you. Now
Paul is not talking about this burning in your bosom, you
know, some groups talk about having burning in your bosom,
that’s not what he’s referring to. That’s not evidence to know that
you know God. But
he’s referring to a witness of the Holy Spirit in my
life, a witness of the Holy Spirit in my heart. This is what Paul described again to the
church in Rome in Romans chapter 8 verses 14 to 16, he said “For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again
to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom
we cry out Abba, Father. The
Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are
children of God.” So I have this thing, I became a Christian. The
Holy Spirit moved into me. Now
there’s this witness in my heart, and there’s
even a heart’s cry there that says “Abba, Father” [literally: Abba,
Daddy. Abba is Hebrew for Daddy.] Abba, that Arabic term. You go to Israel today you might hear
a child say to their father, Abba, a
child is speaking to their father. And
now I have it in my heart to say to God, Father [Daddy],
my Dad, my Abba. This is how I know I’m a child of
God, this is the clear evidence of the Holy Spirit in me
bearing witness, and also giving me this hearts cry. But
not only that, as you take other Scriptures too, the Holy
Spirit within me, it gives me that hearts cry, but also it
gives me this sense, that confidence that indeed I have glory
waiting for me, I have eternal life, I have [the kingdom
of] heaven waiting for me. Listen
to what Paul told the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1, verse
13. “In
him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.” Paul said to the church in Ephesus that
when we became Christians we were sealed in the Holy Spirit,
there was a mark of ownership upon us. And
now he is in a sense like the deposit, the guarantee in our
hearts that all the things that God has promised to me, all
the things, even eternity I can know, I have a deposit. It’s
there, there’s fruit. You know, you get those little lockers,
and you put your little quarter in there, and you get that
key. And as you are in the swimming pool or
the mall or whatever, you’ve got that key, and that
key is like a sense that I’ve got access to that locker,
I’ve got all the things in that locker. And I have the Holy Spirit in me, and
it’s proof now, this witness, this confidence in my
heart that I have eternal life awaiting me. Now
when Paul said that to the church at Ephesus, Ephesus was
the world trade center at that time. In fact, the world trade center, that
trade center was in Ephesus. The
trading that would go from east to the west would often go
through Ephesus. And when a merchant would come to the
world trade center there in Ephesus, they would buy some
goods, and the people would package up these goods, and then
they would put wax on it and the person purchasing it would
take his ring and he would put [impress] that in the wax
and it would make a sign there, so that when the package
was put on a boat and was sailed off to Rome, and the people
there in Rome or other Roman port cities or places were unloading
one of these packages there would be that seal. And it would be a mark that so and so
owns this package. And
that’s what happens when I became a Christian, the
Holy Spirit then came in me, and there’s this mark,
this seal of God upon my life that I’m indeed a child
of God, and I can know with 100 percent certainty I have
eternity waiting for me. So, Holy Spirit in us. Paul is saying that’s what a Christian
is, he’s saying that a Christian is a spiritual person,
he is a spiritual being [i.e. someone in whom the Holy Spirit
dwells]. That
is what it means too, that I am a Christian, I’m a
spiritual being. I’m
not just a good person, I’m not just a moral person,
I’m not just a religious person, I’m not just
somebody who goes to church. I’m
alive in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is within me. I’ve
received him, I have his power, I have him working in me,
I know he’s working in me. Now
there’s this hunger in my heart for God, there’s
a clear sense of the conviction of sin in my life. But also there’s supernatural fruit
of the Holy Spirit. Paul
says in Galatians there’s love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That
is what it means to be a Christian, the Holy Spirit in you. And
that’s what he says here, that “By this we know
that he abides in us, because we have the Holy Spirit”,
this is what
it means to be a Christian.
discern the spirits—test
the spirits
Now,
he goes into chapter 4. Now
he wants us to understand, discern the Holy Spirit, the way
he works through a person, as opposed to the way a false
spirit works through an individual. Chapter
4, verse 1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world.” Now
he says “beloved”, you note there’s a firmness
when John writes, but there’s a tremendous gentleness,
there’s a lot of love. In
fact that word “beloved”, it would be great if
we could read Greek right now, you would see right off, it
stems from the word agape’. It’s a form of the word agape’. So he’s
referring to us with a love of God, beloved, beloved, he has concern, he’s firm,
but here his concern is that we wouldn’t believe every
spirit, but that we would test the spirits, that we’re
not gullible Christians either. Now so the test of the spirits, what does
it mean to test the spirits? Why
do we need to test the spirits? He
says ‘Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, test
the spirits, whether they’re the real deal, because
many false spirits, many false prophets, many false teachers
have gone out into the world.’ He’s
already reminded us of that back in chapter 2, as you remember. Jesus said exactly the same thing. In fact, Jesus said, he encouraged Christians
to discern, because in the end, the latter day we’re
in, there would be an abundance, a great multiplication of
false teachers. Matthew chapter 24, verse 4, “Take
heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name
saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many.” He
says that in that discourse about the future. Peter
warned the same, 2nd Peter chapter 2, verse 1, “But
there were also false prophets among the people, even as
there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly
bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who
bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” So he says, there’s a need to test
the spirits, don’t believe everything you hear, don’t
be gullible, don’t just believe every spirit, test
the spirits, see if they’re false or if they’re
true, because there are many false spirits. And
he doesn’t want us to be deceived. You
know on Wednesday night, we had a very similar study as we
were going through Joshua, just coincidentally with the text. And I posed the question to the people
that were there, ‘What does it mean to be deceived?’ To
be deceived is to believe something that isn’t true. Right? It’s
to be misled, like Eve. Eve
partook in that fruit believing something that wasn’t
true. And then she had to bear the horrific
fruit of making that decision. It
is to be misled, or as the dictionary says, it is to be caught
by guile, it is to be ensnared, meaning somebody being crafty,
somebody being quick, trying to deceive you, and if you’re
not testing and questioning and seeking the truth, you can
be deceived. It
is absolutely vital as Christians that we test the spirits,
not just accepting what somebody says, you know, because
they’re flamboyant, because they have a great personality,
because they’re zealous, because they’re passionate,
because they’re a leader in a certain church or even
because they can do miracles or signs. Because
the Bible says false teachers and prophets will also do miracles
and signs. I’ve used this example many times. My brother-in-law is Mormon, and when
I started to get to know my future wife, and we knew our
relationship was getting serious, and I was spending more
and more time with her family, her sister is Mormon. And
I remember getting to know them. And
of course initially they were trying to, or the Mormon church
was trying to court us, taking us out water skiing, we were
having a great time doing all these things, jet skiing and
things like that, and they didn’t realize we didn’t
have any interest in their Mormonism, because it isn’t
true. But anyway,
as I started to get to know my brother-in-law, I remember
we were driving down the highway one day and I felt, I was
praying for him, I was confident, I was sharing with him
the truth of the Scriptures, to lead my brother-in-law away
from Mormonism. So
as we started to talk, I thought of a Scripture like this
and other Scriptures. And
what Mormonism believes is that whatever the prophet of Mormonism
says, there’s one guy, whatever he says, they will
believe. It
[he] is a living oracle, it supercedes all Scripture. So
whatever that top guy says in the Mormon church, it is taken
as the Truth. Kind
of like other churches, and you can think of a few, big organizations
where the top guy, what he says you know, is straight from
God. Well I was
starting to build my little argument with this man, and one
of the things I was saying was “Didn’t Paul warn
that not just be believe anybody at their word.” “The Bible says in the last days
there’s going to be many false teachers.” These
are some of the things I was saying to him, and as I started
to say that he stopped me. He
said “George listen”, he says “I believe
if my prophet said to rob a bank,” he says
“I believe I’d be blessed if I did it.” That’s
exactly what he was taught. And
my jaw dropped, and I learned at that point I really couldn’t
reason with him. How can you reason? He’s saying “no matter what
he says, even if it goes against conscience, even if he says
rob a bank.” He’s saying, “I’m gonna
go do it, he’s a prophet. And
I’d be blessed if I did it.” Now,
John says here “Don’t believe every spirit.” He
says “test the spirits.” There’s
a lot of false spirits. And
there are people today that are in cults, and they’re
just believing what they are hearing. [Some believers at this point may believe
that the Torah observant Sabbatarian Churches of God are
cults, but they are not. Read
the early church history section for further explanation
on this at: http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm.] They are also being blinded by the enemy
and being deceived. John
doesn’t want God’s kids to be deceived. I
wish my brother-in-law, I prayed for him, I asked God to
remove the blindness. I wish he would see what John is saying
here. Lot’s
of false guys out there. Don’t
just take people at their word. You
need to test the spirits. Now, we can say ‘OK, that’s
a cult, that’s the problems with the people in the
cults.’ But
the truth is, man, this exists so much in the Church. God’s kids, not testing, not discerning,
the lack of discernment, and because of that they’re
being deceived by this teacher, by this false teaching, by
this false spirit, and they’re just reaping all kinds
of ugly stuff into their lives. [I
think of the “name it, claim it” churches and
teachers, Benny Hinn and the like, that many believers listen
to thinking these are true teachers.] There’s
the story of George Whitfield, he was speaking to a man about
his soul, and he asked the man, “Sir, what do you believe?” “I
believe what my church believes” the man replied respectfully. So
Whitfield asked him “So what does your church believe?” He says “The same thing I believe.” So the preacher went a little further. He said “What do you both believe?” “We both believe the same thing.” That’s what he said. [laughter] And
I tell you, it sounds silly. But
how many people, where if they were to be truthful, they
would believe whatever the [their] church tells them, and
you ask them, and they say
“I don’t really know what the church believes
in, whatever they believe, I believe, go ask them, we believe
the same thing.” But John’s saying ‘No way
Christians, man, no way children of God, you can’t
do that. You’re
going to reap ugly stuff into your life, because there’s
an enemy, and he’s a deceiver, and he’s a liar,
and he’s real good at what he does, and he wants to
deceive you, and he will, unless you’re wise.’ [See http://www.unityinchrist.com/Satan/satan.htm for more information about this “enemy”.] I
remember a local pastor, I’m sure if you had any questions
he’d probably tell you the same story, he told me this
years ago. You
know there’s movements that go through the Church,
and one particular movement that got real prominent, went
through the Church, and this local pastor had some questions,
was wondering ‘Was this really of the Lord, maybe it
is, maybe it isn’t’, so he decided to go to one
of these meetings, and there was all kinds of things going
on. And he said
he sat there praying, trying to discern. “Lord,
if this is of you, I don’t want to quench the Spirit,
you know, I don’t want to miss out on something. But
I’m just wondering, is this of you?” And as he
was sitting there, an usher, somebody that was like an usher,
that was part of this meeting came up to him and said to
him “Don’t pray” because he could see that
he was praying. He
said “don’t pray, you’re kind of hindering
the whole thing right now, just let go, just go with this
thing. If you
really want the blessing, don’t pray.” Wow. You
know, that sounds unbelievable to me, but I remember that
same movement is continuing today, even leaders of that movement,
you can read where they specifically are teaching people “You
know, when you come to these meetings, don’t pray,
don’t try to reason with it, just go with it, let go.” But
I can’t do that, because John said, the apostle John, “Don’t
believe every spirit, but test the spirits.” And
you can guarantee that, as my heart, and it should be yours,
we want to know ‘Is this of God?’ It’s
not a bad thing to ask, to wonder, to say “God, I’m
praying, I’m just wondering if this of you?” When
somebody says that’s not healthy, you can be sure there’s
something wrong, because that’s what the Scripture
says. Now, Dr.
Lloyd Jones, listen to what he said, “People, people
may come and say they’ve had visions, they’ve
had most extraordinary dreams, they say that strange things
have happened to them, they have had unusual guidance, astonishing
answers to prayer. ‘I
prayed’ says a man, ‘and this happened’ and
we tend to say ‘this man must be full of the Spirit
for that great thing to happen’, but believe me, such
experiences can be counterfeited by the enemy and often have
been. Experiences
have come and do come to us, but let us not rest on them,
but let us not put up the test of experience of the soul
test.” [i.e. let us not fail to give this the “soul
test” is what this means.] Not
just going with experience, going ‘Wow, that guy prayed
and look what happened. Man, I tried that, they said try that,
and look what happened!’ That
isn’t the test. That
isn’t the test. It’s never experience. We’ll get to the test, as we’ll
see. Of course, let’s stay balanced. We need to test the spirits, but at the
same time let’s not quench the Spirit. Right? You
can go from this point to that point, and there are people
in the Church on either end. Paul shares the balance with the church
in Thessalonica in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5,
verse 19-21, he says “Do not quench the Spirit, do
not despise prophecies.” Then his very next words are “Test
all things, hold fast what is good. Abstain
from every form of evil.” [King
James Version: “Quench not the Spirit. Despise
not prophesyings. Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain
from all appearance of evil.”] He
says ‘Don’t quench the Spirit, test all things.’ There’s
a perfect balance. And
there needs to be in my life. [Remember
in John 14 and 16, when Jesus was describing what the Holy
Spirit would do within us? One
of those things would be to reveal new truth, as well as
recall old things we had been taught.] There needs to be in this church. We want to be a church that is indeed
moving in the Spirit, man. God,
whatever you want to do. We
want to know what you want to do, and we want to be available
to just allow you to move and minister as you want to minister. But
we also want to be a church that is rock solid in the Word
of God. We want to stay balanced. It’s a safe place, and that’s
a good place for us to be. Paul
warned the church in Corinth, 2nd Corinthians
chapter 11, verse 13-15,
“For such are false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for Satan
himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore
it’s no great thing if his ministers also transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will
be according to their works.” [King
James Version, “For such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And
no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Therefore it
is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according
to their works.”] I
mean, so he says Satan has guys that are seeking and looking
like they’re ministers of righteousness, and it’s
actually Satan and his spirit working through them.
How do we test the spirits?
Well,
how exactly do we test the spirits? John
is going to give us here in these verses that follow a real
practical guideline to follow. But what’s assumed here is you balance
the rest of the Scriptures too, before we move on to a practical
guideline, but he’s also assuming as other Scriptures
say, that we are strong in the Word of God. If
I am strong in the Word of God, if I know the truth, if I’m
reading through the Word as an individual, I will not be
deceived. It’s
hard to deceive me if I know the Scripture, because I’ll
be able to discern that Satan is lying to me, just as Satan
tried to lie to deceive Jesus, but Jesus knew the truth and
responded with the truth. [read
Matthew 4:1-11.] So,
be strong in the Word of God. I
think of the Bereans, again the home fellowships going recently
through Acts chapter 7, speaks of these Christians. Paul
came, shared the Word of God, and it says that “they
received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures
daily to find out whether these things were so.” So, man, be strong in the Word, and when
you hear things, always going to the Word, testing. You
know, there was an individual not long ago that came to this
church, I think he’s a great man. I
wasn’t here when he shared, but later we were talking
and he said some things, and I’m like ‘I don’t
know if that sounds right.’ And
then I asked other people and he stated certain things, so
I went in and just studied more, and I’ve discerned, ‘Hey,
wait a minute, that isn’t balanced, what he said isn’t
balanced.’ And
it will come out here, and I love this brother, but that
wasn’t balanced. But I wanted to go even a little deeper,
just doesn’t sound right. Doesn’t
sound right. Now
of course, don’t be alarmed, we get people we respect
to come here [obviously talking about a guest speaker], and
you know, I’ll be honest, there’s been times
I’ve said things, and thought later, that’s not
true. You know
what I mean. Once
I quoted back in Genesis, I talked about there in the time
of Noah, you know, the Nephalim that were there, these giants
that were there, these strong men, you know, the descendants
there. You know
the passage that I’m talking about. And
the way they are described and the words there, it’s
the same that describes the giants in the times of David,
the Nephalim. But
anyway I said as I was teaching through Genesis “now
this is the same guys, and later they appear in the time
of David.” And
then a little later, a week or two later I was just quoting
somebody I heard say that or read that, and I said, wait
a minute, that’s impossible, because you have the Flood
inbetween. Those
guys drowned in the Flood, they’re gone. All you’ve got is Noah’s family. They don’t have any descendants
later. Not possible. [With
David it was the Anakin, not even called the same name] We’re learning, right? And I can guarantee you, I’m studying,
I ask God, “Help me to teach the truth.” But
you need to know the truth, be in the Word of God. And you can come to me and say “that’s
out of line, that’s not true, a little out of balance,
consider the Scripture.” So we need to be strong in the Word, but
also we need to be strong in prayer, people who are truly
praying without ceasing. You
know, on Wednesday night as we were talking about deception,
Joshua is deceived by the Gibeonites, that come dressed looking
a certain way, they act a certain way, they present something
that isn’t true, and Joshua makes a bad decision. But it says right there, he did not seek
the counsel of the Lord, he didn’t pray. And
being in prayer, seeking God’s face, helps me. Like
that man, that pastor in that meeting, going ‘Is this
of you Lord, is it not of you, I need to know.’ I
quoted too Wednesday night F.D. Meyer “Life is full
of difficulties, the pointed spear awaits the unwary at the
bottom of the pit, the top of which is covered by a slight
film of earth. The
snare of the fowler, the pestilence that walketh in the darkness,
the net privily laid, the decoy bird, the devil in the wily
servant form, of these we need to be aware. But
prayer is like the Spear of Ethereal, and before it’s
touched, evil will be compelled to show itself in its native
deformities so that we may be thrown instantly upon the watch.” So,
prayer, man. Prayer protects me, man. Satan’s got a spear, and he’s
trying to come, man, he’s got a decoy, but prayer will
help me in that battle. [link to prayer section: http://www.unityinchrist.com/prayer/prayer-teamessentials.htm.] So we need the Word, we need to
be in prayer, these things help us to be strong as we test
the spirits. But also we need to be open to the supernatural
discerning of the Spirit. Paul
says in 1st Corinthians 12, he speaks of the gift
of discerning spirits (verses 7-10). And
sometimes it takes just a supernatural revelation of God
for me to know those are Gibeonites, dressed a certain way,
saying the right thing, but they’re not the real deal. And
it takes the Spirit of God to say ‘Look, that isn’t
right. That isn’t
right.’
Practical guidelines
1. Jesus is the Christ: Well,
with these things taking place in their life, now John gives
us a very practical guideline to go through and test the
spirits. Let’s look at verses 2-3, “By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God. And
every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of antichrist,
which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the
world.” So
every spirit, he says here in verse 2, this is how we know
the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ’. When
he says ‘every spirit confesses’ the picture
here the way it’s laid out in the Greek is somebody
is proclaiming a spiritual truth, so there’s a spirit
represented there, and how do I know, is what they’re
saying true, or is it error? How
do I know if it’s of God? Well
he gives us a real practical guideline. First
thing he says, “Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ”,
he uses the name Jesus Christ [Yeshua haMeshiach for our
Messianic Jewish believers], he adds Christ there [Greek
for the Hebrew term Messiah, which
in Hebrew is Meshiach. haMeshiach
is the Messiah]. When he says Jesus Christ he’s referring
to him being the Messiah. Jesus
the Christ [Hebrew: Yeshua
haMeshiach]. That’s his title, he is the Christ,
he is the Messiah. Jesus
came and he fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament
that God spoke that one day the Messiah would come [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm for
a complete and comprehensive study on this]. And there are some more that
he’s going to fulfill as he comes back again later
[see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming.htm ]. But
Jesus is the Messiah, so every spirit that’s consistent
with that, every proclamation that agrees and builds up Jesus
as the Messiah, that’s one of the things. If it doesn’t, if it doesn’t
then there’s a concern. But
the first test is, are they saying, are they agreeing, are
they consistent with the fact that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. Now,
there are guys that aren’t, that say they are Christian
groups. Reverend Moon, he says he’s the
Messiah, and he kind of builds himself as a Christian group. He’s
not Christian, he says he’s the Messiah. William Brenham, you know the people that
follow William Brenham, there’s people in this area
that are into him, he died. He
was initially in a strong Christian church, and then he got
really weird, but people that follow him are actually looking
for his return, more so than the return of Christ, and they
use Scriptures in Revelation that are clearly prophecies
of Jesus and they apply it to him. So,
these guys are false teachers. So
when he says “Jesus Christ” there is in that,
every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ, there is a heart
there. As he
goes on, we were told in John, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit
would come and glorify him, the Holy Spirit would come and
glorify Jesus. So
the spirit that I’m listening to, the words that I’m
hearing from that guy on the tube, or at the outing or in
this book, is he glorifying Jesus Christ? If he’s glorifying Jesus Christ,
building Jesus Christ up, bringing worship and praise to
him, then that’s an indication this is of the Lord. If
he’s not. I’m going to quote to you anther
preacher,
“The true spirit always glorifies Christ [Messiah,
Meshiach], he is always in the center, he’s always
given the pre-eminence, and the true prophet is not the man
who talks about experiences and visions and what he has done
and seen, but about Christ. And
when you have heard him, you do not say ‘What a wonderful
man’, you say
‘What a wonderful Savior.’” You
don’t say ‘What a wonderful experience this man
had’, you say ‘Who is the man of whom he is speaking?’ The
attraction is to Christ, he glorifies Christ. And
keep that in mind. Because
there’s guys who are watching the TV, and man does
it glory that individual, and glory that individual, and
right there that just kind of grinds at my spirit. Because the Holy Spirit makes glory to
Jesus Christ, it lifts him up in every way. Nobody
else should be sharing the platform, nobody else should be
taking the light and the attention. So,
first thing, he Messiahship.
2. every spirit that confesses
that “Jesus has come”: Also,
he says, the whole phrase here, “every
spirit that confesses that Jesus has come”,
that word “has come” is interesting. He
doesn’t say that every spirit that says he was
born, he says “has come”. That
right there says the incarnation. You
can only say that about Jesus, referring to how did he
come, how did he come on this planet, he came, he came
from heaven and he came here. [i.e.
he was pre-existent, the Word, Logos, Yahweh, come in
the flesh.] I
didn’t do that. I was born. He
came, he was also born, but he was God before, and became
incarnate as a man. So,
when it says that he “has come”, it is referring
to his incarnation. And
in that we understand his deity, he was God the Son. In fact later John will specifically say
in verse 5 of chapter 5, “Whoever believes that
Jesus is the Son of God”. So we have his Messiahship, we also have
his incarnation, his deity. If
somebody is saying something that’s inconsistent,
the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach Jesus is not God,
that is a false spirit according to what John says and
other Scriptures say. The
Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus is God. How
do I test the spirits? If
you for a moment say that Jesus isn’t God or try
to water that down, or like the Gnostics, make it out
a little bit different, I can know that Satan is behind
that. This is a false spirit. You know, you can really be misled by
people and not realize they actually believe that. In
years past I’ve told this story, I was teaching
a Bible study in San Diego. We
had this gal in worship, she could sing, did a wonderful
job, a neat gal. And
her boyfriend was an attorney that was named Morgan that
was in our Bible study. And
Morgan was just a cool guy, I really liked him. And
he said all the right things, and just was zealous and
eager. And I was just doing this Bible study
for a few months, kind of learning the ropes and how
it all worked. And I was thinking, I need to get other
guys teaching. He
seemed like a strong guy, really loves the Lord. So
I was going to have him teach, and I announced to the
Bible study on this Friday night. Next week Morgan is teaching. Well, I did have another assistant leader
in the group, and later in that week the assistant leader
called me, he says “you know, George, you know
you mentioned Morgan was going to teach next week, but
did you know that he believes certain things?” And
one of the things he said, “he doesn’t believe
that the Bible is all inspired by God.” And
I said “No way.” And
he said
“Yeah.”….but then I learned even more
as it started to create a little rift in our Bible study,
that he and his girlfriend that was doing worship, didn’t
even believe that Jesus was Deity, God. They
didn’t believe that he was God the Son. I
would have never guessed it, unless I was told it. This
was early on in ministry, this was early on for me just as
I started ministry. Man,
you really need to know. People
can act, they can say it, they can pray the most beautiful
prayers with you, they can agree and nod their head and pipe
in all these great comments as you’re doing the study,
and they don’t believe that Jesus is God the Son. Wow,
that was eye-opening to me.
3. Jesus has come “in the flesh”: So, how do I know when somebody is being influenced
by a false spirit or indeed it’s the Holy Spirit? Well, we have the Messiahship, the incarnation,
we have the Deity of Christ, and then he goes even a little
bit further in these verses as he says there in verse 2, “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh”….You have in that whole statement
his Messiahship, his incarnation, his Deity, but also his
humanity. He
has come in the flesh. God
the Son came and he was a man. And
that’s also important. You
remember, John is dealing with the Gnostics who couldn’t
accept that God could become man, so they tried to just come
up with these other theories and other ways to just separate
spiritual and physical so a lot of them could just have a
license to sin. But
clearly, clearly John is saying ‘How do you know a
false spirit? How
do you discern? If
they don’t agree, if they don’t believe that
Jesus was God and also became a man, you can right there
know that this is not God speaking, this is another spirit.’ Key thing to keep in mind. So you have his Messiahship, his incarnation,
his Deity, you have his humanity. Now,
this doctrine that he is God and man is so vital, because
as soon as you don’t have that, you don’t have
salvation anymore. As
you even read through Job in the back of our bulletin, Job
cries out, he needed somebody to make the stand between him
and God. He understood that God was infinite, he
understand that he [Job] was a little man. He
needed someone to join hands with God and to join hands with
him. And as you
read Job, he like said “I wish, I wish there was somebody,
I wish there was somebody.” And then he comes to chapter 19 and says, “I
know that my Redeemer lives.” The
Redeemer is Jesus Christ. Jesus
is God [Jesus was Yahweh at that time]. If
you take the hand of Jesus, you take the hand of God, and
now I can have communion with God. Now
I can have a relationship with God. Now
I can know God. Now I can know my sins are forgiven, and
I’m going to heaven [into the kingdom of heaven, as
some believe]. He’s God and he’s man. If you have [believe] anything different
you don’t have salvation. No
use even going to Bible study if Jesus isn’t man and
God, he has to positively be both for us truly to know that we’re
saved, and that we have eternal life, and that we have hope. Lloyd Jones, again, he says it so well. He says “No man can die for my sins,
and I say, and I say this with reverence, weighing my words,
that God alone cannot die for my sins. The
incarnation is essential, because we who need redemption
are the seed of Abraham. He has taken upon himself this same nature,
that as man he might die for our sins, and because he is
the God-man his dying is of eternal worth. Thereby
I am redeemed.” You
know as I mentioned, somebody came up not long ago and they
were teaching at our church, there was a little teaching
that I didn’t agree with, and I love this brother,
and I’ve talked to him a little bit, and even talked
to him more. But they were trying to say that God,
when Jesus died, God did not die, because it’s hard
to understand how God did not die. I
don’t understand. But I don’t understand how God put
aside his glory and became man. [This
is a hard concept that none of us can completely understand
as long as we are mere humans, that God the Son died, while
God the Father remained alive and God the Spirit remained
alive, and yet they are all one. I think that is what the pastor is getting
at.] But when
Jesus died, God-man died, Jesus the Son of God. It
wasn’t like the Gnostics teach, just Jesus the man,
Jesus the Son of God died. I don’t know what it means, completely. I don’t know how exactly that happened. But to teach anything less than that,
and maybe some of you had heard that, and I apologize, I
didn’t know that that was going to come out. But
Jesus is God the Son, and he needed to be that, he needed
to go to the cross, and that way, and die. Philippians,
teaching of Philippians 2, verses 6-8, “Being in the
form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of
a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being
found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself”---that
is God, capital H---“and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross.” [No capital H in the King James, but this
is still referring to God the Son, some translations capitalize
it, others don’t.] ….Jesus
the Son of God, he came and he tasted death for us. So,
how do you know a true spirit, how do you know a false spirit,
well, what do they do with the Messiahship of Jesus, what
do they do with his incarnation, with his Deity, and what
do they do with his humanity? All
those are important.
spirit of the antichrist
He
said in verse 3, “and
this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard
is coming and is now already in the world.”---saying
that Jesus is not man, saying that he isn’t God, saying
that the incarnation didn’t take place, denying his
Messiahship, this is the spirit of the antichrist who is
already in the world. Now, the spirit of the antichrist doesn’t
come out and deny Jesus, clearly. It
comes out and denies things about Jesus, tries to give you
a different shade of Jesus, a different teaching of Jesus. That’s
the way Satan is working, and that’s what’s being
said here. Paul, when he wrote to the church in Corinth,
he had concern. 2nd Corinthians
chapter 11, he had concern that this church [the “church
of God which is at Corinth”] would buy into just about
any teaching about Jesus. He said this, “For if he who comes
preaching another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if
you receive a different spirit which you have not received,
or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may
well put up with it.” [read
verse 3 also which puts this in context, “But I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ.”] ‘They’ll
come in and say something different, and because they have
a smile, maybe even can pray for people and people can get
healed, you’re there. But you end up with a different Jesus?’ Do you understand what it means to have
a different Jesus? [Also this is the chapter, right in context
with this where Paul stated, “For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles
of Christ. And
no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light.”] Paul reminded the church in Galatian in
Galatians chapter 1, he said, “Even if we or an angel
from heaven”, he said, ‘even if I come back,
or an angel, “preach any other gospel to you than what
we have preached to you, let them be accursed.” And
he says it again, he says “Let him be accursed.” [Again, let’s put this in context
giving the previous verse, verse 6, “I marvel that
ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another;
but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ.” Then
he goes on to say, “But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again,
If any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed.”] Just imagine, the man’s being pretty
emphatic, an angel comes here, a wonderful angel and says
something a little different about Jesus, a little different
about the gospel, he says “Let him be accursed.” Even
if Paul came back later. Sometimes
there are guys that are right on, and you’re being
blessed, you’re being ministered to, and later you’re
like ‘Wo, that really blessed me before, how can he
say that now?’ So, we need to be discerning. We need to be discerning about these things. The
antichrist is working in the world. He
says ‘but, don’t be discouraged folks. Verse 4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in
the world.” “You are of God, little children”,
little children he says, you know, both endearing, technia in
the Greek, “and have overcome them.” Little
children, kind of neat picture, these false people, teachers
empowered by Satan, and then you’ve got little children,
get the image, who have overcome them. “You have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than
he who is in the world.” So
he speaks here, where he encourages us, that we have victory
as children of God. I have victory, these guys are working,
there’s multitudes upon multitudes in the world, and
they are empowered by a mighty spirit, Satan, but he says
to us ‘Little children, you have overcome them.’ Remember
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, “And I
also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it.” So
he encourages us. [Comment: In the Greek, Peter is the word
for pebble, and the word for ‘this rock’ is
Petra, which is a massive outcropping of rock, representing
Christ. People,
only bothering to read this in the English lose sight of
what Jesus was saying, and are misled to think Jesus was
saying he would build his church upon Peter. Jesus
was really saying the true Church would be built upon himself,
Jesus the Messiah.] He says ‘You got all you need as
a Christian.’ Don’t
be overcome with fear or dismay, you got all you need, and
you will overcome in Christ. You have what it takes, and he says you
have what it takes because of the power that’s within
you. He says there “because he who is
in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Jesus
is inside of us. We’re
little children. But
Jesus is in us, and Satan does not for a moment compare to
Jesus. And if
the Holy Spirit, Jesus, God is in me, then I have all I need
to stand strong. He’s
in me, man, he’s living in me, he’s speaking
to my heart, he’s moving me, he’s giving me checks,
he’s giving me warnings, he’s helping me along
the way. So, we have the power within us. Now, knowing that he who is in me is greater,
then I should be out in the community, I should be in my
neighborhood, not fearing anybody, any attack, any hindrance,
because I have Jesus, man. He’s so great, he’s within
me. Also, I can sit down with anybody from
any cult, I can go and stand before a big university theater
with all kinds of intellects that are teaching all kinds
of weird stuff, and I can stand there and go ‘Jesus,
you’re in me, I can stand before kings, I can stand
before king Agrippa like Paul or whatever, and Caesar and
testify, because the Holy Spirit, God is in me, and he’s
working, and there’s incredible power. As Paul said, “I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It
is the power of God for everyone who believes, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek.” There is, as a side point, there is a
greater seed that is in you than is in the world, and many
commentators, and I certainly see it this way, this is a
statement about Christians, we cannot be demon possessed
if we are Christians [or genuine Messianic Jewish believers
in Yeshua haMeshiach]. If God is in me, if Jesus is in me, and
he is greater, how can somebody who is not as great come
in and overtake him, and take control? God
is in me, he’s not going to leave me. The
Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, I mean, God is in me [cf. John
chapters 14 & 16]. And greater is he that is in me, I can
know without a doubt that I cannot be demon possessed. And there are groups, there are teachings
that teach that Christians can be demon possessed. No way, man. Not
a chance. Jesus
is in me. And
if he’s in me, the strong man who’s taken all
the loot, he’s greater than that strong man, he’s
kicked out the strong man, Satan, and he [Jesus] resides
there. And if he resides in you, man, nobody
else is moving in. That
is for sure. I mean, who could possibly move in? Light and dark don’t dwell together. He’s the light, man. Not a chance. Not
a chance. Greater
is he who is you and me than is in the world.
In summary
Verses 5-6, “They are of the world:
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth
them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth
us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby
know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” He goes on, “They are of the
world”, these false spirits, “therefore they
speak as of the world”, that’s where they’re
coming from, all the intellectual human wisdom, all the
nice little sayings, reasoning, it sounds right to the
world, and the world hears them. “We
are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us.” You know, Jesus said “My sheep will
hear my voice, and they’ll follow me.” That’s
the picture here. The
world follows these worldly things. But
as a Christian, I have the Spirit, I hear God’s voice,
and I follow him. And of course, when you teach the Word
as a Christian, you teach this truth, man, others that
know Jesus hear that too. “By
this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Jesus
made it real clear to us. He’s
given us a real practical guideline. So,
God has reminded us, you have the Holy Spirit, man, you’re
a child of God. And if you have the Holy Spirit in you,
you’re a child of God. He’s
in you, you’re bearing fruit. He’s
given you the assurance of eternal life, and there’s
the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But as a Christian, there is a need to
test the spirits so that we’re not deceived. And
how do we test the spirits? Man,
we need to be in the Word, we need to be in prayer, we
need to be open to the supernatural discernment the Holy
Spirit can give us. But especially, as I listen and I hear
the arguments, and I watch the teachings, videos, what
are they doing with Jesus’ Messiahship? What
are they doing with his incarnation and his Deity, and
his humanity? That tells me a lot about where it’s
coming from. And
thankfully I have all that I need to have victory over
these false teachings, because I have great power within
me, I have the Holy Spirit, I have God. Let’s
close in prayer. ‘Lord,
we want to thank you that we could just consider these
things. And as we leave now on a Sunday morning, and we
go out, there’s a ton of other voices, multitudes
upon multitudes of false teachers and prophets, many of
them even wearing a Christian badge or a title or sitting
underneath a steeple or behind a pulpit. There’s
even many that we love and know as friends and neighbors
who are, maybe some even know you, but they’re wrapped
up in some goofy thing because they’ve not heeded
your Word. Some
have gone the route of experience, and they’ve thrown
out discernment and the Word of God. Lord, I pray as we consider these things,
John even reminds us, the need for balance. Yet
if the Spirit is in us, let’s not quench the Spirit,
let’s be open to whatever God wants to do. God
is a supernatural God, he does supernatural things. But
may we be rock solid in the truth, just praying without
ceasing Lord, seeking you. Lord
I think of the words you said to the leaders there in Israel
through Jeremiah, that they were dull-hearted and they
did not seek you because of that. Man, they had gotten messed up and messed
up others, Lord. Oh
Lord, give us eyes, hearts and ears that are just in tune
with you, Lord. I thank you for all that you have done
in our lives. As
born-again believers here this morning we just thank you,
incredible, we can be so close to you. This Scripture says ‘You abide in
us and we abide in you.’ Incredible,
all the more may we know that, experience that and grow
in that, that wonderful, wonderful relationship. And
thank you Holy Spirit, you’ve got your stamp on us,
we’re your kids, and you’re in us, and greater
is he, you, who’s in us than he that is in the world. We have just confidence and power. We thank you Lord, we thank you. But also we pray for those present with
us this morning who do not have the Holy Spirit within
them, who do not have that because they have not asked
Jesus Christ to come into their heart to be their Lord
and Savior. They’ve
not come to the cross and repented of their sin and asked
you to be their Lord and their Savior and their King….” [a
transcript of a connective expository sermon given somewhere
in New England.]
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