We come today in our study of 1 John to a very important passage for the church, and one to which I have referred to in previous messages many times. It teaches some important principles which were essential for the church of John’s day, and which has been essential for the church ever since, and no less so for the church today. In John’s day, the church was battling with the teachings of Gnosticism, which professed a superior knowledge of God but which John calls false knowledge, proclaimed by false prophets. He said they were the spirit of antichrist. That is, they worked against Christ, against the truth of His teachings, His ministry, and purported to have another way to knowledge and fellowship with God rather than strictly through Christ.
Today, we have a similar spirit of error which is working in the church to undermine and distort the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a spirit which seeks to diminish the authority of the gospel of Christ as the means by which we come to know God. Modern false prophets seek to teach a way of knowledge and fellowship with God as being possible through experience, through signs and wonders, which can supersede that which may be found through the word of God.
So this passage is very pertinent to the church today. The primary point that John is making, is that as Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. But there are also deceiving spirits which are not of God, but of the devil, which seek to undermine and distort the truth of the gospel. The devil is our adversary. He is a deceiver. He comes to steal, deceive and destroy. His kingdom is the kingdom of this world, and he works to overthrow the kingdom of God. But his most effective strategy is not to outright oppose the truth to get people to stop believing, but to distort and deceive through false teaching, and thus lead people astray from the purity of the gospel.
Now John began this conversation in the last verse of the previous chapter saying, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” So we know that God abides in us, by the Spirit of God whom He has given us. Now how did John indicate that we know that God abides in us? By the Spirit of God in us. And John says that indwelling of the Spirit is evidenced by the fact that we keep the commandments.
I said last time that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not given that we might have some supernatural experience which then confirms that we know God. But the Spirit is given that we might keep the commandments of God. He is the power that works in us and empowers us that we might do the works of God. That’s the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit. And in conjunction to that, the other primary work of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten our minds so that we might understand the word of God. The Holy Spirit is the author of scripture, so He is able to open our minds to understand what He has written.
And let me emphasize something to you about that which is very important. The Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily through God’s word. That is how God speaks to us. A lot of sincere Christians are going about seeking to hear from the Lord. And so they think to do that they need to go into some sort of meditative state and empty their minds, and just let the Spirit speak to them. They imagine that the Spirit of God is going to somehow, in a still small voice, hear God tell them what to do, or give them some message. Listen, I know this is true, because I used to think that way.
But the truth is, that you cannot trust the little small voice in your head. If I listened to the voices in my head sometimes I would probably be in prison today or in an insane asylum. No, the Spirit of God has spoken already, very clearly and very distinctly. In fact, He wrote it down so that you can know for certain what He says. And it’s found in the word of God. And the Spirit of God in you says Amen when you read the word. He confirms to you the truth as He speaks through the Word of God. Now a lot of so called Christians don’t like to hear me say that. They want to think that God speaks to them audibly almost every day. And they can tell you stories about how they heard God say this or that and something wonderful happened. And they don’t want to let go of that. But I will tell you this. If you can’t confirm what you heard by the word of God, then you didn’t hear from God. Now I’m sorry if that offends you, or doesn’t fit this idea that you might have this special relationship with God where He speaks audibly to you about the most mundane things, like where to find a parking space at the mall.
John affirms the truth of what I am saying in ch. 4 vs 1. He says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” We cannot see a spirit. Spirit comes from the Greek word pneuma, which means air. You can’t see the air, but you can feel the air, can’t you? You can even hear the air. Well, the same thing is true of a spirit. You can’t see a spirit, but you can hear one. And John indicates here that you should not believe everything you hear. Now that applies not only to the voices in your head, but in the teaching that you hear from what John calls false prophets.
So first of all, John says don’t believe every spirit. Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because someone comes to you dressed in the clothes of a minister, or a priest, or professes to be a prophet, don’t believe every spirit. I saw a lady the other day at a yard sale who I remember from years ago when I was taking a bunch of kids on a missions trip to Eleuthera in the Bahamas. She called me a day or two before we flew out, to say that God had given her a dream that we had a plane crash on our missions trip and so obviously God was telling us not to go. Well, I didn’t believe her and she happened to be wrong. We had chartered a missionary plane for the trip which was an old WW2 Air Force plane used for dropping parachuters. And I will tell you that I would have been nervous enough just from the looks of the plane, not to mention having her dream prophecy to think about. But I’m living proof that she was not speaking the truth, but whatever spirit she was of, it was not of God. In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, Moses specifies the same kind of testing of the prophets, "If the things they say do not come to pass, they are false prophets.”
So just because something is spoken in a church, or in the name of God, or whatever, John says don’t blindly believe it. Secondly, John says test the spirits to see if they are from God. Test them, examine them. How do you test the spirits? I will tell you, there is only one definitive test for the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error. And that is the word of God. The word of God is the revelation of God and it’s the only reliable standard for truth.
2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” So every thing that a Christian needs to know can be found in the word of God. And that means that it is the standard for truth. That’s what this all comes down to, isn’t it? Look down at the end of verse 6, “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” We know the word of God is truth. Jesus said that He was truth. And in the prayer of Jesus in the Upper Room He several times calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said in that prayer to the Father, “Your word is truth.” There is only one barometer of truth. And that’s the word of God. So it’s either the Spirit of Truth or the spirit of error.
Heb 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” There is only one sure source of truth and that’s the word of God. That’s the test. That’s the way we test to see if what we are being told is the truth.
What’s so important about this? Why the big fuss? John says it’s important because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Jesus sent His disciples out in the world to preach the gospel and make disciples in every nation. And guess what? Satan sent out his disciples in all the world to make disciples in every nation. He has his false prophets everywhere, infiltrating the church, broadcasting in every language in every nation on the radio airwaves, on the television, on you tube, using every available media. I would say that if I had to guess there are far more false prophets than there are true prophets. Jesus said that there were two ways, one was broad and there were many on it and one was narrow and there were but a few people on that way. But the broad way leads to destruction. The narrow way leads to God. And Jesus added, “beware of false prophets.” The false prophets proclaim popular doctrines which attract a lot of people, but it is the way to destruction.
There are many false prophets in the world, and we need to be discerning. By their deception they are intent on destroying the church. And behind every false prophet is a false spirit, a spirit of anti christ.
Now the rest of the passage, vs 2 through vs 6, all speak of three specific tests of the spirits. Notice how John bookends the entire section with the words, “by this you know.” Vs.2, He begins with “by this you know,” and then at the end of vs 6, “by this we know.” So everything in between is a specific test that you apply through the word of God to test the spirits.
The first test is the test of the divinity of Christ. He says in vs 2, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
The spirit of error which is populated by the devil, is usually consistent in this one principle; which is denying the deity of Jesus Christ. It’s not always evident in their teaching at first glance. You may have to dig around a bit to discover it. But a common theme is that they deny that Jesus is God who has come in the flesh. But all the gospel depends on that essential theology. If Jesus was not deity, then He claimed to be something He was not. He had no power to forgive sins. He had no power to give life. So the doctrine of the incarnation is essential.
Notice John says, “Every spirit that confesses”. To confess comes from the Greek word “homologeo” which means to agree with, to say the same thing. In other words, everyone that is saying the same thing, who is in agreement with what the word of God says about Christ, that He is the Anointed One, God in the flesh, is confessing a truth taught by the Holy Spirit.
I really think that John is using a type of short hand here when he speaks of confessing Jesus Christ as come in the flesh. I think that he is referencing in an abbreviated style the ministry of Christ about which he wrote in expanded form in the gospel of John chapter one. And in that gospel, in chapter 1vs1, John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ... vs 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Now that’s the doctrine of Jesus Christ. John says the eternal Word which was God, which was in the beginning with God, became flesh and dwelt among men, and because He is God in flesh, He has the right to give life to those who believe in His name. If a teaching or prophecy is in agreement with that, then it is of God. If it does not, then it is not of God.
The second test John gives is the Spirit of God in you. He says in vs4, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” Because we are children of God, because we have the Spirit of God indwelling us, we have the conviction of the Holy Spirit within us, who is greater than the spirt of deception that is in the world, the deception of the antichrist he spoke of in vs 3.
It’s a reference to what John said back in chapter 2:26-27 John says there, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
What John is saying there is because we are the children of God, because we have been born again in the spirit, by the Spirit, we have an anointing. The anointing is the Holy Spirit who lives in us and has quickened us. Quickened is a good old fashioned word which is found frequently in the KJV but not used too much in our newer versions. But I like it because it speaks of being made alive spiritually. Being given life, given eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit says. It speaks of being given discernment.
So John isn’t saying in chapter 2 that we don’t need preachers, that we can know all truth all by ourselves, but he is saying that the indwelling, the quickening, the anointing of the Spirit gives us spiritual discernment as we abide in Him. As we obey the truth, as we obey what we know so far, as we walk where He leads us to walk today, He will lead us in the truth tomorrow. He will guide us.
Perhaps ou’ve heard the expression, “I had a check in my spirit.” That’s a reference to a hesitation in your spirit when you hear something that doesn’t ring true with the word of God. You can’t say “amen” because you have a check in your spirit. And so, you do like the Berean’s, you examine the scriptures to see if these things are so. And the Holy Spirit will guide you in all truth.
Jesus said in the gospel of John 16:13-14 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.” See that? He will disclose the truth to you. He will guide you into all the truth. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. Not to make you get goose bumps, or to cause you to run around squawking like a crow, but to lead you into the truth. And back in our text, John says that the Spirit in us will serve to test the spirits. The deception of the evil one is great, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit is greater, and we have someone greater in us, than he that is in the world.
The last test is the test of obedience. The test of obedience. Who do they obey? That’s found in vs5 and 6, “They are from the world; therefore they speak [as] from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
When John says “they are from the world, and the world listens to them,” he is referring to the false prophets back in vs 1. Their theology has it’s source in the evil one. There religion is informed by the evil one. And their ideas come out of the world, out of the world’s way of thinking. The world refers to the system which is hostile to God. In opposition to the gospel. That’s the world system John says they are of and which they speak of. You know if you listen to a lot of the false teachers out there on television and in many of the churches, they spout a lot of pop psychology. They talk incessantly about relationships and so forth. They rely upon psychology rather than the word of God, rather than the gospel. And I don’t mean to disparage psychologists necessarily, but it’s a science of the world. It’s man’s way of understanding and dealing with life, through human reasoning and human wisdom. I think John is speaking of man’s wisdom when he says, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
In other words, the world obeys them. I’m just constantly amazed today to see how the world blindly follows the dictates and teaching of scientists and psychologists and so called experts. But it seems everyone believes these people that are in some position of authority, whether or not the evidence really supports it. John says the evidence that they are of the world is that the world listens to them and obeys them. False teachers will be popular with the world.
But in contrast to that, John says “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.” When he says “we” he is speaking of himself and the other apostles. He is speaking of what the Bible calls the apostles doctrine, which is the word of Christ. The evidence that prophets are from God is that they submit to Biblical truth as delivered by the apostles in the word of God.
To listen is to obey. If they are true ministers of God then they will obey the gospel as delivered by the apostles. As John said earlier in chapter 2:3-5 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”
And John says that is how you know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. To know means to discern. This is how you discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. False teachers don’t obey the commandments. Examine their walk. They say one thing and do another. Their lives are often marked by living in excessive luxury. Many false prophets have been discovered to be immoral in their private lives. But as a general test, you can tell if they are of the truth or of error by watching their lives and seeing if they follow the apostle’s teaching, or if they have devised an alternate gospel that allows them to live lives which fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits. We can test the spirits by their fruits. And the test of whether or not they are children of God is by their fruit. We need to be careful who we listen to. Because who we listen to we end up obeying. Paul said in Romans 6:16-17 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.”
I hope that you will obey the gospel. Romans 10:8-10 “But what does [the scripture] say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today, that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and the Holy Spirit will abide in you, that you may walk in the narrow way that leads to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment