Testing the Spirits - 1 John 4:1-6

1:36Testing the spirits. Something we need to be doing today, just as something that had to be that John wanted the churches to be doing in his day. This is something that's been around in every age. In fact, let me read to you some words from Deuteronomy 13, verse 1. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or a wonder comes true concerning which he spoke to you, saying, Let's go after other gods whom you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or of that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear him, and you shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him. So, even at very early on, as the Israelites were heading into the land, the threat of false prophets was real. It is what leads the nations into idolatrous forms of worship, idolatry. It leads the nations into ruin.

2:54And God warned Israel: do not listen to false prophets. Even if somebody comes up and says, Hey, I got this, you wouldn't believe what God told me. God never wanted the confidence of his people to be based upon something so subjective as the wind of an authoritarian figure, but upon his word, his word. That has been something that has been true of every age. Moses' day, in Paul's day, as he's writing the letter to the Corinthians, he's wanting them to be discerning, discerning.

3:38There are many false prophets out there. And certainly in John's day, as he's writing to these churches in Asia Minor, the threat of pseudo-teachers, pseudo-prophets, it's the Greek, is real. Look what he says in verse 1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Beloved, do not be believing every breath of wind that comes out of the mouth of an individual. Listen, every person, every one of us in this room, gives voice to a spiritual influence. We're spiritual beings. We incarnate spiritual thought.

4:31We manifest them. We animate them. And the question to you and I this morning is: do we animate the spirit of truth or the spirit of error? And how do you tell the difference? How do you distinguish your own heart? It's very important that we know the difference between truth and error and who is animating which. You're going to hear a lot of philosophers, lots of winds, a lot of people seem just want to be able to talk and say anything, right? Do not believe every spirit.

5:17Do not be believing. It's a command. It's a mandate. Don't be believing every wind of doctrine, every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. But you be testing the spirits. Don't be believing everything. Don't be gullible and just taking in everything and believing everything. Show discernment. Be testing the spirits. Be making distinctions between the spirits. Judging between the spirits. Something our society doesn't like today, right? Judgment. Distinguishing. And yet, here is the command: you must be distinguishing between the spirits. There is a spiritual realm.

6:13The need for discernment is in every age. Beloved, do not be believing every spirit, but you be testing the spirits to see whether they are from God. Why? Why do we need to be doing this? Look back, verse one. Because many, many, many false prophets have gone out into the world. There are many false, many pseudo-prophets. They have been released into the world as if the gate has been opened up and these spirits have been let loose to go into the world to deceive. A very graphic picture of the same concept you see in Revelation 16. Let me read to you in verse 13. This is the getting ready for the final battle in which humanity takes its final stand against God Almighty and how it is all brought about. This dragon, John writes about in verse 13, chapter 16, and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

7:30Mouth opened up, these unclean spirits like frogs. For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Unclean spirits sent out, released for the purpose of deceiving the kings of the earth to bring them into one final expression of rebellion against God Almighty. That's why you are to be discerning. Discretion. Hope you don't mind me talking about the vacation Bible school again. Seems my mind is there a lot. As you know, we're trying to relive pilgrim's progress, right? Christian's journey from the city of destruction to the celestial city. Well, if you'll remember in that episode where he comes to the Mound of Deliverance, his burden is removed, and then he heads off right on the path, Christian life. He quickly meets up with formalism and hypocrisy who plan to take easier roads. A Christian, the true Christian, takes the hard road, the hill of difficulty, the life of following Christ, of dying to self. And walking in his ways. He makes it to the top of the hill. And as you know, it's been fraught with a lot of consternation along the way.

9:15Makes his way through the lions that are guarding the gate, and he comes to the house beautiful, the palace beautiful, which is Bunyan's description or metaphor, extended metaphor of the church, the church. And it's there that he meets a whole host of young ladies, right? Charity, prudence, piety, discretion, discretion. And who meets him at the door? Before he can even come into the beautiful house, discretion meets him at the door, right? And what does discretion do? She examines him. She tests him. The word for testing here is the idea of a metal refiner testing the purity of the metal. And discretion, before she'll let Christian in, examines him, examines him to see if his testimony fits that of the Spirit of God, the authentic, the real. Because the church is only for believers.

10:34That's why we insist on water baptism before a person, before we admit somebody into the fellowship here, because water baptism is a picture of the spiritual baptism. And if a person refuses water baptism, they probably haven't been truly born again. But discretion, discretion, after examining Christian, brings him into the church, brings him into the house beautiful. There he is equipped, puts on the armor. The sisters equip him for his battles with Apollyon, for the Christian life, what he is going to face.

11:19Discretion. Do not be gullible, brothers and sisters. Be testing, be examining. Do not just let every wind of doctrine come into your soul as authoritative, no matter how persuasive or how authoritarian a person may seem. Discretion. That's the command here. There's a need. There's a lot of false teachings in our world today. There's a need to be testing our spirits, dust spirits, even our own. You see, earth is on a trajectory to the ultimate expression of. Evil and final rebellion against Christ.

12:06And it is the job of the Antichrist to muster the forces. And they do so through their lives, through deception. But corporately, as the church, we need to show discretion. It's incredible the lack of discretion I'm seeing across evangelicalism today. Even more, we need to show discretion individually. We need to be careful of who we let in, what we let in as authoritative. Well, I want us to be a people who follow John's mandate here. Emmanuel Baptist Church. May we be a church that follows John's instruction here on testing the spirits. I want us to understand his criteria for how we test the spirits.

13:06There are many spirits that animate people today, and we need to be able to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And John has given us a very definitive test here. Simple answer. You ready for the journey? You ready for John's instruction? I warn you. It's seismic. It's continental division. Simple. But I'm afraid many will find it too difficult. Too simple. Let's head through the journey. Let's take the journey. Testing the spirits. How do you test the spirits today? Well, number one, by what they say, by what they say, by what is coming out of their mouth. That's what John's telling them. You test the spirits today by what is coming out of a person's mouth. It is animating some spirit, articulating some spirit, but it's by their confession. Look at verse 2.

14:18By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit, by this, by this, and this is a command. It's not just an indicative, like, by this, here's a good test to apply. He's got three, two imperatives. Don't be believing, be testing. And then he says, this, by this, you will be knowing. So there's a must factor in this. This test, this is the criteria you are to be using by this.

15:02You are to be knowing the Spirit of God. Every spirit that is confessing, is assuring that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Confession. Confession. What is the person? Be listening for what a person is assuring, what they are confessing. And confession involves not only what's coming out of their mouth, but what is indicative of their lives as well. What are they confessing? What is the person's confession? Does that person really believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? Do they really believe that, number one, God's Christ has already come in the flesh? That's very important, right? God's Christ has already come in the flesh. Contrary to many Jewish leaders of the day who are looking for another Christ. Woe to those who are looking for another Christ when God's Christ has already come.

16:09But there was also those pre-gnostic teachers of John's day that were teaching, well, Christ came in a spirit, landed on Jesus at his baptism, and just before his crucifixion took off. No, John is saying, by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus is. Christ has come in the flesh, that God's Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, and every spirit that is confessing that Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ, and that God's Christ has come, that's the one that is agreeing with the testimony of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Spirit came to testify.

16:57God's Christ is Jesus. Antichrist opposes him. Divisions, very simple. The whole spiritual realms. Christ, Antichrist. That's how John divides it all. You remember in 2 John, we looked at this already. Verse 7, John is exhorting the elect lady, and certainly the churches of Asia Minor, for many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh, this is the deceiver and the antichrist. So the problem in 2 John was that they were letting people who didn't carry this doctrine. They weren't bringing a right confession, a confession that agreed with the Holy Spirit.

17:54And so they were not to. So by what is coming out of their Mouth, you will be able to tell. What are they saying about Christ? Do you really believe he's the judge of the living and the dead? Do you believe that all of humanity is going to be gathered around him and that God has appointed this Christ as the judge of the living and the dead, and that it is his personality, it is what he enjoys, it is what he finds pleasant that's going to be the criteria for judging the whole earth, and that he's going to judge it in righteousness. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe it will show up? He is the Christ. And that is such a good news when you study who he is.

18:47So, what comes out of a person's mouth says a lot about him, but also what doesn't come out of their mouth also says a lot about him. Their silence, an antichrist spirit, is also recognized by what they don't say. Look back at verse 3. 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 is coming and now is already in the world.

19:21It's evident that as Christ equipped his disciples with the truth and with the spirit of truth, Came upon them in power at Pentecost. You can expect not long after that this spirit of the Antichrist is also released into the world. Because the spirit is testifying, this is Christ, this is Christ, this Jesus is Christ. And then arises a foul spirit. No, he's not, no, he's not, and articulates and develops very complicated systems that annul Jesus. But you know, sometimes it's the absence of the right confession is what indicates the absence of the right spirit.

20:16You know, and that's true with us, right? Sometimes it's what we not, what we don't say that gives us away. I've heard people say, well, how do you share Christ in the workplace? My answer is: go do your job, follow Christ, and it will not be very long. Probably not even a week will pass by, and they'll know you're a Christian. And it's largely by what you don't say, what you don't laugh at. They recognize you very quickly.

20:55In fact, I could say, even in our home, I think my wife. And my kids can tell how I'm feeling or what's going on inside of me by what I'm not saying. You're awfully quiet, or yay, you're smiling, right? But the presence and the absence of the right confession is proof whether or not a spirit is from God. I mean, you can tell when someone's excited about Jesus. And let me tell you why they would be excited about Jesus. Why is a person excited about Jesus? Why would they be? Because the Spirit of God is excited about Jesus, right? The Spirit of God testifies to Christ and is excited about Christ, is excited to see Christ honored and exalted. The Spirit of God is active in bringing about the same confession that God has about Jesus.

22:09So those who receive the Spirit's confession of who Jesus is is of the same nature as the Spirit Himself. You see that those who are born of the Spirit have the same exalted view. Of Christ as a Spirit of God. That's how you know. You remember John's gospel? I know for some of you it's been five, six years ago since we were looking at some of this stuff, but remember, remember what Jesus said about Spirit of God?

22:54John 15, 26, when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. So the Spirit is going to testify about Jesus. Then he goes on to say in John 16, 13, 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 disclose it to you. The Spirit of God will glorify Christ.

23:31That's what Jesus said. Why? So that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. Everyone who receives the testimony of the Holy Spirit will seek to honor and glorify Jesus in the same manner. It's that simple. Do you have the Spirit of God? Do you have an exalted view of Jesus Christ? Is he Lord? Is he King? It's that simple. If you do not have an exalted view of Christ, you do not have the Spirit of God, and I don't care who tells you anything, or what kind of theology, or what kind of individual, or what kind of authoritarian figure, or what kind of feeling you've had, you don't know Christ if you don't have an exalted view of Christ. You don't have the Spirit of God in you unless you have an exalted view of Christ.

24:25And those who aren't singing that tune are of Antichrist. It's not just what they are saying, it's what they are not saying. Are you singing the song of the Spirit in exalting Christ? We often like to think: okay, well, there's those who are of Christ, those who are of Antichrist, and then there's this great big chasm in the middle of people who just haven't decided yet. That's not what John's saying. There's two categories: those who are born of the Spirit, who have an exalted view of Christ, and all of those who are being groomed against Christ.

25:19The work of the Spirit is to bring about the same confession about Jesus that God has. So, test the story. Spirits, by what is coming out of their mouth, by what they are saying. And where does that ultimate source? Second, he can test the spirits by what they hear. Look at what people are hearing. Look at what's going on. Look at what they are accepting as authority. Listen to what they let inside their ear, what they give their attention to. What do you give your attention to?

26:00You see, the nature and character of false teachers expose their spiritual origins. And then John. So the teachers are exposed. But now John's, in these verses, is focusing more on the audience. What are these false teachers listening to, and really, who is listening? Who is the world listening to? Who the world listens to says who their leader is. But I want you to look at verse 4, beginning of verse 4, beginning of verse 5, and the beginning of verse 6. And I want you to see, I want you to circle three words: you, they, and we. See that? You, they, we.

26:54He's going to talk about y'all. He's going to talk about. Them, and then he's going to talk about us. There are those who have overcome. Look back at verse 4. 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. Y'all are from God. That's what he's saying to the church. You guys, y'all, not guys. I'm offended. Y'all, you see how progressive we've been here in Texas for a long time? Y'all, right? Not you guys.

27:37Y'all. Y'all are from God, little children, and have overcome them. Who's the them? Them is referring back to the Antichrist. You have overcome them. You have? How do you overcome Antichrist? You know, I mean, do you do the old get him in the headlock, get up on the rings, do the old, you know, no. It's nothing like that. What is an Antichrist peddling? Lies, right? Lies. They are peddling Antichrist thinking. Thinking that keeps you from confessing Christ for who he really is. That's what the Antichrist and the The spirit of the Antichrist is peddling. You are from God, little children, and you have overcome these Antichrists.

28:44You've overcome their teachings. You have overcome their influence. That's the emphasis here. They are on, the Antichrists are peddling their lies, and those who are born of God don't buy it. Now, I'll stick with the confession of the Spirit of God. It's testifying to the truth. They have overcome these Antichrist teachings by not embracing Antichrist thinking. These who have overcome the Antichrist are no longer on a trajectory of growing rebellion against Christ. They are on a trajectory of conformity to Christ, two distinct theologies, Christ, Antichrist.

29:43And those who have overcome the devil and all of his lies are on a trajectory of confessing and conforming to Christ rather than being on a trajectory of crystallized opposition against him, which will find an ultimate expression. Expression in the Antichrist, personified, occupied, incarnated by the devil himself. But why have they overcome? Look at that. Y'all have overcome. You have overcome, little children, and have overcome them because. Why? Because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. This testimony of the Spirit is more convincing than the Antichrist. Truth is more convincing than the lies. The words about Christ, confessing Christ, are more persuasive than the words that deny him, that annul him.

30:43Because of the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, he resonates. He has to be. Think about it. Everything in a Roman crucifixion was geared at saying, you do not follow this guy. Jesus died as a Roman criminal. All the political forces, all the religious forces were saying, don't you dare follow him. And you see how powerful the Spirit of God is? That against all of this inertia, there is a church today that professes Jesus Christ is Lord, that echoes the same testimony as the Holy Spirit Himself. Why? Because they are born of the Spirit. They have received the truth.

31:36And that truth is excited about the person of truth. Look at verse 5, and look at the word they. In verse 4, there are those who have overcome. And in verse 5, there are those who have been overcome. They, Antichrist, are from the world. Therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. Their authority is based on speculation, demonic influences, and worldly philosophies. All this is their authority. And they speak as one who is born of the world, and the world listens to them.

32:24The world is heeding, paying attention, trusting in what they are saying. You see, a person who is overcome with the world listens to the world. Those who listen to Antichrist and the Antichrist teachings have the same nature as them. Blinded, incarcerated, believing the lies. And this is why it resonates. They don't want the truth. They don't want to come into the truth. But the only thing that can rescue them is the truth. And that's why we continue to proclaim the truth and herald the truth. And proclaim the truth, because it and only the truth is going to open their eyes. They are bound to the spirit of error, and that spirit of error is on a trajectory to crystallize rebellion.

33:19So pay attention to what they are hearing. And Jesus explained why this is. What is the root cause of their error? In John 8:48, Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I'm saying? In other words, he's saying, Why is it that you don't get what I'm saying? It is because you cannot hear my word.

33:47Why can't you hear that? Why can't they hear your word? You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. In other words, the reason you cannot hear what I'm saying, you cannot hear my word, is because you don't want to hear the truth. See, little kid, right? I can't hear you. That's the idea.

34:15The two groups, those of Christ and those of Antichrist, two schools of theology. Like I said, this is very exclusive by today's standards, but very interesting. Inclusive in that invites everybody to come. You can be born of the truth today. Just believe it, receive it. Now, Christ, Antichrist schools of theology on planet Earth today. You can put them all in those two categories. And there is a defining line between the two. And there's a specific difference between the two. And that's where John takes us next. He gets very precise and marks the difference. Look at verse 6. We, we, we, who's he speaking of?

35:15We. Those in concert with the apostolic community. We. We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. We, he who is not from God, does not listen to us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The we. The one specific point that John brings all of this down is to that point of apostolic testimony. The words, remember, John was in chapter 2. John 2 and John 3, 1 John 2 and 1 John 3, he's speaking about upholding those and welcoming those who carry this message. The we, the we, those who are proclaiming the same Christ that the apostles and the New Testament prophets proclaimed. That's the Christ.

36:25There isn't another one. There is the Christ that the apostles proclaimed, that the apostles touched, felt. Listen to what John says in his letter, beginning of this letter, verse one of chapter one. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked on and touched with our hands concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also.

37:03He's saying is, look, we have seen, we have touched, we walked with him. God himself has walked among us. We have seen it. We have known him. And here are the words that connect you to him, the true Christ, the true God-man. Here are the words. Receive these words. That's what John's book is all about. And he's saying, and those who depart, those who have words that are not. Not in concert with this, with the apostles and the New Testament prophets, that community that knew Christ, walked with him, and proclaimed him. Those, there's only one Christ of Scripture. You hear it all the time, Pierre, right? There's only one Christ of Scripture. One's the only way we can be connected to him is through the words of these apostles. But what a bold statement. Don't miss that.

38:06We are from God. He who is knowing God listens to us. If anybody else said this, it'd be quite frightening, right? Quite arrogant, right? Yet this is what the Spirit of truth is saying. We know. What we are proclaiming to you is truth. And if you are born of God, if you are of the truth, you will be listening to us. It will resonate with you. And the reason you don't listen is because you're of the father of the devil.

38:39Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to the truth. Specifically, everyone who is on the side of truth is listening to the apostolic message as revealed in Scripture. That's why we. Pay very close attention here. That is why the church is commissioned to uphold these words, to give themselves to biblical truth. That's why we go through. We want to hang on every word. We want to understand what was in John's mind because if we start inserting our own thoughts, we start inserting our thoughts into what the scriptures, the biblical texts, we end up with a Christ and a God that is very different. And so we are very diligent. But listen, the vast majority of secular philosophies today aren't even trying to connect to the Christ that the apostles knew. Not even trying.

39:42Religious groups all over the world, not even trying to connect with the Christ that John proclaimed, or any of the biblical authors. Not even trying. In fact, it's sad to say, even among Christianity, many denominations aren't even trying to connect with the Christ that John is proclaiming. Not even trying. What does this say about Judgment Day? Vast, vast numbers of people who have no idea. Who Christ is, who have no idea the criteria of judgment. Lost forever.

40:44Let me put it to you. I know where time's running, but I want you to get a picture or a sense, maybe to see these eternal communities. There are two eternal communities, and their futures are very different. There's the eternal community that belongs to God. There is the eternal community that belongs to Satan. And all of humanity is in one or the other. And the minority by today's numbers are frightful. How many are in the community of Satan? Let me show you how John spells this out here, just so you can see it. The eternal community. God.

41:37God. Triune. God has revealed Himself, Father, Spirit, Son. There's the eternal community. God. Communing within the persons of the Trinity. Eternal communion. And then. You have the God-man. God walks among us in the person of Jesus. Now, God and human flesh joined. Joined. Why? Is it just because God wanted to have fellowship with one individual? No. Or just because God wanted to put on flesh? No. Then God, the God-man, Jesus, calls him apostles, reveals himself to them, gives them his words, talks to them about the things of his father, and they believe.

42:46Except Judas, of course. They believe. Who do you say I am? You are the Christ. Blessed are you. You know who I am. Blessed. So then you see how now God is among men and dwelling within this inner circle of individuals who have received his words. And then this community enlarges. Jesus, the apostles, and those who are connected to Jesus through the apostles' words. Do you see this eternal community? You see, that is the eternal blessed. Community in communion with God. Those today who believe the words of the apostles are also in fellowship with Jesus, the God-man, Father, Son, Holy Spirit in the world today.

43:47There's another community. This is the community of the blessed. These are the community of the cursed. There are those who are not listening to the apostles' words. Well, they may not be as bad by worldly standards as you might think, but they're simply not listening to the apostles' words. They have no desire for the things. They have no desire for the Christ they reveal. And those who are not listening are in fellowship with the Antichrist. You have Christ theology, Antichrist theology. Those who are not listening to Christ theology for some reason or another are listening in some way, shape, or form to Antichrist theology. There's Christ theology and Antichrist theology.

44:40And those who are not listening are in concert with the Antichrist theology of our era. But the Antichrists are not autonomous. They share the spirit of the Antichrist, the future individual who will be the incarnate. Satan. Just as Christ, God incarnated Himself in Christ, so Satan will incarnate himself in an individual. But they shared the same diabolical difference and hatred towards Christ. And Antichrist, of course, is in league with Satan, and so you have Satan behind it all. You have God, you have God's adversary. That's the spectrum. Two communities. And the difference between the two communities is a dividing point.

45:46There's Jesus, the apostle, and those who are believing the words of the apostles, and those who are not listening to the words of the apostles. That's where the division comes. Why did discretion meet Christian at the door? To test his confession. We must do the same when it comes to letting thoughts and principalities and philosophies entering into our thinking. On a church level, we need to be very careful. On an individual level, we need to be very careful. But we can detest, we can detect the spirits. Sounds like it's not hard. Who's listening to the Christ that the apostles preached? Who's not?

46:52Who devotes their lives to hearing the words of Scripture? Who is not? That's the difference. Isaiah asked a question. Isaiah 53:1, who has believed our message? Who out there has even believed this? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? To whom? Who has God revealed himself to? Well, the answer is: those who are trusting in the words that Christ entrusted to his apostles. That's who the arm of the Lord has been revealed and to us today.

47:35This is the good news. And you can believe the good news today and be part of the community of truth just by believing, trusting. Lord, I believe everything you say about Christ. Help me to believe more. Forgive me. Let me walk in your ways. That's simple. And get ready for a life of walking in step with the Spirit because He delights. He delights in the person of Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. Thank you that you invite us all into this community, this eternal community of the blessed.

48:26Father, and I just pray this morning that you would awaken any soul that right now is incarcerated in darkness, who listens to the lies of the world. Father, I just pray for deliverance today. In your strong name, we pray. Amen.