Putting It To The Test
Text: 1 Jn. 4:1-6
Introduction
1. Illustration: As the Union Pacific Railroad was being constructed, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the West. Wanting to test the bridge, the builder loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload. The train was then driven to the middle of the bridge, where it stayed an entire day. One worker asked, "Are you trying to break this bridge?" "No," the builder replied, "I’m trying to prove that the bridge won’t break."
2. Just as that bridge needed to be tested, the teachings that we accept must also be tested.
3. The apostle John tells us that we must:
a. Test the Spirits
b. Discern the Spirits
c. Overcome the Spirits
4. Read 1 Jn. 4:1-6
Proposition: We must put to the test what we hear to determine if it is from God.
Transition: First, we must...
I. Test the Spirits (1)
A. Do Not Believe Every Spirit
1. You cannot believe everything that you hear. Scripture warns to be careful about the teachings we receive.
a. Matt. 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
b. 2 Pet. 2:1 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.
2. Likewise, John tells us "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits..."
a. The responsibility for testing the spirits rests not merely on scholars or church leaders but on every Christian.
b. The word "spirit" can refer either to an utterance inspired by a spirit or a person inspired by a spirit (Marshall, NICNT: The Epistles of John, 204).
c. Believers should not believe everything they hear just because someone says it is a message from God.
d. They should test the message to see if it is truly from the Lord.
3. This is a strong charge given to believers. Note the word beloved.
a. This was John’s tender address to the believers of the church.
b. He is definitely addressing believers, and this tells us a significant fact: believers can be misled by the spirits of false teachers.
4. Then John tells us why he is giving us this warning: "because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
a. Scripture is not talking about a few, but many. If there were many in the days of John, think how many more there are today.
b. Think how many more religions there are; how many cults have sprung up around Christianity.
c. How many denominations and ministries have sprung up since John wrote these words.
5. Furthermore, think of the multitude of ways that false teaching can be spread today.
a. They didn’t have television, radio, CD’s, and tapes in John’s day.
b. Just because something is on TV doesn’t make it true.
c. Just because someone sounds good or looks good doesn’t make it true.
B. Test What You Hear
1. Illustration: I once knew a man who was a good Christian man. He was faithful to church and faithful to the word. Many, many times he told his pastor "God has not called me to be a pastor. However, he became obsessed with personal prophecy, and one day a self-proclaimed prophet blew into town. This so-called prophet prophesied over this man that he had a "pastor’s heart." Within two months this man split his church and started his own. All because he did not test the spirit’s.
2. 2 Tim. 3:13-14 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.
3. As the days of Christ’s coming grow shorter and shorter, the increase of false teaching will grow worse and worse.
4. We must guard against false teaching and those who teach it.
5. We must beware of those who:
a. Distort the word
b. Deceive the weak
c. Prey on the helpless
6. We must be people of the word who:
a. Know it’s teaching
b. Believe its promises
c. Stand on its truth
Transition: But how will we know? John tells us we must...
II. Discern the Spirits (2-3)
A. By This You Will Know
1. John says we are to test the spirits.
a. THIS IS THE only time the Greek word for "testing" (dokimazo) occurs in the John’s writings, although it occurs often in the New Testament (twenty-two times) (Burge, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: The Letters of John, 174).
b. It means "to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing—Louw & Nida: NT Greek-English Lexicon
2. John clarifies what that test is in verse 2: "By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God."
a. The first, and most important test, centers on whether a teacher believes that Jesus has come in the flesh.
b. To know that a prophet has the Spirit of God, that is, if his message is truth from God, we must discover if he acknowledges that Jesus Christ became a human being.
c. A true teacher must also teach that Jesus became a man with a human body.
d. God the Son is forever fully God and fully man, though in immortal, incorruptible flesh.
e. A teacher who denies Jesus’ full and true humanity proves that he is not from God.—Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
3. If a teacher has the Spirit of God dwelling in him, then he confesses the incarnation, the wonderful truth that God did become Man and did come to earth to save man.
a. The Spirit of God cannot confess anything other than the truth; therefore, every teacher who has the Spirit of God will confess the same truth.
b. He cannot confess anything else because the Spirit of God Himself dwells within him.
c. 1 Cor. 12:3 and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4. However, John tells us that the opposite is also true: "and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God."
a. The false teacher does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
b. He may accept Jesus Christ as a great teacher and a great religious leader, perhaps the greatest, but he does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior.
c. He believes there are other ways to God, that other people who believe in God will be as acceptable to God as a follower of Jesus Christ.
5. It’s too easy to create a picture of Jesus that fits comfortably into what we want Jesus to be, but leaves out those essentials that the New Testament tells us about Jesus (Marshall, 207).
a. It leaves out the fact that Jesus says He is the only way to the Father.
b. It leaves out the fact that Jesus said we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and daily follow Him.
c. It leaves out the fact that it is not enough to believe, but that we must repent and believe.
6. John goes on to say, "And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."
a. This spirit that denies that Jesus is the Christ.
b. This spirit that denies the He is fully God and fully man.
c. This is the same spirit of the antichrist.
7. This spirit is the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit.
a. He is holy; this spirit is evil
b. He is the Spirit of Truth; this is a lying spirit
c. He will lead us into all truth; this spirit will lead us into deception
B. Spiritual Discernment
1. Illustration: Discernment in Scripture is the skill that enables us to differentiate. It is the ability to see issues clearly. We desperately need to cultivate this spiritual skill that will enable us to know right from wrong. We must be prepared to distinguish light from darkness, truth from error, best from better, righteousness from unrighteousness, purity from defilement, and principles from pragmatics.
J. Stowell, Fan The Flame, Moody, 1986, p. 44.
2. We must be discerning in teaching we listen to.
a. Is it from God?
b. Is it consistent with what the Bible teaches?
c. Does it glorify Christ or self?
3. We must be discerning in whom we allow to influence us.
a. Are they from God?
b. Does their witness agree with their testimony?
c. Are they bearing fruit in their lives?
4. We must be discerning in what we read.
a. Is it consistent with Scripture?
b. Does it agree with traditional Christian doctrine?
5. One thing is for certain:
a. If it doesn’t acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ
b. If it doesn’t agree with the word of God
c. It is a lie!
Transition: One thing we can count on is we can...
III. Overcome the Spirits (4-6)
A. Have Overcome Them
1. John reassures us "You are of God, little children..."
a. In contrast to those who are against God, John reassured his readers that they belong to God.
b. Though these believers may have been feeling weak and confused, they had remained true to the faith and so had already won their fight with these false prophets.
c. They had not been won over to the false point of view, nor had they abandoned the church.
2. However, we need to notice how they have overcome: "because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
a. They did not overcome these false teachers on their own power or strength.
b. On the contrary, they overcame them because of the power of the Holy Spirit at work within them.
c. Zech. 4:6 ’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
3. John then changes the focus of his attention to the false teachers. He says "They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them."
a. In John’s Gospel and letters, the term world describes the world system of beliefs and the community of those who stand in opposition to God.
b. The false teachers, being a part of the world system, speak from the world’s viewpoint and so find acceptance by the world that listens to them.
c. False teachers are popular with the world because, like the false prophets of the Old Testament, they tell people what they want to hear.—Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
4. John contrasts the false teachers with "We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
a. The we primarily refers to the apostles, who were the first true teachers of Christ, followed by many others who taught the truth of the gospel.
b. The world gladly accepts and listens to false teachers, but the apostles found another audience—those who know God or were open to knowing God. —Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
c. The world, or those who do not belong to God, rejected the apostles’ message.
5. According to John this is how we separate the sheep from the goats.
a. Jn. 14:17 Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
b. All who are indwelt by the Spirit of truth and anointed by the Spirit can know the truth; God did not reserve that truth for only a special few.—Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary
c. Anyone who will receive the Holy Spirit can know the truth, but all of those who will not receive Him cannot know the truth because they have rejected the Spirit of truth.
B. Spiritual Victory
1. Illustration: “One of the adversary’s most useful schemes is to keep Christians focusing on their problems rather than on God’s provision” (John R. Cionca, The Victors: Overcoming Toxins That Poison the Believer, published by Accent Publications, Inc., Denver, Colorado; pg. 33).
2. There are many false teachings today, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
3. There are many false teachers today, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
4. 1 Cor. 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
5. As long as we are walking in the Spirit we will know what is true and what is false, because He will reveal it to us.
Conclusion
1. We must:
a. Test the Spirits
b. Discern the Spirits
c. Overcome the Spirits
2. As long as we are depending on the Holy Spirit, we will overcome evil spirits.
