Today we embark on chapter 4, and take note of John's instructions to test the teaching.
Springfield Baptist Church
July 21st 2024 - Pastor James Tyler - 1 John 4:1-6 - "Some Spirits Are Liars"
All right, 1 John chapter 3 verse 24 says, "Whoever keeps..." Oh man, I thought I could do it, but I can't do it. I know, this is not getting better, Frank, right? "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in Him. "And by this we know that he abides in us, by the spirit whom he has given us." Beloved, this is chapter 4 verse 1, "Beloved do not believe every spirit, "but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. "For many false prophets have gone out into the world. "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, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. "For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. "They are from the world. "Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. "We are from God, whoever knows God listens to us. "Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. "By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." I have to start by saying that the repeated use of the word spirit in this text should not motivate anybody to write a series of Christian fiction books suggesting that there are angels and demons at war for your very soul right this moment in an alarming paranoia-inducing way. The word for spirit here is numa, like in pneumonia, dead serious. It has to do with breath, or it could literally be translated breeze figuratively or by analogy. It's translated a spirit, translated contextually elsewhere. It's the rational soul. You're tracking with me so far? We good? OK. Elsewhere translated implying a vital principle, mental disposition, or, my words, a philosophical bent, spirit, or in a superhuman sense, an angel or demon, or in the divine sense, God, Christ's spirit, or the Holy Spirit. I want to include the last part of chapter three in the reading of four for a couple of reasons. The fact is we didn't add these divisions until the advent of the printing press. I don't think this is a great one. And then secondly, because we need to appreciate that John's working somewhat thematically here. So what you have is he finishes chapter three, unbeknownst to him. He finishes chapter three and says, "You have the indwelling Holy Spirit." And then he says, "But don't believe every spirit." It's a continuation of a previous thought. And then he works the theme of influencing spirits through the rest of this text. So I would-- I mean, this is pretty important to me. I don't think he literally means spirit. I think he means something a little bit less spooky than that, all right? John 4, 1, and 2, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." So confess-- you know, I like to get the language lessons out of the way at the top so that I lose everybody and then start preaching. But confess here-- it just means say the same thing. So else where it's translated acknowledge, profess, agree. In Matthew 10, 32, Jesus says, "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven." It's the same word for confess in 1 John 4, translated acknowledge in Matthew 10, 32. In Romans 10, 9, Romans 10, 9, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Or with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." These two passages do something important for us in understanding the word confess. In our passage, by this you know the spirit of truth. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. If we're talking about literal spiritual beings that don't exist in the physical plane, then we have no way of knowing for certain whether they confess that Jesus is from God or born of the flesh, right? So that's helpful, confession being an acknowledgment or the speaking with the mouth or a profession with the voice, it must mean something besides just spirit in the most esoteric and intangible sense. Then Romans 9 helps us because this gives us a demonstration of the most strident use of confess, because he contrasts believing in the heart with confessing from the mouth. I would just point out this has to happen before this is going to happen. So that this is happening is kind of meaningless in and of itself other than it's a reflection of an inward reality. When the mouth confesses the truth of the gospel you understand probably that's a heart that has embraced the truth of the gospel, right? But it's not as though someone is incapable of saying with the mouth Jesus came in the flesh while not actually believing it. That is possible, okay? Faith comes first and by the exercise of it in Romans 10, 9, and 10, faith comes first and by the exercise of it the reality of justification is signified. So I come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I embrace by faith the truths of Scripture and specifically the gospel and the wholeness of that message and then you will hear me confess with my mouth the truth of the gospel and that Jesus did indeed come in the flesh. What comes out of the mouth of a justified person, this might be tweetable. What comes out of the mouth of a justified person will be a celebration of the means by which they believed they were justified. So in Matthew 12, Jesus says in 33, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit." You brood of vipers. How can you speak good when you are evil, for out of the abundance overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks? The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. That can only be true if what's coming out of the mouth is a reflection of what's in the heart. Jesus just said it. Good tree, good fruit, bad tree, bad fruit, therefore by what comes out of your mouth you'll be justified or condemned because what's coming out of your mouth is a reflection of what's in your heart. So the person who is trying to justify themselves will celebrate themselves and it might be very subtle but this is just the reality. If I think I'm the one that justified me you're going to hear mostly about me when I'm talking about the gospel. When you listen to the testimony of a believer who has truly taken hold of Jesus Christ by faith you'll notice their testimony is less about them than it is about Jesus. Now some of you are mentally modifying your testimony right now because I've said that. I don't mean that you need to make two columns and make absolutely certain that you mention Jesus at least one more time than you say the word I or me. I'm saying that you put the bulk of the responsibility for you being a saved, changed person on the mercy and kindness and goodness and grace of God not on anything that you did. Okay, I'm glad we're good there. Here's the problem I think, confess the word confess is a judicial word in our culture. Because of that when we see it in our Bibles it has a certain sterility about it. So wrong slash bad doctrine flows many times from a failure to properly define our terms. It's not that the forming of words with the mouth saves you. It's that if something other than Jesus is proclaimed for salvation justification by faith in Jesus Christ has clearly not happened. Let me say it again because that was a mouthful. John is not saying everybody who makes their mouths say Jesus really came in the flesh is a Christian. What he's saying is that if something other than Jesus Christ is proclaimed as the means or the person upon whom you depend for salvation then justification by faith has not happened. Confessing Jesus came in the flesh is really just to say the same thing as the word of God concerning Jesus Christ. So looking at 1 John 4 1 Beloved don't believe every spirit but test them. See if they're from God for many false prophets many false prophets have gone out into the world by this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses okay so now here's the work we've done so far. Every spirit I would say rational soul rational person all of the doctrine that flows from a pulpit every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Here's the work we've done confess means say the same thing I'm not saying that whatever if you can make your mouth say Jesus come in the flesh that now you're a Christian we're not saying that what we're saying is everybody who proclaims the same thing as what's in the word of God concerning Jesus that's the spirit you can listen to that's a doctrine you can believe that's a teacher you can trust. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming in now is in the world already all right so let's talk about not believing every spirit or testing the spirits what does that mean well John mentions false prophets right so obviously what he has in view here is the means by which we evaluate a teacher he says many false prophets have gone out of the world so I think he's talking about the means by which we evaluate a teacher so I have a special treat for you this morning I'm going to take you on a trip to my Twitter timeline whoever's got the projector will you just click on the tweet slide after the scripture reading if your pastor did not address the assassination attempt in today's service you need to find another church there is tremendous spiritual warfare being waged in this country this is no time for limp-risted woke vengellicals my bad but Timmy and I had a little joke last Sunday before service where I said I can't wait to talk about the assassination attempt on Trump and and you know just to get a rise at him and he's like if you do I will get up and walk out we're just having a you know a little nephew uncle moment there but I didn't talk about that and I'm not going to talk about it this Sunday other than to use this as an example of the wrong basis on which you should decide where you go to church right you're going to evaluate a teacher based on whether they talked enough about Trump's assassination attempt you're way off track so what we talk about I think I'm in the clear to say is Jesus Christ and him crucified risen again okay you can take that off we don't need to dignify mr starrens any further he got a million views for that can you believe that my tweets get like eight if John says by this we know and proceeds to cite the indwelling holy spirit what might we imagine a false teacher would would say to enhance their credibility if John says by this the holy spirit we know what might a false teacher say they're depending on in order to increase their credibility yeah they'll say they're depending on the holy spirit right Todd starrens god bless him claims to be a Christian and he says a lot of evangelical things on twitter and he also says a lot of political things on twitter here's what I would suggest if you think your preacher should be talking about Donald Trump on Sunday morning you must think Donald Trump is your savior we're here to talk about Jesus and I happened to love Donald Trump there I said it I won't however disguise false teaching by saying the Holy Spirit told me God told me the spirit led me or otherwise blame the Holy Spirit no member of the Trinity is more abused in pulpits than the Holy Spirit and God is pointing out that there is a litmus test for the authenticity of such claims there is you want to find out of what the what the teacher is saying is true it's very simple claims of the Holy Spirit anointing aside so you just put that aside oh here's by the way I believe I'm anointed by the Holy Spirit to speak and to teach the scriptures on Sunday mornings I do believe that putting that claim aside for just a second to what or to whom is your teacher directing you for salvation to what or to whom is your teacher directing you for salvation which begs the second question from what do you need to be saved because if it's Biden that you need to be saved from I guess we better talk about Trump but if it's sin that you need to be saved from we'd better talk about Jesus the gospel goes here right so what's the gospel the gospel is good news what is good news do good news invades dark places good news pushes back bad news would you get control of yourself please ridiculous one sneeze after another the bad news is actually don't because somebody blew out their esophagus holding in a sneeze once I read it on the news the bad news is everything is broken by sin that means we're broken that means our fellowship with God is broken that means our relationships with one another are broken that means our kids are broken that means our olfactory systems are broken and sometimes we sneeze when we shouldn't really have to or our immune systems are you know attack themselves we get cancer we get heart disease even though we ate what the government told us to everything's broken and we can't fix it I think that's the worst part of the bad news is we can't fix it we can't we've tried so we did antibacterial soap for a few decades and what was the result what was the outcome of that coven super bacteria right bacteria resist antibiotic resistant bacteria and then you get these like what is it MRSA yeah where the your your flesh you're in the hospital where you're trying to get healthy and you get the worst kind of thing possible that they don't have drugs that can easily defeat right I don't know it we can't we can't fix it we try and I think there's four main places we go to try to fix it I think we try self-improvement a better version of me will satisfy I think we try getting approval from others if other people adore me that'll satisfy me I think we try sex drugs and rock and roll like if I just keep myself distracted with a new iPhone that'll satisfy me and then eventually we get to the point where we're like okay I need to get clean sober and put on the robe of the sage and so we try religion and then we construct a moral system where we can pull God down and put him in our pocket and use him when we need to we're put him in our debt because we're so well behaved and that doesn't fix sin breaking everything none of those things fixes sin breaking everything because a better version of you is so you're richer you're hotter and you're still sinful so that doesn't help or everybody loves you and the Congress and the Senate declare that you're the greatest person on earth you're still gonna die so that doesn't satisfy sex drugs and rock and roll doesn't satisfy because the emotional hangover that comes over you as soon as the thrill is gone makes it worse than before you did the thing and religion doesn't really satisfy because it just makes you self-righteous it just makes you self-justifying you know that you're not really enhancing your standing before the God Almighty against whom you've transgressed none of those things satisfy so what happens well one of two things you can go through life staring down your impending doom and fully expecting to die and go to judgment and then be separated from God for all eternity in what the Bible calls a lake of fire or or there's the good news which is that God has intervened and sent his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him wouldn't perish but have eternal life you can embrace by faith the person and work of Jesus Christ and be saved from your sin and be given a new heart and an intact conscience that works you can by faith take hold of the good news in such a way that it's medicine for your broken heart that it makes you not care about external self-improvement like this I was talking to Nikki this morning we're like I can't believe Ella's twenty two when Lisa and I we've been married a few months it seems like I'm not sure and then Tim and Nikki were getting married and we had Ella for that first night that Tim and Nikki were off you know being married and she was this big and she like I put her in a car seat in my pickup truck and she fit and now she's twenty two and you know beautiful and funny and she's got a whole other person now with her that she's attracted into orbit and Nikki and I were just like I can't believe she's twenty two and then I said except when I look in the mirror and then I'm like whoa right then I believe Ella's twenty two when I see this and it's like everything is hanging down and gray and the hair is gone and I told Frank a little while ago this isn't getting better right here you're not improving that folks I think twenty two was peak by the way Ella just FYI and getting approval from others stops mattering because you have the approval of the one who made the stars and now you don't care so much what everybody else thinks it's a process so go easy on yourself and you care a little bit that's all right a little bit too much a lot but it's a process sex drugs rock and roll the world loses its appeal like you'll still go visit the well every now and then and be like and I remember that was kind of fun but it doesn't hold your heart like you used to and religion that's that's a terrible exchange for the gospel I can have liberty freedom in Christ or I can go vacillate back and forth between licentiousness and legalism no I'll take liberty that's the good news and then when you believe all that are that are rescued from what is broken our the T I O N words right you get all the T I O N words you get justification you get adoption you get sanctification you get redemption you've got the promise of glorification and internal life as well and all of that depends on the person and work of Jesus Christ and if that's woke vengellicalism then okay I'm not depending on Trump for any of that Antichrist doesn't need you to believe the opposite of the gospel listen this is really important the Antichrist doesn't need you to believe the opposite of the gospel he the Antichrist just needs you to remove enough Jesus that you no longer have the gospel so you remove Christ as son Matthew 3 17 remove Christ as son and he is only a man remove Christ as the son of man Mark 1045 remove Christ as the son of man and now he is only God and not able to identify with us remove Christ as lamb of God John 1 29 take him away from being lamb of God and there's no sacrifice for sins remove him as king of kings and lord of lords and he possesses no authority remove him as savior and he is only lord with no place in his heart for mercy this is are you listening like all you have to do is remove enough of Jesus and you no longer have the gospel you can leave him there you leave Jesus there just take enough of him away and it's not the gospel anymore remove him as judge John 5 22 and 23 and his enemies need not fear him and you will have no comfort that someday he's gonna set things right if Christ stops being judge remove him as the word made flesh and he ceases to be the expression of all that God has ever said you remember how I said it in Colossians if you want to know what the heart of God is like look at Jesus Christ because Paul says in Colossians he is the exact representation of God's heart remove Christ as a manual he's no longer with us remove him as light of the world John 8 12 and we are doomed to darkness as the good shepherd John 10 11 if you take Jesus away from being the good shepherd he's just a hired hand that's all he is if you take him away is the bread of life you starve for want of righteousness as the true vine we are nothing but weeds and detritus if you take Jesus away from being the true vine which he calls himself in John 15 1 what are you disconnected growing aimlessly useless and ready to be burned up if you take him away is the way in the truth and the life in John 14 6 then Jesus is just a way a truth and you're headed for death but you can leave him there but just take him away from being all that he is take him away from being the resurrection and the life John 11 25 you have no hope for a future you got this life and that's it so he drink and be married for tomorrow we die take him away from being alpha and omega revelation 22 13 and he is just someone in the middle of history instead of the author of all of history as the great high priest Hebrews 4 14 let him stop being the priest and he can no longer minister to sinners as the cornerstone Ephesians 220 and he defines nothing about the church just another block as the prince of peace Isaiah 9 6 and you will live in fear of wrath and judgment as wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father Isaiah 9 6 and he becomes Solomon another idol and we are orphans take Jesus from being the first and the last and he's just a great teacher who lived once upon a time take Jesus as the holy one of god and make him just another really decent really wise man remove just enough of Christ and you have no gospel at all you only need to teach that the gospel is Jesus plus something else in order to accomplish this and whatever you're saying you need to add to the gospel that's what you're saying Jesus isn't that he needs to be so how do you test the spirits well what Jesus are they proclaiming what gospel are they presenting don't believe every spirit don't assume that every puff of doctrine that you hear from a pulpit is good test these things make certain that what you're hearing actually matches what the word of god says first john 4 4 little children you are from god and have overcome them for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world one of my favorite things is when the bible describes something about me as though it's already happened because that's precisely the way that I need to hear it what you are what what has already happened and what he is that's what's in four little children you're from god and have overcome them for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world what you are well you're his child remember your adoption little children when you're feeling like you're in trouble you're from god you know this because you hear the word of god and it resonates I don't want to go too hard like I'm the brown of god you all need to listen to me but if you had a faithful preacher one who just really believed that it's important that whatever he says be consistent with what's in this book and that's all you had was a faithful preacher then you're blessed of god if you have a faithful preacher who's also talented you're in the like top one percent of christians in all of history they used to argue according to first Corinthians about whether paul or paulos was the better teacher that's always been a thing so if you're on the hunt for the most talented and the greatest preacher like just be thankful if you can find a faithful one if you sit and you listen to the word of god and it doesn't resonate and you're kind of like this is boring and I wish he would tell more stories or whatever is in your mind right now that makes you want to sit in the back this this may not be true of you all kidding aside you know you are from god because you hear his word and it resonates and then what's already happened when you've overcome the world doesn't feel like we've overcome the world when we can like barely overcome temptation though does it doesn't feel like we're overcoming the world when the bills are piling up and people are attacking us and the kids are at sea does it and raise them to do that but they did it come on parents I know you felt that or like it's not our fault that the dollar has gone off a cliff and so now your house has to be worth three times as much I didn't do that I certainly didn't vote for politicians who would decide that my property taxes would be what they are that wasn't my idea doesn't feel like I've overcome the world it feels like it's overcoming me I live in the land of the free but I rent from the government it doesn't I don't feel victorious doesn't feel like we're overcoming the world when we're afflicted with some debilitating disease does it mental or physical in john 1633 Jesus says it a little bit differently he says I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world you will have tribulation but take heart I've overcome the world oh okay so it's not maybe it's not supposed to feel like we've overcome the world maybe we just need to know that we have hence greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world so what you are what has already happened and what he is listen to verse four one more time little children you are from god that's what you are little child remember your adoption when you feel like you're in trouble if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more so your father in heaven well what I need is grace and mercy well guess what he's better than you are and it's called grace because you don't deserve it so absolutely go get it little children you are from god so you're his child and you're from him and you know you're from him because when you hear his word it resonates what's already happened you've overcome the world you've already done it it just doesn't feel like it because you're still in it right okay and then what what is he greater greater in you than the one that's in the world first john four five they are from the world therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them i'm sure i'm the only one that ever gets frustrated because the world around us is so locked in on utter insanity like i don't they seem it seems like they take seasonal decorations down pretty quick at work i don't ever remember seeing christmas stuff up much past the first week in january we're almost in august and the pride stuff is still up and so every day i have to look at this and go that's right that's important at work we need to talk about that at work so i know i'm not alone in feeling like the world around us is locked in on just being insane do you ever wonder why they all seem so on board with nonsense and wickedness do you ever feel kind of baffled by the willingness of people to agree on exchanging the truth of god for a lie like they don't even have to practice they don't even have to rehearse they just do it they're just like well yeah i've also exchanged that same truth for that same lie well look at that here we go together so you you sit there and you listen to like lies and idiocy being celebrated but what but by what seems like the vast majority of humanity and you feel like speaking the truth no matter how gently you do it is an act of terrorism well they're from the world so the world listens to them the whole world is clamoring at the gates of hell desperately trying to get in and god has snatched some of us and been like nope you're not going and you're not going and set us on a different path and we look back at the world and we're like how are they all going the same direction all the time forgetting that where they're going is the pit of despair and destruction and the closer they get the more they want it unless god and mercy intervenes that's the reality antichrists are from the world so they speak from the world and the world listens and john 844 jesus says that this way you are uh you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning he does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies of course the world agrees with itself and views us as backwater unenlightened morons they're all facing the same direction first john four six we are from god there it is again whoever knows god listens to us and whoever is not from god does not listen to us by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error who's us who's listens to us who's he talking about whoever knows god listens to us you're not talking about me folks and he's not talking about you we didn't exist when this was written he's talking about the apostles and those who wrote the scriptures i'm going to say this and i don't i hate doing stuff like this because i'm not trying to set you on a path of workspace righteousness but if you don't open your bible and read it please don't lie to yourself that you're a christian you're not you had some experience at church at some point that made you feel a certain emotional kind of gladness towards the concept of jesus and and the gospel but you're not a christian if you're not in his word you're just not because where else are you going to get to know him also worth pointing out that your bible two thousand years before today described precisely what's happening today so it's almost like it would be a great place to get a little bit of encouragement for your soul so you can get to know god you can get your soul encouraged by opening your bible read listen read a verse don't sit here and go man he really went hard today i guess i better get caught up and read half the bible tomorrow open it and read a verse in fact don't read the whole thing if you don't understand the first half of it right and stop and ask god help me open my eyes and my heart and help me to understand what's here but don't just not read it and then be like yeah i'm for sure going to heaven and everything's great because i made a decision and prayed a prayer one day jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments do you know what they are do you eat shellfish and bacon oh not those commandments which ones how are you going to know if you don't ever read his word how are you going to get encouragement for your heart if you don't ever read his word oh it's easy for you you have to because you have to preach every week then maybe you need to figure out a way to preach every week too and somebody to preach too starting with yourself whoever knows god listens to us whoever is not from god does not listen to us oh could we be any clearer i never open my bible and read it well that's because you're not from god you're not as child you've deceived yourself i'm glad you're here i hope you keep coming i hope that you listen to what i'm saying to you right now though there are people starving to death with the bread of life in their hands right now in this place don't be one of them the word of god is the most impactful insightful life saving heart steering mind untroubling encouraging convicting comforting soul strengthening repository that you have access to and you leave it sit unopened don't tell me you want to be mentally well don't tell me you want your broken heart fixed if you don't open your bible and read it this is the only place you're going to get your broken heart fixed because a better version of you won't satisfy all the approval of all the other people on earth won't satisfy your antidepressants won't satisfy your beta blockers won't satisfy some new clothes won't satisfy a new car won't satisfy more debt won't satisfy a different church won't satisfy one with an intact ceiling won't satisfy what will is the person and work of Jesus Christ and faith in him according to Romans comes by hearing and hearing the word of god whoever is from god listens to him let's pray [BLANK_AUDIO]