I have a problem with the music at our church. Especially when I have to speak. Praise God for the ministry of Pastor Fred and the choir and the orchestra. They serve us well and we thank God. Often as I have the opportunity to speak with people and as I travel or here at home, someone will come with concerns about their soul. Someone who has known the gospel for a long, long time and has professed Christ and seems to be, as best any of us can tell, walking with Christ, but doubts come in. There are probably very few serious, thoughtful believers who have never asked themselves the question, am I really born of God? Do I really have eternal life? Sometimes we'll listen to a sermon, and it'll make us wonder, am I born again, really? Even mature seasoned saints who, maybe because of a medical diagnosis, are confident that death is coming soon, will have these kinds of questions enter their minds. I'll never forget sitting in our den with my father-in-law, Pastor Uric, when he knew his end was not too far away. And he confessed to us, you know, sometimes these days I have thoughts run through my mind. Are all the things that I've taught and preached and believed for all these years, are they really true? Maybe you've been there. I have. And it's an uncomfortable place to be. God knows that such questions will assail His children. The reason is, as we've already seen in 1 John, and we'll see it again today in our passage, the spirit of Antichrist has gone out into the world. So God the Spirit put this epistle in the Bible for us when we have those kinds of questions. For some true believers, These questions come from Satan, who seeks to harass and discourage. Then there are some other professing believers who don't really know the Lord, or people who have just never come to Christ at all. These questions arrive from God's Spirit as He convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment, since they're not really born again. And that's why it's so uncomfortable for us who know the Lord when these questions come to us, because which is this? Those who don't know the Lord can see that Spirit-inspired words of God describe them as lost, undone, not born of God. And the Church can use these same truths from God to test teachers and preachers to see if they are from God, because maybe they're not. And we know that our world is full of these kinds of preachers and teachers. Today's message will come from this passage that we can divide very simply into two sections, maybe with two questions, two ideas. First of all, how to test the spirits, those who teach and their message. and how who we are and who He is in us enables us to engage with and overcome these false teachers that are in the world. So, follow as I read from 1 John 4, verses 1 through 6. 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, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The spirit of truth, the spirit of error, how can we tell them apart? And how can we engage the spirit of Antichrist with confidence? As we look at verse one, 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. The term beloved occurs six times in 1 John, which means that more than once every chapter, John tells the people to whom he writes, I love you. God loves you. He doubtless remembers the words of Christ at the Last Supper. The one who keeps my words will be loved by my father, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John and his brother James, you'll remember, once wanted to call down fire from heaven against some Samaritans who were despising Jesus. Jesus rebuked them, of course, for their stormy and judgmental spirit. And now we can see that this son of thunder has been transformed by the Son of God's love. And so he speaks to these folks and says, beloved. He tells them, do not believe every spirit. And if you look back at the end of chapter 3, verse 24, the last part of verse 24, that is a bridge into our text today in 1 John 4, where it says, the Spirit whom he has given us is one of the ways that we know that God abides in us. God the Spirit illuminates believers. He guides us into all truth. He corrects us. He comforts and encourages us. The Spirit through John now tells us not to believe every spirit because the spirit that abides in unbelievers does not illuminate them but brings them into darkness, guides them into darkness with twisted truths that are actually lies, guides them or keeps them doing what is wrong instead of doing righteousness. discourages and confuses them, instead of encouraging them and clarifying their minds. That's why God the Spirit says not to believe every spirit, but to test them, because some of them are liars. Every spirit could possibly refer to a demonic spirit that is speaking through someone, but most likely, and for most of the time, it would probably refer to false teachers and false preachers. They are moved by their own spirit, which in turn is moved by Satan, his world system, and by the world around unbelievers to which they respond. The world speaks to them, and they say yes. The world speaks to a believer, and the believer says no. When John by the Spirit says to test every spirit, what he's saying basically is prove whether they're genuine or not. How are we going to do that? Well, that's what he tells us. There are false prophets that have gone, or why he tells us we need to do that. There are many false prophets that have gone out into the world. They are animated by the spirit of antichrist. You will see that in verse two. The antichrist now is just anyone who opposes Christ, opposes Jesus and his truth and his gospel. It's not just the Antichrist who will come, that's the spirit of Antichrist that can animate and energize and move anybody. Those are the people he's speaking about. In this context, it's someone who twists the truth about Jesus and therefore lies about Jesus. And since those who are directed by this Antichrist attitude have gone out into the world, we should really expect them to show up at some time in the church. And that's why he's giving this test. Paul speaks about these people in chapter four of Ephesians, verse 14, where it's clear that they have already begun impacting church members. He says, after speaking about the gifts that have been given by Christ to the church, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, their job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry and then to help them so that they will no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. This is all over the world, everywhere I go, every country, and it's here. And I'm glad to tell those folks there so they don't think that America is heaven and there's no trouble here and everybody's a Christian. Some think that, and I am sad but ready to tell them, nope, it's the same at home as it is here with you. So many voices telling so many lies in such deceitful and cunning ways. Satan didn't use a frog to tempt Eve. He used the most cunning animal that God created, the serpent. It must have been beautiful, much different than the way we look at serpents now. Okay, verse 2. By this we know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. So, this is the test. This is the proof of the reliability of what anyone will preach or teach to us. Do they say the same thing that God the Spirit says about Jesus Christ having come in the flesh? To confess means to say the same thing as And in this case, it's to say the same thing that the Spirit has said about Jesus, that he came in the flesh. This is the test of whether or not the Spirit that is speaking to us, that is preaching to us, is actually blessed and from God. So, what did the Spirit say about Jesus? John 1, 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Matthew 26, verse 28, Jesus speaking at the Last Supper, For this is my blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. This is my blood. of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 24, 36 through 40, as they were talking about these things, this is the apostles, the two on the road to Emmaus who have met Christ, have run back to Jerusalem and they found the apostles and they're saying, we saw Jesus. He's risen. And so the apostles are confused, talking about these things. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is myself. touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have and when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet Hebrews 2 14 and 15 since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise took partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. That's the test. Now, this does not mean that anyone who says Jesus came into flesh is teaching biblical truth. You and I know and can probably give names of people who would say Jesus came in the flesh. That's true. But then they are preaching things that are not true from the word. They're giving false gospels. So how are we to take this? If this is the test, then why shouldn't it work in all cases? We'll talk about that in just one moment. The light of this verse is shed on a particular false teaching, and Pastor Connolly has mentioned this to us as we've been going through 1 John. It's about Gnosticism. For a time, and from a human perspective in the early church, Gnosticism threatened to overwhelm biblical Christianity. It looked like the gospel and the cause of Christ in the church would just be dominated and pass away because of how strong this was. Gnosticism. Well, what is Gnosticism? Just quickly look at four things that Gnosticism taught. Matter and spirit are co-eternal. Matter is spirit. I'm sorry, matter is evil, spirit is good. Matter is evil, spirit is good. God, who is spirit, cannot be directly involved with molding evil matter. So that means God could not have created the world. So where'd we come from? there are these things that are called emanations. I don't know exactly how to explain it to you, but imagine God is here, the universe is down here, and there are these things, these, I'm just going to call them spheres of spiritual reality with beings in them, at least one, and there are thousands of these things between God and the last one of these emanations. Okay? All right. So this idea of emanations are between God and the matter, the universe that he created. The last or lowest one, this is what Gnosticism said, was Jehovah of the Old Testament. And he formed the universe. Well, how could he do that? Because somehow, well, he was far enough away from God. There's wonderful logic here. Far enough away from God, but close enough to God and powerful enough to create the universe, but God really didn't have anything to do with it because he can't because he's spirit and good and matter is evil. Is that twisted or what? Okay, Jesus, number three, was an emanation like Jehovah, but higher on the scale. So Jesus came before Jehovah, according to Gnosticism, in this line of emanations. Some put him, Jesus, as the highest emanation, but still less than God and certainly not incarnate deity. Since matter is evil, Jesus could not have a human body and still be divine, which meant that he was a spiritual phantom in spite of the verses from the word of God that we just read a couple of seconds ago. Lastly, salvation was obtained through faith in Jesus plus, here we go, plus special knowledge, which is only known by special persons. That's Gnosticism. That's why John says, in order to find out if these people are preaching the truth, ask them if Jesus Christ came in the flesh. And if they say no, they're not from God. I don't care what they say. John, by the Spirit, is aiming at this false teaching when he says, this is the test. On into verse 2. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is from God. And every spirit, verse 3, that does not confess Jesus is not from God. Seems to me that whoever divided the verses should have left the first part of verse 3 in verse 2. But anyway, they go together. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus came in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already." John is making the simple point to these little children, he's going to call them, in verse 4, that those little children who are really born of God and taught by God, they are from the Spirit, while the people who do not believe, who are guided by the Spirit of Antichrist, speak as taught by the Spirit of error, Satan and his world system. Paul speaks about him in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, where he says, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Isaiah spoke about them back in Isaiah 8, 19 and 20. And when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and of the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony. If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. There is no light. The light of Christ has not shined into them. They don't know him. Whether they can speak well and sound interesting and logical, they don't know him. John uses the word commandments 14 times in his short epistle. He talks about the Word of God, the Word, five times in the epistle. Altogether, that's 19 times, which means that almost every chapter, he's going to use something about the Word four different times. Every chapter, four times, he's going to say to the Word and to the testimony, You know, the Spirit of God chose His words carefully when He inspired them, and when He repeats Himself, it's a good idea to pay attention. To the word and to the testimony, the Spirit whom God has given us has spoken through men, inspiring His word in them. When God the Spirit directs us and moves us now, today, in our lives, He will always do it, always, in keeping with what He has already written, never contrary to it. All who do not align themselves and their teaching with His words are not from God. Verse 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. little children. He says this back in chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. The family of God, born of God, people who have a place at the table of the king, and their name tag will never be removed. Children of God by birth. Second Peter says that by his great and precious promises, he has brought us to a place where we might be partakers of the divine nature, God's DNA. I like that. God's DNA is in those who have believed in him, partakers of the divine nature. He brought life to those who were dead. Every one of us who is born again here today, everyone, We were dead in trespasses and sin, and he brought us life. When he saved you, when he made you, he made you a new creation. He did not renovate you. He is not in the process of renovating you. What's renovation? You take, like in a house, you take an old house, you go into it, You fix a few things, you take a couple of things out, you put a couple of things in, and you've renovated the house, and now it's just what you want. That is not what happened when you were born again. What happened to you? Christ died for your sins, and according to Romans chapter 6, I mean, yeah, Romans chapter 6, you died with him. God put you to death in Christ. And then when Christ rose from the dead, God raised you up with Christ to newness of life. The new you never existed before you were born again. The new you is new. A child, like a baby, comes out of his mother's womb, her mother's womb, and there is that little precious brand new baby. That's what little children talks about. But also, we are in his family by adoption. Ephesians 1.5 says that He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons, children, through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. Adoption in the New Testament has as its background Jewish custom, which conferred the benefits of the family on the adoptee. The benefits of the family. Its intention and its result is a change of status from slavery to sonship. That's what our adoption is. A change in status from slavery to sonship, planned from eternity and mediated by Jesus Christ. The adopted Son of God, one of us in the family, believers, possesses all family rights, including access to the Father, and sharing with Christ in the divine inheritance that he has. Heirs with Christ, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. Imagine that. That's what adoption's talking about. So whether we look at our place in Christ as newborn babes with his DNA, or whether we look at it as mature believers ready to step into the family and to inherit from Christ, because of Christ, in both ways, we are children of God. from God," he says. Little children, you are from God. And he says, you have overcome these spirits of Antichrist because they oppose Christ. You have overcome them. This seems to refer to the final victory of Christ. It's talking about when the end comes and the new heaven and the new earth, at that point, all will be overcome. We will have overcome all of these opponents of the gospel, the opponents of Jesus Christ. God's directing this command to test these spirits to people in the church so that when messages come into the church, you can test them in this way. Clearly then, this is an ongoing process with ongoing victories that those people could have, to whom he wrote, that they can have as they face and engage with these false teachers. Yet, John says, you have overcome them. So this is something that was accomplished in the past, but the results of it, the benefits of it, continue in the future or now into the present with us, with them and still with us today. These victories are already given to us. They're already given to us. They're already won. Now, it's up to us to reach out and take them and to use them. to benefit from them. Though our efforts as we engage unbelievers may not always result in what looks like victory, these efforts are nonetheless part of that final victory and will be manifested as Jesus takes his place as judge and master of all, and afterward in the new earth and the new heaven. So many times as you share the gospel or as you have a discussion with someone who opposes Christ in the gospel, you're not trying to win an argument, you're trying to win a soul, but you have this conflict of ideas. And sometimes it looks like I blew it. I didn't say the right thing. I didn't put it in the right order. Or that guy was just too smart for me. I couldn't keep up with the way he was making his argument, and I blew it. And it looks like we failed. Nonetheless, in the end, when that person or those people stand before the Lord, they'll remember your effort to tell them the truth. And at that point, what you did will look like victory, because it is victory, because Christ has already won this victory for us. Let's reach out and take what he has done and serve him well. God's great enemy, Satan, the ultimate antichrist, is a creature that God made. And we're thinking about the overcoming now. So if Satan is a creature that God made and then rebelled against him, is there any way that the creation, the creature, is ever going to defeat the creator? Never. It can't happen. It's not even logical. The creature is not going to overcome the creator. And the creator dwells in us who believe. That is why he can say with confidence, The Spirit who dwells in you, the Christ who dwells in you, the God, the Trinity dwells in you. Do you remember Jesus in the upper room said, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I will come to you. That's right after he promised them that the Holy Spirit would come. And then over a little bit later, he says, he who keeps my words, my father will love him because he loves me, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him, and my father and I will come and make our home with him. It's not just God the spirit that indwells you, beloved, it's the triune God, the totality of God by this Holy Spirit dwells in us. That's why we can have confidence as we engage with these false teachers and preachers and teachings, because God has defeated them through the work of Christ already, and we are the beneficiaries of that. We're going to look at verses 5 and 6 together. It says, 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. These antichrists, these people moved and energized by Satan and his world system are of their father, the devil. Jesus said that to the Pharisees in John 8, 44. When they speak, those who don't believe listen to them. But we are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Those who already know God, those who are born again, brothers and sisters in Christ, they listen. But those who are not don't listen. They don't heed the things that we have to say as we give them the truth from God. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. I think maybe John was remembering again from the upper room When Jesus said in John 15, 18 through 21, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. They won't listen to you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. If they listen to my word, they'll listen to yours also. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me." Have you ever noticed that people don't get too bothered if you talk about God? But when you say Jesus, when you talk to them and say, Jesus did this for me, Jesus did that for me. I believe this because Jesus taught it. That's when people begin to get upset with you. And I think in our country today, and maybe I should say in the world today, Christians who, I don't want to say we're persecuted, but we are the minority and there are many, many voices that speak against what we believe and hold dear. When we hear someone who talks about God, immediately our tendency is, oh, this must be a believer. Test the spirits. Brothers and sisters, because everybody talking about heaven ain't going there. Everybody who talks about God is not talking about God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, the triune God who saved us, who saves all who will put their trust in him. John probably was thinking about that when he said, they don't listen, they're not from God. If they do listen, they are. So, if someone listens to God's gospel message as we share it, they are from God, or they're being convicted by the Spirit. The Spirit's working in them. Maybe they're not saved yet. But if they're listening, God, the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, is working there. If someone does not listen to the gospel as we share it, then they're not ready to listen to the gospel yet. Now, that should encourage people like me, and perhaps like you, Because I have a concern that's probably mixed with just shame and fear, fear of man, that I'm not going to say the right thing in the right way, and that person's going to reject not just me, but the message that I'm trying to give. And that's a weakness that I have, I confess to you. If you're like that, then this should encourage you as it encourages me. while our desire is to see others receive Jesus and his gospel, we can't make that happen. That's not my job. If I'm able to talk somebody into trusting Christ, if I can put my words together just right and say them fast enough and in the right order so that they really don't know what to do besides, okay, yeah, I believe in Jesus, that's probably my convert and not God's. And they're just as lost as they ever were, and maybe worse off now because they think, well, that guy said I was a Christian. So while it's our desire to see them come to Christ, that's not something we can make happen. God, the Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment. God, the Spirit regenerates and makes people alive who were dead. Our responsibility is only to present the truth of the gospel to people. That's our responsibility. John Dodd was teaching Sunday school this morning, and I think he was working through some of the parables of Jesus. And one of them was dealing with the responsibility that all of us have to share the gospel with people. Are we doing that? The best way is through relationships. And that's one of the things that is often said from this pulpit. And we're reminded of that. Build relationships, make friends of unbelievers so that you have the opportunity to share the gospel. That's not the only way. Another thing that I remember John Dodd saying, and he has a great heart for winning the loss to Christ, he said, the people who are successful at evangelism, they have found a place or a way or something that works well for them. And he reminded me of a lady he knew who went to the laundromat to wash her clothes. Because there, other ladies would come in and everybody's washing their clothes and it's easy to strike up a conversation. And for that lady, she won people to Christ in that laundromat because that was, it fit her. Find what fits you and do it. Ted, find what fits you and do it. A method, a list of questions, something. Find a way to open a conversation about the gospel. Because even when you build relationships for the sake of sharing the gospel, at some point you're going to have to open your mouth and tell them the truth of the gospel. Find a way that works for you and do it. You have overcome. the spirit that opposes Christ and that opposes you, that you would seek to share the gospel. He has overcome them for you. Now, Ted, brothers and sisters, reach out and take the benefit of that victory. Be encouraged. If they don't listen, it just means they're not ready yet. Maybe they will never be, but it's not your responsibility. Just share the gospel. And if they push back, don't have anything to do with you, turn away, put their headphones on and close their eyes, they're not ready yet. That's all. Somebody else might get to lead them to Christ. Maybe they'll never be led to Christ, but you have done what you need to do. I would have done what I need to do. By this we know the spirit of truth and error. This phrase, by this we know, or something like it, relating to the assurance that people are born again and how we can test to know that people are born again or whether they're actually telling us the truth and preaching us the truth, this phrase, by this we know, appears 16 times in 1 John. That's more than three times in each chapter. Once again, if he's repeated things over and over again, It does us well and good to pay attention. This passage on the spirit of truth and the spirit of error actually began with the last part of verse 24 in chapter 3. By this, we know that he abides in us by the spirit that he's given us. And then, verse 1, the spirit don't believe every spirit. And he goes on through the passage as we've just been through it. He bookends our passage today with that phrase, by this we know. Christ Jesus has overcome the spirit of error by his life, his death, his resurrection. And he is giving us, by his presence, this victory. He suffered opposition in his earthly ministry as he engaged with Satan's lies and Satan's servants. And we, his little beloved children, as we share in all the promises and benefits of mature family members, we will suffer the same opposition. We shouldn't be surprised. But we don't need to cower, we don't need to hide, and we don't need to fear, for he that is in us is greater than our opponents. He's greater than the one who leads them. He has overcome Satan. He has overcome them, and he's given us these benefits. We don't need to be fearful. We just need to obey. We can engage with these opponents of Christ without fear, because some will become his children with us. Some will. And we will endure when those who reject him and our message about him fall and fail in the end. The spirit of truth overcomes, which means we are overcoming as we submit to him and his truth and walk in it. Let's pray. God in heaven, thank you for your words. And thank you for these words this morning. May we be encouraged that though there is a spirit of error, the spirit of truth has overcome and will overcome. And we can overcome as we walk in the truth of your word, as we submit to you, and just obey you, remembering that all the opposition we might have faced, you've already overcome it. You experienced their opposition. We will. You told us that. Help us, Lord, not to cower, not to fear, but to take the benefits of your overcoming, of your spirit of truth, and to engage with a world around us that's full of lies, that doesn't know the light. May we shine your light upon them. May we just simply walk in your word. in the spirit of truth. In Jesus' name, amen.