Main Scripture Text: 1 John 4:1-6 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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 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. 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. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 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.
1. Test what we hear
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God”
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
“many false prophets have gone out into the world”
Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Mark 13:21-23 And then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22 False christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
2 Peter 2:1-9 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
Galatians 1:8 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
2. Test the confession (of what we hear)
“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.”
3. Test the audience (of what we hear)
“They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.”
4. Test the doctrine (of what we hear)
“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.”
“those who do not listen to apostolic teaching, but prefer to absorb the teaching of the world, not only pass judgment on themselves but thereby also on the message to which they do give attention” – John Stott
In verse 4, we are given some reassurance that we can (and will) be able to overcome false teachers and discern rightly.
“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”
• You don’t need to be concerned that you are going to be deceived – be wise, test the spirits of the teaching you hear but don’t be fearful
• He was reassuring his readers that they have overcome the false teachers already – they have not been deceived and they have not given into their false teaching – they have conquered the false teachers not only by testing them but by refuting their teaching – they haven’t believed the lies of the false teachers and because you didn’t listen to them, they left.
• If we have the Holy Spirit, we can be confident to confront and refute false teachers by His greater strength because He abides in us
“False belief is as much a sin as unrighteous behavior or lack of love. Victory over it, however, is not due to any innate strength of believers but rather to the fact that the One who lives in them is greater, i.e. more powerful , than the one at work in the world. God is mightier than the evil one.” -I. Howard Marshall
• Even if false teachers or practitioners seem to have a great authority or great power or even seem to demonstrate powerful manifestations, we don’t need to fear – the Holy Spirit is far greater than the devil and the spirit of the antichrist that is in the world.
• The ability to overcome false doctrine comes from both an objective standard of truth and the Holy Spirit who will illuminate our minds and enable us to understand truth and discern between truth and error
• You don't have to be afraid of being deceived - we have been given the Holy Spirit and we will be able to evaluate what hear by the confession, by the audience and by God's Word.
Some Areas for application:
• We are being called to discern the spirit behind what we watch and listen to and read in our daily lives.
• What are we feeding on? Is the spirit behind what we're feeding on from God? If not, we need to be on guard against believing it - TV, Movies, Books, etc.
• Do we just unquestioningly believe what we were taught when we grew up?
• Are we building our lives on a solid foundation of God’s Word – are we listening to His Word?
• We need to discern whether the teaching and media we expose ourselves to or read is from God
• God is calling us to be discerning – to watch out that we are not just believing what we hear without scrutiny in the light of the Word of God.
Potential Application Questions:
1. What do we listen to or feed on – what is our spiritual diet like?
2. Is what we listen to or feed on primarily motivated by the Holy Spirit?
3. How are we deliberately evaluating everything we hear (or see or read) and discerning where the message is coming from?
4. How do you think listening to things motivated by the spirit of the antichrist has affected your spiritual life and passion for God?
5. Where would God have us make changes to what we hear, (and see, read)?
6. How can we grow in having more attentive ears spiritually and in being more discerning?
7. For those with children: How can we help our children grow in discernment practically?
