1John 4:1-6. Discernment We need to be discerning Dr. Sam talked about authentic I.D.’s Real...
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Transcript of 1John 4:1-6. Discernment We need to be discerning Dr. Sam talked about authentic I.D.’s Real...
1John 4:1-6
Discernment
We need to be discerning Dr. Sam talked about
authentic I.D.’s Real Church Real Believers Real Teaching
Discernment
John has been exhorting the believers to be discerning…
In the face of persecution In the face of opposition In the face of false teaching
Discernment
Bottom Line… We are responsible for our own
relationship with God We need to do our own
homework… We need to view all things
through the standard of the Word
Discernment
Warren taught last week… The final verse of his lesson
spoke of the Holy Spirit The Spirit that indwells us The Spirit that gives us
evidence of our salvation and faith
1 John 3:24
“The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
Everyone!!!
How does the Holy Spirit give us evidence of our salvation and faith?
Let Us Read Our Text For Today… Notice how John transitions
from the indwelling Spirit to testing spirits…
Not every Spirit is from God This is yet another warning God reveals truth – Satan
counters with lies
Spiritual Warfare
Truth or Lie We need to know What is Spiritual Warfare???
Spiritual Warfare
It’s not chasing demons It’s the battle for the mind The battle between truth and
error The objective of the Church is to
bring truth to bear on people who live in damning error
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge…
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
…of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..
Spiritual Warfare
Anyone who discredits discernment or who objects to your questioning of their teaching and comparing it to scripture – is probably a false teacher
The Strategy of Satan…
Genesis 3:1-4 “Indeed has God said…” 1st attack the Word – create
doubt Eve responds – (Gen. 3:3) 2nd distort God’s Word
The Strategy of Satan
Satan responds – (Gen. 3:4) 3rd – outright lies… Doubt Distortion Lies
Spiritual Warfare
1 John 4:1 tells us that this is not a human strategy…”do not believe every spirit”
Every religious idea has a spiritual source
There are only 2 spiritual worlds
Spiritual Warfare
The Spirit of God Then there are all the rest… These are the doctrines of
demons
Spiritual Warfare
This is a theme that is imbedded throughout scripture
Moses
David – Bathsheba -Solomon
Matthew 24:4-5
Acts 20:28-30
Spiritual Warfare
Wherever you go in scripture – God’s truth is under assault
1 Timothy 4:1
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,”
Spiritual Warfare
Men will pay attention to deceitful spirits
Behind all false doctrines are seducing spirits…
And men whose consciences are seared preach lies without remorse
This Is Key!!!
No false teaching - No attack on scripture – Is benign!
There Are Only Two Possibilities… Either teaching is from God
through His Word… Or the teaching is demonic Causing Doubt Distortion Denial of truth
James 3:15
“This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”
Any lofty view lifted up against God’s Word has but one source – the demonic
Spiritual Warfare
Untruth is propagated by people who listen to deceitful and seducing spirits
They are tools of demons Behind the human is the
demonic
Spiritual Warfare
Demons have a powerful influence in the world
It has been a very successful strategy for Satan
Most of the world believes in demonic doctrines – they have no place with God
Let’s Look At 1 Corinthians 10:18-21 In the context of this passage,
Paul is talking about believers who still participated in Pagan rituals and sacrifices
Paul is not concerned with the practice or the false god
Spiritual Warfare
It’s not the food eaten that has been sacrificed to idols
Paul is concerned that these people were participating in a demonic practice
There is nothing to gain by sharing in demons
Spiritual Warfare
We are not to play with fire Do not maintain any
connection with your former life
We cannot make a truce with error – it is energized by the forces of hell
Old Testament Examples
Leviticus 17:7 – Creating a “goat god” didn’t
make a god – it opened the door to demons
Deuteronomy 32:17 The Jews were sacrificing to
demons
Old Testament Examples
Psalm 106:37 They had even sacrificed their
children to demons…
Spiritual Warfare
Any form of religion is demonic
Any world religion Any animist tribal religion Pseudo Christianity
The Future…
Revelation 16:13-16 The dragon – Satan The Beast – The Antichrist The False Prophet – the
antichrist’s cohort
The Future…
Three unclean spirits like frogs come out of them
These spirits seduce the world into making war against their Creator
What insanity!
Spiritual Warfare
Satan will use any world system to seduce man into turning against God
Atheism Agnosticism
Hinduism
Islam
Buddhism
Animism
Good Old USA!
2 Peter 2:1-3
The false prophets attack: The authority of scripture The inerrancy of the Bible The virgin birth The sinless life of Jesus The sovereignty of god
Spiritual Warfare
Some are blatant like Islam Many are subtle working
within the church We are to stand for and
defend – the Truth If we don’t have the truth –
what do we have…
Spiritual Warfare
It is the battle between truth and lies
The more truth you know – The more vital you are to the
battle You will be attacked for
speaking the truth
Spiritual Warfare
In 1 John4:1 we have the command…
Don’t believe every spirit is the Holy Spirit
Don’t believe everything you hear about faith (radio, news, TV, etc.)
Spiritual Warfare
Before you were a believer what benchmark for faith did you have
As believers we have a true foundation to hold onto
We have the Indwelling Spirit
Spiritual Warfare
Satan does not want to be the opposition to our church…
He wants to be confused with the Christian Church
He wants to appear pro-Christ There are many false Christs
in the world
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
We are not to ignore prophetic utterances..
We need to examine everything carefully
Many today are too lazy to do that
Spiritual Warfare
Today, with political correctness, no one wants to say that anyone is wrong
We are a Nation that is truly living in denial
I’m not talking about a river in Egypt!
Spiritual Warfare
Most people try to hide from the truth
The realities of life today are overwhelming
Yet we wonder if Lindsey Lohan is going to jail
Spiritual Warfare
This is a scary time People out of work – Losing their homes Crawling out from under
debris in Japan Fighting in the Middle East
Spiritual Warfare
But gosh darn it I’ll be ticked if Lindsey doesn’t go to jail
We Have Three Tests
1 – The confession of the divine Lord
2 – Possession of the divine life
3 – Commitment to the divine Law
1 – Confession of Christ
Demons will deny the deity of Christ
We can test any teacher by their Christology
This must include the whole package
1 – Confession of Christ
Jesus is God in the flesh Jesus is part of the Trinity Jesus is sinless Jesus is our satisfaction for
our sins In rejecting Christ – you reject
God
1 – Confession of Christ
Some theologians say that other people groups may not know Jesus
But they know God and for what they know it’s the best they can do…
They do not know God
2 – Possession of Divine Life Look at their life Are they regenerate? Are they bearing fruit? Do they hunger for the truth? Do they have the protection of
the Holy Spirit?
3 – Honor God’s Law
Do they uphold God’s law? Do they participate in the
Christian community of ideas or do they parrot the world?
In Conclusion…
What do they say about Christ?
What is their life like? Do they honor God’s Law?
Let Us Pray