1st John, 1st John. We'll continue our study in 1st
John. The name of tonight's message
is Test and Try the Spirits. Test and Try the Spirits. We'll
be reading from 1st John chapter 3. to 1 John 4, verse 6, but
our text will be found in 1 John 4, 1 to 3. But I wanted to read
the context of the verses for tonight. Actually, let's start
in verse 19 of chapter three. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if
our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth
all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then we have confidence toward God. And whatsoever we
ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and
do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His
commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment. And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. Beloved, again
divinely loved ones, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in
the fleshes of God. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus Christ has come into flesh is not of God. And
this is the spirit of Antichrist, wherever you have heard that
it should come, and even now, already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. So we see in chapter four here
that John has returned again to talking about the spirit of
Antichrist. He did that in chapter two. And
he's returned to speaking about this again. He's bringing forth
the contrast between the believer who has, who he's just been talking
about in chapter three in verse 24, who has the Holy Spirit dwelling
in them. Look again at verse 24. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, that's Christ, and he in him. And hereby we
know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given
us. We know that when our Lord, before our Lord rose, he said,
I must send the Comforter to you. And he did, and that's the
Holy Spirit. And that's who this verse is
speaking of. And John brings forth that we can know that we
have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, because we love the Lord's
commandments, which we looked at as the scriptures, which proclaim
the gospel of Christ. And we love the brethren, just
as the Lord commanded. And again, we know, as we've
looked in the study, we know that's a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
That's a fruit of the Holy Spirit, that we love the brethren. Now we see in chapter four a
warning to try the spirits. A warning to try the spirits.
Because many false prophets are gone out into the world preaching
a false Christ. A false Christ. In setting forth
salvation through man's works or something you either do or
say, adding to the finished work of Christ. Now, the false preacher always
tells you something you must do. They'll speak of Christ. They'll even say the gospel.
But it's a different Christ, and it's a different gospel.
But they're mentioning things in the scripture because they
can't go totally off the rails. They got to throw some scripture
in there, too. And sometimes some of them talk
a lot of scripture, but they have no knowledge of who Christ
is. because they always go back to
what you have to do to be saved. The false preacher, again, is
always telling you something you must do in addition to the
work of Christ, and the gospel preacher proclaims a finished,
complete, perfect work. It's done. So one says do, and
the other one says done. The false preacher says do this,
and do this, and do this, and the gospel preacher says it's
done. Christ did it all. He did it all. The work of salvation,
beloved, is a completed work. It's a completed work. And it's
been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. It is He who has redeemed His
people from their sins. It is He and He alone who has
accomplished the work of righteousness that we looked at on Sunday.
The work of righteousness was accomplished by the perfect man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And our
entire, our entire, entire, entire acceptance with God is through
Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Not a pinprick of your works,
not a pinprick of my works. I remember years ago I mentioned
to you guys the balloon analogy that John Codd told me and it's
a wonderful analogy. You got a balloon and it's full
of air and when you get a helium balloon it floats, right? So
you got the string holding it. If you just take a pin and just
put a little pin prick hole in that, what happens? It's gone, right? That's the
same as works mixed with grace. It's no longer grace. Just a
pinprick. Just a pinprick. That's why we
say that our entire salvation is all wrapped up in Christ and
Him alone. It is an accomplished work. Now remember, too, that
exhortations like this that we're going to look at tonight are
in the Bible because they're necessary. Exhortations are in
the scripture because they're necessary for us. And again,
always remember that they're authored by the Holy Spirit of
God. They're for our learning, to teach us and to guide us and
to protect us while we go through the wilderness of this world.
And we know all around us is false preachers. We know. We
know in this world there's many who say, oh, over here and over
here. And they're just preaching works. We know that. You just turn the TV on, you
can't hardly stand to watch. You put on those guys for 30
seconds and you want to It just makes you mad. Just turn the
TV off. My, nothing but false preachers. So this word of exhortation is
for us, as believers. This is for us, for our guidance,
for us to learn, to protect us. And this portion of scripture
we'll look at tonight is about trying the spirits, whether they're
of God. Whether they're of God. Again, because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Let's read verses one to three
again in chapter four. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Don't believe everything a person
says. That's what John's saying. Believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is not of God. Pretty straightforward, isn't
it? Very clear. He's not speaking theological
language. He's telling us how it is. That's
what I love about the writings of John. He's just, and Peter,
they just plainly put it forth. And Paul even, he said, I'm determined
not to preach anything but Christ and Him crucified. They don't
use fancy words. Very plainly put here. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist.
Wherever you have heard that it should come, and even now,
Already is it in the world. Now this is John writing this
after the Lord's ascension. And it's still, that same spirit
is still here. The same spirit is still here
in our days. Listen to what Matthew pens. In Matthew 24, listen to
this. Verse 24 he says, For this shall
arise false Christ. False Christ. and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it
were possible they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24,
24. And then John penned this in
chapter... Let's go back two chapters in
1 John 2, 18. Look at this. Look what John
pens here in chapter 2. Little children, it is the last
time. Well, we've been in the last
days since Christ's ascension. We've been in the last days since
He rose from the grave. And you have heard that Antichrist
shall come even now. Are there many Antichrists? Whereby
we know that it is the last time. Let's go back to verse 1 of chapter
4. And we see that John is again addressing the divinely loved
ones, the brethren. He's addressing born-again, blood-washed
believers, and he's giving them a warning. Look what he says. He said, Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. So again, we see a warning here, that we're not to believe
every spirit. And this warning is given to
us now, and we know that Matthew, again, what our Lord said in
Matthew, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Those are the
words of the Master. So we see John here giving us
a warning. And we know that even before
Christ came, some claimed to be the Messiah, didn't they? Well, some did, and they were
false prophets. And we know that in our time,
there's many false prophets, false preachers. And we are to test the spirits,
because there are many false prophets gone out into the world,
many false preachers. Not just a few, notice that,
many. The exhortation here is for us
to be selective to what we hear. Be selective what you hear. Because
God's people, we just wanna hear the gospel, don't we? We're careful what we listen
to. We're careful what we, so we're to be selective in what
we hear and we desire as believers in Christ to hear about Christ. You don't wanna hear do, do,
do, do ya? Neither do I, I had enough of that in religion. I
wanna hear what Christ has done for me. I want to hear what the Savior's
done. And I know it's so for you too. Tell me about the assurance
that I have in Christ. Tell me about the one who is
my hope. Tell me about the one in whom I have forgiveness of
all my sins. Who purchased me with His precious blood. And
I know it's so for you who believe too. That's what you desire to
hear. Tell me about the one who is who's everything to me. The one
in whom I have justification before the sovereign holy God
of the universe. And we know that's only in Christ.
And we know from our study in the book of Colossians that the
Gnostic false teachers were going around to churches and preaching
a false gospel. We know that from our study in
Colossians. They were saying that only they could impart this
special knowledge. You could only learn it through
them. And they adamantly denied that the Supreme Being came in
the flesh. Do you know that? That was one
of the things they denied. They denied that God came in the flesh.
What we see here in these verses we're looking at, look at verse
3. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not a god. So this was a problem during
the times of these writings. when Paul was writing the Colossians
and when John was writing the believers here. And this is a
general epistle that's written to all believers. So this is
a warning to all believers. All believers. They claim, the Gnosics claim,
Jesus to be merely a human who attained divinity through gnosis. And we see John deal with that
heresy in verse three. Let's read that again. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come into flesh
is not a god. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. Look at that. He doesn't pull
any punches, does he? Wherever you have heard that
it should come, and even now, Now already, is it in the world? It's already here. And we also know, from studying
the book Galatians, that the Judaizers were telling the Christians
at Galatia that it was necessary for them to adopt Jewish customs and practices, especially those
found in the Law of Moses, along with Christ, of course. They
always mixed it. Remember the pinprick? You put a pinprick
of works, there's no more grace. So they're preaching a false
gospel, beloved. But they were saying that the Christians had
to adopt Jewish customs and practices. And remember, they're talking
to Gentiles. Because the church in Galatia was a Gentile church.
And they said, if you don't do this, you're not saved. Well, we know what Paul did in
that letter to Galatians. He said they're preaching a false
gospel. So the Gnostics and the Judaizers
were false prophets. False teachers who proclaimed
a refuge of lies to people. And we see here a warning then
by John in this first verse to never forget that we have false
prophets even in our day among us. Look, it says, beloved, believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of
God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
So we're told by our dear brother John to try the spirits. Try
the spirits. The word try there means to prove. To prove. Prove the spirits. These spirits are to be tried,
whether they are of God, And again, this is something that
all Christians are to do. The word in the Greek for try
there means to try, test, prove. Try, test, prove. Now how do
we try the spirits? How do we try the spirits? We
see in our text that these false prophets were to try them. How are we to test them? By the word of God. By the word
of God. Right there. By the word of God. The only way to discern a lie
is to hold it up to the truth. The only way to discern a lie
is to hold it up to the truth. Do you know bank tellers don't
study counterfeits? They study real money. so they can discern the counterfeit. We study the word of God. We
listen to sermons all about our king. About the free grace that
we have in him and through him. That salvation is totally completed.
So when someone comes along and says, well you gotta do this
to be saved, we say, you're preaching a refuge of lies. You're preaching
a false gospel. Because I'm complete in Christ.
I had a fellow tell me one time, not long ago, about six months
ago, he told me, he says, oh, you're gonna be judged for that,
because I didn't agree with him on something. And I looked at
him and I said, I will never be bought to judgment because
of what Christ has done for me. And you as a believer, all of
us as believers, can say boldly, and not because of anything in
us, There is therefore now no condemnation, judgment to those
in Christ Jesus. And that just makes you want
to shout hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. And again, it doesn't give us
a license to go crazy because we won't want to do that. The
love of Christ constrains us, beloved. Do you sin more than
you want to? I do. I know it's so for you too. Oh,
what a day that'll be when we don't sin no more. So the only way to discern a
lie is to hold up the truth, which is the Holy Scriptures.
And Christ, He's the way, the truth, and the life. And John
brings forth that we are to try, prove what pastors and teachers
proclaim by the Word of God. By the Word of God. To know whether they are of God,
because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Again, a lot of times it's not
what the false preachers say, it's what they don't say. And
that's where, when we're Bereans, we can say, well, you ain't mentioning
this. They don't hardly ever talk about
the righteousness of Christ because, again, they're trying to establish
their own righteousness. But gospel preachers, We proclaim
the righteousness of Christ because Christ is our only hope. And
if we weren't clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we wouldn't
be accepted by God. What a Savior! What a Savior! And the only reason we're clothed
in the righteousness of Christ is because we're in Christ and
we're accepted by God in Christ. What a Savior! And look in verse 24 again of
chapter 3, we see Brother John in the last chapter assuring
the believers that he's writing to that they are of God. And
he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him
and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he
hath given us. So we see very clearly in this
verse the basis of our knowledge is what the Spirit of God does
in this world and we know from scriptures that he glorifies
Christ and he doesn't glorify himself? And who does he point
us to? Christ. Christ. He takes the things of God, he
takes the scriptures, and he reveals Christ to the born-again
believer. Now only you can know, only you
can know if the Spirit of God dwells in you. Only you can know that. And only
I can know if the Spirit of God dwells in me. And we try and
test what a man preaches by the Word of God. By the Word of God. The Scripture says this, to the
law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this
Word, if they speak not according to the Scriptures, It says in
Isaiah 8.20, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them. None. No matter what they say. And it is God, the Holy Spirit,
that reveals Christ to the believer. And the only record, think of
this too, the only record the believer has of Christ is what
is revealed in this book. The only record we have of Christ
is what's revealed right here. And we believe it. Because we're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God and he's taught us who
the key to the scriptures is. That's Christ. That's Christ
in him alone. This blessed book is our final
authority, beloved. In all things. in all things. We're to use this book to try
the spirits. We're to weigh what a preacher
says based upon the blessed book. We're to weigh what they say
about Christ based upon this blessed book. Based upon this
blessed book, the word of God. And again, we see that it's written
to all believers. Look at verse 1 again. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. We're to be like our brethren
in Berea. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 17. We're to
be like our brothers in Berea. Before they were saved, they
were Jews who had the scriptures. And we read in verse 10 in Acts
chapter 17 that Paul and Silas went to the synagogue of the
Jews. And we know what Paul and Silas preached wherever they
went, right? They preached Christ. Everywhere
they went they preached Christ. Look at this in verse 10. And the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews. Verse 10. Now take note
in verse 11 that the Bereans searched the scripture to see
if it was true what Paul and Silas preached. They, beloved, they measured
their words. By the scriptures. By the scriptures. And the Lord saved them. The
Holy Spirit illuminated the scriptures for them and saved them. Look
at verse 11. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were
so. Therefore, many of them believed.
They were granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
they searched the scriptures. They didn't just take Paul and
his work. They searched the scriptures. And every gospel preacher will
tell you, look at the word. You can always check what we
preach. Every gospel preacher will say that. Look to the word.
Just don't take it because I'm saying it. Look to the word and
see if it's so. Look to the word and see if it's
so. Look at verse 12, too. Therefore many of them believe.
Many of the Jews, the Berean Jews, believe. And look at this,
also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men, not
a few. So there's some Gentiles that
believe, too. It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. So we as
believers are to be testing that which we hear to see if what
the preacher proclaims is what the word of God says. To try
the spirits, weigh in their doctrine in light of scriptures. The apostle
here has issued two imperatives. You must not believe every spirit,
but you must test the spirits. These inspired commandments are
not optional for the Christian. We're to carry them out. We're
to measure what we hear. And it's for our own growth too,
beloved. It's for our own growth. And it's out of interest that
John does not say, test the prophets, but test the spirits. Because
the real source of the prophet's message is the spirit. Is the
spirit. And note that a false prophet
is inspired by the spirit of Antichrist. Look at verse three
of chapter four. The spirit of deception. See,
the gospel preacher's inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, but
we're led by the Holy Spirit of God. We make messages as the
Spirit leads us. But look at this in verse three.
Look at the Spirit that leads the false preacher. And every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come into the
flesh is not a god. And this is the spirit of Antichrist.
Where have you heard that it should come, and even now, already,
is it in the world? And then look at verse 6. We
are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. So, he who is not of
God doesn't even want to hear the gospel. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy
Chapter 4. 1 Timothy Chapter 4. 1 Timothy Chapter 4. 1 Timothy Chapter 4. And then we'll be going to John
Chapter 4. 1 Timothy Chapter 4 and John Chapter 4. Let's read what Paul pens about
false teachers. He pulls no punches. He pulls
no punches. He calls them seducing spirits.
And claims that their doctrine is the doctrine of the devils.
Now, remember who inspired him to write this? The Holy Spirit
of God. 1st Timothy chapter 4 verses
1 to 5. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in latter times
some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be
refused if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified
by the word of God and prayer. So we see here in 1 Timothy a
very clear warning to the people of God that in the last days,
some professing Christians, not possessors, not possessors, but
professing Christians, will listen and follow evil men who profess
to speak for God but out of covetousness and hypocrisy, they handle the
word of God deceitfully. That's what Paul's bringing forth
here. And there are many of these false teachers in our day, and
people not only listen to these false preachers, but they receive
their lies and their false doctrines, which the false preacher peddles,
making merchandise of the men and women's souls who are following. And this departure from the faith
is nothing but natural religious man's effort to persuade men
to worship God and seek acceptance with God by the works of the
flesh. Nothing new under the sun. Nothing
new under the sun. There's only but two religions
in this world. Grace and works. Grace and works. And there'd
only been two religions in this world since the time of Cain
and Abel. Long time. There are only two,
grace and works. And notice this too, these false
teachers, they forbid the Mary. I wonder who does that? And commanding
to abstain from meats, so you can't eat fish on Friday. which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving. So what does this scripture say
about that church? We know it's a Catholic church, but there's
other churches that do the same thing. It says here very clearly,
and this is by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, it says
they're seducing spirits and their doctrine is the doctrine
of devils. And it says here in verse 2,
they have their conscience seared with a hot iron. And that's true
of all false teachers. A natural man will always try
to do something to gain merit and favor with God. And there's absolutely no way
for natural man to gain merit and favor with God. None at all.
None at all. The only acceptance that we have
with God is through Christ. No other way. No other way. And these false teachers are natural man. They're not
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And again, they tell
men and women that the only way for you to gain merit and favor
with God is by something you do. And you know that natural
man, we are wired for works. That's why men so much, that's
why natural man grabs at those things, gravitates to them. Because
we're wired for works. Dead in trespasses and sins.
But when the Lord saves us, we realize there's absolutely nothing
we contributed to our salvation. We're but receivers of the grace
and mercy of God and through Christ. So man is naturally inclined
to self-righteousness. Just as a river flowing down
a hill. You get a river flowing down a hill, it ain't gonna go
up, is it? It's gonna flow right downwards.
And that's how natural man is when it comes to works. Run right
at it, beloved. Run right at it. Natural man is in opposition
to true spiritual worship. Natural man is in opposition
to true spiritual worship. And natural man is in opposition
to the total dependence of the believer on Christ. They hate it. Surely there must
be something I do. No, just look to Christ. May
God give you grace to look to Christ. May He give you faith
to look to Christ. Look at the words of our masters.
Turn if you would to John chapter 4. Look at the words of our master
over here in John chapter 4 in verses 21 to 26. Look at this. John chapter 4. He's talking
to the lady at the well. The Samaritan lady. Our dear
sister. The Samaritan sister at the well. Look at verses 21.
to 26. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship
ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know
that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come,
he will tell us all things. And look at this statement, oh
my. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. He's just revealed himself to
her, who he is. We know the Lord saved her. We
know she was regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because
she goes back in that town and says, come see a man who told
me everything I did. Oh my. And she wasn't the only lost
sheep there. We find out later on that there's even more sheep
the Lord saves there. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. But look what he says in verse
22. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship as salvation
is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We believe He who is the way, the truth, and
the life. And we believe this word, which is the truth. Oh my. And those who believe
and know the truth of Christ are freed from every yoke of
bondage. that held us. We're free from the ceremonial
inventions of man for salvation. We find all our righteousness,
all our righteousness in Christ and Him alone. All our sanctification
in Christ. All our redemption in Christ.
Nowhere else. We don't look nowhere else. Nowhere
else. We look to Him and Him alone.
So we see then in verse 1 of of chapter 4, that our dear brother
John does not mince words. He calls the false prophets what
they are. And we are to try the spirits
by what they say. We're to try them with the Word
of God. And the Word of God will expose false preachers. The Word
of God will expose false preachers. The false preachers of our day,
it'll expose them. Because as I said earlier, the
only way to discern a lie is to hold it up to the truth. Hold it up to the truth. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter
11. These false teachers are raven
wolves, beloved. And the scriptures declare that
they come to you as sheep. They come to you as sheep, but
they're wolves. They're of the devil. And they
appear as shining lights, and all the while they're full of
darkness. All the while they're full of darkness. Look at this
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 13 to 15. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transferred as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
So we see here that there have been many false apostles, deceitful
workers, transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ. And if you hear someone say they're
an apostle today, you're looking at one of those false apostles
right here. And there's men out there who claim that. They're
nothing but deceitful workers. Deceitful workers. If a man ever
proclaims that they're an apostle, you're looking at a deceitful
worker. And they are not sent by God. They are not sent by
God. They're nothing but false workers. And those who are called false
prophets in our text are the same as them. They lie about
their call, and they serve themselves. They serve themselves, not Christ.
And they handle the Word of God deceitfully. They do not know
our Lord and Savior. And they are not sent of Him.
Again, Satan is a counterfeiter. He's a counterfeiter. We see
this in verse 14, that he's transformed into an angel of light. How does he do this? Well, he
deceives men and women, appearing as a messenger of light, but
under a cloak of religion. Proclaiming through his ministers
a religion of morality and self-righteousness. Saying you can work your way
to glory, you can gain merit and favor with God by doing this
or by doing that. Bringing in partial truths, but
never speaking of salvation in and through Christ alone. Never
speaking of the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Listen to this quote by a grace
preacher. Too many people look for Satan only in the bars, nightclubs,
and dens of open evil. This is more of his deception.
He does his most effective work in the pulpits in religion, promoting
self-righteousness, tradition, and substituting any hope other
than Christ's righteousness and effectual sin offering, which
is the sinner's only hope, as Brother Henry Mahan brought that
out. He does his most effective work
in pulpits. Where men get up and lie on God.
Lie on God. And we know from Scripture that
God does not send a false preacher. We know that. He does not use
false prophets. We know the Spirit of God is
not with a false preacher. And we know that the Spirit of
God never blesses a false prophet. Because he's never sent them.
God has never sent anyone to lie on Him. He did not send anyone to lie
on Him. Or misrepresent Him in any way.
No, God sends His preachers to proclaim Christ. To proclaim
that salvation is only through Him. Not by anything you or I
do. That it comes to us by the grace
and mercy of God. That when Christ died on Calvary's
cross, when His blood was shed, it was shed for the remission
of the sins of His people. When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, we believe that, don't we? We look right
to Christ. We look right to Him. And we're
amazed He even saved us. It's incredible. Me? Yeah, because
it pleased God to do so. Please God to do so. Let's read
verses 2 and 3 together now. Look at this. It says, Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit
that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already
is it in the world. So we see here in these two verses
that the Apostle Paul brings forth again by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, the difference between the true and false preacher. And he also brings forth the
way of trying whether they are of God or not. And note the clear contrast in
our text tonight. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit
that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, wherever
you have heard that it should come, and even now already it
isn't in the world. Now them false preachers on TV, they see
this verse and they say, I believe that Jesus Christ was God in
the flesh. They say that. But they deny,
they deny the sovereign God of the Bible, by telling you you
have to do something to be saved. And they are deceitful workers,
beloved. They are deceitful workers. Now
take note here, it says that in our text, every spirit that
confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, we see the
incarnation proclaimed here, that the word of God, who was
God, became flesh. became flesh. It is the Lord
Jesus Christ who's being confessed. And we see the believer in Christ
professes that he came to this world. Note that. Every spirit
that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Come in
the flesh. This presupposes that he was
somewhere before he came. Well we know from scripture that
he was in eternity. the Word of God, but we also
know that the reason he came here was to save all those who
the Father had given him in eternity. That's the whole reason he came
here, to save his people from their sins. And again, the words, is come
in the flesh presupposes that he was somewhere before he came.
We know He's the Son given, we know He's the promised Messiah,
we know He's the Savior and Redeemer of the elect of God, and we also
know He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Because that's what the Scriptures booklet. And think also the fact that
He came suggests His pre-existence as the eternal Son of God. So
this isn't just saying, I believe that Jesus Christ came in the
flesh. It's not just saying that. No, we believe who He was. We
believe who he was in eternity. We believe who he came here to
die for. So let's bring this down to our
understanding. The Jehovah Witness ladies I
spoke to last week who denied that Jesus Christ is God according,
Jesus Christ is God, they outrightly denied it. Well, according to
the scriptures, they have the spirit of antichrist. Very clear,
right, in the scriptures here. seven-day Adventist, who says
you must worship on Saturday to be saved. I heard someone
tell me that when I was out in Oregon. They said, if you don't
worship on Saturday, you get the mark of the beast. I'm like,
what? That's what they believe. They're called Sabbatarians.
They exalt the day above Christ. Well, according to this text, They have the spirit of Antichrist.
They're false prophets, according to our text. The workspace preacher who proclaims
that salvation is by something that you do, that Christ only
made salvation possible for you, and the rest is up to you, is
the spirit of Antichrist. The one who says you must speak
in tongues to be saved. Somebody told Vicki that when
we were in Oregon, before I met her, said, you have to speak
in tongues in order to be saved. That's the spirit of Antichrist,
adding to the finished work of Christ. The Campbellite preacher,
the Church of Christ, that says you must be baptized in order
to be saved, according to the scriptures we've looked at tonight,
is the spirit of Antichrist. You see, many false prophets
have gone out into the world. Anyone, no matter how nice they
are, no matter how sincere they may be, anyone who adds to the
finished work of Christ, or denies that Christ is God, is the spirit
of Antichrist. And we see that very clearly
and plainly put forth tonight. Now think of our miserable state
before the Lord saved us. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, weren't we? That's the state that the Lord
found us in. That's the state he found us
in. We had no ability to save ourselves and marvel, marvel
at the fact, this verse proclaims that Christ came into this world
to save you. To save you. you who are His
people, to save us from our sins. And this is the only way that
a sinner can be saved, is through Christ in Him alone.
By the substitutionary death of the man Christ Jesus, and He gave His life for all
the men and women that the Father gave Him in eternity. Wonder of wonders. Wonder of
wonders. And anyone who denies or diminishes
the perfect sacrifice of Christ, or denies that our Savior was
God in the flesh, they are a false prophet, and they have the spirit
of Antichrist. We know that the Gnostics denied
Christ coming in the flesh, and this would be a primary doctrine
to their thinking and their teaching. And this would group them in
with all the other antichrists. And we know that John and Paul
were combating those errors during this time. And we can see that he hit it
head on, didn't he? He hit it head on. Turn again if you would to 2
Corinthians chapter 11, and note the warning. Again, the warning in our text.
We know we're to measure what we hear. Listen to these words
of warning by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 3 and 4. But our fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so that your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus..." See, there's another Jesus. "...whom ye have
not preached, or if ye receive another spirit..." Well, there's
another spirit, we saw that tonight. There's the spirit of Antichrist. "...which ye have not received,
or another gospel..." That's what the false preachers preach.
It's another gospel. Paul made that clear in the book
of Galatians. John's made it very clear here. They come to
you preaching another gospel, don't receive them. For if he
cometh, preacheth another Jesus, whom ye have not preached, or
if ye receive another spirit, whom ye have not received, or
another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear
with him." So the warning by Paul is very clear. Very clear. And the warning that John brings
forth in our text tonight is very clear. We are to beware
of false prophets, false teachers, false preachers. Leave not every
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
many false prophets are gone out into the world. Now, may we who are the people
of God, may we who are the people of God rejoice, rejoice, because
the preacher sent by God proclaims the truth of salvation in and
through Christ alone. We preach that the only acceptance
you or I can have with God is through Christ. That's good news
for sinners. It's good news for us, isn't
it? Because it's not based upon us, beloved. It's based upon
Christ. And if you're a believer, rejoice.
Rejoice that God has given you ears to hear and eyes to see
Christ and that you have the Holy Spirit in you to teach you
that which is wrong and that which is right. Because there's
many that are following these false preachers. There's many. And it's God who's regenerated
us. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit. It's God who's given us ear and ears to hear the voice
of the shepherd through the preaching of the Word. And it's God who's
given us seeing eyes to look to Christ, who is our only hope. Hallelujah, what a Savior. What
a Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank
you Again, for the blessing of looking through scripture. And
oh, what wonder, Lord, as we see and know that there are many
false preachers out there, Lord, but you've given us hearing ears
to hear the truth, we who are your people. Seeing eyes to look
to thee, oh Lord. We are undeserving of this grace
and mercy which you bestowed upon us in and through Christ.
But we'll be quick to give you all the glory, Lord. We'll be
quick to praise your name for your goodness and mercy towards
us. May we who are the people of God think upon these truths
and be in wonder this week that you have revealed yourself to
us. Oh, what mercy we receive, what
grace we receive in the forgiveness of all our sins. Hallelujah,
what a Savior is Jesus Christ, my Lord. And it's in your name
we pray, Lord. Amen.