1 John chapter 4, and we'll read
from verse 1. Beloved, 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 confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist,
whereof ye 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. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. As I come to prepare my thoughts
for worship week by week, it is my prayer and my desire that
what I have to say to you is not merely a message from me
to you, but it is a word of comfort, a word of truth, from the heart
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself to your heart, from the Spirit
of God to your soul. Because I believe that this,
this activity upon which we are now engaged is the means that
the Lord uses to minister to his people. There's a little
verse in the book of Hosea, and the context is that Hosea has
gone out and he has taken a wife from Hordam, and we read this
in the context of the relationship there. He says, In Hosea 2, verse
14, the Lord is speaking, And I trust I am not being presumptuous
when I say that I take our gatherings, these Lord's Day mornings or
Lord's Day afternoons, to be the fulfilment of this
beautiful promise from God that we read about prophetically in
Hosea. Therefore behold, I will allure
her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. The word there behold means to
observe and to take note, to witness and to consider the work
of God. And we do this as the Lord's
people, as his church, when the Lord Jesus Christ is set before
us with such gospel supplies of spiritual wisdom and faith
and hope, that we might understand the Word of God as it is read
in our hearing and as it is ministered to us in preaching. These things
are designed to point us to the Saviour. And whatever our life
has been up until now, whatever our day has been up until now,
what a beautiful thing in the Word of God, in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, to be pointed to a saviour, a saviour of our souls. Behold, says the Lord, behold
what I am doing. Behold the way of salvation. Behold my grace and my mercy
upon that one whom I love. And God says, I will allure her. I will allure her. Do you find
Christ alluring? Do you find Christ attractive
and appealing? Is there a beauty in the Lord
Jesus Christ that wasn't there before? Is there a sweetness
in considering him and all that he has done which wasn't there
before? And yet, what does the Lord say
of this one? He allures her into the wilderness. That might seem strange. It's
not that he is alluring her into the king's palace. He's not alluring
her along an easy path. but rather she is brought into
a dry place, a harsh place, a wild place, a dangerous place. But what is the end of her presence
in this trying place? It is that he might speak comfortably
to her, to speak to her of his love towards her. How does the
Lord speak to his people? He speaks to us in the gospel. He speaks to us by the gospel,
the gospel of grace, the gospel of peace, the gospel that is
our protection, our shield and our defence against the enemies
of our soul. And maybe we worry a little bit
that This wilderness that we find ourselves in, in this world,
this world wilderness, if you like, is a cause to doubt God's
mercy to us. Rather, being brought into times
of trial, being brought into harshness, and wild places and
dangerous places for our souls works as a kind of contrast because
as we see the wickedness around about us, as we see the harshness
of the environment in which we live, so we are able to see with
greater clarity the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
wonders of his grace and his mercy. So that being brought
into a wilderness experience is rather a testimony of God's
goodness to us and a reinforcing of it than if we had been given
an easy walk, an easy path, an easy way. That would have been
the concern. The men and women of this world
have little concern about their eternal well-being, about their
souls and eternity and hell and judgment and wrath to come. But
our trials are evidence of grace. And this wilderness world that
we are in is where the gospel truth comes to us and brings
us comfort. Our trials, if you like, are
the rough canvas on which the beauty of grace and glory is
being painted. light and dark contrast together
and every shadow that is formed picks out something of the beauty
of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. And I think that it's in
this context that John is speaking to us today of testing and trying
the spirits We are today, right now, here, on the 28th of March
2021, where we're sitting, where we are, no matter our locality,
no matter our company, we are in this world. And it's a wild
wilderness world. and the enemies of our soul abound. Enemies that would endeavour
to hurt us, to rob us, to deceive and to distract us away from
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord has brought us into
this wilderness and he is holding us here until He takes us home
to glory until we enter into that final rest. We are held
here, we are in this place while the Lord reveals to us things
about himself and causes us to serve his purposes. And the Apostle's
opening statement here in this fourth chapter of the first epistle,
of John is speaking to us of the warnings that we have as
the church in this wilderness world. But so that we are not discouraged
to hear all these things, The Apostle starts off with a lovely
word. He says, beloved, beloved. And he is reminding us that we
are loved by God, that these are comfortable words that come
from God to his bride, come from God to his lover. He has allured
us into this wilderness, but it is only in order to speak
comfortably to us. and to show us how much he loves
and desires us. We cannot lose our salvation,
but there are enemies abounding. who would steal our attention
and our view of the Lord Jesus Christ, who would try to discourage
us and distract us, who would rob us of our joy in the Lord
and our peace in believing. Now John is not telling us in
this opening verse of this little passage that we are to be critical
and cynical of everything that is round about us. But he is
admonishing us to be careful about what we hear and what we
listen to. And it is this theme that he
is about to take up. He is calling our attention to
spirits, because he is speaking about a spiritual activity, because
the message that these people that he is speaking about, when
he says, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. He is speaking to us here about
a spiritual activity because the message which these false
prophets carry claims to be from the Holy Spirit. And the preachers
themselves claim to be qualified and sent by the Holy Spirit. So he is speaking to us here
about spiritual things and spiritual discernment. And that's wise advice. You know,
if we were, I don't know, making an important purchase or making
an important decision, we would research that purchase. We would
give attention to the things to do with that so that we didn't
make a silly mistake, so that we didn't spend our money foolishly,
so that we didn't begin on a path which would ultimately be to
our shame. And all John is telling us here
is that give attention, give priority to spiritual things
in your life also. They're more important than the
worldly things that are around about us. And he's saying that
we need to take care because many false prophets have gone
out. So even then, in the days of
the apostles, many false prophets had gone out. We think that,
you know, the confusion and complexity of religious life is a new thing,
but John even then must have been grieved at the fact that
there was so many false prophets even in his own day. And look
what he says about these people. He says there are many. Not just
a few false prophets had gone out, but many. And they are false. They are not of the truth. They
are not of Christ. They are not of God. They are
not of that apostolic testimony. And they are prophets. They claim
to be God's people. And they claim to have a divine
calling. Now the admonition that John
gives to us here is that we are to try or to test, the word test,
try, is in the sense of trial, like in a courtroom. We are to
test the evidence, not like, I don't know, an ice cream parlour
where we go and try all the different flavours. That's not what he's
talking about. It's testing them and we, are to be careful about
what we hear. You know, I hear people saying
sometimes that they go to all different kinds of churches because
they want to find out what kind of worship suits them, what kind
of music suits them, what kind of pattern of service suits them,
and maybe they like a young people's meeting, or maybe they like the
children's activities, or maybe they like some particular aspect
about a church style of worship. But we're not to try all the
different varieties of religion in order to find something that
suits our desires. John is saying that we are to
try the spirits, we are to test the spirits by the word of God. Because the scriptures, the Bible,
is the standard of all doctrine that we are to believe. And whatever
agrees with the Bible is to be received and is to be believed. And what does not is to be rejected. And we are to be protective of
gospel hearing. We are to be protective of our
gospel ministry. In verses two and three, John
focuses in on one specific and important area of comparison. Though I say not to the exclusion
of others but he is using one important aspect and I say that
it's specific because the true nature and understanding the
true nature of the Lord Jesus Christ and the saving purpose
of Christ coming into the world is a crucial test of faithful
preaching. And I say it's important because
it's a great foundation stone for all gospel doctrine. It is the person and nature of
the Lord Jesus Christ that undergirds so much else. because it reveals
the plan and the purpose of God in salvation. So John says, every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God. Now it's quite possible that
John was exposing here particular heresies that had arisen in this
first century church. But the truth is that these are
the same challenges that are repackaged in every age. And we can think about it, if
the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is attacked, then the
whole of the gospel is undermined. If the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ is attacked, then the whole of the Gospel and the purpose
of God in salvation is undermined. And if the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ is attacked, then we see also, of course, that the Gospel
falls where that happens. The Holy Spirit The Spirit of
God preaches the divine sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Spirit of God teaches the true and real humanity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Spirit of God preaches
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed
the appointed, the one who came fulfilling all the Old Testament
prophecies. For example, as we've been reading
in Psalm 91 or we've been reading in Genesis chapter 15, all of
these Old Testament looking forward to the coming and the fulfilment
of revelation are focused and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great prophet of whom
Moses spoke. He is the priest of which the
Levitical priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood was a
pattern. He is the king of kings like
David in his throne and in his kingdom. So that the Lord Jesus
Christ is revealed in all of these Old Testament pictures.
and he is the one who intercedes and he is the one who reigns
over his church and people. So understanding the true nature
and identity of the Lord Jesus Christ is the revealing of all
gospel doctrine. It shows us the sacrifice that
the Lord Jesus Christ made and how that sacrifice and the blood
of Jesus Christ was an acceptable and satisfying price to an offended
God for the sins of the people who would be redeemed by that
blood, the purchase price of their salvation, and how the
ordinances of the gospel speak to us of the Lord Jesus Christ's
rule over his church and his people. So that this simple summary
that John gives us here as to the true identity of the Lord
Jesus Christ in his divinity and in his humanity, shows us
the true nature of the gospel. And if that doctrine is not present,
then it is anti-Christ, it is opposed to Christ, it is the
opposite of Christ's revelation and it is to be opposed because
it opposes the Lord himself. In verse 4 now John repeats that
he is writing to little children. And I think that that's important
for assurance. And we've been talking much about
assurance and comfort for the Lord's people, especially those
who doubt and who struggle and who lack assurance in their Christian
walk and in their Christian life. And verse four here is an important
little verse for that gospel assurance. John is writing to
the little children. He says, ye are of God, little
children. Now isn't that very comforting
for the apostle to say, ye are of God. You're born of God, he's
telling us. You are taught of God. You are secured by God. And consequently, the child of
God is not overcome by this false gospel, but overcomes the lies
and the deception of the false prophet, because the child of
God sees through their false teaching. He discerns the deception in
their words. Now why is this? Why is it that
the child of God sees through these false prophets? It's not
because the child of God is a great theologian or a great Bible scholar. or that he is intellectually
superior to the false prophets. Invariably what we discover is
that the false prophets are the people that have got all the
degrees and all the doctorates and they've been to this college
and they've been to that university and they've studied under this
professor and they've been given this certificate and all of these
accolades and then they come in to the congregation or they
come in in the name of Jesus Christ and they preach a gospel.
And it's a false gospel. And the child of God sees through
that. Not because he's intellectually
superior. Why then? Why? John tells us. He says, because greater is he
that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord Jesus
Christ dwells in his people, and the Holy Spirit leads his
people into all truth. The Holy Spirit leads his people
into all truth, so that every child of God is able and eligible
to test and to try the content and the preaching of the gospel,
spiritual truths, wherever it is set up, and able and eligible
to discern whether it is true or not. Now I want you to watch this
because I think this is very interesting. I said a few moments
ago that these things were important for our assurance. Among the
questions that Satan often tempts believers with is this, what
makes you think you're right and everyone else is wrong? Or
he might say, you've got all these doubts They're so sure
about what they believe. They're so certain maybe they're
right and you're wrong. Can you see what Satan is doing
there? He is using against us the very
fact that we know the truth and we can distinguish the truth.
and we are separate because of the truth. This is another example
of Satan doing with us what he did with Christ in Christ's wilderness
temptation. When the devil quoted Psalm 91
to him, the devil is using the fact that we know the truth against
us. One of the evidences of spiritual
life is what Paul calls Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's
from Colossians chapter one, verse 27. And John is picking
up the same theme here. He is speaking about he that
is in you. It's the same thing. He that
is in you is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The two different
apostles say the same thing using different words. And that's what distinguishes
those who are the little children, those who are Christ's from those
who are not Christ's. Christ is in us. He that is in
you is greater than he that is in the world. A believer has no hope of eternal
glory outside of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ's
sacrifice. People say that they've got doubts
and lack of assurance. Isn't this an interesting way
to think about that? What do you call someone who
has no hope of eternal life, no hope of eternal glory outside
of Christ and his sacrifice? What do you call that person?
You call them a believer. Because these are the objective
truths that we have been given to believe and to understand.
And that's what John is saying here. This, says John, is the
reason a believer must have the gospel of sovereign grace. This
is the reason why we must have Paul's gospel when we go to hear
the gospel preached. This is why we must have Christ's
gospel preached to us. Believers have learned the true
gospel and we cannot stomach the false gospel. We cannot stomach
the false gospel. I'm choosing my words carefully,
but basically what this amounts to is this. Free will doctrine
makes us sick. We cannot have self-righteousness
being preached to us from a pulpit. Now a humble sinner under a devil
attack might cry in his soul, I might not sufficiently trust
what is true, but I jolly well know what is false. Which is why, like a moth to
a flame, It is free grace that we return to time after time
after time. Even when we're in the midst
of our doubts, even when we're in the midst of our challenges,
it's free grace that we crave. Even as our own heart causes
us to fear and doubt our standing in Christ. Why is that? You the doubt, you who have fear
about your standing in Christ, because greater is he that is
in you than he that is in the world. We will not be saved by holding
on to Christ. We are saved because Christ holds
on to us. and greater is he that is in
you than he that is in the world. One of Satan's ploys, one of
his games is to play comparative congregations and to make us
think that the grass is greener on the other side. He says, well,
you're very few, aren't you? You're very small. You're nothing
really. And they've got hundreds, thousands,
sometimes tens of thousands in their congregations. Numbers
must mean something, Satan says. Surely all these people can't
be wrong. But what does John say? He says
these false prophets, these gospel perverters, these people who
deny the efficacy of Christ's death and his blood, these people
who deny the righteousness which is imputed by God and the taking
away of sin and placing it upon the Lord Jesus Christ's shoulders,
these who deny the sovereign gospel of free grace, Verse five,
they are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them. They give natural man what natural
man wants to hear. They preach human power. They preach self-righteousness. They preach inherent goodness.
and whether it's implicitly or explicitly, they preach up justification
by human works and salvation by man's free will. They make
man his own saviour and for doing so, they earn the applause of
the world. They gather to themselves preachers
having itching ears, and those preachers give them exactly what
they want to hear. Final part of our thoughts today
gives us John setting out his own gospel credentials as an
apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse six he says, we
are of God, He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of
God, heareth us not. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Will we distinguish between the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error? Between spiritual gospel
and the gospel of men? I wonder if you can see where
my final thought today is going on this. John is speaking about his apostolic
authority. And he says, we are of God. We are God's preachers. We are
God's messengers. We are God's witnesses. We are
sent by Christ to gather his sheep. Now do you hear, right now, do
you hear today what John is telling you in this epistle? Because
if you do, then you are hearing John. You are hearing him. He says, we are of God. If you
hear this gospel, if you understand this gospel, if you receive this
gospel, if you can testify of trust and hope and faith in this
gospel, then you hear John. You hear his message. You hear
his testimony. That is because you know the
Lord. Why does sovereign grace thrill
you and offend the next person? Why does imputed righteousness
answer your need but upset somebody else who sees all their good
works being regarded as filthy rags? Why does distinguishing grace,
effectual love, limited atonement, wonderfully serve your need but
repulse self-righteous religionists? Why do you stay listening to
this message when most find it divisive and intolerable. One simple reason answers all
of those questions. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
us not. That's the touchstone. That's
the litmus test, the acid test. When you hear the Gospel, do
you believe that it's true? When you hear of Christ's work
on the cross, Do you believe that it's true? When you hear
of the efficacy of Christ's blood to cleanse a sinner from their
sins, when you hear about God himself saying that he will make
a righteous people, that he will be our shield and our defender,
that he will be our exceeding great reward, that it is the
Lord our righteousness, what is your reaction to that? Do
you believe it? then that is what makes the difference
between those who are of God and those who are not. Hereby
know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. All who
know God know the truth. They know the truth when they
hear it, and they know error when they hear it. Now I know that there are weak
souls who sit under a gospel ministry for years, sometimes
even decades, and they never have sufficient courage to testify
of grace in their lives because they fear their own heart. If that's you, let me ask you
this question. Do you think that going to a
free will church would help? Would becoming a legalistic Pharisee
or finding a new religion solve your problem? Of course not. Of course not. How do you know
not? Because you know God and you
know the truth when you hear it. You hear what John wrote
in his gospel. Jesus said, John chapter six,
verse 65, No man can come unto me except it were given unto
him of my father. No man can come unto me except
it were given unto him of my father. Do you know what happened
when the Lord Jesus Christ said that? From that time many of
his disciples went back and walked no more with him because they
couldn't stomach sovereign grace teaching. They went to the free
will church. They went to their works righteousness
preachers. They went back to their Pharisees
and their scribes and their synagogues and their temple worship. They
couldn't stomach free grace preaching. They went back and walked no
more with them. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. May the Lord give us all today
the assurance of Peter and John. Amen.