If you have an outline in front
of you, it's called in the title thereof, John the Beloved Contending
for the Faith. John the Beloved Contending for
the Faith. We are in the fourth chapter.
We are in the fourth, third, fourth leg of the race of this
wonderful epistle that John has written toward the end of the
first century. A.D. and the heart of his epistle
has to do with helping the believer understand what constitutes true
fellowship with God, true fellowship with God and how to sustain that
fellowship in terms of the blessings that God has given the church
in order that we might have communion with him. However, the gospel,
which is the grounds upon which the people of God have fellowship
with God, was not only birthed in controversy, it was developed
in controversy. And so I do want you to know
that when John is writing to the church of which he was head
and pastor, which would have been several churches in this
portion of Asia Minor and even Ephesus, he was dealing with
several heresies, several false doctrines, several false teachings
of which he had to secure the hearts and minds of believers. Now, if you have never been under
the influence of false doctrine and false teaching, then you
can't fully appreciate a letter or a an epistle that is apologetic
in nature is designed both to secure the peace of the believer
in terms of his relationship with God, but also to clarify
and to help them understand what error is and how error can be
so very, very harmful in our lives. Throughout the epistle
of 1 John, 2 John, and then hints of 3 John, but certainly 1 John
and 2 John, John has had to continually tell the church to make sure
that it understands the difference between the spirit of Christ
and the antichrist system that had already began to grip the
world and take advantage of ignorant and naive and probably in many
cases unsaved church people to draw them away from apostolic
doctrine and teaching and cause them to believe things that were
contrary to the gospel, contrary to the message of redemption.
Now, the word of God, your Bible has been assaulted every since
its inception, every since it has been canonized, every since
it has been put together in its literal form. It has been assaulted
by the secular world. So you need to know that you
don't have a book that is unassailed. It is a book that has been constantly
trifled with, distorted, denied for its authority, denied for
its Authenticity denied for its verity that is its content of
truth Denied for its claims to be the Word of God now that being
said You and I are probably operating on some assumptions And what
I mean by that is we we merely believe that the Bible is the
Word of God We merely believe that the Bible is the Word of
God your teachers will tell you that is a right assumption but
to believe that the Bible of God is one thing to be able to
demonstrate for yourself that the word of God is the word of
God is another thing altogether. So I know some of the things
that I'm going to say tonight are going to be a little bit
challenging, but it's very important for you as a Christian to know
that the only way that you can really affirm your faith is by
how solid an understanding of the word of God you really do
have. And that's where the apostles had their most vehement battle
was around affirming early Christians as to the truth of God's word
and more particularly concerning the gospel. So the battles that
are waged in the first century with the apostles were around
several things. One, the scriptures. This would
become a larger battle throughout church history. Other battle
that the early apostles, the early church fathers had was
around the person and work of Jesus Christ. That was the early
battle that they had. Later on, they would have a battle
around things like the nature of the spirit of God, how he
works, who he is. And then they would have battles
around things like the Trinity or what we call today eschatology,
end time events, end time events. So when you look at this list,
A, B, C, D, E, most of you assume that you have a good understanding
of those things. All of those are cardinal truths
confessed by the church, scripture, personal work of Christ, Spirit
of God, that's called pneumatology, the Trinity, and end time events. And we could go on and on with
a whole lot of other things that are inherent in the Bible of
which men have fought for ages. I say that to simply say to you
that there will come a time in your life where you will be challenged
on what is the ground and basis of your faith. You will be challenged
on that. And you will come to understand
then that it is essential for you as a Christian to really
take the word of God seriously, that you cannot any longer take
the position that I'm a Christian because I say I'm a Christian,
but I am going to have to now take Bible teaching and the assumption
that the scriptures are the word of God seriously. And that's
where your leaders in the church, your teachers in the church,
your elders in the church, your teachers in the church are designed
to help you. They're designed to help you
get grounded in what we call the confession of faith according
to the scripture. In John's day, the battle that
he was fighting really circumscribed around this issue, part B, the
person and work of Jesus Christ. In John's day, he was dealing
with people who could not handle the idea or the proposition or
the proposal that God could actually take on a human nature. They
struggled with the notion that humanity, the physical body,
could have the ability of co-joining in some way, some mystical way,
some way with divinity and not either corrupt divinity or somehow
change humanity. And so the early church fathers
fought through the issue of the relationship between Christ's
humanity and his deity to form confessions of faith by which
they could reconcile that confession that Jesus Christ has actually
come in the flesh in a scriptural way. Fierce battles were fought
about it. And when we read 1 John 4, verses
1 through 6, you are not being introduced to a new subject.
John dealt with it from the beginning. From chapter one all the way
through, you and I learned that John say, if any man says this,
if any man says that, if they say this, if they say that, and
we outlined seven things that was going on in the early church
of which men spoke about saying that they were believers in God,
but they denied this and they denied that and they denied the
other thing. And John says, you cannot say you believe in God
and don't hold to this also. You cannot say that you believe
in God, but you believe this also. And these, if you are new
with us, are in some of our earlier studies and you can go to them.
I told you also before that what John would do from chapters one
through four is he would introduce a concept like true fellowship
with God is based upon knowing God, the father, through God,
the son, and having a relationship with the two on the grounds of
the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. That's first John chapter one
around verse seven. And our fellowship is with the
father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. He talks about the basis of the
Christian fellowship with God is the person and work of Jesus
Christ. This is what allows us to have communion with the true
and the living God. He lays that down because as
we're gonna learn tonight is the central battle that John
is fighting for is this. You cannot be saved if you do
not believe that God assumed a human nature to bridge the
gap between his holiness and our sinfulness. That's the battle. That's the central battle that
John is fighting. Men were asserting that we could
have a relationship with God through mere knowledge. That's
called Gnosticism. Men were asserting that we could
have a relationship with God without any kind of mediatorial
work on the part of God. They were asserting that we could
have a relationship with God in a more mystical sort of esoteric
way that did not require what we call doctrinally the in car
nation. So if we're going to be, um,
students of the scripture. And we're going to be keen to
the writings of first John. Here's what you're going to learn
is that first John was really dealing with the person of work
of Christ and more specifically with the incarnation. Our outline
is going to help you over the next couple of weeks. And maybe
even tonight appreciate the incarnation ladies, you are already enjoying
the implications of this in biblical theology. And that's because
Once we understand how that divine revelation, essential to our
edification, takes every critical biblical doctrine and ties it
together in the person of Christ, our hope is built on the fact
that he has already accomplished what is necessary for our salvation. It is then therefore our prerogative
and joy to discover the truths that come out of who he is. Just
one thing if you and I were still waiting for him to finish a work
by which our salvation would be affirmed. It's another thing
to know that the work was finished and God himself declared it.
And we can now reach back in history and find those evident
concrete tokens that he has certainly accomplished eternal redemption
for us. All we have to do now is learn how to believe it and
articulate it. Well, having said those two points,
the critical issue for you and I, is learning how to believe
it and learning how to articulate it. Because as you and I know
that there are some days that it doesn't even require a devil
to shake up our faith. All it requires is waking up
on the wrong side of the bed. Am I telling the truth? And you
know, so then because of the weakness of our nature, the weakness
of our humanity, we have to drink from the well of grace constantly
to have our minds renewed so that we can be fortified with
biblical truth so that we can walk in a strong enough faith
that is informed by the word of God so that we can stand on
the truth of the things that have already been accomplished
for our salvation. And the vehicle by which that
occurs is the word of God. So as John speaks to the church
in the fourth chapter, we're gonna follow our outline and
I may be able to get through point two tonight. I just wanna
break into this letting you know It has been, since the creation
of the world, a fierce battle on the part of the devil. in relationship to his enmity
and hostility towards God. It has been a fierce battle from
the beginning of time, human history, the creation of the
world, and more particularly the creation of God's pinnacle
of this universe, mankind, a battle between the dark celestial forces
of fallen angels headed up by the devil and God's objective
to redeem mankind. The battle has been fierce. And
the reality is when you look around, and this has been the
case for several thousands of years, the devil has been able
to achieve the conquering of the hearts and minds of multitudes
of nations so as to use them for his own glory and they ultimately
end up perishing under the wrath of God. That is no small matter. In other words, being born and
growing up and getting old and dying, which is happening to
us quickly and going to heaven never happens by accident. It
never happens by accident. People don't go to heaven by
accident. And if a person should ever find
themselves at the door of the kingdom, entering into the kingdom
occurs always through much tribulation. The idea that you can easily
be saved and easily live the Christian life and easily go
to heaven, that's alien to the scriptures. That's alien to the
scriptures. We are told that down here on
this earth, we are in a warfare. So if you're under the illusion
that somehow you are able to drink spiritual pina coladas
and backstroke your way into heaven, you aren't in the right,
you aren't on the right page. You're in the wrong movie theater. And so that's, this is the context
in which I want us to enjoy and appreciate first John chapter
four. So it's going to, it's going to challenge you a little
bit unless you have been one of those Christians like I have
for over 30 years. that has always had to battle
with coming to a knowledge of the truth and battle with affirming
that truth in my own life and battle with dissuading false
doctrines and false teachings that would come my way. That
is the reality for all of us who are really serious about
the things of God. And in the process of that battle,
God shows himself mighty in our lives to comfort us and strengthen
us and lead us through. And we're gonna see how that
works here. I'm gonna read the first four verses. The, uh, first
four verses. Yeah. And then we'll go back
and unpack it according to our outline and see what we do with
our time tonight. Beloved believe, not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are going out into the, what asked the cosmos. We'll talk about that a little
later here by no ye. The spirit of God, every spirit
that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
See how the central battle was around those who confessed the
incarnation versus those who didn't? John made it very clear. He established a clear line of
demarcation in terms of confession. Now, remember, confession is
not simply saying something. It's having a knowledge of something
and being able to declare that thing that, you know, fully.
So confessing something is acquiring a biblical knowledge of that
thing and being persuaded by it, able to declare it as fully
as you know it. That's what confession means.
So John says, if you are one who is confessing that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh, and we'll get a chance to unpack
that in terms of the incarnation doctrine. then you are of God. And every spirit that confesses
not that Jesus is come in the flesh is what? Not of God. Now watch this exegetical. And this is that spirit of antichrist. Where of you have heard that
it should come and even now is already in the world. Last verse,
before we go back and unpack it, you are of God, little children
and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. Now let me say something about
that verse by way of exhortation and encouragement. What God just
stated is that the reason for which believers are able to overcome
damnable delusional deceptions, is because the impartation or
the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, whose job it is
to keep every believer from the moment of conversion until they
see God face to face. The reason why a man or woman
will make it to glory based upon a relationship with God through
Christ is not because of their intellect, not because of their
knowledge, not because of their rationale. Although those things
play a role, you can't say something about a God you don't know. The
way they will make it to glory is because divine omnipotence
and omniscience has chosen to indwell them and bring them to
that state of eternal salvation. He says, Greater is he that is
in you than the one that is of the world. And if we were to
do what is called a textual hermeneutic, we would know that the one who
is of the world was spoken of in the verses beforehand, the
antichrist spirit operating in those men who left the church
and who are now in the world. They are impressive. They are
powerful. They are influential. They are
able to deceive everybody. but God's elect. You got that? And I'll explain that too, because
it doesn't mean that they can't trouble us. They very much can
trouble you. They can actually delay your
growth. They can actually trouble you for long times in your life.
You can go for years under delusions of false prophets and false teachers,
but because God has chosen you under salvation through a knowledge
of the truth and by sanctification of the spirit, he will ultimately
deliver you out of the clutches of error. That's the joy that
we have but the journey is harrowing All right, let's start at the top
work through our outline here is the summation of what we're
going to be dealing with in First John chapter 4 verses 1 through
6 over the next couple of weeks Proving the false teachers. Do
you see that proving the false teachers by their denial of the
person and work of Jesus Christ? Which is the gospel? Overcoming
them by the Word of God and the grace of God through his spirit,
which is given us That's the summation of what John is talking
about that we are to prove false teachers By their denial of the
person and work of Jesus Christ, which is the gospel Overcoming
them by the Word of God the grace of God and the Spirit of God
which is given them So when you look at verse 1, here's what
it says beloved do not believe every spirit. Do you see that
phrase? Literally in the original what it means is stop believing
them It's a present indicative imperative, which means no longer
believe what they say. It reminds me of a proverb. I
think it's Proverbs 15 14 or 14 15 which says the simple-minded
person believes every word you're an individual is gullible they
just accept anything anybody says especially if they're authoritative
and The simple believe every word, but the prudent looks well
to his going. Now, the prudent person is the
person that doesn't just put stuff in their mouth because
somebody gives it to him. You know, like if you're super
hungry and somebody wants to give you a sandwich or something,
you just take it and devour it. That's an imprudent person. In
the spiritual realm, what a prudent person is, is a person that is
willing to examine what's said and seek to, by the grace of
God, use the resources to determine whether it's true or not. So
what John is saying to the church, first off, he starts off with
the beloved terminology. That, again, is what we call
pastoral talk. Beloved, beloved, beloved, beloved,
being under the inspiration of God. When he uses the phrase
beloved, you know what he's saying? You are children of God. But
we know he has already affirmed that doesn't don't we we know
he's affirmed that in chapter three He affirmed it in chapter
two and he affirmed it in portions of chapter one So we're already
dealing with listen to me ladies and gentlemen believers, aren't
we? But now I want you to mark this even believers have to be
warned about devils demons and false prophets You can't simply
comfort and encourage and exhort Christians after legitimate authentic
conversion and John was a An apostle so he bore certain gifts
of infallibility. He could know who true Christians
were you and I can't but he could so if he knows that they are
true Christians and he is still warning them to be diligent about
false doctrine and false teaching how much more so you and I And
so he said beloved Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they be of God. So it's actually when he when
he states that he's saying, don't do this, do that. Don't believe
them. Try them. The Greek term is Doki
Mo. And it really means to test or
to prove or to take them and put them in the furnace and put
the heat on them to see whether or not they are truly God there
are several things that we can take from that in our outline
the issue at hand as we already have learned is who is Jesus
Christ verses 1 through 3 testing and exposing the Antichrist spirit
you see that under 1 through 3 testing and exposing testing
and exposing verse 1 I want you to mark that and I've told you
guys this years before the term a spirit here is synonymous to
false prophets our teachers are people who call themselves proclaimers
of truth. Notice what he says, do not believe
every what spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are God,
because many, what false prophets are gone out into the world.
See it. So now what John is not saying
for you and I to do is to try to determine what demon is operating
behind them. That's not, we're not concerned
about the name of a demon, the presence of a demon, the influence
of a demon. What we are concerned about is
the doctrine that comes out of the person's mouth, who is governed
by either the spirit of God or demons. Here's the proposition. Every teacher operates by a spirit. Every professing teacher of the
word of God or theology or some form of religion is actually
operating under a spirit. Either it's the spirit of God
or it's the spirit of the antichrist. This is verse six. We are of
God. He that knoweth God listens to
us. The we in verse six, as we've
learned is the affirmation of the apostles. We apostles are
of God he that knows God hears us and he that is not of God
does not hear apostolic doctrine Hereby we know the spirit of
what truth and the spirit of what? So there are two spirits
in the world the spirit of truth and the spirit of error now the
reason why I share with you that verse 6 must be understood in
that first person plural we as primarily but not exclusively
speaking to the apostles and is because Jesus gave the apostles
the assignment to bring his gospel into the world. These were the
men who were infallibly governed by the Spirit of God to transmit
the message of Christ to the world. No other category of men
in the ministry of the word had the, as it were, Unique role
of apostles by which they would speak to the world and they they
would bring many women to a saving knowledge of Christ by their
words John chapter 17 around verse 9 Jesus praying to the
father says father. I Am praying for those whom you
have given me Because of the words with which these men who
are with me will speak. I regarding the apostles doctrine. So he had given the apostles
sanction to preach the gospel and the apostles message would
be the means by which many women would come to know who Jesus
Christ is. And this is why John can say
emphatically, we are of whom? God. Now, you know, every religious
crook and con says they're of God. That doesn't mean much. The way you test every crook
as to whether he's of God, is if what he teaches corresponds
to apostolic doctrine. Does his teaching score correspond
with the apostles doctrine? Because the apostles doctrine
was given to them by Christ. See what I'm getting at? So the
plumb line for us as we're going to see tonight is biblical truth
as has been given to us by the prophets, the apostles and Jesus
Christ. As we're getting ready to get into those who teach contrary
to the doctrine of scripture, Not of God and they must be possessed
by the spirit of error point number one in your outline a
Spirit here is a synonym Is a synonym to a false prophet verse 2 part
B. He confesses by Doctrine his
views his teachings his message. So when John says in verse 2
know ye the Spirit of God and Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit
that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is not of God. The word confession there is communicated by doctrine,
by their views of life in the world in terms of God's relationship
to it, by their teaching and by their message. In other words,
when we talk about the confessions of pastors and confessions of
scholars and the confessions of teachers, it comes out in
their writings. It comes out in their preaching.
It comes out in their messages. And that's all you and I have
to test. All you and I have to test is
what they say. And so John says, you can know
them by what they say and what they say about Christ in your
outline. He confesses by doctrine, his
views, his teaching, his messages. We've seen this in verse six.
There's either a spirit of truth or a spirit of error. You guys
see that? Now go with me in your Bible to Jude chapter, Jude verse
12 and 13. We're going to run through a
few verses. Many of you have seen this before, but I want
you to guys to see this. That is critical to understand
the difference between true teachers and false teachers in Jude verse
12 and verse 13. Here's what Jude says, contending
for the faith. Also, he says over in verse three,
beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which
was once delivered to the saints. So you see how they were also
dealing with contending for the faith. Then he begins to talk
about false prophets and false teachers. And here's what he
says in verse 12, These are spots in your feast of charity. When
they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds
they are, without water, carried about with winds, trees whose
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the
roots. That's a whole lot of language
describing false prophets and false teachers. It's hyper symbolism. and metaphors that describe the,
as I said to you when we were going through the book of Jude,
the disillusion and chaos and destruction of nature. We've
described the false prophet and false teacher as one who age
in a batch, the disillusion and destruction and chaos of nature. Wherever the false prophet and
false teacher is, They aid and abet and support the dissolution,
the destruction, the chaos, and the disintegration of nature. Look at the language again. This
is a false prophet. First, they are spots in your
feast of charity. The word is describing the fellowship
of believers around the word of God. When false prophets and
false teachers come in, the word spot means stain, contamination. They are persons who are in their
spirit because they're unregenerate and operating out of a spirit
of error. We're going to see that in verse
13. They are contamination. When they come into the midst,
they contaminate. They defile, they corrupt. They
contaminate the purity of the simple charity of the believers
when they come together around the word. You and I have learned
that the kingdom of God is righteousness. peace, enjoying the Holy Ghost.
That is the foundational principle of the kingdom of God. Where
the church is mature, where the church is sound, where the church
is operating in an orderly biblical fashion, righteousness, peace,
enjoying the Holy Ghost will reign. Where the church is not
mature, where the church is not sound, where the church is not
operating out of a biblical integrity, that church will be filled with
forms of chaos, disruption, divisions, conflicts, carnal ambitions,
fleshly agendas, strifes, contentions, and the more. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? And so what John is saying, Judas
saying in verse 12, this is what happens when they come in. They
produce this disintegration of the order of creation. He's using
the analogy of creation. Now, when God created the world,
he created the world with clouds, didn't he? Clouds are blessings
so long as they aren't filled with thunderbolts and rushing
through the land, destroying everything around them. Without
fear. Clouds they are in this sense
without what? Water. So these are useless clouds
because while they form pockets and bodies of cloud formations,
they don't have any kind of water content to pour on the ground
to satiate the soil so that it might produce fruit. It gives
a promise of life, but it doesn't produce anything. You see that? And so that's the idea of the
great swelling clouds that Peter talks about in second Peter.
They are like clouds without water, bringing great swelling
words, appearing to pour out on you a deluge of soul satisfying
truth. But at the end of the day, it's
just a sweeping rain with no meat. That's how the Proverbs
describes the clouds of the false prophets. He that boasted himself
in a false gift is like clouds and wind that pass by and leave
no meat. Got it? It's important to see
that. Now, the second metaphor that he uses, and I didn't even
really want to develop this, but it's important, is that not
only is he carried about by winds, the false prophet is tossed to
and fro by every doctrine. He's not weighty. He's not solid.
He's not substantive every new doctrine that comes along He
gets tossed to and fro by and then he wants to toss everybody
else the next phrase He's trees Whose what whose fruit
what? There it is now what that speaks
to is the superficial and temporary Appearance of fruit in the life
of the ministry of a false prophet The false prophet can appear
to produce fruit, but that fruit is really unauthentic fruit that
comes for a while and fades away. Jude is using an antithetical
phraseology as a juxtaposition for what Jesus said in John 15,
when Jesus says, I have called you, you have not chosen me and
I have ordained you that you should go forth and bear much
fruit and your fruit should remain. So the distinction between true
people of God and false people of God in the context of sound
doctrine and ministry is really the fruit here is referring not
only to his doctrine, but to the people who are the product
of his doctrine. And what I'm saying is this,
if you are under false doctrine and false teaching, you may appear
to be a Christian for a while until the test comes and you
fall away. That's the parable of the sower
and the seed, right? Every seed bearing herb will bring forth
fruit of its own kind. If you are being taught a corruptible
seed, a corruptible gospel, you're not going to have an incorruptible
fruit, an imperishable fruit. You may appear Christian for
a while, but as the Lord says, over time it will fade away. And this is often why so many
Startup ministries that start off in a man-centered humanistic
earthly carnal format people get excited about the ministry
They hurry up and get involved because it's growing and it seems
to be active and dynamic but give it one decade Or give it
two decades And then inherent, you will see the description
and characteristics that we are looking at. Conflict, contention,
debate, strife, arguments, vacillations, uneasiness, anxieties. Why? Because
it's built upon a flawed premise. It's built upon the greed and
needs and desires of the flesh rather than the glory of God.
Am I making some sense? So let me work through it. Whose
fruit withereth, they are without fruit, and they are twice dead. Got that? They're twice dead. It really is a statement connoting
the condemnation of the false prophet as being reprobate. Twice dead is the language of
Revelation chapter 20 when he speaks of the second death. They
are dead spiritually now and they are dead in the sense that
they were not ordained of God and they will perish eternally.
Twice dead. That's bad language for a false
prophet, isn't it? That's because the false prophet
will receive the greatest damnation. Let me go on. They are plucked
up by the roots, see that language plucked up by the roots. You
know what that means? That means they were never planted
by God. Every tree that my heavenly father
did not plant will be plucked up. That's the gospel of Matthew,
gospel of Luke. Am I making some sense? And so
what Jude and all the other apostles do, which is what, this is what
I love about them. Jude and the other apostles,
they actually, all they do is echo what Jesus said. So if you
are really a student of what Jesus said, you're going to hear
it coming out of the apostles because they were disciples of
Christ. And if we get apostolic doctrine, right, we are disciples
of Christ. Okay, so that's the language,
but I want you to get the verse 13, because that's gonna give
us the term, the spirit of error that I want you to grasp. Verse
13, there are raging waves of the sea. You guys see that? Another
grotesque imagery of the false prophet. Ladies and gentlemen,
because the Bible was written in the Middle East, it was written
in sort of a very Aramaic, Hebraic expression of form, because these
are all, most of these guys are Hebrews, Jewish. and the Spirit
of God used the colorful dynamic of imagery, please don't play
the imagery light. You know, follow the genre, capitulate
to the genre. You and I might be English-speaking
people, and we might be very analytical and didactic in the
way we approach terms and concepts, and we can miss the colorful
nuances of the kind of artistic, poetic phraseology of scripture.
But if you can pause for a moment and allow it to permeate your
thinking, you then can understand and extract from it its actual
essential meaning. What would a false prophet or
a false teacher or a false ministry look like if it depicted the
raging waves of the sea? See what I'm getting at? Well,
you can work that through. All you have, however, right
here is another antithesis to the nature of the kingdom of
God. For the nature of the kingdom of God, you need to learn this
is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. I know I got
to work this now. I know that I know I have to
deal with this. See, be careful that you don't think that it's
God because it's noisy. Please be careful that you don't
think that it's God. Cause it's noisy. That is tumultuous. That is assertive. That is adventurous. That is ready to go out there
and mow over everything and just take over the kingdom of God
suffered violent, but the violent taken by force. Oh, hold on. So I want to help you understand
how to sense the presence of the kingdom because sensitivity
to this dynamic rooted in the very explicit testimony of scripture
is going to help you stay in the realm of the kingdom while
you learn sound doctrine. Cause see, you and I operate
out of multiple streams of not only consciousness, but multiple
streams of communication. The devil knows that we're going
to learn some of this on Sunday. We may get it tonight. I can
tell by the way I'm, I'm parking it. We probably won't. But what
the enemy knows is he can communicate to you apart from words in the
realm of census and get you to agree without you being able
to be cognitively aware of what he's saying. Religion does it
all the time. Religion gets you to agree with
propositions that are not right. getting past your ability to
discern whether it's right or wrong, because it also couples
that proposition with feelings and emotions and stuff like that.
There's not to say that feelings and emotions are wrong, but when
it's not based upon the proper premise, it's going to be deceptive.
I feel like he told me the truth. That's crazy. What do you mean
you feel like he told you the truth? Those are two different
planes of thoughts, two different categories of thought. Feelings
and propositions are feelings and teachings and feelings and
words are two different conventions. Now, granted, words can make
you feel good, but feelings cannot produce words. You got that? Words can make you feel good.
But what if I sat up here and we just hummed for the next 10 minutes? I'm
taking you to some of our pagan Christian churches that get wrapped
up in all this folly until the Holy Ghost shows up. Humming. We're feeling good, but we have
advanced no light on the truth of scripture at all. See what
I'm getting at? So a Christian really is a thinking
person. Because in the beginning was
the word. And the vehicle between us and
God is the scripture. That's why when you come to church,
you open your Bible and the preacher or the teacher or the expounder
of the word is communicating you biblical truth so that the
mind can resonate with biblical truth and draw conclusions on
the subject at hand. And if he's telling the truth
and if you are of the truth and God is in that truth that's being
communicated, we are edified. Am I making some sense? Okay.
So here's what he says now, raising waves of the sea. He says, foaming
out their own shame. Now this is the emission, the
emission, the emission of what comes out of their teaching.
Jew calls it shameful stuff. Again, the word shame is a strong
Middle Eastern connotation of that which is unacceptable in
society. In our culture, shame, we wear shame as a garment, as
a robe, as a reward. We are a shameful culture, but
we don't have any shame about our shamefulness. Am I making
some sense? We are a shameful culture. We
walk around in our shame. We laud our shame. We tell everybody
we are such Because we don't have any shame about our shame.
But long ago, people used to be shamefaced. It used to be
modest, used to be thoughtful, used to be civil, exercising
decorum and different protocols that respected dignity. We're
learning this in biblical theology. Dignity is what God crowned mankind
with. Today, we're functioning like
beasts. And we are promoting our shamefulness as if this is
the true us. What we have failed to recognize
is we have lost the dignity that constitutes the true us. And
now we're no different than the animals. Am I telling the truth? That's our shame. And then when
the false prophet and false teacher preaches and teaches, what he
does is affirm the folly of a disintegrating culture. That's disintegrating
into more barbaric thinking and barbaric conduct. We are not
being transformed and as it were rising to the level of thinking
God's thoughts after him and then conducting ourselves according
to the revelation of scripture and walking in the dignity of
kings and queens and walking in the dignity of those knowing
God. We are walking as shameful sinners,
unclothed. And that's what John, that's
what James is saying. Now watch it. Wandering stars. You guys see that phrase? That's
our word for era. That's our word for the spirit
of era. The Greek term is planet. Oh,
planet. Oh, from which the term you and
I get planets are stars and false prophets are like planets are
stars that are wandering. They have unhinged themselves
from the atmosphere, from the solar system, from the magnetic
shield and force that keeps them in their place in the hemisphere,
and they're falling. Have you ever seen a falling
star? That's a false prophet. That's a false prophet. You got
it? Wandering stars to whom the mist of darkness is reserved
forever. In other words, they never are grounded. They don't
have a place in the structure, the orderliness, and the purpose
of the kingdom of God. This is the way Jude describes
them. Very picturesque, isn't it? Go back with me to our text.
Let's work this just a little bit more. I know I'm boring you,
but I do want to lay this foundation because it's critical to what
we're getting ready to get into. I have learned over the years
that we have a natural propensity, ladies and gentlemen, to take
false prophets and false teachers lightly. I'm going to say that
again because I know you missed it. I have observed in my life
over many, many decades that because of the sinfulness of
our nature, because of our inability to actually discern the encroaching
evils of our world, that we actually take false prophets lightly,
false teachers lightly. That's our natural propensity.
This goes all the way back to the first fall. One of the things
therefore one has to do is to be able to be counterintuitive
and very objective when you are listening to a teacher, especially
if you know you have the natural inclination to receive them based
on other criteria than sound doctrine. If that individual
looks good, if he sounds good, if they sound good, if they come
off appealing to you in any of the categories of your senses,
beyond that of the clear teaching of the word of God, you are inclined
to be deceived. This is why multitudes of people
flock big tabernacles with regards to persons who are wholesale
heretics. And then you and I be questioning,
we're getting ready to get into that for a moment, questioning
whether or not they're true. You don't have to question they're
true because they can get masses of people following them. You
can question whether they're true or not by whether or not
what they say squares with the truth of God's word. Now, if
you don't quickly go to God's word to determine whether or
not they're true or false, then you're again already susceptible.
Am I making some sense? Very important. Very, very important. So in our outline, I want us
to move to a question. If we are to test them, what
are we going to test them with? See, tested by what? You test
it by the word of God. Now that's just the first and
initial method by which we test them. Isaiah chapter eight, verse
20. Isaiah 8, 20 says, to the law and to the testimony. If
they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no
light in them. If our person can get that up
on the board, you see it, Isaiah chapter eight, 20 to the law
and to the testimony. Now the law and the testimony
is the word of God. The law and the testimony is
the word of God. We could say the testimony is in the law and
the law explains the testimony or that the law itself is the
testimony because both of these words are synonyms for the covenant.
Isn't that right, ladies? So the Old Testament, the Old
Testament has in it God's law, which describes his character
of holiness and righteousness, but it also leads to God's redemptive
purposes. So to the law and the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, it's because there
is no what in them. Ah, I like the metaphor, don't
we? I like the metaphor, because
John has already told us that we are either of the kingdom
of light or the kingdom of darkness. And we know to either be of the
kingdom of light or darkness determines whether or not we
are owned by God or the devil. If we are of the kingdom of light,
it's because Christ is the light of the world. And we're owned
by that light. If we are of the kingdom of light,
it's because the light of God's word is in us. Thy word is the
lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. I am the light of the
world. Anyone that follows me will never
walk in darkness. And that what Jesus said. So
here's what you and I are already subscribing to as a fundamental
basis for testing everything. Whether or not our authority
for examining and determining who's right and wrong is the
word of God. Then it is the word of God properly
understood. Because whether you know it or
not, virtually every false prophet derived their claims for a calling
from the scriptures. Isn't that true? So you're not
out of the battle yet Just because you got a Bible doesn't necessarily
mean you have been able to expose the false prophet It's a right
use of the Bible which will be our next point here in a moment
but I want you to consider some other verses in your outline
some of the other verses in relationship to the To the what of the testing
which is the Word of God is Hebrews 412 for the Word of God is alive
and The word of God is sharp and the word of God is powerful.
Do you see it? For the word of God is alive.
That's what the word quick mean. Doesn't mean fast. Told you that
before. It's not quick, it doesn't flash
across the stage. Told you about that false prophet
lady picked up her Bible, said the word of God is quick. Flash
it out like she was pulling out a sword quick. No, the word means
alive. not quick alive. And once you
understand verse 12, it means that it has the capacity because
it is the very voice of God and very mind of God. And you and
I were created by God. The word has the capacity and
the power to penetrate into you, into your mind, into your heart,
and to dissect your thoughts and your intent and to expose
your motives and to show you for who you really are. The word
of God has that ability. Are you hearing me? That's why
people who are of the darkness don't want to be under sound
teaching because it cuts the lights on. You come under sound
teaching. The lights are going to get a
cut on and there is no one that exit is exempt, including the
sound exergy. So it's alive, it's powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces to the
dividing asunder. That's what the Word of God does.
It separates between the truth and the lie. It separates between
the sheep and the goats. It separates between that which
is false doctrine and true doctrine. See, if your soul has been cast
upon the Lord Jesus with the objective of wanting to be saved,
you simply have to go through the process of letting the Word
do what the Word is going to do. If you are not ready for
salvation in the genuine sense, you're running from the Word.
Am I telling the truth? You go into one of those churches
where they teach you the Word for about five minutes, the rest
of it is dancing, singing, hooping and hollering. That's because you are not really
serious about eternity. So he goes on, it goes on to
say in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 and 18, As it deals with the
apparatus of the armory for the soldier, as you know, we are
to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, that
we are to put on the whole armor of God. And the last couple of
apparatuses that we are to put on is the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is what? The word of God.
And so the imagery there is going to battle against foes that are
trying to destroy our soul. You guys see that? That's why
long ago the church used to say, we are not in this earthly dimension. While legit, we have not entered
into glory. We are not the church triumphant. We are the church militant. We
are not wearing our white toe goals and doing laps through
the city because we have conquered the world with King Jesus and
everybody is waving. Hey, we thank you for having
won the battle. We're still fighting. Am I telling the truth? We're
still fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting
for the glory of God. We're fighting for the truth
of God. We're fighting for the honor of God. We're fighting
for the word of God. We're fighting for our own soul.
We're fighting for the souls of men and women. We're fighting
for the souls of our children. We're fighting for the souls
of men and women that we love. We're fighting a battle of redemption
because we want all that God has chosen to bring into his
kingdom to come into his kingdom. That's what we're fighting for.
And we are not free of that battle until we breathe our last breath. Am I making sense? So Paul says,
fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life for
which you have made a good profession. A couple more things with that.
Therefore, and then here's what I want to warn you about. If
you run across lazy Christians who are not serious about the
word of God, shake them up, shake them up. Don't be rude, don't
be mean, and don't be hypocritical, but shake them up. Because somehow
they have been lulled to sleep pretending that they're all right.
Now watch this. They may very well be all right,
but their mama ain't all right. The daddy ain't all right. Their
uncle's not all right. Their cousin is not all right.
Their friends are not all right. There's work always to be done. Am I making some sense? Always. Now, you and I have already learned,
and we'll pick this up when we turn the corner in 1 John 4,
because he's going to bring us back to another wonderful subject.
Remember how John works? He develops a thought, he leaves
the thought, then he goes back and touches that thought, advances
that thought, so he keeps every thought interconnected. There
are concentric circles with which he's advancing his thought, so
he goes back and recovers thoughts, because you and I are slow. I
know I am. So I need to have certain thoughts
recapitulated all the time. So John is going to pick up the
thought that the premise of this battle for us is predicated upon
the revelation of God's love in the person of Jesus Christ
by virtue of his atoning work at Calvary. You and I do everything
that we do in response to God's love to us. and that love is
centrally observed by the cross work of Jesus Christ. As Christ
laid down his life for us, we lay down our life for the brethren. That's the life that we live.
Am I making some sense? So we'll get there in a moment,
but I just wanna deal with the next point, cause this will open
up your thoughts for what we're gonna deal with next week. I
would go to 2 Corinthians 10, verses four through seven, Matthew
22, 29, but I don't want to. I wanna go to the next point
now and say that, here is the foundational issue that John
is going to be dealing with. And I've already said it before,
it is the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's the foundational
issue. Now, in Christendom today, And
we call the person and work of Jesus Christ. What we call the
person and work of Jesus Christ. What you better get it. You better
get that. Don't hesitate. Do not hesitate. Do not hesitate because everybody
has a definition of the gospel. And then there's a biblical definition
of the gospel. Don't you hesitate for you to
hesitate is the same as dropping your sword on the ground in the
middle of a battle with your arch enemy. That's trying to
kill you. You better know what the gospel is. You better know
how to say in very terse fashion. The gospel is the person and
work of Jesus Christ. For this is the gospel that we
have preached unto you, how that Christ died for our sins. He was buried. Raised again the
third day for our sin. That's first Corinthians chapter
15 verses 3 and 4 So the message of the gospel has to do with
the person and work of Jesus Christ Because the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes If
you don't have the true gospel, you're up a creek. I don't care
how much theology, you know Are you hearing me now the battle
of the devil is The battle of the devil is always to destroy
or disannul the gospel. His job is to bring into question
who Christ is. He don't mind you believing in
God. He just doesn't want you to believe
in God's son. Because he knows that God's son is the hinge pin to our eternal
security. Are you hearing me? He knows
that. That's why John says, now we
can know the spirit of God. Verse two is every spirit that
confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is not what I'm going to show you what I mean by what
I just said. Let me show you what I mean. So I'm going to
use, um, I'm gonna use in our outline, go another 10 minutes
and we'll be done. I'm gonna use verse two, parts
A, B and C, just a few verses. And I'm gonna wrap it up with
a couple of verses that are very clear about this. In fact, it
really is in point three. And I might just do that and
then come back next week. When I make the proposition that
the goal of the devil is to bring doubt upon God's way of salvation,
God's means of salvation. He knows if he can get you to
doubt those biblical claims, he can unloose you from your
certainty of faith. If he can achieve the goal, watch
this now, of distracting you from Christ, he's got you. If he can get you to doubt who
Christ is, He's got you. Are you hearing me? How powerful
this is can be described by an explicit text of scripture. I'm
going to share two with you in your thinking right now. I want
you to think this through. This is how powerful the doctrine
of the revelation of God in the person of Christ is. The devil
knows that if men and women are going to know God in a saving
way, it's only going to be as Christ has been revealed to them.
He knows that. But he is so diabolically and
fiercely driven to deny the authenticity of Jesus Christ. Watch this. He has been willing to challenge
Christ himself. Are you hearing me? How diabolical
are you and damnable of soul to want to see men and women
perish so bad that you are willing to challenge God himself on the
claims and certainty of his existence and his nature. Keep your hand
here and go with me and your Bible to Matthew chapter four.
I'm going to show you what I'm talking about. You're going to see it
again. It didn't make itself clear to
you before, but it will today. And you'll understand what I
mean by he is diabolically bent on denying Christ his rightful
glory so that he can see men and women perish. Are you hearing? So Jesus has just been baptized
in Matthew chapter three, right? And in Matthew chapter three,
we have the, the beautiful enunciation that underscores the triune Godhead. We read over in verse 16 and
Jesus of chapter three and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straight way out of the water and low, the heavens were opened
unto him. And he saw what the spirit of
God, right? Now that's the third person,
isn't it? The Spirit of God is the third person. The person
that just came up out of the water is the what person second
person now watch this this dove lighting upon him Verse 17 and
lo a voice from heaven saying now. I want you to hear this
language This is my beloved son Got it heaven just affirmed Who
Christ is? I want to show you something
now. I want you to see this. Jesus Christ has lived from his
birth to about 30 years old at this point in obscurity. serving his God and working and
being a carpenter and living life just like you and I. We
don't know those early days. We have no idea how those early
days transcribed. We know that he is God come in
the flesh, don't we? But how he lived this life was
very much a normal life like everybody else. Scripturally,
it is, it is no, there's no commentary about that. Don't go to the extra
biblical commentaries. They are unnecessary. You don't
need it. All right. When Jesus shows up for the first
time, John the Baptist says, that's the man. And then the heavens open up
and says, this is my beloved son. Now, I want you to watch
this. I want you to watch this. Now,
remember, ladies, what we learned in biblical theology, that God
gave us covenant tokens all the way through the scriptures because
of the weakness of our what? Our flesh, our soul. In his love, he gives us tokens.
Isn't that right? Because we're weak. I want you
to hear this now. The father just gave the son
a token. Are you hearing me? He just gave
his son a token, an affirmation, a public affirmation of his sonship. Now, if it follows, I want you
to hear this now, that I'm human, albeit weak through sins and
other things, it may very well follow with qualifications that
my master was also human, albeit without sin. Are you hearing
me so far? But because of the relationship
between the father and the son, God being consistent with both
his unique and only begotten son, just as much as he is with
me, will give not only me tokens and affirmations of my sonship,
he had to do it with the son of God too. Can I tell you why? Because the things that the son
of God would have to go through were infinitely much more difficult
than any of us could ever go through. It underscores the love
between the father and the son. And it demonstrates their cooperative
work together in the process of the son manifesting the father's
glory. Are you hearing me? That the
father said, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you in
all this. I want to let the world know
that's my son. Are you hearing me? like He does
with us. The Spirit bears record with
our spirit that we are sons of God. He has to because of our
weakness. Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
Right after God made the announcement of His Son, right after the Spirit
of God descended upon Him, we're talking about the God-man now.
We're talking about the human Christ now, who is now going
to, in His incarnation, manifest His Father's glory. The first
thing that happens is the third person drives him into the wilderness. To be tested. You know what he was tested on?
Are you ready? His sonship. Who he was. Are you hearing me? Who he was. Watch it. verse 1 of chapter 4. Then was
Jesus led. As many as are led by the Spirit
they are the what? Sons of God. I want you to get
that in your head because that's right now what we are working
with. Affirming the Sonship of Christ. affirming the incarnation,
affirming our relationship to the incarnation and its benefits
to us. Because the way the father is with his own son, he is with
us who are his adopted son. God doesn't change. He loves
us all who are his. Are you hearing me? But you and
I get tested sometimes, don't we? Our master got tested in
ways you and I could never. Watch this. Then was Jesus led
up of the spirit into the wilderness to be what? home I Remember teaching
on this years ago at the old church telling you Jesus faced
this foe head-on The first time he was made known for who he
was Now ladies and gentlemen be careful don't think you can
handle the devil Be careful Be careful. Before his father sent him directly
into this storm, he had to do two things. Send the third person
to help him and then to let him know, you're my son. Because an understanding and
an affirmation and a concrete clarity of his sonship would
be critical to his passing the test. You got that? Here it is. Verse two. And when he had fasted 40 days
and 40 nights, he was afterwards hungry. Now that's speaking to
the incarnation. This is the God man. God can't
be hungry, but the man can. Are you guys understanding? The
emphasis then is on his humanity. He is going through what you
and I all go through, hunger of all sorts, which puts us into
a place of temptation and need, because he had to depend on his
father, like we have to depend on our father. Is that true?
He's in this place of temptation now. Watch the language. I want
you to hear it now. Verse three, here's what I meant
by the devil, his whole objective, is to deny the sonship of Christ. And when the tempter came to
him, he said, now I want you to hear it. Here it is. Here
is the issue. If you be the son of God, got
it? If you be the son of God. So this falling, this fallen
creature, sitting on the side of heaven because he got kicked
out, heard that the son of God himself, very God of very God
was coming into the world. He knows that if he can cause
this one to mess up, the whole thing is aborted. Now, ladies
and gentlemen, he raises a question in our mind of utter futility. But with regards to God's purpose
for us, it means everything in the world. What do I mean? You and I know that because Jesus
is the son of God, the question, if you be the son of God, is
a question of futility on our part, isn't it? It makes no sense
to ask God if you be God. That's like walking up to a wall
and saying, wall, if you be there. Right? There's a foregone conclusion
that the wall is there just to ask our question. The wall being
there must have other implications and other objectives to it. So
when the devil asks Jesus or questions Jesus identity, it
is really for you and I to learn. Are you hearing me? If you be
the son of God, it's for you and I to learn that the goal
of the devil is to deny and bring to question the reality of who
Jesus is. If you be the son of God, now
you say you are the son of God or your father has just declared
you to be the son of God. You guys got that? Your father
just said it, let's find out. See, if you be the son of God,
listen to the language. Command these stones be made
into bread. You see that? I'm not going to
get into the answer. I want to go to the next test,
verse six. And he said unto him, if you
be the what? See it? Cast yourself down for
it's written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee
and in their hand shall they bear thee up, lest at any time
you dash your foot against the stone. That's two tests, isn't
it? Two tests. Then it says over in verse eight
and the devil taken them up into an exceeding high mountain and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world Watch this and the
glory of them. So where is the devil pointing
Christ to the world? the world What world the world
that he has control over the world that he has influence the
world that he has as it were jaded and and goaded with all
gilded rather with all of the allurements of the flesh and
All of the tempting things of which John says in 1st John chapter
2, all that's in the world is the lust of the eye, the lust
of the flesh and the pride of life. See, Jesus is being tempted
with the same test that you and I are tempted with. And he's
being tempted on this premise. So your father says you are the
son of God. Got it. See, this is that place
where the devil wants it to fail. And if Christ were to once question
his identity, you and I would be lost. Are you hearing me? If he were to once question his
identity, because inherent in his identity is his mission. Inherent in his identity is his
authority, is his power, is his influence, is his mission. If
Christ didn't know who he was, he wouldn't know what he's doing. Got it? And with every test,
you know what the son of God did to affirm his sonship point
to the scriptures. This is what the books say. This
is what the book says. This is what the book says. This
is what I'm talking about. This is what I started with in
our study. Isn't that what I started with in the study? This is how
you test the devil. This is how you test the false
prophet. This is how you test him. Notice now, Jesus is the
logos. He's the wisdom of God, infinite wisdom. He is surpassing
wisdom. He could have used any form of
argument he wanted to. All he ever used was the scripture. Because the scriptures are able
to demolish everything that's contrary to God. He simply quoted
the scripture. He didn't even argue with the
man. He didn't debate with the man. He simply said, this is
what the book says. And the brother ran off. Got it? So now watch this, we're
done. We actually have our catechism.
We actually have our marching orders. You and I are going to
be saved. when we are clear on who the
son of God is. And we're gonna be safe when
we have established our own sonship with the father. And we're gonna
be safe when we stay in the book, just like the son stayed in the
book. And we'll come back and deal with the rest next time.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for the saints as we
go our way, give us traveling mercies, prepare us to worship
you on Sunday. We pray in Jesus name, amen. God bless you.