The Gospel of John, Chapter 15. Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to preach on this subject. I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people. Several times in the Old Testament,
the Old Testament prophets spoke of the burden of the word of
the Lord. And I'm going to attempt to speak
this morning upon this subject, the spirit of truth and the spirit
of error. And I feel a burden in preaching
this message the way it ought to be preached. I pray that the
Lord will help us as we consider the spirit of truth and the spirit
of error. There are only two spirits, the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error. It looked like to me,
in John chapter 15, I'd like to read verses 26 and 27. But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. And you also shall bear witness,
because you have been with me from Now, this is one of three times
in the Lord's final sermon to His disciples that He refers
to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. The third person of
the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Truth. Look in John 14, verse 16, And I will pray, the Father,
And he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide
with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive." They lack the ability to receive Him. Now, the world
is everybody who doesn't believe. It's all of those who Christ
didn't die for. It's the world that hates Christ. They are unable,
unable to receive the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit doesn't
work with the old man. There's nothing there he can
work with, nothing but sin. He must give a new heart. The
world was unable to receive the spirit of truth. Look in chapter
16, verses 13 and 14. How be it when he, the spirit
of truth, here he calls the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth once
again. When he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide
you. into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you." I love that promise. He shall guide you into how much
truth? All truth. Christ is all the
truth, and the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself. He speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever you hear a preacher
always talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit this
and the Holy Spirit that, you can survive His death, he doesn't
know who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit testifies of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in our text, Verse 26
of John 15, And when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, we see the unity of the triune God here. Christ says, I will send him
from the Father, and the Father sends him, even the Spirit of
truth which proceeds from the Father. He shall testify of me. He shall testify of me. The testimony of the Holy Spirit. Revelation 19 then says the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and testifying is not simply
audibly presenting the facts, it's the truth declared by an
eyewitness, somebody who knows what they're saying. It's where
we get the word martyr from. What you testify of is what you've
seen. You're an eyewitness. And by
the grace of God, you're willing to die for what you bear witness
to. You see, in preaching, it's not
just presenting the facts. If I'm a true preacher, I'm testifying
of something. Something I know, something I've
seen. That's what true preaching is. That's what true witnessing
is. It's bearing testimony. We bear testimony to who Jesus
Christ is because we know. We bear testimony concerning
what He did because we know. We bear testimony concerning
what He accomplished because we know. We bear testimony concerning
where He is now because we know. This is testifying. He, God the
Holy Spirit, shall bear witness. He shall testify. It's not just
presenting facts. It's a testimony. He shall testify
of me. And look in verse 27. And you
also shall bear witness. Same word as testify. You also
shall testify. You see, when the Holy Spirit
testifies, it's through a man. You also shall bear witness,
testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. Don't miss that. You've been
with me from the beginning. You've got something to testify.
Let's talk about every believer. This is not just talking about
the twelve disciples. Every believer has been with Him from the beginning.
That's not really a reference to you all around when my earthly
ministry began. That's not what that's talking
about. I've been with Him. Every believer has been with
Him from the beginning. That's mysterious. It's glorious. Although I was born September
9, 1959, however old the Lord is, I am. Because He's always known me.
I've been with Him from the beginning. Now, that's mysterious. Who can
grasp that concept? I certainly can't. But I believe
it. I've always been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
I'm bearing witness, I'm bearing witness to something that I know.
You see, I've been with Him from the beginning. United to Him
when I'm preaching, when I'm testifying. I'm testifying that
which I know. And every believer does. Turn
with me for a moment to Psalm 139. Remember what the Lord said to
Jeremiah? He said, Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. Now, look in Psalm 139. I know this is said of Christ,
but it's also said of all who are united to Christ, all of
his people. Verse 13. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvellous at thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid
from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written.
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of
them." You see, every believer has been with Christ from the
beginning. Wow! And because we've been with Him
from the beginning, we have something to bear witness of. In Acts 18,
verse 5, we read concerning Paul where he was pressed in spirit. and testified, being pressed
in spirit, he testified, he bore witness that Jesus was Christ. And even now, I'm claiming to
speak as a witness of something I know, something I've seen,
something I've experienced from his word. Now, here's the big
question. How can you and I know if the spirit of truth The Spirit
of God is speaking through a man and testifying of Christ, because
everybody makes that claim. How can I know if what I'm hearing is, in fact,
the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth? I am afraid
of speaking only as a man. I'm scared of that. I don't want
to be one of those people of whom the Lord testified they
went out, but I didn't send them. And I hope you're afraid of that,
too. I fear hearing only the words of a man and not the words
of God. Now, can I know? If yes, then
how? Thank God the Bible answers this
question. You can know. You can know whether
I'm sent from God. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Verse 1. Beloved. John loves the people
he's writing to. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God. Test them to see
whether or not, in fact, they are of God. We are told to try
and test the spirits, and we're commanded to not believe everything
we hear. He says, Believe not every spirit, But put them to
the test to see whether they are of God. They're either speaking
as the spirit of truth, from the spirit of truth, or they're
speaking in the spirit of error. Look once again at verse 6. John
says, we are of God. They, verse 5, they are of the
world, those people who preach another gospel. Therefore speak
they of the world, and the world heareth them. They agree with
what they're saying. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. I bet when people read that,
they think, how arrogant. You saying if you're of God,
you're going to hear me? If you're not, you won't? John
says, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. He that's of God,
heareth us. He that's not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Now, here is why we're concerned. We're warned not to believe every
spirit. Look back at verse one. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Many. Not a few, but many. When Elijah, the prophet of God,
was preaching on Mount Carmel, how many false prophets were
there? Eight hundred and fifty. Eight hundred and fifty to one. Many false prophets. Elihu said,
if there's one interpreter, one among a thousand. And I said
this in Sunday school this morning. It wouldn't surprise me. I think
this might be a pretty accurate representation for every thousand
preachers. Nine hundred and ninety-nine
of them are false prophets. Isn't that scary? I want to know. I want to be able to hear. I
want to be able to discern. Because God warns us of this.
He doesn't say just a few. He says many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Now, I want to ask the question. Is anybody ever saved through
the preaching of a false prophet? That's a question I want you
and I to grapple with and see what the Bible teaches. Is anyone
ever saved through the preaching of a false prophet? Would you
turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 23, beginning in verse 25. I have heard what the prophets
said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I dreamed, I dreamed."
Jeremiah 23, verse 26, now, how long shall this be in the heart
of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people
to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man who
is neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for The
prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, but he that
hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the
chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord. Is not my word like as
a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock
in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against
the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one
from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith, I
am coming from God. The Lord said this. The Lord
told me this. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,
saith the Lord, and to tell them to cause my people to err by
their lies and by their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them," and look at this next phrase, "...therefore they shall
not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Now, if I'm a false prophet, I'm in big trouble. And you are, too. If I am a false prophet, God's
going to send me to hell. And if I believe the message
of a false prophet, I will go to hell right with that false
prophet. That's a sobering, scary thought. How can I know if what I'm hearing
is from God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. Now, turn back to 1 John, verse 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Now, he's talking to every believer.
You can know if it's God the Holy Spirit speaking, the Spirit
of truth. 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. And that word anti, when we think
of antichrist, we think of some kind of monster against. You
know, it can just as easily mean, in the stead of. In the stead
of. Antichrist is one who comes in
the stead of Christ. He comes presenting himself as
Christ, as from Christ. This is Antichrist, where if
you've heard that it should come, and even now already, is it in
the world. The spirit of Antichrist. The
spirit of the false prophet. The spirit of error. Now, here's
how we know if somebody's from God. It's by what they confess. By what they confess, we're going
to consider this confession in a moment. But you can determine
that a man is speaking from the Spirit of God by what they confess. And you can see that a man is
not speaking by the Spirit of God, not by what he says. It
may be that everything he says is right on the money and you
agree with it. It's what he fails to confess.
That's the difference. This man, who is a false prophet,
does not confess. The true prophet confesses. The false prophet fails to confess. Remember what the Lord said to
the Pharisees? He said, You paid tithes of men, and I am coming,
but you have omitted, you have left out the weightier matters
of the law. judgment, mercy and faith. What you said is true, but you've
left out that which is vital. You've left out that which must
be. Now, it's a failure to confess. And I repeat, a false prophet
is not so much identified by what he says. It's more deceitful
than that. It's what he fails to confess.
That's what identifies a false prophet, and he's given us this
identification right here. Now, what does it mean to confess? Well, literally, it means to
speak the same thing. That's what the word means by
definition, to speak the same thing, to be in agreement. Now,
when I confess, I'm speaking the same thing as
every other believer. And in reality, what I'm doing
when I confess is I say the same thing God does. You know, true
preaching is just saying what God's already said. It's an agreement. It's agreement with what God
says. And there's something public
about it. A closet confession is no confession. It's what I
say publicly. It's what I identify with publicly. To confess is to plead. Guilty
is charged. And to accept the consequences
that go along with it. And when you confess to something,
I did it, you're saying I'm going to have to bear the consequences
of it. I love what Paul said in Acts 24, 14. He said, This
I confess to thee, this I confess to thee, after the way which
they call heresy, so worship. the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.
It's a confession. It's an admission of guilt. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 10 for a moment. I want you to see how important
this thing of confession is. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. That's what Paul said in Romans
10. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I look
in verse 7. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess
me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven. Now, think not that
I am come to send peace on earth. If you thought that, forget it.
That's not what this is about. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father and the daughter against her mother
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's
foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that finds his life, he's
going to lose it. And he that loses his life for
my sake, the same shall find it." Now, it was said of John
the Baptist in John 120 that he confessed and denied not. Now, to fail to confess is to
deny. To deny is to fail to confess. Turn with me for a moment to
Titus chapter 3. I'm sorry, 2 Timothy chapter
3. Verse 1. This know also that
in the last days Perilous times shall come for men to be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness.
Now, did you catch that? Having a form. of godliness. Now, I don't have any doubt that
he's talking about preachers here. I mean, it has other applications,
I realize. But these fellas have a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn
away from this sort, are they that which creep into houses,
and lead captive, silly women, laden with sins, led away by
diverse lusts, ever learning, and ever able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now, he says these fellas have
a form of godliness. Looks like it. In another place,
the Lord calls it a wolf in sheep's clothing. Looks like a sheep. Uses some of the right terminology
in the same language. Uses words like grace and blood
and faith and regeneration and election and all this justification,
all these scriptural words. They use these words, but they
change the meaning. You hear the right words, but
there's a different meaning. And this is having this form
of godliness. But what do they do? They deny.
Remember, to deny is to fail to confess. To confess is to
not deny. They deny. They deny. Having a form of godliness, but
they deny the power thereof. And I see this in so much preaching.
A form of godliness. Christ is the power of God. Now,
this form of godliness denies the power thereof. For instance,
they deny the source of the power. There are so many ways to deny
the power of Godliness. First, you deny the source of
the power when you deny election. Where does salvation begin? It
begins with God. He's the source of the power.
It begins with His choice of His people in Christ before time
began. You can have the form of godliness and deny the power
thereof when you deny the effects of the power. What does God have
power to do? You know, God has power to take
my sins and place them upon His Son. And they become His. And
He has the power to take His righteousness, His Son's righteousness,
and place it upon me. And there's some cladding up
of that issue. There's a denial of the results of the power.
What are the results of the power? Everybody Christ died for must
be saved. To believe that Jesus Christ
died for everybody and made salvation available for everybody, but
it's up to you to do something to make what He did work, that's
a denial of the power of Godliness. It's to deny the evidence of
the power. What is the evidence that God elected a people and
Christ died for that people? Faith. Repentance. A new heart. A new nature. The
work of God in them. There's a work of God for you
and there's a work of God in you. A false prophet denies the
power in some form. He's got a form of godliness.
But he denies the power thereof. Turn back to 1 John chapter 4. Verse 3. Every spirit that confesses not,
that's how the false prophet is identified. He doesn't confess. It may be that you agree with
everything he says. It may be it's all right. You couldn't
say anything he said was wrong, but it's what he left out. That's
what's vital. It's what he left out. Every
spirit that confesses not, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
is not of God, and is thy spirit of Antichrist? Where have you
heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the
world?" Now, how can I know the difference?
I read of the spirit of error and the spirit of truth. I read
of the Antichrist and somebody who is of God. How can I know
the difference? Well, every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God, and every
spirit that fails to make this confession is Antichrist. Now, this is a beautiful, simple,
profound way of understanding the difference between the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Now, the best way to see the
crookedness of a stick is to lay a straight one down beside
it. Now, what I want to do is lay this straight stick down,
whosoever confesses That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
as of God. I want to lay this straight stick down. And when
I become familiar with what this confession means and it comes
into my heart and soul, and I believe it, I can hear when this is not
being preached. I want to have this discerning
ear, don't you? I want to have some understanding. Now, here's
the confession. This is the great confession.
And this is something that, oh, may God give us the grace to
get a hold of this. Jesus Christ. came in the flesh. Now, what
do I confess when I make that confession? Remember, if I don't
make this confession, I'm not of God. What does this confession
mean? It means a whole lot. It's profound, it's glorious,
it's mysterious, yet it's so simple. First thing I confess
by making that confession, I confess that he was before he came in
the flesh. I confess the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know what I say about that?
I say Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ was before He ever
came in the flesh. He's the eternal, almighty creator
of the universe. He's God. I love it. Jesus is
God. Isn't that a wonderful statement? That's who He is. He's the God
of glory. And I confess that He came in
the flesh. The Word was made flesh. and
dwelt among us, he came in the flesh, he became what he was
not, flesh, and he never ceased to be what he already was, God,
the God-man. God became flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. So when we make this confession,
We confess that He was before He came. He's the eternal Son
of God. We confess that He came in the flesh. God became a man. And we confess that He did what
He came to do. What did He come to do? Matthew
1, verse 21 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall. save his people from their sins. He did what he came to do. Paul
said in verse Timothy 1, 15, this is a faithful saying and
is worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. He did what he
came to do. Now, he came to save them and
that's what he did. And we give every aspect of God's
salvation. Understand, God's salvation is
a package deal. It encompasses all that the Father
does, all that the Son does, and all that the Holy Spirit
does. It's a package deal. It's one salvation. All three
persons of the Godhead have a part in salvation. But Christ did
what he came to do. What did he do? He saved us.
What's that mean? Well, first of all, it means
he justified it. I love thinking about the fact that I am just
before God, that I have no sin before God. He justified me.
That's what He did when He died. I was justified. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He made
it to where I was not guilty. I am not guilty. My sin was placed
upon Him. It became His. He died under
the wrath of God and He removed God's reason for anger. Doesn't
any reason be bad at me? I'm perfect in Christ. Not only
did He justify me, He sanctified me. I was delivered first from
the penalty of sin. That's justification. I was delivered
from the power of sin. And what's that mean? Well, we
read in that earlier scripture, the world can't receive the Holy
Spirit. A natural man is unable to believe. A natural man is
unable to repent. A natural man is unable to love
God as he is. But when Christ saves somebody,
He pays for their sins, and He delivers them from the power
of sin by giving them a nature, a holy nature that does love
God, that does believe the gospel. There was a time when I did not
believe, and I do now. It's not because I decided to
believe. I just found myself believing. I found myself believing. I believe the gospel right now.
You know what I'm preaching? I believe from the very depths
of my heart. I believe. I believe the gospel. And I know why I believe the
gospel. He gave me that faith. I was delivered from the power of sin.
He gave me a new nature that was not there before. And look,
I'm not only delivered from the penalty of sin, I'm not only
delivered from the power of sin, I'm delivered from the presence
of sin. The scripture says in Romans
chapter 8 that who he justified, then he also glorified. Now,
if Jesus Christ, remember, he said, you've been with me from
the beginning. I've always been united to him. And if He's glorified,
you know who else is? I am. I don't see that. Me either,
but I believe it. A lot of things I don't see that
I believe. I believe on the testimony of
God's Word. He did what He came to do in
everything. Everything He came to do, He
did. And someone who fails to confess this, I mean publicly
confess this, Spirit of Antichrist. Spirit of Antichrist. Let's go on reading. Verse 7, 1 John chapter 4. He says, You are of God, little
children, and have overcome them because, and here's why you've
overcome them, because greater is he that's in you. than he
that's in the world. The reason you believe the gospel
is because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the
world. You wouldn't believe if it wasn't for that. Verse 5. They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. They agree with what they say.
We are of God. I love the simplicity of this
statement. He that knoweth God, heareth us." If you know God,
you're going to hear what I'm saying. I have no doubt about
it. Somebody says, that sounds so arrogant. I don't mean for
it to be. But I know this, if I'm telling
God's truth, if I'm preaching God's gospel, you're going to
hear it if you're of God. And if you're not of God, you
won't. It's that simple. 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." Turn back a few pages to John
chapter 8. John chapter 8. It's more than
a few pages. Beginning in verse 38. Let's begin in verse 36. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now, I know that you're
Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word hath
no place in you. That cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. And he says to these people,
my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your
father. They answered and said unto me, And Abraham thy father,
Jesus saith unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you
do the works of Abraham. But, dad, you seek to kill me.
Amanda hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This
did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication, and
we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your father, You'd love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do
you not understand my speech? Because you can't. You lack the
ability to hear my word. You are of your father the devil.
and the loss of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning and a bold nod in the truth, because there's
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces
me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me?" Here's the answer. He that took God, heareth. God's words. You, therefore,
hear them not, because you're not of God. Aren't too many different
ways to take that, are there? Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, said we not well, you're a Samaritan and have a devil.
You're crazy saying things like that. Well, I expect the world
to respond that way. That's okay. That's okay. May the Lord deliver us from
the spirit of error, which we will be fooled by, apart from
his grace, and give us the Holy Spirit of truth, that spirit
who testifies of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall
guide you into all truth. Aren't you thankful for that
promise? May the Lord God guide us. by his Spirit into all truth,
Christ who is the truth.