The pure, not the impure, but
the pure, whatsoever things are lovely, pleasant, encouraging, whatsoever things
of good report, not a bad report, bad preaching, good preaching.
If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these
things. Spend your time thinking on that
which is positive and pure and beautiful and edifying and glorifying
to God and enjoyable. And then he said again in another
passage, rejoice evermore. Don't complain, rejoice. Pray
without ceasing. And in everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God concerning you." And I want to do that. I want to be positive in my thinking
and in my preaching, always exalting the Redeemer and rejoicing in
His grace. But how troubled, troubled I
am. And many of you are, in this
day, in our area, out here where we live, over what is called
religion. Talk about bad report, ugly,
blasphemous, unscriptural. What is called in this area religion? What is called the gospel? masquerade as God's business, churches,
preachers. This has to be, it just has to
be, the very worst situation in many centuries. I know a little bit about church
history and the history of religion, and what we're in in this day,
which that which is called religion, that which is called the gospel. I tell you, it's the very worst
situation since the dark ages, since the days of paganism and
heathenism and superstition and darkness. I tell you, in our day, truth
is so scarce And error is so prevalent, so
dominant, it's frightening. And from this scripture here,
I'm going to talk to you who are blessed of God to know the
gospel, and to love the gospel, and to rejoice in the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to show you from this
scripture three things. One is a special test for all
preachers. Secondly, a special relationship
between certain people. And thirdly, a special blessing
for those certain people. Now, here in 1 John 4, beloved
John speaking to believers, to the church. I am my beloved,
and he is mine." Beloved. I thank God for you, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. This is written to believers.
Beloved. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God because many false
prophets have gone out into the world. You notice the word Spirit
and Spirit begins with a small letter. It's not talking about
the Holy Spirit, which is always capitalized. Verse 2, Hereby
we know, hereby know ye the capital S, Spirit of God. So in verse
1, the word Spirit and Spirit here, try the Spirit Believe
not every spirit." The word spirit here, you can change it to preacher. Beloved, believe not every preacher,
but try the preachers, whether they are of God. And the reason
you can supply the word spirit is because these men here, of
whom he speaks, are men who claim to have God's spirit. They have
another spirit. They claim to speak for God.
They claim to be sent of God, and they usurp the office of
pastor, preacher, and teacher on their own. Beloved, believe not every preacher,
but try the preachers, whether they are sent of God. Because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. Let's look
at a couple of scriptures. 2 Peter. That's just over a very
few pages. 2 Peter chapter 2. And Peter
talks about these false preachers. He says in chapter 2 of 2 Peter,
But there were false prophets, preachers also among the people
of Israel, even as there shall be false teachers among you.
who privately bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And here's the regrettable thing. Many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness, these
men are covetous men. praise, they covet silver and
gold, they pray covet. Self-glory, they covet. They
covetous men, they shall with feigned words make merchandise
of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and
their damnation slumbers not." Many false preachers. Paul said
they'll come preaching another Jesus, another gospel by another
spirit. try the Spirit, try the preacher,
whether they're of God. All right, verse 2 in our text.
Hereby, here's the way you know the preacher of God who has the
Spirit of God, capital S, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Here's how you know the preacher
who has the Holy Spirit who is sent of God. Here's the way you
know. Here's the test, special test. Every spirit, every preacher
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. That's the special test. The
special test, of course, the word of God's the test. If they
speak not according to the word, it's because there's no light
in to the law and to the prophets, if they speak not according to
the word of God, is no light." But here's the specialty. It
has to do with Christ. It has to do with Christ. As
Brother Gruber said this morning, who he is, what he did, why he
did it, and where he is now. You see, he's the believer's
chief cornerstone, and he's the heretic's chief stumbling stone
He is He is that it's not doctrine That is our chief cornerstone
and their stumbling stone. It's he who he is what he did
Every preacher that confesses that who he is Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God It has to do with him His person
and work is the mark of a true preacher. And his person and
work will be where the false preacher fails. Now you see that? His person and work. That's the
mark of the true preacher. Has to do with who Christ is.
What he did. Where he is now. His effectual
work. And the false preacher, he'll
fail, fall, stumble at this one place. Christ. Now listen carefully,
verse 2. Every preacher that confesses
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. One, listen
now, three things. When the preacher or the Holy
Spirit preaching through that preacher says Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh, he is saying that Jesus Christ was before
he came. We don't say Dale Parker came
in the flesh. He never was before he came.
He was born. How many years ago you were born? That's when you started. But
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He was. He is. He ever shall be. He was with
the Father. Co-equal. Co-eternal. Very God
of very God before he came. God is come in the flesh. That's
what we're saying. Great is the mystery of godliness. God came in the flesh. God sent his Son, made of a woman,
made in the likeness of flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was made flesh. That's
what he's saying first. Secondly, he's saying this. When
the preacher says that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
he's saying this, that he actually, literally, put on human flesh. As Cody said this morning, he
wasn't masquerading as a man, he is a man. Just like Adam was
a man, the representative of all men in the flesh, Jesus Christ
is a man, the representative man of all in the spirit. By
one man, sin entered this world, and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men. By one man, righteousness, the
many became righteous." He's a man. Bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. Turn with me to Philippians 2.
This is what the Spirit of God is saying. This is the preacher.
This is the supreme special test. What does he believe about Christ?
Philippians 2, listen to this, verse 5. Let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in passion, in habit, as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Thirdly, hereby know we the Spirit of
Christ, the Spirit of God, the preacher sent of God, He confesses
that Jesus Christ was, is, and ever shall be the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Bear God or bear God. And he
came in the flesh, born of a woman, made under the law, bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh. And that preacher also confesses
what he came to do. The work God gave him. What was
this word? All right, Matthew 1, listen.
Matthew 1. Here it is, when the angel came
and announced his birth, Mary having been found with child
of the Holy Ghost. And Matthew chapter 1, verse
19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
to save her embarrassment. And while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thy son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior Joshua, for he
shall save his people from their sins. God is coming into this
world in the likeness of sinful flesh on a mission to perform a work. And that's
what he came to do, to save, not help save, or make savable,
or fix them so they could be saved by what they do. He came
literally, actually, effectually to save. his people, not the
whole world, his people, his sheep, his church, his elect,
his own. He came to save them forever
from their sins, from their sins, completely effectual. That's
why he came. Isaiah 53, let's look at this. Let's talk about the Redeemer
here whom God sent. Isaiah 53 talks about He grew
up as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. When we see
Him, there's no form, no beauty we should desire. In verse 3,
Isaiah 53, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. We hid our faces from Him. He
was despised. We esteemed Him not, but He bore
our transgressions, our griefs and sorrows. We did esteem Him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him, with his stripes we are healed. All
right, watch verse 10 now. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That's saying two big things.
One, it was God that sent him to the cross. It pleased the
Lord to make him an offering for sin. It pleased God. That was God's good pleasure. That was God's purpose and will.
His death wasn't an accident. His death wasn't the doings of
men. It was the doings of God. He used men and their wicked
heart, but pleased God to bruise him. The second thing that's
saying is this. His bruising and his sacrifice
and his offering pleased God. In the sacrifices, God never
had any pleasure. in all of the blood that flowed
on Jewish altars for thousands of years. Rivers of blood, sacrifices. In these sacrifices, God never
had any pleasure. But from the day Jesus of Nazareth
was born in Bethlehem's manger, until he died on that cross of
barren rose again, the Father said, this is my Son in whom
I will It pleased God to bruise him. It pleased God. And now let's look at verse 10
here. Isaiah 53. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He put him to grief. When thou shalt make your soul
an offering for sin. I didn't do it. God did it. He shall see his sins. who is
his seed, his children, his brethren, his church. He shall prolong
his days, eternal days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. That God, man, came down here
to do something, and he did it. The pleasure of the Lord prospered
in his hand. But he don't. And he shall see
of the travail of his soul, the travail, that's birth pains,
that's bringing forth children. And the travail of his soul,
he made his soul an offering for sin. And he'll see the results
of it, the birth of a righteous nation. He'll see the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. Jesus Christ is not dissatisfied
with what he did or what's happening on this earth. He's pleased. He's satisfied. We not only have
a sinless Savior and a suffering Savior and a substitutionary
Savior, we've got a satisfied Savior. He is seated at the right
hand of God. When a man is seated, his work's
finished, and he's not disturbed. Read on. By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Yes, sir. In our text, let's
look at it. Here's the test. And you put
any preacher you hear to the test, this one included. The
true preacher confesses that Jesus Christ was before all things
because he made all things. And he is come into this world
in human flesh. There's a man in glory. the man
Christ Jesus. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that's the man Christ Jesus, the perfect
man, the righteous man, the sinless man, the Redeemer. He's our advocate,
the righteous one. And what he came to do, he did.
And that's a true preacher. Now, some preachers deny the
divine nature of Christ. Those people that come to your
door with their literature, you tell them Jesus Christ is God
and see what their response is. Some people deny his divinity,
deity, some people deny his humanity. No, he wasn't, he was God, he
wasn't really a man. Yes, he is, not was, he is a
man. And then others deny the effectual,
sufficient, substitutionary work of Christ. And what they do is
leave the final redemption of a man's soul in his own hands. I tell you, the planning of my
redemption, the execution of my redemption, the application
of my redemption, and the completion of my redemption is all in the
hands of my Redeemer. Right? That's where it is. God
put it there. And he shall not fail. If any
of it is left for me to do. If after all these years of preaching
and believing and witnessing, my time, God's time for me to
leave here comes and I walk up to heaven's gate and I'm one
yard from the gate and the rest is left up to me, I'm done. That's just how it depends on
Him. Where He found me and He came
to me and he lift me, and he washed me, and he kept me, and
he'll raise me, and he'll take me to glory, and he'll conform
me to his image. It's all of the Lord. And every
spirit, verse 3, here we go, every preacher that doesn't confess
this, that Jesus Christ, Jesus Joshua Christ Christo Messiah,
is come in the flesh. and all that it involves, he's
not of God. He's not of God. This is a spirit of antichrist. Well, you heard that it should
come, it's even now already in this world, the world's full
of it. What is the spirit of antichrist? Listen. It's the
spirit of who rejected the blood atonement for his own works. That's anti-Christ. That's where it started, right
there. It's the spirit of Cain who came and said there must
be another way. There's got to be another way
more appealing to the flesh. Got to be. And he refused the
blood. It's the way of the Galatians.
Paul called them foolish Galatians, who insisted on circumcision,
Sabbath days, the law, the tithe, as part of redemption. Paul called
it another gospel. And he said, if any man preaches
this other gospel, let him be accursed. Paul, he said, I'll
say it again, you Galatians, I marvel you so soon departed
from him that called you to the gospel of Christ to another gospel,
a gospel that says Jesus is the way, but also you've got to be
baptized, circumcised, canonized, keep the Sabbath, keep the law,
tithe, do all these things in order to help the Lord Savior.
He said that's another gospel. It's anti-Christ. It's the spirit
of Catholicism. which exalts Mary on the same
level as Christ. Now come on, that's anti-Christ. It's the same spirit of Catholicism
that exalts the priest and departed saints on the level with Christ
as objects of prayer, praying to the saints. And in the name
of the saints and in the name of Mary is anti-Christ. That's
right. It's the same spirit of fundamentalism
today. People who preach a general atonement
that does not atone, that's anti-Christ. People who preach a redemption
that does not redeem, that's anti-Christ. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. By my righteous service knowledge
shall he justify many. He didn't fail. He's a Savior
that saves. He's a Redeemer that redeems.
He loves with an eternal love. Fundamentalism says it's a universal
love that will turn to hate at the
judgment. Oh! They say God loves you. God loves everybody. God loves
everybody. God loves you. I love you. Everybody.
God loves everybody. But He's going to send you to
hell. If you don't do certain, then He doesn't love you. Don't tell me God loves me, and
then I'm going to hear Him say, depart from me. How can you talk out of like
the old Indians, you say out of both sides of your mouth like
that? God loves you, and then He hates you. God wants to save
you, and then He's going to damn you. What kind of God is this? It's not the God of the Bible.
That's anti-Christ. Our Lord said, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn you. My sheep, hear my voice. I know
them. I give them eternal life. They
never perish. Not my sheep. Well, they said, if you be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you, but you
didn't believe me. You didn't believe me because you're not
of my sheep. If you were of my sheep, you'd believe me. My sheep,
hear my voice. I love my sheep, lay down my
life for my sheep. I'm telling you the truth. It's
anti-Christ. The Spirit, this Spirit, this
Spirit of works, human righteousness, is anti-Christ. It's opposed
to the Holy Spirit who gives Christ all the glory. Our Lord
said, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will not
glorify himself, but he'll glorify me. And he'll take the things
of mine and show them to you. That's the spirit of truth. Glorifies
Christ. Now this Antichrist robs Christ
of his glory. Now listen carefully. This Antichrist
is not anti-religion. It's very religious. This anti-Christ
spirit is not anti-morality. It's very moral, outwardly. Outwardly. This anti-Christ is not anti-good
works. It encourages works. It's anti-Christ. That's what it is. Christ. Now,
I'll show you pro-Christ. Turn to Colossians 1. Colossians
1. This is not anti-Christ, this
is pro-Christ. This is Christ glorified. Colossians
chapter 1, verse, listen, verse 14. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, who is the firstborn of every creature.
For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the church,
the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fulness dwell, and having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. that were one time alienated
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death, to present you wholly
unblameable, unreprovable in his sight, if you continue in
the faith." Amen. 1 John 4, look at it again. Verse 4, "...you are of God,
little children, beloved You are of God. What does that mean,
you are of God? Well, it means, quickly, five
things. You're in Christ of God. What's
1 Corinthians 1.30 say? But of him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You are of God. God chose you
and put you in Christ. You're in Christ, of God. Of
God or you in Christ? He was made unto us of God. Wisdom. All right? Secondly, we're born
of God. I read it this morning, 1 John 1, verse 12. As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become sons of God, which were born, not of blood,
not of fleshly genealogy. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but of God. You are of God. You are of God. You are in Christ.
Of God you were born again. Of God you are the called of
Christ Jesus. That's what it says. Called of
God to be heirs of glory. He called you. He chose you. He regenerated you. He called
you. And then 1 John 3 says, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but when he shall appear, we shall see him. Do you like
that? And then 1 Peter said, You're kept by the power of God. You are of God. Little children. You're still little children.
Old folks, but still little children. That's right, listen. And you've
overcome them. Who have you overcome? Who have
we been talking about? False preachers. That's who we've
been talking about. Try the preachers. Many false
prophets have gone out into the world. But you've overcome them. You're able to discern between
truth and error. Between false religion and true
gospel. You're able to discern and know
error when you hear it. Hypocrisy when you see it. Deception
when it's presented to you. I tell you, Bob read a passage
from Matthew 24 tonight. Turn over here to Matthew 24. I tell you, these fellows that
come in the name of religion, the name of themselves, Verse
24 of Matthew 24, they'll come with a lot of talk and a lot
of human wisdom and a lot of show and a lot of signs and Matthew
24, 24 said, there shall arise false Christs and false prophets
and show great signs and wonders insomuch if it were possible
they'd deceive the elect. That's how deceptive it is, if
it were possible. Thank God it's not possible. I tell you two reasons why it's
not possible. One, he keeps the elect. He won't let them depart. But the second reason is, they
have overcome these false preachers, and they know who they are, they
recognize them. They're not going to be deceived.
Blessed are your eyes, Christ said, they see. Blessed are your
ears, they hear. Blessed is your heart. It understands. You didn't, flesh and blood didn't
teach you this. My father taught you this. You're
taught of God. You are of God, little children,
and you've overcome these false prophets and false religions
and false preachers. You know them. You can discern
them. You can smell them. And I'll tell you another reason,
because greater is he that's in you than he that's in them,
the Holy Spirit in you. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. But the Holy Spirit in you is
not going to let you listen to error. The Holy Spirit, His Spirit,
beareth witness with my spirit. The Spirit of God is greater
than the spirit of error and the spirit of evil. no believer
will ever be deceived, not finally. Now you will be fooled for a while, but after a while
you begin, you keep listening, keep listening, keep watching,
keep observing, and you'll see the false prophet. Sometimes
they're hard to see, they come in sheep's clothing, and sometimes it takes It takes
time. Not always like that. Because
they creep in. You just have to have that discernment. But you have it. You have that
discernment. You have that discernment. You
see, verse 5 says they are of the world. The false preachers
are of the world. You are of God, they are of the
world. They are of the world, therefore
they speak of the world and the world hears them. They preach
what the world believes, they preach what the world wants to
believe, they preach what the world wants to hear. That's the
reason. Come on, somebody say amen. That's
what they say all day. Come on, help me out, help me.
You don't need to help me out. You didn't help me in, you can't
help me out. I'm preaching what I see God has shown me. I don't
need any help out there. They preach what the world wants
to hear. Let me show you that in John 15. Somebody say amen. Some
of them always say that. Somebody say something. Don't
just sit there. I need help. I'm floundering
here in this sea of error. That's so pitiful. John 15, verse
19, listen. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you." Little children, you are of God. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world
and the world hears them. Verse 6 now, back in our text.
We are of God. And he that knows God hears us.
And he that is not of God, he won't hear us. He wouldn't hear
Christ, wouldn't hear the Apostle. Hereby I know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. What is the test? What's the
special test? What think ye of Christ? That's
it. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Who is he? What did he come down
here to do? Did he do it? Why did he do it? Why did Christ have to die on
the cross? God sent him forth as a propitiation, as a mercy
seed, as a sin offering. Why? That God may be just and
justify folks like us. That's why. We had to have a
Savior. And God had to have a Savior.
Jesus Christ died not just for you, but for God. What are you
talking about? I'm talking about God cannot
justify a sinner without a sin offering. without a high priest,
without some blood sacrifice, without a substitute, without
a righteousness. And Christ's death was not toward
you, it was toward God. Wasn't that right, Cesar? It
was toward God. The blood was offered before the Lord to justify
God in showing mercy to you. That's right. And enabling God
to be just and justify, he saved us. That's the spirit of truth and
error. You know that. And here's the closing word.
I can't give my other two poems. I'll quit on this. Beloved, let's
love one another. That's a special relationship.
Special relationship. Love one another. For love is of God. And every
one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. And he that
loveth not, and there are a lot of them that don't, knoweth not God. That's an awful
thing to say about somebody who doesn't know God. Doesn't know
God. But they reveal they don't know
God for the fact they don't know Christ. No man has seen God at
any time the Son hath revealed him. The Son hath declared it.
No man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal it. And if preachers and people and
religious folks and whomever do not know Christ, who Christ
is, why Christ came, what he did, what he accomplished, where
he is now, he doesn't know God. They said, show us the Father.
He said, he that has seen me has seen the Father. A person
that has never seen him has never seen the Father. And there are
a lot of motives for preaching other than the glory of God.
Unfortunately. Religion is big business. Big
business now. Popular. It's a way to make big
money. Way to live easy, easy street.
Get everybody that's sending you the tithe, you can prosper. You can convince people that
they'll be blessed by blessing you. You can be blessed, boy.
I mean, you can rake in some shackles if you can convince
everybody that if they'll give to you, God will give to them.
That's sad, isn't it? So sad. But the world, they are
of the world, and the world hears them and follows them. They're preaching what the world
wants to hear. You are of God, and he that is of God hears God's
word. May God give us a discerning ear and a discerning spirit,
not a critical spirit. Now, go back to Philippians 4,
where I start this message. What sort of things are pure
and holy? Think on these things. But don't leave yourself open
for religious shastras and con men. The woods are full of them,
taking advantage of God's people, taking advantage of their hitting
people where they're hurt. That's what they're doing. They're
taking advantage of tears and death and sorrow and trials and
all these things, professing themselves to have the answer.
And they don't have the answer. Christ is the answer. He's the answer. All right, let's
sing a song. Here's a good one, 48. Number
48. Sing about his matchless worth,
number 48.