Jesus said that we may know them by their fruit, and whether the words they speak line up with scripture…
1 John 4:1-4
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
1 Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.
2 By this you may know (perceive and recognize) the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God for its source];
3 And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him].
This [nonconfession] is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.
4 Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
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The mention of the Holy Spirit in chapter 3:24 caused John to pause briefly to sound a warning.
God’s Spirit is not the only spirit manifest in the world.
Some people naively think that any manifestation of a spiritual presence is indication of the Holy Spirit.
The apostle explained how to distinguish the Holy Spirit from other spirits at work in the world.
“In chapter 3 we studied the contrast between two families, the children of God and the children of the devil.
Here we find a contrast between two spirits, the spirit of Christ and the spirit of antichrist.”
In chapter 4:1-3, John wrote, “Stop believing” (everything you hear)!
Evidently some of his first readers were believing false teaching.
“Credulity means gullibility and some believers fall easy victims to the latest fads in spiritualistic humbuggery.”
It is necessary to distinguish the Spirit of God from false spirits (i.e., spirits advocating falsehood) because many false prophets have gone out into the world (cf. 2:18-27).
False spirits (utterances or persons inspired by a spirit opposed to Christ) produce false teaching.
“To ‘test the spirits’ is to make a choice from among competing claims.”
John’s test question whereby one can determine whether the Spirit of God or a spirit of falsehood possesses a person was this.
What does the person believe about Jesus Christ?
If a person denies the incarnation of Jesus Christ (this was a heresy false teachers were promoting among John’s original readers) then you can know he has the spirit of antichrist (cf. 2:18-27).
That is a denial of the doctrine of Christ, as the apostles taught it, and is therefore a deviation from orthodox Christology, and it evidences a spirit opposed to Jesus Christ.
The test of the presence of the Divine Spirit is the confession of the Incarnation, or, more exactly, of the Incarnate Savior (who is the Christ (anointed One – God in the flesh).
The Gospel centers in a Person – Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Mind you, that John did not say we can tell false spirits by their works.
He said we can identify that they are false spirits by their message.
This was the acid test of a false prophet under the Old Covenant as well (Deut. 13:1-5).
“According to the Lord Jesus, false prophets were to be tested ‘by their fruits’ (cf. Matthew 7:16-20).
Contrary to popular interpretation, this does not mean that they were to be tested by their works.
On the contrary, as Matthew 12:33-37 proves, their fruits are their words!
Indeed, as the Lord Himself said, they ‘come to you in sheep’s clothing’ so that they look like sheep when in reality they are ‘ravenous wolves’ (Matthew 7:15).
Their behavior does not set them apart from the sheep, but their message does!”
John did not say that every spirit that denies Jesus, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus (v. 3).
Often heretical teaching masks its deviations from the truth by simply failing to affirm important biblical truth.
Rather than proclaiming, “Jesus is not the Christ,” they fail to affirm that He is the Christ.
In verse 4, we’re told that John’s readers had already overcome these opponents of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit who indwelt them (“He who is in you”; cf. 3:24; 4:2, 13).
The Holy Spirit is stronger than Satan (“he who is in the world”).
We overcome Satan, his agents, and his influence as we resist his temptations to doubt, deny, disregard, and disobey the Word of God (1 Pet. 5:9; cf. Gen. 3; Matt. 4).
“You are from God” is the center of a chiasm that embraces verses 2-6.
This powerful and liberating reminder from John tells us not to be frightened by the wickedness and hostility we see all around us, nor to be overwhelmed by the problems we face.
Evil can often seem much stronger than we are.
John assures us, however, that God has ultimately triumphed.
The Holy Spirit has far more power than Satan, all his demons, and all temptations and forces of evil.
God will conquer all evil—and his Spirit and His Word lives in our hearts!
SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Friday, August 19
Faith To Faith Daily Devotional
GET OUT FROM UNDER
by Gloria Copeland
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
— 1 John 4:4
Under the circumstances…. Have you ever caught yourself using that phrase?
“I suppose I’m doing pretty well under the circumstances.”
If you’ve ever said something like that, I want you to kick those words out of your vocabulary right now. Because you, as a victorious child of God, don’t have any business living your life “under” your circumstances.
You don’t have any business letting problems and situations rule over you.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus—the One who is in you—ransacked Satan’s kingdom.
Through His death at Calvary, He legally entered the regions of the damned and stripped Satan of EVERYTHING!
He took away all his armor. He took the keys to death and hell.
He bound that strong man, looted his kingdom, and Colossians says He spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them.
Then Jesus turned around and gave that victory to you.
You are of God. Remember that!
You have overcome through Jesus because He lives in you.
You NEVER have to live “under” the circumstances again!
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