Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
Greetings! Welcome to the program today. In our study of 1 John, we have been talking about false teachers. John was adamant in writing to the church in Ephesus that they ought to be wary of any false teaching that might lead them astray; teaching that might present a false view of Christ that would affect their faith, their love, and their holiness in the world.
False Prophecy of Mt. Saint Helens-- Someone once pointed out how [Sadly, those who believe the false teachers will be judged with them. Believing the "experts" can kill you. On March 20, 1980, Mount St. Helens {here} in Washington {not far from where I live}, a supposedly dormant volcano, began to quake and rumble. {Many of you remember it well. And you will remember that} The local population was evacuated to a “safe” distance 8 miles away. Later, the side of the mountain began to bulge. Scientists were not alarmed because past research of volcanoes indicated that they never blew sideways.Then on May 18 the side of Mount St. Helens exploded, shooting tons of debris downhill at the speed of 150 miles per hour. A minute later, the volcano exploded upward with the equivalent power of 500 atomic bombs! Two hundred thirty square miles of forest were devastated and 57 people lost their lives. The scientists had assumed that natural events would continue as before. But they were wrong.] It’s easy to believe the experts, especially when that person is wearing a lab-coat or even a clergy uniform. That is why John says here in verse 1…
1 John 4:1 (ESV)— 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Test— Now here [The word “test” is a metallurgist’s term used for assaying metals to determine their purity and value.] And so [Christians are to be like the Bereans {in the book of Acts} who, as students of the Word, examined the Scriptures to determine truth and error (Acts 17:11, 12).]
“Chapter and verse!”-- You and I always need to be cultivating the habit of testing every thought; every idea; every teaching against the Word of God to make sure that whatever is claimed to be true matches up with God’s truth. Don’t be afraid to ask questions like, “Hey, I just want to understand you better. Where exactly does it say that in scripture?” My mentor Roman Miller would always tell me how he always lived by the motto, “Chapter and verse, my friend. Chapter and verse!” And then look it up to see if the Bible does in fact say what they say it says; being sure to look at the context it is in. The context of a verse always determines its meaning; therefore we have to always look at the verse in context.
[the spirits…many false prophets. By juxtaposing “spirits” with “false prophets” John reminds his readers that behind human teachers who propagate false doctrine and error are demons inspired by Satan (see notes on 1 Thess. 5:20–22; cf. Acts 20:28–30). Human false prophets and teachers are the physical expressions of demonic, spiritual sources (Matt. 7:15; Mark 13:22).]
Measuring Experiences-- Now when we deal with people’s claimed spiritual experiences, we have to always measure those experiences by the Word of God. John Wesley was a master of this. If anybody claimed to have some kind of special revelation or new insight, he always tested that against the Bible. Does it enhance someone’s Christian experience? Is it workable? And, most of all, is it in accord with Scripture? Now that’s not being judgmental in a bad sense, for Jesus tells us in…
John 7:24 (ESV)-- 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Mr. Red Pen-- I remember when I was in school I had an English professor named Mr. Redmond. But Mr. Redmond had a nickname; Mr. Red Pen; because whenever you handed in a book report and you got it back there would often be more red ink on it than black. He would show with his red pen your grammatical mistakes and what you should have done instead. Now you might have had the best of intentions, but when you got that paper back you realized that as good as your intentions were, those intentions apparently did not match up with the rules of the English language. But what would have happened if I challenged my teacher one day. Nah, “I’m right; you’re wrong. My sentence here is correct because I have had a special revelation that this is in fact the correct way to use the English language.” What would he do? He’d pull out his own revelation; an English grammar book and dictionary, point me to the chapter on sentence construction, and reveal where and how my sentence had gone astray. Well, the same is true when it comes to how we live our Christian experience. If there is an experience that is unfamiliar (like a sentence that just doesn’t look right), look it up in God’s Word to make sure that it fits with the rules and teaching God has already clearly given us in His Word. God’s revelation in your personal experience will always agree with His written revelation, the Bible.
Test The Spirits-- So how do we wade through what is false and find that sure foundation of what is true? [In this section, John gives two doctrinal tests to determine truth from error and false teachers from true teachers.]
What About Jesus?-- First and foremost, the most fundamental way to test every spirit to see if you are dealing with an evil spirit or the Holy Spirit is to examine what that spirit/teaching says about Jesus. For Jesus says (as recorded in John’s Gospel):
John 15:26 (NIV)-- 26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
And in verse 2 of our passage today John tells us what the true Spirit of God will testify…
1 John 4:2-3 (ESV)-- 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Dan Brown De-Bunked-- I am sure most of you have heard of Dan Brown, author of such books as The DaVinci Code, an appalling work of fiction. But someone I read this week pointed out that [Brown is right about one thing (and not much more). In the course of Christian history, few events loom larger than the Council of Nicea in 325. When the newly converted Roman Emperor Constantine called bishops from around the world to present-day Turkey, the church had reached a theological crossroads. An Alexandrian theologian named Arius had argued for a small minority that Jesus had undoubtedly been a remarkable leader, but he was not God in flesh. Arius was enough of a problem and persuasive enough as a false teacher to justify dealing with the issue in this formal fashion. Actually, more specifically, Arius claimed that Jesus was a created being. This effectively denied His divinity. This was a departure from what the church had understood and accepted from the beginning. It was what the martyrs had been willing for three centuries to die for. It is absurd to say that Constantine decided to make Jesus a God. In The Da Vinci Code, Brown apparently adopts Arius as his representative for all pre-Nicene Christianity. Referring to the Council of Nicea, Brown claims that "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet … a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless."In reality, early Christians overwhelmingly worshipped Jesus Christ as The Son of God, God in the flesh, their risen Savior and Lord. And as for the vote: it was 318-2 – a "real close" vote as Dan Brown claims.]
Always Attacking Jesus-- But that is what these heresies always do. This spirit of false teaching; the spirit of the antichrist always attacks the biblical teachings on Jesus. They will either attack His divinity in saying He is not God, or His humanity in saying He is not man. He is and must be both. By contrast, those who are true followers of Christ embrace the truth of Christ revealed in His word. If they are truly Spirit-filled people, then they will agree with what the Holy Spirit has revealed about Christ through the writers of scripture.
1 John 4:4 (ESV)— 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
God is Stronger-- Now that is encouraging to me because, honestly [It is easy to be frightened by the wickedness we see all around us and to be overwhelmed by the problems we face.] [Evil is obviously much stronger than we are. John assures us, however, that God is even stronger {than evil}. He will conquer all evil—and his Spirit and his Word live in our heart!] We don’t have to be afraid because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Now the second test John gives is we fin in verses 5-6.
1 John 4:5-6 (ESV)-- 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Who The World Likes to Hear-- [False teachers are popular with the world because, like the false prophets of the Old Testament, they tell people what they want to hear. John warns that Christians who faithfully teach God’s Word will not win any popularity contests in the world. People don’t want to hear their sins denounced; they don’t want to listen to demands that they change their behavior. A false teacher will be well received by non-Christians.]
But we will not always be. And yet when we offer people truth (even when they may not want to hear it at the time), it will often take root and slowly move them closer to Jesus. Now you may have to plant and water for years before you see any fruit. But God will reward your efforts. It is merely up to us to be that voice that is willing to speak truth into a person’s life at the right time and in the right way; let me repeat that: at the right time and in the right way. This week, commit to stand for truth in a deeper way. And let people be changed by the truth they experience in and through you and me. Let us ask the Lord for grace to help us to be revealers of truth to people in order that they might come to know He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.
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