I will go straight into our sermon this evening and I'm turning to 1st John, 1st John and 1st John chapter 4. The first letter of John and chapter 4. If I read verse 1. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. So my subject tonight is proving the spirits, proving the spirits, test them, sift them, analyze them, So this is a tremendous subject, I think, especially in the world in which we live today. The popular idea, you know what is the popular idea? The Christian believes in anything. We are just gullible and naive people. We believe it, we swallow whatever we hear. That's what The popular idea is telling us we are so credulous that we swallow it all, hook, line, and sinker, everything. We don't analyze, but my dear friends, the command I put before you tonight, discern. Have a spirit of discernment. Test and try the spirits. Sift them. You know this is our duty bound? It is a duty-bound work for every believer, all of us. Have you trusted in Christ? This is your ministry because we need a discerning heart, we need a discerning mind, we need discerning ears. Don't believe whatever you hear. Our world, as you know, John is telling us these things 2,000 years ago. So if the world was mad then, I don't know what madness should I describe our world today. The world has really gone mad since John has written these things. You know when Paul speaks to the Galatians in Galatians chapter three, he says to them, oh foolish Galatians, Who has bewitched you? And Paul speaking to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Oh, he gives them this warning and exhortation. But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled him. Remember how the serpent crafty and funny and shrewd how he deceived Eve in the garden there, through his subtlety, how subtle Satan was, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ told us, he said, many false prophets, many of them will arise to deceive people in this world. Peter said exactly the same in his second letter. So you can see from cover to cover, the Bible is telling, giving us warnings, warnings after warning. Should we heed? Should we listen? Oh, we should listen to those warnings of the word of God. And again, if you don't mind mentioning, you can read it for yourself later in Acts chapter 20, when Paul was meeting with the elders of the church of Ephesus, he told them with tears, he was weeping, he wept with them when he was separating with them. And he said to them, I know very soon wolves within and without, within and without will arise. and to seduce many, many people. So it is sad. How sad it is when a preacher is using the Bible to deceive people. Don't you think that's the greatest seduction? Using the Bible, the word of truth, the word of God, to mislead and deceive people. sometimes for money's sake. The prosperity gospel is doing that every day. Oh, many preachers have sold their souls to the devil, sadly. My dear friends, I wish I can say this, I will not keep you long, but I'm giving you tonight basic rules for discernment, basic rules. And if time permits, I want to cover six of them. But look at the first one. It is given to us. But even without mentioning the first one, first one there, John speaks to his hearers, beloved. You see the pastoral heart there? He loves them, beloved. He wants their attention. And it is interesting. I'm just anticipating six times beloved is mentioned in this letter. And in chapter four here, I think three times. Just to show you, this is actually in our next sermon, I will show you, this is the top. If you give a mountain, I don't know if you should say this is chapter four is Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest, but you name the mountain, it will fit definitely in the chapter of this letter. But it's the top, the sum, the summon, the highest peak of the letter. And he calls for their attention. But notice also, you do this later probably, notice also the pronouns there. We, they, us. So all those things are here for our learning. And he's speaking, look at the first command. and the commands in verse one are given to us in negative and positive. Number one, so the first heading, believe not every spirit. And the word spirit there is a figure of speech, which means believe not every preacher. That's the meaning. It stands for persons, the figure of speech there. the metonymy, and filter what you hear. That preacher speaks with swallowing words, grandiloquent words, you know, pompous words, with a lot of pedantism. Oh, he can captivate you, grip you when he speaks. but he's so knowledgeable. He's a good communicator. He has outstanding credentials. You know, when he tells you about his credentials, you drop your jaw. Jaw dropping credentials, just swallowing words. But you know, even if he's knowledgeable, and he's a good communicator, at the end of the day, he's a false teacher. That's the point here. Prolific writer, but perfidious. Touches man. You know, the man can be very nice. He can be very gentle. But remember, he's a ravenous beast. He's a wolf. in sheep clothing. That's why we have to wake up, you know? That's why churches are being empty. Or when churches are swallowing with people, you have masses in the church, they are all nominal. Or most of them. Most of them, just nominal. You see their life outside the church, you wonder, oh, believe not, every spirit So check well, be discerning, be cautious. What drives the man? Please ask yourself when you listen to a preacher. No matter how popular, no matter how international he is, what drives him? Is he modest or ostentatious? How does he live? So look at his life. And it's not because the preacher draws crowds. He has many followers. You know, today, in today with the social media, what preachers are looking for is the likes. There is a phobia, you know, there is a kind of folly actually to look on your internet website, how many liked me? Believe not every spirit. Oh, he's a best-selling writer, but that is not really the barometer to test him or to appreciate him. Don't intoxicate your soul, my dear friend, even in your home. I know I have been to many Christians' homes around the world, I can say around the world. You go to a Christian home, you see some Christian channels, God TV, God has a TV, and all the channels, awful what you hear on those channels. And people are, what he's saying, good things. He's saying good things, but he's a false teacher. Joyce Meyer, and traveling around the world. Oh, she has a good meditation book. But she's a false teacher. And we shouldn't give her any credit. And you know, Satan disguised himself as an angel of light. But don't look to false teachers. Can I apply this to you and me? Here is somebody, he claims to be a Christian, but he is never in church. Is that not another false way of saying he's a false teacher? Yes, he is. because he's a false professor, never in service, or one Sunday service Christian. That's nowhere in the Bible. And very poor attendance. So you wonder if he's saved at all. How? Listen, we don't judge people, we are told today. You preacher, you are so negative. That's what we are hearing. What's all the fuss about these things? You know, that's what you are hearing today. But that man, he's a good man. We love him. But I will keep saying, no matter how loving he is, he's a false teacher. shouldn't give him any credit. And you hear people, oh, what we need just to love Jesus. My Jesus, my Bible, my God. Me, my Bible, and Jesus, I'm self-sufficient. That, my dear friends, you can jump up and down. It's not Christianity. It's nowhere in the Bible. Am I too hard on this thing? No, that's simply what the Bible says. You take it or you leave it. There is no middle ground. The Lord said in Revelation chapter three, if you are neither cold nor lukewarm nor hot, you are just lukewarm. Even lukewarm, he said, I will spew. I will vomit you. Give him nausea. You make him to be sick. So many preachers today are providing, I hope you don't mind my terms, they are not providing messages, I call it, they are providing spiritual massage, you know? Massage, you know, you need a pampering, you know? Oh, I'm so depressed, I need the preacher to lift me up. That's the kind, cheer up sermons. Just cheer up. as if we are all depressed people down, we need medication. And people go back home and they zap, they zap like you zap on your TV remote, zapping from one preacher to another, feet up, relax. That's why I wonder, I know it's a digression, maybe somebody will be offended, we shouldn't offer even all this Zoom advantages and so on, because people are playing with God. You know, in the past, People will walk miles, really, to go to church. No cars, horses, and so on. I remember in Africa, the people will walk, really, believe me, kilometers. That's how they come there. And they get to church sweating. And because they love their Lord Jesus Christ. But today, the word sacrifice is out of our vocabulary. Nobody uses the word sacrifice anymore. But you see, those preachers, they are providing that spiritual massage. Happy, lucky shamans. It's all about how the Lord Jesus Christ loves you, how he can make you rich. how he can make you healthy, how he can make you wealthy, and how the Lord Jesus Christ can make you to win the jackpot. I met a believer, he said, I played the lottery, the tambola. If I win, I will give some money to the church. Die with your money. Curse is on your money. That is simonia, as we read in Acts chapter eight. It is a sin to play lottery and gambling. But those churches allow those things. They allow them. So no way. Oh, my dear friends, what we see today is all about success. There are people who are telling that Jesus said he will heal you. What about if he doesn't heal you? Oh, oh, oh, you are in trouble because you lack faith. Oh, they tell us If you are poor, it's because you don't believe in Jesus. What about if Jesus doesn't want you to be rich? You can die as a rich man, you can die as a poor person, but that's not a matter of faith or lack of faith. Believe not false teachers. So today what we hear, those people, they don't want to serve God. They want actually God to serve them. God is their servant. That's really what we see in this world. He's the one to serve me. Sin, health, oh please preacher, don't mention these things. You will offend, nobody will come again to listen to you. That's what they are telling us today. But why did Jesus came into this world? He came to deal with our problem of sin and guilt and ignorance and corruption. I wish I can stop here, just in this one and close, but you see, look at it. What to do, my dear friends? After the negative there, see the positive. Try the spirits in verse one. Try the spirit. Stand against the false prophets and stand against the false teachers. And the verse one there, we are told that there are many gone out into the world. And as you know, some of them, their errors are so obvious. Others are very crafty. You know, just today after the morning service walking, just at the back of the church here, I was walking and the lady stopped me, she was entering in her car actually, and she looked at me, she said, hey brother. I, wow, surprised. And I looked at her, she said, are you Jehovah's Witness? And I said, oh, I'm Jesus' witness. I think she almost collapsed. You see? So some of them, their era is very obvious. Jehovah witness, if you believe in Jehovah, you will believe in Jesus Christ because Jehovah is Jesus and Jesus is Jehovah. But many of them, they are very crafty. They don't believe in the Bible. They are just using the Bible as a pretext You listen to Joe Austin, if that's his name. I really don't know if that's his name or not. He's just using a verse out of context to defend whatever he has built up. And you will see them, from the time they read the verse, they will never refer to the Bible again. And we see it everywhere today. Christ for them is not the only way. My brothers and sisters, can I plead with you, as a brother, as a pastor who loves every one of you, be a quality tester. Even when you hear sermon, listen carefully, take in. I know some of us, and in my small experience, again, people can be in a church for decades, their body is there, but their mind has never been there. So be a quality. You know, you see it. I have seen a documentary on coffee tasting, what the quality of tasting coffee. You know how they do it. Until, even by tasting, they know which one is which one. In the past, in order to know which banknote is fake, you don't go and study fake banknotes. No, no, no. You study the real one. And I tell you, those people, as soon as they touch a real one, they know this is a real one. When they touch a fake one, no, this is a fake one. So that's my pleading with you. Every believer, be a quality tester. And the quality is the word of God, not what the preacher is saying. No matter how veridical or truthful I can be, I am under the Bible. Nobody is above the Bible. So the read for you to test the quality is the Bible. The Bible is the only authority. No one else. So you see those preachers, they are telling us Jesus always heals. They take Isaiah 53 out of context. Isaiah 53 is about spiritual healing, not physical healing. Recently, I met a lady. She's in a sun church, believe me. In Jesus name, you will be healed. No, that's not how the Lord Jesus Christ said we are going to be healed. James chapter five tells us how the believer is healed. By praying. By praying. If it's the Lord's will. And today those preachers, we need to test, look at them. They are telling us you can be a lesbian. You can be a homosexual. You can have lesbian and homosexual desires. It's not sin. It is sin. It is sin. And the day will come, I tell you this, I'm honest with you. The day will come, your preacher may say these things and the police comes and arrest him in front of you. The days are coming. But no, they are sin and we must call a spade a spade. So the reality, nothing should really put us down when it comes to the Bible. Some people, they often say, if that preacher, he must be right. Look at the churches packed with people, 1,000, 2,000, 10,000. The truth is not math, it's not mathematical. Truth is not about numbers. You can be minority and be with God. Actually, John Wesley said it, one man with God is the majority. So we don't need to be in a crowd. So test past the teaching through the fire of the sincere milk of the word of God. Ask yourself always, what is the essence of this sermon? And if you don't mind, I know time is running, turn to 2 John, because you are not far from there, 2 John. John is very good in warning us and helping us. This is so helpful, believe me. 2 John 7, for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. And it says there in verse 10, receive him not in your house, receive him not in your church, neither bid him Godspeed. You see, I didn't invent it. He's a deceiver, he's a liar. He's a crafty man, deceptive and attractive. Satan, my dear friends, has many minions, many of them, many, many children. So let me tell you the third heading. Look at it there in verse two. Hereby know ye the spirit of God. This is positive also. Jesus is the Christ. Verse three, look at verse three. In verse three, because verse three explains verse two. And hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And verse three says, amplifies that, and every spirit that confesseth not, confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and so on, you see? So the sum, Jesus Christ is God, is the Christ, is the doctrinal test, That's the doctrinal test. Whosoever denies the son, the same has not the father. We read in 1 John 2, verse 23. We read it already. He that doesn't recognize the father doesn't recognize the son, vice versa. So the sum and the substance of the gospel is Jesus is the Christ. That is our good confession. My dear friend, this is not so deep doctrine here. I can only put it to you in two or three phrases, you know, but that the verse two and three, you can write really a good systematic theology book on just those two verses. But why? Because the divinity of Jesus Christ is there. Christ is God, but we have to explain. Christ did not come from the flesh, but in the flesh. Very important. He didn't come from the flesh. He came in the flesh. He was not always flesh, but he has always been God. You know, long time ago, that's the purpose of teaching services, you know? Long time ago, it has been said, he became what he was not to remain what he has always been. That's deep. And he became what he was not. In Christ, God became a man for eternity. Muslims are against this. Buddhists are against this. Mormons are against this. But he became a man for eternity. So that is why a denial of the person of Christ is a denial of his atoning death. Always ask a person, who do you say Christ is? Is it not what Christ did to the disciples in Matthew chapter 16? Who do you say I am? That's, you know, it is often said that that's the $1 million question, but forget about dollars. This is the heaven entrance question. The heaven entrance question. The door to heaven, it depends on how you answer that question. You ask a Muslim, who do you think Christ is? He is a prophet. We don't make distinction between the prophets of God. He's like Moses. He's like Abraham. He's like Job. He's like John the Baptist. No, no, no. This is the one who created Abraham. In John chapter eight, Christ said, before Abraham, I am. Before Abraham was I am. A person who denies his incarnation denies his salvation. Christ didn't come, my dear friends, upon a man called Jesus. That's the big mistake many are doing in our world today. Christ didn't come upon a man named Jesus. Jesus Christ has always been. And the same, the Spirit also didn't come upon a man called Jesus. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit have always been together. One God, one essence, one nature, the same power. That's what the Bible teaches. That spirit and that Christ has never left. You know, there are churches where they say Christ came upon a man called Jesus, the spirit came upon a man called Jesus, and at the crucifixion, that Christ, that spirit left the man Jesus. It's nowhere in there. You see, John is telling us things that were happening in his own time with the Gnostics. I didn't want to worry you, bringing you the Gnostics, the Ebionites, the Napoletarians, the Miriamists, and so on. There were many, many cults and sects, even in John's time and later on in church history. But that's what those people believe. My dear friends, believe. Do not believe in everything you hear about Christ, but believe in Christ. Believe in the spirit, but believe not all spirit. Number four, number four. Look at verse four, verse four. What a verse. He are of God, little children. In opposition to the false teachers, who are we? We are of God. You see the contrast? They are of the Antichrist. Four speeches, a different spirit, but we are of God. We are not of the world. And we are born of God. Born of God is your identity and God is your father. The spirit of God abides in us. You see it there in verse four, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So you are spiritual, you have a new nature, you are not carnal. God is greater than Satan. That's the meaning. Oh, it is easy to boast that I am of God. I believe in God. Many say they believe in God. Even last week in front of the church here, I met a lady. She was sitting having her lunch on our stairs. And I said, do you know what is happening inside here? Oh, I have my own religion. I have, I believe in God. What God do you believe in? Do you go to church? No, no, no. I have my own God. She made up her own God. And she worships herself. And you believe in God, no church, that is contradiction, a big contradiction. And you see, you are an overcomer. Oh, please, my dear brothers and sisters, please forgive me, because I cannot go into the depth of these things. For time's sake, you see there, even that word, look at it in verse four, what we are told. Year of God, little children, and have overcome them. You are an overcome, look at you and me, so weak, so simple people, frail. But we are overcomers more than conquerors, not because of us. Look at the verse, not because of anything in you, but because of the one in you. And that is the Holy Spirit, not because you are more anointed. Oh, my dear friends, the devil was in us. But now it is desperate in us. There is a verse that comes to my mind, John chapter 16, you know the verse, verse 33. The Lord Jesus Christ said, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace in the world. Ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Christ has overcome the world for us, his people. But let me give you the fifth one. Fifth one there in verse five, look at verse five. Separation from the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. The Christian separates himself from the world. That's my fifth heading. Is the preacher in love with the world? You know, you go to some churches, you see the preacher coming in a t-shirt, you know, with Coca-Cola emblem there in face of the t-shirt, and he's wearing jeans and cowboy shoes, you know, and that's still good. Some of them come with torn trousers, you know, and that's still good. They come in a shirt and t-shirt. you know, appalling. How come even if you have job interview, you dare not go to the interview in such manner with leather, lightening jackets, you know? Is the preacher in love with the world? Many of them dress like the world and they speak like the world. That's why verse five says, the world listen to them. They love them. And the non-believers of the world, and he speaks the things of the world. And you see, again, the preachers of the world, they are really looking, they build their sermons for a clapometer, clapping of hands, a clapometer. The audience, they say something, I'm expecting your applause. I'm expecting your hallelujah or your amen. It's the audience. It's a performance. But that is not preaching, my dear friends. So there are more, I think, politicians than preachers, gimmickers. My dear friends, who do you listen to? I beg, I plead with you. Who do you listen to? So be discernment. Don't look. Don't look for world recognition. And the world loves its own people. We want people to be saved, but we don't want people to remain as they are. If a young man comes in a t-shirt on Sundays, second Sunday, first Sunday, second Sunday, third Sunday, I wouldn't jump on him, of course, but very soon he will look at us. Is anyone wearing a t-shirt here? You don't need to tell him. He will see it for himself. You see? But again, don't misunderstand me. I'm not speaking about clothing. Come and worship the Lord. God looks at the heart. So don't go and tell, oh, in that church, you need to wear a tie or a suit. I didn't see. Because people, the fake news today, you hear things that are terrible. So the world has admiration for the world. Oh, I love the lady speaking to one. I love your makeup. That's wonderful, your makeup. It's very nice. Oh, your hairstyle. Look, you have a new hairstyle. It's all about self-admiration. But when it comes to the church, the work of the church, you hardly see anyone. When it comes to the prayer meeting, you hardly see anyone. Come on. And you want the church to go forward? Oh, my dear friends, please let us wake up. There is a strong man in the world, but there is a stronger man working in us, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our true fellowship is with all believers, wherever they are. Let me close, look at verse six. Distinguishing between truth and error. We are of God that settles the problem. Verse six. 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. My dear friends, look at the we there. The we there is for the apostles. for the apostles, not for everyone. And an apostle is to be listened to, their writings sealed up the scriptures. And we devote ourselves to the teaching of the apostles. The apostles are from God. Listen carefully, I'm almost done. The Lord Jesus Christ called them, chose them, named them, and sent them. There are no successors today. That's the reality of the Bible. So there are no apostles today. Preachers will listen to preachers who are bound by the authority of the Bible. who doesn't listen to the apostles, we read in 2 Thessalonians, that man doesn't know God at all. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 13. He doesn't know God at all. So we better listen to the word of God. Shame, we are in the world, but not of the world. My dear friends, I read again verse six in closing. Just to show you, it is our responsibility to preach the gospel and to bring in sinners to be reconciled with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ said, my sheep hear my voice. Are you a sheep or a goat? Which voice do you listen to? And verse six, we are of God. He that knoweth God, hear us. Let's close our time together. with him number 690. Him number 690.