Let's turn in our Bibles to 1 John chapter 4. We'll be in verses 1 through 6 as our sermon decks today. Where have we been just before this in 1 John? Well, I just want to read, first of all, what Colin Cruz has to say in his commentary at this point. He says, in chapter 3, verses 11 to 24, where we just were last Sunday, the author explained to his readers that they may know they have passed from death to life and that they dwell in God and God in them. They may know all that when they show love toward fellow believers. And in chapter three, verse 24, he added that they may also know that God dwells in them because of the spirit he gave them. However, he says, it is not only those who, like the author, remain faithful to the message heard from the beginning, and who love fellow believers who claim an experience of the Spirit. There are others who claim to be indwelt by God and to have received His Spirit and speak in His name." End of quote. That is where John is going. It's as if he uses the mention of the Spirit God's given to us to say, oh, but wait, many will say they are speaking by the Spirit of God to you. and telling you things from God's Spirit. So how do you know if this is God's Spirit at work, speaking his truth to his church? The last two verses of the previous chapter, so verses 22 to 24 of chapter three, John had said, and this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this, we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us. So now, verses one through six of chapter four, he says this. 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 By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. 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. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. A word for gaining the victory over them. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. 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. So what's the big idea? Well, spirits supposedly speaking for God must be tested before they are believed. Spirits supposedly speaking for God, claiming to speak God's truth, must be tested before they are believed. And he speaks of spirits here, as we'll see, he's speaking just as much about those influenced by, inspired by, you might say, those spirits, those who would claim to be speaking forth God's truth. He says, many false prophets have gone out into the world, And they are speaking from some spirit. They would claim it's the spirit of God, but maybe it's not. So that big idea is really the message of verse one. Verse one is like the, it so perfectly lines up with the big idea of the whole thing that John just states it right at the beginning. And then we go from there. But let's be sure we understand verse one in a solid way. Verse one takes its cue, not only from the Old Testament, but especially from Jesus' warnings and the apostles' warnings after him. What did it say again in verse one? 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. All through Bible history, False prophets have been an issue. They've been a danger, a very real and present danger. Way back in Deuteronomy 13, in the law of Moses, under the old covenant, already God's people had to be told how to distinguish a true prophet from a false prophet. That happens in more than one place, but the one place that really lines up well with what John is saying here is Deuteronomy 13 verses 1 through 5. If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, hit pause. Elsewhere in Deuteronomy it says if a prophet predicts something and it does not come to pass, you know he's a false prophet. If he were God's true prophet, it would have surely come to pass. So don't fear him or pay attention to him if his prophecies don't come true. But here it says, if it does come true, oh, he must be from God, right? Wrong. If the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. And you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. Again, old covenant, Israel in the land is a theocracy. That's what would happen. They put him to death because he is taught rebellion. against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. I've said this before, that very, that last sentence, which shows up at least almost in the same, exactly that way throughout Deuteronomy. So you shall purge the evil or the evil one from your midst. Paul quotes that directly in the New Testament in the context of excommunication, 1 Corinthians 5. That's at the end there. If you must remove someone from the church, that's the new covenant application of this. The point is, this person is not from God. We have in 1 Kings 22 in the Old Testament, an example of an apostate king of Israel named Ahab who he wanted to go into battle against the Syrian army and he wanted to get the king of Judah south of him to go with him to be his ally. Ahab already knew what he wanted to do and he had all these false prophets. This is after he and his wife had been humiliated By the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Balaam and killed at this point Ahab has all these prophets claiming to speak in the Lord's name and Yahweh's name But they're false prophets He has a whole bunch of them, whole cadre of them, telling him what he already wants to hear. Then another prophet shows up, Micaiah, by name, who is a true prophet of the Lord. Ahab can't stand him. He tells the other king, who's actually a godly guy, but just kind of stupid, being friends with Ahab. He tells Jehoshaphat, this other king, eh, Micaiah, yeah, he's a prophet of the Lord, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad. Wonder why. They bring Micaiah in because Jehoshaphat, this other king, wants to hear what the Lord really has to say. And here's what Micaiah says at one point as he's interacting with Ahab. 1 Kings 22, 19. And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said one thing and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, by what means? And he said, I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Which sounds very much, by the way, like the first part of the book of Job, where Satan, who is evil in himself, he gets permission from the Lord to do something for his own evil reasons, but the Lord allows it for his good purposes. Similar setting. So Micaiah says, I've just seen him to the throne room of heaven, which is what true prophets did. I know what's going on here. And you're, you are stubborn in your own way. You're not going to listen to me, but the Lord is, has determined that you need to die now. And so the way he's going to let you get tangled up and destroyed in your sin is, um, he's going to let you listen to all these false prophets of yours and you're going to want to believe them. And so you're going to believe them. He ends by saying, now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster for you. Then, one of these false prophets who had already made a big, grandiose prophecy of victory over the Syrians, then Zedekiah, the son of Jannah, came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, how did the spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? And Micaiah said, behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself. We won't go on with the story, but obviously, as Micaiah prophesied, Ahab was shot with an arrow at random in battle, and he died. There's an example of the interaction between lying spirits and false prophets. And again, it's all under God's um, sovereign oversight. They can only do what God allows them to do in the end analysis. But there can be prophets prophesying big things in the Lord's name and they can simply be moved to say what they say by demons, by lying spirits. Then in the New Testament, Jesus, our Lord Jesus said to us, Matthew 7 verse 15, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. What does that mean? Well, they're going to try to look as much as they can like the real thing, like believers, like my sheep. They'll come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They want to devour the flock. You will recognize them by their fruits. And he goes on to compare them to a tree that will either bear good fruit or bad fruit, depending if it's a good tree or a bad tree. Matthew 24 then, go to Matthew 24 with me actually, let's read it together in verse three. This really connects directly with what John is saying because he's talking about how you've heard the spirit of antichrist is coming and it's already here. And here, similarly, Jesus is going to talk about false Christs and false prophets. Matthew 24, verse three, as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you, my disciples, up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away, apostasy from the faith. and betray one another and hate one another. And verse 11, many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the gospel, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. The church will succeed in its gospel mission, and then the end will come. So you see how John is drawing on Jesus' own words. Look, many false prophets have already gone out into the world, just as Jesus said. This is what we're supposed to expect. Well, then you have, in the Apostle Paul's ministry, for instance, as he plants churches, he starts churches, already false prophets are a possibility, coming through, coming into a worship service, saying, I have a word from God. And in that day, you look at 1 Corinthians 14 especially, it was not unusual, it was normal for real prophets, true people with the true gift of prophecy to give fresh revelation from God in line with what he'd already given, but adding to it. But there could be those who come into church and start saying something that's not from the spirit of God. So Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 19-22, do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything. As John says, test the spirits. Test everything, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. As Jeff Wyma says there on that text, he says the need to test prophecy is also found in the Apostles' extended discussion of spiritual gifts to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12-14. Earlier in that discussion, Paul catalogs a variety of spiritual gifts, and immediately after referring to the gift of prophecy, he lists the gift of distinguishing, diakrisis, distinguishing between spirits, 1 Corinthians 12-10. A gift that presupposes the necessity for prophecy to be tested. Near the end of that same discussion, Paul commands that two or three prophets speak and let the others evaluate, diacrino, what is said. So what John is saying is nothing new, but he's reminding people, he's reminding people of his day now, we're never supposed to uncritically listen to whatever someone might say, claim to be a prophet of God. claiming to speak truth of God. In our day, someone may not claim to be a prophet in quite the same way, or they might, but this is also obviously applicable to those who claim to be preaching God's word, claim to be communicating it. Don't listen to it uncritically. You need to test what is said. That's how you test the spirits. You test the content to see if it is Now, we can back up and say in the realm of teaching and preaching, it's not infallible as prophecy had to be. And good men of God will make mistakes along the way. But in a very basic sense, there will be some who claim to be Christians who proclaim an entirely different gospel or an entirely different Jesus. And that's more the context here. That's what you have to test to sift out. That's not Christianity. This is, that's not. It's that sort of basic stuff we're talking about this morning. Paul had also warned the elders of the church in Ephesus, Acts 20, that they have to pay careful attention to themselves. and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers, or that's the word for bishop, but that's what it means, overseer. Pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood, because he says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, just as Jesus said, wolves in sheep's clothing, ravenous wolves. And from among your own selves, will arise men, that is, from right inside the church, will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Likewise, one other example, Paul says, 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2, now the Spirit expressly says, the Holy Spirit expressly says, that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. Here's another good mental hook here to connect things that John's talking about. Test the spirits because many false prophets have gone out into the world. So there are men who teach what they teach because they are influenced by demons. But it's not as if these people who are now teaching this, it's not as if they were walking along the sidewalk one day, minding their own business, and a demon took over them, and they were totally innocent. No, he says, those who devote themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, this happens through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. That's the human evil involved here. It's evil people who then are very willing to spread doctrines of demons. They may or may not know they're communing with demons, in that sense, or motivated demonically. But in a way that we can't fully quantify, we can't see in this world, false teaching that is heresy, that's completely not real Christianity, that's a fake, in the spiritual realm, it's always motivated by Satan and his hosts of evil spirits. And that does not remove the responsibility of the humans spouting this stuff. As I said, they're liars, whose consciences are seared. So the evil is human and demonic. But if you see heresy, you know it's demonic. That's part of the picture. Lying spirits are propagating this. Okay, now, with all that said, and that was a long introduction, let's get to verses two and three as we hear the text. There is a consistent confession that you'll hear from God's Spirit, if it's God's Spirit. The consistent confession by God's Spirit is Jesus Christ incarnate. And all that that means, the full significance of that, Jesus person and work. Jesus Christ incarnate. The son of God who took to himself a true human nature. He was born into our race as a man, as one of us. And he is now forever one of us, and yet forever eternal God. At one and the same time. Jesus Christ incarnate. Incarnate means made flesh, in the flesh. Both son of God and son of man. Verse two says, by this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come into flesh is from God. 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. I'm not going to spend time on the concept of Antichrist, whom you heard was coming. We talked about that in 1 John chapter 2. Go back and listen to that if you want. Yes, there is a final a final demonstration coming of Satan's resistance against the truth, and a final great apostasy of those who would claim to be Christians and fall away from the faith. There is a great final fake Christ coming, someone who wants to steal Jesus' throne rights and the church for himself, and we don't know what all that will look like until it happens. That's coming, but the spirit of the Antichrist, the spirit who will bring that to pass when he's allowed to, that spirit, you've heard, is coming, but is now in the world already. He's already at work in the world. That dynamic is already here, just in a restrained way compared to the end. Now, Joel Beeke here, again, reminds us a little bit of a little bit that we can piece together from history about John's time in which he's writing. He says, John's advice was particularly relevant, particularly relevant for Christians of his day because of false prophets that were denying that God's son became flesh. The prophets told believers Jesus was a great man vested with God's spirit that is God's spirit came upon him for a time. But he was not God, who is pure spirit. There is a great gulf between God and man, which that part is true. God would not contaminate himself with human flesh. That's what these prophets were saying. These prophets denied the incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Again, that's Joel Beeky from his commentary. And what it says here in verse two, Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that's in the Greek, that's a perfect tense, has come, which indicates, it just has the flavor of the fact that not only did Jesus once become a man, he is now forever, because of that, a man. It happened already and it has continuing effects. That's kind of the flavor of the grammar there. Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, so he has become and now is forever one of us. The son of God who was forever, eternally that, at one point in history he became man and now he's forever man. In 2 John, a much shorter letter that we'll get to, in the sermon series. In 2 John, there's only one chapter, so it's verses 7 through 9. Listen to what John says there to churches that could be naive and let in these false prophets. Listen to what he says there. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, or the teaching about Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. So very similar there. John had to say this in more than one context. Last reference before we move on to verse four. At least in a general sense, Paul had had to deal with this, too. There were those who, I'm not sure if they called themselves this or if Paul was mocking them by calling them this. He called them super apostles. Because they thought they were much, much greater or they claimed to be much greater than that apostle Paul guy over there. But here's what Paul said to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2. He says, I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes, here's the problem, Paul says, at least with some of you, if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. This is a chapter where Paul actually gets a little sarcastic. He says, you think you're being so nice and you're so tolerant. You're way too tolerant. You shouldn't tolerate this because someone might proclaim a different Jesus. They might use some of the same words, some of the same names, but they got the whole topic of what it originally meant and who Jesus really is. And they replace it with their own ideas. another Jesus, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. Okay, so verse four, then, John switches to, again, comforting and assuring these believers that they are spiritually secure and safe. He says, I've just reminded you not to listen to these false prophets. But verse four, he says, little children, you are from God and have overcome them. You've overcome the spirit of Antichrist and these false prophets. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So we see here in verse four, the secured victory over the Antichrist's spirit. And that secured victory is a person. It's God's spirit in his children. Our victory over the Antichrist's spirit, over Satan really, is not something natural to us or something that some Christians get but others don't because of something they do. The victory is the fact that we all have the Almighty God within us. We have the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is Almighty God in us, and he is far greater than Satan, who is trying to get his lies in. Now, who is he who is in the world? He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Well, he who is in the world is the devil. In John's gospel, he's called the prince or ruler of this world. He has such control over the unbelievers. At the end of 1 John chapter 5, verse 19, John will say, he'll say, we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That's the one who is in the world, who, as Paul would say, Ephesians 2, He's the spirit now at work in the Sons of Disobedience. He's the one motivating behind the scenes. He's the one in them. But, of course, well, let me back up and also say, in this context and clearly, Satan is the spirit of Antichrist. He's the spirit at work through false prophets to oppose Jesus Christ and offer false Christs. Anything to take glory away from the true son of God become man. Anything to bring people to damnation through trust in a false messiah, a false savior. Anything to oppose God by opposing his son. But again, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And that's such an understatement, of course. Who is the one who is in you? Well, the Holy Spirit, which is also obvious from John's writings. Back in chapter two of 1 John here, remember when he said this, verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in Him. So the anointing, which I mentioned at that point, is the Holy Spirit and His ministry in a certain sense. The anointing abides in you, John says. The one in you is the Holy Spirit. At the end of 1 John 5, verse 6 through 8, This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood, probably referring to his baptism and his crucifixion. But then it says, and the spirit is the one who testifies because the spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. So you see, the spirit who is in believers, how does he vanquish give us victory over the spirit of the antichrist, the devil. Well, when the lies that try to turn us away from the true Jesus come, the spirit testifies to the truth of Jesus Christ. He reminds us who Jesus really is, as opposed to the lies. And that's how he simply keeps us in the true doctrine and the true knowledge of the true Jesus, or the true Christ, I should say. Likewise in the gospel of John chapter 14, Jesus had told his disciples that they already knew the spirit of truth the other helper that that God the Father and God the Son would send to them Jesus says you know him For he dwells with you and will be in you again. He is the one who is in you He will be in you Now in the times of the New Testament Church Now, verses five through six, as we finish hearing what the text has to say before we go on to some more application. Verses five through six. Notice the two audiences, two audiences of these spirits. First of all, there is the anti-Christian world, the world aligned with Antichrist and the spirit of Antichrist. the anti-Christian world, which speaks and listens to lies about Christ. In verse five, they are from the world. Therefore, that's why they speak from the world and the world listens to them. They speak from the world. So don't miss this. If a supposedly spiritual message is driven by the natural concerns and motivations of the unbelieving world, that message is not from God, if they're speaking from the world. Many constantly try to reinterpret the Bible and its message so it will better fit current secular trends or intellectual movements or just worldly comfort. And this comes out in a host of ways. I'm just kind of picking some low-hanging fruit here as I give examples. Is the world pushing feminism and vilifying the headship of men in society? Well, that's all right. Now there's evangelical feminism and egalitarianism. We can speak for the world, too, people think. Is the world pushing the critical theories of cultural Marxism and those envy-driven definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion? That is, those things as the world currently defines them. Well, now we can start using critical race theory and critical gender theory to redefine the nature of sin and repentance. Does the world hate the church and slander it? And it does. Does the world revile us, the church, as just being full of evil hypocrites and abusers? And there are bad churches, no doubt, and false churches. But not to worry. We don't want the world mad at us, so not to worry. Many churches will do and say whatever they think the world will appreciate. And the entire mission of the church can be redefined so we don't upset the world. We can speak from the world, we think, so they'll listen to us. We're just here, then, churches start saying, we're just here to be the hands and feet of Jesus by helping the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. As secular culture currently defines all those words, as they define help, as they define the poor, as they define the marginalized, as they define the oppressed. We'll call them the least of these to make it sound biblical. We're not an embassy of the kingdom of heaven anymore, calling the world to repent of its wickedness and believe the gospel of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ alone. We wouldn't be that uncool. We wouldn't be that judgmental and naive. Well, here's one. Do we find that the world mocks or attacks the necessity of a blood atonement for sinners? Does that seem offensive? Well, what do we do about it? Many churches say, well, oh, and does the world view God sending his son to die in our place as cosmic child abuse? That's the actual phrase. Well then, progressive Christianity can come up with alternative views of the cross that won't collide with the world's rebellion. So, I hope you get the point. If we're trying to speak from the world in their language, in this sort of a sense, to be palatable to them, that's not a good sign. And here's what Jesus said to the religious leaders of the Jews, very religious people, but not of God. Here's what he said to them about that. He places emphasis on why they don't listen to him. John eight, starting in verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? Why does it feel like I'm speaking a foreign language to you, you might say. It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? And here's. The last thing he says, whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. John didn't just come up with this himself. This is what Jesus, his master, said. There's two categories of people, and only two in the world, in the spiritual sense. Those who are of God, and so they can bear to listen to what God actually says. And then the other category is those who are simply of the world, and they want to hear things in their own language, things that sound right to the world. And they're not gonna listen, unless God changes their hearts through the new birth, they're not going to listen to the truth about God and about Jesus Christ. Verse six. We were just talking about the first audience, those who listen to the spirit of Antichrist, the anti-Christian world which speaks and listens to lies about Christ. Verse six now, the other audience is, which we've already mentioned, the children of God who speak and listen to the truth about Christ. Verse six says, 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. Now there would be two quite acceptable ways to kind of look at this very specifically. Who is the we? We are from God. Who is that? You could look at it as John shifting to talk about himself and his fellow apostles. Whoever is from God listens to the gospel that the real true apostles handed down. You could also look at it, and I probably tend to look at it this way, He's still including all the people of God, all the true children of God, as we. And together, the true church, those who are true believers in Jesus Christ and his true gospel, together they have the truth that they pass on, that they speak. One application of this, by the way, that Simon Kistenmacher makes in his commentary, and it's quite appropriate, he says, Why do God's people listen to preachers? Because preachers proclaim God's word, and that word has divine authority. God's people hear his voice when the preacher speaks. I mentioned earlier in the sermon, of course, that preachers are not infallible. They can get certain things wrong along the way. And yet, God has chosen to use fallible preachers to pass along his truth. And scripture even speaks very specifically in places of when the gospel is preached, for instance, that's Jesus coming and preaching to those people. One very direct application of this is, well, you can't say, well, obviously, if God spoke to me straight out of heaven, I heard this voice out of heaven, oh, I'd listen. Well, that's not the question. The question is, when God's people speak his word, do you listen? That's the question. And particularly here, again, we're talking about very basic issues to the faith. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is he? And therefore, what did he come to do? That's the heart of our faith, and that's where John's aiming here. Back in Matthew 24, Jesus had warned. And in this context, he's he's talking about right before his coming. when all this lawlessness and anti-Christian activity comes to a head. And he says, then if anyone says to you, Matthew 24, 23, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, if it were possible is the idea, even the elect, God's chosen ones. See, I have told you beforehand. Even there, where Jesus is talking about false Christ and false prophets, he says, they'll be so convincing that if it were possible to lead astray God's own elect, they would do it. If God did not supernaturally protect his own from the deception, they would fall for it. But my point here is, Those who are of God listen to God's words, and they do not listen to the Spirit of Antichrist. They are kept. They are protected in the truth. Now, turn with me to John chapter 10. This is a great parallel if we're talking about whose voice are we listening to and who listens to whose voice. This is the Good Shepherd passage of the Gospel of John. And follow along if you're there with me in your Bible, or just listen. See what Jesus says about this whole topic of hearing his voice. Starting in verse one of John 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. He's just, by the way, he's just been reviewing the bad shepherds of Israel who don't care for the sheep. So he's kind of flowing from that into talking about his own, who he is as the good shepherd, as opposed to all the fakes. Verse two, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him for because they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold, not in ethnic Israel. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Skip down in the chapter to verse 24. A little later at the Feast of Dedication, this sort of conversation resumes with the Jews. The Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. Now that is a wonderful text used over and over to assure God's people often, look, if you belong to Jesus Christ truly, no one can take you away. You can't take you away. There is eternal security through, but notice how the eternal security happens. It's through the sheep following the shepherd, persevering in the faith. because he has a hold of them and there's this relationship. He knows his sheep by name, they know the shepherd, they listen to his voice and they follow him. That's how we stay in the faith. We're actively listening and following by God's grace that empowers us to do that. And John 18, 37, Jesus told Pilate, that for this purpose i was born and for this purpose i have come into the world to bear witness to the truth everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice so big idea again of our text in first john spirits supposedly speaking for god must be tested before they are believed And we ended the text seeing that the world is going to listen to lies, specifically lies about Jesus Christ, because they don't want the truth. They want something that matches the world's desires that John talked about in 1 John 2, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. They want something that will make them feel good according to their own desires. They don't want the truth. But those who are of God, who, as John has been saying over and over, have been born of God, they now have a new nature. They have God's seed within them. They have God's spirit within them. He is greater than the one who is in the world, who will try to deceive them. And so God's people listen to the words of God. And they listen to the truth about Jesus Christ. And they are kept by Christ and by his spirit. OK. Applying the text a little further, I hope it's an intuitive thing to you, an obvious thing to you as a Christian, that number one, number one, the focus of true religion is Jesus Christ incarnate. And if you stray from that, you could very well find yourself entirely outside the faith. Find that it wasn't Jesus you were trusting in at all. The focus of true religion is Jesus Christ incarnate. The son of God become the son of man who therefore could live a perfect life in the place of sinners and therefore could die and have all the sins of his people put on himself and he could take them all away in their place. And he could rise from the dead to give his people eternal life. Only the God man could do that. That's the gospel. That's the Savior. He's the focus of true religion. Jesus told us in the Gospel of John chapters 14 and 15, you're familiar with these texts, most of you, that when the Helper comes whom he would send to us from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, the Spirit will bear witness about me, Jesus says. That's the Spirit's ministry. The Spirit's focus is not something else. Whatever you may want that to be, whatever you may want the focus of Christianity to be, the Spirit's focused on Jesus Christ. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. And here he just, in a poetic way, gives the heart of what he calls godliness. He's talking about the faith that produces godliness. Here it is. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. It's Jesus incarnate. That's the mystery of godliness. And he had just said in the verse before that the household of God is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. What truth is the church supposed to undergird and hold up? The truth about Jesus incarnate, Jesus Christ incarnate. I don't have time to go through what I meant to go through in Colossians, but I will summarize. Colossians chapters two and three, you have the references in your notes. All through the book of Colossians, this is a great case study in how Paul is writing to a church, a church in Colossi here. He is reminding them, encouraging them not to be led astray by teachers who say, well, Jesus is good, but you need to go to Christianity 2.0, which is not really about Jesus Christ, it's about other things. I'll skip around and give you some quick examples. He says, Colossians 2.1, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, another church. and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. He says a little further down, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. For in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have been filled in him You've been given everything you need in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. And he goes on then to describe that we have everything we need in Christ because of his crucifixion. And in his crucifixion, he took away our sins. He disarmed the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. And then he says, don't let people make you think that you need now to go back to aspects of the Jewish ceremonial law, things like questions of food and drink, festivals, new moon, Sabbaths. He says, these are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. And then he says, don't let someone lead you astray to asceticism and worship of angels and visions, mysticism, that can supposedly get you further spiritually than Jesus can. And then he says, verse 20 of Colossians 2, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. People, religious are coming up with all these rules for them. This is how to be more spiritual. Don't touch the wrong things. Don't taste the wrong things. referring to things that all perish as they are used. According to the human precepts and teachings, these have indeed an appearance, a facade of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body. But Paul says they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. And so he goes on. We won't go there right now. Chapter three, he goes on to say then, focus on Christ, who is now ascended to heaven. and where you will one day be with him. And his application of that is, put to death what is earthly in you, all the remaining sin, put on the virtues of Christ. And he wraps it all up by saying, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. The focus of true religion is Jesus Christ incarnate. It doesn't matter if the topic for the moment is, how should I be more godly in my family? How should I raise my kids? How should I treat my spouse? How should I act in the workplace? It's all about Jesus. And if it's not, you've strayed from true religion. That's the point. Now, another topic in this text to take to heart. What is the heart of spiritual victory? Well, it's simple but steadfast faith. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And that's why you have overcome, you've gotten victory over the spirit of Antichrist. Later in 1 John 5, verses 4 and 5, it says, Taking that concept further, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God? So what faith is he talking about? Faith in Jesus is the son of God. That's what he's talking about. How do you get spiritual victory and be more than a conqueror as a Christian? Don't listen to people who give you answers that will build up your pride, that will make you think that you can become this super warrior, spiritually speaking, in your own right. The heart of spiritual victory is simple but steadfast faith. It's actually recognizing your weakness, but trusting in what God is telling you, and simply continuing to live by that. The people to whom John's writing They looked dumb in the eyes of the world. They looked silly. They still plumbed to this really uncool idea about Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified guy down in Judea. He was the son of God. And that's how we have salvation. Some people who had been in church alongside them for a while, they had left. They said, oh, we found the deeper truth about who the Christ and the Christ spirit are. We're gonna leave you silly Christians to your own devices. The people whom John is writing to and saying, you have gained spiritual victory here, they looked silly in the eyes of the world. They didn't look strong or successful. But what did they do to get victory? They had a simple but steadfast faith. They simply kept believing the gospel and believing in Jesus as the son of God. It's very simple. Spiritual victory is clinging to Christ by faith. And submitting yourself to God's truth as the one in you, the Holy Spirit, reminds you, this is what God has said, hold on to it. Just hold on to it and live by it. The heart of spiritual victory is simple but steadfast faith. And now I'm gonna skip to the third and last application. Let's think about the appetite for spiritual truth or error. What do you have an appetite for? Are you hungry for spiritual truth? Or are you hungry to be told what you want to hear? Error. Well, the appetite for spiritual truth or error is an issue of the heart, not the head. It's the heart, not the head. Obviously, if you're not engaging your head, if you're not thinking through things, then you're not thinking about truth. But at bottom, what you have an appetite for, truth or error, that's a matter of your heart, not your head. 2 Timothy 3, Paul talks about those who will, in their hearts, be full of wickedness, But 2 Timothy 3 verse 5, he says, they have the appearance of godliness, but they deny its power. They have an outward shell of Christianity, but they've denied its power. He says, avoid such people. And it becomes evident he's talking about false prophets and false teachers, because he says next, for among them are those who creep into households. This is not going to be politically correct, what he says next. These false teachers creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannies and Jambrees, he's referring to Pharaoh's court magicians in the Book of Exodus, just as those magicians opposed Moses. So these men also opposed the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But look at who Paul says listens to the false teachers. It's like as he's describing it here in Second Timothy, he's saying the false teachers and those who listen to them deserve each other. That's what he's saying. The people who listen to them already have a heart that wants to listen to them. Why? Well, here he mentions weak women who are already weighed down, burdened with sins, and they're led astray by various passions. They just go with their urges, their natural drives. They don't go with truth. They're always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Now, you jump down to the next chapter, still same topic, though, 2 Timothy 4. Paul encourages Timothy to keep preaching the word In season, out of season? Why? Because the time is coming, for the time is coming, 2 Timothy 4, 3, when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate, pile up for themselves, teachers, to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. Again, the issue is the heart. people have itching ears, they won't endure, they won't put up with sound teaching. They're gonna find some false teacher somewhere because that's what they want. They want to listen to flatterers and to liars. On the other hand, in Luke 8, when Jesus told the parable of the soils, how the word of God is thrown out there like seed on different kinds of soil, representing different kinds of hearts, He talks about all the kinds of hearts that for one reason or another do not have a lasting crop from hearing the word of God. But then he says, as for that in the good soil, Luke 8, 15, they are those who hearing the word hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. Now who made their heart like that? God did by his grace. But he says, Those who hear the word and bear the fruit, the crop they ought to bear, it's because they are holding fast the word. They're holding onto it in an honest and good heart. It's not because they're more intellectual or smarter than the next person. It's because their heart is receptive. So how's your heart? What does your heart want more than anything? That will be shown by what you are willing to hear. Are you willing to hear the truth when it's hard to hear? Jesus says there in the next verse, take care then, not in the next verse, verse 18, I'm sorry. Take care then how you hear. For to the one who has, more will be given. And from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. So we've seen that spirits supposedly speaking for God must be tested before they are believed. If you're of the world, you won't be motivated to properly test the spirits and their prophets and their ideas. You will be willingly deceived. You'll be conned willingly by the devil and his antichrists. because you've not believed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, son of God and son of man. He is the only mediator, the only go-between between God and mankind. He's the only one who can save you from your sins. He is the only one who can save you from the damnation you deserve. You do not believe God and what he's testified about his son, Jesus Christ. That's why you don't love God or his truth. And we were all there once. That's how we all start out. But if you are a child of God, and if you're not, you can become one today by simple faith in Christ. If you decide to believe on Christ, that's God's word of grace in you, and you can become a child of God. But if you are a child of God right now, then you can and will test the spirits and their prophets and their ideas. You've been anointed and indwelt by God's own spirit. And that spirit will enable you to conquer the devil and his antichrists and the world that follows them. And how will he do it? He'll do it by preserving and nurturing your faith. Your faith in the son of God, the one who loved you and gave himself for you. So there's great security and comfort here for God's children. You're safe in Christ, but understand how he keeps you safe, by helping you hold on to the truth. I'll close with 2 Thessalonians 2, which refers directly to those who will fall for the last great deception of the final Antichrist, but the principle is the same. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 9 says, The coming of the lawless one, that antichrist, is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing. Because why? Why are they deceived? Those who will perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. It doesn't say because they didn't understand the truth. It says because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, that's why God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But what is false ain't next, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by God, by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's not going to let go of you, Christian. And we ought always to give thanks to God for his grace in our lives that caused us to believe the truth. When we didn't want to believe the truth at what time, now we want to because God changed our hearts. And he'll have our hearts until we're glorified. That's how God keeps his own. Which side are you on? Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the work of your Holy Spirit. Please let us not grieve him in some way that he will withdraw his ministry from us, even to any degree. We need your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, to continually convince us of and reinforce us in the truth, particularly the truth about you. Were it not for your spirit within us, we would fall into the same deceptions that the world falls into because we still have the wickedness in our hearts, the remains of it, that the world has, that we now have new natures as well. But were it not for your grace, we would be like the rest who will perish in their sins. Lord, please save those who are, yes, they are undeserving, but they need you. and please encourage your people to persevere actively in the faith by your grace, but using the tools you've given to us. Responding to your Holy Spirit as he points us to your word that he's breathed out and as he points us to Jesus Christ who sent him. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.