All right, well, good morning again. Glad you're here today in the house of the Lord. We're gonna continue in our series on fellowship with God. It's a, probably you're saying, I thought we were in a series in 1 John. Well, we are. We're calling it fellowship with God. Today we're gonna see about fellowship with God and testing doctrine, testing what we hear, what we listen to, what we believe about God. It is, John says, it determines whether it's the spirit of Antichrist or the spirit of God. what we put into our minds. It's important what we listen to. It is of the utmost importance. Christianity, first and foremost, is a thinking religion. Not a feeling religion, a thinking religion. Feelings are part of it, but the feelings need to be determined by what we know, by knowledge. By knowledge, our feelings are determined. If you've ever seen the little discipleship book, they have a little train. And the first engine is faith. Fact, feelings. Feelings come last. Faith in whom God is built upon the facts of God's word. The feelings are determined by our faith in the facts of God's word. So that's where we're gonna be today. So I'd ask you to stand as we would pray. We would read from John, first John four, chapter four, verses one to six. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you that we could be gathered here in this building. Although I do think of brothers and sisters in Mississippi tonight, in Arkansas, who don't have that privilege this morning because of a tornado. We ask that you would be with them in that loss of life. We ask, Lord God, that you would show your mighty power and your grace and your mercy, that you would be with broken and grieving hearts, that you would be with people as they rebuild their lives. But as for us here, right now, we ask, Lord God, that you would speak to us, that we would hear you. Your word tells us that if we belong to you, we listen to your words. My sheep, hear my voice. May we hear your voice, Lord, as you speak to us this day, and we ask it for the glory of Christ. Amen. This is what God says. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone 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. This is the spirit of Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 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. 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 Word of the Lord, you may be seated. We'll see four things today, four points if you want a direction for us to go, that of testing, knowing, overcoming, and listening. Testing, knowing, overcoming, and listening. The first is that of testing. Look at what John says. He says, 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. Beloved begins with I love you. You're my loved ones. I want you to understand this. I want you to know this. I will say the same thing. Loved ones do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits. Do not believe. You know the word? To be firmly persuaded. What does he mean by the word spirit? Isn't that a little weird? Isn't that a little, you know, come on, come on, getting a little crazy here. Well, Howard Marshall in his commentary writes this, and I think he's right, the word spirit here must mean either utterance inspired by a spirit or person inspired by a spirit. In other words, where's the source of what they're coming up with? Who's it actually from? Who gave them that information? Who gave them that insight? Teaching about God, and this is what John is talking about specifically here, the teaching about God, the preaching, the teaching, the sharing of God's word, is either from God or it's not from God. There's no in-between. It's not sort of half and half. It's either it's from God or it's not from God. We must be diligent in protecting our minds and our fellowship. We need to be diligent in protecting our minds and our fellowship, our church, from false teaching, or what Paul would call the doctrine of demons. Again, let me be very clear here, the source of teaching about God is either from God or it is the mind. Scripture is very clear. And I believe that's what Paul means when he talks about wrestling not against flesh and blood. This is what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on a whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Well, there it is. There's a spiritual battle. It's not a physical battle. It's a spiritual battle. For we do not wrestle against powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. The battle is for our minds. The battle is for our spirits, of where we will, in essence, plant our tent. Where will we take up our And so what we hear about God, what we hear in the world, we need to test. Don't just take and believe everything you are told, right? That's what, if we're gonna be honest, that's what this present world wants to do with our kids and everybody else. Just sit there, believe what we say. Don't question us. How dare you question us? Don't question us, just believe what we say. Just open your mouth and take the problem and act accordingly. God's Word says, no, you test. You test. Not in an arrogant, you know, who are you, and I'm going to make sure who, you know. We test. We say, is this from God, or is this not from God? Is this profitable, or is it unprofitable? The word test here, doi komazo, means to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing. often through actual use, to test, to examine, to try to determine the genuineness of, and testing. John, again, look what he says. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, do not believe everybody who teaches you about God, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. Now John, in his time when he wrote this, was actually battling the false prophets called the Gnostics. They had spiritual knowledge. They had higher knowledge. And they would essentially tell you that flesh means nothing. You can sin and do all that you want with your flesh. Do every disgusting thing you want with your body. It doesn't matter. It doesn't affect anything. Because your spirit is what matters. False teaching. Destructive teaching. John has warned us already that the spirit of Antichrist is out there. People are against God. People are going to teach us wrongly about God, yet all the while thinking they are teaching correctly about God. Remember what John said in 1 John 2.18, children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist has come. So now many Antichrists have come. Therefore we know it is the last hour. False teachers are nothing new in our world. I believe that Satan, the demonic forces, are going to accelerate this, and the Last Hour. That's my personal belief. But they've been around since Eden. Who was the first false teacher? Satan himself. Oh, God, did God really say? Oh, no, no, He really meant this. Oh, He really doesn't want you to. He was a false teacher. False teachers are here, and quite frankly, They come, usually, from within the church. From within the church, false teachers come. They're not usually outsiders. That's what Paul, remember what Paul, when he was leaving Ephesus, and he said, I'm never going to see your face again. You will never ever see me again. But he says this in Acts 20, verses 28 to 29, he says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. is speaking to the elders, the pastors of the Church in Ephesus. Pay careful attention to yourself and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. There are people who will seek God because they are not of God. Peter, writing to his audience, writes about how subtle and destructive these false teachers are. Look at what Peter says in 2 Peter 2. But false prophets also arose among the people. Now Peter right there is referring to the children of Israel. just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." What do we do with this? We are to test what we are taught about God's Word. We are to test what we hear about God. We are to test The songs that we listen to, quote unquote, Christian music that we listen to, which is a very, anyways. Be careful what you listen to, right? What's the old song? Be careful what you see, be careful what you hear, be careful what you say, right? Be careful. We need to test and examine. You should go home today and say what Pastor Eric said today. Is that true? Does it line up with God's Word? Can I see what He's saying here in God's Word? Does it bear out in all of Scripture? If it doesn't, reject what I say. Now, if you don't understand something, come and ask. That's the whole point of Community Group. What a great public service announcement for Community Group right here, right now. I would ask you, I would plead with you, for your sake, make time to come to a community group. Thursday nights, Friday nights, because we'll talk about the sermons. You have a question, it can be answered. God spoke to you, you can say, this is how God spoke to me, and encourage others. It helps us as a body of believers. It helps me and the other pastors as teachers and preachers, because if you're just like, well, you just confused me, I didn't understand this. Okay, hold on. That helps me to be a better preacher. It's a great thing. Please come. Be part of it. Encourage one another. It's part of what will help us to forsway from false teaching. If we are a true child of God, Scripture has already told us, John has already told us, God's Spirit in us will test what we hear, and by the knowledge given to us by the Holy Spirit, we will be kept from false teaching. There is a knowing that happens if you are a child of God. There is an inherent knowing that this is from God or this is not from God. And these next three sub points I stole right from David Allen. I'm not afraid to say that I stole from David Allen. He doesn't know any of this. But just to be fair, I'm telling you who I got it from. We need to test what we hear and what we listen to. But we also need to know the truth of Scripture tells us that as children of God, if we are truly God's child, we have certain definite knowledge. We have certain knowledge. So what John says in the next two verses in 4 or 2, by this we know the Spirit of God. By this we know that certainty. I know, we know the Spirit of God. The Word you know, gnosto, you've come to know. You've come to know the truth of God's Word if you are a student of God's Word, if you've immersed yourself in God's Word, if you sit under the teaching of God's Word. You know God. You know the Spirit of God. And God's Spirit in you, if you're God's true child, will testify to the truth that you hear from God. It is that very Spirit that assures you and I that we are God's children. Romans 8.16, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit Himself, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The doctrine of assurance is through the Holy Spirit assuring us, because my spirit, your spirit, if we're God's children, that which resides in us agrees with God's spirit. We know certain knowledge that we belong to God. And we can know the things of God because God's Spirit is within us. Mike said this morning in Sunday School, we shouldn't forget that we have within us the Holy Spirit and we have at our disposal, not as to use any way we want, the power of the Holy Spirit. You know what power the Holy Spirit has given you besides sanctifying you and convicting you of sin? It's the power of discernment. To discern truth from error. From what is the spirit of Antichrist and what is the spirit of demons. Or from the spirit of Antichrist, from the spirit of what God says. Jesus told us this is the very purpose of the Holy Spirit. in John 16, 13, when the Spirit of Truth, that's the Holy Spirit, one of His names, He's the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will declare to you the things that are to come. Because we have certain knowledge, because we have God's Spirit, if we're truly God's child, I can be certain that God will speak to me and I will hear and I will be able to understand and apply what God says. And because I can, that gives you and I the ability to have divine identification. That when we hear teaching, we can identify whether it's from God or not from God. By this we 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. There is a litmus test, John says. If the person preaching to you, by the way, if it's a preacher from the pulpit, Scripture says it's going to be a man. Not to diminish women. but men are given the role of preacher. If what you hear from the Pope is from God, that person will declare that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. The one who is not from God will not declare that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Why does John emphasize Jesus Christ coming in the flesh? Isn't that just one of many things that we're supposed to believe? Isn't that one of many tests of faith? How come instead Paul emphasizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15, and rightfully so, but John says, no, the test of true faith is Jesus Christ coming in the flesh? Have you ever wondered that question? Maybe you've never thought about it. Well, maybe I'm going to have an answer. Finally, Pastor Eric will give me an answer. I'm not going to give you the answer. The Spirit of God will give you an answer. I'm going to tell you the reason why. That John emphasizes the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We've got to go back in John. Remember, whenever you study a particular passage of Scripture, you need to take its context. You've got to go what's before and after and even in other parts of Scripture to find out what does this mean? John had already told us, remember how he began the letter, that which we have seen, that which we have heard, that which we have touched, this we declare to you. Jesus Christ in the flesh, we declare to you. It's important to John. It should be important to us. Right from the get-go, the emphasis was on the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Again, the question is why? to deny the doctrine of the incarnation of God coming in flesh is to deny every other doctrine about God. Every doctrine about God is summed up in the fact that Jesus Christ came into flesh. Really? What are you talking about? If you deny that Jesus Christ came into flesh, which the Gnostics of John's day were actually doing, They were denying the covenant of redemption. They were denying the covenant of grace. They were denying the fact that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It was denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because if he didn't come in the flesh, how could he possibly be resurrected? It's denying the commandment of 1 John 3.23 to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Every doctrine of God is found in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The very purpose of which God created the world was to redeem people through Jesus Christ coming into the flesh, dying on the cross and rising from the grave and will return one day. The whole purpose of God towards humanity is that. To deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ coming into the flesh is to deny everything about God. It is ultimately to deny that God is sovereign. That God is sovereign over this universe and He can do what He wants. And He chose to create a world that He knew would fall. And He chose for His Son, Jesus Christ, to come into this world to save sinners. That's what God chose to do. Deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, you deny everything about God. You tracking with me? Does it make sense? If it doesn't, come to Community Group. We'll answer it. I hope it does. It should make sense. It should seem obvious because it's from the Spirit of God. And if you have the Spirit of God, you should say, yes and amen to that. And I don't mean that in an arrogant, prideful way. This is God's Word. It's not Eric's Word. It's God's Word. God says if you deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that person, that teacher, that song cannot possibly be from God. It's impossible. It denies everything about God. Oh, it makes me feel good. I have good vibes over it. Good vibes are the worst test. if anything is from God. The worst test, the test would be, is God's Spirit speaking to the Holy Spirit within me? Oh yeah, that's right. Oh, I gotta explore, I wanna know more. Oh man, that's right. Man, God is speaking to me. And because we can have certain knowledge, and because we need to have divine identification, We can know demonic differentiation. We can determine whether this is demonic, the source of the teaching is demonic, or it's from God Himself. Listen to what it says in the rest of chapter 4, verse 3. This is the spirit of Antichrist, the one who denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, which you heard was coming and is now already in the world. Jesus Christ come in the flesh. As I said, all the other doctrines, I believe, are contained within that truth. Deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, you deny everything else about God. God's whole purpose, His whole character, because God is love, and He loves His creation, and He wants to save His creation. You deny everything about God. We must be very careful. Must be very careful. to the preachers that we listen to, the songs that we listen to, the books that we read about God, because you don't know that it's from God. Somebody recommends to you a good book. All right. First of all, just do a little work, a little research on the author. Who is this guy? You know, if somebody were to recommend to you a great book by Joel Osteen, I can tell you right now say no thank you. They recommend you a book from Benny Hinn, say no thank you. Let me recommend you the book. It's called the Bible. And I don't mean that to be, because it's true. A sister last week came to me and had a clipping from a magazine, I'm not going to give her name, she's sitting here today, and it said you can get a free book about the real Jesus. Right? And I said, well, my first thought is, if they gotta advertise this in a magazine, it's probably cultish. Right? And so I did a little research for him. And I found out who makes this book and this and that, and do, you know what? They believe that you're saved by faith. They believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. I said, okay, tracking, so far, so good. Right? So far, so good. Then, all of a sudden, you gotta find out that to really be a Christian, You better hold to the Old Testament dietary laws. You better worship only on Saturdays. This is not the Seventh-day Adventist Church, by the way. They're also there. And all these other things, so I said, you know what? Don't even bother. They have some truth, but a whole lot of other mixed in with it. Why? Go with what is pure and true. Go with what is pure and true. Does that mean you have to agree with everything every preacher says? No? People want to ask me, what do you think about David Jeremiah? I say, I listen to David Jeremiah. Do I agree with Dr. David Jeremiah on everything? No. I think he has a wrong interpretation on some things, because he's what we call Arminian. I would be called a Calvinist. Am I going to tell you not to listen to Dr. David Jeremiah? I would say, amen, I hope you listen to Dr. David Jeremiah. Am I going to tell you not to listen to Greg Laurie? I don't agree with everything about Greg Laurie. I tell you not to listen to him, no. But I would say this, though. But if you had a choice to listen to Dr. David Jeremiah, I hope you understand what I'm saying. Nothing against Dr. David Jeremiah. I've been blessed by that man many times. But if I had a choice to listen to him or Alistair Bennett, because I would say, why don't you just go for the better? You know what I'm saying? It sounds, I hope I'm, I don't think I'm saying it right, but you understand what I'm saying. Go, he's not, Dr. DeRionne is not going to lead you down a wrong path, but I think you have a better understanding of scripture when you go with somebody who is really of a reformed persuasion. Why do you say, isn't that arrogant for you to say that, Pastor? I'm going to tell you why I'm convinced that Reformed theology is the absolute best way to view Scripture. Because I was anything but Reformed in my thinking. When I first came in contact with Reformed thinking, I said, no, there's no way. I stormed out of the classroom. I said, my God is not like that in any way. I was angry beyond belief. And then I took a whole year by myself of reading Scripture and said, let me find out if this is true or not. It was God's Spirit within me that was telling me, this is true. This is true. So I go with the people who I say, this is true. Will I tell you not to listen to Dr. David Jeremiah? You know what I'm saying. Please, I hope I didn't muddy the waters there. I probably should have never even said it. But you know what I'm saying. Go with people you know 100% will not So far, I have not led you into error. You can trust Dr. David German. You can trust Gay Glory. Please, you know what I'm saying. If you want to know who you really should enlist to and you want, I'll tell you later. Because there's a whole list of them. I can tell you this, if they're on TBN, more than likely, you should avoid them. Listen to what Dr. John MacArthur says. Let's get back on track here. He writes this, Satan not only develops lies that directly deny biblical truth, but is also subtle, often sabotaging the truth by mixing it with error. Truth mixed with error is usually far more effective and far more destructive than a straightforward contradiction of the truth. Those who trust everything they read from the Christian bookstore or hear on Christian radio and television are prime targets for doctrinal deception. Boy, that is so absolutely true. I'm going to read it for you again. You've got to go back in the slide, Zane. Satan not only develops lies that directly deny biblical truth, right in the garden, Did God really say? No, he didn't actually. Right from the get-go. But he is subtle, often sabotaging the truth by mixing it with error. Truth mixed with error is usually far more effective and far more destructive than a straightforward contradiction of the truth. Those who trust everything they read from the Christian bookstore or hear on Christian radio and television are prime targets for doctrinal deception. That is so true. Just because somebody makes a statement that sounds Christian, right? The Christian church goes, oh, such and such is a Christian. I get an email, church leaders it's actually called, and I don't even know why I got it. I didn't even sign up for it. Half the stuff is really garbage anyways. But I'm interested because I see these on the, oh, so-and-so in a professional world said this, and now they're, wait, what? They don't line up with that. Somebody made some statement, it sounds Christian, and the Christian church so easily elevates a person. Bad, bad, bad. Just because you make a statement doesn't mean there's something behind it. What's the spirit behind it? You push them a little further. Will they believe that God created the world? Will they actually believe that the scriptures say that marriage is between a man and a woman? Will they actually believe that life begins at conception because God creates life in the womb? Push them, see how far it goes. I can tell you this, the road probably runs out real, the runway runs out real quick. We need to be careful, very careful. We need to be discerning in what we listen to. People get upset at me. I can tell you this, K-love will not bring you closer to Jesus Christ. It will not. They'll make you feel good. Might not be your style of music, but maybe family radio is a much better option. Because the songs that they sing and the things that are there lead you to Jesus Christ, the true Jesus Christ. Am I trying to tell you that Caleb is purposely trying to deceive you? No. They just have a very low threshold of truth. I don't mean it in arrogance, I know I'm correct. Because God's word says it. Listen to songs that elevate Christ. Listen to preachers that elevate Christ. Christ is all in all the scriptures tell us. Go high. Go high. Don't go low. Don't go middle. Don't go high. The songs that we sing here at our church are very purposely picked. And yeah, we sing a lot of the same ones, and we're introducing new ones. How many of you would say, you know, I used to go to church. I've never heard that song before. Because it's not contemporary Christian music that we're singing. We're singing worship music. So much of what junk that you hear today, oh, it's worship. No, it's not worship music. It's feel good music. What's it tell me about Jesus? Well, it's telling me all about me. It's not telling me anything about Jesus. We need to be discerning. I can't say it enough, discerning things that we hear about God. Go home today. Test what I've told you, what you'll hear tonight from Pastor John about Leviticus. Go home. Examine the Scriptures and see, is what I was told today correct? God's Spirit that's in you will resonate with the truth of God's Word. If you are truly God's child, and His Spirit, the Holy Spirit abides in you, can overcome, you do overcome falling sway to false teaching. False teaching is the spirit of Antichrist, John has told us. God's children overcome through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We overcome, overcoming. Listen to what John says in 1 John 4 and 5. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. What? The false teachers. That's them, the false teachers. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They, the false teachers, are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. And I believe, I'm telling so often, this verse is so wrongly applied. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Oh, you can do it, sister and brother, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Oh, what are you talking about? We often apply this to the physical. God never promised us that we'd be physically safe. Matter of fact, He's clear to say the opposite. If God does deliver you physically, praise God. What God means here, what His Word says, is that we are able to, through God's Spirit, we overcome the dangers of false teaching. That's what He means. Greater is He who is you than is the world. You don't fall sway into false teaching. As wonderful as it sounds and as appealing to the flesh as it is, I'm not going to fall sway to it because God's Spirit is in me. And I cannot fall sway to the false teaching. If I fall sway, then it's just as John said earlier in the Gospel. He says they went out from us because they were not of us. They weren't of the same Spirit. God's desire for us, God's will for you and I on this side of heaven is that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and that we would think God's thoughts after Himself. To think God's thoughts after Himself. How do you think God's thoughts after Himself? He's already told us His thoughts. Here's what I think. Here's what I believe. Here's what I think. Here's what I want you to believe. We already have it. We need to train ourselves to listen to God by searching and studying the Scriptures. They make us wise for salvation, are profitable for teaching, reproofing, correcting, and training in righteousness. As we do this, we will know God's words and God's teaching, and we will be able to listen to and enjoy God's words. Even the hard words. Even the words that make us go... Conviction from God. I will actually enjoy God convicting me if God's Spirit is in me. Now I enjoy that. I'm going to go out and sin so I can be convicted. That's not what you mean. Because when I'm convicted and you're convicted of sin, you say, you know what? God loves me enough to let me know that this is going to lead down a path of destruction if I continue on. And He's telling me to stop now. Don't go there. Don't do that. Don't believe that. Don't think that. We overcome false teaching by listening. By listening. In verse 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. But let's just stop for a second here. What does John mean by listens to us? He means the preaching, teaching, and the sharing of the Word of God. That's what he means. Whenever the Gospel is taught, if the preacher is at the pulpit, Whoever has God's Spirit listens. Bible study and teacher, they listen to God's Spirit. You're sharing the gospel with somebody. And I hope that you do. I really hope that you do. I hope that you care about people's eternal state. Enough to tell them the truth, that they are under the just judgment of God. And the only way of escape is through faith in Jesus Christ. The only way. The false beliefs of the world and the big evangelical church where it's just kind of, you know, an acquiescence, kind of just an acknowledgement of God and go on and live your life and acknowledge God on Sunday and maybe show up on a third a week and you're good. No. A full-fledged belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. People are of God, they will respond to that. If not, they reject it. They walk away. He says, by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. What John is telling us here is that the principle of my sheep hear my voice is real. My sheep hear my voice is real. Listen to some scriptures about this in John 10, 27-28. My sheep hear my voice. This is Jesus. My sheep. Jesus' sheep. If you're God's true child, you're Jesus' sheep. You hear His voice. and you, he knows you and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will smash them out of my hand. Let's just look at that for just a second. How do you have eternal life? How do you have eternal security? Listening to the words of Jesus, responding to the words of Jesus, and following Jesus, you're safe in his hand. That's what he says. In John 8, 47, Jesus says this, whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. He spoke that to the Pharisees. Jesus makes this incredible statement to Pilate. This is Pilate questioning Jesus in John 18.37. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say I'm a king. You say I'm a king. Jesus says, let me tell you the truth here. For this purpose, for this purpose, I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world. You want to know why Jesus Christ was born and come into the world? He tells us right here. For this purpose, I was born and have come into the world. Deny that Jesus Christ came into flesh, you deny the purpose of God right there. 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." Do we listen to God's words? Do we listen to God's words as He defines His word? Not as how we want His word to be defined, or how I think His word should be defined, or how His word makes me feel, or is it God's word? if we are true children of God. We desire and want to hear God's words. God's words. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And God lets us understand His words. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit. It guides us in the truth. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to disunderstand them because they are spiritually discerned. We can understand the truths of God's word. the deep truths of God's Word. Because God has given us His Spirit. In the day and age in which we live, in which God's Word is being, I don't want to say the word reinvented, but I guess maybe that's what it would be, I don't know the right word, but they're taking God's Word, and they're saying, well it doesn't really mean this. And that was the time, and God's Word, you know, it changes over time. You know, it's a living, breathing document. Oh, it's alive and it's active, but it's non-changing. The truths of God's Word are eternal. They are secure. They do not change. That what God says in Genesis 1-1 will last forever, what God says about marriage is forever, what God says about life is forever, what God says about spirit is forever. They do not change because God himself does not change. We live in an age where they tell you, oh no, no, no. God's a God of love, and God is this, and they want to change God's word, and they pick little pieces out of God's word, and unless you're discerning, and unless you're paying attention, you'll fall sway to false teaching. In a continuation of false teaching, as Peter says, you bring swift destruction upon yourself. Love once if you truly belong to God. You have His Holy Spirit within you. And you and I must learn to discern the things of God. Teaching comes either from God, from Himself. The teachings of God either come from God or it's demonic. There are no other options. There's zero options. We are to train ourselves from Godliness by rightly dividing the Word of Truth, by rightly dividing the Word of God, and purifying ourselves in those truths so that the return of Jesus Christ, we have no need to be ashamed. So loved ones, test the spirits. See whether they are from God. It will preserve your soul for all of eternity. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you give us your Holy Spirit. Thank you that you preserve us and keep us from error. Forgive us for not being as diligent as we should in the study of your word, and of knowing your thoughts after you. Lord, help us. Help us to really, really believe, deep in our core, that where else can we go, for you alone have the words of eternal life. May those words for us keep us from error. May they be the anchor of our soul. Till your return, we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand, let's close in the psalm. Let's close in doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.