1John 4:1-6

Discernment

We need to be discerning Dr. Sam talked about

authentic I.D.’s Real Church Real Believers Real Teaching

Discernment

John has been exhorting the believers to be discerning…

In the face of persecution In the face of opposition In the face of false teaching

Discernment

Bottom Line… We are responsible for our own

relationship with God We need to do our own

homework… We need to view all things

through the standard of the Word

Discernment

Warren taught last week… The final verse of his lesson

spoke of the Holy Spirit The Spirit that indwells us The Spirit that gives us

evidence of our salvation and faith

1 John 3:24

“The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

Everyone!!!

How does the Holy Spirit give us evidence of our salvation and faith?

Let Us Read Our Text For Today… Notice how John transitions

from the indwelling Spirit to testing spirits…

Not every Spirit is from God This is yet another warning God reveals truth – Satan

counters with lies

Spiritual Warfare

Truth or Lie We need to know What is Spiritual Warfare???

Spiritual Warfare

It’s not chasing demons It’s the battle for the mind The battle between truth and

error The objective of the Church is to

bring truth to bear on people who live in damning error

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge…

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

…of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..

Spiritual Warfare

Anyone who discredits discernment or who objects to your questioning of their teaching and comparing it to scripture – is probably a false teacher

The Strategy of Satan…

Genesis 3:1-4 “Indeed has God said…” 1st attack the Word – create

doubt Eve responds – (Gen. 3:3) 2nd distort God’s Word

The Strategy of Satan

Satan responds – (Gen. 3:4) 3rd – outright lies… Doubt Distortion Lies

Spiritual Warfare

1 John 4:1 tells us that this is not a human strategy…”do not believe every spirit”

Every religious idea has a spiritual source

There are only 2 spiritual worlds

Spiritual Warfare

The Spirit of God Then there are all the rest… These are the doctrines of

demons

Spiritual Warfare

This is a theme that is imbedded throughout scripture

Moses

David – Bathsheba -Solomon

Matthew 24:4-5

Acts 20:28-30

Spiritual Warfare

Wherever you go in scripture – God’s truth is under assault

1 Timothy 4:1

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” 

Spiritual Warfare

Men will pay attention to deceitful spirits

Behind all false doctrines are seducing spirits…

And men whose consciences are seared preach lies without remorse

This Is Key!!!

No false teaching - No attack on scripture – Is benign!

There Are Only Two Possibilities… Either teaching is from God

through His Word… Or the teaching is demonic Causing Doubt Distortion Denial of truth

James 3:15

“This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”

Any lofty view lifted up against God’s Word has but one source – the demonic

Spiritual Warfare

Untruth is propagated by people who listen to deceitful and seducing spirits

They are tools of demons Behind the human is the

demonic

Spiritual Warfare

Demons have a powerful influence in the world

It has been a very successful strategy for Satan

Most of the world believes in demonic doctrines – they have no place with God

Let’s Look At 1 Corinthians 10:18-21 In the context of this passage,

Paul is talking about believers who still participated in Pagan rituals and sacrifices

Paul is not concerned with the practice or the false god

Spiritual Warfare

It’s not the food eaten that has been sacrificed to idols

Paul is concerned that these people were participating in a demonic practice

There is nothing to gain by sharing in demons

Spiritual Warfare

We are not to play with fire Do not maintain any

connection with your former life

We cannot make a truce with error – it is energized by the forces of hell

Old Testament Examples

Leviticus 17:7 – Creating a “goat god” didn’t

make a god – it opened the door to demons

Deuteronomy 32:17 The Jews were sacrificing to

demons

Old Testament Examples

Psalm 106:37 They had even sacrificed their

children to demons…

Spiritual Warfare

Any form of religion is demonic

Any world religion Any animist tribal religion Pseudo Christianity

The Future…

Revelation 16:13-16 The dragon – Satan The Beast – The Antichrist The False Prophet – the

antichrist’s cohort

The Future…

Three unclean spirits like frogs come out of them

These spirits seduce the world into making war against their Creator

What insanity!

Spiritual Warfare

Satan will use any world system to seduce man into turning against God

Atheism Agnosticism

Hinduism

Islam

Buddhism

Animism

Good Old USA!

2 Peter 2:1-3

The false prophets attack: The authority of scripture The inerrancy of the Bible The virgin birth The sinless life of Jesus The sovereignty of god

Spiritual Warfare

Some are blatant like Islam Many are subtle working

within the church We are to stand for and

defend – the Truth If we don’t have the truth –

what do we have…

Spiritual Warfare

It is the battle between truth and lies

The more truth you know – The more vital you are to the

battle You will be attacked for

speaking the truth

Spiritual Warfare

In 1 John4:1 we have the command…

Don’t believe every spirit is the Holy Spirit

Don’t believe everything you hear about faith (radio, news, TV, etc.)

Spiritual Warfare

Before you were a believer what benchmark for faith did you have

As believers we have a true foundation to hold onto

We have the Indwelling Spirit

Spiritual Warfare

Satan does not want to be the opposition to our church…

He wants to be confused with the Christian Church

He wants to appear pro-Christ There are many false Christs

in the world

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

We are not to ignore prophetic utterances..

We need to examine everything carefully

Many today are too lazy to do that

Spiritual Warfare

Today, with political correctness, no one wants to say that anyone is wrong

We are a Nation that is truly living in denial

I’m not talking about a river in Egypt!

Spiritual Warfare

Most people try to hide from the truth

The realities of life today are overwhelming

Yet we wonder if Lindsey Lohan is going to jail

Spiritual Warfare

This is a scary time People out of work – Losing their homes Crawling out from under

debris in Japan Fighting in the Middle East

Spiritual Warfare

But gosh darn it I’ll be ticked if Lindsey doesn’t go to jail

We Have Three Tests

1 – The confession of the divine Lord

2 – Possession of the divine life

3 – Commitment to the divine Law

1 – Confession of Christ

Demons will deny the deity of Christ

We can test any teacher by their Christology

This must include the whole package

1 – Confession of Christ

Jesus is God in the flesh Jesus is part of the Trinity Jesus is sinless Jesus is our satisfaction for

our sins In rejecting Christ – you reject

God

1 – Confession of Christ

Some theologians say that other people groups may not know Jesus

But they know God and for what they know it’s the best they can do…

They do not know God

2 – Possession of Divine Life Look at their life Are they regenerate? Are they bearing fruit? Do they hunger for the truth? Do they have the protection of

the Holy Spirit?

3 – Honor God’s Law

Do they uphold God’s law? Do they participate in the

Christian community of ideas or do they parrot the world?

In Conclusion…

What do they say about Christ?

What is their life like? Do they honor God’s Law?

Let Us Pray