1 John 4:1-6

Introduction

Imagine this with me if you will. It is Sunday Morning and you are in church. The service has just concluded and on this particular Sunday the pastor asks if anyone has anything they would like to share, maybe something God has taught them this week. There are a few moments of silence then one brave soul stands and says “Pastor I have something I would like to share.” Everyone is excited because this person knows their stuff; they are so good with the scripture. Then the person stands up and says:

• “God has taught me something wonderful this week. In fact I believe this is pretty revolutionary and I have been dying to share it with someone this week. I was reading the Bible and all of the sudden this wonderful thought came to me from God. I just know it must be from God because it happened while I was reading the Bible. God taught me this week that Jesus did not come in the flesh. People have missed this for centuries but finally God ahs revealed this to me and I want you all to know. Is God good or what He revealed this truth to me.”

Many of us here this morning I hope would be utterly floored if someone who we thought to be a believer stood up in front of the church and made this confession. But this is basically what was happening to the community of believer to whom John wrote this letter. There were people in the church who had started to follow a false teaching. This teaching said that Jesus had not come in the flesh. Jesus was not who He said he was. He was a good man, and may have possessed a divine nature for a while, but that divine nature left Him shortly before the cross.

As we turn our attention to the passage this morning we notice that John is calling believers to be a discerning people. J. Ligon Duncan in a sermon on this passage said there are two things that come to his mind when he thinks of what believers are to be. The first one is they are to be holy, which if you read the book of First John closely you will notice that this is at the heart of what John says to the people to whom he is writing. He, being J. Ligon Duncan, said that another thing that must characterize believers is they MUST be a people of discernment. Believers must be a people of discernment.

When we look at this passage we notice there is some weird language in here, such as test the spirits. We must not let phrases like this to under us from learning what God is teaching His people in this passage.

There is a great need for believers everywhere to be discerning. There are many people who masquerade as believers when in reality that could not be further from the truth. Therefore it would be good for everyone, including myself, to listen to what God has to say to us in this passage.

The REASON for discernment, v.1

Why does John say we, as believers must test the spirits, test what people say? There are two reasons I believe. The first one is to see whether they are from God.

What John is getting at here is who is behind what a person is saying. What is the source of the person’s inspiration? In the Old Testament the people of Israel were given ways in which they could discern whether a prophet was from God or if they were not of God. You see there were going to perhaps be instances when a prophet will prophesy something and it will come true, but they way to see if the prophet is from God is whether the prophet leads the people to serve the true God, and if they led the people to serve gods they have not known the prophet is not of God.

The second reason John says we must test the spirits is many false prophets have gone out into the world. There were people in John’s days that were claiming to be of God and they knew the truth. John says believers “test the spirits because there are those who are teaching lies and they are not from God.”

The situation has not changed today. There are people who claim they are from God but they do not teach that which is in line with what God has revealed. Is it possible then for them to be from God? We today must test the spirits. All John is getting at here is what a person believes or what someone teaches. In our day of technology there are so many ways that people can communicate what they believe. People can do it on TV, which we see used all to often to spread false teaching, there is the Internet, the radio. There seems at times there is no limits to how a person can spread what they believe. This is why we must be discerning because false teaching is everywhere and we must be discerning about who is teaching the truth and who is not teaching the truth.

The CRITERIA for discernment, vs. 2-3

So the question which naturally arises after reading verse one is okay you tell me I must be discerning and it is important then how do I discern what is true and what is false? Is there some deep thing I must do is there something I must study? To answer these questions I really just have to say one word JESUS. It all comes down to Jesus, just like the rest of Christianity.

In verses 2-3 we see two different confessions. First in vs. 2 we see the POSITIVE CONFESSION, and in vs.3 we see the NEGATIVE CONFESSION.

Let’s look at the positive confession. The positive confession is this; this is how you know if someone is from God that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. In other words the person who believes that Jesus is who the scriptures say He is. He is fully God and He is fully human. Everything hinges on Jesus. We can know today if someone is a believer, if they are a Christian or not because of what they say about Jesus. This is foundational if you miss this you have missed everything. So a question must be answered; who then is this Jesus John is talking about? Look at First John 5:20. John says in this verse that Jesus is the true God and the eternal life. This is who Jesus is. He is God. And yet at the same time He is man because we see He has come in the flesh. He was a real person. If anyone of these is denied then they have missed everything. If Jesus is not God then there is no way Jesus can perfectly obey the law of God as He did. He would not be able to sympathize with His brother in everyway, except in sin (Hebrews 4:15).

You see there are many people today who claim they are from God. Let me give you a real life illustration. There is a certain group of people from where I live in Berea, KY who claim they are believers. They say they experience all that a Christian has to experience. They believe they are really Christians. They prophesy they speak tongues they heal people. You name it they claim to do it. There is just one problem with them though, if you were to ask them who Jesus is why Jesus came many of them will not be able to give you an answer and those who can give you an answer have missed it. They believe Jesus was the Son of God but somehow He is not God. He was just some glorified man. That is all He was. Jesus was not fully God and fully man. They claim to be Christians but they are not. They do not know Jesus, they are not from God.

A person’s belief about Jesus is foundational. If a person misses this they have missed everything. There are certain things that are not available to those who do not believe in the real true Jesus. You see as a believer a Christian there are certain things we can experience because we believe in Jesus. Lets look at a few of these that we can find in chapter two of First John.

First look at verse one. For those who are believers they have an advocate before the Father. What does this mean for the believer? When we think of advocate we think of a lawyer who defends a person based on what they have done. But for the believer it looks like this. I, Ben Wilson, am standing in front of the Holy, Perfect Judge of the universe, God the Father. You see I have this big problem that I cannot do anything about. I have sinned against God and there is only one sentence the Father can hand down. The Judge is about to sentence me and the only sentence God can give me is guilty and as God begins to lay down my judgment Jesus rushes in and says Father this one is mine. I know He is a sinner and that in your eyes He is guilty. He has sinned against you, but Father look at what I have done for Him. I died for Him, I obeyed your will perfectly for Him, I rose again for Him. He is mine I did this for Him. Only those who believe in Christ have Jesus Christ the righteous as their advocate. But those who have missed the truth about Jesus they believe in a false Jesus they do not and cannot experience this.

Secondly look at verse two. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins; for those who believe in Jesus. What is John saying here? Those who believe in Jesus have had the wrath of God turned away from them. Jesus while on the cross bore the wrath of God against their sin. Those who believe in Christ will never have to face the wrath of God because Jesus bore it on the cross for them. But those who have missed who Jesus really is, as revealed in the scriptures, do not and cannot experience this.

So those who confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, those who believe in the true Jesus as revealed in the scriptures, they are from God, this is the positive confession.

The negative confession is found in vs. 3. Those who do not believe in the Jesus revealed in the scriptures they are not of God they are of the antichrist. The antichrist here is not referring to the great antichrist, which is seen in the end times. John already in this book has said that many antichrists have come already. What we see here is the already not yet tension that is found in the New Testament. Many antichrists have come already yet there is one who is yet to come. Those who deny that Jesus is who He is they are not from God but are from the antichrist. They cannot be from God. There is no way they can be from God. The reason is they have denied the clearest revelation that God has given to us, Jesus Christ.

There are those today who believe in a false Jesus. We see this everywhere and most of us may even here it everyday. A problem we will all face when we practice discernment is we will not be popular. In order for us to practice discernment we must at some point tell people they have missed the point. I. Howard Marshall puts it this way: “If a person claims to believe in Jesus, it is proper to as, ‘Is your Jesus the real Jesus?’ For it is all to easy for us to make a picture of Jesus which is congenial to our taste but leaves out vital aspects of the New Testament presentation of Him.” We must in order to be discerning do this. You see eternity is on the line here. We can not question people and let them keep there view of Jesus or we can present the truth in love because the eternal destiny of their soul is at line. Being a discerning believer should lead us to witness more to those who have a wrong view of who Jesus is.

We must keep in mind the culture in which we live. We live in a time when people believe your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth, you believe what you want and I will believe what I want and there is no absolute truth so we can believe whatever we want. Therefore we must be discerning because this is the mindset of the day in which we live.

The ENABLING of discernment, vs. 4-6

How can we as believers be discerning? Why can we be discerning in a day like ours? John answers this in verses 4-6.

The first reason is because who is in us. John says little children, John uses this when he wants to drive home his point, he says little children you are from God and have overcome them. Why John, how? Because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world? Who is in believers? In chapter 3:24 we learn that believers have been given the Spirit. In 2:27 believers have been given an anointing which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells believers.

What does John mean here by overcome them? He means that those to whom he is writing have overcome the false teachers because they have stayed in the truth and have not fallen into their false teaching about who Jesus is. They have done this because the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer. This has to what happened. The people who were spreading the false teaching in the community to whom John is writing the false teachers they were the intellectual giants. They had received the special knowledge from God. They were smarter. But the believers have someone who is smarter than the false teachers. They have the Spirit of God living within them and He will lead them into all truth. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth about Jesus Christ and those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit cannot succumb to false teachings about Jesus.

We today are in this same state. As believers the Holy Spirit dwells in us. God lives within us. The same way the people in John’s day overcame the false teachers is the same way we will because the Holy Spirit has taught us the truth about Jesus. Therefore we can know that even if a person claims that something is from the Holy Spirit yet they miss who Jesus is, they are not of God. They are of the antichrist.

Friends we can be discerning as believers and be victorious because the Holy Spirit is in us. He will lead us in the truth.

John in verse five presents the negative side. Those who are not of God they speak from the world and when they do the world listens to them. They are not of God. The source of what they say is of the world not of God. This is another way we can see if a person is from God. Who is listening to them and following them? Is it the world or is it true believers? This will show if a person is from God or if they are not.

John concludes this passage in verse six. The key to understanding this verse is understanding who “us” is. It seems it would be arrogant for John to be referring only to himself or to any one individual. It seems that John here is referring to the Apostles. Does someone listen to our teaching? If the answer is yes than they are from God. John is saying are these people rejecting the teaching about Christ from those who were with Christ? If so they are not from God. But those who are from God they will listen to us. By this we will know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

We can discern if someone is from God if they affirm what the scriptures say about Jesus. A person’s view of Jesus must be a big glorious view. Why? Because this is how the scriptures present Jesus. He is glorious. He is almighty. He is sovereign. He is the Creator. He is the Savior. He is our righteousness. He is the Judge. He rose from the dead. He existed in the beginning with Father. Jesus is God. This is the view of the Apostles, which we found in the scriptures. Those who do not listen to their teaching but reject it they are not of God but are of the world.

How can we as believers apply this in our lives even today? You might be thinking I am not very smart. I do not understand the Bible. I do not have a degree from Seminary. I did not graduate high school even. Let me tell you my friends if you are a believer in Jesus then you can be discerning because of the Holy Spirit who is in you. You can understand what the Bible says about who Jesus is and defend from the Bible who Jesus is because of the Holy Spirit who is in you.

So there is one implication. If we are to be discerning we must be a people of the Book. We must be in the scriptures because it is in the scriptures where we learn of Jesus as He truly is. There is no other source and no other book where we as believers can find the true Jesus. Jesus has been revealed in the scriptures and it is the scriptures, which must shape our belief of who Jesus is. Have you ever wondered why all of the scriptures point to Christ? It is because everything hinges on Jesus. Everything is all about Jesus.

Conclusion

Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1 that when God called us to himself not many of us was wise. In fact he calls us foolish. So then how can these foolish people shame the wise? How can we be discerning and tell when those who we think are smarter than us have missed it? Because of the Holy Spirit. He will lead us into all truth. He has taught us the truth about Jesus and we have no need for any of us to be taught by anyone the truth about Jesus (2:27). He has taught us the truth. We know it. We can discern that if someone confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh Jesus is who the scriptures reveal Him to be, they can only confess that because of the Holy Spirit, they are from God. We know that if anyone denies the truth about Jesus they are not from God. May we be like the Bereans in Acts who took everything Paul said and compared them to what the scriptures say. May we test what people say even when it will be unpopular, and it will be. May we love people enough to be able to lovingly yet boldly present the truth to people about who the true Jesus is. We can and NEED and dare I say it is imperative that we MUST be a people of discernment all to the Glory of God and to the exaltation of Jesus Christ the true God and Eternal Life.