I John 4:1-20

TEST THE SPIRITS

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).  John corroborates with this truth by telling us that we cannot believe every spirit.  Did you know that the words we use and believe have an origin?  Everything that is true comes from God, who is light (I John 1:5-6).  Everything that is false comes from Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44).  All teaching that causes some to depart from the faith are actually deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons (I Timothy 4:1).  We should know from the teaching of Jesus that false teachers would be coming to deceive us (Matthew 7:15; Mark 13:22).  The Apostles also warned us of these false teachers (Acts 20: 29-30; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14; Jude 4).  We must always be testing the spirits that lie behind the words that people use (1 Thessalonians 5:21).  John quickly gives us two sure-fire ways to know whether teaching comes from the Spirit of God.  First, there is no teaching that comes from God that denies the incarnation of Christ.  Jesus is God who became flesh.  Without the incarnation of Jesus there can be no effective substitution for sin on the cross, which John will remind us about in verse 10 of this chapter.  Second, there is no teaching that comes from God that the world will listen to.  If you are listening to a person teach and non-saved people who don’t believe in Jesus are nodding their heads in agreement… you have yourself a bonafide false teacher.  The gospel of Jesus is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles (I Corinthians 1:23).  The world is controlled by Satan and will not hear the Spirit of God.  If you are preaching in a city and a riot breaks out… then you are preaching the true gospel (Acts 19:8-10, 23-28).

GOD IS LOVE

We have already seen one ontological statement about God in this letter.  I John 1:5 taught us that God is light.  His very being and nature is light.  There is no darkness in Him at all.  Now we come to the second ontological statement about God that John wants to teach us.  God is love.  God loving us doesn’t make Him God.  However, God is love so He does love.  John has already instilled in us that if we have fellowship with God then we will have fellowship with each other (I John 1:7).  Now he teaches us another principle.  If we are truly born of God then we will love each other, because God is love.  Loving one another is so important as it is a proof that we truly abide in Him and He in us.  When we love each other, we have confidence that we belong to Him.

Love is the process of God’s activity in the lives of His people throughout Scripture.  It is that same process we see in Scripture that we want to see in the lives of people at our church.  Think about our Four Points for a moment…

LOVE:  GOD LOVES US

Every character we see in the Bible, whether in the Old or New Testament, had God show up in their lives and reveal His love for them.  God found Abram in a pagan land.  God found Moses on the backside of a desert.  God found Rahab in the walled city of Jericho.  God found Peter in a fishing boat.  God found Matthew at a tax collectors booth.  God found Zacchaeus up in a tree.  The point is… God showed up in our lives and revealed His love to us.  This is how our journey always begins.  It begins with the love He gives to us through the gospel.

DEVOTION:  WE LOVE GOD

Once we experience the love that God bestows upon us in Jesus we are forever changed.  God loved us and so we want to love Him back!  Our thoughts are no longer constantly about us.  Instead, we find ourselves wanting to know Him more deeply.  We find ourselves wanting to serve Him more faithfully.  We want to study His word and be with His people.  We will go where He leads and obey His commands.  When we fail or falter, we repent and go after Him all the more fervently.  He becomes our focus.  He makes us better people than we were before we knew Him.

PASSION:  WE LOVE OTHERS

The more time you spend with God the more you grow in Him and the fruits of His Spirit.  The more you grow in Him the more you become aware of a little fire shut up in your bones.  People who love Jesus don’t like to sit on their hands.  They want to do something more than just study and grow.  They want to help others do the same.  They want to share the immeasurable riches of His grace that God has lavished upon them in Christ Jesus.  God’s people want to love other people, as loved people always do.  No one in Scripture that experiences the love of God sits down and does nothing.  They all actively engage in His loving work on this planet.

LEGACY:  LOVE LIVES ON

Here we are 2000 years later involved in the same process we see so vividly in Scripture.  We stand on the shoulders of the apostles, the martyrs, the fathers, and the reformers.  Now we find ourselves being passed the baton in the gospel race of our generation as God is readying the next generation to take it from us in His time.  As long as there is an earth there will be a church.  As long as the Lord tarries He will have a remnant who serves and worships Him.  May we not only begin our race well.  May we finish well and setup the next generation to run faithfully also.  Amen.

Study Questions

1.  Discuss how false teaching is really coming straight from the lips of demons.  Discuss scenarios in which testing the spirits would be required.

2.  Think about the reality that God is love.  Love is His nature and being.  Now think about creation and salvation and discuss how His nature is clearly seen in these events.

3.  We see God’s love for people throughout Scripture.  Think about our Four Points and discuss why everything we do should be permeated in love.  Why is this true?  (I John 4:19)