Sermons
Don't Believe Everything You Hear
Sun, Dec 11, 2016
Teacher: Tom Blackford Series: Sunday Sermons - 2016 Scripture: 1 John
-
Show text Hide text
Don’t believe everything you hear
1 John
Intro:
Good morning.
I heard about a man and his wife who had a massive argument about something silly and the man ended up in the doghouse. So he ordered his wife some flowers and told the florist that the card should read, "I'm sorry, (comma) I love you." Unfortunately, the florist at the other end of the phone didn’t hear the message very clearly and so when the flowers arrived, the card read, "I'm sorry I love you." (no comma)
I guess the point of the story is that sometimes we need to listen very carefully to what people are saying; especially if it is a preacher or teacher of God’s word speaking. Our text for today is from the book of 1 John. Please direct your attention this book.
In 1 John 1:5-6 John describes what our relationship with God should be like. He tells us that God is light and in Him is no darkness, then he says; “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”
In 1 John 2:3-4 he describes what our relationship with Jesus should be like, telling us; “we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments and if we do not keep His commandments yet say we know Him we lie and the truth is not in us.” [para] He also described what our relationship with the world should be like in 1 John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”.
In 1 John 3:4-5 he describes the relationship we should not have with sin; “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” and in verse 11 of the same chapter he spoke about how our relationship with our brethren should be; “… that we should love one another.”
I. All this is worth bearing in mind as we begin to look at 1 John 4:1-6 where we will see that John is going to tell us about a very real danger which was around back in his day and is still very present in today’s society. He’s going to talk about false prophets. John says; “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because 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 of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” [NKJ]
a. John is going to teach us three things from his letter concerning false prophets. He is going to warn us not to believe every spirit but test them first. Then he is going to tell us why we should test them and then finally he is going to share with us how we test the spirits.
b. John says in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit.” What does John mean when he says “don’t believe every spirit” ? Well, John is saying that there are spirits around which don’t come from God.
c. He is warning his readers, and us, to be careful. In other words don’t believe everything you hear, or everyone who claims that they are from God. There are certain religious groups that claim that God speaks to them in visions and dreams. They claim to speak in tongues and some claim to have revelations from God. There are those who teach things contrary to the Word of God and there are those who are part of the world and teach things which seem right to man but are not right in the sight of God. When you think about it sensibly and understand what John is teaching here, you can see it would be foolish not to take John’s advice.
d. I remember hearing of someone who went to one of these revelation meetings and he wasn’t in there two minutes when confusion set in. One man stood up ready to preach his sermon, when another man stood to preach his sermon and do you know how they settled the matter about who was to preach? One man asked to the other, “When did God tell you that you were to preach?” And the man said that, “I got a revelation from God late last night.” Do you know what the other guy said? “Well, you sit down because God spoke to me first thing this morning.”
e. I think we can see and understand just how foolish this makes the whole thing look. People would be in a constant state of confusion, believing one thing one moment, and another thing the next. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God isn’t like that, he says that “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” Because of confusion we might easily be misled by those who are teaching error.
II. Being misled by error is why we shouldn’t just believe everything which is being taught and that goes for everything I teach too. John goes on to tell us in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try or test the spirits whether they are of God:”
a. That word translated as try here is the Greek word “dokimazo” (G1381) which means to test, discern or prove. It’s the idea of examining closely what is being said. What John is saying is, test the words to see if they are genuine or not. Don't just accept what some teacher or preacher is saying, examine what is being taught.
b. You need to have that “testing spirit” within you, you need to have the spirit of the Bereans, where in Acts 17:11 we are told that, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
c. We need some of the testing spirit like the Ephesians had as described in Revelation 2:2, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:”
d. We need to have that same testing spirit which they possessed when anyone preaches or teaches or even talks to us about God. Why is this so important? John tells us the following in 1 John 4:1 - “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
III. That’s why it is important to test the spirits. John isn’t the only one in the Bible who has warned us about this. Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:15, where He said, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
a. Peter also warned us in 2 Peter 2:1-3 where he said, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
b. Finally, the apostle Paul warned us in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 where he said, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
c. Let me say it again, we must examine, prove, and scrutinize anyone who would teach us. Even though some teachers might consider this action rebellious. Even though some might not like the possible controversy it can cause. Whether someone teaches us in our classes, pulpits, radio, newspapers, or even on the street corners, we must "test the spirits!"
IV. All right then let me ask you, how do we test the spirits? Do we try and work it out for ourselves and rely on our understanding? Absolutely not! John tells us how to test the spirits. Look first at; 1 John 4:2-3 – “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
a. John says if anyone denies the claim that Jesus Christ actually came in the flesh, has a false spirit. It’s important for us to remember that John is dealing with the problem of Gnosticism. The Gnostics denied the very fact that Jesus Christ actually came in the flesh.
b. The Gnostics were going around, confusing Christians and leading many of them away from the truth because they themselves claimed inspiration. John talks about this in 2 John 7, where he says that, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
c. John says that anyone who would teach falsehood is not led by the Spirit of God, but is being led by the spirit of the antichrist.
d. Another test John asks us to apply when trying the spirits is this; do they listen to the apostles of Christ? He says in 1 John 4:6 - “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” [NKJ]
V. This is how we know the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We have in our possession today the complete revelation from God in the form of the book we call the Bible. All Christians need to read their Bibles to find out what the truth is which God has revealed to all mankind.
a. I’ll give you a hint. You can always find out what kind of a person it is that you are listening to by the way they view Scripture. Remember 2 Timothy 3:16 says that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” [para]
b. If someone doesn’t agree with that, then they are not worth listening too. Those people who truly know God listen to what He has to say in His word and live their lives by His word. Those people who truly know God listen to the apostle’s teachings, and those who are not of God will reject their teachings.
c. In other words, when someone is preaching or teaching from God’s word, does their teaching agree with what the apostles teach? We cannot disagree with the apostles’ teachings and agree with Jesus’ teachings. Jesus says in John 13:20 – “"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.''”
d. If a person rejects the teachings of the apostles, they reject the teachings of Christ Himself. If the apostle’s teachings were important to the early church then their teachings should be important for us. The Bible says in Acts 2:42, that these first Christians “… continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”[NKJ] And in 1 Corinthians 14:37 Paul reminds them and us that these early Christians recognized the apostles’ words as the commands of the Lord.
VI. If we claim to be true Christians, we need to listen and agree with what the apostles have to say through God’s word. When you have a high regard for the Bible this test can easily be applied today on virtually every issue which comes up.
a. Mark Twain once said that; I’ll paraphrase, “The difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to make sense.”
b. There are religious groups who claim that they are prophets from God and the stories they tell you seem to make a lot of sense. But how can we test their spirits? I remember hearing of a family that started to come on the Lord’s Day and after several weeks of attending the father asked the preacher why we don’t believe in modern day prophets, modern day prophecy and modern day miracles, signs and wonders.
i. The preacher pointed him to 1 Corinthians 13:8 where Paul tells us that, “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away”.
ii. After much discussion they came across a dilemma, not for the preacher mind you but for the man. He told the preacher he received a vision from an angel while he was lying in bed one night and the vision told him a new revelation and also told him something which was already written in Scripture.
iii. Now I said he was in a dilemma and his dilemma is this, does he believe this new revelation or not? Does he believe the word of God where Paul told us that these prophecies, tongues and supernatural knowledge have ceased or does he believe this spirit which appeared to him?
iv. Does he believe this angelic vision or does he believe Jude 3, where we are told; “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” [NKJ]
c. If you hear or read a doctrine which contradicts what God has already revealed, it is to be rejected. Paul warned the Galatian church about angels and false prophets, he told them in Galatians 1:6-9 – [para] “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”
VII. You know there are lots of lessons to be learned from nature. For example, have you ever seen a leaf insect? This is a very large green insect kind of ugly but the interesting thing about them is their shape. Their bodies are so flat they look like a leaf. What is interesting about their shape is that they look very much like the plant they are feeding on… What is the point and what lesson can we learned from them?
a. The lesson we can learn is that not all things are what they seem to be. Aren’t there people that present themselves in a way that allows them to “feed” on others? Paul reminds us again about false prophets and even the devil himself in; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 – “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” [NKJ]
b. I’ve said it a few times already, folks, we need to be aware of what is being said and who is saying it. However, it’s not all about warnings; John does give us some comforting words in 1 John 4:4-5 – “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world (that is; with the viewpoint of the world), and the world hears them.”
c. John says that because we have listened to and obeyed the words of God we can overcome the false prophets. How do we do that? We can do it because the One who is in us… is greater than the one who is in the world. Who then is he that is in the world?
d. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:1-2 – “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,” [NKJ]
e. People who have been baptized into Christ, posses the Holy Spirit living within them. Those who haven’t been baptized into Christ are still under the control of the devil himself.
VIII. Listen folks; we should not be surprised to see the world following after the false prophets. Because false prophets are a lot like politicians, they speak to the people the words the people want to hear.
a. False prophets are of the world and speak in a way that appeals to the world. Don’t be fooled or disheartened, just because a denominational congregation has what looks on the surface to be a lot of success in terms of numbers of members. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but the only place ‘size matters’ … is in the world. There are many religions and groups and sects and cults doing many unprofitable things in the name of God.
b. Let me tell you if you haven’t obeyed the gospel of Christ. If you don’t confess your sins to God. If you don’t remain faithful unto death. All your works in Christ’s Name mean nothing to Christ.
c. Now you might think, that is harsh, that’s not fair! Let me tell you I didn’t say it, Jesus Himself did in Matthew 7:21-23 – “"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'”[NKJ]
CONCLUSION:
In today’s society there are many people who claim many amazing and miraculous things. They come along and bombard us with all sorts of weird and wonderful doctrine. It’s time now more than ever for us as the Lord’s church to take John’s advice, 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
If you’re not a Christian this morning, then you can test the spirit of the message today, by reading God’s word for yourself. Examine it closely and you will see how to become a Christian and then you too can have a new ruler over your life, His Name is above every other Name. His Name is Jesus Christ.
We’re here to help you if you want help. We can organize a Bible study with you or you can start a home Bible correspondent course free of charge and you can study at your own pace, in the comfort of your own home. You can find information on our website.
We’re not here to convert you; we’re here to point you to towards the Bible and to encourage everyone we meet to read it for themselves. It’s my prayer that you will take up this offer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.
Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.
# 640 – Softly and Tenderly
Reference Sermon
Mike Glover
Where and when we meet
Chardon, Ohio 44024