Certain Eternity Part 33 – Testing the Spirits
1 John 4:1-6 June 29, 2025
Introduction
[Note: the following is not a true story, but a trope of a story that has been retold
with different people/circumstances] Albert Einstein was a man whose genius
was so unique his name has become synonymous with genius. Being a bit
eccentric, many stories evolved about this genius of a man. One of my favorites
is the story of what supposedly happened on one his lecture tours. Einstein was
on a lecture tour which took him from university to university, talking about the
theory of relativity. He did not drive, so he had a special chauffeur named Harry
who drove him from place to place. One day Harry said to Einstein, “You know,
I’ve heard this lecture so many times now I could give it myself.” Einstein said,
“O.K. The people at the next university have never seen me so they won’t know
who I am. You put on my clothes and I’ll wear your uniform and cap. You
introduce me as your chauffeur and I will introduce you as Dr. Einstein.”
Everything went according to plan, and Harry delivered the speech on relativity
without a hitch. His performance was flawless, everyone accepted the imposter
as the real thing.
1 John 4:1-6 “1 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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess
Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was
coming and now is in the world already. 4 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.
5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world
listens to them. 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.”
W.E. Vine “The main connection between this chapter and the preceding one is
that chapter three shows the necessity of proving our relationship to God by our
actions; the beginning of chapter four continues the theme, but puts it another
way, namely, that confession of truth attests the fact of relationship to God. The
immediate connection between the two chapters lies in the mention of the Spirit
of God.”
2 Parts: 1) Caution, 2) Challenge (w/ 2 Confessions)
Caution (v1)
1 John 4:1 “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.”
Ray Stedman “every Christian is also called to be an unbeliever. There is a time
when unbelief is the right thing and the only right thing. The very same Scriptures
which encourage us to believe likewise urge us not to believe. In fact, they not
only urge us, they command us not to believe. This is no contradiction, any more
than to say that in order to live it is necessary both to inhale and to exhale. These
are contradictory things: You cannot inhale and exhale at the same time, but both
are absolutely necessary to maintaining life. You cannot inhale unless you
exhale, and you cannot exhale unless you have inhaled. It is the same with this
matter of belief and unbelief. You cannot believe truth without rejecting error. You
cannot love righteousness unless you are ready to hate sin. You cannot accept
Christ without rejecting self. “If any man come after me,” Jesus says, “let him
deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34). You
cannot follow good unless you are ready to flee from evil. So it is not surprising,
therefore, that the Scriptures tell us we are not to believe, as well as to believe.”
And this is why Holy Spirit is critical in this process as He leads us into faith and
protects us from deception. If someone is not filled with Holy Spirit, then they are
instead influenced and deceived by the spirit of error – that is the antichrist spirit
(see Part 20) – which is from the father of lies (John 8:44), Satan. Thus, we are
called to evaluate which spirit is in control of the people we listen to and to
evaluate which spirit is behind the things we ourselves think and believe.
o The false prophets are the ones who willingly spoke error. It is notable that
John uses the word spirit when he could have just said “do not believe
every false prophet”. In using the word spirit (Gk. pneuma) he was calling
attention to the spiritual war that is raging in the unseen world, the spirit of
error on one side and the Spirit of truth on the other (v6).
We need to be alert (1 Peter 5:8) and not let the invisibility of our
enemy lull us into complacency and indifference regarding the
absolute necessity to continually Ephesians 6:11-12 ” 11 Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the
schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly places.”
o From Part 20-22 of this series: there are 27 books in the NT; 26 of them
contain warnings about false teaching. (Philemon is the oddball.) Why so
many warnings? Wrong thinking > Wrong feeling > Wrong action. Be
vigilant to persevere in right thinking and doctrine individually and as the
Church.
Steven Cole “The false teachers rise up within the church and present a system
that subtly presents something instead of Jesus Christ. The false teacher may
use the same label, “Jesus Christ,” but he will not be the same Jesus that is
presented in the Bible. If a gullible person takes the bait, he is led farther away
until finally he is in total opposition to Christ. These false teachers, whom John
labels antichrists, did not carry pitchforks and wear red suits with horns and a tail,
or T-shirts saying, “Warning: I am an antichrist!” Rather, they arose in the
churches. Some of them may have been elders or pastors, who for a while had
taught the truth. Paul warned the Ephesian elders, “from among your own selves
men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them”
(Acts 20:30). Now these men were leaving the churches to form new groups,
saying, “We have come into a deeper knowledge of the truth. Follow us and we’ll
let you in on this secret knowledge.” False teachers invariably adopt Christian
terminology and posture themselves as being Christians, but they are not. They
usually begin within the church (1Jn 2:19) and at first, their teaching is orthodox.
They often have attractive personalities and they build a following of people who
seem to be helped by their teaching. But, eventually, they begin subtly to veer
from the truth.”
Matthew 7:15-16 “15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s
clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their
fruits….”
o Jesus tells us to test folks by the evidence or fruit of how they live…how do
we do so?
Challenge (v2-3, 5-6)
1 John 4:1 “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.”
“Test” (Gk. dokimazō) [Note present continuous, imperative, plural – ongoing
command for all to heed] – to scrutinize and examine so as to determine the
substantive worthiness, genuineness, or truth of a thing
o This term is a metallurgist term for testing the genuineness of something by
fire. The fire reveals the true metal and burning off (i.e. purifying) of the
dross.
o Wuest adds “to put to the test for the purpose of approving, and finding that
the person put to the test meets the specifications laid down, to put one’s
approval upon him.” Thus, the teacher, for instance, was not to be put to
the test for the purpose of condemning him, but with the intent to approve
him. The brother was not to be treated as a heretic before he had shown
himself to be one.”
2 part “confessional” test:
o [See Part 12 on in depth discussion of confession] “Confess” (Gk.
homologeō) – from root words (Gk homou) meaning “same”, and (Gk logos)
meaning “word” (in totality of meaning)
Therefore, homologeō literally means to say the same thing as
another, i.e. to agree with, assent or concede, to profess that what
the other says is true
1) Confession of Christ’s person and work (v2)
o 1 John 4:2 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God”
o [See Part 5 on in depth teaching on incarnation of Jesus]
Jesus did not only come to the earth (which He did), but He came in
the flesh (fully Man, “God con carne”), which was essential so that
Jesus might fulfill His mission as the Lamb of God Who takes away
the sin of the world (John 1:29). While the focus in this verse is on
Jesus’ humanity, the verb “has come” clearly implies He came from
Heaven, so that when one confesses Jesus as fully Man, he in effect
also confesses Him as God
o “Who do you say that I am?” (see Matthew 16:15, Mark 8:29, and Luke
9:20)
o Jesus is the Christ (v2:22, 5:1), Jesus is the son of God (v2:22, 5:5), Jesus
has come in the flesh (1:1-3, 4:2), Jesus forgives our sins (1:9), Jesus is
our advocate (2:1), Jesus is our righteous satisfaction (2:1-2), Jesus is the
only way to eternal life (5:11-12), Jesus is God (5:20)
2) Confession of Christ’s lordship (v3)
o 1 John 4:3 “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is
in the world already.”
o “confess Jesus” = confess Him as your authority and King
o William MacDonald “It is not so much the confession of the historical fact,
namely that Jesus was born into the world in a human body, but rather it is
the confession of a living Person, Jesus Christ come in the flesh. It is the
confession that acknowledges Jesus as the Christ Incarnate. And
confessing Him means bowing to Him as Lord of one’s life.”
The demons all agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who has
come in the flesh James 2:19 “…even the demons believe – and
shudder”
Mark 1:24 ““What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy
One of God.””
Mark 3:11 “And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell
down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.””
Mark 5:7 “And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have
you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure
you by God, do not torment me.”
o Romans 10:9-10 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the
mouth one confesses and is saved.”
o 1 Corinthians 12:3 “…no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says
“Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy
Spirit.”
o Matthew 10:32-33 “32 So everyone who acknowledges [homologeō] me
before men, I also will acknowledge [homologeō] before my Father who is
in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before
my Father who is in heaven.”
Christ’s Lordship is evidenced by the “confession” of how someone lives and
thinks
Conclusion
Back to Einstein: When the imposter Einstein’s lecture was completed something
happened he and the real Einstein had not anticipated. The moderator said, “We
have about fifteen more minutes so I wonder if any of you would like to ask Dr.
Einstein a question?” A mathematics professor stood up and asked a
complicated, technical question involving mathematical formulas and language
the chauffeur did not understand. When the professor finished his question, the
chauffeur responded, “Sir, the solution to that problem is so simple I am really
surprised you would even ask me to answer it. Anybody can answer that simple
question. To prove it, I’m going to have my chauffeur come up and answer it.”
[just read the following] A.W. Tozer’s 7 Point Test of How to Try the Spirits
o (1) How does the teaching affect my relationship with God? Is He magnified
and glorified, or diminished?
o (2) How does the teaching affect my attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ?
Does it magnify Him and give Him first place? Or, does it subtly shift my
focus onto myself or some experience?
o (3) How does the teaching affect my attitude toward Scripture? Did the
teaching come from and agree with the Word? Does it increase my love for
the Word?
o (4) How does the teaching affect my self-life? Does it feed self or crucify it?
Does it feed pride or humility?
o (5) How does the teaching affect my relationships to other Christians?
Does it cause me to withdraw, find fault, and exalt myself in superiority? Or,
does it lead me to genuine love for all that truly know Christ?
o (6) How does the teaching affect my relationship to the world system?
Does it lead me to pursue the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
boastful pride of life? Does it lead me to pursue worldly riches, reputation,
and pleasures? Or, does it crucify the world to me?
o (7) How does the teaching affect my attitude toward sin? Does it cause me
to tolerate sin in my life or to turn from it and grow in holiness? Any
teaching that makes holiness more acceptable and sin more intolerable is
genuine.
Ask the Lord to lead you with His Spirit of Truth and to recognize the spirit of
error – the Antichrist spirit – in everything else…from the world, from false
teachers, and even from within ourselves – that we may confess, repent, and
turn to Truth at every opportunity.
Amen. Amen.