Don’t Trust Anyone (1 John 4:1-6)
Text:
Two men had an argument that they could not resolve, so they decided to bring it before a judge. The judge heard the first person explain his argument, and responded, “that’s right, that’s right.” The judge then listened to the other person’s side and responded, “that’s right, that’s right.” Then the court clerk, listening to the whole thing, jumped up in frustration and explained, “they can’t both be right!” The judge thought about this for a moment and said, “that’s right, that’s right.”
There are many religions, philosophies, and worldviews in the world, and they can’t all be right. There are so many, in fact, that it’s simply impossible to label and categorize them all. Many of them overlap with or are built upon previous religions, philosophies, and worldviews. Nearly every system of thought shares something with Christianity. Some share historical elements. Most share teachings regarding how we’re to live, such as loving others. Yet all of these religions are also distinct from each other. With so many options and opposing views, how are we to know what’s true? Asked more practically, how are we to know which we are to believe and follow?
“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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 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. 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. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 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.” (1 John 4:1-6)
Although there are so many distinct religions, philosophies, and worldviews, John boils it down for us. There are only two distinctions that matter: A person may confess Jesus as their Savior, who came from God and is God, or a person may deny Jesus. Everyone falls into one of these two categories. There’s no middle ground. It seems like a lot of people want to choose a middle ground. But Jesus did not leave that option open to us. Where do you fall?
Many people claim to know truth, but we need to test their claims to see if they are from God (v. 1). When John tells us to test the spirits, he’s pointing out that we ought to be guided by the Holy Spirit. But we should not assume everyone is guided by the Holy Spirit.
Many people are guided by the spirit of this world. There are truly many false prophets in the world. They all claim to be right, and many of them are quite convincing to many people (v. 5). But none of them wear a t-shirt that says, “I’m a false prophet.” Sometimes I think that’s what we expect.
We need to wise in order to discern truth from error. There’s an old saying which says, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” George W. Bush tried to quote this in a speech once, and said this instead, “Fool me once, shame on you…you fool me I can’t get fooled again.” Even though Bush got the cliché wrong, I kind of like what he ended up saying.
We should be on guard against people fooling us with all the false philosophies of the world. In order not to get fooled, we need a criteria by which we test all claims of truth (v. 2-3). Your ideas are not the criteria. We like to think that we’re right about things. But sometimes we’re wrong, and we’re the ones that need to be corrected. Your pastor is not the criteria. Don’t rely on me to discern every spirit that comes your way. In fact, you ought to have a healthy skepticism regarding everything you hear me say. The person’s ability to tell stories, make you laugh, and inspire you are not the criteria. No, the criteria to test the spirits is whether or not a person clings to Jesus Christ. They must confess Him as their Savior. They must confess Him as their God, who came in the flesh to die for their sins. If that’s true for those we test, it must be true of us as well. Don’t come to church desiring simply to be inspired, or to laugh, or to see friends. Come because you know Jesus Christ as Savior, and want to know Him more.
As long as we cling to this simple truth, that Jesus is God and Savior, we can’t go wrong (v. 4). If we cling to this truth, we have overcome those who speak lies. We don’t have to fear them. God the Spirit lives in our hearts when we trust in Him, and He is greater than anyone! He’s greater than false prophets. He’s greater than our hearts, so we can trust God even when we doubt. He’s even greater than “he who in the world.” Some people think of God and Satan as equally powerful forces. But there’s no contest. Satan is no match for God. The only reason God has not yet crushed Satan is because God is patient. He’s waiting for the full number of Gentiles to believe in Him. He’s waiting for the proper time.
John gives us one more criteria in this passage to determine whether a spirit is from God (v. 6). While the first criteria dealt with discerning spirits by what they teach, this second deals with discerning spirits by how they respond to us as we teach. We must be about doing God’s business. As we share the gospel, we will meet one of two responses: They will embrace what we’re saying and be saved, or else they will reject what we’re saying and remain condemned.
Those who listen to us, and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ show themselves as from God. Those who reject the gospel show that they embrace instead a spirit of error.
Which will you be?
Pastor Chris Huff has been with us since July 2009. He and his wife, Abby, have four children. Chris is originally from St. Louis, MO and even though he was raised as a city boy, he has a small town heart. Chris is all over the internet, so you can find him on Facebook, Twitter,… (read more)
