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1 John 4:1-6 29 January 2017
TRUTH AND ERROR
Ill. In 1999 an international evangelist conducted evangelistic meetings in Port Moresby, New Guinea he told his supporters that 3000 gave their lives to Christ. A friend of mine who was in Port Moresby at the time meet with the church pastors a few weeks after the
Meetings and discovered that only 11 people had come into the churches as a result. In July 2007 he visited NZ and held 3 meetings in the Vector arena in Auckland. He publically announced that God had told him a nationwide revival would break out in Christchurch at the end of that year. It never happened.
In the Old Testament if someone prophesied something and it never came to pass, they were called a false prophet and were punished for misrepresenting God.
I hear a lot of Christians saying that God has told them this and God has told them that. And I have to say I feel uncomfortable when this happens because they make it sound as if it absolute truth and no one can question it. And I want to say that in many cases these statements proved to be untrue and even unbiblical.
Ill. I had a woman in one of my churches come to me and tell me that God had told her she was to leave her Christian husband. I said to her, “Is he not good to you? Is he abusive, unfaithful.” “No, but I believe God has spoken to me and told me to leave him.” I said, “I am sorry but that can’t have been God who told you, that otherwise He would contradict His word.”
If I sense God has told me something, rather than say, “God has told me, I prefer to say “I believe God has told me” because I am only human and I can get it wrong. I would not like to say emphatically that God has said something to me in case I did get it wrong and ended up misquoting God. In fact God has been accused by Christians of saying a lot of things that He never said at all.
The word prophet literally means one who speaks on behalf of another. In the Bible a prophet is one who speaks on behalf of God. Which is a very serious sobering thing to do.
In this passage John speaks about false prophets and we will look at the passage under two headings: Recognising false prophets and resisting their influence.
RECOGNISING FALSE PROPHETS v1-3
What is a prophet?
John says here that a prophet is one who claims to speak by the Spirit of God. One who brings a message to God’s people and claims that the Spirit of God laid that message on his heart.
Over the years I have heard Christians say, “I believe God has laid this message on my heart. And I have done the same.” If that is so, then the message becomes a prophecy.
What is a prophecy?
It is a message that God’s Spirit has laid upon someone’s heart to share with others.
2 Peter 1:20 “Above all, you must realise that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”
Some Christians think that prophecy always speaks about future events, that is not always the case. Prophecy is saying what you believe the Holy Spirit is telling you to say and that may be on any subject. It can be something you sense God is telling you to share with an individual or with a group.
Often when I am preaching on a Sunday morning I sometimes get this strong impression that the Spirit of God wants me to say something that I haven’t prepared to say and yet I know when this happening because I feel deeply stirred in my spirit to say it.
In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says that the purpose of all prophecy is to edify or build up the faith of believers. It’s not meant to condemn and discourage but will always have a sense of hope in it, even if sometimes the truth hurts. I guy I know used to say, “The truth will set you free to enter heaven, but first it will hurt like hell.”
And of course all prophecy must agree with what God says in scripture because He will never contradict Himself.
What is the test?
John says, “Don’t just gullibly accept everything you hear from people who claim to be speaking God’s truth. Test them to see if they have God’s Spirit within them. Because there are many false prophets in the world and sadly even in the church.”
How do we know if a person is speaking by the Spirit of God? A true prophet of God will always acknowledge that Jesus Christ came into the world as a human being
What is that saying to us?
- Jesus existed before He became a human being. That He was the divine, eternal Son of God.
Micah prophesied this in 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me, One who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origins are eternal, everlasting.”
- Jesus is both God and man. Every false prophet who claimed to speak by the Spirit of God has made Jesus less than who He is.
Ill. Taze Russell the founder of JWs said Jesus was not God but Michael the archangel. Joseph Smith founder of the Mormons said that Jesus was a just good man who worked his way up to being a god, like every good Mormon will.
John Says that Satan will never admit that Jesus is both God and man.
Ill. David Pawson spoke of a Christian friend of his who was asked one day by a major in the British army what he thought of spiritualism. His friend said to the major, “I take it very seriously because there are good and evil spirits.” The major then asked him, “How do you know which are good and which are evil?” The businessman opened his Bible and showed the major this scripture. “Every spirit that confesses Jesus came to earth in a human body is from God.”
The major’s wife had been attending a spiritualist meeting and she wanted him to go with her. So the major along and the medium contacted the spirits on behalf of people in the room and she communicated some very impressive messages that must have come from the supernatural because there was no way she could have humanly known this information.
The medium then asked the major if he had a question he wanted to ask the spirits and he remembered what his Christian friend had told him and so he said to the medium, “Would you ask the spirits if Jesus Christ came into this world as a human being.” The medium went berserk and the major said, “In all my years in the army I have never heard such vile language and blasphemy as what came out of that woman’s mouth. The other people in the room were so disgusted they ran out of the room and my wife will never go there again.”
Satan knows that Jesus who is the Divine son of God had to become a human being so that He could truly identify with us and truly represent us humans. He had to become a human substitute, take our place and be punished for the wrongs we have committed. It is through believing this that we human can be set free from our sins and from the power of Satan.
Of course Satan doesn’t want anyone to believe that and so he uses false prophets to deny it.
When so called believers deny this basic truth they don’t have God’s Spirit in them at all, they are speaking from the spirit of Anti-Christ whose is coming into the world and whose spirit is already here.
It’s interesting that at present the world is being led by 2nd rate leaders. There are no outstanding leaders in the world today. In fact I wonder how some of these people were ever put forward for leadership. There is a real vacuum of good leaders, but the Bible says that into that vacuum will come Satan’s man who will be an amazing leader and exceptional leader and the world will look to him for their salvation. But sadly he will use his power and charismatic charm for the Satan’s evil purposes and will be anti-everything to do with Jesus Christ.
RESIST THEIR INFLUENCE V4-6
How can we resist the anti-Christ spirit that is at work in the world? Very simply: By having God’s Spirit living in us and by listening to the Apostles teaching.
By having God’s Spirit within us
Some people think that we can overcome Satan by using the name of Jesus. That is not enough. We need to have the Spirit of Jesus living in us.
Remember the scripture Tony read out last Sunday from Acts 19:15 when the sons of Sceva tried to cast out demons using Jesus name. The demon replied, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you” And the demon possessed man overpowered them.
They used Jesus name but they did not have the Spirit of Jesus within them.
John says here, “You have already been given the victory over these Anti-Christ Spirits because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in this world.
Ill. 2 weeks ago I was visiting a elderly Christian man whose wife has been struggling for months with depression and just wanting to die. He took me aside and asked if he could share something personal with me. He told me that a few nights ago his wife became very hostile towards him and started accusing him of things that were not true. He said that she became a different person and even her voice changed. After a time she quietened down but the next night it happened again. He became so desperate that he cried out in front of her, “Lord Jesus please help my wife.” Then he told me that something happened that he has never experienced before in his whole life. A visible form let go of his wife and ran screaming out of the room, down the corridor and out the back door. He was in tears as he told me. He is a genuine believer, who is also a man of utter integrity and I fully believe what he told me. From that time onward his wife began to change and I noticed it immediately I saw her. She was smiling and far more positive.
That evil spirit that was oppressing and tormenting his wife was driven away by a man who had God’s Spirit in him. He told me that I could share this with you this morning because he felt it might encourage you in your faith.
People who do not have the Spirit of Jesus in them are sitting ducks for false prophets and Anti-Christ spirits. Even people who are considered intelligent and well educated have been sucked in by false prophets. I think of well known figures like Tom Cruise and John Travolta who have fallen for the lies of Scientology. The Osmonds, Mitt Romney and others who blindly follow the false teachings of Mormonism. Prince, Michael Jackson, Serena Williams who accept the false teaching of Jehovah’s witnesses.
They listen to the apostles teaching
John says that one of the main reasons the people of this world listen to false prophets and false teachers is because they say things the world wants to hear.
The people of this world don’t want to hear that they are sinners and give up their sinful ways and turn to Jesus Christ if they are to be saved from the judgement of God. They don’t want to hear that Jesus died on the cross for their sins because that tells them they are sinners that needed to be punished. That offends their pride.
The people of this world don’t want to hear about the supernatural things in the Bible because they say it offends their intelligence.
So false prophets and teachers have taken away from the Christian message everything that offends the people of this world and preach a diluted message where there is no sin, no judgement, no hell, no cross, no miracles.
Ill. My mother-in-law started attending a church in Auckland called Unity church. They talked about love and unity and everything that was positive and loving. But they never told anyone they were sinners and needed to repent and get right with God, they never spoke about the cross or God’s judgement and people went along there because it made them feel good to hear all these nice, loving positive things. After a while the pastor started to get offside with some of the members and there was strife and division in the unity church. My mother in law eventually realised she had been deceived and got out of it.
Ill. An Anglican bishop in Northern England became a Muslim and when he was asked why he said, “The church I was in no longer knows what it believes or stands for, anything goes. At least the Muslims know what they believe and stand up for it.”
John says, “The people of this world listen to these false prophets and teachers because they don’t tell them the truth. They tell them what they want to hear.” Their teaching appeals to their pride and makes them feel good.
In 2 Tim 4:3 Paul said “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after fiction.”
Then John says, “Those who know God listen to us.” Who does John mean by us? The Apostles of Jesus. And we have their writings in the New Testament..
If you have the Spirit of Jesus living in you and you base your beliefs and practice on the NT teaching of Christ and the Apostles, you will not be sucked in by false prophets or the spirit of Anti-Christ.
It’s interesting that those who follow false prophets and teachers either avoid the NT, or they have twisted it to mean something else or they have introduced another book that they claim is also the revelation of God.
Ill. The Muslims have told their followers they must not read the Bible because it has be altered by the church. In fact it is illegal to have a Bible in places like Saudi Arabia. And the Mormons have published a whole new book, the book of Mormon that they claim is on a par with the Bible. The JWs have published their own Bible altering any verses that speak of Jesus as being divine. In fact the JWs tell their followers that of they read the Bible without their literature they will move further into the darkness, but if they read the Bible along with their literature they will come more into the light.
How can we resist false teaching and the spirit of Anti-Christ. Submit your whole life to Jesus Christ and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and base your faith and practice on the teaching of Christ and the Apostles as presented in the NT. Anything prophecy or teaching that undermines that or is different from that is not of God.
Ill. Henry Morton was a journalist who spent a lot of time in the Holy Land. He told of time when he was watching a shepherd with his flock out in the fields. From time to time the shepherd would call to his sheep and reassure them he was there. They would go peacefully grazing. Henry then decided to call to the sheep. Immediately they stopped grazing, lifted their heads and began to run towards their shepherd. They didn’t recognise the stranger’s voice and sensed danger.
If we have God’s Spirit within us and are feeding on the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, when we hear the voice of one who is not of God we will turn away and run towards our shepherd.
Henry Morton tells of another time when two shepherds sheltered their flocks in one cave outside Bethlehem overnight. He wondered how the shepherds would separate their own flock in the morning. As he watched one shepherd stood outside the cave and gave a peculiar call that only his sheep would recognise and soon his whole flock had run to him, because they knew his voice.
And Jesus said, “After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” My sheep know my voice and they follow me.