1 John 4:1-6 - "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flsh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flsh 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. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
This morning we looked at flase christs and how many people are swayed by these false christs. We're in a spiritual warfare. False christs have deceived many people over many years with false doctrine. We are all influenced by spirits but if you follow the word you are influenced by the Holy Spirit.
Vrs. 1 - It says, "Beloved." When John said this, he was talking to the Christians. There's good T.V. evangelists out there but as many as there are as 1, there are 5-10 pulling people away. They aren't preaching the Word. They're only teaching what they people want to hear. We're supposed to preach the whole word of God. Salvation, peace, as well as hell, and sin. We love each other but we need to remember that we need to call sin, sin. We need to show brothers and sisters in Christ their sin with love, not by bing ugly.
We think it's our neighbor that's causing us to wrestle with bad decisions
Ephesians 6:12 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." It's the antichrist and the false spirit that's influencing those thoughts. If satan can keep 1 person out of church, he thinks he's winning.
When the false preachers preach the things that aren't of the Bible, that's hearsay.
2,000 years A.D., do you think there's false prophets out there? They every word and thought that comes out of these false preachers. They will do everything to get you away from the word of God.
Here's the deal: Everyone focuses on the cross, but that's not where it started. It started in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. The Word of God is not a fictional statement, it's historical fact. These false prophets will tell you that Jesus was a great man, a great prophet, and when you ask if He was God in the flesh, that's when they try to turn your influence to believe Jesus was only a man. Jesus was born of a virgin birth and if they can convince you that Jesus' divinity wasn't real, then they can turn your whole thought process.
John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." There's so many unauthorized versions of the Bible that will turn your thoughts around that makes things palable with the world.
Vrs 3 - "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." He came in Bethlehem, if they can turn you away from the belief of His birth then they can confuse you over anything.
These cults try to turn it so you will believe that Jesus is a lesser God, but if you open your Bible and challenge them to show you where it says that, you will see them lose.
Vrs. 4 - "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." Guess who is puppeting the antichrist? Satan. he's in the background making the decisions. How do we overcome them? By accepting Christ as your savior. If we would let Him, allow the Holy Ghost to run our lives, life would be so much better. Jesus doesn't leave us alone. He sends the Comforter. The Holy Spirit brings you the peace from God.
The battle may go on but the war has already been won. It was won at Calvary, when Jesus said, "It is finished." That's when He said, He won the war.
False teachers get your focus off what is to come. Jesus says you need to get prepared and get your eyes on glory. Will you listen to the world or are you going to listen to the word?
We will stand before God one day and God will judge us not for how we look or our material possessions, but our hearts and if the holy spirit resides in us.
Vrs 5 - "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." Ths world listens to the things they want to hear. There's a broad path and a narrow path. It's not easy to talk to others about getting things right with their sin life.
Are we living like we're defeated or like we've won against satan? They took the bible and prayer out of schools. They don't teach it in 99.9999% of T.V. shows anymore. It's not in newspapers. It's ok to say I love god, that's the little 'g' god but when you say, I love Jesus, that's the big 'G' God