BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 8

The Truth is Truth

1 John 4:1-6

It may sound strange to a lot of people but I enjoy the notes found at the end of a chapter or book. My usual practice, unless something catches my attention, is to read the end notes or footnotes after I have finished reading the material. It has been a great help in finding different authors and subjects to read and study. When I find a writer that has meant a great deal to me, and I trust that his writings line up with the Bible, I look to see who they have quoted as authorities. One author leads to another who leads me to another and then another. This has opened my eyes to astronomy, psychology, philosophy, theology, church growth and Bible studies of different types. The primary thing that is so important to me is that I can find the truth in what has been written. The thinking of the person presenting the subject must always line up with God’s word.

There is one place to which I can go that needs no bibliography or footnotes. It has never failed to present the truth to me after multiple readings. I am of course referring to the ultimate truth, the Bible.

An example of what I have just said occurred more than twenty-five years ago. A publisher sent a book for review to me when I was working in Purchasing. It turned out to be on Paul written by a Scottish minister named Alexander Whyte. His perspective on the life of the great apostle and theologian intrigued me. Sometime later I was fortunate to find a biography on Whyte in a group of books being sold in the library at the International Mission Board. I felt I developed a true kinship with him. He overcame many adversities and had limitations which I can identify. His early schooling was sketchy at best. He struggled with that shortcoming all of his life. In spite of that handicap he rose to be a leader in the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. In your search for what to study or read you might want to use the model I have found helpful after all of these years. It might work for you as well.

The church must be on guard against false teaching that can permeate the literature and study material that is available to its members. An example of the kinds of things that are thrust upon people would be the “Light Tower” publication from the Jehovah Witnesses. The bookstores, even those who call themselves Christian, are full of books and magazines that promote humanistic concepts such the health and wealth lie. There are even translations of the Bible who have removed all masculine references to God and Jesus. All of it is compromise with the world. They teach that we must be tolerant and respect everyone’s belief no matter how untruthful they may be.

Whole denominations have drifted into falsehood, condoning homosexual lifestyles and even marriage between members of the same sex as well as many more egregious sins society has accepted. Others have become political in nature thinking that through power of the ballot box they can change the world. Sadly this approach has been a failure. They have not learned that God has never acted in that way. One of the greatest dangers to the church is the acceptance of the big lie. That lie is the one taught in the public schools and colleges today. It is the theory of macro evolution. I call it a theory because in fact it has never been proven to be true but has been forced on all of us by self serving anti theist. Rather than the Utopia that they have promised their teaching has brought about chaos and disillusionment into the lives of a vast majority of people in the world. These men and women promote their anti God humanistic lifestyle. This thought has even infiltrated the church with many its members also accepting evolution while trying to say they believe the Bible. It must be understood that one

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cannot have it both ways. To believe the Bible is to refute the the lie of evolution. To believe evolution is to destroy the facts of the Bible.

There is one last point I would like to make that has been as a result of what has been taught so long. Sadly, many in the church no longer believe that Jesus is the Son of God nor is He the only way to heaven. Jesus said that “I am the truth the life and the way and no one can come to the Father but by Me.” John 14:6 It is disturbing that the one place in the world where the truth is to be taught has turned its back on the truth and the giver of truth. We should not be surprised at the fact because of the things mentioned above that churches are be pushed to one side to make room for those with secular ideas. John wanted the churches to whom he wrote to know how critical an issue this was.

1 John 4:1a
To understand what John is trying to say it is important what is meant by the spirit. The summary of the Law given first in Deuteronomy 6:4 and later repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22:37 speaks to how man is to relate to God. At the very beginning the writers said that man is to love God with all of his heart then soul, mind and strength. The heart or spirit is emphasized because it is the core of who man is from which flows everything else he says or does.

Dallas Willard in his book “Renovation of the Heart” defines the heart or spirit as being “that spiritual place within us which outlook, choices and actions come has been formed by a world away from God. Now it must be transformed.” (Pg. 14)

John wrote in John 2:24-25, “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

John was writing to those for whom he had a deep love and concern. He knew how easy it was for them to be swayed by the latest teaching and fad. Therefore he was issuing a warning that they need to heed if there hearts were to remain right before God. Spiritual transformation comes when man aligns the human spirit with the Spirit of God and begins to live the righteous life before man and the Father.

The first thing he told them was not to believe or trust in everything they heard from mere man. Before one could trust in what he heard did that man have a godly or worldly spirit agenda. As he had said before there were those with the people were very familiar had chosen darkness over the light. He had called the believers to walk in the Light of Christ. In his day as it is today there were those who tried to lead followers of Christ astray with false teachings. New believers are especially vulnerable but no man is exempt from following into that trap. I spoke of some of those with we are familiar in our world in my opening remarks.

He then goes on to say that they are to examine everything that they heard in light of the revelation that God had given them in the Old Testament and the gospel. They were to lay the teaching of the Scripture side by side with what they were hearing from those within the church to determine whether what they were hearing was true.

1. Why did the writers of Scripture under the influence of the Holy Spirit believe it important to list the heart first? (It is from the heart or the spirit of man that every other aspect of man flows.)

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2. Why was John so concerned about what the people heard? (Because of his deep and abiding

   love for them.)

3. Why did Jesus not entrust Himself to any man? (He knew the evil that was in the heart of man apart from God.)

4. What does that say to us? (We are to be careful whom we trust with our spiritual life.)

5. What did John call the churches to do?

6. What did he mean by telling them not to believe every spirit? (There are those who would have harmed them with their teaching.)

7. What is the responsibility to which John called those early Christians, and which we must heed, in our day concerning what is put forth as truth today? (It is imperative that everything that is said or written be examined and tested against God’s word, for it is the only source of truth upon which man can rely.)

1 John 4:1b

Many of the teachers or members had proven themselves unreliable and had left the church to spread their false teachings in other places. John said they were not from God. They had been proven to be speaking the words of man and thus from the devil. The false teachers will always find a people willing to believe their lies especially if they are predisposed to that kind of thinking.

1. Why did John especially state that some men were not from God? (Their teachings were false.)

2. Why did some teachers who were not of God feel it necessary to leave the churches to whom God was writing? (They had been exposed as speaking things of darkness and not of God.)

3. What examples are there of these kind of men in the church world of today?

4. How do we expose them for what they are?

5. Why is so important to do so? (So their influence cannot lead people astray.)

1 John 4:2

There is a test John used to determine whether the person speaking or writing had the inner qualities of life in order to be believed. It would become very clear by what they were willing to state about their own lives whether they could trusted. John said the criteria for any man was his stand on Jesus Christ. If he or she was willing to confess that Jesus had truly come as man then that person was from God.

1. What was the litmus test for anyone sharing within the church? (Jesus had come in the flesh.)

2. Why was this so important? (Remember that there were those who were teaching that Jesus was only spirit and not truly man.)

3. How does this same test apply to your life?

4. Why must this issue being once and for all settled in your life? (Without believing that Jesus was the God/man who died for us one cannot be saved)

1 John 4:3

John emphasized that there were those of an opposite viewpoint. They did not accept either the humanity of Jesus or in some cases His divinity. In no way were they to be considered from God. He went on to use even stronger language by declaring that they were men how had the spirit of the antichrist. Once again he warned them that the antichrist was coming in the future. Although, the final embodiment of the antichrist was still far off in the future his spirit was alive in the hearts of men who

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were attempting to mislead the body of Christ. All one has to do is look at the chaotic condition of the world from John’s day until now to see the devil hard at work.

1. Why did John present the opposite viewpoint? (To reinforce the importance have making the distinction between those with a godly spirit and that of the antichrist.)

2. Why did John use the term antichrist? (Those who do not see Christ as He truly is are doing the work of the devil.)

3. Why did John speak of the antichrist who is to come at the end of the age? (To assure them that indeed the end was going to come and the events that were to be a part of it.)

4. Who are some today who are doing the work of the antichrist?

5. How did we recognize them?

6. How do we guard ourselves against the influence of them?

1 John 4:4

His next words to the people would be an encouragement to continue living as they were. He was emphatic that they were children of God. They had not heeded the false teachings and thus had victory over them. The greatest assurance that he could give them was that God was more powerful than any force that would come against them from the world system under the control of satan. Paul put it so well when he said, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) He went on to say that there is nothing or no one who, “will be able to separate us from the , which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39) Both men seem to be saying that the faith of man cannot be destroyed by anything that satan might try.

1. How were those words an encouragement to the churches? (He made sure they understood that they were God’s children.)

2. What was the result of being children of God? (They had overcome the attempts of the devil to enslave them.)

3. What did John mean by his statement about God being in them? (God is more powerful than anything that satan’s workers of evil can throw at you.)

4. In what ways do you show that you believe this fact?

5. What are some indications in your life that you have trouble accepting this fact that God is greater than the devil and the devil cannot touch you in a way to destroy your faith?

6. How does the teachings of Paul in Roman’s 8 line up with what John has to say here?

7. What other verses assure you that God has been victorious in your life?

1 John 4:5

Those who are not of God do have influence in the lives of like minded people. The antichrists are of the world and anyone who has a spirit opposed to God is willing to listen to them and follow their teaching of lies.

1. What did John want to make clear? (Not everyone is of God or is willing to listen to the good news that He has for them.)

2. Why are people willing to listen to the antichrists? (It suits their lifestyle and agenda.)

3. Why is it so difficult to reach people like that for Christ? (They are under the influence of the satan and his world system which appears to be so attractive.)

4. How can we refute their lies? (By showing how the true child lives.)

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1 John 4:6

Once again John reinforced the fact that they were of God because they are not like those who are of the world in their actions and willingness to listen to those promoting the world’s values. One of the evidences that a person was of God is that he or she listened to the teaching of men like John who had been with and heard all that Jesus had taught. Those who were opposed to God did not heed the words of men like John and Paul. It was evident that they were not part of God’s family.

John began speaking about testing the spirit of man. He concluded with the final verdict. The trial had taken place the exam given and those who listened to the truth were given the passing grade of belonging to God’s kingdom. Those who failed the test were condemned to live a life in a world system under the control of satan.

1. How does man who is not of the world compare to the one who has bought in its system?

2. How do we know if a man is of God? (He listens and makes His word a part of his life)

3. What do those of the world believe? (The lies and false promises of the devil that leads to death.)

4. What was John’s final verdict concerning the spirit of man?

5. What is the verdict for your own life?

6. In what ways do you continually tests the spirits?

7. What are the consequences of failure to past the test?

• Continue to seek discernment from God for the ability to test the words of man.

• Stay in God’s word and compare all that swirls around against it.

• Live a life that is an example of a person who is walking with God.

• Be careful that the seemingly attractiveness and pleasures of this world do not lure you away from God.

• Pray that your words and deeds will influence others to want to know Christ.

• Always, even in the face of great adversity, remember that greater is the God and Son who is in you than the antichrists who are trying to turn the world against God. The victory is ours because we are on the winning side.

We must be ever vigilant against the subtle ways that the devil attempts to worm his way into the church. Our teaching and preaching must be based solidly on the word of God. When we are not in the building it must be imperative that we understand that the church is wherever its people are dispersed into the world. The gathering place must always be where each person is strengthened in a way that he or she can be victorious in the world. This cannot happen where there is strife or division. It can only occur where the truth is taught bringing about the unity that Paul wrote about in Ephesians 4:4-6 where he said, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

We dare not fail the test of examining the teaching of man to make sure that they are speaking the true. To be led astray has consequences that are eternal. Our part is to make sure that we follow the example given to Timothy by Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2. He wrote, “The things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses , entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Let us be those who are faithful disciples who are able to disciple others in the truth.

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