Evidences Of Life

A Confusion To Face

1 John 4.1-6

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[So far in 1 John we have discovered that there is:] 

• [A Communion To Cherish – Our common ground in Christ.]
• [A Covenant To Proclaim – The glory of the gospel]
• [A Cleansing To Receive – The forgiveness of sins]
• [A Commandment To Keep – Obey God’s Word and will]
• [A Compassion To Show – The fact of God’s love]
• [A Caution To Heed – Love not the world and its things]
• [A Character To Develop – Be conformed to His image]
• [A Confidence To Hold – Defeating Doubt]

[Spiritual Warfare is the enduring fact of our Christian Journey.] 

A.     The Fact Of Our Spiritual Struggle (vs1) [- Beloved, believe not every spirit, . . . – There are many spiritual voices in our lives, more than we would like to admit.  Some spiritual voices are bold and obvious, but the vast majority of the spiritual voices that seek to lead us away from our Lord are subtle and easily misidentified.] 

1.      The Biblical Warnings (Deut 13.1-5; Matt 7.15-16; 24.4-5,23-24; 1 Tim 4.1-2) [– without a doubt the Bible speaks of those spiritual voices that seek to draw us away from the Word of God.  ] 

[Deuteronomy 13:1-5 ¹ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, ² And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; ³ Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. ⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. ]

[Matthew 7:15-16 ¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ¹⁶ Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?]

[Matthew 24:4-5 ⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ]

[Matthew 24:23-24 ²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ]

[1 Timothy 4:1-2 ¹ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ² Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; ]

[Christian’s need to be keenly aware that there are many spiritual voices in our world that will seek to lead them way from their Lord Jesus Christ.] 

2.      Our Biblical Warfare (Eph 6.10-13;2 Cor 10.3-5; 1 Tim 1.18-20) [– Without any doubt the New Testament directs every child of God to understand that they are in a spiritual war.  They cannot just hope to be neutral in this warfare, because to be neutral means that they will be standing right in the middle of the spiritual battle field and will be in a crossfire.  Christians must recognize the spiritual war in our world and must choose a side and get into the fight.  We learn of this spiritual war through passages like,] 

[Ephesians 6:10-13 ¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. ¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ]

[2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴ (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵ Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; ]

[1 Timothy 1:18-20 ¹⁸ This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; ¹⁹ Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: ²⁰ Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. ] 

B.     The Faces In Our Spiritual Struggle (vs 1) [- . . . but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. – Christian’s must learn to recognize who they face in their spiritual struggle.  It is hard to fight an enemy if you don’t know who your enemy is or don’t know how to identify your enemy.] 

[Illustration - For years now America has been engaged in a War on Terrorism.  A large part of the problem in this war has been the struggle to identify the enemy combatants and who is supporting them by training them.  They wage their war by blending in with the citizenship of a city or town.  They confuse their combat by attacking innocent civilians rather than trained military forces.]   

[Our adversaries in our Christian warfare are far more subtle than any of the combatants engaged in the War on Terrorism.] 

1.      The Devil (1 Pet 5.8-9; Ezek 28.12-14; Eph 6.11) [– Our most obvious spiritual adversary is the Devil.  The Bible warns,] 

[1 Peter 5:8-9 ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ⁹ Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. ]

[Someone might ask, why did God create a devil?  God did not create a devil, instead God created Lucifer Son of the morning, who was the most beautiful Angel ever created.  The Bible reveals,]

[Ezekiel 28:12-14 ¹² Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ¹³ Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. ¹⁴ Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

[Lucifer became the devil when he rebelled against God.  As a result God cast Lucifer out of heaven and he became the devil.  Likewise, God did not set out to create sin or sinners, God created perfect beings in Adam and Eve and they became sinners and brought sinful evil into our world when they rebelled against God.] 

[You have an Adversary in the Devil.  He is wise and crafty.  He does not approach you as your evil enemy, he instead approaches you as a kind friendly individual, but in the end he will lead you to your destruction through deception and craft.  Hence, God warns you when he says,] 

[Ephesians 6:11 ¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ]

[That word wiles means that you need to watch out for the methods of the devil.  It lets us know that we need to know something about our enemy so that we at the very least know who our enemies are and how to fight against them.  While we are not stronger than the devil, nor are we wiser than the devil, we can, through our Lord Jesus Christ resist the devil and stand in victory over him.]

[The Devil is a real spiritual being and is one of our primary adversaries in our spiritual warfare. The Devil is not the principle of evil, he is a real fallen angel who is very much at work in our world.]

2.      The Deceivers (Rev 12.3-4; Deut 18.9-14; Matt 7.15; 2 Cor 11.13-15; Matt 24.23-24) [- The Devil is not our only spiritual adversary.  The Bible indicates that when Lucifer was cast from heaven that he drew one third of the angel in heaven down with him in his rebellion.  The Bible states, ] 

[Revelation 12:3-4 ³ And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. ⁴ And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: . . . ]

[These fallen angels are the demons we often see identified in the Bible.  Our Lord in His ministry was often confronted with these demons as they were found possessing different people, and often were found controlling these individuals (Mark 5.1-20; Matt 17.14-21; Acts 16.16-24). ]  

[Sometimes these same demonic spirits will possess people in our day and use them in far more subtle ways to lead people away from the Word of God and away from the Gospel of Christ.  People deal with devils when they get involved in,] 

a.       [Transcendental Meditation – Calling a spirit guide or two to walk with you and guide you through life.  These are real demonic beings that will convince you they are your friends, will show you supernatural things (convincing you that they are supernatural, which they are), and will lead you way from God and into destruction.] 

b.      [Meta Physical Interactions – Dealing with sooth sayers and necromancers, people who call up and become intermediaries between you and the spirit world.  These people and meta physical experiences are real, but they are dealing with deceiving spirits (demons) who again will use powerful spiritual influences to convince you that they have your best interests in mind.  In the end they will lead you away from God, they will cause you to doubt your faith and will lead you into eternal destruction.] 

c.       [Spiritual Influences – Thing like wee gee boards, séances, palm readers, horoscopes, wicca and a host of other spiritually deceptive influences are all dealing with spiritual forces and will all lead you away from God and His Word and will lead you into destruction.  God warns in the Bible,] 

[Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ⁹ When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, ¹¹ Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. ¹² For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. ¹³ Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. ¹⁴ For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. ]

[Does God give us this warning because he wishes to rob us of, what some might call, incredible, and amazing spiritual experiences?  No, God gives us this warning and command because He knows how powerful the deception and influence of these real spiritual beings can be. God is, as always, trying to protect you from their deception and its inevitable destruction.] 

[Of their deception the Bible declares,] 

[Matthew 7:15 ¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.]

[2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ¹³ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. ]

[Matthew 24:23-24 ²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. ²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. ]

[These demons are the deceivers of all deceivers.  They may come to you as,] 

a.       [Spiritual Beings – As mentioned earlier, some kind of spiritual counselor that you have connected with.] 

b.      [Spiritually Connected Human Beings – Someone  whom you have approached or has approached you that claims to be connected with spiritual beings on your behalf.] 

c.       [Your trusted friends – It catches Christian’s more off guard when people whom they have known for years and learned to trust start speaking to them about spiritual matters in deceptive ways.  Consider carefully,] 

[Matthew 7:15 ¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ]

[How does a wolf get into the midst of a bunch of sheep.  The only way is for him to work his way in over a long period of time.  Deceivers are deceivers no matter how long you have known them.  Anyone who tries to draw you away from God and especially the Word of God is your adversary.] 

3.      The Deluded (2 Cor 10.3-5; Prov 14.12; Jer 17.9) [– Another very powerful and prevalent spiritual enemy is your own heart and mind.  When you begin to define God according to your life’s experiences and the way you think in your mind rather than according to God’s written Word, then you have become your own spiritual enemy.  Consider,] 

[2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴ (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵ Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; ]

[The only way a Christian can sift through their own imaginations or thoughts so that they bring their mind into alignment with God is to get into their Bible and believe that what God says is true every time, no matter what they have experienced in their past.  Concerning your past experiences and the things you feel as a result of them God reminds us,]

[Proverbs 14:12 ¹² There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ]

[Jeremiah 17:9 ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?]

[Our adversaries will do anything and everything to convince us that some other truth is trustworthy rather than the Word of God.  The devil has even established whole religious orders that look strangely similar to the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Hence, Christians need to be able to recognize their deceptive adversaries and must resist them and war against them.]

C.     The Foundation Of Our Spiritual Struggle [– So, how do good Christian people know if they are being led astray by a deceiver?  And what should good Christians do when they are faced with a deceiver?] 

1.      Recognizing Deceivers (vs 2-3; 2 John 1.7) [- Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 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. – Deceivers would be easy to identify if they weren’t deceivers.  Deceivers are hard to identify because they set out to deceive.  Some of them are so deceptive that they do not even realize that they are deceived, because they are just following a deception that was taught to them.  Deceivers appear to be very sincere and often very spiritual people.  So how do we identify them?] 

a.       [The Deity Of Christ – The Apostle John tells us that they will deny that Jesus Christ is God.  They may acknowledge Jesus and even call Him Christ but they will deny that Jesus is Almighty God and the final authority for our lives.] 

[2 John 1:7 ⁷ For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ]

b.      [The Authority of God’s Word – A second mark of a deceiver given in the Word of God is one’s handling of the written Word of God. 

[1 Timothy 1:3-4 ³ As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, ⁴ Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. ]

[Deceivers will always seek to draw you away from those things revealed in the written Word of God.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because someone is carrying a Bible or even quoting the Bible that they must be using it rightly.  Deceivers often quote the Bible but they will use it to try and support something that is contrary to the Bible.] 

[Now, using the Bible deceptively and using the Bible in inexperience are two very different things.  New Christians often misunderstand things contained in the Bible, but they are different from deceivers in that when they discover their error they are willing to learn and develop a mindset that conforms to the Word of God.] 

2.      Resisting Deceivers (vs 4-6; 1 Pet 5.8-9; James 4.7; 2 John 1.10; 1 Tim 6.3-5) [– 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. ⁵ They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. ⁶ 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. – What are Christians to do when they discover a deceiver?  Overcome them.  How do we overcome them?  When it comes to,] 

a.       [The Devil  - Resist Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.] 

[1 Peter 5:8-9 ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ⁹ Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. ]

[James 4:7 ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ]

b.      [The Deluded People – Rebuke them and get away from them] 

[2 John 1:10 ¹⁰ If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: ]

[1 Timothy 6:3-5 ³ If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; ⁴ He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, ⁵ Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. ] 

CrossRoads Baptist, Sunday Evening, July 27 2008