← Archive1 JohnSunday, September 24, 2017DateSeptember 24, 2017Speaker—Text1 JohnPassages in this sermon1 John 41:311 John 15:462 John 724:22John 16:3331:17TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to0:25you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son jesus christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that god is light and in him is no darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness we lie and do0:54not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth and the truth and the truth is not in us if we confess our sin he is faithful and1:18just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness how's everyone doing there we go someone's awake if you have your bibles join me in first john chapter four first john chapter four we continue a series that we've entitled shining light on1:45authentic faith shining light on authentic faith and we've been asking questions of of the lord and his word of what does faith actually look like that's important because if we don't know then we don't know i know that was profound if you don't know you don't know so the question is can we know the truth this morning can we know the truth of god and of christ and sometimes it's more difficult2:12than you realize charles spurgeon once famously said discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong it's knowing the difference between right and almost right so discernment is not knowing the difference between good and evil it's knowing the difference between good and almost good and some marketing genius developed a game that very vividly illustrates2:37this point it's not a game i will play this morning because it's not becoming of a pastor to get sick on stage but youth i will play this with you wednesday night if you are brave enough to challenge me there it's a game called bean boozled anyone played bean boozled we have a couple hands bless you guys um it's a game where there are i don't know 12 jelly beans in this package and there are two jelly beans3:04jelly beans of each color you say well why is that important well the jelly beans are not what they appear on the outside for instance there are two white jelly beans one is coconut and one is spilt milk uh there are two yellow jelly beans one is buttered popcorn and the other tastes like rotten egg3:26there are two black jelly beans one is chocolate pudding the other tastes like canned dog food which which tells me someone has to know what that tastes to develop a jelly bean um now i will confess i have tasted dry dog food but not wet dog food um there are two orange jelly beans3:48one tastes like strawberry banana smoothie and the other one tastes like dead fish and apparently that's a new flavor it says on here um there's a two blue jelly beans one tastes like berry blue and the other one is uh it looks like tutti frutti is multicolored and it tastes like stinky socks4:13and there's a green jelly bean that tastes like lime and the other partner tastes like lawn clippings now um a less mile special for my beloved bride but why is that important does it matter is it important if we can discern the difference between4:38sweet and bitter between good and bad because oftentimes we assume that it's very easy to see wrong and it's very easy to see right but what happens if you have two things that look very similar how do we test the spirits how do we choose between buttered popcorn and rotten egg because i want to5:05remind you that satan lucifer himself was an angel before he was a demon and what angel was he he was an angel of light we know that those that know jesus christ walk in light and not in darkness so we are fooling ourselves if we think it is always easy but god has not left us empty-handed he is gracious and merciful5:31and so today we ask this question god how do we know truth and the answer as always is in his holy righteous word read with me as we follow along as we read in first john first john is towards the end of your new testament if you're going to be here any time with us go ahead and mark your bible we'll stay there for the next several weeks6:00first john verse one chapter four dear friends do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see if they are from god because many false prophets have gone out into the world and this is how you know so this is how you know if god's word says we can know then it's possible to know this is how you know the spirit of god every spirit that confesses that jesus christ has come in the flesh is from god6:30but every spirit that does not confess jesus is not from god this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard is coming even now it is already in the world if that was the same two thousand years ago that was true it is true today verse four you are from god little children and you have conquered them because the one who is in you7:00is greater than the one who is in the world they are from the world therefore they say what is from the world and the world listens to them but we we are from god and anyone who knows god listens to us anyone who is not from god does not listen to us this is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception father we come into your presence once again7:28but we ask for clarity of mind that we would open our eyes to behold your truth and your majesty lord that we would not be deceived or being boozled by the world lord that we would not be quick to make judgments but that we would search your truth and find your spirit that we would not believe every spirit but that we would believe in the one true god7:57lord we confess we can know nothing without you so lord give us wisdom i pray this in jesus name amen and amen well i have three t's for you today how can we truly know how can we know truth the task the test and the triumph the task the test and the triumph look at verse one with me dear friends do not believe every spirit8:27every spirit which tells me there are lots of spirits but test the spirits to see if they are from god several chapters later actually one chapter later john writes this in chapter 5 verse 12 he says i have written you these things that you might who believe in the son of god that you might know you have eternal life that you might know you have eternal life we need that declaration8:54and john gives it it is possible to know you have eternal life this is god's power and his affirmation in us but this is the truth you have to know what you believe you must know what you believe this is our task so do you know what you believe every truth is found in the person of jesus christ if you do not know what you believe you do not believe9:24if you don't know what you believe you do not believe you see jesus plus something is nothing right jesus plus anything anything bad anything mediocre and anything awesome jesus plus anything is not salvation because grace is unearned it means jesus plus zero is grace because in christ we have everything we need9:54we need do you know what you believe this morning john says tests the spirits it's not enough to put our head in the sand and say we can't know we give up that is not what we are called to do it is not enough to know you believe because the glorious truth is that we are called to know what you believe i'm thinking of this the beautiful hymn on christ the solid rock that says this lyric on christ the solid rock i stand all other ground10:23is what sinking sand but here's the danger some of you are standing on sinking sand today because you don't know the truth and you don't know you're sinking and i pray that when you leave here you would know that jesus died for you and rose again that you might know you have eternal life this is our task church to stand upon the grace and the majesty of god you see the history10:52the history of this world is fraught with evil spirits the history of our world is fraught with evil spirits from the very beginning satan brings this on the table did god really say now how will you know what god didn't say unless you know what he did say i love christ's response to satan when he's tempted have you not heard have you not read because god's truth is unchanging so look at some11:21of the evil spirits throughout this world in john's day he was fighting here in chapter 4 an idea called gnosticism and it was a greek understanding of dualism so they believed that there were spirits and matter and so the spirits were inherently good and matter was inherently evil you say well why does that even matter this is what this is how it played out in their philosophy because matter11:50because matter is inherently evil they said you can do whatever you want to because it's going to be annihilated so live it up eat drink be merry your body your flesh is evil anyway it doesn't really matter what you do so live it up sin to the fullest and god's word is combating that say god cares deeply about what you do this is an evil philosophy of the day we continue to struggle with ungodly ideas thousands of years12:20later i've listed some of them as i was praying through this text this week for instance the state run church that if you combine government with the church somehow that would be godly and righteous look the pilgrims escaped in 1620 they escaped england to separate that politics from god's truth because i've never seen a place where politics added to god's grace is a great12:49equation i've never seen it this is a evil spirit that we are trying to free the puritans fled this another evil idea of today materialism if you just work hard and if you have enough stuff then you will find satisfaction and fulfillment there is no house big enough there is no neighborhood where you can purchase a home that you will arrive there is no13:19dollar amount in your bank account that would fill you up you and i have a longing to be in relationship with god and there is no new car you know what happens if you buy a new car today in a month from now it's gonna be another new model like you can't be new enough there's no material that we can buy that makes us happy and gives us fulfillment listen i'm gonna shatter your dreams everything you own is going13:48is going to the dump or it's going to be shredded or it's going to get burned everything and you know what i probably shouldn't say this but i am if you save 10 million dollars and you give it to your grandkids they're going to blow it and if they don't your great grandkids are going to blow it there's nothing in our life material wise that will last should you save and be a good steward absolutely we watch14:18watch everything that we spend that way we can give as much as we can to the kingdom and our house and we are saving for our future that one day we can not work as hard so we can work harder for the kingdom but the idea that we can have stuff and that gives us happiness is ungodly and not from our savior another evil spirit in the world we live in today is easy believism if you just say this prayer if you just join this church or if you14:48are just baptized then you will have life eternal that is not what God's word says Jesus says if you confess me as Lord in humble submission you will be saved and you're looking at someone who grew up in church and I was not taught this but this is what I believed that I was in church every day of my life so I was a good person I believed that I was good and that I knew Jesus and I had no clue who Christ15:17who Christ truly was do not trust in a baptism or a prayer or a church trust in no other name but Jesus Christ no other name but Jesus Christ we should also reject the prosperity gospel the prosperity gospel says that God only wants to give you health wealth and happiness newsflash God's number one priority is not my happiness it's not God's15:46God's is good and he wants nothing but my good and in that he let his son die for me but God doesn't contemplate every day I wonder what would make Josh feel good today and happy we must reject that idea God's word is not about me it's about God and we are here to worship worship is not about us worship is about our savior that is the ungodly wicked idea we also we also have another16:16have another evil idea in our world of convenient cultural Christianity or cheap grace it's also termed this the Bible belts that because you're connected to a church you know Jesus Christ a pastor friend and I calculated the numbers several months ago that if every church in our area was full every church was full still over half the people would not worship anywhere think about that and the idea16:45that we're connected to a church somewhere down the line and so we are inherently inheritors of God's grace is a lie and it will send us to destruction that is not what God's truth says the church not only is the church in danger of this but the church has espoused ungodliness throughout its history sometimes in the 1920s when the Nazis were killing millions of Jews the German Evangelical Church17:15Evangelical Church also called the Deutsche Christian they embraced nationalism and aspects of Nazi ideology so as the Nazis were killing and euthanizing Jews there was a church not every Christian but there was a church that stood up and said we support you oh may we not be that and I pray that those men and women have repented of their sins but we17:44but we as a church must reject ungodly ideas racism favoritism gossip the idea that some are better than others no none of us are good and we are all needy of God's grace this is our task in church it doesn't end there today we don't call them false prophets but we call it Facebook or fake news18:13or TV evangelism or memes look we cannot propagate the ideas of the antichrist and I will say it again until Facebook goes off and we have something new do not like something that is a lie do not share something that is untrue do not let the antichrist continue the lies church we are not called to be gullible we're called to be godly there's a difference if that18:41if that if God is asking you step away from the mouse it's okay put the tablet down if you don't know don't share it but do not be caught up as a church where we buy into the lies of our culture we transcend we transcend culture and we should be culture shapers isn't that what Jesus did for us that is our task and we must stand upon the truth of the gospel at all costs19:11costs you see the task of authentic faith is this know what you believe know who you believe and know what you believe church know who you believe and know what to believe is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ you see some jelly beans look the same but not all taste the same and often the spirit of the antichrist is very appealing to us and may we sense his spirit19:41so if our task is to rightly divide the word of truth and not be gullible what then is the test what is the test and we are graciously given that test in verse 1 and 2 the task do not believe every spirit but test the spirits so how can we test them verse 2 this is how you know the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that who Jesus Christ20:08Jesus Christ every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God would it not be nice to have a test when you play this game with me youth where you could determine which jelly bean was rotten and which one was delicious God has given us that test spiritually and he says it's Jesus as if everything in our life hinges and falls at the feet of Jesus20:37of Jesus Christ what a beautiful thought this is so let's look at what the test is not first we need to hear this the test is not our opinions or our feelings God did not say here's how you test the spirits just whatever you feel is right that is right and God did not say church here's how you test your the spirits just give your opinion no it's God's truth over our21:06over our opinion it is not about your feelings and it is not about your opinion second the test is not any one person or any pastor the reason I want you to open your Bibles I want you to test what I say against the truth of God's word I do not take offense when you test my words with God's words because my prayer is that everything I say will match up with the truth of Jesus Christ because we stand upon his word third this test21:36this test is not the wisdom of the world or culture we cannot let the wisdom of the world tell us what to believe we tell the world that Jesus Christ is good and we show the world what to believe fourth have truths or nice sounding Christian ease are eternally damning have truths and Christian ease are eternally damning and I struggle with this as a pastor22:06pastor who grew up in the south because here's the first question that we ask people after what's your name and where do you work the third question is well what church do you go to and I've often been broken in prayer and I wonder if sometimes by me asking that question if I let someone walk a road to hell because I didn't ask them if they know Jesus because there is no church this church will not save a soul and there22:35and there is no church in the world except the church the true church of Jesus Christ so may we not buy into the lie that half truths are okay Satan Satan wants us to believe half truths about the good news and he wants you to believe a half lie fifth as a Christ follower we are not called to put our head in the sand and blindly follow any spiritual idea that comes our way the world was supposed to the apocalypse23:05the apocalypse was supposed to happen again yesterday I believe that's what someone said we are not called to put our head in the sand and believe any spiritual idea that comes our way church there are a lot of spirits but there is only one Holy Spirit so how do we test that two things it's all about Jesus Christ first look at verse two this is how you know the spirit of God look to Jesus look23:35look to Jesus Christ the measure of test is Christological look to Jesus over and over and over again the test of our faith falls at the feet of Jesus Christ you know why because no evil spirit no demonic force wants you to confess Christ because there is power in confession and confession of Jesus there is power in that so test24:05test everything about with the lens of Jesus Christ as Paul said I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection a modern example of this is in the Quran and 2 John 7 hints at this you know Jesus is in the Quran but in the Quran Jesus is a created being and he is not divine so it's not enough to believe in a Jesus you have24:34you have to believe in the true Jesus Christ there are lots of Jesus out there there there's only one true Christ who is fully God who is fully human who was born of a virgin who is tempted in every way that you and I are tempted who lived a sinless life who decided to walk a difficult road to the cross for our sake because sin leads to death25:04death and Jesus being without sin decided to take our sins upon him who died on the cross and three days later he rose again that is the Jesus that everything hinges on you see the Quran teaches that Jesus was on the cross but he didn't die he looked like he died but he didn't die no Christ died and rose again for our sake this is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ the first test25:34test of our faith is this look to Jesus look to Jesus and the second part of that test is confessional are we confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior verse 2 says that every spirit that confesses that Jesus is Christ you see confession is internal and public it's an internal belief but it's a public recognition that Jesus is Lord and26:04and he is Savior have you confessed Jesus Christ you say well I don't need to do that it's personal no it's public like when God saves you radically you can't help but to change everything about you there there's a need for an internal recognition and a public confession demons recognize that God is sovereign but they do not confess him as Lord and there are26:33are church people that recognize that Jesus is who he says he is but they have not confessed him as Lord and you know what welcome on team demon that's what they believe so it's not enough to mentally recognize Jesus we must believe in our heart and confess that he is God and confession results in salvation the word confess in verse 2 here is the word homo lego and it's a word to say27:03to say lego is the word to say homo is the same to say the same thing to recognize God as he recognizes himself to say God I admit who you are see confession is submission life change and fruits of repentance confession is not a one time event but is a point of departure for us confession is not a one time event but is a point of departure27:33departure and my heart is grieved over my friends who when they share their testimony it sounds like this when I was six I confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and nothing else changed that's not the Jesus I know because confession is Lord I will willfully submit my life to you God this is a point where I will say I will follow and that's not a one time following that is a lifetime are28:03are you constantly confessing him as Lord are you putting your faith in something you've done long long ago are you putting your faith in a confession you are doing constantly an ongoing confession and my goal is not to make you doubt your salvation but my goal is to make you hold fast to the salvation that Jesus gives you if it's real and if it's true the test of our faith is Christ church28:33church here is your test see everything through the lens of Jesus see everything through the lens of Jesus Christ our task is to test our test is Jesus and then lastly look at our triumph look at the triumph that we have verse 4 you are from God little children and you have conquered them you have conquered them greater is he that is in you than29:03than he who is in the world this is the glorious truth of the gospel we talk about the test Jesus passed the test Jesus passed the test the test is live a sinless life we have failed and Christ has gloriously and triumphantly passed that test for us greater is he that is in you than he that is in anything in the world and29:32and you say well these antichrists they scare me why greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world well pastor look at the news people are shooting others up we had a dear friend in Baton Rouge that her his father was shot doing lawn work last week more than likely gain activity you say what a horrible world this is30:02is terrifying I'm living in fear and God's word reminds us greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world you say pastor but what about cancer and look at all these hurricanes that are coming our way greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world pastor look at the addictions in my family that are running rampant look at the lust and the divorce and look at all these generational curses greater30:31greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world you say pastor I don't know about the future I'm living in fear greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world you see this Christ has passed the test he has passed the test conquer it's a word that Jesus used and he used31:01used it in first in the book of John it's the word that Jesus said it's the word nikao and Jesus said these words he said take heart I have overcome the world Jesus says take heart I have overcome the world in John 16 33 and you know what is about to happen in that passage of John Jesus is about to die on the cross think about that Jesus wasn't laid back in his mansion saying this is31:31is awesome greater is he that is in you than he is in the world look how comfortable we are church this is great Jesus is going to walk an agonizing road to the cross and yet he looks to the father and he looks out to his disciples and says this I have overcome which means the victory of Christ in our life is not dependent upon our circumstances it is greater than our circumstances there is32:01is nothing more agonizing than the cross a place of brutal death and yet Jesus has overcome that rejoice he has conquered your sin and he has conquered the grave that is the God that we worship this is the triumph and so why do we walk around sometimes as if we have been defeated like this this is the greatest Jesus is saying look church we're in the victory formation and we're waiting for Christ to come back and take a32:31a knee I didn't experience that personally last night but hopefully one day soon but think about that we're not defeated we have triumph in Christ and we're just waiting on God to come back and there's not going to be this end this huge end time apocalyptic war literally Jesus Jesus is going to come back he's going to take a knee and the forces of darkness are bound to hell forever forever church greater is he greater is he greater33:00greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world do not be worried little children take heart God's word says and Jesus then says this greater is he that is in you I liken it to this I think this is the ultimate we can look at Satan today this is the ultimate my dad can beat up your dad statement think about that I mean you can look cancer in the face and you33:30you can say you don't understand who my father is we can look evil spirits these spirits of the antichrist that are tearing the church apart and we can look at Satan in the face Satan I just want to remind you who my father is you know the dude the father that kicked you out of heaven the same father that's going to come back that has already propelled hell for you the same story that you know has already been written that heavenly father that dad has my back Satan34:00Satan I want to remind you of that so I can remind myself that we have triumph in Jesus Christ you see the gospel is greater than anything else and church rejoice because we live in triumph the task is great the test is Christ and because of Jesus we have triumph I want to close with this story this morning it's a story that came out in the press several years ago in34:30in 25 miles near Johannesburg South Africa a place I've taken some of my friends on a mission trip and these probably Americans because we do things like this they wanted to go to a wildlife preserve and so they went with the owner of this preservation and this wildlife game reserve is known for getting you right next to these animals so they trusted this man he said you know what I have food for the rhinos I'm going drive you right next to them it will be35:00be okay and so these teenagers and these Americans most likely they had their food and the owner of the preserve said you know what it's okay why don't you get out of the truck and I'll take your picture when's the time you're going to have your picture taken by a white rhino they can't see very good anyway so they get out and he said well why don't you scoot back a little further and the story related this as35:29as soon as the pitcher was snapped the rhino charged and gored this young lady broke ribs and punctured her lung and she survived I would not have told the story if it was worse than that but what she did not know she trusted a man's word and she did not realize that she was backing up into destruction and to impending death and I wonder for some of you today35:59today that you're walking a road that's leading to destruction and death and you don't realize the danger is behind you and if that rhino of destruction were to hit you full force today would you be ready to meet Christ face to face God's word said it's accounted to a man once to die and then judgment we are all judged and I'm so thankful that36:28that God sent his only son to take away my filthy rags but Jesus doesn't just take our rags away on the cross he also gives us his righteousness as I was able to share with a young man this morning it is as if God through his son Jesus Christ and the death on the cross takes away my dirty coat that I deserve to wear and instead gives me a coat of righteousness so36:57so that if I confess Jesus as Lord he looks at me as right and as whole and as pleasing see God doesn't wait for you to get your act together the Bible said that while you were still sinners while I was sinning Christ died for us that while we were in rebellion have you confessed him as Lord and maybe today you have been guilty of following ungodliness37:26ungodliness or listening to the ways of the world and you you're broken and you're hurt today and you don't know there's a rhino charging at your door right now God knows before you do and he has already prepared for you as we sing a song of invitation can you truly sing these words here's the song that we're singing so I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down37:56down I will cling to the old rugged cross and someday exchange it for a crown can you honestly and truthfully pray that I want you to know that today God has prepared a way for your salvation if you would confess him as Lord and willfully submit to the King of Kings I am going to invite you as I do on most Sundays if you know someone that is living in sin and does not know Jesus Christ if38:26if you would spend time where you sit or come to the altar and just pour out before them you see God has given us a gift spiritually that we can see rhinos of destruction in other people's lives and maybe God is calling you today to tell someone look run to Jesus you don't see the destruction but it's right there and I'm going to intercede for you today so maybe God is calling you to the altar not for yourself but for someone who desperately needs intercession and healing in Jesus let's38:55let's pray fatherMore sermons on 1 John →
