We live in a time when most ideas about God are tolerated and presumed true. The bold statement, "Thus says the Lord." is now suspect, and has been replaced by the more tentative and more accommodating, "What do you think?" or "What do you feel is true?" It's considered a great sin to instruct, indoctrinate, proselytize, or evangelize. If you're from a denominational background, it's considered wrong to send your kids to catechism. It's better to be open-minded, a connoisseur, or an aficionado of religion and spirituality, than to profess one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
When I was growing up in the Church, and later when I attended college, preachers would stand before the congregation weeping over the souls of men. You sensed that something eternal was at stake-- that the person's soul lay in the balance between life and death. In response, young people felt called to the work of the local Church, called to the mission field, and called to go to the ends of earth. But now, such eternal concern and tears of conviction have dried up. The Christian barely yawns at the prospect of a soul turning from Jesus. Young people dream other dreams rather than those God chose for them, and prepared them to do from the foundations of the world.
In our day, society says that there are no true and false ideas about God. There are no true or false teachers. No true or false prophets. No Christ or antichrist. No liars or deceivers. The world says that there is no one God or one way to God. Instead there is apathy, an agnosticism that believes all roads lead to life, and that conflicting ideas about God are simply noise to tune out.
Our universities are more vested in curiosity, uncertainty, mystery, stirring doubts, and muddying the waters. They are less vested in clarifying and believing the truth. In fact, there they teach that there is no truth. The only absolute truth that is accepted today is that there is no absolute truth! Should a preacher stand and proclaim the truth he is immediately labeled a religious bigot by those outside the Church and a Christian egoist by those within the Church.
Nobody is proposing we relive the Crusades or that we return to burning witches or heretics at the stake. But what truths are worth fighting for these days? It's deemed more courageous to leave, let go, and abandon our ancient faith than to stand upon it. What I feel in my heart, my thoughts, my intuitions, my experiences, and my desires are deemed more trustworthy and binding than God's word.
It's against this same backdrop that the apostle John wrote the letter 1 John. He offers a contrarian perspective on the truth-- one that that calls us to move beyond our apathy and our agnosticism. Apathy is the attitude that says, "I don't care about the truth." Agnosticism is the attitude that says, "You can't know anyway, so why bother?" But the truth does indeed matter and God has indeed spoken. God has indeed unraveled the mystery, bringing light to bear upon the darkness, and truth to bear upon error. John offers three contrarian perspectives about the truth.
First, we absolutely must test spirits.
1 John 4:1 (ESV) says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."
We live in a deeply spiritual world. Few have bought into the secular notion that we live in a purely material world. In scripture there is the Spirit of the living God and there is the spirit of a man. But then there are evil spirits and the spirit of this world.
In creation, the Spirit of the living God was hovering over the waters. And when God created man, God breathed into him the breath of life. Job 33:4 (ESV) says, "The Spirit of God has made me, the breath of the Almighty gives me life." In John 6:63 (ESV) Jesus says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all." Galatians 5:16 (ESV) says that if we live by the Spirit, we will not gratify our craving and desires. Romans 8:2 (ESV) tells us that in Christ Jesus, "...the Spirit of life has set you free..."
Now the Holy Spirit isn't passive. He is very active in our lives. Ephesians 1:17 (ESV) says the Spirit is a, "...Spirit of wisdom and of revelation..." In John 14:26 (ESV) Jesus tells us that the Spirit, "...will teach you all things..." In John 16:8 (ESV) Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will, "...convict the world concerning sin and righeousness and judgment..." 1 Corinthians 2:10 (ESV) tells us, "...the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." 1 Corinthians 2:12 tells us that the Spirit is given to us, "...that we might understand the things freely given us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:16 (ESV) tells us the Spirit has given us, "...the mind of Christ."
The Spirit of the living God teaches us and leads into the light and life of God. But there are other spirits who also seek to lead us. In 1 John 2:27 (ESV) John refers to the Holy Spirit as the anointing. "But the anointing that you received from him (God) abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie-- just as it has taught you, abide in him."
Just as the Spirit actively engages us, so we should abide in the Spirit of the Living God. In this world there are other spirits competing for our devotion. John tells us that there are many false prophets who have gone out into the world. There are hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of competing voices out there seeking to sway us. But there is one voice by which we must abide-- the Spirit of the Living God. God's Spirit is a life-giving Spirit.
Now, from time to time people come to me who have spiritual experiences with ghosts, apparitions, and demons. More often than not, these individuals take pride in what they hear and see. And they confess how the power of these spirits takes over their thoughts and dreams. People describe how they're governed by their flesh and with their words, and how the demons dress. They profess a preoccupation with death and darkness.
Ephesians 2:1-5 (ESV) says of the Christian, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..."
Perhaps we should be more discerning about which spirit or spirits we follow. Some people possess a spirit of disobedience. Some are following the prince of the power of the air. A sign that a person is deceived, and not being led by the Spirit of God, is his preoccupation with the flesh and with his own their cravings and desires. For example, sexually immoral persons or greedy persons are often deceived. And what seems right to them in their spirit leads them not to life everlasting, but deeper into sin and death. But if you're following the life-giving Spirit of the living God, you will not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh. The Spirit of truth convicts us, guides us, and sets us free from the power of sin and death.
Second, truth matters for eternal life.
1 John 4:2-3 (ESV) says, "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already."
You might remember the story of the apostle Peter's confession in Matthew 16:13-20 (ESV). Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The disciples rehashed all they had heard. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." But then Jesus made it personal. "But who do you say that I am?" Jesus asked. It was Peter who answered him by saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." What Jesus said next is equally profound. "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
The Spirit of the living God enables us to confess the truth about Christ. More specifically, the Spirit of God leads us to two conclusions about Jesus. First, it convicts us that Jesus came in the flesh from God. And secondly, because of being a descendent of David, and being born of a woman, Jesus is the Son of God. There were people in the Church denying these core doctrines about Jesus Christ. They said that he didn't come from God. They said that he wasn't God in the flesh. John simply says, "...every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." This is black and white. There are no shades of gray to what John is saying.
In the Church there are certain truths that we hold with a closed hand and a tight grip. These are truths that we literally cling to for eternal life-- truths we must never let go. Jesus is the Son of God. God came in the flesh. Another example of a core doctrine is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (ESV) which says, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of who are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me."
There are truths that should never be held with an open hand. Why? Because the evil one will snatch them right from your hand. And why does that matter? 1 John 5:11-12 (ESV) says, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." God cannot give us life outside of himself. True life simply doesn't exist apart from God.
Some people wrongly believe that love is the only core doctrine that matters. Every religion teaches love, and God is love, so love must be the only thing that matters. This is the religion of pragmatism that says, "Let's focus on the result, and not worry about the means." But love isn't a doctrine so much as a response. We love because God first loved us. Love flows out of proper belief and doctrine. To know the true God, to know the truth, is to love. God came in the flesh. Jesus suffered, died, was buried, and was raised. He appeared, he ascended, he reigns, he sent his Spirit, and he fills us with his life-giving Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. (See Galatians 5:25) Therefore, those who live by the Spirit no longer gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh. By the Spirit of God we confess Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father. But you see, love is the response. It's what authenticates that we truly know God, and are led by the right Spirit. As John says in 1 John 4:20 (ESV), "If anyone says. 'I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God who he has not seen."
Third, truth is discerned through God's "Word".
1 John 4:4-6 (ESV) says, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
The question we must ask is how we discern the authentic voice of God. There are some things that are immediately obvious. If you possess the Spirit of God, God is giving victory over temptation, sin, and death. You are overcoming the world. You are not living as the world lives.
But second, if you are led by the Spirit you are at odds with the world. The world calls you to one thing, but Spirit of the living God calls you to another. The voice of God and men are in opposition to one another. Which voice do you most listen to?
But then third, John makes this point. "We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error." On the surface it might sound as if John is saying, "If you agree with us you are right. And if you disagree with us you are wrong." He actually is saying that! But he is alluding to something much deeper.
Remember how John opened his letter, the book of 1 John. 1 John 1:1-4 (ESV) says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim 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 to you, 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."
John is declaring that everything he knows about Jesus is anchored to and consistent with what we know about the reality of God himself. What John heard, saw, touched, experienced, and came to know about Jesus is authentic! What he wrote about Jesus in 1 John, the gospel of John, and then later in Revelation is not some innovation or some feat of human imagination. Rather, it's consistent with all that God's revealed about himself from the beginning. Jesus came from God. He is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of God's essence, and the key to fellowship with God. In Jesus we see, know, and are transformed to love others by the very face of God!
John 1:1-4 (ESV) says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1:9-14 (ESV) continues, "The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Jesus is the definitive Word from God, the definitive revelation of God by God. If we miss Jesus, we don't just miss the life of God. We miss God altogether. What the Spirit of the living God reveals is consistent with nature and the work of God from all creation.
Now, several conclusions are in order. First, we must test the spirits. God's Spirit guides us into paths of life. Second, God's Spirit guides us into all truth. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus came from God. Jesus died, was buried, was raised, ascended, and he reigns. Third, God's Spirit reveals the Father to us in the face of Jesus. Jesus is the most clear and definitive word from God we can receive. And everything we need to know about Jesus is written right here in the Bible.
We cannot be apathetic about Jesus. Our relationship with him, our belief in him, matters for eternal life. Nor can we be agnostic. God has made himself fully known in the face of Jesus. God has indeed spoken. God has indeed unraveled the mystery. God has indeed brought light and life to bear upon the darkness. By this we know the Spirit of truth versus the Spirit of error-- that Jesus is who he claimed to be.