I John Test the Spirits

1 John

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,

because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1

Spirits… John says there are spirits plural.

Because every spirit does not hold the Truth;

we are not to believe every spirit.

John seems to put all these spirits into two categories…

Spirits of God and spirits of the world.

The word spirit has many different meanings and connotations.

But one thing is consistent,

 spirits are non-physical.

Yet, every living person you meet has not

only a body and soul, they have a spirit.

Spirits are subject to the person.

Paul points this out when he is talking

about order in the church, he says…

“The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.” 

1 Corinthians 14:32-33 NIV

The spirits of God and the spirits of the world are subject to us.

What I mean by this is

 we can receive them or reject them.

This is why John tells us to test every spirit.

Spirits are influencing us every day.

There is spiritual influence in everyone you listen to.

You can see spiritual influence in cultures.

Spiritual influence determines how we live.

John gives us two things to help us discern the spirits.

“Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 

but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” 1 John 4:2,3

Jesus is “the Truth and the Light”.

Jesus’ teachings in both words and deeds cannot be altered.

The second test is…

 

“They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world,”

 1 John 4:5

Be careful about where your “view point” is.

We view every subject from where we are positioned.

From our position in the world we view

 every subject by how it will affect us.

When we view every subject through the

eyes of Christ we are able to see the real picture.

There is a real battle between the two spirits.

There are times when it seems going along

with the spirits of the world is the thing to do.

It is not worth the struggle.

That is why John says…

 “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,

because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  

You and I do not have to give up God and the Truth.

God placed His Spirit in us so that we

can overcome the spirit of the world.

John labeled the Spirits of God and the spirits

of the world by their characteristic…

The Spirit of Truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Discerning of spirits is a question of true or false.

How do you tell the difference?

Scripture Reading

1 John 4:1-6 NIV

4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.