Greater is He

1 John 4:1-6 (NASB)

1 Beloved, 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 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Today’s passage is from 1 John, which is the first book in a three-part series of letters. This was written by the Apostle John, who was one of Jesus’ disciples. The same one who wrote the Gospel of John, and the book of Revelation. To understand these verses in chapter four, let’s first briefly look at the first three chapters of this book.

We don’t know who John was writing these letters to, although some scholars think it is the same group of churches he wrote to in Revelation. He begins by stating that he had first-hand witness of the Word of Life, who is Jesus. He states that the reason he is writing is so these believers may have fellowship with “us” and with Jesus. He says that he is giving them the same message that he heard from Jesus. 1 John 1:6-7 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

In chapter two, he begins by saying, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” Then he explains how when we do sin, our advocate, Jesus, will forgive us. But, as 1 John 2:4 warns, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;”. He explains that believers are not supposed to “love the world or the things in the world.” For the world is sinful and will pass away anyway, but God promises eternal life to believers. He says he’s writing to them because people are trying to deceive them and he wants them to not be deceived by antichrists who speak lies, but to remain in the teaching they have received.

Then in chapter three, he adds in the necessity of love. To summarize, he states in 1 John 3:10, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.”

All of that leads us to chapter four and the text for today. Looking at the overview, we see that John saw things in very clear terms. There is right and there is wrong. The believer must live in the light and love others. If someone says they are a believer but they are living in sin and/or hating other people, then they are not a believer. John is saying it is really that simple. Our actions must match our words.

As John explained in chapter two, there are many antichrists who are trying to deceive people. That word, antichrist, has been understood and misunderstood in a lot of different ways. The way John is using it does not mean that there is one particular antichrist who is deceiving. The word technically means “one who opposes Christ.” That definition lines up with how I believe he is using that word here, for in the first verse of chapter four he says, “Beloved, 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.”

These ‘antichrists’ are false prophets or evil spirits who are opposing what Christ said. They have manipulated God’s word. They have lied and spread false doctrines. And they are intent on deceiving people.

There are definitely ‘antichrists’ at work today. Whether we call them by that name, or call them false prophets, evil spirits, sheep in wolves’ clothing or heretics, there are people who are deliberately trying to deceive believers. John is warning believers that we need to be on the lookout. We need to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” because this has become a real problem.

“Whether they are from God” is another way of asking if this person is a child of God or a child of the devil, as John said in chapter three.

Then John offers us the way to test whether someone is from God. He says in 1 John 4:2-3, “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 have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

So we have three criteria to determine if someone is from God and is a child of God, or if that person is a child of the devil. If a person is not practicing righteousness, not loving their brother and sister, and is not confessing that Jesus Christ is from God, then conclusively we know that person is not from God and is a child of the devil.

Why are those three criteria the litmus test, so to speak? These things are what John has been building the case for all throughout this book. Remember, he started off in chapter one, speaking about walking in the light versus walking in darkness. He said, and I paraphrase: if we walk in sin, we do not have fellowship with God. We must confess our sin so God can forgive us and cleanse us so we can walk with Him in the light. Then he adds in that we must practice righteousness; love our brothers and sisters; and confess that Jesus came from God.

We should be sure to understand these three criteria. The first one, practicing righteousness, means that we are following God’s commandments. We are living righteously. Meaning we are not willfully sinning. This means that we are striving to obey all that God has commanded in the Bible. We should aim for holiness in all areas of our lives. And as John explains, when we do sin, we can confess our sin, find forgiveness and “walk in the light.” John knows we will not be perfect. This is not an excuse to walk in darkness, though. It is the good news that we find forgiveness and help to walk in the light when we confess and repent. Second, we will love our brothers and sisters. This doesn’t mean our immediate family of brother and sisters, although that could include them, too. John is speaking of our brothers and sisters in Christ. He has been writing a lot about the family of God. We believers are children of God. That means fellow believers are our siblings. If we can’t love our fellow siblings, then why would we think we are part of God’s family? Third, we will confess that Jesus came from God. That means, we will confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus was not just some prophet or teacher. He was not just a ‘good man.’

These things prove whether we are children of God and walking in the light. I don’t think we should separate out these verses in chapter four from the rest of the book. All that was said before is the foundation of these verses. John is adding to his growing list of criteria that we are to use to test whether or not someone is speaking the truth.

That is how imperative it is to “test the spirits.” We are in a war. Like any war, identifying who is on which side is vital. If spies have infiltrated the ranks of an army and are giving false information, it is going to cripple that side. Propaganda, misinformation, and deception are all tactics that are used in warfare. This is most certainly a problem within the ranks of Christianity.

Though John doesn’t use this language of warfare, we see it used in other places in Scripture. Ephesians 6:11-12 says, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God,”.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but our battle is real, and we have enemies. That is why John says to test the spirits. I think he is making the distinction that the battle is between evil and good. It is the devil who is ultimately behind every deception. That is how we can love people but still engage in warfare. It is not the people whom we are to destroy; it is the false arguments. Our battle is against the deceitful arguments being waged against the word of God.

The first step in defeating these false arguments is to test the spirit behind the argument. Then we can identify it and reject it. The problem is, today, just as it was in John’s time, there are many false prophets who are spreading many false doctrines and it’s difficult to tell at first who is a false prophet and who is not. Just like a devious spy of war, these people appear legitimate at first. Maybe they have all the right credentials. They wear the correct uniform and speak the language. Maybe they know all the basic key phrases to say to fit in. But if you dig a little deeper, start asking questions and do some critical reading, the truth starts to come out. The flaws in their arguments appear. They might say that sin doesn't really matter. Perhaps they preach cheap grace. Maybe they don’t preach love and instead are divisive and put down their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe their doctrine is not Biblical. Maybe they don’t believe that Jesus was from God. It might seem pretty obvious to us that, of course, Jesus is the Son of God. He is truly God and truly man. He is the Messiah. Yet, many people who claim to be experts on the Bible do not believe that.

The trouble is, this is not simply a matter of differing opinion. This is an actual spiritual battle. The devil is actively trying to confuse believers and keep other people from believing in Jesus. He wants to keep people in bondage to sin. He wants people to not practice righteousness, to sow division among believers, and tear down the authority of scripture. The devil’s whole goal is to destroy. And while we should not be complacent or apathetic about this problem, we do not have to be afraid. As John tells us in verse four, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

That tells me that we don’t need to fear, because God, who is in us, is greater than the devil who is in the world. John will go on to say in 1 John 5:5, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Wording it not as a rhetorical question but as a statement it reads, “the one who overcomes the world is the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.” We who believe Jesus is the Son of God, we overcome the world because God lives inside of us. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit as 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” That is how we have the power to overcome these false prophets who are spreading these false ideas. It is God’s power inside of us, made alive in us, through faith.

This circles back to John’s criteria for testing the spirits. Does the “prophet,” the person who claims to be speaking the truth, do they believe Jesus is the Son of God? If they fail that test, we should reject their message for they are not of God.

As John says in verses five and six, “They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

I don’t know about you, but more and more I am realizing just how divided our world has become. So many times I will read a news article and someone will be interviewed about some issue, and I will find myself 100% disagreeing with what they are saying. Not only will I disagree with them, but I cannot understand their reasoning for thinking what they think. It is like their logic is completely illogical to me. My guess is if that same person heard my thinking on the same topic, they too would find me ‘illogical’ and completely ‘incorrect’. Why is this happening? I think this is what John is suggesting in these verses. The ‘world’ is speaking one language and everyone in the world can speak to each other. They understand one another. They get along with each other and accept each other’s ideas. Whereas, we believers are speaking a totally different language. John says that if we are speaking the things of God, the world will not listen to us. Only those who know God will listen to us. He says, “By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

N.T. Wright, in his book The Early Christian Letters, says, “No doubt, in our own day, such a statement sounds impossibly arrogant. But John doesn’t mean it like that. He is putting it sharply, almost telegraphically. His whole letter, as we see right at the end, is about holding on to the true God and rejecting the claims of idols. And the way we know the true God is through Jesus. You can’t get round that.” (p. 156-157)

I see why Wright is saying this, for John concludes this first book by saying in 1 John 5:21, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” When I first read through 1 John in studying for this sermon, I was surprised by his ending. It seemed a little out of place. Now, I get it. That last brief sentence is the key to understanding this letter.

John’s warning to guard ourselves from idols is a warning to make sure that we are following the only true God. We must be on guard so that we don’t let the false arguments and ideas of the world infiltrate our minds. While I don’t think many of us believers are in danger of setting up an actual wood or metal object as an idol that we will worship, I do think we are in danger of adopting other idols. Think of all the false gods that our world presents as substitutes for the one true God. Many people claim to believe in God, but the god they are believing in is not the God of the Bible. They believe in ‘God’ with a capital G, but they say this ‘God’ reveals himself to people through every religion. They think this ‘God’ can be seen inside every person, for every person is also a ‘God’ or however they have created this ‘God’ to be. We have to be careful that we haven’t adopted any of these false god arguments. We have to be on guard that we are following the only true God. This is the test. Is this ‘God’ the God who sent His only Son to earth to be born of a woman, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for all of mankind’s sin and rose victoriously from the grave? This is the only God. All other ideas and beliefs about ‘God’ are idols.

If we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that means we believe in all that title infers upon Jesus. That means we believe He is God’s Son who died on the cross for us and rose again, and the only way to the Father is through Him. And while it may seem like we are speaking a foreign language to the world, we should not stop speaking and sharing this message of truth. Instead, we should be careful to test all the spirits so we don’t end up worshiping a false idol who is not the only true God. If we believe in Jesus, the Spirit of God lives in us. And He who is in us, is greater than he who is in the world. That means we have all the power we need to overcome the lies and deceptions of the world.

John uses this language of overcoming, for he learned it directly from Jesus. He quotes Jesus as saying in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

This is our hope and why we have faith. Jesus is the One who overcame the world. When He died on the cross and rose again, He overcame sin and the devil. This is why it is vital that in order to be a follower of the only true God, we must put our faith in Jesus, the Only Son of God. Without Jesus, there is no way to the Father. Anyone who preaches otherwise is a false prophet.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. Please, by Your Holy Spirit, give us wisdom and discernment so we are not deceived by false prophets. Help us to be able to know who is speaking truth and who is speaking lies. Help us also to live righteous lives and to love our brothers and sisters in the faith. Thank You for giving us Jesus who overcame sin and death, so that we might have forgiveness and peace in this world. We love You and in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.