I would like to share a message this morning called, “be sure you have the right Christ”?
Please can we turn in our bibles to
1 John 4:1-6Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet [fn] acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.
But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world's viewpoint, and the world listens to them.
But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
John here is saying don’t just be washed around by false doctrine, by charismatic people, those that say they bring new revelation
But test the spirit
Test you are not as James says, “washed around like a wave being tossed by the wind.”
John is saying don’t be fooled by those people who say sweet things that are pleasing to the ear.
We need to test the spirit, that it is from God and not of this world.
Acts 17:11, the Bereans listened to Paul preaching then went and searched the scripture to see that what he said was truth and fell in line with Gods word.
Many cults, different religions, Atheist agnostics, spiritualists will bring a seductive message and those who cannot discern it
They will be lead astray.
Believe it guys, Pauls tells us there will be a great rebellion against God.
The Greek word “Apostasia” meaning a religious falling away,
Folks that means a believer
Someone walking in faith
Answer me one question. What has a non believer got to fall away from?
Nothing !
He doesn’t believe anything to fall away from it, hes already in the pit
So folks there will be a big falling away
Test the spirit
Everyone has a Christ sitting on his throne
Its either Jesus Christ the lamb of God or the Anti-Christ
Test the spirit
Our main ways are, does what a person says, glorify God and does it fall in line with scripture.
1 John, john is saying it’s the last hour, and the anti – Christ is coming, but the anti –Christ spirit is a t work in peoples hearts and folks we need to discern truth.The spirit who lives in the temple will lead you into all truth, if you are listening to him and not quenching him.1 John 3:19 says, “These people left our churches”
WOW
They left the churches, there were people amongst the early church who had had pseudo transformations, they had been attracted by Christ but had not gone all the way, they had not believed with the reality and victory that Christ had put in their lives.
They are seduced by doctrines that suited their lifestyle
They had been seduced by wrong motive, the flesh the world
Their own temporal needs
Sexual gratification
They come to believe a lie rather than the truth.
Test the spirit folks
Don’t be deceived folks
Don’t try walking in both kingdoms
Ask the Lord to change you’re heard and your life
Don’t think you can walk with Jesus and carry on what you were doing in your old life because this is a pseudo – transformation
Its eating from two tables
The table of God and the table of demons.
Hebrews 10:26 says this,“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.”Guys if you are still doing the things you were doing, you are in the same place as the Corinthian church was.
I find this quite amazing
Please hear this it’s important
If you are still seeped in the same sin
Where’s the repentance
Where’s the change
Why is the heart not changed
Jesus changes lives and has already given you the victory
The spirit of anti – Christ is washing down the truth and guys, if we don’t test it we could be back sliding without even realizing it
We don’t stand still as Christians we go backwards
And many people will say Lord, Lord didn’t I do this in your name and Jesus word, “Away from me I never knew you”
How sad Christ tells us in revelation not to be Luke – warm
Be in tune with the spirit
Listen to his guiding voice
Why is the church not empowered and stepping out in faith?
Where’s the motivation, most of our pulpits are dying and a message is being preached that is pleasing to the ear
No repentance, no power
And many are sitting there saying I believe in the holy Spirit, I believe in God,
Preachers! Where is the life changing message, where do we see the spirit moving in power
We have got to believe that the spirit will bring power and that we are going to be empowered to do the same as Jesus did and more folks.
Believe it
If we don’t believe it its not going to happen.
Sometime this week take a journey through the first Corinthian letter.
Paul is confronting sin, there is a man sleeping with his fathers wife, there are factions, he’s teaching them about lawsuits against each other, about sexual sin and how damaging it is to Christ’s body, he’s teaching about living for each other wholly in marriage, divorce and how wrong it is, he is teaching about idolatry and how worship should be like, including the Lords supper. Then to watch out for false teaching.
Look at their background, sexual sin was rife in pagan religions, you would have had people following different philosophers and stick to certain viewpoints causing mass diversity and factions.
The church was a carnal church
Still working in the carnal, but when you read about the gifts, they moved mightily in the spirits power.
Imagine if they had lived spiritual lives what a witness they could have been.
No wonder Paul was saying your not ready for meat you are still on milk
Same today folks
Why are we quenching the spirit?
Most churches that are moving in the spirit are still in the carnal arena
Why are their so many divorces in the evangelical area of the church even more than atheists?
Why are we quenching the spirit?
Why do people make a life changing decision for Jesus and still walk the path they were on
Scripture tells us Jesus wept but it’s not just over Jerusalem, its over the nations.
People are not walking in the victory
People are hearing lukewarm messages and never testing the spirit.
Look at the church in Acts; it was life changing, why?
Because people saw the power of Christ and the fruit of the spirit and grabbed it with both hands.
Today people see Christ’s power, know the Holy Spirit
But don’t let him renew their minds and heart and soul.
The spirit of Anti – Christ is putting things in place, and guys when the Holy Spirit moves out the way, it will be like the anti Christ is just stepping through a piece of tissue paper.
People’s hearts are being de – sensitized
Sex, violence, drugs are being pushed
People are even being told they can’t wear a cross round there neck in there line of work.
There programs on telly gracing our screens making Christianity look like a cult or a carnival.
The Lords name is being used with expletives everywhere you look.
These doctrines being peddled, they are setting things in place for universalism, so people are saying all religions lead to one 1 path.
Test the spirit guys
There is so much merchandise out there, that if we don’t stand firm, even the elect will be lead astray.
Has anyone heard of the Cundalini experience, also called the evolutionary energy of man, it counterfeits slain in the spirit, but its Hinduism, people falling over crawling along the floor or just go into spasm and chanting.
Be careful of counterfeits
Test the spirits
Can we please now turn to 2 Timothy 3:8,9
In pharaohs court the two magicians Jannes and Jambres were able to duplicate every thing Moses done in Gods power with counterfeit miracles
Are you getting the message guys
If you just turn up to churh on Sunday morning, listen to whats said without testing the spirit, checking to see it falls into line with Gods word, how do we know if we are being lead astray?
Think about it Pauls epistles and pastoral letters written between AD49 and 65 and they were warning about false teachers and prophets.
Peter was the same, he was saying in 2 Peter 2:1, that there was false prophets in Israel just as there will be false teachers amongst us, they teach destructive heresies and even deny the master who brought them.
In this way they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.
John is saying, this spirit of anti – Christ was rife, Gnosticism was filtering through and these doctrines of demons were a reality.
Before we finish I would like to share with you 1 scripture with parallels guys.
Can we turn to 2 Thessalonians 2 please:
Now, dear brothers and sisters, [fn] let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don't be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don't be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness [fn] is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
Don't you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?
And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.
This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
As for us, we can't help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first [fn] to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth.
He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
See Paul is saying false teachers had let the spirit of anti – Christ gain momentum and people were saying the second coming had already happened.
First we see the great rebellion happens because false teaching and seducing doctrines had lead people astray.
The Holy Spirit steps out of the way
Get this
The antichrist is setting him self up, in Gods temple producing counterfeit miracles, so we believe a lie.
Don’t be deceived folks
His outcome destroyed by the splendor of the Lords coming.
Those that are lead astray will be deluded because they refused to believe the truth
Here’s the good news folk
Jesus is coming back Hallelujah
If you are walking with him
If you are listening to the spirit
You will not be lead astray
Trust the Lord for salvation
He is our rock, our refuge our salvation
Lord we trust you to keep us in your firm foundation, Holy Spirit find us, and mark us, let us keep in tune with you and discern the false teaching.
Help us not to be deceived by another spirit, another Gospel, another Jesus
Thank you Lord
In Jesus name
Amen
