Intro. We were told to test the spirits to see if they were of God because of the many false prophets.
I. WHAT IS THE BASIC TEST?
A. Their testimony concerning Jesus Christ.
1. I have noted that Satan has three main targets. The Bible as the inspired word of God; the Deity of Jesus Christ; the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. In the beginning with Eve, he questioned the word of God.
a. "Hath God said?"
b. He then challenged the word of God. "You will not surely die."
c. He uses this tactic today. We find it very rampant in, of all places, seminaries where men are being trained for the ministry. It is known as higher criticism.
d. In
Acts 1 Peter said, "Men and brothers, the scriptures must be fulfilled which were spoken by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David."
1. He acknowledged that the scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Divine inspiration."
2. He declared that if it was written, it must come to pass. The infallibility of the scriptures.
3. The attack against the deity of Jesus Christ.
a. There are those who declare that they believe that the Bible is the word of God, but they deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
b. They would make Him something less than God.
1. Michael the arch angel.
2. The brother of Lucifer.
3. A great master, by which they mean teacher.
c. The prophecies of the Messiah indicated that He would be the Son of God.
1. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."
2.
PSA 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
3. When Micah prophesied of the birthplace of the Messiah, he said of Him, "Whose going forth have been from old, from everlasting.
4. In His prophecy of the Messiah, Isaiah said, "His name shall be called, Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace."
5. Jeremiah said, "His name in that day shall be called "The LORD our righteousness, which in Hebrew is: Jehovah Tsidkenu"
6. Isaiah also prophesied that a virgin would bring forth a Son and call His name Immanuel, which by interpretation means, "God with us."
d. The Jews of Jesus day recognized that the Messiah would be the Son of God.
1. Peter's confession, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
2. When the High Priest asked Jesus if He were the Messiah, and Jesus answered in the affirmative, he then asked, "Are you then the Son of God." Again Jesus answered in the affirmative.
e. The clear plain teaching of the New Testament is that Jesus is God in the flesh.
1. At His baptism, the Father spoke from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
2. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
3. "He who was in the beginning with God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
4. Great is the mystery of Godliness, God was manifested in the flesh.
f. Jesus declared He was God.
1. I and the Father are One.
2. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.
3. Before Abraham was, I am.
4. When the Jews took up stones to stone Him,
JOH 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
JOH 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. "Are continually making yourself God."
g. "Why do you call Me good? There is only One that is good, that is God."
1. They understood what Jesus was saying about Himself, even though the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons do not seem to understand it.
B. This is the true litmus test of the spirits, the witness of Jesus.
1. The confession is actually that Jesus is the Messiah, He is God come in the flesh.
2. This is the witness of the Spirit. The witness of the Word of God.
3. Speaking of the Israelites Paul said,
ROM 9:5 Whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh The Messiah came, who is God over all blessed for ever. Amen.
II. HOW CAN WE TELL THE FALSE PROPHETS?
A. There witness of Jesus.
1JO 4:3 Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1. The spirit of antichrist is that spirit that is opposed to Jesus Christ, not the person called the antichrist that shall rule the world in the last days.
2. In John's second letter he makes a similar warning,
2JO 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2JO 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2JO 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2JO 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed:
3. You cannot separate the Godhead, you cannot have the Father without having the Son, and visa versa.
4. Jesus said,
MAT 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and [he] to whomsoever the Son will reveal [him].
JOH 5:23 That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
5. John said that the spirit of antichrist had already begun to work in his day.
a. One of the first heresies that the church had to deal with was known as the Arian heresy. Arius taught that Jesus was not God come in the flesh, but was a created being in the angel category. He suggested that He was possibly Michael.
b. Most of the Jehovah Witness heresy is borrowed from Arius.
c. The book of Hebrews declares concerning Jesus,
HEB 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
HEB 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
HEB 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
6. When Satan tempted Jesus with the promise to give Him the world and its glory if Jesus would bow down and worship him, Jesus answered, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."
7. The mormons are seeking to be recognized as another denomination in the body of Christ. This is impossible until they change their position concerning Jesus Christ.
8. There are many apostate denominations where they might fit, for among many denominations there is a denial of Jesus as begotten of God.
9. The Muslims teach that God is not begotten, neither does He beget. The beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons are more closely aligned to the Moslems than to true orthodox christianity. Don't be gullible, try the spirits, see if they are God, what is their witness concerning Jesus the Messiah?
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
