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If you brought a Bible with you this morning, we’re in the book of First John. If you want to use a church Bible, just pulling out the seat in front of you, it’s on page 186. We’re in chapter four of First John this evening or this morning? Excuse me. It’s a good day for a nap today, isn’t it? But I’m glad everyone came. Well, we’ve got to do. I noticed when church started this morning that we had the land of the misfits on this side, and we need to help this side out and balance it out. All right, so invite someone to church next week because we are awesome, right? Oh that’s nice. There you go. That was good. And for you too. Who said Amen? We’ve got a prize for you waiting after the service. This morning I just want you to know that we are talking about some serious issues. Um, an important issue. And I want to start with a question. That is, how much of us give thought in our lives to a spiritual world. Throughout your day, how much of your day is consumed with the idea that some of the activities in which this world partakes in, and I would say all of the activities that this world partakes in is influenced by a spiritual world. Our physical world is influenced through a spiritual world. When we study in Scripture, as we look into the spiritual world, is that not all spirits are good spirits.
The Bible tells us that, in fact, some of them are bad spirits. So it’s important for our lives to have a sense of ability to determine if what we’re pursuing in our lives is, in fact, of a good spirit or godly spirit, or if it’s of a false spirit or a lying spirit. We get to the book of First John. We see that John’s pursuit for this church is to follow after Jesus with everything that they are. He’s talking to a new generation of Christians, and his desire is that they continue to look to Jesus for everything in their lives. Hopefully, as a church, the answer you get if you’ve been here long enough is that every right answer here at Alpine Bible Church is Jesus, right? Someone comes up and asks you, where’s the bathroom located? Jesus, right. Who cares about if they make it? The answer is Jesus. It’s always Jesus. And that’s what John is saying in the book of First John, the the point of life, the purpose of life. It’s founded in relationships. And that ultimate relationship starts with God. God coming in the flesh in the form of Jesus, to die for your sins, that you may trust in him and find life. God created you for a relationship with him. And so the answer to life is Jesus. And what John was noticing in the church is that people were coming in beginning to say that they were following after Jesus.
And the teachings that were presenting were were teachings of Jesus and the lifestyle they were leading weren’t, weren’t indications that they knew Jesus. And so he was growing concerned with the church, that these people were having influence on their spiritual life. And so he began in John chapter four and verse one he said, beloved, talking to the church, you’re loved. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. And since what John is saying is just because someone says that they know Jesus doesn’t make it the right Jesus. And just because someone says that they love Jesus doesn’t mean they love Jesus by evidence of their life. And so John’s desire for the church is to begin to test these spirits, because not every spirit is a good spirit. What is a spirit? In the beginning, the Bible tells us in Genesis one, Isaiah 44, Colossians one that God created everything, and in creating everything, he made both the physical world and the spiritual world and the spiritual world. He also created angels. The angels were originally created to worship God. It tells us in Isaiah chapter six. But but it also was created to serve the needs of man. It tells you in Hebrews chapter one and verse 14, the word angel literally means messenger. And glory to God. They serve him and in responsibility to us as people. They help us in our needs.
It tells us in the Bible that in revelation chapter 12 that Satan rebelled against God, and that one third of the angels fell with Satan as well. And so when we talk about the spiritual world, we recognize that not all angels are good angels. The fall of Satan is due to pride and is recorded for us in Ezekiel chapter 28 and Isaiah chapter 14. And today, when you read, especially in the New Testament, Satan takes on particular names that defines his desire for this world. It says that Satan is a liar. He’s the prince of the air. He is the destroyer. He’s trapping people and binding people away from God. John wants us to recognize in this passage of Scripture that we are to test the spirits of God, because false prophets are influenced through them. Not every spirit is a good spirit. In fact, some spirits are just downright demonic. John is recognizing for us that just because someone calls themselves spiritual, or just because someone claims to have a faith could alarm us in our minds to recognize that the source in which they’re tapping into for spiritual influence may not be a good thing to tap into. These false prophets are influenced by these spirits. Second Corinthians, chapter 11. We we looked at this a few weeks ago, but it says to us, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Recognizing that when Satan influences in this world, it’s it’s to to do it under the appearance of good. He says in verse 15, therefore does not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, to to take what God has taught us as truth, and to get us to believe a lie. It’s not to just change all of the belief, it’s just to simply to to twist it or begin to pervert it. And and when those who are following these false spirits present themselves to us, it says they present themselves as good people whose end will be according to their deeds. In First Timothy chapter four and verse one. But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits. And look at that. Doctrines of demons. The Bible makes no apology for recognizing to us that if we tap into the wrong aspect of the spiritual world, what we’re really connecting to. Bible even tells us in Ephesians chapter six that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Those are acknowledgement of the spiritual world. We live in, a physical world that’s being influenced by a spiritual world, and we wrestle with that. Whenever someone sins in life and it tears us apart or it angers us on the inside, it’s an opportunity for us to pause and recognize that that sin has been influenced through a spiritual world in which we are making war against as God’s church.
John’s call for us in first John four one is to recognize that these spirits that are influencing these false prophets aren’t worthy of our attention. You think about the idea of Satan and his power in the world. The Bible gives us really three main ministries in which he chooses to conduct. I was thinking about this this week. Angels are powerful beings. One third of the angels fell. The Bible tells us that Satan was elevated as the most beautiful of all of God’s angels, that he created when he fell. I wonder how powerful second place is. Or third place. Or fourth place. Ultimately, Satan is seen as the ruler of the controller of the negative or demonic spirits in this world, the sinful spirits. If you think about a lot of times there’s a focus upon Satan and his influence in the world, but he’s also head over other angels that are just as angry, just as sinful, and just as bad. What is Satan desiring to do among the body of believers? It tells us in first Corinthians seven five that he is the tempter says, come together again so that Satan will not tempt you. Satan knows better than anyone what your weaknesses are because he’s seen you sin. And so when he wants you to fall before God and your relationship with him, and to walk from the light, that is in pursuing a relationship with God and into the darkness, he He tempts you in your weaknesses.
Second, he’s the accuser. In revelation 1210, for the accuser of the brethren has been thrown down. He accuses them before our God day and night. You ever hear in your head those words of discouragement, words of worthlessness, words that give you a poor self esteem, Words that acknowledge self-pity in your life. Will. Satan is the great accuser. Satan’s desire, if he can’t get you to to fall into sin, is just to cripple you with accusations. Maybe he can throw up your past and your face to to get you to stop focusing on your present and walking with the Lord, knowing that you’ve been forgiven. Maybe he can worry you so much about accusing you for for future circumstance that he forgets that he allows you to forget to focus on the now. Satan doesn’t just have to cause you to sin, to render you useless for God’s kingdom. Satan can also accuse you, making you feel worthless for God’s kingdom. The third thing that Satan does is he lies. And we’re going to focus more on that aspect of Satan today because we’re dealing more with doctrinal truth in which God desires for us to understand in him. But it says in John 844, whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
What Satan desires to do more than anything is to get the church, especially to believe lies about God, because what we believe determines how we live. And he’s recognizing for us that when Satan is influencing someone in in the life of an individual that we we need to grow concerned with what’s taking place, because Satan influences these false prophets. And as these false teachers proclaim the name of Christ, it begins to influence our lives. False prophets influence through action and both teaching. It tells us in first John and so he says that we are to. Excuse me, test the spirits, and we go back to that, whether they have God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The word testing here means to judge. And I am talking about judging other beliefs. And some of you may say, well, that’s wrong to judge other beliefs. And I say, that’s okay because you’re judging me. And now we’re in the same boat. So let’s move forward, right? The Bible tells you to use your ability to discern whether or not something is true. Judge, because the object of your faith is as important as the sincerity of your faith. Amen. You understand that. Romans chapter ten and verse one Paul says, my heart’s desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved, because though they have a zeal for God, it’s not according to knowledge.
And Paul’s recognizing, though they have a heart of sincerity and what it is they believe, it’s not according to truth. And the object of what you have faith is is as important as the sincerity of your faith. And we can’t emphasize that enough. We heard a lot today in America. As long as you believe in something good, right? And what John is saying. No, that’s not good. Call yourself spiritual is not good. You could be tapping into the wrong spirit. One third of every spirit is a demon. So how do we recognize when we’re being presented with a false truth that that in fact isn’t a truth at all. It’s a lie. I got to say this morning as we’re talking about false prophets and false teaching and false beliefs, throughout my whole life, I’ve seen people be burned by such things when they realize that they’ve been lied to and they realize a belief that they’ve held on to may not be true. And can I encourage you this morning that if your heart feels weak to look for truth, God calls you an overcomer? We’re going to see in just a moment. But Satan is also rendering you unable to serve the Lord through an ambition and a desire not to want to grow, to know him. Just because you’ve been burned in the past is no reason to not look to your future. What Satan doesn’t want you to do is to know that you have a great and glorious future in God.
And we don’t acknowledge the present and the future that we have with Jesus. And we forget the past that’s put us in bondage. We render ourselves useless and growing and joy in that relationship with the Lord. Do not believe every spirit. Saying we’re spiritual isn’t necessarily a good thing. All of us are spiritual because all of us have a spirit. And so the question to ask is, how in the world do we test the spirits? How do we know that when a spirit presents a truth to us, or a false prophet, or a teacher comes claiming to know God, teaching us something, how do we know whether or not it’s true or it’s a lie? Can I tell you one of the worst things to pursue in your life? Though they can be good things, one of the worst things to acknowledge truth is through your own feelings. Feelings are not a good indicator of whether or not you’re following or pursuing truth. Here’s why. Because if a positive feeling affirmed whether or not something was true, that would make every belief in the world true. Because every belief in the world has someone who feels good about the belief that they’re following. You know what I’m saying? So if we’re basing it on feelings, and everything in the world would have to be right, because every religion in the world has someone who loves that religion.
In addition, what about the negative aspect of feeling? For instance, someone may wake up and feel ugly. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ugly. Maybe right when you woke up, but other than that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re ugly, right? Someone may feel unloved, but be in one of the most loving families that God has created. A child may feel stupid at school for giving a wrong answer, but are incredibly intelligent. A drug addict may feel good in taking drugs, but recognize that it’s wrong. And if we base our decisions on feelings, it will lead us to the wrong path. And in fact, the Bible gives all sorts of ideas and definitions of it. It says in Proverbs 1412, there is a way which seems right to a man good feelings, but in the end that way leads to death. Proverbs 28 and verse 26, he that trusteth his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely, he shall be delivered. Trusting your own heart and feelings leads us to the wrong path. And Jeremiah 17 nine the heart is deceitful and wicked. You think about in your life when you make big decisions. Do you base those on feelings? When you want to buy a new car, do you just go to the first parking lot, walk out and say which one makes me feel the best? I’ll take that one. Sticker price I will pay, right? That’s not how it goes.
When you buy a car, you do research. You find the cheapest price, right? You act. Yeah. You buy. You buy the best car you can find. You do investigation into it before you make such a large purchase, before you invest into something like that. You don’t base it on feeling though. You do want a car that makes you feel good driving down the road, right? But but in the beginning, what starts at his investigation? You look into it. When you pick a job, you don’t just randomly choose any job you want. You you ask questions. What are the benefits? What? What’s it going to pay? What hours are you going to have to work you you investigate into that? It’s not just based upon feeling. When you purchase a stock, you don’t just run your finger down the newspaper and say, this one makes me feel good. You you look into the stock. Is this stock viable? Is it’s going to bring me health. So why when it comes to religion, would we would we base the decision on feelings? Our heart is deceitful. There’s a way that seems right, but in the end leads to destruction. Even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. So what do we use to test whether or not something is true? I’m not going to give you voodoo dolls today, so don’t worry. But how do we know if a spirit is true? How do we know if a spirit is of God? Jesus identified forms of truth for us throughout Scripture.
One point in John 14 six he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Acts chapter 17 and verse 11, talking about the Bereans, it says, now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word, which is the Bible, with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Meaning they were going to church, they were being taught a truth, and they were going home, and they were asking the questions themselves. Is this really what the Bible says in John 424? It says, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. To worship God, to connect to the right Spirit of God. It comes through truth. How do you know if you’re connected to that spirit? How do you know if that spirit is the right spirit? It’s based upon truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And he says in John 1717, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. Your word is truth. Talking about the Bible. Jesus identified two ways. If it’s not elevating Christ in your life, it’s not found in Scripture. It’s not of truth. It’s the source of truth. If you can’t find it, then don’t believe it. There’s a good way to test truth, and there is a bad way to test truth.
Go to the Bible. And so the concern for us this morning, and maybe the challenge for John is in our lives, if we can’t even remember the last time we read the Bible, we We need to grow worried by that. If we are carrying a belief in our lives that we can’t explain or find in Scripture, be concerned about it. Test the spirits, whether they are of God. And here’s what I’m going to do this morning. I’m going to give you a test. It’s the first test ever. Alpine Bible Church. Everyone pull out your pens and paper. I’m just I’m just kidding. Don’t do that. But let me just show you this. Christianity, what it’s established upon is the word of God. And if it doesn’t say it in the Word of God, then we don’t believe it. Well, we should be asking ourselves as every day, what do I believe? Why do I believe it? And where is that in the Bible? What do I believe? Why do I believe it? And where is that? In the Bible, someone comes to you and teaches you a truth or makes a statement about God. Always follow that there statement with this question. Where is that in the Bible? Show me where that is in the Bible and you show me where that is in the Bible. Then I’ll believe it. Christianity is based upon the Bible.
Here comes your test this morning. Isaiah 43 and verse ten, right. You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me. Did you get that last phrase? How many gods existed before God? None. How many gods are going to exist after God? How many gods does that give us? One man. I didn’t even say anything. You guys are brilliant. Look at this. Isaiah 44 and six eight. I am the first and I am the last. And there is no God besides me. Is there any God besides me, or is there any other rock I know of? None. How many gods? One man. Isaiah 4424 thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord, and the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by myself self, and spreading out the earth all alone. Who created everything? God. Man. You guys. Colossians 115. He is the image of the invisible God who we talking about there firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or authorities or rulers, all things have been made, created through him and for him. Min ago you said who? Who created everything.
Okay, who’s this saying? Created everything? Man. All right. Colossians two nine for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Who’s that talking about? Okay. And what is it saying? Jesus is God. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. Who is this talking about? Who is Jesus? What did Jesus become? Flesh. Flesh? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, the Son of Man will be lifted up so that whoever believes in him have eternal life. Who is this talking about? Jesus. What’s Jesus going to do? Die on the cross. Be lifted up. And what does it say? Whoever believes will have what? Eternal life. Believe in. In the Greek text means to trust in. Meaning everything in this world you can trust in. All the religions will tell you there’s a way to get to God. But when it comes to Christianity, it tells us there’s only one way and that is trusting in Jesus. You guys are like, spot on with doctrinal Christianity. If you walked in today not knowing what you believe, there you go. These verses are in your notes, by the way. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
For those who believe in Jesus, receive what? Eternal life. That’s right. And this is the testimony that God has given to us in this life is in His Son. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son does not have life. If you have Jesus, what do you have? If you refuse to trust in Jesus death, okay. But as many as received him to them gave he the right to become the children of God. So those who receive him become what? Children of God. Children of God. It’s an indication that your inheritance is God’s kingdom. Implying that if you don’t trust in Jesus. What? You’re not a child of God. Jesus said this I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me. How many ways are there to the father? One. Ephesians two eight, nine and ten. If you’re asking yourself, well, is there any other way, just in case. For by grace you have been saved. Through faith you get that grace is totally free, and you’re saved by that by placing your faith in Jesus. And it’s not of yourselves meaning you don’t do anything. It’s the gift of God. God gives it to you not as a result of works. You don’t work yourself to it so that no 1st May boast. Because if you earn your way to God, you get to boast in yourself.
It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. And so what he’s saying in verse eight and nine is that Jesus saves you by your trust in him. And that’s not the end that God has called you to make war on the spiritual forces of darkness that are making war on this world. God’s got a plan for your life. It’s just not about get out of hell. It’s not about just saving you. It’s about enjoying and living in that relationship through him. God created you for that purpose. If you only look at us at Jesus as a get out of hell free card, then, then you’re missing the whole point of your creation because it said you’re created in Christ Jesus for good works. Ever watch a guy? Especially in this economy? We had a lot of people lose their jobs. And you notice in a man, he gets his identity a lot in work, and when he’s not working, he’ll get depressed. I think the reason why is because God created you for good works. And when your spirit isn’t living the way for which God has created that spirit to thrive in knowing him, and then in living in him. You get depressed by grace that you’re saved through faith. And that’s that’s the end of your test this morning.
Congratulate yourself. You’ve done amazing. You’re ready to go, everybody. All right, so how do you test the spirit? What do I believe? Why do I believe it? And where is that in the Bible? John’s desire for us is to hold truth to to Christ. It says in verse two, by this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh is is from God. Excuse me, that 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 of which you have heard that is coming, and now it is already in the world. Meaning John is John is warring against people who are coming into the church and not teaching properly about Jesus and who Jesus is. And and he’s saying if they’re not acknowledging Jesus in the right way, it’s demonic. Anything in this world that doesn’t put Jesus in its proper place is influenced through demonic spirits. Put Jesus first in your belief and ultimately the way that you know what you believe is because it becomes a life of obedience. What you truly believe, you obey. It takes a moment to step back and look at what our life is stating about us, how we’re living and what we’re doing. Because what we truly believe, we obey. And I’ve heard people ask the question, we talk about spirits.
We talk about the influence of spirits on us in this world. What has happened to God’s church throughout the years? Has it become corrupt? Has truth been lost? Has there been an apostasy made? Let me. This is in your notes. It’s under point number two at the very end. But let me just read this to you. You’ll find in the Bible that it warns Christians that false teachers will come. False Christs will come. False spirits will come, false apostles will come, false Gospels will come. And the point of the warning is to to prepare Christians to contend for the faith and to not be deceived. The there will be a form of an apostasy, but the Bible tells us never in a total apostasy. They’re always going to be people who take the truth of Jesus and twist it, but he’ll never completely rule and reign over God’s God’s church. The Bible promises that a total apostasy will never exist. It says in Matthew 1618, the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church. It says in Matthew 2820 that God is always with his church, Meaning, in order to always be with his church, the church has to always be present. The church will always bring glory to God. If the church ceased to exist, that would have been impossible and that the church will not be tossed away. It tells us in Ephesians four it will not be tossed around by false doctrine.
This simply means that if a total apostasy ever existed within the church and the Bible lied. The point is that John desires for us to recognize as people that we take the spiritual world and the influences it places upon us seriously. To acknowledge that when someone comes to us and they present a truth, that claiming it to be a truth, and it turns out to be a lie, that we need to be discerning as people. You know, we’re not only influenced by teaching, we’re also influenced by conduct. If you’re surrounding yourselves in your life with the type of people that are influencing you to take away from Jesus in your world, there needs to be a concern. When we get to this point, when we think, we could think on a serious level, oh my gosh, everything around me is so demonic. You don’t have to go up to somebody. They teach you a false teaching and then you just say demonic. You know, that’s not what I’m saying this morning. Demon. You know, exercise and heal. We don’t we’re not going to do that. Okay? That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that we become sensitive to understanding what our calling is in this world. And the Bible says this. Rather than walk around, I don’t want you to walk around scared, like laying in bed at night, throwing the covers over your head, thinking there could be demons in your room.
That’s not what I’m. I don’t want you to do that either, okay? Everyone knows that. You have to tuck your blankets under your legs. When you do that, right, they can crawl up under, just so you know, if that happens. Well, it says in verse four, I appreciate how John does this. He he raises a concern in our minds about these spiritual influences in our heart and our lives, and the serious effect it can have in our relationship with Christ, and how that relationship not only affects us, but it can affect our families, and it can affect our friends, our loved ones, our coworkers. And he says this to us after he recognizes, he says, you are from God, little children, and you’ve overcome them. You hear that? Meaning you don’t have to walk around afraid of these demonic forces because you belong to Jesus. And it says, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. You already walk around in victory. When I was a young kid, I had a single mom who was trying to go to college and working a job to provide better for my sister and I. And I had this aunt who babysat my sister and I. And she lived. She lived in the ghetto and and in front of her ghetto, there was this all these apartments everywhere. And in the middle of all these apartments, there was this playground for kids to go play in.
And really what it was was the the living of bullies is what this place turned out to be. And what I found out, I was like one of the only white kids in the neighborhood. And when I would go outside to play my first time going out, one of the first things I recognized is that everyone had a buddy and everyone’s buddy was bigger than them, except for me, because I was the new kid. And one day I went up on top of this playground and I was playing, and I don’t even know what I was doing, steering some steering wheel at the top and just not even paying attention to what’s going down and decided to go down the slide. And here I am, just so happy in myself. I’m in elementary school, and I slide down the slide and I get to the bottom, and I look up and I realize the entire playground, the equipment that I’m on playing, is surrounded by a group of kids, probably a hundred kids. And one of these big kids comes up to me and says, you have to fight, my friend. And he was also a big kid. And I remember looking around thinking I hadn’t done anything wrong. They just wanted to fight. And I’m seeing all these kids around me, and I’m thinking, if I don’t fight this kid, I’m going to get jumped.
And if I fight this kid, I’m probably going to lose. But it’s better to get beat up by one person than 100 people. So I fight this kid and I won, and everyone was so shocked that I won. And while they were shocked that I won, I ran as fast I could. I ran because you know what happens when you beat up someone’s friend, right? So I ran, I went to my aunt’s house. I stayed in there every time my mom dropped me off. The only thing I did was stay in this house until one day I got brave and I decided to go outside again into the ghetto. It’s a dumb choice. 10s outside, I get kidnapped by two teenage boys holding a knife to my throat. They walk walked me over to one of the apartments where a family just left, and they told me, you’re going to go inside, you’re going to rob everything. We’re going to wait outside, one of us at the front door and the back door. And if you don’t rob, we’re going to kill you. At that point, I stopped and I stared and I thought, and about in those moments, as I’m sitting there thinking, trying to buy time, I see an adult walking down the sidewalk and I ran again. Turned out I was a pretty fast little white kid in the ghetto. I got to the adult, I jumped up. They don’t even know I’m hugging them.
They have no idea why I’m doing this, but I’m just trying to prevent myself from having to rob someone and getting killed at the same time. But the point is, is there was definite demonic influence in that area. And the whole time I was walking around seeing everyone else butted up with a big friend, my whole thought the entire time was, man, I wish I had a bigger friend. I wish I had one that was so big when they walked around. We just felt like champions the entire time because all that resulted in was me just hiding in the house for the rest of the time that my baby sent me in the ghetto. Fortunately, her lease ran out pretty quickly, so I’m alive today. What is saying to you is the same thing in this passage of Scripture. It’s not like Jesus is just your buddy walking around the neighborhood, and you may or may not get beat up. It’s saying that Jesus has already beat up the neighborhood. Jesus has conquered these spirits, and we don’t have to live in fear of what’s going to happen. But we need to understand our position in truth as we live with Christ, because the Bible tells us this in Ephesians chapter six, it says in verse 12, 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.
He’s telling you that. Understand that you’re in a battle. Okay. But he says in verse 11 of Ephesians, put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Meaning, God has built you as his overcomer to be a warrior for his kingdom. In fact, when you read Ephesians chapter six, it’s called the the whole armor of God. God wants to prepare yourself spiritually for a battle in this world. It says that the breastplate that we put on is a breastplate of righteousness. That’s your testimony of living, that your feet are shod with the gospel, that your helmet is worn, a salvation that you you carry around the sword, which is the spirit, the Word of God, the Bible, and that all of it is held together with the belt of truth. We put on these things and stand behind these things, recognizing that the war that we’re waging against is a spiritual one, making physical impact in the place in which we live. And I love this about Jesus when he’s talking about building his church and he’s thinking about the future. I would like to even say Lehigh on his mind. He said this to his church. Even the gates of hell will not prevail against you. Meaning, yes, these demonic forces, they’re powerful. Matter of fact, in his mind, he’s trying for us to to create a word picture.
He’s having us think like as if these. This kingdom of Satan, this demonic force is is a huge castle kingdom. And it’s fenced in with this ginormous wall. That’s a real word in the English dictionary now. It’s a ginormous wall that goes around this castle. And encamped in this castle is all the demonic influences that’s presented in this world. And, you know, the people that are held captive behind that are the people that have been deceived by these spirits. And he’s saying to you, because he has overcome this world, he’s given you the ability and the power and the authority to go behind these gates of the enemy, to grab hold of the lives that are being impacted through demonic spirits, and to rip them out for the sake of Christ. God has made you an overcomer. Do you understand the beauty of that picture? Maybe I should throw a challenge out and to say if we did tomorrow or next Sunday, we wouldn’t have an empty chair. Do you understand the power and the weight and the glory of the message that you carry as a church? People aren’t going to get any more lost than they already are if they’re under the influence of demonic or false teaching. But God has given you the ability as an overcomer to go into this world and to share truth. And we don’t walk up to people and say, you’re demonic.
We simply say, here’s the truth, here’s the truth. This is what I believe. This is why I believe it. And this is where you can find it. You did it today. I didn’t have to say a word. Opened up a text, read a verse, and you interpreted it and saw what God’s Word said to us. Test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into this world. Some of us, when we say the word demonic, we’re expecting like eyes to roll back in our head and like a deep, dark voice, all raspy and scratchy to come out, you know. But it tells us in the Bible that Satan appears as an angel of light. And so in the last two verses we’re going to look at from first John, it says this they are from the world. The question is, what influences you to take the stand on what you choose to stand on in this world? What influenced you to believe what you believe? And John acknowledges the reason that people aren’t pursuing after Jesus is because what’s influencing them is the world’s teaching. And Satan is called the ruler of this world and the prince of the air. He says they are from the world. Therefore they speak as as from the world, and the world listens to them. But we are from God. He who knows God listens to us, and he who is not from God does not listen to us.
But by this we know the the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Good does not always equal God, but God equals good. God’s desire for us is to go into this world as champions for him, fighting the spiritual forces, but taking the time to recognize when we’re being influenced by godly forces or demonic forces. Bible tells us when we do this as a group of people, the attitude that we are to carry. Says, when you speak to someone about God, it says, speak the truth in love. You don’t walk up to bash them over the head. You don’t walk up to abuse them with truth. You walk up to love them with the most loving things that you can do for someone is to share truth. We do it graciously. What a person believes dictates how they live. It’s the core of who we are as human beings. It’s not easy to change. It needs God’s power behind it. It needs the grace of Jesus with it. And so it says, speak the truth and love. And it says, we are to grow up in him, grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ. And so the goal in all of our truth, how we share with anyone, is to point people to Jesus, to acknowledge the position of Jesus in their lives, and to give him the rightful place of everybody. Go ahead and bow your head and close your eyes for just a moment.