1 John 4:6 (NKJV) We are of God. He who knows God hears us;
he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and
the spirit of error.
Introduction:
We’ve been going through the book of First John with a series of
messages and today we are ready to begin chapter four. We will be looking at
the first six verses today where John expresses the need for God’s children to
exercise spiritual discernment.
A couple of stories illustrating the importance of discernment:
An elderly woman stood on a very busy street corner in rush hour
traffic. She was fearful, confused, and therefore hesitant to cross by herself.
Finally, a gentleman came up to her and asked if he could cross the street with
her. Grateful and very relieved, she took his arm and stepped into the busy
intersection. As they proceeded, she grew progressively alarmed as he zigzagged
randomly across the street, to the blare of horns and screech of locked brakes.
Finally, after reaching their destination, she turned to the gentleman and
complained, "You almost got us killed! You walk like you're blind."
"I am," he replied. "That's why I asked if I could cross with
you." (from a sermon by Ron
Thomas, Garland TX)
This humorous story illustrates the need for using discernment and
judgment when you pick someone to help you cross a busy street.
This next story is a more serious one.
Some of you may [have heard
about] the film, A Beautiful Mind, named after the book with the same
title. The book is based on the life of John Nash… a brilliant mathematician
and professor at Princeton University… The core conflict in the movie was this:
John Nash also suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. That is, Nash would see
characters and hear voices that did not exist. When he listened to the voices,
they became destructive to his life. They could turn him into an egomaniac by
making him feel like he was the center of the universe or they could also prey
upon his deepest fears and make him suspicious of his loved ones.
Treating this condition is
extremely difficult, because the voices heard and the people seen are as real
to patients suffering from this disorder as actual people. You have to convince
the person that their own faculties of sight and sound are impaired, that they
cannot trust them, and have to resist the urge to engage them. Eventually Nash
would regain much of his ability to function in the “real” world, largely
through new medicines that cut down on the intensity of delusional episodes. As
helpful as the medicine was, it did not completely eliminate the voices.
Over time, Nash learned how
to test the voices, to figure out whether or not they were real. In other
words, Nash learned the art of discernment. He learned how to sift the
unhealthy voices and listen to the healthy ones. In the movie version of the
story he says this toward the end: “I’m not so different from you. We all hear
voices. We just have to decide which ones we are going to listen to.” (www.thepastorsworkshop.com)
John is writing to a group of Christian believers who needed to develop and utilize the gift of discernment with regards to what they had been hearing about Jesus. They needed to learn how to sort through the many “voices” teaching false ideas about Jesus and not only discover the truth, but cling to it and promote it.
Let us turn our attention to these verses to see what God has to teach
us regarding Godly discernment.
I. The
meaning of discernment.
Ps. 119:66 (NKJV) Teach
me good judgment and knowledge, For I believe Your commandments.
(Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament.) The primary meaning of the root [for the word “judgment”] is
"to try, or to evaluate, with the tongue, normally with a view to
consumption if the flavor is suitable."
(Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier Ministries) But what is this discernment? … It is the ability to make discriminating judgments, to distinguish between, and recognize the moral implications of, different situations and courses of action. It includes the ability to “weigh up” and assess the moral and spiritual status of individuals, groups, and even movements. Thus, while warning us against judgmentalism [Matt. 7:1], Jesus urges us to be discerning and discriminating, lest we cast our pearls before pigs (Matt. 7:6). [Then later, in verse 15, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.]
A remarkable example of such
discernment is described in John 2:24–25: “Jesus would not entrust himself
to them … for he knew what was in a man” (NIV).
“Do not judge” means do not condemn or pass
sentence on someone. But a holy sense of judgment is necessary to exercise
discernment.
(Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier
Ministries) … True discernment means not only distinguishing the right from
the wrong; it means distinguishing the primary from the secondary, the
essential from the indifferent, and the permanent from the transient. And, yes,
it means distinguishing between the good and the better, and even between the
better and the best.
(Charles
Spurgeon, www.thepastorsworkshop.com) Discernment is not a matter of
simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the
difference between right and almost right.
II. Discernment
is necessary to avoid serious error. (v. 1)
1 John 4:1 (NKJV)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether
they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
John starts this section with an urgent
command to his readers regarding the necessity of exercising discernment.
Two of the verbs he uses are in the imperative form, indicating a command. They are: “believe not,” and “test” (or “try” in KJV). He commands Christians to not believe all spirits they encounter, but rather, he commands them to try them or test them. The root word for “test” means to watch. It would seem to carry the idea to examine closely.
On one hand, DO NOT believe, accept, or fall for everything that comes before you with claims of godliness, faith, goodness and right. And, on the other hand, DO put everything to the test. Watch it closely. Examine it! Why? Because false prophets (teachers) have gone out into the world. People who are teaching error are all around us.
2 Cor. 11:13-15 (NKJV)
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself
transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is
no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of
righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
I just read in my daily devotions the other
day in the Book of Acts where Luke writes concerning the people of Berea who
were more noble than the people of Thessalonica because they searched the
scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were preaching the truth.
As we have stated repeatedly in the earlier chapters of this letter, John is standing against some of the teaching that has been gaining popularity. It is the early stages of Gnosticism. (Spirit = good; matter = evil) They claimed the man Jesus could not be the Christ/Messiah or divine because deity (spirit/good) cannot become humanity (flesh/bad).
If there is ever a time when this message is
needed it is today. we are living in a time when there are so many false
teachers and peddlers of lies and deceit. This is not only true in the world, but it
is also true in the church world. I know I’ve said this so many times lately,
but we are literally living in a time when you don’t know if you can believe
anything you hear or read these days.
III. Standards
are necessary for exercising discernment. (vv. 2-3)
1 John 4:2-3 (NKJV) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you
have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
John is laying down some standards they could use for discerning the difference between truth and error. The specific “standards” he provides relate directly to the heresy that was growing in their generation.
Reminder: Gnosticism said that Jesus could
not be the divine Son of God, because of his humanity – living in the fleshly,
material world.
So, in their day and time, the way they could discern truth from error was to pay attention to what the teacher said about Jesus. If the teacher/prophet/spirit proclaimed that Jesus Christ (the Anointed One/Messiah) was come in the flesh, then they were of the truth and of God. If the teacher/ prophet/ spirit proclaimed that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh, then they were not of God and in fact, were the spirit of anti-Christ.
(William Barclay, p.93) St. Augustine said that in all the pagan
philosophers he could find parallels for everything in the NT except for one
saying – “The Word became flesh.”
He also affirms that this spirit of anti-Christ was already present in the world at that time, in his day. There has always been a spirit of anti-Christ in the world.
The Apostle Paul has similar words in his letter to the Corinthians.
1 Cor. 12:3 (NKJV) Therefore
I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus
accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
IV. Spiritual
identity facilitates discernment. (vv. 4-6)
1 John 4:4-6 (NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have
overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world,
and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God
hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
People who are true children of God have a different viewpoint of truth than the children of the world because they have a different spirit inside them – the Holy Spirit. Children of the world and children of God speak what they know by whom they follow. The children of God speak God’s Word and God’s truth. Children of the world speak whatever the world knows, and whatever the world approves of.
Gnosticism was undoubtedly viewed as the latest, most brilliant thinking of the day. It was contemporary and novel and exciting. But, John reminds them that, as children of God, they are different from the world. They have a different, higher source of knowledge and truth. Because they are children of God, they have overcome the world because the power of God in them is far greater than the power of evil in the world.
My, how we desperately need to catch a new
vision of this truth! May the Lord help us to realize our “birthright” and our
inner source of power, so we not only can survive in days of opposition, but we
can thrive and overcome them!
Conclusion:
We have been trying to describe how important it is for believers to exercise spiritual or godly discernment in our everyday lives. I have said many times that discernment is a gift of the spirit which some people have received a greater amount of than others. But discernment is also a skill that is developed with use.
We need God’s help to teach us His Word and His nature so thoroughly that we will not be deceived and led astray by the winds of false teaching and error. We truly need Him to open our spiritual eyes.
Closing Song: Open My Eyes That I May See
