Truth Vs Lie

Sermon from Bro Ryan Edwards

Sunday, January 26th, 2025

Our Heavenly Father. We are in need of you, Lord. Every breath we take, we take in you. Because every breath we take comes from you. You sustain our lives. Every breath. Paul says, every breath is from the Lord. And so we acknowledge you as Creator. We acknowledge you as Savior. Father, we ask that you would open our eyes and ears to your word, that you would teach and preach your word in the power of the Holy Spirit through me. That I would just be a vessel or that you would teach, that we would discern spiritual truths and that we would apply him to our lives, that we would grow to become more like Christ. We ask these things in his name. Amen.

So this morning, I want to jump immediately into our text, and I think you will quickly see why. All right, we are jumping back into First John. First John, chapter four. He says, beloved, we do not believe. Excuse me. Beloved, do not believe every spirit. It's a command. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. All right, there. We need to stop. Because one of the fastest ways to clear a room of Baptists is to start talking about spirits. And I don't mean the liquor kind, although that would clear a room, too. Not because people are afraid of it, because they don't want everyone to know what they do. Don't leave, okay? Don't leave. This is biblical. Right here in Scripture, we read spirit and spirits. All right? We need to unpack these truths. And if it makes you uncomfortable, then you need to be made uncomfortable. All right?

I think it's ridiculous. People think when they come to the Bible that it should just always be comforting to them. That is not why God gave us His Word. He gave us His Word because it is truth and we need truth. And that truth will make us feel uncomfortable. But if we receive it, if we accept it, if we believe it, then we will be more in line with reality and we will become more like Christ and we will shine brighter for his glory. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. So we come right out of the gate this morning, making us uncomfortable with some strange and veiled Truths. What is he talking about with these spirits? False prophets. Before we answer those questions, we need to be reminded of a couple of things.

First, we live in a spiritual world just as much as we live in a physical one. We live in a spiritual world just as much as we live in a physical one. We are spiritual beings. That means that we are spirits, not just that we have spirits, right? We are spirits just as much as we are bodies. All right, we are, in fact, I would actually say more so because this body is going to pass away, right? But my spirit and Christ is going to live on. So in one sense, you are more a spirit than you are a body. Have you ever thought about that? That is how real the spiritual realm is. According to Scripture, in our world, there are animals who have bodies but no spirits. In the universe, there are spiritual beings, angels, God, demons, that they have spirits. They're spiritual beings, but they don't have bodies. We are unique and that God made us both physical and spiritual. We have spirits and we have bodies. We are spirits housed in bodies for this earthly life. I think it was CS Lewis who said something to the effect of the greatest and most convincing lie that Satan has ever told is the one that he doesn't exist. If he can convince us that these things aren't real, he's one. If the enemy can convince you they're not the enemy, it's game over. They are among us. Spirits are real. They do affect us. We are influenced by them. And so John gives us a warning. And it's not just John. I could go all over Scripture. Jude, Jesus, Paul, Peter, Moses, prophets. All over Scripture there are warnings. Be careful. There are false prophets. There are evil spirits that are out and they want to deceive you. They want to destroy you. Isn't that what the work of the devil is? He came to steal, kill and destroy. And Jesus came that we may have life. He gives us the truth that we can have life. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. We need God's word more than we need anything else. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So John has shown us the spiritual reality or the spiritual conflict that we are involved in. Throughout his book already. First he showed us love and contrast to hate. They come from spiritual realities.

In First John 2, 9 it says, Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Those are spiritual categories, spiritual realms. Light and darkness are spiritual kingdoms. Essentially, whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him. Love and hate are spiritual realities. They represent truths. They represent what spiritual condition you are in. In First John 3:14, John writes, We know that we have passed out of death into life. These are spiritual categories again, because all the people he's talking to are alive physically, but we have passed out of death and into life. Jesus says, if you believe in me, you will pass out of death into life. Whoever does not love abides in death. Light, love and life come from God and are the result of God working in a person's life, causing them to be born again, while darkness, hate and death are all aspects of living apart from God. That's only the first contrast, spiritual contrast, we see in the book of John so far. First John second is the truth versus lies. These are also representations of spiritual categories. First John 2:21 22, he says, I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie is of the truth. It's one of those statements. It's like, why does he even need to say this? This is obvious, John. He says, who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. First John 2:27, a few verses later, says, but as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it's taught, you abide in him. So we see here truth and lies, they're in opposition to one another. They are contrary, they are exclusive. You can't have a truth if it's tainted with a lie. We live in a world of truths and falsehoods. God is the God of truth. The Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The reason if you are a Christian, you became a Christian, is because you believe the truth about Jesus. The devil is the father of lies. He's been lying from the beginning. His native tongue is lies. Even if he says a bunch of true things, he'll sneak in a lie and corrupt it all as a hook to get you to believe it. So you have love and hate, you have truth and lies, and finally you have the children of God and the children of the devil. In First John 3:10, he writes, but by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. You see, the Connection there between love and righteous. Loving someone and practicing righteousness co together. But we see that there are only two spiritual families that make up the human race. Those who do not practice righteousness reveal themselves as children of the devil. Those who do not love as God defined love, not as the world defined love as God defines love. Those who love and practice righteousness show themselves to be children of God. They are the ones who believe the truth of God and follow God. Everyone else, whether they know it or not, are following the ways of the devil. Those are the only two options. We see these things come together. John kind of sums them up at the end of First John, chapter three, right before don't believe every spirit, but test them. In chapter three, verse 23 and 24, we read this. And this is his commandment. Whose commandment? Jesus commandment that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he is commanded. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us. That is the first time in this letter where the Holy Spirit is brought up explicitly. So what's the connection here?

The Spirit produces these things in us. See, we view this as two commands. Believe in Jesus Christ and love one another. But there's not two commands. That is one command. If you believe Jesus is the Christ you will love. And the Spirit brings these things about in our lives as he works on us, as he draws us to Christ. We believe in Christ. He transforms us to be people of God, children of God. And then the fruit of the Spirit is what? Love. You see, it is the Spirit that produces the love in us. It's not just something we can muster up. Well, sure, I can love someone for a while. I can really like a lot of things about my wife. And as wonderful as she is, there are times where I need the Spirit to help me love her and vice versa. Right? You've been married for longer than five seconds, you know that. So with this word spirit in verse 24, he transitions from our obedience of loving and believing to the spiritual world at large and the dangers that exist in it. I've mentioned before how John is kind of circular. He's kind of like a flock of ducks or geese that kind of circle around before he actually lands. And so a lot of these themes in verses one through four, we've heard before and I've gone over before, but you need to remember who John is talking to. This is a Church. This is a group of people who have been just raked over the coals because of false teaching. And so John is saying, wake up. This is not a walk in a park. This is not a small thing that has happened to you. There are spiritual forces at work. And here's the key. Spiritual forces use people. Just as God uses us to accomplish his work in this world. We are the bride of Christ, the body of Christ. So does the enemy use people to accomplish its purposes. So look out. We should not take false teaching lightly. The battle for human souls is fought in the minds of people. The battle for human souls is a battle of ideas, the battle of thought. It's a battle between truth and lies. The greatest weapon the enemy possesses is the lie. It takes control of how you think about a certain thing, and it corrupts it. And then you act upon it. And now you're not acting in the truth. In reality, you're going a different way, and it will destroy your life. It's easy to see that in things like the LGBTQ community and transition, obviously.

I saw a documentary recently, and one of the statements is, thank you. Okay. I saw a documentary recently, and one of the statements that was made that stuck out to me was this young man who believed that he really was a girl. He said, I thought that if I changed myself on the outside, that would correct what was wrong. On the inside, I was wrong. But there's a lie that was going around, and everyone in this room, I have no doubt, can see it plain as day. But there are things that we miss. There are things more subtle. And John warns us, don't believe every spirit, but test them. Test them to see if they really are of God. So the question arises, well, how am I to test them? But before he gives us that test, he tells us why we should not believe every spirit. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. So I see two commands here. Don't believe every spirit and test the spirits. Don't believe every spirit. Did you know that there is a spirit, a spiritual reality, behind everything you say? It's either true or it's false. And those are spiritual categories. Every word that comes out of your mouth has a spiritual component to it. Every word you say either lines up with the reality of God as God created it, or it lines up with the lies of the enemy. It goes against how God created things. And you can know the spirit behind words by testing them. John doesn't want Christians believing anything. When you believe anything, it's not long before you'll believe Everything. You have to be wise. You have to discern the truth. Truth gets smothered by all kinds of falsehoods. And that's exactly what the forces of the enemy want. Here's truth. Well, I'll just sprinkle a little falsehood in here and it'll corrupt it, it'll smother it, it'll cover it up where people walk right over it and they don't realize they're leaving the truth behind. They want us so confused that we can't identify the truth from lies. We are at a point in our Christian culture where we are no longer content with the gospel. We're no longer content with the truth of Jesus. We now want to go and turn this into kind of like a puzzle that needs to be put together. It's like there are a bunch of these secret codes embedded in scripture. And so we just need to find out the right key and put it in there so we can find out these secret truths. Be very, very careful if that is how you view the Bible. The devil can take this and do a bunch of miraculous things with it. You realize he used it. He quoted it to Jesus to tempt Jesus. He knows this better than you do. He knows it better than I do, and he knows how to use it against you. We constantly think we need something new, that we need something fresh. There are plenty of evil spirits out there that are just chomping their bits to give you something new and fresh. But new and fresh can take you away from the face of Jesus Christ. So don't take the bait. Believe me, there is nothing new under the sun. We stand on the shoulders of 2000 years of church history. I will almost guarantee to you that if the Holy Spirit has not revealed it to his church in 2000 years, it's probably not true. But the problem is, is we don't know our church history.

We don't know some of the lies that come up in our culture have actually been dealt with by men who lived 500 years ago, 1200 years ago, 1500 years ago. We have no idea because we don't know. John tells us how to test the spirits in the following verses. Look at the reason, though, why we are instructed to not believe everything we're taught. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Many. It's not just a couple. There's, you know, there's one over on the east coast, there's one on the west coast, or maybe one in Asia, one in Africa, one in Europe. No, many, many false prophets are out there. So what is a false prophet? A false prophet is someone who claims to speak God's truth but doesn't. That's what a false prophet is. Now, there's different levels. For instance, someone could say, I disagree with you on this, so you're a false prophet. Not the same thing as what John's talking about here. I can be wrong. In fact, I guarantee you I am wrong. There are many things that I believe that I've changed my mind on before, which means I was wrong then or I'm wrong now, or maybe both. I still don't have it right. That's not the kind of false prophets John is talking about. It is okay to have a difference of opinion on things. The kind of false prophet John is talking about is those who have left the truth of Jesus and are seeking to deceive you. John says they've gone out into the world. So remember the different instances of world, how the word world is used. There's a couple different options for here. He does not mean that these are just people who are roaming across the globe. What he means is that these are individuals who have gone out into the system of the world. The system, traditions and values of the world that stand against God's truth, God's way, and God's will. Will. So it is vital that we test the spirit behind a teacher before we believe their word. Because there are false prophets who have gone out into the world, meaning they've left the church and they've gone out into the system of how people who don't follow God think. Christians must exercise wisdom, discernment. We have to avoid two extremes.

The first extreme is superstition, which just believes everything. It believes anything. But the other extreme is where we don't believe anything. We get so suspicious of everything that we actually quench the spirit from speaking to us something new that we've not heard before. Be careful of that. You have to test the spirits. Not only are these false teachers in the world. I want you to look at what he says about them in verse five. He says they are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. So not only are they going out into the world, they're in the world, they're from the world. And they speak like the world. So the world listens to them. Them, that is, the world believes them. That's a mouthful. The world recognizes its own people and listens to their message, which originates in their own ideas and reflects their own perspective. False teachers go to their own because Their own listened to them. That's what we all do, right? Very few of us actually want to be challenged and listen to people who disagree with us. Makes us uncomfortable. It's true for false prophets too. They go to where people will listen and follow. So here's actually a test. You can know a false prophet by who's following them. While it's not the ultimate test, it is a test. It's something we should keep in mind when we come across new teaching. It doesn't completely exclude, it doesn't mean it's all false. But it means that we should take it with a grain of salt, with discernment and wisdom, measure it up to God's word. The danger that I'm feeling right now in preaching and teaching this is that that what you can do with this message is you can think that there's all these dangers out there. And so I'm just going to build my defenses up and I'm not going to listen to anybody except for these couple people that I like. You're going to create your own echo chamber. In other words, the spirit is the spirit of truth. And believe you and me, there's more truth out there than what we currently know. So don't build up those defenses so high that nothing can come in but test the spirits. In case you haven't noticed, I am not talking about politics. I thought I better make that explicit this morning because it's easy to think about this and automatically go to the political chaos and polarization that's going on in our culture. John is. That's so far from John's thought right now, it's not even funny. Like, these people never voted before in their lives. They have no say over who rules over them. Politics is the last thing on their mind when it comes to false teachers and false prophets.

The church of Jesus Christ is not made up of a right and left. The church of Jesus Christ is not built upon people who sign a dotted line on a political party. The church of Jesus Christ is built upon the truth of Jesus. There are truths and there are lies. There are those who believe the truth and those who have been deceived into believing lies. That is it. Those who follow Jesus, those who are seeking to abide in him, and those who still need to receive him as their Savior. Savior. But let me get to the main test. The main test is this. What do you think of Jesus? Who do you say Jesus is? Verse 2. By this you will know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God. Now I to pause there, because what we do when we read the Word, the phrase Jesus Christ, we don't think about what is being said. So a better way to word this might be. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus is the Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Because Jesus Christ isn't just this first and last name. Christ is a title. Christ is a position. Christ is something he accomplished. He is the Messiah and the Savior. So every spirit who doesn't acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah who has come in the flesh is not of God. Don't listen to them. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is already in the world. We've covered a lot of the Antichrist talk before, so I will not go into it now.

The test is, who do you say Jesus is? That's all it boils down to. You know that. That means there's a lot of room for disagreement, isn't there? There's a lot of teaching in the Christian church that is not explicitly who Jesus is and his incarnation. That means all of that. All of that is open discussion. Everything from baptism, creation, end times, predestination, free will, all of it. Don't ever call someone a false teacher because they disagree with you on those subjects. If they believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah come in the flesh, they are of God. But I see a little bit of a problem. What does it mean to confess? If I get a parrot up here and teach it, to repeat the phrase Jesus is the Christ, is that parrot now saved? That's ridiculous. How many times have you said, sorry, but you didn't mean it? I will be sorry, probably later, but I'm not right now. I'm going to say it anyway right now to get this over with and I'll just move on and it'll just kind of fade in the background. I mean, come on, if you're married for longer than a day, you know what that's like. Like Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day, many will come to me and they'll say, lord, Lord, did we not do this or that? Did we not prophesy? Did we not do miracles? I mean. I mean, we say, well, I went to church. These people are prophesying and doing miracles. In the name of Jesus. And they're not Christians. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. What does it mean to confess?

Confession is more than just mere words. Confession implies heartfelt conviction that leads to action. The type of confession that cleanses us from sin is more than just an admission of guilt. In First John, chapter 1:9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So can a man who is about to be put to death for heinous crimes the second before he's injected. Say, I believe Jesus is Lord. Is that a confession? Ultimately, that's for God to decide. But I would venture to say it's likely not. Because confession implies conviction that will bring about action. True belief leads to renewal and life change. It's not just speaking words to get you out of a problem. It's not just saying words because you think that's what somebody wants to hear. A confession is something that is true. And the way you know it is true is because there is a life, a heart to back it up. So Jesus continues with. Excuse me, John continues with his readers. Let me. Let me pause just a second. I want to reiterate the test then. The test is confession that Jesus is the Christ. That is the ultimate test. So John is teaching his readers who've been ravaged by false teachers and false prophets. And they've come in and they've shifted them like we. And I mean, the church is scattered and what are we to do? So John's letter to them is, say I write so that you may know. I write because you do know the truth, and I want you to be affirmed in the truth. And so constantly, John. John will. Makes a huge warning like, don't believe everything you hear. Test the spirits with a phrase like this. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. I mean, if. If that's man, you are scared. Yet there are dangers out there. Be careful. Don't believe everything. Test the spirits. Be careful. But know this. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Those false prophets have nothing on the Holy Spirit. This, this sentence is. Is structured in such a way where the you is. Is huge emphasis. So it would be like you are from God and have overcome them. Little children. It's so powerful how John takes his warning and pairs it with such tenderness for his hearers. You you are not of them. You are of God. Yes, you. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, who is the righteous One who takes away the sins of the world, who is the propitiation for the world. Yes, you then are of God. So don't be afraid. He who is in you is greater than he who. Who is in the world. This. This phrase is probably one of the most popular from First John. If it's not the. It's in the top three. And there's so much packed in there that I'm thinking about doing a separate message next week just on that phrase. But I'll decide about that later. Depends on how long we want to spend in First John. Right. So for now, the context John plays a role. Okay, In John. In verses three through six, John's alternating between his audience and the false prophets back and forth. In verse three, John associates the false prophets with the Antichrist. That's the level of seriousness we're talking about. They are of the world. They've gone out into the world. You should not be surprised at any of this. The world follows them. Of course the world follows them. They're telling the world, the people of the world, the things that they want to hear. Those who are born of God. God show that they are of God by overcoming the falsehood of false teachers. I'm going to say that again. Those who are born of God show that they are born of God by overcoming the falsehood of false teaching. Did you catch what he said? All right. You are from God and have overcome them. This is a throwback. He says, I write these things to you in First John, chapter two, about those who are trying to deceive you. That would be the false prophets, but the anointing you received from him, that is God abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true, it is no lie. Just as it has taught you, abide in Him. Do you remember what anoint means? It means to apply like an ointment.

So God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has applied the truth to you, if you are a believer and the truth now lives in you. Because the Spirit is the Spirit of love, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom. So the way you overcome the falsehoods is by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is applying truth to your life. So there is a danger here, because if you are living your life saying no to the Holy Spirit, you are quenching him in your life. And you are making yourself more susceptible to believing lies. And that is why he says, just as it has taught you, abide in him. Christians do not overcome those who are against Christ by berating them. Christians do not overcome those who are against Christ by winning debates against them. We do not win by finding someone who's smarter than that person or more skilled in study and memorization and the facts. We overcome them because this power of the Holy Spirit resides in us. And we have to decide to follow the truth given to us by the Spirit. So he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. He's given you the truth. You believe the truth. As you live in the truth, you overcome the lies of the false prophets. But that's not all. You see, in First John 4, verse 4, he says that you are from God. And then in verse six, he says, we are from God. Who is the we? The apostles. John's talking about the apostolic witness of Christ. We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this, we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. The world listens to those who speak its own language. Yes, the world recognizes its own people and listens to their message. It originates in their own circle, their own corrupt system that is of this devil. And it reflects their perspective of ungodliness. And just as the world is eager and ready to hear the message of the world, so are those who have the Spirit ready and eager to hear the message of the Spirit. So if I had to sum all of this up, here's how I would do it. God is with you. Keep seeking the truth and submitting to the Spirit within you, and he will guard you against the lies of the enemy.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your mercy and grace that you've given to us through your word. Oh, what kind of God are you that you would give us the truth over thousands of years, kept in a form that we can have access to and read for our own? And you, in the power of your Spirit, use it and apply it to us. You anoint us with it so that we can live in the truth, so that we can be free in Christ and not captive to lies and darkness and corruption. So, Father, I pray even now that your Holy Spirit would be moving in our midst. Lord, I pray that if there are lies being believed by people in this room, you would reveal that to them, that you would gently convict them and make it evident that they are not following the truth of your word, Lord. And I pray that you would work in their hearts, that they would repent, they would change their mind, that they would cast out that lie and they would firmly place their mind. They would set their mind on Christ, on His truth. Father, I thank you that you came to set captives free. I pray that you would be at work to do that, even this morning amongst us. Amen. Going to invite you to respond to the message by praying and asking the Lord to reveal to you any falsehoods you may be believing.

You may be thinking. Well, Brother Ryan, I do believe that Jesus is the Christ and He's come in the flesh. I believe that he died for my sin. I believe he rose again. I placed my faith and trust in him. That is praise God. Thank the Spirit for working in your life to bring you to that point. Unfortunately, the enemy is more crafty than that. Because there are other falsehoods that infiltrate our minds and our hearts. Lies we believe that need to be cast down and out of our lives. God can give you the power to do that. So I encourage you to ask the Lord to reveal any falsehood you may be believing. Maybe he's impressing upon you a loved one, a friend, a family member. Pray for them. And at very least, you can be in prayer for the church. That we would be a beacon of light and hope and truth in the community of Centralia.