WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:09.679 Alright, so 1 John chapter 4, we started this month here at Redeemer with Scotty Smith, who was here, which is like Russ's mentor. 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.800 And then Russ came back and he was hitting 1 John. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:18.160 And like I said, now we're at the end of the month, and we've just completely gone to the bottom of the barrel. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:23.519 And they got all of these wonderful verses about love and great things. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:25.280 And then they said, Brad, how would you like to preach? 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:26.320 And I go, Yeah, that'd be great. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:27.120 And they go, Great. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.600 Here's your verses on the Antichrist. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:32.880 You know, which is just awesome. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:36.320 It just makes you, it gives you this warm, fuzzy feeling, doesn't it? 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:40.320 You know, to talk about spirits and evil people and antichrist. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:41.520 I mean, it's just great, man. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:42.399 It's just awesome. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:49.920 But I gotta be real honest with you, I kind of like it because I'm a tester by nature, okay? 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.719 I don't know about you, but I I am a tester. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:55.600 I married a non-tester, okay? 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.000 Mandy is uh uh allergic to testing things. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:07.120 I have to test everything uh to understand whether it is good or bad, in my personal opinion. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:14.159 I'll give you uh just a couple of examples, you know, like um one of which is Scott Antique Market. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.560 Um maybe you go there, maybe you sell things there. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.239 If you do, I hey, no offense. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:25.200 However, um it ought to be called Scott Thrift Store, is what it ought to be called. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:28.079 There ain't no antiques down there, I'll tell you that right now. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:32.799 Because let me just tell you, last time we went down there, I we were looking, okay. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:38.560 Listen, we're looking at literally, I need you to get this picture in your in your head, a window frame. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.200 Wooden window frame, it's about this big. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.519 And it's some, I don't know what you do with it. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:44.239 I have no idea. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:45.359 It doesn't have any glass in it. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:46.000 What good is it? 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:50.159 You know, it's a you're supposed to hang it on the wall and make a decoration out of it, or something like that. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:51.200 And I'm like, yes, great. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:52.239 Mandy has this idea. 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:56.799 So I look at this lady and I'm like, how much for this wooden window frame? 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:20.960 And she goes, Well, and she begins in on this story of how this window came from a villa in the south of France, and King Louis VIII stayed there one day and opened this window, and uh it was uh, you know, marked priceless by uh, you know, England. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:24.479 I'm like, I'm sitting here listening to this story, and I'm going, what? 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.240 Mandy's going, ooh. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.520 She's looking at me like, that's amazing. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:44.879 I'm like, lady, you dumpster dove that thing out from behind a quick trip, you put it in your station wagon, drove it down here, and you're asking$300 for the thing, you know? 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.479 Like, I mean, don't don't mess with me. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:49.039 Come on. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:50.080 You know, I know better than that. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:03:00.960 We were looking when when we were getting ready to have our third child, we were uh at one of the these uh baby stores that I didn't have any business being in, and they they were showing us there were these blankets. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.759 These are blankets for babies, okay? 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:16.159 I don't know how you improve on a blanket, but this lady, we we walk up and I'm like, look at look at the wonderful blankets, you know, like for children. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.280 They look like any other blanket in our house, you know? 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:36.240 And the lady's like, Well, these blankets, they were hand-suned by, you know, Chilean monks who took a vow of silence, and they're soaked overnight in unicorn tears. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:43.039 And I'm just sitting there, like, just taking all this in, and of course, Mandy's like, that's the one. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:50.000 Like, that is cotton made in Bangladesh, if I've ever seen it, you know? 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.479 Like, you don't try me. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:54.879 I will test you on all of these things. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.439 Your story, I'm going to test your story. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:02.479 And so when I read this passage of scripture, it kind of validates my testing. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:02.960 You see? 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:03.759 Like, I use this. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:07.680 Here's the only problem is that John is talking about very serious things. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:20.959 He's talking about very serious stuff going on, and he's not warning believers, but what he's doing is he's reminding believers of some dangerous stuff that's going on because he's talking to believers, and look in verse 1 of chapter 4. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:31.439 Here's what he says: He says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:36.639 Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:43.600 And so the question that I have when I read that first verse is this it's gone out from where? 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:46.319 Where have they gone out from? 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.519 Why all of a sudden are we worried about these evil spirits? 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.279 Here's why John is worried in this passage of scripture. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.360 Because the people that are doing the false teaching, do you know where they came from? 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.879 The church. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.160 They were coming out of the church. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:12.240 The reason he's warning believers in the very first verse of this thing is because they are literally getting 99% of the truth. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:19.040 The problem is the last 1% that they don't get. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:23.120 Because something that is 99% true is still what? 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.120 100% lie, right? 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:27.600 That's just the way it goes. 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:44.639 And what John is doing is he's reminding believers hey, don't forget when he says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.399 Why would he warn believers of this? 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:52.560 Because it looks just like you and I doing the false teaching. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.040 There's no way to distinguish between the two. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:56.639 So he gets serious about this. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:57.759 And let me tell you something. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:05:59.839 We still have to be serious about this. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.199 You realize that, don't you? 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.360 Now I'll give you a prime example. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:07.680 Uh stay up tonight till about 11 o'clock. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:14.560 And then go to that channel on your television that shows all the TV preachers at night and listen to one of them. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:19.279 And there's gonna be some stuff that you hear, and you're gonna go, I don't see anything wrong with that. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:25.279 And if you listen just long enough, here's what you're gonna hear: something crazy. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:33.360 And I made a mistake one time of, let's just say, putting my foot in my mouth. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:35.519 I know you find that hard to believe. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:37.519 I know you're shocked by that. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:43.759 I was preaching at this church and this lady came up to me afterwards and her husband, and her husband goes, Do you ever listen? 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:47.120 I'm not gonna say the guy's name, do you ever listen to so-and-so? 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.720 And he named this big TV preacher. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.079 I I mean, I didn't even think. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.360 Like I my brain at this point was turned off. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:01.040 I not even a thought about what's coming out of my mouth. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:04.560 And I said, Good Lord, no, I don't listen to that moron. 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:16.639 And is you ever seen words come out of your mouth that you wish you could just like catch before they got somewhere and put them back in? 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.959 And I was like, that's bad. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:20.079 That's bad. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:25.839 Like, I I could just tell by their foot, their eyes, you know, at this point were a little large. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.360 And I'm like, and I said, Did I say moron? 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.600 And by this point, they were they were done with me. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.000 Um I said, I said, I don't, I said, I don't mean to be that way. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.279 I said, he goes, well, let me ask you this, what's your problem with this guy? 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:49.519 Well, this particular guy he was talking about doesn't believe that Jesus actually died on the cross. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:53.439 I have a major issue with that. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:54.560 Does that make sense? 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:05.680 Like, I have a major issue that you have a what you call a church and that you are a preacher, but you don't believe that Jesus died on the cross. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.160 I'm trying, I'm I'm struggling with the disconnect there. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:08.959 You see what I mean? 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:10.560 Like that's that's tough for me. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:12.160 So these things just came out. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:21.279 And it's not that it's not that I knew any better, it's just that one of the things that I had done before I met these lovely people at this wonderful church that I was preaching at, I had heard this guy. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.519 And I tested it by a very simple test that John lays out in the next two verses. 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.720 And if we look at verse two and three, look at what John says. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:33.600 He says, By this you know the Spirit of God. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:42.639 Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:48.559 And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:58.639 This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming and is already in the world. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:07.039 Do you understand that what John is doing here is he's not laying out this huge, sometimes we kind of get this big view of the Bible, right? 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:12.000 To where I can't tell you how many times people look at me and go, I don't really read the Bible because uh, you know, it's just too much, man. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.320 It's too much to comprehend, it's too much to take in. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.960 I get that, it's a lot, but here's the beauty of it. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:27.360 In a lot of places in the Bible, in a lot of places in gospel accounts, a lot of places like John and John's epistles, here's what's so great about it is that there's some very simple steps laid out for us. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:37.120 John doesn't come in right here and lay out a 50-point test theologically to look through everybody that comes along and says that they love Jesus. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:38.480 That's not what John's doing here. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:47.360 There's not this huge long laundry list of things where he goes, here's every single point that every single teacher has to hit in order for you to believe them. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:49.039 That's not what he lays out right here. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.120 What he does is he lays out one quick, simple test. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.000 Good, bad, here's how it goes. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.200 And this is what he says. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:59.519 By this you know the Spirit of God. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:06.159 Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:11.679 Now, the other quote, the second question I have is this why would he throw in the words in the flesh? 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:12.799 Right there. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.159 In the flesh. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:17.200 Why would you throw that into this passage of scripture? 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.919 Back to that 99% truth, right? 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.279 What had happened at this point in the church, this is crazy. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.039 I want you to wrap your mind around this. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.840 At this point in the church, here's what's going on. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:43.440 Outside influences from the world and from philosophy, and all of these things are coming into the church, and what they're doing is they're mixing 99% of the gospel with 1% of the world's belief in order to try to blend themselves in with the world. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:46.720 Does that sound familiar to anybody? 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:49.440 It happens every day. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:51.919 If it doesn't sound familiar, it happens every day. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:06.960 We like to take the portions of God's word that we like, the good stuff, like I mentioned earlier about love and all of these things and grace and peace and all of that stuff, and we like to take all of those things and we go, look, look at this beautiful picture. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:14.960 And then we get into this stuff about Antichrist and spirits and all this stuff, and we go, uh let's leave that, let's leave that part out. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.399 Let's go back to the good stuff. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.240 Go back to the good stuff. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:24.320 John is literally, he's reminding these Christians that here's what's going on, man. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.879 You're gonna get 99% of the truth. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:33.759 But in order for you to know, everyone that you need to know that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.840 Because what you were getting was a worldly view of Gnosticism going on right here. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:39.039 And here's what that said. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:47.039 That said that Jesus Christ could have never taken on actual flesh to take on our sins as mankind. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.320 He would have never done that. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.360 He stayed spirit the entire time that he was on earth. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.120 That doesn't sound like a big deal, right? 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.480 You may hear that on TV and go, yeah, okay, whatever. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:57.840 That's a big deal. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.679 And here's why it's a big deal. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:02.720 Because it's essential to the gospel that we believe. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:14.240 The gospel that we believe says that Christ was not only fully God, but he was fully man, and the reason was because he had a job to do to take on our sin on the cross. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:19.519 In order to do that, he had to be fully human and also fully God. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:31.600 I know that's crazy, I know it sounds crazy, but listen, when you mix it with 99% of the truth, and you say, well, maybe he was just spirit and never took on that flesh. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:32.799 And guess what? 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:37.600 All of a sudden you're into a pretty big-time heresy right there. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:46.399 Because that means that all the work that Christ did was for nothing. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.799 That one little twisting of the tree. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:13:00.720 So when John looks and says, if they confess that Jesus Christ in verse 2 has come in the flesh. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.960 This is from God. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:05.759 He turns around and lays out the opposite. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:10.480 He says, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:18.159 This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you've already heard that is coming and is now already in the world. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:19.919 This is John circling back. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.320 This is his classic way of doing things. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.639 He liked to circle back over points that he already made. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:28.080 The whole Antichrist thing and all of the stuff saying you already know this. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:32.799 The reason they already know it, because he already wrote about it in the first couple of chapters of 1 John. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.000 He's circling back to what he's already told him. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:37.840 We do this all the time, right? 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:38.799 I do it. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:40.320 It's real simple. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.679 I, in my mind right now, have a running list of good and bad. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.440 You probably do too, right? 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:49.600 I mean, for me, um, Home Depot, good. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:51.519 Lowe's, bad. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:52.720 Yeah? 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.480 Um I'm sure I could come up with some others. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:01.200 You know, like in Mandy's case, there's a there's there's Chick-fil-A is good, right? 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:02.799 Until you forget the salad dressing. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.240 Chick-fil-A, bad. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:06.960 You see what I mean? 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:10.000 Like, we keep this running list of very simple things. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:11.440 It doesn't take much, right? 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.000 It only takes a little bit for us to determine something good or bad. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.879 And even the things that we that we know were good. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:27.120 When we when we get into a situation and all of a sudden that situation changes our view of that thing, it turns into bad really quick, right? 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.159 So, what John's doing is he's going, hey man, this is happening fast. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.960 This is a reminder because of what's going on so quickly. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:47.600 And the quickest thing that's happening is these outside influences coming into the church and then going back out the door, and what they're doing is they're taking some of these good parts, but they're mixing it with some of the worldly parts, and all of a sudden, when those two worlds collide, people find it appealing. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:51.840 But the problem is that it's bad. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:57.759 Because it's not the truth, it's not the truth. 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:02.720 What he's doing here is he's laying out a real simple good and bad. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:10.639 Not a 50-point checklist of theology that you have to have 10 degrees to figure out. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.720 Do they confess Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, or do they not? 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.519 Because if they don't, we got a big time issue. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.519 But see, then the next verse, it really, it really gets us. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:27.360 Look at verse, look at verse 4. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:37.440 It says, You are from God, little children, and have overcome them. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:47.039 Because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.200 This is the verse, right? 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:56.159 This is the verse right here that we, you know, if if you're old school like I, you want to cross-stitch this, don't you? 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:57.519 On a pillow. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.240 Put it on your couch. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.279 So when everybody comes in, you can go. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:06.559 Look at this beautiful cross-stitch. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.080 I forgot, I don't even know how to cross-stitch. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:09.600 I don't even know where I just came up with that. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.159 But that's what this that's what we do with this, right? 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.159 We like to we like to take this one out of context and go, greater, see who's in you. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.279 Yeah, I mean, we love to throw that out. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:22.320 We love to pull that that portion of this out. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.799 Now, don't worry about that antichrist part up there at the beginning. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.200 Let's just let's take this good part right here and let's see this. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.279 Let me let me just help you out. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:33.759 I just I'm just gonna be real with you on this point and in all seriousness. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:41.200 So, uh, let's see, five months ago, I go with my mom. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:43.679 I was raised by a single mother. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:50.720 I go with my mom to the doctor, and I watch a doctor look at her and say it's cancer and it's bad. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.679 And let me just let me help you out here. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.240 Because I'm the one standing behind the desk today, right? 00:16:58.399 --> 00:16:58.799 This is me. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:02.320 Got my Bible, got my notes, I'm the one standing here. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.400 That means I've got it all together, right? 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:12.880 When that doctor looks at my mom and says that, says those words, can I tell you what my first thought was not? 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.759 It was not, well, greater is he? 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:20.000 No. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.440 My first thought was, what have you done and why? 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.839 You see how quick that happened? 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.960 You see how fast that went down? 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.519 The greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.200 Do you understand what the world, what the word world means? 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.240 Do you understand how broad of a spectrum that is? 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:48.160 Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:55.200 Compile every single thing that you can think of in the world, and greater is he who is in you. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.359 The Jesus Christ, the true Christ, fully God and fully man, who bled and died on the cross for us. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.599 Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:12.240 But when a doctor looks at your mama and says, It's cancer and it's bad, he don't seem so great then. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:24.079 And you have to be reminded over and over and over and over again. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:42.480 And no matter what that outcome is, no matter what it looks like, no matter how it comes off, that stuff greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:44.480 And in that moment, you don't remember that. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:55.920 And in the moment right here in this passage of scripture, do you know why John had to slip this incredible verse that you want to cross stitch on a pillow into the middle of this crazy insane passage? 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:57.759 Do you want to know why he had to do that? 00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:58.640 It's real simple. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:05.119 It's because that right there is the most easily forgotten thing in all of Christianity. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.839 How great God is. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.680 You'll forget that in a second. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:24.480 When they look at you and say it's cancer, or when they look at you and say something's happened, or when they look at you and say, it's bad. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:33.759 And over and over and over again, as believers, we have to have that reminder. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:58.640 And John slips it into this passage right here because even in the amongst the talks of spirits and testing and antichrist and all of these things, the one thing that he doesn't want believers to forget is greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.279 Look at verse 5 and 6. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:03.039 It says, They are from the world. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.960 Therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:12.240 We are from God. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.279 He who knows God listens to us. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:20.319 He who is not from God does not listen to us. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:26.400 By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.160 That can come off a little harsh sometimes. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:44.640 That can come off as when you read that, John really kind of drawing a line in the saying, this kind of fork in the road of here's who's good and here's who's bad, and especially when you get into like verse 6, where he says, We are from God. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.480 He who knows God listens to us. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:54.240 It kind of kind of gives you this idea that he's being very um, you know, exclusive, right? 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:58.559 That he's going, now, now don't forget, uh, I'm right. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:02.720 But see, that's the problem, is right there, okay? 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:12.240 Just in that simple mindset of what we just did right there, if you read that verse and your first thought was, well, that's, I mean, we, we are right. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:13.920 Listen to us. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.440 You, you know. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:17.519 If you listen to us, you know God. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.119 If you don't listen to us, you know. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:26.480 If it comes off as that in Scripture, then what has happened to us that read it that way, you know what that is? 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.440 It's kind of that world's view, right? 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:32.960 Of coming in and mixing it up with Scripture a little bit. 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:37.839 What John's doing here is he's not going, we as in, we're the only ones that are correct. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:39.839 Well, I'm the only one that you need to listen to. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.079 It's not, as a matter of fact, that can be super dangerous when you have somebody that does that. 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:54.240 What John is saying is when he uses we and us and those uh those those terms to describe what's going on here, what he's saying is true believers. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:22:02.799 We, us as believers, those who know that Jesus Christ came in the Flesh, who know what he did on the cross for us. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:23.119 We, he's not saying just me or just my apostles, or just we, the believers that are out in this world, the believers that know the full gospel of Jesus Christ and understand how great he is and the great things that he did for us and how he fully came to this earth in flesh and took on our sins. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.319 He's saying, listen to us, to those that believe. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.720 He says, We are from God in verse 6. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.559 He who knows God listens to us. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.079 He who is not from God does not listen to us. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:45.440 By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:50.240 This entire passage is a fork in the road. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:53.039 The whole thing is a fork in the road. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.960 He's going, here's the quick test for good and bad. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.359 Here's the quick test for right and wrong. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:05.279 And in the world that we live in today, I understand, believe me, I told you, come back next week and I promise it'll all be right with the world. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:08.319 If you have a Bible, I can prove to you it's gonna be right with the world. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:13.519 Because the very next passage, you know, you want to know what the the title is above the next passage? 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:14.960 God is love. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:19.599 Please come back next week. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.200 It's gonna be awesome. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:24.559 You won't hear a thing about the Antichrist. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:31.359 You won't hear a thing about evil spirits, you won't hear a thing about right and wrong because those are things that we don't enjoy talking about, right? 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:32.880 We don't like it. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:34.000 It's not fun. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:37.200 As a matter of fact, our world tells us don't do it. 00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:43.759 Just don't do it, just stay somewhere in the middle and just kind of stick it out. 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:53.920 But what John's doing is completely contrary, and he's not warning believers, he's reminding believers. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:04.880 And the reminder is 99% truth is still 100% a lie. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:23.200 He's reminding believers that this quick test of knowing Christ and knowing that he took on flesh and took on our sins on the cross, that is what determines right and wrong. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.079 Don't make it about anything else. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.119 So, what does this mean for us today? 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.160 Why did I get stuck with this? 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:42.480 What's the point of even having to crack open the Bible and try to figure this thing out? 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:54.240 It's because do you see the similarities between what's going on there and what's going on right here, right now? 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.119 It's the same. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.200 It's the exact same. 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:12.960 The same false teachers come out of the same church, they come out of the same belief that they are right and you are wrong, and all of these worlds collapse on top of each other, and there's even other religions that come out and go, we believe the same thing that you believe. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:19.440 And and then they come out and tell you, well, all of you know, we're all just in the same boat, it's not a big deal, all that blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:20.799 Do you understand what's going on? 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:26.960 It's the very same thing today that John dealt with when he wrote this passage of scripture. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:32.640 And he says, By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:51.839 Brothers and sisters, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error is determined by one thing, and that is Jesus Christ taking on flesh and dying on the cross for my sins and for your sins and for the sins of all mankind. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.640 Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.000 Lord, thanks for today. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:09.279 I don't know that uh I don't know that I can I can do this passage any justice. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.519 I don't know that I can teach anybody anything on it. 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:20.480 I know that you put it in my hands to preach for some reason, and I just pray that it landed the way it was supposed to land. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:28.079 Lord, as we continue to worship you this morning, continue through having communion, I just pray that you'd be exalted in this place. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.920 And that all that we do would bring you glory and honor. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:33.759 First, in Jesus' name. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:34.559 Amen.