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In a few weeks, some of us will be headed to Brooklyn, NY to be with the Schwarz family as they minister to the Jewish people there.
As a small part of our trip, we will do some sightseeing and visit some significant places in the city.
If you are ever in New York and you venture close to Chinatown, you will soon be confronted with a myriad of people trying to get your attention.
They will try to attract you by showing off items they have for sale - watches, purses, jewelry, sunglasses, perfume - all sorts of items.
What will surprise you the most is their pricing - only in these venues are you able to purchase a Louis Vuitton purse, A Rolex watch, Ray Ban sunglasses, and some Chanel No. 5, all for about the price of dinner.
Sounds like a great prospect, right?
Its all fine and dandy, unless you actually think you are purchasing a Louis Vuitton purse, A Rolex watch, Ray Ban sunglasses, and some Chanel No. 5.
In reality, what you are probably getting is a genuine imitation, a fraud, a hoax, a rip-off, a hustle.
For almost everything genuine, there is a counterfeit.
For every reality, there is a pseudo-reality.
For every concept of truth, there are many concepts of error.
For all gold, there is fools gold.
Spiritually speaking, Christians are often faced with this dilemma when it comes to doctrine and teaching.
For just as there is a body of sound doctrine to be exegeted and taught from scripture, there are a myriad of counterfeits that seek to make their way into the church.
Consider what Paul said in .
Do you hear the warning in vs. 14?
Warning of being carried about by “every wind of doctrine.”
of “human cunning”
of “craftiness”
of “deceitful schemes.”
Because there are counterfeits to the Gospel, it should be no surprise that John gives us a similar warning here in vs. 1.
Thesis: As believers, our source of truth is God Himself.
Therefore, by God’s grace we must learn to apply scriptural discernment to test everything we see, hear, and read.
As believers, our source of truth is God Himself.
Therefore, by God’s grace we must learn to apply scriptural discernment to test everything we see, hear, and read.
Learn the Importance of Discernment
Although John does not name names or give citations of certain teachers in this epistle, we have learned from church history that the most probable enemy the church was facing during this time was that of Gnosticism.
Gnosticism comes from the Greek word “gnosis” which refers to their belief in “secret knowledge” that came from within, or the knowledge of transendence.
it arrived by way of internal intuitive means.
relies on personal, religious experience.
makes these religious experiences the test of true spirituality.
One of the most popular of their beliefs, although their heresies were many, was the belief that everything physical was inherently evil, and everything spiritual was inherently good.
Because physical+evil, their teaching ultimately had to reject the incarnation, making Jesus into an “appearance” but not an actual man.
We will see more about this next week.
But what John was tackling here was not the first time the concept of discerning truth and error had come up, but rather it was prevalent and critical in the Old Testament as well.
Consider these texts:
And also in the New Testament.
Matt
1 Thessalonians
Matthew
Matt
Lets focus in on what Paul said there for a moment.
Apparently, what is good and evil, as far as doctrine goes, is not always a clear as day and night, even to those who are obedient.
It takes discernment.
It takes, what Paul says, “wisdom.”
For a critical reminder of the importance of discernment, consider the account of the fall in .
G
Doubt
Did God actually say?
Doubt begins when we question the authority of God’s commands, revealed fully to us now i the Scriptures.
Denial
“you will not surely die”
Beyond mere doubting, once the authority of God’s Word has been questioned, it can be outright denied.
Distortion
“you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
This was the greatest distortion in human history - as we now know, fallen man surely does not know god and evil, but rather is slave to sin and cannot do good.
Discernment is vital to the Christian life.
Just as John knew his readers were under attack from the pseudo-prophets of his day, we too are under attack by the false teachers who would gladly lead the church astray in our day as well.
The Concern (Vs.
1b)
The Command (Vs.
1a)
The command here is for Christians to be careful to examine every spiritual thing they encounter.
When John says here “do not believe” or “believe not”, this could also be literally rendered “stop believing.”
Stop believing every spiritual thing you hear.
Stop believing every miracle you hear about.
Stop assuming every “Christian” has sound doctrine.
This was the command to the church then, and this command is especially timely for the church at large today.
Stop believing every book in the Christian bookstore.
Stop believing every teacher on Christian radio.
Stop believing every story that you hear about spiritual activity.
Stop assuming everyone with something to say about God or Scripture is actually speaking the truth.
There is a group mentioned by Luke in the book of Acts, called the Bereans, that received one of the greatest commendations a group of Christians could receive.
Acts
This is a great definition of Biblical discernment.
In a time where teaching is available at our fingertips in any given moment, there is a sense in which we have become desensitized to false teachers.
Maybe they’re not so bad, they seem really genuine.
A lot of what they are saying is true, so maybe i’m in the wrong here.
There is no way this person is a false teacher, they have a very spiritual demeanor.
My friend really likes this teacher, so they must be worth listening to, right?
Beloved, may we not be so naive as to simply take every claim of “Christian teaching” at face value, but may we examine it!
The term used for “test” or “try” was the word in that day for metallurgists.
If it stands up to the proving, it is accepted as the metal it was claimed to be - but if not, it is clearly rejected - it is something else altogether.
Beloved, may we not be so naive as to simply take every claim of “Christian teaching” at face value, but may we examine it!
Likewise it is with Spiritual teaching.
If it stands up to the “acid test” of God’s Word, then it is to be accepted.
But if not, it is to be clearly rejected.
It is not truth, rather it is error.
It is to be marked out, strongly resisted, warned against, and not believed as being “from God” as the claim was.
The commandment is to test the Spirits, and that leads us to the concern.
The Concern.
Vs 1b
Obviously, Chapter 4:1 comes on the coattails of chapter 3:24 - the original readers would not have had as defined a break here.
Before we are given the command to discern, John reminds us that we have the ultimate discernment aid indwelling us, and that is God the Holy Spirit.
What Calvin said here is quite helpful.
the truth is that without the good sense we receive from the Spirit, it helps us little or nothing to have the Word of God in our hands; for its meaning is bound to escape us.
For instance, gold is tested with fire or touchstone; but only by those who know how to do it.
What use is fire or touchstone to the ignorant?
In the same way, we are fit to judge only when we receive discretion from the Spirit and are guided by him.
Since we could not follow the apostle’s precept, unless the power of judging were added to it, certainly the godly shall not be left without the Spirit of sound judgment, provided they seek him from the Lord.
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