Test The Spirits

Test The Spirits — 1 John 4:1-6
3:23-24And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love
one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He
in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
A. 1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
B. because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of
God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3and
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.
C. 4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you
is greater than he who is in the world.
B’ 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6We
are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us.
A’ By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

I. Knowing & Abiding In Him
To “know” (i.e. to be assured of, or experiencing fully): 2:3, 4, 5, 11, 18, 20, 21, 29; 3:1, 2, 5, 14, 15, 16,
19, 20, 24; 4:2, 6, 7, 8, 13; 5:2, 13, 18, 19, 20.
To “abide” (i.e. remain in place – intimate fellowship with God, communion “shared life”): 2:6, 10, 14,
17, 24, 27, 28; 3:6, 14, 15, 17, 24; 4:12, 13, 15, 16.
The Holy Spirit: 3:24; 4:1, 2, 6, 13; 5:6, 7, 8; Jn. 14:15-17; 26; 15:26; 16:13
II. False Prophets (v. 1)
Matt. 7:15-23; 24:9-13; 1 Jn. 2:18-23; 2 Pet. 2:1-2
III. Testing/Discerning the Spirits (vv. 2-3 & 5-6)
The Truth & Faithfulness Test: Deut. 18:20-22; 13:1-5
The Theological Test (vv. 2-3): 2:18, 22; 1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Thes. 5:19-22; Mk. 1:24; 3:11; 5:7-8; Jn. 15:26;
16:13-15
The Hearing test (vv. 5-6):
IV. Overcoming Them (v. 4)