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Sermon Notes 09-11-11pm
1 John 4: 1-6
Intro: We are a people of Faith… Called to Believe.
“Credulity” = willingness to believe or trust too readily,
Without proper evidence… Gullible.
- Believe NOT!
ILL – You cannot believe everything you read in the Paper.
ILL – You cannot believe Everything you Hear in Church!
Context:
a) First Century Worship
Less Formal, More Family Structure… Unstructured
Several speakers; Guests often spoke… Canon yet to be settled
Easily Abused by false teachers claiming a special
“revelation from Spirit”… Prophetic Utterance
b) John’s False Teachers
- Claimed to be Christians
- Claimed Association with the Church
- Claimed to Speak with special Insight…Revelation
- Claimed the Authority of the Spirit
t/s – John’s mention of the Spirit reminds him of False Teachers…
Read the Whole
The Command to Test; the Need to Test; the Way to Test; Results of Testing.
The Command to Test (1a)
Exp – “Test” = Luke….trying out, proving a set of oxen
== evaluating the quality of some metal
Note: expecting a positive result!
App – 3:24 == Every Believer has the Spirit… Evaluate Teaching.
Need to Test the Spirits
Exp – “Spirits” = prophets, true or false…
False prophets spreading to the church or From the church.
“Many” == Jesus, Paul, Peter, John… Our Reality!
ILL – Spraying for Bugs… “I don’t see any bugs”
— If you are seeing them it is too late!
App – Reality…. False Prophets are everywhere!
The Way to Test a Prophet/Teacher… “Spirit”
Exp – Doctrinal Content of Message…
… Not credintials; diploma; charisma; Articulate, intelligent
What Does He/She Say about Jesus?
As Christ is the object at which faith aims,
So He is the stone at which heretics stumble. Calvin
“Confess” = More than recognition (head);
personal, public Profession…Association
No “That”…. Person not facts about Person
Jesus Humanity, of Nazareth….. Savior
Christ Messiah of OT and Divine Son of God
Has come Perfect tense… past and Now in present
In the Flesh Incarnation
Heresy of Ephesus == Jesus only appeared to be a man
Jesus only became a man for a short time
Vs. 3 == Not confess THIS Jesus!
ILL – Of Mormans… “They Believe in Jesus!”
App – Everyone believes in Jesus as they define Him….“THIS Jesus!”
— Weak Christology == Weak Soterology..
Results of the Test (4-6)
Exp – Notice the Emphatic Pronouns…
YOU
They
WE
False Teachers are always more palatable to the World because they are from the world and made in order to be Accepted by the World!
Arrogant Claim to Exclusive Truth…Unless
Truth and Error are Real.
ILL – Paul and Silas found themselves in Berea
Teaching in the Synagogue
Received the Word with Eagerness
Examining the Scriptures
To SEE whether these things were so
