George Orwell once said, "There are some ideas so stupid that only intellectuals believe them."

I am not an intellectual and it's my belief that you are not one either. So when we are confronted with a new idea we need to evaluate them. We need to see if they have merit, see if they are true or false.

We finished the first section of our series How to Survive in a Post-Christian World.

• We learned that God has appointed our leaders and for that reason, we are to subject ourselves to their leadership except when they ask us to disobey God.
• We learned that we are to love our neighbors even when they hate us and persecute us.
• And we learned that in these last days we need to wake up, put off the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.

Today we will begin our new section with a question. It is a True or False question.

I will ask this question in just a moment, but I want you to refrain from shouting out your answer. I want you to keep your answer to the question to yourself. And a little later we will answer it aloud.

Here is the question:

True or False – All roads that lead to God are good.

Today the one thing you will learn is how to answer that question and any other question that may come your way.

Let’s pray

Test the Spirits

Turn in your Bible to 1 John 4:1-3.

I opened this lesson with a question, is this a true or false statement – All roads that lead to God are good.

A little later we will answer that question. But first we have to cover some ground. We need to learn the fundamentals on how to know whether something is true or false.

Follow along as I read from 1 John 4:1-3

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and 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.

The idea of “testing” or “trying” the spirits is found elsewhere in the Bible. Leave a finger at 1 John 4 but turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:20:22

Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

I want to take 1 John and 1 Thessalonians and mash the two passages together.

In 1 Thessalonians we are told to “Test all things.” In 1 John we are told to “test the spirits.” Let’s start with “the spirits” of 1 John.

We know that the Holy Spirit is God. John just mentioned the Holy Spirit in the last verse of chapter three.

So we know of the Holy Spirit, but this passage tells us that there are even more spirits in this world and we must test them.

What does it mean to test? It means to make a critical examination of something; to determine the genuineness of something; to really examine it.

The Greek word for test is used for metallurgy. It is the test that a goldsmith would use to test the purity of gold.

We should never take something at face value. We should evaluate it. We should make sure it is genuine. We should check its purity.

We make these evaluations 1,000s of times per day. Every time we sit on a chair we determine whether or not it will hold. When we drive our cars down the road or over a bridge the mind evaluates whether or not it will hold.

These tests are based on past experience. It has held before. It will hold this time.

In 1994, here in Westminster, Robert Knight took a dinner break from his job at the sewer treatment plant, jumped in his car, and drove toward town to get some food. It was 2 am.

As he drove along route 31, all of a sudden the road was no longer there and Robert in his van plunged into a sinkhole that measured 45 feet wide and 18 feet deep. He died a few hours later in shock trauma.

We ask ourselves, why did Robert drive route 31 if there was a possibility that a sinkhole might swallow him up? Why didn’t he take another road? The reason he drove on that road without any fear is that the road had never swallowed him up before or anyone else for that matter. He made an evaluation based on past experiences. We do this all the time.

Faith is an evaluation based on past experiences. We know that God will do such in such because He has always done so in the past.

Past experiences or faith is one test but there are others. Another test is the doctrine of Christ.

The First Test – Jesus

John is not worrying about sinkholes or even matters that we can evaluate with past experience. John is focused on things pertaining to Jesus, to spiritual matters.

How can we determine if a religious idea, a religious person, or a religious institution is genuine?

One way is to see what they say about Jesus.

1 John is an early response to an early version of Gnosticism. Gnosticism believed that Jesus was not God and that Jesus was spirit. Gnostics believed that Jesus did not have a body.

Gnostics believe that all things physical are bad and all things spiritual are good. In the time of 1 John they believed that Jesus was an emanation, a spirit, and did not have a body.

What does that wrong thinking do to the crucifixion?

What does it do to the resurrection?

Look back at 1 John 4:1-3

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and 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.

You can see in verses 2 and 3 John’s response to the Gnostics.

• Something is false if it believes Jesus did not come in the flesh. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus came to this earth in full humanity
• The Holy Spirit (v2) testifies to the true nature of God the Son. Satan and false prophets distort the nature of Jesus.

Satan is a liar and a murderer. His false prophets are the same. (John 8:44) He wants to keep you from salvation. He wants to kill you spiritually forever.

There are other things about Jesus you must believe. They too can be used to test an idea, person, or institution.

• Jesus is God the Son.
• Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world.
• Jesus rose again bodily on the 3rd day
• Salvation is only through Jesus

Satan and his false prophets want to keep you from truly understanding and believing on Jesus because Jesus is God and salvation only comes through Jesus.

You can test a spirit or everything by what they believe concerning Jesus.

Here is a question you can ask when you are uncertain about someone’s faith or ideas:

Who is Jesus to you?

The Word                   

In a few minutes, we will answer our True or False question. Don’t shout it out. Keep your answer quiet. I will give you an opportunity to share in a bit.

But remember the question is: True or False – All roads that lead to God are good.

There is a second test that we need to use when we are confronted by something. It is the Word test.

We have been looking at 1 John 4 and also considering 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22

In both passages, prophecy is mentioned. In 1 Thessalonians Paul tells us not to despise prophecies. In 1 John, John warns us about false prophets.

What does Paul mean in 1 Thessalonians when he tells us not to despise prophecies? The word “prophecies” can mean the spoken revelation from God.

That’s the way I always imagine prophecies. Some longhaired, crazy-eyed prophet standing up on a hill shouting out, “Thus saith the LORD!!!”

But the word prophecies can mean the written word of God. In fact, the idea of the written word is meant more often than spoken.

An example is found in 2 Peter 1:19-21

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Paul is saying that when the Word is preached, taught, or read we are to take it seriously. We must not reject it. We must receive it. Do not despise the Word.

Example of the Word Test

A perfect example of this can be found in Acts 17:10-12.

If you have walked with Christ for any amount of time you are familiar with the story of the Bereans. Christians admire the Bereans. Many churches bear their name – Berean Bible Church, Berean Baptist Church.... Why so?

Let’s read and find out.

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

The Bereans did not take what Paul said at face value. They tested his words and they tested him. They did so by comparing him and his words to Scripture.

Why did they do this? It was their nature. It was who they were as a synagogue. They were people of the Word. They studied it with eagerness. So it was natural for them to use the Word as a tool to test whether or not something was true.

Pray to God that we too would be a church of the Word.

The Word of God is what we should use to test everything.

Let’s go back to our question. I will ask it again and now you will give me your answer.

Don’t shout it out. Rather let’s do a show of hands.

If you believe it is True when I say “All roads that lead to God are good.” Then raise your hand.

If you believe it is False when I say the same raise your hands.

The answer is False.

Why? We want to be like the Bereans. What verse or passage should we use to test this question?

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

I think it’s time for a pop quiz.

I gave you time to think about your answer to the True or False question. How here comes one and I will not give you any time to think about it. But I will help you with this hint.

Hint: You can find a passage to help you evaluate this idea in the Book of Genesis. There, I have eliminated 65 other Bible books.

Here is the idea to evaluate.

On Thursday, February 25, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives Passed the Equality Act. The act is not yet law because it has to pass the Senate. But if it does, many things in the US will change. Here is one change that we can test.

If Equality Act passes the Senate, we will no longer be allowed to identify people by biological gender. No longer will there be males or females, boys or girls.

What is a Bible passage, found in the book of Genesis, that will help you test this new idea?

Genesis 1:27 and 5:2

If you would like to read more about the impact the Equity Act can have on our society, Mary Rice Hasson wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek Magazine titled The Equity Act and the End of Females.  https://www.newsweek.com/equality-act-end-females-opinion-1571432

Also, The Heritage Foundation has an article The Equity Act – How Could Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Laws Affect You? https://www.heritage.org/gender/heritage-explains/the-equality-act

Remember, don’t despise or dismiss or reject God’s Word. Read it with eagerness. God is using it to teach you. And you can use the Word to test everything.

Conclusion

The Apostle John warned about false prophets. False prophets are everywhere. They are writing books. They are on TV and radio. They are on social media. And they even occupy the halls of government.

They use all forms of media – print, broadcast, and the internet. Every day they feed you with their false doctrine and corrupt ideas.

How can you test these people, test their ideas, and test their organizations?

1. Find out what they think about Jesus.
2. Test them using the Bible.

Let us pray that you and this church will eagerly study God’s Word so that we will not fall to Satan’s lies.