“Put it to the Test!”

(1 John 4:1-6)

Series: A Word for the Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

October 10, 2021

The Passage

1 John 4:1-6

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

Introductory Comments:

Do you know that not everything that you hear is true?

In 2007, Wikipedia reported that the comedian Sinbad had died. The only problem was, Sinbad was very much alive. 

You may have heard that Osceola was a great Seminole chief. However, Osceola was never a chief. 

You may have heard that if you sit too close to the TV it will damage your eyesight. Nope, not true. 

You may even hear certain statistics that sound convincing, but they aren’t exactly true. Remember, 60% of statistics are made up (some of you will get that later today while eating lunch). 

Today, in our study of 1 John, we’re going to talk about what it means to purposefully try to find out what is true. 

John has already pointed out that there is false teaching in this world and that we should be careful. 

John said in 1 John 2:18, “Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.” [on screen]

He said in 1 John 2:22-23, “Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.” [on screen]

Sometimes, we have to test what we hear to be sure that it’s true. Today’s sermon is entitled, “Put it to the Test!” [on screen]

Before we go any further, let’s pray together, and ask God to speak to us. 

(prayer)

When I was a kid, my favorite test questions were always true and false questions. The reason was, even I didn’t study a lick, I still had a 50-50 chance to get the correct answer. If you think about it, in order for something to be true, there has to be an alternative to it that is false. 

Listen to these statements: God created the earth out of nothing. (pause) Our world came about by an explosion of atoms which kicked off a process of evolution that continued to our current day. One of those statements is true and one is false. 

Jesus is the Son of God. (pause) Jesus is just a good teacher who shows us one of many paths to God. One of those statements is true and one is false. 

Chick-fil-A is the best fast food restaurant in America. That statement is true. 

This morning, we’re going to look at 1 John 4:1-6. As we journey through these six verses, let us discover four actions that we must take as we live as children of God. 

First, . . .

I. We must test. (verse 1) [on screen]

Sometimes you have to test something to see if it’s real. During the days of the California Gold Rush, it was said that people would bite gold coins to be sure that they were real. [see image on screen] The theory was, if they were real you could see the teeth marks since real gold was a soft metal. 

Well, let’s look at the passage and see what John says about testing to see if something is from God. 

1 Dea