The Christian Duty of Judging People

1 John 4:1-6
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, April 21, 2002
Copyright © 2002, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

1 John 4:1-6

How many times have we heard people say, “Don’t be so judgmental. You have no right to judge other people”? We hear such statements all the time. The idea behind them is that there is no absolute truth or falsehood, no right or wrong. Those who embrace this idea will say that it is not right to judge because to judge we must adhere to an unbending, absolute standard, and as modern, educated people, we have come to realize the beauty of relativism. Modern people love the idea of diversity and glory in the principle of the equal validity of all ideas. But such people would also say that if we still want to be judgmental, there is still one group and one idea that should be judged: Christians and Christianity.

As people of God, we reject this lie from the devil. We believe some things are always true and some things are always false. We reject the theory of equal validity of all ideas. As Christians we have a duty to judge people, whether people in the world, in the church or in the family. We believe in the principle of sola scriptura. Because Scripture alone is God’s word, it is infallible and inerrant and we are to judge all things on the basis of it.

In 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 Paul speaks about the spiritual man, pneumatikos, meaning one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, a Holy Spirit-controlled person: “The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” Thus, a Christian is competent to judge all things because he is one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and he has the mind of Christ.

In 1 John 4:1 the apostle John commands us not to believe every spirit. Instead, he says, “test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” In other words, Christians are not to be gullible, credulous, ignorant, naive, lazy, or anti-theological in their assessment of people. Judging people before trusting them is a spiritual activity which we are commanded by Scripture to perform. We are commanded especially to test religious people, people in the church. From this passage we want to study three points: the reason for judging people, the rule by which we must judge people, and the result of such judging.

The Reason for Testing People

The reason John gives that Christians must engage in testing people is “because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” There are two classes of people which John refers to in this passage. First, he speaks of people who are described by the Greek phrase ek tou Theou, people who are from God. That means their source of being is God. That phrase appears six times in these six verses of 1 John 4. John is speaking about people who are born of God and have the life of God in them. They are those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and who have trusted in Jesus Christ alone.

Then John speaks about people of the devil-those who are ek tou kosmou, or people of this world, as we read in 1 John 4:5. The people of the world are described by several terms in John’s epistles. In 1 John 2:18 they are called antichristoi, antichrists, in the sense that they are opposed to Jesus Christ. In 1 John 2:22 they are called liars. As John writes, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.” In the Greek it is ho pseustês-the liar. In 1 John 4:1 they are called pseudoprophêtai, false prophets. In 2 John 7 they are called planoi, deceivers.

So there are two classes of people-the people of God and the people of this world-and they are filled with two different spirits. The people of God are filled with and inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the people of the world are inspired by the evil spirit, the devil. The people of God are inspired by the Spirit of truth, as John says in 1 John 4:6, and the people of this world are inspired by the spirit of error, deceit, and lie. This, then, is the reason why we need to judge people.

How to Judge

This idea of judging was first revealed to us in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 18:21 Moses said, “You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?'”

There have always been people through whom messages come, but how can we know that these people are true prophets? Here God gives us a test. The people of God are to be intelligent and judge every prophet and prophecy. This duty of judging is not limited to pastors and elders in the church. First John 4:1 tells us that every Christian must be intelligent and discerning, must have the mind of Christ, must be filled with the Holy Ghost, and must be a student of the Holy Scriptures so that he will be able to judge correctly.

So in Deuteronomy 18:21 we find the question, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” The answer is given in verse 22: “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, this is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

We must use this test today. Recently we heard of someone who needed surgery and was told there was someone who had the gift of healing. The “healer” came and prayed for this person, but nothing happened. Such people are liars, false prophets.

What, then, is the first test by which we judge prophets? This passage says that if their prophecy comes true, then we can trust them. But Deuteronomy 13:1-5 tells us there is another test. There we read,

If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

What someone prophesies may come true, but that does not always guarantee such a person is a true prophet. If that person is also leading us to worship other gods, we must not believe in him. That person may be a messenger of Satan if he encourages us to worship other gods.

In 1 Kings 22 we read about Ahab and his court-appointed prophets who were encouraging Ahab to go to battle, saying he would be victorious. But these prophets were filled with a lying spirit, as revealed by the one true prophet, Micaiah, who told the truth to Ahab. In 1 Kings 22:19-23 we read,

Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing round him on his right and on his left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’

“‘By what means?’ the LORD asked.

“‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’

“So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you.”

Thus, the reason we have to test people is because people will speak either under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or by lying spirits. We cannot afford to be naive, gullible, lazy, anti-theological, and ignorant. We must test the spirits!

The Danger of Signs and Miracles

Jesus Christ himself warned about false prophets who may perform great signs and miracles. In Matthew 24:4 we read, “Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” In verse 11 we read, “and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people,” meaning many people in the church. In verse 24 we read, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-if that were possible.” Jesus was saying that because signs, wonders, and miracles are performed, the naive and gullible will be deceived and believe in the false Christs and prophets. Such people do not understand that miraculous signs do not ensure a person is of God. The Egyptian magicians performed signs and wonders. Here Jesus Christ himself says false prophets will perform miracles and wonders. In 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul wrote that the man of lawlessness also would perform great miracles and wonders.

But gullible people will say, “What more could we want? We saw the signs! We saw the wonders! We saw so many miracles that our eyes came out of their sockets! We saw great phenomena; therefore, he must be a true prophet of God. Many are going to be deceived by such people.

Paul also gave a warning about false prophets in the church. In Acts 20:29 he told the Ephesian elders, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.” False prophets, who Paul calls savage wolves, would come from outside into the church to destroy the people of God. Paul warned in verse 30, “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” In verse 31 he concluded, “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

In Galatians 1 Paul spoke about this also, declaring,

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

In 2 Corinthians 11:4 Paul said, “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” That is what happens to naive, lazy, undiscerning, undiscriminating, subjective, feeling-centered, blind Christians. Such people don’t even ask questions, even if the false prophets are preaching another Jesus or another gospel. Such people put up with false teaching because they are closing their minds.

In 1 Timothy 4:1-2 we read, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” Notice the phase “deceiving spirits.” This is demon activity.

Peter tells us the same thing in 2 Peter 2:1-3, saying about these subtle deceptive people:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Sovereign Lord who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Notice, then, the Old Testament spoke about false prophets, Jesus Christ spoke about false prophets, Paul and Peter spoke about false prophets.

Liars, false prophets and deceivers, they are inspired by a lying spirit of the devil. These people are antichrists. They are opposed to the true Christ. They oppose the person and work of Jesus Christ. They not only come from outside into the church, but they also arise from within the church to deceive the people of God. That is why John says we must test the spirits, which calls for vigilance, discernment, discrimination, judging, and theological understanding.

The Lies of the False Prophets

The apostle John saw many such people in his lifetime. Some said, “Jesus did not come in the flesh. He appeared to be in the flesh, but it was only an ethereal body. It was not real.” This is known as Docetism, which is a heresy. Then there were the Cerinthians. They were Gnostics who subscribed to the view called adoptionism, which says the divine Christ came upon the man Jesus at his baptism and left before Jesus’ death on the cross. The one thing about all such people is that they deny the central doctrine of Christianity, which has to do with the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is not God and man, but God/man-two natures in one divine person. Because the false teachers rejected this truth, they also rejected the efficacy of the atoning work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. The Docetists said it was not a man who died, while the Cerinthians would say that the one who died was merely a man and not God/man. Because these people detracted from the person of Jesus Christ as well as from the sufficiency of his atonement, his atonement had no value for them. Jesus Christ could not be the savior of the world, they would say. In fact, they would say that there is another way to be saved-a Gnostic way of getting saved without the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Theological liberalism in this country and around the world believes in this type of thinking. In the last century J. Gresham Machen wrote a book, Christianity and Liberalism, in which he declares that such liberalism is not Christianity. But this liberalism is rampant in this country. Whether a church is Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran or some other denomination, you will find people who subscribe to this view, that Jesus Christ was just a man-a nice man, a great man, but a man.

This view which detracts from the person of Jesus Christ is, in truth, the ancient heresy called Arianism. Neo-orthodoxy also believes in this idea. Reinhold Niebuhr, with the great mind given to him by God, said the God/man idea is logical nonsense.

We also find this heretical idea among the cults and other religions. Just examine the teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Scientists, or Mormons or any other cult you want. Look at Islam. These cults and religions may have a nice place for Jesus, but they will adamantly deny he is God.

We find a similar problem among some charismatics who say and do many things that lead people away from worship of the true God to the worship of money. Plagued by greed, these people refuse to preach the gospel, but they will tell you how to make money. These deceivers validate their particular religion by saying how much money they are making. Naive and gullible people send their money to them.

All these are false prophets, people who, even as they did during the time of the apostle John, adjust and restate the gospel to achieve relevancy in the modern world. Such people feel science demands such restatement, or that Intellectual advancement in any field demands such restatement. But the truth is, according to the Bible, such people are under the influence of Satan. Their restatement of the gospel is due to demon activity within them and has nothing to do with intellectual advance.

The opponents of the apostle John claimed to be Spirit-filled Christians, yet these self-proclaimed “spiritual giants” subtly misrepresented Christ and the gospel. They had the form of godliness but denied its power. They were masquerading as angels of light in the church when, in fact, they were servants of Satan.

The Bible says these false prophets were very successful in their ministry. In 1 John 4:5 John writes concerning the false teachers, the false prophets, the antichrists, the liars, the deceivers, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” Oh, that is not to say that these liars and false prophets were not successful in their ministry! People were crowding into their churches, which were growing by leaps and bounds. But there was only one problem: These people were not preaching the gospel. Both the teachers and the listeners were of the world. They had nothing to do with the gospel.

The Rule for Testing

The second point we want to examine is the rule of testing. The Bible says that Christians have a duty to judge, but what standard do we use?

To some people the standard is simply their own subjectivity, mysticism, or emotions. Such people will say, “I went to church and felt good. I got a lift. I was feeling happy. It was a great church and a great service.” Their rule for testing is their feelings.

There are others who would say, “Well, you know, that church has signs and wonders. They speak in tongues, jump up and down, and do many other things. I like that. It’s a wonderful church.” Such people have no intellectual understanding of the Bible. As we already said, Satan can produce signs, wonders, miracles, speaking in tongues-anything you want. Do you know the Mormons believe in these gifts? Anyone can replicate them. The Egyptian magicians did miracles during Moses’ time.

Others will say, “This church has such programs for the youth. They have a great music program. It must be a good church.” Again, this is not what the Bible says should be our standard by which we judge.

What, then, is the rule, the objective standard, God gives us to judge a church? In 1 John 4:2 the apostle writes, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit,” meaning every person “that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”

There are two kinds of tests of one’s claim to be a Christian: the first is doctrinal, the other is ethical. The entire epistle of 1 John speaks about both tests. PGM Here John is referring to a test of doctrine in reference to the person of Jesus Christ, specifically his incarnation. John is saying that we can know whether a person is of the Holy Spirit or of the evil spirit, based on this doctrinal, theological test, that every spirit who confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

The Person of Christ

John uses the term “Christ” to refer to the divinity of Jesus. In other words, Christ, according to John, means Son of God. “Jesus” refers to his human nature. Here John is saying that everyone who confesses Jesus as Christ is confessing that he is the divine person come in the flesh. There is one divine person, having two natures- human and divine-in one person. John understood that Jesus Christ is God. Speaking of Christ, he wrote in 1 John 5:20, “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-even in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

We cannot be true Christians and be stupid, naive, and gullible at the same time. We must exercise our minds in terms of who Jesus is! Then we will realize that he is a divine person who came into this world and took upon himself human nature. He is God/man-Theos/anthrôpos-one divine person in two natures, a divine nature and a sinless, human nature.

Jesus Christ is God/man, contrary to Docetism, which says that he appeared to have a body but really did not. He is God/man, contrary to adoptionism, which says the divine Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left before his death. The truth is, the eternal God united himself with human nature in the very womb of Mary. Jesus Christ was conceived and born as God/man, lived as God/man, died as God/man, was raised as God/man, ascended as God/man, was seated as God/man and will come again as God/man. The divine Person took upon himself human nature in Mary’s womb. He will eternally possess a body of flesh and bones.

The Work of Christ

There is also a test concerning the work of Christ. The heretics detracted from his work of atonement by saying, “Either Christ did not die, or the body that died on the cross was that of Jesus only after Deity left it.” Having said these things, the heretics then concluded that if only a mere man died on the cross, such a person could not save anyone. Even if he were sinless, he could not save all the people because, since we sinned against an infinite God, our sin is infinite.

The truth is, Jesus Christ lived and died as God/man; thus, his atonement is of such potency that he can save us from our sins. He is that which was from the beginning (1 John 1:1). He is that which was with the Father (1 John 1:2). He is God (1 John 5:20). He is the Word, who is God, who is with God, and who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 2, 14).

Why did Jesus take human nature upon himself? Because the wages of sin is death, so in his flesh he had to die and taste death for every man. Jesus Christ died as God/man; therefore, he is the propitiation, not only for us, but for the whole world.

In Hebrews 2 we also find why God became man. Additionally, in this first epistle of John we find the following truths: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). He is our propitiation (1 John 2:2). He is without sin. He destroyed the devil’s work by his death. He cleanses our sins by his blood. He forgives our sins. He is the Savior of the world, sent by God the Father that we may live through him. He is the one God commands us to believe in so that we may live and have our sins completely forgiven. He is the one who is coming again to judge.

Without the incarnation of Christ, there is no salvation and no hope for anyone. That is why the crucial test is the acknowledgment of his person and his work. As God/man he lived, as God/man he died for our sins, as God/man he lives, and as God/man he is coming again.

Thus, the standard is the Holy Scriptures alone, which reveal to us the reality of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The person and work of Christ is the very heart of the whole Bible. That is why this is an objective test. Thus, he who rejects the authority of Scripture rejects the person and work of Jesus Christ. Such a person will not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. In fact, I believe this may be the sin that leads to death which John speaks about in 1 John 5:16 and for which we are asked not to pray.

No one can be saved if he rejects this confession. It is the very heart of Christianity and the heart of our salvation. Thus, a person who rejects this confession is not of God and not born of God. He is not a child of God. He is not saved. Because he is still under God’s wrath, he rejects God’s plan of salvation and seeks his own private way of salvation. Such a person is under the influence of the evil spirit, the spirit of this world, the spirit of antichrist, the spirit of error. His mind is governed by demon activity.

In 2 John 7 we read, “Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist.” We know there are different groups within Christianity. But if someone claiming to be a Christian rejects this confession, that person is rejecting the authority of the Bible. When you join a church, you should ask the pastor, “Do you reject the authority of the Bible? Or do you accept its authority?” If he rejects the authority of the Bible, both that pastor and the people in the church are demon-possessed. They are of this world and hate Jesus Christ! They are outside of God’s salvation. Multitudes of churches throughout the world reject the Holy Scriptures in this way.

In Revelation 2 we read that Jesus Christ approved the church of Ephesus for applying this test. Speaking to the angel of the church in Ephesus, Jesus Christ told him to write, “These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.” In other words, the church of Ephesus was intelligent and discerning. They were faithful in their duty of judging people.

The Test of Hearing

John gives one more test which is very simple. In reference to himself as an apostle and the apostolic community, he wrote in 1 John 4:6, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” There is, then, a test of listening to the word of God.

What about you? Is worship boring to you? Is the word of God boring to you? Is the preaching of the word boring to you? When the word of God is preached, do you go to sleep? Do you say the preaching is dull and uninteresting? If these are true of you, it is a sure sign that you are not born again.

John writes, “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us.” In other words, John was saying, “Those who are born of God, those who are ek tou Theou-of God-those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will listen to us. They will be taken up with the word of God.”

I hope we will all apply that test to ourselves, whether we are children, teenagers, or parents. Is the Bible or worship or preaching boring to you? If so, you must conclude that you are not ek tou Theou-of God.

In John 8:47 Jesus Christ himself said, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” This is the same understanding we find in 1 John 4. In contrast, in Acts 2, in the account of the establishment of the church, we are told in verse 42 that the believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” These people were born of God. When Peter preached the gospel, they were cut to the heart and repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They were baptized and gathered together in one place, where they devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching.”

If your children say the preaching is boring or they do not listen during family prayer, they are not born of God. You should tell them to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Judging by the Book

The world tells us not to judge anyone, that every religion is equally true, and that no one has done anything wrong. All of these ideas come from the devil itself. There is absolute truth, and it is found in the pages of the Bible.

Either the Bible is authored by the devil or by man or by God. If it is authored by man, we can forget about it. If it is authored by the devil, we can also forget about it. But if it is authored by God himself, which it is, we must judge all things, including people, according to the Bible. We are to judge, not based on our subjectivity and good feelings, but according to the Book.

Anyone who wants to be a judge must understand the Bible. When you understand it, you will understand the person and work of Jesus Christ. After his resurrection, Jesus himself told his disciples that the whole Bible spoke of him, saying that Christ must die and be raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures, and therefore repentance and forgiveness of sin must be proclaimed to all the nations.

There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is in the Son, so he who has the Son has life. Have you confessed that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? When you do that, you are speaking about two things: his person and his work. It must not be just a lip confession, but a confession birthed into you by the Holy Spirit. It is by the Holy Spirit that we confess “Jesus is Lord.”

If you cannot make this confession, you are an antichrist, a deceiver, a false prophet. You have no hope and no life. You are lost, and you must ask God to have mercy upon you and save you.

The Result of Judging

What is the result of being able to judge people according to God’s standard? In 1 John 4:4 we read, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” The result of our being able to judge others is that we will not be deceived when we encounter false teachers.

When John says, “You are from God,” he is speaking about our being as Christians. Our source is God, we are born of God, we are ek tou Theou-from God. We do not believe much in decisional salvation wherein a person makes a decision and becomes a Christian. We believe in a salvation which is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts in terms of regeneration. In other words, when we are saved, we are given new nature by which we love God, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

The statement, “You, dear children, are from God,” is a statement of ontology, about being. Christians are not just anyone; they are people who have experienced the mighty miracle of regeneration. Their being is from God and, as John says, they “have overcome them,” which refers to the false prophets and antichrists who were in the church trying to deceive and control the church.

I have seen such people worming their way into churches, bringing their mindless nonsense with them in order to corrupt the people of the church. That is exactly what happened in the church John was pastoring in Ephesus. So he wrote, “You are from God,” meaning they were regenerate children of God, “and you have overcome them.” The people John was writing to were not mindless people, interested in good feelings. They exercised their minds, steeping themselves in the apostolic doctrines.

We must not believe everyone who acts nice and tells us he or she is a Christian. We often fall for such claims, but we must find out what that person believes and what that person does. As we said before, there are two tests: theological and ethical. I want to know what you believe and how your life is.

Overcoming False Prophets

Notice, John writes, “you have overcome them.” In the Greek it is in the perfect tense, which means “you have overcome them in the past and you are still enjoying that victory.”

“You have overcome them”! How did the people to whom John was writing overcome these false teachers and false prophets, these antichrists who were inspired by demons and the devil? After all, they are very powerful. They are guided by Satan and under his control, as we read in 1 John 5:19, where John says, “We know that we are children of God, and we know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”

Before we answer that question, in 1 John 5:4 we read, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world.” That is the first point we have to keep in mind: we are not going to overcome false teachers or overcome the devil or overcome temptation unless we are born of God. That is number one: We must be born of God. We must experience the spiritual miracle, the immediate activity of the Spirit of God in our hearts that Jesus spoke about when he said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Second, in 1 John 4:4 we read, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world,” not because of our superior brilliance.

So two things must be true of us: First, we are born of God. Second, the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in our lives forever. The Holy Spirit is not a lead bullet or some foreign object lodged in our insides; he is the third person of the Trinity. Mighty God has come and taken up residence in our lives-in our minds, in our wills, and in our affections. He who is mighty in power and wisdom is governing our life, teaching us, guiding us, and strengthening us to do all things that will please God.

So we do not resist the devil in our own strength; we resist him in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why John says we have overcome them because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. How much greater is he? He is infinite, while the one who is in the world is Satan, a finite creature. The Holy Spirit is an infinite Person-infinite in wisdom, power, and perfection. He is in us to help us, to save us, to guide us, to teach us, and to empower us. That is the key to our being overcomers.

The Anointing of the Holy Spirit

In 1 John 2:26-27 John identifies the Holy Spirit in terms of chrisma, anointing. There we read, “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.” John is writing about antichrists, false prophets who sneak into the church from outside and then rise up in the midst of the church to try to lead people astray. “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just as it has taught you, remain in him.” There is a counterfeit anointing, which we see often in the charismatic world today. Don’t tell me it is authentic. It has nothing to do with authenticity. There are a lot of people in the so-called charismatic world who have nothing to do with the authentic old Pentecostal anointing. There is a counterfeit anointing. I have witnessed it.

But then there is the real anointing, which John says is in each Christian. It remains in us, teaching us to oppose “those who are trying to lead you astray.” Whenever we are tempted, we must remember that we are born of God, the anointing is in us, and we had better listen to that anointing, which is the Holy Spirit. He will keep us safe. That is the idea John is speaking about. The Holy Spirit is not an inert substance, a lead bullet lodged in your heart. He is infinite God who works in our life, controlling us, governing us, teaching us, directing us, empowering us, and causing us both to will and to do his good pleasure now and forever.

The Holy Scriptures Dwelling in Us

In 1 John 2:14 John says, “I write you to, young men, because you are strong and the word of God dwells in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” When we are born of God, then we understand the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. If the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we will also understand the holy Scripture will dwell in us. Show me a person who is born of God; I will show you a person who has a voracious appetite for the holy Scriptures. Where there is Holy Spirit, there is holy Scripture. In fact, to be filled with the Holy Spirit means also the word of Christ dwells in us richly. The Holy Spirit always guides us in knowing the holy Scripture and causing us to live by that holy Scripture.

If you say that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, yet you have no interest in God’s word, I would say your anointing is false, counterfeit. It has no reality to it. You are fooling yourself when you affirm, “I am a Christian and I am filled with the Holy Spirit.”

So John writes, “Young men, you have overcome the evil one.” How did they do it? By the word of God dwelling in them. There you have it. We have a new nature and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and where there is the Holy Spirit, the holy Scripture will fill our hearts. The Holy Spirit will enable us to love the word of God. In fact, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to show us the glory of Jesus Christ; therefore he gives us understanding into God’s holy word. And not only does he give us understanding, but he also gives us the power to be doers of the word. So there is new nature, there is the Holy Spirit dwelling, and there is the holy Scripture controlling us.

More than Conquerors in Christ

John writes, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” We are born of God, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, and we have overcome the devil. James tells us to submit to God and resist the devil.” We must do it in that order. But when we submit to God and resist the devil, then God helps us resist the devil, and we are told he will flee from us.

What is the result? It is great victory. You have overcome them. The false prophets tried to lead God’s people astray, as we read in 1 John 2:27, but they failed. Oh, they worked hard in the church of Ephesus to draw these people away from the apostolic teaching, but they were overcome. What happened to these false people? In 1 John 2:19 John writes, “they went out from us.” So when such people go out, there should be a great celebration. Oh, they tried to manipulate people and draw them away, but it did not happen. So John says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us,” in the place where there is truth and light. “But their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

In other words, John is telling the church, “Praise God, you have overcome these false teachers. They tried to control you, but they couldn’t. They had to go.” In Jesus Christ we have overcome the world. Jesus said, “Rejoice, I have overcome the world.” It is his victory that we enjoy. In Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors. We cannot even express what that means, but it sounds wonderful. We are more than conquerors. And not only that, in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul tells us that Jesus Christ leads us in triumph always.

There you have it. It is not proper to check our minds outside before we come in to church. We must bring the mind to worship because we are created by God to think his thoughts after him. We are not created to fellowship with animals. As the crown of God’s creation, we are created in the image and likeness of God for the purpose of having fellowship with God. As St. Augustine said, our hearts, which include our minds, are restless, until they find rest, not in animals or plants or Mother Nature, but in God.

In 1 John 3:23 we read, “This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” Whose command is it? The command of the eternal God. Another command God makes is that all men everywhere repent. So when we bow down and kiss the Son, then we can say that we have truly exercised our minds. Then our minds will be working and thinking correctly. When we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will find happiness, real joy, and real satisfaction.

I pray all of us will be born of God and have the Holy Spirit dwell in us that we may have great understanding of God’s Holy Word and be enabled by the Spirit to love the word, do the word, resist Satan and the ideas of this world, and overcome all false ideas. In Revelation 12:11 we read that God’s people overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. May God help us to become overcomers in our Lord Jesus Christ even this day! Amen.