This Is Only a Test:
Who Do You Say that Jesus Is? Part II
A sermon for Christ’s Church at Monticello February 25, 2007
Gregg A. Nydegger
1 John 4:1-6 (NIV)
1 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.
2 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,
3 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.
4 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.
5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the
viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
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.
MANY FALSE PROPHETS HAVE GONE OUT INTO THE WORLD
DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY SPIRIT,
BUT TEST THE SPIRITS
Galatians 1:8 (NIV)
8 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!
‘THIS IS HOW YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THE SPIRIT OF GOD…’
WHAT DO THEY SAY ABOUT JESUS?
Some deny He was fully human (2 John 1:7)
Some deny He was fully God
Some deny He was the Christ/Messiah/Anointed One of God
(1 John 2:22-23)
EVERY SPIRIT THAT DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS IS NOT FROM GOD
John 10:30 (NIV)
30 I and the Father are one."
John 5:23b (NIV)
23b He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father,
who sent him.
John 14:6 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
Luke 1:24 (NIV)
24 "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
Luke 8:28 (NIV)
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet,
shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of
the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!"
John 5:19 (NIV)
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth,
the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father
doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
ANY PERSON WHO TEACHES OR PREACHES 1) THAT JESUS ISN’T FULLY GOD AND FULLY
MAN AND THAT 2) JESUS WASN’T GOD’S ONLY MESSIAH SENT TO SAVE THE WORLD, IS
A FALSE TEACHER.
ANY RELIGION OR BELIEF THAT DOESN’T ACCEPT JESUS AS THE ONLY MESSIAH; AS
GOD’S ONLY SON; AND AS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD, IS A FALSE RELIGION.
THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST
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.
1 John 5:4-5 (NIV)
4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This
is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Matthew 28:18 (NIV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Hebrews 1:1-3a (NIV)
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the
prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Romans 8:31-39 (NIV)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for
us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has
chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more
than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also
interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger
or sword?
36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day
long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world,
and the world listens to them.
1 John 2:18-20 (NIV)
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have
heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.
This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 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; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Jude 1:4 (NIV)
4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about
long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men,
who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus
Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
John 15:19 (NIV)
18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated
me first.
19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its
own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
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.
Who is ‘We’?
John 8:47 (NIV)
47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason
you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
John 18:37b (NIV)
37b Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."