Bobservations' Column
Titled - "Fervent Charity"
Written by: Pastor Bob Lawrenz
In the Book of Revelation, John proved to us that he was an obedient servant in chapter 1:19. When told to “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;” that is what he did, and with precision. He had seen all of Jesus’ Earthly ministry, and the first century of church history. He recorded all of it: the good, the bad, and the ugly. From the blessings of Christian brotherhood to the errors of doctrine that gained a foothold in one church or another, John made sure he wrote of it.
Most pointedly, John addressed those errors in Revelation 2 and 3. There are warnings, and commendations within the two chapters, aimed at individual Churches.
- The Church at Ephesus had left its First Love.
- The Church at Smyrna was commended for their faithfulness.
- The Church at Pergamus, Thyratira, and Sardis received warnings.
- The Church at Philadelphia received a commendation, and
- The Church at Laodicia, a strong warning for their complacency because of their comfort and wealth. All these were “the things which are,” and they cover all of the Church Age.
But because of what John had seen during that first century, his First Epistle introduces the need for Revelation 2 & 3. False doctrines, false teachers, and false prophets had quietly snuck into Jesus’ Church, lest any forget Whose Churches these are!
Hence the subject matter of the Epistle we are going through now. John is encouraging the reader to examine their hearts and discern if anything has crept into their hearts with subtlety, and/or into their churches!
Just today (5/16/24), I learned of an area Pastor encouraging his Congregation to allow some of the mysticism of today’s Babylon into the practice of their faith through questionable worship music and psychics! Divination, psychics and mystics apparently were to be welcomed in that Church. What will be next? Drug use, and altered states of consciousness from the pulpit? I’ll venture a guess that the spirit of antichrist is already present in that church.
John’s First Epistle is all about “Christianity 101.” He writes of the basic tenets of the Christian faith, for us to review, and examine our own hearts.
The acronym is familiar:
B.I.B.L.E. - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.
“And now abide faith, hope, and love; these three; but the greatest of these is love.” - 1 Corinthians 13:13
Bobservations' Column: Audio Version
Sunday Morning's Audio Message:
1 John 4:1-6 - "Fervent Charity"
Summary/Additional Commentary and Definitions:
John turns from the importance of love to the importance of belief in god's truth in the previous chapters. In chapter 4 he expounds on those two tests, those principles of Christian faith.
The subject in the opening six verses is to "test the spirits." John focuses, once again, on the doctrinal test, and emphasizes the need to know God's Word, and to obey sound teaching.
Scripture is filled with stern warnings against false doctrine, error and against corrupting God's revelation both in the Old and New Testaments. From cover to cover there is one warning after the next about those who corrupt the Word of God. Ever since his temptation of Eve, Satan has sought to distort and deny God's Word (Genesis 3:1-5). He is the ultimate demonic source behind ALL FALSE teachers and false doctrine (2 Corinthians 11:13, 14). This week we come to the fourth chapter of John's first epistle. Pastor Bob shares some insight from the writing of the epistles to first couple of chapters in the book of Revelation. It was written about 6 years after John's epistles. When looking at John's epistles, we can easily see why there was a need for Revelation 2 and 3. The Holy Spirit had been showing John exactly what needed to take place, what needed to be done, and what needed to be written in order to restore true faith to the Christian churches, the churches of Jesus Christ.
John turns from the importance of love to the importance of belief in god's truth in the previous chapters. In chapter 4 he expounds on those two tests, those principles of Christian faith.
The subject in the opening six verses is to "test the spirits." John focuses, once again, on the doctrinal test, and emphasizes the need to know God's Word, and to obey sound teaching.
Scripture is filled with stern warnings against false doctrine, error and against corrupting God's revelation both in the Old and New Testaments.
In verse 1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." John understands how important it is to realize that you can’t believe everything you hear. You can’t believe everything that is purported to come from God. You can’t believe everything that is supposedly biblical. You cannot believe all teachers of religion. You cannot believe all Christian preachers, or Christian evangelists or teachers. You cannot believe all who claim to speak for God and claim to have a prophetic voice. See Acts 17:11; Colossians 2:8-10.
There is set loose in the world, you’ll notice at the end of verse 6, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Religious information is not benign. It either comes from the Spirit of truth, who is the Holy Spirit, so called by our Lord Himself, and there is the spirit of error who would be Satan and his demons. Nothing is benign. All spiritual truth either comes from a divine source or a demonic source. And we know that God speaks truth and reveals truth and Satan speaks a lie and is a deceiver and so it is critical that we be able to discern the difference. God’s truth must be guarded very, very carefully. It is always under attack. It is relentlessly under attack. It amazes me, frankly, even though the Bible is clear on this, how inept the church has been through its history at protecting biblical truth. Every generation seems to fall into error. This is why the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy at the end of his first letter to him, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 20, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.” And what had been entrusted to him was the treasure of divine revelation. Guard that.
It requires the knowledge of sound doctrine, and secondly it requires the recognition of error. Sound doctrine and sound discernment, are essential in the church. This is our primary responsibility. Sound doctrine and sound discernment go side by side and are the primary responsibility of every preacher, every elder, every shepherd and pastor in the church.
In this epistle here in chapter 4, John commands believers to test the spirits. This is necessary if you’re going to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. You have to know whatever information is coming to you by its source. Error is not benign; it is malignant. It is not human; it is demonic. Spiritual truth comes from the Holy Spirit and it is life-giving, life-sustaining, life-producing, God-glorifying, or it comes from demons. It is either the doctrine of God or the doctrine of demons. It is either that word which is sent and energized by the Holy Spirit, or it is that which comes from seducing spirits. And teachers are either the true teachers of God or hypocritical liars, espousing the doctrine of demons fostered by seducing spirits. We must know the difference because of the malignancy of error, because of the power of truth. The truth gives life; error kills.
And so here, John is writing to his flock, to the people that have been put in his charge and all beyond them whom he can influence, including us today. And among the instructions that he gives here in this epistle, much of it, of course, is about who is a true believer. John gives all kinds of criteria for us to evaluate that, both doctrinal tests and moral tests. And part of that instruction includes these commands to make sure that we discern the truth from error.
In the second division of this chapter (4:7-21), John is true to his pattern of developing the same subjects, each time broadening, expanding, and expounding their significance. John returns once again to the moral test of love. These verses constitute one long unit describing what perfect love is and that it is available to us.
God's love is a godly love that is a giving kind of love that does not require anything back. God is love. What does that mean? I think it means something like: God's absolute fullness of life and truth and beauty and goodness and all other perfections is such that he is not only self-sufficient, but also, in his very nature, overflowing. God is so absolute, so perfect, so complete, so full, so inexhaustibly resourceful, so joyful, that he is by nature a Giver, a Helper, and a Protector for us. God is full enough always to overflow and never to need. God is love. The implications of this for the way we live are big. Without love, faith is really dead (James 2:17). As John put it, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (1 John 4:8).
Since God's nature is love, whoever is born of God loves. John makes the point that in the new birth, this aspect of the divine nature becomes part of who you are. The new birth is the imparting to you of divine life, and an indispensable part of that life is love. God’s nature is love, and in the new birth that nature becomes part of who you are. Love is, and love starts with God. Any love that we have is because we are connected with God by the new birth. We are born again into His family, as sons and daughters, and we have been given the Holy Spirit's abiding presence in our lives.
The chapter concludes by emphasizing that perfect love casts out fear, offering believers confidence and security in their relationship with God.
Morning Message:
Key Words and Definitions with Reference:
Do Not Believe Every Spirit (4:1) - The mention of the Holy Spirit in 3:24 prompts John to inform his readers that other spirits exist (demonic spirits) who produce false prophets and false teachers to propagate their false doctrine. Christians are to have a healthy skepticism regarding any teaching, unlike some among John's congregations who were too open-minded to anyone claiming a new teaching regarding the faith. Christians are to be like the Bereans who, as students of the Word, examine the Scriptures to determine truth and error (Acts 17:11, 12).
Test (4:1) - The word test is a term used for assaying metals to determine their purity and value. Christians must test any teaching with a view to approving or disapproving it, rigorously comparing any teaching to the Scripture.
False Prophets (4:1) - By juxtaposing "spirits" with "false prophets," John reminds his readers that behind human teachers who propagate false doctrine and error are demons inspired by Satan. Human false prophets and teachers are the physical expressions, the mouth pieces, of demonic, spiritual forces.
By This You Know the Spirit of God (4:2) - John gives a measuring stick to determine whether the propagator of the message is a demon spirit or the Holy Spirit.
False Prophets (4:1) - By juxtaposing "spirits" with "false prophets," John reminds his readers that behind human teachers who propagate false doctrine and error are demons inspired by Satan. Human false prophets and teachers are the physical expressions, the mouth pieces, of demonic, spiritual forces.
By This You Know the Spirit of God (4:2) - John gives a measuring stick to determine whether the propagator of the message is a demon spirit or the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is Come in the Flesh (4:2) - This is the first test of a true teach: they acknowledge and proclaim that Jesus is God incarnate in human flesh. They confess that Christ came in human flesh to the earth. His human body was physically real. Both full humanity and full deity of Jesus must be equally maintained by a teacher who is to be considered genuinely of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit testifies to the true nature of the Son, while Satan and his forces distort and deny that true nature. John accentuates the crucial importance of sound doctrine expressed in God's Word as the only absolute and trustworthy standard (Isaiah 8:20).
Spirit of Antichrist (4:3) - These false teachers who denied the true nature of Jesus Christ are to be identified among the antichrists in 2:18, 19 (2 John 7). The same demonic deception, that will work to produce the final world ruler who rules as the false Christ, is always actively seeking to distort Jesus Christ's true nature, perverting the gospel. The final Antichrist will not be something new, but will be the ultimate embodiment of all the antichrist spirits that have perverted truth and propagated satanic lies since the beginning.
Greater Is He That Is In You (4:4) - Believers need to be aware and alert to false teaching but not afraid, since those who have experience the New Birth with its indwelling of the Holy Spirit have a built-in check against false teaching (2:20, 27). The Holy Spirit leads into all truth, sound doctrine for genuine Christians, evidencing that salvation has actually occurred (Romans 8:17). True believers have nothing to fear, for even Satan's hosts with their perversions can't take them out of the Lord's hand. Here, as in 2:18-27, protection against error or victory over it are guaranteed by sound doctrine and the indwelling Holy Spirit who illumines the mind.
Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error (4:6) - The Old and New Testaments are the SOLE STANDARDS by which all teaching is to be tested. In contrast to the Spirit of Truth, demonically inspired teachers either reject the teaching of God's Word or add elements to it (2 Corinthians 4:2; Revelation 22:18, 19).
God is love (4:7, 8) - This is the first of five reasons Christians are to love, God is the essence of love. Some cults and even some evangelicals misuse this verse, making God essentially synonymous with "love," denying in effect His other attributes. The Gnostics believed that God was immaterial spirit and light, but never defined the source of love as coming from His inmost being. As He is spirit (John 4:24), light (1:5), and a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), so He is love. Love is inherent in all he is and does. Even His judgment and wrath are perfectly harmonized with His love.
Let Us Love One Another (4:8) - The original language conveys the idea of making sure that love is a habitual practice. Those who are truly born again exhibit the characteristic habit of love (2:10, 11; 3:14) because they receive God's nature (2 Peter 1:4). Since God's nature exhibits love as a chief characteristic (verse 8), God's children will also.
God is love (4:7, 8) - This is the first of five reasons Christians are to love, God is the essence of love. Some cults and even some evangelicals misuse this verse, making God essentially synonymous with "love," denying in effect His other attributes. The Gnostics believed that God was immaterial spirit and light, but never defined the source of love as coming from His inmost being. As He is spirit (John 4:24), light (1:5), and a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), so He is love. Love is inherent in all he is and does. Even His judgment and wrath are perfectly harmonized with His love.
Let Us Love One Another (4:8) - The original language conveys the idea of making sure that love is a habitual practice. Those who are truly born again exhibit the characteristic habit of love (2:10, 11; 3:14) because they receive God's nature (2 Peter 1:4). Since God's nature exhibits love as a chief characteristic (verse 8), God's children will also.
Only Begotten Son (4:9) - This is the second of five reasons Christians love: to follow the supreme example of God's sacrificial love in sending His Son to bear the judgment of sin on the Cross. John always uses "only begotten" in reference to Christ. It pictures His unique relationship to the Father. His preexistence and His distinctness from creation. It was He whom the Father sent into the world as the greatest gift ever given so that we might have eternal life.
Propitiation (4:10) - The word means "appeasement" or "satisfaction." The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross satisfied the demands of God's holiness for the punishment of sin. It is used in the sense of a substitutionary sacrifice to satisfy both God's justice and love.
No Man Hath Seen God (4:12) This is the third of five reasons why Christians love: because God's love is the heart of Christian witness. God is invisible, and men cannot physically see God loving. Since Jesus is no longer physically in the world to manifest the love of God, the only demonstration of God's love in this age is the Church. That testimony is critical (John 13:35; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Love originated in God, was manifested in His Son, and demonstrated in His people.
Herby Know (4:13) - This is the last of eight "tests" in 1 John beginning with the phrase, "Hereby know," each one providing a means of testing the reality of our saving faith. See 1 John 2:3,5;3:16,19,24; 4:2, 6, 13.
Note: (4:13-16) - John gives the fourth of five reasons why Christians love: love is the Christian's assurance. 1. The benefits of love are: 1. assurance of salvation (3:17-24); 2. answered prayer (3:22); and 3. the abiding presence/empowerment of the Holy Spirit (3:23, 24).
Love Made Perfect (3:17) - The fifth reason why Christians love: because love is the Christian's confidence in judgment. John is not suggesting sinless perfection here, but rather mature love marked by confidence in the face of judgment.
No Fear in Love (3:18) - The denial of God and rejection of Christ because of the fear of men will indeed lead to torment, because "the fearful...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire..." (Revelation 21:8). A Believer will never experience this, because they are forgiven.
