I John 4:2-3 (Part 2)

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By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

THE STUDY:

          Yesterday we looked at the positive aspect of knowing the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Today we are going to look at the negative aspect of this: every spirit that does not confess Jesus. Would it be wrong to say that if you don’t confess then you are basically denying Christ?

           To begin with, the Spirit of God must be distinguished from false spirits. This is particularly necessary because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The touchstone by which these spirits (false prophets) are to be tested is their attitude toward the incarnate person of Jesus Christ. The failure to acknowledge (homologei, “confess”) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is precisely what exposes the spirit of the antichrist, which John had already warned his readers about.^[1]

          John repeats a thought he expressed earlier in the epistle: “The antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come” (2:18). Now he says, “The antichrist … is coming and even now is already in the world.” That antichristian spirit is here already and expresses itself underhandedly and often violently against Jesus Christ and his followers.^[2]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away this morning with the understanding that as a believer we should confess Jesus. He should not be something that is tiptoed around but yet someone who is talked about and shared in everyday occurrences.

CONCLUSION:

          Someone has said that the Gospel in the first century was carried by a good system. It was called the teleperson system, and it truly got results, better than we do today with our telephones, televisions, and so on. The woman of Samaria carried the Gospel after her meeting with Christ by the teleperson system. It is said that “many of the Samaritans … believed on Him for the saying of the woman” (John 4:39). —Mrs. J. Shields

          Let today be a day we profess Christ not just in our actions but our words as well. Let people know you are a Christian!

  

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

 

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^[1] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (1 Jn 4:1–3). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

^[2] Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953-2001). Vol. 14: New Testament commentary : Exposition of James and the Epistles of John. New Testament Commentary (326). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.