Dec 3 Daniel 9:20-27, Daniel 10, Daniel 11:1 1 John 3:11-24, 1 John 4:1-6 Psalm 137:1-9

1 John 4:1-3

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 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.

John hits on this point many times in his letters and I feel like I’ve commented on it several times too – but that’s because it a very important issue. Everyone who confesses that Jesus Christ is God made flesh – that’s from God. Anyone (even if they call themselves Christians) who does not accept that is not an advocate of Christ, but actually anti-Christ.

And we should test those who say they have come in the name of God – because there are many false prophets. And it all rises and fall on how they see Jesus, as God or as a good man. It’s ok to be careful, there is a lot of false teaching that on the surface seems nice. The question that tests this is, what do they say about Jesus?

God or man? A way or the way? The answer to those questions will tell you what spirit is speaking.

1 John 4:4

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

We all know this verse, “he that is in you is greater than he who is in the world”. It’s a great verse. John is drawing a clear line here. We have God in us, therefore we can overcome the world. And he clearly hates that we can tell who is who. 

John is not ashamed to say he is from God, that he speaks as one who knows God. And he declares that the people who listen to him are the ones who know God. And the ones who don’t… aren’t. 

We can know the difference between truth and error easily – there’s those who listen to what the bible says and those who don’t. 

There are a great many who do not believe the word of God. They may seem powerful and many. But He that is in you is greater than he who is in the world – so you can overcome them all.