Sunday, December 10, 2017

The Second Test (1 John 4:4-6)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-25e-2004

My Worship Time                                                                   Focus:  Greater is He who is in You

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1 John 4:4-6

            Message of the verse:    “4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.  5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.  6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

            It is my desire to finish up looking at the verses that remain so we can move onto verse nine in our next SD on 1 John.  I have mentioned that I did not write anything in 2004 on 1 John 1-6 and so I am using the material from my John MacArthur study Bible to fill in what I did not do in 2004.

            Greater is He who is in you:   “Believers need to be aware and alert to false teaching, but not afraid, since those who have experienced the new birth with its indwelling of the Holy Spirit have a built-in check against false teaching (cf. 2:20, 27).  The Holy Spirit leads into sound doctrine for genuine Christians, evidencing that salvation has actually occurred (cf. Rom. 8:17).  True believers have nothing to fear, for even Satan’s hosts with their perversion 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.”

            4:5, 6 the speak as from the world…he who knows God listens to us.  “John gives the second test of a true teacher:  they speak God’s word, following apostolic doctrine.”

            4:6 By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.  “The OT and NT are the sole standards by which all teaching is to be tested.  In contrast, demonically inspired teachers either reject the teaching of God’s Word or add elements to it (2 Cor. 4:2; Rev. 22:18-19).”

12/10/2017 8:40 PM

 

No comments:

Post a Comment