John concluded yesterday's passage by reminding us that we know we are in Christ because we have been given the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit to guide us, and He has kept His word. (John 16:13) Yet we must never forget that there are other "spirits" that want to lead us astray. Satan is a deceiver, and so are the other angels who followed him in rebellion against God. We need to be aware that not every impressive display of power and not every strong emotion is coming from the Lord.
"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." (1 John 4:1) As long as we live in this fallen world, we will have to engage in spiritual warfare from time to time. The devil wasn't able to keep us from coming to Christ in the first place, so he works to keep us from being effective witnesses for Christ in an attempt to keep us from leading others to the Lord. One of the methods he uses is false doctrine spread by false teachers who twist the gospel message just enough to confuse and deceive people into taking a soft attitude toward sin. The Apostle Paul warned his young protege Timothy to recognize spiritual warfare for what it is and to reject false teaching, saying, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:12-13)
False teachers can be very effective speakers. They can deliver messages as impressive as any apostle ever delivered, but that doesn't mean their messages are true. Their speeches are often accompanied by high emotions that mimic those experienced at times by people who are genuinely praising the Lord or who are sincerely repenting to the Lord. A person who is unschooled in the word of God may fall for the shows these teachers put on, which is why it's so important for us to know what the word of God actually says. John is about to tell us how to determine whether a teacher is the real deal or not. "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, 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." (1 John 4:2-3)
To acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is to accept that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah). It means to believe that Jesus is God, and that He came to the earth as fully man and fully God at the same time. It means believing that He came to save us from our sins and that the only way to be saved from our sins is through Him. Any doctrine that denies any of these things is a lie. Any doctrine that denies any of these things has failed the test, and we are to reject it.
Although the devil, the other fallen angels, and false teachers who do the devil's bidding are working overtime to deceive as many people as possible, we don't have to live in fear. We shouldn't spend our time thinking about demons. We don't have to walk through this world in thinking that we're going to be tempted and tried at every turn. We have the Lord living within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. No wicked teacher, no demon---not even Satan himself---can successfully make war with the Holy Spirit. We are aware that the devil would love to derail our lives, but we don't combat him by being afraid of him. Instead we must fix our minds on what is good and true and holy, not on evil entities in the spiritual realm. "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 4:4)
The Lord Jesus referred to Satan as "the prince of this world". (John 14:30) This is because the world (those who are living in rebellion to the Lord, those who reject the idea of bowing their knees to the Lord, those who reject the idea of a God at all) wants to hear what the devil has to say. The devil speaks to the world through false teachers who say the words that the world wants to hear---words that assure them they are okay just as they are, words that back up their own opinion that no one has the right to judge their lives, words that comfort them by promising that there is no place of eternal separation from God (or that, even if there is, God would never send anybody there). This is why the world has made Satan their "prince", even though they may not realize it, because they are listening to what he has to say. This is why the Apostle John says of the false teachers who are speaking the smooth words of the devil, "They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them." (1 John 4:5)
But then there are those who want fellowship with their Creator. There are those whose hearts long to be right with Him. These are the people who eagerly listen to and accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. "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." (1 John 4:6)
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