“Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him,
and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us,
by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God;
because 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 of God,
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you have heard was coming,
and is now already in the world.
You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them,
because He who is in you is greater
than he who is in the world.
They are of the world.
Therefore they speak as of the world,
and the world hears them.
We are of God. He who knows God hears us;
he who is not of God does not hear us.
By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
(1 John 3:24 – 4:6)
Quite often, because of our upbringing,
We make simple mistakes, while reading the Bible
And to be honest…
We can make these same mistakes
While reading other books
Even Novels
The mistake is that Books are separated into chapters
The reason for this…
Is to make the reading EASIER…
Not many people look forward
To reading something when the chapter
Spans ten or more pages
And especially not when
The print being used is small
A small Font size
And the spaces between the lines
Are small too
If you are still reading at this point
Then you have done well
For many people will have stopped
As soon as they saw the passage of Scripture
That I printed at the beginning
Of this Devotional
SEVEN verses of the Bible – to READ through!
“We could have looked that up”
They might have said…
But more than likely – WOULDN’T
As that would require EXTRA work
On their part
Hopefully by now
You can see what I am trying to say
And maybe even understand yourself
A bit better
NOW I have written this because of the title
Which appears in my Bible (NKJV)
At the beginning of 1 John 3:24
This verse I wrote on yesterday
And started to read 1 John 4:1 – 6
For today…
Until I noticed the end of verse 6:
“By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Verse 6 ends with words of the Title
So in order to understand
What John is trying to say
We need to read from the end of Chapter 3
And continue on into the beginning of Chapter 4
So often, as is the way, in the Bible
A single verse can be taken in isolation
To say a particular thing
But then when that same verse is read in context
As part of a section…
Like here in 1 John 3:24 – 4:6
It can mean something totally different
But it will usually add to
And complement the entire meaning
Of the section…
Chapter 4 begins with a warning:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; “
And then goes on to say this:
“By this you know the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is of God, “
On Sunday past, 13th December 2020,
I touched on this very point
In my sermon
How Jesus came to earth as a baby
Still totally God
And yet totally man
(But without sin)
Many people struggle with this concept
And yet NOT at Christmas time
Because everyone knows the story
But later on, during Jesus’ ministry
When it comes to miracles:
Healing the sick
Cleansing the lepers
Casting out demons
Raising the dead
Which we ALL are supposed to be
Involved in doing…
“Most assuredly, I say to you,
he who believes in Me,
the works that I do he will do also;
and greater works than these he will do,
because I go to My Father. “
(John 14:12)
Jesus told His Disciples this
And this same Word is for us also
We WILL do what He did…
And then people may say:
“But we can’t – we are not like Jesus!”
“Jesus was different – He was and is GOD”
And in that moment…
Hearts are exposed…
I spoke, on Sunday, about how the Disciples
Struggled to SEE Jesus as God
Since they were dealing with a MAN
Flesh and blood
Just like them…
“How could this MAN be GOD!?”
Today, we look back into what the Bible says
And we are tempted to say the opposite
“How can Jesus, who IS GOD be a MAN!?”
And so we come to the crux
Of this entire Devotional
Do you see Jesus Christ
As being totally God AND totally man?
Can you believe that Jesus
Almighty God
Became a man
And lived as a MAN
While on the earth?
If so, then you have the Spirit of God
And this is how you discern
Whether the people you meet
Are of God or not