A True Spirit

1 John 4:1-3 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. 2 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, 3 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.
 
THE Bible records in Deuteronomy 34:9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. This means that Joshua’s mind and soul – his spirit – was filled with wisdom from God. His wisdom was evident in the way he spoke and acted in obedience to God’s commands. Joshua’s spirit was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
   As we’ve mentioned, warnings against false teachers are common throughout the epistles. False teachers are antichrists. They have a spirit that opposes Jesus’ teachings and his church. You can say they are evangelists of the lie to misdirect people from Jesus’ truth.
   John refers to one lie when he affirms Jesus’ deity, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” He said this stand against false teachings that claimed Jesus was  not a real man born the Son of God through a woman. They taught Jesus was only a spirit. He left no shadow or footprint!
   If this were true, there would be no sacrificial death, no atonement, no resurrection and no hope of eternal life. We would have no gospel. The truth that Jesus became a man is crucial to God’s plan to save you.
   Of course, John knew the truth. He knew Jesus was as fully man as any man John had known throughout his long life. John had physical contact with Jesus for three years, and he knew how Jesus rejoiced, wept, prayed, slept and ate. He watched the man breathe his last on the cross. And he experienced the fullness of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. This would have been an easy lie for John to correct.
   But still the antichrist spirits remained and continue today. Even the most highly educated people today will argue that Jesus was not a man. Or they will deny he is the Son of God. Many will reject he even existed. And many want to reshape his words or delete most of his recorded teachings. The spirit of the antichrists claim Jesus’ truth will not be the way and the life. Instead, his words can be considered as one of many ways to a self-approving life.
   How do you test the spirits? You put their teachings against the Bible. The Bible is tested and true. We don’t have the space here to list the ways the Bible proves itself. But one way you know God’s Word is true is to examine God’s promises of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus.
   Read and know the Bible. Gain a spirit of wisdom through the Holy Spirit’s inspired Word. Antichrists are everywhere. God’s truth must be defended.