We Know by the Spirit

1 John 3:24-4:3 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. 1 John 4:1 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.
 
IN our previous three lessons, we have understood how we know life, love and truth in our Lord God. You could quickly summarize how you surely know these when you say, “I know the Holy Spirit.” After all, it is the Holy Spirit who ignites our minds to live and love the truth. Jesus affirmed this: John 16:13-14 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
    When John wrote Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, he was likely speaking against a false teaching called Gnosticism. Ironically, this is the Greek term for knowledge. Formal Greek teaching could not grasp Jesus as fully man and fully God. Yes, this is not easy for any of us to understand; yet, in the Spirit’s power, we know this is the truth to believe. The Greeks, though, said Jesus was never human, only a spirit. John urged the church to hold to the truth just as we must today. Such a lie destroys the gospel.
    Today false teachers are the opposite of the Greeks. Spirit-less teachers are quick to say, “Jesus was a man.” But they deny, “Jesus is God.” They dismiss God’s Spirit power to come to earth in human form and fully exist as God. Again, if this were true, we would have no gospel.
    Many false teachers, though, speak in biblical terms to claim authority. People may say, “I have a message for you from God.” Or “I believe the Bible teaches this.” And you are eager to listen. But are they speaking truth? Can you equate their teaching to Scripture’s teaching? How do you know the message is truly from God?
    There have been times people have spoken to me, “a word from our Lord”. I waited to see if they were true. Several times these have come true. Thus, I can know the Spirit is in them. Other times people have spoken with authority, but they do not live in the truth. Their habits demonstrate the Spirit is not in them. You will always know the Spirit when you wait for the Spirit to reveal the truth.
    Jesus calls you to know life, to know love and to know truth. You will know when you know the Spirit is in you. Open your heart and habits to receive and live his way.
 
Life Thought: Always desire to know the Lord’s Word and to live in his loving truth.