{"id":28604,"date":"2023-11-03T22:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-john-3_18-24-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-10-24T17:01:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:01:47","slug":"1-john-4_1-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-john-4_1-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Is He Who Is In You"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 John 4:1-6<\/strong>\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 John 4:1-6.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 John 4:1-3\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Dear 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.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 Why is John telling his readers to \u201ctest the spirits to see whether they are from God\u201d (v1)?\u00a0 It\u2019s because in John\u2019s day false prophets were preaching messages that contradicted the gospel message, the message that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into this world, died for our sins, and rose again.\u00a0 For example, historians report that a man called Cerinthus taught that Jesus was not divine and that he was not supernaturally born of a virgin but that he was the naturally born son of Joseph and Mary.\u00a0 Cerinthus taught that the only reason Jesus had any connection with God was because at his baptism he received a spirit from heaven called the Christ and that this spirit left him at his crucifixion.\u00a0 \u00a0According to Cerinthus, Jesus and the Christ were two separate beings, implying that Jesus was not God, but a man who temporarily possessed a special spirit for a few years.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Christians believe that Jesus Christ is one person, fully divine and fully human.\u00a0 What difference does it make?\u00a0 Here\u2019s why it matters. In order for Jesus to be able to save us, in order for Jesus to be the perfect bridge between us and God, Jesus had to touch both sides: the divine and the human.\u00a0 And that is what the Bible teaches.\u00a0 On one hand Jesus is by very nature God (e.g. Philippians 2:6), and on the other hand Jesus is human like us (e.g. John 1:14).\u00a0 Jesus didn\u2019t just\u00a0have<\/em>\u00a0the Christ; He\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the Christ\u00a0 (Matthew 16:16; Mark 8:29; John 11:27).\u00a0 This concept of Jesus being fully God and fully man is known as the hypostatic union.\u00a0 To claim that Jesus was merely a man who temporarily possessed a divine spirit is to deny all that the Bible teaches about Jesus Christ being the incarnate Son of God.\u00a0 It also undermines the message that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) who saves us.<\/p>\n

That is why John tells his readers to be discerning.\u00a0 He tells his readers to filter every teaching they hear using this test:\u00a0 a teaching is from God if the teaching acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; that is, the one God-man Jesus Christ came to earth as a human being to save us (v2).\u00a0 If someone teaches about Jesus but refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, be careful because the totality of their teaching is not from God, but from the devil, which John calls \u201cthe spirit of the antichrist\u201d (v3).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Like John\u2019s readers,\u00a0we too must be discerning when we hear people talking about Jesus.\u00a0 Many cults today will teach about Jesus.\u00a0 They may quote the Bible in their teachings.\u00a0 But their teachings will often fall into one of two categories: they will either deny Jesus\u2019 humanity or deny Jesus\u2019 divinity.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Be careful with such teachings because they are not from God, but an enemy-empowered deception.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The truth is that both Jesus\u2019 humanity and His divinity are taught in Scripture and are essential to Jesus being able to save us from our sins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 John 4:4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You, 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 4:\u00a0 The \u201cone who is in the world\u201d is a reference to the devil.\u00a0 Elsewhere Jesus calls him the prince of this world (John 12:21).\u00a0 Whether you are combating enemy-empowered heresies or facing other spiritual attacks, always know that the one who is in you \u2013 i.e. the Spirit of God \u2013 is greater than the one who is in the world.\u00a0\u00a0The key to overcoming your battles is knowing that through faith in Christ God’s Spirit lives in you and that He is greater than anything else you will face in life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 John 4:5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 5:\u00a0 \u201cThey\u201d, meaning the false prophets, are from the world (the system of thinking, feeling and living that does not acknowledge Jesus) and thus their message appeals to those who are trapped in that system (v5).<\/p>\n

1 John 4:6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 6:\u00a0 This might sound like an arrogant and self-serving statement from John – to paraphrase, \u201cIf you listen to us, you are from God but if you don\u2019t listen to us you are not from God.\u201d\u00a0 But remember that John\u2019s confidence is not so much in himself as it is in Jesus.\u00a0 Remember that John personally walked with Jesus, personally saw Him crucified and die on a cross, and personally spend time with Him on numerous occasions after Jesus resurrected.\u00a0 John knows without a shadow of a doubt that the Jesus He preaches is the real Jesus, and thus he can make a bold statement like this.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 As we learned when looking at 1 John\u00a03:16-17,\u00a0having a strong personal conviction about Jesus comes from having a personal encounter with Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a strong personal conviction about who Jesus is, maybe it\u2019s time you humbly ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you personally so that you can experience Him in a personal way.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, more and more deepen my understanding of who You are and reveal Yourself to me, that my faith and my worship would be in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).\u00a0 Thank You that greater is the One who is in me than he who is in the world.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 John 4:1-6.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 John 4:1-3\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Dear 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.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0but 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.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 Why is John telling his readers to \u201ctest the spirits to see whether they are from God\u201d (v1)?\u00a0 It\u2019s because in John\u2019s day false prophets were preaching messages that contradicted the gospel message, the message that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into this world, died for our sins, and rose again.\u00a0 For example, historians report that a man called Cerinthus taught that Jesus was not divine and that he was not supernaturally born of a virgin but that he was the naturally born son of Joseph and Mary.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28604"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28608,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28604\/revisions\/28608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}