Good morning. It's good to be together again. Last week we baptized sixty two people. It was just a wonderful celebration of seeing new life in Christ. And we also started chapter four of First John. Yeah, a few ah, cheers. Uh, understandably so, because chapter four just gets into like, hey, let's talk about false teachers. And everybody's like, oh, I can't wait for that. That'll be fun. Jake. Let's spend multiple weeks doing that. Uh, so I said, sure, we'll do that. We'll spend multiple weeks, uh, looking at that. We got the first six verses. We covered three of them last week. We're going to look at the other other three in this. And John wanted his audience, uh, to be discerning due to the threat of false teachers. That's kind of where he's coming from. He says there are many false prophets that have gone out. So this isn't just a like, isolated problem. Like this is a prevalent problem, that there are many false prophets that are going out and they're trying to lead people astray. And he's like, you can't just believe everything you hear. Like just because they came in the name of Jesus or they, you know, put themselves under the umbrella of Christianity, you need to be discerning. And what he says is you need to test the spirits, which is interesting because he's talking about human beings as false teachers. But he says, test the spirits. Like there's a spiritual reality behind these lies and these twisting of truth. And guys, this is true for us as well. It's a prevalent problem that there are lies that we need to be discerning people. And it's not just worldly lies, it's worldliness clothed in Christianity. It's going to come like dressed like it's, it's part of the family. And you got to be discerning. Now, let me just address this as we get into this, this topic of, uh, identifying or confronting false teaching and false teachers. Uh, for a lot of us, it just, it makes us uncomfortable because it's like, I don't, this seems mean. This, I don't know if we should do this. Uh, there's something that's just kind of troubling that this can be an uncomfortable topic almost. We could get to the point where it's like, this can seem un-Christian. Um, like, I don't know if we should be doing this. And I think there's been some twisting going on even to lead us to, to that conclusion, because humility is an important part of the Christian life, is it not? Like God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Like we should be humble people. But. But it can lead to like or get twisted to a false conclusion that being humble means seeing yourself as incapable of knowing truth like, well, who am I? How do I, I can't come to know, you know, how do I know I'm right and someone else is wrong? And you just kind of leads this conclusion like nobody can really know. But John keeps saying throughout this letter so that you would know, so that you would know, so that you would know that he wants us to be confident, but to claim that, you know, like, I know, I know, and you don't know. Doesn't that seem arrogant? And nobody wants to be arrogant and kind of trying to not be arrogant. We can overcorrect the ship and fall into the ditch of being gullible. Since I can't know. And who can then who could know? And we're just kind of receive all this information. Or maybe not being gullible, but but just leads us to hold truth really lightly. Like I don't, I don't know, maybe who am I? And then when you hold truth lightly, there's not much conviction. And if there's not much conviction, there's not much devotion. Like nobody's giving their life to things that they're like, I don't know. I mean, you give your life to something that you're, you know, you're, you're sure of. And this is what John is calling us to. He's wanting us to be sure. He's wanting us to know. But let me tell you this, guys, listen, confidence is not the same as arrogance. Confidence is not the same as arrogance. And we need to better recognize the attack on truth like it's the game plan from the beginning. It's the twisting of God's Word, a distorting of God's word. And John is warning like, hey, many people are trying to do this. It's a common attack that we need to be on guard against and more discerning. Test the spirits. But he's also given us some discernment help. So along with this warning comes some help. Like here's what to look for. And we got four tests. We looked at one of them last week. It was the Jesus test. Like, you gotta get Jesus right. And then we got three of them that we're going to look at today. We got the, um, the life test, the worldly test and the Bible test. Like we're testing for regeneration. Like, do we see the work of the spirit in someone's life? We're testing for courage and we're testing for alignment. Hopefully those will make sense, uh, as we get into this. So first John, chapter four. Ready to go. All right. Uh, and I just want to tell you up front, like we're, we're giving the tools or the tests, like this is what the tests are. We're not talking so much about like, how do you use these tools? How do you conduct these tests? Maybe we'll get into that a little bit more in the podcast. But but for time's sake, let's just identify what these tests are. So we'll get a running start. Let's review the first three verses so we can see all this in context. First John chapter four, starting in verse one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For 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 from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. So you get the warning. Here's the threat. There's false teaching, um, and the severity of the threat. They're already here in the world. And this is an active thing that's playing right now. And then the the call to be discerning. And then you get the first test, like, what do they say about Jesus? Well, then let's get into the next test. The next test is the life test. So verse four, little children, you are from God and have overcome them them as the false teachers. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. That's wonderful news. Amen. Yep. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So you get a word of comfort and a test. The word of comfort is clear. Like, hey, you're on the winning side. The one who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So you need to be aware, but you don't need to be scared. You need to be alert. You don't need to be alarmed. Like you need to be on your guard. But but you can sleep well at night. I'm letting you know the attack, but I also want to comfort you with the truth that he who is in you is greater than he that is in the world. So all these false prophets that are going out and trying to twist the truth and distort it. They don't win. So enter this fight with confidence. That's the comfort. It's like, okay, but then what's the test? Well, do you see overcoming? Do you see victory? So that that word for overcome. Uh, or we it's where we get our word. Nike. Are they wearing some Nike clothes? That's where this comes from. It means victory. And we've we've talked a little bit about tenses. Uh, not to nerd out, but just to kind of help us better understand what John is getting at. Well, this word is in the perfect tense, which means it's something that happened in the past, which continues on in the future. So our victory happened in the past. Like it was secured by Christ on the cross. And that reality is true today. So he's saying we have absolute victory. It's assured victory. So you should have great comfort. Okay then. But what's the test? Do you see that victory? Do you see the overcoming? Um, the test is. Do you see a godly life alongside the teaching? Do you see a godly life, godly living that lines up with the teaching of the teacher? Because what what is John confronting head on? We've talked about this a little bit. Gnosticism. Right. And the Gnostics would come in and they were twisting the gospel message from the apostles and say, Jesus showed up as a spirit but never had a body. The spirit is good, but the body is bad. So as long as you're kind of enlightened in your spirit, it doesn't matter what you do in the body which gave permission to live however you wanted in the body, you see how bad doctrine leads to bad practices, and false teaching often, uh, seeks to justify sin or minimize sin, but godly teaching champions and displays godliness. Look. Look back at verse four. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. Now we read that and it makes sense. If you would read that in the Greek, it would sound like Yoda's talking. You know what I'm saying? Here's how it goes. You from God are little children. Why does he say it like that? Well, the U is put first in the clause to emphasize the contrast between you and them, the false teachers. So he's talking about these false teachers. They've come into the world. They. And then he's like, but you, you're not like them. Like you've overcome them. He makes this difference. And there ought to be a contrast like you are from God and they are not. Which means there are practical implications for that. Like, we need to see what John is saying here in light of what he's already been saying in this letter. So let's let's go back to chapter one. This will be fun and see kind of like, what's the argument that he's building upon? Chapter one, five and six. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So if you're kind of assessing false teachers and they say they have fellowship with God, look at their life. Are they walking in darkness? If so, false teacher, they're lying. Let's go. Another one eight nine. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if they're denying sin, right? You got, you got problems. It's going the other way. First John two four and five. Whoever says, I know him. Who would say that? Maybe a false teacher you're supposed to test but does not keep his commandments is a what? Liar. And the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word in him. Truly the love of God is perfected. By this we know. Sounds pretty arrogant, John, just saying. By this we know that we are in him. Everybody having fun? Don't do another one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. So there's a contrast between the father and the world. And he's like, you can tell, you can see he's going to continue on to point that out. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. You're saying like you can tell by looking at their life. Here's another one. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God. So again, he's he gets to chapter four. He's like, test the spirits. Okay, what's the test? Look at their life. Do they continue in sin? Do they minimize sin? Do they practice sin? Do they lie to you and say they have fellowship? A walk in the darkness? Because it's obvious. Here's what he says in the next verse. By this it's evident or it's obvious who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil? Whoever does not practice. Righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. So he's like, there's some clarity you can see. Now, if you're like, hey, you can't judge a book by its cover. I get it. But you can't judge a book by reading it. And John is saying, do some reading. Test the spirits. What are they saying? How are they living? Like, do you see what what what does that communicate? Because because. Listen, guys, how someone lives matters. It matters now, not perfection. I mean, if you say you have no sin. John's like, you're a liar. That's not true. All of us and pastors and teachers and leaders, we got sin. We got our own struggles and problems. He's not advocating for some kind of perfection. And don't put that on somebody else. But what he is saying is there should be some synergy between what you say and how you live. Like there should be some alignment here. You proclaim this. Do you live this? Because listen, how someone lives matters. And holy living is a validating evidence of the internal work of the spirit. You know, somebody born of God, you look. Look for the fruit. So John is saying, test what they say about Jesus. They get Jesus, right. Then he's saying, test how they live. Look. Look at their life. It will be evident. So. So a question you would pose if. Let's back up and get all four of them here. If you're if you're doing if you're testing the spirits as John is advocating for us to do. Do they get Jesus right? Ask that question. The next one is like, do they live a godly life? Like, is there a is there a synergy between what they proclaim and how they live? So you got the Jesus test, you got the life test. And then the next is the worldly test. You guys want to go on to the next one? Okay, so it'd be really awkward if you said in unison, no, but we're doing it anyways. Verse five they talking about the false teachers. They are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. It's an interesting statement. They are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. Uh, so he's saying false teachers are on Team World promoting worldly agendas and are embraced by a worldly audience. And John has already addressed this. So if you're reading this letter, I know as we kind of break it down, there may be some long gaps, but if you just got this letter, you just read it straight through. And not that long ago, he addresses worldliness. It's like, what does he mean by worldliness? And now he's he's getting into testing the spirits and looking at false teachers. It's like, well, what did he just say about worldliness? because he says they are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. Well, what what does that mean? Well, you go back to chapter two, verse fifteen. Here's what he said. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. So there's like, there's clear contrast between two different teams. Are you on Team World or are you on Team Father because there's there's different values and he goes into that for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life are kind of your status. Your confidence in this life is not from the father, but it's from the world. So he's like, hey, what team are you on? Here's what Team World looks like. Here's what team World values. So then he gets here to like test the spirits. He says they are from the world. Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. So there are teachers. There are teachers that in the name of Jesus, promote worldly living. Their teaching supports, endorses the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. God is actually just seen as a means to accomplish those desires. God is useful if it can satisfy the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. He's a tool to to get a different kind of prize. Of course you can like put a Christian spin on it if you want to promote the desires of the flesh. God is love. In fact, John says that we'll get to that soon. John is love. So how could God be against love? Love is love. And you can love, however. Or whoever you want. Sounds nice. God loves you and God wants you to be happy. So why would God be against anything that makes you happy? Sounds nice, but there's just twisting. Because God is love. But love isn't God. And he does want you happy. But those things won't make you happy. But there's this, this Christianity that's been distorted and twisted. It's been it's, it's a, it's a gospel message that's been packaged in the American dream to sell to the American consumer. But Jesus stamp on that, and it'll appeal to the desires of the flesh, not call them out. It'll appeal to the desires of the eyes, not rebuke them. It'll appeal to the pride of life, not condemn them. Uh. There's a twisting. In fact, you see this. Romans six one says this. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Do you know what he says right after this? By no means right. But why does he say this? Because this is a question people are asking. They're taking a gospel truth and twisting it to a false conclusion. Well, there's grace, therefore we can sin. It's okay. Now, it was bad before, but now that Christ has died on the cross, we have permission and license to sin and there's a distorting of the truth. Or here's another one. This was a passage we looked at at Easter. In First Corinthians fifteen it says, what do I gain if, humanly speaking? I fought with beasts at Ephesus. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. He made a lifestyle conclusion based on a doctrinal air. These people are not against Jesus. They are just denying the resurrection. And they're saying it doesn't matter how you live. Like this is all there is. So live it up. And here's what Paul says. Do not be what? Deceived. So the same warning that John has given us. You gotta be more discerning. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning. You're intoxicated by these lies. And there you're under the influence of these lies. For some of you have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame, but there's this crafty twisting and listen guys, a sign of false teaching is that it makes sin not seem that bad and holiness not seem that important. It's not that big a deal. You don't need to do that. There's just kind of minimizing of sin and a minimizing of holiness, or a sign of false teaching, is that it makes much of this life and not much of the next life. It's not about delayed gratification. It's not about wait upon the Lord. It's about if it makes you happy, do it. It's this twisting of God's truth. Or let me put another one out there. There's another way that you see this expressed. There's also a type of Christian teaching that the world actually wants to hear. You know, he says that they are from the world, and therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. Like there is a type of Christian message that the world applauds. Like, do more of that. I'd call it like therapeutic moralism, not moralism, as in deny your desires of the flesh, because that's not very therapeutic, but but do good unto others. Help people out. Take care of the widow and the orphan, take care of the poor, take care of the homeless. And it's like, all those are wonderful scriptural things like don't say like Jakes against that. It's twenty five, thirty five bag pickup day. Let me just give that announcement like yes and amen to all those things. But if that's like the tip of the spear of your ministry, here's what's going to happen. The world's going to love you. They're going to be thankful for you and continue to help make our world a better place. But as soon as you start saying, hey, there is one name given under heaven unto men, that what you must be saved and is Jesus Christ. No one comes to the father except through Christ. You start talking like that. You're going to lose some world points. You see this in acts four, the disciples of Jesus healed a man. Uh. And the leaders didn't like it, caused an upset upstairs a little bit, and they rebuked them. But here's their rebuke. We don't have so much of a problem that you're healing people. But stop teaching in the name of Jesus. That was their that was their command. Like you, you can help as many people as you want. Go ahead and heal people. That's not the problem. But you need to stop talking about Jesus. Listen, teachers that let the world edit their message for worldly approval are false teachers. Don't say this. You can say that, but. But don't say this and take that out. If you could avoid these passages and focus on these passages. It's not a good sign because the call to the prophet, the call to the preacher is to communicate the words of God unedited by man. Like you see this in the Old Testament. Here's some instructions for prophets. Deuteronomy eighteen eighteen I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak them all that I command him. You're going to say what I want you to say. Here's another one. This is Jeremiah. Jeremiah is getting called into ministry. And he said this. Ah, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak. It's what you're doing now. Uh, for I am only a youth. The section. Get that over here. I'm only a youth. But the Lord said to me. Do not say I'm only a youth. For to all to whom I send you, you shall go. And whatever I command you, you shall speak. That's the job assignment. Go where I tell you to go. Say what I tell you to say. So Jeremiah is like. I don't want to. God's like, I don't care. All right. But then he says this. Do not be afraid of them. Why would he say that? Because where I'm sending you to and what I'm telling you to say is not going to go well. You're going to need courage to do what I'm calling you to do. Let's look at Ezekiel. And he said to me, son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it and it was in my mouth, as sweet as honey. And he said to me, son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them like, this is the job. Go tell them what I tell you to tell them. Here's Paul's defending himself in his ministry, this second Corinthians four, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Why would he say that? Because it's hard. A lot of resistance. But we renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to what? Tamper with God's word. We're not tampering. We're not editing. We're not changing it. But by an open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. We're just the the messenger here. So listen, and honestly, I'll tell you this one because we were just in Daniel not that long ago, but in Daniel, you're looking at the Israelites captivity in Babylon. Well, in Jeremiah twenty eight and twenty nine, you could read about the false prophet Hananiah, who was a contemporary of Jeremiah, uh, who and Jeremiah was telling the Israelites, like, make yourself at home. You're going to be in Babylon for a while. You got seventy years there, plant gardens, get married, have kids like buckle down. Hananiah came along and he's like, no, no, no, no. God told me something different. It's only going to be a couple of years. He'll get you out of there. No sweat. Well, he's the false prophet because he's telling people what they want to hear, not what God told him to hear. And there's this temptation to want to be liked, to want to say things that people like. In fact, Paul warns Timothy, there's going to come a day when people will find teachers to tell them what their itching ears already want to hear. And he's saying, your job is to to preach the Word of God. The worldly test is really a courage test. Are you willing to say hard things? Are you willing to say challenging things? Because this is what Paul tells Timothy as well. This is second Timothy familiar passage. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. That's what he's saying. Like Timothy, this is useful. It's useful for for correcting and challenging and rebuking. Like do that, preach it. Like this is where our authority lies. In fact, you get to acts four, like we already mentioned, there's this rebuke the disciples received of like, we don't care if you heal people, but stop talking about Jesus. Do you know what happened next? They went home and prayed for boldness to keep talking about Jesus like they just got arrested. They just got punished. They just got rebuked. But they circle up and be like, God help us do the very thing they tell us not to do. So a question you might want to ask in this charge to test the spirits is, is this teacher loved by the world? Like, is this does the world applaud what this teacher has to say? Does he ever say hard things and press back? So, so you got the Jesus test. You gotta get Jesus, right? You got the life test. Do you see the fruit of the spirit in the teacher? You got the worldly test. They're willing to say hard things, and then you got lastly, the Bible test. Let's look at verse six. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. That's a bold statement. Whoever knows God listens to us. And you're going to listen to what I have to say, right? I carry the words of God. I mean, and one question you might want to ask, well, who's us? Who's this us we're supposed to be listening to? Well, John's an apostle. In fact, you go back to how John opened this letter. He's given his credentials. Look at, uh, the opening of this letter, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, Jesus Christ. The life was made manifest, and we have seen it. Him and testified to it. Him, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father, and was made manifest to us. Us is the us. Again, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So he's saying, I got credentials, I was there, I was with Jesus, I walked with Jesus, I touched Jesus like I'm a credible source here. So if somebody disagreeing with me, that's a problem. And you can put Paul in this category of apostles too, who led Paul to Jesus? Jesus. That's a good resume. So as the apostles were obedient to their call. Go make disciples. Take what I've taught you and you and you teach others. They would do that, and others would come in and twist their teachings, undermine their teachings. This is a big fight over truth. In fact, we looked at this passage last week. This is Jude three and four, beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith. Fight for the faith. Defend the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed, crept into the church unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who perverted the grace of our God into sensuality. Kind of permission for sin and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Guys, that fight is not over. That wasn't just a first century fight. Like, oh, aren't you glad that that's over. It's not over. There's still a fight for truth. There's still an undermining of God's Word. There's still a twisting of God's word that we need to contend for the faith. And in that fight, we fight to preserve the apostles teaching. We seek to listen to it and understand it and interpret it and, and, and get it right. Christianity is about preserving the truth, not adapting the truth to our culture, not developing the truth, not expounding on the truth. It's about preserving the apostles teaching. In fact, just this week I read, um, there was a bishop of the United Church of Christ Church of who? Christ, because they claim in the name of Jesus, this is a bishop in the United Church of Christ. And she said this, quote, we need a third testament because the first two are problematic. It's the Old Testament, the New Testament. And then she went on to talk about some socially controversial things the Bible says. And then she says, tear those pages out. To which the room cheered. And there's this thinking that, like, this is outdated. We've we've come so far. We've evolved. We've learned so much. Like, yes, some of it's good, but some of it's not. And guess who gets to determine what's good and what's not? We do. But John is telling believers test others by us. Do they line up with us? Are they saying what we said? Are they supporting what we taught? Like run it through a Bible filter. How's that line up with God's word? The Bible test is an alignment test. Do we align up with the apostles teachings. And this is like the Bereans. We mentioned them last time, but we didn't read it. Let's let's actually read it. Acts seventeen the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea because it wasn't going well. Thessalonica. And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue, which was their custom. Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. So what was their. What was so noble about them? They searched the scriptures. They were like, well, is that right? Does that line up? Like, that's that's an honorable thing that we're called to. Guys, this is what this is what drove the Reformation. I don't think it's lining up with the Bible. I think the church is doing some things, and I think that's against the Word of God. It's no coincidence that the Reformation and the printing press line up because when people got access to the Word of God, it's like, I got some questions now. This doesn't seem to be lying. Like we are from God. And whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. I don't know if we're listening to them like there's a disconnect here. In fact, William Tyndale famously said this. He says, I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life ere many years, I will. Um. Cause I will cause the boy that driveth the plough to know more Scripture than you. If I get a Bible in people's hands. Now. Tyndale was strangled and burned in fifteen thirty six for his work on the English Bible. Let's get. Let's get the word of God in people's hands. And I'm not saying that, uh, other writings aren't helpful if they help us understand this, help us better clarify this, but this is what we come back to. We always come back to the Word of God, which means attacks often center around the Word of God. Look at Second Timothy. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these. These are like the new heavens and the new earth. Be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. So while we're waiting for the new heavens and new earth, be diligent and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters, when he speaks in them. Of these matters, there are some things in them that are hard to understand. I am so thankful that's in the Bible. Like Peter saying, hey, I've read some of Paul's letters, I get it, these are tricky. Um, which I'm like, boy, your letters really confusing to know. All right. He says there are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable. What twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. Now, this is important. He's Peter is counting Paul's writing in the same category as Scripture, as the other scripture. Like it's the same level of authority. And it's like people are taking those and they're twisting it and you know it. He's like warning us it's going to happen. So here's what we need to do. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the heir of lawless people and lose your own stability. So it's the same warning that John's given us, hey, false teachers are going out in number, so don't believe everything you hear. He's saying you know this, so be prepared. Don't don't get carried away with the heir of lawless people who are twisting these scriptures. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Guys, listen. If if the fight is on the battlefield of truth, we gotta know the truth, right? Perhaps we need to feel the sting of the rebuke in Hebrews five. Here's what he says about this. We have much to say, and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. I mean dull of hearing. You don't have a hunger to learn. You're not craving the Word of God. Like when it comes to the truth. You're kind of like, huh? It's hard to teach people that have that kind of posture to the Word of God. Yeah. For though by this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone else to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. Like you haven't grown in knowledge by this time. You ought to know more than you know. But because you've had this kind of attitude to the Word of God, you're. You're prone to be led astray by twisted doctrine. He says you need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child who's susceptible to deception. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of what? Discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Guys, listen. Lies are prevalent all around us. Television shows and commercials and podcasts and books and pulpits. And they're crafty. They're going to be custom made for the desires of your flesh and the desires of your eyes and the pride of life. But we are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. So we need to know what the usses are saying. So here's a question. When we're testing false teachers, does this teacher expound the Bible? Do they teach the Bible? Do they explain the teachings of Scripture? So you get the Jesus test. You get the life test, you get the worldly test. You got the Bible test, John kind of fathers like be on your guard. Like realize the real threat of this. So let me get practical real quick and I get get done. If you're trying to pick a church, maybe you came to baptism Sunday, you thought it was a good time. You came back, you're checking this out, or college students or teenagers in this room. You're going to grow up. You're going to get a job. You're going to move somewhere. You got to find a church. Here's what to look for. Do they get Jesus right? Do you see godliness in the life of their leaders? Will they say hard things and press back against the ways of the world? Do they teach the Bible right? Look for those things. Not I love the music, the coffee's great, the cool facilities. It's not what you're looking for. Or when do I leave a church? If they don't get Jesus right, get out. If they tolerate unrepentant sin in the lives of their leaders, get out If they're too cowardly to say hard things into a sinful world, leave. If they don't teach the Bible and explain the Bible, leave. The church I hope for us as a church. One we're not gullible. But also we're not arrogant. We're confident because we're confident. We're devoted like we know the Word of God and we love the Word of God. We're aware of the threats. So we're so we're testing everything. We're running it through a Bible filter. But but we're also not afraid because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. But is he in you? These these are tests for false teachers. But listen, they can also be used for self-reflection. Do you get Jesus right? Do you see the evidence of the spirit in your life? Do you like. Do you hate sin? Are you on Team World? Chasing after the desires of your flesh and your eyes and the pride of life? We're on Team Jesus. Do you listen to and obey the Word of God? Because ultimately, our hope is not that we would just be more discerning. The hope is that we would actually be children of God. That he who is greater than he who is in the world is actually in us. And when he who is greater than he who is in the world is in us, his superior strength will also be evident because it's not just, oh, when Christ comes, then victory is clear. Yes, he will come. He will conquer. He will win. But John's talking like right now. It'll be evident when he's in you. Because when he's in you, his superiority is clear. I would rather have God. He gives better peace. He gives better joy. He gives better contentment. I found better belonging in him. I have a better future in him. He's shown as better in us. May that be true of us. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would indeed wake us up from a drunken stupor. If we are intoxicated with this world, you would give us discernment that we would get your son right. That we would have your spirit in our life directing our life style. That we would not be afraid to go against the world and that we would treasure your word. We pray this in your name. Amen.