1. False doctrines and religions have their ultimate source in demonic spirits, not human ideologies. Behind every attack on God's word are seducing spirits propagating lies.
2. Any doctrine that contradicts scripture, no matter how benign it may seem, is either from the Holy Spirit or demonic spirits. There is no middle ground.
3. Throughout history, people have sacrificed to idols and false gods unknowingly worshipping demons instead. All religions besides the truth of Christianity are demonic operations aimed at opposing God.
5. June MemoryVerse:
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this, that HeWho
began a good work in you will carry it
on to completion until the day of
Jesus Christ.
6. Remember to Pray For
The Committee On Committees
Kendall Smith, Chairman
Beth Aldridge, David Gibbs,
Sherye Green, Mike Lowe,
Chris Maddux, Jim Merritt, Jr.,
Elizabeth Rich, EddyWaller
15. 1 John 4:1-6 NKJV
1 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.
16. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is of God, 3 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.
17. 4You are of God, little children, and
have overcome them, because He
Who is in you is greater than he who is
in the world. 5They are of the world.
Therefore they speak as of the world,
and the world hears them.
18. 6We 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 4:1-6 NKJV
20. 1Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in
latter times some will depart from the
faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits
and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking
lies in hypocrisy, having their own
conscience seared with a hot iron,
21. Falling away from the faith why?
• They will have come to hear the faith,
perhaps to understand the faith,
obviously not to believe it but being
exposed to the truth they fall away from
it like those in Hebrews 6.
Why?
22. Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV
4 For it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have tasted the
heavenly gift, and have become
partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have
tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the age to come,
23. 6 if they fall away,to renew them
again to repentance, since they
crucify again for themselves the Son
of God, and put Him to an open
shame.
Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV
24. 1Timothy 4:1b
1b giving heed to deceiving spirits and
doctrines of demons,
• That's the problem, you've got
demon spirits whose goal is
deception, concocting lies to
assault the truth of God.
25. Now the means by which they use to
propagate these lies is in verse 2,
1Timothy 4:2
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their own conscience seared with a
hot iron,
26. They go on merrily propagating their
lies without so much as a twinge of
conscience because their conscience
is like scar tissue having been burned,
having been cauterized, it feels
absolutely nothing, they feel no
conviction, they feel no remorse.
28. John MacArthur was having a
conversation with a prominent person
one day and John said, "What you're
telling me is not human."
The man replied, “I know that.”
29. "There are only two
possibilities...John said...it's either
from the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) or
it's from demonic spirits (unholy
spirit). God has already declared
Himself in HisWord so the only thing
left is demonic spirits."
30. You cannot consider any attack on
Scripture, any assault that causes
people to doubt or distort or deny the
truth of God to be benign, or even to
be human, for that matter.
31. These passages (1Timothy 4:1-2 and
1 John 4:1-6) emphatically link false
doctrine with demonism as its
source...doctrines of demons devised
by deceitful or seducing spirits and
propagated by hypocritical liars who
are unconscionable.
32. They have literally been cauterized by
the powers of hell and by the constant
repetition of their lives so that they
feel nothing.
James 3:15 says the same thing.
33. James 3:15 NKJV
15This wisdom does not descend from
above, but is earthly (the world),
sensual (the flesh), demonic (the
devil).
(There are only two kinds of wisdom.)
34. James 3:17-18 NKJV
17 But the wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing
to yield, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality and without hypocrisy.
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace by those who make peace.
35. That's the wisdom of God from above.
And it has all those virtues and it
produces righteous fruit.
This is the wisdom from above that
comes down from God.
36. The other wisdom is earthly, it is
natural but it is also demonic.
Any lofty view lifted up against the
knowledge of God has a spiritual
source.
37. These people are merely the tools
which the seducing spirits use to
propagate the lies against the truth of
God.
• You can blame the hypocritical liars
who proclaim that, but behind the
human is the demonic.
38. The teacher is only a mouthpiece for
seductive spirits and they have a
powerful influence on the world.
If Satan and his imps can get a person
to believe a lie, they can control their
life.
39. Obviously, of the billions that are alive
in the world today, the vast majority
of them are under the full sway of the
lies of seducing spirits, true Christians
are a very small minority.
40. This is a very successful strategy and
Satan basically is the god of this age,
the prince of this world and he rules
over men in this world because they
have bought into his lies.
• They take many forms but all of
them counter to theWord of God.
41. 1 Corinthians 10:20 NKJV
20The things which the Gentiles
sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and
not to God, and I do not want you to
have fellowship with demons.
43. There is no form of religion, there is
no information in the world that
speaks to the issues of time and
eternity and salvation that is benign.
It is either the power of the truth of
God, or the power of satanic lies.
44. You can't ever make an easy truce
with error because it is not static, it is
not inert and it is energized by the
forces of hell.
45. Paul says an idol has no reality, people may
think this is the goddess, Diana, or they may
think they're worshiping some other god, but
that god does not exist.
• Demons, however, do exist who have
concocted this worship as an assault on the
truth of God to capture men's souls in a
fortress that becomes their prison and
ultimately their tomb.
46. Anything other than the truth, any
ideology, any philosophy, any theory, any
viewpoint, any religion other than the
truth is demonic.
This is not just NewTestament teaching.
(See Leviticus 17:6-7)
47. Leviticus 17:6-7 NKJV
6 And the priest shall sprinkle the
blood on the altar of the LORD at the
door of the tabernacle of meeting,
and burn the fat for a sweet aroma to
the LORD.
48. 7They shall no more offer their (goat)
sacrifices to demons, after whom they
have played the harlot.This shall be a
statute forever for them throughout
their generations.
Leviticus 17:6-7 NKJV
50. They're indicted by the Lord here for
being engaged in the worship of a
goat god which was essentially
worshiping, playing the harlot with
demons.
51. Deuteronomy 32:15-18The Message (MSG)
15-18 Jeshurun put on weight and bucked;
you got fat, became obese, a tub of lard.
He abandoned the GodWho made him,
he mocked the Rock of his salvation.
They made Him jealous with their foreign
newfangled gods,
and with obscenities they vexed Him no
end.
52. They sacrificed to no-god demons,
gods they knew nothing about,
The latest in gods, fresh from the market,
gods your ancestors would never call
“gods.”
You walked out on the RockWho gave you your
life,
forgot the birth-GodWho brought you into
the world.
Deuteronomy 32:15-18The Message (MSG)
53. They sacrificed to demons who were
not God.
Psalm 106:37 essentially says much
the same thing.
54. Psalm 106:34-39 NKJV
34 They did not destroy the peoples,
Concerning whom the LORD had
commanded them,
35 But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
55. 36 They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37 They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
38 And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of
Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
56. 39 Thus they were defiled by their
own works,
And played the harlot by their own
deeds.
Psalm 106:34-39 NKJV
57. So, any form of religion other than the truth is a
demonic operation.
• Any world religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam,
you name it, any religion of any animistic tribe
anywhere, any form of pseudo-Christianity...
Jehovah'sWitnesses, Mormons, Christian
Science, you name it…That's a demonic system
because it's either from the Spirit of God, or
demons - there's no middle ground.
58. Revelation 16:12-16 NKJV
Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up
12Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river Euphrates, and its water
was dried up, so that the way of the kings
from the east might be prepared.
59. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like
frogs coming out of the mouth of the
dragon (Satan), out of the mouth of
the beast (the Antichrist), and out of
the mouth of the false prophet
(cohort of the Antichrist).
60. 14 For they are spirits of demons,
performing signs, which go out to the
kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of
that great day of God Almighty.
61. 15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed
is he who watches, and keeps his
garments, lest he walk naked and they see
his shame.”
16 And they gathered them together to the
place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.
Revelation 16:12-16 NKJV
62. This is vivid imagery - frogs are
viewed as slimy subterranean
creatures, symbolic of demons.
• Out of the mouth of these three
come these slimy subterranean
frog spirits-it's just a way to speak
of them with disdain.
63. Verse 14 says they are spirits of
demons.
Performing signs they go out to the
kings of the whole world to gather
them together for the war of the
great day of God, the Almighty.
64. It's going to be in the end of the age that
demons come out, seduce the world to come
and make war against God and that war, of
course, as you know, according to verse 16
will be in a place in the Hebrew called Har-
Magedon, Armageddon, the final conflict, the
great end holocaust where Jesus comes back
and wins the great victory.
66. The great battle of Armageddon will
be a battle that is generated by
demon powers literally coming out of
the mouth, as it were, of Satan, the
Antichrist and the false prophet.
67. They are frog-like, unclean spirits,
deceiving demons who delude and
seduce the world into taking an
insane act, an insane suicide march to
Israel to attempt to stop Christ from
setting up His Kingdom.
68. Revelation 19 says Christ comes down,
destroys them all.
• But the folly and the idiocy of
Armageddon will be a result of the
seduction of demon spirits.
In the meantime, Satan & his demons use
many different approaches.
69. Sometimes atheism, sometimes
agnosticism, sometimes polytheism, cults,
idols, perversions of Christianity, whatever
the form.
• These are the deceptions of the devil
and he will adjust and suit those
deceptions to the environment of
anybody.
70. • If you grow up in a country familiar
with Christianity, he'll expose you
to perverted forms of Christianity.
• If you grow up in another country
not exposed to Christianity, he will
seduce you by whatever religion
dominates that place.
71. These are what Scripture calls
destructive (damnable) heresies,
heresies that damn people.
72. 2 Peter 2:1-2 NKJV
1 But there were also false prophets
among the people, even as there will be
false teachers among you, who will
secretly bring in destructive heresies, even
denying the LordWho bought them, and
bring on themselves swift destruction.
73. 2 And many will follow their destructive
ways (sensuality), because of whom (false
prophets -demons) the way of truth will be
blasphemed (maligned).
2 Peter 2:1-2 NKJV
74. There is the strategy.
Satan brings damning heresies and he
attacks the way of the truth.
This is the battle and this is why Paul says
the church has to be the pillar and ground
of the truth.
75. Demonic deception leaves no Christian doctrine
unattacked.
• If you want to espouse the authority of
Scripture, hypocritical liars representing
seducing spirits and doctrines of demons
will come and attack the authority of
Scripture, attack its inerrancy, attack its
inspiration, or attack its true interpretation.
76. • If you affirm the virgin birth of Jesus
Christ, along will come some seducing
spirits through their human
instruments and attack the virgin birth.
• If you espouse the sinless life of Jesus
Christ, some will come and attack that
too.
77. There are simple systems of delusion,
there are complex systems of
delusion.
78. There are some that are anti-Christian
like Islam, and there are some that are
pro-Christian who call themselves
Christians and yet they produce a
seducing, destructive, damning
message.
79. We're not just talking about Islam,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism
and the other world religions, but
spiritism in any form, all those things
attack the truth.
80. One of the things that is a
responsibility of a believer is to be a
soldier in the battle.
• The battle for truth is the most
important battle because if we lose
the truth, then what other message
do we have?
81. The true church is made up of people
who believe the true Gospel - the
truth of God.
John is going to give us some criteria
by which we can discern the spirit of
truth from the spirit of error.
82. We begin with a command to test,
and then we look at the need to test,
and finally we look at how to test.
The command to test, verse 1,
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit."
83. That's a command.
Don't be gullible.
In 1 John 3:24 he is talking about the Holy
Spirit and he's saying that we know by this
that He abides in us by the SpiritWhom
He's given us.
84. Don't believe every spirit is the Holy
Spirit.
• People say today, "Oh, I'm listening
for the Spirit of God to speak to me,"
very dangerous stuff. If you want to
hear the Spirit of God speak, open
the Bible, that's where He spoke.
85. 1 John 4:1 literally could be translated,
“Stop believing every spirit. This can't
go on. You can't just buy into all of it.”
• Actually the form of the Greek verb
here indicates the forbidding of an
action already going on.
• Stop it!
86. Don't believe everything you hear on Christian
radio & Christian television.
Don't believe everything you read that purports
to be from God.
Be skeptical.
• Be like the noble Bereans (Acts 17:10-12) and
search the Scripture daily to see if it's so.
87. You know, false teachers don't like
that, they don't want to be scrutinized
by you searching the Bible.
They don't want you to treat them
with skepticism.
88. False teachers do not want to be
scrutinized, they don't want to be
tested, they don't want to be held to
account.
We're commanded...do not believe
every spirit, stop that now!
89. The word test here is dokimazo, a
wonderful NewTestament word.
• Really a word taken out of metallurgy
where metal was assayed as to its
value, silver and gold, or metal was
tested as to its strength, put through
fire for such evaluation.
90. Put everything through the fire...put
everything to the test, you've got to be
discerning.
• You've got to make sure that everything
stands the accurate test.
• Test it...present tense...go on testing
the spirits whether they're from God.
91. And what that basically means is not
chasing a demon and trying to figure
out where he is.
• What that means is to test what
you're hearing to determine whether
it comes from the Spirit of God
(know the truth) or other spirits.
92. The word dokimazo was also used in a
metaphoric sense for testing people
before they were assigned to very
prominent tasks or put in positions of
rulership and responsible leadership.
93. And there's only one way to test
everything - it's tested against the Bible,
which is the standard.
• This has nothing to do with talking to
the demon, it has to do with measuring
whatever is being purported to being
the truth from God against what we
know God has said.
94. Why do we have to do this?
Here we come to the need.
First talk about the command, and then
the need.
95. Here's the reason.
"Test the spirits to see whether they're from
God because...
Here's the need.
...many false prophets have gone out into the
world."
96. It is a big problem. Satan does not
want to be the opposition to the
Christian church, he wants to be
confused with the Christian church.
97. He doesn't want to come out as anti-Christian, he
wants to come out as pro-Christ, unlike in some
parts of the world where Satan is very anti-Christian
in the propagation and exaltation, for example, of
Islam, in many Muslim countries Christians are
imprisoned and even killed as an activity of Satan.
• But in America, Satan has found his way into the
church.
• He's taken over the Christian media in many
places and this is not a small problem.
98. A false prophet is a mouthpiece for
seducing spirits, a purveyor of doctrines of
demons and it's the origin that concerns
us.
• That's why we have to be so discerning.
We are called to discernment.
99. John MacArthur wrote a book with the
subtitle: "When the church loses the will to
discern."
• And we're there in this day - people don't
want to discern today because they don't
want to say anybody's wrong.
• It makes people feel bad.
100. This is the residual effect of the
psychological movement in the
church.
This is a big, big problem and we must
be discerning.
102. Sheep's clothing is wool, they come
dressed in a wool garment, that was
the garment of a prophet.
False prophets are dressed like
prophets “but inwardly they are
ravenous wolves."
103. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
says you've got to beware of them.
They're everywhere, subtle, clever,
deceptive, the enemies of the truth,
supernatural.
104. So John says, "Look, you have to be able to test
this."
The command to test, the reason to test
because false teachers are many and they are
everywhere.
And then John gives us three tests.
105. This is how you can determine.
• Number one, the confession of the
divine Lord, do they confess Jesus?
• Number two, possession of the divine
life, do they manifest what Jesus said in
Matthew 7, the fruit of righteousness?
• And thirdly, profession of the divine
law.
106. Do they manifest the evidence of divine
life and are they committed to the
divine law?
Do they have the right relationship to
the divine Lord?
107. It really boils down to three things:
1) Do they believe in the incarnation?
2) Do they give evidence of
regeneration? and
3) Do they submit to divine
revelation?
109. They might as well be put on the
shelf, taken with the injured and the
wounded into some hospital for all
the good they are in the war - in the
fight.
110. The premium is on the people who
know the truth and who are
discerning, and that puts the premium
on us and churches like us which seem
to be more rare maybe than in the
past.
111. That means that you stand in a very
important place within the Kingdom
of God today, you who know the
truth, you become the soldiers on the
front line for the truth.
What a glorious privilege this is.
112. It's very simple to understand the battle
that's going on in the world because it's a
battle between truth and lies.
The more truth you know, the more
important you are to the battle because
the more you bring to bear, the bigger
your gun.
113. Don't expect to be firing your weapon off
and not have a negative reaction from
people who are either in doubt, distortion,
or denial of the truth.
John knows how important it is for his
people and for ours to hold on to the
truth, to guard the treasure.
114. Jude said, "Contend, or fight, for the once-
for-all-delivered-to-the saints faith, the
truth." (Jude 1:3)
Paul said toTimothy, "Guard the
treasure." (see 2Timothy 1)
115. 2Timothy 1:6-7, 13-14 NKJV
6Therefore I remind you to stir up the
gift of God which is in you through the
laying on of my hands. 7 For God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of
power and of love and of a sound
mind.
116. 13 Hold fast the pattern of sound
words which you have heard from me,
in faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus. 14That good thing which was
committed to you, keep by the Holy
SpiritWho dwells in us.
2Timothy 1:6-7, 13-14 NKJV
117. So the first test that we learn from John in
regard to how we can test the spirits is the
Christology test.
Those who are true confess the divine Lord, the
full truth about Christ.
Then the second one -they confess the divine
life - possession of the divine life.
118. The first thing you look for is their
doctrine of incarnation.
The second thing you look for is
regeneration.
119. In the incarnation God becomes a
partaker of human nature.
In regeneration, man becomes a
partaker of the divine nature.
120. 1 John 4:4 NKJV
4 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.
121. 2 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV
3 His divine power has given to us all
things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of
HimWho called us by glory and virtue,
122. 4 by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious
promises, that through these you may
be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV
123. False teachers recognize their own
language.
• Lost souls have an affinity for error
and they have affinities for
demons, seducing spirits,
hypocritical lies - because they
have no apparatus for the truth.
124. But on the other hand, verse 6a says,
"We are of God. He who knows God
hears us; he who is not of God does
not hear us." (1 John 4:6a NKJV)
125. That's the final thing.
The evidence of their view of Christ, the
evidence of manifest fruit of regeneration
and the evidence of submission to Biblical
truth, that's what you're looking for in
discerning a true teacher.
126. When we use these tests, obviously
the more we know about Christ the
more we have seen the fruit of
righteousness and the more of the
Word of God we know, the better able
we are to exercise these tests.
127. 1 John 4:6 NKJV
6We 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.
128. Then verse 6 closes, "By this we know
the Spirit of truth and the spirit of
error." (1 John 4:6b NKJV)
129. Here's a benediction we close with.
Jude 1:2-7 NKJV
2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied
to you.
130. 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to
write to you concerning our common
salvation, I found it necessary to write
to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once
for all delivered to the saints.
131. 4 For certain men have crept in
unnoticed, who long ago were
marked out for this condemnation,
ungodly men, who turn the grace of
our God into lewdness and deny the
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus
Christ.
132. 5 But I want to remind you, though
you once knew this, that the Lord,
having saved the people out of the
land of Egypt, afterward destroyed
those who did not believe.
133. 6 And the angels (demons) who did
not keep their proper domain, but left
their own abode, He has reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness for
the judgment of the great day;
134. 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities
around them in a similar manner to these,
having given themselves over to sexual
immorality and gone after strange flesh,
are set forth as an example, suffering the
vengeance of eternal fire.
Jude 1:2-7 NKJV
136. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
137. Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died
in this life to pay the penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second
death explained in Revelation 21:8.
138. Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
139. Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God and he shall be My son.”
•Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept Jesus
as our Savior.
140. Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be
saved.”
141. If you have questions or would like to know more,
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at
601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/