The Doctrinal Test (2)

The Doctrinal Test (2)
1 John 4:4-6

Introductory Thoughts

· The Doctrinal Test—the Test Most Neglected—the second part of the test deals with those who teach false doctrine, rather than the doctrine itself, and it also deals with the relationship and interchange with True Believers
· Political correctness tells us that to identify false believers and make a distinction between them and true believers is to miss the mark and be unChristlike.
· The Truth is, that nothing could be more Christlike than to speak the Truth in Love, and right here, John most certainly does so. This is one of the strongest “us” vs. “them” passages in the Bible.

1. Us—1 John 4:4 "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.

a. Language—“In the Greek text, each of the three verses (4-6) begins with an emphatic personal pronoun (4, hymeis) referring to his Christian readers in general, they (5, autoi), referring to the false teachers, and we (6, hemeis) referring to himself as representative of the authoritative apostles…” Stott, 160

(1) Language—“…have overcome…” –perfect tense

b. To Whom We Belong—“you are of God…”

(1) You are—they are not
(2) Part of the identification (not all), is true doctrine.
(3) Other Examples—1 Cor 15:1-4, Gal 1:6-9, Titus 1:9-11, Mat 24:14
(4) “…protection against falsehood and victory over it are ascribed both to an objective standard of doctrine and to the indwelling Spirit who illumines our minds to grasp and apply it, for ‘unless the Spirit of wisdom is present, there is little or no profit in having God’s Word in our hands’ (Calvin)…”

c. What we have done (through Christ) “…and have overcome them…”
(1) Accomplished fact
(2) How did we overcome?
(a) By not being deceived—Eph 4:14-16, Acts 20:27-31
(b) By Refuting falsehood—Tit 1:10-11
(3) Two overcomings have been mentioned
(a) Morally—2:13-14 (same word)
(b) Intellectually (here)
(4) In general, overcoming is what the Christian life is all about.
Rev 12:10-11 "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

(5) The battlefield—in the mind—2 Cor 10:4-6
(6) The enemy—the devil and his minions—Eph 6:10-12

d. The Reason We Won—“greater is He…”
(1) Often misquoted and misapplied
(2) In context of doctrinal conflict

2. Them— They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them

a. Who are “they?”
(1) The False teachers
(2) Their followers
(3) The world in general

b. What does “…of the world…” mean?—Rom 8:5-7—according to

(1) A Lost Person “Minds” the Flesh—"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh… The Greek means, “to set the mind,” and this refers to the way the mind of a lost person naturally works. Their mind is on the flesh. The Mind of the Flesh dominates the lost person—
(2) “The first thing about the non-Christian, therefore, is that because he is dominated by his fallen human nature, he is a man who is deliberately interested in, and concerned about ‘the things of the flesh.’” (Lloyd-Jones, page 5)

To mind the things of the flesh includes political interests without God, social interests without God, cultural interests without God. That is what the expression means. Paul has in mind man’s highest pursuits, his philosophy, his art, his culture, his music, that never get beyond the flesh. God is outside it all, He is excluded from it; there is nothing spiritual about it. Men may write very cleverly, and in a very learned and interesting and entertaining manner about social conditions they can tell us how to ameliorate bad conditions, how to improve them; they can write eloquently about forming some sort of Utopia, they can produce masterpieces of art and of literature and of music; but there is no soul there, there is no God there, there is no Spirit there. It is all ‘after the flesh.’ (Lloyd-Jones, 6)

(3) It is universal among the lost—The banker, the artist, the teacher, the scholar, the doctor, the government official, the great writer, etc., if they are without Christ in their life, their mind is dominated by the flesh as well. Their sin and rebellion may be more intellectual and less obvious to the common observer, but they are every bit the rebel and sinner that the lowest man on earth is—they are just neater about it.
(4) The Mind dominated by the flesh is dead. Rom 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Relate the story of Pitt and Wilberforce, given in Lloyd-Jones, page 9-10
(5) The Mind of Flesh Hates God—Rom 8:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."
(a) Total Alienation to God—Col 1:21 "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled"
(b) Lost people hate God—the World system hates God—John 15:18-19 ""If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
(c) Religious Lost people hate the real God.

(6) The Mind of Flesh is not subject to the Law of God. Rom 8:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."
The Mind of Flesh cannot be subject to the Law of God— Rom 8:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."

(1) The world (lost people) will hear them—not all the world, but some—
(2) Their mental orientation is to the world
(3) Our allies are not world religions in the battle against atheists and secularists. The world religions are really on their side
(4) World religions—liberal Christians, pagans, cults, etc.—these all belong to the world.
(5) The world’s ruler—the Prince of the power of the air

John 12:31 ""Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

John 14:30 ""I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."

2 Cor 4:4 "whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."

Eph 2:2 "in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,"

Rev 11:15 "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!""

c. Why they say what they say—they speak as the world. Their doctrine tends to adhere to the world’s creed.
(1) “Un-god’s” God
(2) Dethrones and humanizes Christ
(3) Removes faith from the public square
(4) Salvation is by human effort
(5) Everyone is included—inclusiveness, no Hell, no retribution. All heroes go to Heaven, all little old ladies are OK with God, etc.
(6) Their teaching rewards human pride.

d. The final evidence—the world speaks well of them!

Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.


3. Us vs. Them—The Test of Right Doctrinal Fellowship—6 We 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."

a. Remember, “We” is emphatic in the original language—“…WE are of God…”
b. The standard—the apostles’ doctrine—“…we are of God…”
(1) Here we go with doctrine again.
(2) This is, plainly and simply, the standard
(3) A church will do nothing for God unless it is operating off the only standard—the Bible
(4) Look at the early church—Acts 2:42 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers."

c. The Test—“…He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us….”
(1) This is the evidence of true salvation
(2) This is the evidence of a true teacher
(3) This is the essence of the doctrinal test.

d. The Result—“…By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."