(Title by Sean O’Donnell and outline by Danny Akin)
1. Are You Following False Prophets?
1 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. 1 John 4:1 (ESV)
1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul . . . 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, . . . So you shall purge the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (ESV)
2. Are You Confessing the True Jesus?
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 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. 1 John 4:2-3 (ESV)
3 . . . I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 1:3 (ESV)
3. Are You Trusting in the Greater Spirit?
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 (ESV)
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. John 12:31 (ESV)
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment . . . 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:8-11 (ESV)
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:5 (ESV)
4. Are You Listening to the Right Teachers?
5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 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. 1 John 4:5-6 (ESV)
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 1 Timothy 4:1 (ESV)
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God . . . John 8:47 (ESV)
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15 (ESV)