A. A faithful child of God will:
(1) Love one another, Love the brethren.
(2) Support the church, which is made up of members of the family.
(3) Want to do things together.
(4) They want to work, serve and help one another.
(5) They are most interest first in serving Christ and seeing the Gospel preached.
(6) They will want their church to be the best possible and it will be a priority in their lives to support the Lord's church in attendance and giving.

B. FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST GIVES US SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT.

1. In these verses we see the divine method by which we may determine that we have the Spirit of God and HOW we may recognize the spirit of delusion.

2. The believer knows that God dwells in him by the Holy Spirit and he wants to follow the Word of God. John warns that the believer cannot trust every spirit, for even the spirit of Satan and of Antichrist can "profess" to be true to the word of God.

3. It is important that Christians be able to distinguish between the Spirit of God and the spirit of error, because these ministers of the devil can speak words that will lead many to believer that they truly are ministers of the Gospel.

4. Satan can quote more Scripture than most church members, and sad but so, most teachers of error know more about the Bible than many born again believers know.

           They study to prove their points of error, whereas true believers study to feed the soul. What is the Christian to do?

          The World of God however, gives us warning and instructions as to who we are to fellowship with.

          John CALLS US TO CAUTION AND SCRUTINY ABOUT THE SPIRITS AND SPIRITUAL PROFESSORS THAT HAVE ARISEN.

A. Be Cautious. (v.1a)
1. Regard not, trust not, follow not, every pretender to the Spirit of God, or every professor of vision, or inspiration, or revelation from God.

2. Some truth is always the foundation of the counterfeits. There are those who abuse truth mixing it with error for their on grains or purposes which are not of God.

3. God has given us His written Word, whereby we can try the spirits. v

a. God sends true preachers to teach the Word of God. But you ask can we know if they speak for the Lord or are imposters. There are many who pervert God's Word, and all false teachers claim to be speaking God's Word.

b. God is warning us that there are pretenders who claim to have the Spirit and speak for God who are not of the Lord.

ILLUS: Across America, many stand behind pulpits, microphones and in front of TV cameras and proclaim a false Gospel to millions....and millions believe. Millions follower. Some of the most dedicated people to religion are those who have been won into the cults and false religions of today. The cults are growing greater in number every day. Most of their converts are people who have a background of being raised to some degree in a Protestant, Baptist, or evangelical church. The Watchman Fellowship, says 87 % of the converts of the cults have a Christian background.

B. God says each of us to try the Spirits.
1. It means to "SCRUTINIZE" (verse 1b) Means: to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: -allow, discern, examine, try.

2. Examine the claims that are laid to the Spirit. v

a. The word Spirit: "pneuma" {pnyoo'-mah}; It is the same word which when capitalized is the name of the Holy Spirit the Third Member of the Trinity.

b. It is the Spirit of God that leads the true believer. The Spirit of God indwells the truly Born again Christian. It is the spirit that gives us discernment, understanding and the ability to apply the Word of God to our hearts and lives. c. Every false preacher or teachers claims to speak in the Spirit. Today, as no greater time in History men are claiming to possess divine power. d. God has given of His Spirit in these latter ages of the world (the age of the Church), but not to all who profess to have Him and follow Him. e. To all true believers is given the ability, by the Spirit, to discern the truth from the error and discretion in choosing whom to believer and follow by the Word of God. The reason given for this testing of the spirits is that there are many false prophets out there. If that was true in John's day, how much more so today? v

C. One of the benefits of Fellowship with Christ gives us spiritual discernment.

A. God purposed, when the fullness of time was come to send forth His Son "made of a woman, made under the law," partaker of our flesh and blood.
1. He is the only perfect man that has ever lived on this earth and He is Jesus Christ.

2. How quickly men can lose their sight of God! Give to any nation comparatively clear light on the nature and character and relations of God, and in a generation of two we shall find that the light is faded, and the image is blurred.

3. Men began to worship the sun as if it were the brightness of God. Then they thought of the nobler beasts of the earth as images of Him. Soon they made symbols of reptiles and creeping things, and at last sunk to making idols which expressed, in their forms and features, the vilest human passions.

4. But men have proved quite as ready to lose the truth about themselves. Indeed, if man will not keep the truth about God, they shall not keep the truth about anything else---at least about anything moral. How men sunk from the standard of humanity Paul has described in Romans 1.

5. Then God sent forth His Son, the ideal man, the perfect One, God himself, incarnate in man.

6. God made truth so simple. So simple even a little child could understand it. And yet, religious men, lost in their sins, rejected the Truth of God and believed a lie. 7. Folks if we could not know the Truth, then this verse has no meaning and God is toying with us.

God says, their are many false spirits gone out into the world. Sad to say, these false spirits have had great success.

B. So, what is the acid test whereby we may know the true Spirit from he false?
1. How can we recognize the truth and the true minister, the true Bible teacher? The Word of God answers: "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God."
a. Does that mean every person who confesses that a person named Jesus Christ was born, lived and dies, a historical figure like Herod, Pilate, or the Caesars?

b. No, that is not the meaning here. There are many historians and scholars who, who are unbelievers, who teach that Jesus Christ lived; but they do not believe in His Deity and His Incarnation.

c. Does it mean that if a person professes and teaches that Jesus Christ is God incarnate in Flesh He is to be believed without further question? Again the answer is NO.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

2. You can not separate Christ from His Word, God is the Word. You can not believe in God and reject God's Word. You can not say "I believe in God, but I do not accept what God says."

          The greatest threat to Truth today is not the money loving TV preachers and the cults. The greatest threat to Truth, comes from those who have it, who are indwell by the spirit of God, and yet, deny the Truth by the way they live their lives.

          For many in this town the first sermon they will even hear is the sermon of your life. That's where Truth begins, that's when truth is shown and demonstrated.

          The Greatest threat to Truth is a Worldly minded believer.

          Fellowship with Christ gives us spiritual discernment.

A. Here is the true secret of the mastery of detecting error. "Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."
1. To be "of God" implies that God is "in us", dwelling in us as the spiritual presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

2. So our Lord promised and assured His disciples (John. 14:16-17,23).

The living Christ is God with us in order that He may be "for" us.
The Holy Spirit is God with us in order that He may be "in" us, ever at the springs of thought, and feeling, and motive, and action.
How different is the believer and the unbeliever.

3. The first spirit we should try is the spirit in us. The spirit that governs how we make decisions about how we live our daily lives.

B. THE BELIEVER (v.4)

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

           True believers will not be misled for long!!! True believers will be tried, YES, they will be tempted, YES, but they will overcome.

          "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." (John 10:4-5)

1. It is a tremendous thing to be a child of God. When one exercises faith in the shed blood and finished work of Jesus Christ, instantaneously that person is born of God and takes up his dwelling "in" God, and God dwells in him.

2. That very moment he becomes partaker of Divine nature, possessor of the Holy Ghost, seated in the heaven lies in Christ Jesus, sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.

3. In this verse we have assurance that the relationship between the believer and God guarantees victory.

           The believer belongs to God, God belongs to the believer. His is our Father, we are His children, and Jesus is our Savior, our elder brother. We are heirs of God, Joint-heirs with Jesus. We may sometimes think that we are standing alone.

           There may be times when it seems that we are the only person in our community who is truly saved, and therefore we think we face the opposition of the enemy alone; but beloved, be not discouraged, for every believer together with God forms a majority over any crowd. Guaranteed victory is our based on His promise. C. THE UNBELIEVER ( Verses 4-6)

1. False teachers are branded. First John addresses the spirit of Antichrist and in verse 5 speaks of true believers who have a different spirit. Verse 6 begins with "We" and that means John and those who have trusted in Jesus Christ for their salvation.

2. True believers are not led about by every wind of doctrine, they are not confounded and confused because they have the Holy Spirit, and He immediately recognized false doctrine and false teachers. He has the Holy Spirit indwelling him. 3. The masses have always gone after error, following the line of least resistance and going after things that are most spectacular and entertaining.

          The world hears the false preacher because he preaches to please the world. He is of the world. The world will hear him but the believer will not.

          Fellowship with Christ gives us spiritual discernment.

CONCLUSION: The evidence John gives of proof that one possesses the Holy Spirit and not the spirit of error is that the Holy Spirit readily confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that He was born of a virgin, and that He was God incarnate and he follows Christ. The spirit of the anti-christ, works in the hearts of men. He maligns the Truth. He gives false hope to millions, of trusting in religion, in a false Gospel.