Knowing God and Known by God (Part 1 of 2)

Testing the Spirits

The big issue throughout 1 John is how John presents the differences between those who are genuinely saved and those who are not. Genuine believers demonstrate the reality of their salvation by not continuing to walk in sin or darkness. They walk in the light, with no reason to hide their deeds. This is completely contrary to our natural tendency: when we do something wrong, we hide it, lie about it, and only show what is right in our lives. John says hiding sin is un-Christian.

In the recent context, believers demonstrate their love, especially for other Christians. If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart. In that position of confidence, we can ask of God, and He will give us what we ask, as in the Psalms: delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. But this requires first being happy with God. Those whose hearts do not condemn them—because their sins are covered and forgiven—keep God's commandments and do what pleases Him.

Are we doing what God has commanded and what pleases Him? Many ask things of God expecting to receive, but those who actually receive are obedient. They keep His commandments and know what to ask that aligns with His pleasure, like asking for more holiness. They obey God, concerned about holiness and righteousness.

The specific commandment is to believe in the name of Jesus Christ—Yahweh saves—and to love one another, as Jesus taught: the greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Whoever keeps these remains in God, and God in him, known by the Spirit He has given us.

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.

Everything up to this point reassures our hearts before God, giving assurance of salvation. We can tell the difference between believers and unbelievers: believers confess that Jesus saves and love one another—not just in word, but in deed and truth.

Another way to demonstrate the difference is that God abides in us by the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Do not believe every spirit, but test them—especially false prophets, who teach incorrectly, often with a spiritual or demonic influence. It's not about ghost hunting, but recognizing false teaching.

Anybody claiming to be Christian is not automatically trustworthy—not even my sermons. Test everything against Scripture. Even the spirit of the antichrist was already in the world in John's day.

The Test of the Incarnation

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

John combated Gnosticism, a heresy claiming secret knowledge for salvation. Gnostics saw matter as evil and spirit as good, so they denied Jesus came in real flesh—He only appeared human. This denies His real death and resurrection.

This gives us a gem: an essential doctrine is the incarnation—Jesus took on real humanity while remaining God, veiling His glory. If someone rejects this, they are not from God.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist.

"Antichrist" means both "against Christ" and "in place of Christ." It applies to many who oppose Jesus or put themselves in His place, like Roman emperors demanding "Caesar is Lord." Christians said "Jesus is Lord" and faced death.

Today, people accept Christianity only if it accepts sinful lifestyles like being gay, trans, or bisexual. John says this is false teaching, the spirit of antichrist. Love is obeying God's commandments—not affirming sin. God loved us by sending His Son as propitiation for our sins, enabling total life change. Confessing Jesus' incarnation affirms His mission: to die for sins, appease God's wrath, and bring newness of life. Everyone must change—no discrimination against certain sins, but against all sin, including yours. To say otherwise is antichrist doctrine.

Victory and Assurance

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. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 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.

Believers have overcome because He in us is greater. False teachers are from the world, so the world listens to them. But whoever knows God listens to us—the apostles' teaching, the New Testament, the words of Jesus. The early church devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

The entire Bible is God's Word; the apostles' words are Jesus' teachings, in harmony. "Listen" (akouo) means more than hear—it means obey. Hearing without doing is worthless, as James says: be doers of the word, not hearers only, like forgetting your face in the mirror.

Love from God

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. God loved us first—not because we loved Him. We were God-haters, dead in sin. God set His love on the unlovable, sending His Son as propitiation, removing His wrath.

This motivates us to love one another: God loved you specially when you were unlovable, redeeming you through Christ's death. As recipients of His love, love each other.

Because God has set his special love upon you with his special grace, his saving grace upon you, now you can be motivated to love even those who are unlovely because God did it first to you and saved you. Because God loved you, let us love one another. Let us not just simply love in word, let us love in deed and in truth.

One of the most important things to do as a Christian, especially to reassure yourself that you are a genuine Christian, is to continue to preach the reality of

1 John 4:10

Now those who have received that reality—this is how you know if you're a Christian or not—those who have received the propitiation of their sins by Jesus Christ are thoroughly impacted by that truth so that they cannot help but be motivated to love others in word and deed and in truth.

One of the most important questions that you should ask yourself—there are two important questions. The first is, does that impact you? Does that affect you? Does that move you in any way, shape, or form? Does it not provoke your heart in some sense to know that Jesus Christ is a propitiation for your sins, that you have forgiveness of your sins?

And secondly, do you have any affection for your fellow Christians? Do you have any degree of love and care and concern for other believers? This is a very important question, and I hope you genuinely take the time to answer it.