First John

Truth and Deceit

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: I John 4:1-6, Truth and Deceit

Genre: Sermon

Lesson: 9 of 16

Track: #9

Year:

Dictation Name: RR308E09

[Unknown Speaker] The hour cometh and now is when true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Let us pray.

Our most good and gracious God and heavenly Father we come before you now as Your children redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ to offer You praise we come before You now fully aware of our own inadequacies but by the blood of Jesus Christ we pray that You would help us more and more to understand our obligation to serve You, to trust Your word and to obey it as our response to Your grace to us. We pray that you would make us this day as we rest from our labor more aware of Your control and Your providential care over every aspect of our lives. Help us to rely upon You, help us not to be anxious for the cares of our daily needs and our future wants. Help us to be dependent wholly upon Your goodness and grace. As we rest from our labors help us to rest secure in the knowledge that You care for us more than we could ever care for ourselves. We pray that You would help us to understand that Your sovereign care overarch our entire life. We pray for all those who worship this day in Your name, we pray that You bless all those in faithfulness to You, we think especially of those throughout the world who are persecuted because they name the name of Your Son. We pray that You would encourage them and encourage and bless the efforts of those that seek to give them aide. We pray that You would help us in our own needs, our own culture, our own country, as we face the loss of liberty. We pray that You would encourage those who seek to restore the liberties so that we might serve You without the oppression of evil men restraining us. We pray that You would bless this time we have together in Your word, and may its preaching be productive in Your kingdom, and that of Your Son Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.

Our scripture this morning is First John, chapter four, verses 1-6, and the title of this morning’s message will be “truth and deceit.” First John chapter four, the first six verse.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

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.

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

[Rushdoony] This is an extremely important passage. It deals with an error that has been common from the beginning of history and certainly is very common today. Now when the text speaks of spirit it’s talking about us, about humanity. It is stressing what we are, created in God by God as spiritual beings. So we are not primarily material, but spiritual. Now at this point we make a very grim mistake, it is common practice to think of humanity as one. We are all members of humanity and therefore we are one. But that is wrong, our language reflects the fall. All you have to do is to look around you, are you the same as the ungodly who despised every word of God? Do we think common thoughts? Steve Schlissel in his most recent newsletter has called attention to what happened in San Francisco when some churches and pastors got together and put an ad in the newspaper summoning people to a Godly morality and speaking out against homosexuals and child molesters. They were taken to court for that, to a federal court which rule that theirs was a hate crime because by speaking out against homosexuals, and homosexual molesters of boys, they had propagated hate. Well now are you one humanity with that judge and with the San Francisco homosexual community? Do you have the same standards? Or are you different? Christianity is now a hate crime, are we surprised that we have the killings in schools and the depravity all around us? Whoever heard of that kind of crime in schools when we were growing up? Not at all. Why? Because Christian’s dominated the culture and did not permit such things.

So our text tells us there are two kinds of humanity, two kinds of Spirits, those that are of God, and those that are not. So we have one segment of mankind dedicated to the truth, to Jesus Christ, another dedicated to deceit. They begin by lying to God and denying that He is, or that His word is true. So we have two kinds of spirits or two kinds of people, and we must never forget it. You cannot treat the people of the world as the same as the people of Christ. Now consider the implications of the decision in San Francisco in a federal court. It means it’s valid for the whole country, that in time Christians can be persecuted for teaching and believing what is in the Bible, for saying that homosexuality is wrong, or that child molestation is wrong. That seems hard to believe, but unless we turn the country around that is going to happen, it’s already a matter of law, it will not be widely promoted at present to avoid trouble. They will wait until it’s been established for some years before they start appealing to it and saying “but this is the law.”

So John says: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” There are two kinds of people, we must never forget that. Two kinds of truth proclaimed, the truth of God, or the evil of fallen men and of Satan. “2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:” Here is the test to apply to mankind, to our own loved ones even, our families. Do they believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the very incarnate Son of God? If not they are false, they are believers in a lie.

“3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” Here’s the test. Is Jesus Christ the very Son of God, our Savior? Anyone who does not found his life upon that has the spirit of anti-Christ, and this is a power already in the world. You see there are not one kind of people, one humanity, there are two humanities. The humanity of fallen man and the new people, the redeemed, the born again, the people of Christ; if we fail to make this distinction we destroy ourselves as churches and as nations. At one time it was necessary in this country, in state after state, to believe in Christ or to affirm the trinity, or the infallibility of scripture, to be able to vote. People have forgotten that now, but it meant a different country. It is true that some people lied on that score in order to be able to vote, and got very far with it. Thomas Jefferson for one, he never admitted what he really believed and he never published those things where he expressed his unbelief, they awaited our time before they were published.

“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.” We are of God and in Christ we have overcome them, we have His victory over sin and death and in time it will be the victory of all men as they are converted. After all a hundred years ago, and in my childhood, most people went to church and they confessed Christ, but ew have since strayed. “But greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” This is something that we must remember, it must be a fixed premise of our lives as we face a fallen human race, and ungodly world, that greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.

“5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” What is truth for them is not truth for us; they are the people of deceit, of lies. What else can you call all those in San Francisco, if you’re going to be at all Biblical, than people of deceit when they affirm the goodness of homosexuality and do not disapprove of child molestation. Naturally the world is gravitating to their message, the world is gravitating to a hatred for us, a desire to eliminate us because: “6 we are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” It’s that simple. Will they hear the word of God? Will they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? IF they do not they are not of God. There is thus a great division, we cannot understand the Bible, nor ourselves, nor our world, if we try to see us all as one humanity, we are not, we are two humanities, the humanity of Jesus Christ, and the humanity of Satan.

So we have a duty, John says, to think correctly, to think knowing that all around us is a Spirit of deceit, and we belong to the world of the truth and to Him who is the way, the truth, and the life. Humanity is not one, it is twofold, the humanity of Christ and the humanity of Satan, of the spirit of deceit. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we thank Thee for this Thy word, burn it upon our minds and hearts that we may not be deceived into seeing all men as one, might know there is indeed a Spirit of truth and a spirit of error, and that we belong to Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. Make us strong in Him we beseech Thee, in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Well if not let us conclude with prayer.

Oh Lord our God we give thank unto Thee that Thou hast separated us from the world of fallen men, the world of deceit, and hath made us a people of Christ and a people of truth. Make us faithful to Him, joyful in the privilege and place which is ours in Him, that we might set forth in all things Thy truth. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.