The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Testing the Spirits

The Lord’s Message:  The Gospel Makes the Difference:  Testing the Spirits
Date:  November 17, 2024
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  1 John 4:1-6

            Do you remember in the Bible of the great revealing contest between God and Baal on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18:16-46?  Let me help you to recall this story.  Elijah is up on Mt. Carmel with 400 prophets of Baal.  All Israel is assembled on this mountain peak.  King Ahab and all his nobles and princes as well as all the people of Israel have assembled on this mountain peak.  In verse 21, Elijah shouts out to the people.  The people responded by saying nothing. 

            Let me try something here today.  Who is the Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings?  Jesus.   Good.  I was afraid that I was not at Tilghman Methodist Church, because I hope and pray that every one of you here if you had a choice to choose between Jesus and some idol that you would not say nothing but shout out Jesus!

            All these people said nothing, not even a peep or whisper.  So, Elijah says, let us have a contest.  The 400 hundred prophets of Baal will prepare an altar to sacrifice a bull on it and I will prepare another altar to sacrifice another bull on.  Now, we will not use any fire on the altar, instead, you will ask Baal, who is a god of fire to send down fire.  I will ask God to send down fire and which ever does send the fire down will be the true God.  The people like Elijah’s contest and said, “What you say is good.”  Elijah told the 400 hundred prophets of Baal to go first.  So, they did as Elijah had instructed them to do.  Then from morning till noon, they shouted for Baal to send the fire down on their altar.  Nothing happened.  Elijah taunted them and said you need to shout louder maybe Baal is busy and does not hear you.  They shouted louder and then took knives and started to cut themselves, so that the blood flowed out of their bodies.  This went on from noon until evening.  No response.  Elijah went out and took 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel and built the altar with those stones.  He took wood and arranged them on the altar.  He dug a trench around the altar.  He took the sacrificed bull and placed it on the wood.  He poured water on the sacrifice until the water flowed off the sacrifice and filled up the trench around the altar.  After all of this was done, Elijah stepped forward and prayed in verse 36.  After Elijah finished this prayer, the Lord sent fire down from heaven that burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and the water, even the water in the trench. 

            The people were shocked by all of this, and they cried out to God, “The Lord – He is God!”  Elijah then told the people to get rid of their idols and their worship of Baal.  You can start by seizing and killing the 400 prophets of Baal.  Queen Jezebel is enraged by all of this and orders the Elijah be hunted down and killed.  Elijah flees to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God.  There he hides in a cave.  While in the cave, there is a large wind that tore the mountains apart.  After the wind an earthquake happens. After the earthquake then a fire.  God is not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.  Then Elijah hears the still small voice of God and comes out to the opening of the cave and God meets him there. 

            Do you want to hear the still small voice of God guiding your life?  How can you accomplish this with all the other voices that bombard us every day? The answer is by knowing the Gospel and testing those voices or spirits with the Gospel. 

            Let us pray. 

            We lived in a world where we are bombarded daily with other voices that we cannot hear God’s still small voices speaking to us.  Look at all the voices that are on social media, entertainment industry, news media, and literature.  How are we going to determine what we should believe and not believe?  The Apostle John was dealing with people who had a different idea of how they could receive salvation. 

            In 1 John 4:1, he says that we need to test the spirits to see whether they are from God.  First, we should know without the shadow of a doubt that God always tells the truth.  If it comes from God, it is true.  Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies in John 8:44. If it comes from Satan, it is a lie.  Now, Satan will also use something that comes from God and is true and twist it around to make it false. 

            Now that we know the importance of testing what we hear to determine if it could be from God, or if it could be from Satan. How do we know for sure?  Let us look at verses 2 & 3. First, confession that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.   If what we hear acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, then we know that it is from God.  Since Jesus Christ epitomizes the love of God in human form, then the message should be one of love and truth.  If it is not, then it is from Satan and the antichrist.  Second, consider the source.  The best source is the Bible, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  God has given us His Word, the Bible to discern whether what we are hearing or believing is from God.  Paul says it better than I could in 2 Corinthians 10:5.

            An example of this is dealing with false teacher, Jehovah witnesses.  First off remember this that when a Jehovah witness comes to your house, they have been told a pack of lies.  It is not their fault, because they do not have a perfect example to follow.  They have a Bible, but it is twisted version.  Our house on Flatland Road just outside of Chestertown is close to the road.  So, they would come to the house and proclaim their version of the Gospel.  They would quote scriptures from their Bible.  I would keep a Bible next to the door.  When they quoted scriptures, I would look up the scriptures and read it back to them.  Most were shocked that I had a Bible within easy reach, and I could look up the scriptures fairly quickly.  I guessed I confused many of them to the point that they stopped coming to the house. 

            In verses 5 & 6, the Apostle John goes on to say that many people’s belief is in the world.  The world tells the people it is all about number 1.  The Gospel tells us that it is not about us, but all about Jesus.    

            When you follow the world’s belief, then you do not care about your neighbor.  You do not care about people starving to death.  You do not care about natural disasters taking people’s lives, homes, churches, and businesses.  You do not care about the environment.  You do not care about babies and children, including the unborn.  You do not care about the sick and aging.  You do not care about people suffering with addictions.  You do not care about how you treat others.  It is all about number 1.

            The Gospel changes your heart and mind.  As you love God, you love your neighbors.  You want the best for you neighbors.  You do not want to just see your neighbor survive but prosper.  You want your neighbor to know that you care about them.  You care so much that you want to see you neighbor in heaven.    

            When the world starts to cause us to doubt who we are and whose we are, we need to remember that we are children of God, 1 John 4:4. 

            So, do not believe everything that people tell you, including me.  Test everything that you hear.  One, does what is stated confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  Two, who is the source.  Elijah asked the people who they were following God or Baal?  Are we following God or the world?   Who are you listening to?  Who are you following?

            The Gospel makes the difference by testing the spirits to discern what is true and false.  By following the Gospel is how we grow together in Faith.  Amen.