PT3 "The Confession of the Divine LORD" (1 John 4:2-3)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/10/2025 11:25 PM

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  PT-3 “The Confession of the Divine LORD”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 4:2-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “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, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”

 

            John is the Apostle who repeatedly emphasizes the deity of Christ and teaches the massive truth with vast implications—that no one can honor the Father without honoring the Son as seen in 1 John 2:22-23; John 5:23; 2 John 3, 7, 9), so that takes care of looking at all that John wrote excluding the book of Revelation.  Now the reason he does this is because they share the same divine, perfect nature as seen in 3:21-23; 5:6, 20).  In order to be saved, one must believe that Jesus is eternal deity, the second person of the Godhead who became a man.  Jesus is not merely a created begin and this is contrary to what ancient false teachers taught and the modern-day sects, such as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.  But mere intellectual assent to that truth saves no one (cf. James 2:19) “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”  In order to be saved one must also acknowledge Jesus as Lord as seen in Romans 10:9-10 “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

 

            John MacArthur concludes this section by writing “A person’s understanding and acceptance of Jesus’ identity is the ultimate litmus test of the legitimacy of his professed faith.  In today’s evangelical world it is increasingly politically correct to affirm that all monotheistic religions worship the same God.   But the fact is they do not.  Jesus Himself made that crystal clear. ‘The one who listens to you [the disciples] listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me’ (Luke 10:16); ‘I am the way and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’ (John 14:6; cf. Acts 4:12; 1 John 2:23).  Every spirit propagating any religion or philosophy that does not confess Jesus is not from God.  Such teaching is erroneous, heretical, and a rejection of Christ (2 Peter 2:1; cf. Gal. 1:8-9).  John calls it the spirit of the antichrist (cf. 2:18, 22; 2:1; for a more complete discussion of this topic, see chapter 9 of this volume).  Believers have heard that the final Antichrist is coming (2 Thess. 2:3-4, 8-9), but the spirit of the antichrist, which evidences itself in false religion and aberrant doctrine, is already in the world.  The true nature of Jesus Christ is inevitably denied by false teachers and the systems they promote (Jude 4; cf. Acts 3:14).  However, those who rightly understand Jesus Christ and portray Him and His work accurately prove they possess the Spirit of truth.”

 

            We have two more topics to finish this chapter and then we will move on, Lord willing.

 

2/10/2025 11:48 PM