Test the Spirits! They Are Not All from God!

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because 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 of God 1 John 4:1-2 (NKJV).

INTRODUCTION: Genuine Christians will avoid false teachers and will recognize that true teachers possess the Spirit of God and preach Jesus Christ as the risen Lord. The scriptures speak of the “spirit of man” and the “spirit of beast,” there are also many other KINDS of spirits spoken of in the Bible. Notice:

THE “GOOD.”
Nathanael had a “clean” spirit, Jo. 1:47
A “broken” spirit is usually good, Ps. 51:17
A “faithful” spirit is good, Prov. 11:13
Good spirits cannot always be detected by “outward” appearance, 1 Sam. 16:7
We need the GIFT—”discerning of spirits,” 1 Cor. 12:10; Prov. 16:2

THE “EVIL.”
Christ speaks of:
“Unclean Spirits,” Matt. 10:1; 12:43
“Devil-spirits,” 8:16; 12:28
“Wicked spirits,” 12:45
“Dumb Spirits,” Mark 9:17
Tattlers need this kind.
“Foul spirits,” 9:25
“Evil spirits,” Lu. 7:21; 8:2
“Spirit of infirmity,” 13:11

OTHER KINDS.
Paul refers to the spirit of:
“Divination”—fortune telling, Acts 16:16
“Bondage,” Rom. 8:15
“Slumber,” 11:8
“The world,” 1 Cor. 2:12
“Disobedience,” Eph. 2:2
“Seducing,” 1 Tim. 4:1
“Fear,” 2 Tim. 1:7

TESTING THE SPIRIT.
There are three ways we may “test” the spirit; they may be called:
The “spirit test,” 1 Cor. 12:3; 1 John 4:1
The “doctrinal test,” 1 John 4:3
The “fruit-bearing test,” Matt. 7:15-20
There are many, many spirits, but only One Holy Spirit, and God wants US to be “Filled” with the Holy Spirit, Eph. 5:18.

CONCLUSION: 
In 2013, Christian rapper Shai Linne stirred quite a controversy with his song “Fal$e Teacher$.” It is a critique of the prosperity gospel, and in it he does the unacceptable in our hypertolerant/noncritical day: he names names. In the song, Shai particularly calls on Christians outside of America not to be deceived by these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matt 7:15) who export their heresies around the world. He says,

Don’t be deceived by this funny biz,
if you come to Jesus for money, then he’s not your God, money is!
Jesus is not a means to an end, the Gospel is.

He came to redeem us from sin, and that is the message forever I yell!
If you’re living your best life now you’re heading for hell!

Calling out and identifying false teachers is neither fun nor popular. It is, however, both biblical and necessary. They are often more dangerous and more plentiful than many Christians realize. The apostle John makes that clear in 1 John 4:1-6. In words similar to those he penned earlier in 2:18-27, the last living apostle draws a contrast between true prophets and false prophets, the true Christ and antichrists, and that which is of the Spirit of God and that which is of the spirits of this world.

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