~ The Test of Doctrine ~
There are three
main tests in the Epistle of First John.
The first was
the Moral Test or the Test of Righteousness.
The second was
the Social Test or the Test of Love.
The third is
the Doctrinal Test or the Test of Belief.
The Problem ~ Little children, it is the last hour; and as
you have heard that the Antichrist is
coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the
last hour. They went out from us, but
they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with
us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were
of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all
things. I have not written to you
because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is
of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the
Son. Whoever denies the Son does not
have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1
John 2:18-23). The problem is the
devil’s deceptiveness.
The Solution ~ “Therefore let that abide in you which you
heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides
in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And
this is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning
those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from
Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the
same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a
lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 John 2:24-27).
The solution is to know the truth of God’s Word and to act upon it
through the power of the Spirit of God dwelling in you.
“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, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is
not of God. And this is the spirit of
the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the
world. You are of God,
little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the
world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of
God does not hear us. By this we know
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:1-6).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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