KNOWING TRUTH FROM FALSEHOOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But you (those in the Christian church) are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and falsehood.

And who is the great liar?

The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are anti-christs for they have denied the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1 John 2:20-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we walk our Christian journey, there isn’t any shortage of material available pertaining to our chosen religion. Every day, Christianity is discussed, professed and even attacked in a variety of forums not only here in the United States but around the world and the Holy Bible is the bestselling book of all time.

With this, there’s no lack of spiritual guidance or interpretation available to us as people are preaching and teaching principles advertised as being biblical but how can a person know that what they are hearing or reading is actually true?

It’s terrible we should even have to worry about it but since the days of the Old and New Testaments, there have been problems with false teachers and prophets, so much so that there is time spent in the scriptures warning Christians to be on guard. For as sure as there are people who are speaking divine truth straight from the inerrant Word of God and interpreted by the power of the Holy Spirit, there are many people that use the Bible to manipulate and mislead others for different causes, all instigated by none other than Satan himself who the scriptures call the father of all lies (John 8:44). These people operate counter to the will of God but appear in every way to represent Him

It’s into this environment, past and present, that we find today’s passage from the second chapter of 1 John speaking into. Look again at those words here:

But you (those in the Christian church) are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you and all of you know the truth. So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and falsehood.

And who is the great liar?

The one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Such people are anti-christs for they have denied the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. But anyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Vv.20-23

Note here that the Holy Spirit is the key to avoiding being deceived and led astray. We can always consult the Spirit in regard to what we hear or read, trusting that He, the great Counselor sent to us by God, will always reveal falsehood, falsehood from those who don’t have God the Father because if they did, they would speak truth, not lies. Instead, they allow Satan to lead what they do and that will always be in a direction counter to Jesus which makes the purveyor of false teaching an antichrist or as we discussed in yesterday’s message, someone who operates in opposition to Christ Jesus.  

In our passage today, we have already found one way to avoid spiritual deception, by way of remaining engaged with the Holy Spirit that dwells within every legitimate Christian believer. Here are two other practices a Jesus follower can adopt to expose falsehood.

The first is prayer. For when we come before the Lord and seek validation of what we’ve read or heard, He will either confirm or deny it as truth. All Christians need to keep in mind that communication is the lifeblood of relationship and therefore without communication, there is no relationship. So unless you communicate with the Lord, you will not have much of a relationship with Him and no believer can afford to be in that place. So, stay connected to the Lord and always seek His guidance and direction in prayer. He will always be there for you and never let you down.

Finally, all Christians need to be studying their bibles every single day. They need to know the word so well that they will know immediately when someone misrepresents it. To not do this is placing a dangerous reliance on someone else to tell you about the Bible and this blind faith and trust is a prime setup for Satan to use false teachers to lead someone astray.

So as believers open their bibles every day to read and study, they should pray for the Lord to open their heart and mind towards understanding and then allow the Holy Spirit to instruct and lead them to the truth.

Using these three disciplines every day is a good first step in the right direction to identifying valid, legitimate teaching and avoiding those antichrists who are led by Satan.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.