For Ours Is the Spirit of Truth

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for 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 from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:1–6
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For Ours Is the Spirit of Truth
There is only one Holy Spirit, but there are many spirits. The unholy spirits compete for your attention. They compete for a place in your heart. The evil spirits are good at faking it, lying about it, and exaggerating things to make them sound good. The thing is that these spirits don’t confess Jesus. Their words and works don’t line up with the Word of God. The Christian is constantly testing the spirits against the Word of God. The Christian is submerged in the Word so that he is ready in season and out of season for the random attacks of the devil and his minions. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit who brings that Word to your heart confess that Jesus Christ is from God and that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again for your justification. You are from God and this is your delight, your joy, your contentment. You are from God and therefore you have overcome all these false and evil spirits. You have the benefit and the blessing of Jesus’ cross. Therefore the Christian life is one of listening and testing and listening and receiving the gifts of Jesus’ work.