Teaching You Cannot Trust

John the Apostle, in his first letter, not only writes about who and what we can trust, he also tells us what we cannot trust.

What you believe about Jesus matters. John wrote to clarify that a true believer in Jesus will be shown by certain distinguishing marks: faith, obedience, love. We have previously seen that John says we can trust that Jesus had a real human body and that, at the same time, He was and is really God. Believing that Jesus is God, who took on a human body in order to rescue us, really matters.

But that means that you cannot trust any alternative teaching about Jesus.

You cannot trust teaching that denies the full divinity or full humanity of Jesus.

John tells us this in clear, stern terms:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now. (1 John 4.1-3, HCSB)

What in the world does that mean? Since they did not yet have the Scriptures that we now know as the New Testament, God provided prophets for the churches. They spoke from the Holy Spirit. They preached the gospel. Many prophesied and taught, and most of them taught the truth.

However, John was saying that some were speaking from another spirit, the spirit of the antichrist. Simply put, they were spreading lies. So John said the church should test these prophetic statements ("test the spirits"). The statements should be tested against other known truth. And one way to know that a prophetic statement was not from God was if it denied the humanity of Jesus, and by implication, the divinity of Jesus. This kind of teaching, John says, is not true, and you cannot trust it. (You can see this type of warning also from Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5.20-22.)

Notice that the "spirit of the antichrist" has been around since even the first century A.D. He has been deceiving people for a very long time. So John says to be on guard, because you cannot trust teaching that denies the full humanity (or full divinity) of Jesus.

If Jesus was not really a man, then He didn't die in your place, and you are hopeless. But He was, and He did. It matters.

If Jesus is not really God, then He didn't have the power or authority to save you and you are helpless. But He is, and He does. It matters.

Is your life marked by genuine faith?

Jesus Was (and Is) Fully God

To say that Jesus had a real human body does not mean that He wasn't God. The opposite is true. When Jesus entered this world, He was fully man and fully God at the same time.

John the Apostle was clear that if you are a genuine believer, what you believe about Jesus matters. A true believer in Jesus will be shown by certain distinguishing marks: faith, obedience, love. Here we're talking about the mark of faith. True followers of Jesus will be shown by their faith. Believing that Jesus is God really matters.

You can trust that Jesus was (and is) also fully God.

Not only was it clear to John, who was there with Jesus, that He had a real human body, it was also clear that He was the divine Son of God. He says it this way in 1 John:

And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. (1 John 4.14-15, HCSB)

So believing that Jesus is God really matters. It matters that we believe that He was really a man, and that He was really God—at the same time.

It is not merely that God the Father saw a remarkable and holy man named Jesus from Nazareth, and then decided to adopt him. That is a heresy known as Adoptionism. Those who take this wrong view would essentially say that Jesus was such an amazing man on His own, that God saw Him from heaven, decided that Jesus would make a great Savior, adopted Him as His son, and then gave Him power and authority. This view completely contradicts key sections of Scripture.

Jesus was indeed born of God into this world, after the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary (Luke 1.35; Matthew 1.18), but that does not mean He was created. Jesus, the eternal second person in the Trinity, was already with God the Father when they began creating (John 1.1-3).

The Apostle John simply affirms Him as the anointed God-man, the Messiah. And whoever believes in Him as the Messiah will be saved:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. (1 John 5.1, HCSB)

Many centuries earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that His name would be Immanuel, translated God With Us. And that is exactly who He is.

You can trust that Jesus had a real human body, and that He was and is also fully God. When you do, it's a mark of faith.

Jesus Had a Real Human Body

The Apostle John wrote a biblical letter known as 1 John concerning what we can know about God, and about us. And he says we can know that we know God through Jesus Christ.

But false teaching had apparently cropped up where he was ministering. Some said then, and now, that Jesus only appeared to have a body, or that He merely seemed to die on a cross.

That may sound odd that some would question that Jesus had a real human body. But that seed of doubt has been used for centuries to cause people to stumble. So it's important to establish that Jesus did in fact have a real human body. And John clarifies that for his readers, and down through the centuries, for us.

John was trying to get across the idea that if you are a genuine believer, what you believe about Jesus matters. A true believer in Jesus will be marked by certain distinguishing marks: faith, obedience, love. The first that we'll talk about here is the mark of faith. True followers of Jesus will be shown by their faith.

And that faith must be rooted in the God who took on a human body to live perfectly, and then die and rise, in our place, instead of us. To do so, Jesus had to have an actual body, in which He actually died (and rose).

You can trust that Jesus had a real human body.

John says you can believe that. Why? Because he was there. John and his friends were with Jesus. They saw Him, they heard Him, they ate with Him, they touched Him, and they knew that He had a real human body. They were eyewitnesses in these early days of Jesus' ministry:

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1.1-3, HCSB)

God's word says that Jesus really took on a human body. If you can trust Scripture—and you can—then you can trust that He had a real body. John and his buddies were there, and that's among the most important early facts they reported to us about Jesus.

When Jesus came back from death and showed up in the locked, fearful room the disciples had created, He joined them in their room and wanted to reassure them. "Peace to you!" He said. And then "He showed them His hands and His side" (John 20.20, HCSB). He was real.

Then a little later when Thomas kept having doubts, which were normal, Jesus wanted to reassure him also, and said:

Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Don't be an unbeliever, but a believer. (John 20.27, HCSB)

Thomas saw and believed. Jesus said those who hadn't seen and still believed are blessed, but He knew that these close friends would soon attest to the fact that His body was indeed real. He really died. He really rose from death.

This is the incarnation. He put on flesh. He put on bones. Specifically this is what we celebrate at Christmas each year. Born into this world, He put on a body.

If He didn't, or hadn't, we would be hopeless. But He did. And we have certainty, and we believe. And our lives are marked by faith.

The Marks of a Genuine Believer

Do you have a prominent, distinguishing birthmark? Or perhaps you have other markings like tattoos?

I've always thought it to be pretty interesting when a local news alert comes across the airwaves and a reporter says that police have offered a description of the suspect. They will tell the obvious details, such as height, weight, ethnicity, and the clothes they were wearing when they were last seen. But once in a while they will say something like, "…and the suspect has a large tattoo on his left arm with the words, Elvira Forever, prominently displayed." Bet they can't find that guy.

So do you have any marks?

The Apostle John wrote a letter in the New Testament that is all about what we can know about God, and about us. And he says we can know that we know God, through Jesus Christ.

These categories are nothing new with me, but over the next few posts, we'll be looking at three distinguishing marks of a true believer, according to John's letter. Genuine followers of Jesus will display:

• The Mark of Faith
• The Mark of Obedience
• The Mark of Love

I hope this brief look into John's letter will provide the clarity and assurance that John intended.

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5.13, HCSB)

What Some People Don't Know

On the blog this week we looked at what the Apostle John says we know that we know. There are several spiritual truths that we can know with certainty. Most importantly, God's word says that we can know that we know God.

Interestingly, though, John also speaks about a few things that some people don't know. After each unknown, see John's words of concern from the letter of 1 John.

Those who hate their brothers or sisters in Christ don't know the direction they are going.

But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he's going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2.11, HCSB)

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1 John 3.15, HCSB)

Those who haven’t looked to God as their Father don't know or understand His children.

Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God's children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know Him. (1 John 3.1, HCSB)

Those who continue in a life of sin don't know God.

Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. (1 John 3.6, HCSB)

As you can see, this is a devastating list of unknown unknowns—things they don't know that they don't know. How can they know unless someone tells them?

I hope that you and I will take the time today to let others know all that is available in Christ.

Knowing What You Know

Yesterday we considered that although there are a vast number of things we don't know, when it comes to the most important things in life, we can have more certainty than we might initially think.

The Bible says that we can be sure that we know God through Jesus. We can have real certainty about who He is and who we are because of Him. We can know that we know God. For the believer, it is a known known.

And there are lots of other spiritual truths that John the Apostle says that we can know. In teaching through the letter of 1 John, it struck me how many things the Apostle says that we can know. By my count, he uses a form of one of the two main Greek words for know at least 40 times in 32 verses, throughout this five-chapter letter.

Below are six categories of items that John says we can know with certainty. The verses of Scripture that follow each statement are indicative of the ways that John speaks with conviction.

We know that the end of days could happen anytime.

Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, “Antichrist  is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour. (1 John 2.18, HCSB)

We know that we have the truth about God.

I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. (1 John 2.21, HCSB)

We know what genuine love is, and how to show it.

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3.16, HCSB)

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. (1 John 4.16, HCSB)

We know that we have been given real life, escaping death.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3.14, HCSB)

We know that God abides in us, and we in Him.

The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us. (1 John 3.24, HCSB)

This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. (1 John 4.13, HCSB)

We know that we have a saving relationship with God.

This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. (1 John 2.3, HCSB)

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5.13, HCSB)

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5.20, HCSB)

Remember, this is just a sampling of the 40 instances of what John's first letter says that we know. If we followers of Jesus lived our lives in the certainty and gracious boldness that is possible, we would make a much greater impact on our world.

I'm so thankful for the confidence that is available in Christ.

Knowing That You Know Him

How much do you really know?

You know more than you think you do. Or at least you can.

I can still remember the press conference in 2002 when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a statement that later became established in pop culture. A reporter had asked him a question by stating that there were "reports that there is no evidence" of something. Rumsfeld's response was classic Rumsfeld.

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

—Donald Rumsfeld, February 12, 2002

There are certainly thousands of things you don't know. More like billions. But even when it comes to the most important concerns we have, we often have no certainty as to what the outcome will be. We have no idea if our loved ones will still be with us next year, or whether we will be healthy next month, or whether we will lose our jobs next week. When it comes to knowledge with certainty, it seems we don't know much.

So how about God, and spiritual things? That seems like an area where we might not know much. After all, that's the very definition of faith, isn't it? Believing without seeing?

We might be surprised to see just how much the Bible says we can know with certainty when it comes to our faith. The Apostle John, the same one who through amazing experiences had matured into a great man of God (see these posts), wrote in a letter about what we can know with certainty concerning God and ourselves, when we are in Christ. And he even says that we can know that we know God. Take a look at these remarkable words:

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 John 2.3, ESV)

He actually uses the primary Greek root word for know twice in this sentence. I used to hear pastors ask, "Do you know that you know Him?" And I used to think it was funny that they would word it that way. But the fact is, John the Apostle essentially does just that.

We'll cover later what John is saying in 1 John 2.3, about doing what God says to do. But one thing is certain. He says you can know that you know God through Jesus Christ. And that's real certainty. Some translations even word it that way: "And by this we are certain…". 

God's word says that you can know that you know Him. That's profound. Do you know Him?

Next time, we'll look at more of what we know.