Clean Transcript

It Is Testing Time

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• All right, if you'll open your Bibles to two passages: 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1. 1 John chapter 4 is our text, but 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is going to set the stage for it. The title of the message is "It Is a Proving Time" or "Testing Time." So look, if you would, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 21. Scripture says, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." And then if you look in 1 John chapter 4, beginning there with verse 1, the Apostle writes, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

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• There are many commands in Scripture which must be obeyed. However, in light of the times in which we are living, there is one command that is absolutely necessary, and that command is found in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 21, where the Word of God says, "Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." So you have both truths there: prove all things, and then secondly, hold fast that which is good. Each of these are present active imperatives in the Greek, which means they are commands. So literally, when you look at verse 21, you are commanded to prove all things, and you are commanded to hold fast that which is good. Now, the word for "prove" is the Greek word "dokimazo," and it's translated in our Bibles as prove, try, discern, and examine. The word actually means to test, to examine, to scrutinize as to whether or not something is either genuine, real, or true.

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• So we're going to see this word again just a little bit later on. It's a very important word, and it also conveys a very important truth.

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• Now, when he said in verse 21, "Prove all things," the next phrase, "hold fast that which is good." The word for "hold fast" is "katecho," and it means to hold fast, it means to keep, to possess, to retain, and to keep from going away. The word is actually used historically to check a ship's headway, where the pilot then holds that ship steady to keep it from veering off course. So literally, he says, I command you to prove all things. I command you to hold fast. That is, you keep on the right course and hold fast that which is good. So in order to prove and to hold fast that which is good, obviously, you must have an objective standard. Because good is determined by God and not by man. Fallen man thinks that sin is good. He thinks rebellion is good. He thinks that his feelings and his desires are good. But God is the one who determines and defines good. So when he tells you to hold fast that which is good, the word is "kalos" in the Greek, and it means that which is good, that which is honest, that which is meet, that which is choice, that which is suitable, that which is praiseworthy, and that which is approved.

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• Now, let me try to put this together for you and show you another scripture in light of this. He says in verse 21, "Prove all things," scrutinize all things, test all things, try all things, and when you find that which is good, you hold it fast. Now look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 1. Here's another verse that's very similar. Look at it. Hebrews 2 and verse 1, the Apostle writes, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." The Greek word for "slip" means to glide by, to pass by, to escape, and to slip away from us. Interestingly, all my life I've heard people use phrases like this: "It slipped my mind," "It escaped me," or "I simply let it pass by," and then usually we just simply say, "I forgot." So the Scripture is telling us then the truth is not to slip away from us. We're to hold it fast. It's impossible to hold it fast if we do not care for it, if we don't consider it, if we do not obey it, and we do not apply it. So you could have a pastor, you could have a teacher that could pastor you and teach you truth until

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• he died. But if you do not consider it, and if you do not hold it fast, it'll do you absolutely no good. It will slip from you. You will forget. You will lose how to apply it. It's kind of like that old adage, you use it or you lose it, and that certainly is true.

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• Now, when you look in your Bibles at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1, we're going to see how this is applied. The Scripture begins with "Beloved. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits." But first of all, I want you to note the word "beloved." So John then is addressing Christians, because he refers to them as beloved. The word "agapetos" is translated in our Bibles as beloved, dearly beloved, and well beloved. Now look what he said: "Beloved, believe not every spirit." Now let me just tell you, actually, what he is saying is this: "Beloved, stop believing every spirit." In other words, it too is a present active imperative just like 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 21. So he is commanding these believers to stop believing every spirit. Now, let me remind you that in 1 John the Apostle John is writing against the Gnostics and Gnosticism. There were basically two main groups of Gnostics. There were the Docetic Gnostics, and there were the Cerinthian Gnostics.

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• Now, each group was heretical. They were different in some aspects, but still they were heretical. We get our word Gnostic from the noun, from Greek "gnosis," which means knowledge, and the verb "ginosko," which means I know.

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• Now, the interesting thing is this. When you put an alpha or an "A" in front of a Greek word, it negates the word. So we get our English word straight from the Greek "agnostic." So what is an agnostic? Well, if "ginosko" means I know, "agnosko" or agnostic means I don't know. So an agnostic is someone who doesn't know whether he knows anything or not. He just says he doesn't know. And usually, it's in reference to God as well.

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• Now, let me tell you about these Gnostics. The Docetic Gnostics as well as the Cerinthian Gnostics actually believed that all matter was inherently evil. So this table, since it's made of matter, would be evil. This cup, because it's made of matter, would be evil. My arm, because it's made of matter, it would be evil as well. And so the word Docetic Gnostic actually came from the Greek word "dokeo," which means I appear or to appear. So since Jesus Christ was God, and they believed that all matter was inherently evil, therefore Jesus Christ could not have had a real physical body. Because if he did have, that would be evil and that would be opposite of being God. And so the reason they're called Docetic Gnostics is because they said that Jesus Christ was a mirage. Jesus Christ was an apparition. Jesus Christ was a spirit. In other words, he was not real by any stretch of the imagination.

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• So if you look in 1 John chapter 1, John is going to deal with this heresy and he says this: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard"—that is, there was a real voice—"which we have seen with our eyes"—there's a real person—"which we have looked upon," now watch this, "and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)." So John is saying, look, Jesus Christ was real. We looked upon Him. We heard Him. Moreover, we handled Him.

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• He was not a ghost. He was not an apparition. He was not a mirage. He was that which was real. And so John then is writing against these Docetic Gnostics. Then there were the Cerinthian Gnostics, and they were named after their teacher Cerinthus. But just like the Docetic Gnostics, they still believed that matter was inherently evil. So since matter is inherently evil, you had to ask, how in the world did the world come into existence?

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• And so here is how they answered it. So if you could draw a picture, say a big circle up here and you could put God in that big circle, then below that you would make a smaller circle and smaller circle and smaller circle and smaller circle until you got down to about nine, and these smaller circles were known as Demiurges or little gods. And so the Cerinthian Gnostics then turned around and said that the way the world was created was the one true and the living God made another God who was less holy than himself, and that God made a God that was less holy than himself, and so on down, and about the seventh or the ninth Demiurge, that is the one who then created the world.

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• So that was Cerinthian Gnosticism. So there they were saying again that matter was inherently evil.

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• Now I want you to listen very carefully because Cerinthus only accepted the book of Matthew in the Bible. That's the only book he believed in. He also believed, listen carefully, that Jesus was the offspring of Mary and Joseph, and that at his baptism Christ descended upon him, and Christ was on him, but right before his passion, right before his death, that Christ left him. So they had all kind of insanely crazy ideas concerning Christ, and of course Cerinthus also adhered to circumcision, and the Sabbath, and some type of millenarianism.

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• Now, Gnosticism claims hidden knowledge for the basis of salvation. Adherents to Gnosticism believe that you can only be saved if you had their secret knowledge. In other words, it was their knowledge which lightened the divine spark that was in you that would elevate you so that you could understand who God really and truly was. So they would divide Christians into two groups. They would say here are the carnal Christians who really do not understand anything about the Spirit and they are inferior, and here are the ones who are superior who have all this knowledge and so therefore they are the enlightened ones. Now you can think about groups today that hold to a secret knowledge and you've got to have their knowledge to be in their clique or to be in their club or to have their form of salvation. It's nothing more than Gnosticism.

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• That's all there is to it. So in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1, this is why the Apostle John says, "Beloved, stop believing every spirit." In other words, you just can't believe everything that you hear. You don't believe everything that is said to you from a religious standpoint.

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• Now, there are two mindsets that are absolutely totally unbiblical and unhappily most people have these two mindsets today. Those two mindsets are credulity and gullibility. Credulity is a willingness to believe and to trust without any real evidence. Gullibility means that you just swallow anything and everything that you hear. Unhappily, most people today are like that. If they hear anything religious, if they hear anything spiritual, if they hear anything that is supposed to be Christian, they just swallow it, hook, line, and sinker.

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• That's all there is to it. Now, look at it again in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1. Watch, if you would. He said, "Beloved, believe not every spirit," or "stop believing every spirit." It's a command. If you and I are going to stop believing every spirit, if we're going to do what he said in verse 1, "try the spirits," then you and I must have an objective standard. How in the world can you discern? How in the world can you scrutinize? How in the world can you try without an objective standard? So the Bible, then, is our standard.

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• Let me just give you some biblical scriptures right now. First of all, Psalm 33 and verse 4. The Scripture says, "For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth." Then you get to Psalm 43 and verse 3 where David said, "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles." And then David said it like this in Psalm 119 in verse 142, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." Note what he said, "thy law is the truth." And then our Lord in His high priestly prayer in John 17 in verse 17, He said, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Now, the interesting thing is the Bible over and over is called the Word of Truth. You'll find that in Psalm 119 in verse 43, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 7, Ephesians 1 in verse 13, 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, and James 1 and verse 18. So, the Bible is referring to itself as the Word of Truth.

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• So let me put it to you very plainly. John is telling us that all religions are not equal. Gnosticism is not equal to Christianity. Islam is not equal to Christianity. Hinduism is not equal to Christianity. There is no equality when it comes to religion, unless you're just trying to say that all religions outside of the Bible, all religions outside of Christianity are equally wrong and equally lost.

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• That might be an accurate statement. But you cannot say that all these have an equality and a standing with the Word of God. So look back, if you would. He said in verse 1 of 1 John chapter 4, "Beloved, stop believing every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." Now in the introduction a while ago when we looked at 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 21, when he said "prove all things," I told you that the word for "prove" was the Greek word "dokimazo," which means to scrutinize, it means to examine, it means to test. When you look in 1 John chapter 4 in verse 1, when he says, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits," the word "try" is the word "dokimazo." You must remember I told you it meant to prove, to try, to discern, and examine, and it actually means that you test and you scrutinize something as to whether or not it is real, true, and genuine. Now, here's a good question. If you look at verse 1, he says, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." How do you try a spirit?

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• How do you scrutinize a spirit? How do you test a spirit? Do you say, "Come over here and sit in this chair in front of me and let me examine you? Let me question you"? How do you try a spirit? I mean, clearly notice, if you would. He said in verse 1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." Watch this: "because many false prophets are gone out into the world." So if you will notice in this verse, the spirit is connected with the prophet. Here is what is true in the Bible: the Holy Spirit is connected with God's prophets and preachers, and an evil spirit is connected with false prophets and false preachers. So, how do you try or test the Spirit? You try and test the preacher.

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• You listen to what he is saying. You examine what he is saying. You scrutinize what he is saying by the Word of God.

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• Now, let me show you. I want you to hold this passage, 1 John chapter 4, but I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. Look in chapter 9 and verse 30. Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse 30. I want you to watch this carefully because remember I just told you that the Holy Spirit is connected with God's prophets, God's preachers. So here we go. Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 30, the Word of God says, "Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands." Now how did God testify against Israel by His Spirit? Well, His Spirit that was in the prophets, they refused to hear. They would not listen to the preachers. They would not listen to the prophets. They continued in their rebellion and their sin. But notice God was testifying against them by His Spirit in the prophets. Now if you'll look in your Bibles to

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• the book of Acts chapter 11 and notice, if you would please, verse 28. Acts 11 and verse 28. Look at what he said here. Acts 11 verse 28: "And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar." So here's my question. How in the world did Agabus signify by the Spirit that a great famine and a great dearth was coming?

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• How did he do that? He prophesied. He preached. He taught. He warned. So it was the Spirit of God in him that was warning, using his voice as he proclaimed the truth that God had given.

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• Now, since you're there, look in Acts chapter 16. Now, the same thing is true concerning an evil spirit, just like it was true concerning the Holy Spirit. So, in Acts chapter 16, let's begin reading there with verse 16. Here's this young woman that was demon-possessed. "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers." Now notice, if you would. The Bible tells us this woman had a spirit of divination.

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• It was an evil spirit, but she brought much gain to those who owned her. How? By her soothsaying. So the question is, how did the spirit speak through this woman? Through her voice, through her words, through what she said. It was an evil spirit, but it was still there. Now when you go back and look in your Bibles at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 1, look what he says: "Beloved, believe not every spirit," or "stop believing every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." So clearly then, these false prophets are connected with this evil spirit who is speaking untruth. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Revelation chapter 2, over just a few pages. So I could ask you this question: how can you test, how can you prove the spirit of the preacher if you do not know truth, if you do not have an objective standard, if you do not rely upon the Word of God? What will you test the preacher against? So what if

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• Marshall said to me, "Well, I heard him, but the way I was taught when I was a child was not what he said." Is that a correct way to test what the preacher said, based on what you were told when you were a child? I mean, you may have been told wrongly when you were a child. Could I say, "This is not what I'd been taught"? Can I say, "This is not what I've heard all my life"? No, no, no.

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• You have to have an objective standard. Now watch this. Revelation chapter 2 and verse 1: "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand," that's the seven preachers, "who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," the seven churches, you will read that in Revelation 1 in verse 20. Now look what he said in verse 2, talking to the church of Ephesus.

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• "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." So here's my question: how in the world did the Church of Ephesus try these false apostles and find them to be liars? Was there a prosecuting attorney? Was there a defense attorney? The answer is, of course not. How in the world did they try them? They took what they said and they compared it with the Word of God, and they found out that these were false apostles. These were false prophets. They were liars. So they took their words and compared them with Scripture. Unhappily, most Christians today are so easily deceived and so easily led astray because they do not know the Word of God. Just stop and think about all the Bibles that are laying around in the average home. Usually the average home has at least one or two Bibles, sometimes three or four. But the Bibles just simply lie around and gather dust because they're never read and they're never studied, and therefore we're totally and completely ignorant of doctrine.

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• In other words, Christians today are not like the Bereans. If you would turn back in your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, you'll see how the Bereans differed from the Thessalonians. In Acts chapter 17, note, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. Acts 17, verse 11. The Bible says concerning these Bereans, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,

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• and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." So when the Apostle Paul preached, or Apollos or anybody preached, they listened intently and they took what they heard and compared it with Scripture to find out what was true and what was not true. So the spirits, that is the preachers, the prophets, the apostles, everything has to be tried by the Word of God.

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• So here's a good question. Now, if you do not know the Bible, if you do not understand Bible doctrine, how can you try a spirit? How can you discern whether that man is speaking truth or speaking untruth? You must know there must be an objective standard. Now I want you to go back in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 because I want you to see how important this is. We think, "Well, this is not too important." Oh, yes, it is. Watch. He said in verse 1, "Beloved, stop believing every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Now watch verses 2 and 3. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:" now He's giving you a way to know what truth is. "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that

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• spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Now if you will notice, the test, the trying, the proving in this passage relates to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. I would, if I were a betting man, I would bet you that the average Christian cannot explain or even tell you what the word incarnation is or what it implies. And even if some might could give you what they believe is right, they could not give you supporting scriptures. Why?

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• Because once again, this is doctrine. And you cannot test a preacher. You cannot test a prophet. You cannot test an apostle without the knowledge of doctrine. So, incarnation is the doctrine that the second person of the Trinity assumed human form in the person of Jesus Christ, and He is fully divine and fully human. So in Christianity the word incarnation or incarnate is used to express the idea that Jesus Christ, who is God, came to the earth and assumed a human form. So actually the word means being made flesh. So let me show you. If you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of John—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—John chapter 1 and look, if you would, beginning there with verse 1. John chapter 1 and verse 1. Look what the Scripture says. We're talking about Jesus Christ, who is the divine Logos, the Living Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Now note, if you would, verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the

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• Word was with God, and the Word was God." Now skip down to verse 14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." So the incarnation then refers to Jesus Christ becoming flesh. He is the God-man. Now I want to tell you something. If you look back to verse 3 in 1 John 4, he said, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." So the Bible tells us that anyone who denies the incarnation is a liar and is an antichrist, which means you've all heard of Yuval Noah Harari, who is the spokesman and close confidant to Klaus Schwab and the Great Reset, is a liar and is an antichrist because he said that Jesus Christ is fake news and He's not real. It's all a lie.

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• So here's my question: Had you rather believe a reprobate like Harari or you'd rather believe the Word of God? And especially the Apostle John who gave his life for the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just simply pointing out the fact this is an issue that we must face. Let's go farther. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 4 and verses 4 and 5. Galatians, Ephesians, so look at it if you would. Galatians chapter 4 and look at verses 4 and 5. We're still talking about the incarnation, Jesus Christ becoming flesh. Galatians 4, look at verse 4. The Bible says, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman," there's incarnation, "made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." So God sent His Son, made of a woman. God became man. God assumed human flesh. If you look in your Bibles, 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16.

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• 1 Timothy chapter 3, look if you would please at verse 16. The Bible says, still talking about the incarnation, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." So without controversy, there's no argument about this. God was manifest in the flesh. That's incarnation. Now look in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5. I'm going to quote this one just so that you can understand what I'm about to say. 1 Timothy 2 verse 5: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Now what does that got to do with the incarnation? Well, the incarnation was absolutely necessary for the Lord Jesus Christ to be the mediator. You remember in Job chapter 9 in verse 33, Job was asking and praying that there would be a daysman, that is someone who would be a go-between between himself and God. Well, 1 Timothy 2 and verse

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• 5 is the answer to Job because Jesus Christ is the mediator. Since Jesus Christ is God, He can represent God truthfully, accurately. Since Jesus Christ became man, He can also now represent man truthfully and accurately. In other words, the truth of the matter is this: without the Lord Jesus Christ, there is not a mediatorship. If the Lord Jesus Christ had not become incarnate, there would not be any mediator, and therefore there would not be any salvation. So if the incarnation of Jesus Christ is denied—listen carefully—if the incarnation of Jesus Christ is denied, His deity is also denied. If Jesus Christ is not God in the flesh as the Bible teaches, then Jesus Christ is not God. So a denial of the incarnation leads to a denial of His deity. Okay.

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• Now look in your Bibles at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 15. Watch this. 1 John 4 verse 15: "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." Now look at that again: "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God"—that is, He actually became incarnate, He is the God-man—"God dwelleth in him." Now, I want you to look in 1 John 1 in verse 9, and there's a reason. Look in 1 John 1 in verse 9. The Bible says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now the reason I read 1 John 1 verse 9 is because of the word "confess." It's the exact same Greek word that you find in 1 John 4 in verse 15. It's the word "homologeo." "Homo" means one and the same, "lego" means I say the same. So when we confess our sins, we're not just mouthing words. We're

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• saying the same thing that God says about our sins. We're taking the attitude that God takes about our sins. So if I confess my sins, I don't just say, "Well, Lord, I stole from Steve today. Lord, forgive me. Maybe I can get Gary tomorrow. And if I get Gary tomorrow, maybe I can get Marshall next week." I mean, no, no, no, no. If I confess my sin of theft, if I confess my sin of stealing, I am agreeing with God. I'm saying the same thing that God says: that it's wicked, vile, wrong, death-dealing, and I repent and I turn from it. I cannot keep doing it if I agree with God. Now He said, "Whosoever confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God." It's the same word. So when we confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, what we're saying is this: that Jesus Christ is God. We are claiming Him as being the Son of God. We're claiming Him as being King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods.

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• Now I want to show you, we're not through. Look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1, and I want you to look at verses 3 and 4. Romans 1 verses 3 and 4. So when we confess Jesus Christ as God, we agree with God the Father that He is the God-man, that He is God in the flesh. Now, look in verse 3, Romans 1: "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." I'm going to show you this, but I want you to understand not only the continuity of Scripture, but also the continuity of doctrine. So if Jesus Christ is not the incarnate Son of God, if He did not become flesh, then He is not God. And if He is not God, there was no resurrection.

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• And that means there's no salvation. All of this is connected. Now watch what he said in verse 4: "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Now I want you to look at the word "declared." The word "declared" is the Greek word "horizo." It is the word from where we derive our English word "horizon." "Horizo" literally means to determine, to ordain, to appoint, to declare, and mark out boundaries. So when we look at the horizon, that is the boundary as far as we can see; we cannot see any further. That's exactly what the word means. Now everything about the life and death of Jesus Christ was appointed, ordained, and marked out. Nothing happened to Jesus Christ except that which God determined before the world began. Nothing could happen to Jesus Christ outside of that determination. Look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2, if you would. Acts chapter 2. Let's begin reading there with verse 22 and we'll read through verse 24. Acts chapter 2 verse 22. Look at it. Scripture says, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did

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• by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Now go back, if you would, and look at verse 23. The Bible says, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel of God." The word "determinate" is the Greek word "horizo." It's the same word that you find in Romans chapter 1 and verse 4. Everything about Jesus Christ was marked out. Now look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4. Let's begin reading there with verse 25. Acts 4 verse 25, and we'll read through verse 28. Look at it. Acts chapter 4 verse 25: "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ." Now look for a truth.

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• "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Now when you look at verse 28, what did Pontius Pilate do? What did Herod do? What did the Gentiles do? What did Israel do to Christ? Verse 28: "whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Now, when you look in verse 28, and you see the words "determined before," the Greek word is "prohorizo." It's still the same word.

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• It just has a preposition in front of it, which means before. All it means is, is everything concerning Jesus Christ was marked out. The boundaries were set. Everything was ordained and appointed by God the Father before the world ever began. Everything about Jesus Christ was predestinated to the nth degree. So what I want you to see is the continuity of Scripture. What I want you to see is the continuity of doctrine. When you deny one doctrine, you end up denying a multitude of doctrines. And when you deny the incarnation, you deny the deity of Christ. When you deny the deity of Christ, you deny soteriology, you deny salvation, because you also deny the resurrection. And as Paul proved in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ was not raised from the dead, then he said, we are yet in our sins, we are lost, that is for sure.

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• So, let me point something else out. Now, listen carefully, because I'm going to show it to you from the Scripture. There's another test, and this is why I said it's proving time. It's testing time. Okay. How can you tell if someone is of God or not? How can you test them and try them? How can you prove them? How can you scrutinize them? How can you examine them? Well, the only answer is you do so by the Word of God. That is for sure, but there is another way, and that is their response to the Word of God. Do they receive it?

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• Or do they refuse it? For instance, if you look in 1 John 4 and verse 6, 1 John 4 and verse 6, he said, "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." So how can you tell the spirit of error? The spirit of error is someone who is so obstinate, so rebellious that he will not listen.

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• Do you remember the Scripture talks about Apollos? Apollos, the Bible says, was a mighty man, eloquent, and he was eloquent in the Scriptures, and he came preaching. And when Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they realized although he was very eloquent and he did a fine job, he didn't know everything. And so the Scripture says Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos into their house and taught him the way of God more perfectly. And he received it. And he went his way preaching. So hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. The spirit of truth is always going to listen to and receive the Word of God. The spirit of error is always going to repudiate and refuse the Word of God.

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• So, the point I'm making now is this. If you deny one doctrine, you deny all the doctrines, basically. Because all of these doctrines are interconnected and you cannot have one without the other. When you deny the Incarnation, you deny the Deity. When you deny the Deity, you deny Salvation. When you deny Salvation, you deny the Resurrection. You deny practically everything. We know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error because the Spirit of Truth is one that receives the Word of God. The spirit of error is the spirit of Antichrist, which repudiates the Word of God, and whoever refuses what God says is an Antichrist and a liar. Now let me make some applications.

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• I want you to think with me. First of all, I've said this hundreds of times, but I'll say it again. Okay, the Word of God is our only sufficient rule for faith and practice. And because it's the only inspired rule, it is our canon. What has happened is you have a lot of syncretism in religion. Thomas Aquinas was a famous Roman Catholic theologian. And what Thomas Aquinas tried to do was he tried to take Christianity and intermingle with it the teachings of Plato and Socrates and Aristotle. He tried to put the philosophy of man along with the Word of God. And so anytime you have a combination of man and God or humanism and the Bible, you have what is known as syncretism, which of course perverts the Word of God and turns out to be complete heresy.

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• Now, I began this message by talking about Gnosticism. The problem is this: there are many of these ancient heresies that are still with us today. And we do not understand that all of the old heresies are dressed up and given to us today in different forms. So remember I told you that the Gnostics denied materialism; they basically thought anything material, anything physical was evil, wicked, and wrong.

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• They always, always tried to emphasize that which they called that which is spiritual. Okay, so I want to give you a little quiz. I want to give you a little test. Do not answer out loud, okay? But you may answer true or false, or you may answer yes or no. Okay? Just don't answer out loud. So here we go. I'm going to make some statements. You think in your mind, true or false, yes or no. Here we go.

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• Prayer is more important than mowing your widowed grandmother's lawn. How about this one? Sharing the gospel is more important than taking a meal to a sick person or some family that just got home from the hospital. Here's the third one: doing sacred work such as preaching or being a missionary is more important than secular work, than being a carpenter, an engineer, an accountant, or a lawyer. Now, here it is. If you answered true or yes to either one of those, you have imbibed Gnosticism.

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• I want to show you. You can turn to these or I can quote them. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." So you can keep house to the glory of God. You can wash dishes to the glory of God. You can dig a ditch to the glory of God. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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• I think it was Martin Luther who said the way to impress others with your Christianity is if you were a shoemaker, you do not impress people by putting little crosses on your shoes. You impress people by making good shoes. How about Colossians chapter 3 verses 23 and 24? Now listen carefully: "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. And then how about this one? Finally, James chapter 1 verse 27: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." So what does God rather have us to do? God had rather have us to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction.

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• And that is just as biblical. That is just as godly as preaching and teaching. Whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. That is the truth. For the Christian, there is no division between the secular and the sacred. For the Christian, everything is sacred. Whether you eat or whether you drink, whatever you do. You prove, you test, you scrutinize, you examine by the Word of God. It is our objective standard, and that is how we test the spirits. That is how we test the preachers: by the Word of God. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ,

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• we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth, and we pray, Father, that You would indeed enable us to see and to examine and to scrutinize and to try and to test and prove according to Your Word, by Your Word, for Your honor and Your glory. Help us, Lord, to understand that everything we are, everything we do, is to be done for Your honor and Your glory. Give us Your grace, we pray, in Christ's name. Amen.

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• ♪

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:29:37Z