There are many television shows and movies today about ghosts, spirits and everything having to do about communicating with them. Would it then surprise you to learn that many of us communicate with spirits without even realizing it every single day? Of course with a statement like that, some of you are expecting me to make a cop-out answer and say that whenever we communicate with other people we are in-essence communicating with spirits, because man is at the core, a spirit-being.

However while that may be true, in this instance I am in-fact referring to spirits of a different variety, and you may be surprised when you realize how much this communication affects our daily lives, and what the Bible actually says about it.

Our scripture text today comes from 1st John 4:1-4, and it is another one of the well known but not well understood verses. However once we examine it in the light of Christ, then we can see the power of it.

Let’s read the verses together:

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 you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”

Now the most common interpretation for this verse is having to do with false leaders and false teachers. And yes it can be used for that. There is however also a second meaning to the verses… you see, the word “prophet” used in verse one of the scripture text we have just read, has several meanings. Included in those definitions is one which many people are not even aware of, and that definition is simply “messenger”. And this is where things become interesting.

You see my friends, when we think of the word messenger in the Bible, we tend to think of the more common uses of the word, such as the previously mentioned leader, teacher or even angels. However it can also mean evil and oppressive spirits, demons, for they too are angels, albeit fallen angels.

Here is where this applies to us. Look at verse two of our scripture text. The way we are to know which spirits are of God and which are of the enemy. The rule we are to use is whether they testify to the finished work of Jesus Christ or not.

What does this mean for us today? I offer you a simple example to demonstrate. If you are feeling a pain in your body, and you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you know that the Bible says in Isaiah 53:4 that Jesus carried our pains and bore our sorrows in His own body. Knowing this, that feeling of pain that you are experiencing is actually an oppressive spirit, which is bringing you a message contrary to that of the finished work of Christ.

So now you have a choice to make as a believer. Do you accept the testimony of the pain, or do you accept the testimony of Christ Jesus?

Friends, this is radical faith, but it is not something that I have invented. This is the true and real power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are to truly believe that He suffered for us, that He carried our sicknesses and pains and sins and every curse for us in our place on that cross, then there is no reason for us to suffer for something that He paid for. It makes no sense for two people to pay for the same thing twice!

If He Himself paid for our sins so that we could be redeemed from every curse, then there is no curse that has any right to remain in our bodies or our lives!

So the title of this message today is a question for each of us. Which spirit have we been listening to? Which spirit have we been believing?

My friends, the Gospel is full of power, which the enemy tries to keep us ignorant about. Yet when it is revealed in the light of Christ, lives are changed, and the believers are raised in victory. Praise the name of Jesus for His wonderful finished work!

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