When the operation is such as to raise their esteem of that Jesus who was born of the Virgin, and was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem; and seems more to confirm and establish their minds in the truth of what the gospel declares to us of his being the Son of God, and the Savior of men, this is a sure sign that it is from the Spirit of God. The apostle gives us this sign in verses 2 and 3: \u201cHereby know ye the Spirit of God; and 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.\u201d This implies a confessing not only that there was such a person who appeared in Palestine and did and suffered those things that are recorded of him, but that he was the Christ, i.e. the Son of God, anointed to be Lord and Savior, as the name Jesus Christ implies. <\/p>\n
Confessing that Jesus is the Son of God<\/p>\n
That thus much is implied in the apostle\u2019s meaning is confirmed by verse 15, where the apostle is still on the same subject of signs of the true Spirit: \u201cWhosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.\u201d And it is to be observed that the word confess<\/i>, as it is often used in the New Testament, signifies more than merely allowing<\/i>: it implies an establishing and confirming of a thing by testimony, and declaring it with manifestation of esteem and affection. \u201cWhosoever therefore shall confess <\/i>me before men, him will I confess<\/i> also before my Father which is in heaven\u201d (Matt. 10:32). \u201cI will confess<\/i> to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name\u201d (Rom. 15:9). \u201cThat every tongue shall confess<\/i> that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father\u201d (Phil. 2:11). And that this is the force of the expression as the apostle John uses it in this passage is confirmed in the next chapter, verse 1: \u201cWhosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.\u201d And by that parallel passage of the apostle Paul, where we have the same rule given to distinguish the true Spirit from all counterfeits: \u201cWherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed [or will show an ill or mean esteem of him]; and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost\u201d (1 Cor. 12:3).<\/p>\n
So if the spirit that is at work among a people is plainly observed to work so as to convince them of Christ, and lead them to him \u2013 to confirm their minds in the belief of the history of Christ as he appeared in the flesh \u2013 and that he is the Son of God, and was sent by God to save sinners; That he is the only Savior, and that they stand in great need of him; and if he seems to beget in them higher and more honorable thoughts of him than they used to have and to incline their affections more to him; it is a sure sign that it is the true and right Spirit; however incapable we may be of determining whether that conviction and affection is in that manner, or to that degree, as to be saving or not.<\/p>\n
But the words of the apostle are remarkable; the person to whom the Spirit gives testimony, and for whom he raises their esteem, must be that Jesus who appeared in the flesh, and not another Christ in his stead; nor any mystical, fantastical Christ, such as the light within. The spirit of Quakers extols this, while it diminishes their esteem of and dependence upon an outward Christ \u2013 or Jesus as he came in the flesh \u2013 and leads them off form him; but the spirit that gives testimony for that Jesus, and leads to him, can be no other than the Spirit of God. The devil has the most bitter and implacable enmity against that person, especially in his character of the Savior of men; he mortally hates the story and doctrine of his redemption; he never would go about to beget in men more honorable thoughts of him, and lay greater weight on his instructions and commands. The Spirit that inclines men\u2019s hearts to the seed of the woman is not the spirit of the serpent that has such an irreconcilable enmity against him. He that heightens men\u2019s esteem of the glorious Michael, That prince of the angels, is not the spirit of the dragon that is at war with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the operation is such as to raise their esteem of that Jesus who was born of the Virgin, and was crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem; and seems more to confirm and establish their minds in the truth of what the gospel declares to us of his being the Son of God, and the … Continue reading “1.
\nJESUS IS SEEN TO BE THE SON OF GOD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}