Guidance from a Mature Believer: Test Their Teachings

GUIDANCE FROM A MATURE BELIEVER

When a Voice Sounds Close Enough

Test Their Teachings · 1 John 4:1–6

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones; praise from the upright is beautiful.

Praise the Lord with the lyre; make music to him with a ten-stringed harp.

Sing a new song to him; play skillfully on the strings, with a joyful shout.

For the word of the Lord is right, and all his work is trustworthy.

He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the Lord’s unfailing love.

— Psalm 33:1–5 (CSB)

The phone rings, and the voice on the other end sounds young and frightened. “Grandma? It’s me. I’m in trouble, and please don’t tell Mom.” Within the hour, a loving grandmother is standing in a checkout line buying gift cards for a grandson who is, in fact, safe at home with no idea any of this is happening.

Police call it the grandparent scam, and it works for one heartbreaking reason: the voice sounds close enough. Close enough to the one she loves. Close enough to trust. Close enough that she never thought to stop and check.

Let’s talk about voices that sound close enough.

An Elder’s Warning

By the time John wrote this letter, he was an old man. He had walked the roads of Galilee beside Jesus, leaned against him at the Last Supper, and stood at the foot of the cross. He had watched the church grow from a handful of frightened followers into congregations scattered across the Roman world. And he had watched something else grow too: a crop of smooth-talking teachers who claimed to speak for God while quietly reshaping who Jesus was.

So, John writes the way a seasoned grandparent talks to the family around the kitchen table. He calls his readers “dear friends” and “little children.” He has lived long enough to know how easily good people get fooled, and he loves them too much to stay quiet.

Our world is louder than John’s ever was. Voices claiming to speak for God reach us through television, podcasts, social media feeds, bestselling books, and sometimes through pulpits. Some of those voices are faithful. Some are dangerously wrong. Many of them sound close enough. John’s counsel for us is simple and urgent: test them.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

— 1 John 4:1 (CSB)

Testing Is an Act of Faith

Some of us were raised to feel that questioning a preacher came uncomfortably close to questioning God. I understand that instinct. We want to honor the people who teach us, and Scripture does call us to respect our leaders. Yet John gives us permission, and really a command, to examine what we hear. Weighing a message against God’s truth is one of the ways we honor the God who gave us that truth in the first place.

Bank tellers learn to spot counterfeit money by handling the real thing, day after day, until the feel and weight and detail of genuine currency become second nature. Then when a fake bill crosses the counter, something feels wrong right away.

That is the posture John invites us into. Know the genuine so well that the counterfeit has nowhere to hide.

Five Ways to Test a Teacher

Throughout this letter, John gives us several tests. Think of them as questions to ask about anyone who claims to speak for God, whether they stand on a stage, appear on a screen, or sit across the table from you at Bible study.

1. Does the message match God’s Word?

Every teaching has to be measured against Scripture. Our opening psalm reminds us that “the word of the Lord is right, and all his work is trustworthy” (Psalm 33:4). If a teacher’s words contradict what God has already said, the question is settled. God never contradicts himself. Keep your Bible open when you listen, and make a habit of asking, “Where does it say that?”

2. Are they committed to the body of believers?

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

— 1 John 2:19 (CSB)

John watched people walk away from the fellowship and take followers with them. Their leaving revealed who they really were. Be cautious of anyone who sets themselves above the church, answers to no one, and draws people away from the wider family of believers. A faithful teacher builds up the body of Christ.

3. Does their life match their message?

Now this is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us.

— 1 John 3:23 (CSB)

Words come easily. Lives tell the truth. A genuine teacher believes in the name of Jesus and loves people the way Jesus commanded (1 John 3:23–24). Watch how they treat people who can do nothing for them. Watch how they handle money, power, and criticism. Over time, a lifestyle preaches louder than any sermon.

4. What fruit does their ministry produce?

John writes that anyone who knows God listens to the truth (1 John 4:6). So, look at the people a ministry produces. Are they growing in humility, love, holiness, and devotion to Christ? Or are they becoming fearful, proud, divided, or more attached to a personality than to the Savior? Healthy teaching grows healthy believers.

5. What do they believe about Jesus?

Here is the test John treats as the most important of all.

This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

— 1 John 4:2–3 (CSB)

Ask any teacher one question: Who is Jesus? The biblical answer is that he is fully God and fully man. Some false teachers in John’s day denied that the eternal Son of God truly took on human flesh. Others since have reduced Jesus to a wise teacher, an enlightened example, or one path among many. A message can borrow every Christian word in the dictionary and still get Jesus wrong. And when a message gets Jesus wrong, it gets everything wrong.

The Word Who Became Flesh

John opened his Gospel with the same truth he defends in this letter.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

— John 1:1, 14 (CSB)

Jesus is God. Jesus became one of us. Both halves matter. Because he is fully God, he has the power to save. Because he is fully man, he could stand in our place, carry our sin, and understand our weakness from the inside. Any teaching that removes either half removes the gospel.

And here is the part I love most. John tells us this Word is also the light.

That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

— John 1:5 (CSB)

Every false teacher, every deceiving spirit, every lie dressed up in religious clothing belongs to the darkness. And the darkness has never once managed to put out his light.

The Spirit of the Antichrist

John mentions something that makes many of us uneasy. Scripture teaches that one day a person will rise who embodies everything evil, and an evil world will welcome him gladly. Paul describes him in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12, and John gives a fuller picture in Revelation 13. Yet John wants us to notice that the spirit behind that coming figure is already at work. Every teaching that denies who Jesus is carries a measure of that spirit.

The prophet Isaiah described what happens when people lose their moral bearings:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

— Isaiah 5:20 (CSB)

Isaiah goes on to warn that destruction is certain for those who reject the Lord’s instruction and despise his word (Isaiah 5:24–25). When we see good labeled evil and evil labeled good, we shouldn’t be surprised, and we certainly shouldn’t be swept along. We test what we hear, and we hold fast to what God has said.

Greater Is the One Who Lives in You

If all this talk of deception and antichrists leaves you a little anxious, John has a word for you. It may be the most comforting verse in the whole passage.

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

— 1 John 4:4 (CSB)

Read that again slowly. You have conquered them. Past tense. Instead of fear, John points us to the One who lives inside us. The Spirit of God and the Word of God dwell in the hearts of his people, and he is stronger than every lie, every deceiver, and every power of evil in this world. One day he will conquer all evil completely and forever. Until then, we stand on ground that has already been won.

Learning to Know His Voice

Let’s go back to that grandmother on the phone. Her best protection would have been knowing her grandson’s voice so well that the imitation fell flat. Jesus used that very picture.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead, they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.

— John 10:3–5 (CSB)

“The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). David wrote those words centuries before Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, and they are as true for you today as they were on the hills around Bethlehem. Sheep learn their shepherd’s voice by spending time with him. So do we.

Christianity is a relationship with Christ himself. A church building can shelter that relationship, and a group of believers can strengthen it, but neither one can stand in for knowing him personally. The more time you spend with Jesus in his Word and in prayer, the faster a stranger’s voice will sound wrong to you. Know Jesus. Trust him.

The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Teachers come and go. Trends in the church rise and fade. Through all of it, nothing about God has changed since the beginning. The God of the past, the present, and the future is one and the same, and his truth does not bend to fit the culture.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

— Hebrews 13:8 (CSB)

That steadiness matters, because we also live with an open question. We don’t know when Jesus will return. He told us so plainly:

This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

— Matthew 24:44 (CSB)

So here is my heartfelt counsel, friend: just be ready. Know him, trust him, and live today in a way you would be glad for him to find you living.

Stand for Truth, Speak with Love

They are from the world. Therefore, what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

— 1 John 4:5–6 (CSB)

Standing for truth will sometimes put us out of step with the world around us. John expected that. The world listens to its own, so we shouldn’t be shocked when sound teaching is unpopular. Our calling is to stay faithful.

And faithfulness reaches beyond our own front door. Scripture calls us to lift our voices for people who cannot lift their own.

Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.

— Proverbs 31:8–9 (CSB)

Some of the people most harmed by false teaching are the most vulnerable among us: the grieving, the lonely, the desperate, and the new believer who doesn’t yet know which questions to ask. Speak up for them. Pray for those who lead us, in our churches and in our nation, that they would hold fast to the truth. Learn to recognize the dangers of false teaching. And when you meet someone caught in error, show them the truth in a loving way. Gentleness opens doors that arguments slam shut, and our aim is always to draw that person back to Jesus.

Listen for the Shepherd

The voices will keep calling, friend. Some will sound warm and familiar. Some will sound wise and impressive. Some will sound close enough. John’s counsel, earned over a long life of following Jesus, still holds: test them. Hold every message up to God’s Word. Watch how teachers live, whether they stay connected to the body, and what fruit their ministry bears. Above all, ask what they believe about Jesus.

And as you test, rest. The One who lives in you is greater than anything in this world. His light has never been overcome, and it never will be. Learn his voice, follow where he leads, and stay ready for the day he comes back for his own.

Your Plan of Action

Here are a few simple steps to help you put John’s counsel into practice, starting today.

Daily	This Week	This Month	Ongoing
Read a passage of Scripture before you take in any other voice.	Read 1 John 4:1–6 each day and memorize verse 4.	Read the Gospel of John and watch for Jesus as fully God and fully man.	Stay rooted in a local body of believers.
Pray, “Lord, help me know your voice.”	Choose one teacher you follow and walk them through John’s five tests.	Study 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13 with a trusted friend or group.	When you meet error, answer it with truth and gentleness.
When something sounds off, ask, “Where does it say that?”	Pray by name for your pastor and for those who lead our nation.	Find one way to speak up for someone who has no voice.	Live ready for Christ’s return.

Help · Hope · Home

You never have to sort through the noise alone. If something you’ve heard is weighing on you, or you’d simply like someone to pray with you, reach out. We would count it a joy to open the Word together and listen for the Shepherd’s voice side by side.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.