Are You From God? | 1 John 4:4-6

In the era before today’s age of individualism, a person’s identity was inherently linked to his lineage. The question ‘Who are you from?’ indicated who you were and where you were from. Spiritually speaking, knowing who we are from tells not only of our origin but also of our destination. Man is either from God or from Satan. In this ongoing series in the first book of John, the apostle outlines the marks of those who are from God- those whom God elected before the foundation of the world to be redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, kept in love by the power of His will, and separated from the passing world to belong to God alone. (Eph 1:4, Jn 1:12-13)

Those from God overcome. Satan has no dominion over the Christian, because Jesus’ crucifixion freed us from our bondage and will to sin. Jesus Himself declared, “It is finished” – ‘It’ refers to the atonement of our guilt before God. (Jn 19:30) How can you overcome? As you defend your faith with a deep conviction of the Word of God, you can overcome evil spirits. (Ps 119:42, 11:3) God’s Word is the foundation of our confession, and by it we can discern truth from error through the Holy Spirit who enlightens us. The gospel is our greatest offense and defense to overcome false teachers, and we must be resolved to give up our life rather than to compromise Biblical truth. We can do this only by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. He is our source of strength, and He is infinitely more powerful than he who is in the world. The Holy Spirit shows His power through the effecting work of Scripture, raising the dead to life both spiritually and physically. (2Tim 3:16, Jn 6:63, Rom 8:11) He is always with those who are from God, empowering them to overcome every evil spirit.

Those from God speak and act contrary to false teachers. In Apostle John’s day, the false teachers of pre-Gnosticism and Docetism denied Jesus’ humanity because they argued that since Jesus is good, and all flesh is evil, Jesus could not have truly manifested the flesh. False teachers today continue to deny the truth of Jesus Christ, while preaching a false and dispensable gospel. They despise the suffering and death of Jesus, and hate the narrow gate His disciples are called to go through to follow Him. They have a love for money, rather than God, and the heart of this fallen world is open wide for their soothing messages concerning their immediate, earthly problems. Those who are from God preach the gospel, honoring Christ as Lord. (Phil 3:7-9) We must exercise faith according to the solid truth that is the Word of God. Though our natural selves will desire to go against God’s Word, we can speak and act according to the Word of God in love with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Those from God listen to and obey God’s Word. As stated previously, those who belong to Christ pay attention to the Scripture and receive the whole Word as it is. Are you listening and obeying God’s Word? God has appointed leaders and pastors to shepherd His church and teach His Word. We must respect the speaker who handles accurately the Word of God, and we must constantly examine ourselves to avoid spiritual error. (Jn 10:4,27; Heb 13:7) If you attend church with a degrading view of God, salvation, and the seriousness of sin, it is alarming indication of teaching that cannot produce saving faith. You must resolve to flee such teaching and teachers and situate yourself under a good teacher who teaches unadulterated truth from the Word of God (Matt 7:21-24) If you find it difficult to understand and obey God’s word, ask yourself whether you have been truly saved – he who is not from God will not, or rather cannot comprehend the Word of God even while listening to the Word being preached.

As we examine ourselves under the light of Scripture, let us remember that the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, is with us. He is ready to help us as we repent of our sins and turn to Him. Let us therefore continually strive to maintain a biblical view that bears much spiritual fruit, which evidences that we are truly the children of God.