1st John 4:2. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” HOW YOU KNOW. Evidence is soon there when the conversation begins – Not just the words but the subject produces a knowing – Such cannot be known without out the experience of faith; Personal and real, activated by the Spirit of God without prompting. A sensible awareness of divine things becomes obvious – And there is the warmth of love as the name of the Lord Jesus is spoken. Experience and observation both directed by the unseen Spirit – And there is agreement with His divine revelation in the scriptures. Mention the name and Person of the Lord Jesus and listen – listen well, Any lack of agreement with the inspired scriptures, and you know – Know whether that person is activated by the Spirit or dead to God – The confession of faith and the person that faith is placed in, tells the truth. Jesus Christ, eternal in His person; without beginning of days or end of life – The verbal expression of God; the Word that was in the beginning – ageless. He took on true manhood Himself – sent of the Father – willing to come – Not just a Christ that came upon a mortal man born in sin and set apart. No, He who was The Father of Eternity, became true humanity – He took upon Himself true manhood permanently – now He is The God-man. In the flesh, of that there is no question, “God was manifest in the flesh.” See Him in His incarnation: angels, shepherds, wise men; waiting believers – All testify, along with the fulfilled scriptures: Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. See Him in His manifestation: miracles, teaching, sinless life, gracious words – See Him in His work of redemption: sinless, yet bearing sin; forgiving – The confession of faith in Christ alone: His Person, His work, tells the truth.
“O Father, who sent the Son to be the Savior of the world: my confession is to Thee again today – I know and testify that Jesus Christ, the God-man has come and has justified us before Thee by know Him, love Him and am daily waiting for His return. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.” It is to those the charge to "try the spirits," or "test the teachings" is so important. The teaching of Plato was that the spirit is that which is important. His teaching was also that the body is a prison from which we want to escape. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was a pious man upon whom Christ came when He was baptized. Another teaching was that Jesus was only a spirit who seemed like He had a body but never cast a shadow, or left footprints because He was God but not man. Still another teaching was that all physical matter is evil and only spiritual things are good. So only those who studied spiritual things and were intellectually capable of understanding spiritual things could enlighten others as to the benefits of religious thought. They did not understand, nor believe in hypostatic union. All of these schools of thought are still around today in one form or another. The fact that Jesus is both God and man is not understood, therefore not accepted as true. Many today believe Jesus was only a good man, with good morals, who gave good teaching. That He is the God/man is either not understood, or denied, or rejected.
Whenever we hear a person speak as one who speaks for God, we must be sure he speaks correctly of our Lord Jesus Christ. One wrote: "What think ye of Christ is the test To try both the state and the scheme. You cannot be right in the rest, Until you think rightly of Him."
Elders and shepherds in assemblies of God's people must know what a teacher, an evangelist or any other Christian who speaks on behalf others, truly believes about Christ before they can address the people of a congregation. A guarded platform is an important way to preserve God's people from error. Each individual believer needs to test the teaching of any person they listen to on the radio, internet or television. Before you pay attention to what they say, be sure you know what they believe about our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus lived as a man among people, but He never ceased to be God in any way. His glory was veiled so people wouldn't die in His presence because of His holiness, but His personhood never changed.
There are false prophets, false apostles and false teachers today the same as there was in John's day. There are more now than then, and many are worse in morals and their rejection of truth. The Spirit of God in a true believer will make plain what is true or false. It is up to us to yield to the Spirit and not grieve the Spirit who "guides [us] into all truth." Some teachers deny the virgin birth of Christ, His atoning death that is sufficient to meet the need of all mankind without any additions, and His physical resurrection from among the dead. The eternal Sonship of Christ, the Supreme authority and power of Christ, the soon-coming of Christ and the sinless perfection of Christ are denied by many religionists. Some say that Jesus could have sinned because He was a man, but chose not to sin. That teaching would put our salvation in jeopardy for ever. He is "the same yesterday, today and forever," so if He could have sinned in the past, He could sin in the future. If that was so, He had a sin-nature, and we who are "accepted in the Beloved" would be rejected.