“We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
We are of God.
The “we” here refers to the apostles who authored the New Testament. The “we” is set in contrast to the “they” of verse five. The Holy Spirit inspired the apostles’ writings with special revelation. The apostles clearly understood that.
He who knows God hears us;
Genuine believers respond with positive volition to true teachers. The gospel and the Word of God ring true to them. There are affinity and correspondence between God’s people and God’s Word. The words “he who knows” is literally “the one knowing.” This is a person clearly described as a believer.
he who is not of God does not hear us.
Fakers do not respond to the truth. They do not witness the truth because their hearts are darkened by the Devil’s domain. We can discern the truth of whether someone is truly a believer by his attitude to the truth.
PRINCIPLE:
There is an affinity between God’s people and God’s Word.
APPLICATION:
The world system and God each have their own followers with corresponding empathy. These are the two characteristic spirits or empathies of our age. There is a spirit of error, and there is the spirit of truth. Fellowship of the world revolves strictly around race, face, and place of the satanic world system. Fellowship with God revolves around an affinity with grace.
True or genuine believers have positive volition toward what God says in His Word. They have an affinity with the voice of His grace.
Jn 10:4,5, 8, 4 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers… 8 “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”
Jn 10:16, “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”
Jn 10:26-27, 26 “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’”
We are either “of the world” or “of God.” We cannot truly love God as long as there is one ounce of false teaching in our soul. The status of the believer is forever “of God.” The true believer always responds to the truth of God found in the Word of God.
Jn 8:47, “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
