Don't Drink The Kool Aid 1John 4:1-15

Call To Worship Psalm 123

Law Grace reading  Matthew 24:1-14

Bible reading 1 John 4:1-15 Don't Drink The Kool Ade 

Benediction 2 Cor 13:11-14

 

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

 

In 1955, Jim Jones founded the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis. The church stood out for of its multiracial membership, which was quite revolutionary during a time of racial segregation. Jones was a very strong advocate for Marxist socialism and Chinese communism, calling it apostolic Socialism.  Sometime the early 1960s, Jones came across an Esquire article that listed the nine safe places in the world in the event of a nuclear catastrophe.  Eureka, California. Jones persuaded his congregation that they needed to leave for California and even warned of a nuclear attack that would happen on July 15, 1967. Jones, his family and about 70 of his followers moved to Redwood Valley in northern California. His church empire would later extend to San Francisco and Los Angeles by the mid 1970s.  Jones taught that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment", which he defined as socialism.  Jones asserted that traditional Christianity had an incorrect view of God. By the early 1970s, Jones began deriding traditional Christianity as "fly away religion", rejecting the Bible as being a tool to oppress women and non-whites.  Jones referred to traditional Christianity's view of God as a "Sky God" who was "no God at all".  Instead, Jones claimed to be God, and no God beside him. Jones increasingly promoted the idea of his own divinity, going so far as to tell his congregation that "I am come as God Socialist."

His preaching was unconventional socialist and progressive ideas to a predominantly African-American congregation, called the Peoples Temple. At the height of its popularity during the 1970s, the Temple had a membership estimated in the thousands and was courted by local politicians in San Francisco. But by 1977, Jones had grown paranoid from the media scrutiny over the Temple's suspicious activities, so he and his numerous followers moved to an agricultural settlement (a.k.a. Jonestown) in Guyana, the remote country east of Venezuela. The tragedy in Jonestown on November 18th, 1978 represented the largest number of American civilian casualties in a single non-natural event. It is unfathomable now, as it was then, that more than 900 Americans died after drinking poison at the urging of their leader, the Reverend Jim Jones, in a secluded South American jungle settlement. Photographs taken after the carnage forever document the sheer enormity of the event: the bodies of hundreds of people, including children, lying face down in the grass. A drink mixture of Flavor Aid and cyanide was handed out to the members of the community to drink. Those who refused to drink were injected with cyanide via syringe. The crowd was also surrounded by armed guards, offering members the basic dilemma of death by poison or death by a guard's hand.

Jones counselled, "Stop these hysterics. This is not the way for people who are  socialists  or communists  to die. No way for us to die. We must die with some dignity." 

The term ' Don't drink the Kool Aid" refers to that terrible atrocity. 

But how do people get sucked into a cult?  1 John 4:1-7.

The Lord Jesus spoke of many false cults arising before the Second Coming.

"You will be hated by all nations because of My name." (Matt. 24:9)

"Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many." (Matt. 24:11)

"Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." (Matt. 24:12)

"False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." (Matt. 24:24)

"An hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." (John 16:2)

"In the world you have tribulation." (John 16:33)

"The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Tim. 4:1)

"The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Jim Jones:  He didn't concentrate on focussing on Jesus Christ, His Person and His work at the cross. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

He spoke about things the world wanted to hear: He was working in a with people who struggled financially, so he preached a social gospel, one that focused on socialism and welfare.

5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.6

He didn't stick with just God's Word, he introduced his own:  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

 

God did not send a System, He sent A Saviour

1. You don't need a System you need a Saviour!

John is repeating himself , but he isn't.  What he is doing is he is going to show that there are issues!            Having a system, is assuring.       Having a system is easy.

Every Christian will be a systematic theologian.  Our brains order things to bring order to our world.

Order feels right!       BUT!  You don't need a system, you need a Saviour!

It's not the plan of salvation that saves you,

it's the Man of salvation that saves you.

What is this thing by which a person can know the Spirit of God? Actually, it's not a thing, but a person—the person of Jesus Christ. John says, "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (4:2-3). As we saw in our discussion of 2:20-21, the historic Christian faith that "was once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 1:3) centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Genuine teachers must hold to the right Jesus, not a different Jesus. They must accept Him as the incarnate God-man, sent by God the Father in the power of God the Holy Spirit. They must believe in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His atoning death, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. This means accepting Him as the only Saviour and Lord, and it means hoping for His future coming as King.

The right teaching concerning Jesus Christ is the litmus test. Does the person delivering the teaching confess Jesus as God incarnate? Do they believe Christ to be the eternal Son of God? Do they profess personal faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord . . . and point others to do the same? And does this preacher or teacher place Christ at the center of the teaching and at the head of the ministry, consistent with His right position as Saviour and Lord? Or is the teacher putting himself or herself at the center of everything?

This of course leads to the second important distinguishing mark.

2. You don't need a Specialist, You Need A Saviour!

It is about this Saviour!  Not a Specialist! Having a system means you can put your faith in a man, a "specialist" , a "priest" it is easier! Put your faith in me not the Saviour?? You will go to hell. You are drinking the Koolaid!  Don't follow a pastor, follow the Saviour! Sometimes I run across preachers or teachers today who claim to be "apostles" or "prophets." Often they're just using those titles in their most general senses. Missionaries may use the term "apostle" as "one who is sent" or preachers may use "prophet" as "one who proclaims a message." But occasionally, the self-styled "apostle" or "prophet" claims to be the same kind of apostle or prophet found in the New Testament, upon whom the church was built (Eph. 2:20). In fact, some today claim that the next great revival and reformation of the church will come through bona fide apostles and prophets . . . and only those Christians and churches who follow their lead will be part of the new wave of the Spirit. Is this possible? Can there be real apostles and prophets with such authority today?

According to Scripture—and confirmed by the testimony of the early church—the authentic offices of the apostles and prophets were limited to the earliest church. Paul wrote, "God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets" (1 Cor. 12:28), indicating that these are first in sequence as the foundational offices of the church. Paul also implied that one mark of an authentic apostle includes having "seen Jesus our Lord" (1 Cor. 9:1). In 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, when Paul lists the eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus, he indicates that Christ appeared to James and "then to all the apostles," he himself being "last of all." Another essential mark of "a true apostle" was the ability to perform authenticating "signs and wonders and miracles" (2 Cor. 12:12). This function of signs and wonders as confirming the original apostles' message is mentioned in Hebrews 2:3-4, when the author writes, "After [the gospel] was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will."

So, both the Bible and the records of the earliest church immediately after the apostles demonstrate that the New Testament apostles and prophets were a fixed number in the first generation of the church. Their teachings concerning the crucified and risen Lord, as well as their writings, were foundational for the church. When their lives on earth came to an end, so did their offices. Today their doctrines are preserved in Scripture and taught by their successors—the evangelists, pastors, and teachers throughout church history (Eph. 4:11). Nobody can legitimately claim to be an authoritative apostle or prophet in the church today.

You don't need a Specialist, You Need A Saviour!

He does say.. 1 John 4:3. John says that "he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us" (1 Jn. 4:6). The "us" here likely refers to the genuine apostles, John and his circle of truth tellers. Today, we "listen" to the apostles as we devote ourselves fully and unconditionally to their inspired words in God's Word.

These two tests—faithfulness in word and deed to the person of Jesus Christ and faithfulness and obedience to God's word—are sure, reliable guides for discerning between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

You see John pointing people to Jesus! 1 John 3:16, manifested!  When? 70 years before. But he doesn't stop talking about Jesus!  Its not about John! Its not about his bank account!  It is about Jesus!   1 John 4:10

What you don't see in the New Testament… You don't see John parading  himself about pointing to himself because he is an apostle and you ought to listen to him!

He does the same as John the Baptist! He saw himself like the best man at a wedding, doing everything to make sure that the bride and groom get hitched properly.

There Is No Greater Purpose Than Presenting Christ

There Is No Greater Joy Than Seeing Christ Magnified

John 330 He must increase, but I must decrease."

3. You Don't Need A Religion, you need a Relationship

Relationship words… one word.. love.  God Does Not Invite You to A Religion, he invites you to a relationship! Religio.. many systematic religions in NT times.  Many systematic religions in our time.

Religio… it is satisfying.  Intellectually, Emotionally…

But Don't Drink the Koolaid.  Jim Jones Cult.

Why do people go in for religions?   It brings order Systems of belief... It brings enthusiasm. It makes people committed. But it is false! Don't drink the Kool aid!

Remember 1 John 3:23  And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. They overcame "because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (4:4). God's Spirit is the one who teaches us, leads us into truth, and strengthens us when we come toe-to-toe with deceivers (Luke 12:11-12; John 14:26; 16:13). The Spirit of God who is within us is mightier than any enemy of the truth—human or demonic.

4. You Don't Need Assuring Signs You Have An Assuring Father.

Religions give a false sense of assurance. If I do this, I will be ok.  If I have this religious ritual I can be assured I am right with God – like being baptised on a snowy day!

John brings us back from religious experiences and activities to rest on the love of God, shown at the cross!

You are Loved by God - See it in how God Sent His Son That He Might Die (1 John 4:10)

God sent His only Son. "Only" translates a word (Gk monogenes) used five times in the New Testament in reference to Jesus (John 1:14,18; 3:16,18; 1 John 4:9). It means unique, one of a kind. There was and is no one else like this Son. You should hear the words of John 3:16 ringing in your ears. God sent His Son from heaven because that is where He was, in eternal existence with His Father and in loving communion through the Holy Spirit. Because it is His nature to love, it is no wonder that God sent His Son to die for us.

You are Loved by God - See it in the Atoning Death of Jesus   1 JOHN 4:10

God loved us before we loved Him. In fact He loved us when we spurned Him. Second, He proved His love by sending His Son. Paul said something very similar in Romans 5:8: "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" Third, God sent His Son to be the propitiation (NIV, "atoning sacrifice") for our sins. The word "propitiation" is a rich theological term and one of the most important in the Bible. It is used three other times in the New Testament in the context of Jesus' death on the cross and His work of atonement

God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness. (Rom 3:25)

Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:17)

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

The word means to turn away the wrath of God by means of an offering. In ancient pagan religions, human worshippers made the offering to appease an angry deity. The New Testament knows nothing of this. In Christ, God Himself made the satisfaction, the atonement, as He offered Himself in His Son. As 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, "In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." And the fact that God provides the satisfaction Himself teaches us several truths about God. Propitiation teaches us that God personally hates sin. Propitiation teaches us that sin is serious. Propitiation teaches us the greatness of God's love in which He provided the offering to turn His wrath away. Propitiation teaches us the truth that Christ's death satisfied the Father and was a substitution for sinners. Propitiation teaches us that God's holiness required satisfaction and that God's love provided satisfaction.

John Stott says it just right in his classic work on the atonement, The Cross of Christ:

"It is God himself who in holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiation, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation of our sins. Thus God took his own loving initiative to appease his own righteous anger by bearing it his own self in his own Son when he took our place and died for us." (The Cross of Christ, 175)

Likewise, Tim Keller reminds us,  "The gospel is that Jesus lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died, in your place, so God can receive you not for your record and sake but for his record and sake." ("Keller on Preaching to a Post-Modern City II")

And Stott would add,  "For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. (The Cross of Christ, 160)"

And that is assurance enough!

 

 

 

How would you explain the meaning of "love" to a child in a way that child could understand?

How is the supernatural love of God different from the superficial idea of love that we so often hold?

Why does love have its origin in God? Can unregenerate people truly love? How is the love shown by those born of God different?

What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally as Father? Why is love a good test for whether someone knows God?

How does John see a bloody cross as the highest expression of love?

How is the new life we live in Christ different from just religious ritualism or asceticism?

Why is it important to remember that God sent Jesus knowing that He would die? What does this tell us about Jesus' ministry?

How would you define propitiation to a group of your peers? What does it tell us about God? About man? Where do we see these themes throughout the rest of Scripture?

How can Christians perfect the love of God? Does that mean there is something lacking in Christ's work?

What would Christian love look like if Christ's example was truly followed? How can you follow the example of love He displayed on the Cross?