36. No Fear: 1 John 4:17-18

1 John chapter 4 and we'll be reading verses 17 and 18 this morning.

First John chapter 4 starting in verse 17, hear now the inspired word of God.

By this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Let's pray. Father once again as we prepare to look into your word, we want to thank you for all you have done for us and our savior

Jesus Christ. We thank you for your word which teaches us, teaches us about him about who we are and what we must do to be reconciled to him.

We thank you father for the message that John gives us that there is no fear in condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So we pray that that would be the case for everyone in this room today. We pray this in Jesus name.

Amen. Please be seated. When I was a child growing up in the 1950s, one of my greatest fears was that World War III was going to begin and there would be a nuclear holocaust.

This was fostered by the newsreels which they showed us in elementary school in the earliest grade, second, third grade, showing the atomic blasts on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Remember this was only a few years. This was within 10 years of the end of the war when

I was growing up. Then of course we had the air raid drills at school where we were told in case of a nuclear holocaust get under our desk and face away from the windows.

That still slays me like that was going to help. But some schools actually had bomb shelters and we'd have to go into the bomb shelters.

The sound of a plane at the middle of the night flying overhead and especially if there happened to be a fire siren at the same time was a fearful thing.

Wondering was this the beginning of the war? It was legitimate fear that we all had.

We all have fears of one sort or another. One website lists 244 different phobias.

Some of them we're familiar with. Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Acrophobia, the fear of heights.

Misophobia, the fear of germs. Aerophobia, the fear of flying. And one of the most common,

Triskadekaphobia. That's the fear of the number 13. But there are some which are not so common.

Barophobia is the fear of gravity. Cyberphobia is the fear of computers. And this one is really interesting.

Epiphobia, that's the fear of teenagers. One of my favorites is hippopotamus,

Montrose, equidallophobia. It's the fear of long words.

And the last one, I really had trouble deciding. I couldn't decide whether or not I should include this one in the list.

It's dysidophobia. That's the fear of making decisions. The point is, we all fear something.

According to the Merriam -Webster Dictionary, fear is an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.

That brings us to our text for this morning. Look at verse 18 of 1 John 4. There is no fear in love.

But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment. And the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Now, remember how we got here. Last week, we introduced the concept of judgment day.

Verse 17. By this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment.

Because as he is, so also are we in the world. The Christian is one who stands on judgment day, confident in the work of Jesus Christ that is applied to him.

Which means he doesn't fear in that day. And that's the point that John makes in verse 18.

Why does the Christian not fear? Because there is no fear in love because perfect love casts out fear.

But by implication, then, there are those who won't stand with confidence in that day because love isn't perfected in them and fear is not cast out.

Which is our first point. Who are these people who, according to John, should have a natural fear of judgment day?

Now, remember, that the context of this particular section of John's epistle is this whole idea of judgment day and having no fear.

And by the way, the Greek word that John uses here that's translated fear is phobos, from where we get phobia.

So who are these people who will fear on that day? Well, the reality is that every one of us by nature at some time had that fear or should have had that fear.

Let me change that, should have had that fear. Because everyone who is born faces judgment because they are all sinners by nature and by choice.

So until and unless that person is born again, they will face eternal punishment.

Because the only thing that removes fear is perfect love. And perfect love only comes upon us in the person for whom

Christ dies. So the natural response to the reality of judgment should be fear.

It's unreasonable not to be afraid of the day of judgment if you are not in Christ.

And Jesus affirms this in his words when he was encouraging the disciples. They were going out to preach the gospel in Matthew chapter 10, if you remember, and he's commissioning them to go and preach.

And knowing that they were going to be facing hostility, he encourages them and he says these words in Matthew 10, 28.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. But he doesn't end there.

He says, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

So then we must ask the question, why are not more people afraid?

Notice that I said the natural response should be fear. Why then are not more people living in fear of judgment day?

You know, it seems that more Christians fear that day than those who should be afraid. I believe there's several reasons why this is true.

And I will list some of the reasons why people who should be afraid are not afraid. Some people just do not believe that there will be such a day as judgment day.

They relegate such teaching to primitive thinking, perhaps even calling it mythology.

And so they are not afraid because as far as they're concerned, the teaching is false. So they live their lives free of any fear of eternity.

But second, some people have no fear because they're just ignorant of the teaching of judgment.

They may have grown up in a household where the Bible wasn't taught, and church was not a place that the family went.

We're not talking about criminals. In fact, in a human sense, for the most part, they are decent people.

They're good neighbors. They're good citizens. They just don't know the biblical teaching on judgment.

So there's no fear. Third, there are some people who have heard but then just outright reject the teaching of scripture.

And that could be for a variety of reasons. But the bottom line is they ridicule and openly speak against the teaching of scripture, not just on judgment, but the teaching of scripture as a whole.

They may even make crass jokes about going to hell because they'd rather go there because that's where the party will be.

And all their friends, they'll meet their friends and have parties. Deluded thinking at the very least.

Fourth, some people accept scripture as a good book with a good code of ethics.

But they don't believe the God who, as they say, is a

God of love, would sentence anyone to hell. So they just reject it right out of hand.

They say, no, that's not consistent with God. But then fifth, there are some who know of this doctrine and simply put it out of their mind.

They live as though it doesn't exist, even though deep in the recesses of their heart, they know it's true.

Shakespeare, certainly no theologian, but a student of human nature, captured this sentiment in Hamlet.

You're familiar with Hamlet's famous soliloquy in Act Three, Scene One. Hamlet is contemplating suicide in that play.

And he poses the question, to be or not to be, that is the question.

And he weighs the pros and cons of should he end his life or should he not end his life because he's living a life of despair.

And he ultimately decides against it. And Shakespeare uses these insightful words.

He says, but the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose born no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of.

Thus, conscience does make cowards of us all. Shakespeare knew that in reality, our consciences speak to us the reality of eternity.

But the scripture is absolutely and unequivocally clear on the subject of what transpires after death.

We introduced this verse last week, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. The apostle

Paul speaking says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

And the writer to the Hebrews agrees in Hebrews 9, 27, inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once after this, the judgment.

And so the bottom line is that apart from Christ, let me repeat this.

The bottom line is that apart from Christ, all rational men should fear judgment day.

To not fear it is irrational. But remember the context of John's epistle.

John's epistle is not primarily evangelistic in nature. His gospel is.

Oh, and of course, the gospel message is all through verse John. But it's not primarily evangelistic.

John is writing first and foremost to believers. And his purpose is to move them toward being assured of their faith.

And as we have seen, one of the most important factors in having assurance of faith is dwelling in the love of God.

Which means becoming more and more like our savior. Remember that salvation is more than being rescued from eternal punishment.

Oh, it's that and praise God for that. But Jesus said in John 10, 10,

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. It's very sad that many believers in Jesus Christ, though they have been truly saved, still live in fear of judgment day.

They live with a burden on their back, which they should not.

In fact, Milton described them, he says, they scorn delights and live laborious days.

The admonition of scripture is that the Christian should be living a life of joy, even in the midst of trouble.

Paul says, rejoice always. And again, I say, rejoice. And the

Christian is able to do so because he knows his future. For example, the

Apostle Paul, after addressing the reality of struggling with sin in Romans chapter seven, he reaches a conclusion and then he asked a rhetorical question.

The conclusion he reaches is, oh, wretched man that I am. The Apostle Paul, a wretched man.

That's his self -analysis as he compared himself to Jesus Christ. But he doesn't leave it there.

He asked the question, oh, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?

And he answers, thank God for Jesus Christ, because it is through Jesus Christ that we are set truly free.

And then he proceeds with the inspiring words of what I consider to be one of the greatest chapters in all of scripture,

Romans eight. And he comes up in Romans eight one, right after saying, who will set me free?

And realizing that it's Jesus Christ, he says, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why is there no fear for the Christian? Because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is no fear of judgment. Look at our text once again, but starting this time at verse 14 of first John four.

Verse 16 says, we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. We have seen that this verse shows that both knowledge and belief give assurance.

Assurance of faith comes in both objective truth and personal experience. We're taught in the scripture that God loves us so much that he gave his only begotten son to die in our place.

That's the objective truth, a fact of history. But he also gave us his spirit who dwells inside us, which leads to the assurance of salvation.

And as we saw in verse 17 last week, assurance leads to confidence in the day of judgment.

By this love is perfected with us that we may have confidence. I'm going to change it, that we may have no fear in the day of judgment.

The sanctifying love of God brings us to that confidence and boldness, specifically by removing the fear of judgment.

And verse 18 explains how this works out. Look at verse 18 again. There is no fear in love.

Interesting. There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Why can we have confidence looking forward to judgment day? Because perfect love casts out fear.

I love the way John puts it. He says, there is no fear in love.

Love and fear are mutually exclusive. And when it comes to judgment, the fear people experience is there because they are facing punishment for their sins.

The author of Hebrews says it so well. He says, speaking of the work of Christ on the cross, he says in chapter 2 verse 14, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Slavery to sin is not just something to worry about on judgment day. Being a slave or being in bondage to sin affects you throughout your whole life.

We quoted Romans 8 1 earlier. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is freedom from fear. But Paul has much more to say on this topic which expands upon John's thoughts in this small epistle.

Look at verse 2 of Romans 8. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

And then he continues in verse 15. For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out

Abba Father. I want to interject a thought here if I may.

Normally we said love and hate is opposites. And for example, you can't serve two masters.

You will love one and hate the other. But in this context, the scripture sets love and fear as opposites.

That is why John says love and fear can't dwell together. Perfect love casts out fear. There's not room for both.

And no is that more evident than the latter portion of Romans chapter 8. After relating the process of salvation in verses 29 and 30 in Romans chapter 8, look at the confidence that Paul shows in the extent of the work of Jesus Christ.

Which confidence every believer should be manifesting. If you've been around here for any length of time, you know that Romans 8, the end of Romans 8, is probably my favorite portion of scripture.

It's where he talks about being more than conquerors. One way to elicit a stern look from me if I ask you how you're doing, say, oh

I'm hanging in there. You're more than a conqueror.

You overwhelmingly conquer. We're not copers. We're overcomers.

So as we get to the end of Romans chapter 8, it's as though Paul was asked a question, why should

I not fear? And Paul says in verse 31, what then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? Why should a

Christian not be fearful? Because God is for us. And if God is for us, does it matter who is against us?

But a person may say, oh of course God is greater than any other being. But how do I know he will stand for me?

How do I know that his love is applied to me? Verse 32, Paul anticipated that.

He says, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

The upshot of that is simply this. Well firstly, that's a, in logic we call that an argument from the greater to the lesser.

Remember, Paul is a master logician. And here he clearly shows the folly of doubting the love of God to his children.

He says, if God has given us the greatest of all sacrifices, the greatest of all gifts, if he was willing to put to death his only begotten son for you, for his children, and if he did this to manifest his great love for us, how could you possibly doubt that he's going to provide everything else for you?

That's his logic. To think that God provided this enormous sacrifice and then left us to ourselves to putter along would be utter lunacy.

No, Paul says elsewhere in scripture that he who began a good work in you will complete it.

He is both the author and the finisher of your faith. He didn't give his son to be a sacrifice for sin, which accomplish your salvation, and then sits back and hopes you're going to make it to the end.

That's contrary not only to all of scripture, but the very character of God. The love of God will not allow him to see even one of his children perish, especially since he gave the ultimate for him.

Think about that. Think about that for a minute. If you're a Christian, God sent

Jesus Christ for you. I do that sometimes when

I read the scripture. For God so loved Richie Jensen that he sent his only begotten son.

That's okay to do that, by the way, because I'm included in that, and so are you if you're a believer.

So personalize it, because God's a personal God. He knew you.

He knew your frame before you were even conceived. Paul continues, so who will bring a charge against God's elect?

Let me change it. Who dares bring a charge against those whom

God has justified? Who could possibly be so bold as to declare that the one who is saved by God is still condemned?

Notice the word that Paul uses here to describe his children. He calls them

God's elect, God's chosen ones. He has chosen you.

When referring to Christians, it also takes on the implication of being beloved.

That's all indicated in that Greek word that's used there. Chosen to be the object of affection by Almighty God.

Does it get any more personal than that? God is the one who justifies.

In other words, if God has justified you, who can possibly bring a charge against you? Who could condemn you if you have been justified by God?

If the sacrifice of Christ has delivered you from death, what power in heaven or earth could possibly condemn you?

Of course, the answer again is there is no power that is great enough to do that. If God has saved you, you're safe.

And that's Paul's intention in this whole chapter. And that's clearly what he's saying in this verse. The elect of God have no fear of condemnation.

And then Paul shows us why this is true. Look at verse 34 again. Who is one who condemns?

Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Notice he points to both the finished work of Christ and his ongoing intercessory work.

This is the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the story that we have heard so often in the

Christian church. But it's a story that we never tire of hearing. The hymn writer put it this way, tell me the old story, it will be my theme in glory.

Even in heaven, we won't tire of hearing the wonderful message of what

Jesus Christ did to save his people. And it is the reason we do not fear condemnation.

Christ died, Christ paid the price for my sin. He took it upon himself on the cross and paid the price.

But it didn't end there. He rose again on the third day. And his resurrection was the proof of the acceptance of the sacrifice of God.

This is the glorious truth. The sacrifice of Jesus perfectly satisfied the justice of God.

And he rose from the grave of Victor. Jesus accomplished all that he was commissioned to by God the

Father. And he was exalted to the right hand of God the Father as the champion of the elect.

The first born of the first fruits. He secured our salvation and he ascended to the highest seat in heaven with his new title and this time as the

God man. He guaranteed our salvation. But it doesn't end there.

Since he rules and reigns in heaven, he daily intercedes for us. In other words,

Paul is reasserting we're not left to ourselves. There's a continual care that Jesus exerts over his brothers and sisters, the ones for whom he died.

For God's elect and his beloved. He daily watches out for us to guarantee our safety and our perseverance.

And notice how the message of Paul complements the epistle of John, especially chapter four. In verse 35,

Paul writes, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

Hear all those things? Those were things that the early church suffered. It's not a random list.

Each one of those were things that the apostles suffered. Oh, and by the way, just a quick note.

It's not our love for Christ that Paul speaks of. It's Christ's love for us.

And the question is, what shall separate us from the love of Christ? And again, to get the full meaning, we must dwell for a few moments on the love of Christ.

For the love of Christ is the greatest love ever displayed by any being. Some of the greatest literature ever written is written about the love of one person for another.

Some of the greatest music ever written is about love. Some of the greatest poetry that was ever written is inspired by love.

Yet the subject of all the literature, all the music, all the poetry fails in comparison to describe the love of Christ for his people.

We have seen what the love of Christ compelled him to do. He left his throne on high.

He became flesh and endured all the limitations of humanity except for sin. He submitted himself to sinful parents as they raised him.

He came to his own and his own people and they rejected him in the worst possible way.

They turned him over to pagan authorities to be killed in one of the most brutal ways ever conceived by the depraved man mind of mankind.

And he did it all so that he could pay the price for sin to those whom the father gave to him.

He bore our sin. The very thing that was the most abhorrent to him, he took upon himself.

And he did so because of his great love for his people. And so Paul asked the question again in verse 35, who can separate us from such a great love as that?

And then he gives us the list of circumstances that contrived the faith of Christians.

Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword.

But Paul says none of these things can separate us from the love of Christ. The sermon title this morning is

No Fear. The obvious question is listening to this, how can

I be free from fear? In so many words, John gives us three quick answers.

First, you need to come to an understanding of what Christ has done for us. You can only do that by reading the word.

Second answer is to realize that Christ dwells in you.

Christ dwells in me and I in him. That's a reality. And the third is to comprehend the magnitude of the love of Christ for his people.

If you can dwell on those things, if you can grasp those concepts, it will move you to leaving you of fear, especially fear of judgment day.

An understanding of these facts that enable Paul to finish his thoughts in chapter eight of Romans with these words.

Speaking of that list of troubles that the Christian may encounter that we just read,

Paul says this starting in Romans 8 verse 37. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

Tribulation. Did you just get by? Did you bear it?

Did you hang in there? Paul says we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

And then he says, for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers,

I'm running out of breath, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

Lord. So what can separate you from the love of God? Nothing.

Nothing created, nothing above, nothing below, nothing.

In other words, Christian, your salvation is assured and secured by the love of Jesus Christ.

You know, in those early 1950s with the

Cold War at its height, the Iron Curtain slammed shut, seeing the image of Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on the table at the

United Nations saying, we will bury you. I'll be honest with you, it made for some restless nights for a young boy.

It was enough to give you nuclear mitotophobia. That's the fear of nuclear holocaust.

But every generation has its own set of troubles and danger. And there will always be, quote, reasons, unquote, to be afraid.

To the Christian, if you're here this morning and you're a believer, according to John and Paul, you have no need to fear, especially no need to fear

Judgment Day because nothing can separate you from the love of God. So my admonition to you this morning is, fear not.

If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you've never come to that place, you've submitted your life to him, never repented of your sin.

It's perfectly natural for you to fear. You should be afraid of that day. And there's only one day that you can be safe on that day, and that's to repent of your sin, believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. How important is this? I'm just going to close with a short quote from Martin Lloyd -Jones.

He said this, the men and women who are the most happy to be in this world are those who are the most happy about the next.