Series: 1 John
Title: Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear
Text: 1 Jn 4: 17-19
Date: February 14, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
When God sheds abroad his love in our heart, God’s love accomplishes making
his people believe on Christ and makes us love one another. Love expresses itself upon the object of its
love with deeds of love. Love acts. Love forgives. Love does not make a brother an offender
because of a word misspoken. Love makes
us bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ—which is the law
of love. When we read of the things that
charity does in 1 Corinthians 13, this is the love God puts in the heart of his
people and the deeds of love which God produces in the believer.
1 Corinthians 13: 1: Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal. 2: And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing. 3: And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing. 4: Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5: Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6:
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7: Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things. 8: Charity
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether
there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge,
it shall vanish away.
The love of God does all this in the context of his body, the church. Christ fitly frames us together in his
assembly under the preaching of the gospel using the pastor that Christ himself
has given as his ascension gift to his church.
We read about it Ephesians 4. Christ does this because this is God’s means
of saving his people.
When God has put his love in the hearts of
his children, we cannot go out from where God has planted us under his gospel. The Holy Spirit of God declares that through
the apostle John in the most dogmatic language when he speaks of those who once
professed Christ yet forsake assembling together with God’s saints. He said, “They
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us” (1Jo 2:19). The sin of apostacy is the sin unto
death. It is the sin that the apostle
John declares that the child of God cannot commit because he has been born of
the incorruptible seed, the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Having been born-again of God the believer hungers
and thirsts after Christ and this gospel is our food. We have brethren we love who depend on us so
we cannot forsake them. God’s love in us
will not allow us to do so.
Brethren, if I did not have this word of God,
assuring me this is what God accomplishes in his people without a doubt, then it
would be great discouragement when we see professing believers walk in
darkness, contrary to the light. But we
have God’s word that he certainly accomplishes this in his people.
Proposition: The same as God’s
love within his people accomplishes making us love one another, God’s love for
his people in Christ Jesus, when produced in his child, also casts out fear and
makes his child have boldness to stand before God in the day of judgment.
Subject: Perfect Love
Casteth out Fear
1 John 4: 17: Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we
in this world. 18: There is no
fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He
that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19: We love him, because he first loved us.
LOVE MADE PERFECT
1 John 4: 17: Herein
is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment…
God’s love is perfected in us when it gives
us boldness for the day of judgment. The
margin says, “Herein is love with us”
made perfect. It means “herein is God’s love within us made perfect.” We saw in verse 12 that “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, [it is because] God
dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Our text is declaring another thing that God’s love perfects in his
child. When God dwells in us—when he
sheds abroad in our heart his great love for Christ and his great love for us (the
love wherewith he loves Christ) then God gives us boldness to stand before God
in the day of judgment.
Before we go further, understand, a day is coming when the world shall
stand before God in judgment. The Holy
Spirit declares through the apostle Paul that God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom
he hath ordained; whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men,
in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Ac 17:23-31).
In that day of judgment sinners without faith in Christ will stand
before God and every sinful thought, word and deed will be brought to judgment in
righteousness. And Christ will be the
Judge. Scripture says that they will cry
for the mountains to fall on them.
Revelation 6: 15: And the kings of the earth, and the
great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and
every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks
of the mountains; 16: And said
to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able
to stand?
Sinner, that day is rapidly approaching. It could be tonight. You would be wise to seek Christ now while he
may be found! How many times have you
heard me and other faithful preachers declare that to you? How many times have you let it go in one ear
and out the other? How many times will
God allow a sinner to tread underfoot the Son of God until God turns him over
in reprobation? I do not know and I do
not want to find out. Oh, that you would
take this heart and go home and give yourself to searching the scriptures to
see that these things I declare to you are true. Oh, that you would cast yourself on the mercy
of God today and ask God to teach you that Christ is the only way of salvation.
Yet, for you who God has called to faith in Christ,
in that day of judgment you will stand with God’s saints with boldness and confidence
and joy. God’s saints will not fear in
that day because God’s love for us has given us boldness. How so?
BECAUSE AS HE IS, SO
ARE WE IN THIS WORLD
1 John 4: 17: Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we
in this world.
Our confidence to stand before God in the day
of judgement, without the least bit of fear, is because everything that Christ
is right now at God’s right hand as our Head and Substitute, so are we right
now in this world.
Christ is the only
begotten Son of God. Every child born
of his Spirit, right now in this world, is a son of God by adoption through the
righteousness of Christ Jesus.
1 John 3: 1: Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.
Christ is righteous and holy and accepted by God our Father and so are
we who believe on Christ.
Romans 6:6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7:
For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8: Now if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him: 9: Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10: For in
that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
He that is dead is
freed from sin—justified. Christ bore
the sin of his people. Therefore, he
died unto sin once. Therefore, we are
dead unto sin. The law of God condemns
Christ no more, therefore the law of God condemns us no more. Sin has no more dominion over him, therefore
sin has no more dominion over us. Death
has no more dominion over him, therefore death has no more dominion over us. Christ is alive to God, therefore we are
alive unto God. Christ is accepted of
God, therefore we are accepted of God in the Beloved!
Sinner, if you would have this confidence—believer,
if you would have this confidence—believe on Christ and abide in him until the
end. The Holy Spirit declares through
John, “And now, little children, abide in
him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before
him at his coming” (1 Jn 2:28).
PERFECT
LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR
1 John 4: 18: There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made
perfect in love.
In every sinner born of God, it is God’s
perfect love that casts out fear of being condemned in judgment.
This is a statement of fact, “there is no fear in love.” There is no fear of God’s judgment in
love which God puts in his child. How
so? Read this carefully. It is because “perfect love casteth out fear.”
This “perfect love” is God’s
love for Christ. It is also the same
love of God which God has for us in whom Christ dwells. In his
great high priestly prayer Christ said,
John 17: 22: And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one: 23: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and HAST LOVE THEM, AS THOU
HAST LOVED ME.
As Christ is, so are we in this world.
As Christ is loved by God the Father, so God loves his people with the
same love with which he loves Christ.
This is the love that God puts in our hearts. This is why Christ laid down his life for
God’s elect. It is to make us know that
God our Father hast loved us—his elect—as he has loved Christ. That is what we see in God sending his only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. All who are children of God, hear this! God our Father has loved you, along with every
elect child, as he has loved Christ, with perfect, electing, everlasting,
indestructible, covenant love. It is the
same love wherewith God loves Christ.
But that is not all.
Also, Christ asked that God put his perfect love for Christ in us when
Christ comes to dwell in us.
John 17: 26: I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it:
THAT THE LOVE WHEREWITH THOU HAST LOVED ME MAY BE IN THEM, AND I IN THEM.
Perfect love which casts out fear is the love
wherewith God loves Christ which is put in us when a new man is created within
us. We love Christ. It becomes our love. But it is God’s love for Christ which God has
put in us. The result is that all legal
fear of God and all the torment of judgment that once ruled us and kept us in
bondage is now cast out—"perfect
love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.”
A father who truly
loves his children does not want his children to serve him because they are
afraid of him and tormented with fear that he will cast them out unless they
obey. A father who loves his children
wants his children to serve him because they love him. Likewise, God does not make his child serve
him by legal fear. He does not gives us
the Holy Spirit only to make us live in torment that if we break God’s law then
God will throw us in hell. God declares
to us that we are justified by the blood of his Son so that we have peace with
God and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:
1: Being justified, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ: 2: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3: And not only so, but we
glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4: And
patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5: And hope maketh not ashamed; because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
The Holy Spirit reveals the gospel of Christ to us that there is no
condemnation for us in Christ and frees us from the tormenting rule of sin and death. It is not the spirit of bondage that God has
given to us so that we live in fear. But
God has given us the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry unto God as unto our
loving Father.
Romans 8: 1: There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2: For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death…15: For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16:
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God: 17: And if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together.
Of that sinner who professes
to believe on Christ but is still motivated by threats of law and fear of
condemnation, God says, “he that feareth
is not made perfect in love.” But when
God has made his child partaker of the divine nature, God removes that fear. Now, we can live unto God and serve God
acceptably constrained by his love for us.
Now, we know we are holy and righteous before him in Christ Jesus and
have no fear of condemnation. This was
God’s promise to Abraham, “That he would
grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might
serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days
of our life” (Lu 1: 74-75). That is
why this was Pauls’ prayer for the Ephesians and for all God’s saints,
Ephesians 3: 16: That
he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17: That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18: May be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; 19: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye
might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Believer, John’s point is that it is the love of God for Christ, that has
been put in us. How amazing! It is our love for Christ, now. But it is God’s love for Christ put in us. It is the same love with which God loves us
that makes us love one another. It is
God’s love by which he sent his Son and made us righteous and holy and created life
in us. This is the perfect love of God
put into our new heart which motivates us and constrains us to love God and
serve him in promoting the gospel of his Son with one another. And this is how we love our brethren: by
assembling together, by sending forth his gospel to his lost elect, by
forgiving one another that we might all have the gospel, by providing for one
another and bearing one another’s burdens so that we can get them out of the
way and enable one another to focus on the gospel of Christ.
Brethren, do not let the unfaithfulness of some,
make you question God’s word. God’s love
in his child really accomplishes making us believe on Christ and love one
another. Law never accomplishes
this. Legal fear never accomplishes
this. Threats of condemnation never
accomplishes love. That person who needs
those things to keep us his charade of religion knows nothing of this perfect
love of God. Read the text again slowly
and get these words down in our hearts and rejoice that it is as God says it
is.
1 John 4: 16: And we
have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God, and God in him. 17: Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because
as he is, so are we in this world. 18: There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made
perfect in love. 19: We love him, because he first loved us.
Did you catch that last verse?
That is the main point. To God be
the glory! “We love him, because he first loved us!”
Amen!