Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles with the message today, I'm going to be preaching
from 1 John, the letter of 1 John, 1st Epistle of John, the Apostle
John, chapter four. My main text is going to be verse
17, 1 John 4, 17. And the title of the message
is Love Made Perfect. Love Made Perfect. First John
four and verse 17, it reads, herein is our love, or love with
us is made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, as Christ is, so are we in the world. Now what
that's speaking of is not our love for God, but God's love
for us, for his people. And we need to understand that
when we talk about the grace of love, It's a grace and a gift
that is only given to God's people in Christ and it's for those,
it's evidenced by those who believe the gospel. Back up in verse
15 of this chapter, it says in 1 John 4, 15, whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and
he in God. Now this confession is not just
words on a paper. It's not just repeating scriptures
or repeating what they call the sinner's prayer. This confession
is not just saying, oh, I know I've sinned. This confession
is a true heart confession. of the truth of God's Word concerning
who God is in His holiness, His justice, His righteousness, His
truth, who we are in our sinfulness and depravity and spiritual deadness,
who Jesus Christ is in the glory of His person, who is God manifest
in the flesh, and in the power and success of His finished work,
dying on the cross to ensure the salvation of His people,
and a confession of how God saves sinners by His grace, all conditioned
on Christ, who fulfilled those conditions and brought forth
a perfect righteousness whereby God could be just to forgive
my sins, and to accept me into His fellowship. Accept me into
His fellowship and to receive me unto Himself. You see, in
order to be accepted with God, we need a perfect righteousness
that we cannot work and cannot achieve. The Bible says in Romans
3 in verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. and by deeds of
law shall no flesh be justified or made righteous in God's sight.
Man by nature has no righteousness and by his works he can work
no righteousness. We are totally dependent upon
the grace of God that reigns through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Bible speaks of that. the
Jews who were trying to make themselves righteous by the works
of the law and they didn't achieve it. And when Christ came along
and taught the truth of how righteousness is attained through him, his
person and his work, they stumbled over that. They didn't believe
it. It was like a trip. It was like something in their
way. On their way to trying to work
their own righteousness, they would trip over that and they
rejected him. They rejected the stone, the
scripture says. And Paul wrote in Romans 10,
he said, I bear them record, they have a zeal of God, they're
religious, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant
of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of what God
requires. And he said, they're going about
to establish their own righteousness. And they're ignorant of the righteousness
of God. And what is the righteousness
of God? That saves sinners. That justifies sinners. Romans
10, 4 tells us, for Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the
perfection, the finishing of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. And that gift of faith is the
fruit of Christ, righteousness, imputed, charged, accounted to
us. So that we say that man with a heart, the mind, the affections,
the will, man believes unto righteousness. In other words, we look to Christ
for righteousness. We look to Christ for forgiveness. Christ is our wisdom, our sanctification,
our righteousness, and our redemption. We look to him as the author
and finisher of our faith. And that's what the confession
is, it's the gospel. Wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed. And he says in verse 16, now
this is 1 John 4, and we have known and believed the love that
God hath to us. Now you see, there's the context
now. We're talking about the love that God has to us. What
is the love that God has to us? Over in verse 10 of this chapter,
It says, hearing his love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us. And seeing his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Now, think about this. What is a propitiation? The propitiation
that he's speaking of for our sins is satisfaction to God's
justice. through a God-sent, God-appointed,
able, willing, substitute and sacrifice, who is none other
than Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. That propitiation, it
means satisfaction. It's related to the Old Testament
mercy seat where the high priest would come in one time a year
in the holiest of all and sprinkle the blood. All of that typified
the satisfaction to God's justice against the sins of His elect
based upon the blood of the Lamb, the blood of sacrifice, the blood
of Jesus Christ. That was a type. And so, the
love of God is shown in sending His Son to be the propitiation,
the sin-bearing sacrifice who brought satisfaction for His
people. Now, what does that tell you?
Well, it tells you this, everyone whom God loves will be saved. You say, well, does that mean
everybody without exception? No, it doesn't. Are there people
whom God hates? The Bible says there are. He
hates all workers of iniquity. He hated Esau. You say, well
that's not fair, that's not good. Listen to me. God's hatred is
not like our hatred. Our hatred is sinful. But God's
hatred is holy. It's his justice against sins. It's his justice against sinners
to whom sin is imputed. If I have sin charged to my account
before God, then all I have to expect is His hatred, His justice,
His wrath, you see, because that's what I deserve. So the only hope
for my salvation is for God to find a way that He can justly
and righteously and truthfully and really not charge me with
my sins, not impute my sins to me. Well, has he found a way? Oh, yes he has. And that's the
gospel message. It's through Christ as the sin-bearing
sacrifice, my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, dying in my place,
satisfying the justice of God, and bringing forth an everlasting
righteousness, whereby God can be just to justify the ungodly. You see that? And that's what
that propitiation is about. He says, hearing is love. Not that we love God. The love
of God is not based upon our loving Him. No sinner by nature
loves God. Not the true and living God now.
Now, you may love your idea of God. Your conception of God,
your imagination. You have thoughts in your mind
about who God is. And let me tell you something,
unless they're based upon biblical revelation here, it's a lie. It's a God of your own imagination,
probably one likened to yourself. And you love that God, but that
God's an idol. The God who reveals himself as
a just God and a savior who hates and loves. who is a God of election,
a God of predestination, who is a God who is in control, sovereign,
but who is merciful and gracious and loving in Christ and in Christ
alone, not outside of Christ. Is that the God you love? That's
the God of the Bible. So here in His love, not that
we love God, but that He loved us, how do I know if God loves
me or hates me? Think about it that way. Well,
it says here he sent his son into the world that we might
live through him. And it says he sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Did Christ die for me? Did he
put away my sins? Is his righteousness imputed
to me? Well, go back up to verse 15 of 1 John 4. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
He's in fellowship with God. God dwells in Him by the Spirit
and by His Word. Have you confessed that Jesus
is the Son of God? Now that's, again, now that's
not just making a statement. Oh, I know He's the Son of God.
Do you know what that means? Well, it goes on, verse 16. Now
look at 1 John 4 and verse 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. So he keeps on with
that. And then he comes to verse 17, and this is important. Now
listen to this. He says, herein is our love made perfect. Now
literally, that would read, herein is love with us made perfect. Now, let me say this at the outset. If you're a true believer, a
child of God, born again by the Spirit, you do love God. But you don't love him perfectly.
You still have rivals in your life. It's called a warfare of
the flesh and the Spirit. And we have to fight that battle.
The flesh is sin, evil thoughts, evil desires, evil goals, sinful
thoughts, that's the flesh. And the Holy Spirit within us
works with our spirit, the life that He's given us to go to battle. We have a battle, I call it the
Christian struggle, the warfare, and it's an everyday warfare.
And we can say we love God as we look to Christ. and believe
in him and rest in him for our whole salvation. But we don't
love God perfectly, but he says in verse 17, herein is our love
made perfect. Now the word perfect does not
necessarily have to mean sinless perfection. And the idea here
is this, whatever love he's talking about, this love has reached
its goal, has fulfilled its purpose. That's what the perfection means
here. And herein is our love made perfect. And I believe he's
talking about God's love for us, reaching its goal, bringing
it to its fruition. And here's what he says, look
at verse 17. That we may have boldness, confidence, liberty
in the day of judgment. In the day of judgment. Thinking
about standing before God at the judgment. You know, there's
all kinds of of myths and fantasy revolving around the judgment.
When I go to stand before God at the judgment, you know, some
people believe that when we go before God at the judgment, that
he's going to weigh our good works with our bad works, and
if our good works outweigh the bad works, then we're going to
heaven. If our bad works outweigh the good works, we're going to
hell. That's not what the Bible teaches. Some people believe,
well, when we get to judgment, God's gonna put up a movie screen
and a projector and he's gonna go back over our lives and every
sin that we've committed, every bad word that we say is gonna
be flashed up there on the screen. That's nothing but scare tactics
of religiously lost people trying to get a confession or a profession
or get them into baptistry. That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches basically this. When you appear before God at
the judgment, you're either on your own, by your works, on your
own, which means eternal damnation, Because no sinner standing on
their own, pleading their works or what they think God helped
them to do, that'll get them in the head won't do it. Or you
are found before God in Christ. Having your sins washed away,
no record in God's law books of your sins, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. It's God that justify righteous
in Christ, pleading the righteousness of Christ, not pleading your
own merits, not pleading your own works, but pleading the righteousness
of Christ. Paul spoke of it this way in
Philippians 3, he said, that I may know him and be found in
him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of, the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God, by faith. In other words, when
I stand before God in judgment, what am I going to plead as my
right? to enter into glory. Am I gonna plead what God enabled
me to do? No. Am I gonna plead what I've
done or tried to do? No. I'm pleading Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. I'm pleading His blood, His righteousness
alone. And that's proven right here.
Look at 1 John 4, 17. Herein is our love made perfect.
Herein is God's love reaches its goal in a believer. that
we may have boldness, confidence in the day of judgment because
as He is, as Christ is, so are we in this world right now, a
believer. Now, if you were just look at
me and watch me throughout a given day or week, would you say that
I am exactly as Christ is? Christ who is the Son of God
incarnate, God manifest in the flesh. Christ who loved perfectly,
who obeyed the law perfectly, never sinned, never had a thought
of sin. Christ who walked this earth
as love incarnate. Would you say that I am as He
is? I hope you would not. because
I certainly would not. I know that I fall short. Listen,
I'm saved by grace. I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. My sins have been washed
away, but I'm still a sinner on this earth, in this world. A sinner saved by grace. I've
said it so many times. There's only two types of people
in this world. You're either a sinner lost in
your sins, in which you may be religious, you may be a church
member, you may be a preacher. But if you don't know Christ,
you're still a sinner lost in your sins. Or you're a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. So just looking at me or looking
at each other, we wouldn't say that as he is, so are we in this
world. But think about it. He's talking
about boldness in the day of judgment. Now in the day of judgment,
when you stand before God, what are you going to plead? As again,
as you're right entitled to enter glory. Well, my friend, If it's
anything but the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
doomed forever. But believers will plead Christ. And in that sense, as He is,
as Christ is, so are we in this world. What's he talking about?
He's talking about how we stand before God in Christ. And the
love of God shown towards his people brings them through the
new birth, through faith in Christ and repentance of dead works,
brings them to see that their only hope of salvation, their
only hope of preservation, and their only hope at judgment,
and their only hope in glory. is the righteousness of Christ.
The perfect righteousness of Christ imputed, charged to their
account. And that's something you can't
see. You can't see that with the physical eye, but God sees
it because He's the one who justified His people. He imputed, charged,
accounted that righteousness to me. He imputed my sins to
Christ and Christ put them away. washed me clean in the blood
of Christ, and He imputed Christ's righteousness to me. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? So in that
sense, I can say boldly and with confidence now and at judgment,
as Christ is, so am I. I'm sinlessly perfect, not in
myself, but in the sense that my sins have been taken away. My sins have been purged away. The debt of my sins that I owed
to God's law and justice was put upon Christ and he washed
them. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus and the blood of Jesus can. This is all
my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. So that's the boldness that he's talking about here.
When he says that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. And why is that? Because the
love of God has reached its goal. in the life of his people when
he sends the Spirit through Christ in the new birth to convince
them of sin because they believe not on Christ. In other words,
without Christ, we're nothing but sin. to convince them of
righteousness because Christ went unto the Father. In other
words, the only righteousness that we can have and find is
the imputed righteousness of Christ, for which He died and
was buried and rose again the third day and ascended unto the
Father. and convinced of judgment because the prince of this world
is cast out. Satan, who brought in sin into
the world, being cast out. And believers have already been
judged for all their sins when Christ died. Our sins were taken
away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. And look
at verse 18 of 1 John 4. He says, 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. Now what kind of fear is he talking
about? There's no fear in love. You
know, in the Bible, you have to look at the context to understand
these terms. But there's a good fear, and
then there's a sinful fear. That sinful fear is legalism. It's the fear of punishment.
Or it's the fear of loss of reward. In other words, if I don't do
enough, I'm not gonna have enough, or I'm not gonna gain enough
in heaven, or I have to live in a cabin instead of a mansion.
That's legal fear. Or legal fear of punishment.
If I don't do this, God'll strike me down, or God'll do this, or
God'll send me down. That's legal fear. That's unbelief.
But there is also a good fear, and that good fear is the reverence
of God. We reverence Him. We fear the
Lord. The Bible says in Romans 3.18
that unbelievers, there's no fear of God before their eyes.
Well, they fear punishment, they fear loss of reward, but they
don't respect and regard the God of glory, the God of grace,
the God who saves sinners. based upon the righteousness
of Christ. Over in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14, listen to this. It says, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, the children
are God's people, God's elect, Christ also himself likewise
took part of the same flesh and blood without sin, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. Now the devil doesn't have the power to kill anybody
or to make anybody alive. The power of death that the devil
had was the power of accusation. The accusation of sin which brings
death. Well Christ removed that. Satan
cannot accuse the brethren anymore before God because Christ died. And it says in verse 15, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. There's a fear of death that
brings people into bondage. It's a fear of death that makes
people religious and moral, trying to work their way to salvation.
And that's a bad fear, that's a sinful fear. Well, over here
in 1 John 4, 18, That's the fear he's talking about in the first
line here. There is no fear in love. When we realize that God
loves us through Christ and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins, to wash away our sins and to make us righteous
before him so that we might have boldness in the day of judgment
because as he is, so are we in this world, that legal fear is
removed. that sinful fear. And he says,
but perfect love casteth out fear. That love that has reached
its goal in a sinner who believes in Christ, repented of dead works,
and who's like Paul, that I may be found in him, in Christ, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, his faithfulness to
obey the law and die for my sins, the righteousness of God which
I receive by God-given faith. And he says, because fear hath
torment, that legal fear. And he that feareth is not made
perfect in love. If you're fearing hell because
you haven't done enough, or you haven't cried enough, or you
haven't confessed enough, or you haven't worked enough, my
friend, that shows you're not looking to Christ. You're looking
to self. And that's what most people are
doing today. Even those who call themselves Christian, they're
not looking to Jesus as the author and finisher of the faith. They're
looking to themselves. What have I done? What should
I do? What do I need to do? Have I
done enough? And if I haven't done enough,
I better get busy. That's the way a lot of people
are. Well, that means this. that feareth is not made perfect
in love. In other words, you're not looking
to Christ, you're looking to self. And verse 19 caps it, he
says, we love him because he first loved us. God is the source
of love. And their product is the sinner
saved by grace who believes in Christ, pleads Christ, looks
to Christ, and loves God, not perfectly in himself, but loves
Him and fights the sins of the flesh, loving Him, having the
confidence and the boldness in the day of judgment, because
as He is, so are we in the world. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.