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. I'm glad
you could join us today. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching a continuing series
from the book of 1 John in the New Testament. We're in 1 John
chapter 4, and I'm going to begin with verse 15 of 1 John 4. And what I want to talk to you
about is, is no fear in love. no fear in love. I take that
title from verse 18 where it says there's no fear in love.
And what we're talking about there is a special love, not
just love in general, not the romantic love or even love of
brotherhood in the sense of our fellow man. But what it's talking
about is the special love that exist between God's, in God's
family, the spiritual family of the elect, the justified,
the redeemed, the regenerated and called born again people,
believers, the family of God. and it's his spiritual family.
And that's a special love. I've been talking about that
in the last few programs. You might want to get them and
listen to them concerning the nature of God's true love. You
see, and we need to make this distinction if we're going to
understand this. The law of God commands, can
be summarized in two commandments, Christ said. And that is, love
God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself. Well, that's the
summation of the law that requires perfect obedience, not only in
deed, but in attitude, in thought, in every way. And of course,
we all fall short of that standard. For example, by nature, none
of us love God at all, let alone love God perfectly. And so, and
the reason we don't by nature is because we fell in Adam, we're
born dead in trespasses and sins. We don't even know the true and
living God until he reveals himself to us in Christ. And we'll see
how that's so. He starts out here in verse 15.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. He dwells in God. Listen, you
don't have a saving relationship, a familial relationship with
Almighty God apart from understanding and knowing the Lord Jesus Christ
in the glory of His person and in the power of His finished
work. Let me show you a passage over here in John chapter six,
verse 44. And listen to this. It says,
this is Christ speaking to Nicodemus, or not to Nicodemus, but he's
speaking to his disciples. He says, no man can come to me
except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise
him up at the last day. And verse 45 says, this is quoted
from Isaiah, he says, it is written in the prophets, and they shall
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Now think about what that's saying.
God's gonna teach his people. He's gonna reveal himself to
his people. They who by nature do not know
the true and living God, they have ideas about him. The natural
man, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2, 14, receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually
discerned. So what man knows of God naturally concerning salvation
and a right relationship with God is wrong. Now, a lost person,
an unregenerate, not born again person, he can know God as creator. He can even know something of
God's providence, that God's in control. But he doesn't know
the God of salvation. He doesn't know the Heavenly
Father. He has to learn that and he has
to learn it by God teaching him by the Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel. And that's why he says here,
everyone that hath heard. Heard what? Heard the gospel. And what is the gospel? It's
God's promise to save sinners conditioned on the Lord Jesus
Christ who fulfilled those conditions and by his fulfillment secured
the salvation of every sinner for whom he suffered and bled
and died and was buried and arose again. That's what the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ means. And so he says, every
man that hath heard. Now to hear, you've got to be
born again. Christ told his disciples that
in Matthew 13 when he was preaching in parables. And they asked him,
he said, why are you preaching in parables? And he said, because
they, talking about the unbelievers, they hearing and seeing they
don't see and hearing they don't hear. He said, blessed are your
eyes for they see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. You hear things they don't hear. You're hearing the same
words. You're hearing the same gospel
preached, but they don't hear it savingly. They don't hear
it lovingly. Believe in faith. Faith is the
gift of God. You don't have it naturally.
So everyone that hath heard and hath learned of the Father. Now
what does that mean? Well, it's learning this. And
this is in the whole context of the Bible. God is a just judge
and he must punish all sinners to whom sin is imputed. If you
appear before God, having sins charged to your account, you
will be condemned. You will perish. And so he's
just. But yet the Bible speaks of God
as a merciful, loving, gracious father. Now here's the question. How can God be both a just and
righteous judge and punish sinners and still be a loving, merciful,
and gracious Father? How can He be both? The question
was asked by Job, you know, how can God be just and justify sinners? The answer is found in the Gospel.
It's only in and by the Lord Jesus Christ that God can be
both a just God and a Savior. A just God and a righteous judge
and a loving Father. And if you ever learn how that
can be, you know what you'll do? You'll run to Christ. You'll believe in Christ. You'll
plead Him. And back over here in 1 John
4, that's what it means. Verse 15, Whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God. Now that's more than just saying
words. You can repeat the words, Jesus
is the Son of God, till you're blue in the face and not know
what it means. He's talking about the Gospel. that Jesus Christ,
who came into the world, is God manifest in the flesh, the Son
of God, and perfect man, and that He's the Savior of His people,
the Savior of the world. That's God's elect out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And if you believe in Him, God
dwells in you and you dwell in God. What that means is you have
a familial, loving, merciful, right relationship with God as
your heavenly Father. And verse 16 now, 1 John 4, he
says, and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. My friend, think about this.
This is something that people don't understand today. I know,
I mentioned this last week, if you speak honestly, biblically
about God's love, you're also gonna have to speak about God's
hatred. Anyone upon whom God's wrath abides is experiencing
God's hatred. And the only way to have that
wrath removed is through the Lord Jesus Christ as the propitiation
of our sins. The sin-bearing sacrifice that
brings satisfaction to justice. So here's the point. Outside
of Christ, there's no love of God. There's only hatred, only
wrath. And I made mention of this. Now
don't think about God's hatred as being unjust and unfair because
it is not. It's not like our hatred. Our
hatred is sinful. We're sinners. But God is perfect. And he hates with a righteous
hatred, exactly, when he punishes sinners to whom sin is imputed.
Well, the only way that I can know that my sins are not charged
to me, imputed to me, is if I'm in Christ. Paul mentioned that
in Philippians 3 when he expressed his fervent desire to be found
in Christ. not having his own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is received by faith. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So if we're looking to Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith, if we know and believe
in him, in the glory of his person, in the power of his finished
work, as he's identified and described and distinguished in
the Bible, then we know the love that God has to us. And so he
says in verse 16, God is love. God is the essence of love. That
love towards sinners is unconditional. The conditions have been fulfilled
by Christ because all the conditions were upon Christ. And he that
dwelleth in love, John writes, dwelleth in God and God in him.
See, the only way that I can be assured of God's love for
me, of God's grace, is as I dwell in Christ, as I look to Christ,
as I plead the merits of Christ's blood and righteousness for all
my sins, then I know that I'm united with God. He dwells in
me and I dwell in Him. Now verse 17, he says, herein,
in this way, it says in the King James, our love is our love made
perfect. The translation should be better,
it would be better translated this way. Herein is love with
us made perfect. And really what it's talking
about is God's love for his people, not our love to him. Now, the
Bible talks about the believer's love for God. But the believer's
love of God is the product, the result of God's love for the
believer. You understand? And what he's
talking about here is the love of God towards his people reaching
its goal. Reaching and finishing what it
started. And herein is God's love for
us made perfect, made complete. And he says how? Verse 17. That we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Boldness in the day of judgment?
You know, as I grew up in false religion, false Christianity,
the way I understood judgment, for the most part, was something
to be feared. Something that I didn't want to happen. Something
where I would be embarrassed. Because when I got to judgment,
God would flash up all my sins and all of that stuff. And I
would be embarrassed. It's just a terrible thought.
But in the Bible, for God's children, who look to Christ and rest in
Christ and plead His righteousness, it's not a fearful thing. It's
not a terrible thing. We can be bold in the day of
judgment. Why? How? Up on what ground? Look at verse 17. Because as
He is, As Christ is, so are we in this world. What does that
mean? Does that mean that in myself
I'm as perfect as Christ? No. I'm 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. But legally and positionally,
I'm as perfect as Christ because I have His righteousness charged
to me. That's what he's talking about.
When I stand before God at judgment, I'm not going to plead my works.
Now, I'm not even going to plead what the Spirit has enabled me
to do. I'm not going to plead the fact that I preached, that
I pastored, that I tried to live a good life. No. I'm going to
plead Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. That's
what I'm going to plead. The Bible says that the standard
of judgment is righteousness, and righteousness is measured
by Christ. Acts 17 31, where it talks about God has appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. You
see, I've got to be as righteous as Christ. And in myself, I'm
far from that. I always fall short, that's why
I need a savior. But as I stand legally and positionally
in Christ, having his righteousness imputed to me, as he is, so am
I in this world. I can be bold at the judgment
because I have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
justice. It's not any work I've done.
It's not any decision I made. It's the work of Christ on the
cross as he died and was buried and raised again the third day.
And so verse 18, this is where I got the title of this message.
There is no fear in love. When I realized the love of God
to me in Christ, His mercy, His grace, what He has done for me. He says in verse 18, but perfect
love, love that has completed its goal, casteth out fear. Now, the Bible commands us to
fear God. And in Romans 3.18, it says,
by nature, there's no fear of the Lord before the eyes of unbelievers. the natural man, there's no fear
of God before their eyes. And when God saves us, when He
regenerates us and converts us when we're born again, He puts
a fear in us. But it's not the kind of fear
that causes us, like Adam and Eve, to run and hide from God. It's not the kind of legal fear
that brings us to always be afraid of being cast into hell. It's
not the kind of legal fear that motivates us to be mercenaries,
to earn our rewards in heaven. It's not legal fear. The fear that God gives us is
a gift from God, is the fear that comes with faith, which
has a reverence and a respect for the glory of God. And that's
a good fear. But this perfect love, Cast out
fear is the love of God that gives me the assurance of salvation
and final glory based on the perfection, the righteousness
that can only be found in Christ. You see, as long as I'm in Christ,
Paul said in Philippians 3, I've quoted it all the time, that
I want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. And so in verse 18, he says there's no fear in love.
There's no legal ungodly fear that brings sinners to try to
seek a righteousness of their own. That kind of fear's gone.
And perfect love casteth out that fear. The perfect love of
God that is shown towards his people in Christ. Because fear hath torment. Legal
fear is a torment. It brings people under the bondage
of the law, always doubting their salvation because they feel like
they haven't done enough, and they haven't. If my assurance
of salvation were based upon looking at myself and saying,
have I done enough? And my friend, I'm gonna tell
you something, the only way I can have assurance based on that
is to be self-righteous. Have I done enough? Well, enough
for what? I've never done enough to be
saved by my works. I've never done enough to wash
away my sins. I've never done enough to make
myself righteous before God and never will do enough. You see,
that's the work of Christ. He washed away all my sins by
his blood. He paid the price in full. He
satisfied justice. And he brought forth all the
righteousness that God requires and that I need. And God has
imputed that to me and given me life from it whereby I've
received it. So he says, he that feareth is
not made perfect in love, in verse 18. He that feareth is
not made... If you have this legal mercenary
fear, that inspires you to get busy working your way to heaven,
then my friend, you're not made perfect in love. You're not made
perfect in Christ, who is the embodiment of the love of God.
In other words, you're rejecting Christ. Now, Paul dealt with
that in the book of Galatians. In Galatians 2.21, he says, if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain. He told these preachers, these
Jewish legalists, were preaching that even though you're saved
by grace, you've got to be circumcised in order to be really righteous
and really safe. And Paul said, well, if you do
that, you've fallen from grace. Christ will profit you nothing.
You see, it's all Christ or nothing. So in verse 19, he says, we love
him because he first loved us. If you have any love, for the
true and living God, not the God of your imagination now,
not God as you think Him to be, but God as He is in His word. If you have any love for Him,
you need to understand that that's a gift from God through Christ,
out of His love, through Christ. He first loved you. And if you
don't believe the true and living God, you don't love Him. Now,
my prayer is that God will bring you, by the Holy Spirit, under
the preaching of the gospel, messages like this, to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and experience that love that he's
talking about, that love that has no fear, no fear in this
love, no legal fear. Oh, there's a godly fear. There's
a fear of God that is good. There's a fear of God that brings
assurance of salvation. but it comes through Christ,
the glory of His person, the power of His finished work, His
blood and righteousness alone. So we love Him because He first
loved us. And verse 20 says, if a man say
I love God and hated his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? Now that love, remember I told
you about, that's that special love that binds brothers and
sisters in Christ together in the family of God. But if you
claim to believe and know and love God, but you don't love
your brothers and sisters, it's a sham confession. Now, is our love for our brethren
perfect? No. Does that mean we never get
in arguments or disagreements or things like it? No, we do. But we will stand together by
the grace and love of God to us, we'll stand together in the
gospel. And that's the mainstay of that
love. And he says in verse 21, and this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. This is the love that exists
in the family of God between those who have boldness at the
judgment. Because as He is, they are in
this world. They're sinners saved by grace,
brothers and sisters in Christ, who've been chosen before the
foundation of the world in Christ, who have been justified That
means all their sins are forgiven on a just ground. And what is
the just ground? The blood of Christ. You don't
have one of these pleading the blood of Christ and another over
here pleading their decisions or their works. If you plead
your decision and your works, you're not a brother or sister
in the family of God. We plead Christ, crucified and
risen from the dead. And then they are redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Scripture says, bought and paid for, they're
adopted into the family of God through Christ, their elder brother. They are regenerated, converted,
born again, called into the family of God by the preaching of the
gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, the Jew first, the Greek also. In this family,
there's no Jew or Greek. He says, in Greek also, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ, the merits of his obedience unto death, as testified
by his resurrection. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith, knowledge revealed, to faith, knowledge
received, believed, the gift of faith. As it is written, the
just or the justified shall live by faith. They live in the grace
of God, looking to the glorious person and the finished work
of Christ. Christ, the author and the finisher
of our faith. And that's where the love of
God is experienced. That's where the love of God
is known. When people quote John 3.16 and
apply it to everybody without exception, they don't know what
they're talking about. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth should
not perish but have everlasting life. That's not saying that
God loved everybody without exception. That's talking about the love
of God that extends to his family in Christ. And that's what he's
talking about. He's talking about that love
that casteth out fear. No fear in this love, no legalism,
no work salvation. No salvation conditioned on the
sinner. It's all conditioned on Christ,
who is the embodiment of the love of God, and he expressed
that in his death on the cross, to die for the sins of his people,
given him before the foundation of the world. He said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh me
I will in no wise cast out. Think about this. It is all in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's where this love is.
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 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. 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.