Last Tuesday night, as she was
going out the door, Celeste asked me a question about 1 John 4,
verse 18. The scripture says, perfect love
casteth out all fear. And then she said to me, but
we have so much fear. Someone we love, find out they're
expecting a child, first thing we do is begin to fear for them.
find out they're sick, first thing we begin to do is have
fear. And I answered briefly what the
text is talking about. It's not talking about having
no fear with regard to other people and things in this world,
but rather, and it's not talking about our love, it's talking
about the love of God being perfected in us, that it is us being made
to know the love of God, cast out all fear with reference to
God. But that passage has been on
my mind all week and I've been working on it. I thought it deserves
more attention So if you'll turn to first John chapter 4 and verse
18, I Want to speak to you for a little bit about perfect love
Perfect love Four times in this epistle, John was inspired by
God the Holy Ghost to speak about perfect love. The epistle is
specifically written to assure us of God's love. It's an epistle
of love assuring us of God's love. Specifically, John says,
I write these things that you may know that you have eternal
life. And the knowledge of that eternal
life that's given us is found in the knowledge of the love
of God for us. If God loves me, all is well. If God loves me, I have no need
to fear anything or anyone at any time, especially God. If God loves me, I ought to walk
before God without any sense of dread or fear or guilt or
condemnation before him. In the second chapter, in verse
five, John says, whoso keepeth his word in him, verily, the
love of God is perfected. Hereby we know that we're in
him. Chapter 4 verse 12. He tells
us that God's love is perfected in us in verse 17 He says herein
is our love made perfect now come back to that in a minute
But if you will just glance over at the marginal translation in
your Bible, you'll find there are translators suggested another
translation that might be better and Herein is love with us made
perfect. John is telling us that God's
love for us is made perfect in us in the sweet experience of
God's grace. When God gives faith in Christ,
when God sprinkles your conscience with the blood of Christ, sprinkles
your conscience from dead works, causing you to look away from
yourself to Christ as your Lord, your Redeemer, God's love is
made perfect in you. It has come to its perfect fulfillment,
giving you life eternal in Christ our Lord. Then here in verse
18, we're told perfect love casteth out all fear. What a statement. Perfect love casteth out all
fear. Now let's begin in verse 17. First John tells us about love
made perfect. Herein is our love made perfect. John's been talking to us back
up to chapter 3 actually back in chapter 2 as well. You've
been talking to us about God's love God's love for us God's
love for us is revealed and made known to us in the saving of
our souls and This generation needs to understand this. Preaching
the gospel is not going around telling sinners God loves you.
There is no reason for anyone to even slightly suspect that
God might love them, except they have faith in Jesus Christ the
Lord. Faith in Christ, that alone,
is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things
not seen. Only faith in Christ. We know
the love of God only as we walk before God by faith in His Son. The love of God for us then.
Revealed in the salvation of our souls is revealed in the
sin atoning sacrifice of his dear son as our substitute It's
revealed and known by our union with our blessed Redeemer back
up to chapter 3 this Behold what matter of love the father hath
bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God and
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But when he shall appear, we
know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Down in verse
16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us. John is throughout
this epistle dealing with this matter of the love of God for
his elect. He continues in verse 7 of chapter
4. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Verse 9. This was manifested the love
of God toward us Because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins, sent his son to be the
satisfaction of justice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. John tells us that if
we're born of God, we love one another. We have verse 13. Hereby
know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath
given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love. He that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. If we're born again,
we love one another. That's just a fact stated universally
throughout scripture. God's saints love one another. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. In other words, our love
for one another, that's anything but perfect. But our love for
one another, that love of God's people for one another, is but
the reflection of God's love for us in us, reflecting in our
love for one another. It demonstrates our knowledge
of God's love and the truthfulness of our professed love for Him.
God's love is made perfect in us, we read in verse 12, made
known to us when we're born of God, and given faith in Christ
so that believing on the Son of God, now God's love has come
to its perfect fulfillment, come to its perfect end. God has saved
us by his grace. Paul tells us in Romans 5 if
you want to turn there We'll be looking at in just a moment
that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost In verse 17 of John 4 herein is our love made perfect again. Look at the marginal translation
Herein is love with us made perfect Now, I don't read either Syriac
or Latin, but Mr. Gill says the Syriac version,
it translates those words this way. Herein is his love with
us made perfect. And the Latin Vulgate, herein
is God's love with us made perfect. So again, John's not talking
about our love or the perfection of our love for God or the perfection
of our love for one another He's talking about God's perfect love
being revealed and known in us. He's talking about the love of
God Made known to us by the Spirit of God in the gift of faith back
here in Romans 5 Romans 5 verse 1 therefore being justified,
since Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification, therefore being justified, by faith we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we glory
in tribulation also, Knowing the tribulation work of patience
and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed
Why is that? Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us
God's love is that which is shed abroad in our hearts when God
gives us faith in Christ and The Spirit of God testifies that
God is our God. We are His sons and daughters
and causes us to look toward heaven and cry to God, Abba Father,
so that we no longer dread God. We're no longer terrified of
God, but rather we look to God as our Father and call Him our
Father. I know there's much talk by preachers
trying to get people afraid of God. And religion manipulates
people with a dread and fear of God. Legalists, work mongers
will tell you you have to do so and so or God's going to get
you. Folks who try to mix law and grace, they will tell you
we're saved by grace, but if you don't behave just right,
if you don't give just enough, if you do this or do that, then
you're going to lose reward in heaven and God's going to get
you. I've even heard preachers say, I've heard them say it with
these ears. I've read it with these eyes.
If you don't tithe, God will take it out on your family. He
might kill your son. He's gonna get it one way or
the other. What kind of God is that? That's the kind of God
that he didn't make. Oh, no, no, no, no. God's people
ought never be afraid of God. Never be afraid of God. I can't
tell you how often I face when people come to the Lord's table
in various places They're scared to take the bread and wine Preachers
will withhold the bread and wine cause they don't want folks to
partake unworthily as if a believer as if a believer might be unworthy
to do what the Lord told him to do and As if a believer might
be unworthy to do what God commands him to do. Unworthiness is unbelief. Believe in God, you're perfectly
worthy to take the bread and wine. Believe in God, we are
made meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. So that now when the man born
again, God sends forth his spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba,
Father. So that that center. who this
minute is terrified of the wrath and judgment of God Almighty,
terrified of everlasting damnation. When Christ is revealed in him,
he lifts his eyes to heaven and beholds God on his throne and
says with joy, my father, my father. My father, our father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The second thing
John mentions is the day of judgment. But he says something that appears
at first glance to be very strange. Herein is God's love made perfect
in us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. The day
of judgment. Have boldness when we stand at
the great white throne? Well, I've never heard anything
like that. You have now. That we may have boldness at
the day of judgment. When we stand before God in the
glistening white purity of his great white throne judgment,
Boldness. Confidence. Peace. Assurance. No sense of dread. No sense of
terror, but boldness. How is that? Because God is our
Father. He has made us the righteousness
of God in Christ. He has put away our sin by the
sacrifice of His Son. And we are assured of that because
He has given us faith in Christ the Lord. Now, believing on the
Son of God, we may have boldness before Him in that great day. the scriptures Nowhere now I
defy anyone to show me anywhere in this book Old Testament or
new where any believer was terrified of God I Defy anyone to show
me any place in this book where any believer dreaded death or
eternity or judgment It's not found in the book, but rather
it is that which believers anticipate, we ought to anticipate with joy,
with confidence. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through Christ's
blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous guilt and blame. The unbelieving, the wicked,
fear the day of judgment. But God's saints love it, long
for it, anxiously await it. At least we ought to. We ought
to. We speak to him who sits upon
the throne freely and without fear. We'll ascribe all praise,
honor, and glory to Christ alone as our Savior, and we will express
our love and our adoration to God forever. Boldness. When Paul was about to leave
this world, and he knew it, he said, I've finished my course. I've fought a good fight. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, but not to me
only, but unto all them also that love him at his appearing.
Would you have boldness? I hope you understand what I
mean by boldness. I'm talking about ease before
God. Comfortable sense of ease before
God. Quit looking to your works, your
righteousness, your religion, your devotion, your obedience,
and look out of yourself to Christ. Now tell me why God would reject
his son. Tell me why the triune Jehovah
would punish his son. Tell me why God would not smile
upon and accept and give to his son anything he asks. Why? Well, preachers, those are dumb
questions, aren't they though? Lindsay, we are one with Christ,
accepted in the beloved, and God has no reason ever to be
angry with his son. No reason ever to punish his
son again. His son has satisfied justice
with finality, and what's true of his son is true of you and
I who are in his son. Herein is our love God's love
with us made perfect that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment Because here's the cause for both boldness as he
is So are we in this world? as he is So are we in this world? our union with Christ is such a real union. His obedience
is our obedience. His death is our death. His satisfaction of justice is
our satisfaction of justice. His acceptance with God is our
acceptance with God. He is one with me and I am one
with him. Now, here's the next thing, verse
18. Perfect love casteth out all fear There is no fear in
love But perfect love casteth out all fear Because fear hath
torment he that feareth not He that feareth rather is not
made perfect in love What is this perfect love Certainly not
our love for God Not our love for one another Not our love
in any relationship Not the love of any man for his wife or any
woman for her husband Not the love of any father for his children
or any children for his father Not the love of any mother for
his child for a child or any child for its mother There's
no such thing as perfect love among me No such thing. But the love of God is perfect
love. Perfect love. Love that can never
be lost. Love that can never be hindered. Love that can never be quenched.
Love that can never be increased and never be decreased. Perfect
love. Eternal, immutable, everlasting
love. Now turn back to John chapter
17. John chapter 17 now wrap this up. Let me make a few statements First understand this God is
love God is holy God is righteous. God is just. God is true. God is sovereign. All those things are attributes
of God. Characteristics of God. Characteristics
of God, which if any of them were not so, He's not God. God is love. Bill, that's what
he is. That's not just what he does,
that's what he is. God is love. And God commends his love to
us in the sacrifice of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, against the back, black backdrop
of our sin, and our depravity and our corruption, he sets the
bright, brilliant diamond of Christ's sacrifice and commends
his love to us. I don't know a better way to
illustrate what I'm saying than what you've heard me say many
times. When I was 17 years old, I was fairly certain Shelby would
say yes, so I went and bought a diamond, the one she's wearing
now. It wasn't much, but it was the
best I could do. And I was in the store, and the lady at Kay
Jewelry in Winston-Salem reached in the box and pulled out that
little diamond and held it up to me and gave me a price on
the thing. I guess my eyes got kind of big. And then she set
it, a piece of black velvet there, put that thing up on a stand,
and that little old diamond looked like a globe. against the background of that
black velvet. This is how God commends his
love toward us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Oh, what a commendation of love.
The triune God acts in love for us in all his works of grace
and in all his works of providence. The nuptial chariot in which
our Savior carries his bride through the ages of time, we're
told in the psalm of Solomon, is paved with love for the daughters
of Jerusalem. And God in time sheds abroad
his love into our hearts with the gift of his son, by the gift
of his spirit, by the gift of faith in Christ. And God's love
is made perfect in us when God gives us faith in Christ. We
are made to know and are assured of his love when he gives us
faith in Christ. Oh, children of God, As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him. Believe in Christ. Quit looking
to yourself for something to commend you to God. Quit looking
in yourself for something to give you peace of conscience.
Quit looking in yourself for something to make you feel more
comfortable in God's presence. Look away, away, away, out of
yourself to Christ the Lord. Now, in John 17, we have our
Lord's prayer. And throughout this prayer, as
our Lord is about to leave this world to go back to the Father,
he speaks for us as our mediator, as our representative. He has
told his disciples that they must abide on the earth for a
while. And doing so, they must endure
unceasing trial, heavy trouble, and great tribulation. He's promised
to send them his spirit to comfort them. And he's promised that
he would help them. And he urges us, as he urged
them, simply to trust him. But he knew their hearts were
heavy. He knew they were troubled and that they would soon be troubled
about many things. Can you imagine how troubled
those disciples were after the Savior was crucified, between
his death and his resurrection? Can you imagine how troubled
they were? They weren't expecting this. He told them they should
have expected it, but they weren't expecting this. They were expecting
the kingdom to be brought right now to the earth. but he was
crucified. And they were troubled, greatly
troubled, as they thought about and discussed his sacrifice.
And so he prays in their presence as our great high priest. And
in these 26 verses, he prays for the complete perfect salvation
of his elect, for our preservation, for our joy, He prays for our
complete sanctification, separation, holiness under God. He prays
for our mutual union, one with another, as we have union with
Him. He prays that He will bring us at last, the Father will bring
us at last into heavenly glory. And He prays for our complete
enjoyment of that glory. Now let's pick up in verse 24,
the very last part of the chapter. What a treasure we have before
us. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. The time
comes for every one of God's saints when the Lord Jesus has
this prayer answered. I will, that they whom thou hast
given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. And I declared unto them thy
name and will declare it. Now watch this. That the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. With those words, our Savior
tells us the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection as our
substitute. He speaks about what he had done
and what he would do and why, in a word, why he had come into
this world. He declares to us here, the entire
purpose of his existence, the entire purpose of his incarnation,
the entire purpose of his life, of his death, of his resurrection,
and his ascension back to glory. That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them and die in them. The very last
word of our Lord's prayer concerning the love of God for us. But the
love of God for us is made manifest and made known only by the love
of God in us. He means for us to know and enjoy
the love of God for us. He asked the Father that we might
be filled with the fullness of the love of God. Oh, may God be pleased to grant
that. That we might constantly have the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts by his spirit. That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me, he says, be in them. This perfect love. Perfect love that casteth out
all fear. Hear now what the Savior asked
the Father. to put in his elect. He says,
I had 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. Not that the Lord would love
us because of what he was praying, or because of what he had done,
or because of what he would do. He loved us from everlasting.
But rather he prays that God's love may be in us, the very love
with which he is loved of God. First, our Lord Jesus prays that
the love of God for us would indeed be shed abroad in our
hearts. And in praying that, he prays that we may live in
the realization of that love continually. That we may live in the realization
of the love of God for us. Oh, what grace. What amazing
free grace. God loves us with an everlasting
love. An immutable love. Can I say
intense love? Infinitely, immensely intense
love. And it is a love that is deserved. Our Lord Jesus said, therefore
doth my father love me because I laid down my life for the sheep.
So that as our God, man, mediator, our Savior earned the love of
God for us. So that now here we are deserving
of God's love. Deserving of God's love. I've been married to this lady
for 50 years. And I've never thought I deserved
her love. She deserves mine. I've never
thought I deserved hers. I try to be a good father. I've
never thought I deserve my daughter's love. Maybe her respect, but
not her love. I've never dreamed I deserved
anybody's love, except God's. How can that be? Because Christ,
by his obedience unto death, is loved of God. Therefore doth
my father love me, because I laid down my life for the sheep. And he who is my substitute,
with whom I am one, sits yonder on the throne of God, fully deserving
the love of God. That's perfect love that cast
out all fear. Indestructible love. Oh, wonder
of wonders. I was trying to Find how to express what I want
to say to you tonight in this message And I couldn't express
it anywhere near as well as mr Spurgeon did in a sermon. He
preached on this same subject 150 or 60 years ago listen carefully. It's a little bit linked there,
but this Do not tell me that God the Father does not love
you as well as he does Christ I The point can be settled by
the grandest matter of fact that ever was. When there was a choice
between Christ and his people, which should die of the two?
The father freely delivered up his own son that we might live
through him. Oh, what a meeting there must
have been of the seas of love that day, when God's great love
to us came rolling in like a glorious springtime, and his love to his
son came rolling in at the same time. If they had met and come
into collision, we cannot imagine the result. But when they both
took to rolling together in one mighty torrent, what a stream
of love was there. The Lord Jesus sank that we might
swim. He sank that we might rise. And now we are born upward forever
by the mighty sweep of infinite love into the everlasting blessedness
which tongues and lips can never fully set forth. Oh, be ravished
with this. Be carried away with it. Be in ecstasy at love. So amazing,
so divine. The Father loves you even as
he loves his Son. After the same manner and sort,
he loveth his redeemed. Perfect love casteth out all
fear. This love the father has for
his son. Can you imagine the Lord Jesus being afraid Now, can you imagine him being
fearful of something Jehovah might do? Of something Jehovah
might find fault with? Of something Jehovah might reject? Something the triune Jehovah
might yet punish him for? Of course not, preacher. This
is the love, the love of God shed abroad in our heart. Imagine
that. The Father's love for the Son
is His love for you who believe His Son. Amen.