Boldness in the Day of Judgment

Boldness in the Day of Judgment  2021 09 12

1 John 4:17 – 21

Probably the most famous phrase from the original Star Trek series, if you can remember that far back, was “boldly going where no man has gone before.”  In the series, it applied to an intrepid and adventurous group of people with great confidence in technology.  Their boldness came partly from themselves, but it had a very great deal to do with that confidence.

For Christians, we are going on an even longer journey, from the physical world to eternity, but we have a boldness based on much more than man made technology.  Our boldness is founded on love.

1 John 4:17 – 21

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16 This is the kind of boldness that the Apostle John is speaking of in our passage, today.  This is the confidence that a little child has in a parent.  A child is not afraid to enter his daddy’s presence, no matter how important Daddy is.  A child enters her daddy’s presence with boldness, because she loves him and knows that he loves her.  There is no fear in a little child approaching a godly father;  instead there is only love.  Perfect love casts out fear.

I Perfect Love

  1. The Bible says, “Herein is our love made perfect.”  What does that mean?
  1. First of all, perfect means entire or complete. This makes sense when we think of a flaw as something missing.  What, then, is herein referring to?
  2. This is speaking of the previous passages which explain that the evidence of God’s love filling or being made complete in us is our love for one another. “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”  1 John 4:12
  3. The evidence that we are saved is in our love for one another in the body of Christ. His perfect love is what completes us.

  II  Yes, You Can

  1. You can have boldness in the day of judgment.  It is the saddest thing in the world to ask a person who identifies as a Christian if he is going to heaven when he dies, only to be answered with, “I hope so.”
    1. Yes, you can have boldness in the day of judgment, being confident that you are going to heaven when you die. The love you have for your fellow Christians is proof that you really are saved, because it’s not natural.
    2. The love you have for those outside your immediate family and friends is from God.When you repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you receive Him.  You are born again as a child of God with the Holy Spirit indwelling you.  Therefore, as He is, so are we even while we are still in this world. 

III  No Fear

  1. Many people have a strange attraction to risk, enjoying the “rush” of fear they get when they take extreme chances. Out of this has come the No Fear brand, associated with everything from car-racing to extreme mixed martial arts cage fighting.
    1. The reality is, these people feed off the adrenaline rush caused by fear, the “fight-or-flight” response our bodies exhibit when we face any kind of perceived peril.
    2. The Bible uses the term, torment, to describe this. The Greek word translated torment means correction, punishment, penalty.  Fear puts us in to a state of expecting something bad to happen and perhaps hoping it doesn’t.
    3. The reality of the human existence is that human beings fear death.Like it or not, built into every human being is the sense that there is something coming after this existence that we really aren’t ready for.  Deep down in every human being is the knowledge that we all will have to face our Creator one day, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” Romans 1:19,20
  2. On the other hand, perfect love casts out fear.When God’s love fills us, we don’t fear death.  Fear has torment, anxiety about coming penalty or punishment, the uncomfortable knowledge that one day, we will have to face our Creator.  Those who fear are not ready, because they are not filled with the love of God.
    1. “He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” The one who fears facing God in the day of judgment is not filled with the love of God.  Such a person is not saved.
      1. This is another test.Are you afraid to face God in the day of judgment?  Are you really saved?  Have you obeyed Him by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour?

 IV Reasonable Love

  1. We have a reasonable faith. It is reasonable to believe in God, and then to do what He says and believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour sent by God from heaven.  Everything we believe about God is reasonable when you start from the beginning.
    1. Either you believe in nothing exploding and becoming everything – which is not logical – or you believe in an intelligent and all-powerful Cause – aka God – who created everything – which is logical and reasonable. From there, it is not a blind leap of faith to accept what God’s Word reveals about Himself.
      1. It is also reasonable to love God. We have a reason to love God.  He loved us first and gave Himself for us.  When Jesus Christ rose from the dead as He said He would, He showed that He is God.  We love Him because He first loved us.  It is reasonable to love Him because of the excellence of His character, which He has revealed to us in love.

 V  Evidence

  1. The evidence that we are saved and love God is in our love for one another.  If we say we love God, but hate one of our Christian brethren, the Bible says we are lying.  We’re not saved at all.
    1. If a person cannot love a fellow Christian whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? The evidence that we actually know God, love Him, and are therefore saved is in our love for one another.
    2. Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”  John 13:34
      1. This same commandment is repeated here. “And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”  Verse 21
      2. Jesus commands Christians to love one another in the same manner that He loves us. In other words, we are to love our fellow believers unconditionally.  John now says it a different way:  “If you love God, love your fellow Christian.”  It is not possible to love God while hating a fellow believer.

Conclusion

  1. Divine love is something that can only be known and shared by those who have truly repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ, because its only source is God.  God is love.  Without Christ, it is impossible to know God.  Jesus said “… I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.”  John 14:6. When we come to God as He has commanded through faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved by the grace of God and filled with His person and love.
    1. This love is far above what much of the world sees as love. It is not sensual.  It is not selfish.  It is unconditional, divine, something that cannot exist in a natural human being, because all flesh is corrupt, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23
    2. This love has boldness in the day of judgment, because it comes from God our Creator to begin with. We love God because He first loved us.  When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, God saves us, causing us to be born again as His own dear children, filled with His wonderful love. This love with which we are able to love our fellow Christians and even the most unlovable we may meet is further proof that all our sins are washed away, and we have everlasting life.  There is no fear of judgment in this love, but perfect love from God above casts out fear, because there is no fear in God’s love.