Perfect Love… or Dreadful Fear?

Perfect Love… or Dreadful Fear?  2020 09 27

1 John 4:14 – 19

Probably no one alive today in the Western World ever expected to live through a time like we are experiencing in 2020! The world is experiencing a pandemic such as hasn’t been seen since 1918. But perhaps the biggest pandemic of all is the pandemic of fear. Everywhere you go, you find those who are afraid of something. Those who say they are not afraid of the pandemic are often afraid of something else, like the government or some secret society or some other sinister something.

In the forward to a collection of short stories written by the horror story writer, Steven King, he wrote: “Fear is the emotion that makes us blind. How many things are we afraid of? We’re afraid to turn off the lights when our hands are wet. We’re afraid to stick a knife into the toaster to get the stuck English muffin without unplugging it first. We’re afraid of what the doctor may tell us when the physical exam is over; when the airplane suddenly takes a great unearthly lurch in midair. We’re afraid that the oil may run out, that the good air will run out, the good water, the good life… and we feel the emotion that makes us blind, the emotion that makes a stealthy ruin of the thinking process…

Fear makes us blind, and we touch each fear with all the avid curiosity of self-interest, trying to make a whole out of a hundred parts.”

He went on to declare that “the greatest fear all humans face is the fear of their own death.” But it doesn’t have to be that way. There is an answer, and it is available for all.

1 John 4:14 – 19

I am not a Steven King fan, but I think he was pretty accurate with his observation about the human fear of death. But God has provided us with a choice. We can fear death without Him, or we can accept His loving gift of salvation and have peace

I Perfect Love

  1. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:15 – 18; 27

    1. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the One who brings peace in the heart of the true believer in Jesus Christ, not fear.

    2. To we who have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer at the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ.

II Fear

  1. But God is terrifying to those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ.

    1. James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

    2. Some may deny that, some may push that fact out of their minds, and some may go through life ignoring all the signs around them, but in the end, as they stand before the Great White Throne of Almighty God, it will be the greatest fear they have ever known. Indeed, even as the devils tremble, so will they.

  2. Without Christ, you need to fear God. In fact, the Bible teaches that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. To fear God is to begin to understand that you need a Saviour! That is true wisdom!

III God Has Promised

      1. We already heard the promise of Jesus Christ as recorded in John 14. Jesus Christ is God the Son.

        1. We can also read of when God the Father promised to protect those who believe and trust in Him. “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Genesis 15:1

        2. In Deuteronomy 31:8, Moses said to Joshua, “And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” God’s character has never changed, nor will it ever change. God will neither fail, nor forsake His children. Do not be afraid.

IV You are Valuable!

      1. Jesus told us that we are valued greatly by God. “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7

      2. Even more, Jesus laid down His life for you and I! What a sacrifice of love! “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14 Lest there be any doubt who the sheep are, Psalm 100:3 tells you: “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

V He will Never Abandon You!

  1. Not only are you incredibly valuable to God who created you, He promises that if you accept Him as your Saviour, He will never reject you or abandon you. The Bible says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

    1. This is the promise that God made to Abraham, in Genesis 28:15

    2. Israel in Deuteronomy 31:6

    3. Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:8 and Joshua 1:5

    4. The saints in Psalm 37:28

  2. God does not change. “For I am the LORD, I change not…” Malachi 3:6 His character is eternally the same. The examples we have from the Old Testament, recalled in Hebrews 13:5, speak of the character of God. He will never abandon those who have put their faith in Him!

VI Perfect Love

  1. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:31 that there is a more excellent way than all the gifts of the Spirit previously listed. That is “agape,” charity, or as we would now say, “unconditional love.” It is the kind of love that God has for all who have put their faith in Him and the love that Christians have for God and for one another.

    1. We read in our passage today that God IS love. To be in Him is to be living our lives in Him. If we are living in Him, we are living in love. We begin to live in Him the moment we truly put our faith in Jesus Christ. We love Him.

      1. Here is a simple test: If you do not love God, you are not saved. If you do love Him, you are saved and you will obey Him because you love Him (John 14:21).

    2. When our love is in God through Christ, it is made perfect. Today we might say, it is made complete. We are filled by the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38,39

    3. Our love is made perfect in Christ, which is how we can stand boldly before Him in the day of judgment. In Christ, we have nothing to fear. Death is but a doorway to eternity!

VII Fear

  1. For the lost, there IS fear. Just as the novel writer declared, “the greatest fear all humans face is the fear of their own death.”

    1. Again, the Bible tells us why. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Hebrews 10:26,27

      1. The meaning is, that if you deliberately reject God’s offer of salvation after you’ve heard the gospel, your future is terrifying!

  2. But there is no fear in love, agape love, the kind of love that comes from God alone.

    1. Instead, there is confidence. His love casts out that fear, because He paid the penalty for our sins for us. “We love him, because he first loved us.” “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

    2. The Bible tells us that every person, anywhere who receives this gift from God becomes a child of God and no longer faces judgment. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12,13

Conclusion

The conclusion is so very simple, today. When Jesus Christ is your Saviour, you have NOTHING to be afraid of! His perfect love filling you casts out that fear. Instead of being afraid of death, you have confidence that when you meet Jesus, it will be the most joyful experience you’ve ever had!