Introduction
I invite you turn with me in your Bible’s to 1 John 4. This morning, we have a wonderful passage, once again, on the topic of love. We are going to read verses 17 and 18. Now, I hope that you are not getting discouraged that we are still on the topic of love. It may seem as though this point has been belabored the last few weeks, but I hope that you have open eyes and a willing heart to see another facet in which we see love applied in the life of the believer. And further, this inexhaustible topic that John through the Holy Spirit writes about is not to be taken lightly. Hence why we have spent so much time on it.
This facet of love is what I have titled this sermon as “The Perfect Love of God.”
What comes to your mind when you think of something that is perfect? An entire host of things pop into your mind, I would presume. Maybe something perfect is out of reach or unattainable, maybe it is the highest score on an exam, maybe it is a perfect hairdo, or maybe it is a feeling that lasts for a short time like the effects after a perfect score on an exam or at a game.
Unlike these examples, God’s Perfect Love endures forever. With this in mind, I want us to see this love in two ways. First, Confidence in God’s Perfect Love in verse 17 and, second, A Person’s Status in or out of God’s Perfect Love which we will see in verse 18.
- Confidence in God’s Perfect Love (v.17)
We start our time this morning in verse 17 where we will examine the Confidence we have in God’s Perfect Love. Look there with me. You will notice that John begins with the familiar introduction “By this,” but you will also see that he does not end it with “you know,” instead he uses the word ‘if.’ Why is time spent on these few words? It is because John is moving from experiential knowledge to a practical and tangible way of looking at the topic of love. He is moving from the past tense having a knowledge that has been already experienced to a more present kind of this is what this looks like idea.
John does not shy away from what the main topic of verses 17 and 18 is. And that is “perfect love” or “love perfected.” He wants us to see what “perfect love” looks like.
He has spent the last 10 verses talking about the topic of love and we have seen its breadth in the last few sermons, and we will continue to see this in this sermon as well. John’s focus on love this time around is a little different in definition compared to a descending, provided, or abiding love. Love takes on many definitions with the end goal being certainty in a person’s salvation. We will touch more on this later.
What is love perfected? As we saw in verse 12, to be perfect is to be fully accomplished or to be completed to its fullest extent.
John says that this love is “with us.” These two words are critical for our understanding of this passage and the next one. Notice that this perfect love John speaks of is not in us but ‘with’ us. It is an accompanying love (Strong’s). In other words, this love carries along with us throughout our lifetime. It does not fade or disappear, nor does it grow bigger and greater. It is ‘perfect’ exactly as God has intended it to be, for he is perfect.
But what is the purpose of love perfected? Why does John make the distinction of ‘perfect love?’ The purpose of the perfect love of God is for believers to have confidence. The King James uses boldness instead of confidence. This helps to emphasize the confidence that we have in God. This confidence in God that we have is “free, open, plain, and assuring” (Strong’s). In other words, the Christian has no reason to doubt, for the perfect love of God with him carries him through life, ultimately to eternity with God.
This brings into clearer focus why John brings up the abiding love of God throughout this epistle and specifically in verse 16. You and I have been going down a road through this letter that brings us to the perfect love of God. In order for God’s love to be perfected with us, he must abide in us! It all works together.
Now let’s see how this confidence is carried out or fleshed out. what does God want us to be confident for? The subject at hand is the day of judgment. The perfect love of God in verse 17 is directly attributed to the day of judgment, unlike verse 12 which talks about the perfect love of God in us as we love one another. Verse 12 is an acting upon perfect love.
Here is the difference between verses 12 and 17. Loving one another in the perfect love of Christ does not save us, it does not give us confidence before the judgment seat. However, in verse 17, the perfect love of God is that which brings us confidence before the judgment seat.
Why would John write like this? The Bible says that people do not change (Ecclesiastes 1:10) and that at the sound of Jesus’ preaching about the tree that bears good or bad fruit in Matthew 12 got people thinking about judgment and I am sure that some of them were terrified. Jesus is blunt in verses 36 and 37 of Matthew 12 which read, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” As you hear this read in your presence today, does it bring to mind that you and I don’t always use careful and thoughtful words?
Where do those careless words take people? Revelation 20:11-15 tells us. Turn there with me. Judgment is a terrifying thing for the hater of God. Pretty terrifying! On the other hand, did you pay attention to what verse 15 said. “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” This verse tells us that judgment separated from God is terrifying, but it also tells us that there are names in the book of life. Why is this the case? Four words: God’s perfect abiding love. The context of what we have seen the last few weeks regarding the abiding love of God we have seen in 1 John 4, which I invite you to turn back to.
Now Revelation 20:11-15 speaks on final judgment, but it would be foolish for us to think that this is the only form of judgment in Scripture and pay no mind to judgment that occurs and has occurred throughout history in smaller ways that lead up to the Great White Throne Judgment. Judgment in Scripture has catastrophic affects attached to it. Consider these for a moment, man in the garden being cast out in judgment because of his sin (Genesis 3:22-24), the countless amount of times that Israel was enslaved to foreign lands, the exile of Judah to Babylon where King Zedekiah is taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and his sons are “slaughtered before his eyes” (Jeremiah 39:6), and Zedekiah’s eyes put out (v.7), the hardening of the heart of New Testament Jews (John 12:37-40), and the era of false prophets and teachers (2 Peter 2, Jude 4-7).
Why do I bring the terrifying nature of judgment up? Because this is not true of us who have confidence because of the perfect love of God being with us! Our Scripture reading in 2 Corinthians promised us two things. 1. God has promised to prepare us for heaven (v.5) and 2. That you and I will be judged. But we are not judged the same way that unbelievers are in Revelation. Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ and have turned from his/her sin is found in the book of life!
Spurgeon had this confidence that John is speaking of in verse 17. He comments on 2 Corinthians 5:10 saying, “The godly will not be exempted (from judgment), for the apostle here is speaking to Christians. They covet the judgment, and will be able to stand there to receive a public acquittal from the mouth of the great Judge.”
The confidence that Spurgeon had is the confidence that John is speaking of. We do not come before the judgment seat of God feeble and terrified but with great confidence and boldness because of the finished work of Jesus Christ that brings forth the perfected love of God as you and I will fully experience it in heaven forever.
The end of verse 17 lends to us a tremendous amount of encouragement as believers in Jesus Christ. Look there with me. John says, we can have confidence “because as he is so also are we in this world.” I want to see this passage first, with what this is ‘not’ saying. It is not saying that you and I are little gods or little deities. In no way is this text directly attributing the divinity of God with human beings.
What this is telling us is that God is with us as we sojourn in this world. It is not as though God has never experienced the life that you and I do. Listen to a few verses that emphasize this. Romans 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” And 1 Peter 3:16-18, “having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” Do you see the work of Jesus on our behalf being carried out in our everyday lives? God is not sitting in heaven just merely watching the world go on by. He was active in creating it, and with sending Jesus to earth, and seeing that his will will be completed on earth at the second coming of Christ. Therefore, Christian, in all things that God has called you to do, do so with confidence because God is working in you, and you are being sanctified and made more like Jesus with every passing day.
- One’s Status in or out of God’s Perfect Love (v.18)
The perfect love of God shows us the confidence that we have in him as we approach the judgment seat. But it also tells us something else and that is what I want us to see in our second point this morning. That is, One’s Status in or out of God’s Perfect Love. In other words, God’s perfect love shows where people stand being in him or separated from him. Look with me in verse 18.
John begins verse 18 with an absolute statement. “There is no fear in love.” Notice with me that John is telling us in the negative what love looks like, it is fearless. What does he mean? To rightly understand this, we must ask a question, what is fear in this passage? Fear is to be exceedingly afraid or terrified (Strong’s). This is not a fear of the dark, a fear of heights, or a fear of a relational breakup. However, fear in this context has everything to do with the lack of salvation in an individual’s life. How do we know this? Well, we saw in verse 17 that perfect love has everything to do with salvation and judgment and in verse 18, John continues speaking about the perfect love of God using similar terminology. Isaiah 12:2 aligns with verse 18 saying, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Is this said of you? Do you live life fearlessly? This is not me pushing to have a cliff-diving outreach event next month. It’s hard to live through this life without being afraid. Ask anyone who has gone through any medical diagnosis or procedure. I am not saying that this is easy to carry out. When I had heard, while I was at work, that Solomon was having a seizure a few years ago, I panicked. I don’t think I hit below 85 on the speedometer in the car on the way home! It’s not easy, but brothers, God has showered us in his perfect love, may that propel you and me to live lives that are not marked by fear.
Not only has God showered upon us his perfect love, but in so doing he has cast out fear. Look with me at the middle of verse 18. John brings forth another parallel of God in that being the light, he casts out the darkness and his perfect love casts out fear. In other words, there can be no exceeding terror in the love of God. When God casts someone or something out, it never returns except for the nation of Israel (1 Kings 9:7- where they were warned if they worshiped other gods they would be cut off from the land). When the man was cast out of Eden, he never returned (Genesis 3:23-24), and when the Sabbath day was profaned by working on it in Exodus 31:14, that person was cut off from the people. Being cut off from the people was a very serious matter because in being cut off there was no hope for that person! Perfect love casting off fear is monumental in our lives. Why? Because it is through the propitiation in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection the exceeding terror in the judgment of God is completely done away with! You and I are not “cut off” in judgment! Fear cannot dwell in the presence of God regarding our eternal dwelling place. You and I are completely secure in Jesus.
We press on in verse 18 and move to what fear is aligned with. John tells us that fear has to do with punishment. John shifts his attention at the end of verse 18 to the status of the unbelieving person. As much as John wants you and I to know for certain that we are Christians, he wants you and I to know those who are unbelieving as well. He begins his description by generally saying that fear and punishment go hand in hand. How does punishment fit in with the topic of fear? The Greek and the KJV are helpful here. Punishment also means torment in the Greek and the KJV uses the word torment instead of punishment. Both words connote reality as it is described in hell. Jesus’ familiar description of hell is a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth, and we know this to be in response to the justice enacted upon unrepentant sinners.
So, the one who fears is the one who is destined for punishment. Now, we know that this is not the case for everyone or there would be no one who is saved. You and I were once in this state. We feared judgment because of the deeds that we had done. There is an internal fear of what will happen after someone dies. I am not convinced that unbelieving people die fearless. It is the pride of man that says, “I don’t care what happens to me after I die.” If that were truly the case, you would have many more people smiling and happy during there last days of fighting a terminal illness. And the fact is, is that you don’t see that happen anywhere! That is, unless you have put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, then you have all the reason to have joy upon entering death’s door.
John lumps all unbelieving people together. He says “whoever” meaning all of those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. On earth, people are buried or cremated and typically have their name attached to their remains so he/she can be identified. It is not this way for the person who has not trusted in Christ. He/she is simply known as an unbelieving person, one who fears, who is awaiting punishment. Now, whether or not unbelievers visibly show fear of judgment on earth, there will be a tremendous fear that every unbeliever will visibly show on the day of judgment. This text promises that reality.
John goes further, beyond the allocation of unbelievers as those who fear. He moves to position or status. Being called an unbelieving person is not merely a title, but a definition of current status. The usage of the word ‘been’ is a declaration of the status of unregenerate human beings. In other words, those who have lived in rebellion to God and those who are currently doing so, fall into the category of those who have not been perfected in love. The person who fears has not been regenerated. He does not have the free gift of salvation that is found in Jesus Christ alone in him (v.10).
This is so much bigger than the social and moral depravity of our day, the political infighting, and the wars. Brothers, this has everything to do with spiritual life and death, heaven, and hell. John goes beyond the outward reflection and behavior of sin. Why? Because God who inspired John to write this epistle is concerned with the status of the human heart! You and I cannot stop at the behavior or action of an individual, it is ill of us to not address the issues of the heart. The heart is the depth that God goes to, do you?
Conclusion
So, what does all this say about you? The text we have combed through this morning is clear that eternal resting places are at stake.
There are two takeaways from this text I would ask you to consider.
- Brothers, do you have confidence before God? Do you come to him boldly? We have confidence in God for the day of judgment. We can come to God boldly throughout our lives. He lives in us day by day through the Spirit. Christ has saved you and me from our sin and we can go to him as our mediator with our prayers and petitions. Boldness before God is not reserved only for judgment day. God’s perfected love is not only for judgment day. “Because as he is so also are we in this world.”
- Where do you stand this morning? Have you bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and turned from you sin? If so, you have the perfect love of God dwelling with you. You have no need to fear the day of judgment or the punishment that Revelation 20 speaks of. You are secure in Christ. Check yourself this morning to see if there is any sin harboring within you. If so, kill it! And come to the Savior for forgiveness. If you have not trusted in Jesus, here is where you stand. Right now, you live in the face of fear and punishment, even if it cannot be seen in your body language or facial expression. You have not been perfected in love. This does not mean that you cannot be. While there is still time, make today the day that you go from fear and punishment to being perfected in the love of God. All that God requires is that “you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, (and) you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
