We can confidently stand before the judgement seat of God because His perfect love paid in full the punishment we deserved.

If you have your Bibles, you can open up to First John chapter four, First John four, verses 18 and 19. That’s what we’ll be in this morning. And as you turn there, I’d like to share a little story with you. Before we had cell phones where you would take videos and pictures of all your memories, this is what my parents used. This is an RCA camcorder. This was shoulder-mounted because it was so heavy. It’s like a rocket launcher, right? You would just, you carry this, and my parents actually let me use this. I thought it was a toy. And I recorded a lot of our vacations and our memories. And I would look through the scope and I remember being fatigued, like my shoulder was, it was worn out. We recorded on a VHS cassette, right. If you have one of those, you’re aging yourself right now with me, right? I loved this so much. One is because it usually because it was happiness and joy. We were doing something fun. We were playing games, acting goofy or on vacation. So I associate the camcorder with a lot of positive memories and emotions. So when I became a parent, I went into Best Buy and I bought a digital handheld handycam, right? No more shoulder pain. You could hold it in your hand. It was lightweight. You could flip the screen, right. So I’d record my kids. I’d say, hey, show me your funny faces.

And they would do that. Hours of entertainment. I just would laugh with them. Right? And they liked watching themselves. It had this night vision option. You could record in the dark. So one night, Saturday evening, church is tomorrow. We put our kids down a little earlier. Sarah and I, we hear the kids monkeying around, right? They’re toddlers. You guys remember that show Cops, right? I was like, I’m going to do Cops right to Sarah. So I start telling, you know, as if it was an audience listening. What’s going on? There’s criminals in the room and they’re not. They’re supposed to be in bed right now, but they’re not doing it. And we’re going to go and bust them right now. Right. And so I cracked the door open. I hit the night shot first, right? Turns everything green. Right. So cool. And I cracked the door open. And there my daughters have taken this night light. It had a clamp, right. And it had this flexible arm. And so when we read the Bible or stories tonight, we would turn off all the lights. And then just so I could read the story to my girls so they can settle down, they took that off those little monsters. And then they started putting on themselves doing like interrogations. Right? So I just started filming. I’m laughing silently because I don’t want to give my, I don’t want to know that I’m watching. I lose it when one of my daughters, she had like a sippy cup full of some water and she chucked it my other daughter hit her in the face. And I laughed and they heard me laugh. And then I bust down the door. What’s going on in here? Right. And they scatter, right? The girl with the light takes the light and she tucks it under her. And then the light just flowing out behind her. Right? I start laughing more, and then the other girl, she’s like, where do I go? We’re busted. Right? This is her reaction. I have the actual photo here. I went back on my digital camera. You have to rewind it and watch it. Like you just don’t have these chapters in your phone where you can pull it up. Hey, find this photo of me. I had to do it old school. This was her face. Yeah, I laughed too, right? And she still makes this face. Sometimes I just make her angry so I can see this again, right? I don’t know what you see here. Maybe you see sassiness. All my kids are sassy. We call it sanctification for us, right? Like you grow in patience and kindness and joy and love for your kids. You may see some defiance, maybe some of that, but, you know, but she was like, she was looking and then she like, just like crossed her arms and clenched her fists and said, I’m not in trouble, you’re in trouble for breaking up my fun. Right? What are you gonna do about this? And this is a snapshot. Like she was laughing after this, like we were laughing together. I don’t want you to give this, I have permission, by the way, to show this. So in case she sees this. She said yes. In the face of judgment she wasn’t afraid. But I see here also is a confidence, not a confidence in what she had done. She knew she was busted. Right. That’s why she was like, where do I go? I can’t get anywhere. I’m just going to deny it. Right? Or but she had confidence in her father. Even though she was busted, he still loved her. Right? Like if I was if I had my dad’s voice on, if I was scarier, and, you know, dads can do this. Like she’d be cowering. She’d be running. Right after this, she was smiling with me and I was tickling her and saying, hey, we need to go to bed. When it comes to judgment, the feeling most associated with judgment isn’t confidence. Typically it’s fear. Webster’s dictionary defines fear as this fear is a strong, unpleasant emotion caused by the awareness or anticipation of danger, pain, or harm. You see, fear is amoral. Meaning it’s not inherently evil or wrong to fear something. In some ways, fear could be good. If you and I were swimming or surfing in the ocean and I saw a shark.

I may tell you. Right. No, I would tell you, and I hope fear would kick in, because that means adrenaline is making me paddling faster. And I’m telling myself I just have to paddle faster than you, right? Fear can actually, we can think of a couple good reasons to fear when it’s actually beneficial. For example, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs says. This is a reverential fear that keeps one less likely to fall into sin and temptation, which we all could use more of. But there is some fear that we should not entertain. There’s a kind of fear that is not beneficial or based in truth. Let me give you two examples of fears I’ve struggled with throughout my life and even into adulthood that I have to put down at times and know that’s not true. I have a fear, at times, that I am not loved. I have a fear sometimes that I’m alone. But for any believer, you cannot simultaneously be a Christian that is in Christ and have the indwelling Holy Spirit in you and simultaneously claim to be unloved and alone. Those realities are as mutually exclusive as oil and water, light and darkness. I can understand the sentiment that a Christian may feel alone and unloved at times in our broken world, but what is true does not always coincide with what we feel. There’s a lack of confidence in God’s perfect love for us. When it comes to judgment,the reason why many Christians may still be tormented by fear is because they have an incomplete or immature view of God’s love for them. As we go through our passage today, we’ll unpack how God wants his children to have assurance of faith instead of fear of judgment, a confidence even when they’re busted. That we can confidently stand before the judgment seat of God because his perfect love paid in full the punishment that we rightly deserve. But before I go any further, let me pray. Holy Spirit, we we invite you. You are already here and have been present, but we ask God that you would give us the means to which to understand that which is spiritual. For your Word of God is discerned by the Spirit. God, we want to have a mature understanding of your love, not a worldly one, not one that we experience in our lives, through our families and our histories, God as those may be good, but they also could be not quite the perfect representation of how you love us. There is such a love that is perfect that it casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. And for every child of God there’s an assurance. There’s a confidence. Not in our faithfulness, but predicated on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross who died for us. Help us God, to walk in that grace and that truth. Help us, Lord, to repent, but also know that your grace is sufficient.

We love you. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Let’s read our passage First John chapter 4 verse 18 and 19 says this. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. John gives us a purpose statement in this epistle, later in chapter five. He says this, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. John wrote this letter to reassure believers of their eternal salvation, which is a very present and future reality. Just one verse earlier in verse 17 of chapter four, he says this. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment. The Greek word there for confidence, translated confidence, means not arrogance or self-confidence, but rather it speaks to a freedom of doubt. To have a boldness or assurance of your faith. But this boldness is not rooted in our own accomplishments, but in the finished work of Christ. John goes on to specify the secret to this confidence. He says this, as he is, speaking of Jesus, as he is, so are we in this world. As children of God, we share a likeness to Christ. Currently, right now, where you’re sitting in this world, not in divine perfection.

You and I both know we’re not perfect, right? You can have a cup of coffee with me and you’ll find out soon. But in the spiritual identity and relationship that Jesus has to God the Father, we share in that. Positionally we are right now as he is. We are so closely identified with Christ as his adopted children, as members of his body. Our position in this world is like God’s exalted position in heaven. God sees you and I in Christ. That is a mind-blowing reality. That’s crazy to think about that. If I could summarize it another way, it would be this. This means that the Father deals with us as he deals with his own beloved Son. He sees you as he sees Jesus. Since this text is speaking of judgment, allow me to illustrate this in a legal setting. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a courtroom. I don’t have very positive dealings being in a courtroom. My apologies if you work in one. You do a great thing. But usually courtrooms when I’ve been in them to support loved ones has been anything but fun. It’s been very actually emotionally draining and heartbreaking and difficult to process. Courtrooms are known as a place of judgment. It’s even more unnerving when you’re the person under that judgment. If you’re there to be judged, there’s sure to be a sense of fear as you wait the trial. So imagine with me that you’re on trial and Satan stands up to accuse you with the evidence he’s accumulated all over your life.

Of all the sins you’ve done. Did you know Satan is not actually his name? It’s actually his title. In Hebrew, it’s translated accuser. Because that’s what he does. He accuses, he brings forth charges. He brings the evidence, and the evidence is overwhelming. It’s airtight. There’s no room for doubt. You are obviously a sinner caught red-handed. The judge asks you, how do you plead? There’s no denying it. You say guilty. I mean, we’re watching live body camera of what you did. And it’s like, man, you can’t even work your way around it. It’s pretty evident. And it’s repeated. It’s multiple. It’s tons. And we’re watching. The more you watch, you’re like, how could I ever give a defense against this. But then a voice is heard from your lone legal representative. Your advocate stands up and he says, objection, your honor. There stands Jesus speaking to the judge in your defense. John talks about this in chapter two. We have an advocate, Jesus, if we sin. Jesus, your legal advocate, continues, my client is guilty of all that has been presented and is fully deserving of being punished to the full extent of the law, the penalty of which is death. Your honor, may I present the cross as the grounds for his acquittal? I’ve paid the punishment of my client in full. Now, your honor, not only is it just to let him go as a free man, but it would be unjust to punish him again for what has been paid for. Because I paid the penalty and bore the judgment for his sins on the cross, he is no longer under condemnation.

The apostle Paul says in Romans 8:1 when he says, therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The judgment and the punishment that should have fallen on us has already fallen on him. You see, as a Christian, the crazy thing is judgment is not future for us. It doesn’t await us when we go into eternity. Our judgment is past. It’s already done. Our sins have been judged already on the cross, and they will never, ever be brought against us again. But the story doesn’t stop there. You walk out of the courtroom a free man, only to find Jesus waiting for you outside the gates. He’s standing there with a redemption note. It says, paid in full. He extends his nail pierced hand and he puts his arm around you. And he says, you’re living with me now. I have redeemed you and we’re family. As he is, so are we in this world currently. Our identity in Christ gives us confidence for the future, because our standing before God is the same standing as Jesus Himself enjoys. Just as Jesus is loved, accepted, and secure before the Father, so are those of us who belong to him. You say, John, this is too good to be true.

And I would say in response, you’re beginning to see the confident love that God has for you. Earlier we heard parts of Hebrews read. I’m going to highlight just a few verses there. If you have free time, I’d encourage you, go back and read the whole thing. It is a great passage to meditate on. This is Hebrews chapter ten, verses 11 through 14. It says, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. The author of Hebrews here is comparing Christ with the Old Testament sacrificial system. The priest of the Old Testament are pictured here as in a posture of standing, because they had to offer daily sacrifices, burnt offerings. Every morning, every evening, every day, without fail. They stood because their work was never finished. The sacrifices they offered repeatedly because the sacrifices could never remove the guilt of our sin. Compared to Jesus, who sat down at the right hand of God, showing that his sacrifice needed no repeating, but it was completely sufficient. So much so that he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

In one powerful act of sacrificial love, Jesus paid the full price of your sins. Not the part, but the whole. It removes all sin and guilt past, present, and future. Signifying his once and for all completed work on the cross. This is the confident love we have in Christ today, tomorrow, and for all time. I know of no greater love or assurance than Christ’s. Which leads us to verse 18. Now there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. This verse can be taken out of context and can lead to some confusion, suggesting that fear and love can never go together. Earlier, I mentioned a few examples of how fear can be a good thing. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This kind of reverence for the Lord can directly impact how we act, how we think, and the choices we make. The key word here in verse 18 is perfect. This Greek word carries the idea of maturity or completeness. God wants to give us a mature understanding of his love for us. The perfecting of God’s love in our lives, it usually happens in a matter of stages. You see before we knew Christ, we only knew fear and guilt. We knew nothing of God’s love. After we trusted in Christ, we found a perplexing mix of fear and love in our hearts as we still begin to struggle with sin, even though now we know better and we’re Christians.

This is what I like to call sanctification, or how we grow and become more like Christ. When I was a young believer, 18 years old, I got baptized. I had a very limited understanding of baptism. I thought when you got baptized, you stopped sinning. Like this just happened. And so I got baptized and later that afternoon, I realize I’m still sinning. And I begin to fear. God, am I really a believer? God, I know better now and I know what I just did. I did it again. Do you still love me? And I was this tossed back and forth between fear and love, understanding God’s righteousness. Am I called to live like him? And yet forgiveness and how that worked? This fear was perplexing me and confusing to me. But as I matured, my understanding grew and experience of God became more replaced with trust instead of fear. As I saw and understood grace for the first time. God’s grace. And now, as we mature our hearts and we’re controlled not out of fear, but his love. Warren Wiersbe puts it this way: an immature Christian is tossed between fear and love, but a mature Christian rests in God’s love. The reason perfect love cannot coexist with fear is because this fear has to do with punishment. The word translated punishment here in First John is found only one other place in all of the New Testament. It’s found in Matthew 25, when Jesus is speaking of the final day of judgment, when he will separate the sheep and the goats.

He says this in verse 46 of 25, speaking of the goats, and these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Both in Matthew and here in First John, the punishment they are talking about is the righteous wrath of God, directed towards all unrepentant and unbelieving on the coming day of judgment. One commentator put it this way: John is affirming that love casts out fear of rejection or condemnation in judgment. We cannot know that someone completely loves us while also fearing that he will reject us. When we fear that another will reject us, we fear that his love is not complete. A mature understanding of God’s love drives out fear of condemnation or rejection from believers. The coming day of judgment should be a day of terror. But for all believers, it’s a day of vindication, reward, and entrance into eternal joy. Paul looked forward to it. He said this in second Timothy chapter four, verse eight, and now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look toward his reappearing. Those who love Christ do not shrink back from his coming. We long for it. We wait patiently for it.

But when believers fear the coming day of God’s judgment, it’s a sign that they have not been yet perfected in love because they fear that punishment. That is, that they have unbelief or an immature view of God’s love. Which brings us to our last verse, verse 19. We love because he first loved us. I tell young couples who are getting premarital counseling that their significant other is not their source of love, but they’re an outlet for it. John pauses here to make clear that we understand that love begins with God. He is the source. We love because he first loved us. Love is a demonstration of God’s love working within us. A mature or immature understanding of God’s love will impact how you love others. Let me give you an example. Family, family for me is my greatest source of love, outside of God. It also can be, when you love something so deeply, a great source of hurt, pain, woundedness. There was somebody that I loved so deeply that hurt me, and we never worked it out, that I began to grow a root of bitterness. When I saw them my patience was shorter. When they walked into a room, I kind of bristled. Kind of got ready for it. When I heard them. I was always, I think, looking at them through a biased lens of how can I find wrong in them? This went on for a long time. Somebody I’m very close to, somebody I love very deeply.

My immature view of God’s love for me came to a head one day when God convicted me and said, John, you believe I’ve totally forgiven you of all your sins? Yes, God, past, present and future. Yes, Lord. You believe that my confident love is is such that I remember your sins no more. Yes, God. Then why are you holding on to his or hers? I don’t have a good reason, God. You need to go confess. You’ve wronged them. Your root of bitterness, you are now hurting and sinning them. I said you’re right, God. I wasn’t helping the problem. I was actually creating more distance, more separation, more hurt, because of my immature view. I had forgotten what God has done for me and how he loved me and withheld love from my loved one. Sure enough, I went there and I confessed my root of bitterness. I had to swallow my pride. I can’t tell you what it did. It was like God just undid something between the two of us. And it was almost like within a few days, all of that history seemed to just melt away. We love because he first loved us. In that moment, too, God reminded me that it’s an act of grace, John, that you do this. It’s not anything of yourself, but it’s the grace that you received in me first. I read this devotion that day that convicted me, and I want to share this with you.

This is from Paul David Tripp. He says, God’s grace offers you what you did not earn and forgives you for the wrongs you actually did. Grace radically alters your identity and your hope. Your identity is not in what you have achieved or what people around you think of what you have achieved. No, as a result of grace, your identity is rooted in the achievement of another, namely Christ. We love because he first loved us. As he is, so also are we in this world. Christ’s victory, his achievement is ours. We no longer need to fear judgment, rejection. Boldness actually is more of a Christian’s outlook when it comes to the Day of Judgment. It’s the fruit of abiding in God’s love, trusting in Christ’s righteousness, and walking in his spirit. It is a confidence of a child. If I can go back and show my daughter’s face, it’s the confidence of a child in her father’s love. In your father’s love for you. That even when the enemy comes and accuses you, you can say, no. My judgment was in the past, done away with in Christ. And I have confidence in his love today. You can rebuke that and have confidence in God’s forgiveness and grace for you. When love is perfected, mature and complete, fear is dispelled. And we can stand before God with peaceful trust and assurance in what Christ has done for us. Let us pray.

Podcast (sermons): Play in new window | Download