God’s Love: The Antidote to Fear

Doors are done. If you’d like to give towards that…

Notes on back table

Busy bags

Introduction

Start with story on vertigo.

Fear overcome me. I was pretty shaken from this.

Autumn prayed over me. Listening to the podcast.

I was dealing with fear. Not just any fear, but a fear that God doesn’t really love me. Last week we talked about that we all have a desire to be loved and how God is described as love.

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Today we continue our series in 1st John called True Christianity, Walking in the Light, where we are looking at the Scripture and asking what does a Christian truly look like. Today we are tackling the subject of fear and how John says that God’s perfect love towards us will cast out fear.

So whether you are dealing with…

Fear of disappointing others.

Fear of being rejected or…

Fear of loss, failure, others, a bad name, a tarnished reputation…

Just a fear of the dark…

I think you will be encouraged by what the Apostle John says to us today.

Please turn in your bibles to…

The words will be on the screen and I have notes on the app or the back table.

Main Text

1 John 4:13–21 ESV

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 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. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

This morning I want to focus on how to overcome our fears. All of us battle different fears and John gives us a great step by step guide on overcoming them and it all centers around God.

Step One: We Need To Know God Loves Us

Knowing starts with confession (v.15) - “Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and he in God.” In order to know God loves us, we must know the true God.

It’s impossible to know God without first confessing His Son.

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This is an exclusive religion, meaning not everyone who is “spiritual”, not everyone who believes in a god, will be saved. Only those that confess Jesus as God will be saved.

Knowing Means Awareness

We start by being made aware of God. If you didn’t grow up in a Christian home, you likely remember this, the first time someone told you about Jesus. But knowing him first starts with awareness, then it moves to acceptance.

There’s a difference between having awareness and accepting the facts. A lot of people are aware of Artificial Intelligence, but not everyone is comfortable using it. Too many of us have seen Terminator.

Our knowing God moves into knowing his character. Once we have accepted there is a God and move into learning about his character. I know many people who get saved and they start reading the bible ferociously. We want to learn about him.

He gave us His Word to reveal to us his nature.

What keeps us from knowing?

Sin

Hard heart

Fear

Ignorance

Truly Knowing Him Requires The Spirit (v.13) - We have come to know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of His Spirit. Abiding and knowing work together. We cannot abide in him without knowing him and we cannot know him without abiding in him. Yes, that sounds circular, but its still true, because it is a continual process that is powered by the Holy Spirit.

We will never know more about God than the Spirit teaches us. We will never know any more about Jesus than the Spirit teaches us, because there is only the Spirit to do the teaching. He is our Teacher, and if He does not teach us, we never can know. He is our Illuminator, and if He does not turn on the light, we never can see. He is the Healer of our deaf ears, and if He does not touch our ears, we never can hear. Churches can run for weeks and months and years without knowing anything about this or having the Spirit of the living God fall upon them.

A. W. Tozer

The Spirit leads us into full knowledge of Him and his love for us. Otherwise its just words in a book. We will never believe he loves us unless the Spirit teaches us that.

So the first step is knowing Him, this is the entry point for all of us, coming to a knowledge of him and his love for us.

Step Two: We Need To Believe God Loves Us

Knowing Is Different Than Believing - I may know that New York gets a lot of snow, but I may not believe it until I get there and see it piled higher than houses.

The Apostle John Believed Jesus Loved Him - Let’s remember our context. Throughout the Gospel of John, he calls himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” That’s how he described himself throughout his gospel. He made his identity as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

That requires faith. In one sense, John knew that Jesus loved everyone generally. But he personalized it. It was as if he was saying, no, he loves me! He loves everyone yes, but he really loves me.

He didn’t just know that love, he felt it. He felt loved by Jesus.

The 18 Inch Journey - The longest journey we will ever take is the 18” journey between our heads and our heart.

It is not enough to know about Christ, it is knowing Christ Himself that alone saves the soul!

Charles Spurgeon

Belief Requires Trust - When we are talking about faith, we are talking about trust. That’s why the call to repentance usually sounds like, “are you willing to put all of your trust in Jesus?” Faith requires trust. Not only in salvation, but in the character of God.

Some of you may trust God in your salvation, but you don’t trust that he is good or loving or that he is for you.

Our Faith Is In His Love, Not Ours - We didn’t earn his love. Verse 19 - We love because he first loved us. We don’t put our faith in what we are doing, we put our faith in what he did. He demonstrated his love for us, we can trust in it.

If you are struggling to believe…

Read His Word

Spend Time With Him

Listen to His Spirit, not others.

I heard someone say recently, “I believed in Him, I just didn’t believe Him.” I resonated with that so much. I have most certainly believed in Jesus, believed in his death and resurrection and the forgiveness of sins…but I didn’t and still don’t (a lot of time) believe Him when it comes to His promises.

The promise that he loves me and wants what is best for me. Vertigo.

Step Three: God’s Love Removes All Fear

There is no fear in love (v.18) - Love and fear cannot exist in the same heart at the same time.

Defining Fear - He’s talking about being afraid here. This isn’t what the Bible means when it says to Fear the Lord. That means reverence. The Greek word here is “phobos” which is similar to our word phobia. There is none of this type of fear in love.

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear - The Love of the Father is what cast out our fears.

There’s an antidote to our fears - trust. If we trust God more, we can fear less.

Max Lucado

Fear Is Punishment Based - “For fear has to do with punishment”

We Are Fearful Because We Believe We Deserve It

We Are Fearful Because We Believe Lies

We Are Fearful Because We Don’t Know The Truth

Why does love cast out fear? Shouldn’t boldness cast out fear?

If we are fearful because we believe we should be punished, love is what takes that punishment. Because of sin, we all do deserve to be punished for it. But in love Jesus took that punishment for us. He demonstrated his love for us by taking our punishment. Not just of past sins committed, but all of your sins, if you have put your trust in him!

Fear Means Your Don’t Know Him - “whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Application

If You Fear, You Need To Start The Cycle Again

Remember Who He Is

Put Your Faith In His Love

His Love Removes Your Fears

Conclusion

As we conclude today, let’s anchor ourselves in the reality of God’s perfect love. My battle with vertigo shook me, overwhelmed me with fear, but in that moment, Autumn’s prayers and the truth of God’s Word reminded me that he does love me.

Fear may grip us—whether it’s a fear of death or just a fear of loss —but God’s love is the antidote. It casts out fear, not because we are bold or strong, but because He is love, and His love never fails.

Let’s stand and sing.