Love Expels Fear
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Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.
That is one of the biggest things we do not like about fear… paralysis. How many times when we are afraid we are not able to do what it is that we want to do. I want to go sky diving, but I’m afraid the parachute might not open. I want to get a 100 dollar bill from the bottom of a jar but there is a huge spider in it. I want to leave my house to go shopping, but I can’t because there is a clown standing by the front door of the house. So many things we are afraid of, and it all causes us not to be able to do what it is we want to do. And for many of us, we fear death. Death is a common fear. Many of us are afraid to die because of the possible agonizing pain when it happens. But for most, it is the fear of what happens after. What’s gonna happen to us after we die.
But let’s look at that a bit deeper. Its is the unknown yes, but is it the possibility that there is something in store for us that we wont like. We fear the possibility that there will be a literal hell to pay in the afterlife. We fear judgement. We fear punishment. We fear eternal suffering.
The reality is… its true. There will be a judgement. There will be a punishment. There will be eternal suffering. The concerning thing… the scriptures declare that we are all deserving of this punishment. We are all guilty and there is nothing any of us can do to change this predicament. Nothing.
But over the years the narrative has changed. Hell is not a place to fear anymore because there is no such thing as hell. Or there is no way a loving God would do that to anyone. The narrative has changed, but it has changed because of teaching coming from the church. Pastors and theologians continue to assert that Hell is a literary representation of a state of mind, an emotional place of misery, or even a simple burial ground outside of Jerusalem. Pastors and theologians will also assert that a truly loving God would not ever allow a place of eternal torment for His creation. A loving God would never do that to someone he created no matter how evil and sinful he or she may be. All done with creative exegetical gymnastics mixed with postmodern ideologies and exponential popular societal change coupled with civil unrest sparked by those hungry for money.
Culture, politics, and the economy are not ever to influence our interpretation of the scriptures. Culture politics and the economy are to be influenced by the scriptures. Societal pressure and peer pressure do not decide how we interpret the scriptures teaching on hell. We let the scriptures and history tell us what the scriptures teach about hell. Hell is real. The scriptures say that hell is real. And the church from the very beginning said that hell is real. No matter how hard we try we will never eliminate the reality of a coming judgement; coming from the living God. The words of Jeremiah helps us here.
the prophets give false prophecies,
and the priests rule with an iron hand.
Worse yet, my people like it that way!
But what will you do when the end comes?
Is there any hope for us today? There really is. And we will find out how today.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
Why Should We Fear
He First Loved
The first thing we will look at today is the reality of the wrath of God found in the eternal punishment called hell and because all of mankind is guilty, we should fear. Finally, we will see that because the Lord had first loved us we are able to love, able to have faith, and able to repent finding the unmerited favor of the Lord founded by perfect love.
Thesis: Though sin, the pattern of this world, and the false teachers cause us to either suppress the truth of hell in rebellion or distort the truth of hell in deception, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see and accept the truth of hell in light of the words of Christ and know that we find salvation from eternal punishment in the love and blood of the Son of God.
I. Why Should We Fear
- The nature of fear is the looming punishment.
A. What John is making clear here is the incompatibility of the great love of God and fear. Literally the passage is essentially saying that fear and love does not go together.
Dr. John Stott - The two are as incompatible as oil and water. We can love and reverence God simultaneously, but we cannot approach him in love and hide from him in fear at the same time.
B. But why would we be afraid in the first place? Again, there are many things in this world that we are afraid of. You name it and there will be some people afraid of it. But what the scriptures makes very very plain… is the greatest fear of all.
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
C. Maybe one of the reasons why the fear of God’s judgement is not so prevalent these days is because we just don’t hear about it much anymore. But as have preached time and time again…mankinds greatest problem is not the economy, the next president, rising gas prices, social disorder, cultural chaos, Covid 19… as bad as things things may be, I am here to declare that these pale in comparison to the wrath of God. Mankind’s greatest problem is the wrath of God. And the wrath of God will be manifested in a place called hell.
D. Now lets get some things straight about this punishment. Hell is real. And it is not a long eternal party with the devil and evil famous people. Forget what we seen in the movies. We have got to break out of the fantasy land of our culture. It is not a good place…and the consequences are eternal.
Dr. Wayne Grudem defines Hell: Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked.
E. And yes this truth of hell is so terrifying. How terrifying is it?
Dr. RC Sproul - There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself. It is this doctrine, perhaps more than any other, that strains even the Christian’s loyalty to the teaching of Christ. Modern Christians have pushed the limits of minimizing hell in an effort to sidestep or soften Jesus’ own teaching.
F. Why do we do this… because the truth and reality of Hell and Gods eternal wrath is truly terror invoking. But as difficult as this topic is… here at Central, I have promised to speak the truth and the whole truth, so today we are gonna get the whole truth on the doctrine of hell. I was once told … Shane you preach on hell, then your hearers won’t go there. God’s wrathful eternal punishment is real and we should be afraid… very afraid.
Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands.
‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’
For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”
G. So you see… real and scary. Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment. Jesus called it, outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, the eternal fire, eternal punishment, unquenchable fire, where maggots never die, the place of torment, the smoke of torment that will rise forever and ever, and where there will be no relief day or night. This does not sound good. But let’s talk real quick.
H. But we do not have to fear the future. This is what John is saying about perfect love. If we fully experience the love of the Lord, we will not fear the future. If you are a Christian who has experienced the full love of the Lord you do not fear.
- You know you are in His hands. You know that you are forgiven. You know that the blood of Christ covers you. You know the Holy Spirit is with you because you see His work in you. You know that you are in God and He is in you. You know that you are a child of God. You know you are redeemed from the curse of the law. You know you are redeemed from the hand of the enemy. You know you are justified. You know you are sanctified. You know you are a co-heir with Christ. You know you are a king and queen of the kingdom of heaven.
- We know that he loves us and we don’t need to fear. With the love of God we no longer fear. We no longer fear anything. Fear and the love of God are incompatible… like oil and water. This is perfect love family.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I. But family, remember our great characteristic as Christians is not that we do not fear, but that we love. And we love because He first loved us.
II. He First Loved
- Our great characteristic.
A. All true love in the world is a result of the love of God.
Dr. Hendrickson - Man can never claim that his love for God was prior to God’s love for him. God always comes first in loving us, and we respond by loving him. Our love, then, is a copy of his love. He originates love and we follow his example.
B. And His example was to love… lay down ones life for his brother kind of love.