I invite you to open your Bible now to 1 John, 1 John chapter 4. Well, 1 John chapter 4, of all the themes that John deals with in this wonderful epistle, the theme of love just seems to dominate. And it's the theme that we've been singing about even this morning. This theme dominates so much so that many refer to this epistle as the epistle of love. Indeed, we see that love is very dominant all throughout. The verses that we're going to consider today are going to come back to a topic that John introduced earlier in the chapter, and that is the perfection of love, perfected in love. And today we're going to consider the implications of being perfected in love. 1 John 4, beginning in verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the wonderful time that we've had together, singing praises unto you, worshiping you today. You've knit our hearts together in this time. We do pray now as we open your word that we would be attentive to what your Holy Spirit has for us. May our hearts be tender. May we be receptive. May we take it in and may we live it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as we've gone through this study in 1 John, we've seen that John writes on some very important and some very practical themes. But John did not write on these themes in some kind of sequential, orderly succession. he kind of comes back to these themes and cycles over and over again. And each time he comes back to a particular theme, he adds to it, he broadens it, he deepens it, he gives us more to go on. And that is certainly the case with the theme of love in this epistle. And so I'd like to just kind of give a brief reminder of some of the mentions of love that we've seen throughout our study. In chapter two, John talked about walking in love as a way of life. And later in that same chapter, he warns about falling in love with the world. So we ought not to love the world. And then we come to chapters three and four. And this section of this epistle is one of the most comprehensive treatments on love in our Bible. outside of perhaps 1 Corinthians 13. We would think of the love chapter. Well, these are two chapters where love just permeates this section of this epistle. In chapter 3, John presented love of the brethren as a test for sincere faith, true faith. How can someone really be a Christian if they don't love their brother? And then John talked about loving indeed and truth. That is to say, loving in action and with sincerity. And then he took that love test and he kind of turned it around for us and he used it as an encouragement, as an assurance of our salvation. If we have the love of God flowing through us and we are loving one another, that gives evidence that we're genuinely saved. Let me come to chapter 4, and John more fully rounds out this topic of love. And he starts to talk about agape love in terms of originating with God. That agape love, that God-like love, is a love that originates with God. And that love is manifest most perfectly in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verses 11 and 12, and I want to draw your attention to these verses, because they fit in with what we're looking at today. It's in these verses that John first introduces this idea of love perfected in us. Look at verse 11 again. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. And note this, His love is perfected in us. Now, when we studied those verses, we had to come to a clear understanding of what perfected means. You know, God's love does not have any defects. We understand that. We're not adding to God's love. That can't be what it means. So what the word perfected there means is to achieve its end result, its goal, if you will. Being perfected in love means that God's love is doing something in us. It's flowing through us so that other people can see God in us, if you will. And so that's what it really means to be perfected in love, is for God's love to achieve its results, its intended results in us. We don't just take in God's love and not give it out. You know what happens to a body of water that takes in but does not give out, it becomes stagnant. And so it is with God's love, we take it in and we give it out. And that's what John's been saying, that we're to love one another. And so then we come to verses 16 through 18, and these go on. They kind of come back to this idea of being perfected in love. And these verses explore the implications of being perfected in love. And so I like to state our theme this way. Those who truly know God's love will be perfected in love. Now, what are the implications of this statement? Well, the first implication that we see in this passage is that we will dwell in love, or we might say we will abide in love. That's what it's saying here in verse 16, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. To abide in love means that love has become part of the very fabric of our being. We might say that it's been programmed into our DNA as the children of God. We will love. And so when love is perfected in us, love permeates all that we think and do. It affects how we act and interact with others. we're perfected in love, God's love is having an effect on us. And we're dwelling in love. We're not going to break off a relationship because of some minor disagreement. We're not going to stop loving the brethren because of some clash of personality. We're not going to stop loving the brethren because of some difference of opinion or because the vote at the business meeting didn't go our way, or brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so said something that we didn't like. No, we're going to abide in love, we're going to dwell in love, we're going to continue in love and not stop loving. And when we do this, it shows that we have personally experienced God's love. It gives proof that God's love has come to us individually, personally. And that's what John's saying here in verse 16. And he says, and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. John is speaking from personal experience. He knows the love of God because he knows the Son of God, the greatest expression of God's love ever. And so God is speaking of His personal experience and the experience of all true believers. We know, we believe that God loves us. And really this starts with the acceptance of the gospel, does it not? Because the gospel message is God so loved the world. That's you, that's me. God loved us. He loved the world and sent His Son, His only begotten Son. that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And so we hear the gospel and we are accepting God's gift of love that He gave through His Son, the gift of our salvation, the gift of eternal life. So when a lost sinner truly comes to that point where they realize just how lost and just how much of a sinner they are, They realize the magnitude of God's love and they look at their own condition and they say, how can God love me? But God does love you. That's the point. Indeed, God does love you. He loves you enough to send his son to redeem you. That's how much God loves you. So that you can now sing, Jesus loves even me. He loves me. So believers have personally experienced the love of God. Having been forgiven much, we love much. We love God and we love one another. because God's love is flowing through us and we're abiding in that love. So abiding in love shows that we've personally experienced God's love. It also shows that God's love is in us. It's doing something. It's there. It's present. It's having an effect on us. Last part of the verse 16 here says, God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. It's interesting, this is not the first time that John said, God is love. And you can go back just a few verses, if you go back to verse 7, we'll read there. Beloved, let us love one another, beloveds of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. These God is statements tell us what God is in essence. In His very being, God is love. In His very nature, He is love. There's some other statements like this. God is light. God is spirit. God is love. It's in His very nature. When you think of love, think of God. When you think of God, think of love. For God is love in His very nature. And it follows logically, then, that the one who abides in love abides in God, God in him. That's what John is saying here. It gives proof that someone has a vital relationship with God. They're truly saved. It evidences that. After all, if God is in us and His love is in us, as the children of God, then people will see that family resemblance, right? that we resemble our Father. God is love, and so we're all about love. In fact, they will know we are Christians by our love. And so, abiding in love shows that we personally experience God's love, and it also shows that God's love is in us, and it's active. So those who truly know God's love will be perfected in love. We're looking at the implications of this statement. First implication is we will abide in love. We will not abandon the brethren and stop loving them. We will remain in loving connection with our brothers and sisters in Christ and certainly with the God who loves us. Let's go on to the next implication that we see here, and that's in verse 17. This implication is that we have confidence with God. Look again at this verse. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Now, I need to make a comment here about the way the translators have handled the original Greek of this verse. The Greek literally reads this way, In this, love has been perfected among us. The Greek does not read our love. That was a interpretation on the part of the translators. The Greek simply says, love. Love has been perfected among us. And so actually if you go back to verse 12, it's God's love that is perfected in us. You say, what's the difference? Well, this is a technicality, all right? So if God's love is in us, then the love that we express is God's love flowing through us, so it's kind of the same thing. It's maybe not that big a deal. But the point is that it's God's love. It originates with God. His love is being perfected among us, actually, the Greek reads. And I believe this is a reference to the community of believers. Because if you take this verse in its context, John is talking all about loving one another. He's talking all about loving the brethren. And so that's where the love is being expressed. It's in the community of believers. And so God's love is being perfected among us in this community of believers. And as God's love is perfected in us and among us, it gives us confidence with God. It assures us that we are changed people, right? Because the natural man does not naturally love. He's naturally selfish, not loving, self-centered, self-absorbed, self-focused. But the one who's redeemed, who's been converted, who's been changed into a new creature, that one loves because he is connected to God and God is love. And this should give us assurance and confidence with God. And John expresses this confidence both in a future sense as well as in a present sense. In the future sense, it's in the day of judgment. The Greek word that's rendered boldness here, we may have boldness in the day of judgment, is also used by John back in chapter 2 verse 28 in reference to Christ's return. And I think that's interesting because that's another eschatological event in the future. If you look at chapter 2 in verse 28, it says, And now little children abide in Him, that when He shall appear, We may have confidence, there's our word, same word, same Greek word, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. So here in chapter four, John uses this word confidence or boldness in reference to the day of judgment. This is the final day, the final judgment, when people will be judged at the end of the world. John Stott says this, that day will be one of shame and terror for the wicked, but not for the redeemed people of God. We will have confidence in that day. In fact, we actually won't be the subjects of judgment in that day because we are covered by the blood of Christ. We are robed in the righteousness of Christ. We need not fear that day. So John speaks of a future confidence, but also a present confidence in this world, he says, in this world. Because as he is, at the end of verse 17, so are we in this world. The he here, as he is, unquestionably refers to Christ. Because here the Greek literally reads, just as that one, also we are. And this is the way John, in other places, refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to Him as that one, that special one, the Savior, Jesus. And so let me ask you a question. When Jesus was in the world, did He have confidence before the Father? Oh, indeed He did. When Jesus was in the world, Did Jesus ever question whether His Father loved Him? Not a moment. Not for a moment. I'd like you to hold your place here and turn over to the Gospel of John, Chapter 17. Gospel of John, Chapter 17. If you are familiar with that passage, this is what's commonly referred to as Jesus' high priestly prayer. He's praying for His disciples. And we don't have time to read through the whole prayer, but we're gonna look at a portion of it here, beginning in verse 22. Jesus now praying for his disciples, and he says to his father, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them, note this, as thou hast loved me." And he goes on to say, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. And he says it again, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world, eternity past. Verse 25, O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that, note this, the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now folks, Jesus prayed that prayer for His disciples then and now. His prayer for us is that we would know God the Father as He knows Him and that we would have God's love in us just as it was in Him. Jesus never doubted for a moment that His Father loved Him. And nor should we. Nor should we. We are in the love of God and God's love is in us. And this should give us confidence in the world right now. Confidence. So all who belong to Jesus can have the same confidence that Jesus had that God loves you And God's love is in you, and it's working through you. And as God's love is perfected in you, it will give you competence, here and now, and in the future, at the Day of Judgment. So those who truly know God's love will be perfected in love. We've looked at two implications of this statement. We'll move on now to the third implication, and that is that fear is banished. Fear is banished. Look at 1 John 4 verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. This is such a rich verse. And what I'd like to do is just go phrase by phrase. We have four main phrases in this verse. I'd like to go through each of these phrases and make sure that we consider them carefully. And the first phrase, I'll just put it this way, love is incompatible with fear. John says, there is no fear in love. And this is such a categorical statement. Now in the context, it's probably talking about having no fear in the day of judgment. No fear that we are going to face God's wrath. No fear that we will be under condemnation. As Paul writes in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Amen to that. No condemnation. But John's statement here seems broader than this. It implies that we need not fear that God would ever harm us or mistreat us or abandon us. We need not fear any of these things because we rest secure in the love of God. Now, you can think about this on a human level, on a human relationship. You think about two people who are genuinely committed to one another in love. There will be a trust. There will be a confidence with each other. They won't be afraid of each other because love and fear are incompatible. If there is love, genuine love now we're talking about, then there won't be the presence of fear. Now, if this is true on a human level, how much more is it true in terms of our relationship with God, the perfect God who loves us in a perfect way and He loves us infinitely? I mean, you can't beat that. And so in terms of the fact that God loves us, It should just get rid of the fear because love and fear are incompatible. So we know, we who know the love of God have no reason to fear that God is going to harm us or abandon us or do any of those things. Second phrase that we have here in this verse, John says, but perfect love casteth out fear. Love dispels fear. Now the verb that John chooses to use here is rather dramatic. He says, fear is thrown out by perfect love. The Puritan William Law put it this way, real love flings fear out of the earth. I like to think of it this way. Fear shows up with a mean look on his face and his guns drawn. And love grabs fear by the scruff of the neck and throws him out through the window, and he's gone. That's what's pictured here. It's a very, very dramatic verb. So, dear Christian, if you struggle with fear, recognize that you have something else that is far more powerful than fear, and that is the love of God. God's love can overpower all the fears and check them out the window, if you'll let it. So allow God's love to be perfected in you, and His love will chase the fears away. So love dispels fear. And then the third phrase. Well, fear involves punishment, the way it reads here in our King James Version. Fear hath torment. John uses a very unusual word here that occurs in only one other verse in the New Testament. And that is in the context of Jesus' parable of the sheep and goat judgment back in Matthew 25, 46. Let me just read that for you. Jesus says, and these, in the context, these are the ones who did not show love, shall go away into everlasting punishment. There's that word. But the righteous, Jesus says, and in the context it's those who did show love, into life eternal. And so there is this fear that involves punishment. Fear involves punishment. If somebody's really afraid of God, what are they afraid of? He's going to punish them. That they're under condemnation. I see this very often in the case of somebody who is depending upon works to get to heaven. They're depending on their works to get to heaven, and we know biblically that that's not the way to heaven. And so that person who's depending on their works or their own righteousness, they have fear. They have fear that they're not gonna be good enough. But the one who is trusting in Christ, The one who's truly saved by grace through faith need not fear that punishment. Now we need to understand here that love is not meritorious for salvation. That is to say you can't love your way to heaven. You can't be loving enough to get into heaven. We know it doesn't work that way. But those who are saved will, as we've learned in our study, show forth the love of God. There will be evidence of their salvation in the way that they show love. And these need not ever fear this everlasting punishment. But those who have a lack of love would give us reason to question. whether they're truly saved. And if they're not truly saved, then they have every reason to fear that everlasting punishment. So that's the third phrase. And then the final phrase that we have here in verse 18 says, he that feareth is not made perfect in love. Fear is for those not perfected in love. Now again, we need to think of this word perfect in terms of achieving its expected result, its end goal. And so as God's love produces fruit in our lives, our confidence before God grows, our assurance grows, and fears are banished. Basically, what's happening is we are progressing in the faith. We're growing as Christians. We're being perfected in God's love. So if someone is struggling with a lot of fear, it means one of two things. It either means that they may be saved, but they're resisting the work of God's love in their life. How is that possible? Well, perhaps there's some abiding sin that they're not dealing with. And, you know, they're not allowing God's love to produce its fruit in their lives. Perhaps they've allowed their attention to turn away from God and God's love to the cares of this world. And so that's hindering the work of God's love in their lives. So it could mean that. But there's another possibility. Those who are just struggling with lots and lots of fears, it might be that they're not really saved. We need to consider that possibility because maybe someone who's struggling with lots and lots of fear, maybe you need to start at square one with them and go through the gospel and make sure they're saved. Because it's evidence that if God's love is not at all at work in them, that their fears are unrestrained and they may not be saved. So we've looked at three implications of this statement. Those who truly know God's love will be perfected in love. Those implications are we will abide in love, we will have confidence with God, and fear will be banished from our lives. Literally, love will drive out our fears. God's love will drive out our fears and chase them away. That's what it means. So if you have come to know and believe, as John writes here in verse 16, if you come to know and believe that God loves you, And you have responded to God's overture of love in terms of the gospel. And you're truly saved. Then God's love is at work in you. It's being perfected in you. And the exhortation to you is to allow God's love to be perfected in you. That you might abide in his love. That it might just permeate your whole being. Become part of the way that you think and live and believe. You can have confidence with God. Allow it to give you that confidence and that boldness before Him and to drive away all of your fears. Allow God's love to do that for you. His perfect love can do that. But perhaps there's some here today who would say, I've heard that God is love. but I have yet to experience that for myself. And if that's you, I'd like to close with a true story that might be helpful to you. when the famed preacher and evangelist E.L. Moody built his tabernacle in Chicago. He was very concerned that everyone who came there would be exposed to the truth that God is love. He was also concerned that somewhere down the line, after he was dead and gone, that some preacher might stand there in that pulpit and fail to proclaim that God is love. And so his solution to this was to have those words, God is love, spelled out over the pulpit in those days using gas jets. Okay, can you picture this? You know, just picture behind me, above behind me, those three words, God is love, just kind of like flaming fire blasting out toward you. Well, one night, The tabernacle was already lighted, but the people had not yet gathered for the service. And a poor drunkard was wandering down the road. And he saw the door ajar and he saw the light kind of streaming out and he thought, well, I could go inside maybe and get warmed up a little bit. And so he approached the door and he pulled it open and he looked inside. And the place was empty, but he saw those words just blazing right at him, God is love. He turned away, pulled the door closed, went down the steps and went up the street muttering, it is not so. This is not true. God is not love. If God was love, he would love me. And God does not love a miserable wretch like me. It is not true. But all the time, those three words were just burning deep down into his soul. God is love. God is love. And so something inside him made him turn around and retrace his steps and go back inside the tabernacle. And people were already beginning to gather and so he kind of seated himself in the corner there near the heater where he could get warm. The old moody took to the platform and he started to preach. And as he was preaching he looked over in the corner and he saw this man and this man was just weeping crying his eyes out. So after the service, D.L. Moody just made a beeline for that man and he went over to him and he said, dear man, dear sir, why are you weeping? Was it something in the sermon that touched you, he says? And the man replied, there was nothing in the sermon that touched me. I did not hear a word of your sermon, he says. Well, what was it then that touched you?" asked Mr. Moody. That sentence, he said, and he pointed to those three words in those gas jets, God is love. That sentence, God is love, broke my heart and brought me back here. D.L. Moody proceeded to share the gospel with this man. And that night he prayed and received Christ as his Savior. He then experienced personally that God is love. Let's pray together, our Father. We pray for those who may be among us or may be listening to this message who have not yet personally experienced your love. Perhaps they have not really heard or listened to one word of my sermon this morning. But Lord, I pray that these three words would burn deeply into their hearts, that you are love, God is love. May they see how you have expressed your love and demonstrated your love to this world by sending your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for lost sinners. Lord, I pray for that one who needs to put their faith in Jesus Christ and receive the gift of eternal life through faith in Him, that they may experience personally Your love for them. And Lord, for the many who are here today who have put their faith in Christ and have personally experienced Your love, I pray that we would be encouraged that your love is in us as Jesus prayed, that your love would be in us. It's in us. It's doing a work in us. It's being perfected in us. Lord, I pray that that would help us to abide in this love and to banish all fear and to have confidence before you. We thank You, Lord, that Your love is working in us and among us. In Jesus' name we pray.