Heavenly Father, we know that you will keep us safe till the storm passes by. But Father, many are in the midst of the storm right now. I pray you would bring comfort and strength and courage to each one, Lord, until you bring them through to the other side. now father I pray as we open your word we might once again begin to understand what it means to love with your love and to love you with all our heart soul and mind bless our time together now in the word we ask in Jesus name amen Amen. If you'll take your Bibles with me, we're continuing our series, 1 John. Turn to 1 John chapter 4, and we're going to conclude chapter 4 this morning. And by concluding chapter four, we're also concluding the theme that's been going on for the last number of verses, and that is the theme of love, God's love for us and then our love for one another. But we're going to look at 1st John 4, and we're going to look at 17 to 21, but we're going to pick it up at verse 17. So John continues on love. Look with me, verse 17. By this love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also we in this, so also are we in this world. Now if you look at that verse, what jumps out at you that you wonder, why did he put that in there? It doesn't seem to fit when you're talking about love. It's that phrase, day of judgment. Why is John talking about the day of judgment here? He says first, he says that love is perfected with us, so the love of God is perfected in us, and we'll talk about what that word perfected means in a moment. But there's a reason God wants to perfect that love in us, that we, John says, may have confidence in the day of judgment, in the day of judgment. If you look throughout the Bible from beginning to end, we see the Bible is clear that there is a coming day of judgment that God says will come one day. where all souls will be judged. And I want to look at a passage here that speaks of that judgment. Paul preached about it. Turn to Acts chapter 17 with me. Let's go to Acts 17 verse 30. Acts 17. The Apostle Paul here in Acts 17 is in Athens, and he's standing on Mars Hill and has an opportunity to preach. And he's looking at all these gods made of stone and marble and looking at them. But they, as you recall this story, there was a monument for the unknown God. They put a monument there on Mars Hill to the unknown God. And they put that there because they didn't know if they might have missed a God somewhere along the line. You know, they had others. So they had this unknown God memorial or place to honor whoever that may be. Paul took opportunity to explain to the philosophers of Greece who were there who this unknown God is that they didn't know about, the God of the Bible. So that's what he's doing. He's standing up here and giving this message. But then we come to verse 30. Look with me at verse 30, Acts 17. Paul says, Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent there it is the call to salvation the call to repentance because why should people repent verse 31 he goes on because he this god who you you don't know about but i'm i'm telling you about because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, now catch this, through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. And of course we know he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's telling these philosophers He's saying, you need to repent of your sin. You know your sinners. You must come to this God and repent because there is a judgment day coming. And notice he says, God has fixed a day. It's fixed. We don't know when it will be, but that one day it is fixed so that the world will be judged by, by who though? He will judge the world in righteousness through the man, through a man, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is going to be the judge on that final judgment day. And so Peter here is basically speaking about the same thing John is, that day of judgment. And we must kind of understand again the importance of judgment being part of the gospel message. You know it's so easy isn't it to tell the gospel and to speak of God's love but we never mention hell. We never mention that word. We never mention that there's coming a day of judgment, and that once we die, the Bible says, after that comes the judgment. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. Hebrews 9, 27, the writer declared, and inasmuch as it is appointed for man once to die and after this comes the judgment. And then he says in chapter 10, verse 27, a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire will consume the adversaries. Now I want you to turn to Revelation 20 because I want you to gain understanding because there can be some confusion on this day of judgment. So let's go to Revelation chapter 20, and we're gonna pick it up at verse 11. This is time in the future, okay? At this point in time, we are in heaven. The rapture has taken place, the rapture of the church. Jesus has taken us up. The dead in Christ are raised, and we are with the Lord Jesus Christ. But at this point, Satan and the beast, the Antichrist and the false prophet, they are taken and thrown into the lake of fire. You see that in verse 10. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. But now he comes to judgment day, okay? Look at verse 11. John writes, and I saw a great white throne. and him who sat upon it, that's Jesus, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, anyone who ever lived, standing before the throne. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds." Now, these books are being opened. God has a book called the Lamb's Book of Life. And if you're a believer this morning, your name is written there. But there's also the book of the deeds of the saints, a book concerning your deeds on earth and mine. And we'll talk about that judgment in just a moment, our judgment. But we as the church, as the bride of Christ, will not be here at this judgment throne. We will not stand at the great white throne judgment. These are all those that died and God raised from the dead Look at verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in it. This is a complete resurrection of the unsaved people, the unsaved souls. And they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, and you're wondering how can death and hell be thrown into the lake of fire? Well we believe this also can refer to certain demons, a demon of death that brings death, and Hades But basically this is anything to do with death and where the people are being tormented right now who have died, they're not in the Lake of Fire yet. This only comes after the Great White Throne Judgment. But then he says, verse 14, this is the second death the lake of fire, the second death. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, that's the book of life, that Lamb's book of life that has the names of all the believers, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Now, notice John says here that the lake of fire is called something. What title does he give it? He says, this is the second death. Second death. What does he mean by that? Well, again, it is appointed unto man once to die. So because of the curse of sin, because of Adam and sin passed on all of us, we are appointed to die at least once physically. But there is an eternal death, one that will last forever and ever, which involves pain and suffering, that will go on forever and ever to those that reject God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and have rejected Him throughout the centuries. And so this is called a second death. The Lake of Fire is called the second death, a place of judgment. where it's going to be for all of eternity. Now, here's the wonderful thing. This is for unbelievers, and this should sober us to say, Lord, I need to share the gospel with my unsaved family, with my unsaved neighbors and friends, my coworkers, because they're going to a lost eternity, but it's not just lost and just going to float in darkness or something like that. this hell, this lake of fire is a real place, and it's real judgment. And again, there will be degrees of judgment, because we notice that there's a book of deeds open here. Now, so God's going to open the book of deeds on each unbeliever's life that's standing there, and each one will be judged on what type of degree of punishment in the lake of fire they will receive. And God will decide that. So not everybody's going to be at the same level of pain and suffering in this lake of fire. Just like in our court systems today, right? Someone who robs Walmart and goes before the judge is not going to get the same sentence that someone who just murdered somebody and stands before the judge is going to get, right? They don't get the same sentence, the same punishment. So it is, that's the way God's gonna do this. But I want you to gain confidence in this. And this is what John is trying to get across. Turn back with me now, if you would, to 1 John 4. Let's go back there. Because you see, there were some believers that still thought that they were going to end up at the Great White Throne Judgment, what we just read about. And false teachers that were in the church were kind of throwing fuel on the fire and basically upsetting the saints. And so You know, there were those that were kind of scared. You know, what I did today, I sinned today. Lord, you know, and I know I trust Jesus as my Savior, but look what I've done, and am I really not going to go before that judgment throne? Am I not going to be thrown into fire? And people have that fear. that they don't have their salvation secure. And that's why we here at Jonestown Bible Church believe that the Word of God teaches eternal security. That you and I, when we were born again into the family of God, I became a child of God permanently. And I can't tell you how many Christians I have talked to who have had their doubts, and it's normal to have those doubts. All of a sudden they go through a tough time period in their life where maybe they feel, am I really saved? And then they think about hell, and they say, am I going there? Am I going to be judged there? And they live in fear. Now there is a judgment day for us, all believers, we who are in Christ. There is a judgment day, but it's not that great white throne judgment. It is a different judgment that the Apostle Paul called the Great White—I'm sorry, the Great White Throne Judgment is a revelation—but he calls it the judgment seat of Christ. You've heard of it? The judgment seat of Christ. Paul said, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And that is where we are going to stand before Jesus But this is a different kind of a place of judgment. It's more like a place where an atmosphere that would be like after the Olympics. After the Olympics are all over, you've watched the Olympics, and then what happens? The closing ceremonies, right? And then we kind of had it here in our own way for the Word of Life programs. And so Todd and Laurie would call up our kids, right, who were in the Word of Life program, and they achieved certain levels of memory of Scripture and other things, and each one would be awarded a medal, you know, or some type of award for the level they achieved. Okay, some, not everybody, got the gold. And just like in the Olympics, not everybody gets the gold, some get silver, some get bronze. But what the judgment seat of Christ is going to be, you and I are going to give an account for the deeds we've done as Christians in our body. And God has a book, and every single deed that I have ever done, good or bad, is written in that book. And I am going to one day have to stand before my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for me. And that judgment seat is not going to determine whether I go to hell or not. It's going to determine what rewards He will give me for my faithfulness on earth. So every time I do something with a selfish motive, I lose a reward. Every time I have bitterness in my heart towards another believer and hold it there, that's sin. If I have malice, pride, any of these sins, sins of the flesh, they pop up. Every time I commit a sin, One more reward is set aside, saying, I can't give you this. But then there are the awards that will be given, the rewards from the Lord Jesus that He's going to give on that day to you for your faithfulness. For the times that you said no to sin, the times you confessed your sin, that day, the times that you loved your brothers and sisters in Christ, or anything you did in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with a pure motive, you will receive rewards. So that's what that judgment is for us, okay? So John is not talking about that judgment, the judgment seat of Christ, he's talking about the great white throne judgment here, which some Christians were afraid they were gonna have to end up there. because of some of the false teachers were telling them that, hey, you could lose your salvation. And so look with me then, here he says again in verse 17, he says, by this love is perfected or matured, that word perfected means to be completed. The Greek word here for perfect doesn't mean without shortcomings. It's not like what we think of our English word perfect. but it refers to a complete development intended goal or to be mature, to grow in that love. And so what John says here, he says by this, love is perfected with us in our lives. the love of God, when I understand that God loves me, that He sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins, and I put my faith and trust in Him, I was born again, and I can't be unborn out of the family of God, then He says that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. In other words, He's saying, You and I can have confidence that when that day comes, we're not gonna be a part of it. Don't live in fear. And that's when he goes on and speaks about fear, how the fear can grip us if we are not grounded in the love of God. Look at verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. because fear involves punishment. There's that day of judgment, fear of judgment day. And the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If you have a King James Version, it says, we love him because he first loved us. So we know love only because God has shown us that love. And he loved us first through sending his son Jesus to die on that cross. And so I get to know that love. And so here, John says, there is no fear in love. And what he is basically saying is, if I get an understanding of the love of God for me, and I hold on to that, and I get a true understanding of what the Scriptures tell me about God's love, it's unending. He never stops loving me. And maybe today you feel like You almost feel like God stopped loving you. Maybe suddenly there's a wave of circumstances and problems that came into your life that have just knocked you over like a giant wave. You didn't see it coming. And sometimes we'll think that, oh God, what have I done? God's disciplining me, or God's judging me. It's so easy to start thinking that way. but God isn't judging his children. He will allow testing, but the trials come and to make us stronger in our faith, but once I am grounded in the knowledge of the love of God for me, I can go through that storm that the ladies were singing about, till the storm passes by. You're in that storm. But if I am confident in the love of God, for me, as his child, what do I have to be afraid of? Why should I live in fear? I shouldn't, because I am his. I belong to him, and this is what John is trying to get across. There is no fear in love, he says, verse 18, but perfect love, the love of God, if it's in me, and I'm allowing it to mature, it will cast out fear, because fear involves punishment. I'll live in fear because of punishment. that I may think is coming. And the one who fears is not perfected in love." There again he says, we love him because he first loved us. But now look at John verse 20. He then goes on, and once now, the first thing John wants to do is make sure that the believer has confidence that you're not gonna face judgment day, okay? And my dear friend, I pray that You will ground yourself in the truth of the love of God so that you won't live in fear of a judgment day. Yes, we should be concerned about our behavior in this life as Christians because there's the judgment seat of Christ coming. And I'm going to be ashamed before my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, over the sin I committed, the things I didn't do for Him on that day, and I don't receive reward. I'm going to bow my head in shame, but I'm not gonna have to fear death, eternal death in hell, that second death. So first, John wants us to understand that we can have confidence that we will not face that day of judgment. But now, he speaks directly again, and in closing, he closes his thoughts on love, And then we'll move on to something else a little bit when we get to chapter 5, verse 20. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Doesn't that make sense? That I can go around saying, I love God. yes, I love God with all my heart. And yet we hate our brother and sister because they've done something to us, or there's something about them that bothers us, or they hurt us, or they did something to us, and I'm holding that grudge. And I hate them. It can turn into hate or anger, can turn into such anger. And I say I love God, I'm not loving God unless I love you, unless you love me, unless we love each other no matter what. It doesn't mean we condone the sin of each other, that if there's sin, we don't promote and approve of that sin. We've got to have tough love and draw a line. But here, he's saying, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. And then verse 21, and this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. And I wanna wrap this up in the book of Genesis. So if you'll turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter four. Let's go to Genesis four. Okay, and here's a little, passage that kind of goes unnoticed. Genesis 4 verses 23 and 24. Okay, 23 and 24. Now this is a man named Lamech, okay, now Lamech is a descendant of Cain. Everybody knows who Cain is, right? Wasn't he a great brother? Yeah, but what was the problem with Cain? He had hatred in his heart for his brother. And so, it kind of, here's a descendant of Cain, all right? and he has numerous wives. So now in these two verses Lamech is talking to his wives. Okay, and look what he says, And Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech. By the way, husbands, don't go home and say, hey wife, listen to me, I got something to say to you. But he says, you wives of Lamech, listen to me, give heed to my speech. He's trying to instill fear into them. For I have killed a man for wounding me, and a boy, for what, striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, he says, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold. Wow! What kind of man is this? He says, I killed a man because he wounded me, and I killed a boy for striking me." An evil man here. But what is it showing to us? That this man had no forgiveness in his heart. He had no love of God that he would forgive. If somebody dare do anything to Him, He's going to take care of it. He's going to avenge. He's going to carry out vengeance on them, and revenge. And how many times have you and I, when someone's hurt us, and kind of came at us, it could be a family member, and we never expected it, but they hurt us deeply. They said something, did something to us. And in my heart I'll go, I can't believe they did that to me, and suddenly bitterness builds up in me. It turns to anger. I become angry, and then I go, I'm going to get even. You know, the old eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, I want to get even. And that's our normal nature, is I want to pay someone back for what they did to me. But you see, the love of God causes me in my life as Christ lives in me and lives through me with the love of God, I have the ability to love with that agape love anyone who has hurt me, no matter how deep the hurt is, that I can choose to forgive. And remember, we've always said this, forgiveness is not a feeling, it's a choice. Forgiveness is a choice. I choose to forgive you if you have done something wrong to me, brothers and sisters. I have to make that choice. So we have this man who is the picture of what not to be, what not to be in our heart, because there's no love here. John is talking about that love for God and we would love for a brother. But he sure doesn't have it. But then turn to Genesis 45. Genesis 45, verse 1. And here we have the familiar story of Joseph, our brother Joseph. He finally, as you know the story, He's now going to reveal Himself as the Pharaoh of the land, or second-in-command. He's going to reveal Himself to His brothers, finally. And you know all the story about what His brothers did to Him, okay? If anybody should have bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness, it should be Joseph. Look with me at verse 1. Then Joseph could not control himself, before all those who stood by him. And he cried, have everyone go out from me. So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Verse two, and he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Joseph is weeping. Verse three, then Joseph said to his brothers, See, they didn't know who he was. I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. They were in shock. This is the brother we threw into the pit and figured he was dead, and we despised him, and now, look, He's Pharaoh, he's part of the house of Pharaoh. Verse four, then Joseph said to his brothers, please come closer to me. And they came closer and he said, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. What's the deal with Joseph and his mindset? He has God in mind and realizes that every circumstance, good or bad, God was in control of. And so he was resting in the sovereignty of God. Then verse 6, he goes on and says to his brothers, For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. Verse seven, and God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now therefore it is not you who has sent me here, verse eight, here he says it again, but God. The storms I went through, I went through because God put me there. He allowed me to be there. He sent me here. He says, it was not you sent me here because of your evil, but it was God. And he made me, he, God, made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. And then drop down to verses 14 and 15. Look at verse 14, Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept on his neck. Verse 15, And he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. And afterwards his brothers talked with him. Here it is, my friends. This is the love that was demonstrated on Calvary for you when Jesus said, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing, those who are crucifying me. And God's love was demonstrated on the cross and he died for you in your place and took your sins upon himself and my sin. And therefore, once Jesus entered my life through his Holy Spirit dwelling within me, I now have the love of God inside of me. Each one of you as a believer has the love of God there that you don't have to be bitter. I don't have to be bitter. I don't have to live in unforgiveness so that I don't sleep well at night because I'm holding a grudge against someone and I won't forgive them. But Joseph demonstrated that agape love. And dear friends, as we leave here, two things I pray you'll take with you. One, have confidence that you're God's child, if you are his child, that you won't be facing the great white throne judgment. But secondly, would you ask the Lord to love even more through you. And to love those in the body of Christ, maybe that you don't like, maybe that they did wrong to you, someone that said something about you behind your back. It's time to forgive, and time to love in the name of Jesus. Would you and I be willing to do that? Let's pray together. As we bow before the Lord, dear Christian, perhaps you've been living in fear, fear of Judgment Day. Fear no more, but have confidence that you are a child of God. You've been washed by the blood of the Lamb, and you have been forgiven your sins, and no one can pluck you out of the Father's hand. You are His forever and ever. Take hold of that assurance. A Christian also, maybe this morning, you realize that you need to love more. You need to forgive more. And the Holy Spirit is talking to your heart. And someone's in your mind right now who you know you're dealing with that you need to forgive. Would you just say, Lord, I forgive them now. Lord, give me your love and help me to love them with your love. And I choose to forgive them now. Would you do that, Christian? If you're here without Christ, I invite you to accept the Son of God into your life. He's offering you salvation so that you will not have to face the second death because if you die in your sins without Christ, you will stand on that day before the great white throne and it will be too late then. and you will be cast into the lake of fire. Dear friends, God is a God of love and mercy, and he loves you. He wants you to come that he might forgive you of all your sin, and you can become a child of God right now. If you're ready to make that decision to accept Christ as your Savior, pray with me now. Pray a prayer like this with me. Say, Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, and I am so sorry for my sin. I believe you died on that cross for me and you took the punishment for my sin come into my heart right now and wash my sins away I receive you today as my very own Savior thank you for dying for me and rising from the dead Lord Jesus And with their heads still bowed, if you gave your heart to Christ, you are now a child of God forever and ever. Your sins have been forgiven. Now you can walk in newness of life because Jesus lives in your heart. Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, for your truth this day, that you have showed us, Lord, what it means to love. what it means to forgive, what it means to have assurance because of your love that I don't need to fear Judgment Day. Oh, Father, impress these truths upon our heart, and I thank you for decisions made as we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.