Freedom from Fear, Part One

We know that we live 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. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:13-21

In this passage of Scripture the apostle John is encouraging his flock to live a life free from fear. The truth is, people are always fearful. We are afraid to go to the doctor, fearful that we will hear that we have a serious disease. We are afraid to live normal lives because we are always worrying about what to eat or drink or wear. We are afraid to meet with other people, especially new people. We are afraid to die. Most of all, we are afraid to appear before the judgment seat of God.

Fear is the foretaste, the earnest, of the punishment which conscience anticipates. In Hamlet Shakespeare wrote about this judgment, saying it is “the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.” Then he says, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.”

In the Bible this great fear of death is called the sting of death. Those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ are slaves to it, and outside of Christ there is no power on earth able to set them free. They may try to dope themselves to get away from this fear, or mask it with alcohol, grand parties, cruises, and various other amusements and diversions.

Not only are unbelievers full of fear, but people in the church, false believers, can also be gripped by this fear of death and punishment. In fact, there is no difference between such false believers and pagans. The apostle John understood this and dealt with such people in this epistle from the first century. False believers are those who may profess faith in Christ but their repentance and faith are false. Because theirs is not saving faith, they have no confidence before God and so live in daily fear.

In this study we want to look at the problem of fear, the prescription for fear, and the freedom we can have from fear.

The Claims of the False Believers

The false believers of John’s time made several claims which we find in the first epistle of John. In 1 John 1:6 we find the first claim: “If we claim to have fellowship with him. . . .” The Bible defines eternal life as fellowship with God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus himself declared in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” False believers claimed to have this type of fellowship with God but their claim was false. So John did not mince words but wrote, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”

In 1 John 2:4 John wrote, “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him.”

In 1 John 4:20 John wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar,” and in 1 John 3:14 John wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” John said that a person who does not love his brothers in Christ is making a false profession and remains in death. If such a person is still in death spiritually, there is no question he will also be living in fear.

False believers are those who live their lives pretending to know God. But when they face Jesus Christ on the day of judgment, he will not acknowledge them. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus told his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'” Even Judas Iscariot did all these things as one of the apostles, but he was false. Then Jesus concluded, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; away from me, you evildoers!'”

The Day of Judgment

The Bible tells us that the wrath of God abides on all who do not believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, they are already condemned and thus correctly live in fear of judgment.

The book of Proverbs tells us that the wicked man flees when no one is pursuing him. Fear-especially fear of judgment-grips unbelievers and false believers every day. That is one reason why we have so much medicine in the world today. Many people go to psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists and take all sorts of medications. They have to have all these things just to survive. Such people may smile outwardly, but inwardly they are filled with fear to the very depths of their being. This fear manifests itself especially at the point of death.

In Luke 16 we read about a rich man who dressed himself in purple and fine linen and lived sumptuously on earth. But when he died, he instantly went to hell where he was in great torment, agony, and fire. This will be true of anyone who dies outside of Christ. His soul will instantly go into a place of everlasting fire and agony. If anyone is honest enough to be afraid of judgment when he is living, imagine how great his fear will be at the point of death, and even more so when the time of final judgment comes! Hebrews 9:27 tells us it is appointed for man once to die and then will come judgment. God’s final judgment will occur at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the last day, on the day the world as we know it ends.

Who will be the judge at the last judgment? The Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in John 5:27. To him the Father has given all authority to judge. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 25:31, saying, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Jesus Christ, the all-knowing, all-seeing God/man, will be the judge at the final judgment. Whom will he judge? The fallen angels, all unbelievers who ever lived on this planet, and all believers, as we read in 1 Corinthians 6, Revelation 20, 2 Corinthians 5, and other places.

What does he judge? We find the answer to this question several places in the Scriptures. In the beginning of Ecclesiastes 12 the writer counsels us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth, and in the final verses we find a clear summation of what we will be judged on. Having tried everything but God, and having discovered that all he tried is vanity, the writer concludes, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Then he explains why we should fear God: “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

The apostle Paul speaks about the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:10, saying, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” That is why this life is so important. Our destiny is decided here and it is declared on the last day. In verse 11 Paul writes, “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” In the King James Version it reads, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

This certain judgment must give us some fear, some dread, and some trembling now because we know that we will be judged by Christ in terms of what we have done, what we have thought, and what we have spoken while we were alive on earth. We are placed on earth to serve God, fear God, and live for God, and we will be judged by how well we fulfill this charge. This is the same idea we find in Romans 2:6, where we read, “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.'”

What will be the objective standard by which God will judge us on the last day? God judges all people in accordance to the understanding of God that they have. So for pagans who never heard the gospel, the standard of judgment will be their consciences. Jewish people will be judged by the Law given to them in the Old Testament. All those who have heard the gospel, including those who became Christians, will be judged by the gospel.

There are going to be degrees of punishment after the final judgment. In Luke 12:47-48 we read,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

In other words, the false believer will go to the bottom of hell, while those who never heard the gospel may be higher. Judgment is based on the degree of understanding we have received. That is why a person who is not interested in repenting will add to his culpability by going to church and reading the Bible.

The eternal destiny of believers and unbelievers is given to us in clear fashion by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 25. To those who loved God, feared God, lived for God, believed in God, and trusted in God, the King will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (v. 34). What is the kingdom? It is eternal life. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is ultimate blessing.

What about pagans and false believers? They share a destiny which we read about in Matthew 25:41: “Then [the King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” Eternal fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. But because these people served the devil instead of God, they will go with the devil into the lake of fire, which is clearly stated also in Revelation 20.

In Matthew 25:46 we find the final word about the different destinies of those who believed in Christ and those who did not. Speaking of those who died outside of Christ, Jesus says, “Then they will go away into eternal punishment.” Although those who die outside of Christ go straight to hell where they exist in fire, torment, and agony, on the last day they will be raised up and sent to the final place, the lake of fire, where their misery will be full. What about those who trusted in Christ and served him in this life? Jesus continues, “but the righteous to eternal life.”

Fear and Punishment

Ultimately, then, what people even now fear is this judgment that their consciences anticipate. We are told by John that fear has to do with punishment, and in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 Paul describes God’s punishment, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. . . .”

In 1 John 4:18 John wrote, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” In the Greek the word for punishment, kolasis, appears also in Matthew 25:46: “kai apeleusontai houtoi eis kolasin aiônion,” meaning, “and these shall go away into punishment eternal.”

The problem of fear, then, is the problem of judgment and punishment. This is true for every unbeliever as well as every false believer.

Prescription for Fear

What is the prescription for this fear? In 1 John 4:17-18 we read, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence, “parrêsia,”on the day of judgment.” Confidence and boldness are a result of God’s love.

There are seven points we find in this passage that, when understood, will give us the confidence, courage, and boldness with which to face death and any other trouble, including the final judgment.

1. God loved us first.

In 1 John 4:19 we read, “We love because he first loved us.” Who took the initiative in our salvation? God. Although we were rebels, living in enmity and sin against him, God loved us long before we loved him. In the Greek the phrase is autos prôtos êgapêsen hêmas, meaning “he himself first loved us.”

In Ephesians 1:3-5 we read,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.

In Romans 8:29 we read, “For those God foreknew . . .” Foreknew means foreloved. In other words, God loved us from all eternity. That ought to fill our hearts with some confidence!

2. God sent his Son to save us.

Not only did God the Father love us from all eternity and plan our salvation, but also in the fullness of time he sent his Son to be Savior of the world, as we read in 1 John 4:14. Because the Father loved us first, he sent his Son to accomplish redemption by becoming a propitiatory sacrifice. In other words, Jesus Christ offered his life as a sacrifice and suffered God’s wrath so that the Father might turn his wrath away from us and be gracious to us. The whole incarnational life of Jesus Christ demonstrates God’s love for us; therefore we believe in the apostolic witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the apostolic doctrine concerning the life of Jesus Christ for our salvation.

In Ephesians 5:25 we are told, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” The Father loved us and Christ loved us. In Galatians 2:20 Paul wrote, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

3. God puts his love in us by the Holy Spirit.

In 1 John 4:16 we read, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” That is not a correct translation. If we translate directly from the Greek this verse reads, “And so we know and rely on the love God has in us,” en hêmin. What does this phrase, “the love of God in us,” mean? It speaks of the application of Christ’s redemption into our being by the work of the Spirit. By nature we hate God and are at enmity with him. PGM But the Spirit of God came into us and did a remarkable thing: he poured God’s love into us, and now we love God.

In Romans 5:5 we read, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his life into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” The Holy Spirit applied redemption into our hearts. In the whole ordo salutis-effectual call, regeneration, repentance and faith, justification, sanctification, adoption, glorification-everything is done by the Holy Spirit. The Father loves us, the Son loves us, and the Holy Spirit loves us. A God-hating man is made into a God-loving person. This is the work of God the Holy Spirit.

In 1 John 2:27 John speaks about an anointing abiding in us. What is this anointing? The Holy Spirit. In 1 John 3:24 John states that God gives the Holy Spirit to us: “We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” John says the same thing in 1 John 4:13, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” So the Spirit comes into us and makes us who were rebels into lovers of God. He changes our being and dwells in us, energizing and directing us. All this is the work of God’s Holy Spirit in our hearts.

4. We will make the good confession.

In 1 John 4:15 John writes, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” How do we know that God’s Holy Spirit has applied redemption into us? With great exhilaration and joy we will confess the orthodox faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. What we believe is important.

John says a confession will come out of our mouth. It is not simply a theoretical and intellectual confession, but a confession based on saving faith. It is not a cold confession but one that glows with love and warmth of heart.

There is such a thing as a cold confession, in which no feeling or affection is expressed, but that is not what John is speaking about here. It is by the Holy Spirit that we confess Jesus is Lord, as Paul writes in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe with your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul is not speaking about a cold articulation of orthodoxy in this verse. Yes, orthodoxy is being articulated, but it is done so with warmth, life, enthusiasm, and feeling. When we have been set on fire by the Spirit of God, we will enthusiastically confess Jesus as Lord! As a result of the love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit being poured into us, the true confession will come out of our mouths.

5. We will love God and one another.

Not only will we make the good confession, but in verse 19 we read, “Hêmeis agapômen” which means “we love.” In the Greek it is an indicative, not a subjunctive, meaning it is a statement of fact. We love!

As a result of the Father’s choosing and loving us, and of Christ’s work on the cross, and of the Spirit’s work within us, not only do we confess, but we love-not theoretically but practically, by doing loving deeds and sharing our wealth and time. We don’t say to our needy brothers and sisters, “Go and have a good day. Be well-clothed and make sure you eat something.” No, we see to it that they have food to eat and clothes to put on. This is the love John is speaking about. It is like the Samaritan who went to the wounded person, bound up his wounds, took him to the inn, gave money for his immediate care, and provided for his future needs.

That is why we ask people how they are doing and what is happening to them. In a true church there is communication and communion because the Bible tells us we are to bear one another’s burdens. We are called to display real, practical love, not through sentiment or nice words, but through the sharing of our lives and wealth.

“We love,” John writes. In other words, love is the lifestyle of true Christians. We are called to love our brothers, especially those we may not naturally like. There cannot be racism or classism or anything of that nature in the church because the love by which we are loving each other is supernatural rather than natural love. With God’s love we can love the unlovely and those we do not naturally love.

The Christian life extends beyond forgiveness. Yes, God forgave our sins, and we rejoice in that fact, but here John defines Christianity as “Hêmeis agapômen“-“We love.” That is different from “I am forgiven.”

6. We will be like Jesus.

In 1 John 4:17 we read, “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”

What does it mean to be like Jesus? It means that the Holy Spirit’s work in us has been effective. It means that in this crooked, sin-filled world that lies under the power of the evil one, we will walk as Jesus walked. It means that just as Jesus was the light of the world, so also we will be the light of the world. It means that just as Jesus loved, we will also love. It means that just as the world hated Jesus Christ, it will hate us also. It means that when the world does hate us, we can praise God because that tells us we are like Jesus. In John 17:16 Jesus said of his disciples, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” In this world we who are Christians are like Jesus.

There was a time when we were not like him. But although we were wicked, rebellious, stubborn people who lived in wretchedness and misery, God chose us and sent his Son to redeem us unto himself. The Holy Spirit shed God’s love abroad in our hearts and came to dwell in us, causing us to confess that Jesus is Lord and causing us to love one another. And now, though we are in this crooked world, we are no longer like the world, but are like Jesus Christ our Lord.

7. We are in God.

Last and most important, there is the wonderful truth that even now we experience a mystical union, an intimate fellowship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. In 1 John 4:13 John writes, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” We are in God and God is in us. We dwell in God, meaning God is our home, and he dwells in us, meaning we are God’s home.

Can you imagine anything else as important as this amazing statement that we dwell in God and that God dwells in us? In 1 John 3:24 we read, “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.” John is not saying, “those who say they are Christians,” or “those who merely make a certain orthodox confession.” John says only those who obey God’s commands enjoy this intimacy with him.

Imagine the implications of God dwelling in us and us in him. We have been speaking about fear in this study. How can we be afraid when we know that we dwell in God and he in us? It is impossible!

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is dwelling in us; therefore, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit are also dwelling in us. Additionally, we are dwelling in God. What intimacy and fellowship, to have such close communion with God himself! This is the highest spiritual experience any human being can have.

In 1 John 4:15 the apostle wrote, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” When we confess the orthodox faith, not theoretically but with our heart, it evidences a prior reality, that God is dwelling in us and we are in God. John continued in verse 16, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” Here again we see this reciprocal fellowship, this mutual indwelling.

I recently saw an ad for a Lamborghini that costs about $273,000. With 570 horsepower, it goes from zero to fifty in 3.6 seconds. What pure joy! But notice how, after speaking about a Lamborghini, we say, “If you live in love, God lives in you and you live in God,” how flat our words fall on the ears of so many people! May God help us to see the true riches of fellowship with him!

In 1 John 1:3 John declares his purpose in writing this epistle: “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” This is eternal life. Fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit is the highest and greatest blessing we can experience.

Are You Free from Fear?

In this epistle the apostle John gives us the prescription for the problem of fear. Yes, many of us used to fear and lived in fear. Some of us have even taken Prozac or any other medicine we could. But God delivered us from the slavery of fear by coming into our hell, taking us out of it, bringing us us into heaven, and seating us with Jesus Christ our Lord, where our life is hid with Christ in God. We are gripped by Christ and the Father, and nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord.

May God help us, as we consider the issue of fear, to also consider the prescription that he has given us in his word. What is it? The love of God. God so loved us that he came to dwell in us and we in him, and nothing is able to penetrate that union with Christ. May God, therefore, fortify each one of us with his truth so that we may live a life of courage and boldness, knowing that the righteous is as bold as a lion. May we face death, knowing that the sting of death is taken away. May we face judgment confidently, knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. What a marvelous work of the application of redemption has been wrought by the Holy Spirit in our hearts! May we, therefore, rejoice in our God with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amen.