Freedom from Fear, Part Two

1 John 4:13-18
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, May 12, 2002
Copyright © 2002, P. G. Mathew

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.

1 John 4:13-18

Sin is the cause of fear. This truth is revealed in Genesis 3, where we see that Adam and Eve were afraid because they sinned.

Every sinner is afraid. He is especially afraid of God and his judgment, because the Bible tells us that it is appointed by God that man will die once and then comes the judgment. The mother of all fears is the fear of standing before God and being condemned by him to second death.

All people throughout the ages have been subject to this fear of death, and man, with all his wisdom and technology, has not found a way out of it. Freedom from fear, especially this ultimate fear of death, is only found in Jesus Christ. That is why we want to examine what the apostle John teaches us about freedom from fear in this passage. Jesus told us, “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” I pray that as we study this subject some will be set free, while those who have already been set free will be enabled to enjoy this freedom in a greater way so that they can look at death itself with triumph in Jesus Christ.

The Problem of Fear

As we said, all people have experienced fear. Oh, some may smile or make superficial jokes to minimize their troubles. But in their hearts they are filled with fear. Freedom from fear is the effect of an effect. The cause is God’s love. The effect that God’s love brings about in our lives is that we love God and our neighbors. Freedom from fear is the result of that effect of loving God. If you are an unbeliever, you cannot say that you love. You do not, for the love of natural man is only natural, not the supernatural love God gives us.

My mother’s example of Christian living gave me freedom from fear. Because she lived a life of holiness, she was full of confidence, not fear. Hers was a Spirit-filled life, a life of power, and it was she who taught me when I was a young boy the truth of 1 John 4:18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” My mother was fearless in sickness and never used medical care. She was fearless in poverty, in persecution, in evangelism, and in death. When I was anxious and troubled, I would go to her and she would strengthen me every time.

Christianity alone promises us freedom from fear. How would my mother deal with my fear? She would speak to me about the love of Jesus. Therefore, I would ask all mothers here: Do you love Jesus Christ? Do you show your children the way of freedom from the greatest fear of the final judgment?

In our previous study we spoke about the problem of fear and the prescription for fear. Today we will consider freedom from fear. When we read 1 John 4, we see that love and fear are opposites. Fear means unholy fear. Love is infinitely stronger than fear; therefore, in verse 18 John tells us, “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” If we are Christians, God’s love in Jesus Christ has delivered us from judgment and death, so even now we experience freedom from fear.

The Cause of Freedom from Fear

First, we want to look at the cause of this freedom from fear, and then we will look at its effect. As we said, the cause of our freedom from fear is the love of God. John does not mean our love for God, but the love of God for us. In 1 John 3:1 John writes, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Though we were enemies of God, God loved us and through that love made us children of God. That is why we can only say, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!”

Because he loved us, God the Father planned our salvation from all eternity. In 1 John 4:8-10 we read about this great love of God. In verse 8 we read, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love,” meaning God’s being is love. But not only is God love, but he also acts according to his love nature. So in verse 9 we read, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In other words, because of his love for us who were his enemies, God the Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us, that his Son may die and offer himself as a sacrifice of atonement for us. This was God the Father’s plan.

Not only does God the Father love us, but the Son also loves us. In 1 John 3:16 we read, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” That is speaking about Christ’s sacrificial death as our great substitute. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Galatians 2:20 Paul wrote, “[He] loved me and gave himself for me,” and in Ephesians 5:25 Paul tells us, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Additionally, the Holy Spirit also loves us. In 1 John 2:27 John wrote, “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit-just as it has taught you, remain in him.” The Holy Spirit was sent from heaven to dwell in us. The first thing he did was to give us new birth. In John 3 we read that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Before we can believe in Jesus Christ and keep God’s commandments and love God and one another, a supernatural work must take place within us called regeneration.

The Holy Spirit does regenerate us, giving us a divine nature. Then he pours out God’s love into our hearts, as we read in Romans 5:5: “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” We would not have known what love is without the Holy Spirit pouring love into our hearts. It is abounding love. That is why we can love our husbands and wives. That is why we don’t have to divorce. That is why we can love a brother or sister whom we may not naturally love or care for. It is not some romantic or natural motherly or fatherly love. It is supernatural love poured into our hearts in abundance by the Holy Spirit. The cause, then, of our freedom from fear is the love of the triune God.

The Love of God

What do we know about the love of God? First, it is a love that is prior to our love toward God. How far back does God’s love for us go? To before the creation of the world. In Ephesians 1:3-4 we read about God’s love for us demonstrated in divine election. Paul writes, “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. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. . . .”

God’s love for us, then, is eternal love. Before we were born, before our mothers were born, before even the creation of the world, God took the initiative and chose us because of his love. He loved us first, and whatever we do in terms of love is responsive to his love.

Second, it is supernatural love. In 1 John 4:7 we read, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” In the Greek it is ek tou Theou, from God, which means that God himself is the source of the love John is speaking about. Thus, if you are not a Christian, you cannot demonstrate this type of love. When a young man loves a girl, that is natural, not supernatural love. When a mother loves her child, again, that is natural, not supernatural love. But God’s love is prior, supernatural love.

Third, the love of God is a gift to us from God. As we read in Romans 5: 5, we receive this love of God when he sheds it abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is a gift.

Fourth, God’s love is abounding, overflowing love, as we also read in Romans 5:5. It is called great love in Ephesians 2:4 and 1 John 3:1. For an infinite, holy God to love a finite, sinful creature calls for this type of great love in which God did not spare his only Son but sent him to die on the cross for finite, sinful creatures so that they may become children of God.

Fifth, God’s love is powerful love, so much so that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “For Christ’s love compels us. . . .” That means it “pushes us forward.” The love of Christ impels, pushes me forward, enables me to do what God wants me to do. It is the motive force.

Sixth, God’s love is an everlasting love. In Jeremiah 31:3 we are told God loved us with an everlasting love. It lasts forever and ever. In fact, if you want to speak about the beginning, God’s love for us actually began in eternity and will go on to eternity. From eternity to eternity, it is everlasting.

Seventh, God’s love is inseparable. Some people enjoy uncertainty, but I do not. In Romans 8:35-39 we read that nothing, whether “trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword,” “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any other power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation” can separate us from God’s love. That is a lot of security for those who want it.

Eighth, we are told in Ephesians 3:16-19 that God’s love for us is a love that is beyond knowledge. Paul writes, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. . . .” That is an apparent contradiction. We are asked to know something which is unknowable. The idea here is that God’s love is so incomprehensible that, yes, we can learn something about it, but we can never exhaust it. Though we learn about it throughout eternity, we will never exhaust it.

The Effects of God’s Love

The cause, then, for our freedom from fear is God’s love for us, and this love brings about certain effects. Freedom from fear is the effect of an effect.

The first effect of God’s love is found in 1 John 5:1. There we read, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” What is the effect of this love? The Father loved us and planned our salvation; the Son loved us and accomplished this salvation for us on the cross; the Holy Spirit loved us and applied this salvation to our hearts through regeneration. As a result of these things, we believed.

John uses the phrase, “Everyone who believes. . .” It is in the present tense. What do we believe? That Jesus is the Christ. In other words, if you have experienced God’s love, then you are born again. How do others know that you are born again? You will love the Bible. You will love doctrines. You will love Jesus Christ, his person and his work. You will confess your faith in God’s truth, not with shame, but with confidence and boldness. Your faith will not just be lip faith, but you will entrust yourself to Jesus Christ alone, with saving faith. You will have a faith that glows.

In the Greek we notice that “Everyone. . . is born of God” is in the perfect tense. That means this new birth has taken place in the past and the effect of it still continues. In other words, new birth is prior to belief. You believe and entrust yourselves to Jesus Christ because of some event that took place before that. It is very clear. Reformed faith says regeneration precedes faith because by nature we are enemies of God who do not understand the gospel. We are blind! That which is flesh is flesh. But as a result of regeneration, we repent and confess and believe and continue to believe. Thus, we experience conversion.

This is also speaking about justification, which means we have experienced double imputation based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Suppose you are asked, “Why did Christ die?” If you are born of God, you believe in Jesus Christ; thus, you will answer, “He died in my place for my sin as my substitute, taking all my sins on himself, and putting his righteousness on me.” This is double imputation. Our sin, in its totality, is imputed to him, and his divine righteousness is imputed to us, put into our account. As a result, God the Father justifies us, pronouncing us just, as if we had never sinned. So we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In John 5:24 we read, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” We notice three things in this verse. First, the one who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. That means we have eternal life. Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life”; he is speaking about life with God. Second, John says, we “will not be condemned.” Here is God’s own guarantee that we shall not come into judgment. That is why we do not fear. Third, Jesus says such a person has crossed from the realm of death and has entered the realm of life. In Luke 16 we are told there is a chasm that is fixed between heaven and hell which no one can cross after death. We can cross while we are living, by putting our faith in Christ.

So here it is: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life,” meaning present possession. Those who believe in Jesus Christ even now enjoy eternal life. No wonder we are not afraid of death! “and will not be condemned.” That is a guarantee. We have crossed from the sphere of death and have entered the sphere of life.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Paul writes in Romans 8:1. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). All these things are in 1 John 5:1. When we believe in Jesus Christ, all these things have happened to us. There is repentance, there is faith, there is justification, there is adoption, there is sanctification, and we are guaranteed glorification. It is the effect of God’s love that we believe in Jesus Christ.

The Result of Obedience

The second effect of God’s love is found in 1 John 2:29, where John writes, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.” So we can also say that regeneration precedes our obedience. If you are a Greek scholar, you will notice that our new birth is first and our obedience is second. It is an effect of God’s action.

How can we recognize a true Christian? A true Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ savingly and continues in that saving faith. But there is another test: A true Christian is one who loves to obey Jesus Christ. We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Faith without works is dead.

Suppose you have been baptized and have publicly confessed your faith in Jesus Christ. Now you must demonstrate your life through obedience. A person who says, “I have been baptized but I don’t want to obey Jesus Christ” is a false person and a liar. Not only should a true Christian obey Jesus Christ, but he will do so gladly because he has a new nature by which he loves God and his law. So the second effect is obedience.

Loving One Another

ut there is another effect, which is the most important one. It is found in 1 John 4:7. There we read, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” Here again we see that new birth is first and love, our love, is an effect.

In 1 John 5:1 we read, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.” Siblings love one another as well as their father. This is an important issue. If you do not love your brother or your sister in Christ, who are born of the same Father, you have a serious problem.

How do you know that you are a true Christian? The ultimate test is not orthodoxy, nor even personal holiness or personal morality. The ultimate test is whether or not you love one another. Do you love that person who is unlovely?

How can we love others, especially those whom we do not naturally love? The love God gives us is a mighty flow from his throne, coming down into us in its mighty effusion. But the intended purpose of this love is not just to come from heaven into us and stay in us. No, the goal of God’s love is to come from the throne of God into me and then through me to flow out to every child of God and then out into the world.

We have been in Israel several times and have seen the Dead Sea. We have seen how water flows from Mount Hermon in the north to the Sea of Galilee, then to the Jordan River, until it enters the Dead Sea. But what is the problem with the Dead Sea? There is absolutely no outlet, so it is dead.

This is not what God’s goal is. The goal of God in pouring out this love from his heart into our hearts is that it may flow out into our brothers and sisters as well as into the world. God wants us to become channels of his love to others. Jesus told us, “Come unto me and drink.” We should drink and drink and drink of his love until rivers of living water flow out from us to others.

In 1 John 3:16 we are told how much we must love. There we read, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Then in verse 17 we are told what to do: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” When you are loving your brother and sister with your time and talents and money and other possessions, it is a proof that God’s love is in you and is flowing out.

In 1 John 3:10 we read, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. . . .” We must understand that there are only two fathers: one is the heavenly Father, and the other is the devil. If you are an unbeliever, you are a child of the devil until you are regenerated by God’s great mercy. So John writes, “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” If you hate a or sister in Christ, your Christianity is questionable. You have serious problems and certainly cannot enjoy assurance of salvation.

Fellowship with God’s People

There is another effect which is also very important. If you are born of God, you will certainly believe, you will do what is right, and you will love one another. But more than that, you will have fellowship with the people of God, as we read in 1 John 1:3. You cannot be a solo Christian floating in an ethereal realm. PGM If you are not in fellowship with other children of God, you are saying you cannot get along with another human being. After all, love requires at least another human being. Love is a relationship. This is why we oppose monasticism and the tendency to get away from the world and go up into a mountain. A true Christian lives in the world in relationship with other people of God and declaring God’s love to the world.

In 1 John 1:3 John says, “We proclaim what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us.” In 1 John 2:19 John writes concerning the heretics who claimed to love God but hated the brothers, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.” In other words, coming together regularly in church, in fellowship, to worship God and to love one another is an effect of the fact that we are born of God.

In Hebrews 10:25 the writer says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” If you are a wandering Christian, your Christianity is questionable. You cannot have assurance of salvation.

Fellowship with the Father and the Son

Another effect is fellowship with the Father and the Son, as we read in 1 John 1:3. This is certainly a part of having freedom from fear. What does it mean to have fellowship with the Father and the Son? It means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit-the triune God-is with us. It means God is in us and we are in God. This is one of the most amazing declarations of the Scripture. If God is with us, and if we are in God, and if we are experiencing this supernatural intimacy, how can we fear the devil, fear judgment, fear death, or fear anything? This is what I saw with my mother: absolute fearlessness. The gospel was not just a theory for her; it was her life.

Crossing from Death to Life

Freedom from fear is the effect of the effects that we have described so far. 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.” The opposite of confidence is fear-fear of death and judgment. But because Christ gave himself for our sins, we are justified forever. There is now no condemnation; we have peace with God.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14 we find an amazing example of divine mathematics. Paul writes, “For Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” One died, but the conclusion is that all died. Then he says, “all live.” “All” there means all the people of God, all the elect of God. By his death, one person took away all our condemnation and guilt. I died with him and now I live with him. The divine logic should give us fearlessness.

Not only that, we have crossed from death into life, as we read in 1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death to life. . . .” Here again we find the perfect tense. It happened in the past and the effect continues. We are no longer in death. We got out of it long ago. We are now living in the sphere of life.

First Corinthians 15 deals head-on with the problem of fear of death. In verse 56 we read, “The sting of death is sin. . . .” That is the scorpion sting. This is what people are afraid of. Then we read, “and the power of sin is the law.” We violated the law, and so the law pronounces curse, which is death. But then Paul exclaims, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” How did Jesus Christ do this? He fulfilled the law in our behalf. The sting is gone, taken away. That is why we no longer fear death!

In Galatians 3:10 we read, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'” In verse 13 we read, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” That is what Christ’s death on the cross means. Again, the sting of death is gone.

Thus, we are taken away from that cause of fear, the mother of all fears-all because of the love of the triune God. As a result of God’s love, there is an effect: we are born again. And how do we know we are born again? We believe in Jesus Christ and delightfully do what is right. Additionally, we love our brothers, not merely in word and sentiment, but with our talents, time, and resources. We go out of our way to lay down our lives for them. If this is true, perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love means the love that reaches its goal, coming from the Father into us, and then moving out to the other person. There is no fear in such love.

The Effect of God’s Love

So we are to know the love of God in Christ and will keep on learning it, though it is beyond knowledge. Through eternity we will continue to learn. So that is the cause, a mighty cause, which produces an effect in God’s elect. God the Father planned salvation because of love; the Son came into the world to accomplish that salvation; and the Holy Spirit applied that salvation to us.

First, God regenerated us, placing divine nature and divine life into our souls. He comes into us and changes us. Without that work, we cannot obey God, love God, or do anything to please God.

As a result of this, we experience certain effects. First, we believe in Jesus Christ and we believe the Bible-everything in it. If you find yourself fighting against God’s revelation, you should pray and see if you are born again. If you are truly born of God, you will have a profound love and delight in the total revelation God has given us, including the revelation of the origin of the universe by divine creation, and so on. That is how the revelation begins. You will believe in the fall of man and God’s plan of redemption. You will believe in heaven, in hell, and in the new heaven and the new earth. Your heart will love the word of God, and you will look into it daily, delighting in it and doing what it says. You will judge everything else by the word of God. You can go to the university where they teach you against the Bible-against the biblical way of doing things, against Western culture that came out of the Scriptures-and as you sit in that class, the Holy Spirit will tell you, “What that man is saying is wicked,” and you will automatically oppose it. You will do so if you are a Christian. Whether you are studying biology, sociology, psychology, history, or whatever subject, all of a sudden the word of God will guide you into all truth.

Additionally, if you are loved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you will obey God and do so with delight. In fact, you will not want to do anything else but to obey God, and will tremble when you are tempted not to obey. Like Jesus Christ, you will say, “It is written,” meaning, “You are telling me to do one thing, but God the Father has told me in the Bible to do something else, so I will do what God says to do.”

Finally, you will love. The cause of our ability to love God is the love of God, and the effect is that we love God. If there is no responsive love to God and God’s people in you, then God’s purpose is not fulfilled, and you may deduce that you are not a Christian. If God has loved you, then you will love him. He is mighty enough to change you from a rebel to a lover of God. And when you love God and take the Book and begin to read, when you pray, when you humble yourself, when your children obey you, and so on, then you will be filled with joy. You will say, “God has loved me and therefore I am loving God, not in terms of sentimentality or feelings or nice words, but in deeds.” Love is always other-oriented and other-centered. Fear always is self-centered; so if you are afraid and fearful, you are self-centered. It is the self-centered people who are afraid, but loving people are delivered from self and are always other-oriented. They are always looking for the ultimate good of the other person at their own high cost. When we live like that, we will know that God is working in us.

We are told it is natural to love our own siblings. Therefore, if we love God, who is our Father, we will love all his children. There cannot be racial, economic, or intellectual segregation in the church of Jesus Christ. We must love all people in the family of God, particularly those we don’t love naturally. Then we will have fellowship with one another. Some people go from one church to another. Because we have so many churches, you cannot discipline them. If you try to tell them something, they will just go to another church. If you try to help some people by showing them how to live, all of a sudden they will say, “No, no, no,” and go to another church. If you are born of God, you will look for other people who are born of God in the area and will worship with them regularly. You will love them and find out what their needs are and help them because you need to have people to love.

Not only that, you will have fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what eternal life is all about. How can a person have fellowship with the triune God and be afraid?

Freedom from Fear

Now, then, we come to the last point, that freedom from fear is the effect of an effect. It is an effect of our love for God, which is the effect of God’s loving us.

Now, we said, “What is fear?” Ultimately, it is fear of death and judgment. Because Christ died in our place for our sins, everyone who believes in him has his sins forgiven. We have crossed from death into life, and that is in the perfect tense. The moment a person trusts in Jesus Christ, this has happened. You were in death and darkness before; now, you are in life. Therefore, there is no reason to fear. No condemnation, no fear.

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But we are told Christ became curse for us; therefore, the curse is taken away. Our sin is taken away as well as the sting. That is the great freedom from fear a born-again person experiences.

Examples of Boldness

We find examples of people who experienced this freedom from fear in the book of Acts. The key to this book is found in Acts 1:8, where Jesus told his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” The Holy Spirit did come and strengthened them. That is why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I spoke about my mother earlier. She was always filled with the Holy Spirit. I would see her reading the Bible and weeping and singing, all at the same time. And whenever she came out from prayer, she would be absolutely confident and bold.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58. It is an amazing thing to see a child of God filled with the Holy Ghost. The righteous are as bold as a lion, but the wicked flee when no one pursues them.

In John 18 we read that Peter, out of fear, denied Jesus Christ three times. After the resurrection, Jesus came to him and in John 21:17 we read, “The third time Jesus said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ He said, ‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.'” Then Jesus predicted that this Peter, who had denied him three times, now having been restored, would love the Lord so much that he would die for him through crucifixion.

That is the power of love we are speaking about. That is what John meant when he wrote in 1 John 4:18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” In other words, Jesus Christ was telling Peter, “Yes, I know it is true that you love me. And this love will enable you to do to die the death of crucifixion for me.” That is how powerful this supernatural love is.

In Acts 12 we see Peter in prison, awaiting execution. Herod Agrippa had already killed James. Imagine the scene. The next day Peter was going to be killed, but in verse 6 we read, “The night before Herod wanted to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers.” Think about that. You and I, normally speaking, wouldn’t sleep at a time like that. But here Peter was fearless and sleeping soundly.

In Acts 7 we read about Stephen’s defense before the Sanhedrin. In verse 55 we read that when he finished and was facing the fury of the Sanhedrin, “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'” Note the fearlessness that comes to us through the Spirit’s ministry of love into us. This is perfect love that casts out fear. Then Stephen was dragged out of the city and stoned to death, praying as he died.

In Acts 20:23-24 Paul spoke of his trials to the Ephesian elders, saying, “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” As we said before, fear is rooted in self-centeredness, but love means you are centered in Christ.

In Acts 21 we see the believers of Caesarea pleading with Paul not to go to Jerusalem because bad things were going to happen to him there. In verse 13 we read, “Then Paul answered, ‘Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready, not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'” Perfect love to God and to his church drives out fear.

At the end of his life, when his martyrdom was certain, Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6, saying, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure.” In other words, Paul was seeing his own martyrdom and welcoming it without fear. How could he speak so boldly? In verses 7 and 8 we read, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.”

If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are born of God and loved by the Father and the Son. If you obey Jesus Christ, you are born of God and you are loved by the Father and the Son. If you love your brothers and sisters, then truly you are born of God and loved by the Father and the Son. When this love of God is flowing from heaven to you and through you to your brothers and sisters, then fear will be automatically driven out of you. Perfect love casts out fear.

Fear Comes from Sin

What, then, does it mean if you are afraid? It means there is some sin somewhere. I remember once, when I was about ten or eleven years old, I took apart a very expensive watch of my father’s, and I could not put it back together again. I still remember the tremendous fear and the lack of confidence I experienced while I was waiting for my father’s return.

I am speaking about the unholy fear, the dread, we experience. Amazingly, we never read in the book of Acts that the people of God were afraid. Whenever we are afraid, it is because there is sin in us. When this happens, there is a lack of flow of the love of God in us. It is not accomplishing its purpose. We become like the Dead Sea, just receiving but never letting go. The result is depression, fear, anxiety, and foreboding. You begin to think that there is somebody outside, maybe a lion in the street. You begin to imagine all kinds of fearful scenarios. You experience pain, thinking maybe you have cancer or your back is going out. But the real issue is unconfessed sin.

How many people live in such fear and in dread! However, if the love is flowing from God to you to the other, this perfect love will automatically cast out fear, and you will live a confident, fearless life.

That is the type of Christianity I saw in my mother. No matter what the problem, she would say, “God will take care of everything.” Sometimes you would wonder whether she heard what you said or not, but she did. She understood the seriousness of it. But she also believed in a God who is mighty to undertake for us in every situation.

Holy Living Results in Fearlessness

In 2 Peter 3:10-14 we read about the second coming of Christ. But unlike unbelievers who dread the day of the Lord, God’s people should be looking forward to it. Beginning with verse 10 we read, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” This is speaking about what is going to happen at the second coming of Christ. In verse 11 Peter asks, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. . . .”

We cannot separate fearlessness from holy living. Peter writes, “What type of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” Unbelievers dread the day of God but we look forward to it, as a bride looks forward to the coming of her bridegroom after a long separation. It is that kind of eager expectation, not dread or fear, that should characterize a believer. So Peter says, “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” How do we hasten the coming of the day of the Lord? Through our obedience, especially in evangelism. Peter continues, “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So, then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

What is the reaction of unbelievers to the coming of the Lord? In Revelation 6:15-17 we read, “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man, hid in caves among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'”

Are You Free from Fear?

If you are fearful, you may conclude that it is because of sin. I encourage you to repent and ask God to forgive you so that you may once again see the smile of his face. If you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Christ, you are a slave to fear. You will dread the future, the moment of death, the day of judgment, and the punishment of eternal damnation. But know this: God, who loves sinners, sent his Son to die for sinners. This God promises to set free everyone who receives his love and trusts in his Son, Jesus Christ, savingly. He will set you free once for all from all bondage to fear. Then you can face him on the judgment day. He will justify you and receive you to heaven. And if you are a Christian, I exhort you to love God and his people by keeping his commands. In this way, fear will be driven out daily from you.

Perhaps you are afraid now, even to the point of paralysis. Instead of looking to yourself, I urge you to look to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Look to the holy Scriptures and the cross, where you will see how much God has loved you. Then repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be set free from fear.

May God deliver all of us from fear this day and help us to enjoy freedom that we may live lives of confidence and productivity for Jesus Christ. Amen.