Do You Fear the End of Time? (1 John 4:16-21)

1 John • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

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Even when love is warped by our culture, we can experience the perfect love of God, leading to confidence in our salvation and our standing before the Lord.

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INTRO

Do you fear the end of time?

You shouldn’t.

But some don’t fear it because they don’t think anything will matter at that time. They don’t believe they will stand before the Lord, and they poke fun at the idea of the end of time.

I remember a crazy situation in 2012 when some people thought they figured out the date of the return of Christ and were convincing other people of the same thing. An after-the-rapture pet care service website was going viral. It turned out to be a hoax, a British atheist created it, saying that they would take care of your animal in case you are raptured. To me, this was blatant irreverence against the return of Christ.

One of the craziest

Well, now another pet service exists, inspired by the hoax. After the Rapture Pet Care was created that has a database of caregivers that will care for your pet if you’re raptured. Those caregivers are atheists and those from other faiths. I still find the attitudes of those caregivers interesting: sure, we’ll do that because it won’t matter to us...

Some people need to fear the end of time, that “day of judgment” as our text says. They will have to stand before the the One True Holy and Righteous God and give an account for their unbelief and face His eternal wrath.

But if you know Christ, you shouldn’t fear that day of judgment.

Some might have a fear of the events leading up to the judgment day. But we know that no matter the calamity around us, there is a glorious hope coming!

Some Christians might have a fear of judgment day because they feel that they will be condemned in some way. But we’re going to find out that that is not the case. We don’t have to live in fear when we have Christ.

So let me teach this passage following two major assurances: we have an assurance of salvation and an assurance of standing. I want to talk about these two assurances and encourage you to be ready for the day of judgment.

THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES ASSURANCE OF SALVATION (v.16,19-21)

Let’s start by seeing that John tells us we have come to know and believe the love God has for us. The love that sent His Son into the world so that we would not perish but have eternal life.

You can know and believe— this is assurance!

This is actually a theme in John’s writings. In his gospel record he says “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (, ESV)

And in he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (, ESV)

Back in our passage, John is sort of summarizing what he has been teaching. So we have come to know...

All that I’ve said about love… we have come to know and believe it. And then the end of v.16 pretty much gives a summary of what has been taught: God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Then we learn from v.19-21 that we have not seen God, but the way we love others whom we can see is proof that we love God.

So we have an assurance of salvation in Christ. Eternity forever in the presence of our Maker. We can know.

But then we need to be clear that there is an assurance of a different kind of assurance for eternity for those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (, ESV)

I want to tell you that you can be sure that you know Jesus Christ and that you will spend an eternity in heaven with the Lord one day, if you will fully understand how much God loves you.

Transition: So we know that there is an assurance of salvation, now let’s talk about how we have an assurance of standing.

PERFECT LOVE GIVES ASSURANCE OF STANDING (v.17-18)

Perfect love casts out fear. We’ve heard that before, right? But we need to know the context in order to understand it.

By this (abiding in God, He in us) love is perfected in us and the result is that we would have confidence in the day of judgment.

Because as he is, so also are we in this world. Someday believers will stand before God’s throne with the same confidence that Jesus Christ our Savior does right now. We will experience the fulfillment of : “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (, ESV)

Someday believers will stand before God’s throne with the same confidence that Jesus Christ our Savior does right now. We will experience the fulfillment of : “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (, ESV)

There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. Now look at at v.18: for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

So if you are genuinely saved and you fear the end of time it is because you have not understood the perfect, or matured, or completed love of God for you. You might say, that’s a little offensive. Yeah, it was to me too at first.

But the perfect love of God results in confidence, not fear.

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (, ESV)

“This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.” (, ESV)

All of what John has been writing about Jesus coming into the world to save, about love—all of it is tied to the eternal purpose of our salvation. If we are truly in Christ, and we understand the depth of his love, then we will live in confidence and not fear.

And yet some people have been convinced somehow to lessen their view of God’s love by believing that at any moment, He could stop loving them. They believe that they can do something to escape the sufficiency of his love shown on the cross.

The perfect love of God results in confidence, not fear.

Do you want to understand this?

Look through the eyes of a child who has experienced trauma and cannot seem to love properly.

They have attachment issues, lacking trust because they have been harmed by someone who was supposed to love them. They approach a foster parent or other adult with fear because punishment leads to fear.

Maybe the child has been abused or harmed in some way from a relationship that was supposed to be loving but instead brought fear of punishment.

So now, the child does not have confidence to approach that adult anymore, and maybe not others either, because they have fear, not confidence.

Perfect love results in confidence, not fear.

But this is how some people live in their faith in God. They are afraid to approach Him because they fear punishment. But yet, the Bible is clear in that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

Remember what John said twice in this letter: Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. He took the punishment of our sin and fully satisfied the wrath of God. He took our punishment.

Fear has to do with punishment. But perfect love (Jesus Christ) has cast out fear (the punishment). Now, in Christ, we can full confidence to stand before God in that day of judgment because we know it will be a day of reward, not punishment.

You can live in confidence in your faith. But I know this can be hard because this world has warped love.

This is true for any person: the way you love is either going to instill confidence, or fear.

This made me think about my love as a father. Do my children know the degree of my love to where they can come to me with full confidence? Or do they approach me with fear?

This made me think about my love as a pastor. Do the people God has entrusted to my care and instruction know the full degree of my love to where they would come to me with full confidence? Or do they approach me with fear?

This made me think about my relationship with God, my heavenly father. Do I really comprehend the full love of God for me and approach him with confidence? How does this affect my praying and approach to Scripture?

The thing about God is that he gives no reason to be fearful when I understand the love Christ has for me. When I understand that I am fully justified in Christ, I can have full confidence.

You can have this confidence. An assurance of salvation and standing before God.

Maybe you’re coming from one of those hard places of experiences that make it difficult to approach someone without fear of punishment. But let me tell you that you don’t have to have that fear of God, and the evidence of this is the cross. His wrath was poured out on that cross so that those who believe in Him will not have to experience it.

Maybe you need this assurance. Put your faith in Christ today.

Maybe you need this reminder. Praise God with confidence today.

Maybe you are feeling conviction of how your love impacts others.

Let us approach the Lord with confidence now to lead us in the way we should go.

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