(BONUS EPISODE) August 17, 2025 - Sunday Evening Service with Bruce Walker - God's Love - 1 John

Father, every time we stop and think about the

truth of your intervention, and even in the case

of our sinful lives, the unwelcomed intrusion,

and yet you persist and ensure that mercy touches

the objects of your affection. As much as we

don't deserve it, as much as we fall short even

now, we just are amazed that your patience is

ever with us. Your mercy, your goodness, your

wisdom and knowledge that you know what's best

for us. and our understanding that we don't.

Or there's always pain in a room full of fallen

sinners, much of it in my case self -inflicted.

And I'm just grateful for your forgiveness and

for the knowledge to know that even those wounds

and those pricks If grace is discovered, they

can turn me to you, flinging independence and

comfort. Where oftentimes I'm not comforted by

you because I reject it and I know what it is

and I shrink back from it like a wounded animal.

all of us carry around a persona and a projection

and then we have the real person of the hidden

heart. Only your spirit through your word can

reach into those places and bring transformation

and worship. And so we're before you with the

Word of God open in our hands expecting that

because of how consistent you are and how faithful

you are. Even when we're faithless you are and

always, always as you are, good, loving, powerful,

able, wise. So reach into our hearts as we study

your word together, and even through the foolishness

of our teaching, may you edify our hearts and

bring them closer to Christ, and may you exalt

him not only in our eyes, but from the light

of our testimony to those who are perishing,

both to the Jew, first, and also to the Gentile.

We pray for your people. We pray for this sad

and fallen world. We pray for the clarity of

the gospel to ring forth from our pulpit. We

pray that the humility, meekness, and love of

Christ would be the projection of our light,

but that the substance of the knowledge of the

gospel and the wrath of God abiding on sinful

man and what that is and what that means that

we would not shrink back from declaring the whole

counsel of God. So we pray these things and we

trust you for tonight in Jesus name. Amen. Okay,

John chapter four, first John chapter four, excuse

me, first John chapter four. 1 John chapter 4

1 John 4:1

verse 1. I'm just going to read a little bit.

The more reading we do, the more edifying the

message will be. Beloved, do not believe every

spirit, but test the spirits. Paul elsewhere

tells the church to test everything. There's

to be no rest for the discernment of the church.

Eyes open, head up. Test the spirits to see whether

they are from God. For many false prophets have

gone out into the world, the understatement of

Scripture. By this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has

come in the flesh is from God and every spirit

that does not confess Jesus is not come from

God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which

you heard was coming and now is in the world

already. Every false doctrine, every false spirit,

every false presentation of mock Christianity

dilutes, demeans, downplays, and hopefully from

their side dismisses the power of the incarnation

of Christ, the unexpected nature of God becoming

man. When a person confesses Christ, it is not

merely, obviously the meaning here can't be just

a mouthing. Okay, I'm real because I'll say Jesus

Christ came to the flesh. It cannot mean that.

This verb here, it is soulish in the sense that

it is a confession from the entirety of the person

agreeing with the truth and the veracity of what

it is confessing. Just like in Romans, when Paul

said you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord.

You can say that, right? And it would not be

that biblical confession. It would not be that

affirmation of your saying, he is Lord, therefore

you are not Lord. The spirit of the demon or

the spirit of Antichrist won't ever do that.

They believe in the same way. They have faith.

It's not a saving faith. Most of them were probably

there and saw the crucifixion and witnessed the

resurrection. And so they believe it in terms

of its historical veracity, but they don't believe

it. So confession is the same thing. The totality

of agreement with the incarnation, the purpose,

and the person and work of Christ. And our gospel

goes astray when we veer off from those simple

realities. The underlying warning here is not

only for the necessity of our discernment to

keep our head up and our eyes open, but as it

touches the intensity and intention of the enemy

himself, he doesn't rest. He roars about like

a... Prowse about like a roaring lion. I always

get those words mixed up. He prowls about like

a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We

talked about a couple of weeks ago in our, it

was actually last Sunday about children in the

church who have genuine saving faith and know

God and how they are just as involved in the

spiritual warfare as we are. And the enemy doesn't

look at a child and say, okay, well, I'll apply

a different set of rules because you're a child.

He's even more hungry to devour that tender child

in whom the love and faith of Christ rests. Little

children, you are from God and have overcome

them. This is one of the great verses of Scripture.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is

in the world." I don't feel that way a lot. And

so it can't have anything to do with how I feel.

It's a fact and a reality that if I had been

brought from death to life, from darkness into

the light, and I'm inhabited by the Spirit of

God and the person of Christ, this verse tells

me that the victory and the overcomingness is

present. Paul again referring to Paul he says

what for sin shall not listen let's put pause

here for sin shall not have dominion over you

is that true in your life do you have dominion

over sin Are you you stumble you follow you repent

you get up you brush yourself off with the blood

of Christ and you move on We all sin earlier

in this book He says if you say you have no sin

you lie and the truth's not in you But if you

confess he's faithful and just forgive you and

cleanse you of all and Christ not talking about

a performance of perfection is talking about

the core driving desire of your heart and the

testimony of your life Are you living in victory

over sin? Or have you stumbled into something

that's got its tentacles around you and is pulling

you under? If you have and you truly love the

Lord, you need to reach out to somebody because

most likely if it's gotten to that point, you're

not going to get out of that by yourself. The

man who isolates himself is not wise. He rages

against all wise judgment. Reach out. First reach

out to God, then reach out to... the godliest

person you know and ask for help but this verse

is true nonetheless and when he is in us he manifests

himself in unexpected ways as far as the world

the spirit of antichrist is concerned he manifests

himself in weakness in meekness in humility came

into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey washed

the disciples feet. They tried to crown him as

a king. He slipped out of their midst. He's not

what you expect. He's not like what you expect.

He's not like a person assuming this position

of power in your life. He's antithetical to what

we expect. That's why it's so important for you

to experience this victory. You have to get into

fellowship with him, which involves the confession

of that weakness, the admittance of that need.

the ever -presentness of that dependence. As

soon as you become self -sufficient you become

like Saul and you start taking matters into your

own hands and you muck it all up. This life of

honoring Christ means living as he lived and

he lived in a constant state of lowliness. Not

afraid for people to see who he actually was.

We're afraid of that because of the cracks in

our own Yeah Right. No if you want to experience

this let me just simplify this passage right

here If you want to experience this victory in

your life, it requires grace assisted and utter

honesty and transparency on your part If you're

projecting the polished performance of a successful

Christian You're already out of step with what

he's like because he sees down deep into the

crevices. And if he sees in you and what he sees

in you and if you turn your head away from it

because you don't like the way it looks, you

can't get fixed. That victory is dependent upon

walking as he walked. He didn't walk in sin,

but he walked in utter humility, utter dependence,

utter transparency, utter honesty, utter dependence

on the Word of God. He didn't put up his dukes

when Satan tempted him on the mountain. He spoke

and said, what? This is what God's Word says.

It's how you fight. I wonder how many of us would

know exactly what passage of Scripture to refer

to in that hour of temptation. You have to know

what the Word of God says before you can use

it the way it's intended to be used as a sword,

as a weapon. But it always looks different. Spirit

of Antichrist, they are from the world, therefore

they speak from the world, and the world listens

to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens

to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen

to us. by this we know the spirit there it is

authenticity by this we know the spirit of truth

and the spirit of error how do we know the spirit

of truth is true how do we know the spirit of

error it's not it's wrong it reeks of pride it

reeks of self -exaltation it reeks of a temporary

consequence it's the spirit of the world taught

as somewhat in christian circles the spirit of

the world is What real Christianity is all about

is the here and now. Now Christianity does not

neglect the here and now, but quite frankly Christianity

is about the now and the later. And it's really

the whole edification process and sanctification

process. If you're being sanctified, you're being

progressively detached from your affection in

the world. the things that matter like money

and popularity and the people that are closest

to you. It's not that they don't matter. It's

not that having money is not important, but when

they are more important to you than what God

thinks of you and your obedience to God to show

your love for Christ, you're not living in victory.

Be honest with God. That's the message of the

first part of this chapter. Be honest. Be truthful.

If you haven't given your life to Christ, don't

act like you have. Give your life to Christ.

Ask Him for that grace. Ask Him for that... Don't

worry about that. Just pull it out. Turn it off.

We're not doing any big old deal here. If you

have not given your life to Christ, if He does

not sit on the throne of your heart, If your

old man which you lived for you is not dead,

if you did not come to Christ and come to the

cross and offer your life to him and he took

it, he didn't take it and clean it up, he took

it and did what it deserved and he crucified

it with himself. That's what repentance is. Repentance

is the end of your life for yourself. The end

of your life for you. And there is no sort of

almost there in that. situation. It's all or

nothing. Listen, you're either dead and allowed

in Christ or you're not and you're allowed in

Adam. Salvation is not like sanctification. It's

not progressive. It doesn't creep up on you.

Now there are things that happen in the process

of being drawn by God, convicted of sin, knowing

the burden of your selfishness, seeing the effect

of it in your life and those around you, seeing

the end of it in the consequences of the wrath

of God, but at the end of that process you come

to a death. That's where we've erred in our gospel

in modern terms. We don't call the sinner to

death. That's true repentance. You're calling

the sinner to death. You're saying to the sinner,

repentance is you turning away from a life of

self -rule and self -absorption. That's what

true repentance is. That's why it confesses Christ

as Lord because it denies you as Lord from that

point forward. 1 John 4. Now if that's happened,

If that's genuine and true, as the preacher,

you often want to say, I really don't want to

move on from that because you don't want to leave

one soul behind. That's still military adage,

don't leave anybody behind. You're always aware

of when you're presenting such sobering and...

I'm telling you there's nobody in this room probably

that's more fascinated and interested in the

doctrines of sanctification. I mean how to put

off the old man, renew your mind, how to go into

the scriptures and dig out that issue and sort

it out in terms of your obedience and what you

have to change in your life, how you draw into

the local church body for that comfort and fellowship

around you, how that's so important, how the

light of the church is pushed out as the body

and membership goes into one another. I'm totally,

I'm like, I'm down with that. But I'm telling

you, getting out of this world intact in one

sense is more important than that. You follow

what I'm saying is, if you absorb a whole bunch

of doctrine about sanctification and you miss

the most important thing, which was your life

being hidden with Christ and God? What good is

sanctification to you then? Salvation is the

harbinger of everything that comes after it,

and what we do in the professing church is we

move into sanctification very quickly. We just

assume Because people are around and they're

saying certain things and they're acting a certain

way we assume Salvation is present I'm telling

you I've been doing this a long time I've been

talking to a lot of people for a long time and

a Great majority of the time that I'm dealing

with people with struggles and issues in their

life It's because they have not really given

their life to Christ They say Lord Lord Well,

it's not true. And so examine yourself to see

if you be in the faith, or has this spirit of

antichrist and the subtlety of presenting you

with the possibility of putting one foot in the

world and one foot in the church, has it got

you and got you satisfied and complacent? But

you're okay. Don't leave here tonight until you've

sort that. But if you have, beloved, Let us love

one another. For love is from God. And whoever

loves has been born of God and knows God. And

anyone who does not love does not know God because

God is love. You see what he's doing there? He's

basically saying the same thing. True love is

the absent absence of self -concern. True love

is the obsession with the other person for their

good and benefit and it requires you to reject

any piece of the pie. True love is the utter

death to self. It's the same thing. It's the

same cross. When you properly love someone else,

there's a death involved, there's a pain involved,

there's a sacrifice involved, there's an action

involved, and normally our human emotions are

not in concert with that. Maybe a lot of us,

some of us, a few of us, maybe when we were getting

ready at home and driving over, maybe we didn't

want to be here. That's an emotional predilection.

That's an emotional feeling. That's something

that you put to death and you go ahead and you

come anyway. You don't think about how you feel.

In fact, oftentimes when you go against your

feelings, the sacrifice is greater and the honor

to Christ is more glorifying. Because you were

presented with the temptation of doing what you

wanted to do and you did what God wanted you

to do and you showed up. That was love to God.

That was love to you. That was love to you. That

was love to me. That was love all around. And

if you don't love like that, if that's not the

driving force of your life, go back and examine

your salvation. But listen to this. God puts

that Spirit by Christ and His Holy Spirit into

every regenerate heart. It's there. It resonates

with, that's what the whole book of 1st John

is basically saying that a Christian is a new

creation and he's utterly opposite from and different

to that which he was. Right? And what this is

also saying by implication is that no one in

the world, listen to this, shout this from the

housetops, all you hear about is love, love,

love in the world. Nobody in the world knows

what love is. Because they're still living for

themselves and you can't know what love is until

you die and you're raised with Christ. How do

we know God loved us? That's what he's gonna

say. This is love that God sent his only Son

into the world. He died. That's what love is.

Love is sacrifice. Love is giving yourself up

for the other person. Love is putting your emotions

on the cross and doing what is right because

it is right and you want to do it and you find

the grace and you beg God for the grace to do

what is right and it's not just now and it's

not just tonight. It's forever. That desire is

seeded in your heart and it will only grow if

you cultivate it. Don't kill it with neglect.

Don't kill it with neglect. For this is love.

It was manifest among us that God sent His only

Son into the world so that we might live through

Him. In this is love. Not that we love God, but

that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation

for our sins. We can only love Him. and I can

only love you and you can only love one another

because God loved you enough to kill you. Right?

I mean that's so well illustrated. Abraham loved

Isaac beyond anyone's ability to comprehend it

because he was willing to show his love for God

is superior to his affection for Isaac and he

had to be stopped. Well, God's hand was not stayed

and that's how much he loved you. Imagine him

asking you to do that with your most beloved

person and him not stopping and saying, now I

know that you fear me. It was proven to the point

of bloodshed. Everything that is related to love

in the Bible, everything that is related to love

in the universe and everything that is related

to love in your life will involve the cross.

It will involve sacrifice. It will involve bloodshed.

Maybe not literal, maybe literal. In my personal

opinion, you can take this out of the tape if

you want to tape. People in here don't even know

what a tape is. We're heading that way. We're

heading that way. We are ahead for a time where

your loyalty to Christ may cost you your life.

And it is that way in most parts of the world.

Why are we so special that we wouldn't? Love

is pain. Anybody who tells you anything different

is selling something. That's a quote from a movie.

Beloved. If God so loved us, we also ought to

love one another. That's verse 11. Now, think

about it. Basically, he's asking a little from

a lot. In other words, your life is hidden with

Christ in God. Your eternal destiny is secure.

performance of grace is perfectly provisioned

in the Word of God. You have everything you need.

God will bring the circumstances into your life

that will bring fruit from it, even against your

will at times, most of the time. He's perfectly

surrounded you and inhabited you with the total

sufficiency of Himself, and He did all of that

because He was willing to endure the torture

and murder of His beloved Son. Now he's asking

you to love somebody else who's not perfect like

you. But we chafed at that. We compare ourselves

to one another. We don't like this person, or

we don't like that group, or we don't like that

person, or whatever the case may be. And that's

too much for me, Lord. Wait a minute, you don't

understand this verse. What if God took that

tact with you? where he based his affection toward

you and his sacrifice for you on your performance

and your worthiness. You in trouble. Yes, you

are. Big trouble. But he didn't. For if God so

loved us... First part of the message, be honest.

Stop beating around the bush. Face your heart,

face your God, be honest. If you're still alive

in Adam and you're still on the throne and you're

secretly and subtly calling the shots, repent.

Come down from the throne and submit yourself

to the cross of Christ, where you can mercifully

die and actually be born and bear some fruit

and usefulness in this life. Secondly, from that

point forward, you're just simply being asked

to imitate that pattern in your own life. And

we get, listen, and the biggest thing, one of

the biggest things in this culture. is we just

have, and I know you've heard us a million times,

but we have so much and for the most part until

disease or some accident or something like that

comes into our life, we're just inoculated and

inundated with comfort and convenience and softness.

Softness, comfort and convenience does not breed

normally a good soldier. You have to lean into

the difficulties of your life and the hard relationships

of your life. You have to lean purposely into

them not only for the glory of Christ and for

the benefit of the person that you're loving

but for your own training because we are as soft

as cake. That's the wrong way to put that. At

the moment of crises I'm going to need great

help and deliverance and mercy. to be the kind

of soldier that God wants me to be. No one has

ever seen God. You know what that means, don't

you? You know the obvious implications of that.

Any manifestation that any human being in the

history of the world has ever seen like a burning

bush is some kind of manifestation of Christ.

The person of Christ is the one who is to be

seen. No one has ever seen God at any time. No

one has any clue of what the Father looks like

on this earth. That's a major shape, right? Which

tells you, you know, the scholars try to divide

up the oftenies in the Old Testament. Is it a

theophany or a Christophany? Well, it's always

a Christophany, because if you see something,

it's not the Father. Because no one has ever

seen God at any time. I think that's right, but

if we love one another, this verse says He is

seen. How is He seen? Because others see Christ

in us. That's how He's, it's the same pattern.

It's just like the Old Testament. If somebody

sees something of redeeming value in your life,

God has enabled you to get out of the way and

He has put Christ in their vision. And it always

looks like humility and patience. Kindness. Let

me say it. Overcoming evil with good. You know,

that's what children do. Children overcome evil

with evil. Adults know to overcome evil with

good. When I was a child, I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child. But when I became a

man, I put away childish things. That means when

you are faced with evil, you know that the mature

thing, when that person flips you the bird, cuts

you off in traffic, or whatever, you know that

to respond in like manner and overcome evil with

evil, you are being childish. That's immaturity

personified. Let me be clear. I've been a child

as a man on many occasions, right? But if we

don't put the standard out there, and my wife

talks about this all the time, and not all the

time, but enough to where I've tried to learn

it from her. And I think I'll pass this on to

y 'all. What we do in regard to principles of

our faith, we kind of want to pull the standard

down where we can reach it naturally. Let the

standard stay where it is, and you, You're never

gonna be able to reach it, but if you stretch

everything you've got, you know that great analogy

where if two men race to the end of the pier

to see which one can jump from the end of the

pier to Ireland? Well, that's irrelevant. One

of them might go three feet further off the end

of the pier. Nobody's gaining on Ireland. Well,

that's the standard of God's word. But suddenly

in grace and by the spirit of the miraculous

presence of Christ in your life if you see overcoming

evil with good and the standard of the law is

holy and righteous and good and you want to meet

it because of what Christ did for you you run

and jump off that pier and you expect to fall

like you normally would but all of a sudden Whoa,

what's happening here? I'm on my way to Ireland

You know what happened when that actually happened

in a kind of a literal sense when Peter saw the

Lord out on the water he was like oh I responded

he told me to come I come and he starts and he's

walking on water right he is walking on water

just imagine he's putting his foot down on h2o

and it's not sinking and then he heard the howl

of the wind and he looked around he saw the waves

and he took his eyes off the Lord and natural

law took over just reach for the standard jump

just jump man It's an adventure. I mean, you're

gonna die anyway. Right? You're gonna die? I'm

gonna die? I'm saying, Lord, I'll take that dying

in my sleep deal, you know? But that, you're

nobody. Hardly anybody gets that. Death is usually

messy and painful, even more so if you have to

live through old age. It's just death. It's a

brief, it's a brief, you're here just like for

this little bit. I don't care if you're 30 something,

20 something or in your teens, the amount of

time you got left is like that opposite comparison

of the end of that period of Ireland. And no

matter how long it is, it's that far. And you're

gonna be standing before your creator, giving

an answer for the deeds done in the body. What's

it gonna be? Man, this may be the most verses

I've ever given you. By this we know that we

abide in Him. Live a supernatural life. Be honest

about your soul and then live a supernatural

life. That means give yourself away. Give yourself

away entirely. Stop holding on to your life in

this world, or some vestige of it, or something

you hope to get out of it, and just let it go.

You know, we always talk about the difference

between a dime by a Chinese water torture and

a guillotine. What would you rather have? Just

get it over with. Just get it over with. That

waterboarding thing, man. Whoa. You know it does,

right? It gives you the sensation that you're

drowning. but you can't drown because you're

getting air. It's rough. Who wants to die? And

if you water towards somebody long enough, it'll

probably kill them. That's the licensed U .S.

method of torture. That's what we can do. And

really, like, there's lots of things more merciful

than that. Give me that guillotine. Just go ahead

and, you know, I always say the barbed wire fence,

you know, don't mess around with it. Just pick

it up. Bail the barbed wire. There's probably

something in your life, some relationship, some

sin, some habit, some something that does not

belong to Christ. That's what you need to focus

on right now. By this we know that we abided

Him because He has given us His Spirit, and we

have seen and testify that the Father has sent

His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever

confesses, back to that idea again, that Jesus

is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in

God, so we have now come to know and to believe

the love that God has for us. That's the proof

of it. God is love. I mean, think if he were

anything else or not all of that. We'd be in

some serious trouble. But he is totally love.

Whatever the depth and mystery of love is in

terms of giving oneself away, that's what and

who God is. That's what you lean into in the

dark. You know what's best, Lord. I don't comprehend

this. I don't understand this. I don't understand

how I'm going to cope with this pain, this loss,

this grief, this difficulty, whatever it is.

We've all been there in those moments where we

feel like our faith is non -existent and we almost

feel like lost people again because of our unbelief.

Well that's when you reach out the most. That's

when, that's when the faith is, that's when,

if you've been born of God, it will be there.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone into

so many different situations I've said to myself

in my heart. I do not have what it takes for

this right here. I Have never not been met by

God ever Ever and I mean I have said I'm not

I mean, I've even said, you know, I'm not doing

it I'm not doing this. I Can't do this Greater

is he who's in you He walks with me He's with

me. He never will leave me. And I'll just say,

Lord, what this means in this situation right

here is you just got to reach in and do something

that I just can't even conceive of. And He always

does. That's the kind of life He's inviting you

to. Instead of this life of waffling and unbelief

and inconsistency and really how cruel that is,

not only to yourself but to those around you,

procrastination, spiritually speaking, is like

the most miserable condition to live in. When

you know God would have you do something, say

something, or be something to somebody else or

in a situation, and you procrastinate, I know

that if you belong to the Lord, he brings some

serious chastisement into that, and usually it's

in the form of misery. And it's not pleasant.

All of the promises of God in Christ are yes

and amen. He will never not be to you what He

says He will be to you in the moment if you turn

to Him and if you trust Him. It may not look

like, sound like, and be like what you expected,

but if you turn to Him in genuine faith because

you love Him and you've given your life away

to Him initially and you're willing to come to

Him for the help that you need to do that now,

He promises. He promises, no temptation has overcome

you except that which is common to man, but with

every temptation he will not allow that. He will

provide for you a way, a way of escape, a way

through. Usually in trial, difficulty, grief,

and hardship the way in the situation is not

around it but through it. Stop trying to go around

it. Stop trying to circumvent. Because you know

what happens when you get around that trial,

you come out on the other side, you look up and

there it is again. Go ahead and learn the lesson.

At least have some variety in your life. Change

up the trials. Because until you go through it

with the Lord and learn from it what he has for

you to learn, you're going to have to go over

and over again. Shake it off, man. Go lean into

that cross and pick it up. And a lot of this

is predicated on the fact that we're spiritually

lazy, spiritually soft. We don't spend a genuine

authentic time pouring our hearts to God, out

to God in prayer. We don't genuinely go to the

Word of God with the eagerness and the thirst

and the hunger that is necessary to get out of

the Word of God what's intended. We're just soft,

man. Give it to me at the drive -thru, Linda.

I went through the drive -thru after church today.

There were three cars in front of me, and I was

there for 30 minutes. The drive -thru wasn't

quick, and I was so patient. I was so cool under

pressure. I was so, I was, I can use this time

for the Lord. No, I was impatient, you know?

I expect now. You said now, I'm gonna hold you

to that. And I'm sitting there thinking, what

can I say to the woman at the window to let her

know that they're not living up to my standard

here? And I do come here almost every Sunday.

And so I got up to the window, kindly. What's

going on in there? And you know what it was,

it was all this door dash poop. The restaurant

was empty, but I saw like a thousand door dash

bags No story I get up to the window And that'll

be nine dollars and 32 cents Thank you Thank

you You're faced with that child now. My wife

knows is she sitting there. Why are you telling

them that? Why don't you tell her the thousand

times you told her what you really? The one time,

right? The one time I actually told her. I mean,

I'm totally capable of saying, hey, what's going

on in there? This is supposed to be fast food

and it's not happening well enough for me versus

what if that person's having a rough day and

they're doing everything they possibly can to

get you your food as soon as they possibly can

and it's just out of their control and you're

the last straw. That sends into the depths of

depression and self -loathing it and and in cruel

you're cruel Don't be cruel Be cruel be patient.

I Didn't necessarily use the 20 minutes in between

the time I thought Ten minutes had passed that

I should be out of there. I didn't use it for

prayer I had said it kind of just sit there and

make up my mind what I was going to say when

I got to that window. Man, the violence that

I wanted to spew. For that, imagine some poor

soul in that, this is drive -through 101, imagine

that poor soul making $12 an hour, working her

fingers to the bone. and some goofus doofus gulagag

like me comes up and tells her she's just not

living up to my standard and just crush her.

We do that to each other. We do that. Don't do

that. Be not like me. Thank God for my wife.

She's not in the car with me all the time. She

wasn't in the car with me today. I asked her

to go. I would have probably failed because I

would have felt her looking at me and saying

things like, well, what are you going to do,

Jesus? I told you that's what she calls me when

I'm being the exact opposite, right? When I get

called Jesus, Jesus, I... That's the strong part

of that verse. Not that you're abiding in God,

but that He's abiding in you. I'm kind of corny

and tacky, but I really love that little picture

of the footsteps in the sand because it's a perfect

illustration. Where the guy complains and said,

Lord, you left me. He said, no, I'm scared of

you. That's great. That's a great illustration.

Listen to this. There is no fear in love. That's

what awaits you. if you pick up the cross, if

you consider the other person more important

than yourself, if you're willing to lean into

the circumstances of God's choosing, because

that's the situation that he wants you to please

him in, and you have the confidence that your

obedience is shaky, but you're all in. This is

where you want to go. Do you realize the miraculous

and supernatural courage that you can have? It's

phenomenal. I'm the biggest coward in the world.

If I'm in a situation where I'm being confronted

or whatever and I've done something wrong, I'm

white, a coward. In difference to the fact that

when you're in the situation and in your heart's

cry and prayer, God help me, I love you, I don't

want to disappoint you here, please give me the

scriptures that are pertinent to this situation

and help me to love you in this situation that

I find very difficult for myself but I know it's

not difficult for you and all of a sudden this

This courage that's inexplicable is there. There

is, that's what that verse says, there's no fear

in love. Imagine ladies not having fear about

your children, about your future, about your

money, about your health, about getting old.

Zero fear. Don't bring the standard down. That's

the standard. There's no fear in love. Perfect

love casts out all fear. First his love for you,

then the reciprocated love that grace gives,

and your love to him. That's not a place to be

afraid. That's not, let me rephrase that, that's

not a place where you're going to be afraid when

you're in that mindset. Greater is he who's in

you than he who's in the world. My grace is sufficient

for you. My power is perfected in your weakness.

I'd rather boast in my infirmity and my weakness

so that the power of God might rest upon me.

A person who's in power is not afraid. Even if

it looks like they don't fit the bill of what

power is supposed to look like. But I'd rather

laugh at what people think about me than be really

afraid. Life is fearful. My granddad told me

they were rolling him in and I'd never see him

again. And he said to me, Brucey, he said, life

is hard, even when it's easy. I was like, man,

I'm glad I was here. Because that's true. This

world is just a vortex of pressure. It's already

condemned. You know that, right? Judgment has

been passed. John MacArthur used to say it's

disposable. It's like a diaper. It's coming to

an end. I hope y 'all are getting the point.

Such as it is. There is no fear in love. People

used to get in arguments when we were at school

about what's the put on of fear. All you got

to do is just pursue the love of this passage

and it'll take care of itself. They said no,

the put on of fear is fate. Not in this case

right here, the point that He is making is that

your fear can be alleviated as you give yourself

away to God and to others, no matter how painful

and scary that might look. That's the way through.

See that? Doesn't look like a way through. That's

the way through. What is it? It's a narrow way,

lit. Doesn't matter how skinny it is these turned

all some was gone turned all the lights out in

this room You ever seen that like in a movie

theater those little reflector lights? Then right

straight down the middle Do you love God or do

you love you Do you love God or do you love you

and I mean in a total sense who has the reins

him or you? You know the other pastor at our

church gave a sermon one time and he talked about

how Saul started so well and he he was really

humble when they went to anointing king he was

hiding remember that and he was the tallest best

-looking strongest dude and about a time it gets

to his downfall that all that's gone to his head

and and he And God has been very clear to him

about what obedience and love in the situation

he's in are, and he takes matters back into his

own hands. That's what fear will, that's the

impulse of fear right there. In your circumstance,

the impulse of fear, when it grips you, is you

want to take back over. You can do it better

than God can. Fear has to do with punishment

and whoever fears Just take this to heart Whoever

fears has not been perfected in love your love

is falling short if you're living a life of anxiety

and fear It's not figuring out some spiritual

gimmick and formula. It's not the newest and

latest book It's nothing like that. It's simply

you're loving you more than you're loving God,

and you're loving you more than you're loving

somebody else. Call me simple. That's what it

is. That's, my friends, what the Word of God

says. Let me read that again. has not been perfected

in love. Wherever that fear shows up, it's a

love problem. That's a good thing to remember,

isn't it? When you're afraid, it's either a misunderstanding

or a misapplication of love itself. That's why

Paul in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 through

Ephesians 3:14–21

21 basically says in that prayer, nothing else

matters. This is the most important think. If

anyone says I love God and hates his brother,

he is a liar. And basically John is saying if

you choose for yourself in any given circumstance,

you hate your brother. It's like when you withhold

discipline from a child, the scriptures say that

you hate that child because proactive obedience

has a axiom to it. Lacking it is hatred. That's

what he's saying here. John's not ignorant. He

knows that as soon as it's more about you and

man, how can I help you? How can I serve you?

What can we do for you? And then all of a sudden

the cross of what that actually means comes to

bear in your life and you don't really like it.

And you start trying to find ways out of it because

real love costs. We are always talking about

what it means to be a slave of Christ and a slave

to others. And then we adopted the biblical attitude

and we give ourselves in slavery to someone and

they actually treat us like a slave. How dare

they? Isn't that true David? So true! You say,

oh, this concept of slavery is so romantic and

so biblical. And we were so fired up about it,

it solved so many problems. Let me just be your

slave. And then they say, all right, come here,

do this. Whoa, hey, wait a minute. I didn't know

it was going to take this so literally. That's

what he went through. He was under no illusions

that when he set aside the prophet as a deity

in heaven and came down to become a slave your

slave and a slave of all men he was he didn't

think that they were going to be crowning him

lord of all he knew what was happening he was

very familiar with Isaiah man known that but

he grew up reading Isaiah it's ironic that's

the first passage we see him you know he's in

the first book we see him he's He knew this.

He learned this. I think he learned this. I was

trying to have him know that in heaven before

he came up with a sentence. He didn't even know

what that was like. But I believe... Let's finish

with Pastor Bruce's opinion. I believe he learned

the scriptures just like you did. Sweat and blood

and tears and candlelight. I believe he had to

read it. He didn't get a circuit or shortcut

and use his divine nature. That's the kenosis.

He bailed himself from certain knowledge that

the revealed word of God had and he made himself

a man of the book. I believe that's a good opinion,

but nonetheless, the mysteries of the incarnation

shall remain closed until disclosed. He's a liar.

For whoever does not love his brother whom he

has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

I love it when Jesus affirms our faith near the

end. And he says, blessed are you. You believe

because you were here and you saw it all take

place. There's a sense in which we are more blessed

because we didn't see it happen. We read about

it and believed it. Amen. That's strong, isn't

it? Really strong. That's a mural. And this commandment

we have from him. Whoever loves God must also

love his brother and not to step down without

what my granddad said is right. It's hard. It's

hard. And most of us are not under any physical

pressure. I mean the things that we're dealing

with in most of our lives, and I'm not dismissing

your pain, and I know you're not dismissing mine.

We all have our hidden darkness, don't we? So

it's hard, but you have not yet resisted sin

to the point of bloodshed. Go and do right. Be

God's people. Father, thank you for this chapter.

Have a good faithfulness. God, thank you for

forgiving me, for giving us our sins. Please

help us to draw near to you, to really lean into

the fellowship of the saints in this body. It's

not about size and numbers, it's about substance

and presence, truth. And we've been given the

truth. What a responsibility and privilege that

is. Help us not to shrink back in our testimony.

Help us to not be complacent and satisfied with

where we are. Help us to be true, authentic,

and honest with you. We trust you in Jesus name.

Amen.