Love > Fear

1 John chapter 4 and verse 17. This is now our

1 John 4 · chapter mention

third installment of our Love Matters series.

I want to say Love Matters. Amen. We've been

going through, for the most part, 1 John chapter

1 John 4 · chapter mention

4. And we've still got a few more weeks to go

in this series, but I believe that God's going

to speak to us today, once again, on love. Reading

at verse 17, 1 John 4, it says this way, love

has been perfected among us in this, that we

may have boldness in the day of judgment because

as he is, so are we in this world. There is no

fear. Someone say no fear. There is no fear in

love, but perfect love. Somebody say perfect

love. Come on, say it again. Perfect love. That's

right. You know there's love and then there's,

come on, help me out. There's love and then there's

perfect love. There's a difference. Perfect love

casts out fear because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in

love. Today's message is love is greater than

fear. Somebody say amen. And you may be seated

in God's presence. Love is greater than fear.

You know, we're often told that the opposite

of fear is faith. How many of you have maybe

heard that before, right? That if you don't want

fear, you got to have more faith, right? We need

to grow in faith. And that idea does make sense.

I think there is truth to that. Certainly faith

matters. But the title of this series is not

Faith Matters, it's Love Matters. And John wants

us to understand something in this short letter

about the power of love. And we need faith because

we know that without faith it's impossible to

please him. But faith alone is not the antidote

to fear. Because what we begin to understand,

the more we get into... understanding the nature

of our relationship with Jesus Christ and begin

to grow and develop in that walk with the Lord

is that fear alone is not what's going to preserve

us. There has to be something, or excuse me,

faith alone, but there has to be something that

goes deeper than that. And John takes us beyond

just resisting fear into replacing it altogether.

And according to him, fear is not ultimately

overcome simply by trying harder and believing

more. But fear is removed when something greater

takes its place. It's removed when something

greater takes its place. In his words, perfect

love casts out fear. Perfect love casts out fear.

And so what we read in our text today is that

the true antidote to fear, which is something

we all face. There's not a person in this room

today that does not experience some level of

fear in your life from day to day. The things

that we worry about, the things that get us anxious.

There's a button of fear that the devil can press

in all of our lives. whether it's fear over tomorrow,

the uncertainty of tomorrow, fear about our health,

our finances, our relationships, our loved ones.

There's so many things that we can be afraid

of or have fear about. And so if that wasn't

the case, then Scripture wouldn't be as replete

as it is telling us to not fear. It's something

that we all experience. So Bible's always telling

us to fear not, fear not. So it's something we

all have in common. No matter how strong you

are in the Lord, no matter how long you've been

serving him, fear comes knocking, and it wants

to reside in our life. But if we learn to grow

in love and to rest in, settle in the love of

God the way God intended it to, we can live a

life above and beyond our fears. Somebody say

amen today. This is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians

13, 13, Now abide faith, hope, love, these three.

But the greatest of these is love. Now we're

not diminishing the power of faith. We're not

diminishing the power of hope. These are great

virtues that... will sustain us. Faith will sustain

us. Amen. Hope will keep us motivated. Hope will

anchor us, right? Because these are important

things. Faith is the substance of things hoped

for. But love is greater than those things. If

you put all these three virtues side by side,

they're all valuable. They're all important to

the life of a believer. But love... is greater

than these. Now, you might ask, why is love greater

than faith? Why is love greater than hope? Think

about it for a moment. I'm not going to dwell

on this thought too long, but if you really start

to think about it, what faith and hope is needed

for, these things are temporal. When we get to

heaven, you're not going to need faith anymore.

You know why? Because we'll be living in the

fulfillment of it all. You're not going to need

faith anymore. When you get to heaven, you're

not going to need hope anymore. Why? Because

hope is fulfilled. We're living in the fulfillment

of hope. But you know the one thing that you're

going to have, regardless of whether you're here

or in eternity, is love. We're not going to stop

loving Him when we get there. So that's one reason

why hope is greater than faith, or excuse me,

love is greater than hope. And faith is because

it's eternal. It continues. So love is greater.

Because love is the atmosphere of God's presence.

It's the evidence of his constant, continual

work in our hearts. And so my message today is

not about managing your fears. It's not simply

about getting your fears under control and keeping

your fears in check. This is not simply about

coping with your fears or learning how to coexist.

If I could just get along with my fear, maybe

I'll be all right. No, that's not what God, God

has something better for you than that. Amen.

I don't want to make room for the enemy that

way. I don't want to give him a corner space

in my life where we can stay out of each other's

way. And if you stay on your side of the line

and I stay on my side of the line, then maybe

I can live with some acceptable fears and disturbances

in my life. No, God's got a greater plan for

us than that. And today's message is really about

understanding what it means to truly overcome.

Our fears. And it's about having a heart that

is so occupied with love that fear no longer

has a place to live. Amen. Love is fear's eviction

notice. Love. is fear's eviction notice. We're

going to see today how love is not this gooey,

gushy, you know, warm and fuzzy emotion. Love

is tough. You don't want to mess with love. not

the kind of perfect love that God desires to

instill in the hearts of his children, that this

kind of love is a love you don't want to mess

with. This is a strong love. And John, as I mentioned

last week, he's writing this letter, and he's

dealing with some tough things. He's got some

tough issues that he's addressing in the church.

There's false teaching going on here that he's

addressing. There is relational strife happening.

And, of course, none of these things happen in

the 21st century, right? Amen. And there's tension,

all these things happening. in a very straightforward

fashion he presents perfected love as that balm

as that salve that healing agent for relational

wounds it's so it's like the one magic pill so

to speak that if you if you just have a steady

dose of love in your life if you have love uh

growing in your heart and established in your

life then it's kind of the the one solution that

all in purpose uh healing agent for for the different

and tensions and problems and things that we

go through in our life and the fears that we

face, that if we can just get our hearts settled

in the love of God. God it would solve a lot

of these things for us troubled minds and anxious

hearts this is what what he's addressing our

final standing with God you know many people

are worried that one day when they stand before

God that that God's going to uh that that his

grace is going to fall short that his that that

they're going to be judged harshly before him

and that that your good wasn't good enough but

but I want you today to to be confident and secure

the word of God wants you to be secure in the

love that he has for you. So John invites us

to imagine a life where fear doesn't dominate

us anymore. How many of you want that kind of

life? Where fear doesn't dominate. Where it doesn't

control. It doesn't control our decisions. It

doesn't control our relationships. It doesn't

ruin and disrupt our peace. But he wants us to

imagine a life where fear not only loses its

power, but it loses its place. But how does this

happen? John answers this question, and so what

we're going to do is go a few verses back. We're

going to start reading now in verse 12. He answers

this question. He dissects it for us systematically,

how it is that we can live in this love. Verse

12, let's go there. It says, no one has seen

God at any time, meaning God's invisible. If

we love one another, God abides in us and his

love has been perfected in us. By this we know

that we abide. That's a very important word,

that we abide in him and he in us because he

has given us his spirit. So in order to cast...

out fear from our life, for love to cast out

fear, the first thing that we need to do, number

one, we have to receive His Spirit. And when

we receive His Spirit, this is what happens.

Love moves in. Love moves into our hearts. Amen.

How many of you are thankful for the Holy Spirit?

How many of you are thankful for the Spirit of

God today? Amen. I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost.

I'm thankful for his spirit. Why? Because when

the spirit of God takes residence in my life

and in my heart, this is what happens. Love moves

in. Love moves in. The Bible teaches us that

God is spirit. And that means that he is eternal.

He's invisible. And that he is not limited by

the natural laws that govern our physical world.

He transcends all of that. And also the Bible

teaches us that God is love. So God is spirit

and God is love. These are the attributes of

his nature. And so when his spirit comes and

then fills our hearts and our lives, it's not

just to have more power, although that's what

also happens, or just to have his gifts. And

of course he brings his gifts with him, but primarily

it's so that we can abide in his love. So his

love can live within us. Amen, somebody. And

love, as it moves into our hearts, it begins

to rearrange our hearts, rearrange things, because

love doesn't just move in. Love moves in and

it starts moving furniture around. It starts

rearranging your stuff. I know, I caused anxiety

right there when I said that. Don't touch that.

I like it right there. Amen. Hallelujah. You

know, I don't know if you marry couples, you

never come home and you see that your spouse

rearranged something. Wait, what happened? Hallelujah.

That's when you know love is in, you know. And

a lot of people, they want the love of God, they

want the Spirit of God to move in, but they don't

want Him to rearrange the furniture. Oh, don't

mess with that. Just leave that as it is. I like

things how they are. Well, how the things as

they are wasn't working for you to begin with.

That doesn't work. So we need the love of God

to come in. But as he starts to rearrange things

and as the love gets more comfortable and more

settled and more established in our hearts, if

I could just picture your heart like a home and

it comes into the home of your heart and it establishes

itself. fear starts to feel like it can't stay

anymore. What once fear occupied, now love is

reclaiming, and now love is establishing itself.

And Paul, the apostle, agrees with this, with

John, and he uses some powerful terms, and these

are verses that we've heard, but let me tell

you, he told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, 7, for God

has not given us a spirit of fear. Amen. But

of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now,

we preach this apostolic and we get all happy

and excited because he gave us power. Don't stop

there. God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but

of power. Praise God. Hallelujah. Speak in tongues.

But wait, he also gave us love. And I don't think

we talk enough about that part. And a sound mind.

Amen, a sober mind, but he gave us love. So when

love comes in, it evicts fear from our life and

the two are incompatible. They're not supposed

to live in the same space. It's got to be either

one or the other. He also wrote in Romans 8,

15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage

again to fear, but you received the spirit of

adoption. I'm going to say adoption. You receive

the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba,

Father. Adoption is a powerful biblical term.

It speaks of intentional love, chosen love. Adoption

says to every one of us, the spirit of adoption,

you belong here. You belong here. Amen. That's

powerful. And when the spirit of adoption, the

spirit of love moves in, fear loses its right

to stay. You see, fear thrives in orphan thinking.

I'm going to explain something to you. I'm going

to give you a few like aha moments in your faith

right now. Is that all right? And these are just

things the Lord showed and impressed upon me.

The reason why fear thrives in orphan thinking

is because an orphan is always asking questions

about his security. An orphan is always wondering,

am I safe? A child never has to ask that question.

But an orphan is always wondering, am I really

wanted? An orphan is wondering. Am I loved? An

orphan is wondering, will I be provided for?

You see, the reason why an orphan thinks that

way is because an orphan has been abandoned and

so it expects abandonment. An orphan feels that

way. And you know what an orphan mentality is?

And the reason why fear thrives in an orphan

thinking is that an orphan feels like they have

to justify their place. They have to work harder

than those who were biologically born in the

family. Come on now. They have to work to prove

themselves, to earn the love, the security. They

have to justify their place in the family and

work for it. That is the very opposite of what

Christ came to give us. That is the very opposite

of what it means to be a child of God. We are

no longer, man, we were singing it just a little,

I'm no longer an orphan. I am a child of the

king. And this is what God wants you to understand.

You don't have to live in fear. Why? Because

you're not an orphan anymore. You have been adopted

into the family of God. Somebody should give

the Lord some praise for that today. So stop

trying to justify yourself and earn your way

to God. earn my keep and I gotta validate myself.

I gotta justify why I'm here. No, you have to

be completely settled in your mind that you are

beloved. And accept it just as you are. And you

belong here. A son or a daughter, unlike an orphan,

can rest. They can abide because they know who

their father is. And they know where they belong.

And this is what God desires for every one of

us. To live in the security of knowing that I

am wanted. That I am cared for. That God loves

me with an everlasting love. unconditional love.

An orphan feels that if they mess up or if they

fail, that their father's going to kick them

out of the house or they're going to lose the

right to be there. But that's not what we have.

When I mess up or when I fail, I'm a child of

God. He may not like what I did, but he still

loves me anyhow. He corrects me. He builds me

up in my most holy faith. Hallelujah. The reason

why there are people that miss out with God,

even backslide if I can say that, is because

they have a loud fear. to thrive in an orphan

mindset, and they forgot that God is patient

and that God is forgiving and that God is loving

and that God is merciful and he's a God of second

and third and fourth chances and that he never

runs out of that. Hallelujah. And I want somebody

today, you're living in fear. You're over in

fear over your standing with God, over your standing

with man. You're in fear about so many different

things that are coming across your life and reports

that you're here. Hearing and news that's being

spread. But I want you today when you leave this

place to be. completely and totally at rest in

the arms of God and understanding that you are

accepted in the beloved and that you are cherished

and that you belong. Somebody say amen today.

When the spirit of love and adoption moves into

your heart, not just as a guest, but as a resident,

you'll stop living in fear. And this brings us

to the second truth, which is to remain in him.

We don't just want love to move in. We want love

to stay. And church, this is the message that

we need to preach. This is the gospel. We've

got to preach to those out there. Amen. This

is what makes the gospel, this is what makes

our message so powerful, so beautiful, so life

-changing. Amen. We've got to tell people about

the love of God. So remain in him. Love stays.

Receiving the spirit allows love to move in,

but remaining in him, that allows love to settle

in, to abide. You got to tell love, hey, love,

why don't you stay a while? Kick off your shoes,

love. Don't be in a hurry. I want you to stay.

I want you to be, you know, mi casa es tu casa.

Hallelujah. Open up the fridge, huh? Hallelujah.

You don't have to knock anymore. Just come on

in. You know, this is home. Love, I want you

to abide in it. See, many believers receive the

spirit of love, but they don't remain in that

love. Because remaining requires ongoing attention.

You know what it requires? It requires intimacy

and commitment. Uh -oh. Hallelujah. Devotion

and care. You got to tend to that love, that

first love. You got to tend to those things that

God has instilled in your heart through a daily

relationship. I cannot stress enough how important

it is today, church, for you to have a daily

relationship with Jesus Christ. A daily prayer

life. Amen, somebody. Hello. You've got to talk

to God daily. You've got to engage with him daily.

You've got to commune with him daily through

prayer and his word so that you can remain in

his love. And I can always trace my fears. My

greatest fears in my life can always be traced

to times in my life or in my heart when I got

away from his word and I started neglecting my

altar, started neglecting my prayer life, started

neglecting the word, spending a little more time

on Netflix and PS4s and all that than I did the

word. And no wonder why the devil is wreaking

havoc on my mind. No wonder why I'm stumbling

over the smallest things. No wonder why my attitude

is all out of whack and out of alignment. No

wonder why I'm getting easily annoyed, hot, and

bothered. It's because I'm not tending to the

love that God has established in my heart through

a daily relationship with God through his word.

And so when that begins to happen, guess what

happens? Fear starts to make its way back in.

Old intruders, insecurities, old fears. and old

doubts start coming back into my life and they

start sitting on the couch of my heart again

and all of a sudden things are not the way that

they're supposed to be. But John shows us that

the power The power, he shows us, of remaining

is not an emotional effort. It's not in how much

I do and how much I prove, but it's in the power

and the assurance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is in the gospel. Hallelujah. Let's read some

more in verses 14 and 15. He writes, I'll be

just a few more moments. He said, and we have

seen and testified that the Father has sent the

Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses

that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him,

and he in God. You see, our security, our security

is not based on what we do, but on what Christ

has already done for us. What so many Christians

today are hampered by is performative Christianity.

Can I help somebody today? Amen. Somebody say,

go ahead. Performative Christianity. Performance

-based Christianity. Works -based Christianity.

Now, of course, if Christ has saved us, sanctified

us, forgiven us, changed our life, redeemed us

then, out of that flow service and sacrifice,

out of a desire to please the Lord, but not the

other way around. But many today are stricken

or held back. or under the delusion even. A performative

Christian. What I mean by that is they're constantly

feeling that they have to perform for God. Perform

for the church. Perform for the leader. Perform

for their friends and their coworkers. Perform.

And Christianity is nothing but a performance.

That's not what living for God is about. It's

not. Now, I know we come and, you know, we dress

a little nicer on Sundays. And, you know, we

comb our hair. Praise God. I don't know. You

know, we do these things. We brush our teeth.

Hopefully you do that every day. We come to that,

well, this is God's house. But let us never allow

the mentality of coming into the house of God

as the same as putting on a mask and being performative

in our worship. Let us be who we are out there

in here and who we are in here out there. Amen,

somebody. You don't got to perform for me, you

know. I don't need to perform for you. And I

certainly don't need to perform anything for

God. This is not performative Christianity. It

is me resting and knowing that even if I'm on

my bad day, even if I've just had a bad day or

things are not going my way, I'm in a stuck in

a rut or I'm just not feeling it today, that

it's okay. God still loves you. And it's okay.

God is not flippant. He's not, oh, my Lord, help

me here today. He's not bipolar. He's not schizophrenic.

He's not changing his mind about you every other

day. God doesn't fall in and out of love with

you from Monday to Tuesday. God thinks highly

of you today just as he does in the middle of

the week. And if you would understand that, believe

that wholeheartedly, then you would live your

life with a little more confidence in telling

the devil, devil, I don't care what you say about

me. I don't care what you do to me. I am a child

of the living God. I am loved with the love of

God. Why? Because Jesus went to the cross. He

shed his precious blood for me. Oh, I think about

his amazing grace. I think about how precious

his blood is. Oh, I think about how merciful

he is. I think about the cross. I think about

Calvary. I think about, and then I confess that

he loved me while I was still a sinner. He loved

me that way. Amen. Think about his precious blood.

There is power, power, wonder working in the

blood. How many of you know there's power in

the blood? There's power in his amazing grace.

How sweet the sound. We got to remember these

things. And whether you got to put on your favorite,

I was going to say CD. You guys don't even have

those. Hallelujah. MP3s and Spotify, carefully

curated music. Algorithms, they know what you

like. Okay. The Holy Ghost is checking some of

your algorithms. Praise the Lord. Amen. I don't

care what kind of mood you got to put yourself

in. I don't care what kind of, as long as you

are surrounding your, as long as you are feeding

yourself the right things, surrounding yourself

with the right thing and the right words, affirming

love, God, Holy Spirit affirming, truth affirming

things, hallelujah, and remembering that it's

God's goodness and God, whatever it is, whatever

mood you got to create in your life and in your

heart and in your home and in your marriage and

among your children, then you do what you got

to do, but remain in his love, steadfast and

unmovable, always above. abounding in the work

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody give God a

hand. Praise today. Hallelujah. I'll be just

a couple more minutes. Hallelujah. There's no

Super Bowl today, right? Hallelujah. Praise God.

Okay. That's gone. Hallelujah. Amen. The love

of Christ is our security, and nothing has the

power to remove it. In case you weren't convinced

by what I preached thus far, let the word speak

for itself. That the power of his love or God's

love is so powerful that nothing can remove it

from your life. You are secure in his love. And

that's why the devil hates this message so much.

He doesn't want you to have this revelation.

He doesn't want you to know how powerful his

love is. But Paul said this in Romans 8 .35.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

That's a powerful question. And the answer, shall

tribulation or distress or persecution, famine,

nakedness, peril, or sword? Can any of these

things separate us from the love of Christ? Verse

37, yet in all these things we are more than

conquerors. Through him who loved us. Through

him who Through him who loved us. For I am persuaded.

Is anybody persuaded today? Hallelujah. I'm going

to invite the keyboardist to come up here in

about 30 seconds. Is anybody persuaded today?

Come on. You see, here's the thing. You've got

to be persuaded about it. Don't just read these

things, oh, like this is like a nice, you know,

Hallmark card, you know, light a candle, you

know, drink coffee. No, you got to be persuaded

in your heart. It's got to go down deep. I am

persuaded about this. I am convicted about it.

I am convinced in the uttermost. depths of my

heart about this. I am persuaded that neither

death nor life, hallelujah, nor angels, nor principalities,

nor power, nor things present, nor things to

come, hallelujah. That's talking about the stuff

you're going through right now and the stuff

that you might have to deal with tomorrow, nor

height, nor depth, amen somebody, nor any other

creative thing. There's no devil in hell. There's

no person. There's no thing shall be able to

separate us from the love of God which is in

Christ Jesus. I've got news for you today. You

can stand firm. You can hold your head up high.

You can raise up your voice and your hands without

shame, without condemnation, without fear, without

insecurity because you are perfectly and wonderfully

loved by your God. Come on, why don't we give

God some praise right now? Why don't we love

Him in this house? I invite you to stand with

me here today. You got to reclaim that space.

Hallelujah. I came to preach that love evicts

fear. Hallelujah. Love evicts fear. I did not

come today to negotiate with my fears. I didn't

come to have a conversation with my fear. I didn't

come today to dialogue with my fear. I came to

put fear in its place. I came to tell fear, fear,

you don't live here anymore. I came to tell fear,

fear, here's your eviction notice, fear. You

want to know what the eviction notice is? It's

called the B -I -B -L -E. It's called the word

of God. By the authority of this word and the

power that's in the name of Jesus, I have come

to tell fear, you've to get out of here get out

of my head get out of my heart get out of my

life is there somebody here today that would

rise up in faith and love and say fear i cast

you out my life fear you don't belong here anymore

i cast you out i'm serving you you know fear

doesn't go politely you can't ask fear fear Do

you want to leave today? You can't ask fear.

You can't ask the devil, would you like? No,

no. You can't negotiate. No, no, no. You've got

to kick it out forcefully from your life. For

the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but

mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting.

down arguments and every high thing that exalts

itself against the knowledge of God, the knowledge

of his love, the knowledge of his goodness in

your life. Hallelujah. Bring in every thought,

every idea, every concept that's contrary to

what the Bible tells me into captivity to the

obedience of Christ. Today, I feel in my spirit,

I feel in the Holy Ghost that somebody is going

to kick fear out of your life. Right there where

you are, I'm going to invite you to start praying

with me. Right there. where you are. I know you

feel the Holy Spirit. Come on. I know you feel

the Spirit of God. I know there's something just...

I know something is happening. Oh, hallelujah.

This is the will of God for you, friend. To live

in perfect love. Perfect love. To live in perfect

love. Knowing that you are loved. Not for what

you do. Not for what you bring. But for who you

are. You are loved. You are fearfully and wonderfully

made. God. Oh, I feel something in the Holy Ghost.

God's love. Love is so rich and so profound.

You're never going to understand it. You're never

going to wrap your head around it. You're never

going to comprehend the depth of his love for

you. But if you today can let love move in, perfect

love, it's going to kick up that. fear. That

fear of losing your job. That fear of losing

your mind. That fear of losing your children.

That fear of losing your marriage. That fear

of losing all precious things in your life. That

fear of losing your health. That fear. Oh, that

fear that comes and shakes your mind. Some of

you have had trouble sleeping at night because

of fear. You lay your head down at night, and

as you're trying to sleep and fall into a sleep,

all of a sudden you start to worry about this.

You start to worry about issues in your family.

You start to worry about the bills. You start

to worry about unsettled debts. You start to

worry about this. And you just, oh. It's hard

to find that rest. You're struggling. But God

today sent me with an assignment. God brought

us here for this moment so that you can kick

that fear out of your life with the love of God.