LOVE CASTING OUT FEAR


A. "THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE; BUT PERFECT LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR, BECAUSE FEAR HATH PUNISHMENT; AND HE THAT FEARETH IS NOT PERFECT IN LOVE"
  1. The words of our text:
    1. Constitute a real challenge to our claims to love - be it to God or to men
    2. He measures love by the absence of fear; fear is indicative to the absence of true love
  2. This reasoning by John leads:
    1. To a serious self-examination
    2. Are we controlled by the power of life or by the power of fear - it cannot be both B. LET US CONSIDER THE INEVITABLENESS OF FEAR
  3. Meaning of the word "fear";
    1. Fear, in its highest sense is reverence to fear God is to reverence him - "Holy and reverent is His name" - Ps. 111:9; "Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy" - Ps. 99:3
    2. But the word "fear" is, also, an expression of a feeling of insecurity - "Man's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" - Luke 21:26
  4. The inevitableness of fear:
    1. The fear that plagues the life of people springs from a sense of guilt - examples: Think of the fear of Belshazzar - Dan. 5:5-7; the sense of guilt of Felix - Acts 24:25; the guilt which caused Judas to hang himself - Matt. 27:1-5
    2. This fear is world-wide simply because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - Rom. 3:22
    3. Said Jesus to the Pharisees, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her" - John 8:7
    4. Wherever there is evil to be seen, there is fear or the seed of fear; and evil is around us on all sides in this world of ours
    5. Who can look at the state of the world and not have a sense of deep anxiety at what we and our children are facing - Luke 21:25-27; Is. 24:17-22
    6. Fear arises necessarily from our ignorance; a person unacquainted with the operation of a machine is fearful of it; fearing that it may harm him; but a man that knows the working of the machine is not afraid of it
    7. He who knows God and who lives honestly before God is not plagued with the common fear
    8. Fear is stirred by our wrong doing; when we sin we cower before offended justice; Examples: Adam and Eve coward, hiding themselves among the trees because they were guilty Gen. 3:7-8; the unsaved multitude seeks refuge beneath the rocks because they are guilty of having slighted and rejected God's love - Rev. 6:15-16 C. LET US CONSIDER FURTHER:
  5. The antagonism of fear to love:
    1. Love and fear are antagonistic passions, and the tendency of the one is to over shadow and extinguish the other
    2. The love of God is declared in our text to be victorious over fear
    3. Fear is based upon some possible evil; love is based upon the forgetfulness of self altogether; the essence of love is to look away from itself
    4. Fear has torment - so the Bible declares I John 4:18; Examples: See the torment in Belshazzar and in Felix - Dan. 5:5-7; Acts 24:25; note the torment of the sailors - Jonah 1:10
  6. The expulsion of fear:
    1. Love is unlike fear, it inspires confidence - Examples: David meeting Goliath - I Sam. 17:24-47; the three Hebrews facing the fiery furnace - Dan. 3:17-19; Elisha seeing the army of the enemy - 2 Kings 6:k16-17
    2. The love that will cast out fear is not a vague emotion toward an unknown God; but it rises in the heart as a consequence of knowing and believing the love which God has toward us. Hence, again, kit is the conqueror of fear
    3. Love which casts our fear heightens reverence; it creates in the heart an abiding affection and confidence in the heart of the believer; Examples: Note the confidence of Job in God's love, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" - John 19:25; "What shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" - Job 2:10; "Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him" - Job 13:15


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