Courageous Pt-4

Courageous Pt 4 – Fear of Judgement

1. Fear can be the result of condemnation, and condemnation is the result of sin. 

   1. Fear is always a trap: 

• When we sin, fear causes us to hide and keeps us from running to God. 

• When we seek to obey, fear causes us to run from God. 

2. You cannot obey God without faith, so fear traps you in sin. 

3. You cannot receive forgiveness from God without faith, so fear traps us in sin. 

   1. In Max Lucado’s book, Fearless, he puts it this way: “When fear shapes our life, safety becomes our God. And when safety becomes our God, we worship the risk–free life.” He then goes on to say, “The fear–filled cannot love deeply because love is risky. They cannot give to the poor because benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear–filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? The worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus wages such a war against fear!”

Text: 1 John 4:16 So we have come to know (accepted relational knowledge)and to believe (this is informational, not necessarily applicational. 

• Belief is informational 

• Faith is applicational 

  • Applied knowledge is faith in the word, that is, active faith. 

  • At some point, what you believe must be put into application,

    • “Even the demons believe!”(James 2:19)

Where does belief and knowing do any good? 

Text Continued …the love that God has for us. God is love, andwhoever abides in loveabides in God, and God abides in him. 

• Abide, Greek word: meno

• Means to “stay put.” Remain, make abode, your home address. 

What is the result?  v17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, 

What do we realize?  Text Continued…because as he is, so also are we in this world. 

What happens if we do not abide? v18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

Fear shows up in a Christian who sins:

• Becuase in that moment they are not resting in God’s love 

• God’s finished work of propitiation 

• And God’s amazing grace, 

But they are wrestling with their own: 

• Works, performance, and sense of guilt. 

• So their view of God shifts from “Father who loves me” to “Judge who will punish me.”

What 1 John 4 is saying

1. John is talking about confidence “for the day of judgment,” 

   1. Not because we live sinlessly, 

   2. But because “as he is, so also are we in this world.”

      1. We stand clothed in Christ’s righteousness, not our own. 

2. Perfect love casts out all fear…..

   1. God’s love received, 

   2. Believed, and 

   3. Allowed to shape us

      1. Drives out the kind of fear that expects punishment, 

      2. Because that punishment has already fallen on Christ. 

      3. Where that love fills and governs the heart, dread of condemnation shrinks.

I. Fear, Punishment, and Assurance

1. John says, “Fear has to do with punishment.” 

   1. If I think my standing with God rises and falls with my last week of obedience, 

      1. Then I will fear when I sin.

   2. Hebrews and Romans 8:1 insist there is now “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” 

   3. And that we have received the Spirit of adoption, not of slavery, to fall back into fear. 

2. Fear, then, is not a sign that Christ’s work is incomplete; 

   1. It is a sign that my heart is slipping from faith in Christ’s work.

   2. And beginning to trust in my own track record and work. 

A helpful diagnostic:

1. The very fact that a Christian grieves over sin, 

2. Longs to be free of it, 

3. And is concerned about grieving the Holy Spirit 

   1. Usually points to the Spirit at work, not His absence.

2 Timothy 1:7 Paul tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power (whose power?) Love (whose Love?) and a sound mind (whose mind?).” 

1 Corinthians 2:15 The spiritual man judges all things, 

• Spiritual man – born again, righteous, worships, and naturally knows God’s power, love, and has the mind or thoughts of CHRIST.  

• Not soulical man – emotional, feelings must become a servant or slave to righteousness through a renewed mind, OR IS GIVEN TO FEAR, GUILT, AND SHAME. 

• Not carnal man or mind (enmity with God) – flesh lust, desire, must be crucified, OR IS NATURALLY GIVEN TO SIN. 

v15 continued…but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16“Forwhohas knownthe mindof the Lord,so asto instructHim?”Butwehavethe mindof Christ.

II. How Love Grows Where Fear Shrinks

1. Fear tends to fade as the believer spends more time in the presence of God and walks with Him.

2.  Yes, he repents, but the transformation is in receiving the love of God. 

As Paul writes in Ephesians 3, his prayer is that they may be rooted and firmly established in love, able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love. 

• As I peer at the ocean, filled with billions of gallons of water, teeming with fish both microscopic and gigantic alike, I become convinced that diving into the depths of God’s love will be a lifelong pursuit. 

• Deep as the ocean, high as the sky, God’s love for us stretches far and wide. 

• Everywhere there is sky their is life; everywhere there is water in the ocean, there is life. 

• The Love of God is life where sin is death. 

Psalms 36:5 LORD, your faithful love reaches to the sky. Your faithfulness is as high as the clouds. Your goodness is higher than the highest mountains. Your fairness is deeper than the deepest ocean.

Illustrate: We are overwhelmed by the goodness of God. 

• How many cubic feet of sky surrounds the Earth? 3,947,000,000 cubic feet of sky. 

• How many cubic feet of water are in the oceans? Over 1.7 quadrillion cubic feet in the ocean. 

Romans 5:20 But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,

• Jesus showed Peter just how deep and wide forgiveness really is.

•  His answer to Peter on how many times a man must forgive another. 

• How many times is that? For Peter, it was 70×7 daily

  • This equals a number representing the complete history of God’s work in man from the Book of Daniel up until Christ.  (Matthew 18:22)

Romans 2:4 reminds us that this goodness is actually what leads us to repentance, not fear or guilt. 

• v4Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Fear should be replaced with Faith so that the believer returns again and again to what the scriptures have promised and not run from Christ. 

Romans 12:3 Every man has been given the measure of faith. 

• The same faith that God gave you was enough to receive God’s grace for salvation for a lifetime of sins. 

• IS the same faith that you must use to repent and return to receive forgiveness 

Is it that easy? It’s not easy to believe you are forgiven, but it is easy to receive it once you repent of sin and believe you are forgiven. Why? 

• Christ is our justification – Just As If….I have never sinned,

• Christ is our propitiation (Satisfaction- Mercy Seat) – Receiving of punishment, appeasing God’s anger towards sin, 

• Christ is our redemption – Price paid to free a slave,

• Christ is our atonement – At one with God and at peace with God, 

• Christ is our advocate – Defense against accusations from the Accuser,

• Christ is our righteousness – Imputed and “Put on” by faith, leading to worship and walking in the Spirit. 

Have you ever noticed that fear creates a form of spiritual amnesia?

•  It dulls our miracle memory.

•  It makes us forget what Jesus has done and how faithful He is.

• Forgetful or Faithful?  

So for a Christian who sins, the fear is “there” is precisely at the point where the heart stops living in Christ’s love and faith in Christ’s love. 

• This keeps the believer from believing that they are forgiven! 

  • Fear causes us to refocus.

  • Bad focus causes us to forget, 

  • And forgetfulness causes us to fail to use our faith.

Scooby-Doo Facing Ghosts: Every episode they forget!

Like Scooby-Doo, the cowardly dog who trembles at every shadow but pushes through with his gang to unmask the “ghosts” as fakes, we can overcome fear despite the sins of doubt or timidity. God’s “meddling kids”—His grace and community—empower us (Joshua 1:9), turning fearful chases into victories that please Him, even when we start with a “Ruh-roh!”

III. Risk Exposure to the Light

• Illustration: Picture yourself trapped in a dark old house, where fear manifests as monstrous shadows on the walls—exaggerated illusions of what might happen if you trust God and believe Him fully, like losing friends or facing hardship. 

These shadows keep you huddled in sin’s corner, clinging to comforts like greed or unforgiveness, afraid to venture out. 

But God’s light waits just beyond the entrance (Psalm 27:1The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?), ready to reveal the shadows as harmless. 

• Stepping into that light pleases Him, dissolving the fears that held you captive and illuminating a path of true freedom.

The shadow explains how sin works. 

• You will have a shadow until the day you die. 

• You will shadow box with sin until you die. 

• Wherever you go, sin goes with you like a shadow. 

• Your shadow is the former you that tries to remind you of your past, which is always behind you – if you’re facing the light

• Your shadow is not you; you are you, not your shadow

• How to defeat it?

• Face the light, not your shadow,w and Like Jesus said to Peter’s shadow Get behind me, Satan! 

Sin creeps at your door, don’t open it, follows you like a shadow, don’t believe it.

IV. The Birth of Fear: Sin’s Immediate Shadow: 

• Since I believe Adam and Eve were clothed in the righteousness of God and Light, Genesis never mentions them having a shadow. 

• The New Earth shows how this works: 

  • Revelation 22:5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve disobey God by eating from the forbidden tree, a profound change occurs. 

• The Lord shows up for the walk anyway; He does not abandon them. 

• He does not show up to judge but to restore. 

• When God calls out to them in the garden, Adam replies, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid”(Genesis 3:10). 

Fear is a shadow that amplifies our past failures, chaining us to sins of guilt or hiding, like Adam and Eve after the fall. 

• Instead of approaching God’s throne boldly for mercy, we retreat, missing the joy of pleasing Him through repentant, grace-empowered living.

V.  Breaking Free: The Power of Grace and Truth

Beloved, here’s the good news: this cycle isn’t unbreakable! God doesn’t leave us in bondage. Practically, break the cycle by:

• The key is confession, repentance, and embracing His perfect love, which “drives out fear”(1 John 4:18). 

• When we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us(1 John 1:9).

  • David experienced this: after confessing, he prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”(Psalm 51:12).

• Cast your anxieties to Him, because He cares for you – 1 Peter 5:7

Even in your messiest moments. Through Christ, who broke sin’s power on the cross, we can walk in freedom.

• Trust the voice of the Spirit, not the voice of the Enemy. 

  • The body of Christ is living in defeat because many believers don’t understand that the Holy Spirit is actually in them to convict them of their righteousness in Christ. 

    • Even when you fail, He is ever present in you to remind you that the blood of Jesus has made you totally forgiven and eternally righteous. That’s the Holy Spirit.

  •  John 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: (pay attention to the colon, introduces a list) 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

    • Sin- Unbelievers, those who do not believe

    • Righteousness – Believers who are apart from Jesus and longing to be with Him. 

    • Judgement – The Ruler of this world.