Be Diligent to Supplement Yo..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, brothers and sisters. So we continue with our study on this topic of growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, taken from 2 Peter 3, verse 17 and 18.

And we're going to continue addressing together, beloved, all of those virtues, all of those characteristics that the apostle has given us. in chapter 1 of the second letter of Peter, listing those virtues there from verse 5 through verse 7 that are supposed to be added to our faith. And this afternoon, beloved of Christ, brothers and sisters, friends who are online, everyone within the sound of my voice, we are going to be addressing this afternoon Godliness. You find it there in the end of verse six. The apostle calls us to add to our steadfastness or to add to our endurance, which is that which we studied together last week.

We're going to add to that godliness. So today we're going to be speaking about that particular topic, the topic of godliness or piety, to be a godly person, to be pious, to have a godly character in the ESV says godliness. In your translation, perhaps you have a different word. This is something that is meant to be added to our steadfastness or to our endurance. And what I'm going to get you to do and ask you graciously to do is to read chapter one with me from verse one to verse eleven.

And also we're going to be reading together chapter three from verse eight to verse 13. because the apostle is going to use this word or this concept of godliness three times at least here in second Peter and two of those times are found in the first section that we're going to be reading together the first 11 verses of chapter 1 and then the second time is found in this section of chapter 3 verse 8 actually if you can just pay Come with me to chapter 3 and just see that verse there before we read it, so that we make the most of our reading. If you go to chapter 3 in verse 11, when the apostle is speaking about the day of judgment or the day of God, in which the new heavens and the new earth will come. He says in verse 11, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people are you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? So he says that because of the reality of the day of judgment, we are to be holy and godly.

And this is the topic, this is the concept that he is also mentioning in the first 11 verses of chapter 1. So, brothers and sisters, with faith and expecting and desiring that the Lord Jesus Christ will help us with His Spirit, I'm going to invite you to please read with me. the first 11 verses of chapter 1, and then we're going to jump to read that other passage there in chapter 3 from verse 8 to verse 11, which we have read in the past, and we have analyzed and studied together better in the past as a church. So let's read together these first 11 verses, and then we jump to chapter 3. This is the word of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Simeon, Peter, I, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue, with knowledge and knowledge, with self-control and self-control, with steadfastness and steadfastness, with godliness and godliness, with brotherly affection and brotherly affection, with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is only excited that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Come with me, please, to chapter 3 to read together from verse 8 to verse 13, that section of the words of God that speaks of the second coming of the Lord.

It says, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not as slow to fulfill His promise as some count His loneliness, but His patience towards you or us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed or burned up. Since all these are thus to be dissolved, What sort of people are you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt and they... and they burn as they burn.

But according to this promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. May the Lord bless not only the reading, but the preaching and the hearing of His Word. And may His Spirit be with us, brothers and sisters, beloved of Jesus Christ, dear souls, The Lord gives us grace every Sunday to come together as a church, to read together, to sing as a church, to do all of these things that are part of our faith that we might not be found deep into our hearts. Just doing this through the motions, just going through religion and just coming and ticking a particular box. It's so easy for the flesh just to get used to religion and just to get used through the years and the many Sundays and the many weeks just to do particular things rooted in the flesh and not moved by the love of the Savior and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers, sisters, if you listen to me and what I share with you on Thursday, When we were speaking about our lives as Christians in the world, I concluded what I wanted to share with you, taking that passage from 1 John 5, in which the Apostle John says that those who, by grace through faith, those who are believers in the Son of God, they have overcome the world. And he says that the victory of the Christian, that the victory of the person who by grace through faith has been inserted in Christ is his or her faith. It is our faith that which will bring the final outcome of this whole story or history of redemption, the salvation of our souls. And is that faith the one that is supposed to grow according to Peter? It's a faith that is not to be static.

A faith that is not to be or remain just as it was in the beginning when the Lord first saved us. But it's a faith that is supposed to bear fruit for the glory of God. It's a faith that is supposed to bear fruit for the edification of the church. It is a faith that is supposed to grow and bear fruit, for being light and salt unto the world. It is a faith that is supposed to be tested and to be confirmed as genuine, so that in the day that your soul is taken up to glory, or when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, then that faith will be for the honor and for the praise of the One who saved us and redeemed us, and the One who gave His life for us.

Biblically speaking, our faith is not to remain the same, but it's to grow. And this is my desire, and I hope the desire of the Spirit, that not only we will understand each one of these virtues or these characteristics deeper and better, but rather, and more importantly, that the Spirit of Jesus Christ will give into our hearts a genuine desire to die to self and to have the Lord Jesus Christ enthroned in our hearts every day of our lives. that we will despise religion, that we will despise the coldness and deafness of the traditions of men, and that we come and cling to the Lord to be transformed and have greater manifestations of His glory in earthen vessels, that apart from the Spirit of God will collapse and be destroyed by the presence of the Spirit. Yet, by the power of the gospel, we are called the temple of the Spirit and that God abides in each one of us individually and collectively. Your faith.

It does not matter how powerful or mighty is your faith. God-given faith of equal standing, like the faith of the apostles, is the faith that is supposed to grow. To that faith, beloved of Christ, you're supposed to add and to supplement it with virtue. Good works that are birthed, that are begotten in the heart of God from eternity past. We have been united to Christ, created in Him for good works.

that the glory of God will shine through us and that we will be recipients of who God is in us. And through that we will do good works. It is a good thing to do for everyone, especially for the household of the faith. To everyone, good works. To that virtue, beloved of Christ, we ought to acknowledge.

Not a knowledge that abides in the head, but a knowledge that is in the heart, that is a certainty given by the Spirit of God through the Scriptures in your heart, who He is that is moving you to action. That is the things that I have decided to share with you, sometimes with limited words and limited thoughts and limited ways of communication, but brother, sister, dear friend, that your faith will have indeed works, if not, is death. That your faith and your virtue will have knowledge that is in your heart and not in your head. Otherwise, your faith is death. And to that you are to add self-control and endurance to give these fruits unto the glory of the Father.

Fruits of righteousness, as Paul calls it in Philippians chapter 1 from verse 9 onwards. This afternoon, brothers, sisters, and friends, we're going to be addressing that virtue of Godliness for our faith, this victorious faith, this faith that overcomes the world is also a faith that is supposed to produce in us godliness. There's no such a thing as a Christian who is worldly. There's no such a thing as a genuine Christian who deep into the heart and in the mind is given to the things of the world and taken captive by the love of it. But rather the faith that the Spirit of God gives in the gospel of Jesus Christ is a faith that gives godliness, piety, that gives a godly character in different measures.

And in that godliness, we are supposed to grow. And by the providence of God, many of the things that our brother has shared in the last couple of weeks are going to be the heart of this godliness, are going to be the power of the godliness that we are supposed to have as Christians, are going to be that which is going to empower our godly character in a piety. Beloved of Jesus Christ, I want us to meditate together on this concept and this topic of godliness, not only from a very doctrinal point of view, but also as I have tried to do in the last few weeks, from a very practical point of view, that we will not only understand from the Scriptures what it is, but that by the grace of the Lord, we will be moved to be indeed godly people, No, according to religion, because a person can be religiously and in the flesh, godly. There are many Mormons, there are many JWs, there are many Christians who are externally godly, who are on their way to hell. but rather, brother, sister, that we will understand together the godliness that is given to us in the Scriptures by the Spirit of God, and that we indeed may desire to be more godly people.

What I'm going to do is just as I have done in the last few weeks, I'm just going to give you a simple definition of what godliness is. Very simple definition. And from there, I just want us to meditate together in doctrinal matters, and very importantly, in practical matters of what godliness is, so that we will be prepared not only to come before the Lord in prayer, but also asking that we will bear fruits of godliness in our individual Christian life. Let me just simply give you a brief definition of what godliness is. And of course, we are going to try to demonstrate that from the scriptures.

Every definition that I have given you contains every word. If it's not a conjunction, every single word. I have tried to find it in the scriptures so that you will have a concept in your mind of what every single characteristic of virtue is there in 2 Peter chapter 1 from verse 5 to 6. 7. Godliness, brother, sister, friend, dear soul.

Godliness is a practical and visible devotion to God that is the result or is rooted in genuine fear of the Lord. Godliness or piety, whatever translation you have there in your hands. Godliness is a visible, practical devotion to God. It is practical because it's not something that abides only in the mind or inside of a person, but it's rather something that is manifested in obedience externally. And because it is manifested externally, it is visible.

That's why people say, wow, he or she is very godly. Godliness is a visible and practical devotion to God. That is when a person practically and visibly has given him or herself so much to the things of God, that he speaks the things of God, that he does the things of God, that he preaches the Word of God, that he does the things that God does. That's why many people call godliness, god-likeness. It's a practical, Visible devotion to the things of God.

A fleshly definition of this is just simply religion. This is what religion is meant to be. To keep oneself unspotted from the world, according to James in chapter 1, that is giving yourself entirely to God. Devotion to God, which is practical and is visible. Devotion, brother and sister, is another word for you to understand holiness.

We want to be holy, we are to devote ourselves entirely to God. Because there's no point in running away from unrighteousness if we don't have a destination. That's how eternally the holiness of God is manifested. In the eternal Trinitarian devotion of each one of the persons to each other. It is not that God was set apart when there was no creation.

It was that each one of the persons of the Trinity was fully devoted to each other. Because that is the core of holiness. The more that a person is devoted and given genuinely to the Lord, the more that that person will be disconnected and removed from the things of unrighteousness and of the world, namely, that person will be holy. So, godliness, brother and sister and friend, is this visible, practical devotion to God in good works, in words and speech, in everything that we do, but that is meant to be rooted. in genuine fear of the Lord.

And this is very important because the Jews and the Sadducees and the Pharisees were considered to be godly people. As I said before, many people in the Christian church are considered to be godly people. Yet, their devotion to God, even though externally sometimes we cannot discern and we cannot differentiate, their core and the root of their devotion to God is not the fear of the Lord, but it's rather either, I love to self, I love to religion, or love to the praise, the empty praise of men because of their character and because of the things that they do. Brother, sister and dear friend, may the Lord help us to hear the words and then at least just to grasp one line upon line or one precept upon precept and take it from our mind and put it into our hearts. Godliness cannot truly and genuinely exist if it's not rooted in genuine fear of the Lord.

And genuine fear of the Lord is one of the greatest needs of the contemporary church. Fear of the Lord is one of the greatest needs of our soul. Because of our flesh and because of our sin, we have confused the reality of what genuine fear of the Lord is, and we fear the Lord in the flesh. And actually, that's going to be my main goal, to differentiate between the fear of the Lord in the flesh and the fear of the Lord according to what the Scriptures gives, especially for the new covenant in which the revelation of God is different to the revelation of God Himself in the old covenant. In old times, He spoke to the fathers through the prophets.

But in these last days, He has spoken to us through the Son. And as our brother said, the fear of God is rooted in our knowledge of God. In the Old Covenant, the revelation of God was different to the revelation of God under the New Covenant. And many of the pains and many of the sufferings of the Christian soul under the New Covenant happened because of a lack of understanding of the fear of the Lord under the New Covenant and under the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, brother and sister, let me just simply show you this connection that exists in the Scriptures, which our brother has already done in the last couple of weeks, between the fear of the Lord and godliness, which is this practical manifestation of devotion to God.

through the Old Testament Scriptures. These two words are so connected that even at times in the Old Testament, godliness will be translated as fear or fear will be translated as godliness. The Psalm 4 says that God has set apart the godly for Himself. That is the person that fears the Lord. is so much this concept into the mindset of the Jews in the Old Testament, that when you come to the New Testament, you will see that those people who are religious and who are some type of belonging to the Jewish religion, they will be considered to be God.

Fearers. Remember Cornelius in chapter 10, this man before his salvation, the scripture says that he was a man that was devoted, that he was a pious man, that he was a godly man, a man who feared the Lord. Because the fear of the Lord is that which produces genuine godliness. You cannot have practical, visible, genuine godliness and obedience if you do not have this fear of the Lord. That connection is clear as our brother has spoken in the last couple of weeks.

Exodus 20, 20, what he mentioned is when the fear of the Lord is in the heart of a person, that that person will not sin. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If a person genuinely fears the Lord, then that person will be illuminated to walk in the commandments of the Lord, not to deviate from the law of God and not to break His commandments. Because the beginning of wisdom is to genuinely fear the Lord. However, when we think practically speaking, brother and sister, dear soul, when we speak and when we analyze and consider and ponder in our heads, in our minds, this concept of fearing the Lord, there is a practical complexity in our hearts that makes it hard to live, easy to speak.

but hard to live. I said to you, one of the greatest needs of the church is genuine fear of the Lord. But I want you to see the difficulty of genuinely understanding the fear of the Lord. Because we are supposed to fear a person that is at the same time supposed to be regarded as the safe place, as the one who is good, as the one that is going to protect us, and the one that is going to keep us. Now, we can throw the word reverential fear and any type of adjective to fear, but when it comes to the genuine experience of the heart, it's very difficult to put together these two realities and experiences of having the same person and feeling in my heart, genuinely, not in your head, fear of that person, and at the same time to be safe and secure and enjoy the goodness of that person.

That is a contradiction even to our flesh. This is something that we don't know how to experience. And because we do not know how to experience that, we all acknowledge that we are to fear the Lord. But when it comes to being in the presence of the Lord and fearing Him genuinely, and at the same time having His love abounding and the peace of the Lord. Beloved of Jesus Christ, this is something that is not very easy to experience.

I don't have to take a survey. I know that this is the case. It is contrary to our nature. And because that is the situation, many times we find ourselves just having an abstract concept of the fear of the Lord, to which we only attach the concept of reverence, and holding only to the good qualities of God that can be more easily experienced, when genuinely we do not fear the Lord. We only say it in our minds and we only give definitions of what fear of the Lord is because of that contradiction, that dichotomy, that difficulty, that controversy in our hearts and in our souls that cannot be solved with the mind, that cannot be solved with just reading a commentary or just by reading a dictionary that explains what the fear of the Lord is.

You see, the fear of the Lord is of no good for our Christian life if we don't experience it. It is only when we experience the fear of God that we will be moved to godliness. It's not that I need to understand what the fear of the Lord is and attach words that I cannot experience. It doesn't work that way. I will be just simply holding and taking the things that I consider as good and just simply putting that in a section of my brain or my life in which I'm just simply okay living in that particular place.

That is the controversy, that is the opposition of fearing the Lord. And what I want us to do, brother and sister, I just want us to meditate together and understanding the problem. Understanding the problem. Why? We, not consciously sometimes, but many times even at times, we choose not to hold to the genuine fear of the Lord, but rather just to these qualities of God, such as His love and His grace, and just to have an abstract concept of the fear of the Lord.

The first thing that I want to show you is that the Bible clearly, clearly calls us to have both fear and at the same time to look forward, to have expectation and to have a good desire in the heart towards God and to what the things that He has done. Because as our brother said, the fear of the Lord, brother and sister, is when we know God, who He is, the things that He has done, and the things that He will do. We cannot have genuine fear of the Lord if we do not know God, the things that He has done in the past, and the things that He will do in the future. That was the concern of God through the Old Testament, that the people of Israel will remember who He is, the things that He has done and the promises of the things that He will do. And the more that the people will know those things, the Lord was deciding that the people will fear Him and will not choose other gods, but they will choose the Lord God of Israel.

So, this fear of the Lord is rooted in that, in knowing who God is, what He has done and the things that He will do. But as we fear this God, the Bible expects us at the same time to have this level of looking forward, or peace, or rest in who He is and in the things that He will do. Let me just give you an example and perhaps this will help us to understand this. Because I want us together to have the lenses through which we ought to develop the fear of the Lord according to the new covenant. The lenses through which we are supposed to grow in fear, genuine fear of the Lord, so that this will move us to genuine godliness.

I said to you that I wanted you to read chapter 3, verse 8 through verse 11, in which the apostle Peter is also mentioning that concept of godliness there. And I want us just to simply see this controversy of, I'm supposed to fear genuinely something that the Lord is or something that the Lord will do, at the same time looking forward for something that for my flesh is actually fearful. And that is the second coming. The second coming of the Lord there in chapter 3, the apostle Peter very clearly instructs us with words and the description of what is going to take place there that is something fearful that is going to happen. Something majestic and cosmic is going to take place for which the Christian is to look forward.

the heavens and the earth will pass away and there will be destruction. This is the day of judgment in which the wrath of God is going to be revealed to the world. Yet, the apostle calls us to look forward for the manifestations of these things. Even he says there in verse 11, since all these things of chapter 3, since all these things are dashed to be dissolved, what sort of people are due to be in lives of holiness and godliness? waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Now, brother, sister, we are so used to speak about the second coming of the Lord and to speak about eschatology and that this day is going to come. But if we had a glimpse into what is going to take place on that day, and if we just simply could see a second or a minute of what is going to take place, this is fearful. The wrath of God is going to be revealed, the consummation of all things. Fire will burn all things up and then there will come the prompt coming of new heavens and new earth.

The cosmic visitation of God, bringing all things to completion. Fearful things that apart from faith, we are not able to apprehend and not to be impacted truly in the heart. Yet, when you come to 2 Corinthians 5, in the writings of the Apostle Paul... Go to 2 Corinthians 5, please. Bear with me and please read from verse 1.

This is... the apostle Paul, speaking also of this day of judgment. He says, For we know, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, this our body, we groan, being burnt, not that we would be unclothed, been burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal might be swallowed up by life.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yet, Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

So just brother and sister, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Your soul will be exposed on that day. There's no collective church anymore. There's no my family or the protection of my parents or the people that I love. It is your soul is the one that is going to be exposed.

There's going to be judgment for you on that particular day. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." Then he says in verse 11, knowing the fear of the Lord." And this is coming from what he has said of the judgment that is to come. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others, but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

Knowing the fear of the Lord, brother, sister, I think that we do not know this fear of the Lord as we ought. The same apostle in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1, he says that it's in this fear of the Lord that holiness is brought to perfection. That we cannot bear fruits of Christ's likeness apart from genuinely fearing the Lord. And again, there's a controversy in our flesh because it's easier for us to see God as the one who is loving and who is peaceful and the one in whom we feel safe and forgiven and rescued and protected. But when you desire to experience or when we try at least to experience that with fearing this same person, That is a controversy to our soul.

So we choose not to fear the Lord in reality, but just have a concept in our mind. The Bible very clearly calls us to fear the judgment day and at the same time to rejoice even. The apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 5, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And what is that glory of God? That is that when He comes, the glory of God is going to be revealed and the creation that was expecting and waiting with groanings will come to a consummation.

The revealing of the sons of God with much joy, He says, that we are waiting for that day of fire, of judgment, The Christian is both brothers and sisters to fear the day of judgment and at the same time to have a heart that genuinely rejoices. The same apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1, verse 13, he says that we are to set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And 2 verses after that, in verse 14, He says that we are to be holy as He is holy and to walk in fear the time of our pilgrimage on the earth as we walk towards that day. Brother and sister, I don't have any other words and better statements to explain that for our soul, there is an experiential controversy. It is difficult for us to put genuine fear of the Lord with love and looking forward.

How can we genuinely experience in our heart, I'm going to approach Him, He can consume me, but yet He loves me. I can say it with my words that He is to be reverentially feared, and I can say that He is majestic and that He is holy, but the Lord does not expect us only to define these things. He expects us to approach Him with confidence that we can indeed do it and enter into the throne of grace because of what Christ has done. But at the same time, with genuine fear that if it was not because of the grace of the gospel, then we will be genuinely destroyed. And when we do not experience that, brother or sister, we will not have the power to put our flesh to death.

We will not experience what Peter said, what Isaiah said, what many of the saints after biblical church history have said and have written about, that they are not worthy to be in the presence of the Lord. When was the last time that you were on the floor crying, depart from me? This is said with the mouth. This is not experienced by the Christian. This is said easily, written in books and read.

This is easily preached with high and lofty words and high speech. When was the last time we have cried for the forgiveness and the love of God? When was the last time that you said, depart from me? That His presence was so real, that His hand upon you was so real. that your unrighteousness and that your sin was so clearly manifested.

There is a controversy in our flesh that does not allow us not only to understand, but to experience reverential fear, because it is reverential fear of the Lord, this awe of Him, while at the same time we are aware of His goodness. And we know that experiencing that fear is the best for our souls. That it's not like the fear that when you're driving and then you see the cops lights on your thing there, then everything goes down. Or when you have done something that is wrong and then you know that you're going to be caught. And then you have this inside that is moving you.

Different fear. Now, thankfully to the Scripture, thankfully for us, to the Lord and for us, The Apostle John is particularly going to address this case, or this example, practically. And as he addresses this, he's going to teach us, brother, sister, how we are to genuinely fear the Lord under the new covenant, and what is the condition of our heart that makes us fear the Lord in a fleshly way. You could have been traveling in your mind somewhere else as I was speaking for the last 30 minutes. Pay attention please to these that we're going to see together.

Come with me to 1 John chapter four, because the apostle John in 1 John chapter four is particularly going to address the fear that we are supposed to have about the day of judgment. This genuine fear, but also the confidence that we are supposed to have. That is the controversy of the Scriptures. Has that been clear as I have been speaking? Controversy, this opposition of looking forward for the day of the Lord with confidence that when He comes, you're not going to be sent to hell, but that you're confident that you're going to be taken to glory with confidence, because it's the day of judgment.

And at the same time, fearing that day. So the apostle is precisely going to address that in 1 John chapter 4. And we're going to read that passage and I hope that by God's grace, if He extends our days, we will be able to study this together in more detail in time that is to come. So we're going to be reading this passage, but let me just address this passage because the puzzle here sometimes speaks with words that are difficult to follow, especially if you're just reading it for the first time. Not for the first time, but just now.

I've been reading this many times to prepare for this, so let me just... Let me just articulate something before we read it. The apostle, dear brother and sister, the apostle in this section of Scripture that we are going to read is going to tell us, is going to teach us what your heart, not the heart of the Christian, what your heart needs to have so that you will have confidence for the day of judgment. The apostle is going to, in a very clear way, going to tell us what is the condition of your heart so that you will even now, as a sinner who falls short from the glory of God, but because of Christ, you can have full confidence that if He comes in one minute, two minutes, or five minutes, or in five or ten years, that your heart is rooted in confidence, unmovable, unashamed. And at the same time, as He gives us that information, He's going to tell us of what is the condition of the heart that fears the proximity of the day in a fleshly, sinful way.

Those two things, He's going to instruct us. What do I need to have in my heart to have confidence for that day? And at the same time, very good for our souls, He's going to give us an insight into what fleshly fear is, which is, sadly, what I think most of Christians experience when they define fear of the Lord. Let's read together chapter 4 and pay much attention to this from verse 15 to verse 19. Only those two questions, he gives more information there, but only those two questions that I formulated before.

So he says there in chapter 4 verse 15, whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, Christian, God abides in him and he in God. So, we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. So, he says basically in verse 15, whoever is a Christian confesses Jesus Christ. this person has come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. And then he says, God is love.

Now pay attention, please. And whoever abides in love, abides in God and God abides in Him. If I was going to ask a question and said, what is to abide in the love of God? Abiding in the love of God is equal to abiding in God and God abiding in us, right? It says, for whosoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in Him.

Now he says, "...by this..." What is this? That is, abiding in love. Pay attention.

"...by this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world." Stop there. Don't continue, please read on. How can the Christian have confidence that on that fearful day of judgment, in which the books are going to be opened, in which the sins that we have committed, even the secret things that we don't want our brothers and sisters to know, in that day when the books are open, how can we have confidence and not be ashamed We can be confident if we abide in the love of God, because that is God abiding in us, and us abiding in Him.

Now continue with me. It says, verse 18, There is no fear in love. Now, it's very important that you pay attention to me here, because, brother, sister, there are many of our brothers and sisters who will deny, and you may even find them, that will deny that the Christian is to fear God. Why? Because the revelation of God was given in the old covenant in a different way to the new covenant.

So many Christians will say that the Christian under the new covenant is not to fear God in the same way that the old covenant people fear God because of the different revelation of God in both covenants. Wrong. Our brother has explained that already, that we are to fear the Lord, but the fear that the puzzle is addressing here is fleshly fear, the fear that we are not supposed to have. It says, there is no fear in love, in verse 18, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." Now, you can see the difficulty of how the apostle writes there, right?

He mixes the words and sometimes following the concept there is a little bit complicated. You have just to stop, and this is not something that we are going to do from the pulpit, of course, but let me just help you with this. Then, of course, you can just read this more times in your own time. How can the Christian have certainty of the day of judgment of your soul? That you're going to have an encounter with the Creator of this universe?

And how can you have confidence that you're going to see Him face to face, full confidence in your heart, abiding in His love? And then the question is, what is love? Go to verse 10. In this is love, Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. How can the Christian, follow me please, brother and sister, how can the Christian have full confidence of the day of judgment and not to have fleshly fear?

The Christian can have full confidence of that day by abiding in the love of God. And what is the love of God? The love of God is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not that we love Him, but that He loved us first, and because He loved us first, He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So, when that love of the gospel is perfected in our hearts, we can have not only full confidence of the day of judgment that is to come, but we can also have reverential fear as we ought to have reverential fear.

Because when that love is not perfected in us, we have the fear that the apostle describes here that says, for fear has to do with punishment. When we relate to God apart from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then our relationship to God is based upon who I am before Him and not who He is. Hence, my fear of God is contingent upon my performance and not upon who He is, what He has done and the things that He will do, but rather the things that I do before God. And when I commit a sin, Then the burden of guilt comes upon me, punishment. This guilt comes upon me, and I'm fearful of the Lord, not because of who He is, but because of the unrighteousness that I have committed.

Pay attention to the word there that says in verse 18, For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. This word punishment there is catalogical in pure nature. If you go there to Matthew chapter 25, you can read that later. But when you read there in Matthew chapter 25, speaking of the judgment of the last day and the punishment, that those who will be sent to hell will receive is exactly the word that is used here to speak of this punishment. What I'm trying to say is actually complicated, but somehow simple, and I hope that you are understanding some of these things that I'm just simply saying here.

Brother and sister and dear friend, the way that we can fear the Lord genuinely It is only through that word of verse 10, propitiation. It is through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we see the Lord and fear Him through the gospel, this is the type of fear that is not contingent upon my performance, but that is contingent upon who He is, what He has done and what He will do. It is different for me to fear the Lord because He is going to execute His judgment upon me and His wrath and to be fearful of His wrath when I commit a sin. Because the reason why I'm fearful from His wrath is just because my sin deserves to be punished, which is good and it's true.

That is called conviction of sin. But it's a very different thing when I commit a sin. And I know that now I have sinned against the God that, yes, can send me to hell and will send people to hell. Fear the one that is able to send your soul to hell. Don't fear the one that can kill your body.

But it's very different to fear the one who gave His Son to propitiate the sin that I am committing. Brother, sister, the wrath of God against sin, it is horrendously manifested in hell. The wrath of God is horrendously manifested in the flood and the waters that came and destroyed many people. but there's no other place where the wrath of God is more fully and more clearly manifested, but upon the cross on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why hell is going to be eternal, because hell cannot absorb the fullness of the wrath of God.

That's why the flood was not sufficient to change the heart of man, because not even that judgment can change the nature of man. But upon the cross, the price of my sin was the life of the only eternal begotten Son of God. And that is to be the lenses through which I see God, who He is, the things that He has done and the things that He will do. It is the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because brother, sister and dear friend, what happened at that cross was the fullness of the wrath of God that no creature could receive or hold or absorb.

Because if God does that, He simply destroys and He's not even possible to pour that onto a creature. But because Jesus Christ was not only man, but was also God, He received the fullness of this wrath of God. And it is upon that cross that His disposition towards unrighteousness and sin was more clearly manifested. If you give yourself to know God, the things that He has done and the things that He will do through the lenses of the manifestation of the love of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the great sacrifice upon the cross, then your soul is going to be brought near to the Lord in such a way that you're going to fear this God who was willing to send His Son to a cross. If you relate to God only upon your performance and upon yourself, and if you fear the Lord only upon who you are, this is going to bring a fleshly burden to your soul, that even though you call it Fear of the Lord is not other thing that you being not satisfied with your own performance and knowing that God dislike the thing that you have done.

The way that you remove from that uncomfortable situation is just by fixing a little bit the sin that you have committed and then just asking for forgiveness in a cold prayer. And once your conscience forgets a little bit of the thing that you have done, you move into living your life without fear of the Lord. Because you do not fear Him for who He is in light of the gospel, but you fear Him from who you are and the things that you do and your performance. So, when you are a good Christian and when you're ticking the boxes that you are creating in your mind, then you're satisfied and peaceful. And then you live with this abstract fear of the Lord that you call it reverential while you're walking in the flesh.

But beloved of Jesus Christ, when you grow in appreciation and understanding of who God is through the gospel in Jesus Christ, independently, if you're walking in the light or you have seen, you're going to fear Him. Because the wrath of God poured upon that cross will continually be manifested in the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whether your performance is according to your standard or not. is the gospel of Christ, the one that reveals to us who God truly is. The Israelites, they saw all of these manifestations, all of these plagues and all of these wonders and all of these mighty things. Their fear, as a brother said last week, was rooted in what could happen to them externally.

And because that was the case, when they were okay, they forgot about the things that they've seen and they gave themselves onto horrendous practices. The same thing can happen to us if we fear the Lord only rooted and established upon self. We have the type of fear that fears actual punishment. Oh, this is going to happen to me. But when we fear the Lord through the gospel, My God gave His Son, so that the sin that I have committed now was atoned upon the cross.

This which deserves hell has been forgiven and paid for, not because I can fix myself, but because He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, upon the cross, and all the wrath, not only of my sins, but the sins of the church were poured, the wrath was poured upon this glorious Savior. the only outcome from a genuine realization through the Spirit of what I'm just saying now, will move the person to genuine acceptance of forgiveness and to fear the Lord not to continue in the sin that you have committed. Give yourself, brother and sister, to study and to meditate what took place upon that cross. when I was very young in the faith, like 7, 8, 9 years perhaps ago, I was studying and studying and studying and studying the Scriptures and studying the Scriptures and I came to one conclusion very early in my faith. And that is that every single doctrine that I will hold will have to be organically united to all the other doctrines that I hold through the gospel.

If what I believe does not fit and does not go together with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then there is something that is wrong. Because it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ dying upon the cross, that which reveals the character of God in His fullness. So brother, dear sister, how are we going to have a visible, practical devotion to God which is called godliness? We can only have it if it's rooted in a genuine fear of the Lord.

A genuine fear of the Lord that is to be received, that is to be seen, that is to be experienced through the propitiatory work, through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving the fullness of the wrath of God the Father upon the cross on my behalf, so that I can walk in godliness and in holiness, being forgiven and in delight, and at the same time, knowing that this God that is sustaining my life, pours His wrath upon His Son, He did not need to do that. You see, sometimes we just take for granted that He sent His Son. He did not need to do that. And Jesus Christ was the object of the Father's love. And they loved each other in the Trinity perfectly.

And there was no need for creation to take place. Yet the price of the sins of the church was the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is hell? Nothing. the wrath of God pour upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of the church.

Only when we see the Lord God of Israel and of the church through the lenses of that cross, is when can we genuinely, brother and sister, experience the fear that is not fleshly, and brings this burden of punishment, and that puts you in this depression, and puts you in this jail, or puts you in these circumstances in which you cannot move yourself, you're waiting for yourself to fix yourself, and you're waiting just to tick the boxes, but rather, it makes the burden light. Still, reverence in the Lord. That is how the dichotomy is fixed. This is how the controversy of fearing something genuinely and looking forward for that something genuinely can be accomplished in the life of the Christian. So then, when we think about the second coming of the Lord, and when we think about the wrath of God that is going to be revealed, and the glory of God that is going to be revealed, then we can genuinely say like the apostle, Oh, Lord, I desire to be with You.

You gave Your life for me. You're sustaining me each one of these days. You're keeping me, You're transforming me to Your image. I desire to be with You, and I'm looking forward to being with You and in Your presence. But, Oh, Lord...

Look, the nations. Look, O Lord, the harvest. Look, the souls who have not received Christ. What a horrific day it would be for these souls, O Lord. Look, your church, O Lord.

Not even ready. Look, your church, many souls deceived and many souls that are just simply going astray. Oh Lord Jesus, I desire you to come back. Oh Lord, what a fearful day will be in the day that you come. Confidence and certainty in the heart, that in the judgment day, it has not been about my performance, that I will be taken up to glory, that there will be no question.

Does your soul have this certainty even now? Do you have the absolute certainty? Not the one that has to be worked through thoughts, and then just to say, yes, yes, yes. But does your soul have absolute certainty that if He comes now, In your heart, you have this experience of this confidence now. That you will not be ashamed.

That your name is written in the Book of Life. That you will receive and take in with Him. Do you have it? Because if you don't, then it's not that you're not in Christ. It's that your faith can be having.

or seeing God through other lenses that are not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, moving you to a fleshly fear that will never empower you to give fruits for the glory of the Father. There is no other message and there is no other person. And with limited words and limited thoughts and with limited putting together statements and things like this, we will always point you to the person of Jesus Christ and what He did upon the cross. and my desire and my hope it is, brother and sister, that we will see the depths and the beauty and the power that is contained in that message. The message of the gospel in the propitiation that took place upon the cross and the fullness of the wrath of God received by the Son absorbed completely so that your soul, my soul, the church, will walk this pilgrimage looking back to that cross and saying, this Savior died for me.

This Savior died for me. My life is rooted and depends on this Savior who died for me. How am I going to give myself to ungodly things? How am I going to give myself to the things of the world? How am I going to be taken captive by the deceitfulness of this system?

How am I going to give myself to other gods, as our brother said? How am I going to covet the things of this world? And how am I going to covet the things that this world can offer when he died? Oh, that our hearts may not be dull and indifferent to the message that we receive every week and that we have heard every time as Christians. It's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

Amen.