Kenneth Copeland - Increase Love to Decrease Fear
Kenneth Copeland: Hello everybody. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. And I'm Kenneth Copeland. Now, you know right here's where you usually put your name. That is my name.
Greg Stephens: Victory.
Kenneth Copeland: Yes.
Greg Stephens: I agree with that.
Kenneth Copeland: Amen. That is my name. My name is victory. And I'm going somewhere to happen.
Greg Stephens: Yes, sir.
Kenneth Copeland: Well, okay.
Greg Stephens: Yes, sir.
Kenneth Copeland: All right. Thank You, Father. We do have the victory in Christ Jesus. Victory over death, victory over hell, victory over the grave, victory over poverty, victory over sin. Hallelujah. We have the victory in Christ Jesus, and we are victorious. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith and this is a faith broadcast.
Greg Stephens: Yes, sir.
Kenneth Copeland: So, let's turn over there to first John. This little book of first John. Of course, the gospel of John, John wrote what he saw. He was there. He's the one that describes that last meal in such detail. That 'Seder' meal there that night in just semi-darkness and all of the things that happened there that night. But now, first John. He's writing a letter that really is a synopsis of all of that put together and he's writing it to someone, so that they can have the benefit of what he learned about love.
—First hand.
—First hand.
—He says so in verse one.
—That's what it is.
—Of chapter one.
—Yes, sir.
—That, which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes.
—Yes.
—So he's writing all of this down now as a manual, if you will, or synopsis, I love that. It's good.
—Now there are things here that I've circled and underlined in red that call attention, 4:18. I wrote up above here, in 4:18. There is no fear in love, but perfect or mature love casteth out fear. Because, fear has torment. I wrote up here 4 in red, 4:18. He has loved all the fear out of me.
—Yes.
—He loved the fear out of me.
—Yes he did.
—And anybody can read this book in a few minutes. I do want to look especially in this fifth chapter today. Of course in the fifth chapter, there's, "Whosoever believed that Jesus is the Christ is born of God". But, I want to go to the Classic Amplified for this. "Everyone who believes, adheres to, trust and relies on the fact that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is a born again child of God and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him, his offspring". I don't care who they are. I don't care where they go to church. I don't care what they believe.
—Yeah.
—They are my brother or my sister. I had the Lord say this to me back there years ago, the Lord said most of my people don't realize that there comes a time in life when you're not the daddy anymore.
—Uh-huh.
—And he said this. He was talking at this time specifically about my son, John. He said, "Number one, when John was a child, you were responsible for taking care of him". But then, he grew up.
—Right.
—And you saw to it that he accepted Jesus as his Lord. I said, "Yes, I did". He said, "And now that he's grown up, he's a grown young man. He's not primarily your son. He's your brother in the Lord". And he said, "You've been magnifying John's sin. And I want you stop it right now".
—My, my, my.
—He said, "You don't magnify the sin of some other man that's working for you". This is back when John wasn't. But he was about 15, something like that. But, he was working out here. He said, "You don't do that". He said, "You stop magnifying his sin. You treat him like a man or you talk to him like a brother".
—That's right. That verse, first verse of chapter five, it is the simplicity of the new birth. It's really simple.
—Oh, that's true.
—Religion makes it hard.
—Yeah.
—But it's really a simple thing. The entire gospel is simple. It's what you're just saying. It's not beating up on sinners. It's preaching Jesus accurately.
—Yes.
—He is a brother in Christ Jesus. So, I'm going to preach Jesus righteousness to my brother accurately. And then, that will represent Jesus.
—So now, if he kicks back at it, I don't take that personally.
—Sure. No.
—I'm his teacher.
—That's exactly right. And so, when we zero in on loving him and portraying Jesus right, it's attractive.
—Go ahead with that, Greg.
—When we present Jesus correctly, that's exactly what Moses did when he messed up. Why he couldn't enter in? He misrepresented the Lord Jesus Christ.
—He did. Didn't he?
—He said, "Strike the rock the first time indicating that Jesus, the Messiah will be stricken". And he said, the next time... He's trying to teach him Mark 11:23 and 24. The Lord wanted him to teach him that, right then.
—Say it.
—Speak to the rock, now. And it'll give forth. Whoever shall say unto this mountain. That rock was a mountain. And he was trying to get that concept across to him and out of his emotions, out of his anger, at the people, he didn't do that. He struck the rock and that cost him. So, a lot of Christians...
—In reality, he hit the people with that rod.
—Yes he did. He used sin to beat them up. He misrepresented the Lord. That's what he did. And so a lot of...
—Who is love.
—Who is love.
—And they didn't believe God loved him.
—No. Neither did the Pharisees.
—They said, "He brought us out here to kill us".
—That's right.
—We wish we'd have stayed in Egypt. At least we had something to eat.
—Their hearts melted, it said, when they got the report, of the spies that went into the land and there're giants in the land, all the things they can't do. Two of them came back saying, "We can do this". Joshua and Caleb. And so, this is why you get Deuteronomy 28. This is why you get all the instructions that we've gone over in previous programs. When you go in, you'll stand on these two mountains, the blessing mountain, the cursing mountain. All of that stuff happened to that next generation because that first generation let their heart be melted. I'll submit this that, that's what happened in America with COVID and largely in the church. We believed a report.
—Yes.
—And allowed... Don't get mad at me. We allowed our hearts to be melted. The people's hearts to be melted instead of standing up and speaking up what the Word says. A lot of Christians want to love from their emotions, Brother Copeland. He's not emotion. He's a spirit. Now, he has emotions, but he's not governed by his emotions. Just like Moses was. Just like, you're talking about when the Lord told you how to begin to treat John. Emotions could go from high to low, to low, to high and be all over the place. Happy, sad. But our Father's not that way. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. If you want to look at an earthly example that somebody we know, Keith Moore. Perfect example of that. He is not going to let his emotions... Andrew Wommack is another one. The Word says this. I know his character and his nature. And so, once you know the character nature of God, he's been represented correctly to you. This is what first John is all about.
—That's what it is, isn't it.
—He's representing this Jesus that we knew we handled, we touched him. We walked with him. Here's the instructions of what love is. Here's what grace and truth is.
—Now, who were these people that he wrote to?
—I believe he's writing to the entire New Testament church and Jews that are believers as well, certainly for us as well. Because, he's in that room with Jesus and I believe it was chapter 17 of John, when he was praying for the people who will believe based on your testimony, your words. Well, that's us.
—Yeah, that's right.
—So, that is written to me. First John 1:9 is written to me. All of it's written to me as a believer. And so, it's representing Jesus correctly. My identification is in the Messiah, is in Christ. Walk in the light as he is in the light. That's what he'll tell us. Don't be in Christ, but walking in darkness. No. And, it's that figure talking. He's talking to a brother now. It's what he's doing. He's not talking as an apostle to a child. He's saying, "Walk in the light as he's in the light". Don't be walking over here in the darkness with your conversation and the way and manner of life, you're living. You're a child of the light. And so, that's what the whole book is. It's one of my favorite books in all scriptures. See, the more love is perfected, the more faith is perfected. When he gets rid of the hate, you just said it a while ago out of my life. Now, there's room for faith. Because of our fear, he gets rid of the fear. That's what you said. Fear is the opposite of faith. My faith's not working if I'm in fear. So, when this love is perfected, that fear is out of my life. There's more room for faith in my life. If I grow in the knowledge of focusing on love, fear must depart and faith flourishes. Fear must depart from love. Why? Love perfected, cast out all fear.
—So a person's walking in love, but fear is all around us.
—Right.
—And Satan will come immediately. That's all he has. Jesus took his keys away from him. He took all of his armor away from him. He didn't leave him anything but the lie. And so, in the book of Hebrews, particularly in the Classic Amplified it said, "He delivered them, who through all of their lives were bound up with that haunting fear of death, surrounded by it". But, now you come into this smaller, this small letter, and he begins to deal with things that you would only deal with people who are on an adult level.
—Right.
—Most particularly in this fifth chapter. He comes down and closes this in that...
—He's tying all the letter together in chapter five.
—Yes.
—That's what he is really doing. He mentions overcomers a few times. He'll say it in the book of Revelation as well. An overcomer is not a special class of Christian. They're not a special class. It's just somebody that's done what this says. If you'll do this, you're going to overcome because you're in Christ.
—Yes.
—He's an overcomer.
—Now, you and I both know from our military background, that number one, you're going to have to know your enemy. And number two, we have seen... Now in World War II, our leadership was demanding, unconditional surrender, unconditional. So, how did we get that? With overwhelming force.
—Right.
—They fought until they could not fight anymore without being wiped off of the face of the earth. So, you come at Satan with overwhelming force. You come at him with the power of the name. You come at him with the power. We have overcome him by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
—Yes.
—Our Word of Faith, because that faith has to come out of our mouth and the power of the love of God.
—Right.
—He has no defense for that.
—None. We are Americans. I did not fight in D-Day but I share in the victory of D-Day.
—Yes you do.
—I didn't fight in the Revolutionary War. My great, great, great-grandfather did. But, I share in the victory of the Revolutionary War. I didn't fight in the Civil War, but I share in the victory of the Civil War.
—Yes.
—I didn't defeat Satan in hell, but I share in the victory.
—You share in that victory.
—Yes, sir.
—Amen. Because, we are soldiers in the army of the Lord and we win.
—Yes we do.
—And this little book is a victory book. So, let's get down into that fifth chapter. And we're talking about whosoever is here. Whosoever believes. Well, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe he is the Messiah. I'm going to go to the Classic Amplified. "Everyone who believes, adheres to, trusts and relies in the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah is a born again child of God and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him, his offspring. By this, we come to know and recognize and understand that we love the children of God when we love God, and obey his commandments, his orders, his charges. When we keep his ordinances and are mindful of his precepts and his teaching. For the true love of God is this that we do his commands, keep his ordinances and are mindful of his precepts and teaching. And, these orders of his are not irksome, burdensome, oppressive, or grievous. For whatever's born of God is victorious over the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith". Who I is that that is victorious over that conquers the world. But he who believes that Jesus is the son of God who adheres to trust in and relies on that fact.
—Amen.
—Now, verse 11 in the King James, "This is the record that God has given to us eternal life". And this is some... He's...
—Life is in the son.
—This is the testimony, that evidence. This is evidence.
—Yes, sir.
—He's talking about evidence that'll stand up in court of heaven and earth. Oh, you got to love it, right?
—Yeah.
—This is that testimony. That evidence, God gave us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He who possesses the son has that life. He who does not possess the son of God, does not have that life. I write this to you who believe in, adhere to, and trust and rely on the name. I write this to you who believe in, adhere to, trust in and rely on the name of the son of God in the peculiar services and blessings conferred by him on men. So that, you may know with settled and absolute knowledge that you already have life. Yes, eternal life. This is the confidence assurance and privilege of bonus, which we have in him. We are sure. We are sure. Say that with me. We are sure. What is sure? Surety, guarantee. I guarantee this is true. We are sure that if we ask anything, make any request, according to his will, according to his Word, in agreement with his own plan, he listens to and hears us. You could spend a week on that right there.
—Yes sir.
—What is his plan? It's a love plan. If you're full of strife, you can forget this.
—It's a love plan that guarantees your success.
—Yes.
—It's a surety. This is nothing new. King David, when he is dying, he brings Solomon in and gives him instructions. It's over in first Kings 2. He says, "Obey the teachings that you've been taught".
—Yes.
—Then you will be a success, no matter what you do.
—And that was true.
—It's absolutely true. And this is what he is teaching.
—And he knew Solomon messed it up in a lot of ways. But he was a success.
—Overcomers. He overcame because he did what his Father had told him. See, the four minute mile for a long time was impossible.
—Yeah.
—Until, somebody did it. Breaking the sound barrier was impossible, till somebody did it. There are things that seem impossible today. It's not impossible, you have the greater one on the inside of you and you'll do it. There're answers to everything. And I believe the church has them. We just got to...
—Well, there's no question about that.
—Listen to it. We got to work on growing in here.
—There's a saying in aviation, the faster you get, the easier it is to go fast. Now, you get a car on the ground. You go as fast... I'm driving the fastest car in the world. That's as fast as he can go. You're taking an airplane going that fast. And then, you get it off the ground. And now, he can go faster. The faster he goes, the faster he can go. And once they broke the sound barrier and now the sound barrier is no barrier at all. They have fighter airplanes now, that can cruise. They don't need afterburners to go through the sound barrier. They can cruise through it. That's amazing.
—Because they learned the laws that dominate.
—They learn the laws and one step at a time, they kept getting faster and faster and faster.
—Amen. And that's what we're doing in this book of first John. We're learning the laws that pertain...
—That pertain to success.
—That's exactly right.
—And the gateway to success is love. The overcoming way is love.
—That's exactly right.
—Now, I want to get down here. Let's look very carefully here. We just read that 15th first. The 16th verse, "If anyone sees his brother believer, committing a sin that does not lead to death, the extinguishing of life, he will pray and God will give him life. Yes, he will grant life to all those whose sin is not one leading to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that". That is what the world calls the unpardonable sin. And just to put it down into plain language. There is a way, and I can take you through the book of Hebrews and right here and lead you right up into that. You would have to be born again, filled with the Spirit and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come. So, this person has ministered and they're born again, filled with the Spirit, has ministered and walked in the gifts of the Spirit. And for them to trap trample underfoot, the blood that he was saved by and count it an unholy thing. He is doomed a hell and there's... The scripture doesn't say, God wouldn't forgive me. He said, it's impossible to bring him again to repentance.
—Right. And that's it. I used to think I had committed it for the longest time. I was always afraid I'd committed it. And the devil tormented over me. Well, I committed... If you're worried, you've committed it, you haven't.
—That's right. Because you had repented, right?
—Yeah.
—But it's in the book of Hebrews. This is when you go on to perfection or go on to maturity. It simply says, it's impossible to bring that person to repentance. And I have witnessed some of this and that one person that Brother Hagin talked about was a man that came into a service and interpreted a tongue and was very accurate about it. And, he said, I suppose you think somebody that lives like me couldn't interpret that, but I can. And to the devil that Jesus Christ and all he stands for. Only he didn't say that.
—Yeah.
—Well, he's doomed.
—Right.
—But glory to God. And here we are out of time. Oh, no. Whoa, whoa. Where did all that time go?
—It was getting good.
—But at least we got to... Come on Jeremy, help us out...