Loving to the End (Part II)
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
Last week we introduced this section, reflecting on verse 1. And we saw last time that when the Holy Spirit introduces this section to us—this section having chapter 13 and chapter 17 being the bookends, the final discourses contained in that section that Jesus gave to His disciples—when the Holy Spirit introduces to us this section in the first verse, we noted that what is most emphasized here is the love of Jesus for His own people.
Now the knowledge of our Lord Jesus is also set before us here. The Holy Spirit tells us that Jesus knew that His hour had come, that hour for Him to depart out of this world to the Father. So the knowledge of Jesus is set before us. Also, the perfect outworking of God's plan of redemption is set before us. There's a connection here—we saw this last time—to the Passover. But what is most prominent here is the fact that Jesus, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
As we said last time, I want us to recognize as we move through these chapters that the same love that Jesus demonstrates here toward His disciples is the love that He has for all of us who have believed through their word. The love that He had for His disciples here, He has for us who are today His disciples. In fact, when we get to the 17th chapter of John, we're going to see that Jesus prayed not only for those who were already His disciples, but for all of us who would come to believe through their witness.
John 17 verse 19: "For their sake”, He prays, “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who also who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, and they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."
And so as we learn here about the love of Jesus, we're learning about His love for all of us, His children. All of you, if you're a child of God, that's you.
Last Lord's Day, we talked about those who are His own, having loved His own, having loved His own who were in the world. And you remember, we asked the question, Who are His own? And we looked at several different descriptions of believers from the Gospel of John and some other places in the New Testament. And I refer you to that message.
Well, this morning, what we're going to focus on is how. How did He love them? We dealt with the who. Today, we want to deal with the how. How did He love them? How had He loved them? How was He loving them? How will He love them? And that includes us.
And the first thing I want us to see together this morning, answering this question is, is—I want us to see this. He has loved them all along. He has loved them all along. It says in verse one—look at it—having loved His own. It is in what we call the Aorist tense in Greek. He has loved them already. He has loved them in the past. Having loved His own. In other words, He has loved them all along. He has loved them in everything. There's been nothing but love. Perfect love from Jesus toward His disciples.
All the words that He's spoken—there was nothing in any of His words that was unloving. All the ways that He's dealt with His disciples. All the ways that He treated them. All the things that He's done for them. In all of it, there was what? Perfect love. And I think there's a lesson in that for us.
You know, we talk about love, but any example of love that we've ever seen in the human realm—any example of that, of love that we've seen here around us in the human realm—is in some way, what? Deficient. Isn't it? We've not witnessed here around us, horizontally, perfect love. Perfect love. Not in any of us. And many times what people call love is grossly underdeveloped in one area or another. Some people are good at telling the truth, but they're not good at feeling compassion. Some people are better at feeling compassion, but they're not very good at telling the truth.
And if we want to know what love is, behold Jesus. Behold Him. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ and look at the way that He dealt with His disciples. He has loved them. He loved them all along. And as you look at His love toward His disciples, you see a picture of all that love is. He has loved them all along.
Now, how has He loved them all along? Well, first of all, He loved them by choosing them. He loved them by choosing them. We can't emphasize this enough. How He loved them? He loved them first by choosing them. His love toward them, therefore, we could say and we ought to say was what? A gracious love. It was a gracious love. He didn't choose them because in some way they were a better choice than others. That is, they didn't merit His choice. No way. They did not merit His choice. He chose them for the same reason that you and I were chosen. One word. Grace. That's it.
Love. Love is explained only by Him. Only by Him. He had pity upon them. That's one way we could say it. He looked upon these men who were now His disciples. And when we look back at their coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can say that He had pity upon them. They didn't deserve Him. He graced them. And He wanted them to understand that He had chosen them. They had not chosen Him. He's going to remind them of this right in the midst of these final talks that He has with them. He reminds them of this.
Look with me at chapter 15 of John and verse 16. You know the verse very well. But remember now to put it in its context. This is the final night with them. Think about this. These last moments with them before the arrest and the trials and the crucifixion. He reminds them of how they've come to follow Him. Verse 16: "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." That's grace. That's marvelous grace. That's amazing grace. "You didn't choose Me. I chose you."—And in that way, He had loved them.
He also loved them by teaching them, we could say. By teaching them. We talked about it a little bit last week that God has a love for the world. God has a kind of love for all of humanity. But God has a unique love, a peculiar love, a special love for His own. And you see the uniqueness of the love of Jesus for His people even in the way He's dealt with the disciples compared with how He dealt with the crowds.
For instance, in Matthew 13 and verse 10. Matthew 13. Verse 10. The disciples had a question for Him. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them"—referring to the crowds—"Why do You speak to them in parables?" Verse 11, Matthew 13: "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'" You go down to verse 16: "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it."
And then He goes on to explain the parable of the sower to them. He didn't explain it to the crowd. He didn't explain it to the multitudes. He explained it to them. The very way that Jesus taught these men, the very fact that He took them into Himself and explained things to them that He didn't explain to others—that speaks of His electing love. And you notice in verse 16, particularly in His reply to the disciples, He didn't praise them for what they saw. He didn't praise them for what they heard. He didn't praise them for what they understood. Rather, He said, "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." You've been very blessed. You've been very graced.
So He loved them by choosing them. He loved them by teaching them. He chose them for what He was going to teach them. And thirdly, He loved them by guarding them, by keeping them. By guarding them and keeping them.
Look at John 17. John 17, in this final section or this section leading up to the crucifixion, when He's praying for them, He says in verse 11, John 17, verse 11: "And I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I have come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are." Father, I'm going away, I'm returning to You, and I pray for these My people, My own. I ask You to keep them.
Now listen to what else He says in verse 12: "While I was with them,” what's next? “I was keeping them.” “I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." I wonder if these men were aware of this. I wonder. I wonder if they were aware that the Son of God was guarding them and keeping them. I wonder if they were aware of all of the ways that He was actually keeping them. "I've kept them in Your name. I've guarded them."
Jesus was able to pray, and in this way, He loved them by keeping them, by guarding them.
Thirdly, fourthly, He loved them by exposing them to certain tests and by regulating those tests. I love that. By exposing them to certain tests, but not just simply exposing them, He regulates the intensity and the temperature and the duration.
Remember what the Lord Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22? After Peter has boasted that he would never, never deny the Lord Jesus. In verse 31, He said, Luke 22, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed earnestly for you that your faith may not fail." There's the Son of God guarding him. There's the Son of God keeping him. And there's the Son of God regulating the test. Isn't that marvelous? Regulating the test. Satan demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat.
Well, in the sovereign plan and purpose of God, we learn this even from the book of Job, right? Don't we? There are certain things that the Lord grants, not for our destruction, but ultimately for our good to prove us and to demonstrate Himself in the midst of it all. His nearness. He says, "I have prayed earnestly for you that your faith may not fail"—and His faith would not fail. Would not fail. "And you, when once you have returned"—not if, but once. You've returned. "Strengthen your brothers." Peter, I prayed for you and when you've come through this, the result will be you will be an instrument in My hand to strengthen your brothers.
So He's loved these men by choosing them. He's loved these men by teaching them. He's loved these men by keeping them, guarding them. He's loved these men by allowing them to be tested at certain points and by regulating those tests and by praying for them, guarding them, keeping them through these tests.
And then fifthly, He loved them by being patient with them. Oh, the patience of Jesus. Now, you would not know from this. You would not know this from the Gospel of John alone. And we'll get to it next time, Lord willing, in September. But you know what has happened before the Lord Jesus washes their feet? Luke tells us what happened. These men came into the room, bickering, arguing. And you know what they've been arguing about? Who's the greatest in the kingdom? In fact, there may have been squabbling even at this meal, at this gathering. They may have been really arguing about who was going to have the chief seat, who was going to have the place of honor. And we'll talk about that next time.
And just to sow the seed, it appears Alfred Edersheim really points this out marvelously. It appears that Judas in all likelihood was the one who ended up occupying the chief seat, the place of honor. But there's an argument that's been going on. And don't you see it over and over again in the Gospels how patient the Lord Jesus was with these disciples? How often, how often they said foolish things, how often they did foolish things. And yet He continues to love them. He continues to teach them. He continues at times to reprove them. And He continues at all times to let them know that He cares for them. This is love, His patience, His patience.
And hand in hand with that, beloved, He loved them by meeting them. By meeting them where they were. He loved them hand in hand with patience by meeting them where they were. I love what Spurgeon, Spurgeon's insight on this. He pointed out in his sermon on this text, “Isn't it amazing,” he pointed out that, “when you talk about the deepest things that have to do with our salvation, the full explanation of those things really awaited the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul's understanding, infinitely below the understanding of our Lord Jesus, the Infinite One.” And that goes without saying. And yet Spurgeon really says, “Christ most oftentimes taught these truths about God, about Himself, about salvation in the simplest terms. And He waited until they were given the Holy Spirit to then give them deeper instruction in the New Testament epistles.”
The patience of Jesus, how He met them where they were at that stage. How often He demonstrated His willingness to condescend to them by responding to their questions in a way that revealed His patience, His patience. Remember Philip saying, “Lord, show us the Father and it's enough for us.” (John 14:8) Jesus says, "Have I been with you all along, so long? And have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" John 14.
Peter, taking it upon himself to rebuke his Master and telling Him He would not go to the cross, He would not die. And on that occasion, Jesus was stern with him. Get thee behind Me, Satan. So here you have the Lord Jesus over and over again, meeting these men where they were, being patient with them, teaching them. Through their frailties, through their smallness, through their ignorance. This is love.
Behold the love of Jesus. In the sixth place, we could say He loved them by praying for them. By praying for them. We saw that in Luke 22, where He told Peter that He prayed for him. But you also see it in John 17, that entire prayer. When we get to it, Lord willing, what a picture of the intercession of the Son of God on behalf of His people. On behalf of His own. And He specifically singles out these people from the rest of the world, even in His prayer. There's a singling out of His own.
John 17, verse 9: "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours." That is an astounding statement, isn't it? Jesus is not praying for the world. Jesus is praying for His own.
So in the first verse of John 13, we're reminded—this is something that is made prominent by the Holy Spirit—the love of Jesus for His own. And the first thing we see is that He has loved them. He loved them all along. He has loved them. From the beginning until now, there's been nothing but love. Loving thoughts. Loving words. Loving deeds. Loving motives. Everything about the Lord Jesus toward His own has been love.
He chose them in love. He taught them in love. He kept them in love. He exposed them to certain tests and regulated those tests in love. He was patient with them. He met them where they were in love. And He prayed for them in love. In all of these ways and more, He has loved them.
But we're not just told that He has loved them. We're told that right here in the text that He is loving them. Isn't that amazing? It's not like a past thing, you know, right? He is loving them. So He has loved them all along.
The second heading, if you were to put a heading: He is loving them. He is loving them right now. He is loving them. He continues to love them. "Having loved His own"—the text says—"who were in the world, He loved them to the end." "He loved them to the end." That is, He's loving them right now, all the way to the end. Right in the midst of these chapters we're studying, He is loving them.
How do these chapters speak of Christ's love for His own? And I think at least in three different ways, at least three. Number one, He is loving them by preparing them. In preparing them, He's preparing them. He knows that even though He's told His disciples He's going to die, they still don't grasp it. It hasn't really sunk in. In fact, He knows that they're not going to fully understand what they're about to go through until after the fact. There are aspects of it they're not going to understand until they've been given the Holy Spirit. Until after the resurrection. Nonetheless, He's giving them the information. He's giving them the things that they're going to reflect on afterwards and benefit from. He is what? Preparing them. He is preparing them. He's preparing them in a lot of different directions.
When He washes their feet, He's teaching them a lesson about the future. If you look down in this chapter to the 12th verse, it says, "So when He had washed their feet and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you?'" In other words, this isn't just about getting dirty feet clean. You see, there's a spiritual lesson here. In fact, there's more than one spiritual lesson. We'll get to it, Lord willing, next time. One lesson has to do with the nature of salvation, the nature of sanctification, but the other lesson is He's preparing them for after He's gone to understand what really constitutes true spiritual greatness. He wants them to understand the nature of their service.
Go down to verse 13 and see. "'You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.'" He prepares them for service. He prepares them for service.
In verses 18 through 30 of this chapter, He's preparing them also. He prepares them for what? Betrayal. He prepares them for the betrayal. They don't have any clue, any idea what's going to take place with Judas. They don't understand it at all. In fact, when Jesus told Judas, "What you do, do quickly"—verse 27—they thought that Jesus was sending Judas out to buy things needed for the feast or perhaps even to help the poor. They had no understanding, and the Bible specifically tells us that Jesus was preparing them to understand after the fact what had occurred and, as a result, firm up their faith and buttress their faith all the more. To understand that all of this was taking place according to Scriptures, all that was taking place was according to the unfolding redemptive plan of God, and so He's preparing them for the betrayal.
And also, He's also preparing them for His departure. Verses 31 through 38 of chapter 13, notice what He says. For example, in verse 31: "Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, Where I am going, you cannot come.'" Verse 36: "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, where are You going?' Jesus answered, 'Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.'" Of course, Peter goes on to say, I'll lay down my life for you, and Jesus tells him that He's going to deny Him three times before the rooster crows.
What's Christ doing with these words? He's preparing these disciples. He's preparing them. He doesn't want Him to be caught off guard. He's preparing them. I'm going away. I'm going away. Where I'm going, you cannot come. Preparation. This is how He's loving them right now. He's preparing them.
And secondly, He also loves them by comforting them. By comforting them. This is troubling them. It is troubling them. You notice Jesus tells them He's going away. Right after that, He commands them to love one another, and they just pass right by His words concerning love. They missed the whole thing. When they've heard those words, what they're most concerned about is, hold on a second, where are you going? Where are you going? And so their hearts are troubled. Lord, where are you going?
And chapter 14, verse 1, look at how it opens up: "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." He tells them. He comforts them with the knowledge that He's preparing a place for them and He will come back. He's going to return. He's going to come back for them.
And He comforts them with the knowledge that though He's going away, they will still have access to the Father while He's away in His name. And in that sense, they'll have access to Him. Look at verse 10 of chapter 14: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
In other words, you have access to the Father in My name. Ask in My name. I will do it. You have access to Me when you ask in My name. There's an Advocate, so He comforts them. He comforts them. And in verses 15 through 31, He comforts them with the knowledge that He's not going to leave them as orphans. He's not going to leave them alone. He's going to come to them and be with them and be in them in the person of the Holy Spirit.
What a wonderful section this is. We're going to get to it, Lord willing. In verses 15 through 31, what a wonderful promise or wonderful promises He gives to His followers. You will not be alone. And so He loves them by preparing them, following on the heels of this preparation which they don't understand. He loves them by comforting them, by comforting them. I'm preparing a place for you and I'm going to come back. I'm going to return and you have access to the Father in My name. You have access to Me and also I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave you orphans. I will come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit who will live in you.
And then He exhorts them in chapter 15 and chapter 16. He encourages them.
And so the third thing we could say, He loves them by encouraging them, by encouraging them. He encouraged them in chapter 15 to abide in Him, the lesson of the vine and the branches, how we must abide in Christ and those who are saved will abide in Him. That's verses 1 through 11, and then 12 through 17. He exhorts them to abide in His love and to love one another.
Look at verse 12 for instance, just to see that and the following verses: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask in the Father in My name He may give to you. This command, this I command you, that you love one another." There's His command. There's His exhortation. I love you and now I want you to love one another. Abide in Me. Abide in My love.
So He exhorts them in verse 18 through chapter 16 verse 4. That entire section He also exhorts them. He encourages them to understand the world's hatred. To understand the world's hatred. Men, I want to prepare you with this encouragement, He tells them. You're going to be hated. You're going to be hated, but be encouraged. There's a reason why you're hated. You're hated because you don't belong to the world. You're hated because the world hates Me, and if the world hates Me, the world will hate you because you belong to Me. You are My followers. You're associated with Me.
It's encouraging, isn't it? To understand why you're hated. To know that it's because you belong to Christ. To know that you're simply sharing in your Master's reproach. What a privilege that is. What an encouragement that is. And then He exhorts them with what seemed to be no doubt strange to their ears. He exhorts them with the understanding that His going away is actually to their advantage. It's better for them.
Look at chapter 16 verse 5: "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." I mean, let's... He knows them. He's the all-knowing One, right? He knows them very well. He sees their hearts. He says here, you stopped asking Me questions about this, but I know your heart is full of sorrow. That's why. Your heart is full of sorrow.
Verse 7: "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you." "I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." He stoops to their level. He's understanding. He's patient. There's that condescending love of the Lord Jesus meeting them where they're at. Where they're at.
Verse 13: "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you." In other words, it is to your advantage that I go away because He will be with you. He will be in you, the Holy Spirit, and thus wherever you go, there I am with you and in you.
He also exhorts them, encourages them with the knowledge that He's triumphant in all of this. He's triumphant in all of this. Look at verse 31, same chapter 16: "Jesus answered them, 'Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming and has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.'"
How is He loving these men? Well, He has loved them from the beginning until now, until this night, but how is He loving them here? By preparing them, by comforting them, by encouraging them. And then when we come to chapter 17—I'm just going to mention this, we've already touched on it—He loves them by praying for them, and we'll study that when we get to that chapter, Lord willing.
But now let's go back to John 13, and all of this is by way of exposition and just to set the table, and I want us to really, by the grace of God, enabled by the Spirit, to take heed how we hear.
So in this introduction, the love of the Son of God is emphasized. He loved them. He has loved them. He is loving them even on this night. But then we read these words in verse one: "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them"—and then we read those words—"to the end." Fix your eyes on those words: "to the end." Two words in the Greek text: eis telos (εἰς τέλος). "He loved them εἰς τέλος." What does that mean?
But one possible meaning—and I think it's included in these words—is that He loved them to the end of His own life, or to say it another way, He loved them to His death. And the reason why I think this thought is contained contained there, included there, is because in the context we are reminding reminded that Jesus knew that His hour had come. So it's contained there. Knowing that this hour had arrived, knowing that the time of His death has arrived, He still loved His own. He's not the shepherd who runs when the wolf appears or approaches; He's the shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. And He loved them by dying for them.
We could also say, though I don't think it is necessarily or particularly in this context, but we can also say it based on the full counsel of God, that Jesus would love these men to the end of their lives. He would love them to the end of their lives on this earth and beyond. But for as long as they walked on this earth, they would be abiding in the love of God and the love of Christ. Remember when He commissions them there in the gospel of Matthew? We read, He says, "And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." You can't go anywhere where I am not with you. You can't be in any situation where I'm not present with you.
But I believe what is most contained in this statement—the Greek word translated "end" εἰς τέλος, to the end into the end is a word that has to do with perfection, completion. He loved them to the fullest extent. He loved them to the fullest extent. He loved them to perfection. He loved them supremely, which is to say, in the case of an infinite God, which is to say, in the case of God's love, He loves them without end—"to the end"—and there is no end. Even to the end of the ages and beyond, there is no end.
Listen to how Pastor MacArthur describes these two words, εἰς τέλος: "It is unbreakable love. If He started loving, He will love to the end. It has no deviation. 'To the end' is εἰς τέλος. It means completely, perfectly, fully, utterly, to the max, to the end, both in terms of capacity and eternity. He loves as much as He can love—He's infinite—as much as God can love, that's how much He loves. And for as long as God loves, that's how long He loves, which is to say, He loves infinitely both in capacity and in time." He goes on to say, "We're introduced then at this point in verse 1 to this dominant theme, and the dominant theme of all of these chapters is this astounding love that He has for His own. It says, 'having loved His own'—implied the already—having loved His own already. He's been loving His own since before they even knew Him. While we were enemies, He loved us. Having loved His own, nothing can change that. He loves, He loves them to the max, to the end, infinitely, utterly, completely, perfectly." End of quote.
And when you put it all together, what do you see? What do you see? What do you see? You see that He loved them in the past, He's loving them in the present, and that He will then love them forever and ever and ever in the future, world without end. Aware that His hour had come, what is on display is the perfect, never-ending, unwavering, faithful, steadfast love of Jesus.
So now, to every single child of God sitting here, every single child of God listening, here's what I want to say in light of all of this: consider, consider His love for you. Will you? Why don't we do that? Consider His love for you. This is the record of how He loved His own who were in the world. He has loved you. How has He loved you? How has He loved me, child of God? How has He loved you? And by way of implication, application, be astounded, be utterly amazed, first of all, that He has loved you.
Just like He said to them, "You did not choose Me but I chose you," so that that can be said of every single child of God in this place here today. We did not choose Him. He chose us. He chose us. When did He choose us? When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, when we were full of inborn ignorance, natural ignorance, when we were haters of God, when we were enemies of God by our very nature—as the book of Ephesians puts it, children of wrath, children deserving of the wrath of God by nature, deserving God's wrath—when we were helpless, when we were when we were away from God, apart from God, alien from, when we did not love God, did not seek God, when we would have never, ever chosen God, He chose to love us.
We have been graced, haven't we? The fact that we've been loved by the Son of God speaks of no merit of our own whatsoever. It is to the praise of the glory of His grace. It speaks of His mercy. There's something seriously wrong about thinking that you deserve the love of God, and there's something wonderfully right about saying, why would He have ever loved me? Why? Is that how you feel about it today? Do you wonder how He could have loved you? And yet He has.
How has He loved you? How has He loved you? Has He not loved you in all the ways that we've seen here this morning? Has He not loved you in the exact same way? Let me ask you, has He not prepared you for things? Is He not preparing us even now? Isn't each step of our sanctification a preparation for something, something to come? Isn't it wonderful to know there's nothing taking place in our life that is without a purpose, not a single thing? Can you look back at things that made no sense to you, but now they do? I don't mean you know all of the mysteries of how the Lord is working with you. You don't. I don't. But in some small way, the Lord reveals to you that there's a plan, there's a purpose for everything you've been through, and all of it has brought you to this day, to this place, to this hour, and there are things that He's doing today in preparation for tomorrow. He's loved you by preparing you.
And hasn't He, beloved, comforted you? Have you known the comfort of Scriptures? Haven't you? Have you known the comfort of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you? Have you known what it is to have your heart full of sorrow and to have the Holy Spirit come alongside and the Lord Jesus comforts you personally, experientially, with His Word, with the knowledge of His presence and His nearness, with the knowledge of His love for you? Have you known what it is to be in the most sorrowful time of your life and yet be assured that God loves you?
Has He not loved you by encouraging you? Have you not known what it is to have the Lord lift your chin, as it were? To have your heart fall and to have your countenance fall and your spirit downcast and have the Lord come alongside of you with His truth and remind you of who He is and the fact that you belong to Him, that you are one of His own and that He does have a plan for your life and that all things are being worked together by God for your good so that He encourages your heart and lifts you up. Have you known what that is, to have the Lord love you like that?
And don't you know that He loves you even today by interceding for you? And that when times, the times have come in your life that you were so heavy laden and you were so burdened you didn't even know how to pray, what to say, where to begin? According to God's Word, the Spirit of God has interceded on your behalf with groanings that cannot be uttered, things that you don't say and things that you don't hear, but the Lord Himself intercedes for you. Just as Job had no knowledge of the conversations taking place in the heavenly realm and what the Lord's plan and purpose was, and just like Peter had no knowledge until the Lord told him that He had prayed for them, that his faith would not fail and that he would turn again and strengthen his brothers, even so the Lord has plans for us that we know nothing about, times that we've been prayed for and God has limited our tests and regulated our tests so that they perfectly accomplish what He has planned for us. We don't know about it, but it happens every single day.
If indeed our enemy is the accuser of the brethren and accuses us night and day before God, so we have a defender of the brethren, an advocate, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our advocate whose shed blood answers for all of our sins and whose righteousness has made us acceptable to God. He's loved you just like He's loved these disciples, these men. He's loved you all the days leading up to this day here right now. He's loved you before you were born. He's loved you from the time you were born, all the days leading up to this day in ways too numerous to count.
Can you name all the ways that God has loved you? Can you tell of all of the graces, all of the mercies? You know what, beloved? I put myself at the head of the line. It is to our shame that we don't remember more of them. It's to our shame that we forget them so easily. It's to our shame that the times that we feel sorry for ourselves or somehow feel as though we are slighted when we have been so amazingly blessed. He's loved us all of our days up to this one. He's loving us even now. His love is faithful. His love is constant. His love is unchanging.
You, child of God, are loved this morning. Today you're loved. This is a day when the Lord is loving you, and He will go on loving you forever. He loves to the fullest extent of love. You say, what is that? εἰς τέλος, to the end. You know what that means? There is no end. There is no end. He has loved us. He is loving us.
So how? How should we respond to this love?
How should we respond to this love? Today, children of God, how should you—how should we—respond to these truths? Well, first, the first way that I think of is praise. Praise. Should we not give Him praise? Should we not, first of all, stop and realize that the story of love is not our love story for Him? It is the story of love concerning His love for us. The story is about His love for us.
First John 4:10 says it just like that: "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." Is that how you think of love? If I were to say, tell me the story of your love relationship with the Lord, is the first thought that comes to your mind your love for Him, or is it that He has loved you? "In this is love, not that we have loved God." That is not the story—no, no, it's not the story. But the story is that "He loved us and sent His Son." That's an amazing thing, that He would love me and send His Son to be the satisfaction for my sins.
Give Him praise. Give Him praise that He loves you. Give Him praise, child of God. Give Him thanks that He has loved you. Worship at His feet. Adore Him.
And then we respond to His love by persevering in love toward Him, by persevering in love toward Him. If He has loved me in this way, how should I love Him? How strong should my love be? And I know it's not of my own doing. It is the love that He shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. How constant should my love be? How fervent should my love be for Him? And I need to endeavor and do everything that I can by the grace of God, enabled by the Spirit of God, to cultivate that love that I have in my heart.
And thirdly, we should love Him by keeping His commandments. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). And we should love Him also by loving each other, right? By loving each other with the love with which we have been loved and thus prove to be His disciples. He has commanded us to keep His commandments, yes, but also in keeping those commandments to love one another with the love that He has for us.
How do you reveal that you understand that God has loved you? Well, you love each other with the love that He has loved you with. That's how. Look around and you do that, right? If He chose to love you when you were unlovable, then you love one another even when we're unlovable, right? If He chose to forgive you of so great a debt, an infinite debt, then you can forgive your brother, your sister. What is it that you hold in your heart toward anybody in this world? Isn't it pretty—compared? Isn't it really a petty compared to what you've been forgiven, what I've been forgiven? Can you put it on the same scale? How can we who have known forgiveness to say to anyone who is asking for forgiveness, I don't forgive you? Well, I'm going to hold this in my heart towards you. What a great sin that is.
But I really think the chief way we respond to His love is by trusting Him. Did you hear me? Oh, beloved, by trusting Him. Trusting His love. Let me ask you a question this morning. If He has loved like this, and if He loves like this, and if He promises—and the Holy Spirit tells us here—that He loves to the fullest extent, to the end, then whatever it is that you're going through today, whatever it is that you're going through right now in your life, does He love you? Does He love you? Can you trust Him? Simple words, but so salient. Can you trust Him? Can you rest in Him? Whatever it is that you're going through in your life today, can you rest in Him? Can you?
When you say, Lord, oh Lord, I don't understand. I don't understand, Lord. I can't make sense of it. Lord, it is not pleasant. Lord, it is painful. And perhaps like the disciples felt, my heart is full of sorrow, Lord. But of this I am assured: You love me. You love me. You love me—εἰς τέλος. You love me. And nothing, absolutely nothing—nothing, nothing, nothing—can ever separate me from Your love. Nothing. Nothing. That's our confidence, isn't it?
I didn't hear an amen here. I want to close with this, back to Romans chapter 8. And as you make your way there, I want you to know that this is after the truth has been taught by Paul about predestination, election, and how God deals with His elect. And the question is raised, as I've asked this morning, how do you respond to this? That's the question. How do you respond to this?
And listen to what he writes in the 31st verse of Romans 8: "What then shall we say to these things?" How do you respond to truth like this that have been revealed by God? What do you say? What do you say? Well, he tells us, "If God is for us, who is against us? He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"
In other words, how could you ever doubt the motive of God toward you? How He gave His Son? Will He withhold anything else from you that's good for you? Verse 33: "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction"—the trouble you're going through, beloved, can it separate you from the love of Christ?—"or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" You mean some face the sword? "Just as it is written, 'For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were counted as sheep for the slaughter.'"
And somewhere in the world, in this world, today, Christians are being persecuted, some even killed. Has God stopped loving them? Has this separated them from the love of Christ? No. Verse 37: "But in all these things, all of them, whether I face trouble, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or even sword, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer"—not with the skin of our teeth, but overwhelmingly conquer—"through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What an amazing thing it is to be able to say, I am one of His. I am loved by Christ. Can you say that today? Do you know Him?
Let's pray.
Now the knowledge of our Lord Jesus is also set before us here. The Holy Spirit tells us that Jesus knew that His hour had come, that hour for Him to depart out of this world to the Father. So the knowledge of Jesus is set before us. Also, the perfect outworking of God's plan of redemption is set before us. There's a connection here—we saw this last time—to the Passover. But what is most prominent here is the fact that Jesus, “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
As we said last time, I want us to recognize as we move through these chapters that the same love that Jesus demonstrates here toward His disciples is the love that He has for all of us who have believed through their word. The love that He had for His disciples here, He has for us who are today His disciples. In fact, when we get to the 17th chapter of John, we're going to see that Jesus prayed not only for those who were already His disciples, but for all of us who would come to believe through their witness.
John 17 verse 19: "For their sake”, He prays, “For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who also who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, and they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."
And so as we learn here about the love of Jesus, we're learning about His love for all of us, His children. All of you, if you're a child of God, that's you.
Last Lord's Day, we talked about those who are His own, having loved His own, having loved His own who were in the world. And you remember, we asked the question, Who are His own? And we looked at several different descriptions of believers from the Gospel of John and some other places in the New Testament. And I refer you to that message.
Well, this morning, what we're going to focus on is how. How did He love them? We dealt with the who. Today, we want to deal with the how. How did He love them? How had He loved them? How was He loving them? How will He love them? And that includes us.
And the first thing I want us to see together this morning, answering this question is, is—I want us to see this. He has loved them all along. He has loved them all along. It says in verse one—look at it—having loved His own. It is in what we call the Aorist tense in Greek. He has loved them already. He has loved them in the past. Having loved His own. In other words, He has loved them all along. He has loved them in everything. There's been nothing but love. Perfect love from Jesus toward His disciples.
All the words that He's spoken—there was nothing in any of His words that was unloving. All the ways that He's dealt with His disciples. All the ways that He treated them. All the things that He's done for them. In all of it, there was what? Perfect love. And I think there's a lesson in that for us.
You know, we talk about love, but any example of love that we've ever seen in the human realm—any example of that, of love that we've seen here around us in the human realm—is in some way, what? Deficient. Isn't it? We've not witnessed here around us, horizontally, perfect love. Perfect love. Not in any of us. And many times what people call love is grossly underdeveloped in one area or another. Some people are good at telling the truth, but they're not good at feeling compassion. Some people are better at feeling compassion, but they're not very good at telling the truth.
And if we want to know what love is, behold Jesus. Behold Him. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ and look at the way that He dealt with His disciples. He has loved them. He loved them all along. And as you look at His love toward His disciples, you see a picture of all that love is. He has loved them all along.
Now, how has He loved them all along? Well, first of all, He loved them by choosing them. He loved them by choosing them. We can't emphasize this enough. How He loved them? He loved them first by choosing them. His love toward them, therefore, we could say and we ought to say was what? A gracious love. It was a gracious love. He didn't choose them because in some way they were a better choice than others. That is, they didn't merit His choice. No way. They did not merit His choice. He chose them for the same reason that you and I were chosen. One word. Grace. That's it.
Love. Love is explained only by Him. Only by Him. He had pity upon them. That's one way we could say it. He looked upon these men who were now His disciples. And when we look back at their coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can say that He had pity upon them. They didn't deserve Him. He graced them. And He wanted them to understand that He had chosen them. They had not chosen Him. He's going to remind them of this right in the midst of these final talks that He has with them. He reminds them of this.
Look with me at chapter 15 of John and verse 16. You know the verse very well. But remember now to put it in its context. This is the final night with them. Think about this. These last moments with them before the arrest and the trials and the crucifixion. He reminds them of how they've come to follow Him. Verse 16: "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." That's grace. That's marvelous grace. That's amazing grace. "You didn't choose Me. I chose you."—And in that way, He had loved them.
He also loved them by teaching them, we could say. By teaching them. We talked about it a little bit last week that God has a love for the world. God has a kind of love for all of humanity. But God has a unique love, a peculiar love, a special love for His own. And you see the uniqueness of the love of Jesus for His people even in the way He's dealt with the disciples compared with how He dealt with the crowds.
For instance, in Matthew 13 and verse 10. Matthew 13. Verse 10. The disciples had a question for Him. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them"—referring to the crowds—"Why do You speak to them in parables?" Verse 11, Matthew 13: "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'" You go down to verse 16: "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it."
And then He goes on to explain the parable of the sower to them. He didn't explain it to the crowd. He didn't explain it to the multitudes. He explained it to them. The very way that Jesus taught these men, the very fact that He took them into Himself and explained things to them that He didn't explain to others—that speaks of His electing love. And you notice in verse 16, particularly in His reply to the disciples, He didn't praise them for what they saw. He didn't praise them for what they heard. He didn't praise them for what they understood. Rather, He said, "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." You've been very blessed. You've been very graced.
So He loved them by choosing them. He loved them by teaching them. He chose them for what He was going to teach them. And thirdly, He loved them by guarding them, by keeping them. By guarding them and keeping them.
Look at John 17. John 17, in this final section or this section leading up to the crucifixion, when He's praying for them, He says in verse 11, John 17, verse 11: "And I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I have come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are." Father, I'm going away, I'm returning to You, and I pray for these My people, My own. I ask You to keep them.
Now listen to what else He says in verse 12: "While I was with them,” what's next? “I was keeping them.” “I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled." I wonder if these men were aware of this. I wonder. I wonder if they were aware that the Son of God was guarding them and keeping them. I wonder if they were aware of all of the ways that He was actually keeping them. "I've kept them in Your name. I've guarded them."
Jesus was able to pray, and in this way, He loved them by keeping them, by guarding them.
Thirdly, fourthly, He loved them by exposing them to certain tests and by regulating those tests. I love that. By exposing them to certain tests, but not just simply exposing them, He regulates the intensity and the temperature and the duration.
Remember what the Lord Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22? After Peter has boasted that he would never, never deny the Lord Jesus. In verse 31, He said, Luke 22, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed earnestly for you that your faith may not fail." There's the Son of God guarding him. There's the Son of God keeping him. And there's the Son of God regulating the test. Isn't that marvelous? Regulating the test. Satan demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat.
Well, in the sovereign plan and purpose of God, we learn this even from the book of Job, right? Don't we? There are certain things that the Lord grants, not for our destruction, but ultimately for our good to prove us and to demonstrate Himself in the midst of it all. His nearness. He says, "I have prayed earnestly for you that your faith may not fail"—and His faith would not fail. Would not fail. "And you, when once you have returned"—not if, but once. You've returned. "Strengthen your brothers." Peter, I prayed for you and when you've come through this, the result will be you will be an instrument in My hand to strengthen your brothers.
So He's loved these men by choosing them. He's loved these men by teaching them. He's loved these men by keeping them, guarding them. He's loved these men by allowing them to be tested at certain points and by regulating those tests and by praying for them, guarding them, keeping them through these tests.
And then fifthly, He loved them by being patient with them. Oh, the patience of Jesus. Now, you would not know from this. You would not know this from the Gospel of John alone. And we'll get to it next time, Lord willing, in September. But you know what has happened before the Lord Jesus washes their feet? Luke tells us what happened. These men came into the room, bickering, arguing. And you know what they've been arguing about? Who's the greatest in the kingdom? In fact, there may have been squabbling even at this meal, at this gathering. They may have been really arguing about who was going to have the chief seat, who was going to have the place of honor. And we'll talk about that next time.
And just to sow the seed, it appears Alfred Edersheim really points this out marvelously. It appears that Judas in all likelihood was the one who ended up occupying the chief seat, the place of honor. But there's an argument that's been going on. And don't you see it over and over again in the Gospels how patient the Lord Jesus was with these disciples? How often, how often they said foolish things, how often they did foolish things. And yet He continues to love them. He continues to teach them. He continues at times to reprove them. And He continues at all times to let them know that He cares for them. This is love, His patience, His patience.
And hand in hand with that, beloved, He loved them by meeting them. By meeting them where they were. He loved them hand in hand with patience by meeting them where they were. I love what Spurgeon, Spurgeon's insight on this. He pointed out in his sermon on this text, “Isn't it amazing,” he pointed out that, “when you talk about the deepest things that have to do with our salvation, the full explanation of those things really awaited the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul's understanding, infinitely below the understanding of our Lord Jesus, the Infinite One.” And that goes without saying. And yet Spurgeon really says, “Christ most oftentimes taught these truths about God, about Himself, about salvation in the simplest terms. And He waited until they were given the Holy Spirit to then give them deeper instruction in the New Testament epistles.”
The patience of Jesus, how He met them where they were at that stage. How often He demonstrated His willingness to condescend to them by responding to their questions in a way that revealed His patience, His patience. Remember Philip saying, “Lord, show us the Father and it's enough for us.” (John 14:8) Jesus says, "Have I been with you all along, so long? And have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" John 14.
Peter, taking it upon himself to rebuke his Master and telling Him He would not go to the cross, He would not die. And on that occasion, Jesus was stern with him. Get thee behind Me, Satan. So here you have the Lord Jesus over and over again, meeting these men where they were, being patient with them, teaching them. Through their frailties, through their smallness, through their ignorance. This is love.
Behold the love of Jesus. In the sixth place, we could say He loved them by praying for them. By praying for them. We saw that in Luke 22, where He told Peter that He prayed for him. But you also see it in John 17, that entire prayer. When we get to it, Lord willing, what a picture of the intercession of the Son of God on behalf of His people. On behalf of His own. And He specifically singles out these people from the rest of the world, even in His prayer. There's a singling out of His own.
John 17, verse 9: "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours." That is an astounding statement, isn't it? Jesus is not praying for the world. Jesus is praying for His own.
So in the first verse of John 13, we're reminded—this is something that is made prominent by the Holy Spirit—the love of Jesus for His own. And the first thing we see is that He has loved them. He loved them all along. He has loved them. From the beginning until now, there's been nothing but love. Loving thoughts. Loving words. Loving deeds. Loving motives. Everything about the Lord Jesus toward His own has been love.
He chose them in love. He taught them in love. He kept them in love. He exposed them to certain tests and regulated those tests in love. He was patient with them. He met them where they were in love. And He prayed for them in love. In all of these ways and more, He has loved them.
But we're not just told that He has loved them. We're told that right here in the text that He is loving them. Isn't that amazing? It's not like a past thing, you know, right? He is loving them. So He has loved them all along.
The second heading, if you were to put a heading: He is loving them. He is loving them right now. He is loving them. He continues to love them. "Having loved His own"—the text says—"who were in the world, He loved them to the end." "He loved them to the end." That is, He's loving them right now, all the way to the end. Right in the midst of these chapters we're studying, He is loving them.
How do these chapters speak of Christ's love for His own? And I think at least in three different ways, at least three. Number one, He is loving them by preparing them. In preparing them, He's preparing them. He knows that even though He's told His disciples He's going to die, they still don't grasp it. It hasn't really sunk in. In fact, He knows that they're not going to fully understand what they're about to go through until after the fact. There are aspects of it they're not going to understand until they've been given the Holy Spirit. Until after the resurrection. Nonetheless, He's giving them the information. He's giving them the things that they're going to reflect on afterwards and benefit from. He is what? Preparing them. He is preparing them. He's preparing them in a lot of different directions.
When He washes their feet, He's teaching them a lesson about the future. If you look down in this chapter to the 12th verse, it says, "So when He had washed their feet and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you?'" In other words, this isn't just about getting dirty feet clean. You see, there's a spiritual lesson here. In fact, there's more than one spiritual lesson. We'll get to it, Lord willing, next time. One lesson has to do with the nature of salvation, the nature of sanctification, but the other lesson is He's preparing them for after He's gone to understand what really constitutes true spiritual greatness. He wants them to understand the nature of their service.
Go down to verse 13 and see. "'You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.'" He prepares them for service. He prepares them for service.
In verses 18 through 30 of this chapter, He's preparing them also. He prepares them for what? Betrayal. He prepares them for the betrayal. They don't have any clue, any idea what's going to take place with Judas. They don't understand it at all. In fact, when Jesus told Judas, "What you do, do quickly"—verse 27—they thought that Jesus was sending Judas out to buy things needed for the feast or perhaps even to help the poor. They had no understanding, and the Bible specifically tells us that Jesus was preparing them to understand after the fact what had occurred and, as a result, firm up their faith and buttress their faith all the more. To understand that all of this was taking place according to Scriptures, all that was taking place was according to the unfolding redemptive plan of God, and so He's preparing them for the betrayal.
And also, He's also preparing them for His departure. Verses 31 through 38 of chapter 13, notice what He says. For example, in verse 31: "Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, Where I am going, you cannot come.'" Verse 36: "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, where are You going?' Jesus answered, 'Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.'" Of course, Peter goes on to say, I'll lay down my life for you, and Jesus tells him that He's going to deny Him three times before the rooster crows.
What's Christ doing with these words? He's preparing these disciples. He's preparing them. He doesn't want Him to be caught off guard. He's preparing them. I'm going away. I'm going away. Where I'm going, you cannot come. Preparation. This is how He's loving them right now. He's preparing them.
And secondly, He also loves them by comforting them. By comforting them. This is troubling them. It is troubling them. You notice Jesus tells them He's going away. Right after that, He commands them to love one another, and they just pass right by His words concerning love. They missed the whole thing. When they've heard those words, what they're most concerned about is, hold on a second, where are you going? Where are you going? And so their hearts are troubled. Lord, where are you going?
And chapter 14, verse 1, look at how it opens up: "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." He tells them. He comforts them with the knowledge that He's preparing a place for them and He will come back. He's going to return. He's going to come back for them.
And He comforts them with the knowledge that though He's going away, they will still have access to the Father while He's away in His name. And in that sense, they'll have access to Him. Look at verse 10 of chapter 14: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
In other words, you have access to the Father in My name. Ask in My name. I will do it. You have access to Me when you ask in My name. There's an Advocate, so He comforts them. He comforts them. And in verses 15 through 31, He comforts them with the knowledge that He's not going to leave them as orphans. He's not going to leave them alone. He's going to come to them and be with them and be in them in the person of the Holy Spirit.
What a wonderful section this is. We're going to get to it, Lord willing. In verses 15 through 31, what a wonderful promise or wonderful promises He gives to His followers. You will not be alone. And so He loves them by preparing them, following on the heels of this preparation which they don't understand. He loves them by comforting them, by comforting them. I'm preparing a place for you and I'm going to come back. I'm going to return and you have access to the Father in My name. You have access to Me and also I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave you orphans. I will come to you in the person of the Holy Spirit who will live in you.
And then He exhorts them in chapter 15 and chapter 16. He encourages them.
And so the third thing we could say, He loves them by encouraging them, by encouraging them. He encouraged them in chapter 15 to abide in Him, the lesson of the vine and the branches, how we must abide in Christ and those who are saved will abide in Him. That's verses 1 through 11, and then 12 through 17. He exhorts them to abide in His love and to love one another.
Look at verse 12 for instance, just to see that and the following verses: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask in the Father in My name He may give to you. This command, this I command you, that you love one another." There's His command. There's His exhortation. I love you and now I want you to love one another. Abide in Me. Abide in My love.
So He exhorts them in verse 18 through chapter 16 verse 4. That entire section He also exhorts them. He encourages them to understand the world's hatred. To understand the world's hatred. Men, I want to prepare you with this encouragement, He tells them. You're going to be hated. You're going to be hated, but be encouraged. There's a reason why you're hated. You're hated because you don't belong to the world. You're hated because the world hates Me, and if the world hates Me, the world will hate you because you belong to Me. You are My followers. You're associated with Me.
It's encouraging, isn't it? To understand why you're hated. To know that it's because you belong to Christ. To know that you're simply sharing in your Master's reproach. What a privilege that is. What an encouragement that is. And then He exhorts them with what seemed to be no doubt strange to their ears. He exhorts them with the understanding that His going away is actually to their advantage. It's better for them.
Look at chapter 16 verse 5: "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." I mean, let's... He knows them. He's the all-knowing One, right? He knows them very well. He sees their hearts. He says here, you stopped asking Me questions about this, but I know your heart is full of sorrow. That's why. Your heart is full of sorrow.
Verse 7: "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you." "I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." He stoops to their level. He's understanding. He's patient. There's that condescending love of the Lord Jesus meeting them where they're at. Where they're at.
Verse 13: "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you." In other words, it is to your advantage that I go away because He will be with you. He will be in you, the Holy Spirit, and thus wherever you go, there I am with you and in you.
He also exhorts them, encourages them with the knowledge that He's triumphant in all of this. He's triumphant in all of this. Look at verse 31, same chapter 16: "Jesus answered them, 'Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming and has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.'"
How is He loving these men? Well, He has loved them from the beginning until now, until this night, but how is He loving them here? By preparing them, by comforting them, by encouraging them. And then when we come to chapter 17—I'm just going to mention this, we've already touched on it—He loves them by praying for them, and we'll study that when we get to that chapter, Lord willing.
But now let's go back to John 13, and all of this is by way of exposition and just to set the table, and I want us to really, by the grace of God, enabled by the Spirit, to take heed how we hear.
So in this introduction, the love of the Son of God is emphasized. He loved them. He has loved them. He is loving them even on this night. But then we read these words in verse one: "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them"—and then we read those words—"to the end." Fix your eyes on those words: "to the end." Two words in the Greek text: eis telos (εἰς τέλος). "He loved them εἰς τέλος." What does that mean?
But one possible meaning—and I think it's included in these words—is that He loved them to the end of His own life, or to say it another way, He loved them to His death. And the reason why I think this thought is contained contained there, included there, is because in the context we are reminding reminded that Jesus knew that His hour had come. So it's contained there. Knowing that this hour had arrived, knowing that the time of His death has arrived, He still loved His own. He's not the shepherd who runs when the wolf appears or approaches; He's the shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. And He loved them by dying for them.
We could also say, though I don't think it is necessarily or particularly in this context, but we can also say it based on the full counsel of God, that Jesus would love these men to the end of their lives. He would love them to the end of their lives on this earth and beyond. But for as long as they walked on this earth, they would be abiding in the love of God and the love of Christ. Remember when He commissions them there in the gospel of Matthew? We read, He says, "And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." You can't go anywhere where I am not with you. You can't be in any situation where I'm not present with you.
But I believe what is most contained in this statement—the Greek word translated "end" εἰς τέλος, to the end into the end is a word that has to do with perfection, completion. He loved them to the fullest extent. He loved them to the fullest extent. He loved them to perfection. He loved them supremely, which is to say, in the case of an infinite God, which is to say, in the case of God's love, He loves them without end—"to the end"—and there is no end. Even to the end of the ages and beyond, there is no end.
Listen to how Pastor MacArthur describes these two words, εἰς τέλος: "It is unbreakable love. If He started loving, He will love to the end. It has no deviation. 'To the end' is εἰς τέλος. It means completely, perfectly, fully, utterly, to the max, to the end, both in terms of capacity and eternity. He loves as much as He can love—He's infinite—as much as God can love, that's how much He loves. And for as long as God loves, that's how long He loves, which is to say, He loves infinitely both in capacity and in time." He goes on to say, "We're introduced then at this point in verse 1 to this dominant theme, and the dominant theme of all of these chapters is this astounding love that He has for His own. It says, 'having loved His own'—implied the already—having loved His own already. He's been loving His own since before they even knew Him. While we were enemies, He loved us. Having loved His own, nothing can change that. He loves, He loves them to the max, to the end, infinitely, utterly, completely, perfectly." End of quote.
And when you put it all together, what do you see? What do you see? What do you see? You see that He loved them in the past, He's loving them in the present, and that He will then love them forever and ever and ever in the future, world without end. Aware that His hour had come, what is on display is the perfect, never-ending, unwavering, faithful, steadfast love of Jesus.
So now, to every single child of God sitting here, every single child of God listening, here's what I want to say in light of all of this: consider, consider His love for you. Will you? Why don't we do that? Consider His love for you. This is the record of how He loved His own who were in the world. He has loved you. How has He loved you? How has He loved me, child of God? How has He loved you? And by way of implication, application, be astounded, be utterly amazed, first of all, that He has loved you.
Just like He said to them, "You did not choose Me but I chose you," so that that can be said of every single child of God in this place here today. We did not choose Him. He chose us. He chose us. When did He choose us? When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, when we were full of inborn ignorance, natural ignorance, when we were haters of God, when we were enemies of God by our very nature—as the book of Ephesians puts it, children of wrath, children deserving of the wrath of God by nature, deserving God's wrath—when we were helpless, when we were when we were away from God, apart from God, alien from, when we did not love God, did not seek God, when we would have never, ever chosen God, He chose to love us.
We have been graced, haven't we? The fact that we've been loved by the Son of God speaks of no merit of our own whatsoever. It is to the praise of the glory of His grace. It speaks of His mercy. There's something seriously wrong about thinking that you deserve the love of God, and there's something wonderfully right about saying, why would He have ever loved me? Why? Is that how you feel about it today? Do you wonder how He could have loved you? And yet He has.
How has He loved you? How has He loved you? Has He not loved you in all the ways that we've seen here this morning? Has He not loved you in the exact same way? Let me ask you, has He not prepared you for things? Is He not preparing us even now? Isn't each step of our sanctification a preparation for something, something to come? Isn't it wonderful to know there's nothing taking place in our life that is without a purpose, not a single thing? Can you look back at things that made no sense to you, but now they do? I don't mean you know all of the mysteries of how the Lord is working with you. You don't. I don't. But in some small way, the Lord reveals to you that there's a plan, there's a purpose for everything you've been through, and all of it has brought you to this day, to this place, to this hour, and there are things that He's doing today in preparation for tomorrow. He's loved you by preparing you.
And hasn't He, beloved, comforted you? Have you known the comfort of Scriptures? Haven't you? Have you known the comfort of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you? Have you known what it is to have your heart full of sorrow and to have the Holy Spirit come alongside and the Lord Jesus comforts you personally, experientially, with His Word, with the knowledge of His presence and His nearness, with the knowledge of His love for you? Have you known what it is to be in the most sorrowful time of your life and yet be assured that God loves you?
Has He not loved you by encouraging you? Have you not known what it is to have the Lord lift your chin, as it were? To have your heart fall and to have your countenance fall and your spirit downcast and have the Lord come alongside of you with His truth and remind you of who He is and the fact that you belong to Him, that you are one of His own and that He does have a plan for your life and that all things are being worked together by God for your good so that He encourages your heart and lifts you up. Have you known what that is, to have the Lord love you like that?
And don't you know that He loves you even today by interceding for you? And that when times, the times have come in your life that you were so heavy laden and you were so burdened you didn't even know how to pray, what to say, where to begin? According to God's Word, the Spirit of God has interceded on your behalf with groanings that cannot be uttered, things that you don't say and things that you don't hear, but the Lord Himself intercedes for you. Just as Job had no knowledge of the conversations taking place in the heavenly realm and what the Lord's plan and purpose was, and just like Peter had no knowledge until the Lord told him that He had prayed for them, that his faith would not fail and that he would turn again and strengthen his brothers, even so the Lord has plans for us that we know nothing about, times that we've been prayed for and God has limited our tests and regulated our tests so that they perfectly accomplish what He has planned for us. We don't know about it, but it happens every single day.
If indeed our enemy is the accuser of the brethren and accuses us night and day before God, so we have a defender of the brethren, an advocate, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our advocate whose shed blood answers for all of our sins and whose righteousness has made us acceptable to God. He's loved you just like He's loved these disciples, these men. He's loved you all the days leading up to this day here right now. He's loved you before you were born. He's loved you from the time you were born, all the days leading up to this day in ways too numerous to count.
Can you name all the ways that God has loved you? Can you tell of all of the graces, all of the mercies? You know what, beloved? I put myself at the head of the line. It is to our shame that we don't remember more of them. It's to our shame that we forget them so easily. It's to our shame that the times that we feel sorry for ourselves or somehow feel as though we are slighted when we have been so amazingly blessed. He's loved us all of our days up to this one. He's loving us even now. His love is faithful. His love is constant. His love is unchanging.
You, child of God, are loved this morning. Today you're loved. This is a day when the Lord is loving you, and He will go on loving you forever. He loves to the fullest extent of love. You say, what is that? εἰς τέλος, to the end. You know what that means? There is no end. There is no end. He has loved us. He is loving us.
So how? How should we respond to this love?
How should we respond to this love? Today, children of God, how should you—how should we—respond to these truths? Well, first, the first way that I think of is praise. Praise. Should we not give Him praise? Should we not, first of all, stop and realize that the story of love is not our love story for Him? It is the story of love concerning His love for us. The story is about His love for us.
First John 4:10 says it just like that: "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." Is that how you think of love? If I were to say, tell me the story of your love relationship with the Lord, is the first thought that comes to your mind your love for Him, or is it that He has loved you? "In this is love, not that we have loved God." That is not the story—no, no, it's not the story. But the story is that "He loved us and sent His Son." That's an amazing thing, that He would love me and send His Son to be the satisfaction for my sins.
Give Him praise. Give Him praise that He loves you. Give Him praise, child of God. Give Him thanks that He has loved you. Worship at His feet. Adore Him.
And then we respond to His love by persevering in love toward Him, by persevering in love toward Him. If He has loved me in this way, how should I love Him? How strong should my love be? And I know it's not of my own doing. It is the love that He shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. How constant should my love be? How fervent should my love be for Him? And I need to endeavor and do everything that I can by the grace of God, enabled by the Spirit of God, to cultivate that love that I have in my heart.
And thirdly, we should love Him by keeping His commandments. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). And we should love Him also by loving each other, right? By loving each other with the love with which we have been loved and thus prove to be His disciples. He has commanded us to keep His commandments, yes, but also in keeping those commandments to love one another with the love that He has for us.
How do you reveal that you understand that God has loved you? Well, you love each other with the love that He has loved you with. That's how. Look around and you do that, right? If He chose to love you when you were unlovable, then you love one another even when we're unlovable, right? If He chose to forgive you of so great a debt, an infinite debt, then you can forgive your brother, your sister. What is it that you hold in your heart toward anybody in this world? Isn't it pretty—compared? Isn't it really a petty compared to what you've been forgiven, what I've been forgiven? Can you put it on the same scale? How can we who have known forgiveness to say to anyone who is asking for forgiveness, I don't forgive you? Well, I'm going to hold this in my heart towards you. What a great sin that is.
But I really think the chief way we respond to His love is by trusting Him. Did you hear me? Oh, beloved, by trusting Him. Trusting His love. Let me ask you a question this morning. If He has loved like this, and if He loves like this, and if He promises—and the Holy Spirit tells us here—that He loves to the fullest extent, to the end, then whatever it is that you're going through today, whatever it is that you're going through right now in your life, does He love you? Does He love you? Can you trust Him? Simple words, but so salient. Can you trust Him? Can you rest in Him? Whatever it is that you're going through in your life today, can you rest in Him? Can you?
When you say, Lord, oh Lord, I don't understand. I don't understand, Lord. I can't make sense of it. Lord, it is not pleasant. Lord, it is painful. And perhaps like the disciples felt, my heart is full of sorrow, Lord. But of this I am assured: You love me. You love me. You love me—εἰς τέλος. You love me. And nothing, absolutely nothing—nothing, nothing, nothing—can ever separate me from Your love. Nothing. Nothing. That's our confidence, isn't it?
I didn't hear an amen here. I want to close with this, back to Romans chapter 8. And as you make your way there, I want you to know that this is after the truth has been taught by Paul about predestination, election, and how God deals with His elect. And the question is raised, as I've asked this morning, how do you respond to this? That's the question. How do you respond to this?
And listen to what he writes in the 31st verse of Romans 8: "What then shall we say to these things?" How do you respond to truth like this that have been revealed by God? What do you say? What do you say? Well, he tells us, "If God is for us, who is against us? He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?"
In other words, how could you ever doubt the motive of God toward you? How He gave His Son? Will He withhold anything else from you that's good for you? Verse 33: "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction"—the trouble you're going through, beloved, can it separate you from the love of Christ?—"or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" You mean some face the sword? "Just as it is written, 'For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were counted as sheep for the slaughter.'"
And somewhere in the world, in this world, today, Christians are being persecuted, some even killed. Has God stopped loving them? Has this separated them from the love of Christ? No. Verse 37: "But in all these things, all of them, whether I face trouble, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or even sword, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer"—not with the skin of our teeth, but overwhelmingly conquer—"through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What an amazing thing it is to be able to say, I am one of His. I am loved by Christ. Can you say that today? Do you know Him?
Let's pray.
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