Are these words of life to you? Simon Peter, I love that man. Never met him. I love him dearly. I know him. He reminds me of
me. Because he is. He's my brother.
Though Simon denied him, he meant what he said, didn't he? He meant
what he said. He meant that. Why? His heart
was right. His heart was right. But he had
to deny Him because Scripture said so. They all had to forsake
Him because Scripture said so. He said, I never wanted to, but
they're going to do what Scripture says will happen. Simon Peter,
bless his heart, he's the one that said, I'm not going anywhere. These are words of life. He spoke
up so much and so often. Sometimes out of turn, sometimes
when he didn't need to, and other times, I'm glad he spoke up. And that was one of them. He
said, to whom shall we go? Now it's the words of eternal
life. And one time, the Lord asked
them all, who do men say that I am? And they said, this, and
that, and the other. And he said, who do you say?
Simon Peter said, we believe and are sure that thou art the
Christ, the Son of God. He said, blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You're the rock, and I'm going to build my church
on this rock of your profession. But as Simon Peter had to die,
We try to avoid unpleasant subjects, don't we? Don't like to talk
about unpleasant things. But we must hear this story. John 13. Go there. Did I tell
you to turn there? John 13. This is recorded four
times. There are 18 through 12, 13,
12 or 13 verses in this gospel that talk about Judas. Scripture says there must be
heresies among you, that they which are approved might be made
men of them. We try to avoid unpleasant subjects,
but You know, I must deal faithfully with Scripture as they come,
in the order in which they come. I can't pick and choose, can
I? We need it all, the warnings, the promises, the reproofs, the
rebukes, the encouragement. We need it all. All Scripture
is profitable for all those things. We need warning. Do you need
warning? Do you fear betraying our Lord
and leaving our... do you? We ought to. This was
one of the apostles. Verse 2, it says supper being
ended, having the Lord's supper. The devil now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Right during the
supper, The devil put into the heart of Judas Iscariot. He calls
him throughout this Simon's son, verse 26, Judas Iscariot the
son of Simon. Why does he do that? We know
Simon Peter's name. That's his name. And this man
is the son of a man named Simon. Who maketh thee? You know what
the name Simon means? Hearing. Have they not all heard, Paul
wrote, yea, verily the sound is gone to the ends of the earth.
Judas heard what Simon heard. Imagine what Judas heard. Imagine
what Judas saw. We have. We have. We've actually heard more than
they did. Some of us have been hearing the gospel of God's glory
for forty-some years. Like the children of Israel in
the wilderness. Forty years they saw His glory. Some of them didn't
enter in. Is this meaningful? Sure is. Simon heard, he saw. Oh my. And that's what the Hebrews over
and over again says. Let us, you know, not let these
things slip. Oh, the gospel we've heard, he
said. Judas was Simon's son. He's a
man like all the disciples. And the Lord chose him to hear
the truth. You know, everyone doesn't hear
the truth. The gospel. You know that? There
are places in remote areas all over the world that haven't heard
the complete gospel. But men are still accountable.
The law is written on their heart. They're still accountable to
the light that they're given. My dad used to always say that.
You walk in the light you're given, it'll give you more light.
Okay? And the men worship idols and
all that, knowing better. Heaven declares His glory, His
eternal power and Godhead. But men, you know, they make
up idols. But some places hear the gospel. I mean, they hear the veracity
of it, the truth of it. And those places are more accountable
than other places. That's why our Lord said, Woe
unto Bethsaida and Chorazin and Capernaum. If the gospel had
been preached to you, had been preached in Sodom and Gomorrah,
then they would have repented. Woe unto Rocky Mountain, Virginia.
That's right. We're more accountable for what
we've heard. More accountable. Judas heard the truth. Oh, now
he heard the truth. You know, it'd been better if
you'd never heard it. It'd been better if you'd never
heard it. That's what Scripture said in the leave. Now it's accountable
for you. You know, people come, visitors
come, and I see them come in. I know it's the first time that
they've ever heard the gospel. I have mixed emotions. I'm glad
they're there. I'm hopeful. I hope, Lord, please
speak to them. But if He doesn't, it would have
been better if they'd never come in that cell. You follow me? The devil put into his heart,
his heart. You know, all of us, all the
sons of God are tempted by the devil. You're all tempted. It's a terrible, horrible thing
that Judas did. Horrible thing that Simon did.
Satan did that. Tempted him. Passed him. Sifted
him. Horrible thing. Do horrible thoughts
go through your mind? Do you sometimes say, how could
I possibly think that? How could I have those thoughts? I remember reading an old writer
when I was a young believer. You know, when the Lord reveals
himself to you, your troubles aren't over. They have just begun.
I mean, the fight that you never had before has just begun. And it's a lifelong fight with
sin, with the adversary. And we're no match for him. Sometimes
he... When I read this writer, And he said this, and it comforted
me anyway. He said, sometimes thoughts,
such awful thoughts, go through my head. I think, is that the
devil saying that to me, or is that me? This is what Paul wrote in Romans
7, didn't he? The things I do, I don't want
to do. The things I want to do, I don't
do. You know what the Scripture says
there? that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh, so you cannot do the things that you would. Cannot. The devil put in his heart. The
devil, Revelation 12, talks about him coming down to earth and
tempting and tormenting all the earth, the whole earth. He's
the God of this world. He's a formidable adversary.
And not one human being is a match for him. James said, oh, blessed
though, blessed is the man that endure a temptation. All of God's
people are tempted and tried, troubled. Simon Peter said, Satan
is a roaring lion, walketh about the earth, seeking whom he may
devour. He knew from experience, didn't
he? He said, resist him. How? In the faith. They're in Revelation where it
says that Satan came down to earth. God cast him down. Christ
cast him down to earth. He said, woe is unto the earth
because of him. But he said that God's people
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. You know, without Christ we can
do nothing. Nothing. Can't resist one temptation. Eve, one temptation, one, and
plunge this world into sin and misery. One. Just don't eat that. Just one thing. That's easy. No, it's not. The strength of
sin is the law. Don't do that. The flesh says,
why not? This flesh lusts against the
spirit. Now here's the comforting. If
you have a spirit that's lusting against the flesh, if you have
a new man in you that's fighting, thank God he wasn't there before. Before there was no new man,
there was no fight. It was perfect harmony in the
world and in sin. There was no battle there. Sin
wasn't a trouble to you, it's delight. It's what Romans 6 says. He took pleasure therein. Not
now. Not now. It's a fight. It's a battle.
Satan entered into his heart. Put into his heart. Put into
his heart. You know, Scripture says a lot about the heart. Out
of the heart are the issues of life. Not the head. You can believe
the truth. You can know the truth. But your
heart will not be right. You can preach truth, and your
heart will not be rotten. Judas did. This is how serious
it is. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. With the heart, man believeth.
Not the head. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. Keep thine heart with all diligence. Isn't that what it says? Thine
heart. And this is the sense. Now you'll
know, and this may be tomorrow's scripture verse. Now you know
why the Father says to His sons, My son, give Me thine heart. Why? Because we can't keep it. That's why He says that, John.
He's saying it to His people. They'll have a new heart. You
better give Me that heart. You can't keep it. He tells us
to keep it. You can't. How are you going
to keep it? Lord, take it. Come Thou Fount
is my favorite hymn. And one verse in particular.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above.
Not even say, create in me a clean Heart, didn't they? Psalm 51, that's our favorite
psalm. Across the board, that's God's
people's favorite psalm. Why? All of God's people have
this adversary. So the devil put it into his
heart, and in a little bit, the devil's going to enter him. Our
Lord pray that you don't enter into it. We're all tempted. Do
you understand? And it's good. It's of the Lord
that we're tempted by the atmosphere. It's good. Blessed is the man
who endures temptation. But we can't do it. He has to
do it. And that's why we're to call
on Him. Call on Him. Call on Him. We
need to pray like David. You know, how could Judas do
this? How could he sell Christ? How could he forsake his brethren
and jeopardize their lives and all that? When he left, he put
them all in jeopardy. He's saying, I don't need any
of you. How could he do that? How could he walk right up to
Christ and kiss him on the cheek and say, I love you, brother?
How? Would you tell me how a man could
do something like that? Bad heart. A bad heart. He had the doctrine. A bad heart. You see how important the heart
is? Heart. This is what David said. I quoted
it. He said, creating me a clean
heart. In Psalm 139, if Psalm 51 is
your favorite, Psalm 139 is your second. Search me, O God. See if there be any wicked way
in me. Cleanse me. Not a thought in my head you
don't know. There's not a sin I have sinned that you don't
know. Please, Lord, help me. We need to pray without ceasing,
don't we? Because our adversary will never
cease. He'll never cease to trouble
us, tempt us. We need to pray, don't let him
enter me. He's sifting us. Don't let him have me. Don't let him have me. And then
the Lord washed the feet. Wasn't that beautiful? All that
that represents Christ crucified. I wash thee not. He said, if
I wash thee not, you have no pardon. He said, you're clean. Look at verse 10. He said, you're clean every whit. Verse
10, you're clean, but not all. Verse 11, he knew who should
betray him, therefore said he, you're not all clean. Now, when he came to wash their
feet, one man spoke up. Who was it? Simon. He said, you're
not going to wash my feet. The Lord says, if I wash thee
not, you have no pardon. He said, wash me all over. I'll
wash my head, my hands, my feet, my mouth. Wash me. Just clean
me up. He meant that, didn't he? Do
you? Judas didn't say that, did he? You don't hear Judas saying
that. Wash me all over. Clean me up.
These awful thoughts going through my head. Do you? Do you? Tell
me now. Do you? Wash me all over, Lord. Please cleanse me. That's a good
sign. Because you're not going to sell
him. Are you with me? If that's not the
desire of your heart, you've got a bad heart. If that's not
the cry of your heart, you're going to sell him. He's going
to sell him for the world. Thirty pieces of silver. That's
a fact. Wash me all over. Verse 18, he
said, I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, that
the Scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. He said, I tell you now,
I tell you now before it come to pass that when it is Come
to pass it, you may believe that I am." The Word of God is so clearly
the Word of God to the children of God, the sons of God. It's
so clear. It's just so evident as God wrote
this book. It's just the wisdom of it, the
glory of it, how it is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. It's amazing. And our Lord, everything He said,
Has come to pass everything He did. And we see it, don't we? We see it. I believe He's God. I believe He wrote the book.
I believe He is the book, don't you? I see, we see clearly. His disciples knew, this is the
Word made flesh. That's what John said. We beheld
His clothing. God, who created all things,
was made flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His clothing. And
so have we. So have we. And verse 20, he says, for their
comfort, because these were his chosen apostles, disciples to
go out and preach the gospel. He that receiveth whomsoever
I send receiveth me. And he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. The Lord gave me a faithful pastor,
a faithful preacher. And how do I know God sent him?
Because he preached Christ. All the time, he never quit preaching
Christ. And he was faithful to the end. His heart, he had a
good heart. Paul one time said, you fully
know my manner, my way of life. He said, I didn't, it was covetous
and so on and so forth, didn't do it for money, and you know
that. And I knew that about my preacher. His message, his manner,
his methods all proved that God sent him. And I followed him. Stop. Anyway, so God has his men and
his sins. There's some you don't know.
You just don't know, like Judas. It'll be known. It'll be known. It won't take long. Time will
tell. Time will tell. Judge nothing
before the time. Well, he said in verse 21, that
our Lord was troubled in spirit. Testify and say, verily, verily. In the Gospel of John he says
it over and over again. Verily, verily. The other Gospels,
verily. That means truly. This is true. Listen. He says it twice here. Listen up now. Listen up now. One of you shall betray man. And he was troubled. He was troubled. It troubled
him. And over in Matthew we read they
were all exceedingly sorrowful. Does it trouble you? Does it
trouble you the thought of you leaving? I hope so. Does it trouble you by any of
our brethren leaving? Does that trouble you? Does it? Do you pray over your
brethren? Do you lose sleep over each other?
I do. I really do. Do things trouble
you that your brethren go through? Do they? That's love. How this shall all men know.
They were troubled. He was troubled. And every one of them we saw
said, Is it I? Judas didn't do it spontaneously.
He didn't do it. They all did it spontaneously.
As soon as he said it, they said, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I?
Lord, is it I? After they all said it, then
Judas said, I better say it. He said, Master. He didn't call
him Lord. He said, I. So nobody would suspect
him. How could somebody play a part
for so long? That's something. Who could do
this? Now look at this. Now, this is
all amazing, but there's one fella here in this story that
you can count on. He's not going to betray the
Lord. There's one person here you can
tell that he's not leaving. He's leaning. He's alive on the
Lord's breasts. John. Look at verse 23. Now, there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. John always referred
to himself as a disciple that Jesus loved. And bless his heart,
one of these preachers wrote a, you know, I read a message
by him and he said, pretty much said that the Lord loved John
more than the rest. That's not so. That's just not
so. That's error. John is referring
to himself here because he doesn't even want to bring his own, he
doesn't even call his own name. He didn't say, now there was
lying there John, no. He said, he refers to himself
as somebody Jesus loved, amazed that the Lord would love him.
That's why it says that. Not the one he, there's a disciple
that loved Jesus, but a disciple whom Jesus loved. And where is
he, John? Leaning on his breath. Now, listen
to me. And you know the world makes
an unclean thing out of this. Boy, is there any doubt that
the Lord's going to burn this place up. That was pure and holy,
and to mankind, nothing's pure. John is, this is John's father. This is John's husband, as it
were. He's the bride. John's a little
child. They're not sitting up at a table
like you see this depiction of the Lord's Supper. That's not
how they ate back then. They ate laying on the ground.
That's how the woman came at his feet. He was reclined. They didn't have tables back
then, tables and chairs. We've got to have the finest
tables and chairs. If you're hungry, you don't need
furniture. They all reclined that way, and
John made sure he was right beside the Lord. He wanted to be right
beside the Lord. And they were all leaning over, and John was
just leaning on the Lord. Leaning just where he found Him.
He couldn't get close enough. Why? I'll tell you what will keep you from
leaving Him. You lean on Him. You keep leaning,
keep lying on him and looking to him, he won't leave. It's
like a little lamb, you know, the further that lamb gets from
the shepherd and from the foal, the more dangerous he's in. The
place to be is right there beside the shepherd. You stay right
there. Don't leave. Don't leave. You want to keep from selling
our Lord and leaving our Lord? You'd lie on His breast. You'd
look to Him. You'd lean upon Him. Song of
Solomon. Let me read this to you. This
is marvelous. Song of Solomon, Chapter 8. Turn there. Turn there. Brother Bruce preached a whole
message on this. It's well worth hearing. Preached
it where? Crossville or here? I forget.
But Song of Solomon, Chapter 8. Look at it. And this whole
Song of Solomon is a story of Christ and his church. Christ
and his people. Christ is the bridegroom. We're
the bride. They're all beloved. They love
each other. Song of Solomon, right after
Ecclesiastes. I see some of you still turning. Right before Isaiah. Song of
Solomon, Chapter 8. Look at this. It says, Oh, and
the world is made this to be an unclaimed thing. This can only be said of God's
people, how much He loves them and they love Him. Verse 1, Psalm
78, verse 1, Oh, that thou wert as my brother that sucked the
breast of my mother. Meaning, I want to be your twin
and never leave you. And you know that's said of the
church, of God's people sucking the breast of God together. dandled on his knees. The church. He said, in verse 1, he said,
when I should find thee without, I would kiss you. When I see
you, I would kiss you. Oh, he said, I would leave thee,
verse 2, and bring thee into my mother's house. Verse 3, Oh,
his left hand's under my head, his right hand doth embrace me.
Verse 4, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, don't leave us
alone. Just leave us alone. I don't want to leave here. Verse 5, who is this? Who's talking
here? Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Is that you? Is that what you say? Look at
verse 6. Sent me as a seal upon thine heart, would you? Is that your hope? Your heart's desire? Well, Simon, go back to our text. Simon
Peter wanted to know The Lord said, who is it? And he said,
is it I? Is it I? And Simon wanted to know. I know
why Simon wanted to know. He's going to take his head off.
You know that, Stephen? If Simon had known that Judah
was scared, he'd have killed him right there with his bare
hands. Yeah, he would have. He went in the garden. When they
came to take our Lord, he took a sword out. One man took a sword
out. I'm going to kill you all. He's not taking my Lord. I'd
taken my breath from him. Didn't I? But he had to. The Lord had to. The Lord didn't tell him. He
beckoned to John. Find out who it is. And he didn't. The Lord didn't
tell him. He'd have taken his head off. He told John. John. You see, and we've looked
at this before. The closer you are to the Lord,
the more discernment you'll have. The more understanding you'll
have. And I believe John knew. He did. He saw it. The Lord told him,
whoever it is that gives the sign, that's him. And he saw
him do it. Nobody else knew. And John knew. John didn't leave
the Lord at the cross. In the garden, yeah, but he came
back to the cross and it went into the high priest with him
and his conscience smote him. So he came back and he was right
there at the foot of the cross when the Lord was being crucified.
It's close. He didn't leave, but they all
had to, because Christ said so, right in the garden. But John
knew, and John, I believe John knew, he believed. Christ's been
telling them all along, John. He's been telling them all along,
I've got the Son of Man goeth as written. I've got to go to
Jerusalem and be crucified and buried and rise again. John knew
that. He knew it. You can't give away the betrayer.
You can't do it. Lord, you know, everything's
not written that the Lord said. He could have told John. No,
He didn't. And now look at this. Read with
me verses 26 through 30. Here it is, our Lord said, that
I shall give a sop when I've dipped it. And when He dipped
the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And
after the sop, Satan entered into him, and said, Jesus, unto
him, that thou doest do quickly. And no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. Maybe John didn't know,
but I believe he did. Some of them thought because
Judas had the bag that Jesus said unto him, buy those things
we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something
to the poor. He then, having received the
sop, went immediately out, and it was night. It was night. How significant is that? It was
darkness when He did this deed. Now here's the point, and here's
what I want to dwell on a few more minutes. The title of this
message, Supper or Sop? Supper or Sop? And here's why. This all happened
at the Supper table, didn't it? This all happened at the Lord's
Supper. It all happened at the Passover Supper. The betrayer, the pretender,
the hypocrite was revealed, was made known at the Supper. And those that loved Him truly
were made known, revealed at the Supper. Okay? Supper, this
supper was the Passover feast. What were they eating? Lamb.
What were they eating? Bread, unleavened bread. Why? Back in Exodus 12, it said, Speak
unto all the congregation and tell them every man must have
a lamb. Every man must have a lamb. And your lamb, call it your lamb. Is this your lamb? Without spot,
without blemish. You know why Christ had to be
without spot and blemish. Do you? Do you really? You know why he had to be born
of a virgin, don't you? Don't you? You know the world doesn't
know that and don't care. They don't believe it. We do,
don't we? My lamb has to be without sin,
without spot, without blemish. My lamb, you know who my lamb
is? God's lamb. God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Don't sod it with water, roast
it with fire. He kept saying it, roast with
fire, roast with fire. Didn't he? I know why. I know
why. Because Christ crucified on the
cross bore the fiery wrath and indignation of God against my
sin. He's my substitute. The whole
lamb, you need to see, this was a living lamb that died for you. And he said, in every one of
you that has a lamb, everyone, eat it. He said this over and
over again, John, eat. Don't taste it. Not a sup. Eat. Here's the question. Is this
gospel supper to you? Food for your soul? The bread
of life? The one thing you need for just
to stop? You follow me? Is this gospel you hunger and
thirst after it? The only thing that will meet
your heart and soul's need deep down the inner band, this is
the only thing that will satisfy your longing, is it? Or are you just satisfied with,
oh, good sermon? Tell me. Tell me. Our Lord said, my body is meat
indeed, meat, meat indeed. Over in Hebrews 6, it says this,
we don't have time to turn, it says, it's impossible for those
who have tasted. The good word of God. And if
they should fall away, to renew them repentance, they've brought
Christ to open shame again, they've crucified him again. They've
tasted. You know, we've tasted the Lord's
grace. He's great. We've tasted it. What does tasting
something make you want to do it? Huh? I know y'all, I've eaten
with you. I've worshipped with you. I worship
with you. What if I came in here and just gave you a few little
hors d'oeuvres of the Bible, a few little, you know, little
sermonette and left here? Would that satisfy you? You know, this was at the supper,
and I know, I can just picture Simon Peter. Lamb! Oh boy, I love it. Bread! You want some more bread? Yes!
Give me some more. If he was eating at Martha and
Mary's house, I can hear him now, Martha, Martha, that's the
best food I ever had in my life. Can I have some more of them
taters? Blessed are they that hunger and thirst, that we feel,
our Lord said, open your mouth wide. You go to Irene's house,
you better go hungry. You're not going to lack for
food. Doesn't it give you great delight to feed people that are
hungry? You ever had anybody pick at
the food? Ah, they just should have had more salt. Ah, you know,
I don't like to cook. You're not hungry. That's a sop. Hey buddy, if you're hungry enough,
it don't matter if it's on a paper plate or no plate at all. You'll
eat with your hands. You'll come, you'll eat, you'll
devour it. Simon Peter, oh Lord, this is
the best supper I've ever had. See, see, they didn't have room.
Have you ever eaten so much you didn't have room for a morsel? This was a morsel. That's all
the Lord offered, gave to Judas is a morsel. The rest of them
didn't have room for it. They'd already eaten to the fullest.
They'd already been satisfied with the supper. Does that make
sense? He said, the man I give just a taste, just a sop, sop,
just a morsel of this food. And that's what he's content
with. That's the one. This is not supper to you. This
is not your life. If Christ is not your life, you
have not life. That's just a fact. And it was night time, and I
close with this. Look at this. This is amazing. Listen to this. This is glorious. The whole story is of betrayal
and shame, but it ends in glory. Hatred and malice and betrayal,
but it ends in love. Now when Judas was gone out,
Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man, verse 31. When he was gone
out, He said, Now, now, Son of Man glorified. God is glorified
in Him. How can God be glorified by somebody
who betrayed Him? How can Christ be glorified by
somebody's treachery? How can there be glory in man's
treachery and betrayal? How can that be? Because that
is the world that Christ came into. This is the place that
Jesus Christ came into. A world that didn't want him. Moses, when he was sent to deliver
his people, what happened? What was the first thing that
happened when God sent Moses and he tried to separate a couple
of them from fighting? He said, get out of here. We
don't need you. This was the man that God had
sent to deliver him. They said, we don't want you. And this is His glory, John Sheasley,
Jr. This is Christ's glory that He
would come to this earth, an earth full of people that don't
want Him. He's got to make us want Him. Isn't that amazing? For this cause, Christ came into
this world, to a world full of God-hating people, to make them
love Him. Why did He do it? He loved them.
Wow, they were yet sinners. This is His glory. You see that? I love you mostly because you
love me. It's hard to love somebody and hate you, isn't it? God did. Christ did. That's His glory.
That's glorious. That's amazing. Amazing. God's glorified because it was
God that sent Him. God was in Christ doing what?
Reconciling. What's reconciliation? Bringing
together two that are at odds. Making peace between two enemies. But God wasn't the enemy. Man
was. And what Christ had to be the
intercessor, the advocate, the reconciler. How? On a cross. On a cross. Oh, isn't that amazing? God be glorified in him. Verse
32, He'll glorify Him in Himself and straightway, very soon, going
to the cross, just a day or two. And God will glorify Him in Himself. See, God was in Christ. That
was God that was hanging on that cross. My, my. And so He sits. Little children,
now Judas is gone. And now he calls them. And he
keeps calling them. And you know, when Judas left,
you know what he missed? He heard a lot, but you know
what he missed hearing? John 14, 15, 16. He did not hear Christ's
prayer in that garden. Would you take, John, would you
take anything for John 17? Would you take anything this
world has to offer for John 17? John 17 is my salvation. My whole hope of eternal life
is in John 17. I'm not leaving until we get
through that. How about you? Judas missed it. The Lord didn't
say all that to him. He didn't say any of that to him. He called them little children.
A little while I'm with you, you shall seek me. And I said
unto you, unto the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come. I love
over in Matthew's Gospel. Oh, it's here. Verse 36, Simon
Peter said, where are you going, Lord? He said, you can't come. He said, why not? Did your children ever do that
when they were really young? I'm leaving. Let me go with you.
Can I go with you? No, you can't. Why? Simon loved
him, didn't he? He's going to betray him, deny
him. But he didn't want to leave him.
He didn't want to sell him. He said, Lord, I want to go with
you wherever you go. I want to die with you. That's
what Ruth said, didn't she? Do you? Do you? Don't be crucified with Christ.
Crucified to the world. Simon was. He was crucified. And so our Lord says, in closing,
He said, a new commandment. Judas is gone. He knows nothing
about the love of God. Christ didn't love him. Christ
didn't die for him. Christ didn't give all his promises
to him. Christ didn't pray for him. He did for His little children. He said, Now a new commandment
I give unto you, that you love one another. How? As I have loved
you. Love one another. Our Lord's leaving. Having loved
His own, He loved them to the end. He never ceased loving them.
Right? But He's gone. He's gone back.
They have each other now. They need each other. They need
each other. They love one another. You need
your brother? You need this? Sheep? You need to fold? Love one another. You know, love overcomes everything.
Love endureth all things. You know, love covereth everything. You know, love never leaves.
Love won't leave. If I have not loved thee before,
let me be in thine. Isn't that our parts prayer?
And in the end, after Simon denied him, you know this, the first
thing the Lord asked him, Lovest thou me? More than all this. Simon, do you? Do you? More than all this. That's my
question to me. And do you? Is this supper? Is this lamb of life to you? Do you eat it out of hunger and
thirst? Or is it just a supper? Just
a Sunday? Time will tell. Okay, let's sing
a closing hymn.