Well, this morning we were considering
together the love of God, in the sense of the love of God
the Father, as displayed in his giving of the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, for sinners. And this evening, with God's
help, I want to consider together the love of the Son, the love
of Christ. I'll direct then your thoughts
to the Gospel according to John, and chapter 15, and we'll read
verse 13. The Gospel according to John,
chapter 15 and verse 13. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. These words in this chapter were
spoken by Jesus and they were spoken to his disciples while
they were up in the upper room. It was the night before his betrayal
or the night of his betrayal, the night before his death. He
was hours from suffering He was hours from arrest, the judgment
hall, Pilate, the cross, and yet he is speaking in John 14
and 15 and 16 in great love and compassion and kindness to his
disciples. And he is telling them so much
and encouraging them and giving them His word. And we could imagine, couldn't
we, that if we were in this position, and we knew what was before us,
and if it was that horrific death of the cross before us, we would
be consumed with the thoughts of what was before us, and the
worry and the fear of what we were to endure. And yet Jesus
in these hours is speaking to his disciples, And he comes to
this point and speaks to them of sacrificial love. He tells
them that they are to love each other. That is commandment. He says, as a father has loved
me, so have I loved you, continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments,
ye shall abide in my love. Verse 12, this is my commandment,
that ye love one another as I have loved you. So he is encouraging
them and exhorting them to walk in love towards each other as
he would lead them and as they would walk in the New Testament
church to love one another. And yet he reminds them of the
greatest act of love. And of course in these words
he is not simply speaking just to them regarding their love,
but quite clearly he is speaking of his love. A greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This is the love that Christ
displayed. This is the love that Christ
acted on. that he lay down his life. And
as he even spoke these very words to his disciples that night,
he knew what that meant for him. He knew what he would have to
pass through for these words to be ultimately fulfilled in
his life. He knew that he must go to the
cross. He knew that he must lay down
his life. for his friends, that he must
display this greatest act of love. And yet with that before
him, and with that in his mind, and in a sense coming out in
these words, still he loves, still he must go that way, still
his heart is filled with love for his disciples before him
and the whole Church of God that he would suffer for. He loves
to a degree that he is willing to lay down his life for his
friends. Similar to the illustration I
spoke first thing this morning, but it's another one that really
highlights this point. Only a few years ago, There was
a man who was honoured with the George Cross, I think it was,
for his service in Afghanistan in 2008. And they were out on
patrol that night and it was dark and the greatest fear really
for the soldiers in Afghanistan, probably still, well it still
is, was the IED, the improvised explosive device which the Taliban
would hide and you didn't know where they were and especially
in the dark you couldn't see them and you would be alerted
to the fact that there was something there when you trod on it or
when there was a click or there was a trip wire that you trod
on or tripped over and this man, this soldier out there with his
comrades he heard a click in the dark and it only meant one
thing to him there was a device, there was a grenade, there was
something there And what did he do? He laid down on top of
the device so that he might shield the blast and his comrades might
escape. And amazingly, he survived. And
his comrades had minor injuries. But you see what he was willing
to do for the sake of others? To, as far as he was concerned,
lay down his life so that it would not affect, it would not
kill the others. And that is something, again,
love in action, isn't it? No greater love than a man lay
down his life for his friends. Jesus here refers to them as
his friends. His friends. And how does he
describe who his friends are? Who are his friends? Well, he
says it in the next verse. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever
I command you. So his friends are the people
who do what he says, who do his commands, those who keep his
commandments. And what are his commandments?
And what does he say in his opening words as he begins his ministry?
To repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. and believe the Gospel, to love
Him, to trust Him, to desire Him, to desire His ways, to need Him and to cast our hope
on Him for salvation. Those are His friends. To put
it simply, a real Christian. Someone who knows and longs for
and desires the Lord. Someone whose hope for salvation
is Him alone. Those who do and have done whatsoever
He commands. To repent and believe the Gospel. Those are His friends. And those are they who He would
die for. But you know, there is also a
sense, isn't there, in that Christ did not die for His friends.
He died for his enemies. He died for those who hated him. He died for those who despised
him. Paul tells us in Romans, doesn't
he, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were sinners, while
we were in our sin, while we were enemies to God, that is
who the Lord came to suffer for. Those who are undeserving, those
who are rebels, those who hate him, those who are, as we considered
this morning, the world. who are in rebellion against
God. Greater loveth no man than this,
and a man lay down his life. This evening I want to consider firstly this laying down of his
life. How do we see, where do we see
Jesus' love for his church? He lay down his life. He lay it down. He wasn't forced. He did it willingly. He laid
it down. It wasn't taken from him. He wasn't, as it were, executed
in weakness because man had the upper hand. He laid down his
life. It was a willing action. And
he willingly went that way. to lay it down. What did he lay
down? What did he lay down? Well, firstly,
he laid down or he laid aside his glory. He laid aside his
glory. Christ, who had throughout all
eternity dwelt with his Father in Heaven. Christ, the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords. Christ who is all-glorious and
above all others. Christ in heaven above. Yes,
as we read, though he was rich, rich beyond imagination, rich
beyond what we can consider and think. The King of Kings, though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He laid aside
His glory. He laid down His glory. He left His throne in heaven
above. He laid it down. He willingly
left His throne above. He left the immediate presence
of His Father. He left the continual adoration
and worship of the angels in heaven. He left the bliss and
the sinless perfection of heaven, where he throughout all eternity
dwelt with his Father and the Spirit. He left that perfect,
glorious place and the King left his kingly glory to become a
servant among the sinful world. He laid aside his glory Oh, how
can we really understand, just in that, the humiliation of Christ. How far he came. What he came
from and what he came to. The King left his kingly glory
to be a servant in a sinful world. He laid it aside. He willingly laid it aside, his
glory. But what else? Secondly, what
else did he lay aside? He laid aside his reputation. His reputation. What do we read? That he made himself of no reputation
and took on himself the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men. He made himself of no reputation. You know, Christ did not stop
being God when he was born in Bethlehem. Christ was still God. Christ did not cease being glorious
and all-powerful when he was born in Bethlehem. But it was
hidden. It was veiled, wasn't it? When
the shepherds, when the wise men came, He was just a baby,
he was just a child. On the outward form he looked
no different. He looked the same. And as he grew up, though there
were glimpses, though there were strange things in some ways you
could say that Mary and Joseph found in him, he was an ordinary,
one could say on an outward appearance, he was an ordinary child. Though
he was still God, though he was still glorious, he made himself,
see willingly again, he made himself of no reputation, took
on him the form of a servant, born in a stable, not just from
heaven to earth, born in a stable, laid in a manger. Even a man
from Nazareth, Nathaniel said, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? You would think, wouldn't you,
that the King of Glory, the Messiah himself, would choose to come
from a great, important, respected city of Israel. From Nazareth?
Despise Nazareth? Yes. Here he comes, the one made
of no reputation. Coming forth from a stable. Coming
forth from Nazareth. And he wandered homeless throughout
the world. He had nothing to call his own.
No roof over his head, no bed to sleep in. And he identified
not with the kings, not with the priests, not with the Pharisees
and the Levites. He identified with the homeless
and the outcasts and those who were despised and those who were
sinners. And he ate with them. What was the accusation? The
worst they could think to say about him. This man eateth with
sinners. He eats with sinners. Oh yes,
he gloriously eats with sinners. And was with them. And he received
them. You see, he didn't seek his own
glory. He didn't seek to be promoted,
as it were, in man's earthly government and man's system.
He didn't seek to be paraded before the people that they might
bow the knee before him in an earthly sense and take up his
own kingdom. He didn't seek to be above any
others in the earthly sense. He made himself of no reputation. He laid it aside, though he remains
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He humbled himself. took on a form of a servant. He laid aside to lay down his
life for his friends. Thirdly, he laid down his will,
his will. Now what does he say when he
is praying to his father in that garden of Gethsemane? If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but
thine be done. Now we have to be careful. He
was always fully, totally committed to the will of his father. He
was never in any different pathway. He never rebelled against the
will of his father. He was in perfect line and in
step with it. He must go, he must carry out
the plan, the will of his father. And he entirely, perfectly agreed
with it. It was his will. But you see,
the Lord Jesus could, as God, he could have escaped, couldn't
he? He could have commanded the legions
of angels to come down into the garden of Gethsemane and deliver
him. He could have kept those people
who fell back on the floor and kept them there by the power
of his hand and escaped. He could have answered Pilate
in such a glorious and wise way to confound all of the opposition
and to make him set him free. He could have spoken to Herod
and confounded him. He could have come down from
the cross when tempted to do so. He could have done it. And
as a human suffering the agony and the pain, in a sense, there
must have been a great temptation to do that. But he laid aside
his life. He laid it down. He willingly
gave it up to the will of his father, who demanded that he
walk that way. And he was always in total agreement
with that will. It was never contrary to his
father, but surely there was a fight A warfare, in a sense,
against his normal, his human fears, his human concern about
what was before him in the suffering of the cross. But, this is the
glorious thing, nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. He laid aside his will. Fourthly, he laid aside his friends.
His friends, a disciple. One of the twelve. One of the
twelve forsook him. Sorry, one of the twelve betrayed
him. And the others forsook him and
fled. And he was left alone. But he
knew that he had to go that way. He knew that he would be left
alone. He said to them, ye shall seek
me. Whither I go ye cannot come.
So now I say to you, whither I go He cannot come. He knew he had to walk that way
alone. Though he had known the support and the comfort of friendship,
and the closest of friends with Peter and James, it seems, and
John, yet he had to lay them aside. And he had to walk alone. He had to go it to the cross
alone. He had to lay them aside. He laid down his life. You see,
more and more of what he had to resign and lay down because
of his love. See, this is what it is. No greater
love hath no man than this. He laid down his life. He laid down his friends. He laid down fitly his body.
His body. He gave his back to the smiters.
He gave himself to the scourge. He gave his cheeks to those that
hit him and slapped him. He gave his head to the crown
of thorns. He gave his hands and his feet
to the nails. He laid them down. He gave them,
willingly, his hands. He gave his natural life to the
effects of the curse, to death, to the suffering of the cross.
You see what he laid down? His life. Everything that he
could give. And lastly and most gloriously,
he laid down his soul. He laid himself down to suffer
the wrath of God. He laid himself down to completely
endure what we deserve. He laid himself down to the enduring
of hell. And we consider where he is as
he groans on that cross in darkness. Remember what he's come from.
Remember where he's come from. Remember who he is. And remember
these words, greater love of no man than this, than a man
laid down his life for his friends, his glory, his reputation, his
will, his friends, his body, his soul, everything, all that
he is, all that he can give, he lays it down willingly because
of his deep, because of his sacrificial love for his church. This is
the love of Christ. is the glory of what he has done. No greater love at no man than
this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. Having considered that, I want
to now turn to Isaiah 53 and consider not only what he
laid down, but also what he took up, what he took up what he took
up to carry. Not only what he lays down, but
what he takes up to carry. And what was that? We read in
Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows. He lay down his glory, his will,
his power, He laid down his friends, his body, to the suffering of
the cross. But he takes up our griefs. He
carries our sorrows. What did he take up? What did
he carry? Well, he carried, didn't he,
physical need. physical needs. He knew what
it was to live a life needing food, needing water, needing
sleep, needing shelter, needing daily provisions to live. He
took up a normal life to carry the griefs and sorrows of normal
daily living to sustain his body. He didn't use his glory to put
aside these things. He didn't use his glory to, as
it were, miraculously give himself food and water and sustenance.
He lived his life like we do. He bore our griefs and carried
our sorrows. What a comfort this is for you
and me in a natural, physical way. He knows what it is to want. He knows. He understands your
need, my need. He knows what it is, not in a
natural sense but in the experience of it, he knows what it is to
worry about the next pay packet and where the next meal is going
to come from and how we'll find enough money to pay the mortgage
and our concerns for daily, natural, physical life. Because he's taken
up our griefs and our sorrows. He's born that way as well. Not
in a literal sense. I know there's different things
in the modern age from what he would have had in his life. But
the principle is the same. What it is to endure normal,
physical life. He carried those griefs and sorrows.
And he tells us, doesn't he, that God knows. God knows what
we have need of before we ask. Take no thought for the morrow,
what you shall eat and what you shall drink, for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. He knows. But more than knowing, he's not
just aware of it. The glory is that Jesus, even
in heaven today, has experienced it. has walked the same way. If you're talking to someone
in a problem and they've been that same way as well, they've
endured it, they've come out the other side, they can look
at you and speak to you in such a different way to someone who's
just simply sympathising and trying to understand. Well here
we have Jesus who has borne the grief. He has also carried the
sorrow and he is able to help and to support and to answer
your need and to empathise with you. He
has borne our griefs. That's what he took up. That's
what he carried. But he has also borne, he has
also carried temptation. He took up temptation. When he came out of the waters
of baptism in the river of Jordan, we read that he was immediately
called and led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
the devil came to him in all his power and all his subtlety.
And the devil tempted him to do those things, I won't go through
it in detail, but to change the stone to bread and to cast himself
down from the highest post of the pinnacle of the temple and
to fall down before him. But you know these were great,
these were strong temptations. These were hard. And remember
that the Lord Jesus, when he faces these temptations, is in
a point of physical weakness, having not eaten for 40 days.
And as soon as it comes to the end of the 40 days, the devil
comes in, make the stones bread. Bread. Food that you haven't had for
40 days. Make these stones bread. Oh,
what a temptation. Use your power, use your glory,
use your Godhead to, as it were, give yourself sustenance for
your own pleasure. It's a great, a strong temptation
and he knew what it was and throughout his life he had temptation and
the greatest temptation, I believe, is on the cross. Thou, the Son
of God, save thyself, come down from the cross. He knew what temptation is. He's endured temptation and he
knows the weight and he knows the power of it. And you may
think that you're under a great weight of temptation and the
devil is hounding you, the devil is constantly whispering, the
devil is constantly putting things before you and he knows your
weak points and he knows where you're going to fall. And you
groan and you cry and you realize how prone you are to wander. He bore our griefs and carried
our sorrows. What do we sing? He nosed each
tempted member's pains, for our affliction is his. He took it up, you see. He willingly
bore it and today he can sympathise, he can understand what we are
passing through. He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Well also, has it taken up? Well it's taken up in a very
practical sense, family concerns. Family concerns. Where do we
see that? Well we see it as he comes to
Bethany and as he comes to a weeping Mary and a weeping Martha and
as he stands at the outside of the tomb of his friend Lazarus
and as he weeps outside the tomb of his friend and as he understands
and as he sympathises and as he comforts the family in mourning
mourning the loss of their brother, of their loved one and he shows
concern for them and love for them and weeps himself for them
and acts on their behalf in raising Lazarus from the dead has experienced
family concerns. And you and I may have family
concerns. It may not be as dramatic in
a sense as it was for Mary and Martha in the death of their
brother. But we may have those things that we weep over in our
family, with our siblings, with our parents, with our children.
our wider family, whatever it is, we may have those things
and we may wonder, we may think, does Jesus know? Does Jesus understand? Is Jesus aware of what this is
like? Of what I'm enduring? Of how
hard it is? That my own blood, my own flesh
and blood is going this way or is causing such concern for me? Does he, as it were, weep with
me in this path? He has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. He has identified himself with
us fully. And he knows still today. He
has borne church concerns. Church concerns. What does he
do is he looks on the people, the multitude before him. He
has compassion on them. Why? Because they were as sheep
without a shepherd. as sheep without a shepherd,
and he taught them, he gathered them together, and he taught
them. He was their shepherd to them, and he taught them, and
spoke to them. These great multitude, these
people, he had concern, as it were, for the church. And we
need to remember that as a church here. He understands church concerns. He knows what we need. He knows
what will be good for us, though we might not understand that.
It may be a blessing. It may even be a path of correction. But He knows what's good for
us. And He gives pastors and teachers. And most of all, He
gives Himself. We must always remember that.
Always remember who's the head of this church. And who's the
head of the church generally? And who's the head of this church?
Jesus is the head of this church. And we go to him. We go in prayer
with our worries and concerns and problems. We go to him when
we feel the devil at the door. We go to him when we fear we're
becoming cold and hard-hearted. We go to him when we pray, when
we long for blessing, for conversion, for liberty. We go to him when
we long to see people coming through the doors and the blessing
on the distribution of his word. He's the head of this church.
And only he can bless in the way that we desire. And he understands
what it is to see people as sheep without a shepherd. And if we
are ever left in a position, and I pray to God that will never
happen, but if we're ever left in a position here to be, as
it were, sheep without a shepherd, disunited, going off in different
ways, going off in wrong ways even. May God forbid it, but
may we always look to the shepherd of the sheep. He knows. He has
borne even those griefs and those sorrows and carried them. But most gloriously, as he laid
down his life in the suffering of death and the wrath of God,
What did he take up also in bearing that? Our griefs and our sorrows,
his wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him. He carried our
sin. He carried our guilt. The guilt
of the Church. Do you know something tonight
at the weight of your sin? Just a little something of the
guilt of what you have done and your nature against God. Well, you only know in part.
He knows the weight of your sin more than you do. Because if
you're a believer tonight, He has carried that. And He only
reveals part to us. We couldn't bear it all. He's
carried it all. All of it was laid on him, our
griefs and our sorrows. All of it was laid on his back
and not all of that, all the sins of every man, woman and
child who he has died for of his church. All of them. You know something, a little
part of the weight of your sin? How ashamed you are of your guilt?
A part He has known the weight of the entire church. That is
what he willingly bore and carried. That is why he laid aside his
glory to come to earth, to take up that weight. That is what
he came to earth for and he sees your mourning today. And he sees
your, as it were, frustration, incomplete inability to live
a life that you should be living. And He sees your sadness because
you fail again. And He sees you wanting and longing
to know the forgiveness of your sins. He has borne your griefs
and carried your sorrows. He has borne it away for the
believer. Sin is dealt with because it's been laid on another. You see, greater love had no
man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. The Apostle tells us when he
wrote to the Ephesians, his desire for them was that they might
have some understanding and appreciation of the love of Christ. He said
this, his desire was that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,
that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height
and to know the love of Christ which passeth understanding. that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God, the love of Christ which passeth
understanding. Tonight we have looked at a few
points. We have looked at a few points
of what he laid aside, of how far he came to the suffering
of the cross. We have looked at a few points
of what he bore and what he endured. of how he took the griefs and
the sorrows, the concerns and the sins of his church. And it's
glorious. And if God so helps us to consider
it, it's wonderful and it's soul-strengthening and it's Christ-glorifying. But
you know, the love of Christ, passive knowledge, you cannot possibly preach on
the love of Christ in a 40-minute sermon. You can't possibly preach
on the love of Christ throughout all your lifetime if you get
able to do it. It passes knowledge. It's beyond
us. But you know we glory in it.
Because the love of God the Father, the love of Christ the Son, the
love of the Holy Spirit is all that a Christian relies on. It's
a love enough for you and for me. Do you say tonight, do you
say, well I need someone else to take my place? I need someone
to come and to bear my sin for me that I cannot bear myself.
I need a substitute. I need someone to come. I need someone who understands
me because no one else seems to. I need someone who has entered
this pathway because no one else seems to be able to help. I need
someone to remove this weight which I'm carrying, this sin
which I'm bearing. I need someone to come. Here he is. You knew that, didn't you? You've
heard it before, haven't you? It's not new. It's something
you've heard. But tonight may it become new
as it were in the reality of it, in the truth of it, in the
application of it, that now it's not just a man who loves. It's a man who loves you. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. No greater love than this. Tonight may we prove that these
words encompass us. And may we give thanks again
that God is love. Amen.