This morning for the Bible study,
turn with me to the Gospel of John chapter 13. John chapter 13. This chapter begins with a new
and precious portion of John's Gospel account. Matter of fact,
if you look back in chapter 12, you'll find the end and the closing
of our Lord's public ministry. And at the end of verse 36, we
read, These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did He hide
Himself from them. So this is coming down to the
hours before His crucifixion. And He's finished the work that
He's come to do on earth. He's fixing to go to the cross. And then in chapters 13-17, we
find Christ, God the Savior, in intimate fellowship with His
disciples. If you look at those chapters
sometime in your leisure, you'll see if you have a red letter
Bible, that most of the words are the words of Christ through
all those chapters. leading up to chapter 17, which
is that glorious high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anyway, in verse 1 of chapter 13, it says, Now before the feast
of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that
He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. What an amazing thought that
is. Having loved His own, His own,
which were in the world, He loved them, and to the end. In our text, verse 1, chapter
13, we find our Lord here, as I said, on the eve of His death,
and He's talking to them about leaving this world. That's something
that all of us need to think about. We don't have any promise
of tomorrow, even this evening. Our next breath is in the hand
of the Lord. Our next heartbeat is at His
beckoning. He's talking about leaving this
world, Christ is. He's talking about returning
to His Father. And He's talking about His eternal
love for them. That's what I'm interested in.
I'm interested in how God could, in mercy and grace, be interested
in one like me. And we find many glorious truths
in this single verse of Scripture. First, just to point out, just
by reading this, that Christ as the God-man knows all things.
That's so wonderful. We talked about it last night,
that God is a sovereign God. He's not trying to do anything.
He does what He wills in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand. He's
a God worthy of our worship. He knows all things, Christ did. There was never a time, never
a time when anything was unknown by our Lord. Jesus Christ, the
only one who ever walked upon earth that was never caught off
guard or by surprise. He knew all things. Jesus knew
that His hour had come, just as He had known many other times
that His hour had not come. I know I've read several places
in the gospel accounts where it says Jesus walked through
the midst of them, of the crowd. They went to throw him off a
hill one day and it says he walked through the midst of them because
his time had not yet come. The Jews said in John chapter
7 that he had a devil. And it said, they sought to take
him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not
yet come. In John chapter 8, he talked
in the temple, and though they hated him, no man laid hands
on him, because his hour was not yet come. Look back again
at John chapter 12, verse 27. Our Lord said, Now is my soul
troubled, And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. And then here in our text, verse
1, Jesus knew that His hour had come. What is the time here? What's the hour that He's talking
about? He's talking about the hour of His departure. The hour
of His death. His hour was come that He should
depart out of this world. Look back at John 8. Hold your
place here. Look at verse 23 in John 8. Speaking to the self-righteous
Pharisees, He said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from
above. Ye are of this world, and I am
not of this world. In John chapter 18, you don't
have to turn there, when he stood before Pilate. You remember when
the Lord stood before Pilate. Pilate said, Art thou king of
the Jews? And Jesus answered, My kingdom
is not of this world. But the hour had come for our
Lord to depart. He came into this world to accomplish
something. What did He come to accomplish?
Well, that's what we're going to find out. He came to accomplish
something and then depart out of this world. Now notice where
He's departing. The time had come that He should
depart out of this world unto the Father. When we leave this
world, we're going to stand before God in judgment. You know, there
are a lot of folks that don't ever think about that. Never
think about what awaits after this life. It's appointed unto
man once to die. And after this, the judgment. Judgment's coming. There's going
to come a day when every man and every woman is going to stand
before God to give an account, the Scripture says, of the things
done in their body. That's a burdensome thought,
isn't it? Stand before God and give an account of the things
that I've done? Oh, my. My. Christ came into the world. What
did He come into the world for? Well, He came into the world
to save sinners. This is worthy of all acceptation. This Word is worthy of all acceptance
of every man that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am chief. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. I'm so glad. I'm so thankful
that that verse is in the Scriptures, because I was lost. I'm glad
that he came to save sinners. Why? Because that's what I am.
I'm a sinner. Wretched to pray. He came and
he lived 33 1�2 years in being without sin. The only one who
ever was without sin. He knew no sin, the Scripture
says, that he might be made the sin for his people. that they
might be made perfectly righteous in Him. He's working out a perfect
righteousness for His people. He came into this world in which
He was met with hatred, hostility, and there was no cause. They
hated Him without a cause, the Scripture said. He was treated
with great disgrace, the dishonor of a horrific male factor. He's crucified on a cross between
two martyrs as if He was the chief murder of all, the worst
of the worst. And crucifixion, that execution
of death, it was reserved for the most wicked and vilest of
men. If you want to see something,
and I tell this to my Arminian friends quite often, if you want
to see something of man's free will, you don't have to look
any further than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men hated
Him without a cause. And when men are left to their
own free will, we see what they would do to God if they could
get their hands on Him. And my, what a testimony against
man's free will. And I'm at a loss of words, as
I know many of you are. I'm at a loss of words when I
think of what my Lord endured for me. Having loved His own. I want to be in that group of
folks. Own. I want to be His own. Having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end." I love to think about that. I love to think about it. Who
does Christ love? He loves His own. I rejoice in
the thought and the reality that I belong to Christ. That I'm
one of His. And it's in His love for me that
I find all my hope of redemption. I find all of it in that. All
my comfort. peace. All my rest is in living
and in dying. Right? I need a gospel that I
can live by and a gospel that I can die by. And I know that
to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why? Because I'm His. I'm one of His own. Him loving
me. In Him loving me, I have everything
I need to be redeemed. I have everything that God requires.
Isn't that what the gospel is? Christ providing for me everything
that God Himself requires. I don't have to bring anything
to the table. Matter of fact, we better not. We better not.
I have everything God requires in order for me to be saved.
Having loved His own. My, aren't those four glorious
words. having loved His own. Those four brief words, we have
the complete summary of the life of Christ in this world and in
the next. All that He did on earth was
motivated by His love for His own. All of it. For His own. All that He does now is by that
same love. And as I said, what a special
group of people that Christ calls His own. Are you one of his? Well, if you are, having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
Now, is everybody his own? Well, you know that. I was telling
the men last night, Brother Gabe, who you had back a month or so
ago, preaching to a congregation, have several young children in
their group. He was preaching one Sunday evening,
and he was talking about, did Christ die for everybody? Does
God love everybody in the world? And he said he looked out, and
a little girl about five years old was going, no, no. Even small children, though,
who have said under the gospel that Christ didn't die for everyone. He died for his own, and all
that he died for will be saved. There will be no one in hell
for whom Christ died. I don't understand how men can
read this Bible and say that Christ died for everybody. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Is there anything about that
we don't understand? My, my. Now, look back at John
6, verse 37. We'll just run through a little
bit of this Gospel of John. Christ referring to His own. Notice verse 37, it said, all,
not most, not many, not 99.5%, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Look at verse 39. And this is
the Father's will which hath sent me That of all which he
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. All that he's given me, every
single one, I won't lose nothing. These are the folks to whom Christ
calls his own. They are his elect, those who
God chose, who he elected before the foundation of the world.
They are His sheep, and He's their Good Shepherd, the One
who gives His life for the sheep. And He has other sheep, doesn't
He? He doesn't have goats that He's
going to turn into sheep. They're already sheep. They're
just not yet of His fold. There are some folks out here
in this, I believe, I honestly do. I believe with all my heart
that God has some sheep. That's why you're here this morning.
You love this gospel. You're endeavoring to start this
work because you believe that God has other sheep here, don't
you? And if they're His, He's going to bring them. You can
count on it. That's how He brought you, didn't
He? He drew you with the cords of love. Look at John 17. Turn there with me. John 17. Look first at verse 2. As thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. Who is He going to give eternal
life to? All those that God gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. Look at verse 6. He said, I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me. Who
are his own? Well, we know that they are those
whom God gave to Christ. Thou gavest me. Verse 9, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Verse
11, And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to Thee, Holy Father. Keep through Thine own name those
whom Thou hast given Me." Over and over again, verse 12, while
I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those
that Thou gavest Me, I have kept, and none of them is lost. Not
one of them. Verse 24, for Father, I will
that they also whom Thou hast given Me. be with me where I
am that they may behold my glory." Who are His own? Well, we know
this, don't we? They're the ones to whom the
Father gave the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are the elect of God.
Now, what does the Bible mean by election? Most of you are
familiar with that doctrine. You cannot believe the Bible
and not believe in election. You just can't. If you don't
believe in election, then you don't believe in the Word of
God. That's just a fact. I hear folks say concerning election,
well, that's deep. You know, election, that's just
deep. No, no, it's not. It's so. It's so. It's not deep. Election means to choose. Nothing
hard about that, is it? Men and women just don't like
it. They don't like the idea that God has the prerogative
as a sovereign God to choose, to elect. God has chosen a people
unto salvation. Election has never saved anybody. Have we figured that out yet?
You know, I loved that doctrine when I first heard the Gospel. I loved that. And I still do
love the doctrine of election. But I love the God of election
even more, don't you? Because He's the one that drew
me. He's the one that saved me. I
love the God of election. Election is unto salvation. Salvation is in a person. Election
never saved anybody. It's Christ that saves sinners. It's after Christ saves us that
we see and love the truth of the doctrine of election, that
we see that God determined to save a people before the foundation
of the world. In Ephesians 4, you're familiar
with that verse, well, Paul tells us, according as He hath chosen
us in Him. Election will not mean anything,
will not do you any spiritual good whatsoever if you don't
see that you're elected in Christ. That's the message of redemption,
salvation is in a person. Chosen us and Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy. Me? Holy? Without blame? The wretch I am? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. We're bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. chosen you to salvation. And
all that He chose is going to come. They're going to hear God's
Word. God uses the foolishness of preaching. I know you've probably
heard every man that's been here to preach for you recently say
that. Oh my, I'm telling you, election
is a doctrine for believers, not the unbelieving. And in it,
we see who chose who. Christ said you have not chosen
Me, but I've chosen you. And I hear men and women talk,
I decided, I chose, I found God. I didn't know God was lost. I'm the one that's lost. God
found me. Who chose who? God chose us.
When did He choose us? Did He choose us when we believed?
No. No, no, no. He chose us before
the foundation of the world. That's why we believe. Why did
He choose us? Well, in Ephesians 1 there, it
says, to the praise of the glory of His grace. God gets all the
glory in the salvation of sin. He gets it all. He gets every
bit of the glory. You remember when Moses went
before the Lord and he said, Lord, show me Your glory. He
didn't know what he was asking for. No man can see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ and live. But you remember what
God said. Moses said, show me your glory.
And God said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Look
it up. That's the glory of God. He saves
whom He wills. He chooses whom He wills, and
He saves them by His grace in the redeeming blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why did He choose us? To the
praise of the glory of His grace. How did He choose us? He chose
us in Him. Don't miss those two words. Chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. You miss that,
you miss the beauty of election. Having loved his own, his elect
that were in the world, he loved them until the end. Now, here
we, it's a three-fold way. By the Father's election, God
chose the people before the foundation of the world. He gave them to
Christ. We read that over and over again,
didn't we? We're saved by the Son's redemption. He had purchased
with His own blood. And we're saved by the Holy Spirit's
effectual calling. God drawing us. Our Lord said, You've not chosen
Me, but I've chosen you. Now, who are these whom Christ
calls His own? Well, they're those whom He died
for. But didn't He die for everybody?
If He did, everybody's going to be saved. Because He didn't
die for anybody. Is His blood not effective? Is that what folks are saying?
Oh, no, no, no. It's effectual. His blood is effectual. The doctrine
of election doesn't shut anyone out of salvation. Have you ever
had anybody tell you that? Well, you're shutting people
out. How so? It's not so. It shuts
them up to His love, doesn't it? It shuts us up to His mercy,
His choosing, His grace. Here's the most glorious thing
about our Gospel. Anyone who wants to be in this
group called His own can be. You can be. I have no problems
whatsoever with that word, whosoever, in Scripture. Whosoever will.
People say, well, I thought you believed in election. I do. No conflict there with me. You
know, whosoever wills, whosoever God wills. If you want to be in this group,
you can be. If you truly want to be found in Christ, then a
work of grace has already been done in your heart. When did Lazarus come forth from
the grave? Was it before or after he was
given life? He couldn't come forth from the
tomb until life had already been given him. Could he? Men today,
preachers today have the cart before the horse. They're saying
that you come and then you receive life. How can a dead man come?
It's just so plain, so simple when you've got eyes to see. If you desire life, then you
are alive. God's already done a work of
grace. No dead man, no dead woman can desire life until life has
been first given. Now, let's dwell just a moment
longer on these four amazing words. I want you to think about
that. I want you to take this home
with you. I want you to get into your heart
that having loved His own, And you being one of His own, He
loves you until the end. And it's here that we see the
subject that is so dear to my heart. And that's the faithfulness
of our Savior. But we live in a day where men
make faith something that it's not. Faith is just simply trusting
Believing, adhering, relying, depending upon Christ to put
away your sin. Men make faith something of little
value today. I want you to think about this.
When did Christ love us? Well, He said, having loved.
Past tense. Having loved. It also, present
tense, which we're in the world. Having loved His own which were
in the world, present tense and future tense, He loved them until
the end. So in one sense, He's always
loved me. He loves me now. And He's going to love me until
the end. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Oh, can you see how precious
this is? I can't lose. what God's given
me in Christ. It doesn't have anything to do
with my faithfulness. It has everything to do with
His. How many times in the Scripture,
you'll read right over it, if you hurry, the faith of Christ,
not faith in Christ, not faith to Christ, the faith of Christ. That's our hope. The faith of
Christ. If He ever loved me, He loves
me still. And if He loves me now, He always
loved me. Now, do I understand that? No,
but I believe it because that's what this book teaches. And people
ask questions like, do you believe one saved always saved? Have
you ever been asked that question? Well, it all depends on who saved
you. If God saved you, then yes. Once saved, always saved. If
you saved yourself, chances are you're going to lose your salvation.
But I'm telling you, if God saved you, you're always saved. Why?
Because He said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Ah, my everlasting. What a word
that is. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That's my text for the next hour.
So who does Christ love? He loves sinners. Are you a sinner? Do you see that sin is not what
you are, or what you do, but what you are? Romans 5, 6 says,
For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for who? Ungodly. I'm so glad that verse
is in there because that's what I am by nature. I'm ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly.
What good news that is. This is a faithful saying. We
just quoted it a moment ago. Worthy of all acceptation. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save who? Sinners. Paul said,
of whom I am changed. God had chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God had chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
With David, friends, I can say, have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I am weak. I'm weak. I'm poor and needy,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Isn't that what David said? Thou
art my Helper and my Deliverer. Make no tearing on my God, having
loved His own. Does this not prove His love
to us? I'm telling you, having loved
his own, he loved them to the end. He laid down his life for
his people. He wasn't taken from them, he
laid it down. Boy, what a thought that is.
Oh, in times of trouble, this is where you can rest. When the
seas roared, he rested and he slept in peace. His disciples
were troubled. They came and they woke him up
and said, Master, don't you care that we perish? And he stood
and he said, Peace be still. Oh my, so many times in my life,
day after day it seems, the seas are roaring, the wind
is blowing, And it's not until the Lord says, Peace be still.
I'm so thankful that He does. Tossed to and fro in this world,
but with Christ, I had peace and rest. And He still speaks
peace to His people. He still gives His elect rest
in times of trouble. Having loved His own, which we're
in this world, isn't that encouraging? Isn't that where we are? We're
in this world, but we're not of it. And no matter how big
or small your trouble is, He'll always be there for His
own. You know, whether it was a fever
burning in Peter's mother-in-law, or whether it was leprosy that
rotted away the flesh of a leper, our Lord was always, always willing
to help those whom He loved. Lord, if you will, said that
leper. I know you can. He knew something
about who God was. I know you can, but will you?
Will you make me whole? And over and over again in the
Scriptures, we see our Lord saying so many places, he was moved
with compassion. He looked at that leper who had
fallen on his face. Lord, if you will, if you will,
he said, I will. To you, dear sinner, if you're
in trouble, oh troubled sinner, let not your heart be troubled.
If you believe in God, believe also in Me, he said, for I always
have your soul's best interest at heart." And he does. In this
world, you'll have tribulation, he said. We're in this world,
and we're going to have tribulation. You can expect it. But be of
good cheer, he said, I have overcome the world, John 16, 33. And you
know, I suppose what makes this verse the most glorious to me,
the sinner that I am, is the fact that having loved me while
yet in this world, He's going to love me to the end. He'll
love me to the end of my earthly pilgrimage, And He'll love me
throughout eternity. And I know these things are sometimes
beyond. It's just a matter of faith.
It's a matter of believing. You know, Philip misunderstood
him. Peter denied him. These are his
closest friends. Thomas doubted him. They all
forsook him. Yet He loved them until the end.
You see, it doesn't have anything to do with you. Now, I'm not
saying that we continue in sin, that grace be abound. No, God
forbid. The child of God, out of love
for his Savior, does not want to be out of the will of God. He hates his sin. He wants to
be pleasing to the Father. But your redemption has nothing
to do with that. I've misunderstood His providence,
I'm telling you. I've denied Him in my actions. I've doubted His power as my
God. How so? Little things every day, all
day long. Anytime we get upset about something. In reality, we're saying, Lord,
I don't like the way You're doing things. Oh, help me with that,
Lord. I've forsaken Him with my words.
I've done everything that the disciples did. Yet He loves His
people until the end, in spite of them. And that's the glorious
thing about this Gospel. Not having mine own righteousness. Oh, have He loved His own which
were in the world, He loved them until the end. He said in Matthew
22, and you shall be hated of all men for My name's sake. But
he that endureth till the end shall be saved." Now, I've got
to endure till the end. I've got to cling to Christ until
I give up my last fleeting breath. And I'm telling you, in times
past, I've thought, will I endure till the end? Well, I will knowing
If I'm one of His, He loves me to the end. So then I've got
confidence that I'll endure to the end. Don't you? See, that's
where our hope is. It's in Him. I'll endure to the end because
He loves me to the end. Or if you're one of His own,
dear sinner, you'll endure to the end because He loves you
to the end. And that's the only way any of
us will in the end be saved. And again, that has to do with
His faithfulness, not ours. There was a time when I didn't
believe in my Lord, but now with Thomas, I say, my Lord and my
God. He's both, isn't He? He's our
Lord and He's our God. Oh, tell ye and bring them near,
yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who told it from that time? Have
not I, the Lord, and there is no God else beside Me? A just
God. And a Savior. There's none beside
Me. And I tell you, dear believer
in Christ, I have a good hope. I have a
good hope that He'd love me. He'd love me before the foundation
world, I haven't done any good or evil.
It doesn't have anything to do with that. And He loves me now,
and He's going to love me to the end. Oh, may God enable me
to love Him. Love Him like I should. And if
I do, I know this much, it will be because He first loved me,
right? We love Him because He first loved us. That's a gospel that I can stretch
out on. I'm telling you, that bed's big
enough for me. This gospel is a blanket that
I can wrap myself up in. What a God, what a Savior, and
what a salvation. I appreciate your attention.