I've entitled today's message,
Distinguishing Facts of True Disciples of Christ, or simply,
True Disciples. And there's at least seven distinguishing
facts that are brought out in John chapter 13. But there are
many things that are brought out in this chapter that are
very sweet and moving and endearing. And I wanna point out a couple
of those to you before we get into this. because I think they help us understand
the text. They help us to understand, more importantly, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know that as we think
about, as Brad pointed out, when we read 1 Corinthians 15, I hope
that you feel humbled by that reading. I'm humbled by that
reading. This chapter, John chapter 13,
is a humbling chapter, isn't it? It's a humbling chapter.
The Lord Jesus Christ stooped to wash his disciples' feet,
but that wasn't the low point when he stooped, was it? And
it's humbling, it's humbling to have someone wash your feet
is humbling. And that's just a physical thing,
but to have the Lord of glory stoop to wash your feet, that
would be a humbling thing, wouldn't it? And even worse, even more
humbling than that is to have the Lord of glory stoop to take
away our sins. That's what the gospel is intended
to do, is to humble us. But the lowest we can go is our
rightful place. You know, we need grace to do
that, don't we? And we never really get there.
But as low as we can go is just our rightful place. But the Lord
Jesus had a dignity and a majesty that was his rightful place.
That was where he belonged. And then from his rightful place,
he stooped. And that, as I mentioned in the
bulletin today, that's true humility. He stooped. We, I feel, I can
speak personally, I feel humbled by my sin before the Lord of
glory. But the Lord of glory stooped to serve sinners who
sinned against him in order to lift up and bear their sins and
remove those sins before God to make them clean in his own
blood. That's humility and that should
humble us. So all these things that are
said here, they're very endearing. And I want to point out a couple
of those before we get into the chapter here. He says in verse
16, yes, in verse 16, he says, verily, verily, I say unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord. So we're not greater
than Christ. Neither he that is sent greater
than he that sent him. All the apostles were sent by
the Lord Jesus. If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them. Now, when we read a text like
that, happy are you if you do them, we're going to feel immediately
that I'll never be able to be happy. And I want to be, I want to do
them. And the Lord isn't saying you're happy because you do them,
as if it's a meritorious work. But in doing them, In doing them,
there's happiness because it's a blessed thing to think on the
Lord Jesus Christ and to know by faith what he's done for us
and so to act out of faith, that's a happy thing. Even though we
know in ourselves we need grace to know by faith, we need grace
to do, and we never really achieve, we never believe as we ought
to, and we never achieve the goal that we would like to achieve.
I was telling my wife this morning, I don't show you enough affection.
I mean, true. husbandly affection and honor
as a mother, as I should. And I'm sorry for that. And she
said, you silly. She never sees when I do wrong.
But anyway, I want to point that out to you. That's one thing
that's very dear in this chapter. Another thing I thought was very
dear in this chapter here is, in verse 22, the disciples looked
one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. Now, what he's talking
about there is that Jesus said, one of you is going to betray
me. And it says in the next verse now, there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. They sat around this table and
in the style according to the expositor's explanation of this,
is that they leaned on their left elbow and they ate with
the right hand. And so they were kind of like
that dominoes laying on top next to each other and John was here,
the Lord was here, and so it was around the table. I don't
know if that's exactly how it was. The point is, is that John
had an intimate relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he was comfortable laying on the Lord Jesus Christ in the
most friendly and familiar fashion. And that's worth a lot of thought,
isn't it? It wasn't unique to John, but
it's pointed out here by John who's writing this, because he
felt that. I want you to take that and flash
back now to Sinai. What happened there? The Lord
commanded Moses, don't you let the people come near the mountain.
Don't you even let a beast touch the mountain. If it does, thrust
it through with a dart. And the mountain was quaking.
The earth was shaking. It was smoking. And the people
were afraid. They cried out, we don't want
to hear God's voice anymore. So you speak to us, but not God.
But here, John the Apostle is leaning on the Lord's breast. That's amazing to me, isn't it?
So those are some of the things I see in this chapter. And I
mention them for your edification because I want you in your heart
and I want me in my heart to be drawn out by the words of
Christ given to us that he has loved his people with an everlasting
love. And so that we would by faith
see his love for us and be humbled and so love one another. So I
wanted to bring out these seven points here today on the distinguishing
things true of Christ's disciples, things that are true of his true
disciples. And in contrast, therefore, they
were not true of Judas. And that's a very sobering thing,
isn't it? It was not true of Judas. Every one of these things that
were true of the 11 were not true of Judas. Now, I don't know
about you, but Judas is prominent in this chapter. And that makes
me wonder, like the disciples said, Lord, when Jesus said,
and let me read this to you in Matthew chapter 26, because this
is the attitude in the room at this point. In Matthew 26 and
verse In verse 21, as they did eat,
he said, verily I say to you that one of you shall betray
me. Why didn't Jesus said, Judas is gonna betray me, the rest
of you are clear? Well, because it wasn't time
to reveal who was going to betray him. And because it wasn't time,
it meant they didn't know. And because they didn't know
who it was, they wondered who it was. And each of the 11 wondered
if it was them. They wondered, is it me? Because
it goes on and says, and they were exceeding sorrowful and
began every one of them to say to him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, he
that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray
me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good
for that man if he had never been born. For that man, then
Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?" You
can hear the Surely not me, in his voice, right? I don't mean
to put an English spin on that, but it's sort of that attitude. Surely not me. And he said to
him, thou hast said. In other words, it is precisely
as you have said. And Judas knew he was going to
do this. And the words of the Lord did
not deter him. In fact, he had on a face no
one could detect that it was him. And so what do I think when
I read John 13? Lord, is it I? Is it me? Because, you see, that's confessing
what we know about ourselves, isn't it? Doubts are not an indication
of of reprobation, it's this arrogance of denial that says
he couldn't beat me, that is a concern. That's what's concerning.
Jesus said, as I've mentioned to you many times, if you were
blind, you should have no sin. So the Pharisees said, well,
are we blind? Well, if you say we see, then
your sin remains. So these things are meant to
bring us to a level of sobriety in ourselves, so that what we
see in the Lord's stoop here is our salvation. And that's
why I wanna address these seven things that we're distinguishing
concerning the true disciples, but were not true of Judas. And
it begins in verse 1. Before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart
out of this world to the Father, having, notice, loved his own,
his own. That's the first distinguishing
truth of the Lord's disciples. They are his own. In John chapter
10, just a couple of chapters back, He said this, he said,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Notice,
my sheep. And I give to them eternal life
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. I and my father are one. They're
the same sheep, they both, they all belong to him and to his
father. No one is gonna take them from
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They're his. They're
his. He owned them. He owned them
because they were given to him. He says in verse 29 of John 10,
my father which gave them me. They were given to him. And so
they therefore were his. And that's a treasure, isn't
it? That those whom the Lord saves are his own, his own people. He identifies with them, they're
mine. I am his, the song of Solomon
2.6 or 16, I can't remember, I think it's 16. I am his and
he is mine. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Loved with everlasting love.
led by grace, this love to know. That's what happens here. They're his. We're bought with
a price. We belonged to Jesus, the Savior,
the Lord. We're his, purchased at the cost
of his own blood. Acts 20, verse 28 says, the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Let me read
that to you in Acts 20, 28. The Apostle Paul is leaving,
the Ephesian church is around him, and he says to them in verse
28, to the elders, take heed therefore to yourselves, to all
the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. The blood of God, the church
of God. They're His own, and what a blessing that is, isn't
it? And the second thing in John 13 that's true of the Lord's
true disciples is that they are loved. Having loved His own which
were in the world. It doesn't mean that He loved
Judas because he wasn't His own, as we're going to see. It doesn't
mean that He loved all men. It doesn't mean that he loved
all men the same. It's not true. He loved his own. It's a distinguishing love. It's
something that's unique to his own people. It's his choice. His love is his own will towards
them to save them, to bless them. He loved them and he gave himself
for them. The Lord gave himself for those
he loved. In Ephesians chapter 2, chapter
5 actually, he says this in Ephesians 5 verse 2. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and has given himself for as an offering and a sacrifice
to God. He has given himself for us as
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.
His offering and sacrifice of himself bearing our sins and
offering himself to God for our sins to remove our sins from
us to satisfy God in all of his justice and magnify his glory. And the sacrifice of himself
in obedience to God out of love that brought such pleasure to
God. It was sweet-smelling because He loved us. It was an offering
of love, an obedience of love, and there's nothing that fulfills
the law but love, and Christ loved His people. Having loved
His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end. Christ's
love doesn't change. His love is saving. His love
is powerful, Song of Solomon again. It says in Song of Solomon,
let me just read that to you because I often will mention
it but not read it. Let's go to that text of scripture,
Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon is after
the book of Proverbs and in chapter 8 and verse 6. Listen to these
words. Song of Solomon 8, verse 6, about
love. Set me, now this is a prayer
by the church to the Lord Jesus Christ, asking Him what He put
into her heart, which was His will to do. And now she's asking
Him to do what is in His heart, having, by His grace, put it
in her heart to want this and to ask Him for it. According
to the will of God, set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a
seal upon thine arm. When you get married, you wear
that wedding band in order to show a symbol of your love for
your wife or your wife's symbol of her love for her husband.
And so the Lord is saying here that the church is asking Christ
to set a symbol of his love for her on his arm, a seal upon his
arm, on his heart even. For love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave.
The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement
flame. Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown
it. If a man could give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned. So you see here that the Lord
is saying love is powerful. It's strong. It overcomes death.
It overcomes the floods. It overcomes every obstacle.
And that's what the love of Christ did for his people. He overcame
the barrier, their sin, which kept them from him. and now nothing
can separate us from the love of Christ because his love overcame
that sin. So he loved his own. That's the
second thing. It's unique to the Lord's people that he loved
them. He loved them. In John 3.16,
it says, ''For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son.'' Everyone says, ''Well, see there,
it proves God loved everybody.'' And he loved the world. But you
know what? The world in scripture often
refers to a sinful people. The Gentiles are called the world. Remember in Ephesians chapter
2, you walked according to the course of this world. So he loved
his people who were of the world. In fact, here in John 13, he
says, when he knew he would depart out of this own, having loved
his own which were in the world. So he loved them that were in
the world. So he loves those who were in themselves sinners,
just like everyone else in the world. And in Romans 8, 32, he
says, all those for whom God did not spare his son, but delivered
him up, he's going to give all things to them that he gives
to his son. He will undoubtedly and most
assuredly give to them with Christ all things because he has delivered
up his son and didn't spare him for them. And this was after
he says he foreknew them and predestinated and called and
justified and glorified them and will conform them therefore
into the image of his son. So God's love is a saving love. Nothing can keep from him those
he loves. He loved the sheep. He gave himself
for them. He laid down his life for the
sheep and no one can take them out of his hands. He loved the
church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and purify
and remove from her every spot and wrinkle and every such thing.
That's what love does and nothing can overcome his love, nothing
can drown it. There's no fire, there's no water,
there's no sin, there's nothing that can keep from Christ those
he loves. That's the second thing that's
true of the Lord's people. And the third thing here in John
13 is found in, as we read last week in verse 10. Jesus said
to him, to Peter, he that is washed needeth not save to wash
his feet, but is clean every whit, and you are clean, but
not all. You see, why were they clean? Was he talking about the washing
of the feet here? No, he says, if you are clean,
he said in the verse before it, Peter said, thou shalt never
wash my feet. Jesus said, if I wash thee not,
thou hast no part with me. Peter said to him, Lord, not
my feet only, but also my hands and my feet, my head. Jesus said,
he that is washed needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean
everywhere. You're clean all over. except
your feet. That's why I'm washing your feet."
And what clean was he talking about? Well, as I tried to explain
last week, this is talking about that cleansing of our sin, the
washing of our sins in His own blood. That's what cleans us
everywhere. And the symbol of washing the
feet shows that in the walk of every believer, we accumulate
the dirt, the filth of sin, and we need to continually be reapplied
to. and appeal to and be taught again
and brought to and trust again in the Lord Jesus Christ's cleansing
blood for our sins so that the application of his blood is a
renewing and a continuous application. And so he's doing this in love.
This was service. This was service. What a great
service it was that he would wash their feet, physically.
But what a greater service it is that the Lord Jesus Christ,
even now, continually applies the gospel to the hearts of his
people. and even greater service that
he would apply that to their heart because he washed them
from their sins. Their sins before God were washed
away. In the eyes of God, they are
clean every wit. They'll search, he says in Jeremiah
50 verse 20. Let me read that to you also.
Jeremiah 50 and verse 20. He says this. He says, in those days and in
that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for. We're going to look for it. But
there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found. For I will pardon whom I reserve. You see, the specificity. It's
unique. It applies to the church. And
so the Lord says the third thing, not only are they his own, not
only are they loved, but they're clean every whit. But they need
to have their feet washed all the time. And that requires a
stoop of the Lord. But it's also something that
he tells his disciples to do for one another, which we'll
get to shortly, hopefully. But here also in verse 18, in
John 13, verse 18, he says this. This also is unique to his true
disciples. Notice how he designates it.
He distinguishes here. He says, I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen. He was talking about that if
you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Someone
didn't do them and wouldn't do them. And what he's talking about
is stooping in love, in our service towards the Lord's people. Those
he purchased and cleansed with his own blood. But you don't
all do this. And of course, Judas is the one
who didn't. The rest of them did. They kept
his word. And so what we see here is that
the Lord says, I know whom I've chosen. And he's not talking
about those chosen to apostleship. Because Judas fell from his apostleship. But he's talking about chosen
to salvation. The Lord chose, Jesus Christ
is God who chose his people. He chose them. And that fact
that he chose them is a proof of his deity. Because he chose
them before the foundation of the world. In John 15, he says
this. In verse 16, you, to his disciples. Now, Judas is long gone. You
have not chosen me. I have a little picture at home
of a little baby about harmony size, looking at the scriptures,
eyes wide open. What? You have not chosen me? Imagine that. That's what this
is saying. The Lord says, you have not chosen
me, I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. So you can see
here, this is something the Lord did. The Lord Jesus Christ, he
chose his people. He knew them before. He loved
them from everlasting and therefore he chose them. They're chosen
in Christ and they're chosen to eternal glory. Look at a couple
of scriptures here. Look at 1 Peter 5. In 1 Peter
5. He says in 1 Peter 5 verse 10,
but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while,
make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So this is Peter
at the beginning of the book. He opens the book of the Epistle
of 1 Peter, he says, elect, to you I'm writing, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So this is, speaking
of the choice of God, the Father, and here in 1 Peter 5.10, it's
the God of all grace who has called us to his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus. All right, look at 2 Timothy,
2 Timothy and chapter two. Timothy is after the first and
second Thessalonians, 2 Timothy and chapter two. He says this
in verse 10, notice the apostle Paul is telling Timothy, In 2
Timothy 2.10, therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake,
the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul's service
to Christ was for the elect's sake. It was for the chosen by
God. Those chosen to, he says here,
salvation, which is in Christ with eternal glory. The same
thing that Peter just said. The God of all grace. In 1 Peter
5, the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ
Jesus. So you see how the union, the
unity between God the Father and God the Son there. And we
could go all over the scripture and look at texts like this.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, he says that he's thankful to
God. In fact, let me go there, 2 Thessalonians,
back up from 2 Timothy to 2 Thessalonians. Just a couple more scriptures
here along this being chosen of God. 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 13. Well, I'm going to read before
that. He says in verse 10, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They didn't
receive it. They rejected it. We can reject
the truth, but we can't receive it unless we're given grace.
He says, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Verse 13, but, but, We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The salvation to which
God the Father has chosen us included his predestinating will
that it should be through the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit unto belief of the truth, which the Spirit, of course,
was given to us because Christ died for us. As he says in John
7, the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Look back at 1 Thessalonians
5. He says, in verse 9, God has
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. So God the Father didn't
appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, and
he died for us, Christ did, that we might live. So that whether
we're in this body, alive, or whether in this body our body
has died, we should live with Christ. We're alive in the body,
and yet we're with Christ in our spirit. We die in our body,
and then we immediately are with Christ in glory. So these things
are clear, right, from scripture. It's undeniable from scripture
that God saves those he chose to salvation. And this humbles
the pride of man, doesn't it? Because we think we're entitled
to something. No, we're not. Our rightful place
is the death. The wages of sin is death. That's
our rightful place. That's what wages mean. It's
God paying us what we deserve. And that's what we rightfully
do. But the gift of God is eternal life, and that is through the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, back to John 13. So those things so far we've
seen, the distinguishing thing is that they're Christ's own.
He loved them, he washed them, he chose them to salvation. He knew them and he chose them.
The next thing we see here is, I will show you by a question.
Why is it that Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
it's because Satan put it in his heart. But why was Satan
allowed to put that in his heart? Well, because it was God's will.
Scripture foretold that he would do it, and scripture had to be
fulfilled. That's all true. But okay, let
me ask it another way then. Why wasn't Peter the one that
betrayed him? Well, let's answer that from
scripture. Look at Luke chapter 22. You see, the question is, why didn't
all of the disciples betray the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer,
of course, is because they were Christ's own. In Luke chapter
22 and verse 31, The Lord said, Simon, behold,
Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat.
So there had been in the spiritual realm a request put in by Satan
before God to have Peter. And I'm sure he argued on the
basis of Peter's sinfulness. I should have him. But notice,
before Satan entered his plea, Christ had already advocated
for him in verse 32. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. So clearly, the reason Satan
couldn't have Peter to sift him like wheat was because the Lord
kept him. And that's the fifth thing that's
distinguishing of Christ's disciples. Not only are they his own, loved
by him, washed by him, chosen by him, but they're kept by him. That's what we just read in John
10. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. And I give to them eternal life. And no man is going to pluck
them out of my hand. I keep them. And so the reason
why only Judas betrayed the Lord isn't because the other were
more noble in themselves, but because the Lord kept them. In
1 Peter, you don't have to turn there, but let me read this to
you in 1 Peter 1 and verse 5. He says, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. So the faith that Christ prayed
for was the means by which that salvation would be brought to
its final conclusion. And so Christ prayed for his
faith so that he would not be taken by Satan. And so back in
John 13, John 13, get back there. The Lord prayed for Peter, he
obviously kept him. And I'm going to go to John 17,
as I hold my place in John 13, and I'll read this scripture
to you in John 17. This is obviously the Lord's prayer for his people.
This is the Lord's prayer, Christ's prayer for his people. If you
look at it, to prove that, just a sample, he says, Two, he's praying, as thou has
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou has given him. So who is he praying for?
Those the father gave to him. What did the father give his
people to the son to do? To give them eternal life. And
this is why he gave them. He gave him power over all flesh
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. All flesh, he has power over
them, and he gives eternal life to those the Father gave to him
out of all flesh. And then he goes on in verse
11, but look at this. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are one. Verse 12, while I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me, I have kept. None of them is lost. but the
son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. You see?
He did not keep Judas, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But he did keep the others because the Father had given him all
the others to keep them. And so he kept them, and he kept
them in the Father's name, meaning it was God's will. God gave this
to him to do, and it was to his glory. And if he failed, then
his Father's name would fail, which couldn't happen. Therefore,
it was done. So they were kept. Now, the sixth
thing here, obviously, that goes along with this is that the Lord
Jesus Christ prayed for the true disciples. He did not pray for
Judas. In fact, he prayed against Judas. And you might think, well, that
seems awfully harsh. Is it true? Yes, it is. Look
at Psalm chapter 41. This is a prophecy of the betrayal
of Judas, Christ's betrayal by Judas, in Psalm 41, he says,
listen to the way the Lord pleads against him. And verse 9 of this,
of Psalm 41, he says, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."
Now that's a fulfillment. What Judas did is a fulfillment
of that scripture. He lifted up his heel against
Christ. And this is spoken of in the
New Testament as the text of scripture that Judas fulfilled.
But now, look at Psalm 109, the same kind of prayer is in Psalm
109. This is also of the betrayal
of Christ by Judas, Psalm 109. He says here in Psalm 109, Verse
one, hold not thy peace, O God, of my praise, for the mouth of
the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are open against me.
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed
me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without
a cause. For my love, they are my adversaries. His love to the
people, he healed and all that he did for the good of men in
this world. but I give myself to prayer.
They have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love.
Now, listen to the prayer of Christ against Judas. Set thou a wicked man over him,
and let Satan stand, this is in Psalm 109, verse six, let
Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let
him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days
be few and let another take his office. That was quoted in Acts
chapter 1 verse 20. It applies to Judas. Let his
children be fatherless and his wife a widow. In other words,
let him perish. Let his children be continually
vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also
out of their desolate places. And you could go on and on. In
verse 12, just another one. be remembered with the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. You see? And
verse 16, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted
the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken
in heart. The needy man, the poor needy man, the broken in
heart, that's Christ. But he, Judas, was that one who
persecuted the Lord's servant. And so, here Jesus obviously
prayed against Judas, but he prays for his people. He prays
for them, as we just read in John 17. I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. That's John 17, verse 9. And
he also prayed for all of his elect in that same chapter. And
then the seventh thing here in John 13, and I mentioned this
last time too, and this is not explicitly stated here, but we
know it's true. because of that Psalm we just
read in Psalm 109, but here in John 13, is that the Lord forgave
his 11 disciples. He did not forgive Judas. And that's sobering. That is
so spine-tinglingly sobering, isn't it? When we consider these
things and we say, Lord, is it I? Is it me? I know something
about my nature, and if the Lord doesn't forgive my sin, then
I'll have to bear it, like Judas. And I cannot bear my sin. Besides
the fact, in John 13, when Jesus told Peter, if I don't wash you,
you have no part with me. It's one thing to have sin. It's
another thing to be separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing
would give us a greater concern than to have no part with Christ. To never know the one who alone
is true and humble and gracious and just and all the things that
he is, who can save us from our sins, the Savior. To not know
the Savior, to have no part in his salvation, that is intolerable
for the Lord's people. and to not be forgiven, so Peter
denied him, but he was forgiven, he was restored. Judas, never,
never. Now the last thing, and this
is really the eighth thing, this goes beyond the seven, is that
he says here, notice this, in verse 34, a new commandment I
give to you that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you also love one another. All right, turn to Galatians
chapter 5. I want to show you this from
Galatians chapter 5. And I'll wrap it up here shortly. Galatians chapter 5, in verse
6 of Galatians 5, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision. It's not what you do to keep
the law that saves you. Nor is it your natural unlawfulness
that helps you. Notice, the only thing that avails
anything is faith, which works by love. So there's two things
that God gives to his people, faith in Christ and love by faith. And so when he says here in John
13, 34, that you love one another as I have loved you, as brings
with it faith, doesn't it? Because how would you know the
Lord loved you unless he gave you, from his word, faith to
believe that he died for sinners and that you're a sinner and
you have no hope until you flee to him and you plead with him,
Lord, save me, on the basis of your righteousness and blood.
I'm a sinner and I cannot save myself and if I'm separated from
you, I cannot live. Lord, have mercy. So that's where
faith comes in, to see this, as I have loved you. But having
seen this by faith, the result is therefore that we love the
Lord Jesus and we love those he loved. And this is the truth
that Jesus laid down in scripture so clearly. He says in Matthew
chapter 10, verse 40, he that receiveth you receives me. And
he that receives me receives him that sent me. If you receive
Christ, you receive the Father. If you receive one of those Christ
sent, you receive Christ and the Father. He goes on in Matthew
10, verse 41. He says, he that receives a prophet
in the name of a prophet receives a prophet's reward. What's a
prophet? One who declares God's will and
God's mind. Faithfully, if you receive a
man who brings God's message from God in the name of, as a
true messenger of God, therefore you receive and this is God's
message, then you receive the prophet's reward. You receive
the word from God as from God. And in the next verse he says,
and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous
man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Here's a man who
says, Christ is my righteousness. He's my only hope. He's a righteous
man. You receive him, now that's what
every believer trusts, right? You receive that man in the name
of a righteous man, as a righteous man. That's what it means, in
the name of, as a truly righteous man, because of Christ. And guess what you'll receive?
A righteous man's reward, which is the righteousness in which
he trusts, an eternal life that comes by that righteousness.
Verse 42, And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these
little ones a cup of cold water only, Giving a cup of water,
that's so insignificant. But if you do it, he says, in
the name of a disciple, because he is one of Christ, a follower
of the Lord Jesus who trusts him, you receive him as one of
Christ's own and you give him a cup of water. Then he says,
verily, I say to you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. Christ
will keep that. It was His grace that did it,
and yet He's not going to be unfaithful. He's going to reward
His work of grace. He's going to give to you, not
as a reward in payment, but because it's the result of the way that
He works in blessing His people first with grace and then with
the reward of grace. And they do it because of faith.
As I have loved you, so love one another. That's what faith
does. Faith works by love. And so he
says in Galatians 6, let me go back to John 13, just one moment
here. I gotta point this out because
this next verse is gonna tie it all down. John chapter 13,
at the end, notice what he says here. And this isn't by accident. He says, by this, verse 35, by
this all men shall know you're my disciples, if you have love
one toward another. Not if you keep the law in the
jot and tittle of it, but if you have love one toward another.
What does that mean? Well, Simon Peter said to him,
Lord, where are you going? Jesus said, Whether I go, you
can't follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter
said, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my
life for thy sake. Jesus answered, will thou lay
down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say to you,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me three times,
thrice. Now, that was in the very chapter
where the Lord washed the disciples' feet, wasn't it? And we wonder,
what does it mean? And we see that it has to do
with love towards one another, that we're to stoop, Christ stooped
from glory to serve sinners. in shedding His blood and making
propitiation, and then applying that blood to them. And we cannot
stoop lower than our rightful place. If we were to stoop to
the lowest, least significant of God's sayings, it would only
be our rightful place. It's God's grace that made that
one your brother and your sister. And so he says in Galatians 6,
1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, i.e. Peter, you which
are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. You see, this is what the Lord
did. This was his rule of life. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree and forgave us freely. And that's why we love him. That's his love towards us. Therefore,
this is his law. This is the fulfilling of his
law, his love to bear one another's burdens, walk in love as Christ
also has loved us and given himself for us. Be kind one toward another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. So be tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, looking for ways to serve one another. This is
the way the Lord taught us. This is what our mothers did
all of our lives. We weren't paying them. We thought
we deserved it. Mom! And if we don't get an answer,
we go ballistic. Mom's taking care of me, and
I just expect it. And we have a way of thinking
we deserve what just comes to us. Never think that way. Be so thankful. Thankful for
God's grace that he would save us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Never take Christ's stoop for us for granted. It's with the
view of what he did for us that we are to love one another, consider
one another, Forgive one another, be tender hearted, look for ways
to encourage one another in the gospel. This is the way, this
is the life of a disciple. This is a true disciple. Let's
pray. Father, thank you for your words. Thank you for your son. Help us to receive him by receiving
the message from those you sent. And help us to receive one another
though we Think of others as being insignificant in our own
eyes. Help us to know that we are the
least of all saints, and to be even among the saints we don't
deserve, but it is by your grace. Help us to think properly of
ourselves in light of your word, in light of Christ, and never
think highly Help us to bear one another's burdens as we read
in 1 Corinthians 13, to quietly cover all sin and to receive
one another as Christ has received us to the glory of God. In his
name we pray, amen.