Open your Bibles with me to John's
Gospel, Chapter 13. And while you're turning, I want
to express mine and Shirley's gratitude for the great, great
surprise you all pulled on us last week. Man, that was, I never
was so surprised. I kept telling Joe and Eleanor,
come on in here. They got something going on for
you all. I tell you what, you got to really do something. Well,
no, you know, I'm in a fog most of the time, but boy, I tell
you what, I really was that time. And all the gifts and just absolutely
wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
and thank you, and thank you. Absolutely wonderful. Now, I'm
going to read the first 11 verses. of this 13th chapter. I'm going
to preach from this both times today. 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. And supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the father had given
all things into his hands and that he was come from God and
went to God. He rises from supper, laid aside
his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he
pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then
cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost
thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet, Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou
hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, he that is washed, neither is not saved to wash his feet,
but is clean ever wit, and you are clean, but not all. For he
knew who should betray him, therefore said, ye are not all clean. our most gracious, blessed God
and Father, our God that's in heaven, and we're here on this
earth, and the great, great gulf that
our Lord Jesus Christ did span between you and us, that he can
reach into heaven and expose the Father's heart and reach
into earth, and take our hearts, and slay the enmity that's in
it, and reconcile us to our blessed father. Oh, glory be to your
holy name. And our father, we're so blessed,
so blessed to be able to meet, to be able to worship, to be
able to gather together, to read the word, to pray, to sing the
songs of Zion, to worship with the dear children of God, to
be able to enjoy one another, to love one another, and love
the gospel, love our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear him talked about,
to speak of him, to honor him, to glorify him. Oh, what a blessed
time it is that we can gather. And our Lord Jesus, we ask that
you'd be merciful and gracious pitiful to those among us that
are sick, who are weak in body. And Lord, those that are traveling,
please put your hand over them, hedge them about, see them safely
there, see them safely home. And for those among us who don't
know what it is to know Christ, trust our Lord Jesus and find
the rest and peace that's in him, that repose, that restful,
joyful, peaceful, Blessed, blessed peace and joy that comes with
believing. God, if they don't know it, may
this be the day the gospel pierces the heart. We ask these things
in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. I want us to look at this
first verse. This first verse. 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." You notice here that it's our Lord Jesus talking about
a particular love for a particular people? Not talking about loving
everybody. Not talking about loving every
man, every soul. Having loved His own. He loved them unto the end. You
know who He loves? He loves His own. Now you love
your own children. So why shouldn't God love His
own children? I don't get mad at you because
you love your children. So don't get mad at God if He
only loves His own children and don't love you. But I tell you
what, here in John 13 through verse chapter 17, these four
verses, what's called by many the inner sanctuary. Our Lord
Jesus starts here in John 13 and goes through John 17 and
nobody but Him and His disciples are together. The inner circle. Judas left. We'll see that this
evening. But it's the inner sanctuary.
Our Lord Jesus starts here in John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. And talks about his blessed
people. And our master, in one time,
he hid himself from those. They come to get him, to take
him, and wanted to make him a king. He just went and hid himself.
How did he hide himself? He can hide himself from anybody
anytime he wants to. He can stand right in the midst
of a bunch of people and they didn't know who he was. I said, you know, it's easy for
him to disappear. Easy for him to hide himself.
But here our Master takes his loved ones into his heart. Exposes
his heart to them. He gives them a great and glorious
revelation. not only of himself, I mean,
he gives a great, glorious revelation of himself, but he also gives
a revelation of their position. Their position. The very fact
is, having loved his own, he talks about how that, how he
would keep them, how he preserve them, and their position in this
world, and their privileges that they have. And we truly see fulfilled
here in John 13, I came not to be ministered to, but to minister
unto many. And here our Savior, he washes
his disciples' feet. And in the tabernacle, when they
went into the holy place, not the holiest of holies, but when
they went into the holy place, the priests went in there, the
first thing they were confronted with was the labor. And there
was a laver there, it was a big basin. And they had to, what
that was there is to wash themselves, their hands and their feet, before
they approached the brazen altar to offer sacrifice. And here
Lord Jesus Christ is that laver. He's the one who loved us and
laved us in his own blood. and between that blazer and altar.
And here our Lord Jesus washed the disciples' feet. But look
over here in John 12, 3. And our Lord, He had His feet
anointed. Look in John 12, 3. Our Lord
Jesus had His feet anointed. And over here in John 13, He
washed His disciples' feet. Then six days before the Passover,
Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been raised from
the dead. whom he raised from the dead. There made him a supper,
and Martha served him, but Lazarus, one of them, descended at the
table. Then Mary, then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard,
very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his
feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the
elderly." I tell you, everybody in that house enjoyed that fragrance.
And that's what our Lord Jesus Christ, His feet was anointed. Here He washed His disciples'
feet. And feet speaks of walking. Feet speaks of walking. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, His feet was anointed. And it was a sweet fragrance
before God. Sweet fragrance to everybody
that's in that room. Christ is a sweet fragrance unto
God. Christ is a sweet fragrance unto
us. And as our Lord took every step
in this world, every step that He took was like the first one
He ever came into this world with. He left this world like
it came, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher
than the heavens. But when He came to wash the
disciples' feet, you know why He washed them? Because they're
dirty. They're unclean, contaminated, defiled in this world. He didn't
need His feet washed. He didn't even, you know, His
walk was sinless. Ours is not. Now, let's start
here in verse 1 of John 13. Now, before the Feast of the
Passover, this is two days before the Feast of the Passover. And
you notice our Lord Jesus Christ, the day He was crucified, was
the Passover. And when He died, that's when
the Passover was slain. That's when he died. So Christ
was our Passover sacrifice for us. Now this is not the Passover
supper. Here's the feast before the Passover.
But this is the supper that our Lord Jesus had here at Bethany
with these people. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ, this is not the Passover supper. He's having
supper here. And I tell you what, and a lot
of people think this is the Lord's Supper. This is not the Passover.
This is not the Lord's Supper here. This is not. And then it
says here, look what it says. When Jesus knew that his hour
was come, the Lord Jesus is the only person in this world, the
only man who ever lived in this world, who was never taken by
surprise by anyone or any event that ever happened to himself
or anybody else. Our Lord Jesus, knowing all things,
all things, knew that His eye was cut. Now, I want you to look
with me over here in John, well, look down at verse 3 here, first
of all. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hands. Look in John 18.4 with me just
a moment. When we talk about our Lord Jesus
knowing all things, I mean He knew all things. He knew what
people were thinking. He knew our thoughts before we
think them. He said He knows our thoughts are far off. And
when people would even be thinking of something, He perceived what
they were thinking of and what was in their hearts and He would
tell them just exactly what they were thinking. He told Philip,
you know, when they said, Philip, we found him that's called the
Messiah, the Christ. And he's Jesus of Nazareth, and
he's sitting under a tree, and he said, how in the world can
any good thing come out of Nazareth? And when Philip came, he said,
Philip, before they called thee, I saw thee sitting under that
tree, and I heard every word you said. Philip jumped up and
said, they aren't the Christ. They really aren't the Christ.
You saw me before, but you ever met you and I sitting on that
tree and you know what I said? Oh yeah, I was there. I saw it.
I heard every bit of it. And look what it said here in
John 18 and four. Jesus, therefore knowing all
things that should come upon him, he knew He knew who was
going to betray Him. He knew that these men were going
to come out and get Him. And what did He do? You reckon
He went and ran and hid from all this great mob that come
after Him? He said unto them, Whom seek ye? Who are you looking
for? He wasn't surprised by this.
Look over in John 19.28. Oh my, this goes Jesus knowing
that His hour was come. Jesus knowing that all things
should be that's going to happen to Him. Knowing that all things
had been given to His hands. And then after this, Jesus knowing
that all things were now accomplished. There said He knew His hour was
come. Jesus knowing all things that were to come. And now everything
written about Him is accomplished. And know all the Scriptures,
everything that is said about Him is finished and done. And
what does He say? That the Scripture might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst. As everything was accomplished
concerning Himself, so our Lord Jesus knew all things. I thank
God that He does. Bless His holy name that He does.
And look what it says here back over again in verse 1 of chapter
13. Jesus knew His hour was now come. He told in John chapter 2, told
His mother, He says, My hour is not yet. What are you bothering
me about this wine? And look what He says here now.
He says, Now the hour has come that He should depart out of
this world. When He says depart out of this
world, He's talking about His death. He's talking about, I
gotta leave this world. He said, I came, he said there
in verse three again, that he was come from God and went to
God. Gotta depart out of this world.
And that's what departure means, a time to leave, a time to go,
a time to pass away from this world. And that's why Paul said,
you know, he said, the hour of my departure is at hand. He said over there, and I believe
it's Philippians 1. He says, you know, for me to
depart and be with Christ is far better. For me to depart
and be with Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ, you
know, He says that this world is not my home. This world is
not our home. And He's gonna depart out of
this world. Look here in John 12, 25 with
me just a moment. You will see something here.
depart out of this world. Thank God this world isn't the
only world we have to live in. We're going to depart out of
this world too. Look what our Lord said here
in verse 25 of John 12. He that loveth his life shall
lose it. What does He mean by that? If
he loves his life in this world, if he loves his sin, if he loves
his own righteousness, if he loves his own works, if he loves
himself and he's satisfied with where he is and what he's doing
and he loves this world and he... No one will depart from this
world and he's happy to be in this world and live in sin and
live in pleasure. He said he'll lose his life.
Go ahead and love it. Love this world. Love everything
that's in it. Enjoy it. Eat, drink and be merry. Go ahead and enjoy your sin.
Go ahead and enjoy your pleasure. Go ahead and enjoy your homes.
Go ahead and enjoy your big fancy car. Enjoy all the money you
got in the bank. And our Lord Jesus said, you
enjoy that and love that and you'll lose your life over that. But he also says this, and he
that hateth his life in this world, What does he mean hated? Hates his sin. Hates his own
righteousness. Hates his pride. Hates his hypocrisy. He don't care what he has in
this world, what he possesses in this world. It's just something
that God's given him to rest in this world and give him some
things in this world. Everything that we got, those
are the believers, know that everything we got, God gave it
to us. If you got sense enough to get in and out of the rain,
God gave you the brain to do that with. If you got a nice
house and even if you had the ability to work and pay for it,
God gave you that ability. If you are able to take care
of money, God gave you that ability. There ain't nothing you got that
God didn't give you. And you cannot deny that. Is
that not right? And oh, look what it says here,
it says, He that hateth his life in this world. Oh, listen. This world loses taste. You ever
ate an egg without salt on it? Tasteless. Choke on it. But oh, listen, he said here,
he says, if he hates his life in this world, in this world
right here, A house is just some place to
get in out of the weather. A bed's something just to sleep
in. A car's something to get you from one place to another.
They all got four wheels and they all got a battery and an
alternator and you start them and then when they tear up, you
gotta get them fixed. I tell you, this world is not
our home. And our Lord said he shall keep
his life unto eternal life. He'll keep his life, he'll keep
looking to Christ, he'll keep trusting Christ, he'll keep believing
Christ, he'll keep cleaving to Christ, and he'll pray, Lord,
you keep me believing, you keep me cleaving, you keep me trusting,
you keep me where I cannot trust anybody but you. And oh, listen, he hath he come
to deliver us, to save us from this present evil world. And
oh my, one of these days we're going to depart out of this world.
We're going to depart out of this world. Everyone has to say
goodbye to some of you all, maybe just in the very next few days
or the next few months, or you may have to say goodbye to me.
There ain't nobody in here that ain't lost somebody that they
love with all their heart. Got to depart. Cut them strings now. Loosen
them tent poles now. So when it's time to go, there
won't be nothing holding you here. Won't be nothing you can
get a hold of. And say, I won't let it go. I
don't want to let it go. I don't want to let it go. Don't
do that. Let your loved ones go. Let yourself
go. So you can depart out of this,
our Lord Jesus, knowing that thou has come to depart. And
this world, this world was a terrible place to our Lord Jesus Christ. People ask me all the time, how's
the world treating you? And I tell them the same thing
every time. The world has never, ever treated me good. When I
was in it, it didn't treat me good. When I was in it, the world
did not, when you didn't have any money, You didn't have any
friends. When you had got paid and you
went out to spend the weekend, you had buddies until your money
was gone and you went home sick. Oh, I had lots and lots of friends. Got put in the hospital. Stayed in there for over three
months. How many of my friends came to see me? Not one. Not one. You know who came to see me?
The person that loved me. This world's a cruel, this world
does not care any iota for anybody in it. Now ain't that right? And all
thank God. You know what made this, this
world is a terrible place for us. All that's in it is lust
of the flesh, the pride of life. Lust of the world. And you know
what made this world the way it is? S-I-N. Sin is what's made eternal. And
that's why God's going to make a new world and a new heaven
wherein dwelleth righteousness. There ain't going to be no sin
there. And that's one reason why we want to depart away from
this world. You know how I'm ever going to get away from me?
Is to depart from this world. You know how I'm going to get
away from sin? Depart from this world. You know how I'm going
to get away from sorrow? Depart from this world. You know
how I'm going to get away from tears? Depart from this world.
You know how I'm going to get away from sadness? Depart from
this world. You know how I'm going to get
away from heartache and fears and anxieties and depression? Depart from this world. Now, I don't want to go until
God gets ready for me. I don't want to do that. That's
not what I'm saying. But if he calls me, I'm, you know, that's
fine. That's wonderful. I'm like Paul. I desire to depart and be with
Christ. But if it's far better for me
to stay, that's what I'll do. Sin's what made this world what
it is. And look what he says. I depart out of this world. Where
are you going? Going under the Father. When
we depart from this world, look at John 14. Look in John 14, you know where
we're going to go? Same place our Lord Jesus Christ
did unto the Father. Look what it says. Our Lord Jesus
says, let not your heart be troubled. He just got through telling Simon
Peter he's going to deny him and all the rest of them is going
to forsake him and Judas is going to betray him. Them fellas was
troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God. Most folks quote that if you
believe in God. No, it don't say that. Ye believe
in God. That's a statement of fact. Believe
also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will, I will, I will, I will come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Wherever
I am, that's where you're gonna be. That's wonderful. Just imagine how we enjoy his
presence here. Imagine what it'll be like when
we be there with him. Now look back over here, John
13 with me again. Departed out of this world unto
the Father. I'm going to my Father's house.
And that's where we're going, going to our Father's house.
Oh my, going to my Father's house, going to Daddy's house, going
to my Father's house. And look what he said here now.
Having loved his own. Having loved his own. Oh my. Oh my, we belong to Christ. He calls us his own. I am my
beloved's and my beloved is mine. Having loved his own, his particular
people, the people he died for. He said, I'll lay down my life
for the sheep. I'm the good shepherd. I'll lay
down my life for the sheep. And there's other sheep which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. He says, the good
shepherd lays down. And here he says this, he said,
I lay down my life. Nobody takes it from me. I've
got the power to lay it down. I've got the power to take it
up again. And I tell you what, there's lots of sheep in this
world. And our Lord Jesus Christ, every single one of his sheep
is gonna be brought into the fold because Christ died for
them, Christ called them His own, they were given to Christ
in an eternal covenant of grace, and it says here, which were
in the world, His own which were in the world. This is where we're
at, we're in the world, but He loved His own which were in this
world. And all you talking about our Lord Jesus Christ exposing
His heart? Letting these sinners, these
ignorant and unlearned fishermen, this man that's going to deny
him three times, letting him expose his heart to him and say,
look, here's what my heart is. This is my love for you. This
is my desire after you. This is my commitment to you.
This is how much you mean to me. This is what I've done for
you and are doing for you and will do for you. And oh, he calls them his own.
We belong to Christ in a threefold way. First of all, we belong
to Christ by the Father's eternal election. Ain't that right? God hath from the beginning chosen
us in Christ before when? The foundation of the world.
He gave us grace in Christ before the foundation of the world.
I'll tell you what, God chose us in Christ, gave us grace in
Christ, chose us before the world, before Adam ever committed a
sin, before Adam ever was put in the garden, God had an elect
people and they were chosen in Christ because God always viewed
His people in His Son. And oh, I tell you what, and
then not only were we by the Father's eternal election, but
also by the redemption, by the payment, by the shedding of the
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having loved His own, how did
we become His? He bought us and He paid for
us. He shed His blood. Oh, He paid the price for our
sin. He paid the price to justice
to let us go. People say that Satan had us.
No, justice had us. Sin had us. And oh my, he come in his blood,
he shed his blood to cleanse us from all of our sin. He is
by his death, he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once
and for all. And he said, this is my hour
that I've come. Look in Ephesians with me just
a minute. In Ephesians chapter five, I'll
show you what I'm talking about. You know, He shed His blood for
us. That's why we're His. He redeemed
us. He redeemed us, Ephesians 5, 25. Oh, I tell you what, we've been
redeemed by the blood of Christ. And I tell you what, if you redeem
something, if you pay for something, you want that. If you ever got
in an argument with anybody that you paid a bill, Or they keep
saying, you know, you didn't pay this, you didn't pay that,
and you know you owe this and you owe that, and you say, no,
wait a minute, I paid that. I paid that. And you get in an
argument with them and you fuss and fight about it. Ain't nobody
wants to pay for anything twice. Well, I'll tell you something.
The blood of Christ is the most valuable, the most glorious, The highest
price that's ever been paid in this whole universe. It has more
value, more value. And you know who it has value
to? First, it has value to God. It's precious to God. God places
the highest value, the highest merit on the blood of Christ.
Why? Because it would satisfy God,
satisfy His justice. Sin would be paid for, so God
could not come and charge us for our sin if Christ paid for
it. If He took His blood and He entered
into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us, how
in the world, if Christ paid for it, how come He would come
and tell us to pay for it? He couldn't do that, could He?
If the payment's been made, you reckon God would say, now listen,
my son paid for your debt, paid your sin, satisfied justice,
upheld the Lord, magnified and honored, but I'm gonna come and
I'm gonna expect you to pay just a smidgen, just a smidgen. Oh,
that's what you sung about. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. If righteousness came by the
law, Christ dead in vain. You add anything to Christ, Christ
dead in vain. You take anything away from his
glorious person, he died in vain. Oh, listen to what he said here
in Ephesians 5, 25 and 26. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church. And listen to this, gave himself
for it. And look what he did when he
gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, make it holy,
make it separate, make it clean, make it pure. How? By the washing
of water by the word. And also having loved us all.
And the third thing, how we belong to Christ is by the effects of
calling. Christ died for us, shed his
blood for us. And you know the third way we're
his? He brings us to himself. He effectually calls us. I mean,
He don't, you know what effectual means? He gets the job done.
It works. And that's why He says, you know, we're born again by
the Spirit of God. Oh, let my Father give me. What's
going to happen to them? They're going to come to me.
How do we know they're going to come? No man can come unto
me except my Father which hath sent me. Draw him. And everyone
that hath heard of the Father cometh unto me. And so we're
his by the effectual call of the Spirit. There's everybody
in the scriptures that was converted. God called. Abraham, come out. Noah, build an ark. Called him by name. Lazarus,
come forth. Zacchaeus, come down. Barnabas,
he called us for thee. Mary, when Martha come in, the
master's out there and he calls for you. Oh, do you hear his voice calling?
He's calling. Oh, and I tell you what, if you hear
his voice, You're not just, you're gonna be like Zacchaeus. You're
coming out of that tree. You're gonna be like Lazarus.
You're coming out of the grave. You're gonna be like that young
fella in the casket. You're gonna rise up and step
out. Ain't that right? I mean, if he calls you, you're
coming. Call me, Lord, call me, call me, call me. Call, Lord. You hear that call? Come unto me. Oh, you're heavy
laden. You're burdened over your sin.
You're burdened over your righteousness. You're burdened over your good
deeds and you know that these are not sufficient, that they
won't work. Come unto me. I'll take that
old burden off of you. I'll take that old guilt and
I'll take that old sin and I'll take them burdens and I'll take
them worries and I'll take them anxieties. I'll take that fear
of death and that fear of judgment away from you. And you know what? I'll give you rest. I'll give
you rest. Oh my. Okay, so let's go back
over here and look at this. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, look what it says, he loved them unto thee. Oh, how the good shepherd cares
for his sheep. And when it says he loved them
unto the end, unto the end of what? Unto the end of what? Unto the end until we sin again?
Unto the end when we get lost again? Unto the end when we're
full of unbelief? Unto the end of what? Well, I
tell you the first and primary meaning of it is unto the end
of our life on this earth. Unto the end of our life here
on earth when it comes to us to depart. And we need this assurance
here. We need this assurance here.
We are in the world. Having loved His own, I'll love
them unto the end. Unto their last breath. And I'll
love them when they get into glory. I'll love them. He loves
us unto the end. He says, let your covenant be
without, conversation be without covenant, for he hath said, God
said this, Christ said this, I'll never leave you. I'll never,
no never, no never, no never, no never leave you nor forsake
you. Huh? He just told Peter, he says,
you're gonna deny me three times before the cock crows. And then he turned right around
and the first thing he said to him after he told that, don't
let your heart be troubled. I would trouble my heart if the
Lord told me I was going to deny him. And you know I have. I have. I didn't own up to him
when I should have. I didn't speak up for him when
I should have. I didn't identify myself as a believer when I should
have. Oh, my. You know, he, after they,
he rose from the dead, he told, you know, Simon, Peter, and them,
they said, oh, my. I said, he'll never have anything
to do with me. He told me, he says, you go tell my brethren
and Simon, and I'll meet you over in Galilee, just like I
told you I would. And then old Simon Peter said, I go fishing.
He took seven fellas with him. There's out there just a fishing
and one morning he heard a voice the next morning. They fished
all night and heard a voice. Children, caught anything? Nothing. He said, throw your
net over on the right side. They throw it over there and
I tell you what, they tried to pull that net up and they couldn't,
you know, And old John, John, he heard that voice. He heard
that shepherd's voice. He said, Simon, that's the Lord. Oh, Simon forgot fish, boat,
and everything. He jumped in the water and went
running to Christ just as hard as he could go. Why? Because
Christ having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved
them even when they went fishing. He loved them even when he denied
him. Huh? Oh my. Now listen, oh we won't
need, we won't need this assurance when we see Him face to face.
And let me tell you something else it means, not only unto
the end of this life on this earth, but listen to me now.
He'll love us unto the end of the farthest extent of our need
of Him. To our farthest extent of our
need of Him. How far will we fall? Huh? How far will we stray? How bad will we fail? How far does our need extend? Well, ever how far that is, that's
how long he'll love us. When you're flat on your face
with your sin, when you failed Him so miserably, when you have
strayed so far away, whatever your need is, He'll extend that far. He'll love us
to the end of that. Look over here in John 14 with
me just a minute. Philip will misunderstand Him.
Look what he said in verse 6. Jesus saith unto him, I'm the
way, I'm the truth, and I'm the life. No man comes unto the father
but by me. And then look what he said, if
he had known me, you should have known my father also. And from henceforth you know
him and have seen him. Now see, Philip misunderstands
him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, he just got through telling him,
if you know him, you've seen him. And Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and that'll satisfy us. That'll be sufficient. We'll be calm. We'll have faith. We'll be in good shape. And Jesus
saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Did our Lord stop loving him
in because of his inability to understand what he was saying? When he went off to get in the
garden of Gethsemane to pray till his sweat become as great
drops of blood, Peter, James, and John slept when he said,
stay awake and watch with me and pray, pray. They fell asleep. Peter would deny him three times.
Thomas would say, I will not believe until I can put my finger
in the nail prints and stick my hand in that side. I saw him
crucified. I saw him dead. And until I can
see him myself and put my finger in his prints and stick my hand
in his side, I will not believe. And our Lord said, all of you
is going to forsake me. And yet, Yet, yet, having loved
his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. Oh, my. What's the extent of your need? He loved his own unto the end,
unto the end of our failures, Under the end of our wanderings,
under the end of our unbelief, under the end of our lack of
love, under the end of all that's wrong with us, He loves us unto
the end. His love, no end or measure known. No change can turn its course. Eternally the same it flows from
one eternal source. And here is Christ back here
in verse 1. Here is Christ before the cross.
It's His hour. It's His hour. And with joy,
He's returning unto the Father. And He's going to depart out
of this world. And yet, having loved His own, He loved them. And oh, He's the same today,
yesterday, and forever. This is what's so blessed about
the gospel and about our Lord Jesus Christ. His love never
varies, never ever varies. Never varies. Our love varies
and even with the people we love the most in this world, I mean
it's up and down, cold and hot. But our Lord Jesus Christ, His
love never ever varies. His love is eternal. He loved
us with an everlasting love. You see, He is God and His love
passes our human knowledge and ability.
And I do know this about us. I know this about us. If we could
see into each other's hearts, if I could see into your heart
or you could see into mine, we would all refuse to have anything
to do with one another. which say, no way, I'm, I, oh,
let me tell you something, God and Christ looks right into our
hearts, sees everything that's in there, everything that's in
there, exactly what's in our hearts, anytime, day or night,
all the days of the life. And you know what he does? He loves us unto the end. Lord, there's my heart.
I don't know it. All I know about it is deceitful
and desperately wicked. But He loves it. He loves me.
And do you know how long He's going to love me? To the end. How powerful is His grace How
wonderful is his love. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. And look what a great
contrast between loving his own and what a man did. And supper
being ended, the devil, having now put into the heart of Jesus
Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. But He loved His own. He loved
His own. Are you His? Can you say, I'm
His own? Can you say that I belong to
Him? That He bought me, paid for me? Oh, my. Our Father in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, How wonderfully kind, loving,
gracious you are. Your grace abounds. Where sin
abounds, grace, grace, grace. There's much more abound. And
Lord, I'm so thankful, and I know everyone in this building is
now, that your love doesn't depend on how much we love you, how
dedicated or committed we are in this world. You love us. You love us, in
spite of everything there is about us, because you know us.
And even knowing us, you loved us and gave yourself for us.
Oh, blessed be your name. Amen. Get your chorus book. I'm just saying the love of God.
Just saying the love of God. Number 21, 21 in your chorus
book.