You cannot read the four gospel
narratives, or for that matter, the whole of Scripture, without
seeing the love that Christ has for His people. Now our love,
a whole different matter. Our love for Him, it's fickle.
It's ever-changing. It's weak in its best state.
But His love for us, oh, everlasting and eternal. Jeremiah 31.3 says,
Yea, I have loved thee, speaking to the saved sinner with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Friends, if God has drawn you
to Christ by grace, it's because of an everlasting love. that
He had for you before the foundation of the world. Now, our love is
conditional. And by that I mean it's based
upon how it's reciprocated. And it's easily swayed by our
wickedness and even by God's good providence when things don't
go our way. Our love is so conditional. But
His love for His own is unconditional. It never, ever changes. Our passion for the Savior, one
day it's on the mountaintop, next day it's down in the valley,
the deepest valley, I might add. God's love for His own never
changes. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed." Malachi 3.6. At one moment I readily confess
He is precious to my soul and I rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the very next minute I'm shaking
my fist at His divine providence and purpose and will. Is it so
with you? For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee, since thou wast precious in my
sight. Thou hast been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for
thee, and people for thy life." Now that's the love of Christ
unto His own. Believers, the very hairs of
your head are numbered. Being your sovereign intercessor,
He knows our thoughts before we even think them. What a God! Our works of love and gratitude
are nothing but lukewarm at best. They're neither cold or hot.
And our Lord said in Revelation 3, I know thy works, that thou
art neither cold nor hot, and I would that thou work cold or
hot. So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." I
was thinking about that as I read it yesterday. If I'm drinking
coffee, I like it hot. And if I need a cool glass of
water, I want it cold. But there's nothing worse to
me than lukewarm water or lukewarm coffee. Now, I take my text this
morning from John chapter 13, verse 1. If you'll turn there with me,
John 13, verse 1. And the verse reads, 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. Though I'll be taking my text
from the second part of this wonderful verse, let's not pass
by the blessings that we see in the first part. First notice
that Jesus knew that His hour was come. Nothing, dear friends,
ever catches our Lord by surprise. He's never needed a backup plan,
never one. God is sovereign. He's Alpha
and Omega. He knows the beginning from the
end. He is the beginning and the end. And He Himself had ordained
that this hour would come. Now listen. No one took His life. He laid it down. Hold your place
here and look back to John 10. Just a couple pages back. John
chapter 10. Verse 17 and 18, Therefore doth
my Father love me. Why? Because I lay down my life
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down on myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. The Lord Jesus Christ has never
ever needed a backup plan. That's just ridiculous, and yet
that's the way some men preach. Oh, I must have taught God by
surprise, and God had to do this and do that. No. No, remember,
He's Alpha and Omega. He's beginning and end. And the
second thing here is that He should depart out of this world
unto the Father. John 6.38 says, I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me." Our Lord came here for a purpose. He came here to accomplish the
will of His Father. Mark 16, 9 says, So then after
the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven
and He sat on the right hand of God. And He sits there today. He's not standing. He's not wringing
His hands and leaning over heaven and going, oh, won't somebody
believe in me? No. He's ruling and reigning and
interceding for His people. And in that, you and I have a
great hope. If God be for me, who can be against me? If God
is for me, who can be against me? The Apostle John tells us
in chapter 1 here, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory. But glory is the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. But friends, the time
had come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father.
He told His closest friends, He said, I'm not going to leave
you comfortless. I will come to you. You see,
He must leave that He might come back. The reason and purpose
that He departed out of this world, dear friends, unto the
Father was to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He must depart out of this world unto the Father so that He might
come again. And when He comes this time,
He's coming as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The second part
of this marvelous verse is where I want to concentrate the rest
of our time together. Having loved His own, which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. Now let's first consider
those first four words. Having loved his own. Oh, he
loved his disciples. They were his own. He handpicked
them. He always loved them. There was
never a single action or word which was contrary to his rule
of love for them. He loved them first with a love
of pity when He saw them in their lost estate. And He called them
out of their darkness into light to be His disciples. Oh, He was
touched with the feeling of their infirmities and He loved them
with a tender affection. And He made it His purpose. He
made it His purpose to train and to educate them and to teach
them so that after His departure, they might be good soldiers for
the gospel's sake. And I'm telling you, He loved
them with an uncritical love. Uncritical love. As He walked
and talked with them, and He found comfort in their company. Who did? God did. He loved them
and found comfort in their company. Oh, I'm telling you, you're talking
about a condescension now. You're talking about a love beyond
all love. Why, even when He rebuked them,
He loved them. Matter of fact, we're told that
those that He loves, He rebukes. He chastens. God's going to take
us to the woodshed every now and then. And we should consider
it a great honor and privilege that He does. He subjected them
to many, many trials. And He did this only to increase
their faith in Him. It was for His sake, dear friends,
that they renounced all that they had. They left everything
and they carried their crosses daily in persecution, trials. And His love reigned supreme
and it never diminished one iota. Even in all their sin and in
all their shortcomings, friends, He loved His own which were in
the world. Dear believer, I know that you
can see in your own life story. If you're indeed the Lord's own,
He at all times deals lovingly with you and never acts in unkindness
or wrath. Why, even those that He selected
as apostles must have been, if you think about it, but poor
companions for one with so great a mind and so large a heart. How He lovingly and graciously
overlooked their worldliness, and He does ours. They groveled
in the dust, and He, through the stars in their place, by
His mere words, let there be light." Oh, the worldliness of
His own. He was continually thinking on
the reason and the purpose of His coming until it was accomplished,
and they were disputing which one among them would be the greatest.
He was ready to give His life that He might do His Father's
will. And meanwhile, they were asking
to sit on His right hand and on His left hand in His kingdom.
The Redeemer's love was made to endure even more horrific
things than those, certain of them, whom He loved, never forget,
whom He loved, were even guilty of insulting Him, who is God. Surely the Lord's love would
have ceased at that? No. He loved His own that were
in the world until the end. It's written in another place
that all the disciples forsook Him and fled. He talked about
the shepherd being smitten and the sheep scattering. He had
prophesied of it happening and it happened. And not even the
loving John remained in the hour of his betrayal. But you want
to know something about the love of Christ? In John 18, verses
7 and 8, that He asked the soldiers again. He said, Whom seek ye?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus answered, He said,
I've told you that I am He. Look no further, I am He. And if therefore you seek Me,
He said, let these go their way. They fled. He said, let them
go their way. He loved His own dear friends. He loved them in the world and
He loved them until the end. You see, in all their infirmities
and all their ignorance and all their selfishness, their deserting,
their denials, Jesus Christ, who loved His own that were in
the world, He loved them to the end. Now, can you find comfort
in that? With all our follies, failings, sins, and there are
a multitude of them. Still, Christ loves us to the
end. Others may love for a while,
and then their love grows cold, but not His. We've all had many
to confess their love for us, and now we never hear from them.
And we've been guilty of the same thing. Many young couples
today profess in marriage the words, all lover till death do
us part. And yet they forsake each other
at the slightest misunderstanding. I'm out of here. And they're
gone. We don't know much about love.
Now let's just be honest. We don't know much about love,
do we? But I can tell you in full assurance
the Lord Jesus Christ does. And having loved His own that
were in the world, He loved them until the end. Christ has loved
all His elect, His chosen, eternally. Simply said, there's never been
a time in which He did not love them. Never. Before the foundation
of the world, He loved them. Before the worlds were ever made,
He loved them. Before there was light, When
the world was void and without form, He loved His people, His
own. Never been a time. His love's
dateless. Dateless. Now that's amazing,
sovereign, marvelous love, isn't it? Whenever someone says to
me, let me tell you something amazing, and you ain't going
to believe it. You know what? Right then, I know that whatever
it is, it will fail in comparison to the amazing love of Christ
for sinners. There's just nothing more amazing
than that. And people can tell you some pretty amazing things,
but nothing as amazing as that. Christ came to the world to save
sinners. He came to save those that hated Him. Those that despised
Him. Those that rejected Him. Now
that's a love that I don't know much about. My love is so conditional. so dependent on how I'm treated. And I know this much. Last week we talked a little
about the sovereign grace of God. And the message was entitled,
What is Grace? And the thing about grace that
natural men and women hate is that it's distinguishing and
that it's discriminating. Men don't like that. He has mercy
on whom he'll have mercy. And men will cry every single
time. Unbelieving men will cry every
single time. That ain't fair. That is just
not fair. God is sovereign. God is holy. You say God's fair? Men deserve
what they get. And it's no different with His
love. No different at all with His love. What does our text
say? Does it say, have He loved all
men? It's not what it says. No, it
says, having loved His own. That's a whole different ballgame.
Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. Before all the world, our Lord
set the crown of His distinguishing love on those whom He foreordained
unto His glory. That love is infinite. Christ
does not love His own with a little of His love or regard them with
some small degree of affection. No, sirree. He proclaims in sovereign
love, as the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you. Man! Can you wrap your arms around
that? Can you wrap your mind around
that? As the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you. How much does a father love his
son? That would be a good place to start. Infinitely so. Infinitely he loves us. And he loves us to the end. And Christ never loves his people
his own less than with all his heart. There's an old saying
that love is blind. You know what that... I mean,
love is blind. You love somebody, you don't
see their faults. You overlook their faults. You're
just in love. I'm in love. Let me tell you
something. The love of Christ for His people
was not blind. He knew what we were. He knew
all the evil that we did. There are no ups and downs in
the love of Christ towards His people. There are plenty ups
and downs with our love and our faithfulness toward Him, but
not with Him towards us. Having loved His own which run
the world, He loved them unto the end. Now when we wonder like
lost sheep, and we do, His great love comes after us. And when
we come back with broken hearts, those that know Him and love
Him and are His, come back with broken hearts, His great love
restores us. By day, by night, in sickness,
in sorrow, in poverty, in famine, in prison, and even in the hour
of death, the sovereign unconditional love is always at our side, never
being diminished in the least. Please consider with me further
the words, having loved His own which were in the world." Now,
it should not strike us as an amazing thing that Christ should
love His own who are in heaven. I mean, there they are. They're clothed in the white
robes of Christ's righteousness. without sin, fair to look upon
in perfect harmony. They sing that new song that
we read about in Revelation, worthy is the Lamb. Oh, can you
imagine how beautiful that sounds? Perfect harmony. Here they are
dressed in their robes of righteousness, fair to look upon without sin
before the eternal throne of God. I can easily see how Christ
could love the pardoned and redeemed. For there is now a godly beauty
in them, and His grace has made them lovable. But you consider
with me to love His own which are in the world. While we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. You consider that. And that
takes His love to a whole new level, doesn't it? It's a blessed
fact, the glorious truth of God's worth. Christ loved those who
were in the world when He was here. And friends, He still loves
His own who are in the world today. I tell you, find comfort
there. Our problem is we look inside.
We do. I do. I shake my head every day and
say, I don't know why God just don't kill me. I'll tell you
why He don't. Christ loved for me. He sees
your imperfection, trust me. He knows what you have to struggle
with. You can count on that. He understands
well enough the uprisings of your evil nature and He loves
you regardless of it all. One says, oh, I got a bill to
pay tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to
do it. I don't know how I'm going to pay it. I fear that I'll be ruined. My credit will be ruined. I have
to file bankruptcy. Worse still, another moans and
says, I have a living cross to carry. One of my sons is just
breaking my heart. And then help cries another,
my dear child is dying and I don't know what to do. And then another
says, I'm burdened with a heavy, heavy burden. My wife or my husband
is sick at home and near to death. And friends, I tell you that
all these things go to show that we're yet in this world of sorrow. Job 5-7 says, as the sparks fly
upward, we're born into trouble. So why do we count it a strange
thing? Let me tell you a peculiar and
strange thing. Christ loves his own that are
in the world until the end. That is the most amazing truth
I've ever heard in my life. Now in closing, I want you to
consider with me the last part of this encouraging verse. Having
loved his own, he loved them until the end. Christ will love
his people to the utter end of their unlovingness. Their sinfulness
cannot travel so far but what his love will not travel beyond
it. Our unbelief cannot travel so
great a length that his faithfulness shall not be wider and broader
than our unfaithfulness. He never will suffer one of His
chosen to fall into such deadly sin or to go so far in that He
cannot deliver us from our iniquities. He loves us until the end. And
let me interject here that if you know Christ, there is no
end. Oh, there comes an end to this life, but that's just the
beginning of the real life. So His love for me never ends. There is no end to those that
are in Christ. One old writer said it like this,
and I loved it. He said, If our sins be mountains,
His love is like Noah's flood, and the tops of the mountains
shall be covered, and not so much as a sin shall be found
against us. He will love His own to the end,
dear friends. That is to the end of all their
needs. Deep as their helpless miseries,
ours shall be the extent of His grace towards us. And our need
of pardon, and it abounds so the blood shall more able pardon
our sins. He'll love us to the end of our
lives here. And He'll love us forever because
our life never ends in eternity. Oh, can you find comfort in this? I'll leave you with this. That
word, end, translated in the Greek means perfection. He loved them to perfection. That's what it means. Oh, the
perfect love of Jesus Christ. And all that His love can do,
He will do for His people. None shall be able to say that
he's left out anything. He doeth what? All things. He does them well. He does them
to perfection. No good thing will he uphold
from them that walk uprightly. And the only way you and I can
walk upright is in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him. All that God
has demanded, God has provided in Christ. So what shall we say
to all this? If Christ Jesus loves us to the
end, we ought to persevere in our love to Him. We're going
to fail. We're going to fall short. And
even then, when we fail, He loves us until the end.