Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly
that his whole purpose in everything he teaches in John chapter 15
is that we, his people, we who believe on him, we who are called
by his grace, should be assured, assured of his love for us. Every word Every phrase, every
illustration in this chapter is intended to assure us of his
love that we may continually abide, continually live in the
confidence of his love for us. Oh, God, so teach us. God, so teach us. If you are
God's, If you believe on the Lord Jesus, no matter what you
feel, no matter what you experience, when you soar high or when you
sink low, when your soul is ravished with the sense of his love, or
when your soul is cold and dark, and hard and black. His intention
is that you should abide continually in the confidence of his love,
his perfect love that casteth out all fear. But I'm not sure that I love him as I ought. I know I don't love him like
I should. My love for him is so little,
so frail, so wavering, so indifferent, so cold, so lukewarm. I know. But Ron, our comfort is not in
our love for him, but in his love for us. Can you get that? That's his
purpose in this chapter is to make us understand that we are
always the object of his love and his love knows no variation. The chapter begins by our Lord
Jesus telling us he is divine and we're the branches and thereby
he assures us of our union with him. We are one with the Savior. Then it tells us that God, our
Father, His Father, and our Father is the husbandman. He's the vine
dresser. He is the one who planted the
vine and he is the one who cares for the vine. He is the one who
maintains the vine. He's the one who purges the branches. And he's the one who cuts off
those branches that only appear to be in the vine and cast them
aside as they wither and are burned. Then in verse nine, our
savior assures us of his great love for us with these words.
the father hath loved me So have I loved you and His next word
is continue ye in my love that is you continually abide in my
love Now this morning. I want us to look at verse 13
I want us to again look at another aspect of our Savior's love for
us Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. My subject this morning, no greater
love. No greater love. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. There is truly no greater love
than the love of our blessed Savior for us. Because of his
great love for us, without any compulsion except the compulsion
of his love, the Son of God freely laid down his life for us. He not only came down from heaven
and laid aside His glory and His royal majesty, that is the
outward display of these things, but laid aside these things and
humbled Himself so that He laid down His life for us. Our Lord
Jesus laid down His life for us. Nothing's dearer to a man
than his life. He laid down His life for us.
This is his all. He who gives his life gives everything. But our Lord's life was not a
common, ordinary life. He who is life laid down his
life for us. He is a man who is God. And the life laid down for us
is the life of the man who is God, the God man. So the apostle
tells us that God purchased the church with his own blood. So
real and true is he, God, that when he died for us, God, who
cannot die, died for us. God, who is spirit and has no
blood, purchased us with his own blood, because Christ the
man really is God. He who lays down his life for
us is himself the life of all. Our Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory,
the Prince of life, was crucified and slain in our stead upon the
cursed tree. When we begin to grasp something
of who he is, we have some glimmer of an understanding of the meaning
of these words. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus. how that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. His life was not taken from him,
but he voluntarily, freely laid down his life for us. He died
in our room and our stead as our ransom, as our substitute,
because he loved us. He laid down his life for us
who were and are by nature his enemies. He laid down his life
for us because from eternity he called us his friends. He
chose us as his friends. And he determined to make us
his friends. Because he from eternity is the
friend of sinners. And he's chosen such sinners
as we are to be his friends. He laid down his life for us.
The Son of God voluntarily died for us who he made his friends,
but who are by nature his enemies and enmity itself against him. A people who deserve to die. A people who hated him and wished
that he should be made to die, who in our hearts cried, crucify
him, crucify him. We who are people who looked
upon him and considered him as despised and not worthy of any
esteem. A people from whom he would get
no love in return, except he created and he sustained it. For us, he laid down his life. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Being our surety and substitute,
standing in our room and in our place, the Lord Jesus took our
sins to be his own. He was made sin for us, bearing
sin, our sin in his own body on the tree. He bore the curse
of the law. He bore all the curse that we
deserved and sustained it. His father's wrath and all the
punishment that was due to our sins and endured it to the full
satisfaction of justice. so that he willingly suffered
the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross for you and
me, that he might bring us to God at last. And this he did
for us when we were sinners, his implacable enemies, without
strength. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, but the
son of God died for his enemies. This is not the love merely of
a man. This is the love of a man who
is God. Men will often die for men, men
whom they consider worthy of the sacrifice. Men in battle
frequently sacrifice their lives to preserve their comrades because
they consider the sacrifice worth it. They consider those men worthy
of the sacrifice they make. But here is one who lays down
his life for his enemies. Romans chapter five and verse
six. Without any selfish motive, Our
Lord's obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,
his free voluntary sacrifice is described like this. When
we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Even among men, Rex, That word ungodly is reserved
only to describe the basis to men, even among men. You'll hear men speak of someone's
behavior and say, that's just ungodly. How much more when God
speaks? And this is how God describes
us, ungodly. That's the nature of man. Nothing
within except ungodliness. Nothing about our nature except
ungodliness. Nothing done by us except ungodliness. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. We who were his enemies by nature,
for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
for a good man Some would even dare to die, but God commendeth
his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Now this he did just because
he loved us freely, voluntarily. Turn, if you will, again to Exodus
chapter 21, Exodus 21. All of the laws given in Israel,
all of them, were given in one way or another to portray the
sacrifice, the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus or his person
and the great work of redemption that is ours in him. This law
of the bond slave is just such a law. Exodus 21 verse 1. Now these are the judgments,
the laws, which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy an Hebrew
servant, six years shall he serve. And in the seventh year, he shall
go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his
wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him
wife, and she have born him sons or daughters, the wife and her
children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife,
and my children, I will not go out free. That's what our Savior did. I
love my master. I love my wife. I love my children.
I will not go out free. He could, at any time, have been
freed from this sacrifice. He could, at any time, have been
freed from this sacrifice. He said, don't you know I could
call on my father and he would send a legion of angels to deliver
me? At any time, he could have gone out free. His sacrifice,
his obedience to God as our substitute, is altogether voluntary. But he refused to go out. Verse
6. Then his master shall bring him
unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl. And he shall serve him forever. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 50.
Isaiah 50. Our Lord is here describing himself
as this bond slave. He's describing himself and his
work in this 50th chapter of Isaiah. In verse 7, the Lord
Jesus says, The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not
rebellious. Neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters. My cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. I set my face like a flint. The Lord Jesus was headed to
Jerusalem, and the disciples said, Master, don't you know
the Jews of late sought to kill you? But he set his face like
a flint. He would not turn back. He says,
Now is mine hour come. This is my hour. This is the hour for which I
came into this world. And he set his face to go to
Jerusalem. And Thomas said, when he saw
that his face was set in that direction, let us go with him,
that we may die with him. The Lord Jesus would not be turned
away. He was determined to save us.
He gave his back to the spiders. He gave his cheeks to those that
plucked out the hair. He gave his soul an offering
to God in our room instead. Look one more time at John chapter
10. Matter of fact, you can put your hand there. We'll be back
in just a little bit to put a mark there. John chapter 10, verse
16. The Lord Jesus is describing
here what he does for us as our great shepherd. Other sheep I
have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Must
break must because I agreed to it must because I swore myself
to do so must because I'm Jehovah's Servant and I cannot fulfill
my father's will except I bring these sheep them also I must
bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd Therefore doth my father love me Because
I laid down my life I lay it down voluntarily. I lay it down
of myself. I lay it down freely. I lay it
down that I might take it again. That is, that I might resuscitate,
that I might arise, that I might sit on the throne of glory as
the God-man. No man taketh it from me. I lay
it down in myself. I have the power, the right,
the authority, and the ability to lay it down. I have power
to take it again. This commandment have I received
in my father. How? He voluntarily is the father's
bond slave. See the ear bored through with
it all? He's the father's voluntary,
willing bond slave. And now he comes to lay down
his life by the commandment of his father as obedient servant
to his father. Turn back to the book of lamentations
chapter one. Lamentations chapter one. The death of our Lord Jesus is
the most wonderful Astounding, magnificent, mysterious event
in the history of the universe. Nothing can be compared to it. Nothing past, present, or future. Yet, as he was suffering the
wrath of God, bearing the sins of his people, dying as the voluntary
substitute for the guilty, enduring hell for hell deserving hell-bent
sinners such as we are. The Lord Jesus cries out with
a lamentation that can hardly be read with any understanding
at all. This lamentation, if you read
carefully this first chapter of Lamentations, This lamentation
could not possibly refer to Jeremiah or to any mere man. This is spoken
prophetically of Christ, the God-man. Look at verse 12. Is it nothing to you? I sat and looked at this for
the longest time. and my stony hard heart." Oh my God! Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by, pass by. Here you are once more, gathered to hear the gospel,
and Christ crucified is evidently set before you, will you again
pass by and pay no heed to him and his sacrifice? Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by?" You look with a little interest and
go right on your way. Last year, the year before last,
we went to Paris for just a couple of days. We took one of those
tours on a riverboat going down the river looking at various
things. And it's amazing what you can
see in just a short while. Passed by, saw all of the sites
folks spend days looking at. You know how we saw them? Isn't
that nice? What happened there? What took
place there? You remember how that comes out
in history and you just pass by it and hardly remember the
image of what you saw as you go by. Just pass by it. Why? Because frankly, they're
just insignificant to me. They're just insignificant. If
they had been very important, I'd have found a way to stop
and visit there a while if they'd been very important, but they
weren't I just just Just footnotes in history and I just passed
by them just passed by them That's the way most people pass
by the sacrifice of our Redeemer The Savior says to you who pass
by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Many a man might speak like that, but Merle Hart, no mere man could
speak like that by inspiration. Only the God-man. Behold and
see. If there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow, now watch this, which is done unto me wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me. The Lord put this on me, this,
this sacrifice, this punishment, this horrible, horrible, ignominious,
painful death. The Lord put this on me in the
day of his fierce anger. Verse 13. From above hath he sent fire
into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He hath spread a net for my feet. He hath turned me back. He hath
made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgression
is bound by His hand. He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin. And God put the yoke of His transgressions. His transgressions. He took our
transgressions and made them His transgressions and puts this
yoke on Him. It's bound by His hand. They
are wreathed and come up upon my neck. He, the Lord God, hath
made my strength to fail, my strength to fall. The Lord
hath delivered me. into their hands. Into the hands of his enemies,
certainly. Into the hands of wicked men,
certainly. Into the hands of divine justice,
certainly. But in this context, the Lord
has delivered me into the hands of my transgressions, the yoke
of my transgressions from whom I am not able to rise up. When I hear those words falling
from the lips of the son of God as he hangs upon the cursed tree,
I simply cannot help asking the question of whom Does the bleeding
lamb of God speak when he says, is it nothing to you? All ye
that pass by. To whom is the death of Christ? Nothing. Meaningless, insignificant. Nothing in all the universe is
more wonderful and magnificent in the eyes of God than the death
of his son. Therefore doth my father love
me, the Savior said, because I lay down my life that I might
take it again. The angels of heaven, oh. I'm more rebuked by the angels
of heaven than by any creatures on God's earth. The angels of
heaven, Bob Duff, never know the wonder of redemption. They
know nothing of forgiveness. They know nothing of being ransomed
by blood. They know nothing of these things.
But the angels of heaven are constantly amazed and stand in
wonder and in awe as they consider even what we have to say about
redemption. The angels of God meet with us
in the house of God to hear us sing of redemption. The angels
of God meet here to hear us speak of redemption. The angels of
God are portrayed as cherubs on the mercy seat. One with the mercy seat. Each
facing toward the mercy seat. Always looking on the mercy seat
as if to say God's angels in heaven. Constantly stand gazing
upon Christ, the crucified with astonishment. Certainly, God's servants, faithful
gospel preachers turn over to Isaiah six, Isaiah six. God's servants are so overwhelmed
with the wonders of redemption and the glory of the Redeemer
that they never cease to study, glory in and preach the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah 6. Here's God's
prophet Isaiah. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up and his train filled the temple. Now what he saw is Christ crucified,
exalted, sitting on the throne of grace. Our Lord tells us so
in John chapter 12, verse 2. Above it, that is above the throne,
stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, and with
two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,
and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. These seraphims
representing something other than just the angelic spirits
I spoke of a moment ago. These seraphims represent the
servants of God. Gospel preachers, they're constantly
looking on the mercy seat, constantly looking at Christ crucified,
crying, holy, holy, holy. Thrice holy is the triune God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So holy that He will by no means
clear the guilty. So pure that it cannot look upon
iniquity. The whole earth is full of His
glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of Him that cried. And the house was filled with
smoke. Look at verse 5. Then said I,
When I saw Christ crucified, Isaiah said, woe is me, for I'm
undone. Because I'm a man of unclean
lips, I'm a depraved, vile sinner. And everybody around me is in
the same shape I'm in. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand. Look here, look here. I've reached and gotten a live
coal from the altar of God's sacrifice. It is. Oh, Spirit of God, lay
it on your lips. It's just what he's talking about.
He's talking about the gospel being applied to men by the preaching
of the gospel, by the power of God's Spirit. took a live coal
from off the altar, look at it, which he had taken with the tongs
from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo,
this hath touched thy lips. Thine iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is purged. These words is it nothing to
you. Certainly don't apply to God or the angels of God or to
God's servants No, God's servants speak with Paul. They say God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ I'm determined to know nothing among you say Jesus Christ
and him crucified And certainly these words don't reply to you
who are redeemed sinners upon the earth You who are born of God Cherish
nothing like the Redeemer, like Jesus Christ crucified. I'm crucified with Christ, cries
one. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but he loved us and gave his only son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Turn to Revelation chapter five,
Revelation the fifth chapter. To whom does our savior speak?
Is it nothing to you? Even the saints in heaven gathered
around the throne of God, the ransomed in glory, those justified
men, those spirits of just men made perfect, seem to speak of
nothing except Christ crucified. Nothing. Everything, every word
of praise in heavenly glory has to do with the sacrifice of our
Redeemer. Look at verse 9, Revelation 5.
Here are these saints gathered around the throne, all the host
of heaven. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof. Now,
here's the worthiness for thou was slain and has redeemed us
to God by thy blood. Lord, you're worthy. Because
you, by your death, have redeemed us to God by your blood. Not
you shed your blood and made it possible for us to be redeemed.
Oh no, there's no worthiness in that. But you're worthy because
you redeemed us to God by your blood, not along with everybody
else. but out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. And by your sacrifice, by your
obedience, by your grace has made us unto our God kings and
priests and we shall reign on the earth. And behold, I heard
a voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beast,
and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain. All praise. in heaven arises
from the fact that Christ was crucified for us. Him made sin
for us, dying in our stead. And hell itself looks upon this
death of Christ as something wonderfully unexplainable and
mysterious. I don't mean to suggest there's
any praise there. I don't mean to suggest there's
any worship there, but hell itself looks upon the sacrifice of Christ
as wonderfully mysterious, the most important thing ever in
God's creation. I'm convinced that Satan, while
he is aware of much and knows much, indescribably more than
we, I'm convinced that Satan himself had no idea that the
Lord Jesus, by his death upon the cross, would have crushed
his head. Had he known that, he wouldn't
have tempted Judas to betray him. Had he known that, he wouldn't
have inspired the crucifixion. Oh no, Satan himself is astonished
by what Christ has accomplished at Calvary. And yet there are
some people to whom our darling Savior speaks. who despise this
indescribable display of his love. Is it nothing to you, all
ye that pass by? He's talking to some of you.
Oh, Christless, unbelieving soul, he speaks to you. To you, it's nothing. Insignificant. As meaningless
as me walking by Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Nothing. Nothing. Old, cold, calculating,
heartless preacher. Would to God I could speak to
every preacher in the world this morning. You who pass by Christ
crucified and take to your lips some meaningless, insignificant
thing, it is to you he speaks. I received a letter from a friend
this week expressing weariness at hearing
preachers preach about creeds and church history and debate
about historic points of theology and preaching about first one
thing and then another, these rules and those rules. Our Lord
Jesus says, is it nothing to you? Preachers spend their time
fighting abortion or politics, anything, anything, anything,
it matters not what Satan gets the preacher off of. If it gets
him off Christ crucified, Satan's won the day. You who have occasion to preach
If God calls any of you to stand in this place and preach, make
it your business to preach nothing but Jesus Christ crucified. But
Brother Don, that's not my subject. Then don't preach. Don't pretend
to. Every sermon ought to be prepared
and preached as if the preacher knew that all who hear him are
on the brink of eternity. I asked brother Frank, you won't
mind me telling this, I'm sure to preach for us a few weeks
ago. And when I asked him, I said, now I want you to do something. I want you to preach as if everybody's
sitting out there listening to you fixing to go to hell with
their next breath. Mark Henson, that's how I must
preach to you. Just presume everybody is about
to go to hell and preach Christ just that way. Some of you are
about to go to hell. And I don't think I could live
with myself if you walked out those doors, fell down those
stairs and went to hell and I hadn't preached Christ crucified to
you. No. Is it nothing to you? Write this down, write it down. I want you to write it down and
I want you to hold me to it. And every time you hear anything
else, write it out and give it to the preachers. You go out
the door. Are you ready? Any sermon that
does not have Christ crucified for its beginning. its middle
and its end. Any sermon that does not have
Christ crucified for its beginning, its middle and its end is a mistake
in planning and a crime in execution. A crime against your soul. for me to stand here and mock
eternity-bound sinners and not preach Christ crucified. Any
sermon that does not have Christ crucified for its beginning,
its middle, and its end is a mistake in planning and a crime in execution. Christ crucified is mundane,
meaningless, and insignificant only to unregenerate, unbelieving
men and women. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. It's beautifully portrayed in
Genesis 22. You don't need to turn there.
Our Lord commanded Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac,
whom he dearly loved, and get up to the mount, and there sacrifice
him unto him. And Abraham took Isaac, and they
went up to Mount Moriah. What a picture of our Redeemer.
Abraham and Isaac got up early in the morning, and the triune
God early before time began. set his heart to take Christ
Jesus up to Calvary to sacrifice for us. And they went up, both
of them together, the scripture says, Abraham and Isaac. I'm so thankful that the God
we worship is bigger than our understanding. We tend to think
that God the Father endured nothing and the sacrifice of his son.
You reckon you could? Reckon you could sacrifice the
darling of your heart and feel nothing? They went up both of
them together. The triune God is involved in
this affair of our redemption. And Isaac carries the load, the
wood, and the fire. And he says to his father, Abraham
said, father, here's the fire and here's the wood for the burnt
offering, but where is the lamb? And Abraham said to his son,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
Not God will provide for himself, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. And as Abraham was about to slay
his son, God stopped him, saw a ram caught in a thicket, said,
take him, sacrifice him instead. And the Lord God took his son
and sacrificed him in your stead. you who are His. And those for
whom the Son is sacrificed are set free. Abraham called the
name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord shall provide. The Lord shall provide. Much we talk of Jesus' blood,
but how little is understood Are their sufferings so intense,
angels have no perfect sense. Who can rightly comprehend their
beginning or their end, tis to God and God alone that their
depths are fully known. See the suffering Son of God,
panting, groaning, sweating blood, boundless depths of love divine,
Jesus, What a love is thine. Though the wonders thou hast
done are as yet so little known, here we fix and comfort take. Jesus died for sinners sake. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. But Brother Dodd, you've been
telling us we're his enemies. We are by nature his enemies.
But he has now reconciled us to God by his blood. He who is the friend of sinners
makes sinners his friends, reconciling their hearts to him by the sprinkling
of the blood on their hearts. May God grant you this day the
sprinkling of the blood that your heart may be reconciled
to God. What do you mean, preacher? Oh,
I pray that God will cause you now to see Jesus Christ crucified
and lay down your arms against Him. Quit fighting Him. Quit fighting God! Surrender to the claims of the
crucified Christ and go home in peace. Rejoicing in this,
greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. Amen.