John 13:1 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. I would say back in John 12 this morning, but we finished up John 12 last week.

[0:14] So we'll be starting John 13 this morning. And I've been singing the love of God to myself all morning and humming it to myself and thought, well, that'd be a good one to sing when we got here.

[0:29] And I'm doing that mainly because of the first verse of chapter 13 of the Gospel of John. I don't know that we're going to get out of that verse this morning.

[0:39] There's a lot in that verse in John 13 and 1. If we do get away from it, it won't be very far. We'll just get a few verses in.

[0:50] But leading up to John 13 last week, we covered how Jesus officially ended his public ministry.

[1:01] And we talked about that a little bit and how the scripture says there in John 12 that he hit himself from the people. And in verse 37 of the chapter 12 of the Gospel of John, we see a narrative first and then we see Jesus Christ begin this discourse, but it would have been with his disciples because he had left the people.

[1:27] And he's telling his disciples that, again, that he is the light of the world and that he's come, that people don't have to walk in darkness.

[1:38] Things that we've read throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is reiterating to his disciples, to those that are standing around, and all that is what leads up to John 13.

[1:52] There at the end of John chapter 12, we see Jesus Christ telling his disciples things that we read throughout the Gospel accounts, that things along the lines of, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

[2:05] And if you believe in me, you believe in him that sent me. And we find these things all throughout the Gospel accounts in different parts. We see Jesus saying those things in John chapter 12, and then we get to John chapter 13.

[2:22] And once again, I'm not positive we'll get past verse 1 this morning because this is a deep verse. It's a very good verse. But John chapter 13 and verse 1 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.

[2:52] So again, what we recap this morning led up to this statement here in the Gospel of John, beginning at verse 37 in chapter 12, we see Jesus speaking to his disciples.

[3:09] And really, that's the love of God. That was the love of Christ. And he was showing that to his disciples in saying the things that he did, that he's come that people didn't have to walk in darkness, that he's come to be liked.

[3:27] And he's telling them in love that if you believe me, then you believe the Father that has sent me. He's telling them these things in love.

[3:39] And we read in verse 13 and verse 1, Now before the feast of the Passover, now in the theologian realm, and different commentators that you'll hear, different preachers and teachers that you'll hear, there's some issue with this.

[3:58] There's some issue because the other Gospel accounts have the last supper, the not before the crucifixion. And here we read, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was coming, he should depart out of this world having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

[4:19] Well, we read, it seems to be two different accounts. I personally go with Matthew Henry's take on this. I'm not going to get into that.

[4:30] Folks, it doesn't matter what went on when in this particular circumstance, because if you get called up in something like this, it can throw you off the rails real fast.

[4:45] And it'll cause you to doubt scripture. It'll cause all kinds of bad things to come into your mind about the scripture and about the inerrancy of scripture and the authority of scripture.

[4:59] What we need to concentrate on is these things happened. These things happened regardless of if it was Tuesday night, a Thursday night, a Monday night, regardless of when these things happened, they did happen.

[5:17] It is common and that's why John is not part of the synoptic gospels because Matthew, Mark, and Luke follow very closely with one another. And we've talked about that going through the Gospel of John, how John brings out things that the other gospel writers did not bring out.

[5:35] And the other gospel writers in the synoptics, they bring out things that John never mentions, which to me personally, I think that shows a later date of the writing of the Gospel of John because John would have figured, hey, these folks already know this because of Matthew, Mark, and Luke's writings.

[5:53] Why would I need to reiterate it in my gospel? I understand that all scriptures inspire. It's all God breathed. It's inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and I appreciate that.

[6:04] But each writer's got his own personality in his writing. You can tell Matthew's writing from Mark's writing. You can tell Mark's from Luke's. You can tell Luke's from any of them.

[6:15] Luke's is very different. He being the only Gentile author in the New Testament. But regardless of any of those things, it was not uncommon for John to bring out things and bring out not only things, but different times that the other gospel writers did not.

[6:36] Who is to say that there's not two separate suppers that we're talking about? Who is to say that John is just mentioning some things that the other people did not?

[6:50] I don't know for 100% sure what to tell you in this circumstance and that's why I'm not going to try to explain it, but it did happen. I can promise you that the Bible hasn't recorded it did happen.

[7:03] If there's anything in the Bible that is recorded that has not happened, I promise you that it will come to pass. So that being said, here John writes, Now before the feast of the Passover, it's before the feast of the Passover.

[7:19] When did the Passover feast happen? Well, if you flip to Exodus and go to Exodus chapter 12, God gives very specific instructions for the feast of Passover in Exodus chapter 12.

[7:32] He says on the 10th day, you're going to separate a lamb from the rest of the flock. You're going to separate this lamb, you're going to watch that lamb and you're going to pay attention to this lamb.

[7:44] On the 14th day, you're going to slaughter that lamb. And this is what comprised a large part of the Passover feast, but folks, preparation for that feast began the 10th day.

[7:58] The feast itself went into the 14th day. This is before the Passover feast. What we are reading here says, Now before the feast of the Passover.

[8:10] So Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is about to happen. It's amazing the crucifixion accounts that we have in the Gospels and the things leading up to that crucifixion.

[8:25] And here in the Gospel of John from chapter 13, on through to chapter 18 where we see the arrest and we see the crucifixion and these things.

[8:39] Folks, all that happens within a 24 hour period. Give or take a couple of hours. It's all within a timeframe.

[8:50] That short we have chapters here in the Gospel of John beginning at chapter 13. Chapter 13, he's talking to his disciples, chapter 14, he's talking to his disciples.

[9:01] Chapter 15, where we see Jesus say that he is the true vine, still talking to his disciples. Chapter 16, he's giving them some pointers and he's telling them what's going to happen when he goes away.

[9:15] And this is where we find Jesus Christ speaking about the Holy Spirit so much. John 17 is the great high and priestly prayer of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[9:26] And finally we get to John 18 and we see the crucifixion. But all these things are happening within a day. Give or take a couple or a few hours of each other.

[9:36] All these chapters that we're about to be getting into takes place in that timeframe. So now before the feast of the Passover, everything he's going to be telling them, this night, everything we're going to be reading in these chapters to come, he is preparing them for the Passover.

[9:59] Jesus Christ being the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God. Now we read about in the opening chapters of the Gospel of John, he is preparing them for that Passover in the coming chapters.

[10:17] So now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, he knew his hour was upon. We talked about this couple of Sundays ago because it said then, it talked about his hour then in John chapter 12.

[10:34] Brings it up again in John chapter 7. It's also brought up in John chapter 2. Jesus knew what his hour was. He knew in John chapter 2 when he was addressing his mother that his hour had not come.

[10:48] He knew in John chapter 7 when people were wanting to stone him and kill him, his hour had not come. He knew in John chapter 12 that his hour was right there at the door.

[11:00] It says when Jesus knew that his hour was come, folks for three years, for three years this man at the beginning of his ministry had hand-picked 12 men to follow him around, 12 men to minister with him, 12 men to learn from him how to minister.

[11:24] And he had ministered all these towns and these regions. He had gone into what we would refer to nowadays as the hood. He had gone to the higher class places.

[11:36] He had gone all these different areas into all these different people. And he had ministered the Word of God. He had told people, I am the light.

[11:47] He had told people, you need to do this and you need to do that. He had told people that he was the way that he was the way that he was the Son of God. He had intimated all these things to these people, trying to show them that salvation itself was standing right before them, knowing that it was all coming down to this hour, knowing that he would be crucified for the sins of those people that he had been ministering to.

[12:16] He had crucified for the sins of his very disciples, not just Judas Iscariot. The other eleven had sinned in their lives as well.

[12:28] He pushed on though and he done what the Father had sent him to do. That was his mission, was to come here to destroy the works of the devil.

[12:42] And he pushed on toward that mission. Praise my God for my Savior that I have in Jesus Christ. You or I, neither one could have done that. There is not a man alive right now that could have done that.

[12:55] There is not a man that has died since that could have done that. There will not be anyone in the future that could do that. There is no one that even would do that, would go to people and tell them the way of salvation, knowing that they had sinned against them.

[13:11] So for three years, over three years at this point, he had been ministering in all of Galilee and all the regions around about, telling people the way of salvation, showing people the way of salvation, and his hour was come and he knew it.

[13:30] He knew it. And that is why we have this long discourse here in the Gospel of John that spans these chapters, chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

[13:47] When Jesus knew, 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.

[13:58] That he should depart out of this world unto the Father. He knew that his hour would come, but he also knew that that hour, that that time that had been appointed before the foundations of the world were ever set or laid.

[14:13] That time was upon him, but he knew that that hour also contained the time that he would leave this world of darkness. He would leave this world of sin.

[14:24] He would leave the physical presence of all of these centers that he had been around, all of his earthly life at this point, 33-plus years.

[14:35] He knew that the time would come, that he would be crucified, he would be buried, he would be resurrected. He'd spend a few weeks showing himself and teach him the disciples even more, but then he would go back to the Father.

[14:54] He knew that time had come and he knew what all this hour entailed. Now, folks, some people will argue that in the Gospel of Luke, and it does say this, it does teach him because Jesus said it himself, telling those that he had been handed over into their hands, their hour had come.

[15:16] That was their hour. We're not talking about their hour right now. Part of their hour was part of the hour that we are talking about here with Christ, but we are talking about the hour of Christ, the hour of His crucifixion, the hour of the culmination of everything that he had come here to do and accomplish.

[15:37] That hour was right upon them. It was upon Jesus Christ, it was upon the disciples, it was upon the people in Jerusalem. It was everywhere. Folks, when Christ was crucified, it wasn't just a scene of a man hanging on a cross.

[15:53] The entire city of Jerusalem was affected by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In a longer term aspect, the entire world was affected by the crucifixion of our Savior.

[16:08] His hour had come and he knew that His hour would come. How much would you dread if you knew the days that you would die?

[16:19] If you knew the hour that you would die, the minute and the second? How much would you dread that? Jesus Christ knew at the entire time that He was here, the entire time that He was upon this earth.

[16:34] He knew that day was coming and He knew what day it would be. And He knew that He would be not only betrayed by Judas Iscariot, but He would be abandoned by the rest of the disciples.

[16:45] He knew the things that were coming His way and yet He pressed on. I say praise Jesus Christ for doing that.

[16:56] 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.

[17:08] He knew that His hour had come. He knew that His time had come to be killed. But He also knew that He would ascend back to the Father.

[17:19] And it says, having loved His own which were in the world, praise God. Having loved His own which were in the world. All that's past tense.

[17:32] He had loved His own which were in the world. But praise God that love continued. This verse exhibits that He loved them unto the end.

[17:47] Under the end of what? I believe in this immediate context. It would be talking about to the end of His earthly life here, or the end of the time that He was on earth, I should say.

[17:57] Not just His life, but beyond the burial or the death and the burial and resurrection. In this immediate context, but folks, it extends so much further than that.

[18:10] It extends on out into eternity the love that Jesus Christ has for His own. It is for His own.

[18:20] You keep that in your mind. He says in John chapter 17 in the great prayer that we read there. He says, I pray for those that the Father has given me. I pray not for the world.

[18:32] He's not praying for the world in that prayer. He's not praying for the lost. He's not praying for those that have kept their backs turned against them. He says he's praying for His own.

[18:45] Hallelujah. I'm one of His own. I hope that you all are this morning having loved His own which were in the world. Again, in this dark, sick, sinful world, His own were in that world.

[19:01] Jesus Christ was in this world with them, but nevertheless, even though they were sinful, even though they were flawed, even though He knew, He knew the abandonment that would come His way by His disciples.

[19:20] He knew the betrayal of Judas that we read about just a little bit further on in this very chapter in the Gospel of John. He knew about all those things, but nevertheless, nevertheless, hallelujah, He knew my flaws too, and He knows my flaws.

[19:40] He knows my weaknesses. He knows where I mess up. He knows when I sin. Having loved His own which were in the world. I'm in this world.

[19:51] You are in this world. As long as we are in this world, we will continue in sin and we will continue not only in our own sin, but we'll continue to be surrounded by sin. We'll continue to be surrounded by demons and darkness, by the principalities and the wickedness that are in this world, folks.

[20:08] The war that we are fighting, the battle that we are in, is not against flesh and blood. It's against spiritual darkness. It's against spiritual wickedness.

[20:19] It's against evil. Right. And as long as we are in this world, we are going to be surrounded with that. But Christ loves those which are His own.

[20:29] And if Christ loves me, Christ will look out for me, and Christ will look over me, and Christ will guide me in everything that I do, in everywhere that I go, and everything that I say, I have the promise and the guidance of my Savior.

[20:45] Hallelujah. Having loved His own which were in the world His own. We read, I don't know how long ago it was, I know we've been in the Gospel of John for over a year now.

[20:59] So back when we was doing 1 John, those of you that were here, 1 John chapter 4 verse 8, what does it say? It says, He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.

[21:14] For God is love, and the very God that is love loves me. And God the Father loves God the Son, and God the Father loves me with the same love that He loves God the Son with, and God the Son loves me, and God the Son has sent the Comforter that we have in the Spirit to guide me in all things.

[21:36] To reveal God to me daily. I don't want the one revelation of God that happened February 10th of 2009 in my life.

[21:50] I don't want that to be it, I want the Spirit to show me God every day. I want the Spirit to show me who God is, and how much God loves me, and how much God wants me to walk in the path that He has set for my life.

[22:09] Hallelujah. It's a never-lasting love, that's why He told the Prophet Jeremiah, He said, I've loved thee with a never-lasting love. Hallelujah, and that same love that He loved the Israelites with, that He loved Jeremiah with, that He loved Isaiah, and Ezekiel with, and Micah, and Amos, and any of the other prophets.

[22:27] The same love that He loved David with, and Moses, and even Adam. He loves me with that same love. Hallelujah. That's the Savior that I have, and that's the Savior that we're talking about here.

[22:41] That's the Savior that loved His own in the world. He loved them unto the end, and my Savior loves me unto the very end and beyond.

[22:55] Hallelujah. Jesus Christ is immortal, Jesus Christ's love is immortal, and Jesus Christ's love for me is immortal, it is eternal. There will never be an end to the love that Christ has for me.

[23:10] Praise God. This is the Agape love that you all have probably heard so much about. I think I've told in this Sunday school, which exemplifies and exhibits the love of God.

[23:25] It's a sacrificial love, it's a self-sacrificing love, and it's a love that the world does not have. You cannot have a love like that.

[23:36] Once again, 1 John 4 and 8, He that loveth not, knoweth not God. God is love. God is love.

[23:49] Thank you all. He loved them unto the end, folks. If you're here, and you're born again, and you're His own as we've been reading about this morning, He loves you unto the end, just like the Bible here says that He loves His disciples unto the end.

[24:07] Once again, in the immediate context, I get that. We're talking about the end of His earthly presence, really. But even more so, own into eternity, folks.

[24:22] That's exactly what this speaks of. It speaks of something that is ongoing, not that it comes to an end, but it's ongoing forever. It is eternal, just like the love of God is eternal.

[24:39] And I guess we'll stop right there. Because the next verse I had in mind that we're getting to was verse 4, and I don't think we'll get through those three verses in five minutes.

[24:55] Anyway, that's what I got for y'all this morning. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that? Thank you for telling us about God's love.

[25:06] Amen. Yes, sir. God bless you all. I appreciate you. Thank you.