 The title of our sermon this morning Is the love of Christ The love of Christ and we are in John chapter 13 verses 31 through 38 the end of John chapter 13 as we are in the upper room with the disciples most professing Christians today Will fully hold to a concept of God's love that is completely divorced from anything they find Inconvenient or uncomfortable about it They strip from the biblical understanding of God's love Anything that this world would define as unloving? so Condemnation is out the window right hell wrath intolerance for sin Demands for obedience pesky commandments right chastening authority Absolute truth the exclusivity of Christ the blood of the cross by their own doing and in their own ignorance The love of God is first isolated from and then rendered incompatible with The holiness of God the sovereignty of God the justice of God the judgment of God the wisdom of God the wrath of God The will of God and the word of God So having focused on one attribute of God that they can tolerate They focus on that one attribute they can tolerate if They can define it for themselves and so they jettison From the love of God they jettison the holiness of God They jettison the justice of God and the sovereignty of God and the immutability of God the assayity of God and what remains What's left over is a worldly unbiblical perverted corrupted Shallow self-indulgent man-centered man-pleasing man-defined vomit producing aberration that they call in the world the love of God this wicked counterfeit Christianity then Declare is a victory right love wins what they say They proclaim it in their so-called churches preach it from their so-called pulpits write it in their books They splash it all over social media and they claim that love of God that aberration They claim it while they wallow in their sin, and they believe a great victory has been one great victory has been one Why? because in their view of The love of God They have dethroned God I was in the conversation this last week with a pastor from the UMC the United Methodist Church, which is an apostate organization and She was telling me that she can be a pastor despite what God's word says because and I quote God is great enough and big enough to create and to love and to welcome people of even vastly different understandings of what it means to follow Jesus Now in other words in other words God is narrow-minded and small If he limits himself to love according to his word So that's blasphemy That's blasphemous It's not about being right or wrong She said but about doing your best to love and serve God the best way we know how Then maybe that means loving and serving God as an adulterer Loving and serving God as a sodomite a liar or a drunkard Or a Bible denying female so-called pastor, right? It's okay. It's okay. It's not about being right or wrong. It's about doing your best The world's perversion or corruption of God's love his love becomes so Unconditional that once you've turned to Christ. It really doesn't matter how you live your life The only condition is that you do your best If you listen to that if you think about that there's an element of truth to that statement, isn't there? There's an element of truth there, but do you see how cunning and Deceitful the enemy is they use that statement just do your best as a license for sin and rebellion While the Christian is saying in his heart, right? The Holy Spirit of God and dwelling him. I want to do my best I want to live for Christ. I want to please him But the Christian means it he means that in faith by the power of his spirit according to the word of God And he knows that at the end of the day when he has done all those things which he has commanded he can only say I am an unprofitable servant. I've only done what was my duty to do a corrupt understanding of God's love Leads to a perverted and blasphemous view of God When you twist God's love in the way that so many do God is not on the throne any longer You're on the throne man is on the throne Because he's great enough and big enough to love people who can Define sin and define his word and define his love for themselves. The truth is God is always on his throne. God is enthroned. There's nothing that you can do about that in one day Those that portray him in this way will be held to account for their attempted mutiny God has revealed himself in his word to be the one who lavishes lavishes a matchless incomparable ineffable love in Christ on undeserving sinners He is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and what? And keep his commandments. That's right The love of God the love of God defined in his word Defined by God has revealed by him to us the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord is a glorious love Having loved his own who are in the world. He loved them to the end ace. Tell us to the limit But I want us to mature our understanding of that love through our text this morning look with me at John chapter 13 and Look beginning at verse 31 In this text there are three primary ways in which the true and biblical love of Christ is seen expressed in his passage We see his love expressed at the cross Through the commandment and in the covenant At the cross through the commandment and in the covenant the love of Christ is expressed first at the cross in verses 31 through 32 Secondly through the commandment in verses 33 through 35 and third in the covenant verses 36 through 38 Let's begin as we should by looking at the love of Christ expressed at the cross beginning at verse 31 verse 31 says this So when he had gone out Jesus said now the Son of man is glorified and God is glorified in him if God is glorified in him God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately Now as verse 31 begins Judas the betrayer has left the upper room and has gone out into the night on his detestable mission to betray The Lord Jesus Christ Judas is that kind of guy that can brighten a room just by leaving it, right? Now the disciples are just with themselves with the Lord the divisive trader leaves the room and now it's just pure Loving fellowship with his own the Lord and his disciples his true disciples, right? Judas has never been born again. His heart is hard. He's devoid of the things of God He's a son of Adam the son of perdition and so he's predisposed to satanic Influence and if you look at chapter 13 verse 2 Satan has already put it into the heart of Judas to betray the Lord And then in chapter 13 verse 27 Satan takes him His hypocrisy In taking the bread from the hand of Jesus was the final straw that seals his fate The Lord sending him out now sets in motion a chain of events that will culminate In the crucifixion of the only begotten son of God in verse 27 Jesus said to Judas what you do? do quickly So now in verse 31 when Judas had gone out The Lord now has the inevitability of the cross on his mind when he turns to those whom he loves and he says Now the son of man is glorified Looking at this he he sees the whole chain of events With certainty with a certainty of a completed reality. It's like it's done The son of man is glorified for you greek guys. It's an heiress passive Now think with me for a moment Jesus is thinking of the cross And he's thinking about all that the cross entails as he speaks about his glory To the jews a stumbling block to the greek foolishness to this world shameful But to god the father and to god the son the cross is his glory. Do you see? Why is that? Why is that one because the cross is the ultimate expression of the love of the lord jesus christ Now let's look at some ways in which that's the case One place in scripture among many that teaches this same truth is in romans 3 and i want you to go there with me roman's chapter 3 And let's look at this ultimate expression Of the love of christ and why that glorifies the son and glorifies the father romans chapter 3 And think with me now as we go through this text we're beginning at verse 9 In verse 9 paul gives the devastating verdict Right all of us both jews and greeks all of us are under sin Look at verse 10 There is none righteous No, not one. I thought i was a good person. No, you're not. There's none right. There's none. There's none righteous There are no good people. There are none righteous. No, not one. There's none who understands There is none who seeks after god. They've all turned aside. They have together become Unprofitable There is none who does good No, not one That god is perfectly righteous God is perfectly good Perfectly holy and god created us his creation to bear that image to be holy as he is holy However, all of us you and i both all of us in sin We have all turned aside in our rebellion against god And we have become unprofitable god is righteous and we are all every one of us un righteous The truth of scripture is there's absolutely nothing that you or i can do to make ourselves righteous God expects us demands us to be righteous And no one will be declared righteous in god's sight here by keeping the law or doing good There's nothing that we can do it Completely eradicates any notion of human performance or human achievement here That dropped down to verse 19 Now we know that whatever the law says It says to those who are under the law. That's all of us. We were born as a son of adam or a daughter of adam We're born under the law And whatever the law says it says to all of us who are under the law that every Mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before god Give a sense this morning Outside of christ of your guilt before god Have you come to the point where you have acknowledged your great guilt before the god who made you how you have offended him with your sin verse 20 therefore By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for by the law Is the knowledge of sin that's the condition that all are in guilty Unprofitable sentence to death One reason that the cross Is the ultimate expression of the love of the lord jesus christ is because these are those whom the lord chooses to love Think about that with me for a moment. The cross is the ultimate expression of the love of christ because it displays his sacrificial and suffering love For undeserving and ungodly rebels Undeserving ungodly enemies And in great grace and great mercy with the great love with which he loved us right he makes provision for our need We have no righteousness And so god makes provision in his grace and his mercy in christ to provide for it Look at verse 21 but now as a result of the cross The righteousness of god apart from the law Is revealed there's no way to earn it in the law the righteousness of god must be revealed outside of the law And that's witnessed by the law of the prophets witnessed in the old testament verse 22 Even the righteousness of god through faith in jesus christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference All have sinned and fall short of the glory of god Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus As we look at the salvation that god has provided And all of that coming through the cross think with me for a moment. The cross Then is a vindication of the righteousness of god God doesn't just set aside his righteousness in order to save sinners His righteousness is vindicated and his righteousness is vindicated at the cross of christ The cross Is a display of the grace and mercy of god who provides this great salvation for undeserving sinners like you and i The cross Magnifies the sufficiency of the work of christ alone through faith. It's the work of christ alone That is able to save Look at verse 25 Whom that's this christ God set forth as a propitiation. I think about what that is a propitiation is a wrath Satisfying sacrifice And the lord jesus christ satisfied. He propitiated the wrath of god. It says in verse 25 by his blood And what does that mean? That means that the cross of the lord jesus christ Vindicates the perfect justice of god Even when his only begotten son bore the guilt of our sin god Did not withhold the righteous sentence of death But he poured it out on his own son. So the cross vindicates the righteousness of god Vindicates the justice of god vindicates the grace of god magnifies the sufficiency and work of christ The cross displays god's absolute commitment to his own holiness If you think about the cross and what christ endured there and what god Did to christ there? the cross displays gods uncompromising an absolute commitment to his own holiness the cross Displays and that propitiation verse 25 displays the great cost Through which god made provision for our salvation his only begotten son The cross magnifies the work of christ in fully Satisfying the wrath of god against sin that christ could do that it magnifies the work of christ the cross Glorifies christ in his willingness to lay down his life and bear that wrath for guilt He sinners the cross glorifies the father and the lord's perfect obedience even to the point of death even this death of the cross Now all of this is applied at the end of verse 25 it says through faith In order to demonstrate His righteousness because his forbearance in his forbearance got it passed over the sins that were previously committed Think about the timing of the cross The timing of the cross magnifies both the patience and the mercy of god think about those saints in the old testament think about david Why didn't david face eternal hell immediately for his sin with bat sheba and uraya Why didn't moses go down alive into the pit when he struck the rock? They faced temporal consequences for sin like we do but they didn't face eternal damnation Is that because God's not just and he just swept their sin under the rug Is it because god's not concerned with his own righteousness? No because god is patient God is patient his timing is perfect imputing all of their sin to his son who would die in their place the lord jesus christ at the cross Look at verse 26 Again to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in jesus The cross is the only means by which god has determined to be both just and merciful The cross is the way that god can be just and uphold his justice and at the same time be merciful So the cross is the means by which god Vindicates his character right while still redeeming ungodly sinners in love The cross is the means by which the lord jesus christ fulfills all of the promises of god to redeem and restore his people All of the promises of god in the in the gospel and so it Vindicates the faithfulness of god Think about it as the lord jesus christ Goes obediently to the cross to die on that tree Suffering the curse suffering the wrath of god the lord jesus christ in his obedience Facilitates if you will is the means by which all of the promises of god are fulfilled They are yes and amen in him It's because of his work is sufficient and complete finished work on the cross It indicates the faithfulness of god eve Believed that a savior would come through her seed We see that in genesis chapter three right? Abraham believed god Would provide a son would provide innumerable heirs spiritual seed who would be blessed David believed a king from his line would rule and reign for all these promises of god Right and all of these promises fulfilled in christ's obedience christ's work at the cross Now put that all together just from looking at one text among many right in romans chapter three All of this is accomplished By the lord jesus christ in love for the father At the cross and in this the lord jesus christ glorifies god the father He glorifies him But we think about the cross The cross isn't only the ultimate expression of the love of christ for those he came to save It's also the ultimate expression of the love of christ for the father for god the father In his perfect obedience to the extent of the cross to the point of death even the death of the cross Jesus beautifully and sacrificially and lovingly upholds the perfections and the character of god the father so Love wins. Yes, but christ wins god wins and they're glorified in him glory wins Back in john chapter 13 verse 31 So when he had gone out when jesus had left jesus said now the son of man is glorified and god is glorified in him The ultimate expression of the love of christ is the cross Not a love sinful men Create that compromises or undermines the glory of god But a love that upholds and magnifies and loves the glory of god So when the son of man is glorified at the cross it says in verse 31 That god the father is now glorified in him The glory of the son as he stoopes to save us is the glory of the father whose Will he is accomplishing right the ultimate expression of the love of christ is at the cross The ultimate source of that love I want you to see from verse 32 is both the father and the son Both the father and the son verse 32 says if god is glorified in him And god will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately They in the love of christ displayed at the cross God the father and god the son share one purpose together in saving Sinners in other words the the glory of the father is bound up with the glory of the son As the father is glorified in the redeeming work of the son The son will be glorified in the eternal love and blessedness of the father So in verse 32 that happens now immediately He says when god begins that exultation it happens immediately in other words after the cross what follows Resurrection It happens immediately when god raises his from him from the dead right he ascends into heaven He seated at the right hand of the father He has now the name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow All of that happens immediately upon the lord's obedience at the cross That becomes very clear. We consider these things Very clear from a simple understanding of the bible That the ultimate aim of the love of christ expressed most supremely at the cross Is not ultimately The redemption of man It is ultimately The glory of god Now think with me for a moment. There's there's a as we work through texts in the bible And as you think through as you study your bible as you study your bible you want to come to understanding You want to come to understanding it's important that you understand the text You understand what god is saying in his word to you Once you have understanding And your mind is clear on that truth then your heart needs to be moved by it It needs to make the distance the travel the journey from the the head to the heart Understand then how that applies to us First see with understanding what the text is saying the aim of the love of christ That love being most beautifully most incomparably expressed most supremely expressed at the cross Is not ultimately the redemption of man. It is ultimately The glory of god. It's not only or merely the redemption of man in other words It is ultimately the glory of god. Now. How does that then Transform your understanding your thinking your definition your view your perspective on the love of god in christ and how a christian Understanding and viewing that love should then live Respond to god view god understand god the lord displayed Infinite and matchless incomparable indescribable love for his own at the cross for his own people to redeem them It is an ultimate act of love And although a primary expression of that love a primary expression of it is the salvation of his own bride We must acknowledge its ultimate and preeminent aim Is the glory of god The son's love for the father and the father's love for the son Listen to this from 2nd crinthians chapter 4 verse 6 The bible reads for it is god Who commanded light to shine out of darkness? Who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ You see what his intention is there? the lord jesus christ And his incomparable love displayed in his perfect obedience at the cross is to be our pattern So one of the ways by which we define love How the lord jesus christ defined his love toward god the father how that is defined in bringing glory to god We're to define it in the same way We're to live that out for the glory of god I thought about sol 19 before right sol 19 The heavens declare the glory of god And the firmament shows his handiwork You look at god's creation right our universe the planets in their order the the galaxies the billions upon billions of galaxies each one billions upon billions of stars the immeasurable inconceivable space That exists in our known universe the marvel of creation when you look at the sun and the moon and the stars What astounding Beauty what astounding power that god sustains and holds all of that together not a straight molecule out of order But when you consider how that glorifies god right how that brings glory to god It never brings more glory to god than a transformed sinner with a new heart loving and serving the lord And following him in obedience to this word from the heart It will never eclipse that We are to love and glorify god in the same way That the lord jesus christ has loved and glorified god Obeying him Trusting him loving the lord our god with all our heart soul mind and strength right First chrithians chapter 10 verse 31 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of god Colossians chapter 3 verse 17 whatever you do in word or deed Do all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god the father through him Incomparable love And we're to love as he loved but our love is to be for the glory of god not Undermining the character of god not undermining the perfections of god not undermining his justice not undermining his righteousness Not undermining his holiness not undermining his judgment Not undermining god not undermining his character, but glorifying god upholding his character And that knowledge of god comes from one place The word of god If you're not in the word of god, you can't know god god has revealed himself in his word next We see the love of christ expressed at the cross But next we see the love of christ expressed through the commandment back in john chapter 13 Look with me at verse 33 the love of christ expressed through the commandment Verse 33 says this little children I shall be with you a little while longer You will seek me and as I said to the jews where i'm going You cannot come So now I say to you A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another Now the lord begins Verse 33 with a term of endearment in more the sense of dear children than little children But the teaching here that he's giving Is difficult he's going away He's going away and where he's going they can't come And so he begins verse 33 with a tender sense of care. It's affectionate here, right? He calls them dear children He's departing and they are staying behind he'll be with them just a little while longer and he says to them Verse 33 you'll seek me and as I said to the jews where I'm going you cannot come. So now I say to you Think about what he said to the jews. We've studied that passage together What was a warning to the jews is a mere temporary Delay here for the disciples remember in chapter 8 verse 21 What did the lord say to the Pharisees there? He said then jesus said to them again I am going away and you will seek me And listen and will die in your sins where I go. You cannot come Now in roman and uh john chapter 8 there's some words conspicuously missing In the statement he makes to his disciples in john chapter 13 Right, he tells them they'll die in their sins here. He says where i'm going you can't come Now these are parting words departing words Through his death the lord jesus christ is going to leave them and this separation Is necessary, but it's temporary now the disciples don't quite understand this And I want you to see that flip the page to john chapter 16 They're confused here by a statement In john's chapter 16 look down at beginning at verse 16 john chapter 16 verse 16 Let's unpack their confusion just a little bit look at verse 16 The lord says a little while and you will not see me and again A little while and you will see me because I go to the father That's hopeful look at verse 17 And some of his disciples said amongst themselves What is this that he says to us a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me And because I go to the father They said therefore verse 18 What is this that he says a little while we do not know what he's saying Now jesus in verse 19 Knew that they desired to ask him and he said to them Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said a little while and you will not see me And again a little while and you will see me Verse 20 most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament These are his disciples, but the world will rejoice done This side of the cross we understand exactly what he's saying, right? But he's preparing them you're going to weep and lament the world is going to rejoice They understand that distinction between them and the world They understood what that meant And he said you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy A woman when she is in labor Has sorrow because her hour has come But as soon as she's given birth to the child she no longer remembers the anguish For joy that a human being has been born into the world moms can say Amen, right. Amen. You keep having babies. So that's verse 22 Therefore You now have sorrow Verse 22, right But I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy No one will take from you the The circumstances of the disciples slightly different At this point in time than our circumstances, but we Live with the very same hope. Do we not I want to see christ I want to go to heaven. I want to be with christ We want to see him we sometimes have sorrow, don't we? But our joy is coming We in the future we will have joy I read a story this week Read a story about willy maize remember willy maize the the hall of fame baseball player and willy maize on the eve of his greatest single game performance in his baseball career Apparently had some barbecue that didn't agree with him And so willy maize didn't sleep was up all night just sick terribly sick They had to call in a doctor Give willy maize some medicine to help him sleep. We only got a couple of hours sleep miserable throwing up Having a tough time there was misery and sorrow misery and sorrow willy maize woke up the next morning feeling terrible went to the game. It was against san francisco out of five at bats willy maize hit four home runs drove in eight runs sorrow in the morning Right and joy and glory in the afternoon Our home run has already been hit The ball has already been launched off the bat. It is over the fence And we're just waiting to come home, right sorrow in the morning joy in the afternoon The disciples here are waiting for their turn and we're waiting for hours We're waiting for our turn the lord gives us Parting instruction in the same way that he's giving them parting instruction here in john 13. He's giving us parting instruction, right? What does this look like for us? And the lord gives that in great love look at verse 34 great love A new commandment i give to you That you love one another As i have loved you that you also love one another by this All will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another Not only is there to be great love for the glory of god And all christians all genuine christians are marked by great love great zeal for the glory of god But not only is there to be great love for the glory of god. We are to demonstrate great love the love of christ For one another for one another I want you to see beginning in verse 34 There's a commandment given here. It's a new commandment. He says in verse 34 And the first thing that he does is he defines that commandment. He defines the commandment He begins 30 in verse 34 by referring to it as a new commandment Now, what does he mean by new if you go back in your old testament leviticus chapter 19 verse 18 The bible says that we're to love our neighbors as ourselves, right? The bible says the first commandment is to love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength The next is like unto it. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves Here it's rendered new By the statement that he makes in verse 34 as I have loved you That renders it new right it's rendered new By the fact that now this commandment to love is rooted and grounded in the example of the lord jesus christ himself Love one another that's not new. How are we to love one another? Jesus answered as I have loved you. That's what's new. You see He says I was just humbled myself. I just humbled myself to wash your feet I will die on the cross for you I have given my life to redeem you to myself Love like that with that as its preeminent example. That's new at this point Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends That's spoken in light of an understanding of the cross of the lord jesus christ It's not often The case that a christian is called to die for their brother die for their sister But genuine christ like love Should be a series of little debts shouldn't it? You may be called to pay that ultimate price But genuine christ like love is a series of deaths deaths to sell deaths to convenience deaths to comfort deaths to pride deaths to your schedule deaths to your preferences Calls for deaths deaths to sell That's the christian love that christ has shown his disciples in washing their feet And in dying for them at the cross in innumerable other ways But how do we do that? How do we do that? I want you to look with me at first john chapter five. This bears repeating first john chapter five We looked at this text not long ago How do we know We are loving our brothers in the way that christ has loved us The first john chapter five look at verse two By this he says By this we know that we love the children of god When we love god and keep his commandments just keeps coming around doesn't it? Remember talking to someone one time that Had been listening for a while and made the comment to me that In the preaching god's word. There's this constant emphasis on obeying god And he was saying that in a derogatory way as all all you do you just preach obedience obey obey obey In other words, that's what he was hearing right you just preach obedience all the time obey god obey god. It's because it keeps coming up Paul says to titus right remind them that remind them of these things constantly They should be performing good works faithful in good works We love god When we keep his commandments by this we know that we love the children of god When we love god and keep his commandments verse three for this is the love of god here it is again I can't get away from it in verse three For this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome So when the bible says for you to stir one another up to love and good works, what should you? You should love god And love your brother by keeping that commandment You're to consider one another you're to stir one another up to love and good works when the bible says Not to forsake being assembling of yourselves together. What do you do? Will you assemble with your brothers you love god and you love your brother and obey that commandment When the bible says to exhort your brother's daily what it's well, it's called today. What do you do? You exhort your brother's daily And you love god love your brother by obeying that commandment When the bible commands you to warn those who are unruly to comfort the faint hearted to uphold the weak to be patient with all To see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone to pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all What do you do you obey that text and when you obey that text? It says in first john chapter five verse two It's by this that we know that we love the children of god I don't know about you, but when I was first reading the bible and first going through first john I remember thinking to myself and I I think I I love the brothers and I love being around the brothers I want I want to I want to go to group. You know, I want to see them like sunday to sunday is too much time I need something in the middle. Oh, we've got Tuesday night group, you know I wanted to be around the brothers But I remember thinking to myself. Do I I really love the brothers? It seems subjective to me And to you and maybe at one point or another it seems subjective There is a subjective element to it. Do you love the brothers from the heart? But in first john chapter five verse two you have an objective element by which to examine yourself By this we know that we love god love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments For this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome It's the second half of verse two there that takes obedience out of the realm of some heartless mindless ritualistic legalism Right because to the heartless ritualistic legalists, his commandments are burdensome and they'll see to it that it's burdensome from for everybody else too But in the second half of verse three his commandments are not burdensome to the christian to the one who's Been transformed the one who's been born again has a new heart and dwelt by god's spirit His commandments are a delight. They are the christians joy And in that we know that we love the children of god We assure our hearts before him So first he defines the commandment You are to love one another how are we to love one another as i have loved you as i have loved you You also ought to love one another but secondly now in verse 35 He then with this commandment in love He sanctifies Or sets apart his disciples look at verse 35 He says there back in john chapter 13 verse 35 By this by what? By the love that we show one another by the way in which you love one another by this love All will know that you are my disciples if you have a love For one another now first thing i want you to see from verse 35 in setting them apart Right he bounds them he puts a boundary if you will Around the people of god disciples of god around the believer We have our center Our center is the lord jesus christ right and in his revealed word What has been given to us the faith that we've been delivered to that is our center christ and him crucified Our boundary so to speak from verse 35 then becomes Our love for one another what marks off the believer What separates the believer from everyone else in verse 35 love For one another now this love specifically is for one another but that doesn't exclude everyone else We're even matthew five to love our enemies aren't we? But it's by this love specifically for one another That all others will know that we are his disciples He bounds them if you will he puts a boundary around them that boundary is love this love Forms the community forms the church Let's look at this. I want you to if you got your hand still your finger in first john chapter five Flip back a page to first john chapter three This is given to us pretty clearly here in first john chapter three and i want you to see this Our center is christ But one of the ways in which the lord marks off the people of god Is by the love that we're to have for one another the same love that christ has for us Look at first john chapter three drop down to verse 10 verse 10 in this The children of god And the children of the devil are manifest in this they're marked off from one another right There's a dividing line What's that dividing line what marks them off whoever does not practice righteousness is not Of god there's one Holiness right set apart to god in holiness obedience to his commands from the heart But the other mark is at the end of verse 10 Nor is he who does not love his brother do you see Verse 11 for this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love One another Not as cain who is of the wicked one and murdered his brother and why did he murder him? Because his works were evil cain's works were evil and his brother's works were righteous Do not marvel my brethren if the world hates you We know that we've passed from death to life because we love The brethren you think to yourself Do I do I really love the brethren? Do I love them first john five two by this we know we love the children of god If we love god and we keep his commandments right verse 13 or verse 14 He who does not love his brother abides in death Verse 15 whoever hates his brother is a murderer. There is no in between Right, there's no fuzzy great area nebulous area in the middle You don't love your brother. You hate your brother. You hate your brother. You're a murderer And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him By this We know love how are we to love one another? We have the example of the lord jesus christ as he is loved us by this We know love verse 16 because he laid down his life for us And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him How does the love of god abide in him? It gives you some pretty practical instruction there doesn't We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren whoever has this world's goods Sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him. How does the love of god abide in that one? In other words, it's a rhetorical question. It does not Verse 18 my little children there it is again right dear ones Let us not love in word or in tongue But indeed and in truth in other words do something Obey these commandments obey the lord in this 19 and by this We know that we are of the truth and shall our assure our hearts before him. That's interesting there verse 19 You know, you don't earn your salvation And you don't earn in that sense your sanctification But god is sovereign over your sanctification and has ordained that he would use means By which he accomplishes that one of the means by which god Effects your sanctification in your christian life is your obedience to him in these commandments and in verse 19 Look by this We know that we are of the truth by what? The fact that we're not loving merely in word or in tongue But indeed in the truth indeed in truth you want to assure your heart before god You want to assure yourself before him that you are of the truth that you are in him? Then go out and obey the lord and love your brother. You see Go out and obey him love your brothers verse 20 for if our heart condemns us God is greater than our heart and knows all things beloved If our heart does not condemn us We have confidence toward god in other words Go out and do those things so that you may have a clear Uncondemning Conscience before god and in that you will assure your heart before him verse 22 Whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son jesus christ and love One another as he gave us commandment this love this Commandment this new commandment based Grounded rooted in founded on the example of the lord jesus christ is that which bounds us It's that which marks us off from the world. It's that which distinguishes the people of god But it's that which distinguishes the christian It distinguishes the christian secondly this mark not only bounds them it distinguishes them Distinguishes them from everyone else and I want you to notice in verse 35 that distinguishing mark has an evangelistic or a Missional implication It's by this All will know You have love for one another and by this love for one another all Others will know And in that we see the testimony of the glory of god in jesus christ and the gospel We see a testimony of a transformed heart a transformed people In this dark world We are the light of the world then in christ's stead as a testimony of his grace to us It marks us off from the world so that all will know Lastly you see the love of god right in the at the cross the love of christ expressed at the cross You see the love of christ then expressed for his people For his church and for the world you see that expressed in the commandment Lastly we see the love of christ expressed in his covenant look at verses 36 to 38 back in john chapter 13 john chapter 13 beginning in verse 36 the love of christ expressed in covenant Verse 36 says this simon peter said to him Lord, where are you going? And jesus answered him where i'm going you cannot follow me now But you shall follow me afterward So peter said to him in verse 37 lord, why can i not follow you now i'll lay down my life for your sake Jesus answered him in verse 38 will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly i say to you the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times now peter picks up On the angst that was generated from verse 33 Where the lord said little children i shall be with you only a little while longer You will seek me and as i said to the jews where i'm going you cannot come So now i say to you peter picks up on that jesus says where i'm going you can't follow Certainly he and the other disciples can't be equated with the jews But peter sees it and he asks the question lord why cannot i follow you now i'll lay down my life for your sake It's interesting from verse 36 The lord clarifies this for peter Here in verse 36 that where i'm going you cannot follow me now that little word now limits The inability of peter to follow him to the present But then what does he do immediately he says but you shall follow me after Afterwards you shall follow me now in this we see peter's weakness peter's pride even more evident here and Probably even more evident in matthew's account turn to matthew chapter 26 and let's look at the same Circumstance from matthew's perspective in matthew chapter 26 Which just gives us a view here and setting this up of peter's weakness is Ignorance his pride But his frailty matthew chapter 26 And looked down beginning at verse 31 And jesus said to them in verse 31 All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night fort is written i will strike the shepherd And the sheep of the flock will be scattered But after i've been raised i will go before you To gallantly and they've got a shadowy understanding of what's going on here We've already seen that in john chapter 16 peter answers in verse 33 and said to him Even if all are made to stumble because of you i will never be made to stumble And jesus said to him in verse 34 assuredly that's a solemn Word being given here to peter truly Truly peter i say to you that this night Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times Now the rooster crowed usually they say in the third watch of the night So middle of the night between midnight and 3am around 3am the rooster would crow So a short time from now peter a short time from now Before the rooster crows before that even that third watch of the night You're going to deny me three times peter said to him verse 35 Even if i have to die with you i will not deny you and so said Following peter's lead here all the disciples but back in john chapter 13 There's confusion. There's ignorance. There's arrogance. There's pride peter has put his foot in his mouth before this is another example But jesus responds here with a very hard saying verse 38 jesus answered him Will you peter lay down your life for my sake? And again that is laden with innuendo concerning the cross Most assuredly jesus says at the universe 38 i say to you the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times Before the night is out peter denies christ anything about The motivation for peter's denial maybe some cause for peter's denial peter obviously There's weakness here. There's pride here. There's arrogance here But peter is going to deny christ and when peter denies christ It's not only for a lack of courage. It's certainly for a lack of courage peter has his own self-preservation in mind as a part of that denial But a principal reason and we'll get there in the text the principal reason that peter denies christ is because of the shame Of being considered a disciple of the lord Of a lord who is in fetters and on his way to a cross And we look at the example of peter and we have to remind ourselves that To stand for christ means to stand for christ even when everything appears to be lost To stand for christ even when you're standing alone To stand for christ when others have forsaken him and you Stand for christ to be willing to stand and to stand When it gets tough when everything around you appears to be lost When peter at this stage Isn't willing to do that Isn't willing to do that and he denies the lord jesus christ now. I want you to notice you're thinking about that, right? At a time where you would have wanted peter To stand shoulder with shoulder shoulder to shoulder with the lord in the courtyard as he's facing these ridiculous trials Right to stand with him peter doesn't Maybe you can remember Times when you should have stood for the lord when you didn't I certainly can to my shame When you should have stood for the lord and you didn't And you compromised and you compromised because of cowardice or you compromised because of shame Whatever your motivation for compromise you compromised and you compromised the way that peter did I want you to notice something wonderful Back in john chapter 13 peter is one of his own And having loved his own who are in the world He loved them ace tell us to the end. He loved them to the limit to the max So despite the frailty despite the weakness Despite the ignorance or the arrogance of man we see in verses 37 and 38 The you will deny me in verse 38 Does not undo You will follow me afterward in verse 36. Do you see that? I mean laden in there is this beautiful picture Of the covenant love and faithfulness of god to love his own who are in the world To love them to the end Right back. We're at john chapter 13 verse 1 right with that statement Nothing can separate us from the covenant love of god in christ if you're in christ We'll soon see peter restored And jesus told peter in luke chapter 22 listen to this from luke chapter 22 beginning in verse 31 The lord said to peter he said simon simon Indeed satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat What has the lord done verse 32? But i have prayed for you simon that your faith should not fail And when you have returned to me Strengthen your brother when you have returned to me strengthen your brethren This is a glorious truth that we can see here between the lines if you will John chapter 13 verses 36 to 38 The covenant love of the lord jesus christ having loved his own who were in the world He loved them to the end and we're going to see that true of peter exemplified in peter's restoration as we get to that text It's a glorious picture of the love of christ amen the love of christ at the cross Indescribably matchlessly ineffably displayed at the cross of the lord jesus christ The love of christ in the commandment to us to love one another And through the commandment for us to love one another to the world And then lastly in the covenant love of the lord jesus christ to pray for and to secure Us even in our weakest moments even in our most shameful denials all that The blessed love of the lord jesus christ for his own Are you in the lord jesus christ? If you've never turned from your sin To follow him Then you are destined for judgment The sentence has been already it's been rendered The verdict is in john chapter 3 you are condemned already because you have not believed and the only begotten son of god Turn from your sin put your faith and trust in christ and be a recipient of this Love love him in this way Let me leave you with this From Ephesians chapter 3 beginning in verse 14. I just want you to listen This is paul to the church at Ephesus And he writes for this reason I bow my knees to the father of our lord jesus christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named That he would grant you According to the riches of his glory To be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man That christ may dwell in your hearts through faith That you being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all the saints What is the width and length and depth and height? To know the love of christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of god Now to him Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us To him Be glory in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever and all god's people said Amen, let's pray father in heaven Our lord jesus christ we praise you and worship you and thank you that Having loved us Who are in the world you love us to the end? We praise you lord for your incomparable indescribable infinite and matchless and unchanging love to us We praise you lord for how that is beautifully Glorious and displayed at the cross the lord jesus christ and how that that love displayed at the cross Instructs us and informs us how we are to love Who we are to love Praise you lord that you have Bound us mark us set us apart sanctified us by your love And then we are to love one another with the love with which you loved us We praise you and thank you lord that you are faithful You are worthy of our trust And that you have said nothing can separate us from the love of god and christ We thank you for your covenant faithfulness to your people We thank you for the future hope that we have The promise of an inheritance with christ Praise you and thank you lord for these glorious blessings Thank you lord that you preserve us by your spirit To empower us by your spirit to love you and keep your commandments and love one another as we should We acknowledge the lord that we don't do that perfectly far far from it We need you. What do we depend upon you? We thank you god for the strength that your spirit supplies to help us in that Spur us on i pray god that we would be convicted by The shameful denials that we far too frequently fall under I pray god that you would strengthen us against that You'd strengthen us to boldly and confidently and self-denying Live for the lord jesus christ who loved us and gave himself for us Ultimately god For the aim that is your eternal glory Which we belong to see which we belong to uphold Help us lord. Thank you Thank you for this text of scripture. Thank you for your word Thank you for christ to his name and pray all these things