A New Commandment

What does it mean to be a Christian?

What is the sign that someone is a Christian?

Many people where t-shirts, chains, get tattoos, but that doesn’t mean your a christian

Many people carry Bibles, go to Bible college, teach Sunday school

Judas had left, Jesus now turns his focus to his final discourse

The Glory of the Cross

Everything God is doing through history is to show His glory

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph

Moses and the events of the Exodus

Joshua and the Conquest

David’s victories

The Cross is the pinnacle of God’s acts to show His glory

Romans 9:22-23 “22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—”

Acts 3:13 “13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.”

I Am Leaving

little children is a sign of affection

The disciples would not follow him now (cr. v36)

What Jesus is doing here is preparing the disciples for the time between the ascension and their death.

Everything from this point on, should be viewed in context of how are we to live in between His leaving and His second coming.

He leaves us with a new commandment

Do this while I am away.

Love One Another

The new command is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice - DA Carson

Love On Another

The ultimate sign of a Christian is love

It is only through the changing power of the Holy Spirit we are able to truly love

Titus 3:5-7 “5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Love is a constant theme in John’s writing

In 1st John, love is used 46 times in 5 Chapters

John 14:15 “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:14 “14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

1 John 2:3-6 “3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

1 John 2:10 “10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”

1 John 3:10-11 “10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

1 John 3:14 “14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”

1 John 3:16 “16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

1 John 3:23 “23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

1 John 4:7-8 “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

1 John 4:10 “10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

1 John 4:20 “20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

Francis Schaeffer listed two ways to love

Seek forgiveness when we have wronged someone

Forgive when we have been wronged