He loved them to the end…

John 13:1-5, 34-35

If you knew you only had one day left to live, what would you do?

Some responses

Satisfy every craving… spend like there’s no tomorrow

Write a letter to every family member expressing love, forgiveness, and peace (why not do that now)

Jonathan Edwards - Resolution #6: Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life. (A constant mindedness of the brevity of life and the awaiting judgment.)

Jesus, knowing his hour had come, what did he do?

He loved his own; His own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

He Loved His Own: The Exclusivity of Jesus’ Love

Jesus Loves

His kindness knew no bounds, His mercy was without measure

He showed compassion and love for all - He had pity on those who were like sheep without a shepherd, he loved the rich young ruler who’s possessions kept him from following Christ, he even showed love to Judas and those who crucified him.

Jesus Loves His Own

But He had a love which was reserved for those who belonged to him, His atoning and redeeming love was for his own.

A husband’s and father’s love for all, with a particular love for his wife and children

You are called to love one another, but in marriage you forsake all others and cleave to one another, to love and cherish one another, til death parts you.

Christ loves His Church, His bride, with a saving, cleansing, purifying love.

Sproul - “In John 17, we hear Jesus prayer, as he prays, not for the world, but for those God has given him. As Jesus prepared to lay down His life, He was preparing to give an atonement not for the whole world but for His own… If the atonement were for the whole world, then everybody would be saved, but the Scriptures make it clear that this is not so. Jesus’ love was for His sheep, and He manifested this love to the very end.”

His Own who are in the world

We are his three ways:

By the Father’s Eternal Election

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you

Eph 1:4 He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world

By His own redemptive rights, he purchased us

1 Cor 6:19 You are not your own, you belong to Christ,

By the effectual call of the Holy Spirit,

If you are in Christ, you are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17); born of the Spirit (John 3:6)

We are still in the world

His disciples were still in the world, and the world was still in them

They would be oppressed, abused, and rejected by the world

Like him, they were in the world, but not of the world

His love is the encouragement we need in this world

He loved them to the end

To the end of what?

His life…

He laid down his life, taking up the cross, to show his love for lost sinners

To the end of our life - our pilgrimage, even with our failings

Pink - He knew that Philip would misunderstand Him, that three of them would sleep while He prayed and agonized, that Peter would deny Him, that Thomas would doubt Him, that all would “forsake him”—yet He “loved them unto the end”

“His own” are the objects of HIS love; “unto the end” is the extent of His love. He loves us unto “the end” of our miserable failures, unto the “end” of our wanderings and backslidings, unto the “end” of our unworthiness, unto the “end” of our deep need.

The end of God’s wrath

He drank the cup to the full, bore the wrath of God for us - there is now no fear in Judgment, it has been paid in full.

To the End of Time

Rom 8:38–39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How did He love?

He washed their feet… Jesus loved through service, for he came to serve, not to be served.

He healed the sick, feed the hungry, set free those in bondage to sin and shame, restored the lost, gave sign to the blind, showed the way of righteousness.

He was baptized in the Jordan, not to be washed of sin, for he was sinless, but to identify with sinners. He became sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. He died in the place of sinners, giving his life as a ransom for man.

He poured out His Spirit upon those whom we redeemed, that they might receive every spiritual blessing in Christ, and be secured in salvation unto the very end.

Knowing This… He loved.

Jesus could show this love because he knew where he was from, and where he was going.

He was going from this world and to the Father… so he loved with the love of the Father

Pink, “The Cross was before Him with all its horrors; the joy of returning to the Father was before Him with all its bliss; yet neither the fearful prospect of woe nor the hope of unspeakable rest and gladness shook His love for His own.”

Because of this, Jesus served and loved us.

As his disciples, we know who we are

We belong to the Lord, he has purchased us with his blood, and has loved us supremely

Because of this, we are to serve and love one another.