"Do You Love Me?"
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Jesus knew his time had come to die for the sins of the elect
God’s purpose to save those whom he had chosen before the foundation of the earth was about to be fulfilled
his disciples would be left behind and Jesus knew they would be distraught
John 13-17 a record of Jesus’ many encouragements and promises
expressed his love for them as he sought to comfort them and teach them
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
to the end of their lives
for all eternity
with all of his love
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
washed their feet (13:3-20)
they were to learn from this to to serve one another with sacrificial humility
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
identified his betrayer although the disciples did not understand (13:21-30)
gave a new commandment to love one another (13:31-35)
“as I have loved you” = a self-sacrificing love which puts the needs of other believers before your own wants and desires
they had everything in common (Acts 2:44; 4:32-35) and non Christians were amazed
in light of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s predicted denial Jesus commanded them not to be troubled but rather to believe that he would return for them (14:1-14)
he was going away to prepare rooms for them and would return for them (14:2-4)
Jesus’ declaration to be the only way to the Father (14:6)
to see Jesus is to see the Father (14:8-11)
Jesus’ promise to do whatever they asked for as they went about completing what he had begun (14:12-14)
the promise of the Helper, the Spirit of Truth (14:15-31)
Jesus demonstrated his love by serving them
washed their feet
gave them many promises and encouragements
in John 13:1 -14:14 Jesus’ expressed his love for his disciples and encouraged them to believe and trust him
many words of instruction and encouragement
Love & Obedience
Love & Obedience
when we come to John 14:15 the focus changes from Jesus’ love for his disciples to their love for him
“up to this point: I have loved you all of your lives, with all of my love and I will do so for all of eternity”
“I’ve demonstrated my love by washing your feet and I will demonstrate it by giving my life for yours”
“do you love me?”
the disciples had demonstrated their love for Jesus by leaving everything to follow him
though they were dull of hearing and slow to believe they had loved and obeyed him for 3 yrs
would they keep on loving and obeying when he was no longer physically present with them?
our problem: we cannot see, hear and touch Jesus so his question is even more pertinent!
the question we most often ask when trying to discern where a person stands spiritually: “do you believe, have you committed your life, are you trusting in Jesus …”
while these are good questions they are not what Jesus was primarily concerned about!
Jesus’ question: do you love and obey me?
I wonder how different responses would be if instead of asking people, “are you a Christian?” we asked, “do you love and obey Jesus?”
love for Jesus and obedience to him is the key identifier of a Christian in John’s writings
note the conjunction “and” in v.21
love must produce obedience and obedience must flow out of love
being a Christian is not first about actions but about love
it’s a sad reality that there are non-christians who live better lives than some professing Christians!
there is also the problem of loveless obedience:
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
it is impossible to please the Father apart from a loving, intimate relationship with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ
true love for Christ will always work itself out in faithful, grateful and humble obedience
The Rewards of Loving and Obeying Christ
The Rewards of Loving and Obeying Christ
1. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus are Given the HS
1. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus are Given the HS
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“if” + “and” at the beginning of vv.15&16
only those who love and obey Jesus are given the Helper
“another helper” = one of the same kind
Helper would be just like Jesus and he would:
live within them forever (v.16);
dwell with them (v.17)
be in them (v.17)
“and he will give you”
the Father gives another Helper because Jesus asks and Jesus asks because his disciples love and obey him
this kind of love and obedience is not possible without divine grace
apart from God’s life transforming grace true love and obedience are impossible
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
until an unbeliever is sovereignly, unconditionally and irresistibly raised from spiritual deadness his sole purpose is to gratify himself
as such she is hostile, she is unable and unwilling to do things God’s way
at the same time she convinces self she is a good person when in fact she is under the just wrath and condemnation of God
2. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus Are Loved by the Father and the Son And Are Shown the Son
2. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus Are Loved by the Father and the Son And Are Shown the Son
not only are they given the HS they are loved by God and are shown the Son
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
whom does the Father love?
the Father loves those who love and obey his Son
how does this square with the popular teaching that God loves everyone?
the answer is quite simple: there is more than one kind of love
just as this is true for us as human beings so it is true of God
while I love you as God’s people I don’t love you in the same way that I love my wife and my children
in fact, I don’t love my children in the same way that I love my wife!
so also the love that God has for those who love and obey Christ is different from the love that he expresses toward all of his creation
the love that God has for those whom he has adopted as his own dear children is different than the love he has for the rest of humanity whom he providentially cares for:
he gives the world food, shelter and clothing
remember, all good things come from his hand (Jas 1:7)
to differentiate between these two loves I will name the love God has for those who love and obey Jesus “saving love” and the love for unbelievers “providential love”
it is obvious from the scriptures that God’s saving love is different than the providential love that God has for his creation
the providential love that God has for all that he has made is demonstrated in his daily provision for them
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
all living things are beneficiaries of God’s providential love
on top of God’s providential love he also possesses a saving love which is reserved only for those who love and obey his Son
this is a life changing love that causes one who was once an enemy of God to be reconciled to him in love
John expressed in this way in 1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
when God sovereignly, unconditionally and irresistibly sets his saving love on a person they are changed from loving and serving themselves to loving and serving Jesus
God’s saving love is a life giving love that raises dead sinners to newness of life in Christ
this love the Father has for the elect is a covenant love with covenant promises
those who do not love and obey Christ do not enjoy this special, covenantal love
when it is offered to them they do not want it
this saving love is referred to in the scriptures as God’s steadfast love
this kind of love is what Jesus expressed in Jn 13:2
those who only experience God’s providential love will one day lose everything if they never come to love and obey the Lord Jesus
[read & comment on 1 John 4:7-21]
3. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus Have God Living Within Them
3. Those Who Love and Obey Jesus Have God Living Within Them
the are given the HS, they are loved by the Father and the Son and are shown the Son and thirdly, God comes to live within them
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
“my Father will love him”
he is the one we have offended
apart from his saving love we are under his just wrath
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
apart from the Father’s saving love we are under condemnation
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
therefore, to be loved by the Father is to be reconciled to him
to be loved by the Father is no longer to be under his wrath and condemnation
“we will come to him make our home with him”
those who love and obey the Lord Jesus enjoy the indwelling presence of the triune God
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Conclusion
Conclusion
24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“words” = commands
10 commandments = 10 words
Ps 119 - word, commandments, law, rules, precepts, testimonies, statutes are all used interchangeably
those who do not love Jesus do not order their lives by his teaching
they do not obey his commands
the live according to their own passions
their decisions and choices are controlled by their fleshly desires
“word” = the totality of what Christ taught and commanded is the Father’s
there is nothing that Jesus taught or commanded that we are free to disregard
remember that the Word of Christ was empowered by the HS
this is what astonished the people: he spoke with authority
we obey those we love
the one who does not obey Christ does not love him
who is in charge of your life?
who is on the throne?
who is calling the shots?
cannot be in charge of your life and be saved
if Christ is Lord of your life, you will obey him and this is a mark of saving faith
if you are lord of your life, you do what feels good to you and this is a mark of being lost in sin
the words of Jesus are the words of the Father
cannot ignore Jesus without casting the Father aside
the Father, the Son and the HS are a package deal