Sermon Tone Analysis

How Much Does Jesus Love Us?

The Gospel of John

John 13:1-17

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - June 28, 2017

(Revised December 21, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 13.

Here God's Word has moved forward to the night before the cross, and here the Lord gave His followers a new commandment.

We see it first in John 13:34 where Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

*Loving one another like Jesus loves us?

That means living with an overflow of the Lord's unselfish, sacrificial, agape love.

The problem is that all of us have a streak of selfishness in our old sin nature.

We were born with it, and it can be hard for us to overcome.

But God wants to help us!

And one way to overcome our selfishness is simply to turn our eyes on Jesus.

*The more we look at the Lord's unselfish, sacrificial, servant-hearted life, the more we will be transformed to be like Him.

That's partly why 2 Corinthians 3:18 talks about Christians beholding the glory of the Lord and being transformed into His image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

*The more we look at the Lord's love for us, the more we will be able to love like Jesus loves us.

So, how much does Jesus love us?

Let's read vs. 1-17, and we will begin to see.

MESSAGE:

*Have you noticed yourself being selfish this week?

You might have missed it.

We often do.

But I don't think you'll miss the selfishness in this poem:

"I had a little tea party

This afternoon at three.

'Twas very small –

Three guests in all –

Just I, Myself and Me

Myself ate all the sandwiches

While I drank up the tea;

'Twas also I who ate the pie

And passed the cake to me." (1)

*We live in a very selfish, self-centered world.

But God doesn't want us to live like that!

Jesus wants us to love other people the same way that He loves us.

So, let's see how much the Lord loves us.

1. FIRST: JESUS LOVES US ENOUGH TO STAND BY US FOREVER.

*This is God's truth for us in vs. 1 where John wrote: "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

*Verse 1 tells us that Jesus was getting ready to leave this world.

And naturally, the Lord's disciples were disturbed about that.

The Lord leaving them was the last thing His disciples wanted, but it was actually the thing they needed most of all.

Jesus was leaving.

He was leaving for love's sake, and He was about to give the greatest demonstration of love the world will ever see.

*Verse 1 tells us that Jesus "loved His own who were in the world."

And He loves you so much that He wants also to have a close relationship with you.

Think about knowing the God of the whole universe in a personal way and being part of His family.

This is the kind of love we receive when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

*Jesus "loved His own who were in the world," and "He loved them to the end."

Jesus Christ is faithful to the end.

He will love you to the end.

Jesus will never walk out on you in the middle of the night.

And no matter what you are going through, the Lord will stand by you.

*Years ago, Ben E. King wrote a love song named "Stand By Me."

It was a big hit back in 1961, and it's been a classic love song ever since.

Listen to these great lyrics:

"When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we'll see.

No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid.

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon

Should tumble and fall

And the mountains should crumble to the sea

I won't cry, I won't cry,

No I won't shed a tear.

Just as long as you stand, stand by me" (2)

*The truth is that we will shed some tears in life.

But God's Word promises us that Jesus will stand by us forever!

In Hebrews 13:5, Jesus Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.''

And nobody can stand by us like the Lord Jesus Christ!

*Now you may feel alone sometimes, but God surely is watching over you, and He always has been.

In Jeremiah 1:5 the Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. .

."

Church: The same thing is true for us, and God has been watching over us in ways we can't imagine.

*Here's part of a testimony John Avant gave when he was Pastor of First Baptist Church in West Monroe: "Ninety-three years ago today, a teenage boy from Alabama lay dying in the snows of Siberia, blown up, stabbed and run over by a train.

He was fighting for his country in a forgotten war in Siberia at the end of World War I.

But God was looking down the hallway of history and had a plan for the future that required that young boy to live.

*The Lord miraculously saved him, raised him up and brought him home.

That young man was my grandfather.

On the anniversary of that terrible experience where he lost his leg and almost lost his life, I meditate with awe on the amazing sovereignty of God.

Had he died there, I would not exist.

My children would not exist.

I would never have the joy of knowing you, loving you, pastoring you, sharing life with you."

*Then Pastor John asked, "Have you ever stopped to think about how amazing God's love for you is, that He has been planning, preparing and working for not just hundreds -- but for thousands of years -- to ensure that you were here, that you had a chance to live and to breathe, to love Him and to love others, and to make a difference in this world?"

(3)

*We really have no idea of all God did to get us where we are today, but He has always been watching over us.

And Jesus loves us enough to stand by us forever!

2. HE ALSO LOVED US ENOUGH TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF FOR US.

*Verse 1 points us to the Lord's sacrifice because it speaks of the Passover.

Again, the Scripture says, "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

*It was almost time for the Feast of the Passover, the annual feast that religious Jews still observe today.

The Passover was instituted by God 3,500 years ago on the night before the Children of Israel escaped from Egypt.

The Lord told them to take a spotless lamb, kill it, and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their houses.

*God explained why in Exodus 12:12-13:

12. 'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

13.

Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.'

*Through the Passover, God saved the firstborn children of Israel from certain death.

He also saved all of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt.