Introduction: the love of Christ

·        It’s hard to believe Dylan’s surgery was one whole year ago! Those were some of the most difficult days of our life. But by the grace of God, we never doubted God’s love.

·        Do you sometimes wonder if God really loves you? Physical suffering, financial problem, past abuse. How could a loving God allow such things? Maybe you haven’t actually said those words, but you’ve grown bitter, or anxious, or feel lonely and depressed. These are signs that you are struggling with God’s love.

·        Paul prayed that the Ephesians would “be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:18-19).

·        How much do we really know about Christ’s love? How often do we really think about it? Does it really comfort us in difficult times? Does it motivate us to love Him and love others?

·        This morning, we get a glimpse at the supreme love of Christ.

·        Rd John 13:1-4

·        Pray – confession, that we would comprehend, and know the love of Christ.

Background of John

·        Good to be back in John; like returning to an old friend

·        Chapters 1-12 – Public ministry, offering Himself to people.

·        7 miracles or “signs” – water into wine in ch. 2; healing son of royal official in ch. 4 with high fever; healing paralytic at Pool of Bethesda in ch. 5; feeding 5,000 in ch. 6; walking on water in ch. 6; healing blind man in ch. 9; raising Lazarus in ch. 11.

·        5 “I am” statements – Bread of Life (ch. 6); the Light of the world (8:12); the door of the sheep (10:7); the good Shepherd (10:11); to Martha, the resurrection and the life (11:25); PLUS before Abraham was born (8:58)

·        Witnesses: Himself, John the Baptist, Father, seven signs, the Scriptures

·        Widespread disbelief (family, religious leaders, most disciples), with some bright moments of faith (eleven disciples, woman at well, royal official, blind man)

·        John 1:11-12 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

·        Christ has now ‘hid himself’ (12:36). Now turns attention toward disciples.

·        New tone – love; disciples “his own.” This whole passage (13-17) has been called the “Heart of Christ”

·        FOUR FEATURES OF CHRIST’S LOVE:

Christ loved you in perfect knowledge (1a)

·        Passover meal – take lamb on 10th, keep until 14th, kill and eat at twilight, spread blood in remembrance of Egypt.

·        His hour – earlier had not come; 12:23 arrived; cross, glory, returning to Father. But for Christ, the pathway to heaven would take Him first through the blazing fires of hell at the cross.

·        Jesus had always been fully aware that He would suffer and die. His arrest in Gethsemane did not surprise Him. He trembled and approached the cross with His eyes wide open. Even when He was offered a narcotic of wine mixed with gall to dull His senses and deaden the pain, He declined, so that He could bear the full knowledge and guilt for our sins

·        Further, He fully knew who He was dying for! He was not dying for loyal friends. He was not dying for moral people. He was dying for sinners like you and me. Wretched sinners who had rebelled against God. The very ones who crucified Him. Yet He “loved us to the end.”

Christ loved you to the highest degree (1b)

·        Meaning of ‘love’ – 17x in next two chapters; “to have a warm regard for and interest in someone; to cherish; have affection for” “to be satisfied with, to seek after, prefer.” It is the opposite of living for self.

·        Leaps off the  page when you see it or have experienced it. Love is a mother holding her child. It is the soldier embracing His wife after a long deployment. It is the missionary who sacrifices all the comforts of this world to give a cup of water and the gospel of Jesus to a stranger in a foreign land.

·        ‘To the end’ – to the uttermost; to perfection; NIV “He showed them the full extent of His love”

·        Hendriksen: Take all human virtues; then raise them to the nth degree (multiply x infinity), and realize that no matter how grand and glorious and total picture is formed in the mind, even that is a mere shadow of the love-life which exists eternally in the heart of him whose very name is Love

·        Do you wonder about His love? He could do nothing greater to show His love to you.

Christ loved you, in contrast to the hatred of Satan (2)

·        Just as the stars seem brighter on a dark, moonless night, so Christ’s love takes on a brighter, richer, deeper beauty when set against the dark hatred of Satan

·        ‘devil’ – slanderer, mudslinger, false statements, accusations

·        Perhaps ‘already decided in his heart’

·        Judas still responsible

·        Contrast Satan and Christ

Christ loved you by humbling Himself (3-4)

·        Rd. v. 3. Christ’s inheritance

·        Had the power to obliterate Satan – call down 10,000 angels with flaming swords. He had air supremacy. Unleashed a “shock and awe” campaign like the world had never seen before, and nuked Satan into dust. >>BUT…

·        Looked over at dish and towel that no one had been willing to touch. Rd. v. 4.

·        Outer garments – robe or cloak; tunic

·        Wrapped towel around waste, with enough fabric on one end to dry their feet.

·        Dressed like a slave, duty of a slave

Conclusion

·        Review: perfect knowledge, highest degree, contrast to Satan, by humbling Himself.

·        The love we are called to later stems from Christ’s own love

·        Have you been doubting God’s love recently? Then you are not alone.

·        Spurgeon: I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her.

·        “Oh!” I said, “that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God’s putting it there.”

·        Spurgeon goes on to say, “You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God’s love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God.”

·        Perhaps you have never experienced that love. Christ invites you to believe in Him today.