Love Even In The Absence of Christ
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31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.
33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”
37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
Judas, after being indwelt by Satan, was dismissed from the gathering of disciples. Jesus expelled him from their presence by saying, “What you do, do quickly.” Immediately, Judas left into the darkness of the night, now devine glory can be manifested.
31 When therefore he had gone out, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;
Did you notice that the Lord said“now is” the Son of Man glorified. Why is it now?
While John 7:39 states that “Jesus was not yet glorified”?
Then again in John 12:23 Jesus stated the “the hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified” ?
The Son of Man came to do for humanity, what humanity could not do for themselves.
With the departure of Judas, who was going to betray Him, the cross of Calvary was only hours away.
The cross may have appeared a defeat for Jesus, while in reality, by the cross, where He died for sinner, is where Christ’s glory was desplayed most clearly.
The event at the cross would not be just the greatest humiliation of Jesus, but it would also be the high point of the life that He lived, perfectly in obedience to His Father’s will.
Through the eyes of Jesus, Calvary is the place where He would truly demonstrate His genuine love for humanity.
Jesus viewed Calvary as the place where His Father would be glorified in His Son.
Calvary would be the place where the Father would demonstrate His genuine love for the world, by giving His only begotten Son, for an undeserving people.
The sacrificial death on the cross glorified the Son of Man of Man indeed!
By way of the cross, our Lord purchased salvation by satisfying the demands of God’s justice for all who believe in Him.
By way of the cross, Jesus would destroy the power of sin.
By way of the cross, Satan, lost His power of death, and his power over the souls of men
You want to know how Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross glorified God?
It showed to the world the perfect obedience, of the Son to the Father.
On the cross His honor was restored when the evil done against Him was justly punished. God’s justice was perfectly satisfied.
The cross demonstrated Gods love for humanity. He gave His only Son, to die a horrendous death for humanity.
Speaking of Himself as the Son of Man, Jesus said...
32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.
What does He mean when He say, “if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself”?
Our LORD is speaking of His own exaltation to the Father’s right hand.
The Father is well pleased with Him. And as surely as the son has honor and give glory to the Father in this life, the Father will glorify the Son.
Look at what the Apostle Paul said to the saints at Phillipi in reference to His glorification...
9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
His glorification is not for the faint of heart! He is highly exalted by the Father, and all in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will give Him glory.
Jesus longed to return to His former glory.
Notice what He says in...
5 “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
Jesus knew that just beyond the cross that the Father would glorify Him immediately with resurrection to life and ascension to the throne of God.
Jesus knew that just beyond death awaits, eternal life and eternal glory.
33 “Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
After speaking on the certainty of His glorification.
Jesus was aware of the fear and uncertainty among His disciples. He was mindful of the fact that even though He was about to return to His place of glory in heaven, the disciples still had to continue to live on earth. Jesus was mindful of the fact that His disciples loved Him deeply and totally depended upon Him.
In tenderness, Jesus said to them...
“Little children, I am with you a little while longer.”
Jesus viewed them as sheep among wolves, as alone in weakness.
The LORD wanted to prepare them for what they were about to witness.
None of the disciples would have chosen the imminent departure and death of their Master.
However, it was necessary for Him to perform this act of love for their sake and ours.
The greatest way to express the love a Good Shepherd is when He lays down His life for the sheep, which He will soon do.
Jesus forewarns them....
“You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ”
Likewise, a follower of Christ, seeks His likeness.
As followers of Christ, we look for His return.
We seek His appearing.
We long to be in His eternal presents.
The Lord was going into death, and then He would return to the Father in Heaven, a place where His disciples could not immediately come.
Faith in Christ is the way in which we can make the heavenward journey, to remain eternally in His presents.
For now, we must wait.
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
The disciples would live one day live eternally in Heaven, but in the meanwhile, He would give them, and by extension, believers of today, a new commandment.
Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
This new commandment of love is based upon the example that Jesus lived out.
Jesus’ love and care for His followers is evident.
No greater act of love is there, than when one gives up his life for another.
That is what Jesus did at Calvary.
The word love is tossed around alot, but is hardly understood.
In Paul’s letter to the saints in Corinth, he lays out what love is and what love is not.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
If we want to have a positive impact with the spreading of the gospel to the world, we gotta do it with love.
If we are His disciples, given the commission to spread the truth, it must be presented with unmeasured love.
Why was it critical for the disciples to love one another?
With the departure of Christ, the disciples would need to comfort one another, to encourage one another, to build-up and support one another.
They were given a difficult task. They were being left as sheep before the wolves. They would be persecuted, they would be hated by the world, they would be arrested.
They would need one another and it was imperative that their close relationship remain intact.
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The born again believer is a changed person. A believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit and possess the fruit of the spirit.
Paul writes....
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
The world see’s our conduct.
Our actions speak louder than our words.
We are judged by the world for what we do or what we fail to do.
But love that is genuine tells the world, who you are and whose you are.
Jesus tells His disciples, “if you have love for one another, all men will know that you are My disciples.”
Now because we are born again, we love not only those in our fellowship, but we love those whom we come in contact with from day to day.
We must love our enemy and those who mistreat us, and this is a strange concept for the world to try to grasp.
This type of love can only come from above!
36 Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.”
It seems that Peter is beginning to have anxiety at the thoughts of the Lord’s departure.
Peter asks, “Lord, where are You going?” For some time, they had thought that Jesus was going to liberate Israel from Roman rule, and become the new king. It seems to be sinking in, that the Lord’s departure is truly at hand.
The Lord answered Peter, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now;” then the Lord assures him “but you will follow later.”
In contrast, Jesus had told the unbelieving Jews, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”
Words cannot describe the awefullness of this statement. It is horrifying beyond comprehension, for a person to be eternally damned. But Jesus knew that they would never turn from sin, they would willfully reject the Son of God.
But for those who truly believe, for the true disciples of Christ, we have the blessed hope of being where Jesus is in eternity.
37 Peter *said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
Never short on words and always wanting to know more, “Peter said to Him, “Lord why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.”
I don’t doubt Peter’s sincerity.
He loved the LORD.
We often want to know the “why” do we not?
The questions that were asked by the Apostles and the answers given by Jesus are precisely what we have to examine today, in our endevore to know God.
We see Peter with a desire and a will to follow the Lord. Peter said to Him, “I will lay down my life for You.”!
To what extent do you love the Lord? Are you willing to follow Him even to death?
Peter’s committment to Christ is to be commended.
Over and over Peter expressed his faithfulness to the Lord.
33 But Peter answered and said to Him, ”Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.”
Then again....
31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing, too.
Then again....
33 And he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”
Unfortunately, even when intentions are good, one’s strength and confidence can dwindle away when facing a hostile mob or imminent danger.
Peter insisted that he was willing to go to prison with Christ and he was even willing to die with Christ.
What Peter was claiming to be willing to do “with the Lord,” Jesus actually, did do and much more, while forsaken and alone!
38 Jesus *answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.
John 13:38 (NASB95PARA)
38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
For some reason, Peter remained uncharacteristically silent through the rest of the Lord’s farewell discourse, perhaps because the Lords words suppressed his eagerness to speak.
Jesus’ answer to Peter certainly should have brought him to a place of shame. Jesus said to him… “Will you lay down your life for Me?”
On the contrary, it is Jesus who will down His life for His sheep.
The truth is, Peter would fail the test of loyalty to Christ.
The LORD said to Peter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.
The disciples needed to be encouraged. Their faith would be put to the test. The next time, we will find the comforting words that Jesus left with His disciples. The Lord instructs you and I, like the Apostles of Jesus “let not your heart be troubled” then He tells them “you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
It is my sincere hope that your faith will grow as you make this journey, and that your joy be made complete in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanks for stopping by today, and until we meet again, may the grace of Christ be with you!