Glory, Love, and Denial

If you have your bibles this morning please open them up to John 13, and Pray with me.

I have titled the message this morning Glory, Love, and Denial. Last week we saw this great betrayal by Judas, and in the betrayal I showed you through the text, was that God was in control the whole time, and because he was in control this dark moment, it actually became light, and the greatest betrayal ever brought about against someone became the greatest promise known to mankind, that Jesus saves those who believe in him.

So, Today we get to this text with Jesus speaking to the other disciples after Judas left them, and we get to get to see in the next few chapters some of Jesus best teaching, now all his teaching is great don’t get me wrong, but here we see Jesus really sharing with those closest to him on earth some information they will need to know, because of what is about to happen to Jesus. This section of scripture is known by scholars as the farewell discourse. Its his longest running teaching in all of the gospel of John, without much disruption. And in this text today we see really three dominate words that command your attention they are Glory, Love, and Denial. That is why I titled the message based on those three words. And when you take the text as a whole the main idea that I want you to get is this.… Jesus glory on the cross helps us see his love for us, and how we should love one another even when we fall short.

Let me read it to you so you can see it for yourselves…

John 13:31–38 ESV

31 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 glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so 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: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people 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 him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you 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, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

So that main idea was Jesus glory on the cross helps us see his love for us, and how we should love one another even when we fall short.

With that in mind, I have three points to help you see that a little bit clearer, and the first is this.

We can see Christ glory because of his death on the cross.

23 times we see the word glory in the gospel of John, and 5 times we see it in the text today, and if you could begin to think about one word to describe God it could definitely be glory. There are passages in scripture talking about the heavens proclaiming the glory of God. That man in the flesh cannot handle to see the glory of God fully displayed. That the glory of the Lord rested in the temple. That his glory was with the people of Isreal. That the Lord is the King of Glory.

But one might not think about glory being fully displayed through the cross. Through this instrument of torture and death. But its exactly how God choose to display his glory. And now was the time to display the glory of God fully at the Cross.

One man would say, the greatest moment of displayed glory, was in the shame of the cross.

that makes me think of 1 Corinthians 1:27 which says..

1 Corinthians 1:27 ESV

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

The torturous death on the cross, was used to bring about the glory of God. What we must see is all of God’s attributes, are displayed in the glory on the cross.

What is important for us to understand is, this glory though is something that we all fall short of as it says in Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Not only does the cross show the glory of God, it shows the lack of glory man has, and that is precisely why the disciples could not go with Jesus to display this glory to the world. Even though they had been taught by Jesus and been faithful for the most part to him, they were not worthy for the task that was upcoming, but they themselves needed that task to be fulfilled in order that they would receive the glory promised to them by Jesus.

Only Jesus could preform the task of the dying on the cross, no-one else. God the Father would not be glorified if you or I or any one of those disciples went to the cross first, but because Jesus went to the cross God the Father was glorified. And when Jesus went to the cross it was a one time event that changed the history of the world forever, and it was something no one else could do, because of who he is and what he has done.

God is glorified through Christ dying on the cross, and the reason he could be glorified on the cross was because of what happened before and after the cross. As we take the gospel of John as a whole we have seen that Jesus Christ is the word, is eternal, is the one who has been with God for all of eternity. And Jesus Christ had perfect obedience to God the father in everything, in every word, and deed, and not only was he obedient, but he is about to sacrifice himself on the cross for the glory of God. So that in his death he is gloried by purchasing salvation for those who are his.

And after that in his resurrection his glory is displayed by showing that he and he alone has dominion over sin, and death itself. ( A Glory that belongs to God alone ) And as he exalted in heaven every knee bows to him, and everyone who repents and believes in him are saved by him. AND all that happened because of the glory displayed on the cross.

and because of the glory on the cross, the second we see is this…

We can love others because he loves us.

Such a simple yet powerful statement. Jesus Christ loves us, so we can love others. So he gives them a new commandment, that not so new, but with a different standard. Previously in Old Testament this verse in mentioned. One of those places in Lev 19:18.

where in the second part of the verse it says You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So in the old testament there is this standard that should be kept among the people of God to love as they want to be loved. Thats a good standard to love someone. Love them as we want to be loved, but when you think about it this kind of love falls short of the kind of love God expects from us.

Its not the kind of the Love the Father and the Son show with one another, or the kind of love we show others.. Because in a fallen world we don’t even love our own-selves properly, so this new commandment is given based on the fact that Jesus is saying love others as I have loved you. Jesus love that is shown to us is the ultimate act of love, because he loves us in the way we need to be loved, not always in the way we want to be loved.

Idk if you have ever heard about the five love languages by Gary Chapman. Its a popular book recommended by pastors, other people before they get married. But in that book he shows you that people liked to be loved in different ways, and he gives five ways people like to be loved, and show Some like to be loved by words of affirmation which is giving them complements, saying meaningful things to them.

Others like to be loved by acts of service. This can be done by doing things around the house, serving people in need things like that.

Some like to be loved by gifts. Buying things like flowers, or cards, or something sentimental ect..

Others may enjoy quality time with one another, just sitting down enjoying ones company at a coffee shop, or taking a walk, hanging out, or just sitting at home stuff like that.

Finally there is physical touch. This can be a high five, fist bump, hug, kiss, ect..

And if you think about it Jesus loves in all those ways. He gives us words of eternal life, and promises to all those who follow him. He served others like we saw that in the passage a few weeks ago where he washed the disciples feet. He gave himself up at the cross as the ultimate gift for us, paying for our sins, and dying the death we deserve. He spends time with his disciples, teaching them, protecting them, and dying for them, and today we can spend time with him in prayer, and through his word. And he holds in his arms his children making sure no enemy can snatch us away from him.

And yet a major issue the church as a whole has is we can’t love our fellow Christian. Most of us don’t have a knowledge problem if we are a Christian, we know what we should know, we have a love problem. And why is that because it’s hard to love other people, because other people sometimes are not easy to love, and neither are we if we are honest. Going back to Leviticus the idea of loving someone as yourselves doesn’t always show that you love them. You can see this in your marriages, your friendships, and amongst other brothers and sisters in Christ, all the time.

We are to love as Christ loves us. Because Jesus says by this all people will know that you are my disciples. And I don’t want to discredit theological principles because most of you don’t even know how much a care about many of them, but if we can’t show actively how much we love one other it doesn’t matter at the end of the day.

I see all this argumentation going on in our convention, amongst other denominations, and even sometimes in our own church, and you know the number one reason none of this ever gets solved, its because of a lack of love for one another, but thats not the case with Jesus. He gives us all we need in those acts of love, because he gave us himself. The ultimate act of Love.

His love and are love are often to far apart, because we ourselves are not willing to give ourselves up like he did for one another. I cannot properly love and serve you as your pastor in light of myself, and who you are outside of Christ BUT only in light of Jesus and what he has done, and how he has loved me, and you.

Church family it’s one thing to be despised by what we believe about God, and his Word, that should not bother us one bit. We are people who believe God, and his word, however its another thing to be despised because people in the church can’t love another. Can I say that again for you? Church family it’s one thing to be despised by what we believe about God, and his Word, its another thing to be despised because people in the church can’t love another.

Our mission at this church is to EXALT the Savior , EVANGELIZE the Sinner, EQUIP the Saints , EDUCATE for Maturity , and to ENCOURAGE one Another. But its all wrapped in this idea that we love one another enough to do it together. Jesus love for you and I shows us that his love outweighs any love you have ever known, and the kind of love that we show one another will show the watching world that we know him.

This is convicting for me, because I know I am often to selfish on how I want to love others, and I know you are the same way. But could you imagine for a moment when people walk through that door or see us outside of these walls and say man these people really love one another, why is this the case? Well its because this glory God showed us through the cross, and this grace he bestowed us on the cross, and people should want to know more about because of how much we love one another.

The irony in all this is we often find so many other ways to come together for a common purpose. We have two main things in this country. I am either a democrat or a republican and you may say Luke I am somewhere in-between but not really and you to that I tell you fair enough but you are most likely aligning with something . Or You may be OU, or OSU, you may be pro life, pro choice, you may be this or that the list could go on and on, and you may for a time feel so passionately about something that you know I am going to have to put this or that aside in order to be team whatever, and I ask you why can we not come together and love one another as Christ loved us? Like we come together for so many other things.

and loving one another means we are putting aside everything we think about that person and loving them the way we are called to if they are in Christ, because Christ loved us. This does not mean that we don’t love others who are not in Christ, Jesus speaks of that on the Sermon on the Mount and my wife is doing a study of that for the laddies when time allows, but what I am saying is that our love for the brethren is how Christians ought to be known to the outside world. We should be without excuse in this particular thing.

Two scriptures to jot down today that supplement this idea..

Romans 12:9 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Our love can be genuine because of the Love Christ has for us. and 1 Cor 13:4-7

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Let that be a model for you as you strive to love another as Christ loves us, and Let the source of your love come from the glory of the cross, and the love he has for us.

Third thing this morning I want you to write down is this…

Because of his glory, and love for us we can run to him even after we deny him.

Another powerful truth this morning, and who else but Peter would say something to Jesus in such a moment as we see in this text this morning, and really Peter teaches us something in the movement. Often we are looking for the next thing God is going to do rather than be obedient to what he has said in the moment. I mentioned this earlier, and we will see next week why this is even more so, but Peter cannot come where Jesus is going now, because the work Jesus is about to do is not yet finished, but when it is finished he can come later.

And Peter says to Jesus Lord why can’t I follow you now? Remember back in verse 33 he called them little children and you see that now as Peter is trying to know something only God knows at the moment, just like your child does. He doesn’t really know what he is saying my daughter does that all the time. Peter tried to be the hero amongst the disciples saying Ill lay my life down for you Jesus, even though it was not his place to do that just yet? And Jesus gives him a question will you lay down your life for me? He is Kinda like are you sure? Then he tells him something im sure he doesn’t want to hear . You are going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. we will see this denial more in the upcoming chapters, and ill dig more into at that time, but what I want you to see today is this. Just because Peter and the other disciples as we see fall short does not mean they could not come with him one day. Notice even though Jesus says this to Peter, it says still says you will follow me afterward.

The reality is we all fall short of the glory of God, and love of God, and to often we end up to often like Peter. But the good news is that God still uses people who at one time or another or sometimes many other times deny him, and for me Its a humbling reminder that even those close to Jesus can deny him in a moment, and a reminder to us that only Jesus can do what he is about to do in the cross for someone like Peter, and even us.

Today I want to ask you an important question. have you denied him with your own life, by never trusting in him as Lord and Savior if so would do that very thing today, and see that his glory on the cross is enough to save you, and that by repenting of your sins, and trusting in Christ alone you can have salvation.

I think for many of us in this room we need to answer another question.And the question is have you been loving your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ well? If I am honest this is something after digging into this text this week I am going to have to work on more, personally I have to do a better job at loving my fellow brother’s and sisters in Christ by looking to Christ first so I can have the example to love one another.

For you are their people in this own congregation that you have failed to love as Christ has called you to, or have you not felt loved properly by someone if this is the case go to them, and make it right between you and them, and the Lord, there may be brothers and sisters in Christ outside this church you may need to go to. Life is to short and Christ’s love is to great to not reconcile these things while the Lord is giving you life to breath on his earth.

Finally have you felt like you have done something so wrong that you have not came back to Jesus, know today you can do that very thing. This is for a later sermon but let me leave you with a bit of encouragement before we close today… Flip over in your bibles to the last chapter in John John 21, and listen to these words starting in verse 15…

John 21:15–19 ESV

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus used Peter to build his church despite Peter denying Jesus. So no matter where you are at today, God can still use you to build his church, after the resurrection Peter was given the power to follow Jesus to the point to death like he told Jesus he would in chapter 13, even death on a cross, tradition teaches us that Peter was most likely crucified upside down, because he did not feel worthy to be crucified like his lord. but the difference was Peter had seen the glory of the cross, and the love Jesus had for him, and he knew that even though he fell short, Jesus restored him back to himself, and he can do that for you as well.

Jesus glory on the cross helps us see his love for us, and how we should love one another even when we fall short.