I want you to turn into your Bible to the
thirteenth chapter of John, John chapter 13, John 13. Just a little bit of background to kind of
get you up to the point where we can actually look at that verse. This all takes place, what begins in chapter
13, all takes place on Thursday night of the final week of our Lord's life, which is called
Passion Week. You will remember on Monday, He came into
the city. Hundreds of thousands of people hailed Him
as the Messiah. On Tuesday, He assaulted and attacked the
temple, threw out the money changers, the buyers and sellers, and took over the temple
on Tuesday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, He held
court in that temple, teaching, giving parables, communicating to the people and interacting
with the leaders since overwhelming them and overpowering them in their verbal conflict. That's been going on now Tuesday and Wednesday
and Thursday, but Thursday night it is time for the Galileans to celebrate Passover. The Galileans celebrated on Thursday night,
the Judeans on Friday, so celebrations began Thursday night. We find ourselves in John 13 on that Thursday
night. You can see the way the first verse begins
that we are right up against the feast of the Passover. That would be held on that Thursday night. We don't know the date that Jesus was born. We don't know the date in which He was baptized. We know the exact date on which He was crucified,
15th of Nisan in the year A.D. 30 at the Passover at the very time when the lambs were being
slaughtered to be offered by the people as sacrifices. We know that date. So when we celebrate Good Friday and Easter
Sunday, we are in the zone consistent with the Jewish calendar of the death of our Lord. We're at Thursday night and He will meet with
His disciples in that upper room. He will leave, go through the dark streets
of Jerusalem with them trailing along, Judas having been dismissed, they will stop along
the way for an incredible event. Then they will proceed to the Garden of Gethsemane. He will pray in agony after midnight on Thursday
early into Friday morning. He will be arrested. He will be tried in the middle of the night
at mock trials. He will end up being crucified on Friday at
exactly the time when the lambs are being offered. We're on Thursday night of that week. In the narrative texts of Matthew, Mark, and
Luke, these scenes all move by at a rather consistent pace, but in John, we come to a
dead halt at this moment on Thursday night. The next five chapters feature what happens
with Jesus and the disciples on that night. Five full chapters. We're going to enter those five chapters in
verse 1. In some ways, this is the high point of all
four gospels as far as the believer is concerned because here is truth so stunning and staggering
that it just reaches beyond our comprehension. If there is anywhere to stop and rest for
a long time in the fast-moving narrative of Passion Week, it is here on Thursday night. That's exactly what John forces us to do. Now, one other thing to consider. The heart of Judaism was the temple, which
had been basically designed by God and revealed to man and was built in a manner that followed
the instruction that God gave back in the book of Exodus. In the temple, there was a holy place. The people could be outside in courtyards,
but only priests could go into the holy place. They went into the holy place to commune with
God through their offerings. Inside the holy place, there was the Holy
of Holies or the most holy place. In that place, only one person could go, and
that was the high priest. It was for him and him alone, a very brief
visit once a year. That was the center of the worship of Israel
by God's design, but by the time we reach this moment in Jewish history, the temple
is not God's. It has been turned into a den of robbers from
a human viewpoint, and even more, it has been taken over by Satan. It is full of a false and apostate priesthood,
corrupt leaders whose father, Jesus said, is the devil. So it is the devil's edifice now. It still has a place called the holy place,
but it's unholy. It still has a placed called the Holy of Holies,
but it also is unholy. But keep that in your mind. Jesus attacked that temple for its corruption. It still has a priesthood, the ironic priesthood
still in place, but they are an unholy, unqualified, ungodly priesthood. However, as we enter John 13, we are going
to enter the true holy place; not the temple in Jerusalem because that's an unholy place,
but a genuinely holy place. We're going to enter the genuine holy place
where the true priests commune with the living Lord. Here in this holy place, we have come to the
most spiritual, the most personal, the most intimate, the most glorious fellowship between
the Lord and His authentic priesthood. Here in this holy place, we literally are
given access to the secret place of the most high God, available only to true priests. Available only to those whom Peter calls the
royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people of His own possession, those who are called
to proclaim the excellencies of the Glorious One who called them out of darkness into His
marvelous light. The false and apostate priests of Judaism
are completely excluded. They are shut out of this holy place. They are eliminated from all of its astonishing
promises, pledges. What our Lord does in this holy place is communicate
to His true priests all that He has prepared for them that love Him. This holy place is a place where they commune
with the living Lord, and He unfolds for them heaven's provision for power, protection,
peace, all the promises of eternal triumph. This communication of divine promise to the
true priest couldn't happen in the physical temple in Jerusalem. It had been taken over by the devil. This is a true holy place. It's not a building. It's not a building, but it is the place where
the Holy One is. He sanctifies it. The one who is the Holy One of God, the Lord
Jesus creates around Him, His own holy place. Who are the true priests? They are His apostles. They are His apostles. They are the true priests. They are the royal priesthood, the holy people,
the people of His own possession. Now, the presence of the Holy One makes the
holy place holy. By the way, it is mobile. The holy place starts in an upper room where
Jesus meets with His disciples and has the Passover, and speaks with them and unfolds
promises and pledges and commitments that are beyond comprehension, but it doesn't stay
in the upper room. This holy place moves. At the end of chapter 14 we read this, Jesus
says, "Get up, let's go from here." Jesus gets up from the reclining table in
the upper room along with the 11 disciples who were still with Him, Judas having been
dismissed, and He takes that royal priesthood out the door of that upper room, and they
walk through the dark streets of Jerusalem late, late on Thursday night. The holy place then is moving along in the
darkness of Jerusalem. Along the way, the holy place stops, and a
most amazing event takes place described in chapter 17, and the disciples are a part of
that as well. Then finally, the holy place arrives at the
Garden of Gethsemane, where our Lord goes to pray. That is the holy place. All along through that moving holy place,
from the upper room to the garden, the Lord is speaking and dispensing promises, astonishing
promises for His true royal priesthood. As Peter tells us, it's not just the apostles. Peter writes to the believers and says, "You
are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own possession." John allows us all to be there in that upper
room. All of the promises that our holy Lord gives
to His royal priests, the apostles, extend to all believers, to every true Christian. In fact, as it all comes to an end in chapter
17 and verse 20, Jesus says, "I do no ask on behalf of these alone," meaning the 11,
"but for those who also believe in Me through their word." And extends all of these promises to all believers
right down to us and to the end of the age. The glorious sounding promises of the Lord
for His royal priests, His holy people, the people of His own possession are perfectly
recorded by John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in chapters 13 to 16. This is really monumental territory. You will be ushered into a place where only
the true royal priesthood can go. Just as a footnote, some wonder why John omits
so many of the details of Passion Week, this final week of our Lord, which Matthew, Mark,
and Luke record, some of the more historical details. Why does John omit those? I think the answer is pretty simple. Because Matthew gave them, Mark gave them,
and Luke gave them, and that fulfills Deuteronomy which says that truth has to be established
in the mouth of two or three witnesses. We don't need another repeat of the testimony
of the two or three witnesses. I'm not bothered by the fact that John leaves
things out. I'm just grateful that he included what he
did because the others left that out. I love the historical narrative aspect, but
nothing compares to this. I am so profoundly grateful and so will you
be as we go through this that John, by the Holy Spirit's inspiration included this section. We have the history in three accounts. We have this only here, and it is a treasure
beyond treasures. We are allowed into the holy place. We then are given all the promises that belong
only to the true priests of God. Then, then we are taken into the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could go there. In this case, the high priest goes into the
Holy of Holies to commune with the Father, but He takes us with Him. He takes us into the inner sanctuary where
no one could ever go, where only the high priest could go. And that is chapter 17. Chapters 13 to 16, the holy place. Chapter 17, the Holy of Holies where no one
speaks but the great High Priest, and He prays to His Father, and we're all there. We are indeed a royal priesthood. We are a privileged priesthood taken into
the holy place, taken into the Holy of Holies, given access to all of this, even to the intimate
personal communion between our great High Priest and His Father. Again, this is not in the temple in Jerusalem. It's the devil's temple. This is in the sanctuary of prayer. I don't know where it was in the night. I don't know where it was along the walk before
they got to Gethsemane, but somewhere along the way, Jesus stopped and created a Holy
of Holies that was really holy, a sanctuary where He is the great High Priest communed
with His Father on our behalf. We are there because what He said is recorded
in chapter 17. No doubt the disciples heard it, and they
couldn't have distinguished between what was in 13 to 16 and 17. I'll tell you why. Because the prayer in chapter 17 is that God
will do, will fulfill all that Jesus has promised in 13 to 16. He makes all the promises, and then He prays
that the Father will fulfill those promises. Do you understand that? He intercedes for us to the Father, pleading
with the Father to grant us everything that He has promised us. If you had any question about the importance
of prayer, that ought to end that. Even in the communication within the Trinity,
prayer plays a role in the accomplishing of the will of God. Now, what in the world could motivate the
Lord to do this? What He promises in chapters 13 to 16 and
what He prays for in chapter 17 are realities that are the essence of what it means to be
a believer and to have eternal life. They're vast, far-reaching, infinite promises. But the question is why? Why? What motivates this? What drives this? By now, having come to chapter 13, we're pretty
well-acquainted with the apostles, aren't we? You might have expected that at this point,
the Lord would have said to the Father, "Could you give Me a different group? These guys are ignorant, heart-hearted, weak,
selfish, proud, ambitious, cowardly. They're going to end up fleeing, denying." There is really nothing at this point to commend
them. They haven't preached a sermon. They haven't made an impact. They have muddled along trying to figure out
what was going on, taking in what the Lord was saying and filtering it through their
own predisposed understandings of the way things are supposed to be, leaving them in
confusion. This might have been the time when the Lord
said, "Let's try plan B, Father," but no. To these selfish, self-centered men arguing
about who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom, to these men who are doubting and
will even deny Him and flee when the going gets difficult, He makes promises that are
beyond comprehension. This is all about grace. This is all about grace to the underserved,
which is what salvation is all about, but why? Why this grace? Why these promises? All right. Now you come to verse 1. "Now, before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus
knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father - " here's
the motive, " - having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." What motivated Him? What motivated Him? Love. Not love that arose at this moment; having
loved them, already loved them. He loved them all along. He loved them before they knew Him. Love. Love. This becomes, but the way, the most common
word in the next five chapters. Love, love, love, love, love, love again and
again. It begins with love in chapter 13, verse 1. It ends with love in chapters 17, verse 26,
"So that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them and I in them." It begins with love. It ends with love. It's all about love. The whole of this section is about what the
Lord does for those whom He loves. This becomes the most common word in these
five chapters, the most common theme. All the grace, all the mercy, all the boundless
blessings, all the lavish gifts that are poured out forever on those who belong to Him are
the product of this infinite divine love. And with full knowledge of their ignorance,
full understanding of their selfishness, weakness, failure, cowardice, doubt, denial - all of
the things that He knows, not only what they've done, but what they will do. In the face of all of that, all these promises
are poured out, and it's all motivated by love undeserved. It's about grace. There are more references to the Savior's
love for His own here than anywhere in the Bible. A lot of things in the Bible about the love
of God. You can go all the way back to the writings
of Moses, Deuteronomy 6 and read about the love of God. You can go back to the prophets like Jeremiah
31 and read about the love of God. You can find the love of God in the Old Testament
and certainly you can find a lot of places in the New Testament that talk about the love
of God. He loves the world, John 3. He loves His enemies, Matthew 5. But when it comes to Him loving His own, this
is the high point. There is more here that is reflective of the
love of the Lord for His own than anywhere in Scripture. This is what I want you to see as we go through
this. These are the gifts of love that the Savior
gives to underserving sinners like us by sheer grace, and it's just amazing. They're spread through all five chapters. Let's go back to verse 1, a few details. "Now, before the Feast of the Passover." This is critical. This is critical. This is working up to the Feast of the Passover,
which happened on Thursday night. As I said, the Galilean Jews celebrate the
Passover Thursday night; the Judean Jews on Friday. So it's just before the evening to celebrate
the Passover. Timing is critical. Why is this critical? Because everything in Jesus' life was leading
to the final Passover, and this, by the way, was the final legitimate Passover in the history
of Israel. But let me give you the lead up, okay? I looked in the book, One Perfect Life where
I sort of harmonize all of the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and this is
the paragraph that would lead us up to this moment. "Then came the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread when they killed the Passover lamb, and He set out two of His disciples." This is Thursday early in the day. "He sent out two of His disciples, Peter and
John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat.' So they said to Him, 'Where do You want us
to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?' And He said to them, 'Behold, go into the
city and when you have entered the city, a certain man will meet you carrying a pitcher
of water. Follow him into the house which he enters
wherever he goes in. Say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher
says to you, "My time is at hand. Where is the guest room where I may eat the
Passover with My disciples at your house?" The he will show you a large, furnished upper
room; there make ready for us.' So the disciples did as Jesus had directed. They went out and came into the city and found
it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover." "In the evening, when the hour had come, He
- " Jesus " - came and sat down and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, 'With fervent desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will
no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'" This is the last Passover. So everything was prepared during the day. Peter and John went. They met the man; the room was found. Later, the rest of them came. Each gospel writer: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
focuses on the precise time and event at which our Lord Jesus was crucified. It was the Passover. It was the Passover. The best calculations would be in the year
30 A.D. It was the month of Nisan. It was the 14th and the 15th day, and He would
die on Friday. He would die at the Passover Feast. What was the Passover Feast? It was a slaughter. It was a slaughter. Everybody came from all over the known world,
all the Jews came back to the feast. It was the most well-attended feast and they
brought lambs or they bought lambs and they slaughtered them for two days. And it was a remembrance of the slaughter
of the lambs in Egypt and the blood splattering on the door so that they would be delivered
from the angel of death and rescued out of Egypt. God ordained that to be remembered every year
to demonstrate that God was a deliverer so that they would always look back and see that
God delivered His people through the death of an innocent lamb. It not only looked back; it looked forward
to the day when God would deliver His people, not from Egypt, not from a political entity
or a national entity, but God would deliver His people from their sins by the death of
a sacrificial lamb. The feast was a memorial to God's salvation
of Israel from Egyptian slavery, a salvation that was triggered by the death of a lamb. Passover lambs all through Israel's history
became the most clear symbol of salvation, clear symbol of rescue and deliverance and,
as such, were pictures and types of the Lamb of God whose sacrifice would take away the
sins of the world, as John the Baptist said it. The purpose of every Passover lamb that was
ever slain was calculated to communicate God's redemption of His people, not only in the
past from Egypt, but in the future from their sin. So while the Passover looked back, it also
looked forward to the time when the true Lamb would come because no one could be justified
by the blood of bulls and goats. Furthermore, Passover drew the largest number
of Jewish pilgrims who were scattered, came back, which meant that the marvelous reality
of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and His resurrection would be in the mouth of the
most people going back to the most places to herald the gospel. It had to happen at Passover because He was
the fulfillment of Passover. Inthe New Testament He's called "Christ, our
Passover" and to have it happen at this feast also guaranteed that the most people would
be talking about it when they went back to their homes. Jesus knew this. It says in verse 1, "Jesus, knowing that His
hour had come." In fact in John 18:4 it says, "He knew all
that would happen to Him." Think about that. Think about that. I know people are fascinated with knowing
the future. Let me tell you something. I have never had any interest in knowing the
future. Sufficient unto the day is the suffering thereof. I don't need to know what's coming. It's enough to try to deal with what is. It is a gift from God that you don't know
the future. Ignorance of future pain, ignorance of future
suffering is a blessing. So you only suffer when you suffer. Look, it's enough anticipation just living
in a world where you know something is going to go wrong; you just don't know what it is. Or worse, if you knew every single thing that
was coming. That was true of Christ. He must have died a million times. He must have been crucified in His mind a
million times. He must have been agonizing for His whole
conscious life knowing what was coming. He knew exactly, specifically, precisely,
perfectly everything that was going to happen to Him. No wonder His body broke down, His capillaries
burst, and He started to have blood pouring through His pores in the agony of accumulated
anticipation. It wasn't just the anticipation of that late
Thursday in the garden. It was the anticipation of a whole life of
knowing what was coming. And in the midst of that, He said, "Nevertheless,
not My will but Yours be done," willingly. Why? Why would He do that? Why would He come and go through that? As Hebrews 12:2 says, "He endured, despising
the shame for the joy that was set before Him," for the joy that was set before Him. What was that joy? That joy was to be seated at the right hand
of God's throne and to have gathered around Him all the redeemed to worship and praise
Him forever. Having done the Father's will at the cross,
He secured the eternal salvation of all those upon whom His divine love had been fixed. He knew what was coming. He knew every detail. He even spoke of the details. He knew everything perfectly. You might wonder why there was a sadness about
His life if you didn't know that. Then it says in verse 1, "He knew that His
hour had come, but He knew that He would depart out of this world to the Father." In chapter 17, He starts His prayer by saying,
"Father, restore to Me the glory I had with You before the world began." He knew exactly where He was going. He knew it was death, resurrection, ascension,
exaltation. By the way, that's the plan for us, for every
believer: death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation. Well, you say, "Well why would He do all this
if He's going to end up where He started?" He came from the Father's throne. He's going back to the Father's throne. Why would He do this? The difference is He goes back and gathers
around Him all on whom God has fixed His eternal, everlasting, saving love. He redeemed humanity to worship and praise
Him forever. Why does He do this? Why does He come to save us? He loves us. He has set His love on us. That's the end of the verse. "Having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end." It's an unbreakable love. If He started loving, He will love to the
end. It has no deviation. To the end is eis telos . It means completely, perfectly, fully, utterly,
to the max, to the end, both in terms of capacity and eternity. He loves as much as He can love. As much as God can love, that's how much He
loves. And for as long as God loves, that's how long
He loves, which is to say He loves infinitely both in capacity and in time. We're introduced then at this point in verse
1 to this dominant theme, and the dominant theme of all of these chapters is this astounding
love that He has for His own. It says, "Having loved His own," implied the
already. "Having loved His own," already. He's been loving His own since before they
even knew Him. While we were enemies, He loved us. Having already loved His own, nothing can
change that. He loves them to the max, to the end infinitely,
utterly, completely, perfectly. How is that love measured? Well, the Bible is full of statements about
the love of God. But you don't even need to go beyond these
chapters that are in front of us right now. God's love for His own mentioned there in
verse 1 is then explained in the next five chapters. Let me help you with just a little summary. It isn't romantic love. It isn't sentimental love. It isn't emotional love. It isn't fickle love. It is fixed eternal love that provides eternal
salvation, eternal blessing, and eternal glory. What we're going to learn in these chapters
is this. I'll give you a list. It is gracious love. We don't deserve it. It is sovereign love. He loved us first. "We love Him because He first loved us." It is redeeming love. It is love that reached out and sought us
and bought us. It is unconditional love. It is not predicated on anything we have done
and in full awareness of our wretchedness. It is faithful love to the very end. Nothing can separate us from this love, nothing,
Romans 8. It is intercessory love. He loves us so much that He intercedes for
us at all times, ever living to interceded for us before the throne of God so that everything
He pledged and promised to us is delivered. It is sacrificial love. "Greater love hath no man than this," John
15:13, "that a man lay down his life for his friends." It is a love that demanded the greatest sacrifice. It is generous love. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. It is this lavish, incomprehensible love. So let me say it again. It is gracious love, sovereign love, redeeming
love, unconditional love, faithful love, intercessory love, sacrificial love, and generous love. How much does He love us? Look how generous He is. This eternal, everlasting infinite love is
behind all that He promises in this section. Now, I don't have time to show you specific
verses, but here's what we're going to look at. How much does He love us? What does He give us? The first thing He gives us right out of the
gate in chapter 13 is an example of humility, an example of humility when He washes the
disciples' feet. Why is that important? Because we need to know what humility is because
humility is the path to grace, because God gives grace to the humble. God gives grace to the humble. God exalts those who abase themselves. So the greatest spiritual virtue is humility. Here is a treasure; we have an example of
humility, the purest virtue and the path to effective evangelism. Yes, yes, humility is the path to evangelism
because humility is behind love, and they will know us by our love. He not only gives us an example of humility;
He gives us a new commandment to love and then gives us the capacity to love. He gives us the capacity to love in a way
that we can't love before we come to Christ. "A new commandment to love as I have loved
you and a new capacity to do that." In chapter 14, He gives us a home in heaven
and then a promise to come and get us and take us there. In chapter 14 and 15, He gives us a promise
to supply everything we need, everything He knows we need, He will supply and hold nothing
back. He promises to give us and has the Holy Spirit
as our helper, our comforter, and our truth teacher, chapter 14, chapter 15. He promises to give us peace, a perfect peace. He promises to give us spiritual productivity,
to give us life pouring through us so that we bear much fruit for His glory. He promises to make us intimate family, not
just slaves - friends, sons. He promises to give us joy, endless, boundless
joy. He promises in chapter 15 and 16 to give us
triumph in the face of persecution. I chapter 15, He pledges to give us power
to proclaim the gospel, and then promises that He will grant to us the power of the
Holy Spirit to do the convicting of the sinner so that the sinner can respond to the gospel,
chapter 16. So what are we saying? He give us the path of humility, which is
the path to effective evangelism, love, and grace. He gives us the capacity to love, a home in
heaven, a promise to take us there, a pledge to supply everything we need, the helper,
the Holy Spirit, who is also the truth teacher. He promises us a resurrection, perfect peace,
spiritual fruit, joy, triumph in persecution, power to proclaim the gospel and divine help
to convict the sinner. Then, as if that's not enough, I will ask
you to look at chapter 16, verse 15. "All things that the Father has are Mine. All things that the Father has are Mine." Just think about that. "All that the Father has are Mime; therefore
I said He takes of Mine and will give it to you." He gives you everything. Whatever might have been left out up to this
point, all things that belong to God, all things that belong to Christ, He gives to
us. It's just amazing. Verse 23, John 16:23, "In that day you will
not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the
Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you." Anything in My name. Verse 24, "Until now you have asked for nothing
in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full." Everything, all things, anything, all that
belongs to God, all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, to borrow Paul's language,
are available and granted to us. This is the lavish nature of the love of the
Lord for His own royal priesthood. Oh, by the way, by the way, all along He keeps
giving us more and more and more love. Chapter 14, verse 21, "He who has My commandments,
keeps them - " that's a believer, " - is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father
and I will love Him, and will disclose Myself to him." More love. Verse 23, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep
My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with
him." Chapter 15, verse 9, "Just as the Father has
loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." Verse 10, "If you keep My commandments, you'll
abide in My love; just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." Verse 12, "This is My commandment, that you
love one another just as I have loved you." Verse 13, "Greater love has no one than this,
that one lay down his life for his friends." Verse 17, "This I command you that you love
one another." Love, love, love, love. More love from the Father. More love from the Son. More love from those around us and to those
around us. Love, love, love. Really the dominant reality in the Christian
experience is what? Love. Why all this? Why all this? Verse 27, chapter 16, "For the Father Himself
loves you because you have loved Me." We're all caught up in a crazy, amazing, incomprehensible
love relationship. After all those promises that run through
the end of 16, Jesus then goes into the Holy of Holies in 17 and prays to the Father to
fulfill everything He's promised, and that's what He does. These are things that we're waiting for. These are realities that we possess. These aren't things that you need to pray
for. These are things you have. We don't even understand the richness of His
love toward us, but we will as we take this section by section. Father, we are grateful beyond comprehension
for your love to us. We could never repay you for this kind of
lavish love, but we can humbly offer the best we have and give you back a loving, obedient
heart.
