Let's return to the gospel of John, the gospel of John as we'll take a look at the first verse of chapter 13 primarily, as we focus on that verse, and we find in this a very tender moment, a very tender reading of the ministry of Christ. John chapter 13, verse 1, listen for it is God who speaks to us concerning his son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Lord bless the reading of his word before his people. Let me very quickly summarize where we are because it is important in our understanding of the scriptures which we have just read. Chapters 1 through 12 have often been called the Book of Signs, Signs and Discourses which were based largely on Jewish festivals and existing institutions of the day, a general and indiscriminate in as far as it was to the Jewish nation, appeal for all men to come to Christ. It was made broadly, it was made openly for whomever had ears to hear and would respond. As we transition, however, in chapter 13, as you've already probably know it from the very first verse, we come to what's often called the Book of Glory, the Passion of Christ, Private Ministries, focusing on the preparation of the disciples and of course, the Passion of Christ which is that cross of Christ. Jesus will show his love to the disciples in washing their feet and the verses which follow this verse we have read today, in his farewell address and the high priestly prayer which we will study together and ultimately in the crucifixion itself. When Jesus knew that his hour had come, this hour which would be his last meal with his disciples, the hour for which he had been preparing and had been speaking of all through his ministry when the Lamb would become the propitiation for the sin of mine. We find here an intimacy in John 13 which we haven't seen in the twelve chapters that have come before. In chapter 13 and that which follows, it shows us what we might consider or call the heart of Christ, understanding when we say heart, we're using our own understanding of that term. As if when someone says, I love you with all of my heart, they're not speaking there of course of the organ which is our heart, they're meaning the very seat of our emotion, the very place where the most sincere expression of love can be expressed as it were, we often consider to be the heart, that vital organ of the body which beats and we associate the cessation of beating with separation through death. And so it's right that we would say the very heart of Christ, that place, that seat of love, that seat of emotion from which he would express his love at the deepest and most intimate level to his disciples and it begins here in verse 1. This is where we find that expression of love first being expressed, more or less launches our study of the love of Christ being expressed, there is ministry and teaching to the disciples. We find that being launched here in verse 1. It's a private discourse meant for the disciples, meant for those who belong to Christ, of which we now, because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, count ourselves to be a number of. Perhaps you've had the experience and if you were to see me on my anniversary, hopefully a day or two before, you might catch me in the greeting card section of a store, perusing the aisles, looking very carefully and I hope that you have been where I am standing, looking at the cards and finding lovely expressions and sentiments of love in each of them. But one after another, as I read, I find that there's this sentence or that word that doesn't really express a genuine sense that I have. Maybe it talks about the nature of your relationship with your spouse in such a way that you think that's not really a fit and you want the card to be something that expresses essentially the very words which you would speak if you had poetic talent enough to be able to put it down on paper. You might find me laboring over those cards trying to find just the right one because it's intended for just one person. If you found me laboring over those cards and then when I gathered a couple together that I thought were right, I just brought them and stuck them in the drawer for when someone had a special day and I wanted them to feel good and I just sent them that card. You would find that to be a totally inappropriate use of the card. You say, how could you send someone expressing such deep and sincere emotional love and attachment and you just send it indiscriminately to anyone? No, those words, even if they are by someone else when they are selected and I identify myself with what's written in that card. Those words are intended for just the person that I intend to deliver the card to. Likewise here, as true as everything in the card is, it's not for everyone just for my wife. Likewise here, the words of Christ are intended not for everyone but for his own. They are intended for his own and just as you wouldn't criticize me for intending a card with a very sincere expression only for my wife also here. We would not now criticize Jesus for gathering his disciples and not teaching openly these words to all people but focusing his expression and focusing his ministry on his disciples at this point. It's not neglecting those who've had ample opportunity to hear him speak and to hear the appeals to receive him and to follow him. No, now we find Jesus focusing and these words, having loved his own. Tell us that Jesus here is speaking to those who are his own. Jesus has withdrawn with his disciples and what follows is for those on whom he has particular love. So then that leads us naturally to a question, who are Christ's own? Who are those who he is speaking to? Are we Eve's dropping on a private conversation? Would it be the same as if you had intercepted my card or perhaps the male person delivered it to my neighbor's box instead and they took advantage and opened it when the words are not intended for them? Are we Eve's dropping or reading someone else's mail when we read from chapter 13? Should we stop at chapter 12 because this was the public announcement of Christ or are we allowed to read from 13 to chapter 21? In chapter 6, 37 and 44, verses 37 and 44, we learn in those verses those who are given him by the Father our whom Christ calls his own. Or we could go all the way back to where we begin in chapter 1, verse 13 and find that those who are Christ's own are not those who are born of natural descent but are born of God as he instructed in chapter 3, those who have been born again of a spiritual birth while Jesus is soon to leave. He knows that they will remain in the world. Here is where love is hard to express. When you will be departing and leaving someone behind whom you love more than life itself, this is what's conveyed in this passage. This is not religious language that Jesus is using. This is sincere love of one who knows he is about to depart and to leave those he loves and has cared for and feels there is still so much for them to know and learn. He wants nothing but good for them which we will discover soon in his high priestly prayer as he pours out his own heart before God, praying that the devil would not have opportunity with his own. He loves them but knows he will depart from them like a father that might leave his children. He worries for them, he's concerned for them and now he will make the most use of every remaining moment to impress upon them, his love expressed in word and expressed in deed. I pray you have not had opportunity in your own life to go through this sort of need for expression of love, but I have. There was a time not far past in my history when I was called for mobilization to go overseas in time of war. When that mobilization occurred there was no real expectation and certainly no guarantee that those called would be able to return. And so when the call came and I was mobilized to Fort Dix in New Jersey, Beverly and the children came to visit me on two or three at least, occasions, stayed at a local hotel and there was a time just before the plane was to leave that we were allowed to visit with family. We went to a restaurant and we had dinner together and then comes that moment when you were dropped back off. There was really nothing more I could do for them. There was no way that I could secure them any more financially. I had no further resources I could grant. I couldn't take them and deliver them safely anywhere else. All that I could do was done except one thing. Though I knew that I was to fly away the very next morning and they would remain, there was one more thing that I wanted to do. I wanted them to know the depth of my love. I wanted them, I needed them to know the depth of my love and I needed them to remember the depth of my love. I didn't simply need them to remember that we had a special evening. I needed them to remember and to know the genuine depth of my genuine love that would never die. This is the first in the primary teaching of Jesus here. This love of Jesus for His own that traces all the way through to we read in chapter 17, verse 26, I made known to them your name and will and continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. The connection of Christ with those He loves is so intimate and so real that when He speaks of His love for those whom He is about to depart from He can say it with expressions such as I love them to the end. In the context of the sacramental meal which they are enjoying it also helps us understand the words do this in remembrance of me. We don't come to this as a remembrance of Christ to express our love for Him but to remember His love for us. And John tells us that He loved them to the end. Have you ever wondered why Jesus would love you or why He would love me? He's holy, He's just, He's compassionate, He's righteous, He's truthful, He's merciful, we are, well we are not. We are not any of those things. We have no intrinsic value or worthiness in ourselves. There's no worthiness in me. There's no intrinsic value in me. I can't impress Him enough to merit His love and His affection. There's certainly no strategic value to me. He doesn't need me for the progress of the kingdom, for the progress of the church. There's no strategic reason that He would bring me into His plan and that He would love me. Only His love for me is not my reward for being loving. Those of you who know me perhaps a little too well would testify. It's not because of my lovableness that causes Him to love me. In fact, in 1 John 4 and 19 we read, I only love because He first loved me. If He had not loved me first, I would have no expression of love for Him at all. I can't search out a love for Christ on my own. That love itself is granted to me because He loved me first. The reason God loves us is because He loves us. As simplistic as that sounds and I worked to try to make it sound sophisticated and came up with a couple of expressions, but the bottom line is God loves us because He loves us. And that's the nature of His being compared to the nature of ours. We need a reason. I love you because and usually we can put some characteristic or trait or attribute or some reason or something that's happened or some experience we've enjoyed together or some journey that we've taken in life or faith that has caused us to be unified together. But with God, what journey have I taken with God that would cause Him to love me? What experience have I had with God that has endeared me to Him? None. He loves me because He loves me because He chose to love me when I didn't even know Him. And yet He loved me and not with a superficial love or even an introductory affection that might become love. He loved me with the depths of His being when I was not lovable and when I certainly had no love for Him. Isn't that love in the most beautiful display, a love that is not based upon me? It's not based on the one that is loved but based on the one who loves. I'll often hear people complain that because of the things that are going through in life, they just don't feel particularly loved by Christ. James Montgomery, boys whom I turn to quite often in his commentary and in his work, he points out there three areas of confirmation. We can look at to know that we are loved by Christ, three areas where we can reflect on these and then we would know that we are loved by Christ. The first simply is creation. And we are created in God's image. There is because we are created to be spiritual in nature, a need for communion with God. He creates us to be incomplete without Him. If man could be complete without God, we would never look to God. We would never receive Christ. We would never come to Christ because that's all about surrender. And if we have no need, if we are self-sufficient, which we will never be even the most obstinate and agnostic or atheistic person, is born, created, spiritual in nature. And so they have need for communion with God. This, this is proof of God's love for us. He could have created us independent, but He created us that we would always need Him. For in Him is life, in Him is love, and in nowhere else are we complete. Secondly, we can look to election as trampled upon as that term often is. Is there any greater expression of love than God would take one who will never turn to Him and by the power of His Spirit, calls the heart to be born again without the heart ever warning to be born again and calls one to love Him. God did not leave us lost in our rebellion, but He called out to us and He comes to us Himself. Though the prodigal will walk off to find fulfillment in the world, though the prodigal turns and walks to find Himself and establish Himself and to be great in the eyes of men, there comes a point when the prodigal must return to the Father. Because there is no one else who will love or care. God has drawn us to Himself as a saving act of love. If you know God through Christ Jesus, then you know you are loved. No matter what the world does to you, you know that you are loved by God. And then third, the Passion of Christ, the cross is the symbol of love. The cross is where we can see love expressed. He gave His only Son whom He loved with divine love and affection. He gave His Son for you, for me. The legal issues causing our separation from God are removed in the sacrifice of Christ. God made a way that He would love us and we would love Him. And so in a sense, you have effectively the expression of the Trinity in these three assurances. God, the Creator, who created us to need and be incomplete without communion with Him. The Holy Spirit who works to cause men to be born again, that they might be in unity with the Lord and then the work of Christ on the cross. He satisfied God's demand for divine justice and so we have all three giving us expression of love. That brings us to the last phrase of our passage. He loved them to the end. In several translations, I found this translated several different ways which calls me to wonder, well where is the ambiguity in this? What does it mean, the end? So I of course looked it up. The word here is telos, which is not something that necessarily you need to remember, but you might note in your Bible that for us in English the end simply means the end. You come to the wall, so to speak, as I point through the wall, or you come to the end of a road, perhaps we live on a dead end, or if your house is expensive, it's called a cul-de-sac. Whichever it might be, we come to the end meaning there's no place else to go. It's simply the end. But telos doesn't mean that it's the end but not with reference to time. It's the termination of a present course and transition or beginning of something new. He loved them to the end. It's apt and it's fitting that chapter 13 begins with this expression because chapter 12 we have already established, ends the public appeal of Christ that all men in all places, particularly the nation of Israel, would follow him and now he is focused in, withdrawn from the world and he's focusing with his disciples and he says here he loves them to the end, where at a time of transition the goal was reached. Completion is now upon them, the hour for which he was born has now arrived and he has loved them to the end, but not end in termination, end in transition. Augustine said he draws a parallel here with the crossing of the Red Sea and the Passover meal. Now, it's a curiosity in one which we won't explore here, it's not appropriate probably for this setting, but it's curious that Augustine here really misses what all other interpreters and any Bible scholars understand to be the meaning of Passover, that the Passover lamb is the focus of Passover, but Augustine has an interesting understanding of Passover that does lend itself to good illustration. He sees in the Passover where the Jews as they came to the Red Sea passed over the Red Sea and were preserved by God, whereas Egypt which represents the world when they come to the Red Sea and they entered into the Red Sea, they were engulfed by God in an act of judgment and were destroyed. And so he sees here a picture of in times where the people of God will be preserved by God, the Red Sea being the justice and the wrath of God and then the world itself being consumed by that. And so that illustration would help us to understand as the time of Passover comes and the end is there that they are being drawn out of the world and preserved by God. As his earthly life and ministry draws to a close, his love is going to bridge them to something new. His love for them is intimacy with them, his caring for them bridges them to something new, they will pass over the Red Sea, so to speak. As they are called out of the world, they will pass over to something new. Not for bid, Augustine said, that he whose death could not end should have ended his love at death. Psalm 100 verse 5, speaking of this love of God, for the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations. Jesus loved them to the end. That expression is not a love that terminates. It's a love that transitions to new expressions. It's an everlasting love. Paul assures us of his much in Romans 8.35 when we read, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Because it is, as Paul goes on to say, the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He loved them to the end, doesn't mean that Jesus stopped loving at the end. It means that he loved them through this ministry transitioning to the very end of time and into everlasting. So how ought we to live in light of such a love as this? Such a love is Christ has shown us how is it that we ought to live? This description of love is the preface to his washing of the disciples' feet and that itself is a demonstration of his love. We are too. Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind and we are to love our neighbor as ourself. We are told is the great commandments, the summary of the ten and these two. John is very consistent. And first John 3.11, he said, for this is the message you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. First John 4.11. Beloved. The God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And in 1 John 4.19 or 20, we love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. Why? Paul clarifies in Galatians 2.20, it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. To love your brother or sister in Christ is to love Christ. Not that they have become Christ in the flesh but because of the spirit of Christ which dwells in them. As you have done to the least of these, you have done so unto me, the church is his body. To love your brother and sister is to love the church and to love Christ. For the unbeliever, this understanding of Christ's love is simple. You'll not find any love on earth that can match the love of Christ. You'll never find a love on earth that will satisfy your need, your hunger because it's ultimately communion with God that you are striving for. That's the source of love. You'll not find it in a love for yourself. You'll not find it in a love for another. You will not find it in love from another. So it is for the unbeliever, an invitation to come to Christ who is the true expression of true love, which is God's love. For the believer, we need to be assured that Christ has loved us and He loves us now. And we should love Christ by loving our brother for it is Christ that dwells in them. The brother whom Christ loved enough to die for is certainly worthy of my love as well.