to the portion of scripture that we read earlier in John's gospel, especially to John chapter 13 and the end of verse one. John chapter 13 and the end of verse one, where John tells us that having loved his own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. We know he's speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ here. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And I want us this morning to consider Christ loves his own to the end. The Lord Jesus Christ loves his own to the end. That's what we're looking at. And I want to remind you a little bit of Christmas morning. On Christmas day, if you remember, we saw that God is not only loving, not only a loving God, he's not only one who loves us, but we saw then that the very essence of God is love. God by nature is love. Just as He is light, as He is holy, God is love. That is His very nature. And we saw that God's love is unchanging. It is unchangeable love. It is an everlasting love. It ever lasts. It doesn't change. It is not subject to change. We also saw that God's love is great. We saw something of the greatness of God's love. It's infinite. It is immense. This is the love of God. But we also saw this, that this love of God is beyond our comprehension. It is incomprehensible. It is a love that surpasses all knowledge and all our understanding. And we know that God loves us. We know that. And John tells us in 1 John 4, 9, we know that because God has manifested his love to us by sending his only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into this world of ours. So that he has demonstrated his love. He has shown his love. He has proved his love, as it were. He hasn't only said it, he has shown it. He has demonstrated it. He has manifested to us His very best. And we saw that in giving His only begotten Son, who is God incarnate, God was giving Himself to us. And when you give yourself, there's nothing more to give. You've given your all. So God has given us His very all. And He's given us His best, the greatest ever. In John 13 then, and at the end of verse 1, John tells us that Christ, who is God incarnate, who in other words is God, God the Son, that the Lord Jesus Christ having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And as the year is coming to an end, John is telling us something about the strength and the constancy of the love of God for his people. This is what he is showing us, this is what he's telling us, and this is what I want us to consider even this morning. So as we think of Christ loves his own to the end, I want us to consider, first of all, Christ loves his own. Secondly, I want us to consider Christ loves to the end. And then thirdly, we'll look at Christ loves from the world. These are the three things I want us to consider this morning as we think of the love that Christ has for his people. So let's think, first of all, of Christ loves his own. Christ loves his own. Having loved his own, Christ loves His own people, those who are His. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, being God incarnate, we know He is the manifestation of God's love. He is the revelation of God's love. Our Lord Jesus Christ is. But not only that, Christ loves eternally. Being God incarnate, He loves unchangeably. It is an eternal love. Christ loves greatly. He has loved us with a great and infinite and an intense love. And Christ loves beyond comprehension. We cannot comprehend. We cannot fully grasp this love. It is love so amazing. It is so divine. It's so beyond us. infinite it it is but we are finite creatures how can we fully comprehend this love of our Lord and our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and so he says heaven love his own and I want us to think first of all of his own and we know who John is referring to he's referring to those who are Christ associated with at that time, those who were with him, including the apostles. We know some of the godly women who were there, and all those others who believed and followed our Lord Jesus Christ. They were all there. They were the immediate people, if you like, that John was referring to at this point in time. They were known by the people outside elsewhere, but they were despised by many. However, they were loved by our Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the main thing for them. And that's what makes them His own. They are His own people. They are those who have been given to Him by the Father. They are those whom the Lord Jesus Christ has chosen before the foundation of the world. And He has made them His own special people. given to Him by the Father, saved by Him in time. He's made them His own. They are His own special people. He is subsequently going to purchase them with His own blood, because He was going to die for them upon the cross. He was going to shed His blood, which would be the propitiation for their sins. And He will purchase them by His own blood. He will conquer them by His grace. Because salvation is by grace. And they will yield themselves to Him, willingly and delightfully. Because when the Spirit opens their eyes and their hearts, and they see the Lord Jesus Christ in all His glory and majesty, nothing, and I say nothing, will stop them from coming to Him. They will yield. They will come to Him. They will love Him because He first loved them. And nothing is going to stop that love. As the Apostle Paul puts it, who or what can separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No one and nothing will stop them from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Having loved his own, he called them. He taught them. He patiently bore their weaknesses. We know in the first place that The children of Israel were stiff-necked people. Moses knew that right from the beginning, even when he had to bring them out of the land of bondage. A stiff-necked people. The apostles at this time, and most of the disciples at this time, were still the children of Israel. Remember, they were Israelites. The Lord Jesus Christ bore with their weaknesses, their weakness of faith, their lack of understanding and everything, but he patiently bore with them. And he sustained them in all things. Christ loves his own with all their weaknesses, with all their problems and difficulties, with all their baggages. He loves them. He loves his own. Secondly, Christ loves to the end. He loves to the end. Because we read again, having loved them, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He loved them to the end. Now some Bible translators translate and commentators translate the word he loved them to the end as He loved them to the uttermost. He loved them to the fullest. When John says he loved his own to the end, that speaks of the permanence and the perpetual nature of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. It is a permanent love. but it is also a perpetual love. And so it continues and it exists until the end, whatever the end may be. It is a permanent and a perpetual love. And when you look at it as having loved his own, he loved them to the uttermost. The uttermost speaks of the degree and the depth of the love that the Lord Jesus Christ has for his own. Unto the uttermost, unto its fullest, unto its highest and greatest measure. This is what the scripture is talking about. And all this are involved in what John tells us here. And to love to the end will mean loving them, let's say first of all, to the end of Christ's earthly life. For remember, he died on the cross. So it could refer to him loving them until the end of his earthly life, with all the things that he had to contend with, with all the worries, With the fact that he knew exactly what was going to happen to him, that he was going to be crucified, that he was going to be killed and be put to death, with all those cares and worries and concerns upon his heart and his mind, he still loved his own right to the end of his earthly life. When somebody knows he's coming towards the end of his life, he knows death is coming, he's worried, he's concerned, you will certainly pardon him. You will forgive him if he says, please, why don't you keep your problems to yourself? Let me sort my own problems. I have a very short time. I have a limited time. I don't have much time. Surely you will understand. But the Lord Jesus Christ did not turn to his own concerns, to his own worries, to his own problems and difficulties that were coming. No, he loved his own right through until he died. But beyond that, and more than that, it also means he loved his disciples until the end of their own lives, indicating very clearly that he continued to love them after his death and resurrection. For remember, death will not hold him captive. He rose triumphant from the dead, and he continued to love them until they died here on earth. But also, it means, as some have put it, that he loved them to the end means he loved them to the very, very end, to the end of ends, or he loved them forever, even after his death. and resurrection, even after their own death here on earth. He has continued to love them and will continue to love them until the very end. In other words, he loves them forever and ever. The word here means perfection. The Greek word is telos. He'll love them until the end. And that means forever and ever and ever. a permanent and a continuous love for his people. He loved them right through. Christ loves perfectly. And perfect love does not change and it continues till the very, very end. A continuous love. And when we say the Lord Jesus loved to the uttermost, it means he loved his own to the greatest degree. He loved his own to the greatest degree, to the deepest depth, if you like. He loved his own to the farthest of all distances you can imagine. It has no measure. The love of Christ for his own cannot be measured. It cannot be quantified. It is full, it is immense, it is to the fullest degree, and it is beyond any quantification. He loves perfectly, he loves utterly, he loves beyond words can describe. In Ephesians and chapter three, there in verses 18 and 19 of Ephesians chapter 3. The apostle Paul prays, and he prays for the Ephesian believers. He prays that they may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge. It is beyond knowledge. It cannot be fully apprehended. certainly not on this side of eternity. Christ loves to the fullest and to the farthest, to the greatest extent you can imagine. He loves forever. Thirdly, Christ loves from the world. Christ loves from the world. Again, in John chapter 13 at the end of verse one, we read, having loved his own, who were in the world, having loved his own who were in the world, implying that our Lord Jesus Christ loved some after those who were in the world. It is from the world that he loved them. They are in the world, but not of the world. They are loved by Christ. They belong to Christ. They are his own. They are his own people, his own special people. And who are these whom he loved from the world? Well, scripture tells us. And here, for example, in Romans, we are told he loved those who were without strength. He loved those who were ungodly. We don't go loving, strengthless, ungodly people. But not only that, this holy Lord Jesus We're told, love those who are sinners. They're sinners. And they're ones who are at enmity against God. He is God. So he loves his enemies, in other words. He loves his haters. He loves those who sin deliberately against him. These are the ones that he loves. Not the righteous, not the holy, not the strong, not the mighty, not the princes, not the powers that be. The non-entities, the wretched in the society. Those are the ones. He loves in Romans chapter 5 verses 6 to 8 we have it all there spelt by the apostle Paul for us Romans chapter 5 6 to 8 for when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone will even dare to die But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us It is us and in chapter 8 of Romans, and there in verse 7. Remember, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be, that was us. He loved us. Though we were his enemies at enmity against him, he loved us. These are the ones he loved, from the world. These are the ones he makes his own special people. Our Lord Jesus Christ, if you like, puts into practice that which he teaches his disciples. He had told them. And here in Matthew's gospel, and in chapter 5 of Matthew's gospel, in verses 44 and 45 of Matthew chapter 5, verses 44 and 45, the Lord Jesus Christ teaching his disciples, he says in verse 44, of Matthew chapter 5, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Verse 45, that you may be the sons of your father in heaven, for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the teacher of that message, putting that message into practice. So he loves sinners, God-haters, the ungodly, ourselves. These are the ones he loves, and he makes his own. The love of God is illustrated in the prophecy of Hosea. In Hosea there, I'm not going to read the chapters, because it has about, is it 12 or so chapters? 14 actually. I'm just going to briefly summarize the message of this prophecy for us. Because it illustrates the love that God has for his own people. And it shows us something of who they are. We've already seen something of who God is and of who our Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is. The Lord says to the prophet Hosea, he says to him, go and marry a woman who is going to prove unfaithful to you. Actually, he says, go and marry a prostitute. That's what God says to Hosea in verse 2 of Hosea chapter 1. When the Lord began to speak to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take yourself a wife of halotry, a halot, a prostitute, and children of halotry. For the land has committed great halotry by departing from the Lord. And from that, you have an idea of what the Lord is saying to Hosea. He's saying, I want you to go and marry a prostitute, a halot. You are going to love her, but she will turn from your love. But the more faithless she becomes, the more faithful you are to become. And your life is going to illustrate my relationship with my people, the children of Israel. Your marital life is going to illustrate my relationship with my people, the children of Israel. The more you love her, the less she will love you. The more faithless she is, the more faithful you must be in loving her. Your marriage will illustrate something of my unchanging love for Israel. That's what it will do. And how she runs from me and takes other gods for her lover. She is supposed to be married to me. Israel is supposed to be my bride. The children of Israel are supposed to be my people. But she turns away from my love And she loves other gods. She becomes a halot, a prostitute, if you like, spiritually. She is so deep in spiritual halotry that she doesn't hear the call anymore. And that's what your marriage would illustrate. For I love my people Israel. I love them with an unchanging love. But they keep going to other gods. They keep turning away from me. So Hosea marries Goma, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceives and she gives birth to a son in chapter one and verse three of Hosea. And then the Lord says, call his name Jezreel. And that means scattered or dispersed. For I, the Lord, am going to scatter Israel all over the face of the earth. because she is unfaithful. My love for her is unchanging, but she is unfaithful. And then in verse six of Hosea chapter one, Goma again conceives, he bears a daughter, and the Lord says to Hosea, you're going to name your daughter Lorohamma. meaning not pitied. Because I'm going to take away from my pity from Israel. I will no longer pity my people, Israel. I will no longer show love to my people, Israel. And then again, Goma conceives. She bears another son. a son this time around. And God says, call his name Lo-Ami. Meaning, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Hosea chapter 1 verse 9. Where we read, then God said, call his name Lo-Ami, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. I'll scatter you. I'll no more pity you. You're no more my people. And if the story ends there, then we have a problem. Because it means then God's love is changeable. It has changed. No, it hasn't changed. In verses 10 of chapter 1 to verse 1 of chapter 2 of Hosea, God says again, I will change lo ami, not my people, to ami, which means my people. They will become my people. Not because of them, but because of my unchanging love. They will become my people. And then he says, I will change the name of Jezreel to Jezreel. The same word. that means scattered or dispersed, also means planted. And then he says in those verses, you also change the name of Lo-Rohamma to Rohamma. Not pitied, to pitied. Because I will pity my people Israel. Like I said, Jezreel, which means scattered or dispersed, is the same word that means planted. And you determine, of course, the meaning in the context. And in this context, the Lord is coming back to his people as it were, bringing them back to himself. And he says, these ones that are scattered, I will now plant them in the land that I have promised them. And the word that is used, Jezreel, is the same word because the way a man throws a thing to scatter, It's the same way he throws to plant. That's why it's the same word in the original. It's the same word. You scatter, but you also throw when you are planting. So you have the same word with two different meanings. It is the context that tells you exactly what it means. And here the Lord uses the same word, and he says, I will no more scatter, I will plant them in the land that I have given them and I have promised them. This is what I am going to do. So that everything God foretold happened just as it had been happening. It happened in the life of Hosea and his wife, Goma, and it illustrated and showed that amazing love of God, the unchanging love of God. And it illustrated it physically in the life of the prophet, the messenger of God to his people, so that the people could see it being illustrated, as it were, in the life of the prophet, the man of God himself. And it was there. And they could see the love of God, something of God's love for them, which they keep turning away, which they keep rejecting, which they keep, as it were, pushing aside. And he illustrates it to them. And that is who we are by nature. God loves us. We spurn his love. We turn aside his love. We reject his love. We hate him all the more. Let me finish. There is nothing more gloomy than to feel unloved in this world. When you feel like nobody loves you, no one loves you, it is very depressing to feel like nobody really cares. Nobody loves you, nobody cares about you. It is a hopeless and a terrible feeling. And when that happens, it is terrible in the life of whoever is affected. But there's something particularly sweet, particularly pleasant to feel that somebody loves you, that you're loved by somebody or some people. It brings a pleasant feeling, a sweet feeling. You are loved, you are cared for, you are appreciated by others, by somebody else at least. It's a wonderful feeling. And it's a very, very good feeling. It is amazing. Even the love of a little child is very sweet. It's very, very sweet. If nobody else loves or cares for you, to have a little child who truly loves you and cares about you and just wants to come to you, it's so uplifting. It's a beautiful feeling, and it's a great feeling in the life of the person affected. But imagine to be loved by somebody very important in the society. Yes, we are Christians, but to be loved by somebody very important, to be loved by somebody very respected in the society, to be loved by somebody very wealthy, very rich, They talk of that rich man, that millionaire, that billionaire. Oh, I know him. He's my friend. It comes easily from our mouths. When we know somebody like that and we know he loves us, we quickly say it. We don't even think twice. It's an amazing thing. It is particularly delightful to know that you are loved by somebody that matters, somebody that is very important. Now just think of how mean, how poor we are, how worthless, how unlovely we are by nature. In sin, we are just worthless in the sight of God. Just think of that. But also think of how glorious, how wealthy, how highly lifted up, how worthy, how wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ, how amazing he is, the creator of the universe, the God of all. Think of who we are. Think of who he is. Think of the gap, the infinite gulf that separates between him and us. And to imagine that this one, who is highly lifted, who is highly exalted, this king of kings and lord of lords, the creator of the universe, my God and my creator, to think that he loves me, he loves me, even me, with an unchanging love. How overwhelming. How gloriously overwhelming could that be? Can that be true? Is it real? Is it happening? Can it truly happen to somebody like me? How much should I rejoice in the love of my Lord and my Savior? How excited should I be? How much should I dance the David dance as they say? What should I do? How should I respond to such a love? How should we respond to such a one? How should we? Just think of the glory. Think of the majesty. Think of the excellency of the person of our Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the vastness of his possession. Remember, he is the owner of the universe. He owns everything. He owns you. Now that's what we need to think of and consider. Think of the number of attendants, heavenly hosts, that is beck and call at all times. Now just think of that. Think of his sovereignty, the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is unlimited. His power is beyond measure and comprehension. Think of his excellent and wonderful and amazing character. He is by comparison infinitely beyond all. He cannot be compared to any. This is who the Lord Jesus Christ is. But the scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ has loved us and has preferred us to all the possessions of the world. And so he left his glory And he came into this world that he created for who? For you and for me. Wretched sinners that we are, he came for us. But I want you also to remember that he knew exactly what loving us will cost him. He knew that if he was to love us and to make us his own, he will have to come and pay the penalty and die in our place. He knew that. He was not taken by surprise. No, he knew. But he still loved us and came for us. He knew exactly how we will respond to his love, how we will treat him, how we will spurn his love. He knew exactly how we were going to hate him. He knew exactly what we were going to do against him. But he came for us. He still loved us. He fixed his love on us. He fixed his love on you and on me. Of course, there are others more dignified, more important, more worthy than we can ever be. No, but he chose us. He chose you. He chose me. He didn't choose the others. How do you explain that? There's no explanation. He loved us because He loved us. And such is the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unworthy as we are, undeserving as we are, He loved us. And this is why John the Apostle writes again, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. 1 John chapter 3. Can you fathom this love? Can you truly see, understand, and take in this love? John is saying, if God in Christ loves as we have seen, if God in Christ loves as he has manifested, Can you honestly afford to be without and outside of this love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Can you sincerely afford to go without appropriating this love for yourself and knowing that He truly loves you? Not just loves us, but loves me. Can you say that? Can you honestly and certainly say that? Can you afford to go and miss out of this love? Because to discover the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for yourself is the most important thing that can ever happen to you. And that involves trusting in Him, putting your faith in Him alone. And He will help you and He will give you the grace that you need to do that, but you must be sincere. You must be genuine. You must come to him in all sincerity of heart and ask him to forgive your sins, confessing your sins before him, asking him to forgive your sins, to come into your life and to make you his own. He is faithful and he is just and he will save you if you call on him, confessing your sins sincerely and genuinely. He will love you freely. He will love you to the uttermost. He will love you to the end. where you must come sincerely. Finally, if we have known the love of Christ, then let us love him because he first loved us. Let us love him fervently. Let us love him genuinely. And let us love one another as he has commanded us to. May the Lord help us by his spirit to do just that for his namesake. Amen.