Please turn to your copies of Holy Scripture, to the Gospel of John, chapter 13. John 13, we'll be reading verses 31 through 38. John 13, 31 through 38. Hear now God's holy and inspired word. Therefore, when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, that we have love for one another. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times. Let us pray and ask the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Our Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless your people this morning, that you would bless the preaching, that you would give us ears to hear, that you would increase, Lord God, our love, not only for you, but our love for one another. Thank you, Lord God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So love is a very popular concept, to say the least. It is everywhere. There has been countless songs written about love, movies, books, you name it. Love is everywhere. But as popular as love is, this thing we call love is also almost always misunderstood. What is often called love is not really love. their feelings, desires, but not true love. And although we can trace corruptions of love all the way back to the beginning of time, just even in our modern times, we have seen a great shift towards a corrupt view, a greater corrupt view of love. In the 60s, there was the whole free love of the sexual revolution, and since then, up to our modern day, it has become even more grossly corrupt. The truth is, most people do not know what true love is, and especially what true love looks like. How do we love? This is what our text this morning deals with. In the last section, Jesus has made an announcement that he was leaving his disciples and it left the disciples shocked. He said to them that he was going to not just leave, but that he was going to be betrayed by one of them. And though the disciples did not know who it was that would betray him, Jesus certainly did. Judas, who was going to betray him, also knew. And so, what we saw in this last section was that Jesus pretty much told him to go do what he was gonna do. And so, that section ended with Judas leaving, leaving the 12. And so now Jesus is left alone with his 11 disciples. And so with the betrayer having gone out of their midst, Jesus gives his disciples, his true disciples, a new commandment. a commandment to love one another. And this is what we will be looking at this morning, the command to love one another. Believers are to love one another, but we are to love one another because Christ also loved us, and we are to love one another just as he loved us. So if we consider our text this morning, we will be looking at three things concerning this command to love one another. First, the foundation of the commandment. So what is the foundation or the ground of the commandment? Second, the newness of the commandment. The newness of the commandment. And then thirdly, the witnessing nature of the commandment. The witnessing nature of the commandment. Let us look then at our first point, our first thing to consider, the foundation of the commandment. So what do I mean by this? What I mean is that God is not just giving his disciples a command, but he is giving a reason why we should, and giving us an example. The command here is found in verse 34, with Judas Iscariot having left, Jesus turns to his disciples, and he says to them, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. So the substance, the foundation of the commandment is the love of Jesus. We are not told to simply love one another, we are not just simply given that command, but to love one another because Jesus has loved us. As John begins to disclose Jesus' close and personal teachings and his final instructions to his disciples as he prepares to go to the cross and go back to his father, He introduces this section, John does, in his gospel by saying this about Jesus. He says, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart out of the world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Jesus loved his disciples to the end, to his last breath and even into eternity as he, after the crucifixion, he was buried and then he rose again and ascended to the Father. He loved them then and he loves them now. He loves, he loved us then and he loves us now. So it is the love of Jesus that serves as the foundation for our love for one another. But think about what this means. Think about what it means that Jesus loves us. We are not lovable people. We can do good things outwardly, but the Bible says that there is no one that does good, truly good, that there is not one that is righteous. We are not lovable people, we are sinners. And when we consider Christ's love for us, we have to consider that this love was not a love that came after our conversion, after we were cleansed and clothed in his righteousness. This love that he set upon us, Christ, and not only Christ, but the Father, was a love that was set upon us even when we were sinners. Christ loved us. He went to the cross for us while we were sinners, while we were his enemies. When we loved our sin, when we loved darkness, we did not deserve anything good from God, much less His love. Yet Jesus loved us. God set His great love upon us because of His grace and mercy. And because He loved us, we ought to love one another. And that is at the base, at the foundation of this commandment. But we are not only to love because he loves us, but Jesus says that we are to love as he loved us. In other words, we are to love just as in the same way that Jesus loved us. And so if we are to love just as he loved us, we need to know how did Jesus love us? Jesus has expressed his love for us, or had expressed his love for his disciples in so many different ways. Through his teaching and giving of himself, he gave time, his own time, he gave of himself to spend time with his disciples, to care for them, to teach them, to carefully instruct his disciples, spend time with them. through his care and patience with them, even when they doubted his love for them. We see this, for example, when they get into a boat on the Sea of Galilee and a strong storm hits them. And as the storm comes, Jesus is asleep at the stern of the boat. And the disciples are scared. They're fearful. They think they're going to die. And there Jesus is sleeping. So what do they do? They go to him and they say, teacher, don't you care that we're going to die? And then even in the rebuke that Jesus gives them, he does it out of care, out of love. He remains with them. He doesn't just, you know what, you guys are hopeless, we're gonna get new disciples. No, he cares for them. He remains with them, he's patient, so he shows his love for them, even in that. And just recently in this chapter, we read of Christ expressing and showing, demonstrating his love for them by doing something so low as to wash their feet. Something that was even too low for regular servants. And for Jewish people, not even Jewish servants or slaves should do it. It should be Gentiles who wash the feet of others. But Jesus brought himself low He humbled himself to serve his disciples, to wash their feet and show them how much he loved them. The point here then is that true love is active. True love is active and it is expressed in humble service toward others. But the ultimate expression of Christ's love for his disciples, the ultimate demonstration of his love, and even the foot washing was pointed towards this ultimate expression, and that is the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of love, of true love. It is expressed in humble service towards his disciples. The cross of Jesus, then, we see here, his ultimate humiliation, his ultimate love, that he did not care for his life or for being served, but to serve others. This is how he ultimately served his disciples, by giving up his life, by laying down his life so that they would have life. And though it is not explicit here, there are other clues that show, that demonstrate that Jesus' love demonstrated on the cross is the ground or the foundation for this commandment to love one another, to love one another as he loved them. So how do we see this? Well, first, again, we've already seen previously that at the beginning of this chapter, John connects the love for his disciples to his hour, right? He loved them to the end, and this was in the context of Jesus' hour that was coming. And that hour, if you remember, is the hour of his death. We've seen Jesus speak of his hour, or even John the Apostle mentioned the hour of Jesus, and this always was in the future, because it was referencing, it was referring to the cross that would come. But now that hour has come. So in this context of his hour of suffering, of taking upon himself the wrath of his father for the salvation of his people, in this context, we see his love. We see that he loved them to the end, that he's giving his disciples final instructions. But then we also see it in the foot washing, as I mentioned earlier, in the foot washing as an expression of his love. But then this also pointed to the cross. But specifically in this section, the cross of Jesus is seen in the going out of Judas. The going out of Judas. Now, how does that point to the cross? Well, again, remember, what is Judas going to do? He left to do something. What did he go to do? He went to betray the Lord. Right? He's going to betray the Lord Jesus and this betrayal is going to set off his chain of events, which is going to eventually lead to his crucifixion. Another reference to the cross is the mention of Jesus' glorification. We see this in verses 31 through 33. He will be glorified and God will be glorified in him. Jesus, again, uses this word glorification to refer to two things, his crucifixion and his ascension to the Father. And we can add to this even the resurrection. So although these are distinct events, they are part of the one and the same work. In order to be glorified, exalted, one must first be brought low, humbled. And it is in Jesus' suffering on the cross that He satisfies God's justice. In this, He is lowered, He is humbled, He satisfies God's justice, and in this, the Father is glorified. He is glorified in the Son, and then in turn, the Father then glorifies Him by raising Him from the dead and receiving Him into His presence. So the cross is the only road to His glorification, to His exaltation. For again, on the cross, he is brought low to his ultimate humiliation, and in his obedience to the Father on the cross, he glorifies him, and then he is glorified. So again, we see the reference to the cross in his glorification. And then this is why Jesus follows up with a statement about glorification, saying something that he had already said before. We see this in chapter seven. Jesus had told the Pharisees that he was going away, that he was gonna be with them a little while longer, but then he would go away, and where he was going, they could not follow. But then, when he said that to the Jews, or to the religious Jews, he was saying that as a warning. that they would not always have the opportunity to trust in Jesus. It was a warning for them to believe. But here, the emphasis is on going back to the Father, and he even says to Peter later that where I am going, you cannot come with me now, but you will. So here, when he says this, it is to give them hope, to give them encouragement that one day they will be with him. And we will see that in chapter 14, that why is he going back? Well, he's going to go back, but he's going to come back for us. He's going to go back to the Father and come back to us eventually. But here, he's giving them hope. He's going back to the Father, a reference to the crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation. but it's for their hope, for their encouragement. Lastly, we see the clear reference to Jesus' work on the cross as the foundation of the commandment to love one another in Peter's boastful statement in verse 36. He says, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later. And Peter said, Lord, why can I follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you. So how does this? Point to the cross, because again, listen to Peter say, he says, why can I follow? I will lay down my life for you. He's using the very same words of Jesus that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But Jesus' response is, will you lay down your life for me, Peter? Will you really do it? I mean, yes, here in the context he's referring to his denial, but at the same time, John is using these words and this play on these words of laying down to show, no, Peter, you are not gonna lay down your life for me. I'm going to lay down my life for you. You cannot do this. What I'm about to do is a job, is a task only for me. I have been sent for this very purpose, to die for the sins of God's people, to provide eternal salvation, to bear God's judgment for them on their behalf. You cannot do that. You will not die for me. I will die for you. And in fact, you're going to deny me. We see the cross here as the focal point, and again, pointing to the fact that his love, as demonstrated on the cross, is the foundation for this command to love one another. So this is how Jesus loved them. His love for them was active love. It was expressed in his humbling himself, first at the incarnation, And then at his crucifixion, Jesus' love for us is ultimately sacrificial. It is sacrificial love. His love was a love that humbly served the needs of others, of his disciples. The sacrifice or sacrificial love of Christ expressed in his laying down his life for us is the foundation or the substance of the New Commandment. And in his expression and service of love, Jesus did not love his life to the point of desiring to keep it at the expense of not doing the Father's will and not securing for us our salvation. So he didn't love his life to that point, but he gave his life over for others. And then, so then the second thing to consider then, as we think about this, that the foundation then of this commandment is the love of Jesus expressed on the cross. The second thing to consider about this commandment, to love one another, is the newness of it. Because he says it is new, and so we wanna ask, how is this commandment new? And so this brings us to our second point, the newness of the commandment. So the first thing we need to see in this commandment before we consider its newness is who commanded it. First of all, it is Jesus who commanded it, right? And this is not just a suggestion. It's exactly what it says. It's a commandment. right, and who has authority to issue commands, moral commands, but God alone. And so as we consider that it is Jesus who is saying, I give you a new commandment, he is not saying, you know, the father gives you or someone, somebody else gives you, no, he is the one who is issuing, who is giving this new commandment to his disciples, showing that he himself has authority as God. But then secondly, we need to consider who is this commandment for? This commandment to love one another is specifically for his disciples. It is for the church. Now, this does not mean that we should not, that we don't, aren't required to love others outside the church, because the gospels themselves tell us to love our enemies, to love those that persecute us and to pray for them. So we should love others, but there is a special and unique love that exists among believers. Just as we can say Jesus does love in general, God loves the whole world. There's common grace. He gives a way to the just and unjust, right? So he provides good things for both the wicked and the righteous. So he does, God, Jesus does in one sense love the whole world. but there's a special love, a special redemptive love that he has for his people. Just like a husband can love the women at his church, but not in the same way as he loves his wife, right? there are different kinds of loves. And so Jesus loves people, he desires that all men be saved, but at the same time, that specific desire, that redemptive love is for his people. And so if we are to love as he loved, then this commandment is given specifically to believers. How are believers to love one another? And that is what we're gonna see. So it's for believers, it's given to two believers by Jesus. But then again, the question now is then, how is it new? Or in what way is this commandment new? Was it not a commandment found in the Old Testament? Were the Old Testament saints not commanded to love one another? Were the people, the covenant people of God in the Old Testament not commanded to love one another? Well, yes, they were. And we can find this, for example, in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. In Deuteronomy, we find the greatest commandment, the summary of the greatest commandment of the first table of the law. Deuteronomy 6, 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. But then also in Leviticus 19, 18, God says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. So this command to love God and to love our neighbor, that was given to the people in the Old Testament. So there was a commandment to love. God's people were expected to love one another, to care for one another. And we see this same language of this commandment to love being a new commandment in 1 John 2, but we also see this kind of play on new commandment and old commandment. He says, Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have heard or have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. So is it old, or is it new? He says, no, it's not new, it's old. But yeah, it's new. So what is it? Well, it's both. And we'll see how. In Deuteronomy 15, in 1 John chapter 3, let me go to that one first. 1 John chapter 3, verses 6 through 10. John says this, no one who abides in him sins, no one who sins has seen him or noticed him. Little children, so now John is using Jesus' language as well. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God has appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. Okay, so no one was born by sin because his sin abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God but then he goes on in verses 16, he says, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. So he's giving this practical example. that if you see your brother in need, but you don't help him, then that's not love. That we need to not just love by saying, I love you, brother, and then leave him in his need and not help him out, but we need to love in word and in deed, in truth. And so with that in mind, we see something very similar in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 15, 7 through 11. God there commands, if there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns or in any of your lands which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand from your poor brother, but you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need and whatever he lacks. Beware that there is no base thought in your heart saying the seventh year, the year of remission is near, and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing. Then he may cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin in you. you shall generously give to him and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings for the poor will never cease to be in the land therefore I command you saying you shall freely open your hand to your brother to your needy and poor in your land so again There's a brother who is in need, and he's saying, don't close your heart to him. And that's pretty much exactly what John is saying. If you see your brother in need, help him. Don't just say, I love you, and then not help him. So the command to love is found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. So then the question then is, again, how is this new? Well, one way that it is new and not new, as John also says, is that we can see it as a commandment that is not just new, but renewed, a commandment that is renewed. It has been given to all men from the beginning, as John himself says in his epistle, to all men through the law of nature. But it is also given specifically under the Mosaic law, as we just read. However, in both the law of nature and the Mosaic law, this commandment to love one another had become corrupted. Matthew Henry says that this commandment had become corrupted by the traditions of the Jewish church, that when Christ revived it and set it in a true light, it might well be called a new commandment. Laws of revenge and retaliation were so much in vogue and self-love had so much ascendant that the law of brotherly love was forgotten as obsolete and out of date, so that as it came from Christ, knew it was new to the people. So in a sense, it's renewing this same, this old commandment that God has given, but renewing it. Therefore, by Jesus giving this command, it was like, Matthew Henry says, it was like a new edition to an old book, a corrected and updated edition. So this is one way that we can see this commandment as being new, one that has been renewed because it has been corrupted by sin, by the people. But to see the newness of this command and how it is corrected and updated, we must understand God's commands in scripture. God does not just require us to obey. He doesn't just tell us do this and do this. He didn't just do that. But instead, he gives us a reason and a motivation to do his commands. The reason for a command in scripture is because of a certain reality that exists. So, for example, under the Mosaic Covenant, when he issues the law, specifically the Ten Commandments, what does he say? He says, I am the Lord, so this is how he prefaces the Ten Commandments. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. So I am the God who did this. I delivered you. I delivered you from your bondage and I brought you to your own, or I'm bringing you to your own land. I'm making you a people. I am covenanting with you. So because I have delivered you, and then he gives the Ten Commandments. Obey me. Do this. Because you have been delivered, because you are my people, that's the reality. Obey my commands. So there's a reason and a motivation why we should obey these commands. But what about in the New Testament, or we can say the New Covenant? We have Not the type that was the Old Testament, the salvation of Israel from Egypt. That was a type. In the new covenant, we have the anti-type. We have the reality, which is Christ. And it is the reality of the death of Jesus for us that gives us this reason. God in the Old Testament delivered His people from Egypt. Jesus Christ in the New delivers us from our bondage to sin. He delivers us from our condemnation. And because we have been freed from this, because we're not under God's condemnation anymore, because we're not gonna be punished anymore, He's delivered us, He's given us newness of life. Because of these realities, that is why then you should obey me. That is why you should love one another. Because I have loved you, says Jesus, I have given my life for you to deliver you, to give you life, And therefore, because of this reality, you are to love one another as I have loved you. So again, we are commanded then to love just as He loved us with this humble, sacrificial love that is active, that serves. That is how we are to love one another. But then again, now a new question, how do we do this? How do we love him? If he loved us by laying down his life for us, then are we to do the same? Well, the answer is yes. John in 1 John says, by this we know what love is, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to do the same for our brethren. We ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. But that does not mean then that we should just go out there and just start killing ourselves, right? In our country, we're going to not likely be put in a situation where we have to lay our lives down for the brethren, but if it comes down to it, we should. We should be willing to lay down our lives, and I think that's really at the heart of this. that how does one, how does a person lay down his life for someone else? How can one do that? Not just in the method, but what drives, what would drive a person to lay down his life for someone else? And again, it begins in the heart. Like with a lot of things, it really begins in the heart. When we talk about sin, for example, it's not just the outward sin that we perform. It's not just committing adultery or murdering somebody. It begins in the heart, as Jesus says. You look at somebody with lust, you've already committed adultery in your heart. If you're angry with your brother, that's equivalent to murdering them. So it all begins in the heart, and so too, these actions, these works of love, begin in the heart. It is not a last minute thing that we're going to be able to do if we do not have the love for the brethren in our hearts and do not practice this kind of sacrificial love daily, then if we are placed in that situation to lay down our life for the brethren, we will probably not do it. And this is because our life consists of more than just the electrical impulses in our brain. It's more than just the blood pumping through our heart and through our bodies. It's much more than that. It's much more than just the life that we have that keeps our body going. Our life consists of our desires. The things that we like to do, it consists of our dreams and our hopes. It consists of our family and friends and the relationships that we value. It consists of our workplace, our co-workers, the people that we enjoy being around. It consists of the reputation that we have. And it even consists of our time, our precious time, our hobbies and the things we like to do for leisure, for fun. All of this makes up what our life is. And then on top of this, we have sinful things that we love, that are just sinful things, character, our pride, selfishness, all these things. But when we constantly, aside from pride and selfishness, the things that I mentioned, they're not necessarily sinful in and of themselves. God gives us these things. God gives us desires, good desires and hopes, and he gives us family, he gives us a job, and all these good things that we are to enjoy. We can go on vacations. If we like going camping and doing things outdoors, we can do that. But when we constantly put all these things that are ours, that are part of who we are, our life, when we love them in a way that we shouldn't, more than we love God or more than we love the brethren, then again, we are practicing this choosing our life over the brethren. So when our brother is in need, and if it's going to cost us one of these things, and we constantly choose these things over helping our brethren, we are training ourselves to not lay down our lives for our brethren. We are not practicing that. So on the other hand though, on the other hand, how do we practice loving one another as Christ loved us, sacrificially laying down our lives daily? It is by Since these things are pieces of what make our life, when we lay these things aside for our brethren, we are laying down pieces of our life. We are laying down our life because we are setting these aside. We're saying, you, I love you more right now than I love this thing. and I'm putting you and your needs ahead of these things, whether it's my time, whether it's something that I wanted to do, I wanted to watch something, but I'll give this, whatever it is, when we lay those things aside, and especially if they're sin, if we're being selfish and we know we're being selfish, we have to put those things, not just lay them aside, but we have to put them to death. So as we practice these things, We are practicing daily, laying down our lives for others. so that those things don't become so valuable to us that then we'll put them ahead of others. And so if we do this, if we ever come to a situation where we have to, it's either laying down our lives or running away in fear, Lord willing, since we've been laying down these things aside daily for weeks, months, years, then at that moment, our love for our brethren will just be so much more that we won't be willing and able by the Holy Spirit to lay down our lives for our brethren. But again, it begins in the heart, and it begins with the things that make up our life. We put those things, as necessary, it doesn't mean we just start getting rid of things, but as the situation calls for it, if it's necessary, then we need to sacrifice those things, whether they're sin or not, but we need to sacrifice them for the benefit, for the well-being of our brothers, and that is practicing the love that Christ had for us. So because Jesus loved us, that He gave Himself for us, then we are to love others in the same way. And this is how we do it, this is how we practice it daily. We love because He loved us, and we love selfishly in service toward others, because that is how He loved us. But there is another reason that we see in here, why we are to love, another component of this commandment, and that is that we are That as we do this, as we love others as Christ loved us, we are a witness to the world. We are a witness to the world. Jesus says, by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another. Now, the example here is kind of like how we look at faith, right? How do we know that a person has faith? Faith is not a physical object. We can't go to their house and find their faith somewhere and, oh, I forgot my faith in the room or whatever. No, it's not a physical thing. It's not in their pocket or something. We can go, oh, yeah, they have faith. We can't see it that way, so how do we know that a person has faith? It's by their works, and we see this in the epistle of James. Show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. That's his argument. Our works are not the ground for our justification or for our salvation, but our works are evidence that we have true saving faith. Similarly, as people can see that that person is a person of faith because of their works, so too, people will see that we are disciples of Christ when they see us practicing what Christ practiced. It's kind of like those old martial arts movies. where you have different masters that have their own particular techniques and moves. And so those particular techniques and moves, martial arts moves, they teach to their disciples. So throughout the course of the movie, you'll have people fighting, and then they'll comment like, oh, he's fighting with so-and-so's technique of martial arts. So they know he must be his disciple, because he's using his techniques of fighting. And this other person is using these other techniques that are particular to this other master. So they'll say that's his disciple. So they are known to be disciples of certain masters because of the technique that they're using, the style they're fighting with. Well, the way that we love, the way that we treat our brethren will show if we are Christ's disciples. If we love, not just love in a worldly way, selfish way, but if we love as Christ loved, if we love sacrificially, then that is his, we can say that is his technique, his style, that is his love. And when we love like Christ, the world will know that we are his disciples. and then we will be a witness to the world. Because on the other hand, when we don't, what happens when we don't love one another as we are called, as we are commanded to love? What happens? People see that as well. And rather than glorifying God because of the love that we have, people will blaspheme God because they'll see us complaining against one another, talking behind each other's back, or doing things to each other that even unbelievers don't do. I mean, this was one of Paul's rebukes in the church in Corinth because of the man that was committing sexual immorality with his father's wife. He was saying, the Gentiles don't even do these things. You're bringing a bad name to the church, to God's people, to God himself. And so, if we don't love one another as Christ loved the church, then we will bring criticisms, we will bring a bad name, we'll bring blasphemy to the Lord by the world around us. But on the other hand, when we practice what Christ taught us, his love, and we practice his love, then the world will see that and we will be a light to the world. So, this is why we had to love one another. Because Christ loved us, but we had to love one another, not just because he loved us, but because, or we had to love just as he loved, sacrificially in the service of others. But there is a warning, as we conclude, there is a warning to take from this. If we do not love God's people, can we really say that we are God's people? How do we show that we love God's people? Yes, service, but fellowshipping with them. When we fellowship on Sundays, that is, you know, we're not just communing with the Lord, but we're communing with one another. This is why I love the fellowship meal that we have every Sunday after their service, because we get a chance to just talk and hang out with God's family. But a person who does not love God's family and does not love being around God's family, can he really say that he's part of God's family? So that person needs to take warning. If he's a believer, he needs to repent. If he's not a believer, he also needs to repent. But that is a warning. But loving one another, again, it's not just a command, but it is evidence that we have been loved by Jesus. Because it is only Him loving us first that then we can truly love as He loved. If you're not a believer, you will never be able to love as He loved. And this is why it's a command for His people. So it is evidence that He has loved us when we do love one another. And this love will be seen by the world as a testimony of how He has loved us. So let us love one another. Let us not love in word only, but in deed and in truth. Let us serve one another truly, humbly, and self-sacrificially, just as Christ has loved you.