Two young men were the closest of friends. They grew up together. They played ball together in high school. They joined the army together. And though they were assigned to different troops, they found themselves on the same battlefield. The battle that particular day was terrible. Casualties were high. The whole landscape was pockmarked with signs of war. Though fatigued by stress, one of these men discovered that his friend was missing. He approached his commander and he asked for permission to go back onto the battlefield in search for his friend. The commander responded, you can't do that, it's far too dangerous. But the man persisted, and it was because of his heartfelt persistence that his commander allowed him to go back onto the battlefield. An hour and a half later, He brought his dying friend's lifeless body on his shoulder. His commander met him and said, I told you it wouldn't be worth it. But the man bearing his now dead friend said, oh, yes, sir, it was. I was there just in time to hear him say, I knew you'd do that for me. That's love in action. That's love that's given away. One evening just before the great Broadway musical, star Mary Martin was to go on stage on South Pacific. a musical produced by the great lyricist and theatrical director, Oscar Hammerstein. A note was handed to Mary Martin. It was a note from Hammerstein himself. He wrote it from his deathbed. It was a brief note, and he said this, Dear Mary, A bell is not a bell till you ring it. A song's not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away. Love is a verb. It's something that we do. It's something that we give away. In 1970, the late preacher and theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote a brief book that he titled The Mark of the Christian. In that book, he asserted this, quote, it is possible to be a Christian without showing the mark, But if we expect non-Christians to know that we are Christians, we must show the mark. Love and the unity to which it attests is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus is sent by the Father. That's love in action, love given away, particularly toward God's people. That's how the world knows that we belong to Jesus and that we belong to one another. Our text this morning from the Gospel of John contains a couple of verses that are well-known and oft-quoted. We find them coming on the heels of a very stark What's the word I need? Contrast, a very stark contrast between Judas Iscariot and Jesus. And the contrast is this. Judas Iscariot loved himself. Jesus loved others. Judas loved selfishly. Jesus loved sacrificially. Judas was quick to take. Jesus was quick to give. Judas was enveloped by satanic darkness. Jesus was awash in the glory and the radiance of the Father's light. I invite you to turn with me to John chapter 13. This chapter began with Jesus and His men going to an upper room where the Passover celebration was ready for their celebration. And the chapter opens with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, a display of sacrificial love, to be sure. During the meal, Jesus identified to his men again that there was one who was going to betray him, one that was seated around that table. John, at the behest of Peter, asked Jesus, Lord, who is it? Jesus responded in the same hushed tones that John asked. Verse 26 of John chapter 13. This is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him. And Jesus took a little bread and he dipped it into the sauce made up of bitter herbs and fruit and he handed it to Judas, likely sitting in the seat of honor, to Jesus left. And Jesus spoke to Judas, verse 27, what you do, do quickly. I wonder, I envision that their eyes met. They locked. And it was at that moment that Judas wanted his will for Jesus more than he wanted Jesus' will. And instantly, a plan came into his mind. All of the pieces seemed to fall into place. Verse 30, chapter 13 reads this way. After receiving the morsel, he went out immediately, and it was night. Therefore, verse 31, 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, if you have love for one another. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I go you cannot come 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. I find three sections in the text that I just read. Jesus speaks in all three sections, and I have taken the liberty in dividing up this passage to paraphrase Jesus' words in these three statements. You'll find them in your notes. The cross is now, your love is how, but you will bow. Point number one, verse 31 begins with the word therefore. When we find the word therefore, we ask the question, what's the word therefore, therefore? And the question is, there is a change, a transition. Judas is gone. The betrayer has left. He is about the plan that he has created in his mind. Now, having gone out, Jesus alone with the 11, those who are genuinely saved men. Jesus speaks. Now is the Son of Man glorified. It's almost as though Jesus is stepping outside of time And he's saying right now, he could have said it at any time, that he is glorified. And he continues, and God is glorified in him. That is, the Father is glorified in the Son. Notice that he does not say the Son Or rather, the Father is glorified through the Son. He said He is glorified in the Son. There is such an integral unity in the Trinity between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that when one is glorified, all equally share in the same glory. Now is the Son glorified. At that moment is the Son glorified. Outside of time, Jesus is glorified. The Father is glorified. The Spirit is glorified. Verse 32, and if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately. In verse 31, it's as though Jesus is stepping outside of time. Now, there is this eternal presence in which Jesus is in a glorified state. And yet, verse 32 tells us, that He will be glorified. The Father will glorify Him immediately, as though there's something yet in eager anticipation that will take place. And it is simply this. Outside of time, Jesus is glorified. He is the glorious one. He is the embodiment of the deity. He always has been, always will be the one who is gloried. But there is coming a time, immediately, in the context of the Passover meal, it is just hours away, where Christ will suffer on the cross of Calvary. He has to go through a process, a series of events whereby in real human time and space, Jesus fulfills the mission assigned to him. And in that task, in fulfilling those steps, he will be, and is even today, glorified. How is it that Jesus is glorified? Here are five ways, no less than these five ways. Is Jesus glorified on the cross? It is a display, the cross is a display of divine power. In Galatians 1, we read that the Father raised Jesus from death. Romans chapter 8, we find that the Holy Spirit is the one who raised Jesus from death. John chapter 2, Jesus says he's gonna raise himself from death. So who raised Jesus? God did. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, if you are able to wrap your mind around that reality, would you please inform me of it? I'm going to write a book and make a lot of money off of that. No, we don't fully understand it. but we know it to be true, God has revealed that to us to be true. It is a display of God's power, what we find on the cross and subsequent to it. And in that power, God is glorified. Second, God is glorified by divine justice. Romans chapter, excuse me, Romans chapter six, verse 23 tells us that the wages of sin is what? is death. There is a payment that must be made for our crimes against God. And either I will pay that or a divinely approved substitute may. Justice is served in Christ when He takes on the sin of those who would believe. Third, God is glorified in His holiness. We read in Matthew chapter 27, while on the cross, Jesus spoke the words of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? For it was at that moment on the cross of Calvary that Jesus experienced the back of God. God turned away from the Son because He had imputed to Him all of the sin of all those who would ever believe. Habakkuk chapter 1 tells us that God is too pure to look on evil. He cannot accept it. God is too holy. We find that in the cross. God is glorified in his holiness. Fourth, he is glorified in his faithfulness. For from eternity past, it was decreed that the Son would bear the sin of mankind, and in that death, they would receive redemption. Redemption would be purchased for them. That promise was made from eternity past and now in real human time and space, God's faithful to his promises. He does what he said he was gonna do. And fifth, God is glorified in the cross in that He displays His great love. Not just His great love for those who would believe, but for indeed all of the globe and all of the people on the globe. Not that they will all be saved, but every unbeliever benefits because The Redeemer has changed and transformed the lives of those who are redeemed. And it is our redeemed life that has improved the world around us. All are blessed because of it. In verse 33, Jesus speaks to his men with tenderhearted compassion. He calls them little children. He says, I am with you just 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. Keep your finger here in John chapter 13. Turn over to chapter 7 verse 34. Jesus is speaking to the Jews there. And he says, you will seek me and you will not find me. And where I am, you cannot come. And he repeats some of the same and gives us a little bit more information in chapter 8 verse 21. Jesus says, I go away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. So he says the same thing to his men as well as to the Jews. I'm going to a place where you can't come. He's going first to the cross to die. Second, he is going from there to his heavenly dwelling. And where I am going, you cannot come. Now he says to the Jews and to his men in two different senses. He's saying to his men, you can't follow me to the cross nor to my heavenly dwelling. It's going to happen in the future for you, but right now you can't come. To the Jews, to the unbelieving, he says you can't come. And in that sense, they will not ever be in the eternal presence of Christ. They can never come to be with Him. There is sadness, there is a separation in this death of Christ. There is sadness and separation in the ascension of Christ after His resurrection, after those 40 days of appearances, after He is then installed, enthroned, coronated in the heavenly dwelling. But that sadness is not always bad. We have all experienced death of one kind or another. Close family member, maybe just a pet. We've all experienced that kind of separation. Here the disciples are hearing words by Jesus again. They've heard them before but they didn't make any sense. Now they're kind of piled on top of each other and they're starting to get worried that Jesus is going to be separated from them as in death. But that's not necessarily a bad thing because On the one hand, when Jesus leaves, the Holy Spirit comes. And the Holy Spirit will personally and fully indwell every believer permanently, eternally. Wow, that's a great thing. And the other thing that Jesus would bring to their attention is in this separation, yes, they will lose Him as He has been with them all this time, but they have one another. First section in this text, the cross is now, second text, Turn the page in your notes. The cross is now second point. Your love is how? Verse 34 is a familiar oft-quoted verse. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you also love one another. Now the astute student of Scripture will pause at the very beginning of verse 34 and say, now wait a minute, Jesus says this is a new commandment. Mark chapter 12, Jesus summarizes the entirety of the Old Testament law and says that the greatest commandment is this, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, thy soul and thy strength. He continues and says, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. He's quoting from Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five, and from Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18. It's right there, it's been there for centuries. We might be tempted to change Jesus' words to what John says in 1 John 2, verse 7, where John writes, Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. It's almost like Jesus saying, wait a minute, you don't need anything new. You already have it in the Old Testament. It's been there forever, and I'm just going to repeat it again. But Jesus doesn't say that. He says, this is something new. New in what sense? The standard is new. When I love my neighbor, Leviticus 19 verse 18, I'm loving my neighbor on the basis of what I would like my neighbor to do for me. Do unto others as you would like others to do unto you, right? But this is a different standard. This kind of loving one another is based on what Jesus does, is doing, has done. He washed the disciples' feet. He served them in a humble way. That's humble kind of love. He's going to offer Himself as a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary within hours of Him speaking these words. That's sacrificial love. It's this kind of Christ-centered, others-focused, humble, sacrificial, give-it-away kind of love. That's the standard that Jesus is calling us to. That's the new commandment. Live, love, even as I have loved you. As I give, as I love, so must you for one another. This is a common theme throughout the Scriptures. Let me read just a few. 1 Thessalonians 3, increase and abound in love for one another. Galatians 6, so then while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 1 John 3, this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he commanded us. Verse John 4, beloved, let us love one another. We love because he first loved us. If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he's a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Verse John 5, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe God's commandments. This is Christ reflecting love. Now, if you have been a Christian for any period of time, if you have read the scriptures, if you have been under the teaching of the scriptures for any period of time, you know this is a common theme that we come back to over and over again. We are called to love one another. It's not new information, but it is essential information. Why? Verse 35. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. So back to my paraphrase of Jesus' words here. Your love is how? Your love is how the world knows You are connected with Jesus because you are connected with each other. And you love others just as Jesus loved, humbly, sacrificially. It's giving away kind of love. In the early centuries of church, there was a Roman skeptic by the name of Municius Felix. He was a skeptic, an unbeliever, but he looked inside the church from afar, and he made this comment. They love each other even without being acquainted with each other. Put that alongside a statement by an early church apologist by the name of Tertullian, second century man. He says this, and he is making a couple of statements about what other people, outsiders, say of believers in the church. Behold, they say, writes Tertullian, how they love one another. Yea, Tertullian responds to these unbelievers, verily this must strike them, for they hate each other. And how ready they are to die for one another, Tertullian comments. Yea, truly, for they are rather ready to kill one another. This brotherly Love, Tertullian says, flowed from community of life in Christ. A traveling Christian of whatever language or country with a letter of recommendation from his bishop was everywhere hospitably received as a long-known friend. It was a current phrase. In thy brother thou hast seen the Lord himself. Early on, the pagan world looked in at the church. They saw how they loved one another. They knew these people were connected with Jesus because they were so connected with one another. Now in our day and age, It is a problem to live out these verses when there are other churches up and down the streets. For when a person gets hurt, upset, offended, it's so easy to pack the kids up in the car and next Lord's Day, park that car in a different parking lot. Go someplace else. Start the expression of your Christian life in a different place, rather than staying and working through difficulties and pain and anguish and disappointment and offense. One author quipped, Oh, to dwell there above with the saints that we love, that will be glory. But to dwell here below with the saints that we know, that's another story. How true. You know, being a part of God's church, being a part of a local fellowship is in many respects like being part of a family. In that, you didn't choose your parents. You didn't choose your siblings. You didn't choose where you were gonna grow up. Those choices were made for you. So it isn't God's church. We sometimes want that church where the people are like us. We look for birds of a feather to flock together. Where sometimes that's not the best way to look at who we are as church. With fond affection, I remember sitting over here years ago. There was two families. The husband of one of those families was a pig farmer. He lived just up the street. And he would frequently come to worship, having just taken care of the pigs. And he smelled like it. And sitting right behind him frequently was another man who happened to be a brain surgeon here in town. Both men have died since and are with the Lord. But here I think of these two men. What a contrast here between pig farmer, brain surgeon, and yet they loved one another. It doesn't call us to find a group of people that are like us because they have the same color skin, or they have the same kind of education background, or they have similar age children, or whatever else. We gather together because of the fact that we are united in seeking the Lord and understanding the truth of scripture, but we gather together, not because we're like-minded, not because we're birds of a feather, we gather together because we are and have been transformed by the Spirit of God. And that unites us together, galvanizes our relationships together. John chapter 15, verse 13. Jesus says, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. And then John writes in his first epistle, we know love is this. that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. As difficult as it is, as demanding as it might be, as uncomfortable as it might be, I love humbly, sacrificially, I love with the same kind of love that Jesus loved his men. I give away that love in action for my brothers and sisters. Point number three, but you will bow Looking at verse 36, I'm pretty convinced that Peter did not hear what Jesus just said in the two previous verses. He was fixated on what Jesus said in verse 33, namely that he's going to leave. He's out of here. So Peter says, verse 36, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later. Peter was eventually to die a martyr's death. He was eventually to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus spiritually awaiting his resurrected body. But for now, Jesus says, Peter, I've got other things, other assignments, you have a different mission, you have things to do here. You're not gonna follow me at this point. Peter said, verse 37, Lord, why can't I now follow you? I will lay down my life for you. I don't know what, picture you have in your mind of the Apostle Peter. I picture him as being rather tall, broad shoulders, barrel-chested, a man that was loud and brash, one who was going to speak first and think next. One author quipped, sometimes Peter only opens his mouth to change feet. That's the Apostle Peter in my mind. And here he's saying, Lord, I don't care where you're gonna go, even if I have to give up my life, I'm there with you. He was full of pride, thinking himself strong, resilient, impervious. And Jesus said, verse 38, will you lay down your life for me? Peter, before the rooster crows tonight, you're gonna deny me three times. You're going to say that you don't even know me, Peter. Dr. Luke gives us some insight into this conversation that Jesus has with Peter. In chapter 22, we have kind of an extended, expanded understanding of what their conversation was like. Simon, Simon, verse 31 of Luke 22, Behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. But Peter said to Jesus, Lord, with you I am ready to go to prison and to death. And he said, I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me. for other witnesses. Even just a little girl that challenged Peter, does the big fisherman say, I don't even know this guy. I don't even know this guy. Sadly, we have to wait seven chapters in John's gospel to see the resolution. of Peter's sin and the guilt that enveloped him. You will bow to temptation, Peter. Let me bring this to a head Three points of application. First, living this kind of way, loving one another as Christ loved us, humbly, sacrificially, giving away himself. This kind of love demands personal initiative. That's the first blank. It demands personal initiative. We sometimes might delude ourselves into thinking, if we simply stand by the front door as people walk in the church and we greet them, hi, it's great to see you. We sometimes delude ourselves into thinking, well, I'm demonstrating love. No, you're just mouthing off words. Now hopefully there is life and vitality and love behind those words, but you don't have to love to say words like that. To love as Christ calls us to love is demanding. And it requires of us that we go outside of ourselves, that we take the initiative to seek out needs, opportunities, ways that we can give humbly, sacrificially, just as Christ gave in washing their feet, dying on the cross. It demands that we take personal initiative, particularly among God's people. It's our love for one another that, in particular, causes the world to say, oh, these are people that are identified with Jesus and they're identified with each other. This kind of loving one another demands that every day I am looking for ways for me to take the initiative to show, demonstrate love. Love is an action, it's a verb, it's something that we do. And it's something that I have to be intentional about. It doesn't just come to me, I have to go to it. Just as Jesus intentionally stood up, took off his coat, put a towel around his waist, and washed the feet of his disciples. So I have to take that same kind of initiative every day to love especially God's people. Today, my friends, don't let it escape without you intentionally, purposefully, willfully, eagerly seeking to love people belonging to Jesus. How are you going to do that? We've got to think through that. It's not something that just happens. We don't just live the Christian life by letting life happen and we throw a scripture verse here or we say praise the Lord over there. No, this is something that we are intentional about. Second. Actually, for the second and the third, I return to Francis Schaeffer's little book, The Mark of the Christian. This is his language. To love one another as Jesus calls us to love demands seeking forgiveness. It demands seeking forgiveness. James chapter five urges us to confess our sins to one another. When we're hurt, offended, grieved, miffed, angry, maybe, at people within God's fellowship, We need to look very carefully in our own heart. Am I responsible for any of this? And if so, I need to seek forgiveness. I chase after that. My friends, if we are going to love one another just as Christ loved us, This has got to be a habit that's right at the forefront. It's so easy for us to simply pack up our toys and our kids and go someplace else. If we're really going to love as Christ loved us, we're gonna have to seek forgiveness. So, slay your pride and confess your sin. Second, well, in Schaeffer's thinking, third in my list, to love one another as Christ loves demands granting forgiveness. How easy it is for us to hold on to a grudge. bitterness, anger, that someone has hurt us, offended us, stepped on our toes, maybe stepped on our head. Listen to this, 1 John chapter four. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin, satisfaction for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Luke records Jesus' words on this point. Luke chapter 17. Be on your guard, Jesus said. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, I repent, forgive him every single time. Slay your bitterness. Slay your anger. Slay your sense of justness, rightness, oughtness. Grant forgiveness when your brother or sister come to you, confessing their sin. The prominent 19th century British preacher Octavius Winslow, he was a contemporary of J.C. Ryle, Charles Spurgeon, he wrote this, listen. There is no love like the love of Christ. His love chose you. It ransomed you. It called you. It soothes you. His eyelid never closes. His affections never change. His warmth never chills. His hand is never withdrawn. The love of Christ stands out in the history of love as the divinest, the holiest, the strongest of all love, unequaled, unparalleled, unsurpassed. Truly, there is no love like the love of Christ. And that's the love to which we are called. We are to reflect that kind of love. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away. Pray with me. Father, we know that you are glorified in the work of Christ. His love is unsurpassed, unparalleled, without equal. And He calls us to live the same kind of life, to demonstrate the same kind of love for one another, to love even as He loved us. Father, give us courage. Give us tenacity. Give us patience. Give us a picture of the kind of love with which Christ loved us that we might respond, we might reflect His love in that exact same way. We thank you for the example of Christ, the calling of Christ, the Holy Spirit of Christ, to enable us to do what is, in our own nature, impossible. And we'll give you all the praise. In Jesus' name, amen.