Turn to John's gospel as we're making our way through this powerful spiritual gospel and all that it's had in showing us both the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ. We've really seen a wonderful It's a juxtaposition of both Jesus as a human and as having the power of deity as he's gone through and taught the truths as we've seen him express certain emotions that are decidedly human. and doing so with purity, without any hint of sin in his life. He was pure and holy and good. He was the Son of God. So we've enjoyed seeing what Jesus has had to say as he spent the first 12 chapters speaking to his fellow Jews there with the gospel and seeing so many of them, clearly the majority of them, rejecting him as he has been teaching the truths of the gospel. And now they, of course, want to kill him, at least the religious leaders do. So We're in the last passage of chapter 13. Chapter 13, the next five chapters, as I mentioned last week, have to do with one night. It has to do with one night. They're in the upper room. They have had the foot washing, Jesus demonstrating the example of what it means to be human serving one another. He says, as directly says out in chapter 13 to his disciples, I'm doing this as an example for you to follow. These are things that I expect you to do. He's preparing them for his departure. There's going to be a whole lot of teaching that takes place that night, chapter 14, 15, and 16. And then of course, it culminates in the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus of course, experiences that intense moment where he's sweating great drops of blood as he prays in chapter 17 to the Father. And then they come and, of course, Judas betrays him with a kiss. And now, just prior to our passage from 31 to 38 this morning, we saw the betrayer being revealed. We saw Judas being revealed. He's now been sent out with the words, what you're going to do, do quickly. And he's gone. And it was night. It was night in more ways than one. So it was clearly the evening, because this is what's taking place all during that evening, as I said, over the next five chapters from 13 to 17. So he's gone. And now he's going to turn, especially as we turn the corner into chapter 14, and he's going to be instructing them. We really need to hold our focus on these next chapters, especially 14, 15, 16. Even now at the end of 13, he's giving them very important information because he loves them. And he does not want them to fret. Do not be troubled. Do not be anxious. He wants them to understand what's about to take place, because I think the word counterintuitive isn't even strong enough. Counterintuitive to what they perhaps thought is going to happen. No, this is completely upside down. He actually is going to be glorified in that horrendous, gritty, bloodstained scene on the cross. That doesn't make any sense to them. He's assuring them, these are things you don't understand now, but you will. I'm going somewhere now that you can't go with me, but you will. He's trying to bolster their confidence. These words are confidence enhancers for sure. The words that he's about to share with them as we go through these chapters that follow. So I'm very much looking forward to that. But for now, let's read verse 31 to the end of the chapter and we'll get started. Verse 31 of 13, when he had gone out, of course referring to Judas, 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 glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while, and I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so 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, just as I have loved you, you also. are to love one another. By this, all people 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 him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you 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, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. Father, thank you for these words. Thank you for what they already communicate to us just in hearing them, just in reading them. or truly, your spirit fills your Word as it's imparted to those who belong to you. You pierce our hearts. You fill the room, the chambers of our heart, with this loving expression, the outpouring of truth that you give us in your Word. It's transformative. It's insensible. We don't really sense it's taking place all the time, but we look back in retrospect and we say, yes, the Lord has been at work in my life. So we know of the efficacy of your word. We know of its power to transform us. We know, in fact, the power of the word to raise even the dead. Those who were dead are now made alive in Christ. Praise God. We thank you for that. We will celebrate that sacrifice that it took to bring that about. the new life that we enjoy in Jesus Christ, brought about by your love and your great power as we would partake of the elements of Holy Communion. So be with us now as we grow in greater appreciation for the celebration of this sacrifice. And in fact, and indeed, it is a celebration. In fact, and indeed, for the believer, death itself is a celebration because it means, in every case, the entrance into glory with you in your beloved presence. So we thank you for these words. Help us now with it. I ask this not only on my behalf but on behalf of those who have assembled here today to hear your word. Hear your word. So help me, Lord. May I be guilty of no inaccuracies. That I would speak your truth with humility. No private agendas. No private opinions. So speak to us now, we pray, the word unadulterated in Christ's name, I pray, amen. Let me ask you a question. For those of you who are professing believers, what is it, would you say, I mean, this is a sincere, honest question, what is it that identifies you as a Christian? Think about that. You don't have to speak it out, but just think about that. I think this is a good question for us to have in the chambers of our thought life while we're working through this text. What is it that identifies me? I claim to be a Christian. What is it? Is it the Bible that I have? The Bible that I read as often as possible? The verses that I've memorized? Is it the cross around your neck? What is it? Oh, no, I know what it is. It's my life is more and more moral than it used to be. Is that what identifies you? It's identified in his name. What does that mean? He's giving us in this text our identity. How? How is he doing that? Think back in the passage we just read, all seven verses, and how is it that he's doing that? He gives us the identity, that is, of those who belong to him. That's his love. How will they know you're his disciple? What does it say? Because I go to church. Hello. Because I have a Bible. Because I try to get to my devotionals in the morning if I'm not too tired. turned away from a sinner to this week. What is it that identifies the true believer as someone who belongs to Christ? That's the question. It's a question I believe he was posing in my heart in my work of sermon preparation this week. What is it that identifies you, Mark, as belonging to me? How do you know? How do you know? That's a fairly important question, isn't it? Maybe the most important question we could ask ourselves if we're willing to entertain it, because it's kind of scary, right? It ought to be, because our eternal destiny hangs in the balance. Where will be after we die? So Jesus had just revealed his betrayer. We know who he is now. The disciples know, but they don't understand. There were 12 disciples. Now there's 11. They must have been shocked. I would think that this would shake their confidence. He knows that. He can see their hearts. He knows they don't understand what he's talking about. Think about how fearful that can make you. I don't know what you're saying, Lord. Where are you going? And how come I can't go there? I followed you for three years. You can't now, but you will. What does that mean? Who will take care of me, so to speak, if in your absence? Thinking, of course, physically, three-dimensionally. What does he give them to make them confident that they're going to be okay? But most importantly, that they actually belong to him? Think about that. They have to be asking themselves this question. He's seeing their bewilderment. It's on their faces, even if they didn't utter a sound. But of course, Peter can't keep his mouth closed, right? He's got to speak up. Jesus delivers them the one sure identifying feature of those who belong to him. It is his love. But what's your understanding of what that is? Hallmark? Is this love just warm and fuzzy feelings? Am I loving because I do good works here and there? How do I identify what love is? Because he's made that clear to them now. He didn't say, They'll know you're my disciples. I'm going, I'm not going to be with you. They need to know that you belong to me. No, no, no, no. Even more importantly, they need to see me in you. How's that done? In your morality? No. It's in how you love. It's in who you love. That defines who you are. That's what he's saying. It's that clear. So following this, Jesus virtually pours out a cascade of truth that he's going to, it's just like parents. It's just like parents are going on a trip and they've got small children. And they're like, so mom and dad are going away. What? I wanna go with you. No, you can't go with me. You can't go with me. But I'll tell you what, so just put yourself in that place and you'll be getting close to how Jesus feels right now because he loves these. These are his own. The betrayer's gone. These are his choice ones. These are his chosen ones. You remember what he said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. You belong to me. That's an issue of possession, friends. That's an issue of belonging. Doesn't that make you confident? Well, let's not hasten to that confidence too quick based upon some act we made, a walk down an aisle, or some prayer meeting, or whatever it might be, or all the tears I've shed. Maybe that's a good way of identifying that I belong to Him because I weep a lot over my sin. Is that it? That might be part of it. But I can't trust my heart. What would assure me that I belong to Him? He's facing his own execution and all of its sordid and gritty details. They should be, as I mentioned last week, comforting him. And here he is. These next chapters, all of these verses that pour out in these chapters are him ministering to them because he said, I will not leave you as orphans. Another is coming. They're gonna have to figure out what that means, right? You remember verse one from our chapter where it says that Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from the world and be with the Father. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. It's all about love. God defining himself as God is love in 1 John 4, 8 and 16. He is love if that's his essence, if that's what he's defined by. The way he's going to know who you are and whether or not you belong to him is who and how you love. That's it. And by that, you're also glorified. We see that in these verses. We see not only the glorification in Christ, but also the manifestation of Christ in his body. Where is his body right now? Go ahead. The church. The temple of the Holy Spirit is our bodies. This, those that believe, are the body of Christ. So, you and I are to manifest Him. How? In who and how we love. That's how. That's the manifestation of Christ. That's how he's able to stay here. So he's like, you listen to me, listen carefully. This is how. It's not a particular robe you're gonna wear. It's not a certain nomenclature. I'll give you the right words to speak, even though he gives those to them. It's not gonna be any kind of formula at all. It's gonna be this one word. That's it. And you'll see the manifestation of Christ. And in this we see the eventual exaltation of Christ. These, I've mentioned before, when we've entered into these places, in these chapters, especially right here, we've entered the Holy of Holies. We have walked, we are walking on holy ground. We want to listen very carefully here. It's that important. It's so utterly important. So in other words, the final analysis as to who we are is evidenced by who and how we love. That's your point for the outline. That's the takeaway from this introduction. Here's the outline. What we're going to see from the first two verses, verse 31 and 32, is the glorification of Christ. the glorification of Christ. All of these things are anticipated because he's preparing them for when he goes to the cross and then ultimately his ascension. He's leaving. He's on his way out. When he's hanging on the cross, particularly, is he going to be powerless, so to speak, to deal with them at all? He's fulfilling the will of the Father in that agony and death. Secondly, in verse 34 and 35, the manifestation of Christ, as I mentioned, this is anticipated as well. That's why he's given them a new commandment. Why is it new? Leviticus 19 says, love your neighbor. That goes all the way back. Well, we're going to talk about that. Third, the exaltation of Christ, the anticipated exaltation of Christ in verse 36, 37 and 38. So let's get started. The glorification of Christ. Verse 31 and 32, when he had gone out, Judas, as I mentioned, is gone now. 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 glorify him at once, or immediately, you could say. If you're a disciple, you're sitting there, and you just heard that, with a lack of understanding, they clearly had, you're saying, what does that mean? It seems rather enigmatic, doesn't it? What? Now? I believe, love, almost a private moment for the Son of Man, Son of God. It's here, His long-anticipated moment where He will complete and fulfill the will of the Father, and that will bring Him glory, and God the Father will be glorified, and God will be glorified in them. There's an explosion here. And it happens at the cross, and it happens at the empty tomb, right? Now, he says. So 33, or at 33 years old, he's, and for the past three years, we've seen the humiliation of Christ, the humbling of Jesus Christ, his condescension to become a man and allow them to do what they do, which is terribly humiliating. So it's the humiliation of Christ that we see for 33 years as he walked on the earth as a man. That's done. That's what the word now means. Now. It's here. The payment will be made. Now will God be glorified. The Son will be glorified. The Father will be glorified. All will be glorified. The Holy Spirit will come. Fill those that will be my body. They will speak for me. They will love like I loved, and people will know them by their love. How much love are we seeing today? You're watching too much television like me. Not a whole lot of love out there, friends, and it's getting worse. Not much love at all. Why does our Lord say this? Why does he have to repeat himself? because, simply for one reason, his disciples were woefully slow on the uptake, just did not get it. And we understand that. This was immediately prior to the advent of the Holy Spirit. The lights hadn't come on yet, right? They didn't know what he's talking about. Every time he'd talk about, because he said it a number of times as they're walking along, the Son of Man must return to Jerusalem. He'll be terribly treated, and he'll be killed. And even in one place, and rise again. There's nothing after that as far as, well, let's talk about that, Lord. Nothing after that, I would suggest, because They're like completely in bewilderment. They have no idea what he's talking about. And you remember Peter in Matthew 16. Oh, no. Far be it from me to ever allow that happen, Lord. And what does he call him for saying that? Get behind me, Satan. You're taking up the agenda of Satan. You're speaking as a man. You're not speaking for the agenda of the Father, and that's why I'm here. But he gets that. He knows. Jesus knows Peter well. Aren't you thankful for that? Does it give you hope? It gives me hope. Acts 3, let's see the difference with a spirit-filled Peter now. Acts 3, 13 to 15. Here he is. Now he's filled with the Spirit. He gets it, right? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. Wow. Is this a different Peter or what? Any fear of man there? None. This is the truth. I get it. Just set me free, Lord. Give me a voice for you. as he did to his servant Paul and the others, speaking the truth that they needed to hear. You killed, you get the sick irony here, you killed the author of all life. That's what you've done, but you need to hear that so that your heart can be crushed, so that you would be convicted and that you might be saved. Jesus Christ is glorified in his death by crucifixion, at the wicked machinations of the religious leaders, and at the cruel and brutal hands of the Roman government. He's glorified in that? Yes, that glorifies him. That glorifies him. At the ascension in Acts chapter 1, remember Jesus ascends into heaven, what do the disciples do? What has to happen? He has to dispatch a couple of angels to go, what are you doing? Let me get it right. Don't want to misquote scripture. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? See, they're still so. It's like when the child again watches the parent walking off after they had told him, I've got to go and you can't go with me, but you'll come later. And they walk off and the child stands there. Maybe it's more like a pet. Did you ever have a pet or see or hear of a pet doing that? Like a dog or a cat or whatever. You leave the house and they're like staring at the driveway for the next 20 minutes. That's what they're doing. So I guess we'd better dispatch the Holy Spirit so these guys' lights come on. Yep. And then we hear Peter, and Peter is an amazing preacher. No fear of man. He's putting it together. He's quoting all over what we call the Old Testament in his sermons and acts. It's just glorious. It's beautiful. 1 Peter 4.11, here's Peter later on, whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God. If you're going to speak, if that's sort of your calling in life, speak according to the Word of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. You don't have to pony up your own strength for this. If God's called you to do it, turn it loose. Just turn it loose. In order that in everything, in what? In everything. God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. This apostle gets it. So does the Apostle Paul, right? 1 Corinthians 10.31. You memorized that one, haven't you? I'll start it and I'll bet you'll be able to finish it. 1 Corinthians 10.31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do all to your satisfaction. Wait a second. No. Do all to the glory of God. It is incumbent upon a created being to give glory to its creator. That's it. That's why that's the number one purpose of our threefold purposes in this church. All things to the glory of God, whether I live and breathe, whether I take a step or not, whether I eat or drink, everything should be to the glorification of God because He's restored my soul and because I belong to Him. Because I belong to Him. God creates a people to express his glory. He creates a people to express his glory. The Jews as a nation were supposed to do that, and they put him to death. But he has a people now that he's handpicked, he's chosen. This is the body of Christ. This is the church to bring him glory. I love Isaiah 43 verse 7, Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. That's a Creator God speaking through His prophet. You're created for that one-fold purpose. If you can't remember any of the details after that, remember that one. It's the most important one. Everything you think, say, and do should be with the thought, how can I best glorify God? Live my way, not do things that are self-satisfying to me. That's acting more like a pagan, the way you were before you believed. What can I do to glorify God? I have a lust. I love it. Glorifying God, what can I do? All I have is this little job I do, or all I have today is to fix this little thing in the backyard, or all I'm doing is watching the kids. Do it unto the Lord. Glorify Him in every blessed moment of it, because it's His appointment for you. Don't look at things more important than the other. What every one of you that truly belong to him is doing at any given moment is just as important as what I'm doing right now. Don't count measure and weigh. That's our tendency, right? We quantify things, and then we measure them, and then we weigh them out. That's not God's economy. He invented that stuff. And what do we do with it? We compare ourselves with others. Don't do that. Whatever your life is, in its content, you may be disabled. There may be any number of things. This is who you are. Every moment given to the glory of God, That's the idea. That's why we were created. Especially that's why we are saved. It's for that purpose. But that means, what's the price? A death has to happen. Death to self. That I might glorify God. I can't. I can't practice the things the way I would like things to go in the calling that I have in my life. I would love for them to go this way or that way. And it usually involves some quantification or some measurement of something or something I've weighed out and thought that this is much better. Oh, really? So you know better than God? No, I don't. God forgive me. Jesus is glorified in his death because he is God's chosen lamb who takes away the sins of the world. This brings him glory. He's portrayed as the lamb who's standing in the book of Revelation, remember? Lamb, a slain lamb. Remarkable. So it's on this gritty, crude, rough-hewn wooden cross where he's being brutalized in a slow, agonizing death, where he's being glorified. Like I said, counterintuitive. That's not a strong enough word. It seems upside down. It seems crazy. He should be glorified in our coronating him as king, and then he can raise us up to be his army to punish the Romans and take over. That's us thinking again. Ephesians 3, 20 to 21, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly. then all that we could ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. There's these epistolic doxologies. Did you ever wonder what produces that? They speak to the glories of God, the glory of Christ. It's like Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit. It's all through the scriptures. This victory that he had on the cross fills him with the glory of God and his Christ. He's filled to overflowing. So he writes these amazing words that are powerful and eloquent and We see them all through Jude finishes out his lead letter this way, Jude 25. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory, with great joy to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time now and forever. Amen. That's what we're here for. That's what should be going on right now in our hearts and in our minds. Oh, you wait till I'm healed up. I'll be able to... Or you wait till I finish out my schooling. Then I can understand God's appointments. We misunderstand the providence of God all the time. He knows exactly what you're able to complete and what you aren't. I remember as a young Christian, it's like, Lord, why did I get saved so... Late in life, you know? Back then, 33 was old, right? What can you do with me now? I saw all these people that I admired, secretly admired, and that were raised in Christian homes, and I thought, it was enigmatic to me. I'm like, wow, what's that like? What use do you have of me? See what we do? This is what we do. So Christ's primary objective, the Christians, excuse me, the Christians' primary objective in life, to be consumed with the glory of the Christ whom He reveres and adores, and I would even add, and obeys. And obeys. There's glory in that. Who's glorified when I disobey him? No, you're not glorified. Nobody is. His glory is diminished in you. I glorify him when I revere him. I glorify him when I fear him. I glorify him when I love him and adore him. take away the entire world, even those that I love in human form, and I am left with everything I've ever and always wanted. That's the kind of love we're talking about. That glorifies Him. 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 to 12, to this end, we pray for you. It's for this objective we're praying for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that, purpose clause, here we go, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, in me, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one-fold purpose. We're alive. The one-fold purpose to which we've been made alive spiritually. This is it. That we might glorify him. That he could be glorified in me? Do you know where I've been? Do you know what I've done? How can you glorify yourself in me? How? And he does. Because I've made you alive. I've forgiven you. I would do it again, and again, and again. As it turns out, that's what he has to do, right? Is to forgive me over and over. How many times? How many times? Seven? Seven times? What did Jesus say to Peter when he asked him that question? Lord, it's seven times, right? As the Hebrews thought, taught that three times, after that, you don't have to forgive anymore. If it's the same guy doing the same thing, that's it, it's all done. So he thought he was being magnanimous with the forgiveness of God and his forgiving other people. Is it seven times, Lord? If you're gonna quantify things, I'm gonna throw that in there, because this is the absolute point, at least in my mind, is when he says, if you're gonna quantify it, seven times 70. Let me know when you've worked that math out. I can picture him walking away. What are you quantifying things for? Didn't that get your king? Chastened David, counting the soldiers so that the glory would be whose? David's? The Israelites? My glory I will share with whom? No man. No man. Second, so the manifestation of Christ. He's leaving his role as the God-man, he's ascended. Luke 24, Acts 1, so he's ascended to be by the Father. And I think that he was filled with a longing and an excitement to be with the Father again. Verse 33, He says, little children, yet a little while and I'm with you, you seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. Little children is technia in the Greek. It means a small child, like a tiny, like a baby. toddler at most. This is a very tender term that he's calling, one definition has it as, you could use the word darlings. Get the tenderness of this moment, get the love that he has for them. My little darlings, my little babies, my little children, John loves that, doesn't he? Because he uses it in his epistles, too. Little children. Like a parent telling their child that they're about to leave and you can't go with me. You can't go with me this time. But you will later on. Verse 34, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another just as I loved you. You also love one another. Well, as I pointed out, This isn't new in the sense of the calling to love other people. Leviticus 19.18 made it clear. Jesus in Matthew 22, when he was asked what the greatest commandment is, is saying, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is much like it. He says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. So this, what's new? That's what we want to investigate. Call. in general is not new. What's new about it? This. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. just as I have loved you." So there's a conjunction there. A conjunction is a connecting word. Kethos is the Greek word. It connects something. Well, you can see what it's sandwiched by. Love one another, and you also are to love one another. What's in the middle? Just as I have loved you. So that's not only, and this is important, it's not only the motive for loving one another. It's the quality of it. The way I loved you, that's how I want you to love. Not in there bickering about like you just were about who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom, but to die to yourself. That's what I'm about to do. You need to do the same in terms of you are dead to yourself. You are living for other people. You're living for me. I'm going away. The spirit of the living Christ will inhabit you by your belief. And then you will think, all you'll think about is other people. Oh, don't worry, you'll take care of yourself. That's why he said, love your neighbor as you already are loving yourself. That's the assumption. That's just an assumption. It's not, I'm supposed to love myself. Jesus said I should love myself more. That's a bunch of psychological hogwash. We love ourselves what? Thank you, way too much. Way too much. You just don't have to look much past this past week and the things that you did, and you'll know who you love most. It's a scary thing to think about, isn't it? Let's move on. In John 15, 12, so in two chapters, just right down the way, he says the same thing. This is my commandment, that you love one another as Athos, as I have loved you. That's your motivation. You saw the way I loved you when I stood before Pilate and didn't say a word. Fulfilling Isaiah 53. He didn't speak up. He didn't shout. He didn't make his defense. If anybody could ever make a defense of Jesus Christ, he didn't. He was slapped and punched, had his beard plucked, spit on, and drug to the cross. Drug his own cross to his own execution, rather. Do you remember me? You will, he's saying to the disciples, because this is future tense. This is something you will see me do. You're going to see demonstrated, love demonstrated in a way that you've never seen it before. It's going to be horrifying to you. Peter, you're going to be so scared you're going to deny me three times and then you're going to weep like a baby because you feel so horribly cowardly in that moment. But there will be a moment when the Holy Spirit comes. I'll ascend and the Holy Spirit will come and he will fall on you because you've believed and you belong to me. And then you will know how I've loved you. Let that motivate you. but also let that define the quality of your love going forward. Man isn't free to define love the way he wants to. Look at the way our culture defines love. No wonder our lives are a train wreck. Ephesians 5, 1-2. Paul saying, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. That's an as God does, so you do the same as well. Be imitators of Him. Remember where Paul says, imitate me as I imitate whom? Christ. The way you've seen Christ imitated, and now in my life, because he's gone, and this is the second generation now of Christians, right? Because they're out witnessing and planting churches. Now, look at me, Paul's saying, and see how I love. And he wasn't a perfect man, was he? I mean, whoa. Not by any means. He never pretended to be. But in general, look at the sacrifices that Paul makes and imitate him. That's what he's saying here to the Ephesian church. Imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved you. Let that be the motivation and do it the way he did. He died literally to himself on the cross, if you will. We die to ourselves for the sake of others, and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice. There is no true love that doesn't understand it as sacrifice, something that really costs me time, energy, money, possessions. It's got to cost me something, and I should feel it. We are to be rooted and grounded in love. Ephesians 3, 17, verse 19, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. That's how you get filled with the fullness of God. Ephesians 4, verse 2 and 3, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Verse 15 and 16 in Ephesians 4. So he goes on and on, and this is just in Ephesians. Ephesians 4, 15 and 16, speaking the truth in what? Love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head unto Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, which when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up. in love. It's the objective. God is love. That's what you're to be. It's what I'm to be. We are to be love, not do individual acts of love when it's convenient. We are to be that. You're Christ-filled for that purpose. And He willingly died to make that possible for us, that He might be seen, that He might be manifested through you and I for His glory's sake, for His glory's sake. He wrote to the Colossian Church, 314, above all these put on what? Love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. First Peter, Now Peter has a whack at it. 1 Peter 4.8. 1 John 3.23. And 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 35 of our text, by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So how do you identify yourself as belonging to Christ? You see, he's just defined that for you and I. I have no right, in other words, you could say in the negative, I have no right to claim to belong to him if I'm loving myself. If I haven't learned what it means to die to myself that I might live for others' sake, that Christ can be made known so that it's head-turning. People can turn and look, you did what and it cost you what? You see that? That's when they see Christ in you and I. Not because of our winsomeness of our personality. Not because other things we might do to be seen from others. We might gain their approval. It's got to be when nobody sees. Isn't that the point of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is giving? Third, the exaltation of Christ, the final three verses. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, you will lay down your life for me. Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times." The indication that he gives at the end of John's gospel is that he's going to meet his death for Christ's sake. Tradition holds that Peter was crucified, but he requested to be crucified upside down because he's not worthy of being crucified the way Jesus was. Peter has to learn, together with the rest of the disciples, that this entire redemptive enterprise isn't about him. That's one of the hardest things for Christians, especially prosperous American Christians, I think, to grasp. It's not about us. It's about the glory. of Jesus Christ. It's about manifesting him and it's about his ultimate exaltation as we see him going to be with the Father. That's how he started the chapter, knowing his hour had come and it's time for him to depart from the world and be with whom? The Father. Can you imagine the excited joy pulsing through the heart of the Son of Man, Son of God? This redemptive enterprise is about God's glory, His humiliation included, His glorification, His manifestation, all of that, a true Christian is more than just aware of the glory and exaltation of Jesus Christ. We're not just writing papers about that. It's actually a reality in our lives. We strive to manifest that through the zealous worship and a life that manifests his glory. That's what we're after. We want our lives to manifest that glory. And it's done through what he defines in that four-letter word as love. This is the new commandment I'm giving you. I must and will be manifest through those who belong to me. He loved his own to the end. To those that belong to them, to him, they'll live that way through loving sacrificial service to God. Mark in his gospel at the end in chapter 16, verse 19, so then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. There's the information that follows. That's the exaltation of the Christ. Remember when Stephen was being stoned to death at the end of that long chapter in Acts chapter 7? And he was letting them have it there. You talk about no fear of man. He's letting them have it to the point where they were gritting their teeth. They're picking up rocks and they began to stone him to death. And what did he see? Isn't it an amazing vision that he saw? He said, look, there's the son of man standing. He stood up. That his servant might die for him. He stood up. And he was allowed the privilege and the pleasure to see that. Acts 2.33, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. This is Peter. We're not drunk. It's nine o'clock in the morning. What's the matter with you? We're not drunk. You're calling us drunk? No, what you're seeing is the manifestation of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of the living Christ has descended. And now we're able to make sense out of all this madness. And you're going to listen. And he lets them have it, doesn't he? And at the end, they're filled with compunction. Oh, they're just broken and convicted. And what must we do? You must repent and be baptized, is what he says. You remember that. 1 Peter in his epistle, 1 Peter 3, 21 to 22, Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to him. He gets his place in the whole economy of God. He is God. Every created thing is in subjection to him. In fact, he was the one creating them. The answer to him, that's him. That's the one you and I claim to know. But do we? That's the one whose identity we want to grab so we can be well thought of, perhaps, when it hasn't cost us our lives. He will be glorified, whether it's with me or not. He doesn't. Can you imagine? Having an attitude of my heart, Lord, you need me. I hesitate to even say that. I don't mean it. I can't believe that he would use me for such important work as his glorification, his manifestation, his exaltation, to declare the glories of the risen Christ. What an honor. That's what compels me to be in the study. That's what compels me to study hard. That's what causes me to plead with the Lord for accuracy and efficiency and efficacy of the word preached. That's what does it, knowing that and that the time is so short. Hebrews 8 and verse 1, we have such a high priest one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven." And back to Ephesians again, Ephesians 1, 19 to 23, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. as we're bringing this in for a landing. Listen to Revelation 3, 21 and 22. Speaking to us here, to the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. But as it turns out, I was thinking about this, as it turns out, truly conquering myself, the self of myself, is really quite a task as it turns out. It really is. He who perseveres to the end will be saved, Jesus said in the gospels. But the one that conquers, what does he do with him or her? I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. The place of tabernacling, God is with man. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. First Chronicles 29.11, yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. This is the way we're supposed to sound. This is supposed to be the condition of our, this is supposed to be our perspective. This is supposed to shape our worldview. This is what should be putting my feet going. These words like these, do I live that way? Am I his? Do I have a right to that claim to my identity being Christ? Jude 24 and 25, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory and great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever, amen. Another epistolic doxology. This was his half-brother, as was James, gushing about God and His glory and His dominion and His majesty and being overwhelmed by the goodness of our God to come to save our lives No matter what we've done, no matter what we will do, if we'll simply believe, he says in verse 24, Jude, to him who's able to keep you from stumbling, he'll keep you, he'll keep you. Don't think it's over because you fell. It wasn't up to you to hold you in the first place. You'd have never decided for him on your own. He had to come for you. The hound of heaven came after you, and he wasn't going to stop until he had you. He's not going to let you go. All those that the Lord has been given into his hand from the Father, of those, how many will he lose, John 10? None. It's to be you and I. We rest in that. We rejoice in that. This, this alone needs to be what drives us to commemorate Holy Communion. If that's not you, simply let the cup go by. That's all. No judgment. Let it go by. Because if that's not you, you will be judged if you partake. Don't do that. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. Thanks isn't enough. We owe you our lives. It's a life that's been bought and paid for. We've been purchased with the greatest of all prices so we would glorify you in our bodies. We would glorify you indeed in our minds. There are motives for everything that we think, say, and do. For all of our decision-making should have all of these things in mind. When we say we pray in your name, this is what we're supposed to be encompassing. Your glory, your majesty, your dominion, your great power. all of these things that came about for the salvation of our souls. Lord, thank you is hardly enough, but it's all we have to offer in this moment. And we hope that you find that acceptable to us. For we love you, Lord. We are so utterly grateful to be alive in Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.