Let's turn now in the word of God to the passage from which we were reading. John 15 and we'll read again at verse 13. John chapter 15 and reading again from verse 13. The passage reads, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Sweet words, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What is the greatest love that we have ever seen exhibited in this world? No doubt we've seen much of love and we've experienced much of love. There is much love in this world. You see a mother with her baby child and what care there is, what compassion, what awareness of every need that the child has and determination, if possible, to meet and to satisfy that need. Maybe we've known loved ones and relatives in hospital or in some kind of care, and we're often amazed, are we not, at the compassion and the determination that those who are employed in that work have to give care and compassion and dignity to people in the difficulties and the physical pain that they experience. And that's a wonderful thing, a precious and a beautiful thing. And of course, especially if we see it, do we not? And the pastor who is pleading lovingly with his people to come to Christ, preaching the gospel with tears in his eyes there in that setting. you see love expressed, do you not? But this passage you see, it lifts us up to the very pinnacle of love. It shows us love in the very highest sense that ever it has been exhibited. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. It brings us to the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the most wonderful, the most precious, the most special love of all. And we come to that subject this morning to warm our hearts, to prepare ourselves for the communion Sabbath to come, to encourage us, those who are the Lord's people, by reflecting upon the love that has drawn us unto Christ and that has worked to achieve our salvation. we reflect on it to encourage those who may not yet have professed the name of Jesus to wonder at that love that they have experienced if they are his children and so perhaps to do so and to make that public profession and especially to encourage and to challenge those who are not yet the people of God to indeed come and to embrace this love which is held out to them in the gospel offer. So that then will be our theme for this morning, the love of Jesus Christ for his friends. The love of Jesus Christ for his friends. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So this then speaks of love. But it speaks of love in an intensely practical context. We're not being given here love as something abstract. It's something that has real practical implications for how we live the Christian life. John chapter 15 is a very practical chapter. It begins by using the analogy, the illustration of the vine. The Lord Jesus Christ, the vine, we his people as the branches, we need to abide in him to draw forth comfort and grace and strength from him to prosper and to bear fruit in the Christian life. So there is then a practical challenge to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. But then again, as we continue through the chapter, we come also to see the practical challenge to joy as well. We come down to verse 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. So again, it is not just enough that we abide in Christ, we also must enjoy that. We must draw forth that sweetness that comes from Christ and enjoy that communion and experience the pleasure of knowing Christ as Savior, the privilege of having salvation in Him, an encouragement to rejoice in what we have received. And above all, of course, as we come to verse 12, the encouragement to love. This is my commandment, that ye love one another. as i have loved you and so this must be the highest expression of our christian life the expression of it in love love to god who has loved us we must respond with love reciprocate with love for the love that he has given us but love also to one another, love to those too in whom Jesus Christ is working, in whom we can see the marks of being his people, the love that must bind us and unite us together. And of course the communion season should be that, a time for drawing near and enjoying fellowship and especially for uniting around the table in the experience of mutual love, one with another. So a very practical subject then that comes before us, the love of Jesus Christ for his friends. So with these thoughts, let us come firstly to consider the demonstration of Christ's love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What is the demonstration of Christ's love, the highest demonstration of all? It brings us, of course, to Calvary. It brings us, of course, to the death. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not, you see, in terms of the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his atoning sufferings and atoning death. That is, of course, the prerogative of the senior minister on the Sabbath morning to bring forth that subject. And we will not trespass upon that subject. But rather, let us reflect upon the love that brought Christ to that place. the love that motivated his actions. Let's see the demonstration of that love as Christ came unto death. Let's see that it was love that drove the Lord Jesus Christ to that blessed, that extraordinary sacrifice upon Calvary. We see in our passage that it is a death that is foreseen. You see that if you look at the beginning of verse 12 from there. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ before his crucifixion, before it, looking ahead foreseeing what is to come, prophesying the death that he is to die. This will be the highest demonstration of love ever. This will be the highest demonstration of his love that he, a man, lay down his life for his friends. So he then foresees this death that is to come. He knows it is to come. He is viewing it prophetically, seeing this revelation that he has had. of the death that lies before him, viewing it, knowing the prospect that is to come, and accepting it, determining so to die. It's wonderful, isn't it? For seeing such an end, and yet accepting it, welcoming it even, boasting of it, greater love hath no man than this. Think of it, see the poor knowledge that is evident. If you have your Bible open, just flick over a page. Chapter 13, verse 1. These beautiful words. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. See that? It is love that is compelling. Christ's death. It is love that is driving him on, love that is burning within him, love that is consuming him, that is driving him even to death itself, to die for his people. This is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. A death, you see, that is foreseen, but also a death that's voluntary, that's accepted willingly, voluntarily. greater love of no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Never think of the Lord Jesus as being driven unwillingly to death or as having his life taken from him by others. See the Lord Jesus rather solemnly, deliberately laying down his life. The Lord Jesus acted in his death, deliberately acting. It's brought out very clearly for us in the Gospel of Luke. You hear the word of the Lord in Luke chapter 9, And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. The time had come and he was determined to meet the demand of that time. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, to go unto death, to accept that end for his people, for the love wherewith he loved us unto the end. A deliberate act, a solemn act. We see it, we see the love driving him through the last hours of his death as he contemplates the coming end. We see it in the Garden of Gethsemane, the anguish there, a solemn anguish as he wrestled with the fearful prospect to come, the sufferings that would be his, the anguish that would be his, the death that he would have to die. and the solemnity of it is brought out in the anguish that even the Lord Jesus Christ, even the God-man, the anguish that he experienced at the prospect before him. There are two crucial truths you see which have to be kept together as we contemplate the work of Christ in Gethsemane. On the one hand, there is the reality that he was God. And therefore it was unthinkable that he could change his purpose. Jesus Christ could not sin. He could not sin, for he was God. And so having determined so to die, therefore he would die. It was inconceivable that he could turn from his purpose. But, but the suffering was The anguish was real, the struggle, the battle was real. It brings before us what a solemn duty it was to go through such anguish, such pain, as he wrestled with it, as human nature was tested to its very limits. The divine nature upholding by its limitless strength, but the human nature tested struggling in anguish at the prospect before him. The two things you see, the decisive will of God and the genuine struggle and battle within the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. It brings before us the reality of the anguish, the reality of the struggle that he had, but it shows too the wonder of the love within driving him through that battle, driving him to overcome and so to die, so to go unto death. And after he has finished that anguish in the garden, after we see him taken, arrested, dragged before the authorities, we see there the decisive determination to fulfill the purpose of God. We see before the high priest, you recall these words he spoke, you shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, confessing openly who he is so that they will have no reason. No excuse to turn from their action. They will continue. He is giving them, as it were, sufficient ammunition so that they will fulfill their dreadful purpose in condemning him to death. And then before Pilate, before Pilate, who wishes, if he can, to spare Christ's life. Before Pilate, rather than beg, rather than make promises of how he'll keep quiet and change his behavior and he won't offend the Jews. No, before Pilate, he is silent. And that silence again indicates his settled, firm determination so to go to death on behalf of his people. Love then driving him, driving him on to embrace that voluntary, that willing death. And let's see too that it's a sacrificial death. He was there to lay down his life, a death that would cost It was a sacrifice that was real. Christ's life was a precious thing. The Lord Jesus had loved ones. He had a mother. He had sisters. He had brothers. He had those whom he loved, his disciples. He had these close bonds. He had his teaching ministry. He had his healing ministry. He had such precious things in this life. To lay down that life was a genuine sacrifice. It was a testing challenge to lay upon him, to contemplate the anguish of his mother Mary as a sword was pierced through her soul, as she saw her own beloved elder son crucified in that dreadful agony. As he contemplated the horrors, the physical pain, the spiritual pain, that lay before him on Calvary, as he contemplated what it would be to be rent asunder, the body separated from the soul in death, in that hideous, unnatural punishment for sin which he had never committed. That punishment deserved by us who will die, but that punishment never merited by the sinless Lord Jesus Christ. It was then a true sacrifice that he was asked to make and love that led him so to make it, love that drove him unto the end. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So let's then marvel at the greatness of this love, at the wonder of it, at the marvel of it. How must we respond to such love? We have it expressed for us so clearly in our chapter. John 15 verse 4. What says the Lord Jesus? Abide in me and I in you. In response to such love, what can we say but that we must abide in Christ. We must cling to him. If He has given us such love, how can we respond to Him but with love and with faithfulness to Him and with determination, no matter what, to cleave to one who loved us so much? This is the wonder of Christ's love. Are you abiding this morning? Are you one who's walking with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's hard, isn't it, to answer that? In the busyness and the bustle of life, in work, in pleasure, with friendships, with family, so much going on and sometimes not a thought for the things of God and a communion season is approaching and we can feel so unprepared, so unready for the solemn duty of remembering the death of Christ till he come again. Perhaps you're feeling distant from the Lord. Perhaps even you're doubting. Doubting your own salvation? Doubting the existence of God? Doubting the power of Christ to save? Perhaps you're feeling far from Him and hard and cold within. In the midst of that, come near again to the Lord Jesus. Come to the true Thine. Abide in Him. Draw forth your comfort and your needed grace from Him. and find that He can answer your problems, find that His richness can warm your cold, hard soul, that He can soften you, that He can open you to receive again the communion of His presence. Let us indeed draw near, abide in Him once more, and find our enjoyment and our pleasure in the Lord Jesus Christ. This then is the demonstration Christ's love. But that brings us then secondly to the recipients of Christ's love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. For his friends. The recipients of the love of Christ. It's incredible to think of. What are we beside the Lord Jesus Christ? Think on him. He was the God-man. Think of some of these incidents we have recorded for us. Some of them, they almost give us a chill when he says these words, before Abraham was, I am the God, the true God, the one by whom the world was formed, the one who made the vastness of the universe. And here now, taking a body, taking a human soul, living amongst us as God and man. It is wonder. It is something to make us marvel. Such love. Love for Christ's friends. Are we friends of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who would be bold enough to make such a claim? And yet here, does he not make it himself? Indeed, he says that he has chosen his friends. Come down to verse 16. The Lord Jesus says, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. It is the Lord Jesus who has chosen us to be his friends. And that is the marvel of it. that such a one should choose such as us to be his friends. The wonder, the vastness of the gulf bridged by such a friendship. This speaks to us of the love of God before the foundation of the world. The love of God directed and focused at certain specific individuals. chosen for nothing good in themselves, chosen by the free will of God. It speaks of us as vile sinners, ugly, unworthy, undeserving. It speaks of God in His compassion upon such, such as us, that He would look upon us and have such love as to create such a gospel and such a plan of salvation. for his chosen friends. And then to express to us this love, for we are friends who are truly loved. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, on behalf of his friends. This is Christ's love for us, that he gave his life for us. It's marvelous, isn't it? to show it, to show that love in such an action. We, before the eyes of God, sinners, vile, undeserving. We, the prospect before us, death in this world and everlasting hell, everlasting death, everlasting banishment from the presence of God. And that is just, and that is right. And God would have been just and right to have left us in that condition, to have left us to experience God's justice, God's wrath, and to die, everlastingly to die. The wonder is that having chosen us as friends, he now shows forth his love by dying for us, laying down his life for us. This is the wonder of the gospel. This is the thrill of it. His love for us. And then, of course, the other aspect to it. We are his friends. He loves us. But because we are his friends, we must love him in turn. We know this, don't we? The children know this. That I can say, well, I'm a friend of Mr. Craig. Mr. Craig's a great friend of mine. But if Mr. Craig is thinking inwardly, the sooner he gets back to Glasgow, the better. I can't stand the sight of him. Well, we're not really friends, are we? I might feel warm, friendly feelings, but they're not reciprocated. And so the friendship is not true. It is not real, unless he, too, feels that same warmth, feels that same sense of friendship. And so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. Having chosen us as his friends, having given to us his love, he then brings forth from us love in response. Love that reciprocates the love that he has given us. We see it opened up so clearly in our passage. Verse 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. The friends of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who show that, who demonstrate that in their conduct. Those who walk in holiness before God. Those who walk according to the teaching that Jesus Christ gave. Those who demonstrate our love for the Lord Jesus by walking like the Lord Jesus and in His ways. We reciprocate the friendship that He has given us. And so you see, the two aspects are necessary. His love for us, our response to him, and both present in the true believer, in the true child of God. But it begins with him. The initiative is his. The love that commenced, it was his. And our love is but a poor, feeble, unworthy response to the greatness, the magnitude of the love wherewith he loved us, even unto the end. How can we respond to such marvelous love, to the friendship of Christ? What response can we give? Can we not joy in it? Can we not rejoice? Can we not find pleasure in this, that Jesus Christ loved us this much? You see how it's stressed for us in our passage verse 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Jesus is saying to them I'm telling you this so that you will rejoice so that you will have gladness and happiness in the love that I have for you. Let us therefore rejoice especially in contemplation of the table to come Let us rejoice in the love of the Lord Jesus that led him unto death, that led him to give his life, that led him to give his undying friendship to such as us. Let us rejoice in that. Let us delight in it. Let us enjoy it. It is the wonder of the love of God. And it is wonderful, is it not, in our eyes. So much then on the recipients of Christ's love. But that then brings us thirdly to the magnitude of Christ's love. The magnitude of Christ's love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This is magnitude beyond computing. This is magnitude that we cannot comprehend or understand magnitude so great, so wondrous, so magnificent. You can think of it even on the human level. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Who could think of such a thing? That a man would die for someone else. It would be virtually unheard of. It's appeared in the pages of fiction. Charles Dickens once wrote a novel about this, A Tale of Two Cities. And he had one character who was a scoundrel and a notorious character who did lots of things wrong all the way through the story. And another character who was a good man. And the two of them, you see, they looked very alike. And eventually, it was set during the French Revolution, so the good man, he was in prison, he was ready to die. The bad man, the wicked man, at last, trying to make up for all that he had done, he came in, he swapped places so that he would die and the other man would live. Well, it's fiction. It's a story. It's nice. It would be hard to imagine such a thing happening in reality. But even if it did happen, we can understand it as the love of someone for a good person. for someone who maybe in some sense deserves to be saved. Like the Apostle Paul puts it, peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. If you were going to die for someone, it would surely be for a good person. But how does he go on? God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For the mind of Christ. sinners, vile, ugly beyond imagining. And yet, with such people before his mind, he died. He died for us. This is the marvel of it. Never on the human level has such love been seen. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, but come to the divine level. and we truly start to get some sense of the magnitude of this. Think of the divine being of whom we are speaking, the Son of God. He is eternal. He has always been and he always shall be. His purposes are settled in all eternity. He is the God whose vastness is proclaimed by the unimaginable expanse of this universe. The God whose power is shown in his intricate knowledge of every tiny detail of the minute aspects of this wondrous creation. This God whose glory is proclaimed all around us if we but had eyes to see it and hearts to understand. This eternal God viewing us from all eternity, loving us through all the endless ages of eternity and loving us on through vast extraordinary ages to come. Who can understand eternal love? Let us wonder at Let us marvel at it. Think that it is a love that is unbreakable, that having forged that link, Christ will never break it. It is solid. It is as a rock, his connection, his union with us. He will never let us go. He will never let us be plucked from his hands. He has died for us and we are his. bought by his blood. His forever. This is love that cannot be broken. Love sealed by the power of God. Our salvation in Christ is a certainty. It is written as it were on the very tables of the universe. Having purpose to save, he will save. It is unbreakable love. And it is infinitely Love with no limit. Love with no stop. Love with no borders to it. Love that is immeasurable in its intensity, in its focus. He loves us with such vigor, with such passion that he will indeed draw us to himself. And nothing that we can do, nothing that we can think of could break that love. We are in his net and he has us. in the net of his love and he will not let us go. This is the marvel of the magnitude of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And where does this leave us then? As the end result of it, think of this friendship that we have spoken of, this extraordinary love for us, this infinite love. We are more than friends, are we not? We have a closeness that is greater than any friendship. Friendship is just an illustration, it's just an analogy, just a picture. It doesn't even begin to convey the closeness and the intensity of this relationship between the infinite Lord Jesus Christ and us poor sinners. We sometimes speak of it in terms of marriage, and maybe that comes closer because of course marriage in this world is the very closest and the very most intimate bond of all, but even marriage It is an inadequate picture, an inadequate illustration. It is merely a human illustration of the intensity, the infinity of the love of God for his beloved people. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So what then does this challenge us to? Thinking of such love from God to us, is there not a challenge to us to love him in response, to love him with all our hearts, to delight in him, to rejoice in him every day, to abide in him, no matter what, to cling, to cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ. And equally, to love one another, to be bound to the souls of everyone, in whom the Lord Jesus Christ has worked. If the Lord Jesus loves that fellow believer with such passion, with such intensity, who are we to reject them and to spurn them? But they are loved, and therefore for his sake, for Christ's sake, even if we're not natural friends, even if naturally we don't seem to have much in common, yet if we have Christ in common, what does that Let us love him, but let us love one another. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Let this communion be a special time of closeness for you with fellow believers. Let this be a time when old grudges are forgiven, when old and past sins and transgressions are forgotten. When you genuinely decide, yes, I will put these things aside. I will love him for Christ's sake. I will love her for the sake of the Lord Jesus who loved her and who gave himself for her. Can we not love one another as the Lord Jesus Christ has loved us? The love then of the Lord Jesus Christ for his friends. Just as we draw to a close, a couple of final thoughts of application. To those of you who are discouraged or feeling that your Christian life is so half-hearted, you sometimes wonder if it is even there or not. You feel that your energy is flagging. You feel that your zeal is low. Let the love of the Lord Jesus Christ reignite that flame. Let his love fill you again with passion for him. Contemplate it. Marvel at it. And let that feed your soul. Let it refresh you and let it strengthen you. Press on with the Christian walk. Hear the words of Jesus. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. To those who are doubting, to those who are questioning, am I his, am I not? Test yourself by the criteria that comes in this passage. Are you a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ? He describes those who are his friends. They are those whom He has loved. Have you been loved by the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been loved with such passion, with such intensity, that despite all your sins, He is still striving with you? He is still working in your heart. He is still speaking to you through His Word. Do you love Him? Do you respond to Him with love? Do you delight in His worship? Yes, we sin. Of course, we sin. But do you have a battle within you? as you feel a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, battling with your love for this world. If all you have is the love of the world, then you have nothing. But if you have the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as well, then that is an indication that the Lord is working within you, that the Lord is drawing you to himself. Seek his face. Ask that he would indeed work mightily and assure you of his presence and of his power within you. And to those of you who know that you are not his friend, who know that you do not at least presently experience the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who know that at present you have no love for the Lord Jesus. Think what that means. Think of the solemnity of that when it comes to the judgment seat of God, when it comes to the gaping chasm of hell before you, to have no love for the Lord Jesus Christ. and to have no love from Him in response. How fearful, how fearful. Let us be those who flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, who cling to Him, who plead with Him that He would be our Savior, who love Him with all our hearts as the only hope in this life and in all eternity. Let us embrace Him, and let us find that He is the Savior, willing to be found, that Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Let us find that love that Jesus Christ has for his friends. Oh, that we too would be the friends of Jesus Christ. Oh, that we would know his friendship for ourselves. May God bless his words to our souls and encourage us in him. Let us call on him in prayer. Let's stand and pray.