John 13:1-5 (What Jesus' Love Does For Us)

The Gospel of John and the Last Days Before the Cross

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you as we joyfully Return to the gospel of John this morning. It's been since August since we were in the gospel of John. It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

But we are back and we are going to be entering in to one of the final sections of the gospel of John this morning. It's the farewell discourse. It's the upper room discourse. It's where the last 24 hours of Jesus's life are Zoomed in and a magnifying glass in these hours are in multiple chapters in the gospel of John.

John 12 as you remember was six days before Passover. It was in early to mid-april in a d30 and there was some tumultuous Events that we covered last year in John chapter 12. You remember that Mary anointed Jesus as king.

She anointed him with oil in the same manner that the Kings and the priests and the prophets were anointed in the days of old. And it's interesting to me that in Matthew and in Mark Jesus is anointed on the head and in Luke and in John Jesus is anointed by Mary on the feet and the way that I Describe that is that from head to toe?

He is the anointed one. He is the one who will have a total perfect kingship and a total perfect kingdom. We have to remember after he was anointed he came. Or he was in the the town of Bethany with Lazarus and his sisters and a crowd came and that crowd was was getting to know Him and and they wanted to see Lazarus and they wanted to see the great miracle that it happened.

That was five days before his death. That he spent that day in Bethany four days before his death. He enters into the city of Jerusalem. Just like the Passover lamb in the Old Testament. Four days before it was slaughtered it entered into the house of the father.

Well in the same way Jesus four days before his crucifixion entered into Jerusalem. Which is known as the city of God which houses the temple or the house of God. So Jesus came into the city and he came into the city riding on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah chapter 9.

And he came riding on a donkey fulfilling the fact that he is the true Solomon the one who rides into the city and assumes the kingship the kingdom that will never end. That same day After he rides into the city and they wave palm branches in front of him and they welcome him into the town.

The Gentiles begin coming to him, which is a great example of Who Jesus's kingdom is for his kingdom is not for just the Jews. His kingdom is not for just the first century folks who were standing in front of him.

His kingdom is for every tribe and every tongue and every nation. His kingdom was for adults and for screaming children his kingdom. It's for the Gentiles. It's for the world for the for the men and women from every tribe tongue and nation.

And we see the Gentiles in John chapter 12 streaming to Jesus. Immediately after this he prophesies about his upcoming death and then he retreats again. Back into Bethany where he will spend a couple of days with Bethany as his headquarters.

He goes back and he leaves as the anointed King as the conquering King is the kingdom-building King as the Suffering King and as the king who will rule over all of his elect Jew and Gentile. He went away at the end of John 12.

At the end of his fourth day before his death and he goes back to Bethany to sleep. Now John doesn't tell us what Jesus is doing on three days before his death and two days before his death and even one day.

Up until that point John doesn't tell us John just fast-forwards from John chapter 12 to the last day of Jesus's life. But Jesus was doing things in that time. He spent those days in Jerusalem. He spent those days teaching and giving parables and we'll mention a couple of those things in a moment.

But the main thing that Jesus was doing was he was making sure that the city was furious enough to kill him. Because Jesus had an hour that was coming. He had an hour where they were gonna turn on him and crucify him and Jesus was doing the kinds of things.

That if you wanted to die. That you'd be doing in the first century. So then when we get to John 13 verse 1 We have 24 hours before he is crucified. Now I find that amazing to me that John 13 14 15 16 17 18 and 19 or 24 hours in the life of Jesus.

So much of the gospel is focused on his last day. Because what is John's purpose? So that we may believe that he is the Christ the Son of God and by believing in him We will have a life in his name that last day when he Prepares himself for the cross when he approaches the cross when he's nailed to the cross when he's taken down from the cross.

When he rises from the dead on the third day, that is the point that John is getting us to get at. He's wanting us to look at Christ and to see that he is our only hope our only Salvation. So today as we get back into the gospel of John, I Don't want us to have very ambitious goals today.

I Want us just to rest in Christ to behold Christ to see the beauty of his majesty. And I want us to see what Christ's love does for his people and we see that so beautifully in this passage. We actually see four things that the love of Christ does for his people.

Number one. It loves us till the very end. Number two, he rules over us with unimaginable love. Number three and in love He provides for us and number four in his love. He ordains us for service. That's the so what what difference does this make?

What am I supposed to do about it section and he gives us that. So if you will turn with me to John chapter 13 Verses 1 through 5 as we look at what Christ's love has done for you and done for me. Let us read the text together.

John chapter 13 verses 1 through 5. Verse 1 begins this way now before the feast of Passover Jesus knowing that his hour had come. That he would depart out of this world to the father Having loved his own who were in the world.

He loved them to the end and During supper the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon to betray him. Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and That he had come forth from God and was going back to God got up from supper and he laid aside his garments and Taking a towel he girded himself.

Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them With the towel with which he was girded the word of the Lord Father God, thank you so much for sending your one and only Son Christ Lord.

I pray that today as we get back into the gospel of John and as we View the things that Jesus is doing that we would see how his love has provided for us today Lord we see how his great love is never-ending for us.

Would we see how his great love rules over us? Would we see? How his love has purified us and ordained us for your service Lord. Would we see? Your great love that you have given to your Saints Lord with that love never be old or stale or dusty Lord.

Would we see that love and would we rejoice in it Lord? Would we recognize that the only reason we're here is because of the love of God Lord? Do we recognize that in Jesus Christ that we will never be separated from the love of God?

That there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ because of the love of God Lord would we walk out of this room rejoicing because we know God's love. Because it was so good that it was poured out even on to his enemies like us.

The Upper Room as the Place of Conquest and New Covenant Preparation

It's in Christ's name. We pray. Amen. Now again, John doesn't give us all the details between John 12 and John 13. He's speeding us forward to the last day of Jesus's life but I thought it might be helpful if we did see some of the Context before we move forward and see the things that Jesus is doing on those days again on the fourth day He goes into the city he rides into Jerusalem and the Gentiles are coming to him and he is teaching them about his death and his resurrection that is going to be coming.

And then he retreats back to Bethany on Monday night and Then he goes to sleep purely exhausted after a long day of ministry. Tuesday morning, he would have woke up in Bethany at Lazarus his home at Mary and Martha's home.

And he would have probably awoke. This is my imagination at this point. I don't have a thus saith the Lord here. But I'm helping us try to picture it. He would have woken up with Lazarus newly resurrected reclining at the table.

He would have woken up to Mary saying Jesus. What are you gonna teach next? He would have woken up to Martha clanging the pots and pans around in the kitchen still busy. Bumbling furiously to make Jesus's favorite meal.

I don't know what that was, but I can imagine this beautiful piece of toast with avocado and a fried egg on top of it after breakfast. Jesus leaves Mary and Martha's house and he and his disciples go again to Jerusalem and The first thing that they do when they get to Jerusalem is they overturn the money changers table.

Jesus chases them out with a whip and he cleanses the temple. And the point of all of this is because Jesus comes to a city That bore him no fruit if you remember Monday. He rode into the city on a donkey and they laid only leaves at his feet leaves with no fruit.

He comes to a temple that bore him no fruit and he cleanses it and he chases out the fruitless merchants who had polluted the house of Almighty God. After some teaching on that day. After lingering in the city on that day Jesus retires again to Bethany.

That was the end of Tuesday of his final week. Wednesday morning comes and Jesus skips breakfast. He wakes up early. He goes immediately back to the city. The text even tells us that Jesus was hungry so he curses the fig tree and You're thinking to yourself I've been angry when I didn't have my breakfast.

But why did Jesus curse the fig tree? The same theme That we saw just a second ago a town that offered him only leaves. A temple that bore him no fruit. Now in a lived-out parable Jesus curses the tree that was only filled with leaves that was bearing no fruit.

This fig tree was a living representation of the spiritual depravity of Jerusalem of Jerusalem. This tree was supposed to be healthy bearing fruit. Just as Jerusalem was supposed to be healthy vibrant bearing fruit for God and yet both were withered.

So Christ curses the tree to show that Israel and Judah and Jerusalem were under the wrath of God and that soon Jerusalem would totally wither in just the same way as this fig tree. It was a sign for Jerusalem.

That after years and years of not bearing him fruit It would be cut off and thrown into the fire. No, that's mid-morning. Jesus continues toward Jerusalem. He's accosted by the city leadership. They hate him at this point.

And the reason that they hate him is multiple years of him calling them out for their idolatry. But the most important thing that most recently happened in their purview and in their memory was he just cleansed the temple.

I Believe that he cleansed the temple twice in his ministry. We've talked about that in a former sermon. I'm not gonna recover that ground here today, but he cleanses the temple. That's their place of business.

It'd be like someone coming to your business kicking you out of your office chair and saying I can do this you are fired. So he comes to their temple he cast them out of it. For their sinful deeds of darkness and they hated him for it.

And they were angry and one of the things that they did is they got together the Pharisees and the Sadducees who typically hated each other and They said dude, what's your what's your best question that we can ask the Jesus so that we can stump him and the Sadducees get Pharisees like yeah.

Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. Who's good who's who's gonna be this man's wife in the resurrection. Remember the brother who married a woman and then he died and she Had to marry his brother and then it goes on for seven Brothers and the Sadducees come up to Jesus and say whose wife is she gonna be in the resurrection and Jesus dismantles their ignorance.

And he says God is the God of the living and not the dead and he quotes from Deuteronomy. Because the Sadducees only believed in the first five books of the Bible the Pharisees believed in all the prophets and the Psalms and the histories and the first five books the Sadducees only believed in the first five books and he proves to them the resurrection from Deuteronomy and their mouths were silenced and Then the Pharisees come up and they're like we've got one for you.

Should we pay tax to Caesar yes or no. Why after 2 ,000 years our tax is still so contentious. Have they always been that way? Maybe I think. And Jesus takes the coin. He says whose image is on the coin and they say Caesar and he says render into Caesar the things that are Caesars and render Unto God's.

Why did he say that. Because God's image has been placed on you. God's image has been imprinted on you. So give to God. What belongs to God you belong to God, but you're not giving yourself to him silenced and they go away sulking and They form a murder squad and they start getting their plans together and they start actively trying to kill and crucify Jesus because he humiliated them in public and as they leave Jesus pronounces seven Destructive woes upon the city doom upon the city seven God's perfect.

Holy number meaning that their doom their destruction is going to happen By the will of God and it's going to happen imminently. He calls them vipers. He says woe upon Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets upon you upon this generation.

Will all of the wrath of God fall from Abel all the way to Zechariah? God's wrath was coming upon this people and in the most clear and comprehensive Prophecy that Jesus has ever given in Matthew 24. This is near the end of Wednesday.

He says that not one stone will be left upon another in the temple it will be thrown down. The city will be destroyed. It will be burned. The Romans which is who he was talking about will come in and turn that place into a heaping pile of rubble and ash pile and It would fall within a single generation that's what he was doing on Wednesday and You can imagine the amount of vitriol in the amount of hatred and the amount of angst and anger Murderous rage that the Pharisees would have had towards Jesus after he stood publicly in the city and denounced them with seven successive woes and As he's walking away.

He's saying this generation will not pass away until everything that I just said comes to pass. That's Matthew 24 34. The Old Covenant era was gonna be ended. It was gonna be taken away from the Jews and it was being given to a people who would bear God's fruit.

It would be given to tax collectors and sinners and people like you and I. And a new covenant era would begin. Now you can imagine the disciples are still confused their head is still spinning. They're not sure what is going on at this point.

But as they walk back to Bethany that night from the Mount of Olives It would have been a very quiet somber trip. They had already said Jesus look at all these buildings. Really these buildings are gonna fall.

You can imagine their disappointment as people who loved their temple they would have woken up Thursday morning probably not. Understanding that this was the last day that they were gonna be at Mary and Martha's house the last day.

They were gonna be at Lazarus's house. They woke up for breakfast that morning. Pot still clanging because you know Martha Mary still wanting to be taught. But if you could have been there You can imagine Peter Impulsively not knowing what to do with the moment just throwing anything that he can say because it's quiet and he doesn't like it.

That would be like me. I don't quiet. But if you could have been there and seen Jesus and saw the foreboding Look upon his face and you could have seen that the weight that he was carrying that this would be the last Time that he would enjoy fellowship with his friend Lazarus.

It'd be the last Conversation that he could have reclining at that table would be the last breakfast that he could have there in that house. It'd be the last night of comfort that he would spend. Because the next night he would be hanging upon a cross.

The weight of this was coming to bear on Jesus and we see that in John chapter 13. Because he says the hour has come. Now as they left they packed their bags. They said their last goodbyes again. I don't think the disciples would have understood the gravity of what was happening here.

Matthew tells us what happens next. How do they get to the upper room? How do they get there where John 13 begins? This is what it says in Matthew 26. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, this is Thursday morning the disciples came to Jesus and asked where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover and He said go into the city.

They're walking towards the city, but he sends them on ahead To a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is near I am to keep the Passover at your house. With my disciples mark adds a little bit of extra color here.

It's very rare that mark gives more details than Matthew, but here he does. He says on the first day of unleavened bread when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed. His disciples said to him. Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover and He sent two of his disciples and he said go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water follow him and Wherever he enters say to the owner of the house the teacher says where is my guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples and He himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready prepared for us there and Then the disciples went out and they came to the city and they found it just as he had told them and They prepared the Passover.

Now before we get to what Jesus does for his disciples I want to give you one more thing about this passage that I think is fascinating. Because Jesus sends out two people two people ahead of him and he sends them into the wicked city.

And he tells them to prepare an upper room. And if you think back into your Old Testament history what that might be Accomplishing or what? It might be imaging. It is a fascinating point of discovery.

You remember it was Joshua after Moses died who took over the reins as commander of Jerusalem or of Israel's armies and he's the one who sent in Joshua chapter 2 to spies into the city of Jericho and when he sent those two spies into the city of Jericho a woman named Rahab welcomed them into the house and provided for them in the upper room and She hung her red cord in the window preparing for the destruction of Jericho and when it came she was spared By Almighty God.

Jesus is doing the exact same thing here Jesus his name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means Joshua. Jesus sends out two spies into the pagan city of Jerusalem that have been corrupted and become just like a Canaanite city of old.

Jesus tells him to go to the stranger who's gonna allow them to come up into the upper room. Who's given access to them and who's gonna protect them and who's gonna guard them and safeguard them and then soon?

Jerusalem is going to fall in the same way that Jericho not one stones gonna be left upon another and anyone Who is covered by the red? Scarlet blood of Christ Will be saved like Rahab. By Jesus the cord of his gospel Will be what saves you and I.

Jesus is preparing his people for a new conquest. Jerusalem had become corrupted. He's gonna set up new Jerusalem now. The Old Covenant Kingdom had become thoroughly perverted like Canaan of old. Now he's gonna set up a new kingdom that will never end.

A Kingdom that will save sinners prostitutes and tax collectors like Rahab like you like me a Kingdom that will destroy everyone who opposes him. Jesus is not only the true Joshua. He's the one bringing the true and better Kingdom.

Now you may be asking why do I share all of this. Well if you're asking that you're new. Because this is pretty normal. But I share this because I think it's essential context for us to understand what's happening in the moments that are leading up to John 13.

Jesus is leading his people into the upper room not to rest not to have a siesta but to prepare for conquest. To prepare for the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and to prepare for the salvation of all of his Rahab's that will come into the kingdom Of God that is the mood.

That is the ethos of what is going on in this moment. Now with that introduction I Want us to just very briefly enter into John 13. And I want us to look at four things that Jesus is going to do for his disciples.

Christ's Love That Endures to the Bitter End

The first is that he is going to love them to the very end. It says in John 13 1. Now before the feast of the Passover Jesus knowing that his hour had come. That he would depart out of this world to the father having loved his own who were in the world.

He loved them to the end. I love that phrase. It says that he knew his hour had come which meant that he knew that it was soon where they were going to be. Hanging him upon a cross where they were gonna be crucifying him murdering him that the very reason that he came to glorify God through his being lifted high and up that that moment is coming and Even in the midst of that He's loving them to the very end.

You and I can't even imagine what Christ was going through. There's no person that can imagine what Jesus Christ was going through. There have been people who've suffered physically. There have been people in prisoner of war camps.

There have been people with debilitating diseases. There have been people who've suffered mightily. Jesus was not the only person who was crucified on a Roman cross. But there is no one Who understands the spiritual anguish that Christ was going through on the cross for every?

Moment of his eternal infinite life. He had spent in the presence of Almighty God. There was never a moment where he felt separation. Division or distance this very thing that you and I live with every day this distance from God.

He had never felt it and When the wrath of the Father was poured out unto the Son He experienced for the first time the turning away of God's face and in that moment. It says he loved us to the end before his humiliation before his exaltation.

He loved us. Now you ask yourself what kind of love is that? Well, I will tell you it's not the kind of love that overlooks sin. It's not the kind of love that that love is or overlooks sin or accepts you as you are.

It's not a veneer of niceness with faux affections. That's given by liberals with high tolerance for everyone who agrees with them. It is a sacrificial love that Christ was giving. Paul says in Galatians 2 20.

I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me in the life that I now live. I live by the. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself up for me.

His love did not overlook us. His love did not placate us. His love did not pacify us in our sin. He loved us by giving himself up for us that while we were yet sinners. He died for us. That's what Romans 5 8 says.

He didn't die for good and moral people. He didn't die for people who are basically good. He died for wicked rebellious sinful creatures. For God shows his love for us in it while we were yet sinners.

Christ died for us. He died for the unrighteous. He died for the broken. He died for the rebels who were at odds with God enemies of his Holy State. He died for you and me. What tremendous good news that is because you don't have to clean yourself up to come to him.

While you were a sinner he died for you. Look at yourself in the mirror. You're not getting any better when it comes to an infinite God. You're not gonna be able to perfectly purify yourself to come to him.

And the good news is he died for you in spite of you as he was hanging on the cross. He died for you. And he loved you to the bitter end when his when he cried out and said my God my God. Why have you forsaken me and he breathed his last breath.

He loved you until then he became the perfect offering the perfect sacrifice the true high priest who loved you and mediated a new covenant for you and. If he loved you to the bitter end, there's not a moment.

Not a millisecond not a nanosecond and not whatever the next iteration of that is. That Christ did not love you, which means that if you're in Christ. There is never a moment where the love of God fails.

There is never a moment where you can look at yourself and say I'm too bad. Or I'm too wicked or I'm too sinful or I'm too this or I'm too that if Christ loved you to the very end His love is available for you until the very end.

What good news that is? The second thing. Not only did he love us to the end. But by his great love he rules all things. He rules over us and that is good news. It says in verse 3 of John chapter 13 Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hand and that he had come forth from God and was going back To God.

The key phrase in that verse is he gave all things into Christ's hands. In the same way that he loved us till the end. Jesus got everything in the end. It may look like to us that Jesus went down in a fantastic defeat like a plane.

That's that's going over the Bermuda Triangle and splashing into the water. But that's not it in his moment of greatest defeat. He had his greatest victory. He ascended to the right hand of the father and God gave him everything everything Has been put under his rule and authority.

Do you remember Matthew 28 18? After he rises from the dead and he makes this glorious pronouncement. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Now go to the nations that I own and make them disciples of me that means that we have no authority.

Praise God for that. When you begin to study yourself You actually don't want very much authority because you'll use that authority and twisted and mangled ways and you'll mess things up. Praise God that we don't have authority.

Because we had authority we would have the power to lose the gift that God has given us. He gave us a gift by his authority. Therefore, it's it can't be taken back. It can't be lost. I Don't know if you've ever heard of the elites at Davos.

They're the ones that have no authority in our world doesn't have any authority. The police the local government while we're to obey them. They ultimately don't have any authority. The state the nation the UN the elites at Davos if you're following that.

All in their machinations they play games, but they have no authority when it comes to God all authority. All rule all power all matter all men all women all nations have been put into the hands of Jesus Christ.

You will either be Submitted to Jesus or you will be an enemy of the state. You will either obey Jesus or you will jet reject him. You either turn to him or you will be against him. You either be held in the loving hands of Christ or you we put under the pulverizing feet of King Jesus.

The Question is not if Christ has all authority. The question is will You and I submit. Will we find ourself under his loving reign? Will we believe the gospel will we keep his commandments will we repent when we fall short?

Will we grow into the image of Christ will we enter into his joy and his rest? Or will we be like those Who are left weeping and gnashing their teeth? This Jesus not only loves us, but he has all authority over us.

The question is what side are you on. His rule will be a delight? To his people and His rule will be a terror to his enemies. It matters infinitely. What side of Christ you're on? That's the second. The third is that his love will purify his people.

Christ's Love That Purifies and Re-Robes His People

Verse 4 says it like this. Jesus got up from supper and he laid aside his garments and taking a towel. He girded himself. His love purifies us. Now there's a lot that we need to cover in foot washing and we're I promise you we are not going to wash anyone's feet next week.

Have you been in a church where that's happened? It's rough. It's rough. You've been a pastor in a church where they told you that that was your job for that day. It's rough. We won't be doing that next week.

But we will be covering what foot washing means and what it signified in those times. And we'll be doing that next week. So we're not gonna go into that a tremendous amount this week. But what I'd like to do is I'd like to look at this moment from a slightly different angle.

Just to give some context of what Jesus is doing. He is the highest and the greatest. And the most infinite in that moment. He's the rabbi. He's the leader. He's the teacher. He's the Son of God and What Jesus is doing is he's moving from the infinitely high position and status that he is and he is going down to the level of dishonorable slave.

In order to love and care for his people this was an extreme act of humility. Now if you're a slave this wasn't an extreme act of humility. It would have been normal for the infinite Son of God to get down and wash his disciples feet.

Was the most extreme and yet beautiful message of how Christ will serve and purify his people and I believe. Beyond just the action of washing their feet. He's demonstrating to us the gospel here, but we have to slow down in order to see it.

He's demonstrating to us the gospel. Now Jesus is not bothered by dirty feet. I don't like dirty feet. But that's not the point here. The point is that the cross is hanging over this narrative the point is that the cross is Hanging over the very beginning of it says he'll love them to the end.

What is the end the cross? All authority will be put into Jesus hands. When does he get it after the cross? The cross is hanging like the thickest fog over this narrative so that when Christ Disrobes and wraps himself with a towel and washes his disciples feet.

He is showcasing to us the power and the majesty and the glory of the gospel. He's disrobing as a way of foreshadowing that he will be stripped Into less than 24 hours. He will be stripped of his clothing.

He lays aside his robe because it would be raffled off by Roman soldiers and just 24 hours from this moment. He's entering into humility because on the cross he would experience his greatest humiliation.

He's disrobing. To showcase to us the coming flaying that will happen at the hands of the Roman vectors. 40 Lashes with this apparatus called a cat of nine tails where the where the strips of leather would have bone and glass Embedded at the end so that when it wraps around his back and around his legs and around his arms.

It would rip flesh and rip meat as it came. He was being stripped of his clothing and stripped of his flesh For you and as he stood up as a lowly servant as a criminal. And they asked him to carry the rough-cut cross.

Have you ever carried a rough-cut board and got a splinter in your finger? You got a splinter and a finger that was covered with flesh. Imagine a splinter in the meat of a man whose nerve endings are exposed and he carried that cross.

Until the moment he collapsed under the weight of it. Simon of Cyrene bore it the rest of the way up the hill. They nailed him to a cross and They treated him like human vermin. When he got down on the floor and he washed his disciples feet.

He put himself in that level of humility. The only thing worse than that is crucifixion. He's showing us something. He's showing us why he came he didn't come to have a glorious triumphant death. He came to die.

On a cross where they would pierce his hands and feet he washed their feet with water on. The cross his blood Would cover his perfect feet. Washing it in his blood 24 hours before Jesus went through the most horrific and Spiritual death that we could imagine he showcased to us the gospel.