We did take a break. The last time we are doing our study in June was around the month of April, and then most of April into May we did focus our attention on the study of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in a series entitled Behold the Lamb. And this was in preparation for our Easter Evangelistic Week and the follow-ups that were to do after Easter Evangelistic Week. This morning we begin chapter 13. Now this chapter begins the last half of the book of John. It is now the night of the Passover. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He's celebrating the Last Supper with His disciples. And this momentous event, the eve of the cross, is revealed to us by John from chapter 13, all the way to chapter 17. And in chapter 13, we see John highlights Jesus' symbolic act of washing the feet of his disciples. And then it is followed by a lengthy instructions dealing with the coming departure of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then God's provision in the absence of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the giving or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And so towards chapter 13 all the way to chapter 16, you see the Lord Jesus Christ as He pours His heart to His disciples and teaching them that He is going to His Father, but they should not be troubled, the comforter will be given to them. And then in chapter 17, he concludes this lengthy discussion that John records for us where the Lord Jesus Christ prays for his own, which is commonly referred to as the priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in all these events, what we see as recorded for us in the scriptures is that Jesus was motivated by this knowledge that the hour had come for him to depart out of this world. When you read the first half of John, you see this phrase over and over that his time had not yet come. That even when they tried to stone him, John kept on saying, his time had not yet come. And now in chapter 13, And verse 1, we are taught there that the hour had come. And John chapter 13 verse 1 stands at the midpoint of the teaching of John's gospel. And not only does it begin the second half of the book of John's Gospel, but John 13 verse 1 helps us to look back to what John has revealed concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and to look forward to what would happen as the Lord Jesus Christ heads towards the cross. And in all these things, the key phrase for John is this, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And John wants us to know that whatever is going to happen from this point onwards, It had been motivated by this knowledge that the hour had come for the Lord Jesus Christ to depart, but this knowledge also revealed this truth that He had loved His own to the very end. And the first thing we note from that verse is this. We see Christ's specific love for His own. we see Jesus' specific love for his own. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Having loved his own, He loved them to the end. And John wants us to see Christ's specific love for his own. And this touches on the truth that John has been highlighting in his gospel thus far. Throughout his gospel, he has been showing us that they are a people set apart by the Father or set apart by God to His Son or for His Son. And these people set apart by the Father are the objects of the special love and saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. John has highlighted throughout his gospel thus far that Christ loved the world. He had compassion towards the world as he walked around and saw what sin had done into his world. He loved them. He had compassion for them. But we see also as we read the gospel, particularly the gospel of John, that they were a people who were the object of the special love, the special grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And John wants us to see that there's a difference between Christ's love for the world in general and His love for His own. Just as there is a difference between a man's love for his bride compared to his love for others. And here we see John highlighting that Christ-specific love for the world. But the question we need to quickly ask ourselves then, how did believers come to be loved by Christ. How did believers come to be Christ's own? So that they are the special objects or they are objects of Christ's love. How did this happen? The first is that believers are Christ's own. Because they were given to him by the Father. They were given to him by the Father. And we see this truth in John chapter 6, verse 37 through to verse 39. There the Lord Jesus Christ says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day." And here in the gospel of John, we see that the father gave the people to his son, and he came for them. and they are the objects of his special love. And we see the biblical doctrine of election there, which states that in eternity past, God predestined particular people to be joined to his son for their salvation and for his glory. And the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. And we also see this in his prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ's prayer in John 17 verse 6. As he prays, he says, Father, Yours they were, and you gave them to me." And so we see that these people that he loved to the end, these people were a special object, or rather the object of his special love, were given to the Lord Jesus Christ by his Father in eternity past. But second, you also see that these people came to be Christ's own because Jesus chose them. They were given to Him by the Father, but the Father chose them. And again, we see this in John chapter 15 and verse 16. In John 15 and verse 16, the Lord Jesus Christ says, you did not choose me, but I chose you. And again, we see there that having been chosen in His gracious love, the Lord Jesus Christ makes them His own or makes us His own by redeeming us from sin, by dying for us. and he gave his life for his own. He chose them. Charles Haddon Spajon comments on this, and I quote, a man may surely choose his own wife, and Christ chose his own spouse. He chose his own church. And while the scriptures stand, The doctrine can never be removed from it. Christ chose them. And the third reason is that our salvation is Trinitarian, and we believe that the Father gave the people to the Son. His Son chose them. And in the third place, we see that we are Christ's own because we are born again as children of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, enlightens our minds, and changes our will so that we are brought to our knees and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. And as we are made His own by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we become His own. And as we move in this world, we have that tag upsealed upon us that we are His own. And there's nothing more magnificent, more glorious than having the seal that we are a special possession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that we are Christ's own possession, It's even more glorious when we realize just how great His love for us is. And this is a theme that runs through the book of John. This is a theme that runs through the gospel. And this is what John opens this chapter with. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. This is how believers come to be Christ's own. And the love of Christ for you, the love of Christ for believers is illustrated in the love Christ showed to His disciples, the first disciples. Despite their unworthiness, He still loved them. And when you read the gospel, you see how often they were wayward, unworthy, and foolish in their thinking. How often they questioned the love of God. How often they questioned the plan of God. How often they failed to understand what Christ's mission was on earth, and yet still Christ loved them. Even in this moment, as John opens up this chapter and points us to the love of Christ, he wants us to know that what happens in the next verses when these men abandon the Savior and run away from Him, when Peter denies Him, He still loved them. And when you think of that, It illustrates just how much Christ loves you. Jesse Rau, in his exposition on the Gospel of John, writes, knowing perfectly well that they were about to forsake him, shamefully, in very few hours, in full view of the approaching display of weakness and infirmity, our blessed Master did not cease to have loving thoughts of his disciples. And brethren, this tells us that we can look to the love of Christ despite our failures and sins. We fall short of His calling. We sin against Him. We doubt Him. But if you are a child of God, saved from your sins by the power of the Holy Spirit, putting your hope and trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are still Christ's own and you enjoy this unshakeable love of the Lord Jesus Christ upon you. And this must motivate you to live a life worthy of this love, to live a life pleasing to Him when you just think of this love, how that He loved you to the end. If there was ever a time we would have excused the Lord Jesus Christ of being inward-looking, would have been in this moment. He was aware of the approaching death that soon will be handed over and will be crucified. If there was ever a time he would have been inward looking, he would have been in this moment when he knew that his time had come and he would be struck by his own father because he had become the sin bearer of the world. Yet with the knowledge of his impending death, he still reveals to us what was in his heart, his love for his own. What is closest to someone's heart is usually revealed at a time of death. When death is looming and awe seems to indicate that there's no coming out of this, what is in someone's heart begins to reveal itself. For some, It might be business transactions, trying to ensure that all is done. For others, it might be their love for their families, their consent for their loved ones. For others, It's the fleeting pleasures of the world. And here we see what was closest to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. His love for his own. His own death was not what occupied his heart. He will, his love for his own is what dominated his thoughts, his hearts, and he now expresses it. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And I want to ask you, Does this not prove that there is no greater blessing than to be called one of Christ's disciples? What blessing can you compare than to know that as I live in this world, I live in the unshakable love of Him who loved me to the very end. While Christ chose His own, it is equally true that anyone who takes Him as Lord and Saviour He's one of His chosen ones. Anyone who comes to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and healed his life to him. He proved that he's one of those whom the Father gave to his Son. And this is evidenced by the fact that they see in Christ the beauty, the love, the grace that cannot be compared to anything. And that grace brings them to their knees and they cry in faith and in repentance. And I pray that you too may come to know this incomparable blessing of being loved by Jesus Christ. But the second thing we see is Christ's past love for his own. We've seen Christ's specific love for his own. But secondly, this verse reveals to us Christ's past love for his own. This phrase, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And John is saying, let's look back to what I've written so far. and to see how he has loved his own. And John's focus is looking backwards to how Christ up to this point had demonstrated his love for his own. And this quest takes us all the way back to the creation of the world. The gospel of John in chapter 1 begins with the words, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And John goes on to say that he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. And therefore, John is saying to us, when you read my first chapter, when you read John chapter 1, it echoes Genesis chapter 1. John wants us to see that when we go back in Genesis chapter one and in verse 26, we read God saying, let us make man in our own image. John is saying Christ was the way by which man came into being. It was because of his love that we came into being. We were created to reflect His glory. Without Him, nothing was made that has been made. Christ passed love for His own, saying, let's make man in our image. And Christ is the ideal man, the standard man. But as if this is not enough, John wants us to see that Christ's love in the past is seen in His incarnation. When we read in John chapter 1 and verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. He who was there in the beginning, he who created all things, became flesh and dwelt amongst us. And as he lowered himself to take up the human body, he was revealing his love for his own. It was for love that Christ blessed the glories of heaven. It was for love that endured the sufferings of the earth. And it was a sign of love that was born not in a palace in gold and silver and precious metals, but to be born in the manger in the midst of the world in need. He associated with sinners that he might eternally bind them on his heart. He loved his own and was willing to identify himself with his own. But also see Christ pass love in the calling of his disciples, the first disciples. As he was going out there, seeing Matthew, the tax collector, sitting in his booth, living in sin, he called him to follow him. Peter, James, and John, they were tending their nets when He caught them and promised them that from this day forth, you will be fishers of men. Additionally, we see the love of Christ in the past as He was teaching and leading His disciples. He ate with them. He taught them. He prayed for them. He guided them as a good shepherd. He was leading them. And how often did he call them aside for an extraordinary word of truth. He will do something in the public and they will not understand and you call them aside and begin to explain all these things to them. And in those three years plus, he endured their questions. their doubts, their objections, and you continue to guide them, and you instruct them and challenge them, abide in me and I in you. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. He guided his disciples, and had the disciples been told at the beginning the dangers and threats that they would face in Jesus' company. And for Jesus' sake, they would not probably have followed Him. But Jesus was with them through their trials. leading them to still waters, restoring them, demonstrating His love for them. And as a Christian, you too can look back at Christ's past love for you. You can look back at His love for you with the joys and the trials and you too can say in your heart, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You can look back at your life and you can see a moment when you are a stranger to His grace. and He reached out to you and picked you from the sewer of your sin and washed you in His blood and put a seal upon you. You are His own possession and gave you His Spirit to remind you that you belong to Him and all this is because of His love for you. Every Christian can look back at their life and see that love of Christ in the past, that love that effectually called them to grace, that love that melted your heart and you just abandoned your sin. That's past love. Christ's past love for you. And it is that love that must motivate you, that must impassion you to save Him. As the scriptures tell us, while we're yet sinners, Christ died. He loved you whilst in your sins. He gave himself for you. What makes you think he'll abandon you now that he saved you from your sins? You are called to freedom, Paul would tell the Galatians. Freedom from worldliness, misery, bondage to sin. You are called to the riches of his glorious inheritance. and all by the love of Christ for His own. You can see Christ's past love in your life. Sitting here this morning is a testimony of His love in the past for you. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. If you question his love for you today, look at your past Christian life. Look at the years that have gone by and you can see, oh, adorted with his amazing love. And John is saying these words must cause us to look back to his love in creation, in his incarnation, in his training and leading of his disciples. It is that same love that he extended to you. But thirdly, this verse highlights Christ's future love for His own. We've seen Christ's specific love for His own, Christ's past love for His own, and now we've seen the third place, Christ's future love for His own. Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The immediate future facing the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples was dark as it could be. Christ knew what would happen and what would become of his own disciples in this dreadful hour. What provisions were there for his disciples to continue in light of the cross? And John answers in that verse, having loved them, He loved them to the end. Yes, they were going to remain in this world, but John wants us to know that their master, their savior, loved them to the end. The expression to the end in the original, language LS telos, can be understood in many ways. What John is saying to us is that Christ loved his disciples perfectly and comprehensively. Even when you read about Peter denying Christ, and the rest running away, He still loved them to the end. And His death on the cross was that full display of His love for His disciples. John wants us to know that Jesus loved His own to the end of His own life. And this was John's major point in this verse. This verse takes us in the shadow of the cross. It was for his own that he gave his own life. If love for his own was going to be the fullest display of love, Jesus loved his own to the end. The cross displayed his love for them. In John 15, verse 13, we are told, no greater love than this, that someone should lay down for his friends. Jesus loved His disciples or He loved His own to the end of His own life. There was no break in between. There was no pausing from this love. He loved them to the end of His life. Someone has written and I quote, oh how He loved them. when he took their sins with him into judgment and cast himself into the fire which their transgressions had kindled. How he loved them when his own blood did not seem to him too dear a price to be paid for them. Although it was they who were the transgressors, He loved them to the end. And to this day, He loves them. And His love for you is similar to His love for them. Christ loved them to the end of his life. But also we can understand that phrase, not only to the end of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that Jesus loved his own to the end of their lives. He did not just love his disciples as his own to the end of his life, but he loved them to the end of their lives. As he hung on the cross and the sheep was scattered, Peter denying him, he loved them to the end of their lives. And as we read the accounts of the disciples, many were persecuted, afflicted, and killed in the process. Christ still loved them to the end of their lives. They were tried and tempted. But the reason Savior, who gave his life for them and ascended to the Father, loved them to the end of their lives. He continued to love them. And he gave them the assurance, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And as he stands in victory, he intercedes for them. And while on earth, he ensured that they were equipped for ministry. He guided them, he guarded them to the end of their lives. They continued to proclaim his love until they were called home. Jesus said, having loved his own who were in the world, he knew where he had left them. He had left them in this sinful world, this world which is the kingdom of heathens as it were, in a world of sickness, darkness, misery, and temptation. He still loved them to the end of their lives. But also this phrase can be understood that Jesus loves his own to the end of the history of the world. He did not just love them to the end of his own life. He did not love them to the end of their lives. He loves them to the end of history. When all will come to an end, the love of Christ will be with his own all the way into eternal glory. While this world will pass away and God's enemies will be brought to judgment, And when the universe is renewed in the eternal glory, Christ's love for his own will not have changed. He loves them to the end of history. In this world, you suffer loss. In this world, you're betrayed and tempted. Like Lot in Sodom being vexed in the spirit as he beheld the iniquity of Sodom. That even in the midst of that, in the midst of your losses, your Savior loves you to the end. He knows where you are. He knows what doubts arise in your mind. He knows what temptation brings you down. He knows the besetting sins, what flames try your faith. He loves you to the end. And He's providing everything you need to make it to the very end and to be ushered in eternal glory. He does not just grant us the privilege of prayer. But he prays with us. He prays for us. He intercedes for each one of his own before his father's throne. And he sent his Holy Spirit to help you in your weakness, to bear with you, to uplift you. And he wants you to know that all this is for you to look forward and see his love for you. He will neither leave you nor forsake you. He loves you. And this is a great encouragement for you, beloved, that you can rely on Jesus. You can rely on his love. You can depend on his love now. You can depend on his love tomorrow. You can depend on his love years from now for the future. He will never change. Do you tend to him? in your joy and sorrows and drink of his amazing love? Do you tend to him with all your wants and needs and appeal to his love? He loved his own who are still in this world and he loves them to the end. Do you realize that being saved from your sins is far more than simply making it to heaven? It means that even now you are resting in his love today. Even now, you are surrounded by His amazing love, this love that is specifically for His people, those who've turned away from sin. When you look at others with their wants and goals, their silver and diamonds, their potions will fade away. For you, your portion can never fail. Christ is for you and Christ is always for you. And when you feel tempted to envy the wicked, remind yourself that they are gods and treasures are wasting away. but your portion can never decay. Christ is always yours. Do you realize just how much he loves you? Do you see his love for you? If you fail to see this, dear child of God, no wonder why you struggle in your walk with Him. No wonder why you struggle to trust Him. No wonder why you fail to run to His love when you sin and stumble against Him. Because you think that your sins will change His love for you. He loved you. You were given to Him by His Father. And His love for you is not determined by your sinful life or your sinful state. His love for you is determined by His love for you. And therefore, your life must reflect that you belong to Him. He calls you to live a sinful life. He calls you to live a life that will reflect His love. And even in those moments like Peter, when you deny Him, He wants you to know that He loves you to the very end. And He calls you to come to Him, repent, and turn away from sin, hold on to His love, and let the world see this amazing love through your life. Look at his wounded hands held out to you, child of God. Those pierced hands marked with emblems of a sin-conquering love, saying to you, I died for that sin. Turn away from it. and live in the way I want you to live. His hands are communicating to you and I. He's unchanging, unending, unfailing love for his own. No one is more devoted to your good. No one is more sympathetic to your plight. No one is more interested in you than the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't trade His love for the pleasures of this world. He loves you to the very end. But as I conclude, let me direct my focus to those who know nothing of this love. You who continues to wallow in sin and know nothing of this divine love, this unending love, I ask you, do you know anyone who loves you and has pledged himself to love you to the very end? Can you compare your love or your parent's love or your spouse's love or your boyfriend or girlfriend's love? Can you compare it to the love of Christ? Do you know a love that gladly accepts death in your place? Do you have a love that will bear your sins before God the Father? Do you know of a love that reaches out and washes you for your good? Is there any love in this world that you can compare with the love of Christ? Without the love of Christ, you are lost. Without the love of Christ, you are heading to hell. But the day of God's grace is still present. And today can be that day, the day of your salvation, that you too can abandon your sins and run to this love, this love of Christ, this love that Christ only gives to His own. You too can be His own if you turn away from sin and put your hope and trust in Him. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you too can sing of this great love. This love that Christ has for his own. This love that Christ gives to his own to the very end of history. This love that ushers us not only to the end of history, but to eternal glory. This love that cannot be compared to anything in this world. Oh, friends, that you too may turn away from sin today. And you can sing with us as we sing a hymn of assurance, a hymn of devotion, a hymn that depicts our state before Him, a hymn that celebrates Jesus' love for us. Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom thine. While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storms of life is past. Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Oh, friends, this is love. And as we sing of this love, oh, that you too can sing from a heart that has come to know this love, that you too can sing from experience and not just from the mind. Amen.