Well, good evening, everyone. I'm delighted to be able to come before you this evening and give to you what is going to be the opening sermon in a series on, as Eric mentioned just a few moments ago, the Upper Room Discourse. And I just want to say thank you, Colin, wherever he went, for that prayer. Very encouraging just to think about what the Lord does whenever we gather to hear his word proclaimed. And I pray that this evening is no different. So I want to begin our time by asking what may appear to you to be somewhat of a morbid question. If you knew the exact moment that you were going to die, how would you spend your last day? I expect that many of you like me and maybe a few others in this room would probably spend the first part of that day plowing through the three-part sequel of The Lord of the Rings, the extended editions, of course, for one last time and then spend the rest of the time with those who are dearest to you. For most of you, that's probably going to be your families, maybe even some brothers and sisters in Christ who are sitting with you even tonight as we worship on this Lord's Day evening. I just wanna ask you, how would you want to spend that time? What meal would you want to be your last? What kinds of conversations would you want to have with those who are surrounding you? What would you want them to remember about your life? And what wisdom would you want to pass down to them to help them after you are no longer with them in this life? What would you want to prepare them for? These are not questions that we are accustomed to asking ourselves for the really the simple reason that very few of us in this room will know the hour when the Lord calls us home. Tonight, we're beginning a new series on the Upper Room Discourse. My task this evening is to provide you with an introduction to the section of the Gospel of John that is commonly known as the Last Supper or the Upper Room Discourse. And I think that tonight, I can say that it will be a successful evening if your interest, at the very least, is piqued in this great section of text. This final set of teachings that Jesus gave before he is delivered up for crucifixion is given to us in John's gospel found in chapters 13 through 17. Now it's here in these chapters that Jesus takes those who are closest to him And after partaking in a final meal with them, he delivers what are some probably, presumably, some of the most profound and comforting teaching that he ever gave. And I pray that we are strengthened and encouraged by these sayings as we study through these glorious chapters over the next year. So go ahead and take your Bible with me and turn to John chapter 13. I think I saw on the handout it said 15, but actually we're going to be in chapter 13 verses 1 through 4. John 13 verses 1 through 4. Verse 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. During supper, the devil, having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, What we have here in these first few verses of this great discourse serves as a helpful introduction to the chapters which are to follow. Now, you'll notice in verse 2, John makes reference to Judas, the one who, as we're going to see in just a few sermons from now, will exit the company early into the meal and he'll go to betray the Lord. So what is referred to in verse 2 is going to be taken up with more detail when we get to chapter 13 and we cover verses 18 through 38. Verse four makes reference to Jesus preparing himself to wash his disciples' feet before they partake of this last supper with him. Now what's referred to here is gonna be taken up with more detail in chapter 13, verses five through 17. So Lord willing, this will be the focus of the next sermon in this series. So with those two things in mind, what that leaves us to think about this evening is verses one and verse three. Verses one and verse three. And for those of you who are taking notes, I do have four points. I'll try to make those clear as we work through these two verses. But point number one, this is called the Lord's Supper. Point one, the Lord's Supper. Going back to verse 1 of chapter 13, now before the Feast of the Passover. Jesus is gathered with his disciples to celebrate once more the Feast of the Passover. Now we know that John is recording for us in chapters 13 through 17 the conversations that Jesus and his disciples had in the context of this great meal. Now, we learn in Matthew 26, verses 26 through 29, and Luke chapter 22, 14 through 20, that this is the upper room discourse where the Lord institutes what will be called the Lord's Supper. Now, I don't want this fact to escape our notice, since John, if you're familiar with these few chapters, John does not record the institution of the supper in the way that Matthew and Luke do. Now, John's account of the timing of this meal poses careful interpreters of the Gospels a few interpretive challenges. Upon a basic reading of the text, it appears that the timelines between John's account and the accounts that are presented to us in the synoptic writers, being Matthew and Luke, they don't appear to quite line up. In the Synoptics, Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper clearly on the Passover. You can see that in Matthew 26, 17 through 19. In John, Jesus is delivered up and crucified on the Passover. That's John 19, verse 14, which is just after the discourse that we're studying. And what John 13 through 17 records is a meal that they partake in the evening before the Passover happens. So presumably it'd be a meal that they had before the Passover, before the night that he was crucified. So what are we to make of this? There seems to be a discrepancy in the accounts of the synoptics versus John. I found John MacArthur helpful in unwinding this apparent discrepancy. and reveals that the different gospel accounts are, in fact, truly in harmony with one another. And this is due to the fact that Jews from the north, okay, think Galilee, they kept time differently from Jews from the south, think Jerusalem. You know, this is well documented, not just by Christian, you know, historians, but Jewish ones as well. And obviously, they're partaking of the Passover feast in Jerusalem. Okay, so here's what John MacArthur says. He explains this in such a way that it's easy to understand how, within Jerusalem, the Passover is going to be kept over the course of two days, rather than just on a single day. So here's what he says. Being Galileans, Jesus and the disciples considered the Passover day to have started at sunrise on the Thursday and end at sunrise on Friday. The Jewish leaders who arrested and tried Jesus, being mostly priests and Sadducees, considered the Passover day to begin at sunset on Thursday and end on sunset on Friday. So you can see two different ways of trying to account for these days. By that variation, the predetermined plan of God's sovereign provision, Jesus could thereby legitimately celebrate the last Passover meal with his disciples. and yet still be sacrificed on the Passover day. So you can see in Matthew and in Luke, they were celebrating this meal on the Passover day. And in John, he was crucified on the Passover day. Both of these things are able to be harmonized whenever you understand the context that John is writing and seeing that that the Jews, different groups of Jews counted these days differently, such that the Passover would have been celebrated in two different days within Jerusalem. So once again, we can see how God's sovereignty and how His sovereignty and how He marvelously provides for the precise fulfillment of His redemptive plan. Now you may be asking at this point, why then does John not recount the institution of the Lord's Supper like the other gospel writers do, if in fact it is truly the same incident? Why does John not go into the institution of the supper? And I think Sproul is helpful in answering this question. Somewhat of a speculation, but I still think helpful nonetheless. These five chapters in John 13 through 17 recount the ministry of Jesus to the disciples in the upper room, a ministry that is accompanied by a meal. The other Gospels indicate that the Lord's Supper was instituted on this occasion, but John does not. perhaps because he viewed the institution as sufficiently covered in the other three Gospels. John being the last of the Gospels to be written, you can see how that could be a reason for why John doesn't go into the actual institution of the Lord's Supper in this great discourse. But friends, I want you to see that even though John does not describe in any great detail the institution of the Lord's Supper, I think it's to our edification to pause and reflect on the truth that these glorious chapters, the truth of what occurred during this last meal with his disciples. Sorry, I'm getting all jumbled up here. I think it's to our edification to pause and reflect on the truth that these glorious chapters occurred during the Lord's last meal with his disciples, where one of two ordinances was given to the church. Okay, the two ordinances being baptism and the Lord's Supper. I think that's a significant point, significant enough for us to make it the first point in this sermon. And as we know that though this will be the disciples' last meal with Jesus prior to his crucifixion, we know from Luke and from the other scriptures that Jesus Christ, through the Lord's Supper, will continue to spiritually nourish his people, the church, as they do it in remembrance of him again and again until he partakes of it anew with them in his father's kingdom. Augustine in the fourth century writing on this connection between the Lord's Supper and the upper room discourse makes this statement. The Lord's Supper is set forth in John, must, with Christ's assistance, be unfolded in a becoming number of lectures. What are those lectures? Well, it's the discourse. and explained with all the ability and benefit that he is pleased to grant us." So kind of an old archaic way of saying, the Lord's Supper as set forth in John must, with Christ's assistance, be unfolded in a becoming number of lectures and explained with all the ability and benefit that he's pleased to grant us. So what is this ability and benefit that he is pleased to grant us? Well, here's a quick overview of some of the most popular statements from these chapters. I'm just going to work through some, and this is going to be kind of that fly-by overview of these verses where we are given a taste of what ability and what benefits Christ explains and expounds to us in these chapters. Number one, the promise of his return. This is found in chapter 14, one through 14. I will come again and I will receive you to myself. Statement number two, the giving of the Holy Spirit. Chapters 14, 15 through 31. I will ask the Father and he will give to you another helper that he may be with you forever. Statement number three. found in John 15, 1 through 17. The promise of the sanctifying work of the spirit. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Statement number four, the expectation of suffering in this life. This is found in chapter 15, 18 through 27. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. Statement five, promise that he, by the spirit, will lead us into the truth, found in 16, one through 15. But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. Statement six, found in 16 through 24, a promise that our sorrow will be turned to joy. I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. Statement seven, a guarantee that in him we will overcome the world. This was found in 1625 through 33. These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, for I have overcome the world. Jesus will finish this great discourse with a prayer. So prayers offered to God, offered by God the Son to God the Father on our behalf. Okay, so I don't think we have to worry if these prayers are gonna be answered or not, right? This is found in John 17, one through 26. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. But friends, next time that we participate in the Lord's Supper, I hope that you will remember the great ability and benefit that is yours and is so beautifully expounded to you by the Lord himself in the Upper Room Discourse. For the Upper Room doctrines, just like the Supper, are given by Christ to extend beyond the physical departure of Christ for the benefit of those he loves. That's a big theme, kind of as I was studying through this, is that the things that Christ does and says There is this kind of forward motion that presses past his crucifixion, past his ascension, all the way into this very day. The first point of application for you this evening is this. Next time you partake in the Lord's Supper, prayerfully read John chapters 13 through 17. During the supper, call to mind the abilities and benefits that he explains to you while he ate his last supper with his disciples. Point two, the Lord's hour. The Lord's hour. So this is the second part of verse one. Jesus knowing that his hour had come. John chapter 13 represents the beginning of the second major section in the Gospel of John. The first half of the book was literarily leading up to this moment when the plot would turn and Jesus would set his face toward the cross. One way we see the use of hour in the gospel of, this is one way that we see the use of hour in the gospel of John. So if you think about in the first half of John's gospel, Jesus repeats again and again that his hour has not yet come. And it's in the last half of the book, specifically John 13, 1, that Jesus begins informing his disciples that his hour is here. Well, what is this hour? It's the hour of his suffering. It's the hour of his passion. It's the hour of his crucifixion. It's the hour for which he had come from the Father. The first time the Lord makes reference to this hour is found in John chapter 2, verse 4. If you want to turn there, please do. But it's here that Jesus's mother approaches him and requests him to do something about the humiliating circumstance in which the wedding party in Cana was facing. What was that problem? The wedding party had run out of wine. Humiliating situation for them to be sure. After being approached by his mother to do something about the situation and to save the wedding party from this humiliation, Jesus curtly responds, woman, what does this have to do with us? And then the phrase, my hour has not yet come. That's John 2 verse 4. Now, in first reading, I expect this may strike you as a strange thing for Jesus to say. Why does Jesus make reference to his hour during this wedding feast? Exactly what hour is Jesus referring to? Now, without getting too far into all that's going on with Jesus' first sign of turning water into wine, when Jesus refers to his hour in this way, as we've already established, he is referring to the hour of his death. So Jesus' use of this term here indicates that as he is participating in this wedding ceremony, what is present on his mind is a future wedding feast where he will be required to supply more than just wine for the celebration to commence. His response to his mother reveals to us that she does not fully understand what she is requesting. It is not his time to suffer and shed his blood to secure for himself a bride. He knows that that hour is coming, but up to this point, just in chapter two of John, very early, that time is not yet. The next two references, when this hour is referred to in this way, are a little more straightforward. And they're found in John 7, verse 30, and John 8, 20, where John informs us that the reason the officials were unable to seize him was for the simple reason that his hour had not yet come. The shift in John's gospel happens in John chapter 12, verse 23, where Jesus declares, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now, interestingly enough, this declaration comes when there are a number of Greeks who are going up to partake in a feast, and they were requesting to see Jesus. And just so we're clear as to what the Lord's referring to when he says this, go to verse 27 of chapter 12. Jesus says this, now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Obviously speaking of his death. Now it's at this point in John's gospel and in Jesus's ministry The foundation for the hour has been laid. The physical ministry accompanied with all the signs and wonders and the abundance of teaching, they were about to reach their climax in the man, Jesus Christ. And as we see in John 13, verse three, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come forth from God and was going to be going back to God, he still had more work to do. He still had more that he wanted to say, and as we will see, these final words are reserved not for the masses, as we saw in the first half of John's Gospel. It's not for the general audience of the synagogue. It's not for the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It's not even for the one who is close to him, but would soon betray him, but only for those closest to him. In these chapters, we will see that Christ's words, the discourse, and his deeds, sharing of the meal, foot washing, the prayer, these things are reserved only for those who were still with him in the world, being the very ones whom he loved to the end. The ESV Study Bible was helpful on this in describing the shift that happens in the narrative within John, and it puts it like this. Now that Jesus has been rejected by the Jews, Jesus prepares his new messianic community, represented by the twelve minus Judas, for the time subsequent to his exaltation to the Father. The community is first cleansed, both literally and symbolically through foot washing, and then figuratively through the removal of the betrayer. What an honor would it have been to be among the 11 in the upper room to receive these final words and acts from the Lord. What a privilege, right, would that have been? Friends, I just would encourage you, if you were in Christ this evening, I hope that you can see that such honor and such a privilege is placed upon you. For the new Messianic community did not include only the disciples. For Christ cleansed his church finally and fully by his obedience to this hour. He has cleansed for all time those whom he loves. This brings us to our third point. The Lord's Testament. The Lord's Testament. Final part of verse one. 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. Now, to illustrate this point, I want you to think about how I opened this sermon. I asked you how you would spend your last hours if you knew that the moment when the Lord was going to call you home, if you knew when that moment was. With that in mind, it should not be that difficult for you to see that what we have here in this discourse can be viewed as Jesus' final testament to his loved ones, an audience which includes not just his disciples, but also his church for all time. Modern commentator Edward Klink explains how testaments operated in the ancient world. I thought this was helpful. The genre of testament became even more popular in the late biblical and intertestamental periods. The originating circumstance of the testament is this. The common situation is that of a great man who gathers together his followers or his children or his disciples or the people on the eve of his death to give them instructions that will help them after his departure. This is what we have in these chapters, is it not? It's the tender loving care of the great God-man, Jesus Christ, gathering those whom he loves most to console them in advance for the pain which is about to come at the cross. But not just that, but also to prepare them for life after he departs from them. Again, just a reminder, this is not an instance of Jesus' public ministry. Rather, it's a moment of exclusive intimacy with his chosen ones, his own whom he loved, who were in the world. Now thinking about the love of Christ as he displays it with this tenderness, I want us to ask the question about the duration of Christ's love. How long is this love to last, right? What is the duration of Christ's love? John Gill, 18th century Baptist pastor and theologian, had these comments which I thought were helpful as well. He loved them to the end. Comes straight from our verse. In which he showed, by dying for them, and continues to show by interceding for them in heaven, by supplying them with all grace, and by preserving them from a final and total falling away. And he will at last introduce them into his kingdom and glory when they shall be with him forever. And so that the love of them continues not only to the end of his own life, nor barely to the end of theirs, but to the end of the world and forever. So it should be clear to you by now that Jesus is doing far more than offering a moment of comfort to his disciples in light of the traumatic hour which is to come. There's little doubt that whenever we read the end in chapter 13, verse 1, I think that there's very little doubt that we are actually referring to the hour of his death. The Scripture makes clear that there's no greater expression, right, of Christ's love than the act of him dying for those whom he loves. Even as John makes direct reference to Christ's death, it's clear by the content of Christ's teaching in this discourse that he has, I guess you can call it, a bifocal view of what is to come. He has one eye on the passion and another eye on the hour of his return when he will come again and receive his loved ones to himself. And in case between these two hours is everything the church will face along with his all sufficient grace to sustain her as she faithfully waits. She is truly secure in his love. Are you personally secure in the abiding and perpetual love of Christ? Church, Jesus gives us this final testament to assure us of his irrevocable, tender, loving care that he has for us, his beloved. Point four, the fourth point, the Lord's Lord. The Lord's Lord. Jesus, this is verse three, 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. Verse three, that's what we're gonna, the last verse we're gonna deal with tonight by way of introduction. Now in the Upper Room Discourse, there are many such statements like what we find in chapter three, verse 13. The teachings of Christ during his final hours with his disciple disciples gives us some of the richest and maybe at times most perplexing Trinitarian and Christological theology that we find anywhere in the New Testament. For instance, how are we to understand John's statement, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands? How are we to understand that statement? Well, if you look in John 17 verse 2, Jesus says this, With that maybe more clear verse, helping to interpret the less clear verse, right? We can conclude that what John is describing in John chapter 13, verse two, is that attribute of God known as his authority. So what Jesus is describing, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, is authority. Did Jesus give up his authority and have to earn it back with his obedience? Does that sound right to you? I hope it doesn't, because it's not right. Another old writer from the fifth century, Cyril of Alexandria, explains it this way. The inspired evangelist, John, again cannot help being astounded at the thought of the glory and the power that were in Christ. and his supremacy over all, as he shows by saying, knowing that the Father had committed all things into his hands. For although he says, Christ was not ignorant, that he possessed all authority over all, and that he came forth from God, that is, was begotten of the essence of God the Father and goeth unto God, that is, returns again to the heavens. They're sitting, as we know, by the side of his own father. Yet so excessive was the humiliation he underwent that he even girded himself with the towel and washed the feet of his disciples. Jesus had the authority. He knew that it was given to him by the Father. It wasn't something that he set aside, had to regain somehow by his obedience. He knew it was his. And in light of that, Christ did not abandon any of his divine attributes when he took on human flesh. What makes this service and this humiliation of his sufferings, it makes it so much more remarkable. Because in light of that authority, he girds himself with the towel and washes the disciples' feet. In light of that authority, he lays his life down to suffer as truly God, one who possesses ultimate authority. But what about the other statement? He had come forth from God and was going back to God. A similar discussion as above, we're helped in our comprehension of statements like this by interpreting this verse in light of other verses which speak of the nature of Christ and his eternal relations with the other persons of the Trinity. Now the early church labored long and hard to explain Christological statements like this one while still preserving the true deity and the true humanity of Christ. being that the Son of God is eternal, and we see this in John 17, 5, He is eternal, it would be an error to conclude by this verse, He had come forth from God, that He was created by God and that there was a time when He was not. You can see how you could just take it face value, He had come forth from God. It would be very easy to conclude from that that there was a time that He was not. Well, What I just described to you was the heresy of Arianism, right? And we know that God is eternal because he says so in John 17, verse 5. Being that the Son is one with God, chapter 17, verse 12, it would be an error to conclude by this verse that while the Son was physically present in the world, that he was somehow separated from the Godhead, and that in going back to God, he was going to be reunited with him. Okay, you see, just a basic reading of that could, without taking it to the broader context, could lead you to some strange places. And I highlight this just to say that we really are approaching a great mystery when we read texts like this. And if we would just stop and pause and really think about what is being said here, I think that we would find that so often we are extended beyond our capacities rationally. And that should be something that doesn't discourage us, but rather causes us to want to worship him. So what does the language of coming from God and going back to God mean? Okay, so let's actually answer the question as we think about this verse. He had come forth from God and was going back to God. I found helpful a man by the name of Philip Carey who commented on the descent, okay, coming from God of Christ when he explains it like this. This is the descent of the creator himself. who is by nature present in everything that he has made. So this is the descent of the creator himself who is by nature present in everything that he has made. All of creation is held in his hand and there can be no distance in space between him and any creature. The creator cannot possibly be absent from any place that he has created. Quotes Psalm 139, eight, even when we go down to the place of the dead, guess what? He is there, right? But what he can do, okay, this is remarkable to me, what he can do is reveal himself in an utterly new way, making manifest his grace prepared in heaven from the beginning, the mystery of salvation that has been hidden for long ages, but now is revealed in human flesh. which has, in Jesus Christ, become God's own flesh. Remarkable. Likewise, regarding the ascent going back to God that John records here of Christ, Carey reiterates, like his descent, the ascent is not a movement from one place to another, For the heaven to which he ascends is the place beyond all places, the heaven above the visible heavens. It is the invisible dimension in which God, who is beyond all creation and yet never far from us, is most intensely present to his creatures. It is not a location in physical space like the visible heavens. Okay, so for example, with all of Elon Musk's space gallivanting around, there's never gonna come a moment whenever he's up there and he stumbles upon the resurrected Christ. It's not gonna happen that way, right? Rather, the dimension of the created world in which creatures are fulfilled in worship and contemplation to God, joining the angels who glorify him and enjoy him forever. Now, that's probably difficult to wrap our minds around, especially just hearing it the first time. But what he's really highlighting here is that in the descent and the ascent of Christ, what we're really dealing with is what you can just describe as his nearness. He is near to us. And his nearness is described explicitly in John, in this discourse, relating to the abiding ministry of the Holy Spirit, right? So though he be in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, and interceding on our behalf before the Father, he is surely not far from us. What a comfort this is. So just to reiterate the four points, we looked at the Upper Room Discourse relating to the Lord's Supper and how that abiding action that we will partake in again and again helps us to appreciate the teaching that Jesus gives. We looked at the hour that Jesus was looking toward as he set his face to the moment of his crucifixion. We looked at the Lord's Testament being the great love with which he extended to his people by gathering them and by preparing them for life whenever he would not be with them. And finally, we wrestled with some of the challenging doctrines that we're gonna face as we look through this discourse. My hope in that is not that we are intimidated by that, but that it moves us to want to understand him more as he reveals himself and helps us to worship him more fully. So friends, I hope that our time together has served you by preparing your mind and your heart for this series. I want to leave you this evening with these parting words. I hope that your soul is encouraged as you are confronted with the great love that is revealed to us by Christ himself in these wonderful chapters. It's a love that prepared his disciples for the momentary devastation of the hour of his crucifixion. And it's a love that was revealed to them that the crucifixion was not the end of the story, right? To their amazement, he even revealed that it was better that he would depart from them rather than to remain with them. And it's a love which, by these chapters, it's revealed to us the ability, to use Augustine's language again, revealed to us the ability and benefits which are ours today, even as Christ is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. It's a love which we experience anew as we, by faith, partake of the Lord's Supper until he returns. And even so, come Lord Jesus. So I invite you, friends, to come with us this year and behold the love and the glory of Christ in the upper room. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. And I'm thankful, Lord, for just the opportunity to take such a large section of text. and thank Lord how to helpfully and hopefully helpfully introduce it. Father, you were doing so much through your son in these chapters. You were teaching them, you were preparing your church in a myriad of ways. And Father, I pray that as we read these texts, as we listen to them expounded by qualified and gifted men in the congregation, Father, I pray that you would help us, Lord, to be moved to contemplate your goodness, to see, Father, the glory that is truly yours, being your eternal nature, the all-authority, all-love. Father, we are just so thankful for what you have delivered to us through these chapters. And I pray that our time of studying them would be honoring to you. Thank you again for this church. I pray that you would just conform us, Lord, continue the work of conforming us into the image of your Son, our Savior. In Christ's name, amen.