The Great Commandment

Go ahead and take your Bible this morning. Turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. We will finish up chapter 13 this morning. We'll be covering verses 31 to 38. Trust that you're taking notes. That's something I encourage you to do, to develop that habit so that you can learn and pertain and hold on to what the Lord's teaching us. Go back and study in your own time. Sometimes I go back months later and study what the Lord's been teaching us. Because we want to be students of the Word of God. It's the Word of God that forms us and molds us. Forms us into the people He wants us to be. So I encourage you in that discipline.

Now in our last message in our study in John, this Gospel of John, we saw how Jesus exposed Judas as the traitor. Remember Judas was the traitor in their midst. The title of the message was "Trader Judas Revealed." We learned that he was there Benedict Arnold. If you are familiar with our American history, you know who Benedict Arnold was. Of course we know that Jesus' purpose in revealing that information to the disciples was part of this preparation for them. The cross was only a few hours away. Judas would soon lead that delegation of religious leaders to arrest Jesus.

As we continue into chapter 13, we will see this continued preparation for the disciples. Here this morning we will see that Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment. If you would go ahead and look at verse 34. Verse 34, what does Jesus say? "A new commandment I give to you." "A new commandment I give to you." Now all of the translations that we look at, whether it's the King James or the modern translation, say the very same thing. If we continue on into verse 35, we see the purpose of this new command. That is that all men would know that these men, these disciples were his true disciples. So we see this new commandment.

This new commandment was to be there. If you would remember these words, chief distinction. Now I don't know if you realize it or not, but churches and Christians have always tried to distinguish themselves from others in the world. I'll give you a few examples that maybe will help you in understanding this. I was in a public place this past week and I saw some what we would call Pentecostals. Now we don't believe like Pentecostals do theologically. Maybe they're our friends and they're our neighbors. And we know that they have certain convictions about the way they dress. And what do we see?

Those are distinctions that they flesh out in their life to draw a distinction between themselves and the others around them. One of the things that I did when I took some time off is I did some reading that I've been wanting to do. And I was able to finish a very lengthy biography of an American missionary named Adonai Judson. Many people believe he was the first missionary to leave American soil. He went to what was called Burma in that day. It's called Minmar now. And he left the states, he and his wife in 1812. But Adonai Judson did something the whole duration of his ministry there in Burma.

He always dressed like a 19th century American clergyman. Black coat, black pants, white shirt. And those Burmese Christians and pagans alike saw a very sharp distinction in the way he dressed and lived. I think you understand what I mean by that. We see churches, they try to distinguish themselves. I've seen signs, church signs like this. Maybe churches say they're different on purpose or where the river flows. Now I'm not against those things. What do we see? They are trying to distinguish themselves above and beyond other people. Many of you know that one of my people that I look up to is Grace Life Church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

I was looking at some of their information this week on their church website. And one of their disclaimers goes like this. They're a church committed to historic Baptist doctrine. It's a distinction. Now that's a list, an incomplete list, but I think you understand what I mean by sharing that with you. These are examples that show us how Christians and churches try to distinguish themselves from others. And I want to speak to you. I want to speak straight to you before we dive into the verses as your pastor.

There are many ways that we can strive to distinguish ourselves from the world, from other churches, from other denominations, and even from some within our own denomination. But the chief distinguishing characteristic which must be found in us is found in our verses this morning. I'm going to go ahead and give you the title of the message this morning. It's very simple. It's very simple. It is the Great Commandment. The Great Commandment. You know the verses that we're going to explore together, verses 31 through 38. You see how we're going to divide these verses, the glorification of Christ, verse 31 through 33.

The Great Commandment of Love, verses 34 and 35. And then the grand misunderstanding of Peter, verses 36 through 38. It's very simple. Those truths will be on the screens for you to be able to jot those down at the appropriate time. But let's go ahead and read these verses together, starting in verse 31. "When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.' If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately." Verse 33. "Little children, I am with you a little while longer.

You shall seek me, and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, where I am going, you cannot come." Verse 34. "A new commandment I give you, and that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow later." Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, or very, very, very, I say to you, a cock or a rooster shall not crow until you deny me three times." So we're going to look at the great commandment out of these verses. So let's look at our first main truth. Truth number one, the glorification of Christ. We see that in verses 31 through 33. Now, here in these verses we see a transition in the teaching of Jesus. First we see the departure of Judas from the group. That's what we see at the very beginning of verse 31. Now, this departure is significant in two ways. The evil element is out of the group, but also this means that the betrayal of Christ was underway.

While Jesus was continuing to teach his own, Judas was busy betraying Christ and betraying even the disciples. Now second, we see this word glory in these verses. We see this word glory or variations of this word glory used a lot in verses 31 and 32. As a matter of fact, it is five different times that we see this in the New American Standard version that I'm reading from. Now, this tells us that Jesus is speaking of events which are beginning to transpire. We see that in the construction of the language. The word now, it is written in such a way where it speaks of present tense events.

One of the commentators that I like that I read said it like this. Now that the betrayal is underway, Judas is gone. The glorification of the Son has become. Now, there are three quick observations I want to make here about this glorification of Christ. First of all, I want us to see the Father is glorified in the Son. The Father is glorified in the Son. Look at verse 31. Now is the Son of God glorified and God is glorified in Him. Here Jesus is saying that God the Father is glorified in Christ Jesus the Son. The Father was and is glorified in the totality of the Son's life and obedience.

The Father received glory in the Son coming from heaven to earth as the promised Messiah. He received glory in the perfect life that He led as He healed the sick. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and He called those first disciples to Himself. He received glory in Christ going all the way to the cross as that substitutionary death for mankind, defeating sin and the power of Satan. So what do we see? In the totality of who Christ was and what He did, God the Father was glorified in the Son. Second, I want us to see that the Son is glorified. We see that in verse 31 and 32.

Now is the Son of man glorified and God the Father is glorified in Him. Verse 32, "If God is glorified in Him," that's speaking of the Father, "God will also glorify Him in Himself and He will glorify Him immediately talking about the Son." What appeared to be defeat and shame in the cross was ultimately glory, the glory of God and the glory of the Son. Jesus was glorified through His perfect obedience even to the cross. Now I want to show you that there are three physical evidences which prove that the Father glorified the Son. First of all, the bodily resurrection. We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. This was no myth.

This was no figment of anyone's imagination. Many people witnessed the resurrected body of Christ. Second, the bodily ascension of Christ. We understand that those early believers were gathered there listening to Him and He physically went to be with the Father. That is the bodily ascension. Then third, Christ suffering on the cross. Now you might say you should have put the cross first on your list. I did that on purpose and I'll show you why. The resurrection and the ascension prove the validity of the cross.

Had He not resurrected and ascended, then the cross would have been a total fabrication and Jesus would have been just another criminal executed by the Romans. So what do we see? The Father is glorified in all that the Son did and was and the Son is glorified because the Father glorifies the Son. And then third, we see the Son's ultimate glorification. We get verse 33. "Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek me and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, where I am going, you cannot come." Here Jesus exhibits great love and patience with His disciples. Now notice this word.

He uses this word "little children." Now all of the translations that we study use this same word, this phrase. Now this could be seen by some as insulting, but truthfully it is a very affectionate term. He is being loving and He is being patient. And the reason we know He is being patient is because all through John's writings, we see that Jesus told them numerous times that He was leaving in John chapter 3 verse 5, chapter 8 verse 21 and 22. So Jesus is lovingly patiently telling His disciples that He is ultimately going back to His proper place. He is going back to the Father. He is going back to glory with the Father.

And that was the Son's ultimate destination and glorification. So what do we see here? We are seeing the glorification of the Son and the Father through the Son's perfect obedience. Both are glorified through the cross and everything that was to come. And I take you back in your mind and your heart to what we learn out of John chapter 12 verse 23. The very first time Jesus speaks of this in the present tense, what does He say? The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified and this is all part of that hour. So what do we see? The glorification of Christ. Let's move on to our second main truth.

I want us to see the great commandment of love. This great commandment of love. Look at verse 34. A new commandment I give you that you love one another even as I have loved you. That also you love one another. Verse 35. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Now here we see the next step in Jesus' preparation of the disciples. This is His next step in discipling them and preparing them. Jesus had prepared them concerning Judas. He announced that he was leaving. Then very soon he was going back to the Father and they could not go with him.

And now Jesus simply tells them what He expects them to do when He is gone. Notice the order emphasizes the importance of this command. This is the first instruction that He gives them after He announces that He is leaving them. And this is a new command. Now three observations I want to make here. First, it is a new commandment. I have referenced verse 34 several times. What does He say? A new commandment. Now all the translations use this word new. Now if we think about it, this word new, it might seem strange to some of you. Because this commandment is really an old commandment. Now you got to remember who Jesus is dealing with.

All of these men would have been Jews and they were very familiar with the Old Testament writings. Especially the first five books of the Bible. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18, it is a commandment from God to love one another. So this was a very familiar commandment and familiar words. Also, Jesus had commanded them to love many times before. All through His earthly ministry. So that leads us to a question. Why was this a new commandment? This was new because of the context. This does not relate to outsiders, but to them are the family of God. And it is also important to see the construction of the language.

Because it is in the emphatic meaning it was a bold declaration, a bold commandment. So we have this bold new commandment. Second, I want us to see this is a commandment, a new commandment of love. Let's continue verse 34. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. We see this new command, this bold command, and we see the context. This is within the family. If I can use this language within the family of God, His chosen disciples. But what is this command? Jesus says that they are to love one another as He has loved them. And listen, this is what we call agape love.

And you got to remember that the language of the day, there were three words for love. There was the love, there was what's called eros love. It was a physical, sexual, sensual love. We understand what eros love is. We see it all around us in our culture. Then there was this phileo love. It was a brotherly love that you would have maybe for your good friends and your neighbors and your coworkers. But Jesus, He exemplified what is called agape love. And this was a sacrificial love, a giving love. And what is Jesus saying? They are to love one another as He agape loved them. He sacrificially loved them.

And His love always put others ahead of self. He was their greatest example. He loved them. He sacrificed for them. He served them. He forgave them. He provided for them. And the list goes on and on and on and on. And He is commanding them to love each other just as He had loved them the past three years, just as He had loved them when He assumed the position of the lowest servant, the lowest slave, and washed their feet. This was a bold new command. Within the family of God, to love as He had loved. And then third, our third observation, we have the proof of true discipleship.

Verse 35, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for another." The year Jesus says that their chief distinguishing characteristic should be their love for one another. Now, notice who sees this chief distinction. It is the world. Go back to verse 35. "By this all men may know that you are my disciples." Now, think about this in the context of their three-year ministry with Jesus. They had walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, and they were commissioned as apostles. Now, think about what they were called to do. They were commissioned to preach the good news of the kingdom.

And we saw that in Matthew chapter 10 starting in verse 5. They had the greatest preacher that ever walked the face of the earth, and they went out and they preached the good news just as Christ did. The only stipulation He gave them was not to go to the Gentiles. But Jesus does not say, "The world will know you are my disciples if you go preach." Also, we see that they were commissioned to heal the sick and to perform miracles, much like Jesus. And we know that they went out and they did these things successfully. But these practices were not to be their chief distinguishing characteristic.

Jesus says the mark for true discipleship that the world acknowledges is a Christlike love for one another, a sacrificial love. And He says, "This is proof that you are my disciple." So what do we see here? A bold, new commandment. Their first instruction in personal discipleship in His personal preparation was to love one another just exactly how Christ loved them. And listen, I have to believe that they were speechless. I believe they were gripped by the power of His words, but we will see not Peter as we continue. So what do we see? A great, new, bold commandment of love.

Truth number three, I want us to see the grand misunderstanding of Peter. I chose this word grand on purpose because you will see how grand it was. Verse 36, Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus said, "Where I go, You cannot follow Me now, but You will or shall follow Me later." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down My life for You." And Jesus answered, "Will You lay down Your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to You, a cock shall not crow until You deny Me three times." Here in these verses, we have a familiar scene.

Peter and this question and answer session with Jesus and His teaching. This is familiar. We saw this earlier when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, starting in verse 4 on now to verse 11. Peter just had to open the floor and discuss things with Peter, with Jesus. Now, there are two directions we can take these verses. We can focus primarily on Jesus' teaching, or we can focus on Peter and his impetuous behavior. Now, even though our primary focus will be on Peter, we will examine Jesus' approach to Peter. So three observations I want to make here. First, I want us to see that Peter questions Jesus. We saw that right away in verse 36.

"Lord, where are You going?" Here, Peter seems to miss Jesus' teaching about love. My question is, does he sidestep Jesus' teaching? Does he just miss what Jesus was saying? Is he so caught up in the fact that Jesus said He was leaving them, that He misses the teaching altogether? I think that's possibly the case. He just could not listen to what Jesus said because of His questions. But here we see that Peter questions Jesus about where He is going. And of course, we do see Jesus patience His loving response. But what do we see primarily? Peter questions Jesus. Second, I want us to see Peter's bold declaration. What does he say in verse 37?

"Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." Here we see Peter's boastful, impetuous response. He proves that he just does not understand Jesus' teaching, nor can he simply receive it by faith and wait on the coming events. He must make these faultless, boastful declarations. He's done this before. This is his habit. So what do we see? Peter's bold declaration. And then third, we see Jesus sobering prediction. He is sobering prediction. Look at verse 38. Jesus answered, "Will You lay down Your life for me?

Truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say to You, a rooster or a cock shall not crow until You deny me three times." Here we see Jesus' term. Peter's statements back on him with a rhetorical question. Now we know what a rhetorical question is. Jesus does not want an answer. He turns it back around on him. Next, Jesus elevates his prediction with this familiar, "Truly, truly." We understand that everything Jesus said was true and right, but he elevates things when he says, "Truly, truly." One of the Bible commentators that I like reads it like this or describes it like this. His name's Leon Morris.

He says, "This is no casual remark." That's true. It is a solemn pronouncement made in full awareness of its gravity. And after sobering Peter up, Jesus makes his prediction of Peter's denial. One interesting observation I like here, and this was by Leon Morris as well. I want to bring it to the table because I think it helps us see Peter. Morris points out that Peter did use the sword in the garden. Remember, when they came to arrest Jesus, Peter pulled the sword and he had the courage to defend Jesus, risking his life. But he did not have the courage to stand for Christ when all hope seemed lost.

Maybe when his dreams for the Messiah were dashed. So I like that observation. He had a misplaced courage. This was a sobering prediction from Jesus, declaring that Peter would deny him three times as we know that he did. So what do we see here? We see familiar behavior from Peter. He is prideful. He is thoughtless. Rather than accept Jesus' teaching, he seems to step over it. He seems to step around it to speak what was on his mind concerning these things. And so doing, Jesus seems to shut him down. Because if you study ahead, you will see that we do not hear from Peter until chapter 18 verse 10. So this grand misunderstanding of Peter.

Now I want you to remember Peter's response because I will bring this back up in our application. Now I want to do as I sometimes do, preach the entire text and then move to the application. So we're going to move away from the verses, but we're still going to look at some truths that you do need to write down and be aware of. Now I want to say this to you. As your pastor, as the pastor of this church, entrusted by God, called by God for this work, I want to tell you that this message and what Christ commands here could be a great turning point for you and in you.

And I say that in you on purpose because many times God will take his truth and do a deep work down in us and be a turning point in us and for us. And I believe that this should be a great marker in the life of our church. Whether you realize it or not, we must decide what will be our chief distinction and we must decide that. We can't make that decision on the latest church movements, the best-selling books, our previous experiences or what we just think the church should be. It must come from God's Word under God's authority. Now I want to share with you some mistakes that some have made. I think that will help you. It will help me.

And then I want to share with you some areas where I think we could be tempted to slide away from center. A couple of three examples that will help us. Quite a few years ago I had a friend of mine who served on church staff. It was in the state of Mississippi but pretty good distance from here. But this church was unique in that they owned a private school.

Years earlier, I think probably in the early 70s, maybe the late 60s, there was a very wealthy individual who left a large sum of money to start a "Christian school." But if you were around that church and around the staff and around the people of that church very long, you would see and understand that their chief distinction was the school. It didn't take you very long to realize that most of the people in the life of the church fought over how to spend the money. Divisions, heartache, accusations, people leaving, people coming, people going.

I said it like this, "Really the tail wagged a dog." Because their chief distinction was the school, the school, the school. I've seen other churches that I'm very close to move off of center here. In my home church, I love them very much. I can remember a day when their chief distinction was revival. And I believe in historic revival and I want historic revival. I'm thankful that one of the men of our church almost every Wednesday night prays for a national revival in our country. It's because he understands that that is the only hope for our land. I am for personal revival and local revival and church revival.

I do believe we can find it in the Scripture. But revival can't be our chief distinction. I happened to be in contact with the church at one time that their chief distinction was big events. Big preachers, big events, the bigger the better. Let's just throw the advertising out there. Big, big, big, famous people. And all along, the talk in the community was that they devoured people at that church. Their chief distinction was big. And none of these three things worked because the church was not victorious and it eventually eroded what should be the chief distinction in the life of the church.

Now for us here at NOLA, we must see that we can fall into the trout of making our chief distinction be something other than what we see right there in verse 34 and verse 35. I'll bring this thing on closer to home. Here at NOLA Baptist Church, we cannot make our chief distinction to be a certain theological position. Now, I'm not aiming that at any particular person or any particular group. I've known churches that that becomes their chief distinction. Now I am theologically aware. I was telling Brother Keith this morning, I think I looked across my table last night in my study and there were over 10 volumes of books that deal with theology.

I am to be, if I can say it like this, the chief theologian in the building. And I'm thankful that there are certain men and families who study their theology and know what's out there good and bad. But we cannot make a certain theological position the chief distinction of the church. We also can't make our chief distinction of the church be missions. Years ago, I developed a habit. It becomes a compulsion sometimes. I love to read missionary biographies and missionary stories. I buy lots of missionary books and I loan them and give them away. I've got two or three on my desk now waiting to be given away. I just have them there.

Now, I know that we don't come back in another life. I say this tongue in cheek. I believe if I could come back in another life, I'd sure love to be one of those missionaries who went around the world to the very remotest of places to take the gospel like a man, like I don't know how I'm judging, to do a unique work. But even though we are called as a church to be missions minded and take the gospel around the world, that cannot be our chief distinction. One of the jobs, and it's my primary job as a pastor, is expositional preaching. We're going to systematically go through book by book.

We take topics as they come up, but we must take verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter, and we must systematically go through the Scripture. It is my job. It is what I devote hours of my life to week in and week out. But our chief distinction cannot be expositional preaching. I'm thankful that we've got different types of families in the life of our church. We've got some who put their children in private schools. Some have their children in public schools. Some have their children in homeschooling. But you know the chief distinction of our church can't be one of those three.

The chief distinction of our church can't be public school, private school, or homeschool. One more that's on my list. And I think this will really strike some of you funny. We cannot make our chief distinction here at Nola Baptist Church to say we have less than others. Sometimes I think some of us are prideful when we say we don't have a nice building or we're further out in the country. We don't do a lot of those things that a lot of other churches do. That cannot be our distinction, that we do less of those things, and therefore we look down our nose at other people.

Now I say all this in a very humble manner, but I want you to see, listen, many of these things are commanded. Many of these things are convictions. Many of these things should be going on in the life of the church, but it cannot be our chief distinction. And I want you to listen to your pastor. And I say this as seriously as I know how and as humbly as I know how. These things are good and we may do some of them out of command and conviction, but they cannot be our chief distinction. Loving one another as Christ has loved the church must be, must be, must be our chief distinction. Here's where the warning comes.

If we're not careful, we can be just like Peter. He didn't get it, did he? Most of us are far more like Peter than we want to admit. Every time something serious came along, Peter just stuck his foot in his mouth. I don't know what size shoe he wore or sandal he wore, but he ate it a lot, did he not? I mean every time. Lord, Lord, don't you know that the disciples in Jesus probably wanted to tell him to be quiet? Jokes aside, I think sometimes we're far more like Peter. We just don't get it. It's more simplistic than we know. I'll tell you a story and then we'll close. I admitted to you one of my compulsions reading biographies.

That appetite was cultivated years ago. I don't remember what started it, but I can remember the very first Christian biography I read. I didn't have the money to buy a book, I don't think at that time, but there was one in our church library when I was at First Baptist Church in Ellsfield. I went and I found it and I checked it out of the church library and I read it. It was a biography by a famous American pastor and evangelist named D.L. Moody. If you want a good one to read, pick one up about D.L. Moody. It should encourage you because he was very ill-equipped for the ministry, physically speaking. D.L. Moody grew up in a very pagan home.

Didn't have Christian parents, grew up very poor. Long story short, he was converted and he got involved in what's called YMCA ministry. Back in that day, the YMCA ministry was very, very evangelical. Long story short, he had moved to Chicago and he got involved in the south side of Chicago and what's called Sabbath school, children's ministry, because the south side of Chicago was the worst part of town and there were all these street kids, many homeless, poor and indigent. And he and a group of other people, he was the leader, began what's called this Sabbath school.

And they had hundreds of street kids coming to hear the word of God and God is so good that he blessed that work and it later became a church. I'll never forget reading this. There was a young kid one day traveling across Chicago to go to the south side, the sands they called it, the worst part of town. And an adult asked this kid, say, "Hey, why do you go across town? Why do you go to the south side of Chicago?" And his response was this, "They love a fellow down there." You get it? That must be our chief distinction. Let me close with the verses again.

"A new bold commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." I call it the great commandment. And I believe if it is one that we will allow God to bring home in our lives, God will do great things in us and among us and through us. Let's pray.