[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       John chapter 13, starting in verse 31: “When he [Judas] 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 glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV).

       Last time our discussion completed with the scene at the last supper in which Judas, being possessed by Satan, was in the process of betraying Jesus. It wasn’t a surprise to Jesus, but in fact he knew it was coming. Even the Scripture had prophesied it in the Old Testament. The other disciples, interestingly, were oblivious to the whole thing. No understanding was present as to what was truly going on at that moment. The minds were blinded to it all. Their eyes were focused on the earthly kingdom they believed was about to come, where Jesus would rule and reign as King. And they thought they were going to be part of this kingdom, stars for everyone to see. About to make it big, they thought, and be rulers of the whole Nation. That was their focus. With that in mind, they were missing everything that was really going on.

       In reading this text about Jesus being glorified, we can recall what the prophet Isaiah had written back in Isaiah chapter 53. Turning back there, we can read, starting in verse 11: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors” (11, 12, ESV) . Jesus is glorified as he is going to make it possible for others to be glorified. This, in turn, glorifies God. Not too long before this moment will Jesus be back with the Father, and once he is, he will sit at his right hand and wait for the rest to be accomplished. It is what the writer of Hebrews said concerning Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV). This joy is that he receives his glory from the Father for his obedience to him, that many will be saved from their sins, and that those many will come to join the Father and himself in Heaven. This is what led the Apostle Paul to write the Philippians, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:8-11 (ESV). Therefore, the Son becomes glorified to the point where he is above everyone who ever has lived in all of human history.

       What is brought up next is the importance of following Jesus’ new commandment in our lives, which, in actuality, isn’t really new. It is how one is to live life simplified. John will speak of this love in his first epistle, where he says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-12, ESV). The idea behind these verses is that God has forgiven us all the wrongs we have ever done in our lives. This includes against him and against others. Since that is the case, we can realize that the real marker of a Christian, the real marker, is that one love others with this same kind of love that God has already demonstrated. This includes forgiving persons of all their offenses, no matter what those offenses are. Due to the nature of our world, sometimes we aren’t able to stay in communion with people when certain types of offenses have occurred, but nonetheless their needs to be forgiveness from the heart toward that person for individuals even when the distance is present. One way to accomplish this task is to focus on one or two good aspects of the person or group one is seeking to forgive, and bring that to mind when thinking of them rather than the offense that has occurred. Every person, no matter who they are, has something that can be thought positively regarding them, even if it’s all the way down to say they have a good hair style or nice clothes. Whatever it is, something can be put into place of whatever wrong is coming to mind.

       Jesus notes that it is this particular characteristic, that Christians love one another no matter what, that tells the world that we indeed belong to something bigger, that we indeed know the real God. Believers in Jesus, in this way, are set apart from the rest of the world, from those of all other ways of life, of all other religions and philosophies of living life. In the twenty-first century, it would seem as this concept of forgiveness has become much more widespread and known than it was back then when Jesus was first telling his disciples, that a lot of individuals, even those who wouldn’t necessarily identify as Christians, try to practice it. The art of forgiveness it is. That’s how widespread this teaching of Jesus has gone through the centuries. One can see it practiced with people in other ways of living, whether that be Jewish people of today or even people who follow New Age philosophies. It will be mentioned, though, that the Christian has the ability to grant forgiveness to others because he or she has been forgiven of all their sins. They have a clean slate. People who try to practice the forgiveness, and yet don’t have forgiveness themselves of all their sins, it doesn’t seem can nearly appreciate it as much as the Christian appreciates it. This is the principle that Jesus spoke of in Luke’s Gospel, where he said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47, ESV). So, Jesus tells us that in order to love others greatly, to really forgive them completely, we have to of been forgiven ourselves much and completely.

       Troubling to the mind it is, when really stopping to consider it, as to whether Christians in our day and age really have the best reputation when it comes to the whole loving others thing, to the whole forgiveness thing. The appearance is, and this may be rather hard to explain, that the more resistant attitude a person or group of people has, the less forgiving and more fighting they are. This is an observation that has been made in the personal experience. The Evangelical church, for instance, appears to love that resistant attitude wherein they desire to fight others on issues, whether that be political issues in the realm of politics or whether that even comes down to doctrine issues with other Christians. Therefore, it doesn’t seem they have the best reputation when it comes to this whole loving one another concept. Again, Jesus just said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Of course, this isn’t universal with all Evangelical churches, but it does seem to be true that this loving of one another doesn’t seem to be the chief thing Evangelicals are known for. Other Christian groups, like Anabaptists for instance, might be better known for this—better known for showing love for another within their group. But what about the other groups within Christianity, like the Eastern Orthodox, or the Roman Catholics, or the other Protestants? Where do they stand in this?

       Now we shift gears a bit and move on to verse 36: “Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (ESV).

       The whole premise behind Peter’s thinking, if we were to try to put ourselves in his shoes, seems to be that he is in love with his current situation in life. Now, what is meant by that? It’s not that Peter doesn’t love the Lord; he certainly loves the Lord. It just seems that, if we stop and analyze it, that he loves his circumstance of being one of his ‘right-hand’ men more than anything. Peter was one of the three disciples that Jesus was closest to, along with the other two being James and John. If we read the other three Gospels, we can observe instances where it is these three guys who are linked together as being Jesus’ closest disciples. If, again, we bring to mind Peter’s mindset of thinking about that earthly, physical kingdom he thinks is about to dawn upon Israel, if we put these two things together, we can see, at least to some degree, what Peter’s mindset is. He is part of Jesus’, the soon to be king of Israel, inner-circle, and he is also going to be right alongside him in that new government. Peter might think he would in fact give up his own life for Jesus, but in reality, since Peter appears to be more in love with the earthly things rather than the eternal things, Jesus knows better. And so, this becomes a test for all of us, for all of us, to try to conduct on ourselves inside our minds, to try to discern where we stand, and how we view the things of life versus our relationship with God. Are we too attached to anything, to anything at all, wherein we love it more than God himself?

       In essence, Peter was saying, “I love you more than my own life.” That’s what he was trying to tell Jesus. We can note, right off the bat, that that is something probably better demonstrated by action versus actually said out loud. That’s because behind the quickness in saying something like that could be a prideful spirit. It could be re-thought like, “Lord, what is wrong with you? Of course, in my awesomeness, I love you more than my own life!” We all know, if we are honest with ourselves, that it’s better to show than to talk. But in stopping and thinking about it, does Jesus ever call a Christian to give up his life for others? If we remember the second greatest commandant, it is that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31, ESV). It doesn’t say, “You shall love your neighbor instead of yourself,” or “You shall love your neighbor over yourself.” We do know, that in just a short while, Jesus is going to say, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13, ESV). But notice, that’s not a commandment, but rather a statement. We do know that the Apostle Paul will tell the Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV). It appears there he implies it, that is, until we read the rest of the passage, “husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself” (5:28, ESV). Therefore, it would seem that, through careful study, what God requires of us, what he wants of us, is that we love our neighbors as ourselves. To do more certainly shows the greatest love, but it isn’t commanded. That also means that Peter didn’t have to say what he said, and obviously shouldn’t have.

       Before moving on from this section, does Jesus’ foreshadowing of Peter’s denial mean that Peter had no free-choice in the matter of denying Jesus? Does this mean that Peter was doomed to commit this action against God? Like was stated last week in regard to Judas, Peter didn’t have to deny Jesus three times. It seems probable that, due to the current state or condition of Peter’s heart at the time, that his behavior was easily predictable. Since Jesus knew that Peter was so focused on the Millennial Kingdom and had no idea of what God was doing, he knew that the moment that was pulled out, the moment the rug was pulled from under Peter’s feet, and the hopes of the glorious kingdom fell to pieces, he knew when that happened, that Peter would split. We see a glimpse of this in Matthew and Mark’s Gospel’s, and it is specifically recorded in Mark: “And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:37, 38, ESV). Apparently Peter had some kind of desire to do what was right, but his focus simply wasn’t in the right spot. It obvious to Jesus that Peter was going to fail, and, there was a Scripture that lined up with what was happening that could be applied in the situation. Nevertheless, had Peter chosen differently, the Lord certainly would have been happy about that, but it seemed that once Jesus had said what he said, that Peter’s free-will choice to change course probably had already closed.

       John chapter 14, starting in verse 1: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (ESV).

       The beautiful thing in being a Christian, and none of us surely practices this perfectly, but the beautiful thing is that we really never have to ‘worry’ about anything in life. That’s because we know God, or we have a personal relationship with God. He is on our side, and with us at all times. We believe in God, and we believe in Jesus. So no matter what comes to us, or what comes toward us, we are safe. And even if we were to perish, we are safe. Externals, whether events or people, can harm or kill the physical body, but they can have no effect on our soul. Nevertheless, Jesus’ promise toward the disciples is that he will come back to get them again. Some theologians do believe that he is referring to The Rapture of the Church. That certainly is possible, since the text doesn’t mention anything as pertains to The Battle of Armageddon or anything like that. He says he will take them to himself. It could refer to The Second Coming, but it could also fit with The Rapture. Perhaps, it’s referring to both. Anyhow, this occurs after he has already left (hence, the fact he’s about to die) and has gone and prepared custom, individual places for each of his disciples. This includes us, even today, in The Church Age. Everyone who follows Jesus, everyone who dies in him, or is alive at the time of The Rapture, is going to experience the place Jesus has prepared for them. The personal belief is that it will be custom tuned to what we like as individuals, and those things will be incorporated into that residence.

       In the past it has been stated that each of us, really, if you stop and think about it, has the ability to invest in our residence for the next life (or the continuation of life after death). By the good things we accomplish, by the love and help which we provide to others, all of these actions are an investment into our future livelihoods, not to mention the individuals that we build relationships with, those we ‘in essence’ get to take with us. All the relationships we built with Christians in this life carry on throughout eternity. People become our friends forever. So then, it’s not just our relationship with the Lord that we’ll have, but we’ll also have many other relationships, both male and female, like brothers and sisters. And since things will be different then, without all the worldly concerns or tensions, it will be a much better experience anyway. It’s really fun to consider these things about what the next life will be like. A couple sermons in the past have been given on the subject, and those are available to listen to if you want to do that (see Episodes 79 & 80).

       Verse 4: “And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (ESV).

       The disciples know ‘the way’ since they know the Savior who is leading them. Again, Thomas at least, seems to be thinking in worldly terms. They seem to think that Jesus is going to travel somewhere, and they are going to have to figure out where he is at. Yet, Jesus tells them that it’s because they know him that all is good. The claim on the part of the Jews was that they knew God without knowing Jesus. The disciples, on the other hand, knew Jesus, and therefore, they knew the Father. Jesus makes it clear that no one can know the Father expect by knowing the Son. Jesus is the way. Not the Jewish Law. Not what the Scribes and Pharisees teach. Not the way other’s live outside of Christ. None of those pathways lead to the Father. We often as Christians cite the verse in defense of the Christian faith as a whole, and present it as the smoking gun to show that Christianity is the only true way to God. And while we certainly affirm that, the verse, contextually, appears to be referring to things from more of a Jewish persecutive. That was the context of the scene, of the time.

       The reason the disciples do indeed know the Father from this point is that the Son is the full manifestation of the Father’s character in every respect. The Son demonstrates what the Father is like. As a matter of fact, in verse 9 Jesus is going to tell us that. This is a mind-blowing thing to think that the God of the Universe is standing right there, right there in human flesh, speaking with them. This is what God is like. And yet, it seems to pretty much fly over their heads, as it often even flys over our own heads. It’s not that we are really any better than them. But Christ represents the full character of God and shows that God is different than what a lot of them had likely imagined. They were so caught up in the ruling and reigning part of things, like that God was a great warrior or something, and had missed the heart of God stuff, like his love, compassion, and mercy.

       Verse 8: “Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (ESV).

       Jesus’ point to the disciples is that it would be absolutely pointless for God the Father to appear on the scene since Jesus is an exact representation of the Father. It’s not needed. They have already experienced what the Father is like by being around the Son. Although, unfortunately, the mere question itself shows that Philip and the rest of the disciples do not understand completely. They don’t completely understand that Christ is the manifestation of the Father. This doesn’t mean they won’t be saved, or even aren’t saved (as really they are still technically under the Old Testament Law until the cross). However, Jesus is saying even if you can’t understand that as he is another Person in the Trinity, they should since the things he is speaking with them are actually from God the Father himself. They are his words anyway. So, again, if the Father was to appear to them as Phillip wanted, and say things to them, he would say the exact same things that Jesus is saying. It would be pointless. Yet, Jesus states that he and the others need to “believe that [he is] in the Father and the Father is in [him].” It takes belief on their part. Even if God the Father were to appear, they wouldn’t believe. That’s because the whole thing is coming from a root of sin, and that sin will never be satisfied. It would be like someone obtaining something in an illegal way, where in obtaining it, they would’t feel it was legitimate.

       Jesus stated, “or else believe on account of the works themselves.” “Or else believe on account of the works themselves.” The disciples had another option. If they couldn’t believe the words Jesus was speaking to them, they had the option of simply focusing on the works that had been accomplished through Jesus, and ignoring the words altogether. After all, Jesus had healed many persons, he had cast out demons (though John does record that), he had even raised dead individuals back to life. The whole raising of Lazarus had a been a grand, epic event. So, even if they doubted his words, they could elect instead to count on those things which they saw with their eyes as evidence for the truth. Even today, people can do that if they wish. God still does miracles from time to time, and someone may choose to believe in Jesus simply due to a miracle that they witnessed, or even heard about from a reputable source. Especially in our day with our drive on the scientific in our society, some feel they need ‘evidence’ in order to believe in anything. And sometimes God shows people miracles, and they then can believe, or at least start their belief process, based on the miracle. Now some, and we can probably think of individuals who are like this, actually won’t even believe miracles when they see things (like the Scribes and Pharisees), and try to explain them away through some other scientific cause. We can think of individuals we’ve probably known who have done this, or persons we know from history. Some people’s hearts are hardened, and they just won’t believe no matter what.

- Daniel Litton