The True Expression of Love Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The True Expression of Love Part 2. He will be in John 13:11-11.

You and I must come to that point where we recognize that God’s ways are not our ways and that His thoughts are not our thoughts. And we do not want to be a part of the company who is opposing the love of Jesus Christ spreading throughout this world.

Are you ready? Are you ready for hope worth having? I hope so. I hope that you have tuned in today with some anticipation of learning the Bible. Every time that I get up to teach, I’m always looking forward to God doing a great work in the hearts of those who are listening and ready to learn the Bible.

You know, when we come with that great anticipation and excitement, that’s when God does a great work in our life. So I hope that you’re ready this morning, that you got your pen, your paper, maybe a cup of coffee or tea, and you got your Bible with you.

What is distinct about our ministry is that we’re going to teach you the Bible. And so I want you to take advantage of that and we’re going to continue to drill down. Today we’re going to continue our study on the true expression of love, part two, John chapter 13, verse 11 through 38.

So let’s get into that study. What I want you to know is that even though Jesus Christ loved Judas and was continually extending forgiveness to Judas by not only just keeping him in the fold, but that he would be a part, that he would come and sit at the table.

But even as we love others, we must remember that God’s purpose is always going to face opposition. The most startling thing that will happen in your heart is that as you are out there loving people and trying to do the right thing and trying to serve God and obey God and follow his will, is that there will be those.

who undoubtedly will become the instruments of Satan to resist and challenge the work that God has put in your heart. And what is most stunning is that that can even happen within the family of God, and it can happen within your own family.

And you must be alert to this, that loving people always face his opposition, and that as God is calling you to step out, as he’s calling you to reach out, as he is calling you to extend your ministry and your love to other people, that they may know Christ, that there will always be the work of the devil that wants to destroy this concept and this truth that Jesus loves people.

And you and I are the extension, we are his hands, we are his feet. on this earth and we are the extension of the body of Christ on this earth and therefore we are to go out into this world and we are to love people all week every day but as you love people the devil will work tirelessly to resist that work that he’ll do everything to discourage you from loving people as Jesus is showing this love he knows there’s going to be opposition he knows Judas is going to avail himself to the Satan himself entering into Judas and to betray the Lord what made Judas betray Jesus scripture makes it very clear that Judas was the treasurer of the that he was hoarding the money keeping it for himself Matthew records that Judas was seeking out by his own volitional will he was seeking out the chief priest on how he might offer to betray Jesus to them and finally Judas does agree to betray his master for 30 pieces of silver what led him to that dreadful action simply this the love of money and power you see when Judas chose to follow God even though Jesus selected Judas chose Judas and brought him in to be a disciple Judas’s heart was never in tune with Jesus from day one he was always pursuing money he was always pursuing power and he was hoping that Jesus would bring about a political revolution that would allow him to serve in some great cabinet seat of this new political regime that would take over the Roman Empire and Judas was obsessed with this from day one.

And time unfolded in Jesus’s ministry, Judas began to realize that the heart of Christ was never to be a political king but to be a personal king of every heart. And that Jesus came to die for the church and he came to bring sinners to salvation that they might have true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and as Judas begins to acknowledge this he starts scheming out of disappointment to betray Jesus.

And we are warned here by the life of Judas that one single obsession, one obsessive sin can enwrap and possess and enchain and degrade the character of a man or a woman. And you have to be careful that even as a follower of Christ that you don’t become so obsessed with what you want, that you resist the will of God, that you resist the work of Christ, that you’re so obsessed the way you think it should be and how it should unfold and what should happen relating to the church and the work of Christ and all that God is doing within this world,

that you become disappointed. You and I must come to that point where we recognize that God’s ways are not our ways and that His thoughts are not our thoughts. And we do not want to be a part of the company who is opposing the love of Jesus Christ spreading throughout this world.

The story of Judas reminds us of the depth of evil the human heart can go even in the best of circumstances. This is why I remind parents, make sure you don’t raise pagan religious kids more important than all the religion and all the church attendance is their heart.

And that they have truly repented and believed in Jesus Christ and that their life is fully surrendered to God Almighty. I was speaking to a young man this week. He was 18 years old. and he told me that he was tired of his parents telling him what to do and I asked him what his future plans were and he told me he was going to join the army in July and I thought the same reaction just like you and as I talked to him I said you know what really is your problem is your heart and I said are you all in for Christ have you fully surrendered everything to Jesus and that’s what’s important in all of our lives and that is God is going to work he his church is going to march forward he is going to continue to make a difference and call people to salvation the question is are we going to join God where he is working are we going to be a part of what it’s God is doing or are we going to find ourselves opposing the advancement of the love of Jesus Christ in our family,

in our community, in our church, and literally the world. The third thing I want you to learn this morning is that loving, difficult people is part of the plan of God. And to help us understand that in depth, I want to jump back to John chapter 6.

Just go back there if you will, don’t worry, there’s nowhere to go, there’s nothing to do today. You got plenty of time with Pastor Mike. And since we didn’t have Sunday school, I thought we could have a two -hour sermon.

John chapter 6, verse 70. Jesus says this in verse 70 of John chapter 6, Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you 12? And one of you is a devil. Early in the ministry of Christ, he knew, he knew of Judas’s diabolical schemes.

He knew that the devil was working in Judas’s life. We jump back to chapter 13 and we go to verse 10 and the Bible says, Jesus said unto him, He that is washed needeth not to save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and you are clean but not all.

For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, you’re not all clean. And now verse 26, Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Jesus.

Simon. It was the plan of God for Jesus to love his betrayer. It was the sovereign will of God that Jesus would love difficult people, not just people he got along with, not just people who cooperated with him, but even those who had devilish plans.

Jesus knows that Judas will betray him. The Bible says that even in the fact that he knew this, and I just gave it to you in the Scriptures, that the Bible says in verse 26 that he gave the bread to Judas.

Now that it was tradition that they would dip. the bread in a common bowl and they would pass it to a guest to show honor and to show friendship and gratefulness for their presence at their place. Jesus took the bread and he gave it to Judas showing honor showing that friendship showing care and most importantly showing forgiveness.

In that moment and I want you to imagine with me in your mind at the moment that Jesus took that bread and he dipped it into that little bowl and then he offered it to Judas. How momentous, how powerful and amazing that moment was and all the thoughts that were running through Judas’s mind.

Judas was seated near Jesus and it was an honor for him to sit at the table and he was showing, Jesus was showing Judas a gesture of love, grace and forgiveness knowing that he would betray him. Knowing that he would betray him.

He was part of the plan of God. It was part of the purpose of God and so I know that you only want to love people that like you and I know that you only want to love people that get along with you but God is calling you to love people outside of your circle and people that disagree with you.

He is calling you to love difficult people because because this is the badge of your discipleship. That within your family, and that within your workplace, that within your church family, there are difficult people that you are avoiding, and God is saying that I want you to show them forgiveness.

I want you to show them love. It is part of my plan of what I am doing in your heart. And what I am doing in the heart of Judas. God sovereignly knew, Jesus sovereignly knew that Judas would betray him, but Jesus to the final days, never gave up on showing grace and forgiveness to Judas.

And Judas made a choice, and he chose to reject that. and therefore he could stand before God without an excuse. Jesus sovereignly loved Judas to be an example for you and for me because God is working in your heart and my heart, and he is teaching you to love difficult people.

You know the Bible says love your enemies, right? But if you’re always avoiding your enemies, how can you love them? And so we must give thanks to God for enemies and say because God has placed enemies in my life, I can now fulfill the command, love your enemies.

The actions of Judas were no surprise to Jesus. Sovereignly, God is working, and you say, how is it, how is it that I can do this, Mike? I tell you how you can do it, is that you gotta somehow set your feelings aside and put your trust in the sovereign will of God.

Ephesians 1 .11 says, referring to God who works all things according to the counsel of his will. It was sovereign that Jesus would dip that bread and it was sovereign that he would offer it to Judas, and it’s sovereign why those difficult people are in your life.

It may be your own children, it may be your parents, it may be your neighbor, it may be people in the church, it may be that coworker that works right next to you, but God is sovereign, he is strategic, he has planted you right where you should be contrary to the appearance of this text that might somehow indicate that Jesus had succumbed to the truth.

that Judas had laid, I want you to know that the actions of Judas rejecting Christ was really an instrument of God’s plan. God is not ever taken by surprise, even by the wickedness of people. God is in control and evil is not outside of his knowledge and so we can take comfort this morning of this one great truth that we are reminded that no matter what confronts us, no matter how evil, difficult people may be and our circumstances may be,

God knows them and they do not surprise him. He is in control and if anybody deserved to be bitter, it was Joseph, right? Sold into slavery by his own brothers. Sold into slavery rises up finally to be the master of a house where he’s running and then he’s lied about.

He’s betrayed. Thrown back into prison, he tells his buddies, when you get out of here, don’t forget me. And when they get out of there, they forgot him. Finally, there was a recollection. Oh, yeah, this guy Joseph, he has dreams.

He can interpret them. He’s elevated. He’s brought before Pharaoh. He answers and interprets the dreams. And then he is made in charge of the entire empire of Egypt. And he is told that whatever he says is how it will be.

And so in the midst of all of this, his hungry brothers who sold him into slavery, they come back at his feet begging for help. Joseph recognizes who they are, but they do not recognize who he is. He is overwhelmed with emotions, anger, bitterness.

Wondering what he’ll do, he steps aside out of the room. He gathers himself and puts his emotions back together. He walks back into the room. And this is what he says to them, as he reveals to them that he is their brother whom they sold into slavery.

Joseph says in Genesis 50 verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good. In order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people a lot. Every hurt, every wound, every betrayal.

every difficult person, every trying circumstance, whatever others have meant evil towards you, God is ready to flip it and make it good for you so that you have a story to use to win people to Christ.

Remember this church, life is not by chance. We are not experiencing bad luck or even uncontrollable circumstances. But God allows trials into our life to happen according to His sovereign will. And loving, difficult people is part of His plan for your life and my life.

My final point, and I want to bring you hope before I let you go. And that is that love ultimately… triumphs. That as you love people, even though you may be hurt and wounded, the love that you show to people will ultimately triumph.

Look at verse 29 and 30. For some of them thought because Judas had the bag or he was a treasure that Jesus had said unto him by those things that we have need of against the feast or that he should give something to the poor.

He then having received the sop went immediately out and it was night. On that day Jesus is in the upper room. Judas is present. He offers him forgiveness and grace. And Jesus is about to institute the Lord’s Supper.

He is about to introduce the new covenant. And he says to Judas, what you’re going to do, do it quickly. Do it quickly. On that day Judas, with his own volitional will in the midst of the sovereign plan of God, chose to walk out and to walk away.

The state of Judas’ soul was one of darkness. The Bible reminds us in John 5 verse 40 that you will not come to me that you might have life. I know this is hard to hear but there are people. It doesn’t matter what evidence is presented to them.

It doesn’t matter your great presentation of apologetics to them. It doesn’t matter what emotional appeal is before them. It doesn’t matter how much love is lavished on them. They will not come. to Jesus, that they might have life.

On that day Judas went out from the best company on earth into the company of God -hating people. Jesus said in Luke 22, verse 22, for the Son of man as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.

Judas went out from the rule and service of the Son of God in that moment in the darkness of his soul and he walked out of that room and he walked into the slavery of Satan. He walked out of a place of light and hope and redemption and forgiveness and he walked into the night of darkness and despair.

He went out from the offer. of eternal blessedness into the place of eternal doom and acts 125 reminds us that judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place god used this terrible act of betrayal to bring about his plan of redemption for you and for me love always triumphs even though judas personally rejected this love and this forgiveness and grace love always triumphs judas planned this terrible deed but nonetheless became an instrument through which our savior would be arrested and beaten and crucified and it would bring forth blessing this betrayal was part of the further plan of redemption that would bring about the will of god and that you and i have been made holy and righteous in jesus christ by this betrayal and love always triumphs because god has a holy purpose he has a holy redemption in mind and he brought good out of evil and you and i can be comforted that love always triumphs over evil it is a mysterious work that i cannot always specifically and logistically explain to you but whatever the devil has meant for evil in your life god has meant for good and he has purposed it for good and so my thoughts to you are that as you go out into this world.

Guard your heart, church. Guard your heart. We who are disciples of Christ must know that the devil is always working and that loving people is not easy. But know that God Himself is sovereign and that every failure, every evil is being used by God to work out His will.

Rest your heart in this wonderful truth in your life. When Jesus came to the Lord’s Supper, He came to extend forgiveness to Judas. Judas would not receive it. Today if you’re here, and you don’t know Jesus, he is extending forgiveness to you.

And the question is, will you receive his forgiveness? But before you leave, I want you to contemplate this. Jesus not only came to extend forgiveness, but he came to extend forgiveness to any and all who wounded him.

And I’m asking you that as you leave this place, will you be willing to extend forgiveness to any and all who have wounded your heart? Well, I hope that all of us are growing in our love for God and our love for others.

Now, remember this, that it’s all reciprocal as I grow in my love for God, I grow my love for others and vice versa. But if I’m neglecting that, then there’s gonna be a little my love for God and you don’t want that.

And so continue to look to Christ as the true servant who is a great example for all of us on how we should live our lives for Christ. And we look at sometimes in life and we wonder how could that happen?

And it may be that people just aren’t enjoying God’s love and receiving God’s love and their tank is empty. And I don’t want your tank to be empty. I don’t want you to make bad choices and bad decisions because you’re not lavishing in the love of Jesus Christ and you’re not living that love out in a daily practical way in your relationships and your everyday tasks and responsibilities.

So make sure that you’re reconnecting every morning with the Lord and that you are staying close to Him. Hey, we want to encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. on that YouTube channel there are some wonderful things that you can use to help you to grow spiritually and to stay strong for Jesus Christ.

And make sure that you subscribe. I also want to let you know that I’ve recently written a book entitled Dynamic Devotions and these devotions are designed to help challenge you spiritually and to move you in a direction to be closer to the Lord.

So you can go to our website you can order that book and we’ll deliver that right to your house for a small donation of ten dollars. And I want you to know that none of the proceeds are coming to me personally.

It’s all going to hope worth having. It’s all about creating funds to broadcast the gospel far and wide. That’s our goal and we’re all in a hundred percent. The church takes good care of me. I don’t need any extra.

So take advantage of that and use the book as a tool to help you grow in your faith. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope. worth having.