John 13(31)–14(06)

Introduction

We spent our time last week on the first thirty verses of John 13 when the Lord Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. And we saw how washing their feet and taking his place afterwards is a picture of his mission to save us from our sins, because just as he got up from his place at the meal and wrapped a towel around himself, as a servant would do, to wash their feet, so the Eternal Son of God took to himself the form of a servant when he came down from heaven to serve us by giving up his life on the cross to cleanse us from our guilt. And then, just as he resumed his place at the meal after washing their feet, so the Lord Jesus has resumed his seat at his Father’s right hand side in heaven, where he rules over all things as Lord of all.

Because he loved his disciples, he was willing to serve them by washing their feet. And because he loves us, he was willing to serve us by giving up his life to cleanse us from our guilt. And so, washing their feet and taking his place afterwards is a picture of his mission to save us.

But then the Lord also explained to his disciples that he was doing something else when he washed their feet. He was giving them an example to follow. He said to them: ‘Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done.’ This doesn’t mean we should all take off our socks and shoes and present our feet to one another for washing. It means that we should follow his example of humbling ourselves and loving and serving one another. Instead of being proud and instead loving ourselves more than others, instead of thinking that it’s demeaning to serve other people, we should be prepared to serve one another in whatever ways are necessary. And there’s no task that is too lowly for us to do, because if the Eternal Son of God was prepared to stoop down and wash the feet of his disciples, then there’s no task that is beneath us and we should be willing to do whatever is necessary to serve others.

And the passage last week ended with satan entering Judas’s heart so that Judas went out to betray the Lord. But when the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ enters our hearts, we’re able to put to death our self-love and we’re able to forget ourselves and we’re able to love the Lord our God and we’re able to love the people around us the way that we should.

And so, we come today’s passage. Remember that this is the night when the Lord and his disciples ate the last supper together. And after the meal, the Lord taught his disciples various things. And soon they’re going to leave the upper room and head off to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord will be arrested and taken away to be tried and killed. In only a matter of hours, he will give up his life on the cross for the sins of his people and is will be clear that he is the true Lamb of God, who died so that all who believe in him will be spared from the wrath of God for ever.

And once Judas left them, the Lord began to teach his disciples who remained with him. And he spoke about being glorified. And he spoke to them about leaving them. And he spoke to them about the new command he has giving them. And then, in response to a question, he said more to them about leaving them.

13:31–35

And so, Judas, the betrayer, has left them. And the Lord announced to the others that ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.’ The Lord Jesus is the Son of Man and he will be glorified now because the betrayer has gone out and very soon the soldiers will arrest the Lord and take him to be tried and killed. And he will be glorified by his death on the cross and by his resurrection and ascension afterwards. He will be glorified in the cross, because in the cross he reveals the glory of his overflowing love for his people and his willingness to lay down his life for us and for our salvation. In the cross, we see the glory of his goodness and kindness and his compassion and his mercy towards his people. We also see the glory of his justice, because instead of disregarding our sins and shortcomings, which would be unjust, he has paid for them with his life and he has satisfied God’s justice for ever. And then, in his resurrection and ascension, he overcame death and he returned to heaven to be glorified in the presence of his angels and in the presence of his saints who have gone before us. And he is glorified as well in the preaching of the gospel throughout the world, because, through the preaching of the gospel, his wonderful acts to save his people are made known to all and his people here on earth rejoice and glory in them.

And so, now is time for the Son of Man to be glorified. And God is glorified in him. God is glorified in the work of Christ, because God the Father sent his Son down from heaven to do everything necessary to raise us up to heaven and to eternal life in God’s presence, where we will glorify the Father who sent his Son to save us. And in God’s presence we will glorify the Son who was sent to save us. And in God’s presence, we will glorify the Spirit who worked with the Father and the Son for our salvation. And so, in the Son’s mission to save us, God the Father is glorified and God the Son is glorified and God the Holy Spirit is glorified too. And we will worship our great and glorious God for ever and for ever.

And then the Lord announced to his disciples that he will be with them only a little while longer. In other words, soon he will be leaving them. And where is he going? He’s going — through the cross and through the grave and through the resurrection and through the ascension — to his Father’s side in heaven. And so, in a little while, he will resume his place in glory.

And the Lord said to his disciples that where he’s going, they cannot come. Now, he said the same thing back in chapter 7 to the unbelieving Jews. But he said it to the unbelieving Jews because they did not believe in him and the only way to eternal life in the presence of God is through faith in the Saviour. And so, he said it to the unbelieving Jews as a warning and to teach them that they need to repent and believe. But now he’s saying it to his disciples, not because they don’t believe, but because the time for them to join him in heaven has not come yet. It’s time for him to return to the Father, but now is not the time for them.

And so, what he means when he says they cannot come where he’s going is that they cannot come immediately. They will have to wait a while before they can join him in heaven.

And while they wait to join him there, what should they do? How should they live? What is the Lord’s will for them while they wait to join him? He tells them in verse 34 where he says that he has a new command for them to obey. And the new command for them to obey is to love one another. In fact, it’s more than that, isn’t it? He commands his disciples to love one another as he has loved them. And how he has loved them? Well, because of his abounding love for them, he was willing to humble himself and serve them by washing their feet. And because of his abounding love for them, he will also give up his life for them on the cross.

And so, that’s the standard for his disciples to aim at. That’s the example they’re to follow. That’s the model they’re to copy. They’re to love one another as he has loved them, which means they’re to love one another humbly and sacrificially. They’re to forget about themselves and their own rights and their own status and their own desires and they’re to love and serve one another with a humble, servant-like, sacrificial heart.

How is this a new command? After all, God commanded his people in the Old Testament to love one another. So, how is this a new command? It’s a new command because of the new standard he gives. In the Old Testament, the command is to love your neighbour as yourself. So, whatever you wish for yourself, that’s what you’re to wish and do for your neighbour. And that itself is a standard that we cannot easily reach because of our self-love. But the Lord gives us an even higher standard, because he says that we’re not just to love our neighbour as ourselves, but we’re to love our neighbour as Christ has loved us.

And when we do this, when we love one another with a humble, servant-like, sacrificial love, then all men and women will know that we are his disciples. They will know that we are his disciples, if we love another as he has loved us. And so, the way we love one another and the way we treat one another and the things we do for each other should be a kind of badge that marks us out as Christ’s people.

The standard the Lord has set for us is high, but we must aim for it and we must pursue it, because this is the command he has given to his disciples and to us. And because it’s so high, we need the Spirit of the Lord Jesus to help us to reach it. We need the Holy Spirit to help us to put to death our natural self-love and to love our neighbour with a Christ-like love.

13:36–38

And so, the Lord gives us a new command to keep. However, the Lord’s disciples are distracted. All they can think about is what he said to them about going away. And Simon Peter speaks up in verse 36 to ask him where he’s going. And the Lord repeats what he has already said that where he is going, they cannot follow. But this time he adds the word ‘now’. Where I am going, you cannot follow now. But you will follow me later.

But Peter objects. He wants to know why he can’t follow the Lord now. And he expresses his devotion to the Lord by saying that he’s prepared to die for the Lord. So, he won’t let anything stop him from following the Lord, not even the fear of death.

And that’s when the Lord predicted Peter’s threefold denial. Peter thinks he’s willing to lay down his life for the Lord Jesus. But no, the truth is that, when he’s put on the spot, Peter will deny knowing the Lord. And yet, the good news is that the Saviour will not deny his people in the life to come. When our life in this world is over, and we pass into the life to come, Christ will not deny his people who have trusted in him in this life, even though we let him down so often and we disobey him and we fall short of doing his will. Despite our many sins and shortcomings, he will not deny knowing those who believed in him in this life. And instead of denying us, he’ll wipe the tears from our eyes and he’ll give us white robes to wear and he’ll bring us into the presence of God, where we’ll be perfectly holy and perfectly happy for ever and for ever.

14:1–6

And the Lord speaks about the life to come in verses 1 to 6 of chapter 14. And these verses are magnificent and they’re some of the most well-known verses in the Bible, because ministers often read them at funerals.

And it’s clear from verse 1 that the Lord knows that the hearts of his disciples are troubled because of what he’s been saying to them about leaving them in a little while. And so, he wants to reassure his troubled disciples. And he begins by telling them to trust in God and to trust in him as well. Lots of people say they believe in God. That is to say, they believe that God exists. But that’s not what the Lord is referring to here. He’s not telling his disciples to believe that God exists. He’s telling them to trust God. And since the Lord Jesus is God, then they should trust in him as well. Trust in the one God, who is the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and of earth and of all things visible and invisible. Trust in him and trust in his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Trust in God and in his Son. And we can trust in them because of the greatness of their love for us; and because of their willingness to take care of their people; and because of their commitment to work all things together for our good; and because of their willingness to bring us into their presence in the life to come.

So, the Lord tells them to trust in God and also in him. And they should trust what he’s about to tell them, which is that in his Father’s house there are many rooms. So, he’s talking about heaven. He’s talking about eternal life in the presence of God. Or think of the end of Psalm 23 where it says that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. And in the house of the Lord, in the Father’s house in heaven, there are many rooms. That is to say, there is room for everyone who believes. I often think of this verse when I’m visiting someone in a nursing home and I’m walking down the corridor and there’s one room after another. But even the biggest nursing home doesn’t have room for everyone. However, there’s room for all who believe in God’s heavenly house. No-one who believes in the Saviour will be shut out of eternal life in the presence of God.

And the Lord goes on to reveal that the reason he’s leaving his disciples is to get everything ready for his people. So, he’s going to prepare a place for them. Just as you might get a room ready for a guest who is coming to stay at your home, so the Lord Jesus has gone to get the rooms ready for all of his people.

And when I read these words, I’m reminded of the three Ps. Do you remember the three Ps? The three Ps are people, place and presence. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden held out to Adam God’s promise that one day all of God’s people will live in the place he has prepared for us, where we’ll enjoy his presence for ever. And the Promised Land of Canaan was a foretaste of that, because God brought his people into the place he had prepared for them, where they enjoyed his presence in their midst for a time. But because of their sin, God removed them from that place and they were sent away from the presence of God. But now we look forward in hope to the time when all of Christ’s believing people will be brought into the place that Christ has prepared for us in the life to come, where we’ll enjoy the presence of God. And we’ll never have to leave God’s presence. And it will be wonderful.

And the Lord goes on in verse 3 to assure his disciples that if he goes away to prepare a place for them, he will come back one day and take them and all his believing people to be with him so that we might be where he is. Since he’s talking about coming back, then that tells us that he’s thinking about his second coming. He talking about the day when he comes again in glory and with power to raise the dead from their graves and to bring his people in body and soul into the presence of God to be with him for ever and for ever. So, right now the Lord is getting everything ready. He’s preparing a place for all his people. And when he’s got everything ready, he’ll come back for his people and take us to be with him.

And ‘you know the way to the place where I’m going.’ But Thomas is confused. And perhaps the others are confused as well. And so, perhaps Thomas is speaking for all of them when he says in verse 5 that they don’t know where he’s going. And if they don’t know where he’s going, how can they know the way?

So, he’s been speaking about leaving them. He’s been speaking about his Father’s house. He’s been speaking about preparing a place for them. But it seems the disciples haven’t understood what he’s been telling them. They’re confused. And so, the Lord answers Thomas by saying to him that he — the Lord Jesus Christ — is the way and the truth and the life. And he means that he is the way to eternal life in the presence of God. And it’s not that he tells us the way. He himself is the way. As he says in the rest of verse 6: No-one comes to the Father except through him.

So, think of it this way. If you want to get to see King Charles, there’s probably some member of staff you have to speak to first in order to be given access to the king. Or, we’ve been watching The West Wing again and if any of the characters in the show want to see the President, they have to speak to his secretary first. If you don’t go to the secretary, you don’t get access to the President. And if we don’t go through Jesus Christ, then we don’t get access to God. In order to get access to God, in order to gain admittance to the Father’s house, in order to attain eternal life in the presence of God, we must go through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that means we must believe in the Lord Jesus, who is the only Saviour of the world. We must trust in him for forgiveness and for peace with God and for the hope of everlasting life.

So, he is the way to the Father and to the Father’s house in the life to come. And since he’s the way to the Father and since his disciples knew him, then they knew the way to the Father. And that’s why the Lord said to them in verse 4 that they knew the way. Though Thomas and the others may not have realised it at the time, the fact is that they all knew the way to the Father, because they all knew the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in knowing him, they knew the truth about God. They knew the truth about God because the Lord Jesus is God. He is God the Son: God from God and Light from Light and true God from true God. And so, in knowing him, they know the truth about God. And in knowing him, they know the life, because he is God and God has all life in and from himself and he gives life to his people.

And so, the Lord Jesus was right when he said in verse 4 that they know the way to the Father’s house. They knew the way because they knew the Lord Jesus. And in knowing the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, they knew the way to God and they knew the truth about God and they knew the life which comes from God.

Conclusion

And because of Jesus Christ, who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and who shed his blood to cleanse us of our guilt, all who believe can look forward in hope to the resurrection of our bodies from the grave and to eternal life in the presence of God — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — where we will worship God without weariness and where we will see him and his glory. And in seeing him and his glory, we’ll be satisfied, because this is what we were made for. We were made for life in the presence of God. We were made to know God and to know God’s abounding love for us. And in our Father’s house, we’ll rejoice in his love for us for ever and for ever. And so, it will be that God’s people will finally be in the place God has prepared for them and they will enjoy God’s presence for ever and for ever.