The Twelve Apostles #4 - Jesus Loved Them To The End
These were my introductory comments when I originally wrote out this message: I preach once a week at the Gospel Mission. This past week, I was having a hard time deciding what to preach on. There were two themes that were competing with each other in my mind, and I could not decide which one I would actually preach on Friday (thinking that I needed to choose between the two). The choice was either between continuing my series on The Apostles, or preaching a message on The Love Of God. As the week progressed the second theme took on more of a preeminence, but I was still desiring to build upon the prior messages on the apostles. Friday morning came, and the decision was now at hand. I found some excellent material that supplemented the love of God - but as I was meditating on it and sharing it with my sister, and expressing my dilemma, I was reminded of John 13 again, which I had touched down upon somewhat in my message on Bold And Rash Peter, however I took that chapter in an entirely different direction last time. Now this passage perfectly tied the two themes together!
John 13:1-5 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
In this chapter, we see our Lord Jesus Christ loving His own apostles, those twelve He had chosen to be with Him, to preach and minister with Him. HE LOVED THEM UNTO THE END, UNTO THE UTTERMOST! Years ago, when preparing this message originally, I realized that Judas was also present at that time. Knowing what was to happen to Him within a few short hours, knowing who was with Him that dark night, He still chose to love them all to the very end. All twelve of them. Oh, The Love Of God!
1. Jesus' Love For The Twelve Apostles.
One thing I like to do when reading about various Bible characters and the situations they faced in their lives is to put myself in their places, to gauge my own life and see if I am like some of them, to think about what I would do when faced with the same circumstances, when confronted with the same truths, when dealing with the same choices. Consider the twelve apostles, and think about which one you are most like - consider their character and conduct, then consider how the love of God could change each one of them:
At least four of Jesus’ Apostles were fishermen, and one was a Publican. I have always found it interesting that Jesus chose at least three sets of brothers to work with Him throughout those three or three and 1/2 years of ministry: Peter and Andrew; James and John; James and Jude (the other Judas), the sons of Alphaeus. Matthew is also stated to be a son of Alphaeus - so unless it was a common name in the first century, he was possibly related to James and Jude. Thomas’ name and nickname Didymus both mean twin. He could have been a brother to one of the other Apostles too.
In a lot of ways, they would have been like a family. Jesus worked closely with them and travelled with them for those years. He knew exactly what each was like, what made them tick, what their weaknesses and strengths were. He knew everything about them, yet He loved ALL of them unto the end.
1. Peter - the boldest of the twelve. Often their spokesperson. He was usually the first one to declare his faith, the first to step out in faith, and usually the first person to put his foot into his mouth. He was the only one to walk on the water with Jesus.
Peter would fail miserably, and deny his Lord three times that very night.
John 13:36-38 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
Perhaps you have never denied the Lord Jesus Christ by your words, but how about by your actions? (See 1 Timothy 5:8 and Titus 1:16) Jesus loved Peter still...
2. Judas Iscariot - who would also betray Jesus that same night. He was often petty, griping about the expensive ointment used to anoint Jesus, judgemental of others, untrustworthy - he was the treasurer and had stolen money from the money bag the group had.
2. Judas Iscariot - who would also betray Jesus that same night. He was often petty, griping about the expensive ointment used to anoint Jesus, judgemental of others, untrustworthy - he was the treasurer and had stolen money from the money bag the group had.
John 13:10-11 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
Judas had never trusted Jesus to forgive and cleanse him from his sins.
John 13:18-21 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
It is interesting to note that the Psalm John was quoting from here (Psalm 41:9) said it was a friend who would turn against Him.
Perhaps you have never betrayed Christ to His enemies, but have you ever received Him as your Saviour? If not, you are siding with the same crowd, you are walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful. (See Psalm 1:1) Yet the love of God was still reaching out to Judas that night...
3. Thomas - Many call him Doubting Thomas. He questioned the things of God; he was weak in faith at times, sometimes desiring proof rather than just accepting something by faith.
He was bold enough to declare his desire to die with Jesus when He went to raise Lazarus from the dead. (See John 11:16) Yet, like all the others, he would be scattered and flee in fear for his life that very night.
Zechariah 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
Have you ever had doubts, have you ever asked for proof before you accepted something as truth that you read in the Bible?
Jesus knew this and loved Thomas still...
4 and 5. James and John, the Sons of Thunder - named for their fiery emotional outbursts, at times it was strongly directed towards their enemies.
Often with Peter, these three were Jesus’ closest friends, the ones that were with Jesus when He was glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration, by His side when He raised Jairus' daughter, and sleeping nearby when Jesus was praying with a heavy spirit in the Garden of Gethsemane. John was the disciple that kept the closest to Jesus, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and who leaned on His breast at the Last Supper. Sometimes these two were so caught up in all that Jesus was saying and doing, and other times their emotions were on overload and they were ready to call down fire on their enemies, even wanting to destroy those who wouldn't receive their Master.
Luke 9:51-56 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
So lacking in compassion for the lost, yet even then Jesus loved them...
6. Simon the Zealot - who had the wrong zeal in life, who was once supporting armed rebellion against the Roman government. The love of God included him...
7. Matthew the tax collector/Publican - working for his enemies, oppressing his own people by basically stealing from them to make a living. The love of Christ reached out to him as well...
8 and 9. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother - faithful, industrious soulwinner even during Jesus’ years of public ministry. He was the first of the twelve Apostles to come to Jesus and the one who brought Simon Peter, his brother, to Jesus; with Phillip, another soulwinner, he brought the Greeks to Jesus in John 12; and he even convinced the young boy to give his lunch of loaves and fishes to Jesus on the day that Jesus fed the 5000. Jesus died on the cross for Andrew and Philip too.
10. Nathaniel, the man in whom was no guile, no deceit, who prayed and worshipped the Lord God under the fig tree. He came to Jesus through the witness of his friend Philip.
11 and 12. James and Jude (ie. the other Judas), the last two; two more brothers whom we don’t know very much about, other than the fact they would be used by the Holy Spirit to later pen two of the New Testament epistles. (See James 1:1 and Jude 1:1)
The love of God reached all the twelve that night.
The twelve apostles... Christ loved them ALL unto the end... No matter what you are like and what you have done, Jesus loves you too, and sometime during that long dark Passover, He was going to prove His love to all of us...
2. Jesus' Love For Lost Sinners.
Knowing the best and the worst about His twelve apostles, He still chose to love them all. Knowing the best and the worst about fallen mankind (that includes every one of us!), He still chose to love us, and to do something about our sinful condition:
Romans 5:6-8 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
When none of us had the strength or power to obey Him, when none of us were righteous in His sight, when we were all wretched, ungodly sinners, living in rebellion to God, our Creator, He still proved His love toward us by sending His Son to shed His blood and die upon the cross for our sins!
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 4:8-10 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Ah, the love of God - the love that chose to die for worthless sinners. You see, He didn't die because we were worth something - we were worthless, useless, our righteousnesses were as filthy rags in His sight. He didn't die for us because of something in us - but because of who He is; He died for us because He is love - and that love is what gives us value.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
He first loved us!
3. The Greatness And Vastness Of God's Love.
Ephesians 3:14-21 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
The following is taken from chapter 15 (Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians...) of The Epistle Of Paul The Apostle To The Ephesians by Oliver B. Greene:
It is humanly impossible for the finite mind to comprehend the love of God.
Its breadth - "God so loved the world." Can you conceive of such love? Do you dare ask yourself what it would mean to love the whole wide world? How many folks do you love? Think it over. The breadth of God's love covers the whole wide world.
Its length - "God... gave His only begotten Son." God's love reached from the portals of glory to a stable in Bethlehem. God's love placed His only Son in the womb of the virgin Mary. He was born . . . He lived . . . God gave Him. God surrendered His Son into the hands of wicked sinners, and they nailed Him to a Cross. That, in some small way, points out the length of the love of God. Do you have a son? Do you have an only child? Would you surrender your child to die for wicked men?
Its depth - "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish." Oh, I know we say we love everybody . . . but do we? Do we really love everybody? It is easy to love the lovely. It is easy to love those who are always doing kind things for you and saying kind things about you - but God so loved that He gave His only Son, that whosoever . . . the lovely, the unlovely . . . might not perish. Christ died for the ungodly. God surrendered up Jesus when we were yet sinners.
Its height - "Everlasting life." The love of God reaches to the depth of sin and places that sinner in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. From the lowest depths to the highest height . . . only the love of God could work such a miracle!
4. Jesus' Love Changed The Apostles.
Thinking about the love of God brings to mind this hymn by Charles Wesley:
And Can It Be That I Should Gain
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Chorus:
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Chorus:
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
The love of God can save a soul and transform it into a vessel the Lord can use - the love of God can change a sinner into a saint; change a faltering apostle into a mighty servant of God; change a lost, condemned child of wrath into a born-again child of God!
Jesus loved those twelve apostles unto the end - just as He loves each and every one of us! His love changed those apostles and can change each one of us today - if we will respond to that love.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
Jesus loved those twelve apostles unto the end - just as He loves each and every one of us! His love changed those apostles and can change each one of us today - if we will respond to that love.
1. The love of God changed an erring Peter into a faithful man of God. Weeks later, he would be the one boldly preaching to the nation of Israel on the feast of Pentecost, when thousands were saved.
2. Christ's love changed Simon the Zealot into a believer zealous for serving the Lord, and gave him a new reason for living. Now he was no longer fighting against worldly kingdoms, but living for the kingdom of God.
3. It gave a new Master to Matthew. He would go on to write the Gospel that bears his name, teaching that Jesus is the King of the Jews - yea, the King of Kings - the long-awaited Messiah that would fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies about Himself.
4. It gave faith to a doubting Thomas. He would go on to serve the Lord in a foreign land far from home. According to tradition, he became a missionary to far off India.
5. It changed a Son of Thunder into an apostle of love. It is interesting to note that the Apostle John is the only Apostle to die of old age. His brother James was the first of the twelve to be martyred for his faith in Acts 12, but over the years all the others would follow, except John. He would be exiled as an old man on the Island of Patmos, where he would pen the last book of the New Testament - the book that so many of us are eagerly awaiting fulfillment of in our day.
6. It even offered forgiveness to Judas, if he would have only received it. We know that he didn't. He rejected that love because he rejected that Saviour, he rejected that free gift of salvation and the forgiveness that Jesus was extending to him. It is too late now for Judas to receive that love!
But that same love that Christ showed to His apostles that night, that same love He showed to the whole world the next day by dying upon the cross of Calvary (almost 2000 years ago), that same love is still available today because the Lord changes not - Jesus Christ is still the same! (See Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8)
2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
The love of God is still available!
The love of God is still extended to all who will receive it through repentance and faith.
The love of God still saves from the guttermost to the uttermost!
What is your response to the love of God?
Originally preached on July 28th, 2006
Written July 31st, 2006 (Edited and preached again on December 29th, 2024)
Jerry Bouey
The love of God is still extended to all who will receive it through repentance and faith.
The love of God still saves from the guttermost to the uttermost!
What is your response to the love of God?
Originally preached on July 28th, 2006
Written July 31st, 2006 (Edited and preached again on December 29th, 2024)
Jerry Bouey
To hear this message preached, please click the link below:
Jesus Loved Them To The End
For more studies in this series on The Apostles:
The Apostles #1 - Simon the Zealot
The Apostles #2 - Bold And Rash Peter
The Apostles #3 - Thomas The Doubter
For more studies in this series on The Apostles:
The Apostles #1 - Simon the Zealot
The Apostles #2 - Bold And Rash Peter
The Apostles #3 - Thomas The Doubter
