The sermon 'Glory and Love' by Jason Dohm from an unknown church dives into John 13:21-35, focusing on the themes of mutual glory between the Father and the Son and the new commandment to love one another. Dohm discusses the perplexity of the disciples during the Last Supper when Jesus predicts his betrayal. He emphasizes the affectionate tone Jesus adopts when speaking to his disciples, referring to them as 'little children' for the first time, marking a tender moment in the discourse. The sermon explores the mutual glorification of the Son and the Father, illustrated with references to Philippians 2 and Revelation 5, and highlights the exaltation and vindication of God’s justice through the cross. Dohm explains that the new commandment to love one another as Jesus loved his disciples is distinctive due to its target (fellow believers) and its standard (Christ’s sacrificial love). The sermon underscores the importance of Christian love as a testament to the transformative power of the Gospel, urging believers to strive for this maturity through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The speaker also highlights the role of Christian love in missions, demonstrating that new covenant words must be backed by new covenant living.

John chapter 13 verses 21 through 35. Before I read I must confess that I got my mom and dad here by method of trickery this morning. I think I'm going to preach. But let us read this now. When Jesus had said these things, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Most assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray me.

Then the disciples looked at one another perplexed about whom he spoke. And there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom he spoke. Then leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is he to whom I shall Give a piece of bread when I have dipped it and having dipped the bread he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon Now after the piece of bread Satan entered him then Jesus said to him what you do do quickly But no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to him.

For some thought because Judas had the money box that Jesus had said to him, buy those things we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately, and it was not. So when he had gone out, Jesus said, "'Now the Son of Man is glorified, "'and God is glorified in him. "'And if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.

You will seek me. And as I said to the Jews when I am going where I'm going you cannot come so now I say to you a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I've loved you that you also love one another by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Let's pray. Lord, It is such a simple commandment, dear Lord, and it's such a difficult one. Dear God, we confess as individuals and as a group.

We have not loved as we should. But dear lord, we thank you. We thank you for your love toward us. While we were yet sinners, you died for us. Out of faith, hope and love, the greatest is love.

Teach us to love, Lord. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is, Glory and Love. It's pretty easy to title this sermon. You have these two towering subjects in these few verses.

The glory of the Father and the Son, and the new commandment to love one another. They are such towering subjects that on Monday morning Jim was pleading for a subdivision. That we just take the first and then give another week to the second. Jim and I are actually conspiring to make the Gospel of John last until Jesus comes back. But there are forces opposing us.

You can thank them for that. So we're going to try to make progress. There are other books of the Bible and we hope to get to them before Jesus gets back. In our text, Judas is now gone. The betrayer has been identified and he has left to betray Jesus.

So Jesus is now with his 11 true disciples. The fraud is no longer here at the Last Supper. And Jesus' instruction through chapter 17 will only include His 311 true disciples. And he now embarks on an unusually affectionate time of instruction. These next chapters are going to drip with Jesus' affection for his disciples.

It is full of truth, but it is truth given in such a tender hearted tone. You are going to love it. For instance, in our text, Jesus addresses the eleven as little children. You will never find Jesus using this term anywhere else in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. This is the one time that he uses it.

It really sets the stage for the affectionate tone that we're going to encounter week after week as we work through chapter 17 in this one discourse. 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are a single time of instruction, a single discourse. And it turns very affectionate here. As we come to our text, let's ask the Lord to help us. Lord Jesus, you are worthy of all glory, all honor, ought to be yours.

In all things you ought to have the preeminence, the place of honor. Lord Jesus, You are the incarnation of love, love in the flesh, the perfect embodiment of what it means to love. There's no better way for your disciples to learn about loving one another than just to gaze upon you. I pray that you would help us to do that today. To gaze upon you as a way of learning to love one another as we should.

Help us. Send your Spirit to help us. In Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like to begin by looking at verses 31 and 32. So hopefully your Bible is still open to John chapter 13.

Follow along as I reread verses 31 and 32. So when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him immediately. In these two verses, we have the mutual shared glory of the Father and the Son. God the Father and God the Son.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's mutual and shared. The mutual shared glory of the Father and the Son. I say mutual because it is bi-directional. Glory in both directions. Father and Son are active in glorifying one another.

God the Father is acting with an eye towards the glorification of His Son. And God the Son is active in acting in a way that glorifies his father, bi-directional, mutual glorification. And I say shared because the father is glorified when the Son receives glory, and the Son is glorified when the Father receives glory. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Of course this is Deuteronomy 6 verse 4. There is one God.

When you glorify the Son, you glorify the Father. When you glorify the Father, you glorify the Son. So the Father and Son are active in glorifying one another. Their glory is mutual and it is shared because to glorify one is to glorify the other. Now, I could prove that Jesus is going to say the same thing in chapter 14, in chapter 15, and in chapter 17.

That would be a waste of time because we're getting there. I'm going to preach those sermons when we come to them. Instead, I'm going to give you two New Testament passages that I think throw light on what Jesus is teaching here. The first is in Philippians 2, so turn to Philippians 2. We can't get out of Philippians 2.

I'm coming here almost every week, but it has a bearing on our texts in John chapter 12 and now John chapter 13. So we'll keep coming back as long as it has something important to say about our text. Philippians chapter 2, I hope you're there and follow along as I read verses 5 through 11. I think in many ways Paul, in writing to the Philippians, is sort of preaching a sermon on this text in John 13. All aspects of it.

Philippians 2, 5-11. Paul writes, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." The whole text hinges on the therefore in verse 9.

Before verse 9 you get the description of a God who doesn't cling to the honor due him as God, but he lays it aside in order to take on flesh and to be a humble servant. Nine says, therefore, as a result of that, as a result of a God who would leave aside the glory that is due him in order to humble himself to bleed and die to purchase sinners, as a consequence of that he is glorified. That sort of takes the Trinitarian aspects that there is a God in heaven and a God sent from heaven and that they are one God. All of that is true. So the flow of what Paul is writing is this.

Because of that, because Jesus willingly laid aside the honor that was due him to allow himself to be humiliated in the death of the cross to bleed and die as a criminal. Not because he was a criminal, but because the just was willing to die for the unjust. The innocent was willing to die for the guilty. Because of that God exalted him and gave him an incomparable name, a name that stands above any and every other name. But it then ends with this phrase, The argument, the flow of thought ends here.

To the glory of God the Father. So the end point of Jesus' atoning work, the cross, is the glory of God the Father. Even the exaltation of the Son for His precious work, even the exaltation of the Son is to the glory of God the Father. This is exactly what Jesus is saying in our text. So Jesus is glorified as Savior and Redeemer and the Father is glorified as the one who is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." That's exactly what Paul says in Romans 3.26.

In Romans 3.26, Romans 3.26 Paul says, God is both. Both what? Both just. God's justice and righteousness, God the Father's justice and righteousness is vindicated at the cross. God is declared to be right about sin at the cross.

The wages of sin is death. The cross is preaching that sermon. The wages of sin is death. The justice and righteousness of God is vindicated in the act of the cross. And yet, it doesn't stop there.

He's not just just. He's not just a righteous judge, But he at the one in the same time in one fell swoop in one grand action he is also the justifier of the one that would have faith in Jesus. It's the great exchange. Jesus will trade places with you. So that the justice of God isn't overlooked.

It's vindicated. The justice of God is actually exalted at the cross. And at one and the same time, sinners are made clean, justified. God is the same, is both at the same time. Just and the Justifier.

And so he receives glory as being both. So the sender is glorified and the one sent is glorified in the same act. And as a placeholder for where we are going, which is the new commandment that we love one another, right here in Philippians 2, Paul is arguing you have the same mind. It becomes this great act of Jesus laying aside glory to come and suffer and die to redeem sinners becomes the basis of the Christian mindset. It becomes the basis of Christian love is what we are going to learn in our text.

So this is just a placeholder for that. So that's Philippians 2. Now turn to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. In Revelation chapter 5, a window opens up so that we can see a vision of heaven, and Jesus Christ being glorified in heaven.

Revelation chapter 5. I'd love to read the whole thing for the sake of time. I'm going to read 1-10. Revelation chapter 5, starting in verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, Now remember, this is John the Gospel writer, is John the Revelation receiver. He's the same one.

And I, John the Gospel writer and John the Revelation receiver, saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loosen its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. One of the elders said to me, Do not weep, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

And I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now when he had taken the scroll, The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God. And we shall reign on the earth." Now notice here, God is being worshiped, God the Father is being worshiped, and God the Son, the Lamb, is being worshiped right alongside Him and in the same way and with many of the same words.

So for anyone who would wonder or dispute whether Jesus Christ is God, the window into heaven settles that matter forever. Now the key to not making a mess of revelation is to understand that it's not telling you what things look like, it's telling you what things are like. The key to not making a mess of revelation of which many have made a mess of, is to understand that when you are given this glimpse into heaven, the purpose isn't to teach you what things look like in heaven, it is to teach you what things are like in heaven. They're pictures that indicate the reality and truth of things. So don't be surprised if you get to heaven and don't see a lamb as if it were slain.

I don't know whether we're going to actually see that or not see that, but the point, what it's teaching, is that Jesus as Redeemer is the one receiving the worship here. That's why He appears in Revelation chapter 5. Not necessarily that he will look like that, but because that's who Jesus is. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So Revelation 5 is totally consistent with our text, which attaches the cross with the glorification right Jesus is saying now is the son of man glorified now in in the in the 24 hours of my going to the cross, now the sun is glorified.

In the cross, In the redemptive work, the Son of Man is lifted up and exalted and receives glory. This is exactly what we are seeing in Revelation chapter 5. A lamb as though it had been slain, receiving the praises of thousands and thousands. You are worthy, you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You've made us kings and priests.

We were your enemies. But your blood has made us clean, and now we are kings and priests. You redeemed us." This is exactly what is in our text in John. The day of The cross has come and I am glorified in it." For eternity he would be glorified in it. For eternity Jesus would be glorified as Redeemer and Savior.

The redeemed, the saved will make sure of it. They will say, we were your enemies but now we're kings and priests because your blood has made us clean. Your blood has brought us here to heaven. Now let me assure you, The Father is not threatened by Revelation chapter 5. Does that even need to be said?

Of course it doesn't need to be said. And yet, We must understand that the Father orchestrated this. The Father sent His Son. It was an assignment of glory. It was an assignment of glorification.

He gave him the position of honor. The position of Redeemer and Savior is the position of honor. It was so that his son would be exalted in the cleansing of sinners. The bringing to heaven of a multitude. The Father orchestrated that.

Any father or mother can tell you what it's like to have a son or daughter receive richly deserved praise. Fathers and mothers in the room, from time to time, either a son or a daughter receives richly deserved praise. Now, are you jealous of that? You say, well, why doesn't anyone praise me? No father or mother in his right mind ever thinks that when a son or daughter is receiving richly deserved praise.

It is the joy of your heart. Richly, truly deserved praise. When they get it, it is a joy to your heart. And that same father or mother can also confirm the intense awareness of how that impacts how others view him or her. You understand what I'm saying?

When I'm that father and my son or daughter is receiving richly deserved praise, I am very aware that that reflects upon me. Or the opposite also being true. When they are messing up publicly, You are acutely aware that that reflects on you too, right? And this is how it works in the work of Jesus on the cross. The Father is pleased.

In fact, the Father gave him an assignment of glory, a mission of glory, a mission that he knew would glorify his Son. And it is the joy of his heart to see him exalted to be Savior and Redeemer and to know that a multitude purchased by His blood would sing the song of Revelation 5. You bought us, you purchased us out of every tribe and nation, tongue, people. And the Father knows how that reflects on Him. When you're the parent and your child is receiving richly deserved praise, you know that in the mind of the people who are rendering the praise is something like this.

I don't know what's going on in that home, but I wish more of it was going on in my home. To produce this fruit. The Father knows that the redemption of the Son reflects upon Him, redounds to Him. The Son came to earth to do things to actively shed glory on the sender, His Father. And the Father is doing things, in the sending of the Son, is doing things actively to glorify Him.

Now one last thought here. Here's what Matthew Henry says, which I think is so helpful. Matthew Henry says, Christ had been glorified in many miracles he had wrought. And yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humble state. So back to our text, back to what Jesus says.

Now the Son of Man is glorified. Well, what about when you fed the 5, 000? Well, what about when you walked on water? Well, what about when the man who was born blind, you gave him sight? Well, what about when you called Lazarus out of the grave?

That was nothing, apparently. Apparently, That was nothing. The place of honor that Jesus covets is the place of Savior. The place of Redeemer. As if all the other glorious things that he has been doing are nothing to him, he wants to be known as Savior.

Just think about what this reveals about God. Here we are thinking that God is just waiting for us to make one more mistake. And yet when His heart is revealed, all these glorious things, He sets aside to be known as Savior. Oh, how sweet. How sweet.

We have to change how we think about God and His kind intentions towards us. So, it is mutual glory. The Son is doing things to ensure that the Father is exalted, and the Father is doing things to ensure that the Son is exalted. And It is shared glory. You cannot glorify the Son without it bouncing up to the Father.

You cannot glorify the Father without it reflecting upon the Son. The Lord our God is one. And this ought to encourage the disciples. Again, think about the setting. Judas has just been identified and he's gone out to betray Jesus.

If they don't understand it, at least Jesus does. So yes, there is a traitor. Yes, Jesus is going to die on the cross, but the end point is glory. None of this looked glorious at the time. The cross looked glorious.

It looks like an astounding defeat, and yet it is the greatest victory for the people of God. Jesus is telling them, the things that are happening might look like defeat now, but Just wait. The Father will be glorified. The Son will be glorified. The triune God is exalting Himself through the things that look so despised now.

May look demeaning and humiliating now. And humiliating now. But God never receives more glory than when he humbled himself to cleanse sinners. 35-39. So hopefully you're back in John 13 Follow along Excuse me as I read 33 through 35 John 13 33 Jesus says little children I shall be with you a little while longer.

You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, where I am going you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another. And as I have loved you, that you also love one another By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another These verses we have Jesus's command to his little children and the implications of that command. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's implications. Jesus' command to his little children and the implications of that command.

Verse 33, I will say two quick things and then I'll defer the rest and next week when we finish the chapter next week Peter will ask Jesus Lord. Where are you going and Jesus's answer is really tied in with 33. So I'm just going to push that forward into next week and just say two quick things here. First, look at this address, little children. It is a term of tenderness.

It is a term of endearment that Jesus uses towards, He is communicating affection to His disciples. To the 11, the true 11, His true disciples. The true eleven, who are his true disciples. In chapter 13 verse 13, same chapter, verse 13, Jesus had said, you call me teacher and Lord and you say well for so I am." So yes, Jesus is the teacher of these men. They look to Him for truth about God.

Yes, Jesus is the Lord of these men. He owns them. They are His property. Yes, but this is anything but a transactional relationship of authority and submission. There is affection.

There is affection. They are his little children in a sense. He has the affection of a father towards these men. So first in verse 33 we notice Jesus using a term of endearment, expressing a tender-hearted affection towards these men. By the way, John will use this term, little children, seven times in 1 John.

If you graduate from the Gospel of John to the letters of John, in 1 John, his first letter, seven times he addresses the readers of the letter as his little children. He learned affection for spiritual children from the Lord Jesus. So he picks up that term in 1 John. Here's an example of this, maybe the best one is the last one, the last verse of 1 John 5.21. Little children, keep yourself from idols.

Amen. John was undoubtedly an authority to this man, But like Jesus towards his disciples, he wasn't just an authority to these people. He loved them and he knows how idols work their way into the hearts of disciples. So he says, little children, keep yourself from idols. Why?

Because of tender hearted affection towards them. This is what Jesus is expressing. Second, Jesus is indicating yet again that his time is very short. He is preparing the disciples to be without him. Yes, he is going to send his indwelling spirit, but he will not be physically present and he is getting them ready.

It says, I shall be with you a little while longer. In chapter 12 verse 23, our last chapter, he said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And we're going to be hitting it on almost every text between here and the end of 17, where he's going to be saying, a little while, a little while, a little while, He's drilling it into them that he's about to not be physically present with them. No doubt they were addicted to his physical presence. No doubt.

They loved his physical presence. They were addicted to it. Jesus is breaking the addiction because he's going to the cross. Now, the New Commandment and its implications verses 34 and 35. There is lavish Old Testament background for this, and thankfully Jesus himself gives it to us.

Please turn to Matthew 22. Matthew 22. In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked a question and he takes the opportunity to teach that all of the Old Testament is about love. Love for God and love for man. Matthew 22, I'll be reading 34 through 40, follow along.

40. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Jesus is teaching that you can take the Old Testament and boil it down into these two things. Love God, Love your neighbor.

That should help us read our Old Testament well. If you don't understand how it relates to either loving God or loving your neighbor, or loving both, then you don't understand what you're reading. So we should always be asking ourselves as we read our Old Testaments, how does this relate to either loving God or loving my neighbor or both? As you answer that, section by section, chapter by chapter, book by book, you make better sense of it than you would otherwise. On these two commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor, hang all the law and the prophets.

That's just a way of saying, hang the whole Old Testament, every word of the Old Testament. Is the framework, The framework for the Old Testament is loving God and loving neighbor. Love is the fulfillment of the law. That's what Paul says. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5.

It says we should love God with an all-consuming love, No part untouched by love for God. Heart, soul, strength. Then he quotes Leviticus 19, 18 as the second greatest commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So love is already firmly enshrined in the Old Testament.

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus explains what it means to love your neighbor. It's the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember, he says, love your neighbor as yourself. And so he's asked the question, who's my neighbor? And the parable of the Good Samaritan answers the question, who is your neighbor?

Your neighbor is even the person who despises you but is in need. Your neighbor is the person who is in need even though he despises you. It extends out that far. And that love means that you don't just feel, you act in practical ways for the welfare of even someone who despises you. That's what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

So that's not the new part. Even in Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 44, when Jesus says, love your enemies, even there he's not teaching something new. Love Your Enemy is not New Testament teaching. Love Your Enemy is Bible teaching. I can preach that sermon with full force without one word from the New Testament.

Did you know that? That's not new. In fact, in the context in the Sermon on the Mount, he is freeing category after category of Old Testament teaching from wrong understandings of it. That is all he is doing there. So that is not new.

None of that is new. So you have to ask, what are the distinctions? How can this actually be a new commandment? If Jesus has already said all of the law and the prophets and The whole Old Testament, the framework for it is loving God and loving neighbor. How can anything about this be new?

So there are distinctions between love your neighbor as yourself and as I have loved you, love one another. There are two as far as I can detect. The target and the standard. Those are the distinctions between love your neighbor as yourself and as I have loved you, love one another." The target for the love and the standard for the love. The target of the new commandment, the intended recipients of the love being commanded are the Lord's people.

God intends for there to be a special, affectionate devotion among His little children. God intends for there to be a special, unique, affectionate devotion among His little children, and above and beyond kind of love among us, those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. He's talking about one another among his disciples. If you say, well, It's for inside the people of God and outside of the people of God. Verse 35 then makes no sense.

So this is among the people of God. This is a special affectionate devotion among the little children of Jesus Christ. The standard of the New Commandment. Instead of being loving as you love yourself, which is a high standard. Most people don't struggle with love for self.

Have you noticed that? Some do, most don't. The new standard is to love as Jesus loved. Remember how the chapter started. Remember how the chapter started.

Chapter 13 verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." And then what did he do? He laid aside his garments And he girded himself like a slave, and he washed their feet. This is a picture of the incarnation. The most worthy entity in the room, in the district, in the nation, in the world, the most worthy one in the world laid aside what was due to him in order to wash the feet, the dirty, smelly feet of the unworthy in the room.

This is how our chapter began. So we are already here. Jesus is now putting into words what He has allowed them to see and witness. He stooped and He washed their feet. Remember what Jesus is preparing to do.

He is preparing to literally lay down his life for the unworthy. This is the new standard. Jesus' conduct in washing the feet of the disciples is an example of the new standard. Jesus' example going to the cross and laying down his life is the new standard. It should be said, the new commandment in no way invalidates the two great commandments.

Jesus gives us a new commandment, among the people of God we should love each other as Jesus loves us, foot washing kind of love, go to the cross kind of love. But That doesn't mean that this has superseded the commandment to love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength. It's obvious that command is still in full force. You're obligated to love God with an all-consuming love, and that we're still obligated to love our neighbor as ourself. Those commands haven't gone anywhere.

If someone who despises you needs you, you should help them because you should love your neighbor as yourself. So this is in addition to not in place of. Now what are the intended implications? What does Jesus have in mind when He gives us the new commandment to love one another as He has loved us? That the world love does, that the world will see it and they'll say, those people belong to Jesus.

And Jesus has been able to remake them in a way that we don't have an ability to do. In our heart of hearts, we know that they have capacity that we don't have. An onlooking world says, they belong to a transforming Savior. And we can tell because in this untransformed state, we can see they have capacity. We can't replicate that.

This is the intended implication. I believe this is the big picture. So, just coming, we're in sort of a text that has us very focused. Praise God. But now let's step back from that.

What are we looking at? I believe this is what we are looking at. The Great Commission is new covenant words backed by new covenant living. So step back, what are we looking at? The Great Commission to take the good news to every nook and cranny of planet earth and then baptize people who believe the message and teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.

That is new covenant words backed by something. Backed by new covenant living. How are we to disciple the nations? That's supposed to disciple the nations. Straightforward enough, but how are you going to do that?

Well, we're going to say words. We're going to go places and say words. Jesus went places and said words. Is that all Jesus did? If we say Jesus is the gold standard for the propagation of the gospel, how did Jesus do it?

Well, he went places and he said words. But he backed it up with a life that said, this is real. This is not a game. This is authentic, transforming truth. You can tell by looking at me.

I'm transformed. I'm different. You've heard the expression, talk is cheap. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows a talker.

Who can't back it up. So the unbelieving world might be listening, but they are definitely watching. True? And God intends to send forth messengers whose lives match the message. Substantiate the message.

Declare without words that the message transforms. Hey, you know what? Why should the world be interested if the message doesn't transform? Why would they care? At that point you're just another scheme.

Everybody's got a scheme. The world has no shortage of schemes. The world has a real shortage of messages that transform. So if you go out and you got the whiz bang words but you don't have a life that says, that demonstrate you can be transformed by the things that I'm saying you have nothing. So the world might be listening but they're definitely watching.

They want to know, do your words transform? Or are they just like the other schemes? We just have them in a hat with all these schemes. Just like we've been encountering the marks of the Messiah. The way that you know that Jesus really is the one God promised to send and not one of these others who came and said, I'm the one who God promised to send.

No, no, no. God built into the Old Testament marks of the Messiah and Jesus has just been checking them off one after the other, after the other, after the other. There are marks of disciples too. And this is the big one. Love for one another.

The New Testament Church had it. The New Testament Church had it. The early church had the mark that they belonged to Jesus and that his words could transform you. Tertullian was a Christian writer, Christian apologist in the two hundreds. So this is early.

Jesus died in thirty or thirty three, something like that. This is in the two hundreds. This is early church and Tertullian wrote that the pagan said see how they loved one another how ready they are to die for one another this was pagan testimony looking at the early Christians see how they love one another that They might have been listening but they were definitely watching. What did they see? They saw a people who gave evidence that this Jesus could transform.

See how ready they are to die for one another. They were dying for one another in the early church. The gospel took the world by storm and it was this combination of the words of life but a life that backed it up that substantiated that it really can transform you. By the way, hold the rope depends on this, doesn't it? Our missions endeavors in Turkey rises or falls on this, doesn't it?

The Templetons and the Carringtons are going to go over there, and they're going to relate together as families. And Paul and Michael will be preaching, and Brooke and Melinda will be talking to their neighbors. I'm sure their kids will be sharing the gospel with people. And people might be listening, but they'll be watching. They'll be watching how the Templetons and the Carringtons get along.

What about us? What's going to sustain us for 10, 15, 20 years of holding the rope? Not a New Year's resolution, I can tell you. It won't be that. By the way, how many of your New Year's resolutions have failed?

Several of mine already have. It's the 13th of January. The Templeton's shouldn't take any heart in my ability to execute New Year's resolutions. Do We love each other like Christ loved His disciples. If we do, we'll hold the rope.

People are watching. People in here are watching. Finally, let me try to answer the question, why the new commandment? Why now, if it's such a great commandment? If it's necessary at all, Why wait 4, 000 years into 6, 000 years of world history now and counting?

Let me give you two reasons. Number one, Jesus' life provides the context for the standard. Love one another as I have loved you. How do you do that without the as I have loved you. Jesus' life provides the context for the standard.

There were things in the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus like a lamb, an innocent lamb that you would slay, but the lamb didn't love the people. So at a point the analogy breaks down. Christ had to come. You had to see it to believe it. You could have never described all that Jesus would be and say and do.

This commandment only makes sense having seen Jesus come and lay down His life. Two. And more importantly, I think it's even more importantly, the sending of the Holy Spirit to permanently indwell believers was reserved for the New Covenant. You see the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament through kings and prophets and others. But He is coming and going.

The sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to permanently indwell believers in Christ was reserved for the new covenant. Why so? I don't know. In the wisdom of God, in the providence of God. But it's clearly true.

Continue this sentence. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on. Just stop at love. Do you think it heads the list on accident? Do you think it is the first one on the list by accident?

Any reading of the Bible would make that absurd. Any reading of the Bible would tell you there can only be one first item on this list, love. The crowning work of the Holy Spirit is to nurture and grow love in the hearts of the believer. It's the crowning work of the Holy Spirit. If you've got all the rest and you don't have love, you have nothing.

That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Jesus didn't give the command until the triune God established the indwelling power. I think this is the overriding reason. This couldn't be an old covenant command because the triune God hadn't sent the indwelling power for it. Talk about an impossible command to keep without the Holy Spirit.

Okay, you people just go love each other like Jesus loves sinners. Good luck with that. Okay, God can we have some power with that command please? Can we have some power with that command please? Why yes you may.

Yes you may. Applications. Number one, I only have two. Number one, to God be the glory. God the Father promised to send the Redeemer.

God the Father did send the Redeemer to bleed and die in the place of sinners. God the Son came not by compulsion. He willingly laid aside the glory that was due to Him, was rightfully His, in order to humble Himself. God the Father was happy to assign that position of glory to him. God the Son was happy to take upon Himself the great work of redemption.

God the Spirit applies it today. People on planet earth are going to be moved upon by the Holy Spirit in this hour. Things they've never seen about God in themselves will come clear as If they had never heard it before, it's the Holy Spirit applying God's plan and Jesus' work in time and space. It's happening right now since I've been preaching. Who knows how many people the Holy Spirit has moved upon.

To God be the glory. May He be known as a Savior, the triune God, all having a part in the salvation of people who deserve hell. To God be the glory. Number two, strive for this kind of maturity. Because this is actual Christian maturity.

As opposed to perceived Christian maturity. Above and beyond any other mark of God giving you progress in the faith is this, love for people and especially a particular special kind of love for the people of God. You can be very gifted and be thin on love for the people of God. You can have a lot of Bible knowledge but be very thin on love for the people of God. You can pray the most articulate prayers and people are thinking, why can't I pray like that?

But you're very thin on love for the people of God. You can rise through the ranks by being dependable and end up right at the top of a church's structure. That would be very thin on actual love for the people of God. You can love other things about being part of a church. You can preach powerful sermons filled with gospel truth and be very thin on love for the people of God.

Let's let Paul have the last word. Just listen to A very familiar chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul writes, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. Though I have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It's not puffed up. It does not behave rudely.

It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It thinks no evil. It Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things.

Believes all things. Hopes all things. Endures all things. Love never fails. This is just a description of Christ-like love.

That's all it is. You say, okay God, you told us to love each other here among the people of God as you love us. Flesh that out. 1 Corinthians 13. It's a description of Christ-like love.

Now men in the room, men, here's the test with this as the standard. First Corinthians 13 as a fleshing out of Christlike love. Do you have more Christlike love, 1 Corinthians 13 love, towards your wife and your children, or does she have more Christ-like love towards you and your children? Towards you and your children. Oh mighty leaders of the home.

Who is the mature Christian in your home? By this mark. Not by how articulate you are in your prayers, or what's the list? How gifted you are, how much Bible knowledge you have, your ability to rise through the ranks by being dependable, preaching sermons that have power. I might be the most mature Christian in my home, but I'm in a better position to gauge these things than you are and I doubt it.

Do you know why a woman's not preaching? This sermon. This sermon, because there's a picture of Christ and His church, and it messes up a picture that God is trying to communicate a gospel message. That's the reason that messes up. If we were to do it by Christian maturity very likely there's a woman in the pulpit.

I hope that doesn't make you nervous. I say all that to say this, man, this should challenge us. If this is the mark of Christian maturity, and if the leader should exhaust himself as much as he can to be the most mature, this is where you exert yourself. This is where you exert yourself. The other things will come along.

The other things will follow along just fine. It turns out if you focus on these other things, love doesn't follow along very well. If you chase these other things, Love doesn't follow. If you chase love, these other things so often follow. And they're better, richer, deeper.

God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for teaching us. God, whoever they are, in the room, in our community, in our nation, the ones who have gone deep with you, and the Spirit has produced an overabundant harvest of this in their life, I thank you for them. I pray that you would help us to be more like them, but more like your son. The gold standard for loving the unlovely, loving needy people, loving sinners.

I pray that you would receive the glory that you deserve. I pray that you would be found to have been a transforming Savior in our lives so that a world that might be listening but is definitely watching would see we have something have something that the world cannot replicate. Help us to grow. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.