Well, thank you, Paul, for your kind welcome.
It's a pleasure to be with you this morning.
It was a delight to share in Gethin and Katie's wedding.
!
But God is rich in mercy and is long-suffering, and we're just delighted to share in the happy occasion.
I'd like this morning to consider with you profound words that we read in verse 17 of John chapter 10.
For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
For this reason, the Father loves me.
Augustine, the remarkable early church father, late 4th, early 5th century, preached through the Gospel of John,
and he stated on one occasion,
the Gospel of John is shallow enough for a child to paddle in and deep enough for an elephant to swim in.
And when you read through the Gospel of John, you immediately understand what Augustine meant.
You read beautifully crafted narratives that just sweep you along with their simplicity, their richness, their evocativeness.
Think of Jesus' encounter with the woman in John chapter 8.
It's vivid, it's powerful, it's imaginative.
And Augustine himself, as he comes to the conclusion of his exposition, says,
there remained but two, misery and mercy.
And all of the encounters that the Lord Jesus has are so simple at one level.
They just sweep you along with their beautiful simplicity.
And then also you have these remarkable egocentric statements of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus was uninhibitedly egocentric.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except by me.
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
And so when you read through John's Gospel, you quickly discover that you can read this Gospel to your children in their almost infancy
and confront them with the beauty, the simplicity, the richness of language that you find throughout John's Gospel.
But then, of course, there are places in John where you find yourself utterly out of your depth.
Think of the opening words of the Gospel, which really are the window through which we are to read the whole Gospel.
John has written his Gospel, you remember, at the end of chapter 20,
so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing we may have life in his name.
The Gospel of John is an evangelistic tract, 15,635 words long, at least in the Greek text.
And so from beginning to end, John is out not simply to inform us, but to persuade us.
And right at the outset, he confronts us with profundity that takes us totally out of all our comfort zones.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
And John deliberately, right at the outset of his Gospel, confronts us with profundity.
Almost to make us gasp.
And to leave us wondering, who is this Jesus?
And so Augustine really, I think, is profoundly right when he says,
the Gospel is shallow enough for children to paddle in,
but it's deep enough for elephants to swim in.
And it's this out-of-our-depth passage in verse 17 in particular
that I want to reflect on with you this morning.
For this reason, the Father loves me
because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
Now, from times eternal, the Son of God was the adoring object of his Father's love.
Think of how the Lord God Almighty punctuates history on three occasions
to declare, this is my beloved Son.
There was never a time when the Son was not beheld in love by his Father.
The Holy Trinity is a communion of love.
God is love.
God is not a solitary monad as in Islam.
He is a communion, a community, a fellowship, a triad of love.
And from times eternal, the Father beheld the Son
with a love that had no beginning and that had no ending.
This is Christianity 101.
It's so basic, isn't it?
It's where we begin our thinking about the gospel of God.
Now read verse 17.
For this reason the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
I've often pondered these words.
I remember, I can't remember when it was,
it must be many, many, many, many, many years ago now
that I first read them,
and was arrested immediately by them.
For this reason the Father loves me?
But surely you were loved, Lord Jesus,
as the Son of the Father from times eternal.
What do you mean,
for this reason the Father loves you?
How are we to understand Jesus' words here?
Well, very simply in this way,
that God the Father's love for his Son
is multi-dimensional, multifaceted.
First of all, as I've already said,
there is his love of eternal complacency,
his love of sheer delight
in who his Son is.
The Son is autotheos.
He is God in himself.
He doesn't owe his Godhead to the Father,
but he is the Son of the Father.
And as the Father beheld his equal,
but the Son,
who eternally was begotten of him,
he ever beheld him in love.
The Son needed to do nothing
to merit the love of his Father.
By virtue of who he is,
the heart of the Father,
if I can use such language,
the heart of the Father
was ever traveling to his Son.
Beholding the Son
was the Father's delight in eternity.
If you like,
this is the love of withness
that John has hinted at
right at the beginning of his Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
Literally, almost,
the Word was face to face with God.
And the Word was God.
There was an eternal withness
to the relationship of the Father
and of the Son.
And so there is, first of all,
then, this love of eternal complacency.
But secondly,
and it's this that Jesus
is speaking about here,
there is the Father's love
of responsive admiration.
He loved the Son
from times eternal
by virtue of who he is.
But here,
there is a new dimension unfolding
in the Father's love to the Son.
The love of responsive admiration.
Because Jesus here is speaking
in his anointed
and appointed capacity
as the mediator,
the redeemer of God's elect.
He is here in his holy humanity,
giving to the Father
that obedience that he had pledged to him
in times eternal
in the covenant of redemption.
Here I am.
I delight to do your will,
O God,
as we find it in the 40th Psalm.
He has come into the world
in obedience to his Father.
And that obedience that he pledged
in times eternal
was an obedience that would take him
from glory to Golgotha.
Now, you must not think
that in times eternal,
the Son of God
understood
what it would mean for him
to become flesh
and take that holy humanity
to the cross of Calvary.
that's why in the Garden of Gethsemane,
as the horror
of what awaited him
approached him inexorably,
and as his human soul
began to taste
what it would mean for him
to be obedient unto death,
he shrank back.
Father,
if it is possible,
take this cup
from me,
but not my will,
but yours
be done.
Here he stands
in his holy,
fragile,
frail
humanity,
and he is standing
as the one
who is pledged
in love to the Father
to be obedient
unto death,
a death
that would be
for him
the death
of a sinner.
He himself
in himself,
holy,
harmless,
undefiled,
separate from sinners,
but in our place
he would stand
cursed and condemned.
he would bear
the wrath of God,
the righteous
wrath of God
that our sin
deserved.
And as the Father
watches the obedience
of his Son,
the Son that he loved
from times
eternal,
a new
love
bursts
forth
from God
the Father.
the love
of a Father's
admiration
for an obedient,
loving
Son.
And this is what
Jesus
is speaking about
here.
For this reason
the Father
loves me
in my capacity,
in my ordained,
anointed capacity
as the Redeemer
of God's elect,
as the one
who had come
into the world
to be the Savior
of the world.
who would die
the just
for the unjust
to reconcile
sinners to God.
In that capacity,
new love
bursts
forth
from heaven.
Now perhaps
you're thinking
as you listen
this morning,
well Ian,
how then
are we
to understand
the deafening
silence
of heaven
as the Lord
Jesus Christ
hung
on Calvary's
cross?
My God,
my God,
why
have you
forsaken me?
And he
was truly
forsaken me.
He wasn't
imagining
being forsaken.
He said,
why have you
forsaken me?
He was
forsaken
of God
as he
became
our sin
atoning,
wrath
quenching
sacrifice
in our
place
on Calvary's
cross.
How are we
to understand
the deafening
silence?
Certainly
he was
forsaken.
but not
for
one
moment
was he
unloved.
I'm
persuaded
that the
father's
love
for his
son,
his love
of responsive
admiration
for his
son,
reached its
omega point,
its highest
point.
As he
forsook
his son
on Calvary's
cross.
I remember
yet some
years ago
now a good
friend of
mine
preaching
and he
said,
even as
the father
was laying
upon him
the iniquity
of us all,
he was
saying,
if ever I
loved thee,
my Jesus,
tis now.
as the
father
beholds the
son,
as our
appointed
representative,
about to
be offered
up
as an
atoning
sacrifice
for sin,
the love
of responsive
admiration
bursts forth
from heaven.
Now,
what I
really want
to focus
on with
you this
morning,
with that
as the
prelude,
is to
make this
profound
point,
I think,
that this
pattern of
eternal love
and responsive
admiring
love
is reflected
in the
love that
the Lord
Jesus
has for
his people.
If you
turn over
to John
chapter 15,
you'll see
the point,
I hope.
John 15
at verse
9.
As the
father has
loved me,
so have
I loved
you,
abide
in my
love.
If you
keep my
commandments,
you will
abide in
my love,
just as I
have kept
my father's
commandments,
and abide
in his
love.
Just as
the father's
love for
his son
is
multidimensional,
so the
son's
love for
his people
is
multidimensional.
We have
been loved
in Christ
from times
eternal.
Gerhardus
Voss,
the
remarkable
Dutch
biblical
theologian,
put it
astonishing
when he
said,
the reason
God will
never stop
loving you
is because
he never
began
to love
you.
I have
loved you,
Jeremiah 31,
with an
everlasting
love.
He has
loved us
with a
love that
is no
beginning
and that
has no
ending.
And the
reason he
will never
stop loving
his people
is because
he never
began to
love them.
electing
gracious,
sure,
certain,
unchanging
love.
But,
along with
this
unchanging
love,
there is
a love
of responsive
admiration.
Jesus
says,
we will
abide in
his love
if you
keep my
commandments,
just as I
have kept
my father's
commandments
and abide
in his
love.
If Jesus
had deviated
one iota
from his
pledged
obedience to
the father,
he would
have forfeited
the father's
love of
responsive
admiration.
That's what
he says.
If you
keep my
commandments,
just as I
have kept
my father's
commandments,
and abide
in his
love.
Now,
here is the
point I
really want
to leave
with you
and with
myself this
morning.
The Lord
Jesus never
stops loving
his people
in our
weakness,
in our
fragility,
in our
failures.
He never
stops loving
us.
We are
bone of
his bone
and flesh
of his
flesh.
We have
been united
to him
indissolubly
by the
Holy Spirit.
He will
never
stop
loving
us.
But,
his love
can be
grieved
by our
sin.
His love
can be
grieved.
I can
never read
what Paul
writes in
Ephesians 4
about grieving
the Holy
Spirit without
stopping and
pausing and
thinking,
Lord,
does someone
like me,
a worm of
the earth?
Am I
able to
grieve
God?
Am I
able to
disappoint you
and grieve
you,
the unchanging,
unchangeable,
triune God
who is from
everlasting to
everlasting?
Yes,
the Bible
tells me
so.
Philosophically,
you might
say,
ah,
but Ian,
Ian,
God is
impassable.
who would
deny it?
I am the
Lord,
I change
not.
That I
read in
his word,
I can
grieve
his spirit.
In all
our afflictions,
the Bible
tells me he
is afflicted.
I would
rather live
by the
text of
Holy
Scripture
than by
the
logical,
philosophical
teachings of
Thomas Aquinas.
There's a
mystery here,
there's a
profundity here,
but we are
to live on
the basis
of the
revealed
word of
God.
God can
be grieved
by our
sin,
and in
the same
way,
his love
can be
heightened
by our
loving,
wholehearted
obedience.
as the
Father has
loved me,
so have
I loved
you.
Notice the
parallelism,
abide in
my love,
and if you
keep my
commandments,
you will
abide in
my love.
This is all
simply to say
this, if you
take anything
away with you
this morning,
take this
away with
you.
Our
Savior
takes a
special
delight
in his
people's
loving
obedience.
Now,
obedience in
no way
contributes to
our salvation,
we know
that.
It is all
of grace,
from beginning
to end.
As Paul
prayed,
even the
faith with
which we
believe,
that even
that trembling
faith is
itself the
very gift
of God's
grace.
obedience
contributes
nothing to
our standing
before God,
but your
heart
obedience can
delight your
God.
And so the
question I
really want to
ask this
morning is
very simple.
Do you
not want to
delight the
Lord?
Do you
not want to
please him?
Do you
not want to
show in
your life
that he
is your
greatest
good?
That he
is the
king before
whom you
bow,
the savior
whom you
embrace?
Do you
not want to
delight him
and please
him?
for this
reason the
father loves
me?
Because I
lay down
in obedience
to him
my life
for my
sheep.
Loving
obedience
is the
new
lifestyle
of the
Christian
believer.
It is the
new lifestyle
that every
Christian
believer
is brought
into
through the
gospel.
And do you
know why?
I'm sure
already you
anticipate my
next statement.
Because what
does the
gospel do?
It unites
us to the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
And who
is this
Lord Jesus
Christ to
whom we
have been
united as
branches to
the vine?
He is the
obedient,
loving son
of the
father.
And the
obedient,
loving nature
of the
God
man
flows
by the
ministry of
the spirit
into our
lives.
And we
are being
changed from
one degree
of glory
to another.
And what
are these
degrees of
glory?
They are
degrees of
loving
obedience
to the
holy will
of the
father
revealed
in his
word.
There's a
wonderful
statement
Paul makes
in Romans
6.
You'll
come to
it.
We've
been
following
a little
these
services,
Joan and
I, and
just love
being with
you on a
number of
occasions
through Romans.
You'll
come to
Romans 6,
17, where
Paul uses
very striking
language.
He says
that through
the gospel
we have
been poured
into a
mold.
And that
mold is the
person of
the Son of
God.
It's not a
doctrinal
mold.
Well, it is a
doctrinal mold,
but the
doctrine is
embedded in
the person
of the
Son.
You never
separate the
doctrines of
the gospel
from the
one who
is himself
the doctrine
of the
gospel,
Jesus
Christ.
And Paul
says the
gospel comes
and it
pours us
idiosyncratically.
We don't
all become
clones of
one another.
We are
to become
clones of
the God
man,
Jesus
Christ,
in our
own
idiosyncratic
humanity.
And as
we seek
to live
out our
lives of
loving
obedience,
bursts
of
responsive,
admiring
love
comes from
heaven.
God
that
only
does
the
father
say
this
is
my
beloved
son.
Do
you
see
the
loving
obedience
that he
is
giving
me
even
unto
the
death
of a
cross
that he
cannot
yet
mentally,
emotively,
spiritually
comprehend?
end. Take that to ourselves. I've little doubt. Remember with Job, God says to Satan,
behold my servant Job. Would you not want the father to be saying to the angelic hosts
this morning, behold that daughter of mine, do you see? The loving obedience that she
unreservedly gives to me. Do you see that devoted little boy, girl who is seeking in the simplicity
of their union with Christ to please me? We've been loved with an everlasting love.
It has no beginning, it will have no end, but embedded within that there are bursts
of heavenly admiration. I think it's one of the hallmarks of the new birth.
How do I know I've been born again? Because, you know, some of your mothers, some births are dramatic,
not so many actually, most, well what do I know? But I've had four, I've watched four births. One was
pretty dramatic and the other three just happened to appear. Well don't ask Joan that, but they can
have happened to appear. And you say, well how do I know I've been born again? Well let me simply ask
you. In your heart of hearts, do you long to please the Lord?
Lord, I've been tempted to live a life that will bring forth from him bursts of loving admiration.
The reason the Father loves me, who had loved me from times eternal, but the reason he now loves me
is that I lay down my life for my sheep. Loving, unreserved obedience brings forth bursts
of heavenly admiration.