WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.000 This week and next week we are going to be thinking in a little more detail about what Jesus did for us on the cross. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:19.000 We'll focus on that in more detail next week, which of course is Easter Sunday. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Today we come to John 17 and we think a little bit about some of the things that lay behind the cross 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:37.000 and that led up to the cross just as this prayer itself was prayed in the hours and days that led up to Jesus' death. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Our title as you can see is Shared Love and in so many ways the love of God is the most precious and the most amazing area of theology 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:58.000 that we can turn our attention to and when we think about the cross and when we think about Easter and everything that happened, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.000 all of that is grounded on God's love. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Of course for so many reasons when we think of the subject of God's love it's a subject where we can just barely even scratch the surface. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:16.000 But I want us to have a look for a wee while and see what we can learn today or what we can be reminded of 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:23.000 and we're especially going to focus on the words of verse 24 to 26 in Jesus' prayer where he said, 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.000 Father I desire that they also whom you've given me, maybe with me where I am to see my glory that you've given me 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.000 because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:38.000 O righteous Father even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:45.000 I've made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:51.000 may be in them and I in them. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Love of course is the characteristic that lies at the very core of who God is. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000 Later John wrote in one of his letters and he said, 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.000 Anyone who does not love God does not know God because God is love. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:11.000 And it's amazing how profound and glorious three short words can be. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:19.000 God is love. You ask the question, what is God? The answer, he is love. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:24.000 But how do we understand that statement when we say God is love? 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Well, a key thing to notice just as we begin is that the doctrine of the Trinity, 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.000 the Christian doctrine of the Trinity that God is three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:43.000 This is a key truth for helping us to understand what these words God is love really mean. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:52.000 Because when the Bible says God is love, it's not making some kind of vague, optimistic or even mystical statement. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.000 And people often can understand that phrase that way, you know, sort of say, 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.000 Well, God is love as though, you know, everything will be nice. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:07.000 And we can think of it in those vague terms, although today we've kind of changed it from God is love to just love is love, 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.000 which is even vaguer. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:15.000 When the Bible says God is love, it's not a vague statement at all. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:24.000 It's pointing us to the fact that from all eternity, God has existed in a bond of love between God the Father, 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.000 So when you think of God, when we think of God, you know, before the world existed, 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:38.000 it's easy to think of him in a kind of isolation, alone, solitary. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.000 You kind of imagine just God and nothing else. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 And it all seems very isolated. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:52.000 But the doctrine of the Trinity shows us that God has never existed in cold isolation from all eternity. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:07.000 God has been loving the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is and always has been a perfect, united fellowship of love. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000 And of course, that makes perfect sense because for God to be loved, it has to be someone to love. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:21.000 And in the Persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, they are eternally lover and beloved to one another. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.000 And it reminds us that at the core of who God is, is unselfishness. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:33.000 And whenever you think of the Trinity, I want that word unselfishness to always be at the back of your mind 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:39.000 because that's what the Trinity is showing us, that at the core of who God is, is never a kind of selfish self-interest. 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:45.000 There's just the purest, tenderest, most intimate union of love. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:50.000 So I don't know if anybody's ever kind of asked you the question, you know, well, okay, well, if God made the world, 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.000 what was God doing before he made the world? 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.000 And you think, you know, well, as if that maybe kind of undermines the Christian explanation for reality. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.000 What was God doing before the world? 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.000 Well, we can answer that question. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 What was he doing? 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.000 He was loving. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:15.000 God's love is a shared love, shared between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.000 God is love. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.000 But we want to go a bit further than that, don't we? 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.000 And we want to understand that a wee bit more. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:29.000 And the question we need to ask ourselves, well, okay, what is that love like? 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:35.000 And that's a question that John 17 helps us to answer. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 It shows us more of what that shared love of God is like. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.000 And we see four things revealed to us in this chapter that I just want to go through quite quickly. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:52.000 First of all, we see a love that is always there. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Jesus highlights that when he says, you loved me before the foundation of the world. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:03.000 Now here we're being told something about the love between the Father and the Son. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:07.000 And it's a love that's been there from before the foundation of the world. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.000 Now I want you to notice how deep and extensive the language is there. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.000 So we think of the word foundation, you think of starting points. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:21.000 So someone's building a house first thing they build is the foundation and everything else comes on top of that. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:30.000 And the foundation or starting point for the cosmos, for the universe is a question that's always fascinated the human mind. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.000 What was the start? Where did it all begin? 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.000 What was the foundation of the universe? 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.000 What I want you to notice is that verse there is not pointing you back to the foundation. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:52.000 It's pointing you back behind the foundation even further before the foundation of the world. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000 And the verse is saying, don't just think about where did everything start. Think back further. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Go below the foundation. Go before the beginning. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000 And what are you going to find? 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.000 Are you going to find the warring gods of pagan mythology? 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.000 Are you going to find the isolated solitary God of Islam? 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.000 Are you going to find the emptiness of nothing? 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:28.000 Well, the Bible tells us that before the beginning, you will find a father who loves his son. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:36.000 God's shared love is an eternal, ever present, ever existing, never fading, never changing love. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:42.000 It has no boundaries, no starting point, no end point, no limit, no threats. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:51.000 The love of God between father, son and spirit is a love that's always there. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:56.000 The second thing we see is that this love is a love that always knows. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Jesus says something beautiful in verse 25. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.000 He says, oh righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:18.000 And this is reminding us of the fact that the loving relationship between father, son and spirit is a love that knows one another so intimately and so closely. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:27.000 Now we have to kind of be careful about how we understand that phrase, I know you, because we often use that phrase, I know you or I know him, 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.000 to kind of express a sort of fairly vague acquaintance. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.000 So you'd say, oh, do you know Thomas at St. Columbus? 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:38.000 Well, I know him, as if to sort of say, well, yeah, I know who he is and maybe he's a friend. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:42.000 But the Bible doesn't use it, oh, I know him in that kind of way. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:48.000 The Bible uses the word know to express the deepest, closest relationship. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:56.000 And very often that's the union between a husband and a wife as close as two people can possibly get. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:01.000 The shared love between God, father, son and spirit is a love that knows. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.000 And so each person in eternity knows the other. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:12.000 And of course, again, that makes perfect sense because they share the same nature and it's the most perfect example of mutual knowing. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.000 The father knows the son, the son knows the spirit because they all have the same nature. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:21.000 They are one and so their knowledge is unimpeded. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.000 It is wholly shared. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.000 Now, I think there's two important explanations for that. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.000 One is the fact that God is all knowing. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:31.000 So of course, God knows. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.000 We talk about the omniscience of God, the fact that God knows all things. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:41.000 And so that, of course, is part of the explanation as to why the father, son and spirit know one another. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:53.000 But at another level, at a simpler level, but at an even more beautiful level, that shared knowledge is based on the fact that the father, the son and the Holy Spirit talk to each other. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:04.000 And this whole chapter is a beautiful example of the many occasions we read in the Gospels of God, the son speaking to God, the father. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:17.000 And here, and in the events that come after this prayer and the crucifixion of Jesus, we actually see God, the son pouring his heart out to his father. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:24.000 So even though the father knows, the son still speaks to him, even though the son knows the father still speaks to him. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:27.000 And so the father, son and spirit know each other. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:29.000 There's this perfect intimacy. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.000 There's the deepest fellowship. 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:34.000 And they speak to each other. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 They share things with one another. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 They're interested in one another. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:45.000 Again, there's never a selfishness, never a lack of interest or care or concern. 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.000 The love between father, son and spirit is a love that knows. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:56.000 But I want to just notice one important thing here just before we go into the next thing. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.000 And I think this is fascinating. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:03.000 We have this foundational truth that God is love. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Father, son and spirit love, and they know that they love one another. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:16.000 And if anyone knows about that love, it's God, each person of the Trinity knows that they love and they know that they are love. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:19.000 There's no gap in that knowledge whatsoever. 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:31.000 And yet even though the father and the son and the Holy Spirit know that and have always known that, yet the father still tells his son, 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.000 I love you. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:43.000 And so even though the son knows that perfectly well, the father just wants to keep on making sure he knows. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:52.000 And we see throughout the Gospels, a voice coming from heaven, you are my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Isn't that an example we should all always follow? 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:59.000 Their love is a love that knows. 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:03.000 Third, it's a love that always wants to be together. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:08.000 Sometimes some of the most amazing words in the Bible are the smallest ones and the simplest ones. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:15.000 I think I say that quite often, but I think I'm going to bang that drum for the rest of my life because the wee words in the Bible are amazing. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:21.000 And in John's Gospel, one of these beautiful small words is the word with. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:30.000 We find it right at the very beginning of the Gospel in verse one of chapter one, in the beginning the word was the word and the word was with God. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.000 The word was God. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:36.000 And it's presenting us here with a beautiful vision of togetherness. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:47.000 The father, the son and the son towards one another, so close, so united, so bound together, each looking towards the other with devotion, commitment and affection. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:57.000 John 17 picks up on this by speaking about the oneness of the father and the son, that the glory you've given me, I've given to them that they may be one, even as we are one. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:03.000 In father, son and Holy Spirit, we see a perfect togetherness. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:10.000 And this, of course, is reminding us of the fact that love and separation are always in tension. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:17.000 So I'm sure you are the same when I say that I find it really hard to be away from my family. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.000 I hate it. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:26.000 Because if you're separated from a loved one, it does not mean that you stop loving. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.000 It means that your love is in tension. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:35.000 Because when you love someone, you want to be with them. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.000 And that is most perfectly true of God. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:43.000 And in fact, Jesus held on to that truth as he prepared for the cross. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.000 He said, the hour is coming, the hour is coming when you'll be scattered each to his own home. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:52.000 You leave me alone, yet I'm not alone, for the father is with me. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.000 When you love someone, then you belong together. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:03.000 God's shared love is a love that's always wanting to be together. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:08.000 And then the fourth thing we see about the love is that it's a love that serves. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:15.000 One of the many great truths highlighted in John 17 is that God the Son has come to serve his father. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:20.000 I've glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:28.000 And one of the great truths about biblical love is that it's never just an inward feeling or an inward disposition. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.000 True love in biblical terms is always, always shown in outward action. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.000 It's never just a feeling on the inside. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:42.000 And we see that in the triune God. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.000 The Son outwardly serves his father. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:51.000 You can see that I do as the father commanded me so that the world may know that I love the father. 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.000 The father outwardly reassures the son. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:00.000 You can see that in John 12, Jesus says, my soul is troubled where I say father, save me from this hour. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.000 But I've come for this hour, Father, glorify your name. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.000 Then a voice came from heaven. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.000 I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:12.000 The father outwardly gives the son reassurance and the spirit outwardly works out God's purposes. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000 You can see that in John 14. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:21.000 The Holy Spirit whom the father will send will teach you all things and bring to remembrance what I've said. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:26.000 These verses are reminding us that the father is always an active, loving, supportive father. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.000 The son is always a faithful, willing, hardworking son. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.000 The spirit is always proceeding from the father and the son, 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.000 accomplishing the purposes of God, revealing and carrying his power. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:44.000 God's love is a love that always serves. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.000 So the father never falters as a father. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 The son never wonders as a son. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:57.000 The spirit never hesitates as he proceeds. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:01.000 So God's love is a shared love. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.000 It's a love that's always there. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.000 A love that always knows. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.000 A love that always wants to be together. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:13.000 A love that always serves. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:19.000 And again, all of that is reminding us that at the heart of who God is, 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:23.000 is a beautiful, unselfishness. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:28.000 And that's really what lies at the heart of the fact that God is love. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:37.000 God, father, son and spirit, loves God, father, son and spirit. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:42.000 And it's so important that that always shapes your understanding of God. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:49.000 We must never forget that God is love and his love is so perfect. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:59.000 And the reason you must remember that is because the devil's blasphemous strategy is to make you doubt it. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:03.000 And to make you think that God's love is actually not that nice. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:07.000 Or that God's love is maybe not that reliable. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:11.000 Or God's love is maybe not quite as good as it could be. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.000 The devil wants to undermine your confidence in God's love. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.000 Do not let him do it. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.000 God's love is absolutely perfect. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:31.000 It's a shared love between father, son and spirit. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:36.000 Now, I hope that all of that is something that makes you think, 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.000 wow, when you think of God. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000 But I can probably understand if you think of all that. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.000 You think, well, okay, that's all really good, Thomas, and good to know and good to learn. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.000 But where do I fit into it all? 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 We've been talking about God, father, son and spirit. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.000 What about you? 00:17:53.000 --> 00:18:04.000 Well, the amazing thing about God's love is that it's not just shared within himself. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:11.000 God's love is shared with you. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:22.000 And these four things that are true about God's love for father, son and spirit, 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.000 they're true of you as well. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:35.000 Because God's love for you is a love that is always there. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:46.000 In verse 24 in John 17, we get a glimpse into the standard of God the father's love for God the son. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:50.000 It's a love that's bigger than the history of the university. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:55.000 He's loved him before the foundation of the world. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:56.000 It's an eternal. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.000 It comes before the beginning and it reaches beyond the end. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.000 That's the standard of God the father's love for God the son. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:05.000 And you think, wow, that's amazing. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:10.000 Verse 24 of John 17 tells you the standard of God the father's love for God the son. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.000 And it's just massive. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:21.000 Verse 23 tells us the standard of God's love for you as a Christian, 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.000 if you are one or if you become one. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.000 So you think, well, these are two really important verses because they're going to show us the differences. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:34.000 What's the difference between the way God loves his son and the way God loves you as a Christian? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:38.000 Verse 24 says, you love me before the foundation of the world. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:40.000 So that's the standard for the son. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.000 What's the standard for us? 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Verse 23 says, you loved them even as you loved me. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.000 And so what's the difference? 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.000 It isn't one. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.000 That actually isn't one. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:13.000 And the astounding thing that's been revealed to us here is that the standard of love reserved for the son is the standard of love being bestowed upon you. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.000 God's love for the son is eternal. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:18.000 No start, no end, no limit, no threat. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.000 It is just always there. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:26.000 And his love for you is the same. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:31.000 And that should take our breath away. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:40.000 But it should also make perfect theological sense to you because at the heart of Christianity is the fact that if you are a Christian or if you become one, you are united to God the son. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.000 You are adopted as God's own child. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:57.000 And Paul captures this beautifully later on in Ephesians 1 because he talks about how God has treated us and he uses exactly the same phrase before the foundation of the world. 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:11.000 Blessed be God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:17.000 God the Father's love for you is bound up with his love for his son. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:21.000 So if you ask yourself the question, will God always love me? 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:27.000 Then you have to ask yourself the question, will God always love his son? 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:34.000 And if the answer to the second question is yes, then the answer to the first is the same. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:43.000 And that is where assurance is found, the fact that you are united to Jesus if you are a Christian or if you become one. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:48.000 God's love for you is a love that will always be there. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:22:03.000 Doesn't matter when it is, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, God's love for you will not wobble, it will not fade, it will not weaken, it will not change, it will always be there, always. 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:11.000 And it never even nudges down, even from 100% to 99.9%. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:19.000 It's never even a flicker or a glimmer, it's always there. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:25.000 And it doesn't matter what is happening in your life. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:32.000 So if you have a terrible week at work this week, if people give you a hard time, God's love for you is still there. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:39.000 If you are worrying about stuff, health, family, work, God's love for you is still there. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:51.000 If you're struggling, if you feel weak, or like you're failing, if you feel depressed or heavy or lonely, if you feel full of regrets and frustration with the way you're doing your life, God's love for you is still there. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:02.000 That's what it means when it says that the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:06.000 God's love for you is a love that's always there. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:11.000 God's love for you is also a love that always knows. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:15.000 John 17 makes it so beautifully clear that the Father knows the Son, the Son knows the Father. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:21.000 But if we go back to John 10, we see that God knows us too. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:30.000 I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:36.000 And so the principle emphasised in John 17 is applied to us in John 10. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:45.000 And we see that again, the standard of relationship within the Trinity is the benchmark for God's loving knowledge of us. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:51.000 So that means that God's love for you is never kind of a distant or cold or detached or a mystical love. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.000 It's a love that knows you. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:05.000 And that is such a precious truth because so often in life, we are crippled by the fear that if people only knew us, 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.000 they would never love us. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:13.000 And that of course is why people are defensive and why people put up a barrier. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:18.000 And that can manifest itself in lots of places in life, especially if it can happen at work. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:28.000 People put up a barrier, they're defensive because they do not want their weaknesses or mistakes to be seen. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:35.000 And you can find yourself thinking, well, what would happen if people knew that I was actually really struggling with my job? 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:41.000 What would happen if people really knew the sins that I struggled with and the doubts that I have? 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:48.000 What if people knew that half the time as a Christian, I'm scared, I'm worried, I'm stumbling, I forget to pray, 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:54.000 I don't understand things as much as I should and even things I have learnt, I can't quite remember them as I should 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:56.000 and I really don't feel like I'm making progress. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.000 What if people knew all of those things? 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Well, God knows, God knows and he still loves you. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.000 So you think of all the things you worry about, God knows all of that. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:13.000 You think about all of your failings, God knows them all. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:20.000 You think about whatever it is that kind of puts that feeling of tension in the back of your neck, God knows. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000 But the fundamental truth is the fact that God knows is not because he's omniscient. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.000 God knows because he loves you. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.000 You matter to him. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Your thoughts matter. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000 Your worries matter. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:42.000 Your fears, the detail of your life matters to God and in it all he wants you to know and to never stop knowing that he loves you so dearly. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.000 And just as Jesus shows us, God wants us to talk to him about it all. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:53.000 God's love for you is a love that knows. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:05.000 And even if you are maybe not yet a Christian, God knows whatever it is that's holding you back. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:15.000 He is saying to you, I know, but I love you and I will never let you down. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.000 God's love is a love that knows. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.000 God's love for you is also a love that wants to be together. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:26.000 As we said, God's love delights to be together. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:31.000 There's a withness at the heart of God's love, Father, Son and Spirit. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:42.000 And at one level, that kind of intimacy between God, Father, Son and Spirit, that fellowship, that togetherness, it can kind of seem so out of reach to us, can't it? 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:50.000 We often feel like God is far away and we think, well, you know, because of who I am, God probably wants it that way. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.000 He wants to keep me at arm's length. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:57.000 But if you go back to John 17, you see one of the most amazing things that Jesus ever said. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:05.000 He said, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:12.000 Now, in this verse, he is describing Christians, those of you who are Christians, those of you who become Christians if you put your faith in Jesus. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:17.000 So if you are one, if you become one, he's talking about you. 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:23.000 And these are among the most precious words ever written because they're answering the question, what does God the Son want? 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.000 What does Jesus want? 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:28.000 What desire drives him? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.000 What is it that he longs for? 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:31.000 What's his goal? 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:37.000 Here we even say, what is his dream? 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:45.000 It's that you would be with him where he is. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:55.000 And if you have ever felt worthless or lost or rubbish or that, or like, you know, a waste of space or that you don't belong, then please write these words on your heart. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:04.000 And this son here is talking to God the Father about you and he's saying, I really want them with me. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:19.000 And that, of course, points us back to the Garden of Eden when humanity was created to be with God and it's pointing us forward to the new creation where we will be with him for all eternity, for all who trust in Jesus. 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:25.000 And that's what the new creation will be like. It'll be a place of perfect, beautiful belonging. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:35.000 And the most amazing truth is that no matter how much you want that, God wants it more. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:43.000 And you only have to look at the cross to see how much God wants you with him. 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:48.000 God's love for you is a love that always wants to be together. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:53.000 And then the fourth thing is true as well, that God's love for you is a love that serves. 00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:02.000 Now here we probably think to ourselves, well, absolutely, you know, the fact that God loves us and the fact that his love is so amazing, that should motivate us to serve him. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:07.000 And of course, that's true. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:18.000 And it's one of the greatest privileges in life for us to go through every week in the service of God that makes for the most fulfilling and satisfying and exciting life. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:25.000 That's not what makes us Christians, but that's what we do because we are Christians. We want to serve our amazing God. 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.000 But the truth I want to highlight here is not the fact that we serve God, even though that's true. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:40.000 What I want us to recognize is the fact that before we ever serve him, he has served us. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:52.000 Because God the Son did not come to be served. He came to serve and give his life as a ransom for you. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:57.000 God's love is a love that serves. It's a love that serves in every way that's required. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:09.000 It's a love that serves to the very end. It's a love that serves to the point of dying because Jesus having loved his own, he loved them to the end. 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:18.000 God is sharing his love with us in the greatest display of suffering and service that the world has ever seen. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.000 And that is where God's love is most clearly seen. And that takes us back to the words we read at the very start. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:33.000 In this the love of God was made manifest among us. It was revealed among us that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:41.000 In this is love. Not that we've loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:51.000 Now that word propitiation is pointing to the fact that in Jesus' death, he is removing all the stain of our sin. 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:55.000 He is dealing with all the fact that that breaks our relationship with God. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:01.000 He is restoring our relationship with him through his death. 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:07.000 We could say God's love is so great that we serve him. 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:18.000 And of course that's true. But before that we must realize that God's love is so great that he has served us. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:24.000 He has served us in dying for us. He served us in freeing us from sin. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:28.000 He served us in giving us eternal life in which he can love us forever. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:36.000 He has served us because his love for us will never fall short of what we need. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:43.000 God's love for you is a love that serves. 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:55.000 But the fact that he serves you is not because you are his master. You aren't. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:01.000 It's because you are his beloved. 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:15.000 And our response to that should be to fall into worship and say, oh God, how I love you because you first loved me. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:23.000 God's love for you is a love that's always there. 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:31.000 It's a love that knows you. It's a love that always wants to be with you. 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:40.000 And it's a love that will serve you to the very end. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:49.000 And that's the incredible thing about John 17 is that you have this incredible prayer between God the Son and God the Father. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:59.000 And at the heart of it, he's talking about you. That is amazing. 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:04.000 Amen. Let's pray. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:12.000 Father, we thank you for your love, your amazing, immeasurable love. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:18.000 And how we love you because you first loved us. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:26.000 Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God who is love, we love you. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:52.000 We just love you and we want to live for you and we thank you for everything you've done for us. Amen.