00:00Hello everyone, it is so good to be here with you today. My name is William Chambers.
00:05I love to just look in the Word of God with people who love to hear the Word.
00:08So, let us just look into the text and see what we can learn today.
00:12If I had a title for today's message, I would call it,
00:16Loving When You Know They Will Leave.
00:19Oh, what am I talking about today?
00:21Can you imagine comforting someone or helping someone today,
00:26knowing they will betray you tomorrow?
00:30Most of us will withdraw if we thought that this person is going to betray me tomorrow.
00:35Most of us will pull away, try to protect ourselves.
00:38We don't want to be hurt. We're going to create some distance.
00:41Oh, so you're going to betray me. So we will pull back.
00:44But in our text today, Jesus knew exactly what was coming to him.
00:50And he still sat at the table with his betrayers and people that would abandon and deny him.
00:58And he loved them anyway.
01:01Although I know what you're going to do.
01:04Although I know you're going to do me wrong.
01:06I choose to sit at this table and love you anyway.
01:10That's what Jesus had.
01:12Jesus had a love that seen the wounds coming and refused to stop loving.
01:19And this is our example.
01:20Oh, God, help us today.
01:22If you've been hurt, betrayed, then this is for you right here.
01:27Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
01:33that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
01:37having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
01:43Jesus was not surprised by the time that he was in.
01:46He knew betrayal was hours away.
01:49He knew that Judas was sitting at the table with him and about to betray him.
01:53He knew that Peter was going to deny him.
01:56He knew that abandonment was coming by the rest of the disciples.
02:00He knew it.
02:01And he loved anyway.
02:03Help us, Lord.
02:04This is our example.
02:05The appointed hour for Jesus, meaning he was about to be arrested.
02:09He was about to be mocked.
02:10There was going to be a false trial against him.
02:12They were going to scourge him.
02:14Now let me crucify him.
02:15And he was in full awareness of all of this.
02:18There had to be some psychological weight to knowing what's going to happen.
02:22And carrying all that weight and at the same time loving.
02:26He was walking into his hour.
02:29He knew the hour.
02:30He was walking into scheduled suffering.
02:34Can you imagine that?
02:36Oh, this is the time for me to walk into some pain of betrayal and some scourging and some crucifixion.
02:43And they're going to spit on me.
02:44Can you imagine that?
02:45Knowing what's going to happen.
02:47But Jesus walked in it and he knew it and he chose to love tenderly anyhow.
02:53Now, this is divine love at its finest characterized in Jesus.
03:01The question for us believers become, can we love when we see rejection coming?
03:09Can we love in pain of betrayal?
03:11Oh, we talk about having a love like Jesus.
03:14Can we love when we are not appreciated at all?
03:18When we are despised.
03:20Oh, can we still love when we are wounded?
03:25Oh, help us.
03:26Jesus loved in a hostile world.
03:31The Bible says that having loved his own which were in the world.
03:34He was loving in a cruel world.
03:37The environment that Jesus was in was corrupt.
03:40The disciples that Jesus had were immature.
03:44Judas was plotting on him.
03:46There's nothing that's ideal about this.
03:49This was not a safe environment.
03:50He was under Roman authority and the Romans were cruel.
03:55So, they were under Roman occupation.
03:58Jesus was hated by religious leaders.
04:01The disciples were immature.
04:03I already said that.
04:04And he was sitting right next to his betrayer.
04:07This is a hostile environment that Jesus is choosing to love in.
04:10And we live in a hostile environment today.
04:13Oh, Lord, help us.
04:14We need to be in prayer.
04:14Lord, help me.
04:15Help me keep my heart soft.
04:17Lord, help me not to grow cold.
04:19Help me to still reach out even though they despise me.
04:22Oh, they despising you.
04:25They're hating you.
04:25But your head is still reaching out in love.
04:27Oh, Lord, that is like God.
04:29Oh, help us to love like that.
04:32So, the Bible said that he loved those that were in the world.
04:36Now, the world represents a system opposed to God.
04:40It represents a culture resistant to truth.
04:44That's what the world is.
04:46Our world is resistant to truth and it is opposed to God.
04:49Let's be honest.
04:50A society that prefers darkness.
04:54I ain't going to go down it.
04:56Do our society prefer darkness over light?
05:01Turn on your television, your social media.
05:05Turn on the mainstream stuff.
05:07Listen to the music and the TV show.
05:10My case is closed.
05:12That's the kind of world Jesus walked in and he chose to love anyway.
05:17Anyway, Jesus did not postpone his love waiting for the world to change, waiting for his disciples to change, waiting
05:23for things to get better.
05:24I will love you when you improve.
05:26That's not divine love.
05:27That's human love.
05:29I'll love you when something gets better.
05:31I'll love you when you stop hurting me.
05:33That's not what Jesus did.
05:35When Christ demonstrated his love in an imperfect setting.
05:39Help us today.
05:40Can you love in difficulty?
05:42Help, Lord.
05:43Love while being misunderstood.
05:46Love while they're hating you.
05:48Love while they're opposing you.
05:49Love in the midst of tension against you.
05:51Or do you need a safe, comfortable environment before your love is exposed?
05:57If you're waiting for a safe, comfortable environment, you will never manifest divine love.
06:04Human love looks for safety.
06:06Divine love like this, like Christ manifesting, oh, it don't look for safety.
06:11Going on, this is painful.
06:14The Bible says that he loved his own.
06:17It was his own people that he chose, his disciples.
06:24Oh, when it's your own people, pain intensifies.
06:27When they betray you, pain intensifies.
06:30These are the ones that will betray Christ.
06:33These are the ones that will abandon him.
06:35When your own people abandon you and leave you just dry.
06:38He was loving his own.
06:39He was loving Peter, who would deny him.
06:41He was loving Thomas, who would doubt him.
06:44He was loving the rest of the disciples that would flee and abandon him.
06:48He was loving Judas that would betray him.
06:52Betrayal from a distance, that kind of wounds me.
06:55But betrayal from those that are close to me, that pierces.
06:59Oh, it cuts so much deeper.
07:01Don't it cut so much deeper when it's those that are close to you?
07:06But Jesus did not back up.
07:08The Bible said he loved them till the end.
07:14He didn't have a love that quit.
07:16A lot of people will love you until you do this or until you do that and they'll quit it.
07:21They'll turn it off.
07:22They'll shut it down.
07:22That's human love.
07:23But Jesus did not have a partial love.
07:27He didn't have a convenient love.
07:28He didn't have an emotional love.
07:31He had a love that loved to completion.
07:34All the way.
07:35I'm going to love you no matter what.
07:36All the way.
07:37He had a love that loves through exhaustion.
07:41He had a love that loved all the way to the cross.
07:44While they were beating them.
07:46While they were hanging them high.
07:48He loved the world so much that God gave us.
07:51Only because he loved the world.
07:55The Bible says that there's no greater love than he that laid his life down for a friend.
07:59He was loving the world.
08:01He was loving the world until he had nothing left.
08:05I'm willing to give up my very life until I'm all poured out.
08:09All used up.
08:11I'll give everything I have.
08:14He loved his own until the end.
08:18The nails that were put in him were punctuation marks that further showed his love.
08:25His cross was the demonstration of his love.
08:28The nails were punctuation marks saying, I love you.
08:31Punctuation, punctuation.
08:34Oh, I love that right there.
08:36Let me move on.
08:37I love you.
08:37Here's the cross.
08:38You have nails.
08:40Punctuation, punctuation.
08:41Let me get off that point.
08:43My point is, Lord, help us to love like this.
08:46He didn't love halfway.
08:48He loved to the end.
08:49He did not stop.
08:51Do we love until things are inconvenient?
08:56Do we love until we're misunderstood?
09:01Do we love until we're betrayed?
09:04Do we love until we're exhausted dealing with that person?
09:10Or do we love to the end like Christ?
09:14Help us, Lord, not to have a human love as believers, but to have a divine love that loves to
09:21the end.
09:21Help us.
09:22In Jesus' name, we pray and say amen.
09:24Amen.
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