In the remainder of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we encounter the sinfulness of sin of Pilate, Caiaphas, and the Jews. In all of these we see a glimpse of ourselves and our own sinful hearts. But in this text we also see the immense suffering of our Savior who has paid our ransom. There is hope for sinners because Christ Jesus suffered on our behalf. He has paid the price to call us out of sin and to transform our wicked hearts. May the Lord evermore lead and guide us to His pathway of righteousness for His name’s sake.

We have a Lord to serve, a church to build, and a world to reach. All who belong to the kingdom of Christ are to be about the Lord’s business. As Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, He testified to the reality of His heavenly, redemptive, eschatological kingdom. May all recognize the voice of the Lord and heed it faithfully and follow Him diligently in the strait and narrow way to eternal life.

While Jesus was progressing toward the cross to pay the debt of sin of sinners, Simon Peter kept driving himself deeper and deeper into the debt of sin. The contrast between Simon the sinner and Jesus the Savior is as stark as it can be. John intertwines the two stories of Jesus’ trial and Peter’s denial to showcase the golden thread of Jesus’ righteous character against the contrast of Simon Peter’s dark black thread of sin and unfaithfulness. John writes this story for our sake that we would deal with our sins honestly before the Lord and recognize the Lord Jesus alone as our Savior who can cleanse us and restore us from all our sin and condemnation.

Jesus selflessly gave Himself up for us, a profound truth vividly displayed in the scene of His arrest. In these eleven verses, John reveals how Jesus truly surrendered Himself for our salvation. His rejection of personal gain, self-preservation, and self-centeredness exposes our own selfishness, highlighting our need for the Savior and repentance. May the Holy Spirit guide us to behold Jesus’ glory in His self-sacrifice, repent of our sinfulness, and grow in grace.

John testifies of Jesus’ resurrection with three evidences of the empty tomb, His graveclothes, and His post-resurrection appearances. Jesus rose from the dead. The witnesses sealed their testimony with their own lives. What did Jesus convey to His people upon His resurrection? Not disappointment, displeasure, or condemnation for those who failed Him, but grace, pure, undeserved grace. He did this because He paid for their sins and He earned their peace with God through the cross. What’s more? He shares life with those who are one with Him. He invites them into a vital connection with their heavenly Father that they, too, might taste of the kindness of the Lord and their souls be satisfied with God.

Jesus prays regarding two kinds of glory. He speaks of glory in the present age for His people’s sanctification. God’s elect grow in conformity to Him as they behold His glory in Christ. Jesus also prays for future glory, that His people behold His full, divine, eternal glory in heaven. We are to behold the glory of God now for our sanctification and the glory of God in the future for our glorification.

Jesus concludes His prayer with love and glory. Love is the focus of this sermon. The Lord prays that we would come to experientially know (taste) of the Father’s special love. This is the special love of the Father like His love toward His only begotten Son. Like that love, the Father loved His elect from eternity past and “in love predestined us to adoption as sons.” This is the love which Jesus wants us to savor. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us more and more of this awesome love of God.

Jesus’ prayer reflects the heart of God that seeks salvation blessing for the world. Jesus sees the church as the vehicle by which the elect of God worldwide will come to faith in Him unto salvation. In this first installment on a two part sermon, we explore the facets of the church, our mission, our godliness, and the special love of God toward the elect (next sermon).