The Apostle John's life exemplifies a profound spirit of devotion to Jesus Christ, characterized by intimacy, dependence, and a willingness to learn. The sermon highlights John's close relationship with Jesus, evidenced by his position leaning on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper and his role in caring for Mary after Jesus' crucifixion. The core lesson is that such deep devotion, though it may lead to suffering, is highly valued by Christ and results in a deeper understanding of His will. Ultimately, the message encourages believers to cultivate a similar closeness and unwavering commitment to Jesus, mirroring John's example.
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thanks for you of the Lord Jesus so willingly suffered all of these things, of which we have been so pointedly reminded in this lovely message in song. We thank you for any making which our hearts appreciate what you have done for us. And we ask that as we spend a little time together in thy word now, our love for the Lord Jesus shall be akin to the love that John, the Apostle the Elder, sent about during these days, had for his master. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now we deliberately made tonight a little more informal so you could sing some of your favorites. And I wanted the choir to sing to you. I'm not very often here now on Sunday nights or Sunday during the day at all. I thought we shouldn't miss the opportunity tonight, and I'm going to continue to be informal this evening. I wonder how many men we have in the congregation named John. It may be a first name, it may be a second name. How many John's do we have in the meeting? Would you please stand up so we can see you? We'd like to show how much we appreciate you.
Did you hear what John on the front row said? Please don't compare this with the Apostle. Thank you very much. I knew it doesn't matter what congregation I might have asked that of, I would have had several people stand up as bearing the name John. Now, that is interesting because I wonder how many of those John's know what the name means. Now, I won't ask you because I don't want to embarrass you. If you don't know, your wife knows, of course, but it means Jehovah hath been gracious. And I think it's very wonderful when a mother gives her baby boy the name John because she realizes what it means and feels that in the gift of that little boy, God hath indeed been gracious.
Now I wonder how many John's you can think of in the New Testament. There's this one. Would you like to make some suggestions? There's more than this one. John Mark. That's right. I wonder what you remember about John Mark. Well, I won't ask you to tell me at this point, but I know that when you want to think of someone who put his hand to the plow and then turned back, Immediately a little red luck comes on and John Mark's name comes to mind. But please remember that later on Paul said, bring him, he's profitable for the ministry.
So that John learned from his own mistake. So we have two. Are there any others? John the Baptist, that's right. I knew you'd come up with that one. That's three. Can anybody else think of another one? All right, now then, which John is that? That's the one we're going to be talking about. That's this John. So beside him, we have John the Baptist. We have John Mark. Now, there were actually two others, and you might like to look for them. One was a relative of the High Priest. You can see, you can find him somewhere in the New Testament. And can you remember what Peter's other names were?
Simon, what? The... Jonah. So Peter's father was also named John. He was Peter, the son of John, or Jonah. That's the same name. So there are at least five John's in the New Testament. And at some point it might be interesting to take those five and make some comparisons. I think we could just learn some very real lessons from each of those men. So one of them we don't know very much about at all. And maybe that would be a lesson in itself. Now our subject, of course, is John the Apostle, one of the sons of thunder and so on.
And we're going to take the five mentions of him with this expression, the disciple whom Jesus loved. We find that five times. We're going to look at them in a moment or two. And using those five expressions and the stories that surround them, we're going to try to get a little insight into John's character, his strong points and also his weak points. God is very faithful, you know, and although he brings before us many heroes throughout the Word of God, yet he does not hesitate from time to time to point out the fact that they have their weaknesses.
and their times have failed, and even David, who was called a man after God's own heart with a man whose sin is glaringly exposed in the word of God. God doesn't blot it over. So everything that we're going to learn about John or be reminded about concerning John isn't good. Now, to which period did this John belong? Jerome, one of the... The early fathers tells us that he died in AD-N-N-N-N-E-N-N-E-N-N-EA-D-N-N-E. As a twelve, I suppose that John was the youngest apostle, and he outlived all the rest.
Now he bears a very real relation to the, or relationship to the Scripture. We find a lot about him in the Gospels. We find quite a bit about him in the Acts. For instance, we know, according to chapter three, that he went with Peter up into the temple to pray. We know that in chapter four he was bold when he was brought before the council, and we find him eventually in Samaria establishing the believers there in chapter eight. That's the book of the Acts. In Galatians, he is called a pillar of the church.
Chapter two and verse nine, I think it is. From his ten we have a number of New Testament books. The first one that he wrote was the book of the Revelation. He thought that was the last one? Well, it was, it was the first one, and he wrote it about AD sixty-nine. And not until very, very close to his death did he write the book of the Revelation. and his three epistles, and, or rather, the Gospel and the Epistles. The book of the Revelation, he wrote twenty-five or twenty-six years earlier than he wrote the Gospel and the three epistles.
Now, his place in the church, revealed in Galatians, as I've already said, was that of a pillar. He was very, very important to God. in his ministry in the church. In fact, one of the commentators, a Frenchman by the name of Godet, put it this way, he said that Peter formed the church, Paul emancipated the church, and John established it. I suppose the idea here is that Peter established the beachhead, Paul went in and overrode the opposition, and then John came along and consolidated the game.
And so working together, together with God, each man did his job, and the Church of Christ stands today as testimony to the way that they did their work. Now we'll return to John chapter thirteen, and let's just look at these five mentions of the disciples whom Jesus loved. John thirteen and verse twenty-one. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was, leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast said unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a stop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the stop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Now turn to chapter nineteen. John chapter nineteen. And the verse twenty-five. John nineteen and twenty-five. Now they stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son, then said he to the disciple, Behold thy mother.
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. And if I chose a title for the five studies, I would call it the disciple standing by. All right, so here we have the second mention of that phrase. Now look at the next chapter. Chapter twenty. Verse one. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeth a stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she runeth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin. that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself, then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed.
Now turn to the next chapter, chapter twenty-one, and observe verse seven. You know the story here, verse four says, When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, no. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved... step unto Peter, it is the Lord.
Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded his vicious coat under him, for he was naked and detached himself into the street. And finally in verse twenty, after the Lord Jesus has revealed to Peter that he is going to live to be an old man, But in the end you will be taken out, and put to death, die a martyr's death. Peter, verse twenty, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved forward, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee.
Peter seeing him says to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? Jesus says unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Notice what followed. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die, but, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifies of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
Now you might like at your leisure to take these five instances and go over them again, and maybe again, and possibly yet again, because the stories they're reading... as we dwell upon one after the other. Now there are five things I'm going to suggest to you that we shall be brought face to face with as we look at these five instances of the use of the phrase. We'll have first of all in chapter thirteen what I want to call his spirit of devotion. There was leaning upon Jesus Christ.
a disciple whom Jesus loved, his spirit of devotion. When we come to verse two, chapter nineteen, where the Lord Jesus says, Woman, behold thy son, son, behold thy mother, and from that hour John took her to his own home, we had his sense of beauty. It was not enough for John that he should seek from a distance to look after the mother of the Lord Jesus, but instead he insisted, in order to carry out his task for the master as well as he could in taking her to his own home from that day forth.
So here we have his sense of beauty. When we come to chapter twenty, where again the apostle, and this time with Peter, His approach, under strange circumstances, he goes running to the tomb, he outruns Peter, he was the younger man, he looks down into the tomb, and eventually follows Peter into the tomb, and what he sees persuades him from that moment on that Jesus Christ is indeed risen from the dead. He saw the linen clothes lie, and seeing, he believed. Now this I want to call his stability under duress.
There was a lot of pressure brought to bear upon the apostles during this time of having their master snatched violently from them, suddenly finding themselves not knowing what a day is going to produce. But here immediately after the resurrection we find John fastening onto this truth and laying hold of it. in a brand new way, his stability under duress. Now in spite of the fact that he was a stable individual, and it is indicated in the chapter we just mentioned, when we come to chapter twenty one, where Peter upsets the apple cart by saying, I go fishing, and the other disciples say, we also go with you, John is there, and there's a reason for it, and we'll come to it eventually.
I want to call it his surrender to discouragement. Even John, who leaned on Jesus' breath, was so much like us that, in spite of the fact that all discouragement comes from the devil, he got discouraged. Now, the last thing... I want to call his skill in discernment. For when Peter asked the Lord what was going to happen to John and the Lord said, if he carries till I come, what is that to bring? Just you follow me. And the other disciple said, John isn't going to die.
John writing about it says, that's not what the Lord Jesus said. But instead he said, if I do, but he carries till I come, what is that to bring? So here we have his skill. in discernment. Five things that we're going to consider during these five nights. First of all, then, here's spirit of devotion, and we certainly should be able to learn some valuable lessons here. There was leaning on Jesus' bosom. Now, John, at one and the self-same time, was, at this particular instant, a loving disciple.
and a leaning disciple, and a learning disciple. Now the reason why, to begin with, he laid his head upon the breast of the Lord Jesus, was because his master meant so much to him that he wanted to be as close as he possibly could. John's heart, I believe, constantly longed for a proximity to the Lord Jesus. And the reason why none of the other apostles sought to displace him was because undoubtedly it had become the accepted thing. This was what John always thought, and the master didn't deter him.
There isn't a more precious place in this, you know. The place of close proximity to the Lord Jesus, the place of intimacy with the head upon his breath. Now that's the privilege that is given to every believer. The Lord Jesus constantly makes himself available to us. The Lord Jesus continually lays hold of our hands and holds us close. But you know so often we become taken up with the things that are going on around us, distracted by the thousand and one things that the devil brings across our path.
to try to destroy or to undermine that intimacy, but we miss the opportunity of laying our heads upon his breast. Do you remember in the Song of Solomon when the beloved came to the door and put his hand in the hole of the door, indicating his desire for communion and fellowship with the bride? She already has put up her coat, she's washed her feet, She's anointed herself with perfume. She's laid down to rest. And while she's trying to make up her mind to soil her feet by crossing the floor, while she's trying to determine whether or not at this point she'll open the door to him.
He withdraws, and he leaves. And I think that sometimes to our own different cuss, this is what happens to us. We're not as concerned as we should be about loving the Lord Jesus and openly loving the Lord Jesus and seeking him out in order to tell him how much we love him. Do you know why we appreciate a service such as we began the day we're here today? It's because it's the only service when we come together specifically to give to the Lord Jesus. And it's a precious meeting to us when we are conscious of having had that privilege.
The strange thing about it is that we find it impossible to give to him without getting from him. John learned it was a wondrous thing, a blessed thing, to love the Lord Jesus so much that he wanted to lay his head on his breast. I've said to some of you before, and I know I'm repeating myself here, but go back a few years when your boys and girls were running around your seats and recall how that the occasion would come, when one of them would tug your skirt and look up and say, Mommy, I love you. And then immediately the good human man's bell would sound outside and you would look down with a sort of smile and fork out...
I guess it was only a nickel, then, and off the child would run, having gotten on your soft side. For I'd said before we would all of us have been very distressed, Terrence, that the only time our children ever said, Mommy or Daddy, I love you, was when they wanted something from us. But there were times, and they were precious ones, that they were all running around and putting away the toys and the busyness that a child brings so worthwhile, when sleepily, The child would climb up on your knee, put an arm around your neck, and look up into your face and say, Mommy, I do love you. And God is like that.
God is like that. The Lord Jesus is like that. He waits for those precious moments when we come aside and say, Lord, I didn't come to ask you for a thing. I just came because I'll burst if I don't. To tell you that I love you. John at this point was a loving disciple, and nothing matters to the Lord Jesus as much as that. Because he was a loving disciple, he was a leaning disciple. He not only placed his head on the breast of the Lord Jesus, but he followed it with his whole weight. He loomed on the bosom of the Lord Jesus. He was a very dependent disciple.
And the Lord Jesus didn't hesitate to bear his weight. And doesn't that teach you a lesson or emphasize one that you've learned before? Says the New Testament, casting all your care upon him for his errands, for you. But you know what we do? We cast our care upon him, and then immediately we take it back again. That's the strange way that we act. instead of abandoning it, abandoning it, and leaning hard upon him, and allowing him to carry the weight. And because he was a loving and a leaning apostle, he became a learning apostle.
When Peter wanted to know something, it was to Johnny Turn and said, Ask the Master. He'll answer you. When we are close to the Lord Jesus, that's when we learn his innermost secret. That's when he makes known to us his mind. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved him. And one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus loved him so much was because John seemed automatically to return that love and want to express it. Now this spirit of devotion, there are three simple things about it.
First of all, as I read his history, it seems to me it was evidently a part of his character. Why, as we study the life of John, we find out that he was, as time went by, devoted in a number of different areas. I'm going to mention briefly just four of them. That his spirit of devotion was not only evidently a part of his character. Here's a second thing. it was directly instrumental in his suffering. Because he loved the Lord Jesus so much and refused to deny him, he was called upon to suffer because of that devotion.
And here is a third thought. That spirit of devotion was certainly appreciated by his master, and I think it's quite easy to prove that. And what do I mean when I say that a spirit of devotion was evidently part of his character? Well, when we early meet John, and as we go on and read through the story of his walking with the Lord Jesus and of the cross and the resurrection and so on, it becomes apparent that this man knew devotion to his own religion. You know, John came from a rather influential family. If you read in Mark chapter one, where the Lord Jesus is calling his disciples, when he calls John and James, these leave their father and the hired servants in the boat.
He came from a family that had hired servants. He came from an influential family. He also must have come from an Orthodox family because He was known, the Bible says, to the high priest. John chapter eighteen tells us that the high priest knew him. And more than that, it is obvious that he had the privilege of coming and going into the house of the high priest. Because when Peter couldn't get in, it was John who went out from the inside and brought him in. And it's very significant to me that when we read the accounts elsewhere of Gethsemane, and of Peter taking out a sword and smiting off the ear of the servant of the high priest, it's only John who gives his name.
John calls him Malchus because he knew him well. He was a man who was devoted to his religion. Eventually, he became devoted to John the Baptist. And this is interesting because John the Baptist was related to the Lord Jesus. And I believe that this John also was related to the Lord Jesus, and so was related to John the Baptist. And yet there is no air of familiarity about him in his feelings either with John the Baptist. or with his master.
I think that says something about the Apostle John. But you will find that when John the Baptist is not preaching, when he's going up alone, there are two disciples following him. One is Andrew. You read about this in John. The other is an unnamed disciple. But how did he know about it? How did John know about it? because I believe he was the unknown disciple there. And he is following, along with Andrew, this man whose message has gripped his heart. What was the message of John the Baptist?
Well, I'm sure that you know he was the forerunner for the Lord Jesus. And there was something about John the Baptist's message that gripped the heart of John so that even after his preaching was over for the day, John followed him. already attracted to him, and very soon became, or began to manifest, the same spirit of attachment or devotion to John the Baptist. Again, we find, as we go on, that his devotion to his religion, followed as it was, by his devotion to John the Baptist, was followed by his devotion to the Lord Jesus.
which, of course, eclipse all of the others. He was devoted to the person of the Lord Jesus. You read chapter one, I'd better not go into it, because I don't want to take up too much time. But you will find that from time to time John is hanging on to the words of the Lord Jesus, carrying behind when the others have left and so on. And if he not called in chapter nineteen the disciples standing by, what he said of all the others, they all forsook him and fled.
He was not only devoted to the person of the Lord Jesus, he was devoted to the work and service of the Lord Jesus. That's the reason why he landed eventually on the Isle of Patmos, whether he was Spanish. He was devoted to the work of the Lord Jesus. He was devoted to the word of the Lord Jesus, so much so that the Spirit of God used him to write the book of the Revelation, to write the Gospel of John, and to write those three very beautiful epistles. And when the Lord Jesus was violently taken from him, we find it is through Peter that this spirit of devotion is manifested.
And so we find Peter and John, Peter and John, Peter and John. It's obvious that a spirit of devotion was part of John's makeup or character. You know, he must have been a delightful person to know. A person who is marked by devotion and affection and a desire for fellowship is a very, very blessed kind of person to know. When you get into the book of the Acts, chapter four particularly, the disciples are challenged. John is one of them.
And they say, even though it costs us, we cannot keep our mouths closed. We cannot but speak. And so they speak out. And do you know what happens? Before the council, they are immediately taken and they are punished. And I think it's very striking, even before that, when the doorkeeper of the high priest's palace into which the Lord Jesus had been brought comes eventually to Peter and recognizes him, the doorkeeper says, Are thou not also one of his disciples?
Now that also indicates that the doorkeeper knew already of at least one. and he'd only been brought into contact with one. And that was John. And I believe it is because John had not given his affection and devotion to the Lord Jesus. He was willing to suffer rather than hide the fact that he belonged to Christ, and Christ belonged to him. I often wonder what would happen to the Church of God in America. If things began to take place, as well they might, if the Lord carries his coming, that have taken place in China, and that have taken place in Russia, and are still taking place in Russia, and that have happened in other lands.
There have been places where Christians have been massages. Down through history, there have been instances of the mass murders of the leader. Even in our own day and generation on some of the mission fields, terrible things have happened. Angola is one of those places. I wonder what would happen to us if these things began to get close to our own back doors. I wonder how many of us who are so vociferous now in asserting that we are Christians, when it's easy to do it, would be as willing...
as boldly and vociferously to admit our association with him, if it was going to mean our death. John faced that, and his spirit of devotion became directly instrumental in his suffering. He suffered because he was devoted and refused to deny the Lord Jesus. I wonder how many of you have ever read Fox's book of Martha. Would you put your hands up? Let me see. Very good. Although it was out of print for a long time, I think there has been a reprint, and you may well be able to see if we have it in the bookstore. If you haven't read it, then get hold of it, and you'll find that John was not the only one whose devotion became responsible directly for his suffering.
And he wasn't the only one who was willing to lay down his life. Now, we don't believe that John... was there some tradition that John did lay down his life as a martyr, but it doesn't seem to be too reliable a tradition that he can read in the Fox's book of martyrs, of those who lay down their lives being drowned, chained to space, being burned at the stake, being torn asunder on the rest. It has happened to this man. We need to ask ourselves how we would react. if any such prospect began to approach us.
Now, how do I know that this spirit of devotion, which was evidently part of his character, and which was directly and gently in his sufferings, was appreciated by his master? Let me suggest three things. In the first place, did he not allow him that intimate privilege of leaning on his bosom? Did he not accept John into an inner circle? And when from time to time the bulk of the twelve were on the outside, he took with him two Peter and James and John. So he was accepted into an inner circle where Magdalene's twelve was raised.
Most of the disciples were not there, but John was there. And the transfiguration, most of the disciples were not there. But John was there. In the Garden of Gethsemane, you will recall. John was there. In that intimate circle, you are a little closer to the Lord Jesus. And when he gave his prophetic discourse, the three inner circle disciples, John was there. So I know his devotion was appreciated by his martyrs. because he accepted him into an inner circle. And then finally, did he not entrust him with special tasks?
You know, when the Passover needed to be prepared, who did he send for that important separation, John? And when he was about to leave his mother, to whom did he entrust for? Mother, he said, Woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. That was a very, very special task. And the Lord Jesus knew that he had no disciple who could do it just as well as John because he didn't have a disciple with a greater spirit of devotion. May that same spirit characterize us.
Shall we bow? then we shall sit very quietly and ask ourselves some questions about these things. While the instrument is played, then our service will be over. Our Heavenly Father, we will ask not to compare the John's in the congregation with the Apostle John, and we know why. Because our... own hearts every one of us identify with that request. We see in this man John a very special kind of man, and yet we know that there is no reason why every one of us cannot become that kind of person.
If we will cultivate a closeness to the Lord Jesus, if we will cultivate an intimacy with the Christ of God, if we will determine whatever it costs us to get to know him better with every day that comes and goes, so we shall grow more like him, and be marked by the same wonderful things that marked this disciple of love. May it be so we are, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Oh you you