John 13

When he was on earth he lay in the manger, now he sits in the throne; then he was hated and scorned of men, now he is adored of angels; then his name was reproached, now God has given him a name above every name (Philippians 2:9). Then he came in the form of a servant, and as a…

Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. God never repents of his electing love (John 13:1). He loved them to the end.

O what a hyperbole of love does Christ show in redeeming us! 9. That Christ's love in our redemption should be everlasting (John 13:1): having loved his own, he loved them to the end. As Christ's love is matchless, so it is endless: the flower of Christ's love is sweet, and that…

How came he to be a thief? Satan entered into him (John 13:27). The Devil is the great master-thief; he robbed us of our coat of innocency, and he persuades men to take up his trade: he tells men how bravely they shall live by thieving, and how they may catch an estate.

Christ knew his blood was never shed effectually and intentionally for Judas. In eating the Passover, Christ gave Judas a sop, which was a bit of unleavened bread dipped in a sauce made with bitter herbs; Judas having received the sop, went immediately out (John 13). But suppose…

Malice poisons the sacramental cup; men eat and drink their own damnation. Judas came to the Passover in malice, and after the sop Satan entered (John 13:27). 5. God has tied his mercy to this condition: if we do not forgive, neither will he forgive us (Matthew 6:15): "If you fo…

Thirdly, he is able indiscernably to communicate all his false reasonings (though never so spiritual) which he does forge and invent, and that in such a manner as to deceive us by them and to make them take with us. First, he is able not only to put into the heart suggestions an…

Answer. This is a mere forgery, and cannot be proved out of the word of God. The bag which Judas carried, doth prove the contrary; for, he was (as it were) the steward in Christ's family, who looked to their provision, and to their contribution to the poor: as may be seen, John…

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. God never takes off his love wholly from his people, 'tis Amicitia immortalis, John 13.1. He loved them to the end: God being such a friend he will make all things work for our good.

There be two wills in God, one whereby he determines what he will do to us or in us: the other, whereby he determines what we shall do to him: Now Predestination is the first: whereupon it is commonly defined to be the preparation of the blessing of God, whereby they are deliver…

The coherence (if observed) makes this forth clearly: for whereas in the verse immediately foregoing, he had commended their present state of faith by this, Whom [NOW] though you see not, yet believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and glorious. That [NOW] you see not (in this…

In this case, the Lord by a merciful dispensation is providing both for their safety, and your own easier passage to them. In removing your friends beforehand, he seems to say to you as he did to Peter (John 13:7), What I do you know not now, but hereafter you shall know it. The…

Make this use of it, because he is a friend that sits on the throne. — Secondly, observe that our Lord Jesus did not only become man, but a man in an exceeding low and afflicted condition; it had been much to the Son of God to have come in the shape of man, though he had been Em…

Here His soul-sufferings begin clearly to show themselves when there was no cross, nor suffering in His body, yet He is put to such a pinch, considered as man, that He is, in a manner, nonplussed, and put to say, "what shall I say" — the horror of that which was begun, and was f…

Not a love that falls to nothing by a consequent act of hatred, nor a love to which the hatred of reprobation may succeed every hour, and out of which we may be decourted; a love that puts the honor of sons on us (1 John 3:1). It is a saving and a pitying love (Isaiah 63:9); a l…

And these relations are they that do move Christ to continue his love to us. Jesus knowing that he was to depart out of this world, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13:1). And the reason thereof is put upon his relation to them; they wer…

Christ the Example of Ministers. John 13:15, 16. For I have given you an Example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily verily, I say unto you, The Servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent him.

Some are of a scrupulous spirit, that they make conscience of all things; and the devil hurries them into a large atheistical spirit, that they make conscience of nothing: how often have we known a fond scrupulosity to end in a profane licentiousness, when they have been wearied…

For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fish that they had taken. You find him at other times transported with a passion of excessive reverence or humility (John 13:8): Lord, you shall never wash my feet. With a passion of love, or pity to his Master…

I deny not but a carnal soul should retire himself into a corner, examine his state, fall down on his knees, and beg converting and pardoning grace; and thus they must acquaint themselves with God, that they may come before him; for unsound unconverted sinners have no right as c…

Christ after he had redeemed us, renewed us and made us his church: gave us no other law but the law of mutual love. (John 13) A new commandment give I to you, that you love together, etc. And to love is not (as the Popish Sophisters dream) to wish well one to another: but one t…

The like he does (2 Corinthians 12), I know a man taken up into the third heaven: that is, himself. And John says, the disciple that leaned on the breast of Christ, whom Christ loved, asked whom he meant (John 13:23). After this practice, we are to give praise to God, and to his…

Paul says, to will is present with me, but he addes, that he cannot doe the good he would. Christ says to all the Apostles, He that is washed and is all cleane, must still have his feete washed, Ioh. 13. 10. Therefore they are to be rebuked, that thinke there must be no want at…

Again, we must be warned to take heed that we deceive not ourselves, thinking it a sufficient matter that we have been baptized. For except Christ inwardly washes us by his spirit, we have no part in him (John 13:8). Circumcision (says Paul) avails not, unless you be a doer of t…

Answer: The commandment [You shall love your neighbor as yourself] does not prescribe that we must in the first place love ourselves, and then in the second love our neighbor: but it sets down the right manner of loving our neighbor, and that is, to love him, as heartily, and un…

Hence it follows, that true regeneration is that which is a reformation and change according to the whole law of God, and contains in it the seeds of all good duties. Christ says, He that is washed is all clean (John 13:10). Josiah turned to God according to the whole law.

For the Apostle says, As every man has received a gift, so let him minister it to others (1 Peter 4:10). This duty was practiced by our Savior Christ (John 13:12). And it meets with the sin of many, who having received great gifts and graces of the Spirit, are so far from restor…

Besides, it ought to be remembered that a comparison is here made between the greater and the less, as in that passage, If I, who am your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, much more ought you to perform this service to one another, (John 13:14.) And to give his life a rans…

Therefore says Saint Peter: You are all clean, and have your full righteousness, there now remains nothing for you, but that you stoutly fight against these wicked and naughty affections. And so also speaks Christ (John 13): He that is washed, needs not, saving only to wash his…

Matthew 18:6. 'Whoso shall offend one of these little ones, etc. Verse 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. Verse 14. It is not the Will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.' John 13:33. 'Little Children, yet a li…

Betwixt these two is the same difference, as betwixt the sight of the dis-jointed wheels and scattered pins of a Watch, and the sight of the whole united in one frame, and working in one orderly motion: or, betwixt an ignorant Spectators viewing some more observable vessel or jo…

Look over all the before mentioned Examples, and you shall see the blessed work of Conversion begun upon those souls, when they minded it no more, than Saul did a kingdom, that morning he went out to seek his Fathers Asses, 1 Sam 9. 3, 20. Providence might truly have said to you…

Now then (to apply this to the point in hand) a man is lead into temptation, when he is left of God to an evil motion suggested into his minde, so as hee gives consent unto it, and goes on to the practise of it. See this in Judas, Ioh. 13. 2. Satan cast this evil motion into his…

Now consider this well, if God had neuer indued man with grace, nor given him meanes to come by happinesse, and yet had beene excluded from all means of grace and happinesse, this indeed might have seemed hard; but considering that by creation he gaue man happinesse, and likewis…

Further, this commendation did agree to believers before Christ came in the flesh. And this love-assertion, "you are all fair," holds true of the Bride, in these four respects, 1. In respect of justification and absolution she is clean, though needing washing in other respects (…

There is added here a more express description of her posture: in this ascending, she is leaning on her beloved; that is, as they who are weak, make use of a staff, in climbing of a strait and steep ground, or ease themselves by leaning upon one that is strong, and especially on…

Thus (Genesis 19:2), the angels tell Lot, that they would not come into his house; but would abide in the street all night; yet upon his importunity and earnest entreaties, they went in with him. And thus Saint Peter, with some heat and vehemency of his humility, refused that Ch…

The end must be considered as first in order of nature, and then the means; and therefore we must conceive, that God having professed this end, had then as it were the means to choose; and the principal means that he pitched upon was this great work of redemption that we are spe…

This sacred Affection is a very good and distinguishing Note of true Grace, much spoken of as such, in Scripture, under the Name of The love of the Brethren, or brotherly Love; and is called by Christ, The receiving a righteous Man, in the Name of a righteous Man, and receiving…

None of these three Evangelists give us any Account of the Time when Judas went out: But John, who is vastly more particular as to what passed that Night, and is every where more exact as to the Order of Time than the other Evangelists, gives us an Account, and is very precise a…

(2.) When the methods of providence are dark and intricate, and we are quite at a loss what God is about to do with us, his way is in the sea and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known, clouds and darkness are round about him, a meek and quiet spirit acqui…

Be charitable to the poor, for we know the grace of our Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 8:9). Wash one another's feet, that is, stoop to the meanest offices of love, for Christ did so (John 13:14; Matthew 20:27-28). Doing all with lowliness of mind, for it is the same mind that was in…

Thirdly. He can inject and cast motions into the Mind, to close with those tempting objects; as it is said of Iudas, Joh. 13. 2. The Devil put it into his heart.

Christ having given himself to the soul, loves the soul; and the soul having given itself to Christ, loves him also. Christ loves his own; he loves them to the end, John 13:1. The saints love Christ; they love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, Ephesians 6:24.

The steadfastness and unchangeableness of his will, is the only cause thereof. Whom he loves, he loves to the end (John 13:1). His gifts and calling are without repentance (Romans 11:29).

6. The continuance of Christ's love was without date: Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. His love was constant (not by fits, now loving, then hating) and everlasting (never repenting thereof, never changing or altering his mind) — no provocations, no transgressions…

Contrary is hypocritical service: when servants have a heart, and a heart, making show of one heart outwardly, and have another, even a clean contrary heart within them. Such an one was Gehazi, who came in and stood before his master, as if he had performed some good service for…

Again, I might take Notice that in Matters which are Prophetical, both in the Old Testament and in the New, there are many dark Expressions, many Parables and hard Figures of Speech, which are made use of to express and convey some general and indistinct Ideas of future Events,…

Secondly, Not only our Sincerity towards God, but our Charity towards fellow-Christians is hereby put to the Trial, and Charity is the very Livery of the Disciples of Christ. Hereby shall all Men know that you are my Disciples if you love one another, John 13:35. The Lord has co…

It was this Love dwelling personally amongst Men, calls himself our Brother, and charges us to love all the Professors of the same Faith as Brethren. He requires that we should be ready to lay down our Lives for one another, as he did for us all: And orders it to be the distingu…