Just As I Have Loved You, You Should Love Each Other (John 13:31-38). A Sermon By Elise Beatrice · LFAS3 Church Podcast

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Just As I Have Loved You, You Should Love Each Other (John 13:31-38).

A Sermon By Elise Beatrice - Saturday 30 August 2025

Let’s pray.

Lord, we thank You, and we bless You. We love You, and we praise You.

We depend on You, on what You give us every day: Your teachings, Your provision, Your protection, Your love, Your guidance, Your unity, Your harmony, everything that comes from You. So, yes, Lord, take over and let Your Holy Spirit guide us. Thank You for what You’re giving us from the reading of today, Lord. Thank You so much for every single thing that You do for us. Thank You for everyone who’s listening, Lord, eager to do Your will and to come to You, so that they can enjoy Your ways.

Thank You for Your words, for Your sermon.

Lord, I trust You, and I depend on You. Thank You, Lord, for Your Holy Spirit who guides us. So, Lord, we love You, and we bless You. Thank You for hearing my prayer, in Your Holy Name, Lord Jesus. Amen.

We are reading John 13:31-38

John 13:31–38

"31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into His glory, and God will be glorified because of Him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son, He will soon give glory to the Son. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for Me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?”

And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with Me now, but you will follow Me later.”

37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.”

38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know Me."

Every time I read this passage, it makes me feel sad. I feel for the Lord.

How He must have felt, and how He feels now, when we today still do those kinds of things.

We have all been cowardly at one point in our lives, just like Simon Peter. We have all hurt the Lord at some point in our lives, whether it's just for a day, or a week, a month or years. But what is beautiful in this situation is not what we do, it is what our Lord does, it is how He is, who He is; such love beyond our comprehension. He loved us, and He came to this earth for us. And He did this for us.

Let's just remember what happened on that Cross.

We today were not there, but many were there who have seen it; the Apostles, all of them, have witnessed Him being bruised, brutalised, tortured, tormented, flogged, humiliated, false accusations thrown upon Him, mockery, all kinds of things thrown at Him. But He knew He would go through that, but He did not quit. Because if He did, that would mean He had given up on us.

He knew what was ahead of time, but He prepared Himself and came to do that beautiful thing, the most precious thing anyone can ever do for us; the greatest blessing of all, to give us Himself on the Cross, so that we can have Him and we can be His Father's children. That is the greatest blessing. The Greatest blessing we can have from Father God Almighty, is our Lord Himself. When we have Him, we have everything. But if we don't have Him, we have nothing, despite all the superficial riches.

He gave us beautiful things, divine riches by dying on the Cross. He did it beautifully, selflessly. He gave everything He had. He did it obediently for His Father and for us. And all that He commands of us is that we do our little part He gave us to do.

Yes, He gave us many Commandments, but He also gave us a New Commandment, which is that we be like Him; that we love each other. Just as He has loved us, we should love each other. And one of the things He is saying here, which touches my heart, is that 'Your love for one another will prove to the world that You are my disciples.'

So the question we must ask ourselves is, 'Can the world around us look at us and see that we are the disciples of Christ?'

Is the world around you looking at you and seeing that you are a disciple of the Lord?

The proof of being a disciple of Christ is to see His life reflected in us.

We looked at Him, and we saw love in His actions, in His eyes, in His hands, in everything He did, in the way He walked, love all over Him for us. Not selfish love, but caring love, protective love, divine love. Love that hates evil. Love so great beyond human comprehension; love so perfect. Love that casts out fear.

When we look at Him, we only see love. But are we loving each other as He has loved us?

How do we love each other as He has loved us? Simple. We just look at Him. How did He love us?

He loved us to the point of sacrificing Himself for us.

But how many times are we hearing one another saying to each other,

"That's not my problem. I don't care, it is your problem." How many times are we hearing when it comes to someone's suffering?

"I have enough of my troubles, I don't want to let someone else's problems become mine." Yet, we are a family; we are friends.

Are we a family of God? Are we the children of God? Are we the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ? Then, we should look at how He loved us. He loved us way beyond anyone else. He loved us so much to even tell us the truth, the truth that sets us free.

So how many people are spreading around here today, saying that they love each other, but they are hiding the truth that sets them free from one another. And for these reasons, they are finding themselves in the darkness, practising sins, some of them, even without knowing it is sin, because those around them, who know it is sin do not even tell them. There are many churches who tolerate sin, who watch their congregation sin, and they say nothing.

I have seen it with my own eyes for years, with leaders who do not correct, who do not rebuke their congregation when they sin, knowing that their unrepented sins could lead them into the darkness and cause them to be lost forever. Is that love? Love of Christ.

The Love of Christ doesn't mean being permissive with everything that is wrong around you, because you are afraid to offend someone. Do you think the truth that saves someone and rescues them from the darkness offends them? Some may not like the sound of the truth when they hear it, but that truth is what will save them; that truth from the Lord is what will save them. And if you bless someone with that truth, you have done for them more than those who surround them and tolerate their sins and help them to be relaxed in their sins. If you do one thing for that person to be set free by that truth of the Lord, you have loved them more than those who claim to love them, yet contribute to their eternal damnation by tolerating their sins.

Permissive spirits have filled up the churches. The Leaders see what is wrong and say nothing. That is not the Love of Christ.

Christ loved us so immensely to come to the Cross and to die there for us and to plead with us to hear the truth, His truth, His words, for they are indeed what sets us free from the lies of demons and satan, from false teachings. The truth of Christ sets humanity free from corruption and deception, from the darkness. The truth of the Lord Jesus saves lives and souls. But when the Lord is looking at you, can He say that You are His disciple? From the way you are with those around you, from the way you live according to His ways and do not compromise His teachings? From the way you love those around you, as He has loved us?

Galatians 6:1 says,

Galatians 6:1

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”

Luke 17:3, the Amplified Bible translation, says,

Luke 17:3

“Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God’s precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him.

So, please note that this 'warning solemnly' means 'rebuke'. When you warn someone, if they change, that means they have listened to your rebuke.

If the Lord did not plead with us to hear the truth, many would be lost forever. It was His truth that saved me; it was His truth that set me free in a world where most leaders have become so permissive. They're so relaxed with sins and let their congregations live comfortably in their sins.

Is that the Love of Christ? When people look from the outside, could they actually say, "Yes, these people truly love their Lord? Yes, these people are truly the disciples of Christ."

So, now, the Lord is pleading here; it is not really about being a coward.

Fear can cause us to do things that are not even us. But the Lord knows that those who fear when they did not really mean it, they will come to Him in repentance, like Simon Peter. He never meant to deny our Lord. He never meant to deny Him three times, and the Lord knew it, and the Lord forgave him and restored him three times. But this sin of tolerating sin in churches, and letting the churches be filled with permissive spirits, with evil spirits, that is a deadly sin in the eyes of the Lord. You are not loving your congregation by watching them do what is going against the Lord and saying nothing about it, or pretending that you did not see.

The truth of the Lord, what is beautiful, does not offend. Only those who love evil are offended by the truth. What saves cannot harm anyone. The truth is what fixes us; the truth of the Lord is what cancels all the lies.

So now, what the Lord commanded us to do is not too much.

'A new Commandment I give to you, "Love each other, just as I loved you. Your love for one another will prove to the world that You are my disciples."

The Lord pleaded in prayer in John 17 that we should live in such a way that we are one. Are we really one? But one in Christ, unity in Christ, are you, as each individual, fighting hard to do your part, so that we are 'one' like the Lord pleaded in His prayer in John 17? Are we really one when the churches are divided? You can come together for fellowship, and while you're there, you're all like you are together, but after it is finished, you're like perfect strangers; you don't know one another? You couldn't care less about someone you have just been fellowshipping with? Is that unity? Is that becoming one?

Are we not divided in our homes? Aren't parents divided with their children because of division in our own home?

There cannot be unity pleasing to the Lord where there is practice of sin, where it has become demons' playground. There cannot be unity in our homes or in our churches when we are not all on the same side and agreeing with one another; if we are not agreeing with one another, according to the ways of the Lord, the Lord Himself is not with us, and His Holy Spirit is not with us.

So, let us ask ourselves this question. Are we the disciples of Christ?

Are you a disciple of Christ?

Don't answer this question, judging from your own mind or your own judgment. Here are the Scriptures. Listen to what the Lord Jesus says.

There cannot be unity pleasing to the Lord where there is disobedience to God, to the words of the Lord Jesus. And every fellowship that you may do and come together and pretend like everything is fine when you couldn't really care about each other; it is not a fellowship pleasing to the Lord. The Lord is not even listening; He is not even watching.

So when the world looks at us, can they say, 'Those are truly the disciples of Christ?'

When we saw our Lord, when we saw Him, we knew that He loved His Father. But when people look at us, can they say, "They truly love the Lord Jesus, they truly love their God, they truly love God Almighty."

I pray that if we're not in places where these kinds of things are happening already, that we will begin, that you will begin to ensure that whoever looks at you, will be able to say, 'Yes, this person is truly a disciple of Christ,' not from the words that you speak, but from your actions, your faithfulness to the Lord, your obedience to the Lord, your refusal to contribute to the damnation of one soul, to the damnation of one creation of the Lord. Your devotion to the Lord shall testify that, your love for others and obedience to the Lord will testify that.

And if it is not so, then ask yourself if you're truly in the Lord or if you're truly a child of God.

I really pray that you will listen. I really pray that this sermon, this inspiration from the Lord, will not be ignored. The Lord is always blessing those who listen. May His will be done, and may His peace be with you, as you choose wisely.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your words.

Thank You for Your mercy; for Your beauty, Lord.

Thank You for Your grace; for Your salvation. Thank You for coming for us.

Thank You for Your Father who loved us so much to send You, and for You who loved us so much to agree with Your Father to come.

We thank You. And I pray that we will do our parts, that we will do our best to the point that, even if we're leaving this world now, today, we will say, 'Yes, we have done our parts, we have done our best, we have done our parts.'

Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings, for Your continuous blessings and Your willingness to forgive us and to help us, Lord. Thank You You are here to help those who are striving to listen to You daily. Those who are doing their part, You make things easy for them.

Thank You so much, Lord, for Your beauty, for Your perfection, Your holiness, Your faithfulness, and Your promise. Thank You that You are our hope and the greatest blessing of all. Lord, thank You; we love You, Lord.

Thank You for loving us. In Your holy Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.