How Jesus really loved

For people who really want to know God’s Word, we have to let the Word speak for itself and not the traditions we have been led to believe. How often we see pictures of this beautiful man they call Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head and a trickle of blood running down his face. According to God’s Word that is not true. A True picture of him after being beaten before he was dragged to be nailed on the cross would make a person sick to their stomach. He was so badly beaten and tortured that God’s Word says you couldn’t tell who or what he was. He looked like a piece of grounded up meat, unrecognizable. He was a man; he was a human like you and me. He wasn’t a puppet, or a clone or some strange person who didn’t feel, cry or hurt. He was a man; the difference with him was that he had pure blood, perfect soul life. God created the seed in Mary; he was a man yet without sin. Yet I was raised to think that Jesus didn’t get hurt too bad, the pictures I saw of him were beautiful enough to hang on my wall. Next week I am going to teach on the cross that Jesus Christ bore. Once again we have these pictures showing this man hunched over carrying this great big huge wooden cross. The wooden cross cannot do anything for anyone except be a good source of wood for your fire pit, other than that it causes splinters. He didn’t carry a wooden cross; he never touched the cross until they hammered him onto it. The cross he carried was for our sins, condemnation, sickness and so much more. We will cover more details of that next weekend. What I really want to focus on today is the heart and love Jesus displayed up and into the final hour before they dragged him away to be severely beaten for 40 hours.` Throughout my life I was never taught how loved I was by God and never was I taught all my sins are forgiven. I truly thank God for his Word and I am grateful to have been taught how to separate truth from error. What does religion teach verses what does the bible say.
There are several days of preparations that people must perform before the Passover is to take place. I am going to briefly explain the Passover and why it was given by God to perform. You need to have some background on this subject so you can get the full impact on what Jesus was doing before he was lead away to be crucified.

Joseph had brought his father; his father’s name was Israel, and his eleven brothers with their families to Egypt. There was a great famine in Canaan where they had come from. Many years later, Israel, Joseph and his brothers had all died. As did the king. Throughout the years the number of children increased greatly. The Egyptians had become threatened by the children of Israel and made slaves of them. God chose Moses to lead them out of bondage and back to the Promised Land. Moses had repeatedly asked the Pharaoh of Egypt to let the people of Israel depart from his land. The Pharaoh was extremely stubborn and refused. As a result of his refusal a series of plagues fell on Egypt. The tenth and final plague was the angel of death. It was called the destroyer. It has passed through the entire land of Egypt and killed the firstborn of every household, both humans and animals. To provide the children of Israel protection, God instructed the people to sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the two side doorposts of the house and on the upper doorpost, called a lintel. The destroyer, upon seeing the blood, had to "pass over" that house and could not destroy its firstborn. The sacrificial lamb was called the "Passover "lamb. Read Exodus 12;1,7-13,21-27. I do not have the space to write it all out for you. Throughout these scriptures, God is explaining all the details that must be performed. Two significant aspects of this Passover lamb; its flesh and its blood. The flesh was to be roasted and eaten. In eating the lamb’s flesh the believing children of Israel were in reality eating physical health to themselves. While partaking of the flesh of the lamb, it brought health to the people. The sprinkling of the blood of the lamb was also significant. It was the lamb’s blood sprinkled on the lintels and doorposts which caused the destroyer to pass over them, sparing them. The shedding of the blood was an atonement or covering for their sins and consequences of their sins. Read Leviticus 17;11 and Hebrews 9;22. The lamb was a male of the first year, without spot and without blemish. Its blood was put into a basin and then hyssop was dipped into the blood and used to strike the blood across the lintels and doorposts. The flesh of the lamb was roasted and eaten along with bitter herbs. This was the first meal of the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread. In the killing of the sacrificial lamb, no bone was to be broken. If you will remember that when Jesus was on the cross, none of his bones were broken. Shortly before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, God instructed Moses to declare unto them all the procedures necessary for the Passovers. There were some changes made. Read Deuteronomy 16;4-7,16. Some of the changes that were made, was the lamb was to be killed outside the gates of the city, the lamb was to be killed, roasted, and eaten at the

place God would choose to place His name. The area was Jerusalem, the city where the Temple was located. Now you have a small basic idea about the Passover. We know that Jesus Christ was our perfect Passover. He was sacrificed for us; he totally fulfilled the law that was established by Moses. Jesus was without spot and blemish, he was without sin. He saved our lives by his blood, every one of our sins are forgiven. People will remind you of your wrong, but not God. Jesus Christ died that we might have life and health. I will give more details about Jesus Christ being our total perfect sacrifice when I teach about the cross he carried next week.

Now, we are the time where it is getting closer to the Passover. Jesus at this time is being sought out to be killed. He has become America’s number one public enemy. The chief priests, Pharisees, all of the top rulers have come together in wanting him killed. They hated him; he embarrassed them in front of multitudes of people with his flawless wisdom. The anger they felt in their hearts towards him had no bounds. Time and time again they conspired on how they might kill him. Also during this time, Judas’s life was mixed with frustration. He had allowed Satan to fill his heart with anger and internal confusion to the max. Judas had been reproved from Jesus a couple of times and he had resentment towards Jesus. The Word clearly states Satan filled his heart and because of the impulses of his emotions he made arrangements to betray him.

Luke 22 1Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.

2And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.

3Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

4And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

5And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. (Covenanted means the amount they agreed upon to pay)

It says the chief priests and captains were glad that Judas conspired with them. They have been frantically trying to frame Jesus and condemn him to death, and now they had Judas’s help. They offered Judas 30 pieces of silver. See Matthew 26;13-14. That was the mere price in the East to free a slave. That was the price of betrayal of our Savior of the world. The 30 pieces of silver came out of the temple treasury. Treasury money came from the tithes of people. It was mainly used to buy things for sacrifices and offerings.

Jesus himself had wanted to participate in the Passover; several days are involved in planning and preparation.

Mathew 26;17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?

18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Also read Mark 14;12-16 Jesus expressed to eat the Passover with them.

Over and over again Jesus expressed his desire to eat the Passover with his disciples before his sufferings. He saw to it that arrangements were being made. Between the time Jesus sent peter and John into Jerusalem to make preparations and the time they ate the last supper, God by revelation revealed to Jesus when he would die. He now knew that he would not be alive to eat the Passover with them. Following the last supper began to unfold the most harrowing hours any human had ever experienced in their life. We are not going to cover that in this teaching.

John 13;1Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;

3Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

He now knows his hour is come. What would you be doing if you knew your final hours in life were about to end? Can you imagine the mental pressure and deep thoughts you would have? Would you want to be around many people? My answer is no. Now it is down to the final hours in Jesus’ life and he is going to show them how to love by serving. By his own demonstration, he is teaching them the most important of all acts to live by and that is how to love. Even more important, we are told to love our enemies. If Jesus can do it, we can do it. It took someone to love me, and I was not a lovable person. It took someone to see beyond my ugly behavior and love me. The only way God can get into a person’s heart is through a person to love for him.

In the East if someone betrayed you after you fed them and the food had salt in it, it was considered unforgivable. The sop Jesus gave to Judas was salted. A salt covenant meant you would be committed to honor and protect that person even if it meant giving up your own life. It was given to only special people in your life. That last summer had some tremendous principals of love in it. Jesus was now about to break all traditions in the Eastern Culture, he washed his disciples feet, and Judas was one of them and he is about to wash his feet. To note, in the East the lowliest bond slave, the son of a bondslave, was responsible to wash the feet of his master’s family or guests anytime they entered the house. Even if it happened 50 times a day. Occasionally when a person of high rank visited the home, only the head of the house was allowed to wash his guest’s feet. This was a very high compliment for a man to give a guest. Jesus did this humble task and set an example of love, service and humility.

4He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

5After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. The towel was a linen cloth. Jesus would, as a servant, tie this about his waist and use the ends of it for wiping the disciple’s feet. The verb "wash" is the Greek word nipto, meaning "to wash one part of the body.

Another great point is being made here by him washing his disciples feet, which brakes their traditional custom is that these were lowly men and not worthy of being treated like royalty, and they knew it. But this shows the extent of God’s love for us. Read the next scripture as this bothered Peter.

6Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

8Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter who loved and respected Jesus could not accept the humility from his master. But, Jesus reproved him, if he did not wash Peter’s feet, then Peter could not share in Jesus’ work.

9Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

10Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. Basically he is saying you as a group are free from impurity, but not all of them.

11For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

12So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

These are examples our Lord demonstrated for us to do. Down to his last remaining hours he is teaching people how to serve in love.

16Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

17If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

This is an example that we should do as he has done. It’s not a matter of washing ones feet; it could be doing a menial task for someone. God is not a respecter of persons; we don’t put others in high esteem over other people of low degree. We love the un-lovable. Look what Jesus was doing down to the end of his life, he was giving and so loving. He treated them like royalty. A servant isn’t greater than his master. An employer isn’t greater than his employees. Yet people with a title act like it. People who have a little more sonority act like it. It’s not so in God’s eyes, he loves us so much, Jesus loved us so much, that we ought to love others like he did. If you haven’t been, now you can. I was not worthy to be called of God, yet he did it. Jesus loved to such a degree he gave his life. Sometimes this just doesn’t sink into my head. I have never been loved like that before. None of us have. But thank God we were loved and now we are able to love and serve others, we need to, there’s a lot of hungry people in the world. God bless you, remain thankful for what Jesus Christ did for us, and how he gave an example for us to live by. Amen