Well, good morning to everyone.
If you would open your Bibles with me to Paul's epistle to
Titus, Titus chapter three. It has been such a good weekend. Messages we've heard have just
been absolutely outstanding. Fellowship, the time we've had
together, I'm looking forward to hearing what the Lord has
for us today. Titus chapter three, we'll read
the first seven verses. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready
to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers,
but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. But we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy,
he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior, being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your infinite goodness and grace to your people in our Lord
Jesus Christ. It could only be by the obedience
of Christ, our Savior, by his sacrifice, by his precious blood,
that we could be made whole, cleansed, and righteous in thy
sight. How we thank you for your mercy and your grace. Salvation
for dead sinners could only come by the mercy and grace of God
Almighty. Father, we're thankful. Father,
we're thankful for this opportunity to meet together and to worship
thee, to sing praises to your name, and to hear your gospel
preached one more time. Father, we're thankful that today
is the day of salvation. Father, I beg of you that you
bless your word as it's preached. You promised that your word would
not return unto you void, that it would accomplish the purpose
whereunto you sent it. Father, we pray for a purpose,
your purpose of mercy and grace, your purpose of comforting and
edifying, instructing your people through the preaching of Christ
our Savior. Thank you for the messages we've heard so far Father,
I pray that you bless our brothers, Kevin and Chris, this morning,
that you bless them especially in preaching. Bless us in hearing. Father, all these things we ask
and we give thanks and praise through the name and the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for his glory and his sake
we pray. Amen. All right, Shawn, you come
lead us in singing a couple of hymns. If you would please get out your
red hymnal, stand, and we'll sing song number 127, Hallelujah
What a Savior. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Alleluia! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned He stood. sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was he. Atonement, can it be? Alleluia! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, in His
finished was His cry. Now in heaven exalted high, Alleluia! What a Savior! ? When He comes, our glorious
King ? All His ransomed home to bring ? Then anew this song
we'll sing ? Alleluia, what a Savior If you would please continue
standing and turn to song number 176, Break Thou the Bread of
Life. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. Be on the sacred page, I seek
thee, Lord. My spirit pats for thee, O living
Word. Bless thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me. As thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, then shall all bondage cease. All fetters fall, and
I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of
life, O Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
Thee above. Teach me to love thy truth, for
thou art love. O send the Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that he may touch my eyes and make me see. Show me the truth concealed within
thy Word, and in thy book revealed I see thee alone. Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious
Redeemer and Friend Who would have thought that a
lamb would rescue the souls of men? Oh, you rescued the souls
of men. Counselor, Comforter, Keeper,
Spirit we long to embrace. You gave us hope when our hearts
had hopelessly lost our way. Oh, we hopelessly lost our way. You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore. You gave us healing and grace
our hearts always hungered for. Oh, our hearts always hungered
for. Almighty Infinite Father Faithfully
loving the lost Here in our weakness you find us Falling before your
throne Oh, we're falling before your throne You are the one that
we praise You are the one we adore You gave us healing and
grace Our hearts always hungered for Oh, our hearts always hungered
for You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore. You gave us healing and grace
our hearts always hunger for. Oh, our hearts always hunger
for. Our first speaker this morning,
Pastor Kevin Thacker, San Diego Grace Fellowship. He's come a
long way. Kevin, it's been worth it. Preach
two outstanding messages. I pray the Lord bless you again
this morning. Many of you may not know, since
Kevin and Kimberly arrived in Kentucky, Kevin's been an old
time itinerant preacher. Kevin, all you need is one of
them big black hats and a horse, right? He preached Thursday night
in Pikeville, Kentucky, Friday, Saturday, Sunday here. And this
evening, Lord willing, he's going to preach at Todd's Road Grace
Church in Lexington. So Kevin, we pray for you this
morning as you accumulate travel and preach tonight. And he'll
be heading back home tomorrow to preach at home Wednesday.
So we're very thankful that you're here. Pray the Lord bless you,
brother. Thank you all for having me.
We've had such a good time and I just appreciate fellows in
the same ship. Enjoy your company and your time. We're thankful to be here. I
hope this morning I'm only going to quote Chris three times. That's
all. He said he got nervous the other
day. I was tore all to pieces. I'm young. I don't have the the
repertoire to fall back on some of these more seasoned fellows
do. If you will, let's open our Bibles to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. Many people read this passage
of Scripture in John 13 and they say, boy, this sure is a good
lesson in Christian humility. I'm like, it is. That's all we
walk away with. You got nothing. You missed Christ. Here in John 13, I'm going to
read our text, we're going to read the first 17 verses and
go back and look at it. John 13, verse one. Now, 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. and supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the father
had given all things into his hands and that he was come from
God and went to God, knowing that. Verse four, he rises from
supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. He wrapped it around him, tied
it tight. After that, he poured water into a basin and began
to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter,
and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus
answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter. I'm about to teach you something,
Peter. about to learn something. I want you to watch carefully.
Verse 8, Peter saith unto them, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head, you wash
all of them. Jesus saith unto him, He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. You don't need
a whole of you washed, just your feet, Peter. But it's clean every
whit. And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore he said, ye are not all clean. So after he had
washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down
again, he said unto them, Know ye what I've done to you? You
know what just happened? Well, I'll pray this morning
and He'll show us what just happened. You call me Master and Lord,
and you say, well, for I am. If I then, Lord and Master, have
washed your feet, He also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Barely, barely. The Lord God Almighty says, Truly,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know
these things, you know these things. Happy are ye if you do. Happy are ye if you do. It says there in verse 1. We know they're sitting in a
story teaching us to watch each other's feet, right? I'm thankful. Y'all don't want to watch my
feet. I don't want to assure you. We know that's not what
it is. First, once is now there before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that this hour has
come, his his hour was come that he should depart out of this
world under the father, having loved his own. Which were in
the world, he loved them unto the end, that our boys spoken
of often what Mary was at the wedding. Our Lord performed his
first miracle. She said. They don't have enough
wine, they ran out. He responded to his mother and
said, woman, what have I to do with him? Mine hour is not yet
come. That was what was ever on his mind. This hour Jesus
answered them and saying the hours comes where brother read
the other day that the son of man should be glorified. Our
glorification. He went on to say, now is my
soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this
hour. This hour he was speaking of,
does he need to pray that it doesn't come to pass? He said,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. It's a pivotal point. It's an important hour. And this
glorification, this exaltation, this completion of the work.
It was for the love of his own. Cross of Calvary. What was that?
A display of the love of His own. He said, having loved His
own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. He loved His own. That's why
this hour was purposed in that determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. In the purpose of the Father
and the love before time for His people, for His own. Cause
of the love for His own. That's not everyone without exception,
is it? We have verse 2, don't we? The Lord gave us that. It
says, in the supper being ended, the devil had now put into the
heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. It wasn't
for Judas, was it? It wasn't for Esau, was it? Page 3, that says, not for me
either. That's me, isn't it? Not everyone without exception.
It says, having. That's beforehand. Having loved his own in the world. That's those in those days that
was there around him. Those before him, wasn't it?
Abel, Abraham, Elijah, all of them. For those in his day and
for us in our day. And loved his own in this world
until that last one's loved. That last one's brought to know
him. He loves him to the end. What's that mean? Does he love
us to the end of our physical lives? He sure does. Does He
love us to the end of His physical life? Until He went to that cross?
Of course He did, yes. We were loved with everlasting
love. That's how we're called. That's how we're drawn to Him.
That everlasting love. We're set apart. We're purposed
to be in Christ by this love. A love without beginning and
a love without end. He loved His own to the end of
the work on that cross. Go read Matthew 27 sometime.
Read it slow, read it out loud, and then I ask you a question
at the end of it. How'd that make you feel? Reluctant. All the way there.
All the way into death. So the punishment was completely
given. The full wrath of God poured
out on him for all of his people. I can't imagine how much that
wrath is just for me. Every one of his children throughout time.
And that sacrifice, it was accepted. It was poured out until the father
was eternally satisfied completely. John tells us later in his life,
he said here in his love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us. Well, people brag about their
love for God, don't they? What did he tell us in John 1?
He said, came unto his own, his own received him not. That's
the Jews, right? Was I just begging him and hugging
him and washing his feet before he ever come to me. No, I was
at enmity with God. I was an enemy of God. He died
for the ungodly while we were still in our sins. That's when
he laid down his life. That's when he went to the cross for
me. I wasn't born yet. Born in enmity. Born in sin.
That hour was coming and that love he hath for, it's eternal,
hath for his own. It was Christ being the propitiation.
That atonement, that one, the bloody acceptable sacrifice.
That's what's coming in that hour. And this love for his own
Lord Jesus Christ is going to show his own. This act, this
act of love, this act of substitution, he's going to teach his people.
They're going to know about it. There he is. They will be taught
of God and he's going to reveal his love. His elect children,
he's going to do that happily and willingly. Willingly, just
as that condensation, he became what was made of man. Willingly,
he went to the cross. Willingly, he died. Willingly,
no man take my life. May I lay it down? Willingly. He was living for his people.
He was hanging on that cross for his own. His burial was for
his people, his resurrection. What's up, Mark? I am the resurrection. He's our intercession. It says
in verse three there, John 13, three, Jesus, knowing that the
father had given all things into his hands and that he was come
from God and went to God. Well, if you know that today
was the day you got four hours left on this earth and you're
going to be in glory, that's what that thief on the cross
has the most recorded assurance anybody ever lived. Today, you're
going to be in glory. If you knew you got just a couple
of hours left. Would you, boy, you know what? Let me go help
Frank move a chair. And I want to, I want to go,
go wash Vicky's car. No, I'm worried about me. I'm
on my father's, right? Are we the concern about washing
other people's feet? If we had the mind, the spirit
and faith of Christ, we would be. He did. Let's turn to Philippians
chapter two real quick. Philippians chapter two. Paul wrote to the church of Philippi
here in chapter 2, verse 5. He says, let this mind be in you,
which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Why is that lamb
provided? This lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Why is it worth so much? Why
is that blood so precious? Because it's the blood of God.
He is God. He's the almighty God in human
form. He came down and girded a towel
of flesh around him, came in a body. He put off his robe of
holiness, of righteousness with God in heaven and became a man
of no comeliness. He'd walk down the street and
we'd probably step to the other side of the street to walk around
him in our day. It says in verse seven, but he made himself of
no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. and was
made in the likeness of men. He willfully removed that holy
heavenly garment, guarded himself as a man, just like me and you,
as a servant, not just a man, a man that was a servant. Why?
Because he loved his own. And that hour coming was necessary.
It says in verse 8, and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Why did he have to die on that
cross? The wages of sin is death. For there's no blood, there's
no remission of sin. That's necessary. That hour is
necessary. He must come and bear his own.
Those he perfectly loved from everlasting to everlasting. And he's going to draw them near.
He's going to reveal that love of him, who he is to his people. Back in our text, he's going
to show us. John 13, look in verse 4. John 13, for he rises from supper,
laid aside his garments and took a tap and girded himself. After that, he poured water into
a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them
with the towel wherewith he was girded. Say what the custom was
in that day, the lowest ranking servant of the master, that family. guests come into that home, they
would wash the feet of everyone that come in. They'd go around,
they didn't have pavement and blacktop and concrete like we
do. They'd walk on their feet and get real dirty. Before they
come into the home, whoever was lowest on the pecking order,
they would wash the feet, clean them up good, and then they'd
go set the table and have dinner or whatever they was going to do. That was
an entry-level position. Years ago, I took out trash and
I cleaned toilets. That's where I started. That was the lowest servant.
That was the newest one. Here's Simon's house with their
meeting, having this supper. Simon didn't have no servants
to do that, did he? Who became the lowest ranking
one in the home? Christ did. Christ did. That's to show you and I, he
rose from the table he was setting with his father, the Holy Ghost,
and he laid aside his garments, and he put on the flesh of a
man. He girded himself in flesh, and he has a base in there. Just
like that trench around Elijah and in Prophets of Baal. He said,
you dig a trench around here. That blood and that water ain't
going to go just all over, is it? This basin, he ain't going
to have a water hose spraying everybody in a room. There's
a basin. This is individual. It ain't wasted. He's coming
one by one to each of them. It's not haphazard. There's a
fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And this
towel was girded. It was tied to him. Boy, I sat
and thought about that for a long time. How would you, if I had
to wash 10 people's feet, what would you do? I'd go get at least
five towels, maybe 10, 10 to keep them happy. And I'd wash
them, but that thing got dirty. Give me another one. Wash my
hands and I'm going to get another towel. This towel was tied to
it. That dust he was washing off
their feet. Off the disciples feet. It was
attached to his garment. It was attached to his body.
It was bound to Him. He bore it. All that dust was
carried on their feet. And now He carries it. It went
from them to Him. What's that dust? That's our
sin. Wet dust. It was mud. Miry clay. Man. Red dirt. That. For His own. For those there.
For His children. Cross bore. In his body, on a
tree, mud, our sin. Me. It didn't represent my mud. It was my mud. Lord God Almighty
looked at him, and my mud was his, and I was his cleanliness. That's what it was. You see, this is not just an
example of Christian humility. This is how men and women are
made justified and holy before a holy God. That's how it takes
place. Peter didn't see that at the time that we read this
and we don't see this at the time. Look at verse six and seven.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter and Peter saith unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now. Thou shalt know hereafter."
He said, Peter, you don't understand right now what I'm doing. You're
watching me wash their feet. I'm getting ready to tell you
what this is. In this life, you're going to understand a little
bit about what this is, but in that life to come, oh, we're
going to spend eternity talking about the same thing. You're
going to know it then. Peter yanked his feet back. He
touched my feet, Lord. I don't condone Peter questioning
the Lord. None of us ought to. We ought not to question the
Lord, but I understand it. I understand it. He knew who that was. Peter
knew that was Almighty God in the flesh, getting down like
a servant about to wash his feet. He said, Lord, I ought to be
washing your feet. That's what I ought to be doing. But I ought
to be like Eli. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. If we could have that obedience. If we could just wait on the
Lord. If we knew that we didn't know so much, I don't know what
I don't know. Think about that. There's so
much I don't know. I don't have a clue how much
that is. If we can just wait on Him. He knows. In this religious
world, they have answers for every little thing. I was asked
one time, a friend at work, he said, would you ever do a Q&A?
And I said, no, no, no. I said, my old job, we called
that stunt the chump. 95% of my answers are going to
be, I'm going to have to get back with you on that. Ain't
going to stick around too long, are they? I'm not playing that
game. We don't know much. It's like that blind man. I kept
asking him how, how, not who. All we have to know is who. I
have no person. I have no him. That's all I got
to know. Right now, we that know the Lord, we know him and we
do know him. There's so much more we don't
know. We see in part. We prophesy in part. We look
through that dim glass. But we grow in grace and knowledge
and understanding, don't we? He grows us. Grows us in grace.
And boy, ain't you glad that's a slow growth? I grew a lot when
I was a teenager. And it hurt. You ever been grow
in pain? Some of y'all remember that.
You kind of risk, well, maybe it was aching. You know, imagine
if that happened all in one day. Boy, you'd scream. Feel like
your bones was tearing apart, wouldn't you? I'm thankful the
Lord grows me slowly in grace. I couldn't bear it. I couldn't
bear my own sin, seeing what I am. I couldn't let my eyes
be blinded by His holiness. I'm glad He teaches us just as
a proper teacher ought to. Well, just like me, no different,
Peter's pretty headstrong in it. Look here in verse 8. Peter
saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Never. He said
that before, didn't he? He was resolute. He was adamant.
Peter always, he committed. Full commitment, didn't he? He
stood strong. He told the Lord before, he said, these others,
they're all going to forsake you. They might. I'll never forsake
you. Men claim this in many aspects
of religion. They say, oh, it's for the glory
of Christ. We've got to do our part for the glory of Christ.
We must serve. Have to. That's part of it. We
do serve. They say you must. They say they
must carry part of the load. We must bear the burden. We must
cleanse at least a couple toes of that foot. No, you must be
made one with Christ. He must be your surety a hundred
percent. That's what must happen. He must
save you from your sins. All of them. Outside of speaking
about our Lord and His promises, we declare the gospel. I should
not be so concrete and absolute in my words. I do that a lot.
And that's my vocabulary. I may say, I'm going to come
down, I'm going to be in Lexington tonight. Well, I might be in
Lexington tonight and I might not be. I ought to say if the Lord wills,
shouldn't I? But the promises of the Lord, those we can stand
on, can't we? He said never. Did you know that?
He said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. My nevers don't
matter. His does. That's what we need
to look at. He says in verse eight, Peter saith unto him,
Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered and said,
if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Notice he didn't
say, if I don't wash your feet. If I don't wash your feet, you
ain't no part of me. He said, if I don't wash you, thee, the whole of you. If I don't do all the work, you
ain't no part of me. Who does the washing? Christ
did the washing. What was washed? The totality
of me. All of me. What are his own washed
in? The blood of Lamb. His blood. In verse 9, it says, Simon Peter
saith unto him, Lord. He got it now, didn't he? The
Lord spoke to his heart. Lord, not only my feet, but also
my hands and my head. He said, wash all of them. You
know what he's saying there? Lord, you got to wash my feet. I have
a wicked walk in this world. Who's going to take care of my
wicked walk in this world? Christ is. Lord, my hands, all
my works, everything I touch is just Wicked. You've got to
wash me. It's dirty. Unclean. It ain't clean. You've got to
wash me. My head. Every thought. Every imagination
that goes through this brain. I sin while I sleep. I sin when
I don't know I'm sinning. You've got to wash that too.
Ever better. Hearing the gospel preached.
Hearing the person and the work of Christ. Who he is and what
he did in and for his people. What that blood is, what the
worth of that blood is. Hearing that, it doesn't make
a person say, you know what, I need to start walking the straight
and narrow. I need to get right. That's how we're going to get
that. No, no, no. When the spirit moves on a sinner in the heart
through the preaching of the word, the preaching of Christ, they
like Peter, they beg to be thoroughly and throughly washed. Not to
make others walk right. Not to make others not have dirt
on their feet. They beg me, Lord, wash me. Wash all of them. Love me and wash me. And he does this for his own. We still live in this world.
We're housed in this body of death. Don't quit. In verse 10 it says, Jesus says
unto him, he that is washed need not save to wash his feet but
as every quick clean." That can be kind of hard to read. My pastor
used to say, I want to help you if you let me. I've experienced
this. The Lord sent me halfway around
the world to know what this means. I want to tell you about it.
He's saying there, he that's washed, if you're washed head,
feet, hands, the whole of you, you don't need to be washed again.
You just need your feet cleaned. That's it. I was on the other
side of the world and I had to walk a couple hundred meters,
a couple hundred yards to go to a shower. And so I'd put my
flip flops on and I'd go walking to go shower. And I'd get every
bit clean. I'd be clean, clean, right? I'd
put my flip flops on and I'd walk back through all that sand
and dirt and rocks and everything else. And I'd get to my room.
My hair's clean. I smell good. My hands are clean.
My thighs are clean. Boy, my feet's dirty. So I sat
on the edge of the bed and I had to wipe my feet off and clean
them up real good and dry them again. And now I was clean all
over. Every time I went to go shower,
my feet got dirty. You bought by the blood of Christ, you are
every whit clean. Totally. Forever. But our feet still in this world.
I'm still in this body of death. I still walk around on this earth.
Our salvation, our eternal life is in Christ and it's right now.
But I still walk in this world. I know we're led by the Spirit.
We walk by faith. But our old man ain't dead yet.
I'm still housed in this body of death. And our Lord taught
us to pray about those things, didn't he? He said, Lord, lead
me not into temptation. Father, keep me from sinning.
Keep me out of the dust of this world. Does that mean it ain't
going to happen? He also told us to pray, too.
He said, forgive us our sins. Because I've walked in this world
all day. I've walked in this body. That old Puritan wrote,
he said, I wake up praying to the Lord. Every morning, keep
me from sinning. And I go to sleep every night
praying, Lord, forgive all the sin I did. We need mercies new every day.
We need our pure minds stirred, being reminded of that person
that is our salvation every day, not of this world. If I look at myself, boy, I'm
disappointed. If I were to look at the world,
I'm anxious. If I look at the past, I have regrets. If I look
at the future, I'm just troubled to death, ain't I? Where am I
looking? Not for Christ. I have no peace. Tore all to pieces. Troubled
waters. And I look to Him. Everything's fine, ain't it?
My leg hurts. You'll be all right. There He
is. Wrecked my car. That's all right.
The Lord sent that wreck, didn't He? We need mercies every day. And we need that to the end.
He said in verse three, Jesus, knowing that the father had given
all things into his hands and that he was come from God and
went to God. Oh, that didn't happen to me.
I was made here. He had no beginning and no end.
I was born here. But I know Christ came from God
because he is God. He's eternal. And his work on
my behalf and his work on the behalf of all his saints, all
his people put in him before time again. It's finished. There's
nothing to add to it. Nothing can be taken away from
that. It's forever. And when my appointed time comes, I'm
going to him. We just started working through
Genesis back home and looked at heaven. There in Genesis,
heaven's a capital H. Everybody wants to go to a place
called heaven. Very few people want to go to
a person called heaven. Heaven's wherever he is. That's
who I'm going to. I'm going to a person because
of what he did. and what He's promised to me,
what He's promised to His people, to you. That ain't to everyone,
but not all. We know He's speaking to Judas
here in verse 11. For He knew who should betray
Him, therefore He said, you're not all clean. I've learned a
lot from Judas the last couple of years. He took the Lord's supper. First
time he gave, Jesus was sittin' there with him. Jesus was sittin'
there and got his feet washed, didn't he? And he knew, we wonder. Boy, what a pitiful thing to
do. I wonder who the Lord's sheep are, who the goats are, and this
and that. Oh, that's a, don't go down that road. The Lord knew. He ate the bread and the wine.
The Lord knew that was Judas. He washed his feet, walked with
him, stayed in the same room, told him to go buy some groceries.
He's the Frederator. Why did the Spirit move on John
to say that twice to us? You're not all clean. They're
all washed, even Judas. It was showing us it wasn't the
physical washing that was miraculous. It wasn't nothing to do in this
body that can be physically done or that we can physically do
that saves us, that purifies us forever. That was given life. It was the Lord's person and
His work at Calvary. What was to come, what that typified,
what that represented is what it shows. Just as it is for you
and me. After all this work's done, Christ
is now on His throne in glory, isn't He? And we're informed
about it. The Holy Spirit comes to us and
tells us about it, doesn't He? They did this for Him, He shows
it. Look here in verse 12, this is precious. So after He had washed
their feet, all that sin that was me, This dirt, this mud,
it was laid on him. He made me clean. He became me. Sin there is a feminine noun. I find that just amazing. What's
a feminine noun? The bride. He was made me and
I was made him. That's what happened. He became
me. After he had washed their feet
and had taken his garments, he went and got his garments he
took off, put back on. Where'd that towel go? Where'd
that girded towel with all that mud, all that Kevin all over,
where'd it go? Far as the east is from the west.
Not to be remembered no more, it's blotted out, it's gone.
Plumb gone. He's wearing his robe of righteousness
one more time. He was set down in his rightful robe, seated
at the right hand of the Father, and he said unto them, Know ye
what I've done to you? Look what the Lord's done for you. Hours coming where you're going
to physically see this played out, these disciples, but he's
washed. Every week and daily, he washes
his people. Ever make an intercession for
his people. He says, I've forgiven you. We've turned. That's what
I've done. And he did it all. Multiple times
a day, we are told to forgive the trespasses of our brethren.
Poor Peter, he grew up under the law. He didn't know no better.
That's what he's used to. That's the language he spoke.
Forgive your brethren. How many times? Give me a number. I need rules even though I'm
free from the rules. It's a 70 times 7. I'd have got
a calculator. I said it one time and I got
the math wrong. I got to write that down in my notes, but 70
times 7. Forgive the sin of your brethren.
They got dust on their feet. You got dust on your feet. Take
a water hose. It's washed away. Let it go down the drain. Forget
about it. There'll be more tomorrow. Hope they forgive yours, right?
Look here in verse 13. You call me master and Lord, and you say,
well, for so I am. If then, if I then, your Lord
and master, have washed your feet, I've took the lowest position.
I have bore your sin. You also ought to wash one another's feet. We need to forget the sin
of those that Christ died for because, why? Because He forgot
them. He put them away. That towel's
gone. The dirt's gone, wherever it went clean. He forgot it,
we need to. Paul said, who can lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? My Bible, I got who underlined, and I wrote next
to it, even me. Does this apply if we're on a
deserted island? It does, doesn't it? The gospel don't change.
The cross doesn't change. This outward act that was performed,
this wasn't an ordinance. A few people do that. Pennsylvania
and stuff, they want to wash each other's feet. They always
do it sporadically, don't they? Every three months, every six
months, once a year or something like that. It's not every day.
It's every now and then. He says here in verse 50, for
I have given you an example that you should do as I have done
to you. Those who are his own, they've been washed in the blood.
They'll have a heart of forgiveness. They'll have a heart of mercy
because they've had mercy shown to them. They'll love because
they've been loved. They'll forgive because they've
been forgiven much. They will. And it's going to overflow. That
cup's going to run over it. There's so much. It's got to
come out of you. You can't help it. Verse 16 says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. Neither is he that is sent greater than he that
sent him. It's going to happen. I said the other night, you can
serve the Lord's people and not serve God, but you can't serve
God without serving His people. What's serving? Loving them,
forgiving them, washing that dust away, right? Merciful, patient,
long-suffering, kind. Put it away. It's gone. You have
to do it again tomorrow so you can get used to it. It won't
happen again. It says in verse 17, if you know
these things. When he asked him, he said, you
know what I've done for you? If you know that, if you know that
The cross died for your sins, for you, became you, made you
righteous forever. Therefore now no condemnation
between you and the holy God you offended. If you know those
things, oh, you're happy if you do them. Happy, willingly, just
as our servant, our high priest and our kinsman redeemer gladly
came to us, willingly went to that cross, we willingly do as
he did. Every time we give, We forgive,
we love, we're long-suffering. It's always because we know these
things. We walk not after this physical washing of the feet,
but we know that Christ washed us in the heart and we're happy
to do as He does. I pray He'd wash us today. If ever I've heard the gospel
I heard this morning, that was outstanding. I left my shoes
on, but Kevin, you washed my feet. Refreshed. You notice how he refreshed us.
Pointing us to the Christ. Preaching the first day of Christmas.
Oh, I'm so thankful. And we're gonna take a 15 minute
break. And for those of you that don't know me, I'm a little bit
time conscious. So 15 minutes. Let's rush back. Chris has got good news in our
country. I'm anxious to hear it. So let's
not take no more than 15 minutes, okay? When you hear the music,
start playing, come back, get your seat. All right.