Gracious Father, Lord, when we look at this picture
that You have given us in the Lord's Supper, this picture of
the death of Your dear Son who died as our sacrificial Lamb,
Lord, we become overwhelmed with Your love for us. And yet there
are those that don't see that love Could it be, dear Father,
that all of Your people might see the love of Christ today,
know by faith what You've given them in Christ, that they might
know that Christ died for them? Oh, dear Father, I pray that
You would enable me to preach Christ clearly today. Let me preach to people whose
hearts that You've prepared to receive the good news that Christ
died to save them, In Christ's name, Lord, we have
come to You. We've come to this Lord's Supper
table to worship. And in His name that we pray,
Amen. Open your Bibles, please, to
John chapter 13. In preparation for our coming
to the Lord's Supper table today, I'd like for you to look at the
first 17 verses. We read them with responsive
reading, the first 17 verses of John 13. It's my prayer that
the Spirit of God will show us the love of Christ as He prepared
His disciples for His death. I pray that you might know and
believe that Christ died for you. In verse 1 of John 13, it
says, 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 of course, believers see
that love best when they are made able to see that Christ
died for them on the cross as their substitute. This was the
fourth Passover that our Lord had kept. after he had entered
the public ministry. And it was the last one that
he kept because as 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7 says, for Christ our
Passover is sacrifice for us. Jesus Christ is our Passover. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God
which takes away the sin of the world. Like the Passover lamb,
the Lamb pictured, Jesus Christ died that we might be saved. So it seems to me that when we
see our Lord at this last Passover, so shortly, just a few hours
really away before His death on the cross, that what we are
looking at when we see Christ and at what He's doing for His
disciples was that He was preparing them for His death. And what
I notice too is that much that Christ does at this Passover
meal is a demonstration of His love. It's not the same demonstration
of love that He demonstrated on the cross, but nevertheless,
it is a marvelous demonstration of His love. Every Passover lamb
that was ever slain, beginning with that first night in Egypt
before the exodus, When God saw the blood of the Lamb over the
doors of those Jewish houses and He passed over them, up to
this last Passover, the one there in the upper room where Jesus
is sitting with His disciples, the last Passover, all of them,
every single Lamb that died, had been a type of Christ, the
Lamb of God. That's what each Passover Lamb
pictured. Jesus Christ dying on the cross.
But now that Christ had come and the true Lamb of God was
about to die, there was no longer any need for prophetic pictures
of His death. Because after this night, the
Lamb of God, which those lambs pictured, would die as our sacrifice
on a cross. But there is a need today that
we should be constantly reminded that Christ died. We need to
constantly be looking to Christ for all things, and especially
we need to remember that Christ died so that we might have life.
We need to remember that Christ went willingly to the cross to
die, and so that in obedience to His Father who sent Him to
save His people. But remember, remember the love
that you see. If you're a believer, you see
the love of God as He died for you on that cross. How could you not love a man
who would willingly die as your substitute? Christ knew that
His hour to which He had referred so frequently had now come. He
knew that He was about to die. Jesus Christ came into the world
to redeem His people. through his perfect life and
his death. And he would soon accomplish
that death. And then being resurrected from the grave, he would return
to the Father to be seated as the victorious mediator, the
mediator of his people, sitting at the right hand of God. It
is that death of Christ that we remember as we look at the
broken bread and poured wine on this table. We remember that
Christ, the Bread of Life, was broken for us. And remember that
His blood was shed for us. And it is Christ who has given
us this picture of His death which helps us to remember Him
by. By itself, this picture really preaches the Gospel. This picture
that's on this table preaches the good news that Jesus Christ
came to die for the sins of His people. As Hebrews 1 verses 1-3
says, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke
in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person,
and holding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. So having loved his own, having
loved his sheep, having loved his elect children with an everlasting,
unchangeable love, he loved them continually, he loved them forever,
even unto death and beyond. And it is that continual love
that we see when Christ washed the feet of His apostles. So
today, as we come to this Lord's Supper table, it is my prayer
that you are able to remember that Christ died for you. And
if that is not something that you believe, then I pray that
this might be the day when God uses this picture of Christ's
death to preach to your heart, giving you the faith of Christ,
showing its love for you, and causing you to know that Christ
died for you. In verse 2 of John 13, it says
about the last Passover, "...and suffer being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him." Many people believe that the incident of Christ washing
the disciples' feet that we're about to look at occurred before
the supper and not after the supper ended. Because it was
the custom to have a servant wash the dusty feet of the guests
as they entered into the house. It wasn't the other way around
that they washed the feet after the meal normally. And that may
be true. It may be that this happened
before the meal. But I don't think so. This washing
you see is a picture. It's a picture of what Christ's
death accomplished. And so it's very significant
that Christ washed His disciples' feet after the Passover lamb
was eaten. This washing is a picture of
the washing by the blood of Christ. And it's by this washing of the
blood that we are made clean. It's by the washing of Christ's
blood that the sin of sinners is washed away. But whether Jesus
washed the feet of His disciples before or during the Passover
meal or even afterwards. We don't know. But we do know
that Judas had already made arrangements with the priest to betray the
Son of God for 30 pieces of silver. And Jesus knew already of this
great sin of Judas who in his rejection of Christ, betrayed
Him to those who sought to kill Him. So in verse 3 of John 13,
it says that Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things
into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God,
how often we see the proofs of Christ's divinity in Scripture.
These words of John in verse 3 express the omniscience, the
omnipotence, and the oneness of Jesus Christ with His Father.
Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is man. He is fully
God and He is fully man. And in Him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And so He knows all things. Jesus
knew that the Father in His covenant purpose had given all blessings,
all power, all authority, all persons, and all things, and
all grace, and all glory into His hands. And believers know
that all of their blessings come to Him in Jesus Christ. In John 3, verse 35, it says
that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into
His hand. And in Hebrews 2, verse 8, Paul
says to God about Christ our Lord, Thou hast put all things
in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection
under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now
we see not yet all things put under Him. And in Ephesians 1
verse 3, Paul said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. And so it's clear that our Lord
and Savior knew that the Father had sent Him to accomplish the
redemption of a people and that he would be victorious and that
he would return triumphantly to glory. As the angel said to
Joseph, his name should be called Jesus because he came to save
his people from their sin. And in verses 4 and 5 of John
13, it says about Jesus that he arose from supper, he laid
aside his garments, and he took a towel and he girded himself.
And after that, he poured water into a basin and he began to
wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel wherewith
he was girded." You know, there's something wonderful about Jesus
washing the disciples' feet. My heart gives a little flutter
just to think about Him down there washing His disciples'
feet. You see, the washing of feet was the lowest kind of work
and it was the kind of thing that would only be done by the
least or the lowest person in the house. And yet the eternal
king of glory rose up from his seat of honor, he laid aside
his robe, he wrapped himself in a large towel and he began
to tenderly and carefully wash the dusty, dirty feet of each
disciple. His task was never performed
by superiors, but it was always done by an inferior for their
superiors, such as a servant would do for his master. It seems
to me that this is why we find Peter objecting to such an act
by his master. Peter didn't think that it was
right for his master and Lord to wash his feet. At Passover
lamb, was not the only picture, though, of Christ's death for
sinners that night. Jesus was not only expressing
His love to them, He was giving them another view of His death
when He washed their feet. Shortly, the Son of God would
become sin. Do you hear me? He would become
sin. And He would die. He would die
as the sacrificial Lamb of His people. But in this washing of
their feet, He was giving them another view of His coming death. He was preparing them for His
death. His blood, you see, was about
to be shed. It was shed to wash away their
sin. It was shed on the cross to wash away their sin. Just
as the water in that basin would wash away the dirt from their
feet. Because there is no remission of sin without the shedding of
blood. That's what this exchange between Peter and his Lord says
to me. In verse 6 of John 13, it says, Then cometh he to Simon
Peter. And Peter said unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? Turn to Luke 5 and verse 8. After
washing the feet of some of the disciples, Jesus came to Simon
Peter who out of, I believe, reverence to Christ. Christ,
you see, is his Lord and his Savior and his Master. Peter asks with a surprised and
astonished voice, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? By the grace
of God, Peter knew himself to be a sinful man. And he had confessed
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I'm sure that Peter thought
that it was too far below the dignity and the character of
his Lord to wash his feet. to wash the feet of such a worthless
and sinful creature as Peter knew himself to be. Do you remember
that once Peter fished all night, but he couldn't catch a thing?
But when he did what Christ told him to do, let down the nets
on the other side, he caught more fish, so many more fish
that the net broke. In Luke 5 verse 8 it says, when
Simon Peter saw it, when Peter saw that Christ was able to do
what he wasn't able to do all night, Peter fell down at Jesus'
knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Are you a sinner like Peter knew that he was? Have you tried to
be a better person and found it impossible? You tried to keep
the law and found that you can't? In ourselves, we're nothing. But in Christ, we can do all
things. You see, by the washing of the
blood of Jesus Christ, we are made perfect in Christ. Our sin is completely and totally
washed away. Peter may not have fully understood
that Christ was about to die for his sin, but Peter certainly
understood that he was a sinner, and he knew that Jesus was holy
and good. Peter called him Lord, and so
he understood that Jesus was the master, and he was the servant. That made what Jesus was about
to do all wrong in Peter's mind, but his Lord was showing his
love. And He would show His love in an even greater way when He
willingly died for Peter to take away his sin. Christ laid aside
His robe. He laid aside a robe of righteousness. And He washed us with His blood. Listen to the loving and tender
words that Jesus says to Peter in John 13, verse 7. Jesus answered
Peter and He said unto him, What I do thou knowest not, but thou
shalt know hereafter." Now, of course, Peter knew just exactly
what Christ was doing. As a common servant, Jesus was
washing the feet of his disciples. Peter knew that. But Peter didn't
know the meaning or the teaching of the act of washing his feet
by Jesus. And so Christ said to Peter,
You don't understand now, but someday you will. And in John
16, verse 12, Jesus said, I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you can't bear them now. First, Jesus had to prepare Peter's
heart to receive these spiritual things. These things were too
grand for him to receive now, but the time was coming. By the
grace of God, Peter would see and he would understand even
greater things than these. Because of our pride, or at least
I'm talking about myself, because of my pride, sometimes it's hard
to wait on the Lord. But we need to learn to wait
on the Lord's own timing to make spiritual truth clear to us. Meanwhile, patiently submitting
to His Word and to His will, how often have we seen Peter
speak out when he should have kept silent, run ahead when Jesus
was lagging behind? It would have been much wiser
for Peter to wait on the Lord. It would be much wiser for us
to wait on the Lord The Lord, you see, has all things under
His control. How I pray that I could learn
to wait on the Lord, knowing that all things are in His hands. I can identify very strongly
with Peter because Peter won't learn his lesson fully yet. In
a short time, Peter is going to draw his sword in a foolish
attempt to defend the Son of Man, the Son of God. going to
defend Jesus from His enemies. In John 18, verses 10 and 11,
it says, as the officers of the chief priests came to arrest
Jesus, it says, then Simon Peter having a sword, he drew it and
smote the high priest's servant and he cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Peter,
put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my Father has given
me, shall I not drink it?" By fighting against sin with the
wisdom of men, Peter would keep Christ from voluntarily going
to the cross if He had His way. Jesus went to the cross in obedience
to His Father. Jesus went to the cross to die
for the sins of Peter. Jesus went to the cross to die
for the sins of all of God's church. Jesus Christ went to
the cross to die for the sins of you and me. If I thought it
would do any good, I'd preach the law to you. I'd tell you
how important it is for you to be obedient to the will of God.
Because if you don't, you're going to suffer. But what I need
to learn is that we're all sinners. Only Jesus Christ can save us.
And in Christ, we're free from the law. Free from the law of
sin and death. In Christ, we're made clean.
And when we get dusty and dirty, He continually washes us with
His shed blood. He continually is merciful to
us. The job that God has called us
to do here in Acomba is not to preach the law, but to preach
that salvation is only in Jesus Christ. It hurts when we see
people destroying themselves and their mad rush to hell. But
what God has called us to do is to preach Christ to them.
And that's all that God has really called us to do is to preach
Christ to them. God will save His people, you
see, God will save those who reject Christ. And those who
He does not save will spend eternity in hell because they reject Christ.
They'll spend eternity in hell because they have no Savior.
But our job is to preach Christ to all who will listen. And God
will save His people. In verse 8 of John 13, Peter
says to Christ, Thou shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus answered
him, Well, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. It's
hard for me to call Peter depraved, but that's what he is. Peter
should have been satisfied with the Lord's reply and should have
submitted to him. But while he spoke at the first
out of modesty and humility, Now Peter is speaking rashly
and demanding. And he says, you should never
wash my feet. And to that the Lord replied,
if I wash thee not, you have no part with me. You have no
part in my redemption. You have no part in the kingdom
of God. It's so clear that Jesus Christ
isn't talking here about the simple act of washing Peter's
feet. But Jesus is referring to the washing of regeneration
and the cleansing of His precious blood. Unless a man is washed,
unless he's cleansed and purged from sin by the precious blood
of Jesus, he can't have any part of Christ in glory. But the problem
that plagues us, the problem that we have is that we still
sin. walking through this wilderness
of sin and death, we get dirty. In 1 John 1 verse 7, the Apostle
says, but if we walk in the light as He's in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanses us from all sin. Walking through this wilderness
of sin and death, we're going to sin. We hate it, but we will
sin. But the blood of Christ washes
us from all of our sin. And in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and
19, God says to us, for as much as you know that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your
vain conversation you received by tradition from your fathers,
but you were washed with the precious blood of Christ as a
lamb without blemish and without spot." And in verse 9 of John
13, Peter is convinced of his error. He's fearful of losing
the hope that he held in Christ and he's conscious of his sins.
And Peter says, Lord, don't just wash my feet, but wash my hands
and my head too. Peter knew He had not only walked in sin,
but that he had done evil and he had thought evil. And so Peter
is asking his Savior to wash his dirty hands and his mind,
his head too. And in verse 10, the Lord replied
to Peter, and I think he's speaking to us as well. He that is washed,
that is the person who is regenerated by the Spirit of God, that person
who is given the faith of Christ and who is washed in the blood
of the Lamb, he that is washed does not need to be washed again.
Because by one sacrifice, by one offering, Jesus Christ has
cleansed, sanctified, and perfected forever all for whom He died. They are clean everywhere. They
are clean all over. Both within and without, they're
clean. They've been washed clean. Oh,
how I pray that you can hear and understand this. In the blood
of Jesus Christ, we are washed clean. As Peter said in Hebrews
10, verses 9-14, then said he, then said Jesus, Lo, I come to
do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
He may establish the second. by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering sometimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, this man Jesus,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering, do you get
the idea? He's emphasized it many times. By one offering,
He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. And in Colossians
1, verses 21 and 22, Paul said to believers, And you that were
sometimes alienated, and enemies in your own mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy Unblameable and unprovable in His sight.
Do you see it? We're made perfect in Christ.
He's washed it all away. All of our sin. We're made perfect. Perfectly clean in Christ. You
see, Peter only needs to have his feet washed. But what does
that mean? The reference is something like
this. It's to people who have been to the bath and they're
clean all over. And so they have no need to wash
again except for their feet as they come from the bath. Their
feet which get dirty as they walk out in the street. The believer
is washed clean in Christ. And he doesn't need to be justified
again. He doesn't need to be washed
again. But as long as we're in this flesh, we sin. And daily, we need forgiveness
and cleansing as we walk through this sinful world. We need to
be constantly looking to God. We need to be trusting Christ
for our forgiveness. We need to often remember that
when Christ died on the cross, He completely saved us and nothing
else needs to be done. as the Apostle said in 1 John
1.9, but if we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us, to forgive our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And again in 1 John 2, verses
1 and 2, He said, My little children, these things write I unto you,
that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
ad with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. So in verse 10,
Jesus was saying to Peter, Peter, you're clean. You're washed. You're justified. You're justified
by my blood. But not all of you. Not all of
you, because the hypocrite Judas was among them there at that
table. As verse 11 of John 13 says about Jesus, for He knew
who should be trained, therefore He said, you're not all clean.
But Peter's clean. Peter's clean because Christ
died for all of his sin. The Lord Jesus, being filled
with the Holy Spirit, knew that Judas didn't believe and also
that Judas would be trained. It's not clear that Jesus didn't
wash the feet of Judas. He well might have. If we accept
the order of the foot washing that is given to us here in John,
then Jesus most probably did wash the feet of Judas because
it isn't until later in verse 30 of John 13 that it says, Judas
went immediately out. But I point out to you that Jesus
washing the feet of His disciples is only a picture. It's a picture
of His love. It's a picture of His washing
by the blood of Christ. It isn't as good a picture as
the Lord's Supper, but it prepares us to look at the Lord's Supper
and remember that Christ died on the cross, and His death and
His shed blood washed away all of our sins completely. It's
the same picture as the Lord's Supper. It's only a picture,
though. The Lord's Supper is a picture
of the broken body and the shed blood of Christ, the washing
of the feet, is a picture of us looking to Christ, knowing
that we're still sinners. Our Savior's blood is completely
effectual to the full salvation of all for whom He died. Christ's
blood wasn't offered in vain for those who perished by rejecting
Christ. And I have no reason to believe
that Jesus shed His blood for Judas. In Matthew 1, verse 21,
the angel of God said about Mary, And she shall bring forth a son,
and now shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sin. And in John 10, 11, Jesus said,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And in verses 14 to 16 of John
10, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep,
and I'm known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, and them also
I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and they shall be one fold and one shepherd. In Isaiah 53, verses
11 and 12, God's prophet said about Jesus, you shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great. and he shall divide the spoil
with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And yet,
though it is absolutely true that Jesus Christ didn't die
for everyone, he only died for his sheep, it is also absolutely
true, as Peter said in Acts 2.21, it shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord Jesus, shall be saved. And
in Acts 10, verse 43, Peter said to him, said to Christ, give
all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sin. And in Romans 10, verse
13, Paul said the same thing. Paul said that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in Romans
13, too, he said, Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the
ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves
damnation. Because we sin, we constantly
need to keep coming to Christ. Seeking His forgiveness, we come
to Christ. Remembering that when Christ
died for us on the cross, we come to Christ. Remembering that
Christ died for us completely on that cross and put away all
of our sin, we still continually come to Christ. For three years,
Judas had walked and talked with Jesus. But Judas rejected Christ. He went out and it was night,
the Bible says. I wouldn't presume to judge Judas.
It's only by God's mercy that anyone is ever saved and I'm
testimony that even the worst of sinners, if they call on the
name of the Lord, will be saved. But Judas rejected Christ and
he died. So far as we can tell, he died
without a Savior. Then in verses 12 and 13 of John
13, it says about Jesus that after He had washed their feet
and put His robe back on, He sat down and said, Do you understand
what I've done to you? Jesus has taught them, and I
pray His Holy Spirit teaches us, the truth of His substitution,
the truth of His cleansing from sin by His blood, the truth of
justification and the truth of our need for daily cleansing
and forgiveness. There are many people who apparently
don't know their need for a Savior. They trust in themselves and
they reject Christ. It would seem that Judas was
one of those. He'd heard the Gospel preached by Jesus Himself.
But he rejected the truth of the Gospel and he took himself
out and it was night. Oh, how ominous those words were! It was night. I pray that the
light of the Gospel will shine brightly in your heart and mine.
and that when you look at Christ's death on the cross, you'll know
and you'll believe that Christ completely saved you. You may
sin, and you will sin, but in Christ's blood, you have been
washed completely clean, and so you are free from your sin.
And yet we still look to Christ in repentance for our sin. And
so now in verses 13 to 15, Jesus would teach them from the same
act of washing of their feet to behave in sincere and in genuine
humility and condensation to one another. And that's the way
we'll treat Judas. That's the way we'll treat all
of those who seem to be rejecting Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. And God will save His people.
He will save He'll save his people and the others will die in their
sin because they reject God's only salvation. They'll die because
they reject Jesus Christ, their Savior. Jesus said, you call
me Lord, Master. You speak the truth, for I am
the King of kings and Lord of lords. But if I, your Lord and
Master, have not shunned the lowest service and the meanest
task in my love for you and my willingness to serve the greater
glory of God and for your good, then you should follow my example
and be willing to serve one another in the lowest and simplest task
that God has given you. God has called us to preach the
gospel here in Encumba. He's called us to preach the
gospel to all people and in love He will save His people from
their sin. And in verses 16 and 17 of John 13, Jesus said to
the 11 disciples that remained with Him, 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. If you know
these things, then happy are ye if you do them. In Christ,
there are no people who are great or small, There are no important
people or unimportant people in Christ. But in Christ, they
are all only sinners saved by God's grace. We are all brothers
in Christ. The servant is not greater than
his Lord, and so if our Lord is willing to humble Himself,
shouldn't we be willing to do likewise? Jesus says, and I have
found it to be true, Happy are you if you know this glorious
truth that you're nothing but a sinner saved by God's grace.
That makes you, if you know it, if you believe it, that makes
you no better than anyone else. That makes you able, in fact,
though, to serve God. You don't serve God in your own
righteousness. You don't serve God in your own
power because knowing that you're nothing but a sinner You have
no righteousness and you have no power. But you serve God in
Christ. You serve God in the power of
His Spirit. Cast your net on the other side
of the boat, Peter. And in the power of Christ, you'll
catch fish. Those who trust in the law, thinking
they're keeping the law better than others, are those who don't
know that they need a Savior. and they justify themselves,
thinking that they do keep the law. The evil in this is that
in working to keep the law, you deceive yourself, thinking you're
better than others. It isn't true. It definitely
isn't true. We're all sinners. But if we're
saved, if we're saved, it's only by God's grace. It's never by
anything that we do. If ever a man had a right to
feel self-righteous, it was Jesus. But in Philippians 2, verses
5 to 11, Paul, who said he was the chief of sinners, said to
us, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ, who being
born in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. And in Mark 9, verses 33 to 35,
it says, about Christ our Savior. And
he came to Capernaum and being in the house he asked them, what
was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? They'd
been arguing among themselves as to who was the greatest. But
they held their peace. For by the way they had disputed
among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down
and he called the twelve and he said unto them, If any man
desire to be first, the same should be last of all and servant
of all. Then skipping to Mark 10 verses
42 to 45, it says, But Jesus called them to Him, and He said
unto them, You know they which are accounted to rule over the
Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise
authority upon them. But so shall it not be among
you, But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister,
and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant
of all. For even the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life
a ransom for many." My prayer for all of us this morning is
that we might look at this Lord's Supper table that's set before
us and both see and believe what's pictured here. What we see is
the love of God. Because the broken bread is the
picture of Christ's body broken for us, and the wine pictures
His blood poured out for us as He died for our sins, as our
substitute. Can you see the love of God in
that? And can you believe it? You can if you believe that Jesus
Christ died for you, and that when Christ died, He paid the
penalty for all of your sin, not just some of it. what you did a long time ago,
but the sins that you committed today. It is with His blood that
our sins are washed away. Do you see the love in that?
In His death, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us.
And His righteousness was imputed to us. Is that important to you? That His righteousness was imputed
to us? It is important to you if God
has shown you that you're a sinner, that you're spiritually dead
in your trespasses and sin. So if God by His grace gives
you the faith to believe and to trust Christ, and you believe
that God has made you perfectly righteous with the righteousness
of Christ, which means that if you are one of those who believe
by God's grace that you have life everlasting in Christ, you're saved. Does that reveal
God's love to you that He would save you like that? If these
are the things that you believe about the death of Christ, then
I invite you to come to this Lord's Supper table and eat of
the body and blood of Christ. Not that the bread and wine is
literally the body and blood of Christ, but eat and take it
into your heart as you remember that Christ died for you. Trust
with the faith that God has given you that because of Christ's
death you have been resurrected to a new life in Christ, and
He has freed you from all of your sins.