Special, the truth, the truth
as it's found in Jesus Christ. Let's open our Bibles tonight
in John chapter 13. 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. 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. He riseth from supper, laid aside
his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that
he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash his 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. Peter saith unto him, 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. Jesus saith
to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit, and you are clean, but not all. For he
knew who should betray him, therefore said he, you 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 you what I have done to you? You call me master
and lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your
Lord and master, have washed your feet, you 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. 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, happy are you if you do them. With these verses,
we begin five chapters in the Gospel of John that are only
recorded in this gospel. I have a book, and I've had this
book for many, many years, and I've read it several times over
the years, and it concerns these five chapters, chapters 13, 14,
15, 16, and 17. The title of the book is The
Inner Sanctuary. As I was writing these notes
the other day, I pulled it out of the bookshelf and opened it
up. I wanted to make sure I had that
title correctly, The Inner Sanctuary. And as I opened it up, I looked
on the cover page at the price, $1. That's what I paid for that book
back in the 1960s, $1. But what got my attention was
the mark $1 and I knew who wrote that price in that book. He was
a man who was in Bible school with me in the same church. He
was in charge of the bookstore that we had there in the church. And he graduated from Bible school
ahead of me, went out to pastor. And then after several years,
he quit. He forsook the gospel, forsook
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I could not help but then
think of these words, words of a poem that Robert Murray McShaney
wrote. You've read it. You've probably
heard it some. When this passing world is done,
when has sunk yon glaring sun, when we stand with Christ in
glory, looking o'er life's finished story, then, Lord, shall I fully
know, not till then, how much I owe. Chosen not for good in
me, Wakened up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's
side by the Spirit sanctified, teach me, Lord, on earth to show
by my love how much I owe. When I hear the wicked call on
the rocks and hills to fall, when I see them start and shrink
on the fiery deluge brink, then, Lord, shall I fully know not
till then how much I owe. When I stand before the throne
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then how much I owe. When the praise of heaven I hear,
loud as thunders to the ear, Loud as many waters' noise, sweet
as harps' melodious voice, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not
till then, how much I owe. There are several other stanzas
to that poem, but how it expresses the truth and causes us to realize
how much we owe to God's saving grace, God's keeping grace, in
God's preserving grace. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. These verses in this chapter
that we're looking at tonight speak to us of our Savior, of
course, washing the feet of his disciples. Arthur Peake pointed
out that in chapter 12, if you notice back just a Chapter 12
in verse 3, it was our Lord's feet which were anointed. Chapter 12 in verse 3, we read,
then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and
anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair,
and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. There
we have the Lord's feet being anointed, Now we have the disciple's
feet being washed. His feet, his feet did not need
to be washed. For he is the only man who ever
came into this world, lived, and walked through this world
without sin's defilement. The apostle Peter, who is very
prominent in these verses we're looking at tonight, he later
wrote, Concerning Christ who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
four sins, but not for his sins, for he had none of his own. He is our great high priest tonight,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. We sing that hymn sometimes,
crown him with many crowns, has four verses in our hymn book.
And I believe it's the third verse which says, crown him the
Lord of love. Crown him with many crowns, crown
him the Lord of love. And that's what I'll attempt
to do in this message tonight. First, crown him the Lord of
love. Unselfish love. Unselfish love. Notice in 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. You know, as well as I do tonight,
the Lord Jesus knew that his hour was come, as this scripture
tells us, that he should depart out of the world. He not only
knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of
the world, but he also knew his hour was come as to how he would
depart out of this world. On at least three occasions,
as you read through the gospels, On at least three occasions,
he told his disciples what would happen. He told them that he
would go up to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many things
and be killed. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
he spoke to Moses and Elijah of his departure or his exodus
out of this world. Isaiah foretold how he would
suffer and how he would be killed. He would be stricken. He would
be smitten. He would be wounded. He would
be bruised. He would be chastised. He would
be beaten with stripes. He would be cut off out of the
land of the living. He knew all this. that his soul
would be made an offering for sin, that he would experience
the most awful of his sufferings, his desertion, his father's desertion. Now, on the very eve, the very
eve of such suffering, we might suppose that his love and his
attention would be upon himself. I've heard people make statements
sort of like that. I've heard people say, you know,
I've always taken care of other people. Now it's my turn. Now
it's my time. I'm going to take care of myself.
I'm going to put all my attention on myself, but not the Lord Jesus
Christ. His love, His love is unselfish
love for the Lord's people. His love was upon them. Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. When we think about
His own people, having loved His own, we know from the Word
of God that God's people are His ways in these three ways. God's people are His people in
these three ways. First of all, They are of the
Father's choosing. Blessed be the God and Father,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. They're His people because the
Father chose them. Now when men deny God's election,
I don't care how they frame it, how they say it, what they are,
bound to come to in the end is that salvation is by works, unless
we accept. Now that's very clear. The Bible's
not hard to understand. People don't want to understand
what is clear. And that is that God the Father
chose His people from before the foundation of the world.
And if men will not accept that, they're forced into believing
that salvation is not by grace, but it is rather by works, by
some decision or by something on the part of those who are
saved. They're His people. The Father
chose them. having loved his own which were
in the world there, his people having been bought. And you hath
he bought, the scripture says. You're bought with a price. He
loved the church and gave himself for it. And number three, his
people are his people by the Holy Spirit quickening them. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Have you been quickened? Have
you been made alive? Have you been caused by the grace
of God to see your need? And have you come to Christ?
Have you ran to Christ, trusting in Him, resting in Him, believing
in Him as not most of your salvation, Not most of your hope, but all
of your hope for time and for eternity. As John Bunyan said,
upon another's life, I did not live. Upon another's death, I
did not die. I stake my whole eternity. Why, if you've come to Christ,
why have you come to Christ when others you know may be in your
own family? They haven't. They have no interest,
as far as we know. Why you? Why me? Why me? Not till then, not until we stand
before God Almighty, dressed in righteousness not our own,
shall we fully know how much we owe. Not till then. What does it mean here? He loved
his own which were in the world, having loved them unto the end. Well, we know there's no end
to his love. We know that, don't we? What
is the scripture here in Romans chapter 8? And usually when we
think about the love of God, we speak about the fact that
it is eternal. It's without beginning and without
end. The apostle Paul said, for I
am persuaded Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well,
then what does it mean here when we read, having loved his own,
he loved them unto the end? Well, think of it like this.
It's like that scripture, I believe, in Hebrews chapter 7, which speaks
of our great high priest who is able to save unto the uttermost
all who come unto God by him. He loves his own unto the end. In other words, unto the end
of your needs. No matter how great your needs
are, no matter how pressed you are, how far you are, how desperate
your situation is, He loves His own unto the end. There never
will be a time, there never will be a place, there never will
be a situation, there never will be a circumstance in which He
doesn't love His own. Crown Him the Lord of love, unselfish
love. Second, crown him the Lord of
love, condescending love. One of the old writers said,
Jesus came from God, not leaving him, and went to God, not leaving
us. Did you hear what he said? That's
amazing, isn't it? Jesus came from God, not leaving
him. You remember what he told Nicodemus,
even while he was speaking to him, that he was in heaven. When
we speak about the sun coming, we know we're not talking about
motion. No. He assumed that body, yes. Jesus came from God, not leaving
him, and he went to God, not leaving us. The scripture here says in supper,
not being ended, as you read on through the chapter, supper
was not ended, it was being prepared. The devil, having now put into
the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him. One of those
fiery darts of Satan had lodged in the heart of Judas, prompting
him to betray the Lord Jesus Christ and to betray him with
a kiss. Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands and that he was come from
God and went to God. He came from God, not leaving
him and went to God, not leaving us. He said, Lo, I am with you
unto the end of the ages. There are three different Greek
words used in the New Testament to express washing. One of them
means to wash a part of the body. And that word is found five times
in this passage. Another word, which is translated
wash, means to wash the whole body. In other words, to bathe.
It's used once. And then there's a third word.
It's not in this passage, but it is found in Revelation 7.
It has to do with washing clothes. These are they that wash their
robes, the scripture says. The Lord Jesus this night took
the dress, he took the position of a servant, and he began to
wash his disciples' feet. Isn't it interesting, or shouldn't
it be a point of interest, when you think in your mind of the
Lord Jesus Christ taking the place of a servant, and that
was the lowest servant in the house, the one who washed feet. What were they doing? What were the disciples doing?
When he girded himself to wash their feet to serve them, what
were they doing? Well, when you look at the other
gospels, you come to the conclusion what they were doing. They were
discussing who should be the greatest. Who should be the greatest? He came to Peter in verse 6,
and cometh he to Simon Peter. Evidently, he had washed some
of the disciples' feet before he came to Peter. We don't know
that, but it seems that's the case. He came to Simon, and Peter
saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? And from what I've
read, from what I've studied, there's a tremendous contrast
here that cannot be brought out in the English. But actually,
thou, thou the Christ, wash my feet? My feet? But we see our Lord's patience. with his response in verse 7. Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. In just a few minutes, Peter,
just be patient. Just a few minutes I'm going
to explain this. I'm going to tell you what I'm
doing. Now, and he does, and we see that. But this verse of
scripture has proven to be a word of comfort, a word of consolation
to God's children down through the ages. In dark providences,
when God takes you through dark times and deep waters, and you
wonder why. Now, I've said this before. I
don't think there's anything wrong with us asking why, but
I do find fault if we say, why me? Why me? But what our Lord is doing, he
doesn't have to tell us now. And most of the time, he doesn't. But you shall know hereafter. There's coming a day when you're
able to look back over life's history and see that as the scripture
says, he doeth all things well. He doesn't make any mistakes.
We can't understand it, but he knows. And one day it shall be
revealed. Thou shalt never wash my feet, Lord, thou, me, what I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter. Well, Peter continues with his
obstinacy. Thou shalt never wash my feet. Thou shalt never wash my feet. He could never allow this to
take place. He saw himself as the Lord's
servant, and it could not be fitting that his master now serve
him. But the truth of the matter is,
all that the Lord Jesus Christ did in his saving work is a life,
a series of ministering unto others, a life of sacrifice. He said it himself, the Son of
Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. and to
give his life a ransom for many. But Peter, he said, thou shalt
never wash my feet. And the Lord answered him, Peter,
if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. I think we lay
emphasis on that word part. Thou hast no part with me. What are we talking about? We're
talking about fellowship. Fellowship with Christ. Well,
when he said this, of course, Peter, as usual, he went to the
opposite extreme. He said, well, don't stop with
my feet then, Lord. If it's a matter of me having
part with you, you just have at it. Not my feet only, but
my hands and my head and everything. Just wash me completely. And
our Lord said, he that is washed, he that is bathed is clean every
wit and only needs his feet to be washed. Think of that clean
every wit. The Lord speaks of two washings. One is complete and never repeated,
never, never repeated. while the other is daily. I was speaking with Pastor Joseph
Murphy the other day. He pointed out a word or a scripture
to me in Romans, and he said, I like this in Spanish. He said,
I know you'll recognize this, but the gifts and callings of
God are without repentance. He said in Spanish, it is irrevocable. Irrevocably, the gifts and callings
of God cannot be revoked. There's a washing that is one
time. And when men and women are washed
and bathed in that fountain, it's never repeated. It's never
needed to be repeated again. the gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. He which hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now this first, this bath speaks
of regeneration and justification. The second of our need as we
walk in this world in order to maintain our part, our fellowship
with the Lord. The second is our daily cleansing
that we seek while, with the spirit of adoption, we say, our
Father, which art in heaven, forgive us our debts. Isn't it a wonderful truth, a
wonderful reality to be clean every whit? Every whit. He that is washed
is clean every whit. The Lord insisted on washing
Peter's feet, but he would not mar the symbolic teaching by
washing more of his body. If I wash thee not, thou hast
no part with me. Lord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head. He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And you are
clean, but not all. Now he knew that Judas Iscariot
was not clean. He had never been washed. Some
people like to think that Judas had been washed and then sometime
he fell away. But the truth is he had never,
never been washed. What a lesson. What a lesson
for all of us, isn't it? One of his 12 disciples. Here's the third. Crown him the
Lord of love, exemplary love. Verses 12 through 17. So after
he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was
set down again, he said unto them, know you what I've done
to you? You call me master and Lord,
and you say well. Now when we speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's the way we should speak of him. Not Jesus. Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord. Jesus is his human
name, the name of his humanity, the name that he was given when
he came into this world. He's the Lord, you call me Lord
and Master, you say well. For so I am, I am your Lord,
I am your master. Then we should address him as
such, Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a day and an age when
most people, including myself, we have so little true understanding
of what it means not to take the name of the Lord our God
in vain. We watch a program on television
sometimes. People fix up these homes. And
I tell you, they do a good job. I mean, oh, and they, but I would
say 99.9% of the people, when they see
their new house, the first words out of their mouth always are
the same. Oh my God. People have no understanding. His name is Reverend. Holy and reverent is thy name. We don't call preachers reverent.
As Spurgeon said, there's nothing reverent about me. No, but there's
everything reverent about him. Holy and reverent is thy name.
The Lord gave us an example that we who call him our Lord and
master, that we should do as he did. It's interesting, he
didn't say that we should do what he did. I know some believers,
and I believe they're true believers, have taken this literally and
they practice washing other people's feet. But the Lord, he performed
a service here. Their feet needed to be washed.
If they had come from a public bath, which they may well have,
then they had their feet picked up dust along the road. And they
were hot. And this was a way of comforting
a person and welcoming a person into your home. I've said this
many times. If you told me, I want to wash
your feet, Next Sunday night, I'm going to come and I'm going
to be ready to wash your feet. You know what I'd do? I guarantee
you, before I come back next Sunday night, I'm going to wash
my feet. I'm going to scrub my feet. I'd
do it anyway, but I'm going to do it extra. And I'm going to
get some powder and I'm going to put it on my feet. It wouldn't
serve at all. Our Lord didn't say that we are
to do what He did, but as. As. Let's read that again. You call me Master and Lord,
and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do what? No, no. That you should do what? I have done, no, that you should
do as I have done to you. He didn't, the thing we say here
as the Lord of love and his love in this service is marked by
these two things. First of all, humility. humility,
and secondly, patience, humility and patience. And I end tonight
by pointing out that he did not say that we will be happy if
we know these things, but we will be happy if we do these
things. We know these things. Now, God,
please give us grace to do these things and humility and patience
to serve one another. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here tonight.