Alright, we're going to be in
1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 7 and
8. 1 Peter 4, 7 and 8. I'm just going to read verse
6 as well since I'll just mention it in my intro remarks. 1 Peter
4, we'll do 6 through 8, but the text is 7 and 8. 4 For this
cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that
they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the Spirit. 5 But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and watch
unto prayer. 6 And above all things have fervent
charity, or fervent love, among yourselves. For love shall cover
the multitude of sins. So we've witnessed the power
of Christ in the redemption and salvation of all saints throughout
all time there in verse six. And now Peter moves us on to
contemplate this sober thought, but the end of all things is
at hand. So in this morning's message,
and I think it goes well with what we heard earlier today,
but this morning's message will take up that contemplation of
the end being instructed by our Savior unto the love of the brethren
that we might be moved to love them and lift them up in prayer
before our God by the Spirit of Christ moving in us and working
in us. So I want to open up with another
scripture and we'll come back at the very end. In John 13 verse
1, I'll read it to you now and then we'll come back to that
passage at the very end. In 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. We love them unto the end, and
that's our title, Loved to the End. We'll have three divisions.
First, we'll look at this motivating thought that the end of all things
is at hand, and then we'll consider fervent love, and then a loving
sacrifice. A loving sacrifice. Have you
ever thought about what it would be like if you knew that the
end of the coming was imminent, like the end of the world was
just imminent? Have you ever contemplated that? What would
you do? What would you prepare? Would
it be physical? Or would it be something more
meaningful and purposeful? In your final days, who would
you talk to? Who would you want to be with?
Did you ever think about those things? And would you be ready
for the end? Because Peter tells us here in
our text, the end of all things is at hand. Do you believe it? that the end of all things is
at hand? Because the apostles spent a
lot of time putting the disciples in this mind that the end of
all things is at hand. So whether it, we know the reality
is that for all of us, the end of all things is at hand. We
know that we all have a day coming. There's only so long that we're
gonna live and then our end is gonna come. But even more than
that, the end of all things, is at hand. The end of the world
is passing away. And Paul even reminds us of that.
He uses it in these words in 1 Corinthians 7 31. He says,
the fashion of this world passeth away. All these things that we
know and how the world works and the way everything goes,
it's passing away. It's coming to an end. Wicked
men are doing what wicked men do, but it's coming to an end.
The Lord's going to bring it to a quick end. And if you think
about our Savior, when he walked here on the earth in the flesh,
everything he did, all his movements were with precision. I mean,
everything he did was for, was according to purpose, the purpose
of making an atonement for the people of God, right? He fulfilled
all the law and the prophets, and it brought him He executed
everything to bring him up to that point when he would work
that perfection and that righteousness for his beloved bride. He was
doing everything to save us, to glorify God his Father who
had sent him and to establish the righteousness and the salvation
of his people and himself. He said in John 9, 4, I must
work the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night
cometh when no man can work. And he did that very faithfully.
He did that most faithfully for us. In Luke 9, 51, it came to
pass when the time was come that he should be received up. It
says he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He moved
with precision and he did everything necessary to bring about this
salvation for his people and to return to the Lord. It says
in Isaiah 50, verses five through seven, Isaiah there speaks of
the faithful work that Christ did. In Isaiah 50, verse 5 through
7, it says, The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not
rebellious, neither turned away back. So unlike us who are rebellious
sinners who do turn away back and are so hard and so difficult
to move and be moved by what we know to be right and good
and profitable, our Lord It wasn't difficult for him. He was obedient.
He had a willing ear, and he heard what the Father said, and
he did what the Father had sent him to do. There's many people in religion
who think themselves to be faithful followers of the Lord, but we
ought to shut our mouths when looking and considering Christ
our Savior, who himself is faithful in everything. There's not a
one of us that can stand and boasts before our brethren and
saying, look what I've done and how faithful I've been. But Christ,
he's faithful. And when we consider him, it
should be easy for our mouths to be shut, because what can
we say compared to his faithfulness, right? I mean, he's faithful. So he said in Isaiah 50, verse
6, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting, right? He faced the abuse. of men before
going to the cross as we saw this morning just how they watched
him and waited that they might accuse him and were always opposing
him and doing everything that they could do to try and knock
him down and then even as he was going to the cross where
he knew he'd be forsaken of the father he was abandoned by all
of his friends right they just left him there to go to the cross
alone and he would be you know, go before the Gentiles who, for
no reason, even though he was a guiltless man, and Pilate said,
you know, his wife even said, don't have anything to do with
that man. And he wanted to let him go free, and yet he turned
him over to the soldiers and they still beat him and spit
on him and did shameful things to him. So, you know, he went
there and he was rejected by the Jews, by his own people that
should have received him. He was rejected by them. And
then ultimately, while bearing the sin of his people, while
bearing us in his own body, that he might be our ark and our shield
and our protector, he went to the cross faithfully, where he
would be forsaken of God his Father, where all he had for
all eternity was fellowship and union and oneness with the Father,
and never was forsaken of God the Father. Through all that,
he remained faithful. He never sinned, he never did
anything that was wicked or evil. He remained that spotless, perfect,
sinless Lamb of God so that he was a perfect sacrifice to put
away the sin of his people. It says in verse 7, Isaiah 57,
For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. So that
Christ, when he hung there on the cross making reconciliation
for the people and being that atonement, that covering for
his people, that we might stand before holy God in that day,
when the end comes for us, that we might stand before him perfect
and spotless, he looked down and could see the work that he
was doing and he was pleased. If you're still there in Isaiah,
you can go to Isaiah 53 and it says in verses 11 and 12, says
he 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 bare
the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And those
transgressors are us, brethren. That's our sin. He's doing that
for his people. And he looked down and was satisfied. Satisfied for you and me. And
we know what we are in our hearts, and yet He loves us and is merciful
and faithful to us to the end, doing everything necessary that
we might be able to stand here and gather here in His name,
rejoicing and knowing that He has put away our sin forever.
And what a joyful, wonderful thought that is and how it encourages
our hearts. So our faithful Lord said this
in Matthew 24, verse 14, this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and
then shall the end come." Right? And then just a little while
later, I don't know, maybe 30 years later perhaps, Paul says
to the Colossians 1.23, speaking of this gospel, which ye have
heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. He said that. It's
been preached to every creature under heaven. This gospel's gone
out just as Christ said that it would go out to the end of
the world. So what's the delay? Why is there this long delay,
or what seems long to us? Well, turn over to 2 Peter 3.
2 Peter 3, verse 9, and the Lord has Peter tell us exactly why
there's a delay. 2 Peter 3, 9. Well, you know it
because you're sitting here. In this day, the Lord has a people,
and he says in 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but as longsuffering
to us were. He has a people that he wasn't
willing to just bring out all right away. in the world, he
has a people and he's not willing that any of us, you can carry
that us word right on through, he's not willing that any of
us should perish but that all of us should come to repentance. So he's being faithfully patient
for us brethren to bring you and your children and his loved
ones to this gospel. He's calling out his people,
he's not wrapped it up so quickly. If his final one was saved, the
end would come, but obviously he still has his people and he's
still calling and drawing out his people. He's faithful. I
mean, he's worthy of many, many, much people to stand there. That's
why the Lord said, if Israel was enough, I would have just
left that to Israel, but that wasn't enough for you. I'm giving you the Gentiles. And now he's given them a long
time, well, long to us, but a long time where he's just gathering
in more people and more people to his praise, his honor, and
his glory. But to you who think lightly
of Christ and think, yeah, right, whatever, he says in 3.9, 2 Peter
3.9, sorry, 3.10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat The earth
also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? So what manner of persons ought
we to be, brethren? But look at verse 13. Nevertheless,
we, nevertheless, We know what we are. We know
what sinners we are. Nevertheless, he says, according
to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Wherein dwelleth righteousness.
And we know that in this flesh dwells no good thing. We know
that in this flesh we can't produce that righteousness. So who's
that righteousness that we're looking for, that we're looking
to and trusting that it's according to his mercy and his righteousness,
because it ain't ours. It's not us. But it says, wherefore,
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, for his righteousness,
looking unto Christ. We're looking for what Christ,
for Christ himself, and the work that he himself has done for
us. He says, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace,
without spot, and blameless. And what he's meaning there is
don't be turned back to the world. I can see why some say that they
think Peter is the one who actually wrote Hebrews, because you can
see a lot of the same themes there of what Peter writes in
his epistles and his arguments that he's making there in Hebrews. But what he's saying there is
don't be turned back to this world as the manner of some is,
right? Hebrews 10.25 where he said that there's some that are
just abandoning and leaving Christ, forsaking him because it's too
hard against them. The enemy, the persecution is
just too much for them, so they're leaving Christ. And he's saying,
he's not telling you and your flesh to get it together. He's
saying, therefore, continue on, press on towards Christ. He's
our righteousness. That's who we're looking to.
That's who we're being brought unto that day when the Lord shall
return and gather in his people, just be faithful. Don't turn
back like so many are doing. Be faithful to Christ and look
to him. And account, brethren, verse
15, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even
as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom
given unto him, hath written unto you. Because Paul wrote
many things about the coming of the end. And I could bring
you a number of them, but let me just say right now, Paul said
in 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, For God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. So
that's why God is faithfully, He's waiting and He's being patient
while He's gathering in that fruit that is all being worked
by the Spirit of Christ. It's just the power and the authority
of Christ is going out and out and out and gathering in His
people and drawing us in because God hasn't appointed us to wrath,
he's appointed us to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
that word shouldn't give us a feeling that we have license to sin,
and I know that it doesn't work that in you, but rather it's
an encouragement for us to wait faithfully, trusting him, looking
unto him, that he shall perform that work in us that he's promised
to perform in us. So don't look to the flesh, we
look to our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. All right,
now back in our text in 1 Peter 4-7, But the end of all things
is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch
unto prayer." So that Peter's telling us here, don't have a
divided heart. The flesh says, hey, you know,
just settle down here, establish your kingdom here, get the most
out of this world that you can. You only live once. They tell
you, you know, like do everything you can do to get all that you
can get and get all the toys that you can get. And he's saying
don't have a divided heart. Knowing that the end of all things
is at hand, be sober. Be sober and watch unto prayer."
So what he's saying there is don't be consumed with and so
utterly engrossed with the business of this world. And that's easy
to do. You think about that parable
of the sower and that third one was the one of the seed that
gets planted, but then the weeds grow up, and that seems to be,
in my mind, always one of the worst ones to, like, the ones
that cause me the most angst and anxiety, because I saw, I
see it, I know what it is in me. I remember when I was a young
man, and I didn't even know the truth, but I remember coming
in with my cousin, and we were telling him about Jesus, and
he's like, yeah, I've seen people like you before. I know you're
kind." He says, you're there all boasting about Jesus one
day, and then a year later, you're gone. You don't follow Christ
anymore. And that always stuck with me, even as a young man,
remembering what he said, and I just prayed that the Lord would
keep me. And he's been faithful, because
I didn't even know the truth then. He's been faithful to bring
me out of death and out of the kingdom of darkness and kept
just bringing me along so it ain't this flesh that's doing
it but it's him but he says be sober though be sober and watch
because all these things this world is so crafty and it's so
easy to get your heart and your mind and your thoughts wrapped
up and established on what you need to be doing in this world
to accomplish the goals that you set for yourself in this
world, and it's consuming. It's all consuming, so that all
your thoughts are there until the Lord brings you here, thankfully,
in mercy, and then you realize, whoa, what was I thinking? Man,
I'm so consumed with these things, but this is what I need to be,
this is where I need to be, this is what I need to hear. And he
teaches you again, and draws you to himself, and it's in mercy
that he does that. But turn over to Luke 17. Luke
17. Go to verse 26. The Lord's going to speak of
Noah and he's going to speak of Sodom. And we know the wickedness
that was going on because it says it there in Genesis pretty
clearly. the things that were going on, how the heart of man
was deceitful and wicked there in Genesis 6, and then you know
what was going on in Sodom, but listen to what he says in verse
26. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also
in the days of the Son of Man. That is, when the Lord will appear
for his people, whether that's now, in salvation, or in the
end when he comes. It says, listen for the sin. Do you hear any? They drank,
they married wives, they were given a marriage, until the day
that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed
them all. Likewise, verse 28, also as it
was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought,
they sold, they planted, they builded, but the same day that
Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven
and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. Sounds pretty plain and ordinary,
doesn't it? It's just very ordinary things.
They're eating, they're drinking, they're going to work, they're
getting married, they're having kids, just all normal stuff.
And he's saying in that day, that's when the Lord comes, in
a plain, ordinary day where everything seems normal and like it's all
going to be this way forever. But our Lord said to his disciples
in Matthew 26, 41, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So thankfully
the spirit that Christ gives us, that he creates in us, that
new man, loves him. Loves him and cannot sin and
won't go away. It may be fearful at times. We'll
know the infirmity of this flesh and how easily were drawn away,
but he'll keep us. He keeps his own. You just keep
him faithful. When you see it in your own heart,
confess it and pray that he have mercy on you. Because that's
what he does. He does it. He lets us feel it. He lets us
feel the heat that we are reminded, wow, I'm not able to stand on
my own strength. I see it, Lord. I need you. And
this is what I need. So he'll show it. He's faithful
to perform that work that he's promised to do in us. But we're
to watch. and to pray, watch and pray.
All right, and then, Luke 21. Luke 21, verse 34 through 36. Our Lord said, and take, yeah,
go, yeah, Luke 21, 34. He said, take heed to yourselves,
lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting
and drunkenness. Surfeiting is that drinking so
much that you get to the point where you just have a headache
and you're just in a daze and just, you know, just in that
kind of thought. and that drunkenness and cares
of this life and so that day come upon you unawares. And you
always see that drunkenness tied with this end of the world so
that, yeah, it's speaking about drunkenness as well and alcohol
because it does produce those things but it's such a picture
as well of how we get just intoxicated with this world and how our mind
and our thought just gets dazed and confused and thinking that
this is all that there is and that this is what we're to pursue.
And I know it. I'm there. So I'm very sensitive
to what the Lord does. I have the blessing and the luxury
of having to go to the Word all the time and seek His Word. But I know what it is when you're
just providing for yourself and the world and how easy it is
to get sucked into it and all your thoughts get on it. But
he says, he's there and he encourages us to watch and pray. For as
a snare, verse 35, shall it come on all then, all the wicked that
are left in darkness and don't know the Lord, it shall come
on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch
ye therefore and pray always that ye be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand
before the Son of Man. The Lord has to and does and
shall make Christ everything to us. He makes Him all in all.
So even when we're chastened and it's hard against the flesh,
it's all for our good. It all works good. It all draws
us and pushes us to the Lord Jesus Christ because if left
to our own strength, we'd all fall away. Every one of us would
fall away. Even me sitting and reading the Bible, I'd become
dead and hard and fall away. as well, so it's all, the Lord
has to make Christ everything to us, and he does, thankfully.
He makes him, he shows him that he is all our salvation, all
our hope, and he makes him precious to us, because he is precious.
There's only one of him, that's precious. He's valuable. The
world thinks there's valuable things in the world, but Christ
is valuable, and he's precious, so he makes us, he makes us willing,
and he drives us to the Lord in wisdom, and in the way that
only he can do it. So he does it. But we look to
Christ and seek to know him by this gospel of our salvation.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5 and look
in verse 9. We've read this before, but we'll
read it again. 1 Thessalonians 5, 9. For God hath not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep or we should live
together with him. Wherefore, he says, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also ye do. So that brethren, It's not the
flesh, I hope you don't hear, I'm not trying to appeal to your
flesh at all because the flesh is dead, but to that new man
which Christ has created in you. That new man that loves Christ
and knows that what I'm saying is truth and that he is the most
precious thing. And we know the weakness of this
flesh and the infirmity of the flesh that draws us away, but
consider Christ and consider him and his kingdom and why we're
here and what we're called to do in serving him. So we look
to Christ and we want to know Him and see Him. And it says
in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 6, so just go up the page a little
bit, verse 6. Therefore let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
helmet, the hope of salvation." So that we're Christ. He saved
us and called us to himself, and so we're to encourage one
another in these things. And this is one of the greatest
encouragement, this is the greatest encouragement, is just being
here for one another, and coming to hear the Gospel and supporting
the Gospel, because we're encouraged by that. If you were the only
one here, it was just you and me, it might get a little discouraging
at times, but the fact that he brings you here, Don't ever underestimate
just how encouraging that is to your brethren when you're
here and when you are absent. I mean, sometimes you get sick,
you get a stomach bug and things, and you just can't, you know,
get out of it. You know, I get that, and sometimes
there's other circumstances, but just don't be quick to easily
dismiss the worship of the Lord and being with your brethren,
because it really is an encouragement to one another. It really helps
us and encourages us. All right, so in summary to that
point, seeing the end of all things is at hand, and that we're
not appointed to wrath, but are saved in mercy by Christ, let
us therefore have fervent love for one another. And that brings
us to our next point in verse eight, but we'll read seven and
eight. First Peter four, seven and eight. But the end of all
things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer,
and above all things have fervent love among yourselves. For love
shall cover the multitude of sins. All right, turn over to
Colossians 2. Colossians 2, in verse 2. Paul was given an enlarged heart
for the brethren. He sacrificed everything for
his brethren. He gave up every opportunity.
He could have done other things, but he was a smart man, but he
gave up all those things to serve the Lord and to serve his brethren.
and his prayer and his encouragement for the church was that their
hearts, verse two, Colossians 2.2, that their hearts might
be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of
the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. So that Paul wanted
us to grow in love to one another, grow up under this gospel, hear
this gospel and be grown in the grace and the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. in whom, he says, are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And again, there's only one Christ,
there's only one salvation, and there's not other ways. And then
even the brethren, there's so few of us, there's so few that
believe the truth and have the same hope that the Lord's put
in you, so that we want to be together, we want to be drawn
together and encouraged. And as soon as you're not with
the brethren for any length of time, you realize, yeah, it is
pretty dismal out here, especially when the Lord shows you and helps
you to see what's really going on. It says, well, the world,
all the world hates Christ. They're not indifferent. They
hate Christ. It even says in Psalm 2, verses 2 and 3, the
kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
There's no love in this world for God and for Christ. And as
soon as you bring it down to Christ, they really hate it,
because then they know the God that you're talking about, and
that it's just not the indifferent superpower that they like to
think of and give praise to every once in a while. So the apostles
were constantly seeking to warn, and to encourage the brethren,
and to strengthen them, and to have them anchored in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says in Colossians 2,
verses 4 and 5, And this I say, Paul said, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words, for though I'm
absent in the flesh, yet am I present with you in spirit, joying and
beholding your order and steadfastness of your faith in Christ. So I
say that to be jealous for one another, be jealous to be with
one another and to encourage one another and to see this work
through and to see this work grow. Be encouraged to speak
to those that you know and your neighbors. I think it was Henry
Mahan who always said it's the business of the pastor to be
studying and to have a word and it's the business of the members
to invite people and to encourage others to come and hear my pastor,
just hear what he has to say. You don't have to convince him
to be a theologian or anything like that, but pray that the
Lord will help you see the opportunity and you never know because the
Lord may, he's going to be the least, the one that you least
expect it to. You're going to think the one he seems kind of
likely to do, they'll never come, but you never know that one,
what the Lord's been doing in their life and what he's brought
them to see and to that point where they might say, you know
what, let me show up. You know, I've invited lots of
people since I've been here, and not one has shown up, but
I don't want that to stop me. I'm gonna keep on inviting those
people that the Lord just seems to bring randomly in my path,
because I just don't know who it is that's gonna come, and
when they'll come. All right, so our third and final
point, a loving service. Turn over to James 5. James 5, and we'll look at verse 16. So James 5.16, he says, confess
your faults one to another. So James is right before Peter. He says, confess your faults
one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed.
He's not saying that we stand around and confess every sin
and evil thought that we've had in our heart that day because
we'd be stuck on the first person. You know, we'd never get past
the first person. So, he's not saying that, but
he's saying we're honest. We're honest. We know what we
are. And we do offend, excuse me, I got it in my throat. We
do offend one another so easily. He says, if you offend your brother,
and you know that you've offended them, because sometimes we don't
know that we've offended somebody, but if you know that you've offended
them, just be honest. We're not trying to be super
holy and pretend like we don't sin and that we don't do things
that hurt our brethren. We're not trying to, but if we
do sin, confess it. Just be honest and say, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that or
whatever. That's what he means. He's not saying that we go out
and just start confessing everything to one another because it's not
going to be profitable. But we're also not putting on
airs. It's not a pretension. It's not a game to act like we're
holy when we're sinners. And we know that. So we're to
be gracious and understanding with one another because we're
going to offend one another. And so he says, knowing this,
he says, pray for one another that you may be healed. And then
he says this, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. And who is that righteous man?
You know who he is. It's not this man in the flesh,
but it's Christ in you. It's Christ in you, the Spirit
of Christ that dwells in us. He's that righteous man. And
his prayer availeth much, brethren. And he avails much for you, brethren. And that sweetness that he lays
on our heart, it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's
that righteous man. As Luke 17 said, the kingdom
of God cometh not with observation. It's not going to be so obvious
to us and everybody else. It's within you. He said the
kingdom of God is within you, Luke 17, 21. So that, yes, we
must be born again. Yes, it's the spirit that works
in us, that bears that fruit unto God. the Father and rejoices
in Him, it's that new man, that inner man that's created after
Christ Jesus. And that new man, where it says
then in Romans 8, 26, likewise, yeah you can go there if you
want, Romans 8, 26 and 27, he said, likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God,
so that Christ is truly made all in all." It's him working
in us. We don't even know how we ought
to pray. for one another. We don't even know how to pray
for ourselves, so that he's working that in us with groanings that
we can't even utter. We don't necessarily know, you
don't know what to pray for your brethren, but that the Lord would
lay your brethren on your heart. And then, you know, as it said
of Saul of Tarsus, who became the beloved apostle Paul to the
Gentiles, remember in, it's in Acts, I think eight, where it
says, behold, he prayeth, he prayeth. So that for the first
time, we all know how few times can we ever say, yeah, I think
the Lord prayed. There's so few times that we
can ever think about our own prayers and think, wow, I really
prayed today. Even when we think we prayed, we know that we failed
miserably so often. But the Lord prays for us, and
the Lord prays in us, not teach us, but just saying those things
that need to be said. He works that in his people,
and he teaches his people faithfully, and he prays for them, and heals
them, and does all things well for them. All right, now turn
back to John 13. John 13, verse one. It says, this is where the last
passage will be. John 13, 1, 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 Peter reminds us that the end of all things is at hand. And so we're to remember what
Christ did when his end was coming, right, of the days of his flesh.
It says in verse 2, in supper being ended, right, when he was
done feeding the flesh, there and not When supper being ended,
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,
he ariseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a
towel and girded himself. After that, he poureth water
into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe
them with a towel wherewith he was girded. So that Christ now
is doing the work of a lowly servant. for his disciples, his
followers, and he's the one serving them. He's the one who's down. wiping their feet, and then Christ
speaks of the service that he would do for his brethren, right? And what he was saying there
is that what I'm doing here in wiping your feet is, it was a
picture, a type of what he would do in service to the brethren
when he would go to the cross, bearing them and their sin in
his own body before the Father to make reconciliation for the
people, to make that atonement for them. He would serve in the
most ultimate way, by being the lowest of the low for his brethren,
by bearing all that shame and iniquity and everything before
the Father to cleanse us of our sin and to redeem us. And then
it says in verse 12, John 13, 12, 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 have done to you? Ye call me Master
and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then your Lord
and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's
feet. For I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done.