And I take your Bible to turn
back with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. I've entitled
this message, The Gospel Displayed on Purpose. The Gospel Displayed
on Purpose. In the beginning of this chapter
it says, Now before the feast of 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. The first thing I want us
to notice this is the hour. The hour of Jesus. Jesus knowing
His hour was come. There are many times before this
that He was put into such a temptation or such a trial and He would
say this, Mine hour is not yet come. Mine hour is not yet come. But now His hour has come. What
does He mean by this? What is this hour? Knowing His
hour has come. It was His hour of suffering. It was his hour of sorrow and
agony. It was the hour that the father
had ordained before the world began that he should be made
sin for his people. It was a time of great suffering,
upon which all the hail and vengeance of God should fall upon Jesus
Christ. It was his hour of suffering. He, knowing that he should tread
the winepress of the wrath of God alone, that he should suffer the wrath of God, he did so out
of infinite and eternal love for his own, and he loved them
even to the end. even until He died upon Calvary's
tree. And so here in our text is a
manifestation of this love. A manifestation of the love of
Christ because He was going to give them one last picture. He
was going to preach to them one last gospel by a type, a picture. and display for them by the washing
of their feet, he was going to display his perfect salvation. And we must understand this.
Everything Christ did, he did on purpose. You and I, we don't
do much on purpose. We kind of just float. You know,
you do something, every time you're determined to do something,
usually we never get it done, we never get it accomplished,
and whatever happens, just, you know, I didn't mean for it to
happen, it just did. But Jesus Christ was nothing like us. Everything
He did was specifically on purpose. He was always doing the will
of God. Always. Everything He did, every
miracle, Every teaching, every display of His deity, His humanity,
or His humiliation was always on purpose for one reason, that
He should declare how He should save His people from their sins.
Everything He did was a gospel message. Every miracle, every
teaching, it was always to manifest that He was the Christ And He
had come to deliver His people. I'll give you an illustration
of this in Matthew chapter 9. You remember that man that was
sick of the palsy and his friends come and they lowered him down.
They couldn't get in the house. They lowered him down. And you
know what the Lord said to him? He said the most amazing thing
on purpose. He said, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Don't you know He did that on
purpose? Most of the time he would get somebody sick, they
wanted to be healed. I really truly know that this
man had a purpose. He desired to be healed, no doubt.
But he had sin, that was his problem. And the Lord gave him
his desire. Son, thy sins be forgiven. He
healed him of the most horrible plague. And they said unto him,
Who but God can forgive sins? See what he was teaching? He
was teaching his divinity. He was teaching that he is God.
He said, And that you may know that the Son of Man hath power
on earth to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy,
Rise, take up thy bed, and go home. And immediately he got
up and went home. You see what he's doing? He's
teaching his deity, wasn't he? He was teaching His power, but
He was also in that healing teaching salvation. How He saves people
from their sins. We're the sick of the palsy,
aren't we? We can identify with that man. We could not come to
Christ. Until what? Until the Spirit and by His providence
He brought us into Christ. And when we came to Christ, what
did we hear? We didn't hear condemnation.
We didn't hear judgment. We were already condemned. We
knew it. We came to Him. That's why we
came to Him. We were condemned. We couldn't get up. We couldn't
walk to Him. And what did He say to you? Son,
I ask of you, be forgiven me. How in the world are you going
to forgive my sins? That you may know that the Son of Man
hath power on earth to forgive sins. He said to my heart, get
up, rise, and come to me. You know what I did? I got up
and I came to Him. It's all His power. See, it's
a picture of salvation. He did that on purpose. Even
so now in our text, Jesus Christ is going to do something out
of love to display His gospel before He suffered, before He
died, before He goes away. He is going in love to give them
another picture. He does this by washing His disciples'
feet. And in this we have a great picture
of salvation, a picture of His perfect, complete and whole salvation. I look back at your text and
before we get into the picture, I want you to see this. He says, after supper being ended, I'm
sorry, verse 3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all
things into His hands, that he was come from God and went to
God. And notice, this is what Jesus
knew. He knew that everything was given
to Him. He knew where He came from. He
knew what He came for. And He knew where He was going. Now the Son of God, by divine
right, had all things His own. He was the maker of all things.
All things were made by Him and what? For Him. By right, He had
all things were His. All things were His. But as He
condescended to become a man, He willingly subjected Himself
to be made a servant. He knew all things were given
to Him because He came from God to earth. He came from God to
be a man, to be a servant, and to fulfill all righteousness,
to satisfy the justice of God for His people. This is what
Jesus knew of Himself. He knew He came from God. You remember when he was baptized
of John, John said of Christ, he said, this is the one that
he, he is preferred. He came after me. You know, Jesus
was born, I think, a few months after John the Baptist. John
the Baptist was older. By chronological age, he was
older. He came after me, but you listen,
he was preferred before me. He was confessing Christ's deity. And when he came to be baptized
of John, John says, I need to be baptized of you. And Jesus
had suffered to be so now for becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He knew what he came to do. He
came to fulfill righteousness. He was tried of Satan and men
and of God. And what would they find? They
found no fault in him. They found him to be righteous.
That's all they could say about him. They hated him, but they
knew this. He was righteous. He was proved to be righteous. He knowing that all things were
given into His hands, all things, all power, all providence, and
even the glory of God and the salvation of God were in His
hands. You give me something to do?
You say, I'm really trusting you to do this. I'm putting it
in your hands. Bless your heart. Bless your
heart. You must be really desperate
And I think you're too hopeful if you put it into my hands.
It might get done partially. I'll do my best. But at best,
it's probably going to be partial. Do you understand that God put
his own glory into the hand of Jesus Christ? God said, I'm going
to save my people. That's his promise, his oath.
His word, His name was on the line. And He trusted Christ. He gave Him all His glory. And said, Son, my glory is in
Your hands. The salvation of my people is
in Your hands. All things were in His hands. And this was given to Him from
eternity. God put all of His trust in Christ from eternity.
But now, the time had come for Him to actually fulfill it. The
time had come for Him to offer Himself as a substitute. His
hour was come. Do you not see this? That all
time hinges on this one hour. All time beforehand led up to
this hour and all time after that looks back to that hour
for any hope at all. Why? All things were given into
His hands. I came from God to save my people
and I am going to God because I will save my people. and see then the greatness of
his person and the gravity of his work. Remember, it was God
trusted in him, and it was to Christ that the Father gave his
people, put us in union with him before the world began, that
we should be made holy by Jesus Christ. And it was the Father's
will to trust Christ with all the praise of the glory of His
grace. Now, believer, consider that
all the Word of God from the beginning spoke of Christ, that
He should save His people from the very first words. In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And you remember that's a picture
of us without form and void. Sinner. God said, let there be
light. Spirit moved upon the face of
the water. Spirit moved upon the face of this void. And God
said, let there be light. And what was whose light? Jesus
said, I am the light. You see, from the beginning it
spoke of him. And all those providences and things that happened Passover! This is the time that His hour
should come, during Passover! You see, Passover was the time
when the Lamb was slain and the door was put on the door post
and the lintel. What a picture of Him, of His
hour! And now it had come. And in this hour He should save
His people, defeat His enemies, and remove their sins from them
and give them righteousness. That was His work. This was always
the purpose. Over in Isaiah chapter 53, In verse 4 it says, Surely he
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we have streamed
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquity.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes
we are healed. Look at verse 10. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. Thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, and shall see his seed.
prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.
Notice, notice the going back and forth of president and past
tense. It's amazing, isn't it? Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. It's as though it were already
done. Yet in the future he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. The whole word of God spoke of
this hour, of this time, of this minute. Therefore all the fulfillment
of Holy Scripture, the very glory of God rested upon the perfect
obedience and perfect offering of Christ. knowing that he must
shortly go to God. He who came from God, who had
all things in his hands, knows this. He was to return to God
victorious. That's the only way he could
go to God. He could not go to God unless he succeeded. And he knew who he was. He knew
where he went. where he came from, that he was
sure to finish the work that God gave him to do. He told us this very early in
his ministry, didn't he? He said, Nicodemus, he says,
as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, even so must
the son of man be lifted up. It must happen. This hour must
take place. For he, being God in the flesh,
could not and did not fail to glorify God by his one offering
for sin. He has forever redeemed his people. You remember that high priestly
prayer? This is what he says. Flip over to John 3, 17. Look
what he says about this. In the midst of this hour, listen
to what he says. The surety in his voice. He lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, The hour has come. Glorify thy
son for this purpose, that thy son may glorify thee. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh for this purpose, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. He said, I've glorified you on
the earth. I've finished the work. Now wait a second. He's
still got a few hours before he even gets to the cross. But he said, I've already finished.
I finished. I have glorified you. And you've given me power over
all flesh so that I might glorify you in this giving eternal life
to as many as you have given me. He glorified the father. Therefore, believer, we should
rejoice. seeing that all the glory of God in our salvation
was given to His hands, and He has victoriously glorified God,
and now having glorified God, because of His success, He shall
give eternal life. He will give eternal life to
as many as He died for. As many as the Father had given
Him. Therefore, you that believe,
We are sure of our acceptance. We are confident that our full
salvation is accomplished because Christ glorified God. He victoriously
fulfilled the will of God in this hour. By his one offering,
he has sanctified us once for all and perfected us. Now, Seeing
that he, his hour has come, seeing he knew where he was from and
where he was going, he once again is going to give them a picture.
Now look at this, in the preceding verse, here it is. Verse four,
he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a
towel and girded himself. Very simple thing happened here.
Not complex. Jesus took off the garment that
he had. He took a towel, a servant's towel, and he wrapped himself
in this towel. He poured some water in a basin
and he took his disciples' feet and he washed them. Anybody misunderstand
that? It's very, very simple. But it's very profound as to
the meaning of it. I know we don't do this. We don't
wash each other's feet. There's not much necessity for
it. Back then, there was a real necessity. They didn't have Nike
shoes to cover their feet. I mean, their feet were dirty
all the time. It was hot. It was miserable.
I don't know how people walk around in sandals. It hurts my
toes. Get that little thing between my toes and man, it just hurt.
I don't know how they walk around. But they had to. It's the only
footwear they had if they had any at all. So when you came
into somebody's house, washing their feet was a refreshing thing. It was a joyful thing. But you
know who did it? It was the lowest servant in
the house. The basest man in the whole house,
that was his job. It was the worst job you could
have. When somebody walked around that
towel and poured the water, you knew that guy was hated. He probably had a lot of servants
in these houses, but you didn't want to be that guy. Notice that Christ took the lowest
place, girding himself with the Tao showed us one thing, His
condescension. Behold, the Son of God was clothed
with glory and majesty. Every day, every night, all praise
was sung to Him in Heaven. The garments of his glory he
had, he said, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee
from before the world was. Yet on purpose for the sake of
his people he must have took the lowest place. You know that scripture that
says underneath are everlasting arms? Remember that? Do you realize
for his arms to go under you he has to go lower than you? For him to pick you up, he has
to go lower than you. He did. Jesus laid aside the
garment of his glory and wrapped himself in the towel of humanity. Behold then the mind of Christ,
to whom were given all things into his hands. If you had all
things given to you, how would you act? What if you had all
things given to you? I imagine you'd hire servants.
I don't imagine you'd be one. But he who had all things became
the lowest. This was the mind of Christ.
Who being in the form of God thought it not Robert to be equal
with God, but made of himself no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant and became obedient even unto death, even
the death of the cross. This was the mind of Christ.
And behold the great necessity of this. Had he not done this,
there would have been no hope for us. Had he not laid aside
his glory and wrapped himself as a representative man, there
would have been no hope for us. It was necessary. We have somebody
represent us. We did have somebody in the beginning
represent us, but he failed. Adam represented us. But Adam
failed and when Adam failed, he died and we all died in him. That's why you were born dead.
You were born dead because of your representative. So that
there's any hope for us. We need another man to do for
us what we could not do. Christ became that man. He became
a representative man so as to bring in righteousness and redemption. Behold, the great humility of
Christ is stooped so low as to be made flesh, made under the
law, for the purpose to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might be made sons. Believe it or not, none of us
could have ever honored God. We were so polluted and defiled.
We were haters of God, lovers of sin. But now see, the only hope, the
only savior is that Christ came and robed himself. in humanity. Why do we, every time I preach
to you, I preach about this, don't I? Every time I talk about
his humanity, his condescension, why? Because without it, there's
no hope. You need a man to represent you. He is the man. I like the
way the apostle put it, but this man, this man, he's different. He's not like those other men.
This man, after he offered one sacrifice He sat down. He finished it. Having perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now then you see the only hope
for sinners is Christ wrapped himself in humanity. Jesus was
not made flesh to fulfill his own righteousness, but to fulfill
the righteousness of his people. And so he humbled himself and
became obedient to the law of God and the cross. Secondly,
look at this, He poured water into a basin. Verse 5, And He
poured water into a basin, and began to wash His disciples'
feet, and wiped them with the towel wherewith He was girded. See the picture of our Lord's
impending death that was upon Him as hour was come that He
should fulfill the Scriptures. Listen to what He says in Isaiah
53, Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and
He shall divide the small with the strong, Because, listen,
he had poured out his soul unto death. When Christ poured the
water into the basin, what was he telling you? I'm about to
pour out my soul unto death. I'm about to spill my blood to
cleanse you of your sins. I don't know if you've thought
about how much blood The Old Testament sacrifice, you realize
that there were at least two a day. Every day. One in the morning, one evening,
at least two minimum. And we know that there are multitudes
of other offerings that were required daily. Can you imagine the priest job? taking these animals, slitting
their throats, pouring out the blood, gutting them, burning
their flesh on the altar. Daily, constantly, blood, blood,
blood. Why? Without the shedding of
blood is no remission. There's no remission of sins
without blood. I know religion likes to have
a bloodless religion. They just want works. That's
a bloodless religion. If you just join the church,
where's the blood? Where's the blood in joining
the church? Well, if you just get baptized, where's the blood
in baptism? Well, you feed the hungry, clothe
the naked, build houses for the poor. Wait, where's the blood?
There's no redemption in those things. There's only redemption
in this, that Jesus poured out his soul unto death. That's it. He was numbered with the transgressors
and he bared the sins of many. The death of Jesus Christ, I
want you to know this, as he willingly poured out that water
in a basin. He willingly poured out his soul
unto death. He did not go begrudgingly. He went willingly. He laid down
his life for his sheep. For as many as the father had
given him, he delighted to do this. We were all by nature no different
than others. We were transgressors and rebels.
Haters of God, yet before we were born, God chose us to be
redeemed by His offering, and Christ delighted to do it. Having
loved His own, He loved them unto the end. Behold, His blood was shed for
the remission of sins. His blood was poured out as the
Father in justice slew Him. Awake, O sword, and smite the
shepherd, the man that is my fellow. The sheep shall be scattered,
and I will bring the little ones unto myself." Christ suffered untold pain,
the full measure of God's wrath, and by doing so, justice was
forever satisfied. This is the gospel we preach,
even Jesus Christ and him crucified. Notice this, he began to wash
his disciples' feet. He girded himself with a towel,
he poured the water in the basin, and he washed his disciples'
feet and wiped them with the towel wherewith he himself was
girded. This is a picture, and this picture
of the death of Jesus Christ This here is a picture of the
application. The application of His work,
of His girding Himself, of His pouring out of His own blood.
This is the application of it. The washing. The washing of regeneration
by the Word. Over in John 16, the Lord gives
Him further instruction concerning what's going to happen after.
He offers Himself. In John 16 and verse 8, He says,
When He will come, the Comforter will come, the Spirit will come,
He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of
judgment, of sin because they believe not on Me, of righteousness
because I go to My Father and you see Me no more, of judgment
because the Prince of this world has judged. He tells the disciples
what the Spirit will do. When the Spirit comes to the
heart of the sinner, what's the first thing he reproves us of?
Righteousness. We have none. I'm reproved of
that, aren't you? I have no righteousness of my
own. When the Holy Spirit comes to the
heart of a sinner, he exposes our sin and guilt so that he
knows his complete failure. and depravity. In the greatness of his sins,
he sees the most vilest of sins that he has not believed on the
Son of God. Then in his misery and shame,
the Holy Spirit reveals righteousness. Righteousness not by his own,
but righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus. Righteousness.
He reveals righteousness and of judgment. He convinces us
of judgment, that judgment is past. Judgment is past. We know God is holy. God is holy. God is just. Let me ask you a
question. If God punished my sins in Christ,
all my sins, How then could He ever condemn me? Would that be just? No. But God is just. So I know something
of judgment. I know this. I am worthy of God's
judgment. But my hope is judgment is past. Christ has accomplished and satisfied
the judgment of God. How? Because He has gone to the
Father. What does that mean? It means
he's done it. He's satisfied. He finished the
work. And notice, he washes their feet. This is what it is when a sinner
comes to Christ. He washes him of all his sins. He cleanses him of all his sin. Have you been reproved by the
spirit? Have you come to faith in Christ? This is the refreshment
of it. This is the the end result of
his work is that he actually cleanses us from all our sin. You got that I don't. I don't
even know all my sins. Do you do you know all of them?
Can you, we can't even number the ones we know. And yet he cleanseth us from
all our sin. Was that not refreshing? It's refreshing. Notice Peter's response here.
Peter says, look at verse 6, he says, Let me go back to my
text and I can probably read it better. Verse six. Then came
Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, dost thou wash my
feet? Jesus answered and said, What
I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And
Peter said to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Peter saw the Lord in a humiliating
place. When a sinner is exposed to Christ,
we say this, how in the world could you ever wash me? I know I can wash Eric. I can
understand you washing Eric. I can understand you seeing Glenn
and you washing him, but I can't possibly understand how you wash
me. My sins are too black. How could you stoop so low as
to save me? Notice Jesus said this, Simon
said, Simon said, Lord, I'm sorry, look at verse, He said, Lord,
what I shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, said, If I wash
thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. If Christ don't wash you, you
have no part with him. Behold, all who refuse to come
to God by Jesus Christ, who desire to be washed in any other way,
will have no part with him. How do you desire to be washed? With your own hands? I'll wash
my own feet. I'll cleanse myself. You just
pour out your soul unto death and I'll do the work. I'll cleanse
you. That's what religion says. Christ
poured out the water and he just puts the water out there and
says, okay, anybody wants to, cleanse your feet. No. On purpose, Christ knelt down
to every one of them and with his own hands, with his own hands, he washed
them. And he said, if I don't do this
for you, Peter, there's no hope for you. You know what Peter
said? He said, don't just wash my feet. Wash my hands and my head, because
they're just as filthy as my feet. Your head just as filthy
as your feet? What about your hands, your works?
Aren't they just covered with sin? This is what a believer
comes to when he comes to be washed of Christ. He wants to
be rid of it all. We cry, Heal my whole, wash my
whole body. Is this not our heart to be fully
cleansed of sin? Be rid of it forever? We know
this is not our experience. Look at verse 10 and see why
he limited only to the feet. Jesus said to him, he that is
washed needeth not save to wash his feet. but is clean everywhere,
and you are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore he said, you are not all clean. Even so, because the Holy Spirit,
in the work of the washing and regeneration upon the heart,
Titus says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the
work of Christ's hands He washes us. But the feet here is really the
heart. When Christ washes us, he gives
us a clean heart, a new heart. He doesn't do away with the old
nature. It's still here. Aren't you glad that he said
that? That he said, He that is washed needeth not save to wash
his feet. In other words, when Christ washes
us and gives us a new heart, a new nature, that's what's needed. Even though we still must contend
with this old man of sin, we must constantly contend with
him. But this is my hope, that I am
clean every whit. Every whit is clean. even though we still possess
this body of death, though we are prone to do and constantly
sin in the flesh. This is no excuse for sin because
we hate our sin. But all who are washed surely
despise the filth of the flesh, yet it is our comfort, Jesus
says this, you are perfectly clean. You are perfectly clean. Some say, well, what about Judas?
Didn't he wash his feet? Does that mean that you can be
washed and lost? No, that's not what it means.
Why, Jesus knew who were clean and who weren't. This just shows
us this point, that Judas in this picture, his feet was washed
outwardly. We know this, that there's always
going to be tares among the weak. There's always going to be vain
professors along with the believers. That's what Judas shows in this
picture. But look at verse 12. And so
after he washed their feet, he had taken his garments and was
set down again. And saith unto him, 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.
where I have given you an example that you should do even as I
have done. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not
greater than his Lord, neither is he that sent greater than
he that sent him. If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them. Notice this, when Jesus finished
the work, what did he do? He set aside the towel and he
took his garments again. When Christ finished his work
of salvation, what did he do? He ascended to where He was before.
He sat down. That was very important. This
is all on purpose. Do you not see every bit of this
He's doing on purpose? Taking on the towel, putting off the
towel, pouring the water, washing specifically, making sure that
they know that you're clean everywhere. It's all on purpose. And He sits
down, saying what? It's done. Salvation's accomplished. I have finished the work. I have
washed my disciples' feet. They are clean everywhere. And
the Father glorified Him in the resurrection. And now He is robed
in majesty and glory, working all things after the power and
counsel of His own will for this purpose, to save His people,
to bring them to Himself. That's what Christ is doing.
He is robed. And lastly, I want you to see
a spiritual lesson, a spiritual command. He says, You call me
Master and Lord. You say, well, for so I am so. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet.
He's not instituting the washing, feet washing. That's not what
he's doing. He's instituting the same command he gave over
and over. Love one another as I have loved you. All the redeemed of Christ We
call him master. All right. Is he your master?
Are you sure about that? Is he your Lord? If he is, then he is greater
than you. Is that right? If I, who am greater than you,
have stooped so low to wash your feet. You listen to my command. Do so to one another. He stooped so low to be made
a servant and out of love he saved us even the ignominious
death of the cross. Dying in open shame bearing our sins in his own body
on the tree. How then are we to treat each
other? I'll give you a couple of places
and I'll close. Look at Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 5. Go the right way. Ephesians chapter
5 verse 1. Be therefore imitators of God. That's what it means. Follower,
imitators. Now what he just told you? As
dear children. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet-smelling savor." Walk in love. Now listen, I'm
going to put it on myself. How much am I to love you? To my shame. I confess I don't, but it should be the desire of
our heart to love one another as Christ loved us. How low am I to stoop and serve
you? as low as my master who is greater
than me. Go to Galatians. Galatians chapter
5. Galatians, I want you to know,
is divided into two sections. First of all, he's rebuking those
who went into false heresies. They were going after false teachings.
They need to be circumcised plus believing in Jesus Christ. He
said, look, if that's how you're saved, you have no part in Christ.
But in chapter five, he's going to now turn it around to those
who did not leave. To you who held firm to the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the liberty. He said, stand fast in the liberty
where Christ has made it free. That's what I've been doing.
I've been standing fast. Now, how am I going to treat
those? Who fail? Look at verse 13. For brethren,
you have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty as an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. How am I to serve? Look at chapter
six. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual,
Restore such and one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself. What? That you're capable of
doing what they did. Consider yourself. Restore them. I've told you what that meant.
Many of you know what that means. If you broke your arm and you
had to set the bone, how would you like somebody to set it? Hmm? You want a harsh? Well, I told you you shouldn't
be doing that. Snap. No. How about somebody? I'm so sorry. Let me help. You want somebody
gentle. This is how we're to love. is
to restore such and one. I know some brethren who have
fallen, and man, some of the brethren who did not fall, they
are the most arrogant stench about them. They demand that
these brethren stand up and confess their sins before the church.
Tell me that's love. Tell me that's how we're to restore
one another. Is that washing somebody's feet
or throwing the bucket at them? They should be ashamed. Not the
one that fell, but the one trying to restore like that. No. Friends, if our brothers have
offended us, you know what place we should take? The lowest place. Take the hit. If your brother defrauded you,
robbed you of everything you got, Take the hint. In humility. Listen. Knowing what Christ did
to save me. I'm going to leave you with His
commandment. You that say He's master, go
to John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. This is the law. This is the
law of Him who stooped so low to save us. In love, He loved
us to the end. And this is His commandment to
us. Look at verse 22 of 1 John 3. And whatsoever we ask, we
receive of Him. Because we keep His commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Is that what you say in the mirror
every morning, Eric, you look up there and say, man, you have kept his
commandments. You know what he's going to do?
He's going to do anything I ask because I kept his commandments
and I do all things pleasing in his sight. Is that what you
say about yourself? No. Listen to his commandments and
his commandment, this is his commandment. I'm not talking
about the Ten Commandments. I'm talking about the Law of
Moses. This is His Commandments. How
do I know I've kept His Commandments? How do I know I'm pleasing in
His sight? Because we keep His Commandments
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as He gave us Commandments. What is His
Commandment? Believe on Me. Trust my work for you. And then seeing my work for you,
love each other. Oh, that God be gracious to help
us to believe. I believe. I love you, oh I long to see
you, as I should. And this is by his grace that
I keep his commandment, that I am pleasing in the sight of
God because of his grace. Because he condescended and took
the towel of humanity, he poured out his soul unto death, he came
to us and washed our souls from all our sins. And now he's left
us with his commandment, love one another. Be the lowest of God's servants. Why? I'm not greater than him.
He did it. How much more should we? I pray
God bless this to our hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy. Pour out your spirit as you please.
Forgive us our sins. I thank you for Christ and his
righteousness, Christ and his blood, Christ and his ascension
to glory, as he has forever satisfied thy justice for our sins. I pray
you be gracious and go with us this week. Fill our minds and
hearts with these things. In Christ's name I ask. Amen.