John chapter 13. I'll tell you this, before we
begin, we need to pray and ask God to be gracious. Gracious
Father, thank you for another opportunity to come and worship
you. Father, I pray you'd settle our
hearts, that you'd give me liberty and unction of thy spirit, Father,
to preach your word. to simply declare, Father, what
you have written, what you have said, and what Christ has done. Father, I pray that you would
even at this time open the hearts of your people, that, Father,
by your grace, they may believe and trust in Jesus Christ, your
Son, that all things be done in this service for thy glory,
for thy honor and praise. And Lord, we pray you'd forgive
us of all of our sins and failures to worship you as we should and
honor you as we should. And Father, help us to be trusting
only in Jesus Christ, our Savior. If it's in his name I ask these
things. Amen. All right, now take your
Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. And the title of the message
this morning is, The Gospel Displayed on Purpose. The Gospel Displayed
on Purpose. In verse 1, the scripture 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. The hour, first of all, the hour
that the apostle speaks of here, Jesus knew that his hour was
come. This hour was the hour of His
suffering, the hour of His sorrow, the hour of His agony, which
was ordained by God that He should be made sin for His people. This hour that He knew was come. You remember when He was at the
wedding feast and His mother saw that there was no wine, and
she came to Jesus, and she said, They're without wine. And what
did He say? Woman, what have I to do with
thee? Mine hour is not yet come. There was an hour in which Christ
would be subjected to wicked men and their hands, but His
hour at that time was not yet come. But now, the Scripture
says, his hour was come. This hour of agony and suffering
in which the vengeance of God would be poured out without measure
on him. The infinite wrath of God would be
poured out upon him as he was made sin. He, as the Scripture
said, tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. And he did this. Notice in that
verse, he says, having loved his own. This was his reason. This was his purpose. This was
his attitude. This was his will. He loved his own unto the end. In this great hour, He loved
His own, and now, at this supper, He was to display something. He, in love for them, wanted
to display His gospel to them. One more time. One more time. He had done it all through his
ministry, but now it was coming to an end. He was about to leave
the world, and he wanted to leave for them a wonderful display
of his gospel, of the gospel of Christ. Now, and this display
in this chapter is, as we'll see, the washing of the disciples'
feet. The washing of his disciples'
feet. Now, before we get into that picture, and I want us to
see that picture, how it is, the gospel. First of all, I want
you to understand something, and it's very important for you
to understand this. Everything Everything the Lord
Jesus Christ did in His life, everything from even after His
conception in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, everything
He did was on purpose. Everything. Everything he did, every miracle
he performed, every teaching, and every display of his deity,
his humanity, his humility, was always, always, always on purpose. He didn't do anything like we
do. You know what you're going to
do today? You have an idea, don't you? You have a plan. You have
a plan of what you're going to do today. How often does that
plan actually work out for you? Mine never. It never, even when
it happens, it's not exactly how I thought it would happen.
But I tell you, the Lord Jesus Christ, everything He did was
absolutely on purpose. On purpose. He did nothing like
we do So everything he did was to display or declare the gospel
of God's salvation by free and sovereign grace through his person
and work. That is exactly what he did every
time. Every time. And I can see this everywhere. He went. If I can't see it, it's
not because it's not there, it's because it's just not revealed
to me by the Spirit. But it's there. And I'm just
going to go ahead and show you one illustration of this. Go
over to Matthew chapter 9. This is one illustration to show
you that everything Jesus did was on purpose. Matthew chapter 9, verse 1. in
regards to this healing. Now, we're just going to show
one miracle. I'm just going to show you one miracle that Jesus
did and show you that it was on purpose. Scripture says in verse 1, And
he entered into a ship, and passed over and came to his own city. And behold, They brought unto
him a man sick of the palsy, lying in the bed. And Jesus,
seeing their faith, said to the sick of the palsy, Son, be of
good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now, this man that's sick
of the palsy, I want you to see this in verse 1, that Jesus purposefully
entered into a ship. Purposefully He sailed across
the sea to this one city. Now why would he do that? Why
would he leave the people that he was with and go over the sea
to this one place, to this city? Because there was a man there
who was sick of the posy. He did that on purpose. There was a man there who was
sick of the posy that he should say, that he should comfort with
his word. And he, this man, was brought
to him on a bed by other men and sat before him. There he
was, look at this. They take this man, his friends.
They have compassion. They obviously heard about the
Lord Jesus Christ. They heard he was there and they
said, Let's take him to Christ. And the man said, Yes, take me
to Christ. They all were believing that
Christ alone could heal him. And so they brought him seeking
mercy. Now they had no idea that Jesus
would heal him. They believed he could. And so
they brought him there. And you know what he said? He
said, Son, you be happy. Your sins are forgiven you. Have
you ever thought of why he said that? Instead of first saying, okay,
rise, take thy bed and walk. He did that several times, didn't
he? Why this time did he say that? It was on purpose. He was going to show them something. He was going to show them his
deity. His deity. He said, Son, be of
good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And what happened? Look
at the result of that. Behold, certain of the scribes
said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. In another place,
who is this man who says he can forgive sins? Only God can forgive
sins. That's blasphemy. See what the
Lord did? Did that on purpose. He incited
them to this. He hardened their hearts by this. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts,
said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether it
is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to arise, take
up thy bed, and walk. Now which is easier to say? Pope says it all the time, doesn't
he? Priests say it all the time.
Preachers say it all the time. It is easy to say, isn't it? Oh, bless thee, my son, thy sins
be forgiven thee. Anybody can say it. I just said
it. So which is easier to say? Well, that's easier to say, but
that you may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive
sins. He saith to the sick of the palsy,
Take up thy bed and walk. And he got up and walked. Now,
who has power to forgive sins? You know He does. You see, He
did all that to display His deity. It wasn't on accident He sailed
across the sea. It wasn't on accident these men
brought that man to Him. It wasn't on accident He said,
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. It wasn't on accident that those
men said He blasphemed. It wasn't on accident that He
healed this man. You see that everything He did
was on purpose. It's not accidental. It's not
coincidental. It's on purpose. And I tell you, I can preach
the gospel from this passage. You see, He did this on purpose.
He didn't do this just for this man or those Jews. He did it
for us. He left us His Word on purpose.
On purpose. And listen, I could preach the
gospel from this. Is that not us by nature paralyzed in sin? That's us by nature. Dead in
trespasses and sins. And yet, before this man is even
mentioned, before his paralysis is even mentioned, Jesus purposed
to come to him. Isn't that God's eternal purpose?
To come to us? He, before the world began, chose
us in grace and purposed to save us by His own free grace. Purpose
that by Jesus Christ that He should come and die for our sins. Purpose that the Holy Spirit
should come in power and revive us, regenerate us, give us a
new heart on purpose. You suppose these men had faith
by their own power? These men had no faith by their
own power. Faith is a gift of God. Not of works. Why? Lest any man
should boast. Can you boast in your faith?
If you can, it's not God-given faith. If you can brag about
it, it's not God-given. Well, preacher, I chose Jesus
Christ. I exercised my free will. That's
not true faith. That's a lie. That's a product
of your own making. True faith is a gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. I have no boasting in
my faith, none whatsoever. It is a gift of God. Jesus said,
this is the work of God, that you should believe on Him whom
He has sent. Jesus said, no man can come unto
Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. No man can. Faith is not natural. It's supernatural. And so these men had faith. How
is it that they had faith? God gave it to them. There's
no other reason for it. And you know what God says to
those who have faith? Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
be forgiven thee. And then we see it in the healing
of the man. He's able. He said, Son, take
up thy bed and walk. Is that not what he did to us
in our dead condition? He said, Son, take up thy bed
and walk. Son, come to Christ. You did. You did. So you see, everything he does
is on purpose. Everything. I can do that with
every miracle. Every miracle Jesus Christ did
in this book. Now then, go back to your text.
Now I want you to see what he did on purpose here in this place. And before I get into this, I
want us to see the purpose of Jesus Christ in salvation and
His knowledge, even in this hour of His suffering and His agony
to which He was fixing to go to the cross. Jesus knew this. He said in verse 3, Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that
he was come from God and went to God. Now the Son of God by
divine right, listen, by divine right owns all things. He made it. He owns it. That includes every tree, every
field, every piece of grass and blade of grass and that means
you. He owns you. He owns you by divine
right. You know why people, if you own
a piece of property, say you own a piece of property and the
government comes in and demands of you to do something, you know
what happens? You get upset. You get upset. Why? It's my property. How can you tell me what to do
with my property? And I tell you, God, God says,
who are you to tell me to do with my property? You are his
property. He owns you by divine right.
Jesus Christ made everything, owns everything by divine right. As he condescended to become
a man, Jesus Christ Himself willingly became subject to the law. He became a servant of God, a
chosen servant of the Father in order to fulfill all righteousness,
satisfy justice for His elect people. And now, as the Passover
Lamb, he was tried by Satan, by men, and God, and found perfectly
righteous, he knowing that all things were given into his hands. All things were given into the
hands of this one man, Jesus Christ. All things. Now, he had
all things. But as he condescended to become
a man, he earned the right to rule all things. He's the only
one. He earned and merited the right. And all power, providence, and
even the glory of God and the salvation of his elect were given
to him by God. even from eternity and yet now
in time to be offered up as the sinner's substitute. Believers see the greatness then
of his person and the gravity of his work that he was about
to perform. Remember, it was God who first
trusted in Christ. It was God who first trusted
in Christ. He trusted in Jesus Christ all of His glory and the
salvation of His people. All the glory of God and all
the salvation of His people, God entrusted to His holy Son. It was to Christ that the Father
gave and put into union with Him His elect and beloved people
before the foundation of the world. Go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. Where is all the blessing in
heavenly places? Where did the Father put all
of His people? In Christ. In union with Christ. Now when did He do that? When did He put you in Christ?
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, to Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted." Where? In the Beloved. So the father
having chosen a people, loved a people, what did he do with
this people? What was his purpose? His purpose
was that you should be holy. That's God's decree. I decree,
said the father, that all my elect people should be holy.
I decree that. And I decree this not just by
any means, But by one means, by Jesus Christ. That's how they should be made
holy, by Jesus Christ. And it was by the Father's will.
And look at this, go over here and look at verse 12. That we should be to the praise
of His glory. Who first trusted in Christ? In whom you also trusted. Who
first trusted Jesus? Who first trusted Him? The Father
did. The Father trusted Him with all
the elect. The Father put in His hands all
the salvation of His people. Every bit of the salvation of
his people rests on Jesus Christ. Believer, consider this, that
the Word, all the Word of God from the beginning spoke of who? Jesus Christ. Consider from the
very beginning, Adam's sin. After Adam's sin, what was the
first gospel message? The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. That's the first gospel message.
In Isaiah chapter 42, it says, Behold my servant whom I elect,
in whom my soul delighteth. Verse 4 of that same chapter
says, He shall not fail nor be discouraged. In Daniel chapter
9 and verse 24, 70 weeks are determined. 70 weeks are determined. I don't want to misquote it.
I'm going to read it to you. Daniel chapter 9. You don't have
to turn there, but I will. And tell me, does this sound
iffy to you? Does this sound like it might
not happen? 70 weeks are determined. as 490 years are determined upon
thy people and upon the holy city." Listen, to finish the
transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to
seal up the vision, the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy One.
Does it sound iffy that Jesus Christ would come into the world
and maybe, maybe put away sin? Is that how God speaks? He says, no, it's determined
that He's going to come, put an end to sin, transgression,
and iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness. And you know what?
I will anoint my Most Holy One. Who is that? The Son of God.
The Son of God. Therefore, all the fulfillment
of Holy Scripture Even the glory of God rests upon the obedience
and perfect work of Jesus Christ that was to come to pass. Yet Jesus, even in the midst
of such a wait... Can you imagine such a wait?
Can we even wrap our minds around that kind of wait? that all the
souls of his people rested on his shoulders, on his work. And yet even in this hour of
his greatest trouble, his greatest sorrow, his mind and heart was
to give you another picture on purpose. And that picture is
displayed for us in the washing of the feet of the disciples.
Look at this. Go back to your text and look with me at this
picture. And I pray God will be gracious
to show you the gospel through this. Jesus, knowing that all
things were given to Him, all His people, all their salvation,
all the glory of God was into His hands. Into His hands. And he knew this, that he was
come from God and went to God. What does he do? He riseth from
supper, he laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded
himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples'
feet, and wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Now why would he do this? I told you that he does everything
on purpose. This was not by chance. It was not by accident. He knowing
that he would soon die for their sins. He wants to give them another
picture, you and me. And he does this. He said, now
he laid aside his garments. Here in this small and simple
act, Jesus Christ, our Lord, did this on purpose, knowing
He was God manifest in the flesh, knowing that He was come to fulfill
the Scriptures, perform this act of washing His disciples'
feet, which was done only at this time by the lowest servant
of the house. This custom, washing feet, was
not meant for the Lord of the house. It was done by the lowest servant. If you had, at this time, if
you had a servant that was the most obnoxious servant, if you
had an obnoxious servant, you would put him in this position. If you had a slave that always
tried to escape or always tried to do something evil toward his
master, this is the position he would be in. He would be the
washer of feet. That's the lowest position. And
yet here it is, the Lord of glory knowing his deity. He took off his outer garment,
He girded himself with a towel like that servant would, and
he bent down and washed the nasty feet of his disciples. Now, he
did it on purpose. Why? To show us again the gospel. Behold, Jesus Christ, who is
God, was robed in glory and majesty from all eternity. He was robed in strength and
honor and praise and glory. Yet to save His people, He must
have laid aside His glory. He took off the garment of His
deity and glory and robed Himself in the towel of humanity. and
became the lowest of men. The lowest of men. You let that settle in. How far did God condescend to
become a man? Believer, none of us can understand the great humility
of the Lord Jesus Christ to stoop so low as to be made a man, made
under the law for the purpose of redeeming us who are rebels
and sinners. I'll tell you this right now,
if you had an enemy, would you bend down and wash his feet?
You would if it got you some praise. I know I would if it
got me some praise because that's our nature to get ourselves praise.
The Lord Jesus Christ, do you not see that it added nothing
to Him? He bowed down from His glory to become a man But now see, this was your only
hope, that the only Savior, Jesus Christ, should become a man.
And do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Obey the law
of God in perfect faith and obedience. That's why he became a man. It
was by man sin came. And therefore it must be by man
that righteousness come. A representative man. This is
the gospel. This is the message of God's
grace. That God condescended to become a man in order to obtain
righteousness that you and I couldn't do. He did it in our place. And second of all, you see, He
poured the water into the basin. See now the picture of our Lord's
impending death by this, that He has come to pour out His soul
unto death. Matter of fact, it's in the Scripture. It's a prophecy. Go to Isaiah
chapter 53. As he poured that water into
the basin, I tell you, he poured out his soul unto death. Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 10. It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. Therefore will I divide a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the full with the strong,
because He hath poured out His soul unto death. He was numbered
with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors. He bare the sins of who? Many. Many. Oh, see this. I want you to see
this. That Jesus Christ, His atonement
was successful. I am declaring to you a successful
Savior. Any other Savior that is not
successful is not a Savior. Jesus Christ actually died for
the sins of who? Many. Everyone that God chose and gave
to His Son, He poured out His soul unto death for them. And He actually redeemed them. He actually was successful in
putting away their sins forever by the sacrifice of Himself. Jesus Christ paid the sins of
many. Now, knowing all things were
given to Him, this greatest act of grace and glory, He poured
out His soul unto death for our sins. This death of Christ was
not by force, but willingly He laid down His life for His sheep,
for many, for those given to Him by the
Father. And you know what? I want you
to understand. Remember, He did everything on
purpose. He did this out of love for us. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. He did this willingly. He laid
down His life. Behold, His blood was shed for
the remission of sin. His blood was poured out as the
Father in justice slew Him. Awake, O sword, and smite the
man that is My fellow. Now how did justice smite Him
who is righteous? Because God in that transaction
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. Why? That you might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is the purpose
of God. This is the purpose of His death.
And God poured out His wrath on Him without measure. And when
it was done, when justice said, that's enough, what did Christ
say? is finished. It's done. God's justice is forever
satisfied. I have redeemed my people and
God proved it. Just so every man knows the success
of Jesus Christ, God proved it by raising him from the dead. Do you know that anyone who has
ever heard of Jesus Christ knows this. He's raised from the dead.
Now, they may not believe it, but they know it. They know it. This thing was not done in a
corner. I tell you, there were more witnesses
that saw the Lord Jesus Christ alive after His death than signed
the Declaration of Independence. He raised Him from the dead.
this is the gospel we preach and then notice this he began
to wash his disciples feet and wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded this is a picture of the death of Lord Jesus Christ
as it is applied by the Holy Spirit to the elect In John 16, in verse 8 through
11, our Lord Jesus Christ says this, that He will send them
another Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. And what is the
work of the Holy Spirit when He comes? He says He will reprove
the world of sin, because they believe not. Of sin, of righteousness
and judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to My Father and
they see Me no more. of judgment because the prince
of this world is judged. The work of the Holy Spirit is
to reprove you of sin. This is the washing of the Holy
Spirit. This is salvation. What is the sin that He reproves
you of? Now, you've committed so many.
You've committed them all. You've broken His law in every
way possible. But what is the sin that pierces
our hearts before conversion? It's the fact that we've not
believed on the Son of God. What sin sends all men to their
doom above every other sin? It is unbelief. It is unbelief. And this is what the Holy Spirit
convinces men of. He reproves them. You have not
believed on the Son of God. And what does the man that is
stabbed by the Spirit of God do? Oh, if I could just have
Him. Oh, I must have Christ. I must
have Him. Take the world. Give me Christ. I've got to have Him. That's
what the Spirit convinces of. And I believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? Because the Spirit did that.
The Spirit of God moved you to that. Faith in Christ. And of judgment. judgment. He exposes our sins before God. He convinces us of the grace
that's found in Jesus Christ of judgment. That is, Christ's
death and judgment, that judgment is passed. He convinces everyone
who believes that judgment is done. Judgment's finished. because
Jesus Christ endured the judgment of God in my stead that's his
work I believe on Jesus Christ in his person and his work that
he has removed all the judgment of God of sin, of righteousness, that
there's only righteousness found in Jesus Christ. That's what
I know. That's what I believe with all my heart, that all my
righteousness is by His work alone and not by any merit of
myself. Not by any work. You see, all
of our service to God adds nothing to His righteousness. Nothing. If you add one thing to his righteousness,
you pollute it. Because every one of your righteousness
and mine are nothing but sin. Our best deeds are so mixed with
sin that we have no way to merge that with his righteousness.
I would dare not try. And if you do, you'll end up
as any other lost man. Like that man in the wedding
garment that brought his own wedding garment. You'll be cast
out. So we believe that the judgment
of God is passed in all our righteousness. And this is what it is to be
washed. This is what it is to wash our
feet. Jesus Christ comes in grace and
He washes us. He cleanses us from all our sin. Did you get that? From all our
sin. From all our sin. Cleanses us. Hebrews 1 in verse 3 says, He
hath what? Purged. That word just means
washed. He hath purged our sins. Now I'm not an English scholar,
but that's past tense. Isn't it? He hath purged our
sins. And I tell you right now, He
doth purge our sins. But I want you to see this also
that he didn't wash the whole person. Did he? He washed their feet. He didn't
wash their hands. He didn't wash their head. That's
what Peter said when he pursued him. He comes to Peter and Peter
said, no, you shall not wash my feet. How could that be, Lord? I'm filthy. I'm a sinner. I should
be washing your feet. He said, no. If I wash not your
feet, you don't have any part with me. If I don't cleanse you
from all your unrighteousness, you will never have any part
with me. And what is Peter's desire? Lord, please wash me
from my head to my toes. Wash me completely, please. Cleanse me so that there's no
sin in me. Move and wash me completely.
Is that not our desire when we believe on Christ? To be righteous. To live and serve and love and
believe. But just as He only washed His
disciples' feet, I tell you this, He has given you a new heart,
a righteous nature, but He did not take away the old man. He
didn't do it. He washed their feet. Now, why
did He wash their feet? Well, you don't see the bottom
of my feet, do you? Isn't that the part that he cleaned,
the bottom? It's unseen. He washed their feet because
that's what it is spiritually. He washes us in a part that's
unseen. New nature. And your feet do what? Don't
they direct where you're going? Isn't that what he does when
he washes our heart and gives us a new nature? Doesn't he establish
our goings? Doesn't he put us in the way?
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Do we not walk by faith
in Jesus Christ? Yes. He washes our feet. He cleanses
us. And you notice what he said.
He, in verse 10, he that is washed, needeth not save, wash his feet,
but is clean everywhere. Do you get that? You, believer,
are clean every whit. Now, you don't feel clean, do
you? You are clean. Brother Don said this this weekend.
I thought it was really good. He said, you and I don't really see things
as they really are. You see your sin. God sees no sin. Now, who's right? Who sees things how they really
are? You? No. We can't tell. We can't tell anything. We are
the worst judge of fruit, spiritual fruit that ever lived. I can
see it in you, but I can't ever see it in me. That's why I got
the book. That's why I got the book. You
know what God says in that day and at that time, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. Now who's doing the searching? God is. You do the searching, you find
it. But you don't see things how they really are. You're clean. every wit. And all of this was done on purpose. You didn't stumble into this.
J.D. Farmer, you did not stumble into
that door and hear this gospel by accident. You did not, you
did not hear this gospel by accident. You heard it on purpose. And
if God saved you, he saved you on purpose. And you, my friends,
are clean every wit, no matter how you feel about
it. I know how you feel about it.
I know how you feel about your sin, because I do. But my Savior on purpose said
you are clean every wit. You take that to the bank and
cash it every day and it'll never run dry. Never run dry. And God bless the display of
his gospel on purpose.