Everybody in Lexington says hi.
They send all their love, all their thoughts. We're constantly
prayerful for y'all, thoughtful for y'all. We appreciate your
fellowship so much. If you would, turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. The story I
want to consider this morning is the story where the Lord Jesus
Christ washed his disciples' feet. I think this is probably
familiar to all of you. Once you get there, pick up in
verse 1 and let's read the story. Let's begin there. John chapter 13 and pick up in
verse 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 supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's
son to betray him, Jesus knowing that the father had given all
things into his hands and that he was come from God and went
to God, he rises 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 the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he
to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, does that wash
my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every wit, and you are clean, but not all, for he knew
who should betray him. Therefore said he, you are not
all clean. So after he had washed their feet and had taken his
garments, this was set down again, he said unto them, and pay attention
to these words, know ye what I have done to you. You call me master and lord,
and you say, well, for so I am. If I then your lord and master
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have
done to you. Now, if I had to pick a phrase
or a fragment from this portion of scripture we just read that
sums up the whole, that opens up the passage of scripture to
us, I would pick that question the Lord asked the disciples
in verse 12. What was the question? Know ye
what I have done to you. What was he saying? He was saying,
fellows, do you get the illustration here? Because that's what this
is. This is an illustration. In two
days, our Lord Jesus Christ would go to his cross. He would die. And that's what this is talking
about. Do you know what I have done to you? And I love the language here.
We often talk about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
us, for his people. We talk about what he's done
in us, in his people, Christ dwelling in you. If you want
to combine those two thoughts and say it once, what would you
say? It's what he's done to us. Now let's pick apart the illustration.
It begins here. We get an understanding of this
occasion. The time that this event took place tells us in
verse one, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, what was this
hour? This was the hour that was predetermined
by God, that was the purpose of God before the foundations
of the world were ever built. It was the hour for which this
entire reality and this entire creation as we know it, why it
was here. This place exists, that dirt
exists out there. so that some 2,000 years ago,
some Roman soldier could dig a hole into it and drop a pike
into it and suspend our Lord Jesus Christ between heaven and
earth, dying for his people. It was this hour that was at
hand where his great glory would be known. And this is interesting. It's talked about several times
throughout the scripture, his hour, his hour being come. This
is one of my favorite accounts of it. This is John 7, verse
28. Our Lord's teaching. He's teaching people who want
to kill him. They literally want to end his life right now. He
says unto them, ye both know me. And you know whence I am,
and I am not come of myself. But he that sent me is true,
whom you know not. But I know him, for I am from
him, and he hath sent me." You know what he was saying? He was
saying to these people who hated him, you know me. You know exactly
who I am. I've made no bones about it.
I am that Christ. All those Old Testament stories
you talk about that you read all the time, they all say somebody
is coming. Messiah is coming. He's here
right now. I'm from God because I am God,
that second person of the blessed Trinity. That's why I make myself
equal with God. And I am the one he sent. How do you think that set with
him? This is what the next verse says. It says, then they sought
to take him. They wanted to kill him right there. But no man laid
hands on him because his hour was not yet come. The hour would
come. when he would be delivered in
the hands of men, to the will of man, to be done with as we
saw fit, to be spit on, to be reviled, to be murdered, to die. But not until now, not until
his hour was come. And our purpose of scripture
here gives us the reason that that hour came, the reason that
this was the purpose of God, the reason that Christ went to
that cross. Verse one says this. It says,
now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart of this world unto the Father. In verse 3, it says, Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he
was come from God and went back to God. Where does this purpose
begin? Why did he go to that cross,
the Father? Number one. because he was sent
of his father. This was the purpose and will
of his father. His father had given all things
into his hands. And you can't take that too far.
But these all things, it includes the full glorification of the
Godhead. That's what he gave him. And
in doing that, he gave him all things that were precious to
him, his elect. He gave him all his people that he chose before
the world began. He said, you're going to be surety
for them. You're going to do everything that is necessary
to make them acceptable to me. I'm not going to leave anything
in their hands. I'm going to put it all on your shoulders. You're
going to redeem them back to God. And when you do, you'll
come into my presence with full reception, with full acceptance,
carrying them all with you. And I love the language here.
He came from God, and he knew he was going back to God. The
only way he could go back was if he was successful. He couldn't
go back and have the reception. He couldn't go back and be received
unless he did what his father gave him to do, save every one
of his elect. It says right here, he knew he
was going back to the father. It was already done. You see,
it was already accomplished in eternity past. All the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ is
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This thing was
already done in eternity. It was just playing out in time
right now. He knew exactly where he was
going because God can't fail. Jesus Christ cannot fail. And here's the second reason.
The second reason is found In verse one as well, he says, having
loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them until
the end. Was this about the glorification
of the Godhead through the salvation of a people? It absolutely was.
It was because his father sent him. But there's another reason
here, love. Having loved his own, having
loved his people, he loved us, his people, to the very end.
He went to that cross and he bore the shame. and he bore the
grief, and he bore the pain, and he counted it a light thing,
a small thing into the comparison of having his people, his bride,
with him for all of eternity. Turn over real quick to John
16. I don't know how better to say
this, but in this verse, the Lord gives us his attitude toward
going to that cross. Look in verse 21 of John 16.
He's giving a human illustration here. A woman, when she is in
travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon
as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish
for joy that a man is born into the world. This is his attitude.
He says, I'm going to give you a worldly example. A woman, she
carries that child in her womb for nine months. She loves that
child. And the time of birth comes, and there's pain, there's
travail, there's grief, there's sorrow. And as soon as that baby
comes out, though, and that doctor takes it and lays it on that
mother's chest, and she has that one she loved so much and loved
right before this, all the grief, all the travail, all the pain,
it all goes away. There's no more remembrance from
it. It was all a small thing just to have that new child.
That's our Lord's attitude toward that cross. The shame, the grief,
the pain, it's all worth it to have you. You, if you're a believer. He loved you and he loved you
to the very end. Now, that's the reason for the
hour. Let's see an illustration of
the hour. Go back to your text, look at verse four. He rises 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." You
know what I see here? Condescension, humility, and
humiliation. Now, I want you to imagine for
a second that you're seated around this table. You're with the disciples. Maybe you've got Peter next to
you. John's on the other side. All of you are there. Everybody's
eat, everybody's happy, the meal's over. And all of a sudden, without
saying a word, our Lord gets up and he starts taking off his
clothes, his garments, and he sits them down. And you can imagine
the disciples looking at each other, what's he doing? What's
going on right now? Because he's not saying a word.
He doesn't owe any man an explanation for what he was doing at that
table. He would teach from it later. What he is going to do,
he is not going to talk right now. And he takes that towel,
and he wraps it around himself like a loincloth, and he pours
that water in the basin. And he gets down on that ground,
that dirty, filthy, disgusting ground, and he starts washing
the disciples' filthy, nasty feet. This is the condescension
of the Lord Jesus Christ to save his people. You want the scripture,
it's this, Philippians 2.6, who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. He humbled himself, he became
a man, altogether God. having all the characteristics
and all the facets of the God. And he became altogether a man,
a high priest touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
What about coming down? What a humiliation for the God
of glory to take on this human flesh and to live with absolutely
no reputation, but to do it without sin. Tempted in all points, just
like we are, yet without sin, he never sinned. That is the
very righteousness of everybody that is in him. He never sinned.
But it doesn't stop there. The condescension does not stop
there. Go back to the example. He is down on the ground. He
comes to the first disciple. I don't know which one it was.
And he pours that water, and he takes that towel, and he cleans
that disciple's feet. And I guarantee when he got done,
they were the cleanest feet anyone has ever had. But what happened
to that dirt? It ain't on the disciple anymore.
Now it's on Christ, that towel. And he goes over to the next
one. He starts washing feet, makes those feet just sparkling
white, as clean as they could possibly be, but the dirt transferred
to him. And he goes through all of them,
every single one of them, and at the end, those were the cleanest
feet anyone had ever seen in their entire life. But how would
have our Lord looked? He's a dirty, filthy mess, because
all that dirt transferred to him, and he bore it. 2 Corinthians
5.21. For he hath made him sin for
us that knew no sin, that we might be made the very righteousness
of God, that pure sterling cleanliness in him. This is the second coming
down of our Lord. He was made sin. My pastor has
a saying that he said almost my entire life. He says, sin
just doesn't bother us all that much. We're used to it. This
was a holy man. This is a man who knew no sin
and did no sin, and he would made the sins of his people,
the terror of that. And then finally this, the last
stoop, he died. And to plumb the depths of that, I couldn't
possibly begin. God died, whatever that means.
But when he did, what did he accomplish through that? I'll
ask you this. This towel that he girded himself
with, that all that dirt was transferred to, Where is it in
this story? I can tell you this. It's never
spoken of again. All that sin, all that shame. All that transgression. He put
it away on that cross, never to be seen again. And we have
the very righteousness of Christ. We are pure and we are complete
in him. That's what he has done to us. Now, I want you to consider Peter's
reaction to this. Look down at verse six. Then cometh he to Simon Peter,
and Peter saith unto him, Lord, does that wash my feet? You can
understand this, and I can too. This was the Lord of glory. Lord,
are you gonna wash my feet? John struggled with this. The
Lord said, you're gonna baptize me. He says, Lord, I have need
to be baptized in thee. Will I baptize you? And this seems
to be coming from a place of genuineness, genuine reverence
and respect for our Lord. We believe it is, right? The
Lord's gonna be patient with him, he's gonna give him a reply.
Look at verse seven. Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. He was so patient with Peter,
so long-suffering with Peter. So thankful that he's patient
and long-suffering with me when I have questions. when I'm questioning
things. He's patient and he's long-suffering,
but he says, Peter, you don't understand right now. This doesn't
make any sense to you right now. In two days, it's going to. When
you see me hanging on that cross in two days, this is all going
to make sense to you then. It doesn't make sense to you right
now. Just trust me, Peter. Trust me on this. And he should
have been content with that. He should have been. Look down
the next verse, verse 8. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Now Peter's exposing something
here. This wasn't genuine reverence and respect for the Lord's character.
This was pride talking. You know what Peter wanted to
do? He wanted to do something. That's
what he wanted to do. He wanted to be involved. Thou
shalt never wash my feet. You might have done this. I've
done this. You ever been at a restaurant with a mixed group of people,
and the waiter brings a check, and then two people at the table
start arguing about who's going to pay for it? He says, I got
it. No, no, I got it. They go back and forth. It's
like a friendly confrontation. And on the outside looking in,
you're like, well, that's nice. They both want to do something
nice for each other. What is that, though? That's pride. I'm
going to pay for this. I'm going to be the doer here.
I'm the guy who's taking everybody here. So I'm going to get the
glory for all this. That's what it's all about. Notice
how the Lord answers Peter here. He says, if I wash thee not,
thou hast no part with me. Peter, if you're going to be
saved by me, and it's the only way a man can be saved, you're
going to sit down. You're going to shut up. You're
not going to do a thing. and you're simply gonna trust
me to wash you and make you clean, and you're not gonna say anything
about it, and you're gonna be content for me to do it, and
I'm gonna get all the glory. If I'm gonna be saved, if I will
be saved by Christ, if you will be saved by Christ, we're gonna
have to be brought to where we do the exact same thing. Sit
down. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Gotta be somebody
who works not, who sits down, who shuts up, and is completely
and utterly content for the Lord Jesus Christ to clean me head
to toe and him to get all the glory in that salvation. Are you content with that? I
tell you, you know, I am. I absolutely am. The only person
who's gonna be content with this is very simple, is a sinner.
If you're a sinner, filthy feet, you can't do anything about it,
Filthy actions, filthy thoughts, a sinner through and through.
I need him to cleanse me. I need him to come down and do
something for me and to do something in me. And I can't help. I am
incapable of helping. All I can do is just lay here.
Lord, wash me. It's easy if you're a sinner. But if you can do one fraction
of one good work, if you can muster any spiritual ability,
you will never come to this place. You're just not dirty enough.
That's the case. But, and I love this, the Lord is always faithful to
bring his people to this place. You know, it's what he does for
us, but it's what he does in us. He brings us to this place
to where we are completely and utterly content to sit down and
shut up to be cleaned by the Lord Jesus Christ. He even brought
Peter around. Look down at verse nine. Simon
Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands
and my head. Peter says, well, I was wrong.
Lord, every part of me. Now I'm not just the feet anymore.
Now the hands, the head, you wash me. I'm just gonna sit here.
I'm not gonna say nothing. I'm just gonna be content for
you to do this for me. Brought him around just like
that. All the Lord had to do was speak. That was it. That's
what he does for his people in the heart. All he does is speak.
He just touches the heart. All of a sudden, Lord, wash me.
Wash every part of me. I can't have a part in this.
You wash me. And then the Lord gives a very
hopeful statement in verse 10. Look at this. Jesus saith to
him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every wit, and you are clean. Now, what do you mean
by that? What's he saying there? He's
saying this, the very blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, once for
all, washed all his people, washed away all our sins, past, present,
and future, and we truly are clean through him and by him
and in him. Truly, every whit clean. The
Lord says, every single day, I'm still going to have to wash
your feet. Why? Why is that? Because every day
I go out there into this world full of sin, me full of sin,
I still have this old wicked nature, and I muddy up my feet
every single day. See, there has to be new cleansing
every day. There has to be new mercy and new grace for every
single day. And David mentioned this. He
talked about it in Psalm 51. He asked for it. He said, Lord,
wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He
uses two words, cleanse and wash. Well, he's talking about the
same thing. No, he's not. Cleanse speaks of this, something that
is done. It is done once, never to be
repeated again or cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he also says, wash me. And that refers to something
that is perpetually done, done every single day. Paul said it
like this. In Ephesians 5, he says, husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word. So what does that look like?
Give me an illustration of that. I come and I hear this gospel
preached, that it is finished. Christ cleansed sinners, we're
clean every way, and I'm renewed. The new man is renewed. I'm washed
all over again. And I leave, and I go out, and
I muddy up my feet. I get dirty all over again. I
sin every single day. My sin is ever before me. And
I come back again, and I hear the preacher say again, It is
finished. You're clean, clean every whit,
clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm washed
all over again, and I'm made and drawn to come to Christ all
over again. And I believe on Him all over
again, a constant washing over and over and over again, the
renewing of that new man, always coming to the Lord Jesus Christ,
always believing on Him with this confidence. That blood gave
me mercy and grace and forgiveness for yesterday. It's for today.
It'll be there for tomorrow, too. Because unfortunately, I'm
going to sin again tomorrow, too. Now, Lord tells us here, he says,
I give you an example here. This is an example also for you
to follow, as I've done to you, you do to each other. And I'm
just going to give you five things here very, very quickly. Five
things I noticed in how the Lord treated his disciples. And here's
the first one. He dealt with them in humility.
The Lord said, take the lowest seat. There wasn't a lower seat
in that house than down there, face down on the ground. How
am I to approach you? How am I to deal with you in
humility? Taking the lowest seat, viewing
you as better than me. That's where it all begins. He
dealt with them out of love. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the very end. How am I to deal with you on
the grounds of love? Not just when you're lovable,
not just when I'm lovable, but especially when I'm not lovable
and when you're not lovable. Third thing this, he dealt with
them honestly. and genuinely, and he acted in
their best interest to defraud not one another, deal with one
another in honesty, truly seeking what is best for one another. You can't go wrong. In everything
I do, what is best for my brother? What is best for you? What is
best for you? That's what I'm going to do. What's best for
you? Acting in their best interest. He provided for their needs.
They had dirty feet, and he washed them. And I would make this point. While he was doing it, he was
silent. He never said a word about it.
Seek to serve one another. Provide for one another as we
can. And do it, hoping for nothing in return. And never say a word
about it again, hoping that no one ever finds out. And this
last one was this. He washed their filthy feet. Now, how can you do that for
me? How can you wash my feet? Is this talking about actually
washing feet? No. What does that mean? With every opportunity,
especially when I'm down, especially when I'm up, once again, point
me to the Lord Jesus Christ. Remind me that in him, there's
fresh mercy for today. There's fresh grace for today.
There's fresh washing for today. You're clean every wit. He hath done all things well. I'm going to leave you all.