Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to turn with me
this morning to John chapter 13. I'm going to begin reading
in verse 1. 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. What a glorious message the gospel
is. What a glorious message the gospel
is. It says that our Lord knew that
His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto
the Father. Look with me at 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. From God to God. Our Lord did
not begin 2,000 years ago. There came a point not too long
ago that I began. I was born and I began. I was not before that and then
all of a sudden I was. But not our Lord. Our Lord did
not begin 2,000 years ago. He was in the beginning with
God. And the reason he was in the
beginning with God is because he was God. The son of God the
Trinity. All the fullness of the Godhead. And he came from God in order
to live for some sinners who couldn't live for themselves.
And He came to die for some sinners who could not die for themselves. And verse 1 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. loved his own which were in the
world. What was he doing with every step that he took on this
earth for 33 and a half years? What was he doing? He was loving
his own. That's what he was doing. He
was accomplishing a life of good works that they could never accomplish
for themselves. There's a song that says, living
He loved me. Living He loved me. Amazing love,
how can it be? There's a song that says, it
took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to
hang the world in space. But when He saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace." It was a
miracle. It was absolutely a miracle. Let me show you why. Turn with
me if you have your Bible open. Turn with me to John chapter
1. John chapter 1 verse 11 says, He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. Received Him not. The love that
Christ had for His own was unmerited love on our part. We didn't earn it. It was undeserved
love. We were not owed it from Him. It was unexplainable love, truly. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. We didn't even want Him. All we can say is, but God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation,
the bloody victim for our sins. That's love. That is love. Back in John chapter 13, verse
1 says, Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved
them to the end. To the end. End of what? The end of His own life. The
end of His suffering. the end of the cross. He loved
them till he took his last breath and gave up the ghost. He loved
them till the end of the third day as he laid in that grave
separated from God for them. He loved them. He loved them
till the final blow of God's wrath and punishment for sin
was given. That final blow. He loved them
till God His Father was satisfied. He loved them to the end. Verse 2 says, In supper being
ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given
all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and
went to God, He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments,
and took a towel, and girded Himself." Everything our Lord
accomplished for His own, He did it by Himself. He did it by Himself. Hebrews 1 verse 3 says, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, He did it by Himself. He earned heaven for His people
by Himself. He does not need me to take the
second step. People say, well, you know, He
took the first step and you've got to take the second step.
No, no, no. He did it by Himself. He paid the price for all of
the sin of His people by Himself. by himself, and he's going to
illustrate that to his disciples in what he's about to do. And
if all we get out of this is a lesson in humility, our Lord
is about to teach us something, his disciples there, and now
us something. And if all we get out of what
our Lord is about to do is a lesson in humility and service, then
we have missed Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the honest
truth of the matter. If all we get out of this is
a lesson in humility and service, a humanitarian lesson, a moral
lesson, then we have missed Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We've
missed the gospel. We have flat missed the gospel
if that's all we get out of it. Our Lord is about to show them
who He is and what He's done. Now verse 4 right here in John
13 says, He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments,
and took a towel, and girded himself. That's what He did. That right there is what he did. That is the gospel right there. That's the glorious gospel for
sinners right there. If you have your Bible, turn
over to Philippians 2. I hope you do have your Bible
this morning. Let's read this together. Philippians chapter
2, look at verse 5. It says, let this mind be in
you. which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." Christ is the King of Heaven, you know that?
Christ is the ruler of the universe. He has forever been seated on
His throne. before his subjects and before
his armies and his spiritual creations that look to him and
wait for his every command. Solomon was a picture of Christ.
And when the queen of Sheba went to see Solomon, one of the things
that caused her to have no more spirit in her was when she saw
the ascent by which he went up to his throne. and the attendance of his ministers
and their apparel. Peter said, he took us to the
Mount of Transfiguration and we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw his majesty. The High King of Heaven, we beheld
his glory. And He was so white, so white
and glistening, no white on this earth could compare. He was robed
in the glory of His own righteousness. Crown Him with many crowns. This is the God of all creation. Philippians 2 verse 7 says, But
he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." That does not mean he never had
a reputation and he never gave himself one. It means he took
his glory off. That's what it means. He took
His glory off. The glory that could never be
described because it could never be imagined. He took His glory
off and laid it to the side. And He put a towel on. A servant's towel. And not only did the centerpiece
of the universe, that's who Christ is, He's the centerpiece of the
universe. Not only did He make Himself
to be a servant, He also made Himself have no reputation. No reputation. The owner of everything. The maker of everything. The
creator of everything. The earth and everything in the
earth, you and me. No reputation. That's why men and women don't
really see anything special in this man, Jesus. They like him
just fine, but take him or leave him, you know. It's because he on purpose hid
everything that he is. He hid it from the eyes of sinful
flesh. Right here in Philippians 2 verse
7 says, he 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. We try as hard as we can. But
mortal man will never come close to describing how far Christ
came down for his people, never. I could never, ever describe
him high enough, never. And I could never, never describe
us low enough. I could never describe how far
that distance is, the distance he came down, he humbled himself
down. Philippians 2 verse 8 says, being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death. Even the death of the cross. That's what our Lord is illustrating
to His disciples back in John 13. Turn with me back over to
John 13. Verse 4 says, He riseth 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 one by one, individually. Every disciple, he went to them
personally, individually, and he washed their feet. He began
to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded. Now back in that time, back in
those days, a man who had a house full of servants. Within those
servants, there was rank. Even the servants had rank. Everybody
wants to be in charge of somebody. And one servant would have the
job of washing the master and his family and his guests' feet,
either when they entered the house or before they ate. One
servant had the job of washing their feet. And this was the
lowest, most degrading job in the house. The lowest servant on the totem
pole had this job. And he was looked down on by
everybody. All the other servants, everybody.
He was the least. He was the least. Well, in doing this, our Lord
was showing His disciples and showing us how deep His love
was for His people. How far He came down to do all
that He did for us. He kneeled down to the ground. Each disciple, each one, he kneeled
down to the ground. And as he poured water on those
dirty, dusty feet, it made mud. You can imagine this. It made
mud. And then he took his towel, the
towel that was clothing him, and he started wiping those feet. And by the time he finished his
work, those feet were sparkling clean. And the towel that girded him,
the towel that he wore, the towel that clothed him, it was a muddy
mess. He took their mud off of them
and He put it on Himself. He wore it. He wore it. He didn't just hold a towel until
it got muddy and then get another one. He wore it. What does that
mud represent? The mud that He completely wiped
clean off of His disciples and laid on Himself. What does that
mud represent? It represents sin. Sin. That's what He did for us. Verse
6 right here in John 13, Then cometh He to Simon Peter, and
Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? This is his
master, not the lowest servant of the house. He said, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. He said, Peter, what I'm doing,
you don't understand right now. You just don't know. Now, from
a physical standpoint, Peter did know what he was doing. He
could see what he was doing. That's why he pulled his feet
back and he said, you're going to wash me? Lord, you're going
to wash me? Peter knew that this is the master. He could see that the Lord was
giving them an example of great humiliation and great service,
but he did not understand the spiritual truth in the matter. And the average man or woman
sees Jesus, this man Jesus, as being an example of humility,
an example of service, a wonderful humanitarian, but they have no
idea who he is or why he came. They have no idea. They just
can't see it. They just cannot see it. They
have not been given eyes to see Him. See Him. Not religion. People are so caught
up in religion. They're so caught up in what
they believe is deep doctrine. I love how simply our Lord preached. Simply. They don't see Him. They don't know who he is, they
don't know why he came, they don't know what he accomplished.
Verse six, then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto
him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said
unto him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. And that's the truth of the
matter. If Christ himself does not wash
a sinner, that sinner will have no part with him. No part. Wash him with what, that water?
No, his own blood. His own blood. Christ Jesus left
His own glory and came down to this wretched place to wash His
own in His own blood. He said, Peter, if I wash thee
not, thou hast no part with me. Verse 9, Simon Peter saith unto
him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Wash me top to bottom. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no work you
can do. What must I do? There is no work
you can do. There is no prayer you can pray. If I wash thee not, thou hast
no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all. Peter said,
Wash my hands and my head, wash my deeds and my thoughts. The
Lord said, I have. You're clean. But you're gonna
have to continue walking through this sinful world. And as the
dust of this world collects on your feet, you're gonna need
cleansing every day. You're gonna need brand new mercies
every morning. In Christ, we are washed. But
until the day we leave this earth, we are never gonna stop crying,
Lord, wash me. Wash me. In Christ, we are forgiven. But until the day we leave this
earth, we will never stop crying, Lord, forgive me. Please forgive
me. I still have some of this sinful
world on me. There's still plenty of this
sinful flesh that needs to come off. He said at the end of verse
10, you are clean, but not everyone here is clean, not all. Verse
11, for he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are
not all clean. So after he had washed their
feet, he had taken his garments and was set down again. He said
unto them, 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, ye also ought to wash one another's
feet. After His work was finished,
after His own were made clean, He took that towel off and He
took His garment back. He took His glory back. And He
revealed to them everything He had done. And that's the message
of Scripture. It's everything that Christ has
already done. When He by Himself purged our
sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
He said, you're clean. You're clean. And then He gave
us this commandment. Verse 13, He said, 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, ye also ought to wash
one another's feet. For I have given you an example. that you should do as I have
done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is
sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things,
happy are ye if you do them. Are you saying that we ought
to forgive each other's sins? Yes, yes. He's saying if I forgave
your brother's sin, so should you. So should you. Why do we do this? Do we obey
his command here to earn heaven? No. It's because God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven us. That's our motivation. Our motivation
for following our Lord's example is love and thanks. Love and
thanks for what he's already done. Forgive one another. as I have forgiven you. He said,
I command it. I expect it. And you'll be happy
if you do. You'll be happy if you obey me.
Lord calls us to forgive our brethren as you have forgiven
us. Until next Sunday morning, may our Lord bless his word to
our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.