Okay, turn back with me to John
13. John chapter 13. Last Sunday we looked at the
first 17 verses in this chapter and in those verses our Lord
illustrated to his disciples what he was going to accomplish
for them through his death. He showed them before he did
it what he would accomplish through his death. And he showed them
by taking a towel and wrapping it around himself. And then he
came down and he washed and he wiped individually each disciple's
feet. And in doing that, he took every
bit of that dirt and that mud and that grime off of them And
it ended up on that towel, and he wore it. And he showed, I'm
taking everything that you are off of you, and I'm going to
put it on me. And then he took that towel away
when he was finished, and he put his own robe, his own glory
back on. And he made them clean in doing
that. And he said at the end of verse
8, right here in chapter 13, verse 8, If I wash thee not,
thou hast no part with me. That washing is what we're giving
thanks for tonight. That washing. And we do owe him
much thanks for it. We owe him very, very much thanks
for it. And the reason is because he
said in verse 18, He said, I speak not of you all. I know whom I
have chosen. I know whom I've chosen. This washing is not for everybody. How much thanks do we owe him
for a washing that was not given to everybody? He said, I know
whom I've chosen. And this washing was not for
everybody. It's for the dirty. That's who
it's for. It's for those who are dirty.
And this forgiveness in this event is not for everybody. It's not for the law keeper.
It's for the law breaker. That's who it's for. And this pardon that comes through
this event, it's not for everybody. It's not for the free man. is
for the bondman, the man or the woman who is in bondage. Christ
said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He said, I know whom I've chosen.
I know who I chose. Verse 18, I speak not of you
all. I know whom I have chosen, but
that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me." Now that scripture back in Psalms
was a prophecy of this event. This event. And it was a prophecy
of the one who would betray the Lord. It says right there, He
that eateth bread with me. It said my own friend. And it
struck me that our Lord made a man, a man that he knew was a devil. He made that man an apostle.
He made him an apostle. Over in John 6 verse 70, our
Lord said, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is
a devil? On purpose, He chose a man that
He knew was a devil to be an apostle. And it struck me that our confidence
is not in the apostles. We're always quoting Brother
Paul, aren't we? We're always quoting Brother
Peter. We've been reading the penmanship of Brother John right
here. But our confidence is not in
the apostles. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. And this struck me too. Our Lord
served Judas his table. It says it in the book of Luke. He served him his table, knowing
he was a devil. And our Lord didn't use that
opportunity to teach the other disciples to fence the table
and to say who could take the table and who couldn't take the
table. That's between a man and God. But I will tell you this,
our Lord did say, whoever takes of this table, not discerning
the Lord's body, not discerning why his body was broken. Before
we take this table, we need to ask ourselves, why did Christ
die? Why did Christ die? Why? Not discerning why his body was
broken, and not discerning why his blood was shed. Not discerning
that that is the only thing that can forgive sin. It's the only
thing. And our Lord said, whoever takes
this table, not discerning the Lord's body is eating and drinking
damnation to his soul. That's what he said. But do you
know what all that tells me? It tells me that our confidence
is not in this ordinance. It's not in this ordinance. I
believe this is a holy event. This was commanded of our Lord,
instituted by our Lord, commanded to be carried out by all who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are not putting any confidence
in this ordinance. Our confidence is in Christ.
It's in Christ. We're looking to and we're keeping
the focus on Christ. Christ alone. Verse 18 says,
I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen, but that
the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it
come that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I
am. He said, I'm telling you this
now so that you will know that I'm God. I'm God. And I ordered this. Everything
that you're about to see take place, they're going to come
with sticks and they're going to come with swords. I ordered
every bit of this. I purposed this whole design.
I did it for your good. I did it for my glory. Verse
20, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth
whomsoever I send, receiveth me. And he that receiveth me,
receiveth him that sent me. He said, what I'm about to do,
there's an event that's about to take place. And what I'm about
to do, you're going to preach that to men and women for the
rest of your lives. And whoever receives the message
of what I'm about to do, do you know that this event is the same
event we talk about every time we come? Really, everything that
we talk about is in light of this event. I have one thing
to preach to people for the rest of my life. And he said, whoever
receives this message of Christ and Him crucified, And whoever
receives the messenger is receiving me. And he said, whoever receives
me is receiving my father. Verse 21, when Jesus had thus
said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. A while back we looked at our
Lord being troubled in spirit. It can't be entered into. It
just can't be entered into. Unless God's Spirit would reveal
to us something of that, the trouble that our Lord endured
for us, the trouble He endured because of us, because of this
event. He said He was troubled in spirit. And He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you that one of you shall betray Me. One of you are
going to betray Me. And He had told them that many
times previously. many times. Look over at Luke
24 with me. This is after his resurrection. The angel said in Luke 24 verse
6, he is not here. but is risen. Remember how He
spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of
Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified,
and the third day rise again." He must. He told them this must
happen. This must happen. Look at John
chapter 3. John chapter 3 verse 14 says,
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. He must. He must. So we said back in John 13, back
in our text, John 13 verse 21, When Jesus had thus said He was
troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, that one of you shall betray Me, then the disciples
looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake." What that
means is they had no idea who it was. No idea who it was. What that
means is they had no idea it was Judas. They were all looking
at each other. What that means is even though
Judas was the one who held the bag, Judas always wanted to hold
that bag. Always. Even though Judas was
the one who got so angry when Mary broke that precious box
of ointment and poured it all over the Lord's feet and anointed
the precious feet of our Lord, even though that was Judas, the
disciples didn't see anything in him that they didn't see in
themselves. Do you know that? And they didn't have any idea.
He said, one of you is going to betray me. And they all started
looking at each other. Verse 22 says, Then the disciples
looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was
leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved.
That's John, the writer of this gospel. There was leaning on
Jesus's bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter
therefore beckoned unto him. He made a motion to him that
he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying
on Jesus's breast said unto him, Lord, who is it? Now these disciples had argued
in the past over who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. They all argued back and forth. And these disciples
had failed at performing certain miracles. Do you remember there
was a time when a man's son was brought to the Lord and the man
said, I brought him to your disciples and they couldn't cast the devil
out of him. And the Lord did. And then the disciples said,
why couldn't we do it? And he said, because of your
unbelief. They were looking to themselves, and they got all
proud of themselves that they'd been given the ability to perform
miracles. And they weren't looking to Christ
anymore. Peter, at the end of this, we're not going to get
to it, but in just a minute, Peter is about to say, they all,
I'm sure, will forsake you. Never me. Thomas said, I don't believe
any of you. I don't believe you. But when it came down to this
moment right here, this moment right here, and our Lord said,
one of you is going to betray me. This moment Whose sin will crucify
the Lord of Glory? Every soul in that room said,
it has to be me. It has to be. It absolutely has
to be. John worded it right here. Who
is it? Look over at Matthew's account.
Go to Matthew 26. Matthew 26 verse 21 says, And
as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray me. And then they were exceeding
sorrowful. That's what was in the room.
They all, as soon as he said that, became exceeding sorrowful. And began every one of them to
say unto him, Is it I? Is it I? That's the place that God's Spirit
brings every child of God to. Every single child of God. You
know that? That is the place that every child of God is brought
to. Everybody knows that Jesus Christ
died. Is there one person on planet
Earth that does not know that Jesus Christ died? Who's old
enough to have a mind of these things? Everybody knows Jesus
Christ died. But when God's Spirit confronts
God's child with the truth, when God's Spirit comes and confronts
a child, every one of them say, Was it I? Was it I? I remember, I don't
remember the day, I don't remember how old I was, I don't remember
the event, but I remember a period of time when God showed me, wait
a minute, He didn't just die because of
sin, He died because of my sin. Is it I? Was it my sin that nailed Him
on that cross? That's when God's Spirit points
the finger at God's child and says, Thou art a man. Thou art
a man. I betrayed innocent blood. Did
you know that? I have betrayed innocent blood. I did. I have sinned against
God. God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
He said, I'm about to. I'm about to. This is what I'm
telling you. Back over in John 13, verse 24
says, Simon Peter therefore beckoned
to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
He then lying on Jesus' breast said unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom
I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And
after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto
him, Thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought,
because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said unto him, buy
those things that we have need of against the feast, or that
he should give something to the poor. He then, having received
the sop, went immediately out, and it was night." Now something
just happened right there that I don't even want to talk about.
I just don't even want to talk about it. It says Satan entered into him.
I don't even want to talk about that. Judas was made an apostle by
God. God made him an apostle. One
of the other apostles, Peter, the Lord said, Peter, Satan hath
desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. An apostle? Who am I? Who am I? Judas ended up betraying the
Lord and hanging himself. Peter ended up preaching at Pentecost
and baptizing 5,000 people. What made the difference? Two
apostles? What made the difference? The
Lord said, Peter, I have prayed for you. I prayed for you. That made the difference. Lord,
would you pray for me? You ever thought about that?
You know, we tell our brethren, would you pray for me? Lord,
would you pray for me? Can you imagine what the effectual,
fervent prayer of the righteous man would avail? Lord, would
you pray for me? Pray for me and hedge me about.
Keep me from the evil one. Lead me not into temptation." He knelt down in that garden
and he said, Father, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but I
pray for them. I know whom I've chosen. The only difference in
Judas Iscariot and Gabe Stoniker is the grace of God. That's the
only difference. The saving, forgiving, loving
grace of God. I don't even want to think about what would happen if God didn't
have mercy on me. I don't even want to think about
it. I just don't even want to think about it. Verse 30 says,
He then having received the sop, went immediately out, and it
was night. Therefore, when he was gone out,
Jesus said, Now. That's over. That had to be done,
and that's over. When he was gone out, Jesus said,
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. Little children, yet a little
while I am with you, you shall seek me, and as I said unto the
Jews, whither I go you cannot come, so now I say to you, I
am about to go redeem you. I am about to go pay your price. I am about to go set you free. I'm about to set you free from
the penalty of sin. I'm about to set you free from
the power of sin. And real soon I'm going to set
you free from the presence of sin. He said, now is the Son
of Man glorified. I'm going to be lifted up and
I'm going to accomplish a work that no other man can accomplish.
And I'm going to receive glory for it. Great glory. And my Father
is going to receive great glory for it. The second half of verse
31 says, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified
in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God
shall also glorify Him in Himself. and shall straightway glorify
Him." After I accomplish this work, I am going to ascend back
to glory. You can't come where I'm going
right now, but I'm going to go do what needs to be done, and
then I'm going to go sit down at the right hand of the Majesty
on High, and I'm going to be crowned Lord of all. all to the
glory and praise of my Father. Verse 31 says, Therefore, when
he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. Little children, yet a little
while I'm with you. You shall seek me, and as I said
unto the Jews, Whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say
to you, I will finish every bit of this work by myself. You can't
come with me. I'm going to do it by myself.
You believe that, you rest in that, and then I want you to
do this in return. I want you to do this in return.
Verse 34, he said, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love
one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. As I have loved you. How did
he do that? How did he love us? He did it
to the end. He did it sacrificially. He laid
down his own life. And verse 35 says, By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one
to another. And we do, don't we? We do. It's not perfect love and it's
not to the degree we want it to be,
but we love. We do. With whatever ability
he'll give us and we want more. We love him and we love every
soul that he died for. Every soul. Every child he adopted
into his family. And now we're going to remember
and we're going to give thanks for that adoption. That's what
this is. Adoption into the family. The
finished work. This table is for every soul
that is looking to and hoping in Christ for all their salvation. That's who this is for. Every
person that discerns that the Lord's body was broken for me. And His blood was shed for me,
not just for sin, for me. For me, this is for my sin right
here. And I'm going to take that, I
want that to enter into me. I want to enter into Him and
I want Him to enter into me. Oneness and union.