Okay, turn back with me to John
13. In the study I was able to take
some time and dwell on verse 1. We're going to look at this entire
story of him washing the disciples' feet, but see if the Lord will
let you enter into 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. Is that not glorious? What a glorious message the gospel
is. It is such a glorious message. Before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of this world and go unto the Father. He was going to leave
this world and He was going back to His Father. Look at verse
3, it says, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things
unto His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God. From God and He went to God.
Our Lord did not begin 2,000 years ago. I began in 1976, but
He has no beginning. He came from God and He went
back to God. 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 people who couldn't
live for themselves. And He came to die for some people
who couldn't die for themselves. 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. What was he doing every
single step he took for 33 and a half years while he walked
this earth? He was loving his own. That's what he did the whole
time. Every step. Accomplishing a life
of good works that they could never accomplish for themselves.
Never. The song says, living he loved
me. The whole time He lived, He loved
me. Amazing love. How can it be? There's an old song that says,
it took a miracle to put the stars in place. You think about
that. That they stay there. Everything is supposed to be,
the earth is spinning, you know. I mean, it took a miracle to
put the stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the
world in space. That was a miracle. But when He saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. It took a miracle. It was a miracle.
And I'm going to show you why. Go over to John 1. John chapter 1 verse 11 says, He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. That's what it says. He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. Having loved His own, The love that Christ had for
His own was unmerited love. That's why it's amazing love.
That's why it was a miracle. It took a miracle of love and
grace. Because we didn't earn it. We
did not deserve it. We were not owed this love. It was unexplainable love. unexplainable. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. We didn't even want Him. That's
what it means. We did not 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, Until God opens a sinner's eyes
to the truth and causes him to see God and then fall in love
with who he sees, it's not that we love God. It's that He loved
us and He sent His Son to be the propitiation. And here's
what that word means. It means the bloody victim. The atoning victim, that's what
it means. The bloody victim for our sins. That's love, unexplainable
love. Back over in John 13, verse 1
says, Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them
to the end. The end of what? He loved them
to the end of his own life. He loved them to the end of His
suffering. He loved them to the end of the
cross. He loved them till He took His
last breath and gave up the ghost. Even while He was hanging on
that cross, and they were railing on Him, and cussing Him, and
spitting on Him. Those exact ones were the men
who cried to Peter, men and brethren, what shall we do? Five thousand
were repented and were baptized, same ones. He loved them unto
the end. He loved them till the end of
the third day. He was in that grave for three
days. And as he laid in that grave,
separated from God, he loved them till the end. He loved them
till the final blow of God's wrath and punishment for sin
was delivered. He loved them till God his Father
was satisfied. He loved them till the end. Verse
2 says, 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 riseth from supper
and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself."
Everything that our Lord accomplished, He did it by Himself. Everything
He did, He did it by Himself. He earned heaven for His people
by Himself. When He by Himself purged our
sins, that's what Hebrews says. And He does not need me to take
the second step. He did it by Himself. He paid
the price for all of the sin by Himself. He did it by Himself. That is what He is going to illustrate
to His disciples right here. He knows He's about to go to
that cross and accomplish what He's about to accomplish, and
then He's going back to the Father. And He is illustrating to them
what He's about to do. Now, have you heard of this story
before of the Lord washing the disciples' feet? Look at verse
15, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have
done to you. You see that? If all we get out of this, if
all that we see in this is a lesson in humility, service, if that's all we get
out of this, then we have missed Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We've missed the gospel. If that's
all we get out of it, we've missed the gospel. He's about to show
them who He is and what He's done. Verse 4 says, He riseth
from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and
girded Himself. That's what He did. That's what he did. He just showed them, this is
what I've done. For 33 and a half years, this
is what I've done. Go over to Philippians 2 with
me. Philippians 2 verse 5 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. Now everybody in here knows who
the President of the United States is. Christ is the King of Heaven.
Everything in that kingdom knows who the King is. Every being,
every person. He is the ruler of the universe.
The entire universe. He has been forever seated on
His throne. Forever. before His subjects
and before His armies. I love thinking of His armies
who are waiting on His command. Seated on His throne before all
of His spiritual creations, cherubims, seraphims. They all look to Him and they
wait for His every command. Solomon was a picture of Christ.
He had a great kingdom. And when the queen of Sheba,
this woman, the queen of Sheba, she came to see Him. And one
of the things that caused her, the scripture says, to have no
more spirit in her, was when she saw the ascent by which He
ascended His throne. And it says, she saw His ministers
that minister to Him. And she saw their apparel. Well, Peter said, he took us
to the Mount of Transfiguration, and we were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. On that mount, they got to see
the king, the high king of heaven. They said, we beheld his glory. We saw his glory. And He was
so white and He was so glistening, there is no white on this earth
that can compare. He was robed, the reason is because
He was robed in the glory of His own righteousness. We talk
about the righteousness of Christ, we can't imagine the glory of
that righteousness. Crown Him with many crowns, not
just one, keep stacking them. Crown Him with many crowns, the
High King of Heaven. 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 that he began
2,000 years ago and he never had a reputation and he chose
to never give himself one. He had a reputation. But he took off his glory. He
took off his glory. He took off his reputation. And he laid that to the side. And he put a towel on. A servant's towel. That's what
this is. This is a servant's towel. And
he put that on. And not only did the centerpiece
of the universe make himself to be a servant, but he also
made himself to have no reputation. That's why men and women, they
don't really see anything special in the man Jesus. It's because
he on purpose hid himself. He hid himself here. And when
they see him, it says there was no beauty in him that we should
desire him. I don't see the ruler of the universe. He on purpose hid himself. 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. Now I'm trying as hard as I can
right now, but no mortal man No mortal man could ever come
close to describing how far he humbled himself. I'm trying as
hard as I can, but it could never, ever be imagined. It could never
be imagined. I could never, ever describe
him high enough, and I could never, ever describe us low enough. It could never be described the
distance. Verse 8 says, But 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. Go 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. And he began to wash the disciples'
feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Back in that time, a man who
had a house of servants, if a man had servants, within those servants
there was rank. All right? And one servant would
have the job of washing the master and his family and his guests'
feet whenever they came into the house or before they sat
down to eat, or whenever it was, that was his job. And that was
the lowest, most disgraceful job given out. It was given to
the lowest man on the totem pole. Everybody in that house looked
down on him. Even the servants looked down
on him. He was the least. He was the least. Well, in doing
this, our Lord was showing them how deep His love was for them. How far He was going. He wasn't
just made a servant. He was made the least. How far
He came down to do everything He did for them. He kneeled down
to the ground. And as He poured water on those
dusty feet, you know, they walked around in those sandals. and
they picked up that dust and he poured water on those dusty
feet and it made mud and then he took the towel that was clothing
him and he started wiping those feet and he started wiping that
mud off of those feet one by one and by the time he finished
his work those feet were sparkling clean and his towel was a muddy
mess. The very particles of dirt came
off of them and they were put on him and he wore it. I always
wondered why didn't he just hold the towel and wash their feet
and if it got dirty get another towel. No, he put it on. He put it on and he washed every
bit of that off of their feet. And he wore it. Isn't that amazing? What is that mud? It's our sin. That's what it is. He wore it. He wore it. When anybody looked at him, they
could see my mud on him. That was my mud, it came off
of my feet. It wasn't, it didn't represent my mud, that's my mud.
Right there. He wore it. Peter knew that the Lord was
his master. Verse 6, it says, Then cometh
he to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou
wash my feet? This is his master. This is not
the lowest servant of the house. And he said, Does 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. But here's the fact of the matter.
Peter, humanly speaking, physically speaking, he did know some things
of what was going on. That's why Peter pulled his feet
back and he said, not my feet, Lord. He knew this is the Master. He could see that the Lord was
giving them this example of humility and this example of service,
but he did not understand the spiritual truth. didn't understand
the truth of the matter. And that's the problem for all
of these churches. That's the problem for men and
women. They see the humility, they see
the goodness, and they see the service, but they have no idea
who He is and what He's done. They don't see that. Verse 6, 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 said unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. And that is the truth of
the matter. If somebody wants to know the
truth, there it is. There it is. If Christ Himself
does not wash a sinner, then that sinner will have no part
with Him. That doesn't make me want to
straighten up and fly right. That makes me want to run to
Jesus Christ crying, wash me. Wash me. What does He wash him
with, that water? No, His own blood. His own blood. Christ Jesus left His own glory,
everything that He was in glory, and He 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 said 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. Wash me top to bottom. 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. Verse 9, Simon Peter said unto
him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
whit, and you are clean, but not all. Peter said, Wash my
hands and my head. Wash my deeds and wash my thoughts. And the Lord said, I have. He
said, you're clean. He said to him in verse 10, he
that is washed. Peter, you are washed. You are
washed. You're clean, but you're going
to have to continue throughout this world for a little while.
And as the dust of this world collects on your feet, you are
going to need cleansing every day. Every day. You're going
to need brand new mercies every morning. Every single morning. In Christ we are washed. We're washed. But until the day
we leave this earth, we are never going to stop crying, Lord, wash
me. Why do we do that? Don't we believe
that we're washed? Why do we cry, Lord, wash us?
Because we're picking up the dust of this earth, the sin of
this earth. It's still on me. I still feel
it on me. Wash me, please. We are forgiven. Why do we cry? Forgive me. Don't
you believe we're forgiven? Yes. But until the day we leave
this earth, we're never going to stop crying, Lord, forgive
me. I still have some dust on me. There's plenty that's still on
this sinful flesh. At the end of verse 10, He said,
ìYouíre clean, but not everyone here is clean, not all.î Verse
11, ìFor He knew who should betray Him, therefore said He, ìYou
are not all clean.î So after He had washed their feet, He
had taken His garments and was set down again and said unto
them, ìKnow ye what I have done to you? You call Me Master and
Lord, and you say, ìWell, for so I am.î If I then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet, you 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 put his
garment back on. And he revealed to them, after
it was all done, he revealed to them everything that he just
finished. everything that was already finished. When He by Himself purged our
sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high and
He said, ìYouíre clean. You are clean.î And then He gave
us this commandment. Verse 13, He said, ìYou call
Me Master and Lord, and you say, ìWell, for so I am.î If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to
wash one anotherís feet.î Are you saying that we ought to forgive
each other's sins? Yes. Yes, I am. Verse 15, 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. He said, if I've done it, I want
you to do it. 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 you if you do them.
What he's saying is, if I have forgiven his sins, then so should
you. If I have forgiven Dwight's sins,
then Gabe, so should you. I command it. I expect it." And
he said, you'll be happy if you do it. You'll be happy, so happy. The Apostle Paul, he said it
clearly in Ephesians 4. I'm going to close with this.
Turn with me to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 verse 29 says, ìLet
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.î
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another." Why? So we can earn heaven? No, because
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. That's our motivation. That's
our motivation for following His example. love and thanks,
just love and thanks for what he's already done. All right,
let's stand together.