a couple weeks ago. I think I hope I have a message
for the history of all those hymns are wonderful. If you will, let's turn our Bibles
to john chapter 13. john 13. We've been going through
Genesis on Sunday morning in the Psalms and I didn't have
to work Wednesday. And I don't think I have a routine
until my routine gets messed up. And so I just, it's been
on me all week. And it'd be good for some of
us to hear what's happening in john. john 13. Last time we looked at this,
I preached from the same verses in 14th of July back in 21. It's been a couple, year and
a half or so, isn't it? You reckon I could've just printed off the
same notes and gave y'all some meatloaf that's two years old?
It wouldn't have been no good, would it? Lord's gotta have a
fresh word for us, and I thought, what am I gonna do? And I didn't
look at those notes till after, after I got these ready, so I
hope this was for today, and Lord will bless it. Well, look,
these first 17 verses here in John 13, begin in verse one. 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 we're about to be taught
is him loving his children. This is love, okay? If you love
children, you teach them, don't you? If you had children and
they grew up and they were illiterate and said, well, I just love them.
No, you don't. You love you teach them to read,
don't you? The Lord's going to teach his children something. He loved
them to the end. Verse two, and supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him. We'll deal with that later. We'll
deal with the end of it. Verse three, Jesus knowing that
the father had given all things into his hand. and that he was
come from God and went to God. This is what is on his mind.
He rises from supper. That's the last meal of the day.
That's in the evening, isn't it? He rises from supper and
laid aside his garment. He took that robe that had no
seams in it, that one-piece robe. He took it off, had just his
underclothes on, and he took a towel, real big towel, and
he guarded himself. He wrapped that towel around
his waist. After that, he poureth water into a basin. My grandfather
had one of those. I've been trying to find one
for Kimberly for a while. Big old white basins with a white
pitcher in it, because they didn't have running water in the house.
And you get your pitcher of water and put it in that basin and
wash your hands. He had running water by the time
I was born, but he still had that pitcher and basin in there.
That's what the Lord did. He had a big towel around him
and he got him a basin of water, a big bowl of water. And he poureth
water into a basin, verse 5, and began to wash the disciples'
feet. and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. He washed their feet, took the
towel, and he wiped their feet off. Then cometh he to Simon
Peter. And Peter saith unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? You are going to wash my feet?
And Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not. You don't understand what I'm
doing. but thou shalt know hereafter. He's gonna know in just a couple
minutes. Just a couple seconds for him, isn't it? Verse eight,
Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. You ain't
ever gonna 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
unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all,
not all of you. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore he said, You're not all clean. So after he had
washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down
again, He said unto them, know ye what I've done to you? You
know what just happened? Do you know what this means?
I washed your feet, but do you get it? Do you get it? Ye call
me master and lord, and ye 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. Barely, barely,
truly, truly, of a truth. Of a truth, twice. It's important
we ought to pay attention, huh? 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, if
you understand them, happy are ye if you do them. Do it. You'd be happy if you do it.
I just want to look at, we looked at this last time, a year and
a half ago, and you can go back to listen to that if you want. But
I want to look at just a couple points here in this message that
just stuck out to me this week. First thing is our depravity.
All of mankind's depravity. Look here in verse six. It says,
then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? You wash my feet? His answer
said unto him, What I do thou knowest not, but thou shalt know
hereafter. He says, Peter, you don't understand
what I'm doing right now, but right directly, shortly, you
are going to understand completely. You're going to understand completely.
The Lord's going to teach Peter something. He's going to teach
Peter something. This is the Lord teaching his
children. I had a teacher one time that
taught me about electricity. I've told you all that story
a few times. I remember his face. I remember his name. I got it.
It was real simple. He taught me a lesson. He was
a good teacher. A good teacher can teach somebody
something and they know it, don't they? They can teach you something
specific and you won't forget it. Here's the greatest teacher
ever. There ever will be. Do you think
Peter's going to learn something? If the Lord's pleased to teach
his child something, do you think they're going to learn? If I
can get me a big old funnel and take the truth that's in this
text and put it down your throat and it's in you, I'd be in the
funnel business. I can't do that. He's got to
teach you. I need to learn that. You need
to learn that. He's got to teach you. He's the greatest teacher
of all. And if the Lord teaches His child something, it's a part
of you and you're different. You can't shake it. You're changed
forever. You can't ever unsee it. You
can't ever unlearn it. If He teaches you, I can make
you memorize some stuff. I can give you some lesson plans
and some discipleship programs and a bunch of other garbage,
and I can't teach you nothing. I make you memorize it. He can
teach you in the heart. He can make it effectual. Do you know
that? Peter had an objection, didn't
he? To what? He said, you washing my feet?
Hold up. He objected. What was he objecting to? What
was happening? What was happening? He had some
knowledge, didn't he? He had some knowledge. The Lord
Almighty, we get it, don't look down on Peter. God Almighty stood
in front of him and said, come on over here, it's your turn,
I'm gonna wash your feet. Do what? He said, you don't know
what I'm talking about. You just come do it. That was the custom
of the time. But Peter could enter into it
more than we can. At that time, if somebody was faithful, and
they went out and worked hard and was diligent in the community,
and they was gonna have some guests over to the house, a prominent
guest or any guest, really, when they come into the home, they
wore them big robes without seams, and they had open-toed shoes.
They had sandals on. They'd take their sandals off,
and whoever was the lowest-ranking servant, the lowest-ranking slave
in that home, washed the feet of those guests that come into
the home. Whoever was the most, the brand new greenhorn, that's
who it's gonna be. You're the new one, you're the
newbie, get to washing feet. I've graduated, I ain't doing
that no more. That was the most entry-level position, was to
wash the feet. The guests would come over, they'd
take their shoes off, they'd get them a water basin, wash
their feet off, because it was dirty, they'd dry it with a towel,
and then they'd go into the house and have dinner and do whatever
they was gonna do, visit. That's what the servant did, that was
the lowest, rung on the totem pole. God Almighty came to Peter,
and Peter saw this. He had an eye as to what was
happening. He knew what was to take place.
He had some knowledge. He said, you're being like one
of them servants, like the lowest-ranking servant. What are you doing?
He objected, didn't he? Isn't that everybody? You pay close attention to me
right now. You listen to me. You hear? I told you boys, you
hear me. This whole world has knowledge. We know a lot of stuff. We can take organs out, put organs
back in. We can do all kinds of fly helicopters and weather
balloons. We do all kinds of stuff, can't
we? We have some intellect, we have some knowledge, but we don't
have understanding. He knew what was happening. You
had a bowl of water, and you washed everybody else's feet,
and you got to me. I think you're gonna wash my feet. This ain't
rocket science, is it? He knew what was happening. He
had some knowledge, but he didn't understand what this meant. He didn't have
an understanding. That's his whole world. Go to
anybody. Was there a man named Jesus,
born of a virgin? Yeah. What happens at Christmas? We put these blasphemous nativity
scenes all over. Well, if you can't get a real
baby, get a plastic one. If you can't get three wise men, get
two wise men. It don't matter to us. Line them up, put smelly
D's in them. Put them out there. It's just
form, it's function, it's religion, it's playing church sawdust,
isn't it? They know he's born of a virgin.
Why was he born of a virgin? Oh. We're like little children,
isn't that what we learned last time? Boys, little children ask
a lot. Why? Why? Can you answer that? You
know why he had to be born of a virgin? Anything born of Adam,
born of a man, unclean, unholy. You have to understand what happened
in that garden before you can understand why he had to be born
of a virgin. Why was he born of a virgin?
They know he was born of a virgin. Was it just any old virgin? How
many do you reckon there was? Why'd he get that one? Why that
particular virgin? Why was she from a tribe of Judah?
Why was she from the root of Jesse? Why was she of the house
of David? Why? Why? They know that, right? They know, yeah, she's a lineage
of David. We know that. Why? You know that? They had knowledge they don't
understand. He was born in Bethlehem, Ephrata, the least of the cities. Why? Why? It's where David was, wasn't
it? He lived a perfect life. Why? Why is that needed? I can't. You get that? Do you know that? Do you understand that? I ain't
just knowing it. It's a checklist from a seminary. I can memorize things in Chinese.
It don't mean I know nothing. I don't mean I understand it.
He walked this earth for 33 and a half years. Why? He was baptized. Everybody can tell you that,
can't they? He's 33 and a half years old. The Lord was baptized. John the Baptist
did it, right? Why was he baptized? That's a silly thing. Why would
the Lord be baptized? Why would that have to happen?
We're going to start learning about substitution and unity,
ain't we? You can know some things and you don't understand them.
If he teaches in the heart, you say, I had to be baptized. That
don't give us a free pass to be disobedient children in the
future. But that thief on the cross, that's when he was baptized.
That's when he was baptized. And I just profess he did it
all whenever I get in that tub of water. You get that? That's
understanding. We know some things that happen.
We have understanding. He hung on a cross. Everybody
tell you that. There's crosses all around this county. What
if it was the AK-47? Would you put a big 10-foot-tall
AK-47 in your front yard? Isn't that just foolish? That's
what he died on. A Roman cross meant for Gentiles
that weren't Roman citizens. That was horrible. He died on
a cross. Why? He was redeeming us. He was making that payment, wasn't
he? Whenever he died on that cross, he went into a grave.
People say, he went into a rich man's grave. Wasn't it? He didn't own
it. He was borrowing it from somebody
else. And he laid in there three days. And three days later, he
rose from the grave. Why? Why? The father was satisfied. Oh, that's big news. There's
no condemnation for those that he was born for, he lived for,
and he died for, and he was risen again for. That's good news. I don't go around with my frowny
face on through this world no more. Turned upside down, I smile
a little bit. I said, what's wrong with you?
Lord did something for me. He did it. I get it now. I don't
understand at all. I don't know the ins and outs.
How'd that take place? Can you do that? That's his business,
but he did it. I know who it was and I know
what he did in part, don't we? And I thank him for it. And I'm
gonna put my shoulder to it, and I'm gonna tell everybody
else in this community with everything I have about him and what he did. Because
he did it for me. He may do it for you. He just might save you,
if he's pleased to. I don't know who, so I'm gonna
tell everybody. This world has knowledge, but
they don't understand. They don't understand. They can't
give an intelligent answer to the five W's on any of that.
Who, what, where, when, and why. Can't do. Because of that, how
are we gonna know? How did I learn these things?
One way. There's one way. There ain't
no other way. There's one way I learned this.
There's one way, if you know it, there's only one way that
you know it. Because of the ascension of Christ,
because he came out of that grave, he gave a gift to his people.
He gave them pastors and teachers, didn't he? Why? Isn't that a good question? Why? We can't take the Holy Spirit,
bottle it up, and sell it in a water bottle. We come to a
well, and I show you the well, I say, there's water if you're
thirsty, drink. I don't package it up and just send it all over
the world. We do that, we have sermon audio, and what's the
other one, Skype or whatever, I don't know, Facebook. It goes
out, but that's just the call, come. You get that? That ain't
stay over there and drink. Come, how are we gonna know?
The Lord gave pastors according to his own heart, didn't he?
Jeremiah 3.15. He gave you pastors. That's a
heart work. It ain't some fella you hire and buy and pick which
one you want. That's a mending of hearts. He
gives pastors according to his own heart, which shall feed you.
Your sheep, they're under shepherds. They're gonna feed you. Thomas,
like you drove past them shepherds. They're gonna feed them. What
are they gonna feed them? Knowledge. I'm gonna tell you what this
says. I'll read out loud. And understanding. You get that? I can't make that feed soak in
the sheep. I'm sure give it to him. I can lay it out before
I can spread that buffet table. Here it is. This is what it says.
That's what it means. He's got to make it effectual.
He's got to tell Peter about this thing. Peter can't hear
a word. I say he'll sleep right through it. God can make him
stay awake. Awake old soul and rise. He can do that. I can scream to the cows. Come
on, we're gonna do nothing. The unregenerate person has never
had a man sent to them to look them in the eye one-on-one in
a one-way conversation. That's what preaching is. Everything
else is a debate, and that means there's a possibility of failure.
I won't have it. It ain't happening here as long
as God keeps me. It's a word from Him. It happens to be through
this earthen vessel. I'm just that pot they pour into
the basin. From Him, through me, to your
heart. That's called preaching. And
that's how God saves sinners. That's the only way He saves
sinners. That's it. I look people in the eye when
I preach to them. Can you tell, if I had y'all
come to the house and I said, Paul wrote that to the Thessalonians,
didn't he? He said, I know you're calling
an election, brethren. He ain't an idiot. If you went up to my
house and you went to my chicken pen and I gave you a scoop of
my chicken feed and I said, go feed my elephants. Can you tell
the difference between a chicken and an elephant? If a farmer
can tell the difference between a tare and a wheat, the Lord
said, leave him alone. There's a tare right here, and he washed
his feet. That ought to teach us something.
That ought to teach me something. I'll just preach. Take it or leave it, I just declare
the gospel. I keep forcing it into you. That ought to teach
me something. The undergenerate world hasn't had that happen.
They have the knowledge. They don't have the understanding.
And I thought this morning, I said I would give anything. That ain't
right, that ain't the right words. I'll speak like Paul, because
it's just the truth. I have given everything. Ain't you? I've given everything. To find somebody, a human, one
person interested truly interested in who this is talking about.
In the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, I give
it all. If I could sit down for just three months, give me some
time to sit down with somebody that had a thirst. I want to
know God. I'm going to die and go to hell
if I don't. Tell me about it. Well, I got some good news. Look
here. I bumped into a fellow one time, Bob. He said, do you
mean that Ark? Noah's Ark? That's a picture
of the gospel. That's Christ? And I said, you
didn't know that? I know that story, but I didn't understand.
We're going to have fun. This is going to be great. Keep
you busy for a long time, isn't it? Oh, what I'd give. People
don't like that. People don't like that. Natural
man don't like that. Why? You can Google it. Google it. You can look it up. You can pick
and choose. You can sort this out. You can find out God on
your own, can't you? No, you can't. through the foolishness
of preaching in person, one-on-one, me looking people in the eye,
that's how God saves people. What's that redneck from Kentucky
gonna tell me? Who God is, I hope. Tell you the truth about man,
the truth about him. All flesh is grass, behold your God. Mankind
wants to teach, not be taught. Mankind wants to instruct, not
be instructed. Mankind wants to correct, and
not be corrected. But for his children, it don't
matter what we want. We're his. We're a purchased possession.
He's going to teach us. He's going to teach us something.
Well, how can he do that? He controls everything. Pete
and repeat, we're sitting on a log. You paying attention?
He controls everything. Salvation. Everything. He paid it all. You can't add
anything to it. Nothing's expected of you. It's
done. It's finished. It's perfected. And He is all. He gets all the glory. Him and
Him alone. And you follow Him. You follow
Him. You huddle up close to Him and
you don't leave. You are where He is. Verse eight, Peter saith
unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Can you relate to Peter? Have you ever used extreme language?
Sometimes you don't never say never. You may start never like
you've never never before, huh? Happens to me a lot. Have you
ever fought what the Lord's doing? Oh, I've never done that. Turn the news on. Can you believe
what they're doing? It's fighting God's providence.
It ain't acting like a child of God. It's acting like a heathen,
isn't it? We forget sometimes who we're
dealing with. Sometimes us, I wish I could
find some 70-year-old children and go back an hour. We forget
who controls everything. We forget who paid it. We forget
who is our everything, don't we? Eli said, it's the Lord. Sam will come to him and say,
Lord's gonna wipe your lineage off the face of the earth. He's
gonna kill all you boys. And he said, let him do what seemeth
him good. He gave, like Job, he gave, he takes away, blessed
be the name of the Lord. What he does is right. He's holy. I ain't got no wisdom, I ain't
got no nothing to add to this conversation. He's holy, amen. We just bow to him, don't we?
Mankind says, I gotta have a part in this. You ain't never gonna
wash my feet. What must I do to be saved? Well, now you're saved, now you
gotta clean up outside like a hogwash. That's what Peter's saying. You
can't wash my feet. I tell you what, here's what
we'll do. We can wash each other's feet. How about that? You don't
wash my feet, but I'm gonna do my part, and you do your part,
and maybe we can share in some of the responsibilities of this
washing thing, you know? Maybe we can evaluate this law
again, this custom, this rule, and maybe we can find just a
way, we can keep a portion of that law. You see how this cascade
just dominoes into works? You get that? He said, you'll
never wash my feet. Peter spoke boldly. in ignorance
most of the time, wasn't it? Halftime. He spoke boldly. He
said, you'll never wash my feet. He said, I will never leave you.
He said, these other ones might leave you. I'll never do it.
And he said, I'll die with you. I'll die with you. And he said,
before that crow, before that chicken out there, that little
baby dinosaur crows three times, you will deny me. Before it crows,
you will deny me three times. That'll never happen. Peter knew
how to be bold, but he also knew how to repent. You get that?
Everybody in this county is bold. Everybody in this county will
tell you what they think, especially if it's on a platform with no consequences. There'll
be armchair theologians all over everywhere else, won't they?
They'll be bold, but he knew how to repent. He said, uh-oh.
He knew how to pop off at the mouth, but he knew how to weep.
God taught him that. He gave him a heart of repentance.
He gave him tears to cry over his sin, to mourn his sin. The
Lord's teaching him something. And this ain't just a lesson
in humility. You can get that knowledge wherever. Get yourself
help books, right? How to be kind to others. No,
though we could use a big dose of humility, we could. He's teaching
him about justification. Right, there's a man in his depravity,
a bold, screaming image of what we are. We hate God by nature.
Your enemy's with us. And the Lord said, let me show
you something about justification. You ready? Look here at verse
eight. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet.
And Jesus answered and said, if I wash thee not, thou hast
no part with me. That's as plain as it ever could
be. What's the best thing to pray?
Father, glorify thy name. That's what Christ prayed, wasn't
it? How can I explain to a child, Christ is all, he's the only
way to be saved. He's the door. We cast the net, we plant the
seed. Basic things, easy things. You can touch and look at it,
say, that's right. Sheep and shepherds. Thomas drove past
four shepherds and sheep out there and blessed his heart.
Why? Because he saw sheep. No, because
his pure mind was stirred up this week. That's why. John the
Baptist recalled a little bit, didn't he? Peter was sitting
there. I just seen him pull his feet up. I bet his knees was up by his
head. What are you doing? John the Baptist, the Lord came
there and said, behold the Lamb. That's it. That's what I've been
preaching about. He's right there. It's a person. And he said, baptize
me, John. And he said, what? I have need
you to baptize me. Why would I baptize you? And
that's OK. I understand that, don't you?
We don't understand these things, and I don't want to bring reproach.
I don't want to bring disrespect. I don't want to be flippant about
these things, Lord. I understand what you're saying, but give
me some faith right now to believe you. This just seems completely
opposite. What did he tell John the Baptist? This was to fulfill. It becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. The Lord told Peter, he said,
if I wash thee not, you have no part with me. What was he
doing? Knowledge says he's washing feet.
Well, why didn't he say, if I don't wash your feet, you ain't no
part with me? Maybe he's talking about something that ain't washing
feet. Maybe his mind's on those things of him laying down his
life on that cross, right? We understand that? He said,
if I don't wash you, He didn't say, if I don't wash your feet,
He said, if I don't wash you. That's what this whole passage
is about there in verse one. It says, now there before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
that he should depart out of this world and go to the Father.
That's what he was thinking of. That's what his mind was on.
That's what the mindset of the teacher was when he was teaching
the lesson. He's going to lay down his life for those he loved.
He's going to love them to the end. He's going to wash them
in blood. You get that? If I don't wash
you, you can't have no part with me. If I don't wash you in my
blood, you ain't mine. You get that? What'd Isaac say? We're gonna go up this hill,
we're gonna worship God. Sacrifice. That's what that means,
right? We're gonna sacrifice, we're
gonna worship God. And Isaac said, where's the land? Where's
the blood? Without shedding the blood, there's
no remission of sins. That's the payment. That's what
we have to be redeemed with. I don't even wanna know what's
being preached around this county. That ain't none of my business.
My business is just lay down a straight stick. I bet it ain't blood. Something's gotta die for you
to live, and that something better be holy, and that something's
that one thing holy. The Lord Jesus Christ. He provided
himself the lamb. He's the lamb. And he has to
die for a worm like me. Cause I came and he, he loved
me. You don't put that on a bumper
sticker. That's burning your heart. That's a live coal touches
your lips. Can you take, take a live coal
and touch somebody's lips? What's going to happen? I think of them rivets
when they built the Golden Gate Bridge. Take one of them flaming
hot rivets and put it on your mouth. It's going to seal it
shut. You shut up to sin. And if you got to say anything,
it's what he says. Ain't your nonsense. Ain't my good brilliant
ideas. It's him. He's got to wash them in the
blood. He's saying, if the Lord does not do all the work, if
he doesn't totally wash you, you have no part with him. If
you got a little bit of your wisdom, a little bit of your
righteousness, and this would set this whole coast upside down.
If you got a little bit of your sanctification and you got a
little bit of your redemption, maybe you made the choice. You
ain't got no part with him. You ain't his, because he didn't
do all the work. He said, if I don't wash you.
He didn't say if Mother Mary will pray to the Virgin Mary.
I get the craziest mail sometimes. What's she going to do? He said,
if I don't do it. He doesn't say if Grandma and
Grandpa don't do it, or your mommy, or your daddy, or your
friends, or your cousin. Well, we went and prayed for them,
and we had a good conversation. That ain't going to do no good.
He's got to do it. He said, if I don't wash you. Thou hast no
part with me. What's the result of that? That's
a two-edged sword. I hope I can speak so plainly
in this community and in this state that people take up rocks
to kill me. Either they're gonna bow or they'll
chop my head off on a plate. If I can be this plain, if he
doesn't do everything, you ain't saved. They ain't children, they
ain't Christians, they ain't my brother and sister, because
you ain't in the same boat, you're outside the boat. He has to do it. Salvations of
the Lord, that's what that means. Mankind will either say, I will
not have this man reign over me. Hush, be quiet. But what if God teaches him?
What if the Lord speaks? That's all he's got to say. If
I don't wash it, you ain't clean, and you ain't gonna part of it.
That's all he's got to say, effectually, to the heart, and lights come
on. He can do that. What's a response? You change
forever. You ain't the same. You ain't
going to get out of here. You're different. You ain't going
to be the same. Look at verse 9. Simon Peter
saith unto him, Lord, wash not my feet only, but my hands and
my hand. Washed me all over. Now he understands. He had knowledge. He had knowledge
of what was taking place. Now God gave him an understanding.
The capital P pastor, the capital P preacher preached to his heart.
Now he understands. He knows what this represents.
This ain't just about you washing my feet, this is about you washing
my soul. You applying your sacred holy blood to me. And he says,
wash my feet. I'm walking through this sin-curse
world. Is that you or are you walking a little bit higher?
I know some people think they walk a little bit higher. He
says, I'm walking in this sin-curse world, I'm covered with dirt.
Wash my hands. I've been performing sinful acts with them. That's
all I've been doing. He said, wash my head. Here's
what I wrote. Where my thoughts are not always
on things above. And that's too minor. That's
too subdued. That's too religious-y. That's
quoting a bunch of junk we learned from somebody else. Wash my head
that's completely full of wickedness and evil thoughts continually.
You have to do it. That's complete and total submission.
At that moment of full submission, there's another lesson taught.
Comfort is given. Look here at verse 10. Jesus
says to him, he that is washed. He ain't washed Peter's feet
yet, has he? How long, how long was you washed in that blood
before the foundation of the world? He's a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. He said, he that is washed. needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean everywhere." He's saying,
if you've washed in the blood of the Lamb, if I've saved you,
if I've laid down my life for you, you don't need me to lay
down my life again. You just gotta wash your feet. That's all he's showing here.
You are bought, you are washed by the blood, you are purchased,
you are a redeemed possession, but you only need your feet washed.
Now what's that mean? We looked at it a year and a
half ago. calling us to remember some things. We walk in this
world every day, don't we? We go out and we have jobs and
obligations in this society and we go out and we go into the
world and we're around people that think they know God because they have
some knowledge and they have no understanding. Hordes of them. And we're in
this dirty world. We're walking. And daily we need
cleansing. Daily we need forgiveness. I've
lived, the Lord took me to the other side of the world to live
this. They had shower hooches, these trailers that were showers
in Iraq. And you put on shower shoes, I think I told you this
last time, shower shoes for the shower. And you walk in flip-flops
over to the shower, and you get in there, and you bathe yourself,
you dry yourself off. And this is what happened back
then. They had common places to bathe, right? Still do it
someplace. And you'd go there, and you'd bathe this big towel,
and you'd come back home. Well, when you got home, your
head's clean, your hands, y'all clean. But you've been walking
through dust. You've been walking through sand, and you was kind
of damp. Just your feet's dirty, isn't it? You gotta wash your
feet. The Lord's purchased you. You're completely clean. You're
holy. That new man in you ain't gonna get no more holy. But your
body, this body of death, it's in this dirty world, isn't it?
And we walk through it, and we sin. People think they rise above
that. You can't pray as God told you
to pray. Did you know that? The disciples said, Lord, teach
us to pray. And he said, when you pray, say, our Father which
art in heaven. That's where he is. We ain't.
He's on his throne. Hallowed be thy name. Feared,
reverend, whole is your name. Thy kingdom come. Your will be
done. Do what you want. Not me, you.
Give us day by day our daily bread. Let me see Christ today.
I ate yesterday and I was full. Now I'm hungry today. Are you? I need to see him today. He's
the bread of life. I need him day by day. And forgive us our
sins. Well, if somebody rised above
sinning, you can't pray as God told you to pray. You reckon
he knows more than we know? as we forgive those that's indebted
against us and lead us not into temptation. Lord, forgive me
for my sins and don't let me sin, but deliver us from evil. As old pastor said, in the mornings
I wake up and I said, Lord, keep me from sinning today. And in
the evenings I go to bed every night saying, Lord, forgive me
for what I've seen today. You ready for some meat? This
is good. Aren't we clean every whit? Aren't we? Holy, upright,
unapprovable, before him in love. We're clean, ain't we? Yes, well
then why do we need this dirt washed off every day? You ready?
That's a big why, isn't it? Big question. Because I need
to see his mercy every day. That's it. Why do I have to have
my feet washed every day? I need to see his mercy every
day. I need thee every hour. Because
if not, I think I could go run marathons and I'd run away, wouldn't
you? I need to see his mercy every
hour. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. It
doesn't say great as my faithfulness. It doesn't say great as your
faithfulness. Great as His faithfulness. And every day I need to see that.
Every day I need to see that. Him and Him alone. Verse 10.
Jesus said, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet, but is clean ever with. And ye are clean. You're clean!
Isn't that good news? You're clean. But not all. He looks on the heart. Lord knows
who he washed, who he ain't washed, doesn't he? He don't forget.
Verse 11, for he knew who should betray him, therefore he said,
you're not all clean. He knew that Judas was there. And either
he had already washed Judas's feet or he was about to. When
he said, this is my body, take, eat, he gave it to Judas too,
didn't he? I don't know. He does. Talk about an example. Whoa, buddy. He said, this is
my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
Here, drink it. Give it to everybody at that table. That ought to
solve that open and closed communion. That don't sort it for you. Here's
the application, verse 12. So after he had washed their
feet and he had taken his garments and was set down again, he said
unto them, know ye what I've done for you. You knew what was
happening. Do you understand now? You get
it? You get it? You call me Master
and Lord. They did, okay? He taught it.
It was applied. You call me Master and Lord,
and you say, well, for so I am. He reminds them. You call me
Lord, and I am. I'm the Lord. If I, then you're
Lord and Master. If I've washed your feet, you
also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example.
I did this physical feet washing to remind you of the blood I'm
shedding for you, that you're ever whipped clean forever and
ever. You're mine. I bought you. But I gave this to you as an
example that you should do as I've done to you. That's not
an ordinance, is it? It's an example. There's people
where I grew up that practice this, and they do it like quarterly,
or you wash your feet before you went in there. I'd wash my
feet before I let you look at my feet, you know what I mean? So it's a sham, it's a show.
But they do it quarterly or monthly or every six months or whatever.
This is daily, isn't it? So he ain't talking about us
physically washing feet. Forgiveness. Forgiveness, that's
what he's talking about. Forgiveness. I've forgiven you
of your sins. That's what we prayed, right?
Talk to pray. Now you forgive those that sinned against you. What about Judas? I know what
he did wrong. This is elementary stuff. This
is people that, in this nation, need to learn this right now.
Has God forgiven you? That's how much you forgive them.
Well, what if it's Judas? Well, that one may not be condemned
forever. He's still breathing. Pray for
him. Lord might be pleased to save
that one, huh? Pray for him. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that the servant is not greater than his Lord. What the Lord
pray for Peter? I pray that your faith fail not.
Trevor, I pray that your faith fail not. It's a good thing to
pray it. Neither he that is sent greater
than him that sent him. I thought Peter asked again,
didn't he? About these things. About this
forgiving. That's what Matthew 18, you can
go home and read that. Matthew 18, verse 15 through
20. It's speaking of forgiving brethren in local assemblies,
in a local church. Have you been offended? Have
you offended somebody else? Forgive them. Forgive them. Drop it. Let it go. Pay no attention
to it. Let it go. That was yesterday.
That was dirt from yesterday. We got dirt today we got to worry
about. Forgive them. That's what Matthew 18, 15 through
20 is talking about, right? And at the very end, that same
paragraph in the original text, it says this, for where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst
of them. That's the context of us quoting
that all the time. You get that? What's that mean? You mad at them? They mad at
you? You upset? Is God here? Right here in person,
not 50 years from now, somebody listen to me. Today, right now,
I'm looking out. Is God here with us? Who cares about what
else happened? He's washed us wherever we went
clean. Just knock that dirt off of them. It'll be all right.
Keep on going. That dirt goes on the outside only, doesn't
it? Do you get that? If you got your feet dirty, do
you have dirt in your bones now? No, it's just on the outside.
That's just the outside of the cup. The inside of the cup's
clean. He's done that. He's cleaned us. We just got
to wipe the dirt off. That's some world stuck to them
today. That's some earth, some red dirt
stuck to them. That's just old Adam. Don't worry
about it. Look to those things that are good. Inside, they're
clean. There he is. I thought of this. In the military,
I like people with a little dirt on them. That's a phrase in common
usage, right? Somebody with a squeaky clean
and just, hello. We're going to go raid houses
today. Not me, you ain't. And that was commonplace. No, you can put you in an office
somewhere. You ain't going with us. I want some ruffians. Isn't
that the way it is with God's people? Somebody's just squeaky
clean and they just know everything and they don't understand it.
I want somebody with a little dirt on them. Like, you know
what? I'm a sinner. Me too. Me too. He's washed both of us. Now we've
got something to talk about. Ain't that true? The Lord taught Peter in Acts
10. He said, there came a voice to
him saying, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And Peter said, not
so, Lord. He told him no. He said, I have
never eaten. There he goes again. He said,
I've never eaten anything that was common or unclean. And the
voice spake to him a second time and said, what God hath cleansed
thou shall call not thou common. If he's cleaned it, if he's washed
it in the blood, Don't you call it common? He said, touch not
mine anointed. Peter thought he's talking about pulled pork
barbecue. And he said, oh, if he says pork's
okay to eat, then a little bit later he realized, oh, he's talking
about Gentiles. Well, he got me before I even knew it. Didn't
I? Well, if somebody's just acting like they're not a believer,
well. How do you act? How do I act?
I told you, if you can see the inside of my heart, you quit
eating. Inside of my thoughts, you quit eating lunch with me.
He receiveth sinners and eateth with them. He picketh your sandwich
after you, Bob. Take a bite after it. That's
love. That's love. What if we forgive
like that? How many times we gotta forgive? 70 times 7, right? That's what
he told Peter again. Peter said, give me some rules.
He said, how many times do I have to forgive my brother that sinned
against me? Seven times? He said, no, I say to these until
seven times, but until 70 times seven, infinity. What if I did
that? They said, Lord, increase our
faith. We have to believe you to forgive. You get that? That's
strong, isn't it? We have to believe him. We have
to believe what he says to forgive one another. We have to look
to him to forgive one another. Well, what if we did that? What
if we put on, I'm real mad. Well, if we put it behind us,
verse 17, John 13, 17, if you know these things, not if you
just write them down, if you understand it, if he's applied
this to your heart, what's it say right there? Verse 17, happy
are ye if you do them. You'd be happy if you do that.
How could I be happy if I did that? Well, I'm gonna remember
he washed me. Now, does that make you happy? Won't that just
brighten your day up? We've been washed in the blood
of the Lamb. We're His. They can't lose us.
You too. Good. Y'all like hot dogs? Let's
get a pizza. We'll sit around and talk about
this. This is good news, isn't it? I hope that's a blessing
for you. Father, wash us daily. Allow
us to see your mercies daily. Give us a heart of compassion.
Allow us to forgive. Enable us to forgive those that
sin against us, trespass against us. Show us what we've been forgiven.
And give us an attitude in this world of people that you've redeemed,
that your blood's washed over. and forgive us. Lord, we know
these things and in part we understand these things, but we still walk
in this world. We feel dirty all over. Lord,
be with us. Show us what you've done, who
you are. Make us believe your word. and
add to your church daily as you see fit. Save, Lord. Save. It's in Christ's name that
we ask. Amen. All right, brother.