Perhaps you've heard of the story
of the Lord Jesus Christ washing His disciples' feet. If not,
let me tell it to you this morning. I'm reading from John 13. John,
chapter 13, I read the first five verses. 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 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,
and wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded." This
story is far more than an example of humility and service. The
gospel is seen here. The gospel is illustrated. The
condescension The incarnation, the great salvation of the Lord
Jesus Christ is seen here. Who He is, where He came from,
why He came, what He did, who He did it for, and where He is
now. All is seen in this story of the Lord washing His disciples'
feet. In verse 1 it says, His hour
was come. It says, he loved his own. And
then in verse 3 it says, they were given into his hands, all
things. His hour had come, appointed
by the Father, before time began. God purposed this whole thing
of Christ coming, dying, rising again, and ascending to the Father,
and putting away the sins of his people. And it says here,
having loved His own, that is, those given to Him by the Father
in a covenant before the world began. Yes, that's what Jesus
Christ said in John 17 too. He said, Thou hast given Him
power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as
many as Thou hast given Him. He came into this world for His
sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. He said of some, you're not sheep,
you're goats. But he loved his own, given to
him by the Father. They were in the world, and he
loved them to the end. All that God loves, He saves.
All that God loved, He gave to Christ in the covenant. And Christ
came and laid down His life for them, shed His precious blood,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth all those
people from their sin. That's a fact. God does not love
every single person in this world. Never has, never will. God is
angry with the wicked every day. Hell is full of people whom God
does not love. But heaven is full of people
whom God chose, whom God loved, whom Christ died for and the
Holy Spirit came and called and regenerated. And He loves His
own. And He loves them to the end.
He loves them everlastingly. Love never faileth. True love
never faileth. God is love. His love doesn't
fail. His love saves. His love is eternal. He never quits loving those He
started loving. And He saves all whom He loves
to the end. Verse 2 says, Supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's
son to betray him. Now stop right there. The devil
cannot do anything but what God allows him to do. That's right. The devil is a created being.
He is not sovereign. He is not omnipotent, that is,
all-powerful. He is not omniscient, all-knowing.
He is not omnipresent everywhere at one time. Only God is all
of that. The devil can only do what God
allows him to do according to the will of God. That's a fact,
or God is not God. There's only one sovereign being
in the universe doing as he will, according to his will, with whom
he will, because he will, and that is God. It's not man's will. It's not the devil's will. All
things work according to God's will. All right? The devil, given
this thing to do by God to betray the Son of God, for He must be
killed. He must be crucified. The devil
thought he was doing what he wanted to do, but he did what
God determined before to be done. In verse 3 it says, Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into His hands. All things,
yea, all things. Acts 15, 18, known unto God are
all His works from the beginning of the world. Romans 8.28, all
things work together according to the purpose of God. Yes, it
is God who worketh all things according to His purpose. Will.
If there's one single thing, person, place or thing outside
the control of God Almighty, then there's chaos, then there's
chance, then you better run to the hills, find you a cave and
hide in it. No telling what's going to happen.
But now if God reigns and rules, God's people have peace. God's
people have comfort. We need not worry, need not fear,
for our God reigneth. How about yours? If your God
doesn't reign, He's not God. You'd better get rid of Him.
And you'd better come to know and believe and bow to and trust
in the God over all. All things are in His hand. And it says, knowing He has come
from God and went to God. Yes, Jesus Christ came from God. God was manifest in the flesh.
That's not some mere mortal man that walked this earth. It's
the Creator of the earth. standing on the very earth that
He made, hung on the cross of a tree that He planted in that
earth. Yes, this is God. Came from God
and going back to God. Came from God to do a work. He
finished that work. That was the last words He cried
on Calvary's tree. It is finished. All that the
Father gave Him to do, He did it. Nothing left to be done.
Finished. And then he went back to God
and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, expecting
everything that he did to be accomplished, everyone for whom
he died for to be saved, and all his enemies to be brought
to his feet under his feet as his footstool. It says in verse
four, he riseth from supper, laid aside his garments, took
a towel, and girded himself. And after that, he poureth water
into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and washed
them with the towel wherewith he was girded." All of this is
a picture, a picture of who Christ is and where He came from and
what He came to do. Now, Christ, it says, He came
from God. In verse 4 it says, He riseth
from supper, the Lord Jesus Christ, arose from His throne in glory
with the right hand of God and came down to this earth, condescended
to this earth to do something. It says He laid aside His garment.
Jesus Christ laid aside His royal robes, His heavenly body, and
took a towel that is a common, ordinary towel. And Christ was made flesh. He became a man, a common, ordinary
man. and girded himself with that
flag. It was made flag. And then it
says in verse 5, He poureth water into a basin. Yea, Christ poured
out His soul unto death. His precious blood. It wasn't
spilt. It was poured into a basin like
this water because it was applied particularly carefully to all
whom He came to save. He took a towel and girded Himself.
And He began to wash the disciples' feet. Whose feet was He washing
with that precious water? His disciples. Who did Jesus
Christ die for? His disciples. His people. His
chosen ones. His elect. Those whom God gave
to Him. He poured out His soul unto death
for His people. Isaiah 53 says, For the transgression
of My people was He stricken. No, Jesus Christ didn't make
an attempt to save. He made an atonement for His
people. He didn't die to try to save all men. He died to save
particular men and women. He didn't try to save anybody. He saved all His people from
their sin with His own precious blood. And He took this towel
and this water and began to wash their feet and to wipe them with
the towel. Oh, how the Lord Jesus Christ
pictured His great salvation. In verse 6, it came to Simon
Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? He was embarrassed about this.
He knew that this was the great Lord of glory, and he didn't
want the Lord washing his feet. And he said, Do you wash my feet?
Meaning, Lord, I need to wash your feet, not you wash mine. And the Lord said unto him, Jesus
answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter. Oh, they knew. Perhaps you don't
know what he was doing here, but perhaps after this message
you will. And they knew after he was crucified,
they recalled what he had done and they remembered why he did
what he did, what it was a picture of, a picture of his Salvation,
that He washed them with His own precious blood. Well, Peter
said unto Him, Lord, You've never washed my feet. No, I'm not going
to let You wash my feet. Jesus answered him and said,
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. If you're not
washed in the blood of Christ, you have no part with Him. You
have no place in heaven. You have no salvation. If He
doesn't wash you, you don't wash yourself. You don't sanctify
yourself. You don't redeem yourself. You're
not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold or
whatever you do, your works, your vain conversation, your
religion. You're not redeemed. You're not
saved by anything you have ever done. If Christ doesn't wash
you, you won't be washed. If the Spirit of God doesn't
sanctify you, you won't be sanctified. If God doesn't justify you, you
won't be justified. Salvation is of the Lord. And
Christ said, If I don't wash you, you won't be washed. You
have no part with Me. Well, Simon, not understanding
what he said, said, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and
my feet. In other words, Simon Peter,
knowing something of his own sinfulness, he looked within,
saw nothing but a sinful heart, and he said, wash me all over
my feet, my walk, my hands, my work, my head, my thoughts. Wash
me like David said, wash me throughly for my iniquity. Create within
me a clean heart. Renew within me a right spirit.
O Lord, please, just cleanse me entirely. The Lord said, verse
10, He that is washed needeth not. That is, not to be washed
save wash his feet. He's clean everywhere, and you're
clean. You're clean, but not all of
you. Speaking of Judas, he said, you're clean. In another place,
Christ said, They were cleaned by the Word that He spoke. The
washing of regeneration by His Word. Oh my! Have you been washed by the blood
of Christ? Have you been washed by His precious
blood? Have you been washed by the Spirit
of God taking this Gospel like I am preaching? and washing your
mind from all of your preconceived notions of God, all your thoughts
of self-righteousness and worth, self-worth, and how you did this
and you did that, and wash away all of that, washing you, purging
you from your sin. Christ said, If I wash you not,
salvation is of the Lord. The Lord does all the washing.
We come to Him for cleansing, for washing. And he said to his
disciples, what I have done unto you, you shall know, you shall
know. And he said, you ought to do
the same for one another. as a type of service, as a type
of humility, yes, but not to have any merit before God, to
be accepted of God, but because of what Christ has done for us,
we do unto others. Oh, may the Lord wash you, wash
us from our sin, is my prayer. Amen.