Go with me back to John 13 now. John 13. What a passage you see,
Isaiah. My, my. I thoroughly enjoyed
going through the Gospel of John with you. I believe you have. And we are coming to a part now
that, you know, from here to the end is just about two days,
two days in the life of our Lord and the death of Christ crucified. And someone once said that these
chapters 14, 13 through 16, the greatest sermon I ever prayed,
the Lord speaking to His disciples, just His disciples, and followed
by the greatest prayer ever prayed, John 17. Don't you look forward
to that. No sermon title could sum up what the Lord did here. I give titles for the recording
and for ease of remembrance. No sermon title does this justice,
but one line really struck me and it pretty much sums up what
our Lord did here, what happened. It says in verse 4, He laid aside
His garments. Now here, what we're going to
see here, Amazing in this picture. This is not just a picture of
humility or service and an example, though he said that, yet that
was after what he did. This is an illustration. Our
Lord illustrates all that he's been saying before. He kept saying,
I'm going to the cross. I've come down from heaven, and
this is why. For this cause, I came into the
world. to be a sacrifice for sin, to be crucified. What we're
going to see here in the Lord washing feet is who He is, where
He came from, where He came, what He did, who He did it for,
and where He is now. You say, washing feet? Yes. In the first three verses, look
at it again, before the Feast of the Passover, Now John's gospel
began this way. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. We beheld His glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
God sent a preacher. And John came preaching. What
did he preach? Behold the Lamb. That's how this book starts.
That's how this book ends. The Lamb. The Lamb on the cross. The Lamb on the throne. The Passover. for the feast of the Passover.
And when Jesus, verse 1, knew that his hour was come, remember
he said that. What shall I say? Father, deliver
me from this hour. For this cause came out of this
hour. Like David, who was facing Goliath,
the giant, on behalf of God's people, for the glory of God.
In defense of his father's name. In defense of his brethren, he
said, is there not a cause? Yes. And David went out single-handedly
and defeated their foe by himself. That's what Christ came to do.
And that's what he did. For this cause, knowing his hour
was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. Our Lord said this over and over
again. He said, I'm from above. Didn't
he? You're from beneath. I am not
of this world. You're of this world. He came
from above. He kept saying that. The Pharisees
heard him say that. They knew what he was saying,
and they didn't like it. They said, you're just a man, and
you make yourself God. No, they got it backwards, don't
they? They got it all backwards. Judgments turn way backwards.
He was God, and he made himself a man. He came down for this
cause, for this hour. His hour was come. He should
depart out of this world unto the Father. Verse 1 says, Having
loved His own. Who does God love? Who does Christ
love? Who did Christ die for? What
does this say? His own. John 10, we've already
looked at it. His own sheep. He calleth His
own sheep by name. He knows them and they follow
Him. He said, I lay down My life for the sheep. And He said to
some, you believe not because you're not My sheep. As I said
unto you, My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow
Me. And I give unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish. He came
for his own. The world hates this. Do you? It's God's glory in him. And I only hope that if I belong
to him, if he owns me, if he paid the price for me, I have
to go for it. that he should depart out of
this world having loved his own, and notice it says they were
in the world. Brothers and sisters, he knows
where we are. In John 17, all through that
chapter, he prays, Father, they're in the world. They're not of
the world, but they're in it. I pray not that you should take
them out of it, but deliver them from it. John Davis, he knows
we're in this world. And we're flesh. And that which
is flesh is flesh. And he knows it. Why? He became
flesh. He was tempted at all points
like as we are. He knows, Father, they're in the world. What's our hope of getting out
of this world? We have no hope in ourselves. Our hope is not
in the world. Our hope is in He who is not
of this world. How are we going to overcome the world? I said,
be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Believe
on me. I'm going to take you out. Having loved his own which
were in the world, look at this. He loved them unto the end. When's the end? When did He stop
loving? It says He loved them all the
way up until He died. Did He die? Yes, He did. Is He
dead? No, He lives. Does He still love
them? He sure does. Scripture says,
world without end. So having loved His own, which
were in the world, He loves them to the end. When is that? Whoever God loves, whoever Christ
loves, He loves them always. He always has. He doth right
now, and He always will. He never stops loving them. I have loved thee, and this is
written to Israel. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. This is written to Israel. Cause
Israel to know their abomination. Tell them, though, that I have
loved them with an everlasting love. The greatest blasphemy of all
is for men to tell everyone without exception that God loves them. And if people die whom God loves,
then what good is the love of God to anybody? People go to
hell that God loves. What difference does it make
if you love this or not? If Jesus Christ shed His blood for every
single human being, and some of them go to hell anyway, what
good is the blood of Jesus Christ to anybody? What good is it? Well, it's the blood and your
faith. So my faith is just as important as His blood. So really,
it's not just His blood that saved me, it's my faith. Is that
right? That's blasphemy. That's them that love God, you
know. Why do we love God? Why does anybody love God? Huh?
Why? Because he first loved us, but
will he quit? At times I act like I don't love
him. Like Simon Peter, don't you? Do you know this man? No!
What's Simon Peter's hope? Johnny can't deny himself. He
can't deny Simon Peter. Why? He loves him! Gomer. She ran off. What's her hope?
Hosea! She can't run far enough. Why?
He loves her. This is the love of God toward
His people? That's my only hope. His eternal
love, His effectual love, His saving love. If He loves me,
I'm loved. If He loves me, I'm saved. If
Christ died for me, I'm justified. Doctrine? This is my hope and
salvation of heaven. Having loved His own, I knew
I'd get stuck right here. What a place to stick. Stick
your heart right here. Stick all your hope right here
in the love of God. The love of God. Everlasting
love. Eternal love. Savior love. Effectual
love. And that love of God is where?
In Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. If you know that,
smile. God loves you. He doesn't love
everybody. Why should He? Why should He love me? Why did
He? Why does He? Because He did. That's the only reason you can
find for God loving anybody is because He did. It's in Himself. Do you understand that? It's
not in us. It's in Himself. He said, I will love them freely. Without causing them. Without
condition. I just love them. Like you going
down and find an old stray dog in the dog pound, ready to be
euthanized. They don't euthanize them anymore.
The world would be better off if it did. I'm sorry. It would.
Too many dogs. It's up. It's just up. If you're
going down there and finding one, and I did that. I found
one that was scheduled to be euthanized the next day. Not
one of those dogs said, take me, take me. I chose a dog. I chose a dog. Brought him home. Paid the price for him. Set my
love on that dog. I love you. You're mine. Mine. Have you loved his own? He loves
the world without him. Verse 2, now look at this, in
light of such love, in light of such sacrifice. Supper being ended, the devil
now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray
him. I hope this will strike fear
in everybody that hears this message. Simon Peter knew something about
being assaulted by Satan. Our Lord said, Simon, son of
Jonas, Satan hath desired to sift you like wheat. Satan and Simon later on, after
being sifted like wheat and failing miserably, Because he's no match
for the God of this world. No match. And his only hope was
Jesus Christ. Stronger than him. Simon wasn't
stronger than him. And later on, Simon Peter wrote, Satan
is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. He
said, I know he got a hold of me. And he can get a hold of
anybody. And Judas Iscariot was one of
the apostles. You know, there's a difference
between betrayal and denial. A big difference. Simon Peter denied him. The Jews
betrayed him. Meaning? Simon, at a time of great fear
and cowardice and trying to save himself, you know, and we all
do at times, don't we? We deny our Lord. He wept. And he denied Him. But what happened? One look from the Lord after
he denied Him. One look. And he went out and
wept bitterly. Broke his heart. Broke his heart. Judas said, What will you give
me? And I'll give Him to you. Judas went out and was mingling
with all these people that hated Jesus Christ. He was mingling
with the enemies of God and the enemies of Christ. They were
his friends. They hated Jesus Christ. They
wanted him dead. He said, what will you give me?
What's in it for me? You give me what I need. You
give me some money and I'll turn him over to you. I don't need
him. People do that all the time.
Believers do it all the time. Leave the gospel. Leave Christ. And when he betrayed Christ,
he betrayed all his brethren. Didn't he? You leave Christ, you leave the
brethren. You're saying, I don't need Christ. I don't need them.
I don't love Him. I don't love them. Isn't that
right? And what did John say? He that
loveth not his brother loveth not God. Whoever can betray Christ,
trade Christ for a job, or trade Christ for money, or advancement,
or trade Christ for family, or trade Christ for this world,
doesn't know Christ. And lots of professing believers
do that. Not lots, but some. That ought
to strike fear in everybody in here. The Lord put that there. And every one of us ought to
pray without ceasing, without ceasing, Lord, is it I? Lord, don't let me. I entreat you not to leave me.
Let me leave you. Okay. Verse 3. Jesus knowing that the Father
had given all things into His hands, that He was come from
God and went to God. All things in His hands. Didn't
He say that? Thou hast given Him power over
all flesh. All power is given unto Him in
heaven and earth. Over all what? Flesh. All people
are in His hands. All things are in His hands.
I meant to bring up about that rod that turned into a serpent.
Moses grabbed a hold of it. When do you ever remember somebody
grabbing a hold of Satan? In the Revelation, the angel
of the Lord came and grabbed a hold of the serpent and cast
him out. Satan is in the hands of Jesus Christ. Everything and
everyone is in the hands of Jesus Christ. Satan found that out
when he wanted Job, didn't he? He couldn't touch him. Aren't you glad all things are
in His hands? Aren't you glad? Our enemies
are in His hands. We're in His hands. All power,
all people, all things. The Law is in His hands. The
Covenant is in His hands. The Kingdom is in His hands.
It's all up to Him. knowing that all things were
given to him from the Father. He knew what he had to do. He
knew what he came to do. And he said, before it happened,
he said, I finished the work he gave me. John didn't. He said,
before he hung on the cross, he said, I finished the work
he gave me. All things are the same. Like
David. David for that Goliath. He said,
is there not a cause? Is there no man? He saw no man.
And he said, I'm going to take your head off. I'm going to take
your sword and take your head off right now. Don't you love
that? And he did. He did. All things in His hands. And
why do I constantly cry out against the blasphemy that religion spreads
that says God has no hands but man's hand? Why do I constantly
cry out that? Number one, it's a lie and it's
blasphemy. Number two, God's people, their
comfort, their hope, their salvation depends on them being in the
hands of Jesus Christ. Completely in His hands. Aren't
you glad, sister, that we're in His hands? He said, no man shall put them
out of my hand. Yeah. Amen. He came from God. He went to
God. He came from God to do this work.
And he went back to God. Now he illustrates this with
washing feet. Look at it. Verse four. He rises
from supper and lay aside his garments. and took a towel and
girded himself. He rises from supper. Now picture
this. The disciples saw this. And I'm
quite certain he had, you know, you see this Last Supper scene. I hope you don't have one. But
it was probably so that he held the central seat, the chief seat. You know they all wanted him.
They all wanted to be beside him. I know who was, John, because
he couldn't leave his bosom. That's where safety is. But anyway,
he held the chief's seat, and all of a sudden, and they never
knew what he was going to do the next minute. They didn't
know where he was going to go, what he was going to do. He did.
He knew exactly what he was going to do. He told him to go in and
prepare for this supper. He said, there'll be a man waiting
for you with a pitcher of water. He's going to go in and he'll
show you the upper room. And that's where we're going to eat.
And he did. That's a whole other story. But
after supper was ended, he got up and he took his garments off. Disciples, maybe they were talking
to one another. Stop. What's he doing? What's he doing? He took those
garments off, stripped. He stripped for them, without
shame. He has no sin. Like a babe, the
dew of youth is on his brow. He stripped right before them,
no shame. He took a towel, a common, ordinary
towel, a cloth of service for washing and drying, and girded
himself with it. What is this a picture of? Try
to imagine with me, people, where the Lord Jesus Christ came from.
And no man can, but try with me. As he sat with Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob and Rahab and all these saints, David and Solomon,
as he sat with them eating and drinking and all the glory of
heaven itself and peace and joy and love, and all of a sudden
he gets up and heaven's silent. This happened. This happened. And they watch as he assumes flesh. He enters the womb of the woman. What's he doing? What's he doing? You think? He laid aside his garments. Our
Lord had a glorified body before He came to this earth, a glorified
body. He assumed a body of flesh when
He came here. When He arose from the grave,
He assumed that glorified body again. Now, don't ask me to explain
that. I'm just declaring it. Our Lord
laid aside His glorified body. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. This is the greatest verses in
all the scripture. You know that? Philippians 2.
He that thought it not robbery to be equal with God took upon
himself the form of a servant, made himself of no reputation,
was made in the likeness of sinful flesh without sin. Why? Why did he leave heaven? Why
did he come here? What a thing for the Holy God
to assume, to wear. What a thing for Christ to wear
a towel. He ought to be wearing a robe
of royalty. No, He put on an old towel, a
blue towel. Maybe an old one. And that's what our Lord did.
He assumed flesh. Flesh and blood. Came down here. Because he did, Philippians 2
said, God's just given him a name above everything. What a thing for the Son of God
to wear, a towel. You know, I thought about this.
I asked myself, what kind of towel was it? Does it make any
difference? Yeah. There's no mention of cotton
in the Scripture. There's a whole lot mentioned
about linen. You know what linen was? It was
a principal garment worn by the high priest. It's the linen ephod. That's what our Lord assumed
when He came here, that linen ephod. This towel was made out
of linen. How do you know? I just do it. Linen, the name, there are two
names for every species of animal and plant. Two names. One is
the species, the other describes it. Linen is linum visitis summa summa, Latin, okay? Linen, like linseed oil, you
know, linen, flax, it comes from a plant, flax. It's three times
stronger than cotton. Three times. It comes from the
stem. It's the fibers from the stem of this plant and the seeds,
flax seed, just the second name means, linen, the second name
means most useful. This is linen most useful. Our Lord assumed flesh. Our flesh
is useless. Sinful flesh, that's what we
got here. Christ assumed holy flesh. What's he going to do
with it? Glorify God. His hands, His feet,
His mind, His heart, and all His strength. His mouth, most
useful. Did that bless you? It did me. Our Lord did this. He wrapped Himself in this towel.
He girded Himself with this towel. Then He stood down. He poured
water, verse 5, he poured water into a basin, began to wash the
disciples' feet. He stooped down and began to
wash their filthy feet. Now their feet were dirty. They
wore sandals. They needed their feet washed.
It was a common courtesy in every home you went into to wash the
person's feet. They needed it. It wasn't a show
of humility like the German Baptists do. That's an abomination. We
don't do things for show. That's a show of humility Paul
talked about. Not humility at all. This was
humility. What Christ did. Their dirty,
stinking feet. They smelled bad. They were dirty
and stinking. And Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit,
Son of the Most High God, left heaven and stooped down and washed
their stinking feet. Why? Number one, they needed it. And
number two, because who He is, He says, this is His great glory. Men do this sort of thing to
try to get people to see how humble they are. Hurry on that. That's an abomination to God.
And this was the most glorious and beautiful thing to God a
man had ever done. My son stooping at the feet of
men. to wash their filthy feet. Isn't
that something? Isn't that something? What a
thing for Christ to wear. What a thing for Jesus Christ
to do. Stoop down at my feet. Christ arose. He stripped himself. He came down and assumed His
common flesh. And then He poured water into
a basin. What is that? What's He going
to wash them with? What is He going to dip their
feet in? Every one of them will have their feet in the same basin.
He didn't change the water. Every one of them, Brother Kelly,
washed their feet in the same thing. What's that? The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin. He poured out His
soul unto death. That high priest, listen to him.
It doesn't say in the Bible that when Christ hung on the cross
that His blood fell on the ground. It doesn't say that. Because it didn't happen. The
blood of Jesus Christ is not to be cast down for people to
walk on it. Your blood of Jesus Christ is
not cast out while Jesus died for you. It's cast and hurled
before swine, giving that which is holy to dogs for them to trot
all over the blood of the Son of God. That didn't happen. The
blood of Jesus Christ, not one drop fell on the ground. What happened to it? He took
it in a basin and took it to the holy of holies and poured
every drop on the mercy seats and it covered the broken law
and it was atoned, it was propitiation, it propitiated, it covered the
sins of all of God's people. Every drop was applied to everyone
of God's people. Blood didn't spill. His blood
didn't fall. He shed his blood. You understand? You know, I thought about this. Our blood dries, doesn't it? Doesn't take long for blood to
dry. It gets hard and it's ugly and dry. I don't believe he's
dead. I don't believe it did. Flowing. It was blood. You're always going to know it's
blood. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, they came for the
body of Jesus Christ and the Lord had them take down that
bloody body and they got blood all over. They had His precious blood all
over them. I believe that centurion at the
foot of the cross, the blood of Jesus Christ flowed down and
covered him. I believe John, he was at the
foot of the cross when Christ said, behold your mother, didn't
he? I believe John got his blood
on him. I think the thief hanging beside him got the blood. When
that soldier came by and took that spear, I believe that blood
flown all over that thief on the cross. And he hung there and thought,
hallelujah. Saved by the blood of Jesus.
You reckon? It didn't spill on him, did it? No, sir. No, sir. The blood of
Jesus Christ was applied. Applied. Caught in a basin. And he went around, and you know,
somebody's offended by me hollering, and I'm just going to holler
louder, okay? This needs to be shouted from
the rooftop. For the glory of God and the glory of Jesus. He
did. When He hung on that cross, He cried with a loud voice. Heaven,
earth, and hell heard it. It's finished. What finished
it? The blood. The blood of the covenant. Well, He began to wash their
feet and wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. He took
that garment that He girded Himself with and covered their feet.
Covered their feet. Wiped and washed and covered
their cold feet. My feet stay cold all the time. You know, many undercovers I
put my feet. She does it to me. I say, what
good are you? That's what you're good for. It doesn't work the
other way around. Their cold feet, their dirty
feet, He washed them and He warmed them and He soothed them. You
ever had your feet washed? You women have these pedicures
and all that. Men can't do that. Please don't
do that, Kelly. Mike, don't do it. If you do,
don't tell me. But you women love it, don't
you? Apparently it feels good, doesn't
it? And I didn't mean to get in the
flesh, but I am flesh. But the point is, is there anything
more soothing? Is there anything more comforting?
Is there anything that gives you more joy and more peace and
more comfort and more hope than Christ wrapping you in the robe
of His Cosmos? Than hearing Christ and what
He did for you. Anything. There's no hope for
us, brother. There's no hope. If Christ doesn't cover me, I'm
naked before God. God sees everything. that robed
in Christ's righteousness. He's not looking at it. Covered. Propitiated. Atoned. That's what atoned means. Covered!
Love covereth all sins. Oh, man. That's why He was stripped
on the cross. That's why, you know, that centurion
got the whole robe, didn't he? Had blood on him and got the
robe. So do I. Oh, my. And Simon Peter, he came
to Simon. I've got to hurry. He came to
Simon. And Simon said, Oh, Lord, you're
not going to wash my feet. Oh, no. He called him Lord and Master.
He knew who he was. He knew Christ was way above
him. It came from heaven. Simon Peter
knew, I'm a nothing, I'm a nobody from nowhere. He chose me. He saved me. He called me. I'm
a vile, wretched, poor sinner, and my only hope was that he
came for me. He knew that. He said, you're
my Lord, you're my master. You own me. You came to save
me. I know. I know. You're the Christ. He
said, you're not ever going to wash my feet. And our Lord uttered this word,
If I wash thee not, and no part in me. Now right there is the gospel
in it. Right there is particular redemption. Right there is the
hope of God's people. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
belongs to the Lord. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. If He didn't save them, we have no hope. Christ
came to shed His blood for the remission of their sin. If His
blood wouldn't shed for the remission of our sin, we have no hope.
He said, if I wash thee not, not if you wash, if I wash thee
not, you have no pardon. You're not going to get to God.
You're not going to be clean. You're not going to be forgiven.
You're not going to be atoned for. If he doesn't make the atonement,
if the great high priest doesn't make the atonement, if he doesn't
go into the Holy of Holies by himself with his own precious
blood, we have no part in him. We're not going to get there.
Salvation is up to the Lord. Well, Simon Peter said, OK. He said, but Lord, not just my
feet. Wash me all over. Wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Purge
me with hyssop and I'll be clean. That's why Psalm 51 is a favorite
psalm of all of God's people. That's what Simon Peter is saying.
I feel dirty from the top of my head to the sole of my feet.
Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil on thy side. It won't be just if
you sent me to hell. Oh, but take the hyssop and take
the blood and apply it to me. Wash me all over. Not just my
head, not just my mind, but my heart, my feet, my hands, my
whole body. Cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And our Lord said, He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet. He's clean every whit. And then
He said, You're clean. You are clean. Now Simon Peter thought he was
a leper from top of his head to the bottom of his feet, didn't
he? He thought there was no sound to his flesh. Did you hear the
radio message? He thought, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. That's why he said, wash me all
over. I'm filthy. My mind, my hand, everything
about me, I look within and it's my heart. Lord, please just wash
me, clean me all over. He said, you're clean. How? Because he said so. Don't need another reason. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God to justify. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. He knew he was going to the cross
to shed his blood for the remission of Simon Peter's sin, and it
was over before it started. It was done before he did it.
He's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Simon
Peter already had the blood applied, though the blood wasn't even
shed. That's right. So you believe in eternal justification?
I sure do. I don't apologize for it. My, my. Everybody's hope. So the Lord said, not all of
you. My, my. You see, and no type
is perfect. My father used to say, no type
walks on four legs. You can't make it. You can't
force it. Don't do it. Don't try to make it say everything. That's why there's so many types.
You see? Why there's so many types? Because not one type can
perfectly describe what our Lord did. He washed Judas' feet. He
didn't shed His blood for Judas Iscariot. You understand that? He said, all of you are not clean. And after he had washed their
feet, verse 12, he had taken his garments and he sat down
again. He said, Do you know what I have
done to you? Know ye what I have done to you?
Our Lord, when he came to this earth, he laid aside his royal
garments. He assumed flesh, flesh, not
the nature of angel, but the seed of Abraham. He assumed flesh
and blood and he came down here for the purpose of dying. made
sin by burying our sins in His body on the tree, being that
serpent on the pole. And Christ poured out His soul
unto death, poured out His precious blood for the remission of our
sin. And after He did that work and God buried His body, three
days later He arose. And you know what he did 40 days
later? He went back to the right hand of the majesty on high,
where he assumed his royal garments again. And you know what? That's where he is right now.
Seated. The work's been done. The right hand of God. And everybody
in glory knows what he did when he came here. See, before he did all this,
he said, you don't know now, but you will. You will. And everybody in heaven knows
why they're there. We're there because of that one
seated at the right hand of God. The Lamb slain. That's why we're
here. And he said, you call me Master
and Lord, you say, well, I am. And he went on to say, and he
did say this, this is an example. If I then your Lord and Master
have washed your feet, He also ought to watch one another speak.
I've 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. Now, didn't Paul write, John
wrote, brethren, let us love one another as he loved us. Didn't
he? He laid down his life for us.
What are we to do? Same thing. He went on to say,
if you know these things, if you know this, happy are you,
if you do them. Our Lord was happy. For the joy
set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame, is now set
down at the right hand of God. For the joy set before Him gave
Him great pleasure. He said, with desire have I desired
to eat this Passover. With great desire have I desired
not to be forsaken of God, but to save His people. It gave Him
great joy in doing it. Thought nothing of the shame.
Enduring all of that for His people. Made Him happy. He said,
now if I, your Lord, has done this for you, how much more should you do for
one another? If you know these things. See, it's more blessed
to give than to receive. More blessed. And our old people
shall call Him blessed. Why? Because he laid down his
life. Okay.