Thank you, John. Thank you, Robin.
John chapter 13. You know, when Scripture says
today is the day of salvation, whenever the Word of God proclaims
the Gospel of Christ, there's salvation for somebody from something. I need saving. You say, preacher,
aren't you saved? Well, yes, but I still need saving
from sin, from despair, from doubts and fears, from temptations,
from Satan and the world, from lust of the flesh, lust of the
eye, pride of the light, don't you? I need washed. I need washed. I need the Word of God to cleanse
me. Inside and out, don't you? This
story that John read to us is far more than an example of humility
and service. Far more. Much more here than
meets the eye. The Gospel is here. The Lord,
in what He does here, illustrates the Gospel. It shows us Who He
is, where He came from, what He did, who He did it for, and
where He is now. All that in this story of Him
washing feet. You say, I don't understand. Well, maybe you will here in
a minute. Verse 1 says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when
Jesus knew that His hour was coming, 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. Scripture says this was His hour. Our Lord said that earlier, didn't
He? For this hour came I unto this world. For this cause, like
David. Remember the story of David and
Goliath. This is the son of David who
came for this cause. to save his people, Israel, his
people, chosen people, from their sins, the captain of our salvation. This is his hour. He said, Scripture
says, when he knew this was his hour, his hour was come. Before
that, it said they tried to take him, they tried to kill him,
often, always. From the cradle to his adulthood,
they wanted him dead, but his hour, was not come. It was not
time. And he said, no man taketh my
life from him. Because this is the Son of God
come to do a work sent by the Father. And he must finish that
work or there'll be no salvation. And he did it. His hour. Called
his hour. And it says, having loved his
own. Now it says this was his hour.
And he says he loved his own. And look at verse 3, Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into His hands. Boy, if
this isn't a declaration of the true Christ of Scripture, huh?
This is His hour. This is the hour He came for
and this is the cause He came for. They are His own. He came
for His own sheep that were given to Him by the Father. Those that
the Father loved and gave Him in a covenant before the world
began. Those that the Father chose and elected, gave to Christ,
and they're in His hands. Don't you love that? This is
His hour, His cause, they are His own, and they're in His hands. David said one time, my times
are in thy hands. My God, I want them there. Having
loved his own, he loved them to the end. God does not love
everybody. But he loves his own. That's
what that says. He loved his own. How long did
he love them? How long does he love them? If
God loves, God's love is perfect. How long does God love? Eternally,
Jeremiah 31.3, he said, of somebody, not everybody, but of somebody,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, God's love is
eternal, God's love is effectual. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. No man can come unto the Father
Come unto me, Christ said, except the Father which hath sent me
draw them. And every man that has been given
me, Christ said, will come. And He loves them to the end. When's end? There is no end for
God's people. It's eternal love. It's effectual
love. His love is our salvation. I love my children, and you do
too, don't you? Even the forlorn ones, you love
the forlorn ones, don't you? If you could save them, if you
had the ability and the power, would you? That's a new point,
isn't it? If you loved them, you would. Does God love His people? Yes,
He does with an everlasting love. Does He save them? Yes, He does. Now that's a fact. And that's
my salvation. Loved His own. He loved them
to the end. It's His hour. They're His own. They're in His
hands and He loves them to the end. Read on. 2. Verse 2. Supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's
son to betray him. Who did it? Satan did it. Who
did it? Verse 11 says that Christ knew
who it was should betray him. Therefore he said, you're not
all clean. Verse 18. Judas is still there and Christ
said in verse 18, I speak not of you all, I know whom I have
chosen. but that the scripture may be fulfilled. Is that what
it said? Here's the fact of the matter,
people. All men and women and young people by nature are held
captive by the God of this world. They're born that way. He's the God of this world, the
prince of the power of the air, the rulers of the darkness of
this world. And scripture said, Paul said, perhaps maybe God
will give repentance to the knowledge of the truth that they may be
recovered out of the snare, the captivity of Satan who are held
by him at his will. Satan doesn't do anything at
his will. All things work together according to the will of God.
All right? that God leaves some people in
His hands. They're born that way. The fact
of the matter is all men and women are born refusing, rejecting,
will not come, will not believe, will not bow, hate God by nature,
dead in trespass and sin. Until or unless God in great
mercy and great love and great grace redeems them, rescues them, sends
the gospel to remove them out of the snare of Him who held
them captive at His will. God, the will of God is is free,
alone. And he sent, in his perfect will,
he sends the gospel to one of these hell-bound, devil-captive
sinners and says, free him. Free her. Set her free. And Satan says, I will not let
go. God said, you will at this moment. Because I said so. He worked at all things after
the counsel of His will. You say, I don't understand.
Well, believe it. Because that's the way it is.
Didn't He say to Simon Peter, Satan had desired to sift you
like wheat. What is Simon Peter's hope? Satan
wants him. Just like he wanted Judas. Huh? The Lord allowed him to go into
Judas, didn't He? Or He couldn't have done it.
And He wanted Simon Peter, didn't He? Didn't He? What's Simon Peter's
hope? Jesus Christ, that's stronger
than him. But He did let him have him briefly,
just to show Simon Peter what he was. But He couldn't have
him forever. This is my salvation! Christ is my salvation. How about
you? Alright. Knowing that the Father, verse
3, had given all things into His hands, the foundation of
God standeth sure, people, 2 Timothy 2, 19, having this seal, the
Lord knoweth them that are His. That's the foundational truth
that God has an elect people, a chosen people, given to Christ.
Christ came to save them. He did it. That's the foundation. Standeth sure the Lord knoweth
them that are His. Christ knows them. How does He
know them? He's the great high priest. He
has them engraved on the palms of His hands. I saw that blessed
scripture posted on a billboard on 460 West for everybody to
see. that everybody's name was on
his hand. That's blasphemy. He died for his people. He had
their names on the palm of his hand. He's talking about his
chosen people, not the world. When that high priest went into
the Holy of Holies with the blood of a lamb to put on the mercy
seat, to make an atonement, he had 12 names on his shoulders
and 12 names on his breastplate. particular people, and this is
called particular redemption. And that's who he died for, and
that's who he stayed. Having loved his own, knowing all things
were given into his hands, all his people, and that he was come
from God and going back to God. He's going back to God, having
finished this work of redemption. having brought in an everlasting
righteousness imputed to the charge of all of his people who
believe on him by the work of the Holy Spirit. whom he will
send, and every one of them will hear the truth, and they will
believe, and they will repent, and they will come, and they
will bow to the praise of the glory of his sovereign, electing,
drawing, keeping, restraining, constraining, repentance-giving,
faith-giving grace, kept by the power of God. Peter said that.
I'm not Judas right now, Peter said, because of the grace of
God. By the grace of God, I am what I am, in Christ. No, he's going back to God. He's
going back to God for those people where he will live forever, Scripture
says, where he ever lives, to do what? Make intercession for
who? He said in John 17, I don't pray
for the world, but I pray for them that thou hast given me.
They are thine and thine are mine. And he ever lives to make
intercession for his people. And he said, the father always
hears him. So every single person that God loved, God chose, Christ
died for and he lived for, and he now sits at the right hand
of the majesty on high. interceding for, I'm going to
be with Him in glory. He said that, I will that they
be with me where I am, that they might behold my glory. This is
His glory. This is God's glory. This is
Christ's glory. This is my salvation. If left
to myself, if left to my free will, so-called, you know what
I would, you know what I will choose? You know what I will
choose? Evil. I will choose to leave
here. I will not come back. But now
if God says, you will stay right here, I'll stay. And not unless,
is that you? He said that over and over again,
didn't he? He said, all power is given unto me in heaven and
earth, as thou hast given him authority over all flesh. Don't
you love that? The world hates that. Religion
hates that. They say, God's done all He can
do, now it's up to you. If anything's up to me, I'm a
goner. If He carried me all the way
to the throne of glory, to the steps, to the entrance to heaven
and said, now just take one step, I would fall. If left to myself for one minute,
like Simon Peter, ask him. If left to myself for one minute,
if not restrained by God, I'll deny my Lord and cuss and act
like I never knew him. That's a fact. You know yourself. All right? Now, let's look at
this story. What a gospel that is in those
first three verses, huh? It says, he rose from supper
and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself.
And after that, he poureth water into a basin and began to wash
the disciples' feet, to wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded." No doubt our Lord had the chief seat. You
know He did. You see that famous painting
depicted of the Last Supper. Well, that's a graven image.
Throw it away. At any rate, you know good and
well that they gave him the chief seat, don't you? The central
seat. You know it, don't you? He had
the best seat in the room, the upper room. They were in the
upper room. All right? They're eating together,
eating supper, and you know all of them, they're talking and
communing with one another. John's leaning on his bosom.
John, he didn't want to, whatever they're talking about, if it
wasn't the Lord, John wasn't interested. That's why he was
so clever. At any rate, the Lord all of
a sudden gets up. And they were always conscious
of Him. He's everything to them. And the Lord gets up and starts
taking His clothes off. And He took all His clothes off. He stripped Himself naked. Now people, He had no sin. This
is the second Adam. We wouldn't need clothes if we
didn't have sin. Clothes came in because of sin,
to cover our nakedness. He had no sin. They stripped
him on Calvary's tree, didn't they? Was he ashamed? Matthew Henry said, you know,
we're proud of that which God said we need to cover our sin,
our naked. We're proud of it. What ignorant
creatures we are. Lifted up with pride for that
which is supposed to just cover sin. We're supposed to be modest. What an indictment against this
world at becoming increasingly naked before God without shame.
Without shame. Our Lord had no sense. He's not
ashamed. What's He got to be ashamed of? He made this body. And we're so full of lusts, you
know. He didn't look on flesh like that. He rose and stripped his garments
from himself, laid aside his garment and took a towel, went
over here and took a linen or whatever they made towels out
of back then, probably linen because that's what high priests
wore. He took linen And the white one, clean, used probably, yes,
but clean, took this towel and wrapped himself with that towel,
girded himself with that towel. Then he went over and took water
that was in a vessel, a vessel of water from a well, the only
kind of water they had. pure water from a well in a vessel
and poured it into a basin. He didn't spill a drop of it,
but poured it in a particular vessel to hold all that water. He's going to do something with
it. All right, so he walked over
and kneeled down at the feet of Bartholomew, or Thomas, or
Matthew, first of them, along the line. Now it's quiet. Uncomfortably so. Kneeled down, he took off
his sandals, unloosed his sandals, they all were in them, and began
to wash his dirty feet. Came to the next one, began to
wash his thinking dirty feet. To the next one, until he washed
them all. What's this all about? What a thing for the Lord and
Master of the universe. He said in verse 13, you call
me Master and Lord and you say, well, for so I am. That's what
God's people call Him. They don't call Him Jesus, they
call Him Lord. That's what all disciples call
it. Lord, master, ruler, owner, one who reigns over me, the one
who owns me, my master, like a dog. You're my master. You're
my Lord. They're not just Jesus, my buddy. He's my Lord. He reigns and rules
over me. He's my God. What a thing for the Lord and
Master to do, to stoop down at the feet of these lowly fishermen,
and take off their shoes, unbuckle their shoes, and wash their stinking
dirty feet. What a thing for the Lord and
Master to do. What a thing for the Lord and Master to wear.
What a thing for the Prince of Glory to wear, a towel, a plain
towel, Do you understand what this is talking about? Do you
understand what the Lord has illustrated here? This was not
condescension to Him. They needed their feet dirty.
Back then, they all wore sandals. Their feet got filthy, dirty.
They needed them washed every time they went into a house.
This was a common courtesy. Everyone who owned a home, whenever
you came in after the dirty, arid, Your feet were filthy and
if you loved that person, if you called that person, you extended
this loving courtesy to them. Their feet was dirty. You didn't
let them wash their own feet. You had a servant do it. Or you
yourself, depending on how much you loved them, would get down
and wash their dirty feet. This is not condescension. It's
love. This is not beneath. It's something
that needs to be done. But now I will tell you how He
did condescend. Now here's condescension. Are
you with me? I always say that, don't I? Why
do I say that? Because I want you with me. Here's condescension. He left heaven. Seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high where everything that hath
breath was praising him. Everybody loved him. Everybody
adored him. Everybody magnified him. Everybody
was beholding his beauty. There was none up there that
he was not altogether lovely to, singing to, praising, worshiping,
serving. Everything that hath breath in
heaven was serving him. All right? He leaves that. He
gets off His throne and comes down. Where does He go to? The Scriptures call it this present
evil world where nobody wanted in. Where everybody said, get out
of here! Well, finally, all of them said,
killing! These were stinking, filthy sinners. I cannot describe mankind as
it should be described. Scripture does, though. God looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that didn't understand.
Any that didn't seek God by nature. Any that didn't call on God.
Any! He said, they all together become filthy, the word stinking.
There's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
calleth on God. None. And you wouldn't have.
And I wouldn't have. I've got two words for that. But God. For His great love left that
place where everybody loved Him. come to this place where nobody
loved him. Left that place where everybody
said, don't go, to come to this place and say, go home. And stripped himself. took off,
not really, he didn't really take off his royal robes, he
never did cease to become king, or be king, never did. He just
robed himself in the likeness of sinful flesh. He made himself
in the likeness of sinful flesh. A man, Psalm 22 said, a worm. I'm a worm. He became a worm.
The word's maggot, but without sin. robed himself in the likeness
of sinful flesh, which God says is despicable. But his son was
altogether lovely. Not beautiful on the outside,
but inward. took a plain towel. What's a
towel for? It's a common thing. And it's
a, it's a serviceable thing. And it's the thing that you use
to, to, to dry with. It's a thing you use to warm
yourself with. Mandy's got one of these, uh, these, uh, boulevard
robes that you wear in the morning or get out of the tub and you
know, it's real warm and comforting. It's drying. It's a usable serviceable
thing. Well, Christ took a body, a body
has that prepared me common, a towel. I know you ladies have
these. I hate decorative towels. I hate
them. And you all have them. We've got them. I still hate
them. Decorative towels. They're not good to anybody.
It's good for nothing. Look at it. Turn around. I don't want
to mess that up. Do you have a towel? Here's a
paper towel. Christ took a plain, ordinary
towel that was serviceable and usable. He took a body. This
body was prepared for the service of His people. To lay it down. To live for them. To make them righteous. To die
for them as the Lamb slain for their sins. He took this body. A plain, ordinary towel, as it
were. Nothing unusual about it. A towel. with what was unusual. It was
that the Lord of glory took it and robed himself in it. Do you
understand? Are you with me? We just can't,
I've told you about those worms I had, I got a big tub full of
worms, you know? I wouldn't even think about becoming
one of those. I don't love worms. In fact,
I'm ready to give them away. Wesley, you want some worms for
your garden? I'm tired of feeding those things. They do me no good
whatsoever. My illustrations are over. You
can have them if you want to. But he became a worm. That's
what it was like for him. He took this towel and girded
himself. And you know why He came? You
know why He left heaven and came down here? They said, call His
name Jesus. The angel said to Mary, call
His name Jesus, His earthly name, for He shall save. It means Jehovah
saves. Jesus shall save His people,
His own, that were in His hands, were in His heart, were on His
hands. He shall save them from their sins. How? By being made sin for them. By
taking their sins in His body on the tree. By being made a
curse for them. By dying for their sin. By laying
down His life for the remission of their sin. By being their
atonement, their lamb. That's why He came. Not to try
it, but to do it. Not to try to save. Not to offer
it to people. To bestow it. To grant it life,
to give life. I am come that they might have
life. He didn't say I am come to offer life. I am come to give
it. I am come to make the atonement.
I am come to lay down my precious blood to obtain their eternal
redemption. Why? I love them. Did He do it? This is our salvation, people.
His love that's effectual, eternal. His blood that's effectual, eternal.
His power to keep us. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who came to save. And He took His precious blood,
as I've tried to make very clear. It was in a vessel. It was in a vessel, a certain
amount. All right? Christ is that vessel. All right? He came, and He poured
it in a basin, didn't He? He poured it in a basin, didn't
sprinkle it like these false priests and false religion. Now, we'll look at that later
in Hebrew. I know it says sprinkling, but
He didn't do that, did He? Poured it in a basin, or a particular
amount of water in a basin, and He washed twelve disciples. He
washed His disciples. I know He went to Judas, but
He did say that. All of you are not clean. Didn't
He? But anyway, the Lord Jesus Christ
washed His disciples' feet. He didn't go outside and say,
anybody's feet need washing. Did He? No, He didn't. And when
Christ came, He came to save a particular people, to pour
out His precious blood on the mercy seat for His people that
He loved. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. That's who He did it for. That's
who He did it for. This is the story here. Our Lord
Jesus Christ poured out His soul unto death, the precious blood
of the Lamb. We're not saved by perruptible
things such as silver and gold, or our religion, or our anything,
not even our faith. Faith is not the cause of salvation,
it's the result. We're saved by the precious blood
of the Lamb, not blood spilt, not blood offered, but blood
poured from a particular vessel, and used to wash his own from
their sin. Not offered to any, not done
for all, but done for his own. It was done for his own. All
right, he comes to Simon Peter. He comes to Simon Peter. I love
this man. I love him so much. I esteem
him so highly. I don't care that he denied.
I love him dearly. I'm thankful to the Lord for
him. I own him as my dear brother. Simon Peter, the Lord came to
him, it's all silence, all quiet, and he comes to Simon Peter and
he can't stand it anymore. Are you with me? And Simon Peter
says in verse 6, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? I think he probably recoil. Don't you? I think he probably
pulled his feet back. I think he might have stood up. They're all seated. Don't you? Could you see this? Oh, Lord.
He's embarrassed. Simon Peter's embarrassed that
his Lord of Glory would behead his feet. See, this is a man who knows
something about himself, who knows something about who this
is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Simon Peter knew that he was
a wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked sinner. Hell-deserving
sinner, lost, blind, helpless, until Christ came and chose him
and found him and brought him to this place, he still feels
his sinfulness, still feels that he's unworthy, he still feels
his sin, he still has his temptation, he's still bombarded by this
sin in him. And Simon Peter says, oh Lord,
you can't do that to me. He thinks, I'm the one that needs
to be down at your feet. Lord, I'm not worthy. You remember
John said, I'm not worthy to untie his shoes. Simon Peter
thinks, Lord, we all need to be washing your blessed feet.
The Lord says, that's not why I came. Not to be served. He said, now listen to this.
Verse 7, the Lord answered and said, What I do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know it. Some of you know right now. Some of you know. Some of you
know, not all of you, but some of you know why he did this. Peter said unto him, you'll never
know, you won't ever wash my feet. The Lord said, listen,
verse 8, if I wash thee not, if I wash thee not, thou hast
no part with me. You're not going to be in heaven.
You will not be with me in glory. If I wash thee not, if I don't
do this, you're not going to be with me in glory. He didn't
say if we, he said if I. If I don't do this, you won't
be in heaven with me. My people. Peter said, he doesn't really understand. He says, oh, I need washing bad,
but not just my feet. He said, Lord, my hands are filthy.
My heart's filthy. My head's filthy, full of filth.
I'm filthy through and through. Wash me all over. While you're
washing, cleanse me thoroughly. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
David said. Cleanse me. Purge me with hyssop
and I'll be clean. Oh, Lord, not just my feet. Wash
me all over inside and out. And our Lord said, I have. Are you with me? He that is washed,
who did it? Who puts away sin? Christ said,
I wash thee not. Did your faith help? If I wash
thee not, what came out of his side, Was blood and what? Water. That's justification. We're justified by the blood.
Justified freely by the redemption that's in Christ Jesus through
his precious blood. And sanctification. Cleansing. Washing. Separating. Came out
of his side. He is made unto us. These days. He is our salvation. If I wash
thee not. Do you see that? What do we do? We just behold Him. We just thank
Him. We just believe and we don't
believe unless He gives us faith. He that is washed needeth not
save to wash His feet. He's clean every whit. Now Peter
just said, I don't feel clean at all. Didn't he? Lord, I don't feel clean at all.
I feel filthy. That's what Paul said, didn't
he? Romans 7. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. You say, I don't understand. I believe every sinner saved
by grace in here understands. Yeah, he did. He that is washed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, his sins are gone, though
he feels them, though they're ever before him. Their sins are ever before him. God says, they're not there. They're gone. They're washed.
I told you that story about my father. There was no record on
him. No record. They're gone. Washed in the blood
of the Lamb. Sins of Israel, the iniquity
of Israel, Scripture says, shall be sought and not be found. Christ
is that scapegoat. Remember they put their heads
on... the high priest confessed the
sins of his people on the head of that scapegoat, and they gave
that scapegoat into the hands of a fit man. A man that could
walk a long ways. A man that was able to do this
job. And this man was to take this
scapegoat with the sins confessed on his head, Christ is the goat
and Christ is the man. Alright, a fit man, he led him
into the wilderness. How far? As far as the east is
from the west. So far that there's no way that
goat will ever be found again. And that's what God said about
their sin. They're gone. But I still feel them. Well,
they're gone. It's clean, but not all. Verse
10. Not all. All of mine. I would to God that
everybody in here tremble at that. And say with Peter, Oh
Lord, wash me. Say with David, wash me. What
about this feet? He said, but you need your feet
washed. You need your feet washed. You know, we come in here to
hear the Gospel, what the Gospel does, what the Word of God, Ephesians
5, 26 says, where the Holy Spirit takes the water of His Word and
washes us, which is the Gospel of Christ, which is the Word
of God. The story of Christ dying for His people and putting away
their sin. Takes this water of His Word and washes our soul,
washes us from our guilt, washes our minds from filthy dead works,
washes our... Wonderful. Wonderful. The Lord did it all. He did all
the washing. And you notice He washed their
feet and did what? And dried them. In other words,
what He started, He finished. And so here, I'll do the washing,
you do the drying. No. No. Well, Christ said you're clean
through the Word that I've spoken unto you. I said it in John 15,
verse 3. Now you're clean through the
Word I've spoken unto you. Here it is. Here's the Word.
Romans 8. For whom he did foreknow, he did... Romans 8, 31. God before
us, who can be against us? Alright? He that laid not...
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ that dies. All right? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? There was a woman that came in
to wash His feet with the tears of her hands, with the tears
of her eyes, and died then with the hair of her head. A sinner
through and through, everybody knows. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
frankly, freely, forever, said, sins are gone. With a word, John. He just said, they're gone. And
those Pharisees said, you can't do that. You don't understand. I just did. With a word. Who is He that condemned
them? Christ died. Christ is going
to the cross to pay for her sins, and they will be gone. There was a publican and a pharisee
went into the temple one day. The pharisee was pleading his
works, proud of his prayer. Thank you God, I'm not like other
men. I do this, I do that. All the publican could do was
beat on his chest and say, God be merciful to me, the sinner. And our Lord frankly said, I
tell you, this man went down to his house just about. freely,
forever forgiven, pardoned from all his sins. All of his sins
are gone. You can't do that. He just did. Only God can forgive sins, but
they must be paid for. What about our feet? All right.
Did that help you? What I just said about Christ
dying? kind of cleanse some of your
guilt away? It ought to cleanse it all away. Does that help your
mind to cleanse you from dead works and so forth? Does it help
you to say, you know, Christ really is all there. All right,
as soon as we leave here, and our sister Barbara Ross used
to say, every time I hear the gospel, every time I hear the
gospel, I feel like I got clean all over. That's good, Barbara. But that's what it's designed
to do. But we no sooner leave this place, aflame under the
influence of the Word, the truth, and the gospel, we no sooner
leave this place that we're bombarded by the God of this world, by
the thoughts of this world, by the thoughts of our heart, the
lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and we start feeling filthy
all over again. Whatever we come into contact
with, feet touch the earth. No, feet touch the earth. And
whatever and whoever we come into contact, we're like Locke,
vexed with the conversation, the wicked around us. And Locke
was right in the middle of it. And he felt just like them. And
he seemed as one that mocked. And so we get feeling filthy
and maybe even acting it. Like Simon Peter warned himself
at the fire with a bunch of unbelievers. He had no business sitting with
them. unless it was to tell them the gospel. And he reverted right back to
that filthy, unbelieving thing that he was. But God calls us
back to His Word, to hearing the Word, to come back and get
your feet washed. We don't wash feet like they
do in this show of humility. I hear this German Baptist place,
they do it every, I don't know however they do it. That's a
show of humility. That is a vain show of their...
Everybody there, you know good and well, they washed their feet
before they came to that service. That's an abomination to God.
Now our Lord said this, now look
at verse If you call me Master and Lord, you say, well, for
so I am. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash one another's feet. I've given you an example
that you should do as I've done to you. What's that? Lay down
your life. Serve. We don't need our feet
washed, do we? But we sure need other things
done. The servant is not greater than
his Lord, neither is he that is sent greater than he that
sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them."
Now people, if you know this gospel, this ought to be making
you happy that it's done. And it's not the hearer of the
word, but the doer, James said. Happy, blessed to give than to
receive. Self-serving, self-pitying, selfish
people are unhappy, miserable people. They're not servants
of the Lord. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. And here's the thing. Now listen very carefully, okay?
I'm going to close with this, because this is the heart of
feet washing. In the end, as the Lord said,
He's going to separate the sheep from the goats. Did He say that? In the end. And He's going to
say to those sheep on His right hand, enter thou blessed of the
Father into the things prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. He said, because when I was hungry,
you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed
me. When I was sick, you visited me. Right? When I was in jail,
you came and visited me. What's that mean? Does that mean
going to visit in the hospital? That's fine and good. Yes, we
ought to do that. But that's not the essence of
what he's saying. People need to hear the gospel. People are naked before God.
They need clothed in the righteousness of Christ. People are living
on husks of religion. They need the bread of life.
You hear me? People are captive by Satan.
They need to hear the gospel of redemption. Deliverance. This is what he's talking about.
You with me? That's what he's talking about.
Preeminently. Because there's people all over
the world doing these things. Those people that were goats
said, when did we not do this? We did it all the time. Didn't
they? He said, you're workers of iniquity.
You did it as a show. You did it for your own glory.
You did it to work out a righteousness for yourself. That's what you
did it for. But now people, here's what everybody needs all around
you. You know anybody's really hungry? Do you? No, not in the
United States of America. Not much. There's soup kitchens. They can go get food. Clothes. Goodwill's full of them. Huh? But everybody's running around
naked before God. That's what He's talking about.
You know Him. That's what He's talking about.
And He washed all right. And such were some of you. But
you're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified. How? Somebody told you the Gospel. Somebody told you the Gospel.
That's what He's talking about. Yes, it is. through and through. Let's sing
that song.