Thank you, John. Thank you, Sherry. Now go back
with me to John's Gospel, Chapter 13, the Lord's Gospel given to
John, Chapter 13. This story is far more than a
lesson in humility and service. Those who only see it that way
are yet without understanding, as the disciples were, I'm sure,
at that time. He said, you don't understand
right now, but you will, and hopefully you will after this
message. This is a glorious gospel. story. Just before the Lord goes to
the cross as the Lamb slain for the sins of His people, He illustrates
here. What He did here illustrates
His condescension, that is, how far He came down. He illustrates
His incarnation, that is, God became a man. He illustrates,
he pictures his great salvation, why he came, why he became a
man. Verse 1 says, Before the feast
of the Passover. The Passover, as most of you
know, was where a lamb was slain and the blood of that lamb was
poured out on the altar for symbolic as the atonement for the forgiveness
of sin that's in our blood. It's a picture of the Christ
who was to come by his own precious blood, shed his blood, or die. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Christ, the Lamb of God, John, who was to come. And he did. He came. That's why
he came. He is our Passover. Verse 1 says, When Christ knew,
when Jesus knew, that His hour was come. His hour, His time,
that is. A time of great suffering, yet
great glory. A time of great sacrifice, yet
great salvation. He who came into this world,
He said, I am from above. This is not just a man. This
is God who became a man. He who made the world, the world
was made by Him, came into this world. And the world knew him
not. And most don't know him today. They think he's just a
man. If you know who he is, how blessed you are, like these disciples. But he who came down said he
has come into this world for this hour, for this time, for
this work. And knowing, verse 1, that he
should depart out of this world unto the Father. He's leaving. Leaving this world. to go back
to the right hand of God where He will sit down, where He ever
liveth to make intercession for His people, reigning and ruling,
and the government of Him is no end. The One who right now
reigns and rules and controls everything in this universe over
the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. That's
Jesus Christ. That's God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He went back and He sat down
where He is seated right now. Though we see Him not, though
men acknowledge Him not, He is. He is. Knowing He would return,
and it says in verse 1, having loved His own which were in the
world, He loved them unto the end. Scripture says herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us. Or that is, God
loved his own. You see that? It says, having
loved his own, which were in the world. God does not love
every single person in this world. That may shock you, somebody.
But Scripture doesn't tell that. It doesn't teach that. God loves
his own. God loves his chosen people.
And it's a miracle, it's a wonder, it's great grace and mercy and
a marvel that God would set his love on anybody. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. To show us, well, Jacob didn't
deserve the love of God. Esau surely didn't. Esau rejected
God. He wasn't interested in God.
But God set His love on Jacob. And that's who God loves, the
sons of Jacob, that is unworthy. Those that know themselves to
be unworthy. That's whom God loves. Fear in His love. Having
loved His own, which were in the world. He loved them to the
end. Scripture says perfect love casts
out fear. Scripture says love never faileth. Real love, true love, the love
of God. If God loves you, you are loved
forever. If God loves you, you will be
saved. His love cannot fail. Love never
faileth. It is not like false preachers
are saying God loves everyone and there's some other than hell
right now. Who needs that kind of love? The love of God is saving
love. The love of God is effectual
love. The love of God is eternal love. It never ends. Whom He
loves, He saves. Wouldn't you? If you had the
power. If you had a son or a daughter,
and you loved them, and you had the power to not let any evil
befall them, would you? Sure you would. Such is the power
of God. Such is the love of God. He loved
them to the end. When is the end? Scripture says,
world without end. The end of time and further than
that. Here's a story of betrayal. Judas
Iscariot, verse 2, supper being ended, the devil having now put
into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. And
I cannot explain this, but let me state it very clearly. Proverbs
16, verse 4 says, The Lord hath made all things for himself,
even the wicked, for the day of evil." There's absolutely nothing and
no one outside of God's absolute control and outside of God's
purpose. If there is, he's not God. Then
everything's not working together, is it? Satan entered Judas, but he did
exactly what God determined for him to do. That's so. That's so. But here's betrayal. It says
in verse 2 that he entered into Simon's son to betray him. Betray
him. Verse 11 says he knew Christ
knew who should betray him. He was called the son of perdition
from the beginning. He said, you're not all clean. He was speaking of Judas. One,
it says, one of you, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
one of you shall betray me. Men and women don't just miss
Christ like they miss a boat or a train or a bus. They miss an opportunity. They sell
Him. They betray Him. And we would
too if God didn't have mercy on us, if God didn't choose us.
Men sell out. There was a difference between
Simon Peter and Judas Simon's son. Betrayal and denial. There's a big difference between
betrayal and denial. Every one of us have denied Jesus
Christ and will continue to do so when we don't say what we
should, when we act in a way that we shouldn't. But Simon Peter wept bitterly
over that, didn't he? And repented of it and begged
the Lord to forgive him for it. And the Lord knew he loved him.
But Judas now sold him. Somebody offered him money and
said, what do you take to betray him, your Lord? He's not my Lord.
It's just Jesus. I don't need him. I don't really
believe him. How much you got? That's what
people do. Betraying. Selling for a better
job, or a better home, or a better opportunity, or to save face,
or whatever. And our Lord said, if you save
your life, you'll lose it. Betray Him. But look at this. In verse 3, it says that the
Lord, knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands, that He was come from God and went to God. This gave him perfect peace,
and this is what gives me perfect peace. In a world full of evil,
in a world that seems chaotic, in a world, as Scripture calls
it, this present evil world, this untoward generation that
is getting worse and worse, this society that we live in of which
Isaiah 1 clearly speaks of, that from the sole of the feet to
the top of the head is no soundness in sight. Our society is thick. And this is what gives me hope,
though. This is what gives me comfort. Verse 3 says, knowing
that the Father had given all things into His hand. That God
had given all authority and all power and all things into the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything is working according
to His sovereign will. That gives me perfect peace.
I can go to sleep at night. I'm not worried about terrorists.
Men on camels. You fear the Lord, you don't
need to fear anyone else. You shouldn't. Because they are
in His hands to do with as He pleases. The King's heart is
in the hands of the Lord. Like the rivers of water, He
turneth it with His will. He laughs. He that sitteth in
the heavens, Psalm 2 says, laughs at all of the things that men
say they're going to do. They're mocking and they're scoffing
at me. knowing that all things were given into his hands, that
he was come from God and went to God. And if we know that,
oh, how blessed we are. How blessed we are. If we know
that all authority, all powers in his hand, all principality,
all powers, devils, whatever it may be, all judgment, all
blessings, all salvation, that we ourselves are in his hands. Oh, how blessed we are. I will
keep them in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on faith. Our God has hands. False religion
talks about a God who has no hands but your hands. Well, who
needs a God like that? My God has big hands and every
one of His people are in them. And everything about them is
in them. And He said no man can pluck them out of my hand. That's
my God. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the only God that is God. All things, all souls, our families,
our children, everything about us is in His hand. Thank the
Lord. Praise be unto His Holy Name. Then the Lord is sitting there,
and I'm quite sure He has the chief seat. I know He does. The central seat. Sitting in
the middle. You see this painting of the
Last Supper, which, by the way, is a graven image. Nobody knows
what Christ looked like. There's no description of Him.
That's a graven image. At any rate, you always see Him
in the central seat, the seat of prominence, as He should be.
And I'm quite sure the disciples gave preference to Him. He's in the central seat. He
is the chief seat. He's the chief. He's the center
of attention. He deserves it. Then he rises
up. They watch him. He's sitting
there. And he rises from his seat and
does something strange. And they don't understand what
he's doing. They watch him as this unfolds. Actually, they
watch him in embarrassment. And he begins to take his clothes
off. Yes, he takes his clothes off, and he is naked, but without
shame. He doesn't need to have shame.
He has no sin. Adam and Eve, before they sinned,
they were naked. They had no shame. Sin brought
shame. Sin brought the need for clothing.
And isn't it ironic that people take great pride in what is only
meant to cover our sin? Close. Isn't that ironic? But he disrobed himself. He stripped
himself naked without shame. And men take glory in their shame.
And what a picture this is of our depraved society that's becoming
more and more disrobed without shame. The Lord's the only one
who can be without shame. But he disrobed himself. He took
off his... his robes, and he picked up a
plain, rough, woven, but clean towel, an ordinary towel, a very
common towel, and he draped himself with this towel, and he stooped
down at the feet of his disciples, began at the first one, Matthew,
Bartholomew, or whoever it was, Thomas, He poured into a basin
some water and stooped down and began to wash their stinking,
dirty, filthy feet. Now, these men, their feet were
filthy. They wore sandals. They were in an arid place where
there was nothing but dirt everywhere and dust. And their feet were
filthy and they were stinking and they were awful. If there's
a more uncomely part of our body, it's the feet. But our Lord stooped
down at their dirty feet and began to wash their feet. Why?
Well, their feet needed it. You know, people go through this
ceremony today, and that's all it is, a ceremony. It's a show.
There's no need for that. People go through this show of
religion, a show of humility, try to show people they're humble.
And I guarantee you, people that come to that service have already
washed their feet before they got there. I guarantee you, they're
not going to let everybody see their dirty feet. And then some
fellow gets down there and pretends to be serving or humble. That's an abomination to God. This was no show here. Their
feet were stinking and filthy and they needed washing. But
this is a greater picture than that. This is a much higher picture
than that. What a thing for the Master and
Lord to do. Stoop down at the feet of worms. What a thing. What a thing for
the king of kings to wear, a towel. But do you not see that this
is nothing really? That's not condescension. That's
not condescension, per se. This is something that needed
to be done. Their feet needed to be washed. A towel is a...
Actually, it was a thing of honor that he wore. They needed their
feet clothed. What he did was an honorable
thing. It's an honorable thing. Like a mother taking care of
a child. The stink in its parts. That's
not condescension to a mother, is it? The feet are the same
as the head. The head is the feet. The bottom
is the... anything that needs to be done
is something that needs to be done. It's not condescension
when it's something that needs to be done. But what this represents
is His great condescension, the Lord of glory, who took off His
robes of deity. To come into this cesspool called
planet earth, the Holy One of Israel, to come down to this
earth was like you and me jumping in our septic tank. That's right. For Him to do that. for him to be robed in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He took off his royal robe, or
didn't take them off really, he disguised them. He hid them. He covered himself with flesh.
God who dwells in light which no man can approach unto. God,
the Holy God, the Son of God. Robed himself in flesh because
we couldn't look at him if we didn't. God is a consuming fire,
robed himself in the likeness of sinful flesh, but without
sin, mind you. In a plain brown wrapper, I like
to say, brown skin, clothed in it like a plain towel, like a
common, ordinary towel. What's a towel for? To clean
you with, to wipe you with. It's for washing in a towel.
to dry you, to warm you. He who was with the Father, equal
with the Father, arose from His throne, took off His crown of
glory to come down to this place to have men put a crown of thorns
on His head. Why would He do that? I wouldn't
do that. He took off His royal robes to wear
this robe This flesh that we take pride in, which was an abomination
to Him. Flesh. To take them up again someday,
His royal robes, He stripped Himself. The Lord stripped Himself. He was literally stripped when
He went to Calvary's tree as a picture of our Lord taking
off His righteousness. the robe of righteousness, which
is the only thing that will cover our sin. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. Not by religious work. Not by
baptism. Not by decisions. Not by good
work. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. But
by His righteousness. By Jesus Christ's work. By what
He did. By Him keeping the law. And He took off that robe of
righteousness, the life that He lived, the perfection that
He established. Took it off. and put it on His
people. God hath made us to be the righteousness
of God in Him. And He was made to be sin. Naked. To bear our shame. To bear our sin. The sins of
His people, mind you. He didn't die for everyone. He
died for His people. He put away their sin. So for Him to do this. Oh, my. To gird Himself with
a towel. A towel is not a thing of beauty,
is it? I know you women. I despise decorative towels.
You know, I despise them. You go into your bathroom and
you look around and all these decorative towels are so expensive
and you don't want people to wipe your hands on them. You
don't want them. Why have them? For show, isn't it? That's what
religion is. A bunch of show. It's all this
stuff. Choirs and robes and pictures
and all this beauty and all that. defense of Christ. If you're
preaching Christ and Him crucified, you don't need this stuff. A
preacher shouldn't wear a robe. He shouldn't be drawing attention
to himself. The only use of a preacher is
like that pole upon which Moses held the serpent on. It's to
point people to the sin remedy. Once he does that, put him aside. We need to hear Christ. We need
to see Him. But he girded himself with a towel, common, ordinary
skin clothing. Oh, my. For service, for washing.
It was a temporary garment. He assumed his royal, his glorified
body. And what that is, I don't know.
I don't know. So I'm going to go on. But he took back his garments,
in verse 12, it says, and sat down again. Oh, my. Where the
Lord is right now, He is seated. And there's a man. He has flesh
and bones. But he said in verse 12, look
at this. Verse 12, he said, Do you know
what I've done unto you? In verse 7, he says, What I do,
thou knowest not, but you shall know hereafter. And blessed are
our eyes and ears this morning because we already know. We know
now why our Lord did that. Very few people do. Very few
people would hear this message except as a message of service
and humility. He said you will know. Simon
Peter knew. He said we're purified. We're bought with a price. We're
cleansed. We're cleansed. We're washed
in the blood of Christ. That's how we're washed. We don't
wash ourselves. But Peter didn't know this now. In verse 6, the
Lord came to Simon Peter. Simon watched him clean Thomas'
feet and Matthew's feet and then Thaddeus' feet. And he came to
Peter. And Peter said, Lord, do You
wash my feet? And our Lord said, Peter said,
I'm not worthy for you to wash. You're Lord. You're Lord. You don't wash your servants'
feet, disciples' feet. They wash yours. Our Lord said,
Simon, verse 8, Peter said, thou shalt never wash my feet. And
don't fault him for this. Peter thinks, I'm not worthy
for the Lord of glory to wash my feet. He's not my servant. I'm His. I'm not worthy to wash
His feet. But our Lord answered him and
said, now here's the key to salvation right here, the key to the gospel
is right here, what our Lord said. All our salvation lies
in these words that our Lord Jesus Christ said right here.
Listen to it. If I wash thee not, Thou hast
no part in me. If I don't wash you, you have
no part in me. If I don't do something for you,
you have no part in the kingdom of God. You can't do it. You can't wash yourself. You
can't keep yourself clean, if you could. If I don't do this,
He won't be in my heaven. You see that? If I wash thee
not. Salvations of the Lord. Psalm
Jonah 2.9 says that. Psalm 3 says salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. His blessing is upon His people. Salvations of the Lord. The Lord
did all the washing here. Every one of these disciples
are completely passive. They're just sitting there, and
the Lord's doing it all. They don't do anything. He didn't
ask them, will you let me wash your feet? Didn't He? Didn't
He ask them, I want to wash your feet, I want to be your Savior
if you'll accept me? No! The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
ask anybody, anything, to do that. Like the woman at the well,
that poor religious woman. He didn't ask her to give him
drink. He told her, give me the drink. God doesn't
ask men anything. He'll have them ask Him. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the Christ of Scripture. If I wash thee not. He didn't
ask them if they would let Him wash their feet. He stooped down
and began to wash them. Thank God. If he doesn't call me, I won't
come. If he doesn't give me repentance,
I won't repent. If he doesn't give me faith,
I won't believe him. If he doesn't raise me from the
dead, I'll stay dead. Salvation is of the Lord. Why
do you say that, preacher? Because it's so. And because
he gets all the glory. All the glory. He did the washing.
I like what Brother Terry Worthen said, Jeanette taught this too,
he said, I don't believe in this thing of progressive sanctification. He said, I won't have that at
all. He said, we're sanctified by the body of Christ once for
all. That's what the scripture says,
does it? By the which we are sanctified. Both he that is sanctified
and they that are sanctified are of one. One Word. Made holy. Made perfect. Like those people
in Matthew 14. Perfectly whole. By Him. By Him. But Terry said this.
He said, I don't believe in that progressive sanctification. He
said, because, you know, you make all this progress and then
you stump your toe. Remember what he was saying?
He said, then you stuff your toe and you fall back 50% or 60%.
What are you going to do? One step forward, two steps back.
My hope. is built on nothing less than
Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise. Anything I've done, anything
I've ever done or will do or ever will be, but completely,
wholly look to and believe on and trust in Jesus Christ. Now,
there's salvation. If I wash you not, you won't
be clean. But if I wash you, If I wash
you, you're clean. Oh, Peter got a hold of this,
didn't he? Didn't wash me all over, he said. Look at it. Verse
9, Peter said, not my feet only, but my hands, my head, everything
about me. Lord, I'm filthy. I'm vile. I'm wretched. I'm a sinner through
and through. I can't think good thoughts.
I've got filthy thoughts, I've got filthy desires, I'm full
of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.
Wash me all over. Cleanse me completely. Christ
said, I have. Look at it. Verse 10. He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. You are washed. You say, wait a minute, Christ
hasn't gone to Calvary yet. Well, it's as good as done, isn't
it? Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world, Acts 15, 18. He's the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Everyone for whom that
God Almighty purposed to save, they will be saved. Christ came
in time and died for them, put away their sin. The Holy Spirit
comes, gives them repentance and faith. They call upon Him.
They come. All that the Father giveth me
shall come unto me. and him that cometh unto me, he that believeth
on me shall never perish, shall never be cast out under no circumstance."
You're clean. Peter, you're clean. Every wit
completes every wit. One time the Lord said to Peter,
don't you call common what I've cleansed. Yeah, but you don't
look clean. You're still a sinner. Not in
God's eyes, thank God. Why? Why? Something you've done?
Uh-uh. That's what he did. That's what
he did. You're clean. You're clean. Everywhere,
you're clean, but not all. Not all. But I can tell you this, every
single person that trusts Jesus Christ is clean. It's justified
from all things. Completely pardoned, completely
exonerated, justified from every single sin they have ever committed
or are right now committing and will ever commit in the future.
Clean everywhere. That's good news. Self-righteous,
legalistic religionists don't like that because they like their
righteousness. They like what they've done. They like to think
that they keep themselves, that they're better than you. They're
going to perish. Then there's the ones that claim,
well, if you just believe that, you just live like you want to.
Oh, no. No. Half of we that are dead to sin
don't live any longer than they're in. Oh, no, no. God's people
don't want to live like they want to. But that's good news to a sinner
that knows that there's nothing they can do. But what Christ
has done is all their hope. You're clean, but not all. Verse
12, let me close with this. After they've washed their feet... No, verse 10, I'm sorry. He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. You're clean.
Every whit. You're justified completely.
But you need to wash your feet. Now, justification and sanctification
is all in Jesus Christ. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Hold it. Every time. We don't
sanctify ourselves. We don't cleanse ourselves. No,
no, no, no. It's not what the Lord is saying
here. What He's saying here, though, is Your souls are clean. Your sins are pardoned. Those
that are in Christ, those that trust Christ, completely justified
from all things. Holy before God. But everything
about us that touches this earth, the feet are what touches the
earth and get dirty. You wash your feet, and you go
outside if you're wearing sandals, and in 30 seconds your feet are
dirty again. And you have to keep washing, keep washing, keep
washing, don't you? What the Lord is saying here
is that we come to Him for daily forgiveness of sins. Because
we're always going to be sinners. We're flesh. I'm a sinner. That's the way I was when He
found me, and that's the way it will be when I die. I'm going
to sin. I don't want to. I try not to. Well, what's going to wash me?
What's going to cleanse me? Where am I going to find refreshing?
As soon as you leave, you hear this message of Christ and it
gives you joy, it gives you peace, it gives you a sense of forgiveness
and great peace and joy. And what happens? You head outside
and you get dirty again. Filthy. Your mind is filthy.
Your heart is filthy. And you come crawling back in
here, don't you? You come crawling back in here
to do what? To hear the message of Christ's
blood that cleanses us from all sin. You hear it again. Wash
me again. I mean, David said, purge me
with hyssop. Wash me and I'll be clean. Tell
me this again. I know I'm clean, but I feel
just as filthy As I did when I started. Tell it to me again. What cleanses me? What's the
water? Well, we just sang it. What can
wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Christ. You've got to hear the blood
of Christ and Him crucified to feel clean. Nothing you do
can do it. It's just not good enough. That
if you hear, oh, if you hear that what He did is good enough, Oh, you'll feel accepted. The
water. This is the water of His Word.
The water of His Word. Dive in, sinner. There is a fountain. This fountain of His Word is
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners
plunge beneath that flood and lose it all. There's only one
time when you feel Loved by God and accepted by God. And it's
when you hear this gospel. You go right out there and you
feel, there it is. That's what this meant. That's
what this meant. And then he said, I've given
you an example. You call me Master and Lord, verse 13. You call
me Master and Lord, you say well. You know, I want to say well,
don't you? I want to call him what he deserves to be called,
don't you? I've never called my father Henry
in my life. I've referred to him so you'd
know which mayhem it was. Henry, man. But I use words,
terms of respect. Father. And dear Dad, of respect. And those who know the Lord Jesus
Christ, they call Him that. Lord and Master. Lord and Master. We're not on a first-name basis
with God. The Lord Jesus Christ. You call
me Lord and Master and 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, he
said, that you should do as I've done unto you. Verily, verily,
the servant, 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, happy are you if you do them. Happy. You know, washing stinking feet
to our Lord was nothing to Him. Dirt wasn't dirt to Him. Isabella,
my granddaughter, was out in the... The older they get, you
know, the more conscious they are of dirt. Oh, bless her heart. It broke my heart. She used to
love to get in the garden and dig with me. Well, she went out
there, and now she's getting to be a little girl and pussy.
And she got out in the garden, and she didn't want to get her
hands dirty. I said, is it, Pamela? That's not really dirty. It just
looks that way. Everything we eat comes from
that. God made that. It's a good thing to get your
hands dirty. That's a good thing. What our Lord did is not dirty.
It's not beneath Him. That's not beneath Him. It's only beneath self-righteous
people, those that think themselves to be something when they're
nothing. Here's a needful thing, a worthy thing, a vital thing. Our Lord said, I've given you
an example. Washing feet is a necessary part of life. It's not lowly. It's not a lowly task at all.
It's a task of love. It's a very needful thing. And
for us lowly worms, That's what we are, worms. Nothing is beneath
us, is it? And he said, if I've done this
for you, if I come down here and do this for you, oh my, what
could possibly beneath you be beneath you? My, my. You're too big for our britches.
Nothing. If it needs to be done, do it.
Whatever it is. Someone once said, if two angels
were sent from heaven to earth, and there were two jobs to be
done. One was to rule a nation, and
the other was to sweep the streets. They wouldn't argue over who
got which job. They both knew it was in the
service of their Lord. Both needful to be done, and
it wouldn't matter who got which job. They're both just as honorable. And our Lord closed by saying,
if you know these things... Now, we do know them, don't we?
We know these things. You'll be happy if you do them. That is, serve others, not self. Self is the hardest person. Well,
you'll never make yourself happy. If you live your whole life trying
to please yourself, you're working for a hard, a mean fellow. And you will never please him
at all. But our Lord, whom angels serve, He came down
here to do that. He said, if you do this, you'll
be happy. Everybody wants to be happy,
aren't they? If everybody would just do something
for me, I'd be happy. Oh, you've got it all wrong there. It's
more blessed to give than to receive. Happy. Happy. A blessed man. Okay. May the Lord bless that to His
glory and our good. Okay. Well, John, you come.