The Gospel of John, chapter thirteen. If we continue tonight as I said
last Sunday, with a series of messages from beginning here
in John chapter 13 through chapter 17. Tonight we're going to look
at a very blessed portion of Scripture here in John 13. It's a very misunderstood portion
of Scripture, very misunderstood. This is the account of our Lord
washing the disciples' feet in the upper room. They had just
finished eating supper. Now some say that it was the
Lord's table, but others do not. I don't know for certain, no
one does, but the habit was, the custom was to wash someone's
feet Before you began supper, when you first came in the house
and the host or hostess washed the feet, I believe it was a
host back then, but he washed the feet of his guests or had
them washed by a servant. That was generally the way it
was. A servant washed the feet of the guests before supper began
because in these days, you know, everyone wore sandals and their
feet became hot and dirty and dusty just in a short walk to
wherever they were going to eat. No pavement back then, not much
anyway. But before or after supper and
before another supper, I believe before the Lord's supper, the
Lord got up from the table and he began The greatest show of
humility and service the world has ever known. The greatest
show. The mighty God of the universe. God began to wash men's feet. God began to wash men's feet. The Lord of glory stooped to
perform the most menial task known to man. The one at whose
feet every knee shall bow, bowed himself at the feet of his disciple."
There's a tremendous picture here, if the Holy Spirit will
allow us to see it. Now, let's begin back in verse
1. That's as far as we got last week, but I enjoyed just looking
at verse 1. But he says, the Holy Spirit
says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew
that his hour was come, his hour that he should depart out of
this world, the hour of his crucifixion. And it says, having loved his
own, which were in the world, he was conscious of them through
the whole thing. He had their welfare on his mind. Having loved his own, he kept
right on loving them. to the end. Christ came into
this world for the express purpose of saving his people. Glorifying the Father, yes, to
the glory of God, but he was a suffering servant from the
very beginning. He said himself, a son of man, came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister. He said, that's the reason I
came. I came to serve God's people. But all things we saw last Sunday,
all things are ultimately for Christ's glory and for his honor
and for his sake. The Father does all things for
the glory of the Son and vice versa. But the reason Christ
came also was for our sake. If he had not come, we wouldn't
have salvage. He came to minister, to serve
his people. He came for that reason, for
our benefit. And we should say after this
study after this is over, we should say that the purpose for
our existence is the glory of God and the service of one another. The purpose for our existence. I mean, the son of God came down
here and that was his purpose. How much more you and I will
look at verse two. So supper being ended. The devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him. It's unclear, like I said, if
this is the Lord's supper or not, but Judas had already made
his plans. He'd already gone out and conspired
against Christ with the Pharisees and all. In verse 3, and Jesus
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, all
blessings, all power, all authority, all persons, particularly these
people, these men, particularly, a people. God had given them
into his hands, all grace and all glory. It says, and that
he was come from God. He knew, knowing that all things,
all power, all glory was his, and these people were his in
his hands, and that he was come from God, he had a specific work
to perform, a job to do, the redemption of his people, and
that he went to God, knowing that he was going to be victorious
and soon return to the Father. He says he rises from supper.
Now, this is one of the last actual acts of service he did. Verse four, he rose from supper,
he rises from supper and laid aside his garments. He got up
and took off his coat or his shirt, laid aside his garments
and took a towel and girded himself. The Lord of Glory, this is a
spiritual picture here, the Lord of Glory who had perfect communion
with the Father in the beginning, who, as it were, sat and supped
with the Father, in communion with the Father. laid aside his
celestial robes, he laid aside his glory, got up from that table,
that eternal table, and laid aside those robes of splendor
and took a towel. This is a picture of him taking
a lowly form, a body of a man. The Word was made flesh and dwelled
among us. He took a body and robed him,
laid aside his glory, and he took a towel, an old rag, and
robed himself in it, and came down here to serve his people,
and wash them, and wash them thoroughly. Well, look at verse
5. After that, he got up, took his towel, and girded himself.
He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'
feet. I want you to picture this scene
with me now. Here they were sitting at the table together. had just
finished eating a meal, and much like it is now, eating together
was a very social event, and they fellowshiped together around
the eating of bread. And they had just finished eating
this meal together, and now, after the meal, they were sitting
around talking to one another. That's just what we do. You know,
if the meal's over, you might have some dessert. I don't know
if they had this back then, but they were sitting around talking
to one another. And then, as they were talking, the Lord got
up. He sat in the middle of them,
and he got up, and he walked over and took his shirt off.
Now, I don't know if they continued talking or what, but everywhere
the Lord was now, the Master was, their eyes were on him.
And as they were talking, and he got up from the table, and
I'm sure they were watching him, as he went over there and took
his shirt off, and I don't know if they quit talking or not,
but he took his shirt off and began filling a bowl full of
water, and I'm sure they thought, what's he doing? What's he doing? But anyway, they sat talking,
and then all of a sudden, Christ, after he took his shirt off and
put a towel around him, got this bowl of water, He walked over
to the end of the table where the first disciple was seated,
and I don't know who it was, a Judas, one of them, I don't
know who it was, Philip, and stooped down to where he was
and began washing his feet, washing his feet. And then he moved on
to the next one, the first disciple, then to the next one. Can you
imagine the silence that came over the room? When this happened,
they were all talking, having a good time, eating their meal,
and all of a sudden, Lord gets up and goes over there, fills
a bowl full of water, and then he comes over and stoops down
and starts... Everybody hushed. Turn my voice down. What's he
doing? Stoops down, and he probably washed three or four, you know,
Peter was always right in the middle of things, and he was
probably as close to the Lord as he could get. And the Lord
probably watched three or four of them before he got to Peter.
But look here, in verse six, then he comes to Peter. I doubt
if anybody else said anything, but here's old Peter once again.
Then he comes to Peter, and Peter said, Lord, he might have put
his hand, Lord, You'll wash my feet? Surely. Lord, surely you're not going
to wash my feet. Surely. Now, I don't know whether Peter
said this out of true humility or not. I don't know. At any
rate, he was speaking hastily again. He was darkening counsel
with words without knowledge. Once again, he opened his big
mouth and was putting his foot in it when he should have been
quiet and learned something. This is a real picture for us,
isn't it? He should have been quiet. Peter, if Peter had stopped
and just thought for a minute, the Lord doesn't do anything
that doesn't have an all-wise purpose to it, an eternal significance. The Lord, he doesn't just do
anything and be doing it. Now, he may have said this out
of humility all yet, but if Peter had stopped and considered this
thing, He'd realize that the Lord's too wise just up and do
something ceremonially, or you know what I'm saying. Verse 7,
Peter said, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. Sure.
And verse 7, and Jesus answered and said unto him, Peter, what
I do, you don't know right now. What I do, thou knowest not now. But thou shalt know thereafter.
You'll know thereafter. We're so quick to voice our opinion
about things, aren't we? So quick even to complain. We
complain very quickly. We become bitter and speak up
very quickly when things don't go our way. We don't understand
something. We ought to just shut up. Shut up. Just be still and
know. He's God. He's doing. He's too
wise to make a mistake or do anything in our lives that's
not for the best. And we might learn something.
We shut these old mouths. I know it's hard, isn't it? It's
so hard. But we might learn something.
And we shut these mouths and get a real blessing. Not Peter.
No, not Peter. And not this old simple Simon
either. How about you? Peter said, Lord, verse 8, you'll
never wash my feet. Lord, you'll never wash my feet."
And Christ answered him and said, you know, before I answer, sometimes
we're hesitant to let anybody do anything for us, aren't we?
You know, we like to do things for other people. We do, if you
do. I know some of you delight in
doing things for others. We don't much like people doing
things for us too much. Why? It's old pride. Now, you're not going to watch
my page. You know, I'll help you out. But you, you know, I
don't need much help out. Well, you know, I always tell
people this when they say, they say something like, when I do
something for them, if I can, And they feel like I'm imposing
on them or something. I say, well, you'd do the same thing
for me, wouldn't you? And they say, well, yeah, I'd do it. I
say, well, you're better than I am or something? You got a
better attitude than I do? Well, let me do it for you then.
You'd do it for me? I don't hesitate to ask people
to do things for me. Some people may wish I did. I
don't. I don't hesitate. Why? Because
I wish people would ask me to do things. It's a delight. It's
a pleasure. It's a joy. It's more joyful
to give than it is to receive. But the old pride gets nothing
out of me. I'll do this, but it's not me. That's what Peter, I believe,
never washed my feet. But Jesus answered him, verse
8, and said, Peter, if I wash you not, you ain't got no part in me.
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. No part. Now, this is spiritually
speaking. If God doesn't wash us, God doesn't
regenerate us. We'll never get washed. God doesn't
do the washing and tearing. We'll not get washed. Christ
said, if I don't wash you, you ain't going to wash yourself.
If I don't wash you in my blood, your blood won't get it. Your
blood won't do. If Christ doesn't do the saving,
we'll never be saved, will we? If the Holy Spirit doesn't do
the calling, we'll never get called. And as we go through
this, notice with me. I want you to keep in mind that,
as with all scriptures, this primarily has a spiritual application,
and this is where I believe people miss this thing. Now, I know
it is. I know it is. Christ said, My words are spirits. Now, He said, My words are spirits. God in Christ, when He came down
here to this earth, everything He did, had eternal significance
to it. He never just did anything just
to be doing it as a sim, well, just simply as a practical thing
to do, although many things he did were very practical healing.
People needed, practically needed healing, but it had some eternal
significance to it. God's too wise just to perform
mere earthly tasks without some eternal purpose in mind. And
people miss the meaning of scriptures, I believe the true meaning of
scriptures when they just merely literally apply these things
or materially, physically apply these things. But Christ is saying
here, he said, if I don't wash you in the soul cleansing blood
of the lamb, you're not going to be clean. He got no part,
no part with the father. You know, his words were wisdom,
wisdom. If I don't regenerate you and
give you a new heart and a new spirit by the sacrifice of myself,
you have no part in eternity, in eternal life. You have no
eternal life. You cannot have any everlasting inheritance with
me as a son of God unless I wash you from your sins in my own
blood. That's what he's saying primarily
there. Unless God himself plunges us in the blood, the precious
blood of Christ, and no man, no woman, no young person as
any part with Christ in eternal glory. This is the primary meaning
of what he said here. I'm just certain of it. Well,
Simon Peter ignorantly speaks up again. Here he goes, opening
his big mouth. He says, Simon Peter, verse 9,
says, said unto him, Lord, then don't, not my feet only, but
give me a bath. Wash my head, my hands, every
part of me. Plunge me. Let me take a bath.
Well, you know, Peter, he might have caught a little bit of the
meaning here, a little bit, but not completely. But I believe
he was on the right track here. What he's saying, I believe,
is, Lord, I'm such a sinful man. If it's got anything to do with
my salvation, then you better really clean me. You better get
the old fuller brush out and do some scrubbing on this old
boy. Lord, I'm such a sinful man.
I need to be washed all over. David said the same thing, though,
didn't he? This may have been a type of what David said, Lord,
wash me truly for my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Well,
but Christ said in verse 10, he said unto him, Peter, he that
is washed, he that need be washed again, save his feet. He that is washed,
truly washed, doesn't need needeth not to save to wash his feet,
but he's clean every whit." You're completely—Christ, he's saying,
I'm spiritually cleansed. I have sanctified and perfected
all for whom I've died. I'm saved—by Christ's perfect
life and his sacrifice, I'm saved and sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. once for all, for by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
or washed in the blood of Christ, one forever. There remaineth
therefore no more sacrifice for sin, and this is the reason we
come down so hard on the Catholic mass. They actually believe that
the body of Christ is contained in the wafer, transubstantiation,
and the blood of Christ is contained in the wine. The priest, the
Catholic priest, when people come by and they stick that wafer
in their mouth, that's the body of Christ. And the priest is
administering the body of Christ to people. That's a lie. That's
blasphemy. That's degrading. That brings
down the sacrifice of Christ. It means the sacrifice of Christ
was of no avail that these mere mortal men are administering
again. They're crucifying him afresh,
aren't they? There's one sacrifice. That's
just a memorial, that's all it is. You remember, simple, like
pulling out a picture out of your wallet and looking at it,
the one you love. That's all that is. It has no
saving power in it whatsoever. None whatsoever. People, Ed,
people died for that, didn't they? The old Puritan died standing
strong against that, saying that you're blaspheming the high priest
work of Christ. You're blaspheming the redemptive
work of Christ by saying that it wasn't done, that he's crucified
afresh. And people died defending this
one sacrifice forever. The song says Jesus paid it all,
all the debt I owe. Sin has left the crimson stain,
but he washed it white as snow. It's gone. And I ask you, are
you washed? Song says, in the blood, soul
cleansing blood of the Lamb. Well, Christ said, he that is
washed doesn't need to be washed again. Save his feet. Save his
feet. Well, I'm washed. I'm clean by
the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm saved. I'm sanctified. I'm
redeemed. I'm holy. I'm spotless. I'm undefiled,
accepted by the Father. Stand, but my feet stink. Your
feet stink? My feet stink. I don't know about
you, but everything about me seems to smell of this old world
I'm walking around in. Doesn't it? My attitude, my actions,
my feet. You know, that's the lower part.
That's our body. Everything in this world seems
to smell of this. Everything about me seems to
smell of this old world. And this is exactly what the
Lord is talking about here. Exactly the reason he did this
had eternal, eternal, it was eternally symbolic of our need
to be daily cleansed from our walk throughout this world. He
that is spiritual understands all things. My soul, you know
what, if you know Christ, you know what he's talking about
here. Throughout the scriptures, the word water is used to represent
what? Anybody know? The Word of God. Throughout the scriptures, water
is used to represent the Word of God. Let me quote you one.
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might
sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Now, the believer needs to be
constantly unsound. This is the reason I exhort over
and over. I wish everybody was here to
hear this, but we need to be constantly under the sound of
the gospel at every opportunity. Why? Because it's the means of
growth. It's the means of cleansing.
It's the means of maturing, growing in grace and the knowledge of
our Lord. It's the means of washing our minds and our actions and
so from this filthy old world that we're so influenced by.
This is the means. This is the only means. The only
means. This and prayer. But this is
the means of preaching, God chosen by the foolishness of preaching.
We need to be under the sound of the gospel at every opportunity. Where are we going to go if we
don't come? You know, I say these things
sometimes very facetiously. I don't mean to be. I take it
personally. Yeah, I'll just be honest with
you. I take it personally. Go to great lengths to clear
messages and all. But, you know, we're doing ourselves
harm. That's what we're doing. It's
detrimental to ourselves. Where are we going to go anyway?
I hear people that are struggling with various problems and so
forth. And my heart goes out to them, but it's a hard matter
for me to really be, to show much pity and much sorrow for
them when they don't come and hear the Word. You know, I think,
you know, this is what God's ordained as our help, as our
strength, as our comfort, as our peace, as our assurance,
as our growth, all these things. God's ordained this. And if we
don't come for this, You know, you just keep going downhill,
just keep going down. You know, it's so hard, it's
so slow to make progress as it is. I used to be a bodybuilder. It doesn't show now, but I used
to be one. And I remember it took such long
and hard and disciplined hours to build up a little bit. It
took a long time to build up. But buddy, you lay off for a
month. And some of you ladies that exercise or whatever, you
know what I'm talking about. You lay off for just a month,
you just about lose it all. Well, in a sense, this is the
way it is spiritually. It's slow growth, this spiritual
growth, slow growth. Some people, I believe, are completely
and totally stagnant, just stunted in their growth, if that's possible.
I've given people the benefit of the doubt. You know, you come
while, and you feast, and you rejoice, and you make a little
progress, you grow a little bit, you get some understanding of
the Scriptures, you see Christ a little more clearly, and you
love, your desire grows a little bit more, and for some reason
you get a problem, crops up or whatever, you start waning, start
waning, start missing, and all that growth, zrrp, you're back
down in the dust again. Right back where you started,
it seems like. Right? You know what I'm talking about,
don't you? That's the way it is. And I say this, where are
you going to go? Who are you looking to? It's
fine if people miss and sit at home praying and fasting and
reading the scriptures. That's fine. That's great. I
hope that's the case. But, but, but, I doubt very seriously
that there's one in a thousand that even opens this book when
they're gone. The disciples said, Lord, where
are we going to go? Where are we going to get the
words we need? You have the words of life. And
if you esteem the gospel as being chosen by God, anointed by God,
preaching the gospel the way that God has ordained for our
spiritual growth, you're going to say, where are we going to
go? How am I going to get any peace, any comfort, any assurance,
unless I sit on the side of the gospel? Where are we going to
go? This is the words of life. I've got to be there. How about
you, Barbara, Charles? You've got to be there, don't
you? Say, I do. I do. And you say, what's your
job? Oh, no, it's not either. It's
my life. And it's the same way with you.
It's no more my job than it is yours. It's as Christ as our
life, Terry. This ain't a job. It's a whole
lot easier to sit right there and let somebody else do the
work. This ain't a job. Christ is my life. We sat there, we were over there,
I'm not bragging, I'm just the way it is, we were there long
before I started preaching, weren't we? Front row, got to have it,
got to have this preaching of the gospel. And God has blessed
us. If you're hungry, you go to the
table. If you're dirty, you take a bath. If you're sick, you go
to the doctor. If you're seeking Christ, you come hear the gospel.
That's just all there is to it. People do what they want to do.
And I'm not getting down on anybody. I'm
exhorting. I'm trying to exhort people.
Well, look at verse 10 again. He said, he that's washed need
not say to wash his feet. He needs to wash him by the word.
But you're clean everywhere. You're clean through the sacrifice
of Christ, and the Word is a tremendous spiritual help, and you're walking
through this world. And you're clean, he says. You
are clean. You're clean everywhere. You're
clean. Yeah, you are, he says, but not all. There's only twelve men. And even one of those had a dip. How many? Twenty-four. Twice
that many in here, maybe, or more. But not all. Some of you cling. I believe
you are. I just have confidence that God's done a work in you.
I know you, but not all. He says, you know, this is the
real problem. Here's the real problem with
some people. And I say I hope a status of sorrow, but some
people are not saying this particularly about anybody in here necessarily,
but it needs to be said, some people are living a lie, claiming
to be what they are not, claiming to be in love with and following
after the Lord Jesus Christ when it's really the world and themselves
that they are pursuing. And Christ knows, he knew, God
knows, verse 11, he knew who should betray him. And that's
why he said, you're not all clean. You know, a wise man, like I
said this morning, if there's any doubt in your mind, it seemed
like we had just good sense. We'd go home and get in our closet
and settle this matter. If we had any sense whatsoever,
if we had any spiritual insight whatsoever into the awesomeness
and holiness of God and the certainty of eternity and the judgment
we must face, and how that we need Christ and need his righteousness,
need his salvation to stand before this God of any good sense at
all. We'd go home if we were unsure and get in our closets
and cry out to God to make this thing certain in our mind, in
our heart, wouldn't it? Seemed like it, wouldn't it? It just makes good sense. And
you know, somebody come across this, he says, you're not clean,
not all of you. Yeah, a wise man or wise woman
would seem like a wise man or wise woman would say, Lord, is
it me? Right? That's what the disciples said
later on. See, one of you is going to betray
me. Here's me. Tell me quick if it's
me. A wise man, Terry, looks like
he'd say that, doesn't he? And I exhort you right now to
ask the very same question. I need that. I'm going to ask
it. I'm going to ask it. Lord, am I clean? But you're
the preacher. That don't make a difference.
I want to ask it now. Will you join me? Lord, is it
me? Am I clean? If I'm not, cleanse
me right now. I got to have it now. May not
be it tomorrow. Well, can we know? Yeah. Yeah. John said it, we
can know. He said these things are written
that you might know that you have eternal life. Didn't he?
Anybody ever read that? You've read that? Isn't that
what John said? These things are written that you might know
that you have eternal life. My son, I want to know. Don't you, son? I do. It's not presumption, it's just
good sense to want to know. Wendy, you've got to know. You
need to know whether you're a child of God or not. You know, it stands to reason,
he said, these things are written that you might know that you
have eternal life. These things are written, there
it goes, back to the word again. These things are written that
you might know. How are you going to know? You
want to look in the things that are written, right? You're going
to hear these things that are written. How are you going to
know? You're going to hear the Word, right? You're going to read the
Word. You're going to look. You're going to dig. You're going to
search. You're going to try to find out. Tell me. Tell me quick. Right? Lord, tell me. These things are
written. Written. Aren't you glad they're
written, Terry? They're written that you might
know. Well, it stands to reason that people that aren't hearing
and coming around don't give much evidence of being too concerned
about things you've written. And there's not much evidence
of being a child of God. It doesn't necessarily apply
here. You're here. But verse 12. Well, after he had washed
their feet and taken his garments and sat down again, he said unto
them, Do you know what I've done unto you? You know, this ought to disprove
this thing. Did you hear what I just read?
He said, do you know what I've done unto you? Well, yeah, Lord,
you've washed our feet. Oh, wait a minute, it goes much
deeper than that. Much deeper. And the people that
still practice this, you know, they have spiritual eyes to see
and see the application of it. Do you know what I've done for
you? And here's a spiritual question
too. Do you know what Christ has done
for you? Has he done it for you? He says
in verse 13, you call me master and Lord. I thought about this
a little bit later this evening. My soul, no man, this only man ever could say
this. You call me master and lord. You say, well, that's who I am. You know what? They say he never
said he was God. Oh, wait a minute. That's what
he just said. You call me master and lord. You say, right, so I am. I am. He used that name again,
didn't he, Ted? I am. I am. Well, if I then... You see, this goes so much deeper
than literal washing of feet. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your stinking dirty feet, you also ought to wash one another's
feet. If the Lord of glory forsook everything to come down here
and live for and serve one, then shouldn't we forsake all
to serve Him and one another? Now, we esteem others better
than ourselves. It's our right and reasonable
service to serve others, isn't it? We're not stooping to serve
anybody, are we? If we esteem others better than
ourselves, We are their servants, aren't we? If I stand much better
than myself, then I won't consider it beneath me to wash his own
face. Right? Uh-uh. Considered a privilege. It's not only the commandment
of our Lord, it's our reasonable service. That is service to others. If Christ didn't shun the lowest
form of service known to man, then we should be ready to do
anything that's asked of us through the glory of God and the service
of His people. Anything! Anything! No matter how lowly
it seems. Because like I said, it's never
really beneath us anyway. If we consider ourselves less
than the least of all, whenever you consider yourself less than
the least of anybody in here, that's a true Christlike attitude.
I'm not fit to be called a disciple, Paul said. And therefore he said
that I've served more than anybody. Paul said that. because of that
humility. Well, verse 15, he says, I've
given you an example, a spiritual lesson, instructions, that you
should do as I've done to you. You should do as I've done to
you. I've given you an example. Now, like I said, he that is
spiritual understands all things. This is a spiritual lesson in
humility and service. That's exactly what they said. If anybody's feet really needs
washing, then we'll wash them. That's fine. You know, is anybody
wearing sandals? If so, then you come on up and
let's get the bowls out and we'll start washing them. But, you
know, our feet don't, we take, some of us take two baths a day.
Our feet don't need washing. It means so much more than that. But there are many other forms
of service that we can perform. Many. Many needed and necessary
forms of service that need to be rendered. And we talked about
this earlier. The Pharisees now, they do ceremonial
works to be seen of man. People that are still doing this,
weren't. A show of humility, isn't it? And we'll worship. Remember what Paul talked about?
Yeah, all this is is a show of, we'll worship. and humility. You don't show humility, do you? That's a contradiction of terms. Show humility? We're going to
wash feet now so everybody can show how humble they are. That's
ridiculous. We're exhorted anyway. We're
told to do our acts in secret. Let not your right hand know
what your left hand is doing. If you're going to wash somebody's
feet, go home where they are. Like maybe somebody's an invalid
or something. They need their toenails cleaned. Now, that's
a necessary foot service. Go do that. We don't call everybody
else and say, come on over. We're going to have a good old-fashioned
foot washing now. That's a show of will-worshipping. You see what I'm saying? I know you do. I know you do.
We're told to do our acts of charity in secret. In secret. And Lord, what he's saying here
is that if the Lord of Glory stood to serve sinful, wretched
man, how much more should we serve one another in whatever
lowly task needs to be done? Whatever form of service needs
to be done? especially to the brethren, whatever needs to be
done. Verse 16, Verily, verily, truly
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If in Christ there is no great
or small, no unimportant No important or unimportant. Only sinners
saved by grace. We're all just alike here. We're
all brethren. And the servant is not greater
than his Lord. And if our Lord is willing to humble himself,
shouldn't we do likewise? That's the whole picture here.
I don't need to keep emphasizing this, but this is not something to do in remembrance
of him. He gave two ordinances. Two things,
two symbolic ordinances for us to perform, didn't we? The Lord's
Table and Baptism, didn't we? Yeah, He did. Well, listen to
this. This explains it all. This explains
it all. He says in verse 17, conclusion,
because if you know these things, what things? Well, He started
out, if you know these things, Happy are you if you do Him. If you know Christ, you're happy
if you trust Him. If you know your calling, happy
are you if you walk in it. If you know your responsibilities,
happy are you if you fulfill them. If you know God, you know
Christ, happy and blessed are you if you act like it. If you
act like it. Well, I hope that's somewhat
of a blessing and a lesson to us. We'll kick up there again, Lord
willing, next Sunday night. Stand with me now, this message
in prayer. Our Father, we know not really
how to thank you for That great, that tremendous condescension
of our Lord coming down here to earth. Taking on Himself the form of
a man. Lowly man. We really don't fully understand
or enter into this, but yet we're learning. And as we learn, we
feel, we know, we're certain on the Scriptures. As we learn
these things, we apply them spiritually. They need to be applied spiritually. Our hearts, our minds, our lives
conform us to the image of Christ. We learn these things. Let us
try to emulate our Master and be just like Him in service to
our great God. because of the mercies of our
God to us and in service to one another. Help us, Lord, to seek a need
and meet it. Help us to love one another as
Christ loved us. And help us, give us the will
and the desire to come back once again hear the Word, desire the
sincere milk of the Word, that we might grow thereby. Water us. Cultivate us through
the preaching of the Word. This preacher and everybody,
may we grow together the knowledge of Christ, the love for Him,
and one another. In His name we pray. Amen. Okay.