Well, this evening I want to
begin a message on The Master Washes His Servant's Feet. Most interesting scripture here
from John chapter 13. And actually, I'll just basically
give you an introduction to it this evening and then the Lord
willing, as God directs, either this coming Sunday evening, or
maybe next Wednesday we'll continue with this. But I do want to reach
back into the end of John chapter 12 and make just a very few observations
to make us ready to lay the foundation for our entrance into chapter
13 and into this wonderful section of John which goes from chapter
13 through chapter 17. It's very interesting as you
study the Gospel of John to see how the book itself breaks down. We know that basically beginning
with John chapter 5 going through chapter 12, and this of course
is in our Lord's public ministry, here's the message of John chapter
5 through chapter 12 is rejection. Our Lord over and over again,
manifests himself, his deity, his authority over diseases,
over death. And there are many witnesses,
many people who saw the miracles that he performed. He has indicated
his greatness and his might in that he has fed thousands of
people just with a little bit of food, just a little boy's
lunch. couple of fishes and a few little
loaves of bread or pieces of bread and our Lord fed thousands
of people. So he has manifested at least outwardly, that he is
omnipotent. That there isn't anything that
he can't do. There's no obstacle that he can't
overcome. He does his will. Anytime he wanted to do a miracle,
he did a miracle. There wasn't anything that could
hinder him. There wasn't anything that could
hold him back. And multitudes of people, they
were eyewitnesses to his might to do all of these things. And
yet, as we go, especially from John chapter 5 through chapter
12, this is the theme, rejection. Rejection. But let's face it,
folks. If it weren't for the grace of
God, the effectual grace of God, we would reject Him. We wouldn't
have any use for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all religious by
nature. Every man is religious by nature. And our religion really consists
in the worship of self. That's who we exalt, we exalt
self. And we may be associated with
some kind of denomination or some kind of local assembly that
meets together, but all men are religious. But being religious isn't the
same as being righteous. And that's what God demands.
We've got to be righteous before Him. And as we begin to hear
the gospel that is all of grace, the gospel of sovereign love
and mercy, and of the need of the Lord Jesus, that none can
put our awful corruption away, our sinfulness away, but the
Son of God. And He could only do it by His
substitutionary death, which did satisfy God. When we begin
to hear that message, the message that's all of grace and all of
Christ Jesus, and the message that indicates that we make no
contribution to our salvation, there is a natural, the scripture
talks about a hostility. against the Son of God and against
God's way of saving sinners. In fact, you get to the book
of Romans chapter 8, there's enmity. The natural mind is enmity
against God. And we won't bow to God's way
of salvation. We're against the Lord. That's
an awful situation to be in, but that's our condition. We're
against God, and when the Lord Jesus came into the world, we
were against Him. the Son of God. You know, way
back in John chapter 1, it talks about John chapter 1 and verse
10, he came into his own and his own received him not. That's
the way it is with all men. We will not receive the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Savior gave a parable, and
it was a parable of a king, and the king who sent his son, And
here was the reaction of the people. We will not have this
man rule over us. And that was the attitude of
the people against the Son of God. We won't have this man rule
over us, no matter who he is. He may even say he is the Messiah. We don't believe him. We're not
going to worship him. We reject him. So in John chapter
1 and verse 10, we find that he came into his own, to his
own nation, and they didn't receive him. But there are some people
who do receive him, because that's what the scripture goes on to
say. There in John chapter 1, but as many as received him. Have you received him? As many
has received him, To those people and to nobody else, God has given
the authority to say, I'm a child of God. But it doesn't end there
because these who do receive Him, versus those who don't receive
Him, the reason is because of something God has done. These
are born again. If you believe the Lord Jesus,
if you receive Him as the Scripture sets Him forth, you have been
born anew. You've been born from above.
Even as the Savior said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, you must be
born again. He didn't tell Nicodemus, this
is what you've got to do to be born again. He just says, this
is what's got to happen to you. You've got to be born again.
And in John chapter 1 verse 12, concerning those who have received
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God tells us very,
very specifically, these were born not of blood. It isn't in the bloodline because
mom and dad believe because they're children of God. That doesn't
mean that their offspring are going to be children of God,
that they're going to believe the gospel, not of blood, nor
of the will of man. It isn't a man's own will, nor
the will of the flesh. That is, it isn't because somebody
else wills you into the kingdom of God. Well, then whose will
is it dependent upon? It's dependent upon God's will,
who were born of God. Born of God. So those who receive
the Lord Jesus Christ, as He set forth in the Scriptures,
they've been born of God. So thankfully, mercifully, there
are those who receive Him. though all by nature are rejecters
of him. And this especially begins to
be noticed and manifested between chapters 5 and chapter 12. Rejection. But then we get to
chapter 13. And it's like a whole different
ball game. Things are really different beginning
with chapter 13. Because no longer is the emphasis
upon rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather instruction
to his beloved ones and great encouragement to these whom he
loves. And this goes from chapter 13.
And it goes through chapter 16, but even in chapter 17, we can't
leave that out, because that's where He prays for His people.
And I'll tell you, to us this evening, those of us who are
the people of God, those of us who have been born of the Spirit,
which is manifested, made known by the fact that we believe Him,
we receive Him, it is absolutely of great comfort to our hearts
to know that He prays for us. And there in John chapter 17,
that's what that's about. And our Lord's disciples, the
11 disciples, of course, Judas had left. He leaves toward the
end of chapter 13, as we shall see in a few weeks. But these
other men who genuinely love Him and know Him and believe
Him, and they receive Him, they listen to His instruction, and
they greatly profit from what He has to say. And it's obvious
that they're very upset by the fact that He's going to leave
them. Ron read to us his past Lord's Day morning from John
chapter 14, and the first words are, let not your heart be troubled. Well, if their hearts were troubled,
and he found it necessary to say that, then we might well
ask, why were they troubled? Why were they so troubled? And
of course, we know one reason, because he said, one of you is
going to betray me. Another reason, one of you is
going to deny me. But the biggest thing was, he
said, I'm going away. I'm going away. And they had
been with Him, they had been with Him the better part of three
years. The better part of 36 months. Virtually day in and day out,
night and day. They'd been with the Son of God.
He came to minister to them. He said this to them, I came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And we speak of
our Lord's, what, three, three and a half years of His time
of preaching, we speak of it as being His public ministry,
right? That's His public ministry. But these men, these men, they
thought His ministry, because He talks about going away, going
away, And these men, this is what they concluded, his ministry
is going to end. He's not going to minister to
us anymore. And the very idea that the Lord
Jesus, who was their teacher, their preacher, their great prophet,
The One who instructed them. He's the One who saved them.
He's the One who came to redeem them. He's the One who drew them
effectually unto Himself. He passed by them and He called
on them effectually to come to Him. And the idea that He would
leave them and no longer minister to them, that just broke their
spirits. And that's why in John chapter
14 He has some very comforting things to say to them. But what
they missed was, here's what they didn't understand, his ministry
with his people was not ended. It wasn't ended. He was going
to die for them. He was going to go back to heaven
for them. And then, as he said, I'm going
to send you another comforter. The ministry is not going to
be over. He's not finished comforting His people and teaching His people
and edifying His people and instructing His people and leading His people. That's not over. It's just going
to have a different look. Because the Spirit of God's going
to take over that responsibility. And then what's He going to do?
He's going to lead these men and lead us into a greater understanding
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And so, whereas
John 5, chapter 5 through 12 sets forth rejection, it sets
forth the anger of the Jews, It sets forth their attitude
of hatred toward Him. When you get to chapter 13, and
really, as I'm going to point out here in a few minutes, He's
finished with the general multitudes now. He doesn't have any more
to say to them. He's done with them, and now
He turns to His own disciples. Because you see, once we get
to John chapter 13, this is the night before He's going to die.
Well, this is the night of the Passover. And he's got some,
it's like last minute instruction. He's got some things to say to
them that they need to hear. And we know pretty much the last
six months of his ministry, though there still was a public aspect
to it, during the last one-sixth of his ministry, or the last
six months, He spent more and more time with His disciples.
More and more time with them, less and less time with the general
public. He had already set forth the
fact that He's God by the multitude of the miracles that He had produced,
that He had accomplished. And then toward the end of his
public ministry, the last five or six months or so, he's directing
his attention more and more toward his disciples. Now, as we get
in the latter part of John chapter 12, he's finishing up his final
message. Yeah, I was thinking about this
this afternoon. In Mark chapter one, we have an introduction
by Mark to our Savior. And you'll know that in the book
of Mark, the Lord Jesus is set forth as the perfect servant
of God, right? That's who he is, he's the servant,
he's the preacher. So Mark doesn't begin with the
genealogy of our Savior, not his royal genealogy as Matthew
does, neither his genealogy as a son of man as Luke does. And
of course, John presents no genealogy because he's setting him forth
as the son of God. But Mark, Mark, since he's setting
forth Jesus of Nazareth as being the servant of Jehovah, he just
breaks right in into the beginning of his public ministry. And Mark
chapter one has, John says, Jesus went forth preaching the gospel
of the kingdom. That's the very first thing Mark
says about him. And boy, what a great comfort
that is to those of us who preach the Gospel, to know we're following
in the footsteps of the Master. That's what he did, Alan. He
preached the Gospel. That's what he did. This is what
he was all about during these last three, three and a half
years or whatever it was, of his public ministry. He went
forth preaching the Gospel. Now that's how he began his ministry,
and now here we are in John chapter 12. How does he end his ministry? Preaching the Gospel. Preaching
the Gospel. And let it be that way with us. That we begin our ministry preaching
the Gospel and may we do it all the way to the end. All the way
to the end. Look how he finishes up the message,
because really the message, and I agree with most all the commentators,
that is commentators that have any good reputation anyway, they
say that this is our Lord's last message and it ends with John
12 and 36. That the rest of it is John gives
kind of an overview of his entire public ministry. So at the very
end of His message, this is what the Savior said. This is His
last words to the public, general public, okay, in a specific message. Verse 35, John 12, Then said
Jesus unto them, Yet a little, a little of what? Is the light
with you? He said the same thing back in
John chapter 7 and verse 33. Hold right here and go back to
John 7, 33. He's talking to the Jews here. at the Feast of Tabernacles. And that would have been the
last Feast of Tabernacles that he attended in his public ministry
because really, what he said at the Feast of Tabernacles begins
here in John chapter 7 and goes down through the middle of John
chapter number 10. So that's all right around that
time of the Feast of Tabernacles. So in John chapter seven, these
things are being said. They happen at the Feast of Tabernacles,
John 7, 32. The Pharisees heard that the
people murmured such things concerning him about his miracles and so
forth. And the Pharisees and the chief
priests sent officers to take him and then said, Jesus unto
them, Yet a little while. Just a little while. Am I with
you? And then I go unto Him that sent
me. And that's the same thing He says over here in John chapter
12 and verse 35. Yet a little while. Just a little
while. I'm going to be here. And He
goes on to say that then He's going to the Father. He should
go away. So here in John chapter 12 and
verse 35, then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the
light with you. Walk while you have the light,
lest darkness come upon you. Now what does he talk about?
What kind of darkness? Well, I believe he's talking
about a judicial darkness. Because He goes on, because you
have to keep this in the context, and thankfully, we have all of
the scripture here for us, because we know what He's going to say. He's going to say that these
people maintain their unbelief because they're under the judgment
of God. That's exactly what He says.
Drop down here in verse, look at verse 37. But though He had
done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on
Him. that the saying of Isaiah, Isaiah
the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed? To whom has Christ Jesus been revealed? Therefore
they could not believe, because as Isaiah said again, God blinded
their eyes, God hardened their heart, that they should not see
with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and they would
not be converted, and I would heal them. And these things Isaiah
said when he saw the glory of Christ Jesus in Isaiah chapter
6, and he spake of Him. So I think what he's indicating
up here in John, in verse 35, walk while you have the light,
lest darkness come upon you. Once that darkness moves in,
this judicial darkness, while you'll be in darkness, you'll
be blinded the rest of your natural life and then go into everlasting
darkness. Now I know that there is a natural
inability of all of us to believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus,
but our inability that we lost That inability that happened
to us in the fall of Adam does not relieve us of the responsibility
to believe the Word of God, to believe Christ Jesus. These people
were responsible to believe Him. They had an abundance of evidence
of who He was. After all, the book of John is
all about the deity of the Lord Jesus. It says toward the end
of the book, these things have I written unto you that you might
know that Jesus is the Son of God. And that you might believe
Him, and believe Him you have life through His name. But they
wouldn't believe. They wouldn't believe. And I
say to all of us, we have a duty to God, a responsibility to God
to obey the Gospel. to believe the Lord Jesus Christ,
to bow before Him, to adore Him, to embrace Him, to flee to Him. We have that duty. We have that
responsibility. God tells us to. God commands
us to. He commands all men everywhere
to repent. He commands us to believe the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're responsible to walk in
the light that God gives us. These people This is what our
Lord says to them. And it's most interesting to
me that these are His last words to them, an admonition to believe. To believe. Walk in the light. Look at verse 36. While you have
the light, believe in the light. Believe! He calls people to believe. Now, to be sure, it's a general
call of the gospel. Right? It's a general call of
the gospel. And even that went forth from
the lips of the Savior. even as I give a general call
tonight to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But unless this
call of the gospel is accompanied by divine power, it will fall on deaf ears. It
will come to a rebellious heart that's hard, closed, calloused,
And God's got to break the heart. God's got to give a new heart.
And indeed, that is what the new covenant promises. I'll take
away from you the heart of stone, give you a heart of flesh, a
sensitive heart. You know what a heart of flesh
being sensitive, you know what flesh that's sensitive like under
your fingernail, you know, it doesn't bother you, it's fine
right there, but you stick a little bitty thorn up in there. And
you know, that's alive. That's alive. That's the reason
it hurts. And the Lord gives us a heart
that's alive. We're dead. He makes us alive. That's what He does. That's involved
in the new birth. And then we flee to Christ Jesus. And that's what we're responsible
to do. Better walk in the light God gives you, lest He take the
light away, as He did for these people. And then it says in the end of
verse 36, these things spake Jesus and he departed and he
did hide himself from them. Got nothing more to say to them. Nothing more to say to them.
What has happened to them? He blinded their eyes. He hardened
their hearts. And they couldn't believe. I
don't know the exact way to say that. He fixed things, so there's
no way, there's no way they're going to come to any knowledge
of Him. He just arranged that. And this is what we've got to
understand. The issues of life and death, the life and death,
our everlasting life or everlasting damnation, they're in the hands
of the sovereign Christ. They're not in our hands. He draws unto Himself whom He
will. Lord, draw me. Lord, draw all
of you. Wake us up. Do something for
us. Reveal the glories of Calvary. Show us how we need the blood.
We need the sacrifice. We need justice to be satisfied. We need righteousness. That's
what we need. Show us where it can be found
in the glorious person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right here at the very close
of His public ministry, He departs from them, and He hides Himself. I think
about those disciples on the road to Emmaus, you know, they're
so heartbroken, You know, after the Savior's death, and they
forgot about His words of resurrection, and then the Savior was risen
from the dead, and He just comes walking along up the side of
them, and He tells them, oh fools and slow of heart to believe
all things written in the prophets. All things written concerning
the Son of God. And then He gave them understanding
and they realized who this was speaking to them. And He said,
Abide with us. Abide with us. And that ought
to be the cry and the prayer of all of us here this evening.
Abide with us. Don't hide from us. Don't hide
from us, but abide with us. If He hides from us, He can't
be found. I want Him to abide with me.
Not hide from me. And he's finished with them. That's all he's got to say to the multitudes. And then we
get into chapter 13. Now look at verse one. And I
told you I wasn't gonna do much more than just introduce here
this passage about the master washing his servant's feet. But now before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, You know,
this phrase, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, I have
read in the past men who stated something like
this, that when Jesus of Nazareth came in the world, that He really
didn't know what was waiting on Him. Why is that so foolish? Well, He's the Lamb slaying people
with the foundation of the world. He knew exactly what awaited
Him. Go back to John chapter 12, the
previous chapter again, and look what it says in verse 27, John
12, 27. He said, now is my soul troubled,
my soul is agitated at the thought of bearing the wrath of God,
at the thought of all of the guilt, the sins of all of His
people being made to meet on Him. Now is my soul troubled,
what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, deliver
me, Father, rescue me, Father, save me from this hour? But for
this cause I came unto this hour. He knew exactly what awaited
Him because He appointed that Himself, along with the Father
and the Spirit and the covenant of mercy. This is marked out
from old eternity. He knew exactly what lay ahead
of Him. That's why it says in Isaiah,
He set His face like a flint to Jerusalem. We read in the
book of Luke, He determined to go to Jerusalem. To Jerusalem. And the disciples didn't want
Him to go because they just figured that's where He's going to be
crucified. They're going to get Him and
kill Him. But that's why he came into the world. So it says here
now, before the Feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.
How would that happen? By his death. He knew that. He's gotta depart out of this
world unto the Father. And it's significant that this
issue arises at the time of the Passover. Time of the Passover. He knew
that he should depart. You see, our Lord is orchestrating
all of this. You know what that means? He's
directing all. You know what an orchestra director does? He
directs like Joe leads the congregation here. Well, our Lord is directing
all of this. That's right. All of this was
marked out for Him before the foundation of the world. And
He knew His hour was now come. There are several times in the
Gospel of John, He would say something. John would tell us
that, you know, they tried to kill Him, but they couldn't because
His hour was not yet come. His hour was not yet come. But
He's already said, back in John chapter 12, the hour has come! The hour is here! The time is
here! It's nigh! And here it says Jesus
knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of
the world, that He should die, just like that Passover lamb
died. And I'll tell you, I'll get into that more next time,
because we're going to look back into Exodus chapter 12, It doesn't say lambs died, though
thousands of lambs died. You know, in Exodus chapter 12
and 13, it never says lambs. It's always lamb. One lamb. One
lamb. And I tell you, God Almighty
had His eye on that one lamb. The Passover lamb. His Son through
all of that. God the Father arranged that. Because the Lamb of God had to
die. And here these men, they get
together for the Passover supper. Thursday night. He's going to die on Friday. And He meets with these men.
He knows the hour has come that He should depart out of the world
and go to the Father. And before He goes, He's going
to give to His men an illustration of His loneliness and His service
to them. And He's going to teach them
that they should do acts of mercy and kindness to one another. And we'll get into this more
next time. But I hope that'll help you a
little bit. Anyway, it kind of sets the stage what I had to
say for this here in John chapter 13. Well, let's sing a song before
I go home. 166. Number 166. Cleanse me.
166.