Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's holy word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now today
I'll be preaching from the book of John, chapter 13. And the title of the message
is, Christ the Humble Servant. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
portrayed in the scripture in so many ways, so many facets. Someone said it's like a, he's
like a many faceted diamond. You know a diamond that has so
many different, so much brilliance, so many different beautiful facets,
and they all make up, all these facets make up one diamond. Well
that's the way Christ is in his person, in his offices, and in
his work on the cross to save his people from their sins. There's
so many ways you can describe him from the scripture and so
many types and pictures. One of the most beautiful ways
to describe him and his work is as the servant of God. He's the humble servant. Somebody
asked me one time, why are there four Gospels? Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John? Well, they're not contradictory.
teach the same history of the Lord here on earth, but they
come from different viewpoints to show some of the facets of
his glorious person and his work. The book of Matthew, for example,
emphasizes Christ the King. He's the King of Kings. And the
book of Mark emphasizes the very truth that I'm preaching on this
morning. Christ, the humble servant. He's
the servant. He's ready to serve. Ready to
work. The book of Luke emphasizes Christ,
the Son of Man. His humanity. He is both God
and man in one person. And the book of John, the book
that we're studying from, emphasizes Christ who is God. His deity, He is God. And that
shows all together the glory of His person. Well, here in
John chapter 13, we see an episode in the life of our Savior where
He stoops to the most menial of tasks to prove a point and
to state a point to His disciples. He stoops down and washes their
feet. And that is an amazing thing.
You know, in the Jewish households of that day, it was common when
a visitor would come into a house, that the servant of the house,
and it usually was the lowest servant of all, would come in
and wash their feet, because that was something that they
did to be kind and to be polite to their guests. And so Christ
is going to wash the disciples' feet. But let's look here in
John chapter 13. It begins with a verse of Scripture
that should be familiar to all of us. He says, Now before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come,
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. Now, that passage has several
things that we should take notice of. First of all, this is the
beginning of his private ministry to his disciples in the upper
room. He came to Jerusalem. Remember,
he rode in on a donkey and they cried, Hosanna. And then he went
into an upper room with his disciples. His public ministry was finished.
And now he's teaching his disciples. all leading up to his arrest
and his persecution, his trial, all leading up to his cross,
his death on the cross. And it was during the Feast of
Passover, isn't that interesting? You remember the Passover that
was instituted by God through Moses to the children of Israel
when they were yet in bondage in Egypt. And you remember that
was the last of the seven plagues when God would pass through Egypt
And he would kill all the firstborn where he didn't see the blood
of the lamb over the doorpost and on the lentils. Remember
he told Moses, tell the children of Israel, find a lamb, a lamb
of the first year, a young lamb, without spot and without blemish,
and slaughter that lamb, sacrifice that lamb and take the blood
of that lamb and with a brush made of hyssop, take the blood
and put it over the doorpost and the lentils. And he said,
when I come through Egypt, when I pass through Egypt, he said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now, all of that
was a picture, a type, a representation, a foreshadowing of salvation
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one, only
Lamb of God. And you know, that's what that
Passover was to mean. It had some physical implications
ceremonially to the nation Israel. But the greatest significance
of the Passover was in what is who it typified, the Lord Jesus
Christ and eternal salvation and final glory for all who come
to him and plead his blood and his righteousness alone as their
complete salvation for the forgiveness of sins. Now over the years,
nearly 1,500 years up until this time, the Jews had lost sight
of the meaning of the Passover. But here it was, here's the Lord
of Glory, the Lamb of God Himself in their midst, and they missed
Him. So here it is on the Passover,
and it was the time, it says here, when Jesus knew that His
hour was come that He should depart out of this world. Remember,
He kept telling them, He said, My hour has not yet come. It's
not my time yet. but now the hour has come he
said it's time now for me to go do the work that I was sent
to do on the cross to suffer and to bleed and die you see
God is holy and he must punish sin and he'll either punish sin
in you personally and eternally or he has to punish sin in a
suitable God-appointed able and willing substitute and my friend
there's only one One substitute that God will recognize, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is by His blood alone,
His righteousness alone. He's the only Passover Lamb that
we can offer unto God and find forgiveness and be out from under
God's wrath. To go to anyone else or anywhere
else or any other way is deadly. It's like God when He said, when
I see the blood I'll pass over you, that's the blood of Christ.
So my friend, don't seek salvation any other way but in Christ and
Him crucified. So the hour has come that he
should depart out of the world. He's going to do his work. He's
going to, as Daniel said in Daniel chapter 9, he's going to make
an end of sin. He's going to finish the transgression.
He's going to bring in everlasting righteousness and seal up the
vision and the prophecy, all but to accomplish the salvation
and redemption and justification of his people. And it says here,
having loved his own. Who are his own there? Well,
he said it in John chapter 6, verse 37. He said, All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. All that the Father gave him
in eternity past, before the world began, God the Father chose
a people and gave them to Christ. and they became his. And he said
he loved his own, having loved his own. Who are these, his own? They are those that he identified
in John chapter 10 as his sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. See, he's the great shepherd.
He's the chief shepherd. He is the only shepherd, you
see. And the good shepherd lays his
life down for the sheep. He owns them. They were given
to Him by the Father. He has charge over those sheep,
and He redeemed them. He paid the price by His own
precious blood, and He owns those sheep. He loved His own. And
His love is equipped with wisdom and power and ability. My friend,
the objects of His love shall be saved, because His love demands
that He provide every means and remove every obstacle to accomplish
their salvation. And it says here, He loved them
unto the end. That is, unto the finishing of
the work. Unto the accomplishment of what
He came to do. That word, end, there, is the
same word that's used in Romans chapter 10 and verse 4 when it
says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. to everyone
that believeth." You see, my friend, Christ on the cross finished
the work. He said that in John chapter
19. He said it's finished. What was finished? Well, the
sovereign purpose of God in the redemption of his people was
finished on the cross. The old covenant law was abolished
by way of fulfillment on the cross. All the Old Testament
types and pictures and shadows were finished because Christ,
the substance, has come and done his work. The sins of his people,
legally, were finished because he bore them away. He put them
away. He made an end of them. And righteousness
was finished. He established it and his people
were justified by Christ on the cross. It was finished, you see. Now everything that happens in
the salvation of a sinner is the fruit and the result of the
finished work of Christ. So that we must say that salvation
is not by the works of men, it's not by the progress of men, it's
not a continual thing in the sense that we have to keep doing
something headed toward a goal until we attain it. No, sir. All that happens in the salvation
of a sinner personally by his experience. For example, in the
new birth, we must be born again. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us is necessary for salvation. In perseverance, we must continue
in the faith. And in final glory in heaven,
we must be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be conformed perfectly
to the image of Christ so that we may dwell in heaven forever. All of that is the fruit and
the result and the effect of the finished work of Christ on
the cross. Now look at verse 2. It says,
"...and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the
heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him." Now that
speaks of Judas. Judas was the son of perdition.
He was against the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a profession of
faith, but it wasn't a true heart profession. It wasn't real. It
was a sham religion. What kept Judas with him, I guess,
was the providence of God. Well, I know it was the providence
of God. But it says here that Satan put into Judas' heart to
betray Christ. You see, if Christ was living
in Judas' heart by his spirit and by his word, that wouldn't
have been possible. It's not that Satan cannot influence
a child of God. He certainly can. But he cannot
take control because Christ is on the throne of that sinner's
heart. You see that? But here's Judas. Now, Judas
was going to betray him. And verse 3 says, Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into his hands. You think
about that. It says, and that he was come
from God and went to God. You see, Christ acknowledged
to his disciples that God had put all things into his hands."
My friend, the salvation of his sheep is in his hands. Sometimes
we sing that song, he's got the whole world in his hands. That
means God's in control. Well, the whole redemption of
Christ's sheep is in his hands. And he said, listen, let me tell
you what he said about that. He said, he and his father are
one. And he said, his sheep hear his voice. They follow him, they
won't follow another, and he says, nobody is going to pluck
them out of my hands. My friend, if Christ saves you,
you will be saved forever. Now that's right, you cannot
be lost again because it's in his hands. And he said here that
he came from God and he was going to God, he went to God. In other
words, he was sent of the Father into the world as the substitute
and representative of his people and he was going back to the
Father as the Redeemer, as the God-man mediator, to intercede
for his people. He was going to die and be buried,
but he wasn't going to stay dead. He was going to be raised again
from the dead. Now it says in verse 4, "...he riseth 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, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Now, there are
two things that are significant about this act of the Lord Jesus
Christ washing the disciples' feet. First of all, one might
say this is sort of a parable in action. You know what a parable
is. That's a story that teaches a
high spiritual lesson, spiritual truth, using earthly objects
as symbols. and representatives. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
washed the disciples' feet, there are many things in this one act
that speak of his servanthood as the redeemer of his people.
You see, in order to redeem his people from their sins, Christ
had to humble himself and do the most menial task in order
to save his people from their sins. You think about it. The
Bible speaks of that and we'll read it in just a moment. But
here it says in verse 4, "...he riseth from supper." Now Christ
rose from His supper. He rose from the place of rest
and of comfort. And in order to save His people
and to serve His Father in the redemption of sinners, Christ
rose from His place of peace and comfort on the throne of
heaven and came to this earth. He rose up to do his work. You
think about that. Christ is the second person of
the Trinity. He's the Son of God. He's very
God of very God. He left his throne in heaven.
He arose from that place of peace and comfort to come here to this
earth and save his people from their sins. It says here he laid
aside his garments, that is his outer cloak. because it would
hinder him in performing the service. Well, just as Christ
laid aside his garments, taking off his covering, Christ, when
he came to this earth, the Bible says, the word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. When he came to this earth, he
laid aside his glory, taking off his heavenly covering. Now,
let's be careful here. I've heard preachers say that
when Christ came to earth and became incarnate, that he laid
aside his deity. Not so. First of all, he could
not lay aside his deity. You see, that would be the equivalent
of saying he stopped being God. And that's impossible. First
of all, God cannot die. God cannot stop being God. He is God. He's the great I Am. And the Savior several times
in this Bible identifies himself as I am. He said before Abraham
was, I am. The one who always was, the one
who always is, the one who always will be. The one who is self-existent. But what I mean by this, when
I say he laid aside his glory, it means that in his outward
appearance as God in human flesh, He was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, despised and rejected of men." Now you think about
that. If He had come in the full glory of His deity, He wouldn't
have been a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and despised and
rejected. He's coming the second time in
the fullness of His glory, and I'll tell you what, there'll
not be one who despises Him. There'll be some who fear Him.
There'll be some who'll seek to hide from Him. But he wouldn't
be a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. You see, that was
in his first coming as a servant. Christ the humble servant. But
he, for a while, laid aside the display of his glory in order
to accomplish his goal and his job as a humble servant. It says
here in John 13, it says he took a towel and girded himself. Now
after he took off his outer garment, He took a towel and he tied up
his robe and put it around him so that he could work. And just
as Christ took a towel and girded himself to be ready for work,
he took the form of a servant, the scripture says, and he came
ready to work. You see, here's the point. God,
in his very nature, cannot suffer and bleed and die. But this person
who is God, The Lord Jesus Christ, he did suffer, he did bleed,
he did die. Now that's to be attributed to
his humanity. But it was an act of his entire
person, and I cannot explain that to you, but I know this,
that when Christ took upon himself human flesh, he became ready
to serve. He became ready to keep the law
perfectly. The Bible says he was made under
the law. He became responsible for the
law both in its precept and in its penalty for His people. He
was made of a woman and made under the law. Why? To do His
work, to redeem them that were under the law. It says here in
verse 5 that Christ, when He did this, He poured water into
a basin and washed their feet. And I look at that and I think
about Him hanging on that cross. shedding His precious blood,
pouring out His precious blood for this purpose to cleanse His
people from their sins. Just like this water poured out,
His blood was poured out on purpose now, it wasn't an accident. It
was the work of God the Father for it pleased the Father to
bruise Him. And His blood had to be shed
because without the shedding of blood There is no remission
of sin. The law demands that those in
whom sin is, that they pay the penalty. And the penalty is death. And Christ, in order to pay that
penalty, took upon himself the sins of his people by a legal
act of imputation. They were accounted to him, he
was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. And then it says he washed the disciples' feet and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. And then it says
later on that he sat down, over in verse 12. It says, after he
had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set
down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you.
He sat down. My friend, when Christ finished
the work of washing their feet, he sat down. When he finished
the work of redemption and justification of his people on the cross, he
died, he was buried, he arose again the third day and he ascended
unto the Father on high and he sat down because the work was
finished. You remember back in the Old
Testament tabernacle and in the temple, there were absolutely
no chairs in that place because the work of that priest was never
finished. It was a continual work, daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly. But when Christ would come and
finish his work, there was no more to be done. He did it all. He made an end of sin. He established
righteousness. He justified his people. And
now everything that happens continually is the fruit and the result of
that. Now back here in verse 6 we have an episode. It says,
Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."
In other words, Peter didn't understand all the significance
of what the Lord was doing there. But he said, you'll know afterward.
Verse 8 says, Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my
feet. You see, Peter He knew that this
was the Lord of Glory. He knew this was the Messiah. It's like John the Baptist. When
Christ came to him to baptize him, John said, I'm not worthy
to baptize you, but it had to be done. Christ said, suffer
it to be so, to fulfill all righteousness. He's the humble servant. And
that's what he's showing Peter here, but Peter didn't understand
that at this time. And Peter said unto him, Thou
shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, If I
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." What a statement. In other words, if I don't wash
you, you don't have any part with me. My friend, if he doesn't
wash you in his blood on the cross, you have no part with
him. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus
saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet, but is clean every whit, and you are clean, but not all."
What he's telling Peter, he said, Peter, there's nothing more to
be done in this matter of teaching this lesson. The Lord knows what
he's doing. He doesn't need Peter to second-guess
him and advise him. He's the God of wisdom. He is
wisdom. And he said, nothing more to be done, Peter. I'm showing
you what I'm showing you. My friend, it's just like Christ
on the cross. If you add anything to what Christ did and what he
accomplished and what he finished on the cross of Calvary as to
the ground of attaining or maintaining salvation, you are denying him. Now you know that. You see, salvation
is by God's free, sovereign grace alone. It's not by the works
of men. It's not by the will of men.
It's by God's will in Christ based on His finished work, His
blood and righteousness. But now let me tell you something. If you know your frame, if the
Holy Spirit has shown you your sins, you'll be glad of that
fact. Oh Lord, have mercy upon me.
Well, he says, you are clean, but not all. Verse 11, for he
knew who should betray him, therefore he said, you are not all clean. He knew Judas was going to betray
him. Judas was not one of his own. Judas was not one of his
sheep. Judas was not one whom the Father
had given him before the foundation of the world. Judas made his
own decision to betray the Lord. He was an unbeliever. He was
a son of perdition. He was one who was controlled
and energized by Satan. And that proved that Christ would
not die for him and forgive him of his sins. And so in verse
12 it says, So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his
garment, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what
I have done to you? And then he says in verse 13,
You call me Master and Lord, 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. For I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, Neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. Now what's
the point here? Here's the next lesson. He's
saying here that if I so humbled myself to serve you in redeeming
you from your sins, in washing, you ought to serve one another.
My friend, if the Lord of glory humbled himself to the point
of becoming a servant, then there's no task that is too low for me. Paul said in Philippians chapter
2 and verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus, who took upon himself the form of a servant. He made
himself of no reputation and he went low. He who is God, who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, he is God. Yet
he took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient
even unto the death of the cross. Now we should serve one another.
I hope that message has been helpful to your understanding
of the Scriptures. If you'd like to receive a copy
of this message, just listen to the announcer as he gives
you the details. The title of this message is, Christ the Humble
Servant. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could
join us for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-833-9000.
432-6969, or visit our Reign of Grace website at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you and may the Lord be
with you.