John 13, 1 through 17. 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. And supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him, Jesus knowing that the father had given all
things unto his hand, and that he was come from God and went
to God, he rises from supper, and laid aside his outer garments,
and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he had poured
water into a basin, he began to wash the disciples' feet,
and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. Then
cometh he to Simon Peter. Peter saith unto him, Lord, are
you going to wash my feet? Lord, washest thou my feet? Jesus answered and said unto
him, What I do you know not now. But thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, then thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, he that is
washed needs not save to be washed except his feet. But he that
is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore said he, You are not all clean. So after he had
washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and sat down again,
he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me
Master and Lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I then,
your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, ye ought also 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 has sent him. If you know these things, happy
are ye if you do them. Now, that's the 17 verses of
John, and we're going to be speaking on the subject, the last days
of Jesus in the world, and we're going to be looking at Him in
the upper room with His disciples and with His Lord. And it is
a wonderful experience for them to be with the Lord as they were. Now, we're going to have to have
to study. But in our first study last week
on the triumphal entry, we focused upon that time when the Lord
Jesus Christ mounted a colt and with clothes in the way, went
into the city to the cries and the shouts of the people, Hosanna,
Hosanna, blessed be He that comes in the name of the Lord. Never
did they see it on that fashion before. Other times the Lord
came in on foot, but this time He came in riding upon a borrowed
coat, being hailed as King, and that fulfilled the prophecy of
Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. Now, John gives us here a
somewhat abbreviated account of this in John chapter 12 and
verses 12 through verse 15. In John 12 and verse 16, John
gives us another of His famous explanation, such as He did in
John 2.22, again in John 20 and verse 9, of things which the
disciples did not understand fully until after Christ was
risen, had procured for them the Holy Spirit, and poured it
out upon them. They saw what was done, they
heard what was said with their very own ears, but the full meaning
of our Lord's instruction was hidden from them until Christ
was risen and ascended and sent the Holy Spirit. Remember what
the Lord said about the Spirit when it came or He came? In John
14 and verse 26, He shall bring all things to your remembrance
whatsoever I have said unto you. Same thing in Acts 11 and verse
16, we see it again. When Peter had witnessed the
Holy Spirit, poured out upon the Gentiles in a great way. It says this, Then remembered
I the words of the Lord, who said, I baptize you with the
Spirit, ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with
water, not many days hence. The same thing with a metaphor
of the temple in John 2 and verse 22. Destroy this temple, in three
days I'll raise it up again. The Jews thought, my, 40 years
it took to build it, but John says the Lord talked about His
body. So there is a distinct difference
in chapter 13 through chapter 17 of the Gospel of John It greatly
differs from the accounts of the other three Gospels. John
skips over much that they had written. John does not record
much that is covered by the first three Gospels in our New Testament. But on the other hand, John records
some things which the other Gospels do not. For example, this is
the only record we have of our Lord washing the feet of the
disciple. This is the only record we have
of the lengthy discourse of our Lord to the disciples in the
upper room, and it is the only book that includes that great
and lengthy prayer of our Lord in John chapter 17. These are
unique to the Gospel of John as we read. For all intents and
purposes now, where we are here, the public ministry of the Lord
among the people is at an end. It is over. For all accounts,
the public ministry of our Lord going among the people here and
there is over. The time of his death is drawing
ever nearer. And these are the last discourses
of our Lord to His disciples before He is taken away to the
death of the cross. He is alone in the upper room
with these 12 disciples, 11 when Judas is exposed and goes out,
and the Lord is preparing them for the departure from this world,
and lays before them the promise and the prospect of the coming
of the Holy Spirit, who would dwell with them forever, who
would not leave them, and who would teach them and guide them. He warns them that the world
would hate them and would oppose them exactly as they did He. But He will be with them in the
person of the Holy Spirit. And there is too much in this
section for us to consider in any one single study. So, let's look at John 13, the
first verse, for a minute or a while, if we might. In John
chapter 13 and verse 1, there are two things that are stated
here that we want to specifically take notice of. Number one, Jesus
knew that His hour was come. The hour that He should depart
out of this world and go unto the Father. This is a mild way
of expressing it. This is a euphemism describing
His misery, His suffering, and his death. It is a way of saying
that he would be victorious over death, however, for he would
go under the Father. He would be exalted to the right
hand of God upon high. His death would terminate in
His being raised and glorified at the right hand of the Father,
just as He said in Luke chapter 24 and verse 26. Now the second thing that we
notice in verse 1 is a precious thing indeed. There is mentioned
there the undying, unending love of Christ toward His own. Having loved His own, which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. Isn't that amazing? Even in the face of His own awful
death, the Lord's love for His own is before Him and is active
in His heart. They elect those that were chosen
in Him, those given to Him by the Father before the foundation
of the world, His own. They are His by divine election
and He will purchase them as well at the cross. Now He does
not say all without exception, but His own. He loved His own. Note that carefully. Having loved
them from everlasting. Jeremiah 31 and verse 3. While He was with them, having
loved them during the course of His incarnate and His earthly
ministry. And He kept on loving. them and manifesting His love
toward them. They were imperfect in their
life and conduct. They were dull of hearing. They were still filled with worldly
ambition. They would fail miserably time
and time again in the face of His death. They would deny Him
some. Some would forsake Him and such
like, but His love toward them wavered not at all, even in the
hour of His death, even as He faced the cross by crucifixion,
even before dying, which is the highest manifestation of His
love that there is possible. God manifested His love towards
us in that while we were ungodly, Christ died for us. Romans 5
and verse 8. And in John 15 and verse 13,
He would say to them, Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends. Now we're going to have
an abbreviated account of this upper room discourse this morning.
We have time to look at two things that were or did occur as they
were finishing the meal in the upper room. There are two things
here of very great importance and would have an effect upon
the disciples in the days that were to come. Number one, there
was in the second verse an important piece of the prophetic puzzle
falls in place here at the second verse, related to the death of
Christ. We read, supper having taken
place during the supper, as they ate, perhaps as it drew to a
close, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas was coming to fruition
or maturity. The devil prompts him to betray
the Lord and he, Judas, commits in his heart to carry out here
the betrayal of the Lord. A bargain, you remember, which
he had already sealed with the chief priest and received as
his wages of unrighteousness, the 30 pieces of silver. You'll find that in Matthew 26,
14 through 16. Mark has it, chapter 14, verse 10 and 11. Now the idea is not that at the
supper the devil put it into the heart of Judas to betray
Christ. He had already done so, and Matthew
26 and 16 said, from that time he sought opportunity to betray
him, that he might conveniently betray him. He sought that he
might find the proper opportunity to betray the Lord into the hands
of his enemies. We need to remember that this
was prophesied in the Old Testament. Psalm 41 and verse 9 told very
clearly that this would occur. That's why Jesus said in John
13 and verse 18, He that eats bread with me hath lifted up
his heel against me. We read again in Zechariah chapter
11 and verse 12. So they weighed for my price
thirty pieces of silver. You can see that in Acts 1 verses
5, 15 through 20 and Psalm 69 and verse 25. That these things
were prophetically set forth in the Scripture. Now, a second
thing also occurred in this upper room with the Lord and His disciples,
something amazing. It is one of the most humble
acts that our Lord ever performed while He were here upon the earth,
short of giving Himself up to the death of the cross. My, I
bet their eyes opened in amazement as they saw the Lord get up,
take off His outer garment, get Him a pan or a basin of water,
gird a towel around about His waist, and go from one to the
other, washing and drying the feet of the disciples with that
towel, one by one, one after another. We can only imagine. that they were in stunned silence
in the room, or that there was but soft discussion and whispering
and murmuring among them. They sang to themselves what
Peter said out loud, while the Lord is washing our feet. The Lord has humbled Himself
even at the feet of the betrayer and has washed their feet and
dried them. By the way, can you remember
the time when a sinful woman came into the house where our
Lord was at meal as a guest? And that woman, with the tears
of her eyes, washed the feet of our Lord, and with the hair
of her head, dried the feet of our Savior. And yet that is not
such as humility as when the Lord Himself washes the feet
of these sinful men. By John's record, only the Apostle
Peter voices a response to the action of the Lord when he's
about to wash the feet of Simon Peter, this impetuous disciple,
who always spoke impetuously, he raised the question, Lord,
you mean, are you fixing, are you going to wash my feet? Are you about to wash the feet
of me? Do you intend to wash my feet
as you have washed the feet of these others that I have seen? Is it your intention to fall
before me and to wash my feet." This would require the Lord to
come and to stoop and perform a menial task, even one that
was reserved for a servant. No doubt Peter thought himself
unworthy of having his feet washed by the Lord, or he thought it
beneath the dignity of our great Savior to perform such an humbling
demeaning task as washing feet. You will remember in Matthew
3, 13 and 14, when Jesus came to be baptized of John in the
river, John protested. He said, Lord, you come to be
baptized of me, I have need to be baptized of you. Then we look at the seventh verse. Jesus answered and said unto
them, What I do thou knowest not now, but you shall understand
later. Peter did not understand exactly
what the Lord was doing. He did not perceive the lesson
that was to be learned or conveyed And Peter is adamant in the 8th
verse, you will not, never, ever wash my feet. You, the son of
the living God, will never wash the feet of me, a lowly fisherman. Peter thought to be humbling
himself and at the same time honoring the dignity of the Lord. Much like John who said, In Luke
3 and verse 16, "...the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy
to stoop down and unloose." Not worthy to untie the shoes of
the Lord Jesus. George Hutcheson, who wrote a
commentary on the Gospel of John, while admitting that Peter's
refusal was based upon him thinking himself unworthy of such from
the Lord, yet Hutcheson called it, quote, sinful and preposterous
humility, unquote, on the part of the apostle. Nor did the Lord
accept or did the Lord commend Peter in this humility. But He tells him clearly in the
8th verse and the last part, If I do not wash you, you have
no part. with me. Please note, the Lord
does not mention the feet, but you, if I do not wash you. It is not, if I wash not your
feet you have no part, but except I wash you, you have no part
with me. And in the verses to follow,
it then seems clear as Gil, John Brown, And others have said that
the Lord speaks of washing now in a figurative, mystical sense. Peter may have surmised when
he said, If washing give me part with you, O Lord, then wash me
all overhead. hands and feet." He goes then
to the opposite extreme. From, you will never wash my
feet, to saying, Lord wash me all over. It is also clear, I
believe, that the Lord had intended to speak these things. It had
not intended to speak these things except for the objection of Simon
Peter. And he could have gone on to
the application in verse 13 through verse 17 after washing their
feet. But by graciously condescending
to the impetuousness and the impulsiveness of Simon, to wash
my hands, my feet, and my head." The Lord answers Simon's impulsive
request in verse 10 by using a figure or a metaphor. Our Lord often did that. of a
person who has come from the bath." Now, they don't have baths
like we do. They have public baths and bathing
houses and such like. And he uses the metaphor of one
who has been to the bathhouse, having washed his whole body,
head to feet, upon arriving home, arriving at his house, does not
need another full body bath, but only to wash the feet that
they have contracted the dust on the way home. For while the
whole body has been cleansed in the bathhouse, has been bathed
and has been washed. Then if you would, notice four
words near the end of the tenth verse. And you are clean. This is not a cleansing with
soap and with water. It is not even an outward cleansing. It is not even speaking about
the physical body, not removing outward grime, but it is a spiritual
inward cleansing, regeneration. Remember what Paul wrote in Titus
3 and verse 5, by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Spirit or of the Holy Ghost. John 15 and 3 said,
you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 1 John 1 and 7, the blood of
Christ cleanses us from all sin. Revelation 1 and 5 talks about
Him who has washed us, loosed us from our sin in His very own
blood. But then look at the last words
of verse 10. The Lord makes an exception. You do not need to be washed
all over. You are clean, but not all. Look at those three words, but
not all. That is, Not all of you are clean. Not each and every one of you
is clean. Then look in verse 11. It gives
the reason for the exception. One of their number was not cleansed
in heart, but would betray the Lord Jesus. This is why he said,
you are not all clean. Now the betrayer, of course,
was Judas Iscariot. We'll say more about that later
in our study. But notice, if you will, beginning
at verse 12. After washing their feet, dealing
with the digression because of the apostle Peter, he then applies
the lesson of him having washed their feet. He gets their attention
to get the application in their mind by saying, do you know what
I have done unto you? You do not understand. You do
not perceive the significance of it. You do not comprehend
it at all, that I Your Lord and Master have washed your feet
and wiped them dry." Again, I think that Hutcheson is right that
Christ has not established this as a standing ordinance in the
churches. There are some who take from
this that it is an ordinance to be practiced even now in the
churches. I think Hutchinson is right.
It is not established as a standing ordinance in the churches to
be observed. But that is a means on this occasion
of humbling them and as example to teach them lowliness of mind. and humility, a spirit to love
and to serve one another, and to count others better or higher
than themselves. Not with water or a towel, but
with deeds of humility are they to wash one another's feet, serving
each other, putting aside their pride. Oh, who shall sit on the
right hand and on the left hand? and accepting the service of
others as well. In this, they will follow the
example of their Master when they do good deeds unto others. Verse 17, in knowing and doing
these things, they would then find Christian contentment and
they would be blessed in the living of their Christian life.
Now, coming to verse 18, and following, the Lord exposes the
betrayer among them. Traced out in verse 18 through
verse 30 of John 13. I'm not speaking about all of
you, the Savior said unto them. Somewhere the exception in the
end of verse 10. There was one that was exempted
from these things and yet Jesus knew whom he had chosen. John 6 and verse 70. Have not I chosen you twelve
and one of you is a devil. John 6 and verse 70. This is
the second great order of business after the supper and in the upper
room to expose the false apostle in the group that would betray
the Lord. And this served more than one
end to expose and expunge Judas. Number one, it fulfilled a prophecy
of the Scripture. As we see in verse 18, this was
prophesied that it should happen. Secondly, it set in motion the
further events that would culminate in the crucifixion of the Lord. He would be betrayed as part
of his being put to death. Thirdly, It purged the evil leaven
from among the apostles. Judas, by transgression, fell. Acts 1 and verse 25. Fell from
apostleship and his office, as Acts 1 and Psalms declare. Fourthly, it taught them that
false ones, false ones can for a time and to a degree carry
a credible profession. They can mix themselves in with
the true. None of them suspected that Judas
would be the betrayer of the Lord. One of you shall betray
me. Instead of them saying, well,
I bet it's Judas. I bet it's Judas. They said,
Lord, is it I? Is it I? Verse 22 again. Verse
28 and 29. But their prediction that one
would betray Christ made a very deep impression upon them. and sent shockwaves, as it were,
among them. Matthew 26 and verse 22 describes
it, they were exceedingly sorrowful. Mark says in chapter 14 and 19,
they could not imagine to whom the Lord was referring. Now at first the Lord only told
them, it is one of the twelve. Mark 14 and 20. One of you. One that ate with him. One in
this very room right here. And now one of you will betray
me. And then they began to suspect
themselves. in Mark 14 and 19. Could it be me? Is it I? They began to say one to another.
Why did the Lord make an issue of this betrayal of the Lord? Why did He not just let it play
out by itself and play out unto the end and then they would know
or understand that Judas had betrayed their Lord. But look
at John 13 and 19. Here's a particular reason why
the Lord exposed Judas. Now I tell you before it come
that when it come to pass, that you may believe that I am He."
Now this is amazing on two counts. Number one, it would be another
proof of the divinity and the omniscience of Christ our Lord. That He's able to predict and
foretell future events with great and minute accuracy. That the prophecy matched the
things exactly. that are done unto the Lord,
which means that the Lord Jesus was the subject of that prophecy
in the Old Testament that would soon be literally fulfilled before
the eyes of all in Jerusalem. Then secondly, another thing
amazing about all of this is what John Brown noted, the prediction
of Judas' betrayal of the Lord is absolute, not conditional. Absolute, not conditional. It would occur. Absolutely, it
would occur. The Lord is absolute about it,
not conditional. Might we expect Judas to go about
his devious plan once the Lord exposes it? Would we not think
that he would back off of it maybe and say, oh, I've been
found out. I've been exposed. And perhaps
that would be the abortion of his intention to betray the Lord. That the Lord knows the plot.
But consider in verse 18, He that eats bread with me has lifted
up his heel against me. Verse 21, One of you shall betray
me. Verse 23 through verse 26, Peter
tells John, who leaned upon the breast, the
bosom of Christ. Ask Him who it is. John was dear
and close unto the Lord. And the Lord said to John, It
is the one to whom I will give this sop when I have dipped it
in the dish. And Judas, being exposed, went
through it. And the Lord dipped the bread
in sop in a dish, handed it to Judas, says to him, What you
are doing, do very quickly. He made another prediction in
the upper room. John 12, 38, he foretold that
Peter would deny the Lord three times. Oh my, what an awful prediction
that is. And that before the morning,
you'll find it in Matthew chapter 26 and 35, it tells us that Peter
denied that he would ever deny the Lord Jesus, saying to him,
Lord, I'll die first before I ever would deny you. But alas, alas,
In John 18, 27, the apostle denied the Lord three times exactly
as Christ had said before the rooster crowed. Now do we wonder
why? the Lord having exposed Judas
as the betrayer, why the other disciples did not take some action
against Judas, or take him into custody, or restrain him, or
entreat him to abandon his evil plea and his evil way, or rebuke
him, or reason with him in some way. But we find how dull of
hearing they yet are. For in John 13, 28 and 29, they
had no idea what was said. Not a man at the table, not one,
not John, not Peter, not one at the table knew the meaning
of it. In fact, some of them thought
that what they had just seen happen, the sop being presented
unto Judas, that the Lord intended that Judas should go and buy
something because he had the purse, he was the treasurer of
the group, John 12 and verse 6, that he was to buy something,
that he was to give a donation to the poor. They didn't understand
that it was to be a betrayal. But when Jesus gave unto Judas
the sop, the bread dipped in a dish, then two things occurred,
very important. Number one, it said, the devil
entered into the heart of Judas. Verse 27. Before, in the second
verse, the devil sowed an evil seed in the heart of Judas, now
enters in and gains possession of the betrayer, of the man,
now being under a diabolical power and an awful evil influence. Under, as it were, the control
of Satan now is Judas the betrayer. There is no turning back. The deed is set now and is in
the act of being fulfilled. The second thing that happened,
not only did the devil take possession and enter into his heart, but
Judas went out immediately. He went out into the night. He went forth to do his awful
deed and earn His wages of unrighteousness, to find an occasion to betray
the Lord of glory. And remember, this is so important,
it set in motion the final hours of the earthly life of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We will meet Judas again, however,
when we consider the Lord in His agony in the garden. But for now, let's return to
the upper room. With the deceiver gone, the Lord
now can speak thoughts of instruction, of warning, of comfort, of promise
unto his servants. He tells them in verse 31, Now
is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. The betrayal would not alter
the purpose of God, but it actually served the fulfillment of the
purpose of God that he would die. His death would bring him
through the grave, up out of the grave, and into glory. The cross of our Lord was the
way to glory. When He was raised from the dead,
He would be exalted to the right hand of God and a omnipotent
sovereign, mediatorial reign. He would sit down at the right
hand of God. He would be made both Lord and
Christ, as it is stated in Acts 2 and verse 36. He would glorify
God and God would glorify Him. Only now a short time more. In fact, it has come down now
to the last hours. And the Lord would be taken away,
and where He went they could not go, they could not follow. Now, I'll close with this and
pick it up next time. The remaining time in the upper
room is the last session that the disciples had with their
Lord and Savior before His death. And He speaks in, or rather He
spends it, preparing them for His death and preparing them
for their ministry without Him. He will go away. It is expedient
for you, necessary, good, that I go away. For if I go not away,
the Spirit will not come. But if I go away, I will send
Him unto you. He will abide forever. He will
teach you all things. And that will be His ministry
in them after He is gone. Many other good things did our
Lord tell them in the upper room that we must save for another
time. Hopefully, the next Lord's Day
morning.