Look with me again here in John
13. John 13. I'm going to start here
in verse 12. And it says, So after he had
washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set out
again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? You
call me Master and Lord, and you say, well, that's the truth.
For I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, you 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 is he that
is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things,
happy are ye if you do." Our Savior here, our Lord Jesus,
teaches us His great love for us. He started out by saying,
having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. And then he also teaches us how
our fellowship is kept up with him. Our fellowship and communion
with him is kept. He said there in verse eight,
Peter says, thou shalt never wash my feet. Now, Lord Jesus
said, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. So how
in the world are we going to stay clean if we're not washed? We couldn't bear to contemplate
not having a part with the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord Jesus
in his love for us, now you listen to me, he in his love for us,
he to keep us cleaving to him and believing on him. He washes
our feet and what He means by that is that He maintains, He
Himself maintains our walk before Him so that we can enjoy our
fellowship with Him and know His joy. He has to maintain our
walk before Him. He has to keep us in the way. He has to keep us keeping on,
keeping on. We believe through grace. And
that's what He says, He that hath begun a good work in you,
what's He going to do? He's going to finish it. He'll
finish it. He which worketh in you, both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. And if He didn't do
that, there's not a soul in this building that would not have
already went somewhere else and done something else. if the Lord
Jesus Christ didn't keep us walking and talking and believing and
keeping on keeping on. That's just how awful we are. That's what Paul meant when he
says, you know, the will is present with me. I've got the will. I've got the will, but I don't
know how to perform it. And so guess what our Lord's
teaching us here. that I tell you what, you won't
walk with me if I don't keep you walking. You won't believe
on me if I don't keep you believing. You won't cleave to me if I don't
keep you cleaving. And that's just the way it is,
ain't it? And you know what? Everybody who knows Christ, that's
what they want. Lord, you keep me believing.
Don't never leave me to myself. You keep me cleaving to you.
You keep me walking with you. You keep me wanting you. You
keep me desiring you. You go on working me. Oh, working
me. Do for me. Do for me. You know, the scriptures
tells us that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. You see, it was grace that gave
us a place and put us in Christ. And truth, truth is what keeps
us with Christ and in Christ and believing on Christ. And
it's the truth that cleanses us, cleanses us. Let me look
over here in John 17, 17 with me just a moment. Let me, this
is what I'm talking about. Our Lord Jesus said, sanctify
them through thy truth. set them apart by thy truth,
cleanse them by thy truth. And listen to this, thy word
is truth. That's why we want the word,
we need the word, we come to hear the word. And our Lord Jesus
Christ said back up here in verse 10 of John 13, he says this,
Our Lord said, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet, but is clean everywhere, and you are clean, but not all.
And what he says here, what he means is, he that is bathed,
that's clean all over, all he needs is his feet washed. But
he's clean everywhere else, he's clean everywhere. And there's
a double washing, a double cleansing for the believer. His entire
person and all that he is and all that he has is done once
and for all. His cleansing was done once and
for all by the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He washed us in His blood. He cleansed us with His blood.
He sanctified us with His blood. He set us apart by His blood.
That's the whole person cleansed. That's the whole person sanctified. But then His feet, our walk in
this world, this needs to be done every day. This has to be
done all the time. Now you keep John 13 and look
over here with me in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 10. 1 Corinthians
6 and verse 10. You know, his feet has to be
washed. We've already washed. Christ has washed us. Christ
has cleansed us. He's clean everywhere, but there's
a double washing for the believer. Our person is cleansed. We're
righteous before God. We're holy before God. We're
accepted in the beloved. We've been sanctified by the
truth, set apart by our Lord Jesus Christ. But then our feet
needs washing, and look what he says here in verse 9. Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists
shall inherit the kingdom of God." Now listen to this, and
such were some of you. That's what you were. But listen
to what he says, but you're washed. You're washed and you're sanctified. washed and cleansed. How? And you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. And
oh, beloved, when Aaron was consecrated to the priesthood, Moses had
to take him and wash him all over, all over. And I want you
to see this. I know I'm having you turn to
Scripture, but in Exodus chapter 30, this is what we're talking
about. Moses was washed all over, I mean Aaron was washed all over
as the high priest, but in Exodus 30, look at this with me. In
Exodus 30, look what has to happen. Now he's washed all over to enter
into the priesthood. It tells us that in chapter 29,
but here in in Exodus 30, and this is what
we're talking about. Aaron and his sons were concentrated
in the priesthood. They were washed. He said, wash
them. Take them before the tabernacle
and wash them. They got to be clean, they got
to be pure, and it was a ceremonial washing, a symbolic washing.
But we're actually washed. But look what happens, it said
in verse 18. God told Moses, it says, I shall make also a
laver of brass and his foot of brass to wash. And thou shalt
put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar.
And then you're going to put water in it. For Aaron and his
sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. Do you see
that? When they go into the tabernacle
of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die
not. And when they come near to the
altar to minister to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord, so
they shall wash their hands and their feet that they die not.
And this shall be a statute forever even to him and his seed throughout
their generations." So if they had to do that, well, who's going
to wash our hands? Who's going to wash our feet?
That was just showing us what we must have. And I tell you,
We went over to Tansy the other day, took the kids over there,
and when you get in that sand, when you come, and some of y'all
been to the beach, and when you do that, when you come back to
where you're at, they got water to wash your feet off, you know,
they got a faucet there to wash all the sand off your feet. And
that's what we're talking about. We got dirt, we got sand, we
got things on our feet that must be cleansed, just like they did. And I tell you what, like the
Roman bath, When they got out of it, it says clean all over,
but when they had to walk home, when they got home, the servant
had to wash their feet. Had to wash their feet. Now here's
the question our Lord asked here in verse 12. After he had washed
their feet and taken his garment, was sent out again, he said unto
them, know ye what I have done to you? Do you know what I've
done? And it says after he had washed
their feet. It's done. It's completed. It was over. What did he do? He sat down. Sat down. Again. And literally, yes, they
knew exactly, literally, they knew what he had done. They knew
that he had literally washed their feet. And literally had
dried them. But what he's telling, he's going
to teach us the spiritual meaning of it. It's what he wants them
to know. He says, in the later Saudi's garments, He laid aside
his garments. He laid aside his glory. He emptied
himself. He humbled himself. And he took
a towel and girded himself to do for us what we won't do and
do for us what we cannot do. We can't wash our own feet when
it comes to spiritual walk. We can't wash our own self when
it comes to our spiritual walk in this world. That's why Simon
Peter said, thou shalt never wash me. And, oh, but Peter says,
oh, no, you're not going to do that. And I tell you what, that's
what we do until Christ makes us know how desperately we need
him. You're not going to wash me.
And how many people don't feel the need to be washed? You ever met folks that you know,
they all they can talk about is all they've done for the Lord
and all they've done for Jesus and how, you know, how dedicated
they are and how committed they are? They don't need washing.
They don't understand when they walk through this world that
they're contaminated by sin. And you know what you have to do
to sin? Just get up in the morning. Just wake up. That's all you got to do. And
oh my, so we can't do it for ourselves and we wouldn't do
it for ourselves. And oh, look what it says. Then
he laid aside his garb and laid aside his glory. to come down
to be a servant. Then it says there, after he
had washed their feet and had taken his garments. What he did
is he laid aside that towel and got up and put all his clothes
back on, dressed himself again, and sat down. And you know where
our Lord's sitting down right now? He laid aside his glory to come
down here to cleanse us. They had his glory in that flesh,
and they said, this ain't nobody but the carpenter's son. This
is Mary and Joseph's son. This man blasphemeth. He makes
himself to be God. But our Lord now, after he by
himself purged our sins, after he by himself bore our sins in
his own body on the tree, he ascended to heaven and sits now
at the right hand of the majesty on high, sits in glory, dressed
in his priestly robes, dressed with his crown on his head, sitting
on a throne that God gave him before the world ever began.
Huh? Oh, you know why he sat down?
Never no place to sit down in the tabernacle. You know why
he sat down? Because he finished the work. And that's why he sat down after
he washed their feet that's clean. And now he don't need to wash
them again. I'll sit down. And I'm going
to do something for you. I'm going to teach you something
here. And, oh, he moved with such calm, with such deliberate
movements, and he needed no help in putting on his garments. He
needed no help in washing their feet. He needed no help in doing
this for them. No, no, no. And he sat down again. You know how many times it tells
about our Lord sitting down? Oh, my. He sat down when he preached
the Sermon on the Mount. He sat down. in the ship and
moved out from land and talked to those people up on the shore. And how many times you said he
sat down and talked to people. He was sitting down when they
brought that woman taking an adultery to. He was sitting down. And he never got up except to
ride on the ground and to teach them something. And oh, beloved,
and our Lord says, do you know what I've done to you? Do you
know what I've done? And our Lord Jesus, He illustrates
how He teaches us things. He illustrates how He teaches
us things. He does for us, and then after
He does something for us, He worked our feet, and then afterward
teaches what, tell them what He did. Ain't that what He says
here in verse 7? Our Lord told Simon Peter, He
said, What I do now, what I do thou knowest not now. You don't
know what I'm doing, but you gonna know later. And that's
He says now. You know what I've just done?
He didn't know, but I'm going to tell you. I'm going to teach
you. I'm going to instruct you what I just did for you. They
knew he'd washed their feet, but what did he do? And I'll
tell you something about the truth. None of us are born full
born. None of us are born full grown.
And in fact, in fact, you know, I've been preaching all these
years and I feel like I've just Just skirting it. One of these
days, I'll get at it. One of these days, I'll know
a little something about it. Oh, but we grow up in the truth.
We don't have the truth all at once. We don't get it all at
once. And about the time we think we
got it, we lose it and have to start all over again, have it
told us over and over and over again. Ain't that right? I read
something by Mr. Spurgeon this week. He says that
a man, if he preaches the gospel, preaches Christ and Him crucified,
people will come and hear him over and over and over and over
again. But you go hear somebody give
a lecture and somebody give a great talk and entertain you, You know,
you've heard everything he's got to say, and you don't want
to go back thousands of times. But when somebody's preaching
the gospel, you'll go hear him 300 times a year, times 10, times
10, times 10. You know why? Because it's ever,
ever new. That's why people change churches
all the time, because the preachers, they entertain everybody. And
after they got every bit of entertainment and every joke he's told and
how he entertains, they got to go somewhere else and find somebody
to entertain them a little better. But oh, when you hear the gospel,
when you hear the truth, you start growing in that truth.
You start hearing that truth. And that truth makes you start
growing and start being enlightened and start to feel some power
to it. And I said, oh, what I do, you'll
know hereafter. And I tell you how humbling it
is, how humbling it is to realize how little, how little we know
of God's love and grace, which he has, and which is, and which
will always be acting on our behalf. How little we know about
it, how humbling we know about it, And the fact is that it did
do for us, it is doing for us, and it's always doing for us. Oh, I tell you what, we laugh
about our memories and how that, you know, how we forget this
and how we forget that, walk into a room and say, what did
I just come in here for and have to walk back out and turn around
and walk back in, hoping you could think of it before you
get there again. How often you say, boy, I'll
never forget that. No, I mean, it won't be 15 minutes
if you didn't write it down. What was I thinking? I don't,
I didn't think I'd ever forget that. Oh, well, that's how, that's
why a woman told Mr. Spurgeon one time, said, oh,
my brain's got a, got a, it's just like a, it's like a, A strainer, said every time truth
goes through it, you know, it just goes right on through. Said,
I get it while it's going through, but I tell you what, it just
goes right on, you know, I get it while it's being told, I get
it all. But after I leave, it starts
leaving me. Does y'all have that problem?
Obi asked me the other day, why did you preach last Sunday? I
said, I had to go look and see. I had to go look and see. Y'all
have that problem? That's why you're back this morning. That's why you'll be back next
morning. That's why you'll be here Wednesday. Cause it's the truth. You know what I've done? Do you
know what I've done? And how we should often ask ourselves
this question. Do we know what the Lord has
done for us? Do we know what he's done for
us? Well, how can we find the answer what he's done for us?
How are we going to find out what the Lord Jesus Christ, do
you know what I've done? Do you know what I've done? How
are we going to find, if we ask the question, Lord, what have
you done? What have you done? How are we
going to find the answer to this question? Only one place. Only
one place. From His Word. It tells us what
He has done. It tells us what He did in eternity. It tells us that He was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. It tells us that God
chose us in Christ before the world ever began. It tells us
that He gave us grace in Christ before the world ever began.
It tells us that everything God did for us, He did on purpose
and it started in eternity and it will be carried on through
eternity. Where we get that at? From this
Word. And what about what he'd done
for us in time? How are we going to find out
what he came into this world for and who he was that came?
How do we find out who it was? We find out that God, who had
had his eternity, come down here and inhabited time. And he inhabited
time starting in the womb of a virgin. conceived of the Holy
Ghost, the only begotten Son of God, who was eternally God,
and eternally, once He became a man, eternally a man. And the
reason He did that was because we were so lost, so helpless,
so dead, so corrupt, that it took God Himself to come down
and do for us because we're too ignorant, too blind, too deaf,
too dumb to know anything. And he came down into this world
in time. And he said, Father, you gave
me a work to do, and I'm going to do that work. You gave me a people to save. You gave me a people to cleanse. You gave me a people to put sin
away. You gave me a people to make
acceptable to you. You make me a people that has
to be given life. And I'm gonna do it. And Father,
you had gave me glory and I'm gonna come back to that glory
you gave me before the world began. But before I do that,
I'm gonna do what you sent me to do. I'm gonna lay down my
life for the sheep. And I'll give them sheep eternal
life and they'll never perish and nobody will ever be able
to take them away from me. And he said, those sheep, they're
gonna hear my voice. And they're gonna know them and
they're gonna know me. That's what he did in time. And
then he went to the cross And that's where it was all accomplished.
When the father himself, father himself sent his son and said, this is
the only way in the world, only way in this universe that I can
save his people. It's for you, for you. to be wounded for their transgressions,
for you to be bruised for their iniquities, for you to have the
chastisement of their peace on you. And when I see the travail
of your soul, then I'll be satisfied. And by his knowledge, shall he
justify many? Huh? That's, oh, how are we going
to find out how all that took place? And oh, listen, and you know
what? We're just now learning it. We
learn it, and we learn it, and we learn it, and we just keep
on learning it. And you know what? How are we gonna find out
what He's doing for us right now? Do you know what I'm doing? Do
you know what I've done for you? That's what our Lord asked. Oh,
do you know what I've done for you? And right now, right now, He sets at God's right hand and
makes intercession for us. David said, Psalm 34, 1, he said,
Oh, Lord, plead my cause. Lord, plead my cause. John says
this, little children, I write unto you that you sin not. He
didn't say that if you just make a bad decision, if you just feel
like you know you need an advocate or something, but oh, listen,
if any man sin, We got an advocate, we got a lawyer, we got somebody
to take our case, take our cause before God. Who is he? Jesus
Christ the righteous. Oh my. How do we find out all
those things? How do we learn those things?
Where does it come from? From this blessed book, from God's
word. And oh, listen, when we go back
over here to John 13, look what it says now. He says in verse 13, oh, you
know what I've done to you? I do. I do. And I want somebody
to tell me it all the time. Look what he says here. You call
me Master and Lord. You call me Master and Lord.
Oh my. He is full of grace and truth.
You call me Master and Lord. He had just taken the place of
being a servant. Taken the place of being a servant.
laid aside his garments, laid aside his glory, washed their
feet. And yet, even in doing that,
he never gave up his position as Lord and Master over them. Never gave up his position of
glory and authority and power as their Lord and as their Master.
And look what he says then. And you say, well, Why do you
say, well, for what you say is right, what you say is true?
How come? For I am. I am. You call me Master and
Lord? That's the truth. For I am. That so is this italicized, sure
it was added. For I am. I am, Master. I am, Lord. I am the ruler. I am the one in power. I am the
one in glory. I am the one with the authority.
I'm the one that does for you and can only do for you. And
they held our Lord Jesus Christ, oh they held him so high. And
they held him as their master and Lord. They didn't just say
Jesus this and Jesus that and Jesus the other way. I think
in 1 Corinthians 1, I may be wrong about this, but I think
there's nine, it's either nine or 13 times that Paul calls him
the Lord Jesus Christ or Jesus Christ our Lord. It's an unbelievable
amount of times. I know it's a lot of times, but
oh, when everybody just calls him Jesus, sweet baby Jesus,
oh, Jesus loves you. But oh my, we call him the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord of glory. If they'd
known what they had done, they would not have what? Crucified
the Lord of glory. And anybody that's debating whether
they're Jesus Christ is Lord or not or whether, you know,
and people say people are saved all the time and just, you know,
they have never submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Nobody
is saved who has not submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Nobody. Nobody. He's head over the body. God
gave him preeminence. There's no argument over who's
the boss. There's no argument over who's
running this outfit. There's no argument over who
tells us where to go and what to do and how to do His will
and we'll find it out. There's no argument over that.
These fellas that's debating, well, I know they're saved. They
just ain't made Jesus Lord yet. No, they're not saved. I don't
believe that for a parish breath. I don't believe it. Can you be,
that's like saying, well, I, you know, I know some things
about God, but I just don't believe he's sovereign. I believe it's
left up to us to make a choice. And you know that, that we've
got to do things on our own power and own will. That just don't
work that way. It don't wash. Huh? How many times you come into
scriptures, And it says in John 17 too, Thou hast given him power,
authority over all flesh. Why'd you do that? That he should
give eternal life. They didn't deserve
it. They didn't seek it. They didn't ask for it. That
he should give them eternal life. Oh, you call me Master and Lord.
And oh my, you see, we've been given an understanding that we
may know Him that is true, and we're in Him that is true, even
in the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. Huh? Oh, I tell you. And He says, you say, well, for
I am. I know this. If He approves them and accepts
them and commends them for calling Him Master and Lord, can we address
Him any other way? Can we address Him any other
way? If they said, oh, what you said
is right. You call me Master and Lord and
that's exactly what I am. If that's what He said that they
said they're doing good to do that, Well then let me ask you
this, can we address him any other way than that? And then look what he says in
verse 14. If I then your Lord and master
have washed your feet, you ought to also do it as I have done
unto you. You ought to also wash one another's
feet. He says master, that's our teacher. He's our master. As a master and teacher, he's
to be believed. As our Lord, he is to be obeyed. And he says you ought to wash
one another's feet. Yes, they ought to. There was
water there. There was a basin there. There
was a towel there. Why didn't they wash one another's
feet? I'm going to show you why they didn't. Look in Luke 22
with me. I'll show you why they didn't. Look in Luke 22 and verse 24.
This is why they didn't. Huh? You know why they didn't wash
one another's feet? As I've done unto you, you ought to also wash
one another's feet. Look what he said here. Luke
22, 24. And there was also a strife among
them, which of them should be the greatest. Great people don't want somebody
else's feet, they want their feet washed. These fellows argue
over which one of them's the biggest, which one of them's
the greatest, who's the best preacher, who's the most dedicated,
who's the most committed, who's the most prayer, who knows the
most scripture. These fellows debating over who's
who. I tell you what, John, you may
lean on his breast, but I know more about him than you do. And
oh, they go on and on with that kind of stuff. And that's why
they didn't. Everything was there for him
to do it. He said, you ought also to wash one another's feet
there in verse 14. What about us? What about us? About washing one another's feet.
Now we're not blind, we're not blind, we're not ignorant to
the stains that we have and we're not blind and ignorant to the
dirt on one another's feet. Shirley and I was talking on
the way to service this morning, we don't, Nobody has to tell
me anything about their selves and what they've done, where
they've been, and what they have in this world. You know why?
Because you cannot turn the hand for the difference in it. Ain't
that right? And that's what he says. We're
not blind and ignorant to one another's pain. But I tell you
what, we don't see sin in our brethren and call evil good.
But what does he mean for us to watch one another's feet?
We are to do for them what we would want them to do for us.
You know what the scripture says? That love covers a multitude
of sins. And oh listen, and what would
we want people to do for us? If they saw us and they know,
I don't want to be pharisaical. and say, well, I wouldn't have
done that. I can't believe he done that. Well, that beats anything
I ever thought. You know, I just can't believe
that he had done that or said that or did this other thing.
No, don't want nobody to be pharisaical. I don't want nobody to treat
me with, be a pharisee to me. I certainly wouldn't want to
be one to you. And I, you know, and another thing we wouldn't
want anybody to do is be condemning toward us. Be condemning toward
us. Oh, there's plenty for us to
be condemned over, or criticizing, or gossiping, or gossiping, telling
other people what you've seen somebody do and how you've seen
them act. And let me tell you something
about gossip. Let me give you two things about gossip. And
we all say things, but listen, there's two things about gossip.
First of all, look who's talking. Look who's the person telling
you. The second thing, look who they're telling it about. And
if they're saying something about somebody that you have the utmost
respect and love for and regard for, then you'll know who's telling
it. If some jake leg comes along, starts saying something about
somebody that you've got the utmost respect and regard and
love for, then you know right off the bat that they don't know
what you're talking about. And if they do know, you know,
and if they do, so what? If you ain't done it, you thought
it. And that's what we're talking
about. That's how we worship one another's feet. We don't
go around and gossip and say, boy, look at your old sorry feet. Your feet took you here. Your
feet took you there. And I couldn't believe you'd
done that. I couldn't believe you'd done this other thing. Like that Pharisee
talked about that public. And he said, I thank the old
father that I'm not like other men. And I'm especially not like that
publican over there. And you know who went down to
their house justified? The sinner, the publican, the
one who asked for mercy. The Pharisee wouldn't have had
anything to do with him. And oh, but listen, this is what
we do. We pray for one another. We pray for them. And we pray,
Lord, you can cleanse them. You can cleanse them, you can
do their, you can, you're the only one that do. And I tell
you what, and I'm telling you something, this is why, another
reason why we come here to the gospel. The word, his gospel, the word
of God reveals the dirt and also at the same time it reveals and
it washes it away. Ain't that right? Ain't you grateful
it's like that? Now, Paul told the Galatians,
he said, you bite and devour one another. We can do that or
else we can, If you see a brother overtaken in a fall, you that
are spiritual, restore such a one in meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also are tempted. And look what our Savior said
down here in John 13, 34. A new commandment I give unto
you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you
also love one another. You know what love does? Thanketh
no evil. And on he says down in verse
15 now. You walk towards one another's
feet. Pray for one another. Don't criticize. Don't gossip.
Don't condemn. The Lord's the only one that
can cleanse your feet. And oh my, look what he says
now in verse 15. For I've given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Huh? I've given you an example. I've
shown you how spiritual love operates. I've shown you how
spiritual love acts. I've shown you how love treats
its object. How someone in my position, the
Lord of Glory, would humble himself because I love you to wash your
feet and cleanse you and make you clean all over. And I tell you what, where there's
love, it always seeks the good of the ones it's loved. And I'll
tell you something else, there's no service, no service too lowly
for a believer to do. By love, serve one another. And
as he was girded with a towel, we've got to be girded with humility.
And you keep John 13. Look over here in 1 Peter 5.
I'll try to wind this up here. Look over here in 1 Peter 5.
You know, as our Lord Jesus Christ was girded with a towel, you
know how we need to be girded with? With humility. With humility. Look in 1 Peter chapter 5. Look in verse 5 when you get
there. Likewise, you younger submit
yourselves unto the elder. Oh, respect your elders. Yea,
all of you be subject to one another. And listen to this, how are you
going to do that? By being clothed with humility. You know, I've got on a nice
suit here this morning. Nice shirt, good shoes. God don't
dress nice, you're dressed nice. But oh my, this ain't nothing
to humility. Oh God, be clothed, gird yourself
up with humility. Listen to what it says, for God
resists the proud. Stay away from me. But what does
he do? He comes and gives grace. Grace,
grace to those that are humble. What's a humble person? A person
who actually knows that they're nothing. I mean knows that everything
they've got, God gave it to them. It's not a false humility, that's
just the way it is. You know the gifts that God gives
you and you're thankful for them, but at the same time you know
God gave them. And look what he says, humble
yourselves, listen to who you humble yourselves before, under
the mighty hand of God. Not under one another's hands,
under the mighty hand of God. And oh, in due time, you know
what he'll do? He gonna take you up. He gonna lift you up. Yes, he is. And oh my, look now,
look down in verse 16, back over in John 13. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The servant's not greater than
his Lord, neither's him that sent him. That tells you, a servant's
not greater than his Lord. If you work in a house and you're
serving a master, and you sit down to eat, and all of a sudden
the master says, listen, I want my dinner, I want it, you know,
within the next 30 minutes. You gonna sit there and finish
your meal, or you gonna jump up and go over here and take
care of the master? And that's what our Lord says here, you
know. Never, never is a servant who attains to the position of
his Lord. And never is the person greater that is sent than the
one that sent him. The one that sent him. And I
tell you, there's a fellow over in 1 John 3, or in little John
3. John wrote to him and he says,
you know, he said, there's a fellow among you named Diotrephes. And
Diotrephes loves to have the preeminence. And he won't receive
us, and he won't receive them that
we sin. And if he don't control everybody
in the church and if they love somebody else, he puts them out. He says, I'm gonna deal with
you when I get there. There's people that love to have
the preeminence. And he said, oh my, a man like
that. But oh, look where real happiness
is at and real blessedness is at. He says there in verse 17,
if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. If you
know these things, know what things? Things that Christ has
done. Know what he's done. If you know
what he's done, oh, how happy you are, how blessed you are,
how joyful you are, huh? If you know these things, what
things? knowing that Christ loved his
own and will love him to the end. Knowing the vital necessity
of Christ cleansing us and the vital necessity of having our
feet washed and him doing it. To know that Christ is our master,
to know that Christ is our Lord. And to know what it is to wash
one another's feet by loving one another, praying for one
another, and asking Christ to do for us. and do what Christ
did, do it in lowly love as a servant, not as being Lord above one another. And happy and blessed if you
know Him. Ain't that what I said? If you know these things, happy
are you, not only if you know Him, but if you do Him. If you know Him, you do Him.
If you just know Him and don't do Him, then you don't know Him.
And he says, happy are these things. He doesn't say happy if these
things are done to you, but happy if you do them. Now I think there's
a lot of folks think we'd be happy if somebody served us,
loved us. But our Lord said just the opposite.
You're happy if you do them. You do them. And let me ask you
this. Do you get offended when you
aren't deferred to or treated highly, not recognized? Does
that offend you? Well, let me tell you something.
If it does, get over yourself. Ain't that right, Brad? Just
get over yourself. You're not that much. You know,
there ain't much to you. Just get over yourself. Oh my, listen, and we'll say
this in closing. The scriptures, happy are you
if you know these things and do them. The scriptures doesn't
tell us how people are to treat us. The scriptures tells us how
we're supposed to treat other people. you how to treat me. It tells
me how I'm supposed to treat you. Regardless of how you treat me,
I'm supposed to treat you according to the scripture. Ain't that
right? How do we find those things?
Do you know what I've done? Right there. That's what there is. That's
how we know. That's how we know. Our Savior, our Savior, oh, our
Lord, our Master, oh, how blessed we are, how happy we are, how
joyful we are when we know what you've done. And we know you've
taught us, you've instructed us, the Holy Spirit has done
it in us and for us, what you did for us. Oh, Lord, may the
gospel be blessed today to the heart, the mind, the understanding,
And may we be a blessed, happy, joyful people, clothed with humility,
God-honoring, Christ-exalting, loving, generous, kind, gracious
people while we go through this world. In our Lord Jesus' name,
amen. Amen. Let's sing just a couple
of verses of 222. 222 stand with me. Everybody knows this song. There
is a fountain filled with blood drawn to Emmanuel's veins, and
sinners plunged beneath the sand. ? Lose all their guilty stains
? ? Lose all their guilty stains ? ? Lose all their guilty stains
? ? And sinners plunge ? ? Beneath that flood ? ? Lose all their
guilty sane ? Verse three. ? Dear dying Lamb ? ? Thy precious
blood ? ? Shall never lose its power ? Till all the wrath some
church of God be saved to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed church
of God. Be safe to sin no more. The fourth verse will be the
last. E'er since by faith I saw the street that's true. Has been my thing and shall be. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my feet. and shall be till I die. See you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.