John chapter 13. The title of the message this morning
is Lessons from Footwashing. Lessons from Footwashing. Now
this passage of scripture begins four precious chapters that are
devoted to private instruction from our Lord to his disciples.
And they are very rich with blessing. Now the passage before us, you're
all very familiar with it. Does this passage teach us to
wash one another's feet, literally wash one another's feet? Or is
our Lord teaching something much more important than that? I pray
that when we leave here this morning, we'll understand foot
washing. And we'll understand something a whole lot more than
the cleansing of the digits that we put in our shoes. Now there's
a danger that we need to avoid. And it comes up with this matter
of foot washing. I don't think there's anything
wrong necessarily with washing one another's feet, but there's a
danger in that. We can have the form of religion
and not have the Spirit of God. We can have the theology, but
not have Christ. We can copy the motions of religion
and not have heart faith, not have inward light. And most times,
that's what happens with foot washing. They literally take
off your socks and shoes and wash them with their feet. It's
not really true service or true humility. But this can happen
in other areas too. We'd be watchful for this. Now
you know very well the story. We just read it. Supper was finished. Our Lord girded himself like
a lowly servant would be girded. He wrapped a towel around him
and began one by one to wash the feet of his disciples. He
washed several feet. And then he came to Peter. And,
oh, brother Peter, I identify with Peter. In verse 6, Peter
saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Now, I can understand
Peter's reaction. You can, too, I'm sure. Washing
feet was the job of the lowest slave. Always wash the feet of the superior. Never the other way around. But
in this case, everything's backwards. And Peter's not going to have
it. Out of respect for the Lord. He recognizes he is the inferior
and the Lord's the superior. He's not having this. It's out
of respect for who the Lord is. And he says, what is the Lord
of glory? Going to wash the creature's
feet? No, I'm not going to have that. He's not going to wash
the feet of the creature. Is the Holy Son of God going to
wash the feet of a sinful man? You remember the time Peter said,
Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. He's going
to wash the feet of a sinner? You're telling me that the hands
that cleansed lepers, that gave sight to the blind, that raised
the dead, are going to stoop down and wash my feet? No, sir,
I won't have it." Now, I understand Peter's reaction. That being
said, you know if the Lord's doing something, you and I ought
not question it, should we? You know, Peter's questioning
this out of respect for the Lord, but out of respect for who the
Lord is, we ought not question it when we don't understand what
he's doing. We ought not question the Lord because verse 7, our
Lord answered and said unto him, Peter, what I do, thou knowest
not now. You don't know what I'm doing
now, but you shall know hereafter. Now, if foot washing is an ordinance
that we're supposed to copy, Peter wouldn't need any further
instruction from the Lord, would he? He understood exactly what
this meant, this service meant. He understood foot washing very
well. This was a common thing that they did in that society.
The inferior serving the superior. Peter understood the humility
of what this meant. The humility of the one stooping
to wash feet. He understood humility in service.
Now, if we're supposed to copy this ordinance, if we're supposed
to literally wash one another's feet, the story would end here.
Not a person in this room would need further instruction on this.
But something more must be going on, because the Lord's going
to stop and teach us what He's doing. Peter understands what
the Lord's doing, but he doesn't understand why the Lord's doing
what He's doing. He will later on, but right now
he doesn't. He's going to have to be taught
so he can understand why the Lord's doing what He's doing.
And that's the way it is with you and me. Concerning everything
the Lord's doing, I have no idea why the Lord's doing what He's
doing. I will someday, but since I don't understand what, why
the Lord's doing what he's doing, I ought not questioning. And
the same thing's true with the gospel. Everybody knows what
the Lord did. Everybody does. You and I have
never, there may be parts of this world where someone hasn't
heard the name Jesus, but you and I have never been there.
Everybody knows what the Lord, what he did. But few people understand
why the Lord did what He did. Everybody knows Christ was born
of a virgin. Everybody knows that. But few
people know why is that important. It's important that Christ be
born of a virgin so He doesn't partake in Adam's sin. But everybody
doesn't know that. Well, why is it important that
the Lord be born of Mary? Wouldn't any virgin do? Why did
He have to be born of Mary? Because Mary is of the house
and lineage of David. The Messiah is going to be the
son of David. He's going to sit on David's throne. He has to
be born from someone who is in the lineage of David. King David. Everybody knows Christ died on
the cross. Everybody knows that. Few people
know why he died on the cross. Few people understand that the
Lord Jesus Christ died as a substitute for his people. He was made sin
for His people and the Father killed Him for them. Everybody
knows Christ was raised from the dead. But few people understand
why was He raised from the dead. He was raised again for our justification.
He was raised again because He's the successful Savior. He successfully
put away all the sin that the Father laid on Him. Everybody
knows Christ ascended back to the Father. But few people understand
why did He do that? He ascended back to the Father
so he'd make intercession for his people and prepare a place
for his people. So that's why he did what he
did. As far as foot-washing goes, let me make this other note.
Our Lord washed Judah's feet too, didn't he? So there has
to be something more important being taught here than simply
taking off our socks and shoes and washing one another's feet.
So, what lessons can we learn from foot-washing? Some very
important ones. The first one is this. The first
lesson we learn from foot washing is the immeasurable love of Christ. Look at verse 1, John 13. 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 ran the world, he loved them unto
the end. Now there's several things we
learn about the love of Christ here. First of all, the love
of Christ is eternal. I almost preached a whole message
on the end of this verse. Having loved his own which are
in the world, he loved them to the end. The love of Christ is
eternal. Having loved his own. If I was
a better English student, I could tell you what tense that this
is in, but what that means is, having, it means that love is
perpetual. It's eternal. Christ has always
loved his people. There's never been a time that
he didn't. He loved his people in eternity past. He agreed to
be the surety for his people because he loved them. He agreed
to be the sacrifice for their sin because he loved them. And
he came to earth as a man. He humiliated himself. He clothed
himself in human flesh because he loves his people. This is
the only way they can be redeemed. This is the only way they can
have a sacrifice. And He loved them. So He came
to be their sacrifice. He came to be their representative
to work out a righteousness that He would give them freely. And
He loves His people to the end. Now what's this end? Well, it's
not just the end of His life on earth. It's not the end of
your life on earth. It's to the end. Eternity. All throughout eternity. Past
to future, Christ loves His people. Secondly, Christ loves His elect,
having loved His own. Now that shows ownership. One
of the writers I read said this own, it's a different word and
it talks about my own sheep, my own possessions. This is His
own people, His own persons. He loved His own. It shows ownership. The elect belong to Christ. He
owns them. He owns them, first of all, because
the Father gave them to His Son. They're a gift to His Son. He
owns them. Second, He owns His elect because
Christ chose His people. He told His disciples, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. He chose them, made them His.
Third, the elect belonged to Christ because He purchased them. He bought them with the blood
of His sacrifice. And fourthly, Christ owns His
elect. because He calls them to Himself,
to be joined to Him, to be part of His body. They're His. Christ
loves His elect. Thirdly, Christ loves sinners. He loved them which were in the
world. They're in the world because
they're born of the world. They're born with Adam's nature.
They're born with the nature of this world. They're born under
the curse of sin that's in this world. They're corrupted by sin. They're corrupted by the way
of the world. The twelve disciples are perfect examples of that,
aren't they? Just they're men. Sinful men, just like we are.
And they need to be washed. They've got to be washed from
the filth of their sin. The filth of this world that
they live in. They're sinners. But Christ still loves them.
He loved them to the end. And four, Christ loves sinners. But Christ does not love all
men. And all men do not love Christ. Christ does not love
Judas, and Judas does not love Christ. Look at verse 2, "...and
supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." What a contrast
between the love of Christ and the hatred of Satan and the hatred
of man. You can't blame this all on the
devil. I mean, he did put that in Judas' heart, but this is
the will of man and the hate of man too. Christ does not love
all men, and all men do not love Christ. No man by nature loves
Christ. And even though man by nature
hates Christ, yet Christ stoops to give us an illustration of
His great love for sinners. Christ stooping to wash the feet
of His disciple is a picture of the love of Christ in action,
washing His people from their sin. Second, the second lesson
we have here from Foot-washing is this, we learn the character
of Christ the Savior. Christ is both Lord and servant. He's both the master and the
bond-slave. Look at verse 3. Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things in his hand and that he
was come from God and went to God. Now this means a whole lot
more than our Lord knows all things. Of course he knows he's
God. He knows all things are in His
hand because He's Lord of all. He knows that. And He knows His
mission. He knows He's come to save His
people. He knows He's come to be the Savior of sinners. But
this is what He knows. He knows He's going to accomplish
it. It's done. He knew that His hour to be slain
was come. And that in that hour, He knew
He was going to save His people from their sin. He knew his sacrifice
would be successful, and I'll show you that here in a minute.
He knows his sacrifice is going to cleanse his people from all
their sins, because he knows all things. He knows he's the
successful Savior. He knows, in short order, he's
going to send back to the Father and sit on the throne of glory
as the successful Savior, the mediator of his people. It says
in verse 1 that our Lord knew his hour was come that he should
depart out of this world. He's going to leave this world
voluntarily. John, you're at the airport.
It had arrivals and departures. You look for yours and you departure.
And you got on that plane on purpose. Willingly. Coming home. Or going to the beach. Our Lord did the same thing.
The time of His departure was at hand. I'm going to depart
willingly. I'm going to lay down my life
willingly as a sacrifice for my people because I love them. Only God can do that. And you
cannot be more exalted than God above all. Look at verse 13.
You call me Master and Lord. You say, well, for so I am. He is Lord of all. I want you to look at verse 4,
what the Master and Lord does. He rises from supper. And he
laid aside his garments, and he took a towel, and he girded
himself. The Lord and Master took off
that upper robe that he wore, took off that upper garment,
and he wrapped himself in a towel. Now that is the outfit, the uniform
of the lowest slave in the house. Now our Lord dressed himself
like the lowest slave there. It was the lowest slave who washed
the feet. And it's a humiliating outfit.
You're recognized as the low man on the totem pole. He's identified
that way. Brethren, that is our Savior.
He stripped Himself of all of His glory as God for a while. And He clothed Himself in the
humiliation of human flesh. We don't understand how humiliating
It is for the Lord of Glory to humble Himself to become what
we are. We think we'd be humiliated if
we were somehow taken captive and made, taken to some far off
country and made to be the lowest slave there. That'd be so humiliating
to us. We're just horrified when we
see on the news these children being robbed from their homes
in these other countries and taken to be slaves. How horrible
that is. That's nothing. compared to the
humiliation the Lord of Glory endured to become a man. Christ,
the Son of God, set aside His deity. He stripped Himself of
His deity and clothed Himself in human flesh with the weakness
of frailty of human flesh. And Christ stooped that low because
He loves His people. He loves His people so much He
identified Himself with them. You see, if we're going to be
identified with Christ, Christ must identify Himself with us. He had to become what we are.
So the Master and Lord became the servant. And as a man, that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, was the servant. And it was always intended to
be that way. This is always God's purpose
in salvation. Isaiah 42, 1. my son. Behold the Prince of
Glory." That's not what it says. Behold my servant. My servant. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah
would come as a servant. Look over in Philippians chapter
2. What a wonder that God would
become a man. Philippians 2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus." Now this is his mind. "...who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God." It wasn't robbery for him to say he's equal with God, because
he is God. "...but he made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. And being found and fashioned
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto even
the death of the cross. The Master, the Lord, became
a servant. That's the character of Christ.
The third lesson we have in foot washing is this. Christ came
as the servant to wash his people. That's what we see in verse 5.
After that, and see this is important, after he stripped himself of
his garment, and after he put on the garment of a slave, after
that he poureth water. into a basin. He can't wash his
people until he strips off his deity and becomes a maid, becomes
the servant. After he made himself the servant,
then he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'
feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
The King of Glory became a servant and tenderly washed the feet
of his disciples. Now, this is more than foot washing,
more than washing our feet that we walk on. This is the picture
of redemption. Christ must become the servant
if his people are going to be washed. If they're going to be
saved, they've got to be washed. And they're going to be washed
by the servant. Christ must be made sin. He must
suffer everything that that sin deserves. He must die the death
that his people deserve. He must shed his blood. He can't
be stoned. He's got to be crucified. He's
got to shed his blood to cleanse his people from all of our sin,
all of our filth, all of our iniquity. Sin is vile, vile and
wretched. Sin is a corruption that reaches
all the way through our very soul. Sin is a stain that goes
all the way through. It's colorfast all the way through. No matter where you cut us, you
find sin. That's all we are. And water
won't cleanse us. Soap and water won't cleanse
us. Bleach won't cleanse us. Disinfectants won't get the job
done. It takes the blood. And not just any blood. The blood
of the Lamb. The blood of Christ. Look at
1 Corinthians chapter 6. It's the blood. The only way we can be cleansed.
And we must be washed in this blood. 1 Corinthians 6. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Are ye not deceived that
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God? And such were some of you, such
were all of us, but ye are washed." But you're sanctified, but you're
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. You're born sinners, just as
bad as every other sinner, every other man on this earth. But
you're washed. Look over in 1 John 1. You're washed in the
blood. Just any washing will cleanse
us. It's the blood. 1 John 1 verse 7. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Look at Revelation chapter 1
over just a few pages. This washing is in the blood
of Christ. Revelation 1 verse 5. and from Jesus Christ who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and
the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Cleansing from
sin is in the blood. Now this is the time of the Passover. This one was the last one, the
last Passover. This was the time that Israel
was supposed to worship. And remember how when they were
in Egypt, God passed over their houses. He didn't come kill the
firstborn because there was blood on the door. A lamb had been
sacrificed. His blood had been applied to
the door. And God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over
you. And they were to remember this
as an ordinance forever. To remember that lamb, how God
passed over them because of the blood. Well, this is the last
Passover because Christ The Lamb of God who taketh away the sin
of the world is going to be sacrificed. He's going to shed His blood
and His people will be washed in the blood of the Lamb. They'll
be cleansed from every sin and there'll be no more need for
that picture because the Lamb has come. There's no more need
for that picture because you've been washed in the blood. Christ
came as a servant to wash His people clean from every sin. But now here's the fourth lesson
we learn in foot washing. There is a two-fold washing here
for every believer, and both of these washings are necessary.
Look at verse 6. 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. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee God has no part with me. Now, Peter said, Lord, you don't
wash my feet. We're not having this. Our Lord
said, Peter, if I don't wash you, you've got no part with
me. Our Lord's not talking about
Peter's feet anymore. He's talking about the washing of regeneration.
He's talking about the cleansing from sin. And our Lord told Peter,
Peter, I've got to wash you. We can't wash ourselves. Christ
must wash us. It's his blood. And He's the
one that must apply it. He's got to do the washing. We
have no benefit from the death of Christ. We have no part in
the death of Christ unless that blood is applied. And Christ
washes us in His blood. We have no part with Christ if
we're not washed in the blood of His sacrifice. That word part
means portion. Christ is my portion. Now there
can be times, I remember being a kid, Mom would, we'd have a
birthday or something and she'd make a cake and she'd divide
it and everybody would get their portion. I'm a big dessert eater. My portion was almost never enough
really. I could always eat more. Christ
is my portion. I don't just have a part. I've
got it all. Christ is my portion. But if
I'm not washed in the blood of Christ, then Christ is not my
portion. And I have nothing. I've got
nothing but what I've earned, which is nothing, nothing but
death and condemnation. And this part, it also means
to be part of Christ, to have a part in his body. Well, the
only way a sinner can be in Christ is to be washed in his blood.
The only way a sinner can be clean and be accepted in the
presence of God is to be washed in the blood and to be found
in Christ. And we have that. in Christ,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
Look over in Philippians chapter 3. The Apostle Paul was not at
this supper, but he learned this lesson. The Apostle Paul wanted
to be partaker in Christ. He wanted to have a part in Christ. He wanted to be partaker of the
righteousness of Christ. Look at end of verse 8. Paul says, this is my desire,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. I want to be partaker of His
righteousness. Next, Paul wanted to have a part
in the first resurrection. Look at verse 10. That I may
know Him. and the power of his resurrection. I want to know the power of the
first resurrection, where he gives me spiritual life in Christ. Next, Paul wanted to have a part
in the death of Christ. He wanted to have a part. He
wanted to have a portion, a benefit from the sacrifice of Christ.
That I may know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. And
then Paul wanted to have a part. He wants to have a portion with
Christ in the second resurrection, verse 11, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Paul wanted to be
a part of the righteousness of Christ. He wanted to have a part
in that first resurrection. He wanted to have a part in the
death of Christ, being made conformable to his death. He wanted a part
in the second resurrection, to be raised forever with the Lord.
And Peter understood that very thing. More than anything else,
Peter wanted to be part with Christ. He understood how important
that is. More than anything else, this
is what he wants, because this is why he says in verse 9, Simon
Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands
and my head. Peter goes from one extreme to
the other. Lord, you never wash me. Oh, wash me all over. Wash
me all over. Don't leave any doubt, because
I'm a sinful man. I need a whole lot more of my
feet washed. I do need my feet washed, so my way will be cleansed.
But my hands have got to be cleansed. Wash my hands, so my actions
are cleansed. Wash my head, so my thoughts
are cleansed. Old Peter. Now he makes lots
of mistakes. Bless his heart, he makes lots
of mistakes. And I can identify with Peter
just... I've got to be the one saying
something. I'm just going to pop off and even if I don't know
what I'm talking about, Peter makes mistakes. But Peter always
comes back to this. Always. I'm a sinner. Christ is the Savior. He's the
Lord of all. Lord, save me. Wash me. Look
at what our Lord says in verse 10. Jesus saith unto him, He
that is washed, ne'eth not save to wash his feet, but is clean
every whip. And you're clean, but not all. Now what our Lord is talking
about here is how they took baths in this day. People didn't have
baths and showers in their homes. They didn't have running water
in their homes. They had public bathhouses. And everybody would
go down there and take a bath. They'd get all washed and cleaned.
They'd get out. They'd dry themselves off. They'd
get dressed. And they'd walk home. Well, on their walk home,
their feet got dirty. They wore open sandals and they
walked on dusty roads. They didn't have paved sidewalks
and paved roads. They got home and their feet
were dirty. The first thing they did is they'd go in their home
and they'd wash their feet. They didn't have to wash their
hair. They didn't have to wash the rest of their body. The rest
of them was clean. Only their feet got dirty because their
feet came in contact with the earth, with the dust. We do the
same thing at the beach today. You pack up. You've been out
at the beach all day. You pack up your stuff and you start walking
back to the hotel and you come up on the boardwalk. There's
a shower. It's got a little nozzle down
here. You stick your feet under it and wash your feet. Because
from where you left where your beach towel was to those steps,
you walk through sand and your feet are dirty. You've got to
wash it off or you're going to track it all through the hotel.
That's what our Lord's talking about here. Now, here's the lesson. God's elect are cleansed from
every sin by the blood that Lord Jesus Christ shed at the cross.
Every wit, our Lord. So you're clean every wit. That
means every spot. Remember I told you sin goes
all the way through? The blood of Christ goes all
the way through. Deeper than the stain is gone. The blood
of Christ goes and cleanses us all the way through. Clean from
all sin. Justified. Forgiven of all sin. The blood of Christ doesn't just
paint over dirt on the wall. It makes us clean. It doesn't
just cover up sin. It removes sin and makes His people clean.
Now I want you to see the power of the blood of Christ. Remember,
I told you, I'll show you how Christ knows He's going to be
a successful Savior. This is the power of the blood
of Christ and the surety that we have of salvation in Christ.
Our Lord told Peter, you are clean. The Lord hadn't been to the cross
yet. He said, Peter, you're clean. Even though the blood hadn't
physically been shed. The promise of God is as sure
as an act of God. Peter, you are clean. Not you're
going to be clean in a few days. Not you'll be clean in eternity.
Peter, you are clean before the Lord ever went to the cross.
Now why is that important? That's important to old Peter.
But I tell you it's important to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
too. All those Old Testament believers.
They're saved the same way you are. They've been washed in the
blood The blood of Christ. They were clean before Christ
ever went to the cross. Now belief was clean. You got
that? We're clean in the blood of Christ. But now we need this
second washing. We also need a daily cleansing. Because we've come in contact
with the world. We've come in contact with ourselves.
That's enough to defile us, isn't it? We've come in contact with
ourselves. We need our feet washed. Now, we don't need another sacrifice.
Christ doesn't need to go to the cross again. He doesn't need
to shed his blood again. He did that once for all. But
we need to have our feet washed. Well, how do we wash our feet?
How can we be daily cleansed? In the Word of God. Psalm 119,
verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? By taking heed thereunto according
to thy word. will cleanse in the Word. Look
in Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now
why did he do that? That he might sanctify it? and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, by the Word
of God. Our daily walk is cleansed by
the Word of God. It just straightens you up. We're
cleansed by prayer, by communication with our Lord, by reading His
Word. Our way is cleansed by public
worship. And our way is cleansed by being with the people of God.
Coming to Christ is a daily coming to Christ. A believer doesn't
just come to Christ once and then, well, that's over, I got
that done. Oh, to whom coming? Constantly,
I'm coming to Christ again right now. To whom coming? A believer
doesn't just look to Christ and then forget about it and do something
else. We're constantly looking to Christ. That's how we cleanse our way.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. A
believer doesn't just get saved. I hate that term. Get saved. You don't get saved, you are
saved. You're being saved and one day
you will be saved. That's a daily walk with the
Lord. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. And the Word of God cleanses
our way, washes our feet. But now Christ didn't die for
everyone, did he? Christ did not shed his precious blood for
everyone. He said, Peter, you're clean.
But not all of you. Judas didn't clean. Our Lord
did wash Judas' feet, knelt down in front of Judas and washed
his feet and tenderly dried the feet of that wicked man, just
like He did Peter. He didn't love Peter, but He
didn't love Judas. He didn't wash Judas. He didn't wash him
in His blood. He washed Peter in His blood.
That's why He said back in verse 11 in our text, You're not all
clean, not all, for he knew who should betray him. Therefore,
said he, you're not all clean. So after he washed their feet,
and taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto
them, Know ye what I've done unto you? And our Lord took off
that servant's outfit, and he put his own clothes back on,
and he sat down at his place at the head of the table. God
the Son, he did set aside his glory of deity for a time. But
he put it back on when the work was finished. When the work of
a servant was finished, he laid that down and put on his deity. The work of salvation is finished. So Christ put his deity back
on. And he's not seen as a servant
anymore. Now he's seen as king. And he's bowed to as the sovereign
that he is. So he sits back down. Place of
authority. At Lord and Master. And he asks
his disciples, do you know what I've done? You don't, so I'm
going to teach you something. Now, you and I understand what
he's done, because we see all this from this side of the cross. The Lord hasn't gone to the cross
yet, and they're still trying to understand everything from
the other side of the cross. We understand what the Lord's
teaching here, because we see the finished work of the servant.
We see the finished work of the Savior. Now, our Lord just taught
them cleansing from sin and the blood of the He taught them justification
in the blood of Christ and he taught them the need for daily
forgiveness, daily cleansing of sin. Now here's the fifth
lesson. The fifth lesson we have from
foot washing is this. You follow the example of your
Lord and humble yourself to serve. 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, even as I have done unto 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 you'll
notice our Lord didn't say, this do. When he institutes the Lord's
table, he's going to say, this do. You use wine and bread, this
do. And if our Lord had said, this
do. We'd be washing one another's feet. But he didn't say that.
He said, I'll give you an example of how to serve. Not what to
do, but how to do it. And if you want to wash one another's
feet, I suppose that's fine. I mean, you know, whatever. But
now when it comes to the Lord's table, we're not using grape
juice. We're not using heinous bread. We're using unleavened
bread and wine because the Lord said this to do. This foot washing
is an example of how to serve one another. If you're going
to serve someone, You've got to do something that's useful.
You've got to do something that they need. And foot washing in
this day was very useful. People walked around in sandals
and dirty, dusty roads all the time, and having their feet washed
was a useful thing. Well, it's not useful to us today.
Everybody's got a bathtub and shower at home, and everybody
came here to clean feet this morning. It wouldn't do us much
good. It wouldn't do you any benefit for us to wash your feet. There's a time I can think of
that foot washing would be good service. I had my back surgery. A couple of weeks, I couldn't
wash my feet. I'd take a shower. I'd holler at Janet. Well, she
wasn't very far. She was afraid I'd fall or something,
you know. She's right there. And I'd just take my feet out.
She'd be down washing her feet. She'd dry them real carefully,
you know. Good service. Well, I'd like to wash some feet. How are you going to do that?
If you see a need, fill it. If you see something that needs
to be done, do it. Don't tell somebody else to do
it. You do it. And there is no service. I don't care what service
it is that you see. There's no service that's beneath
you and me. Are you too good to be the janitor? Are you too
good to be the doorkeeper? Be careful now. There's no room
in God's church for big shots. There's no big, important guy
in God's church. There's one head. We can't say,
that's beneath me. Look at Matthew chapter 20, and
I'll show you that. There's no service that we can see and say,
you know what, that's beneath me. Let somebody else do that.
We can't say that. Matthew 20, verse 25. This is after the mother of James
and John came and said, Now, Lord, why don't you let my two
sons sit one in your right hand and one in your left in the kingdom?
And you know that made all the other disciples mad. This is
not the right attitude. So look at verse 25 that our
Lord says, But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that
the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they
that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be
so among you. But whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister. That word minister is waiter.
Whoever is going to be great in the church of God, let him
be your waiter. Let him wake tables and carry water. And whosoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant. If you want
to be the chief, you start serving. Be the servant. Now, this is
the key to service. If our Lord Jesus Christ humbled
himself and he stooped to save you, There's no service that's
too low for you to do. Christ has a name which is above
every name, and he humbled himself to serve. Who are you? Well,
we're nothing. We're nobody. Then we don't have
to humble ourselves to serve, do we? We're already down there.
Then since you're there, serve. You wash feet by serving, doing
something for someone that needs to be done. You can serve. You can wash feet by forgiving
somebody. You can wash feet by showing
mercy to someone. You can wash feet by being kind
to someone. You can wash feet by inviting
somebody to go out to lunch with you. I remember this plain as
day. Jan and I were newly married.
Somebody invited us over to their house for dinner. I'm telling you, it felt good.
That's how you wash feet. Christ humbled Himself to meet
our need. Then we can humble ourselves
to help others and serve others. Now, this lesson, this fifth
lesson, serving one another, came last for this reason. You
can't learn this lesson until you learn the first four. Until
you learn the lesson of the love of Christ for His people. Until
you learn the character of Christ, He Lord and Until you learn about
the washing in the blood, the daily cleansing that we need
from Christ, then you can learn serving one another in humility.
Religion can't teach you that. Doctrine cannot teach you humility. But Christ in the heart will.
And a believer is going to do this. The believer will never
be happy until he serves. Look at verse 17 back in our
text. If you know these things, happy
are you. If you do them. If you do them. Happiness is not being the ruler
and commanding everybody else to wait on you hand and foot.
A believer is not happy unless he's serving. If you would be
happy, find a place to serve. And do it. I'm telling you. Ask
not what everybody else can do for you. Ask what you can do
for everybody else. And you'll be happy. And I'll
tell you why that's true for a believer. Because you have
the mind of Christ. Didn't Paul say, let this mind
be in you? You have the mind of Christ. Then you can't be
happy unless you're serving. Because you've got the mind of
Christ. Christ in the heart makes you not just willing to serve,
but happy to do it. Lessons from foot washing. Now, one of my favorite times
of the whole week is greeting y'all at the back door. I mean,
I look forward to it all week. But if you'll pardon me, today's
chance home And she can't get out of bed without help. And
I'm worried about her. So I'm going to leave while we're
still singing so I can get home and help her out of bed, if that
would be all right with you. You all wash one another's feet.
Greet one another and wash one another's feet. And you be sure
to wash Maggie Patterson's feet. This is Maggie's last Sunday
with us. Maggie's moving to Cincinnati.
And we're happy about it. And he said, we're happy about
it. We're happy for you Maggie, we really are. We pray the Lord
be with you, bless you. Maggie found a place she can
worship there in Cincinnati and she got a good job offer. And
we pray the Lord be with you. Go with you and y'all greet her
and we'll look forward and you come home and visit, alright?
Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, human language cannot express
the thanksgiving that's in our hearts for the cleansing and
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Christ himself, the Prince
of Glory, would stoop to become what we are, to take on him flesh
and blood, and have that flesh be broken and sacrificed. To have his blood shed as a sacrifice
for the sin of his people, the people that he the people that
He made His, and that Christ Himself would stoop down to reach
down to the bottom of the barrel where we are, pick us up in our
defilement, in our sin, in our wretchedness, in our rebellion,
and wash us in His precious blood. Wash us clean from all sin. Give us a part in Him. And He'd
give us His Word and daily wash our feet, cleanse our way with
the Word of God. Father, we're thankful. How thankful
we are. And we pray that You'd give us
a heart of humility, that we'd see who and what we are, who
the Lord is, how He stooped and humbled Himself to serve, to
cleanse us. Give us a heart to serve one
another, to humble ourselves, to help, one another, to bear
one another's burdens and help each other. It is in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ we ask that you bless your word
and bring glory to your name. It is in that name which is above
every name we pray and give thanks. Amen.