Go back to John chapter 13. I titled this, Wash and Washed or Spiritual
Bathing. I sat down in a study Thursday
morning. After Wednesday, we had the Lord's
table. We were in the part of Matthew,
Matthew 26, where the Lord instituted the supper and they took the
Lord's table. And then after that, he goes
to Gethsemane. And so I sat down Thursday morning
working on the message of where our Lord went into the garden. And in my studies, a reference
came up over in John, the Gospel of John, I think it was 17 or
18 chapter. And as I started reading through
there, I realized that from John 13 to John 17 is the same time
period. at the Feast of the Passover,
the Supper, all of that is done right there. John just gives
us a different perspective on it. As all the Gospels, you know,
they all write individually, but they're all moved and inspired
by the Holy Spirit to write as they wrote. And so I sat down
and I read from John 13 to John 17. I sat down and just read
it. And I thought, before I go any
further, Before we go into the Garden of Gethsemane, let's just
back up a little bit into the Gospel of John and see what our
Lord taught them at this hour. And as I read this, I thought,
metaphorically, we need to take our shoes off. We are on holy
ground. We are on holy ground. Our Lord
is teaching His disciples at this time right before He goes
to the cross. And I want us to look at this.
This all happens in the same time period. And this gives us
more insight as to what our Lord taught them at that hour. He's
going to be taken from them and be crucified. He knows what He's
about to face and what they are about to go
through themselves as His disciples. The sheep are going to be scattered.
He knows what they are going to go through. And so He instructs
them from John 13 to 17. This all happens here in these
five chapters. Now, before the Feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew, He knew that His hour was come. His hour to die, to be crucified. He knew that. That he should
depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his
own. Having loved his own. This is
John's writing. This is the beloved disciple. One whom the Lord loved. Having
loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the
end. We might be able to say he loved
them to the uttermost. I mean to the utmost. That's
the reason I read Romans 8. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God. He did not in the face of what
he is about to go through. He's about to go into the garden
and sweat great drops of blood because he's in such agony of
what he is about to go through. And the humiliation, the shame
that he is about to go through. You take the most embarrassing
moment of your life, the most shameful moment of your life,
and it cannot even be compared to the shame and humiliation
that he felt when he was made to be sinned before his father.
You can't even imagine that kind of shame and humiliation. I mean,
I have embarrassed myself at times, and I've been humiliated
at times. my own fault. But He's taken the sin. He's
taken the depravity. He's taken the innermost wickedness
of every one of us. Every one of His children. His
own. He's taken it. And He's going to be totally
humiliated and embarrassed before His Holy Father. That's just
astounding. It's astounding. But it says
here, That He knew that His hour was come. He knew! As God, He
knew all things. He was not taken by surprise
at any time. Not at any time. He knew all
things. And He knew that His hour had come. And I want you
to see this over in John 12, just a chapter back. Look in
verse 23. If you were about to die, I mean
if you knew you were going to die tonight or today, if you
knew this was it, this was the day, how would you speak of it? How would you speak of it? He
says here in verse 23, And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour
is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. He looked beyond
the shame He looked beyond the humiliation. He looked beyond
the suffering, the cross, to the glory that laid ahead. And
He said it's time for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now that's a good way to look
at death. For a believer now, for a believer, that is one way
for us to look at death. When that hour comes, when that
day comes, that hour comes, and we know it's imminent, Or that
God would enable us to say, we are about to be glorified. A
son of God, another son of God is about to be glorified, or
a daughter, about to be glorified. He knew he was about to depart.
He says, listen, out of this world, this world of sin, this world
of evil, this world that absolutely hated him, He's about to depart
out of it and go back to where He loved, to go back to the One
with whom He had glory with before the world was. He's about to
go back there. Now, having loved His own. Now,
you want to talk about whom the Lord loves. It tells us right
here. The Word of God tells us, having
loved His own. That's who He loves. His own. which were in the world, He loved
them to the end. He loved them with an everlasting
love. All that He is about to go through
did not diminish His love. He loved them with an unchanging
love. It never fluctuated. We do. We fluctuate. We like
the weather now. Today we're hot, tomorrow we're
cold. We complain about the weather.
I wish I saw somebody or heard somebody the other day say, I
wish it would quit snowing. Well, it's the Lord's snow. It's
His day. It's His weather. And we just,
we ought to enjoy that. We ought to enjoy it. It's His.
He loved us with unchanging love. Look how much we've changed. Cold one day, hot the next. Lukewarm. But His love never changes. In my wretchedness, His love
never changed. And I want to say this, when we are the most sincere
in what we are doing, when we are here worshiping and we are
sincere, God has given us the ability to be sincere this morning.
You know, His love is not any more than when I was at my wretchedness.
Not any more. Not any different. He loved them with an everlasting
love, unchanging love. And He loved them, it says, to
the end. To the end of my wretchedness.
He loved them completely. He loved them to the end. To the end of all things. It
will never change. Having loved His own, that's
whom He loves, His own. He is by creation. He is by election. He is by redemption. He is by
adoption. He is by new creation. Nothing,
I read this to you in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from
His love. Nothing. And supper being ended,
The devil now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him. The traitor is revealed, and
it's one of them. And it's painful. It's painful.
It's painful even to our Lord. You know, we'll see this later
on when we get back to the garden, when they come out to get him.
You know the Lord called Judas friend? He says friend? And the Lord does not throw words
out or barbs out. He doesn't throw it out to be
You know, to just kind of needle him. He meant it. He meant this. He looked at Judas
and said, you're my friend. I can't explain that. He said, you're my friend. And we see here how Satan had
his hand in the betrayal of this thing all along. He's going to
bruise His heel. You know, that was said back
in the garden, wasn't it? He shall bruise His heel. Well,
it's going to happen. But the Lord's going to bruise His head.
Now, Jesus knowing, knowing, He's all-knowing, isn't He? He's
all-knowing. That the Father had given all
things into His hands. This thing's not out of control.
This thing's under His control. He said the Father had given
all things into His hand, even this hour. Even this hour. And that He was come from God,
and He went to God. As the Mediator. He's speaking
here of His Mediatorship. All things were given to Him
to accomplish. All things were put into His
hands to accomplish. I'm so glad that he didn't do
this much, and then you and I had the period at the end of the
sentence. We had to finish it. No. All things were given into
his hands to accomplish. This whole matter of redemption,
this whole matter of saving sinners has been put into the hands of
the Son of God. I have laid help, he said, upon
one that is mighty, his Son. His Son. And He said He came
from God, not man. They said, we know you. You are
the carpenter's son. No, you don't know Him. He's
God's Son. He's God's Son. He didn't come from man. He came
from God. And now He's ready to return
back to God. Back to that glory that He had
with Him before the world was. Can you imagine the excitement
of that? Can you imagine the excitement, the anticipation of leaving this
world and going back to glory? Going back to the Father. Having
done with sin. Having done with it. Put it away. He came from God and he went
back to God. He's going back to God after
he finishes the work which was given to him before the foundation
of the world to do. He came from above and He's going to return
as the forerunner. As the forerunner of God's people. As the forerunner of His own.
And then it says here, and boy, this is just so glorious. It
doesn't just say He got up from supper. That's the way you and
I would talk. He got up from supper. No, just
like when I read this, I thought of the rising of the sun. Just
shining in the early morning. The sun coming up and rising.
And giving light to this dark world. Chasing away the darkness.
So He rises from supper. And they're probably thinking,
what's He going to do? He's not saying a word to them.
They're having supper here. And then the master rises. He rises from supper. And here's
what he does. Notice here. He rises from supper
and he laid aside his garments. He laid aside his garments. Took
off his garments. And he took a towel. A servant's
towel. And he girded himself. Now, back
in that day, when they were going to work, they didn't wear robes.
They knew how to dress comfortably. They wore robes. But when they
were going to do something, they were going to work, they would
gird them up. When they were going to serve, to work and do
something, they would gird up their robes so they wouldn't
get in the way. But he didn't lay his aside.
He just took it off and laid it aside. and took a towel, and
he girded himself with that towel. He girded himself with it. I
wrote down here, we ought to write Sela. That is a musical note. And you
know what it means? It means to pause and seriously
consider. Pause and seriously consider
what he is about to do. And I'll tell you why he did
this, and I never really caught this until I was reading this
week. Look over in Luke chapter 22. Now listen to this. Look in verse
23. Now the Lord said that someone's
going to betray Him. This is at the supper. Someone's
going to betray Him. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. Who
should do such a thing? Who would do? Lord, who would
betray you? Is it I? We saw that Wednesday
night. Is it I? But look in verse 24, and there
was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted
greatest. This is going on at the Lord's table. Isn't that
amazing? They're saying, is it I? But
at the same time, there's a strife going on. Who is going to be
the greatest among them? So the Lord rises from supper.
Instead of saying that You all shut up. You don't know what
you're talking about. Listen to me. By an example, he rises
from supper, takes off his garment, girds himself with a towel, and
he's going to show them something by example. By example. This is the Lord. This is the
Lord of glory. This is God. This is God Almighty
is who this is. You wouldn't think God would
be like this if He hadn't of came. You'd never know. that
our God is such a God. You wouldn't know it. This is
the Lord of glory laying aside His garments and taking a towel,
a towel of a servant, and girding Himself with it. You know what that means when
He did that? You know what that meant? It
means He's preparing Himself to serve. He's preparing Himself to serve.
In that day, And that day, when guests would come over to a house,
they'd be invited over to a house, they would come into the house,
the lowest servant, this was the job for the lowest servant
in the house, the lowest slave in the house, that lowest servant,
he would take a towel, gird himself with it, and he'd take a wash
basin, fill it with water, And he'd wash the guest's feet and
then he would dry their feet with the towel. That was the
job of the lowest servant in that house. And our Lord, the
Lord of glory, rises from supper, girds himself and takes the lowest
position in the house. What an example. Then after that, he pours water
into a basin. and began to wash the disciples'
feet and wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded." He took it off. And you know what
a washing that was. You know how gentle he had to
have been with them, washing their feet. And he didn't ask
them. He didn't ask or he didn't command
any one of them to get the towel, get a wash basin filled with
water. I'm going to show you something. He did it all Himself. He did
it all. He doesn't act like a servant.
He's not acting like a servant. He is the servant. He said, I
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
my life a ransom for many. They were arguing over who shall
be the greatest, and here He gives them the greatest example
of greatness. by stripping himself and kneeling
down to those who worshipped him and washing their feet. That's a humble service, isn't
it? That's a humble service. Then he cometh to Simon Peter. And Peter saith unto him, Lord,
dost thou wash my feet? And he's saying, no. Peter's
saying, no, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. He was
offended. He knew what our Lord was doing.
That's the job for a low servant. That's the job for a slave. You're
the master. This is the one whom Peter said,
I'll go to death for you. You're not going to wash. My
feet? He comes to Peter and Peter's offended at it. We should never question our
Lord's work or purpose. Peter just shut up and watch. Observe. The Lord is doing a
great thing here and going to teach a great lesson. We should never question our
Lord. Who can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do thou knowest not now. Peter, you don't understand
what's going on here. You don't understand. Not yet.
You don't understand the cross. You don't understand that yet. But thou shalt know hereafter.
You'll understand after a while. You don't know what I'm doing,
just trust me. Just trust me. Now it's evident that our Lord
was not establishing foot washing. He's not setting up an ordinance
here for the church. If He had, He would not have
said to Peter, what I do, thou knowest not now. Because Peter
knew what he was doing. Peter knew what he was doing.
That's why he was so offended at it. He's taking the place
of a slave, of a servant, and washing their feet. So it's evident
the Lord's not establishing an ordinance of foot washing, or
He had never said to Peter, you don't know what I'm doing right
now. What I'm doing right now has real spiritual implications,
Peter. And I'm going to give it to you
here in verse 8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Now, listen, this is the
message right here. This is so important. If you
miss this, you miss the message. You've missed everything I had
to say. You've missed what this is saying. Don't worry about
what I have to say. If I wash thee not. What's our Lord talking about? Here, he's talking about Calvary. Peter said, no, you're not going
to go. I'll die for you. We're talking
about being crucified. No, Lord, that can't happen.
He's talking here about Calvary. If I wash you not in the blood,
if you are not washed in the blood of Calvary's Lamb, you
have no part with me. No part. Our Lord is about to
go to the cross and be crucified. Now get this, when the Lord Jesus
Christ, when He went to the cross and when He was crucified, there
He washed us from our sins. There He washed us from our sins. That's where and when the washing
took place, and that is not repeated. He's not going to be crucified
again and again and again. He's washed us from our sins. And if we are not washed in the
blood of the Lamb, He said, Peter, you or no one else will have
part with Me. He washed us. Look over in Revelation
chapter 1. In Revelation chapter 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." And that happened
when he, having loved his own, loved him to the end, went to
Calvary's cross, his blood was shed, and he washed his people
from their sins. But then there is a time when
we wash. There is a time when we wash
in the blood. Look over in Revelation chapter 7 and verse 14. And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest And he said to me, these are they, because
he asked who they were, these are they which came out of great
tribulation and have washed their robes. What is that speaking of? Faith.
Faith. He washed us at Calvary. And then there's a time when
the Holy Spirit in regeneration brings us to faith in Christ
and we wash. We trust Him. We look to Him
and we wash in the blood of the Lamb. Let me read the rest of
that here in verse 14. These are they who came to great
tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. He washed us and we wash by faith,
by faith in the blood of the Lamb. And Simon Peter said to Him,
Lord, not my feet, but also my hands and my head. Peter said,
oh, that's the case. That's the matter, because, you
know, Peter loved his Lord now. He may be a little brash and rash at times, but he loved his
Lord and he did not want to be separated from his Lord. And
the Lord said, if I wash thee not, you will have no part with
me. And so Peter says, well, if that's
the case, if that's the case, then wash me all over. from my
head, my feet, and my head. Just washed me all over. I have
no problem with that if that's what it means. But he still didn't
understand what it meant. A member of the Lord said, You
don't understand yet, but you will. You will. You see, Peter's
on the other side of the cross still. You and I are on this
side. And he hadn't yet grasped what was going on. And Jesus
said to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet. He doesn't need to wash again.
If you just took a bath and you came over here and you were wearing
sandals like they did, walking around on dirt roads, not paved
roads, you would need to wash your feet. You didn't have to
wash your whole body again, just your feet because your feet get
dirty. This is good. He that is washed in the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Need not be washed in it again and again.
However, he does need his feet washed. Because he walks through this
world of sin. And because he still has, she
still has a sinful nature. And he still gets his feet dirty.
You notice he gets his feet dirty. Our walk needs to be washed all
the time. Mine does. I need it. More than once a week or twice
a week. I need it daily. Daily. Our walk needs washed all the
time because we still have a sin nature and we live in a sinful
world. I need my thoughts washed. Bringing every thought it says
into subjection to Christ. I need my attitude washed. I need to be washed. Well, how
is this accomplished? Turn over to Psalm 119. Psalm
119. Psalm 119 verse 9. How is this accomplished? We've
been washed in the blood of the Lamb, but we need daily washing.
We still need daily washing. Our feet need washed. Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according
to thy word. Turn back to John chapter 15,
the Gospel of John chapter 15. Look in verse 3. Now ye are clean through the
Word which I have spoken unto you. The Word of God, listen
to this, the Word of God has a real cleansing effect when
it's used in the hands of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit
takes the Word of God that we read and we hear preached, and
there's a cleansing effect about it. I can tell you from my own
experience, time after time after time, when I heard Henry preached,
I'd go home, I wanted to read more. I wanted to pray more. I wanted to be godly. I wanted to have a godly walk.
I wanted to have a walk that was going to find the Christ. Where did that come from? Where
did that come from? That came from the washing of
the Spirit by the Word of God after being washed in the blood
of the Lamb. Because before that, the Word meant nothing. It meant
nothing. Washed. Washed. Washed in the blood and washed
by the Word. What I'm doing this morning, what I'm doing this morning in
preaching, and you are listening, do you know what's going on?
You're being washed. You're being washed. If the Holy Spirit is in it,
if He's taking the Word and applying it to your heart, you're being
washed. And this is why it is so important
to be in the service as much as possible. This is so important. I worked with a man one time
and he'd take a bath maybe once a week. I'm serious. Guys would
put notes in his lunchbox, take a bath. They would. And I'm telling you, you could You just didn't want to work
that close to Him. But you can tell when somebody
takes a frequent bathe, can't you? Bathe is washing. And you can tell when someone
is being under the Word often. Because they are often washed.
And it has a real effect on your walk, your talk, your thoughts.
It has a real effect on it. So important. Because what's
happening here right now, you're being washed. I don't know how many questions
have been answered. How many things I've been troubled
about over the years. And all I did was come to the service
and listen, hear the gospel preached, and it was cleared up. Cleared
up. And people wonder why they have
so much trouble. Well, you just need to wash more
often. The Word of God has a cleansing effect about it when used by
the Holy Spirit. But now listen here. Back in this verse. What verse
am I in? Ten. Back in verse ten. Jesus saith unto him, He that
is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is... Now
listen. But that man is clean every wit. He said that man is clean in
every way. That man is justified and sanctified
in every way. That man is clean inside and
out. My standing before God is not
just a legal standing. But it's a sanctified standing
also. I'm clean in every wit. Before God, I'm clean. He has
no charge against me. But I'm telling you this, in
my person, in Christ, I'm clean. That new man is clean. That new
man has no sin. He has none. He's clean, he says,
every wit. Listen, I'll read you this one.
I'll quote it to you. Numbers 23, verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. Now why is that? Because there's
not any. If it was there, He would behold
it. He'd see it and He'd deal with it. He says, He hath not
beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. Well,
we've been studying Jacob. Now what have we seen in Jacob?
That crafter? That fox? He was a deceiver. And we know that. We've been
reading about it. But God says He doesn't see it.
Why? Because he has been washed in
the blood of the Lamb. It's not there no more. It's
gone. See, when God dealt with Jacob, He dealt with a clean
man. A man He had cleaned. A man He had washed. He's clean
every whit. Peter, I don't need to wash you. I don't
need to justify you over and over and over again. I don't
need to do that over and over and over again. Christ washed us from our sins
at Calvary. But we do need that daily washing of His Word and
by His Spirit. But he says here, not all of
you. Not all of you. I had a man tell me, and I've
told you this before, but I had a man tell me that the Lord Jesus Christ died
for Judas as well as He did Peter. But the Lord says here, He that
is washed clean And he's talking about the blood. He doesn't need
to wash again. He's clean everywhere. There's
one there that's not. The Lord said, but not all of
you. Not all of you are washed in
the blood. Having loved his own, they are
the ones washed in the blood. Not all of you. Speaking here
of Judas. He was never a child. He was never a child of God.
For He knew who should betray Him, therefore said He, You are
not all clean. You have not all been washed
in the blood. So after He had washed their
feet and had taken His garments and was set down again, He said
unto them, Do you know what I have done to you? Boy, what a powerful
question. Do you know this morning what
Christ has done to you? Do you know what He did to you
at Calvary? and regeneration? Do you know what I've done to
you? Do you understand what I've done to you? But now here He's teaching. He's
teaching His disciples. He's teaching them that the greatest
are those who serve. Greatness is in serving. And
He gives them an example. You call me Master, Teacher,
and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. They never called
Him Jesus. They called Him Master. They
called Him Lord. And He said, for so I am. You're
right. You said it right. If I've been
your Lord and Master, if I'm your Teacher and the Lord of
glory, and I have washed your feet, you also ought to wash
one another's feet and quit this arguing over who's going to be
the greatest. Christ is the greatest, and that
issue is settled. But if I serve you in such a
way, then you ought to serve one another in such a way. For
I've given you an example here. He said, I've given you an example,
a living example. This is not a parable. You know,
he spoke many parables to them. This is not a parable. This is
an example that you should do as I've done to you, that you
should serve one another as I've served you. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If
your Lord does it, then you do it. You serve one another with
humility and in love. Neither is he that is sent greater
than he that is sinning. Now, do you want to really be
happy? I'm going to close with this. Do you really want happiness? Do you really want it? Our Lord
tells us here how to have true happiness. Here's the path to true happiness.
Do what you know the Word of God commands you to do. Put it
into practice. Put it into practice. And that's
the path to true happiness. Mary said, whatsoever he saith, do it. Do it. Don't try to work on your happiness.
I'm just going to work on my happiness. I'm just not as happy
as I ought to be. That's the way to misery. That's
the way to misery. Because I tell you what, if you
really truly start to work on your happiness, you'll be more
discontent than ever. But if you truly, if you truly,
under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, if
you truly walk in the light as He is in the light, keep His commandments, that's
what He said. Well, that's the whole Word of God. But He said,
this is my commandment, that you love one another. You just
take care of that issue and everything else will fall in place. You just put into practice what
I have taught you, what I've just taught you. Serve one another
in love and in humility. And you'll find true happiness.
You'll find it. Well, I hope you got something
out of that. Peter said, Lord, you're not
going to wash me. He said, well, if I don't wash
you, if you're not washed in the blood, you have no part with
me. Well, if that's the case, then wash me all over. He said,
if I have washed you in the blood, the only thing you need is to
be, your feet needs to be washed. That feet, your feet need to
be washed. Because we walk the sinful, we still have a sinful
nature. And that happens when the Holy Spirit takes the word
of God and applies it and washes us with the word.