Well, come to John chapter 13,
John chapter 13, which Stephen read to us earlier, the first
17 verses. At any rate, and I've entitled
this, The Happiness of Knowing and Doing, because the text is
in verse 17. If ye know these things, happy
are ye if ye do them. The happiness of knowing and
doing. The end of the earthly ministry
of Christ has taken place. We saw that in chapter 12. And
now, from now on, he's alone with his disciples until he's
taken and arrested and falsely tried and crucified, rises from
the dead and then meets them again. That's the synopsis of
the gospel. The early ministry is over, and
this is the final Passover. In actual fact, it's probably
the fourth Passover of the ministry of Jesus. And in verse 1, we
see an intimate display. You see, the scene is much more
intimate. Up until this point there'd been great division.
There had been his disciples who fervently loved him, Lazarus
and his sisters who fervently loved him, many, many others
who fervently loved him and sought to follow him. There'd been the
abject hatred and desire to kill him of the Pharisees and of the
religious rulers. And then there'd been a great
mass in the middle who were either indifferent or said they believed,
but only as far as it didn't do them any harm to be seen to
be following him. But now we're alone. Here he is with his disciples.
Judas is still among them, the one who should betray him. He's
still there, but they're preparing for the Passover. This is the
night in which he's betrayed. This is the night before he goes
to the cross to accomplish the purpose of his entire ministry,
the purpose of history. The hour has come. He knew that
the hour was coming, verse 1. Jesus knew the hour was coming.
This is it, that he should depart out of this world and return
to the Father. And it says, having loved his
own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. Here
we have a scene of great intimacy. of great love between Christ
and His people. It's indicative of the love that
there is between Christ and all His people. The elect multitude
that no man can number, that were chosen in Him before the
foundation of the world. This is indicative of the love.
If you're amongst that number, this is indicative of the love
that Christ has for you. It's that everlasting love that
Jeremiah 31, 31 tells us. He, God, has loved us with an everlasting love. How
has he displayed it? In the Lord Jesus Christ. The
hour has come. Here is the final teaching before
he goes to the cross. What a sermon, what a period
of teaching in these hours. The supper has ended, and he
now has a couple of hours before they go out to the Garden of
Gethsemane. And in chapters 13, 14, 15, 16,
and then he prays in chapter 17, we have this wonderful, rich record of the
dialogue between Christ and his disciples, the teaching of Christ
before the cross. He's about to lead them to return
to eternal glory. He's their Master and their Lord.
Here he is, their Master and Lord. Verse 13, ye call me, he
says to them, you call me Master and Lord, and you say, well,
that's right, I am your Master and Lord. If I then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one
another's feet. For I have given you an example
that ye should do as I have done unto you. He's their Master and
their Lord, and he's given an example that they should do as
He has demonstrated that they should do. Of service to others
is what it's about. Service to others. Jesus said,
Matthew records, Matthew 20 verse 28, the Son of Man came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister to others and to give His life
a ransom for many. That's why He came the first
time. He'll come again the second time for judgment. to bring all
things to an end. But that's why he came, not to
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to teach us about ministering. And so we have in these verses
of chapter 13, we have the record, which only John gives. The other
writers of the Gospels do not record the washing of the disciples'
feet. He's the only one. He gives them
an example. by washing their feet. I know
that there's lots of religious mimicry goes on where, you know,
people will dress up and they will, you know, just before Easter,
because they always go by their idea of what the calendar is.
of when things happened. And, you know, the vicar of a
church will get some people of the congregation and will put
on a show and get a bowl of water and go along and wash their feet
and dry their feet. As if that's what Jesus was teaching,
you know, that we ought to be taking one another's shoes and
socks off and washing the feet. Don't be ridiculous. It's not
about that. This is just the example that
demonstrates the principle So we don't do it for religious
mimicry to put on a show. But what does it show? It shows
this, that He who is God. How do we know He's God? Seven
signs John has recorded show that He is God. He who is the
God of the universe. There's no question. Don't listen
to these sects that tell you He's not God. They're just liars. They're just in falsehood. They're
just in darkness and blindness. You know what the Word of God
says. We've seen it so many times. We read it earlier in 1 John
chapter 3. He's God. We read it in Acts
chapter 20. God purchased the church with
His own. Who is it? It's Christ. Jesus, the man,
is the Christ of God. He, the God of the universe. He, the ruler over all. He takes
the form of a servant. Do you know, in a house in those
days, 2,000 years ago, in a dusty, hot climate, like modern-day
Israel is, then, you know, you wore sandals, your feet got dirty
and dusty off the road, and it would be the job of the lowliest
servant in the house, when the visitors arrived, you know, you
might say to somebody now, oh, do you want to freshen up, go
and have a shower? Well, they didn't have showers, so it was,
they did this, they got a bowl of water and a towel, and the
lowest, meanest, you know, in the hierarchy, you know, the
below-stairs hierarchy of the servants. This was the lowest
of the low, got the bowl of water and the towel, and washed the
visitors' feet. Here we have the one who is preeminent. It pleased God that in Him should
all the fullness dwell, that He should have the preeminence. He is above all things. He has
exalted His Word above all His name. Who is the Word of God?
Christ is the Word of God, for these are they which speak of
Him. He who is at the absolute pinnacle of the universe. We
see high and mighty lifted up, men in positions of power, and
women in positions of power, and I'm telling you, they don't
know what they're talking about. Concerning this, this is God,
who is the ruler over all, taking the form of a servant. I know
you know these verses well, but look at the force of them, read
them in this context of Jesus, who is God, washing the feet
of his disciples. Philippians 2, And verse 5, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. He didn't take anything away
from God. He was God, but made himself,
he who is God, of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, clothed in human
flesh. and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. How far down did he go? He humbled
himself and became obedient. How far obedient did he become? He became obedient unto death. Which death did he die? Which
death did he become obedient unto? There's all sorts of deaths,
but which one did he become obedient unto? Even the death of the cross. You know, religion glamorizes
the cross. This is the death of the cross,
which was the Roman means of shameful torture of criminals,
of felons. He humbled himself to that death. Oh yes, we glory in the cross
because of what was accomplished there, but don't go having any
fancy opinions of it, it was a shameful death. And it was
the death he died to pay the penalty of the sins of his people.
But listen, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. He who
took the form of a servant and died the death of a cross, he's
given him a name which is above every name, no other name higher. His name is the highest that
there can be. That, listen, whether you like it or not, Whether you
believe Him or not, whether you acknowledge that you will stand
before Him or not, when your appointment comes, for it's appointed
to man to die, and then the judgment, This is what it says, that at
the name, he's been exalted, that at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth, and that every tongue, that includes
yours, should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. This is what it is. He who is
above all humbled himself, to the status of a servant. He who
is above all, one more verse from that Philippians 2, verse
3, let nothing be done through strife and vainglory, but in
lowliness of mind, let each of us, let each of us esteem the
other better than themselves. Jesus said, I am your Lord and
Master, and I have given you an example. I've given you an
example that you should follow. Follow in my footsteps and do
this. Esteem the other more highly than yourself. This is the practical
outworking of gospel grace. This is how it works out. Gospel
grace is not just an academic thing that you know in your mind
and then move on from it. As Paul writes to the Corinthians,
2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9, For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. that though he was rich, was
there ever any one richer? No, of course there wasn't. The
God of the universe, the supreme one, above all, the sovereign,
the majestic God of the universe, You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
you who believe, who are his people, for your sakes, he became
poor. As we read in Philippians, that
ye, through his poverty, through his death, through that shameful
death, where he paid your penalty to the justice of God, that ye,
through his poverty, might be rich. Rich in what way? blessed
with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ
because of what he humbled himself to do. His public ministry had
demonstrated that here is God, the one who alone is able to
to pay redemption's price. Nobody else could. It had to
be God. And God, in the essence of His
spiritual being, couldn't pay the penalty for sin. For the
law requires the soul that sins, it shall die, and the life is
in the blood. He had to become man to pay the
penalty for the sins of man. So God, who alone has the infinite
capacity to do it, who alone has the infinite righteousness
as the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, became man, that in that
body he might shed that precious blood, not with silver and gold,
but with the precious blood as of a lamb without spot, he paid
redemption's price. And here he is coming to the
hour, the pivot of history. As I said last week, this is
the pivot of history when the fullness of the time was come.
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem those who are under the law, to redeem them, to pay
the price of their liberty. to pay the price of their liberty
from the bondage of sin, that we might receive the adoption
of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And He did it at enormous
cost, from the very highest glory of the universe to the very deepest
shame. The highest glory where the holy
beings, the Seraphim and Cherubim, hide their faces and cry, Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord, to the deepest shame. where they looked
on him, and they spat on him, and they scorned him, and they
said, he trusted in God, let him deliver him if he delight
in him. Let him do a miracle and bring himself down, the deepest,
deepest shame, in order to satisfy divine justice for sinners like
you and like me, to qualify a multitude for heaven, to make them citizens
of the kingdom of God. And just as the epistles in the
New Testament, declare the doctrine of saving grace and of redeeming
blood and of righteousness imputed, and of all those wonderful things,
and then the epistles call for behavior reflecting that doctrine,
not as a legalistic requirement, not as the law of Moses as the
believer's rule of life, but as a natural reaction, the fruit
of the Spirit, the Spirit which has borne the new birth of the
life of Christ in the soul of the believer, it bears fruit
to eternal life, which is in accordance with the righteousness
of God. This doctrine of Christ's redemption
from the curse of the law of his people calls for the same
attitude from his people. If you are a recipient of the
grace that has saved you from your sin, that has made you the
righteous. You who are vile in your nature
as a sinner, He has made the righteousness of God in Him.
He has made you meat for eternal glory, for nothing that defiles
shall enter into the kingdom of God, but He has made His people
the righteousness of God in Him. And so therefore, therefore,
This is what it calls for. That doctrine calls for his people
to likewise be self-abasing. You know, the natural tendency.
You know, I've said often, I hate watching those adverts
that tell you that you are worth it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, you're not. In the eyes of
God, in the eyes of his word, you're not worth it. You're not.
You're a worm in the eyes of God. Self-abasing. He who was
the highest glory came down to the lowest, deepest shame. He who was over all the Master
and Lord gave the example of serving others. Serving others. Of self-sacrificing for the benefit
of others. Of giving up things that you
would think, oh, I'd really like... No. Just give it up, hold it
on an open hand. You know, when God gives you
things, the believer holds the things that God gives on an open
palm, for he can give and he can take away. Is that not what
Job said? The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. That's the attitude of believing,
self-sacrificing for the benefit of others, not seeking personal
reward, but knowing that God who sees in secret, said Jesus. God who sees in secret shall
reward you openly. What does it mean? He means this,
that He recompenses His children for their service. That doesn't
mean you do service in order to be recompensed, as if, come
on God, you owe me something now. But in doing that self-sacrificing
giving, giving, not pushing yourself to the front, but giving, God
recompenses. He recompenses his children for
their service. How does he do it? He orders
their affairs for their eternal good. You know that verse that's
often quoted? We know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, who are called according
to His purpose. And many in religion twist that
and say that if you're a true disciple of God, then you're
just going to have health, wealth, and happiness, and that's going
to be the result of it. That isn't what that verse means.
God orders all affairs. He orders all affairs for the
good of His people. We've just been reading, in our
last few mornings, we've been reading the book of Esther. And
if you know that story, it's a book in which the name of God
is not mentioned once, but the grace of God, and the power and
the sovereignty of God is there on every page. There, God has
the heart of the king, Ahasuerus, in his hands, and he orders things
according for the good, the eternal good of his people. It's a scriptural
principle, isn't it? Ecclesiastes 11 verse 1. Disciples
are encouraged to cast their bread upon the waters. Be liberal. Be liberal. Spread it around.
Don't hoard it. Don't try and keep it for yourself.
for thou shalt find it after many days, God will give it back. God will make sure you have no
need of anything. A spirit of liberality towards
others. Well, who, who, who should I
be liberal towards? You know, that That lawyer asked
Jesus... Sorry, we have a little animal
here with us at the moment. That lawyer asked Jesus, he said,
who is my neighbor? With the parable of the Good
Samaritan, that was it. He said, who is my neighbor? trying to make out that it wouldn't
be this, that, or the other person. Well, no, the point is, it's
even your enemies. Proverbs 25, Proverbs 25 and
verse 21 says this, give him bread to eat. If thine
friend, no, enemy, if thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to
eat. And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. Thine enemy,
give him water to drink. Give to your enemy even, a spirit
of liberality even to them. Romans 12 verse 21 quotes that
verse, Did you hear that? This is what God says. Don't
be overcome of evil, don't let it crush your spirit and change
who you are, but overcome evil with good. with good. The same principle
is in the Sermon on the Mount, again and again. If somebody
comes and compels you to go one mile, volunteer to go three miles.
If somebody comes and wants your coat, give him another coat as
well. If somebody comes and strikes
you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. You see, this is the principle
of it, in response to the grace of God in Christ. Just like the
parable of the unforgiving servant. Remember that where the master
gave the servant who owed him an unpayable debt, he let him
off that debt and then that ungrateful servant went and found somebody
who owed him a tiny amount and had him put in prison until he
paid that final amount. And they bring it to the master
and say, look what's happened. Of course he pours his wrath
out on that unforgiving servant, because he said, you have been
forgiven so much, and you are not prepared to forgive so little
of that one. You see, grace displayed, apprehended,
applied by the Holy Spirit in the heart, experienced in the
heart, that grace bears fruit after its kind. As the Lord said
to that ungrateful servant, Shouldest not thou also have had compassion
on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? Have you
been forgiven great things by the God of the universe? shouldn't
you show compassion and care and concern for others? The doctrine
of redemption, understood in the mind, if it's truly applied
by God's Spirit in the heart, produces fruit. By their fruits
shall you know them. What fruit do we who profess
faith in Christ actually bear towards others? Is it gospel
fruit of the Spirit? or the worldly works of the flesh.
Because you know what they are, read Galatians chapter 5 to compare
the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh. So then,
verse 17, if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Sorry, there's somebody coming.
We'll continue in a moment. So anyway, verse 17, we come
to our text. And don't worry, I'm not going
to be just as long again. If you know these things, happy
are ye if you do them. So there are two ifs in that
verse 17. If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them. Two ifs. The first is, if you
know these things, many do not know them. What things? What
things is he talking about? If you know what things? The
truth of gospel grace. that dethrones self, the example
of God in Christ serving others in the washing of His disciples'
feet, and things that that illustrates, the abundance of spiritual riches
bestowed by grace, the abundance of those riches. If you know
these things, the blessings of the Gospel, If you know the blessing
of justification without any merit of a sinner who deserves
only condemnation, if you know the power of the blood of Christ,
in propitiating your sin, in turning away your sin, if you
know that power, if you know the truth of acceptance with
God and citizenship of His kingdom in the Beloved, in Christ, in
the Christ of God, if you know anything, if you've experienced,
as Psalm 40 verse 2 says, if you know the depth of the horrible
pit, of the mire, the miry clay of sin and corruption from which
you have been lifted, out of which sinners have been lifted.
If you know the glorious eternality, the truth, the blessing, the
power of the rock. He's lifted us from that horrible
pit and set our feet upon a rock. If you know these things, If
your heart's been moved by these things, that rock on which the
feet of those that have been saved by Christ are placed, the
qualification that you have for heaven, if you know these things,
knowing these things fundamentally changes your attitude. your attitude
to what is yours, your possessions in this life, the things that
you have, the things that you love, the things that you give
priorities to. It changes them. Your interaction
with others, the world in general, but especially the household
of faith. As it says in Galatians 6, verses
9 and 10, let us not be weary in well-doing. You know, there's
a tendency for the flesh to get weary, but let us not be weary
in well-doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially to them who are of
the household of faith. All men, but especially those
who are of the household of faith. But if these things are so accessible
to be understood, at least read, at least listened to, you've
heard it now, I've tried to say it as clearly as I can, why do
so many, even professing Christians, not know them? Because many do
not know them. If you know these things, do
you know these things? Here are some reasons why we
might not know these things when we think we do. And we each need
to ask ourselves, Do I know these things? You know, like the disciples,
when he said later in this chapter, you know, one of you will betray
me. Is it I, Lord? Is it I? I don't know, is it
I? They hadn't, obviously they had not. discerned that it was
Judas who would betray him. We need to ask ourselves, do
I have these characteristics? Firstly, many who claim to know
the truth, now listen, many who claim to know the truth never
pay attention to the Bible, or to faithful preaching of the
truth. The one attacking piece of the
whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6 is the sword of the
Spirit, all the rest is defensive. And the sword of the Spirit is
the Word of God, the Bible, the Scriptures. A skillful swordsman,
in the days of sword fighting, a skillful swordsman spent hours
in practice. training the muscles, training
the senses. You know how to pick up a sword,
and you could probably have a good stab at something, but to be
skillful takes hours, so that the muscles learn, so that the
subconscious learns, so that the senses know what to look
for. Hours in practice, training the muscles and the senses to
wield the sword effectively in combat. But many who claim to
be believers read the Bible very, very little. Now then, I know,
I know, it's easy for me, I'm retired, I've got lots of time,
comparatively. I know that work and family life
can impose great pressure on time, but faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God.
And what priorities do we give? Ask ourselves, what priorities
do we give? How many hours do I spend watching
trivia or listening to trivia, compared with studying this Word? You know, when it comes to playing
a musical instrument, There's some here who will tell you that
it takes a lot of time, a lot of study, a lot of practice.
You might have a good idea how to play a guitar, or a piano,
or a flute. You might have a good idea how
to do it, but there's nothing quite like practice, practice,
practice to do it. You must practice, you must practice. You talk to the greatest concert
soloists in whatever their instrument might be, and they practice hours
every single day so that the brain and the muscles are tuned
to it. Likewise the Bible. Get to know it well enough that
if deprived of it, you would still have a good grasp of its
structure, of its teachings. Consider Bible study and listening
to faithful preaching, at least as important as the attention
we give to our daily food, don't we? We don't miss a meal if we
can possibly help it. This is the food of the soul.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. Secondly, many Many, and I wouldn't
count many professing believers amongst these, but many are obsessed
with other subjects to the exclusion of the word of truth in their
hobbies and in their studies. I'll give you an example. For
example, there are some who are so obsessed with astronomy and
can tell you every detail about every constellation and where
to look for it and which star is in which corner of it, and
yet they have no time to seek the mind of the One who put it
all there, and who sustains it and upholds it all there. Obsessed
with other subjects. I like bird-watching, I love
it. I love going down to the estuaries near where we live
now, and it's beautiful to see the array of birds. But I'm telling
you, there's a limit. You can become obsessed with
it to the point where it excludes that which really matters. Many
are simply prejudiced against God's truth. Their minds have
been blinkered against seeing anything other than a godless
agenda. I'll give you one example, but
there are many, many more. And you say, well, you're pointing
the finger. Well, okay, I'm pointing the
finger. Sir David Attenborough. He is revered above all others
in this country of the United Kingdom. His commentary on nature
programs and the photography that goes with it, you know,
those programs display one... the photography is unparalleled,
absolutely beautiful. But he cannot see anything of
the truth of God in any of it, because his mind is blinded.
He's deliberately chosen to exclude any possibility of God. Fourthly,
some professing faith in Christ have never truly had Holy Spirit
enlightenment. They've never truly been born
again, as Jesus said to Nicodemus. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. You must have spiritual discernment. You must have it. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. To such as these, Christ the
Judge... Now listen, these are chilling
words, but they're there in Scripture. They're there in Scripture. To
such, Christ the Judge will say in that last day, Matthew 7,
in that last day, depart from me. They'll say, Lord, Lord,
didn't we do this for you and that for you? Depart from me.
I never knew you. Do not rest content while an
if remains over your knowledge of the truth, if you know these
things. Don't rest content if there's any doubt about it. Seek
it. Seek him while he may be found.
Call upon him while he is near. He will not turn you away. We
need to be like Peter. In response to Christ's question,
after the resurrection, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know
that I love you. You know that, no half-heartedness.
So then, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.
Happy if you do them. Do, do. Live life as a reflection
of the truth that is known in the head and believed in the
heart. Knowing the grace of God shown to a sinner like me, Raising
me to heavenly places in Christ. Always seeking to display that
same attitude to others. That's it. That's what we must
be. Knowing it, happy are we if we
do them. Acts of selfish, sorry, selfish,
selfless kindness. Acts of selfless kindness. Acts
of generosity. I always remember Henry Mahan
teaching this, you know. There were so many hard-hearted
preachers in Reformed baptism in this country, who would tell
you the strict letter of where you were doing what wrong, and
how far you were walking on a Sunday, and all of these other things.
And Henry used to talk about love, and compassion, and generosity,
and not being mean-spirited. Truthfulness. Not as legalistic
works. You're not seeking to earn merit
for reward. God is the exceeding great reward
of his people. We don't do these things to get
a bigger crown than the next person in heaven. Perish the
thought. What an absolutely un-gospel view. of things. No, no. But this is the fruit of God's
Spirit within. This is the disposition of the
new man of God-given faith. You say you love God? Do you
say you love God? 1 John chapter 4 verse 21, this
commandment have we from him. that he who says he loves God,
that he who loveth God, love his brother also. Happy? What does it mean to be happy?
To be happy? Constantly running around laughing,
like the laughing policeman? No. Contented with the state
of life that we're in. Settled. in the comfort of God's
providential care, whatever happens, whatever happens. Gladly resting
in his all-powerful protection against evil, in the full assurance
of faith. That's what Hebrews 10 talks
about, the full assurance of faith. It is what Paul meant
when he wrote this in Philippians, Philippians 4.11, I have learned
in whatever state, whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. What you mean when you're nearly
drowning in the ocean? Therewith to be content. What
you mean when they're putting 40 stripes minus one on your
back, Paul? Therewith to be content. When
you're in the stocks in the prison, and they're planning to take
you to kill you, therewith to be content. I have learned in
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. True, deep, eternal
happiness. May God so teach each of us by
His Spirit dwelling within to live our lives here in the light
of this. Amen.