Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. I won't read
through the chapter because I'm going to touch on these verses
as we go. But this was the fourth and last
Passover. We read in the different accounts
and it was the Passover. And I don't know if you've ever
given any thought to it or not, but from the time our Lord assumed
His public ministry, from the time He began to preach, there
was four of these Passovers observed. And this was the final one. This
was the final one. And every Passover lamb had been
a type of the coming Redeemer. But the world would have no further
need of these pictures and types and symbols because he who was
the Passover was standing there. And this, I believe, is why he
went into the room and took the bread and broke it. And he said,
I'm not going to eat this with you again until we eat it anew
in the kingdom of God. We're not going to have this
lamb and this Passover. Not going to have this. Not going
to do it anymore. No need of it. No need of it. The Lamb of God, as the Law of
God commanded. I don't know how familiar everybody
is with the statement of the Passover. But what they were
to do, God told them to take a lamb and set him aside until
the 14th day of the month and examine that lamb. Look it over. Separate it from the rest of
the flock. Set it out here all by itself.
And look at it. Look at it. Check it over. Make
sure there's no blemish, no spot, no flaws. The perfection of this
lamb has everything to do with that sacrifice. Everything to
do with what he's about to do. And so my statement is this. that he'd been separated. God
had separated him from the rest of the flock, and here he is.
And he's been observed, he's been checked, he's been looked
over. He'd been set apart of God, and they examined him and
found no fault. He was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin. Yet without sin. And so they
observed him closely. to see if he was perfect, a lamb
without spot or blemish. His hour had come. Satan would
bruise his heel, but he would crush the serpent's head. He'd
take his power from him, take his authority from him, crush
his rule. And he came into this world with
a body prepared of God to redeem his people from their sins and
cover their nakedness with a robe of his perfect righteousness.
And he'd be put to death in their room instead and be laid in a
borrowed tomb and then be raised to ascend into heavenly glory
and sit at the right hand of the majesty on high. And then
he would reign. He would reign as the victorious
mediator of God until all things be put under his feet. All things
be put under his feet. And having loved his own, see
it there in verse 1, having loved his own, he loved them to the
end. He loved them. He's talking about his own now. He's talking about as the mediator,
as this surety of the everlasting covenant of grace, this one in
whom they were chosen and blessed before the world began. having
loves his own, his sheep, his elect, his chosen, his brethren,
his bride, whatever it is you choose to call it, which were
in the world. See that there? In the world. This present evil world, a world
of sin and death and darkness. He came into the world and the
world was made by him and the world knew him not. They didn't
know who he was. In his high priestly prayer,
we're going to get to that in a few more lessons over in John
17, he said, I pray not, Father, that You take them out of the
world. They're in the world. In the world. And having loved
them who are His own, who are in the world. I think that's
very important here to understand. He hadn't yet taken us into glory. We had not yet that perfection
of sonship that God has predestined for us to have. We're still in
this world. And as we are, exactly as we
are, and as He would make us by what He was about to do, He
loved us. While we were yet enemies, He
loved us. And having loved us, He loved
us to the end. That love never changed, never
faltered, never wavered. He loved them to the end. What end? To the end of those awful agonies
which he must shortly suffer. To the end of his trials and
troubles. It says, for the joy that was
set before him, he endured the cross. He endured those sufferings. He endured those trials for the
elect's sake. To the end for which was given
Him. To the end of eternity He loved
us and gave Himself for us. He loved us with an everlasting,
unchangeable, continual love. And then look here in verse 2.
Supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him. Judas stands here
alone in this particular place. You remember I brought it to
your attention when he served the table, the supper to him.
He said, one of you is a devil. One of you. He served that blessed
table to each one. Broke the bread. Handed it to
him. Judas took a piece. Hand him
the cup. He took it in his hand. Told
him what it meant. He ate that bread, drank that
wine. And the Lord said, one of you
is a devil. One of you is a devil. And so Judas stands here alone
in this verse, and yet he stands a symbol, an example of all those
who would betray the Son of God, who would let the Prince of this
world put those things into his heart. Now, I know he was the
son of perdition from the beginning. Well, can you explain that? No,
I can't. I just know that God is sovereign and God knows and
determines all things, and yet every man is accountable for
everything that he does. You just have to deal with it.
That's how the Scripture is. I'm not trying to be consistent
with what I say or consistent with what with myself or consistent
with your reasoning, I'm trying to be consistent with this book.
One of these days we'll understand in clarity exactly what this
thing means. Right now, sometimes we just
have to look at it in awe and wonder. And that's one of those
things. One of those things. But he stands here a symbol,
an example of all those who will betray the Son of God And let
the prince of this world make merchandise of his soul. And
he does it for the sake of reputation and reward. And he betrays the
Son of God. He's singled out here by his
name, Judas. But he's intertwined with all
by calling him Simon's son. Simon's son. What a picture! of the evil of the power of Satan
and how he manipulates and deceives and uses even those whom our
Lord said had obtained a part of this ministry. I don't know
to what degree he did, but I know that the Lord gave them gifts
to cast out devils and heal the sick and do all sorts of miracles,
and Judas was one of the twelve. I've got no reason to believe
that he didn't exercise those gifts. And yet he was the son
of perdition from the beginning. And if there's a definition to
the awful end of what Satan does with men, this is it. The devil
put into the heart of Judas to betray the Son of God. Now that's what happens in all
sin. I don't care how little it is
in your eyes or how big. That's what's at the bottom of
it. That's what really takes place. We betray the Son of God. Verse 3, Jesus knowing that the
Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come
from God and went to God. Now this verse expresses two
things to me. It expresses, first of all, the
divinity of Christ. Knowing all things. Knew all
things. And then secondly, he expresses
to me his humanity coming from God. God is everywhere present. He
doesn't come and go. He just is. When Moses said, when I go down
to Egypt, who am I going to tell them sent me down there? He said,
you tell them I am sent you. He is. In fact, I can't get past
that. He is. He is here. David said, if I take the wings
of the morning and fly unto the uttermost parts of the sea, behold,
He's there. He's there. It doesn't matter
where I go. I cannot escape God. He is. And He is yesterday, He is today,
and He is forever. He's not only everywhere present,
but He's present in all time. Time has no It has no part on
Him. It has no effect on Him. Time
is a tool that God created. God is an eternal being. He is
an eternal being. But I also know something about
His humanity. He come from God. He was sent from God. He tells
us that over and over and over all the way through the book
of John. It's the Father who sent me, the Father who sent
me. I'm sent of God. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And he just keeps telling
them that he's sent of God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. He came from God, and the Lord
knew this. And He's going back to God, and
He knew that. He knew that. He knew that the
Father, by an everlasting covenant of grace, had given all blessings,
all power, all authority, all persons, and all things into
His hands. Listen to this back in John 3,
verse 35. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into His hands. He knew that. He knew
that. And then turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 2, and I'll read you several verses over here. Hebrews
chapter 2, beginning with verse 6. But one in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son
of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels, Thou crownest His head, crownest Him with glory
and honor, and didst set Him over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under His feet. For in that He put all things
in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under
Him. But now we see not yet everything
put under Him, but we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than
the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for
every man. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. For both he that sanctified and
they who are sanctified are all one. For which cause he is not
ashamed to call them brethren." I see here his humanity, his
identification with man. His identification with man.
And the humanity of Christ is a stumbling block ever wit as
much as his divinity. It's a stumbling block. He's
made a little lower than the angels. But God's not finished
with Him. He made Him and put Him in a
garden, but He wasn't finished with Him. That was the beginning.
In the beginning, God. Back in Genesis chapter 1, we're
at the beginning. Genesis chapter 2, Genesis chapter
3, we're at the beginning. And God has a purpose. He's going
to create this man, and in this man, in his being, in his character,
he is going to bestow and manifest the image of God. And he made
him, and he's a little lower than the angels. They hadn't
been crowned yet. Hadn't been crowned yet. I see
his crown in Christ. But they couldn't see it when
he walked on this earth. He wasn't crowned yet. He hadn't
ascended yet. You see what I'm saying? He came
from God, and he's going back to God. He came to do a job,
and he's going to do it, and then he's going to ascend back
to his reward. And God is going to crown him.
He's going to give him a name above every name. And at that
name, every knee is going to bow, and every tongue is going
to confess. It's a stumbling block, his humanity. His humanity. In His eternal purpose, He'll
have this lowly man to bear His image and His name. And to accomplish
this purpose, He will Himself take to Himself human flesh and
become a man. And then as a man, it looks to
me like that would be humbling enough for Almighty God But then
becoming a man, he's going to humble himself into the form
of a servant. And then as a servant, he's going
to humble himself unto death. Unto death, even the death of
the cross. He came from God, and he's going
back to God. But when he goes back, he's going
to be victorious, effectual, the conquering mediator. And
he was in full knowledge what it was He came to do. Now, in
order to be our representative, in order to be our covenant head,
our Lord must do all things that He did as a man. Did you hear what I said? If
He's going to stand in my room instead, He can't come down here
as God and do it. He has to do it as a man. God's
not tempted. Ain't that what He said in James?
He's not tempted with sin. It has no effect on him. He can't
do that as God. He must do that as a man. He
must do it as me. He must take my place before
this law, and as a man, he must subject himself to it in full
obedience. That's what this covenant commands
and demands. In order for me to have a righteousness,
I must obey that law. But I can't do it. And Adam couldn't
do it. But Christ did it. And He did
it as a man. There's one mediator between
men and God, the man, Christ Jesus. And if you'll notice in
the Scripture, sometimes when it's teaching something, it will
say, Christ Jesus the Lord. And sometimes it will just say
Christ, talking about His prophetic offices. And sometimes it just
says Jesus. Let's talk about his manhood,
his humanity. He must provide us with an acceptable
righteousness, live a life of true faithfulness. He must do
all that he does as a representative man. All of his temptations,
all of his troubles, all of his trials must be borne as a man,
tempted in all points like as we are. Ain't that what he said?
Listen to this over in Hebrews 2 again in verse 16. He said, For verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
suffer them who are tempted." Do you ever think about that
when you pray? He can enter into exactly what
you're praying, exactly what you're asking him, talking to
him about These temptations and troubles and how you tried and
tempted and pulled away and poured in your heart, He can take you
and pull you right up to your breast and say, Son, I know exactly
what you're talking about. Exactly. Now, I know He did things
that only God could do, and yet we're plainly told that God did
them through Him to verify His person and work. Ain't that what
it says? Now, something unusual takes
place. The Lord saying these things,
and again I remind you that in the Scripture it's not giving
you every last word that was spoken. He didn't just say what's
here in verse 2 and then nothing else was said. This just gets
you the jest of what the conversation was about. And having said these
words of comfort and encouragement to His disciples. He gets up
from the table and He goes over there and He lays His garments
aside and He puts this big towel around Him. And they're all standing
there looking at Him. And He pours water in the foot
basin. And now they know what's going
on. And He comes over to these disciples. And he picks up his
feet and starts to wash the feet. And he comes over to Peter. And
Peter said, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? I will be washing your
feet. Dost thou wash my feet? And he continues to wash the
apostle's feet and comes over to Peter and Peter said, you
ain't washing my feet. He said, Peter, if I don't wash
you, you got no part with me. And he said, well, then wash
my head, my hands, then wash me all over then. He said, no,
you don't need washed all over, just your feet. Just your feet. And that's what this lesson is
all about this morning. We're cleansed. This expression
that he uses here was an expression taken from the way they bathed
over there. Everybody didn't have a bathroom.
They had a public bath and they all went there to bathe. And
you go in there and you bathe and you're clean, but you've
got to get out. And so you get out of the bath and you walk
over there and then you look down and your feet's dirty. You
see what I'm saying? Well, He's washed us. We're washed
with the washing of regeneration. We're washed in that blood. The
Spirit of God has taken that blood, sprinkled our conscience
once for all. We're clean. But our feet's dirty
because we're still in this world. We're still in this world. And
we walk and we're dirty. We wouldn't be dirty if we had
that new body If we had that new character, and we sat up
in here and that old man of sin was gone, we wouldn't get dirty. But we're still here, and that
old man of sin's still here, and this world's still here,
and we're dirty on our feet. And so we do just exactly what
John said over in 1 John 1. He said, if we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us. Well, I thought we was clean.
But your feet's dirty. You're going to confess your
sins. He's faithful and just because of what he did to forgive
you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
And so we come when we pour out our hearts to him. And then another
thing that took place here in this thing, he said, now I did
this to you for an example. Now if the Sovereign Lord of
Glory, the One Mediator, we can't even conceive of that. What was
put into His hands in eternity. Or the greatness and glory of
His name. Everything. He created all things. He governs all things. He accomplished
all things. Nobody can even have a clue about
God apart from studying Him. And here he is, and he puts a
towel on and gets down and washes that feet. Now he said, if the
Sovereign Lord of Glory can wash your feet, you shouldn't have
a bit of problem where you are washing His feet. And he said,
I did this for an example to you. I'm showing you how to walk. I'm showing you how to walk in
this world. I'm showing you how you ought
to be treating one another. If I have humbled myself as this
servant of God, sin of God, into this world, and part of that
being sin is to bend down in the dirt and wash your feet,
surely you who were born in this world won't have a problem with
bending down and washing your brother's feet. We ought to always
see ourselves That other man higher than we are. That's how
we ought to view ourselves. Exalt Him. Raise Him up. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Not lower, better. Better. And when you do that,
you can wash His feet. You can serve Him. If He needs
help, you can help Him. You can do that. And that's how
we're supposed to walk. And the Lord said, I've done this to
illustrate this to you. So when this little menial, there
was no more menial task in the house. They did this as, when
they came in, they always had a servant. And the servant would
come out and he'd wash the guest's feet who came into the house.
And there was no more menial task to be done than to wash
somebody's feet. The lowest servant in the house
washed the feet. You know, we used to have jobs
that we'd do when I was building houses. We started out with shovels.
I'll never forget, this fellow came up on one of the jobs I
was running one day, just a young boy, and he came out there and
he had his brand-new lunch bucket and everything, you know, and
he come out there and set it down. He introduced himself to me,
and he said, I'm an operator. And I said, well, here, operate
this. And I handed him a shovel. That's where you start. You start
at the bottom. Well, the first thing up, you
didn't have to wash feet anymore. The bottom was washing feet.
That's what the Lord did. He said, just keep yourself at
the bottom. Keep right down here. Then you
can serve me in this world as I ought to be served.