Would you turn with me to the
13th chapter of the book of John? Everyone is invited to stay for
lunch after the service this morning. And let's please remember
to supervise your children and keep them in line with you during
the lineup for the food. Also, I want to remind you that
June 24th through 26 will be having vacation Bible school
on a Tuesday through Thursday. And that's always a great blessing.
I pray the Lord will bless that with us together. John chapter
13. I'd like to begin reading in
verse three. Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands and that he was come from
God and went to God, he riseth from supper and laid aside his
garments and took a towel. and girded himself, and after
that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 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 not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter said unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every wit. And you are clean, but not all
for he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, you're
not all clean. So after he had washed their
feet and had taken his garments and sat down again, and said
unto them, know ye what I've done to you? 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've given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know
these things, happy are you if you do them. I have entitled this message,
Knowledge, Practice, and Happiness. if you know these things. Happy are you if you do them. And conversely, if you know these
things, unhappy are you if you do not do them. Now I want you to listen to this
statement very carefully. If what we know is not put into
practice, we will not be happy here or hereafter. If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them. Now, the passage I just read
is one of the most stunning, amazing, and helpful passages
in all the word of God. This is about Christ washing
his disciples' feet. Verse three. Jesus, knowing that
the Father had given all things into his hands, the Lord knew
of his authority. He knew he was in complete control
of everything. He knew the Father had given
all things into His hands. And that He was come from God.
The Lord knew where He came from. He came from the very bosom of
the Father. And He went to God. He knew where
He was going. And this verse of Scripture serves
to show the amazing condescension of our Lord to wash the feet
of His disciples. He knew everything was in his
hands. He knew where he was from. He knew where he was going, but
what does he do? Verse four, he rises from supper and laid aside his garments. And he took a towel and girded
himself. And after that, he pours water
into a basin. Can you imagine how silent they were as they
watched our Lord do this? What's he doing? What's he doing? And then he began to wash the
disciples feet. And to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. Now you can be sure that the
disciples sat in stunned silence as they watched the creator wash
their feet. Can you imagine how you would
feel? Put yourself in their place.
Can you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ, the ancient of days,
the God of glory, the son of God, the sovereign of the universe,
washing your dirty, stinky, smelly feet? Now, that's amazing, isn't it? And do you know he has washed
the feet of every single one of his disciples without any
exception to that rule? Verse 6. Then cometh he to Simon
Peter. And Peter saith unto him, you
know, Peter always had to say something. You ever notice that
he always had to make a comment. I know somebody else like that.
To me, I can identify with that so much. He always said things
when he would have been much better off keeping his mouth
closed. I wish we would learn that. But Peter always has to
say something. And he says, Lord, dost thou
wash my feet? Now, I can understand him asking
that question. Wouldn't you feel somewhat awkward if the Lord
Jesus Christ got down at your feet and began to wash them? You'd feel awkward, wouldn't
you? I certainly would. I understand him asking that question. Verse
7, Jesus answered and said unto
him, what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know
hereafter. I believe that this would be
an accurate representation of everything that takes place in
our lives. The Lord says regarding everything he's doing, what I'm
doing, you don't understand right now. And you know, I don't, I
don't understand why he does what he does. This is true with
regard to everything he brings in our life, what I'm doing.
Remember, it's what he's doing. There's comfort in that, isn't
there? Everything that happens is what he is doing. And I don't understand what he's
doing, but he understands what he's doing. And I rest in that. He says, what I'm doing right
now, you don't understand. You don't understand why I'm
doing this, but you'll understand hereafter. Now, one way, one
day we will understand everything he's done. And we're going to
say he had done all things well. And until then we can rest in
this. And we know. that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. We don't need to know what he's
doing. He does. And our business is to trust
him. Verse eight, Peter saith unto him, but once again, Peter's
got to pop off. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt
never wash my feet. I can understand Peter's reaction,
can't you? If the Lord began to wash your feet, wouldn't you
say, Hey, something's wrong with this picture. I do not feel comfortable
with this. You'll never wash my feet. I can understand Peter's reaction,
but it was foolish because even though we don't understand what
he's doing, he does. And whatever he does is right. and glorious, and ours is to
submit. Now, while there was a feeling
of unworthiness on Peter's part, there was also a great deal of
false humility and pride going on. And I know something about
those two subjects too, very personally. Peter said, thou
shalt never wash my feet. And look at our Lord's reply,
verse eight, Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast
no part with me. Now, a part is a portion of the
whole. Christ Himself is the whole,
isn't He? He's the whole. And I want to
be a part. I want to be a portion of Him.
United to Him, I'm part of the whole. And that will only be
true if Christ washes me. He said, if I wash thee not,
now this is what I need. I need to be washed. I need to
be washed. And he says, if I wash thee not,
thou has no part with me. Now there's a couple of things
that comes real clear to me. I can't wash myself. I cannot make myself clean. And if he doesn't wash me, I'm
going to remain filthy. Now, I just know that so. I need
to be washed. Oh, I need to be washed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if Christ washes me with
his precious blood, I have a part in him. Well, I'm interested
in this, aren't you? I want to have a part in him. He says, if I wash thee not,
you can forgive me. You'll have no part with me.
Now, I understand Peter's reaction. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. I want to
be washed. I want to have a part with you.
So if that's the case, I take back what I said. Yeah, wash
my feet, wash my head, wash my hands, wash everything about
me. I understand Peter's reaction. I want to have a part with him,
don't you? I want to be washed. And look at our Lord's reply
to Peter at this time, verse 10. Jesus saith to him, he that is washed, needeth not save to wash his
feet, but is clean every wit. That means holy all the way through. You are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore, see, he said, you are not all clean. Now, if we can see what the Lord
is saying here, it'll make us jump for joy. It'll make us do
flips on the inside. If we can just by the grace of
God, see what our Lord is saying in this 10th verse of John chapter
13. And it will also explain to us
our need of daily cleansing. I'm washed all the way through
and yet my feet need to be washed and cleansed and cleaned every
single day. Yay! Every single second I need
to have my feet washed. Now, our Lord said in verse 10,
Jesus saith to him, he that is washed. Now the word is in the
perfect tense. He that is washed at perfect
tense means perfectly completed. Never to be repeated. If you
have this bath, you'll never need another bath ever again. He that is washed. Now, this is what the Lord Jesus
Christ was doing on the cross. He was washing all of his people
in order to make them clean before God. Now I want to be washed,
don't you? Whatever it means to be washed.
I want the Lord to wash me. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
one. Revelation chapter one. Verse four, John to the seven
churches, which are in Asia. Grace be unto you in peace from
him which is and which was and which is to come and from the
seven spirits which are before his throne 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 hath made
us kings and priests unto God and His Father. To Him be glory
and dominion for ever and for ever." Now, this is what Christ
was doing on the cross. He was washing us from our sins
in His own blood. Now let me ask you a question.
Did He get the job done? Did he wash us? Did he simply
make us a pool for us to get in, but it's
up to you to get in, or did he actually wash us? My dear friends on Calvary's
tree, I was washed, washed so clean that I'll never need another
bath. There's no uncleanness in me. I'm washed. I am clean. Everybody he loved, he washed
and he made them kings and priests under God. The sins of God's
elect have been washed away, not just covered over. That's
what most people think of the blood of Christ. They look at
it as a whitewashing. The filth is still there, but
it's covered over. Now you can't see it. Now, that's
not what the blood of Christ did. He didn't just cover our
sins. He washed my sins away so that
I am clean before God. Now, how can I know if He's washed
my sins away? Well, you're there in Revelation.
Look at Revelation chapter 7. Verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white. in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." Now
you can tell if you've been washed if you wash your robes white
in the blood of the Lamb. You know the only way you can
be clean is if you're washed by Him and you wash your robes
white in the blood of the Lamb. That's faith in Christ. I'm relying
on His blood to make me clean, washed, and holy. Now look what our Lord says back
in our text in John chapter 13. Verse 10, Jesus saith to him,
he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is
clean every wit, and you are clean." Now, do you hear what
he says? You are clean. If I washed you,
you are clean every wit. That means all the way through. And this is what our Lord did
on the cross. And I can't hear this enough. I can't believe
it enough. I can't rejoice it enough. The Lord Jesus Christ
made me clean all the way through. This is what justification means
according to the scripture. Now most people's understanding
of justification is whitewashing. Whitewashing. You've got this
filth and you put this stuff over it so you can't see it,
but it's still there. You might not be able to see
it, but it's still there. It's been whitewashed. Now, that is not justification
according to the scriptures. Doesn't have anything to do with
justification. Justification is not a legal standing before
God where I stand legally clean before His law, but I'm still
unclean. No, not at all. If He justified me, that means
I'm clean every whit. all the way through. He washed
away my sin. His righteousness is my righteousness
and I stand before God clean every wit. That makes me feel
so good. I love being clean, don't you?
I'm clean all the way through. I mean, it's not like my sin's
just covered, but it's still there. No, it's washed away. It's not whitewashed. It's washed
away. Clean everywhere. You know, that's the only thing
I can rest in. That's the only thing I can have
any confidence in. That the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually
makes me clean before God. That's a wonderful place to be.
Now he says he's that is washed. You're plumb clean, but then
he adds this. Your feet still need to be washed. You're clean all the way through,
but your feet need to be washed. Now, when I was a boy, we used
to go to Florida on vacation. And every time you'd go outside
the house, you'd always be barefooted. You'd have sand and dirt all
over your feet. And we had a pail of water, a
bucket, right there by the front door. And before we came back
in the house, we always had to dip our feet in that bucket and
wash all that dirt and that filth off before we were able to go
into the house. Now, you're clean. You're clean. That's real, most real. But it's also true, as we walk
through this world, our feet get dirty. And you understand
that, you experience it. You can't be in this world without
your feet getting dirty. You're in this world, it defiles
your understanding, it defiles your mind, it defiles your walk. You can't be in this world, this
world of sin, without your feet, your walk, your conversation,
your walk. It gets dirty. And you have to
have your feet washed over and over and over again. Now you're
clean. You really are clean, but you
find in your experience, in this world, you need to be washed.
You see, we have this thing called the flesh. We haven't put it
down yet. I won't put down this sinful
body until I die. And until then, my walk through
this world is always getting dirty. And you find that true
concerning yourself, don't you? You know, you hear the gospel,
you feel clean, you feel glorious, and then all of a sudden you
feel sinful, you feel dirty, you feel defiled, and you have
to be washed once again, not washed in the blood of Christ,
but washed in hearing the gospel. Hearing that it's the word that
washes our feet. I got to hear the gospel over
and over and over again. Somebody says, well, how do you
hear the gospel when you're preaching it? Listen, I'm hearing what
I'm preaching. I'm preaching to me. I need to hear the gospel
over and over and over again because my feet constantly get
dirty. Now we've been purged. Hebrews
1.3 says, he by himself, pervs, that's the word cleansed. He
by himself cleansed us, cleaned us, washed us from our sins,
but my feet still get dirty. Now he says in verse 10, Jesus
saith to him, he that is washed needeth not to save to wash his
feet, but he's clean every wit and you are clean. Now, if the
Lord says you are clean, are you clean? Are you clean? If he says you
are clean, that's how you really are. But I don't feel clean. I don't care whether you feel
clean or you don't feel clean. If he says you're clean, you're
clean. Truly all the way through. And yet you're aware of the dirtiness
of your feet, and you need to have your feet washed. Now he that is washed needs not
save to wash his feet, but is clean everywhere. And you are
clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, and therefore said to you, you are not all clean. You see,
only the elect are clean. He didn't die for Judas. He didn't
have any love for Judas. Judas was the traitor. Judas
wasn't clean, it was only his people who were clean. Judas was never washed. Now let's
go on reading verse 12. So after he had washed their
feet, and taken his garments, and was
set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I've done
to you? I don't think they did to be
honest with you. They didn't understand at this time. They
were just awestruck by what he did, but I don't think they had
any real understanding of it. Know ye what I've done to you.
He says in verse 13, you call me master and Lord, and you say,
well, for so I am. Now let's stop here for just
a moment. You call me Master and Lord. We don't ever read
where Peter or John or Thomas or any of these fellows came
up to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Jesus, I need you to do
this. Or Jesus, could you teach? No,
they called him Master and they called him Lord. This is a title
of respect. You know, my dad's name, it's
Father's Day, my dad's name is Charles Nyberg. But I've never
once come up to him and said, hey Charlie, hey Charlie. No,
he's my dad. I respect him. I'm not gonna,
this is a title of respect. You call me, this is the way
the disciples address their Lord. I remember one time a guy came
to visit me. He was a preacher and he came in the office and we
were talking and he said, he said, why do you always refer
to Jesus as the Lord? I said, because that's who he
is. And I quoted this scripture. You call me master and Lord,
you say, well, that's how he is to be addressed. He's the
master, he's the teacher. That's what the word means, the
teacher. That means we're to believe what he teaches. He's
the Lord, not only is he my teacher, he's my Lord to obey what he
says. He's the master. And he's the
Lord. And you know, this is why I know
that every believer is going to believe the gospel. Because
he's the one doing the teaching. If he teaches, have you ever
said, he's trying to teach me something. He doesn't try to
do anything. If he teaches, you're taught. That's why I know every believer
is going to believe the gospel. Because He's their teacher. If
you believe the gospel, it's because He's taught you. He's
taught you by Spirit. He's taught you through His Word.
Yes, He's used instrumentality. He's used the preaching of the
gospel. But He's the one that's taught you. I didn't teach you
anything. Nobody taught me anything. God taught me. God taught me. Now, He uses instrumentality,
no doubt. But He's the one who does the teaching. Turn to John
chapter 6 for a moment. Verse 45, it's written in the
prophets and they shall be all. Every single one of God's elect,
everybody that Christ died for all of his disciples, they shall
be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and have learned of the father cometh to me. Everybody he teaches, they're
going to understand that they're sinners. They're going to understand
that Christ is all in salvation. They're going to understand salvation
is all of grace because he's the one doing the teaching. He's
the master, he's the teacher, and he's the Lord. He's the one
to be obeyed. If he's not your Lord, he's not
your Savior. He's the Lord and the Savior,
Jesus Christ. Now, verse 14, he says, 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. If I, your Lord and master, have
performed this menial task, and this truly is servant's work,
This was the work of the lowliest servant. He said, if I do this, now I
realize that some people are far too gifted and too important
for such menial tasks. And that should be left for the
little people, the other people. I realize some people are that
important and they don't have any business washing somebody's
feet. I realized that. But our Lord says, if I do this,
the son of God, the creator, the sovereign of the universe,
the one whom the father has delivered all things into my hand, and
I'm going back to him in unspeakable glory. If I do this, you ought
also to do it. for one another. Now, is this
a ordinance? We ought to get together
and all take our shoes off and get a basin of water and wash
each other's feet? Well, if somebody wants to do
that, I don't have any problem with it if that's what you want
to do, but that's not really what is being taught here. It's
the spirit of it. actually washing one another's
feet with the preaching of the word, with the testimony of the
gospel, forgiving one another, preaching the gospel to one another,
bearing up with one another, loving one another, serving one
another, taking the lowest seat, taking the menial task, and it's
not an act of condescension to do that. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 20 for a moment. Matthew chapter 20. Verse 20. Then came to him the
mother of Zebedee's children with their sons. That's James
and John. And she came worshiping him.
and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
What do you want? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the
other on thy left in thy kingdom. Now this was a completely fleshly
viewpoint, wasn't it? But I understand. I understand
completely. Peter and Thomas and Bartholomew
and that bunch, they can stay down as long as James and John
are at your right hand and on your left. I guarantee you, my
mom thinks the same thing about me. Guarantee you. Verse 22, but Jesus answered
and said, and you know not what you ask. Are you able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the
baptism that I'm baptized with? Now that, look what they said. They said unto him, we're up
to the task. We're able, we can handle it. Verse 23, and he saith unto them,
you shall drink indeed of my cup and shall be baptized with
the baptism. that I'm baptized with. And he's
talking about suffering under the wrath of God, being immersed
in the wrath of God. And he says to these poor ignorant
disciples who didn't have any idea what he's talking about,
he said, listen, when I'm immersed under the wrath of God, you will
be too. Because of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything that I experience,
you will experience in my person. It's going to happen to you.
Yes, you will indeed be able. because you're united to me.
Yes, I knew they didn't know what they were talking about,
but he knew what he was talking about. You shall drink indeed of my
cup and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with,
but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give,
but it shall be given to them for whom it's prepared of my
father. And when the 10 heard it, they
were moved. with indignation against the
two brethren. You want to have it better than
me? Oh, they were so mad. I think that's almost humorous,
their indignation, because I guarantee if they could have had those
two places, they would have taken them. But oh, they were moved with
indignation. Verse 25, but Jesus called them
unto him and said, you know, 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 servant, your minister. And whosoever
will be chief among you, the top dog, let him be the bond
slave. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life
a ransom for many. And back to our text. Verse 14, 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 as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than him that sent him. Now, if I'm
doing this and I'm infinitely greater than you, If I am a servant,
you too are to be a servant, a foot washer. Now, if you know these things,
this is such an important verse of scripture. If you know these
things, happy are you if you do them. Knowledge, practice,
and happiness. If you know these things, there's
knowledge, Happy are you if you do them. There's practice. If
you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Now,
we do not believe any more than we put into practice. Now, I
wanna repeat that. We do not believe any more than
we actually put into practice. Knowledge that is not put into
practice only makes one miserable. It never brings happiness. It is only what we practice that
we do that brings happiness. You know the quickest way to
make yourself miserable? Try to be happy. That's the quickest
way. If you make your agenda, if you
make your purpose, I just want to be happy. I guarantee you're
going to be miserable, but you're never going to be happy. It's
only in doing the right thing that you actually find happiness. That's the only way. You know,
the right thing to do is to believe the gospel. It's true. Believe. The right thing to do
is to be washed. I submit to His washing me. Do
you? Not just my feet, but my hands and my head. I understand.
I want to be washed. The right thing to do is for
me to be your servant and to wash your feet with the encouragement
of the Gospel, with the encouragement of true friendship. with the
encouragement of being a servant. A servant? Do you? Not a top
dog, but a servant. That is the right thing to do. That's the rule of the Kingdom
of Heaven. To be a servant. Not a leader,
but a servant. That's the right thing to do.
And you and I will only find happiness, not in trying to be
happy, but in being a foot washer. That's the highest position you
and I could ever attain. Simply being a foot washer of
the people of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need our feet washed
with the word. Preach the word to me. That doesn't
mean tell me how dirty I am. Show me the fountain opened for
cleansing. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. and sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. I need my feet washed every day
through the preaching of the word. You know, we read of the
washing of water, by the word. And I need to wash your feet.
The task of a menial, unimportant servant. You know, I feel so much more
comfortable being unimportant. That's a good place to be. We need one another to wash one
another's feet. We get them so dirty. And what
a blessing it is to have my feet washed in the Word, in the Gospel. And what a blessing it is to
be clean every whit. Now, if you fear you're not clean
every whit, let me give you some God-given counsel. Is there someone who's afraid?
I'm afraid I'm not clean every whit. I don't know if I know
anything about that. Well, turn with me to Matthew chapter 8. Verse 1, And when he was come down from
the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper. And Luke's account tells us he
was full of leprosy. He didn't have a square inch
of flesh in his body that was not covered with these leprous
sores. There came a leper and he worshipped
him. He hadn't been cleansed yet.
He didn't know if he would be cleansed. But he worshipped the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is Christ worthy of worship,
even if he doesn't cleanse you? Do you believe that? This leper
did. He came and worshiped him saying,
Lord. If thou will. Thou canst make me clean. You believe what this leper did? If he wills, it's up to him. You can't make yourself clean,
but if he wills, he can make you clean. Do you believe that? Verse three and Jesus. put forth his hand and touched
him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. And if you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ the same way this fella came, Lord, you worship him first. Whatever he does is right. You're
not bargaining with him. You're not telling him what to
do. You come like this fella did. Lord, if you will, it's
all up to you. I've got no control in this thing,
but if you will, you can make me clean all together clean everybody
that comes just like that he answers I will be thou clean
and immediately his leprosy was cleansed let's pray together