Back to John chapter 13. I have entitled this message,
Not Washed, Clean, or Chosen. Now that title came from the
text, as you're going to see. And I would request that you
would pray for me that I would bring this message as it ought
to be brought and pray for yourselves that you would be and that I
would be shut up to Jesus Christ and have nowhere else to look. That is my prayer in bringing
this message. Not washed. not clean, not chosen. Verse 18, I speak not of you all. These are the words of the Lord. I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but
that the scripture may be fulfilled He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Now this was said in reference
to Judas, the name that will always be associated with betrayal
and infamy. Everybody has a reaction to this
name, Judas. We know what he did. The Lord says, I speak not of
you all, I know whom I have chosen. Literally, I know whom I have
elected. That is the word. Not only did
the Christ believe and teach election, he's the one who did
the electing. He said in John chapter 15 verse
16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. There aren't too many different
ways to take that. If someone would ask me, do you
believe in election? Of course I do. I'm a Christian.
I believe the Bible. I believe what the Bible says. Look what the Lord said in verse
10 of this same chapter. Jesus saith to him, he that is
washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
whit, and you are clean, but not all. And the Lord makes that
distinction. You are clean, but not all of
you are. For he knew who should betray
him, speaking of Judas, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. Judas was not washed. Judas was
not clean. Judas was not chosen. Once again, in verse 18, I speak
not of you all. I know whom I have chosen. but
that the scripture might be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me." Now this is a quotation
from Psalm 41 verse 9 and these were David's words with regard
to Ahithophel. Ahithophel is the man who betrayed
David, he was his close friend. And during the uprising of Absalom,
when there was a coup, and they sought to remove David from the
throne, Ahithophel was involved in this. And I think this is
so interesting. You know who Ahithophel was?
He was the grandfather of Bathsheba. And he knew what David had done
with Bathsheba. And he knew how Uriah had been
murdered. And I guarantee you he had an
axe to grind with David. You know, if you look into about
any situation, there's always some kind of human element that
is behind it. God is ultimately behind it in
control of everything. But I guarantee you Ahithophel
had an axe to grind with David because of what had taken place.
He was upset with David. And I see why he was a turncoat
and changed sides and sought to have David Off the throne. But the Lord tells us, and we
would not have known this had not the Lord told us, that this
was actually a prophecy concerning Judas. Judas, a disciple of Christ,
Judas, a friend of Christ, would turn against Christ and betray
Christ. And the Lord called him the son
of perdition. He called him a devil. He said
concerning him it would have been good for him to never have
been born. The betrayer of Jesus Christ. Look in chapter 12 of John. We're
given some idea of his character. Verse 3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment
of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why
was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? He was criticizing her for this. This he said, John tells us,
not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and
had the bag and bear what was put therein. He was planning
on taking this money for himself. That's why he was so upset about
her giving this to the Lord Jesus Christ. This could have been
in my wallet. Instead we waste it on a good
smell. This gives us some idea of the character of this wicked
man, Judas. Now the Lord says in verse 19
of John chapter 13, now I tell you before it come,
I'm telling you exactly what Judas will do And I'm telling
you this before it takes place, for this reason, when it's come
to pass, God purposed it, it will come to pass. Christ purposed
it, it will come to pass. He's in control of everything.
But when it comes to pass, you may believe that I am. You're going to believe that
I am God. That's what I am mean. That's
the name that goes only to God. You'll remember When Moses said,
who shall I say sent me? He said, I am that I am. Tell them I am has sent thee,
the self existent one, the independent one, the God of glory. Now I'm telling you what's going
to come past. How does he know? because he
purposed it, because he decreed it. Whatever takes place in time
is his will coming to pass. Now Judas, the wicked man, the
traitor, not to be pitied as a victim of God's sovereignty,
he acted freely. He did what he wanted to do. He wanted to betray Jesus Christ
and the Lord Jesus Christ was completely sovereign over this
act of betrayal. just as he is completely sovereign
over every event that takes place. And aren't you glad it's that
way? He's God. Whatever he does is
good, right, just, and true. Whether I understand it or not,
I believe his character. I trust him. I might not understand
what he's doing, But he does, and we trust him. And so he tells
his disciples, one of you are going to betray me. And I'm telling
you before it happens that you may know that I told you before
it takes place. But according to this passage
of scripture with regard to Judas, Judas Iscariot, the betrayer
of Christ, he was not washed by Christ. And consequently,
he was not clean. The Lord said, you are not all
clean, speaking of Judas. And he was not chosen. Now, that's
obvious, isn't it? Judas Iscariot was not washed. He was not clean. He was not
chosen. That's clear from the scriptures.
Now here is the question I want to ask you right now. Could this
only be said of him? Is he the only one who was not
washed, was not clean, and was not chosen? Would this only be
said of him? No. This is true of all who die
in unbelief. They were not washed. Christ
did not wash away their sins. They are not clean before God. They were not chosen. The Lord said, I speak not of
you all, I know whom I have chosen. Remember, I've already quoted
this in John 15, 16, in this same discourse to his disciples,
this last message, he said to them, you have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you. And if you're one of the chosen,
that rings true, doesn't it? You know that is so. Now, while I believe that there
are people in this room who are washed, and who are clean, and
who are chosen. In all likelihood, there are
people in this room who are not washed, not clean, and not chosen. Now here's what I want to ask
you. Do you want to be washed? Do you want to be clean? Do you want to be chosen? I'm
not asking if you're arguing against this. I'm sure some people
are, but there's some people here who said, oh, I need to
be washed. I need to be made clean. I'm
filthy in and of myself. I need to be chosen because I
know I'm so single I'll never choose him unless he first chooses
me. Do you understand? The only way I can be saved is
if he washes me. That's the only way I'll be clean.
The only way I'll be saved is if he chooses me. I need this. It's not just something I agree
with. It's something I need. Now, what I've just said contradicts
and is in opposition to most of what goes on under the name
of Christianity. I'm sure in most churches in
Lexington, Kentucky this morning, if they heard this, they'd say,
what? I've never heard anything like
that. I don't agree with that. That's not the message I believe. Here's the message that is preached
in most pulpits in Lexington, Kentucky this morning. Here's the message. Man's a sinner. He's not perfect. And he needs to be saved by God.
So far, so good. God loves all men without exception. God wills the salvation of all
men without exception. Jesus Christ died for all men
without exception. Christ died for the sins of all
men without exception. God wants to forgive all men
without exception. God the Holy Spirit calls all
men without Exception. All of this is true. God can love you. God can want
you to be saved. Christ can die for all your sins,
and God the Holy Spirit can call you, but all of that doesn't
mean you will be saved. You may go to hell anyway, even
if God does love you. even if Christ did die for you,
even if God the Holy Spirit does call you, you may go to hell
anyway if you don't do your part, if you don't accept Him as your
personal Savior. You see, forgiveness is offered
to you. God's offering you to be forgiven, but whether or not
you're forgiven will be If you accept his forgiveness, and if
you accept his salvation, if you decide to reject it, you
will not be saved. If you decide to reject his forgiveness,
you will not be saved. Your salvation is ultimately
dependent upon your will, something you do, your acceptance of Jesus
Christ. Now, is that a fair representation
of what's being preached or if I built up a straw man? That's
a fair representation. Salvation ultimately dependent
upon what you do. Now, if salvation is dependent
upon something I do. If my standing before God is
predicated on me first doing something before he can do something
for me, or there's something I must stop doing before he can
save me, if that's my view of salvation, I'm not saved. Now did you hear that? If that's my view of salvation,
Salvation in some way dependent upon me doing something before
God can save me, I myself am not saved. I've never really
believed the gospel. I'm believing that salvation
is ultimately dependent upon what I do. And if that is the
case, I have not believed the gospel. This message is a message that
I personally hate. Salvation depended upon me. This is a message that I hate
and despise. God loves you unconditionally.
Well, if he loves you unconditionally, he can stop loving you unconditionally
too. God's salvation is conditioned
upon Christ. We even use the term unconditional
election. Well, I understand it's not conditioned
upon me doing something, but it's not unconditional. I got
to be in Christ. That's the condition, in Christ. And so this message of God loves
you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The sinner hears
this and thinks, hey, I love myself too and I've got a wonderful
plan for my life. We're on the same page. This
is good stuff. You haven't heard. You haven't
heard. Now, let me give you the reasons I
hate this message of God loving everybody, Christ dying for everybody,
God the Holy Spirit calling everybody, God wanting everybody to be saved,
but I can't be saved unless I do my part to make what he did work
for me. Let me tell you why I hate this
message. Number one, because it's not true. It's just not
true. You're not going to get that
from the Bible. That is not what the Bible teaches. It's a false way. You know, if there's something
you gotta do before God can save you, I think of those words of
the Lord Jesus Christ, all that ever came before me are thieves
and robbers. If you're thinking there's something
you must do before he can do something for you, that's nothing
more than a thief and a robber, according to the scriptures.
This is a false way, And it places the burden of salvation upon
the sinner. My salvation is dependent upon
me doing something. And that is a burden that this
sinner cannot bear. If all Christ did is make me
savable, if I do my part, it won't do me any good. You see this message that God
loves everybody and Jesus Christ paid for the sins of everybody
and God wants everybody to be saved is actually a denial of
the justice of God. It says God can punish Christ
for your sins and punish you for those same sins. That is a denial of the justice
of God. If I'm in debt, and the creditor
comes after me and says, give me what you owe, and you say,
I'm gonna pay your debt for you, and you pay that debt for me,
the creditor can't come and say, give me the debt you owe, it's
been paid. It's been paid. that to say that
Jesus Christ can die for your sins and you wind up in hell
anyway is a denial of the justice of God. In reality, it's a denial of
all of God's attributes, not just God's justice, but all of
God's attributes. For instance, it's a denial of
his immutability. He wanted to save you, but he
had to change his mind and send you to hell. He changed. That's
a denial of his immutability. It's a denial of his independence.
Oh, God's independent. He has no needs. That's what
I am means. I am the self-existent one. I
do not need you to do something before I can do something. But
this denies God's independence. It says he needs you to do something
before he can do something for you. It denies his purpose. He purposed
your salvation, but His purpose was thwarted. He wasn't able
to save you because you wouldn't let Him. It denies His sovereignty. It
means your will trumps His. That's a denial of His sovereignty.
It makes His love meaningless. He can love you and send you
to hell. What's His love do for you then? If your child was out playing
in the street. Maybe I can say you're not much
of a parent if you're letting your child play in the street, but I think
about that. I played in the street when I was a kid. Maybe my parents
wanted something to happen to me. I don't know. But if your
child was out playing in the street, and a car was coming,
and you'd say, get out of the road right now. And your child said, no. And
then you said, well, I don't want to violate your free will,
but I do love you. And I want you to get out of
the road, but I'm not going to violate your free will. And then the
car comes and runs over your child. You wouldn't violate his
free will or her free will. You know what's going to happen
to you for that kind of love? You're going to be put in prison
for it. You're going to be jailed for it. That was just talk. There wasn't any real love there.
That was just talk, that was just hot air, and yet that's
what men attribute to the love of God. He loves you, but he's
not gonna violate your free will. That ain't love. Call it what
you want, but it's not love. You see, this is a denial that
salvation really is by grace. You hear that? It's a complete
denial that salvation is all of grace. This belief that God
loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, wants to save
everybody, make salvation available for everybody if you'll just
do your part, it puts a limit on the power of His blood. He can die for you, but that
doesn't mean you'll be saved. His blood alone is not sufficient. God cannot say, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. That was wrong. He's got to see
something else. He's got to see something you
contribute. He was wrong. You know, people. have criticized
the term limited atonement. I understand that to some extent
because there's such power in the blood of Christ. He can save
the vilest sinner to ever live. But if I believe that Christ
can die for me and I can end up in hell anyway, that's truly
limiting the atonement, limiting the power of the atonement. This belief puts man in God's
place and God in Man's place. Who's the final authority or
the decision maker in salvation? Man is. That's the place that
belongs to God only. He is the final authority and
the final decision maker. Why, man's free will, according
to this view, exercises sovereignty over God's will. This belief denies the satisfaction
of the sin atoning blood. The Lord was wrong when he said,
it is finished. If he can die for somebody and
they wind up in hell. When Moses and Elijah were speaking
to the Lord, saying, speaking of the death which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem, they were wrong. His death didn't
accomplish anything. It's only man that can make what he did
work. It would mean, if this is true,
now remember I got this title from the text, not washed, not
clean, not chosen. That was true of Judas and it's
true of everybody who dies in unbelief and refuses to bow to
the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's true, then Christ does
not get the glory and salvation. You do. It's ultimately you that
makes the difference and not Jesus Christ. And that gives
man the glory rather than Christ. Now if he died, talking about
Judas, if he died for Judas, if God loved Judas, if God willed
the salvation of Judas, and he died for Peter, and God willed
the salvation of Peter, and God loved Peter, so we have both
Judas and Peter, what's the difference? It's what Peter did that Judas
did not do. In other words, man is the difference
and man gets the glory and not God. I hate this message, listen
to me, because no one is saved hearing this message or believing
this message. That's why I hate this message. It is not the gospel. The one who brings this message
is a false prophet, someone that God never sent and the one who
believes this message is relying on something he or she did for
salvation rather than what God has done. Somebody says, no,
I'm not. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. I want to say that with a broken
heart. Now, here's my biggest reason for hating this message.
I want you to turn to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter 8, now my only
hope for being saved is found in these words. Verse 28, and
we know. We're not shaky on this. This
is not merely our opinion. We know that all things work together
for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Four, whom he did foreknow, know
beforehand, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Whom He did predestinate, them He also called. Whom He called,
them He also justified. Now don't miss that. If you're
justified, that means you stand before God having never sinned. That's what the word means. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. Not they will be glorified, they
have been glorified. That's how complete salvation
is. I've heard people say I'm sure
for heaven as if I was already there. Better than that for me,
I'm already there in Christ, glorified. What should we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. There, that's all. Yeah, it is. All he was delivered up for.
Doesn't that mean all men? No, it doesn't. It's talking
about the same people when it says, if God be for us, who can
be against us? Same people. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not?
What can possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? Now, if my salvation is in any
way dependent upon me, I'll mess it up, I'm sure. I'm sure of
it. I'll destroy myself. I know that. If this isn't so,
there's no hope for me. But let's go on reading. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? What's
the answer? It's Christ that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us, who shall separate us from
the love of Christ. Now, the only hope that I have of
being saved, now listen to me, it's not because even I believe
The only hope I have of being saved is that Jesus Christ died
for me. That's it. I have no other hope. Let me say this in conclusion
with regard to this. washed, not clean, not chosen. That was true of Judas. It's
true of every unbeliever. Well, what if I'm not washed? What if I'm not clean? What if
I'm not chosen? What if you are? What if you are? And let me tell
you this, when you come, when I come into God's presence, I
don't come saying, Lord, you washed me, you chose me, you
made me clean. That's not the way a sinner comes
into God's presence. I don't come like that. Lord, you need to save me. You
washed me, you chose me, you cleansed me, saved me. I don't
come because I know I'm a chosen. I don't come because I know I've
been washed. I don't come to Christ because I know I'm clean.
Somebody says, I know I'm chosen, I know I'm clean, I know I'm
washed. I don't believe you really know that. You say that, but
you don't know for sure that God elected you and Christ died
for you and God the Holy Spirit called you until he gives you
the assurance of salvation. You don't know for sure. Why
do you come? Let me give you three reasons why I come, why
I believe. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? That's what I'm asking you. Are
you a sinner? If you are, Christ came to save you. You don't come because you know you're
one of the elect. You come because you're a sinner. and you need
his mercy. I think of that scripture, he
healed them that had need of healing. I need this. I need him to choose me. I need
him to wash me. I need him to make me clean.
Somebody said, I don't need that. Well, then you can't say it's
unfair that you don't have it if you don't need it. I mean,
you don't want it anyway, do you? But do you need this? Do
you need to be chosen? Do you need to be washed? Do
you need to be made clean? Now I come on the basis, number
one, that I'm a sinner. Number two, that I need this.
And here's the third ground of me coming. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I am a whosoever. I'm in that demographic. I'm
a whosoever. Whosoever shall call. Lord, save me. That's what that
means. That's what it is to call on
the name of the Lord. Save me. His name is His attributes,
His holiness, His sovereignty, His justice, His grace, His independence,
His immutability. I'm calling upon every attribute
of God to say, Lord, save me as an act of Your sovereign will.
Save me in a way that glorifies Your justice. Save me in a way
that magnifies the freeness of Your grace. Whosoever will, doesn't say whosoever
won't. Whosoever will, let him come
and take the water of life freely. What's the condition? You have
to have nothing to bring. It has to be free for you. That's
the condition. If you've got something, well,
you're closing the door on yourself. But if you have nothing, whosoever
will, let him come and take the water of life freely. While I hate salvation dependent upon
me, I love salvation dependent upon him. Let's pray. Lord, in Christ's name, I ask
that you would bless your word and cause it to Create life in every heart
in this room according to your will. And give us the grace to come as sinners, come in need,
and come as a whosoever that calls on the name of the Lord. We're calling on your name. Save
us by your grace. In Christ's name we pray, amen.