Now you turn in your Bible again
to John chapter 13, and I'm entitling the message in the form of a
question. And the question is this, do
you need to be washed? Do you, I'm not directing the
question necessarily to me, but to you, personally, individually,
I want every one of us here to consider, do you need to be washed,
washed, washed? Our Lord said in verse eight,
when Peter proclaimed, you'll never wash my feet, the Lord
said unto him, if I wash thee not, You have no part with me. So I'm asking you the question,
do you need to be washed? Now, I'm not asking you if you've
taken a bath this morning or a shower this morning. I'm pretty
confident that most of you have taken care of that problem. I'm
sure we've all done that, either last night or this morning, taking
a bath. So I'm not asking you if you
need to take a shower or a bath, but I'm asking you, do you need
the cleansing, justifying blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash
you, to justify you, to sanctify you, and to make you clean before
God? Do you need the blood of Christ
to put away your sin? Do you? Do you? I hope you do. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Not with silver and gold, not
with our tradition, not with our morality, but with the precious
blood of Christ. I do. I need the cleansing blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to wash me. I can
say with Peter, Lord, wash me all over. Yes, I do. I do need
to be washed in the blood of Christ. And here's the reason
why. I'm a dirty, vile, filthy, guilty,
rotten, low-down, mean, snake of a sinner. That's me. before
God. Now I may look pretty good in
the eyes of some, but I'm talking about the way all of us stand
by nature before God. Vile, loathsome, dirty, wretched,
miserable, blind, poor, and naked. Now, if you've ever been brought
down that low, you know in your heart you need to be washed. You need to be cleansed. in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Lord, I am a vile sinner. Yes, Lord, I need your cleansing
blood. Cleanse me, and I shall be whiter
than the snow. We read the promise of Scripture.
We're going to look at it later on, but let me just give you
a little bit of a hint. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. Original, actual. Original sin and Adam all died.
I'm cleansed from that. Actual sin. How have you done
on your own? Pretty poor. We've all sinned to come short
of the glory of God. Original sin, actual sin, past
sin, present sin, future sin, all sin. You've got the idea,
concept, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, washes, justifies,
cleanses, sanctifies us from all our sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin. He says, of God's people, their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Why? Payment's been
made in full. The blood of Christ puts away
all our sin. Now, in John chapter 13, we have
the most interesting story of the Lord of glory. The Lord of
Glory now, God Almighty, who inhabits eternity, inhabiting
a real body of a real man, stooping down to wash his disciples' feet. Now there is much more here than
just a lesson in humility and servitude. Although that application
is made, and we'll look at that more in next week's message. But what we actually see here
in the Lord doing this humble act is the gospel of God's saving
grace. It's the gospel. It's right here
in front of us. Now let's look at the details.
that God the Holy Spirit records for us to learn, and then let's
look to our Master, our Teacher, our Lord, as it says in verse
13, John 13, 13. You call me Master and Lord.
That word there, Master, means Teacher. You call me Master and
Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. He is the Master Teacher,
and you know He teaches just one lesson? He teaches just one
lesson. He is the teacher and He is the
lesson. He is the lesson. Christ is all
and in all. All those who are taught of God,
they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to pick up at verse
3, John 13 verse 3. We'll come back to verse 2 in
a minute because you probably have some questions about Judas.
The Betrayer. We'll try to get to that at the
end of the message. Verse 3, Jesus knowing, the Lord
Jesus Christ knowing that the Father had given all things into
His hands, that He was come from God and that He went to God. Now turn to John 16, 28. John 16, verse 28. Again the Lord said, I came forth
from the Father, I am come into the world, again I leave the
world and I go to the Father. Now turn to John 17. John 17
verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I finished the
work that you gave me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self for the glory which I had with thee Before
the world was the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have his beginning
in Bethlehem manger He is the eternal God who came in time
to accomplish our salvation Having done so he went back to the father
having purged our sin He sat down on the right hand of the
throne of God on high. He is our Lord the Lord Successful
victorious the Lord Jesus knowing that the father had given Now
notice this phrase, an underscore, ALL THINGS, ALL THINGS INTO HIS
HAND. ALL THINGS IN REGARD TO CREATION,
ALL THINGS IN REGARD TO PROVENANCE, ALL THINGS IN REGARD TO SALVATION. ALL THINGS ARE NOT IN YOUR HANDS. ALL THINGS ARE IN HIS HAND. GOD
IS NOT IN YOUR HAND. Not at all. You're in His hand. His hands are almighty hands.
Sovereign hand. Turn to John chapter 3. John
chapter 3. All things means exactly what
it said. John chapter 3 verse 35. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into His hand. All things in creation. Turn to John chapter 1. All things
in creation. In the beginning, verse 1 of
John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him, without Him was not anything
made that was made. All things in creation were given
into His hand. Not only that, all things in
providence given unto His hand. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. In Romans 11 it says, of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Now, underscore in your mind
or write it down sometime this phrase, all things, and look
it up in Scripture. It's exhausted everything in
regard to creation, providence, and salvation, put in the hands
of the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. All things
means exactly what it says. All things in providence, creation,
and especially in salvation. The Lord of glory, when He came
here, knew exactly why He came. He knew exactly what He was to
accomplish. He knew exactly what would happen
after His resurrection glory that He would ascend to the Father.
Having finished redemption work, He sat down. He came from God
to redeem us. And having finished the work,
He went back to God because He got the job done. delivered for
our offenses, and raised again, because He did justify us by
His blood. Verse 3 again, knowing that all
things that the Father had given to Him, all things put into His
hand, He accomplished perfectly, eternally, that He was come from
God, that He went to God. That tells us of who He is. It
tells us of His successful priestly work, that He did bring in everlasting
righteousness, that He did justify the ungodly, that He did obtain
for us eternal redemption, that He did accomplish salvation for
us. Now, having said that, here we
see what happens. In verses 4 and 5, the Lord of
glory having observed the Passover supper, laid aside his outer
garment," as it says in verse 4, "...he took a towel and girded
it around his waistline, and then he took some water, poured
it in an empty basin, and stooped down, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded."
Now, You get a hold of what's going on here. This is no mere
man from Nazareth. This is God Almighty manifest
in human flesh, performing the menial service that's usually
reserved for the lowest servant in a household, stooping. No
wonder Peter said, Lord, you're not gonna act as a servant to
me. See what he's saying? Oh, thank
God we have a servant. What is pictured here? What does
this tell us about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? How does it preach to us, and
how do we see the gospel? You know, every scripture that
we look at, and every scripture that God has given to us, teaches
some aspect of the gospel. Every scripture. Now, whether
we see it or not is another matter. But every scripture that God
has given in some way, in some detail, in some aspect, in some
facet, preaches to us the gospel of Christ. So what is pictured
here? Well, we see several things.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is called in Scripture the Servant of God. Right? The Servant of God. In
Isaiah 53, He's called the Righteous Servant. In Isaiah 42, He said,
Behold My servant, My elect, and whom My soul delighteth.
He's the Righteous Servant of God. Now turn, hold your place
there and find Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. And here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ is described as the servant of God. Philippians chapter 2,
look at verse 5. Philippians 2 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, but made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion or habit as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name, that at that name every knee should bow, every
tongue should confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the
Father." So we see the Lord Jesus Christ acting as the righteous
servant of God, serving God, but also serving his covenant
people. The Lord of glory here lay aside
his outer garment, he took it off. and girded himself with
a towel. And here we see the Lord of glory
laying aside in type and picture his heavenly glory that he had
eternally with the Father, and took upon himself the form of
a servant, wrapped himself in a towel, and In order to do what? In order to stoop in servitude
to wash his people's feet. To justify and to sanctify them
by his precious blood. To wash his bride and to purchase
her with his own blood. That's what's being taught here.
How do you see that? Well, because it's teaching us
the gospel of His grace. He was manifested to do what?
He was manifested to take away our sin, and in Him is no sin. He was manifested to take away
our sin, to wash us, and to justify us in His blood. That's what's
being represented here. is Christ cleansing his church
with his own blood. Now, look at verse 6 and verse
8. After he had washed the disciples'
feet, including Judas in this 12, in the number of the 12,
at some point he came to Simon Peter and Peter said unto him,
Lord, dost thou wash my feet? And the Lord, verse 7, answered
and said unto him, What I do you don't know now, but you know
afterward. And Peter said unto him, Thou
never wash my feet. And the Lord answered and said,
If I don't wash you, you don't have any part with me. Peter
sees what's going on. He's watching the Lord Jesus
Christ washing the dirty feet of the other apostles and he
vigorously objects to the Lord washing his feet Peter's probably
thinking Lord let me wash your feet and he objects to it in the most
vigorous way but in verse 7 the Lord rebukes Peter at the same
time teaches him this great lesson look what it says in verse 7
what I do Thou knowest not now, but you're going to know a little
bit later on. But you'll know hereafter, hereafter. Now, you don't fully understand,
the Lord says, now, but you'll understand later on. Oftentimes,
now here's the lesson for us. Oftentimes, we think when rough
and hard things are taking place in our lives, When things in
our opinion are not working out according to our thinking or
our understanding the way we think they should by His good
and sovereign providence, one day we'll understand. One day
that the trials God brings into our life and in our heart, we
don't understand now fully like we ought to, like we should,
like we will one day. But we know that everything that
He brings to pass in our life is by His good and sovereign
providence. And one day, everything the Lord
has providentially sent our way, we'll see one day that it's for
our eternal good and we'll fully understand it. In that day. In that day. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, turn over there, hold your place there. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Peter, you don't understand all things right now, but later
on you will. And later on we'll understand
that everything that God has brought into our life is by His
purpose, by His grace to teach us the gospel. Our light affliction,
our light affliction. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Verse 15, 2 Corinthians 4, 15, for all things, there's that
word again, all things are for your sake, that the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory
of God, for which cause we faint not, but though the outward man
perish, and that's what he's doing, the outward man's falling
apart, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, For our light
affliction, there it is, our light affliction, which is but
for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. While we look not at things which
are seen, but things which are not seen, for the things which
are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are
internal. Our light afflictions, their light is compared to His
affliction. Their light in the fact that they're just temporary
affliction, they work for us. Peter, you'll know afterward.
that all these things are working to your eternal good. Now many
of you remember the old preacher from West Virginia, Brother Mahan's
dear friend, Scott Richardson. He's been here and he's preached
here many times. You can find some of his sermons
on Sermon Audio, but the Lord gave him a very quaint way of
putting things. in a very plain way of putting
things. And I remember this one saying
of Brother Scott Richardson. He said this about the providence
of God, about the light afflictions that God brings our way. He said
this, if you knew what God knows, if you knew what God knows, you
would not change one thing in your life. Now you think about
that. If you knew everything that God
knows, you wouldn't change one thing in your life. Well, wait
a minute now, wait a minute. No. If you knew what He knew. You see, everything that God
brings our life is by His sovereign pleasure and works to our eternal
good. Our light afflictions are working
for us, not against us. Not against us. One old writer
said this, this may teach us, talking about the providence
of God, under the dark providence of God that he hides his smiling
face. The meaning of which is not yet
known to us, may not be yet known to us in the providence of God,
but to wait upon the Lord's own time to make things clear and
plain to us, and in the meantime, give us grace to patiently submit
to His divine will to wait upon the Lord. Now, having said that,
look back at the text. John 13, verse 7. What I do,
you don't know now, but you know later on, you'll understand later
on, that these things are working, Peter, for your good. for your
good, your eternal good. Now look at verse 8, Peter said
unto him, You'll never, that's a pretty big word, isn't it?
You'll never, you'll never stoop and wash my feet. And the Lord
said, Peter, wait a minute now, if I don't do this, if I don't
do this, you'll have no salvation. If I don't do this, you'll have
no righteousness. If I don't do this, you won't
be justified. If I don't die for your sin,
if I don't bring in an everlasting righteousness for you, you'll
have no part in salvation. You'll have no part in eternal
life. Now, Peter, if I don't wash you, if
I don't justify you in my blood, if I don't make you a new creature
in Christ Jesus, if I don't give you a new heart, a new nature
that loves me, if I don't bring you out of darkness, and deliver
you into the kingdom of God's dear Son. If I don't make you
a new creature in Christ, you don't know anything about salvation.
You have no part with me. Now, consider what the Lord Jesus
Christ... I want us to consider for a moment,
taking that statement, what the Lord Jesus Christ did for His
church, His elect upon the cross. Here's what He did. He washed
us from our sins. He washed, and this is what's
being pictured here. Upon the cross, the Lord Jesus
Christ washed us from our sin. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself, made complete and eternal atonement, obtained for
us eternal redemption, and He did this by Himself. He's washed
us. and made us whole. Now, preacher,
can you make good on that? I think I can, but let's see
what the Word of God says. Turn, first of all, I'm going
to turn to several scriptures I want you to follow with me.
Turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
was doing upon the cross. Justifying His people. Washing away their sin. If He doesn't do this, If He
doesn't die for our sin, we have no part. We have no part in salvation. Now look what it says in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at verse 1, walk in love, verse 2 rather, walk
in love as Christ also has loved us and has given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God to satisfy God, a sweet
smelling savor. Now in Ephesians chapter 5, look
at verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife even
as Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of
the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let
the wives be their own husbands in everything." Husbands? Love
your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for
it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the Word." That's the gospel message. That He might
present it to Himself. How well does He wash us? That
He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having
spot, no stain, no wrinkle. nor any such thing, but that
it should be holy and without blame." Without blemish. Now that's complete washing.
That's complete washing. Okay? Turn back a few pages to
1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. Reading references how the Lord
Jesus Christ with His blood upon Calvary Street actually put away
our sin and justified us and accomplished salvation for us.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God, must have a perfect justifying
righteousness imputed by grace in Christ, be not deceived, neither
fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves
with mankind, nor thieves, nor covenants, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. That's
what all of us are by nature, every one of those. And such were some of you, but
you are washed." Now, who washed us? He did. You are washed, you
are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God. He washed us with His own
blood. Okay, there's another scripture
too I wanted to turn to. Find the book of Titus right
before Hebrews and we find Hebrews, Philemon, and Titus. Turn to
Titus chapter 3. First, 2nd Timothy, and then
Titus chapter 3. For we, verse 3, Titus 3, 3.
We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lust, pleasure, living in malice, envy, hateful,
hating one another. Again, same list. Deeds of the
flesh, works of the flesh, by nature were sinners, none righteous,
no, not one. But, verse 4, after the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration. He makes application to our heart. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will perform it, will perfect it. By the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit which is shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. Okay, now find 1 John, turn over
there. 1 John 1, 1 John 1. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
it says in 1 Peter. But find 1 John now, 1 John 1,
verse 7, 1 John 1, 7. If we walk in the light, As He is in the light, that's
the light of the gospel, we have fellowship one with another,
He's called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, we
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, No
sin nature. Notice it's singular. We deceive
ourselves in the truth, not in it. If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
well, we make Him a liar. And His Word is not in us. Now, turn to the Revelation,
this time chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1, we quote
this verse almost every sermon. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5,
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, Revelation 1 verse 5,
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 sin
in his own blood, that made us kings and priests unto our God
and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen. Peter, if I don't wash you, If
I don't justify you in my blood, if I don't go to the cross and
die for you, you have no part. No part. You have no salvation. You have no eternal life. You'll
perish in your sin. David prayed this way in Psalm
51, remember? Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me, Lord, wash me and I
shall be whiter than the snow. Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ
does not do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we must forever
remain unclean, having no part with Him and saving mercy. Remember
how the leper came to the Lord? The leper who was full of leprosy
came to the Lord and fell down and said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. If you will. And the Lord said,
I will be thou clean. You see, it's all up to Him.
If the Lord does not wash me, I will not be made clean. Now,
do you see your need of Christ to wash you? I mean, come on, the obvious
answer is yes! Yes, Lord! Lord, wash me! And that's what Peter says in
verse 9. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only. I don't only have a foot problem.
I have a head problem. And I have a hand problem. You
see what he said? Lord, not my feet only, but my
hand and my head. You wash me all over. I'm defiled
everywhere. My feet are defiled. My hands
are defiled. Wash me, my head defiled. Peter,
with his spontaneous outburst, says, Lord, I need washing all
over. You start down on my feet and
just wash me all the way to the top of my head. Remember what
Isaiah said about us from the sole of our feet to the top of
our head, nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores
that need to be bound up. Lord wash me throughly from my
iniquity. Wash me from my sin. You see
my feet My feet, the scripture said, are ready and swift to
shed blood. Lord, wash my feet, order my
steps to your glory. The steps of a righteous man
are ordered of the Lord. Wash my hands. My hands are defiled
in what I do and what I touch. Isaiah 59.3, the Lord said, your
hands are defiled with iniquity, and that's us. Lord, wash my
hands, clean me, every wet hole, that I may serve Thee. And then
my head, Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands,
also my head. My head is sick. Our thoughts,
what we think naturally, are all contrary to the gospel of
God's grace. You remember from Isaiah 1, our
whole head is sick, our whole heart is faint. By nature, we
think salvation is by works. I mean, here's just the way the
natural man thinks. God is holy, and I've got to
do some holy things to get to that level, to that plane. I've
got to do right, and give this, and do that, and go here. Boy,
if I'm just good enough, God will say, okay, that's enough.
That's condemnation. You approach God on the ground
of your doing, on the ground of your works, and He'll say,
away with it, it's filthy rice. You see, everything I think,
everything I say, everything I do, everything I touch is permeated
with what I am. Do you know what you are? S-I-N. You know what I need? Cleansing. Cleansing. Lord, wash me. Wash
me. Wash me. Wash me. Change my thoughts. Make me think right thoughts.
That's what repentance is. It's a change of heart and mind
and affection and will. Lord, give me and grant me repentance,
enabling me to set my affection on things above, not on the things of this earth.
Now notice verse 10, back in John 13 verse 10. And the Lord
said, he that is washed, he that is justified, made righteous
in Christ, need not to wash again, need not save to wash except
his feet, but is clean ever with. And you are clean. But not all
of you. Now what's being said here? He
that is washed, he that is justified, he's made clean by the blood
of Christ, justified in Christ, made a new creature, does not
need to be washed again, justified again and again and again. God
saves us when he saves us and washes us and cleanses us and
justifies us. He does so with an everlasting
salvation, with an eternal redemption. He's clean of every wit, altogether
clean, completely justified, completely made righteous. Nothing
needs to be added. We're complete in Christ. But
he mentions something here in verse 10. He that is washed,
needed not save to wash, but his feet need cleansing. Now
what's being said here? We need, we need, Our feet washed
daily. Now what I mean by that is this. We need daily grace. We need
daily mercy. We need daily faith. Believers
are constantly coming to Christ for cleansing. Constantly looking
to the Lord and coming to Him with a repentant heart. Constantly
looking to Him for grace to help in time of need. As we walk in
this life, we need daily cleansing and daily grace. Don't we? It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They're
new every morning. I need Christ constantly, always. And he says, you're clean. Now,
who made him clean? Those 11 men were cleansed with
the blood of Christ, but he says, with an exception, not all. Not all. For he knew, verse 11,
for he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, You're
not clean. Speaking of Judas. Judas. You're not all clean. The Lord
knew that Judas would betray him. The Lord knew that Judas
was not washed or justified even though the Lord had done the
physical act The Lord had never chosen him, had never washed
him, had never justified him, and the Lord knew exactly who
this man was. Turn back to John chapter 6. "...the supper being ended, the
devil having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son
to betray him." Now the Lord knew exactly who Judas was when
he chose him. John chapter 6, look at verse
70. The Lord said unto them, Have
not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is the devil? He spake
of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should
betray him, being one of the twelve. Look back to John chapter
13. John chapter 13, verse 18. John 13, 18. I speak not of you all, for 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. Look at verse 21. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that one of you shall betray me. Again in verse 26. He it
is to whom I gave the sop, or the morsel of bread, and when
I have dipped it, and when I have dipped it, and when he had dipped
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And
after that, Satan entered into him, Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon, and after that, Satan entered into him. Then the Lord
said unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now, I read all that
to make this statement. What about Judas? Was he saved
and then lost? Was he justified and then unjustified? No. Not at all. What about Judas then? Judas
was not one who was saved and then lost. Judas was a dog returning
to his vomit, as it says in 2 Peter 2, and a swine returning to the
mud hole. John, when he later wrote about
those who departed, said they went out from us because they
were not of us. Judas was a reprobate from the beginning. This was
fully known to our all-knowing Lord. From the beginning of time,
and from everlasting, this being fixed by the determinate counsel
of God. He was a reprobate. Again, here's
what we see. What made the difference between
John and Judas? Both were sinners. John and Judas. Again, here's what we see. We
see the discriminating, sovereign grace of God displayed in this
group of 12 chosen by the Lord, and one of them One of them was
demon-possessed. One of them was the devil. Now,
who made the difference between John, it says in verse 25 of
John 13, that he then, lying on Jesus' breasts, saith unto
him, Lord, is it I? Here's John lovingly laying upon
the Lord, loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Who made the difference
between John loving Christ and Judas betraying the Lord Jesus
Christ? Both had their feet washed by
the Lord. In verse 23 of John 13, there
was one leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of His disciples whom the
Lord loved. Judas was never loved by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in verse 1 of John 13,
having loved his own, he loved them which were in the world,
and he loved them to the end. Remember the scripture in Romans
9, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. What made the difference
between Judas and John? The sovereign grace of God. The sovereign love of God. God
leaving us to ourselves, we go exactly the same way that Judas
went. He betrayed the Lord and went
out and destroyed himself, hung himself. John, having this love
of God shed abroad in his heart, became one of the faithful apostles,
preacher of the gospel, writer of scripture, Loving the Lord
Jesus Christ and dying in faith. What made the difference? Grace.
The grace of God made the difference. If you think the difference between
saved and lost, if you think the difference between
John and Judas was their works, their doing, then you must believe
that salvation is then, is not by the will of the Lord, but
rather by the will of man. You must also believe that salvation
is by works and not by grace. In this again we see the sovereign
discriminating grace of God. Who made you to differ from another?
Why do you believe the gospel and others don't? Grace and grace
alone. When the Lord Jesus Christ, I'll
give you another example of this, sovereign mercy. John loved him
because the Lord first loved him. Judas never loved the Lord,
and the Lord never loved him, even though he was part of that
inner circle. I'll give you another shining example of sovereign
mercy, sovereign grace. The two thieves that died, the
Lord Jesus Christ in the middle, One railed on him, if you be
the Christ, come down and we'll believe you. If you be the Christ,
the other said, Lord, remember me when you come into the kingdom. One died in his sin, one died
to his sin, and the Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners, for
that man, that dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day,
And there may I, though vile as he... Remember that? That dying thief rejoiced to
see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sin away. Grace. Grace alone makes us to
die.