Are You Ready to Wash Feet?

Q: What does the Bible say about foot washing?

The Bible describes foot washing in John 13 as an act of humility and service demonstrated by Jesus to His disciples. In John 13, Jesus exemplifies humility and servanthood through the act of washing His disciples' feet. Foot washing was a customary practice in ancient times, showing care for guests who walked on dusty roads. By taking on this lowly task, Jesus illustrated the essence of His ministry—serving others and embodying selflessness. He challenges His followers to do likewise, emphasizing that no task is too lowly for those who seek to serve God and others. This act transcends ritual and should inspire genuine humility in believers.

Q: Why is foot washing important for Christians?

Foot washing serves as a reminder for Christians to practice humility and service to others, following Christ's example. Foot washing is significant for Christians as it represents a vital aspect of living out the faith—serving others with love and humility. In John 13:1-17, Jesus washed His disciples' feet to show that true greatness in the Kingdom of God is found in serving rather than being served. This act calls Christians to emulate Christ by humbly attending to one another's needs and fostering a spirit of unity and love within the body of believers. It underscores the idea that every believer, regardless of status, is called to serve, reflecting the character of Christ.

Q: How do we know Jesus’ cleansing is necessary for salvation?

Jesus asserts in John 13:8 that without His cleansing, we cannot have a part with Him, highlighting its essential role in salvation. The necessity of Jesus' cleansing for salvation is emphasized in John 13:8, where He tells Peter, 'If I wash you not, you have no part with me.' This illustrates that Christ's redemptive work is foundational, as He alone is capable of providing the cleansing necessary for reconciliation with God. The cleansing refers to the spiritual regeneration and atonement made through His sacrificial death on the cross. Without this washing, which symbolizes the application of His blood for our sins, there is no participation in the covenant of grace or eternal life. Thus, Christ's washing signifies the critical nature of His atoning work in the believer's life.

Q: What does it mean to be 'washed' in a spiritual sense?

Being 'washed' spiritually means being cleansed by Christ's blood from sin, resulting in justification before God. In a spiritual context, to be 'washed' refers to the cleansing from sin that believers receive through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. As noted in John 13:10, Jesus tells Peter that 'he who is washed needs only to wash his feet,' indicating that once cleansed by faith in Christ, believers have a status of righteousness in God's sight. This cleansing brings about justification—being declared righteous—through the redemptive work of Jesus, as outlined in Romans 5:9. It captures the reality that while believers experience continual sanctification and daily interactions with sin, the foundational washing is a once-for-all act that secures their standing before God forever.

Q: How can Christians show humility like Jesus did?

Christians can show humility by serving others, valuing them above themselves, and embracing lowly tasks with love. Christ's example of humility in washing His disciples' feet teaches Christians how to embody this vital quality in their lives. To show humility, believers are called to serve others without seeking recognition or reward, as demonstrated in John 13:14-15 where Jesus states, 'If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.' This practice encourages a view of others with dignity, prioritizing their needs over personal ambition or status. In a culture that often values power and self-importance, Christians are urged to reflect Christ's heart of service, remembering that true greatness in the Kingdom of God is measured not by one's position but by one's willingness to serve.

Will you open your Bibles to
John 13? Now, this scripture is one of those places of awe and We approach with reservation,
like Moses approached the burning bush. And I want you just to take the
scripture and open it and hold it there before you. I'm not
going to take you anywhere else in the world, but here, as far
as your turning is concerned. I want you to look at this scripture.
And by God's grace and the presence of our Lord and his Holy Spirit,
I want us to to learn something from this portion of God's Word. Now, in these countries, as I
understand it, it was the custom to wash the feet of guests who
came to one's home. It was a very lowly service performed
by a servant or slave at the door. You remember our Lord rebuked
a Pharisee one time, he said, when I came into your home, you
gave me no water to wash my feet. As I understand it, now people
wore in those countries robes, turbans, veils for the women,
and they wore sandals, open-toed sandals. They were just strips
of leather that they wore on their feet. And they would walk
through the hot and dry and dusty roads and paths. And when they came to a person's
home, if they came to the home to eat lunch or dinner, when
they came to the home, they took their shoes off. And at the door,
a considerate, kind guest would have a lowly servant boy or slave
or girl And they would be there with a basin of cool, refreshing
water. And the guest would come into
the home and the servant would take his sandals off and put
his foot in that basin of cool, clear water and just sponge off
his feet and dry that one with a towel. And then he'd put this
one up and they'd wash that dirty, dusty foot. and dry it with a
towel, and the guests would go on in and lie down or sit down
at the table, whatever the custom was. The next one would come
in, and this little slave sitting at the door would do the same
thing. Well, according to this scripture that we just read,
the disciples had gathered together for supper, and supper being
ended, they were sitting about the table talking, or lying about
in a circle. doesn't matter, but they were
there talking and visiting. And the master, the Lord Jesus
Christ, arose from the table, and he went over here and took
his robe off. They had an undergarment, a small
undergarment that the men wore under this robe. But he took
that robe off, the seamless robe, and he laid it over on a chair.
And I'm sure the disciples watched him not. He didn't say a word.
And they watched him not understanding what on earth he was going to
do. But he laid that rope carefully in a chair, and then he went
over and got a towel, a huge towel, and he draped it around
him. And then he poured a basin of
water. I remember when I was a boy growing
up, we had those old white ivory-looking, I don't know what they made them
out of, but basins. We didn't have running water
in the house, but we had pitcher of water, and you pour the pitcher
in the basin, pour the water and wash your hands. But he got
one of those huge basins and filled it with water. And then
he came over and he kneeled down in front of one of the disciples
and started washing his dirty, dusty feet, took his sandals
off, and they were amazed. They just were aghast. And nobody said anything. He
began to wash their feet. The Master did. The Lord of Glory. Now, people have read this scripture
for years. I've read it, as you have, many,
many times. And it's been preached many times. And even foot washing or feet
washing has been practiced, literally, in many circles. And I would
say this to you this morning, under correct circumstances,
I would not object to it at all, under correct circumstances.
If it were a service that needed to be rendered, however lowly,
I wouldn't object to it at all. But as a church ordinance, as a means of demonstrating my
humility, I have to have reservations. I think we're missing many opportunities
to wash feet, running around trying to literally wash feet.
But anyway, I've heard this passage of Scripture preached from several
times and dealt with many times. But I've never really heard it
dealt with in a way that I felt that it ought to be preached.
ought to be presented. And there's no way I can exhaust
it. Like I said to you at the beginning of the message, I can't touch the hem of the
garment here. It's too sacred, it's too holy, it's too meaningful.
But I have found some things. I believe God has shown me some
things about this scripture. And it comes from much preparation
and study and looking into it. I'll divide it into four or five
parts. The first one is verse six and
seven. Now, here's the heading of this part of the message.
Let me tell you this, listen to me. Any real spiritual truth,
anything spiritually that you learn, and when I say learn it,
I mean it becomes a part of you, you experience it, you learn
it, never to forget You learn it. It's not mental acceptance
of a fact, it's something you've experienced. Any spiritual truth
that you learn will come by revelation and by experience as God brings
you to maturity in Christ. Our Lord came to Simon Peter,
he was washing the disciples' feet, verse 6, and he cometh
to Simon Peter. And Peter says unto him, I can
picture this in my mind. Peter was always the outspoken
one, he was always the impulsive one, he was always speaking his
mind without reservation sometimes. And our Lord just brought his
basin over and sat it in front of Peter, and he pulled his feet
back under the chair or wherever he was seated, he pulled his
feet back and said, Lord, do you wash my feet? Do you wash my feet? And then our Lord made this comment,
verse 7, Jesus answered and said to Peter, what I do, what I'm
doing, you do not know now. You don't know. You don't understand.
But you will. But you will. Down in verse 17, he said, if
you know these things, if you know them, happy are you. In
John 16, he said one day to his disciples, he said, I've got
many things to say to you, but you can't bear them. You can't
know them. Well, Peter knew what he was
doing. That's the reason he objected. Our Lord said, what I'm doing,
you don't know. He knew what he was doing. He
was washing their feet. But he didn't know what he was
doing. You understand what I'm saying? That's why he objected. He knew
what he was doing. Do you, the king of glory, wash
my, the fisherman's feet? He knew what he was doing, but
he didn't understand what Christ was doing nor why he was doing
it. And listen to me now. Here's my point. This whole religious
world knows hear outwardly what Christ Jesus did. But they don't know what he did. No, they don't, right? You see, he was born of a virgin
in Bethlehem. He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.
We just got to celebrate. We had all these little nativity
scenes. If you couldn't find a boy baby, get a girl baby. Can't find a real baby, get a
wax domey. Duh. It doesn't matter to us. If you
can't get three, wise men get two. We just celebrate it. But let
me ask you this. Why was he born of a virgin?
Does anybody know? Is it important? Is it significant?
Why was he born of that particular virgin, Mary? Why couldn't it
have been some other virgin? Why the woman that was of the
house and lineage of David? Judah. Jesse. Does anybody know
why? There's untold reasons why. Significant reasons. God-honoring
reasons. Reasons without which you couldn't
know God. Why was he born in Bethlehem?
O thou Bethlehem, thou art the smallest of all of them. Little
old insignificant town out of nowhere. City of David. Why was
he born of David? This world knew what happened,
but they don't know why. They know he went about doing
good. Why? They know he lived on this earth
thirty-three and a half years. Why? They know he was baptized. Now, that's a silly thing for
the Lord to do. Oh, not if you know why. A lot of them watched
him walk down into that water and be baptized of John the Baptist,
but the only one there knew when. To fulfill all righteousness,
and that was the one that was doing it. The whole world knows
he died on the cross. What I do know, Peter, you don't
know. No, you don't know. But you shall
know. And I'll tell you this, the whole
religious world knows about that baby in Bethlehem, and that man
of Judea, and that victim on that cross, and that open tomb,
and that ascension, and that exaltation, but they don't know
what, who, why, or where. They could not give you an intelligent
answer on any of those questions, so they don't know what he's
doing. They don't know what he's doing
now. He said they have eyes, but they don't see. If I were to say that to you this
morning, you'd say, the preacher's getting old and senile and he
needs to retire. Anybody with eyes can see. No,
they can't. They can see the physical, but
they can't see the spiritual. Our Lord said they've got ears,
but they don't hear. They've got hearts, but they
don't understand. They can understand formulas, they can understand
scientific research, they can understand geography and history,
they can understand the mechanics of automobiles, they can do great
and mighty wonders, but they don't understand or know God.
That's right, Jim. That's what's sad. Our Lord Peter
said, Just thou wash my feet? And our Lord said, Peter, you
don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing.
The Apostle Paul said, Oh, that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection. I wish that I could find somebody
who was really interested in knowing him and knowing him and knowing who
he is. I'd love to take a few months
and tell him who he is. We want instant religion today.
We want to run down here, Mr. Swigert, and get emotionally
upset and come down now and say a little prayer, kiss God goodbye
and say, I'll see you in glory. But I wish I had someone who
wanted to know who he is and what he did and why he did it
and why he did it and sit down with me with a hunger and thirst
who will come and listen, who will take the word of God and
find out who he is. what he did and why he did what
he did, that God may be just and justifier, that God's attributes
and character might be justly honored and satisfied and exalted,
that God may be God and redeem sinners, that he'll be able to
give to everybody that asks him a reason to give an answer for
the hope they have. And if you've got a good hope,
you can. All right, notice the second
thing. Here's the second thing I see here. Verse 7, he said,
what I'm doing you do not know. But you shall. You shall. And then in verse 8. Now here's
the very heart of the gospel of justification and sanctification. Here's the very heart. Will you
listen? Listen right now, so keenly. Peter said, thou shalt
never wash my feet. You will never wash my feet. And the Lord Jesus said to him,
Peter, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Now you
can go into the pool and wash yourself, or let the preacher
wash you. But you have no part with him. He's got to wash you.
He personally got to wash you. They can bring you down and you
just keep on doing it now. Out there in these churches,
you know, we don't do it here. You can bring these babies and
dress them in linen and satin. It's pretty. Put them on a little
pillow and get the Godfather and Godmother and let some preacher
stand there and say some words and let him wash that baby. But that baby has no part with
Christ. If I wash thee not, you got no part in it. And you can come down this aisle
and get on your knees like a woman said on television the other
day, go to an old-fashioned altar. You need to go to an altar, but
it's not an old-fashioned church wood bench. Christ is our altar. If I wash you not. If I wash
you, and our Lord's speaking of the cleansing of the blood,
the washing of regeneration, that's what he's talking about.
He's talking about the washing of the blood, the cleansing of
the blood. If I wash you not, if I cleanse
you not, if that blood which maketh atonement for the soul,
God said it's the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. And gospel is a bloodless religion. They want nothing to do with
the blood of the cross. They want nothing to do with
the blood of the mercy seat. And our Lord is saying here to
Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part in the covenant
of mercy, because that's the blood of the everlasting covenant.
You have no part in his righteousness, because he who knew no sin was
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. You have no part in his resurrection. Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in that first resurrection. I
want to attain unto the resurrection of the dead by all means, don't
you? Christ said, if I wash you now,
you have no part. No part. If I wash thee not,
thou hast no part in the eternal kingdom in his body. If I wash
thee not, you have no part in my prayers and intercession. No use saying, blessed Mary,
mother of God, pray for us poor sinners. She can't help us. Christ
said, if I wash you not, you have no power. I wash you. Is that clear? Jesus says, I'm
not coming this way. I'm not going to have, you're
not going to wash my feet. Now, we'll wash each other's
feet, we'll get together, we'll share, we'll get a program going,
and we'll do the best we can, and we'll get the law and re-read
it and re-study it and re-evaluate it and see if we can re-keep
it, but you're not going to wash my feet! Never! All right. That'd be fine. But if I don't wash you, you
don't have any part with me. I don't know how I can make that
plainer. Then he made it. You don't have any part with
it. Oh boy, but listen to Peter now,
verse 9, and I wish men today would get as alarmed as he did.
I just said that. I read the Master's comment.
I said, the Master said, if I don't wash you, are you washed in the
blood of the Lamb? Are you? That's old-fashioned,
preacher. It's old as God. Yeah, I admit
that. He's a lamb slain for the foundation. Well, that's quite
old-fashioned. That's medieval. That's primitive. Yeah, it goes
back to the ancient gospel. It's ancient. It is primitive.
But we're modern people. Unfortunately, that's your loss.
God hasn't changed. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. The way of the cross is still the way home. The way
of the blood sprinkled way, that's still the way to God. God has
never saved sinners, but one way, the same way he redeemed
Abel, he'll redeem you by the blood. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no remission. We're washed in the blood, cleansed
in the blood, redeemed by the blood. The blood is our atonement
before God. And our Lord Jesus said, Peter,
if I don't wash you, you've got no part in anything that's mine. Well, he said, Lord, wash my
hands and my head and just wash me all over. All of my body is
instrument. or instruments of sin, just wash
me all over." He got alarmed, but the Master
replied, now listen to this, verse 10, Jesus said to him,
he that is washed, he that is washed, past tense, needeth not
save or accept to wash his feet, but he's clean, and you're clean. In other words, even before he,
he hadn't even gone to the cross yet, had he? That's where he
shed his blood, on the cross. But this was before the cross.
And he's saying to these disciples, he's saying to his sheep, he's
saying to his own, he's saying, you're already clean, you're
already washed. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. You're already washed. And the
reason for that is this, that a promise of God is as certain
and sure as an act of God. God doesn't have to wait for
something to happen for it to be already accomplished. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. You see, the scripture says,
Whom he foreknew, he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his Son. Whom he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he
justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. Past tense. He's already done it. Christ
was the Lamb slain before the world. Abel came offering the
blood of a lamb. With the blood of that lamb,
an animal's blood has no power to atone, it has no power to
cleanse, but Abel was cleansed. Abel was redeemed. Abel was accepted
of God. Why? His sacrifice pictured and
patterned Christ's sacrifice. It's done. It's done, you see
that? Everybody prior to the cross
was saved by looking to, in expectation and faith, the blood shed on
the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody after the cross is
saved and redeemed and washed by faith, looking back to Christ,
who is our sacrifice. But with God, there's no past,
present, and future. He is I Am. There's no time with
God. Everything that has been done,
is being done, and will be done, is already done. Does that make
sense? It doesn't to us. We're time
creatures. But God, there's no hour a day,
or year, or month with God. There's no past, present, and
future. He said, I am. And when our Lord was looking
at these disciples, he was saying, you're clean. You're clean. I've been your surety from all
eternity. I've been your atonement from
all eternity. I've been your cleansing blood
from all eternity. God has loved you, he does love
you, he will love you. Having loved his are, he loved
them to the end. Having loved them, always loved them. God
doesn't change. You see what I'm saying? And
that's what he's saying to Peter. But he says to Peter, now watch
this. But you need daily washing. Your feet need washing. You're
clean. You're clean. Clean in the God sight, clean
before the law, clean in purity. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I cleanse them, make them whiter than the snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they're whiter than wool. But your feet need
washing, Peter. Let me see if I can illustrate
that. I've visited in countries where
they have public baths. People don't have the conveniences,
modern conveniences we have in this country, that private baths
in every home. Sometimes two or three. There's
countries where they don't, they have public baths. They have
public baths here. A fellow would take his towel
and he'd go down to the public bath, and that's where he would
bathe. And he'd bathe all over. He'd
take soap and wash and cleanse his hair and his skin, all over,
hands, back, body. He'd take his towel, dry himself
off, put his robe on, walk home. You know what the first thing
he did when he got home he had to do? Wash his feet. Why? Because he walked down a
dirty road going home. But he didn't have to wash all
over again, he was clean. But he had to wash his feet.
And that's what our Lord is saying to Peter here. Peter, you're
clean. I've cleansed you, I've washed you, I've redeemed you.
You're clean and whole and pure in the sight of God. With Peter,
there's a daily cleansing too. There's a daily sanctification.
That's right. Our Lord intercedes for us constantly.
You see, repentance is not an isolated act. I am repenting. Faith is not an isolated act.
That's what bothers me about people who say, well, I got saved
when I was 12. You got saved. You're not being
saved. You mean it's all finished? You
kiss God goodbye and tell him you'll meet him in glory? Oh,
no! There's a daily coming to Christ. There's a daily repenting. There's
a daily faith, isn't there? There's a daily praying, Lord,
forgive me of my sins. Wash me! I've been washed, but
wash me. I've been saved, but save me. I know Christ, but reveal him
to me. Bob, that's it. That's what he's
saying to Peter. The character of faith is perseverance. The character of faith is continuing
in Christ. Don't you buy any other gospel.
Don't you do it, because it won't save you. You're preaching works,
preacher. I ain't no such thing. I'm preaching
obedience. I'm preaching commitment. I'm
preaching love for Christ. That's what I'm preaching. It's
all of Christ. But Peter said, you'll never
wash my feet. And if I don't wash you, and my dear people,
I'm telling you, I don't care if you're raised a Methodist
or a Congregationist or a Southern Baptist or an Independent Baptist
or a Landmark Baptist or a Catholic or a Camelite or what you've
been raised, redemptions in the blood, salvations of the Lord,
and it's a mighty miracle of his grace whereby he takes a
dirty, filthy sinner off the dunghill and washes him in the
blood of the Son of God, who is our sacrifice and substitute,
and cleanses him and makes him a new creature. And he cleansed
him once for all. There's no further cleansing
needed. There's a daily forgiveness and a daily walk and a daily
pardon and a daily fellowship. That's right. Alright, here's
the next comment. Nearly everybody misses theirs.
Here's a powerful statement overlooked by so many. Now, quietly and
calmly, read verse 10 again. Jesus said, Peter, he that is
washed, he that is cleansed, he that's under the blood, needeth
not save to wash his feet. But it's clean everywhere. And
you're clean. You're clean. John, John's clean. Peter's clean. Nathaniel's clean. Luke's clean. But not all of
you. Not all of you. And I just imagine
his eyes went over and met Judas. Judas not clean. He wasn't in the covenant. He
wasn't in the surety ship. He wasn't in the cross. He was
not cleansed. Isn't that what that says? It
tells you the next verse. For he knew who would betray
him. Therefore, because he knew one
of them would betray him, one of them didn't believe on him,
one of them wasn't his disciple, therefore he said, you're not
all good. I don't know any verse in the Bible that's clearer than
that. You do what you want to with it. But our Lord said to
Peter and the disciples as he washed Peter's feet, he said,
now, he that's cleansed, Cleansed in the blood, the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. He is cleansed and purified within
and without before the throne of a holy God. He doesn't ever
need to be cleansed again. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. There remaineth no more offering
for sin. We don't need a Mass next Sunday.
That's what a Mass is, it's offering Christ again, every Sunday. It's blasphemy. It's blasphemy. A man said to me this week, how
do you get away with saying what you say to the pulpit? Doesn't
your denomination hold any restraint over you at all? I told him I
didn't belong to any denomination. This church is not under any
rules or regulations from any organizations. I say what God
tells me to say, and I'm going to say it by His grace. that
Christ has been offered once, and that's all. And he's cleansed
us. But he said, you're not all clean.
You're not all clean, for he knew who would betray him, and
that's the reason I'm saying to you, I'm saying to you that
Jesus Christ the Lord, now hold on to your seat, did not on that
cross die for the whole human race. Now come on, you just all
messed up, you think he did? He died for those who believe
on him. He didn't die for Judas, he said
that. He said he's not clean. He said up to that time he hadn't
died for any of them. Oh yes he had. He's a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world and God's purpose will never
change. Those who are ordained to eternal
life will believe. And Christ died for them and
cleansed them. If you're here this morning and
you believe on Him and love Him and trust Him, He died for you
and you're clean. You're clean. Isn't that something?
Pure, holy and clean, spotless. But if you're here and do not
believe on Him, no, you're not clean. There's no atonement for
you. There's no cleansing. You see,
the Scripture says, if we walk in the light, As he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, that's fellowship
with Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. If you don't walk in the light,
you're not cleansed. That's obvious, isn't it? He
that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not on
the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. Let me show you the last
portion now. Verse 12. So after he had washed
their feet and had taken his garments and was sat down again,
he said to them, Do you know what I've done to you? Our Lord
very calmly finished washing all their feet. And then he went
over and took the towel off and laid it down, picked up his robe,
put it back on, calmly walked over and sat down. And then he
looked at them and he said, Do you know what I've done? Do you
know? He said, verse 13, you call me
master and Lord. And you say, well, that's exactly
what I am. The Lord of lords, king of kings,
master. He said, call no man master on
this earth. One is your master. Call no man
father. One is your father. Neither be
ye lords over God's heritage. Because you're brethren. Isn't
that right? But I'm your master. I'm your Lord. And you say, well,
so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your
feet, if I have taken the place of a common, everyday slave or
servant, and sat at your feet and rendered unto you the most
menial task, the most lowly task of the most lowly servant, I
ask you, is any service or task too lowly for you? If I, the supreme, revered, awesome
Lord, among you my brethren, he's not ashamed to call us brethren,
have sat down before you and performed the most menial task,
rendered unto you this service, is any service too low for you? Verily, verily, I say unto you.
In verse 15, I've given you an example that you should do as
I've done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is
not greater than his Lord. There's no class system in the
kingdom of God. Let me read you two or three
scriptures. Matthew, let me just read this. You listen to it. He said, the
disciples debated about who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And Jesus called a little child over and set him in the midst
of them and said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted,
changed in your haughtiness and in your pride and in your arrogance,
somebody has a little more money than somebody else and looks
down on those that don't have much. James said, a fella comes into
your congregation, he's dressed in a cup and hammer suit with
a diamond ring on and a Rolex watch and drives up in a big
car and you just pay him so much attention, say, now you sit here.
Another fella comes in in not very nice clothes, overalls or
something, you kind of ignore him, let him find where he wants
to sit, he's not worth much to us. Ungodly, that's ungodly. That's ungodly. Some of you have
a little more education, you've got a master's and a doctorate
and a bachelor of science and a Ph.D. You think you're somebody. Or if the grace of God ever gets
in your heart, you won't think that. You'll consider the least
servant of God in this church to be more important than you
are. That's what he's saying. That's right. You mean me come
over here and vacuum these floors? Me? Me clean the restroom? Me
shovel the snow? Me take a back seat? Don't you
folks know who I am? Surely you know who I am. Yeah,
unfortunately we do. We'd have never known if you
had told us, though. Whosoever therefore shall humble
themselves as this little child, it seems great in the kingdom
of heaven. You know what he's saying. You know and I know exactly
what he's saying. There's no Mr. Big in the kingdom
of God. Let me read you another one.
Over here he said this, the master said this. Again, there was a
strife among the disciples of who should be the greatest. We
lacked officers in the church. I know churches where if you've
got 120 members, you've got 119 officers. That's right, they
give everybody an office. We lacked the titles. We lacked
recognition, because we're so carnal. so fleshly, so lost. Verse 25, he said, The kings
of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, but you shall not
be so. He that is greatest among you,
let him be as the younger. And he that would be cheap, let
him be as one who does serve. I tell you honestly, in this
kingdom of God, You see, they say the grave is the leveler.
The grave. There's no rich and poor in the
grave. There's no educated and uneducated. There's no old or
young. There's no smart and foolish. The grave, oh no, no. Grace is
the first leveler. Grace brings the mighty down
and raises the lowly up in Christ their brethren. That's right.
And to me, in the kingdom of God, somebody says, what do you
all do for the young people down there? Well, we got young people
85 years old here. And we've got some of these young
men here that are 70 years old in experience in the gospel.
They know Christ. So there's no age in the kingdom
of God. We're brethren. male or female, bond or free,
rich or poor. We got some folks here, God's
blessed, and they know where they got it. God gave it to them.
We got some that are struggling. But I can tell you this, among
those who know God, they're one. And what's mine's yours. It better
be. Somebody asked me the other day
that they could use my car. I said, let me tell you, that's
my father's car, and any of his kids can drive it that want to.
You believe that? Well, you better. We don't have
anything God didn't give. And he said, I'll set an example.
Now then, listen to me. And I'm going to be so candid
and honest. There's no use, Ken, there's
no use us getting in the basin of water and sitting down here
in this chair and washing feet. I took a shower before I left
home. I don't need you to wash my feet. My feet are clean. But
I have other needs. Huh? See what I'm talking about?
And nobody here needs their feet washed. I don't think I'll check
you at the door going out. I wouldn't mind, really and truly,
if you needed it. But let's find somewhere that
we can be like our Lord. Let's, the high and mighty, let's
get at the door. Let's embrace somebody and speak
to them and lend a hand and reach out and Don't act apart. Just be genuine. That's where
it is. Grace makes you loving and genuine,
kind and compassionate, gracious and tender-hearted. And let's
just put all this stuff out there in the snow pile about who's
who and what's what and all this sort of thing. I'll tell you
what I am. I'm just a sinner, nothing at all. But I've been
redeemed by the blood of the Lord. I'm a son of God. And I'll
tell you, I like that arrangement of equality. I'll tell you one
place God's created all men equal, and that's in Christ. They're
all just like Him. That's what it's teaching. That's
what it says. Are you ready to wash your feet?
And I'll bet you there are a lot of people who'd bring their towels
tonight to actually do it, who can't wash it spiritually. But you know when you're ready
to wash feet? When you read the first two or three parts of that
scripture and find out who washed yours first. Because our relationship
with others depends on our relationship with Him. If you ever find out
that He, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a servant.
When you find out what He did for you, then you'll wash feet.
You're ready and willing to wash feet. All right, Mike.

Are You Ready to Wash Feet?

What does the Bible say about foot washing?

Why is foot washing important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus’ cleansing is necessary for salvation?

What does it mean to be 'washed' in a spiritual sense?

How can Christians show humility like Jesus did?

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Are You Ready to Wash Feet?

What does the Bible say about foot washing?

Why is foot washing important for Christians?

How do we know Jesus’ cleansing is necessary for salvation?

What does it mean to be 'washed' in a spiritual sense?

How can Christians show humility like Jesus did?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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