John chapter 13, let us begin
reading in verse 12. John 13, verse 12. So after he
had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set
down again, he said unto them, know ye what I have 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, ye 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 he that sent him. If you know these things,
happy are you if you do them. 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 I tell you before it come
that when it is come, When it is come to pass, you may believe
that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that receiveth whomsoever I sin receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus had thus
said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then
the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now
there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus
loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned
to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is
it? Jesus answered, he it is to whom
I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped
the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And
after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto
him, that thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought,
because Judas had the bag that Jesus had sent unto him, buy
those things that we have need of against the feast, or that
he should give something to the poor. He then, having received
the sup, went immediately out, and it was night. Now as we look
at these verses tonight, I want us to consider a question and
a statement. A question and a statement. The question is found in verse
12. Know ye what I have done to you. Now obviously, they all knew
that he had washed their feet. There's no mystery about that. Each and every one of them knew
that. This tells us that his washing
their feet had a spiritual signification. It had a spiritual meaning. Know ye what I have done to you. Now it was important that they
know. It was important that they know,
and it is equally important that we know. And it is important
that they knew and that we know because, as he says in verse
15, this is an example that they were and we are to practice. Here are four things that stand
out in his example. First of all, he humbled himself. He was the greatest. There at
that place at that time with the 12 disciples, He was the
greatest. He was the one that all of them
addressed as Lord and Master. And yet He humbled Himself and
washed their feet. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ is marked by this amazing, this amazing grace of humbling
Himself. Beginning with His incarnation,
When He came into this world, it was an act on His part of
humbling Himself. He who was rich became poor,
that we through His poverty might be made rich. Beginning with
His incarnation, as the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians chapter
2, who being in the form of God, That is the eternal Son of God
in the form of God. He is God. Being in the form
of God, of the same essence as the Father and the Holy Spirit. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He did not think it was something
to be grasped at or grasped after, to be equal with God. the Father,
because He is equal with the Father in every way. As the Father
is eternal, He is eternal. As the Father is omnipotent,
the eternal Son is omnipotent. And we could go through all of
those wonderful omni-attributes about God, and they're equally
true of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but, thank God, he made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. In Luke chapter 22 and verse
27, he spoke to his disciples and he told them this wonderful
truth. I am among you as one that serveth. In another place, he said, the
son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his
life a ransom for many. Do you understand what I have
done to you? It's important. It's important
that you understand what I've done because you are to practice
this. Number two, he exercised patience. Oh me, what a wonderful grace
is patience. None of us pray for patience,
do we? Because we know the scriptures
teach us, tribulation worketh patience. But oh, how necessary
it is. And I see this in the Lord Jesus
Christ, because when He came to Peter, and you know what happened. Peter did not understand. He
did not know what the Lord was doing. is characteristic of Peter. He began to speak and talk and
say that the Lord would never, never wash his feet. Don't you
see the patience? The master, the Lord, and here's
one of his disciples rebuking him, teaching him, you'll never
wash my feet. Don't you see his patience? His
patience with this disciple and with all of the disciples. We
see it over and over as we read through the Gospels, how they
misunderstood time after time. They misunderstood why he had
come into this world. They were convinced that the
Messiah, when he came, that he would set up an earthly kingdom.
And saying that the Lord Jesus Christ said, my kingdom is not
of this world. And remember when that rich young,
rich, rich young ruler, came running to the Lord Jesus Christ
and kneeled down and said, good master, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? Well, don't you know the disciples,
they recognized, now these were fishermen, these were publicans, they recognized this man, he's
somebody. He's wealthy, number one, and
he's some kind of a ruler. And this is someone that could
be a real asset to us and to your kingdom. Whatever you do,
don't say anything now, Lord, that's gonna turn him away. Oh, and the Lord Jesus says,
why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, and
it's God. Unless you recognize who I am,
don't call me good. Now, He is good because He is
God. But what must I do? Well, eventually,
because this man was self-righteous, like all of us by nature, we're
all self-righteous. We feel like there's something
that we've done or could do or or something we are that commends
us unto God in some way. Surely God will be merciful to
us. We deserve it. If anyone dies,
we do. Sell everything you have and
give it to the poor. And he went away sad. He went away sad. I know the disciples, they said,
Lord, who then can be saved? With man, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Our Lord said it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Bishop J.C. Ryle in one of his comments on
I believe that particular passage of scripture, he pointed out
that one of the reasons so few rich men enter into the kingdom
of heaven is that so very few rich men ever have anyone preach
to them. That for some reason people respect
them for their wealth. or something like that, and so
they do not address them as all men must be addressed, and that
is as sinners. Christ came to save sinners. Rich sinners, poor sinners. Educated
sinners, uneducated sinners. He came to save sinners, and
that's the only ones that he saves, sinners. I see the Lord's patience. Number
three, He displayed kindness. I said first of all, He humbled
Himself. Second, He exercised patience.
Third, He displayed kindness. And I see this especially in
the fact that He washed the feet of Judas. Now his kindness is
displayed in washing the feet of all of his disciples, no doubt,
but especially this one, Judas Iscariot, the one who would lift
up his heel against him. Do you know what that means,
lift up his heel against him? Well, the word picture is that
of a horse that has thrown its rider and then turns to kick
it, kick the rider. Everything that Judas had received
out of the beneficence and the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and how is this kindness requited by traitor, by being a traitor,
by lifting up his heel against him, by selling him for the price
of a slave, 30 pieces of silver. But that did not stop the Lord
Jesus Christ from washing his feet. And number four, he performed
a necessary and a helpful deed. Now I pointed this out last time. that our Lord did not say, do
what I have done, but He said, do as I have done. We know what He has done, and
now we are to do likewise, as He has done. And this especially
refers to the family of believers, the household of God, As we think
of those four things, each one of us, this is what we should
do. We should humble ourselves. We
should be patient one with another. We should be kind one with another. And yes, we should perform necessary
helpful deeds one for another. Look with me in Philippians chapter
two, just a moment. And I've quoted that verse from
this chapter. where the apostle Paul tells
us that he, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. But notice how this chapter begins. Now here's the words of an apostle
to a church, a local church, the church at Philippi at first,
but to us, to you, to me. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any vows of mercies fulfill you my joy, that you
be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. Let nothing, let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things. In other words, don't look as
to how you may be served, but how you may serve others. Don't
just think how this is going to affect me, but how this will
affect others, the church family. But every man also on the things
of others, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who being in the form of God, he humbled himself. I
want you to look over to first Peter, just a moment. 1 Peter
chapter 5 and verse 6. Humble yourselves. Now I said
the Lord humbled himself. We are to humble ourselves. That's easier said than done.
Humble. Peter says humble yourselves. But notice how he said humble
yourself under the mighty the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
times. Now this is just a suggestion. How do we humble ourselves? I've often thought that one of
the best pictures of this is in David, King David. When God told him, David told
the Lord, told the prophet Nathan, I believe it was, that it was
in his heart to build God a house. And Nathan, he spoke and he said,
do what's in your heart. And then God spoke to the prophet
and said, no, you tell David, he's not going to build me a
house, I'm going to build him a house. And David, when he heard that
message, the scripture says he went in and said before the Lord,
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. A hand has five
fingers. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. Now, there are five truths some
people like to refer to them as the five doctrines of grace. Really, there's only one doctrine
and it's the doctrine of Christ. When the Bible speaks about doctrines,
it's always of Satan. There's one doctrine, and that
doctrine is Christ. And everything, every other truth
points to and centers in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But I said, here's a suggestion,
if we would humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God,
sit down before God and just consider those five things. beginning
with total depravity. Here I am, a member of the household
of God, and yet by nature, I'm totally depraved. That is, I'm
a fallen creature. That my mind was darkened, my
will was obstinately set against God, and my affections were turned
in upon myself. I love myself. by nature, and
here I am now in the household of God. Isn't
that humbling? Isn't that humbling? And the
second is, of course, unconditional election. The children not being
yet born, not having done good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. God said that the elder
would serve the younger. God's unconditional election. The purpose, and God is a God
of wisdom, and I know that His election, there's a purpose,
there's a purpose in those that He chose, but the purpose is
not in the ones that He chose. He made his choice according
to his own sovereign will. He's not a respecter of persons.
Who maketh thee to differ from another? Think about, meditate
on unconditional election. And third, limited atonement
or specific atonement. That he sent his son into this
world, and he gave his life for his sheep, and here I am, one
of his sheep. That's humbling, isn't it? That
he passed over others. Oh my, if it was a question of
worthiness, I wouldn't be here tonight, I guarantee you that. He passed over others. much more
worthy, if we could use that terminology, non-worthy really,
and shed his blood for a sinner like me. Irresistible grace. I was running away from God. I asked that man one time, well,
you know, who saved him? He said, well, God did his part
and I did my part. And I said, well, what was your
part? He said, I was running as fast as I could away from
God. What was God's part? He apprehended
me. Irresistible grace. And we're kept. We are preserved
until the day of redemption. Not one of his sheep will be
taken out of his hand, because the Father which gave them unto
him is greater than all. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. Exercise patience. We want people
to be patient with us. I read this article the other
day, I thought I would share with us. The verse of scripture,
our Lord said, as you would that men should do to you, do you
also to them likewise. This verse is commonly called
the Golden Rule. And what a wonderful rule it
is. If we, by God's grace, could
put this in practice, much good could be done for others as well
the good it would do for us. Do we want others to show us
mercy when we make a mistake? Do we want people to be merciful
to us, forgive us, overlook it? Do we want mercy? Then be merciful. As you would have men do unto
you, do you likewise. Do we want others to show us
forgiveness? If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man. How many times have we offended,
not intentionally, sometimes maybe intentionally, with our
words? Do we want forgiveness? Then
we must be forgiving. Do we want patience? Little children,
you know, when they're first learning to walk, they fall a
lot, don't they? They stumble. But mothers and
fathers have such patience with their little children, you know,
to pick them up, set them up again, stand there and wait for
them to walk. Well, we're just little children
when we're born into the family of God and how we need patience,
others to be patient with us and for us to show others patience. Would we be patient? then we
must be patient with others. Do we want others to show us
kindness? Then show great kindness. And the writer of this article
goes on to say, would we have others befriend us? Then be a
friend. Would we like to receive a call,
a card, a visit, an invite? Don't let the lack of others
keep you from doing to them as you would have them do unto you. For it is truly more blessed
to give than to receive. Those who do not unto others
rob themselves of a blessing. Go learn what this meaneth. Humble yourselves. Be patient. You know when a preacher puts
his hand out like this, now some preachers they don't use their
hands, but I'm not one of them. And I put that finger out and
I'm pointing at you, but remember there's three, four pointing
back at me. And no one needs this more than
I do. I know that. Now in verse 18, notice back
in our text, John 13. The Lord limited those who would
be happy doing these things when He said, I speak not of you all. In verse 17, He said, if you
know these things, happy are you if you do them. But now notice
He limits that, I speak not of you all. Before, Just above this,
when he was washing the feet of the disciples, he said, you
are clean every whit. But then he qualified it, didn't
he? But not all. And the reason they
were not all clean every whit is because Judas Iscariot was
there. There's only one way that a person
is clean every whit. And that is to be pardoned, to
be cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made
us kings and priests unto God. There's only one way to be happy,
and that is doing the things that he did. First, to be in Christ. to be
clean every week and then to do the things. And I heard this
past week, social media, you hear a lot about these things,
Facebook and all that that you folks maybe know. If you know
anything, you know more about it than I do. But this is what
studies have showed so far, that people who spend the most time
on those whatever you call them, social media, are the most miserable
people. The most unhappy people are those
that spend the most time in things like that. And what they are
finding out by their studies that what should bring people,
connect people, is actually isolating people more and more. But back
to the text, happy are you if you do these things. Now that's
the question, do you know? Our Lord said, know you what
I have done to you. Now I want to spend a few minutes
looking at this statement, verse 21. Verily, verily, I say unto you
that one of you shall betray me. Now upon hearing these words,
John says, They looked, notice in verse 21, when Jesus had thus
said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, verily,
verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Now John
says, then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom
he spake. It's interesting, and this is
what I'm going to do. I'm going to give us the Scriptures
from the other Gospels of what took place when our Lord spoke
these words. Verily, verily, I say unto you
that one of you shall betray me. In Matthew's Gospel, he says
they were exceeding sorrowful. When they heard those words,
they were exceeding sorrowful. Then in, number two, in Luke's
gospel, he says, they began to inquire among themselves which
of them it was that should do such a thing. And then third,
they began to say unto him one by one, in Mark's gospel, is
it I? Is it I? And then, last of all,
Judas. Judas, last of all. said, Master, is it I? Arthur Pink points out the fact
that all of the 11 disciples said, Lord, is it I? Judas, Master, is it I? No man, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians,
no man can say, that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Now that doesn't mean, of course,
that men cannot pronounce the title Lord. Doesn't mean that
at all. But no man, no woman, can bow
to and receive Him as Lord apart from God the Holy Spirit. No man. Let me say that again. And Paul said, no man, in 1 Corinthians
12 and verse 3, no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the
Holy Ghost. Doesn't mean that men cannot
use that title, pronounce, articulate that word, doesn't mean that.
But what it does mean is that no man, apart from the work of
God the Holy Spirit, can bow to and receive the Lord Jesus
Christ as Lord. And remember in the New Testament,
He's always Lord first and then Savior. It's never Savior and
then Lord. It's always Lord and Savior. Brother Ralph Barnard used to
say, don't tell me who your Savior is, who's your Lord? Who's your Lord? Look with me
in Romans chapter 10, just a moment. Romans chapter 10. And I want to point out that in this
wonderful, beautiful statement, the Apostle Paul, inspired of
the Holy Ghost, wrote here how he uses the word Lord. In verse 8, well let's begin. Yes, verse 8. But what saith
it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.
That is the word of faith which we preach. Now that's what I
preach. That's what you hear. And this
word, you've got it right there before you. It's nigh you. Yes, it's even in your mouth.
You can read it. You can speak the word. It's
nigh thee. Don't miss this. Don't miss this. Whoever. The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith. which we preach. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Now here it is, that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. You see that? It's not just Jesus. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For what saith the Scripture? Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew
and the Greek. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and my friend, you're not going to be ashamed. Why? Because He's the same Lord over
both Jew and Gentile, and whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. That's His Word. For there's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Only the Lord is able
to save. Takes power to save. Had to satisfy
God's justice. Yes. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How important it is to hear the
gospel. This matter of believing. Someone
said, true faith is looking unto the Lord Jesus and not to my
faith. True faith. Don't look to your
faith. True faith is looking unto the
Lord Jesus. He's the Savior. Your faith is
not the Savior. The meritorious cause of salvation
is the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. True faith is
looking unto the Lord Jesus and not to my faith. It's not when,
Some people are all upset, aren't they? I don't know when, when
the Lord began to work in my heart. It's not when. It's not
where. Oh, if you can't name the place,
the bench or whatever, where the Lord saved you, you must
not be saved. Oh, no. It's not, it's not when,
it's not where, it's not how, but whom. Whom. Whosoever shall believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. True faith is looking to the
Lord Jesus and not to my works. Their presence nor absence is
not my righteousness. He is my righteousness. Jehovah
Tiskena, the Lord, our righteousness. True faith is looking unto the
Lord Jesus and not to my trials. As long as Peter looked to Christ,
he walked on the water, as long as he looked to Christ. But when
he looked to the wind and the waves, he began to sink. And number four, true faith is
looking to the Lord Jesus and not to the means of grace. We
must not confuse the doctrines of grace and the means of grace
with grace itself, himself. He is, he is grace. Reading the Bible, prayer, worship,
offering, study, and orthodoxy, baptism, and good works are all
means of grace and growth, but only looking to Christ as our
all in all keeps them from becoming filthy rags. That's it. Now let me close with this. several lessons for us to learn
around our Lord's statement here. Like His disciples, that we might
believe that He is Jehovah. Notice in verse 19, Now I tell
you before it come, that when it is come to pass, you may believe
that I am. That's the first lesson. Like
His disciples, that we might believe that He is Jehovah. Like His disciples, that we might
know that the Scriptures will be fulfilled. They will. Verse 18. I speak not of you all, I know
whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled,
and it will, all Scripture, it shall be fulfilled. Number three,
like His disciples, that we might know that to receive Him, that
is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, is to receive Him that
sent Him. We receive Him, we receive God,
the Father, verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. You know, our Lord sent Judas
out. You can read this in Matthew
chapter 10. He sent Judas out. And I bring
this out to us because I know this has troubled some people
over the years. They heard the gospel and believed
in Christ, and then later the man from whom they heard the
gospel apostatized. And then they are concerned and
worried about their relationship to God because they heard the
gospel from a man who turned out to be a false prophet. Listen,
it wasn't the man, it was the gospel. It's a message. Balaam, there's no doubt about
him, he was a false prophet. But I tell you, the Lord put
some words in his mouth, some of the greatest words you'll
ever read about the Lord. They're true, absolutely. And number four, like his disciples
that we might know, there's no mediator between us and Christ. You say, where do you see that?
I see that because John, you know, they didn't set at the
table like we do. They reclined at table and evidently
John, who refers to himself as that disciple whom Jesus loved. Don't you love that? Every time,
this is the first time he refers to himself like that. I don't
think he ever got over that fact that the Lord loved him. But
Peter motioned to him, Ask him. Ask him. Well, you ask him yourself,
Peter. You don't need some mediator.
There's one mediator between God and man, yes, but there's
no mediators between man and Christ. The church is not the
mediator. The priests, the preachers, they're
not mediators between you and Christ. No. Go directly. him. Lord have mercy upon me,
have mercy upon me. I pray the Lord would bless these
words and especially that we would learn what our Lord taught
his disciples and that we would learn to be like him and to do
as he did. Let's sing a hymn