Be Cleansed, Forevermore!

Read

John 13:1–11 ESV

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Opening Prayer

Jesus’ Humble Service

Last Sunday, we looked at the depths of Christ’s love for His own.

—> Such love stoops low to raise us high.

Christ loves His own fully, inexhaustibly, unto death…even death on a Cross.

Jesus was going against all the cultural structures by washing the disciple’s feet.

Jesus was taking a job of filthiness that no one, according to the culture, should stoop so low as to take.

And, in His stooping to wash their feet, He is teaching us about Himself.

The primary lesson is that this act of washing the disciple’s feet is symbolic of the great work that Christ will do on the Cross for all of His sheep.

And, we will see these lessons as we see the interaction between Christ and Peter.

Now, we don’t know if Peter was first.

v.5 could be merely telling us the process of what Jesus planning to do.

And, Jesus began to wash the disciple’s feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.

meaning… this would be the process.

—> And, Jesus came to Peter to begin.

But, either way, Peter responds when the others’ were unwilling to speak.

Now, I want us to see the progression of Peter’s responses as Jesus expands the lesson.

John 13:6 ESV

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

Peter’s Response

Peter is indignant.

Peter is impulsive.

Peter, quite often, does his thinking out loud.

Peter cannot tolerate that His Lord would wash his feet.

Peter is contrasting two things here…

The Lord of Glory vs. Peter’s dirty feet.

Peter actually says it like this…

Lord, do you, my feet, wash?!

There is an indignant, intolerable attitude and emphasis in Peter’s question.

Let’s think about this…

And, to human wisdom…it seems right.

To human wisdom, those high in position and high in social ranking…

Do not serve those under them, but rather are served by them.

And, to deny your greatness by stooping to serve is to negate one’s greatness.

But, God teaches that the greatest in rank has the opportunity to do the greatest service…

And, service to the lowly is actually a display of greatness rather than the negation of such.

Doesn’t the world think the gospel is foolishness for this very same reason?

Doesn’t the world see power as an opportunity to be served?

—> A God, who serves? And, that service ending in death?!

What sort of Savior serves in death, at the hands of his enemies?!

This the very reason the gospel is foolishness to the Gentile…

And, a stumbling block to the Jew.

Now, look at the response of Jesus and the expansion of the lesson…

John 13:7 ESV

7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

Jesus’ Calling for Faith

This is a tremendous statement from Christ.

This is what Jesus is saying…

You may not fully comprehend what it is that I’m doing…

Nor comprehend what I’m asking you to do by submitting to this act…

But, I am asking you to trust your Lord, and submit to my work by faith.

Is this not the Christian life?!

From justification through sanctification all the way to glorification.

—> We are called to submit to Christ by faith.

We comprehend at times, but not fully.

—> We perceive in a mirror dimly.

But, we trust God because of our new heart, given to us by the HS.

Let’s think about this…

Doesn’t humble obedience to God seem foolish to human wisdom?!

Doesn’t enduring suffering for the name of Christ seem foolish to human wisdom?!

When people are tortured for the name of Christ…

They are asked, “Why suffer? Just deny Christ?”

It should be an easy decision, they think…

—> According to fallen, sinful wisdom, it is.

But, God’s wisdom is above man’s fallen, sinful wisdom.

God’s ways are above man’s ways.

In the world’s wisdom…

—> Suffering for self-glory is heroic.

But, enduring suffering for God’s glory is foolishness to the world.

God calls us and enables us to treasure Him above life itself.

God calls us and enables us to endure suffering for His name sake.

Trusting God, when answers don’t come to mind…

—> Is not blind faith.

—> It is informed faith.

A faith that says, although I may not understand the circumstances…

—> I do understand my God, and He is WORTHY!

Well, what does Peter say in response to Christ’s call to submit in faith?

John 13:8 ESV

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.”

Peter’s Response

Peter responds with a strong double negative.

Never, not in all eternity

Peter’s response is understandable, right?!

You’re the Lord, stop stooping below your level. I will never let you do such a thing, never.

But, Peter’s response, once again, shows his lack of understanding the spiritual reality of what Christ is doing.

Peter, in this moment, is still thinking cultural social structure.

He’s still thinking earthly, physical realities.

Much like the Samaritan woman who asked Jesus for the water that will keep her from having to come back to the well each day…

Peter’s thinking is constrained by earthly thoughts.

His thoughts are understandable.

But, they’re all the more grievous as he resists yielding to the Lord’s call to submit and trust.

His thoughts are all the more egregious as he assumes the role to correct the Lord.

Peter assumed the role of correcting the Lord once before and was sharply rebuked.

—> It seems, he’s just like us, in our repetition of sinfulness.

But, Jesus graciously leads Peter on in understanding…

John 13:8 ESV

8 …Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Jesus’ Call to Humble Oneself

Jesus now explains the necessity of accepting His service of humiliation.

He’s saying…

If you’re not cleansed by Me, you have no inheritance with Me.

If your sins are not pardoned by Me, you can never be with Me.

If you cannot accept this small gesture of humiliation by Me…

How will you ever accept the infinite gesture of humiliation that I’m about to endure on the Cross.

Jesus is preparing them for His work on the Cross.

Jesus is preparing them for Him to stoop lower than the imagination can even imagination to make them blameless before God.

To make us, His people, spotless before God.

To remove the guilt and stain of sin and make us whiter than snow.

This foot washing is nothing in comparison to what I’m about to do.

—> If you think dirt on the feet is too filthy for me to handle…

—> Then you greatly misunderstand the filth of sin.

Because I’m about to handle your sin on the Cross.

And, there’s nothing filthier than sin.

Well, Peter responds to this clarification by Jesus…

John 13:9 ESV

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

Peter’s Response

In common Peter fashion, he swings too far the other way.

Peter does this again and again.

One minute he’s walking on the water, courageously…

—> the next minute he’s crying out to be saved.

One moment he makes a glorious confession of Christ as Lord…

—> the next minute he takes the role of rebuking the Lord.

Soon after this foot washing, Peter will proclaim his willingness to lay down his life for Christ. And, that he would never abandon Christ.

—> soon after Peter will deny that he is even a disciple of Christ.

Let’s think about this…

Peter is all over the place.

Saying the wrong thing, while trying to say the right thing.

Not thinking before he speaks, but speaking as he thinks.

I think Peter is trying to do the right thing.

He’s trying to honor the Lord.

But, he’s doing it with no understanding of what the Lord is doing.

In those types of moments, it is often best to be still and quiet and know that Christ is the Lord.

But, Peter, in his eagerness to impress keeps missing the mark.

He’s trying to impress the Lord and its getting in the way of his ability to hear the Lord.

Christ is wanting Peter to stop trying to impress…

And, simply trust.

Only union with Christ saves.

Union with Christ is trusting Christ.

And, that is where Christ is leading our understanding in this passage.

John’s gospel is full of symbolism

Jesus is:

the light of the world.

the living water.

the bread of life.

the good Shepherd.

the resurrection and the life.

And, here is where the symbolism of the foot washing becomes clear…

John 13:10 ESV

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

Jesus’ Explanation

We cannot disconnect this from…

John 13:8 “ …Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.””

The cleansing that Jesus offers is eternal life.

This is what Jesus brings and offers to all who put their faith in Him.

If you are cleansed by Christ, you will never need cleansing again.

So, the cleansing that Christ gives is the removal of guilt before the law.

The cleansing that Christ gives is forgiveness of all your sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The great exchange, as it is called.

Christ takes upon Himself, the sins of His people and pays their debt on the cross as He drinks the cup of wrath that His people deserve.

He does this to remove their guilt and make them blameless before the Law of God.

And, simultaneously, He credits to our account, His perfect keeping of the Law of God.

He does this so that we are forevermore recorded as Law keepers in the eyes of God.

This is what we call the doctrine of justification.

Justification

Justification is being declared blameless by God forevermore.

For this to occur the great exchange must take place.

The great exchange takes place the moment we place our faith in Christ.

And, so, as Christ tells Peter…

If you been cleansed by Me.

If you’ve been justified by Me, you will never need cleansing again.

Colossians 2:13–15 “13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

This is the bath that we, who are in Christ, have received by our union with Christ.

But, now let’s look at what Christ says we do need…

John 13:10 ESV

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

We do not need justification over and over.

—> It is a once-for-all occurence.

Once justified, always justified.

—> You cannot be exiled from the New Covenant.

Because the covenant was completely kept for us by Christ.

But, we do need our feet washed daily.

What does Christ mean?

At this time, and in this culture, they wore sandals, and they walked on dirt paths…primarily.

One would bathe completely, and then walk to a banquet and their feet would collect dust on their journey.

Arriving at the banquet, they would be offered a water basin for them to wash their own feet.

Their feet were the only part in which there was interaction with earthly things.

As Christians, we are not of the world, but we are in the world.

And, we interact with the world daily.

So, although we do not need justification but once…

We do need sanctification on a daily basis.

—> We do need renewing.

Sanctification

There are two types of sanctification in Christian theology.

Obviously, we define and formulate these from the Bible.

#1 Definitive sanctification

A once for all, setting apart of a person by God.

# 2 Progressive Sanctification

An ongoing process in the believer’s life.

Progressive sanctification is spoken of more often in Christian discussion.

Progressive sanctification is what Jesus is teaching here.

The need to wash the feet regularly is a part of the progressive sanctification.

Progressive Sanctification results from the continued work of the HS after the act of regeneration in strengthening and increasing existing graces.

The HS excites these graces to be exercised through means of grace.

Christ has given us all that we need to be progressively sanctified.

Every believer has been given the HS to dwell within us and seal us as a guarantee of our inheritance.

The primary and ordinary means of grace that the HS uses are:

The Church.

Preaching.

Prayer.

Singing praises to God.

Bible reading.

The ordinances.

A word of caution, progressive sanctification is not a steady line of increase on a graph.

like walking a stairs or taking an escalator.

The reality is, while we may be progressing, the process is filled with hills and valleys.

Nonetheless, Christ is leading us in victory.

And, the outer man, though wasting away…

The inner man is being renewed day by day.

Let’s think about this...

All that we need in found in Christ…

And given to us by Christ.

If you are in Christ, you have been washed whiter than snow.

And, while you live in the world, you will interact in the world…

And, you will need…

And, Christ has provided the means for you to have the pollution of the world washed off your feet.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

We have a Savior that leads us from beginning to end in victory.

But, your faith must be in Him.

If it is not, then you are not clean.

You’re like Judas.

As Christ states…

John 13:10–11 ESV

10 …And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Abandon all hope in anything or anyone except Christ.

Put your faith in Christ…

And, be found whiter than snow in the eyes of God.

Closing Prayer