John 13:1-11
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Jesus public ministry has come to a close. We see that in John 12:36.
Chapter 13-16, Christ is alone with his apostles. Chapter 17 is Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. Later this night, Judas betrays Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and He will be killed on a cross the next day.
And He knew…this was His last night. He knew that tomorrow He would be put on the cross and die a horrible death for all of those who would believe in Him.
If you knew you were going to die a horrible death tomorrow…what would you do today?
Here, we see what our Savior did:
Hear the Word of God this morning:
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. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 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.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 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.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Prayer:
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.
What do we hear all the time when people talk about dying?
Think about it. — When people talk about dying, what is it that people say?
Going to Heaven
when I die the first person I am going to look for is Grandma
I can’t wait to see my dad when I get to Heaven.
Let me ask you something.... If Grandma wasn’t in Heaven, if dad wasn’t in Heaven…would you still want to go?
A lot of people want to go to Heaven just because they don’t want to go to Hell.
Who DOES want to go to Hell?
We should be looking forward to Heaven to see God Almighty…that is what should be our motivation.
We should want and desire to be in the presence of the Holy, Gracious, Loving Father.
LOOK AT VERSE 1...
It says, “…when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world...”
it doesn’t say, “to Heaven”....BUT “TO THE FATHER”.
I pray that is all of our desire … TO SEE THE FATHER!
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.
Look at where it says, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”.
Christ knew what horrible death He was about to die…and look what was on His mind…HIS OWN.
It says, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”.
His own? How is that…what does that even mean?
The Apostle John has been speaking this all the way back from chapter 1.
We are His own because the Father’s eternal plan of election.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
We are His own because the Son, Jesus Christ, purchased us...
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
And we are His Own because of the Holy Spirit...
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
This is The Triune God working in our Salvation.
Jesus calls his people in this world…HIS OWN.
He’s NOT OURS...
We ARE HIS!
And if you if you have come to the end of yourself, knowing your sin against God and your desperate need for a Savior...put your faith in Christ Jesus this morning…and He will call you His OWN
Look at verse 1 one more time:
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.
It says he loved His own TO THE END.
Not just to the end of His life...
He loved them to the uttermost.
Jesus loves His own forever and nothing can stop His love for His own.
Jesus knew:
His disciples would fall asleep when He asked them to pray...
He knew Peter would deny Him 3 times
He knew Thomas would doubt Him
He knew you would fail Him this week…He knew I would fail Him over and over...
But He LOVES HIS OWN TO THE END…FOREVER....and nothing will stop His love for His own.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He loves His OWN to the END!
It is so important to believe this.
When you don’t understand the Love He has for his own…you struggle because you carry this weight of performance.
When you don’t understand His eternal love for HIS OWN…you feel that He is so disappointed in you when you fail.
You feel that He is mad at you.
You feel that if you prayed He wouldn’t listen to you
So, what do you do...
You don’t pray..
You don’t read your Bible...
You have to be good a few days and then you feel like you can pray again...
You feel like you can read your Bible and come back to church…because you “worked it off”
But that isn’t who God is. That is not who Christ is.
Christ is in your corner…He is there for you. HE WILL CLEAN YOU…stop trying to clean yourself. Come to Christ....
Don’t believe me…HANG ON FOR A FEW MORE VERSES AND YOU WILL SEE.
Look at verse 2-5
During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 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, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 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.
the first thing to see is the complete contrast of Judas and Jesus.
the love of God to the Hate of Satan
The Loyalty of Christ and the Betrayal of Judas
And look at verse 3-5.
The first thing I want you all to know…aren’t you glad I’m not Jesus!
I need to be conformed more and more into His image…don’t we all?
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given Him all things into His hands…washes the disciples feet…even Judas’ feet.
You think I would have done that?
You think you would have done that? Don’t get all self-righteous on me now…you might think you are in a cafeteria but your in church…don’t lie to me or yourelf!
You think you would have done that? Don’t get all self-righteous on me now…you might think you are in a cafeteria but your in church…don’t lie to me or yourself!
Jesus knows what Judas is about to do…and HE WASHES HIS FEET!
This was a job for a servant…not the Son of God.
Have you ever been in a situation where you know that there is something that needs to be done…BUT YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO DO IT?
Maybe the thing that needs to be done comes across your mind but then you think to yourself…I’m not doing that..someone else can do it.
And there is a little bit of guilt in you when someone gets up and does it....
you feel a little guilty because deep down you know you should have been that person who did it.
Look at Mark 14:12-16.
And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
What I want you to see here is that when they all got into the upper room…there was a jar of water there waiting on them…the room was prepared for the Passover.
When people came to eat, they would have someone to wash there feet.
Imagine, they all walk into the room to eat the supper…they all walk past the jar of water....sit on the floor and I bet they are wondering… “are we not going to have our feet washed?”
I bet at least one of them had this thought like, “I should wash my feet”
Maybe one of them had the fleeting thought that, “I wonder what He would think of me if I started washing everybody’s feet? Naaa....I’m not doing that”
But CHRIST…the Son of God…gets up and grabs the jar of water and pours it in a bowl and starts washing their feet.
Jesus humbles himself in a way that was so shocking in their culture…this was a job for a Gentile salve
We can’t imagine…we really can’t.
The humility of Christ…the servant heart
This may seem weak in our world…a “MAN” being such a servant and caring for others in this way. Putting others before himself.
But Christ is the Picture of what a REAL MAN is...
If we want to be like Christ...
We speak against the lies that our culture tries to teach people…Christ is our example here
We can’t be afraid to confront lies and evils of our culture and false teachings…Christ is our example
And we must also have a servant heart…caring for others in a way that glorifies God.
Look at verse 5.
Christ washes their feet…and wipes their feet. He completes what He begins in us…because He loves us to the End.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The water that he poured out to wash their feet with symbolizes the Word...
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Look at verses 6-7
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Peter…isn’t he just like so many of us…if not like all of us?
Wouldn’t you do the same thing if Jesus walked into the room right now and bent over with a bowl of water and tried to start washing your feet?
What can we learn from Peter here?
To trust Christ. Don’t question Him! Have faith in what He says and does!
Peter is genuinely shocked that Jesus would try to wash his feet.
this is a job for a servant…not His Lord!
This wasn’t His role!
Peter is sincere…just sincerely wrong.
AND LOOK AT VERSE 7.
Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
Let that comfort you.
There are things that Jesus is doing in your life and my life right now that just doesn’t seem right...
Things are going on in your life that you don’t understand...
But just trust in the Lord…trust Him
You may not understand right now…but afterward you will understand.
VERSE 7…Here…Jesus is talking about His death and His resurrection.
The humility of Christ washing the feet of the disciples is a picture of him humbling himself to death on the cross...
Peter doesn’t understand what is going on now…but he will.
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Now…LOOK AT VERSE 8-9.
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.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
you know how we can apply this to our Christian walk?
When Christ Word tells you something....don’t talk back…JUST ACCEPT HIS WORD!
How many times have we rejected The Word of God when it speaks to us?
I pray that when we do that…we are more like Peter
Did Peter reject God’s Word…yes?
But look how fast he repented and turned back to the Word…QUICKLY
I PRAY if we reject God’s Word in any way…we turn back to it as fast as Peter does here.
What does Christ mean when He says, “IF I DO NOT WASH YOU, YOU HAVE NO SHARE WITH ME”?
This foot washing is Christ preserving us as we walk in this sinful world.
It is Christ continually washing our dirty feet as we fall into sin...
It is Christ continually wiping the dirt off of our feet while we are still in “this world”
It is a picture of us confessing our sin and allowing Him to uproot our fleshly desires and sanctify us.
This is a picture of us praying that He would continue to cleanse us and make us more like Him as we walk in this world.
The Christian continually needs He feet washed…we continually need the Word of God to shine its light into our hearts and show us where we need to repent...
LOOK AT PETERS RESPONSE IN VERSE 9.
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
LOOK AT VERSE 10-11.
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.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
If you have come to faith in Christ…you are clean…forever…you have passed from death to life…you are a new creation.
Once you have put your faith in Christ…the blood of Christ has cleansed you and you have been justified before God.
If you have put your faith in Christ…nothing can separate you from him.
But…Christ knows that we are still in this world and we need to continually come to him for him to clean our feet as we walk in this sinful world.
And it isn’t just because of this sinful world that we need to continually come to him but because of our own sin that we fall into everyday.
He knows our struggles
He knows we still fear and do not trust Him perfectly all the time...
He knows our minds wander into sinful thoughts
He knows we sin in our anger
He knows we are not perfect....
But HE LOVES US TO THE END....and that will never change.
Just know that Christ is there…and He is there not to beat you down…He is there to clean your feet…to continually clean our hearts.
Christian…You are secure in Christ forever…do not fear Him…come to Him and let him let Him continually cleanse us...
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Look at VERSE 11.
For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Jesus washed all the disciples feet.
Jesus even washed Judas’ feet.
But Judas didn’t trust Jesus.
You can go through all the religious ceremonies and say all the right things…but
until you are washed by trusting with all of your heart in Christ death for your sin...
You are not clean.
Don’t be a Judas! Don’t play church.
Judas was always there with Jesus…He was there for all the miracles…He saw it all!
He was here in the upper room...
He sat there and watched Jesus as He washed his feet...
He had all of his friends fooled…but he never had Jesus fooled.
Judas was not clean…He NEVER trusted in Christ.
If you have never put your faith in Christ I pray this is the day that you do.
Acknowledge your sin before God. Repent and look to Christ the King…put your complete trust and faith in Him to save you from your sins…look to His cross and beg him for His grace and Mercy to save you....
And if you do that this morning…I have some more good news to tell you...
You are one of His own…and he will love you to the END.