Jesus' act of washing his disciples' feet in John 13 demonstrates his profound humility and love, especially as he knew his hour of departure was near and Judas was about to betray him. This act, performed at the end of the Passover meal, serves as a powerful example for his followers, illustrating that true greatness lies in service and humility, not in worldly status. The sermon emphasizes that while salvation is a one-time cleansing by Christ's blood, maintaining a clean walk through submission to God's Word is an ongoing necessity for believers. Ultimately, the message calls for Christians to emulate Christ's humility and service, and for the unsaved to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who offers complete cleansing from sin.
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Turn to John chapter thirteen, please. John chapter thirteen. And verse one. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour would come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put 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 was come from God, and went to God.
He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, did thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet over, also my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that is washed need not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are not all clean. 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? Ye call me Master and Lord.
And ye 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 ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them. There's a verse in the previous chapter I meant to mention last year, but I didn't get to it, but it's very important. Verse forty-three of the preceding chapter, you read these words, for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Here are some who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they wouldn't confess them. They tried to keep it secret. Why? Because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. It just means this. Popularity meant more to them than divine greatness. In other words, when people seek to please men, they are protecting their reputation or they're trying to protect their popularity. But this passage plainly makes it very plain that if you want the greatness that God wants to confer upon you, then you confess the Lord in your life and by your lips.
I know people they've told me over the years. They say, I don't agree with what goes on in my church. or even to agree what my preacher preaches. I wonder if he believes the whole Bible. Sometimes he hints he doesn't. He doesn't believe in the virgin birth. He doesn't believe in hell. He doesn't believe in the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then why do you stay in such a place? Well, a lot of my friends go there, and I've been there so long. They love the praise of men. more than the praise of God. If you want God's praise, God's commendation, God's greatness, then you're going to have to take your stand.
That's mainly taught in that verse, a very solemn verse, and I hope you'll ponder it if you have any difficulty about whether you're pleasing men or pleasing God. Now into our chapter for this morning, Chapter thirteen is the Thursday of the Passion Week. He died on Friday. Only a few hours away, and the Lord Jesus now in the upper room, he's talking to his disciples. John's gospel is divided into three remarkable sections. The first twelve chapters have to do with Christ's left toward the world.
Divine love. for the world, or divine life for the world. As we noticed last week, at the end of chapter twelve, Jesus hid himself from them. He had exposed himself to them, but finally his ministry to the world was over. And he hid himself from them. There you have divine life for the world, but the world didn't want it. That's why you find the end of chapter twelve, how he blinded some of them judicially. Because he had exposed himself as the light world, he had exposed himself to them for so long they rejected it, and so he withdrew.
The light was gone as far as the world is concerned. That's chapter twelve. When you come to chapter thirteen to seventeen, you have divine light. for the disciples. The first twelve chapters, divine light for the world, now into his own in the upper room, divine light for the disciples. He's now enlightening his disciples in these chapters. Then you have the chapter eighteen and twenty, those chapters. Here is divine love for all. Here is his gift on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
How remarkable is the structure of John's gospel. His ministry, as I've said for the world, ended in chapter twelve. He now turns to his own. That verse opens, having loved his own, which were in the world, He dug them unto the end. He's gone now up to the upper loo. And there is where you have those five wonderful chapters. John, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen. All those chapters were given to his own in the upper loo. And then after he went to the cross, as we see in chapter eighteen, nineteen, and twenty.
In chapter thirteen, you have cleansing and communion. In chapter fourteen, you have comfort and care. Let not your heart be troubled and so on. We'll talk about that when we get to them in chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen, you have root bearing, the vine and the branches. Chapter sixteen, you have the coming of the Holy Spirit and his ministry among his own. Chapter seventeen, you have the Lord's real prayer. The prayer of the Lord Jesus, the high priest, now at God's right hand, has given us in chapter seventeen, one of the gems of Scripture.
How remarkable the Word of God is. And your notice is love. Having loved his own, the kingdom of birth, he brought them unto the earth. His love is personal, if your one is own. I can say he loved me and gave himself for me, the Apostle said that. How wonderful. He loves me just as much this morning as he did when he was on the cross, fixed to that cross with me. There is his wonderful love, and that love hasn't changed. It hasn't appeared. It hasn't proved.
It'll never stop. It'll never stop. Having loved his own within the world, he loved them unto the end. His own includes all who've been saved by his sovereign race. How many of them have failed? You get into the epistles like Corinthians, and my what a mess. What faults and failures are surfacing among his people? But he loves them unto the end. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loves them unto the end. How patient his love is.
It is to the end. I find it easy to lose patience sometimes on myself and sometimes with others. But he never loses his faith. How patient he is. Having loved is over in the world, he loves them unto the end. Then you have also how practical it is love. What do you see? Washing the disciples' feet, doing something for those you love. There you have the practical aspect of love. Then you have love's patterns.
I've given you an example in verse fifteen that ye shall do as I have done. He sets the pattern for his love to be perpetuated and carried on down through the age. Our sublime saver, we mention these things and now add the sublime saver. How sublime he is. It says in verse one, He said, Having loved his own, which were in the world, for now before the Passover, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
He knew he was going to die. He knew the very hour of the next day when he was going to die. It's amazing to notice how much he didn't know. You'll notice verse three. He knows something else. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things unto his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. And verse eleven, for he knew who should betray him.
Therefore he said, you're not all clean. And you can go on and on and point out texts how the Lord knew. He didn't need to be informed. He knew what was happening and what was going to happen. How amazing he knew. And I think it's remarkable for those who have any doubt that the deity of Christ, he came from God. And here he did the will of God, and he went back to God. He went back to the place from whence he came. He tells you that very distinctly in these verses we have been reading.
In verse one, depart, he's going to part out of the world unto the Father. He's going back. Verse three, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, there his greatness and authority, and that he was come from God and went to God. And you'll find over in chapter sixteen, if you want to turn to it, in verse twenty-seven, twenty-eight. For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me. And I believe that I came out from God, I came put from the Father and am coming to the world.
Again I leave the world and go to the Father. And in verse five of chapter seventeen, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had thee before the world walked. So it is making plain, simple statements. He said, I came from heaven. I had an existence before Bethlehem. I was with the Father in eternity past. I held His glory. I came into this world for a brief period of time to carry out my Father's will.
If the Lord Jesus had descended the head of a full-grown man and gone to the cross and died, and three days later raised and taken immediately back to heaven, five. the world would have had a savior that had had little experience with humanity. The Lord Jesus came into this world to go through the experiences of life born like any other person, sin or pop. He lived the life of a young man, a child, a young man, at the age of thirty-three, maybe thirty-four. He died.
He went back to heaven. Why did he do all this? That he might be a faithful high priest, be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, for he was tempted in all points like his ways. He knows what life is. He experienced it here. He observed it here. And he went back to heaven. And now he knows what his own are passing through. and what they need as they pass through this sea. He, without sin, know fallen nature to respond to temptation. He knows we have a fallen nature.
He knoweth our friend. He remembers that we're but dust. Therefore, he's a gracious, faithful, high priest, watching over, caring for, he knows. He came from God and he went back to God. And that's where we're going. We didn't come from God, we came from Adam. But something of God entered our heart where we were born again. We became the children of God. And the days coming when the Lord Jesus will present us to the Father, behold, I and the children thou hast given me, and will be with it.
and like him forever. These are wonderful truths in this wonderful passage in reading. Every mirror in reading this passage, we have read about washing the disciples' feet, and it's very significant, agitabas, and supper being ended, the devil having now went to the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that The Father had given all things into his hand, and that he was from God, came from God, and went to God. He rises from supper. Now there are seven things here.
I was just reading it leisurely yesterday, and I took my pencil, and I noticed seven things in these two verses. Verses four and five. He rises from supper first. He laid aside his garments second. He girded himself third. He took a towel rather, third. And girded himself fourth. And after that he poured water into the basin, fifth. And he washed the disciples' feet, six. He washed them with the towel wherewith he was girded, seven. Seven simple things in those two verses.
F.B. Mayer saw in this paragraph a cameo. something like a medallion, something stands out. Here you have a face, and it stands out, it's made bold. And Ephemeres says this, he rose from his kingly throne, and lay aside his garments of royalty, and took a towel of humanity, and wrapped it around himself. After that he poured out his precious blood, and made possible the cleansing of His disciples. I thought that's a beautiful thing.
On what the Lord Jesus did on this occasion, when He washed the disciples' feet, there's only a little picture of His act of humility. Here He's teaching a lesson of humility. And do we not read over in Philippians' shoes? He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. He took upon himself the form of the servant. He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in passion of the man. He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. There is that mighty descent, and there are seven things in that passage.
How marvelous to think the Lord Jesus to do this on this occasion. of humility. Deep humility. You know, at the very moment when he realized his own greatness, he tells us that, he says, the Father had committed all things into my hand. I have all power. I'm the Son of God. I'm the coming sovereign. At that time, he performs an act of humility. This is amazing. And he chose this act that he might teach his disciples a remarkable lesson.
But there was something distressing happened just prior to his doing this. And if you want where this comes in, you'll find it in chapter twenty-two, twenty-four, rather, in verse twenty-two. And I'm going to read what happened just before. The Lord did what he did here. He rose from supper. He laid aside his garments. He took a towel. He took a basin and went and got the water and poured it into the basin. And he melted and he washed the disciples' feet. Why was he teaching this act of humility? Now I'll read you what you read in Luke.
And there was also a strife among them. Right before... in the upper room. Which of them should be the greatest? And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. For whether it is great he that sitteth at meat, or he that serves, is not he that sitteth at meat, the one who is sitting at the table, maybe at the head of the table, he is the ones being served.
But he says, I am among you as one that serves in the world system. It is the great who takes or walks the prominent place. They want to be at the head of the table. They want to be a great one. That's not so in spiritual realm. They're great served. The Lord Jesus tells us in Mark, He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give life a ransom for many.
He came not for people to minister unto him, to run to him at his bidding. He came not to be ministered unto. He came to perform the remarkable service of laying down his life that people might save. Could he have served the human race any better? How remarkable this incident should have happened prior to his washing of the several feet. The disciples had no claim to greatness. A bunch of fishermen, a tax-gatherer among them, a vernon-pigrant men. They had no claim to greatness. Yet they were striving among themselves.
Who's going to be the greatest? And that's when the Lord performed this esteem of humility. They wanted the great disciples. They had no claim to greatness, but they wanted greatness. Christ did have claimed her greatness, but he took the place of humility to serve. And I don't know any scene more humbling than the one he took on this occasion and gives us in the opening of John chapter thirteen. When you stop to think to the disciples on this occasion, the testimonies was that you had your feet washed.
Now in the morning, he took a bath. The man took a bath with the custom. But he put on no socks, no shoes, as we do. They didn't have socks. They just had sand no. And of course, going to his place of business or to another dwelling, naturally there was sand, yet on his feet. And when he got to the destination, as a rule, there was a servant there at the door. And he's the one who took the basin of water. And usually it was a slave. And a towel. And he washed the persons. Quite often they left the sandals outside.
And the man or woman proceeded in. In their bare feet. Clean. And it was a slave who did it. A servant. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's doing this very thing. It should have been done at the beginning of the feast. But the disciples didn't attend to it. It could have been their privilege, their honor, but they neglected to do so. And the feast went off. And at the end of the feast, there they all sat with their sand on their feet in their sand.
The Lord says, Well, They've neglected the common courtesy of the people of the East, that is to get your feet washed. A humbling act. When the Lord Jesus rose from the table on this occasion, twelve sets of eyes were staring right at him. What's he doing? And he rises from the earth. He lays aside his garment. He takes a towel and he girds himself, which is the custom of the slave or servant. He gets the basin, puts the water in, and he kneels at one of the disciples' feet, and he washes it, washes their feet, his feet.
We don't know which disciple he began with, possibly John sitting right beside him. He generally leaned on Jesus, wasn't on an occasion like this, looked cold, whose feet were washed first. But he began to wash the disciples' feet. But eventually he came to Simon Peter. Simon was walking the proceeding. When he came to Simon's feet, Simon says, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Thou shalt never wash my feet.
What a statement. Now, I don't think for the moment that the Lord is teaching here literal feet washing. I've had many people over the years ask me, folks, what do you think of feet washing? I'm for it. Once a week at least. It is hardly more than that. But never wash your feet, or anyone else, even scowling water. You know, there are two things Lord left for His Church, and that is baptism and the Lord's Supper. These were the two ordinances, and had been said many times that You find these two ordinances introduced in the Gospels and practiced in the Acts and developed in their spiritual meaning in the Epistles.
You find that through a baptism introduced in the Gospels and practiced in the Acts and also developed in the Epistles. Paul explains it in First Corinthians, Lent. The same thing with the Lord's Supper. The baptism also explained in Romans chapter six. The Lord suffers introduced by the Lord's self in the upper room in the Gospels. It's developed in the Acts or practiced in the Acts, time and in, in Acts chapter twenty seven. But it's developed and its spiritual meaning is given us in first Corinthians chapter eleven, not soul feet washing.
The Lord did it here. It's not practiced in the Acts, and it's not developed in the epistles. Nothing is said of it. So the Lord has given us two of these ordinances, and washing feet is not an ordinance. I think that'll be clear as to what is what happened on this occasion. He comes to Simon Street, and Simon objected. Here you have stubborn Simon. Thou shalt not wash my feet. All right, says the Lord. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
And he made plain, Simon. He said on this occasion, What I am doing, thou knowest not now. Thou shalt know hereafter. Does he not say that? Verse seven, what I do thou knowest not now. Thou shalt know hereafter. Now if it were feet washing that he intended to teach, he did know. Simon did know what he was doing, looking right at it. But the Lord says, I'm doing something now. You don't understand. But the time will come when you will see the spiritual interpretation of this. and that was when the Spirit comes.
Then they understood what he was talking about. The Lord is teaching a lesson here in humility and service. That's the point to get. So when he comes to Simon Peter, Peter says, Peter says, thou shalt not wash my dreams. The Lord lean back to his heels evidently, and he looked right at Peter. He said, I wash thee not. Thou hast no part with me. Simon, unless you submit, and allow me to wash your feet, you're not going to be able to have fellowship with me or do anything for me.
This is essential. that you know something of having a clean walk feet that are walked by the water of the world now we're feet washed saved a person and Judas got saved because the Lord washed his feet on this occasion it didn't mean a thing after he washed Judas feet he said there's still one one you that's not clean and not Judas There have been millions of people that have had their feet washed in this ordinance over the centuries that weren't saved. Just like millions of people have been baptized and didn't go to heaven, also millions of people have taken their communion and haven't gone to glory.
That's very clear. The Lord is teaching something here, and I hope you get the truth. He says what I do, you don't know now, but you will know the meaning of it later on. And that was a solemn thing. If I wash thee not, he doesn't say you have no part in me. You have no part with me in fellowship and service for the Lord. There are two Greek words used here, and it's very interesting. and profitable if we understand verse ten Jesus said to him he that is washed and the word is bathed he that is bathed need not say to wash his feet if you're bathed washed all over you're in every whit he that is bathed all he's got to do is keep it faithfully That's what happens, my Lord, in a man in the east.
He bays all over in the morning. But in process of his daily activities, he gets dust or sand on his feet. And if he goes to a home or a place of business, as I've taken care of, we're saved through the blood of Christ and over to the blood of Christ. water in no way shape or form, whether street washing or whether baptism puts away sin. It never can do that. When you read in Psalm fifty-one seven, David says, Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Also you have the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit over in Titus three five.
There's a washing of regeneration. There's conversion. There's being born again. But the renewing of the Holy Spirit or the washing of the feet, keeping your life clean, that's the renewing, the daily renewing of the Holy Spirit. I read the word. Also, he tells you in Hebrews ten, fourteen, by one offering, Christ hath perfected forever, save forever, them that are set upon. But after you're safe, you need to keep your life clean, your walk clean. Old Peter, when he saw this, he was very happy and excited.
And he went a little further, typical old Peter, going to extreme. He said, thou shalt wash my feet. Then he said, wash my head, my hands, my feet, wash it all over again. No, Peter, that's not necessary. You just need to be saved once, and then afterwards, keep yourself clean as a Christian, by the washing of water, by the word. Wherever it all, shalom, young man, cleans away by taking heed there too, according to thy word. There are some Christians who are born again, but they've got smelly feet. Their walk has a bad odor.
and they need to do something of submitting to the teachings of God's Word. Oh, says Peter, I want my head, my hands, my feet. Well, that's all right, Peter, but you're... And I don't mind if a little more get into your head, for it needs to. The head speaks of wisdom. And your hand, if you want your hand washed, all right, what you do needs to be under the sensing effect of the Word, too. And your feet, your walk, your thoughts, what you do with your hands, and where you go with your feet, all should be subject to the teachings of God's precious words. That's what the Lord is teaching on this occasion.
That's the truth of the labor. They went to the brazen altar first, Israel's day the priest did, and there the blood was shed, and there was where sin was forgiven, but on the way to the presence of God they came to the labor. And that's where they washed their feet, and before they went in to the tabernacle. And if you want fellowship in the presence of God, you're going to have to do that. Say what? But after that, keep yourself clean by attending to the Scripture. Bring in your life what you're doing with your hands and head and feet under the influence of the Word of God.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. That's salvation. But then he says in chapter two, one, if any man does sin, we have an advocate, a father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And if we confess our sins, he's faithful and justice. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us. Here's the feet wash. Cleanse us from our sins. The fresh blood of Christ is what saves and cleanses your soul for heaven. The Word of God applied by the Spirit of God is what keeps your walk, please. That's what the Bible has to say about feet washing.
I trust you'll take it in. The Lord says something remarkable in first chapter, verses thirteen and fourteen. He says, You call me, Master and Lord, and you say, Well, so I am. If I then, Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash another feet. It's a nice thing when you can do that. Come up to a brother who's been walking a forbidden path for a Christian or doing something, and show him from the book. When you try to wash your brother's foot, try and back up what you've got to say from the Bible, this is what the Bible says.
You as a Christian shouldn't do this, you shouldn't go there. Go and use sandpaper on his feet, or the towel, when the softer the towel, the better. Try to walk. Someone else's feet. Christians, of course, the unsaved need to be born again. But what I want you to know is, You call me Master and Lord, not Jesus. Master and Lord. Judas called Jesus master, but Judas never called Jesus Lord. Unsaid people called Jesus Jesus.
They never called him Lord. The was our Venetian woman in Matthews. He says, thou son of David, had mercy on me. She got no answer. The Lord didn't respond because she was a Gentile and had no claim upon him as a Jew. He was the son of David. But when she said, truth, Lord, but me, I'm a dog, a Gentile dog, then he responded when she said, Lord. Lord, she called him Lord. and he cleansed us. And let me say this.
The title of Lord Jesus Christ is being abused today. The disciples never once in the Gospels ever addressed the Lord Jesus as Jesus. Master and Lord. Master and Lord. There's a movement today and the people are all the time saying, Dear Jesus, Dear Jesus, Dear Jesus, Would you call the British monarch by their Christian name? Would you, if we ever met the president, say, hey, Jimmy, you'd have enough respect, wouldn't you, to call him president? The Bible says nothing about Christians addressing Jesus.
It does say a lot about addressing the Lord. He's my Lord. he's, my Lord. Sir Robert Anderson, one of the greatest minds, I suppose, in the history of the church, wrote a whole book on the use of the tickets given to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the epistles, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ. They don't address it. Demons do it. We know thee who is our wife, Jesus. But born again Christian, and no man can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
And if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord, and confess with thy mouth, thou shall be saved. Thou shalt believe in thine heart the Lord Jesus. and confess with my mouth that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. He says, You have called me astra, Lord, and ye say well. For so I am. That's what Christians call their Lord. I wonder if you can call him this morning your Lord. If you're not saved, he wants to save you.
He wants the Savior now. And as the Bible says in Isaiah one, from the sole of foot to the crown of the head, there's no soundness in it if you're a sinner, but wounds and bruises and putrefung sores either bound up nor mollified with ointment. That's how God sees you. The whole man, spirit, soul, and blood, you need to be cleansed. Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will cleanse you from all your sins. Every one of them, then after you're saved, keep your feet clean. Live a clean life. Entertainment, clean thought, and then God will use it.
Humility and cleanliness are the two great virtues of the children of God that God's going to use. I think that's one of the secrets of Billy Graham. That man is a humble man for his position, and he's a clean man. And these are things. The Christians need to be exercised. If you're saved, be exercised. If you want to serve the Lord about being humble and being clean, and to you who are not saved, why will you not come? such a sublime person as this, the Son of the Living God, who wants to wash you from all your sins.
Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing on thy word. Pray thee to speak to any who are not Christians. Thou dost see them in my sight as unclean, impure, He prays, all will decay. But, Father, thou wilt save. As thou didst cleanse the lepers, thou wouldst cleanse the lepers of today, leper sinners, in their sins without Christ. Oh, may such be saved today. And those of us who are saved, exercise our hearts, are being subject daily to the Lord, washing our feet by his word.