Jesus' act of washing his disciples' feet illustrates the depth of his love and his call to humble service. The sermon highlights Peter's initial resistance and Jesus' explanation that this act, though not understood at the moment, would later be recognized as essential for fellowship. This demonstration of servant leadership serves as an example for believers to follow, emphasizing that true understanding of Christ's actions comes through experience and obedience. The message concludes by urging believers to embrace this model of service and reconciliation within the community.
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We paid seventeen dollars and ninety-five cents plus tax for a ticket as we pay the ball game. We're going to be on the front row. Those. Turning in the Bible to the book of John chapter thirteen, we begin our reading at verse one. Now 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. and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot a silent son to betray him. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he would 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 and began to wash his disciples' feet, to wipe them with a towel, wherewith he was girded. Then come Peter, Simon, Peter. It's most significant that the Lord is recorded here by John. It's seen watching the disciples speak. Is Peter a disciple? In verse five it said he began to watch the disciples speak. Then come as he to Simon Peter.
There's always someone that the Lord uses as a lesson. As an object of a lesson. And as a pivot point from which he can sharpen our focus. Bringing our thoughts together on something that's paramount and very important in our Christian life. Then come as he to Simon Peter. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, thus thou wash my feet. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter says unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. How many of us would be that bold to tell the Lord, you're not going to do something, Lord?
We wouldn't do it out loud, wouldn't we? That's where we'd be heard. Do you think Peter said this out loud? I believe he did. Peter was a bold man. I'll tell you, Peter was a great man. Now, Peter made some tragic mistakes, but I'm looking at some that have, and if I had them here, I'd see another one. You notice that this chapter begins by the Lord's words, having loved them to the end. If you hadn't told us that, you'd kind of wonder down in the chapter. The chapter is prefixed by the Lord's love, and then the Lord gets into human failure. Peter says unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no partners me. Simon Peter says unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus says unto him, He that is washed, need not except to wash its feet, but is clean every whip, and here clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore he said, Here not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garment and was set down again. He said unto them, Know you 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, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye 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 ye if you do them. I was talking recently with a young man in the little town of Atlantic Iowa where I lived, and had the privilege of going into the Scripture with him. He is the minister, pastor, or whatever the term is that they use, of a certain group, a denominational group. I always refrain from using denominational names, but to give you a clue they met yesterday, not today. And he was letting me know certain things in the Scripture that I should believe. One of them was washing one another's feet.
Now let me say this, that's a wonderful rhythm to wash one another's feet. And out here at this dusty campground we have a perfect example of the necessity of it. I've been wondering why we didn't call a volunteer fire department in and sort of wet this thing down under here. Before the meeting, we used to have an old tabernacle. Years ago down in Texas, it was one of the largest in that part of the country. It was on the grounds of the church where I served as pastors. And folks miles around would come and want to use our tabernacle. So there was a little volunteer fire department at Bellevue, Texas. It was come down in the summer before we'd start our camp meeting. And they'd hold that thing down. Let me tell you, when people hit the dusty trail, it wasn't so dusty. It was a lot better.
But we have a perfect place here to exemplify what we're going to see in this chapter, at least a portion of it. I will announce at this time that probably some of my ministry is going to be taken this week from John chapter thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, and maybe touching chapter seventeen, as far as the time that I'll be sharing with the other brothers here. In the afternoons, in the adult afternoon reading and study, we've been looking at first Corinthians and certain selected portions that I'll announce. Then with the young people, I intend to take up the subject of freedom. What is it to be free? How can one be free? What does constitute freedom from Scripture? So that's a bit of a vague outline, at least, as to what our purpose is to bring Lord's willing.
Now, remember, that's always subject to one minute before season, because sometimes I switch to life moments, and you never know for sure. So bear with me. As far as I know, we're going to go on in John thirteen this morning. Now, this dear friend that I had mentioned a moment ago, has purposed... to sway a family of people there in Atlantic to believe that we are not only saved by grace, but we're also saved by work. Grace has a wonderful heart and salvation to hear him tell it, but it is in addition to the works that we perform to finally get us to heaven. In asking the man one day, I said to him, Randy, Randy, are you saved?
And he said, no. I said, now that's a fine thing. You're the pastor of this large congregation. You're not even saved. And he said, well, what I mean. I said, no, you've already told me. You don't need to tell me what you mean. You said it. You're talking to the Rothman saying earlier, words really have meaning. Words are vehicles that communicate wrong, whether it's of self or God or someone else, you see. So he'd already committed himself. Well, he said, you know, no one is really saved completely right now. I said, well, to that I have paid. My salvation is in three dimensions. My present and future. I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved. I have been justified. I am being sanctified. I will be glorified. Three blessed dimensions of salvation. But God, when he speaks of saved, he speaks of it in the past tense with some person. And our Bible in Ephesians, don't worry, we'll get back to it.
And you don't want to get dinner at the end of the year at the end of the year at the end of the year at the end of the year. In Ephesians chapter two, the Bible says, For by grace are you saved or saved? King James Version. If I remember correctly, the New American Standard says, By grace you have been saved. Well, both of them are correct. For the truth is, If I remember correctly, it is a perfect man. I'll have to flip over there and glance at it once more. Yes, it is a perfect man. I mean, a perfect, fantastic participle of the word so-so that it says. Saying, for by grace you have been and presently are being saved.
So the King James Version gives us the R. And The other translation gives us the past. That says, you are the present, the others are past. So by grace you have been and are being saved through faith. The same expression is given over in Timothy. We never fear to tell anyone that you have been saved already. That seems to be certainly true. It sounds in the first chapter of Second Timothy where it says, God who had saved us and called us to the Holy Calling at Second Timothy chapter one, verse nine. There it is an error. Now the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit knew exactly what grammar to use, exactly how to use it to express exactly what we needed.
God who hath saved us in there, see Eric indicating a pastime with a muscular action. That simply means it's something that happens in a point of time and doesn't necessarily precipitate any further action whatsoever. It really has the idea of once for all. And it's used that way in the book of Hebrews. So when God says, Luke, Paul, to Timothy, God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, is literally saying, God at a time and a path, somewhere in the past, at a point in history, saved us, and it's forever. And yet, in the little town in which I live, there are eight groups, denominational groups, that keep that water baptism, if you think of the salvation.
And so really, they're not pure, not a one of them. They're sure. They're going to be in heaven. Because their salvation is not complete yet. They've got to keep on working, doing something, in order that they might... I finally hope to get to heaven. I'm not going to name the group, but I'll be glad to name them after the meeting to anybody that's interested. And let me tell you, they constitute the largest majority of professing Christians in the little town of Atlantic. Seven or eight major groups. All right. Now, we're going back to the book of John chapter third king. The Lord has loved his own unto the end. And I like that expression because, after all... It goes as far as we need to go. There's just nothing beyond that. There's absolutely nothing beyond. The word is teleos, meaning perfection or completion.
He loved them to the consummation. He loved them to the perfection. He loved them to the end, as our English version reads it. But now notice, if you will, a little farther down. Supper being ended, the devil having not put into the heart of Jesus was carried. Simon was going to betray him. Jesus, knowing that all the Father had given... I'm sorry, he was 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 garment and took a towel and girded himself. He laid aside his garment, took a towel and girded himself. Here he is exercising a tremendous priesthood. Don't forget that in the Old Testament, the high priest had at least two spheres of garment.
There were those garments that were so beautiful. that we would not dare see them in the presence of that which was not beautiful. They just stood out. There were certain colors of fabric woven into it. There were certain ornaments. There were little pomegranates and bells all around the bottom. There were the blue, the scarlet. There were all types of colors. A beautiful garment he wore. Then there was also the linen breeches and the linen overcloth that he wore. Now notice the Lord Jesus... raised aside his garment, and took a towel and girded himself. Here is a garment, or here is a cloth, that should be taken around the waist, but is not just like our towel.
He more like a beach towel. It was a long piece of cloth that not only accommodated some body covering, but facilitated some body drying. And he takes his towel, he girded himself, after the important water observation, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. Then come with him to Simon Peter, and Peter sails unto him, Lord of Just thou wash my feet. Is this what you're going to do to me? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. So in that course of conversation that I was having with this young man named Randy, I said, Randy, do you really understand what the Lord was talking about in John thirteen?
Now surely Peter being a fisherman, being a native of Palestine, being a Jew, having been raised up in every tradition of the Father, and certainly native to every situation in that hill country, just as the trails were, I've been there, and let me tell you, there's plenty of vessels. I said, do you suppose, Randy, that he didn't realize that he was certainly accustomed to that day, that feet were to be washed? All we have to do is hold our place here and look for Luke's heaven. And we can see there that the Lord is invited by Simon the Pharisee to a meal. Jesus accepted the invitation. Verse is thirty-six in the following, and one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. That's Luke seven and thirty-six.
And he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to food, and behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner when she knew that Jesus had at need in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster about the boy and stood at his feet, behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and wipe them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ordinance. Verse forty-four. Jesus turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Now this is a strange thing. He turned to the woman, and he says to Simon, He turns to the woman, says, Simon, see as thou this woman. I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet. My beloved friends, you have an established pack of customs in the Bible. We don't have to go to history books. Let me add, you do not have to go to history books to learn the word of God.
Where you get that, Gondel, a simple verse of Scripture. Second Timothy chapter three, verses sixteen and seventeen declare, all Scripture is God-breathed. given by inspiration of God. Five words come from just one Greek word. Say out in the middle of it. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, in order that the men of God may be complete. Teleopathy, even. There's the word. May be complete, thoroughly furnished to every good word. Now listen, if it's a good word, we can get it right in here. We don't have to run the history. I'm not trying to say why history up, but you can't depend on history. Most of them differ. Which one are we going to believe?
We're left to our own wit. And let me tell you, he that trusts us in his own heart will fool, the Bible says. Let's depend on the Word of God. So the Word of God tells us, without a doubt, that it was very customary to provide water to wash a guest seat when he entered into the house. And many times the servant of the house would do it. And here the Lord is taking the position of the servant, the lowly place. And he comes to these disciples in a very humble way. and began to wash their feet. I don't know which one he went to first. I was the remotest idea. God didn't tell me, so therefore I'm willing to leave it there. But I had to confess my curiosity. I leave it there, but I still got the curiosity. He said, he began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with a towel with his girdle.
Well, he goes to Peter and Peter says, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Thus shall wash my feet. Of course, Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now. Back to the conversation. I said to the Randy, do you suppose that Peter didn't understand? this situation? What I do, thou knowest, not now. Any Israelite would have understood the simple custom of washing someone's feet, because in those days their shoes were not quite so sophisticated as ours. For the most part, many of them wore sandals, a very simple foot apparatus that kept those low-sharp stones from cutting in. to the flesh. Even though their feet were quite tough, I'm sure, they needed a little something to keep those sharp rocks from cutting into their feet.
They wore sandals. And you can imagine that walking through this place just in a bare sandals, after a while, your feet would be quite dirty. Now, how many of you, dear wives, have you, on Monday, this Monday, now it's ten, you've washed, you've gotten all the linen clean, you've got your beds made, and your husband comes home from work, and let's suppose he wore sandals. He's a cow-puncher and he wore a thing. I generally wear a boot down in Texas. You know, we're up here in Missouri. They've got to be proven. Oh, there we go. A little kid goes to Arkansas. Only Satan abide when Moses looks out of the Arkansas. Ooh. Ooh.
Filled that one. Okay. And so your husband comes in that night and you're getting ready to go to bed. And mind you, he's had supper. He's washed his way. He's brushed his teeth. And he sits down on the side of the bed, and he begins to draw those feet up in that bed. Now, what are you going to say? Don't answer. Don't answer. You're going to ruin the meeting. You know that he needs to wash those feet, doesn't he? You know that he doesn't. Well, Peter certainly knew that. He understood that. And so I really couldn't get a decent answer out of my friend. We'll leave him there and he'll show me his friend. Coming back to the past, the way you think about Peter, what I do... thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know your actions.
The Holy Spirit has helped us here immensely. Jesus employed two different words here, and our writers do not tell us the difference, as far as the translators are concerned. The writer, John, records faithfully what God the Holy Spirit gave, but our translators didn't show the distinction that God gave. For Jesus said, in verse seven, what I do, You do not now perceive, or use the word, Ida, which means to know by perception. Intuitively, you know something. I can see and perceive that that is a baby grand piano. I perceive that. But I have not experienced that. But suppose I welcome you here.
Now, I don't perceive it. I know it by experience. The last word, no, it's been also a completely different word, not even the same root stem, don't even come from the same beginning. So the Lord could say, what I'm doing to you, Peter, you do not perceive right now. And if it had just been physical foot washing, he knew it backward and forward, probably was doing it before the Lord could predict. He might have been older than the Lord, you know. But he said, you're going to know by experience hereafter. You're going to experience this. Peter says unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered it, If I wash thee not, thou shalt no part with me. Simon Peter says unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands. and my head. He proved that he didn't perceive what the Lord is talking about. He said, Lord, just start out here and here and all over. Just really, if it takes it walking to have a part with you, Lord, you know I want to have this. Peter, don't forget, Lord, I'm Simon, you know. I want to have a real part with you, Lord. Just start washing me all over, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that is what? He does not accept to wash his feet.
but it's clean everywhere. You're clean, but not all. Having had the privilege of visiting Israel last year with Brother Milo and some others, I noticed that they use a lot of solar energy over there. I inquired about some of their solar energy, noticing the hot water heater apparatus on the roof of the house, strategically located so that each day, if there was any sunlight at all, that heater, hot water heater apparatus would get some of that sunlight. And I believe that little Joe, our guy, told us if they got as much as thirty minutes a day, if they could have hot water the rest of the day, it's twenty-four hours. Did they tell you that, Milo? Do you remember? All right. I believe he said if they got thirty minutes of sunlight on that solar hot water system on the roof, that they could have hot water for twenty-four hours, just thirty minutes.
And if they got more than that, they had a stored up hot water for longer. Israel today is much different than it was in the days of our Lord, in many ways. But remember, they didn't have solar, hot water, heaters so much, so sophisticated as they are today. And oftentimes the bad house was not inside the house. All you have to do is go back to the book of Second Samuel, and you can learn that. It was outside. Now, you know, we have all the modern conveniences today in our home city. Most of us do. The outdoor privy has had its day. It served a wonderful time, and now it's gone. It was always the object of Halloween tactics and antics. And we won't get into any of those socials. But let me tell you this.
That we're blessed in nature. We aren't especially living in Iowa. Let me tell you, two years in a row, we've been thirty-seven below and thirty-six below consecutively. And I'd hate to think in the middle of the night, in a situation like that, that we still have the outdoor situation. I'll just call it a situation. People in those days would go somewhere where it was accommodating and get their bath and return. And here the Lord is using the imagery of what Peter well knew and should have received, that one who's gone to the bathhouse and goes back to his plate, or if you wanted to get one without waiting in a long line, and I'd get my shower and I'd make my way back to where I would stay.
Well, only one year I did that chapter. I think one year I stayed with John in it. his wife. But anyway, one year I stayed out here in Ross at the trailer, and I'd make my way from there over to here. Now, if I wore these little thongs, rubber special Japanese type few things, if I wore those from there to there, my feet would get dusty. So what I needed was a wet towel over there. And all I needed to do when I got ready to get in the bed was just wet my thumbs off, take that damp towel, wipe my feet down, and I was ready to salge down in the bed, get somebody hadn't short-cheated. You know, if you're short-cheated, you know, this should be a little tough. Okay. Now he said, ye that is washed, he does not, except to wash his feet, but it's clean everywhere.
And ye are clean. Now the Lord obviously is referring to those that didn't say, they're clean. And by clean he simply means that God has declared them washed already. It's not a washing that's taken place as far as a vivid imagery of a physical or a tangible subject, but it is a spiritual washing in view of what Christ was going to do, for he stood as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But they are declared washed through simple faith in their blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here the Lord has indicated the only thing that really needs touching up since that bath is the feet. Now what does the feet stand for? Obviously the feet of our walking.
Isn't our feet immune and walking from us? And it's our walking from you. So when the Lord speaks in this passage of that foot walking. Two divine truths are seen in an Old Testament verse of Scripture. Thy word is the lamp to my feet and a light to my path. See then that Old Testament of Scripture there is feet of our standing. For it's upon our feet that we stand. and past weeks of our walking. He is saying essentially, the promise is, that the Word of God not only tells me how to be saved and bring me the right standing of God, that's one hat, but it tells me how to walk. That's my path with God, the other hat. We can depend on it. Here the Lord is talking about our path, and our feet are what are involved, not only in our standing, but our walking.
And it's the walking that he has in view here. So here he's saying, What I do, thou knowest not now. Peter, you do not perceive now what I'm doing, but you're going to know hereafter. Sometime later. So after he had gone through verse twelve and had taken his garment and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? And here he says, Do you experience it? He uses the word genoso. He doesn't say you perceive it. He says, You don't perceive now. He said, Do you experience what I have done to you? You know by an experience what I've done to you. You call me Master and Lord. And you say, well, for so I am. If I've been your Lord and Master and have lost your feet, you did, he also offered water.
Go on and on the street. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. You know that many an assembly of Christians have gathered simply as believers. They gather in the Lord's name. Hopefully they are gathered unto his name. Hopefully. have so many internal strife and problems. There's a very poor testimony from the community in the world now. I do not believe that I know of a general area anywhere where there are companies of believers that gather like we gather that many of them are not plagued with internal justice. It's not that the government has anything to achieve what it is.
It's not that the unconverted are blasting our doors, or we have to meet and gather. He was there tonight. I went down to Colombia about an hour ago, years ago. And he did the nine. Jose Libas, national city. And he would write back to me and tell me what was happening. He was there for about thirty-five or forty days. He had to run to the jungle to get his life spared. And he was going with some others who were leading him through the jungle. And others were staying behind trying to protect him. Because there were people after his life. They take those machetes and chase it and try to kill him. Some places where he would meet, they would come, and I won't mention it, but I'll make some names. But a certain fellow would come as a religious leader. And he would lead the people up to the building and they'd take stones and break down the windows and things like that.
So Brother Jose was acquainted with, was persecution from without. Many soldiers were saved while he was down there. I learned something that I'd never known before at that time. He said he'd be walking through the street. there in Columbia, various places, Bogota and wherever he went. But if he walked into the streets in certain places, and he'd see a dead body, a cadaver. And he'd say, what is this? You know, the flies are already gathered in peril. What is this? And the guy would say, that's a liberal. He said, what's a liberal? He said it was a person connected with a certain religious denomination that would go to an evangelical meeting. They'd find that dead on the street. That's tremendous persecution from without, isn't it?
But, oh, my beloved friends, I believe the thing that hurts the church the most today is not the external pressures. It's the internal. Brethren, I'm not agreeing with one another. At this cost, I'm sobbing. Oh, the uglyness. May God help us to fall in our faces. Mr. J.M. Garvey, who had the privilege of going to a certain meeting place where he heard they were having meetings. Having received this invitation, he went to this meeting house. A very simple place, packed, and said he sat there for two hours and didn't hear a word. Not even one. Some groanings he heard, but no articulate words.
And for over two hours he sat there like that. Someone thought, well, that's a kind of a weird thing. I don't think I'd want to go back. I didn't hear any ministry. I didn't hear any gospel. He noticed when he got ready to leave. that the floor was wet with their tears, and made this statement, Reverend, we need to frequent those houses of tears. People were broken over their lives. May God get a grip on our hearts this week and help us to look within and see if there's anything between me and my brother or me and my sister in Christ that keeps us from having blessed unity. Now, quickly, I tried to lay a foundation to pull in at that, I'm sure, but let's get into the message now.
The number one thing I want to point out in this pageant is the reality of daily defilement. My brother and my sisters, oh God has laid us so we do not have to sin. If anyone gets up and preaches, that it's impossible not to sin. You mark it down. He doesn't know his life. Mark it down. First John chapter two, I'd like you to gaze to form that pageant with me just for a moment. Just for a little, one little quick view. A few verses of scripture. One would do, but I want to get to there. First John chapter two, verses one and two. My little children, I write these things unto you in order that you sin not. That's far as we'd have to read, really. And if any man sinned, we have a comforter with the Father.
Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins. Look at the sins of the whole world. Hold it. My little children, I write these things unto you in order that you sin not. The word Hinnah. Meaning in order that. Not just that, but in order that. So it was written, in order that we do not sin. God has made ample and every provision that you and I will not sin. Let us not say it's impossible to live without sinning. Let us say that it is impractical, as we do so. Not impractical. The reality of daily defilement. There is a reality about it that I must face.
For every day I'm faced with this polluted world of sin, and find myself, alas, involved in some way. You know what? So often it's with my brother. It might be some little point of teaching. It might be the way he looked at me when we were at the meeting. And I didn't like it. It could be something he said. Or it could be something he did not do. I thought he should have done. or it could be a group of persons. I think that really they ought not to do that, or they ought not to do this. And by and by, first thing you know, I'm involved in my mind and I'm not involved.
It doesn't necessarily be for it or with my brethren. It can be personal. As I walk through the world that's saturated with sin, I find myself in some way attracted to it. There's something in me. that is very, very impatiently hungry or has an appetite for sin. There's something in me that burns and desires to sin. What is it? It is the sin principle. It is sin itself, and the sin within me will desire to get involved in sin. It is all who is inspired of God to say, the good that I would, I do not. That which I would not, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin, singularly.
sin that dwelleth in me. And twice, he says that in Romans, seven. It's very indicative, very indicative that John says in first John one eight, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves in the truth that's not imminent. He didn't say if we say we have no sin. Ruben, if you go to the Lord in brokenness of heart and honest confession of your sin, he says if we confess our sins, verse nine, Do you expect him to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness like he said? You do, don't you? Isn't God faithful and just to do it?
He says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, the very moment you do that, you can honestly say you have no sin. But you believe God. But you couldn't say you have no sin. See the difference? See the problem? Oh, my beloved friend, we may be in the altar of confession. We may be in before God in his presence confessing our sins, but it doesn't annihilate the fact of the sin principle in us. Dear beloved John, good life, he that says, he has no sin, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in it.
Now look, if you will, at John chapter fourteen. John chapter fourteen. And look at verse thirty. Hereafter I will not talk with you much for the prince of this world coming. That's that last part that I want to read to you. And I'd like to read it to you. from my Greek Testament. And in me not he has nothing.
That's literal. And in me not he has nothing. I wasn't the sharpest of student in high school. I finally each out of high school was gone. I did a little better in college because I settled down a little bit. I had a wife and two children, then I had a high school seven years before I started. I got three and a half years of college in three years time and quit. However, I couldn't get along with the college president. And then three years later went back and split in and got that last semester and finally graduated and had four again at the time, two, three. So I really had a fruitful college time. But I learned something about English. That in English, a double negative means a policy. Ain't never.
is a devil-native, and that's what it's an idiot, you see. And it really means a positive. He says, yes, you can. He says, never means yes, you can. But let me tell you, it ain't so in Greek. In this passage, he's literally saying, the prince of this world comes, he comes, and he says, in me, not, he has nothing. In other words, he's saying, he emphatically cannot find anything in me that will respond to sin. Jesus was sinless and had nothing in him that could respond to sin.
And I'll tell you, I get frightened mad when somebody gets up and says, he's good. I'm going to frighten me. It doesn't justify me. But I get that way. I'm pretty aware. And this thing came up. And I found here, I'll mention a name. Here... He didn't even call it now. Maybe you can help me. I don't know if you can see me in the mail. It's in that kind of the head of seeing the mail over in Jersey. Fred McKenzie. Dear Brother Fred, told me of some things that are going on among some brethren. And it was really a bit shocking. Though the first shot wave hit me when I was in another country and learned about them. that some men today among Christians who are supposed to be gathered under the name of the Lord are teaching that Jesus could have been, not been dead, but sin.
Wow. They tell you where it came from and it has a sniff of them from. He's a liar and the father of it. Jesus is saying here, the princess that broke up and there's not one thing in me that would respond to him. But let me tell you, you and I, there's everything. You let the devil try it out something that looks glittering and nice and down in us. There's a full part that you can hardly hold on to. And if you don't admit it, you're dumb or dishonest. Paul said, if so, well, I did do it, but sin that dwells in me. It's in there. And the fact, acknowledge the fact that it's not going to get any better.
Before you try to call it, let you trust it. Okay. The reality of David the Bible. You and I are daily with five. If it's not a matter of committing sins, it's omitting to do the right thing, which are sins different ways. One is just as much sin as the other. I'm using the squirrel there to say we sin and sin. And then if we're not involved in doing the wrong thing or not doing the right thing, we're around that which is so corrupt. Until our mind seems to be the same. I've been around certain people and they said certain things and talked about certain things until I felt dirty. And what really broke my heart was the fact that down in me there was something that would respond to that dirt.
He didn't want me to be involved in that. Now that's, oh God, what am I? No wonder, folks, it's God. O righteous man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body. I'm too glad we can come back. Thank you, old man. Oh, we can wreck him in dead. We can steal with him. We can... Theologically teaching and preaching, but let me tell you, I'll be glad when it's gone. And I'll take my lesson, Lord. Until then, I've got to wrestle with the reality of daily defilement. My seat is going to get defiled and dirty as I walk through the stairs. The second thing that I want to bring before this afternoon, bless your heart.
You knew it anyway, didn't you? You knew it anyway. It looked like they learned it today. They invited me, they couldn't have. Because they're not going to educate me. They'll do something. The next thing I want you to notice is, not only the reality of daily defilement, but the necessity of constant renters. Are we going to walk with God and we've got to be angry? Yes, we do. Right. Very good. Very good. A good, a good statement. exemplifying a divine principle the reality of daily defilement yes we all say amen it's true but then notice the necessity of constant cleansing if I'm going to have a harmonious walk with my blessed Lord if I'm going to have occupation with him to the extent that I begin to be godly and I agree with Leonard I've been talking about his message he's not occupation with godliness you'll never make it you become a Pharisee You stop doing this and stop doing that and stop doing the other and you start doing this and start doing that and you start doing the other and you look down your nose and everybody else that doesn't do it.
You say, oh boy, how good I am. You say, oh boy, how good I am. You know, I really, oh boy, just wipe me. But I'll tell you, real occupation of the Lord Jesus will do away with that. Here the very servant of all servants, cursing there with a towel, gets down at those old smelly feet and begins to walk around. Let me tell you what's in this man. No, no. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
We saw that all sins were against God. Very wonderful truth we saw. All right. The necessity of consistency. Now what's that got to do with washing one of the seats? Everything. Think for a moment. The Proverbs writer could say in Proverbs verse six, faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the chances of an enemy are deceitful. Now mind you, I'm not opposed to testing. I practice it. Amen, I enjoy it, excuse me. I really do. And when I'm going home, I miss my wife and I miss the kids and the little girls and all my family, you see. But here's what I'm getting at. You could walk up to a person who needs a rebuke and kiss them.
It would be a very deceitful thing. But if they needed a rebuke, if there's something in the life that needs to be probed and checked, God wants to use you and I to do that. I said, well, I'll leave it to the Lord. The Lord's going to take care of it. Okay, lead evangelism, Lord. Lord's going to take care of it. Oh, me, man. Somehow and other, we have missed a point. Jesus had said in John, sixteen, that's getting, there's faster time than so and so on and so forth. But he said in John sixteen, it is expedient for you that I go away. First, I go not away, but comfort will not come. First, I go not away, but comfort will not come. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will recruit us. No.
Now, he's going to work in the life of the Christian to improve the world. And many times he's working in the life of the Christian. Paul gives us that example. That's good. Grace that they didn't hear. I was sitting to the face because he was to the blame. Now, he could have said, well, Peter, it's sure nice to see your brother and just miss you. Oh, wouldn't it have been wonderful? And Peter, that you're doing the wrong thing. You're bringing assimilation here. You didn't even got part of us all. You didn't even make this right. Peter. was a real man of God. He could have knocked up and said, here Paul, I was an apostle before you were. Who are you to tell me? Reminds me of the situation.
I won't listen to you. Now some dread and think that because they've been saved ten more years than someone else, they've got all the wisdom that they're not going to talk to. And he tell you, the young man of Job kind of gives a slight example of that. He waited till the older man had finished and then he waited in on Job. He walked in and said, all right, Hear the necessity of constant vengeance. You and I, if our brother is wrong, we better be right ourselves. And then we need to go and get down at his feet. Slowly. Very slowly. The Galatian writer says, Paul. He says, If my brother be overtaken in the fall, he who is spiritual, he resorts in what you want in the spirit of meekness, considering hath thou also be tested. Get out of your feet. Love began the chapter.
We must go in love. Well, here's Brother Son, so he's not coming in long. You know, he's got hanged up with us and so the Lord will deal with him. I've heard that in my response. It's not that I don't think the Lord will do. God wants to use you and I. He's going to go and wash one another's feet. I should love my brother. Maybe it's him that I'm driven of love to get out of his feet. And we'll just walk in the feet. Sometimes we have to walk in the feet. We'll just walk in the feet. We didn't have time to relax for a long time. I don't even know where to go. But the last is we urgently, in urgency, of righteous loving creation.
How many Christians do you know that need to walk with you and other Christians in the middle of the world? Now I'm not walking with the world. I'm walking a very cold with you. There needs to be a real loving creation. If you look at the chapter, I know I've only just got a section. I haven't got a lot of the good points or a lot of the scriptures given, but I really want you to treat me with me. Now what do you think about this? What I do that I'll know is not now. You don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing. You don't know what I'm doing. But you don't know what I'm doing. But you don't know what I'm doing. And see what you're experiencing is so powerful and persuasion.
The reality of David have found the necessity of constant energy and the urgency of righteous and reconciliation. Father, we thank you for thy word. We just seem to have deepened time to get into it and enjoy it one with another. We thank you for fellowship this week that you've enjoyed here with thy dear children. Oh, God, cause this to be a time when we just drink deeply from that living water, when we realize the working of the Spirit of God in our own lives, convincing us of anything and everything that's not right and not in keeping and commensurate with our relationships with our blessed Lord, and Lord, having a real time of weeping and confessing our sins and being cleansed, and then being in right relationship and fellowship one with another.
Take thy word this week and purge every one of us and cleanse us, Lord. We ask for Christ, thank you. Amen. Thank you.