Please rise for the reading of Scripture. Our Scripture readings this evening come from Isaiah chapter 42 and then our text John 13. Isaiah 42 is the first of several servant songs where the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured for us as the servant who would come and humble himself to do the will of the Father. Isaiah 42 verses 1 through 9. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands shall wait for his law. Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I will tell you of them." Turn now to the Book of John, Gospel of John, chapter 13. We'll be reading verses 1 through 17. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having 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 to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would betray him, therefore he said, you are not all clean. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I've done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you 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. Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's call upon the name of the Lord in prayer. Our Father, our love for you is indeed so weak and so small And how we thank you, Lord, that you have given to us your spirit and that you have poured your love into our hearts. Father, we thank you for your electing love, your love for us from before the world began. We thank You that it was that love that sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to humble Himself, to take upon Himself human flesh, to live among us, and to die the death of the cross for our sakes. We thank You, Lord, that You have poured out Your Spirit, and so we pray that by Your Spirit You would illuminate Your Word tonight. and that You would enable us not only to understand and to believe the things that You have so graciously recorded for us in Your Word, but that You would kindle in us that love which we do not have in ourselves. A love for Christ, a love for one another, a love for the lost, a love even for our enemies. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, if you were here this morning, you heard John Shaw preaching a sermon from this very same chapter of the Gospel of John. And these things we know happened in God's providence. It wasn't planned. But I'm very thankful that he laid the groundwork this morning for the very things that we would be speaking of tonight. Reverend Shaw said this morning that love is the mark of a Christian. That without love, without that love that has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, there is no true Christianity. But he also mentioned that love is an abstract term. It needs definition. And in Christ, the love of the Father has been not only defined, but been made tangible for us. In Christ, we have seen the Father's love for us. And though we haven't seen Christ with our eyes, we have seen Him in the preaching of the Word. We have read of Him in the pages of Holy Scripture. And we know Him by the witness of the Holy Spirit. And so the love of the Father has been made known to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in John 13, the question that is set before us is this. What are the practical implications of being in Christ? What are the practical implications of being known by the Father? Of having a Savior who has come into the world to die for us? What are the practical implications of being a Christian? In this chapter, we come to see that Christ came to us in the form of a servant to teach us what it is to love and to serve one another in the body of Christ. John 13, is the second, begins the second section of the book of John. There are really two sections in this book. Some have called the first section the book of signs, where Jesus in his earthly ministry began to show forth the signs that marked himself as the Messiah. But then at the end of that section in chapter 12, He showed His disciples and told His disciples that He was going to die, that He was going to die the death of the cross. And so we begin this second section of the Gospel of John, which is often called the Book of the Passion or the Book of Glory. A section which begins here in John 13, goes all the way through John 17, the High Priestly Prayer, and then right to Christ going to the cross. We're in the upper room. The feast has been prepared. Jesus has sat down with His disciples. He is going to eat with them the supper which He has longed to eat with them. And He is going to begin to teach them the last lessons that He will teach them on the earth. And if you remember, the disciples have often been arguing amongst themselves about who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom. and talked about what greatness is. And Jesus has gently but firmly, over and over again, told them that true greatness consists in humility. True greatness consists in humbling oneself and becoming a servant. If you were to take this first section of chapter 13 and put it side by side with Paul's great declaration of the humiliation of Christ in Philippians chapter 2, you would see that there are many striking parallels between those two sections. Really, John 13 verses 1 through 17 is a picture of the gospel itself. Jesus Christ humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant, and here in John 13, picturing that for His disciples, that they might know the great love that He has had for them, and that He will show for them at the cross. And so we're going to look at this tonight, this section of God's Word, under three points. First, Jesus loved his own, verses 1 through 3. Second, he became a servant, verses 4 through 11. And thirdly, he sat down again, verses 12 through 17. Jesus loved his own, he became a servant, and he sat down again. All of these actions, a picture of everything that he is and everything that he came to do. Let's look first at our first point. Jesus loved His own. In verse 1, we read that before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, and having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. Jesus knows here that He is going to the cross. He's already told His disciples this in chapter 12. The other Gospels refer often to the hour of Christ. And that hour is brought out in the other Gospels as the hour of the cross. The hour of His trial and temptation. The hour of His agony on the cross. And even earlier in the Gospel of John, John has mentioned that the hour of Jesus has not yet come. He mentions that in chapter 2, in chapter 7, in chapter 8. But now, Jesus Himself says that His hour, or knows that His hour has come. And not only that, in chapter 17, in His high priestly prayer, He will say the same thing to His Father in His prayer, that His hour had come. Jesus has been meditating on what this means. He knows that He's going back to the Father. He's been meditating on the glory that He had with the Father before the foundation of the world. He's been meditating on that glory that He had as the second person of the Trinity in communion with Father and Holy Spirit from before the beginning of the worlds. He's going to be crowned with glory. He knows that He's going to the Father. He's been meditating on that glory that He will have, and that joy that He will have, that joy that was set before Him, knowing that when His mission on earth is accomplished, He will ascend into the highest heavens, and He will receive all power and all authority, and He will be the King of the universe as the God-Man. But even as He's meditating on these things, He has not forgotten what He has come to do and those that He has come to save. His disciples are going to be without Him in the world. And later in this same section of Scripture, He's going to tell them, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. but I'm going to send My Holy Spirit to you, and you will not be alone. I and My Father will come to you and will dwell with you. Not only that, but I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also. and that your joy might be full." Jesus is thinking and meditating not only on the glory that He had and on the glory that He will have, but He's thinking about His disciples. And if you remember, even on the cross, Jesus was thinking about His disciples and making provision for them. We see here the measure and the depth of Christ's love. And that's what Jesus wants His disciples to know. It's a love that never began. It says, having loved His own, He loved them to the end. It's a love that will never end. But not only that, the word here for end is a word that expresses purpose. And Jesus had a purpose in coming into this world. And the purpose that He had in coming into this world was to manifest to His disciples the love of the Father, to manifest them in a tangible way, in a personal way, to manifest to them that love in the very flesh. He loved them to the end. And what Jesus wants His disciples to know is that, yes, He is going to leave, but when He is gone, He's given them a picture, and that picture ought to remind them of something, that not only did He love them while He was in this world, but He is going to continue to love them even after He has gone into heaven. He is going to continue to love them, and He's gonna manifest that love to them by pouring out His Holy Spirit. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments. Jesus' love in the upper room guarantees his love for us today, and Thomas Goodwin wrote a book or a section of his works entitled, The Heart of Christ. And I believe that in this picture that we see here of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, we see a picture of the gospel itself, the heart of Christ, the heart of Christ in his love for his disciples, a love that was not just for those disciples at that time, but a love that is also for us if we believe on him. And so Jesus became a servant. Verses 4 through 11. He rises from his place at the table. Look with me again at verse 4. He rose from the supper. He laid aside his garments. He took a towel and girded himself. The text says that supper had ended. See that in verse 2. that could also be translated, supper having been served. In other words, the supper was not over yet. We read of the supper continuing, and even the last supper will be administered after this. But supper has been served, and as was customary at the beginning of a supper, There was a time of hospitality in which a servant would come and would wash the feet of those who had dirty feet from their travels. Well, Jesus removes his long outer robe, he wraps a towel around his waist, he pours water from a water pot nearby into a basin, and he does the unthinkable. The Lord of the universe stoops down to wash the feet of His creatures." Imagine for a moment the disbelief of the disciples as they stared at one another, asking the question, how is it possible that our Master would do this? You see, it was one thing for the disciples, perhaps, to do this for Jesus. We notice that they didn't do this. You could ask the question, why didn't someone stoop down to wash Jesus' feet? But it was unthinkable for Jesus to stoop to wash the feet of His disciples. You see, Jesus at this moment is lowering Himself to the position of a household slave. The work that nobody would do except the lowest person in the house. And you read of the washing of feet in the Old Testament. You read of Abraham providing water for the three men who came to visit him before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abraham didn't wash their feet. He provided water that they might wash their own feet. The first time that you read in scripture of someone washing the feet of another is when Abigail washes the feet of David. This was a menial act. This was an act of servitude. So why did Jesus wash the feet of his disciples? Well, I believe he did it for two reasons, primarily. He did it first to point to the spiritual union that we have with him by faith. And secondly, to point to our ongoing need for sanctification by the Spirit. First, to point to the spiritual union that we have with Jesus Christ by faith. And secondly, to point to the ongoing need, even after we've been justified, for sanctification by the Spirit. Let's look at what he does. begins to wash the feet of his disciples. And the first disciple that we read of responding is Peter. Peter is saying what perhaps the others must have thought. When Jesus comes to Peter, we read this. He came to Simon Peter, verse 6, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Well, our first response might have been like Peter's. our first response might be to say, how is it possible that Jesus would wash the feet of a man? Jesus says literally, Lord, you wash my feet? That's exactly what he says in the original language. And we might ask that question, how is it possible? It's the cry of every believer. How is it possible that Jesus The one who had all glory and power and authority would stoop down to wash the feet of a mere man. But Jesus washes His feet. If you're anything like me, you're a lot like Peter. You see, Peter was questioning his Lord. How is it possible that Peter would say, Are you going to wash my feet?" We can understand Peter here. It shows something of Peter's character and his disposition. He was a man who loved the Lord and he didn't want to see the Lord Jesus doing that which was beneath him. Much like John the Baptist. When John the Baptist said, am I going to baptize you? You ought to be baptizing me. I am unworthy to unlatch your sandal. But in one sense, Peter is also saying that he knows better than his Lord, which we also do often when we complain or when we question the Lord in His providence and in His wisdom. And so Jesus in verse 7 tells him simply this, you don't understand what I'm doing. And He's already said that to His disciples. He said in chapter 12 that they will not understand the things that He is doing and the things that are happening. Particularly, they're not going to understand that their Lord is going to die for them. But they will understand later when the Spirit is poured out. You'll understand Peter more this very night as I teach you. And Jesus is going to teach Peter and the disciples in the coming chapters. You're going to understand more when I go to the Father, when I ascend up into heaven, when I am glorified. And you will understand even more when I send to you my Holy Spirit. when I give you the Spirit of Truth, who will lead you into all knowledge and into all understanding, who will enable those men who have been appointed to that task to write the Scriptures of the New Testament. And when the Holy Spirit comes, He will guide you into all truth. That's what it says in John chapter 16. In that same chapter, Jesus says, I have used figurative language. And now He's not only going to use figurative language, but He is speaking to them through a picture. The picture of the foot washing. But then Peter goes on to say something even more bold. Verse 8. Jesus, you shall never wash my feet. And here Peter is stubbornly refusing to exercise faith. You see, faith is that which does not wait until it has understanding. Faith is that which believes and acts according to what God has revealed. And here's the word. It responds to the word from a heart full of love for the Lord who inspired that word. How often we don't act in that way, but act so much like Peter as he questions the Lord and as he tells the Lord what the Lord will do rather than submitting to the Lord's word. And so Jesus now in verse eight again says, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. And here's where we begin to see that this is no ordinary act. It's no ordinary foot washing. You see, Jesus uses here the word for a portion. the word for an inheritance. And what Jesus is saying is that if you, Peter, don't have a portion or an inheritance with me, then you have nothing in me. And you are just like that one who is sitting right here, who has no part in my kingdom. the betrayer, Judas, if you have no part in Me." If you have no part. in my kingdom." It's the same word that's used in the parable of the prodigal son when the son wasted his inheritance. It's the same word used in the book of Revelation for the believer's part or portion or inheritance in the tree of life. And what Jesus is saying is that what I am doing here has spiritual significance. He does this often in the Gospel of John. So many times He uses earthly pictures to point to heavenly realities. And we notice that Peter clearly understands Jesus this way. He realizes what it means to have no part with Christ. He realizes that it means to have none of the blessings of salvation, those blessings that we read of in Ephesians chapter 1, being in Christ, having the forgiveness of sins, having the redemption, having all of that which comes to us through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does Simon Peter say? He says what any true believer would say, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Wash me wholly. Wash me completely. Wash me entirely. I don't want any part of me to be unwashed. I want to be clean. I want to be pure in your sight. He responds, thankfully, by the grace of God, by going to the other extreme. by saying, wash me, not just on the outside, but wash me on the inside. And this is where we come to that section where Jesus now is pointing to our ongoing need for sanctification by the Spirit. In verse 10, Jesus begins to teach what he's talking about, what he's showing in this picture. He says, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. Children, You know what it is to take a bath, right? To take a bath is to wash yourself and to become clean. And if you take a bath and then you go outside and you walk on the ground with bare feet, have you gotten dirty all over? No. Only your feet are dirty. And Jesus is using that picture to show us that there is a kind of cleansing that is once and for all, that never has to be done again. And then there is a kind of cleansing that continues over and over and over again in this life. There's a kind of cleansing that we never have to have again. He's using a familiar picture to teach this truth. It was the picture of the public baths in that day, when people would go and they would bathe themselves in the public baths, and then they would go home, and yes, on the way home, they would get their feet dirty, and they would have to clean their feet. But there's an even deeper truth that's being taught here. He's teaching about purification. And this would be a picture that each one of his disciples would know about this. The pilgrims, when they would come to the Passover, would oftentimes submit themselves to a cleansing ritual. because perhaps they had come near a dead body, or perhaps they had come near Gentiles who were thought to have, who buried their dead near their homes and were thought to be unclean, and so they themselves were unclean. So they would submit themselves to a cleansing ritual. of being washed completely before they took of the Passover meal. And perhaps they had seen this very thing happening before this Passover. People submitting themselves to this cleansing of the whole body, a washing. Or maybe they were thinking about a ritual from the Old Testament. A ritual which was never repeated in the life of a priest. A priest would become cleansed completely with water. One time in his life, he would be completely washed, him and his garments. And then from then on, whenever he would go into the tabernacle or the temple, he would wash his hands and his feet. Whatever picture it is that they are thinking of here, Jesus is pointing them to the need for a complete cleansing. A cleansing of justification. A cleansing that takes place when the Lord Jesus Himself, by His Spirit, causes us to be clean through His own blood. How were the disciples clean after that, though? Well, how were the disciples clean at any time? By His Word and Spirit, He says in chapter 15. But after justification, they still would need to be cleaned by Christ. Jesus' ministry is going to continue. He's going to ascend up into heaven. He's going to be the God-man. He's going to pour out His Spirit. He's going to be their advocate. He's going to offer to them a continual cleansing that comes through the confession of sin, a daily cleansing as they come to Him in repentance and faith. And that's the cleansing that Jesus is pointing to. He's pointing to that cleansing that they will need every day of their lives. Calvin says that Jesus always finds in us something that needs to be cleaned, cleansed. Yes, we are justified. But yes, we also continue to need to go to the Lord Jesus Christ daily, confessing our sins and seeking from him the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. But he goes on to say that not all in the room are clean. Verse 11, for he knew who would betray him, therefore he said, you are not all clean. And this is a sobering reality, isn't it? Jesus knows that there is one here who does not have the cleansing of justification, and therefore cannot ever have the cleansing of sanctification. But he still apparently washed his feet. The Lord of the universe stooped to wash the filthy feet not only of Peter, who would deny him and would be restored, but of Judas, who would betray him with a kiss. Not only that, but he would still serve him the Last Supper and tell him to go out quickly and do that which he had to do. This ought to cause each one of us to search our own hearts. to examine ourselves to know whether we are in Christ, whether we truly have that cleansing of our hearts that comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and whether we are daily going to Him for that cleansing that comes by the Holy Spirit. This is what the Son of God did for us in the incarnation. The Creator stooped down to wash the feet of His creatures. The Lord of glory humbled Himself to serve His servants. The Giver of life laid down His life for sinners who deserve only death. And then He sat down again. Verses 12 to 17. So when He had washed their feet, taking his garments and sat down again, he began to teach them. Jesus returns to his place as their teacher and as their Lord. And he explains to them the significance of what he's just done. There's never a mysterious, symbolic act that Jesus doesn't do. explained to His disciples. It's why in the administration of the sacraments, we don't just have an administration of a mysterious sign without an explanation. There's always an explanation, because Jesus wants us to understand what it is that He's doing to us and for us. And here, He charges His disciples to consider who He is. First, I'm your teacher. He points to Himself as the perfect example of humility and love. But secondly, I'm your Lord. He points to Himself as one to whom they owe their very lives. He came from the Father. He's going back to the Father. He's about to ascend to the throne of the universe, where we, as His people, will be seated with Him in heavenly places. And so He charges His disciples to consider who He is and who they are. And He says to them, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sinned greater than the one who sins. He calls them to understand that if He has done these things for them, then how much more ought they to do the same thing for one another? Out of love, first of all, for Him. In Matthew 25, we read that to give a cup of cold water to one of His elect is the same as to give that cup of cold water to Him. Service to one another is service to Christ in the kingdom. And so He calls His disciples to fruitfulness in Him. He's anticipating chapter 15. where he will say, abide with me, abide in me, and I in you. I'm going to send my Holy Spirit that you might abide in me and in my word. But knowledge, though it is necessary, he's saying here, it's not enough. Verse 17, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. We all know that pride is a sin. Very easy to see pride in others. I know for myself, it's very easy for me to look around me at others and see the pride manifested in them, but so difficult, even in my own home, to see the pride in my own heart. We have no problem seeing it in others, just like the disciples had no problem seeing pride in the other disciples. But the trouble comes when you try to put these things, these things, the things that Jesus has been teaching his disciples, when you try to put them into practice. You see, to know these things, to know what true humility is, is to know Christ Himself. And so the example that He's showing here is not just an example of what we are to do in our own strength, no. It is an example of what Jesus is going to do for us at the cross. It points beyond this foot washing. to the very heart of Christ. It points to His entire life, His death, His burial, His coming down from heaven, His becoming a servant, and His returning back to the Father. And He's saying, all that I am and all that I've done for you is lay before you now in a picture. Look at this picture. Look at what I've done for you. Look at what I'm about to do for you when I go to the cross and remember and seek by the grace that I will pour out upon you to serve one another as I have served you." And what he's saying is that unless you understand the cross, you will never understand the love of the Father, the love of the Son, the love of the Holy Spirit, or the love that you are called to have for one another in the church. It's the blessing of the Holy Spirit alone that can enable faith that works through love. And so given who we are and what Christ has done, nothing ought to be beneath us. To be a follower of Christ means that if Jesus has washed the dirty feet of His disciples, who am I not to wash the feet of my brothers and sisters in the Church of Jesus Christ? Who am I as a husband not to wash the feet of my wife and my children? Who am I, or who are your elders, to not wash your feet? as the children of God, the household of God? Who are you to not wash one another's feet in the church and to love one another and to show that love by acts of service to one another? And who are you even not to love those who come in through those doors and who may either not understand the faith in quite the same way, quite the same measure that you do, or who do not have an understanding of who Christ is at all? Who are you not to love them with the love of Jesus Christ? Matthew Henry says that Christ by humbling Himself has dignified humility and put an honor upon it and obliged His followers to thank nothing below them but sin. And so to serve your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, and to have an interest in their spiritual well-being, and in that of others, as we're called to do in the book of Galatians, and to show mercy to those in need, as we're called to do in Matthew 25. This is what it means to show the love of Christ. This is even more true, or ought to be, of officers in the church. They are gifts of Christ to the church, and they are to be examples of godliness to the flock, examples of service and love. And they are to be servants of Christ, who lay down their lives for the people of God, and who care for Christ's sheep. And how I thank the Lord that In some measure, we have that in this congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus loved us to the end. He became our servant, and He returned to glory. He took the lowest possible place for us who deserved nothing from Him. He became our example of humility and service, the ultimate example is shown for us at the cross where He laid down His life. He went to the cross out of obedience to His Father and suffered the agony and indignity and the shame. And so the cross forces you and me to say, how has Christ treated me? I must take up my cross and follow Him. But what if I haven't? What if I haven't followed His example? Well, Christ is still our great example. Still today. And He invites us still to His table. And He's inviting us to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You see, He's more than just an example. He's our mediator. He's the God-man. And He still serves us right now. from his throne of glory. He serves us in worship. He serves us in preaching. He serves us in the administration of the sacraments. He serves us in the oversight of elders. He serves us through the diaconate. Remember that when you give gifts of love in the diaconal offering every month, That that is one way that the Lord Jesus Christ is using you to serve His people. He serves us in the fellowship of the saints. And the wonderful thing is that the throne of glory is also a throne of grace. He himself is our righteousness. He himself is our full and final sacrifice. His blood cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness. And his spirit enables us to offer ourselves back to him as living sacrifices. Let's go forth and offer ourselves by the grace of God as sacrifices unto him. Let us pray. Our great God and Father, how we thank you and praise you that you have given to us a Savior, a Savior who came down to us from heaven, a Savior who loved His own, who became a bondservant for us, and who returned to His place in glory, still to serve us, still to be our Savior and mediator. and who is coming again and will receive us to himself. And we pray, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. For it's in his name we pray, amen.