This morning, we'll turn to John's Gospel, chapter 13. John chapter 13. And anticipating taking the Lord's Supper tonight, I thought we would spend the day looking at this beginning part of the second section of John and then look tonight at the Passion of our Lord. So, John chapter 13. And I will read the first 20 verses. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During the supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, And Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He said to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, he came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I'm doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, The one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, 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 also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. John wrote something in his little epistle that we often have heard a lot about, but probably have read over rather quickly and not given the kind of attention to it that we should. But in 1 John, John said something very powerful. He wrote, by this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren. where did he learn that where did that come from John says we were taught love by the manner in which Jesus gave himself for us to die for us and that has driven us that should be the whole motivation by which we go out and we give ourselves for our brethren where did he learn it they didn't always understand that I believe that whole statement in John was something that they had learned in the course of their walk with Jesus and the pivotal point that this all comes out that drove them to say something like that is John chapter 13. It really is an amazing event this morning that we consider. In fact, the whole statement begins with what is probably the most remarkable statement that I find in the Gospel. It is just a remarkable, beautiful statement that begins this second section of John. Look at verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of the world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. Now you read that and you pause and you say, did I just read what I think I read? That is a beautiful statement. That is something that surely should be highlighted. What a just glorious statement about His love, isn't it? Interesting that the first section of John began with having come to His own, His own did not receive Him. And this section begins with His persistence to fulfill His love to His own to the end. It's remarkable. Well, here we are. there's still a major problem presented to us in this text. A really big problem. One that often gets overlooked in this section. And you can see this problem kind of jump off the page in the repetition of words that we find here. There are certain words that are emphasized over and over and over. And if you were to read it very carefully, the repetition of words that you would find are knowing and understanding. Look at verse 7. Jesus answered him, What I am doing, you do not understand now. But afterward you will understand. And then look at the question of verse 12. Do you understand what I have done to you? This whole section is teaching us something about this. This whole section is teaching us something about understanding the love of Jesus Christ. And that lack of understanding leads in this passage to a more significant problem. Look at verse 20. Every time you find these statements, truly, truly, verily, verily, you know by now that this is big. This is a grand introduction statement. This is a summary statement. This is something that he's really emphasizing. He's really driving home. And look at verse 20. Whoever receives the one I send, receives Me. And whoever receives Me, receives the One who sent Me. Jesus is sending them. Jesus is sending them. And they are going to go out and they are going to represent Him. But do you see the problem? How can they represent what they don't understand? It's a big problem. If you don't understand what he's doing, how will you represent his mission? And you see, that's why John could speak so freely afterward about understanding that mission, saying this is how we learned love, this is how we know love. We saw it, we saw it put on display right in front of us in what Jesus did in laying down his life and that now has defined everything that we do. So in this passage this morning, the purpose here is really set before us that He is giving them something. He's giving them something that they don't get right now, but afterward they will get it. Understanding that would drive them to be really effective witnesses of Him. And that's very important for us. Let's look at this this morning. It's Thursday evening. He's going to die tomorrow. Imagine the weight of that. Knowing what He has to do, knowing what He has to accomplish. It's supper time. Time is short. There's a really significant little statement right at the beginning. His hour has come. He's been talking about this hour all throughout John's Gospel. He had said it right in chapter 2 about this hour at the feast that the hour had not come. And now His hour has come. They have arrived from their journey and they go up into the upper room to eat. They would have been filthy from their travels. And in these rooms off in the corner, when you entered a room at this time, there would be a pitcher of water and there would be a water bowl and then this long linen cloth. And there it sat. Now remember, this is Passover time, so cleansings are going on everywhere. Everyone's cleansing. thinking about cleansing. They had all these ritual cleansing. But here, Jesus, and in this section, is dealing with a very common experience of life. After walking all day in those streets, in their mission, in their journey, their feet would become dirty. And typically you would have slaves who would be appointed to stand in the corner of the room and when guests would enter the house, these slaves would get down and they would do what they were appointed to do and they would wash those feet. Well, here they are. They've entered the room and no one's there. The slave is absent. So the disciples take a seat. They are reclining on these large mats around the table. It was a low table. Typically, they would recline on the left shoulder, their left arm, and you can picture this whole sort of scene. they're lounging somebody should get up and do what needs to be done who's going to do that somebody should get up and they should walk to the front of the room the back the back part of the room and they should grab the towel now before we dive into the actions here of our lord you really need to look carefully at the scene that's in front of us. It shows the extent of what it means that Jesus loved in the fullest, to the uttermost, is really the meaning of that. John wants us to see how determined he was. If you were to do some comparing with gospel accounts, what you would find is there were certain things happening as they entered the room here. Luke tells us that. Luke tells us something very interesting, that as they were preparing for the Passover, at this meal there was a dispute among them as to who should be the greatest. Wow. Let me sort of put this together for you. They walked in the upper room. They saw the seats. They looked at those seats. And I believe what happened is they began to argue about, hey, who gets to sit next to Jesus? Jesus, of course, gets the top seat, doesn't he? He gets the head of the table. Everyone knew that. And so everyone's thinking here, who gets it? I surely don't want to be the one at the end of the table. I want to be the one at the beginning of the table. Who gets the lowest rung on the totem pole? Who has to go to the very bottom and probably asked to towel up at this point. They're only concerned for themselves. They begin to think about, well, who's done the most? Who's been the greatest in the kingdom? Who has done the most for this Jesus so far in our walk? And so this argument takes place. Now, if you put together the surrounding scene for a minute, in the next chapter, this is a real mess of a group, isn't it? Philip doesn't even know him yet. Do you not know me yet, Philip? Have you not known me? Peter is going to deny him three times. What else is going to happen? Thomas is, at the end of this, is going to doubt and say, I will not believe unless... How many of you have ever said that? And all of them would forsake him. This is not a very exciting bunch, by the way. Jesus knows all of this. His hour had come. He has to suffer. He has to fulfill the mission given to Him by the Father. And as He's pouring out His soul in love, they're demonstrating they understand nothing of His mission. Crucial point. Crucial point. Now it's not over. If that's bad, what about verse 2? And during the supper, literally, the devil having put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. The devil's come on in. And he has put it right into the heart of this false disciple and this traitor will betray Him. One of those whom Jesus is about to serve the supper to, one of those who we have to infer here, Jesus gets down and washes His feet, under the direct demonic influence of the devil will sell Him for the price of the Old Testament an ox, 30 shekels of silver. Judas has been a tragedy. The whole time he has been riding on the coattails of this rising star in Israel who he thinks is going to restore a political kingdom back to Israel and Judas is going to get the best seat in the whole house having it happen. Israel will be established again under this Messiah. It hasn't happened. He's done. He's snapped. It hasn't gone that way. What do you expect at this point? They all want to exalt themselves. All of this confusion, all of this self-promotion, all of this betrayal, denial, is set in contrast to something really glorious here, isn't it? And that's what makes verse 3 so amazing. We read that 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 up. Now what does that mean? Jesus knew everything. And what the text is saying to us is really simple. Jesus knowing His own greatness, knowing His own splendor, knowing His own glory, knowing the glory that He had with the Father before the world was, knowing that He would again be glorified with that glory that was coming, that it was all His, He gets up. Now that's really going to mean something to us when we understand what's happening here. The Lord is going to now put on display His love. And the disciples are going to see the unfolding of that glory and that love in a way that they have never seen it so far. In the corner there's the water. There's the bowl. There's the pitcher. There's the towel. And look at verse 4. So knowing all of this is going on, Jesus knowing, Jesus understanding, he rose from the supper, he laid aside his garments, he took a towel, and he girded himself. He would have been at the head, and so he, everyone seated, imagine what's going on at this moment, they're arguing. He rises up. And he walks right down to the end in front of them all and he grabs the towel. You think everything went silent? This is a really moving scene if we understand it. Trim down verse 4 for a minute. Just look at it carefully and trim it down. He rose, he laid aside, and he took to himself. Sound familiar? It's Philippians 2. I believe when Paul was thinking a lot about this account and the inspiration of the Spirit was writing, this is exactly what was on his mind in Philippians 2 when he there said, who, though being in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking the form of a slave, a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross. So you see what this is. This, at that moment, is a whole parable of His incarnation. He has just put it on display. He has just shown the giant, big picture. Right in front of them. He sits at the head and he visually transforms himself into a slave. Now I trust we don't need to be reminded who this is. This is the Lord of glory. This is the King of kings. This is God incarnate. And maybe this is just so familiar to us and we have so cheapened it by trying to make it just a kind of example of humility that we've lost the real import of it, the real effect of it, the real power of it. Jesus becomes a servant. You see this in verse 5, that after He poured water into the basin, He began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. And then it concludes, notice the conclusion there, with when he had washed their feet, he'd taken his garments, he sat down again, and he said to them, do you understand what I've done to you? Now that's the million dollar question of the text, isn't it? That's what everything's been moving us to see. They don't understand this. They don't get this. And this is where we turn to Peter to see the response and what's really going on here. Peter's repulsed by this. In verse 6, it's really interesting, the emphasis that's given here. Do you wash my feet? Now, I'm thinking what Peter would have gladly said right after this is, I will wash yours, Jesus, but you will not wash mine. Come on. This is not for the Messiah to be doing. This is not for the Great One of Israel to be doing. And Jesus recognizes they just don't understand this yet. Remember, they're still worried about greatness. I believe the crucial point here at this point for us as we're working through this is to realize that Jesus is doing this because they don't understand. What do I mean? Look at how he's dealing with them in their failure to understand. Think about it, verse 7. What I'm doing right now, you do not understand, but afterward, you will. And I think to myself, well, Jesus, why not just make it plain to them? Why not just tell them, you have the power to do this, you open understandings. Why not just make it really clear what you're doing? Why not open their understanding to see it? We know in the next chapter he says that the Holy Spirit will guide them in all truth and will bring to their remembrance all these sort of things of what they meant. And do you see this though? The point of the passage, the point here is to demonstrate what Jesus was like to them in their misunderstanding. What do I mean? Peter's not accepting this. He could not move beyond the social implication of this. Jesus, our Lord, is washing our feet. So he says in verse 8, he plainly denies it. He gets adamant about denying it. You will never wash my feet. Not happening. And that just exposed the problem. the real problem of their hearts. They don't understand the purpose for which Jesus has come. And they're being set apart to represent that. They're being set apart to go out and show that. What don't they understand? Isn't this today about us serving the Lord? Isn't that what this is about? On Peter's mind is, we've done so much to earn the top part of the table to get next to Jesus, right? We've got to do something for you, Jesus. Remember, they're all establishing themselves here. No doubt in my mind, Peter's thinking, I'll wash yours, Jesus. That's what you've called us to do. That's what your following means. that we get to come and we get to wash your feet. This is not about you getting down to wash our feet. And now maybe we're beginning to understand how close our thinking is to His. Is it really so far from us this morning? Think about it. Why did you come here? That's always the kind of thing you want to ask. Why are we doing this? Why did we come to worship? Why did you come here and be the way you are, dress the way you did, and gather together today? What is the purpose for which you came? You say, well, I came, pastor, to worship the Lord. Amen. You came to worship. I came to worship. And then I ask, well, what do you think is happening? Most likely you're going to say, you're going to answer that question based on what? Well, what you're offering to the Lord, right? If you're honest, you came here, I come here, this is the problem with the mindset of Peter. We're coming today to offer something up to God. What do we offer up to God? We do offer up to God, that is part of worship, there's no doubt. What do we offer up to God today? Well, if you looked at our worship and you looked at the way we do things, you'd say, well, there's three things we're offering to God, aren't we? We are singing. Singing goes up. We're presenting an offering to Him today. And what are we doing? We're praying to Him. We're praying. We're talking to God. Right? Now, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure because I know how it goes and I know how I am. That it's in us today that if we came and we were pretty faithful in presenting an offering to the Lord and we were really good at offering up beautiful prayers and that we were really moved by the music and we gave ourselves and we had a good experience with the music that we think we got really close to Jesus today in the table. I'm pretty sure about that. That's how we work. And we stand here with the question, standing back from this event, and we ask, who has the need? Are we so different from Peter? It's bad enough you're washing their feet, you know, but not mine. I'm not taking a handout here. This is how we are. We just can't receive something even when someone gives us a gift. What do you got to say? You got to say, well, here, let me give you something back in return. This is how we work. That's all in us. And here we are. Jesus is dealing with this. And Peter's saying, Jesus, get off your knees. You know, you don't have to stoop that low for me. I don't need that. Never. You're not touching my feet. Come on. And then Jesus says, if I don't wash you, Peter, you don't have a part with me. Now what Jesus was saying was, my washing identifies you with me. If you refuse this washing, you have no connection. You have no part. You have no access. You have no way of entering. And what a perspective this morning about need isn't. When we come to Him, who's stretching out hands and who's offering and who's receiving? Is this not the great confusion today in worship? How I understand and how I answer that question is going to define how I value what I'm doing here. Right? In other words, do you think we have today such lethargy across the board and we have all the worship problems and we have all of the struggles with worship and just trying to keep people because we have fundamentally still misunderstood Jesus? Still. that we have missed the mission of Jesus. And that's what's led to the mess we're in. The mission being the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. And you see the visual here of Him taking the form of a slave is demonstrating for them the whole purpose of his mission. Peter is still ignorant to what Jesus is saying and he blurts out, well, then just give it all to me. Give me a whole bath. I'll take it. Get it all. And upon this statement, Jesus says something that at first glance seems confusing in verse 10. He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. Judas was there. He wasn't clean. What was he saying? Peter says, just give me a whole bath. You know what Jesus said? You don't need it, Peter. I really love this statement. Verse 10 is really misunderstood. It's a beautiful statement. You're already clean. In chapter 15 he says, the word that I've spoken to you makes you already clean. And that's the beauty of what we're doing today. This is the beauty of what's happening. That Jesus, as He spoke the Word to them, cleansed them by that Word. They needed that. Most assuredly, I say to you, John 5, He who hears My Word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life. He's not saying He will have everlasting life. He's saying He has everlasting life. The evidence being that the Word has cleansed you because you believe it. And He will not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. That is so beautiful, isn't it? You know you're washed? You're fully cleansed? In anticipation of His work of dying for them, which we'll consider tonight. I'm demonstrating something, says Jesus, you need to understand about the mission you are partaking in. It's not over even though you're clean. It's not over. In other words, you're representing something. And at this point Jesus gets up and the whole conversation he's been down on his knees and at this point he gets up and he takes his garments and he sits down and he looks at them and here's the question now. Feel the question a little bit differently now. Think about it. He sits down. Do you understand what I've done to you? Peter still didn't. But I want you to think about, just for a second, him looking back. I want you to think about him looking back with understanding. He and the disciples are arguing about greatness, who gets the best seed, who gets the best seed in the kingdom. Peter says, you're not touching my feet. Look at this mess of a scene. And have they listened to anything? Have they thought about anything He's saying? Are they really listening to Him? Look at the mess that is here. And Jesus says, do you understand what I have just done to you? Feel it? I came to be a slave. And do you see how I've done it? Do you see how I've done it? I just showed you. How ignorant am I? How ignorant are we? And you know, the reality is I haven't loved him much. I haven't given myself much to him like I should. I keep bumbling around his scriptures. I don't listen the way that I should. And you know, all that I've ever known from him and what you have known from him, boys and girls, is a stooping kind of love that doesn't let go. It's really amazing. And in all of our foolishness, in all of our misunderstanding, in all of our self-exaltation, even when we refused grace at times, Jesus says, look at what I did. I stooped down from my throne and I came down here when you were like that and I washed you. Do you know what I've done to you? If you call me teacher and Lord, you call me teacher and Lord, you say well, for so I am. If I then your, notice the reversal, Lord and teacher. In other words, if you think of me that highly to call me Lord, if your Lord got on His knees for you, you need to do the same. Having washed your feet, you ought to wash another's feet. For I've given you an example that you should do the same. You're not greater than me who went really low. I love that verse because He's telling us that when we begin to understand the unfathomable depths of His love for us, when we begin to know it as we should and all of our failures that He has just kept coming and washing and pursuing, when we understand that His whole mission was to become a slave for us, our response of thanksgiving is what? It's this way. If you look next to you, it's that way. Jesus wants us to love our brethren. You know, He's leaving and He wants them to carry forward the same demonstration of sacrificial love that they had received. Why? Because there's a whole bunch of people out there right now who still don't understand. And am I so wrong in saying that if Peter didn't understand walking with Jesus, there are people here right now who still don't understand this. and he wants this very thing that he did for them in their ignorance to go out. As they preach the word, the Lord will cleanse. As they give themselves as slaves, the Lord will show his continued love for his people to the end. And that's the point. They didn't understand. They refused grace. They denied him. Think about how the frustrations we have when people refuse grace. They denied Him. In the heart of their confusion, Christ stooped. And look at how He treated them. And He continued in all of their failings to love them all the way to the cross. If this church this morning is representative of the church at large, which I believe it is, you know you have a whole bunch of people here really struggling right now. You ever thought about it? I assure you today there are some refusing the gospel of grace. They have walked away from Christ and His church. And my response naturally is to say after a little bit of time going after, I give up. It just doesn't change with those people. I assure you today that there are some who are rarely attending probably from this group. And our response is to turn the blind eye and not go after them. Maybe there's some of our loved ones who just keep doing the same old things and our patience is totally expired, you know? Maybe there's some who are so different from us in the life of this body that we just avoid them because we don't know how to engage them. Maybe there's some who have offended us so greatly that we just break down the right hand of fellowship and say, let them do their own thing. I'm done with them. And now you understand Jesus' question. Do you understand what I've done to you? In every one of your failures, in every one of your sins, I became a servant. And I washed you because I love you. If you understand what I've done, you are truly blessed of me when you go out and do the same thing. Go after them as I came after you. Peter, remember that? Shepherd my sheep. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. So we ought also to lay down our lives for our brethren. Amen? Let's pray. Oh Lord our God, we are so grateful for this kind of love. Having loved His own, He loved them to the end. That's so remarkable. That You pursued us and that You were persistent and that You did not let go. And we're so overwhelmed now in understanding that kind of love. We know that we have a golden opportunity to demonstrate that love. Your love to Your people as we go out and do the same. Thank You for Your kindness to us and thank You for assuring us and giving us this perspective. And may we always remember what You have done to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.