[0:00] If you can turn your Bibles please to John chapter 13. John chapter 13 and we will read from 1.
[0:30] This is God's Word. It was just before the Passover feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
[0:45] Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus.
[0:57] Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped the towel around his waist.
[1:14] After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them off the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet?
[1:30] Jesus replied, you do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part with me.
[1:44] Then Lord Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well. Jesus answered, a person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet.
[1:56] His whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not everyone will. For he knew he was going to betray him. And that was why he said not everyone is clean. When he had finished washing his feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
[2:12] Do you understand what I have done for you, Master? You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another's feet.
[2:29] I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master. Nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
[2:41] Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. Amen. And may God bless that name of his word to us.
[2:52] We'll sing again to God's praise. And we'll sing from Psalm 51. Psalm 51. And verses 1 to 3 is the mark in the Psalter.
[3:07] The first two standards. And we're saying, God, after thy loving kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me. For thy compassion is great. Lord, thy God, my iniquity. Me cleanse from sin and thoroughly wash from my iniquity.
[3:22] From my transgressions, I confess my sin. I have mercy. These two standards in God. To God's praise. Lord, we may seek it to sing in God. Lord, 35 to 6-12.
[3:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[4:38] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[6:08] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji
[7:10] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji May we indeed Heavenly Father ask that question have we been to Jesus for the Lord and we thank you and we thank you for the Lord come before you this morning and cry out to you create within me a queen oh heavenly father we need indeed know Christ present in our heart oh heavenly father as we come and as we bow before you this morning we thank you for the privilege that we have in coming freely before you and as we come freely heavenly father may we freely accept the promise that has been given to us that can we ask you into our heart that you will never leave us that you will never proceed and as each one of us bows before you heavenly father in the quietness of our hearts and as our prayers go up to you we pray heavenly father if there be any here this morning that do not know you as lord in a state that they would indeed be still before you that they would listen out for you knocking on their hearts door this morning desiring that you would come in and stop with you and that heavenly father that they would indeed open their hearts to you this morning and in doing so heavenly father that they would know what it is to taste and to see that god is good knowing that those that trust in him are in the hearts and heavenly father that they would indeed be rejoicing in heaven over sinners of repentance be with us as we great day in your life may your hand be upon me may he know your blessing heavenly father as you use him according to your purpose for the saving of souls we pray again for those that are unable to be with us this morning those that are able to go through sickness who would indeed be desirous to be with us here this morning because my father as they remember us we remember them those that my father sit at the bedside of love for us because my father as they wait to pass it for again that they would know that it is you that is with them that you are a god of refuge and a god of strength that you are a very present aid in time of trouble and heavenly father we pray that they would have that presence and that upholding at this time oh heavenly father we pray that as our young ones have been out to Sunday school this morning as we remember each one of them before we pray heavenly father for the Sunday school teachers that as they sow seeds for you into these young lives and heavenly father that these young children wouldn't even know what it is to have Christ in their lives that they would know heavenly father what it is to pay to you and to receive that resurrection promise and heavenly father that if they call you into their hearts and their young lives that they would indeed know what it is to say that they have no pleasure in the days of people but their desire is to be with you and we pray heavenly father that each one of us would remember these young ones those that came to the holiday club before they came to you the numbers heavenly father that we saw there
[11:12] and the seeds that were sown in these young ones and we pray heavenly father for the families that were represented that as they asked their children heavenly father what it was they were doing here in the hall that they would indeed heavenly father these young ones be able to tell that they came to learn the grace of Jesus and there it is a good kingdom oh heavenly father we pray for the work of the congregation that you would uphold us heavenly father that you would get as we reshape and we mold the building along the road heavenly father to use for your hearts there would indeed be a place heavenly father that each and every one would come to receive that cleansing that can only be found in you oh heavenly father guide us in the work that is before us we commit it all to you knowing that you have blessed us this far and you will continue to be with us and watch us bless us in the reading and the breaking down of your heart and may we know your blessing upon us in Jesus precious name
[12:26] Amen if you would turn please to John chapter 13 once more Amen and then verse 1 of the chapter it was just before the Passover feast Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father having loved his own who were in the world he now showed them the full extent of his love the evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Jesus Iscariot the son of Simon to betray Jesus Jesus knew that the father had put things all things under his heart and that he had come from God and was returned to God and in these verses we have the scene set for all that is still to come and in the following verses that will come to the course of our time we see this amazing turn of events we see something that the disciples witnessed and were a part of that they could never expect it and were clearly shocked by him and at first didn't understand but afterwards he understood and just as we look at this scene as we focus on this scene before us so you've got it open in front of you and you'll find that helpful this morning if you've got Bibles as we focus on this scene the first thing I'd notice and I'd like us to notice about all that we're reading now is that everything that Jesus did here and indeed everything everything that he did was motivated by love sometimes you know you look at someone especially when they're pushing themselves to exchange and you wonder what is it that drives them what is it that motivates them what is it that causes them to act in the way they're acting you know when you see these athletes on television that we saw over the last few weeks you see them pushing their bodies to the absolute maximum you see the pain on their faces you hear from them sometimes in interviews of all that's gone into to the preparation for this event that we're watching and if you're anything like me you'll watch them and you'll sort of think what motivates someone to go to that extreme what is it that's driving them is it money is it the fame you know the infamy of standing in front of the camera and having so many million people looking at you is it just that raw desire to win when I watched Toussaint Gaule the documentary
[15:53] I think he was saying what drove him was this fear of failure this absolute hatred of losing so he says drove him in large measure but what was it that was driving Jesus in these verses what was undergoing what was motivating this scene and all this ministry well the answer is love and not the kind of love that we have become accustomed to in our culture that's very emotional and slushy and transient not that kind of love but a deep eternal far reaching costly love we could have sung this morning oh the deep deep love of Jesus vast unmeasured boundless free that was the love that filled Christ this was the love that he's shown him day by day in all that he did in all that he said in the way that he acted towards him in the way that he reacted to all those around him it's all driven by love the very fact that he was on this world was driven by love love divine love all loves itself joy of heaven to earth come down love divine so all that Jesus did it was motivated it was driven by love but now in verse 1 we're told he begins to show them the full extent of his love so that's what I want us to consider today
[17:43] Jesus love for them and Jesus love for us because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever his love doesn't change and we look at it through the lens of this particular scene first point is evidence we see the evidence of love it's an easy thing to say I love you it's it's regarded as I was doing a bit of reading in advance of the service I love you is regarded as one of the most abused phrases in the English language it's spoken so often and often it's it's misspoken now it's a good thing to tell the people that you love that you love them but if these words are not accompanied by by action and evidence they're hollow and meaningless if there's love in a heart there will be evidence of that love in a life now Jesus loved his disciples even though time and time again they were unlovely and if we look back we see that and if we look forward we see that if we were to do a quick tour through even John's gospel we would see time and time again the disciples were not worthy of the love of Christ they had such continual failures in their lives they had such bad attitudes that kept on coming up such pride such unbelief such bitterness at times such lack of faith and that's just a snapshot in time of one or two of the circumstances in their lives
[19:48] Jesus saw much more than was recorded so as we look back with them at the track record of the disciples as much that was unlovely and yet you loved them and Jesus didn't just see what they did and hear what they said but think about this Jesus could see their minds all the thoughts that they managed to stop before they came out in words Jesus knew them and yet still he loved them I think if any of us had all our thoughts exposed it would be outreach we would provoke love provoke chaos and yet Jesus knew what was in their hearts he would have been hurt by their thoughts and their words and their deeds but still he loved them and then looking forward
[20:51] Jesus knew what was still to happen Jesus knew that Peter would deny him and if you step forward just a few verses verses 31 to 38 Jesus tells Peter you're going to deny him Jesus knew the rest of them would scatter and none of them would be by sight he knew that all their words and all their commitments to him would fall as he went to Calvary he'd be abandoned they would scatter he knew it and yet still he loved them and he stuck with them and so there's three years of evidence that demonstrates the power of Christ's love and yet in this particular scene that we have in John 13 we see a powerful expression of the the beginning of the fullness of Christ's love for you think about the place that Jesus was in at this point in time we're talking days before the cross now when you and I have something on our minds if we have something on the horizon that's troubling us whether it's an exam or whether it's a job interview whether it's test results that are due to come back if we have something that is troubling us if you're anything like me you withdraw and you sort of go into survival mode and you're kind of trying to hold things together yourself but you become somewhat unaware of the people around you to the same degree that you would normally be and we know that we see that in people if we know they're going through a hard time and they've walked past us without acknowledging us if they've said something that seems to be a bit insensitive to us but we know that they have got big issues in their lives and big things ahead of them we'll say well just give them a break you know it's understandable when you think about all that he's going through think about
[23:08] Christ here he's truly man he's truly human we forget that sometimes so all our thoughts all our stresses all our struggles he entered in and he's truly God so he knows what's ahead and he knows the full horror of what he had to suffer on the cross that's what's in his timetable for the week ahead that's what's on his mind we would think it's normal if he was distracted or troubled or withdrawn thinking about all that he has to do but Christ's focus in these moments is not on himself even in the intensity of this scene he focuses on the ones he loved he focuses on the ones who needed him and the ones who were going to need him he acts out what he said in Matthew 20 and 28 the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and the service that Jesus undertook in these verses was the lowest of the low you could imagine a Jewish slave would never be expected to do what Christ did it's below a Jew maybe another slave could be asked to do this job but not a
[24:46] Jewish slave to the man and yet here is Christ the king of the Jews the king of kings the son of God doing for the disciples what they were unwilling to do for each other and what it seems they were unwilling in the scene to do for him verse 4 he got up from the mail took off his outfit clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist after that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet drying on with the towel that was wrapped around him think about that scene can you imagine the heaviness of the silence can you imagine the awkwardness of what was going on there you know we can enter into it in a miniscule little way sometimes you know
[25:51] I can remember the wee boy sometimes being over the necks seeing the peat buckets in and knowing you know I've got enough strength in these tiny little arms to go and fill the peat bucket and I would watch it and I would watch it and the fire's going down and fire's going down and you'd leave it and you'd leave it and then horror of horrors up again you're a triple grant to go and pick up the bucket and head out and just the awkwardness of it all she shouldn't be doing that think about the awkwardness of this scene if we flip back to John chapter 12 we see me with the perfume and the nard breaking it over Christ such a costly expression of worship and yet you look at it and say that's fitting that's how it should be but here we have Jesus with a towel around his waist the basin in his hand washing his stinking feet and you can just imagine the silence the awkwardness of this scene everything was quiet as far as you know until he got to Peter verse 6 he came to
[27:10] Simon Peter who said to him Lord are you going to wash my feet and Jesus supplied you do not realise what I'm doing but later you will understand no said Peter you shall never watch my feet Peter didn't understand what Jesus was doing and Peter didn't understand what Peter was saying so there needed to be an explanation that's the second point first of all we see the evidence of Christ's love secondly we hear the explanation of what was going on in this scene the fruit washing was in one sense an acted out parable a parable is a picture that has a message within it and the fruit washing in one sense it was an acted out parable it was a picture that was acted out that was pointing to another picture the picture of John 13 of the perfect sinless son of
[28:21] God on his knees washing the feet of the disciples the dirty stinking feet of the disciples they said already it seems so wrong this picture but this was a picture that was pointing forward to another picture that would seem even more wrong because this picture was pointing forward to the scene that's even more outrageous even more glotesque even more awful than the picture of Jesus washing sinners feet we've been pointing forward here to the picture of the cross where the sinless son of God cleansed filthy sinners and not with water but with his blood Jesus is explaining he is directing Peter towards the cross he says to Peter as Peter objects to the washing
[29:25] Peter says as Jesus says to Peter in verse 8 unless I wash you you have no part with me a couple of commentators say that smashy him says Christ washed his disciples feet that he might signify to them cleansing of the soul from the pollutions of sin J.C.
[29:49] Ryle says no man or woman can be saved unless the sins are washed away in Christ's precious blood nothing else can make us clean and acceptable before God there needs to be the cleansing and as Jesus explains that in somewhat cryptic terms at this stage Peter begins to get the message that he in his filth that he in his poverty that he in his need needs Christ Peter was getting the message do we get the message that's the application here do we get the message do you and I understand that the only way that we can become clean is through the washing of Christ the only way a sinner can be saved the only way we can have part with Jesus as Jesus put it the only way that we can have fellowship with God is to be cleansed by
[30:59] Christ we need to follow Jesus to the cross that we are being led to we must allow Christ to wash us in his blood John Scott says this like Peter as long as we imagine we can get by without Christ's cleansing we cannot be saved pride must perish we are helpless sinners for whom no amount of good works religious exercises or Christian ministries can atone only the blood of Christ can save us so we come to Christ to allow him to wash us that's that's the explanation that's where Peter was being pointed to the absolute need that we all have that we all have to be cleansed by Christ you and I can sit in these chairs every week we can sit in pews and cathedrals across the land we can volunteer for every religious good work that is available to us we can learn the catechism inside out and recite the confession we can go through all the religious duties of life we can stand in purpose and undergo
[32:36] Christian ministry but unless we are cleansed we have no part of Christ it's pride it says maybe I can save myself leaving my church attendance leaving my good works will be enough that's pride pride must die we must recognise that we are wretchers we need the cleansing of Christ so there's the evidence of Jesus love in the washing and all that was pointing forward to the explanation points us forward to that cross and the third point here is the enthiquing when Peter realised when Peter came to understand his need to be washed he in verse 9 entreats Jesus to wash him let's pick up the conversation again at verse 8 Peter's objecting to Jesus and the awkwardness of the scene
[33:39] Peter said you'll never wash my feet you shall never wash my feet Jesus answered unless I wash you you have no part with me then Lord Simon Peter replied not just my feet but my hands and my head as well Peter saying wash me Jesus I don't want to be apart from you I don't want to be separated by my sin I want to be close with you I want everything that comes between us to be washed away so wash me that's his entreat wash me I notice the absolute urgency of Peter's response Peter doesn't sit down and say ah I think I'm starting to understand that I think I'll ponder this for a wee while longer before
[34:40] I think about a response Peter doesn't say well I think I'm beginning to see now maybe I should go study this point for a while longer Peter sees and he understands and immediately he says wash me is that your response today wash me Jesus you know we can be given eyes to see our sin and our saviour we can be given an understanding of the cross and all that Jesus was doing on that cross we can understand that it's possible to be washed by Christ and to be saved eternally but until we come and entreat Jesus to wash us we're lost there's no hesitation on the part of
[35:42] Peter he just comes just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee O Lamb of God I come we sang it to me to I to rid my soul of one dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot O Lamb of God I come that's how we come to God today that's how we make an approach to the Lord's healing by acknowledging the dark blot of our sin and depending on the cleansing of life and the sure promises of
[36:44] Christ just as I am thy will receive will welcome pardon cleanse believe because thy promise I believe O Lamb of God I come nothing of pride in that pen that is a deep realisation of our need and our sin and a joyful grasping of the promises of Christ if you're going to come to the Lord's table next weekend if we're spared and well that's how you and I come examining ourselves seeing our sin and coming in faith to the one who promises cleansing to those who say washing things so the entreaty is to be cleansed as
[37:52] Peter was and note also as Judas was not let's not overlook this uncertain figure of Judas Iscariot as we look through these verses Judas is in this section we see his silhouette and all that's going on and he had all the marks of a believer on the outward sense and yet he wasn't clean it's one of the twelve he wasn't clean he wore the same clothes he wasn't clean he spoke the same language with the same accent he wasn't clean he sat at the same table he wasn't clean he was involved in all the same works of ministry and yet he wasn't clean everyone assumed he was clean everyone assumed he was a believer everyone that is except
[38:58] Jesus who knew his heart verse 11 says for he Jesus knew who was going to betray him and that was why he said not everyone was clean so you see that he says be careful the reason to these verses be careful not all are clean baptism and churchmanship are no proof that we are right in the sight of God and if that settles you today if that disturbs you and I as we think about a quote like that what should we do to we don't walk out the door lamenting and panicking we in our seats even now come to Christ and say cleanse me I'm not sure that I'm clean make me clean come to him for that heart cleansing that Judas was listening so there's the evidence of love and then secondly there is the explanation of all that Jesus was doing and then thirdly there's the entreaty to be cleansed to be saved fourthly enjoy that is the enjoyment that is offered the enjoyment that should be our experience
[40:30] Christian is someone who has joy if you're a Christian you know the joy of the Lord for Christians we may not always have a smile on our face but we have a deep heart joy because we know and we are assured that we have been saved from sin and Satan and death and hell we've been saved into this life giving relationship with Christ we are children of God we are blessed what joy we experience when we first especially realised that we are saved but as we journey through this life in a fallen broken sinful world we can become weary at times and there can be seasons in our Christian life where our joy fades we end up saying with a hymn writer where's the blessedness I knew when first I knew the Lord so the question in this short point is how do we keep our joy?
[41:34] question to believers how do we keep our joy? and the answer is we have to keep our feet clean that's what Jesus was teaching Peter Peter was saved, he's given that assurance he is assured that he is clean in verse 10, Jesus says to Peter a person who has had a bath he only washes his feet his whole body is clean and you are clean and if you're a believer today if you've asked for that cleansing then take time to think about it so that the joy of the Lord will be within us we are clean all our sin, all our unrighteousness all the scarlet stains in our hearts if we have come to Christ for cleansing they're gone we are clean the devil he cannot exterminate us he can fly at us but he's curtailed death the sting is removed because death is something that we are brought through by the Lord our shepherd into life that's everlasting hell it's not a place that we'll be going because of the cleansing blood of Christ and Jesus is assuring Peter here that he is clean if we are in Christ we are clean our hearts are clean but here's our problem our feet are still in this world and our feet are a metaphor for what Calvin calls all the passions and cares by which we are brought into contact with the world so you picture it day by day as Christians we are travelling, pilgriming through this world and there are things in this world that stick stick to our feet things that we see we wish we hadn't seen them but we did and they stick things that we hear sometimes we choose to hear sometimes we just overhear and once we've gone through they stick things that we touch we're brought into contact with and they stick and they're in danger of taking us into sin and spoiling our fellowship with Christ so as we journey through our life as Christians we're far from perfect we're constantly battling with sin
[44:19] Romans 7 and often we're failing so day by day we need cleansing and the disciples understood that they understood that before you sit down and enjoy fellowship in the home you get your feet washed and we can enter into this in some degree you don't walk through a bar on a journey to your friend's house and then walk through their front door and sit in their main room with your wellies on caked in mud you take them off and in this day the disciples who've walked along with the sandals and their feet and their feet in large measure exposed they don't come into a house and sit down with feet that are manky dirty for the evening to enjoy a time of fellowship you need to have your feet washed and Jesus was teaching Peter and he's teaching us still that if we are to enjoy fellowship and unity intimacy with him we must allow him daily to wash our feet of all that sticks the cleansings of the muck and the mire of sin see when we neglect to come to Christ to that daily cleansing we lose joy we lose intimacy we lose that sense of Christ's presence because God is holy and he will not sit as we take sin before him we have to ask him cleanse us take it away wash us and as he knew that he gives us he restores to us as it said in Psalm 51 the joy of our salvation so if we're to know the joy of our salvation we don't come just once in our life to a cleansing but day by day by day by day as we see our sin we come for a cleansing so we won't be distant from Jesus but we'll be close to him and the final point just a word is the example that Jesus sets there's a bigger picture here which we have focused on in this chapter we've looked beyond the actual scene in front of us more towards what's getting pointed to in the drops but we must not overlook the fact that there is an immediate picture here and it's that picture of Jesus washing dirty feet we see the humility of Christ as the servant king on his knees washing the feet of the disciples we see such loving humble service and yes he did it to teach them of all that was to come in due course all that they would understand later but he also taught them this by way of example so that they would know how to live now today as we finish we're thankful as God has prayed for the building that God has given us we're starting to get cuts in the hand as we do the work to try and prepare that building to use it as a place for God's glory when we get it when we move in what should we do with it well we should gather to worship
[48:03] God in it as we do here and open the Bible and sing praise and come together to pray we should use it as a place of worship where we come together to worship secondly we should use it as a place to go out from who've been commissioned not to stay indoors but to go out with the gospel message into a community that needs to hear about Jesus we should also use it as a foot washing station a place from which we can serve the needs of those who are alive that's what we've been taught here will that be a messy operation in all likelihood of will because washing feet isn't a particularly nice job but that's what we're called to if we call ourselves
[49:06] Christ that's what we're called to if we have part with Jesus that's the example that has been set not that we will sit there and expect people to serve us but that we will encourage people to come so that we can serve them that's how we deliver Christians that's how we have joy remember the old Sunday school thing joy how you have joy Jesus first others next yourself last I set you an example says Jesus that you should do as I have gone through I tell you the truth no servant is greater than his master nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent now that we know these things you will be blessed if you do
[50:15] Lord God we pray that you would help us as we come to the end of this passage we pray that you would help us as we go from this place to go out with the joy of the Lord in our hearts knowing that we have come to Christ for cleansing that we are clean that we are safe that we are secure and Lord we pray that we would go out in this place not with a feeling of rights that people owe us this and people owe us that but we pray that we would go out with our mind of Christ to look for feet to wash enable us to raise a congregation of your people to be those who will come together and worship and go out of the gospel and look and incumulate to those whom we can reach out to those who are in need in order that we will follow the example of Christ in washing the feet of those you loved hear our prayers and help us to live not just as hearers of the word but as doers we ask you in Jesus name
[51:33] Amen Psalm 51 to finish sorry I lost track of time I'll take my watch back on to early Psalm 51 and we'll sing from verses 7 to 13 do thou with hyssop sprinkle I shall be cleansed so you wash and then I shall be whiter than the snow down to verse 13 to God's praise word yes to To thou with this obstinate me, I shall be cleansed so.
[52:20] Yea, voice of me, and then I shall be whiter than the storm.
[52:36] Of gladness and of joyfulness, make me to hear the voice.
[52:52] Last all these very hopes which thou hast broken may rejoice.
[53:08] All my equities, God, and thy grace I throw my sin.
[53:25] He is a thing of glory, you are right, send me with him.
[53:42] Cast me not from thy side, nor take thy holy spirit away.
[53:57] Restore me thy salvation's joy, with thy peace let me share.
[54:14] Then when I teach thy ways unto those that unscrested be.
[54:30] And those that are silver, far shall then be turned unto thee.
[54:49] And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, be with us all, both now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.