Episode Transcript
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Remain standing if you're able, and
let's turn our attention to John Chapter Thirteen.
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was returned to John Chapter Thirteen,
you'll notice that we're still roughly in
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the middle of the Gospel, but
don't let this confuse you. Regarding timeline
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in terms of the account of Jesus's
life, we are very close to the
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end. In fact, here,
as we begin this this is the last
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day of Jesus's life and his ministry
here on Earth before his death. So
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let's give our attention to it now. John Chapter Thirteen. Now before the
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feast of Passover, when Jesus knew
that his hour had come to depart out
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of this world to the father.
Having loved his own who were in the
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world, he loved them to the
end. During supper, when the devil
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had already put it into the heart
of Judas a scariot, Simons son,
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to betray him, Jesus, knowing
that the father had given all things into
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his hands and that he had come
from God and was going back to God,
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rose from the supper. He laid
aside his outer garments and, taking
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a towel towel, he tied it
around his waist. Then he poured water
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into a basin and began to wash
the disciple's feet and to wipe them with
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the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who
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said to him, Lord, do
you wash my feet? Jesus answered him.
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What I am doing. You do
not understand now, but afterward you
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will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.
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Jesus answered him. If I do
not wash you, you have no share
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with me. Simon Peter said to
him, Lord, not my feet only,
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but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, the
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one who has bathed does not need
to wash, except for his feet,
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but is completely clean. And you
are clean, but not every one of
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you, for he knew who was
to betray him. That was why he
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said not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and
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put on his outer garments and resumed
his place, he said to them,
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do you understand what I have done
to you? You call me teacher and
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Lord, and you are right,
for so I am. If I,
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then your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet. You all so ought
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to wash one another's feet, for
I have given you an example that you
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should do just as I have done
to you. Truly truly, I say
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to you, a servant is not
greater than his master, nor is a
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messenger greater than the one who sent
him. If you know these things,
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blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking to all of
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you. I know whom I have
chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled.
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He who ate my bread has lifted
his heel against me. I am
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telling you this now, before it
takes place, that when it does,
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plague take take place, you may
believe that I am he. Truly truly,
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I say to you, whoever receives
the one I send receives me.
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Whoever receives me receives the one who
sent me. After saying these things,
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Jesus was troubled in his spirit and
testified truly truly, I say to you,
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one of you will betray me.
The disciples looked at one another,
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uncertain of whom he spoke. One
of his disciples, whom Jesus loved,
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was reclining at table at Jesus's side. So Simon Peter Motion to him to
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ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against
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Jesus, said to him. Lord, who is it? Jesus answered,
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it is he to whom I will
give this morsel of bread when I have
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dipped it. So, when he
had dipped the morsel, he gave it
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to Judas, the son of Simon. Is Scary it. Then, after
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he had taken the Morsel, Saint
Satan entered into him. Jesus said to
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him, what you are going to
do, do quickly now. No one
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at the table knew why he said
this to him. Some thought that because
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Judas had the money bag, Jesus
was telling him by what we need for
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the feast, or that he should
give something to the poor. So,
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after receiving the Morsel of bread,
he immediately went out, and it was
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night when he had gone out.
Jesus said, now is the son of
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Man Glorified, and God is glorified
in Him. If God is glorified in
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Him, God will also glorify him
in himself and glorify him at once.
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Little children, yet a little while
I am with you, you will seek
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me and just as I said to
the Jews, so now I also say
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to you where I am going,
you cannot come. A new commandment I
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give to you that you love one
another. Just as I have loved you,
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you also are to love one another. By this, all people will
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know that you are my disciples if
you have love for one another. Simon,
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Peter said to him, Lord,
where are you going? Jesus answered
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him. where I am going.
You cannot follow me now, but you
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will follow afterward. Peter said to
him, Lord, why can I not
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follow you now? I will lay
down my life for you, Jesus answered.
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Will you lay down your life for
me? Truly, truly, I
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say to you, the rooster will
not crow till you have denied me three
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times. He may be seated.
So, as I mentioned before, I
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read this chapter, in less than
twenty four hours, Jesus will be dead
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and to help us understand why,
he puts a towel around his waist and
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washes the feet of his disciples.
And he does this unusual thing, the
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striking thing that is upsetting to Simon, to make an impression on them,
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to make an impression on you and
me, to help us to understand exactly
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what it is he's about to do
in his death, what that means for
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us. It's Friday evening and by
Saturday afternoon Jesus will be crucified and dead
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on the Cross. Right now he's
eating with his disciples, where he will
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teach them many important things. He
will deliver to them the Lord's supper and
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give them a new sacrament. After
dinner, he will travel with them on
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to the garden of Theusemite, where
he will betray or he will pray and
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be betrayed by Judas. He will
be arrested and questioned on this same night
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in which we've read these words by
a high priest. That night he will
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be beaten and abandoned even by those
like Peter, who have made the strongest
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promises to follow him. Remember what
Peter said. He says that he will
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go to him, even unto death. and Jesus says, will you lay
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down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you,
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the rooster will not crow till you
have denied me three times. The night
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has begun, a night of great
darkness. And then, early next morning,
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Jesus will be taken early to governor
pilots home, who will also question
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him, flog him and then eventually
have him crucified. Why does all of
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this happen? Why does this righteous
man, this holy man, this great
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teacher, this one who is calling
people to love and to service and care
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for the poor, why does he
get crucified as a criminal? How does
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it come to pass that, after
teaching so much love, he receives so
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much hate? How does it come
to be that the one who has power
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over life has caused paralyzed people to
walk again, dead people to live again,
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that he himself would be put to
death and even would be would allow
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himself to be put to death as
the one who has power over life?
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The answer to these questions are explained
in this in this chapter and in the
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chapters to come. They're explained in
this thing that Jesus does, as he
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is with his disciples. Why does
this happen? Well, the first thing,
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or one of the things, that
Jesus says, is that this does
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not happen by accident. It happens
because God is sovereign over all of these
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events. How does Jesus make that
point and why is it important? Well,
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he makes that point by proclaiming that
it is his hour, right at
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the right time, Paul says in
Romans. We read it earlier, at
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the right time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Well, who knows?
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What the right time is. God
knows, the one who is sovereign over
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time, who institutes and declares each
and every moment. Jesus knows that his
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hour had come. This is verse
one to depart out of this world to
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the father. He had done his
mission, he had completed that which God
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had sent him. A God,
the father had sent him into the world
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to do all that the father had
given him. He had brought to a
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finish and now was going to be
completed on the cross. We also know
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that Jesus knows this because he says
things like this. I'm telling you this
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now and I'm showing you this.
You Now, knowing that you don't understand.
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Why, like why would a teacher
say something that he knows the students
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can't understand? Well, he tells
us the reason, because afterward you will
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understand, so that you will believe
that I am. He, in other
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words, is even in the details
of what Jesus even as he's talking,
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he's demonstrating yet more of his awesome
power as our God. He knows the
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beginning from the end. He says
what will happen, he knows who is
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going to betray him, he knows
how he will be crucified. He knows
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what is happening and he's telling them
these things so that when they do happen,
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they will say he was God.
Hopefully, the application here is obvious
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to us. We should say and
declare and confess that he is God,
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God of God, light of light, very, God of Very, God
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begotten, not made being of one
substance with the father. We worship him,
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we glorify him, we celebrate him, we've rest in him because he
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is God. Why is this important? To know that all of this,
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all of these events that are happening
and are about to happen, have been
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planned from the very beginning and are
sovereignly controlled by our triune God. Well,
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one reason it's important to know is
that it reminds us that the all
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these things are going to happen to
Jesus. According to his humanity, he's
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helpless in a lot of ways.
As God, who has received all things
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from the father, these events are
also directed by him. It is the
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will of Judas to betray the Lord. That's what Judas wants to do.
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That's what Judas will do. It
is the will of the devil to use
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Judas to further his plans. That
is what the devil wants to do.
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That is what the devil will do, but it does also the will of
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God to use both the devil and
a traitor to save the world. And
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that is what God will do.
It is what God wants to do.
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He is sovereign over all, even
over those, even the devil himself,
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who would seek to conspire against him, who would seek, as psalm too
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says, to break apart the bonds
between the Lord and his anointed one.
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It's just not going to happen.
In fact, he will use their own
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plans, their own devices, their
own evil ways to bring about his glorious
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salvation, to demonstrate his love and
goodness. This also teaches us that God,
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who gave himself up, gave himself
up, willingly. Think about this
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in relation to love, which is
what Jesus is calling us to commanding us
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to hear. How do you feel
when you are forced to give someone a
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present right? Does that feel very
loving? Do you feel love when you
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are forced to give someone something that
you don't want to give to them?
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Kids, perhaps a parent has forced
you to share a toy? When you
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do that, do you feel all
kinds of love? For your brother and
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sister? My guess is not.
If you're anything like me, you feel
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like I'm being forced to share my
toy. Right. That's not what God
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is. That's not what has happening
to God. God is not being forced
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to love us. He is choosing
to love us. He is freely giving
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himself out of a loving heart.
Jesus's love is powerful, in control,
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and it's demonstrated in this example that
he gives us in washing the disciple's feet.
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The ancient world, slaves were the
ones who washed the feet of their
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masters. Dirty feet, stinky feet, feet with poop on them, because
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they walked in the streets where animals
went, people through their garbage, and
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so it was not the important person's
job to wash the feet. You'd leave
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that for the low people, the
slave people, and so when guests and
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people came into the PM, that
would be the slaves job to get down
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on their hands and knees, unstrapped
the sandals and wash the feet. And
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yet here is Jesus doing it.
Here is Jesus doing the dirty, stinky,
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self sacrificial, dishonorable work of a
slave. And Peter says this is
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not right. You should can't wash
my feet. and Jesus even says,
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you're right, I am the master, I am the Lord. Jesus doesn't
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deny the fact that he is sovereign
over them, that he is powerful,
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that he is their authority. He
doesn't say no, no, no,
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you've got it all wrong. He
says, no, that's right, but
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you're wrong, that it's not my
job. Is the one who has been
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sent by the father to serve you. And this is amazing. This he
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is, because he's of course not
just their teacher whom they respect an honor.
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He is there and our God,
and yet he descends down to put
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on a towel, to go on
his knees, all the way down to
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their feet, we who worship at
his feet, to serve them. One
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ancient commentator puts it this way.
He who wraps the heavens in clouds wrapped
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round himself a towel, he who
pours the water into the rivers and pools
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tipped water into a basin, and
he before whom every knee bends in heaven
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and on earth and under the earth, went to wash the feet of his
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disciples. Why does Jesus do this? Why does God do this? Well,
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he's very clear about that answer.
He loves them. He really really
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loves them. As I mentioned before, we sometimes give to people for nonlove
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reasons, unloving reasons or just reasons
that don't have anything to do with love.
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We give to people, for example, because we alle them something.
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Right, they gave us gasps,
we give them money. They give us
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food, we give them money.
It's just an exchange, a fair exchange.
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We owe it to them. Sometimes
we're forced, sometimes we do.
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We give things to other people because
we want them to be impressed. Wow,
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amazing person, or we want other
people to be impressed. Look at
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this gift I just gave. Isn't
that amazing? But Jesus gives to them
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not because he wants to get something
out of us, not because he owes
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us anything, just the opposite.
We owe him something. He doesn't have
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anyone to impress. He's the Lord
of Heaven and earth. He does it
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because of love. He gives true
love, the kind of love that is
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given freely when we simply want to
bless someone else. Jesus is on the
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ground, clothed not only in a
towel but also in human flesh, at
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the feet of a bunch of men
who are about to abandon him, and
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he knows it. Would you do
that? Would you go get it?
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Would you go serve a bunch of
people that you knew were about to betray
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you? That's what Jesus did before
the Rooster Crows. You'll deny me three
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times. Now let me wash your
feet. You might say that they're very
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unworthy of this, that we are
all very unworthy of this kind of loving.
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You would be exactly right. Remember
what John the Baptist said at the
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very beginning of the Gospel. He
says, I'm not even worthy to untie
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the Sandal of the Slam of God, possibly a reference to footwashing. John
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Maybe saying that he's so unworthy of
Jesus that he's not even worthy to enter
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into a slave position in relation to
Jesus, not even in we're not even
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worthy to unstrap his sandals or wash
his feet. And yet Jesus does this
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for his disciples. Why? Because
he loved them. And here's the connection.
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It's for this same reason that he
goes to the cross. Why did
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Jesus not only wash their feet but
actually die for these men and for all
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who belong to him? Because God
came in this world to wash away our
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sins, to clean us, to
clean unworthy people. Praise God. Now
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Note Peter's reaction. Before we finish
Peter's reaction, Peter says, no way,
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you are not washing my feet.
You are too great to serve me.
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I should be serving you now.
Every time I hear this, part
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of me goes that makes sense,
and it does make sense right, and
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Jesus even says that makes sense.
Right. I am your teacher, I
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am your Lord, I am your
master. Peter Definitely has something right about
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it. And yet why does the
Lord Rebuke Him in this way? Why
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does the Lord say, unless I
wash your feet, you can have no
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part of me. Well, of
course it's true that Peter should serve God,
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and we all must, but unless
God serves us, what happens?
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We stay dirty. Why? Because
these dirty feet are ultimately pointing to our
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dirty souls. Some of you came
into Church today with very clean feet but
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with very dirty hearts, sins clinging
here and there, stains and soiled spots
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from a lifetime, a lifetime of
wicked things, and you know it,
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things and hearts that have been polluted
for decades and you carry around these things,
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these marks of sin, a sinful
hearts, day after day after day,
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and you will continue to do so
unless your hearts are cleaned. Now
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you might say, well, I'm
trying, I'm trying to do well,
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but let me just ask you a
kind of common sense question. How's it
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going? How are you doing?
The last selfhelp book that you read finally
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fix your dirty heart? Did you
finally level up enough that you are now
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free of your sins? Of course
not sure. You might have shaved off
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some rough edges or found a better
way to help and serve or be kind
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or something like that, but our
sins stay there until they're forgiven, and
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then would they just keep piling up
more and more and more. And that's
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for two reasons. One, you
can't clean a filthy counter with a dirty
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rag. Right. You can't clean
a filthy heart with the filthy heart.
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We need something clean to clean,
something holy to clean us, someone who
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is good to expunge our sins,
to wipe them away. And the second
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problem is that our sins are not
just bad things in us, although they
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are that, but they are sins
against God. He is the one who
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has commanded us to love. He
is the one who has commanded us to
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do righteous things, to live good, moral, holy lives. So when
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we don't do that, our sins
are against him. He needs to be
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the one who forgives us, and
of course only he can. So no
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matter how good you are, you
can never wipe away these bad things.
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And so do you understand Peter's problem
and why Jesus says what he says?
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Because he's pointing to the Cross.
He's pointing to not just his feet,
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but this ultimate thing that God is
doing in this world, the thing that
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he is about to complete even this
very a day is in this over this
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twenty four hours. They need to
be cleansed. We need to be cleansed.
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And so if we refuse that from
God, if we push our selves
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away from him and say it shall
never be I will serve you, it
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assumes that we can do that without
him for serving us. In a way,
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Peter Sort of stakes his ground and
maintain a little more of his autonomy,
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a little more of his control.
He says, I've got this Lord,
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but he doesn't have it and none
of us ever will until God first
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loves us. Remember what first John
says. We love because he first loved
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us. That's the only way it
works, that's the only way into the
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Kingdom of God, that's the only
way to benefit from the cross, that's
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the only way to be cleansed of
your sins. It's to humble yourself before
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the Lord so much that you can
say I can't even serve you, I
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can't even be a slave to you
until you first help me, and I
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know how hard that is. You'd
think it would be easy to be loved,
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but it's not, because to be
loved, especially in our sins,
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it means to admit that you need
something from someone else, from God in
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particular, to receive the self sacrificial
love for something you need is to say
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I'm not sufficient, I have problems, I can't even serve I can't even
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serve God without his help, without
his salvation, and that is very,
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very hard to do for proud people, for confident people like Peter, who's
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got it all together, who will
serve the Lord to the bitter end,
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except of course he won't. You
can't. He needs the Lord. It
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is very, very hard to do. But let me tell you this,
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by the Lord's love he enables us
to do the very, very hard thing.
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By the grace of his love,
he actually empowers us to do the
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things that are impossible for us to
do. And when he does this,
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when we accept God's love for us, when we let go and simply let
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him love us and serve US and
change US and heal us, it's the
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most freeing thing to walk around in
this world knowing that God loves you and
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that your sins are forgiven, that
you don't walk around with this dirty,
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heavy heart, but you walk around
as one who has been justified, this
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one whose sins have been washed away
and forgiven, as one who's been given
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the Holy Spirit, who is currently
in you, working in you, empowering
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you, helping you to grow so
that you can then love other people.
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These are things of inexpressible joy,
freedom and life, and these are the
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kinds of things that Jesus does in
this Ministry of love. He dies on
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a cross, he humbles himself,
even to the point of death, so
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that we can have our sins forgiven, so that we can then walk in
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the newness of life, serving God
and serving our neighbors in love. And
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that's why he says they'll know you, they'll know you are my disciples,
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because you live in this way and
nobody lives in this way except through me,
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not truly, not finally, and
so that is what Christians are marked
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by. Praise God, not under
compulsion, not being forced, not paying
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back, not trying to earn their
way into heaven or anything else. We
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love freely because we have been loved
freely and we are being loved freely.
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We humble ourselves and give us give
ourselves away, our time, are out
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of our our our attitudes, are
money, our energy, because we have
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been set free and empowered by God
to do so. So if you look
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at your heart and you think and
you say I am not a loving person,
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I am a hard hearted person,
a cold and self centered person,
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and you say how can I change
how can I live a life of love
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and giving and freeness in this way, then here's what you need to know.
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You cannot change yourself, but God
can change you. If you do
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try to change yourself, it's just
one more thing you are doing for yourself.
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It's one more self centered thing.
But if you humble yourself and trust
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in the serving love of Jesus Christ
that he gives to us on the cross,
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if you believe in him and trust
him, to serve you, for
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the forgiveness of your sins, for
the sanctification of your souls, for the
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eventual glory or eventual glorification of your
life in this world. Then God's love
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will be sufficient for all things,
to wash away your sins, to make
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you clean, to empower you to
love others and all the rest. So
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trust him and live for him.
