In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of repentance and coming to the Lord Jesus. He encourages the audience to reflect on their relationship with God and the need for spiritual regeneration. The preacher also discusses the significance of confessing sins and seeking forgiveness from God. The sermon concludes with examples of individuals facing their mortality and the importance of living a life pleasing to God.

It's a privilege to be back at Fargo once again. Brings back all kinds of good memories. Great to hear your singing. It's a privilege to be here with Jim McCarthy once again. I'd just like to mention that his book, The Gospel According to Rome, is on sale back there. Also a video, Catholicism, Crisis of Faith. How many have seen that video? It's also available in Spanish. I don't know if we have Spanish here or not, but it's now available in Spanish language. I think Jim's book, The Gospel According to Rome, is the definitive book on that subject today. Jim waited until the new Catholicism came out, and his book is key to that. And so it's really up to the minute and very carefully done. Now he's working on a book, Conversations with Catholics. So, be sure to look at those books and the tapes out there in the book room. Does everybody know where the book room is? Go straight back and turn left, I think. Good morning. I'd like you to turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. Beginning with verse 1. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world of the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, You are not all clean. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and lord, and you say well, but so I am. By then your lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow about this time, what kind of thoughts would be going through your head? Peace. Thank you. One more lunch. One more supper. One breakfast. I see my last sunset. I see my last sunrise. If you're married, you probably should see my wife or my husband for the last time. There'll be that parting from the children. Look around the house. You see, well, goodbye tomorrow, this time. All the things that I've held dear down to you, you'll be able to see after this time tomorrow. The incident I read to you took place on Thursday, and the Lord Jesus crucified on Friday. What kind of thoughts went through his mind? Dear friend, diligently this passage describes nothing about himself. It's all about his disciples, isn't it? What manner of man is this? Of course, the answer is he saw it manifested in the flesh. What manner of man is he? To me, it's absolutely staggering to think of him with his omniscience, his perfect knowledge of what lay ahead. And all I can think of is his disciples, his ministering to his disciples, his teaching his disciples for the days that were to come. Recently, I sent a manuscript to a professional editor to look it over, and I had used the word selfless with regard to mothers. The selfless devotion of mothers. And she wrote back a cryptic remark, no one is selfless. I find it deeply moving, and it made me feel good. I mean, you take a passage of Scripture like this. If you ever want the story of a selfless person, it's here in John 13, verses 1 through 70. And as if that weren't enough, you have the shadow of Judas in the background all the time throughout this chapter. And so Lord Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew who was going to betray him. I could have thought a few words about that wreck of Judas. So we just want to look over this passage of Scripture and see what lessons the Lord has in it for us. It's sometimes called the Lord's farewell address to his disciples. I don't like that too much. First of all, it wasn't farewell. They were going to see him in a very short time, weren't they? He was going to die, but he was going to rise from the dead, and they were going to see him again. So, I would like to call it using a German word, Auf Wiedersehen, until we meet again. That's the kind of address it was, wasn't it? Not farewell, but until we meet again. Notice the omniscience of the Lord Jesus, and of course, it comes through throughout the passages, throughout the New Testament. He knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from the world to the Father. Several times in the Gospels, things started to happen, but they didn't happen because his hour had not come. You remember in the wedding of Cain of Galilee and how Mary approached the Lord Jesus and told him that they had run out of wine and rather rebuked him for it, his hour hadn't come to display himself, to manifest himself to the people at that time. In chapter 7 of this Gospel, verses 6 and 8, his brothers told him, Why don't you leave Galilee and go down to Judea and manifest yourself to the disciples? Judea was where the pitiless animosity and hatred against the Lord Jesus was, but his hour had not come. Then in chapter 7, verse 30, the Jews sought to seize him down there in Jerusalem, but they weren't able to, because his hour hadn't come. And then you remember that the Greeks came, some Greeks came and said to Philip, we would see Jesus. I think they wanted to take the Lord Jesus back to Athens as their kind of guru, you know. They loved philosophy, the love of wisdom, and they wanted to just sit there in the marketplace and listen to Jesus talk. But his hour hadn't come. He said, except a corn, if we fall into the ground, we die, divide us alone, but this diet bring us forth much fruit. He says, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And that love is shown, first of all, here in his menial service to the disciples, and certainly shown in the following day when he goes to the cross for them. Supper being ended, probably a better translation is enduring supper, instead of supper being ended. The devil already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. What a mystery that man is. It was predicted in the Old Testament that the Lord Jesus would be betrayed. My own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against me, but Judas didn't have to be the one. Judas wasn't elected to betray the Lord Jesus. That was his own act, that was by his own deliberate will. And he became the classic example of an apostate. Imagine, accompanying with the Lord Jesus for three years, hearing those incomparable words, seeing those marvelous miracles, miracles that no one had ever performed before, and yet he betrayed the Lord of life and glory. I think verse 3 is very, very illuminating. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God. Once again, his omniscience. And it's also, of course, a statement as to his deity, that he had come from God. You know, we can't say that. He came from God. Can we? He didn't come from God. He came here by natural birth. But Jesus knew this. He knew that he had come, that the Father had given all things into his hands. He had come from God and he was going to God. Now, if the Lord Jesus had just been a man, I think it would have read something like this. Jesus, if he hadn't been God, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, he had come from God and was going to God, he said, Well, that's the last I'll have to put up with these poor disciples. They're not a very dependable lot. I spent a lot of time with them, had a lot of heartache with them, but that's all over now. And I'm going back to God and I'll be pleased on it all. He didn't say that. Knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, he had come from God and was going to God. Surprise, he girded himself with a towel. He went down to wash his face. Incredible. In other words, in the full comprehension that his absolute deity, his eternal existence, and his oneness with God the Father, he took the apron of a slave and put it on him. That's what the towel was, it was the apron of a slave. He rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. When I read these things, I know no man ever wrote my Bible. Man would never have written a Bible this way. It's absolutely marvelous the way it's put together. As F.W. Grant said, nobody who felt the force of it will ever deny the source of it. Nobody has to argue with me about the inspiration of the Scriptures. Years ago I accepted the Bible by faith, and ever since then God's been showing me that it's the Word of God. That's what he wants you to do too. If you have questions of the Bible, questions about the Bible, you know, alleged inconsistencies and contradictions, just accept it by faith. Just tell you that it is the Word of God. You know, verse 4 in a sense describes what he did in incarnation. He rose from supper and laid aside his garments. That's the story of his incarnation. This is an application of the verse. He dwelt in absolute bliss with God the Father from all eternity, and he rose from that place of unsullied fellowship. And he laid aside his garments. That is the outward display of his deity. The outward display. Not his deity. The outward display of his deity. He laid it aside. Aside he threw his most divine array, and veiled his Godhead in a garb of clay. And in that garb did wondrous love display, restoring what he never took away. That's what you have in the Lord Jesus here on earth. That you have God in a body of flesh. Body of flesh and blood and bones. God. And in a sense, this deity was veiled. It was there all the time. I mean, we've already seen it in this chapter, his omniscience. But he veiled it. And it shone out at various times. I think it shone out in the Sea of Galilee, didn't it, when he rose? And the winds and the waves obeyed his command. After that he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel with which he was girded. Imagine that. Dear friends, this is the Creator kneeling down and washing the dirty feet of his creatures. It's incredible, isn't it? This is the one who threw the farthest galaxies into space. And the one who upholds all things at any particular moment by the word of his power. He's down there on his knees, washing his disciples' feet. You see, in those days they didn't wear shoes and stockings, did they? Or socks. They just had sandals, and they walked around, and their feet got dirty. And in the proper home, when you went to that home, if they had servants, the servants would come and wash your feet. It was just a mark of courtesy, that's all. And if they didn't have servants, maybe the host of the hostess would wash your feet. But here it's the Lord of Glory who's washing the feet of men that he had raised. I said, when I was studying this a week ago, I said to one of our dear young brothers there in San Leandro, I said, Jeff, what would you do if your creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, went down to wash your feet? He said, I wouldn't like that. And you know what he meant. He meant, that would be out of order for him to do that to me. I'm the one that should be washing his feet. He said, I wouldn't like it. Well, Peter didn't like it, he just didn't. Peter didn't like it. He came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? And the word you there is emphatic. Lord, are you washing my feet? That's really the way it should be read. And Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this. Now, Peter knew and all the disciples knew that he was washing their feet. He knew that. And yet Jesus said, what I do you do not know now, which means that what he was doing was figurative. What he was doing was symbolic. What he was doing had a spiritual meaning connected with it. That's what he wanted them to understand, right? There are some Christian people who have a third ordinance. Ordinance of the Christian church, they have foot washes. Good people. For instance, the great brethren went on the Lake Indiana. They practiced foot washing. So, why don't we practice foot washing? Well, because the Lord Jesus makes it very clear here, first of all, that it wasn't the physical act that was important, but the spiritual reality that lay behind it. We believe there are two ordinances of the Christian church. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. They're instituted in the Gospels. They're practiced in the Acts and they're expounded in the Epistles. You can't say that of foot washing. Although I don't object to those who do practice it. Because I know that their hearts are really right with God, many of them. But foot washing is not, it's found here in the Gospels. It's not practiced in the Book of Acts. It's not expounded in the Epistles either. This is very interesting to me. The Gospels all present the Lord Jesus in a different aspect. Matthew presents him as what? King. Good. Mark presents him as... Luke presents him as... Good. And John presents him as... Good. King, servant, man, God. Where would you expect it to be found? Mark. He girded himself with the apron of a slave. If it's found to wash it, it doesn't have to be good. But it isn't found in Mark, is it? It's found in John. What's the significance of that? Significance? The shock value of it. Think that God manifests in the flesh. He's there in the upper room with his disciples. You're not religious people, are you? Enough to take your breath away. Young people, I'm this person. Enough to blow your socks off. It's incomprehensible. Then you stop to think. There he is. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Never. Peter is speaking to the Lord. He's speaking to his master. He says, you'll never wash my feet. Only God can say never. Isn't that right? Only God can say never. This never didn't last very long, did it? The Lord Jesus didn't wash his feet. Jesus answered, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. It's very important in this passage of Scripture to understand that there are two different words for wash here in this passage of Scripture. Two different words, and you really don't understand the passage of Scripture. I'm not sure it's made clear in the King James Version. First of all, there's a word for bathe. And you have that word down in verse 10. He who is bathed at the bath. And then you have wash here in verse 8, and it's a different word. What is the significance of that? Well, the Lord Jesus in this passage of Scripture is teaching one bath of regeneration. Many washings of the feet. The bath of regeneration speaks of the new birth, doesn't it? It speaks about the time when we're saved, when we're converted to God, when we come to Christ and find peace through him and through the blood of his cross. The bath of regeneration. Titus speaks about that in his epistle, doesn't he? The bath of regeneration. But the Lord Jesus is saying here, Peter, you need one bath, you need many washings. If I don't wash your feet, you don't have any part with me. That is, any fellowship with me, any share with me. The bath has to do with relationship. The washing has to do with fellowship. And the Lord Jesus in verse 8 is talking about fellowship. And it didn't come home to Peter without further explanation. So Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Give me a bath all over, I want to have fellowship with you. And Jesus then made it clear, he said, he who would bathe. Does it say that in your Bible? He who would bathe. Does the King James say he would wash? He would wash. The King James. The New King James says he would bathe, correctly. He who would bathe needs only to wash his feet. But it's completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. Very good. I think it deals with that subject of the eternal security of the believer, doesn't it? Just one bath of regeneration. Then many cleansing along the way. But you don't need to be saved again. Peter said, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. My hands what I do, my head what I think. All but Judas had been bathed. Turn to Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Titus 3 verse 5. Just to get the connection there. It says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration. The bath. The word there is bath. The bath of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And that's what the Lord Jesus is referring to here. We come to the Lord Jesus, we repent of our sins, we believe on him, we receive the bath of regeneration. It has nothing to do with baptism. In order to understand this passage of Scripture, keep baptism out of it altogether. It has nothing to do with baptism, whatever. It has to do with relationship. When you trust the sinner's Savior, you are related to God. A new relationship. You're a child of God. You faith in him. And relationship is forever. Nothing can break a relationship. You were born a son or daughter of your parents and nothing can ever change that. You can disgrace them. You can leave them. In today's courts of law you can divorce them. You're still their son or daughter. You can't change a relationship. Unbreakable chains. But fellowship is a very tender thread, isn't it? Very tender thread. Easily broken. Fellowship is broken by sin and it remains broken until that sin is confessed and forsaken. When the priest in the Old Testament was consecrated to God, he was given a bath. Given a bath. Then in his service for the Lord at the temple or the tabernacle, he would go to the labor and wash his hands and feet. Frequently. Almost continuously in his service for the Lord. And that's what the Lord is pointing out here. All but Judas had been bathed. But they still needed to wash their feet. Have their feet washed through confession of sin. You are clean but not all of you. Judas never had been saved. Judas is not an illustration of a person who was saved and then lost his salvation. He is very clear in this passage. He's an illustration of one who never was saved at all. Verse 11. He knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, you are not all clean. They had not all received the bath of regeneration Judas had never. Notice again the omniscience of the Lord Jesus. He knew who would be his disciples. They didn't know. They didn't know. Yet they had been living together all that time. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, you know what I've done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. Question. What does that mean to wash one another's feet? I think there are two meanings of washing one another's feet in this passage of Scripture. First of all, serve one another. As the Lord Jesus sat down and served them. And it was menial service. Be willing to engage in menial service for your fellow disciples, for your fellow Christians. But I think it means more than that. I think we wash one another's feet when we see something in a fellow believer that is not honoring for the Lord Jesus. And we go to him and lovingly speak to him about it. Some are better at this than others. Some don't know how to do it without using salving water. Or using ice cold water. He says, it's going to do it for me. You keep this water. You say, give me an illustration. Well, supposing I'm a contractor. And you find out that I'm working on a job and I really haven't gone down to the city to get the required permit for the job. And nobody will ever know. Hopefully the inspector won't know. And you come in a loving way. First of all, you tell me something good about me if you can think of it. Because blame comes death on the back of praise, doesn't it? It's good to start the conversation with something positive. Paul did that in most of his letters, didn't he? If you go to chapter one of most of Paul's letters, he finds something praiseworthy in those to whom he's writing. Galatians, of course, is the exception. Blame comes death on the back of praise. So, you go to this person and you say, you know, I would like to commend you for so-and-so and so-and-so. Because, you know, it's come to my attention that you really didn't get the required building permit for the job you're working on. And you think you should reconsider that. It really isn't ethical. Or maybe you find some sister in town saying something that isn't true. And you wash that person's feet by coming to them and just talking to them lovingly about it. It's washing one another's feet. It's wonderful if you can do it holding a verse of Scripture. Years ago, I was driving a car with Emmaus students down south. The car was full. And one of the fellows had graduated from Emmaus, but he had gone to college. And he was imbibing some doubts and denials about the Scriptures. And so, they were talking back and forth in the car. The conversation was very animated. It wasn't heated, but it was animated. And finally, one of the fellows, one of the quietest fellows I think that ever went through Emmaus. He just sat there and said, Teach my son to hear the words of him that causeth thee to err from the words of my Lord. If he had exploded in an atomic bomb, it wouldn't have been any more effective. All he did was hold a verse of Scripture. I'm telling you, that verse of Scripture is just beautiful. Teach my son to hear the words of him that causeth thee to err from the words of my Lord. He said it all. Another time, I think the hunting season had just opened. And one of our dear fellows had gone out hunting with his friends. The fellow behind him didn't have his safety on the gun. And they were walking through a thicket, you know. And the gun behind him just hit him right in the back of the head. It hit our team right in the back of the head. If it had been an inch lower, he would have been killed. He talked about the sovereignty of God. Well, he was rushed to the hospital and we got the news. And we were all rushing to the hospital too. And when he was recovering, one of our teachers, Chester Woodring, went to visit him. This fellow had been having problems with the Bible, having problems with doubts about the Bible. And Chester Woodring sat by his bedside and he said, The Lord's a good shot, isn't he? And the fellow said, What do you mean? Well, he said, He hit you right in the place where you were having problems. And the fellow said, I'm not in the mood for any theological discussion. But he was restored to the Lord anyway. The Lord was a good shot, wasn't he? And I think Chester was washing his feet that day. Washing his feet. He said, Oh, if I said anything to that person, that might be the end of a beautiful friendship. It might be the beginning of a more beautiful friendship. That's usually the way. Usually the way. When we come to that place of confession in our own lives. Confession that we're doing things that are not pleasing to the Lord. The only test for anything, for any action or anything else in the Christian life, is how it appears in the eyes of Christ. That's the only test. It's a good test to apply when you're sitting before the television, isn't it? What about that show you're watching? How does it appear in Christ's eyes? That solves an awful lot of problems in the Christian life. The only test for anything is how it appears in the eyes of Christ. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and lawyer, and you say, Well, but so I do. The argument here isn't any feminist, but I'm bored. What does the Lord mean to you? When we speak of the Lord Jesus as Lord, he's our God. And if he lowers himself, he gains such menial service as washing our feet. How much more appropriate is it that we should wash one another's feet? It's interesting how often the Lord Jesus has to say this to his disciples, you know. The disciple is not above his master. We always think that we are. We always think that we are. I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. What the Lord is saying, and I think he says it to you and to me today, is Either do what I say or stop calling me Lord. Either do what I say or stop calling me Lord. Most assuredly I say to you, verse 16, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. One time George Washington was engaging in some very menial task on behalf of somebody else. And somebody came to him and said, Mr. Washington, you're too big a man for that. And he said, no, no, he said I'm just the right size. But sometimes he said you're too big for it, but it was the Lord Jesus wasn't. I didn't feel that way. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. What the Lord is saying is knowledge is not enough. Obedience is kind of, isn't that right? It's not enough to know. You know the Gnostics that John speaks about so much in his first epistle. They thought knowledge was everything. That's what the word means. They thought knowledge was everything. Just know it. Just cram your head full of knowledge, of doctrine in their case, and false doctrine of theirs. And then they said it doesn't make any difference how you live. I think the teachers are very honest. Knowledge is not a mystery. So, if you find me using friction with regard to payment to the government, maybe on my income tax return. I go to a Christian mechanic, a Christian mechanic. And I have trouble with my car. And I say, how much would it cost to have this friction system in your car? A hundred and fifty dollars. A hundred and fifty dollars? I don't know how much. Probably a hundred and fifty. Right. I said, can't you do it for less than that? He said, well, a hundred and twenty-five is his alien share. What does he mean? Hmm? Why do you say that? He doesn't want a check. He doesn't want a Visa card. He wants me to pay him cash. And I'll save a hundred and twenty-five. I'll take twenty-five dollars. I'll do it. Well, of course, what it means is that he's not going to declare it in his income tax. That money just goes into his pocket. There's no way of tracing it. He doesn't even give me a receipt. And I'm just as guilty if I say, well, yeah, I'll do that. But I don't care. I'll pay you cash. Because it's not ethical. And our Master is always looking. Never a time when he isn't looking. In California today, I don't say it that way here in North Dakota, but in California there are thousands of people who drive a car without a driver's license or insurance. How? And if a man gets his license taken away because he's drunk, then he just keeps on driving. I want to tell you, today there are, every time you turn around, there are temptations for Christians to engage in practices that are not ethical. And you can get away with it. Here, in this life. But a Christian cannot sin to get away with it. A Christian can't sin to get away with it. And that's why if we see something in those who are fellow believers, our responsibility is to wash their feet. Perhaps you notice that I'm getting cold. I'm drifting away from regular attendance at meetings of the assembly. It's a good time to wash my feet. I've been polluted by the world. And you know, it's impossible, it's impossible for a Christian to walk through this world without getting his feet dirty. I mean, you look at the billboards. You look at TV. You listen to the radio. You read the newspapers. I mean, it's exiling. People talk openly about things that 30 years ago, I mean, you could be disgusted. You'd be embarrassed of the stuff. It's all out in the open today. But I've taken something that doesn't belong to me. You know about it. Wash my feet. Speak to me about it. They follow the wounds of a friend. So, the Lord Jesus here is talking about service to one another, washing their feet. But the spiritual application is what's really important. We love one another. We're to share with one another about these things. Holding scriptures to one another. By way of comfort and all the rest. Dr. Ironside was a great one of knowing how to quote the appropriate scripture at the right time. I remember when my mother died and our family was plunged into sadness. People came, and people are Christians and Seminites, and they try to say things that are comforting and helpful, and yet it didn't work. And yet, he's a scroll. He wrote something like a chicken going across the page. He wrote a short note to us, and at the bottom he said, Psalm 35, verse 5. Weeping may endure for a night, but joys come up in the morning, the noon that snaps our bones. He was washing our feet. By quoting the right verse at the right time. Weeping may endure for a night, but joys come in the morning. I hope you've all had the bath of regeneration. If you haven't, and you were told that you're going to die within 24 hours, what thoughts would be going through your mind? I tell you, just think about repenting and coming to the Lord Jesus. If you do belong to the Lord, you've had the bath of regeneration, but you need the foot washing to stay close to the Lord. Day by day, we cleanse ourselves through confession of sins. We confess our sins, faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.