In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the humility of Jesus and his willingness to serve others. Jesus washes the disciples' feet as a demonstration of his love and humility. The preacher relates this act to the idea that sometimes God allows difficult circumstances in our lives for a greater purpose that we may not understand at the time. He shares a personal story of a child's death and how God used that situation for a greater purpose. The sermon encourages listeners to humble themselves and serve others, following the example of Jesus.

Five hundred and thirty-seven feet. Five, three, seven. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. I am safe when by thy side I would in thy love abide. Five hundred and thirty-seven feet. We'll start again. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. I am safe when by thy side I would in thy love abide. Lead me, lead me. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. Lead me, lead me. I am safe when by thy side I would in thy love abide. Lead me, lead me. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. Treasure, lead me. Lead me, lead me. Treasure, lead me, let thy strength gently lead me all the way. Now we're going to John Goff over the evening. I hope you'll be able to see. I'm able to see. It nearly goes without saying if I can see, well the rest of you can. And if I'm stuck I've got the light here in front of me of course. And I'll use it if I need to. The evening. Now if you remember that just a couple of weeks ago we went southwards of Satan. We went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Galilee. You remember we learned some things before the feast. Some wonderful things in the middle of the feast. And then they came up last great day of the feast and then we looked at some things after the feast while Christ was teaching in the temple. And then last week we were listening to the great discourse of the Saviour to this great crowd in Jerusalem when he was there as he talked about the Good Shepherd. And so many came to me and said you know that was a great picture you painted this evening of the Shepherd and the sheep. Now we're at John Goff's book chapter twelve this evening and I'll tell you why. You know if you've been following the Good Shepherd with us you remember when he started out on his public ministry and began preaching to the multitudes. You remember that he preached to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Prophets and the Saints and to his own beloved followers and disciples. And all the time in Galilee he had this talk of mixed multitude around him. And even when he went south he had still this mixed multitude around him. Now the days of his public ministry for this mixed multitude were coming to an end. I wanted to watch a verse in John twelve and it's verse thirty six. He said to them why ye have like beliefs in the light that ye may be children of light. These things speak Jesus undisputed and what's this then? And hid and did hide himself from them. Now from that moment he's beginning to hide from the multitudes. He's going to enter into the upper room and he's going to talk to his own alone. The Pharisees are outside the Sadducees the Publicans the sinners and in the moment of truth he's putting Judas out. And these are very precious moments. The moments when the Savior just hid himself with his own and he's got some very wonderful things to thank for. And we're privileged tonight to enter into the upper room and sit with his own and see the things that he did and not only see the things that he did but hear the things that he said but also to get to learn the things that he knew. And in the upper room this evening we're going to discover this. We're going to see the unlimited knowledge of the Lord. Again and again as we meet modernists across the country you know they're always trying to limit the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They bring this up to me so many times that I just stick listening to it. And I want you young students and older ones to remember if you wanted to speak to modernists about the unlimited knowledge of the Lord Jesus all you need to do is go to John 13 and you're in the upper room and you'll see the unlimited so many things in here. And then we'll be looking at the unchanging love of the Lord because that comes out to me. And the unique humility of the Lord. We're gazing at the Lord this evening and then we'll hear the teaching at the end of the message. Now let's pay attention to the unlimited knowledge of the Lord. We're at John 13 now. And we're at verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover before it began at all when Jesus knew that his hour would come let's stop there. You know as he hid himself away from the multitude and gathered with his own in the upper room here you know away down deep in his heart he knew that in all the folks about him you know he knew that his hour was coming. The Lord Jesus was the only person who ever lived on this planet of ours who was never taken by surprise. You got that? Because that's really worth turning over in your mind. Never once at any time at any place under any circumstances never once was my Lord taken by surprise. He always knew what was happening. And now as he gathers with his own in the upper room he knew they didn't know but he knew. He knew that his hour and that meant a lot of things to him. You see away before the foundation of the world he was the man and he knew now that the hour would come. He knew that he was chosen to make the one sacrifice for sins forever and the hour had come. He knew exactly what lay ahead. Knew every step of it. He knew he would be here in this room for a little while he would leave, he would go to Gethsemane and he knew all about Gethsemane and then he knew that he would be taken from Gethsemane to Golgotha and he knew about Golgotha. He knew his hour had come. But he knew a little bit more than that. You see verse 2 verse 1 again it says now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour would come that he should depart out of this world onto the You see he knew the honour that would follow his hour. Now that's very wonderfully put. You know it doesn't read like this when Jesus knew that his hour would come that he should depart out of this world into heaven. Doesn't read like that at all. Oh I know that he went to heaven make no mistakes about that but the thing that thrilled him most was this that he would go through with the castle and that he would go back to the prison of the power. I think my son came on Sunday morning and talked to you a lot about the farm and I listened to it on the paper and I was very proud of it because he seemed to get the hold of that alright. But here's something I think that you must get the hold of. That Jesus knew as he stood in the double room he knew that his hour had come. But he knew more. He knew that his hour would come that he should depart out of this world on to the power back to the high prison. Oh you know the modernist tried to tell me that he didn't know what was happening even in yesterday. Isn't it a great pity of these fellows? Somebody should lend them a new testament someday and take them aside and open the book for them. Oh he knew alright. He knew that his hour would come and he knew not only the hour he knew the honour that would follow it. He would go back to the prison. I think you can see it. But you can see this also if you look through the chapter. Do you see verse 11? He's been talking to them and all that and then it says this For he knew who should betray him. You said this too. Could you assure that this answer? Because all through the new testament the gospels it always talks about Jesus knowing who should betray. He knew the traitor. There there were the twelve of them around him. He has put out the multitude now. He's hiding in the upper room with his army. And he knows what they are doing. Oh Jesus didn't block him. Jesus went along with the crowd and they named when they named him king. But Jesus never blocked Jesus. Not for the Lord. He knew. He knew who should betray him. But you know he didn't only know the hour and he didn't only know the honour that would follow it and he didn't only know the traitor but he knew the tactics that were going on in the upper room. You see if you read this again have a look at verse 2 I'm suffered being envy. That's the path of the sufferer. The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him. You know the Lord knew exactly what the devil would do. You know he was tempted to see you all about the temptation. He was putting it in the heart of Judas to betray the Satan. You know I think that sometimes some of the younger folks don't know on the sun what we mean when we talk about betraying the Satan. You see this was the path of release and Jerusalem was full of Jews. It was top of lot. Had you been walking down the middle streets you know you would be in a tight crowd you would be squeezed in on every side. It was top of lot. It was bursting at the seams with all Jews. Now if you saw 10,000 Jews and I would think that there would be 50,000 maybe more. If you saw 50,000 Jews all dressed in long robes long eastern robes all with black beards all with long hair you would not bother taking those Jews. I'll tell you this he could have walked into the crowd and stood there and they would not bother getting him. I don't know if you've ever seen the crowd of Jews I've been there you know. I can remember getting the men of a long robe and a beard and walking down the street with a lot of Jews and bumping into Mr. Earl James Earl. It's only happened somewhere. I bumped up against him you know and he says Sharon he learned his lesson. He tried to be nice to me you know. Sharon means peace. I bumped into him and he said Sharon, Sharon come back again. So I came back and bumped into him and he said I don't know who you are. And then when I took the beard off he says man you're as big a fool as you ever were. But you can imagine this. And if the authorities were going to lay their hands upon him and arrest him and they were determined to do this they needed somebody to betray him. Somebody who knew him. And I'll tell you this. Jesus didn't go into the clouds you know. Jesus left this offering and went into the gardens and Judas knew the place. We're going to learn nothing and that'll make us good. And Judas could say now I know where he'd be. He'd be at the garden and he'd be praying. And I'll pick him up for you. I'll kiss him and you'll know the one that I kissed. And the old devil you know was putting it into the heart of Judas. But watch this now. It says this verse 27 after the Lord Jesus had given the top to Judas it says after the top satan entered into him and that is not temptation that is possession. You know one of these days we're going to deal with demons. And you know there's a lot about demonology. You know demons can tempt people. It's what you call temptation. And then demons can death people and that's what you call death-ish. And I would think a lot of the nervous trouble that we have about the concept of death-ish that's what it is. It's not demon possession. It's just demons come and go and keeping people on hell upon earth. There's a nearly dimented In fact a lady came to see me last night and said I'm tempted. And I believe she was tempted too. By demons. But you know temptation and death-ish and possession just happens to be two different or three different things. And when we come to demons there'll be five or six different things. But Jesus knew the tactics. Knew what's going on here. He knew that the devil was tempting Judas to do that. He knew that now the devil had entered Israel. The devil took possession of Israel. You know it's a pity people don't know how much Jesus knew, isn't it? You see he knew the hour and he knew the hour that would follow the hour and he knew the trickery and he knew the tactics. He knew the dark truth. Look let's go back to the beginning again. Satan verse 2 And suffer, being angry, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot's silent son to betray him. Jesus knowing, there's your word again. Jesus knowing that the Father hath given all things into his hands would effect salvation. You know here he's standing in the upper room. He knows the hour is coming. He knows he'll get through the hour alright. That he'll be back to the Father. He was looking forward to that. He knew the trickery was over there. Knew the tactics that were going on. But he knew the dark truth was his. The Father hath given all things into his hands. In his hands now was the reconciling of this world. He was the reconciler. In his hands now was the redemption for Michael and yours. In his hands now was the substitution that must be made. I can go on into that you know. He knew the cost didn't he? Of course he knew the cost. Better than I did. And I'll tell you this. Firstly, Jesus knowing that the Father hath given all things into his hands and that he was come from God. He knew that bit too. And went to God. You know he didn't only know the task. He knew the triumph. All the grave didn't care of him or don't be trying to tell me. And death didn't care of him. And salvation didn't care of him. He knew that he would go back to God. Go back to God the Father. That's the whole idea. He knew that he would triumph. Don't you get sick listening to the modern. Old fellows with beards on and BAs and this and that and the other at the end of their name under the grip of dupes on God's earth. It doesn't mean a thing. That's the root of theology. Oh I would love to say something to you about it. My dear friend they open their mouths and you can see their ignorance. Here it is. Can't you see it for yourself? You wouldn't need to pass the 11 flocks to know that Jesus knew that his hour was coming. And that he knew that he would go to the Father. That we hadn't any problems. This wasn't taken in by surprise. He knew the task that was in his hands. He knew the triumph. He would go back to God triumphant. I think you can see it. I will take us on this whole draft to see it. Yes, you know, that's the omnipotent knowledge. Let's do this little, little bit at the end of the chapter. Go on down to the end of the chapter. Verse 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go thou shalt not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. In that lovely way. My Peter was sure of him. You don't think he would be lost for getting up here and saying like that, do you? Because I'm telling you that he was telling Peter that he was going to heaven. He says, you just kind of follow me now, but thou shalt follow me here. Do you think he at any chance had been lost, Peter? Jesus was going to the Father. So was Peter. Jesus was going back to God. So was Peter. Would you like to argue me over? There must be a joke. My dear friend, this was a wonderful word that I have shown you. And what he said to him, he said to me. I'll go afterwards. That's what I'm happy for. Nothing can stop me. He's written for our own good. All right, let's hit this bitch. You know Peter, verse 37. And Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. That's what Peter thought about himself, you know. Jesus answered him, Lord, shall I lay down my life for thy sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cocks shall not coo. So God asked the nightly friend, You see, the Lord knew the apostle. And although the apostle was making a great profession here, I will lay down my life for thy sake. You know, he not only knew the apostle, he knew the answer. He said, no, you'll deny me that. Who told you Jesus didn't know? You know, there are 21 chapters right through John the Gospel. And in every one of the 21 of them, you will find something about the unlimited knowledge. I've only dealt. But I'm going to start with chapter one and deal with the whole 21. And by the time I'm through with it, I would sicken these old bosses. Look, the last chapter ends like this, with Peter looking into his face and saying, Lord, thou knowest all things. And so he does, making no mistakes about it. So that's the unlimited knowledge of the Lord. And then in the upper room, you don't only find the unlimited knowledge of the Lord, you find the unchanging love of the Lord. Let's go back to verse one. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that it had always come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. You know his love for you. Well, that was it. It all ends in love. You know, when we sing love, with everlasting love, we've got a foundation for it, you know, in the book. Because when God came to Jeremiah, he said, no, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And God said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor life, nor death, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in us. He'll always love you. It doesn't make a matter of what you do, he loves you. You know, he loved Peter right through, right through those days of denial. Mind you, it was a terrible thing for Peter to turn to the little maid and curse, say, I don't know. It was a terrible thing. But the day that he was doing it, and the moment that he was doing it, and the three times that he did it, I can tell you that Jesus loved him. And he loved him though. He loved him the whole way through, is another translation, the whole way through the denial. He loved him. See the seven days that Thomas walked about in a hospital. He wouldn't believe. He was an unbeliever. He just stood still. He wouldn't believe. I'll tell you this, Jesus loved him every minute of it. He loved him the whole way through his denial. And there have been things that we have done. And there have been things that we have said. And there have been things that we have been guilty of. And he has loved us the whole way through. He didn't deserve it. But that's the sort of love it is. It's unending love. It's undying love. It's unquenchable love. It doesn't make a matter of what kind of water is poured upon us. Many water channels quench all the love of Jesus. Really amazing, isn't it? And then I want to get down to the uniqueness of the humility. You know, it was a unique humility before he rises from supper and lays aside his garments and took a towel, just an ordinary towel, and gazes himself. You know, the moment that he laid his garments aside, took off his sandals, took off his robe, took off his inner robe, and he put this towel round him, tied it over just to hide his nakedness, you know he was taking the place of a slave in a big house. Caught in the far east in some of these mansions, they had slaves. They did all the menial tasks. They wore nothing on their feet. And the only thing they had around them was a towel. You've seen pictures like this. And he is the Lord, you know. He's laying aside his garments, can't you see that? Took a towel, gazes himself. And after that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel over which he was going. You know, I've written a little booklet on the goggles of the Bible. There are so many. I think you can remember them without going back. At least you can remember some of them. You remember when John the Baptist first appeared? It says that his hood was locusts and wild holly and he had a leatheren girdle about his loins. All the prophets in the Old Testament, they all had leatheren girdles. This is how he knew the prophets. In the far east in days gone by and even today, men with long robes wear certain girdles. And if you knew all the girdles, you would know whether he was the shoemaker, whether he was the bricklayer. You would know what he was because the girdle would indicate just exactly what job he was doing. And the prophet was known. It was a leatheren girdle. It was different from everybody else's. All prophets had leatheren girdles. There wasn't anything nice about it. You see, the Lord never wanted his messenger to be attractive. He just wanted the message to be attractive. That's what gathers this class in, not me, the Word of God. And if the message is properly preached, no matter about the problems that we have, there are folks who will come into healing. It's not the messenger that's attractive. No. It's the message. That's why it was a leatheren girdle. It was a leatheren girdle for another reason. You know, a prophet needed to endure hardness. There's nothing endured like leather. And you know, this was the prophet Jacob. When you come to the book of the Revelation, can I do this for you? Let's go to Revelation, chapter 1. Are you still able to see? That's good. Because I'm doing pretty well here now I'm in the darker spot than you are. So I know you can see. Now when John was on the Isle of Patmos, you remember the Lord Jesus appeared. John turned in verse 12 to see the voice that speaks with him. Being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the foot and girded about the breast, the word should be, I think, and girded about the breast with the golden gizzle. That's a different one. You see, the prophet had a leatheren gizzle. Now this is the golden one. The prophet has a leatheren gizzle above his head. Would you notice that the Lord Jesus has this golden gizzle above his breast? You know, the golden gizzle, it's telling us his office. He's the great father of our prophet. And you know the reason it's round his breast? Well, every woman here knows that the breast is, it's the tender place, it's where she holds her baby. In fact, it's where she feeds her baby and sustains it. But you know, even when he's struggling about as he falls and cries, she'll lift him and cuddle him. Because it's here that all her compassion and all her sympathy and all her tender mother's love is of him. And that our Lord Jesus takes the place of our great high priest. He has an everlasting girdle, for gold is something that's everlasting. And in that everlasting office, all his tender sympathetic affections are behind it. Very interesting, you know. But we're not looking at the prophet's gizzle tonight. And we're not looking at the prince's girdle. We're looking at the father's girdle. It is this tower. You know, for the Lord Jesus to take this place, it shows how humble he was. Because he's going to teach this whole crowd a great lesson. It's a mighty lesson. And it begins here. It says he rises from supper, he decides his garments, took a towel and judged himself. After that he poured water and mothed the word water into a basin. Began to wash the disciples' feet. And to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then came Peter, Simon Peter. And as usual, Peter had something to say. Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou watch my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know me now. And how many times the Lord has to come to us in life and say this. A young man used to be down there just now, terrible. I buried this little child the other day, just ten months. And I asked Peter, Peter, what Jesus is doing? He don't know now, son, but you'll know hereafter. And he may be doing something through the death of that little child that could never have been done had it grown up. But fearful, oh no, hereafter. And there are some times the Lord has to come to us. Don't think, Jesus. And you stand and you say, why? Because what I do, thou knowest not now. Thou shalt know hereafter. I went once to see a lady. She was dying of cancer. She had lost about six-ton weight by this time and her jaws were hollow and her eyes were glazing. She was nearly into heaven. And I got down at home that morning and said, Lord, will you save this woman? She don't know what to say. And I felt that I could go and say, the Lord Jesus is saying what I do. Thou knowest not now. Thou shalt know hereafter. And I read this portion to her and I said to her, you know the Lord is saying to you today, dear, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And I was just about to give her an exposition of the verse when she said, if Jesus is doing it, I don't need to hear any more. If it's Jesus that's doing it. If Jesus did it, it must be alright. Whether I know now or whether I never know. Yes, this is what they said to Peter. Peter said unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. I was just like him. He just wasn't good to have it. You're the Lord, I'm not going to wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. I didn't say you have no part in me. All people in Christ are alright. But they needed to be washed. Because when you walk through this earth, you know, and especially Palestine, you get dust from your feet. You need to wash them every day. I don't wash mine every day now. I'm not going to tell you how many days, am I? But when I was in Palestine, I had to wash them every day. Like you go out with your sandals on, and in the dusty desert you come in with some dust stains. You have to wash them every day. And as we walk through this world, you know, every day we gather a certain amount of dust. But we'll get to the story in a moment. He said to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter said unto him, Lord, wash my feet only, but also my hands and my head. You see how he's swung to the other side now. He wanted to be washed all over. Jesus said unto him, He that is washed, that is, he that is washed in the blood of the Lamb, needeth not save to wash his feet. And that being washed by the water of the woods. Do you see the difference now? How there's a great difference. When you're washed in the blood of the Lamb, you're clean everywhere. But when you walk through this world every day, you need to be washed by the woods. Which is the washing of water by the woods. Peter left the word of God. That's what he was planning to get over to Peter. Jesus said unto him, He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet. For that's clean every which ye are clean, but not all, not the whole lot of you. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you, done to you. Ye call me master and lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I were your lord and master, I'd wash your feet. Ye ought also to wash one another's feet. I have given you an example. That ye should do as I have done to you. Very, very I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, if you know that you should wash one another's feet by the word, happy are ye if you do. Good master came to me and found his great great system in trouble with someone, was about, about divorce. They sat down in that chair there. And I went from Genesis to Revelation, and opened the word of God, and washed his feet about their feet. He says, no one ever did that for me before. That's it, sir. And how many times I've had to use the word of God to wash someone's feet. And we ought to wash one another's feet. Did you see that from Jerusalem? Wash it with the word of God, my dear. Not with your own ideas. And the trouble with some of us, and the trouble with me, is that sometimes when I'm washing your feet, I make the water that warm and that cold. And there's always time to make it that cold and that freezing. There's enough in washing each other's feet. This was the teaching that the master was getting over. I trust you've got that. Our next week we're leaving the upper room, and other things to learn. We've done well tonight. I think we'll sing a hymn that's not in the books tonight. That's a good endeavor, isn't it? Nothing like that. How good is the God we adore? Our faithful, unsensible friend, whose love is as great as its power. Knows neither measure nor end. His feet is the first and the last, and you know the whole thing. Let's stand together. How good is the God we adore? How good is the God we adore? Our faithful, unsensible friend, whose love is as great as its power. Knows neither measure nor end. His feet is the first and the last, and you know the whole thing. Let's stand together. How good is the God we adore? Our faithful, unsensible friend, whose love is as great as its power. Dear Lord, we thank thee for gathering in such a company on this very difficult evening in our history. We thank thee for thy word. Thank thee for thy son. Thank thee that he knows everything. Thank thee that his love for us will never end. Thank thee, Lord, that he hath shown to us that the only true way to get up is to get down. Help us to humble ourselves. Help us to wash one another's feet in a spiritual sense. Pass us in thy fear, and with thy blessing, take us to our homes in Christ's name, and bless our wee country for Christ's sake. Amen.