Feet Washing

Normally we do feet washing and communion together, but in studying through the Gospel of John here, I thought it would be good to focus on the feet washing aspect, and then next week we'll have communion here, the first Sunday of the month. And so we'll do things just a little different here this morning. Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to John chapter 13.

We're starting here in John 13, and this section is dealing with the Lord and Him washing the disciples' feet. This is the evening of His betrayal. We're getting very close to Him being delivered up and the crucifixion.

And so we're coming to chapter 13. As we walk through the Bible here verse by verse, let's pray and then we'll read the Scriptures. Heavenly Father, we thank You so much again this morning that we know You and that we also can have some enlightenment and understanding in the Scriptures.

The Bible tells us that the spiritual man, he understands things of this nature, but the carnal man, the natural man does not understand the things of God. Lord, we thank You that You've opened our eyes that we might understand and have wisdom in the things that are not seen, the things that are eternal. And so I pray even as the Scripture tells us the Holy Spirit has come to teach us and to guide us into all truth.

And may the Spirit of God guide us this morning as we open up Your Word and direct us in truth. Lord, bless the preaching and teaching of Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Alright, so we're getting down here to the end of the Lord's life. And we're going to read here in verse number 1 that Jesus makes this statement that the hour has come. And throughout the Gospel of John we've been seeing how His hour has not yet come.

And oftentimes they would come to take Him and to kill Him, but He would slip away because His hour was not yet come. But now His hour has come and it's going to come time for them to betray Him and take Him. So I want to start reading here in John 13, starting in verse number 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was 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.

And I think this is a beautiful picture of what love really is here in this verse that the Lord loved them unto the end. In 1 Corinthians 13, we're told in the Bible that charity endures all things and that charity never fails. And there's a beautiful example of this here that the Lord loved these disciples unto the end.

To the end of their life. To the end of His life. He loved them unto the end.

And you know marriage is a good example of that. You stand at the altar. Some of you young people haven't been married, but when you stand at the altar and you say that you will love this person till death do us part.

And marriage is a good way for us to show our love till the end. And to love someone till death do us part. And so here we are living in these last days and the love of many is waxing cold and you're going to find this more and more that people are not able to love unto the end.

They will be covenant breakers and marriages will be divorcing and relationships will be separating and people are losing their ability to commit to someone long-term. But the Lord Jesus here was one who loved His disciples unto the end. Verse 2, "...and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him." Now Judas, we've already learned this, Judas is wide open.

He is living a life of sin. He is coveting. He is stealing from the bag.

And his heart is wide open because he's not dealing with his sin. He's not acknowledging his sin. He's not confessing it.

He's certainly not repenting of it. And therefore his life is wide open. And that's what the Bible says in Ephesians, to give not place to the devil.

And here's a beautiful example of a man who is giving place to the devil and his heart is wide open. And you're going to see here in just a little bit, not only is the devil taking that place, but the Scripture actually says later on in the chapter here that the devil will actually enter into Judas Iscariot and send Judas out to betray the Lord. And so we need to be careful that our hearts are not open.

Open to the enemy. That the enemy can afflict us. That the enemy can even use us in this way to afflict others.

And so Judas' life, he's wide open to the enemy. And the devil is putting into his heart things that are evil. Things that are wicked.

And Judas is going to end up betraying the Lord. Verse 3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come from God and went to God, He rises from supper and laid aside His garments and 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 wherewith He was girded.

Now there's two symbolic events that are going to happen here in chapter 13. And these events are a picture of the Gospel. And the first one is the communion or the Lord's Supper that they're going to partake of.

And we'll do that next Sunday. And that's a picture. The wine and the bread is a picture of the blood and the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We've talked about that much. And that's going to be symbolized here. There's nothing in the wine.

There's nothing in the bread. Although the Catholic Church says there is, there's nothing in them. They are simply a symbol representing the Gospel, representing the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there's also another symbolic event that takes place that we're going to look at today. And that is the washing of the feet. Jesus is going to rise and He's going to wash their feet.

Now there's nothing in the washing of feet. As a matter of fact, you and I don't do that except when we take a bath. We don't wash one another's feet on a regular basis.

There's nothing in it, but it's symbolic. There is something symbolic in what Jesus is about to do. Feet washing is a symbol of our willingness to be cleansed and the Lord Jesus Christ cleansing us from our sins.

And we're going to see that as we go down through this. Now I know many of you have been taught and I believe this is true in some aspects that feet washing has to do with service and that's a good thing and we ought to serve and lay our life down and serve one another. And those are good things.

But I think as you go down through here in this passage, you're going to see that feet washing has a bigger symbol associated with that. And that is of cleansing. Of cleansing.

Well, let's keep reading here in verse 6. Then cometh He to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Kind of an attitude here. Lord, You wash my feet? I should be the one that's washing Your feet, Lord. Do You wash my feet? Verse 7, Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do Thou knowest not now, but Thou shalt know hereafter.

Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. That's a very strong statement there. Thou shalt never.

And Jesus gets to Peter. Thou shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus has an answer for that one.

Jesus answered and said, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Well, that pretty well ends it because Peter's going to go on to say, well, that's the case, and wash my head and hands and everything else. But Peter here has an attitude.

And it's an attitude that exemplifies the problem with many people's willingness to receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is, Lord, I should be washing Your feet. You shouldn't be washing my feet.

You know, many of us have this attitude that Lord, I'm going to serve You. Lord, I'm going to serve You. I'm talking here about people who are wanting to come to the Lord for salvation.

Lord, I'm going to serve You. And then if I serve You, then You can respond and reward me or bless me. But you know, the gospel is the complete opposite.

The gospel requires for you and I to come to the end of our self, the end of our desire to somehow merit or work or serve or get God to respond to us based upon what we do. And we have to lay down our pride, don't we? We have to lay down our self-righteousness and say, Lord, I am nothing. I need You to serve me.

As a matter of fact, the gospel is this. Lord, I cannot do anything. Lord, You're the one that's going to have to come down here and lay Your life down and die for me.

And if You don't do that, I can't serve You. And so when Peter says, You'll never wash my feet, that was an arrogant, that was a prideful attitude. He in his heart and all of our hearts in our lost condition, we believe that I'll serve You, Lord, and then after I serve You, You can bless me.

The truth of the matter is, you cannot serve God until you're willing to say, Lord, I'm worthless. You come and You wash my feet. You wash me.

And so we have this in the Bible and John writes in 1 John 4, we love Him because He first loved us. And the Lord Jesus is showing this example. Peter, I'm going to have to wash your feet first.

Peter, I'm going to have to cleanse you. And if I don't cleanse you, Peter, your service is going to be all for naught. Well, in 1 John 4, there's another passage.

Verse 10 says this, Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the perpetuation for our sin. You see, that's where it all starts in the Gospel. It doesn't start with man washing his feet.

It starts with Him washing ours. And you know, man always wants to approach God with the opposite. God, I'll do this for You to get Your favor.

The Lord says, no, the Gospel's not that. I'm going to come down and do this for You. And then You can serve Me.

And so he goes on to say, John says, Beloved, if God so loves us, we ought also to love one another. And we'll get to that here in just a little bit. We ought to wash one another's feet.

And so the Gospel requires you and I to repent of our pride and self-sufficiency and to come to the place where we can find ourselves a sinner. Find ourselves with nothing to give the Lord. And desiring Him to wash us from our sin and give us the gift of salvation.

And so Peter has this arrogant, proud attitude that many people have. You know, you go out and you knock on doors and you talk to people and you ask them that question. You know, if you stood before God and God would ask you, why should I let you into heaven? The pride of man that's in all of us immediately wants to say, well, I've done this and I went to church and I helped this poor person and I gave money to this person and I've tried to be a good person.

It's all about my works, my service, my pride. And yet all of us know that when we go and talk to someone and we ask them, why should God let you into heaven? If He asks you, why should you get into heaven? And that person says, well, it's because of what Jesus did. It's because of what He did.

And then our hearts say, well, that person knows the Lord. Because they've realized that it's not about me. It's about Him.

And so salvation does not come to us based upon what we do for the Lord. I want to wash your feet, Lord. You shouldn't be washing my feet.

I want to wash yours, Peter said. But the Lord says, listen, if I don't wash yours, you're having no part with Me. In other words, Peter, I need to come and humble Myself and I need to die for you before you can truly then serve Me.

And so if salvation came by me washing the Lord's feet, then it would be by works. But it comes by Him washing mine. And that it's by grace.

And here's the most important thing, that He would receive all the glory and not me. And you go back and you see this throughout the Bible. The very beginning of the Bible, when man sinned, man decided he would clothe himself.

And so he made clothing to cover his body. That's his own effort, his own works. But he'd come to find out that that was not sufficient and that God needed to clothe him.

And of course, God had to kill some animals to do so and shed blood, but the Lord gave him clothing to cover his nakedness, to cover his iniquity, to cover his uncleanness. So here in verse number 8, when Peter says, Thou shalt never wash my feet, Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. And you know, that's the same way it is today.

If we don't come to Him with nothing, if we don't come to Him with nothing in our hands but simply a desire for the Lord, You cleanse me, Lord, You wash me. You know, we can't be cleansed. I think of that Pharisee and the publican who went to the temple to pray.

There were two people who were religious seeking God. One came up like Peter. God, I'm thankful that I'm serving You and I do this and I do that.

And he had a boast in his heart for what he was doing. The Bible says God didn't even hear his prayer. But then the publican came and he had nothing.

He had nothing. And all he wanted was mercy from God. God, I need mercy.

I need You to wash my feet. I don't have anything to give You. Lord, You need to give to me.

You need to cleanse me. And you know, the Bible says that man went down to his house justified rather than the other. And so, Peter here is a picture of the pride of man.

I don't know what you think of when you think of the Lord today. Do you think, Lord, I have nothing to give You? The songwriter says, nothing in my hands I bring. I have nothing to give.

I need to get from You. I need mercy. I need grace.

So the Lord says to Peter, Peter, listen, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with Me. And my friend, I don't care how much good you're doing, how much money you're giving, how much service you do, if you sometime in your life don't get to the place where you come to the Lord and you say, Lord, I have nothing to give to You, I need to receive mercy and grace and salvation from You, you've never been converted. Well, Peter learns real quick here in verse 9. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Praise the Lord. That's a good response. Peter was the guy that seemed to take things to the extreme anyway, but yes, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.

Titus 3.5 says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing. There's that word. You find that word in the Bible oftentimes.

By the washing and the regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit of God. So Peter needs that. He needs to be washed.

We'll jump back to verse 7. I want to comment on what Jesus says to Peter here in verse 7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Now, I don't know all that he's talking there, but I do know this, that Peter's pride is going to be smashed here in just a few hours, because Peter's going to say, Lord, I will never forsake You. I will never betray You.

You know, in his own strength, his own righteousness, he's going to stand for the Lord, right? And Peter's going to end up denying Him this night three times that he even knows Him. And Peter's going to be really humbled. And he's going to go out and weep bitterly.

And he's going to realize that he has nothing and that he needs mercy and forgiveness from the Lord. Well, I want to get down here to verse 10 and verse 11 because there's a lot of good things here that we can talk about. In verse number 10, Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit.

And you are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, You are not all clean. Now, he's talking here to the 12 disciples.

Eleven of them are clean, meaning they have faith in Jesus Christ. They believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They had the testimony of Peter who said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been cleansed from their sin. And Jesus said to them, You are clean, but not every one of you are clean. And of course, he spoke of the one Judas Iscariot who was a unbeliever.

And you remember in John chapter 6, Jesus' testimony of Judas was this, but there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. So the Lord knew that in the midst of these 12 that there was one that was an unbeliever.

So he says here in verse 10, He that is washed, washed from his sins in the blood of Jesus, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. We'll talk about that in a minute. But is clean every wit, and you are clean, but not all.

You know, if I look around here, spiritually speaking, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, I can say that you're clean. You're clean. You're clean because when you came to the Lord and you turned or you repented from your sin and you asked Jesus into your heart to save you, the Bible says that the Lord, He washed you or He cleansed you entirely like Peter, from the head to the toe.

He cleansed you from your sin. But if you're sitting here today and you've never come to Jesus that way, you've never humbled yourself, you've never acknowledged yourself as a sinner, you've never in your heart said, I don't want sin anymore, I want a Savior that not only will forgive me from this sin, but will deliver me and give me mercy, then you're sitting here unclean. So I can't see which of you are clean and which of you are unclean, but when the Lord looked at His disciples, there were 11 that were clean through faith in Him and one that was unclean.

Now I'd like to talk about this idea of being clean and unclean because the Bible spends a lot of time on it. I've said this many times here in church that there's only two groups in the Bible, the believer, the unbeliever, the saved, the lost, the children of God, the children of the devil, the clean, the unclean, the believer, the unbeliever. There's only two, the sheep, the goats.

Obviously here this morning if you've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, then you're washed. But if you haven't been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, then you're unclean. So you have clean and you have unclean.

You don't have to turn there, but I'd like to read to you in 1 Corinthians 6. Paul writes in the church at Corinth, he says, Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now listen to this. And such were some of you, but you are washed.

That's a beautiful word there. But you are washed. You are sanctified.

You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. So some of them were involved in great wickedness, great sin there in Corinth, but they were washed. So you picture someone who is filthy with all kinds of sin in their past, in their life, and they come to Jesus and they repent and they put their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, and all of a sudden all that sin is just washed away.

And so there are some here this morning that are clean. And I'm sure there are some here this morning that are unclean. That in their hearts they do not have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, even as Judas.

They may sit in the midst of us like Judas for three years, and they may put on a good front. I'm amazed that in this night they're going to sit there in a circle and Judas is going to get up and walk out and they're going to wonder, the disciples, where he is going. And the Lord is going to say that one of you is going to betray Me tonight.

And I would think if I was in that group, I'd say, well, I know who that is. That's Judas. I mean, it's been three years we've been seeing Judas.

You can tell he's not a Christian. But you know, everyone of those disciples said, is it I? In other words, Judas lived amongst them in such a way as to hide and conceal who he really was on the inside so much so that no one pointed a finger and said, I know who's going to betray You, Lord. It's been obvious the last three years.

It's Judas. But none of them even brought Judas up. Well, there's two groups of people in the world, the clean and the unclean.

I just asked you a question this morning. Are you in the clean group or are you in the unclean group? There's not the half clean and the half unclean. It's either you're clean or you're unclean.

And as I said before, you could put a piece of paper up here and call these over here the clean and these over here the unclean. And the only difference between the clean and the unclean is this, that the clean have brought their sins to the cross. They've acknowledged their condition.

They asked the Lord Jesus to save them and forgive them. And the blood of Jesus has removed every stain, every spot, and they are going to be presented to Him spotless without any sin. And the unclean are those who've not done anything about sin at all.

They've just went through life and they've accumulated many, many deeds of wickedness and evil. And they've done nothing about it. And I would encourage anyone here who's in this list over here to jump over here and to get in the clean side of things.

I want to read some verses, just a few of them, for reference here of what it's like to be on the clean side, just to encourage maybe some who are not on the clean side to think about getting on the clean side. In Colossians 2, verse 13 it says, And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Those on this side have had all their transgressions blotted out.

That's a good thing, by the way, to have all your transgressions blotted out. Here's another blessing in being on the clean side. The book of Hebrews talks about the New Covenant in Hebrews 8, verse 12.

It says this, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. It's interesting that those on this side, the Lord does not remember their sins anymore. And then one more passage in Romans chapter 4. The blessing of being on the clean side.

Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So in other words, God is not going to mark your sin anymore to your account.

Hey, now, who wouldn't want to be on this side over here? And so the clean side. And there's always been a division in the Bible between the clean and the unclean. That's why you have clean animals in the Old Testament.

That's why you have unclean animals in the Old Testament. There's always been a division in God's mind. He divides the clean from the unclean.

Some of you might remember Noah's Ark and how there were animals that were brought into the ark. There's a beautiful picture there of this idea of clean and unclean. Children, who can tell me this? How many of the unclean animals, how many pairs of the unclean were brought into the ark? Where's our Bible scholars? How many unclean were brought in? How many were the clean? How many clean pairs were brought in of every species? How many? Seven.

Seven. I like numerology. We've been spending a little time on that in our second coming study on Saturday morning.

But numbers have a meaning. And seven for the clean. Seven means perfection.

Seven means completion. You know, in Jesus Christ when you're clean, you're perfect, you're complete. You're complete in Him, in His righteousness.

Anybody know how many of the unclean animals went in? Two. That's right, two. What's the word two? Or what's the number two? What's the symbolic meaning of two? Well, two is the number of division.

Two is the number of separation. One is unity. Two is division.

Two is separation. In other words, the unclean are to be divided. The unclean are to be separated from the clean.

Let's go back to the first mention of the word two in the Bible. Turn back to Genesis 1. I'll show you the first mention of the word two or the number two. And it talks about dividing here.

And this principle of dividing the clean from the unclean. Genesis 1, verse 16. God is creating the earth and the heavens.

And the first mention of the number two is found in verse 16. It says, And God made two great lights. There's a lot of things in here that's interesting.

Creation, again, I tell you this often, but creation has so many beautiful lessons in it. Here's a good one. Verse 16.

And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. There's the first mention of the word two.

Two great lights. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

And so from the very beginning here, God set two. And every day, whether you recognize this or not, every day God is teaching you something. That He is dividing the day from the night.

He is dividing the light from the darkness. And going way back to Genesis here, chapter 1, you see how God is teaching dividing. Light from darkness.

Dividing the children of light from the children of darkness. And every day we're taught that. Light is divided from darkness.

Clean is divided from the unclean. I'll give you a New Testament verse. Ephesians 5, verse 11 says, "...and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." We're children of light.

We ought not to have fellowship with children of darkness. 2 Corinthians 6, "...Wherefore, come out from among them and be you separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." Separate yourself from the unclean. Separate yourself from darkness.

As you're looking here at Genesis 1, verse 18, it says, "...and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good." You know, God likes that. He says, I don't want darkness and light to be intermingled. I divided them.

And I want the light over here and the darkness I want over here. And that's why there's only two groups in the world. The children of light, the clean, and children of darkness, the unclean.

And from the very beginning, the Lord has taught us that. But as I've said many times before, division amongst the children of light is not a good thing. But here's another lesson I'd like to share with you this morning from creation.

Look at verse 16 of Genesis 1. And God made two great lights. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. Now, you know, if you're an unbeliever here today, I would believe the Bible just because of how much wisdom is in it.

I mean, no man could have wrote this book. There's so much in it. There's so much wisdom in creation.

There's so much wisdom here in God's Word. And so from the very beginning, it says God made two great lights. The greater light to rule the day.

We are children of the day, right? Who rules us? The greater light. Who's the greater light? The Lord Jesus. He is our Master.

He is our Ruler. And the lesser light to rule the night. You know, we get our direction.

We get our leadership from our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our light. But what about those who are children of darkness? What about those in the night? Has God given them light? Yes, He has.

He's given them the lesser light to rule the night. Who knows what the lesser light is in the heaven? The greater light is the sun, right? That rules the day. Does the sun rule the night? No, there wouldn't be any night if the sun ruled the night.

Who rules the night? The moon. The moon. The moon is the light for the children of the night.

Now what is the moon? A reflection of the sun. Now I don't think anybody, personally, I don't think anybody can sit down and write this book who don't even know 4,000 years ago about science and teach things and bring out the beauties of creation, but the moon, there is no light in the moon itself. We have no light in ourselves as children of light.

The only light we have is our reflection of the sun. And that's exactly what the moon is. The moon is simply reflecting the sun in the night to the children of darkness.

And so the Lord Jesus is a greater light and the church, we, we are the lesser light. And so there's many things we can learn from creation. Let's go back to John here.

John 13. We're going to continue. In John 13, and look at verse 10 again.

Jesus said unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and you are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, you are not all clean. Now I know verse number 10, there's some words there that we don't use in the English language.

That word save, you know, says there he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. Brother Cleve here would encourage us always to read an NASB or something of that nature because we don't have to go back to the NSA to understand these things. NASB.

But listen to what the NASB says regarding this verse here. I'm going to give you the translation. He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.

He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. Now, we in America, we don't understand this because we don't live this out. But if you go to the third world, you go to poor countries, you'll experience this more.

Here in America, when I take a bath, I get completely clean usually. And then afterwards, I come out on a completely clean floor, my bathroom floor, my wife keeps it nice and clean, Emily keeps it clean, and I keep clean. I go to my room and everything is clean, and I put on my socks and my shoes and my feet stay perfectly clean.

And in America, we don't really understand what's being spoken here. However, if you live in a third world country or even back in these days, you would go down to the river or maybe to the lake, and you would bathe and cleanse your whole body. But as soon as you walked out of that river or as soon as you walked out of that lake, guess what happened? Your feet get dirty immediately.

You walk two steps out and your feet are already getting dirty. So what do you do? You go back into the lake and rewash your whole body, right? You don't do that. Because then when you walk out, oh, my feet are dirty again.

So we go back into the lake, we rewash, so we keep bathing and bathing and bathing because every time we come out, our feet get dirty. But we don't do that. Why do our feet get dirty? Because we're in constant contact with this earth, this soil, this dirt that our feet are constantly touching.

And even though we are clean, we've been bathed, we still need to keep our feet washed on a regular basis. And there's something I think that the Lord is teaching here that's a beautiful thing that some of you here have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. You're clean.

But as you walk through everyday life, you come in contact with this world and you have temptations, you have struggles, you have influences. And sometimes we fall and sometimes we're as Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. And sometimes we have to come daily and wash our feet.

And that simply means we need to get on our face and confess our sin on a regular basis. Amen? Even though you've been forgiven, even though you've been washed of your sin, even though your sin is not imputed unto you, you need to continue to wash your feet. And that's what the Lord is saying here in verse 10.

He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every week. So, here's a lesson for you. You come to Jesus.

You get saved. You're washed from all your sin from head to toe. Then, the first day you're converted, you stumble and fall into sin.

Does that mean you need to go back and get a whole new bath? No. You know, there's some people who are like that. Oh, I stumbled and sinned.

I need to go back and get converted again. No, you don't need to do that. You've been washed.

You've been cleansed. What you need to do is wash your feet. Right? It says there in verse 10, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every week.

So, there's a need for daily confession and to come to the Lord and say, Lord, thank You that I'm forgiven. Thank You that I'm clean, Lord. But you know what? Today, I was walking along in this dirty, ungodly world.

I was tempted and I fell into sin. I don't need to get washed entirely again. I just need to wash my feet.

I just need to come and say, Lord, forgive me and cleanse me and wash me from what I've done. And that's 1 John 1.9, isn't it? If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us. That's a foot cleansing from all unrighteousness.

And there's another thing I think that we all understand and we all know by nature is that, for example, my son Ezra or Judson or Emily, when they were born into our family, they were our children. And they're our children. Sometimes they make mistakes.

Sometimes they fail. Sometimes they sin. And when they sin, there is a relationship issue that needs to be addressed.

You parents understand that and we all understand that. That it doesn't mean that my children are no longer my children, but there is a relationship breach there. And that relationship breach needs to be addressed.

It's called fellowship. And even though I am a child of God, I can be out of fellowship with God if I walk in sin and dirty my feet and don't do anything about it. So that's why there's many Christians who are Christians who are clean, but yet they're out of fellowship with God.

Because they've not taken it seriously to keep their feet cleansed and to wash their feet. So theologically, you all positionally, because you believe in Jesus, are cleansed. You've had a bath.

And you've been bathed in the blood of Jesus. You're clean. But practically every day, you need to wash your feet.

Amen? Practically every day, you need to say, Lord, forgive me. I was in contact with the world and sin and I've done something wrong and my feet need cleansed. I don't need to take a whole bath again.

You bathed me when I was converted. I've been washed. Now He's going to change gears here and He's going to look to the disciples.

He's explaining what's happened here with regards to being washed, how your sins have been washed away and you need to continually cleanse your feet. Let's go over to verse 12 because this will get into what He wants us to do with each other. Verse 12, So after He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and was set down again, He said unto them, Know you what I have done to you.

Do you understand what I have done to you? I have forgiven you. I have cleansed you of your transgressions. I am washing your feet.

Now let's keep reading. You call Me Master and Lord and you say, Well, for so I am. And if I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Do we understand what He's saying there? If I, your Lord and Master, am willing to forgive you and to cleanse you on a regular basis as My children, you ought to wash one another's feet. Now, something interesting here. Do you know that the Lord never encouraged them to give each other a bath? Okay, Peter, you give Thomas a bath.

No, it's not about bathing. Because you've already been bathed in the blood of Jesus, you've already been washed, but you need to wash each other's feet. Only Jesus can wash away our sins and make us clean every wit.

Right? But He is showing an example that we would wash each other's feet. Our transgressions on a day-to-day basis. Keep reading.

Verse 13 You call Me Master and Lord and you say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, 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.

So, the Lord is saying if I am your Master and Lord and I am willing to humble Myself and to wash you and to cleanse you from your transgressions, you ought to do the same to your brother. Right? So Peter has this question for the Lord. Lord, how often shall my brother sin and defile his feet and sin against Me and I forgive him? Do I have to wash him seven times in a day? What does the Lord say to him? How about 70 times 7, right? And so the Lord is actually teaching here the principle of washing and forgiving one another, their transgressions.

You know, forgiving your brother or sister is one of the great testimonies of love. What is the greatest testimony that Jesus has given mankind about His love toward us? How did He show that? He showed that to us by forgiving us of our sins and making it possible for us to receive forgiveness. That is, God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

There may not be a better testimony of love that you can express to another person outside of forgiveness. See, I know the Bible says if you love your brother, you'll lay down your life for them, you'll give when they have needs, yes, but you'll also be very willing to forgive them. It's a wonderful example.

Look over at John 13, verse 34. The Lord is going to share a little bit on this here a little bit later. He says, A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this shall all men know that you are My disciples if you have love towards one another. So I believe these are connected, you know? If you really love your brother, then you ought to wash your brother's feet. If you really love your sister, then you ought to wash your sister's feet.

Yes, I understand you ought to be a servant. Yes, I understand that those who wash feet were the servants. They came in.

They washed everyone's feet and we ought to be servants. But in reality, I think the greater thing here is this idea of washing your brother and sister from sin. Forgiving them of their sin and their transgression.

And that's the context here of this whole account. 1 Peter 4.8 One of my favorite verses on this subject. It says, And above all things, this is priority number one, above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

In other words, have fervent feet washing. When your brother and sister stumble and fall, be fervent in your love one towards another and wash their feet. Proverbs 17.9 He that covers a transgression seeks love, but he that repeats a matter separateth very friends.

That's a good one for marriage too, isn't it? Well, let's keep reading. I have one passage I want to look at here this morning yet. Verse 16 Verily, verily, 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, happy are ye if you do them. And so the Lord is like this. I'm your Lord.

You say I'm your Lord and Master. That's great. I am.

Now if I, your Lord and Master, have come down and washed your feet and have cleansed you and have forgiven you, you ought to also wash one another's feet to cleanse each other and forgive each other. I'd like you to look. We're familiar with this passage, but I'd like you to look here in Matthew chapter 18 once.

Matthew chapter 18. Peter is talking here in verse 21 of Matthew 18. Here's the Master and the Servant in one parable.

In Matthew 18 verse 23, this is right after Peter says, How often shall my brothers sin against me and I forgive him? That's in verse 21. But down in verse 23, Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, that's the Master, which would take account of his servant. There's the servant.

When he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents, but for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt.

He was cleansed. Every wit. So the Lord says, If I, your Master, have done this for you, you ought to wash one another's feet.

Right? Well, look what this guy does. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

And his fellow servant fell down on his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done.

Then his Lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee. I washed you from top to bottom. I forgave you all that debt because you desired of me.

Shouldest thou not also have had compassion on my fellow servant? What about your fellow servant's feet? His debt is small compared to your debt. Even as I had pity on thee and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him, so likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you. If you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses, if you don't wash your brothers' feet.

Now there's a promise here for torment, and torment's not a good thing. Torment brings sorrow. Torment brings fear.

Torment brings a lot of things that are unlovely. That's for those who hold bitter, unforgiving attitudes toward their brothers and sisters. It's a life of very difficult, it's a difficult life.

If you remember here, the last verse I read in John 13, it says, if you know these things, happy are you if you do. Happy are you. You've got happy and torment.

Happy are you who are willing and desirous to wash your brothers' feet and to give forgiveness and mercy to your brothers. And so when we think of washing feet, I'm all for service. I'm all for serving one another and how the servant would stand at the door and the visitor would come in and he would wash feet.

And that's a good thing. I think we ought to in love serve one another. But there's another aspect here and that is to cleanse each other.

As we've been cleansed from the Lord and washed in the blood of Jesus, then we need to turn around and wash one another's feet. So as you wash feet here today, I would encourage you to examine your heart. And yes, we're only going to wash one person's feet.

But let me ask you this. As you wash your brother or your sister's feet today, I want you to think about this reality that are you washing everyone's feet today? Just because you're in line with a certain person, oh, I get to wash this person's feet. I don't have any problem with this person.

There's no unforgiveness. There's no bitterness with this person. Yes, but what about that person over there in the congregation, right? And so as you come to wash feet, can you in your heart say, I have no unforgiveness or bitterness towards anyone here? I trust you can do that.

So today as we wash feet and the young men are going back, and going to bring up some basins for us, I would encourage you to examine your heart to make sure you truly love your brother, love your sister. And if you do, you'll have a fervent charity. And that fervent charity will cover a multitude of sins.

Well, let's have a word of prayer.