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267 A fullness resides in Jesus our head. A fullness abides to answer all need.
Whatever distress awaits us below, such plentiful grace the Lord will bestow.
267.
Nsnoise.
Joy again my life so well, why I got one of my eyes.
389.
Almighty Phillips save and no one could not be found.
To keep the continuity of our what we're taking up here, I'm going to suggest that we start at the sixth verse this afternoon. I know we made some comments here, but.
Read down how far? Just just until the end of the 17th I think.
John 13, verse 6.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter says unto him, I shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee knot, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not saved to wash his feet, but is clean every width, and ye are clean. But not all three 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 you what I've done to you. You call me master and Lord, and you, uh, say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that you, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily I send 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 before you sit down, Bruce, I'm going to get you to read a verse.
In the 12Th of Luke.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 37.
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Move 1237 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Barely. I send you that He shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them at the end of the meeting. I'd like to make some concluding remarks by going back to this verse we've just read in the 12Th of Luke, but I suggested we begin at the sixth verse of our portion in John 13, because we ought not to miss the mentions of Peter that we have here.
We all have taken up and enjoyed the life of Peter. There are perhaps 3 disciples that are prominent in the circumstances surrounding the Upper Room ministry, the garden scene.
Later on, a couple, a couple of them prominent in connection with the foot of the cross and the empty tomb and so on. And those disciples are first of all, Judas, which we have commented on in the past reading.
And let's make it clear that Judas remained an unregenerate man to the end.
He went out after betraying the Lord with remorse but not repentance. He went out and he in remorse, and he hanged himself, and he went to his own place. He died an unregenerate man and entered into the darkness of a lost eternity forever. What a solemn lesson we learned as we had before us this morning from the life of Judas. Then we have John himself, who later on in this chapter refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
And five times you have in these concluding chapters of John S gospel John being referring to himself in that way. He leaned on Jesus bosom at supper.
He's the one that could speak to the Lord and ask who the betrayer was. He's the one that the Lord Jesus later committed the care of his mother to.
One leaning on Jesus boos him and enjoying his love is the one that's fit for service.
But then there's Peter as well, and we find that later on in this chapter, Peter does deny his Lord three times with oaths and curses.
And or it's brought before us. And so I think it's helpful to see. And as we trace the life of Peter, brethren, we often shake our heads at Peter and what he said and what he did. And sometimes he spoke and did things to put it in modern language, off the cuff. He did things, said things before he thought he did things, before he really considered the matter. But aren't we thankful that those things are recorded for us, for our learning?
To some degree, they're perhaps reflections of our own hearts and things we've done ourselves, and they're recorded for our learning. But what I've appreciated, and this is the point I want to make in connection with this portion, what I've appreciated in connection with Peter and the things that he said and did, was that Peter really did love the Lord.
John styled himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Peter perhaps styled himself as the disciple who loved Jesus, and he had to learn his own heart. But he really did love the Lord.
And I think it was brother John mentioned this morning that really even in this incident.
You if you look beyond what he said and did, and see the motive of his heart.
Very interesting and instructive. You know when Peter saw the Lord Jesus down like this?
Washing the disciples feet, he didn't think that was any place for his Lord.
That that wasn't really what his Lord should be doing.
He didn't understand, but when he speaks up, he really didn't want to see the Lord down washing his feet. It's like when he said to the Lord, though I'll deny thee, yet will not I deny thee?
That wasn't just an idle boast. He really meant it. And when he rebuked the Lord in connection with going to the cross, he didn't want to see his Lord suffer. He didn't understand his heart or what he was saying.
But I think it's just so beautiful to see Peter's heart. Peter really didn't want the Lord down there washing his feet. But when he heard he had no part with him, if he didn't, then what does he say now? He still doesn't understand, but he says, Well then Lord, give it to me all now. He didn't understand when he said just not my feet only, but wash me all over my.
You say he should have kept quiet, but he said, Lord, if it means if washing my your feet means part with you, communion with you, then don't stop with my feet.
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I want it all. And the other thing too is we learn then from the Lord's gracious and patient replies and responses to Peter. So I just suggest we perhaps can meditate and get some other comments on the things that Peter said here and the Lord's gracious responses to it.
In connection with Peter and his statements, I'm going to read the three statements.
Just the statements, but notice one important word that's left out of the middle statement.
First statement.
6 Lord, dost thou wash my seat feet?
Versailles.
Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Verse 9 Lord, not my feet only.
Pretty obvious, isn't it? He leaves the word Lord out.
And that's a very common thing with us. We may not use the word, but when we're not gonna agree with the Lord, it's pretty natural in us to leave that Lord out of what we have to say to Him. Because if He had in that second statement truly accepted the place the Lord had, he wouldn't have said it, because he was talking as an equal in that sense to the Lord, rather than re addressing one who.
He could say Lord. So it's a it's a little.
Listen to us, uh, let's keep the Lord in our hearts and when we address Him.
But he did not understand and.
Oh, how often that happens with us, too. We don't understand what the Lord's doing in our lives. And we try, we struggle to grapple with it, and we come to our own conclusions and we are generally mistaken. But I think it is.
Beautiful to see that he's true hearted and that.
In spite of his misunderstanding.
The Lord in His responses helps us to understand what was.
Being implied in these verses and.
When he saw him down there, like Jim said, he said, do you wash my feet?
He says, Thou shalt never wash my feet. He should be washing the feet, but not my Lord. But then he says, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And that opens up to us, brethren, our need today. And the Lord says in verse.
Ten he that is washed, and the word there is.
A bath. A complete bath.
Needeth not saved to wash his feet but is clean every wet and you're clean but not all because Judas was not clean.
But it's in reference to, and I think this is John mentioned it this morning, that it's referring to the overall bath that the priests were given in their consecration in the Old Testament when they were brought before the Lord. There was an overall once for all bath given to him were cleansed.
All over from that time on. It was not necessary to repeat that bath, but they had the labor to wash their hands and feet when they went in. So that's what the Lord is referring to here. It's what relates to the washing of regeneration, which takes place once for all. We've been cleansed from the guilt of our sins by the blood of Christ, but we've been cleansed as well by the washing of regeneration.
And that's important to understand. We've been brought into a completely new position before God. We are new, new creation. We are part of new creation and that's what is referred to. And now as we pass through this world, we don't need that overall bath repeated again and again. What we need is that washing that is necessary of our feet.
And Christianity, it's not so much a matter of the hands, because the work has been done.
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But it's a matter of our walk. And so it's not the hands and the feet here, but it's the feet. Whereas in the Old Testament it was the hands and the feet that had to be cleansed in the labor as they went into the Tabernacle to the service of God.
Because of course the he was a man that did not know his own heart and, uh.
The Lord had given him a warning that.
Umm, Satan was going to sift him the ward, said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
When thou art converted or restored, strengthen thy brethren. So the Lord gave him a solemn warning here that he would fall, but being self confident, he uh, didn't pay attention to it. And he had uh.
Uh, confidence in his, uh, in himself, uh, and his devotedness to the Lord and his love for the Lord, uh, which was genuine, but uh, he didn't realize the.
The weakness of his own heart and the flesh and so he learned what the flesh was by a fall and I'm afraid that's often the way in which we learn the the wretchedness and the evil of our own hearts is by a fall in our lives and the Lord prays for us as we have in our chapter 13 there it's the.
Priestly, all part of the priestly work of Christ to restore us when we have failed. But, uh, it's part of the government of God too, because, uh, we learn our own hearts by a bitter, uh, experience. We can learn our own hearts, uh, in communion with God. Uh, and the, the, the longer we walk the, uh, pathway of faith, the, the more, uh, the deeper knowledge we have of the wretchedness of our own hearts.
I am sure that all my brethren would agree with that. But Peter had confidence in himself, and probably that is the root of much of our failure. He did not fall down on the Lord's feet and say, Lord, keep me, or else I will fall. Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. There was no dependence there.
There was confidence in his own strength, in his own.
Devotedness and he failed miserably, as we have often done too. But the Lord graciously prayed for him. It was the Lord's Prayer.
That brought, that started the, the repentance in the, uh, in the heart of Peter that led him to bitter tears. It was the Lord's prayer for him. And so brethren, might be a help to some of the young people. Sometimes we fail and we, uh, get so discouraged that we, uh, we think, uh, there's no hope. Uh, but remember, the Lord is praying for us.
He is interceding for us in that prayer by the Spirit of God. And the word of God leads us to judge, uh, that, uh, that matter which separated us, that interrupted communion. And in this way, we have our feet washed and uh, we are restored, but it's the intercession, or we might more accurately call it the advocacy of Christ. Advocacy is, uh, is for failure.
The high priestly work of Christ is more to, uh, to give us strength in the time of temptation. It's uh, the advocacy of Christ is with the Father. The priesthood of Christ is with God.
And it's to keep us from falling. But how much? We need the intercession of the Lord, as we see in the life of Peter.
And, uh, his restoration and when he was at Pentecost, as we remember, uh, when 3000 souls were saved, he, uh, charged the Israelites with the very same, uh, uh, very same rejection that he had shown, uh, he had, uh, not confessed the Lord in, in his time of testing.
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And yet he charges them with refusing their Messiah. But he had been, uh, wonderfully restored at that time, and the Lord used him in a mighty way.
Let us know our own hearts. Really do we, John?
As we go go on in the pathway of faith, I don't think we ever get to the depths of it. No, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Brethren, we need to walk in humbleness before the Lord at all times.
She sees what we don't see and think of Job, a man that was perfect in his ways. But there was a defect that the Lord saw. Nobody else sighed. Even when Job had the trial come into his life, his friends came and they thought they understood what it was. They were completely mistaken. It was the Lord that saw it, and we cannot. Job trusted that he was all right.
And that God hadn't treated him right. Brethren, the Lord sees those defects, those pockets of reserve in our hearts, those pockets of unbelief, and in the ways of God with us, He brings them out to the light so that they can be judged. But none of us can say we know our own hearts. But we should, as we learn, like you say, John.
How unworthy of trust we are. We should learn to trust him more.
And to learn more of what his heart is. We may learn more of what our hearts are as we go along, but to learn more of what his heart is, there'll be true blessing in the circumstances. And it's remarkable when you come over to Peter's epistle, he's the one that says, account, the long-suffering of God is salvation. And I've often thought in reading that statement, who better to make that statement than one who had experienced the long-suffering and patience.
Of the Lord Jesus with him in his pathway. In fact, Peter ends his ministry at the end of the second epistle by saying grow in grace.
Peter had grown in grace. He had come to understand the grace of God.
In a very real and practical way in his life. And rather than if through the failures and circumstances of life we learned that, I say there will be blessing. And I might just say to those who are younger and all of us really, maybe you have failed. We all have failed. We failed sometimes. Every day we feel some failure in our lives. But don't be discouraged by those failures. You said I was like Peter. I spoke up and I said the wrong thing. And then I wished I hadn't said that. And.
I did something and I just realized it with my own heart, getting a flesh getting in the way and.
I just wish I hadn't done that. Don't be discouraged. Learn from your mistakes, learn from those things, and learn from the Lord's gracious dealing with you. And maybe I can just say this too, not to depart from what we're Speaking of here, but to those of us who are a little further along in the path of faith and perhaps take a more active part in public things, we need to seek the Spirit of Christ in dealing.
With our brethren too, to learn from the way the Lord responded to Peter.
And to be exercised in our dealings with our brethren and perhaps those who are a little younger, who maybe don't enter into things or understand certain points of truth or doctrine. Let's be gracious, let's be patient and seek to teach in the way that the Lord Jesus did. He was the perfect teacher. His spirit and attitude as well as what he said was perfect. And we will never obtain attain to that perfection.
I realized, and whatever we do, there's, it's checkered and there it's faulty. But I think we can learn something. Those of us who are a little older in dealing with those that perhaps we feel well, they should know better and they, they should just keep quiet and listen if they don't understand. You know, I, I'm often thankful when a sincere question is raised in a reading meeting or in, in, in a setting like this and a question is raised and maybe somebody says, well, they, they should really understand or why don't they just be quiet and listen to what's being said? But sometimes those questions.
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Our comments that maybe aren't quite what they should have been. Sometimes they can lead to the bringing out of truth.
Thus, the Spirit of God would have for us that would otherwise be missed or passed over.
Suppose Peter hadn't made these comments. Suppose he hadn't raised these issues well, perhaps there wouldn't have been things brought out. The Lord used those as opportunities to bring these things out. So I just say that let's not be discouraged by failure and things we say and do without thinking, but let's seek to learn from them, and let's be gracious with others.
And we should quit looking for any usefulness in ourselves. The only good I have is Christ in me.
Tahoma Floors.
Well, depths of the wickedness of the heart of man. We don't have to get into that. But as we go along, we have that confirmed to us time and again how very wicked our hearts are. But I think we come to the conclusion of I know that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And we learn to turn from ourselves, turn to be occupied with that one who is completely perfect.
To look up into the glory of God and to see that man up there in the glory and say, that's my life. My life is not what you see down here, but it is that man in the glory. And the more you're occupied with him, the more you're going to be transformed into his image. That's a something that happens in each one of our lives and the measure that we're occupied with him. And I think the transformation, you're not going to see it very much. Perhaps it will be others that see it in you.
So I, I don't see that it's uh.
A contradiction that it is. It is something that complements those two statements that you mentioned, Mark.
From our chapter here, but in, uh, you'll remember in, uh, the case of the children of Israel when they crossed over the Jordan, a picture of death into the promised land they encamped in Gilgal. And Gilgal is a very important, uh, place in the, uh, history of Israel and, uh, in what it speaks to our souls of.
And you remember that, uh, before they.
Launched out in attacks upon the nations in the land of Canaan, which they were commanded to do that, uh, there at Gilgal where they encamped, they used sharp knives upon themselves. Uh, this is brought out very clearly in Joshua chapter 5. Uh, they learn they, uh, use sharp knives on themselves before they use sharp swords on the people of Canaan.
And that would bring before us.
Self judgment and how necessary that is in each one of our lives. We all, we all know how much there is in our lives that needs to be judged. And uh, even Mr. Darby, godly man as he was, he felt there was much in his life that needed to need self judgment. And I'm sure that all of us could say that, but the point is before they went out into.
Active warfare. They were soldiers. They needed to be prepared in their own souls, you might say by, uh, circumcision, which is a picture of keeping the flesh in the place of death. Now, the flesh is not said to be dead. We'll have it till the end of the story, but we are to keep it in the place of death. That's what I think is implied by that verse, always bearing about in the body.
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The dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our.
Mortal flesh, but unless that flesh is kept in the place of death, it's going to assert itself, uh, like it did in Peter and, uh, like it has in every one of our experiences and bring, uh, and cut out a lot of sorry work for us. Uh, because not only will communion be interrupted, but we will come under the government of God too, unless we judge that, that, uh, that matter or that sin which has, uh.
Uh, broken communion with our blessed Lord. So I just mentioned that that, uh, self judgment is important in our lives and it's an exercise that we are called upon to do. It's our responsibility.
Uh, and the word of God, as we have in our chapter reproves us, it corrects us and it leads us to self judgment. And that is the secret of the communion with God. Uh, it's often been said, uh, we are as believers to keep short accounts with God. Umm, I think we probably have all heard that expression. What does it mean? Well, it means, uh, that when we sin, let us deal with it immediately when, uh.
It is laid upon our conscience by the Spirit of God, and it doesn't take much to, uh, to break communion. A sharp, angry word breaks communion with God.
And, uh, we have to judge those things or else it's going to lead to something more serious. So I think that, uh, we, we do have the wondrous, uh, uh, high priestly work of Christ, his advocacy, but we are called upon to, uh, keep that old nature, uh, in the place of death and allow the life of Christ to be manifested.
Good for us when we get to the point where we can say like Peter, Lord, thou knowest.
Uh, I just comment a little further on Peter. Some of the greatest experiences of his life he failed in, but they were still the greatest experiences of his life. On the Mount of Transfiguration. He got to see one of the greatest things that was ever seen by man while the Lord Jesus was on earth as far as his being able to see his millennial glory.
But it's the same place that Peter wanted to make the three Tabernacles and and had to learn a lesson. But the wonderful thing about Peter is he was a pretty good learner and he did learn his lessons. Sometimes we talk about lessons and so on, but.
Seems like we gotta keep repeating him for a lifetime. But we do see in Peter progress in his life because he was somebody that did respond to the rebukes and did learn the lessons. And when Peter writes his second epistle about that amount of transfiguration, he gives glory to God in it. And he had profited by the experience. And it's used later in his life in Matthew 16 when he.
Uh, the Lord says, well, whom do men say that I, the Son of man, AM, and so on. And then Peter says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Uh, he gave glory to God in that experience. Immediately after that, what does the Lord do? He entrusts to him the keys of the Kingdom. A few sentences later, what happens? The Lord says to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou sufferest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man.
And so he fails again in that particular situation. But at the same time, the Lord, who was the heart, knowing God, entrusted something very important to Peter. We all know of his failure and his zeal and true heartedness to follow the Lord into death and not being able to do it. But what happens afterwards on the shore of the Sea of Galilee? The Lord says to Peter.
When he restores him publicly, he says he gives him tremendous responsibility.
Peter might have said, oh, there's nothing for me now. I've done one of the worst things that a Christian could do. He wasn't a Christian then, but he was a believer. And uh yeah, the Lord, who's the hard knowing God used those even failures in Peter's life as points of learning that Peter benefited from. And the Lord responded to it. And so he entrusts to him the care of the sheep and the lambs.
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It was a tremendous responsibility that Peter carried out the rest of his life.
So brethren, we need to be thankful to the Lord that he, like Peter, we need to be able to say, Lord, thou knowest and not give up, but also not.
Uh, the greatest failure, in a sense, is not to learn from failure.
It's on a little bit already, but I think we need to perhaps make some comments on the Lord's response in the end of verse eight. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. And then Peter says Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Now that before I comment on this, the Lord's response, Another thing that characterized Peter through all the failure and ups and downs of his pathway is he desired, I believe above all else, the company of the Lord Jesus.
I've enjoyed that in connection with the event in the 14th of Matthew when the Lord came to the disciples walking on the water during the storm one night, and when Peter saw the Lord out on the sea and realized who he was.
He said Lord, and he used the word again, If it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the sea.
Now we often read on, and we shake our head at Peter when he sank, and we say, oh poor Peter and so on. And I again I realized Peter failed and the Lord had to rebuke him, and so on.
But I covered Peter's response when he said, if that Lord, I speak reverently, if that's you out there, I don't want to be in the ship and you out there, I want to be where you are. I want to be closer to you. And how could Peter dare step down out of the ship? One word, brethren, come. Peter found out the Lord desired his company as well, and so he could step out of the ship on the water, not to go away from Jesus.
It says to go to Jesus. Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the Lord.
Peter wanted more of his company, and Jonah went under the waters. Peter rose above the waters and walked on the water to go to Jesus. But to get back to this little expression, I know our brother John mentioned it this morning.
But I think it's important to see how the Lord phrases this year because it's really the crux of the whole matter of feet washing. If at the end of verse eight, if I wash thee knot, thou hast no part, notice this next little word with me, not in me. It wasn't a question of Peter having part in him. Peter was a true believer and feet washing is not a question of you and I being in Christ.
But it is a question of having part with Him. It's a question, as we've been saying, of walking in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence with us and enjoying the fellowship and communion that he desires.
Because, as we've already said, there are those things that come in to dull our affections, to distract us, and to chill our souls so that we aren't enjoying the communion and fellowship that we ought to.
Like to use a little illustration that years ago an uncle of mine used in speaking about the difference between.
Our security in Christ and our fellowship with Him. My uncle was telling us that years ago.
When he was with the service, he was on a ship overseas that made several ports of call and it was the days before wireless communication. And he said when that ship would arrive at port, there were great ropes brought out of the side of that ship and that ship was secured to the to the Wharf and there it was secure. And that ship couldn't go anywhere until those ropes were undone. And the.
The ship was ready to continue its journey. It was secure. But he said very shortly after the ship was secured to the war, there would be a wire run from the communication cabin on that ship to some point on the land so that ship to shore communication could be established. And he said that perhaps several times during the days that that ship was in port.
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The communication would be broken and it didn't take much sometimes to break that communication, that fine wire, because the ship lurched a little bit, maybe a bird, a seagull landed on that wire and it came undone at one end or the other, maybe some weather, whatever it was, often the communication would be broken and had to be re established. When the communication was broken, it didn't mean that the ship wasn't anchored safely to the shore.
But it did mean that communication was broken, and maybe that helps us in a little way to understand what the Lord was bringing before Peter.
Peter, you don't need to be washed all over like as we've had the priests at their consecration, there were two things applied, the blood and the water. And in that way it never had to be applied again. But they had to come again and again and again and wash their hands and their feet. And brethren, if we're going to have part with Christ, if we're going to enjoy that fellowship and communion, if the line of communication is going to be kept open on a daily, hourly basis.
We're going to have to come again and again to the word of God with a elderly brother. He's with the Lord now, but.
Within my home assembly for many years, and he used to tell us that in his working days when he came home at night from the office, he needed a good wash. And he wasn't talking about soap and water. He was talking about the washing of water by the Word. He felt that he had seen and heard and contacted things during the day that had perhaps dulled that communion or broken that fellowship, and he needed to get into the Word of God and have that restored by the cleansing effect of God's Word.
Peter could see a bowl.
He knew there was water put in it.
He saw the towel.
So in verse seven, what it says, what I do thou knowest not now.
I believe proves that.
The Lord is not teaching us to do something literally.
But there's something figuratively set forth, and it's marvelous when you think it's.
The last night.
The last word.
The Lord Jesus is giving them something.
To help them on through the pathway here below and to help them help one another.
What thoughtfulness of the Lord?
End.
The Lord's up to something right now. Am I up to it with Him?
Or is there something?
That's defiling in my life that would prevent me from being up with him.
And he, he wants us to have part with him.
Were saved by grace. Nobody in all of Christianity would disagree with that. But then they try to wash their own feet.
I am saved by grace and I live by grace.
Its all the work of Christ as soon as I try to live the Christian life for.
I live the Christian life not because of some moral power in me.
But the moral power of the one who lives in me?
Left to ourselves for one second, all we can do is sin, but the sovereign grace of our loving Father who continually washes our feet in this path. By grace alone, we can walk in the resurrection.
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2nd Corinthians 5 and verse.
9 Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him, or the better translation is acceptable to him.
Now the that's not a question of, uh.
Paul's acceptance before God in the all. The value of the work of Christ is standing, but this is a question of his state.
We want our lives to be acceptable to the Lord, that they will meet His approval at the judgment seat of Christ. In fact, that's what the apostle brings before us in the next verse. He wanted to walk in such a way that.
When his life was reviewed at the judgment seat, that's not the great white throne, although the great white throne is all part of the judgment seat, we would say. But the judgment seat for believers is when our lives will be, uh, manifest. Not to condemn us, uh, not our persons being judged, but our walk in our ways that we're talking about, uh, are going to come under review everything that I have done in my life.
Uh.
Will come under review and be manifested. So we should be exercised that our walk is acceptable to the Lord. We are accepted in the Beloved, that is true, but God would have our lives to be fruitful and be.
According to his mind and something that will abide for eternity.
And here that were real, and one that wasn't. And the Lord knew who should betray him. I.
I say that because it's not a question ever of someone being real and then losing that. I I know there's a great deal of teaching sometimes that a person can be real, they can be saved, and then they can lose their salvation. But that was not the case with Judas, and Scripture never teaches that. And I know sometimes the children and young people go to school and they hear this kind of thing from their Christian friends.
But that is not the teaching of the Word of God. Judas was never real.
His heart remained hardened until the very end, and the Lord Jesus looked at this little company around him.
And as we pointed out this morning, he washed all their feet. But he could say ye are not all clean.
There was one who D never had the bath. There was one who D never been washed all over. And the Lord knew. And again, it's a serious thing. The Lord looks down at a company like this and he knows who's real and who isn't. Maybe there's a person here and you fooled your parents for a long time. Maybe if someone shook your hand at the end of a gospel meeting at the door and asked you if you were saved, you'd say yes. And maybe that the preacher would have no reason to doubt it from your life and conduct.
But is there reality in your soul? The Lord knows them that are His.
And the Lord looked at this company, and Judas, as we said this morning, had fooled the disciples, the other disciples, but he hadn't fooled the Lord Jesus. And you won't fool the Lord Jesus. And so he knew who should betray him. There was one who'd never been washed all over. It wasn't that he'd been washed. And then he defiled himself and lost what he had. No, he had never had that regeneration, and he never got it either.
Regeneration, Brother Jim, is helpful in the sense that the work of the cross had not been finished. In a certain sense. This washing doesn't really refer to having our sins washed away in the precious blood of Christ, but rather born of water and of the Spirit and, uh, really being a true child of God in that sense.
The other thing too is in in first John.
Chapter 2.
Just read the 1St 2 verses my little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
00:50:06
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Uh, there's a difference between what we have in first John Two and what we have in our chapter.
And that there is sin and, uh, sin does break that communion. And if there's sin there and there's that which is on the conscience and it needs to be confessed, then the advocacy of Christ comes in and, uh.
His blood is answered for that sin, but in our chapter it really is more.
The thought of that we're going through a world which chills our affections and, uh, worries us and, uh, dulls our spiritual sensibilities. And we need that application of the water of the word that we might be refreshed and brought back in, in a, in a fresh way to the enjoyment of what God has to communicate to us rather than being positive, open.
Sin and I got a bad conscience because I went out and I I did something I I knew I shouldn't have done deliberately did it. So it just bring that out because sometimes perhaps in the way we take this up, we sort of drift into the thought of what we have in first John two umm away from what I think is more the subject of this chapter.
There are some things in our Christian life that we shy away from.
That we tend to avoid carrying out and this is one of them. And I, I just want to bring emphasis to that. By the way, the Lord Jesus now speaks to them in verse 13. He starts out he's going to end up telling him to do it.
But how does he introduce?
Telling him you are to do this, he says, you call me Lord and Master, and you say, well for so I am. Now he takes his right and reminds them of the right he has as Lord and as their teacher. And then he says to them, if I'm that your Lord and teacher.
And I have done this, I have washed your feet. Then he gets before them what he wants them to do in responsibility. Ye also ought to wash one another's feet. And uh, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. He again goes back. He tells them what he wants, but then he has to go back and said, Are you bigger than me?
Are you greater than I am?
Uh, are you, in other words, are you greater than your Lord? And says the servants not greater than his Lord neither he that is sent greater than he than sent him. And then he says, if you do these things, happy are you. And so I, I just, it's a exhortation or more than that. It's an instruction or command to them to wash one another's feet. But.
He introduces that in a pretty strong way because he recognized that in them and in us, this is something that we do not tend to do. We tend to shy away from it. And uh, you have your problems, I have mine. You go get warm and fed yourself and I'll go try to get warmed and fed myself and so on. And we focus on ourselves and our own need and so on and.
In that way, we don't love each other and fulfill the command of the Lord that we wash one another's feet. We need to.
Like the disciples, then, we need to let these words speak to us from the same Lord.
The Lord says to you and I this afternoon, Am I your Lord? Am I your teacher?
If I am do it.
Sometimes it's easier.
In a setting like we have this weekend to do that. Then when we go home and we're with our local brethren because.
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After the break in, Brad, you might come up and you know, well, did you get the house sold or, you know, how's that new car running? Or there's all kinds of other subjects because we know each other and there ought to be a, an interest in one another and the fears of life and so on. But what gets neglected is to bring something out that would be for the spiritual refreshment of my brother or sister. But here we are like this and we're from far away and I don't know your circumstances. You don't know mine.
And it seems how somehow easier to bring out and enjoy together those things that will spiritually refresh us. But I've noticed at home it's a little harder. It's a little easier to slip into things that aren't going to, uh, wash my brother or sister's feet or vice versa. So we have to really work at a little harder when I think when we get back home.
That same line.
Steve, when we visit each other.
Let's get the book open, and even if it's not anything extensive, read a few verses. There's something so wholesome about getting the word open, and I don't think it necessarily has to apply to any particular corrective measure, but just get the word open.
Remember, brother in my, uh, years ago, he said, when you go to visit the brethren, don't forget to open the scriptures. I thought that was good. And we need to brother. And then I, let's say some time ago, maybe I've told this story before, but it impressed itself on me and I'd like to repeat it because.
It was an encouragement to me. The story was told of a young brother who in a certain meeting.
Saw that a certain brother wasn't coming to the meeting is any longer and no one seemed to feel.
An exercise to go visit that brother. And this young brother didn't feel like he was particularly the one to go visit. But since no one else was going to visit, he decided he was going to go and visit. And so he goes, and with his Bible sits down his brother's living room. Brother sat down with him and he had his Bible.
But he didn't know where in the world he was going to read in the Bible. So he says, let's read something, brother.
Where do you wanna read?
You didn't know what to say, so how about Genesis 11? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Now what are you gonna say about that?
He didn't know what to say, so he just shut the Bible and prayed and.
The word of God, brother. And he went away next time he came again and he didn't have a clue what to read again the second time and.
Saw Genesis 1/2, the earth was without form and void. Darkness was on the face of the deep. How does that fly to the situation? You didn't have any clue so shut the Bible and praise again, but through that means that other brother was exercised to come back to the meetings rather than the word has power. I have been impressed with how sometimes the Lord uses the scriptures.
Maybe we have a particular idea in mind when we're reading the scriptures. I found that OFT times the way the Lord brings it home to somebody else sitting in the room. Totally different than what I thought.
Thy commandment is exceeding broad, and God uses His word sometimes in ways.
We least expect doesn't mean that we shouldn't. Like Jim brought out this morning, we shouldn't be helpful if we do understand it, to help explain it. But we need brethren to get the book open, to read it together. I found so often it seems like it's almost an imposition to suggest we open the Bible.
Is that the way it is, brethren? Are we getting to that point? Can't we open the books?
And read a few verses at least.
Oh, the wholesomeness of getting the Word of God open and reading it together. You young brothers and sisters, I have to say that in my youth there were young people in my life that were very influential and that turned me to the Scriptures and encouraged me in that direction. You young brothers and sisters, are you?
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One that encourages in that direction, or do you encourage in another direction? The Lord help us to get this book open, to wash each other's feet, to create that refreshment and, if necessary, correction that we all need.
The problem is we don't follow the order that's here, and I think it's very significant rather than that, first of all, the Lord washed their feet. They had to allow first of all the Lord to wash their feet. And then after washing their feet as a result of that, he says wash one another's feet. Now why is it sometimes we get together with the people of God or we meet another believer and we come away and we say, well, there wasn't any scripture or anything of the Lord shared, or we didn't really refresh one another with the things of Christ. Why?
Because, brethren, I cannot wash another's feet unless my feet have first of all been washed only in the measure in which I have opened this book and let the water of the word wash my feet.
And let the Lord Jesus refresh my spirit. Only in that measure can I refresh.
Another and sometimes I don't have perhaps a lot to share of Christ or something to say to be helpful in a situation and encourage another on why.
Because I haven't had that refreshment myself. Now Speaking of order, I want to notice an order here as well. In the 13th and 14th verses that Don mentioned, God is very careful in the order in which things are listed. You notice verse 13, He says He called me Master or teacher and Lord. And in the 14th verse He reverses the order. Now you might say, why does He reverse it?
You know, I might say something and reverse an order and justice because I forgot her didn't didn't matter what order I put it in. But when God lists something or you the Lord Jesus or the words of the Lord Jesus or in a certain order, there's a reason. First of all, he says she called me teacher and Lord, you know, we need teaching. We need the teaching of the word of God and the disciples here were sitting under the teaching of the Lord Jesus, the greatest teacher of all.
And then he says, not only teacher, but Lord, you know, it's one thing to have good teaching, it's another thing to bow to it and recognize the teacher. And so we need to have good teaching as the basis, because I think there's a lot of people, a lot of real Christians and they'll, they own Jesus as Lord, but they're going about with things they ought not to because of a lack of good teaching or they've been misdirected through false teaching. And so there has to be teaching at the basis and then the recognition in our hearts.
Of the Lordship of Christ. But then he reverses it. If I then your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet because.
Conversely, we can have good teaching and not own Jesus as Lord. And I think sometimes we can sit in meetings like this and we can have the teaching of the word of God before our souls, and we can go out the same way we came and we're not really recognizing.
Who the teaching has come from the Lord Jesus as the perfect teacher through his word and there isn't that willingness to bow to the teaching and he says at the end of our portion, if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
You call me Lord, that's good. You call me teacher, that's good. But these things have to be in their proper order. There has to be good teaching, sound teaching, and then the recognition of the Lordship of Christ in our lives to bow to it.
MU asked about an example of.
Deep washing and I would like to suggest in the end of John, uh, brother Don was talking about it earlier.
The 21St chapter, when the Lord Jesus restores Peter, we have perhaps an example of of feet washing. But it's interesting the order there because they had just come off of the ship and they were had been toiling all night. There must have been tired and hungry too, because they hadn't caught anything until the Lord tells them where to throw the net.
01:05:15
And.
So he doesn't immediately start out, but he takes bread and fish and he lets them eat. To me, there's really significance in that he doesn't start right out until they are comfortable in his presence. And then the way he deals with Peter because he was going to restore him to a place of public usefulness for him. And he says this in front of everyone.
All the rest that were there, he says. He doesn't say, Peter, why did you deny me? He gets at the root of the thing and he says.
Simon, son of Jonas, his name according to the flesh. Lovest thou me more than these? He had said. Even if all the rest deny you, I won't deny you, Lord. So he addresses that. Peter denies the Lord three times.
And three times the Lord asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? And at the end of each of the questions he commits to them something that is very dear to his heart. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. And so Peter was restored to a place of public usefulness. And I think it is because of that that he could like brother John was saying.
In the day of Pentecost, or was it a little later, Peter denied the Lord, but he says to those Jewish people, you denied the Holy One and the just Peter. How can you say that when you did denied the Lord because his restoration was so complete that he could do that. And I think that's a beautiful example of applying the word in a way.
That was that brought Peter back into real usefulness for the Lord. Perhaps that's an example of feet washing in the scripture.
The spread of love.
That is woven through this chapter and the chapters that follow on into the chapter that Bob just referred to. The chapter starts with he loved them unto the end. And then it mentions, uh, in verse three, the Father had given all things into his hands.
The Lord Jesus had come into this world as sent by the Father.
And when he was here in this world, there were those that the Father gave to him.
As he says in his prayer in the 17th chapter and all. And that's part of the things that were given unto him, and He, he loves them.
And all the time that he was here, he ministers to their every need in love.
And cares for them. And now the Lord Jesus is right at that point where He knows He is going to be separated from them and not be with them in the same relationship, or of being physically present with them. And his heart is burdened.
His soul is taken up in his love with making provision for them when he's not there.
And so he, if you will, he looks at the need, He wasn't going to be present anymore to meet that need personally by his person in their present, in their midst. And so he makes preparation and provision out of love for them. And to me, it's a tremendous thing that one of the first provisions he makes is for them to be used for each other.
To be the ministers to one another of that which originated in his own heart of love. And in the next chapter he says, I know you're going to be sad when I'm not around, when I'm not present with you anymore. But I'm going to have the Father send the Spirit and the Spirit is going to take up, if you will, some of those things that I've been doing for you.
01:10:10
And it is another provision of his heart of love that.
He umm, tells them what is going to be done when he gets to his and there's a lot more of it. But when he gets to the 17th chapter, he says to the Father in his prayer.
Those that thou hast given me, I have kept.
And not one of them is lost, save the son of perdition. And we've had that's Judas before us. Then he says to the Father in the same prayer.
Keep.
Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. In other words, Father, if I'm not going to be here.
And I can't be separated from them and without there being provided for. And so it's not only the use of us for one another out of his heart of love, but the heart of love would send the Spirit of God to dwell within us to meet those needs. But even the Father is called upon and say, well keep that we might be perfectly kept. And so to me when we get on to this chapter of when Peter.
Is given these responsibilities that again the thread is the heart of himself for those that he loves, which were his lambs and his sheep. And he gives Peter this wonderful responsibility. He said, OK, Peter, let's talk about love. And Peter is reduced, as we know beyond these words, the different types of love that are involved here and so on.
But it gets down to the lowest level, as it were, of the character that love can show. And uh, Peter's humbled by it. But then the Lord in tremendous responsibility of love in his own heart, says, OK, Peter.
I love my lambs. You take care of them, Peter. My sheep are going to need shepherding. You shepherds them.
The feed by shape rather than It's the heart of the Lord Jesus, and it's the only heart that can properly wash feet.
It's the heart that has to be there. If the service of the heart of the Lord Jesus for His own can be ministered, Is that same spirit, that same love in operation in the soul of someone to for the Lord's sake, minister to one another in the washing of the feet?
Makes us a happy Christian company, isn't it? And that's really what the Lord is saying in conclusion of this matter. This 17th verse. We often quote and we quoted and apply it in a broad sense to the truth of God at large.
And certainly it has its application. If you know these things, happier ye if you do them, that has its application to every aspect of the truth. And we're exhorted in James to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. But I think we missed something. If we don't take this Scripture in its context. What the Lord Jesus is really saying to the disciples is, I've washed your feet, now you're to wash one another's feet. And if you carry this out the way I've instituted it, you're going to be a happy Christian company.
A happy company of believers in my absence. Why is it, brethren, there isn't always the happiness and joy?
In our interactions with one another, it's perhaps at least one reason because we haven't carried out this beautiful example and instructions of the Lord Jesus. We haven't first of all, had our feet washed and our spirits refreshed by the Word of God. And then we're not washing one another's feet. We're not encouraging and refreshing one another in the path of faith and service. And I thought of another example in connection with Tim's question this morning.
As well. And that is in the end of First Timothy chapter one, Paul says. And the household of Anessa Forest, for he OFT refreshed me. You know, there was a household that refreshed the apostle Paul.
A household where he could visit and find refreshment. And I don't want to go beyond what Scripture says, but I've often wondered if it wasn't a whole household that was exercised in the refreshment of the Saints of God. You know, it's wonderful to enter a household and the husband and the wife, the young people, the children, whoever dwells under that roof, they're all happy to see us a Saint of God, and they're happy to share the things of Christ and.
01:15:29
Make you comfortable in their home and you're refreshed in your spirit and from your journey because of that. Well, the household of Vanessa Forest gets that beautiful commendation in Scripture because they refresh the Apostle Paul during his ministry.
That, I think, is important as well, and that the Lord is given certain things to produce an interdependence.
One on the other, that makes for the need of that oneness of practice that we are brought into as part of one body. And so the Lord has given different members of his body different responsibilities and services and gifts to minister to him. And what it does when it's properly in action is.
To fulfill that which no one member can fulfill for himself or for others, he both needs and he both others need him in that the way in which the Lord has given it. And there is that sense in which we ourselves need to be washed by the water of the Word. But the exhortation here does not include that side of it, really.
It is to do it for one another and it is to show us the, the way the Lord has set it up that there would be with us that sense of interdependence and not self-sufficiency or self dependence as saying, well, I can do it myself, I don't need you. Uh, that's not the way it's given here. And it's important to see it in that way. It does not put aside the fact that the war we, we read the word of God for ourselves and we're refreshed in our own spirits and.
What's not in me can't be communicated to you. And so on. That all has its place. But the way it is here, it's it's to foster in us the recognition of the spirit of interdependence.
Reminds me of a a story brother Don and it kind of connects with what you had your little account brother Bob earlier.
Brother recently told me this and it was a count that was given to him by an older brother years ago. And, and uh, there was a brother in the meeting that seemed to be growing a little cold and he wanted to try and be a help. And he talked to another brother and said, is there some way we can encourage this brother and why don't we go visit him? And so they went and he said, uh, we got the word open. We read a few scriptures and he said there was just no response.
And we're sitting in three chairs and, and there was a fire burning in the hearth. And, uh, after we read and there was no response. We just sat there in this uncomfortable silence for some time, just staring at the fire. And he said, all of a sudden there was a pop and he said this little amber went flying out of that fire and it landed on the hearth. He said it burned brightly for just a few seconds and it just started fading right out.
Towards what it would be a little black coal.
And he said he reached down and he flicked it back in the fire.
He said the imagery was so powerful that we, all three of us, broke down in tears. And he said that brother was restored. No, we can't do it by ourselves. There is an interdependency that's needed. And that little ember needed to be flicked back in that fire, otherwise there's gonna be a little black hole.
Really gone, but I'd like to go back to the scripture we read at the beginning just to.
Conclude our remarks and encourage our souls as we end these reading meetings in Luke chapter 12 and verse 37. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.
01:20:00
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet.
And will come forth and serve them Now brethren, we've been talking about a service that the Lord Jesus.
Performed for the disciples in the Upper Room and a service that He is carrying on for us this very day.
The Lord Jesus there in the glory, is there in a capacity of service on behalf of His own.
But there's a service that he's going to carry on for all eternity. When we get to the Father's house, he gird himself with its linen towel. We read in John 13 Here he girds himself, makes us to sit down to meet. This is something yet future, and he's going to come forth in service forever. I find this one of the most tremendous verses in the whole word of God to think that there's a day coming when the Lord Jesus is going to serve you and me and the Father's house forever.
You say, what is the service that he's going to perform? You know, my wife tells me when I get home, don't expect the same service here that you get in the homes of the sisters that.
Entertain you when you're on the road and that's, that's OK.
But, brethren, someday I'm going to get home to the Father's house.
I'm going to sit down my path of service and your path of service is going to be over. The path of service and burden, it's going to be over and we're going to sit down in the Father's house and the Lord Jesus is going to come forth and serve us. You know, when I enter the Saints homes, they come out and they try to serve you and make you feel as comfortable as possible in their home. And yet you're never as comfortable in somebody else's home as in your own home. But they do everything to make you comfortable.
And when we get home as the children of God.
The sun is gonna come for.
Brethren, He's going to make us comfortable in the Father's house for all eternity. It's just to me as if He says, now you're home, I'm going to minister to your every joy, to your every satisfaction for all eternity. But what I want to really notice is there's one marked difference between this and John 13. In John 13, they were going to be left in the path of faith and service, and they needed their feet washed time and time and time again, and they needed to wash one another's feet time and time and time again.
But in Luke, where we read there's nothing about feet washing. Here he simply girds himself and comes forth and serves us. Why?
Because the path of faith will be over, the path of service will be over, and we will be in a sphere of things, brethren, where there will be nothing to ever defile again.
Will there be nothing to distract us again? There will be nothing to chill our affections and dull our souls again.
Nothing, everything will be in perfection and so we won't need our feet washed in that way in that day. But I say he will minister to our every joy, to our every satisfaction.
To our every refreshment so that when we sit down in the Father's house we're going to be perfectly comfortable.
In the Father's house and with the Lord Jesus in the midst for all eternity. Well, brethren, as we think of what is ahead.
That ought to then motivate our souls now in love to himself and love to one another.
To wash one another's feet. That we might now be a happy company of believers. If you know these things, what things? Washing one another's feet. If you know these things, happier ye if you do them.
Even though it's going to take me a minute past 5:00.
What Jim has just said is connected with Exodus 21.
I love my Master, my wife, and my brethren.
And he remains the servant for eternity. The Lord Jesus remains a man in that humble place of manhood.
Forever, so that he may continue to minister the Father to us.
I love my Master and it is his heart's desire to stay a man, so that in that humble.
Manhood place, He can continue the service that he began when he came into this world to make the Father known to us and to bring us into relationship with the Father and in love for the Father, the Master. He remains a man for eternity and that's what the primary thing that he will minister to our joy and heart's content forever in heaven in the Father's house.
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He then says, I love my wife. Having become a man, the Father gives him a bride, and he says I will remain forever a bride. I will remain a man that I might serve in love, my bride. And so for the Church's sake for us, he will remain a man that he might serve us.
And in my children it has to do with his earthly children of Israel and the children that God has given him that we have in Isaiah 8, and for their blessing and for their benefit to continue for eternity to minister to his earthly family, He says the children that God has given him, He says, for my children's sake, I'll remain a man and serve them, and our hearts will forever worship.
We trust that the Lord will give us.
Pounds of ointment of spikenard in heaven, that we may anoint his feet there in worship.
1/8.
Oh, 2000.
5000.
9.
19 and the appendix.
Last verse of 19 in the appendix.
The Lord Himself.
I'm grateful if I'm crying thus far.
01:30:07
It's glory and after you.
Already.