A Foot-Washing Attitude Before Passover

Thank you very much. That was stunning. That was beautiful. I'm really proud of you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Brethren, God has a wonderful plan for mankind, and as we heard in the sermon, to bring many sons to glory. As Paul described that in Hebrews 2, verse 10. On the other side, we do know there is an adversary, Satan, and he wants to derail that plan. He wants to destroy you and I. What caused Satan to reach such a stage, stage that iniquity was falling in? We read in Ezekiel 28. You don't have to turn there, but take a note. You can read it at a later time, 15 through 17, that it says that he was perfect in all his ways from the day that he was created, till iniquity was found in him. And then it clarifies and it says, his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. He corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor. Satan's heart was lifted up with pride because of his beauty and because of his wisdom. He was an extremely beautiful being, extremely wise, super clever being. In Isaiah 14, it adds further by saying, You've said in your heart, in this heart that was lifted up and proud, I will ascend into heaven. I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Not only was he proud, his heart was lifted up, but was lifted up to the point that he wanted to take God's position and wanted to be in charge of the whole universe. What caused Satan to reach such a stage that iniquity was found in him? Clearly, we can see, was that proud heart that he allowed, that he made a choice to become because of his cleverness, because of his beauty. It went to his head in modern terms. It went to his head. That's what it is. Turn with me, please, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is an instruction to those that Timothy would ordain as deacons and then later on as elders. I mean, later on in the same chapter. So we're going to read from the section of qualifications of deacons in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 6. And we break into it, saying, not to choose for Timothy not to ordain, not to appoint, not to choose somebody that is a novice, lest being puffed up with pride.

The same thing as the situation of David. Lest it goes to their head. And then he falls into the same condemnation as the devil. Brethren, the twenty-four elders around God's throne. You can read that in Revelation 4 and in other sections of Revelation. But in Revelation 4, there's quite a few sections where he talks about the twenty-four elders around God's throne. They have such a high respect and reverence and adoration of God for God. It's genuine, it's sincere. They have deep respect and adoration for God. And there was an angel that covered, that became Satan, that hates God and hates God's plan for mankind. Why? Why? Why did he go wrong when these twenty-four elders, which are counselors, advisors, also very intelligent, have such a deep and profound adoration for God? Why did Satan go wrong?

He has an absolute hatred for God, for God's plan, and particularly for God's plan for mankind. Because he was given a responsibility to prepare the earth and to be the God of the earth for the training of mankind. And when it appears that he learned of that plan of God for mankind to bring many sons to glory, that would be above him, it appears at that time. He said, I don't like that. And therefore, he does hate completely everything to do with God's plan for mankind. And he hates, therefore, the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God. And he does not want that gospel to be preached. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3 to 4. And it says, But even if our gospel is failed, it is failed to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age, that Satan, the God of this world, has blinded. He has blinded people's minds, and therefore people do not believe, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, of the good news, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

And as we heard it in our sermon here today, the glory of Christ is Christ living in us, and ours being brought up as many sons into glory. And he, Satan, hates that. He hates, and therefore he wants to derail every single one of us individually, and therefore he has many tactics. He has many doctrines to deceive this person with that, this person with that. He's got different cards to deceive and derail people all over the place. But he has one key strategy. And you thought about his war strategy.

What is Satan's strategy?

Satan's strategy is, first and foremost, to hide the plan of God from mankind. Because if you don't seek the plan of God, if you don't have the vision, if you don't have the hope of where to go, you kind of... It's like a ship without a rudder. And then, if you give them an alternative plan, in a way that locks people into that plan. Now, the other day I heard on radio, and regrettably I was driving, so I could not write it down. But that person said something like this, that when you do, or you give some people an idea, and you wrap it up with emotion, you lock that idea into that person. He didn't use those words, but he said something like that. And unfortunately, the words were outstanding, but I was driving, I couldn't write them down, and I remembered the principle, but I couldn't remember the words. But the principle is, if you lock somebody onto some sort of an idea, like you wrap it around, around that emotion, so they feel very emotion about it, you've got them. You've got them hooked like in what you call the word, hook, line, and sinker. Right? You've got them. Now, look at what reveals God's plan to mankind. What reveals God's plan to mankind? God's holy days reveal the plan of God to mankind.

So, Satan wants to hide the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God, and the way to hide it, to vial it as we see here in 2 Corinthians, is to make mankind not see, not perceive, not understand God's plan, and therefore mankind must not understand God's holy days. So, he has to substitute, falsify, twist, confuse in many different areas, whatever it is. It doesn't matter, because as much as he grabs you with this, grabs that one with that, provided you're just going wrong, not in God's plan. That's it. And therefore he can create whatever it is. If he can confuse you about God's holy days and wrap that confusion with emotional feelings, he's got you hooked, lined, and sinker. For instance, Easter, the distortion of the troop was over. It's wrapped around with emotional feelings like, oh, it's such a cute little rabbit. And look at those beautiful eggs, such beautiful colors. And yes, rabbits might be beautiful, and the eggs might be beautiful. But wrapping that teaching with this emotional thing hooks people onto something that is very difficult to unhook them out of. And think another example. Christmas. Oh, those beautiful lights. Oh, aren't they beautiful? What's wrong with those lights? Oh, and the tree. Isn't the tree beautiful? Of course it is. I mean, you have to say, it is beautiful. But unfortunately, it's wrapped around a false teaching against God's principles, God's understanding of the plan of God for mankind. And death God hates! So Satan is so clever, is so intelligent, that he's created something to take people around. And they're whatever degree. And so God's Holy Days are very important. And we are approaching now the beginning of, in the northern hemisphere, the spring season of God's Holy Days. And this season of God's Holy Days can only start after Christ has paid the price. The first Holy Day is only after the Passover. Not before, not during, after. Satan obviously, even if you're doing this things, will try and confuse you that, oh, it's all at the same time and whatever it is, is a master deceiver. And as we prepare for the Passover, with this wonderful plan, we have to examine ourselves. We have to examine ourselves. And today, I want to talk to you about four key lessons or principles in self-examination, which indeed are very similar to lessons you and I derive from the foot washing ceremony. And it is interesting that we have to have this mindset, this attitude before we take the Passover. That's why the foot washing is before the Passover symbols, because it defines the same attitude that we have to be prepared and wrap ourselves at that very moment we do the foot washing. We have to go through these principles of self-examination mentally, making sure that we're right there before we take those symbols.

And Satan hates, Satan hates. Remember, that he's super clever. And therefore, he will create deviations to every degree and in every direction for you to not celebrate the Passover, the correct way. He will drag you into his beliefs one way or another into his way of thinking, whichever way he possibly can.

And he will bring people to you with wonderful arguments, very logical arguments, that you should do things differently. He won't. And those people come to you as if appearing very humble, I mean like an angel in white, you know. Those people actually don't want to learn. They actually want to prove to you that their point is correct. They don't want to learn God's truth of the Bible. They want to prove their point. Yes, they'll use the Bible. Like Satan himself, use the Bible. He'll use the Bible to cross in Christ, to use the Bible against him. So, they'll use. But the point is, these people are so clever because Satan is so clever. And they come with arguments that are so subtle that if you are not fully aware of the Scriptures, you're going to be deceived. And brethren, times are going to come that you have to know the Scriptures because you are going to be deceived if you don't know. Times are going to come.

And you know what? All they do is a one tiny little deviation here. Now, brethren, think about it. If you're going to send a rocket to the moon and you are one micro-inch away from deviation, it will not reach the moon. That's as simple as that. But he will then bring you two deviations later on. And then three. And you know what? Next thing, you're completely right out of the ballpark. You're right out of God's Church. One tiny little deviation that starts. And those arguments are so clever. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 6.

1 Timothy 6. This again is Paul's instruction to Timothy as a young elder, Timothy, and giving him teaching of how to be a better elder. And in 1 Timothy 6, the latter part of verse 2, we'll start there and read through to verse 5. It says, Teach and exhort these things if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctor which accords to Godliness. He is proud. Amazing! Haven't we seen that word pride elsewhere? It seems to be coming back! Pride! He is proud, knowing nothing, but he is obsessed with what?

He's obsessed with what? With the scoops and arguments over words. Obsessed with argue about this word and that word and yet a word, and therefore you should keep the past out differently, and therefore you should do this differently, and whatever it is, and whatever. From which can envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling. It just goes on and on and on of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth who suppose that Godliness is a means of dying from such who's throw yourself. It gets to a point when you deal with these people who say, I don't want to argue against you.

The arguments are too scientific, too clever, but you know what? The sheep know the shepherds' voice. And that's it. You say, that's enough. You're just confusing me. I don't want to do it. I really don't want to do it. And from such, withdraw yourself. So, brethren, what do we have? We have here the mind of Satan. What is the mind of Satan? He's a mind of pride and wanting to be the one in charge. Like I mentioned, Ezekiel 28 cried, Isaiah 14 wanting to be there in place of God.

The mind of Satan is pride and I am the main man. I am the he one. I am the one. What is the antidote? The antidote is the mind of Christ. As simple as that. It's the mind of Christ. As simple as that. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 8. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 8. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's the mind that we have to have. Which is direct opposite of the mind of Satan, which is pride and wanting to be in charge.

Let's read further. Let's read further. The mind that we need is the mind of Christ that says, who being in the form of God. Do we get it? Oh, we read that so many times. But do we get it? He is of the form of God. He was the word. He was of the God kind. He was the form of God.

He did not consider robbery to be equal with God. He did not consider it to be taking, saying something that he was not. He was equal with God. It was not robbery. It was not taking a title that was not his to say that he was equal with God. You can read that in John 1, for instance.

And in many other scriptures, you've got to read our booklet. It's called The Trinity. It's got tremendous amount of studying scriptures that you show clearly that Christ was God. Scriptures from the Bible of the scripture. Anyway, he did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made himself. Do you get that? He made himself. That means he chose of his own free will. And God the Father wanted him to do it as well, but they are of the same mind, and he decided he chose.

Nobody told him, you've got to do it! He chose himself to do it. He made himself of no reputation. In other words, imagine being God, make yourself be nothing of his own will. That's the mind of Christ. That's not pride! That's the opposite of pride.

Taking the form of a born servant and coming. Taking the form of a born servant. What is the form of a born servant? He tells the form of the kind of mankind. He was of the form of God, and he became of the form of man. That's what it is. He was of the form of God, was of the God kind, and he became of the form of a servant, which is the form of man. And coming in the likeness of man, being found in appearance as a man, so if you don't get the point, he repeats it a number of times, he humbled himself. There's no pride there. There's no pride. That's the opposite mind than a one of Satan, and became obedient to the point of death. You see, he took the form of a servant. A servant is not being the boss, is not being the one in charge, is being a servant, and he humbled himself to the point of death. Exactly the opposite of the mind of Satan. He cried to be the boss, and he humbled himself to be a servant. And he says, as we read in verse 5, let this mind be new. This is the mentality that you and I need to have, to develop, to grow, to become more like him. So, he became obedient to the death, even the death of the cross, as we heard in the song we heard, lovely! It's beautiful because it's his glory. It's God's glory because of what he has done for us. It's beautiful. So, what do we have here? His true humility and service from Jesus Christ. He served us by dying for us, and he's serving us by being our high priest today. He's serving us. He's got a serving mind. And so, before the Passover, it is very important for us to see, do we have this mind of Christ to examine ourselves? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11. And we'll start reading verse 27.

Because none of us is worthy. None of us is worthy to claim righteousness. None of us is worthy to claim eternal life. It's the manner that it's talking about. Because none of us is worthy. We know that. But it's the manner. And the manner can be physically, and obviously it means physically, in an unworthy manner, physically. But it also means spiritually. We need to take it, spiritually speaking, in a worthy manner. That is, with the mind of Christ. A mind of humility and service.

So, let him examine, and then take the Passover. The symbols. Eat the bread and the wine. Let's continue reading. Verse 29. For you eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And to several cigars, we went through that about the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and seek among you, and many sleep.

There's a couple of things here that I want to highlight. First, in verse 28 it says, Examine yourself and so let him eat. It doesn't say examine yourself and therefore decide not to eat. It says, Examine yourself and then eat. Secondly, it says that if we do it in an unworthy manner, we're not discerning the Lord's body.

So, the unworthy manner is one that does not discern the Lord's body. How could we not discern the Lord's body?

First, obviously, physically speaking, again, it's not discerning and comprehending fully the sacrifice and therefore Jesus Christ.

And quite often, that's probably what triggers into our minds first.

But I want you to think about not discerning the spiritual body of Christ, which is the Church.

Do we recognize, see, understand, comprehend what is the spiritual body of Christ? And do we therefore respect that body of Christ? Or don't we? In other words, do we respect one another as brothers and sisters in Christ?

And it says that in verse 13, For this reason many are weak and seek among you and many are asleep. For this reason, I have seen many in God's Church getting so stressed about problems in the Church that they literally get sick. And if you've lived long enough in the Church, you know I'm speaking the truth. You've seen problems in the Church and you've seen people getting sick about it. In fact, I know that an individual, in our name's mission, that died of a heart attack because of problems in the Church. I know of an individual.

For this reason many are weak and seek among you and many sleep. Is Paul talking about what? Clearly, he's talking about us discerning and analyzing how we treat one another in God's Church. And we have to examine that. Stephen Covey wrote in one of his books, We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviour.

Well, Christ said it in a different way. He said it in Matthew 7 verse 5. He said, if you could first remove the plank from your own eye and then you'll see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. It's the same thing.

So brethren, we need to examine ourselves whether we are discerning the Lord's body in the words of one another in God's Church. Before we take the bread and wine. And if we're not, make amendments in a manner that we conduct ourselves. Besides, obviously, examine the physical components. But I'm talking about the spiritual body of Christ, particularly. And that is something we need to do before we take the bread and wine, isn't it? That's why Christ gave the foot washing ceremony before the bread and wine. Let us look at how John explained the secrets of that and draw from that example four key lessons, as I mentioned earlier on. And we're going to start reading in John 13 verse 2.

John 13 verse 2.

If you have the New King James Version, it says correctly, and supper being ended. In Greek, that is correct, and that is what it's written in the majority of the manuscripts that we have in the Greek. That's what they call the majority text, or it's also called the Byzantine, or it's also called the received text. However, about 200 years ago or so, certain texts were found, which became known as the Alexandrian text. Became known as the Sinai, or the Vaticanus text.

And in that minority of manuscripts, the small handful of manuscripts, very few, can count them with the fingers of one hand. Understand? They changed an e into an i in that word, and therefore it says, during supper, by changing the tense of the verse. But the truth, the majority of the text, God has preserved for us the Bible in a way that the truth is still there in the majority.

And supper being ended basically means that Christ completed the Old Testament ceremony.

The Old Testament Passover ceremony was ended, was finished, was completed. Full stop. That's what they call in Jude the Sedna. In the Jewish area they call it the Sedna. The Sedna was finished. It was done, completed. Jesus Christ ate the entire Old Testament Passover meal with His disciples. It was over with all of His twelve disciples. That was done and over. Then, after supper was ended, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas' carrier of psalm and psalm to betray Him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, into Jesus' hands, and that He had come from God, Yes, He had come from the form of God, as we saw earlier on, and was going back to that form, to that kind. He was going back. He had come from the God kind. He was going back to the God kind, in a sense. He rose from supper. supper was finished. He rose and He got away from that table. The meal was finished.

And He laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself.

So He introduces now the New Testament symbols of the Passover. Brethren, this service is not, N-O-T, not the Lord's Supper. The Supper is finished. This is a new ceremony. You can read that in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 20. He says, you're not coming together to observe the Lord's Supper.

And continue in that reading in verse 5. After that, He poured water into a bison and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Brethren, quite often, we only talk about the foot washing. He did two things. Number one, He washed. Number two, He dried.

He washed and cleaned. There's two symbolisms there, not one, two.

Now, some people say, oh, He washed the feet when He came into the house. Because that was the tradition. The tradition is when you get into the house, the tradition, you come into the house, you wash the feet and you have a meal. That's one of our abnormal reading. The Supper was there and they washed the feet afterwards.

Remember, it was a rented room, remember? It was a rented upper room. Probably there were no servants there.

And each of the Supper's was humble enough to get and wash the other's feet. None! None! Because you know, later on, they're talking about which one's the greatest. The mind of Satan, right? The mind of Satan.

So, they probably had the meal with their feet quite dirty. And Christ washed the people. They needed washing. Continue then reading in first sight. And then it came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? And Jesus answered and said to him, What I'm doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this. And Peter said to him, Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus said, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

This is what I jokingly call a sea for serious. Obviously, serious must not start with a sea, but sea is particularly important, you know? Sea for serious. This is very serious matter.

You see, what we have here is before taking the bread and the wine, a couple of things to consider. Number one, number one, the humility of Christ to wash all twelve disciples, including Judas' feet. That is service and humility. Tired to what I was talking about, the mind of Satan, pride and being the boss. This is the opposite, service and humility. That's what we need to examine ourselves, whether we have this mind in us, the mind of Christ. Towards the end of last year in December, I gave a sermon addressing the subject of humility specifically. It was along the lines of the important spirit. And so today I'm not going to cover a lot about humility because I have already covered it before. That requires, in a sense, a whole sermon. But some of the points I mentioned there is that amongst many others in humility, we need to depend completely on God. We must be small in our eyes. We must not think that we know it all. And that kind of sets us into a possibility to grow to a new stage of learning when we have that humble attitude, that keen attitude of humility. But there are other points besides humility and service that we draw from this food washing ceremony. And so there are two keys here that I've already mentioned. One is humility and the other is service. Meditate on those. As I mentioned to you, I'm not going to more details about humility and service, but it is something to meditate before we take the bread and wine. Because a key mindset, put it another that way, of key ways of thinking that is Christ's way of thinking, and it's directly opposite to Satan's way of thinking. So meditate on those. But now I want to go on to the other two key lessons from the food washing ceremony. And one is that he said, if I do not wash you, you have no part in me. The cleansing from Christ of our sins, if he does not wash us, we have no part in him. He's the one that sort of forgives and wash our sins away. Sin has to be completely rooted out, and that's it. And the third lesson, that is the third, and the fourth lesson. So the first one is humility, the second one is service, the third one is cleansing, and the fourth one is that the feet were dried, and were placed back on the shoes to do their work that feet are to do. In other words, the symbolism of reconciliation, so that can work together to do the job, to do the work.

So there is forgiveness and reconciliation. The washing representing forgiveness, and the drying representing reconciliation, putting it back into a working condition so that they can work together.

So continue now in verse 9. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Now he gets carried away, he says, ah, don't wash his feet. And he said, he who is bath representing baptized, needs only to wash his feet. But he's completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. In other words, Jews was among them.

For in you, that is Christ knew, who would be trying, therefore he said, you are not all clean. Remember, Jesus knew who was a betrayer. He knew that it was Judas, and he washed his feet. Symbolizing, he's prepared to forgive. Verse 12. So when he had washed the feet, taken his gums, in other words, got dressed back to normal, put on his jacket and things like that, he's out of garments, and sat down again. He said to them, do you know what I've done to you? In other words, do you get it? Does it ring a bell, what I've said to you? Remember, now what happens is they've gone back to the table. They're back at the table, and he's asking them at the table. They're talking at the table, and he says, do you get it? What do you think is the answer? The answer is no. They did not get it. That's the answer. Simple and plain English. N-O-2-stop. Full sentence. No. They did not get it.

Because we know what happened next. That later on, they're going to argue again about who's going to be the boss.

I didn't get it. It went pew! Right over! Pew! You know what it is? Pew! Done!

Let's go on reading verses 13-15. You call me teacher and lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I, your lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

In other words, translating into spiritual language, quote-unquote, if I have forgiven you, you need to forgive one another. Sure, physically, it's a symbol. But this is what we need to be doing and thinking about when we're doing foot washing. We need to be thinking about these four principles when we do the foot washing. Bring them back to mind during that moment. You ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do as I've done to you. You should forgive as I've forgiven you. And what do we say? Well, I'm only going to forgive you, you repairs. Well, maybe we'll get a few lessons to learn.

So, brethren, what Christ is doing here is giving you lesson 101 in humility. Lesson 101 in humility. As I forgive you, you need to forgive each other. That's humility. That's humility.

Lesson for mouse, therefore, brethren, what we got here? Humility and service. I'm repeating it so we get it. So it becomes quite clear we can walk out of the eye and just say these four points like this. Humility and service. Then, then we wash each other's feet. And then we help them get back onto their feet by reconciling with them. Let's now... we're going to come back to John in a short while. But I want to go now onto Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Talk a little bit about forgiveness and reconciliation. Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15. This is after the sample prayer. And then he says, For if you forgive men, they trespassers. Your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, they trespassers. Neither will your Father forgive the trespasses. I mean, that's in plain, simple language. Can't be any plainer. Or do we offer anger and bitterness and revengeful feelings?

Look also at this prophecy in Matthew 24. Matthew 24, verses 9 through 12.

And then they'll deliver you to tribulation and will kill you. And you'll be hated by all nations for man and sight. And then many will be offended. They'll be hurt. They'll be scandalized. They'll be deeply hurt. And because of that, they'll betray one another. In other words, they're not forgiving. They'll betray one another and will hate one another. That's not love. That's hate.

Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many, not a few, many. Many. And it's talking to the church. Crisis you are talking to the disciples, to the church. Not to the world, to the church. And because lawless will abound, the love of many in the church will grow cold. When love is hot and it grows cold, it goes through a stage in the middle called what? Look warm. And it says, if you and I become lukewarm, God will spit us out of His mouth.

Do we have residual feelings or emotions of anger? Are we moving from anger, offense and grudges to forgiveness?

We need to forgive others so that we can be forgiven. Do we? Now look at Mark 11 verse 22. Look at Mark 11 verse 22.

So Jesus answered and said that they are met fighting God. And then look into that context, what He talks to them in verse 25 and 26. And wherever you stand, praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive Him. That your father never may also forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

It says, first says that fighting God, and He says, if you do not forgive, you're not going to be forgiven. But if He forgives, you're going to be forgiven. Therefore, forgiving will increase your fight.

If you are forgiving others, you will just have that additional fight or sign, God's going to forgive me because He's true. It's a difficult point to grasp, but forgiveness bodes faith. When someone in the church sins against you or me, do we forgive? How many times? Haven't we read about seventy times seven? Do you keep account? Well, if you keep an account, then there's a problem. So the point is, imagine 489. One more time. Well, brethren, some people say, well, if they've repented, I'll do it. You know, brethren, it's God He's the judge. God is the judge. You and I don't know the heart. You don't know if they've repented. It's God He's the judge. It's not my job to say they've repented. It's up to God. Our job is to forgive, to wash each other's feet. That's our job, to wash each other's feet. We want to be right with God and have done our part. In other words, we want to wash each other's feet. So forgive others so that we may be forgiven. So whatever the cause, brethren, it's anger, bitterness, intolerance, unfriendliness, whatever it is, forgive. Because if you don't, you're probably going to be sad, unhappy, depressed. Don't be cynical about them. Just forgive. I don't want to go into it, but let's call it study. Study Colossians chapter 3. At home. Colossians chapter 3 says, seek those things above. Put your mind on the things above. In other words, on the mind of Christ. Then he talks to us about putting off anger, malice, wrath, etc. The mind of Satan. That's what we're going to put off. And he says, put on the new man, which is humility, mists, kindness, tender kindness, bearing one another. That's Christ's mind. That's what we're going to put on. For reference, we need to be renewed with that new image, which is the glory of Christ in us. Foot washing represents Jesus Christ washing our feet. But we have to wash each other's feet. In other words, forgive one another. And the foot washing ceremony is not complete after we wash their feet and walk away. Right? We dry their feet. Don't we? So it's not complete until we wipe the brethren's feet. The wiping act or drying act is the act of restoring the feet in a condition to go back to their shoes, to continue doing the job they're supposed to do. And likewise, we as Christians, we need to restore a good relationship between ourselves so that we may go back and do the work that God has given us to do as the body of Christ. So that we may do the work as a church. So, restoring a good relationship after one has been hurt and offended because hurts and offenses will come. We'll all do something to hurt somebody. That's a fact. It's not just forgiving. Forgiving is not enough. Washing the feet is not enough. We've got to dry them. We need a full reconciliation to a healthy relationship. And reconciliation is not difficult. Or, yes, it is difficult. It's very difficult. It's easy to say, I'll forgive you. It's a lot more difficult to say, I'm going to have a meal with him, I'm going to live with him, I'm going to serve him, I'm going to help him for her, and things like that. Isn't Jesus Christ reconciled to the Father? Yes. Then why does Paul implore us to be reconciled to God?

Jesus Christ is reconciled to the Father. And why does Paul implore us to be reconciled to the Father? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18. Now all things are to God, who has reconciled us to himself. Yes, God has reconciled us to him, to God, through Christ, obviously, and not to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We as ministers of God have a teaching to instruct and teach people the ministry of reconciliation.

Now read in verse 20. You've read this many times. Now then, we as ambassadors of Christ, that's 2 Corinthians 5 verse 20, as though we were pleading, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ the Earth, be reconciled to God.

Why? Why does he implore us to be reconciled to God? Already we've been reconciled to God.

Because brethren, if we're not reconciled with one another, we can't be reconciled with God. If we don't make peace with one another, God says, go and make peace with your brother first, then come to me and offer them the gift. Read in Colossians chapter 1 verse 21 and 23.

Colossians 1 verse 21 and 23. See, that's why he's imploring for us. Listen, please, reconcile with one another so he can be reconciled with God, because God has opened the way for you to be reconciled with him, but he's waiting for you to do your part. That's what he is.

Colossians 1 verse 21.

And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. He has reconciled the zen of body of his flesh, yes, the physical flesh, through his death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, if, oh, such a small word, that's such a good meaning, if, indeed, you continue in the fight. What fight? Of reconciliation. Grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope. What hope? Of the Gospel. What Gospel? The Gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God, and we're going to have the glory of Christ. Christ living in us. Which you have earned, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I uphold the kingdom of the Lord. We are reconciled in the body of his flesh.

Spiritually speaking, we are reconciled in the body which is the Church of God. Imagine a body with this hand does not talk to this hand, and always fighting, always going in different directions. How would you do anything? Come on, come this way. No, no, no, I'm cross with him. You couldn't do our work. You couldn't do our work. Spiritually speaking is the same thing.

I mean, the best example that I could give physically is when we get cancer. We get a part of the body fighting against the rest of the body. There's a lot of suffering to that. A lot of suffering to that. And in the end, unless that cancer is conquered, the person may die. Bigger knowledge is from that. Bigger knowledge is from that.

Let's continue reading in verse 24. I now rejoice in my sufferings for you. I rejoice that I, Paul, am suffering for you and fill up in my flesh, in my human body, what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Christ's sufferings are not complete because He's not the full body. The full body of Christ, spiritually speaking, He's the head for the other members of the body, which is the church. And we, as part of that body, have our own sufferings to suffer for one or another and forgive and be reconciled to have the whole body holy and righteous and wholesome. He says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. And so we all do the same, brethren. We all are with our own sufferings that we individually have. We're filling up that what is lacking of afflictions in the body of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church. Can you see it? Remember, Christ said in the sermon on the Mount when He's talking, expounding the lesson about murder, and He says, you know, just your thoughts, and He says, if you hate somebody and if you've got something and you're bringing a gift to the altar, go there with your brother, make peace. Otherwise, you know, you'll be thrown into prison and you'll have to pay to the lost penny. Brethren, we have to reconcile. It's talking about reconciliation. And as it was mentioned in the sermon, justice, mercy, and faith. Justice is important. Once justice is made, then mercy can be applied. And when we apply mercy, we have to have faith in God that will indeed apply that same mercy to us. Those are the way to matters of the law. I believe that reconciliation is actually more difficult than forgiving. I actually think reconciliation takes time. And God is merciful and gives us time. We have in the foot washing a number of symbols there. Humility and service, forgiveness and reconciliation. So let's go back to John 13 when we left. John 13 when we left.

And we're going to start reading in verse 15. So we're recapping some of the sections here. I've given you an example that you should do as I've done to you. Most surely, I say to you, a servant is not great at his master. No, he is great. We sent great and then we sent him. If you know these things, bless it. Are you if you do them? So he continues. But I do not speak concerning all of you. I know who must have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats bread with me has lifted up his ill against me.

Now, it's important we understand this because people confuse you about it. Supper was ended. He rose up from supper. He did the foot washing. He came back to the table. And now, this bread is a table. And there's someone. You know, think about it. If you have a meal and the supper is ended, the ladies have taken the lamb out back to the kitchen. And you have, and he's sitting around the table, you're chit-chatting and talking.

And you're nibbling with a bit of bread or maybe a bit of wine and talking about it. But the supper is over. But you're still taking bread and eating bread. He says, who eats bread with me is lifted up his ill against me. Eats bread with him.

He did it. And he's eating now. Now, I'll tell you before it comes that when it does come, you may believe that I am. That he is not in the region, as you can see it's in italics in your Bible. I am. Who is the I am? He's the God that spoke to Abraham on the burning bush. And he said, who do I say that he's speaking to you? He says, I am. And I'm telling you when it comes, when it comes to pass, you may believe that I am.

You straight. Most surely I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives me. He who receives whomever I send receives me. So Christ sends people. Christ identified apostles and sent them. They were chosen by Christ. They themselves appoint themselves out of the blue and says, well, they were chosen by Christ. He says, I receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me, which is God the Father sent him.

Now, when Jesus had said these things, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, now he really got sober down. He really got sober down. Because he knew he was fulfilling some very important scriptures. And he said, most surely I say to you, one of you will be training. Remember, it's thunderfoot washing. I mean, the sequence is clear. It's thunderfoot washing. Then the disciples looked at one another perplexed about whom he spoke. Now there was leaning on Jesus, who's in one of his whom Jesus loved, which was John. So he's not saying it was me. And Solomon Peter therefore motioned to him, motioned to John, to ask who it was whom he spoke about. Then, leaning back on Jesus' prayers, he said to him, Lord, who is it?

And then Jesus said, it is he whom I take a piece of bread, when I took it. So they went at the table. There was bread still. He took the bread. He took the other people also putting their hands and getting bread and things like that. They were still nibbling. They were nibbling, putting. They took bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot. And having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. What do you think Judas did? I think he ate it. Thank you. And he put it in his mouth and he ate it.

Fulfilling the Scripture that it says, he who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. What were they doing? They were eating. Yes, they were eating. Jesus took the bread, gave it to them, and they were eating. But it was not the supper. Now, after the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Remember, he already had in his heart to do it.

He already made an agreement to do it. But now Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, whatever you do, do it quickly. It basically says, yeah, in another words, go. Go and do it. Just go. Get out. Get out. Go. Go. He waited for Judas to leave before he then took that bread while they were eating it and blessed it. And then he took the wine and blessed it. He waited for Judas to leave. It's as if he said, just go. Come and do what you have to do. But no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to him.

For some thought, because Judas had the money box that Jesus had said to him, buy those things that we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor, and having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. So he went out. And this section of Scripture is a parallel to Matthew 26. This section from verse 21 through verse 30 is a parallel of Matthew 26, 21 through 24. Let's look at Matthew 26, 21 through 24. Matthew 26, 21 through 24. As they were eating.

Matthew 26, 21. Yes, they were eating the bread. They were sitting at the table. They were nibbling. It was not the meal. It was not the supper. The supper had ended, but they were eating. He said, Surely I'll say to you, one of you will betray me.

And they were exceeding sorrowful. Each one began to ask, Lord, he said, aye. Then he asked to him, He who dipped his hand with me in the de shall betray him.

So they, he, Judas, dipped his hand, Christ dipped his hand, but then Christ took some and gave it to Judas. You know, one Scripture complements another. They just add one plus one makes two. That's what it is. Then the Son of Man indeed goes just as it's written to him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, he said, aye. And Jesus said, You said, God, go and do what you got to do. God. At this moment, that's John 13.30. That is sync with John 13.30, when Judas leaves the title. At that moment, between verse 25 and verse 26, that's when Judas leaves the title. So in verse 36, he said, we're eating. Yes, they were nibbling. They were eating. We saw they were just ate. They were eating that bread. Jesus took the bread and then he blessed and broke it.

Take heed. This is my body. And then he took the cup. And gave thanks to them, saying, Drink from it all. For this is the blood of my new, of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. So brethren, you can see here a very interesting sequence. After this, you can read that, for instance, in Luke and in other scriptures. Then they argued about who was the greatest. Now, some people have confusion on one little scripture, John.

Why not? I go into there to show you something that probably has not noticed and forgive me for going a little bit over time. But look 22. Look 22. Look 22. Starting from verse 19 and verse 20, you can see, look 22, it shows, He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my blood. However, this is my body, which is given to you in the listening remembrance of me. And verse 20, likewise, took the cup of the supper. So yeah, it was of the supper, as we saw it.

The supper had been finished longer ago, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Then look at verse 21. This is what confuses some people. In verse 21. But behold, the hand of my big triad is with me on the table. Now, we just saw that Judas left before the blessing of the symbols. So how can he be Judas be at the table when they're blessing the symbols? The answer is very simple, brethren. The word is easy in italics. Look carefully in your Bible. It's in italics. It's not there in the original Greek.

Could have been, has just been, has left, has gone, whatever. And then later on, you can see there's the argument about who is the greatest and things like that.

So, brethren, we have seen, and I deliberately went into these sort of few examples to teach you and to show you the sequence, which is important. The sequence is that the foot washing is before the bread and wine. That we saw it clearly. It's clearly shown in the Gospel statement. That represents an attitude of mind that we need to have to examine ourselves before we take the bread and wine. The attitude of mind is one of humility and service, forgiveness and reconciliation. Just remember, humility and service, forgiveness and reconciliation. When we do the foot washing, we must be exactly the opposite of the mind of Satan, which is proud and wanting to be in charge. We have to have a foot washing attitude when we take the symbols, which is humility and service, forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us examine ourselves in these four areas in the next few days that we have before Passover, so that God may pour a blessing to His body, which is the Church. Even though we have a strong enemy, which is Satan. Brethren, as we ready ourselves with the mind of Christ as a bride adorned to meet her husband, let us follow Christ's example by having a foot washing attitude in our daily lives.