John 13

Peter was puzzled. He watched Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus knelt down to wash feet. He was wondering, what is going on here? You had the men in the room, a private room. They were going to be observing the Passover. Earlier in the day, Jesus Christ had asked the men, a couple of the men, to go and find a suitable location where they can observe the Passover. They found that location. They made the hall ready. As the Scripture said, when the hour had come, after sunset, they began to have their meeting. But Peter, in particular, the Scriptures make mention of him, he was watching, he was fascinated, he was puzzled, as he watched Jesus bend down to wash feet.

He couldn't quite make out what he thought about that, but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't seem to like it. Not only had Peter watch Christ kneel down to wash one set of feet, it was obvious that Jesus was going to kneel down and wash everybody's feet right there in that room. When Jesus came to Peter, and Peter saw it was his turn, he said, Jesus, what are you doing?

What are you doing? And Christ said, well, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me.

If I wash you, don't wash you, you don't have any part with me. And, of course, you remember Peter's response, well, don't just wash my feet, wash everything, I want very much to be a part of you.

You know, I've been your pastor now since July of 1997. We've been through quite a lot together, we've gone through a lot of sermons together since that point. Over the years, as we prepare for the Passover, I tried to talk about something having to do with foot washing, I try to talk about bread, wine, those sorts of things, make sure that you're fully prepared for the upcoming Passover.

When we look at John 13, obviously what we see is a discussion about washing feet, we see a discussion about humility. I've given many number of sermons covering that topic. A few years ago, I did a little something different as we were looking at John 13. We made mention, I made mention that there's a lot of deeper symbolism there in John 13. It's not just talking about washing feet, it's not talking just about humility. There's another, there's a deeper layer of understanding there, and that is that Jesus Christ, as He was washing feet, that was symbolic of washing away sin. Washing away sin. Now, this last week in the midweek study I sent out via email, I discussed that. I went through a sermon on that two or three years ago, and this is something that we have discussed in a church for a long time, for decades. This is nothing new. But we've gone through that discussion, and yet today, as I was thinking about in this last week, as I was thinking about John 13, I was thinking about, well, what other is there other layers of understanding there? Not heresy. But is there other layers of understanding here about John 13? And indeed, there is. Indeed, there is. As I was meditating and thinking about what I was reading there in John 13, those first 17 verses, it just really came to me as I was thinking about it, praying about it, meditating about it, that John 13 shows that Jesus Christ is still washing our feet today.

So if you want to put something across the top of your paper, put that down. John 13 shows that Jesus Christ is still washing our feet today. Now, what in the world do I mean by that?

Well, what Jesus Christ did was very symbolic in many ways, and certainly that symbolism can be applied to you and I today. We're going to take a look at that. As I looked at those 17 verses, I saw seven, I came up with seven different observations. And as I made mention in Ann Arbor, since we went late there, we would probably go late here, so prepare yourself.

I didn't go too late. I think I went 10 minutes over there. I'll probably go 10 minutes over here.

But let's take a look at John 13, and as we go there, you want to make sure that you put a marker there because we'll go other places, but we'll keep on coming back to John 13.

Let's read the first verse where I have my first observation, John 13, verse 1. Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Observation number one. Jesus continues to love you.

He continues to show his love for you. It wasn't just something he showed that evening as he washed feet. It's something he shows all the time for you and I. His tremendous love. Notice it says, He, having loved his own who were in the world. Brother, you and I are in the world, and Jesus Christ loves us very, very much. I think Alameda mentioned it in his opening prayer that Christ came because of His great love for us. He loved them to the end, to the end of His physical ministry. He loves us to this day to day. Think about it for a moment. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this point. I'll tell you why in just a moment. Despite the immeseness of the trial that was before Jesus Christ, an immense trial, if He didn't succeed in His trial, nobody, including Himself, would have eternal life. Tremendous stakes here. Despite the immeseness of the trial in front of Him, Christ's heart, Christ's mind, were focused on His love for us.

Focused on His love for us. That's not changed, brethren, in 2,000 years. We are always the focus of God's love. The reason I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this point is because the last several sermons I've given have discussed the love of God. Last week we went through a very lengthy discussion about John 3, verse 16.

We also discussed myths that rob Christians of their paths over joy. In that sermon we talked about Christ's unconditional love for you and I. We talked about how Christ's love is universal, how His love is eternal for us. Last week we talked about Christ's motives, God's motives, why they do what they do, that they do it out of agape love, which is the highest level, the highest quality of love that there is. High in testity we discussed last week, and so forth. I also quoted, and I'll just read this to you, it's in a different translation, the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament, 1 Peter 5, verse 7, to which to me is one of the most encouraging scriptures in all of the Bible, where it says, you can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him, for you are His personal concern.

Do you have any anxieties on you right now? You know, as I look out at you, as I look out at the people in Ann Arbor, there are some in Ann Arbor and in Detroit who are going through some very weighty things. Decisions have to be made in a number of people's lives that will affect them the rest of their life. There are times when we find ourselves in those kinds of situations, we don't know which way to turn, we don't know our right hand from our left hand at times, we wonder what God's will is, where He's striving to search the scriptures daily to find out that will. But there are times when we just are anxious because we want to do the right thing, we want to do God's will, we want to be pleasing in God's sight. And Christ here says through Peter, throw all that weight on Him, on Christ. For you, you are His personal concern.

So as Christ knelt down to wash feet here in John 13 because of His love for these disciples, you remember something. You too are a disciple. You too are a disciple. And you too have the unconditional, unqualified, highest quality love that comes from Jesus.

So just as Jesus washed their feet and all the symbolism we have here in this chapter, the same thing is true for us today. And it's tremendous love for you and I.

Let's look at a second observation that I see here. This is in verse 3.

In verse 3, the second observation is this, and that is that Jesus is in control of your spiritual situation. Jesus is in control of your spiritual situation. What situation are you in right now? What's the state of your mind, the state of your health, the state of your being? Where are you with work? Where are you with the next-door neighbors or your relatives or whatever is happening in your life? Jesus is in control of that situation.

There are times in our lives we don't feel we're in control of much of anything.

Jesus is in control of your situation. Verse 3, John 13, verse 3, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, and he was going to God. He knew who he was, and he had the whole situation under control. As it says here, the Father had given all things into his hands, the hands of Jesus Christ being hands that gave life, the hands of Jesus Christ being things that gave healing, gave restoration, gave enabling, the very worthy hands, the loving hands, the caring hands of Jesus Christ. Right now, just as these people, these disciples, were in the loving hands of Jesus the Christ. So today are you. So today are you. Let's take a look, put a marker there. We'll go over to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, verses 1 through 3. Matthew chapter 8 verses 1 through 3. When you come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing, be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Notice what it says very carefully.

A leper came, worshipping him, and then verse 3, Jesus put out his hand.

Jesus put out his hand. It talked about there in John 13.3 how the Father given all things into his hands. The hands of God the Father and certainly the hands of Jesus Christ are powerful instruments. This man had leprosy. In the scriptures, leprosy was a type of sin.

The disease of leprosy is one that is of the flesh. It goes deeply into the flesh. It decays the flesh. People have a loss of feeling. In some cases, they lose digits, fingers, and toes.

They are unclean because of this disease. And all of that is the same thing that says those same things are true with sin. Sin is of the flesh. Sin goes deep. Sin causes spiritual decay. A loss of proper feeling toward God and our fellow man. Sin makes us unclean. But Jesus Christ came. He reached out and touched this man and cleansed this man. Has Jesus Christ reached out to you to touch you, to cleanse you? Yes, he has. He's reached out to touch all of us in this room, to cleanse all of us in this room. He touches and cleanses us. Turn to, if you would, John 10.

John 10, verses 28 and 29. John 10, verse 28. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of what? Snatch them out of my hand.

You are secure in the hands of Jesus Christ when you give your life to Him, as you have done.

And notice something even augmenting this, verse 29. My Father has given them to me as greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. Boy, you talk about a backup.

You know, God the Father backs up Christ. Christ backs up God. Both are all loving beings, and we are in their hands. That was true back in the days when Jesus Christ was nearly bound to wash feet. It is true today, as Jesus Christ touches you and deals with you in your life. Job, chapter 14.

Let's go to Job, chapter 14. In case you did not know, Job is the oldest written book in all of the Bible. Now, the book of Genesis, Job. Job was written before Genesis.

Oldest written book in the Bible, book of Job. A book I quote all the time when I'm doing a funeral service for somebody. Very, a lot of meaningful discussion here in the book of Job, Job, chapter 14, verse 14. If a man dies, shall he live again? Now, obviously, that's something that people, when they're in a funeral home, they think about. If a man or a woman dies, shall they live again?

Notice, all the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes. Talking about the resurrection. You shall call. In other words, God will call. I, the individual, will answer.

And it says, you shall desire the work of your hands. There's no way that we can estimate how much God loves each of us in this room. How much Jesus Christ loves each of us in this room. But we do know that Jesus Christ came to die for each of us in this room. And it is his strong desire, as the Bible says there in the book of Luke, his strong desire to keep the Passover with us. It's his strong desire to have a work of his hands talking about you. He wants you to excel, to grow, to be all that you can be spiritually. Let's go back to John 13 and see another observation.

The third observation is this, that Jesus initiates great love for you.

Jesus initiates great love for you. I know it's easy for people to think they're not loved. People do all sorts of things to themselves because they don't feel love. They don't feel valued. And yet Jesus Christ initiates love. He did that for the people here in John 13. He does it today. In essence, that's why I'm saying he's still washing feet. The things he did for them, he's doing for us. Initiating love. John 13, verse 4, talking about how Jesus rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, and he girded himself. Notice the other people didn't do this. No one else thought to do this. There were a lot of dirty feet in that room. And it was a practice for somebody. Normally, there was some sort of a servant, or they would hire somebody to come in and wash feet. There was nobody doing that. And so what did Jesus Christ do? Jesus Christ set the ultimate loving example of service, of humble service. And he initiated that. He set the example for us. And it's interesting, and I want you to put a marker here again. Let's look at Luke, chapter 22. Luke 22 also deals with this time frame, that first Passover, New Testament Passover.

Luke, chapter 22. And I want you to notice something. Maybe you've noticed this in the past, maybe you haven't. Luke, chapter 22. Let's just start here in verse 19, kind of pick up a little bit of the story flow. And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So here we have a portion of the Passover service, don't we? Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. So here we've got the atmosphere. We've got the Passover taking place, but notice something. We've dropped down to verse 24. He says, Now there is also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest.

And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But not so among you. On the contrary, who is greatest among you, let him be as younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table, yet among you, as one who serves? So what we're seeing here, now again, we're not sure of the exact time frame, but it may well be as they were filing into the Passover room, they had this discussion. Who's the greatest? If it wasn't just before they walk into the Passover service, it might have been a conversation that day. You know, we observe the Passover after sunset. The Bible talks about when the hour comes, when a day starts, when the 14th starts.

And on the Hebrew calendar, that's why we have our Passover service so late. You know, time change also doesn't help things, but that's why we do it the way we do it. So maybe during the 13th, the daily portion of that day, they may have had this conversation, or they may have had it just as they were walking into the room. But this was a conversation that Christ overheard. He understood where they were coming from, and he realized they're not really getting it. And for me to lead them by example, I need to show them something here. So Jesus Christ initiates this what we call the ordinance of humility, the foot washing. The foot washing. Because he's initiating love. And love is something that's very humble, and it's very service-oriented. It's not me-oriented. It's service. It's oriented toward the other guy. 1 John 4, verse 19.

1 John 4, verse 19. 2 John 14.

1 John 13. 1 John 14. 1 John 14. 4 He says, for we love him because he first love us. He first loved us. Jesus initiates love toward us. He did it in John 13. He's done it in your life and mine. Jesus Christ is still washing our feet today. 2 John 14. He is still washing our feet today. He has initiated this love. And in your case, you can think back as to when it was God first began working with you.

How many years ago was that? I've known some of you since the 1970s. Some of us go back a long way together. Others of you have not known as long. But in my life, God began working with me. Who knows? I don't know. I think God began working with me in the mid-60s. He began listening to the radio broadcast coming out of Canada. CHYR coming out of Leamington, Ontario, Canada. 6.30 in the evening.

Garner, Ted Armstrong. And getting information, hearing things, and writing off for literature. And back in those days, literature seemed to come at a snail's pace. You'd order three or four booklets, and six weeks later, eight weeks later, you'd get them. You'd read them in a day. And of course, the way it always worked is everything you read, there was always other questions. And so you had to write for other literature. And then there was this continual writing for literature, and waiting two months, or waiting six weeks.

And you moved at a snail's pace now, today. People are interested. They go online. They get the whole cart full. I mean, it's not one or two little booklets. I mean, they've got all of our literature. They've got podcasts. They've got Bible studies they can watch. They've got streaming video. They've got everything. They've got props.

You name it, they've got it. But back in the old days, we went a little slower than that. But we realized that God was calling us and working with us, and how much He loved us. Philippians chapter 1. It still does love us, not just loved us. Past tense, current tense, present tense. Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, Paul is writing to the church there in Philippi, a church He loves so dearly, He said, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

He who starts it will complete it. How many, you know, it's interesting, if you think about us, human beings, how many things do we have at home that they're half done? You know, you may have something you're knitting on, and it's half done, and you get tired of knitting on it, and you don't maybe start to dislike it, or dislike the color scheme. Kind of set it aside. Or you're doing some, maybe one of the fellows, you're doing some task around the house, and it's just a little more than you bargained for.

A little more involved. He said, I can do that. You get a book, you go to the library, you start on some task, and halfway through you say, you know, this is really a lot of work. Let me think about this, let's set this aside, and maybe I'll have to call in and have somebody else come and do it for me.

Is this the way God deals with us? Did He call any of us in this room and say, let's put Randy aside for a while? That guy is, he's tough not to crack that fellow. You know, he's an awful lot of work. No, God doesn't work that way. You were called, you are fully in His sight, fully in His attention, and it says here, we can be confident of this very thing, that He has begun a good work on us, when He called us.

We'll complete it. We'll complete it. We've got God's guarantee on that, showing His great love for us. Okay, we go back now to John 13. Let's take a look at a fourth observation from this chapter that deals with the washing of feet. That Christ stood back then, and Christ is still doing today, showing His love for us. Fourth observation is that Jesus washes you and He makes you clean. Washing and making you clean. Now, again, those of you who got the midweek Bible study, if you've taken a look at it, what I'm about to rehearse for you is review. This is something I gave two or three years ago as a sermon.

Let's take a look at John 13. It says, After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and wiped them with a towel with which He was girded.

Again, our standard explanation, a true explanation, a proper explanation, is that this chapter is talking about washing physical feet. There's no way of getting around that. That's exactly what we're talking about. But is that all this chapter is referring to? Well, we drop down to verse 8. And verse 8 is context of verse 5. Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

Now, is Jesus Christ saying to Peter, Hey, fella, your feet are so dirty, I'm not letting you into my kingdom? Is that what Christ is saying? He says, Hey, you know, you can have a lot of faults. You can do a lot of things in life. You've got dirty feet. Forget it. We don't have a big enough rub for you to wipe those feet off before you walk into the kingdom. No.

When you go verse 8, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. There is a deeper level of understanding here.

Now, humility, immense humility, the kind of humility Christ had is something we want to emulate, something we need. I have made mention, brethren, again, I've been your pastor through a lot of difficulties over the years.

Some of the difficulties we face, we face because we've had leadership in our church.

Leaders who were not humble at all.

Leaders who wanted their own way.

Leaders who would split us up, just like the two women who came to Solomon, they were fighting over the baby. In this case, the baby is the church of God. And the woman said, I want my way. I want the baby. Solomon says, well, we'll cut it in half, give you both half. And the woman who wasn't loving said, yeah, cut the baby in half. And we've had ministers in our organization over the years who are willing to cut that baby in half, who are willing to split the congregation so they can have their way. We in Detroit have felt that. We have felt that on several occasions.

I remember back in 1997 when I first got a call, hey, we need to have you move down to Detroit. Well, why move over to Detroit?

Well, back in the day, this congregation had 120 people.

120 people. Toledo had 120 people. We were one of the largest circuits in the region.

But by the time I could actually move into the area because what was taking place here, there were 60 left of 240. Three-quarters of the people left.

So humility. I don't want to poo-poo humility. It was a lack of humility that caused the difficulties you went through as a congregation back in those days. Back in 1997. We had a split here a couple of years ago. Same thing. Same thing. People had to have their way.

They would say it was different. They would say, well, we were changing things. We were about to stop keeping established. Well, have you seen anything like that? No.

But when you take a look at the leadership of that group who left us, is it any surprise that, you know, when you take a look at who's in charge over there, that those are the same ones that were wanting to be in charge here.

And they couldn't be in charge because they couldn't get elected by the other ministry. Lack of humility. So again, I'm not saying humility is not important. It is extremely important. But here we see a crisis as if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. Brother, this is a spiritual application here. A spiritual application. Let's take a look at a number of verses here to prove the point. Titus chapter 3 verses 3 through 5.

Verse 3, For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

In other words, there was a time when we were carnal, we were walking about as unconverted. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

Notice the title of Jesus Christ there, God our Savior.

Sometimes, if you're wondering about things you can study, study the various names and titles of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

God our Savior, talking about Jesus.

Verse 5, Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, notice, through the washing, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, through the washing of regeneration. Christ washed feet in John 13, but that was symbolic of washing off spiritual dirt. Here we see a thorough washing, and this washing gave a regeneration. That means a new life, new vitality.

And it said, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, this Holy Spirit renews us day by day, so we can be that new creation. But there's a washing that needed to take place spiritually. Hebrews 9, something I'll be covering with you on Passover evening. Hebrews 9, verse 14.

Hebrews 9, 14.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offer Himself without spot to God? Cleanse your conscience. Cleanse. Wash your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

This is our feet. This is the feet of the disciples. They needed to be physically washed. Our spirit needs to be washed. Our heart, our minds need to be washed with the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We need to be cleansed from dead works. And this is a scripture we use every year at Passover. This is a great scripture for the days of Unleavened Bread. We need to get rid of the dead works, the leaven, and we need to serve the living God. We need to bring in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

But notice here a cleansing that takes place. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Cleanses us from all sin. So, brethren, when we think about this cleansing that was taking place in John 13, yes, it was a dirty feat. But there's a deeper meaning there. There's a deeper meaning about spiritual dirt that has to be removed. If we're going to be Christ, we're going to be Christians, we have to have our spiritual dirt removed.

And that can only be washed away by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's not washed away by some physical washing and physical feet. Go back to John 13. Let's continue on with the various observations I've had. Observation number five is that Jesus guides us when we don't understand. Jesus guides us when we don't understand. We see Peter didn't understand. He didn't comprehend why it was that the Christ was going to wash His feet. He just didn't get it. Now, of course, you and I understand that the poor man didn't have God's Spirit with Him or in Him the same way that He would after the Day of Pentecost.

Christ was walking with Christ, living with Christ, as the other men were. A disciple, a student, but there was only a certain degree of death that they could get even in that situation. But here in John 13, verses 6-10, let's notice. And He came to Simon Peter and Peter said to Him, Lord, are You washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to Him, what I am doing, You do not understand now prior to Pentecost, but You will know after this. You will know after You have God's Holy Spirit in You. Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. Brethren, have you and I not said that? Are there things in your life that just don't go away?

Or in my life that just don't go away? Do we dig our heels in so hard that God can use our feet as plows? That, you know, if He's trying to draw us to Him, and we're just digging in like mules, we could probably put corn seed in those rows, and they're so deep.

Our feet just dig in there so deep. You shall never wash my feet. Define attitude. Jesus asked Him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Spiritually speaking. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. You just have to love Peter. Peter was the kind of guy who practiced ditchism. Do you practice ditchism? I've practiced ditchism too much in my life. That's when you go from one ditch to the other side, the other ditch.

My only guy in the room who's done it, practiced ditchism. He overcompensates, He over-exaggerates, He was impetuous, but you've got to love the fellow. He was wholehearted. There are times when He's wholeheartedly wrong, but He can be worked with. He was like David. He can be worked with.

Not my feet only, but most of my hands and my head. Jesus said to Him, He who is bathing is only to wash His feet, but it's completely clean. Basically, Jesus is referring there, we've got to get it to dirt. Where are the dirt found? We get to the dirt, in this case, we're talking about feet. We get to the dirt, we wash that, and that's all we need to do. You are clean, but not all of you. Of course, it's referring to Judasus Cariot there. So, Jesus had to carefully bring Him along, bring all the disciples along, and He did. To the place where, with the exception of John, history says, to tradition says, that all the original apostles died horrible deaths.

The Scripture doesn't say, but to tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down. James was thrown out of a building, just hurled down to the ground. John himself was put in a vat of boiling oil, and God allowed him to survive that.

John is the only one who we think didn't die a horrible death as a martyr. Which is interesting all by itself. People think, well, if I'm a good Christian, if I'm strong, then these things won't touch me. I've kind of got like, what was that Superman head? What was that substance Superman head? Kryptonite! We're a Kryptonite Christian. We're a Teflon Christian. I do everything God tells me to do. I can't be touched. Well, Christ was touched. Eleven of the disciples died horrible deaths.

Who are we? We talk about a place of safety. Who are we to say that in God's plan of things that we don't have to go through, quite literally, hell on earth? Don't find yourself thinking those thoughts at the end of the age, brother, because you can fall away. If you think God has played bait and switch with you, that He promised you a life that you would just never be touched, look at the people there in Hebrews chapter 11.

Sleeping in caves. Isaiah, as great a prophet as he was, when it talks about somebody who saw him in half, Isaiah was stuffed in a log and they sawed the log in half. Was he a man who didn't have faith? He had tremendous faith. Tremendous faith. So God takes the time to teach us. And we're all at various stages, various places, but He takes the time to guide us.

He's doing it here. He does it today. In that sense, He's still washing our feet. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18. As it may mention, I see my time is almost up here, but we're going to be going over a little bit. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18. 1 Corinthians chapter 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The world just doesn't understand it. They don't know, but we're being taught. We're being taught by God. We go back now to John chapter 13. It should be John chapter 6. John chapter 6 and verse 68. On Passover evening, there's a large section of this chapter I'll be reading to you. Talking about Jesus Christ being the real bread, the true manna. The Old Testament, they had the manna that God gave them that was physical. That filled their belly, didn't fill their soul, didn't give them eternal life. But here we see in John chapter 6 that Jesus Christ gives real life, eternal life, because He is the real bread of life.

But here in John chapter 6 and verse 68, people were beginning to fall away from Jesus Christ. People feel bad because people leave the church. Brethren, understand something. People went away from Jesus Christ. You don't get any better as a minister than Jesus Christ, do you? People left Him. So yes, I feel bad when people leave. But people have been doing this all through Christian history. Verse 68, but Simon Peter answered him, sir, you shall we go, you have the words of eternal life. You have the words of eternal life.

Observation number 6. Let's go back to John 13, a few chapters down the road here. Observation number 6, and we've got seven of them. I'll finish another in the next ten minutes. Observation number 6, Jesus teaches us His way. He teaches us. He did it back there in John 13. He does it today. As He helped wash their feet, He's washing our feet. He's doing the same things with today's disciples He did with the disciples back in that era. John 13, verses 12-16. John 13, verses 12-16. So we had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again.

He said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and so you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than him who sent him.

You know, it's interesting as I look at these verses here. And I was looking at various commentaries, and it's interesting when you look at the commentaries. Sometimes they can be very helpful, sometimes not. But in this particular section of the scriptures, most commentaries will say, well, you know, Christ washed feet, but we don't need to do that today. Now, it says here that Christ said, what I have done, you should do. People always find a reason why they don't have to do what Christ says to do. People say, well, you know, we live in a society, we've got great shoes.

Women got all kinds of shoes, but we've got great shoes. We've got great shoes. Men have got, you know, clothes, there's no open-toed things, unless you're talking about in the summertime, you know, you've got these wonderful shoes, and we've got nice streets, we've got sidewalks, we've got showers, we've got water, we've got everything. We don't need to do this. That's not what God says, that's not what Christ says. He says that He's going to teach us something we need to do.

And we learn through example, we learn by doing. And getting on our hands and knees and walking, you know, the older you get, that's not easy. You know, it's interesting. The church in Detroit and the church in Ann Arbor. Our church here in Detroit is much older than the per person than the church in Ann Arbor. But we had a Deacons meeting here a month or so ago, and we were talking about, okay, now who, between men and women, who needs help with the foot washing?

And it's getting to the place in Ann Arbor where we have more people who have need than people who can help. In some cases, some people are going to have to have their feet washed several times because we've got, now so many people are getting older they can't bend down, they can't do the various things that we need to give them assistance.

And we're happy to do that. We've always done that sort of thing. Now, in Detroit we're older, but we don't seem to need as much assistance. I don't know if we're just you know, what it is about our Detroit congregation, but we're just going to, you know, we're going to tough it out, we're going to get the job done. So, this whole idea of washing feet, that's something God wants us to do.

We learn something. Jesus Christ taught the way of life. We see that in Matthew, I'm not going to turn to these, Matthew 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount. Talking the talk. The basis of Christianity. You see in 1 Peter 2, which we'll go through on Passover evening where Christ says, well, Christ says this through Peter.

To this you recall, because Christ also suffered for us, leading us in example, we should follow the steps. Now, we pull that verse all the time talking about Christ as our ultimate example, and that's fine. That works. That's appropriate. But explicitly, explicitly, that Scripture in 1 Peter 2 is talking about following Christ's example under duress. It's talking about what he went through when he was being tortured.

What it was talking about is what he went through and how he lived a godly life under the worst possible circumstances. Things that you and I can't...we've all gone through some awful experiences in life. None of us have gone through what he went through. None of us have gone through that. Yet, when he went through that, his mind was focused.

How long does it take you to sin? A fraction of a second. He didn't give himself over to any of those kinds of thoughts, not even for a fraction of a second. So here we see that Jesus Christ talked the talk. He walked the walk. And he did that with his disciples then. He does it with us now.

John 6. John 6. Verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. We understand this. We understand that God has got to call us. We also understand that Jesus Christ is God. We understand that Jesus Christ, when he walked the earth, he went up to various people and he patted him on the shoulder and said, I want you to come with me. You're going to be a fisher of men. So Jesus Christ gets him calling too. He called his disciples. You are a disciple. You are being called by God.

Verse 45. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. You know, I may mention, I don't know how this flew for some people over in Ann Arbor, but I believe this to all my heart. As much as I have enjoyed coming to Sabbath services all the life I've been called, as much as I enjoy going to the Holy Days and the Feast, when I look at verse 45, they shall all be taught by God in my life, I don't know about yours, but in my life, the greatest growth, the greatest epiphanies of understanding have come when I've been alone with God in my Bible, in my home, and I'm just pouring over the Scriptures.

Now, I'm in church, now, I go to church twice a Sabbath, and normally it's me who does the preaching. But when you're in church, you know, you're here for an hour and a half, and it's not all preaching. Hopefully we're doing a whole lot more studying during the course of the week. And so it shouldn't make sense that you should be getting more and more from your own personal study.

Again, I'm not downplaying the need for church, I believe wholeheartedly. The Bible says we need to congregate together, we need to fellowship, we need to listen to those who are speaking, and so forth. But I know I have been taught by God. I've been taught by some excellent teachers, and I appreciate everything I've been taught.

But I also realize my main teaching comes from my Father. The same thing should be true for you. Your main teaching comes from your Father. Jesus taught them. Jesus is today teaching you. He's still washing our feet today. Let's look at the last observation, number 7. Let me just go back to John chapter 13 one last time. I've got this scripture to read and one other, and we'll be done for today. John chapter 13 verse 17, a very last verse talking about the foot washing.

It says, if you know these things, bless are you if you do them. If you know, you do. If you know and do, you're blessed. Interesting equation there. Knowing plus doing equals blessing when you're talking about the things of God.

Here in the church, the church of God culture, we don't have a lot of rigmarole. We don't have a lot of, you know, there's no secret handshakes. There's no things that we do that other people do. They're like their rights and you don't have to fold your hand a certain way and do different things. But there is one thing we have that I value, and that is that we have been given a tremendous gift.

We've been given a tremendous heritage by God, and that is His truth. That is His spirit. And that truth of God has been handed down from generation to generation through the years.

Here in this room, we've got some families here. We've got moms and dads. We've got kids. We've got grandkids. You couldn't put a price tag on that. What would we have? We hand down to each generation of believers.

It's something that's very precious. It's God's way of life. Turn to the last scripture of the day. It's over here in Philippians 2. Philippians 2. It's actually read so often. I turn to so often. Philippians 2 and verse 5, where it says, And let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. The same mind. Let that mind. Not the deacon's mind, not the elder's mind. Not Susie or Bobby. Let Christ's mind be in you, who, being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God.

In Jesus Christ's head, we can't even begin to comprehend. Our mind is limited. He was unlimited. It's literally impossible for us to comprehend what Christ was. Who He was before He became a human flesh. Verse 7, No reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in a likeness of men.

This great being, who had lived all eternity, all knowing, all powerful, everywhere present, confined into maybe, what, a 5'10'' frame? He was still God. He was God in the flesh, able to perform miracles. But He had the limitation of flesh. He sweat. He hungered. He had to sleep. He had to understand things that we go through by actually living in the flesh.

He did that for us as a sign of His love for us. Made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, coming in a likeness of men. And being found in the appearance of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Yes, Jesus Christ did that for us. We also must be doing that for Him. We also must humble ourselves and become obedient to the point of the death of the old man, the death of the old woman, even to the death of the cross.

We have not been crucified, but our old man, our old woman, should be crucified. And then the crux of what I want to get to is in verses 9 and 10. Therefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name. But that same thing, just as that is true of Jesus, and these verses are talking explicitly about the station Jesus Christ now has, verse 10, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth.

That is explicitly talking about Christ. We understand that. But we also understand that when Christ returns at a second coming, He is coming with His reward. We understand that we will be resurrected to glory. We will be fully sons and daughters of God. Now we are sons and daughters, but we are still flesh. There is coming a time when as we look at what Christ was given through His humble obedience, that because of our humble obedience, we will have these same things given to us.

Rulership. Five cities. Ten cities. How much have you yielded to God? Depending upon how much you have yielded to God, how close your walk is with God, you might be one of the greatest people in all...if the book of Acts is still continuing, we think that it is. It doesn't end with the word Amen. There is no finishing point there. There may be a chronicle that goes on for many volumes talking about the Church of God through the ages.

Your name might be there depending upon how much you have personally yielded to God. You might be one of the greatest people that has ever walked the face of the earth with God. But we, it says there in John 13, verse 17, that we are blessed if we do these things.

As I was thinking about this, meditating about it, we are blessed because we are thinking the same way Christ thought. If we can think the way Christ thought, that is a blessing. We are blessed because we are living the same way Christ lived. If we can live the same way Christ lived, that is a blessing. We are blessed because just as Christ was glorified, we will be glorified.

We will be under Jesus Christ, under God the Father, but we will also be glorified as Spirit beings. So, Brenton, today we've taken a look at John chapter 13, away the craftsman. I've never looked at it before. Don't believe it to be here, heretical. I do believe it is a good Christian living topic. That Jesus Christ, as He washed the disciples' feet two thousand years ago, by analogy, He's doing the same thing today. I covered with you seven different observations. Let me cover those real briefly just one last time and we'll be done for today. Observation number one, Jesus' continuous love for us. Observation number two, Jesus is in control of our spiritual situation.

Observation number three, Jesus initiates great love for us. Observation number four, Jesus washing you, making you and I clean. Number five, Jesus guides us when we don't understand. Observation number six, Jesus teaches us His ways. In observation number seven, Jesus blesses us for our humble obedience. Yes, Jesus Christ washed feet two thousand years ago, but He's still doing it. He's still doing it today. So, brethren, let's appreciate that fact. Let's be encouraged by that fact.