Preparing for the Passover

And what we're talking about today is preparation for the foot washing and passover ceremonies. In about 29 days and 6 hours from now, we will be, first of all, kneeling down to wash each other's feet, and then eat and drink the Lord's Passover. So we ask ourselves today, am I prepared to wash one another's feet, to wash my brother's feet or my sister's feet, and am I prepared to eat and drink the Passover? Once we kneel down to wash each other's feet, it will be too late to prepare from your heart. Now's the time to prepare.

Foot washing sets the tenor in tone for taking the Passover. And God wants us to come to Passover with a foot washing attitude. So what are the essentials for preparing to wash your brother's or sister's feet and for eating and drinking the Passover? So let's notice in John 13, where Jesus Christ Himself institutes the foot washing ceremony. John 13, verse 1, Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world under the Father, having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end, and supper taking place, it had not ended, as the old King James says, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas's chariot Simon's son to betray Him.

So Simon, the Simon's son Judas, already knew what he was going to do, that he was going to betray the Son of God. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand, and that He was come from God, and, correct translation, going to God, He rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel, wherewith He was girded. To wash another's feet was a great act of contrition, a great act of humility.

And, of course, Jesus Christ didn't do it for show. It wasn't some kind of fault show of contrition or humility. He did it because that's the way He is. That He is love, that He is willing to give His life for the brethren.

So just think about the Son of God, the agent of creation, our Savior, stooping to wash the disciples' feet. This was the duty of servants. Not the head of the household, but the duty of servants. But here we see Jesus Christ setting an example for us. We see in the next few verses that Jesus realized, or as we've just read, rather, He realized that He was going to ascend to the Father after His death, burial, and resurrection, and that He had been given all authority.

Yet He accepts the example for us to follow the act of serving one another, and such an act of service and such an act of contrition. In verse 6, then came Simon Peter. Peter said unto him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do you know not, but you shall know hereafter. Of course, even the apostles had not yet gotten the significance of what they were involved in and what it was all about in one sense, and they were looking at things more from a physical point of view than from a spiritual point of view.

Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do you know not, but you shall know hereafter. Peter said unto him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with me. So Peter, of course, was quick to engage the mouth before the brain, and he popped off, but yet he had some marvelous and wonderful qualities of leadership, and he was the one who stood up on the day of Pentecost and gave that great sermon when the Holy Spirit was sent and the New Covenant Church began.

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And so Peter, thinking more in physical terms, said, Well, wash everything I have. And Jesus said to him, He that is washed, and he's not saved to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and you are clean but not all. And when he says, You are clean, he's implying here that it is through the washing of the water of the Word that they can be clean. But even at this point, the disciples, the apostles here, had not been begotten by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

You remember in one place when Jesus Christ said that he was going to die for the sins of the world, and Peter took him aside and said, You know, this will never happen. And Christ said to Peter, Get you behind me, Satan. Another place he told Peter that what he was doing was of Satan, and that Satan had desired to sift Peter, but Christ said, I prayed for you, and when you are converted, strengthen the brethren.

And so Peter became one of the greatest pillars of all time in the Church of God. Verse 11, For he knew who would betray him, therefore said, You are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, Know you what I have done to you.

Do you understand what this is about, what it symbolizes? And do we really understand it from the heart and the depth of our being, what we are affirming when we watch one another's feet? You call me master and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.

If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. So we get straight out of the Bible the example that Jesus Christ said, that we should wash one another's feet. This is instituted by Jesus Christ. There are some what they call primitive Baptists who wash feet. I guess they still do. They used to. I don't know if the Seventh-day Baptists ever wash feet or not. But we see very clearly from the Scripture, Jesus Christ, while Peter writes it in 1 Peter 2, he set us an example that we should follow in his steps. So we have the very authority of Jesus Christ Himself. If I then be your Lord and master, and have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. And verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. So he said, You call me Lord, master, and so I am. But even as Lord and master, I am willing to humble myself and to wash your feet. The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

Jesus is teaching them that the foot washing ceremony symbolizes laying down your life for the brethren. Laying down your life for the brethren in sacrificial love. And it is through faith in that sacrifice that they can have their sins remitted, and they could be made clean and whole and pure in every sense of the word. In light manner today, we are to lay down our lives one for another. Let's notice now 1 John. John, of course, was called the Apostle of Love.

He apparently had the closest relationship with Jesus Christ. He was the one that was leaning on his bosom during the time of this institution of the New Covenant Passover. In 1 John 3 verse 12, let's read verse 11. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. So time after time, John talks about love, and it is John who defines more than anybody else what love really is. For this is the love of God that we should keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous, they're not burdensome.

In fact, his commandments are the way to true liberty. Verse 12, Not as keen, who was of that wicked one, of course, of the devil, and slew his brother, and why did he slay him? Why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous. He was jealous. He was filled with envy. He was not reconciled to his brother. He didn't love his brother as himself. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brother.

And most of us could quote John 13.35, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, and that you have love, one for another. We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brother, and he that loves not his brother abides in death. The death penalty is on him. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer. So you can kill someone in the spiritual sense and be guilty of murder.

Of course, one of the commandments is you shall do no murder. He that hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby, perceived with the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So when we kneel down to wash one another's feet, in a public setting and in the symbolic sense, this is about as humble as you can get, yet maintain decorum and dignity and all of that. Though you may not think it very dignified to pull off your shoes and your socks. Of course, socks were unknown in that situation.

I saw on television they had this freak snowstorm down toward the border in southern Arizona. And this guy, he was in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops sludging through the snow. So they didn't know too much about what socks were at that time. But washing another person's feet was the greatest show in the sense that you could still be dignified in a setting like in a church ceremony, almost as humble as you can get. But who so hath the world's goods, and sees his brother have need, and sheds up the vows of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. Now we see from Luke's account that the disciples, the apostles, just did not get it at that point. Let's go to Luke 22. Luke 22. In a most sobering time, when Jesus Christ was instituting the very spiritual intent of the New Covenant Passover, the disciples get into a dispute over which one would be greatest in the kingdom of God.

In Luke 22 and verse 7, Then came the days of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And sometimes the whole eight days were referred to as unleavened bread, and sometimes the whole eight days were referred to as Passover. Now we have people who believe that Passover and unleavened bread go together. I don't see how you can do that when clearly in Leviticus 23 it says, on the fourteenth you'll have Passover. On the fifteenth is the first day of unleavened bread. It says clearly in Numbers 33 verses 3, 4, and 5 that Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth.

You can't leave Egypt on the fifteenth and have Passover at the same time. Does that make sense? I think it does. But we have some now who believe, and I don't know how many are in united. I don't think there's anybody here. But I mean if you just use common sense and logic. And if you believe what the Bible says, the Bible says that the fourteenth is Passover. The Bible says that the fifteenth begins unleavened bread, you shall have a holy convocation. The Bible says that they left Egypt on the fifteenth.

The Bible says that God passed through the land the night of the fourteenth. Anyhow, let's get off of that and continue. Verse 8, And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where will you that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, you will meet a man bearing a pitcher of water.

Follow him into the house where he enters. And you shall say unto the good of the man of the house, The master says unto you, Where is the guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples. And he shall show you a large upper room furnish there make ready. Of course, they have a place in Jerusalem today. They claim that is the upper room. It is upstairs.

They have been in it. I doubt it was the place, but I don't know for sure. And they went and found, as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. When the hour was come, he sat down in the twelve apostles with him, and he said unto them, With desire, with desire, I just yearn for inside my being, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you, this due in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

But behold, the hand of him that betrays me is with me at the table. And truly the Son of Man goes, as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. So Judas apparently put on a good front, because apparently they didn't know who it was. And I don't know if they really suspected him or not. He had dropped clues along the way. Remember when they were anointing Jesus' feet, where the precious ointment Judas speaks up and says, It could have been a soul and given to the poor while you're wasting this.

Verse 24, And when there was strife among them, which of them should be counted the greatest? And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercised lordship over them, and they that exercise authority of them are called benefactors.

But you shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that does serve. For whether it's greater, he that sits at meat, or he that serves, is not he that sits at meat, but I am among you as he that serves. And so Jesus Christ set that example. And once again, the great symbolism in the foot washing is that we are willing to lay down our feet and lay down our lives for the brethren when we wash feet.

Now look at James 3. One of the things, why that the churches of God have splintered all over the place, and one of the main reasons, deals with what we've just read. How can we, as claiming to be the people of God, and claim to understand John 1335, claim to understand 1 John 3, 12 through 18, and I could give other references as well, come to a point to where we are, scattered in the sense that we are. If we were willing to lay down our lives in sacrificial love, one for another. I've said this before here, and I'll say it again, that I believe in this congregation we have people who are setting some of the best examples along these lines that have been set in the history of the church 20th and 21st century, and I hope we continue therein.

In James chapter 3, verse 13, The envy and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. You come to the point where people, I guess, they think they're serving God, and they go and take the Passover, yet really in their hearts, some have a very dim view of their brethren. Where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

So do we get the lesson of the foot-washing ceremony. Once again, the lesson of the foot-washing ceremony is one of sacrificial service laying down her lives for the brethren, just as Christ laid down his life for us.

In view of the sobering meaning of the foot-washing and Passover ceremonies, how do we prepare to wash one another's feet and to eat and drink the Lord's Passover? So let's note the instructions that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 11.

Other than the Gospels, where Christ instituted the Passover service, this is the most direct of the instructions that are given. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 17, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, but you come together not for the better, but for the worst. And as we shall see, this coming together is for the Passover. And so what should you do before you get there, and what should you do when you're there?

When you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. The Corinthians were divided on just about anything that you can name. The great rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 11, I mean 1 Corinthians, the whole epistle, is 1 Corinthians 1.13, the great rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 11, is 1 Corinthians 1.13, the great rhetorical question, is Christ divided? Then for the rest of the epistle, chapters, even part of chapter 1, through especially 15, Paul shows that from your calling to the resurrection, Christ is not divided. For by one spirit are you all baptized in one body. Romans 12.5 says that we are members, one of another.

Verse 19, for there must also be heresies, divisions among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

And some of the discussions I had with various people and ministers during this past weekend was regarding what is the future of United? What is the future of the Church of God? What is this all about? Where have we been? What are we doing?

And it seems to me now, for we probably into two decades or more, of God is testing us. There have been many divisions. There have been many heresies. We have tried those who claim they are apostles and are not, as in Revelation 2, in the message to the Church of Ephesus, that God is sifting out the wheat from the chaff, separating the sheep from the goats, and He is coming to know where we really stand before Him.

Is our faith, trust, hope, and confidence in God? Peter writes in chapter 1 that your faith and hope might be in God.

There must also be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. Now, they had a custom in the first century church in which they would have something similar to what we call potlucks today, and they would come together. They called them Love Feast, and it's talked about in Hoier Place there. Look at 2 Peter 2.13, 2 Peter 2.13, and Jude is almost a copy of 2 Peter 2.13.

And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure riot in the daytime, spots they are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.

So they had some feast they might call Lord's suppers, Love Feast in the early New Covenant church, but it was not the Passover.

You look at Jude, Jude, verse 12.

These are spots in your feast of charity. See, that's the word charity agape love, so Love Feast.

These are spots in your Love Feast when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear.

Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withers without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Twice dead. See, we're all dead in our sins and trespasses before that we repent and exercise faith in Jesus Christ for a mission of sins, and the death penalty is removed from our heads, but when we commit the unpardonable sin, twice dead.

Now back in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 21, For in eating everyone takes before other his own supper, so they weren't having a potluck, they were bringing their own supper, they were not sharing with others, one is hungry and the other is drunken, they were even getting drunk at the Passover.

What have you not houses to eat and drink in, or despise you, the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Paul, as you recall, was taught by Jesus Christ himself. He was not one of the original apostles, but he was an apostle and taught by Jesus Christ in the Arabian wilderness. Notice what he says in verse 23.

So Paul was instructed by Jesus Christ, that which I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given things, he broke it and said, Take ye, this is my body, which is broken for you, this due in remembrance of me.

So this verse 24, due in remembrance of me, we must remember that Christ paid the price for our sins through his sacrifice.

This due in remembrance of me.

Verse 25, after the same manner also, he took the cup when he had set saying, saying, This cup is the new covenant, diathakei, not testament, new covenant in my blood.

This due you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. So taking the bread and wine is remembrance of Jesus Christ gave his body and blood that our sins might be remitted.

For as often as you eat and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.

This word here, show, katagello, means to announce, declare, make known.

You're announcing, declaring that you realize, that you discern that Jesus Christ gave his life for our sins.

Wherefore, so in view of that, in view of this sobering fact, so the Passover is not a time for frolicking and feasting, as the Corinthians were doing, even getting drunk.

So in view of this, wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily. And it's very important to understand this word, unworthily.

Unworthyly is the great word, anaxios, A-N-A-X-I-O-U-S, A-N-A-X-I-O-U-S.

Anaxios, one of the most important words to understand with regard to this, and it means irreverently.

See, the Corinthians were having a feast and frolicking and even getting drunk, and there were divisions among them. Some fair presumptuously, some did without. This caused division within the church.

And so they were taking it irreverently.

Now, in the past, without really examining the Greek and looking at it, some thought, well, unworthily, how can I be worthy? Well, none of us are worthy to take the Passover.

We're not worthy in that sense of how some people think of worthy.

So this word, unworthily, should be translated irreverently.

And it shows that to take the Passover, you have to do it in a way that is sobering, in a way that you realize what you're doing, that you realize that apart from God and Christ, you're going to die.

And drink this cup of the Lord irreverently, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. You're treating it as a light thing where we're feasting and frolicking. We don't really realize what we're doing.

But let a man examine himself.

And that word for examine himself is dokemazo.

Let a man examine himself.

In other words, you really, we're going to go into this some degree, you look into the Word of God and examine yourself.

So let a man examine himself and let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

For he that eats and drinks, now in this case, most of the preferred text leaves out the word unworthily. It's already been used in the other version. But either way, for he that eats and drinks, and you could, this is like an ellipse, unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

And we want to look at this not discerning the Lord's body.

But we're going to back up just a little bit, first of all. Verse 28, let a man examine himself, Dokimazo, D-O-K-I-A-M-A-Z-O, to test, to prove, to scrutinize, to see whether a thing is genuine or not, as in medals or gyms. See if it is the real thing.

Then, verse 29, where he that eats and drinks irreverently eats and drinks judgment, diacrino, not discerning, and the word discerning here is diacrino, D-I-A-K-R-I-N-O. These words are very important.

Dia, in Greek, we talk about the diameter of a circle. And dia has to do with measurement. If you have the diameter, you're going all the way through. It is all the way through, thorough. So if you are diacrino, crino is a word for judgment, it is thorough judgment all the way through.

And so in the judging, you are to judge the literal body of Christ. You do show the Lord's death till he come. So the body of Christ represents at least three things, the literal body of Christ. So we are now going to go back. If you want to hold your place, we'll be coming back to 1 Corinthians 11. But now we're going back to John 6. It's called the Bread of Life Scriptures.

The body of Christ represents, I'm saying here, three things. One, the literal body that he gave. When you eat and drink of this, you do show the Lord's death until he come. Do this in remembrance of me. In John 6 and verse 33, For the bread of God is he which comes down from heaven. See, they ate manna in the wilderness. Verse 32, But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. Now this true bread is Jesus Christ in the flesh.

For the bread of God is he that comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst.

Now look further in this chapter in verse 48. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, and I will give which I will give for the life of the world. So Jesus Christ, when he instituted, says, take eat. This is my body. So the deep symbolism. So you have to discern the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, that he gave his life. So the bread represents the literal body of Christ. The bread also represents, of course, the Jews were offended by this, eat and drink of my flesh.

And saying, you know, how can a man do this? Of course, the Jews were familiar with, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's in Deuteronomy. They were familiar with that figure of speech, but they wanted to make something out of it more than what was intended and did not grasp, maybe deliberately, the spiritual symbolism of it.

Now you look at verse 63. It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So we are to eat and drink of the Word of God. So the body of Christ, the bread of life, can represent the Word of God. You look at 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 5, and verse 7. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 purge out therefore the old leaven. So we are to do. We do it physically and we do it spiritually. Sometimes we make a bigger deal out of doing it physically than spiritually. Sometimes we are more careful to do it physically than spiritually. The physical part of it is symbolic of what we are to do physically. Purge out therefore the old leaven, and Paul is talking more in the spiritual sense, that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened. You can say that you are unleavened in the physical sense and still be puffed up spiritually. Because just putting leavening out of the house or the car or wherever does not make you unleavened spiritually, but you need to do both. For even Christ our Passover has sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And John 17, 17 defines truth as the Word of God. So the bread can represent the Word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then, in the context of what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 11, another thing that the body of Christ represents is the Church of God. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. We are the temple of God. Jesus Christ lives in us. Now look at 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12. These two verses here, I would say, are the two greatest unity verses in the Bible. For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, having many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, the body of Christ. Is the body of Christ divided? For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond free, have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Now you look at verses 24 and 25. For our commonly parts have no need, but God had tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacks. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. So now we get to the heart of the matter of discerning the body of Christ, the Church, and the members within the Church. See, what was happening in Corinth was that they were not discerning the body of Christ, the Church, and the members thereof. They were divided. They were not having the same love, care, and concern, one for another. This led them to not discerning the body of Christ, which was given for their sins, and they treated that very lightly. And so feasting and frolicking and even getting drunk at the Passover. Now look at 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 15. Here's what we are affirming when we take the Passover. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 15.

We are taking in that which it represents, not as the Catholics teach of transubstantiation, that the bread and the blood is literally transformed into the literal flesh of Christ.

That's what Mass is all about.

Verse 17, For we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. So the bread, the literal body of Christ, bruised, beaten, broken for us. You have to eat and drink of his body and blood. You have to discern that that was given for your sins, and apart from that, we're going to die. You need to realize that bread also represents, in the spiritual sense, the Word of God. The words I speak, their spirit and their life.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And then realize that Jesus Christ lives in his body, the Church, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, and Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. Now we notice further in 1 Corinthians 11.

We're going to read 29 again. For he that eats and drinks irreverently, eats and drinks judgment, crema, to himself, not discerning diachrina, thoroughly discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, failure to do this, to examine oneself, thoroughly discern the Lord's body, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, many are dead. The reason for this is that God chastens every son that he loves. And if we do not judge ourselves, God will step in, and he will judge us himself. And the way I've expressed this in the past is, God would rather see us dead than miss out on his kingdom. And if it requires the kind of chastening to bring us to that point where we judge ourselves and repent, see, in God's eyes he so loved us, he knows how to deal with us. You remember the Hebrews 12, 6, and 7 for God chastens every son that he loves? If you're without chastisement, then you're viewed as illegitimate and not sons. So what we are involved in is, it's hardly your left, almost without words, to express it. It is so wonderful, it is so deep in one sense, yet in another sense, so simple. God was willing to give his only begotten son, and the only begotten son was willing to give his life that we might be in his family. And even when we go astray and refuse to judge ourselves or do the things that are not pleasing in his sight, then he, as a loving father, if we won't judge ourselves, he will step in and judge us. Look at verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, in other words, when God steps in, we are chasing of the Lord that we should not be condemned or judged with the world. Judgment is now on the house of God. You know, James writes, my brother, and counted all joy when you fall into different trials. Peter writes, the trying of your faith might be more precious than gold. All of those things you can put together. Wherefore, my brother, and when you come together to eat, wait for one another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home, that you come not together unto judgment. And the rest will I set an order when I come. So we are admonished to examine ourselves, to judge ourselves. How do we judge ourselves? We judge ourselves through the Word of God. You look at James now. Let's focus for a few moments. How do we judge ourselves? So we want to judge ourselves so that God does not judge us. And when we do judge ourselves, then we want to make it right. This is, in effect, judgment, mercy, and faith in action. The three, the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Weightier matters of the law. The law says, you shall not. Fill in the blank, whatever it is. And if you do sin, we go before the Father. We judge ourselves. We say, I have sinned. Please forgive me. Please give me mercy. God says, I'll forgive you. Go and walk in faith.

Now, the same thing applies to if there is some kind of controversy or offense between people. They do the same thing. They go to their brother. They're reconciled. They say whatever they say. They come to the point of a judgment. I didn't mean to offend you, or you offended me, or I thought you did, or whatever it is.

And you ask for forgiveness, and you go walk in faith. In James 1, 19, judging ourselves, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness. The word meekness is...you really can't translate the Greek word parautes, P-R-A-U-T-E-S. It's translated meekness. It means a perfectly teachable attitude. You're just totally surrendered to, Here am I, Lord. Here am I, Father in Heaven. What do you want me to do? It's that total surrender where there is no resistance.

Receive with a perfectly teachable heart the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, so you look into the word, and not a doer, you ignore it, quench the spirit. He is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glance. The word of God is our spiritual mirror.

For he beholds himself, goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he is. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deeds. So now we go to Hebrews 4.12, back a few pages. We look into God's spiritual mirror. And God's spiritual mirror will convict us if we are truly seeking the way of God.

Remember, David prayed in Psalm 19 that God would show him his secret faults, and also that he would keep him from the Great Transgression. And you sort of have to read between the lines for the Great Transgression.

It is like the sin of presumptuousness. Remember the Scripture that says Moses was meek among all the people on the face of the earth. I guess it took him 40 years in the wilderness, herding sheep or whatever, to come to that point. In Hebrews 4.12, for the Word of God is quick. It's alive. It's alive. It's like electricity in one sense. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing sundre of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discern of the thoughts and intent of the heart.

Leading up to Passover, the great place to read is the Gospel of John and 1 John. The Gospel of John 1 John and 1 Peter. And for that matter, read the whole Bible. Genesis is a revelation. You can do it in four short weeks. So then, when we look into this spiritual mirror, and we see whatever it is, and we're convicted of it, then we can go boldly before the throne of God.

For you see verse 15, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tested, tried like as we are, yet without sin. So let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, divine favored, chirus, grace, that we may obtain mercy and fine grace to help in time of need. So of course, this time leading up to Passover, you're doing this examining, you're looking in the Word of God, you see whatever it is that you see.

You go before the throne of God boldly, and God says that He will hear and answer our prayers. The Holy Spirit is the enabler. The Scriptures do not give life within themselves, but they do lay bare what we have read here in verse 12, the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Scriptures do not give life in and of themselves, but they were ordained for life.

So I want to pursue that thought for just a moment here as we wind down this Bible study on Passover preparation. Let's go to John 5, verse 24. The more that we can learn about the Word of God, the Spirit of God, the better off we are, the more that we utilize, put to use, realize that we have the power of God within. Remember the sermon I gave two weeks ago, and it was three weeks ago, on the power of God within. In John 5, verse 24, John 5, 24, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word and believes on him that sent me..." You see, very often we hear, well, believe on Christ, believe on Christ, but Christ Himself says to believe on God.

So we believe on both, or we believe in both. "...believe on him that sent me, which has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, but is pass from death unto life." And once again, we are at the general conference of elders that are coming up in May. The theme is going to be edifying the body through spiritual gifts and trying to come to the point that we can motivate, energize every member in the body to stir up the spirit that's within them, the gifts that they have, and to use these gifts. And as I tried to convey in this sermon three weeks ago the power of God that is within, I don't think we really realize that I've even begun to reach our potential in the spiritual sense.

And hopefully we can stir up the spirit and set our congregations on fire. Verse 25, So judgment is now upon us. If we go back to that verse 24, Verily I say unto you, He that hears my words and believes. And then we read from James, He that hears the word and is a doer of the word.

Now you look at verse 39. Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And the Scriptures in and of themselves don't give life, though the Word of God is equated with the Spirit of God. But the Word of God gives us a blueprint for ingesting. Some people said, well, I recently used this word with some minister and said, well, nobody talks like that ingesting the word. So I drive up at Rustin and I have a heavy briefcase. I have two cases. One of the older members comes out and says, well, you have a life for us to ingest today. So I guess it's just these people in the South. But anyhow, no. Galatians 3 verse 21.

Galatians 3 verse 21.

Galatians 3 verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. Now we go to Romans chapter 7. And we see one of the great purposes of the Word of God. So what we're talking about here now is the Word and the Spirit of God work together. And in examining ourselves, we want to put these two together. We want to understand these two. The Word of God, the Spirit of God working in concert to convict us, to show us the way. And then we are to exercise the faith to repent and the faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, thoroughly discerning the body of Christ and the physical sense that was given for us. And when I say in the physical sense, He gave His life essence that we might have eternal life. In Romans 7-9, For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Why? But Romans 6-23, the wages of sin is death. That's why He died. And the commandment which was ordained for life, or to life, I found to be unto death. Why? For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, so whatever the commandment is, you shall have no other gods before you if you commit idolatry, then you have sinned. Deceive me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy as God's active presence. Within it, the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin. It wasn't the Word of God. It wasn't the law of God. It was sin that it might appear sin, working death in me, by that which is good. Seems like a paradox. That which is good is the commandment. That which works death is sin, breaking the commandment. That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual. So if the law is spiritual, it won't be done away with the immutable spiritual law of God. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal and sold under sin. Now we go to John 16, 13. The Holy Spirit is the enabler. And we do have with regard to this, once again, about examining ourselves and the tie-in with that, and trying to understand thoroughly the Word and Spirit of God and its work within us. In John 16, verse 13, How be it when it, the Spirit of Truth, Talmuma, has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it shall not speak of itself, the Holy Spirit does not go around audibly saying things to you. But the Word of God does. The Holy Scriptures. And these televangelists, radio preachers, whatever you want to call them, and say that God whispered into my ear, however they say it.

Now, the Spirit of God will lead, guide, tug, but you really need to be filled with the Word of God. And if you're filled with the Word of God, then the Spirit of God can really work with you. It can call things to remembrance, and you're just enmeshed in the Word of God.

It shall not speak of itself, but whatsoever it shall hear. Well, what is it here? Of course, the Spirit will only hear the truth, the words I speak that are spirit in their life. And He will show you, or it will show you, things to come. It shall glorify me, for it shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.

All things that the Father has, or mine, therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. A little while, and you shall not see me, and again a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father. And when He went to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the enabler, as we see here. It opens the minds and the heart. It enables you to understand. It calls things to your remembrance. But you have to be enmeshed in that Word of God for it to call things to your remembrance.

Now, you look at John 15, verse 1, across the page there.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. So we are connected to Jesus Christ and to the Father through the Holy Spirit. Ever branch in me that bears not fruit—and we are branches of that vine— ever branch in me that bears not fruit, He takes away, and ever branch that bears fruit, He purges it. So even though you may be doing the best you can and doing very well, it doesn't mean that you're not going to have trials and difficulties. And especially in this season of the year, it seems that leading up to Passover and to atonement, that the trials come in greater depth and more often. Satan knows about the Passover. He tried to prevent the Passover. He tried to kill Jesus Christ at every turn. He tried to break prophecy. He's still trying to do it.

But because we have a trial or test, it doesn't mean that we're in the depth of sin. Some people, when they begin to have a trial or test, they might attribute it to the devil. The devil is really after me. Well, the devil is after us. He walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. So the devil is after you. But Jesus Christ says, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. So we have that power and that strength. He purges it, even the branch that is bearing fruit, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean, how, through the word which I have spoken unto you, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it, abide in the vine. So no more can you accept you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same, brings forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch that is withered, and men gather them, cast them in the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my word to abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples.

And of course, we'll be reading through this section of John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 at the Passover. So as I said in preparation for the Passover, especially the Gospel of John and John's epistle, 1 John, to be thoroughly, thoroughly familiar with that.

So the Spirit of God, the life essence of God, has been shed on us through Jesus Christ. We're connected to the vine. We're connected to the source of the Holy Spirit, God the Father, as it says in John 15, 26.

So we are here this afternoon, 29 days and a few hours, away from washing one another's feet and taking the Passover.

So we ask ourselves, are we reconciled to God and Christ and each member of the body of Christ?

And if not, we know what to do. We're to exercise judgment, mercy, and faith. We're to thoroughly discern the body of Jesus Christ, the body that was given for us, bruised, beaten, broken, the blood that was shed.

We're to realize that we examine ourselves through the Word of God. And the Spirit and the Word of God convict us. If we see sin, we go before the Father and Jesus Christ, we repent of our sins.

If we're not reconciled one to another, we go and we take care of that.

We understand what we read from 1 Corinthians 10, 15, and 16, that when we eat and drink at the bread, and it's also verse 17, when we eat and drink at the bread, we're saying that we are one bread and one body with Jesus Christ.

We also understand that we should have the same love, care, and concern, one for another, when one member suffers, we all suffer, and that by washing feet we're saying that we're willing to lay down our lives for the brethren, just as Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

I mean, these are the weightiest kinds of understandings that are in all of the Scriptures.

And without doing these things, like we read from the Gospel of John, verses 6, 51, 52, 53, along and there, that if you do not eat of my body and drink of my blood, you have no life in you.

So brethren, it is a sobering time, but a time that we can really be encouraged, because we know all of the various aspects of what God has promised for us.

Someone asked me last weekend, well, how have you managed to keep going through all of the trials and difficulties and so on through the decades?

And it was my simple answer is, I keep the big picture burning brightly in my mind and heart.

I understand what's out there. I want to be a part of that, the kingdom of God.

There are so many things that I want to do. I want to know so many people that I want to be reunited with, and hoping that we can all be reunited together in the kingdom of God. So brethren, that should use the time that we have now to really be ready to wash one another's feet and eat and drink of the Lord's Passover.