(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) But we're there in John chapter 13, look at verse number 8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. The title for the sermon tonight is Wash Your Feet. We ought to wash our feet. Jesus Christ says if we don't wash our feet, if we don't allow him to wash our feet, that we will have no part with him. And let's start there in verse number 1. Now, it says there, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. He loved them unto the death. Okay, Jesus Christ loved us so much that he died for us. And we see it now, the hour is come, the hour was come for Christ. As we've been going chapter by chapter through the book of John, you may notice that again and again we see this term, the hour, the hour. You see that many times the unbelieving Jews wanted to kill Jesus Christ, but the Bible says that his hour was not yet come. And so when we hear about the hour being brought forth, we know it's speaking about his death, the hour of his death. And it says now it's nigh, now is the time of the Passover, and actually it's the day before his crucifixion. It may not feel that way again in the book of John, we're only up to John 13, we've got 22 chapters to get through. Okay, and it kind of feels like we're about halfway, a little bit past halfway. But this is literally the day before his crucifixion. And so what we read about here from John 13 all the way to 17, John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 is all the night before his death. Everything that Christ teaches in these chapters are just before he dies. And so these are very critical doctrines that he's teaching. The other thing I want you to understand is that he's having the Last Supper here with his disciples. And so all the teaching from verses 13 to 17 is not how to get saved. Okay, it's not how to get saved because he's dealing with his disciples that are already saved. Of course, he may touch on salvation, which was the whole purpose of coming to this world. But really the teachings from verses 13 all the way to 17 are for those that are already saved. And the reason I say that is because I think it's chapter 15 from memory, when Jesus Christ starts teaching that he is the vine and we are the branches, that he is the vine and we are the branches and to continue to abide in Christ. Some people will take that passage and say, well, that's how you get saved. You have to continue abiding. You got to keep there. You got to keep walking the Lord, otherwise you'll lose your salvation. But I want you to understand these are passages, these are doctrines that Christ is speaking to his disciples, his apostles who are already saved. These passages are, of course, about our fellowship and the work that we can do for Christ after we are saved. So it's important to just understand the audience of the next chapters. It says there in verse number two, And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. So we know that Judas Iscariot, the one that betrays him. Look at this, Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. Christ says, look, everything's been given to him by the father. He knows that he's come from God. He knows that he's going to God. Verse number four, He rised from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. Now, what we don't have in the book of John is, you know, when we talk about the last supper, we often think about the bread, you know, Jesus Christ speaking of the bread representing his broken body and the grape juice representing his shed blood of the New Testament. We don't have those words in the book of John. What we do have in verse number two, it says, And supper being ended. We have the end of the supper. We have the end of the Lord's supper. Then what happens? And Jesus Christ gets himself ready, girds himself to wash his disciples feet. Now, as we keep going through this, you'll notice that Judas Iscariot is still in this area. Judas Iscariot is still there in the room with the disciples here. And so it is my personal belief, but with the book of John, that Judas Iscariot partook of the Lord's supper, that he partook of the Lord's table as well. That's my belief based on the book of John. Some people have a hard time believing this. Like I've spoken to some Christians and I've almost been rebuked for believing that Judas Iscariot was there during the supper. So how could Jesus Christ offer, you know, his bread and body to one that would betray him, the one that did not believe in him. And the reason people have that perspective is because if you read the book of Luke, okay, it sounds like Judas Iscariot left the scene before the last supper, before the bread and the wine was offered. It sounds that way in the book of Luke. But you need to remember, we've gone through the book of Luke very early in our church. You may recall that I often said in the book of Luke, it's not always in chronological order. The book of Luke is primarily a thematic book. And I proved that many times when I went to the book of Luke, that a lot of things are not in chronological order, okay. And the reason for that is, many times Luke would take similar teachings or similar themes and group those stories together and tell about that event, okay. The book of John is a lot more chronological in that sense. And you can see the supper has been ended. They've already eaten, you know, the meal's finished, you know, the bread has been already described as the body of Christ and the wine as his blood. And now Christ has finished eating, he's getting himself ready to wash his disciples feet. And as we keep going through the story, it's very clear that Judas Iscariot is, you know, his presence is there. Now, very quickly, keep your finger there and come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. So we're talking about the Lord's Supper and we are going to have the Lord's Supper by the way next week, just as a reminder. But I don't have a problem with Judas Iscariot partaking of the bread and wine. Like I have no problem whatsoever. Because when we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 127, Paul is given instruction to the church of how they are to participate of the Lord's Supper. It says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 127. The Bible reads, Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. So it is possible to partake of the Supper unworthily. And I've often said, you know, what is it that makes us worthy in the sight of the Lord? Well, being saved, being cleansed by Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that truly makes you worthy. But there are some that partake unworthily and they're guilty of the body and blood of Christ. Look, it says in verse number 28, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, look at this, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep, many die. Okay. Now I do believe a believer can drink unworthily and it's important for a man to check himself if he's walking with the Lord. And I'll explain all that in a moment as we keep going through John chapter 13. But most definitely, if an unbeliever drinks of that cup and eats of that bread unworthily, he drinks damnation to himself. So I've got no problem. If Judas Iscariot participated of the Lord's table as it were, and then he eventually betrays the Lord and ends up committing suicide, hanging himself and so forth, and then burning in hell for all eternity. Cause he drank damnation to himself, being an unbeliever. Anyway, back to John 13, back to John 13 and verse number 5. It says, After that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. And look, this story I've taught on many times and I feel like I didn't even teach on this too long ago. I feel like it was recent, probably in the last couple of months that I've taught on this story. This story is not teaching us that we ought to actually physically wash each other's feet. Like that we should have a time where we get water, a basin of water, and that I go around and you guys take your feet off, take your shoes off your feet, take off your socks, and let me just lovingly wash your feet. I mean, you don't want that. I don't want to do that either. Okay, now of course it was traditional in this sense because many times in this day they would often travel by foot. And it was traditional if a person had servants under him where the servant might wash a traveller or a visitor's feet. And so it is traditional as far as a custom of a servant goes. And of course Jesus Christ is teaching us servitude here, that we ought to serve one another, that we ought to love and be willing to humble ourselves as it were to wash each other's feet. And obviously to make sure that we're there for other people, that we esteem others above ourselves. And of course this is the principle which Christ is teaching, but there's a much deeper truth that Christ is teaching us here. In verse number six it says, so anyway, Jesus Christ is washing everyone's feet, okay. Then he gets to number six, it says, Then come a feet to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Because I don't believe this. I don't think, you're really coming to wash my feet, Lord? Like really? Verse number seven, Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Now look, if all Jesus Christ was doing was teaching us that we ought to wash each other's feet physically, then this verse makes no sense. What I do now, thou knowest not now. Christ is saying, you don't understand what I'm doing right now. If he was just washing someone's feet, that's understandable. Like obviously that's what he's doing. There's a much deeper thing, Peter, that you haven't understood yet, but you'll understand it later on. Thou shalt know hereafter. Verse number eight, Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. If you want to be with me, Peter, I have to wash your feet. If I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. We cannot be in fellowship together. We cannot commune together. This is important, Peter. You need to have your feet washed. And brethren, I'm telling you, as the title for the sermon tonight is Wash Your Feet. We must have our feet washed. Surely we want to be part with Christ. Surely we want to be together with Christ. Therefore you must wash your feet. What is this teaching us? Christ cannot physically come into this building right now and gird himself and take out some water and wash our feet. What is your teaching? There's a greater truth here. It keeps going there in verse number nine. Peter obviously doesn't like that thought. Well, of course I want to be with Christ. Of course I want to be in fellowship with Christ. So he answers in verse number nine, So in Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. He's like, he's basically saying, Lord, I want to be with you. Lord, I never want to be separated from you. Therefore, don't just wash my feet, but then wash my hands, wash my feet. Wash me all over, Lord, because I want to be with you all the time. So he kind of gets it now. He kind of gets it. This is talking about his fellowship with the Savior. And this is in verse number 10. Jesus saith unto him, this is so important, guys, pay attention. He that is washed needeth not. So if you're already washed, you don't need to be washed again. Okay? Save or accept to wash his feet. He's saying if you're already washed, you don't need to be washed again except your feet. And of course, we understand the deeper truths here. We're talking about spiritual things. Brethren, if we have been washed, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, if we're saved, we don't need to be saved again. We don't need to be washed all over again. You can't lose your salvation. If you could lose your salvation, then you would need to get washed again from hands and head and hands again and again and again and again. Jesus says if you're washed, you don't need to be washed again, just your feet. Brethren, we need to be washed. Our feet need to be washed, not your hands and not your head. You don't need to get saved all over again. You know, the moment you trusted Christ and you said, yes, Lord, I accept your salvation. Thank you. Give me everlasting life. Whatever it is that you said to the Lord, however you place your faith in the Lord, you know. I guarantee you that same day, you probably went and sinned again. And you definitely the next day, you know, you went and sinned again. And then it's like, oh no, have I messed it up? Do I need to get saved all over again? I understand that feeling. You know, when I was a teenager, you know, I knew I was saved. Like, here's the thing about, I got saved at four and it's always been on the death, burial, resurrection of Christ and nothing else. And I've always known that. But I went to a Christian school when I was a teenager. Okay, and I heard messed up gospels and I couldn't, I couldn't differentiate. I wasn't mature enough to differentiate because they spoke of Jesus, they spoke of salvation, spoke of his death and the cross. I mean, I guess, I just assumed everyone must be saved. But I'd hear sermons and I'd be like, man, sermons, if you're still in sin, if you're still struggling with sins then, you know, basically you're not saved. I'm like, I don't get it. Am I not saved? And then as a teenager, I'd go, Lord, just in case I'm not saved, can you please save me all over again? I trust Christ alone for my salvation. I probably prayed that prayer like three or four times as a teenager. Not because I wasn't saved. It's just I heard bad teaching, just horrible teaching messing you up, confusing the matter. You know, and this is the same thing, you know? Peter represents that person that thinks maybe I didn't really get washed and I need to get washed all over again. Maybe my life is not representing what I believe it should be or is and therefore maybe I'm not. Just symbolically, of course, you know, Peter doesn't fully understand. Jesus Christ just told him, you know, you don't get it now but you'll get it afterwards. You'll understand later on. And so, brethren, once you're saved, you don't need to be washed all over again and again and again and get saved again and get saved again, get saved again. All you need to do is take care of your feet. And your feet represents your walk. As you walk in your spiritual life, as you walk and so you serve the Lord and sometimes you serve sin and you serve this flesh. You know, you mess up your feet, your feet get dirty, okay? And when the Lord wants to be in fellowship with us, you know, we cannot have dirty feet. We must have washed feet. This is, of course, teaching us about the continual necessity of confessing our sins to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness. Not to be saved, but to be in fellowship with our Savior. It says there in verse number 11, oh, sorry, verse number 10, Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, look at this, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all. He goes, all of my disciples see you're all clean, but not all, just one. We know that He's speaking about Judas the traitor, the betrayer. And again, I want you to remember what we're learning here in John 13. He's speaking to his disciples, his apostles. He says they're already clean. And again, as we keep going chapter by chapter till verse number 17, keep that in mind. He's preaching to his disciples who are already clean, who are already saved. You probably won't get it now, but you'll get it as we keep going through this chapter by chapter, why that's so important. It says in verse number 11, for he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are not all clean. So Judas Iscariot was not clean. He wasn't even clean hands and head. Jesus Christ probably did wash his feet as he were, okay. But of course, you know, Christ was teaching a spiritual truth that there's one of you that's not clean. You know, someone can go and confess their sins over and over and over to God. It doesn't mean they're saved. What saves us? You know, some people say, how do you get saved? You've got to confess your sins. Man, how do you start? How are you going to start confessing all of your sins? What if you get, like, let's say you've committed a million sins, okay, and you've confessed all but one. Does that mean you die and go to hell? You know, Roman Catholics think like that. You know, they think, oh man, I've sinned this week, therefore I've got to go to the priest and confess all my sins. And they honestly believe if they sin and then they die in a car accident before confessing the sins to a priest, they're like, that's it, I'm damned, I'm done for. Because they think, you know, that's salvation, just got to keep, just keep confessing, keep confessing to be saved. You know what? You don't need to confess any sins to be saved. You have to confess that you're a sinner, okay? You have to confess you're a sinner in need of a savior in order to be saved. But in order to maintain a clean fellowship at work with our savior, we must confess our sins before him as we do. And again, are you going to remember all of them? Probably not. I'm very unlikely that you've gone and confessed every single sin since you've been saved. That's why in my practice I confess the sins that are very obvious to me and that I know I've offended the Lord and I'd say, Lord, if there's anything else, you know, if there's anything else that's escaped my mind, you know, I'm sorry for them as well. Please forgive me, please wash my feet. Because I want to be in fellowship with the savior. In fact, every time before I get up to preach, you know, if anyone looks at me at church, you know, before the preaching, you'll see my head bowed and my eyes closed and I'm just confessing to the Lord, Lord, please make me a clean vessel. You know, please use me as your instruments. You know, please don't allow my flesh and my sin to be a hindrance to the word of God and help me feed your people great truths. So it's important that we confess our sins to the Lord. And you know, as I've been going through this, I've been explaining to you how important it is that you, you know, grasp and ground yourself in the book of John. Because then you understand 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and ultimately the book of Revelation. And just very quickly, in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, don't need to turn there, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We ought to explain that in entirety, you can read it in your own time. But it's very clearly speaking about our fellowship with God. That God, within God there is no darkness. As a God of light, he cannot fellowship in darkness. And brethren, when we walk in darkness, we need to go before the Lord and say, sorry Lord, please wash my feet. Please forgive me, I confess those sins to the Lord and you know, be back in the light, be back in fellowship with our Lord God. And so Christ is just teaching us this principle with a very, you know, outright symbol, symbolic way by washing one another's feet. So it's all about asking the Lord for forgiveness as we go and live our lives. Look at verse number 12. So after he had washed their feet, he had taken his garments and was set down again and said unto them, know ye what I have done to you? Do you know what I've done? Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Brethren, we should be willing to wash one another's feet. Again, what is that about? If Christ washing our feet represents forgiveness of sins as we've gone through life, then we ought to be willing to forgive one another's sins. You know, there are times in church that you're going to offend one another. There are times that you're going to sin against one another. It's just unfortunately our flesh. You know, as much as we strive to be righteous and do the right thing in the sight of the Lord and be amongst God's people, there are going to be times when you don't get along. There are going to be times where there's certain conflicts. Well, just like Jesus Christ washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. You ought to be willing to forgive the sins that others have committed against you. And sometimes it's hard because we maybe expect more from our church brethren than we do from the unbelieving world. Like if the unbelieving world, someone does something against you, you'd be like, well, who cares? You know, maybe potentially, I don't know, depends how thick your skin is. But when someone that you love and care about, especially someone that you believe is your brother in the Lord, in church, and they sin against you, they offend you, it can hurt a lot more, can't it? Hurts a lot more, and then because it hurts a lot more, it's easier to not forgive. Or it's harder to forgive, I should say, put it that way. It can be harder to forgive people in our church because we have a higher standard, but I still sometimes, yeah, and while maybe we should have a higher standard because we are saved, but the reality is, we're sinners, aren't we? The reality is we're not perfect. The reality is we're going to make mistakes. We're going to say wrong things. We're going to do stupid things toward one another, but we need to be willing to forgive. You know, the very famous passage, I'll just read it to you, Matthew 18, 21. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft, or how often, shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times. Like, Peter's trying to get, like, what is the boundary, Jesus? Like, how much do I need to forgive someone, right? I guess in the back of his mind, he's thinking of someone that has done him wrong, all right? Maybe two times. Maybe someone has done him wrong seven times and he's, like, maybe trying to justify himself. I'm just giving my thoughts. What, seven times? Is that, you know, is that enough? Like, you know, Lord, if I've forgiven him, you know, is that the line? If they cross that line, I don't need to forgive them anymore. And these words are just unbelievable because I don't know if I can apply this. I mean, I'm commanded to apply this and you are commanded to apply this. But John 18, 22 says, Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee till seven times, but until 70 times seven. You gotta be willing to forgive someone 490 times if they've sinned against you. Can you do that? I reckon by the time someone's sinned against you three times, you're like, I'm done with that guy. And I don't blame you. And that's why the standard is so high. You say surely Jesus Christ has not been serious here 490 times? Look, the reality is that one individual person is probably not gonna sin against you that many times anyway. I mean, that's pretty unlikely unless it's your own children that have disobeyed their parents till they leave home. Right, let's say they leave home when they're 20, maybe 490 times they lied to mom and dad and did the wrong things, maybe, okay? But it's easy to forgive our kids. 490 times, but then you think about, well, how many times did I sin against the Lord in my life? I guarantee it's more than 490 times. I bet you you've sinned at least once a day, 365 times a year. And if you've, you know, if you've lived 10 years, that's over 3000 times. So if the Lord is willing to forgive you even more than 490, then you ought to be willing to forgive your brethren 490 times. And of course, the standard is very high. It's something, I'm not, you know, I struggle with this. I'll be honest with you. And I think if you're honest, you'll probably say I struggle with this as well. Back to John 13 verse 16. But just because we struggle with it doesn't mean it's any less of a command. We're required to do it, right? Verse number 16. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. So if you say I can't forgive that person 490 times pastor, I can't forgive him twice, three times, five times, you're basically saying that you're greater than Lord because the Lord's forgiven you more than that. The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, look at this, if you know these things, happier ye if ye do them. You want to be happy? You want to live a joyful life? You have to learn to forgive. Jesus Christ said, if you don't learn to forgive, you're not going to be happy. You know what makes God happy? Forgiven sinners. You know, when we accept that Christ is our Savior and our sins have been washed, that made God happy. And you know what? When we sin against the Lord and we're in darkness and we say, Lord, I'm sorry, not again. I've sinned against you, please forgive me. I want to be in fellowship with you. You know what? It makes God happy. And when you learn to forgive people, say, I can't forgive them. I'm going to hold on to this for the rest of my life. It's going to make you miserable. I mean, you can be miserable if you want, but I don't know about you, I want to live a happy life. I've said it many times, I'd rather live just 50 years of a happy life than 100 years of a miserable life. That even better than all of that is 100 years of a happy life. Happier ye if ye do them, okay? Look at verse number 7 and 10 again. If you know these things, so you know now, you know, you need to forgive your brethren. You know that, right? But you're only happy if you don't. See, that's the truth of the Bible. We can know a lot of doctrine. It doesn't necessarily make you happy. You've got to do the doctrines. You've got to do what Christ asked of you. And when you do it, it makes you happy. It gives you joy, unspeakable joy. So you've got to forgive someone that's wronged you and just put that behind me. I'm not going to bring it up to my remembrance anymore. I'm going to get on to things that are more positive. You know, it just makes your life more fulfilling. Verse number 18. He says, I speak not of you all. He says, obviously, I'm not referring to Judas Iscariot. I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me have lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come that when it come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Jesus Christ is saying, look, I'm about to be betrayed. Okay? And I've known this from the beginning. Okay? He says in verse 18, I know whom I have chosen. When he chose the 12, he knew that one of them, he knew that Judas would be the one that betrayed him, which is why he chose him. Because he knew the scripture must be fulfilled. Okay? He that eateth bread with me have lifted up his heel against me. Jesus Christ knew, this scripture needs to be fulfilled, therefore I choose Judas Iscariot. He's going to be the one that fulfills this scripture. Okay? And again, it just shows us that, you know, being betrayed and being crucified is not some accident. It's not some plan B. Christ planned it from the beginning. As soon as he began his ministry, I choose Judas because you're going to betray me and that's going to be the vehicle by which I'm going to offer salvation to the world. Now I want to show you something because he's quoting scripture. So let's go to the scripture that he's quoting. Keep your finger there and come with me to Psalm 41. Psalm 41 verse number 9. Psalm 41 verse number 9. So this is the Psalm that he's quoting, the Psalm of David. Now as we read this Psalm, obviously it's about Jesus, we know now, but it's also true for David. It's an experience that David went through. I mean, David was betrayed by his closest friends, a fifth of them from memory. You know, one of his counselors betrayed him. But you got Psalm 41 verse 9. It says, Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread. That sounds like he then he partook of the Passover. But anyway, have lifted up his heel against me. That's what he's quoting. He's quoting that scripture. But look what he says, I like the rest of it. Verse number 10, But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. Raise me up. Doesn't that sound like the crucifixion right there? Like Christ knows he's going to be betrayed and put to death. But then he prays to the Lord, and says, Lord, raise me up. A resurrection from the dead. And look at verse number 11, By this I know that thou favor'st me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. I like this a lot. I like actually this passage. Because by being raised up, even after being betrayed, it says here in the Psalm, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. He says, Lord, we don't want the enemies to triumph over me. You know, we don't want this to be a victory to the enemy. We want this to be a victory to the Lord. And the reason I say that is because when Christ came, yes, he died for us. And he rose from the dead. You know, this was not a victory of the enemies of the Lord. This was a victory of Christ. And the reason I want to say that and quote that Psalm is because you've got that stupid Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Pope. You know, and I went back just before I came here tonight. I went back to make sure I'm not misquoting him. But you guys have heard this. This was all over the news. Okay, this was even in the unbelieving world. This was, you know, like this is a bit weird. And I went back to this video where Pope Francis says, he says these exact words. We need to remember that we are followers of Jesus Christ and his life, humanely speaking, ended in failure. The failure of the cross. Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Pope. That's what he said. The failure of the cross. His life ended in failure. Yet to the Pope it ended in failure because he's on the same side as Judas Iscariot and the enemies of the Lord. And we say, no, there's triumph. There's victory. Christ took my sins. He paid for my sins. And then he rose again victorious. I mean, this is, this is the greatest victory. This is the greatest victory story of all time. Anyway, again, another reason why I read Psalm 41 to you is that you could see that yes, the enemy seemingly betrayed Christ, or he did betray Christ, but then Christ will be risen. And just again, just showing even from the Old Testament time, Christ's death. And I keep saying this because I, I just want to cement this in your head. Christ's death is not plan B. It's not plan B. It's not plan C. It's plan A. Even from the Old Testament days. Prophesying of Christ. His death is plan A. So why do you keep saying that Pastor? Because if you're not careful, you're going to listen online, you're going to go to YouTube, and one day you'll be like, oh, I'm looking up some, you know, Baptist preaching, King James only Baptist preaching, and you're going to be hearing some independent Baptist say, well, Christ's death was plan B, and you're so lucky that the Jews rejected him because Christ wanted to establish his kingdom as plan A, but they killed him, so he had to go plan B and save you Gentiles. So you're lucky. I'm honest. That is torts. I've heard of torts over and over again. And it's so stupid. Christ was always going to die for us. That's the whole reason he came. The reason he chose Judas is so he had someone that would betray him, that would fulfill the scripture. Back to John 13, verse number 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. I love those words. And when you go soul winning, and someone receives you, okay, you give them the gospel, and they let you open the Bible, and they accept Christ as Savior. They received you, and by extension, they received Christ, and by extension, they received the Father. Isn't that amazing? That we're that vehicle. You know, Christ is using us now to be that vehicle to get out there and represent the Savior and represent the Lord God. Verse number 21. When Judas had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and testified, and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Again, I find that interesting that he's troubled in spirit. Because remember what the prophecy said in Psalms. I'll read it again just very quickly. We can look at it there in verse number 18. I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. What he's saying is that Judas is his friend. Okay. This hurt Jesus Christ. Even though he knew, he's not a believer. He knew that this was a wicked man. You know, it still hurt Christ to have someone in his inner circle betray him. And that's just, again, the human nature. You know, don't forget, Jesus Christ was man as he walked this earth. A hundred percent man. You know, the pain, the hurt, the sorrow. You know, the feelings of your betrayal. You know, have you ever been betrayed? That's the suffering, that's the pain that Christ was troubled with. You know. And look, even if it turns out the person that troubled you is some wicked false prophet or some wicked false brethren, it still kind of hurts. It's still painful. You know. Then verse number 27. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. They don't know. Well, who are you talking about? We don't know who's going to betray you. Verse number 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. That disciple that Jesus loved, you know, is believed to be John, the writer of this epistle. I believe also it's referring to John. Him speaking of himself in the third person. Verse number 24. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast, safe unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it, and when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now this is again very critical. It's not that, I don't think it's even that important, but just the reason some people believe that Judas Iscariot was not there, when Christ, again, I already mentioned the book of Luke, but that Christ was, Judas Iscariot was not there when Christ offered the bread and the wine, is because you can see this passage, Christ still offering a sop. That's a piece of bread. Okay. And so we'll see they're still eating. Yeah, but it already said in verse number two and sop are being ended. Like the sop is over. This is like just like a dip. The sop, like this is like crackers and some type of dip. You know, name your favorite dip. I don't know. Okay, well some type of gravy. There's something on the side. You know, sometimes if you go and have a meal with someone, there might be the main meal and there might be a few snacks on the side. Some cheeses and some breads and some crackers. That's basically what's happening here. The sop is ended. There's still some little refreshments on the side. And so Christ gets a sop. This is a piece of bread. And again, I assume this would be unleavened bread because it's the Passover and days of unleavened bread. And he dips it into some type of dipping. Again, could be a gravy, you know. And he hands this over to Judas Iscariot. So it says in verse number 26, Judas answered, Here it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it, and when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Alright. Verse number 27. And after the sop, Satan entered into him, then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. That's really interesting. Judas Christ just finished telling them all, Look, the one I give this sop to is going to be the one that betrays me. He gives it to Judas Iscariot. Then he tells Judas Iscariot, Whatever you need to do, go and do it quickly. And they're like, We still don't know who's going to betray Christ. They still haven't processed what, and in fact, if you continue with verse 29, it says, For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, he's the treasurer, he carries the money, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need for against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then had received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. So they thought when Jesus Christ said, You know, go and do what you need to do. They thought, Well, he's just got to go and pay the bills. You know, we're renting this hall, I guess, we're paying for the food, or maybe we need to buy a few other things, or maybe there are some poor that needs to be taken care of. Maybe that's what Christ has asked him to do. So this was done, you know, pretty quickly. Judas Iscariot, one of the fearful things is that Satan enters into him. You know, I personally believe, I think we can prove this from the Bible, that no believer can be possessed by a devil, let alone Satan. Okay, you know, what we see here, Satan entering, possessing Judas Iscariot. And we don't see this very often, in fact, most of the time when you read about someone being possessed, they're possessed by a devil, or devils, but this is one time that we see Satan himself entering into a man, into Judas Iscariot. Okay. Now again, the disciples are still not sure who's going to betray him. They think in Judas Iscariot is doing something else, you know, paying for the bills or whatever it is, like I said. And again, this just reminds us of the teaching of Jesus Christ, and I'll read it to you quickly. Matthew 7 verse 15, he says, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. And I want you just to really absorb that, you know, for yourselves, because, look, I know for myself, I know myself, I know I'm not a false prophet. I know I love the Lord, I know I'm saved, and I'm trying to feed people God's word. Okay. You may not know about that, me. I don't know, you know, hopefully I've proven it long enough, but the thing is brethren, Judas Iscariot was walking with these disciples for three years in the ministry, and they still did not know that he's the betrayer. They still did not know that Judas was an unbeliever, a false prophet. Okay, they had no idea. That's how deceptive these people are. You know, and, you know, there are people in my life that I can look back now and say, yeah, you know, that man was a false prophet. That man was a reprobate. That man was a non-believer. That man was a deceiver. But it took me a long time to be able to determine that. Like even, even after it appears so clear, it's still like, I just don't know really, because it's so covered up. It's so, you know, I can't, I don't know about you, but I kind of want to tend to think the best of people. And I know people make mistakes and say wrong things, and you know, I'm part of human nature, but, you know, when you start to see several red flags again and again and again, you know, beware, beware of false prophets. You know, be careful who you listen to. Be careful who you listen to online. Be careful what church you attend. Just because it says independent fundamental Baptist and the King James only doesn't mean the guy behind the pulpit is a saved man. False prophets creep in. They look like sheep. They look like good men. They look like they love the Lord. It looks like they love you. They're in it for themselves. They're in it to hurt God's people. You know, they're in it to betray and to hurt and to maim. They're wolves. And I can't for the life of me understand. I can't for the life of me understand why someone would want to creep into a church and hurt God's people. Because I don't have the mind of an enemy. I don't have the mind of a false prophet. I don't have the mind of a wolf. I want to be protective. I want to I want to I personally, you know, want to I don't want to scatter the sheep. I want to put I want to have the sheep together. I want to be able to feed and lead the sheep that God has given me. So I can't understand why people get into churches. And they do. They creep in. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if we've had people creep into our church and a false brethren, you know, have crept in to cause harm and maybe not here anymore because they realize it's pretty hard to cause this church harm. I hope that's the case. I hope that's what they determine and then they left. But be careful. All I'm saying is be careful. I've got to be careful too. You know, we all have to be careful. Verse number 31. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. Now I want you to notice verse number 33. Let's break this down very carefully like in the next verses. Little children. So he's speaking to his disciples. Judas is gone now. So definitely now he's speaking to only the same disciples here. He calls them little children. Again confirming that these are saved men. Little children. Yet a little while I am with you. He goes, I'm with you just for a little longer. Okay. Yet a little while I'm with you. Then he says, Ye shall seek me and as I said unto the Jews, that's the unbelieving Jews. You may recall this. Whither I go ye cannot come so now I say to you. He says look, this is when I told the unbelieving Jews. You may recall this in previous chapters. He says, Whither I go ye cannot come so now I say to you. So there is a place that Jesus Christ is going in a little while that the unbelieving Jews cannot come. Okay. And now it says to his disciples you guys can't come either. Okay. Now he's not saying that they can never come here. As we keep going you'll soon see what he's explaining here. It says in verse number 36. Well, what we'll do, we'll skip verses 34 and verse 35. We'll come back to that at the end of the sermon. But come with me to verse number 36 so we don't lose the train of thought here. Verse number 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Where are you going? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, look at this, thou canst not follow me now. Where I'm going you can't follow me now. Okay. Right now. But then it says, but thou shall follow me afterwards. So where I'm going you can't come now but you'll eventually be able to get there. But what he told the unbelieving Jews is that you cannot go where I am going. Does that make sense so far? I hope that makes sense as we're reading that. Okay. And then it says there in verse number 37. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? Because I want to go now with you, Lord. Why not? Okay. He goes, look, I will lay down my life for thy sake. I'm willing to die. I'm willing to go all the way. Jesus answered him, will thou lay down thy life for my sake? Because are you sure, Peter, that you're ready to die? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Because Peter, before the morning comes, before the rooster crows, you're going to have denied me three times. Are you sure you're ready to die for me? Are you sure you're ready to go where I'm going? What is this speaking about? And, you know, this is something, this is a doctrine that, I don't know, I feel like when I teach this doctrine, like people look at me like I've got two heads or something. Okay. Let's break it down just carefully because I don't want to just give you my opinion. I want you to read it carefully. So something's going to happen in a little while. We know he's talking about his death. Obviously, you know, he's there for just a little more time with them and then he's going. Okay. So let's have a look at it again and let's break it down. It says there in verse number 33. Little children, yet a little while I'm with you, ye shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come. So let me ask you something. If Christ is going to go somewhere and the unbelieving Jews cannot go there, what is that location? Just think about yourself. You don't have the answer. Say, well, it must be death. It must be the grave. We're all going to the grave. Where is it that the unbelieving Jews are not going to go? Are they going to heaven with Jesus Christ? No, they can't go to heaven because they're unbelieving. All right. Could they go to hell? They could definitely go to hell. Okay. But it says here they cannot go where Jesus Christ is going. So what's the only logical solution here? Just by those words there alone. Where is Christ about to go in a little while? To heaven. Because then it says, if you keep going, let's go to verse number 36. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goes thou? Jesus answered him, whither I go, thou canst not follow me now. You can't follow me now, Peter. But thou shalt follow me afterwards. So where Christ is going in a little while is somewhere where his believers can go. Where can his believers go? Hell? No. Heaven. The only logical explanation to these passages is that he's going to heaven in a little while. Okay. He's speaking of his death. He's speaking of his death here. Okay. In a little while he's about to die. It's the whole point of this passage. In fact, if you look back in verse number one, it says there, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, and the reason I said that is as we go on chapter by chapter, you know the hour is referring to his death. That he should depart out of this world unto the Father. You say, Pastor, where did Jesus go when he died? I'll tell you where he went. He went to the Father. He went to heaven. He went to a place where his disciples could go afterwards. But he went to a place where unbelieving Jews cannot go. He went to heaven. If he went to hell, that's a place where unbelieving Jews can go. People are like, they don't get that. I'll explain it to you in a minute, okay? So, if you keep your finger there and come with me to Luke chapter 23, please. Come with me to Luke 23. Luke 23 verse 42. Luke 23 verse 42. When you understand this, all the verses make sense. They all make sense. Like there's nothing that you need to kind of wrestle with, okay? Luke 23, 42. This is when Christ is on the cross. And this is when the one on the cross, the thief on the cross believes him, that one. It says, he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Christ says, today you'll be with me in paradise, and we know paradise is heaven. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, remember what was said in John chapter one, John chapter 13 verse one, that he's going unto the Father? It says, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. The ghost is his spirit. His spirit was commended to the Father. He went to paradise with the thief on the cross. He went to heaven. Say, where did Jesus Christ go when he died? His spirit or his ghost went to heaven. Okay? And to me, that proves it, and to me, John chapter 13 proves it. Okay? Now come with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter two and verse number 30. Acts chapter two and verse number 30. Acts chapter two and verse number 30. Now, we read Luke. Who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. Same guy. Okay? Acts is like Luke part two, is what it is. Okay? Acts chapter two verse 30. This is what he writes as well. Therefore been a prophet, speaking of King David here, therefore been a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So, we know this being about Christ's resurrection. Verse number 31. He's seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. This Jesus have God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. So, what else did we learn here? That when Christ died, his soul was in, his soul was in hell. His soul was in hell. Okay? And look, there is no contradiction here. There is like, there is no contradiction whatsoever. What happened to Christ when he died? Number one, his body was in the grave, his soul was in hell, his spirit was in heaven. Okay? That's what the Bible says. Paul says, Peter says, where are you going? Where I go, you cannot come. Now. But you'll come afterwards. Okay? Christ is speaking about his death, his resurrection, he's going to heaven. His spirit went to heaven. And then the question comes, well, then what happened exactly for those three days and three nights? What happened to his soul, you know? Did his soul burn in hell fire? What was his spirit doing in heaven? And look, at the end of the day, brethren, the Bible is not clear on these things. Like, you can have your beliefs, you can form your opinions, okay? But to me, when it comes to the Bible, especially when it comes to preaching behind the pulpit, I need to see something black and white. Like, I need to see something clearly for me to stand behind the pulpit and say, thus saith the Lord. That's me as a preacher. You know, I try to be very careful. And what I see here, is that Christ says that he's going to heaven, and we also see that his soul went to hell. So, what took place? It's up to you to look into it, find out. You know, if you want to apply symbolism and typology, you know, go for it, okay? But at the end of the day, what you want to, you know, the hill that you want to die on is something that is black and white in the scriptures. What is black and white? His soul went to the grave, sorry, his body went to the grave, his soul went to hell, and his spirit went to heaven. That is black and white. And I don't know why that needs to be wrestled or argued with, because there are clear scriptures teaching such things. And you know what? A long time ago, I learned, as a teenager, I really wanted to know, like, the deepest mysteries of the Bible. I wanted to know every little thing, and like, what did God do before creation? And you know, I got to a point where I said, you know what? Instead of trying to figure out everything that is not clear or not said in the Bible, how would I spend my time figuring out what the Bible actually says? Because there's enough. There's enough things in the Bible to learn, to grasp, rather than trying to figure out what the Bible does not speak about, or does not speak about clearly. And so that's, you know, when I had that mentality change, I was able to just rest in what the Bible said. You know? So where did Christ go? It's pretty obvious to me. You know? It's a place where the non-believing Jews could not go. But again, he was speaking about his spirit, where his spirit would go. We know that his soul went to hell. Come back with me to John 13. There are two verses that we left out. John 13, and verse number 34. John 13 and verse number 34. It says here, A new commandment I give unto you. So is this a new commandment? Yes, because Jesus Christ just said so, right? That ye love one another, as I have loved you. That ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one to another. I want to quickly cover this. Christ says this is a new commandment. All right. Keep your finger there, and come with me to 1 John. 1 John chapter 2. Come with me to 1 John chapter 2 and verse number 9. 1 John chapter 2 and verse number 9. 1 John chapter 2 verse number 9. John now pens these words to the church. He says, He that sayeth he is in the light. So that's us. We're in the light. We're in Christ Jesus the light. And hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. We see that in 1 John again. We see this teaching of loving your brother. Okay? And of course he's taking this from what Christ taught here in John 13. But I want to read just before we read those verses there in John chapter 9 verse, sorry, verses 9 and 10. Look at verse number 7. He says in verse number 7, Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you. He goes loving your brethren, loving one another, is not a new commandment. Okay? He goes, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. He goes loving one another is an old commandment. But we have Christ in John 13 saying, it's a new commandment. Okay? Look at verse number 8. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. So again, verse number 8, a new commandment. You go, is it new? Is it old? I don't know. Is it old? Loving one another? A new commandment? Is it an old commandment? What's the answer to that? Well, let me show you where it's written as an old commandment. Come with me to Leviticus 19 and keep your finger there in John 13 if you can as well. John 13 and come with me to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 and verse number 18. Leviticus 19 and verse number 18. Look, loving one another is not some brand new thing. Okay? In Leviticus 19 18, Leviticus 19 18, the Bible says, thou shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord. So are we to love one another? Yes. The old commandment says that you shall love thy neighbor as thyself. Love your neighbor in the same way you would love your neighbor to love you. Okay? That's essentially what it's teaching us there in the old commandment as yourself. Alright? Now come back with me to John 13 34. John 13 34. Jesus Christ says, that's the old commandment. Let me give you the new commandment. Okay, what is the new commandment? He says in verse number 34, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as thyself. No. As I have loved you. That you also love one another. What is the new commandment? Not that we just love our brethren as we would like to be loved and returned, but that we would love our brethren as much as Christ has loved you. Which is a greater love. Okay? A love that is willing to sacrifice himself and die for us. We saw that earlier in verse number one. Look at it again. Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Jesus Christ loved his people till the end. To death. You know what? This new commandment Christ says that we ought to love one another the way Christ has loved you. I mean loving one another as much as I would like you to love me in return, that's a pretty high calling. But to love one another as much as Christ has loved me, it's almost impossible. But it must be possible to love in the new man one another. And so brethren, you know, I just want to end on this. You know, Christ loved us so much that he died for us. You know, he suffered for us. He paid for our sins. You know, he bore God's wrath. He became a curse for us, became sin for us, that we would be made free. And we're to love one another in the same way, the same manner. Can it be done? It's a tough one, isn't it? Tough one again. You know, to forgive someone 490 times and also to love one another as Christ has loved you. And, you know, I think if you're holding on to grudges or, you know, awkward feelings because of some offense or some hurt feelings or something with a brother in the Lord or sister in the Lord, then you need to just again remind yourself how much God has forgiven you, how much God has loved you. And you need to express that same forgiveness and heart and love to your brethren. This is a new commandment. And what did, again, what did Christ say? Oh, just sorry. Let me read it again quickly. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. If you have loved one to another. You know, if we loved each other the way that Christ loved us, then everybody that looks at our church will go, wow, these are disciples of Jesus. These are followers of Jesus. This church stands out because I've never seen so much love in a church. And I still think we're a long way to go in that area. I know I am. I know, you know, I probably don't love as much as Christ. You know, I'm sure I don't because am I willing to lay down my life? No. But at the same time, I can't pay for your sins anyway. It's properly unprofitable. You know, when I think about loving my children, would I lay down my life for my wife or my children? Absolutely. But would I be willing to go that far in love for other people? Probably not. Dunno. I guess I've never been put in that situation or anything like that. But yeah, the great love of our Lord God. You know, John 13, the title was Wash Your Feet. Wash your feet. You know, if you've got unconfessed sin with the Lord tonight, let me encourage you to wash your feet. Just go before the Lord. All right, and it will give you joy. It gives God joy to know that you've come before Him in a humble heart to ask for forgiveness. And once you have had your feet washed by Jesus Christ, don't forget to wash one another's feet. Okay, let's pray.