Okay, let's take our Bibles, and please open with me if you would, to the book of John. The Gospel of John as we are continued to preach through this wonderful book that presents Christ as the Son of God and God the Son, what we call the Deity of Christ, the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look with me in John chapter 13, I said 12, let's do 13. John chapter 13, and if you would, we're gonna look at verses 1 through 17, and preach on the subject, THE HUMBLE SAVIOR. THE HUMBLE SAVIOR. Our text is found in verse 17, so let's read it, chapter 13 of John, verse 17 from my text. If ye know these things, happy are ye that do them. Let's go to some lessons about happiness and how we can find happiness and learn some lessons on humility, humbleness, and holiness. We need all three. We know the kind of world we're living in, going more and more to the left, going more and more to socialism. Violence on every hand, crime up in every city. I heard last week that Chicago for the year 2021 had 1,002 deaths by gun violence. 1,002 murdered by guns. And these things just keep getting worse all the time. But we've got a God in heaven that's still in control. The first thing you hear when you turn on the news for 15 minutes is about the COVID, and it is bad. I don't deny that because I've had it twice. But so many people are believing things that may not be true, and it's hard to detect what is the truth. But I've got one thing here that can tell you the truth, and they never lie, and that's the Word of God. Amen? I don't rely on CBS, NBC, ABC, or even Fox or any news for the truth. I rely upon the Bible, the Word of God, and I hope you do too, and I hope you stay with the King James Bible as we know it today. Okay, now listen. Notice three things here that we find in the upper room. We're going to notice three things. verse one through three, the Tao, verse four through 10, and the traitor, the traitor, verses 10 through 16. I want you to notice when we talk about the Lord, his facts. His facts. In verse 1a, He speaks of His departure, His going home, to be with His Father in heaven. Look at chapter 13 and look at verse 1. NOW BEFORE THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER, WHEN JESUS KNEW THAT HIS HOUR, THERE'S THAT WORD, HIS HOUR, THE HOUR THAT HE WAS BORN FOR, THE HOUR THAT WAS DESTINED, PREPARED BY GOD BEFORE THE WORLD, TO DIE ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS, WHEN HE KNEW THAT HIS HOUR WAS COME, THAT HE SHOULD DEPART OUT OF THIS WORLD UNTO THE FATHER, HAVING LOVED HIS OWN, I LIKE THAT, WHICH WERE IN THE WORLD, HE LOVED THEM UNTIL THE END! HE DIDN'T QUIT LOVING THEM! You see, if He quit loving you, you would be able to lose your salvation. But because He loves us with an everlasting love, you cannot lose your salvation. Jeremiah 31 says, He has loved us with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness He drew us, as we talked about this morning, the drawing power of the Holy Spirit of God. Not only do I see His facts, But notice his feelings. In the latter part of verse one says, having loved his own, which were in the world. And by the way, here's another quote from Warren Wiersbe. He says, we can't help being in the world, but don't let the world be in you. And that's quoted by all these preachers that we know. And it's the truth. You can't help being in the world. The Lord prayed in John chapter 17, which we will be coming to. He said, Father, I pray not that you take them out of the world. but that you shall keep them, that you should keep them from the evil one. He said, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. He won't stop loving you. What he starts, he will finish. And that's in Philippians chapter number one, verse six, being confident this very thing that he who hath begun a good work in you will continue it. never ending. So we see, first of all, we see his facts, his feelings, but notice his foes. His foes mean his enemy, verse 2. And supper being ended, the devil having NOW put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, one of his own twelve, was going to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, for a measly 30 pieces of silver, which was the common price of a common slave. Notice fourthly in verse three, the future. Verse three, verse three, the future. Jesus, knowing that the father has given all things unto his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. See that? when to God? He's GOING to God! After He dies on the cross, He's going to go unto the Father at His ascension, which was 40 days after His resurrection, of course. So we see here in verse 1 through 3 what we call the table in which we see His FACTS, His FEELINGS, His FOES, and His FUTURE. But notice secondly, not only the table, but the TOWEL. Now here's where we get into the meat of the Word, and it's not complicated. Some people think it's complicated, and for years I was complicated on it, but I want you to listen carefully. It's very clear. The towel in verse 4 through 10. and the towel is about a lesson on HUMILITY. The title of my sermon is A HUMBLE SAVIOR. Notice here in verse 4 and 5 what it says, He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself, he tied it around him. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash his defiled feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Now many people, well not many, some Baptists believe in foot washing. I think the the Free Will Baptists and others, and others believe it's an ordinance. It is not an ordinance. The ordinance, there are only two ordinances of the church, the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Well, what's foot washing? It's an example, not an ordinance, but an example the Lord is teaching us about humility. You see, Jesus has taken the place of a slave. When someone came into a person's house, the only thing that would be dirty about them was perhaps their hands if they had been working out in the field, and their feet on the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea. when they wore the sandals. And so it's customary when someone came to visit a person, their slave would take and get down on their hands and knees with a basin of water and a towel and wash the person's feet. That was customary. Now keep that in mind. Don't forget what I'm saying. The Lord is acting out His whole ministry. He came to serve. Notice here in verse 9 an impulsive reaction, verse number 9, verse 6, right, thank you. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shall know hereafter, or you will know later. So there's Peter's question. Lord, are you going to wash my feet? I can hear him now. I ought to be washing your feet. But notice Peter's, not only his question, verse 6 and 7, but his quibble, his quibble, verse 8. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. See, these verses are not simple, too simple to understand, but they are if you listen to the Holy Spirit. Simon Peter, verse 9, saith unto him, Lord, Now this is after he said, you don't have any part of me if I don't wash your feet. And Simon Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Lord, if I want to be a part of you, Lord, I want your love and I want your fellowship. So if it takes washing my feet, wash me all over. Give me a bath. Now listen now, what are you saying? Peter had tried to tell the Lord what to do and what not to do. Now he wanted to tell the Lord how things ought to be done. Notice here in verse 10 and 11, what I call an important revelation. Verse 10, Jesus said to him, he that is washed. Now that word in the Greek is punctiliar, means once and for all. follow me now, follow me. He that is washed, neitheth not save to wash his feet. In other words, you don't need a bath, Peter, you don't need your whole body washed, just your feet, or you've walked in the dust, the dusty roads. Save his feet, but is clean. You're clean, ever wit, and ye are clean, but not all. Not all of you are clean. What's he talking about? He's talking about salvation. When he says to Peter, you don't need to be washed all over, he's meaning you don't need to be saved again. Once is enough, but not all of you are saved. You see that in verse number 10? Sure. Verse 11, For he knew who should betray him, that's Judas, therefore said he, Ye are not all clean, spiritually, okay? Spiritually. Now the word washed, W-A-S-H-E-D, is the Greek word that means bathed all over. The word WASH, W-A-S-H, is a Greek word that means to wash part of the body, hands and feet. You see in verse 10, it's talking about a radical cleansing by the blood of Jesus, once and for all. He that is washed, meaning clean from your sins, not cleansed by waters of baptism, but by the blood of Jesus Christ. So He's saying, He that is washed, or washed in the blood, or saved, need not to be saved again, but only to wash His feet. But you are safe, you are clean ever with, and ye are clean, but not all of you. Now, the cleansing once for all is by the blood of Jesus. That's when you get saved, when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is for salvation and justification. But notice again this word washed. That means once and for all. Hold your place here and look at Revelation chapter number 1 and verse 5. Revelation chapter number 1 and verse number 5. He said, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us, that means loved once and for all, again, it is punctiliar, that means once was all, once for all, And that word says, and washed, E.D., punctiliar verb. You've been washed, you've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus ONCE FOR ALL! You don't need it again, you don't lose your salvation and have to be washed again by the blood of Jesus, but it's once for all. And that word wash means to be redeemed. It's the word that means to be released from sin. It means to be LOOSE from sin. That's what happened to you and me when we got saved, because He shed His blood at the cross. And so He loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. So the picture here of washing feet was a lesson on humility. And Peter and the apostles did not understand that, and one time I was completely confused about that verse, those verses. But I'm glad the Lord has a way of speaking to our hearts and opening the scriptures to us, and He's showing us what He is talking about. You see, there is what we call a radical cleansing by the blood of Jesus once and for all, but there's also a reoccurring cleansing by the Word of God. That's what he's talking about in verse 10b. He said, But as clean ever went ye are clean, but not all of you." Now, we need a daily cleansing from the defilement of the sins of the world. That's what the Word of God does. The Word of God cleanses us from our DAILY sins. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL of our sins, past, present, once for all. Don't need the blood again. Don't need to be saved again. But there's a sense that we need to be cleansed DAILY from the DAILY sins that we commit, or the defilement of sin. In Biblical days, I told you, they walked through the desert, sand and dust. They got their feet dirty. That's defilement. And therefore, the custom was wash feet. Not the whole body. If you'd had a bath, you don't need your whole body, but your feet's dirty. As we walk through this world, as a God called Christian, cleansed by the blood once and for all, saved, justified, declared righteous, but yet when we walk through this world, we get contaminated by the defilement of sin all around us. No, a Christian is not sinless, he just sins less. And therefore, we need daily cleansing by the Word of God. James 1.27 says, Keep yourselves unspotted from the world. So the water used, the water Jesus used, pictures the Word of God. You say, where's that in the Bible? Well, let me show it to you. You know these verses. Look back in the book of Psalms, all the way back to the book of Psalms 119. Psalms 119 and verse nine, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto to the Word of God. That's how you cleanse your ways as a Christian, according to the Word of God. Now there's more scriptures. How about Ephesians, excuse me, how about John 15 three? You're close to John, look at John 15 three. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Now he's not talking about cleansing of your heart from sin, that's by the blood. But every day we need a cleansing from the defilements of sin by the Word of God. See, that's why Brother Morton gets up here and says, read the Bible through every year. And now read the footnotes when you read the Bible. Why? Because this book will either keep you from the sin or sin will keep you from the Word. We used to give our graduates a brand new Bible. for graduation and I wrote in the flyleaf that verse, that saying, this Bible will either keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the word. But we need that daily cleansing because we sin daily. John 15, look at John 17, 17. Go right over a few pages, John 17, 17. The Bible says sanctify. What does that mean? To set apart. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. See that? The Bible is truth, and that's how we get set apart from the world. You see, we're progressively being sanctified, setting apart further and further from the things of the world and set apart closer and closer to the Lord. As you grow in grace, the more you come to church and hear the Word of God, the more you read and study the Word of God, you know what you're doing? You're growing in grace and knowledge of the truth. You're being set apart more and more from the things of the world and closer to Jesus Christ. That's what he's talking about, progressive sanctification. But here's a good one, Titus 3, 5. I want you to read this. I'm gonna wait till you get there. Titus 3, 5. Titus 3, 5, okay? Now, not by the works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the WASHING of REGENERATION and the RENEWING of the HOLY GHOST. Now, He's not talking about BAPTISM there like many believe, but He's talking about the REGENERATING WORK of the HOLY SPIRIT that CLEANSES us from the PENALTY of SIN, the PENALTY of SIN. The Word of God saves us from the POWER of sin, or the POLLUTION of sin. Now that don't mean you're going to be perfect, it don't mean you're not going to sin anymore, but it means you'll sin less. Now listen to it. Now in verse, go back to my text, John chapter 13. And look at verse 15, John 13, 15. Have you found it? Okay. Let's look at, first of all, we looked at what? We looked at the table. We looked at the Tao and learned a lesson about humbleness and holiness. Now let's notice lastly, the traitor. The traitor, a lesson on helpfulness. Letter part of verse 10. He said, but you're clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are not all clean. And I said, that means spiritually clean. Verse 4, 12, And after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garment, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? You know what I've done? He said, You know what I'm doing this for? I'm teaching you to be humble. I'm teaching you a lesson on humility and holiness. Verse 13, you call me master and Lord, and you say, well, that's good, that's good, that's who I am, I'm the Lord and your master, and you do good. Verse 14, if I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. In other words, if the sovereign God became a servant, became a slave, and washed the feet of the disciples, where does that put us? I'll tell you where it puts us, as a slave. And you know what a slave is? He's on the same level as the Master, with Jesus Christ. The world may ask, How many people work for you? But the Lord asks, how many people do you work for? We need leaders who will serve and servants who will lead. A really great man is one who makes others feel great. Verse 15 is an example, not an ordinance. It's an example, but it's about an inward work of the Holy Spirit. I finished with verse 16 and 17, which teaches humbleness, holiness, helpfulness, and learn how to be happy. Look at verse 16, and I'm through. Verse 16, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, here's the word, happy. How many Christians do you know that are really happy? Most of them, a lot of them, you see, not most, a lot of them are doom and gloom. It's all doom and gloom. Oh, preacher, what are we going to do about this pandemic? What about all these people getting sick and the hospitals filled and running over and don't have enough help and the hospitals and people are dying left and right? And I know all that, but we've got a sovereign God that's on the throne and He's in control. We mentioned the other day about Job, how they lost everything. The old ancient question, why do bad things happen to good people? For the glory of God, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. What does Romans 8, 28 say? And we know, not think so, not guess so, we know that ALL things good or bad, ALL things work together for good. Did you hear that? Good. To them who love God, and to them who are the called according to his purpose." God has a purpose. What is that purpose? Verse 29 says, For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate. What for? To be CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST! THAT'S WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE! IT'S A PART OF GOD MAKING YOU LIKE JESUS! CONFORMING YOU TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST! What about Joseph? Joseph. was the beloved son of his father. His brothers were envious of him. He was the dreamer. He told his dreams to his brothers that one day they would bow down to him. And they didn't like that, and they said, let's kill the guy. And they put him in a pit to die. And one of the brothers said, no, let's don't kill him. Let's sell him, we can make some money. And there were some traveling people coming by that were headed to Egypt. And they sold their brother Joseph to the Egyptians. But while he was there in Egypt, he was made prime minister next to Pharaoh. You say, that's good. No, it's bad. Then Pharaoh's wife tried to molest him. and he hadn't enough sense to run, left his coat. Better leave your coat than your character. He left and they said, hey, she said, he tried to rape me and I've got the coat to prove it. I got his coat. Back to the prison he goes. He went from the pit to the palace to the prison, but that's not the end of the story. And then he went back to the palace and became the head man after Pharaoh, and in charge of all the food, because there was a seven-year famine in the land, and those poor little Jews were starving to death. And their father said to their brothers, go into Egypt. I hear they have plenty of food. Go there and get us some food, or we're gonna die. And you know what happens if they die? No Savior. You follow me? No Savior. So they go into Egypt, and who do they meet? Their brother, Joseph. But they don't recognize him at first. But Joseph revealed himself. And they were so afraid that he would kill them. They were ashamed of what they did. And here's what he said. He said, put me here. You really aren't the one that put me here, but God has sent me here to save life, to save you, our Father, and the whole Jewish nation from starvation. You see, all things work together for good to them that love God. and to them who are the called according to his purpose. I'm sure he didn't like it being in that pit. No food, no water. I'm sure he didn't like being in a prison. But God meant it. Remember what God said. Let's read Genesis. I tell you what, we're through here. Let's read Genesis. This is good. You'll be coming to it now when you read the book of Genesis. Look in the book of Genesis, chapter 50. Now remember, his brothers are fearful that he's gonna get revenge and kill them. And in chapter 50 of Genesis, verse 19, And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God," Oh, what a great two words, but God, He makes the difference. But God meant it unto good. We believe all things work together for what? Good. To bring to pass as it is this day, here's the reason Joseph went through the pit palace, the prison, and back to the palace, to save much people alive. That's the reason bad things happen to good people. God's eternal purpose. We didn't say, somebody said, well, I don't see the good in this situation or that situation. I don't see the good in those tornadoes. I don't see the good in those forest fires. I don't see the good in those hurricanes. I don't see the good in the pandemic that's killing people. He didn't say you'd see the good. He says, by faith in God, in God's word, we know, K-N-O-W, that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called according to his purpose. You know, that's what salvation's all about. is that God had a man and God had a plan. And He had many men. He had Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Job, but the man He had was Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, who died upon a cross for your sins 2,000 years ago, suffered the equivalent of your hell. What, it would take you and I forever in hell to suffer? He suffered that equivalent on the cross. shed his blood and paid for all of your sins and redeemed you, bought and paid for you, was buried and rose again the third day. And when you see that, he'll save you by his grace. Realize you're a sinner, realize, admit it, confess it. God, I'm a sinner, I'm lost, I don't know you to hell. And be willing to turn and give up that old life of sin. Now, that don't mean you're gonna be perfect, as I told you. That don't mean you're not gonna sin anymore. but it means you're gonna sin less. They will underturn your life to Jesus Christ and receive him as Lord, Master of your life. I don't wanna be a slave of the devil anymore, I wanna be a servant of God. And the Bible said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Could you believe on him, trust him? Yeah. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Could you trust him right now? You here today, you watch me by internet. Could you repent, believe on him, trust him? He'll save you. And then you need to come make a public profession of faith. That's why we give an invitation. Follow him in scriptural baptism as a way of professing your faith in him. Letting the world know that You believe Christ died, was buried, and rose again for you. Maybe you need to come move your membership, join the church, whatever God wants you to do. Maybe as a child of God you need to come renew your vows, rededicate your life. Whatever it is, we're going to give an invitation. I'll be here in the front to receive you, to counsel with you,