I'll read the text and we'll pray and begin. John chapter 13 and 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 unto the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. The supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him, Jesus knowing that the father had given all things, I'm gonna assume that includes the Judas part, unto his hands, and that he was come from God and went to God, he riseth from supper, this is heavy, man, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. And cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, Thou hast no part with me, Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and ye are clean. but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, ye 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 ye what I have done? to you father we sure do thank you for your word this morning in a crazy upside down world we got something pure and holy and clean and right and true to look at bless it to our hearts today we pray that you've been pleased i've certainly was uh enlightened with what we learned about this morning lord and i pray you'd take this help us to take this book serious Help me to hide behind the cross, give me clarity as I convey this truth this morning. We'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen. So the Apostle John devotes much of his gospel to the last days of Jesus' life. In fact, he devotes five chapters to what takes place in, like, less than six hours. Now, in my opinion, there's a lot of wows in the Bible. Funny, we humans, we wow a lot about other humans. We wow athletes. And if we're honest, when we observe what some of these athletes do and how they do it, and we consider how we can't, it's pretty wow-able for humans. We wow human beauty. It's a gazillion dollar industry. And again, if we're honest, God has created some pretty amazing faces. And they're usually not on men. And I'm not talking about lust, I'm just talking, humanly speaking, you can't help but look and say, wow, beauty. Why do they get all the breaks and I look like this? We wow athletes, we wow beauty, we wow fast, right? I mean, you gonna go to a place and pay a lot of money to watch screaming cars that will deafen you go around a track 500 times? Whoa! And we say, wow! We wow big, we wow skill, we wow power. And honestly, as the world goes, a lot of it is pretty wow-able. But there is one book on the planet that if you let it, and you seek it, and you search for it, there are some wows in there that will just knock your socks off. Some big wow. So much so, Taylor, that most people think it's a myth. Because it's just too wow-able. You consider creation, the flood, the Red Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jericho, the fiery furnace, walking on water, raising the dead, right down to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those are big wows. Now, it's no surprise to us because we know we serve, we that believe, we serve a big God. But then, there's the apparent what some might consider to be little wows, or no wow at all. Just sort of a record of what happened between the big wows. But I find all too often when studying the Bible, and of course having to deliver truth so you really gotta dig, that just below the surface of the little wows, or the record that ties the big wows together, are some very big wows. And to me, concerning the humanity of Jesus Christ, I'm talking about God becoming a man and what he was able to accomplish, John chapter 13, and I think the 12 scriptures we just read, is a big wow. And the reason it's so big is the same reason we wow fast, and we wow beauty, and we wow athletes. When we compare to ourselves Jesus' wows, we come nowhere near it. And remember, the wows are designed to challenge us, to allow the same God that resides in us to wow through us. So let's see if he can't wow us today. I wanna give you the backdrop of this foot-washing service. And right off the bat, people get sidetracked. Do you believe in a foot-washing service? I'm not opposed to it. I don't think it's an ordinance necessarily of the church, like baptism in the Lord's Supper, I watched a man, that's a funny story, I wish Pastor Folk was here so I could get him, I probably told this story before. Some of you remember Tom Smith from Pennsylvania, and we were fellowship, and man, those were some glory days in our Christian life, and those were when our kids were young, brother, we knew all the answers. Now that we're old, we don't even know the questions. But Brother Tom, man, he was an intense Christian man, and he came in, And we're sitting around the family room, and he comes in with a bucket of water and a basin and a towel. And he gets on his knees in front of pastor Folk. I wish he was here this morning. And he said, brother, I want to wash your feet. And what do you think Dummy says? You're not going to wash my feet. Now, I'm not saying I was more spiritual, but I remembered something in the Bible about someone saying that. I said, you can wash mine. I got a sneaking suspicion at a foot washing service, a whole bunch of people wash their feet before they get there. Well, I wanna set the backdrop of what's going on in the physical and going on in the spiritual realm that Jesus Christ is facing. Take your Bibles and go back to Psalm chapter 41. Psalm chapter 41. Nobody sees this but him. Psalm 41. Because we're going to talk about who is at the foot washing service Psalm 41 verse 8 an evil disease say they cleaveth fast unto him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more yea mine own familiar friend in Whom I trusted Which did eat of my bread hath lifted up his heel Against me that's who's at the foot washing service Psalm 55 Psalm 55 verse 12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me Then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me. Then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked into the house of God in company. That's who's at the foot washing service. And he knows it. John chapter six. John chapter six. I don't know what Kelvin does with this verse, but we'll leave that study for another day. John chapter six and verse 70. Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you, say the next word, is a devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the 12. Luke chapter 22. Luke 22. We're talking about who's at the foot washing service. Luke 22 verse three, then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being one of the 12. And then we'll go back to John 13. So the devil, don't ask me logistically how it happens, just entered into the devil. A devil, the devil just entered into a devil. John 13, 27. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly. Seated at the foot washing service is the son of perdition, Jesus would call him later. A man chosen, empowered to do apostolic miracles, he ministered with the Savior, the Savior called him a friend, the Savior said they took sweet counsel together, they fellowshiped, and now he's turned cold. Listen, if you ever choose to get all in and follow God, And somehow over your tenure, you get hurt. You know what you're gonna find? It's your friends that are gonna hurt you most. Let me put it this way. They're gonna hurt you more than enemies hurt. Not that enemies don't hurt. But Jesus called out, I understand my enemies hurting me. I don't understand my friends hurting me. It's not that it's... it's just that it hurts more when it's a friend. And some of you have been at it for a while, you can understand that. That's who was at the gathering, the son of perdition. What's going on in the spiritual realm, Matthew chapter 26? Verse 39, and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will. but as thou wilt. The cup of God's wrath on sinners, including what we deserve, is beginning to be unleashed on the Savior. For he, God the Father, is beginning to make him, God the Son, to be sin, who knew no sin. Innocence and holiness is becoming sin. And I don't think we as humans can fathom that. And the best analogy I ever heard was people being hurt and abused is one thing. Children being hurt and abused is worse. But once in a while, it's an infant that gets abused and hurt. And I think that's the closest unfathomable analogy that we can grip innocence. And contrast. Now imagine your sin, just every sin you committed and I committed in the last week being born by someone that had never sinned. The life giver was beginning to taste death for every man. He said in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 45, I'm being betrayed into the hands of sinners. You ever seen angry mobs? How'd you like to be looking at that? Luke 22. Verse 53, Luke 22, what's going on behind the scenes here? We're ratcheting up and things are beginning to change. Luke 22, 53, when I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me, but this is your hour, watch this, and the power of darkness. The innocent one is beginning to become sin, who knew no sin. He's becoming a curse. He's going to taste death. The power of darkness is beginning to envelop the Holy One. And so, what does he do? With the betrayer sitting at the table, does he say, I rebuke you in the name of God. Depart from my presence. No, he girds himself with a towel, and he fills a basin with water, and he starts washing 24 filthy feet. Two of them are the devil's. And to that I say, wow. Not most men, all men, would have sizzled the enemy right there if they had the power to do it. You ever been attacked, as in character assassination? I have. I mean, I've been canceled. I like what the one guy said. He goes, being canceled, kind of like being like COVID, catching COVID. You're afraid of it, and then when you get it, oh, I guess it wasn't that bad. But between being a man and being a fighter, and my heritage and my nationality, you attack me, the last thing I'm thinking about doing is washing your feet. And that's what gives it the wow. How could Jesus do such a thing? Wash the devil's feet. One, for you and me. I believe his will was independent from the father's. He said, I would like you to do this, if it be your will, because my will is that it will pass. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. Now go to Acts chapter one. Verse 16, Acts chapter one, yeah, 116. Men and brethren, the scriptures must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry. The scriptures had to be fulfilled. How could you bring yourself to wash your enemy's feet? Because the scriptures need to be fulfilled. And if I don't fulfill the scriptures, I disqualify for savior and king of the coming kingdom. But that's not all, back to John 12. Even greater wow, I'm sorry, 13. Jesus knowing, verse three, that the Father had given all things, I gotta think this includes this, because it's a thing, into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. I think the fact that he knew that the Father was indirectly the source of his afflictions. And the only conclusion he could come to was Everything's under control. I have nothing to lose by washing my enemy's feet. I remind you that the prophet Isaiah said our Savior was smitten of God. and afflicted. The Lord hath laid... Oh, did the Jews kill him? Did the Romans kill him? Did our... The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him. and he was confident that the source of his afflictions was the Father, and he trusted the Father, and he said, I'm in the Father, and the Father's in me, he must be in control. What's the difference if I love my enemies, if I bless them that curse me, if I do good to them that hate me and despitefully use me and persecute me? I'm in God, God's in me, bring the basin, Wow! And that brethren is a level that few, few will allow the God that dwells in them to go. He knew he came from God. And he knew he was going to God. There's something about knowing something good's coming, that lets you go through a little something bad coming. Like if the gallbladder really hurts, and you know they're gonna take a sharp razor blade and they're gonna cut through your skin, and cut through your fat, and cut through your muscles, and go in there and cut this thing out, it's gonna hurt. The procedure is gonna hurt, but I know this, after a while, that gallbladder pain's gonna be gone. I know I come from God. I'm saved. That's the three questions this world cannot answer. Where did I come from? What am I doing here? Where am I going? I'm going to God. And although the pains and the afflictions and the assassination of character may hurt, it's not the end. It's just God giving opportunities to be a little more like Jesus. What's the chaff to the wheat? You doing what? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Weeping endureth for a moment, but joy cometh in the morning. I don't know what you're going through, but I bet somewhere there's some hurt. I bet somewhere there's some thorns in the flesh. I bet there's a messenger. And there's a good chance that it may be those that are close. So here's the question for us this morning. Are you in Christ? Do you know where you came from? You know where you're going? Are you confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ? He said, when I'm weak, then am I strong. And he knelt down and took a basin and washed his enemy's feet. Boy, that gives a whole new slant to I can do all things. Oh, I can preach on the street all things, and I can declare God all things, and I can go cut through a jungle all things, but wash my enemy's feet, which strengtheneth. One of the biggest hindrances to humility is vulnerability. Because if I go washing my enemy's feet, they might think I condone what they're saying about me, doing about me, attacking about me. If I bless them that curse me, they'll think it's okay. No, no, don't confuse that. Christ didn't condone Judas, but he trusted his father's will, that I'm invincible. Humility and the fear of the Lord, that's where riches and honor and life come. So I will get on my knee and be vulnerable enough to wash my enemy's feet. No, I'm not sure I'm that far along. In fact, let me just say it, I'm not that far along. But I am far enough along to look at that passage and say, wow. What a God we serve, Lord. Help me to allow you to live through me that kind of way. People will come and say, do you know what people are saying about you? Only because they tell me. And then they'll say this, and I shouldn't rejoice at this, but I do say, I was sticking up for you. Yeah, you give it to them real good. Sometimes a higher level includes going lower. I'm not there. But the invitation of the shortest message I ever preached, because we're going to continue next week and it would have been too long, is this. Could we at least pray for those enemies, the ones that are closest, the ones that ridicule, oh, you guys are radical, oh, you guys are criminals, oh, you guys are this, oh, you guys are that. Maybe it's your immediate family that doesn't know Christ. And then you get with the brethren and you just rip their heads off and all that. Can we get to a higher level if our Savior that dwells within can wash His enemies' feet? What can we do? Let's stand. Pastor, come. Can you pray in your heart today? I had to before I came, because I was going to be preaching it. Help them, Lord. I think they're wrong, but maybe I'm wrong. Can you learn from your critics? Praying for them right now, Lord. The ones that hurt me. Not just the ones that I love that hurt me, the ones that I'm having a hard time loving that hurt me. Pastor? 461, Ode to Be Like Thee. Oh to be like thee.