Well, it's a pleasure to be back with you. We've had a great weekend. It's just been wonderful spending the time studying the Word of God in regards to parenting. I've looked forward to coming here to Grace Community Bible Church for a long time because, well, put it very frankly, Jason and Veronica are some of our really, really good friends that go way back. We knew them when they were students. We knew them when they were dating. So, if you want any good stories on that, we can share some of those good stories. So, it's kind of a pleasure to see how God has placed him here in this ministry and the fruit of that ministry going on. So, every so many years, I tell him he's a glutton for punishment for asking me to come back. So, but it's a pleasure to do so, and we can't miss doing that. Well, we want to sort of continue what we've done Friday night, Saturday, and this weekend, and kind of enlarge the topic of Parenting, from a biblical perspective, but what we're going to talk about today is going to be applicable to every single person here, whether you're a parent, or you're a single person, or you're a grandparent, whatever the case may be. And we've entitled the message, Understanding the New Commandment. Understanding the New Commandment. This is a vital issue, and as was read just a little bit earlier in John chapter 13, we're going to eventually get to that particular passage and take a look at it with fresh new eyes. You've probably read that passage. You've been a Christian very long in your life. And if you've been a Christian for many, many years, you've read and studied that passage over and over again. But we really want to look at it for what it really says. So this is really critical this morning. Before we do, I want you to take your Bible just for a moment, and I want you to go back to the book of Proverbs, because we've spent a lot of time this weekend in the book of Proverbs, and I want to ask you a question. What happens in your life when your friend becomes your enemy? ever happened to you? Your friend becomes your enemy. There's a lot of Christians that that's happened to. And we're gonna take a look at a few really tough verses here. So as we said this weekend, fashion your seatbelts and put your crash helmets on. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 24. And we're going to take a look at verse 17. Proverbs 24 and verse 17. Now, I don't know about you, But my sinful human heart wants to do that. I want to rejoice when my enemy falls. When the person who was once my friend now has become my enemy, and they have done certain things to me, and they fail, and maybe they fail miserably, I'm wanting to say, oh, that's so good! But I can't. In fact, it shows that I have a very wicked, sinful heart. That tells me what I'm not supposed to do. Let's go over to Proverbs 25. Verse 21. Because this tells me what I should do. What I should do. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he's thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you." So instead of rejoicing over the fact that our enemy has failed, I'm actually blessing that enemy. I'm providing for that enemy. Oh. But that so goes against my nature. Let's go to Proverbs 26. Verses 20 through 22. Verse 20 says, for lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisper, quarreling ceases. As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a whisperer are like Delicious morsels. They go down into the innermost parts of the body. Now that tells us what not to do. Gossip. Whisper. Behind the enemy's back. The Bible's very clear that not only should we not be glad when our enemy fails, we shouldn't talk about our enemy behind their back. Because this is the one, this is the type of thing that causes strife. It causes quarrels. That tells us what not to do. Let's take a look at what the Bible says we should do. Proverbs 25 and verse 11. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Have you ever met somebody who's told the truth, but they told it in a very wicked way? That's like serving up apples of gold on Tupperware platters, not platters of silver. You can deliver truth that's gold, but the Bible says how you deliver it, the tone of your voice, your actions is critical to God, even though you're telling the truth. How do you deliver it? A lot of people deliver apples of gold, truth. But it's on terrible platters, not platters of silver. Look at verse 15. This is what we're to do. With patience a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue breaks a bone. In other words, you understand that a soft tone is incredibly powerful. A soft tone, a gentle response is incredibly powerful. These are the very, very things that we need to teach our children. This is contrary to the world. This is counterintuitive to what the world teaches or assumes. It's counterintuitive to our own sinful hearts. You understand how hard this is to do when your friend has become your enemy. And the big question is, how do I know when my heart is right? How do I know when my children's heart is our right? Well, that brings us to John chapter 13. So if you have your Bible, I want you to take it and turn over to John chapter 13. And if you're the type of person who keeps notes, and let me recommend that you do, there's three things you need to write down today. And we're gonna slowly develop these three things. Three things you've got to understand. And we've already studied one of them earlier this weekend. We took a look at Matthew chapter 22, verses 37 through 40, where Jesus is confronted by a Pharisee. And the Pharisee says to him, what is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. And we said that Jesus was not saying that we need to love ourselves more. In fact, nowhere in the Bible does it ever say or even hint that we need to love ourselves more. In fact, the Bible is replete with warnings that we need to love ourselves less, which is, again, counterintuitive to contemporary psychological thinking today. And we read some of the studies that even some of the secular psychologists now are beginning to question. After decades of teaching children to love themselves, the problem of violence is only growing worse. That comes from over-inflated teenage egos. Because their teaching, they have adopted the teaching of love yourself. So the first thing I want you to understand from the very beginning, we've studied it this weekend, so I'm not going to explore it any more deeper than that. The first thing you need to write down is, I must learn to love myself less. I must learn to love myself less. That is a very profound truth that is literally throughout all the pages of scripture. And that really answers the question of why I am so glad when my enemy fails, doesn't it? Because I love myself and I rejoice that I'm doing better than they are now. Where does that come from? That comes from an intense love of self. So I must learn. That's the first thing. First of three things. I must learn to love myself less. That's such a key thing. I've got to teach my children to love themselves less, love God more, love others more. All of that is really critical to child-rearing today. But there's a second thing. And that second thing is reflected, and it'll take me a little bit to develop this, so just hang on. It's reflected in John 13. And we're going to slowly proceed down through this passage and kind of develop this for you so that you understand it. Let's take a look at verse 1. He says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. This is Thursday night of Passion Week. And that little phrase, He loved them unto the end, at the very conclusion of that verse is what I'm interested in. That little word end is the word telos in the original language. It can mean chronological. He loved them to the end of his life. Well, does that mean that Jesus somehow stopped loving us when he died? Is that what that means? He loved them to the end? For the longest time, when I Read this particular passage for many years even as a young boy. That's what I thought He loved them right up to the time that he died on the cross. Well, but we have a problem with that Does that mean that he stopped loving us now if it's a reference to chronology? Well, I Think there's a better explanation for it that it's not a reference to time. It's not a reference to chronology It's actually a reference to geography You say what? It's a reference to geography. In other words, He showed them. He loved them, that is, to the outer limits of His love. To the end of His love. It's not a time reference. It's a geographical reference. He showed them the outer limits of His love. The outer edges of His love. He loved them to the telos. Is the idea. So what does He do? Well, you're familiar with the account. This is the account where he washes the disciples' feet. Now, as we proceed down through this account, I want you to notice that this particular passage is punctuated with the fact that Judas is present. Remember that. This passage comes back over and over again to remind us of the fact that Judas is there. Well, take a look at verse 2. During the supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. There it is. All right off the bat. As soon as it says he loved them to the outer edges of his love, then immediately he refers to Judas. Judas is there. Devil's put it in his heart. And by the way, the devil cannot do that to a genuine Christian. The devil can only do that to an unbeliever. The devil can't do anything to a genuine Christian or put anything in a genuine Christian's heart. Can't do that. There's no theology in the Bible that supports that. The Bible can suggest things to, I mean, Satan can suggest things to Christians in their environment. But he can't do anything in the heart, because that heart is solely and completely owned by the Holy Spirit. That person is a new creature in Christ. Satan has no jurisdictional authority in the heart of a believer. Which tells you right from the beginning that Judas has a problem. He's not a true believer. He's not a true believer in Christ. Verse 3. Jesus, again, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. And that he had come from God and was going back to God. Now, that's a very deliberate reference as well. And that's a reference, Jesus, up in verse 1. Jesus knew, Jesus knowing here, that he That the Father had given all things into His hands. He had all the authority. That He had come from the Father. That He was going back to the Father. He knew where He came from. He knew where He was going. This is very, very purposeful. But, verse 3 is vitally connected to verse 4. It's vitally connected. Those two cannot be read without the two interacting with each other. He rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, he tied it around his waist. That's very deliberate in what Jesus is doing. He's standing in front of all the disciples as they're partaking of the Last Supper. And he rose from the table. He took away his outer garments, purposely folded them out and laid them aside. In a similar fashion, Jesus left heaven, laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes, and laid them aside and came in the form of a servant to man, Philippians chapter 2. laid aside his outer garments, laid aside the independent uses of his divine attributes, he did not ever cease to be God, not for one millisecond did he ever cease to be God, but he laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes, took upon himself human form, came in the form of a servant, and in a similar way there at the Last Supper he lays aside his outer garment, He takes up the towel and girds it around himself and begins to kneel in front of each one of the disciples in order to wash their feet. Verse 5. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him." And you've got to put yourself into the sandals of those disciples. You've got to do that. You've got to put yourself in order to fully appreciate what's going on here because what Jesus is doing here is absolutely 180 degrees the opposite of what they expected him to do. They were following Jesus Christ for the purpose of Jesus eventually mounting a rebellion against the pagan Roman hordes and the army that occupied Israel, that the future Messiah was going to be a Messiah marching in on a white horse, brandishing a sparkling sword, and is going to drive the Roman hordes out of Israel and reestablish the Davidic kingdom. That's why they were following Jesus. And what does Jesus do? He takes off his outer garments, lays them aside, takes a towel, wraps it around his waist, takes a basin of water and begins to go from disciple to disciple and wash his feet. And basically Jesus assumes the position of the lowest servant in the household. This crashed into their concept of what the Messiah should be doing. This is not the Messiah that we came to worship. follow we were willing to follow you to your death what are you doing becoming a servant why are you doing this verse 6 you can see this Simon Peter always speaks for the rest of the disciples doesn't he verse 6 he came to Simon Peter you said to him Lord do you wash my feet Jesus answering him, what I'm doing you do not understanding now, but afterwards you will understand. In other words, he basically says, Peter, you're dumb. You're ignorant. You don't understand what I'm doing. Just follow me. Just trust me. Peter said to him, now imagine this. You know, there's a little Jewish saying. Peter has this chutzpah. He has this, the guts to say to his Lord in verse 8, you shall never wash my feet. You're never gonna do that. Imagine that. Imagine that saying to Jesus. Imagine telling him he's not gonna do anything that he intends to do. This is not going to happen. Why? Because this, this was not the Messiah that he was trying to follow. Becoming a servant, the lowest servant in the household, this just crashed into his understanding of what was supposed to be happening. And Jesus said to him in verse 10, look at that, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet. Oh, I skipped out. Let me, let me, let me go back just a second to verse 8 again. It says, Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. And Simon Peter said to him, Lord, then not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Now, Peter's now referencing a very common practice among the Jews at that time, and that was proselytite baptism, where a Gentile was actually, where a Jew needed just ceremonial washings at certain parts of their body. A proselytite Gentile, being converted into Judaism, needed to be fully dunked and fully bathed in the water in order to be fully and completely seen as a repentant sinner. Peter says, then wash all of me. No, no, no. Peter, you don't understand. Jesus said to him, in verse 10 now, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not every one of you. Now again, we have punctuated into this text the fact that there is somebody there who's not clean. Who is that? It's Judas, right? It's Judas. Verse 11. For he knew who was to betray him, that was why he said, not all of you are clean. So he's making it very clear that he knows they're in their presence, not every one of them are a true follower of Jesus Christ. Even though the rest of the disciples had a misconception of who the Messiah was, they were still true followers of him. There's a lot of Christians today who have a misconception of who Jesus really is, but they still are true followers of Jesus. So you can have bad theology and still be a true follower of Jesus, right? That means there's hope for all of us, right? There's hope for all. You can have bad theology, just like many of these disciples. They had bad theology about who the Messiah was, but they were still true followers. But Judas was an exception. He was not a true follower. This is really key. Verse 12, when he had washed their feet and put on his other garments and resumed his place, he said to them, now follow this closely, do you understand what I've done to you? I could probably ask you the question, do you understand what Jesus has done at this particular point? And you say, yeah, I've studied this so many times. Really, do you really? Are you sure you really understand what he's done? I want you to look at this with fresh eyes. I want you to look at this with fresh eyes. Don't tell me what you've been told or what you thought in the past. Just look at what the text says. Do you really understand what Jesus has done here? He says, verse 13, you call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." This is an argument from the greater to the lesser. If the greater, that is the Master and Lord, is willing to assume this lowly, low position, then those who are the followers shouldn't have any problems with doing this, because the Master is willing to do it, right? So this should be no problem for you and I. This should be no problem, because the greater one is willing to do it than we. This is the argument from the greater to the lesser. Then we who are lesser should be willing to do the same thing. Verse 16. Truly, truly. Now anytime you study the New Testament where Jesus says, truly, truly, then you've got to rivet your attention on this. Truly, truly, he says. I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. He sets up the argument and it's irrefutable. Verse 17, if you know these things. Now this is interesting. You don't see this in the English language, but in the Greek language, this is what we call A with the indicative. In other words, they did know these things. This is A with the indicative. They did know these things. If you know these things, and they did, blessed are you if, now he changes the if here in the original language. This is ein with a conditional clause. All right. which is quite a bit less certainty. So, if you know these things, and they did, blessed are you if you do them. There is a question mark on the second if. Question mark on whether or not you're going to follow through. I'm not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. Again, he punctuates this passage. He who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." Again, with a reference to who? To Judas, right? To Judas. I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you might believe that I am He. In other words, He understands everything that's going on in the hearts of these disciples, and He understands what's going on in the heart of Judas, and He wants them to know that He understands that before anything really happens here. This is our Lord's omniscience at work. And the disciples, at this particular point, I want you to understand, the disciples are looking at you and saying, okay, all right, I realize that maybe who you are as a conquering Messiah isn't exactly what we thought you were, and you washed our feet, and you're admonishing us to do this to one another. Okay, I'm catching you, but there's something I'm missing. This is not just about, this is not just about serving one another. It's not just about that. It's way beyond that. If that's what you think this is about, then you've missed the boat. And that's exactly what the disciples are ready to do. They're ready to miss the boat. So look at verse 21. After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, truly, truly. There it is again, truly, truly. I say to you, one of you will betray me. He just let off a grenade in their midst. Boom! One of you is gonna betray me. And the most important verse of the entire passage is verse 22. Look at verse 22. That is the pivotal verse. Of all the verses in John 13, verse 22 is the critical verse where it says, the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. That is such a critical, do you understand why that's such a critical passage? Do you understand? Why are they looking at each other saying, I don't know what you're talking about? What? Because, listen, Jesus has just gone around the table and washed every one of their feet. And in doing so, he did not treat any one of them any different than the other one. He treated them all the same. He knelt at their feet and washed it, including the feet of Jesus, our Judas. He washed the feet of Judas. And when he did so, he didn't scowl at him. He didn't skip him. He didn't treat him any differently. That's why. They look at each other, uncertain. What are you talking about? You just washed all of our feet. You became a servant and a slave to us. The lowliest one in the household. And you're going to tell me that you just washed the feet of somebody who's going to betray you? Now they're really confused. This doesn't work! One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, which is a reference to John. And by the way, that's not a prideful statement. That's really a statement of humility. In other words, John realized he needed the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ more than any of the rest of the disciples, and Jesus had to exercise quite a bit of extra love on him. was reclining at a table at Jesus's side, verse 24, so Simon Peter mentioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. Peter leans over and says to John, hey, ask Jesus, who's he talking about? Who's he talking about? And notice this. Verse 26, Jesus answered, oh man, this is powerful. It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Jesus, the son of Simon Iscariot. Do you understand what he's done here? In a Jewish household, you always served the guest first. You always treated the guest with special care. He just dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas, who was going to go out and betray him, and Peter is... I don't know whether Peter had any hair, but he's scratching his head. He's going, I don't understand this. You said the person whom is going to go right out and betray you is the person that you just treated as the honored guest. Really? Really? Are you serious? Oh my! Verse 27. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Which tells you, Satan does not cohabitate with the Holy Spirit. Judas was not a believer. Satan entered into him. And verse 30 says, so after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out, and it was night. Then verse 31, after doing all of that, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Let me stop there. You understand that Jesus ties his own glory to that of being willing to serve his enemy who is going to betray him. That brings him great glory. Tied right to that. He says he's going to leave them. Verse 33, little children, yet a little while I am with you and you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so I now say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. Hmm. They went into this Lord's Supper thinking that they're gonna march on Rome. And now he's telling them that he's gonna leave them and they can't go where he's going. And then notice this in verse 34. He said, a new commandment. I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you, that you also are to love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." Now if you study the Bible very carefully, you can go back to Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18. This is not a new commandment. This is a commandment as old as the hills. Loving one another. Did somehow Jesus forget his Bible? Is that what really has happened here? Did Jesus forget that in the Old Testament God admonishes his people to love one another? To love your neighbor as yourself? Leviticus 19.18. Has Jesus forgotten about that? Maybe he didn't study that portion when he was a kid. No, because, I'll tell you what, Jesus is not saying that your love for one another is a new commandment. He's not saying that. Because it's not a new commandment. He's saying to love one another as I have loved you is a new commandment. Do you see? What did he just do? He washed the feet of his enemy who was going to betray him. Wow. New commandment. I told you there's three things I want you to write down. Number one, I must learn to love myself less. There is no way in the world you can ever do what Jesus has done here until you've learned to love yourself less. Number two, I want you to understand. I must learn to love as Christ loved. I must learn to love as Christ loved. That's what verse 34 says. New commandment I give you that you will love one another just as I have loved you. He washed his enemies' feet. Just for a moment, go over to John chapter 15 and verse 12. Jesus says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. That's my, it's a new commandment over here. It's my commandment over there. As I have loved you. So number one, I must learn to love myself less. Number two, I must learn to love as Christ loved. That is the essence of the new commandment. And in reality, I want you to see that this is not new to his teaching. Jesus has been teaching this from the very beginning of his ministry. Take your Bible just for a moment. Let's go back to Matthew chapter 5. His inaugural message into his ministry, there in the Sermon on the Mount. We'll pick up in verse 43. He's discussing the unique attributes of his kingdom. Unique characteristics of his kingdom. Verse 43, it says, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, verse 44, Matthew 5, 44, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that. And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same. You, therefore, must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Now I want you to notice this. That when Jesus says, you are to The world says, love your neighbor, love your friend, love your family member, but hate your enemy. That's what the world says, but I say to you, love your enemies. That makes Christian love very, very distinctive. By the way, this cuts right through Islamic teaching, because there's nothing like this in Islamic teaching. Love your enemy. No. Islam says, kill your enemy. I love your enemy. What is it? so that you may be true sons of your father who is in heaven, for he makes the sun to rise on the eve of the good, and he sends the rain on just that." That's a good illustration. You say you have two farmers outside of Houston here. They both own farms right next door to each other. One farmer loves God and tries to do his best in serving God, he and his family. And right next door to him is another farmer who hates God, hates the concept of God, stands out in his field, shakes his fist at God, curses God. Let me ask you, which one of those farmers does the crops get more rain? Say it's the same. Which one of those farmers do his crops get more sunshine? Say it's the same. That's the common grace of God. They both get the same. That's it. In a similar way, God treats people in this world. We are to treat them without favoritism. Let me ask you a question. If I followed you around for one week, could I tell the difference in the way that you treat your closest friends and the way you treat your enemies? Could I tell the difference? I shouldn't be able to. I shouldn't be able to do that. The way you treat your closest friends and the way you treat the people that you consider to be your enemies, I shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two. God sends the equal amount of rain on the just and the unjust. Equal amount of sunshine on the just and the unjust. And he says in verse 46, for if you love those who love you, in other words, if you only love the people who love you back, how are you different from anybody else? You're not any different. The world knows how to love people that way. They know how to love people who love them back. How are you different from anybody else? You're not. What reward have you? What good is that, is another way of saying it. What good is that? If you only love the people who love you back. Ungodly people know how to love their family. Ungodly people know how to love their friends. Don't tell me you're a Christian because you love your family and you love your friends. Don't tell me you're a Christian. That doesn't make you distinctively Christian. Ungodly people do that all over the world. What makes you distinctively Christian is your ability to be able to love your enemy. The person is going to go out and betray you. Wow. Are you serious? Oh yeah. Look at this closely. Look at verse 47. And if you greet only your brothers. If you're friendly only with the people who are friendly back to you. What more are you doing than other people? You're not. You're just the same as other people. That is, other people in the world. And he says, do not even the Gentiles do that. Do not even the Gentiles do that. Which tells me several things. Number one, it tells me that real love, from a Christian point of view, is not based upon feelings. It's not based upon, if I waited until I felt like I loved my enemy, I would never love my enemy. I don't think Jesus felt like washing Judas' feet. Oh, I really love washing your feet. I don't think he loved that. Real love is not based upon feeling. Real love also tells me, real love from a Christian perspective rejects the 50-50 standard. And that's what happens in a lot of homes. A lot of marriages. A lot of marriages work on the 50-50 standard. That is, a husband and wife says, you meet me halfway and I'll meet you halfway and we'll have a great relationship. Well, the problem with that 50-50 standard, it sounds very fair, it sounds very American, but once one person stops loving, then there's no relationship, right? You meet me halfway and I'll meet you halfway and we'll have a great relationship. Then there's no relationship once one person stops loving. That's not genuine Christian love. That only loves people who love you back. In reality, that's not giving, that's what? Trading, right? Christians don't trade love. That's what the world does. Every time you see the biblical word love, for God so loved the world, He traded with the world. No, no, no. He gave. That is, without expecting anything in return. For God so loved the world that He gave. Galatians 2.20. Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. Ephesians 5.25. Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for... Christian love is always giving, not trading. The 50-50 standard trades. You love me and I'll love you back. No, no, no. Christian love is 100%. And when you have two people doing that, 100%, 100%, regardless of whether you love me, I'm going to love you. When you have two people doing that in marriage, it's a rich marriage. And even if you have one person that drops off loving the other person, you still have a relationship because the other guy is still loving 100% of the way. So real love is not based upon feelings. Real Christian love rejects the 50-50 standard. Real love is willing to give without expecting anything in return. So these are really critical issues, aren't they? Now you begin to understand why the disciples looked at each other in a confusing way and said, who's going to betray you? I mean, if one of the disciples had known that one of the other disciples was gonna betray them and they were the ones doing the washing the feet, they would have certainly treated them differently or skipped washing their feet. They couldn't tell. If you only love people who love you back. This is critical to teach our children. Then you're no different than anybody else in the world. No different. So I said there's three things, right? Number one, I must learn to love myself less. Matthew 22, verses 37 through 40. Number two, I must learn to love as Christ loved. John chapter 13, verses one through 35. And number three, you ready? I must learn to love without a 50-50 standard. Matthew 5, 43 through 48. I must learn to love without a 50-50 standard. Does that help you understand the new commandment? What Jesus described as my commandment? The newness of the new commandment is not love. The newness of the New Commandment is loving the unworthy. That's the newness of the New Commandment. As I have loved you. Isn't that something? You know why? Because you and I are all a part of the unworthy. Aren't you glad Jesus loved you? Even though there was no redeemable value in you at all? Even though there was nothing in us that would initiate or provoke his love, nothing. He loved the unworthy. There is a real sense in which we are very much like we're all Judas's and he's washed our feet. That changes my whole perspective on my Christian walk, doesn't it? It's been a pleasure to be with you this weekend. Take the words of Christ with you. Let's bow for prayer. Dear Father, we're so grateful for the testimony that you have raised up here at Grace Community Bible Church. And I pray, Father, that as they continue to be faithful in living the truth, that your hand of blessing will rest richly upon them. Watch over their pastor, his wife, their family, and each one of the families represented in this church. Raise up in this church godly leadership that will be able to effectively take the testimony and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the next generation. In this we pray, in the precious and most holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and all God's people said, amen.