John 13:1-20 – The Gospel of John

Today's readings from John chapter 13, verse 1 to 20.

John 13:1–20

Now before the feast of 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.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

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.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.

Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.

Jesus said to him, 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.

For he knew who was to betray him.

That was why he said not all of you are clean.

When he wa had washed their feet and put on his outer garments, and resumed his place he said to them, Do you understand what I have done to you?

You call me teacher and lord, and you are 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 just as I have done to you.

Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

I am not speaking to of all of you, I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled.

He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

So it reads God's word.

If you uh just joined us, let me add my welcome uh to Ben's.

My name's Mark, I'm one of the leaders here uh at City Church, and uh it is great to be back uh with you all as I'm preaching last week, and so it's good to be uh back in John's Gospel.

For those of you who don't know, you think, why is it reading John 13?

Well, actually, this time last year we did John 1 through uh to the end of chapter 12, and then we took a little bit of a break, and now we're coming back to it.

Uh, and so this will be our next our first big series of the uh of the new year, and we're gonna do it through Easter, so right through to around about the end of April or so.

So it's a good chunk of time.

But actually, in terms of John's Gospel, it's a very short chunk of time.

Uh, there's no more, no more miracles, no more public ministry, uh, no more big teaching sessions.

The rest of John's Gospel, really the second half of John's Gospel slows right down, and we will spend the rest of our time on the night before and the day of Jesus' uh death.

Uh, certainly over the next few weeks, we are in the uh we are in the upper room and Jesus is teaching his disciples.

In Jesus' public ministry, he's uh he's shown us what the kingdom's like.

You wonder what's a miracle for?

Why does Jesus uh do miracles?

Well, one of the reasons is to show his authority over uh different realms and and spheres in this world.

But another thing that miracles do is miracles show us what the kingdom of God is like.

It's a place where where the lame leap like deers, it's where the where the blind regain their sight, it's where the deaf hear, it's a place where there is no more sickness or death or mourning or or crying, where uh dancing uh replaces uh mourning, where singing uh replaces weeping.

And so we get all of these kingdom insights in the first half of John's gospel, but now Jesus is slowing down and he is teaching his disciples, he's teaching us not what the kingdom is like, but what kingdom people are like.

What are kingdom people like?

How are they different to people of the kingdoms of this world?

It's common in this in this moment in the West to think that the relationships are built primarily on power.

Uh, that there are power dynamics in the relationships that you that you're in, and certainly there are some parts.

I mean, it's a good power dynamic with your boss.

You don't go in and just pretend that there's any an egalitarian uh sort of uh power dynamic in play, your boss might point out that that's not uh actually the case and that you are mistaken.

But that is taken to the nth degree to think that any sort of relationship is fundamentally based on power.

And where does that come from?

Well, that actually comes from the idea that there's no such thing as an objective truth.

It comes from postmodernism.

That because there's no truth, any sort of claim towards truth is intrinsically an exercise of power.

And so those who might be skeptical about what we do on a Sunday morning, and perhaps that might even be you here, is that you think that what I am doing is I am seeking to exercise power over you.

Certainly that's the perception of people outside the church that the church is seeking to exercise power over people by its claims to truth.

And what that end what ends up happening there actually is people end up devolving into subcultures and tribes.

I don't know if you've noticed that happening, uh, but we fracture into our own little truth claim societies.

And so, and what ends up happening is there ends up being conflict between the two because it's all power dynamics, which one has more power the other?

And that tends to be more and more sadly, uh, the way uh the way relationships uh between one another tend to work, and the church is caught up and seen as that.

It's fundamental in uh in the way that the world seems to work.

People uh uh political leaders are seen as defaulting to using uh bold expressions of power, and even in our families, in our workplaces, you see those dynamics, and they can be painful and cause people to get hurt.

And perhaps you have been hurt by some of those abuses of power.

Does Christianity endorse that?

Is that what the church is about?

Is the church a context where unvarnished, unbridled power thrives?

Is that what Jesus uh wants from kingdom people?

Is that what Jesus exhibits in his life, or does he uh offer something else?

This passage is full of intriguing and beautiful things, but chief among them is that Christianity is not about the exercise of power.

Nor is it, it's not necessarily about not having any status or authority.

I mean, Jesus will see there's an expression of his status, uh, and his disciples are given an extraordinary high calling in verse 20, as we'll come to.

Uh, so it's not about having no authority.

Now, the difference between the world and between Christianity is that when we relate in the kingdom as kingdom people, those with a high calling are called to go low in service of others.

Kingdom people have a high calling, but are called to go low in service of others.

And that's what we see in this passage.

This passage is doing two things simultaneously, and I'm gonna kind of tease them apart a little bit just for ease of understanding, but I'm gonna let you know at the top now what those two things that are happening uh concurrently are.

The first thing is that Jesus is giving us an example of how to serve.

He explicitly says that what he's doing is an example uh in verses 15 to 16.

Have it on your phone uh or if you've got a Bible with you, just so that you can know that I'm not just making it up, uh, that it's not just a bold exercise of power, uh, but I'm actually submitting to the authority of the word.

So he says it as an example uh in verse 15.

He said, you know, for I have given you an example.

That's uh that's profound exegesis from your pastor there.

I've worked really hard on that.

I've seen that the words in the text, and I've told you that the words in the text, uh, that Jesus is giving you an example in the food washing that he does.

Uh he says that uh that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

So he is, that's the first thing, he's given an example.

But the second thing that he's doing is that he is illustrating to us, to the disciples, and then by extension to us, the way that he has served us in his death for us.

So let's keep those two things in mind.

He's giving us an example, excuse me, and he's giving us an illustration of what he is going on to do.

Let's first first look uh a little bit at this uh example type idea.

And so point number one for those of you who are taking notes is serve like Jesus.

Serve like Jesus.

If this passage is an example to us of what serving is like, then let's serve like Jesus.

What does that look like?

How is it that Jesus serves?

Sub point one.

Happy New Year! Uh so it's a two-point sermon, but each point has uh several sub-points.

This one has this one has three, okay?

Uh for so 1A, for those of you who are kind of following it on following on the logic.

What how does Jesus serve?

What does it mean to serve like Jesus?

Jesus serves motivated by love.

That's the first thing.

He's motivated by love.

And so we're right at the top of the passage, verse one, and we're given a timestamp.

Now, before the feast of the Passover, this is the last Passover that Jesus would eat.

How do we know that it's the last Passover that Jesus would eat?

It says when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father.

The hour is an expression in John's gospel that has been uh looming all the way since uh since chapter two.

In chapter two, he changes the water into wine at the wedding at uh at Cana.

And one of the things that he says there uh to his mother is he says, My hour has not yet come.

And uh over the uh the preceding chapters or the successive chapters, there is talk of this hour.

What is the hour of in John's gospel?

Well, it is simultaneously the hour of Jesus' death, and it is the hour where the glory of the Son of God is most supremely revealed.

Isn't that a paradox?

That in the cross of the Lord Jesus, the glory of the Son of God is most fully revealed, and that's what the hour is talking about.

But now, on Thursday evening, the hour has come.

Before daybreak, he will be betrayed and denied.

And then John gives us this little editorial note, still in verse one, that he loved his disciples.

Uh, read it with me, 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 expression, uh, love them to the end, uh, has a has a deliberate kind of double uh double meaning.

It means also, it means first kind of right until his final breath, and and also he loved them uh to the to the greatest extent, love to the superlative nth degree, and this, what he is about to do, is an illustration of that.

Now, the cross of the Lord Jesus is the supreme depiction of Jesus' love for the world, and the foot washing illustrates what the cross is about.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that what the nature of salvation, the nature of victory, the nature of love, is in sacrifice, it is in service.

John immediately intensifies it in verse two.

He says, During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

He immediately turns from loving the disciples to this, to talking about Satan, to talking about Jesus' betrayal.

This is striking for us because in John's Gospel, there are no exorcisms.

John's Gospel, there are no demons.

You go to Mark's Gospel, you can't chuck a brick in Mark's gospel without hitting a demon.

And indeed you should.

So, in John, what's going on?

When he finally mentions Satan, there is there is something, the snake's back in the garden, in a sense.

This is not the sudden possession of Judas as an unwilling victim.

We know from earlier on in John's Gospel that Judas already had his hand in the uh in the purse, he was a thief, but now, like Eve in the garden, he has not resisted the lies of the evil one and has rather begun to side with him.

And yet, and yet, Jesus washes his feet.

Have you thought about that?

Jesus washes the defeat of all of his disciples.

We're thinking about what motivates our service.

Goodness me, is this not the supreme example of what Jesus when Jesus says to love your enemies?

Jesus washes Judas' feet.

Judas grasps for greed and for gain.

Jesus serves out of love for others.

Judas will leave by the end of this chapter and go out to portray Jesus, and he will do so with clean feet.

We think about our own service and what motivates our service.

At least one of the things might be whether or not you like the people that you serve.

There's a profound challenge to that.

That Jesus being motivated by love serves indiscriminately at that table.

Doesn't get washed the eleven, and then you're like, no, not doing yours.

I know what you're gonna do.

And you've been a thief, and you're a bit of a jerk, and I don't really like you.

No.

Judas betrays Jesus with clean feet.

Jesus' service is motivated by love.

Love not just of those who are good to him or who he likes, but love of all, love of the enemy, the betrayer in the midst.

That's the first thing.

Uh the second thing that motivates Jesus is that uh his service is founded on a secure identity.

Now I want to unpack what that what that means.

Have a look at verse 3.

Verse 3 is so hugely important.

Uh, Jesus, verse 3, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God, rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, and taking a tile, tied it round his waist, poured water in a basin, and washed his disciples' feet.

Three is the rationale for four.

Three is the basis on which four happens.

Why does Jesus serve because he loves?

How does Jesus serve out of a heart, out of an identity that is secure?

And folks, this is the whole ball game for us, actually.

This is so important for our understanding of service.

We were all in so many ways motivated to do things precisely because we are not secure in who we are.

We fear what others think.

We want others to think well of us.

We care about their opinion of us, and we base our identity upon that.

And we say that that and so that what motive that motivates our actions, that motivates our service.

And we're told by so many voices to go inward to discover what our identity is and who we are.

But that identity that we discover and create within ourselves needs to be validated and celebrated by people in the outside world, or else it begins to cave in itself and crumble.

And so we are fundamentally, if that's what we're doing, we're fundamentally insecure and unstable.

And even in the church, shocker I know, leaders lead because they want people to validate them, because they want people to love them, because they want people to celebrate them.

They need to be seen as powerful or influential, charismatic or competent.

Do you serve out of your insecurities, or do you serve out of who God has made you to be?

Jesus knew precisely who he was, that he was the Prince of Heaven.

And because he was the Prince of Heaven, he could get up, strip off his clothes, and wash his disciples' feet.

Because it didn't change his status as the Prince of Heaven, as the beloved son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Do you see that if you have a secure identity, which the Christian does, and we'll unpack what that looks like in just a minute, but if for no other reason, it's things like you are justified, made righteous, declared innocent by God the Father, that you're adopted into his family, never to be driven away.

That if that's true and that's who you are, and nothing and no one can change or take that away, do you think you could get up from dinner and take off your outer robe and serve those who you love?

So much service and so much of our actions are done in order to be able to gain approval or kind of climb the hierarchy that we find ourselves in within the relationship relationships, whether it's friends or family.

Every one of you here knows where you are in the hierarchy of your friends.

Or of your family.

But actually that's not the thing to focus on.

The only thing to focus on is who you are, who God has made you to be, who God has declared you to be.

Because that's the one and only identity that can never be changed, can never be taken away.

It's kept in heaven.

It's not altered by circumstance, do you think?

And so if you serve out of that heart, goodness me, the marvelous things that you would do.

And serving out of our insecurities while our service is tainted by selfishness.

Our service will be fundamentally performative, and our egos get bruised if.

Our service isn't recognized.

And our service becomes an exercise of power and not of love.

You know, one of the most important things that you can settle in your mind, that you can settle in your heart, is where your identity comes from and what it is.

Jesus knew precisely who he was, that he was the Son from the Father, that he had authority over all things, including Judas and Satan himself, who are sitting there at table.

He knew precisely that he was going back to the Father, that by tomorrow evening he would be by the Father's side.

And that security, that assurance of who he is, was the basis upon which he washed the disciples' feet.

The world cannot give you an identity that is that secure, nor can you discover it from within.

The disciples didn't instinctively know this or do this.

They didn't have that sort of identity.

It wouldn't have even entered into their heads.

That's why nobody else washed their feet.

The social convention was that if you were a peer, if you were peers, that you didn't wash your friends' feet because it was you debasing yourself.

It was you showing yourself to be of lower value.

Nor would they discover the desire from within themselves.

They were constantly grumbling about who was the best and who Jesus loved the most and who was going to get to sit at his right and at his left and other stupid things like that.

The stuff that we all too easily care about.

So nobody would dishonor themselves.

But Jesus gets up and ties a towel around his waist and washes the dust and the dung off his disciples' feet.

Why?

Because he's the lowliest, and so that's why he goes low?

No.

Because when you know that you are the highest, when you know that you are loved of the Father, and nothing can take that away, it's so easy to go low.

This takes us uh to the third sub point in this section.

Serving like Jesus is in response to the highest calling.

So it's motivated by love, it's founded on a secure identity, and it is in response to the highest calling.

Where is this high calling in this passage?

Well, it's actually in the very last verse.

Certainly, actually, it's in the command uh in verse, uh, in verse 14.

Uh, if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another's feet.

But it's uh it's kind of put more of a point on it in verse 20.

Let me draw your attention to it because it's it's not readily understandable, actually.

Um, verse 20, truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me.

And whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

Let's follow the logic, all right?

Whoever receives the one I send, in this context, Jesus here is talking about his disciples.

He's talking about the disciples being the ones who are sent by Jesus.

That's actually what the word apostle means.

Might have heard that as a Bible word.

They get called apostles in the book of Acts.

Apostle just means the sent ones, right?

So Jesus is sending his disciples.

So whoever welcomes a disciple, a follower of Jesus, welcomes who?

Welcomes Jesus.

That's the next point of the logic.

And whoever welcomes receives, welcomes Jesus, receives the one who sent him.

Well, who's that?

That's God the Father.

Put simply, the calling that is upon the follower of Jesus is to bring Jesus into people's lives, and by bringing Jesus into people's lives, they bring the very God of the universe into their lives.

That's a high calling for the Christian.

That when you go as a messenger sent by Jesus to people, who do you bring into their lives?

God.

God.

Have you considered that?

You bring God to bear in the lives of your family members, your classmates, those who you love, those who you share houses and flats with.

That as they receive the gospel message, they just don't they don't merely receive your words, but they receive the God of the universe.

What that means is the Christian has an extraordinarily high calling on his or her life.

Or to use the language of a few minutes ago, the Christian has an unassailably wonderful and high identity.

That those who are sent by Jesus love by him, through whom he will work and bring others to a knowledge of him.

With such a high calling, there's only one way to carry it out, and it is to go low.

Can you imagine if you if you allowed this high calling of yours?

That as you go, you bring God into the relationships that you're in.

Just imagine what that could do to your ego.

Just imagine what that could do to your pride.

But no, what we are called to do with such a high calling is to go low in service.

Jesus doesn't use the assurance of who he is as the Prince of Heaven as a pretext to an exercise of power.

You think Jesus, knowing that he had come from the Father and that he was returning to the Father's side, turned around and zapped Judas.

That would be power.

He could do that, right?

We believe that?

Right.

But he didn't.

He washed his feet.

You got a high calling, Christian.

So go low.

Go low.

In service of others.

Final little note on this section before we move on.

What's the result of going low?

What's the result of selfless service?

Because you might be sitting here going, great, just you know, more self-abnegation.

I lay aside all the things, all of my priorities, all of my preferences, and go around and I'll serve other people.

Great.

Thanks, Mark.

Well, actually, Jesus gives us a little nugget.

It's right there in verse 17.

I wonder, did you did you catch it?

Where Jesus says, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

What is the result of knowing your high calling and yet going low?

Being blessed.

Being glad.

Being joyful.

Being happy.

That actually in the setting aside of rights for the good of others, you find yourself increasingly glad.

Glad in God, glad in who He has made you to be.

What a wonderful thing that would be.

What a wonderful thing that would be to pursue this year increased gladness in God, increased, increased security in who we are.

I mean, wouldn't it be great actually, if you finish this year a little bit more comfortable in your own skin than you are right now?

Like every one of us pursues that project, and it takes time.

But particularly kind of in our kind of early mid-20s, to still trying to figure out who we are.

We're not kind of comfortable in our own skin.

How do we get progressively more secure in who we are?

Is it more introspection and self-discovery?

No.

It's more grounding of ourselves and who God has made us to be.

Going low in service of others and finding as a result that we increase in gladness and joy.

You know, at City Church, if you're new, one of the things that we do is we invite everybody to serve.

Not because we just want to kind of plug everybody into the machine like uh like batteries until they run down and then I and then I throw them behind me.

That's a good little illustration.

Thanks, Lord.

Um it's not why do we invite everybody to serve?

Because in service we increase in gladness, and we were encouraged in service to rely on who we are in Christ.

And so I mean, I would encourage you to think through.

You know, have you found an area of service?

There are a number of places to serve.

Not least of all, actually, uh set up and teardown.

You can talk to Lizzie about that.

She's looking for new people on her team.

Have you considered how you're serving the body here with your time and your treasure?

How can that increase your gladness and your dependence on God?

When you're giving to City, you're giving to the whole entity, the whole organization serving other people, not just in this room, but across this island.

That is, we seek to be a feet-washing people.

So when you give to us, you enable that.

Have you considered those things?

But all that to say, serve like Jesus, be motivated by love, be secure in who God has made you to be, and go low in response to the highest possible calling that could be upon your life.

Secondly, be served by Jesus.

Be served by Jesus.

Irish people hate this.

Irish people hate being in someone's debt.

We hate being beholden to someone.

I don't want to come round to your house without bringing a bottle of wine.

In part because I'm just wonderfully generous and I like nice wine, but in part because I want to contribute something.

We love to contribute.

I want to be the person that lends you 20 euro.

I don't want to be the person who has to ask you for 20 euro.

Don't all come up to me afterwards and ask me for 20 euro.

The social convention is to repay, to contribute, or to avoid being served altogether, that even if you're in need, you just say, Oh no, I'm grand.

And in part, maybe that's Peter's resistance, that's Peter's protest.

He doesn't want Jesus to debase himself.

He doesn't want to be served.

He resists it.

It's not socially acceptable.

And so he says, Would you would you wash my feet?

Verse 6.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him, What I'm doing you will not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.

Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet.

Jesus' response to him initially is, it's gracious.

He says, Look, you don't get it now, because you know, past history shows you haven't been getting much very quickly.

He says, You don't get it right now, but but you will.

When you see tomorrow, when you see what's going to happen, when you see my cross, you will begin to understand that the Christ had to be a crucified Christ, that I am a serving Savior, that I am a humble and loving God.

But Peter resists further.

He says, You will never wash my feet.

But look at what Jesus says, verse 8.

He says, You'll never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

One level, Jesus could kind of just go back to the whole, again, Peter, you don't understand, but just shut up.

Like, let me do this little illustration.

So why does he say this kind of you know weird, kind of slightly theological thing of if I don't wash you, you'll have no share in me?

It's really hard for sinners to accept that they need a savior.

One of the things that is hardest to admit is your need of Jesus.

And how many people find it hard to fathom that such a great salvation would require nothing from us?

Jesus must wash Peter.

Because only the washed share in Jesus' kingdom.

How do you become a kingdom person?

You must be washed by Jesus.

You cannot serve like Jesus until you have been washed by Jesus.

Because you'll not have that secure heart, you'll not have that assurance of his love until you are served by him.

You will not be able to serve with the gladness that he promises until you have been washed by him.

Is Peter being humble?

He doesn't say, oh no, don't wash my feet.

Oh, it's a very humble thing of Peter.

You know, he doesn't want Jesus to debase and dishonor himself.

Is Peter being humble?

No, he's not.

It's not humility to say, oh no, Jesus, please don't serve me.

That's pride.

It's pride that does not recognize need.

It's pride that is not willing to submit to his cleansing.

Pride keeps so many people from Jesus.

Pride will keep you from Jesus while you don't see that you need to be washed and made clean.

So Peter, in typical Peter fashion, responds, the pendulum has swung the other way.

And so from no, don't wash me at all to verse 9, Peter goes, Well, wash all of me.

Lord, not also, not my feet only, but also my head and my hands.

So, all right, I get it now, yeah, like you do.

Um, let's let's wash all of me then, Jesus.

Let's let's go outside, get the hose.

Jesus responds, he says, the one who has bathed, the one who's had a bath, does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you.

Again, what's going on here?

What's Jesus saying?

Well, Jesus essentially is saying, if you've had a bath, you only need to have your feet washed.

If you've had a bath, then you're clean.

But not all of you are clean, not all of you have had a bath.

I was thinking about this the other day doing the dishes, actually, um, that actually we don't wash our feet in the same sort of way, but we do wash our hands.

You think if you're you're cooking and you've uh you've you've lifted uh you've lifted uh a piece of raw chicken out of the packet in order to kind of to chop it if you're a meat eater.

I don't know what the vegetarian equivalent would be, but just go with me.

So you lift out some chicken, and what's the what's the first thing that you do after you've chopped up the chicken?

Well, you don't lick your fingers, first of all, but nor do you run upstairs and go and jump into the shower because you're clean.

It's these that are dirty.

So what do you do?

You turn to the sink and you wash your hands, right?

I know that some people run up to the shower, but that's a whole other thing that we're not going to talk about.

They wash their hands.

So what's going on?

The complete cleansing, in terms of the metaphor that's at work here, the complete cleansing, the bath, the thing that that washes you is what?

Was Jesus' death on the cross?

Jesus is talking about how he is about to make them all clean, though actually not all of them.

That the cleansing will come as the Son of God dies upon a Roman cross.

This is a beautiful thing that the cross achieves.

Did you know this?

That one of the things that the cross achieves for you personally, individually, is that it makes you clean.

The cross cleanses you from your sin.

And that's great.

Why?

Because we all know the tint of sin from our past.

We all have bells that we would like to unring.

We all have stuff that we would do over, we all have things that kind of cling to us.

Those are the little smudges on our soul that make themselves known in the bitter watches of the night.

When you think, why did I do that?

Why did I say that?

I can't believe that that happened.

I wish that I could do that over.

And those little stains Jesus takes and he washes you clean.

And so John in his first letter would say that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The cross makes you clean.

But we need to come to Jesus and have our feet washed.

Have you noticed that?

That's why we come humbly to confess our sins daily, confessing that we have sinned in thought and word and deed and what we have done and in what we have failed to do.

Why?

Because the Christian, though cleansed by Jesus, still has the presence of sin in his or her life.

Our feet still pick up the dust from the road of this world, or we still deliberately and foolishly trod in a cow pad.

And so we come to Jesus again and we say, Jesus, would you wash my feet?

That's what's going on here.

The cleansing, the objective cleansing is the cross of the Lord Jesus.

The feet washing, in simple terms, is our daily, as Andrew indeed prayed for us.

It's our daily confession.

It's our daily coming to Jesus and go, do you know what?

I messed up again.

I need you to wash my feet again.

That's the rhythm that's going on here.

You're clean, you just need to have your feet washed.

Then he says, though not all are clean.

Now we could take a whole sermon, and we're not going to take a whole sermon talking about Jesus' sovereignty and these events and exactly what.

Judas is responsible for.

We'll maybe say a little bit more on it next week.

But for now, I simply want to give you, as we finish, a comfort and a warning.

The comfort is that no struggling Christian is Judas.

Because you can read this and go, oh, maybe I maybe I'm not clean.

Well, maybe I haven't been washed.

So what's good.

No struggling Christian is Judas.

Many people fear falling away or losing our salvation.

But that's simply not here.

Jesus, or sorry, Judas's betrayal is in part because he was never a follower in the first place.

He was never truly a disciple.

He was a thief from the beginning.

And so elsewhere in uh again, it's in John's first letter, John talks about it like this.

He says that the people went out from us because they were never of us.

Now, what does that mean?

That means that sometimes people leave the family of the church, but what it reveals is that they were never part of the family to begin with.

It's not that they were, and then they lost their salvation.

Let me say it really starkly, and maybe you don't come from this church edition, but I can defend this.

We can have a conversation afterwards.

You cannot lose your salvation.

If you could, you would have done it already.

Because even if I don't know you, I know me.

John 6, 37.

All who the Father has given me will come to me, and all who come to me, I will never drive away, says Jesus.

You cannot lose your salvation.

Now, here's just a list of caveats, right?

Parable of the sower is really helpful.

Parable of the sower, what happens?

Farmer scattering some seed.

I didn't write any of this down.

I shouldn't even be talking about this.

We should just move on.

But I can feel all of the questions just in your heads.

Parable of the sower, uh, farmer scattering seed, and what happens?

Well, the one on the the path just gets eaten up.

But the other three germinate.

The other three sprout.

But only one shows them to be good soil with good fruit.

And just extending the metaphor, the three that germinate, there's something going on.

There's some sort of experience of conversion, some sort of sprouting that happens in a person's life.

But actually, it shows it in some instances that they were not good soil.

It's not the good soil people suddenly get weed killered.

To extend the metaphor right to its breaking point.

And so the comfort is that no struggling Christian is a Judas.

The other comfort from that is that Judas occupies a particular position in salvation history.

There's no need for any other Judases.

He is a particular human being who has come to do a particular thing, that is, to be the betrayer in fulfillment of the prophecy.

That the one who has dipped the bread has lifted his heel against me.

Psalm 41, verse 9.

Psalms 41:9

And so take comfort, struggling Christian.

You're not Judas.

But here's the warning.

The warning is this it is possible to have clean feet and still no part in Jesus' kingdom.

It is possible to take the Lord's Supper, that is what's going to happen next week, and have no share in what it represents.

The warning is this.

The warning is that the performance of ritual does not generate, nor are they a substitute for saving faith.

So what's the answer?

The answer is simply this flee to the find and be made clean.

Come to Jesus in faith and have your sins forgiven.

And then you have the eternal assurance of who you are in Christ, kept in heaven for you, unperishable, unfading, undefiled, never to be taken away, never to be lost, never to be destroyed, not even by your own foolishness.

And from that heart, you can serve with gladness, with love for all.