He wants to wash our feet
Key Passage: John 13:1-10
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles to John chapter number 13, if you would, please. John chapter number 13 of God’s Word. The Lord’s been so good to us. It’s amazing that when we can’t really go out, oh, if you will, full-fledged door-to-door, soul winning. Three people this week asked Jesus Christ to be the Savior.
And praise the Lord for God’s people witnessing. And the Lord’s still working. Don’t get discouraged in there. God’s working. He’s plowing fields and working in lines and drawing people to him. And I’m excited about what he’s doing and what he is going to do. And praise the Lord for it. By the way, teen activity next Sunday night after church here at the church, just a game night. So, teen activity.
The third row over here, all these teenagers, you know, y’all need to be in the teen activity next Sunday night after church for game night. And y’all don’t tear the church building up now. I mean, this won’t be a rough teen activity. But amen, teen activity next Sunday night after church. John chapter number 13 of God’s Word. And just one truth.
I think the Lord would have us just focus on a little bit tonight. Would you please stand? I appreciate you doing it. We didn’t do that for years, not because we didn’t see any problem with it. We just didn’t want to do it because the Bales did it. But then we read over there in Old Testament, Ezra, Nehemiah, when they stood to read the Word of God. And I thought, well, just follow the Bible practice. And that’s why we do that. And if he’s magnified his word above all his name, well, just magnify it. And we try to show respect. That’s why we do that. And if someone doesn’t do it, I’m not pointing a finger at them, mad at them; that’s between them and the Lord. But we like to do it here just to show the Bible honor. John, if you’re able, if you’re able, I see Ms. Patterson over there. Of course, she’s rebellious every once in a while.
And no, I’m teasing. Some health-wise, can’t, and I understand that. The Lord understands that. I just praise the Lord, Ms. Patterson, faithful. I’ve got to tell you a little bit. But right at the beginning of all this stuff, she came to church. And, you know, by some of the authorities, you weren’t supposed to. But she is here, and she said, “Oh, that old surgery I had and all that other stuff I had didn’t get me. This old virus ain’t going to get me.” And praise the Lord for her faithfulness. That’s great. That’s great. Amen. John 13, verse number one. And the Bible says, “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. And 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 into his hands, that he was come from God and went to God, he rose from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 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 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 said unto him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus saith to him, “He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all,” for he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, “Ye are not all clean.”
And let us go to the Lord in prayer. Would you ask the Lord to speak to your heart tonight as I ask the same? Father, we thank you for faithful people that come to get fed by your word faithfully into fellowship and being a part of your church. Thank you for them, Lord. Lord, I know there’s some online that I’d like to be here. I cannot thank you for them also. Bless us all, work in our hearts. Give us what we need tonight. And Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. Lord, we realize the importance of the time. We sure need you. And we’re grateful for you. We love you, Lord. Thank you for loving us. In Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
This is just a beautiful picture. Jesus here coming to wash your feet. And then this dialogue between him and Peter. And Peter says, “Hey, you’re not going to wash my feet. You don’t need to be washing my feet.” And Jesus said, “Hey, look, bud, if I don’t wash your feet, you have no part with me.” Okay. And then Simon Peter said, “Well, if that’s the case then, not my feet only, but would you wash my hands and my head?” And Jesus said this: He said, “Look, you’re already washed, you’re already clean.” And it’s a beautiful picture of salvation. In fact, he said, “You’re all clean, but all but one”—it was Judas. In other words, he was saying, it’s a beautiful picture of salvation. You’re all saved. You’ve all been washed. If you’ve been washed, if you’re a born-again Christian, then you’re clean. But Jesus says, “Now, Peter, you’re clean. I don’t need to wash your head and your hands, but your feet still need some cleaning.”
Now, here’s the thing: Though you get saved, you’re a child of God, that’ll never change. You’re clean in heaven, if you will. But still, you walk, and I walk in a dirty, sinful world. And as you walk in this unclean world, your feet are going to get dirty. And if we’re going to be close to the Lord, you’re going to have to have your feet washed. That doesn’t mean you get saved again, but you have this daily cleansing so you can have closeness or fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that’s the picture there. You kind of got the picture of what’s going on? That’s what Jesus is really teaching us there. But here, just a couple thoughts about this thing. We’ll be done tonight.
And Brother Kevin said, “Do you want us to count before?” I said, “Well, how about we wait until after?” You know, but I said, the only thing is everybody’s going to be wondering who won during the middle of it, you know. And so don’t go there. You say, “I wasn’t going there until you brought it up, Pastor.” It’s all your fault, you know. But anyway, just a couple thoughts. This is really, I think, just the crux of the message, if you will, when I believe the Lord really wants us to get in your heart. I want you to think about this.
They didn’t go to Jesus for Jesus to clean their feet. Jesus went to them. Can I just say tonight, if you’re a born-again Christian, if you’re saved, Jesus is coming to you? He, Jesus, God Almighty, God in the flesh—Jesus is coming to you tonight. And he’s saying, “I’d like to wash your feet. I’d like to clean you up.” When you’ve fallen again and you’re not what you ought to be, Jesus comes to you and he says, “Can I wash your feet?” It’s amazing to me. I’m unworthy of that. Maybe you said this week, maybe you said it last Sunday night: “This week I’m going to do better. I’m going to get up every day and read my Bible. I’m going to pray. I’m going to walk with the Lord. I’m not going to listen to that music. I’m not going to watch those movies. I’m not going to go on that website or that Facebook page.” And you did it again.
And Jesus comes to you. Jesus—it’s amazing—but Jesus comes to you. If you’re a child, if you’re saved, and you say, “I’m not worthy”—and you’re not worthy, I’m not worthy by a long stretch of imagination—but Jesus comes to you tonight, and he says, “Can I wash your feet?” Would you just imagine that? Would you just tonight imagine Jesus coming to you? And he’s coming to you wherever you are, whatever’s going on in your life. By the way, wherever you are, maybe online, wherever you may be, if you’re God’s child, Jesus comes to you. And he says, “Let me wash your feet.”
In Bible times, typically it was the servant—sometimes almost like the lowly servants—that would wash feet. We don’t understand it all about it. They said typically servants, maybe the servant that was kind of lowest on the totem pole, you got to wash feet tonight. You got to wash their feet. I don’t know; maybe that’s the way it was. And yet Jesus, he’s the greatest servant there ever was. It’s amazing that Jesus would serve me. He saved you. He’s purchased you. He’s shed his blood for you. He’s made you his own. He’s made you his child. And yet he knows you live in a sin-messed-up world. You’ve got the world and the flesh and the devil to fight against, and the Lord knows that. And Jesus, he comes after he’s already served us with salvation. He comes and he says, “Can I wash your feet?” He’s serving—the greatest of all. And Jesus—now think about this thing. Let’s just try to make it real for a moment here. The apostles here, I don’t know if they wore sandals. A lot of them talk about them wearing sandals. I was helping John and McKenna move. And I made a dumb mistake the other day. I was wearing flip-flops. Yeah, I didn’t want to put my shoes on and all that, you know, and I just put my flip-flops on. It’s just not a good thing carrying furniture up steps when you’re walking backward with flip-flops on, you know. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I tell you what, praise the Lord, I’m still alive. Amen, you know. But imagine these men had sandals on. Some even say they went barefoot sometimes. If it was Tennessee, they probably were barefoot, a couple of them, you know. My daughter, Sarah, would have been barefoot for sure, you know. But now they’ve been walking these streets. They didn’t have paved sidewalks. They didn’t have streets like we have. You’re talking about dusty old roads and paths and sandy, and they’ve been walking these dirty paths and roads. I don’t know about you, friend, but I imagine those were pretty dirty feet. We won’t talk about toe jams and all that stuff, so some of you said, “Don’t go there, don’t go there.”
By the way, I don’t know—I’ve never read any commentary or anything saying that they had socks back then. Help me out: if you don’t wear socks with shoes, after a while, what happens? I mean, they stink bad enough, but if you don’t wear socks, wow. Put them out back, you know. We don’t want those things inside the house. They stink the whole neighborhood up. You put them outside, you know. Just make this thing real. You’re talking about a bunch of old men that wore sandals all the time or were barefoot. They didn’t have Nike or Adidas or whatever we have in our day. They didn’t have all that. And yet God Almighty—they didn’t go to Jesus. Jesus is the one that got up from eating. He’s the one that got up, and he went and got the basin, and he went and got the water. I believe it represents the Word, the Bible, and he girded himself with that towel. He’s showing what a servant he is, and he’s the one that went to them and said, “Let me wash your dirty old feet.” Friend, can I just say, we all have some dirt. We’re far from perfect, all of us. And I’m amazed that Jesus comes to us tonight, and Jesus says, “Let me wash your feet.” I don’t come to him; he’s the one that comes to me. And I’m so unworthy. And yet Jesus came to them with their dirty, stinky feet. He says, “Let me wash you.” It’s amazing. That’s what it does tonight to you if you’re saved. It’s just amazing. It’s so unworthy—such love.
Now, here’s the interesting part of it. What about Simon Peter? We don’t know everything about it. I tend to think he washed them all. It’s pretty interesting to think about. Most commentaries tend to think he even washed Judas’ feet, even though he wasn’t saved. We don’t know. But it comes to Simon Peter. Simon Peter is typically the leader. He’s the one in the list of names; Simon Peter’s listed first. He was the hot shot. He was a loud one. He was, you know, I’m always talking—that’s Simon Peter. So Jesus comes to Simon Peter, and let’s look and see what happens here. Look at verse number eight. Verse number eight of this passage here: “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Now, he’s not talking here about salvation. He’s talking about, “You’re not going to be close to me, Peter.” He’s saying, “Peter, all right, if you won’t let me wash your feet, we’re not going to be close.” “If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth,” First John says.
Can I say this? It’s not only super-duper humble of Jesus to come and wash your feet, but can I say this? It’s a little humbling for you to let someone else wash your feet. I mean, because you have to reveal you’ve got stinky feet too. It’d be pretty humbling. I’ve never been at a foot washing service. I don’t know. I’ve always said, I don’t think the Bible requires us to have it. But if we get too big for our britches one day, we might have one just to humble us down, you know? But I’m saying, can you imagine? Can you imagine Peter had to let Jesus? I mean, that’s a little humbling. And it doesn’t record any of the other apostles saying anything. But maybe it was a little bit Peter, the leader of the apostles, the big shot, the hot shot. “Peter, you won’t be close to me. You’ve got to have your feet washed too.” There’s something humbling about someone else washing your feet.
Now, here’s the thing: It’s not a matter of you keeping your feet clean. You’re not going to do it. “If we say that we have no sins, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). It’s not a matter if you keep your feet clean. Friend, you can’t keep your feet clean. You’re going to have to wash those feet. It doesn’t matter if you’re some movie star, you can sing to the best of them, or you’ve been in a thousand movies—they get dirty feet also. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a preacher or you’ve been saved for 80 years, whatever. Everybody gets dirty feet. And it’s not a matter of you keeping clean feet; it’s a matter of you letting Jesus clean your feet. That’s what it’s a matter of. Because everybody gets dirty feet. Jesus said, “No, no, Peter. Hey, listen, if you’re not going to let me wash your feet, thou hast no part with me.” Listen, don’t get worried if you get convicted a lot. That’s a good thing because you got dirty feet like all the rest of us. But if you never get conviction, now there’s a problem, friend, because there’s only one that doesn’t have sin, and that’s the one that walked on water. If I can go for a week or a couple days and never have conviction, something’s not right in my life. If I can go and I never get convicted about my faults or my pride or my heart, if I can just watch whatever I want to on Facebook or Instagram, if I can just go on with my attitude and I never get convicted about it—something’s not right in my heart. Because if I never get my feet washed, I don’t have any part with him. It’s not a matter if my feet get dirty; they all do. It’s a matter if I let Jesus wash my feet. That’s the question. We’re all there. And the amazing thing is Jesus comes to us, and he says, “Let me wash your feet.” That’s amazing. And if I’m going to be close to him, it’s not a matter of staying perfect. You’re not going to be there. It’s a matter of walking in the light, First John one says. And part of that, that light reveals my sin, and I let Jesus wash my feet. And he comes to you; he wants to wash your feet.
Now, Peter responded wonderfully. I like what old Peter said. He made me a little proud, a little haughty up there—“He ain’t going to wash my feet!” Jesus got on to him a little bit, and man, he responded so well. I like it. I swear it ought to be… By the way, I tell you what, and I’m not saying you have to between you and the Lord, and I’m not saying I did it all right or do it all right—I don’t. But I, man, I used to come to the altar so many times you’d think that’s the worst thing in the world. Mine have been a little truth to it. I’m just saying it’s not a matter of staying all right; it’s a matter of letting the Lord work in your heart and letting him wash your feet.
But Peter responded so well. Look how Peter responded to this thing of the Lord. Look in verse number nine. Verse number nine: “Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said unto him, “He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all”—that’s Judas. Now, here’s the thing: If you heal… sometimes, and this is a good feeling, sometimes you almost get the feeling, “I need to get saved again.” No, no, you’re still saved. And Jesus said, “Oh, you’re clean every whit.” But you say, “I want to get back close to him again. I want that feeling again of knowing he’s mine and obvious. I want that nearness to him again. I want that sweetness restored again.” Man, I remember when I got saved, everything just seemed wonderful. My sins are forgiven. I’m a child of God. I stand redeemed. And you say, “I want to get back to being in love with him again like that.” That’s what’s going on here. Jesus, in his love, he said, “Peter, it’s all right. You’re still saved, you’re clean, but you need your feet washed.”
Oh, there ought to be that desire: “I want to be back close to you like I used to be. I want to walk with you hand in hand. I want to be in love with you again. I want to enjoy you again. It’s been a while since I’ve been so close to you. Jesus, I want to get back to you. Just clean me all over. Clean me up.” If you’re saved, the Holy Spirit says, “You’re still saved. You’ll never perish. I gave that to you. But I need to wash your feet.” And praise the Lord, he did, and he does. And it cleans us up, and we get the fellowship restored.
Now, I’m saying, and I’m going to be done. I know you’re like, “No, you ain’t going to be done. You’ve got three more closings for one tonight.” It’s the first closing, amen. We only have two more. Look at this last thought. This is amazing. Look back up in verse number one. I never really noticed this until studying for this, but it’s just precious. Look at verse number one. John 13:1: “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”—here it is—“having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Why did Jesus? They didn’t come to Jesus: “Jesus, would you wash my feet?” Jesus is the one that went to them and said, “Let me wash your feet.” Why? Because he loved them—loved them unto the end. By the way, he’s sitting on the right hand of the Father; he still loves you. But you know, those people, you’re still in this world. And sometimes it’s tough to live in a sin-dirtied-up world. And the Lord says, “I love you to the end.”
And so Jesus, out of his love, he comes down and he says, “Hey, let me wash your feet.” Why would he do that? Why would he gird a towel on him and take the water, the Word, and say, “Hey”—why would he do that when we’ve failed him about ten million times? Why did he still come and say, “Hey, Paul, let me wash them”? Why? Every morning I feel like I get up, man, I just feel dirty again and filthy again. Why does he every morning just come and say, “Let me wash your feet again”? Because he loves me.
I can’t remember—and I’m sorry I didn’t look it up—but I have Philip Bliss in my mind; it may not be him. But when he was young, he would sing often about, “Oh, how he loves Jesus.” And yet when he got older, he changed, and he’d sing more about how much God loves him. The great thing isn’t how much we love God; the great thing is how much he loves us. That’s the big deal. And Jesus loved them until the end. It’s amazing that his love just never ends. When you accepted him, he comes, and they’re eating. If it were me, I’d be fighting for a little bit more dessert, you know, give you another piece of that cake over there, you know. And they were actually arguing about who’s the greatest. And Jesus went over there, got the towel, and got the basin of water. They didn’t come to him; Jesus came to them. Jesus said, “Let me wash your feet.” That’s amazing. And it comes to you tonight if you’re saved. He says, “Let me wash your feet.” It’s not a matter of us having our feet all clean; it’s a matter if we let Jesus wash our feet.
Would you bow your heads? Would you just spend some time there? We’re not going to have you raise your hand tonight. Let’s just come to Jesus and let him wash our feet tonight. Can we get our instruments playing here? We’re going to have a word of prayer. And let’s just let Jesus… Hey, Jesus, I want to let you… Would you wash my feet? Would you stand? Let’s pray. Let’s just get our feet washed by Jesus tonight. I’m amazed, Jesus. I don’t deserve it. I mean, really, if the truth be known, Lord, you know how much I am far from what I ought to be. And yet you come to me. Really, just, just, I’ve failed you so many times, and yet you come to me and you say, “I want to wash your feet.” Lord, we’re amazed. Your love is beyond us. Thank you for it. We sure want you to wash our feet because we want to be close to you. Thank you that you want us to be close to you. Bless the people tonight during the invitation. In Jesus, we pray. Amen. Would you just come as they play? And let’s just let him wash our feet tonight.
Original File: He wants to wash our Feet - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 61420